Adeptus Ridiculous - ROGUE TRADERS: THE UNIVERSE IS YOURS | Warhammer 40k Lore

Episode Date: November 1, 2023

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everyone to another episode of the Adeptus Ridiculous Podcast. My name is D.K. Diomontes, his name is Bricky, and oh boy, 40K, man-made horrors beyond our comprehension. But before we get into today's episode, if you enjoy the episode, consider maybe supporting us at patreon.com slash adeptus Ridiculous, where you can get access to our Discord, bloopers if they happen. The $15 tier gets you access to all of our HD posters in digital format without the watermark. So, consider the following. Patreon.com slash adeptus ridiculous. Bricky has

vital information for your daily life now. Vital information. Vital. It is paramount to your survival. I wanted to give a giant thank you to each and every one of you who purchased the fantastic Halloween merchandise. And also happy late Halloween

take as the first of November. So yesterday it was Halloween. Yay! Yeah, nice. Good stuff. But I wanted to thank all of you so much for that. Everything is no longer available except for the awesome little hat as well as the

little Lord Tea. If you want to still pick those up, those are sticking. And the posters, of course. And the mats are still on sale. Also, for those of you who do not remember or do not see the music of the third training card game mats were restocked. They are available.

Grab them because they look really, really good. Hell yeah, bro. They look spicy. And we are going to be doing our book club on Eisenhorn, most likely this week. Though I've got some scheduling stuff, so it might be the next week. But regardless, it will be happening very soon. So finish up the book. It's time to finish the book.

And we'll get talking about it. We haven't forgotten. I still have a couple hours left on it, though, to be fair. So I kind of sort of did forget a little bit. Better late than never. Yeah, yeah. he's a good one. All right.

DK. Unfortunately for you, we are... Don't say it. Please tell me you don't have a quote again. We're back to quotes, buddy. We're back to quotes. It's all...

No. You had your reprieve for a bit of time, but... Oh, no. All right. All right. No, I... Look, if you acquiesce defeat, you've already lost. I'm gonna...

I'm gonna slam dunk this. It's gonna be an absolute win. He says as karma just rears back and... loads up a right hand. How dare you use words like acquiesce in my presence? You know I don't know what that means. That's true. You never seen Kill Bill?

So it's a quote from it where she's like, oh, I can't do it. And she's like, oh, you fail because you acquiesce defeat, you know? You don't accept it, you know? I have seen Kill Bill, but then this makes up for every quote that, never mind. Yeah, just give me the quotes so I can screw it up and make everyone look smarter by comparison. Well, you gotta beat me for that title. All right. I just give me a quote.

I claim this world in the name of the emperor of man and his imperium. I bring justice and truth for the loyal, punishment and death for the guilty, and the spoils I take by my own hand. Hmm. All right, so this is a loyalist chapter. Correct. Well, loyalist something. Loyalist something true. And the spoils they take for themselves, huh? That's the kicker of the quote, yeah. I mean... The first part is any goddamn Imperium person.

It is. It is. So they sound kind of almost like pseudo-pirates, you know, where... I'm just going to shot in the dark it and say, because we still need to do the space wolves, that maybe it's the space wolves, because they're like kind of Vikings, kind of... They kind of do be doing a little raiding.

and they are very loyal and would never turn on biggies. So I'm going to guess the space wolves. No. No. It's not the space wolves. Well, all right. Well, tell me who it is then. We're doing a fun episode today.

One of those favorite episodes where it's less about specifics and a lot more about ideas. The rogue traitors. Oh, well, that's not even. That's man The spoils I take For my own hands Yeah Yeah

True, true True, true And I guess the rogue Traders would be very loyal To the Emperor, wouldn't they? Well, yeah, they're Imperial sanctioned Explorers among other things

Yeah, I had it too in my head That this was going to be a space marine thing So Well, hey, look on the bright side I was right. I screwed it up. You did play the video game. I did, and I'm looking forward to playing it. When does it come out? December 3rd.

December 3rd. Oh, that's close, actually. It is. About a month. I lose my life to that game. I think I might do the same. It is rare that I am ever excited about a 40K game. I am normally very hard on them, but this one actually looks like it might be very good.

Question is, are you getting the big wifu statue? Yeah. Hell yeah, brother. Let's go.

But, yes, Rogue Traitors, a fun episode because, where I do sometimes struggle with

getting hyper-specific details, I do like the ones where we can just discuss the overall

concept of them. Now, for those of you, viewers who are old heads, and

and don't like don't expect anything from like the 1990s John Blanche rogue trader kind of content because 40K started out as just rogue trader I was going to say I actually knew that I don't remember when I learned that

but yeah it started out as rogue trader and then it became 40K well shy says she's found an entire PDF for rogue traders in extreme detail and forgot to send it to me. So maybe we'll have a follow-up episode one day to kind of go through more hyper specifics. So we all goofed today. We've all done a little, a little bit of goofing. We got a little too silly. Oh, man, we're just silly little guys. Is that what you're saying? We committed the crime of being a little, a little silly and a little little little. Mr. Electric, they're just a little silly. Mr. Electric, cremate this man. He's just a little silly.

