Editing Squatted (section)

==Origins of the term==

The term "Squatted" owes its existence to the [[Squats]], or now the [[Leagues of Votann]], back when they were nothing but [[Dwarfs|dorf bikers]] in outer space. This was [[Oldhammer|back when Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy were significantly lighter in tone and presentation]], so the idea of something as ridiculous as the Squats was passable at best. Not that the game was once happy-go-lively, it was just more-or-less aware of its sheer ridiculousness, henceforth, the game was prone to use caricatural representations of its characters and lore. But more often than not, the universe was still taken very seriously. At least, to a certain extent.

The Squats were, at the time, a joke. Or what essentially boiled down to a joke. Since they were the 40k equivalent of the [[Dwarfs]], that meant GW significantly downgraded the race itself to fit in the canon of its counterpart game. So we went from a proud race of grudge-holding strong "men" of small stature with a culture so alien only ONE [[Gotrek & Felix|human managed to grasp a fraction of it]] to a race of short angry space bikers who were, essentially, a degenerate off-shoot of humanity. Yeah, not really a good concept for your then whole new and exciting space war-game, especially if you wanted it to be darker, bigger and more serious than your existing fantasy one.

In terms of rules, the Squats weren't even really unique, matter of fact, they didn't even counted as an army at all! It was only in [[Epic]] that they took a more significant role, where they ''truly'' shined as a faction of its own. But Epic being an alternative to the base game, the Squats didn't have a significant presence in the tabletop scene. People remembered them for being funny and kind of goofy when compared to the rest of the [[Imperium of Man|edgy]], [[Orks|warmongering]] [[Tyranids|and]] [[Eldar|flamboyant]] [[T'au|cast]] of [[Warhammer 40k]].

And so, after a small appearance in 2nd Edition and a few mentions here and there, the Squats just... ''disappeared''. Well, [[Games Workshop]] hinted at the idea that the Squat homeworlds were "eaten by the Tyranids" and called it a day, or rather, a sufficient excuse to get rid of them. For a long time any mentions of the Squats on the official forums would get your account ''instantly permabanned'', and asking about them at official GW events featuring Q&As was likely to get you escorted out by security. This resulted in a long-running joke within the community that talking about the Squats in any capacity resulted in a visit from [[Officio Assassinorum|GW's wetworks team]], often mid-sente{{Blam}}.

{{Blam|...And they say Commissars don't have a sense of humor. Carry on, scribe.}}

...right. This rather extreme reaction could be pinned down on [[Tom Kirby]], then the CEO of Games Workshop at the time of the Squatting, and as many [[Grognard]]s will tell you he was ''not'' a pleasant person to be around. Why he instated such measures in the first place is unknown, unless extreme embarrassment regarding their existence was the issue. Still, this was the order of business for years until [[Kevin Rountree]] took the reins of the company in 2015, though Kirby stayed with GW as a consultant for a year before he left for good. 

During Kirby's reign there was a half-hearted attempt to bring the Squats back with the [[Demiurg]], and some of the old Squat armaments ended up in the hands of [[Imperial Guard|other]] [[Orks|factions]], but it wouldn't be until 2022 that Games Workshop officially unveiled their return. First with the introduction of Squat mercenary '''Grendl Grendlsen''' (the first Squat miniature in over two decades) and the [[Ironhead Squat Prospectors]], both based out of [[Necromunda]], but most notably the [[Leagues of Votann]] (with Grendlsen and company being descendants of the cleanup crews sent to repair Necromunda after the [[Horus Heresy]]), ending their isolationism from the galaxy in the wake of the [[Great Rift]]. As for the Squats of old (now known as the Emberg Agnir Bloc) and the Demiurg (now known as the Seran-Tok Mercantile League), they were retconned as Leagues that opted to break the Kin's policy of isolationism early, with fatal results for the Bloc. Despite their namesake no longer retconned out of existence, the term "Squatted" still applies to a lot of things in Warhammer or other /tg/-related properties that simply just got dropped without any mention at best, and straight-up disavowal from their parent companies at worst.