I know a lot of people think the votann don’t fit in this setting, but I really like factions that aren’t fully batshit like the imperium, as it shows just how awful the imperium is by comparison- they are also a unique faction that actually act like Vikings in space(unlike a certain space marine chapter)
I resonate with this idea yeah! I think that the community around them is correct, that it's not exactly grimdark, but the way their society is formatted is like pre-grimdark meaning it's about to get bad fast and yes, I too resent the Space Wolves
you are so valid for that They are the least fleshed out faction in a universe who's known for having heavily defined factions so it's a common opinion
In necromunda the squats are in an on off relationship with imperials they are paid and praised for a while for leading expeditions to rebuild the hive or retrieve tech then a generation of humans passes and the new nobles hate them for being abhuman scum lmao.
I honestly like the idea that they are actual xenos and they told the imperium they are ab-humans to trade with them. It would play into them constantly lying to protect themselves and their tech
I actually think that's a terrible idea. The Imperium's xenophobia tends to be a *little* overplayed. They tolerate and even associate with xenos that they find non-threatening. But if they find you qualify as human... well welcome to the Imperium Imperial subject, your ass is property of the Emperor now. No human is allowed to NOT be part of the Imperium as far as they're concerned.
@bad-people6510 the kyn are still abhuman though, at least as far as i know. Admittedly I think they should be full fledged xenos, GW just has danced around the topic in the little lore they've put out. This could be a way the retcon it
I'm pretty sure LoV actually consider themselves the "real" humans, as they are in some sense the continuation of humanity during the Age of Tech, and thus the true descendants of that society.
I like how some people are calling them not “grimmdark” and “don’t fit into 40k” all because they’re not suffering from immediate space aids or constantly killing each or some other stupid shit like that.
@@Va11idus There’s grimdark and there’s grimderp. Even so, I’ve held this opinion even with the Tau for a long while: grimdark isn’t effective if there’s no noblebright shining through. With no light in the darkness, you can’t really see just how bad it all is.
I am a huge fan of Deep Rock Galactic and they would be my first faction to get. If you enjoy talking about their lore please. I'll watch it all day and show it around the discord. If you've never played it, you are missing out as a Space Dwarf lover friend.
I really like these "good guy" factions because if done properly you can slowly and gradually build up the lore to show how they slowly became worse in a galaxy full of horrors imperium in 40K is a worse off version of the imperium in 30K which is in turn a worse version of humanity before the age of strife. and even though things like the horus heresy are being written retroactively I think it would be cooler to see these factions go through their life cycle in real time either that or games workshop just blows it up on their face
On the note of their reproduction I'm like 90% sure the kin can still reproduce normally because the squats on Necromunda have to since they're effectively stranded. The reason they don't is mainly because it's horribly inefficient compared to just cloning, it takes a female kin out of commission for like about a year, said baby kin will take years to grow up into a functional citizen, and said kin won't have any niche to fill nor specific enhancements to make them better at it and in effect render them a literal useless bum. I'm not sure if it's official canon but I have heard of things called fleshkin which are said natural-born kin and they're like the only thing looked down upon in society since they're "born without purpose."
Makes me think that some might go to chaos. Some who have their STCs shut down might turn to nurgle for eternal life, and those fleshkin might gain a growing resentment that leads to Khorne. Perhaps they would want to prove themselves and seek knowledge, turing them to Tzeench
I started with Rogue Trader in the 80s playing Squats. When they dropped them I was done with 40K as they were always my favorite faction. I don't think I'll get back into playing but it's nice to see folks interested in them again. I always played dwarves in about any game I played. I was crushed when they just disappeared from one of my favorite games. I was like 14. It didn't hurt that my uncle was a biker and I always wanted to be one so the fusion was perfect for me. I'm too old to want to start back up that was 36 years ago. Back of the game shop in the bottom of the mall. Free refills at the Burger King. Pizza by the slice (not something common in Indiana) from the food court. One of my golden memories.
Not all is lost, however. The Votann of the Kronus Hegemony is quite young in relation to the others. The Votann of the Hegemony is actually their Fane that became so advanced that it gained the capacity to become a Votann, so it's proven - at least by fluke - that new Votann can be made. The big tradeoff, however, is that young Ancestor Cores lack the information of the older ones. This is why the Kronus Hegemony is so aggressive even towards other Kin, because they are bound and determined to fill their Votann's memory banks. On the topic of Kin procreation: as far as I know, the Kin _can_ procreate naturally, but generally choose not to due to the cloneskeins being a more predictable method of mixing and matching genes than bumping uglies. Kindreds that have lost their Ancestor Core may resort to doing things the old fashioned way if they can't join up with another Kindred in a reasonable amount of time.
Which is that tiny piece of lore that says “don’t worry they won’t eventually die out naturally” as they can very slowly maintain themselves. The kin can build and operate their tech, so eventually new Votann will be able to do it as effectively as the old ones. Just unlucky it seems to be a 10000 year process of trial and error.
@@陳怡秀-r7y tbh i'm thinking why the votann doesn't make other STCs and deposit half their info into the new ones, thus freeing some space while also maintaining the STcs efficiency?
@@OHGAS-rt5uc Maybe they don’t have typical data banks for storage and can’t actually delete or move data. Considering they’ve been uploading their dead’s knowledge into them for 10000 years, they probably assumed it was infinite and never sore the need to prepare new ones. They’re only now just starting too.