But anyway, yes, so the rogue traders were actually one of the way, oh, G, first edition things. If you'd love to, I mean, look at this artwork, just like, like, oh. Oh, yeah, dude. That is, that is peak old GW. It is, it is just like classic old Warhammer style. I mean, I like the new, darker and grungier artwork, but you got to appreciate the old John Blanche style art. I mean, he built the foundation of 40K as a style. So what year was this that this came out?

Because this must have been the, what? The 90s? 90s. I was going to say, for the time, it was probably pretty great. Like, people would probably see this in the 90s and be like, whoa, look at the art, right? Oh, God. 187 Oh

Woo Yeah All right All right All right All right Yeah pretty good Yes

But wow That is that's old That's old stuff But yes So it was not discussing The old gaming of Rogue Traitor The old play style It's discussing what rogue traders

Generally are Yeah Yeah Yeah honestly probably already have a somewhat better idea than most of our topics because you have played the game. I have. Or at least like some of the game because it's beta.

I got to be honest with that was a long time or it feels like a long time ago. And there's a not a lot about the story and stuff that I really remember. Oh, that's fine. The story of the game rogue trader is very different than rogue traitors. So a rogue trader is a like five. different things all at once. It generally depends on the type of rogue trader. The thing that is the most important and the most to know is that out of anybody in 40K, if I had, because no, no one ever wants to live in Warhammer because it's the worst thing imaginable. But if there was ever

a singular person where you would say that it is worth to live as, and it's the job you would want. It's either maybe like a planetary governor or like some high level aristocrats or a rogue trader. It is one of the only positions in all of Warhammer

where you are almost basically free. Wow. Yeah, that's you want that. You definitely want that. You definitely, hmm. Yeah. You are basically a

sanctioned explorer merchant conquistador if you'd like mercenary pretty much anything sanctioned by the Imperium to go out and do with what you must handle

it is like it's like the Inquisition where you basically are like you have unlimited power but the difference is that instead you still are underneath the Inquisition It's you have almost unlimited power and can do whatever you feel like. Yeah, I was going to say, it sounds a lot like the Inquisition in the sense that you flash that inquisitorial rosary.

And it's like, that's your free fast pass to get whatever you want. That is your get out of jail free card. That's your license to kill. That is your everything. And it kind of sounds like rogue traders are very similar. They have their own kind of acquisitorial rosette, which is known as the warrant of trade. It is the most important thing that any rogue trader will ever have in their possession. A warrant of trade is literally a sanctioned document warrant from Terra that says,

fuck around and find out. Also, it's just a piece of paper. Like, they don't have, like, a, like, a medallion or, like, the Inquis-Zo. Inquisition has their rosette or whatever it's called. Rosette, yeah. Rosette. I said rosary, whatever. Maybe they wear it on a necklace.

It's fine. They do sometimes. It's just a piece of paper. That ain't, well, I guess anybody could steal the rosette too, but. I mean, it's a piece of paper signifying more than anything. It's like having, I don't know, like the deed to your house. Like, you have it as a piece of paper, but like you're still, you still own the thing. Fair.

It's not like someone just steals a warrant of trading. Like, oh my God. my permissions. Like there's backups and etc. Okay. But the the warrant of trade is the legal document that allows for the operations of the rogue trader.

Often it's a charter and often it's hereditary. Rogue traders very, very frequently come from a long lineage of dynasties, families and houses. Rogue traders can often be

spoiled rich kids. Oh, you can be born into being a rogue trader? I mean, you're born into the house of like a rogue trader. Yeah. And then eventually, like, the rogue trader, you know, because I think in the video game, your superior, the rogue trader dies. And you take up the warrants of trade.

Right, that's true. Yeah, yeah, they do die and you do take up their sort of office. Right, right. So with that, you basically have been given free range to do whatever you like so long as of course it serves the Imperium. The Inquisition is still above you as is the Lords and Terra

and all that kind of jazz but the job of a road trader is specific enough to the point where it requires full autonomy which is naturally the rogue traitors job is to explore

and and explore, settle, trade you know, create diplomatic discussions. Honestly, it's anything that can help serve the Imperium and expand its reaches across the galaxy.

You are an explorer. You are full stop and explorer. Okay. Just exploring on behalf of the Imperium, you know. Just a more gentle version of the Inquisition that's looking to make connections and trade and, oh, better the Imperium.

We're not the evil. Well, the Inquisition isn't evil, but you get the idea. So, Shia has a great quote here. which is the warren of trade and a starship to enforce it. These are the critical tools for a rogue trader. Without the former, he is merely a renegade. Without the latter, he is a forsaken drifter doomed to an anonymous death. Ooh, that is a good quote.

I like that. You need both. And I mean, you know, we all are mass effect heads in here. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. A specter is not too far from the concept. Obviously, you do more, but like the specter is more of a council. Soul's military mercenary.

Yeah. Whereas a rogue trader is definitely meant to be an explorer, an explorer. Okay. Okay. Sure. Way back. Specter is more, Specter leans more towards soldier, really, right?

