Setting:Navigator: The Masquerade

Navigator: The Masquerade is an attempt to adapt Vampire: The Masquerade into the Warhammer 40k setting. The players are Navigators, beings of immense power who guide the starships of the Imperium of Man across the unfathomable void of warp space. No one in the Imperium knows their true nature, and the Navigators intend to keep it that way.

On the Nature of Navigators

A common citizen of the Imperium likely knows of Navigators only as myth; powerful beings who guide the Emperor's ships across the void. Those with some education on the nuances of warp travel believe them to be relics of the Dark Age of Technology, created by some long forgotten means. An exceptionally rare few among the highest echelons of the Imperium "know" this to be a masquerade. That they are in "truth" mutants, and that the corrosive effects of the warp takes its toll as they age. This deception must be maintained for the good of the Imperium, which could not stand without their singular skill.

But this too, is a masquerade.

The truth is far, far worse.

All life, or at the very least, all life that feels, casts a shadow in the warp. For most, this shadow is but a particle, a single mote in the dense, swirling miasma that is the sea of souls. A rare few, the psykers, the astropaths, cast a larger shadow, akin to a fish in a sea, with which they may cast their minds into the warp for knowledge or communication, or to draw energy into themselves. But this is merely a shadow of their psyche, a reflection in a mirror; frown, and it will frown in turn.

But the Navigator's shadow, can smile back.

The truth behind the Navigators is that they possess a dual soul; their shadow in the warp has a psyche all its own. It is, after a fashion, a daemon, possessing a separate will and consumed by an overwhelming desire to feast on the warp energy of other beings. The navigators were "gifted" this condition by none less than the Lord of Change. It is by this second, daemon soul that they can perceive and comprehend the warp; and it is through their third eye that they are connected to it.

Navigators are not, strictly speaking, daemonhosts. They simply have two souls, one of which is a very hungry daemon that wants to eat other souls; as long as it is placated, it doesn't fight for control.

When a Navigator casts the gaze of their third eye upon a living being, they are able to pull that being's warp presence into the material plane, where it is vulnerable, and then draw it back into the warp, into the waiting maw of their daemon. What effect this has on the victim depends on how completely they are drained, ranging from dazing and weakening, to outright fatal if their warp presence is consumed completely. However when an infant is drained there is the possibility that they will survive the loss of their soul. The result being a blank, a psychic null, untouchable by the warp.

This process can also be reversed to create a warp bond, forcing the warp energy of the navigator's daemon into the target to bind them to their will. This can be somewhat difficult as the navigator's daemon soul is loathe to give up any of its power.

The informed elite of the Imperium believe the Navigators have a gene which is responsible for the manifestation of their abilities, and that this gene is recessive. This is false. The gift is inherited by any descendant of a Navigator parent. It is simply that a navigator infant born to a human mother will be born with a daemon so starved that it will frenzy at birth, becoming a daemonhost and consuming all it encounters until it is destroyed.

The Masquerade

Navigators know that they exist in a paranoid theocratic state that hates mutants, fears warpcraft, and suppresses knowledge of the daemonic. If they are to survive, the rest of humanity cannot know what they are, lest the be hunted to extinction. Thus, the masquerade. No human can know the true nature of Navigators and their inner daemon. Preserving this secret is imperative.

The Politics of the Navigators

The interactions of Navigators are characterized by their divisions into sects, bloodlines, and houses. All navigators can trace their bloodline back to one of "anteruin" navigators, who survived the birth of Slaanesh and the opening of the Eye of Terror.

The largest overarching organization of navigators is the Navis Nobilite, consisting of all navigators in good standing with the Imperium of Man. Houses are the most visible denomination to the larger Imperium.

The oldest and most powerful sect of navigators within the Navis Nobilite is the Camarilla. Most of the great Magisterial houses hail from the Camarilla. They see the navigator gift as a tool, one which makes them immensely valuable to the Imperium. The Paternova has always been a member of the Camarilla since the end of the Reign of Blood. The Camarilla dominate the most lucrative of the navigation contracts in the Imperium, particularly among the Imperial Navy and Administratum.

The Ashirra stand in contrast to the professionalism of the Camarilla. To them, the navigator gift is a curse, a corruption which they seek to absolve themselves of. The Ashirra sect grew in parallel with the Temple of the Savior Emperor, and their political zenith was during the Age of Apostacy, the last time the Paternova was from among their ranks. The Ashirra have always been most closely aligned with the Ecclesiarchy, and managed to preserve this relationship even with the Confederation of Light.

The Anarchs represent the downtrodden masses of the Navis Nobilite, resenting the Camarilla for their dominance and the rules of the masquerade. They want to rule humanity as princes openly, instead of merely serving as (obscenely well paid) warp guides. The anarchs serve as navigators for most of the chartists captains, but the most enterprising have thrown in with rogue traders and conduct trade wars with the Camarilla.

If the Anarchs stand at the edge of the Imperium in terms of loyalty, the Sabbat are on the outside waving in. They make no illusions about serving the Emperor or the Imperium of Man; they are out and out traitors who were partially responsible for the Horus Heresy. The Sabbat established themselves in response to the formation of the Navis Nobilite, thinking it was they who should rule over mankind.

Navigator Clans

• The Ministry (The Ministry of Tzeench)

Openly worships Tzeench as the progenitor of all Navigators

Sect: Sabbat

Bane: Penalty when trying to navigate towards the astronomican

Compusion: "Change for the sake of change" (functionally the same as transgression)

• Banu Haqim

Devoutly worships the God Emperor

Sect, Bane, Judgement all same as normal, they see navigators as sinful

• Ventrue