"Fast and vicious, you don't want to get caught by them. Still they're not too hard to slay - a good downright blow will kill one of them. You have to be quick, though, or they're past you and gallivanting all over the battlefield."
- —Alphonse, Bretonnian Man-at-Arms.[6]
The Squigs (short for "Squiggly Beasts") are considered by many to be the simplest form of Greenskin life.
Overview
Squigs seems to be extremely simple in terms of their motivations. So far, they have only ever been reliably observed exhibiting two behavioural patterns; eat anything edible that is nearby, then move more-or-less randomly until there is something else to eat within range and once more wander about aimlessly.
A number of bizarre offshoots of Squigs have been seen in various locations within the Old World, though they inevitably favour lightless areas such as caves and underground tunnels. They generally seem adapted to whatever environment they grew up in. Humans unfortunate enough to encounter a Squig generally meet one of the variations of the common Cave Squigs kept by the Night Goblins.
Most Squigs move by launching themselves into great leaps with their powerful legs, then bouncing upwards again as soon as they hit the ground. They seem to be quite shortsighted, presumably on account of their upbringing in the darkness of underground cave systems. Their movements often have no discernible pattern; they will bounce in a random direction in the hopes of landing near another food source.
Squigs are used by Night Goblin tribes as beasts of war, sources of food, mounts[4d], and guards.[5a]
Trivia
- Certain sources and books, an example being the novel "Skarsnik" by Guy Haley, has shed some light into the origins of the Squigs. In that book, it has been heavily implied that Squigs are closely associated with the Greenskin race, hinting that they might even be related to them due to their supposedly shared fungal biology.
Breeds
- Cave Squig - the most common variant of the Squigs.
- Great Cave Squig - a larger variant of the common Cave Squig.
- Colossal Squig - the largest Squig breeds to ever live.
- Squig Gobba - an odd variant of the cave Squig that shoots noxious liquids at its enemy.
- Horned Squig - a Squig which is gifted with a long, sharp horn protruding from its forehead.
- Gas Squig - an odd variant of Squig that spews noxious gases continuously out of its many pores.
- Spiked Squig - another variant of the common Cave Squig that is covered in lethal spikes.
- Grass Squigs - One of the few surface-dwelling Squig species.