X Kingdom: The Protagonists Meet

Vinh Gazetteer:

• A frontier agri-world located in a place that is difficult to get to, given its position between The Cauldron (a warp-/real-space overlap) and The God-Emperor’s Scourge.


• In Koronus terms, Vinh is an old colony, but as it’s difficult to get to and relatively far enough away from Footfall, sufficient bodies haven’t been thrown at it to make tame it too much.


• The world’s main export is Rhya – a rice-like plant native to the world. That which isn’t already a rice-paddy is slowly being transformed into one. The local drink – Rhya wine – is a sharp spirit tasting something like a blend of vodka and sake.


• The world’s patron saint is Akiah; the Lady of Prudence.


• The only major city on the globe is the imaginatively titled Vinh City – a 7 tier ziggurat sat in a wide valley near the centre of the planet’s main continent, in the balmy equatorial band. The city’s tiers are subdivided into levels (or “landings” as the locals say) a further 7 times, making it a mere 49 stories high (50, with the garden atop the highest tier).

Biana’s Coil: Tier 1, 3rd Landing

The protagonists find themselves in the same bar; Biana’s Coil. It’s an alarmingly cheap establishment frequented primarily by voidsmen on shore leave.
Mordecai (played by Shane) is there, looking for a way of getting off-world. Midian (played by Dougan) is meeting a fellow Navigator (and Apostle of Lum), Kith Conran. Kith, who is researching Lum’s possible involvement with the founding of the colony, gets drunker and drunker, complaining about how his investigation is being blocked by somebody in the city government.

Lum was a (in)famous navigator who worked for one of the Expanse’s most famous Rogue Traders, Sebastian Winterscale. He had a reputation as an exceptionally gifted navigator, but one that took insane, unnecessary risks, often flying while chemically incapacitated (earning him the twin epithets “Lum the Mad” and “Lum the Wayfarer”).

While Kith vents his frustration to his colleague, both Mordecai and Midian notice some patrons who don’t quite fit in – two Eccliesiarchy priests. The two men look nervous and scan the room as they pass through to the other end. While both protagonists make efforts not to draw attention to themselves, four more priests enter. Two position themselves by the bar, two by the front entrance. Their leader, Sibellus, climbs atop the bar, declaring that they are looking for a fugitive and intend to check the travel papers of every man present (his men, who are up until this point just checking faces, start asking to see documents).
Mordecai glances around the room. The most nervous man in the room is the navigator. After that is a voidsman sitting nearby. The psyker subtly probes the hapless sailor’s mind… “Don’t find the xeno’s-porn slates. Don’t find the xeno’s-porn slates…” and a plan begins to form in his mind.
It is scuppered when Kith’s paranoia gets the better of him. Screaming, “Death to all oppressors!” Kith stands, whips off his headscarf and fries the mind of the priest behind him (along with half a dozen hapless voidsmen).
A chaotic fight breaks out while the voidsmen try to flee. Mordecai begins to crush the life out of the priests on his side of the room while Midian (and his faithful flight-servitor, Loki) take the other flank. Mordecai emerges without a scratch, but Kith is killed by Sibellus, who goes on to wound Midian before his death at the hands of his own men and Loki. Midian then repeats Kith’s trick to kill the remaining priest (and, again, a half dozen voidsmen). Briefly searching a couple of the bodies (little cash, bolt pistol and pass-icon from Kith, dataslate with target pict from Sibellus), the pair flee the scene.

Mordecai wants off world; something now difficult given a room of (admittedly panicked) voidsmen witnessing him killing Eccliesiarchy priests with psykic powers… but a navigator and his entourage would have no problem finding a shady Captain who would ignore this “unfortunate inconvenience”. Midian agrees… but is also curious. What just happened, and why?

