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"The Lord Sigmar sends me visions of hell! I see gigantic treadmills eternally turning in the dark. I see uncountable masses of swarming vermin standing on their hind legs in a foul parody of Man. I see diabolic machines made by deranged mutants. I see bloated queens with atrophied limbs breeding their rotten offspring. All this I see and in my head the dreadful tolling of the cursed bells still screams. It won't stop! The multitude of red eyes stare at us from the darkness of sewers and graves. They loathe us, and they will rise to devour us all for our sins! Make it stop, please, make it stop!"

Hieronymus Bouscus[2a]

Skavenblight, also called the Great City by the Skaven themselves,[12a] is the name given by Tileans to the subterranean capital city and foul heart of the Skaven Under-Empire and the birthplace of the Skaven race. Through magics more powerful than the unsuspecting mortal world can imagine, the largest and most densely populated city in the world is kept secret, its locations only guessed at by the very wisest of mortal-kind.[1a][10a] Deep in the rotting heart of the Blighted Marsh festers the vile capital of the ratmen, the decay-ridden nexus of all Skavendom.[1a]

This shell of a once-glorious city of Mankind lies more than half sunken in the morass, a testimony to the corruption and ruin spread by the Children of the Horned Rat. This is Skavenblight, a sprawling metropolis of endless caverns; a multi-layered under-city of twisting corridors, and nightmarish squalor on an unimaginable scale. This evil capital of a nefarious race is the veiled lair from which rule the mighty Lords of Decay, the ruthless leaders of the Skaven race. It is here, amidst labyrinthine darkness, that the Skaven scheme for supremacy, gnawing over plots for the final apocalypse of Humanity and all other surface dwellers.[1a]

As the Skaven capital city, Skavenblight benefits from being the largest trade hub in the Under-Empire, where hundreds upon hundreds of merchants, peddlers, and trade barges enter the city annually to sell their wares and goods, hailing from the multitude of clans that populate the vast Under-Empire.[4a]

But such wealth and prosperity only attracts the worst of the Skaven race, giving incentive to the greatest population of cutthroats, thieves, outlaws, bandits, renegades, corrupt officials, and assassins than all the other Skaven strongholds combined. Such lawlessness and civil unrest has resulted in the city being mired a constant power-struggle between untold numbers of factions vying for control over much of the city's mineral and political wealth.[4a]

Though all the clans have at least a certain amount of foothold or influence in the great city, there is no denying that out of all the clans that make up the Under-Empire, those who dominate a grander part of the city are each held by one of the four Great Clans. Clan Skryre and Clan Moulder have the most economic influence in the city, with their personal clan districts lively at all hours as they trade their various goods and services to any warlord with enough warp-tokens to pay.[1a]

Skavenblight is also where two of the most technologically advanced devices of the Skaven race are held, the Warpstone Telescope and the Warpstone Tractor Beam, both used to investigate and interact with Morrslieb.[6]

Bagrian, Golgfag Maneater and Fassbinder the Strong are among the few non-Skaven who set eyes upon Skavenblight and managed to survive to tell the tale.[9b][7a][8]

History[]

Origins[]

Plagaskaven por John Blanche Marismas Enfermizas

The ruins of the Human city of Tylos, now the subterranean home of Skavenblight, as seen from its outskirts.

Skavenblight is believed to have been founded around -1600 IC, after the fall of the former Human city of Tylos.[9a]

Disaster at Skavenblight[]

Despite every obstacle, every new plague, and the ongoing scarcity of food, the Skaven thrived in the tunnels of Skavenblight. In time there were so many of them that they had to expand their tunnels even farther, but they could not burrow fast enough to create more room. So the Skaven called upon the sorcerers to do something, to open a space where all Skaven could live and prosper.[9a]

The antecedents of the Grey Seers planned to open a great rift beneath the earth that would provide room enough for all. So they constructed a terrible machine powered by warpstone to capture and bend the energies of magic, a machine that would split the rocks beneath the mountains.[9a]

