INTRO - Children of the Horned Rat
The vile and malevolent Skaven gnaw through the roots of the Old World like a malignant cancer. Their Under- Empire spreads ever outward from its sprawling capital of ancient evil, Skavenblight. Seething hordes of vicious rat-men lie waiting to bring the final apocalypse upon the unsuspecting realms of men. Through the ancient and evil Lords of Decay the Horned Rat himself, dark god of the Skaven race, cynically guides his children to their ultimate destiny of complete mastery of the entire world!
A Skaven army is a ragged mass of vicious cut-throats, eager to usurp civilisation and nest in its broken ruins. They are a multitudinous horde with a staggering amount of troops at their disposal, from rank after rank of warriors, such as Clanrats, Stormvermin, or Skavenslaves, to packs of war-beasts like Giant Rats or the hulking Rat Ogres. Specialist troops, such as the Poisoned Wind Globadiers or stealthy death squads of Gutter Runners, march alongside the larger blocks of infantry. Towering over it all are the devilish war machines of a wickedly clever race. Masters of an insane blend of magic and technology, the Skaven can field a number of infernal devices of destruction, such as the infamous Doomwheel or the highly feared war engine of ruination known as the Screaming Bell.
So if you think you can command this ravenous evil, then read on... But be careful, and watch your back, lest you find a rusty knife in it.
LORE OF RUIN
The province of the terrible Grey Seers, the Lore of Ruin allows Skaven to harness the power of Warp energy itself. The older and more practiced the practitioners of the Lore of Ruin become, the longer their horns grow, and often the greater their dependence on Warpstone.
Warp Lightning: The Skaven raises its arms and intones some shrill enchantments, summoning a cursed energy that crackles around him. With a triumphant scream, the sorcerer points its flesh claw forward and casts bolts of greenish-black lightning towards his enemies. This spell has a range of 300 meters. The caster must be careful when summoning the lightning, as there is a chance he can end up hurting himself. It is possible to double the strength of this spell, but that, naturally, makes it harder to cast and control.
Howling Warpgale: The caster gestures twitchingly to the skies and fierce hurricane gales begin to build until it swirls around the entire battlefield. This spell has a range of 300 meters and affects all enemy units in that range. The spell makes it almost impossible to fly, forcing such units to the ground. It also reduces the accuracy of missile weapons. The caster can choose to increase the power of this spell and double its range and the cost of increasing the casting difficulty.
Warpstorm: Clouds roil overhead angrily discharging greenish-black bolts of warp lightning. Calls down bolts within a range of 150 meters. While it usually focuses on enemy units, there is a small chance that a stray bolt (or not so stray given the treacherous nature of the Skaven) will strike a friendly unit.
Death Frenzy: Gesticulating wildly the caster gifts a unit with a rabid and frothing urge to close and strike the foe. The caster fills his allies with a horrible ravenous hunger, causing foam to fleck their mouths and their eyes to roll madly in their head. Will affect a single unit up to 200 meters away. If used on a unit that is already in a frenzied state, they will enter what is known as a 'Death Frenzy', moving extremely fast and hitting hard, but suffering internal damage to their bodies until the spell wears off.
Scorch: The Skaven Sorcerer thrusts his paws into the ground while chittering fiery incantations, summoning a gout of flame to blast out of the earth. Has a range of 300 meters and causes a small burst of flame to come from the earth. This often causes panic among the victims or their allies.
Cracks Call: The sorcerer bows and touches the soil. A rift appears on it, growing and moving forward towards his enemies like a lightning bolt. With the arcane incantation invoked, the Skaven ends by stamping his horrible pinkish rat-like foot, causing the very ground to split asunder. Going in a line from the caster a wide crack in the earth opens, with the length of the crack determined by the magical power put into the spell on casting. All units in its path must leap out of the way or fall to their deaths in the new crevice. This applies to war machines and chariots as well. This spell can be used to cause buildings to collapse in on themselves, killing those inside.
Curse of the Horned Rat: Howling with an obscene pleasure, the Grey Seer trembles while jumping back and forth, summoning a pestilent darkness which soon starts to spin around him. The Seer points towards his foe as dark shadows surround them. With a sickening lurch the fabric of reality is torn by the twisting power of the Great Horned One. Under the cloak of shadows it can be seen how his victim's shape contorts, transforming into shrunken rat figures. Has a range of 300 meters and can turn any unit into a Clanrat who will serve the Grey Seer. While many die due to the transformation process or are otherwise killed by horrified comrades, many go on to slay their former allies, now nothing more then new children of the Horned Rat. Against this kind of spell their is no armor or barrier powerful enough to save you against the twisting power of the Skaven God.
LORE Of PLAGUE
The Lore of Plague is a foul magical technique. Specializing in matters of disease and decay, this lore is repellent and thoroughly evil, designed to spread sorrow and death in enemies.
Pestilent Breath: Uttering horrible phrases the Skaven Sorcerer belches forth an impossibly foul cloud. This breath attack can be used in close range or up to several meters out. Where it touches it burns and festers the skin. The strength of the spell can be increased, but the casting difficulty goes up as well.
Bless With Filth: A foul mist wraps around the weapons of a nearby unit and the weapons begin to drip with toxic filth. An augment spell with a range of 200 meters. A unit targeted by this spell gets poisoned attacks until the caster uses another spell. Weapons that were already poisoned will double in toxicity. The caster can choose to double the range of this spell with greater difficulty.
Weeping World Sores: At the caster's wretched word, the world itself begins to bubble and boil with toxic pus. Has a range of up to 300 meters. All units within an 18 meter radius of where the spell is cast suffer damage (bypassing all armor) as the spell takes effect. They break out in boils and sores, their muscles degrade and those that don't die are easy targets for the Skaven. The spells range can be increased to 1 Kilometer with more effort.
Vermintide: The caster summons a mass of voracious rats to swarm over and attack his foes. The caster invokes and many rats answer the call…The caster basically sends a wave of rats up to 24 meters in a straight line from the caster before the rats disperse. All units in that path will be dragged down from the sheer weight of the rats, which will quickly try to devour them.
Wither: Chanting passages from the Liber Bubonicus, the Wizard casts a spell of wasting, shrinking sickness. While not necessarily deadly on its own (unless the target was already severely injured), this spell does drastically lower the durability of the affected unit. This spell has a range of 150 meters, but can be increased to 300 with increased effort.
Cloud of Corruption: The caster releases a stinking blast of diseased fury. It is a direct damage spell that affects all units (friend or foe) within a a range of 200 meters. Each unit that is affected suffers massive damage as illness ravages their body.
Plague: The caster unleashes a disease from the Book of Woe. Has a range of 300 meters and may be cast in CQC. Each member of a targeted unit will have to struggle to avoid being affected by the plague (which depends on the individual's toughness, durability, etc.). This spell bypasses armor. If cast in CQC it may end up affecting friendly units. What makes this spell so deadly is that after it affects all members of a targeted unit, it can be passed on to a different unit up to 200 meters away. This plague can spread and spread and spread until either the caster is killed, ends the spell themselves, or the plague runs out of people to kill.
LORE OF STEALTH
Learned from the sorcerers of the distant east, the Lore of Stealth is used by the ever rare Eshin Sorcerer. These spells are designed to augment the stealth, speed, and strength of the Clan's attack forces, and none are quite sure whether Clan Eshin Skaven's legendary skills have ever been completely mundane. Clan Eshin guards the secrets of this art to ensure that none of the rival Clans learn the answer.
Skitterleap: With a "Bamf!" the Skaven Sorcerer disappears in a puff of sulfurous smoke to reappear elsewhere on the battlefield. Has a range of 150 meters and allows the target (must be a friendly unit) to be teleported anywhere on the battlefield.
Armor of Darkness: The sorcerer solidifies the shadows around his body. In addition to making him harder to see, this shadow armor also protects him from harm. May be cast on the sorcerer himself, or on a unit within 150 meters of himself.
Warp Stars: The sorcerer conjures up poisoned warp stars and flings them at the enemy. Has a range of 200 meters.
Black Whirlwind: The sorcerer summons a putrid whirlwind of vile smoke and stinging ashes. The whirlwind can be summoned anywhere up to 300 meters from the sorcerer. After it is summoned, the whirlwind will move in a random direction for up to six meters before dissipating.
Stickypaws: The sorcerer grants his allies the ability to walk or crawl upon walls and terrain with ease. Has a range of 200 meters. The spell lasts until the Sorcerer casts another spell.
Swiftscamper: The sorcerer grants his allies the ability move at an increased rate. Has a range of 200 meters and doubles movement speed. The spell lasts until the Sorcerer casts another spell.
RECON
There are many ways the Skaven can gain information on their enemy. Grey Seers and Verminlords can use magic to scry on the enemy, with Grey Seers also possessing rats and looking through their eyes. A less advanced version of that is to send in rats, have them look around, then return to their Skaven masters and convey what they've seen. Clan Eshin has incredibly skilled spies and assassins who can attempt to infiltrate enemy strongholds and gather information or sabotage potential foes. Clan Pestilens is likely to capture whoever they can get their paws on and torture the information out of them. Clan Skyre has a variety of telescopes and other scrying machines to spy on the enemy, and could build more. Skaven may also deal with the seedy underbelly found in any society or army: lying or bribing for the necessary information.
PRIMARY UNITS:
Mobility: 5
Training: 1-2
Max Range: Melee
Preferred Range: Melee
The bulk of most Skaven armies are formed of Clanrats - a vast and verminous horde of ratmen that make up the warrior class. These Skaven belong to any one of thousands of clans scattered throughout the underground burrows, strongholds, and bursting cavern-cities that make up the Under-Empire. Of all the teeming masses, only the worker dregs, the shiftless Skavenslaves, are more numerous than the Clanrats. Clanrats are slightly smaller than man-sized, standing four to five feet high. They range between lithe and scrawny and are possessed of a constant energy, most commonly seen in a nervous twitching of their hairless, worm-like tails.
Clanrat warriors may not have to contend with malfunctioning equipment and long spirit-crushing labor, but they are the front ranks of the Skaven host. It is these warriors who are commanded (from the rear, of course) to blunder through the shadowy byways into Human cities, boiling up to tear apart the weaker races. Shamefully, they are also just as likely to die as sacrifices or decoys as they are as warriors, so long as their deaths fulfill the needs of mad plans hatched by the Warlords or Grey Seers.
When a Warlord gathers his might for war the Clanrats are front and center, occupying a key place in the battleline. They form up into vast chittering hordes to overwhelm a foe with their weight of numbers and the fury of their attack in a terrifying avalanche of insane rat-warriors.
Offense: Claws & Teeth (Always). Other then that what they have depends on the Clanrat. They may have a sword, a dagger, a jagged piece of wood. Warlords don't tend to hand out good weapons to Clanrats, so what they do have they've stolen from someone else, and these tools need not necessarily be in good shape.
Defense: Scraps of skin or leather (though just as likely to have none at all). They may have stolen some armor from a corpse. The lucky ones may even get their hands on a shield.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: The Skaven embody the adage "he who runs away lives to fight another day!". If they even begin to suspect that the battle is turning against them, they are apt to flee for their lives as quickly as possible.
-Strength in Numbers: Skaven are not brave by nature, but do take courage from being in large packs of their own kind. A single Clanrat is not a fearsome opponent. A lone warrior will lack any degree of discipline or determination and is likely to skulk in the shadows, afraid to go forward, too cautious to go backwards. Unless driven by black hunger, a single Clanrat will only attack something that is visibly weakened or crippled, preferring even then to attack unseen from behind. When banded together in a large pack, however, Skaven bolster each others' confidence and fuel their feral ferocity to a highly aggressive level. This allows the individually cowardly ratmen to form massive units that will recklessly hurl themselves into a fray against even obviously superior troops.
-Heart of the Under-Empire: Whether working in the great and awful factories of the Under-Empire or serving on the front lines of a strike Force to invade a town or even city, Clanrats are the heart of Skaven society. By far the most populous and varied, Clanrats serve in a variety of roles, from roiling alongside the Skaven's slaves to serving as spies for a Grey Seer or as Foot soldiers in a Clan Warlord's horde.
-Hierarchy: Like all Skaven, Clanrats are hierarchical bullies that will go out of their way to kick, maim, and otherwise keep down any beneath their own rank, in their case the lowly Skavenslaves. Similarly, Clanrats will fawn over and prostrate themselves before anyone else - in their case, everyone but Skavenslaves. In larger Skaven strongholds many clans co-exist in a constant power struggle - and most Clanrats will know (and spend an inordinate amount of time dwelling upon) which clans Clawleaders or Chieftains are on the decline, and therefore vulnerable.
-After the adrenaline-burst of melee Clanrats need to feed or suffer the unbearable pangs of the Black Hunger. Immediately following any combat the ratmen scour the battlefield, devouring the dead and injured friend and foe alike.
Mobility: 5
Training: 0-1
Max Range: Slings / Thrown Stones
Preferred Range: Ideally far away from combat!
The Under-Empire is run by slave labor, and without slaves, Skaven society would collapse. Skavenslaves perform all menial tasks, including mining, tunneling, and food production. In lean times, they themselves become the food. The majority of slaves are Skaven born into bondage, the lowest class of a hierarchical society. Their ranks swell as rival clans are captured during internecine wars. At times even non-Skaven become slaves, although few other races last long under the whips of the ratmen overseers
Skavenslave regiments are made up of the dregs of Skaven society, slaves too unskilled or stupid to be put to better use in mines and forges. In warfare Skavenslaves are used en masse to absorb missile fire and to overwhelm the foe with numbers and demoralize the foe by increasing the apparent size of a Skaven horde. A common Warlord tactic is to whip Skavenslaves to the fore of an assault. Many are butchered, but the loss is acceptable if the slaves bear the brunt of incoming arrows or tire the foe for the next attack wave. They are expendable, and as such are often used in suicidal battlefield maneuvers or sent first as shock troops to disrupt the enemy lines and cause messy diversions. The best Skavenslaves will even pull down and tear to pieces a few of the adversaries, although this is considered a bonus. Some Skavenslaves use slings to inflict damage from afar, while others are lucky enough to have scrounged spears or shields to aid them in battle. Few slaves survive for long, but those who do gain a small amount of legitimacy as Pawleaders ("leaders" of Skavenslave regiments)
Offense: Some use slings while others have weapons they've scavenged. Typically the same things you'd see a Clanrat using, but in MUCH WORSE condition.
Defense: None, unless they've gotten their paws on a shield, which is fairly rare.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-Expendable: All Skaven (except other Skavenslaves) care less then nothing for the lives of the slaves. Seeing them get slaughtered is to be expected, and does not dampen Skaven morale.
-Run-run, flee-flee!: Skavenslaves are much more likely to break and flee then their non-slave counterparts.
-Cornered Rats: Desperate Skavenslaves can be vicious. It is not unheard of for a Skavenslave to break from combat and attempt to flee through other ranks (friend or foe), clawing and biting at anything in their way.
-The life of a Skavenslave is cruel, but mercifully short. Food is so rare that cannibalism is the way of life and each day is a battle for survival. A slave with the slightest injury - a limp or disease-swollen eye - is hungrily marked by his pack. These wretched creatures attempt to hide such maladies, but the keen Skaven sense of smell cannot be fooled. The crippled are soon devoured as the ravenous horde turns upon itself.
-It is not unheard of for Skavenslaves to survive a battle, although this is inconvenient for overpopulated lairs. In desperate times the boldest of Skavenslaves may be granted a chance to become Clanrats. Slaves who break in battle, however, are shown no mercy. Those not slain by the enemy are trampled underfoot by the oncoming attack waves of their own side. It is commonly said that the most dangerous Skavenslave is one that is running, for he may turn to fight at any time.
Mobility: 5
Training: 1-2
Max Range: Melee
Preferred Range: Melee
To all reasonable creatures (and even other Skaven) the Plague Monks are a horror to the senses. Plague Monks are instantly recognizable by their disheveled robes; soiled shrouds which partially cover the weeping sores, bony growths and fluid-filled blisters that mark their scarred flesh. The thick cowls and rotting bandages cannot hide the sickeningly sweet smell of putrefaction, which seems to hover visibly in the air, and it is this stench that attracts the swarms of buzzing flies that accompany the loathsome acolytes. Fully in the thrall of the perverse teachings of the Plague Priests, these wretched Skaven are filthy decrepit things, often crawling with vermin and infected with some awful rotting disease. Most Plague Monks succumb to their afflictions before ever facing their enemies in battle.
As the foul brethren march forward towards an enemy battleline, their chanting picks up its pace and the Plague Monks seem to incite themselves into a terrible rage. In combat Plague Monks hurl themselves into the fray with fanatical ferocity, eager to bring death and destruction to their foes. It is easy to discount their abilities, given their sicknesses, yet it seems that they find solace in their constant pain. With bulging eyes and foaming mouths, the Plague Monks seem possessed of an unnatural and unholy fervor. They relentlessly attack with filth-encrusted blades, iron-tipped staves, or even their needle-sharp teeth. A Plague Monk's exposure to pestilence has rendered its toughened, boil-ridden skin immune to pain. Mundane discomforts like severed limbs and opened bellies cause them no more than passing discomfort. The ability to shrug off crippling injury combined with their near-hysterical zealotism means that the only reliable way of stopping a Plague Monk attack is to wholly dismember the disease-ridden Skaven.
Offense: Teeth, Claws, Sword, Daggers, Iron-Staves, Spears. Due to the filth that accrues around them, wounds from a Plague Monk have the potential to become infected with something nasty.
Defense: Immune to pain, only total dismemberment will put them down for good.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-Plague Monks (and Clan Pestilens in general) are much more united then other Skaven in their purpose. Thus, there is typically less infighting and betrayal then found in other tribes.
-Plague Monks form the bulk of Clan Pestilens' troops. When Plague Monks gather, their squeaky chanting can be heard as they recite from the foul Book of Woe, endlessly repeating the Liturgus Infectus, or the Rites Infection. If they are going to war, the Plague Monks march under one of their Clan Pestilens banners - often a half-rotted carcass hanging from a banner pole bearing unimaginably twisted visions rendered in pigments distilled from blood and warpstone.
-Dream Big: The Plague Monks of Clan Pestilens are zealots utterly dedicated to the spread of corruption and decay in the name of the Great Horned Rat. They are the initiates of infection and disciples of disease, with numerous agents scattered across the cities of the Old World. Hidden away in their underground strongholds the Plague Monks cultivate deadly diseases in bubbling vats filled with warpstone, carcasses and fetid offal. Each new plague they create is unleashed by infected rats released into city sewers by Clan Eshin, bringing great misery and hardship upon the human inhabitants. These devout disciples of disease are unique among Skaven society in that they are fanatically committed to their clan and its purpose of creating the ultimate disease. Once this plague devastates all surface-dwellers, the Skaven can rise up in the ruins and claim their proper inheritance - nothing short of the entirety of the world. The Great Horned Rat will know who brought his children to their rightful and preordained ascendancy and Clan Pestilens will sit over all and rule supreme.
LINEBREAKERS:
Mobility: 5
Training: 5
Max Range: Melee
Preferred Range: Melee
The Stormvermin are the fighting elite of the Skaven Warlord clans. They are distinguishable from their scrawnier litter-mates - often standing a full head taller with thick muscular necks and a powerful build. Most Stormvermin are marked at birth, as their size and darker fur color is recognizable. As the largest and most aggressive, young Stormvermin-to-be typically outfight the rest of their litter for precious food. If the young warriors are particularly strong, the weakest of their litter actually become the food. Should they survive the traumatic politics and backstabbing as their litter-pack jockey for position, the strongest Skaven will be assigned to regiments of Stormvermin.
Like the Grey Seers, their future is determined at the time of their birth, for only Skaven with black fur are relegated to the ranks of the Stormvermin. As such, there is a certain camaraderie shared by all Stormvermin that is lacking in other Skaven groups. Of course, this camaraderie will only stretch so far. Stormvermin are constantly on the lookout for any weakness in their peers, and those who show such flaws will be mercilessly cut down by their brothers.
Stormvermin regiments are outfitted with the best gear of war in the clan's armory and their duties may include forming a retinue or bodyguard for anyone from a minor Chieftain to the mighty ruling Clan Warlord himself. This puts the Stormvermin at the vanguard of the army where they can ensure continued preferential treatment by fighting with ferocity and zeal for their leaders.
Offense: The most common weapon is the Glaive or the Halberd. However, Stormvermin are also among the first to take their pick of the treasure after a battle, so it is not uncommon to see them sporting a much nicer weapon they yanked from someone's cold dead hands (which they then ate).
Defense: Heavy Armor (Plate) and a Shield (sometimes)
Special: Variant: Fangleaders: Position in the ranks of the Stormvermin is achieved through a series of duels, though it occasionally falls on the last remaining survivor of a unit to take command. These officers, known as Fangleaders, are some of the deadliest Stormvermin of all. They are aggressive by nature and are given to overt displays of prowess in order to intimidate those around them.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-Most Warlord clans maintain the unwritten law that the first feed after a battle belongs to the Stormvermin. Those who dare to feast before their proper station are often openly attacked by the elite Skaven warriors, who take any opportunity to violently demonstrate their favored status. As further reward, many Stormvermin regiments are assigned their own legions of Skavenslaves. These lackeys see to the comfort and needs of their masters. On the battlefield the Stormvermin normally form the bodyguard of Warlords and Grey Seers.
-For political purposes and as a display of might Stormvermin regiments will sometimes leave their clan. This is often when a Grey Seer purchases or "requisitions" help from a Warlord clan, but could be sojourns at far away rival strong points or dangerous spots along the Under-way. It is not unheard of for Warlord clans to sell the service of their elite warriors. Clan Rictus, for instance, is especially famous for breeding great numbers of jet-black Stormvermin.
-The Treacherous Progression: The progression from Stormvermin to Fangleader to Chieftain to Warlord is common, although not as traditional as betrayal. Stormvermin are linked to a clan leader, serving as his bodyguard and the enforcers of his will. Opposition to a leader is regularly met with butchery and an armored cadre of Stormvermin is ideal to do such work. To ensure their strong-arm regiments remain loyal cunning leaders lavish attention, praise and, most importantly, gifts upon 'their' Stormvermin. Food, Skavenslaves (often the same thing) and breeding rights are popular motivators. Particular ferocity, anticipating treachery, or eating the existing Fangleader are the standard ways of rising from the Stormvermin ranks. Once established, a Fangleader that can keep his leader safe while savagely carrying out commands can virtually name his price. As treachery abounds, bribing a Fangleader is a common tactic. Amidst the double and triple crossings, baseless pacts, and false promises, a Fangleader is quickly immersed in the only training that can forge a blackhearted Chieftain, wicked and wily in the ways of both battle and intrigue. Few Chieftains survive without the support of a core of fighters, so when (almost invariably) a Fangleader makes his move to replace a Chieftain, he will assure the support of at least some Stormvermin. A top lieutenant takes the vacated role of Fangleader and so the cyclical dynamics of power shift. A common and astute phrase amidst Warlord clans is "A Chieftain is only as big as his Stormvermin".
Mobility: 5
Training: 2
Max Range: Several meters around them (Poison Fog)
Preferred Range: Melee
One of the highest honors accorded to Clan Pestilens is the singular right of carrying a plague censer - the deadliest weapon in the Clan Pestilens armory - carrying the foulest disease into the heart of the enemy ranks. Plague Censers are special incense burners carried by the Plague Monks of Clan Pestilens. These weapons consist of a hollow spiked metal ball attached to a long chain. In an unholy ritual, a Plague Priest reads aloud disturbing and disease-ridden passages from the Book of Woe while a shard of warpstone is placed inside the cruelly spiked globe. A ladle's worth of vile contagions is added, poured over the warpstone itself. Hellish runes glow as the devil's concoction immediately begins a slow bubble, sending tendrils of greenish vapors wafting out from the many holes in the ornate iron orb. The plague infested shard of warpstone is burned inside the ball so that it emits a foul bubonic vapor as the censer is swung. Anyone who inhales the fumes may he overcome by a deadly and painful plague. Contact with the haze of noxious fumes emitted from a gently swaying censer will cause flesh exposed to the vapor to quickly erupt into sores and fluid-filled blisters.