Vinh City is unusual for an Imperial metropolis. Even at the lowest tier the air is quite fresh, thanks to an ingenious network of open internal balconies that branch and spiral throughout the superstructure. Though surfaces are plastered with inspirational propaganda posters, promoting duty, productivity, the virtues of servitude, etc., the architecture is a more minimalist than the protagonists were used to.
Other aspects of urban Imperial life are faithfully replicated – distilled even, almost to the levels of parody. Enforcers are seen openly beating suspects in the open, nervous joygirls argue and fight over territory, and queuing, sullen-faced workers pray to the God-Emperor that the local Medicae will have sufficient chems to treat the wounds they’ve received in the fields.

Kith’s Place: Tier 2, 2nd Landing

Kith’s place is alarmingly sparse. Even if his House had been declared renegade and his charter lost, he’d still be able to live in relative luxury if he were willing to sign on with a pirate band. Instead he lives… here.
His apartment is large – perhaps once the property of an overseer – but is in a sad state of repair and the humidity is turning the wallpaper into interesting sludge. The furniture is old, but simple and battered. Two of the three electrosconces that would have provided illumination have been stripped, the wiring twisting a short way into the room.

Midian finds few personal possessions. The wardrobes are mostly bare, a few sets of Nobilite robes left hanging (but they’re last year’s fashion). But there are a few articles of women’s clothing, also – one expensive dress, several work uniforms, and some really poor quality stuff that is almost rags.
The protagonists muse – was this some kind of romantic relationship (navigators rarely rut with ‘base’ humans; but one navigator living here is odd, two would be strange indeed), or professional (the varied outfits from different social strata points to the owner being some kind of house spy). A brief, informal word with a neighbour reveals that the girl was apparently Kith’s slave.

His personal navigational log is also a little depressing – there are multiple tally marks along each route he’s logged, probably indicating how many times he’s sold the charts. They indicated he’d been around most of the colony worlds in the region, never staying for more than a few days (unlike Vinh, where he’s been for three weeks). (This was highly unusual; there wouldn’t have been time to negotiate his fee, he’d have just had to accept each ship-master’s first offer.)

Mordecai looks through Kith’s books and in “Voyages (Koronus Edition) Volume IX” finds a passage that Kith has circled - Sebastian Winterscale complains about the incompetence of new navigator (for his flagship, “The Emperor’s Vow”). Midian notes that in “Fulgrim’s Almanac” it states that Lum renewed his contract with Winterscale just three years before, so he should have been in Winterscale’s employ for another seven years (Vinh is also nowhere near the “Winterscale’s Realm” region).

Finally, they find letters from three different city money lenders demanding payment – just a few weeks after taking the loans out. After talking to one of the lenders (4th Tier, 1st Landing) they discover that the “Amael” (Comptroller), Lucretia Casmirre, personally blacklisted Kith, reporting that he wouldn’t repay them. This is an overt attack on Kith’s reputation by Lucretia. His reputation among voidsmen would have to be appalling (losing a ship, killing the entire crew, being cursed, etc.) in order that not even blackguards wouldn’t pay for the services that he could provide.

While the protagonists rest, someone visits Kith’s quarters. They take most of the female clothing and leave a note: “They’re getting restless – meet me at the usual place.”
Something else is found – a vox code scratched into the bedside table. This proves to be for the city’s transportation bureau – an internal comm net intended solely for government employees.


Timeline

• 154.M41 (662 years ago) : Lum breaks contract with Winterscale and fades into legend.


• Seven months ago : His house sliding into obscurity, Kith breaks contract with his own employer and bounces from system to system, never staying on a planet for more than a couple of days.


• Three weeks ago : Odette’s Lance (the ship Kith arrived at Vinh on) departs, leaving Kith behind. Kith starts taking out loans. He is accompanied by an unnamed female in Adept’s robes.


• Unknown timeframe : Kith begins making overtures to the city government – ingratiating himself with well-placed bribes.


• Unknown timeframe : Kith acquires access to the transport bureau’s comm net.


• Four days ago : Kith is barred access to the city archive. The Amael has him blacklisted and the creditors start to circle.


• Yesterday : Kith tells Midian he believes Lum was involved in the founding of Vinh. When the Eccliesiarchy arrive he (incorrectly) believes they’re here for him, and starts a fight.