Leagues of Voltann

"By the mysteries of the crucible are they given form and strength. By the molten fires and pounding pistons of the Forge are they armed and armoured. By the Votann and by the Fane are they given wisdom and purpose. And by the searing wrath of the Hearth are they filled with the fury to overcome any foe." —The "Four Pillars" that maintain the society of a Kindred in the Leagues of Votann

The Leagues of Votann are the collective confederations of the species of squat but powerfully-built Abhuman clones who refer to themselves as the "Kin." They are sometimes pejoratively called "Squats" by the Humans of the Imperium. The Kin are an advanced, starfaring race who possess highly advanced technology and live amid the extreme environments that mark the resource-rich worlds of the galactic core. The Kin share their lives with self-aware, robotic constructs called Ironkin, which they treat as full societal equals in every way. The Kin have sometimes been misidentified by Humans and xenos species alike as different Abhuman or alien species than their true identity. For instance, the Kin have been mistakenly known to both the T'au and Humans as the "Demiurg," to the Aeldari as the "Heliosi Ancients," and to various other peoples as the "Gnostari," the "Grome" or the "Kreg," among others. 
The Kin vary in their classification by the Imperium between a sanctioned Abhuman sub-species of Humanity or a xenos species. However, the Kin's earliest surviving records do establish an ancient link between their Ancestors who settled the galactic core and the sublight, generational Long March mining fleets sent out by pre-Imperial Old Earth, thus making the Abhuman designation the correct one. For their part, the Kin care little what others think of them.
Each of the Leagues of Votann are divided up into groupings similar to clans or nation-states known as "Kindreds," and are ultimately led by a self-aware machine intelligence called a Votann or "Ancestor Core." The Votann are treated as objects of near-worship by the Kin, and when they die, each Kin and Ironkin has their cerebral data uploaded into their Kindred's Votann, a semi-mystical practice referred to as "returning to the Ancestors."
Few intelligent species in the galaxy are as redoubtable, courageous or determined as the Kin who comprise the Leagues of Votann. Nor are many as ruthless when it comes to the risk-and-reward calculus of war. To face them in battle is to stand before an armoured avalanche that crushes all in its path. It is to be appraised and then brusquely dealt with by attackers who see any foe as little more than an obstruction, or else as a hated nemesis whose annihilation is worth any cost.
To those they fight alongside or trade with, the Kin are invaluable allies. However, those they deem a risk to their people's survival they destroy with the same relentless rigour that the Kin apply to harvesting black hole accretion discs, manufacturing their incredible technologies or, indeed, anything else they set their minds to.
The Leagues of Votann are huge and formidable stellar empires, united by a shared history, genetic kinship and culture. As the emergence of the Great Rift sends ripples of upheaval through the galactic core and beyond, they are coming into violent collision with the other starfaring races more than ever before.

Subsidiary Organizations

• Gungnir Collective

Related Species

• Kindred