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(Basic) Imperial Navy – Rating

The Imperial Navy is the lifeblood of the Imperium. Without it, shipping lanes would be exposed to attack from aliens and pirates, while the Imperial Guard and other units would be unable to travel between worlds. The bulk of its personnel is made up of ratings. Several thousand of them man every frigate, cruiser and battleship in the fleet, unskilled or partially-skilled conscripts, many either press-ganged or sent to join the Navy as convicts.

Common ratings perform all the menial tasks on board ship, with only the mindless cyborg servitors below them in the pecking order. They are recruited for their muscle, rather than for any particular skills. Work teams of thirty or forty rotate each weapons turret and guide each torpedo into its launch tube. On larger ships, work teams can consist of as many as a hundred men.

Engineers, although not actually members of the Adeptus Mechanicus, assist the ship’s Tech-Priests in the running and maintenance of the thousands of ship’s systems. Engineers also find themselves alongside common ratings in boarding parties, where their knowledge comes in useful in crippling the systems of an opposing ship.

The ship’s gunnery crew are normally jacked directly into the weapons systems, charging and firing their weapons as much with their minds as with their hands.

Hundreds of logisticians monitor the data flow aboard a decent sized warship, ensuring that all communication on board the ship is working and that no piece of information goes astray between the sending and receiving systems.

Life as a rating is hard, and many die of exhaustion or in accidents long before the Navy sees fit to spit them out onto a nearby planet, their term of service over. Those that survive are usually incredibly tough, but otherwise unqualified to make any kind of civilian living that doesn’t involve physical labour. The fact that many ratings are also stone deaf, thanks to the loud machinery and lack of ear protection in the bowels of a warship, does not help.

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Rating

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1

1

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Lip Reading

Specialist Weapon – Fist

Very Strong

Construction

Engineer – Basic

Secret Language – Naval Sign Language

Use Respirator

Deadeye Shot

Rock Steady Aim

Secret Language – Naval Sign Language

Specialist Weapon – Ordnance

Arcane Language – High Imperial Gothic

Secret Language – Imperial Battle Tongue

Use Cogitator

One of the following:

- A pair of knuckledusters

- Knife

A selection of heavy spanners, wrenches and other tools (which can be used as improvised weapons)

Flak bodysuit without hood

Closed civilian helmet

MIU linked to one of the ship’s weapons or torpedo tubes

MIU linked to the ship’s cogitator systems

Highly advanced bionic brain with four discipulus chips (Cartography – Stellar, Cryptography, Navigation – Stellar, Super Numerate)

There is a 25% chance that a character who rolls this career at generation suffers from Deafness (with an additional 50% chance that both ears are affected). Any character entering this career at a later stage, and does not purchase ear protectors, has a 25% chance of going deaf D6 weeks into the career.

Upon entering this career, a character must choose one of the following specialisations: Common Rating, Engineer, Gunnery Crew or Logistician. The character can then only take abilities from that specialisation, and will only be issued with the appropriate equipment. Upon leaving this career for higher Imperial Navy ranks, the character will normally be taking the next step up in his or her specialisation.

During boarding actions, weapons will be distributed to most of the Ratings. At these times, there is a 75% chance that a Rating character will be issued with a cutlass, 50% chance that he will be issued with a naval pistol (with 6 Longus bullets) and a 25% chance that he will be issued with a pump-action combat shotgun (with 8 Caedes scatter shells). The Armsmen will collect in all issued weapons at the end of combat, and all unaccounted-for weapons will be treated as stolen, leading to sanctions and removal of privileges for entire work-teams of Ratings.

Imperial Navy – Armsman (not ogryns)

Imperial Navy – Petty Officer (not ogryns)

Bodyguard – Minder

Criminal – Smuggler

Prize Fighter – Pit Slave

Rebel – Heretic

Spacer – Crewman

Adeptus Mechanicus – Novice (not ogryns)

Cultist – Novice

Scum - Beggar

(Basic) Imperial Navy – Armsman

The Navy’s armsmen have three roles – to keep order among the unruly ratings, to distribute and collect weapons before and after engagements, and to take part in boarding actions. They have minimal weapons training, and many never even see real combat, instead having to spend their time beating ratings into line. Many armsmen are unambitious bullies, although some see their job as a mere stepping stone before they become naval troopers.

