Who is in rogue traders

If they decide a xenos race may be of use to Humanity, they may attempt to make contact and establish relations. If merely rich in technology or minerals, a planet may be plundered, and the Rogue Trader will return to Terra laden with the treasures of space -- alien artefacts, rare and precious minerals, and undreamed-of technologies.

A Rogue Trader armed with a power sword. Needless to say, the Rogue Trader requires a considerable resource in spacecraft, troops and other staff if they are to complete their mission. Their total responsibility may extend to dozens of voidcraft, often huge, lumbering cargo vessels crammed with a small army, a full crew of technicians, and volunteer settlers to establish colonies on new worlds.

Most important, however, are the fighting troops, for it is they who will have to deal with any potential threat. Many Rogue Traders are individuals who have reached a position of power within the Imperium's governing hierarchy.

A few are influential civilians, amongst whom the Navigators are the most famous. Politics sometimes obliges this course, for free of Imperial command the Rogue Trader is also conveniently out of the way, beyond the centre of real power in the Emperor's realm.

Rogue Traders have a reputation as outcasts; many are people whom the high-ranking officials of the Adeptus Terra's myriad branches deem better kept at a safe distance from the Throneworld. Operating beyond Imperial control, Rogue Traders are a law unto themselves.

Some are highly pious individuals, bringing the God-Emperor's light beyond the edges of His rule; others are nothing more than glorified pirates and scoundrels. Many Rogue Traders exude confidence and are highly charismatic, often charming and roguish, skilled diplomats some would say confidence tricksters and hardened killers when the situation demands. Rogue Traders will often gather an entourage of hangers-on and companions, and this may contain alien warriors, mutants , and other undesirables unacceptable in polite Imperial society.

Many Rogue Traders have highly unstable personalities: some destroy worlds on a whim or experiment with alien species out of macabre curiosity. A Rogue Trader's Arch-Militant armed with a bolter. All Rogue Traders are highly exceptional individuals who are driven to success beyond the dreams of the ordinary men and women of the Imperium of Man even though these exceptional people often have extreme character quirks themselves; some destroy entire worlds for the slightest reason, or include alien warriors and mutants among their entourage in direct violation of Imperial orthodoxy.

Some are highly pious servants of the God-Emperor while others are no more than legitimised pirates. The most infamous Rogue Trader was Jan van Yastobaal, who became little more than an officially-sanctioned desperado, plundering whatever world he came upon. Rogue Traders are often flamboyant individuals, commonly dressed in the most extravagant finery they can acquire. However, each Rogue Trader is a unique individual from a particular background. Some newly-created Rogue Traders come from origins in the Astra Militarum, the Imperial Navy, the Merchant Fleets , the Administratum or even the Imperial Inquisition where they will have developed unique outlooks, skills and approaches to different situations.

Some Rogue Traders are relatively poor, possessing a single ancient and dilapidated starship. Others are incredibly wealthy and powerful and have whole fleets of warships and entire private armies at their disposal. Certain favoured individuals may even call upon detachments of Space Marines , having entered mutually beneficial pacts with individual Chapters. Some Rogue Traders operate as mercenaries, renting the service of their ship s to the highest bidder, including pirates, other Rogue Traders or an Imperial organisation like the Adeptus Mechanicus , the Astra Militarum or the Inquisition.

The Rogue Traders had their origins in the demands of the early days of the Great Crusade of the late 30th Millennium. Driven by the will of the Emperor , the first expeditionary fleets of the crusade pushed outwards into the galaxy. Preceding each great expeditionary fleet of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of vessels often ranged smaller contingents of independent flotillas led by a class of martial leader that would become known as the "Rogue Traders Militant. They were offered a stark choice--bend the knee before the Emperor and swear service to the Great Crusade, or die by His hand.

Though many set pride before what they regarded as slavery, others chose service and took up the Emperor's Warrant of Trade. There was a price, however. The Rogue Traders Militant were expected to scout ahead of the leading edge of the Great Crusade, accompanied by their own armies as well as whatever assets had been ceded them by the Emperor.

