Skaven

"Steeling themselves, the pitiful remnants of the citys once proud populace descended. In the ancient hall of kingship they found the Dwarfs, now naught but gnawed bones and scrapes of cloth. And there they saw by the dying light of their torches the myraid eyes about them, glittering like liquid midnight as the rats closed in for the kill.....The manlings stood back to back and fought for their lives, but against such implaciable ferocity and countless numbers of the verminous horde, their weapons were useless. The tide of monstrous rats flowed over them one by one, dragging them down to be torn apart, the yellow chisel-teeth sinking into their soft-flesh, the dark futted mass drowning their pitiful screams with their hideous chittering....."

- Translated from the Tilean tale "The Doom of Kavzar" also called "The Curse of Thirteen"



The Skavens are a race of humanoid rat creatures that currently lives within a massive continent-spanning underground network of tunnels, called the Under-Empire, where at the very heart of Skavendom lies the great skaven city of Skavenblight, the species capital city and the probable birthplace of the Skaven race. The Skavens as a whole is one the Old Worlds most numerous species, often having a population number of around a hundred million in the Old World alone, as these creature breed at a very high exponential rate. Such is the size and numbers of the Skaven race that in nearly every major stronghold or cavern that the skavens occupy, the average population numbers would be around the hundreds of thousands, and are often near other large population centers of races such as humans, often scavenging over the filth of these races to look for anything of value.

The main skaven religion that dominates nearly every single part of the Under-Empire is the veneration and worship of a minor Chaos God, known by many names, but its well known title is that of the Horned Rat. This diety takes the form and appearance of a massive horned rat, with its symbol of power being the number 13, and a rough equilateral triangle as its holy icon. The skaven race is described as an often unjust society, where the concept of wit and strenght is considered above all other traits, and the ideals of compassion and cooperation is often denied existance within this Under-Empire. As such the Skavens as a whole are divided, often far more divided then any other race in the Old World, due to the fact that this society promotes methods such as backstabbing, assasination, and betrayal as an essential part to progress through their society. Such ruthless lack of cooperation has led many of their kind to do things that would endanger or perhaps ensure the death of nearly hundreds of their own kind -- all for the greed or ambition of just one Skaven. Such corruption and dis-union has made the Skaven race to splinter into hundreds, if not thousands of unstable, clan-based societies, where each skaven clan has a certain skill or trait that is often seened as "unique" to other skaven communites, providing either food, goods, or weapons of war for the trade of other goods made by other Skaven clans.

The Doom of Kavar
"Once upon a time, long long ago, Men and Dwarfs lived togather beneath the roofs of one great city. Some said it was the oldest and greatest city in the world and had existed before the time of the longbeards and manlings, built by older and wiser hands in the dawn of the world"

- Translated from the Tilean tale "The Doom of Kavzar" also called "The Curse of Thirteen"

Long ago, the Skavens ancestors were in actually normal rats that were living in the many towns and villages of man, scavenging through the filth and garbage of the Old Worlds many inhabitants. The only source of origins, scholars could gather about the first existance of Skavens was mentioned in an old tale called the "Doom of Kavar". The tale describes the creation of the first of the skaven race, during a massive construction project being built by both humans and dwarves that lived in this once verdant city. The city in question was once a massive metropolis built many ages ago and is located within the northern reaches of present-day Tilea. The land was once a large verdant grasslands, perfect for mass irrigation and farming for the cities inhabitants. Such was the happiness the peoples of this land felt about their city, that they all decided to build a massive temple in order to give thanks to the gods for such a boundiful life.

Even with the help of the dwarves, the process was long and back-breaking. Weeks turned into months -- months turned into years -- years turned into decades, and yet the great temple has not been finally finished, for the temples most greatest feats was the construction of a massive tower so many miles high that some say it would pierce the clouds itself. Men grew old and grey working on that great temple, their sons continuing their work through summer sun and winter rain. Eventually the work finally slowed into a crawl and finishing the tower seemed impossible to the populous. Strangely however, a mysterious grey-cloaked man approach the elders of the city and promised the rulers that he has the ability to finish the construction of the temple, and all he wish in return was to add his own "gift" onto the temple structure.

