Hell Pit

"You may be right, Grey Seer Thanqoul. I will report your words to my master. They will decide what to do next....By the way, Grey Seer Thanqoul, until this matter is resolved, you are the guest of my clan. We will see to your safety. We will make sure your needs are met. You are....after all...a very special guest. I am sure you understand my meaning..."

- Izak Grottle, former Ambassador of Clan Moulder

Hell Pit is perhaps one of the most horrific of all Skaven strongholds within the northern reaches of the Under-Empire. Dug into the walls and floor of a massive chasm, created by a massive meteorite of Warpstone and torn into the side of the snowy and tained Northern Worlds Edge Mountain, the stronghold is warmed by the volcanic pools that cloud the already close and stagnant air that engulfs much of the city. Once one enters the dreaded city, the senses will be overwhelmed by not only the sulfurous stink and poisonous fumes of the chasm itself and its filthy occupants, but also by the tumultuous din and clamor that echoes from a thousand tormented and warped throats that utter a horrific cacophony of misery that calls out in wretched snorts, howls, squeals, screeches, screams, and shrill cries that echo along the chasm, building in crescendo until one goes mad with sheer terror gripping their very minds.

This blasphemous and blighted place is the breeding grounds and stronghold of Clan Moulder and the home of Council Member Lord Verminkin. From here Clan Moulder sends out expeditions towards the lands of Troll Country, Norsca, and the Northern Waste, to capture and bring in new monsters and creatures to fuel their various and diabolical experiments. These expeditions would return with caravans of wheeled cages filled with all manners of beast seeking to burst from their imprisonment and feast on Skaven flesh.

These creatures are brought into Hell Pit, where they are placed within pits or cages, from which they are regularly exposed to Warpstone, either from their food and water, or directly exposed to the Warpstone itself. Often times, their bodies would begin to mutate and rot to the high concentration of Warpstone while lying in their excrement as they slowly die an agonizing and painful death, venting out their last few breaths at their tormentors through baleful glances and stretched claws. There are times though, when the Warpstone provides a superior and valuable mutation sought after by the Master Moulders, and will thusly sent the altered creatured into their growing legion of mutated monstrosities.

Overview
"For I cannot forget the revulsion I felt upon seeing those flayed bodies rotting in the sunlight on the morrow, nor can I repress the memory of the rat-things beneath the gibbous moon the eve before. That these creatures wrought such horror before my very eyes, willingly and with relish, is far less frightening to me now than the fact that nobody else will believe my tale"

- Harad van Holste, Merchant

The city itself is a multi-layer city, similiar in ways to the Dwarven fortress-cities within the reaches of the Worlds Edge Mountain, but Hell Pit is by no means the great and shining cities of the Dwarves. Indeed, this city is almost like a twisted and horrific parody of the Dwarves grand halls and plazas of white stone. The city itself is dangerous in its own right. The city's walls is densely thick and houses part of the Clans military, as well as the location where dealings are made between Customer and Moulder. The massive gate on the other hand is moulded into the shape of a giant leering Rats head, where a number of peep-holes are thickened with the red eyes of Skaven observers. Within the city itself, nearly everything created within Hell Pit is one way or another made of living flesh. Even the furnitures of the more richer and influencial members of the Clan living within the Tower of Moulder, would have chairs of living flesh, changing its shape to fit the occupants needs, or moving carpets that crawl and rub against one's under-foot. If one looks out from the living windows of their luxurious chamber, one would look at a teeming cityscape filled with flesh.

Huge towers that reminds one of the tusk of an enormous beast dominates the inside of the crater. From their towering tips emerged clouds of glowing smoke; livid green, ruby, cobalt blue and all manner of other toxic shades. The pillar of smoke that rose only contributes to the huge cloud of pollution that eternally hovers above the crater, and sometimes descends towards the city streets to create a thickly obscuring fog. Is is here that the howls, screeches, and beastial roars of countless creatures can be heard even from the heights of their lucrative chambers. Amongst the towers lay other buildings, constructed in a distinctly un-skavenish manner. The buildings were huge tents of decaying leathery flesh, thrown over massive skeletons of twisted bones. They odd looks gives the illunsion of the shell of a massive tick or beetle frozen in place by strange magic. These were the barracks within which the slaves and soldiers of the Clans dwelt. The streets below are teeming with Skavens, with the scenery mirroring that of Skavenblight itself.

Here and there, one could see amidst the wide streets, were greenishly glowing lakes of polluted water, reputedly still contaminated by the warpstone starfall that had created the vast crater. Far away, one could see the glitter of a thousand lights, windows within the walls of the crater itself. It was rumoured that the whole wall had been burrowed out into an endless labyrinth of tunnels and artificial caves to provide burrows and laboratories for the Clan. As the life of the city progress, one would occasionally see the doors of the crater wall open, to reveal a wide variety of monsters and beast of varying shape and sizes. Across the night sky of the city, flickered forms that takes the shapes of bats, but one of a far larger size. On closer inspection, these creatures are in actuality, Skavens with bat-like membranes underneath their arms.

It is through these corrupted and vile creatures that Clan Moulder gains its power and its wealth. By selling their vicious monsters to the other Clans, they gain wealth and influence beyond those of even the other three Great Clans. Many of their best and most ferocious creatures are kept for themselves, to defend against the forces of Chaos, Greenskins, and other Skaven Clans that dare to overcome this horrific city of nightmares. The massive and fearsome Rat Ogres, the tireless and predatory Wolf-Rats, the creeping and agile Blood-Rats, and the horrifiying and monstrous Hell Pit Abomination is just one of many of the Clans sadistic creations emerging from the very bowls of Hell Pit.

Nine Circles of Hell
==The Lower Depths== To most, the most abominable place in confines of Hell Pit lies at the lower pits, where all the uncontrolable experiments are tosed in with the failed and the dying ones. The predatory cries mix with the dying shrieks of their prey is commonly here in this deep dark depths of the city, where they live and die amongst the piles of dead, mingled with those of rotting flesh, whilst excrements are scattered around with the bones and skulls of the dead monstrosities. The smell is so bad that none could peer over the edge, but if one were to, they would see a nightmarish landscape of bloated rotting carcasses and the pale, twisted, and corrupted forms of things that tear each other apart in throes of living agony.

Source

 * Warhammer Armies: Skaven (7th Edition) pg 12, 53 - 56
 * Warhammer RPG: Children of the Horned Rat pg 54
 * Gotrek and Felix: Beastslayer (Novel)
 * Gotrek and Felix: DragonSlayer (Novel)