Question: How legal is it to replace a Planetary governor?

Scenario: The Rogue Trader party is on Fervious in the Calixis Sector. For those that are unfamiliar with the world, Fervious is a feudal world in the Drusus Marches Subsector. Murder is not only common place on the planet, it is also traditional, particularly as a way to achieve high office. Death Cults are rampant on the planet, quite possibly providing easy recruits for the Officio Assassinorium. One special export, however, is found on this planet- Styger milk. The milk can neutralize a poison, thus, on a planet where murder is commonplace, drinking the milk is a good way for the nobility not to get killed. Similarly, ranchers can get fabulously rich selling the stuff.

The RT group however, is on Fervious to either destroy or take over a tech-smuggling ring- a minor endeavor, but they're just starting out. And after some discussion, they decided to find information about the smugglers through the ranchers (or rather, the Arch-militant single-handedly charged a force of horse-riding rustlers with nothing but his fists, and one macrocannon blast later, earned the respect of one of the ranchers.) To make a long story short, the rancher would give information about the smugglers if the RT group eliminated or merged the competition with his own company, making him one of the most powerful men on the planet (of course, the RT group would also get a cut of the profits).

However, being more powerful than the planetary governor is a risky business. If the RT group is successful, what's to stop the governor from dispatching the PDF (or the Imperial Guard) to stomp out the rancher? Thus, how legal is it to replace a Planetary governor? If a planet maintains its tithes will the Administratum look the other way if the governor is replaced? And if the RT group is complicit in such actions, are they branded as traitors?

jabberwoky said:

I'd say that it all depends on the way you depose of the Planetary Governor. If it's a clean coup and you immediately swear fealty to the Emperor and bow before the Adeptus Arbites on the planet, I would think that the Sector Governor (or equivilent) or the Departmento Munitorum wouldn't care overly much - provided tithes and taxes keep flowing.

Fail, get the planet embroiled in a civil war, forget to bend knee before the emperor or get the Arbites on your side, and the Arbites, the PDF or maybe even the Imperial Guard will come down on you like a ton of bricks.

First and foremost, remember the that 'RT is in IMPERIAL SPACE if he is dealing in the Drusian Marches. He should approach his operations there with a sense of poise and rationality.

Second, unless the RT plans on going on a planet-wide campaign I say it is unlikely that he can get serious sway in "the milk market". Remeber that Fervorius is a FEUDAL WORLD. In feudal times, their were nothing similiar to our big corporations where about 6 multi-groups had 99% of the market divided among them. I would not even consider the Milk Farmes Filthy Rich or powerful. Feudal rule says (basically) "this all is MINE. I, the great noble allow you to work the land for me or to protect my people for. The majority of whom BELONG to me as well. For this, I will give yo small slice of what is rightfully MINE." Exceptions are some freeman but even these do not run the gammut of things. If they are mighty, their might stretches to enhold a big city and the surrounding villages. In case of this "Styger Milk Empire" it will not be big enough to threaten wordl providership. Merely a region.

That said I think that a replacement of Government on a plant will not be met with much scrutiny on a planet as long a
a) the new rulers are loyal to the imperium
b) the tithe is provided

Keep in mind: we are in Imperial Space here! The RT can NOT claim the world as his own afterwards. This would be heresy and traitorship.

Gregorius21778 said:

Gregorius21778 said:

Two points I would make in this:

1. The Feudal world designation is for the relative technological level of a planet, not ultimately their way of thinking as well (the Imperium at large has a high technological level, but a medieval mindset). A company could be created simply to produce Styger milk simply because it could be the most effective way to produce the product. This company could be further helped by fact #2…
2. There is only one city on Fervious. According to the fluff, Fervious's only city is a massive shanty town. Assuming that the Administratum collects at this one place, it would appear that the one who controls the city, controls nearly all the wealth coming to and from the planet. True, it would only be exercising control over only one region, but it's the profitable one, and Rogue Traders probably wouldn't care about the less profitable provinces.

Fgdsfg said:

@Feudal vs. Feudal
True, but the fact their is only one large city (and THIS is a shanty town!) is more of an indicator towards the lack of concentrated production then the other way around. Large-scale production needs infrastructre. If you want a high number of hands to do one task and this task has nothing to do with acquiring food to life from, you need a group that is specialised in providing growing food (to produce more then they need). But this specialized group will not happen if their are no other groups specializing for their other needs (like tools, clothing and stuff generaly related to craft). If one looks at the early history of men one sees the relation between growing size of communities ---> coming from higher specialization --> leading to more refined products as the benefits of specialization kick in.

The fact that the description of Fevorious indicates no real presents of Tech-Priests and their ilk (otherwise their would not be rumours about a Mechanicum ban) would make any centralized production even more difficult. Industrial production does not work with an industrial technology level.

Do not ge me wrong , I do not say their is no profit to be had (rare import goods achieve high prices anyway!), I simply doubt that the activites of your RT are necessaryly are threat to planetary governeur. IF they would..they would for sure become a threat to the tithe as well…unless the RT intends to get control about the majority of "the cake" only the hand all but some slices over to the Administratum …for after all, this is an Imperial World and not a Colony

If you want military strife, how about local barons joing forces? As soon as three out nine got kicked out of business by your RT the other will see the signs and are thereby likely to unite against "this outside threat". Murder and Violence are the hallmarks of the culture of Fervorious, right?

Gregorius21778 said:

If you mind summarizing your established version of Fervorius so far (overall Tech-Level, Overall arment, other things your might have already established) I am sure the forum will be eager to provide additional ideas (IF you need some).

Your RT could by the power of hid money and dynastie sponsored one of the aspirant "governor" and put him in the boots of the dead previous one.