Operating so far ahead of the Emperor's crusading armies, the Rogue Traders Militant could expect little or no aid should they encounter foes too powerful for them to overcome. After several solar decades penetrating the inky black of the void, Rogue Trader Militant fleets often appeared as ramshackle vagabonds, many of their starships taken from defeated enemies, sometimes including xenos vessels of entirely novel or esoteric form.

They were forbidden to return to Terra, for in His wisdom the Emperor sought not to just rid Himself of powerful rivals, but to ensure that even in their deaths they might serve Mankind. Many vanished alone and unheralded; slain, consumed or enslaved by nameless xenos abominations far from the light of Terra. In the wake of the birth of the Great Rift , nearly one hundred Rogue Traders were invited to Macragge for an emergency symposium.

The summons bore the seal of Roboute Guilliman , the resurrected primarch of the Ultramarines , lord commander of the Imperium and Imperial Regent , and thus was an honour no one in the Imperium could refuse.

From this magnificent beginning would stem a truly hellish journey. It had been many thousands of Terran years since so many Rogue Traders were gathered in one location. It was rare enough for a handful to meet. Many of the assembled Rogue Traders had guessed the purpose of the quorum by the time they had arrived, for Ultramar had been ravaged by war.

The sovereign domain of the Ultramarines Chapter -- once thought inviolable given its peerless infrastructure and many-layered defences -- had been broken open and brought to ruin on a dozen fronts by the Daemon Primarch Mortarion and his Death Guard during the conflicts known as the Plague Wars.

Though Guilliman had returned following the end of the Indomitus Crusade to lead a masterful defence of his realm, the aftermath would take solar decades, if not standard centuries, to resolve. Many of the Rogue Traders genuflected as the primarch entered the halls, but Guilliman bid them stand. He spoke to them as equals, as was his way. The primarch claimed that the Imperium was not just being invaded, but locked in a struggle for its spirit as much as its body. The Realm of Ultramar had been afflicted with plagues, each supernatural in origin and voracious in its spread.

Before the invading forces of Chaos had been driven back to the Scourge Stars , a trio of conquered Imperial star systems, many of the moons and planets under Guilliman's rule had been wracked by the spoor of Nurgle -- the Dark God that Mortarion and his fallen Traitor Legion called lord and master. During the Indomitus Crusade, Guilliman had travelled across the war-riven galaxy and seen his father's empire in flames. He knew every resource would be needed to save Mankind , and even as he took the fight to Humanity's enemies, his statesman-like mind dwelled on how the Imperium would recover from its losses.

To this end, he knew the Rogue Traders would be vital. The Rogue Traders that Guilliman had selected were to fight for the Imperium's future -- not as warriors or bureaucrats, but as pioneers. The front line upon which they would face their destiny was not that of the battlefield, but of deep and uncharted space.

They were to find new worlds to conquer in the name of the Emperor , fresh lands upon which Mankind could settle and thrive. While Warp Storms had cut off much of the galaxy in the wake of the Cicatrix Maledictum 's birth, they had also opened up never before explored routes upon the fringes of Imperial space. There could be found opportunity, hope -- and such danger that meant many of the Rogue Traders would never return.

Guilliman gave those gathered at the symposium on Macragge the opportunity to leave, to walk away without a stain on their honour, for it was a perilous task he proposed -- since the opening of the Great Rift, the Astronomican had been occluded more than ever, and the creatures of the Warp seemed to haunt every space lane and distant moon. Yet not one of those assembled took a backward step. Some remained out of pride, some out of duty, some out of a sense of adventure -- but all were to find themselves set on a new path that would see them meet either victory or inglorious damnation.

Within solar days, the fleets of the Rogue Traders had left the Realm of Ultramar, bound for the yawning reaches of space beyond the Eastern Fringe and the extremities of the Ultima Segmentum 's spiral arm. Most carried in their holds large populations of Ultramaran colonists kept in cryogenic hyper-freeze seeking a new and better life somewhere else.

Out there were the youngest stars in the galaxy -- those most likely to have untouched planets in their orbits, and therefore most likely to have habitable lands. That all hoped to find territories unspoilt by the ravages of Chaos was an unspoken truth. Each Rogue Trader fleet took a different heading, their Navigators guiding them through the Warp towards destinations unknown. They all underwent challenges upon the way, and some found nothing but cruel and violent ends.

