Skaven
From HammerWiki
Skaven are the rat-men of the Under-Empire, and secret shapers of the world. Skaven live in a phenomenally vast and intricate network of underground tunnels called the Under-Empire, which extends all throughout the Old World and beyond. They hide themselves away from the eyes of surface-dwellers, emerging only to carry out their secret schemes and to gather the massive amounts of warpstone needed to sustain their magic users and the arcane machines of their warlocks. On rare occasions the Skaven clans gather in vast swarm armies to wage sudden war on other races in the name of their evil God; the Horned Rat.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Skaven are usually fairly cunning and always malicious, but prone to cowardice (It is a common insult among Skaven to claim that another has "squirted the musk of fear" - this presumably means that skaven squirt various musks and pheremones depending on their emotional or mental state) - confident only in large numbers (when greatly outnumbering their opponents) and won’t hesitate to stab an opponent (or ally) in the back if the opportunity presents itself. An average Skaven has a lifespan of about 20 years, but higher members of the Skaven society can live much longer, even hundreds of years (possibly due to drugs, magic or warpstone). Male Skaven are workers and warriors, while females are docile and barely intelligent. They spend much of their lives hidden away as breeders producing three to five litters a year, 20 or so young per litter.
By far the most popular item among Skaven is the chaotic and volatile Warpstone. The substance is corrosive to mind and body, highly addictive, and can cause mutation, death, or amplified powers. In fact, Warpstone is so popular that it is often considered to be currency among the rat-men - there is talk of them dealing in "warp-tokens". Skaven speak a language called Queekish, which includes lots of screeching, spoken very rapidly and hence is almost incomprihensible. When Queekish is represented in English, Skaven will often add two synonymous verbs together in a sentence (for the most part, in place of one active verb) - for instance: "The man-things hunt-seek something in the stink-bog". Occasionally this is done with active nouns as well.
Skaven refer to surface cities which they dwell under as the "over-burrow" and humans as "man-things", which they often abduct as infants and raise in slavery using drug addiction to control them - then using them to perform tasks above ground that the Skaven deem to dangerous or that would call too much attention. In the Empire, and likely other nations; the Skaven are a myth to the common populace, and only the educated, or those with power know of their existance.
[edit] Council of Thirteen
The Skaven are ruled by the Council of Thirteen, also known as the Thirteen Lords of Decay, who make decisions for the Skaven race as a whole and keep (relative) peace among the masses. The council is formed of eleven warlords of major Skaven clans (including four members from the four greater clans), a high-ranking and mysterious Grey Seer, and a symbolic seat for the Horned Rat. The closer one is to the Horned Rat (who has incidentally never shown himself at a meeting - it is assumed he watches on) in seating arrangement, the higher the rank, and thus, the more power they wield; Lord Kritislik occupies seat number 1 on the Council, Morskittar seat 12, as they are the two most powerful. The current Council has remained the same for over 200 years.
The current Council members include:
- Seat 1 - Lord Kritislik (Seerlord)
- Seat 2 - Greylord Skrisnik
- Seat 3 - Lord Sneek (Nightlord of Clan Eshin)
- Seat 4 - Lord Paskrit ("Warlord-General of all Skavendom")
- Seat 5 - Lord Kratch Doomclaw (Clan Rictus)
- Seat 6 - Lord Gnawdwell (Clan Mors)
- Seat 7 -
- Seat 8 - Arch Plaguelord Nurglitch VII (Arch-Plaguelord of Clan Pestilens)
- Seat 9 - Lord Verminkin (Packlord of Clan Moulder)
- Seat 10 -
- Seat 11 -
- Seat 12 - Lord Morskittar (Lord-Warlock of Clan Skryre)
- Seat 13 - Reserved for the Horned Rat
[edit] Skaven Clans
Over the many centuries in which the Under-Empire has spread and the rat-men have thrived, Skaven society has become split into many different "clans". The Clans constantly vie for power (particularly seats on the Council of Thirteen) and some say this vicious tendency towards backstabbing and infighting is the only reason the Skaven have not yet conquered all opposition. The four most powerful and notable Clans are:
[edit] Clan Skryre
Currently, the most powerful Clan is Clan Skryre. These Skaven have devoted themselves to the study of magic and blending it with insane science and engineering. Thus far, their engineers have created many deadly machines of which the most populare are: the Ratling Gun (a warpstone-based Gatling gun, an obvious pun on the word "rat"), the Warpfire thrower (a warpstone-based flamethrower), the Jezzail (a extremely long-ranged warpstone rifle which is so large that it has to be carried by two skaven), and the fearsome Warp-Lightning Cannon (Which fires the same kind of spells the skryre Warlocks can cast). Skyre was also responsible for the creation of the infamous "Doom Hemisphere", a device very much like an atomic bomb, which was placed underneath the Imperial city of Middelheim. The intention of the device was to destroy the city and the mountain that it was built on. However, when the time to detonate the device came, it only partially went off. This killed countless Skaven and men who were in the tunnels at the time, and completely changed the tunnels as well, but more or less left the city in tact. The Doom Hemisphere is reputed to still be dormant, waiting for someone to fully activate it and destroy the city.
