Background

The Koronus Expanse is a region that has only recently become widely accessible to the Imperium of Mankind, and many of the Stars and Systems within have yet to be catalogued or even visited. Xenos Empires both fallen and active lay inside of its depths, and the rumours of fantastical weapons and even the forbidden Halo Devices have driven hundreds of Rogue Traders to seek them out.

It was inevitable that a burgeoning Cold Trade would emerge in such an environment, and attempting to curb the smuggling of goods in and out of the Expanse is one that occupies the bulk of the time for Battlefleet Koronus. Originally the traders responsible were a loose coalition of Rogue Traders, Merchant Houses and pirates who would as often as not backstab each other in the course of their dealings. They turned Port Wander into little more than a lawless station where illegal goods were all but openly traded and criminals carved out sections of the Void Station to suit their own purposes.

Ironically enough it was the Orks who finally restored order to this anarchic system. When they invaded Port Wander in 422.M41 the privateers and rogues who had assumed unofficial control of the station fled in droves, allowing the Orks to overrun the station and nearly gain a toehold inside of the Calixis Sector. Eventually driven back by Battlefleet Calixis, this action spurred a great backlash from the Imperial Navy and Inquisition, and many of the smaller factions of Cold Traders were wiped out. Those that survived banded together in a stable Quintet of members that now influence the majority of the Cold Trade – whether or not the people looking to participate in such a lucrative venture agree or not.

Members of the Quintet

• Kasballica Mission – The most public member of the five, they control trade in Footfall and Port Wander, and have stretched into the nearby systems of both reaches. Officially they trade in Ecclesiarchy-sanctioned goods from converted Heathen worlds, but none who have met them believe such a story.

• Hecaton Cartel – This group of traders operates at the far edge of the Expanse, inside of the Rifts of Hecaton. They specialize in plundering worlds that are beyond the Astronomicon’s light, and bring the most money into the Cartel.

• Serrated Query – Information brokers and spies, they keep tabs on all potential sources of Arceho and Xenotech, and are rumoured to be behind sabotage of any who would attempt to form a rival business to the Quintet.

• Archeo-Exhumators – The most legitimate of the five, this elite group of scholars and tech-priests supervise the long-term digs and explorations into individual worlds of the Koronus Expanse, and price what is found.

• The Mist Fleets – A massive fleet of Transports and Raiders, they are viewed as neutral ground for the actual exchange of artifacts and goods between buyers and sellers. Most Quintet transactions are conducted aboard these vessels, which are ever-mobile to escape the Navy and Inquisition who would dearly love to track them down.