Ok people, I'm about to attempt this very cmapaign for my ascended DH group. Does anyone have any pointers/suggestions they'd like to share?

Regards

Surak

One thing I think might be worth mentioning is that if we're talking a potential "endgame" for a Rogue Trader dynasty, the obvious one is that they place one of their own in charge of an entire newly minted Sector. What's a step up from commanding a fleet of a dozen ships in the name of the God Emperor? Bearing the title "Lord Koronus", commanding tens of billions of soldiers, hundreds of ships and hundreds of worlds in the name of the God Emperor.

Look at Winterscale's Realm within the Koronus Expanse. It's clear that the Winterscales are positioning themselves for this region to be at the very least a major subsector within any prospective "Koronus Sector", perhaps even the central subsector and sector captial.

The game plan would be:

1. Find a world, colonise it.

2. Find another world, colonise that one too.

3. Repeat until you have a network of worlds.

4. Establish trade links between them

5. Build up military forces

6. Bring in military allies and resources to defend the worlds

7. Bring your newly minted Sector/Subsector into the Imperium (what's the opposite of "seceding?")

8. Petition the High Lords of Terra for command of the new worlds.

Steps 1-7 seem to me to be normal and respectable Rogue Trader activities, but step 8 seems a little bit unusual (though I'm sure it's happened many times.) It seems to me that there's no obligation on the High Lords to accede to any request from a Rogue Trader seeking formal Sector Lord status; the terms of a warrant of Trade are usually pretty clear that a Rogue Trader is expected to go beyond the Imperium and get conquering, as opposed to staying within the Imperium and running things.

However, one can easily see a situation where the High Lords would seek to reward the energy and vision of a particularly brilliant Rogue Trader by allowing him overlordship of a newly minted Sector, especially if he has played a crucial role in its foundation and development.

Ok people, I'm about to attempt this very cmapaign for my ascended DH group. Does anyone have any pointers/suggestions they'd like to share?

Regards

Surak

As in you're converting the Koronus Expanse to the Koronus Sector?

Oh my.

I would rank this as a Unique Endeavour, made up of several Legendary Endeavours which are comprised of multiple Meta Endeavours, in Rogue Trader terms.

1) Footfall

This should be where your DH group starts. You will need a foothold in the Koronus Expanse and Footfall's the first step (ahem) into the region. It's full of heretics, xenos, and other lowlifes. Like an Underhive this serves a real function for a society, but they occupy prime real estate and it would be better to have a secure path from Port Wander in the Calixis Sector through the Maw to Footfall.

2) Damaris

Located "southwest" of Footfall, this pseudo-Imperial colony regularly tithes to the Imperium with Guard regiments. It's mildly industrializes with a mostly unexploited system full of great resources. I'm assuming you're building up towards a Crusade. Damaris will be the next step into the Expanse, a friendly source of much-needed resources. There's also the Bulwark, a moon-shipyard that can handle some repairs for fleets. The Damarans are nominally loyal to the Imperium, though there's a streak of independence considering just how far they are from the Imperium and how lackadaisical or nonexistent any support is.

They make Chimeras and Leman Russ tanks. They even export system defense ships and are a source of food and water for many systems.

In our own RT campaign I'm taking steps in colonizing a few more planets in the Forsellis system where Damaris is located. One has been deemed a suitable place to begin construction of a Forge World, though this is a long term thing. I'm turning the Bulwark into a full-fledged void-station, capable of assembling massive void ships and repairing them. But this is years in the making.

3) Winterscale's Realm

There are many worlds north of Footfall that have been occupied by one of the most successful Rogue Trader dynasties in the Expanse. The current Warrant holder is bloody-handed, brutal, and cunning. I liken him to an Ork Warboss in human form. He has a Grand Cruiser for a flagship, a dynasty fleet full of Cruisers and other warships, and his realm has the most developed or exploited worlds in the Expanse. Lucin's Breath is of particular interest here.

The Realm is also home to numerous pirates and "pirates". Cleansing it would give the Crusade its first real battles and a solid core of worlds.

In general, I'd suggest recruiting a lot of Rogue Traders. You won't have a lot of Imperial support early on, and establishing supply lines and so on will be crucial. Vetting Rogue Traders would be adventures in and of themselves, and your party could be taken to dozens of lost human worlds and help guide their re-integration to the Imperium. You can even help raise local conquering forces from these sometimes-not-truly-feral-worlds.

In fact, that could be the true first step. Raise indigenous forces from the Expanse, train and equip them to Imperial Guard standards to create one of the Crusade's armies.

Keep in mind though that the Koronus Expanse is far from the Imperium and many powerful people like it that way. Not all of them are xenos or heretics either. Nominally loyal servants of the Imperium may not appreciate having it so close to their own interests.

Couple more!

4) 'Undred-'Undred Teef

The Calixis Sector still remembers the last Orkish WAAAAAAAAGH! to come screaming out of the Koronus Expanse, and though they were eventually beaten back, it's well-known that the core of the Orkish Empire still festers at the centre of the Expanse, and more and more Freebootas are heading there each passing year, and that's a vortex torpedo waiting to go off. If one Warboss rises up to control all the rest, this is going to result in another plague across all of the Expanse, so you will either need a massive fleet to cut it out, or embark on a daring raid to ensure no single Ork can achieve supremacy, and perhaps cause the entire mess to implode on itself...

5) The Rak'Gol

A relatively recent discovery, with all the strength and savagery of the Orks, without their tendency to at least speak in a language that can be understood. All sorts of rumours swirl about the Rak'Gol, whispers about dark warp rituals, or their as yet undiscovered homeworlds that produce some of the worst void ships ever seen, yet still manage to prowl the systems of the Koronus Expanse, visiting untold destruction on the planets they visit. Even if an invasion is fought off, the radiation from their weapons and destroyed ships can easily render the most verdant of planets uninhabitable. Although dangerous, it's possible that they could be small enough that a dedicated force could locate and destroy their homeworlds - wherever they are. Exterminating the Rak'Gol would be a positive, accomplishable goal that would be an excellent foundation to base the Koronus Sector off of, and demonstrate to other backers that you are serious about your goals.

6) Karrad Vall and his Wolfpack on Iniquity (unless you played through the Warpstorm-Trilogy of course)

Of course, there is still the matter of Karrad Vall and his Reaver-Wolfpacks. His Base of operations must be found and destroyed, should a crusade prove succesfull in the long run. While it would certainly be difficult for a single Rogue Trader to take care of that problem, an orchestrated strike once the base is found would silence this threat. That'd mean a lot of investigations and interrogations, probably with some divination, to find out where the lion's den is. It is, without doubt, heavily guarded by ships and orbital defense systems or in a system utterly impossible to navigate with a larger fleet. A small group would be able to infiltrate the facility once found and provide the fleet with vital information, whether a big operation could be made possible by destroying defenses and sabotaging the base or by finding other means of getting rid of this scourge.

Also, the whole campaign would probably last a few decades, maybe even centuries in ingame-time and likely a few years in "real time". Make sure to plan in enough downtime for the characters, as a crusade is no easy feat.

7) Craftworld Kaelor

One of most isolated Eldar craftworlds with several outposts and Maiden Worlds. It's not gonna be easy. Will your PC use brute crusade-level force to smash the pointy-ears or dare to awake and control something far older to do the dirty work or maybe find some lever to persuade Eldar to get away from this region (with number of Maiden Wordls in it, yep - not gonna be easy). Radical fractions of =I= and some Adepta may also have something to say about this. And what's with the Strixies - why they hate Eldar so much? And in whos hands is Lu'Nasad?

Worth remembering: we have no clue about the real size of Koronus - it can as well fit one sector as a number of them with Winterscale Sector being just one of few.

Now, what would be more daring than funding a bunch of sectors for a pocket empire old-Ultramare-style? (answer: Segmentum Halo, but it's so over the top that not even warhammerish)

Thanks for all the great ideas people.

For those wondering what prompted me to even consider this campaign here is a little context as to why I decided to forge a new sector.

My current DH players are mostly veterens of both DH and roleplaying in general, and when they all pull in the smae direction they are highly motivated and creative - basically in the DH setting they are collectively a GM's nightmare. I've recently had them operating in the Jerico Reach to try and get them out of their comfort zone, and they managed to single handedly kick the Tau off of a planet - just the 6 of them over a series of gradually escalating raids that the Tau seemed almost incapable of doing anything about, really it was horrible as the GM as I'd hoped the Great Good would be able to teach my players a littlle humility.

So I decided to look back through my (many) old campaigns and try and pick ou tthe ones that challenged the players the most, and the common factor was the Expanse. Between the xeno's that they know nothing about and worlds they have never heard of, plus the constant threat of there ally suddenly selling them to the highest bidder, I wanted an excuse to get thme into the expanse. As they have just ascended I wanted to up the stakes a little further than I normally would for a DH campaign, so between that and the location trying to turn the Expanse into a sector seemed the logical step.

I'm always willing to include interesting events from other GM's campaigns to make the game feel more alive, so if anyone fancy's posting up some silly/funny/interesting things there group has got upto in the expanse I'll try and fold them into the campaign background and then post it up here along with a semi-regular campaign diary so your groups can react to the crusade (if that sort of thing interests you) or so you can suggest options for the xenos and anit-crusade forces.

Regards

Surak

I'm not really sure if the Imperium is ever going to take the Koronus Expanse because there are just so many logistical problems involved, in the long run I think it's actually more likely that the warp storms will eventually shift and cut off passage stranding whoever is out there out there. The Calixis sector is already kind of a backwater on the frontier of Imperial Space already, the Imperium can only support so many crusades at a time and it generally focuses them against really imminent threats or perceived threats.

So if a Crusade is ever launched at the Expanse it will probabl;y be in response to a Waaagh originating from Undred Undred Teef but when that Waagh finally happens it's probably just as likely that it'll wipe out a large portion of the Calixis Sector instead making the whole thing moot.

I'm not really sure if the Imperium is ever going to take the Koronus Expanse because there are just so many logistical problems involved, in the long run I think it's actually more likely that the warp storms will eventually shift and cut off passage stranding whoever is out there out there. The Calixis sector is already kind of a backwater on the frontier of Imperial Space already, the Imperium can only support so many crusades at a time and it generally focuses them against really imminent threats or perceived threats.

So if a Crusade is ever launched at the Expanse it will probabl;y be in response to a Waaagh originating from Undred Undred Teef but when that Waagh finally happens it's probably just as likely that it'll wipe out a large portion of the Calixis Sector instead making the whole thing moot.

whilst i agree with you on principle, the main reason I'm planning the campaign is because I think it will make a good, challenging, story for my players.

Regards

Surak

Even though background for Severus Dominion is a story about failed attempt by a Rogue trader at becoming the ruler of an Imperial sector I think the idea sounds plausible.

The real question is wether such a thing is worth the trouble. On one hand it means that the RT loses much of his/her freedom and power as they have to start obeying the Imperial laws. On the other hand it also means that they can stabilise their powerbase and those laws and restrictions also protect them against their rivals. (Although there still are trade wars and backstabbing within the Imperium so it's not a perfect.) Any xenos threats and chaos forces will also have to face the wrath of the Imperium rather than just the troops that the RT dynasty has.

And one thing to remember is that expanding the borders of the Imperium IS one of the main reasons for the Rogue Trader warrant. So even though the rogue trader might have to go against his own interests by doing so they will be pressured into stabilizing the Imperial powerbase in the outer regions. Besides, if a Rogue trader can't make some money by participating in a Imperial crusade then they aren't worth their warrant.

I'd expect a whole lot of opposition. Any other RT who controls considerable resources in the Expanse (Winterscale, Ayspyce Chorda, a few others) will probably not want to have some "upstart" throwing their earnings into chaos by suddenly getting to be in charge. Also, one of the greatest strengths of the Koronus Expanse, in the Rogue Trader sense, is that it isn't a Sector; it doesn't really belong to the Imperium, and their blessed rules can take a long walk off a short pier. So many of the fun, terrlible things you can do there are because you are a Rogue Trader, and OUTSIDE THE IMPERIUM, you can do practically anything you want, whether it's claim a world, hire Harlequins to entertain at your heir's 12th birthday party, or whatever. Once it becomes a Sector, all the Rogue Traders have to leave, so that they can find more "unclaimed" wealth, and stay out from under the Imperium's umbrella. Anyone whose wealth is invested in the Expanse will try to stop you dead.

