My experience, in previous games, with this talent is that Xenos players refuse to take it. They deem it a waste of experience points and an insult to their character, whom would never contemplate letting a human permanently mark them as property. Does anyone here use alternate versions of this mark, something fake or non-permanent? I'm thinking of giving it out for free and maybe equip each character bearing the talent with some sort of arm mounted printing device that will spit out an official document bearing their employer's seal.

IMO any xenos without that mark, not to mention the rest of the crew, would face serious problems in any Imperial port, or even with anyone harboring similar feelings toward xenos as normal imperial citizens do. Any xenos not bearing it would essentially be lawless and even a Rogue Traders influence would be hard pressed to save the xenos character from summary execution. A xenos bearing it however has a certain protection within imperial space in that his "owner" is responsible for his actions, to some extent at least.

If it is a waste of point or not depends largely upon the situations the character might find himself.

Sorry to hijack the thread but how do you handle mutants?
Do you have a variant of this talent for them?

Umbranus said:

It really depends on where you have most of the adventures take place. Anything on the Imperial side of the Maw should suddenly start causing serious problems for the character.

The talent is worthless. It means nothing without the RT's influence, and the presence of the RT or high powered retainers. A xeno is a xeno and if it were wandering around by itself it would be dead meat, mark or no mark.

"I so sorry Sir, I wasn't close enough to see the mark, and well, the filthy xeno scum was armed so I'm sure you will understand that I wasnt getting any closer. I naturally assumed it was involved in a pirate raid or other criminal heresy and terminated it as it the duty of any faithful servant of the Emperor sir."

I wouldn't deem it useless. Its not quite entirely unlikely that you will be boarded by the Inquisition e.g Ordo Xenos. In this case IF the inquisitor lays eyes on the Xeno then:

without the mark: the Xeno is killed on the spot or best case subdued and carried off for questioning, ANY protest of the RT will simply be cut off with: its not sanctified, thus you are harbouring illegal Xenos, you will be investigated for this when we're done with it.

with the mark: (in case of ordo Xenos) the RT likely gets the request to remove that animal from the IQ sight and preferably lock it up for as long the IQ is on board. After all his retinue is trained to kill Xenos at sight and they are a bit trigger happy from time to time.

Then again if you're solely playing in the backwaters of the Koronus expanse, then likely this talent is worthless...

Of course you can also house rule the talent a bit. Im unaware of the penalties you get per default when dealing with Humans, but lets say its a -20 on your Fel and with this talent that becomes a -10. Or maybe even better if the mark clearly shows the RT who 'owns' the Xenos you could let the bonus depend on the renown (=PF) of the RT. E.g. 2 points per 10 points of Profit factor. So with an average PF of 50 the Xeno player get a +10 bonus to Fel (upto negating the negative effect of Xeno Human interaction)

double post........

wolph42 said:

As always, Your W40k Will Wary. Depending on the location, the Inquisitor, the Xenos in question, The Rogue Trader and a bunch of other small matters.

I find the mental image of an ornately dressed rogue trader admonishing a newbie inquisitor for shooting his "pet" "Fluffy the Ork" hilarious, especially if the Ork in question is a 3m wall of muscle. Or the RT painting said Ork as human-coloured and claiming him to be an unusually ugly ogryn...

A good thing to remember is, that on Rogue Trader / full Inquisitor power level, rules, regulations, laws and treaties are all nearly irrelevant. Everything becomes "political" and instead of asking "can you do this" the question becomes "can you get away with it?".

I believe a competent Rogue Trader will not let an Inquisitor aboard without first clearing the worst heresies out of sight and will definitely try to keep the inquisition separated from his crew and out of his business if at all possible.

Likewise, I think a competent Inquisitor would keep a low profile, smile a lot, make the RT feel at ease while having his underlings root out the ship for corruption, heresy, chaos and anything xenos-related. Preferably infiltrating or planting a few moles at the same time to spy on the RT.

Trying to keep Rogue Traders from creating trade relations with xenos, or denying Xenos trade delegations onboard when outside the IoM would be foolish, since most Warrants of Trade specifically grant them the privilege trading with xenos. The function of Rogue Traders is to be the privatized scouts, advance guard and conquistadors of the Imperium, after all. (Among many other things...)

Also a wise inquisitor will not challenge a Rogue Trader on his ship, especially question his authority publicly aboard and a wise Rogue Trader will never antagonize an Inquisitor, doubly so when outside his ship.

Otherwise, the Rogue Trader and the inquisitor might come into a conflict from which they can't back out without losing face. Should this happen, it becomes an ugly ****-swinging contest, that can only lead to losses on both sides. And on his ship, the Rogue Trader has a humongous home-field advantage. It is his Home and Castle after all, and one which he has spent a lot of time preparing to defend.

So when in the Imperium, keep your xenos from out of sight, or mask them as humans / servitors / beasts / pets / what-have-you as best as you can. Outside of the Imperium, who cares. The only law there is the rule of the strongest.

Inquisitor: "Consorting with Xenos Rogue Trader?"

Rogue Trader: "A relationship of convenience Inquisitor. Much like the Holy Ordos, I have occaision to use them to further the work and word of the Emperor as is the right and duty of His most faithful servants who have been honoured with Imperial Warrants of Trade."

Horrible necro but where do I find this

Horrible necro but where do I find this

Sanctioned Xenos Elite Advance? "Into the Storm", p.107.

The talent is worthless. It means nothing without the RT's influence, and the presence of the RT or high powered retainers. A xeno is a xeno and if it were wandering around by itself it would be dead meat, mark or no mark.

"I so sorry Sir, I wasn't close enough to see the mark, and well, the filthy xeno scum was armed so I'm sure you will understand that I wasnt getting any closer. I naturally assumed it was involved in a pirate raid or other criminal heresy and terminated it as it the duty of any faithful servant of the Emperor sir."