Imperial Navy Hierarchy - Honourific & Specialist Ranks: The following titles and positions are acknowledged in Navy regulations aboard voidships. Many of these political niceties exist as necessities to slot the diverse specialists necessary to a starship's functioning into the framework of Navy command.Tech-priest Majoris (Enginseer Prime) - The tech-priest majoris is the Adeptus Mechanicus representative on a warship's bridge crew and is responsible for communicating the needs of the Mechanicus to the ship's captain and their officers. In the eyes of the Cult Mechanicus, an Imperial voidship is a living shrine, rife with tech-adepts and servitors, its machine sections constantly rebuilt, repaired, and encrusted with shrines and prayer-works. Constant labour is necessary to sustain the vessel's great Machine Spirit and so please the Omnissiah -- and moreover, it is vital preparation to stand against the disorder of battle damage and the great efforts needed to repair such violations of a holy place. The enginseer prime directs this holy toil, and their solemn pledge to the captain holds them responsible for maintenance of the voidship's strength, resilience, and tech-secrets.Navigator Primaris (Warp Guide) - The Navigator Primaris, also called a Principle Navigator, is the senior-most Navigator on an Imperial warship who has the terrible responsibility of charting a passage through the Warp and bringing the starship through unharmed.Chief Astropath - A chief astropath is the senior astropath aboard a warship and has direct dealings with the captain. He or she is responsible for ensuring that the warship's astropathic choirs are able to maintain adequate long-range communications.High Factotum - The high factotum is a maestro of the mechanisms of trade: negotiations, compacts, endless records, bribes, threats, and the filling and emptying of great-holds. Maintaining the crew at strength and obtaining needed supplies for the continuing operation of the voidship is also the high factotum's concern. This is a realm in which corruption and honour walk hand in hand, and the path taken by the payment of Thrones is always twisted to private ends. The high factotum has pledged to bring profit to the lord captain's venture, and will do whatever is necessary to keep both dock-scum and haughty, hidebound merchants in line.Master Gunner - The master gunner is a high-ranking warrant officer given responsibility for the maintenance and performance of the warship's Macrobatteries and Lances. He or she is also responsible for ammunition storage and power linkages.Master Helmsman - The master helmsman is responsible for safely piloting the vast vessel through the myriad threats of the void of space. A helmsman risen to be master of his profession must have a sixth sense for the dangers that can confound auspex and lead voidships to ruin, and know how best to make use of his helm crew and their familiarity with a vessel's character. The master helmsman must pilot not just the void, but also the competing fiefdoms of enginarium, auspex, and bridge crew to ensure that every manoeuvre is accomplished to the lord captain's exacting standards.Master of Ordnance - The master of ordnance pledges to keep the voidship's weapons and fighting crew in the finest condition, and then directs them to destroy foes at the lord captain's order. A master of ordnance is responsible for managing torpedoes and attack craft such as huge starbombers, lumbering assault boats and agile fighters carried within a warship's vast launch bays. He is responsible for the quality of gun-deck crews, the workings of the armoured munitions vaults deep within the vessel, and the operation of weapons in void-battle. The master of ordnance coordinates the efforts of the deck crews to ensure everything is fuelled, armed and ready to launch at a moment's notice. If the vessel boasts torpedoes, fighter squadrons, or other more esoteric ordnance, then these crews and systems also fall under the master's purview.Master of Etherics - The master of etherics is responsible for the operation of the voidship's auspex and Vox systems. Without auspex a vessel is blind, and without Vox it is deaf and mute; the master of etherics stands at the lord captain's right hand, such is his worth, and to fail in his pledge is unthinkable. Dire regions beyond the Imperium are cloaked with the darkness of the unknown -- the master of etherics must marshal his resources to overcome these hostile voids and light the path ahead with his vision.Master of Arms - An Imperial voidship can muster numerous small armies: security companies, boarding parties, the common crew armed with rusty blades and Stub Guns, and often entire barracked regiments of mercenaries, Astra Militarum, or other steadfast