One of the very first of the Leagues of Votann to be founded, the Kapellan League was for millennia preeminent amongst the Kin, with over three thousand individual Kindreds sworn to its service at the height of its power. The Kapellan League was for many a long era the dominant power within the greater Leagues of Votann, and it was they who lead the push to resist the nascent Imperium’s efforts to absorb the Kin into Mankind’s fold. It was only through the efforts of the Kapellan that the Leagues were able to hold back the crushing tide of the Emperor’s Great Crusade, and then to survive the anarchy that followed during the Horus Heresy.

Though the Leagues were far less effected by the Heresy than the Imperium and its many fiefdoms, they were not without troubles of their own. The great warp storms which came to plague the Immaterium during that time did not discriminate between the Kin and baseline humanity. Kapellan, always the most widely spread of the Leagues, suffered greatly as a result. Furthermore, its varied Holds would come to be a favored target of various Legiones Astartes forces who saw the Kin’s worlds as little more than unwilling supply dumps.

The most devastating blow against the Kapellan League, however, was the loss of three of its Ancestor Cores. The first of the Votann to be lost was swallowed whole in a cataclysmic warp eruption which dragged its home system entirely into the Immaterium. The second was torn apart in its spacefaring cradle as the Hold vessel which had for so long kept it safe suffered a catastrophic meltdown during a warp transition and was annihilated instantly as a result. The death of the third Ancestor Core was perhaps the most devastating to the League, however. Unlike in the case of the freak accidents which had consumed its brethren, the Great Ancestor of the Okolnir Kindred died a slow and lingering death by devolution; thwarting the efforts of some of Kapellan’s most prominent Brôkhyr and Grimnyr who strove to stop or reverse its fall.

Thus began a slow but steady exodus which has seen the venerable Kapellan League become synonymous with the idea of decline or destitution to many Kin. What few Kindreds remain sworn to Kapellan do so more out of honor and duty than they do tangible benefits, and can only afford to do so thanks to oaths sworn by other, more prosperous Leagues to aid them when in need. Even so, after the sudden demise of the Emberg-Aegnir Bloc and the troubles suffered by the Norgyr League (both ancient allies of Kapellan), some Kindreds have begun to wonder openly of even mere association with the League might bring ruin upon those more fortunate than the ill-fated Kapellan.

My second go at whipping up some lore for one of the OG Squat Leagues. I think it’s a good blend of old and new stuff, but I’d love to hear what y’all think!