The Black Pillar of Commandments in Skavenblight, containing the 169 commandments of the Horned Rat for his children the Skaven.
The Black Pillar of Commandments, also called the Pillar of Commandments or simply the Black Pillar, is a great pillar of black, obsidian-like stone made from pure warpstone located in the Skaven Under-Empire's subterranean capital city of Skavenblight. Upon it has been inscribed the 169 commandments of their deity the Horned Rat for his children the Skaven. The pillar has thirteen sides, each containing thirteen edicts from the Horned Rat himself. Many are contradictory, but this is seen as evidence that the Horned Rat is a cunning and duplicitous god, and expects the same from his verminous children.[2a]
Touching the stone is almost always spectacularly fatal for any Skaven that attempts it, but surviving such an attempt is a requirement for any Skaven wishing to ascend to become a Lord of Decay and a member of the Under-Empire's ruling Council of Thirteen. Aside from the original council members, the number of Skaven to have survived this ordeal may be counted on one paw.[2a]
In the meeting place of the Shadow Council of Thirteen, the council of Verminlord Daemons chaired by the Horned Rat himself within his domain of the Realm of Ruin in the Realm of Chaos, there sits another otherworldly Black Pillar of Commandments, but unlike the more simplified version in the mortal world, this one continues to grow like a tower, each inscription just as maddening and contradictory as the last one. It grows constantly from the root like a Skaven's own gnawing-teeth as more edicts were added to its hellishly contradictory catalogue. Rarely a day went by without some new ruling. The pillar was already over one hundred miles high, and the text upon it was very small. Only Skreech Verminking confidently claimed to know the full scope of the Horned Rat's teachings emplaced upon it. He was, of course, lying.[3a]
History[]
After the poor performance of the Skaven-created disease known as the Red Pox in 1850 IC failed to overthrow the Human realms of Bretonnia, and Miragliano, Skavendom descended into the Second Skaven Civil War until 2302 IC. Sensing the rising tides of magic that accompanied the Chaos invasion of Kislev during the Great War Against Chaos from 2301-2304 IC, the Grey Seers summoned representatives of the major clans to Skavenblight, and called on the Horned Rat himself to end the conflict.[2a]
The Horned Rat is said to have revealed the Black Pillar of Commandments. This unholy monument is made from purest Warpstone and has thirteen sides, each bearing thirteen dictats to be followed by the Horned Rat's children. The Horned Rat must have intended for the system to be as complex and intricate as possible. Schemeing and plotting come naturally to Skaven, and the Great Horned One draws endless amusements from the machinations of the Lords of Decay as they twist and turn within his convoluted laws.[2a]
Council of Thirteen Ascension[]
The Black Pillar of Commandments was also a test for any aspirants to serve on the Council of Thirteen that ruled the Under-Empire, as only those favoured by the Horned Rat could touch its rune-inscribed surface and survive. However, those that lived became the most powerful of all Skaven, gifted with unnatural longevity and imbued with dark power.[2b]
Each position within the Council of Thirteen which rules the Under-Empire is open to new potential candidates or replacements at any given time. After surviving the test of the Black Pillar of Commandments the candidate must simply challenge one of the already existing members of the council in a fight to the death. If the candidate wins, he takes the place of the loser in the Council Chamber.[1a]
The Horned Rat ordered all Skaven to obey his new council, or else feel his wrath. The Skaven -- notoriously craven -- dared not defy their god or his favoured servants. The seats on the council were occupied by the most wicked and cunning of Skaven. In times past any clan leader strong and devious enough could seize power if only he could depose a rival and "create" a vacancy. However, not since the Second Skaven Civil War and the direct intervention of the Horned Rat at the Great Summoning have any challengers defeated, disposed of, or else supplanted any of the existing Lords of Decay.[2b]
169 Commandments[]
Skaven society, for want of a better term, is the epitome of "cutthroat." Skaven have no concept of honour, ethics or friendship: there are no alliances, only strategically delayed betrayals. Every Skaven Warlord is one misstep away from an underling stabbing him in the back and taking his place. Every underling knows that if they don't do it, their peers will. The constant jostling for personal status and power is all-consuming.[2c]
After nearly destroying themselves in the long Second Skaven Civil War, the Horned Rat gave his children the Black Pillar of Commandments, 169 laws for Skaven society. But these laws are ludicrously complex and open-ended to the point that the only true law is, "Don't get caught." Everything else is merely pretext. Surviving Skaven have become experts in clandestine murder, shifting blame, hiding or destroying evidence, and framing rivals to take the fall for it all. This expertise has served their race well in hiding their true plans for the Great Ascendancy from the peoples of the surface world.[2c]