House Highdown Warrant of Trade

Cover precis of the House Highdown Warrant of Trade, dated 514.M33

Resolved henceforth in the name of the Most Beneficient God-Emperor of Mankind, the High Lords of Terra grant this Warrant of Trade to:

Orphelia Highdown

And to all of her line, from now until the end of time.

The Bearer of this Warrant of Trade is granted the inalienable right to go forth beyond the sacred borders of the blessed Imperium, to contact such benighted civilisations as she may encounter, and to make war for the glory of the Emperor as she deems necessary. By the authority of the Senatorum Imperialis, this Warrant places the Bearer as a peer to the great powers of the Imperium, inter alia: Imperial Commanders, Chapter Masters of the Adeptus Astartes, and the masters of the Holy Orders of the Emperor’s Inquisition.

The authority this Warrant grants begins where the Imperium ends. Beyond the extent of Imperial rule, the bearer of this Warrant speaks with the voice of the Emperor Himself.

It is the bearer’s right and her responsibility to claim whatever worlds, resources, or privileges she may obtain in any manner she chooses.

By writ of Seal of Holy Terra

Summary
Age: The Forging - founded long ago during the Imperium's Golden Age of consolidation. The true Highdown Household is based in the Scarus Sector of Segmentum Obscurus and was responsible for using this ancient warrant to settle much of the Coreward portion of what is now the Angelus Subsector. Today this "true" Highdown branch possesses almost unimaginable wealth distributed across a hundred bickering sub-branches and has little direct need for the warrant, with most members of the household not even aware that the ancient writ is still in use. The Highdown branch established in the Ultima Segmentum, which maintains control of the warrant, was established at the beginning of the Age of Redemption by a confidence trickster of prodigious skill who went by the name of Ubertus Highdown.

Fortune: Struggling - Though the core line of House Highdown is fantastically wealthy, the ersatz splinter founded by Ubertus has fallen on hard times. The Correndor War has been bad for business as the economy of the Lithesh Sector has reoriented towards focused military output, and the Cicatrix Maledictum hit the house particularly hard as it wiped out trade routes to the Trailing portion of Segmentum Ultima, which were a major focus of the household historically.

Acquisition: Reward - Orphelia Highdown, first holder of the warrant, was granted the rights of a Rogue Trader for a feat of great heroism in service to The Imperium. Reliable details are lost to time, but the most popular story among the historians of House Highdown is that she was a merchant captain who reinforced a beleaguered Imperial fleet, allowing a strategically important system to be recaptured at terrible cost to her personal merchant flotilla.

Sanction: ??? - recent history, what House Highdown is best known for

Warrant Renown: Unknown - For the past few centuries the Highdown Rogue Trader concern has operated somewhat peripherally and had few widely known accomplishments. Trading with the Tau following the Damocles Crusade has not been widely trumpeted by Highdown for obvious reasons and, with the exception of bringing Drakon to compliance, most of the house's actions in the Gaianan Stretch have been similarly discreet.

Past warrant holders
Arkamus Highdown - one before last - died to gaunts after disastrous drop pod landing and failed Imperial Guard recovery attempt