Second Skaven Civil War

The Second Skaven Civil War was a conflict among the Skaven race. Lasting from 1850 to 2302 IC, it again pit the Great Clans of the Skaven race against one another.

Prelude
Following the First Skaven Civil War, Clan Pestilens had been admitted to the Council of Thirteen. However after the failure of the Skaven invasion of The Empire and the failed invasion of Bretonnia, bickering again erupted among the Lords of Decay. Outraged by these two momentous defeats, the Council members once more blamed Clan Pestilen for the disastrous loss of both money and prestige, and demanded that the Plaguelords be cast out of the Council of Thirteen for their incompetence. After months of tense political maneuvering, blackmail, threats, bribery, and assassinations, a vote of this matter was ordered by the other Council members. Rather then be cast out like the vermin they were, the Plaguelords preferred to fight to maintain their luxurious position and plotted to instigated a revolt against the the entire Council.

On the day of the vote, the Plaguelords rose up from their seats and accused the other Council members as heretics, unbelievers of the true intentions of the Horned Rat. With that one horrific outburst Clan Pestilen renewed the titanic conflict between Clan Pestilen and the Council of Thirteen creating the Second Skaven Civil War. Several Warlord clans rose up with them, and fighting eventually ensued between the Albino Stormvermin guards of the Temple of the Horned Rat, and the Plague Monks of Clan Pestilen. Anarchy ruled the streets of Skavenblight as different factions vied for control of the city.

Clan Skyre, having long foreseen such an uprising from the heretical monks, began their own offensive against Clan Pestilen. Using their powerful war-machines and advanced weaponry the Warlock-Engineers began raising fortifications and defences all around the grand Temple. Ikit Claw, one of the Under-Empires' most promising Warlock-Engineers,took command of the forces stationed within the ruins of Skavenblight, and was promoted by his superiors to the rank of Chief Warlock, ostensibly to restore order within the city. Within weeks, Clan Skyre made precautions to stop any Clan Pestilen troops from making their way into the temple. Clan Skyre stationed their highly trained Jezzail sniper teams up on the sacred Bell Tower to provide covering fire, while Warlock-Engineers stationed diabolical war-machines of all kinds at every entrance leading into the temple. Unable to over-come such defences, the Clan Pestilen armies were repulsed from every one of their assaults, giving Lord Morskittar, Lord Warlock Engineer, the status and prestige he needed to officially declare himself ruler of all Skavenblight. With his new supposed rulership Lord Morskittar planed to re-establish the Council beneath his tyrannical rule. However, even his ingenious mind could not stop the infighting from spreading all over the Under-Empire as dozens of factions began to rise to prominence to take advantage of this anarchy.

And so it went for 400 years once more. Dozens of factions rose and fell during the course of this age, with the war being marked by a constant shifting of allegiance and loyalty, a war that only further amused their selfish and vile god. The most powerful factions during the Civil War were the three Great Skaven Clans, along with several allied clans that supported their cause. Clan Moulder, Clan Skyre and Clan Pestilen all headed their own great factions within the Under-Empire, while Clan Eshin remained neutral during the conflict in order for them to profit from the constant infighting by hiring out their deadly expertise to the highest bidder.

It was during the War that Clan Skyre reestablished their main stronghold within the confines of Skavenblight. Within time, Clan Skyre assembled a mighty force of infernal devices and engines of destruction on a scale never before seen in the known world. It was with this gathering of newly developed apparatus that Chief Warlock Ikit Claw detected a strange rising of dark magical energies emanating from the far north. Dark omens abounded throughout the world, as Morrslieb -- the Chaos Moon -- hung low towards the earth, and showers of Warpstone meteorites rained from the skies. Dark energies swept once more from the north, as the largest Chaos army ever assembled at that age and time gathered for the great slaughter that would engulf the lands of the Empire. Know to only a few within the Under-Empire, a great event was coming, and only Lord Morskittar was well prepared for the great ritual that the Grey Seers were plotting to unleash.