It's more military, yeah. Yeah. Granted, everyone in 40K has a militaristic attitude, but... That's true. You kind of have to be a little bit of a soldier in 40K. Otherwise, ooh. So rogue traders went, back all the way

back towards the Great Crusade. And the reason for Rogue Traders was basically a scouting individual. Big E had a giant fleet of Mechanicus and Astardis and they needed to go there, but obviously, go to a place.

But obviously, as is the problem when you are having enormous amounts of troops and ships, the logistics take a long while, you go slow. And so because of this, they hired different kinds of scout people that would go out and check the area first before the giant fleet would arrive.

Oh, okay. So essentially the rogue trader started out as like scouting parties to make sure that, you know, no unforeseen stuff happened. And it was like, oh, yeah, this little area, it's good for settling. You're not going to run into any Zeno. You're not going to run into the armies of chaos here. We're good. We're good.

You can bring in the ships. The emperor can come here if he wants. We're good. Or, better yet, it's we're going to fight this enemy Zenos or something. We believe this area's hostile. Go out, find their numbers, map it, and then come back. Okay. That being said, very often this would lead the individuals of the rogue traitors

because they're so much faster with their ship or small contingent of ships that once they got there, you know, you're going out into uncharted space. Dangerous job, huh? Really dangerous job. You generally have no clue what's on the other side of that. Yeah, because you're the scouting party, so you could run into unknown Xenos and just get obliterated. Or a warp rift or God knows what.

Yeah, it's 40K. You could run into any number of untold horrors beyond your comprehension and just get swallowed into oblivion. Not to mention the fact that the, that travel isn't the safest thing in general either. That's true, yeah. Just traveling in 40K is very dangerous, sure. So basically, because of that,

often when the rogue trader would arrive in a system and when they would come back, they would always be a little more ramshackle because they're on their own. They are completely on their own. They need to make emergency repairs. They might plunder a space. They might steal artifacts.

Sometimes they might need to commandeer special ships. So sometimes a rogue trader will return, and it'll be their craft, a random, like, naval craft they had to take over, maybe like some Zenos artifacts they needed to get on the other side, like whatever, and this is back in 30K, so Zenos artifacts were not like the worst, like the worst thing on the planet like they are now. I was going to say, isn't that a smidge bit harassed?

Aren't there a few people in the Imperium that would be very, very unhappy with them bringing Xenos artifacts? But yeah, if it's 30K, then it's a little more acceptable, especially if you're a rogue trader too. And they were just like, yeah, I just, I needed to do this. There's an interesting hypocrisy that goes along with the Imperium where the higher up you get into the general ranks of the Imperium itself. The more of the rules don't matter. Like, the Caledus assassin has a Necron phase sword, for God's sake. This is true. This is true.

But darn, they use it well for their assassin duty, so we'll let it slide, right? Yeah, like, the custodians are not people who are like, oh, heresy. They just kind of do their thing, you know? So, and, you know, God, the fact that the emperor was making a Webway, an Eldar Tech thing, would probably send people into spirals. Yeah, if the general populace knew what the Webway actually. actually was and how he got the idea for it. It's true, true. And I mean, the inquisitors, for example, can sometimes use the help of, like, demon hosts.

It's the radicals, right? Yeah, the radical acquisitors are, can be a lot more, you know, and like sanctioned demon hosts for the retinue. And it's like, oh, you, all right. Yeah. But yes, rogue traders are arguably the number one most the rules don't apply to me people. Does even inquisitors have to submit to a Lord inquisitor or something? A inquisitor not only can speak to aliens, they can attempt diplomacy with aliens. Is what shy said true?

She said, in modern 40K, war on a trade permit's rogue traders to interact with any culture, while a regular citizen will get shot for saying the Tao exists? Is it, do regular citizens, if they're like, oh, yeah, I saw some blue Tao and they sure were, oh man, I hope the Imperium wipes the Mount. Don't get shot for that? I mean, shot is, I mean, is a little hyperbolic. I mean, obviously if a guardsman was like,

I fought the Tao, they'd be, they wouldn't be like, oh, don't speak of this. But, no, like, yeah, 100, 100%. Okay, okay, okay. But the point, though, specifically is that they can do this kind of stuff. They can

go out and talk to various kinds of cultures and other, specific races and attempt this kind of diplomacy because you think about what a rogue trader is designed to do. You're given a warn of trade, and your job is to, because like, God, I looked this up before, but solar systems in the Milky Way. That's a couple, just a few, one or two, here or there.

Just a little solar system. Right. So there's like a couple. There's a few. Okay. All right. Yeah, a few. Please tell us what the spectrum of a few is on a galactic level. Like, it's thousands upon thousands upon thousands. I was going to say, there are like untold amounts. And that's in one galaxy. That's in just the Milky Way galaxy, whereas the rogue traders can. can go to like any galaxy they want far and away, light speed, warp speed, whatever. No, they actually don't ever leave the, so the Milky Way is between 100 and 400 billion stars.