The lore is pretty cool. Some people think they're too 'good guy' for the setting, but keep in mind that the Tau started that way too. Between the thinly veiled Men of Iron, senile AI cores, conflict with the Mechanicus, and entirely clone-based society, I think the Votann are set up perfectly to have some very grimdark character development as a faction. The only thing I'm not entirely sold on is the aesthetics. The art seems to depict them with completely normal human proportions (they aren't even very short), and their equipment has an almost completely generic sci-fi look to it, save for the occasional half-hearted dwarfy design thrown in here and there. Dwarfs in Warhammer fantasy are extremely distinctive and have a very strong visual identity - to the point where AoS dwarfs actually look more like space dwarves than the Votann.
Honestly they are no more 'good guy' then the Craftworld Eldar are. They are willing to talk and trade with you if the benefit is in THEIR favor, if they determine you are a problem (or problem later down the line)and the manpower and resources expended in dealing with you outweigh later benefits they will do so without hesitation. They seem more like the cold impersonal 'corporate' kind of evil if that makes sense. Less the zealous 'BURN IN RIGHTOUS FIRE.' evil and more the 'You're nothing but a problem to be removed' evil. (God forbid when they got a Grudge with you though, THEN it is personal and they will extend whatever resources, manpower and do whatever it takes to get you..)
If they were discovered during the great crusade I could see the Emperor trying for a genuine alliance with them, since he knows what they are. The ancestor cores and men of iron might be a sore spot, but I think he'd make special exceptions just like he did for the mechanicum. That technology is too good to pass up
@@miles2378 I don't think the emperor would delegate an alliance like this to a primarch. He would most likely keep the votann hidden until absolutely necessary. And seeing how they only recently started appearing in the galaxy it wouldn't be hard. Plus even if the mechanicum got uppity about it the emperor did have a contingency plan to subjugate them.
To my knowledge they were always clones. During the golden age of mankind, they were what are known as the men of stone. Genetically engineered humans made to pioneer (being rather self sufficient) and exploit the mineral riches of wherever they were sent off to. Hence why they have (albeit rather ancient and barely usable) STC's as did every other group of colonists/pioneers during those times. It also explains why they have such advanced technology, including the Iron Kin.
A lot of 40k Doomers are calling the LoV not Grimdark enough but if you think about it, they could just be leading up to the Grimdark stuff. The Leagues of Votann represents Hope, and nothing is more Grimdark than seeing a small glimmer of hope before it is ripped away and stomped out by the evils of the Galaxy.
@@augustuslunasol10thapostle True, but I liken it to the Tau. The Tau were the “good guys” and had a ray of hope, but then the Ethereals made them Grim Dark again.
I just discovered this faction’s existence yesterday, and as a Dwarf lover can only agree that these guys rule. Looking forward to more videos on them!
The Leagues are what finally got me to bite the bullet and get into 40k proper. I adore how much of their aesthetic and lore really does boil down to "man living in space is frickin' hard", they feel more sci-fi then a lot of the other factions IMO
I got into this hobby in 1990, just as the Squats were being properly phased out. So I was chuffed when they made their comeback, and even though I don't intend on starting a Votann League of my own, I still had to get the combat patrol just to celebrate their return. And this morning is the day I finally painted the last member of that box set, so I enjoyed this video. Cheers!😸
anyone else like the idea of them speaking Khazalid (dwarf language in fantasy)? I just have this image in my head of a kyn stepping on the chest of a downed Drukhari, pointing a bolter at him and proclaiming ''ELGI WAZZOK'' blasting him point plank.
They were a clone race from the beginning-corresponding to the men of stone in ancient imperial lore. Guilds are separate from leagues and kinhosts, similar to klans with the orks. The Votann were more than STC’s. The problem now is their CPU usage is maxed out and the kin don’t know how to reboot to free up RAM, much less format and partition. The imperium thought the squats were all destroyed by the Tyrannids because they had no idea how vast the Leagues’ holdings actually were. One League was destroyed, and they thought that was all of them. The Cicatrix Maledictum is forcing the kin to be less insular and secretive now, so… Now they’re back. Lore wise, it makes perfect sense.
I know the squats are still a thing on like, hive worlds(necromunda even has them playable now), and the imperial guard(although VERY SMALL NUMBERS, like less than the cat people)...it's cool that The Votaan recognize The Squats and just see them as "Imperium aligned Votaan". I like that htey didn't just delete the squats because THAT MEANS...we can get some of their old toys back with the votaan. I love the battle bus, i fucking ADORE the battle bus....but i want that goddamn train..you know the one. (also i've been a greenskins fan since i was a kid, like the late 2000's because of Warhammer Online, but not even THE ORKS, AND ALL THEY'RE RECENT UPDATES...tempted me to actually by from GW....but the Votaan did....ohhhh and they were so close too if i had the money i WAS going to have a box of them even if still to this day i don't actually have anything to play the game physically...they were just that cool)
In the span of few months you and "live! from the black library" have become of my lore channels. keep up the good work. (And you're right, night lords are the best legion and its not even close)
A few days ago I got randomly recommended your video on space marine helmets of all things, and I'm starting to binge your videos. Immediately, you became one of my favorite smaller 40k lore channels! Even if you picked one of the WORST space marine chapters as one of your 3, but the other 2 are tight as hell so I can't whine too much, and even if the Minotaurs are enormous pricks their Vibe is pretty dope.
Wait wait wait, you're telling me that out in the galactic core, there's a planet plucked clean of life with a fully intact STC, up for grabs, with no one around to guard it? And this thing used to make all the wacky weapons like Buildings with Tank Treads, Mining Conga line trains and Zeppelins!? And even though its "mad" it hasn't received/succumbed to senility because theres been no new input? Whelp, I'm going to be making a fraction of all Ironkin heavily targeted on countering hive fleet leviathan and orks.