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Armsman

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Only humans, squats, ratlings and beastmen may achieve this rank.

Lip Reading

Secret Language – Naval Sign Language

Specialist Weapon – Shock

Strike to Stun

Pump action combat shotgun with 8 Caedes solid shells and 8 Caedes scatter shells

Naval pistol with 6 Longus bullets

Shock maul with power pack

Flak armour vest and trousers

Closed ballistic helmet, incorporating ear protectors

Handcuffs

Imperial Navy – Naval Trooper (not beastmen)

Imperial Navy – Pilot (not beastmen)

Bodyguard – Minder

Shootist – Bounty Hunter

Spacer – Crewman

Law Enforcement – Beat Officer (not beastmen)

(Advanced) Imperial Navy – Naval Trooper

Boarding actions, although intended to strike deep into the vital areas of an enemy vessel and sabotage it, generally break down into ferocious melees, thanks to the sheer number of crewmen that most warships can call upon to resist a boarding party. This means that boarding parties are made up of as many ratings as can be assembled at short notice, simply to neutralise the defence of the other side. To tip the balance slightly further in the Imperial Navy’s favour, select armsmen (or veterans from other branches of Imperial service) are trained up to elite levels, easily on a par with the Guard’s Storm Trooper regiments, and used as elite sabotage teams. While the ratings are fighting and dying in the corridors of an enemy ship, the Naval Troopers are taking and destroying reactor cores, magazines and suchlike.

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Naval Trooper

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2

Only humans, squats and ratlings may achieve this rank.

Brawler

Combat Master

Disarm

Engineer – Basic

Literacy – Basic

Secret Language – Imperial Battle Tongue

Secret Language – Naval Sign Language

Use Respirator

One of the following:

- Hellgun with two power packs and an infrascope

- Hellpistol with two power packs, and a cutlass

Naval pistol with 6 Longus bullets

Knife

Full suit of carapace armour

Closed ballistic helmet with integral photochromatic visor, re-breather and short-range communicator microbead

Imperial Navy – Pilot

Imperial Navy – Petty Officer

Imperial Guard – Storm Trooper

Inquisitorial Ward

Bodyguard – Pro

Mercenary – Captain

Ministorum – Drill Abbot

Law Enforcement – Tactical Officer

(Advanced) Imperial Navy – Pilot

Amongst the vast warships of a space battle flit countless smaller spacecraft – Starhawk bombers, Fury interceptors and Shark assault boats. Even these are at least the size of an atmospheric airliner, and bristling with lascannons and missiles. They are crewed by incredibly cool-headed teams of men, trained to fight against insurmountable odds, even though they know their life expectancies after leaving their launch bays are often measured in minutes. The actions of these tiny attack craft rarely win or lose a battle, but in the right places, at the right time, a well-calculated bombing run can cripple or destroy even the mightiest battleship. It is these dramatic interventions that give pilots their glamorous reputation (and, some would say, their planet-sized egos).

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Pilot

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5

3

Only humans, squats and ratlings can achieve this rank.

Cartography – Planetary

Cartography – Stellar

Engineer – Basic

Literacy – Advanced

Orientation

Pilot – Atmospheric

Pilot – Space

Secret Language – Imperial Battle Tongue

Specialist Weapon – Bolt

Specialist Weapon – Heavy

Specialist Weapon – Launcher

Use Respirator

Naval pistol with 12 Longus bullets

Pressurised flight suit with integral re-breather

Grav-chute

Lucky charm

A piloting, gunnery or navigation position on board a Navy aerospace attack craft.

