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Inquisitors' personal ships.

Started by Jamas Orian, August 20, 2010, 04:22:36 AM

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Jamas Orian

What sort of ship would an inquisitor do his day to day business in? - such as hopping between worlds, storing one's personal armoury, interrogating prisoners, etc.

Also - what sort of stuff would an inquisitor keep about and do on their ship apart from the aforementioned?

I spent a lot of free time today sketching out a ship for Inquisitor Orian here, and was wondering how other people cart themselves about the galaxy in search of things to kill etc.


[better scan will  be forthcoming]

Zakkeg

Assuming an Inquisitor has his own ship (not a given), I'd say whatever sort he damn well pleases. ;D

To give a more useful answer, it varies quite a lot. Felbranche has a small Warp-capable ship of his own. (Small being relative - we're talking light cruiser here.) Malkevid tends to travel incognito on civilian transports, or simply finds a way to blackmail someone useful when he needs to move quickly. Montague just doesn't travel much.

Considered in terms of technical skill, the sketch is excellent. From a practical standpoint I'm less certain. The fins say it's an atmospheric craft, while the rather non-aerodynamic gubbins suggest it's Warp-capable and probably much too large. Also, it doesn't really scream "Imperium" to me. Maybe it's a little too sleek. I'm guessing you used BFG ships for reference, but have you looked at Forge World's stuff?

Again, though, because it bears restating: technically brilliant.
Only the insane have strength enough to prosper; only those who prosper may truly judge what is sane.

MarcoSkoll

Well, two examples from my own collection.

Inquisitor Skoll has acquired the services of Arden Holf, a former smuggler - partly on the basis of "making his crimes disappear", partly through large heaps of money. The smuggler's freighter does a good job of carrying a very large number of resources, although it's not armed.

In the few years since the smuggler started working for Marco, the freighter has been modified to include such things as the aforementioned armoury, a number of training facilities, offices and a vault for securing items of importance.
It's also got a smaller dropship and a lot of internal defences, but it's had those since a long time before Arden started working for the Inquisitor.

Inquisitor Rhodes has a smaller Cobra class cruiser (partially decommissioned). It's strictly still part of the collection of her old mentor, but as he's "retired" to desk work and research, he wouldn't get as much use out of it as her, so that's the way it works out.

But as Zakkeg says... not all Inquisitors are lucky/ostentatious enough to have a ship - some may use more subtle means of transport, either because they haven't a choice or because they prefer to arrive completely unseen.
S.Sgt Silva Birgen: "Good evening, we're here from the Adeptus Defenestratus."
Captain L. Rollin: "Nonsense. Never heard of it."
Birgen: "Pick a window. I'll demonstrate".

GW's =I= articles

Flinty

What happens on board a ship may depend on what type is available and how the Inquisitor operates. Do they travel with a regular retinue and use the ship as a base of operations, or move independantly and connect with thier local cell(s) when additional help is required? (I find Dark Heresy is always a good starting point for thinking about things like this).

It may be that the Inquisitor has a non-warp capable ship that requires transport between star systems. Dont forget that warp capable ships can make small jumps through the warp using charts on some routes, although this is obviously a) dangerous, and b) extremely time consuming on long distance trips compared to having a Navigator onboard.   

Beyond having a personal or permenantly chartered (whatever the 'contract ' terms may be) vessel, most systems will have direct contact - or indirect via a couple of shorter intrasystem journeys - with interstellar transport networks.

An Inquisitor may decide to use public transport, travel incognito by choosing to work a passage or even stowaway. Alternatively a flash of the Rosette could gain a lift from any Naval or Imperial ship - or virtually any other ship come to that. The DH Inquisitors Handbook mentions an extremely covert method of travel, entering suspended amination in order to join the cargo of a tomb/necropolis ship...

Neanderthal and Proud!