Maybe all you need is a thousand las weapon…

But the real problem here is more the impact your RT will have on the tithe.

If for any reason whatsoever the administratum comes to find that the tithe problem is linked to your RT then you could for a time say bye bye to the imperial space or move in an other sector of the galaxy.

Far far away….

More, this milk is really a precious item for the rare few who know about it and who can buy it, your RT isn't the only one to know, there is a lot of probability that an other RT or even let's be crazy offcio assinorium have their hands on the jackpot.

Messing with them could open quite good story line and start a war between to RT familly.

I just don't wanna think about what would happen to your dynastie if the officio assinorium is really interrested by this planet rare product.

Thebigjul said:

Gregorius21778 said:

All right, let's see…

Fervious (also known as Vasenrule by older nobility) is a planet with an earth-like atmosphere and gravity. Its landscape mostly consists of grasslands, with most flora not growing beyond a height of four feet. Imperial geographers have mentioned that the geography with its rolling hills seems oddly eroded, as if the planet is much older than at first glance. Wood is rather scarce here, meaning that most materials for building are either recycled flakboard or metal; the planet's nickname, "The Imperial Guard's Wastebasket" may be an apt description. It's only city (also called Fervious) is a large shanty-town populated by roughly 200,000 people.

Fervious is best known, however, for being a place where murder is seen as a tradition, despite the attempts of the Adeptus Arbites to say otherwise. Many suspect it to be a training ground for various death cults in the Calixis Sector. The Officio Assinorium has no record of participation on the planet, but many suspect the planetary governor, Lord Atellus Havelock III, is a part of that shadowy organization.

Like in Hive Cities, recycling discarded waste is necessary for survival, but in Fervious, a weapon can be nearly made out of anything. But unlike in hive cities, many higher-order weapons such as las-weapons and bolters are largely unknown. However, many exotic types of weapons are made here, many whose ancestry appears descended from farm implements or simple tools. The famed Fervious katana, known for its durability and superior cutting edge is perhaps the pinnacle of the art, made from an alloy whose components include specific Minitorium artillery shell casings, pieces of decommissioned tank armor, and Imperial guard belt buckles.

Fervious is also known for Styger milk- a substance that is produced by a female styger for their young. The milk itself is lumpy and tasteless but has the uncanny ability to coat the sides of one's own mouth, esophagus and stomach. This property has made styger milk very much in demand, as the milk's coating will prevent poison from being ingested into one's own body. Thus, many ranchers have become rich, often becoming royalty in selling the milk to paranoid nobility.

Even so, there is a saying on Fervious: "Nobility is mortal." Due to the amount of money at stake in producing Styger milk, many mercenaries have found lucrative careers in Styger rustling, often holding auctions of the stolen beasts and selling them to the highest bidder. Often however, these auctions are interrupted by mercenaries hired by a victimized rancher, who then takes all the beasts for their own. These practices have caused countless vendettas between the Rancher-Barons, often leading to entire clans being killed for the theft of past-generations beasts. There are cases of these vendettas ending peacefully, but these are rare exceptions, usually followed by a mysterious disappearance of the peace-making Barons and the feud starting up again with their successors.

I see…

so, the metal ressources mentioned in the description of the Fervious Long-Sabre [iH; P.97 " ..since the metal of Fervious is a very stubborn and hard material… "] are still present or did you "rule them out"?

The mentioned mercenaries… off-world mercs (with matching tech; desipite the hard to navigate warp routes?] or local warriors?

Anyway, in an open conflict I guess the current powers of Fervious would be no match for your RT (especially if the RT invested in Barracks on his ship). How about ambushes? If your RT goes arround to meet people and to size power, he might end up attacked from cover. If the "Milk Barons" are able to get some of the numerous Death Cults behind them their should be no shortage on Fearless, fanatically devout killers (pehaps drugged up or not) wielding poisend weapons. In addition I would add the help of a wytch. Desperate situations call for desperate measures.

Besides DeathCults, a household the RT visits for a negotiation could suddenly be attacked. Last but not least…if hey could be lured into the shanty town for one reason or another…winding allies eliminate much of the benefit of longarms so any pistol would still count.

Ah… I forgot about that part of the fluff regarding the katanas… well, I didn't mention it to the players, so that can be changed.

As for mercs, they're local. Plains with enough room to breed horses have a tendency to breed warrior groups, who in turn convert to the God-Emperor and kill in His name, thus becoming Death Cultists. As for an ambush, I'm gonna need one- the Militant thinks he's secure… to bad he's wearing primitive armor…

A word of notice to the legal site of affairs:

I just stumbled across an interesting information in "Into the Storm"; p.76 (Calixian Privateer). In this section is written that Sector Governor Marius Hax outlawed Trade Wars in his sector . This means that your RT might be restricted to covert operation and honest trading if he wants to establish dominance in the Milk Market.

Which is a good thing, since wide open fields are good for riders but even better for ranged weapons. If it ever comes to an open battle, be sure that it is in an area with lots of hills your riders can charge around/across to reduce the amount of punishment that will be dealt to them by ranged weaponary.

Trade Wars vs. the Right to Feud
In our medivial culture the nobles alway tried to keep a "right to feud" so no matter what the alliance, law or political situation to nobles could go to a privat war with each other. If your players start poundering option in regard to how to engange openly with military might…the RT might consider a marriage! Or he could set his Adepts and Scribes to the task to "fiend proof" that their is some far flunge relation between his bloodline and one of the local lords.

This… this information is most useful. Thank you Gregorius; where I had only one solution before, I now have at least three.

jabberwoky said: