The Kindred Contract

The Core-Rim Treaty (0-1)

Let it be known on this day that an Alliance and Agreement of Trade will be formed between the following parties:

The Cainite Protectorate, spoken for on this day by:

Ciaphas Cain, by the Grace of the Four True Gods Slaanesh, Tzeentch, Khorne, and The Omnissiah, and by the Will of the Free Peoples of Slawkenburg, Adumbria, The Torredon Subsector, and his other Realms and Territories LIBERATOR, Head of the Protectorate, Defender of the Free Faiths (0-2). Councilwoman Krystabel, First Handmaiden and Speaker for Lady Emeli. Councilman Jafar, First Bureaucrat of the Protectorate and Senior Sorcerer. Councilman Mahlone, Field Marshal of the Armies of the Protectorate. Councilperson Tesilon-Kappa, Fabricator General of the Bringers of Renewed Greatness. Vice-Queen Kasteen of Adumbria, Commander-in-Chief of all Valhallan Legacy Regiments. Rogue Trader Areelu van Yastobaal, Head of the Van Yastobaal Dynasty, Lady Captain of the Worldwounder, Et al.

The Hearthspakes of the Kindred Leagues listed below (hereafter referred to as "The Signatory Leagues") with the express consent of their Votann's and the Ancestors therein (0-3), and spoken for by their wise Grimnyr's (0-4), Stoic Guildmaster's, and Cunning Brokhyr's (0-5):

The Greater Thurian League (0-6) The Trans-Hyperian Alliance (0-7) The Ymyr Conglomerate (0-8) The Ghulo Industrial Complex (0-9) The Seran-Tok Mercantile Leagues (0-10) The Jotun-Erydani Combine (0-11) The Pan-Telluric Commonwealth (0-12)

It is agreed by all parties previously mentioned that this contract will stand true from this day onwards until such a time as either party should maliciously break the terms of this document, or a majority of the signatories of either party should agree to terminate this agreement.

Article One: Vengeance and Defence

It is agreed by all signatory Leagues of the Kindred that a Grudge (1-1) shall be declared against the Warp Entity known variously as Nurgle, Nergal, The Rot God, The Plaguelord, The Lord of Decay, The Entropic One, and The Maggot God. It is further declared that this Grudge shall also stand against its subordinate entities, servants, cultists, worshippers, beasts, and indeed all emanations of rot and decay. It is also agreed that the signatory Leagues will attempt to persuade all other Leagues they treat with to take up arms against this most monstrous foe. The signatory Leagues and the Protectorate will stand together in defiance of this contemptible fiend, until such a time as it has been expunged from reality and unreality.

It is further agreed that the Protectorate and the signatory Leagues will agree to a mutual defence pact against all hostile forces, including and not limited to Orks, Tyranids, Eldar of any variety, Tau, The Imperium of Man (1-2), Necrontyr, Pirates of all origins, and those Forces of Chaos not restrained by the ideals of the Protectorate.

Article Two: Gifts and Trade

The signatory Leagues are hereby given the right to freely dock at the Space Hulk orbital station known as Emeli's Gift, and at all other Protectorate Space docks, to resupply, trade, and perform repairs. As a further sign of goodwill, the ship in Emeli's Gift recently identified as a Kindred Stronghold Class Commerce Vessel, "The Planetary Heart", which once belonged to the Ymyr Conglomerate has been extracted and returned to its rightful owners, and on route the Protectorate United Navies defended it and the Fane it contained from a Mechanicus Explorator squadron that sought to take it (2-1). In respect of this, it has been decided that Emeli's Gift shall be declared an honorary Kin Hold, and that a new Fane shall be freely supplied for installation in the heart of the station to become its new central control hub (2-2).

