"No matter how far through the stars I may roam, still I carry the fires of the Hearth in my heart."
- —Traditional utterance of the Hernkyn before setting forth on an expedition.
The Hearth is the name given by the Kin of the Leagues of Votann to the power source that provides energy to one of their holds.
The old term literally refers to the fire that burns at the heart of the hold. Echoing the times when all Kin sailed the stars aboard the vast Long March generation mining ships that first brought their Ancestors to the galactic core, the Hearth is the blazing plasma reactor or other, more exotic technology that powers the hold's defences and sustains light and life.
Its fires are often said to burn within the breast of all the hold's Kin, only extinguished if every last member of a Kindred falls.
Sources[]
- Leagues of Votann (9th Edition), pg. 10