Bastille the Seventh
"Indigenous natives, you say? Run out the forward batteries, Commander Mieland, and let's show them how the Imperial Navy negotiates."
Lord-Admiral Bastille the Seventh is a Rogue Trader who operated in the Koronus Expanse in late M41.
Biography
Bastille was a very minor scion of an ancient Rogue Trader household, who was so far down the line of succession that not a single member of his house would ever have believed that he'd come to be it's patriarch. Instead, his family purchased him a commission in the Imperial Navy as soon as he was old enough to take on the responsibility, seeing it as being a better career prospect for him.[1a]
Bastille made both friends and enemies whilst in Battlefleet Obscurus,[1a] but managed to rise up high enough to at least captain his own ship.[1b] It's unclear whether he became a Lord-Admiral whilst in the Navy, or whether it was a title that he took for himself after the event that thrust him into power. A malfunction during a conference of Bastille's senior household leadership caused a stock of vortex torpedoes to detonate, killing every single member of the house in attendance, leaving Bastille as the most senior member of the Rogue Trader house left. He resigned his Naval commission immediately, and took his house's Warrant of Trade for himself, renaming the house to House Bastille in his own honour.[1a]
His enemies in the Navy pursued him for years after his resignation, spreading awful rumours about the man without actually making any accusations that he could legally respond to. Bastille couldn't let this insult stand, and the battle of words eventually lead to his assembled enemies using their Navy ships to go into open conflict with House Bastille. It was only thanks to Bastille's remaining friends in the Navy that Segmentum Command at Cypra Mundi never learned of the details of the isolated war, but it was determined that Bastille should keep out of the way of the Navy from that point on.[1a]
In late M41, Bastille and his Rogue Trader fleet would arrive at Footfall, looking for the treasure planet known as the Dread Pearl somewhere in the Koronus Expanse. While looking for the Dread Pearl, Bastille came into conflict with a fellow Rogue Trader, Lady Sun Lee, the Matriarch of the House of Ma'Kao, after he caught one of her raiders spying on his fleet in the Delectus Nox system and badly damaged it in the ensuing skirmish.[1c]
Personality
Bastille didn't lend himself well to creating allies, instead preferring subordinates who could follow orders. He had a shoot first and ask questions later attitude, but also possessed a deeply entrenched sense of military honour, considering tactics involving subterfuge as mean-spirited and dishonourable. Many suspected that he orchestrated the vortex torpedo malfunction that killed the senior members of his Rogue Trader house, but that would have been quite out of character for the man.
Equipment
Bastille wore a reinforced captain's uniform that fully covered his bionic arm and leg. He wielded a powerful naval-pattern stub pistol and a power maul in combat.[1b]
