Heinrich von Bastillion's page

BS: 43
WS: 32
ST: 28
T: 34
AGI: 52
PER: 35
INT: 44
WP: 30
FEL: 43

Wounds: 8
Fate: 3

Awareness
Drive (Ground Vehicles)
Speak (High + Low Gothic),
Literacy +10,
Scol. Lore (Judgment, Tactica Imperialis, Astronomancy),
Com. Lore (Imperial Navy, War),
Forb. Lore (Xenos),
Navigation (Stellar),
Pilot (Space Craft, Flyers),
Command ,
Scrutiny,
Stealth
Trade: Voidfarer,
Dodge

Nerves of Steel,
Resistance (Psychic powers),
Light Sleeper,
Talented Pilot(Space Craft) (subbed for doubled Nerves of Steel),
Weapon Training (Universal: Pistol, Melee, Basic)

.. Bolt Pistol
.... 30m, S/2/-, d10+5X, Pen:4, Clip:8, Full, Tearing
.. Solo Boltgun (Rather than power sword)
.... 100m, S/-/-, d10+5X, Pen:4, Clip:8, Full, Tearing, Reliable, Accurate
.. Melter
.... 20m, S/-/-, 2d10+8, Pen:13, Clip: 5, 2Full
.. Guard Flak Armor (4Ap All)
.. Micro-Bead
.. Void Suit
.. Blessed Ship token
.. Re-Breather
.. Imperial navy Uniform
.. 2 bottles of Amasec
.. Vox-Caster
.. Blast Goggles
.. Good Craftsmanship Mind Impulse Unit (MIU)
.... +10 to communicate with machine spirits, Drive, Pilot, Tech-Use, Logic, Inquiry and BS tests if linked to the respective system

.. Omni-Scope for rifle (maybe as an emplacement into the helmet?)
.. Stalker Bolt Rounds
.. Grapnel + Grav Chute
.. Auspex
.. Cameleoline Cloak
.. Armored Void Suite

Rolls: 42, 35, 34, 35, 38, 34, 38, 40, 32

Career Path:
Child of Dynasty:
.. -3T, +3Int, -5WP, +5Fel, 2*TB+5=Wounds
.. Literacy, speak (HG), +3SP, +5Fel on interaction with high-imperials,

In Service of the Throne (Born to Lead 200xp):
.. Command, Literacy +10, Scol. Lore Judgement, +3 Fel, -3 T

Duty Bound (Duty to Humanity):
.. +3 Int, -1 PF

Darkness: Warp Incursion (100xp)
.. Talents: resistance (Psichic powers), Light Sleeper
.. 1d5 corruption

Exhilaration (The Thrill of War):
.. Lore (Tactica Imperialis), Nerves of Steel, Quick Draw, +3BS, -3Fel

Got extra 500 xp for creation from our GM, thanks!
To spend: 1000-300 (Background) = 700

Starting EP 1000 - 300 from Life Path Packages
100 - Trade: Voidfarer
100 - Scrutiny (or Awareness?!)
100 - Dodge
100 - Agility +5
250 - Agility +10

+500 XP:
100 - Awareness
100 - Drive Ground Vehicles
300 - Elite Advance: Stealth

Current Spent: 950 (500 extra GM XP don't count)

Heinrich is a tall, well built and quite handsome man in his mid thirties with military-short cropped dark blond hair and grey-blue eyes. He usually wears his well-worn flying suit (topped with the fur of an exotic beast), his helmet and mask (necessary for deep-space flight) never far from his reach.
His speech, gestures and posture speaks of a noble offspring with high-grade education, polished by a rigorous military training and career.

Heinrich von Bastillion was born seventh to a Side-Branch of the main Catalan Rogue Trader dynasty, originally a noble house who (for nowadays unknown reasons) allies themselves by-marriage to the Catalans and gave up most of their power, influence and riches to them over several centuries.

Heinrich's mother (Tatjana Felonia von Bastillion) and aunt (Natalya Marjana von Bastillion) pulled what influence they could muster to have Heinrich be accepted by the naval academy on Kielsund Tertius at the young age of 11 - to ensure his safety and purity - as both women clearly saw the signs of the coming downfall.

After some acclimatization issues with fellow noble offspring on the unofficial fast-track program, Heinrich was "demoted" to the common training program and put under the stern tutorage of a Commander Solonius Merkham the third, who put him (and everyone else) through some very thorough training. He quickly discovered a natural affinity for piloting in Heinrich and ensured he got into the respective track - where the then 16 year old began to shine and flourish in earnest. Whenever the academy managed to pull him out of a Lightning or Fury cockpit, it managed to also inject quite a bit of knowledge and tactics into his young brain but those remained mostly unused for several years to come. Years he spent surviving one of the most dangerous positions in the entire navy: piloting fighter attack craft, shooting down enemy torpedoes, bombers, boarding craft and dogfighting other fighters as well as escorting own bombing or boarding runs.