100 to 400 billion stars and God knows how many planets that might be orbiting said stars. But no, 40K exists entirely in the Milky Way. Remember because the Tirenuts come from the dark space between galaxies? Why did I think that there were multiple galaxies? I guess because in my head I was like, oh yeah, if the Imperium, has billions of planets surely they've got to be on a bigger scale than

just the Milky Way and I guess dumb brain does dumb smooth brain thing and yeah well that's the funny part is that the Imperium constantly boasts a million worlds a million worlds and the Milky Way galaxy consisting of

100 to 400 billion stars you know and the amount of planets that can go with that means that there is always an unscharted area. Yeah. And so the reward for charting this out is insanity. Like you could be a rogue traitor and you go out to, you know, go into different kinds of

star systems and try to find something there. Next thing you know, you discover a night world. In old school, like night world, like all the others that you can then assimilate to the Imperium. Next thing you know, you have an entirely new nighthouse in service. to mankind. And that that's like insane the power that that

gives. Yeah, that is that would be pretty crazy. So, you know, that kind of stuff, I think is where it really starts to get kind of crazy with the importance of what a rogue trader's got to go do.

Oh yeah, definitely. Yeah. Like, they expect, they do expect results. They want you to do so. They want you to chart out space. They want you to, or you'll find a world. Like, oh my God, this world is literally made of adamantium. Hey, what's up, what's up, ad mech, how you doing?

I bet you like this. Imagine if you just found literally a floating planet-sized ball of adamantium. Yeah, like the admec would cream their servos for that. You might become the new Omnisiah in their eyes if you did that. And then, you know, it's not just that stuff, but like you might. might run into an Eldar race on like a garden world or something and there might genuinely

be a point where you need to strike a deal with them one not to kill each other and two to share the resources from this area or like you take yours will take ours or sometimes knowledge I mean shit knowledge alone

like the Eldar know a lot of stuff you could ask them about X or Y and then you have to parse if they're silver tongue Zeno else is telling the truth, but knowledge is power. Also, I was wondering, are Zenos, like, say the Tao and Eldar, are they more receptive to a rogue trader than if, like, I don't know, just like an imperial navy ship showed up. They'd probably be on, like, super high alert. But if they got a message from someone's like, yeah, I'm a rogue trader, here's my

warrant of trade, they probably wouldn't be like, oh, God, we have to open fire, kill it, kill it, kill it, it's Imperium, kill it, right? They'd be more receptive to a rogue trader, wouldn't they? Depends on how much they know about it. I'd say, definitely Kraft World, definitely Tao. Leagues of Voton, 100%. Yeah. Orcs, good luck. Yeah, there's,

orcs don't really do the whole talking and negotiating thing very well. Necrons wouldn't even speak to you. They would just kill you immediately. Well, yeah, like chaos wouldn't, obviously. Yeah, like you said, the necrons just don't like humans in general. And, yeah. I mean, orcs do work with rogue traders sometimes, but normally whatever the rogue trader gives them, the orcs then turn on them.

because that's just what orcs do. Oh, right, because you told me a story about like a, like, there were orc mercenaries that would work with the humans, and then as soon as the job was done, they would immediately turn on the humans or something. Orcs will almost always work with humans to get bigger guns, and then eventually use those guns to hit the humans back. Fair enough, that is very orc. Sure, sure.

Yeah, it's very classic orc life. Got to get that big shooter. But, you know, there are all kinds of other possibilities that can come with. Like worlds for settlement. It's always important. A habitable world that can now, you know, have new colonies. There's exploration is a huge part of it. But there's also just the mercantile stuff.

You know, because there's like port cities in random locations of just regular ass humans in or fancy planetary governors. And that fancy planetary governor may have found. the funny green box. And the funny green box is actually like a necron hollow field that makes it so that if anyone shoots anything at you, you can teleport away and be amazing at everything. And it's like, well, hello, I'm Mr. Rogue Trader. I would like to buy your funny green box because that is so good. Yeah, that is tech you definitely want.

And at the very least, even if you don't plan on using it's like, well, now someone can't use this against the imperial. and we can at least safeguard it and, you know, put it under the golden throne and make sure it's well guarded. Not to mention a rogue trader as someone who hails from a lineage and has someone who hails from a dynasty, is very concerned with getting really rich. They are traders after all, so you got to make a little money, too, sure. Rogue traders care a lot about being fabulously wealthy. they want the fanciest drips they want the most gear they want the coolest artifacts and they want

everyone to know about them i was how many uh how many rogue traders get a little too greedy and a little too big for their britches and maybe go a little corrupt oh that happens i was going to say it probably happens kind of often maybe how many like really honest and good rogue traders are there? Well, so Shai makes a good point. When you find something really rare, do you give it to the Imperium

or do you keep it to yourself? You know, like, do you utilize this thing for yourself? And in a sense, you make a good point, but if you're a rogue trader and you start going out into uncharted space, if you're not up for the task,

you'll be dead right quick. Very true. You'll be dead in a lot of, a couple expeditions, maybe. Rogue traders worth their salt are good at their jobs, even if they are wealth-seeking assholes. Yeah, they kind of have to be. I guess it's another one of those jobs where, like, if you're an old rogue trader,

you're probably pretty scary because you have seen untold horrors in your long life and that you're still alive to talk about it is, you know, you're probably a pretty skilled person. Do you remember that guy we talked about in the Blackstone Fortress things? Janice Drake, the guy with the cool eye patch, the monocular and like the beast wrapped around his back? Yeah, actually, I do vaguely remember that, sure. Yeah, and he was documenting all the weird and crazy things, right? Yeah, he was documenting all of the crazy Zenos he saw on the Blackstone Fortress. Yeah, and wasn't the Pelt literally one of those crazy things that?