As Plague Monks march into battle they are preceded by a swarm of Plague Censer Bearers who pollute the air with their swinging censers to the chanted accompaniment of the Liturgus Infecticus. As they near the enemy battle line, the foaming and fanatical Plague Censer Bearers increase the arc of their swings, leaving contrails in encircling rings as they dash towards the foe. When the enemy is in sight they charge, swinging their heavy censers with wild abandon, spreading woe and suffering to all he strikes. When swung in the heat of battle the censer emits vast billowing green clouds. Exposure to this plague fog causes horrific damage as lungs instantly fill with virulent fluid and vital organs putrefy. It would take a creature absolutely devoid of common sense to be anywhere near such a weapon, much less wield it in battle.
Offense: The Plague Censer. See Description. The warpstone inside it allows the poison to effect ethereal creatures. If you somehow survive the poison cloud, the Censer itself is rather heavy and covered in spikes.
Defense: Same as Plague Monk
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-The baleful fumes of the censers seem to fill the demented brethren with unnatural rage.
-The "honor" of wielding the Censer is a death sentence, as the Bearer is always exposed to the fumes. The cloud of poisonous gas that enshrouds them as they fight often proves as fatal to the Censer Bearers themselves as to their enemies. However, this is no deterrent to these lunatics who scream prayers of thanks to the Horned Rat even as they die with their lungs filled with a foul mixture of blood and pus or even impaling themselves with their own ball and chain. It matters not, fueled by their own mind-warping fog, their ecstatic ratminds are only focused on the duty at hand - to unleash their fury and maul their hated foes. To die in the service of the Horned Rat swinging a smoldering plague censer with righteous zeal, is compensation enough for these maddened cultists.
Mobility: 6
Training: 3
Max Range: Melee
Preferred Range: Melee
The hulking monstrosities known as Rat Ogres are one of the most successful of Clan Moulder's numberless creations. The Master Moulders have found the perfect blend of death-dealing creature through a mixture of foul crossbreeding and dark sorcerous surgery in their artificial making, many beasts are literally stitched together, the impossible feat accomplished through the fusing powers of a powerful warpstone-derived balm, the infamous skalm. The Rat Ogre combines the speed and ferocity of a Skaven with the sheer brawn of an Ogre. Somehow the desperate hunger of both races has been magnified as well - for the Rat Ogre is truly a ravenous creature, forever seeking to gorge its fill on fresh meat. Many of them may indeed have Ogre blood in their long and varied ancestry, though none but the eldest Master Mutators could say. They generally appear to be massively over-muscled Skaven standing some ten feet tall at the shoulder, though many of them are grossly misshapen, and may have grafts, both metal and flesh, fused to their bodies.
Each Rat Ogre is subjected to a long series of experiments intended to encourage traits that their creators favor, such as an overwhelming blood-lust and mindless ferocity. Only the strongest Rat Ogres survive the terrible conditions that the Packmasters impose upon them from birth, forcing them to compete for food and shelter. The ones that survive to maturity are little more than a mass of sinewy muscles and razor sharp claws, moved only by their strong instinct to kill and completely dependent on the Packmasters for guidance. Each Rat Ogre receives training, of a sort, which involves constant deadly duels with Clan Moulder's other foul creations. Therein they learn to follow the guidance of their Packmasters and become used to the rigors of violent combat.
In battle a Rat Ogre pack is horrifying to behold. The Rat Ogres become wholly consumed by an insatiable instinct to kill, rip, and tear. A Rat Ogre pack moves with great speed, their misshapen bodies made entirely of straining, bulging muscles, teeth, and claws. The snarling rage of a Rat Ogre pack colliding with an enemy unit resounds across a battlefield, as the towering creatures splinter shields, snap bones, and relentlessly pound any and all opposition. After battle, their Packmasters must move quickly to carefully separate and chain each near-mindless brute to keep it from tearing others or even itself asunder. All Rat Ogres bear upon their tortured bodies countless scars not only from their own artificial making, but also numerous battles, the Packmaster's cruel lash, the savage attentions of the rest of the pack and, most disturbingly of all, signs of their own self-destruction. At the height of their rabid fury, Rat Ogres are known to rip and even devour hunks of their own flesh - as if they seek to tear apart what Clan Moulder has so unnaturally stitched together.
Offense: Massive fangs and claws, though some Moulders will replace a hand with a blade or crude hammer. They are strong enough to tear even heavily armored opponents to shreds.
Defense: Dense muscle, Armor plates hammered into random parts of their skin.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats (Applies only to the Packmaster guiding them)
-In Need of Guidance: While the Moulder clan certainly succeeded in creating deadly war beasts, Rat Ogres are arguably flawed creatures, bereft of reason and nearly devoid of sanity. Their unlikely genesis has left them utterly dependent upon their creators for any kind of mental faculty and they are literally incapable of functioning without their master's direction. Their small brains are devoted entirely to fighting and bloodshed so in battle units of Rat Ogres are controlled by Clan Moulder Packmasters who direct the monsters and unleash their devastating charges when the time is ripe. Rat Ogres have been systematically bred for a single purpose: fighting at the command of a Clan Moulder handler. Without a clear set of orders, or a commanding Skaven to lead them, they will mill about uncertainly. Rat Ogres will attack and attempt to kill anything that harms them, but their behavior otherwise is highly erratic if they've lost their handler or finished following their last order. Without a handler to direct their efforts, they operate entirely on instinct, which varies radically from creature to creature. Whereas one may proceed to tear into nearby foes another may begin to ceaselessly drool, or lay down for a nap. Whatever shreds of intelligence that any given Rat Ogre managed to retain from birth will most certainly have been destroyed by the endless tests that the Moulder perform on the beasts.
Mobility: 8
Training: 3
Max Range: Artillery (Lightning Bolt!)
Preferred Range: Steamrolling Over You!
Few devices sum up the blend of science and sorcery, the sheer inhuman ingenuity of the Skaven, than the infernal war engine known as the Doomwheel. At first sight the Doomwheel might seem an oddity, perhaps even comical to opponents that have not faced one before. The Dwarfs, who have suffered many wars against the Skaven, know full well the Doomwheel's measure and will direct every war machine at their disposal to blast the deadly wheel apart before it can churn close enough to pulverize the Dwarf battlelines. Indeed, Dwarf cannons will allow themselves to be overrun by the foe, willingly sacrificing themselves for their hold, in order to get off a single shot at the infernal Skaven device.
The design is so simple and yet so complex, so utterly Skaven in its inception that it is well beyond the keen of even the top minds of the Imperial School of Engineers in Nuln to comprehend. The rats scampering around inside the Doomwheel's enormous tread mills provide the primary motive power. This, in turn, sparks the warpstone generator, which, if all goes well, powers bolts of lethal warp lightning. If the green or purplish bolts that arc out from the warp-conduits do not slay the foe, then it will be up to the great iron-reinforced wheel to crush all who dare to stand before its creaking but mighty track. Sitting inside the mighty death-dealing artifice of destruction puffs the Warlock Engineer so full of bold reassurance that the otherwise dubious courage of his race is, at least partially, offset. Doubtlessly the wafting fumes from the warpstone generator bolster the Engineer's confidence as well.
When it works correctly, the Doomwheel whirs quickly across the battlefield, moving more swiftly than galloping horses. If it is going exceptionally well, the Warlock Engineer will even steer the great wheel towards the enemy. This is ideal, as the powerful warp lightning bolts fire out, blasting the nearest thing to shriveled blackness, so it is best to be nearer the foe. The Warlock Engineer who pilots the Doomwheel has much to attend to, chiefly ensuring that the warpstone generator isn't overloading or goading the rat propulsion via shock-prod. Sometimes steering is one of the duties that does not take priority. It is not unusual to see one of the enormous wheels plowing back into its own lines, but random, cruel, and undeserved death is not something new for Skaven. The power to break enemy battle-lines or destroy large monsters more than compensates for the odd squashed Clanrat or Skavenslave. Still, wise commanders deploy Doomwheels as far away from themselves as is possible.
Offense: The movement of the wheel powers a warpstone generator, which can fire off bolts of magical lightning! If that doesn't work, this massive machine can steamroll right over whatever is in front of it!
Defense: Heavy Armor Plating. However, heavy impact hits, while they may not destroy it, could cause the machine to loose control and veer off in an unpredictable direction.
Additional Factors:
-Rat Powered?: The rats inside the wheel are fed stimulant drugs before the battle and driven into an insane frenzy by the lightning flashing and sparking around them. As they tumble over each other the wheel rumbles forward, but the Doomwheel's speed is impossible to control accurately. Sometimes it will roll along more swiftly than a galloping horse, at other times it will virtually halt because the rats are temporarily exhausted. Though it can be said that the warpstone reactor is somewhat unstable and the speed generated by the rats is rather erratic a series of tests using slave-units as targets has yielded impressive results.
-Technical Problems, Fix Later: Of course there are still teething problems that make the Doomwheel dangerously haphazard. These sorts of petty concerns, however, do not overly worry the Warlock Engineers. On the whole they would rather be cobbling together a brand new type of killing machine, than fine-tuning one that more or less works most of the time. For instance, the rat propulsion system of the Doomwheel might, on occasion, produce results that are between disappointing and deeply lethargic. To a Warlock Engineer, whose mind thinks in gears and cogs combined with eldritch incantations, such flaws are exasperating. Despite being fed stimulants and bathed in the unnatural glow of raw warpstone, the rats seem incapable of reliable service. An Engineer will quickly conclude the problem is just the beasts being willful. More problematic is that sometimes the warp-generator leeks, poisoning the driver, or worse causing the machine to explode and take out everything around it.
-As the driver is often to distracted making sure the machine works properly, and the rats driving it are blitzed out of their minds, the Doomwheel is immune to psychological manipulations.
-The movement of the Doomwheel can be random and erratic, so commanders often make sure to move it far away from them.
RAPID RELIEF:
Mobility: 5
Training: 1
Max Range: Biting
Preferred Range: Biting
The cess-filled streets of the human cities of the Old world teem with life, much of which isn't human. Rats - vermin of all sizes - have grown bold in their numbers. They infest rot-filled timbers, tunneling nests into thatch, tirelessly gnawing through wattle and daub. They have grown brazen enough to be seen scurrying in the gutters and alleyways of main streets even under the bright light of day. By night, the rats are legion, their eyes glowing red in the passing flicker of the night watch's lanterns. The ancient sewers that drain the cities' filth are breeding pits that swarm with rats beyond number. Some of the gnawed skeletons that are piled amidst the refuse are doubtlessly the sad remains of the dispossessed, but the sewerjacks sent to repair the drains think it is more than that. It is whispered that citizens of the poorest districts go missing in the night, perhaps falling victim to the insatiable hunger that lives beneath the city?
Rat Swarms are colonies of Rats that have formed a sort of mobile community. Rats' natural instincts are to congregate, and these are further trained to act and move as one, having been bonded through breeding, recognition of scent, and the application of drugs and other stimuli. Existing apart from its swarm is as unnatural for one of these Rats as standing in a fire or breathing water. A skilled Packmaster can keep these swarms of vermin together as a single, directed group, even on the battlefield, and can direct them as he wills.
Numbering in the thousands, these rats are a mix of brown, black, and white rats. The sight of a Rat Swarm is enough to make any commoner and none too few warriors turn tail and flee. Countless numbers of ravenous rats pose a dire threat for any enemy unlucky enough to cross their path.
Offense: Fangs and claws. Though a single rat may not be worth much, in their thousands they can easily drag a man-sized target to the ground and devour him.
Defense: None
Additional Factors:
-Rat Swarms will appear naturally wherever the Skaven go. Rats seem supernaturally drawn to their larger cousins. Whether this living carpet of vermin comes in answer to some sorcerous calling or to pay homage to the Great Horned One, none can be sure.
-Sometimes a few rats will become ensorcelled and be assigned spying missions by the suspicious and watchful Grey Seers. Clan Pestilens will infect many rats as they seek to spread new plagues among the world. Vast quantities of vermin will be eaten by the lowly and desperate.
Mobility: 5
Training: 1
Max Range: Lunging
Preferred Range: Biting
While countless rats skulk through the sewers of the Old World, there are very few capable of killing grown men without help, but such do exist. While a few of them have crept down from the north, where the Chaos Powers twisted them beyond their natural size, the majority are the result of generations of Skaven breeding experiments designed to combine size, ferocity, and any other traits the foul experimenters of Clan Moulder found desirable. Giant Rats were created by the twisted genius of Clan Moulder selectively breeding the biggest, most aggressive rats and feeding them on warpstone. The Giant Rat is the largest of all ratkind and by far the most dangerous, being up to six feet long (though more commonly the size of a large hound dog) with strong limbs and powerful jaws. They're frequently disease carriers and the wounds they inflict have a good chance of becoming infected if not promptly treated. Those that know the most about them in the Empire frequently hold their tongues so as not to be thought mad.
Like their smaller cousins, Giant Rats have hairless tails and feet, but unlike their natural brethren, Giant Rats exhibit rampant signs of severe mutation and the diabolic grafting so frequent in Clan Moulder-made beasts. Many Giant Rats have additional heads, sets of extra limbs, multiple tails, or even more monstrous additions. Spines, spikes, tusk-like incisors, or vast hunches of bony plates can be almost commonplace, while some of the more grotesque creations have exposed ribs, enormous mounds of throbbing buboes, or worse. Giant Rats have even been seen walking upright in parody of man, or gifted with odd technical parts such as wheels or mace-enhanced tails. Regardless of their bewildering variations, all Giant Rats are vicious, wicked, and eternally hungry.
Driven to battle by Packmasters or a Master Moulder, Giant Rats form a seething and snarling mass that seeks to rip, tear, and gnaw at any enemy they can reach. When deployed in number their powerful jaws and wicked saber-like incisors can bring down far larger prey. Given free rein, the horrid creatures will strip all flesh from their victims. In a matter of moments there will be naught left behind but cracked and gnawed bones.
Offense: Sword like teeth that can easily cut through flesh, though those made by Clan Moulder often have extras added onto them, some of which were touched on in the description. Mace-like tails, mechanical limbs, spines, etc. The only limit is the imagination of their creators and the amount a Clan is willing to pay for the effort. Bites from a Giant Rat have a large chance of becoming infected. The Packmaster will have a whip and sword.
Defense: None. Packmasters typically where whatever they've been given or stolen, like most Skaven.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrat (applies to Packmaster only, see Specialist Support)
-Cheap and Expendable: Giant Rats are easy to breed and by far the cheapest beasts on offer from Clan Moulder. Other Skaven clans frequently purchase them from Clan Moulder, and a few packs of Giant Rats are a common sight among their armies. A few clans, notably Clan Mortkin and Clan Carrion, have been known to dye the hides of their Giant Rats, branding clan symbols into the mangy fur in the same way that Skavenslaves are marked.
-Still Just a Rat: For all their ferocity, they're still rats, albeit big ones. Without a packmaster to control them, Giant Rats can be scared off by a competent opponent with little effort.
-Giant Rats typically travel in groups of ten or more and prefer to swarm over their prey by sheer weight of numbers.
Mobility: 6
Training: 2
Max Range: Lunging
Preferred Range: Biting
Many are the strange and twisted creatures that have been spawned though the warpstone-tainted meddling of Clan Moulder. Many are thankfully rare, while others, such as the twisted Wolf Rats, have bred true and multiplied in the manner of their verminous masters, and when a Skaven slave escapes from its holding pen, it best "quick-quick" as its pursuers will not be far behind, the skittering and scratching of claws behind them not those of their jailers in furious pursuit, but instead those of the packs of Wolf Rats that many a Skaven clan keeps for such blood-thirsty hunts.
Not even the insidious rat-men themselves know for sure the origins of the ravenous packs of Wolf Rats that are found almost everywhere that the Skaven themselves infest. It is said that in times long ago, Clan Moulder experimented with combining their Skaven blood with that of the great wolves of Kislev. The result was a bloodthirsty monster of such foul temperament that the Master Moulders could hardly contain it, much less train it for war. They managed to wipe out nearly all of the creatures, but despite their best efforts, a few escaped into the tunnels of the Under-Empire. In the intervening years, some escaped altogether, but a few remained behind to hunt their Skaven creators.
Skaven often lead packs of these fetid beasts into battle, letting them loose to feast upon the terrified enemy. The Skaven will unleash the slavering Wolf Rat packs ahead of their own troops as, unlike the cowardly Skaven, these beasts will readily charge headlong into an enemy so eager are they to feast upon flesh. The Wolf Rats' voracious appetite means they are usually close to the point of starvation, having killed most of the smaller creatures in their pack's territories. Their hunger will send them tearing through the ranks of an enemy unit, their strength being bolstered with each mouthful of blood-soaked flesh they gorge themselves upon. Fearless enough to dash into a hail of arrows, they will pounce and rip out an archer's throat before he has had time to draw his bow for a second shot. Then, tensing back on their long muscular limbs, they will leap hungrily into the ranks behind to take their fill of their bounteous fest laid before them.
Offense: Fangs and Claws
Defense: None
Additional Factors:
-Wolf Rats are kept by the rat men for a myriad of uses, most commonly for guarding their lairs, hunting down creatures for the hideous experiments, and even in times of famine as food, although the Skaven sent in to kill them are just as likely to end up as the Wolf Rat's next meal.
-Unbroken Spirit: The creatures can never be tamed and often break free from the heavy chains used to restrain them,causing havoc throughout the clan's tunnels until they either escape once more into the wild or are hunted down themselves and destroyed.
-Wolf Rats can actually grasp and manipulate objects with their forepaws, albeit in a clumsy fashion.
-They are often carriers of disease.
-If they run out of enemies to kill, they will be more then happy to turn on the Skaven and eat them too.
Mobility: 5
Training: 3
Max Range: Thrown Globe
Preferred Range: Thrown Globe
The weapons of Clan Skryre are as limitless in their scope as they are dreadful in their menace. Some of the most horrifying are those that kill many enemies with only a little effort. The poison wind globes are one such weapon, and they are dispensed by an elite corps called Globadiers. The Globadiers are trained in the uses of poisons, much like Assassins are. Unlike Eshin's killers, these Skaven instead focus their training upon toxins that can kill many enemies at once.
Poisoned wind globes are one of the Clan Skryre's most infamous weapons. A poison wind globe is a fragile glass or crystal sphere filled with a lethal warpstone gas produced by the Warlock Engineers in their secret laboratories.. When the globe is shattered a noxious cloud of yellowish-green vapor billows out to fill the area around it with deadly, choking gas so lethal that mere skin contact can cause severe pain or even death. Breathing the vapors causes lungs to spontaneously fill with bubbling pus - a horrible and nearly instantaneous death. For this reason, Globadiers wear all manner of elaborate masks, goggles, and cumbersome rebreathing apparatus in an effort to protect themselves against accidental gassing. Not only do the gas masks protect the Globadiers, but they lend each one a menacing appearance. Armor offers no protection against poisoned gas, but this does not stop the Globadiers from wearing arcane body armor underneath their robes. Because the gas blisters the lungs and throat of anything that breathes it, it makes it particularly lethal against knights and other tough troops. Once their poisonous cargo has been unleashed, they draw their blades and wade into the mass of their writhing victims to cut the throats of those who still claim some semblance of life.
Offense: When these small hallow glass spheres are thrown, the sphere shatters, dispersing the poison. The vapors that swim within poison wind globes are carried on the fickle winds of the battlefield and into the lungs of the enemy and, sometimes, into those of allies as well. The mystical warpstone ingredient allows it to effect magical entities like ghosts, demons, or the undead. Armor does not stop the poison.
Defense: Globadiers wear distinctive and elaborate masks, as well as goggles, cumbersome breathing devices, and thick archaic armor in order to protect themselves from their fumes. It doesn't really help in the long run if they are caught in their own gas attack, but they consider it better then nothing.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away: See Clanrats
-In battle, individual Globadiers either form small skirmishing units or lurk around near the flanks of Skaven regiments until they have an opportunity to hurl their deadly globes into the enemy's ranks.
-The best of these are ushered into the higher secrets of the Warlock Engineers though such promotions are rare.
-These heinous weapons were first used in the bitter tunnel fighting which took place between Skaven and Dwarfs beneath the Worlds Edge Mountains. Clan Skryre was delighted at this new diabolical way to slaughter their foes. The Engineers have tried many methods of delivery. Machines of incredulous complexity and dubious worth have been attempted, but in the end the best method of launching gas attacks into the enemy's ranks have been via the specially trained Globadiers who are experienced in handling and throwing the fragile globes.
-Globadiers have no qualms about lobbing their missiles into a swirling melee, displaying a general disregard as to whether their globes strike friendly troops or the enemy. It is not unusual for Globadiers to survive a battle only to be attacked by friendly formations that suffered from errant globes.
Mobility: 5
Training: 3-4
Max Range: Sniper
Preferred Range: Sniper
The warplock jezzail is a fiendish invention of the Skaven Clan Skryre. It is a huge and long ranged firearm, more like a small cannon than an ordinary gun. It fires a special missile made from warpstone, the unstable magic rock which gives Skaven their power. When the warpstone strikes its target it explodes with devastating effect and a flash of pyrotechnic color. The blast can punch through the shield, breastplate and body of an armored knight from beyond the range of a crossbow, often shattering units of heavily armored elite troops before they ever get into battle. Should the glowing green projectile pass through or embed itself in flesh, the damage can be considerable, due, in part, to the highly toxic nature of warpstone. Groups of jezzails are often placed in a prominent position such as on a hill or inside a tall building to volley the foe with fire as they try to maneuver into position.
Although moving too quickly to be seen, the bullets fired by a Warplock Jezzail leave behind a faint green streak. It is easy to trace the shots back to their source, ensuring any return missile fire that the enemy can muster will follow. For this reason, what started out as a mere aiming platform for the long rifle, has turned into a protective pavise designed to shield the vulnerable Jezzail team from incoming arrows, bolts, and bullets.
Offense: Warplock Jezzail: The jezzails employed by the Skaven use a distinct "warplock" technology perfected by the Warlock Engineers. The warplock jezzail operates on a principle similar to that of a wheel-lock musket, but small amounts of Warpstone have been worked into both the weapon's metal components and its ammunition. This provides for added barrel strength, allowing a larger measure of Warpstone-fortified powder to be loaded into the weapon. The attacks of the Jezzail counts as both armor piercing and magical.
Defense: The stand their teammate balances the weapon on (called a Pavise) also acts as a shield, and is sturdy enough to take arrows, crossbow bolts and bullets. The best defense though, is that the pair are set up far, far away from the bulk of the fighting.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-The Jezzail requires two Skaven to load and fire.
-Jezzail teams don't fight directly. Rather, teams of them will set up in a give area (far away from danger) and begin sniping high priority targets (such as battlefield leaders, artillery crews, or those who look like they posse a threat to the Jezzail themselves).
-Long-Barreled Death-Bringer: The formidable Warplock Jezzail teams have been a staple of the Clan Skryre arsenal for ages. They were first reported on battlefields not long after the earliest clashes with the Dwarfs of the Worlds Edge Mountains. Ambitious Warlock Engineers studied captured Dwarf handguns and, in their own rat-fiend way, further perfected the design. Early models used scavenged parts, but soon the distinctive long-barrelled weapon emerged. Naturally, warpstone played a key role in the new Skaven versions, appearing in the bullet, the firing mechanism (the warplock), and even the gunpowder itself, which is laced with the unnatural substance. The shape and barrel length have improved through the ages, but the weapon remains its same deadly self. Many clans claim the reputation of being the best shot, but legends tell of sharpshooter Natty Buboe of Clan Mon who could reportedly put a shot through the telescope of an onlooking Dwarf Engineer at a distance of well over 7000 paces. As the story goes, the Dwarfs were too stubborn to admit the Skaven had outranged them, so Dwarf after Dwarf lined up to look through the glass-less scope while Natty racked up a large tally.
==Skaven Weapon Teams==
Clan Skryre has invented a variety of powerful, portable, yet dangerously precarious weapons that accompany the hordes to battle. Other clans often pay to have teams following their Clanrats and Stormvermin into battle and provide covering and support fire. Some of the weapons teams are deadly forces all on their own.