His luck and skill prevailed however and he swiftly rose to squadron command at the age of 22 and kept that position for nearly a decade, declining further advancement for a recorded six times. At this posting, he not only got to deploy some of the skills hammered into him by the academy but also learned to lead, surprising himself with how well he was doing. But at the same time his perspective widened and a simmering grudge against the higher echelons began to firm in his heart. He began to see the wasted potential of attack crafts within the imperial navy and the wastefulness with which many captains ground their squadrons to dust.

Then, calamity struck as the Light Cruiser he was serving on (the "Swift Strike") suffered heavy damage and was forces to an emergency warp jump to escape catastrophy. Heinrich and the few remaining craft of his squadron barely managed to return to the Lathe-pattern launch bay as the jump was performed: and the gellar field flickered, as did the protective void shield of the hangar. The bay depressurized and instead filled with a blood red mist that quivered and bubbled as if boiling and everything it touched started burning and melting in witchfire and tumbling crewman simply vanished as they got into contact with the mist, making it grow ever larger and dense. Horned figures with glowing swords began to manifest within after it swallowed most of the deck. Heinrich was strapped to the cockpit of his malfunctioning, crash-landed Fury at the very edge of the hangar, unable to move, transfixed by the horrors from beyond and the visions of doom and death screaming in his head, the voice of his mother the loudest and most discernable, screaming and pleading her innocence and loyalty to the throne even as she burned at one of many, many stakes raised atop a familiar hive spire. Then with a mighty snap, the gellar field returned to proper working and the mist, shadowy figures and visions vanished with a crack.

Following this Incursion and the seven year loss-of-real-time that occured during the emergency warp travel of the Swift Strike, Heinrich was at an all-time low. His entire cadre of squadron pilots dead or worse after the heavy fighting and warp Incursion, his ship damaged beyond timely repairs and his family getting purged by the Inquisition. He found himself faced with the dreadful =][= several times upon return-to-base - a remarkable unpleasant experience in its own right, made worse by the knowledge that those were the same people putting the flame to his mother's pyre. In the end, he was declared free of taint and association, thanks to his lengthy stay in the navy, and given leave - one of a very, very few, the only other of note (to Heinrich) being his Aunt Natalya. Who, if rumours he had heard were true, was instrumental in collecting evidence from within the house and alarming the inquisition.

To his superiors, instructed by no uncertain terms to be watchful of him by the Inquisition, this catastrophy seemed to only have increased his militaristic fervor and he began quickly climbing the ladder of command until being offered the post of CAG on the Cruiser "Divibe Thunder". Barely six months later, the "Divine Thunder" was severely damaged in the Battle of Kazek XI against Orks, following a reckless head-on engagement plan of Admiral Lenarch (reportedly executed for dereliction of duty by acting-Commissar Yi-Fon Zu on board, thirty-one seconds before a fatal torpedo strike hit and eradicated the bridge of the "Divine Thunder"). Heinrich, returning with his squadrons after a successful, crippling bombing run was stranded in the void, hours later to be detected and fetched by the crew of the Frigate "Fast Sabre" cruising through the debris field left behind.

At this point, still recovering from severe frostbites and close-to asphyxiation, Heinrich was thoroughly done with the upper echelons of the Navy and their dismissive ways regarding attack craft and carrier type ships. By the time he was returned to base and declared fit for duty, he had written a 165 page long essay on the usage, tactics and recommended operation procedures of attack craft, titled "Kicking the Hornet's Nest". Handing his piece of work in for approval and distribution, he nearly immediately drew the ire of Lord-Admiral Ludowica Roselia van Damm, a determined defender of the "ship of the line" faction. After a heated debate with the angry Admiral, which Heinrich would claim he had obviously, objectively won, he found himself reassigned for VIP shuttle piloting aboard a staff transport.

Lost for words at that blatant misuse of power and close-mindedness he sent a communique to his old mentor Solonius Merkham, asking for advice. His reply did quite surprise-shock Heinrich. The old battle horse seriously did muster out of the navy and was now working for an "upstart fob of a rogue trader with mad ideas stuck in a thick head and a pretty good heart looking for a new crew". Heinrich pondered this offer for a while week, weighting his deeply rooted sense of duty to his majesties navy against the utter disrespect and pure stupidity shown by all the high-rankers he had ever encountered. It actually was a close call but after a particular nasty shuttle ride for a rear-admiral and his six overweight courtesans enough was enough and he signed his muster-out papers (in quintuplets).