The manlings agreed and the bargains was struck. At dusk the stranger left to the tower and told the manlings to return by midnight. Many anticipated the finishing of the temple and once they returned to see their glorious tower, the construction was complete, for as the wind blew the clouds away, the crowd could see their tower finished, at the very top laid a massive horned bell. The stranger was never heard from again.

The city rejoiced and many entered the temple to see the works of their grand-fathers father. Then, at the stroke of midnight, the great bell began to toll, once....twice....thrice. Slowly, the heavy bell continued on the next few tolls. At the toll of nine the bell began to grew louder with each ringing, and the manlings staggered back from the temple steps clutching their ears. It was at the thirteen stroke that the bell finally stopped, and as if a strange ritual was being summoned, lighting began to split the sky apart as thundered roared through the night. Thunderstorms raged on for the whole day, and the crowds of manling huddled togather in their city to await the light of day.

But the sun never came, for the storms continued its monstrous course. The manlings were afraid and confused, for the rain began to turn to an omnious colour, and the rats that filled the streets began to fall towards the pubbles of liquid, slicking the cobbles with darkly iridescent colours. This strange phenominon continued one for hours. Days stretched to weeks and weeks stretched into months and the strange thunderstorm has not passed. Food began to grow scarce and many in their homes felt that something dark is happening to their once beautfil city. Some prayed to the gods for deliverance, but no reply came from them, and so the manlings asked their dwarf allies for aid. But the longbeards were ignorant of the coming darkness and sent their allies off.

Soon desperation began to grow upon the cities inhabitants as many began to die of starvation and strange mutation is becoming rife amongst the manlings infants. Some lost hope and began to pray for the Dark Gods for aid against this nightmare, but even these foul dieties has denied them even this. Soon the manlings grew ever more afraid and reckless and once more came into the doors of their suppose allies. Once more the longbeards have also denied them salvation from the storms, for they were too ignorant about the perils that was coming and soon the tunnels of their once glorious began to flood and the food supplies were also running scarce. With little to no food left, the dwarves grudgingly close their doors once more.

It was finally when the time of doom came nearer by the day, that the manlings saw shadows out in their streets, of furred creatures sulking within the shadows feasting on the bodies of the fallen that littered the streets. Fearful and angry at the betrayal of the dwarfs the remnants of the city's occupants banged once more on their allies door, threatning to break it down if not allowed entrance. No reply came, and so the manlings burst through the gate to have vengance on the selfish Dwarves. But all they saw in the hall was shattered bones of their once former allies, gnawed and eaten by the same furred creatures within the city's streets. The horde of furry beast slowly moved ever closer to the last of the manling populous.

Fighting back to back, the manlings fought out viciously, as they fight for the survival of their familes and their own lives. Alas, the horde was relentless, and slowly the manlings faltered, as one by one these brave warriors were dragged down upon the cold floor being ripped and torn apart from teeth and claw. The dark furred mass continued its assault and soon the manlings doom has come, as the dark furred mass drowned their pitiful screams with their hideous chittering.

The Skavens were released unto the world.

History
The nature of a Skaven is one of pure urgency -- unless led or directed by powerful leaders a Skaven would naturally try to find the quickest and most easiest solution to any problem. If a Skaven pause in its efforts, it would often be as a result of them explaining the brilliance of their plan to themselves or others, or contemplating a scheme to further increase his own status or destroying anothers. As a result, many of Skaven society has little in the way of producing or recording their history. Due also to the short life-span of a Skaven, these vermin would strive to gain any achivements just for their own personal benefits. Being well-remember has no existence within Skaven society, for a Skaven hero of his kind would just as well be forgotten as the trash or filth these vermin would throw away.

In a sense, the only way for a person to know much about the Skavens is either through recorded events of them from other races such as the Dwarves. These recordings includes books about several invasions led by these vermins along with names of places or leader, and events significant to their race.

Biology
"All decent folk find the common rat repulsive. Harbinger of disease, it scavenges on our waste-heaps and frightens our children. How immeasurably worse then is the foul Skaven - standing on its hindlegs in foul parody of a human. Rats as tall as man, and blessed with the most vile intellect and cunning. They are the dark side of our souls, come to destroy us for our sins."