Kaled

Inquisitor Kaled feels that far too many Inquisitors requisition naval vessels without any thought for the consequences - even a Cobra Destroyer has an important role to play in the fleet and in the defence of the Imperium, and requisitioning one just because you have the authority to do so is irresponsible in the extreme. He generally travels aboard a navy ship, and has, on occasion, retasked navy ships (and, even more occasionally, entire fleets) when he has deemed it necessary. His strong connections with the navy, and his intimate knowledge of its operations makes him almost uniquely qualified to make such decisions. Or so he believes, others find his attitude arrogant in the extreme.
I like to remember things my own way... Not necessarily the way they happened.

Inquisitor - Blood Bowl - Malifaux - Fairy Meat

Koval

Decommissioned warships seem to be rather prominent among my own characters. For example, Osmond Johm in the (pending) Price of Damnation RP has gone for, yes, the old standard of a decommissioned Navy escort. So saying, I've had a character go all the way and opt for an Inquisition Blackship before (itself a decommissioned Dictator, but I digress).

On the other end of the scale, another character of mine has upgunned an old transport freighter and converted it into a Q-ship, and even further down the scale of ship importance, I'm writing something where the primary character just runs off with a condemned criminal's private yacht because he can't be bothered risking the loss of anything bigger.

Jamas Orian

Quote from: Zakkeg on August 20, 2010, 08:09:45 AM
Assuming an Inquisitor has his own ship (not a given), I'd say whatever sort he damn well pleases. ;D

To give a more useful answer, it varies quite a lot. Felbranche has a small Warp-capable ship of his own. (Small being relative - we're talking light cruiser here.) Malkevid tends to travel incognito on civilian transports, or simply finds a way to blackmail someone useful when he needs to move quickly. Montague just doesn't travel much.

Considered in terms of technical skill, the sketch is excellent. From a practical standpoint I'm less certain. The fins say it's an atmospheric craft, while the rather non-aerodynamic gubbins suggest it's Warp-capable and probably much too large. Also, it doesn't really scream "Imperium" to me. Maybe it's a little too sleek. I'm guessing you used BFG ships for reference, but have you looked at Forge World's stuff?

Again, though, because it bears restating: technically brilliant.

I imagined this ship would be smaller than an escort - Corvette or smaller sized even - with a crew of at most 100, and capable of atmospheric flight. I've deliberately made it look a little 'normal', so it is not an ostentacious show of power - it is a ship for getting from A to B, rather than proving a serious threat to enemy shipping.

I've taken a lot of visual cues from both the chaos and imperial fleets from BFG - The front is something of a cross between the arrowhead of chaos ships and the armoured prow of imperial ones. It's sleeker-than-normal appearance is to give it a sense that it is rather swift, and to give it some appearance that it's quite an old vessel.

Annoyingly, the picture hasn't kept all of my relatively delicate gothic theming on the dorsal ridges, and the solar panels on the vertical fins (again, a throwback to the lack of size of the thing, and its primary job as a transport)

Also, an important consideration I had when making this vessel, is I wanted it capable of landing. On a planet I created a year or so ago, the space port consisted of a very tall docking tower and a very large expanse of concrete next to it. I just wanted a ship capable of using facilities as those.


Quote from: MarcoSkoll on August 20, 2010, 08:41:29 AM
Well, two examples from my own collection.

Inquisitor Skoll has acquired the services of Arden Holf, a former smuggler - partly on the basis of "making his crimes disappear", partly through large heaps of money. The smuggler's freighter does a good job of carrying a very large number of resources, although it's not armed.

In the few years since the smuggler started working for Marco, the freighter has been modified to include such things as the aforementioned armoury, a number of training facilities, offices and a vault for securing items of importance.
It's also got a smaller dropship and a lot of internal defences, but it's had those since a long time before Arden started working for the Inquisitor.

Inquisitor Rhodes has a smaller Cobra class cruiser (partially decommissioned). It's strictly still part of the collection of her old mentor, but as he's "retired" to desk work and research, he wouldn't get as much use out of it as her, so that's the way it works out.

