Meritech Shrike-class Raider
The Meritech Shrike-class Raider is an infamous class of Raider vessels built by the Meritech Clans that reside in the border zone worlds of the Merates Cluster in the void between the Calixis Sector and the Ixaniad Sector.
History
The Meritech Clans were an infamous rabble of Voidborn stargypsies, wanderers and scavengers, who came to reside in the border zone worlds of the Merates Cluster during the final years of the 40th Millennium. Initially content to forage for parts for their ramshackle fleets from ruined Space Hulks drifting into their territory, within a century they had embarked upon a lifestyle of piracy, and routinely attacked vessels passing between the Calixis and Ixaniad Sectors. In 211.M41 mere banditry gave way to the all-out conflict known as the Meritech Wars when Meritech raiders ambushed a trio of Battlefleet Calixis Sword-class frigates. Only one Sword-class vessel escaped. This plunged the entire region into a seventeen-year-long war between 211 and 226.M41 which only concluded when Battlefleet Calixis crushed the Meritech Clans' strongholds. Subsequent Inquisitorial investigations established that the wars had been instigated and supported by the sinister Hereteks of the cult known as the Logicians.
Many of the deadly Raider vessels utilised by the Meritech clanfleet survived, sold to pirates and other rogues to ensure safe passage for the upper echelons of the Renegade clanlords. The vessel designated a Shrike-class is typical of the Meritech warships of the period, and indeed formed the main strength of its bandit squadrons. A lithe, incredibly advanced vessel that utilised heretical technologies unknown to the Adeptus Mechanicus, few Rogue Traders are able to maintain these ships at their original performance levels, given their bizarrely innovative heretech, but they remain dangerous fast Raiders.
Dimensions
- Hull: Raider.
- Class: Meritech Shrike-class Raider.
- Dimensions: Approximately 2 kilometres long, 0.25 kilometres abeam at fins.
- Mass: Approximately 4.5 megatonnes.
- Crew: Approximately 15,000 crew.
- Acceleration: 5.9 gravities maximum sustainable acceleration.
See Also
Sources
- Rogue Trader: Battlefleet Koronus (RPG), pp. 28-29