"The Horned Rat brings to us a new Holy Plague!"
- —The Arch-Plaguelord Nurglitch IV, as he brandishes a vial of the Black Death contagion
Nurglitch IV, also called Arch-Plaguelord Nurglitch IV, Pontifex Nurglitch IV or simply Nurglitch, was the Skaven arch-plaguelord of Clan Pestilens during the Black Death in 1111 IC. He was the fourth Skaven to hold the title of Nurglitch, a name handed down from each ruling arch-plaguelord of Clan Pestilens to their successor. He was the first of three Lords of Decay from his clan to serve on the Under-Empire's ruling Council of Thirteen at this time, greatly increasing his power.[1a]
As the arch-plaguelord of Pestilens, Nurglitch IV held Seer Lord Skrittar, his religious rival, to be his primary foe on the Council of Thirteen.[1a]
History[]
Approval of the Black Death[]
In the year 1111 IC, on Geheimnistag, the Council of Thirteen convened at Skavenblight to witness Clan Pestilens' new weapon. Normally, poisons and other dangers were strictly forbidden within the Shattered Tower where the council met, but by the graces of Warmonger Vecteek, a vial of the Black Death was brought before the Lords of Decay. The Verminguard, a contingent of ratmen belonging to Clan Rictus,who served as the guard of the council, herded in a mix of slaves to demonstrate the contagion's lethality. Of the subjects, only the non-Skaven died, proving the pathogen was a deadly effective weapon to bring about the destruction of the mortal races and the Great Ascendancy of Skavendom.[1a]
The power of the plague and the adulation the Plague Monks would receive among the Skaven from its success threatened the power of Seer Lord Skrittar, yet when it came time to vote on the matter Skrittar praised the Pestilens Poxmaster Puskab Foulfur, Nurglitch IV's favoured protege, for his invention and endorsed it. However, Nurglitch was angered by the acclaim earned by his underling rather than himself. As Skaven were capricious by nature, the comment called into question Foulfur's position as his master's favorite, an ambiguity Foulfur's rival, Vrask Bilebroth, moved to exploit. In response, Foulfur made his own counter-moves, allying himself with Clan Verms when it become clear that Clan Mors and his rival were allied. However, that came with its own problem, namely Blight Tenscratch's own schemes against the arch-plaguelord.[1b]
Through messages passed surreptitiously to Nurglitch IV, Foulfur ensured these schemes all ultimately failed.
Ascendance of Clan Pestilens[]
The arch-plaguelord was joined on the council by his poxmaster as its newest Lord of Decay shortly after Blight Tenscratch's second attempt to slay him not only failed, but resulted in his own betrayal, death, and the loss of his council seat to Foulfur. Nurglitch was jovial about this turn of events, but also wary. By his ascension, Puskab Foulfur had gone from favored apprentice to become a credible political threat to Nurglitch IV's rule of Clan Pestilens. In truth, the poxmaster was entertaining fantasies of becoming the new leader of Clan Pestilens. But Nurglitch IV had installed Vrask Bilebroth, the hated rival of Foulfur, in the council seat of Manglrr Baneburrow after Clan Fester fell under Clan Pestilens' thrall. In this way, the two bitter Pestilens rivals would be at each other's throats, while the arch-plaguelord's own position at the head of the clan remained secure.[2a]
After the death of Skrittar, the arch-plaguelord had new designs on the council's seerseat, the customary place of the seer lord who ruled the Order of the Grey Seers. If Clan Pestilens held that seat, it could itself to be the the Horned Rat's true voice and their teachings the new orthodoxy of the Rodent God's faith. With the Order of the Grey Seers already weakened with three Clan Pestilens members on the council, the arch-plaguelord proved bold enough to even cast a thinly veiled threat at the new seer lord, Queekual. However, Nurglitch IV underestimated the ruthless cunning of his new rival.[2b]
Fall of Clan Pestilence[]
"Nurglitch gone-gone. Left Skavenblight. Take-want pilgrimage to Blisterdeep."
- —Vrask explains his master's absence to Puskab Foulfur
When the seer lord proceeded to unleash a modified version of the Black Death that actually could infect Skaven upon Skavenblight, killing many ratmen as intended, he damned Puskab Foulfur for the creation of the pathogen, destroying all the political goodwill that Clan Pestilens had earned among the Skaven when it seemed as if the Black Death's assault upon the surface world was bringing the Great Ascendancy nigh. Nurglitch IV had the foresight at least not to be present in the city when the Black Death was unleashed upon its inhabitants. In his place, had left Foulfur and Bilebroth to serve as the pestilens representatives on the council. Foulfur was soon murdered by a mob of angry Skavenblight ratmen who blamed him for the spread of the diease since he was its publicly acknowledged creator. Nurglitch IV spent this time on a pilgrimage deep into the jungles of Lustria where he holed up inside the Pestilens fortress of Blisterdeep -- and avoided all of the repercussions, and all of the blame, for the latest disaster to afflict Skavenblight.[2c]
Appearance[]
Nurglitch IV was a corpulent ratman, dressed in the tattered green robes that always marked out the members of Clan Pestilens. The arch-plaguelord emitted a stink so foul it could kill insects in mid-air whenever he spoke. He hid his features beneath a cowled hood and his body was bursting with black buboes. Great thorns sprouted from his spine and shoulders, impaling his green habit in places and dripping a foul sludge from their sharp tips.[1a]