- Albrecht of Nuln. Burned at the Stakes 1301 IC



Skaven are described as a cross between a rat and a man. Skaven have the appearance of large bipedal rats and possess just enough sufficient intelligence to make simple tools, converse in a developed language and those more gifted are able to cooperate and control advanced weaponry. The average Skaven have an expected lifespan of about 20 years or less, asserting that, were it not for the (often violent) internal competition of their species, they might live well past their 50. More powerful members of Skaven society tend to live far longer, even hundreds of years, due to the use of drugs, magic, or frequent use/exposure to the unstable agical substance called Warpstone.

Skaven are roughly man-sized, the typical specimen being between four and five feet tall on average. Most have brown, often dirty or matted fur, with large fangs in the upper jaw structure, with red eyes, over-grown claws, and a naked tail growing to almost a meter in lenght. Those born as white and grey-furred ratlings are prized among Skaven litters, as they will often become Grey Seers -- the Skaven equivalent of a priests and wizards. Black fur is looked upon as the sign of a true killer, so the elite Stormvermin corpes draw their members from only those black furred ratlings, however it is also common for lighter colored Skaven to dye their fur, especially if they happen to be a member of the Stormvermin. Albino Skaven are rare but not unheard of, and are considered special and unique in the eyes of Skavendom, and held in higher esteem. As such, those born as albino are often taken from birth and trained to become the elite of the elite -- the personal Stormvermin honour guard of the Council of Thirteen.

It is almost guaranteed that nearly all male skavens are to take part in one aspect of society, whether it be as a worker, warrior or slave. Females in Skaven society are both seen as physically and cultural incapable of being anything other then to aid in the production of more Skavens. As such they are often called simply as "Breeders", for the females lack a sufficient brain for them to do anything other then eat, sleep or breed. Though Breeders are far larger than the average Skaven (around 10 foot tall), female Skaven can't take care of themselves and rely on eunuchs to feed and protect them. Female Skaven typically produce three to five litters a year, each containing about 20 younglings called ratlings. They are also blind, due to the lack of use during their life-span.

Hierarchy
"Skaven society is a tyranny moderated by assassination."

- Bagrian, an Ancient Scholar who was assassinated by the Skaven. All copies of this quote were destroyed. Except (as of yet) this one.



The Council of Thirteen is the ruling body of the Skaven race. They sit at a long horseshoe table made of pure warpstone and engraved with one of many of the Horned Rats commandments. Seats 1 through 12 are seated such that the more extreme numbers such as 1 and 12 are held by the higher ranking members of the council, while the middle seats such as 6 and 7 are held by the lowest ranking members. Seat 13 is the symbolic seat of the Horned Rat, and it acts as a tie-breaker in votes amongst the other members, with the "Horned Rat's" vote typically being interpreted by one of the Grey Seers, often from the Lord Seer himself. This effectively gives the Grey Seers an extra vote, as they also hold seat 1.

The council hierarchy is often unstable due to the constant political battles each Council Member has with one-another and would lead many in the room to constantly shift allegiances, backstabbing, cheating, lying, or otherwise trying to undermine each other, even hiring assassins to dispatch their rivals, much to the amusement of their malevolent god. This political and social structures helps many of those that know their existence to justify why a rapidly-reproducing, disease-resistant race like the Skavens does not rule more of the world, and probably the most obvious awnser is simply the Skavens lack unification for a cause and therefore always fighting each other, often more so then fighting any common enemy. Indeed, if its not for the race's constant infighting, the Skaven could easily have the means to overrun the entire surface world. Each member of the council is open to replacement at any time. The applicant must simply challenge his rival to a fight to the death; if he wins, he takes the place of the loser on the council. Though rare, more than one member of the Council has been replaced this way. Council members (and their seat numbers) mentioned in the backgrounds include:


 * Lord Kritislik (Seerlord)
 * Lord Morskittar (Lord-Warlock Engineer of Clan Skryre)
 * Nurglitch VII (Arch-Plaguelord of Clan Pestilens)
 * Kratch Doomclaw (Warlord of Clan Rictus)
 * Warlord Gnawdwell (Warlord Clan Mors)
 * Lord Sneek (Nightlord of Clan Eshin)
 * Lord Verminkin (Packlord of Clan Moulder)
 * Lord Paskrit ("Warlord-General of all Skavendom")
 * The 13th seat on the Council is always empty, it is the symbolic seat of the Horned Rat.