The most valuable possession of a Rogue Trader is his or her Imperial Warrant of Trade ; an ancient legal document which describes and sanctions the accepted limits of a Rogue Trader and his descendants' operations across the galaxy. These charters are hereditary and thus create an entire Rogue Trader dynasty when they are issued. These dynasties are granted a personal coat of arms identifying their members amongst the Imperial nobility.

Rogue Traders are empowered with the authority by the High Lords of Terra to travel freely within the Imperium and beyond. This allows them to legally interact with cultures which normal Imperial citizens are forbidden contact with because they are non-Imperial Human worlds or xenos -controlled planets. Not only that, but Rogue Traders are granted the permission and freedom to deal with these cultures as they see fit, so long as it is judged to be in the interests of the Imperium.

Having said that, it can be assumed that a Renegade Rogue Trader guilty of heresy or treason will be severely prosecuted by the Inquisition if discovered and captured. His punishment will be that much more severe if he is deemed undeserving of the Emperor's extraordinary trust in his family. Rogue Traders usually return to Imperial space every few Terran years, to unload their exotic wares and re-supply, recruit, and rest until the next foray into the darkness of unknown space.

During these periods they may come into conflict with members of the Adeptus Terra or the Inquisition. Rogue Traders wield incredible power, and it is easy for them to forget that once back within the Imperium, they do not have free rein to act as they wish. This strident attitude will draw attention from the authorities. Many Rogue Traders dispute the right of the Imperium to exercise authority over them.

As individuals who have wandered amongst alien stars and conversed with all manner of cultures, Rogue Traders are viewed as susceptible to all kinds of heresies, from wayward philosophies to infection by alien creatures or possession by Warp entities that live in the darkness between stars. All of these factors can lead to violent confrontation, particularly if the Rogue Trader has knowledge or an artefact that others within the Imperial hierarchy of equal or greater power covet.

A militant Rogue Trader out for blood; his tattoo denotes a former member of the Imperial armed forces. No two Rogue Traders are exactly alike, but all are exceptional individuals with a drive and personal ambition that sets them far above the teeming ranks of Humanity. A great many Rogue Traders have served in the Imperial Navy. This is hardly surprising, as they are expected to command entire armadas of voidships, and few would wish to delegate such responsibility to a subordinate.

As a consequence, many Rogue Traders are exceptionally skilled captains of their vessels and admirals of their fleets, able, even keen, to take on enemies the likes of which may never have been encountered by the Imperium, and emerge victorious. Many would have been considered mavericks by their contemporaries in the Imperial Navy, for their methods and tactics might run contrary to the doctrines of space combat taught at the Segmentum Fortresses.

Those whose ideas genuinely are too extreme tend not to survive long, though the manner of their death might form the basis of legend and rumour for many Terran centuries to come. Those with a genuine talent, even one based on ideas the Imperial Navy could never fully endorse, might go on to achieve great things once released from the service of the notoriously conservative Imperial military establishment.

Many Rogue Traders who once served in the Imperial Navy maintain a network of contacts across the sector in which they served, and beyond. As such, they might be able to call upon old friends, perhaps individuals they served beside as officer cadets. Such contacts can provide all manner of aid when really needed, from emergency supplies to official Imperial help against pirate or alien attack.

Most Rogue Traders prefer to get by on their own skills and only call in such favours when things get desperate. Many prefer not to call in a favour from an old contact recently made a commodore when that same individual might one day be a high admiral and therefore able to provide even greater aid. Rogue Traders from a naval background often maintain the trappings of their former rank, ornamented with all manner of additional finery. Thus, a Rogue Trader might wear a formal dress coat similar to that worn by a high admiral even if he had never attained such rank himself , complete with rows of medals and awards, gold-braided epaulettes, and metres of elaborate piping.

Yet, he might wear his hair braided in the fashion of some Feral World tribe, or facial tattoos in the style of an anarchic hive city gang. Alongside a treasured Imperial Navy cutlass he might carry a sword of unknown, yet unmistakably xenos manufacture, or bear other weapons traded with or stolen from any one of a hundred bizarre societies.

Those who have risen above service in a single regiment to lead the vast, diverse armies of the Imperial Guard might be granted a Warrant of Trade to take their crusade beyond the borders of the Imperium's space and out into the great unknown. These individuals are not only masters of ground-based combat, but gifted in the arts of strategy.