troops. The master of arms, also called the master-at-arms, is charged with ensuring that all weaponry on board a warship is serviceable and ready for action, from the greatest Macrocannon to the meanest Stub Pistol. The master-at-arms is responsible for these militants and their commanders; it is his pledged duty to the lord captain to ensure the loyalty of the voidship's forces, carefully guard the vessel's security, maintain the armouries, ensure victory against boarders, and guide attacks upon the crew of enemy vessels or foes on hostile worlds. The sergeants-at-arms of the vessel report directly to the master of arms, and by extension all Armsmen are under his or her control, and so they also perform a role akin to that of a chief of police aboard ship. The master of arms is normally appointed from among the commissioned officers on a ship but more rarely a senior warrant officer may hold this position.Ship's Surgeon - Also called the chief chirurgeon or unofficially, "sawbones," he is master of the voidship's medicae wards and their staff: doctors of physiks, medicae, alchemists, and a horde of apprentices. Accidents, maladies, and agues of a thousand varieties afflict common voidfarers, and a crew unattended by medicae and physiks will soon enough lapse into illness, putting the safety of the vessel at risk. The chief chirurgeon pledges his talents to maintain the crew's stalwart willingness to toil, and further to make of his wards and supply vaults a scourge upon disease, injury, and sicknesses of the mind.Master of Whispers - Men and women are wilful creatures, given to secrets, deceit, disloyalty, and subterfuge. The master of whispers inhabits this realm; he seeks out and purges the crooked timbers and weak spars in the lord captain's crew. His agents on Rogue Trader vessels hunt for the very same elements in rival Rogue Trader missions -- but for the purpose of advantage and deception. Spies pledged to the master of whispers roam far beyond the voidship's bulkheads in search of precious knowledge, untended resources, and hidden weaknesses that can benefit the lord captain's mission.Choir-Master Telepathica - The etheric voices of astropaths resound throughout the Immaterium. When these voices are united by a single will, they combine into a psychic harmony capable of touching minds half a galaxy away. The choir-master telepathica directs this harmony, and in turn directs and commands the choir as a whole.Warp Guide - A warp guide, also sometimes known as the Navigator Primaris, is wholly responsible for steering the vessel through the treacherous tides of the Empyrean, both the safer routes within Imperial borders, and the terrible, dark voids beyond. The warp guide's burden is heavy indeed; he and he alone stands as a bulwark between thousands of faithful Imperial souls and the unbridled damnations of the Warp. A single mistake and terrible Daemons of the Empyreal spaces will consume the vessel and all aboard it, and that horrid death will be but a prelude to the eternal torment that follows.Officer of the Watch - The officer of the watch draws up duty rosters, assigns watches and attends the warship's chronometers. On most Imperial Navy starships, the title of officer of the watch is rotated through the ranking commissioned officers. On older vessels it tends to become a permanent position assigned to the officer of any commissioned rank who has served the longest time aboard a vessel.Fleet Commissar - Like their Astra Militarum counterparts, commissars are appointed by the Officio Prefectus to the fleets of the Imperial Navy. Working closely with the ship's master of arms, the fleet commissar ensures a warship is kept battle-ready at all times and that the crew remains focused on their duty to the Emperor. A fleet commissar has the authority to declare a captain or even an entire crew unfit for service if he or she is sufficiently concerned about their actions or the state of their ship. At least one fleet commissar will normally be aboard any Imperial capital ship. In the case of escort squadrons a fleet commissar will divide their time between the different vessels in the squadron in a series of snap inspections and drills.Ship's Confessor - A ship's confessor is a vessel's Ecclesiarchy representative who works tirelessly to promote the Imperial Creed among the crew and weed out potential Heretics. The God-Emperor protects the righteous who abide by the holy laws of the Adeptus Ministorum and the Imperium, and it is His will that keeps the Warp at bay and guides weapons to strike true against foul xenos. The ship's confessor pledges to uphold the faith and courage of the crew against all adversities, and so make the voidship a true cathedral of the Imperial Creed, echoing with the prayers