User:FluffCat/Sandbox

"Unraveling the myths and lies surrounding the Mordechai is relatively straightforward, but determining the truth is seemingly impossible."

- Inquisitor Globus Vaarak

The House of Mordechai is a highly successfull Rogue Trader dynasty, as well as a major industrial, shipping, banking and political family. They descend from Morgan Mordechai, who fought on behalf of the famed Regis Sectora Myram Harvala in the Meritech Wars. Over the generations they have admassed one of the largest fortunes in the Calixis Sector, and is widely considered to be one of the most powerful dynasties, if not the most powerful dynasty, operating in the Koronos Expanse. The dynasty is also known for its hereditary governorship of the mining world of Junos in the Calixian Sector.

Given their wealth and power, House Mordechai is astonishingly young for a Rogue Trader dynasty. Their success can be explained by a string of strong and very capable Patriarchs, a penchant for long-term planning, and a rejection of personal glory in favour of enriching the House as a whole. Even so, there are persistent rumors that their meteoric rise is the result of dark bargains made with things best not even thought off.

These rumors are primary fueled by the lack of solid facts about the Mordechai themselves. While the some of the cadet branches of the family are relatively open and forthcoming, the main branch, and especially the core bloodline, in notoriously secretive. There are Inquisitors who believe that the Mordechai is hinding some sort of horrible mutation or other mark of evil, but so far their reputation and political power has deterred further investigation.

History
"The closer we get to the present, the sparser the records become. The Mordechai are hiding something, mark my words!"

- Inquisitor Lexon Angelus

The Founding (214.M41)
The Mordechai were granted a Warrant of Trade by Sector Governess Myram Harvala, in recognition of their sponsorship of her ascension to the throne. At the time the family was but a mid-sized merchant house operating out of Hive Tarsus on Scintilla, and the Warrant represented the culminaton of a century of shrewd political dealing. The abrupt elevation of Septimus Mordechai, then a 'mere trader', to a Peer of the Imperium was widely considred to be the greatest political achievement of his generation.

The Warrant was conditional upon their service against the nomadic secessionists known as the Meritech Clans, who were raiding out from the Merates Cluster. However, the aging Patriarch felt that he was too old to take to the field himself. Instead he recalled his youngest son, the ambitious and dynamic Morgan Mordechai, from the Sector Battlefleet and charged him with meeting the terms of the Warrant. The Navy was reputedly glad to se him go, given his tendency toward unconventional tactics and inappropriate political views.

Several of Morgan's many siblings were disgruntled over their Patriarch declaring him the next Bearer of the Warrant, not least their oldest brother, Lucious Mordechai. Lucious believed, quite correctly according to some, that he as the oldest son should have the honour of fighting the Meritech Clans under the authority of the Warrant. That, however, ignorded both the Mordechai clan's by-laws and their tradition of meritocracy. Patriarch Septimus refused the appeals of his oldest son, insisting that Morgan be the one to take them to glory.

Morgan took to the task with great enthusiasm. The Mordechai had been granted a frigate, a pair of raiders, and two regiments of Brontian Longknives. If any of the crew or Guardsmen thought life would be easier under a Rogue Trader than in the Navy or Guard, respectively, then they had obviously never heard of the human dynamo named Morgan. He promptly ordered the voidsmen to drill day and night in prepartion for their departure, while the Longknives were sent out into the Scintillan wastelands on maneuvers.

Meanwhile, he persuaded his father to raise an additional regiment on their own expense. When asked why not simply hire mercenaries, Morgan replied that he wanted men who were loyal to more than just money. Eventually Septimus gave in, though he declared that actually raising the reigment would be Morgan's responsibillity. Morgan attacked the problems with characteristic burning energy, rapidly building up a force consisting of Mordechai armsmen and new recruits. Unlike their Imperial Guard counterparts, the 1st Mordechai Dragoons were organized as air cavalry, with the troops transported into battle by Valkyrie Assault Carriers. They were supported by Vulture Gunships, Lightning air-superiority fighters, Thunderbolt fighter-bombers, and Marauder bombers.

It spoke well of Morgan as an organizer, that he accomplished his goal within just two years. He even managed to convince his older sister, Dahlia, to abandon her promising career as an officer in the Imperial Guard, and instead take command of the new regiment.

The Meritech Wars (216-226.M41)
Morgan hurled his small force into the Merates Cluster, operating first at the very edge of the Imperial advance, and soon outpacing it. The 1st Mordechai Dragoons were employed in devastating search-and-destroy missions; attacking Meritech outposts, annihilating all opposition, and immidiately withdrawing before reinforcements could arrive. Information cleaned from captives and heretical Meritech datastacks were sent back to the Navy. Reconnaissances-in-force provided the location and patrol-routes of Meritech fleets, while destoying the enemy's own reconnaissance elements. The intelligence Morgan gathered for the Sector Battlefleet was invaluable. His success soon drew the attention of Admiral Kounthapanya, who saw the value in deep penetration raids. He gave the young Rogue Trader the right to requisition supplies from the Naval base on Fenksworld, and provided him with intelligence gathered by Imperial scouts. Morgan appeared at Fenksworld only three times over the next ten years, always to offload loot and put captured Meritech ships into mothball. The rest of the time, his small and highly mobile force 'lived of the land', taking what they needed from enemy supply depots.

It was during the early part of his involvement in the Meritech Wars, in 218, that Morgan made his fateful encounter with the Order of the War-Artisans. That event would would have a massive impact on the Mordechai.

