The space lanes of the Imperium are plied by huge, often ancient, merchant ships commanded by the Chartist Captains. Lacking Navigators or Astropaths to guide them, these civilian craft take years to travel their circuitous routes between the stars, trading and bringing supplies to worlds which need them. The ships of the Chartist Captains are the only contact many worlds have with the galaxy at large, and to some primitive worlds their arrivals are long-prophesied events of great spiritual significance. Similarly, the reports of Chartist Captains are the only evidence that many worlds still exist at all. The route of each ship, set down in its charter written up by the Adeptus Terra, can take generations to complete and a Chartist ship is home to a spacefaring community of “void born” souls who can live and die without ever setting foot on the surface of a planet.
The Calixis Sector[]
There are many chartist ships in the Calixis Sector but none are more well-known than that of the ill-omened ship The Misericord, captained by the twins Anapollo and Luneros, which makes a round trip of Scintilla, Iocanthos and Sepheris Secundus every year.
Other famous vessels include:
Belasarro - A passenger transport ship plying the Drusus Marches, it has never missed a scheduled run in over 350 years.
Constant Measure - This cargo ship is famed for keeping systems beyond the Markayn Marches supported when warp storms threatened isolation. Millions of survivors named their offspring after the ship and crew in gratitude.
Craneshank - A Free Charter merchant trader operating off the standard routes in the Malfaian sub-sector, it is known for accepting almost any hire (as long as the Thrones are golden).
Faith Eternal - Principally a pilgrim ship that carries the faithful to (and sometimes from) Sentinel, it is distinguished by an apocryphal story claiming that its Geller field failed once in transit, but the righteous chanting of its passengers kept the ship protected until it could safely exit the immaterium.
Halfhund - A light tramp freighter working the coreward archipelagos, it has garnered a reputation for both speed and discreteness, staying just on the coreward side of respectability.
Mirabelle - This famous high-end passenger liner offers pleasure cruises around the wondrously glowing Adrantis Nebula.
Path of Drusus - A pilgrim ship still tracing the saint’s route made before his ascension. As the complete voyage lasts 147 years though, “reaching Scintilla” has become an oft-heard saying for a task unlikely to be finished.
Verdant Glory - A free trading vessel mastered by Chartist Captain Baltis Mecather, a Rogue Trader trusted by the Inquisition to courier sensitive documents and other more dangerous cargo.