For decades they laboured until finally, in a grand ceremony in a specially excavated chamber beneath Skavenblight, the ratmen's sorcerers activated their sinister machine. They summoned forth the loose energy coursing beneath the earth, forcing it into their mad invention of iron and brass. The machine shuddered and smoked as more and more energy filled its coils. Just as the sorcerers believed they had accumulated enough and ceased their chanting, the machine vomited forth showers of sparks and caused the very earth to rumble.[9a]

The ground shook, causing the great bell in the temple to the Horned Rat above to ring. A great rift began to appear in the earth and it seemed the Skaven's mad plan would work. But it was not to be. The machine failed and with a thundering flash it split open, releasing all the pent up energy, tearing through the tunnels and ripping hundreds of Skaven into furry gobbets as it shattered Skavenblight.[9a]

Ceilings collapsed, killing thousands more, and the destructive energy spread out from Skavenblight in all directions. The ancient city sank with a tortured rumble as the sea washed in to drown the tortured land.[9a]

Though the ratmen's city was in ruins, it was at this moment that new masters emerged amongst the Skaven. The Council of Thirteen formed to lead the Skaven. The surviving sorcerers founded the Order of the Grey Seers to act as advisors and to lead the Skaven into a glorious future.[9a]

Aftermath and Expansion[]

Tylos

The ruins of the Human city of Tylos, now the home of the vast subterranean Skaven warrens of Skavenblight.

After the earthquakes collapsed Skavenblight and buried it under the foul waters, it was clear that the Skaven would have to expand. The calamity only worsened the food shortages and limited living space. And so, the Skaven spread throughout the Old World, migrating to new lands to find resources and to expand their control over the world.[9a]

The migrating Skaven established strongholds in the Southlands, Araby, and the Dark Lands. Lord Malkrit, one of the Council of Thirteen, led Clan Moulder to a place that would become known as Hell Pit. Lord Viskrin instructed Clan Eshin to establish a stronghold in far Cathay. Some Skaven even crossed the seas to found societies beneath the humid jungles of Lustria.[9a]

Geography[]

"All tunnels lead to Skavenblight."

—A common Skaven phrase alluding to the nexus of the Under-Empire

Layout[]

Blighted Marshes Map

A map of Skavenblight's location.

It would be impossible to reach the Skaven capital overland, as the immense Blighted Marshes are certain death to cross. The noisome stench of the sucking mud and fetid waters rises high into the air, a vast and poisonous cover that prevents the full light of the sun from penetrating its gloom. Vast flotillas of Skavenslaves launch out, either swimming or mounted in small shantycraft.[1a]

They scour the reed beds for the foul crops that grow there. Overseers lash as slaves struggle to make quotas before the slave-hulk moves on -- sometimes churning over swimmers trying to get back onboard. Escape through the horrors of the Blighted Marshes is impossible and, as unbelievable as it sounds, the worst punishment any grain-slave can suffer is to be abandoned in that stinking quagmire.[1a]

Closer to the swamp's centre, ruined towers punctuate the murky waters, the passing slave-hulks sending waves lapping over the crumbling edifices. Where the banks become solid ground, there reside teeming ports where endless trudging lines of bent-backed figures haul black corn or moonseed from the quaysides to the factories.[1a]

Enormous windmills of worm-eaten wood and rusted iron relentlessly churn out grain to feed the starving hordes of Skavenblight. Periodically, armed patrols sweep the lines, enforcing speed and mercilessly gathering up any who have collapsed or expired under their weighty loads. Any such unfortunates are thrown in with the crops, simply more grist for the mill.[1a]

Skavenblight street

The subterranean streets of Skavenblight

Beyond the granaries the outline of a vast city rises out of the mud. Clammy green-tinted mists wrap the ruins of vast arches and shattered buildings. The ground trembles with rhythmic cadences and sudden pillars of flame leap out of fissures.[1a]

The cracked paving stones tilt crazily up from the deserted streets, with holes and vents pockmarking the rubble-strewn byways. Shadowy figures flit or scurry amidst the crumbling structures. Some of the caves burrowed into the mounds of debris gleam with ominous lights, while others are gaping maws leading down into darkness.[1a]