Two years later rumors began circulating of entire Meritech laboratories and manufactorums being found looted bare of heretical technology. Though it was never confirmed, all traces pointed Morgan and his force; suprise-attacks from unexpected directions, extensive use of air-assault forces, and pin-point bombing by aircraft, among others. A that point, Lucious Mordechai publicly denounced his brother for intending to obtain as much of the Meritech's advanced technology as possible, with the long-range plan of repurposing it to help him and his decendants conquer the entire Koronus Expanse.

The Inqusition took notice, though they considered Lucious to be an unreliable source at best. However, it was well within the terms of the Mordechai Warrant of Trade to deal with heretical technology as they saw fit. Only if heretical devices was brought back within the Imperium's borders would it become an issue. So far, the only examples examples of such was the Meritech ships in mothball outside Fenksworld, but Morgan had already publicly declared his intention to have the Mechanicus investigate the ships and remove all heretical technology as soon as the Wars ended. With little to go on, and with no agents within Morgan's inner circle, the Inqusition decided to wait until the next time Morgan returned to the Imperium.

That happened just a year later. Morgan had caught a Meritech raider-feelt at anchor and with cold reactors. In spite in fierce opposition from enemy fighter-units, he'd battered several to hulks and successfully boardered several more. As a consequence of this victory, he'd been compelled to return to Fenksworld to repair damage, put his prize-ships into mothball, and requisition replacements for his attritted forces.

The Inqusition easily placed several additional agents onboard Morgan's ships. However, an attempt to assassinate Morgan's seneschal and replace him with one of their own, was a spectacular failure. The War-Artisans, whom the involved Inquisitors had dismissed as 'cheap barbarian bodyguards', turned out to be almost inhumanly deadly and vigilant. An entire cell of acolytes were wiped out, along with several valuable informants. Immidiately reassessing their intelligence on Morgan's security force, they attempted to capture and interrogate a War-Artisan. That, too, was a misserable failure. By then, Morgan was making ready for departure, and the Inquisitors were forced to abandon further efforts.

Eventually, Imperial forces had broken the backs of the Meritech Clans, the survivors fleeing into wilderness space and eventually into the Ixaniad Sector. Behind them, the planets of the Merates Cluster was being purged by lasgun and chainsword. Morgan had turned his attention toward the prospects of loot the situation offered. Operating with several captured merchantmen (which themselves had been captured by the Meritech), he systematically plundered the former Meritech holdings of weapons, vehicles, industrial equipment, and entire dissassembled laboratories.

Morgan's looting-spree came to an end when he returned once more to Fenksworld in 224, to offload a massive amount of plunder. He was met by a joint task force of Inquisitorial and Administratum investigators who demanded full access to his fleet, which Morgan graciously permitted. The task force spent a full year making a full accounting of the cargo he carried. To their disapointment, while they found some questionable items, it was nothing worth pursecuting a Rogue Trader over. Morgan was eventually permitted to auction off his 'battefield salvage', as he had previous times.

However, by then Inquisitorial investigations had revealed the involvement of the heretek group known as the Logicians. Morgan received a politely worded 'suggestion' that further 'salvaging' in the Merates Cluster would not be viewed in a favourable light. When the purges began shortly afterwards, Morgan thought it best to comply.

For the remainder of the Meritech Wars, Morgan's fleet fought alongside regular Navy units. Consisting mostly of fast raiders at this point, his force was idealy suited to chasing down their Meritech counterparts. He assisted the Navy in hunting down the remnants of the Meritech Clans and hounded them deep into the Ixaniad Sector, before a diplomatic incident forced their withdrawal.

The Mordechai Massacre and the Night of the Hungry Shadows (227.M41)
-thriumphant return, wealth -> major merchant house

- convert glory and wealth into political capital

-concubines, fiancee

-lucious unable to accept it, deal with enemies (survivors of purges)

-several assassinations; concubine kill, gas-attack

-war-artisans take action; night of terror, lucious' fate

-morgan disgusted with scintilla, reorganize

The Askellon Expedition (fifteen years)
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and so on true founder: morgan 
 * Sebastian Winterscale (188-274.M41)
 * The Year of the Dreaming Depths (397.M41)
 * Rogue Trader Parsimus Dewain founds Footfall (410.M41)
 * The Fall of the Tellurian Combine (428-430.M41)
 * The Reign of Terror on Malfi (428-479.M41)
 * Balastus Irem and all his family are put to death (443.M41)
 * Parsimus Dewain of Footfall dies (498.M41)
 * The Reign of Blades (499-500.M41)
 * First major mission of the Disciples of Thule into the Koronus Expanse. (528.M41)
 * The Devayne Incorporation (560.M41)
 * The Recovery of the Lucid Court (609.M41)
 * Haarlock Vanishes (703.M41)
 * Midnight’s Lair  sighted in the Unbeholden Reaches (713.M41)
 * Ember Nostromo turns pirate (717. M41)
 * The Ascension of Marius Hax (731.M41)
 * The Manchenko Purge (740.M41)
 * The Malygrisian Tech-Heresy (742-770.M41)
 * The Battle of Agusia (742.M41)
 * Ravana’s Bloody-Handed Cogs (747.M41)
 * The Claimant Wars (785.M41)
 * The Margin Crusade is Launched (784.M41)
 * Karrad Vall emerge from the Maw and bombard Footfall (794.M41)
 * Covert forces of Ordo Xenos reveal themselves in force (803.M41)
 * The Tranch Insurrection (807.M41)
 * Rak’Gol Marauders between Port Wander and Lucien’s Breath (811.M41)
 * The Strangling (813.M41)
 * Opening of the Spinward Front (814.M41)
 * The Time of Heroes (815.M41)
 * The space hulk Midnight’s Lair is sighted in the vicinity of the Heathen Stars (816.M41)

Cadet Branches
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Internal Culture
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The House Fleet
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The Household Troops
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Calixian Holdings
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Koronus Holdings
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Relations
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