Rogue Traders - Trappings of Power: Along with the warrant to act outside of the Imperium's laws, the Warrant of Trade often comes with a great many trappings attached to it. While many Rogue Traders have significant resources of their own to call upon, they are usually given command over an entire fleet and ground forces to aid them in their mission beyond the fringes. If they are not already in possession of a voidship by dint of current rank, a newly appointed Rogue Trader may be given a flagship, often a cruiser.Every vessel in the Imperial Fleet's registry is a precious asset and capital ships are not squandered, for they take solar decades, even entire Terran centuries to construct in the Adeptus Mechanicus' orbital shipyards and can tie up the equivalent of many standard years' worth of planetary industrial output. Nonetheless, the appointment of a Rogue Trader is an event of great import, and the Imperial authorities would not (or not often) wish a new recipient of the Warrant to fall to pirate attack the instant he or she sets out. The Imperium expects great things of its Rogue Traders and will make every effort to ensure that they are equipped for the dangerous missions they will face.Alongside their flagship, a Rogue Trader may be accompanied by frigates and other escorts, as well as a multitude of cargo vessels, tenders, processing or refining vessels, and many more auxiliaries. If the Rogue Trader is not already versed in the skills needed to command a fleet and has not appointed a servant who is, then the authorities will find one qualified to handle the day-to-day running of the flotilla. Most Rogue Traders are the sort of people who want to take total, personal command of their fleets, and will soon learn the skills needed to do so. Those who do not tend not to live very long in the perilous regions of the galaxy beyond the fringes of Imperial rule.Other significant assets gifted to a Rogue Trader may include ground troops. Entire Astra Militarum regiments may be seconded to them, along with all the auxiliary support units needed to maintain them and advisors to aid in their use and deployment. Though such gifts are considered temporary attachments, in reality it is likely to prove permanent.Rogue Traders are expected to meet any threat that waits in the dark, and the Imperial Guard is often at the sharp end of such conflicts and so unlikely to be returned to serve elsewhere even if the soldiers survive such service. Some Rogue Traders issue such troops uniforms of their own design, and it is not uncommon for attached Imperial Guard units to wear a tabard or sash over their regular uniforms, bearing the colours and heraldry of their new lord and master.In addition to military forces, a Rogue Trader may be provided with a vast army of bureaucrats, administrators, clerks, artisans, and advisors drawn from the ranks of the Adeptus Administratum. These are intended to serve the needs of administrating any worlds conquered in the course of the fleet's travels.Plenty of Rogue Trader fleets are furthermore accompanied by entire populations of colonists, volunteers or otherwise, who will settle newly discovered worlds so that the Imperium's borders are expanded from one generation to the next. In some cases the Rogue Trader will install relatives or trusted followers as a new ruling class, ensuring the new colony owes fealty to them, as well as to the Imperium.