he found and killed or something? Yep. Because, you know, he hunted the big game and he himself had a crew on his team, remember? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, he did. Also, such a cool pelt. It is a really cool pelt. Damn. The guy looks really awesome, but he himself, like most rogue traders, are super greedy assholes,

but they're also, like, really competent. It's the kind of guy who talks to talk and walks the walk. Oh, scary combination. So, for example, he himself, you know, like you look at his drip, for example. He's got this cool pipe and everything, but he has this fancy, fancy, like, force laser sword. I think that little monocle is actually like a laser beam as well. Oh. Tons of times the rogue traders have digital weapons, as in the little finger rings that are lasers and stuff.

I still can't get over literal ditty. digital. Digits. It's their digits. It's a laser in their finger. I can never get over that. This lady is actually pretty cool because she has a laser rapier, like mono thing like that. I mean, look at the drip.

I mean, goddamn. Oh, that she is so cool. Oh, my God. Yeah. Like, that is the kind, like, that little flowy thing of silk is probably some L-Dor Made in World Export Silk or something that costs like a regiment of guardsmen to buy.

Whoa, that is, look, that's got to be peak drip. Like, it doesn't get a whole lot better than that. It's really cool. Agree. That rapier is really sick, too. Oh, yeah, the little hyperlacer. Yeah, oh my God. Sheesh.

So, while they are servants to the Imperium and all that stuff, they want to get theirs. Like that adamantium ball I mentioned. It's like, yeah, Admec, you are going to pay me for the location of it. Yeah. And handsomely. Yes, I will receive a handsome reward for my various deeds. And I also expect to be put in like a local paper and everyone will know about how great I am.

they might give him a literal planet for that. They might just be like, yes, this planet is now yours. Congratulations. This is planet you. You can't really be, you can't really be sedentary, though. Being nomadic is a thing that traders just do. Yeah, yeah. But that kind of goes into the different kinds of traders there are.

A lot of them tend to specialize in a certain part of their field. There's the one that Shai posted up a little bit, the really wide dude with the big sword and the red and the gold. Oh, yeah, yeah. He is like, will be like a scoundrel. The road... No, certainly not him. Scoundrel? No, no. He looks so upstanding and genteel. He is the classic, like, Han Solo scoundrel. He gambles, he drinks. He tries to turn every situation into his own gain while still serving the Imperium. Okay. So, you know, he might, he might be the kind of guy who goes to a planetary governor and tells him play.

play me in a game of cards if you're so damn cool and if you lose I get to take your best bodyguards for my ship Ooh and then he swindles and cheats at the card game Because he wants it Yep, exactly There's the merchant prince

Which is a fun archetype It is not through violence or anything But entirely contract Oh, okay All about making contracts They are the logistic road trader. They make, they supply lines. They do deals.

They're a little close to mafia boss sometimes. Okay. So they're not exactly like the soldier type that's going to go in guns blazing or anything. They're just going to strike up a contract and just go about business. These are, yes. They create networks of profit. They create lines and trading rights between. people. Sometimes they're actually just really good political negotiators.

Oh, yeah. Where it's like, hey, I really want to make sure that planet A, who hates planet B, shares their resources, and this will be the person to get in between. Right, right. And I imagine since they're always writing up contracts, they would naturally be very good at negotiations and maybe making negotiations tilt a little heavily in their favor. Sometimes the best contract is the one that's forced to be signed. Well said, well said.

That sounds like a quote actually from 40K. It does, doesn't it? Yeah, that sounds like something a 40K person would 100% say. You have the Explorer, which is the most of explanatory. They are the simple, it's fun to push the boundaries of the imperial space. I want to see what's their. There, what's next? Probably the most dangerous job for the rogue trader to have.

One of the most difficult. Yeah. Going into the unknown in 40K when the warp exists and the Xenos exist is a tricky proposition. Alien, aliens, alien beasts, all kinds of nightmarish things out in the middle of nowhere. Literally nightmare space popping up out of nowhere. Not to mention, you got to be really good at sharp. because if you're spending all your time popping in and out of the warp, you've got to make sure warp travel is acceptable.

That the tides of the Sea of Souls aren't going to really cause you problems. Yeah. There are some other interesting ones, though. Now, granted, this is the Imperium, and some rogue traders are missionaries. Their job is to send out the imperial truth and allow for the God emperor of mankind to prolific and every, or, um, proficient. Prolific? Whatever. Everywhere.

Yeah, yeah. The ubiquitous God, Emperor. Yes. Establish the religion in places. They may not have the religion. An old human settlement far away from the Imperium. And they need to be brought the gospel. Ah, yes, of course. They, every rogue traitor is a silver-tonged devil, but the missionaries are often the same,

but with a bit more of a zeal to them. Ah, gotcha. I was going to say, like, you would think every rogue trader would be a little bit of a missionary trying to spread the good word of the emperor, but I guess that's sort of the main appeal of a missionary, right? Like, they'll do all the trading and stuff, but it's like the main thing is like, no, no, spread the good word. That, and they also will refuse to work with Zenos very often.

