Machines:
The Arkangel – The machine spirit of the Arkangel station is ancient, powerful, and opinionated. Informed and created by the tens of billions of data wraiths and cogitation engrams that have passed through the stations core, its presence can be requested by Mechanicus rituals, and it has been known to communicate through servitors on board the station itself, overriding their data conduits to seize control of their cogitation arrays for long enough to make its will known. Like many machine spirits it is capricious at times, and different parts of the station seem to attract it in different “moods”, although it has never been known to show a face other than one that both desires its inhabitants as a whole to gain glory, and to serve the Imperium of Man.
Malachii – There is always a Malachii. Sometimes they are male. Sometimes they are female. But Malachii is the speaker of the Malakhim, the only one of the stations servitors that shows any form of emotion – and appears to have at least a rudimentary awareness of their previous incarnations. Malachii has, over the years been shot, sliced apart, blown up, had its arm ripped off by an enraged Ork, but inevitably, as one unit dies, another Servitor elsewhere simply looks up with a new spark of self awareness, and goes about the business of the Malakhim. The degree of personality “integration” changes from incarnation to incarnation, but the data spryte that contains the core personality flits from host to host as the previous dies. Killing Malachii is by no means forbidden, but will be _expensive_ when the Malakhim next consider your accounts.
Imperial Officials:
Captain Eloise Pressner – Captain of the Celestus. More properly known as Commodore Pressner, Eloise Pressner commands the resupply convoys from the Imperium from the deck of her voidship, and has a Navy commendation list long enough to make an Astartes nod in respect. She requested this assignment over other, more career serving, roles and is responsible for keeping the lifeblood of Arkangel turning- although she has no say over what happens to the goods once she turns them over to the Malakhim for distribution. It’s an open secret that when in dock she has been known to ‘dress down’ to a petty officer, and go drinking in the void docks less reputable bars – and there is an dockside legend that she was once arrested by her own Commissar for brawling, and was half way through her lashes before someone realised who she was. Her favour can generally be relied on to those who are both loyal to the Imperium – especially the Imperial Faith – and those who ‘get their own hands dirty’, whilst she is likely to remain distant from excesses of radicalism, or those who she believes are shirking their responsibilities.
Brother Captain Tamlin Ducat – Commanding the Imperium’s Flame, Brother Captain Ducat is making the transition through the Maw with the Arkangel Station. Once the transition is complete, the Imperium’s Flame is intended to separate from the Station, and to go about fulfilling their own orders. Ducat – and his cruiser – intends to rarely be present, save when they return to meet the Celestus for resupply.
Rogue Traders:
Captain Otto Branchaccio – Captain of the Flaming Duchess. Captain Branchacchio is a native of Cadia – far, far removed from the Ruhr sector, and when younger established a name for himself as either a genius, or an idiot, by taking his ship raiding planets uncovered by the eddies of the Eye of Terror. Exceptionally militant, Otto was caught in a warp storm when trying to leave the Eye, and was knocked across the Imperium, emerging in the Ruhr Sector shortly before the Crusade. Whilst he’d initially planned to return to Cadia, when the Crusade started he signed up and fought with distinction. He’s now often found either regaling other Captains with deeds of daring, or listening to them do the same.
Otto likes Captains who go big – life’s a small thing, and Imperial Service is a heavy burden, but that just means you have big boots to fill. People who walk small, or won’t push themselves and ‘play safe’ aren’t going to be found drinking with him- and neither are Psykers. On the other hand, if you can grab a full stein, toast the Emperor, then tell a tall tale – no more than half of which is lies – he’ll have your back, and expect you to have his.
Captain Tallin Voss – Captain of the Silent Vendetta. Who Voss was before he received his warrant of trade is a subject of considerable doubt. Some people claim he was an Inquisitor who fell foul of the internal politics of the Holy Ordos. Others say he was a turncoat in the war, a Chaos Reiver who switched sides, but carried enough influence (And little enough corruption) that he was granted clemency -and an exile from the Imperium. Others again claim that he was a gambler who won his Warrant in a game of Arborian Pickup – where gamblers are poisoned, and the one who lasts the longest is revived, and collects the stakes from their dead opponents.
Whatever the truth is, Voss isn’t saying. He’s a radical’s radical, is known to speak fluently in the tongues of several Xenos species, and has on his arm at every social occasion an Eldar that he presents as his consort. The Silent Vendetta’s once proud Imperial form has been reshaped, and components of several Xenos species can be seen mounted on her. He actively shapes this image, wearing xenotech and unrecognised archeotech at every given opportunity – and there are stories of the social events he hosts in his private space that make Ecclesiarchy white with fury, and puritans mouth curses at his passing. For all of that, for the liberties that he allows, he has a reputation for helpfulness – of reasonable prices to his fellow captains, and of returning captured crewmen for only notional ransoms.