Mobility: 3
Training: 3
Max Range: Several Meters
Preferred Range: ^^
One of the most feared weapons employed by the Skaven is the warpfire thrower. Another mad innovation by the Warlock Engineers of Clan Skryre, these "cannons" release a stream of sticky burning gel made from Warpstone that incinerates nearly anything with which it comes into contact.
The warpfire thrower is crewed by two Skaven. The first fires the weapon while the second carries the barrels of flammable mixture. One crew member carries a fuel vat and the other aims the nozzle. A flip of a switch and powdered warpstone mixes with onrushing chemicals, bursting into unholy flame. The hellish gout can turn an entire formation of knights or foot soldiers into a twitching, throbbing pile of smouldering goo in moments. Against creatures vulnerable to fire, the warpflame is particularly devastating. Unfortunately warpfire throwers can also misfire catastrophically, destroying themselves and their crew in a spectacular explosion, much to the discomfort of anyone nearby!
Offense: See Description. Warpstone makes it a magical attack as well.
Defense: Minimal armor, mostly to protect them from the heat of their own weapon. Aside from that, none.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers!: See Clanrats
-As with all Skaven weapons, there is always the chance for a misfire, which could result in the weapon team's death (at worst) or prevent them from attacking for several minutes while they work out the kinks in their machine.
Mobility: 3
Training: 3
Max Range: Several Hundred Meters
Preferred Range: ^^
The multi-barreled whirling death-dealing machine known as the Ratling Gun is a relatively modern invention. Nonetheless it has proven so successful that Clan Skryre simply cannot make enough to satisfy the greedy demands of the Warlord clans. Powered by warp steam and kicked into gear by the prodigious working of a hand crank, the six barrels of the Ratting Gun spin and whir, emitting a fusillade of warp-laced bullets that streak through the air, leaving faint greenish traces.
The Ratling Gun is more than capable of producing a true surplus of firepower, if such a thing were possible. A solid burst from a Ratting Gun is more than enough to scythe down a charging unit of Orc Boar Boyz mid-gallop and can even put a dent into the largest unit of Clanrat warriors (although this is often called 'accidental shooting'). Clanrats refer to units slain by the Ratling Gun as 'teeth-breakers' as the flesh tends to be riddled with dozens of the lumpen glowing bullets.
As is typical of Clan Skryre work, there are a number of different design patterns, including a wheeled variety, one with a small gun shield, a tripod-mounted version, and more besides. The foul device may come in many shapes and sizes, but all are equally deadly and just as likely to malfunction or overheat as the next. When this occurs, the best case scenario is that the gun looses pressure and strikes with less force, or belches out a plume of acrid smoke. Worst case tends to result in a multi-colored explosion and the death of the Weapon team (and anyone standing near them at the time). Rumors of certain very wealthy Warlord clans deploying entire units made of Ratling Gun Weapon Teams have never been substantiated, although perhaps that is because no one has survived to tell the tale.
Offense: See Description. Warpstone makes the attacks magical.
Defense: Distance, though some versions of the Ratling Gun come with a shield.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers!: See Clanrats
-As with all Skaven weapons, there is always the chance for a misfire, which could result in the weapon team's death (at worst) or prevent them from attacking for several minutes while they work out the kinks in their machine.
Mobility: 2-3
Training: 2
Max Range: Melee
Preferred Range: Melee
The Doom-flayer is a motorized iron ball of whirling blades that was first employed during the merciless underground battles against the Dwarfs of the Worlds Edge Mountains. Desperate to break through the shield walls of the bearded-things, and unable to get within range to deploy a Warpfire Thrower or Poisoned Wind Globadiers, an unknown Clan Skryre Warlock Engineer jury-rigged a heavily armored attack device. Built from scavenged scrap, broken blades and the steam-powered roto-engine of a recently recovered crashed Dwarf Gyrocopter, the first destructive engine that was destined to evolve into the Doom-flayer was born.
Although the first rudimentary machines did not survive, the idea did. Various incarnations of the killing machine with the spinning, stabbing and slashing blades began to assail the subterranean strong-points of the Dwarfs. The first crude Doom-flayers were largely Skaven-powered, as the pushing crew generated much of the impetus to spin the belts and cogs that drove the whirling weaponry. The Skaven crew, protected by a scrap-barrier of old shields, metal-reinforced planks, and even the patched- together armor plates of fallen enemies, could just about avoid incoming missile fire and still steer the device to plow into enemy lines. To this rough concept, the Warlock Engineers added the full verminous ingenuity of their wicked race. This of course meant that a warpstone generator provided the real power behind the swirling abattoir. Now the death-dealing apparatus could crash into the foe with hellish vigor, lopping off limbs, and scything dawn any who dared to stand before it. The great splashes of gore and entrails the device leaves behind it inspire the Clanrats and Stormvermin who advance in its carnage-filled wake. No two Doom-flayers are quite the same, built as they are from an assortment of scavenged scrap. Each Doom-flayer is as unique and as lethally twisted as the Warlock Engineer who created it.
Although the infernal device has never achieved the sheer blood-soaked devastation it wrought in the confined tunnels of the underworld, the Doom-flayer has proven its worth in several surface battles, notably shredding many Imperial soldiers in the tightly confined streets of Nuln during that short-lived, but devastating, invasion of the man-city.
Offense: See Description
Defense: The mass of whirling blades provides an excellent protective shield for the crew.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers!: See Clanrats
-As with all Skaven weapons, there is always the chance for a misfire, which could result in the weapon team's death (at worst) or prevent them from attacking for several minutes while they work out the kinks in their machine.
Mobility: 4
Training: 3
Max Range: Artillery
Preferred Range: ^^
Clan Skryre has long sought to build a device that can lob poisoned wind globes over a longer distance while being able to advance quickly with the massed infantry. The Poisoned Wind Mortar was the answer. The muzzle-loading tube allows a weightier poisoned wind bomb to be fired to a range greater than a lone Globadier could hope to achieve. Additionally, with some hastily squealed directions from its parent unit, the Poisoned Wind Mortar can fire indirectly. Hurting the enemy without risking one's own hide is always an appealing idea to any Skaven.
As the bulk of the firing apparatus can be strapped upon a crew member's back, the Weapon Team can advance alongside Skaven regiments, pausing momentarily to lob high-arcing shots onto distant foes, before scurrying to stay alongside its parent unit.
Offense: See Poisoned Wind Globadiers, but slightly larger and hurled over a larger distance.
Defense: See Poisoned Wind Globadiers
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers!: See Clanrats
-See Poisoned Wind Globaiders Additional Factors
-As with all Skaven weapons, there is always the chance for a misfire, which could result in the weapon team's death (at worst) or prevent them from attacking for several minutes while they work out the kinks in their machine.
Mobility: 4
Training: 3
Max Range: Several Feet in Front of them
Preferred Range: Behind everyone else.
To tunnel more quickly than typical slave labor, the Skaven deploy specially devised Clan Skryre machines. Some of the massive constructs are larger than the grandest ships of the Empire's navy. These huge devices combine great drills with warp energies to vaporize the broken debris as the machine bores. These rare machines are seldom, if ever, seen, but a portable version can often be found deployed on the battlefield.
The Warp-grinder opens up tunnels. Projectors gleam with warp-energy, pulverizing stone and leaving a narrow and smoking passageway in its wake. Small fast-moving units can follow the device, emerging behind enemy lines to cause untold disruption. But it is a perilous trip, as the newly bored tunnels are prone to cave-ins and the machines can suffer catastrophic melt-downs. When the Warp-grinder breaks through the surface, it will stick with the unit that it is attached to, even assisting in close combat. Without the comforting presence of the parent unit, the Weapon Team will flee the battlefield.
Offense: The Warp-Grinder isn't really meant for combat, but it can be used that way if necessary. As it is a warpstone powered drill, it can cause quite a bit of damage in CQC.
Defense: Typically staying back and letting the squad they accompanied do the fighting. Otherwise, none.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers!: See Clanrats
-As with all Skaven weapons, there is always the chance for a misfire, which could result in the weapon team's death (at worst) or prevent them from attacking for several minutes while they work out the kinks in their machine.
-Warp-Grinders can allow Skaven to get the drop on the enemy by allowing anything from Eshin Assassins to Rat Swarms to literally burrow up from beneath the enemy. They can also spring up behind a foe and stab them in the back (always a popular Skaven tactic). Whatever the case, the journey itself is the most dangerous part, as tunnels could potentially cave in, they could come up on the wrong part of the battlefield, or risk coming up under their own side.
SHOCK AND AWE:
Mobility: 4
Training: Varies (Pushed By Rat Ogres and Clanrats, Presided over by a Grey Seer)
Max Range: Battlefield
Preferred Range: Battlefield
Of all the diabolical wonder weapons of the Skaven, none is as notorious as the Screaming Bell, a creation of the insane Warlock Engineers. These gigantic magical bells ring out a deadly peal of death over the whole battlefield, devastating armies and razing whole cities. The bell is an ever-present symbol in the creation legends of the Skaven and its mighty toll strikes deep inside the black hearts of the evil ratmen, inspiring awe and the closest thing to devotion a Skaven can achieve. It is from these unholy altars that the Grey Seers preach their plans of total domination in the name of the Great Horned Rat.
The wheeled carriage that supports the vast weight of the ruinous engine is pushed by a teeming horde of Skaven, but it is the colossal bell atop it that radiates power. A huge central bell cast from bronze mixed with warpstone forms the center of the Screaming Bell. A Grey Seer stands proudly at the front of the Bell, exhorting the teeming clanrats to ever greater heights of ferocity. Above the rune-encrusted master bell hang lesser bells of varying shapes and sizes, some cracked and malformed, others little more than hollow tubes. These unholy relics are cast in the hellish warpforges beneath Skavenblight, using bronze laced with pure warpstone. The Warlock Engineers of Clan Skryre aid in the casting, joining the Grey Seers in the 13-day ritual. The monotonous chittering incantations cause glowing runes of balefire to writhe mystically across the bell and as the casting is cooled, the metal is coated many times with sacrificial blood. Rumor has it that some piece of the great tower of Kavzar is incorporated into each Screaming Bell - be it a chunk of masonry or some small part of the Great-Bell-That-Began-It-All melted and forged anew. To work the immense weight, Clan Moulder supplies the pick of its hell-birthed litters - the most hulking of Rat Ogres.
In battle the ominous tolling of the bell resounds above the clamor of the fighting, a message of death to foes, but also a declaration of supremacy that reverberates inside the children of the Horned Rat. The deadly peal drives Skaven recklessly forward in a fury that will be assuaged by nothing short of the total and complete annihilation of the enemy. The thunderous BONNNNNNNNNNG! is magically amplified and those that hear it and survive cannot find the words to describe the cacophony of horrible sounds that emit from the unholy Bell. As the master bell starts to swing the other bells start to ring, each one out of key with the others. The master bell and each of the lesser bells is specially cast to ring a note which is completely discordant with the others. This is caught and amplified by the Warlock Engineer's magic, booming out across the battlefield and reverberating back again. With each peal of the bells the din grows, rising to a crescendo of earsplitting sound until stone cracks and eardrums burst. With each toll the din grows louder and more terrible, rising to a crescendo of sound until the very mind seems to split asunder. The relentless aural assault causes the very stone to split and buildings to crumble. Doom, Doom, Doom it seems to endlessly say... all will fall, all will be ruinous, Doom, Doom, Doom.
Offense: The Bell is surrounded by Clanrats and Stormvermin, is pushed by Rat Ogres with large hammers to strike the bell, and standing atop it is a Grey Seer who can draw upon the energy the Bell emanates to power his spells.
As for the Bell itself, each ring echos across the battlefield, and the longer it chimes, the more potent its effects become.
In the beginning, the toll of the bell fills the unit pushing it with zeal, then the effects spread out, emboldening all friendly Skaven, their high pitched squeaking rising to meet the Bell's clanging. Soon, the toiling sound opens vents in the ground, unleashing fire and brimstone (not unlike the effects of the Scorch spell of the Lore of Ruin, see above). Then, unnatural vibrations of the bell spread outwards in deafening peals; war machines and chariots are rocked to the core, as buildings begin to shake and crumble.
If the Bell is not destroyed and allowed to keep ringing, something that should not be awoken will answer the bell's summons, and demons will begin to appear around the Skaven, fighting on their side! Next comes a wall of unholy sound, as the deafening peals roll across the land, driving the Skaven to new heights of ferocity. They'll throw themselves at the enemy, traditional Skaven fear forgotten. Then, as the Bell reaches its peak, it will unleash an avalanche of energy, rippling out from the bell to all Skaven on the battlefield. Skaven will go into a frothing frenzy, and even the wounded rats will do their best to claw their way towards the enemy. Its quite possible that some of the Skaven's hearts will give out from the strain, but they won't care, all that matters is destroying the enemy!
Of course, this kind of power cannot last forever, and the Bell itself cannot take this kind of strain for long. With a cataclysmic eruption of sound the Screaming Bell will eventually split asunder, crashing to the ground like ten thousand thunderclaps. Sometimes even years later survivors will still report hearing a faint echo, the final resonation of the hellish monstrosity or a distant unearthly laughter.
Defense: The Blessing of the Horned Rat is upon the Screaming Bell, giving it (and the Grey Seer) a potent magical barrier. Hitting the Bell with a particularly strong attack will cause it to ring out of sequence and unleash a shockwave of energy. It is also protected by Rat Ogres and a sea of Skaven.
Additional Factors:
-The Screaming Bell's power easily causes fear in the enemy army.
-The Screaming Bell is one of the few projects that can get multiple clans to set aside their scheming and backstabbing ways and work together.
-The Screaming Bell is such a morale booster that it will grant the Skaven a measure of courage normally not seen in their kind, making it much harder to route them or scare them off.
Mobility: 2
Training: 2
Max Range: Artillery
Preferred Range: Artillery
Since their rise to power, Clan Pestilens has been hard at work creating new strains of disease. The bubbling vats filled with carcasses, warpstone and fetid offal are forever brewing vile concoctions. While failing (as of yet) to create the ultimate contagion to rid the world of all surface dwellers, the Plague Monks have discovered their pestilent by-products make worthy weapons on their own. The unbalanced blend of poisons, chanted magics, and disease-soaked corpses makes a liquid that can kill on contact.
It was in the Southlands that crude torsion devices first began hurling loathsome substances onto the foe during battle. The Plague Monks learned to deliver their pestilent payloads via catapult, the erupting splatter of deadly contents slaying targets in a toxic storm. Those splashed by the semi-congealed liquid find their skin simultaneously sloughing off in ruin and elsewhere erupting in glistening sores. Armour offers no protection against such loathsome weaponry.
After the reconciliation following the second civil war, Clan Pestilens received technical help from the Warlock Engineers of Clan Skryre. Soon the crude war engines built by the Plague Monks were replaced with what are now known as Plagueclaw Catapults. These loathsome war machines are great wheeled scaffold-towers adorned with pennants and runes, mounting torsion-powered arms. Pushed into position by ragged Clan Pestilens acolytes, the claw-like arm of a Plagueclaw Catapult is winched back and unleashed to lob hideous death, a putrid mixture of disease-soaked corpses, semi-congealed poisons and even traces of warpstone. The toxic semi-liquid leaves a glowing streak across the sky as it arcs earthwards.
Offense: See description. The fumes given off by the semi-liquid payload are highly toxic, so even if you aren't hit directly, just being near it can prove deadly. It is also crewed by Plague Monks. The contents are also magical in nature, allowing them to hurt spirits, demons, and the undead.
Defense: Wood and Iron and manned by Plague Monks
Additional Factors:
-As with all Skaven weapons, there is always the chance for a misfire, which could result in the weapon team's death (at worst) or prevent them from attacking for several minutes while they work out the kinks in their machine.
-The Crew are Plague Monks, so their Additional Factors may apply.
Mobility: 4
Training: 2
Max Range: Several Dozen Meters
Preferred Range: Crashing into the enemy
The Plague Furnace is a disease-ridden altar to the Great Horned Rat and an unholy pulpit for a Plague Priest. These mighty war machines are covered in runes and foul sigils dedicated to the vile Skaven deity. It is the noisome shrine of Clan Pestilens and ruination and corruption travel in its wake.
The Plague Furnace is pushed into battle by a congregation of chanting Plague Monks, the creaking of its iron-shod wheels audible above the drone of devotional maledictions. The decaying chassis of the Plague Furnace is riddled with woodworm, but it is the vast and ornate swinging brazier that commands attention. A glowing hot censer of wrecking ball proportions swings back and forth, issuing overwhelming heat and a roiling cloud that even simple beasts instinctively recognize as poisonous and unnatural. The rhythmic swings of the infernal furnace produce an ominous sound as the pendulous censer drags through the air, leaving a trail of deadly fumes and lethal contagions. It stings the eyes and assails the senses to gaze at the shimmering heat of the swaying globe. As the greenish vapors drift over the Plague Monks, it wets their tattered robes. This befouled fog begins to make the pox-ridden brethren twitch, their eyes bulging out in an unholy fervor for battle and blood-letting.
As the Plague Furnace nears the foe, the Plague Monks strain more feverishly at the ropes, increasing the momentum of the blazing orb. As the frothing brotherhood crash the Plague Furnace into the enemy battle-line, the rusty chains holding the great warpstone incinerator are let slip so the vast censer plummets into the middle of the enemy unit. The unholy payload continues to spew the deadly green-tinged warpstone fumes while it is hoisted back into place.
Offense: The Great Censer: The death-dealing orb of the Plague Furnace uses the same smoking warpstone charcoal that powers the deadly fumes of a Censer Bearer, but in vast quantities and with a key ingredient added. The skins of dead Plague Priests are saved as vile relics and used in the fuel. The horrible husks reek with infection, having absorbed a tainted lifetime of disease. Foul ritual and unholy magic sets alight the lumpen pox-ridden skins, which in turn ignites the warpstone. The resulting warpheat turns into a fuming furnace, producing a billowing cloud of baleful death.
It is pushed into battle by Plague Monks, who have a bit of resistance to the toxins. The fog given off by the Censer sends them into a mad frenzy, and increases their strength and speed.
Defense: Potent Magical Resistance, and it is guarded by many Plague Monks. The device itself is mostly rotting wood with a few metal parts.
Additional Factors:
-See Plague Monks
-Due to the dubious nature of all Skaven constructs, it is possible for the Plague Furnace to suffer a mishap. The orb may come loose prematurely, crashing in the wrong direction or directly onto itself. It may fail to fall at all, and instead release a more potent cloud of fumes around it and down onto the Monks.
-While Plague Monks do have a resistance to the plagues put out by the Furnace, it is not absolute. It is possible, and indeed expected, that more then a few Plague Monks will die operating the device, overcome by the fumes.
Mobility: 8
Training: 1-2
Max Range: Dozens of Meters (Due to sheer size)
Preferred Range: Biting
At Hell Pit, the quest to create a beast of monstrous proportions was going poorly - cavern-laboratories were wrecked, vats of mutating agents smashed, legions of Skavenslaves were lost in hideous fashion. As Lord Verminkin, the leader of Clan Moulder, directed the works himself, the repercussions for such failures were bloody and ongoing. It was then that Throt the Unclean returned from his creature-capturing foray into the wastes. The procession was not of manacled slaves, but instead many creaking wagons, which between them bore a single chained beast. At long last one of the pallid and deep-tunnelling Blindwyrms that exist in the depths of the world had been caught.
It was not easy force-feeding such a creature warpstone until the swollen, mutating beast could be cut and grafted. Keeping the Blindwyrm alive during the complicated operations proved difficult and several times the great writhing creature had to be resuscitated with jolts of warp lightning. There were many experiments, but only Rat Ogre components had the strength to bond - other attachments withered or died. So much warpstone was used in the stitching together process that production of other beasts of war fell to nothing. Suspecting plots against their clans, many Warlords began to clamor, sure that treachery was afoot.
Ominous signs preceded the final creation of what has come to be known as the Hell Pit Abomination - Morrsleib was low, the Winds of Magic blew strongly, and storms of impossible proportions raged at the torture-wracked polar caps. The warp lightning accumulators that rose above the surface of Hell Pit whirred with supernatural power as they delivered the final jolt that shocked the now-completed creation alive. The beast rampaged through Hell Pit, slaying Skaven by the hundreds - it was a great success. Throt, rewarded with new breeders, was promised caverns in the innermost circle of the labyrinth that is Hell Pit if he would hunt down more of the invaluable Blindwyrms. Lord Verminkin decreed that more of the creatures must be made immediately...
The Hell Pit Abomination is a living mountain of misshapen flesh. The creature moves in a rippling tide of unnatural spasms, writhing worm-like and using its many limbs to pull and drag its hideous bulk forward. Various mechanical bits, such as wheels, cogs, and fluidpumps have been grafted into the beast to ensure it moves at optimal speed and that the warpstone mutated growth agents are regularly injected into the beast's hyper-fast metabolism. A multitude of heads dart out of the lumpen mound of muscle and bone at the behemoth's fore. The heads that snake out are all vermin-like, but some glisten hairlessly, like unborn rat monstrosities. Many have eyes, but no few are blind, twisting and craning to catch the scent of prey, hissing and snapping at the air with razor-sharp incisors.
Many foes will flee from the unnatural sight of a Hell Pit Abomination. With a horrifying slither and shamble, the creature propels itself across the battlefield, rearing up to a towering height before it hits the enemy line like a thunderbolt. Vast boulder-sized fists smash aside shield walls and send foes flying, while hungry jaws snap and greedily devour the broken victims. Once in combat the Hell Pit Abomination is relentless, dragging its bulk onwards to crush any in its wake. Hell Pit Abominations are notoriously hard to slay and there are accounts of the beasts visibly healing wounds, regrowing severed limbs and rising from the dead to attack again.
Offense: The Hell Pit Abomination's many heads will distend out of their fleshy tubes, snapping and biting. Razor-sharp incisors the size of a horse's leg slash through the air as the beast seeks prey to eat, desperate to fill a hunger that can never be sated. The multi-headed monstrosity may unleash a flurry of titanic blows with enough force to level a mountainside. Finally, the beast may simply twist its serpentine mass, rearing to its greatest high before hurling itself upon its prey. What isn't crushed by the sickening bulk is smashed by massive fists.
Defense: A mountain of flesh able to take constant abuse, both from the enemy and its own wretched existence. It has powerful regeneration that allows it to suffer even cataclysmic damage and keep on fighting. Only massive amounts of fire can stop the beast for good.
Special: Too Horrible to Die: As the Hell Pit Abomination twitches out its last shuddering death throes there is a chance its unholy and unnatural metabolism restarts one or more of the foul beast's many hearts. Sometimes defenders get lucky, and the beast will simply give a final death rattle and go still forever. Other times, the Abomination's mighty corpse shudders as a mass of rats burst forth. They had lived within the beast, forever gnawing away at the ever-regenerating innards. Now, they are free to plague those still living. Of course, the worse case scenario (for those alive) is that with a jolt of unnatural vitality, the beast will arise anew.
Additional Factors:
-Impossible to Control: Once unleashes, the Skaven have no control over what the Abomination will do or where it will go. As the many heads vie for dominance, it jerks and spasms, moving randomly across the battlefield in a blind fury, or grinding to a halt as its body fails to understand the many conflicting signals it receives.
-The beast easily damages morale, as many defenders will understandably flee the sight of this horrible beast.
Mobility: 6
Training: 2
Max Range: Biting
Preferred Range: Biting
When the beastmasters of Clan Moulder spawn a pack of Giant Pox Rats, there is occasionally one among them who will brutally devour the rest of the brood, growing fat and bloated in both strength and savagery, the twisted forms of its kin still visible as they writhe and claw at their fleshy prison.
The bloated terror that is a Skaven Brood Horror are traded with the wealthier Skaven Clans for many thousands of slaves and warp-tokens for use as a war-mount by especially powerful or ostentatious Skaven warlords, after all, what better way to protect one's position of power than with such a massive and eternally-hungry beast.
At other times, they are goaded into battle to flail and crush the foe beneath their clawed limbs, biting and savaging anything that gets within reach with its razor- sharp teeth.
Offense: Massive fangs and razor sharp claws. Both are so covered in filth and gore that wounds from them can easily become infected. Also, when the beast charges, the impact can easily send fully armored knights flying.
