Warhammer 40K: Squat Leagues, Strongholds & Guilds
Take a deep dive into the Leagues of Votann, AKA Squat Leagues, Strongholds, & Guilds.
The Leagues of Votann are returning – but what exactly is a Squat League? Let’s find out.
Squat Strongholds
Every Squat world has at least one Stronghold. Settlements which are to greater or lesser extent independent from each other and whose communities live by their own traditions and laws. They are each ruled by a Lord. Each Stronghold also maintains its own military forces. On worlds with more than one Stronghold usually one Stronghold dominates the others and exerts the nominal rule over the other Strongholds.
Below every Stronghold there is a labyrinth of mining installations which reach deep into the planet’s crust. They are self-contained and vast communities that dispose of all necessary infrastructure (e.g. workshops, hydroponic plants for the food supply, power generators and atmospheric pumps) to maintain the Squat civilization. They also protect the inhabitants from the deadly dust storms, if necessary for years on end.
Known Strongholds
- Stronghold of Bruggen
- Lost Stronghold of Dargon
- Stronghold of Thungrim
Squat outposts can be found across the Homeworlds, dotting the landscape between the Strongholds and serve different purposes. Some are just watch towers for the observation of the atmospheric approaches while others are defensive installations safeguarding the Homeworld and housing colossal lasers. But by far the most common type of outpost can be found over the original mining sites. These mines are not yet completely exhausted but since their remaining mineral deposits are far underground it is time and money intensive to exploit them, making it more economical to simply establish new mines in ore-rich regions.
The 700 Leagues
While the individual Strongholds are independent communities they maintain relations with other Strongholds. Alliances usually serve the purpose of defence or trade, but they also define power blocks within the Homeworlds. Powerful rival Strongholds organize the other communities into mutually supportive groups called Leagues. A League is headed by one particularly influential Stronghold and the other Strongholds in the League rely on their leader Stronghold for defence but also trade. Sometimes these follower Strongholds also identify themselves with their leader community on historic or cultural grounds. Some of these Leagues are permanent structures while others are of a more loose or temporary character.
Currently around 700 Squat Leagues exist that vary in power and size. The absolute number of Squat Leagues varies (see above), but the most powerful of them are rather constant and constitute the largest united political structures of the Squats. Examples include:
- League of Thor: gathers together more than 300 Strongholds and is the most powerful League
- League of Kapellar: the size-wise largest League
- League of Norgyr: the League closest to Earth
- League of Emberg: the smallest League, it consists of a mere four Strongholds and is situated close to the Eye of Terror
- League of Grindel
Alliances between Strongholds can date back thousands of years and the degree of interactions and interchange of peoples and cultures have turned them into virtually one nation. Other alliances take the form of loose federations in which the duties of patrolling space and the defence of outlying worlds against enemies such as Orks or Chaos are shared duties.
It is not unheard of for rivalling Squat Leagues to engage in open warfare against each other – despite the otherwise strong sense of Squats for mutual preservation. When such wars happen, they can result in lasting enmity between the Squat factions as the Abhumans tend to not forget deeds of infamy for many generations. One such example is the conflict between the League of Thor and the League of Grindel. This unusually bitter war that was fought some two thousand years ago was caused by settlers from both Leagues clashing over the exploration of the Lost Stronghold of Dargon. During the course of the conflict several Strongholds were destroyed and the Strongholds of Thungrim and Bruggen were conquered by the League of Thor.
The war only came to an end due to an external common threat when the massive Ork invasion of Grunhag the Flayer fell upon the Squats, forcing all Leagues to cooperate against the Greenskin menace. But even after the defeat of Grunhag’s forces the League of Thor and the League of Grindel remained distrustful of each other and each League claims that it is still owed heavily in blood and honour by the other.
Squat Guilds
During the Time of Isolation, being separated from the rest of human-populated space it was essential for the Squats to safeguard and preserve the technology to keep their Strongholds running, e.g. to maintain the technology and knowledge to maintain the technology for generating air and food supplies. Another crucial issue was defence. To tackle the task of preserving the necessary engineering skills and know-how the Guilds were created. These Guilds developed into a complex system that collected all available information and knowledge and archived them for future generations. It is the Guilds that are responsible for the training of all specialists that are necessary for running a Stronghold such as Engineers, miners and other experts. It was also the Guilds who headed the effort to develop alternative technologies and the Squats’ unique machines. So Guild Engineers fulfill the role of scientists and technicians in Squat society.
As the technical know-how was originally scattered across the different Homeworlds the first task was to gather all this knowledge together and make it freely available throughout Squat civilization. One objective is to ensure the free passage of information like advances in technology or rediscoveries of ancient knowledge between the Homeworlds without regard for or hindrance by individual rivalries (see above). To achieve this the Guild system permeates the whole structure of the culture and the Guilds extend across all Squat Leagues and Strongholds. As a consequence the Guilds are considered the common factor that unites all Strongholds, no matter where they are or which League they belong to. This also means that while a Guildsman is a member of a specific Stronghold which they are loyal to, they are also loyal to their Guild and engaged to spread know-how to the other Squats.
Learn More of the Leagues of Votann