of the holy and blessed in the God-Emperor's sight. In these duties the confessor is usually assigned by lay-preachers chosen from the most faithful on the lower decks. This is particularly essential on large warships as it allows the confessor to concentrate his or her efforts on the warship's officers, shriving and chastising them as required, reminding them of their duties to the God-Emperor, usually loudly and often.Drivemaster - A voidship's enginarium is a sprawling complex filling many decks. Within this sepulchral facility countless ranks of Mechanicus enginseers work the rites that appease the Machine Spirits of the vessel's roaring heart. Some among their number are schooled in special rituals that inspire the drive to greater efforts. The drivemaster is in charge of monitoring and maintaining the roaring plasma drives that form the heart of the starship. Though subservient to the tech-priest who serves as the vessel's enginseer prime, the drivemaster often maintains the plasma drives as their own fiefdom, where none but the Mechanicus and their servants are welcome.Omnissianic Congregator - The Machine Spirit of a starship is a slow but fickle intelligence, demanding the veneration and respect of hundreds if it is to function properly. The omnissianic congregator guides the tech-priests and other crew versed in techno-arcane ritual, in the maintenance rites and algorithmic prayers that appease the spirit of the ship, conferring the blessings of the Omnissiah upon its operation.Infernus Master - No shipboard danger is more devastating or frightening than fire, burning uncontrolled through a voidship's corridors and decks. Even the smallest blaze can send a seasoned crew into a panic, trampling each other in the frenzy to escape through narrow corridors before the bulkhead is sealed in a vain attempt to keep the fire from spreading. During a conflagration, the infernus master is charged with keeping order and minimising the damage caused to equipment, personnel, and morale. The infernus master organises bucket chains, directs evacuations, and commands damage control crews brave enough to combat even the deadliest plasma flares.Twistcatcher - Those who dwell within the enclosed environment of a voidship's hull risk constant exposure to radiation, both from the vessel's mighty engines and the void itself. These harsh conditions mean an increased risk of mutation. It is a lamentable fact that even the most well-maintained vessels play host to sizeable mutant populations, hordes of the deformed unfortunates lurking in unused holds and seldom-serviced bilge decks. It is the duty of the twistcatcher to keep his ship's mutant population in check, and in times of dire need press these malformed wastrels into service for the good of the human crew.Master of the Vox - In the course of daily operations, an endless stream of vox traffic passes through a voidship's command deck. These lines of communication are vital to the operation of an Imperial Navy flotilla and a Rogue Trader's fleet alike, and it is the responsibility of the master of the vox to keep all channels of communication clear, and all vox-casters functioning at peak efficiency.Purser - The operation of a Rogue Trader's vessel and the execution of endeavours requires uncountable amounts of wealth to be shuffled between investments and expenses on a daily basis, and the risk of loss is great. Financial officers must be prepared to balance enough books to fill a librarium many times over. In an economic climate where the single stroke of an auto quill can mean the difference between tragic loss and phenomenal gain, the purser must be tireless and ever vigilant. However, the purser also has a second duty, to ration payment and rewards to the crew serving aboard his ship. This often means the purser is loved and hated in turn, based on how forthcoming a crew's pay is.Carto-Artifex - The void and the Warp contain dangers that often mean death for those who venture forth unprepared. The best way to survive such dangers is to avoid them entirely. To this end, a wise lord-captain consults his carto-artifex before any voyage. This master of charts and hololithic maps is charged with finding safe routs and circumventing danger. The secrets of the void and the Warp are laid bare before his vast knowledge of the tides and current of the Immaterium.Ship's Steward - The vast stocks of food, water, and air upon which an Imperial voidship's crew depends must be carefully monitored and rationed, lest wanton consumption and theft lead to a crippling shortage. Someone must take charge of these resources, to see that they are used properly and that someone is the ship's steward. To do less invites starvation, dehydration, and suffocation on a catastrophic scale.