I thought I would discuss, with a view to feedback/criticism, some of the ideas I'm having as I try writing my first DH adventures. I have two characters (and their owners best NOT be reading this! !), an assassin and a psyker.

The latter is a voidborn psyker with a shock of white hair left over from the sanctioning process who comes from a space hulk and has a shadow over his soul (as per IH). The former is a Sinophian assassin whose appearance resembles Deckard from Bladerunner.

What I thought I would do is expand on their histories thus, I don't think this will encroach on any ideas they have having completed character creation:

The psyker will have been with the Inquisition since day 1. His origin and his experience mark him as unusually powerful: he grew up on a space hulk and has survived a daemonic encounter during the emergence of his powers. Cosnequently he has been watched since being found by the Imperium. I'm not sure how one lives on a space hulk, but his powers were his means of survival - as was the daemon that he encountered. In fact I would go so far as to say the community he was born into didn't even exist: they were a product of the warp filtered through his untempered perceptions. Somehow he survived. This has ultimately led him into the purview of Lord Harkness Greyfear of whom he is now an acolyte. Greyfear believes in a particular prophecy: a child born in such circumstances who will become a living weapon. Whether for or against the Imperium is a matter of conjecture and Greyfear is somewhat Radical (capital R, I have the handbook and it is cool). Greyfear seeks to be the catalyst for the fulfillment of that prophecy against the backdrop of the machinations of Calixis and the Tyrant Star. The psyker is unaware of this; he is, as yet, ignorant of all of this and knows only that he has survived his emergence and a daemonic encouter during.

The assassin doesn't have so strange a background. My initial idea may be a bit much for a rank 1 (as both characters are) acolyte: he came to work for Greyfear not by choice. It seems that he accidentally uncovered information regarding the psyker and was given the choice by Greyfear to either serve or... The basic idea is that the assassin is there to watch over, as well as assist, the psyker. If the psyker loses control beyond the point of return it is the assassin's duty to grant him the Emperor's mercy. The assassins knows that the psyker has some importance to Greyfear but doesn't understand (or perhaps beleive) in such superstitions as prophecy.

Both characters have, at some point in the past, dreamed of the Tyrant Star. They know not what it is, what it means or even if such dreams are portentuous at all. The psyker will have dreamt of it more, but again no importance is attached. The specific image they each recall, though neither knows the other has dreamed this (in character) or what the tyrant star is in any waty shape or form, even as a legend, is that image in the rulebook of the city scene where people can see the star in the sky. A great picture.

Lord Greyfear is a work in progress. I would like him to be as detailed as the inquisitors within the rulebook as described in the Tyrantine Cabal as each is interesting and multi faceted. He is radical and not averse to 'fighting fire with fire' shall we say, when it comes to dark knowledge and resources. He is also mutated and covers himself well. He speaks only through an advocate; a particular acolyte that always accompanies him known as Malachus.

That is all for now.

HI Sign,

signoftheserpent said:

I would suggest to cut this out. This reeks of more taint then and it is not necessary to justify the Inquistors interest.

By the way living on a space hulk could mean a hulk that had emerged from warp and now sits in realspace. This could be the remains of a single vessel or not, but it for sure is nothing that gets sucked back into the warp. Thereby, warp taint can be rather minor. At least in the inhabitad areas.

Regarding the "prophcy" thing, I would disencourage it on a personal bias: it is cheesy as hell.

Everything else sounds fine to me, especially the arrangement of the the Assasine having an eye on the Psyker.

Well the psyker character chose space hulk as his void born origin as well as the Shadow over Thy Soul background.

I wouldn't force him to be tainted or force the player into such a position. It's more an explanation of how the character can be unique. Similar to Ephrael Stern in the Daemonifuge storyline.

Prophecy is part of 40k. It's a superstitious setting. Who cares if it's cheesy!

i'm struggling to translate this into rank 1 level adventures.

So here is a brief overview of what I intend for the first adventure, the primary goal of which is to introduce the two acolytes to each other and to the service of their master, Lord Greyfear, as well as introduce some big players they will encounter again, for better or worse. To that end it is inevitably, and a bit regrettably, contrived and probably a bit ridiculous. Feedback is invited as to how to improved things bearing in mind that there are only 2 characters: psyker and assassin. The specific location remains undecided, it is however a hive.

