Unburdened by the weight of history, the Skaven enshrine no accounts of great deeds, tragedies, or inventions. Some clans keep records, but these are solely hyperbole, excuses or apportioned blame. Thus, this brief outline of the Under-Empire's momentous events has been compiled from Dwarf records and the few remaining Imperial markings not destroyed by espionage. The dates are all recorded in the Imperial Year and many (c) are best guesses, as accurate dating for such an anarchic race is impossible.[1a]
Ancient History
- c-2500-2000 -- The ancient city that later becomes Skavenblight is occupied by men and rapidly built to become the most populated human city in the Old World. The city is known to have traded with many of the wandering Dwarf Clans from the Black Mountains.[1a]
- c-1860 -- Construction of the great temple begins and goes on continuously for at least a century.[1a]
- c-1780 -- The temple is completed and coincides with great flares from Morrslieb. Many meteors are sighted. Within a year the city is overrun by a tide of vermin of unusual size and viciousness.[1a]
- c-1600 -- The Skaven emerge as masters of Skavenblight.[1a]
- -1500 -- Disaster at Skavenblight. The Great Machine of the Seer Order explodes. The Slann, ignorant of the newly emerged race, registered the energy and attributed it solely to their own powerful spells. To this day, they have failed to make any connection. The Great Migration out of Skavenblight begins.[1a]
- -1499 -- Dwarf records from many holds begin to document (and curse) their first sightings of ratmen.[1a]
- -1498 -- The flooded Dwarfhold of Karak Varn comes under full-fledged Skaven attack.[1a]
- c-1450 -- The Lord of Decay known as Malkrit leads Clan Moulder into the Troll Country north of Kislev where they establish their stronghold that becomes Hell Pit. Lord Visktrin is mortally wounded by a Dragon in the Mountains of Mourn but instructs his successor to establish a colony far to the east -- and so what is to become Clan Eshin passes out of knowledge for a time.[1a]
- c-1420 -- At least one Skaven clan is sighted in Araby.[1a]
- -1399 -- Clan Pestilens overruns the ruined city of Quetza and claim it in the name of the Great Horned Rat. They begin a campaign of terror across the jungle.[1a]
- c-1300 -- The War Against Nagash. The Long War of Cripple Peak is begun against the Undead legions.[1a]
- c-1200 -- The treaty of Cripple Peak is marked in blood on Dragonhide and the Council of Thirteen enters into a pact with Nagash, the Great Necromancer.[1a]
- -1197 -- Nagash is slain by Skaven treachery and his bones melted, save for his hand, which, unknown to the Council of Thirteen, crawls away to safety.[1a]
- -701 -- Battle of Karak Eight Peaks. The Book of Grudges records that Miners in first break into a Skaven tunnel. The Dwarfs are shocked to discover the extent of the Skaven burrows beneath them. A terrible and bitterly fought underground war begins.[1a]
- -513 -- The Dwarfs record that Karak Eight Peaks falls as King Lunn orders the last of the survivors of the fierce battle to seal the tombs, armouries, and treasure holds, and break out towards Karaz-a-Karak.[1a]
- c-500 to c-300 -- The Skaven battle the Greenskin hordes for domination of Karak Eight Peaks, or the City of Pillars as it is renamed. The top levels and ruined city are cleared of Orcs and Goblins by around -300.[1a]
- c-250 -- Clan Rictus bribes the Council for exclusive rights to establish a foothold at Crookback Mountain, the underground gateway to the Dark Lands.[1a]
- c-100 -- Nagash returns and Clan Rikek is destroyed.[1a]
From Sigmar's Time Onwards
- 17 -- Three different Imperial records and a tapestry record that, in this year, Sigmar, the man-god of the Empire, destroys an army of ratmen. These accounts have since been lost and the section of the tapestry dealing with this era has been eaten away by pests.[1a]
- c-50 -- Lord Nurglitch leads the majority of Clan Pestilens to the Southlands and establishes new strongholds.[1a]
- c100 -- Clan Pestilens, long forgotten, makes a dramatic return to Skavenblight and starts a civil war. Back in Lustria, the remnants of the clan are destroyed or driven out of Lustria, although several key tunnels and strongholds escape notice.[1a]
- c500 -- Clan Eshin, the long-lost clan led east in the Great Migration, returns from far Cathay having developed and perfected many nefarious skills.[1a]
- c600 -- After consuming many Warlord Clans, devastating the Southlands and killing a Lord of Decay in ritual combat, Clan Pestilens finally place one of their Plaguelords on the Council, thus ending the civil war.[1a]
- 1111 -- The Black Plague strikes the Empire.[1a]
- 1112 to 1124 -- The Man-things War. The Skaven Wars begin in the Empire. Few Imperial documents mention this period, leading many historians to brand it as an elaborate hoax (the kind favoured by university students with too much time on their hands).[1a]