I guess that makes sense, yeah. Then there's the diplomat. the one who is all about relations. Less about the merchants inside of things, but just making sure everyone is on the same page and happy. They often consider themselves to be the most pragmatic and will work with Eldar and Tao and the like very often. Well, they are diplomats, so they probably would have to.

Some have gone as far as to earn such amount of trust that they have stepped foot on the craft worlds of the Eldar before. Wow. Which is... That's kind of a big deal, isn't it, for a human to step foot on a craft world? It's enormous deal. The Eldar do not like when that happens. I was going to say, like, you have to have an absolutely, like, insane level of trust with the Eldar for that one.

Oh, damn. What, like... Both sides. What could you possibly do? to like even gain that kind of trust. Hey, if you, there is a galaxy of horrors. Who knows, you could have assisted them fighting off chaos.

You could have attrated important resources. Who knows? There is always a thing. You found and been like, hey, you might want this. Yeah, you never know. And then lastly, the last one is the most humorous, I'd say. some rogue traitors just fall off the deep end and they become absolute psychopaths.

Yeah, I could see that because no matter which one of these you're under, it's a tough job. And I'm sure you are prone to a little bit of the old psycho. And so sometimes they'll just want to do their own thing. I really want to go and this planet I am going to take over because it's an old feudal world

and they have no resources to defeat me. So this is now my planet and I am going to be king here. So what you're saying is there a rogue rogue traitor? No, not necessarily. They're still sanctions. Okay. I mean, look at Inquisitors.

True. True. That's true. Inquisitors very often go off the deep end and nobody knows about it until it's like, oh, that's chaos that you've cited. Oh, well, gee whiz, now we have to do something. That's true.

They can be considered renegade rogue traders, but if you're still bringing stuff back to the Imperium, one bombed world isn't much. I love how just cavalier. We are about, ah, one bomb world, not a big deal, as long as you're still supplying the Imperium with goods. What's one lost world? Fine, have your little kingdom.

Sometimes those rogue traders will just I mean, yeah Yeah, I mean it's 40K Like that's not even the craziest thing that would ever happen, right? No, God, no, not in the slightest. Not even remotely close to the worst thing that could happen. So, for the most part, that's kind of the different ways rogue traders tend to make their way.

There are like other variations And to an extent, they all kind of bleed into each other a little bit. a diplomat and a merchant prince and, you know, could be also a smuggler and explore. Like, like, you know, they're all very flamboyant personalities. So, they could all become,

God knows what. Yeah, like, you don't necessarily as a rogue shirt I have to fall into just one of these categories, right? Oh, yeah, no, definitely not. They all bleed. Just sometimes you might specialize in a certain one, because it's just more fun that way. Yeah, sure, sure. You know, there's actually some,

rogue traitors that you can have on the tabletop. They're a bit of older minis, but they were called the Lucidian Star Striders. Ooh, what a name. I like that. They're an interesting, their minis

are a bit old, but they were contacted by Gilliman after the Great Rift and to find new non-corrupted worlds for the Imperium to colonize. And immediately, the main rogue trader, her name is oh my god, so difficult.

Elusia Vane because Eucidian Elusia. Elusia Vane was like, first off, how much will I be paid? And then she agreed, took a small fleet of ships and started searching for new worlds.

They had a problem with the Geller Field and Nurgle took them over. It was like a little smaller mini game where you play as the Norgle and then the rogue traders and stuff. Oh, that's no fun. for them. But for the most part, it's kind of neat to see all

of the interesting, like, quasi-gear they all have. For example, the rogue trader herself has a giant, like, green feather on her head. Here's the picture. She's the one in the center.

She has a big old green feather, and she has a corset that has a refractor field in it. So she has a force field to keep self alive. So cool. Very flamboyant.

I believe she has a dark age of technology pistol as well. Old school just really high-powered pistol. And so, you know, they make their way out. That's like one of the rogue traders' entourage. They kind of go through. They have a little squad of bodyguards and the rest. And they are dripped out, though. Rogue traders are always so dripped out.

They're covered in drip. That's like half their thing. Rogue traders are so cool. God. You need to be dripped if you're going to show people that you're worth something. And boy, they do show it off. Like that plume on the helmet that you mentioned, sheesh. And that pistol's bigger than her freaking arm.

Yeah, it's a big gun. That's crazy. Like, how does she even lift that? Anyway. So along with this, of course, a rogue trader will often, have a ship. Well, not often. They have a ship. They need a ship. They have to, yeah. And the ship can vary in size, but as we know, most ships are also, like, thousands of crew because of the lower decks and the guns and the rest of that kind of stuff. Yep, you need a crew

just to load the guns, right? Get the bullet in there. The gun gangs. Yeah. But they might have, like, their own personal entourage, but they do have themselves their full-on crew. And sometimes it's not just one ship. Sometimes it has multiple ships on their group. Of course, the more ships you have, the slower you become, but the more ships you have, the more powerful you are. Sometimes rogue traders often just like have an army. Well, yeah, I could see that. I mean, they have an obscene amount of money and their job is very, very important. So, I mean, I could see them needing a big old battalion, a big old battalion, a big old fleet to help them out.