1.Assassin has been hired by the Red Harvest (a cult seeking to control the subject of the prophecy to which Psyker is related, see above) to kill a man identified as Cinder. Assassin doesn’t know his employers are the Red Harvest and has been told that Cinder is a traitor and a spy. In truth Cinder is one of Greyfear’s acolytes but also a Red Harvest agent though, something known only to the Red Harvest about whom Greyfear knows nothing.

2.Assassin has been given a dataslate with a pict description as well as a location and a time; uncharacteristically detailed information pertaining to the job. The hit is to take place at a low level tavern known as the Dancing Shank. Cinder is expected to be there at a certain time at which point Assassin is to kill him from a vantage point across the street as he leaves. The time of his departure is also given.

3.Upon completion of the hit, which occurs during the scheduled midnight ‘brown cycle’ where power shuts down for an hour to allow the air to filter through, Assassin is to leave the Data Slate in the building and to enter the Dancing Shank. There, in one of the hab cells the tavern rents out to local factorum workers and temple pilgrims, he is to await payment by his employer who will identify himself bearing the data slate after his associates dispose of the body.

4.Unfortunately Assassin doesn’t know that he is being setup. The room has a number of corpses inside, hidden from immediate site, though not without same evidence of blood and their movement. The door and frame also bear Greyfear’s cipher, something Assassin will not recognise though its appearance is telling of something. These are members of the Acolyte cell Psyker was working with, killed in a Red Harvest setup to frame Psyker. Cinder has killed them only to be himself eliminated by Assassin who will also be present when the Arbitrators arrive, as they soon will, to arrest whoever is present.

5.Psyker is the main target: the Red Harvest wants him as they believe he may fulfil the Living Crucible prophecy. Greyfear believes this to, but is unaware of the interest or existence of this cult. Psyker knows nothing of these schemes or of the Red Harvest. The plan is to have him arrested, by Arbitrators loyal to the Harvest, who, before Greyfear can have him freed, can spirit him away. Assassin is simply collateral damage there to remove Cinder from the equation thereby covering their tracks. If he is arrested he will be processed as the perpetrator of the murders.
Prior to arriving at what is a minor cell safehouse, Psyker, along with Cinder and the others, are called, on Cinder’s order, to meet for an assignment: a routine interrogation. Cinder has the highest rank below Greyfear and his seneschal, Meridius, both of whom are currently indisposed, attending a lavish ceremony in the noble quarter of the Hive.

6.This ceremony, the announcement of the firstborn of Lord and Lady Tyrioch, is beyond the remit of the Abrites. Security is provided privately from the Tyrioch’s own staff. Such is the authority the Tyrioch name wields. Greyfear doesn’t usually make housecalls, but he and Lord Tyrioch’s mother were once close, almost a century ago. He comes to pay his respect and bring a gift. Though voidborn psykers – even as agents of the Inquisition – would not be tolerated at such an event, this is the only place that the Arbites, including those loyal to the Red Harvest, cannot easily access.

7.Psyker is to arrive, alone (the rest are diverted to the safehouse by Cinder, unbeknownst to the Psyker), and meet the heretic. The heretic wasn't connected to the Red Harvest, but has been secretly recruited to do a task by Cinder in return for her being set free (which of course was never intended). She is to pass on a Bleeding Rose for Psyker to wear, using psyker power to put it conspicuously on his person without him knowing or even suspecting. The Heretic will remain believing she will be freed, but unaware that was never intended. With Cinder’s demise, that freedom will depend on Greyfear who remains unaware of the treachery surrounding him. This rose will have been worn, inadvertently, by the Assassin's contact who will recognise the unique flower as being the same when he sees it on the Psyker.

8.As the hit and the setup occur at night, the Eternal Effulgent (a minor ecclesiarchal cult of Voidborn who help their kind on planets, somewhat contentious but not deemed heretical - yet. Loyal to Voidborn and secretly very knowledgeable about Voidborn/Psykers) mission will be the only local sanctuary open. They will help Psyker as they know him to be Voidborn. However they won’t do this for nothing; in return they want his pledge that, when the time comes, he will help the temple. This is because they know the repercussions of helping him: the mission will be attacked by Harvest agents in revenge and capitalising on their tenuous public image. Consequently they will engineer the turning of the people against this ‘outsider cult’ through contacts and sympathisers within the Ecclesiarchy already unsympathetic to the sect.

9. With the help of the Effulgent mission they can reach the noble quarter which remains secure from the reach of the Arbitrators pursuing them. There they can get to Lord Greyfear, though hopefully without upsetting the ceremony and risking the wrath of the amassed nobility present.