- 1125 -- Warlord Krricht Dwarf-slicer defeats all comers to become the new Warlord of Clan Mors.[1b]
- 1152 -- The Emperor Mandred Rat Slayer is slain by Nartik of Clan Eshin by order of the Council.[1b]
- c1435 -- Sultan Jaffar, a powerful Arabian sorcerer, welds together a coalition of desert tribes (and summons daemonic, it is said) and carves out a sizeable realm. The Skaven spy for the Sultan and murder many rivals in exchange for warpstone.[1b]
- c-1448 -- Jaffar is manipulated into invading Estalia and captures Magritta. This begins the Araby Crusades by the human realms of the Old World, notably Bretonnia and the Empire. Distrust and anarchy are spread wide.[1b]
- 1563 -- The Tilean city of Tobaro is overrun by Skaven breaking in through the ancient Elf-carved tunnels that riddle the cliff.[1b]
- 1565 -- Tobaro is recaptured by a mercenary army mustered by the Prince of Tobaro, reinforced by a contingent of High Elves from Ulthuan.[1b]
- 1786 -- Terror of the Red Pox. The Red Pox breaks out in Bordeleaux in Bretonnia.[1b]
- 1812 -- Bretonnia and northern Tilea are ravaged by Red Pox. Brionne burns to the ground.[1b]
- 1813 -- Skaven armies emerge across Bretonnia, but are soundly beaten by fierce counter-attacks and driven off entirely at the Battle of Remarche by Bretonnian and Wood Elven forces.[1b]
- c1850 -- Uprising. The Skaven Under-Empire is mired in another civil war. The Council of Thirteen is broken and all clans strive for supremacy or simple survival.[1b]
- c2000 -- New Seerlord Kritislik leads Clan Scruten away from the battles in Skavenblight and establishes the major warrens beneath Marienburg.[1b]
- c2150 -- Ikit Claw completes the great Iron Exo-skeleton after his major lab accident.[1b]
Recent History
- 2302 -- The Great Summoning. The Grey Seers order all clans to Skavenblight and dare to summon the Great Horned Rat. The feuding ends as Warlords are terrified into a level of obedience previously unthinkable. Warlords Gnawdwell, Vrisk Ironscratch, Griznekt Man-carver, and Paskrit the Vast join the Council of Thirteen.[1b]
- 2302-2320 -- Terror in Tilea. Many small towns near the Blighted Marshes are razed or disappear altogether.[1b]
- 2321 -- Skaven warships are spotted in the Tilean Sea. Many coastal raids begin at this time. The Dwarfs of Barak Varr report sinking a Skaven fleet.[1b]
- 2335 -- Following a warning from the Elven Mages that protect Lothern, a Tilean vessel is stopped and boarded. The search by the Sea Guard turns into a battle. Rumours persist that several ratmen escaped the ship, leaping overboard and disappearing into the city.[1b]
- 2387 -- Prince Karsten of Waldenhof employs Skaven to undermine the walls of the invincible Castle Siegfried in Sylvania. When refused their warpstone payment, the Skaven steal all the children of Waldenhof.[1b]
- 2473 to present -- The Dwarfs return to Karak Eight Peaks under King Belegar, descendant of King Lunn. They capture several levels and joining the ongoing battles for the upper levels against both Clan Mors and the Night Goblins of the Crooked Moon Tribe.[1b]
- c2480 -- Throt the Unclean returns from the Chaos Wastes with a captured Blindwrym.[1b]
- 2491 -- The deadly artefact known as the Skaven Black Arc is stolen from Skavenblight but recovered at the Battle of the Monastery of La Maisontaal in Bretonnia.[1b]
- 2498 -- The Battle of the Jaws. Tipped off by Skaven spies, Goblin Warlord Skarsnik ambushes a Dwarf army.[1b]
- 2499 -- The Battle of Nuln. Half of the great Empire city is destroyed by invading Skaven and ensuing fires.[1b]
- 2504 -- Sea Lord Aislinn's Dragonship squadron engages a ramshackle fleet near the Shifting Isles. Despite the foe's arcane machines, the Elves triumph. The Skaven corpses that wash up on the north-east coast of Ulthuan are gathered and burnt by the shore patrols.[1b]
- 2513 to present -- Towns and forts along both sides of the Grey Mountains begin to disappear due to Skaven attacks. The Empire and Bretonnia suspect each other. Although tensions are raised between the nations, only border skirmishes have thus far taken place.[1b]
- c2515 -- In the Dark Lands Tretch Craventail begins to carve himself a reputation for greatness.[1b]
- 2518 -- Lord Throt the Unclean and his army from Hell Pit fight Chaos Lord Aelfric Cyenwulf and his barbarian force. Cyenwulf later leads his army the opposite way, preferring to take on the might of Kislev rather than the mutated beasts of Clan Moulder.[1b]
- 2520 -- High Mage Torinubar, Mage Lord of the Gates of Calith, is mysteriously slain. None of the typical signs of Dark Elf outrages can be found.[1b]
- 2521 -- Clan Mors Warlord Queek Headtaker is recalled to the City of Pillars in an attempt to bring an end to the ongoing battles there. Elsewhere the copper mines of Grim-Duraz in the Grey Mountains become the latest Dwarf holdings to fall under Skaven control.[1b]