But as Zakkeg says... not all Inquisitors are lucky/ostentatious enough to have a ship - some may use more subtle means of transport, either because they haven't a choice or because they prefer to arrive completely unseen.

Actually, I can blame Marco's superbly written background and IC posts for wanting a ship of my own in the first place. There is, on the port side just underneath the defense battery fore of the port wing, a landing bay door for a shuttle of some sort.

Jamas is neither outwardly forward about his presence or massively super-stealth. A lot of warbands seem to go with one extreme or the other, I thought it would be a little different to have someone in between :D

Quote from: Flinty on August 20, 2010, 09:32:43 AM
What happens on board a ship may depend on what type is available and how the Inquisitor operates. Do they travel with a regular retinue and use the ship as a base of operations, or move independantly and connect with thier local cell(s) when additional help is required? (I find Dark Heresy is always a good starting point for thinking about things like this).

It may be that the Inquisitor has a non-warp capable ship that requires transport between star systems. Dont forget that warp capable ships can make small jumps through the warp using charts on some routes, although this is obviously a) dangerous, and b) extremely time consuming on long distance trips compared to having a Navigator onboard.   

Beyond having a personal or permenantly chartered (whatever the 'contract ' terms may be) vessel, most systems will have direct contact - or indirect via a couple of shorter intrasystem journeys - with interstellar transport networks.

An Inquisitor may decide to use public transport, travel incognito by choosing to work a passage or even stowaway. Alternatively a flash of the Rosette could gain a lift from any Naval or Imperial ship - or virtually any other ship come to that. The DH Inquisitors Handbook mentions an extremely covert method of travel, entering suspended amination in order to join the cargo of a tomb/necropolis ship...


Jamas does have a regular retinue - he's both concerned for his staff in a fatherly/mentory/boss sort-of-way, and distrustful of others. He'd rather have someone that he can rely upon than hitch lifts with all sorts of unknown variables.

I'd imagine that this ship is warp capable to an extent, in that he probably has a lesser navigator and can make shorter warp journeys to get to and from primary warp routes.

Quote from: Kaled on August 20, 2010, 10:31:45 AM
Inquisitor Kaled feels that far too many Inquisitors requisition naval vessels without any thought for the consequences - even a Cobra Destroyer has an important role to play in the fleet and in the defence of the Imperium, and requisitioning one just because you have the authority to do so is irresponsible in the extreme. He generally travels aboard a navy ship, and has, on occasion, retasked navy ships (and, even more occasionally, entire fleets) when he has deemed it necessary. His strong connections with the navy, and his intimate knowledge of its operations makes him almost uniquely qualified to make such decisions. Or so he believes, others find his attitude arrogant in the extreme.

I don't think Jamas' ship would be felt as too much of a loss for the navy, if it was a navy vessel to start with. I've yet to decide on any history for the vessel.

Quote from: Koval on August 20, 2010, 01:52:27 PM
Decommissioned warships seem to be rather prominent among my own characters. For example, Osmond Johm in the (pending) Price of Damnation RP has gone for, yes, the old standard of a decommissioned Navy escort. So saying, I've had a character go all the way and opt for an Inquisition Blackship before (itself a decommissioned Dictator, but I digress).

On the other end of the scale, another character of mine has upgunned an old transport freighter and converted it into a Q-ship, and even further down the scale of ship importance, I'm writing something where the primary character just runs off with a condemned criminal's private yacht because he can't be bothered risking the loss of anything bigger.

I did initially think of making this ship all black and inquisitory, but then I changed my mind about the uses of the ship as I've mentioned above.

Shannow

Lovely sketch btw, very nice looking thing, reminds of me of the blackbird stealth bomber.

I personally like the idea of an inquisitor having his own custom ship built to accomodate his particular style, flash, grandiose, hulking all that sort of jazz
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

Time to die.