Trying to take the setting of Only War, and bringing it back into place would be hard, but the Expanse is chalk-a-block full of other powers that don't want to play that game. That said, if you actually attempt it, best wishes and good luck. if you come close, maybe they'll let you try your hand at the Jericho Reach, after that.

I'm not really sure if the Imperium is ever going to take the Koronus Expanse because there are just so many logistical problems involved, in the long run I think it's actually more likely that the warp storms will eventually shift and cut off passage stranding whoever is out there out there.

Okay if we restrict the Imperium's actions to logical ones then they've got ten thousand years of history to explain. Also, the last time the Imperium let a Warp Storm close on an area and waited to see what happened, the Tau were born. It would be interesting if someone came up with the impetus to do this in order to prevent the Rak'Gol from evolving into the next great power in the Galaxy.

Okay if we restrict the Imperium's actions to logical ones

He said logistical, not logical. Big difference.

Okay if we restrict the Imperium's actions to logical ones

He said logistical, not logical. Big difference.

Okay, if we restrict the Imperium's actions to believing that they can read things correctly then they've got ten thousand years of history to explain.

Okay if we restrict the Imperium's actions to logical ones

He said logistical, not logical. Big difference.

Okay, if we restrict the Imperium's actions to believing that they can read things correctly then they've got ten thousand years of history to explain.

Yes but it still does come down to available resources vs pressing problems. If and when the Calixis Sector possesses the military resources to mount such a crusade without external support from neighboring sectors or the Imperium at large and assuming they aren't under attack from some other direction then yes they'll absolutely mount that crusade because that's how the Imperium functions.

Until then though probably not because when Imperial sectors export military force beyond themselves it's either because they're attempting to expand their own holdings or because there's a Waaagh or a Hive Fleet somewhere or because the Traitor Legions have rounded up the rabble in the eye and poured out with it so that they can gradually get their asses kicked yet again after they fail to maintain any sort of cohesion after the first week yet again.

That and considering the Eldar's pretty heavy presence within the Expanse any forming Crusade is going to get seen by their farseers, and when that happens their reaction is going to be fairly predictable to those of us who know the setting well. They'll go to Undred Undred Teef, assassinate two of the three major warbosses/Cap'ns and probably make it look like the Imperium did it....somehow.

I don't think the Orks would care who killed which Warboss. They're not exactly devoted followers. Killing an Ork leader will just force a mini civil war until a new one is "elected" then business as usual.

There are many reasons why a Crusade into the Koronus Expanse wouldn't happen. There happens to be one good one: because the dude's the GM and he wants to make it happen.

In a previous post I highlighted a few key things about the Koronus Expanse while bypassing a pretty major one: The Maw.

That thing is a strategic weakpoint. Yes, warp routes are always precarious things, but access to the Expanse is determined solely by this passage. A passage that is still wracked by warp storms and sudden gusts of aetheric winds to blow ships off course.

The very first step would be to secure this passage somehow. The Ordos don't shirk too much from heretical stuff, you can create a series of missions that will use devices to clear out and stabilize the passage or create new ones.

(In an abandoned DH campaign, I had come up with a device called the Pharos Mirror. It was designed by the Emperor Himself as a fallback for the Astronomicon, should humanity continue to depend on it. Its purpose is to reflect the Astronomicon and act like a smaller lighthouse. Lesser Pharos Mirrors would then reflect that "light" and so on, to make navigation somewhat simpler. The main Pharos itself had the ability to focus the Astronomicon's light to clean up an area of space from warp storms.

Recovering such a relic would stabilize the Maw or allow you to chart new ones.)

The second issue is men and materiel. The Imperium is at war, its factories are hard-pressed, its transports overburdened. This could all be handwaved away if the High Lords of Terra decide to invade and conquer the Koronus Expanse, of course.

