"I have led this council long ages-time! I led great summoning many breedings ago! I speak for the Horned Rat!"
- —Seer Lord Kritislik of the Order of the Grey Seers addressing the Council of Thirteen[4a]
Kritislik, known by many other titles such as "Grand Grey Seer of all Skavendom," "Ipsissimus of the Entire Order of Grey Seers," "Keeper of the Temple and the Faith of the Temple," "Lord Exalted of the Shattered Tower," "Ringmaster of the Black Bell," "First Member of the Council of Thirteen," "Voice of the Horned Rat," or simply the "Seer Lord of the Priesthood," was for many centuries the ruling Seer Lord of the Order of the Grey Seers and the leader of the Under-Empire's governing Council of Thirteen.[2a][3a]
Kritislik was an ancient and powerful being within Skaven society, a ratman who had lived for nigh thousands of years and had ever held the greatest seat within the Council of Thirteen. Indeed, it was said that unlike other Skaven, who put themselves above even their own god, the Horned Rat, the piety of Kritislik was legendary, for he was the only Skaven who would put himself second to the wishes and demands of the father of the Skaven race. Such devotion also ensured that Kritislik had not one, but two votes within the council hierarchy.[2a][3a]
Kritislik was ultimately devoured by the Horned Rat himself at a meeting of the Council of Thirteen for his repeated failures to bring about the Great Ascendancy of Skavendom and its god. After Kritislik's death, Thaumkrittle would assume his place as the new Seer Lord of the Priesthood of the Horned Rat, although he would not take his paramount place on the Council of Thirteen.[4a]
History[]
Origins[]
Very little is known about Kritislik, yet such mystery only aids in inflating the massive aura of power which clings to the greatest of the Horned Rat's chosen emissaries. What little is known about Kritislik's origins is that he had been the Seer Lord since the time of the Great War Against Chaos in the early 24th century IC. It was during that war that Clan Skryre reestablished their main stronghold within the confines of the Under-Empire's subterranean capital of Skavenblight.[1a]
In time, Clan Skryre assembled a mighty force of infernal devices and engines of destruction on a scale never before seen. 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.[1a]
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 Kislev and the Empire. Known to only a few within the Under-Empire, a great event was coming, and only Morskittar was well-prepared for the great ritual that the Grey Seers were plotting to unleash.[1a]
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 Horned Rat. The Grey Seers knew that this pitiful war must end, otherwise the dreams of the Great Ascendancy that the Horned Rat had both gifted and demanded from his children would never be fulfilled. And so, the Grey Seers were to invoke a spell that would bring the Under-Empire to its knees in servitude towards the one true ruler of all Skavendom.
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 merciless god's wrath. For only the second time in their entire history, a member of each Skaven clan gathered at the footsteps of the Temple of the Horned Rat in Skavenblight, to bear witness to the great ritual that was being performed.[1a]
Great Summoning (2302 IC)[]
An atmosphere of fearful expectation could be smelt upon the assembled masses of ratmen as the temple doors swung open and the full order of 169 Grey Seers filed out. Seer Lord Kritislik was the last of the Thirteen to step out, and with him he carried a skin-bound book, 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.[1a]
The Grey Seers picked up the chant and amplified their lord's voice. The intensity rose as they began the sacrifices. One by one, 169 Skavenslaves died in increasing agony, with the last one expiring to the torments of the Seer Lord 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 lightning 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 Skaven city.[1a]
In the sudden silence, the great Seer Lord opened his jaw and screeched, as a massive cloud of vapour 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.[1a]
As one, the Skaven hordes fell prostrate, pressing their muzzles hard unto the cool stone, with some dropping dead from the dreadful 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 Horned Rat consumed them whole. [1a]
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, lay 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 rulership, along with prophecies of the Great Ascendancy.[1a]
Then the Skaven's lord and god whispered to the assembled horde with the voice of a million scratching and gnawing rats. He told those ratmen assembled that their pitiful wars amused him greatly, but that this quarrelling must cease. He demanded that the Skaven spread his corruption in order for the Skaven race to inherit the mortal world and assure his full return.[1a]
