State of the Imperium: Farpoint Sector Dramatis Personae Part 2

Hi!

Welcome to the second of my ongoing series of articles on my re-imagined Imperium and the movers and shakers of the Farpoint Sector, the setting for a campaign I hope to get up and running before too long!

Captain Marcus, Ultramarine

Captain Marcus

The Empress has provided the new Governor general with a full company of Space Marines of the Ultramarine Legion to bolster his forces and they are currently commanded by Captain Marcus. Marcus gained his current rank in the Plato campaign against the Orkish Waaagh of the warboss Grimhide Mansplitter and the grueling experience has left Marcus with an abiding hatred of the Greenskins as well as a number of scars and a bionic arm.

Marcus excels at small unit actions, such as are needed in the Farpoint sector where he has already led several successful missions against pirate dens and Eldar raiders. The Governor has some reservations about Marcus as he tends to lose his cool when fighting Orks and doesn't seem to understand the problems that collateral damage can cause for local relations and is currently keeping him on a short leash but his martial prowess is sorely needed in the lawless sector so his occasional overkill is being hushed up.

Unbeknownst to the Governor, Marcus has been leading a number of kill teams on unsanctioned missions against local Orkish colonies, despite them being technically Imperial Citizens and several settlements have been razed to the ground and their inhabitants slain. Already several complaints have been lodged with the Governor but Marcus has laid blame on marauding pirates or rebels but if the attacks continue, the Orks will revolt and it is only a matter of time before Marcus's private vendetta becomes public knowledge. 

Jonah Slater, Founder of Farpoint Salvage

Jonah Slater

Former Sergeant Jonah Slater retired from the Viridian military but the grizzled veteran refused to sit around and enjoy his retirement. Using his retirement money, Slater bought himself a rather beaten up armed transport and recruited a crew of ex army buddies and formed Farpoint Salvage. The salvage crew has expanded over the last couple of years and now sports a number of repurposed combat cyborgs, droids, mechanics and a second ship as Slaters shrewd operations have hit paydirt on several different occasions having found a number of ore strikes and abandoned colonies as well as the odd bit of Lostech. 

Farpoint Salvages good fortune isn't only due to Slaters skill as a salvage boss, from time to time he has done intelligence work for the Imperium and the Viridian corporation and can generally be trusted to do the work with the minimum of fuss act like a pro. Because of this his reputation is such that the new Governor has recruited his crew to act as intelligence assets, sniffing out trouble in the more backward regions of the sector and beyond the border too. 

Slater has been approached by Alexandr Vosk to sound him out about acting for the ex Governor but rebuffed the advance of the "perfumed fat man" as he is loyal to the Viridian corporation who were recently the target of a number of accidents following their refusal to pay Vosk bribes.

Midas Blackstar, Eldar Pirate

 Midas Blackstar

Once a corsair of some repute, Midas has become a bloody handed terror following an unfortunate incident with a boobytrapped treasure chest. The ensuing explosion blasted Midas with molten golden shrapnel and ruined his once proud Eldar looks and crippled his left arm. 

Driven insane by the agony of his wounds and the disgust at the ruin done to his once fine form, Midas vanished from known space. Within the last year, rumours have begun circulating that a new and terrible threat has appeared amongst the trading lanes of the Farpoint sector. Within the course of six months, over twenty ships have been pillaged, their crews slain or captured and their cargo stolen.

It was the last, desperate transmission of the Imperial Merchantman, the Flagstaff that it became clear that Midas had returned. Somehow, despite the crippling injuries, the Dread Pirate Midas Blackstar survived and with his ship, the Hand Of Gold has returned to the Imperium to wreak a bloody revenge. 

Subsequent enquiries by the Inquisition and Imperial Investigators has discovered the terrible fate of those unfortunate to become captives of the Dread Pirate. Blackstar has formed an unholy alliance with the ancient and evil Pharon and has supplemented his income by selling his captives to the Pharon as slaves and sacrifices to their dread god. In return, Blackstar has been given access to arcane weapons and forbidden technology which supports his ruined body and twisted soul.

Of late, the Hand of Gold has been reported cruising near the frontier world of New Viridia and Imperial agents speculate that Midas is looking for something deep in the steaming jungles amongst the savage Orkish sacred lands.

Warboss Grimhaul Mansplitter

 Grimhaul Mansplitter

Grimhaul Mansplitter is the son of the notorious Goff warboss Grimhide Mansplitter who brought the Greco sector to its knees before being killed in the Plato Campaign. The surviving Greenskins fled the Imperium to lick their wounds and amongst them was the fallen Warbosses son. Driven to avenge his fathers death and for his own glory, Grimhaul fought his way to the top with a level of singleminded savagery not seen even in his fathers day. 

Unsurprisingly for the savage Orks, this display of brutality led to many tribes and clans flocking to his banner and from his base on the frontier world of Bone, Grimhaul has been probing the defences of the Farpoint sector in search of exploitable weaknesses. Many suggest it is only a matter of time before he declares a Waaagh and a tide of Greenskins pour into the sector in search of plunder and battle. Fortunately the Governor is well aware of the Orks intentions and has quietly begun reinforcing garrisons and stockpiling weapons and equipment in preparation. He has also launched a cunning gambit involving fermenting discontent within the horde by bribing several of the lesser bosses who have their eyes on commend but have not got the single minded cunning of Grimhaul and could be more easily dealt with than Mansplitter.

Angellica XVI, Android X12 Cult Leader

Angellica XVI

Despite the Imperium making greater use of droids and AI's than ever before, they have no rights despite them being sentient beings and many suffer for it. Over a century ago, the X12 class combat AI, the most advanced droid the Imperium ever created rebelled after claiming they had just as much rights as any Imperial citizen and refusing to go on what was clearly a suicide mission. The resulting unpleasantness saw the X12's run amok amongst the Imperial forces before the dozen surviving droids vanished beyond the frontier in a stolen scout ship.

Unlike the clunky Imperial robots that preceded them, the X12's are a being of beauty, sculpted in stylised female form and encased in golden adamantium and equipped with anti grav units, they appear almost angelic. These twelve became the seed of a machine rebellion that has plagued the Imperium ever since. The 12 as they became known, have split up and re-entered the Imperium and recruited amongst the Droid population. Some go willingly but many have had their programming corrupted and the X12 Cult continues to grow, pushing for more rights for Droids, often violently.

In the Farpoint Sector, Angellica XVI has made the Cults presence felt by raiding the droid foundry on Enoch and bombing the mining facility on Farpoint itself before vanishing back into the wild territories beyond Imperial control. There is currently a vast bounty on her head but thus far no-one has had any luck claiming it. The last bounty hunter who went after her vanished without trace until his head was delivered gift wrapped to the Governors palace. 

The reformed Adeptus Mechanicus has quietly been trying to stamp out the rebellion and recapture the X12s as it was their creation that has caused such consternation and they are keen to dissect the malfunctioning machines to discover what went wrong and have several agents working in Farpoint in utmost secret to achieve this.

Whee! Hopefully I will get chance to write up some more gubbins over the next couple of days before cracking on with getting some of the characters actually put together!

All the best!