I do like these guys. I think it's a good expansion to the lore. I would like to see some more stunties that live more like the dwarves but quite frankly I was hoping that eventually we would find a full fleshed out Space Dwarves faction who would actually fight the imperium but then come to a strange ceasefire with them even though they are Xenos. Perhaps some of the Astartes chapters like the Luna Wolves, Blood Angels, maybe the Ultramarines would be against them but other chapters would be working with them
@@SCHMALLZZZ They absolutely 100% are not. Even if you ignore they became the Sons of Horus the legion died on Maeleum when the 3rd completely wrecked them and stole Horus’s body. The black legion see themselves as entirely separate from the SoH something completely new especially since they comprise of marines from all the original traitor legions and even loyalist ones. The closest you’d get is the warband the True Sons and to say they are Luna Wolves is a huge stretch. As of right now in 30k the last Luna Wolf is Garviel Logan and he is most certainly dead in 40k.
Headcanon/Fun idea for future plot development: The Votann should be able to survive for billions of years, but the pressures and stresses of survival in the galactic core have taken a major toll. The high gravity and other stellar effects prematurely "ages" the machines. The Leagues could be strong and mighty and launch an Empire that lasts a billion years - but they must first leave the galactic core and invade the galaxy at large.
Dwarves are awesome. i have always loved them, blame Tolkien for that. thanks for the awesome vid, im not as excited about the votan as you are but i am highly interested and want to get my hands on a box or two. as for your rambling, its fun. keep up the awesome content!
Yo Arthur did u see the theory that the Leagues are actually the Men of Stone? I really like that one cause it follows up on the vague ancient tales of ye Olde 40k backstory and give them a good better connection to why they have (suspiciously non-murderous) literal Men of Iron hanging out with them. Thoughts?
"Cold, the air and water flowing, Hard, the land we call our home, Push, to keep the dark from coming, Feel the weight of what we own! This, the songs of sons and daughters, Hide, the heart of who we are, Making peace to build our future, Strong united, working 'till we fall! AND WE ALL LIFT. AND WE'RE ALL ADRIFT TOGETHER! THROUGH THE COLD MIST! 'TILL WERE LIVELESS TOGETHER, TOGETHER"
I had a huge Epic-scale Squat army back in the 90s, so I am thrilled to see dwarves again. That said, I kind of miss the weird old 'dwarf biker' aesthetic...
I might be applying a little too much of my own head cannon here but; It's because they value individuality and freedom and living their lives to the fullest is why they are dying. I believe their role in DAoT was to be disposable clones and robots who would perform a task then get recycled into a new more suited clone for the next task. Their memories would be used to fuel the memory banks of their super AI, any irrelevant or duplicate data would be overwritten. A society of disposable clones taking directives from a super intelligence is effectively a tech based Tyranid. What makes it sad is that sometime in the last 10K years, they started to value individuality. (and I assume freedom) So now they are a hyper capitalist society that will not optimize the data storage of the Votann because that will mean they lose some of their ancestors. Making their entire civilization unsustainable. This is also quite Grimdark, as much as they look down upon the Mechanicum, they are currently on the same track unless they want to store their ancestors in a lossy compression format.
I think as their tech begins to break down, it would be interesting if they revealed their tech to the mechanicum out of desperation, in hopes of the mechanicum helping them repair or rebuild the votann or something.
Your bit towards the end about the nids characters reminded me that the nids technically have more named characters on tabletop than the mechanicus do, if you count the swarmlord as on. Also, love your content, don't stop anytime soon please.
yeah, I remembered a bit more recently too? I think if you count slightly older models, you have the Swarmlord, Deathleaper, old one eye, the Parasite of mortrex, and the Red Terror. Just to kinda name the ones that have had models
We don't agree on the Thousand Sons, but that is nothing. I, too, love the Leagues most of all and this is (baring the future) my favorite video on them. Thank you for making it. Oh, and I love your other videos too.
Wait why don't people like the leagues of votann I love the addition and it also gives us insight into the peak of tech. It also explains the center of the galaxy and what goes bump in the black holes
The engineer Kin being called 'Brokkir' makes a lot of sense considering Brokk/Brokkr was a Dwarf in Norse myth that made Thor's hammer alongside his brother Eitri/Sindri.
I like the bit where when they interact with the imperium they turn a bunch of shit off and put away all their fun toys so the bad neighbor kid doesn’t steal their special nerf guns and break their grandpa’s wheelchair when he visits
I know there isn't allot of lore, they are and aren't new to the back story of Warhammer 40k. Hope to see more Votann in the future, some new short stories in Warhammer Community and and novels. I know that there hasn't been much of Aeldari novels either, hopefully they don't get thrrown in the back burner. Surprisingly enough they haven't been tol in the recent Arks of Omen series. The faction hasn't popped up in the series yet or won't at all. It would be nice if they just pop ahead and help the Dark Angels the The Seige of the Rock.
FUCK YEAH DWARFS! Also, congrats on 102k! Now if only their army had more units...god they and the Kroot need more actual units. Nice skulpts, but need more variety.
I think that its smart to shroud them in mystery. During the years of expedition no one knew what was happening on the other continents. i feel it's the same for this faction and this timeline in the 40k universe.
Question, if the Votann (The AI STC) can do so many things, how come it can't construct a copy of itself so it has a brand new "Body" and back-up storage.
It seems implied these things were created by Dark Age of Tech humans on earth so they were not build on site. The Votann were on the colony ships that were send into the core with the Kin. Personally I think it may be the case the Votann were actually meant to study the galactic core and were suppose to send the data back to Earth but then Age of Strife happened. Their programing prevented them from deleting data or stopping the data gathering, the whole process developed sort of to religious significance for the Kin and so have been collecting data for 10000 plus years for what is in essence a obsolete task. Also all that data have caused the Votann to slow down significantly. Ask it a complex question in its peak years you had all the data you could possibly need in seconds. Ask a complex question currently and it can take years, decades or even centuries to get the data cause it has to shift through so much of it now. (amusingly sometimes after all that waiting it may just ask you to be more specific, imagine hearing that after waiting close to a century.) I know new Votann do occasionally pop up from a developed Fane but they have made clear the Kin have no clue how this happens due to how random it is.
