"Ah, yes. The Plague Monks. Where to begin? These wretched creatures have wholly embraced the diseased aspect of their horned god. They inflict themselves with sickness, drawing strength from it and gaining some measure of immunity to mundane diseases. So inured are they to pain and discomfort that they hardly feel it any longer. Driven by a fury and zeal that only the truly religious can comprehend, the Plague Monks are certainly one of the Skaven's most disturbing and terrible innovations"
- —Steffan Paulus Adelhof, Scholar of Wolfenburg.[2a]
A zealous Plague Monk of Clan Pestilens, ready for war to spread his clan's true faith in the Horned Rat.
A Plague Monk of the Skaven Clan Pestilens is a fanatical religious zealot utterly dedicated to the spreading of disease and pestilence to hasten the ruin of the mortal world in the name of their clan and their interpretation of the true teachings of the Horned Rat.
Plague Monks are led in battle by an even more fanatical fellow monk known as a "Bringer-of-the-Word."[1b]
Role[]
A fanatical Plague Monk of Clan Pestilens leading his unholy brethren on a pestilent crusade.
Plague Monks are the fanatical initiates of infection and disciples of disease among Clan Pestilens, who have scattered numerous agents across the cities of the Old World. Hidden away in their underground strongholds the Plague Monks cultivate deadly diseases in bubbling vats filled with Warpstone, carcasses and foetid offal. Each new plague they create is unleashed by infected rats released into city sewers by Clan Eshin, bringing great misery and hardship upon the Human inhabitants.[1a]
These devout disciples of disease are unique amongst Skaven society in that they are fanatically committed to their clan and its purpose of creating the ultimate disease. Once this plague devastates the populations of all the surface-dwellers, the Skaven can rise up from the ruins of mortal civilisation and claim their proper inheritance -- nothing short of the entirety of the mortal world. The Horned Rat will know who brought his children and himself to their rightful and preordained Great Ascendancy and Clan Pestilens will rule supreme over all others.[1a]
Warfare[]
"Plague Monks do not know the true nature of the Horned Rat and kill themselves for it. They are useful, but deride-hate the Grey Seers. This impudence will be their done-death."
The fanatics of the True Faith of the Horned Rat, as embodied in Clan Pestilens.
The Plague Monks of Clan Pestilens are masters of contagion and disease. At the lowest levels are fervent and devoted worshippers of the Horned Rat, singing daily praises and liturgies to the Rodent God. Each is riddled with disease, covered with self-inflicted wounds and eruptions that ooze blood and pus. When unleashed against the enemies of the Skaven, Plague Monks are much more effective than one might expect. It is easy to discount their abilities, given their emaciated frames and constant sicknesses, yet it seems that they find solace in their constant pain. Mundane discomforts like severed limbs and opened bellies cause them no more than passing discomfort.[2a]
A Clan Pestilens Plague Monk as depicted in Total War: Warhammer III.
Plague Monks form the bulk of Clan Pestilens' troops. When Plague Monks gather, their squeaky chanting can be heard as they recite from the foul Book of Woe, endlessly repeating the Liturgus Infectus, or the "Rites of Infection." If they are going to war, the Plague Monks march under one of their Clan Pestilens banners -- often a half-rotted carcass hanging from a banner pole bearing unimaginably twisted visions rendered in pigments distilled from blood and Warpstone. As the foul brethren march forward towards an enemy battleline, their chanting picks up its pace and the Plague Monks seem to incite themselves into a terrible rage. In combat Plague Monks hurl themselves into the fray with fanatical ferocity, eager to bring death and destruction to their foes.[1a]
With bulging eyes and foaming mouths, the Plague Monks seem possessed of an unnatural and unholy fervour. They relentlessly attack with filth-encrusted blades, iron-tipped staves, or even their needle-sharp teeth. A Plague Monk's exposure to pestilence has rendered their toughened, boil-ridden skin immune to pain. Mundane discomforts like severed limbs and opened bellies that would prove mortal wounds in other ratmen seem to cause them no more than mild discomfort. This ability to shrug off crippling injury combined with their near-hysterical zealotry in service to their vision of the Horned Rat means that the only reliable way of stopping a Plague Monk's attack is to wholly dismember the disease-ridden Skaven.[1a]
Notable Regiments[]
- Contagion Conclave - The Plague Monks known as the Contagion Conclave's main responsibility lay in tending the Cauldrons of a Thousand Poxes, yet they were more than mere potion-making alchemists -- they were the most virulent of their kind.
- Infectorhood - The Infectorhood was a unit of Plague Monks who served as the enforcers of Clan Pestilens. They ensured that all of its Thrall Clans in the Pestilent Brotherhood remained loyal to Pestilens' religious vision.
- Bearers of Creeping Death - The Bearers of Creeping Death are a unit of Plague Monks who volunteered to perform a ritual with the disease known as the Creeping Death before battle, ensuring their demise in combat or to the disease, though ensuring it also spread to Clan Pestilens' foes.
- Bilekin Brotherhood - Labeled as extremists, even within their zealous clan, this unit of Plague Monks bathed daily in the worst filth imaginable, coating themselves and the blades of their weapons in liquid disease.
- Pestilens Guard - The personal honour guard and servants of the clan's ruling Arch-Plaguelord Nurglitch, currently Nurglitch VII, these Plague Monks gained a reputation within the Pestilent Brotherhood for being the most rabid of their overzealous kind.
See Also[]
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Armies: Skaven (7th Edition)
- 2: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Children of the Horned Rat (RPG)
- 2a: pg. 70
Gallery[]