So yeah, that tracks. Sometimes they literally have multiple regiments of Imperial Guard just in their ship. Yeah. Like tanks, everything. You know? Yeah, I mean, that what they're doing

is super important, especially if they're like the explorers or whatever and they're going into unknown space and it's like, well, if we run into something that's hostile, I'm going to need a few people. So, yeah, that makes sense. Hey, you'll need some, you'll need some groups and sometimes you might go to a new planet and the human population there just isn't

really stoked with your rogue traitor world and tells you just to piss off. And so you land your ship and you deploy your tanks and you take the world by force. Yeah, for the imperium, for the emperor. Sometimes you got to wage war. Yeah, you know, 40K most of the time. You do need a little war. Just a little war. Just a little war. Just a little human planet that doesn't want to sign itself over to the end. Just a little war. Just a little war will fix that. And, you know, it does often. A little bit of war does help.

And it'll often help to get them what they need. Hell, I mean, often a lot of a lot of rogue traders, no a lot, sorry, a couple of rogue traders have at times made packs deals with certain Astardis chapters and been like,

what's up, Raven Guard, here's a whole bunch of stuff to help you recruit more people. All I ask is that when we need you, you can give us a contingent of strike Marines for a problem. And then they might call upon that favor. Next thing you know, rogue traitors got a squad of space marines helping them out with their, whatever they're doing. And do you know, that can happen. I mean, I guess in my head I was like, oh, you know, they could never get the Astardis because like you can't buy an Astardis, but it's like, well, you're a rogue trader, you're for

the Imperium. They know you're for the Imperium. Space Marines are, you know, they're super soldiers, but they're still people that need stuff. And if you give them the right stuff, sure, they'll help you. They'll send a few troops your way for the right price. Sure, yeah. And sometimes not even just the right price. Sometimes it's the right cause. The right cause, especially.

And yeah, you get a Space Wolf as a, as a companion in the New Rogue Trader game. Oh, yeah, you do. Was that in the beta? or was that just in the trailer? Because I didn't get to that point in the beta if it was there. I don't think you get the... I don't think you get the... I didn't play the beta very much.

I wanted to save it for the full game. Yeah. I know it was in the trailer, but yeah, I don't think you got there in the game. Or in the beta. Yeah, the, uh, and you do get... An Eldar, too, right? Yep.

There is an Eldar, there's an Eldar Ranger. There is a Jukari. Which is... I want the Jukari. Fascinating. That's a little heretical too, but whatever, bro. There's a lot of fascinating characters you can bring to your entourage because the rogue trader needs the right group.

Without the right group, he will fail very quickly. And, you know, they got that silver tongue to them. They know who to bring on. In the game, you have, oh, yeah, shyest correct. The Jukari is romancible, both for the male and female. I have nothing wrong with that But yeah, I mean Oh, I know, but of course

Romanceable Drucari is just like All right, what exactly does that Drucari consider romancing me Because Ouch I have heard I have heard that it is A little screwed up

No kidding You're telling me that romancing a dark Elf Who their entire existence is, man, I need to cause more pain and suffering so that Slanesh doesn't eat my soul. You're telling me romancing that is a little out. No, Brit.

Yes. No, no, sir, please. At this time of the year, at this part of the country, localized entirely within your kitchen. But no, the general, you know, I mean, look at the game in general. of characters is what? To Eldar, a space wolf,

a sister of battle, an astropath, an unsanctioned psycher, an Imperial Navy, like, a general or admiral, a sanctioned inquisition cyker and like a tech priest. It's far and wide.

It really is. Who you have on your team is entirely will they listen to you? Can you control them? and how helpful will they be? Turns out, Mr. Janice Drake, going through the Blackstone Fortress, found it incredibly useful to have a crout with them

because he could eat things and tell him information. Yeah, yeah. You need the right team for the right job, sure. Also, even after saying all that, I'm romancing the Jerkari, by the way. Oh, God damn it. 100%. The sister of battle is not romancible.

That kind of makes sense, actually. That makes, that kind of makes sense. It's, it's very unfortunate, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go hop on to the, the astrapath. No, no, no, there is a- Really? You're not gonna find a mod? Come on, it's on PC. There is a, um, uh, what is it? Uh, there's like a smuggler scoundrel lady who I think is kind of neat. So I'm gonna go with, I'm gonna go there. Okay, okay. Sounds good, sounds good. I'm really looking forward to that. Yeah, that's her. Yeah, she looks cool. Got the robot arm and everything.

All right. Okay, well, I mean, you've convinced me a little bit that maybe there are other ways other than the Dracari, you know? Have I? Well, no, whatever. You're going to bang the navigator. I know you are. I mean, so, look, I literally don't even know what the Dracari looks like. I'm just saying that because I don't know, it sounds funny and it sounds weird and all that.

He looks pretty cool. Yeah, he does look pretty cool. He does look pretty cool. But I don't know. The, the, the, the, the, the, the, the Ranger looks pretty good, actually. I don't know. All right. We'll see.

