Crew Logs:  The Parvenu

Begin Recording

Roland's Log: Chapter One, Verse One

One of the brothers we are currently transporting for missionary work has
decreed that literacy is the key to salvation through the god-emperor. "Only by
reading the holy words can one find true salvation" he has declared more than
once while stroking his scruffy beard. His eyes gleam with the devotion of the
truly faithful. He feels that keeping a log will be an excellent means of
practicing skill with words. I've gotten along fine for many years without
written words, but this may be the last trip of our ship, so perhaps some extra
salvation could be handy. Rather than try to catalog my entire life, I'm going
to start with this trip, maybe if I have the time, I'll write some past stuff
too. With no true day or night, especially in the warp, I'll just break it up
into chapters and verses, that seems to work well with holy stuff.

Verse Two

We met the new Lord Draconis at the start of this trip. I suppose it's
fortunate that we did. Without him and his permit, I'm not sure what would have
happened to this ship that is my home. Piracy? Seized by the Imperial Navy?
Speaking of which, the new rogue trader is so fresh from the navy you can still
smell it upon him. He looks a great deal like his deceased uncle...well, his
uncle before he was blasted into little bits. I suppose once the new one is
blasted into little bits, he'll look even more like his uncle. But won't we all
then? He immediately decided to find out what happened to his uncle firsthand.
I'm sure he sees this ship as he saw his ship in the navy, an instrument of war
and vengeance. My home and all who live there are simply a tool for him to lash
out with. We shall lose many people racing towards the site of a dead man. But
as they say, "If you chase after death, you shall catch him."

Verse Three

After some discussion, Lord Draconis has decided to take on some assignments en
route towards the site of his uncle's death. Vengeance is a pricy business, and
his uncle spent most of his dynasty's wealth on refitting this ship. Did his
uncle know that he would need avenging soon? It did give him and the officer's
a chance to feast with another rogue trader though. Perhaps they learned
something, perhaps they simply ate, drank, and were merry. I didn't go with
them. I want out of this dock, for me and my home to be hurtling through the
blessed void again. Anything that delays that is simply bothersome.

Verse Four

Having loaded up on missionaries, building supplies, and mission objectives, we
are finally leaving the dock. The ship moves like a man half asleep. This
world longs for battle, as does this denizen. Once our foes are in sight, this
ship shall come alive, and whoever our foe is, ork, pirate, or other xenos, we
shall destroy them utterly. Until then, we plod along, half-asleep, everything
passing slowly.

Verse Five

The warp. Traveling through it is to pass through a nightmare while awake.
Something out there resents us being here, and only the holy signs upon the ship
keep them out. But not completely out. Eight days passed like eight months
while the sounds of whispers plagued everyone aboard. They don't bother me, I'm
used to being whispered about by people who think the void born are strange
looking. Some of the crew are unnerved by that, or the strange passage of time.
Fights over supposedly, but not actually depleted food stores became too common.
We finally arrived at Battleground in one piece, among the many pieces of other
long scavenged ships. A bit of normalcy before back into the weirdness of the
warp

Verse Six

With whispers apparently not deterring us, the warp decided to drop a mountain
range directly in front of us. Fortunately, the tech twins (not actually twins,
but they're so alike in function) were able to give me enough heads up to try
and move this world above it. While the world still sleeps, I was able to nudge
it over the mountain range, much to the frustration of something. However, this
diversion will likely keep us in the warp for longer than we'd hoped before
reaching Hermitage.

Verse Seven

Mindful of the crew's unhappiness over the perceived long stay in the warp, Lord
Draconis decided to try giving an inspirational speech to the crew to raise
their morale. Lord Lucien had quite a flair for that. He always seemed to know
the right mix of praise, cajoling, threats, and downright lies to keep this
world's inhabitants fighting well beyond what should be humanly possible. If
that flair for speechcraft is something you can inherit, it's definitely skipped
a generation with Lord Draconis. It wasn't the most demotivational speech I've
heard, but he would have gotten more reaction from the crew by dancing naked
before them. Hopefully, he'll either improve as he gets to know us, or learn
some dance moves. I'm really hoping for the former, not the latter.

End Recording