The best [colonization] proposals I see are the ones that have a good binding metaphor. The metaphor provides a good story that can help to pull an early Colony together and can help a fledgling Colony through the possibly tough early years. --Senator R. Buckley, Joint Colonization Committee, Terran Government, Early Colonial Era
The Starship Ymir was built and designed by the Star Colonization Corporation on behalf of the ReNorse Consortium. One of several early colonial groups, the ReNorse Consortium chartered a region of space they labeled Ginnungagap.
StarCol was well known for its solid engineering work, and many of its early colonization ships survived well after their original use. For those interested, many of StarCol's ship designs and several of the original ships can be viewed at the Museum of Humanity's StarCol Expanse.
Ymir has particular interest because it did not survive far beyond its initial voyage to Ginnungagap. The rights to its design were also bought on an exclusivity contract by ReNorse and so were held only in a secure sector of StarCol's vaults that was apparently lost at some point in StarCol's takeover by the Terran Transportation Corporation.
What little survives of the Ymir design has been construed from the mythology and historical texts of the colony from the Ginnungagap dating to before the colony's first Ragnarok event. Due to the very nature of the records most historians are skeptical as to the validity of any claims that may be distilled from them. For more on this longstanding debate you could turn to the Library of Humanity's extensive collection of articles on the Validity and Susceptibility to Tampering of Mind Vaults.
Ymir was apparently one of the more complex and expensive designs built by StarCol. ReNorse Consortium's Financial Records are publicly available and the financiers of ReNorse did indeed build a large amount of financial support for the group. StarCol's own Financial Records in cross-examination show that several other groups may have also funneled money into Ymir's development although whom and why appears to have been hidden and then subsequently lost.
Much of the ReNorse money went into the early development of the Mind Vault system and Ymir dropped StarCol's more common cryostasis system for an early generation Mind Vault system. A Mind Vault system and Gene Bank took up much less space than the typical cryostasis system, but Ymir was most of the size of one of the cryo-ships. The remaining space was devoted to several other systems, most of which remain largely a mystery. Whatever they were, and the mythological and historical documents hint at some incredibly interesting systems, they enabled an unusually fast spread through the Ginnungagap's primary solar system, and some sources believe they may even help to explain why the Ymir did not survive long after colonization. For those interested, several possible theories as to the bulk of Ymir's equipment can be found in discussions of the keyword Audhumla, which was found in several places within StarCol's records.
---Description of the Starship Ymir, Records of the Library of Humanity, Offline Copy (Note: Several links have been broken due to temporal discord; if this continues to be a problem please seek a qualified local librarian.)