Kritislik occupies seat number 1 on the Council table, with Lord-Warlock Morskittar as seat 12; hence these two are the most powerful members of the Lords of Decay. Although each member is technically equal in power in terms of political votes, Kritislik is considered the most powerful member on the council for he has two votes, for acting as both Seerlord and the interpreter of the Horned Rat. Verminkin, Lord of Clan Moulder occupies seat 9 while Paskrit occupies seat 4. Then theres was Nurglitch I the Plaguelord who brought Clan Pestilens to prominence by defeating Lord Vask for a place on the Council of Thirteen (this being part of Clan Pestilens' terms of surrender following the first Skaven civil war).

Below the council in the hierarchy of the Skaven race are the Grey Seers, prophets of the Horned Rat himself, and the most powerful sorcerers in the Under-Empire. Grey Seers have prophetic powers and are usually grey-furred; hence the name. While the Grey Seers are often physically weak, they make up for this weakness with that of cunning, guile, and the use of magic. Most other Skavens fear and hate grey seers in equal measure. The most feared symbol of the Seers is the "Screaming Bell," a massive, horned bell mounted on a carriage and pushed into battle, the daemonic chimes enthusing the Skaven hordes to a fighting frenzy. The rest of skaven society is organized into innumerable clans. Four clans are traditionally more powerful than the rest: Clan Pestilens, Clan Moulder, Clan Eshin, and Clan Skryre. These four are collectively known as the Great Clans, and dominate the back-story of the race and the political and military structure of the Under-Empire

If a Clan or army see fit to replace one of their warlords with one more powerful then any ordinary Skaven, they would often be led by a daemonic beings called the Vermin Lords. Believed to be some sort of avatar of the Horned Rat, Vermin Lords were greater daemons that even the Grey Seers feared and acquiesced themselves to. Grey Seers often threaten to summon a Vermin Lord to ensure obedience, but in truth, they are loath to do so as these creatures are more powerful and cunning than any living skaven and their lust for power and love of betrayal are legendary.

The Major clans
Of the many diverse and multi-cultural clans that engulf much of the Under-Empire, there are none so powerful both militarily, politically, and influencially as the Four Great Clans. Each clan will always have a cadre of senior members in order to administrate the social structure of their society, and often the most senior or powerful of these members will become the leader of the entire Clan. Such is the influence and power of these clans that almost every single Lord that took control of these clans were once part or is currently part of the Council of Thirteen. Each of these clans also specialize in a unique trait that has provided the clan with fame, power, and influnce that had made these four so infamous.

Clan Moulder

 * Clan Moulder is a Skaven clan that is mostly located within the far northern reaches of the Under-Empire, situated extremely close to Troll Country. Their stronghold is known as Hell-Pit and is where Master Moulders use warpstone in a mad combination of alchemy and genetic engineering to breed all sorts of monstrous beasts to be used for their own personal wars or be sold to other clans for a very expensive price. As such they are a very wealthy clan, and is considered the most richest clan in the entire Under-Empire. Their war-beasts are often a mad combination of rat and other monstrosity, being fused together to create many creations of great danger such as the wolf-sized Giant Rats and the enormous Rat Ogres -- an extremely muscular and dangerous Skaven sub-breed. To reflect their lower intelligence, they are led by Packmasters on the battlefield, and suffer severe penalties if the Packmaster is killed. Including the creation of these beast, the clan has also made many modification to other creatures, often creating monsters that sometimes have the body-parts of other creatures sowed onto them. Their city, Hell-Pit is one of Skavendoms most powerful fortress, for such was the infamy of this dreaded city that few dare ever to siege the fortress. The city has within its walls, teeming mass of Skaven workers, warriors, and moulders, each doing a part in the great economy of their clan. The city also holds the largest collection of Clan Moulders many experiments where an entire section of the city -- called the Colosseum, is dedicated to the holding and testing of these monsters combat effectiveness. Their current leader, Pack Lord Verminkin is also a member of the Council of Thirteen.