Glad you like em. My stunning dissapointment with the NASA punk direction they went, the attached nonsensical viking art bits (seriously, clone vats and AI, why the little dragonhead curved bits on your terminators?), and the outright defilement of my dwarves. Really, if they had gone more industrial punk in aesthetic and wrote from their night destruction onward, tensuons with ad mechs and imperium as a result of abandonment and then snapping up of their stuff, id be done for that. But the "they were here the whole time, dee dee dee" is not my favorite.
I love these guys. 40K should be more xenos-focused--these guys, the Tau Empire, the Tyranids, and the Necrons are all so cool. I'm sick of the Imperium and Chaos stinking up the place with their self-righteous evil.
i was confused about the leagues being called xenos so i went i read about them on the wiki apparently they are dencended from some of the humans that left terra during the age of technology the whole "xenos" thing is an error in classification Which makes sense they have stc and are literally humans but some light (relatively speaking) genetic engineering
I still think they should've tried another color scheme for the annoucement, because it did not help the "overwatch but in 40k" insult they got.... or how the bike looked like a "scrubbing bubble of doom if you attach white bushes to its hover pads" or something like that that was my reaction and what I said
Great video, though I think you got some minor stuff wrong, like the xenos classification, it's a bit more complex than that. I also don't recall the Votann themselves being STCs (though they have a lot of those), it's just a really advanced computer.
Don't forget that the Kin treat the Iron-Kin as full citizens. They're treated as full equals which is just so wholesome, especially for this setting.
I could’ve sworn I read some lore about tau doing the same thing with their drones
I know a lot of people think the votann don’t fit in this setting, but I really like factions that aren’t fully batshit like the imperium, as it shows just how awful the imperium is by comparison- they are also a unique faction that actually act like Vikings in space(unlike a certain space marine chapter)
I resonate with this idea
yeah!
I think that the community around them is correct, that it's not exactly grimdark, but the way their society is formatted is like pre-grimdark
meaning it's about to get bad fast
and yes, I too resent the Space Wolves
Idk they just don’t have enough lore yet for me to make a decision, it is interesting though
you are so valid for that
They are the least fleshed out faction in a universe who's known for having heavily defined factions
so it's a common opinion
I mean
It's pretty much the tau Treatment when they released
People are saying that?
They're like the 80s high Sci-fi that 40k is missing wrapped up in funny dwarf people.
Side note: I miss the tank train...
I love how they see the tyranids as a mighty predator no to be underestimated calling back to the original squats
Also I hope they games workshop takes a little from warhammer fantasy with dwarf grudges and slayers
yeyeye
but they also hunt down lesser hive fleets to steal their resources!
Which I think is cool
@@jonahbrenner5597 yes they actually have that
The Leagues of Votann are the epitome of Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss when dealing with the Imperium
Honestly can't blame them with the shit the imperium does.
In necromunda the squats are in an on off relationship with imperials they are paid and praised for a while for leading expeditions to rebuild the hive or retrieve tech then a generation of humans passes and the new nobles hate them for being abhuman scum lmao.
Girlboss?
Perfect fan insert faction
Well no, but actually yes?
I honestly like the idea that they are actual xenos and they told the imperium they are ab-humans to trade with them. It would play into them constantly lying to protect themselves and their tech
They try to be on decent terms with everyone and therefore also have to lie to everyone about just how good they actually are, I just love that
The squats 2.0 are humans that dug too deep into genetic engineering so much that they became something else entirely.
I actually think that's a terrible idea. The Imperium's xenophobia tends to be a *little* overplayed. They tolerate and even associate with xenos that they find non-threatening. But if they find you qualify as human... well welcome to the Imperium Imperial subject, your ass is property of the Emperor now. No human is allowed to NOT be part of the Imperium as far as they're concerned.
@bad-people6510 the kyn are still abhuman though, at least as far as i know. Admittedly I think they should be full fledged xenos, GW just has danced around the topic in the little lore they've put out. This could be a way the retcon it
I'm pretty sure LoV actually consider themselves the "real" humans, as they are in some sense the continuation of humanity during the Age of Tech, and thus the true descendants of that society.
I like how some people are calling them not “grimmdark” and “don’t fit into 40k” all because they’re not suffering from immediate space aids or constantly killing each or some other stupid shit like that.
Are you suggesting they are grimdark?
@@Va11idus There not goody two shoes. But they dont turn people into mindless cybernetic drones for thinking too much.
@@Va11idus There’s grimdark and there’s grimderp. Even so, I’ve held this opinion even with the Tau for a long while: grimdark isn’t effective if there’s no noblebright shining through. With no light in the darkness, you can’t really see just how bad it all is.
@@tfan2222 exactly, their needs to be some good guys. At least some individuals.
I mean, they could easily go Grimdark. How do you think they'd react tae someone learning at least one of their secrets?
I am a huge fan of Deep Rock Galactic and they would be my first faction to get. If you enjoy talking about their lore please. I'll watch it all day and show it around the discord. If you've never played it, you are missing out as a Space Dwarf lover friend.
ooooh trust me, I play Deep Rock with the boys now and then
ROCK AND STONE!
FOR KARL!
When you rock and stone, you're never alone!
ROCK AND ROLL AND STONE!!!
