Jason Scarn, as always accompanied by a massive stim-stick and his favorite weapon, “Matilda.”

Jason Scarn is a brutish, cold-hearted, but talented bounty hunter who has lately come to the attention of the Inquisition.

Born on the planet Toroth in 701.M41, Scarn grew up in the shanties that perched precariously on the slag piles that surrounded Manufactorum #823, a pollution-spewing factory complex outside the planet’s largest hive city.

Having no interest in the back-breaking labor of manufactorum work, a young Scarn drifted into the service of the Syndicate of Coruscant, one of several criminal organizations that use young street gangs to sell illegal stims to weary laborers looking for abreak from their miserable lives.

Intelligent and observant, and not afraid of violence, Scarn seemed destined to a life of brutish and aimless crime … until his parents were killed in a scum-raid by gang members of a rival syndicate.

Abandoning his membership with the Coruscant—a decision that was a death sentence in itself—Scarn devoted himself to hunting down and killing the four scum-raiders he could identity as part of his parents’ attack.

After his first kill, he was caught by Arbiters. To his surprise, however, he discovered that his victim was wanted “dead or alive,” and instead of being arrested, he was presented 200 credits for the scum-warrior’s bounty. (No doubt the Arbiters were seeking—albeit illegally—to encourage Scarn’s hunt of vicious criminals.)

Scarn hunted down the remaining members of the scum-raid. Three of them had bounties on their heads, and Scarn duly collected their bounties. The fourth was hunted down and killed quietly, putting an end to the young man’s quest for revenge.

By this time, the Syndicate of Coruscant had itself put a significant bounty on Scarn’s head, so after raiding the syndicate’s headquarters to acquire sufficient credits, he purchased passage off-world and began a new and lucrative career as a bounty hunter.

Years of Learning (718-728.M41)—Arriving broke on Belliose III, Scarn makes contacts both with Arbiters and criminal elements in search of bounties. On the large Hive World, there are literally hundreds of thousands of men and women wanted … sought by Arbiters for crimes committed, by manufactorum officials for leaving indentured servitude, and by criminal overlords seeking revenge for disloyalty or theft.

For a decade, Scarn learns his craft and becomes one of the most successful bounty hunters on the planet. Soon, Scarn looks to the stars for more ambitious and profitable work.

Head of Marcius Orios (730.M41)—Although the Balar Slavers are infamous in the Corvus Cluster, most of its leadership Slavers avoid the limelight—news of their attacks may spread across the sector, but the true identity of those who raid the planets are never determined.

Orios was an exception. For half a decade, the egotistical Slaver left vox-recordings of his deeds at attack sites, taunting Imperial authorities and threatening backwater worlds with future raids. A huge bounty was put on his head.

For a small bribe, Scarn gained access to the Arbiters’ files on Orios and noticed a pattern: All of the Slavers’ attacks formed a circle whose center was the agri-world of Kamino. Traveling to the small world, the bounty hunter found his prey.

On an evening with a light wind, Scarn settled upwind of Orios’ guarded compound, opened several canisters of non-fatal nerve gas, and after 10 minutes, waltzed into the compound past convulsing guards and took his target prisoner. The Imperium paid nearly 100,000 credits in bounty for its prize.

Alkylarn Stim Syndicate (731.M41)—Unable to infiltrate a powerful crime syndicate responsible for selling illegal stimulants (“stims”) to the overworked labor force on Alkylarn, the Adeptus Arbites looked for an innovative solution.

They found it in Scarn,  who had occasionally visited the planet while hunting down various low-level criminals—and who therefore would not draw much attention as he worked in the underhives.

Offered a sizable reward—accompanied by mild threats—Scarn accepted the dangerous assignment of hunting down the syndicate leader. Supposedly looking for a minor auditor wanted for taking bribes, Scarn wandered the underhive, quietly observed the movements and meetings of known low-level syndicate personnel, and eventually identified the entire syndicate’s leadership structure.

The syndicate leader turned out to be a high-level prefect of the Administratum. In a single night, the Arbites arrested the syndicate’s entire leadership based on Scarn’s information. The top leaders were forced to walk the length of the underhive in chains, their writs of execution branded into their chests, and were executed by hanging in a large market square.

Scarn continued his fictitious search for his prey for another two months to ensure that no surviving members of the syndicate linked him to the crime lords’ arrests. He was well paid, and Scarn hasn’t returned to Alkylarn since.

Seizure of Eramus Kim (736.M41)—Learning of Scarn’s exploits, and intrigued by his potential value, Inquisitor Serillian of the Ordo Xenos decides to test the the mettle of this potential Inquisition asset.

Scarn is hired through intermediaries to capture and transport to a designated site a nobleman from the world of Prius: Eramus Kim, a corrupt nobleman who had been selling information about Imperial Navy movements to the Tau.

The mission is a tough one. Extremely wealthy and powerful, Kim is guarded by a well-armed and well-trained cadre of bodyguards. The bounty hunter takes the brazen approach: He drives a Goliath Truck through the front gate of the nobleman’s country estate, shoots his way past the bodyguards, and hauls a struggling Kim to the mansion roof, where a gryocopter drops from the clouds and spirits both men to a nearby shuttle.

Scarn is non-to-happy to arrive at the designated drop-off site and discover the presence of a Deathwatch gunship. He is even unhappier to find himself escorted into Serillian’s presence, where he learns that his talents have garnered her notice.

Although ostensibly a free agent, Scarn has been informed that certain indiscreet activities from his past are in the files of the Inquisition—and his assistance may be “requested” on occasion.

TheGM: Poor Scarn. Financially and professionally successful—and enjoying a degree of freedom seldom experienced in the Imperium—he finds himself ensnared by the Inquisition.

Free agent? Ha! The Inquisitor Serillian is a no-nonsense, hard ass who will sacrifice anything and anyone to protect the Imperium from the xeno threat. She sees a use for Scarn, and if he thinks she’s going to ask him for the “occasional” favor, he’s sadly mistaken.

He’s about to find his skills sorely tested—for little or no profit—and he’ll be lucky to last the decade. But he won’t be bored.

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The Corvus Cluster is a Warhammer 40K blog documenting our wargaming adventures in the fantastical sci-fi universe of Games Workshop.