Defense: While a fairly large target, the Brood Horror is protected by a great deal of fat, allowing it to shrug off many attacks. Worse, the creature seems to have minor regenerative powers, meaning even when it is hurt it will recover in short order. The exception, obviously, would be if it was hit with fire or acid, or something that overtaxed its ability to heal.
If used as a mount by a Warlord, it may have some form of heavy armor.
Additional Factors:
-Brood Horrors are eternally hungry, and if not fed a steady supply of captives or slaves, will quickly turn on each other or their masters.
-Foul Ichor: When the Brood Horror dies it collapses in a foul rush of poisonous filth and the half-digested remains of its kin. Anything standing close to it on the moment of its death will be hit with a sudden rush of foul smelling and poisonous gas.
Mobility: 4-5
Training: 3
Max Range: Varies
Preferred Range: Varies
The Skaven will plumb the darkest of depths in their experiments to create the ultimate killing machines, not merely from iron and warp-forged metal but by crossbreeding monstrosities and manipulating the flesh of their victims. The insane inventions of the maniacal slave-warpers of Clan Moulder, Stormfiends are Rat Ogres of giant proportions and a surprising, sickening intellect. The Stormfiends are the ultimate expression of this demented obsession, gruesome goliaths created from the mad visions of Throt the Unclean, Master Moulder of Hell Pit. Bred for destruction and armed with the most powerful weapons in the Under-Empire, these brutes are the Skaven's deadliest creations yet.
Each Stormfiend possesses a monstrous physique capable of ripping Orcs limb from limb and shrugging off grievous injuries. Their bodies are a latticework of scars and stitches, the cobbled together remains of creatures grown large on warpstone and selected for bulk, brawn and savagery. Their fists are replaced with lethal techno-arcane weapons that could only be managed by beasts of their prodigious strength.
Whether soaking up volleys of arrow fire, clubbing the enemy to death with gigantic metal fists or burning them to a crisp with their arcane weapons, the Stormfiends excel in every aspect of warfare, combining rugged durability and brute strength with the potential to unleash incredible amounts of damage using the crazy weapons of Clan Skryre.
Offense: A Stormfiend will be given ONE of the following weapons. All weapons are magical in nature, with all that implies.
-Warpfire Projectors: Stormfiends armed with warpfire projectors wade into battle shooting arcs of green-black warpfire from their heavy gauntlets. While these great cones of unnatural flame might occasionally miss their target, it is a small price to pay for the devastation even a single shot can wreak upon enemy regiments.
-Shock Gauntlets: For the ultimate in shock assaults, Stormfiends armed with electrified gauntlets were produced by Clan Skryre. Powered by warp generators, it is the heavy armour the beast wears that is the true weapon, for it conducts arcs of warp lightning that wreath the rat ogre's body in crackling energies. Simply being near one of these creatures is enough to sizzle many foes to a burnt crisp.
-Windlaunchers: Some Stormfiends bear paired windlauncher mortarfists. Mundane armour offers no protection against the vapours released by the poisoned wind globes lobbed into the fray by these weapons. With each shot, a new glass orb filled with gaseous death clicks into position, ready to be fired.
-Ratling Cannons: For pumping out sheer firepower, there is little that can match a Stormfiend equipped with ratling cannons. Three sets of eight-barrelled weapons bedeck this hulking muscle-beast, enabling it to pour forth warp- bullets which riddle entire enemy units with holes.
-Doom-Flayer Gauntlets: By attaching huge motorised iron balls and whirring blades onto the ends of a Stormfiend's arms, a truly fearsome tunnel-fighter was created. To further protect these close-combat maulers, they bear heavy armour adorned with spinning cleaver-blades.
-Grinderfists: Some of Throt's Stormfiends were adapted to carry warp-grinders, allowing them to create their own tunnels by vaporising soil, rock and roots alike. Once in combat, such a Stormfiend will grind at the foe, disintegrating flesh with ease.
Defense: Warpstone-laced Armor plus Rat Ogre durability.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-The Stormfiends produced in Clan Moulder's earliest experiments were uncomprehendingly stupid, unable to effectively use their weapons, but Throt solved this problem by surgically attaching a tiny, specially-bred packmaster to each Stormfiend. These stunted creatures, their brains mutated to ludicrous proportions, are wired to their host through the agonising application of a warp-powered harness and coils that connect each packmaster to the Stormfiend he controls. These repellent creatures, each wired into the brain of the dumb brute carrying them, enable the deadliest weapons to be unleashed by a creature both fiercely intelligent and unnaturally strong.
Mobility: 3
Training: 2
Max Range: Artillery+
Preferred Range: Artillery+
The most recent addition of Clan Skrye's arsenal is the powerful Warp Lightning Cannon. This bizarre gun was built by the fiendishly clever Warlock Engineers and is powered by a large chunk of raw warpstone, whose unearthly energy is harnessed and channelled along a rune-etched barrel to unleash bright green arcs of destruction. Its magical energy is channelled through a series of lenses that amplify and concentrate it. When the weapon is fired, a bright green bolt of lightning surges from the weapon's muzzle, powerful enough to shatter mountains (at least in theory!). Depending on how much a Warlord is willing to pay Clan Skryre, a Warp Lightning Cannon may be mounted on a wooden carriage or a chassis of finest copper and warpstone-laced iron.
When fired, the Warp Lightning Cannon emits a sizzling ball of warp energy and any near the shot are rocked in its wake, fur standing on end, with a sickly green light burnt into their mind's eye. The bolt arcs earthwards, punching through anything in its path and then erupts in a crackling cloud of pure warp lightning. The shot flashes too quickly to follow, but its trail, once it lands on the ground, is easily marked - scorch signs follow its path and anything in the way will have a gaping hole in the exact shape of the beam. At first glance this puncture is impossibly clean cut, but closer inspection reveals warp energies eating outward from the circle - destroying all matter in the way fire blackens and crumbles paper.
Offense: See Description
Defense: Metal (likely brass or iron) mounted on a chassis (which will vary depending on the customer who bought it; anything from wood to warpstone-laced iron).
Additional Factors:
-The Warp Lightning Cannon is crewed by two slaves, who provide the muscular power needed to move the gun around, and by a Skryre adept who orders the slaves around and fires the gun. The magical energy of the warpstone powering the gun is also used by the Skryre adept to strengthen the slaves, giving them enough muscle to move and spin around the heavy machine with ease. The unfortunate side effects of this exposure to raw warpstone energy mean that the slaves normally survive for less than a day, just long enough...
-As with all Skaven machines, the potential for catastrophe is there. The device may explode and kill everyone around it. It may overload and spin widely out of control. Or it may just fizzle out impotently. While this won't happen all the time, the more energy they draw into the cannon, the greater the potential for catastrophe.
Chimeraerat
Mobility: 4
Training: 2
Max Range: Several Meters
Preferred Range: Biting
Taking inspiration from the monstrous Chimera of Chaos and the hydras of the Dark Elves, the Skaven have endeavored to create their own multi-headed abomination, with mixed results. Some really are just Hydra or Chimera, captured by the Skaven with giant rat heads sewn on, while others are pure creations of Clan Moulder.
Offense: Claws and Teeth, and they are capable of breathing warpstone fire hot enough to reduce a man in armor to ash.
Defense: Incredibly thick muscles. Some may have armor bolted to them, while others may have a mix of chemicals keeping them alive even through massive damage. Due to the hellish process that creates them, these beasts are no strangers to pain.
Additional Factors:
-Very Rare
-Due to massive bulk, it is not as fast as most Skaven creations
-Skaven are inventive, so it is possible for the Chimeraerat to have things like a scorpion tail, spider fangs, or some other twisted creature mixed in. Beasts captured from the opponent, or unique beasts in the land they find themselves in may find themselves part of a future experiment.
SPECIALIST SUPPORT:
Mobility: 5
Training: 7
Max Range: Battlefield
Preferred Range: Battlefield
The Grey Seers are also known as the Chosen of the Great Horned One, prophets of the Lord of the Great Below and the voice of the Horned Rat. They are powerful sorcerers, capable of channelling eldritch energies in destructive ways, leveling enemy armies with lightning, or summoning ravening swarms of rats. Some Grey Seers ride atop the nightmarish Screaming Bell to unleash untold ruination. More important than their ability to dominate a battle, however, is their role as emissaries for the Council of Thirteen. This role means that Grey Seers wield tremendous influence in the Under-Empire. Grey Seers possess a rank and position greater than all other Skaven barring the Lords of Decay themselves. This is not to say that Grey Seers are above the self-serving manipulations and treacherous scheming of the Skaven - indeed, they epitomize it. The Grey Seers guard their power jealously and it is a foolish Warlord indeed who does not immediately prostrate themselves at the feet of a Grey Seer and humbly acquiesce. The rule of the Grey Seers is enough to strike fear into the hearts of friend and foe alike.
Offense: A Grey Seer is a wizard who uses spells from the Lore of Ruin and/or Lore of Plague. They typically carry a staff, but may have a melee weapon.
Defense: Magical Barriers, and robes. Their station in society allows them to have many Skaven bodyguards to throw in the way of danger.
Special: Warpstone Tokens: These pieces of refined warpstone are consumed by power-hungry Grey Seers or Warlock Engineers to aid their spellcasting. This is dangerous (as they can sometimes poison the Skaven rather then grant strength), but the quick road to power is an irresistible pull for any Skaven.
Special: Mounts: See the end of Specialist Support section. They can also ride atop Screaming Bells.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-Verminous Valor: Skaven commanders can (and will) refuse a challenge with no loss of honor. Other races see such acts as cowardly, but Skaven view a commander scampering to safety and dooming those underneath him as a leader's natural right.
-Marked at birth by their extremely rare fur color, anywhere from pure grey to nearly white, Grey Seers are also different from other litter-spawnings as they have small nub-like bony growths atop their heads. Should the Grey Seer live long enough, these will grow to become the fully formed horns that command instant fear and subjugation from all other Skaven.
Cloistered away from the rest of the Under-Empire, they are tutored in the Lore of Ruin. Much of their time is spent in prayer to their horned god, seeking His favour and guidance. Though it may seem a less hazardous course, the path of the Grey Seer is as treacherous as the road followed by any Skaven in the Under-Empire; perhaps more so. Initiates are commonly killed during their apprenticeship, both by the rigors of their training, as well as by the duplicity of their peers. If the competition between Skaven in the warrens is fierce, then it is doubly so in the cloisters of the Grey Seers. The Skaven that survive their apprenticeship are perhaps the most dangerous Ratmen of all. Apprentices are required to walk the Labyrinth of the Horned Rat to be fully initiated into the Grey Seers, and should they negotiate all of these successfully, they prove their fitness to guide (some would say rule) Skaven society.
-The Grey Seers hold a special place in Skaven society. Using the power granted by their profane god, they, and they alone, can interpret the Horned Rat's will and desires. As such, they are prophets and intermediaries. Grey Seers typically counsel Warlord Clans, subtly guiding them to achieve whatever sinister plot they've concocted, whether it was inspired by the Horned Rat or from their own dark imaginings. Grey Seers have unmatched power, for any who oppose them are denounced as heretics and traitors, earning a swift and terrible death. Their influence and position gives these leaders a little more security and freedom than that available to other Skaven, but treachery is ingrained in this culture. With power comes resentment, rewarding no few Grey Seers with a knife in the back. When manipulations fail to influence a Warlord clan, a Grey Seer can bring many pressures to bear. A key weapon in the Grey Seer political arsenal is their role as envoy of the Great Horned Rat. Grey Seers alone have the ability to summon a Vermin Lord, a threat often insinuated, but an act Grey Seers secretly wish to avoid. Luckily, no Warlord wants to be accused of standing opposed to the will of the Great Horned One, or being anywhere near a Verminlord. Thus, the threat of summoning alone suffices to persuade even the most suspicious Warlord to see the Grey Seer's point of view.
Mobility: 7
Training: Varies (Due to nature of the warp. Best guess would be 9-10)
Max Range: Battlefield
Preferred Range: Varies
There are few sights more revolting and more unnatural than a Vermin Lord, a Daemon of the Horned Rat. To behold a Verminlord is to see a splinter of the verminous glory that is the Skaven deity. It is to see creeping decay and inscrutable knowledge made manifest. The rat daemons are living icons of ruin, the ultimate scavengers from beyond the veil. These horrific creatures exude an aura of might, creeping decay, and inscrutable knowledge, for they are nothing less than the power of the Great Horned One made manifest. The Vermin Lords are thought to be the daemonic forms of ancient Lords of Decay, warped by the influence of the Horned Rat into his immortal servants.
Verminlords are everything a Skaven aspires to be, taken to extremes. A Verminlord is at once majestic and disgusting, a living icon of ruin, the ultimate scavenger. Although such a being towers in height, it is lithe and quick, its movements evoking the fluid, yet twitchy, scuttling of rats. Despite their sinuous build, they possess the raw strength to challenge a giant. Their heads are bedecked with the spiraling horns and sloughing flesh of the Homed Rat himself. Warpstone amulets and toms decorate the Verminlord's leprous form, along with chunks of raw warpstone hammered into their flesh. And yet for all their power, Verminlords are subtle creatures that far prefer manipulation to open battle. Wherever possible, a Verminlord will use its matchless guile to get others to do its bidding.
Although leery of placing themselves in harm's way, when pressed, the rat daemons reveal a feral savagery. Simply by beckoning with its claws, a Verminlord can summon to itself a doom glaive - a hellishly sharp weapon fashioned from warpstone, fully twice the height of a man. Whirling this massive pole-arm, a Verminlord can split foes in two and then split each half again before the corpse hits the ground. Only the very powerful or the very foolish would dare to challenge such a creature.
It is possible to summon a Verminlord, though only the grey seers know the secret rites that can call these beings from beyond the veil. Naturally, this rare knowledge gives the horned sorcerers a great advantage, and they have exploited this to gain political power. The more cynical amongst the clans question whether grey seers truly are the prophets of the Horned Rat, suggesting instead that they are charlatans, covetously keeping this information to themselves.
Grey seers are quick to threaten the use of their ability to summon a Verminlord, but they are loath to actually do so. This apprehension is for a good reason: those who open a rift between worlds often do not live long enough to regret it. Only at times of great need will the Grey Seers attempt to tear the veil of reality. A bargain struck with one of the Verminlords will bring great power to the supplicant, but, as with all Skaven deals, the cost will be high – the unwary can find themselves paying with their soul as well as their life.
Special: Variants:
The Verminlord Warpseers are the most inscrutable of all the rat daemons. Great leaders and visionaries, they are often found at the center of the most complex plots. All Verminlords are manipulative, but the Warpseers bring beguilement to new levels. Every syllable whispered and every subtle nuance has been crafted to influence an endgame that it alone can fathom. When a Verminlord Warpseer arrives in the world, it does so not with a plan, but with dozens, even hundreds of plots and intrigues - and is not through words and schemes alone that a Verminlord Warpseer will work its wiles.
When it comes to the arcane arts, the Warpseers wield great power. All Verminlords can hurt black lightning, but when the Warpseers do so, it is not lone bolts that they cast but vast, arcing chains of destruction. With a stomp of their clawed foot they can open rifts, crack foundations and topple the structures of the so-called civilized world. At their command, the vermin of the world swarm, forming tidal waves of rats. So powerful is their call, that rodent kind from the shadow realms join the pack, and nothing can stop their chisel teeth, for they are able gnaw the soul from a body in seconds.
Verminlord Warpseers alone can summon forth a scry-orb of enormous proportions. This sphere can be used to gaze into all possible futures, allowing the Verminlord to know the unknowable and see that which is beyond sight - a powerful boon as they plot the fall of their enemies and the fate of their allies. At times of great need, the Verminlord Warpseer can hurl this swirling orb as a weapon, its destruction releasing a miasma of multiple futures and fumes of purest warpstone. Those caught within the blast are driven mad, reduced to utter feeble-mindedness by the nightmare visions they are gifted.
Offense: They can utilize the Lore of Ruin better then any mortal Skaven could ever hope, though they seem to prefer the Warp Lightning spell. They also carry the Doom-Glaive (a Glaive is a weapon in the poleax family and is somewhat similar to a halberd) made of pure warpstone.
-The Scry Orb: See Description
Defense: Powerful magical barriers, Daemonic Durability, and if it has the Scry-Orb it can look into the future to avoid potential dangers.
The Verminlord Warbringers are the most commonly seen of the rat daemons, and of all the Verminlords, none are so full of themselves and self-posturing. Warbringers have a fondness for dramatic entrances, such as arriving in clouds of smoke before mustered hordes of skaven. They stride the battle lines, towering over the ratmen, who cower in the presence of such majestic and terrible beings. Wherever possible they strike heroic poses, with their sinuously curving horns thrust regally outwards, and their weapons glinting in the fires of battle.
All of this preening is not merely pretentiousness on the part of these Verminlords, however. Skaven - particularly Clanrats and Stormvermin - rally to the awe-inspiring sight of these godly creatures. Thus can the presence of such a Verminlord steady even the most craven force. With each colossal stride or dramatic whip of the tail, the chiltering tumult rising from the fighting hordes increases in its intensity. Skaven who bask in that verminous presence for long enough will be overcome by a bloodthirsty. Teeth snapping rage that they long to unleash upon the foe.
The Warbringers are not zealous about leading from the front; they far prefer to stride amongst a seething tide of ratmen, for they draw strength from being amongst their mortal underlings. When they reach the front line, few mortal creatures can match their speed or strength, and they cut down whole ranks at a time with great sweeps from their doom glaives. When facing larger enemies - or to deliver a dramatic coup de grace - a Warbringer will manifest an enormous spike-fist, driving it through the foe and tearing out its entrails for all to see.
Offense: Doomglaive and Punching Daggers. They can use spells from the Lore of Ruin or Plague, but with a specialization in Death Frenzy.
Defense: Daemonic Durability, and the Protection of the Horned Rat grants them mild magical protection.
Perhaps the least seen of all Verminlords are the Deceivers. This is as they prefer it. It is not their way to barge about upon a battlefield like some clumsy warlord. Instead, their power lies in stealth. They move in clouds of shadow, obfuscating even those around them. Only when their intrigues are ripe will a Verminlord Deceiver step out of the darkness to strike. Out of nowhere they appear, moving with blurring swiftness. Into their uplifted hands they summon forth triple-bladed throwing stars. With a snap of its wrist, the Verminlord can fling the killing star, sending it to scythe down foes in a great circling arc. The flash of its passing can be seen, leaving decapitated victims and sliced off limbs in its wake. At the end of its circuitous flight, the Verminlord Deceiver will snatch it out of mid-air and throw it again in quick succession. Such is their agility, and their ability to rapidly displace themselves, that the creatures can even throw their weapon and catch it from some completely different part of the battlefield.
In close combat, the Verminlord Deceivers favour the warpstiletto, a stabbing weapon the length of a man. Its steeply acuminated shape allows the blade to penetrate deeply into a foe, where its toxic nature can do the most damage with great efficiency. Whilst common soldiers might batter each other ceaselessly, with only a swift thrust from the warpstiletto a Deceiver can fell any foe, no matter how large.
Offense: They can utilize the Lore of Stealth better then any mortal Skaven, but they specialize in the Skitterleap spell.
Warpstiletto: See description
Doomstar: like a Chakram, this bladed disc can be hurled through enemy ranks, slicing heads from shoulders before being caught again by the Verminlord. It is made of pure warpstone. With the skitterleap spell, it is possible for the Verminlord to hurl it across the battlefield, slicing through multiple targets, and catch it on a completely different part of the battlefield.
Defense: In addition to their daemonic durability and their magic, they are also constantly Shrouded in Darkness, even in the middle of the day, making hitting them extremely difficult.
Verminlord Corruptors are disease given form. They are surrounded by an aura of creeping sickness, and all about them life withers away. The spreading of plague is their craft, and at their command are the worst maladies of the world. With but a malicious glance, a Verminlord Corruptor can cause foes to break out in the Roteye Pox, the Oozing Twitch or the Black Plague. There are none more malignant nor more uncompromising than these infested terrors. Of all the Verminlords, the Corruptors often have severely decayed and, consequently, the least elaborate horns - though simply mentioning this to one of these repulsive rat daemons is certain to begin a vendetta that will last an eternity.
Although not above a degree of skulking, Corruptors are more likely than any other Verminlords to be at the forefront of battle. They are zealots who incite extreme hate in others, proving especially effective in goading plague monks into an extreme frenzy. More sorcerous than most of their kin, the Corruptors can call down plaguestorms, shrivel skin, or vomit forth impossible geysers of noxious poisons. Should any foe live long enough to close with a Verminlord Corruptor, their battle has only just begun. Living upon the greasy pelt of a Corruptor can be any number of tiny parasites, stingfleas or three-eyed mites. They bite all who approach, and infect their prey with bubonix - the flesh-bubbling disease that rots foes in minutes. As the foe reels, the Verminlord Corruptor will then summon forth a pair of Plaguereapers, sickle-like blades which it will use to eviscerate its enemies with a savage fury.
Offense: Corruptors are masters of the Lore of Plague, and their skill is greater then any mortal Skaven. They specialize in the Plague spell. In CQC they fight with a pair of Plaguereapers, sickle like blades that practically drip pestilence.
Defense: Powerful magical barriers, the parasites that live on it, and daemonic durability
Additional Factors: (Applies to ALL Verminlords)
-Any onlooker finds that he cannot look away from the nightmarish creature, yet at the same time fervently hopes not to make eye contact. And this is wise, for even the passing attention of such an ancient and wicked being is enough to stop a man's heart. Few dare to meet a Verminlord's all-seeing gaze for even an instant and none can hold it. With the power of its voice alone, a Verminlord can manipulate the weak-willed into doing almost anything. Foes upon the battlefield have laid down their weapons before a Verminlord, convinced by whispered words that this was the wisest course of action. They stare at the Verminlord trustingly as they do so - even as the doom glaive falls.
-It is, of course, entirely possible for Verminlords to manifest in the world of mortals. However, unless the Winds of Magic are raging, the rat daemons must soon return to the shadowy and ruinous realm of their master. Such creatures are not meant to walk the earth and the natural world protests the Verminlord's warped presence — the air moves and seems to bend light, cradling the dreadful being in an aura of unholy contamination. Grass will blacken at the touch of a Vermin Lord's hooves and all hope fades in its ruinous presence.
-Ominous foreboding precedes a Verminlord and even the Lords of Decay fear being in the all-knowing presence of a living avatar of the Great Horned One. It is said that the Verminlord always knows the truth and it is no use embellishing the truth or attempting to deceive such a fiend. The unearthly power of a Vermin Lord allows it to smell lies even as they are spoken. As such, it is easy for a Verminlord to pluck out hidden fears and secret desires, using these to gain an advantage.
The moment a Verminlord touches his clawed feet upon the mortal realm, it begins to scheme. A Verminlord is eternally calculating a myriad of interweaving plots, ever seeking the best path towards some desired end. Shrewd beyond the ken of mortals, the rat daemon's plots are so utterly convoluted that they are all but unfathomable. As the webs of fate change, so too will a Verminlord's plans - shifting alliances, switching supplicants, or altering in their design. Thus, it is insanity itself to trust a Verminlord, for today it may bring aid, but tomorrow drive a doom glaive through an unguarded back. To observers, such betrayals appear whimsical - but they are simply unknowable, bound up in an intricate and labyrinthine world of Intrigue and treachery. Barring perhaps the scale of the betrayals, this is not much different to the Council of Thirteen's own actions, or the daily routines of every Skaven clan.
-A Verminlord is wiser and more wicked than any Skaven, yet it retains a jealous lust for power and a love of schemes and betrayal. That Verminlords exhibit many of the same flaws, foibles and desires as the Skaven themselves is not surprising. All Vermin lords are fragmented embodiments of the Horned Rat. Some are formed from the thoughts of that verminous deity, while others are Skaven elevated to immortality for glorious deeds that spread ruination and decay across the mortal realm - the daemonic forms of ancient Lords of Decay warped into something greater by the Horned Rat.
-The Horned Rat knows that for them to conquer, the Skaven must work together. At his demand, the Verminlords have formed a secretive collective - the Clandestine Council - it is a warped mirror of the Council of Thirteen - a gathering intended to ensure that all work together towards the same goal. The reality, however, has so far proven somewhat different.