Skryre maintains its strength by selling their services and war machines to all of the Skaven clans. By doing so, they further weaken and divide their political rivals, and ensure their continued place of honor among the rat-men by becoming indispensable via their vast armada of war machines. Their shining stars are the Warlock Engineers. These creatures harness the winds of magic to devastating effect, by wearing a special harness that allows them to see the ebb and flow of the Winds of Magic. This harness enables the rats to then anticipate and read the winds, allowing for full use in their destructive spells.
[edit] Clan Pestilens
Clan Pestilens is based in the southern part of the world, and has been the cause for both of the two Skaven civil wars. Long ago, a Skaven expedition into Lustria found itself being slowly eaten away by the myriad of diseases in the jungles, as well as the Lizardmen they came into contact with. The expedition was considered lost, but when it resurfaced, it was changed. The rats of the clan had become completely devoted to The Horned Rat in his role as the harbinger of disease and plague. Immediately, in their new religious fervour, they struck out against the Lizardmen who besieged them, wiping out many cities with virulent plagues they had concocted. Pestilens was finally pushed back by the ancient magic of the Slann Mage-Priests and the aid of the Lizardmen god Sotek. The clan were forced to escape to the Southlands. There they pushed north, and across the southern continent, until they once again reached the Old World. Upon their return to Skavenblight, Pestilens was refused a seat on the Council of Thirteen, which sparked the First Skaven Civil War. Eventually, the disease unleashed by Pestilens ravaged so much of the city's population, that the Council agreed they had earned a seat among them.
The rats of Clan Pestilens are immune to most diseases and use the very plagues they worship as deadly biological weapons against the other races, although these can turn and decimate regular Skaven, who do not posess Pestilens immunity. Due to their diseased bulk, their plague monk troops are extremely tough, and deliriously fanatical in combat. They also use rats infected with various foul contagions, and the deadly plague censers, flails laden with burning warpstone, that emit lethal poison gas. Their own leaders are subject to the diseases and includes the Plague Lord and the plague Pontifex.
[edit] Clan Moulder
Clan Moulder is based in a city the far north of Praag, where Kislev crashes hard against the Chaos Wastes. The strange home of Moulder is known as "Hell Pit", which greatly resembles the city of Dis from Dante's Inferno. It consists of nine levels of laboratories, a barracks, a giant colosseum hanging from chains, and a level where their most powerful creatures are kept in pitch darkness. Here, Master Moulders use warpstone, from the huge mines found in the area, in a mad combination of alchemy and genetic engineering to breed all sorts of monstrous beasts for war. To replenish their stock of mutable flesh, the Moulder will strike out into the Chaos Wastes and into Troll Country, to kidnap northmen and Chaos Spawn already mutated by the ruinous powers. They are a very wealthy clan, and rent out their beasts for other Skaven to use in battle. Their most common war-beasts are the wolf-sized Giant Rats and the enormous Rat Ogres, anthropoid vermin four times the size of a man whose massive, filthy claws can take down even a heavily armoured knight.
[edit] Clan Eshin
Clan Eshin is amongst the greatest of the Skaven Clans. Clan Eshin was, for a long period of Skaven history, lost in the lands of Cathay and Nippon to the east of the Old World and the Dark Lands. When they returned to Skavenblight they had mastered the arts of stealth and murder. Young recruits of Eshin are called night runners, formed into large units of lightly equipped skirmishers who attempt to disrupt the enemy. The night runners are famed for their invariably huge casualties, but this is the Eshin way of ensuring only the fastest, smartest, and most vicious remain to become the elite gutter runners, who are well equipped and excellently trained infiltrators who make use of multiple knives, throwing blades and deadly poisons. The greatest Eshin are the assasins, stealthy warriors who are expert fighters trained and equipped to slay the mightiest hero.
[edit] Skaven in WAR
- See Skaven (Bestiary) for Tome of Knowledge Bestiary unlocks.
Skaven have been shown to be an NPC race in WAR with a major role to play in end-game PvE content. In the Empire (human) capital of Altdorf, players may hear rumours of strange Rat-men lurking in the sewers from superstitious commoners, including being able to fight said Rat Men who are hiding in barrels as the City level gets higher. When Altdorf reaches it's maximum level, the sewers under the city are opened for players to explore, including Skaven tunnels underneath them. It is unknown if the player will have any contact with the Skaven before this point. A WAR expansion has been confirmed to be planned, and this has led some to believe that the Skaven may be added as a playable faction, and paired against another faction (also playable) such as the Lizardmen. However this is by no means confirmed.
There is a tower located in Talabeclad, located outside the Chapter 11 Chaos camp that contains Skaven, at the very top of the tower there is a clickable banner that unlocks a tactic that gives a bonus to dodge any attack by a Skaven opponent. They range in level 21-24. There is also a friendly Skaven at the top. In addition, many deep places in the world have Skaven lurking insiduously in them, such as the Altdorf Sewers.
A magical effect, "Curse of the Horned Rat," changes the characters appearance to that of a Skaven. This is an activated effect of the Skaven Skin Cloak, an exclusive in-game item available to those who attended one of Games Workshop's Games Days, in North America, as well as in late 2008 as a special item code that was available with Warhammer online store purchases. .
[edit] References
- Von Staufer & Richard Williams. "Liber Chaotica"
