The Void & Warp | Rogue Trader Lore

Navigating the Great Ocean

The void is realspace: the gulfs between stars. The Warp (Immaterium) is a turbulent extra-dimensional medium used for faster-than-light travel. Warp currents, storms, and predatory entities make passage perilous; a vessel relies on a Navigator to see the tides of unreality and on a Gellar Field to keep the warp at bay.

Key Concepts

Astronomican: A psychic beacon from Terra guiding Navigators across vast distances—fainter at the edges of Imperial reach.
Gellar Field: A protective barrier that maintains a bubble of reality during warp transit. Failure is catastrophic.
Translation: The moment of entry/exit between realspace and the Warp; often performed away from mass concentrations.

Encounter Seeds

Distress vox from a ship translated decades late—crew unchanged, calendar not.
Warp tide shifts: your plotted course now skims a daemon-haunted shoal.
Silent pilgrim flotilla demands escort through a predicted calm—payment in relics.

Rules & Flavour Hooks

Model warp travel as risky downtime: test navigation, hull integrity, and crew resolve. Offer boons (shortcuts, time dilation benefits) alongside threats (possession attempts, system strain, lost time).

GM Tip

Use shipboard rituals, liturgies, and red-lit corridors to underline the uncanny atmosphere of a warp passage.