-As a Daemons, a Verminlord's existence on the material realm requires the winds of magic to be blowing strong. As the winds of magic are fickle, it is possible for their presence to ebb or vanish, and if they do, the Verminlord will be forced back to the realm of the Horned Rat.
Mobility: 5
Training: 6-7
Max Range: Varies
Preferred Range: Varies
To hold the title of Warlord is to rule. A Skaven does not gradually earn respect or position, and there certainly is no giving in the brutal society of the ratmen. Leadership must be savagely taken. To gain power, a Warlord must seize control, proving himself a top fighter and a devious adversary. Such a coup either ends in failure and certain death at the hands of the existing ruler, or the new leader supplants the current Warlord, often eating him in the process. Challenges follow no format but often take the form of personal combat, treacherous back-stabbing, or elaborate political schemes. The more underhanded the deed, the better, for that is what puts the fear (and what almost passes for respect) into the Skaven masses.
Skaven leaders are larger and more powerfully built than the warriors they ruthlessly command, but mere physical prowess is not enough to sustain control. Once a Warlord has fought, betrayed, and clawed to the top, the battle really begins. Manipulation, the ability to set rivals upon each other or the mustering of support from an insincere following are skills needed to hold power, as even the fiercest fighters become worn down by the constant challenges.
Offense: They almost always get first pick of the loot, so they can have the best of the pickings. Can take whatever they want, potential for a magical weapon.
Defense: See Offense, but for armor. They also have Loyal (for a Skaven) Stormvermin bodyguards, and usually lead from the rear, far from danger.
Special: Chieftains: A Warlord cannot be everywhere at once and so must build up a cadre of enforcers - Loyal (for the moment) Chieftains that can ensure that his word is law and that the Warlord has a paw in all profitable ventures. In a small clan this can mean dozens of subordinates while for larger clans this includes a hierarchy of Warlords and thousands of Chieftains. Clan Chieftains control a segment of the larger Clan. Where a Clan might have representation in one Under- Empire city, the Chieftain receives instructions from his Warlord and master. Though still subservient to another more powerful Skaven, within their demesne they have nigh absolute authority. Those Clan Chieftains who prove themselves may one day rise to become Warlords themselves, supplanting their masters and perhaps even gaining a seat on the Council of Thirteen. While all Clan Chieftains believe this is their right and due, few survive long enough to achieve such lofty goals.
Special: Mounts: See the end of Specialist Support
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength In Numbers: See Clanrats
-Verminous Valor: See Grey Seers
-Skaven Warlords and Chieftains always lead from the rear, far from danger, and easily able to run away if things start to go badly.
-Great wealth can augment battle skills, bribe underlings, or simply buy formidable aid. Warlords of even minor clans attempt to buffer their personage with Stormvermin bodyguards, the latest Clan Skryre death-dealing invention, or hulking war-beasts such as specially bred Rat Ogre steeds purchased from Clan Moulder. Especially coveted among many Warlords are ostentatiously embellished War-litters carried by the burliest of warriors.
-Any threats to a leader's position must be ruthlessly countered and no effort is spared when eliminating rivals. As Skaven assume (quite correctly) that everyone is a potential rival, it is no small task prioritizing who should be dealt with first. Destroying upstarts can absorb the majority of a Warlord's effort - but there is an upside, as the brutal removal of a traitor can make others think twice before attempting their own ruses. Particularly gruesome or elaborate deaths can buy a Warlord hours of relative peace. To command for long, such scheming must come as naturally as breathing.
-All commanders must aggressively take credit for positive outcomes and swiftly allocate blame for all that goes poorly. This ranges from tweaking the truth to outrageous lies. For instance, if an avalanche destroys large portions of the foe, the more convincingly a Chieftain can take credit for the event, the more his esteem rises with subordinates ("yes-yes, it is deadly to attack Chieftain Snarlock") and with overlords ("The Great Horned One watches over Snarlock"). The fact that few believe such lies or blatant self-aggrandisement is neither here nor there - what is important is the small strand of possibility and the sheer audacity required to make such claims. It takes a great leader to speak great lies.
Mobility: 5
Training: 7
Max Range: Plague
Preferred Range: ^^
The highest ranks of the Plague Monks are occupied by the Plague Priests, individuals who have proved themselves time and again and have survived countless plagues. Plague Priests are among the foulest and most degenerate ratmen of the Disciples of Decay, otherwise known as Clan Pestilens. They lead their foul brethren in the creation of new and virulent diseases - forever searching for the ultimate plague that can weaken all nations so the Skaven can rise up and rule supreme.
It is the Plague Priests who stoke the righteous fury of the Plague Monks, teaching litanies of hate and breeding intolerance for all customs outside their own rituals. Clan Pestilens members do not seek material wealth, but instead are utterly and insanely focused on their master works. It is the diseased, but devoted, Plague Priests who enforce this harsh discipline. Under the direct control of the Plaguelords, the Plague Priests lead the daily rituals - recording the results of their poxes, and monitoring the many infections that are spread on not just captives, but also Skavenslaves, and even the Plague Monks themselves. Indeed, their own specially made diseases are not feared, but accepted as a Blessing from the Bringer of Pestilence himself. To be a living altar, a walking vessel of contamination, is the strident goal of every Plague Priest, who themselves lead by example. Bandages and robes barely cover their leathery hides or contain a Priest's weeping boils. It is the Plague Priests' duty to ensure the Cauldrons of a Thousand Poxes, bubbling iron vats of untold filth, are never empty, but instead brim over with new and terrible diseases to contaminate the world.
The Plague Priests claim the great Harbinger of Disease himself, the Horned Rat, grants them sorcerous powers to aid their unholy mission. Whether their arcane might is granted by a divine presence or from long study of the Book of Woe, there is no denying the noxious powers of the Plague Priests. Vomiting geysers of black death or cursing the enemy from afar so that he erupts with blistering boils, Plague Priests wield loathsome, but potent magics. When the outcome of a battle has particular importance to Clan Pestilens, the Plague Priest may even sanction the building of a great Plague Furnace to accompany the brotherhood on their divine mission to destroy all who oppose them.
Offense: They can use spells from the Lore of Plague. They also can bring a Plague Censer or Flail into battle. Given their high stature in their clan, they can actually use any weapon they want. Weapons used by a Plague Priest are considered poisonous, even long after the Plague Priest used it, and touching a Priest's weapon may be the last thing some opponents ever do.
Defense: Robes or Bandages, but their body is extremely durable from a lifetime of diseases being heaped upon him.
Special: Variant: Plaguelords: Even more powerful than the Plague Priests are the Plaguelords, whose mastery over pestilence is second only to the Horned Rat himself. These Priests are instrumental in the formulation of new diseases and poxes with which they seek to conquer the world. The hideous utensils which they use for their unholy work are known as "Cauldrons of a Thousand Poxes", artifacts reeking of evil, within which they brew their fetid, bubbling concoctions of unspeakable foulness.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-See Plague Monk Additional Factors
-Warlords, Grey Seers, and even the mighty Stormvermin elicit fear and grudging respect in their foes, but none of them evoke the naked horror that the Plague Priests do. These grotesque Priests spread the word of pestilence through the vile concoctions they brew and with the Plague Rats they create. Each time a mortal succumbs to rotting death at the hands of one of their innovations, they glorify their master: the Lord of Decay. And as a reward for their constant devotion, the Horned Rat saddles their bodies with some of the worst plagues known in the Old World.
Mobility: 5
Training: 1
Max Range: Plague
Preferred Range: Bite
The Skaven of Clan Pestilens, as a result of their feverish imaginations, has taken the use of rats a step further then many of the others. Knowing full well that rats are carriers of noxious disease, they bred a special type of rat, one that would spread one of the most virulent plagues the world has ever known: Neiglish Rot. By dipping Giant Rats into their burbling cauldrons, they infuse them with Foul Warpstone-laced wickedness. The rats develop a ravenous appetite, reproduce at a horrific rare, and are vectors for a suitably nasty plague. Plague Rats are thankfully rare, and once a food source is exhausted, they turn on each other until none remain.
The evil adepts of Clan Pestilens use rats as vessels of contagion to spread their lethal diseases. These animals are infected with one of the concoctions created by the Plague Priests and released into a city's sewers. There they contaminate the local rat population, which passes the diseases on to the inhabitants. Anyone bitten by one of these creatures will succumb to the virulent fever they carry.
Offense: A poisonous bite which will immediately cause infection, and is likely to be deadly if not treated quickly.
Defense: None. Worse, most of these creatures suffer from the ravages of the disease they carry, and so are missing legs, paws, half of their heads, and more.
Additional Factors:
-Used to spread contamination quickly or poison food and water supplies.
Mobility: 6
Training: 4
Max Range: Slings
Preferred Range: Melee
Night Runners are the most common Clan Eshin warriors - essentially assassins-in-training - although they are still secretive like all their mysterious clan. Night Runners are the young apprentices of Clan Eshin. Recently initiated into the secrets of the clan, they make up for their lack of knowledge with their ambition and energy. What differentiates these expendable foot soldiers from other Clanrats is that they receive rudimentary training in the fighting styles learned from distant Cathay. Faster than the ordinary Clanrat, they kill quickly so they can move on to eliminate their next foes.
Trained to move at speed, Night Runners strike quickly to prepare the way for Skaven armies. Small furtive units sneak from the shadows to seize key terrain features, while larger blocks of Night Runners scurry ahead of the Skaven lines to harass and slow down the foe.
Offense: They fight with duel blades for CQC, but for range they use slings.
Defense: Light Armor, allowing them to take advantage of their tremendous speed and agility.
Special: Variant: Nightleader: A Night Runner who has advanced to Nightleader - the champion of the stealth pack - is given many secret tasks for his unit to perform. These missions provide the final tests to ensure that only the most skilled advance to the next circle of training. The slightest misstep, such as a blade reflecting moonlight or the creak of a hidden trapdoor, is enough to jeopardise the mission and the entire unit.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away: See Clanrats
-A typical ruse is to slink off to the army's flanks, hoping to lure pursuit into a hastily prepared ambush.
-They cannot stand long against heavily-armed or armored opponents, and are best kept in a reserve role unless no other course is available. Despite their limitations, they are often thrown into the fray as necessary, their lives sacrificed en masse.
-These units of fast skirmishers are notorious for the low survivability of their troops, and few of their numbers survive to advance in the clan's hierarchy. Casualties are often high amongst Night Runner packs, for they work deep in enemy territory. This is not unexpected by their Clan Eshin masters. Only those that survive the many rigors of their profession can hope to advance to the more highly trained squads of the Gutter Runners, and each will gladly kill his brothers to advance his cause. This is the Eshin way to ensure that only the worthy make it to their ranks.
-Night Runners often work in conjunction with Gutter Runners, drawing out enemy reserves to allow the infiltrators-supreme to strike an exposed vital target. On great occasion the Night Runners are given a Warpgrinder tunneling team to burrow beneath the foe and emerge upon the enemy's flanks or rear. This tactic is almost always a suicide mission, but the deaths of the Night Runners can provide a worthwhile distraction.
-Silent Death For Hire: Whether a Warlord is seeking Night Runner raiders, death squads of Gutter Runners, lethal Assassins, or simply information, Clan Eshin will help for the right price. It is well known (if never spoken) that Clan Eshin is the knife in the paws of the Council of Thirteen. Whether the Lords of Decay have something over the shadowy clan or have merely provided the best bribe, Clan Eshin provides the unseen force with which the Council maintains their reign. The Warlord clans know it is no use pointing paws as spies are everywhere and it is perilous to plot against the plotters.
The constant removal of political opponents within the Under-Empire has its drawbacks and often delays greater plans. It is said that the Council of Thirteen maintain a rolling blacklist of 10,000 names marked for swift death. On the list are the world's leaders, be they Man, Elf or Dwarf. Prioritizing, however, always seems to require that Warlords of rebellious clans or threats to members of the Council top the list. Despite complex schemes to undermine the powers of the world, most resources are instead used to silence internal opposition, quell the over-ambitious and maintain the positions of the Council.
Mobility: 6
Training: 5-6
Max Range: Varies
Preferred Range: Ambush
Clan Eshin Night Runners who manage to survive have two options open to them if they wish to advance in their Clan. First, they could accept the post of responsibility; becoming Nightleaders and leading missions against the Clan's enemies. Or second, they could be selected to learn the darker mysteries of the Art of the Silent Death. Those who choose the latter undergo intense training, honing their skills of combat, stealth, and murder. Gutter Runners operate outside normal Skaven groups and often alone, being better suited to infiltrate their enemy's encampments and wreak havoc behind enemy lines.
Most suspicious deaths and acts of espionage in Skaven society are blamed on the nefarious Clan Eshin. Such accusations are probably true, but, of course, there is no evidence. Much of this devastation is wrought by the Gutter Runners, Clan Eshin's black-clad death squads. Gutter Runners are the wily rat-assassins of Clan Eshin. They have already undergone training in the mysterious fighting style developed in the Far East in the deadly skills which they must master to become full assassins so they work in small packs until the Assassin adepts decide they are ready to work alone. Gutter Runners are used to scout ahead of the Skaven army and harass the enemy with night raids and ambushes, using arson and poisoning as their main weapons. In battle they attempt to outflank the enemy, attacking vulnerable war machines and ambushing exposed units.
Offense: Varied. Gutter Runners use a variety of weapons to complete their missions. These could be daggers, throwing stars, slings, swords, nets, smoke bombs, etc.
Defense: Very very light armor. Their main defense is their amazing dodging ability.
Special: Variant: Deathrunner: A unit of Gutter Runners is often lead by a Deathrunner - the term used for the most promising assassin-adept.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away: See Clanrats
-Gutter Runners are used to soften up enemy armies before a battle begins. Night raids, arson attacks, and contaminated water supplies are all favorite covert tactics of these stealth troops. Gutter Runners are skilled at infiltrating behind enemy lines, scouting ahead of the main Skaven force and biding in a position that will allow them to jump out at the right moment to ambush vulnerable units. On the battlefield, Gutter Runners are often tasked with the elimination of enemy war machines, ambushing exposed flanks or picking off vulnerable units.
-The Gutter Runners use a variety of weapons and poisons to accomplish their missions, but it is their ability to appear out of nowhere that makes them so formidable. They are masters of stealth and can nimbly creep up on even the wariest of opponents. On occasion Gutter Runners will use a Warp-grinder Weapon Team so that they can surface in the centre of an enemy's battleline to cause maximum disruption.
-In addition to hiring themselves out to perform sinister deeds for the Warlord clans, Gutter Runners work on behalf of the Council of Thirteen. Across the globe, furtive bands of Gutter Runners spy, instigate warfare between surface dwellers (or rival clans) and commit acts of sabotage. Under the orders of the Lords of Decay, Gutter Runners have stolen or destroyed the recorded history of Skaven attacks from the great libraries of the Empire, searched for ways to penetrate the Emerald Gates of Ulthuan, and sought out the locations of all the remaining descendants of the dreaded Von Carstein Vampires. An unprecedented amount of secret knowledge flows into Skavenblight, as the Council of Thirteen mulls over each report, forever seeking to stay one step ahead of their many foes.
Mobility: 7
Training: 7
Max Range: Varies
Preferred Range: Melee
Skaven Assassins are the pinnacle of Clan Eshin warriors, the culmination of years of training and countless examples of murder most vile. The few who know of the existence of the black-clad Assassins fear them above all others. Masters of poison, exceptionally skilled in the arts of hand-to-hand combat, and versed in the ways of stealth and conspiracy, these killers sell their services to any Skaven Warlord who can meet their exorbitant fees.
Stealth and killing are the study of the Skaven Assassin. All Clan Eshin warriors are trained to perform amazing feats of speed and dexterity. Only those Gutter Runners that excel in their trade are considered for the more intensive training and be indoctrinated into the highest secrets of Eshin's fighting arts. It is then that the secret arts are taught, some of which are ancient techniques studied in the Far East, but many more are unique fighting styles of the ratmen's own devising. Many Assassins-in-training are lost as the regimen is gruelling. The final tests are death missions assigned by Clan Eshin's ruling council, presided over by Lord Sneek, the leader of the clan and one of the Lords of Decay. After surviving such actions, an Assassin is considered an acknowledged master in the methodology of murder. In motion an Assassin is a blur, able to rain blows upon a foe or pluck arrows out of mid-flight. Skaven Assassins are so adept at hiding in the shadows that many suspect supernatural magic is at work.
Not all of an Assassin's work happens in isolated darkness. When the Skaven march to war they are sometimes accompanied by Clan Eshin's finest hiding amongst their number. These death-dealing agents pose as a regular rank and file trooper until the moment is right. At this time, they cast off their disguise and leap into the position where they can do the most damage. Fighting with poisoned blades in each paw, an Assassin can unleash a murderous flurry of attacks that is more than capable of striking down an enemy leader. At other times an Assassin will operate on the battlefield alone - turning up to wreak havoc behind enemy lines, setting timed bombs or using poisoned shurikens to slay targets of opportunity.
Offense: Any weapon required. They are highly trained to use a variety of weapons, though the most common is a pair of swords for CQC and poisoned throwing stars for ranged. They are also trained in a variety of martial arts. While hiding in the ranks of other Skaven, they will have a weapon appropriate to that unit.
Defense: They are a blur of motion, able to dodge any attacks be they melee, arrows or even magic missiles. Also very light leather. If they are hiding out in another unit, they will have armor befitting that unit, though they will immediately cast it off once they reveal themselves.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-The Council of Thirteen often employs Eshin's Assassins in their day to day affairs. Maintaining the status quo requires precision that only an Assassin can provide. In effect, the Assassins have been relegated to the status of a secret police force at the beck and call of the Lords of Decay. Clan Eshin is aware of this, and is perhaps a bit too smug within its position of power. So long as they remain useful to the Council, however, the assassins of Clan Eshin are beyond reproach. If the Lords of Decay decide a Warlord or a Grey Seer is no longer loyal, Assassins of Clan Eshin are set on their trail, maintaining the Council's rule through murder and terror. The art of sabotage, arson, and poison all form part of an Assassin's deadly bag of tricks.
Mobility: 6 (9 with magic)
Training: 7
Max Range: Battlefield
Preferred Range: Hidden
The Sorcerers of Clan Eshin are black magicians who manufacture the enchanted weapons of the Assassins. Though their power is slight compared to the Warlocks of Clan Skryre or the mighty Grey Seer, their black sorcery is still potent.
The Art of the Silent Death wasn't the only thing Clan Eshin brought back when they returned from Cathay. A few Skaven delved into the black arts of magic. Blending what they already knew of the warp with the techniques used by Cathay sorcerers, they developed a new lore, one that serves to enhance their Clan's power and mystique. Eshin Sorcerers are mysterious, rare, and keep to themselves; they are well aware that the Grey Seers brook no competition from other Skaven spellcasters.
Offense: They use spells from the Lore of Stealth. They may also bring in a hand weapon like a dagger or sword.
Defense: Magic, light armor (robes or leather)
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-Verminous Valor: See Grey Seers
-Very Rare
Mobility: 5
Training: 4
Max Range: Whip
Preferred Range: Behind his monsters
Clan Moulder is one of the smallest clans in numbers but controls a large amount of warpstone which it uses to create new and ever more dangerous creatures. The mutated fighting beasts made by Clan Moulder are whipped forward into battle by Packmasters. They are Skaven overseers responsible for corralling and controlling the monsters created by the Master Moulders. Most Packmasters prod and control Rat Swarms and Giant Rats, driving them into the ranks of their enemies using whips and intimidation in order to spur their charges into a frenzy of teeth and claws. Others are charged with controlling the dreaded Rat Ogres.
The specially trained Packmasters are experts at goading their charges - ferocious, half-mad creatures who can turn and attack with no warning. For this reason Packmasters are themselves cagey and fierce warriors for, if they are not, they quickly end up as another meal for their merciless packs. They are often mutated themselves, with spikes growing out of their flesh or extra arms. The Packmasters' intelligence, coupled with their creatures' ferocity, is an extremely dangerous combination on the battlefield.
Offense: Whip - The whip is a favored weapon and beast-driving tool, and Packmasters quickly learn to become experts with the long lash. A Packmaster is adept at using his whip to direct the feral packs, or, when engaged in combat, to snap the weapon at the enemy - attacking over the heads of Giant Rats or between the hulking Rat Ogres. Those that can afford such luxuries may upgrade their whips to something that delivers even more pain.
Things-Catcher: These polearms are a staple amongst the beast-handling and creature-catching crowd. It has a large, tong-like head lined on the inside with spikes. Designed to be thrust around the torsos and extremities of foes, these weapons can immobilize creatures of nearly any size. Clan Moulder is the only Skaven clan to use things-catchers on a regular basis though. They are also employed by warbands that are sent to fetch slaves or prisoners. Requires two hands.
Defense: Behind behind his monsters. Packmasters tend to wear rags, though it is possible for them to steal better armor.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-The Packmasters display no fear of the creatures that they control, for to do so is to invite the beasts to turn on them. Even so, no beast is entirely predictable and even a veteran Packmaster runs the constant risk of dying beneath his charges' teeth and claws.
-It is common practice for Clan Moulder to sell both beast packs and Packmaster handlers to the highest bidder. In this way Packmasters leave Hell Pit to serve under Warlord clans across the globe. Some clans, not fully trusting Clan Moulder, will buy beast packs but insist on supplying their own Packmasters. Goading such creatures into battle is not an exact science, and many clans who attempt their own handling are soon after savaged by their own rat-beasts.
-Some few clans, notably Clan Krizzor of the Dark Lands, have an affinity for developing their own Packmasters, but none save Clan Moulder produce enough to sell to other clans.
-Packmasters job is to make sure that Skaven creatures stay on point and don't turn on their masters. A Skaven creature with a Packmaster is much less likely to do harm to its own side. Well… not much anyway.
Mobility: 5
Training: 7
Max Range: Whip
Preferred Range: Experimenting and Twisting new creations
"Our greatest triumphs they are. Advance the Skaven ever on they do. What battles do the Children of the Horned Rat fight of any importance without the favored children of Clan Moulder? Not one, not one! Man-things fear them more than the toys of Skryre, more than the blades of the Eshin, more than the poxes of Pestilens and fear they should. Toys can break, all stealth thwarted, sickness be overcome, not so easily dismissed are the claws of the Rat Ogres. Wealth they are, yes-yes. The least is worth hundreds of warp tokens, the greatest priceless. The foundations of our great clan! Train them from runtlings, love them one and all we do. We only hurt them to make them strong. Strong and properly... respectful. It would not do for the masterwork to ever turn against the artist, no, not at all." - Esqueg, Master Mutator
The things born in Clan Moulder's laboratories frighten even the Grey Seers. Nothing is sacred to these vile Skaven. They blend the parts of hundreds of creatures to create something much better, and stronger, a horror that will safeguard Moulder's place at the top of the pile. The creators of these abominations are the Master Moulders, a rank above the Packmasters. The breeders and imitators of Clan Moulder, they are trained in fleshshaping techniques passed down generation after generation, they are responsible for Giant Rats, Rat Ogres, and any number of other abominations.
Mutated by many years of exposure to large amounts of warpstone, the Master Moulders are disturbing creatures. They sometimes appear on the battlefield to inspect the impact of their creations and find inspiration on how to make them even more deadly. These burly commanders often personally lead their beasts to battle to better inspect the performance of both pack and Packmaster. Their presence instils a great deal of fear and discipline in their minions, largely on account of their ability to cause even more severe pain, and even the most powerful Rat Ogres shy away from these vicious Skaven, a clear testament of their great skill at inflicting pain on all living creatures.
Offense: Many Master Moulders bear unique (if not downright horrific) tools of their trade, such as the things-catcher - a wicked-looking prod with a mechanical grabber; a Shock-Prod (a barbed prod that can electrocute even something as large as a Rat Ogre), and an Electro-Whip (its just what it sounds like).
