"There was a reason why Clan Skrittlespike was despised and outcast. It was because they were weak."
- — Puskab Foulfur muses upon the weakness of his ambushers, the warriors of Skrittlespike
Clan icon and Clanrat of Clan Skrittlespike
Clan Skrittlespike is a Warlord Clan of the Skaven that lives within the deepest, darkest levels of the subterranean metropolis of Skavenblight. They are a clan of malformed ratmen who shun the light and have large ears and large, black eyes. They were uniquely sensitive to sound and smell, the former of which could be used against them in battle.[1a]
History[]
Origins[]
Dwelling within the warpstone mines beneath the Under-Warrens of Skavenblight, Clan Skrittlespike were a troglodyte sub-species of Skaven and among the poorest of the Warlord Clans. They were immediately identifiable from other Skaven due to their overlarge black eyes and large, floppy ears. A Skrittlespike Skaven was a pallid, scrawny creature with a thin frame, ill-suited for wearing proper Skaven armour.[2a]
The members of this clan were despised and outcast by other Skaven, considered pathetically weak by most other clans. Since they were already so hated, it meant nothing to a Skrittlespike Skaven to kill influential members of the Under-Empire, such as a Plague Priest. As such, ratmen of influence sometimes sought out their services and took great pains to contact and coordinate with them.[2a]
Being poor and largely isolated from the other clans, the warriors of Clan Skrittlespike were poorly furnished when it came to weapons and armour. With not even rusty metal blades to their names, they entered the field of battle with sharpened bone swords, stone-axes, and loose-fit, rusty mail armour. In order to hide their scent from their brethren, they covered themselves in dung.[2a]
Clan Skrittlespike rarely ventured from the deepest levels of Skavenblight. When they deigned to, it was to scavenge for supplies or steal Skaven pups from the breeders of more prosperous clans. However, a powerful enough warlord could purchase their swords and their keen senses for their own purposes. Weaker than even the average Skaven, the senses of a Skrittlespike ratman were rivalled only by that of a Wolf-Rat.[3a]
Black Death[]
In 1111 IC, during the time of the Black Death, the warlord of Clan Mors, Krricht Dwarf-Slicer, employed Clan Skrittlespike warriors to ambush the Clan Pestilens Plague Priest Puskab Foulfur and his entourage of Plague Monks on their way back to the Pestilent Monastery in Skavenblight. However, the rangy, ill-equipped warriors of Skrittlespike were no match for the zealous frenzy of the Plague Monks and Puskab's own use of the Lore of Plague.[2a]
Bilebroth had launched the assassination attempt because he was angered that his meeting with Foulfur did not go the way he wanted when Foulfur had refused to use the Black Death pathogen he had created upon Clan Mors' enemies in Clan Rictus. So instead, Krricht had sought to fulfill his end of another deal made with Foulfur's enemy within Clan Pestilens, the Plague Priest Vrask Bilebroth, by killing Bilebroth's rival for the favour of Nurglitch IV, the ruling arch-plaguelord of Pestilens. [2a]
Skaven Wars[]
Despite the failure of this assassination attempt, Clan Skrittlespike continued to aid Clan Mors in its various endeavours. During the Skaven Wars, the Clan Mors warlord Vrrmik mercilessly sought the Imperial general Mandred Skavenslayer in an attempt to slay him. Vrrmik used the keen senses of Clan Skrittlespike Skaven to track the Human leader down.[3b]
Vrrmik also used these ratmen's keen sense of smell to weed out those infected with the Black Death from the healthy among the troops of his army, for the terrible disease, originally created by Clan Pestilens to be used as a weapon against the Men of the Old World, had begun to spread among the Skaven as well.[3b]