Reunification
The Grey Seers visited every Skaven stronghold up and down the Under-way, and gave a single ultimatum -- be at the annual feast of Vermintide or suffer the wrath of the Great Horned Rat. The Grey Seers knew that this pitiful war must end, otherwise the dreams of World Domination that the Horned Rat has both gifted and demanded from his children will never been fulfilled. And so, the Grey Seers shall invoke a spell that shall bring the Under-Empire to its knees in servitude towards the one true rulers of Skavendom. Soon, entire clans made their way towards the great ceremony, while others, fearful of a trap, sent representatives of their clan to the gathering, but none dared to stay away altogether, for fear of their ill-mercy god's wrath. For only the second time in their entire history, a member of each clan gathered at the footsteps of the Temple of the Great Horned Rat, to bear witness the great ritual that was being summoned. An atmosphere of fearful expectation could be smelt upon the assembled masses as the temple doors swung open and the full order of 169 Grey Seers filed out. Seerlord Kristislik was the last of the Thirteen Thirteens to step out, and with him carried a skin-bound book, from which he set upon an iron altar.

As he spoke, leading the incantation, the very air seemed to twist and a distant ominous crackling could be heard as the grand ritual began to take shape. They Grey Seers picked up the chant and amplified their lords voice. The intensity rose as they began the sacrifices. One by one, 169 slaves died in increasing agony, with the last one dying to the torments of the Seerlord himself. Their squeals of fear and pain reached out to the very bowels of creation where the Horned Rat gnawed at the roots of reason. The Great Bell tolled as the brooding skies began to darken and chains of lighting lashed out to illuminate the dreadful scene. Again and again rang the unholy bell, so impossibly loud that it drowned out the sounds of chanting and thunder alike. At the thirteenth toll the bell stopped, and an eerie silence filled the whole city.[5b]

In the sudden silence, the great Seerlord opened his jaw and screeched, as a massive cloud of vapor rose up and engulfed the very sky in its darkness. A titanic claw reached out from the void and ripped apart the very curtains of reality, and there he sat. With skin blacker than black, and two blood-red eyes as wide as castle gates, the Great Horned One stared out into the teeming masses of his own children. All in that city knew who they were staring at, and all knew that they are nothing but servants to their one and true ruler.[5b]

As one, the Skaven hordes fell prostrated, pressing their muzzles hard unto the cool stone, with some dropping dead from the dreaded sight. It was then that the titanic hand once more ripped through reality and reached out and scooped up a score of squealing Skaven. As his hand retreated, a score of massive yellow-fanged teeth flashed in the dark gloom as the Great Horned Rat consumed them whole. After his feast, the Horned One gazed out over his quailing children and reached out again and again. It was only after his final feasting that he withdrew his paw, and revealed to his children a gift. There standing at the very centre of the hordes laid a glowing pillar of the purest warpstone, with 13 sides, each marked by 13 blocks of glowing runes. These runes contained the unholy verminous commandments of ruination and the dictates of ruler ship, along with prophecies of the Great Ascendancy.

Then their lord and god, whispered to the assembled horde with a voice of a million scratching and gnawing rats. His dreaded voice spoke, and told them that their pitiful wars amused him greatly, but these quailing must cease. He demanded that the Skaven must spread his corruption in order for the Skaven race to inherit the world and assure his full return. He demanded the reformation of the Council of Thirteen and swore that all must obey their commands or feel his eternal wrath. Only his favoured could touch the sacred pillar, and thusly only the chosen ones could join the great Council. With his final commandments, the Horned One retreated back to the netherworld, with the crack within the fabric of reality narrowing and sealing behind him. Until finally, all was silence, their god was gone, and the horde stood silent and fearful.[5b]

The musk of fear hung heavy over the survivors as they blinked at the black pillar and reassured themselves that the Great Horned One had really been there and was really gone. Fear still gripped the teeming masses as they stared at the unholy sight, but to each of the Lords of Skavenblight, they knew that they must touch the pillar, in order for their ascendency towards the Council be assured. Lord Rakin was the first to touch the pillar. He burned with black fire until his corpse collapse and only ashes remained. Over the long night, each Skaven Lord and Chieftain strode to the unholy pillar and places their paw upon the warp-encrusted stone. Many did not survive, as a multitude of the Ratlords burned with unholy fire, as the Horned One denied them his chosen. Only twelve lived, with each Lords of Decay being imbued with an aura of dark magical energy, truly the blessing bestowed by the Horned Rat himself. From that day forward, the Council have remained unchanged. Many Skaven have touched the pillar and died. Some have survived, but none have the skill and courage to defeat the first Chosen of the Horned Rat. And so it began that the Skaven were once more united under the ruler ship of the Thirteen