Defense: See Packmasters
Special: Variant: Master Mutators: Commanding the Clan Moulder's hellish legions of twisted flesh are the Master Mutators. These mad Skaven hold the foulest secrets of their craft, trickling the information to the Master Moulders, empowering them with just enough knowledge to protect their Clan while keeping the rest secret to prevent being overthrown. It's not known what abominations can be attributed to the Master Mutators, but some believe that not all of the terrors found in the Old World are by the will of the Changer of Ways. Typically a Master Moulder can't stop tinkering and adjusting the fleshy creations he has grown in vats, bred, and stitched together. Can it function with an additional arm? Will the pincer from a Chaos beast graft on or will it attack itself? How can more growing agents be squeezed out of prisoners to better enrich new creations? The Packmasters claim in hushed tones and with shudders that the Master Mutators' best subjects are themselves.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-See Packmasters
Mobility: 5
Training: 7
Max Range: Battlefield
Preferred Range: Varies
The notorious Warlock Engineers of Clan Skryre are the artificers of Skaven society, blending arcane sorceries with technology in an insane and mind-boggling mix. For the other races of the world it is hard to differentiate or define where the science stops and the power of magic begins, although such delineation never occurs to Skaven. Warlock Engineers see the two elements as one and the same - machines and sorcery blended together to create impressive killing power.
On the battlefield it is readily apparent that some of the Warlock Engineers are able to channel and cast magic in the traditional ways understood by the races of the world. They harness the energies of the Winds of Magic and channel it to foul Skaven effects. Whether or not this is done with the aid of warped machinery is unknown. Although they can cast and counter magic, the Warlock Engineers are not nearly as adept at sorcery as the horned Grey Seers. Some Warlock Engineers are unable to cast spells at all, but instead seem wholly absorbed with the building and firing of a variety of mechanical weapons capable of dangerous and unpredictable effects.
Offense: Some, but not all, can use the Lore of Ruin. They may also carry into battle warplock muskets / pistols, poisoned wind globes, or blades that crackle with warpstone energy. All attacks by the Engineer count as magical in nature.
Defense: Varies. They might come in heavy armor (modified to power all their gadgets) or they might have very little. Those that can use magic can use magical barriers.
Special: Warpstone Tokens: These pieces of refined warpstone are consumed by power-hungry Grey Seers or Warlock Engineers to aid their spellcasting. This is dangerous (as they can sometimes poison the Skaven rather then grant strength), but the quick road to power is an irresistible pull for any Skaven.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-Verminous Valor: See Grey Seers
-Warlock Engineers appear as other Skaven, but it is invariably harder to discern their shapes as they are typically covered in whirling, hissing, clanking contraptions of their own devising. The normally twitchy Skaven energy is partially confined due to the number of wires and attachments that trail behind the Clan Skryre ratmen. There is a frightening tendency towards body-part replacement amongst many Warlock Engineers. This is partly due to limb loss from explosive mechanical mishaps but, disturbingly, much of it is by choice. The endlessly tinkering Engineers are always assured they can 'build a better one' and so eyes, limbs, and more are gleefully replaced with cog- driven mechanical parts. At the heart of most Warlock Engineer upgrades is the driving force behind all Skavendom - the dreaded warpstone. The green-black luminescent stuff is used as a power source, providing potent chaotic energies to many strange and diabolic devices.
-These techno-mages are equipped with complex harnesses that allow them to visualise the ever-mutating winds of magic, so that they can tap into the flow of power and use its energy for their powerful destructive spells. Each Engineer equips his own harness with the devices that he prefers. These warpstone powered machines are carried on the Warlock Engineer's back and are often partially implanted into his body. They pick up and concentrate the energy of the winds of magic through an antenna that is worn by the Skaven scientist on his tail. They also include an eyepiece that allows the Warlock to see the mutable ebbs and flows of the magical energies in the ether.
Skaven Warlords often seek to augment their fighting prowess and intimidation factor. Riding atop a mutant steed constructed by Clan Moulder or borne upon a War-litter bedecked with clan symbols serves notice of their greatness!
Rat Ogre Bonebreaker:
The Rat Ogre Bonebreaker is one of Clan Moulder's specially engineered variant breeds. The Bonebreaker strain is created by taking an augmented Rat Ogre and submerging the stitched monstrosity in a vat of growth agents for months. It takes thousands of slaves dying horrible deaths to produce enough growing juices to fill the vat, but that is easily offset by the asking price for the muscle-bound behemoths. When it emerges from its enforced chemical immersion the Bonebreaker is a prodigiously proportioned Rat Ogre, so bulked out that its upper body is hunched over, straining to contain such massed brawn. A braced platform, strapped or bolted onto the creature's back, allows a Warlord to ride atop a Rat Ogre Bonebreaker. When mounted atop such a beast a Warlord becomes pride swollen and behaves more arrogantly than ever.
Great Pox Rat:
To engorge a Giant Rat to even further mass and obesity requires a Master Moulder of extraordinary talents, and the right blend of growth agents and hidegrafts. Great Pox Rats are abhorrent, bloated vermin the size of a large pony, only much wider. They are covered with mangy fur overtaken by patches of poxes and dripping lesions. A Great Pox Rat's filth-encrusted mouth is filled with needle-sharp teeth, saber-like incisors, and yet-to-be-discovered diseases. Once astride the heavily bloated Great Pox Rat a Warlord can rightfully twitch his tail in pride, for surely none would be so foolish as to challenge such a mighty personage?
War-Litter:
Some Warlords go to battle atop litters borne by slaves and guarded by the strongest Stormvermin available. Such platforms offer protection, extra fighters, and a more elaborate and visible display of the Warlord's power. There is a satisfying pomp about being carried around that appeals to a certain kind of Warlord. Even better if the platform is bedecked with clan trophies, the skulls of enemies and relics of defeated rivals. Some clans use palanquins in emulation of the awe inspired by the Grey Seers on their Screaming Bells, while others are simply copying the Dwarf tendency to fight atop shields borne by bodyguards.
HEROES & LEADERS:
Mobility: 6
Training: 8
Max Range: Plague
Preferred Range: Battlefield
Nurglitch was the first of the Plague Lords of Clan Pestilens, and was responsible not only for their ascension as a clan and their seat on the Council of Thirteen, but also for the corruption that gnarls their bodies and marks their souls.
Offense: Nurglitch is a powerful wizard who uses spells from the Lore of Plague.
-Blade of Nurglitch: The Blade of Corruption has long been a treasured artefact from the days when Clan Pestilens haunted the lands of Lustria. A vile weapon, it has a long wavy edge and drips a foul green fluid from its rip. The Skaven whisper that this weapon was forged in the earliest days of Skaven history and was cooled in the blood of Slann. Blessed by the special ointments of the Plaugelord, this blade is filth-encrusted. Even a scratch from such a rusty weapon can turn into instant infection.
-Bubonic Scepter: This unremarkable-looking scepter throbs with the essence of every disease indigenous to Lustria. The Bubonic Sceptre can be used to inflict vile contagions on Nurglitch's enemies. Has a range of 300 meters.
Defense: See Plague Priest
Special: Mount: Bilios: See Great Pox Rat
Special: The Grim Ague: Nurglitch carries the Grim Ague, a horrible disease that permeates even the air that he breathes. Any non-Clan Pestilens unit within 6 meters of him will find their weapon skill decreasing somewhat as they choke on the vial stench in the air. Furthermore, any unit engaged in CQC with Nurglitch will find their strength leaving them as the disease begins to rot their bodies.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-The Passion of the Putrid: Nurglitch and Bilios are in a constant state of frenzied hatred at all non-plagued lifeforms. Such is the inspiration effect Nurglitch has on his army that no Clan Pestilens units will loose their own frenzied zealous state while he is still alive.
-Scion of Corruption: The Plague Lord is so favoured by his vile god that he has a powerful magical forcefield around him at all times. In addition, neither Nurglitch nor any unit he joins will ever suffer wounds from spells cast from the Lore of Plague or Nurgle. Furthermore, Plague Censers last much longer in his presence.
Mobility: 6
Training: 8 (Thanqoul), 2 (Boneripper)
Max Range: Battlefield (Thanqoul), Several Meters (Boneripper)
Preferred Range: ^^
Through magic, manipulation and shrewd intuition, Thanquol had served the Under-Empire on many missions. In every deed and every action, Thanquol had but one goal: how he could exploit the situation to best serve his own needs.
Like every Skaven, Thanquol was a self-serving, ambitious opportunist - however, no other could match the grey seer's good fortune. Whether it was precognition or the blessing of the Horned Rat, the grey seer had an uncanny sixth sense that allowed him to land feet first no matter what. With a twitching of his tail, Thanquol would alter war plans or stratagems at the last minute. This was often a probe for new advantages, but could simply have been a sudden strong intuition. In the past, such hasty re-direction allowed his armies to avoid ambushes, or pointed him in the direction of undiscovered treasures.
Not all of Thanquol's last-minute master-plans worked out. In fact, few, if any, of his ideas panned out according to their initial design. His constant tinkering and meddling invariably left the original plan so altered that no-one, least of all Thanquol, was entirely sure what was supposed to happen next. However, as Thanquol was a powerful mage, and also incredibly lucky, the Council of Thirteen learned that the end results were as often as not better than expected.
Indeed, for many, Thanquol had managed to profit from his high standing with the Council of Thirteen - so much so that his horned peers could only look on with envy. The grey seer had a nack for wheedling himself into prime position to be rewarded with many, more tangible, assets. Chief amongst these prizes was his rat ogre bodyguard, Boneripper, or, more properly, a series of rat ogre bodyguards named Boneripper - for none of them lived for very long. Each one was larger and bore more mechanically enhanced parts than the last, although no few used re-animated pieces of their former namesakes as well.
Richly rewarded as he was, Thanquol could afford more and more warpstone. Securing a steady supply of that precious commodity became a prime goal of his missions. The twisted, prophetic visions that the warpstone granted the grey seer had always paid off. There was a downside, however, as Thanquol had become completely addicted to the dangerous substance. Other Skaven found that even a nibble of pure warpstone had horrific consequences, but no matter how much Thanquol ingested, he never seemed troubled by it. He could grind down large nuggets, boosting his powers hundredfold with no disastrous effects.
As the events of the End Times unfolded, and the grey seers were maneuvered out of their ascendant position. Thanquol was just returning from Tilea. With his coffers full of slaves and warpstone, his personal power had never been greater. Like his peers, Thanquol was fearful of this ominous new development, but rather than railing at the indignity of the situation, he saw opportunity. With Grey Seer Kritislik dead, there was an empty seat on the Council of Thirteen. He needed only to prove his worth to the remaining Lords of Decay - and ensure none of his fellow Grey Seers stood in his way.
When Great Warlock Skribolt asked for Thanquol's assistance during the Clan Skryre-led attack upon Nuln, Thanquol - ever full of himself - was certain he was asked because of his high standing, his knowledge of the man-things, and his successful attack years ago upon the very same city. He was happy to oblige Skribolt, seeing a chance to prove his prowess once and for all. As was often the case, though, the Grey Seer had badly misjudged.
Skribolt, like many others, had long-standing grudge-debts against the horned mages. Without wishing to openly attack the Grey Seer, Skribolt did the next best thing - he pinned all the blame for every failure upon Thanquol. This, along with separating the sorcerer from his bodyguard under the pretense of 'repairs' seemed a sure way to dispose of him. However, Skribolt could not have anticipated the Grey Seer's amazing ability to somehow come out on top in every situation.
Driven by desperation, Thanquol attempted to summon a Verminlord. This was always a nerve-racking experience for any Grey Seer, but was even more so for Thanquol. His previous attempt had summoned a rampaging Bloodthirster - and not just any, but Skarbrand, the Destroyer from Beyond. Although, the end result was perhaps more devastating, it was an experience that had rightfully left a mark upon the Grey Seer.
As fortune would have it - with the cursed moon that men called Morrslieb dragged closer, and the tides of Chaos growing stronger than ever before - Thanquol's summoning brought forth not just a Verminlord, but perhaps one of the most powerful of the rat daemons to ever walk the world - Skreech Verminking.
Anxious to get his claws dirty in the mortal realm, Verminking became Thanquol's patron, aiding the Grey Seer in usurping leadership of the Nuln attack from Clan Skryre. It was Verminking that enhanced Boneripper, using his magics to enlarge the creature and amalgamating several other specimens within that hulking beast. Boneripper was akin to all rat ogres, only greater in every respect; more muscle-bound, bestial, and absolutely hostile towards everyone save Thanquol and its creator.
Skreech Verminking also ensured that the warlock engineers outfitted the giant rat ogre with the latest and most devastating weaponry. Thus, when Thanquol met his 'improved' Boneripper, the beast bore a warpfire thrower upon each of its four arms - enough firepower to immolate entire enemy regiments. For closer encounters, warp braziers could be affixed - wrecking balls of burning warpstone that struck wit the impact of falling meteors.
Despite his callous and self-centered ways, Thanquol had always been fond of his Bonerippers. This was not so much an emotional attachment as it was the simple relief of knowing that he was watched over by a sturdy and loyal, albeit mindless, bodyguard. Naturally, with his protector now grown huge and better armed than ever, Thanquol's appreciation likewise increased. The new Boneripper was so large that the Grey Seer could scramble up its back, using it as a monstrous mount of sorts.
Thanquol and Boneripper made a fearsome duo, the arcane might of the Grey Seer complementing the savage brawn of the giant rat ogre. While some may have pointed out that Thanquol's blessings were merely down to good fortune, the Grey Seer himself claimed that, this time, his genius could not be denied. It was possible that all cowered before him because of his towering rat ogre - but Thanquol knew it simply to be his rightful due.
Offense: Thanquol is a very powerful wizard who uses spells from the Lore of Ruin and Plague.
Boneripper can be equipped with a pair of Warpfire Projectors, which are good for mid ranged combat, or Warpfire Braziers: Trailing green flame like some sickened meteor, these enormous wrecking balls allow Boneripper to pulverize stone or smash through armor with ease. Both of these weapons are considered magical in nature. The warp-fumes given off by the Braziers is incredibly toxic to anyone who isn't Boneripper or Thanquol.
Boneripper is very large, and could simply stomp someone flat or bite them in half.
Defense: Thanquol can use powerful magical barriers, and is protected by Boneripper.
Blessing of the Horned Rat: Whether precognitive powers or divine intervention, Thanquol has been blessed with extraordinary good fortune. This has allowed him to survive certain death multiple times, and turns even his mistakes into positives.
Special: Amulet of the Horned Rat: It is not clear from where the Amulet of the Horned One came. Some claim it is a gilt from the Horned One himself, and its history supports this view. It is said that the Amulet first appeared around the neck of the dreaded Scrench, a Seer Lord of no small skill. For as long as he wore it, he could survive the worst treacheries, recovering from knife wounds, spells, and even poisoning. One day, though, when confronted by a group of his students, he prepared to destroy them all when the Amulet vanished from around his neck. Fearing he had lost the favour of the Horned Rat, he tried to flee but fell to the wicked knives of his former apprentices. Since Scrench's death, the Amulet of the Horned One has changed hands many times, and most recently hangs from the neck of the infamous Grey Seer Thanquol himself. The pure warpstone talisman worn by Thanquol is a powerful defensive item as well as a badge of office.
This amulet will slowly heal Thanquol over time.
Special: Staff of the Horned One: This long staff is made of blackened wood and capped with a Warpstone symbol of the Lord of Decay. Believed to be the symbol of authority of the first Grey Seer, it has a long and colourful history, having changed hands dozens of times since its creation. The Grey Seer Thanquol came into possession of this Staff early in his career after murdering his mentor and teacher. It marks him out as one who speaks for the Horned Rat.
This staff increase the power of Thanquol's spells.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-Verminous Valor: See Grey Seers
-See Grey Seers
-Warpstone Addiction: Thanquol is addicted to warpstone and has been known to liberally use the raw Chaos matter. While this has unhinged his sanity, it does also have its advantages. Thanquol can absorb quantities of the precious stuff with few side effects save for occasional eye-bulging facial twitches, a slight increase in rash/reckless behavior, or a suspicion that his own whiskers are following him.
-Bodyguard of Thanquol: Boneripper will never willing leave Thanquol's side. As a semi-mindless servant he cannot be scared into fleeing, and will not break (mentally) in combat.
-All Grey Seers have a particular field of expertise and Thanquol has chosen to study humans, which of all the races in the Old World, be finds most interesting and easiest to corrupt. From Tilea to the northern boundaries of the Empire, Thanquol has an extensive knowledge of the man-things' languages and history and has spent much time seeking the best ways to manipulate such creatures. Thanquol has had much success corrupting and bribing many individuals, building a nefarious network of informers and agents in many of the major human cities.
Mobility: 5
Training: 8
Max Range: Melee
Preferred Range: Melee
Warlord Queek Headtaker is the personal champion and right claw to Warlord Gnawdwell, grand ruler of Clan Mors and member of the Council of Thirteen. Warlord Gnawdwell has groomed Queek as his lieutenant since his birthing, supplying him with the best armour and weapons, protecting him from the other Lords of Decay and staging attempted assassinations to keep Queek on his toes. That Queek has risen so high in arguably the most powerful Warlord clan is a credit to the terrible violence he unleashes on any in his way. Queek's vicious streak and vitriolic temper, along with his immense ego, are legendary amongst Skaven, who regard such traits as greatly admirable.
The majority of Queek's exploits have been in the tunnels, lairs, and abandoned Dwarfholds beneath the surface of the world. The Warlord's fame grows as word of his bloody deeds spreads through the Under-Empire. Queek is feared by the Goblins and respected by the Orc tribes. Dwarfs have great hatred for Queek, whose name appears regularly in the Book of Grudges. Warlord Queek has led several armies into battle against the Dwarf strongholds of the Worlds Edge Mountains and against the notorious Night Goblin Warlord Skarsnik, who holds the upper levels of Karak Eight Peaks in an iron grip.
By sheer audacity, Queek claimed a mighty prize from the scavenge-hoard - Dwarf Gouger, a weapon forged during the beginning of the war with the beardedthings. Lost for centuries, Dwarf Gouger was recovered deep in the Night Goblin lairs near the ruins of Karak Drazh. At the time Queek was a mere Chieftain, but it was widely believed that he led the attacks that claimed the darksome hole for Clan Mors. In fact, it hadn't been Queek, but he claimed it had been with conviction and slew any who denied him, and was therefore granted first scavenge rights. So it was that the wicked maul, ideal for punching through steel plate, once more became the bane of the Dwarfs. Queek has perfected a furious windmill style of attack, fighting simultaneously with Dwarf Gouger and a barbed sword - slashing, puncturing, and snapping with his razor-sharp teeth.
Queek has enjoyed considerable success in these forays to date, most notably in the Battle of the North Stair where he led Clan Mors warriors in a surprise raid on the unprepared Night Goblin guards through an old sewer outlet. The Clanrats quickly swarmed over the surprised Goblins, killing most of them and enslaving the rest. Warlord Queek personally slew the Night Goblin chief, shattering the Goblins' resistance and enhancing his own fearsome reputation in the process.
Although his scarlet-armoured Stormvermin often accompany him, Warlord Queek takes pleasure in personally dispatching enemy leaders. Supremely confident of his own considerable abilities, and brave beyond any Skaven measure, Queek goes out of his way to find worthy opponents to challenge in hand-to-hand combat. In his arrogance Queek carries the severed heads of his latest opponents on a trophy rack to remind followers - and Warlord Gnawdwell - of the fighting prowess of the almighty Warlord Queek, the Headtaker, the Dwarf-smiter. Adorned upon spikes in Queek's collection are Krug Ironhand of Karak Drazh, Ikit Slash of Fester Spike, the bones of Goblin Warboss Drokskar, and the hands of Baron Albrecht Kraus of Averland. He has been the target of countless assassination attempts by rival Warlords and jealous members of his own Clan, but Queek seems to have an uncanny ability to survive these encounters and exact his brutal revenge.
Warlord Gnawdwell relies on Queek, dispatching him to break enemy lines, storm defenses, and bring victory to Clan Mors. At the same time Warlord Gnawdwell continues to hire Assassins to slay the Headtaker. All of this non-stop violence keeps Queek on his toes; too busy to scheme for Gnawdwell's ruling position.
Offense: Dwarf-Gouger: Dwarf-Gouger is a wicked Skaven weapon dating back to their early history when the Skaven battled relentlessly against the Dwarfs in the Worlds Edge Mountains. Its curved blade is deeply etched with twisted markings of epithets and curses against the Dwarfish race, and each engraving is filled with the dried blood of countless stout folk. Against Dwarfs, it inflicts horrendous wounds, and it is capable of slicing through the finest armor with ease.
Queek is one of the greatest living fighters in the Old World, and certainly the best sword fighter the Skaven have. He is skilled enough to take on masses of heavily armored opponents, or slaughter a dragon by himself.
Defense: Warpstone Armor: Queek often wears magical armor made of metal mixed with powdered warpstone during the forging process. Wrought within the great warpforges underneath Skavenblight, this armor radiates a poisonous aura. It is inscribed with runes to draw the malign influence of the Horned Rat around the wearer. Enemies who strike the armor are in turn blasted with its evil power.
This is a set of full plate heavy armor. Any time the enemy manages to do some real damage to it, they are in turn dealt damage by the armor.
Special: The Foul Pendant: Gifts from the Council of Thirteen to their most dedicated and accomplished followers, Foul Pendants often switch hands soon after they are awarded. They are tokens in the form of a simple rat skull strung upon an iron chain. Sickly green smoke radiates from this rat-skull token. This solidifies before incoming attacks; returning to smoke once more when the blow is deflected.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-Hatred: Orcs & Goblins, Dwarfs (Especially Dwarfs)
-Unlike other Skaven, Queek welcomes a challenge, and is eager to both accept and issue one. He is always looking for more heads for his trophy rack.
-Trophy Heads: Queek has several dead heads strapped to his back that talk to him. They give him advice (though he rarely listens). As no one else can hear the heads, it is not clear if this is a special gift from the Horned Rat, some innate ability of Queek's, or if he's just totally nuts.
-Queek hates Grey Seers.
Mobility: 5
Training: 8
Max Range: Plague
Preferred Range: Plague
Lord Skrolk is one of the Plaguelords, the rulers of Clan Pestilens, a favoured devotee of the Horned Rat and the prime agent under the direct command of the Arch- Plaguelord Nurglitch, he-who-is-tenth on the Council. Corrupted and bloated, Lord Skrolk's flesh hangs in rotting tatters over his bones, and his eyes are oozing, empty sockets. It was the sight of the radiant corruption of the Arch- Plaguelord that caused Skrolk to claw out his own eyes, as he wished to see no other vision to obscure that last glimpse of perfection. But the Horned Rat provides... despite empty sockets, Skrolk moves assuredly and claims a magical sight that sees in vivid hues of decay. Now diabolic vitality burns through his limbs and by the blessing of the Homed Rat he sees the world again, but only as the purples and greens of corruption and decay. Despite his seeming blindness Skrolk's reflexes are amazing. He can snatch a fly out of the air - or rather, he could if any flies were able to enter the aura that emanates from his loathsome hide. Insects literally drop dead from the noxious fumes surrounding Skrolk, and only extreme devotees can abide his presence. The noisome diseases which cling to Skrolk's putrescent body are so vilely potent that only his brother Plague Monks can approach him in relative safety.
Lord Skrolk is very old and unutterably evil. By the blessing of the Homed Rat, he has lived many times the span of even the most long-lived of his foul kind, and has unleashed unspeakable woes upon the world of men. Rather than weakening with age, Lord Skrolk is possessed with a diabolic vitality that belies the years and the heaped diseases he carries. That Lord Skrolk walks the world is an affront to nature and a sign of the power of the Great Horned Rat. Plants wither and die where Skrolk treads and the very air about him seems to congeal and darken, as if stained by his baleful presence. Indeed, Skrolk is bent and gnarled under the weight of countless corruptions. The flesh that is not hidden by his tattered shroud is leathery and covered in a layer of dripping buboes. Even worse, the mysterious hunching growths framed by the robes promise something still more virulent. Each new pox only toughens the aged Plague Monk, who has himself become a disease that walks. His knowledge of the virulent diseases of Clan Pestilens is beyond compare, and he has unleashed many noisome plagues across the known world, ravaging civilizations and wiping out entire settlements.
At the beginning of his life Skrolk was a simple Plague Monk but his devotion to the Homed Rat drew him up the long struggle for power which eventually led him to Skavenblight to offer his services to Nurglitch, the Arch-Plaguelord. Nurglitch set him many long and arduous trials, including traversing the insanely dangerous Blindwyrm Labyrinth beneath Clan Pestilens' hold in Lustria. Success came to Skrolk in all things.