And so it came that Heinrich met Rogue Trader Archibald Thunderblossom and was nearly immediately able to help the man, he wasn't quite sure he could come to fully respect yet, by pointing him in the direction of Lord-Admiral Ludowica Roselia to broker the deal he was cooking up, regarding a quartet of stranded imperial navy ships on a space hulk he found somehow. He retold the Lord-Admiral's distaste for every and all carrier ships and ensured him that she would easy to massively haggle down, if the ship he wanted to keep was a carrier-class.

Astropathic Message 863-9AF7-A.
Receiver: Hajj Qalandar Khan
Sender: Heinrich von Bastillion
Subject: Still alive, Sir?
Content: Hello Sir Khan,
Are you still alive or has this nasty universe got the better of you yet?
I'd guess no, you're a successful Rogue Trader for all I know, drinking the best amasec with the hottest girls anywhere between here and Terra, right?
I had ... not so much luck these last months.
Or maybe I had, hard to tell.
I am still alive, so probably the latter.
Anyway, guess what ... I am no more part of our beloved Navy.
How did that happen you think?
Yeah, I can't believe it either.
Thought the day of me leaving the service of the Navy would be the day of my death as well.
The short: My family did screw up.
Monumentally.
So hard, that the Navy couldn't keep me in their ranks, let alone on the best way to my first own command.
Soo, do you have a job for a pilot with nearly twenty years of bloody practice?
Truth be told, I fear what will path I'd forced to walk if not.
There were already several job offers of the ... Dark-grey-nearly-black side of the freelancer market.
Ahhh, now I'm getting whiney.
Would delete the last two sentences if I knew how to do so on this blasted thing.
Just ignore it, will you?
If you want me, send me an answer.
Your old friend and good-for-nothing.
Heinrich
+++ End of Transmission+++

Astropathic Message 931-1BZ3-A.
Receiver: Heinrich von Bastillion
Sender: Lord-Captain Hajj Qalandar Khan
Subject: Re: Still alive, Sir?
Content: Heinrich,
If you're looking for an adventure, I can provide. I've got a ship that's barely holding together. We've got a few squadrons that my Techs are patching up by, I assume from the bill, melting down actual thrones and attaching them to the hulls. I could use the best pilot I've ever seen to come show these recruits how to bring back a craft in one piece.
Friends always,
Qalandar
+++ End of Transmission+++

The personal Lightning fighter if the Wing Commander and his place during any fight or potentially dangerous mission.
The long, bulky yet sleek craft is centuries old, from a venerable forge world and controlled by a powerful, animalistic machine spirit: 'The blood hawk' as it calls itself, if one is communing with it directly. A fact Heinrich founds astonishing and sometimes a bit frightening. How high are the chances for a pilot and a machine spirit with quite the same name to met in the incredible vastness of space and time?
After his first MIU-connection, Heinrich had it painted with the fiery, blood red hawk beneath the cockpit and on each wing, mirroring the design on his own helmet.
Who would have thought, that his old call-sign 'Fire Hawk', his fellow pilots came up with after a well remembered battle at the very start of his career, would stick for so long. Let alone matching so astoundingly well to the spirit of a venerable lightning fighter he would eventually encounter and pilot.

***

Due to the incredible complexity of space warfare, no vehicle can be controlled by one man alone, so the Lightning is usually manned with three more crewmembers, beside the Major himself.
.. There is Lt. Fred 'Lucky' Loyd, his Copilot and navigator. The only 24 year-old was evicted from the Navy a couple of years ago due to an unhealthy lucky hand in every card game known to mankind - causing his superiors to dismiss him in an act of self-defense (of their wallets). He's as joyful and energetic as they come and relishes the life as a mercenary pilot - sometimes too much, causing regular conflicts with Heinrich, who keeps (too) close to the navy drill and protocols for the liking of the young man.
..Then there's Emilia 'Saber' Srut, a small, middle-aged woman, who was born aboard the Tempest (as well as three generations of her family before her). Never been through a former military education (or any other formal education for that matter), she is an incredible shot with the lascannon banks of the lightning and resilient to void sickness and g-forces like only a void-born can be. Her head is bald and covered in clan tattoos, declaring her loyalty to the Tempest and her clan. As pronounces as her tattoo's, is her way of speaking, that is somewhere between bad low gothic and Ork.
..The final member of the crew is Acolyte Ben 'Zero' Tartarus-Septus-Octarius, a low ranking tech adept, having quit the seminars after a catastrophic miscalculation (due to a failing bionic as he would add at this point) that wrecked havoc with the research facility he was assigned to. He is tasked to keep the engines running, the weapon banks powered and to monitor and control the life support systems of the small craft. In addition, he is known to check, re-check and re-re-check Heinrichs MIU connection with the Blood Hawk. He say's that it's a greater honor than any non-initiate should be allowed to have, but he is always eager to listen to Heinrichs descriptions of how it feels to be connected to Hawks machine spirit.