The Great Judgement

Walkthrough for The Great Judgement in Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader. Includes steps for the Soulless event with Marazhai and The Incident with Asclepius.

You are currently in the Telikos Epsilon system. Travel to Trinnitos initially. From here, you can explore the remains of an apparently dead voidship in the Omicron system and catch up with the Kasballica Mission voidship while investigating an asteroid in Sotto's Tomb. Finally, make your way to the Furibundus system.

Soulless

If you recruited Marazhai, you will have an event after your first warp jump. Vigdis will report that the xenos you took aboard has gone on a rampage.

Marazhai has been cornered but the enforcers have been unable to pacify him. The usual suspects will pipe up about the consequences of your lack of piety and if Yrliet is in your party, she will tell you that she knows what is driving Marazhai mad and asks to accompany you to where he is holed up. Agree to go to the officers' deck.

When you get there, head east through the door for a brief scene. Afterwards, look for a nearby body (Awareness +20) carrying a [Mars-Pattern] Plasma Gun along with some Heretic Trophies cargo.

Make your way to the other side of the room where a Deck Enforcer will give you a sitrep. You will also see the outline of a daemonette that only you appear to be able to see. The enforcer will warn you that one of Marazhai's victims turned on some security systems before bleeding out.

Follow the passageway south and when you come to a heavily-trapped area, look for a body carrying a pair of Master Surgeon Gloves.

Pick your way very carefully around the traps (there are six in total) so that you can disarm them without setting them off. When the area has been made safe, head through the door to the west.

Clear a trap immediately past the door and another a little further along. Continue through the next door to reach the area where Marazhai is holed up. You will also find the Artisan of Pain, the daemonette responsible for driving him to distraction.

Assuming you don't want to kill Marazhai out of hand, say that you will bring him to his senses. If Yrliet is with you, you can have her take care of matters. Alternatively, you can send an enforcer his way (Heretical) or make a Persuasion (-30) check. If you make a Lore: Warp (-30) check, you can tell Marazhai to get hold of himself and follow up with a Coercion (-30) check to have him return to his usual self. Otherwise, allow Yrliet to continue to help. When Marazhai comes round, the daemonette will appear behind him, poised to strike. While you can let the Artisan of Pain murder him (Heretical), you probably want to warn him.

Artisan of Pain

• Wounds: 698
• Deflection: 0
• Armour: 30%
• Dodge: 58%
• MP: 10
• Characteristics: WS: 40, BS: 25, STR: 40, TGH: 45, AGI: 30, INT: 30, PER: 25, WP: 30, FEL: 25
• Weapons: Snapping Claws (Damage 15-18, Penetration 20%)
• Abilities: Feel the Pain, Ecstatic Summon, Warp Creature, Manifestation, Combat Master, Aura of Elation, Graceful Movement

The Artisan of Pain is accompanied by five Ecstatic Daemonettes (and has an ability that will summon more) along with three enthralled Deck Enforcers. Apart from her HP pool, she's a lot less tough than most of the creatures you had to kill to recruit Marazhai in the first place! If you kill the daemons first, any surviving Deck Enforcers will become non-hostile.

When the enemies are defeated, Marazhai will tell you how the rigours of warp travel drove him to madness. If Yrliet is with you she will tell him how he needs to find an anchor if he is to avoid losing himself again. One of the enforcers will urge you to put the xenos down and Marazhai will reply that he can fortify himself against Sai'lanthresh by hunting them. You can give him an area to hunt in if you like or you can forbid him from moving about the ship unsupervised.

After making your decision, search a crate to find the Arch-Strategist's Visor. There's nothing more to keep you here so return to the bridge and speak to Marazhai about how he is coping with warp travel. He tells you that now he knows what he is facing, he will find a way to withstand it. While you're here, he asks you to look for survivors of his Kabal, initiating Shards of the Tempest. Finally, ask about his plans to unlock the Suspecious Ships rumour.

The Incident (Conclusion)

After four warp jumps, Vigdis will report that a saboteur has been arrested trying to gain access to the bridge.

She suggests that Pasqal should question him as well since the saboteur is a tech-priest who claims that he simply wants an audience with "the great machine spirit". Agree to speak to him and Nomos will join you as well.

The tech-priest, Asclepius, apologies to you and Pasqal for the intrusion and begs forgiveness from Nomos for desecrating their temple.

Question him to learn that he is a malatek - an exiled tech-priest whose ideas skirt dangerously close to heresy without crossing the line. He claims to be a disciple of Amarnat and tells you that his brother used to be the ship's Enginseer Prime. From his brother, he heard about Amarnat and Theodora's discovery of a machine spirit of incalculable power and he has come to pay homage to it.

When you've finished speaking to him, do not have Asclepius executed. Instead, allow him to stay, earning you conviction points. Afterwards, go to your personal cogitator and ask Nomos about the meaning of the phrase "The Incident marked the beginning of Nomos" and Nomos tells you that the data you gave them contained a name which they recognised: Epitaph, the place where they originated. Theodora and Amanrat retrieved an object from the planet and used it to create something called "tech-blight". During this process, the machine consciousness calling themselves Nomos emerged.