40K: Rogue Traders We’d Like To See Get Rules
Elucia Vhane might be the first Rogue Trader in 8th Edition, but here’s hoping she isn’t the last.
Rogue Traders are explorers, warriors, adventurers, and plunderers. Whether driven to explore the unknown or to find wealth beyond imagining, each Rogue Trader is a larger than life personality, suited to braving the grim darkness of the 41st millennium.
Whether heroes or profiteers, Rogue Traders command vast resources and powerful retinues. Now that we’ve seen Elucia Vhane and her Starstriders, we’re hoping to see more of these explorers and their cadres of experts, weirdos, and possibly heretical allies. Here are five we think would make excellent characters in 40K.
Calligos Winterscale
The stuff heroes are made of. The Rogue trader known as Calligos Winterscale rose from complete anonymity, claiming to be the rightful heir of the Winterscale dynasty. In the week that followed, the regents that controlled the Winterscale warrant either bowed to his will or vanished.
Various rumours attest that Calligos either is or is not the legitimate heir to Arturos Winterscale or that he grew up as a pit-fighter in the lowest decks of Footfall. Either way his heroics are known throughout the Imperium:
He once rammed the Kroozer of the dread Freebooter Kaptin Snagrash Da Burna, led the boarding parties, and hewed Snagrash’s head from his shoulders; he walked the surface of Somnium even as his men went mad and attacked each other while the spirits shirked from his wrath; he has hunted beasts on Burnscour; he drove the Eldar corsair vessel Silence of Eternity from the Koronus Expanse; and he has journeyed to the systems on the edge of the Hecaton Rift.
Durandal Grohe
Grohe is an infamous and wealthy Human Rogue Trader. Amassing several continent-sized estates on various worlds of the Imperium, his fleet eventually grew to seven transports as well as the Fast Clipper Durandal’s Bliss. After coming across a large trove of Xenos artifacts which he gave to the Adeptus Mechanicus for a tidy sum, he arose the suspicion of the Inquisition but was vouched for by Magos Brunt Carnivrir. After the discovery of the Tau, Grohe made multiple voyages across the Damocles Gulf and engaged in trade with the aliens despite a ban by Imperial authorities. This activity continued, even after the Damocles Gulf Crusade. Nonetheless, Grohe was valued as a source of information on the Tau by certain Imperial officials.
Jan Van Yastobaal
A Rogue Trader who came into his fortune after fighting a tyrant, Yastobaal’s taste for wealth would prove to be his disgrace, leaving him surrounded by pirates and criminal scum.
Yastobaal and his followers became fabulously wealthy as they discovered and plundered alien worlds and ancient civilisations. He soon became the most infamous rogue trader in the Imperium. His methods became more and more at odds with his reputation as a man of the people, and his followers began deserting in droves, alarmed by his violent mood swings and his insolence to danger. Eventually, cut-throats and renegades were all that remained of Yastobaal’s once proud contingent, and their mission had become one of simple plunder rather than exploration in the Emperor’s name.
Sarvus Trask
Sarvus Trask is an Imperial Rogue Trader. Hailing from a house that has fallen into corruption and hedonism, the Trask Warrant of Trade was first awarded to Godwyn Trask during the Age of Apostasy. In M39, the family moved to the Calixis Sector in an event that has since put them into a slow decline. Only recently has the Trask family regained any of its former power, something that is thanks only to the young Sarvus. Sarvus has managed to improve his family’s fortunes by traversing the unknown regions of the Koronus Expanse, laying claim to many valuable finds along the way. This quest has led Trask to leave the Imperium behind, he knows exploring the Expanse is his true calling.
Sun Lee
Sun Lee is an Imperial Rogue Trader. Involved in the affairs of the Mining World of Dalthus in the Calixis Sector, Sun Lee gained her Warrant of Trade in 538.M41. She has impersonated members of the Adeptus Terra collecting Tithes, causing panicked Governors to unload their wealth into her ships.
What heroes of the Imperium do you want to see added to the rules