Some become great admirals as well as great generals, while others have the foresight to delegate command of their vessels to underlings, concentrating their own prodigious skills on the bigger strategic picture. Rogue Traders from such a background often amass huge ground forces and use their fleets to bring these to bear in devastating planetary assaults.

Beyond the reach of the Imperium, such individuals will be forced to husband their forces in a manner they may be unused to, lest they exhaust their finite resources with little or no hope of recruiting fresh troops.

Should the ground forces suffer high losses, the Rogue Trader will be forced to recruit from those worlds they have conquered. In the case of Human societies re-discovered after generations of isolation from the broader galaxy, they may establish a system of feudal duty, whereby the planet is required to send its warriors to serve in the Rogue Trader's fleets, or they may be forced to demand or coerce service in their armies.

Some Rogue Traders have even resorted to recruiting the services of alien mercenaries or auxiliaries, a practice highly frowned upon by the authorities of the Imperium. Out beyond the fringes, however, Rogue Traders are a power entirely unto themselves -- who knows what bizarre forces roam the Halo Zones ostensibly in the service of the Imperium?

In appearance, these militant Rogue Traders vary hugely. Many wear the trappings of the regiment from which they were originally drawn, which, unlike the formalised uniforms of the Imperial Navy, is often specific to the culture of the regimental homeworld.

They may also wear elements of the uniforms of the Imperial General Staff, including a long, elaborate coat, or peaked cap. The many who prefer to lead their conquests from the frontline mix such dress in a manner more appropriate to their warrior background, combining a dress uniform with Carapace Armour or even power armour modified to fit a normal-sized Human.

As with other types of Rogue Trader, these individuals carry all manner of unusual weaponry, including exotic sensor and force field devices normally only available to the upper echelons of the Inquisition or Officio Assassinorum. While the weapons carried by a Rogue Trader of an Imperial Navy background might be considered for show, those carried by one from an Astra Militarum background are generally more practical and far more devastating, having been hand-crafted for them and covered in elegant engravings, or recovered from the body of a defeated foe and kept not only as a trophy but valued for some uniquely destructive capability it possesses.

Through their long and varied careers, some officers of the Administratum might amass considerable personal power, holding sway over a small empire of divisions and departments with responsibilities across dozens of planetary systems.

Invariably, these men and women will be ruthless, calculating individuals who have worked their way to the very top by any means possible, crushing their foes and thwarting endless assassination attempts to stay in power.

Many of these officials will have been assigned to such tasks as the suppression of a rebellious sector, or enforcing the Imperium's rule on Human enclaves recently re-discovered and brought back into fold. These individuals will be masters in the precise application of power, able to bring to bear any weapon at their disposal, from the military might of the Space Marines to the secret arts of political manipulation.

As such, some make ideal Rogue Trader material. An administrator given command of a Rogue Trader fleet will be a politician first and a leader second, though the most successful will combine both roles or switch between the two with masterful skill. They will amass their resources and appoint leadership of the various arms of their fleet to those they not only trust, but can also destroy should they challenge the Rogue Trader in any way.

They will keep their underlings in perpetual competition against one another, encouraging them to seek their patronage and approval at the expense of their rivals. Unlike Rogue Traders of a more martial background, these men and women rarely engage in overt displays of their personal prowess, preferring instead to exert their power by way of an assassin's knife in the dark rather than crass displays of military might.

In appearance, these machiavellian princelings often prefer to remain comparatively inconspicuous. They might wear the vestments of their former positions, such as the monkish robes of the scribe. Others wear more ornate dress, but keep the colours dark and subdued, lending them a brooding, menacing aspect and hinting at the foolishness of crossing them. They tend not to wear conspicuous weaponry, yet only a fool would assume that such an individual would be unable to defend themselves.

These Rogue Traders always carry small, yet deadly weapons such as Digital-lasers or concealed Power Blades , and invariably some form of personal force field that will protect from the attacks of an enemy in battle or a treacherous underling at court. Most of the cultures of the Imperium's worlds remain comparatively isolated, with only a handful of a planet's population ever undertaking a journey to another star system. Yet despite this parochialism, most Imperial worlds rely on trade with those in the nearby stellar vicinity for many of their needs to be met.