I really like these "good guy" factions because if done properly you can slowly and gradually build up the lore to show how they slowly became worse in a galaxy full of horrors
imperium in 40K is a worse off version of the imperium in 30K which is in turn a worse version of humanity before the age of strife. and even though things like the horus heresy are being written retroactively I think it would be cooler to see these factions go through their life cycle in real time
either that or games workshop just blows it up on their face
It’s fun watching Commander Farsight, one of the few people in the setting with a working brain and morales, slowly struggle with khornate corruption
The Tau sorta are. They were never "good" to begin with, but their recent lore has them becoming less principled and more xenophobic
@@ENCHANTMEN_tbf to the tau, have you seen the things in the milky way?
Fucking tyranids alone would make me xenophobic enough to burn it down
On the note of their reproduction I'm like 90% sure the kin can still reproduce normally because the squats on Necromunda have to since they're effectively stranded. The reason they don't is mainly because it's horribly inefficient compared to just cloning, it takes a female kin out of commission for like about a year, said baby kin will take years to grow up into a functional citizen, and said kin won't have any niche to fill nor specific enhancements to make them better at it and in effect render them a literal useless bum.
I'm not sure if it's official canon but I have heard of things called fleshkin which are said natural-born kin and they're like the only thing looked down upon in society since they're "born without purpose."
Makes me think that some might go to chaos. Some who have their STCs shut down might turn to nurgle for eternal life, and those fleshkin might gain a growing resentment that leads to Khorne. Perhaps they would want to prove themselves and seek knowledge, turing them to Tzeench
Ahem.
Gentlemen...
*_ROCK & STONE!!!_*
TO THE BONE!
DID I HEAR A ROCK AND STONE!?
FOR KARL!
ROCK AND STONE, YEAAAAH!!!
ROCK AND STONE BROTHA!!!
I started with Rogue Trader in the 80s playing Squats. When they dropped them I was done with 40K as they were always my favorite faction. I don't think I'll get back into playing but it's nice to see folks interested in them again. I always played dwarves in about any game I played. I was crushed when they just disappeared from one of my favorite games. I was like 14. It didn't hurt that my uncle was a biker and I always wanted to be one so the fusion was perfect for me. I'm too old to want to start back up that was 36 years ago. Back of the game shop in the bottom of the mall. Free refills at the Burger King. Pizza by the slice (not something common in Indiana) from the food court. One of my golden memories.
Not all is lost, however. The Votann of the Kronus Hegemony is quite young in relation to the others.
The Votann of the Hegemony is actually their Fane that became so advanced that it gained the capacity to become a Votann, so it's proven - at least by fluke - that new Votann can be made. The big tradeoff, however, is that young Ancestor Cores lack the information of the older ones. This is why the Kronus Hegemony is so aggressive even towards other Kin, because they are bound and determined to fill their Votann's memory banks.
On the topic of Kin procreation: as far as I know, the Kin _can_ procreate naturally, but generally choose not to due to the cloneskeins being a more predictable method of mixing and matching genes than bumping uglies.
Kindreds that have lost their Ancestor Core may resort to doing things the old fashioned way if they can't join up with another Kindred in a reasonable amount of time.
"Hey, other voltann, make us a copy of your drive"
"Beep boop, done"
"Yay"
Which is that tiny piece of lore that says “don’t worry they won’t eventually die out naturally” as they can very slowly maintain themselves. The kin can build and operate their tech, so eventually new Votann will be able to do it as effectively as the old ones. Just unlucky it seems to be a 10000 year process of trial and error.
@@陳怡秀-r7y tbh i'm thinking why the votann doesn't make other STCs and deposit half their info into the new ones, thus freeing some space while also maintaining the STcs efficiency?
@@OHGAS-rt5uc Maybe they don’t have typical data banks for storage and can’t actually delete or move data. Considering they’ve been uploading their dead’s knowledge into them for 10000 years, they probably assumed it was infinite and never sore the need to prepare new ones. They’re only now just starting too.
@@陳怡秀-r7y but at the same time i makes me wonder, can't they ask the machines to expand their data storage,hard drive,processors,etc?
Could you imagine the hight difference between a Kin and a space marine. Also I love how advanced there armor looks.
Space marine just soccer kicks them across the battlefield 🤣🤣🤣
@@cxptainfordo275 *gets foot obliterated by DaoT hammer*
*little man teleports away yelling obscenities*
@@cxptainfordo275 The funny part is that given how hardy they are, that would probably not kill them either
@@simtexa hahaha just a little bit pissrd off
5'11 vd 6'0
Rock and stone
The fact I was playing Deep Rock a lot when they were announced may have had an influence on my desire to start collecting
Rock and stone
Did I hear a rock and stone!?
You had me at "plasma swords and power armor comparable to terminators."
ROCK AND STONE!
As a fellow dwarf connoisseur, I too bought the Votann on day one and intended too as soon as that trailer dropped.
The lore is pretty cool. Some people think they're too 'good guy' for the setting, but keep in mind that the Tau started that way too. Between the thinly veiled Men of Iron, senile AI cores, conflict with the Mechanicus, and entirely clone-based society, I think the Votann are set up perfectly to have some very grimdark character development as a faction.
The only thing I'm not entirely sold on is the aesthetics. The art seems to depict them with completely normal human proportions (they aren't even very short), and their equipment has an almost completely generic sci-fi look to it, save for the occasional half-hearted dwarfy design thrown in here and there. Dwarfs in Warhammer fantasy are extremely distinctive and have a very strong visual identity - to the point where AoS dwarfs actually look more like space dwarves than the Votann.
The LoV are more LotR than Waryammer Fantasy, which it just a poor executed plagiarism of LotR in the first place.
Well real dwarf proportions wouldn’t be effective. These guys are just compact bulky boys. Bunch of 5ft islander weightlifters
Honestly they are no more 'good guy' then the Craftworld Eldar are.