Captain Stefan Van Haart – Captain of the Sanctity of Purpose, Captain Stefan is a new Rogue Trader, freshly minted for undisclosed “Services to the Imperium” during the Crusade. (Common opinion holds that he was one of the old Sector Governors favourites, and that his minting and subsequent essential exile is little more than a way of the new governor clearing space for their cronies). He’s certainly wealthy, and has an enthusiastic chorus of remembrancers recording his every success, but hasn’t actually shown any, well, talent. It’s common knowledge that he’s looking for a venture – probably risky, certainly notorious – to get himself “blooded” and actually accorded some real respect by the other Captains. Until then, he’s likely to be drinking at the foot of the table.
But, as he would rather determinedly say, he’s at the table.
Xenos:
Ynabrae Starseeker – Captain of the Seven Daughters. Ynabrae and the Seven Daughters were unusual, but not unheard of, sights at Arkangel prior to the transit, and she acted on the Imperiums behalf at several points during the Hypatian Crusade – although it remains a common suspicion that she also raided Imperial Supply Vessels during the same period. A number of Rogue Traders have retained her services over the years, where she has built up a reputation for both asking for unusual prices for her temporary loyalty, and for delivering her end of any bargain. She paid handsomely to have the Seven Daughters docked at Arkangel, and her crew to be aboard for the transit through the Maw of Ni’ir.
She does, from time to time, take humans on board her crew for a period of time although few last long. Those that do draw distant from people they knew before, and those that leave describe a strange way of life on board that seems part monastery, and part anarchistic commune.
Kellik Von – The Kroot Shaper of the Winds of Cel Kindred. The Winds of Cel “Kindred” are mercenaries working from Arkangel, and cheerfully serve whoever pays them the most – and their preferred currency is unusual corpses. Kellik is their leader, and handles negotiations for their services, be that hiring one bodyguard, or up to thirty of the rangey Xenos. Kellik Von is notable in that he is a fully sanctioned Xenos, and holds the paperwork permitting him to enter the Imperium, and to interact with Imperial Citizens. How exactly he achieved this is unknown, and when asked Kellick simply smiles beakily.
Others:
Avana Hjort – The astrocartographer who mapped the route through the Maw. Avana has come through the Maw with Arkangel, having abandoned her purely academic career, and has stated her intentions to research the phenomenon of the Stygian Abyss. The Captains Table – sensing a long bet – have afforded her a small office and staff, viewing the potential -small- outlay to be an acceptable loss in order to make certain that someone of her proven skills is available in case of future problems…
Drill-Abbot Stephan Macharius – To be born with the surname Macharius – especially when you can trace your lineage back through eldest children to Lord Solar Macharius (http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Macharius_(Character) – Is to instantly have a life of wealth and priviledge. Why Stephan, reportedly in the middle of a sermon, took off his Arch-Bishops stole, and walked out of his Cathedral, is not understood, but he wandered – begging, bartering for passage, or stowing away – for over a decade, until he reached Arkangel during the Crusade. Here he settled, and built a small church to the God Emperor within the station, tending to the needs – both physical and spiritual – of those that served in the war.
Since the war he has remained, seeing in Arkangel a chance to take the light of the Emperor into the darkness, and to offer what support he can to the faithful in this new, unknown, area of space.
Local Factions
While there has not been much exploration into the sector, some factions have already been discovered and seem to be fairly common across the system. Interactions with these factions is based on player opinion, that is to say, some of them may be the type of people you want to shoot on sight, and others you may want to hug. Before play begins all of these factions will be update with a “standard” costume guide so characters can learn to recognise them by sight.
The Faceless – A Xenos race that lives in quasi barbarism, yet is scattered surprisingly far throughout the Sector. Their naming comes from the fact that their head are devoid of ears or eyes, and they have a bony protrusion under the skin on the forehead. Scorned by most factions as being primitive thugs, the Faceless remain both present an strangely ubiquitous in the Sector.
The Indigene – Not really a power, but always there, the Xenos calling themselves Indigene appear to be a slave race common around the sector, looking like a scaled humanoid, or a lizardman. The Indigene as a race are primarily focused on survival, they have little and even getting enough to eat can be a chore.
Humans – There seem to be two main groups of humans in the sector, who do not get on with each other. When talking about each other Group 1 (Praetors) says Group 2 (Relics) are relics clinging to the past, and Group 2 say Group 1 change everything for no good reason. Both groups are interested in the Imperium of Man in one way or another.
The Forgemasters – The Mechanicum-descended left-overs in the sector. They are interested in technology in all its forms.
The Psykers – None hold the marks that would accept them in the Imperium, but these groups of psykers, Navigators (and their possible children) seem to have a culture in the sector. The limited interactions with them shows an interest in making their gifts safer to use.
The Ravagers – Roving corsair bands, often a mix of races and outcasts from other factions, that travel the sector. They seek anything with value.