The majority of Skavenblight exists underground in unfathomable levels, caverns, and shafts. No map could hope to account for the many districts or the ever-changing location of lairs, breeding pits, or strongholds -- all connected by an intertwining network of tunnels gnawed out between sections. The deeper levels can only be reached by cages attached to massive chains and lowered into the depths.[1a] 

Half of Skavenblight's old waterfront has in time been dragged down into the morass of the Blighted Marshes.[4a]

Skavenblight houses innumerable Skaven clans -- from the great powers to upstart and little-known Warlord Clans. All areas are packed, crowded with seething hordes that demand constant expansion. At the lowest levels countless Skavenslaves toil away, never to leave the mines or factories for the whole of their short and horrible lifetimes. They are regularly worked to death and replaced. Armies of slave-workers shift mountains of rock drilled out by tracked machines of immense size, burrowing out new tunnels for the ever-increasing population.[1b]

Conversely, the tunnel leading into the complex of caves and pits where many of the Grey Seers kept their nests is lined with flagstones plundered from throughout the city and supported by marble columns looted from the palazzos of Miragliano.[4a]

Elsewhere in the Under-city can be found the unbreathable air produced by the monastery of Clan Pestilens, that unwholesome clan's largest dwellings outside of the Southlands. The fort-like warrens of the Ironspike sector are maintained by Clan Rictus, and all know and fear the Caverns of Unyielding Shadow, the Clan Eshin quarter where treaty-pacts are claw-marked, and the doom of many assured.[1b]

Notable Locations[]

Shattered Tower[]

"The impossibly high tower reaches from the darkest depths to scrape the sky; at its tip, the Bell of the Horned Rat."

—Unknown[6]
Temple of Tylos

The former temple of the shattered Human city of Tylos, the mirror image of the Shattered Tower of the Horned Rat that now lies below it.

At the centre of the Skaven city lies the Great Temple of the Horned Rat. It stretches for miles beneath the surface but above ground is marked by a single, cloud-piercing tower reaching high over the desolation of the ruins of the city of Tylos.[1b]

The temple, known as the "Shattered Tower," is a piece of madness made manifest, in places marble-white and perfect, whilst in others decrepit and crudely patched together. Masonry from many realms and eras of architecture are stacked atop each other, but for all that it stretches upwards to impossible heights.[1b]

It is a potent reminder of the authority and reach of the Lords of Decay, a physical tribute to the awful power of the Horned Rat and his domination of his chosen people: the Skaven.[11a]

The Shattered Tower is the fabled black heart of Skavendom, about which are told many legends. The temple is the base for the Grey Seers and home to their former ruler Seer Lord Kritislik, who long occupied the first seat on the Council of Thirteen before he was devoured by the Horned Rat for his many failures.[1b]

Councilofthirteenwh2

The Council of Thirteen gathers in the secret halls of the council chamber. The thirteenth symbolic member is the Horned Rat himself.

Enormous doors, carved from black Southland wood and engraved with the sinister sign of the Horned Rat, guard the entrance to the council chamber. Before the black doors, one big Rat Ogre guards the portal, the chain fixing its collar to thick iron staples set into the floor looking to have been stolen from a warship’s anchor. The ugly brute is nearly furless, every inch of the rat ogre’s exposed hide has been branded with the mark of the Horned Rat. It snuffles grotesquely at the air surrounding it, like some great hound, then slowly lurches away from its post beside the doorway when the visitors have the right to pass.[11a]

The Council Chamber of the Thirteen is where the Under-Empire's ruling Council of Thirteen meets, for here the leaders of Skavenkind gather to discuss matters of importance and vote on the issues at hand. The Council Chamber is located within the great Shattered Tower, a massive and imposing tower that is connected to the Temple of the Horned Rat, the most magnificent of all the temples dedicated to that vile Chaos God.[1a][6]

Since the city houses the great temple itself, this is also the headquarters of the legendary Order of the Grey Seers, where they learn, study, and operate on behalf of their order and the Council of Thirteen for matters of business or importance.[1a][6]

