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WH40K: Void Born

From Episode D6: Star Wars D6 Wiki

Name: Void Born
Dice: 12D
Dexterity: 2D / 4D
Knowledge: 2D / 4D+1
Mechanical: 2D / 4D
Perception: 2D / 4D+1
Strength: 1D+2 / 3D+2
Technical: 2D / 4D+1

Move: 9 / 11
Size: 1.55 - 2.1 m
Weight: 45 - 75 kg

Special Abilities:

  • Charmed: The void born unconsciously channel the fickle powers of the warp, making them preternaturally lucky.
  • Benefit: Whenever you spend a Force Point (though not if you burn one), roll 2D. On the roll of a natural 11, you do not lose the Force Point.
  • Ill-Omened: Whether because of their strange looks, clannish ways or unwholesome air, the void born are shunned and mistrusted by most. In addition the void born are most likely to attract any negative attention that the party of Acolytes creates accusations of curdling milk, disgruntled merchants, children with handfuls of Grox dung and so on.
  • Penalty: You take a –2 penalty on all Perception Tests made to interact with non-void born humans.
  • Shipwise: Birthed in the depths of a spacefaring craft, the void born have a natural affinity for such vehicles.
  • Benefit: Astrogation and Space Transports are starting Skills for you.
  • Void Accustomed: Due to their strange and unnatural childhood, the void born are used to the vagaries of changing gravity.
  • Benefit: You are immune to space travel sickness. In addition, zero- or low-gravity environments are not considered Difficult Terrain for you.

Description: “You were not born on one of the Emperor’s worlds, but instead on a vast ship in the depths of space–perhaps even in the warp itself. Why this sets you apart from your fellow man is unknown, but the way you look, act and think is somehow different. You have been raised in the company of psykers, and what other men fear or loathe is commonplace to you.”

Born out in the darkness between the stars, the void born are an odd collection of misfits, strangers and ill-omened folk. Perhaps birthed in the belly of a pilgrimage ship, or aboard an ancient orbital satellite, these people are often considered to be somehow touched by the taint of the warp.

The Imperial fleet is a vital factor in the maintenance of the Imperium; without it human worlds would be isolated from each other and from the protection of the Imperium. Trade could not exist, weapons could not reach the Emperor’s armies and world after world would grind to a halt. Space travel throughout the Imperium is dangerous and arduous. Most interstellar travel is undertaken using powerful warp engines. Within the warp, a ship can cover many thousands of light years within a relatively short time, dropping back into realspace far beyond its starting point.

Some parts of the warp, however, act as power vortices— sucking helpless spacecraft to their doom. There is also the constant danger of turbulence, warp storms and loops. Ships can be sent thousands of light years off course, or trapped in stasis forever. In the warp there is no time and distance—only the constantly flowing stream of the immaterium. On board a ship in the warp, a single month of perceived time may pass, yet in the material realm anything from six months to several years may elapse. Fleets responding to distress calls, or supply vessels on long voyages, have been known to arrive months or even years too late.

Those who live their lives on spacecraft must become used to the reality-altering process of warp space, of living in low or even zero-gravity environments and of never knowing the feel of solid ground beneath their feet. Quite often a ship conducts its business in an endless cycle. Trade or mining vessels may never make berth, instead raising generations of families in the cold depths of space. Gravitational pressures, inbreeding and warp anomalies take their toll. What effect the warp has on these void born workers is uncertain, but there is something strange about them for all to see. Their features are drawn and their skin pallid. They may have some minor deformity, or oddness about their speech, gait or general appearance.

Some void born are raised on huge space stations—asteroid mining bases, battlefleet refit stations or research platforms. The rest come from a variety of backgrounds: the crew of merchant vessels or warships, miners, prison guards (or prisoners) or even the servants of a Rogue Trader. The largest ships are vast, city-sized constructions, many of which are thousands of years old. Lobotomised servitors and tech-adepts scuttle about their business, while menial crew, passengers and merchants co-exist in cramped corridors and tiny quarters. At the head of the ship’s crew sits the Navigator, a strange breed of psyker who expertly guides the vessel through the immaterium, following the psychic beacon of the Astronomicon. Those void born raised in the service of the Imperial Navy or among the crew of a Rogue Trader know first-hand the horrors of space and the sheer multitude of the Emperor’s enemies. This knowledge often forces ships’ crew to form insular cliques, too afraid to look up from their duties or mini-societies for fear of what might stare back at them from the void.

Worst of all are the Black Ships of the Inquisition. These vessels are part of a large fleet travelling the Imperium in a huge circuit, visiting each Imperial world on their route once every hundred years or so. Their mission is to collect the psychic levy from each world—hundreds of psykers rounded up and handed over to the authorities for some unknown fate. Only when the vast holds of these ships are full of psykers do they return to Holy Terra. Some may display the strength and potential to serve the Imperium, however most are sacrificed to the God-Emperor, their gruesome deaths ensuring the survival of the Imperium. Life aboard these vessels is particularly harsh, for the psykers themselves are packed into huge holding cells, treated little better than cattle.

Source:

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