It is agreed that the Protectorate will provide copies of the STC for Ansible technology, together with an advisory team of BORG's to demonstrate the best ways to utilize them. They will also assist in attaching Ansibles to the Ancestor Cores (2-3) of all the signatory Leagues. In exchange for this, the Leagues will provide schematics for the finest available models of Plasma weaponry (both ranged and melee), Ion Beamers, Autoch Bolter patterns, HyLas Auto Rifles, and Volkanite Disintegrators they possess, together with a Forge-Master accompanied by a Brokhyr team to educate the BORG in the best ways to construct them.

Most core to this treaty, it is agreed that the Protectorate will provide a copy of their STC for the ancient and powerful process known as "Defragging", and that the BORG will assist in utilizing it on a Votann that has gone silent. Should it, as has been promised, restore the Votann to true functionality, then the Kindred request that copies of the STC be provided to all the signatory Leagues and assistance given for performing the process on their own Votann's. In exchange for this greatest of services, each signatory League will provide the Protectorate with whatever they consider equivalent in value for as long as the Votann speak again (2-4). The following have already been promised, and this contract will be annotated with the other League's additions once they can decide on what they can give that is of sufficient value:

The Greater Thurian League: A flotilla of no fewer than 40 fully manned Kin Warships of Cruiser class or higher, to be used however the Protectorate sees fit, to be replenished as needed (2-5). The Ymyr Conglomerate: 200 megatons of processed and pure Adamantium, to be paid once every Imperial Standard Year (2-6). The Pan-Telluric Commonwealth: 30 full Oathbands, each no less than 1000 Kindred warriors, to be cycled every 10 years for replacement or replenishment (2-7).

The Signatory Leagues consider the Protectorate's nutrient paste STC to be the finest form of one of their own Truth, that 'Waste feeds the Void'. In exchange for copies of this STC, and acknowledging the Protectorate's lack of the Navigators which the Imperium of Man relies on, each signatory league is willing to provide the Protectorate with Ironkin Wayfinders (2-8).

As a courtesy in acknowledgment of Liberator Cain's actions in support of his League, the great Forge-Master Brokhyr Thorek Ironbrow of the Ymyr Conglomerate has agreed to leave his customary seclusion to personally bring the 'Liberator Armour' design as used by Lord Cain up to Kindred standards of reinforcement, in line with those of their own Exo-Suits, and will equip it with Kindred pattern weaponry. He will also consult on affordable improvements to the Liberum pattern Power Armour used by the line troopers of the Protectorate, again with the objective of bringing them in line with Kindred standards of reinforcement and utility (2-9).

Article Three: Mercenaries and Envoys

For his personal service in saving the Fane aboard "The Planetary Heart" (3-1), the Ymyr Conglomerate are pleased to grant Liberator Cain an Einhyr Honourguard, under the command of Hesyr Gotrek Gurnisson (3-2). They will defend his life with their own until struck down themselves (3-3).

Anstyr the Unyielding, Kahl of the Ymyr Conglomerate Oathband "Daughters of the Slayer" (3-4) has declared herself and Legionnaire Hektor to be battlekin (3-5) after they saved each other in the fight to protect the Fane from the Mechanicus, has presented him with an axe made from Darkstar (3-6) to commemorate this, and will be staying with the forces of the Protectorate as a Military Attache.

Should either party wish to employ mercenaries from the other party, a price list is attached, to be reviewed every 20 standard Imperial years.

See appendix 3 (i) for League prices (3-7) See appendix 3 (ii) for Protectorate prices (3-8)

Article Four: Faith and Freedom

Although the signatory Leagues do not acknowledge the Gods of the Protectorate or indeed any beings as deities, and indeed are normally extremely cautious of their worshippers, a position that the Protectorate reluctantly accepts, the signatory Leagues have, after extensive examination of Protectorate society, acknowledged that the Liberator's official religious policy of "As long as it harms none, worship as you will" is acceptable to them (4-1).

In return, although the Kindred have no religious creed they are willing to acknowledge beyond their Votannic Ancestors, the Liberator's speech during this conference was considered to demonstrate an acceptably profound understanding of their ways by the Kin present.