Verminhall, which sits in the heart of the Horned Rat's divine Realm of Ruin in the Realm of Chaos, is the otherworldly counterpart to the Shattered Tower. It is used as the meeting place of the group of Exalted Verminlord Daemons of the Horned Rat who comprise the Shadow Council of Thirteen.[15a]

Swampscratch[]

Megalithic in its proportions, the immense tunnel known as Swampscratch worms its way deep beneath the Blighted Marshes, connecting the festering capital with its far-flung subterranean empire. Armies of slaves tend the tunnel day and night, laboring under the lashes of snarling ratmen to shore up the sagging ceiling with a motley array of wooden beams, stone columns, and brick pillars. Patches of masonry drip from the walls, steel plates bulge from the roof, timbers groan under the strain of archways. Everywhere, the stink of the swamp oozes into the tunnel, stagnant black water sweating out from every inch of exposed earth. Pools of filth form in every footprint that mars the floor.[4b]

In many places, heaps of mud and earth form obstructions, great yawning pits in the ceiling letting swamp water and sunlight stream into the tunnel. Sometimes the crushed bodies of Skaven poke out from beneath the slimy rubble. Occasionally, a muffled whine rises from some wretch trapped within the muck.[4b]

The teeming hordes of Skaven scurry through the tunnel, ignore the cries of their less fortunate kin. Carefully they navigate around the obstructions, snarling and cursing the slaves who are tasked to clear the rubble away. The seemingly endless tide of vermin swarm along the monstrous passage, wheeling about the confused array of pillars and columns keeping the swamp from crashing down about their heads. Many of the Skaven push carts or carry great baskets lashed to their backs, struggling beneath burdens of goods plundered from across the world. Tribute for the Lords of Decay from their scattered vassals.[4b]

Abattoir[]

The Abattoir is a massive amphitheatre, a relic of the dim past. Constructed from gigantic columns of limestone, the structure existed as a series of towering arcades piled one atop the other, circling around a central arena. Originally designed for the city of Tylos, it could house sixty thousand Men during its prime. However, the Council of Thirteen was far from satisfied with this. Its members ordered an expansion of the arena to thirteen layers, the sacred number of the ratmen. Still more wooden rafters were added on regularly. These regularly collapsed during spectacles as the sheer weight of thousands of Skaven overwhelmed the rotten wooden beams. In total, nearly half a million ratmen can now be squeezed into the arena.[14a]

Twice in its history, the entire Abattoir has rumbled and groaned as all of the wooden tiers came crashing down. Such catastrophes were taken as a matter of course by the Skaven. Any disaster which affected someone else was of little concern to the individual ratman. The service provided by the Abattoir was too important to the denizens of Skavenblight to do without. For the weak and the downtrodden, the Abattoir offered an escape from the drudgery of their lives. For the more successful ratmen there was gambling and the thousand other vices that nestled close to the arena. For the Lords of Decay there was security, a novelty to distract the teeming hordes of Skavenblight and make them forget their hungry bellies and flea-infested fur.[14a]

A great pit could be opened up on the sandy surface of the arena, and little iron gates and wooden doors were set into the wall. Here gladiatorial games are common, often pitting mutated beasts against one another or sacrificing slaves to them in desperate but one-sided combats.[14a]

During the time of the Black Death, the arena represented the most prosperous of Clan Verms' ventures. The bug-breeders produced a loathsome menagerie of horrifying abominations for the Abattoir. None were so popular with the crowd as the giant Deathwalkers, deadly scorpion-like creatures that were considered unbeatable before Clan Moulder's new addition to their catalog of death, the Rat Ogre.[14a]

Clan Eshin District[]

Clan Eshin holds the smallest district out of the four major clans in Skavenblight, but theirs is a highly secretive and hidden location, with only a few knowing of its exact whereabouts.[1a]

Clan Moulder District[]

The quarter of Clan Moulder is rich in commerce. In this quarter Hell-Pit Abominations created by the fervid and distorted minds of their Clan Moulder masters are sold to those who offer the highest bid.[1a]

Clan Pestilens District[]

