Rat-catchers of Miragliano

"You see these here notch-as on my bandoleer? Thas-sa means I kill twenty Ratmen. Anton, he has the dogs and they-a smell them out, then I sticks them with-a my spear, thas what we-a call sollecitare—it means, the tickler, see? Because of all the barbs on its-a side, see. It kills the Skaveni very much, and then wes-a sticking their stupid little skulls on-a the town gate, as-a warning. Accorde, they always come back again, the very next night too. Theys-a never giving up, and so neither does we."

—Nicolas de Lampedusa, Tilean mercenary, Rat-catcher Regiment^[1a]

The Rat-catchers of Miragliano. Founded in the aftermath of the devastation of Miragliano by the Red Pox in the year 1812 IC. (Painted by Wilhelm Leiber: Oils on canvas)^[3a]

The Rat-catchers of Miragliano are a Tilean mercenary company that are particularly dedicated to combatting the Skaven infestation within the southern realms, especially in their home city-state of Miragliano.

The Tileans have the terrible curse of inhabiting the closest land to the great Skaven spawning ground of Skavenblight, which lies in the Blighted Marshes. Although they have been spared the worst of the plagues, they have instead suffered the greatest share of the sorties of the ratmen.^[1a]

So many times have the Skaven marched against the people of Tilea that they have long-since forgotten the luxury of pretending that the ratmen do not exist, as the authorities of the Empire maintain, and instead have devoted themselves fiercely to protecting their cities and exterminating the Skaven found within them. The Rat-catchers of Miragliano, one of the most famous mercenary regiments in all of Tilea, are employed by the Prince of Miragliano solely to destroy the Skaven menace.^[1a]

The Rat-catchers are one of the most famous and respected mercenary regiments in Tilea. Trained and equipped at the Prince of Miragliano's expense, the Rat-catchers' main duty is to keep the city safe from Skaven incursion. Typically, each man is armed with a short sword, a crossbow and several knives, although officers often replace the crossbow with a handbow to allow them to carry a lantern in their other hand.^[3a]

Each Rat-catchers patrol is also accompanied by a dog-handler with two dogs, powerful mastiffs bred to fight the Skaven from birth and fed exclusively on a diet of rat-meat. Finally, the Rat-catchers often make use of two signature pieces of equipment when they need to dredge the waters of the city's canals for Skaven swimmers: grappling hooks and il Sollecitare -- "The Tickler" -- a long pole covered in a profusion of barbed hooks.^[3a]

Quotes

"The Imperials, they pretend the ratmen are a myth because they are in league with them! Look how hairy they are, why they're halfway to being Skaven themselves!

The Empire is so lacking in manners and proper civilisation, I  say it is no wonder the ratmen have infiltrated so deeply without their knowledge.

Skaven sorcerery, mi amico. They have cast a mighty spell of ignorance across the Empire to hide their presence! This is also why their men do not bathe and their wine is terrible!

They know, but they do not tell the people. Why? Look at them, they are gripped by panic already. If they were to admit there was yet another threat beneath their very feet, their society would collapse! After all, look at where it has got us."

—A Rat-catcher of Miragliano^[2a]

Sources

• 1: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Children of the Horned Rat (2nd Edition)
  • 1a: pp. 10-11
• 2: Warhammer Fantasy RRoleplay 4th Edition: The Horned Rat Companion (RPG)
  • 2a: pg. 57
• 3: The Loathsome Ratmen and All Their Vile Kin (Background Book)
  • 3a: pp. 81-85

Gallery

Illustration showing one of the fortified canal gates of the Tilean city-state of Miragliano. Designed to block attempts by the ratmen to infiltrate the city's canal system, they take the form of heavy iron portcullises situated at the junctures where the canals meet the waters of the marshes outside the city. The small bells ar the top of the gates are connected by thin wires to fishing hooks, intended to give the alarm by catching the clothes of passing swimmers, while both above and below the waterline the surfaces of the gates themselves are covered in viciously-barbed hooks. Patrolled during the day by Miragliano's ordinary City Watch, at night the canal gates are guarded by the same men responsible for patrolling the banks of the city's many canals; the famed mercenaries of the Rat-catchers of Miragliano. (Drawn by Wilhelm Leiber: Ink on parchment).^[3a]

Sketch of the severed head of a dead Skaven, seen mounted on a pike and displayed from the walls of the Tilean city of Miragliano. From conversations with the gate guards, Wilhelm Leiber learned the ratman in question had been caught trying to infiltrate the city the previous night by the Rat-catchers, who had decided to put his head on display as a warning to his fellows. (Drawn by Wilhelm Leiber: Ink on parchment).^[3a]

Sketch by an eyewitness of a giant rat, killed by the mercenaries known as the Rat-catchers of Miragliano in one of their nightly weeps of their city-state's cellars.^[3]