Excerpt from the Liberator's Address during the Council of 'Play Nicea':

Excerpt from the Liberator's Address during the Council of 'Play Nicea'
"The purpose of religion is the effect it has on the individual, to free them to become the best version of themselves. Any creed that can assist a person in finding their own Liberation and enable them to assist in the Liberation of others is a creed the Liberation will allow to florish.

Creeds that consume their worshipers and return nothing of value to the individual or their society are anathema to Liberation: all worthy creeds cannot demand the sacrifice of the individual or the collective in pursuit of a religious goal.
Votaan take much, and give more: Votaan are a living creed that repays its worshipers with as much or more honor as they pay, and are acceptable to the Liberation"

(4-2).

It is agreed that in the shared policy of Egalitarianism, both parties acknowledge the other's achievements, and will stand together against a galaxy where status at birth, whether by rank, caste, or faith, can determine an individual's opportunities from the start, and will strive towards a future that will allow all free humans of any genetic origin to achieve their truest potential, for to do otherwise would be wasteful beyond measure.

Appendices follow: (4-3)

Annotations:
(0-1): My personal annotated copy. Zerayah darling, if you find this please don't read it, these are my private thoughts. I will happily give you a blank one.
(0-2): Have I ever mentioned how much I hate my full official title? I'm just glad I was able to keep 'beloved of Emeli' out of it by claiming I didn't want to mix my personal life into my official role
(0-3): What the hell is a Votann, the only thing I have managed to establish about them is that it is about as close to religion as these half-pints get, note to self, find out what abomination I am going to tolerate next…
(0-4): A sort of priest/politician/semi-psyker?
(0-5): Their equivalent of tech-priests, but without the prayers, and almost as much pride about their admittedly very superior creations as the Mechanicus. The BORG love them, my desk is overflowing with requests to take Pilgrimages to the Core...
(0-6): Large, powerful, mercenary expansionists, I'm just glad we got them to sign this, they'd roll right over us without even stopping.
(0-7): Widespread nomads, our most frequent visitors, and thus my biggest headache.
(0-8): Very elite, they have a central policy of quality over quantity in all things. The BORG found one of their ships in Emeli's Gift and returned it, apparently it had something called a Fane in it, more on that later, and apparently it still worked. This lot seem to quite like that for some reason, they keep sending me gifts.
(0-9): They keep asking us to let them terraform planets in the Protectorate, I had to put my foot down over Adumbria, they wanted to change its rotation somehow!
(0-10): The first Kin league we met, the Demiurg prospect are part of this group, which creates a whole new problem when the Tau get mixed in…
(0-11): A manufacturing powerhouse, they want us to buy more of their high grade metals, and I keep having to think of reasons to turn them down so we can't make even more dangerous war-materials than we already do. It's getting hard, they keep dropping the price.
(0-12): I'm told they have a very egalitarian society, and thus thoroughly approve of the Protectorate, Emperor help me…

(1-1): Oh, I really wish I knew what that actually meant in this context other than the obvious connotations.
(1-2): I wish we could have somehow left this specific item out, but after our initial meeting that triggered this whole mess, that became impossible.

