So, this is one of those maybe pointless fluff questions, but I have a vested interest in knowing. In the distant past, the first Rogue Traders were given their power by the Administratum, the Warrants of some even signed by the Emperor, Himself. If a player group somehow happened to have such a Warrant, and I can easily make it make some sense why, even over 10,000 years, the Warrant hasn't racked up hundreds of PF points, how might He have signed it? When the Emperor was "just a man", albeit a superman, what did he use to sign things? Did lore regarding the compact with Mars, where they are allowed to maintain their religion, ever say what he penned as a signature? He didn't view Himself in the divine, and disliked any such terming, as the Word Bearers discovered, so it might be The Emperor of Mankind, without God attached, and I doubt he used a name, like your average person, but I am wondering if anyone actually knows, or would hazard a guess?

Thanks much

venkelos said:

It's actually mentioned in a couple of Black Library sources - a couple of novels dealing with Rogue Traders with such venerable warrants.

The Emperor's mark - along with a gene-print to go with it - is a simple symbol, consisting only of five plain strokes of the pen. A capital I, akin to that used by all manner of Imperial organisations (including the Inquisition), marked in the middle by an X.

In the second book of the  Shira Calpurnia series by Matthew Farrer, think its called Legacy, there is a warrant signed by the emperor. I think the gene mark was actually a drop of blood.

 Yup- Legacy has the most unambiguous description- a capital I (for Imperator) with two crossbars in the centre (five simple strokes of the pen), above a finger-smudge of His blood as a gene-signature. Nothing more needed, as even the least psychically sensitive and religious people felt His presence when they saw it- ten millennia later… I suspect some powerful psy-imprint was left with His blood.

I have no idea how that adds up to five strokes, the way N0-1_H3r3 described it.

If I got it right, it's an I with an X through the middle of it. That adds up to three strokes, by my count.

Anyone in the know that could take the time to just paint the symbol, to visually represent it to those of us that are apparently visualization-impaired?

Fgdsfg said:

A capital I has three strokes, the top, bottom, and middle support, while the two strokes/lines of the X make five.

venkelos said:

So, something like this, then?

I'd imagine the X  and the crosses on the I would be bigger, making it look more like an hourglass.

So the Emperor of Mankind signs things the way any illiterate might… how truly unawesome.

HappyDaze said:

No being alive knows his name, so I don't imagine he'd sign his name. A simple symbol and the lingering feeling of his presence are sufficient to prove his identity… and that's all that you want from a signature - proof that you signed it.

Speaking of names, is there any sort of formula one must follow for their Dynasty? Does it have to be "House ________", like so many references, or can it have a different sort of name? In my fiction, whether it is an NPC Dynasty, or the one my someday-players might take, I have a group called the Silver Ravens, the Dynasty of one Edric "Boss" Korvallus. Would it be okay, fluffwise, to have the Dynasty bear the name "Silver Ravens", rather than "House Korvallus"? This particular Dynasty isn't known for passing to genetic/familial successors; in the past, the Rogue Trader senior would groom a protege who showed promise, sort of like an Inquisitor might, and that person could gain the Warrant, when the Elder retired. This successor wouldn't be Korvallus's child, likely (he has no children), so a huge game of "change the name" would have to occur, or it could just keep the name Silver Ravens. Korvallus's ancient Warrant sat derelict for millennia (no one is immediately sure why), and he received it, along with a ship he only rarely used (The Silver Raven, a Star Galleon) for his prodigious list of good deeds in the service of Battlefleet Solar and other areas. When he accepted the "promotion" from Lord Captain to Rogue Trader, rather than Admiral, he maintained command of his own vessel the Hammerfall (Dictator-class Cruiser), and gave the name "Silver Ravens" to his Dynasty, since it hadn't been of any family for thousands of years. At that time, it didn't have much to call on, so it was a bit more mercenary company/Battlefleet aide, and a bit less sector-spanning powerhouse.

Would this work, beyond "you're the GM, do whatever you want"? Has anyone here ever taken a more like this name, over House _______?

All that i've seen (which I'll be the very first to admit is not a huge sample so I could very well seem wrong) would indicate that the majority of warrants are dynastic in nature. The imperium is very much a feudal society so the presumtion would normally be tht once granted to an individual it would stay in their family (and it therefore behooves them to have kids or designate an heir". House Silver Raven does work but it's just as easy your character in question might-change their name to silver raven or take the honorific Lord-Captain Erdric Korvallus Lord Silver Raven

N0-1_H3r3 said:

Hell, if a document was signed by the Emperor just after (say…) Ullanor, He would be over 35000 years old Himself. He is now, today, into, or rapidly approaching His tenth millennium. I wouldn't be totally surprised if even He'd forgotten His original name by the time of the Unification Wars and the Great Crusade.

Another way to look at it is that He can afford to sign things simply, because there's no-one with the balls to try and forge His signature. At which point, a simple initial (of His title, no less, not even His name) becomes a statement of awesome personal authority.

There will always be people with the balls to forge powerful peoples seal or signature, which is probably what led to the genelock/psychic signature. What's interesting to me about that as he probably did it an anti-forgery device but it ended up leading credence to his divinity when viewed later, a divinity which he couldn't stand the thought of. Such go everyone's best intentions. This is all conjecture mind you.

venkelos said:

I always like the pointless fluff questions. :) Although the 40k setting is pretty meaty, a lot of fine detail of the working of the 40k universe has been so far passed over by Games Workshop and Black Library and I like to fill in the gaps.

I would say yes, many rogue trader houses still around would have hundreds of profit factor (though many others have been brought down and looted by greedy rivals). The universe is a big place though, so even such ancient houses will be forced to spread their resources thin at times. This means a group of players could start out as members of one of these first rogue trader houses but would have a smaller, speedier ship for scouting the borders of the dynasty's influence and a greatly reduced profit factor for being so far away from the dynasty's base of power.

I'm guessing the emperor had a personal crest that he signed the first warrants with. In my campaign the first warrants of trade are large over sized scroll-machines the size of a man with micro-circuitry laced into the parchment and blessed with holy power. Any man who attempts to alter it's wording finds his hands and voice crippled for a week.