Clan Pestilen

 * Clan Pestilens is a Skaven caln that is mostly based in the southern part of the world, and has been the cause for both of the two Skaven civil wars (the first war was caused by their demands for wealth and position following their resurgence, and only ended after the activities of Clan Eshin assassins forced Pestilens to sue for peace, while the second war was caused by Clan Pestilens trying to seize power after the Council of Thirteen ousted them, and only ended after the Grey Seers summoned the Horned Rat itself to restore order). The clan was considered lost in the jungles of Lustria after a long and grueling war that burned through many decades of fighting between the denizens of the Lizard Empire and Clan Pestilen. However the clan once more resurfaced, and change extraordinarily. The Skavens of the clan had become completely devoted to The Horned Rat in his role as the harbinger of disease and plague. They are immune to most diseases and use the very plagues they worship as deadly biological weapons against the other races. Due to their diseased bulk, their plague monk troops are extremely tough, and deliriously fanatical in combat, providing a needed role of holding up powerful enemies without breaking in the often unreliable armies of the Skaven. They also use other biological weapons to annihilate their enemies such as the use of rats infected with various foul contagions, and the deadly plague censers, flails laden with burning warpstone, that emit lethal poison gas. Clan Pestilens also use a form of artillery called the Plague Catapult that fire their foul diseases upon the enemy ranks, devastating whole armies within a matter of days if not treated. Their own leaders are subject to the diseases which includes the Plague Priests, the senior member of the clan's many Plague Monks, which whom can preach to their demented followers from atop a Plague Furnace, a foul wheeled carriage that spreads disease in its wake. Their current leader, Plaguelord Nurglich the VII is also a member of the Council of Thirteen.

Clan Eshin

 * Clan Eshin was also considered lost for a long time, having traveled to the far Eastern lands of Nippon and Cathay, and never returned for much of a century. When they returned, they, too, had changed. They ended the first Skaven civil war by assassinating the leaders of Clan Pestilens and their allies. They had become the assassins of Skaven society, skilled in the art of the silent kill. In the background literature, they provide a type of secret police for the Council of Thirteen. They played a large role in the backstory of the Storm of Chaos worldwide campaign, as the ones who placed the Doom Hemisphere under Middenheim. They are represented in the army by Night Runners, cheap expendable units of skirmishers; Gutter Runners, who function as a scout force; and Assassins, elite close combat characters who can hide in units of regular skaven until they strike at enemy characters. All three are described as being on one development path. The best Night Runners become Gutter Runners, the best of which become Assassins. The most feared and deadly Assassin in all of Skavendom, however, is Deathmaster Snikch, a master of stealth, sabatoge and assasination, his presence is one of the most dreaded figures in the entire Under-Empire, for he is one of the worlds most deadliest assasins, and few if any managed to escape his wraith. Their current leader, Deathmaster Snikch, is also a member of the Council of Thirteen.

Clan Skyre

 * Clan Skyre has devoted their entire clan to the study of magic and blending it with insane science and engineering, and due to this, they have become the strongest of the Four Major Clans. Their engineers, one of the most brightest and most talented Skavens in the Under-Empire are responsible for the creation of nearly all of Skavendoms most diverse and powerful warmachines. Such weapons includes the creation of the Ratling Gun, the Warpfire thrower, the Jezzail, the Plague Mortar and the fearsome Warp-Lightning Cannon to name a few. The engineers and magic practioners of this Clan are called Warlock Engineers -- Skavens who are able to harness the winds of magic to devastating effect often combining it with the use of technological weaponry. They would often sell these war-machines to the highest bidder, making them a very wealthy Skaven clan. This clan was also responsible for the creation of the "Doom Hemisphere", a device that when triggered and activated explodes with enough force to level an entire city into oblivion. Only a few tempted to use such a device, for this gave the one in control of it, untold power, and an incident included a Doom Sphere nearly obliterating the capital city of Skavenblight itself. This device was also placed underneath the Imperial city of Middenheim during the great Storm of Chaos. The device was intended to be detonated after Archaon's siege had either succeeded or failed, which would level much of the city and leave the Skaven to overwhelm any survivors of the blast. Fortunately for the residents, the device malfunctioned, detonating without enough force to obliterate Middenheim but resulted in a significant change to the caves and tunnels found beneath the city, as well as killing hundreds if not thousands of Skaven warriors and men in the tunnels who didn't escape the blast in time.