But there's another way. What if the Crusade to take Koronus is really just a resource grab to fuel the Achilus Crusade. Going by threats alone, the burgeoning WAAAGH! from Undred-Undred Teef and the Rak'Gol pales in comparison to Tyranids, Tau, and Chaos.

So, instead of an official Crusade, your Ascended group can be sent to harness the Koronus Expanse. The side-effect would be turning it into a Sector as you secure new planets for their material resources as well as their "human resources" as tithes for the Munitorum.

The Expanse is mostly untapped, and with raw resources flooding into Calixis, or better yet, local Koronus factories, they can churn out materiel. A portion would be retained for defense and for a lower-grade Crusade.

Instead of fleets of hundreds of ships of the line, think scattered, patchwork alliances of Rogue Trader fleets who are constantly weighing the benefit of every action. Keeping them together and on point while balancing their influence and keeping them competitive will be a handful. A Rogue Trader civil war (of at least three sides) is certainly possible: Loyalists, Independents, and Opportunists.

I think that's more suited to the Koronus Expanse due to its geography and history.

I'm an Eldar Corsair. I captured your Human ship, and took you and your gear prisoner. Now, either I appeal to your sensibilities/fear, and let you "earn your freedom" by throwing you at the Orks, or appel to your misplaced sense of superiority, and make you think you've somehow outsmarted the inferior xenos. Then, you attack the close by Orks. While I'm being painfully simple, there is easy access to all the stuff they'd need, and Humans are suitably gullible and predictable. If they could point the Orks at the Humans in the War of Armageddon, why not the other way on an at first smaller-seeming scale?

Yeah, the Imperium is often paradoxically huge but underequipped. Their answer to everything is MORE!!! or BIGGER!!!, which is just a slightly different version of MORE!!!, yet their trend to have ships that take a century to build, a limited number of their 1 million planets with the capability, knowledge, and resources to do it, and their always launching so many simultaneous crusades, dividing their forces leaves them with often insufficient forces to take a benighted sector. Look at Jericho? They've been at that for this long, with no real headway, and absolutely no chance of winning (IMO). And, stuff in the Calixis/Koronus/Periphery area is often limited to feed that very Crusade, so until the Angevin Crusade is done, the Imperium won't allow the Calixis Sector to marshall the resources; the Lord Sector will have to divert them to the Jericho meat grinder, literally "throw them against the walls" for no gain, here or there, but that's the Imperium for you.

Jericho is potentially easier. The enemies are known, well known, and relatively obvious. The threats in the Expanse are often veiled, mysterious, and sneaky. Jericho often would have a much more concentrated Battlefleet/Crusade Fleet, where Koronus only has the internecine warring of its various Rogue Traders and the forces Calixis can spare, what isn't defense, scout, or assisting in the fight against the Severan Dominate, or sequestered in Jericho. While I don't want to just say "they write these settings in ways to make sure that they never really end, so that you can forever do more in them", there is a certain truth to it.

I'm not saying the Eldar can't manipulate the Orks to attack the humans. I'm just saying they couldn't give a bent toof about assassinated leaders.

Ork "thought" process: "Dead Warboss? Whoz da next biggest?" Or "Dead Warboss? Me the new boss! WAAAGHH!"

Vengeance won't enter into the mindset of a being that prizes fights. Planting evidence that humans killed some warbosses would simply mean there had been a good fight and many the 'umies would give them good fights as well. I don't know how that would encourage more attacks in the long run.

One of the things that came up for our campaign was the working together of Rogue Traders and Inquisitors. Both have access to massive resources, but, ironically, as a Dynasty's success in a crusade brings more and more order and imperial rule to the area, it also weakens the power of the warrant outside of Imperial space, which increases the power of a Rosette. So, while its important to know which RT's are out there trying to maintain their own rights and holdings, remember all the other power players: Inquisitors, Judges, Cardinals, Admirals and the like that all want to establish power bases and influence in the soon (sort of) to be sector.

Well, while the Imperium certainly won't launch a campaign to the Expanse, it'd still make for a VERY memorable campaign in my opinion, a very long, bloated one, with many side-sections for Deathwatch/Only War/Dark Heresy/Black Crusade one-shots, you could really get the players invested into this campaign, with their choices having a real lasting impact.

