"Any Cthonian lugger can spot valuable ores, rich particulate or a bountiful rad-belt. But to truly understand the worth of that prize, to picture its finest uses and make them real? That takes Ymyr eyes..."
- —Ymyr Conglomerate slogan
Insignia of the Ymyr Conglomerate
The Ymyr Conglomerate is an elite, major league of the Leagues of Votann dedicated to the crafting of high-quality technology that is located in the galactic core.
All Kin value good craftsmanship, but none more so than those of the Ymyr Conglomerate. Experts in every form of manufacturing, their Brôkhyr see to it that the Conglomerate's holds and fleets are replete with marvels of technology, and that their weapons of war are second to none.
The Ymyr Conglomerate are renowned for two things above all else; their vast material wealth and the spectacular technologies that they craft with it. A league whose mantra is ever quality over quantity, the Ymyr Conglomerate deploy some of the most elite and heavily equipped Oathbands to be seen in any theatre of war.
The craftsmanship and quality of the Ymyr Conglomerate's weapons and void armour are second to none. Kin who enter battle girded with such forgewrought masterpieces strive never to waste their tremendous potential.
League History[]
An Einhyr Hearthguard of the Ymyr Conglomerate is ready to go to war on behalf of his league and in defence of its Votann.
A Kindred's entry into the elite Ymyr Conglomerate is dependent upon fulfilling one of two criteria. Some Kindreds are permitted to join after proving the exceptional skill of their Brôkhyr in fashioning wargear, voidships, force field technologies, or whatever other systems their Forge specialises in. The more prolific and puissant the Kindred's Brôkhyrs, the higher status they win for their Kindred within the Conglomerate.
The other possible criterion for entry is if a Kindred's territories yield a suitably spectacular bounty of raw materials for use in Ymyr Forges. There is no stigma attached to a Kindred effectively buying its way in like this -- the Kin are pragmatic enough to recognise that even the most skilled Brôkhyr can achieve little without fuel for their Forge and materials to work with. In exchange for sizable exports of raw materials, these resource-rich Kindreds are rewarded with weapons, wargear and vessels forged by their skilled allies.
A kâhl of the Ymyr Conglomerate prepares to lead his Oathband to war.
Though smaller than some of the other Leagues of Votann, the Ymyr Conglomerate boasts the greatest concentration of superb technologies anywhere in the galactic core. Every one of their Kindreds benefits from remarkable force field generators to protect their void mining concerns and holds, expertly-crafted teleportation hubs that deliver their passengers safely to their destinations -- almost without fail -- and high-end scanning and communications suites.
Their holds contain civilian facilities that, by spartan Kin standards, border upon decadence, while their Oathbands and Prospects boast phenomenal military hardware of every sort. The Forges of famous holds -- such as Vônyk's Hall of Hammers, Cynder Span and the Ymus-Solaryn -- produce singular mechanisms of sublime might. Moreover, the Ymyr are notorious for possessing enough advanced beam weaponry, suits of exo-armour and Colossus-class war engines to equip their armies at a level most Kindreds can only afford for their most elite warriors.
Even before the birth of the Great Rift at the start of the Era Indomitus, some Ymyr Kindreds were frequent visitors to Far-space. They either traded with alien empires for materials not available in the galactic core, or else took by force those rich star systems they considered theirs by merit of need. Recent developments have only seen them redouble these efforts, for some of their wealthiest Kindreds have been cut off by Warp Storms or invading aliens, and the rest of the league will not see their famed Forges grow cold for lack of fuel.
Notable Kindreds[]
Map of a portion of Leagues of Votann space in the galactic core during the Era Indomitus; a portion of Ymyr Conglomerate space is located in the southern region of this map.
- Orksbane Kindred - The Orksbane Kindred built their hold upon the heavily-irradiated Hold World of Tamâkh. Known as Brôkhfyre, the hold is dug deep into Tamâkh's planetary mantle -- insulated against the exotic and deadly energy spectra that pour from the world's nearby star. What violent apotheosis the tortured star is undergoing, none can say, but for three Terran millennia now the Kin of the Orksbane Kindred have captured the energies of its raging solar flares using kilometres-high stellar vanes. These energies power their hold's Forge, which is amongst the greatest in all the Leagues of Votann, renowned for the amazing weapons of war it can produce.
League Worlds[]
- Cynder Span (Hold World) - The Forge of Cynder Span is famed across Kin space for the skill of its Brôkhyr, who produce machines and other advanced technologies of sublime might. To aid its artificers in their labours, Cynder Span is also located near a major mining epicentre.
- Tamâkh (Hold World) - The surface of Tamâkh is heavily irradiated by its nearby star, forcing the Kin of the Orksbane Kindred who call it home to build their hold of Brôkhfyre deep within Tamâkh's planetary mantle.
- Jâluk (Hold World) - Jâluk was an Ymyr Hold World that was claimed by a Warp Storm. The only remnant of its people is the relic armour crest of the Ymyr Conglomerate known as the Last Crest of Jâluk.
League Relics[]
Last Crest of Jâluk[]
The tragic fall of the Hold World of Jâluk remains a cautionary tale to all those Brôkhyr tempted by wild experimentation. Only this one gilded armour crest, the Last Crest of Jâluk was recovered from the Warp Storm-lost planet, pristine and seemingly untouched by the Warp-madness that surrounded it. Its protective powers extend to its bearer, as does the weight of responsibility to prevent such a tragedy befalling their own hold.
League Appearance[]
League Colours[]
The Kinhosts of the Ymyr Conglomerate all wear a distinctive shade of red.
League Insignia[]
The insignia of the Ymyr Conglomerate is a stylised Kin black-and-gold glyph that depicts a triangle within another triangle.
Trivia[]
"Ymyr" is a derivative of Ymir, the great giant of Norse mythology who was the ancestor of all the jötnar, the giants, and whose body served as the raw material for all of Creation. This would accord with the general reliance upon Norse imagery and mythology used in the fictional culture of the Leagues of Votann.
The myth also relates how the grandsons of Búri, the gods Odin, Vili and Vé, fashioned the earth from Ymir's flesh, from his blood the ocean, from his bones the mountains, from his hair the trees, from his brains the clouds, from his skull the heavens, and from his eyebrows the middle realm of Midgard upon which humanity lives.
In addition, one version of the myth relates that the dwarfs, the mythological creatures upon which the Kin are based, were given life by the gods from Ymir's flesh and blood.
Sources[]
- Codex: Leagues of Votann (9th Edition), pp. 25, 30, 54