MarcoSkoll

Quote from: Jamas Orian on August 20, 2010, 02:48:48 PMActually, I can blame Marco's superbly written background and IC posts...
What? The crap I write? ::)

QuoteJamas is neither outwardly forward about his presence or massively super-stealth.
Actually, that's an approach I use pretty often. After all, these are meant to be ingenious people with plenty of guile and cunning - so it makes sense that they'd know when to be forward, when to be stealthy, and when to go for the middle ground.
S.Sgt Silva Birgen: "Good evening, we're here from the Adeptus Defenestratus."
Captain L. Rollin: "Nonsense. Never heard of it."
Birgen: "Pick a window. I'll demonstrate".

GW's =I= articles

Koval

Quote from: MarcoSkoll on August 22, 2010, 01:56:12 AM
Quote from: Jamas Orian on August 20, 2010, 02:48:48 PMActually, I can blame Marco's superbly written background and IC posts...
What? The crap I write? ::)
It's not crap! You could probably make money off of it if you wanted to.

Kaled

I'm not sure I buy the idea of an Imperial ship as small as this. Warp capable ships are almost invariably huge things measuring the best part of a kilometre in length at the very least with a crew of many thousands. The Holy Ordos do seem to maintain a handful of smaller ships, but such things are hardly common and would immediately mark the owner as someone hugely rich and powerful. A small merchant ship might be a kilometre long as anything much smaller wouldn't be able to carry enough cargo to turn a profit, even if it was dealing in high value cargo rather than bulk. And a smaller warship wouldn't be able to carry enough firepower to have any impact, not if it was also going to have warp engines, shields etc.

I do like the basic design of the ship though, so would suggest scaling it up, making it about the size of a Cobra Destroyer with a crew to match - it'd still be considered a small ship but not so unusually small that it's owner would immediately attract attention.
I like to remember things my own way... Not necessarily the way they happened.

Inquisitor - Blood Bowl - Malifaux - Fairy Meat

Shannow

Quote from: Koval on August 22, 2010, 09:16:09 AM
Quote from: MarcoSkoll on August 22, 2010, 01:56:12 AM
Quote from: Jamas Orian on August 20, 2010, 02:48:48 PMActually, I can blame Marco's superbly written background and IC posts...
What? The crap I write? ::)
It's not crap! You could probably make money off of it if you wanted to.

Don't say that! He might begin charging us to read his profiles....
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

Time to die.

Jamas Orian

Quote from: MarcoSkoll on August 22, 2010, 01:56:12 AM
What? The crap I write? ::)

Yes ;)

Quote from: Kaled on August 22, 2010, 11:35:52 AM
I'm not sure I buy the idea of an Imperial ship as small as this. Warp capable ships are almost invariably huge things measuring the best part of a kilometre in length at the very least with a crew of many thousands. The Holy Ordos do seem to maintain a handful of smaller ships, but such things are hardly common and would immediately mark the owner as someone hugely rich and powerful. A small merchant ship might be a kilometre long as anything much smaller wouldn't be able to carry enough cargo to turn a profit, even if it was dealing in high value cargo rather than bulk. And a smaller warship wouldn't be able to carry enough firepower to have any impact, not if it was also going to have warp engines, shields etc.

I do like the basic design of the ship though, so would suggest scaling it up, making it about the size of a Cobra Destroyer with a crew to match - it'd still be considered a small ship but not so unusually small that it's owner would immediately attract attention.

Having done some research, I have infact found that Cobras are indeed the 'smallest independent warship' of the Imperium. Not so sure on independant transports though.

My main reason for wanting the ship to be relatively small is so that I don't have 1000+ crew members to worry about, in addition to the warband themselves.

How -do- smaller interplanetary ships get about anyway?

Koval

The same way warships do. A Warp drive in a smaller ship like yours probably takes up most of its volume.

Jamas Orian

Quote from: Koval on August 22, 2010, 02:46:23 PM
The same way warships do. A Warp drive in a smaller ship like yours probably takes up most of its volume.

Ahh... that's an idea. If say, I had the back 3 fifths of the thing taken up entirely by engines and gellar field, and the front 2 fiths taken up by cargo hold, I could have a relatively small number of people manning the dorsal areas?