They are willing to talk and trade with you if the benefit is in THEIR favor, if they determine you are a problem (or problem later down the line)and the manpower and resources expended in dealing with you outweigh later benefits they will do so without hesitation.
They seem more like the cold impersonal 'corporate' kind of evil if that makes sense.
Less the zealous 'BURN IN RIGHTOUS FIRE.' evil and more the 'You're nothing but a problem to be removed' evil.
(God forbid when they got a Grudge with you though, THEN it is personal and they will extend whatever resources, manpower and do whatever it takes to get you..)
I agree with the first half but the second half just sounds like personal opinions
@SCHMALLZZZ how exactly?? They're closer to the grineer than warframr
I'm like a Tyranid for lore... I must consume ALLL!!! Thank you for what you do, grats on the channel growth!
If they were discovered during the great crusade I could see the Emperor trying for a genuine alliance with them, since he knows what they are. The ancestor cores and men of iron might be a sore spot, but I think he'd make special exceptions just like he did for the mechanicum. That technology is too good to pass up
Horuse would just mess it up to bribe the Future Dark mechanicus.
@@miles2378 I don't think the emperor would delegate an alliance like this to a primarch. He would most likely keep the votann hidden until absolutely necessary. And seeing how they only recently started appearing in the galaxy it wouldn't be hard.
Plus even if the mechanicum got uppity about it the emperor did have a contingency plan to subjugate them.
To my knowledge they were always clones. During the golden age of mankind, they were what are known as the men of stone. Genetically engineered humans made to pioneer (being rather self sufficient) and exploit the mineral riches of wherever they were sent off to. Hence why they have (albeit rather ancient and barely usable) STC's as did every other group of colonists/pioneers during those times. It also explains why they have such advanced technology, including the Iron Kin.
A lot of 40k Doomers are calling the LoV not Grimdark enough but if you think about it, they could just be leading up to the Grimdark stuff.
The Leagues of Votann represents Hope, and nothing is more Grimdark than seeing a small glimmer of hope before it is ripped away and stomped out by the evils of the Galaxy.
so what we introduce new factions every few years to give hope? dont think so i think keeping the LoV a bright spot thats way to slow is grim enough
@@augustuslunasol10thapostle True, but I liken it to the Tau. The Tau were the “good guys” and had a ray of hope, but then the Ethereals made them Grim Dark again.
I just discovered this faction’s existence yesterday, and as a Dwarf lover can only agree that these guys rule. Looking forward to more videos on them!
TL:DR, "I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole, diggy diggy hole, diggy diggy hole"
The Leagues are what finally got me to bite the bullet and get into 40k proper. I adore how much of their aesthetic and lore really does boil down to "man living in space is frickin' hard", they feel more sci-fi then a lot of the other factions IMO
All that matters is Dwarves in space. ROCK AND STONE BROTHERS!!!!
I got into this hobby in 1990, just as the Squats were being properly phased out.
So I was chuffed when they made their comeback, and even though I don't intend on starting a Votann League of my own, I still had to get the combat patrol just to celebrate their return.
And this morning is the day I finally painted the last member of that box set, so I enjoyed this video. Cheers!😸
anyone else like the idea of them speaking Khazalid (dwarf language in fantasy)? I just have this image in my head of a kyn stepping on the chest of a downed Drukhari, pointing a bolter at him and proclaiming ''ELGI WAZZOK'' blasting him point plank.
They were a clone race from the beginning-corresponding to the men of stone in ancient imperial lore.
Guilds are separate from leagues and kinhosts, similar to klans with the orks.
The Votann were more than STC’s. The problem now is their CPU usage is maxed out and the kin don’t know how to reboot to free up RAM, much less format and partition.
The imperium thought the squats were all destroyed by the Tyrannids because they had no idea how vast the Leagues’ holdings actually were. One League was destroyed, and they thought that was all of them.
The Cicatrix Maledictum is forcing the kin to be less insular and secretive now, so… Now they’re back.
Lore wise, it makes perfect sense.
I know the squats are still a thing on like, hive worlds(necromunda even has them playable now), and the imperial guard(although VERY SMALL NUMBERS, like less than the cat people)...it's cool that The Votaan recognize The Squats and just see them as "Imperium aligned Votaan". I like that htey didn't just delete the squats because THAT MEANS...we can get some of their old toys back with the votaan.
I love the battle bus, i fucking ADORE the battle bus....but i want that goddamn train..you know the one.
(also i've been a greenskins fan since i was a kid, like the late 2000's because of Warhammer Online, but not even THE ORKS, AND ALL THEY'RE RECENT UPDATES...tempted me to actually by from GW....but the Votaan did....ohhhh and they were so close too if i had the money i WAS going to have a box of them even if still to this day i don't actually have anything to play the game physically...they were just that cool)
In the span of few months you and "live! from the black library" have become of my lore channels. keep up the good work. (And you're right, night lords are the best legion and its not even close)
"Sucks to suck i guess i love my lil stunties"
Now, for the thirstiest "Yeaaahaha!" You'll ever hear.
A few days ago I got randomly recommended your video on space marine helmets of all things, and I'm starting to binge your videos. Immediately, you became one of my favorite smaller 40k lore channels!
Even if you picked one of the WORST space marine chapters as one of your 3, but the other 2 are tight as hell so I can't whine too much, and even if the Minotaurs are enormous pricks their Vibe is pretty dope.
I love the Votann. And, if the Mechanicum ever tried to wage war with the Votann, the Votann would just toss a planet or a star at Mars...
Wait wait wait, you're telling me that out in the galactic core, there's a planet plucked clean of life with a fully intact STC, up for grabs, with no one around to guard it?
And this thing used to make all the wacky weapons like Buildings with Tank Treads, Mining Conga line trains and Zeppelins!?
And even though its "mad" it hasn't received/succumbed to senility because theres been no new input?
