✸ aster ✸

Aster is a void born assassin I play in Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (the 2023 video game). I have played both a solo campaign and a coop campaign as them; in term of what is canon, I consider the two campaigns to be a kind of a split timeline. The coop campaign has Sire as the Rogue Trader and Aster as his loyal right hand. The solo one is an alternate timmeline - one could even call it the bad timeline :^) - where Aster themself becomes the Rogue Trader after Sire's death. Grief left a deep wound on Aster, something they desperately try to overcome throughout the game's events, with mixed success.

Origins

Aster was born aboard a chartership called the Perennis Vecto, aboard which their family had been taking care of the weapons and armoury for generations. Of their first 20 or so years, little remains but the slow realisation that their life seemed fated to be a long, monotonous routine of repetitive tasks. Their family seemed hellbent on maintaining their status, and that seemed to entail never doing anything out of the ordinary, ever. Bored, Aster tried to explore the ship and connect with other inhabitants outside his family, but was faced with fear, disgust or both - an all-too-common story for void borns and their strange ways.

When said chartership was taken over by a crime lord called Sire, they were kept alive as their knowledge was valuable - everyone knows eradicating a whole void born dynasty when taking over a ship is a bad idea for all the trade secrets they jealously guard, without which the ship's maintenance cannot be done.

Aster's life radically changed then, but if asked they would say it was for the best. through his actions, Sire inspired respect, and then admiration from Aster. For the first time, their talents were useful, recognized and valuable to someone else. For the first time also, they weren't outcast for being a void born. And Sire put their great marksmanship skills to use, instead of wasting them on weapon maintenance and storage.

When a group of bounty hunters captured Aster and mercilessly tortured them for the location of Sire, who was then offship, nothing made Aster give them up. Not the split flesh from the lashes on their back, not the sinuous gashes from the knives across their body. Not even when the drill pierced their eardums did they forsake their leader. Their tormenter, frustrated, took their tongue out and left them to bleed a slow death then.

But their loyalty was well placed, for Sire rescued them when he reclaimed the ship. This really crystallized both Aster's devotion for Sire, and Sire's knowledge that Aster could be fully trusted, a very rare occurrence in the criminal world they live in. That unconditional loyalty earned Aster a choice spot at Sire's side.

After their torment, other people's perception of Aster changed from uncanny to downright unnerving. Their damaged eardums have since been replaced with bionics, but they still cannot speak without a vox, which suits them just fine.

They seemed from there onwards to never be far from Sire, quietly surveying around like a silent, gaunt shadow. Whether it's to protect the crime lord or the other way around is hard to say.

It also of course made their own life more difficult - Aster has had to face their own trauma often in this world they evolve in. Being taken hostage while they were sleeping in their own bed left them with a very deeply set paranoia; they change their sleeping arrangement often as a result.

Sire lives

When Sire lost his criminal empire, Aster was one of the only people who stuck with him. And when Sire was suddenly revealed to be the heir of a Rogue Trader, Aster also naturally followed him.

Sire dies

When Sire lost his criminal empire along with his life, Aster was left with nothing but guilt and grief. In fact, their story could have very well ended there had they not been summmoned by Theodora at the most opportune time.

After inheriting the title of Rogue Trader, they are quickly overwhelmed with the weight of the responsibilities the position comes with. Their way to cope with it was to preserve Sire's legacy by asking themself at every turn 'What would Sire have done?'

Everything changes after the events in Commorragh and their tumultuous relationship with Marazhai. Of course, with all the turmoil Aster is in constantly, they are like crack to the drukhari - which is why he took an interest in them at once, like a moth to a flame. On Aster's end, they end up immersing themself in what we will generously call 'drukhari culture', guided by Marazhai. It helped them cope with the trauma of being physically tortured all these years ago, by associating physical pain with pleasure.

The changes in Aster's character at this point worry everyone around them, especially their retinue, who all end up distancing themselves, except Kibellah and Yrliet.