Tantomir Penzai

Tantomir Penzai

Born the son of a soldier aboard a Machariel ship, Tan (like the color) rubbed elbows with one of the Rogue Trader's kids (Marneus) as a boy before jumping ship to seek his fortune as a mercenary. He wasn't dirtside long before his latent psychic abilities were noticed by the Inquisition, and he was imprisoned on a Blackship and sent to Holy Terra to be measured. To his surprise and delight (though he would tell you he knew it all along), he was not immediately sacrificed, but rather underwent preparations for the ritual of Soul Binding. After surviving his encounter with the Emperor mostly intact, he was sent back into space as a novice astropath, where he met Victrus. The two of them were together aboard a lifeboat which narrowly escaped destruction at the hands of vicious pirates; Tan was able to summon help from a nearby Imperial ship before those aboard the lifeboat starved.

Incidentally, is the ship we're flying in the same one that Marneus saved from destruction? If so, it could be the ship Tan grew up on, so he'd be motivated by both profit and nostalgia to join the crew.