Joss Ephrése

Ambrosia V is the closest planet in the system to the sun, and as a result the planet is covered in desert. Those areas that receive rainfall and are not as affected by the sun are covered by a sprawling metropolis of buildings. These areas are mainly concentrated to the North of the planet, though small cities exist on the Southern side. The society is feudal, families controlling major areas of each city. Five major families claim control over areas of the capital, Thulin. This society changed when the Imperial Army arrived to use the planet as a military base. Before this, the Ambrosians had only minor contact with the Imperium, they would refine ore from another planet in the system, then ship it off to the core worlds.

Ambrosia itself has little wealth of its own, its proximity to the sun make it heavily reliant on food imports from its neighbours in the system. It has little mineral deposits, though those that are present are heavily fought over by the families, or Saidan. The planet has one ocean, and the capital is split in half by the main river that leads to the ocean.

The Ambrosians mistrust outsiders, as they believe that they might be spies for one of the rival Saidan. They are not xenophobic, and if anything have more trust for xeno species that visit the planet, as they have both benefitted from trade.

Joss Ephrése was born in a time of struggle. The Imperium had been on his planet for thirty seven years, and many of the rebellions had been put down. His own household was still under watch by the Arbeites, and while growing up his family taught him to harbour a strong dislike for the caste. He was the second son of the Ephrése family, and had three junior brothers and a sister. In the Ambrosian society, a family’s strength was judged on how many sons it had at hand, by this measure, the Ephrése was merely average.


When he was seven, Joss encountered his first Psyker. Joss was the first experiment of a new sort of mind control, but instead of instilling obedience, Joss’ mind was twisted into hatred. He would never again experience the feelings of ‘love’ or ‘happiness’. Instead, these feelings were replaced with an insatiable thirst for vengeance. If anyone wronged him, they would be dealt with. From that point on, he felt no loyalty toward his family. They had failed to protect him, and he only saw opportunities that could be gained from their deaths. Joss had a passion for vengeance, but that did not mean that he was angry. Joss had lost most emotions, and anger was one of them.


Joss has always had extreme patience. When he was thirteen, he lay in wait in the desert for two days waiting for his prey, a big, bear like creature called a grolm. He underwent training from his tutors, and they taught him the basics. But since the incident, Joss had a passion for hurting. He began educating himself in other arts of killing – knives, sniper rifles, and swords. He also trained himself in ways of keeping his mind together, giving him control in situations where normal men would resort to anger or fear. Joss learnt to become always calculating, never letting the situation get out of hand.


In a plot to take power from his father and elder brother, he was unsuccessful, and as a result, exiled from the family. Joss then became a gun for hire, and began committing assassinations for the highest bidder. Unfortunately for Joss, he became too self confident, and when an employer asked him to assassinate an Inquisitor who was visiting the planet, he thought it was possible...

The part about family and caste social structure is cool. I would like to see more.

I think the link between an upper class boy and a psyker assassin is pretty vague and needs flesing out. Why was he subject to the experimentation? What was the experiment? Its a great premise, but it reads like he suddenly went from boy to super assassin.

The implied way he joins the Inquisitor is fantastic, very apt.

Yeah i didn't explain the psyker part very well, basically he was just walking around on the streets, and encountered a 'press gang' of sorts, who were collecting young children.

I'm off to the mountains till the 27th, but when i return i'll have completley fleshed everything out, with some more info on the planet/social structure as well.

Merry Christmas all!