(2-1): The moment the BORG told me what that they had worked out what that Fane thing did, I wanted it as far away as possible from me! I'm already thought of as a Heretic, the last thing I need is having Abominable Intelligence charges added to my rap sheet! It might have something to do with these Votann things, I still don't know! Anyway, the Mechanicus squadron showed up at the handover with the Ymyr Conglomerate, I was there for diplomatic reasons, and I couldn't think of a good enough reason for us to not support the Kin in battle after all the effort we had gone to!
(2-2): … Why do I bother? I send the blasted Abominable Intelligence fragment away, and the grateful abhumans send a nice new template for one straight back! At least it will be empty, I just have to think of a reason for us NOT to use it.
(2-3): Again, no clue, the Kin are not big on explaining things
(2-4): So they're some sort of machine that speaks but aren't working very well right now, still no clue though.
(2-5): I nearly fainted in the meeting, what could be so precious to be worth that?
(2-6): Again, that's enough to construct a full naval squadron each year, what are we giving them here, and do we want to?
(2-7): And just like that our ground forces have increased hugely, I am terrified of the implications of this.
(2-8): As I understand it, these are like Metal Navigators? Is this more Abominable Intelligence? As if the Mechanicus didn't hate me enough already, adding the Navigator Houses into the mix could be disastrous, we will have to keep this under wraps. Also, us lacking Navigators was one of the few ways I was able to stop the Council from voting for us to go on long Crusades against the Imperium!
(2-9): This may be the only part of this Article I am really pleased about, anything that can improve my chances of survival by improving my armour or that of my soldiers is alright in my books, and apparently this 'Thorek' bloke is supposed to be rather brilliant. I met him, he may be grumpiest bugger I have ever met, but at least my armour got him interested.

(3-1): The usual drill, everyone expects me to lead from the front, and I have the most experience with deep teleport strikes. Of course I ended up dueling the Archmagos Dominus commanding the fleet. I have never seen such a senior Techpriest before, or one so inhuman, they looked like a caterpillar the size of a tank! I got the better of him, and he turned out to be part of a Nurglite Heretek cult that wanted to feed scrapcode to the Fane for some reason or another, but the Mechanicus don't know that, so it's just more rope for them to hang me with
(3-2): Taciturn and again very grumpy, and has the biggest Mohawk I have ever seen, but by the Emperor he can fight!
(3-3): More bodyguards that I can't fully trust hanging around, typical. At least these ones are basically human and have no association with any Ruinous Powers, which makes a change, and they seem to understandably dislike Malicia, so they will hopefully spend most of their time watching her rather than me.
(3-4): Serious competition with Gotrek for the size of the Mohawk, but much more energetic. Her unit are all female, which in a clone culture doesn't mean much I am told, but given how differently they act from the rest of the Kin I have met, I get the impression they're the Kindred equivalent of 'bad girls'. The Ymyr Conglomerate all wear red, so you could mistake this lot for a group of very short Khornates.
(3-5): I don't know what Battlekin really means either, but she has been hanging around Hektor a lot, I know that some of the more cheeky Handmaidens have taken to calling them 'Tol Red and Smol Red' behind their backs. I wonder if… No, that would be too ridiculous, one's a 4 foot tall clone who is engineered to be resistant to the Warp and the other is a 7 and half foot tall 10,000 year old transhuman Chaos tainted killing machine. How would it even work?
(3-6): A terrifying substance, contact with it suppresses the electrical impulses in both living things and machines. I saw him test it on a grox by hitting it in the shoulder, by no means a killing blow, but it just dropped dead. I must remember to keep my distance from the accursed thing.
(3-7): Good grief, this lot don't come cheap. Still, it puts a new light on how much they value that 'Defragging' STC…
(3-8):The more of our people are engaged fighting the Kindred's battles against Ork's in the Galactic core, the fewer there are are to prosecute our lunatic campaigns out here on the rim. I just hope they express interest.

(4-1): I may be the only person in the entire Protectorate who is really pleased with this paragraph, they don't acknowledge the Ruinous Powers as gods, fantastic. Maybe having these 'Hearthguards' hanging around won't be so bad after all. Admittedly they don't acknowledge the Emperor either, but that's still a step up from the people I normally have to mix with…
(4-2): I had no bloody clue what I was talking about, I still barely understand what the damned things are! I must congratulate myself though, it was 1st class drivel and they lapped it up.
(4-3): There's about 80 pages of appendices to this document which is surprising given how concise the Kin insisted the main part of the document had to be, so I think this is a good point for me to just give in.