In battle Lord Skrolk leads from the front so he can unleash his rabid fury. Lord Skrolk is a powerful warrior well capable of slaying any challengers to his position as the Arch-Plaguelord's favored agent. Most fearsome of his weapons is the Rod of Corruption, a dreadful rod of spiderwood which can slay with a single touch. He also bears one of the sacred volumes of the Liber Bubonicus or Book of Woe, a magical tome which contains the secrets of every disease and plague in the world. Lord Skrolk has spent long centuries drawing together the alchemical and occult knowledge hidden in its pages to make himself into a potent sorcerer steeped in the ways of death and decay.
Offense: Skrolk is an incredibly powerful wizard who uses the Lore of Plague.
The Rod of Corruption: "The Rod of Corruption is a dreadful staff of spiderwood, iron-capped with spikes and covered in writhing runes of power. Many censers hang from its chains, wafting foul vapors. It seethes with the foul energies of pestilence and corruption, and for any creature other than Lord Skrolk to wield it would mean certain death." It acts like a Plague Censer, except to even touch would cause you to decay and die instantly. As stated, only Skrolk can wield this weapon and live. Not even other members of Clan Pestilens can touch it.
Defense: See Plague Priests. Even beyond that, he is supernaturally tough and durable. He is immune to the Lore of Plague (I'd wager Nurgle's as well, given the similarities, but you never know with Chaos gods…)
Special: Aura of Pestilence: Lord Skrolk's very presence is toxic to the land around him. Plants wither and decay, flies drop dead, and those engaged in CQC with him will become poisoned very quickly.
Special: The Liber Bubonicus: "This foul book is inscribed with the clandestine lores of corrupt magic, and contains the secrets of every pestilence and plague in the world. Every disease created and every foul experiment must be marked down in the Liber Bubonicus, the Book of Woe. This is the collected wisdom of Clan Pestilens, a manifesto of corruption and plague since the clan's emergence in the Lustrian jungles. Each Plague Deacon must track and record the many developed strains of death - both their composition and their effect on the living. Each of the different sects or orders of Plague Monks keep their own Book of Woe, updated daily by a Plague Priest, a devotee who has long studied the poisonous volume. Each vile tome is key to all Clan Pestilens rituals and its loss would be unbearable to an order of Plague Monks. Once every 13 full turns of Morrslieb, all Plague Priests must travel to the Southlands to the hidden temple-capital of Clan Pestilens and present their book to Arch Plaguelord Nurglitch. Thus are new diseases recorded in the master Book of Woe, a tome so dangerous that few can abide its presence and live." This book increases the power and range of Skrolk's spellcasting. In addition, Skrolk can read aloud from the Book and unleash a spell with a range of 300 meters to 1 Kilometers: This may be a wither pox, which causes those afflicted to weaken greatly as their strength is supernaturally sapped. Or it could be the powerful Death Plague, which kills those not strong enough to resist. Both spells ignore armor. Of course, if the winds of magic are not in Skrolk's favor, the spell comes out as squeaking, squealing nonsense, which has no effect, save frustrating Skrolk.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-See Plague Monks
-See Plague Priests
-Lord Skrolk may have no eyes, but he can see better then most, thanks to magical sight granted by the Horned Rat. He is not distracted by smoke-screens or other attempts to hinder his vision.
Mobility: 5
Training: 7
Max Range: Melee
Preferred Range: In the Rear, directing his monsters in battle
The twisted and corpulent Throt the Unclean is of the most powerful and influential members of Clan Moulder, and has exploited that success to position himself as one of the nine Lords of Hell Pit. Throt's rise to power has been marked by an ability to create and lead to battle any number of bloodthirsty creatures, along with a knack for capturing new beasts on which to experiment. Whether it is obtaining Blindwyrms, discovering applications for Trollspleen, or cultivating the best "growing juices" to increase the size of Rat Ogres, few can match the deeds of Throt. His rise through the ranks of Clan Moulder has been carefully watched by the agents of Lord Verminkin, though whether he intends to reward or destroy him remains to be seen.
Throt is one of the oldest living Skaven within Clan Moulder, second only to the Clan's mysterious Lord of Decay. His lifespan has been extended far beyond its natural course by the manipulating effects of warpstone. Much of Clan Mouldier is connected through the bloodline of Throt, for he has spawned literally hundreds of offspring, and they in turn have birthed countless litters. The ranks of Clan Moulder include so many generations of Throt's offspring that he has become something of a patriarch amongst the wealthy clan. Of course, as is the Skaven way, this bloodline conveys no hint of loyalty from his underlings, and he has slain countless numbers of his brood for plotting against him or for posing a threat to his position. His power within the clan has often been undermined by his wary superiors sabotaging his experiments and scheming against him.
As a result of his excessive contact with the pure warpstone he uses in his mad experiments, Throt has mutated over the years, in mind as well as body. Throt is a fearsome fighter renowned for his fantastic strength, which is so great that he is capable of pinning the strongest Rat Ogre to the ground by the neck using his wickedly spiked creature-killer. As well as his steel-hard muscles, Throt has been blessed with the mutation of a third arm since his birthing that sprouts out of his bloated but powerful frame, and has learned to wield a sword and a man-catcher together with deadly skill.
The effects of a lifetime's work with warpstone can be seen, as great spines of bone have sprouted from his back and unnatural warpstone fueled energy courses through his veins, suffusing his three arms with power. His left eye, torn from its socket in a struggle with a rival, has been replaced with a shard of glowing warpstone crudely hammered into place, feeding its baleful influence directly into Throt's fevered brain.
Over many self-developmental experiments, Throt has radically sped up his metabolism and now grows ravenously hungry after exertion. He requires constant sustenance to keep the unnatural energy from consuming him. Maddening hunger ceaselessly torments him and he carries pouches stuffed with all manner of vile creatures he uses as foodstuffs. He gluttonously crams tremendous amounts of food into his eternally unsatisfied gut. It is the Black Hunger, only worse. Eating more than four times his own body weight daily, Throt maintains such a pace to avoid being ravaged by his own warpenhanced constitution. Surly at the best of times, when deprived of food (meaning the instant he stops chewing) Throt becomes mindlessly ferocious.
Utterly consumed with his disturbing research, Throt has long since lost whatever hint of sanity he once bad. His waking hours are filled with his twisted studies, and the depths of his domain echo with the cacophony of tortured cries from the living abominations dwelling there, the horrid results of his unnatural experiments. Cross-breeding all manner of creatures and utilizing the mutating effects of warpstone, Throt is ever seeking to create more destructive creatures to set on his enemies and trade with other clans. In his sleep, his corrupted mind is filled with demented dreams, his mind plunging ever deeper within his insane delirium.
Having spent some time in the far distant land of Lustria, Throt has formed a tense agreement with the Skaven of Clan Pestilens. Incorporating the Plague Monks' knowledge of disease and corruption into his own disturbed creations, Throt has created a mutated form of rat carrying a fast-acting, lethal contagion which he has begun to breed within the Skaven underworld. It is rumored that Throt himself has contracted this disease, but that his warpstone- enhanced constitution has thus far kept it from overcoming him. Throt's latest obsession is his most ambitious project yet, inspired by witnessing some of the immense creatures dwelling within the tropical jungles of Lustria. His fevered, insanely brilliant mind is now consumed with creating a monstrous rat-creature, mutated out of all proportion so that it will tower over even the largest of Rat Ogres.
Throt is active in advancing Clan Moulder's status and it is not unusual to find Throt, accompanied by packs of war-beasts, joining many Skaven battles. When Throt personally joins the fight he wields Creature-killer, a modified things-catcher of his own design that can grab and throttle even beasts the size of a Rat Ogre. Additionally Throt carries a special whip made from Minotaur-hide and cured in Troll digestive juices. Even the hunchbacked and mutated things that scuttle throughout the warrens of Hell Pit fear its stinging pain.
Offense: Incredible strength, such that he is able to pin even the strongest Rat Ogres with ease. He also wields the Creature-Killer: The Creature-killer is an iron collar on a long pole, a special implement designed by Throt himself which he uses to capture and kill all manner of foul creatures to be used in his twisted experiments. The collar is ringed with spring-loaded spikes and can be slipped over an enemy's head, breaking his neck and killing him instantly. Creature-Killer is a magical weapon, capable of effecting spirits and the like.
Whip of Domination: Made from Minotaur-hide and cured in Troll digestive juices, the whip of Throt the Unclean is rightly feared amongst his clan, and his skill with it is unparalleled. He wields the Dominator in his third hand, alongside the Creature-killer. The whip is a magical weapon, each strike lowering the victim's morale, and making them more pliable to Throt's evil will.
Sometimes he uses a sword in his third arm, paired with Creature-killer.
Defense: Leads from the rear, light leather armor, and potent regeneration (a result from a lifetime of warpstone mutations)
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away: See Clanrats
-Strength In Numbers: See Clanrats
-Master Controller: See Master Moulder Additional Factors. In addition, Throt is able to easily control units of Giant Rats, Wolf Rats, Rat Ogres, Brood Horrors, and Hell Pit Abominations. They are far less likely to run amok with Throt overseeing them.
-Ravening Hunger: Throt is consumed with constant hunger, and if he does not feed frequently, his overactive system will run rampant through him, eating him away from within. Thus, Throt often carries a multitude of pouches full of things to feed on. Should that not be enough, Throt will often consume the Skaven closest to him.
Mobility: 5
Training: 8
Max Range: Battlefield
Preferred Range: Building doomsday weapons
Ikit Claw is the Chief Warlock of Clan Skryre, second within the clan only to the venerable Lord Morskittar himself. His skills at moulding tech-science and sorcery are unparalleled within all of Clan Skryre, his insanely brilliant mind constantly coming up with new and bizarre weapons of destruction. lkit Claw has had much of his body enhanced with warpstone-powered mechanics of his own design, including a powerful claw incorporating a potent warpfire projector. The Chief Warlock has been enjoying his position of pre-eminence within Clan Skryre, which continues to grow in power. His most recent creation is the warp-lightning cannon, a potent weapon that focuses the power of a powerful chunk of warpstone into a devastating bolt of corrupting energy.
Ikit Claw is one of the most powerful sorcerers in the Old World, and he has dedicated his long life to the study of all forms of magery including the spells of men, Elves and Orcs. He has taken Clan Skryre's mix of science and sorcery to new levels of complexity and depravity. Entire legions of Skavenslaves have been blasted to bits in the name of Ikit's experimental new weapons, a small price for the sheer power and killing might that Ikit has added to Clan Skryre's deadly arsenal.
Over the decades prior to the second Skaven civil war Ikit Claw travelled secretly to the far flung corners of the Under-Empire. In his quest for knowledge, Ikit has travelled the world, stealing secrets from the ancient human mystics of Cathay, rifled the buried vaults of Vorshgar in the northern wastes of Naggaroth, risked the wrath of Clan Pestilens by journeying through the steaming jungles of Lustria studying the dimensio-spanning machines which have stood there since the beginning of time, and toiling for years alongside the cruel Forgemasters of far off Zharr-Naggrund.
From his great journeying Ikit Claw drew together an encyclopaedic knowledge of the spells of the civilised races. When he returned to Skavenblight Ikit Claw found his master and the other Lords of Decay teetering on the brink of civil war after the failure of Clan Pestilens' Red Pox in Bretonnia. Ikit found the warpforges of Clan Skryre woefully under-developed. It would take centuries to fully implement his grandiose changes. It was during the great Civil War that Ikit seized his opportunity.
Lord Morskittar had withdrawn to the Clan Skryre quarter of Skavenblight and was waiting for the inevitable collapse. Ikit Claw hastened to his side and stood ready. As the newly assigned lead emissary of Lord Morskittar, the ruler of Clan Skryre, Ikit Claw ordered massive warpforges, and unrivalled armouries to be gnawed into the stone beneath Skavenblight.
Infernal devices and diabolical weapons were soon being assembled on a level hitherto undreamt. Sure enough, Clan Pestilens made an attempt to seize the council chamber and fighting spilled over into Skavenblight.
When the time was ripe Lord Morskittar sent Ikit Claw to lead the Warlock Engineers to the temple, ostensibly to restore order. Ikit Claw's spells were unstoppable and he swept the temple precincts clear of the battling factions with fiery blasts and hails of dark blades. Clan Skryre seized the temple in an unshakeable grip and Lord Morskittar emerged to declare himself ruler of Skavenblight. However, by this time internecine fighting had spread throughout the Under-Empire and no-one was listening to even the mighty Lords of Decay any more.
Lord Morskittar ruled most of Skavenblight for several centuries, driving out the other clans from the lower tunnels and the other quarters of the city. Ikit Claw was his most trusted servant during this time, overseeing the great works of science and sorcery which Lord Morskittar set into motion. It was from these great experiments that lkit Claw sensed the rising tide of Dark Magic that preceded the great Chaos incursion before anyone else in the Under-Empire. So it was that Lord Morskittar was prepared when the Grey Seers declared their intention to invoke the Horned Rat and end the war.
Like all the members of Clan Skryre he constantly tinkers and experiments with new weapons and devices, delighting in anything which brings harm to the foe. Among his many inventions is the Doomwheel, a terrifying engine of destruction which has smashed its way through the serried ranks of Dwarf, Orc and human regiments with brutal precision. Ikit Claw also bears Stormdaemon, a hellish weapon he created in his own warpstone forges deep in the Under-City.
Ikit's face and arm were badly burned in a failed experiment that exploded and mangled his body long ago. He has constructed an intricate mask to cover his mutilated and hairless skull and a cunningly-made exo-skeleton with a claw of iron, crystal and brass to give strength to his withered left arm. The claw contains several of his more successful inventions including a small warpfire projector. The iron contraption is run by a warp generator, a masterpiece of engineering that siphons the Winds of Magic to power its devilish inventions. Whirring cogs hiss and vent steam as the Chief Warlock moves, clanking like a fully armoured knight.
Offense: Ikit is an immensely powerful wizard who uses spells from the Lore of Ruin. His suit of armor greatly increases his strength and he can tear armored knights apart with his bear paws. The suit of armor also has a warpfire thrower built into it.
He also carries Storm Daemon: A warpstone powered tall halberd-like weapon created by the Warlock Engineers. It is wrapped with coils of copper wire, set with glowing chunks of warpstone and crackling with barely contained energies as it draws power from the warp generator to hurl dark bolts of warp lightning.
Defense: Magical Barriers and his mighty iron frame.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-Verminous Valor: See Grey Seers
-See Warlock Engineers
-Ikit has spent centuries studying the magics of other races. As such, he would be able to identify what type of spell an enemy was attempting to cast, giving him a few moments to prepare and act accordingly.
-Ikit's specialty is building weapons, particularly weapons of mass destruction.
Mobility: 7
Training: 8
Max Range: Throwing Star
Preferred Range: Right behind his target
Deathmaster Snikch is the infamous Chief Assassin of Clan Eshin and prime agent of Lord Sneek, Lord of Decay and Nightlord of Clan Eshin. He is the most feared and successful Skaven assassin of all time. His infamy is only exceeded by the mystery which surrounds his whereabouts at any particular time. Lord Sneek ensures that this is the case — as long as no one knows the location of his chief assassin no one can feel safe. The mere mention of the Deathmaster causes the musky smell of fear to rise from the Skaven masses, for no one is safe from his reach, no matter where they are or how well protected.
Shrouded in legend, Deathmaster Snikch is a figure of dread speculation, a rumor of sudden death. The mere thought of Clan Eshin's most deadly killer causes Warlords to squint at shadows. Speculation of Snikch's deeds or whereabouts runs up and down the Under-way. The ramifications of such mystique are always considered by Clan Eshin and the Council of Thirteen. Once deployed, Deathmaster Snikch does not fail, but the list of targets grows more quickly than even this perfect killer can eliminate them.
His shadowy presence is often felt, though almost never seen, and the number of Clan Warlords who have fallen beneath his weeping blades are countless. Innumerable assassinations all across the Old World and beyond have been attributed to him. An almost supernatural figure, Snikch strikes from the darkness before disappearing once more, the only evidence of his passing being his distinctive symbol traced in blood beside the decapitated heads of his victims. Warlord Sskut of Murkpit had his neatly removed head stacked atop 100 heads from his Stormvermin bodyguard. When Southlands Clan Festerlingus began selling their own mutated mix of Giant Rat and alligator, it was Snikch's mark that was scrawled over the mutators' bodies. Such rituals are enacted when the Nightlord wants to seed terror, an example to those that cross Clan Eshin or the Council.
Of course such gory rituals are only enacted when the Nightlord feels that an example should be made, usually to other defiant Skaven. In the lands of men, Elves and Dwarfs it is harder still to divine the Deathmaster's presence, save perhaps by effect and implication only. For example, the bizarre deaths of Frederick Hasselhoffen and his entire household in Altdorf have never been explained to this day. And the fate of the Celestial Wizard Heinrich Frisen, found flayed in his observatory tower with the door still locked from the inside, left city watch officials mystified. Many muttered about daemons but the truly erudite know that daemons seldom leave so few clues.
In recent years, the mysterious slaying of the Dwarf Lord Dolthorden, found locked within his chamber with his throat slit, despite his near impenetrable stronghold teeming with his bodyguard of Hammerers, was said to have been the work of the Deathmaster. But who knows what other horrors the Deathmaster has perpetrated? How many ships have sunk or foundered with mysterious leaks or severed rigging, how many towns have been consumed by fire or pestilence released from the sewers below?
On the battlefield Deathmaster Snikch is a shadow, able to appear at will. He stalks his victims concealed beneath the magical Cloak of Shadows, its ensorcelled power strong enough to make a mockery of the most intricate defences. His multiple Weeping Blades, including one held in his whip-like tail, weave a deadly steel blur. It is the last thing many leaders see before joining the countless warlords, princes, and notables who have already fallen before the matchless assassin. Where the stealthy tread of Deathmaster Snikch falls no prince or warlord is safe.
Offense: Poisoned Throwing Stars, a master of Eshin Style CQC, and three (one for each hand and one for his tail) Weeping Blades: Weeping Blades are used by the infamous Clan Eshin. During their manufacture a small amount of warpstone is incorporated into their structure along with certain magic spells known only by the rat-assassins. A Weeping Blade constantly sweats a deadly corrosive venom that can burn through armour and slay with the nearest touch, so that any wound, no matter how superficial, will always prove fatal. Most of these weapons take the form of knives or swords but Clan Eshin also make other weapons with the same deadly properties, such as throwing stars.
Defense: Deathmaster Snikch is preternaturally quick and agile to the point where he can pluck speeding arrows out of the air. Whether this is due to his extraordinary training or some controlled mutation is unknown.
He also wears the Cloak of Shadows: The Cloak of Shadows is made with secret skills known only to Clan Eshin. Woven from the hair of Clan Eshin murder victims and spider silk, this long black cloak casts a pall over its wearer. Though ancient, the Cloak of Shadows has survived countless wars and attempts to kill its wearer. Stranger still, even though it has been cut, burned, and nearly incinerated, it always repairs itself. Some Skaven believe that the Cloak grows with each kill made by an Assassin. This wretched cloak is foul with the stench of enchantment, weaving shadows of darkness around its wearer that conceals and silences him perfectly.
Special: Bands of Power: The Bands of Power are two metal vambraces set with warpstone shards. Magical power coils lazily around the bands until it is summoned forth by ancient invocation, enabling the Deathmaster to fight with incredible strength.
When activated the Deathmaster's strength doubles.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Verminous Valor: See Grey Seer
-The Deathmaster will be sent after high pritority targets, such as enemy leaders or heroes.
Mobility: 5
Training: 6
Max Range: Varies (Usually Melee)
Preferred Range: Hey, where'd he go?
Over many battles and countless acts of treachery, chieftain Tretch Craventail of Clan Rictus has proven himself a master of guile. Even for a Skaven, who expect duplicitous tactics, it is widely admitted that Tretch has a knack for fighting dirty. Indeed, Tretch's repertoire of underhanded skills and his famously good luck has led to a number of legendary deeds.
Tretch began his rise from anonymity when his clawpack was leading a long line of chained Night Goblins back to Crookback Mountain. Ostensibly the Clawleader had chosen Tretch to carry key items of the scavenged loot as a reward for his idea to spike the Goblin's fungus beer, but it is more likely Tretch was chosen because he was deemed too scrawny to usurp the clawpack. This proved untrue as Tretch used a small keg of distilled Mad Cap mushrooms, the stuff that turns Goblins into deranged, spinning lunatics, to great effect. With impeccable timing, Tretch turned his line of slaves into whirling death-dealers just as the Clawleaders and Chieftains were convening to argue over which tunnel to take. The effect of multiple Fanatics chained to each other and attempting to twirl madly in a packed tunnel was spectacularly bloody. After that incident the clawpack needed a new leader and Tretch was the first to scurry into the gap.
Since those days, Tretch has led countless ambushes and proven himself a master survivor. It was Tretch that found the hidden path to attack the flank of the Dwarf gunline at the Battle of Black Crag. It was Tretch who led the raid that tunnelled beneath the camp of mighty Black Orc Warlord Dagbad and stole every single Goblin out from underneath the Scourge of the Dark Lands. Tretch was the only Skaven to escape the sinking of the Imperial Galleon captured on the River Aver. The detractors that jealously eye Tretch's rapid rise begin to get tail-twitchingly excited when they see Tretch's Clawpack flee the battle, wreathed in the fireball of a Weapon Team malfunction, or mauled by enemy formations. However, time after time, Tretch reappears, having left his doomed brethren and popped up elsewhere to accomplish some notable feat.
Recently Tretch assumed the Clan Rictus title of Grand Chieftain of the Deep Warrens by disguising himself as a stalactite and dropping from the cavern ceiling to slice the previous Chieftain in two. Now with a small army at his command, he has mustered night raids on Empire towns and warpstone scavenges in the Dark Lands. Tretch's deeply resentful superiors often assign the Chieftain to impossible tasks or suicide missions. Yet each time Tretch escapes and returns to coveted reward. It can truly be said that Tretch has a sense for victory and a muzzle for knowing when to leave a fight.
Offense: A pair of swords, though he could probably have whatever he wants as Chieftain.
Defense: As chieftain he can have whatever armor he wants. He also has an amazing sense for danger, and when its time to flee.
Lucky Shullhelm: Tretch wears the skull of a defeated rival as a good luck charm. It works, and attacks that would normally be the death of him spontaneously miss for no apparent reason. While obviously not perfect it does often stack the deck in his favor.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-Verminous Valor: See Grey Seers
-Tretch's Raiders: Tretch tends to lead Clanrats or Stormvermin, and specializes in attacking an unsuspecting enemy in the flank or the rear.
-Stay Here, I'll Get Help!: Tretch has an uncanny knack for sensing when things are about to turn bad, and abandoning the danger zone before harm can be done to him.
Mobility: 5
Training: 6
Max Range: Whip
Preferred Range: Behind his monsters
A Packmaster must learn when to ply the lash, how to control infighting, and how far beasts can be pushed before they'll turn. None are better attuned to their foul creations than Skweel Gnawtooth, the most successful Packmaster in Hell Pit.
Skweel was a runt - a death warrant amongst Skaven litters. In the daily competition to live, however, Skweel could count on unlikely allies to aid his undersized cause. His comrades were not Skaven, but common rats. Skweel had a natural affinity with beasts and was often accompanied by a rippling horde of vermin. It wasn't long before the Master Moulders took note of the dread Skweel commanded among his fellows, as any who stood in his way disappeared into the tunnels, pulled into the darkness by rat hordes. When Skweel was given a chance in the great pens with the larger beasts, he was not mauled, as are most newcomers. Instead, from that day on, Skweel was trained to become a Packmaster - a task he took to with zeal.
The majority of Packmasters drive their charges but Skweel seems to guide creatures, rather than simply lashing them forward. To Skweel, Giant Rats and Rat Ogres are not barely controlled feral beasts, but trained animals eager to do their master's bidding. After a successful hunt, it is not unknown for the brutes to present Skweel with choice pieces to feed upon. Even new breeds buckle under Skweel's commands. Wolf Rats, Hyper-gland Rat Ogres, specially bred siege-beasts, all are bent to Skweel's will. Only the mindless Hell Pit Abominations seem immune to Skweel's mastery.