Imperial Navy – Petty Officer

Imperial Navy – Naval Trooper

Intelligence Agent – Analyst

Criminal – Smuggler

Spacer – Mate

Civil Aviation – Shuttle Pilot

(Advanced) Imperial Navy – Petty Officer

The officers of the Navy are often low-ranking aristocrats who wanted the glamour of a Naval career without having to work their way up through the ranks. Nevertheless, petty officers regularly see themselves embroiled in face-to-face combat, acting as leaders of teams of ratings, armsmen and troopers as they fight their way into the depths of an enemy vessel, or when driving enemy boarding parties back to their assault boats. The highest-ranking petty officer is the bosun (or boatswain), whose task it is to ensure that the ratings beneath him do their job, as well as administering discipline when they slip. Larger ships with larger crews (one thousand or more) may have several bosuns.

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Petty Officer

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2

Only humans, squats and ratlings may achieve this rank.

Leader

Literacy – Basic

Secret Language – Imperial Battle Tongue

Specialist Weapon – Shock

Naval pistol with 12 Longus bullets

Cutlass

Shock maul with power pack

Carapace armour breastplate with flak armour sleeves

Flak armour trousers

Ear mufflers

Petty officer’s greatcoat

Imperial Navy – Naval Trooper

Imperial Navy – Pilot

Spacer – Mate

Noble – Knight / Lady

(Advanced) Imperial Navy – Bridge Officer

Almost exclusively composed of aristocrats or Schola Progenium graduates, the officer class of the Imperial Navy tends to be somewhat uncaring of the crew beneath them, although there are exceptions. Despite the title, the role of a bridge officer is to oversee the activities of the crew in a particular section of the ship. For example, the Master Gunner may be cybernetically linked to his weapons systems on the gun deck, with ammunition supplied by the Master of Ordnance in the ship’s magazines. Of course, the most senior bridge officers – the Officer of the Watch, Principal Navigator and Ship’s Lieutenant – will spend most of their time within reach of the captain on the bridge.

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Bridge Officer

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3

Only humans, mutant Navigators, squats and ratlings may achieve this rank.

Abilities:

Arcane Language – High Imperial Gothic

Etiquette

Heraldry

Literacy – Advanced

Specialist Weapon – Power

Three of the following:

- Cartography – Stellar

- Cryptography

- Daemon Lore

- Navigation – Stellar

- Strategist

- Xenology

Naval pistol with 12 Longus bullets

Power sword (usually styled as a cutlass)

Carapace armour breastplate with flak armour sleeves

Flak armour breeches

Bridge officer’s greatcoat and sash

Imperial Navy – Master Of The Ship

Commissariat – Cadet

Spacer – Captain

Noble – Count / Countess

(Advanced) Imperial Navy – Master Of The Ship

Captains rarely see physical combat, but many are so bound into their ships, both psychologically and cybernetically, that they experience the silent duels between ships tens of thousands of kilometres apart as terrifyingly and exhilaratingly as a rating fights a boarding action. Some captains bind themselves so closely to their ships that their souls are lost, and they lose the ability to see their crews as anything more than cogs in a machine.

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Master Of The Ship

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6

2

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4

Only humans, squats and ratlings may achieve this rank.

Abilities:

Arcane Language – High Imperial Gothic

Cartography – Stellar

Cryptography

Daemon Lore

Heraldry

Literacy – Advanced

Navigation – Stellar

Secret Language – Imperial Battle Tongue

Specialist Weapon – Bolt

Specialist Weapon – Power

Strategist

Xenology

Bolt carbine with 2 clips of 20 bolts

Naval pistol with 12 Longus bullets

Power sword (usually styled as a cutlass)

Carapace breastplate with flak armour sleeves

Flak armour breeches

Ship’s Master’s greatcoat, sash and holy seal

MIU links to all the ship’s systems, typically in an observational capacity, but occasionally with the option to override the actions of crewmen

Spacer – Rogue Trader (only with a Warrant of Trade – genuine or forged)

Academic – Philosopher (History)

Noble – Duke / Duchess