"Votann set us amidst the heavens. The Ancestors mastered the void. The darkness between the stars holds no terror for us, for we are as much at home in the vacuum of space as we are with our boots firm upon planetary bedrock."
- —Grimnyr Yôtunn, before the departure of Tarvemm's Prospect

A sigil commonly used to represent the Kin of the Leagues of Votann as a whole.
A Prospect is a militarised exploratory and prospecting fleet of the Leagues of Votann. These expeditions seek out new strategic mineral and energy deposits, trade routes and other lucrative opportunities for the Kin of their Kindred or league.
Prospects have always been an important part of the Kin's attempts to reach out from beyond their homeworlds in the galactic core into the wider galaxy. The boldest amongst them have always been driven to prospect beyond the galactic core, or to establish trade with starfaring species other than their own. More than this, there is a prevailing belief within Kin culture that, in order to truly honour the Ancestors, one must live a full life and discover or learn all that one can.
This was reason enough to see countless Kin exploratory and prospecting fleets -- commonly called "Prospects" -- set out into the wider galaxy. It also compelled bands of Kin to leave their people and to fight as mercenaries in the wars of other intelligent species, returning only when they had gathered knowledge and experience fit to offer to the Votann.
Between these Prospect expeditions -- and contact with alien races also able to endure the galactic core -- the Leagues of Votann have encountered all of the galaxy's great powers in one context or another. However, in many cases these contacts were isolated to a single fleet, conflict or trade agreement. The Kin remain close-mouthed around outsiders, seeing no reason to reveal the full extent of their holdings in the galactic core, or risk revealing the existence of the Votann.
Many peoples they came into contact with thus mistook a single Kindred or league for the entirety of some comparatively minor alien species. In Imperial records it is impossible to say how many itinerant nomad races, unclassified xenos trade fleets or so-called "Abhuman" enclaves have actually been the Kin.
Where they have been identified consistently, the Kin are typically known to the Imperium by the rather pejorative term "Squats," and vary in their classification between Abhuman and true xenos. The Kin have been mistakenly known to the T'au and Humans alike as the "Demiurg," to the Aeldari as the "Heliosi Ancients," and to various other starfaring species as the Gnostari, the Grome or the Kreg, amongst others.

An Ironhead Squat Prospector of Necromunda, descendant of an ancient Leagues of Votann Prospect that aided in the reconstruction of that Hive World after the devastation wrought by the Horus Heresy.
Prospects can vary in size and composition. Some are quite small, while others may contain an entire Kindred. Hernkyn, Cthonians and their accompanying Kin soldiery often form militarised Prospects to seek out far-flung resources galaxy-wide.
Entire Oathbands of Kin have departed from their Kindreds to serve as mercenaries, often fighting alongside Humanity and -- at times -- even settling on worlds within Imperial space, or integrating for a time into Human society. Meanwhile, planets such as Necromunda and Vordine have boasted populations of so-called "Squats" for as long as Imperial records have existed for those places.
On occasion, one Kindred or another has relocated itself wholesale out of the core, sometimes travelling to the furthest reaches of the known galaxy on one quest or another. Most often, such undertakings are the result of insight offered by the Votann, and have ended either in incredible discoveries and deeds of heroism, or else the disappearance of Kindreds into the darkness between the stars.
Whatever the nature of these departures or colonisation efforts outside of the core, all are said by the Kin to occur in "Far-space." Some amongst the Kin believe that a venture into Far-space is a fool's errand, and indeed the Kin expression "Sailed to Far-space" is used throughout many holds as a Truth to mean that a Kin has embarked upon a dangerous course of action that they will likely come to regret.
There are others amongst the Hearthspakes, however, who believe that just as the Kin originally hailed from the depths of Far-space so many Terran millennia ago, so their ancestral roots and their future now lie out beyond the core in the greater dark.
Notable Prospects[]
- Demiurg - The "Demiurg" were a Leagues of Votann Prospect misidentified by the Imperium and the T'au Empire as a minor xenos species. They formed an alliance with the T'au and were known to be the original providers of Ion Weapons technology to the T'au Empire, though they kept the most advanced forms of these weapons back for themselves.
- Gnostari - The "Gnostari" are a Prospect fleet of the Leagues of Votann that was misidentified by the Imperium as a different xenos species. During the Nachmund Rift War in the Era Indomitus between the Imperium and the forces of Chaos, the Gnostari used the opportunity provided by the conflict to raid Imperial mining outposts on the asteroids known as Giara's Necklace.
- Grome - The "Grome" is a name for the Kin of the Leagues of Votann that has sometimes been mistakenly applied by other starfaring peoples to that race of Abhuman clones.
- Kreg - The "Kreg" are a Prospect fleet of the Leagues of Votann that was misidentified as a different xenos species known to be hostile to Imperial and Craftworld Aeldari interests.
- Squats of Vordine - The Imperial world of Vordine harbours a population of Kin descended from a Prospect expedition who are known as "Squats" to the Imperial authorities. They have lived on Vordine for as long as Imperial records have existed on that world.
- Ironhead Squat Prospectors - The Ironhead Squat Prospectors of the Hive World of Necromunda are a society of Kin who mine for treasure and other valuables in the Ash Wastes of Necromunda. Ironhead Squats are descendants of a Leagues of Votann Prospect who aided in rebuilding Necromunda in the wake of the destruction wrought by the Horus Heresy and are believed to be the only members of that Abhuman species to openly refer to themselves by the otherwise pejorative term of "Squats." Due to dwelling on that Hive World among Humans for many Terran millennia, the Ironheads are now considered a culture distinct and separate from that of the Kin of the Leagues of Votann, but they still maintain some connections to their distant relatives in the galactic core.
Sources[]
- Codex: Leagues of Votann (9th Edition), pp. 8, 25
- Necromunda: Book of the Outlands (Specialty Game), pp. 25-34