The tome, The Loathsome Ratmen and All Their Vile Kin, Altdorf press 2313 IC.
"In the course of my research for this book, I have had occasion to journey to many places. But, of all those, perhaps none gave me greater pleasure than my visit to the Tilean city of Miragliano in the summer of the year 2309. As remarked upon before, it is a city that has long been a bastion against the Ratmen. And, with this in mind, I had come to consult with some of their savants in the hope of gaining greater insight into the Skaven threat. As such, I had expected great things of my visit. But all the same, as my ship docked in Miragliano and I joined the excited crowds of passengers to take my first view of the city before me, I saw a sight then that thrilted and amazed me in equal measure. This sight moved me more than all the fine artworks and sculptures I saw in the course of my month-long stay in the city. A sight that seemed to me at that moment more exquisite a thing of beauty than anything else in the world could be. I saw a Ratman's head on a pike. The reader may be shocked, even appalled. But, I ask you, could there be any more startling testament to the differences in the understanding of the Ratmen between Tilea and the Empire? Coming from a land where the existence of the Ratmen is denied and where my own work is reviled, I found myself instead in a land where the reality of the Ratmen's existence is readily accepted. Moreover, as I learned in the course of my time among the charming Tileans people, they are ever eager to find new allies in the struggle against the menace that has so often befouled the beauty of their city. Further, of all the cultures of the human world, none are more knowledgeable on the subject of the Ratmen than are the Tileans."
- —Wilhelm Leiber[1c]
Wilhelm Leiber was an imperial scholar born into a wealthy family. After hearing a speech from Magnus the Pious, in the city of Grünburg, he decided to join the army. What he saw later changed him completely and years later he authored the infamous tome entitled, The Loathsome Ratmen and all their vile kin where he gathered all the information that he could regarding the Skaven, from the time of the Black Death and the Skaven Wars to the Doom of Tylos.[1a]
In the course of conducting the research. that formed the basis of his book, he travelled to many lands and benefited from the wisdom of a great many sources. Above all else, several members of the Dwarf race, either living as Imperial Dwarf expatriates in the Empire or as residents of Karak Kadrin, without whose knowledge and forbearance and at times physical protection - his book would have never come into being. Similarly, he owed a debt of gratitude to a number of the savants, functionaries, and mercenary captains of the Tilean city-state of Miragliano, who added much to the store of knowledge as to the ways of the "Rattas".[1b]
Many believe Leiber was a maniac, a paranoid fool, whose work has no basis in fact. Some instead think his words are true and study his tome.[1a] These scholars point out that The Loathsome Ratmen and All Their Kin would have opened the world’s eyes had it not been condemned as heresy by the church of Altdorf in 2333 IC. After that Leiber went mad a few months after his book was publicly burned, claiming the Skaven were following him everywhere. He was moved to an asylum but took his own life within a week of his arrival — or at least that is what the asylum reported.[3a]
Recently Wilhelm Von Vaulk, professor of magic, history, and warfare in Altdorf, got word through his back channels that a copy of the book has been discovered, its owner burned, and the tome soon to follow. Von Vaulk wants it swapped with another common book — right under the noses of the witch hunters.[2a][4a]
Notable Citated Persolaties and Sources[]
"Seeking by means of Reason and Learning to diminish the Darkness."
- —The Loathsome Ratmen and All Their Vile Kin, Altdorf press 2313 IC.[1a]
In The Loathsome Ratmen and All Their Vile Kin Wilhelm cited a lot of sources of inspiration. This is a list of some of them:[1b]
- Helmut van Hal - Against the Darkness, or The Record of My Struggles Against Humaniry's Enemies in the Service of Our Lord Sigmar, Armoury of Faith Press, 2098 IC[1b]
- Wilfried Schtutt - The Plague Years, Altdorf Press, 1853 IC
- Johannes Krueger - The Bestiarium, Verennian Press, 1509 IC.[1b]
- Anders Emmerich - The Emmerich Papers, unpublished, compiled circa 2294-2307 IC[1b]
- Roberto Ui - A History of the Tilean Peninsula, Suden Press, 2274 IC[1b]
- Marcelli Verdallo - Forma di Malevola, Trantine Press, 2104 IC
- The Baron Erich von Munkhaasen - The Ratmen Are Among Us!, privately published monograph, 2083 IC.[1b]
- Matthias Ralfs - Monstrous Porrenrs, or The Deluge of Horrors in che Lands of Sigmar, Schwarzflamme Press, 1701 IC.[1b]
- Donatello Verdi - Meldo Marcelli: Una Vita, Torbaran Press, 2025 IC.[1b]
- Viktor Ferenczy - The Burrowers Beneath, publisher unknown, circa 1608 IC.
- Heinrich Bloch - The Diaries of Heinrich Bloch, privately published, 1151 IC
- Reinhard Ascher - Heresies in che Age of the Three Emperors, Altdorf Press, 2273 IC
- Heid mar Voln - Raes, Lice and Man, or the Discontents of Civilisacion, Medis Press, 2262 IC.[1b]
- Niklaas van Meer - In his day as the most celebrated portraitist in the Empire, van Meer’s life was changed forever following an encounter with the Ratmen on the Old Dwarf Road between Averheim and Wurtbad. Barely surviving his life, van Meer became obsessed with the Ratmen from that point on, drawing endless studies from memory of the faces of the creatures he had seen. For all his efforts though, to van Meer’s mind none of his works fully captured the Ratmen’s savagery and menace. Eventually, destitute and shunned by his former patrons, van Meer died in the madhouse, a broken stub of charcoal in his hand and an unfinished sketch before him, struggling to the last to give testament to the horrors he had witnessed.[1b]
- Marco Giannetti - The New Macabrist Marco Giannetti, was a Tilean painter who lived between the 23 and the 24 century IC, some of his works are displayed in the Leitdorf collection, depicting unnamed horrors.[1]
- Other cited persons: Adolphus Dumpf, Spengler, Otkar, Tomas of Wissenburg, Reinhard Ascher, Albrecht of Nuln, De La Poer, Gerical, Emil Darkheim, Tomas Maltus, Sandrevael, Jarod Karo, Jaison of Nuln, Gib of Nuln, Leonardo da Miragliano, Ahmed Ibn Said, Jakob Sudenberg, Hieronymus Bouscus, Nikolai Kimt and more...[1b]
Quotes[]
"There are times when no mere exodus will serve; times when weaker members of the populace must be sheared away, lest the whole falter. Only then does their ruling council turn to the twisted creations of the Moulder and their mindless fighting beasts which will happily consume all those deemed too feeble to advance the Skaven cause."
- —Leiber, The Loathsome Ratmen And All Their Vile Kin.[5a]
Trivia[]
The book The Loathsome Ratmen and All Their Vile Kin was actually printed in a hard-cover limited edition of only 300 copies.
Sources[]
- 1: The Loathsome Ratmen and All Their Vile Kin (Lore Book)
- 2: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Patrons of The Old World II (RPG)
- 2a: pp. 4-6
- 3: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Children of the Horned Rat (RPG)
- 3a: pg. 18
- 4: Vermintide (Novel) by Bruno Lee
- 4a: Ch. 4
- 5: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Old World Bestiary (RPG)
- 5a: pg. 40