Whelp, I'm going to be making a fraction of all Ironkin heavily targeted on countering hive fleet leviathan and orks.
I would love to see the interaction between an Iron Hands and their bitterness when they meet the LoV.
I do like these guys. I think it's a good expansion to the lore. I would like to see some more stunties that live more like the dwarves but quite frankly I was hoping that eventually we would find a full fleshed out Space Dwarves faction who would actually fight the imperium but then come to a strange ceasefire with them even though they are Xenos. Perhaps some of the Astartes chapters like the Luna Wolves, Blood Angels, maybe the Ultramarines would be against them but other chapters would be working with them
You mean the Space Wolves? The Luna Wolves are now the Black Legion.
This is how out of touch I assume the average space dwarves fan to be: Thinking the Luna Wolves are a current space marine chapter.
@@Va11idusyeah just keep drinking that Imperium propaganda and forget about the best chapter
@@beowylfen Luna Wolves are still a legion dood
@@SCHMALLZZZ They absolutely 100% are not. Even if you ignore they became the Sons of Horus the legion died on Maeleum when the 3rd completely wrecked them and stole Horus’s body. The black legion see themselves as entirely separate from the SoH something completely new especially since they comprise of marines from all the original traitor legions and even loyalist ones. The closest you’d get is the warband the True Sons and to say they are Luna Wolves is a huge stretch. As of right now in 30k the last Luna Wolf is Garviel Logan and he is most certainly dead in 40k.
Headcanon/Fun idea for future plot development:
The Votann should be able to survive for billions of years, but the pressures and stresses of survival in the galactic core have taken a major toll. The high gravity and other stellar effects prematurely "ages" the machines. The Leagues could be strong and mighty and launch an Empire that lasts a billion years - but they must first leave the galactic core and invade the galaxy at large.
This is my favourite video uploaded by you so far. You're talking about something I never knew about.
Bro just said the inverse of pugs. I'm dying right now. Amazing video and I'm glad I found you on suggestions.
Dwarves are awesome. i have always loved them, blame Tolkien for that. thanks for the awesome vid, im not as excited about the votan as you are but i am highly interested and want to get my hands on a box or two. as for your rambling, its fun. keep up the awesome content!
Yo Arthur did u see the theory that the Leagues are actually the Men of Stone?
I really like that one cause it follows up on the vague ancient tales of ye Olde 40k backstory and give them a good better connection to why they have (suspiciously non-murderous) literal Men of Iron hanging out with them.
Thoughts?
This guy is gonna be the next huge Warhammer UA-camr
"Cold, the air and water flowing,
Hard, the land we call our home,
Push, to keep the dark from coming,
Feel the weight of what we own!
This, the songs of sons and daughters,
Hide, the heart of who we are,
Making peace to build our future,
Strong united, working 'till we fall!
AND WE ALL LIFT.
AND WE'RE ALL ADRIFT TOGETHER!
THROUGH THE COLD MIST!
'TILL WERE LIVELESS TOGETHER, TOGETHER"
I had a huge Epic-scale Squat army back in the 90s, so I am thrilled to see dwarves again. That said, I kind of miss the weird old 'dwarf biker' aesthetic...
I really want to get REALLY into 40k with the Votann, they seem so tuckin cool
I really hope that they get a cool walker/mech unit, I think that'd be nifty as hell
I love the idea of the chill men of iron just hanging out with the vottan
I might be applying a little too much of my own head cannon here but; It's because they value individuality and freedom and living their lives to the fullest is why they are dying. I believe their role in DAoT was to be disposable clones and robots who would perform a task then get recycled into a new more suited clone for the next task. Their memories would be used to fuel the memory banks of their super AI, any irrelevant or duplicate data would be overwritten. A society of disposable clones taking directives from a super intelligence is effectively a tech based Tyranid.
What makes it sad is that sometime in the last 10K years, they started to value individuality. (and I assume freedom) So now they are a hyper capitalist society that will not optimize the data storage of the Votann because that will mean they lose some of their ancestors. Making their entire civilization unsustainable. This is also quite Grimdark, as much as they look down upon the Mechanicum, they are currently on the same track unless they want to store their ancestors in a lossy compression format.
Rock and stone!
I think as their tech begins to break down, it would be interesting if they revealed their tech to the mechanicum out of desperation, in hopes of the mechanicum helping them repair or rebuild the votann or something.
Your bit towards the end about the nids characters reminded me that the nids technically have more named characters on tabletop than the mechanicus do, if you count the swarmlord as on. Also, love your content, don't stop anytime soon please.
yeah, I remembered a bit more recently too?
I think if you count slightly older models, you have the Swarmlord, Deathleaper, old one eye, the Parasite of mortrex, and the Red Terror. Just to kinda name the ones that have had models
@@TheBoneZone40k jeez, and we only got cawl on tabletop. Did the nids eat the other ad mech characters wtf?
Yeah, it's just that the mechanicum are such a niche faction that making characters is a bit tough me thinks.
Like the Votann, I too would be very weirded out by the Mechanicum
4:22 Thank you so much for this One!
We don't agree on the Thousand Sons, but that is nothing. I, too, love the Leagues most of all and this is (baring the future) my favorite video on them. Thank you for making it. Oh, and I love your other videos too.
Funny as hell! Great job!
Im glad they brought back Squats. I had a few dozen back in the late Rogue Trader days.
Wait why don't people like the leagues of votann I love the addition and it also gives us insight into the peak of tech. It also explains the center of the galaxy and what goes bump in the black holes
Thanks for the awesome vid ! Pleeeease do some more about them when there is enough material for it ❤️
This is my favorite faction. And the first time I’ve considered buying miniatures
The engineer Kin being called 'Brokkir' makes a lot of sense considering Brokk/Brokkr was a Dwarf in Norse myth that made Thor's hammer alongside his brother Eitri/Sindri.