The Plague Monks of Clan Pestilens are considered the third most influential political force in Skavenblight. Though their district is small and isolated, the area they inhabit is considered more of a religious quarter then one of commerce like their rivals in Clan Moulder or Clan Skryre.[1a]

Bilious Basilica[]

The Bilious Basilica is the fortress-monastery of Clan Pestilens and their most prominent holding outside the Southlands. Once it served as a factory of some sort, but Clan Pestilens has long since built large walls around the area. Most Skaven not of the Pestilent Brotherhood avoid the area, as the stench is enough to cause even a Skaven nausea.[5a]

Pestilent Monastery[]

Even perfume-balls stuffed with honey can't remove the stench from the Pestilent Monastery. Trespassers have to endure horrible fevers and contagions if they enter this area.[14a]

Located here are the Seven Deadly Poxes, sacred diseases imprisoned within great cauldrons made from Slaan gold. Any member of Clan Pestilens could theoretically request to be embraced by one of the diseases. However, very few survive the ordeal to receive a promotion. Even the Plaguelords of the clan have rarely survived more than four such infections. None have persevered through all seven.[14a]

Clan Skryre District[]

The access to the city's plentiful veins of Warpstone allows the Clan to expand upon the technologies for which they are renowned. The city itself reflects the nature of its Skryre masters, being atypically modern when compared to most other Skaven settlements.[9c]

Clan Skryre maintains one of its largest engineering colleges in Skavenblight, and many of the clan’s inventions are designed and built here. The Grey Seers call Skavenblight their home, and they exert an inordinate amount of control over the entire metropolis.

With the exception of the Great Temple of the Horned Rat, perhaps the most prestigious precincts of Skavenblight are the warpforges and workshops of Clan Skryre. At one time the famed warlock engineers took control of the city, usurping whole quarters of the Under-city for their sorcerous machinery.[1b]

The cathedral-sized halls of the district are lit by glass spheres filled with lightning. Steel-wheeled carts are hauled along metal rails by tireless, smoke-belching iron beasts. Pistons, gears, and cogs the size of houses endlessly churn, generating power for a relentless industry. All other clans resent the space, wealth, and power of Clan Skryre but few would dare to openly defy them.[1b]

As large and impressive as Skavenblight is, its reach is mightier still. Stone-gnawed and chiselled passages extend away from that den of despair, diving deep under the roots of the Black Mountains and extending thousands upon thousands of miles in all directions. So the Grey Seers routinely travel outward, checking all Skaven strongholds and spyposts and bringing their plans for supremacy to the multitudes.[1b]

Trivia[]

Skavenblight is the name given by Tileans to the city,[10a] the Italian name of Skavenblight is Skarogna (misfortune).[13a]

The quote above in the Geography section, "All tunnels lead to Skavenblight," is a reference to the Roman proverb "All roads lead to Rome".

Sources[]

  • 1 Warhammer Armies: Skaven (7th Edition)
    • 1a: pg. 10
    • 1b: pg. 11
  • 2 Warhammer Armies: Skaven (6th Edition)
    • 2a: pg. 33
  • 3 Warhammer Armies: Skaven (4th Edition)
    • 3a: pg. 12
  • 4 Thanquol and Boneripper: Thanquol's Doom (Novel) by C.L. Werner
  • 5: The Black Plague: Wolf of Sigmar (Novel) by C.L. Werner
    • 5a: Ch. 21
  • 6: Total War: Warhammer II (PC Game)
  • 7 Warhammer Armies: Ogre Kingdoms (8th Edition)
  • 8: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Children of the Horned Rat (RPG), pg. 23
  • 9: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Children of the Horned Rat (RPG)
    • 9a: pp. 28-29
    • 9b: pg. 36
    • 9c: pg. 48
  • 10: Warhammer Fantasy Battle: Rulebook (6th Edition)
  • 11: Greyseer (Novel) by C.L. Werner
  • 12: Nagash the Unbroken (Novel) by Mike Lee
  • 13: Warhammer Armies: Dogs of War (5th Edition) (Italian Version)
  • 14: Dead Winter (Novel) by C.L. Werner
  • 15:The End Times: The Rise of the Horned Rat (Novel) by Guy Haley
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