Weapons and other items of advanced technology must be imported from those worlds with the expertise and capacity to produce them, while such centres of industry may require rare natural resources, which must be imported.

In addition, the aristocratic ruling classes of many worlds crave the exotic, often paying outrageous sums for goods imported from distant locales. Clothes, foodstuffs, jewellery, and art are all highly desirable to those who wish to make a display of their wealth and influence, whether real, imagined, or feigned in the interests of fashion.

An entire Imperial class has grown up over the millennia existing solely to meet the demands of interplanetary commerce. The merchant interests of the Imperium take many forms, from cartels to federations and small concerns to mighty, galaxy-spanning corporations. Most centre their efforts on a relatively small group of worlds or a stretch of a lucrative trade route, for the fragmented and feudal nature of the Imperium does not facilitate a stable, galaxy-wide economy.

For many of these merchants, trade and war are one and the same. They must protect their interests by any means possible -- for some, that means maintaining small private armies or sponsoring mercenaries for just such a purpose. These very literal trade wars might be fought against competitors or other parties that threaten their interests, from pirates to aliens.

It should come as no surprise that the most accomplished of Imperial merchant leaders are as capable generals as they are traders, applying the same doctrines to both pursuits.

These persons make ideal Rogue Traders. Rogue Traders from a merchant background are often the most astute and successful, equally at home facing an opponent across the negotiating table as on the field of battle -- though sometimes the two are one and the same.

The armies and fleets they employ might be drawn from their own substantial holdings, or they might be able call upon a complex network of obligation, drawing upon mercenaries and trading partners from across a broad spectrum of their trade. Mercantile Rogue Traders often dress in the manner of opulent heads of state, bedecking themselves in fine jewellery, most of which is in fact some hidden weapon, force field, or sensor.

They surround themselves with individuals indentured to their service before birth, drawing on familial connections that stretch back in time for many generations. Their vessels often take on the appearance of space-going palaces crammed with all manner of outrageous ostentation.

Yet it is a foolish opponent indeed who writes off such a Rogue Trader as a fop or dilettante. Many in fact cultivate such an air, treating it as just one more weapon in a not inconsiderable arsenal. To an outsider, these are relatively modest compared to the career risks being run by people supposedly expert in assessing the value of risk.

Ideology could be a possible motivator, where the trader fundamentally disagrees with the policy they seek to circumvent. The individual feels the need to prove their correctness in the irrefutable arena of market success. Conscience is surprisingly common as a partial reason at least for rogue trading.

The rogue trader justifies their action as being for the good of the employer, particularly when bending trading rules to recover losses. Ego plays a large part. How to spot rogue traders If a rogue trader comes to light in your organisation, remember they know the actual situation fully and will be best placed to shed light on it, help resolve it and perhaps even improve controls to avoid reoccurrence.

Whether the culprit is you or someone else, there are two key tasks: Assessing the positions and resolving them with the least disruption possible to business health and activity; and Dealing with the possibility of other rogue traders in the organisation by improving controls and auditing all activity thoroughly, ideally with the assistance of somebody who knows how to bypass the controls.

Also, consider allowing a very short amnesty period for others to come forward. Infamous five Rogue traders whose activities brought them huge, unwanted spotlights Unexplained profits or losses Some rogue traders deliberately create losing positions to offset and disguise excess profits. Claims made about investments may also be untrue. Some rogue traders will not take no for an answer and may try to stay in your home until you sign a contract.

It is also often linked with distraction burglary-where a resident is drawn out of the house, for example to look at their roofing and while they are occupied another person enters the home and steals valuables.

If you are unsure how to handle a trader cold calling at your door, then contact Trading Standards via the Citizens' Advice Consumer Helpline on or if you feel threatened or intimidated then phone the Police on Your browser does not allow scripting so some of the features of this page may not work.

Nick Leeson : All right, um If the price goes the other way, I have to pay more and I lose. It's timing, it's buying and selling at the right moment. Sometimes expresso might be the best deal, or salt or pepper. George Seow : So, we're running a supermarket, huh? Sign In. Crime Drama History. Director James Dearden. Top credits Director James Dearden. See more at IMDbPro. Photos Top cast Edit.

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