Tehenhauin

"At the time of the three hundredth cycle of this world, the two moons shall unite and summon forth the Rodent God and his evil spawn to deliver plague and pestilence upon the land named Lustria"

—Extract from the Prophecy of Sotek.^[3a]

Tehenhauin is the name of the first and greatest Prophet of the Serpent God, Sotek. It began when Tehenhauin rallied the population of disease-ridden Chaqua, leading them out of that defiled city. Before he left, he claimed two treasures - a gleaming sacrificial blade and the hidden plaques of Chaqua, which proclaimed the coming of the Serpent God. Turning the plaques into a totem, Tehenhauin bore them at the forefront of the massive Skink migration. In this way, a ground swell of momentum built behind Tehenhauin, and placed him at the apex of the new Cult of Sotek. Idolised by his fellow Skinks in a manner previously reserved for Slann Mage-Priests, Tehenhauin prophesied the Serpent God’s coming.^[1a]

Things may have gone ill for Tehenhauin, yet the Skink Priest backed his chittering oratory with bold acts - leading armies of followers to victory after victory over the Skaven that were then rampaging across Lustria. Many thousands of captured ratmen were cruelly sacrificed to Sotek; acts that Tehenhauin promised would bring forth their vengeful god. The appearance of a twin-tailed comet in the skies was taken as proof of his imminent arrival. Upon the field of battle, Tehenhauin attacked in the manner of his twin-tailed deity — forked assaults. A serpent strikes quickly and so too did Tehenhauin, focusing his army’s venomous energy on the enemy’s weak points. As if in answer to his many sacrifices, serpents of all varieties formed a writhing carpet at his feet.^[1a]

After leading his troops to victory at the Mal’liente Swamp, Tehenhauin had grown so popular that the Slann had to consider his wishes. None know Tehenhauin’s ultimate fate, but some say he is still using his powers to hunt the hated vermin. It would seem impossible for a short-lived Skink to attain this length of years, but it is whispered that as a snake sheds its skin and is renewed, so too is Sotek’s Chosen. Since those days, at times of great importance a single red-crested Skink Priest has emerged from the deep jungle, claiming the title of Tehenhauin, the once and future Prophet of Sotek.^[1a]

History

The Skink who would eventually be known as Tehehuain was once a former resident of the Temple-City of Chaqua, during a time, thousands of years ago when the ancestors of Clan Pestilens burrowed their way deep beneath the Great Ocean and found themselves within the continent of Lustria. From here, tropical disease spread amongst their ranks, and in a bid to save their worthless lives, they gave themselves up to their vile god as vessels of his destruction. From this pact, Clan Pestilens emerged out of the darkness and spread a great pestilence across the land. In time, the great city of Chaqua was soon enveloped by this disease, never to be inhabited again.^[2a]

The Forgotten War

With the inevitable destruction of the city, the surviving Skinks of Chaqua were left lost and leaderless. This unique breed of Skinks were notable for having red-crest in their heads, and being of a more war-like nature, similar to their Saurus cousins. It was during this dire time that a leader rose up and aided his brethren in their time of need. Tehenhauin, the self-proclaimed Prophet of Sotek, rallied the other Skinks to his banner, and led a massive host of fanatics and warriors to combat the Pestilent Threat. He declared that the sign of Sotek had appeared in the sky, as predicted by the sacred plaque of Chaqua and demanded that all the Lizardmen cities unite and drive back their common foe. With the plaque placed in a reliquary, the entire population of the Red Crested Skinks deserted the dying city of Chaqua, and began to migrate their massive host ahead of the virulent plague that was spreading quickly across the region. Wherever the Red Crests went, they proclaimed the Prophecy of Sotek and urged the sacrifice of any at all rat-spawn they encountered to provoke their god into this world and ensure the ratmen's total destruction.^[2a]

The vast majority of Lustrian Skinks were swayed by this new growing cult, due to the fact that the Skinks were the most susceptible to the plague, and as a result, were its main victims. Tehenhauin and his Red Crests proliferated the Cult of Sotek, leading their own personal armies to combat the Skaven wherever they found them. This was a period of total war spanning the entire continent of Lustria, with an uncountable number of cities having been relieved from both siege and disease by the Red Host of Tehenhauin. There was no remorse, no mercy in this war, for each side were indiscriminate in their attacks, using every kind of tactic imaginable to ensure the utter destruction of the other race, a war that proved just as cold and merciless as those warriors fighting on either side. In order to fufill the prophecy, the Skinks had to gather an unimaginable number of Skaven onto their holy altars and sacrifice their corrupt bodies for their god to fully manifest into this world. But this effort proved difficult as even their own allies, the Mage-Priest of the other temple-cities had forbidden the bringing of sacrificial victims into the great altar-ziggurats of their own cities, resulting in Sotek's coming being delayed for several more centuries.^[2a]

