+++The Assassins+++

The very size of the Imperium means that planetary government is frequently left to its own devices, often for centuries. The imperial administration may call in perhaps only every ten or twenty years to collect taxes or tithes. Sometimes even this becomes impossible due to warp storms, or pressing business elsewhere. As a result planetary government sometimes breaks down, or a planetary governor may start to think he can do without the protection of the Imperium, sometimes standard anti-psyker routines are allowed to slip, and imperial taxes are forgotten. Bringing wayward planets back into the imperial fold can be achieved in many ways. Outright war is one (much favoured) method, extermination is another. At the other end of the scale it may sometimes be beneficial to court a governor by diplomatic means, perhaps support his rivals or infiltrate anti-govemment, pro- imperial organisations. If a planet can be restored to the Imperium by clever diplomacy an expensive, troublesome and destructive war will be avoided. Imperial agents are fully versed in all the tricks of diplomacy, including clandestine ones such as bribery, popular agitation, economic sabotage, terrorism, torture, murder and assassination.

The Assassin is one of the most useful of these diplomatic agents. His job is simple, he is there to eliminate key individuals among the opposition. Sometimes a rebellion centres around a single personality, and a planet can be brought to heel by that person's death or disappearance. If done cleverly, a rebel leader can be quietly slain and replaced by an exact duplicate. Assassins may even provide such a duplicate themselves, as they are able to change their physical appearance using the shape changing drug polymorphine. Assassins are masters of disguise, and can assume almost any human shape as well as that of some aliens. They are trained to use the protective black syn-skin, the synthetic skin layer that protects the Assassin from the environment as mall as feeding sense enhancing chemicals into his body.

Assassins are recruited from the feral worlds as infants and undergo ten years extensive training at the school of Assassins on Earth, from then on they continue to live at and operate from the secret headquarters of the Assassins said to lie somewhere on the imperial planet. This is one of the Imperium's better known 'secret' divisions of the Adeptus Terra. Here the prospective Assassin is put through a decade of gruelling tests, receiving psychic implants to heighten senses and strengthen resolve, as well as sub-muscular acoustic surgery to enable him to survive the use of the shape-altering drug polymorphine. Every Assassin must master the weaponry and equipment of his trade, he must know how to drive and maintain all kinds of vehicle from a bike to a spaceship, he must be a technological expert, and he must have professorial knowledge of the Imperium's history, organisation and languages. This is a tall order by anybody's standards, and not all young recruits survive their training.

Navigators are sometimes recruited into the Assassins and there is a 5% chance of an Assassin being a Navigator.

Organisation. The Assassins are based at their secret headquarters somewhere on Earth. Their leader is the Master of Assassins, a mysterious figure, never seen by ordinary members of the priesthood, but rumoured to have personal access to the High Lords of Terra, if not the Emperor himself. His loyalty to the Emperor must be beyond doubt, for he single-handedly controls an organisation that could feasibly topple even the Imperium should he so wish. The organisation includes a number of ancillary staff, as well as Astropaths, Navigators and other servants. Although not Assassins as such, these characters live entirely within the organisation, and have no contact with the outside world. The Assassins themselws are stratified into Lord Assassins who are no longer involved directly in their work, but plan, organise, research and watch over missions for the younger Assassins. The bulk of Assassins are unranked, although some are obviously more experienced agents than others.

Equipment. Assassins have access to all equipment. Jokaero digital weapons are much favoured, polymorphine and syn-skin are almost mandatory. Armour is not usually worn because it is inappropriate to most of the situations in which an Assassin operates. Where needed, armour is available.

Camaru, and Her Two Companions

A typical Assassin. Camaru was taken from her parents at the age of three, and now only vaguely recalls her early life amongst the stone-age hunters of the Cristo system. Distinguishing herself amongst her fellow would-be Assassins, she quickly progressed to the full status of a trained Assassin, undertaking her first mission at the age of sixteen. She was part of a three-man hit squad aboard an imperial transport.

Their mission was to make sure the craft disappeared, taking with it certain junior members of the priesthood suspected of being under alien domination. Thanks to Camaru's quick thinking and fast reactions, all three of the Assassins managed to escape the spacecraft once it was discovered that a Vampire was on board and all the crew were under its evil influence. Taking to a life raft only moments before exploding a melta-bomb, the trio drifted helplessly in space for almost a month before being picked up. Only self-induced hibernation saved their lives. Camaru is tall, well muscled and, like all Assassins, extremely strong and athletic. She is pictured here as she appeared before the rebellious Lord of Okku, a treacherous Imperial Commander who was selling his subjects to the Ork stellar-slavers for personal wealth. The Lord of Okku did not benefit from the meeting, his tongue cut from his head, he was the last Okkurian to be sold to the Ork slavers. Camaru wears black syn-skin, around her waist she has wound a scarlet sash concealing a knife, bio-scanner, communicator, sufficient phials of polymorphine for 3 uses, syn-skin solvent, and a garrotte. She carries ten Jokaero digital weapons (1 on each finer); 3 flamers, 3 needlers and 4 lasers. The needlers are all loaded with deadly poison. Around her head Camaru wears a white scarf secreting yet another garrotte.

Rogue Trader