The Shaper, referred to only as the "hooded man" or the "hooded stranger" by the tale of the The Doom of Kavzar, was probably a member of the ancient race known as the Old Ones. He completed the great central tower of the ancient city of Kavzar, also called Tylos, and in doing so, gave rise to the plague that is the Skaven race.[1a]
History[]
Despite all their great science, the Human and Dwarf builders of the city of Kavzar could not raise the final keystone to the pinnacle of their mighty tower. It was then that the "hooded stranger" who is mentioned in the Kavzar myth appeared among them. The identity of this figure is the most mysterious question surrounding the origin of the Skaven race, and remains unanswered.[1a]
The Skaven, in the very rare times they speak of their origins, refer to this figure as "The Shaper," who is said to be of an "older race" than theirs. This, combined with the rain of warpstone summoned from the sky, points to the most likely conclusion: that The Shaper was one of the Old Ones, and that the first Screaming Bell (known to the Skaven as the "Great Shrieking Bell") hung from the top of the tower of the city -- a device designed to call down meteorites from the heavens themselves.[1a]
Whatever the true identity and purpose of the hooded stranger, the awesome power attributed to the bell is difficult to believe. With its peals, it brought down endless rain, mist and chill, wrapping that once-great city in a prison of darkness and deprivation. Then came the deluge of warpstone, twisting the landscape beneath forever more. The crops were poisoned, the ore corroded, and the Men and Dwarfs annihilated by disease, starvation and murder.[1a]
Even the city itself, its great and glorious architecture, was twisted and perverted by that rain of pure, condensed Chaos, remade into a cyclopean maze as hideous as it once was beautiful. And as the people perished and the town was reborn, so too were created the creatures that would devour those few left alive, and who would forever after call this mockery of a city their home. The ratmen were thus born in slaughter, and their very first act was genocide.[1a]
In the wake of the birth of the Skaven, Kavzar was no more and the subterranean warrens of Skavenblight were born beneath its ruins.[1a]