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 thus only the chosen ones could join the great council. With his final commandments, the Horned One retreated back to the Realm of Ruin in the Aethyr, with the crack within the fabric of reality narrowing and sealing behind him. Finally, all was silent, their god was gone, and the horde of Skaven stood silent and fearful.[1a]
The musk of fear hung heavy over the survivors as they blinked at the Black Pillar of Commandments 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 of Thirteen to be assured.[1a]
Lord Rakin was the first to touch the pillar. He burned with black fire until his corpse collapsed and only ashes remained. Over the long night, each Skaven Warlord and Skaven Chieftain strode to the unholy pillar and placed their paw upon the Warpstone. Many did not survive, as a multitude of the ratlords burned with unholy fire as the Horned One denied them as his chosen.[1a]
Only twelve lived, with each of these new Lords of Decay imbued with an aura of dark magical energy, truly the blessing bestowed by the Horned Rat himself. From that day forward, the Council of Thirteen has 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 came to pass that the Skaven were once more united under the rulership of the Thirteen, with Kritislik at the head.[1a]
Death[]
"M-mercy! M-mercy, O Great One! We will double our efforts! Triple them! Quadrupl–"
- —Kritislik begs for his life, before being eaten by the Horned Rat himself
After countless schemes over the next two centuries, many of them self-serving and meddlesome, the Horned Rat again grew tired of the lack of progress and accord between his children. However, instead of addressing the Skaven race as a whole as he had done during the Great Summoning, the fault was placed squarely on Seer Lord Kritislik's shoulders.
The latest Skaven venture in pursuit of the Great Ascendancy over the mortal races of the surface world had underperformed, with only Estalia and Tilea, considered the weakest of the settlements of Men in the Old World, suffering the most damage.
The Lizardmen, Dwarfs, and the Empire still stood relatively unaffected by the Skaven's machinations. The Lords of Decay all blamed the Grey Seers of Clan Scruten and their meddling for the failure, which outraged Kritislik. Claiming he and his order spoke and acted only in the name of the Horned Rat, he was challenged by all assembled, only for the Horned Rat himself to appear before the Council of Thirteen in a miasma of black smoke.[4a]
The Rodent God declared himself disappointed in his children and agreed with the accusations of the other Lords of Decay that had been lobbed at the seer lord. Plucked from the ground by his tail by one giant divine paw, Kritislik's last moments were spent begging for his life in vain. The Horned Rat devoured him and then threatened the remaining members of the Council of Thirteen with a similar fate should they not bring about the Great Ascendancy in the timeframe he demanded. He ordered them to bring the existing civilisations of the mortal world to ruin before a duration he described as "thirteen times thirteen passes of the Chaos moon" had expired or he would devour them just as he had the seer lord.[4a]
After Kritislik's death, Thaumkrittle would assume his place, although not on the Council of Thirteen.
Appearance[]
Kritislik had huge horns, each as black as pitch and curling upwards in a spire. Skaven of the Grey Seer caste are often sickly and frail, but the Grand Grey Seer stood nearly as tall as the hulking, brutish Albino Stormvermin charged to guard him. The face of the seer lord was said to be pinched and drawn, with enough malice to make a Giant hesitate. Kritislik had murky grey fur and wore iron grey robes. [2a]
Canon Conflict[]
In the Thanquol's Doom novel series by C.L Werner, Kritislik has murky grey fur, marking him out as a typical Grey Seer.[2a] However, the novel Rise of the Horned Rat by Guy Haley claims that the seer lord has the same color fur as Soothgnawer, the massive, white-furred Daemonic Verminlord Corrupter. [4a]
Also, in the Total War: Warhammer II Great Vortex Skaven campaign Kritislik is depicted with small, white goat horns that curl backwards rather than black horns that curl upwards as described in the novels.
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Armies: Skaven (7th Edition)
- 2: Thanquol and Boneripper: Grey Seer (Novel) by C.L Werner
- 2a: Ch. 2: "Maze of Merciless Penance"
- 3: Thanquol and Boneripper: Thanquol's Doom (Novel) by C.L Werner
- 3a: Ch. 4
- 4: Rise of the Horned Rat (Novel) by Guy Haley
- 4a: Prologue
- 5: Warhammer The End Times: Thanquol
- 5a: pg. 5