"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
Kin Brôkhyr at work in their hold's Forge. One Brôkhyr is at work at his A.N-vyl workstation, while a robotic COG delivers a finished device to where it is needed.
The Forge is the place in a Leagues of Votann hold where the engineers and artificers of the Kin known as the Brôkhyr craft the weapons, equipment, tools, vehicles and technologies required to sustain them. On Kin Hold Worlds the Forge may be a conventional -- if vast -- industrial workshop, but in others it may take the form of a huge factory-vessel, a hollowed out industrial asteroid or a grav-anchored factory-station.
Every hold's Forge is unique, built and augmented over Terran centuries to specifications determined by Votannic wisdom and the personal preference of its Kindred. Yet in some respects they are uniform. All Forges are sleepless hubs of activity, lit by the molten fires and searing plasma arcs of advanced technological manufacture, and all are filled with mechanisms of arfifice ranging from each Brôkhyr's personal A.N-vyl workstations, to colossal auto-foundries.
As well as overseeing the work of their COG robot-assistants, each Brôkhyr takes pride in constructing their own devices. They follow traditional schematics in deference to the wisdom of the Ancestors, yet there is also general recognition that -- to truly honour the Votann -- each Brôkhyr must humbly apply their own ingenuity, coupled with rigorous field tests, to improve upon traditional designs.
Through this process, each Brôkhyr develops their own preferences and quirks, which become known as their signature style in the technologies they craft. The most efficacious signatures are adopted by fellow Brôkhyr so that, over time, many Kindreds -- or even entire leagues -- have adopted bespoke methods of crafting and manufacture. This slow but relentless iterative process of improving upon already understood technologies has helped the Kin develop the contents of the original Standard Template Constructs inherited from the Ancestors' ancient Long March mining fleets even further, leading to true innovations.
Yet all Brôkhyr still prioritise certain principles when developing new technologies, including that their devices embody reliability, utility and efficiency over showy decoration or ideas of ritual significance. Kin technology and wargear is as rugged and pragmatic as the beings that wield it, and will be battered to destruction before it fails in its duty.
Sources[]
- Leagues of Votann (9th Edition), pp. 21, 32