A Raptor enjoyer I see.
I inmediately subscribe
Okay, them japing the Mechanicum is really, really funny. X)
It is so freaking funny, holy moly
Bro I think they're my new favorite race
I AM A DWARF AND I'M DIGGING A HOLE, DIGGY DIGGY HOLE, DIGGING A HOLE
I like the bit where when they interact with the imperium they turn a bunch of shit off and put away all their fun toys so the bad neighbor kid doesn’t steal their special nerf guns and break their grandpa’s wheelchair when he visits
I love the leagues of voting if I was richer I would get into 40k and main leagues
That's going in the book
Looking forward to new votann lore and models
I know there isn't allot of lore, they are and aren't new to the back story of Warhammer 40k. Hope to see more Votann in the future, some new short stories in Warhammer Community and and novels. I know that there hasn't been much of Aeldari novels either, hopefully they don't get thrrown in the back burner.
Surprisingly enough they haven't been tol in the recent Arks of Omen series. The faction hasn't popped up in the series yet or won't at all. It would be nice if they just pop ahead and help the Dark Angels the The Seige of the Rock.
Me at first: reintroducing squats? That's dumb
After hearing the new lore: shut up and take my ore!
This was great. Do worldeaters.
YES!!! FINALLY!!! I FOUND A VID TALKING ABOUT MY SPACE DWARVES!!!
FUCK YEAH DWARFS! Also, congrats on 102k!
Now if only their army had more units...god they and the Kroot need more actual units. Nice skulpts, but need more variety.
Cant wait for you to get more to learn about them so you can share it
Rock and Stone!
An imperium inspector, when they visite the space dwarfs: My My. You certainly have a lot of continently shaped lamps around here.
Don't forget the Demiburg, from BFG, reported to be the squat replacement.
rock and stone!
Love ur content dude keep it up
Quick off 40k topic question
What do u eddit ur vids on?
Rock and Stone
I think that its smart to shroud them in mystery. During the years of expedition no one knew what was happening on the other continents. i feel it's the same for this faction and this timeline in the 40k universe.
Another tankard for my fellow dwarf lover
tyranids are more expansive than you think. So much happens with them, especially the different tendrils that invade the galaxy
oh trust me, I know
I have an unhealthy obsession with Hive fleet Kronos
@@TheBoneZone40k awesome. Kraken and behemoth are the main ones i played around 20 years ago. got rid of my army along time ago. :(
Would you be interested in ''sea dwarves'' or ''river dwarves'' that ride crocodiles and alligators?? as an alternative dwarf sub-race or subspecies.*
Imperium: *sends request for tithe*
Votann: *returns marked **_deceased_*
say whatever you want, but these guys for me are the SC2 terran soldiers. And for this, became my favourite faction to buy
Question, if the Votann (The AI STC) can do so many things, how come it can't construct a copy of itself so it has a brand new "Body" and back-up storage.
Honestly my head canon is just, the Kin never asked it to
It seems implied these things were created by Dark Age of Tech humans on earth so they were not build on site.
The Votann were on the colony ships that were send into the core with the Kin.
Personally I think it may be the case the Votann were actually meant to study the galactic core and were suppose to send the data back to Earth but then Age of Strife happened.
Their programing prevented them from deleting data or stopping the data gathering, the whole process developed sort of to religious significance for the Kin and so have been collecting data for 10000 plus years for what is in essence a obsolete task.
Also all that data have caused the Votann to slow down significantly.
Ask it a complex question in its peak years you had all the data you could possibly need in seconds.
Ask a complex question currently and it can take years, decades or even centuries to get the data cause it has to shift through so much of it now. (amusingly sometimes after all that waiting it may just ask you to be more specific, imagine hearing that after waiting close to a century.)
I know new Votann do occasionally pop up from a developed Fane but they have made clear the Kin have no clue how this happens due to how random it is.
Glad you like em. My stunning dissapointment with the NASA punk direction they went, the attached nonsensical viking art bits (seriously, clone vats and AI, why the little dragonhead curved bits on your terminators?), and the outright defilement of my dwarves.
Really, if they had gone more industrial punk in aesthetic and wrote from their night destruction onward, tensuons with ad mechs and imperium as a result of abandonment and then snapping up of their stuff, id be done for that.
But the "they were here the whole time, dee dee dee" is not my favorite.
I love these guys. 40K should be more xenos-focused--these guys, the Tau Empire, the Tyranids, and the Necrons are all so cool. I'm sick of the Imperium and Chaos stinking up the place with their self-righteous evil.
Good job! 👍🏻
yes give me more LOV/Squat videos. Rock and Stone brothers.
MORE VOTANN AND SQUAT LORE VIDS THANKS BRO LOVE THE VIDS
OK
i was confused about the leagues being called xenos so i went i read about them on the wiki apparently they are dencended from some of the humans that left terra during the age of technology the whole "xenos" thing is an error in classification
Which makes sense they have stc and are literally humans but some light (relatively speaking) genetic engineering
THE ANCESTORS ARE WATCHING!
Leagues of Votann makes me so happy
Me walking in having already read the *entire* wiki the second they we're announced.
I still think they should've tried another color scheme for the annoucement, because it did not help the "overwatch but in 40k" insult they got.... or how the bike looked like a "scrubbing bubble of doom if you attach white bushes to its hover pads" or something like that that was my reaction and what I said
Great video, though I think you got some minor stuff wrong, like the xenos classification, it's a bit more complex than that. I also don't recall the Votann themselves being STCs (though they have a lot of those), it's just a really advanced computer.
Please do the Squats! People need to learn about the land trains!