Leagues of Votann - Four Pillars of a Kindred: The familial bond of the Kindred remains with Kin and Ironkin whether they live and work within their hold, or roam the stars as warriors, merchants, miners or courageous Hernkyn Rangers. There is a shared, genetic understanding between members of a Kindred that goes deeper than words. It is a commonality of thought and action that binds their armies tight and can appear to outsiders like some form of low-level telepathy.Every Kindred has its own name, chosen when it was founded. Some -- including Skâlfi's Kindred, the Kindred of Nârunn or Vykât's Kin -- are named for the Ancestor credited with their establishment. Others are named after a defining feature of their Hold World, such as the Kindred of Echodark, the Thousand Stars Kindred or the Iron Canyon Kindred. Oddly basic names are used by some, like Kindred Six or Kindred Eleven-D, while others boast names that speak to their essential natures, such as the Star-delver Kindred or the Kindred of Ork Slayers. The Kin are also known to mingle these forms, producing names such as Yôht's Black Pillars Kindred, or The Kindred Stoic of Nightgulf.Other than its people, the heart of every Kindred lies in its "Four Pillars." The first is "the Hearth" -- the fire that burns at the heart of the hold. Echoing the times when all Kin sailed the stars aboard vast generation ships, the Hearth is the blazing plasma reactor that powers the hold's defences and sustains light and life. Its fires are said to burn within the breast of all its Kin, only extinguished if every last member of a Kindred falls.The second pillar is "the Forge," wherein the Kindred known as Brôkhyr craft the weapons, equipment, tools, vehicles and technologies required to sustain them. In planet-based holds 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.The third pillar is "the Fane," tended to by the Living Ancestors. From the Fane flows the wisdom of the Votann, for it is here that the Grimnyr interface with their Kindred's Ancestor Core.The final pillar is "the Crucible," whose genomic cloning technologies and artificial wombs ensure the Kindred's continuation as a people, and whose ancient devices are defended by the oath-sworn orders of the Embyr.Every Kindred governs itself from a huge spherical chamber known as the "Spakerönde" located in its primary hold. Here, the "Hearthspake" gathers -- a ruling council of Guildmasters, senior officers of the Kindred's military Kinhost, and wise and cunning Grimnyr. For all their familial bonds as genetically-related clones born from their Kindred's crucibles, the members of the Hearthspake are much given to strident debate and obstinacy. Kin are slow to change their minds. When one believes firmly that he or she knows what is best for their Kindred, they can be remarkably stiff-necked.Moreover, all are keenly conscious that the Ancestors are always watching. Though voices are often raised and debates may last for solar days, the Hearthspake sees little of the politicking or self-interested manoeuvring that typifies many other intelligent species' political arenas. The Kin might be hard-headed, but they are almost always earnest and honest in their desire to guide their Kindred well.