As for the other Mage-Priests of the other temple-cities, they viewed the prophecy with disdain and ignored it, despite the heavenly signs indicating its truthfulness. Their forbidding of the bringing of rat-captives into the temple-cities had instigated massive unrest by the local Skink population, as they felt that the Mage-Priests cared little for their plight and the sacrifices they endure to bring the prisoners into the city. It was not before long that the Skinks began to conduct their very own ritual to provoke their god into this world and finally end this gruelling war.^[2a]

The Emergence of Sotek

As the grueling war dragged on, and the number of sacrifices began to increase at a very dramatic rate, Sotek, the Serpent God, heard their invocation, and began preparations for his manifestation. Although the coming of Sotek was foretold, and the moment of his coming was heralded by the comet, it was still neccessary for his followers to make him as strong as possible for when he was due to appear. As stated by the Prophecy, Sotek would appear to the masses as an enormous and mighty Serpent of incredible size and power, the swallower of all rodent kind. A serpent of such awesome size and appetite, this God was told to have the ability to swallow the Rat God himself and make him spend a thousand long years being digested. The Rodent God would fall and be crushed within his mighty coils, so said the prophecy itself.^[2a]

In time, Tehenhauin gathered a massive and mighty host of warriors that composed predominately of Skinks, and set a cunning trap for the rat-spawn at the Battle of Gwakmol Crater. The battle raged on for several days, with the Lizardmen host eventually emerging victorious, and with them, came a massive wagon-train of rat-man slaves that numbered in the thousands. They brought the vermin deep into the jungle canopy of the continent, where at an undisclosed location, upon the crumbling ruins of a sacrificial altar to a long-forgotten Lizardman God, the Skaven were sacrificed by the hundreds with each passing hour. The Prophet of Sotek took personal command of the ceremony, and it is said that the river Amaxon ran crimson with the blood of the uncountable thousands of Skaven sacrificed in that horrid place.^[2a]

The Time of Sotek was nigh, for it became clear that the God had finally drunk his fill of Skaven blood that it would drown the Old World in a crimson tide. Within the Skaven Stronghold of Clan Pestilens, the comet had been taken as an omen of another kind by the Plague Monks of Pestilens. A mighty snake infestation appeared out of nowhere in the lower working of the Stronghold, forcing the Skavens up from their tunnels and into the ruins of the city, the serpents proving virtually immune to every single pestilence that the Plague Monks unleashed upon them.^[2a]

The Exodus

After a great many battles, the Skaven armies were pushed back all the way to the ruined city of Quetza, where they were encircled by the combined armies of all the Temple-Cities, gathered to finally rid the world of the Pestilent Threat once and for all. Encircled and isolated, the Plaguelords of Clan Pestilens had but one recourse if they wished to live.^[2a]

Mustering the entire Clan into a single titanic horde, an ocean of rat-spawns was gathered for the coming Exodus, stretching from horizon to horizon, all ready to give up their lives for the safety and ensured survival of their brotherhood. With the command issued, the Plague Lords led their entire Clan in a breakout that smashed through entire Lizardmen armies, making a breach from which the entire horde swept out and made course to open sea. This massive Exodus was a war in itself, as battles raged for hundreds of miles east, hoping to reach the coast, and eventually their salvation.^[2a]

Every step of the way was a massive battle, for the Lizardmen fought with a savage zeal unsurpassed by any before them, for each and every one of them knew that they would never get a better chance to wipe out the rat-spawn from the face of the world once and for all. The final battle was fought upon the vitrified shores of the Fuming Serpent Island, where the Clan began construction of a rotting fleet of ships to sail them towards the Southlands and salvation from the serpent threat. It is said that the mighty Sotek appeared at the height of the fighting, accompanied by a slithering horde of snake spawns. The Snakes and Lizardmen crushed the last of the Skaven forces defending the shores for their comrades to board the ships, but it was too late, for many of the ships were able to flee the scene, and the time of ultimate triumph was finally lost to the Lizardmen host once and for all.^[2a]

But Sotek was not disturbed by this, as the Serpent dove into the sea after the rats, and pursued them across the world all the way towards the Southlands. It is also said that from the Southlands he slithered into the depths of the earth in his relentless pursuit of the Skaven that now lurks there, feeding endlessly on their kins and protecting his people from their menace forever. Such is the myth of Sotek and his ascension to God-hood.^[2a]

Wargear

Blade of the Serpent’s Tongue: This sacrificial dagger was crafted by the most skilled of Chaqua’s Skink artificers and enchanted to drip with deadly venom.^[1a]