Of course, you won't be able to play that setting ever again for Rogue Trader (at least not in that Region of Space) but it could be a nice Setting for a new Dark Heresy campaign.

On the other hand, I'd personally go through the trouble of inflicting repeatedly XD10 Damage on you should this campaign not take two to three years... and dice to the head can be both painful and/or annoying

I'm not saying the Eldar can't manipulate the Orks to attack the humans. I'm just saying they couldn't give a bent toof about assassinated leaders.

Ork "thought" process: "Dead Warboss? Whoz da next biggest?" Or "Dead Warboss? Me the new boss! WAAAGHH!"

Vengeance won't enter into the mindset of a being that prizes fights. Planting evidence that humans killed some warbosses would simply mean there had been a good fight and many the 'umies would give them good fights as well. I don't know how that would encourage more attacks in the long run.

An Ork warlord who lets himself get assassinated is an Ork worlord who isn't worth following. Those humans just proved the need for a better Warlord. Good job 'umies!

The Ork ideology is (in part) an extension of the survival of the fittest to extremes and any Ork that didn't survive isn't going to start a vengence crusade. If anything it will cause the Orks to become more insular as they fight amongst themselves to sort out who is the new boss.

Now if the humans repeatedly attacked the Orks with a lot of firepower (or appeared to do so) then that would probably look like a challenge...

Thank you all for your comments, even the ones telling me I'm basically mad for even thinging of this.

I'm not stranger to long DH campaigns, as our groups first one lasted the better part of three years and at its high point involved 15 players similtaniously! Trust me when I say I'm looking for a source of inspiration for a long campaign.

I quite like the idea of a low-burn crusade simply to feed the Jerico Reach, to the point that I think thats going to be the underlying purpose of my campaign.

As for stabalising the Maw, thanks for the idea, its now going to be the first mission of my group on Saturday night. MY take on it is going to be a little more heretical (they are working under a radical inquisitor - Osrin from the Radicals handbook if anyone is interested) and might involve recovering something from a Tomb-world in the Outer Reach.

Keep the ideas flowing poeple, if anyone has got a cool writeup for a location in the Expanse then post it up and I'll try and integrate it into my campaign (and eventually write it all up as a campaign book)

Regards

Surak

I don't think I was clear enough, I wasn't implying the Orks would be bereaved at the loss of their beloved leader or some such. However they would likely see it first of all as a challenge or an invitation to war, and many could also see it secondly as an insult because "Sassinating is fer pansy gits wot don't do fings proppa!".

The other thing is that no going off of what I read in Edge of the Abyss killing two out of the three would not send the region into a free for all, rather it would expedite a process that's already in motion with the surviving warboss rapidly absorbing the other two hordes into his own. Undred Undred Teef is already on the verge of launching a major Waaagh, there are really only the three major contenders remaining for who is going to lead it.

One important occasion of the Eldar manipulating orks caused the second Armageddon war.

The fluff mentions that the visions that inspired Ghazkull to invade Armageddon had been planted by the Eldar farseers.

Thank you all for your comments, even the ones telling me I'm basically mad for even thinging of this.

I'm not stranger to long DH campaigns, as our groups first one lasted the better part of three years and at its high point involved 15 players similtaniously! Trust me when I say I'm looking for a source of inspiration for a long campaign.

I quite like the idea of a low-burn crusade simply to feed the Jerico Reach, to the point that I think thats going to be the underlying purpose of my campaign.

As for stabalising the Maw, thanks for the idea, its now going to be the first mission of my group on Saturday night. MY take on it is going to be a little more heretical (they are working under a radical inquisitor - Osrin from the Radicals handbook if anyone is interested) and might involve recovering something from a Tomb-world in the Outer Reach.

Keep the ideas flowing poeple, if anyone has got a cool writeup for a location in the Expanse then post it up and I'll try and integrate it into my campaign (and eventually write it all up as a campaign book)

Regards

Surak

CaptainRemiVandigrath has a great thread in the House Rules forum: http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/96604-xenos-empire-generator/

There are some Xenos empire writeups there. But the rules will help you flesh things out, I've been doing the same for our own campaign.