We'll see. We'll, we'll have, we'll, when you have, when you get through your hundred hour play through and you make your decision, we'll figure it out. Um, but anyway, uh, so, I guess last but not least, there's a question, where are rogue traders come from? And there's, uh, there's a lot of places. Uh, there are, obviously, it's a lineage, of course. But, but not every rogue trader is a lineage.

Some rogue traders come from or are newly appointed. Often you might get a planetary governor or an imperial commander that's just like, this person handled this planet so well that they are going to go off and go do it more with other planets and stuff. You might have, say, a really high ranking member of the Imperial Guard who is just fantastic service as a Lord General. and is making their way into newer and more interesting aspects of the service. There's the Navus Imperialis, which is the classic Imperial Navy. This one is unsurprising as being good in naval ship. On a naval ship is a major trade of being a rogue trader.

No kidding. Aministratum, sometimes? Oh, yeah, for the contract stuff. Inmistronom would probably be very good for that, sure. High-ranking merchants and merchant worlds also a possibility The interesting one is often the Inquisitor This is a bit of a rare one Because inquisitors are often above

And have their own stuff like Rogue Traders do I was going to say is that like if an inquisitor does something bad They get demoted to Rogue Trader Until they can prove themselves worthy of being an Inquisitor again You're almost there It's more of a higher ranking one giving them the warrant of trade as a way to remove them as a possible rival. Oh, wow. So it's a scumbag move on the part of the Inquisition to, oh, wow, that's kind of big brain, actually.

It happens more often than you might think. A lot of higher ranking members in the Adeptus Terra might do that because giving someone a warrant of trade is basically like, here's your paper, you are now legally obliged to fuck off. So you're telling me if an inquisitor was given a warrant of trade, like, then immediately, it's like their status is immediately like, nope, you're not an inquisitor anymore. You have to be a rogue trader turning your rosette. Most likely the people who give it to them are above them, like a high lord of terror maybe or something.

Right, right, right, sure. Okay. So, yeah, like, if, yeah, if, yeah, if they get it. from someone above them, a lord inquisitor or a high lord of terror, then yeah, like, sucks to suck, but here you go. So if one of them are just like, oh, man, he's rising up in the ranks a little too quickly,

my position is at risk, they could just do that and be like, ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, I'm fine again. Pretty, pretty much. Sometimes. The inner politicing of 40K is astronomical. That's fair. The amount of times where someone, fucks over somebody else because of some

kind of ridiculous political position is extreme. No matter how much we talk about the greater good of the Imperium, no matter how much we discuss like the zealous and piousness of the Imperium, at the end of the

day, humans are in it for themselves. True enough. And so often a rogue traitor who is also often in it for themselves will go out and you know

what's one world yeah what's one world what's one world when I'm giving all this to the Imperium they did not want to sacrifice their greatest silks for my blouse

so um die do you think a rogue trader's ever done that like you wouldn't make me a dripped out outfit bomb them absolutely there's no way in hell

that one psychopathic greedy rogue traitor has not gone out and requested something been denied and then shot multiple people. All right. Well, I mean, you are a rogue trader. You do have that sort of, you do have that status where you are not bulletproof, but,

you know, almost. I do what I want piece of paper. Yeah. Hoof. Sheesh. So, yeah, it's, it's pretty fascinating. There is, um, road traders are fun. They are, they are the most, 40K fun.

Right. 40K fun. They're the most free. They're the most do whatever I feel like kind of people. Yeah. As long as it's in the Imperium's name, you have basically free reign. Basically. Pretty much, outside of a couple scenarios.

Yeah. Basically free reign. As long as it's for the emperor, for the Imperium, I'm doing this for you guys to, you know, then yeah, free reign, is. And, uh, see this paper. It gives me legal right to have Eldar wifu suck my dick and balls. Wow, Gilemon has fallen very far. Gileman is just roll. Well, he's not rolling in his grave because he's alive.

Hooray. But yeah, that's, that is, that is a sentence and a half there, Shai. Thank you for that. Appreciate it. Gilliman, Gillman wishes he had the rogue traitor. He does. He wishes he had that piece of paper. He's like, man, where do I get it?

I want to make this your brain thing canon. But yeah, that's that's rogue trader stuff. That is the rogue trader general gist. They are fun. Just kind of like I can do what I want for the most part people. And if you ever want a spot where it might actually be enjoyable to live in the 41st millennium, they probably are the ones. Yeah. Like you said at the beginning, either them or some high up noble that can just sit,

in his bourgeoisie palace and not do anything. And not even care. Nope. Nope. So it's good stuff. Hell yeah, that was fun. I like the rogue traitors. I like the dripped out kings and queens. I like that. It is a great time. It is a great, great time whenever there is rogue traitors afoot. I find them to be relatively nice, a nice change of pace, considering what normal Warhammer is like. Yeah.

Thankfully, this one didn't involve anyone horrendously turning into a chaos puddle of tentacles and mouths to suffer for literally all of eternity. Well, yet. It's yet true. It could happen to them. One wrong, one wrong traveling, you know. Yeah, chaos doesn't really care about your warrant of trade. No, they really don't. They can't even read.

They're like Dorn, who cares? God damn it. All right, I'm going to go, I'm going to go take this piece of paper to Gilman and tell him to sign it.