Skweel's ability to control dangerous packs makes him invaluable. Lord Verminkin will only release Skweel's services to the highest bidder, and only for a limited time. Skweel has led sniffer-beasts hunting rogue Assassins, packs of Black-rage enhanced Rat Ogres, aided Clan Mors in the Dark Lands, and a Tunnelling Gnawbeast into a Dwarf stronghold, but Skweel always returns to Hell Pit, ready for his next assignment.
Offense: Warp-Lash: A wicked warpstone-studded lash. The warpstone gives it magic attacks, and allows it to ignore armor.
Defense: See Packmasters. Skweel is also always accompanied by a sea of rats, as well as his loyal Wolf Rat Gutsnagger. In addition, the beasts under Skweel's charge will hurl themselves into danger to protect him.
Special: Exceptional Pack: Skweel rarely leads just any array of monsters. His packs usually have had something extra done to them to make them even deadlier. This could included poisoned attacks (adding venom glands is a Clan Moulder favorite), Additional limbs (be they organic or mechanical), increased ferocity, or even the ability to regenerate (allowing the loathsome creatures to grow new limbs as quickly as they can be lopped off).
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-Verminous Valor: See Grey Seers
-Only the Hell Pit Abomination seems to be able to resist Skweel's will.
Mobility: 7
Training: Due to the strange nature of the chaos realms it is unclear. Likely quite high
Max Range: Battlefield
Preferred Range: Battlefield
Among the Children of the Horned Rat there was a legend that one day, the thirteen-headed one would rise. It was said that this Rat King would usher in a new era, bringing closer the day when the Great Horned One would come forth and the entire world would be made into a nest-lair of ruination. This mythical figure would prove to be Skreech Verrninking, mightiest of the Verminlords.
Verrninking's tale began long ago, in a different age of the world. After the defeat of Nagash at Cripple peak, the Skaven grew strong and proliferated. Deep they tunneled under the worlds Edge Mountains, establishing many lair-nests. In Nagash's absence, the skaven had been poised to claim swathes of the surface world, and the Horned Rat was pleased. Yet his pride soon turned to wrath, as petty rivalries and internal strife bled all momentum from the skaven's progress.
In anger, the skaven deity plucked up each of the Lords of Decay, placing them in a dark hole within his realm. There they were rejoined with the members of their Council who had been killed by Nagash's spell - for the Horned Rat had debated about how to reward these supplicants, How long the Lords of Decay remained in that pit was unknown, for time passes strangely in all the corners of that shadowy limbo. In that hellish pit, there was nothing to sustain the fallen Lords of Decay except the scraps of failed plots thrown to them by the Horned Rat. So, day after day, year after year, the disgraced Lords of Decay could do nothing but gnaw upon missed opportunities, point claws at one another, and bicker.
In the end, the Horned Rat relented. Besides, he was fond of his children, flaws and all, and since then no single Council had surpassed the deeds of that banished group. With an enormous claw, the Horned Rat drew forth his errant congregants. What emerged from out of that pit, however, was not twelve Lords of Decay, but a single entity - a hideous amalgamation of the entire Council of Thirteen. Twisted and tail-locked, they were now one, squirming creature. The Horned at looked over the creation he had wrought and deemed it would not quite do. With a searing bolt of black lightning, the rat god formed the twisted shape into a form more pleasing to him - that of a Vermin Lord - and with a final, vomitous belch, he anointed it with a portion of his own godly power. Horns still sprouting and twisting, the Verminlord rose from this baptism of filth, and thus was Skreech Verminking born.
Verrninking was a Verminlord like no other. He incorporated within his being the stealth of Clan Eshin, the arcane talents of the Grey Seers, the technological insight of Clan Skryre, the flesh-crafting skills of Clan Moulder, and the warrior ambition of the Warlord Clans. Although Clan Pestilens had not yet been formed at the time of Nagash's fall, the forebears of their founders were upon that Council of Thirteen, and they too now resided within Skreech's twisted body. In this manner, Verminking bore great knowledge of disease, along with a burning zeal to spread that corruption in the name of the Horned Rat.
At long last, after so much time in the black pit, Verrninking was free. He glared into the mortal realm, scratching at the ever thinning walls that separated the shadowy realm of ruin from the world of mortals.
Offense: Skreech is a powerful wizard who can use spells from the Lore of Ruin and Plague. He specializes in the spell 'Curse of the Horned Rat'.
Skreech also carries with him a Doom Glaive and a Plaguereaper.
Defense: See Verminlords, but with even greater durability
Additional Factors:
-See Verminlords
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Ghoritch - Castellan of Hell Pit
Mobility: 6
Training: 6
Max Range: Melee
Preferred Range: Melee
Ghoritch is Throt's greatest success in the field of translocation of the brain. Like many who are devoted to the Blood God, Ghoritch was once a frenzied berserker who loved the thrill of battle and the tang of fresh blood upon his tongue. He served Archaon throughout the Storm of Chaos, but the creed of his bloodthirsty god ran strong in his veins, and Ghoritch led a foolhardy attack on an Empire artillery train, despite express orders to the contrary - His tribe was cut down almost to a man.
Though Ghoritch slew a score of men that day and lived to tell the tale, Archaon's punishment was swift and inventive. Like many who had failed him, Ghoritch was given to the Master Mutators of Clan Moulder for their unholy experiments. Even shackled and bound with thorn-ropes, Throt could see Ghoritch was of exceptional stock, and singled him out for the climax of a series of experiments. The experiment was an unparalleled success, transplanting Ghoritch's mind into the body of a heavily modified Rat Ogre without driving him mad in the process.
Escaping from Throt’s laboratory, Ghoritch scrambled his way up to the arena at the heart of Hell Pit, where he fought off the tide of Throt's creations sent after him. His skills did not go unnoticed by the Master Mutators, who recognised his combination of intellect and strength as perfect for controlling the more rebellious of their troops.
Ghoritch worked his way into the rank of chieftain, and was soon entrusted with the command of Clan Moulder's unique standing army. Throt is less than pleased at the meteoric rise of his creation, and works hard on clandestine schemes to bring about his downfall.
Offense: See Rat Ogre, but with heavy Piston-Driven Claws: Great Snipping blades driven by warpstone-driven pistons that easily cut through even heavy armor.
Defense: See Rat Ogre
Additional Factors:
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-Due to his monstrous appearance, Ghoritch can often cause fear in some opponents.
-Brain Transplant: Ghoritch still has the mind of a berserker and lapses into a blood-maddened rage in the heat of battle. Though he can be brought out of it, his mind will remain fuzzy and sluggish for a little while afterwards.
Mobility: 5
Training: 7
Max Range: Battlefield / Artillery
Preferred Range: ^^
Klawmunkast is the leader and inspiration of the Warlock's Warplocks. He is an enigmatic yet enthusiastic commander. The Warlock is also renowned for his bizarre experiments with warpstone and for his formidable, if somewhat incomprehensible, technological inventions.
Klawmunkast's Rat Tank is the most audacious and warped weapon of war he has created to date. In appearance it is similar to an Imperial Steam Tank, only it has been constructed from brass and planks of moldering wood, while it moves around on a system of tracks, driven by rats racing around inside the machine.
This rat-race is also instrumental in powering the tank's impressive array of weapons through its warpstone generator. These weapons - the warpfire cannon, the warplock jezzail and the warp-lighting projector - are all mounted on the tank's exterior.
Offense: Klawmunkast carries a warplock pistol and can use minor to moderate spells from the Lore of Ruin.
Klawmunkast usually drives the Rat Tank, a large war machine that comes equipped with a warpfire cannon, a warplock jezzial and a warp-lightning projector (which fires powerful bolts of magical lightning), all powered by a warpstone generator.
Defense: See Warlock Engineers. The Rat Tank is constructed from Brass.
Special: Eye of Skraw: Whilst training under Grey Seer Skraw, Klawmunkast lost his left eye in a warpstone explosion in his master's lab. When Skraw was killed during an attack on the Empire town of Wissenberg, Klawmunkast recovered the old Skaven's body, extracting the warpstone charm that Skraw had in place of his own right eye and placing it inside his own empty socket. The Eye is a potent talisman and radiates disharmony and hostility, as well as projecting a baleful gaze.
This item allows Klawmunkast to fire a powerful Warp Lightning Spell from his eye. With each use, their is always a 1 in 6 chance the eye will run out of power, rendering it useless until it can be recharged (so usually the rest of the battle at a minimum).
Special: Warpstone Mutants: As a result of the many near- catastrophic accidents that have occurred during the development of the Klawmunkast's Rat Tank, a number of his slaves (basically those who survived the explosions and warpfire leaks) have mutated into grim parodies of Skaven. Although they have lost there minds, these degenerated ratmen have developed extra limbs or had their musculature increased making them much stronger.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away!: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-Verminous Valor: See Grey Seers
-See Warlock Engineers
-Rodent Genius: Although many among his own race consider him to be insane, the psychological line between insanity and genius is a fine one indeed. Many of his ideas and inventions are truly astonishing, and he has a command of mechanics and the power potential of warpstone like no other. Any unit of artillery that Klawmunkast is assigned to is much less likely to misfire, and will almost never suffer the catastrophic meltdowns associated with some of Clan Skryre's inventions.
Mobility: 5
Training: 7
Max Range: Plague
Preferred Range: Battlefield
A favored agent of the Arch-Plaguelord, Morbus Sanguis wants to get his putrefying paws on the warpstone from Clan Skryre's mine so that he and his Plague Monks can develop their latest dire disease – the Yellow Death. Morbus is totally uncompromising in his demands, and if any of his followers show weakness in the face of righteous battle, he puts them to death himself!
Offense: Morbus is a minor wizard of the Skaven Lore of Plague
Censer Mace: The Censer Mace is really two weapons in one. In close combat, it is wielded as a crushing mace, but, like a plague censer, its spiked metal head is hollow and contains a burning piece of plague-infested warpstone.
Defense: See Plague Monks & Priests. Also, Warp Fleas:
-All rats have fleas, but the fleas that inhabit Morbus's matted fur are monstrous mutants among their kind, having feasted on the warpstone corrupted blood of the Plague Priest. Anyone fighting Morbus in close combat must do so while being distracted by the biting flees.
Special: The Yellow Death: The Plague Priest and his fanatical followers have prepared a new plague to unleash upon the world. It is called the Yellow Death, after the way it turns its victims yellow before their bodies become bloated with toxins and they die! Morbus has infected many of the Rat Swarms in his army with this disease and in battle will release them into the enemy ranks to watch his plague work while he fights.
If Morbus is in an army, the Rat Swarms will all have guaranteed Poisoned Attacks.
Additional Factors:
-Scurry Away: See Clanrats
-Strength in Numbers: See Clanrats
-See Plague Monks
-See Plague Priests
-Leprous Form: As a disciple of decay, Morbus has been particularly blessed. His fur-covered body is bald in patches, while the skin on his face is sloughed constantly. Great weeping sores and inflamed buboes cover his paws. His left arm is withered and the skin on his tail is scabbed and scaly. As a result, his appearance causes Fear, even among others of his own race!
ARMY X-FACTORS
-Morale: 25-30: Despite Skaven arrogance and belief in their own innate superiority, they're actually huge cowards. The moment battle starts to turn, they're liable to flee; and it only takes a few Skaven routing to set off a chain reaction that could lead to retreat. In fairness though, there are some Skaven units that have higher tolerance or are utterly fearless (like monsters the Skaven create). Skaven Leaders tend to have a more stable morale then their followers, and if they can control their troops, can force them to fight rather then flee. But if something happens to them (death or if they themselves flee) all bets are off.
-Logistics: 79: Skaven can and will eat just about anything, including each other. They've proven they can make war machines out of scrap, and they'll steal the rest to make up for any deficits.
-Espionage: 73: This is basically Clan Eshin's specialty, but all of the Skaven will work to sabotage the enemy whether by poisoning food supplies or water or tinkering with war machines or straight up assassinating leaders.
-Discipline: 35
-Army Intimidation: 70: An army of ratmen who regularly travel with giant rats, various monstrosities, nightmarish war-machines, and spread various horrifying plagues wherever they go.
-Reinforcement Rate: Swarm
ADDITIONAL INFO
-Skaven have average to poor eyesight, but their nightsight is very good. Skaven lairs are usually sparsely lit by just the occasional smoking torch or crackling brazier to give the Skaven the minimal amount of light they need to see by. Their hearing and sense of smell are excellent, making them very difficult to take by surprise and they are especially good at fighting at night or underground.
-When Skaven communicate, they use a great deal more than words to convey meaning. Their gestures and more importantly, their smell, helps to accurately convey their mood to other Skaven. A furious Skaven smells of heated iron, whereas the acrid stench of the musk of fear commonly shrouds a rat-man who expects to die.
-Skaven move in rapid stop-start scurries. They exude nervous energy in twitchy, hurried bursts and always seem to be in an agitated state. Skaven metabolism burns at a ferocious rate, peaking with a spike of adrenaline if they feel angry or threatened. This hyper vitality gives rise to the quick reflexes, endless haste and the legendary speed of the Skaven. The drawback to such velocity is that the ratmen need to gorge themselves after a long march or battle to refuel their drained bodies. Amongst Skaven this phenomenon is known as the Black Hunger and goes some way to explaining their propensity for feasting upon the fallen (of either side) after combat. Larger individuals have been known to devour an entire Skaven after a battle. A Skaven suffering the pangs of the Black Hunger and unable to replenish himself will visibly weaken and soon after die. This is why personal challenges so often end with the loser being eaten by the victor.
-Because of their hyperactive metabolisms, Skaven lifespans are relatively short — they mature fully within five years and die of old age (if they live that long) after around twenty-thirty years, with few indeed getting to die of natural causes. Skaven do breed prolifically however, and the indolent semi-intelligent Skaven females can produce between three and five litters of up to twenty Skaven young each year. In-fighting, disease and accidents help to keep the Skaven population under control but when even these fail the Skaven must either go to war or face large scale famines until their population is reduced.
-Warlocks and Grey Seers are more intelligent than the bulk of the Skaven population and tend to live considerably longer. Several of the Lords of Decay are supposedly well over a thousand years old. Whether they use magic to achieve this or they are actually more like a sub-species of Skaven is unclear. Certainly warlocks and Grey Seers take the same view of the world as other Skaven, their thoughts are constantly turned towards finding the most immediate solution to a problem and how in doing so they can make it best reflect upon themselves in the view of their superiors.
-War With The Green-Things: Skaven and Greenskins often benefit from the spoils of the same Dwarfhold, but not in the wildest of warpdreams could the two races be called allies. Battles between the Children of the Horned Rat and Greenskins are common, with both sides seeking to wipe the other out by any means possible. However, as neither side has anything resembling scruples, alliances of convenience can happen when both sides see an advantage. When they can, Skaven manipulate any slow-witted Orc leaders (which are just about all of them) into doing all of the dirty work. Such pacts are always broken and the only real question is which side turns betrayer first. Night Goblins, although less brutish than their Orc cousins, are shrewd, and therefore much tougher opponents in a prolonged war. Night Goblins in particular compete with Skaven for the best lairs (often old Dwarfholds) and so any Warlord worth his sharp, pointy incisors will do his upmost to slay or enslave any Night Goblin tribes that get within striking distance of his clan!
-Society: Though it appears to be outwardly simple and brutal, Skaven society is more complex than it seems. It is fraught with plots and intrigues, riddled with treachery, and burdened with a deep-seated hatred for the world of man. Everything the Skaven do is to advance their positions, either as individuals or as a civilization.
Though they rarely admit it, the Skaven view all clanmates as potential enemies. Skaven who occupy positions of authority are envied for their power, while those Ratmen who serve in lesser roles are constantly suspected of sedition. A Skaven's empathy is limited to understanding the covetous feelings of his peers. Much of his suspicion is projected upon the Ratmen around him, whether or not the allegations are founded in any kind of fact. Skaven motivations are never pure, and even the simplest of actions on the part of one individual can cause ripples of suspicion that ultimately affect anyone who comes into contact with him.
The Skaven never accept blame for their failures, preferring instead to implicate others, thereby transferring culpability onto their competitors. The truthfulness of these accusations is irrelevant to the accuser, the accused, and the superior who must judge them; all that matters to any of the involved parties is the strength of the case. The blame game has always been a popular pastime among the Ratmen, and Skaven who are unable to successfully shift blame from themselves onto others rarely live for very long. Interestingly, this habit has grown from one of mere survival and of trickery, after centuries of breeding, into one of actual belief. Almost all Skaven seem to be psychologically predisposed to believe that their own failures must be the result of a subordinate's incompetence, sabotage by a jealous rival, or the poor planning of a superior. The concept of failure based on one's own merit (or lack thereof) is simply impossible for them to imagine.
Skaven leaders, meanwhile, support this intrigue because they love to make examples of their subordinates. Better yet, they enjoy singling out the subordinates of their rivals even more. Such actions taken against other Skaven are not only considered to be entertaining, but are also seen as a natural way of culling the weak. Skaven leaders who entertain themselves by debasing or punishing a rival's servants must take care not to inconvenience their peers or superiors overmuch. Those that do so risk becoming examples themselves.
-The Enemy Within: Within the Under-Empire, inter-clan warfare is a daily occurrence. Far from being a rarity amongst the Skaven, it is less common to find the Ratmen at peace with one another for any appreciable length of time. The weakest clans serve as targets for the strongest, which are constantly on the look-out for vulnerabilities to exploit. Sometimes, several clans compete with one another in order to determine who will have the chance to pick at the proverbial bones of a lesser clan that is only hours from its own destruction. Clans that fall beneath the swords and claws of their fellow Skaven are integrated into the victor's clan as expendable slaves. After all, a slave must be alive to be of value, and continued survival, even in a state of bondage, is always preferable to a Skaven than death.
As such, the lesser clans are always jockeying with one another in order to avoid being on the receiving end of this inevitable slaughter. In the land of the blind, even the one-eyed rat is king; such is the logic that divides the lesser clans, and this has fuelled their petty squabbles for millennia. Were the lesser clans able to unite, even for a short period of time, they might be capable of forming a powerful bloc within Skaven society. Such an event is hardly likely, given Skaven sensibilities, and so the nightly contest continues unabated.
-Warpstone: Warpstone is the physical manifestation of raw magic. When pure Chaos is sucked into the Old World through the Chaos gates most of it divides into the eight colours of magic as it detracts into the physical universe. However, some elements of Chaos are too powerful to be split by reality, and these coalesce into a solid form. Warpstone can arrive in the Old World in a number of ways.
Warpstone dust is sometimes blown south from the Northern Wastes, often bringing a storm of wild Dark Magic with it, spreading terror and evil across the land. Most warpstone plummets to earth as meteors from the dark circle of Morrslieb: indeed some tales speak of Skaven rituals calling down showers of warpstone upon the world. Warpstone can also coalesce and crystallize from a powerful enough flow of Dark Magic.
Warpstone is vitally important to the Skaven and they hunt for it remorselessly. Most commonly they unearth warpstone meteors which have been tracked in their fiery descent by one of the hidden observatories scattered throughout the Old World. A warpstone meteor is usually about the size of a man's fist. It is irregular in shape. though its exact form is difficult to determine because of the intense black glow that gulps in light from the immediate vicinity. This kind of raw warpstone is highly dangerous to all creatures and prolonged exposure will bring madness, mutation and death.
Raw warpstone can be refined to make it more stable and safer to use. This is a difficult process which only the most powerful wizards can perform. However, Grey Seers have a natural ability to transmute warpstone to increase their magic power. This is their blessing from the Horned Rat and makes them vital to the Skaven in general and the Council of Thirteen in particular.
Normally, a creature exposed to warpstone for a day or more would likely suffer some form of mutation. Grey Seers survive constant exposure to warpstone but their chances of mutation are minimal. Nevertheless, they are not totally immune to its effects and most bear the mark of Chaos in some form or other. Refined warpstone is less dangerous and can be consumed by Grey Seers and Warlocks to gain more power for their spells. No sane creature would eat warpstone and even the Skaven only do so in desperate circumstances. Anything consuming even refined warpstone runs a terrible risk of having its mind and body destroyed by uncontrollable mutations.
As well as supplying the Skaven wizards with power, warpstone is used by clans for their own purposes. Clan Skryre, the Warlock Engineers, manufacture many strange and powerful weapons which utilise warpstone. Carefully selected warpstone is added to metals during smelting, or annealed into the metal afterwards, lending weapons and armour supernatural strength and temper. Other weapons are far more esoteric in their design and function, incorporating an insane blend of magic and science. The Packmasters of Clan Moulder use small amounts of warpstone to cause mutations in their captive breeding stock, creating new races of twisted and loathsome creatures such as the fearsome Rat Ogres.
Clan Pestilens use warpstone to develop new and terrible diseases, using them to perpetrate devastating magical plagues. The assassin adepts of Clan Eshin are adept at making deadly weapons and poisons from warpstone. The Warlord clans trade for warpstone charms and protective amulets, wargear and maddening battle drugs.
-Worship of the Horned Rat: The Skaven worship an entity known as the Horned Rat, a malevolent being served by the Grey Seers, a group of powerful wizards and prophets who preach the ascension of the Skaven. While they are nominally subject to the dictates of the Council of Thirteen, their personal power makes individual Grey Seers a constant wild card in Skaven politics. Grey Seers frequently consume Warpstone to fuel their sorcery, a practice that does little good for their sanity and other Skaven rightfully fear them. The Horned Rat's symbol, which has effectively become the defining mark of the Skaven race, consists of three overlapping lines roughly sketched in a vaguely triangular pattern.
The Horned Rat is the supreme god of the Skaven, and he brooks no other gods before him. Though not affiliated with the Lords of Chaos, the Horned Rat is certainly a distant relative of those foul, nebulous beings. He represents all things the Skaven are, or wish to be. Undying and eternally scheming, this cunning deity patiently awaits the day of the Great Ascendancy, when his children will swarm across the face of the world, devouring it from within. Entropy is his mantra; decay is his stock in trade. All things must rot, figuratively or literally, and the Horned Rat and his offspring are the worldly reality of this simple truth.
All Skaven revere the Horned Rat. None question his existence. Such respect is a product of fear, for the Horned Rat's eternal hunger does not discriminate between his vermin children and the dwellers of the surface world. A devout Skaven utters small prayers to the Horned God throughout the day, each prayer being a verbal slice of hare, envy, or malice. These prayers are answered often enough to give the Horned Rat validity in the minds of his adherents, even in cases when divine intervention is obviously not involved.
Blood sacrifice is common in the day to day worship of the Horned Rat. The Skaven Fear that if the Horned Rat's appetite is not satisfied, he will devour his children instead. The form of the sacrifice--a slave, Skaven or otherwise—is not as important as the sacrifice itself. There is no specific doctrine that governs who or what must he sacrificed. The sacrifice itself is enough to sate the Lord of Decay for a brief time. Young victims are considered to be the most potent sacrifices For the Horned Rat, while the blood of the aged and infirm is less desirable.
The number of sacrifices made to the Horned Rat by his followers varies considerably depending upon their need. In times of war, the number of daily blood sacrifices can be staggering, sometimes numbering in the thousands in the great Skaven cities of Skavenblight or Hell Pit. The Skaven also increase the number of daily sacrifices if they fail to secure victory in battle, or suffer some other embarrassing setback. The Grey Seers preach that victory cannot be won if the Horned Rat is unsatisfied with his minions, and thus, any defeat or failure is a sign that he must be appeased.
Religious services are constantly held by the Grey Seers in honor of their sinister god. All Skaven are expected to be present at a mass at least once a day, even though no formal records of attendance are kept. Those who do not attend services open themselves up to all manner of criticism, including accusations of heresy, treason, and atheism. Influential Skaven warlords contract their own spiritual advisers from the ranks of the Grey Seers, and these priests for hire give private services to their employers and their households.
-The Grey Seers: The Grey Seers are the living prophets and intermediaries of the Horned Rat, interpreting his will and desires for the Skaven population. Pure white or grey fur and distinctive horns mark Grey Seers, who are perhaps the most powerful and mysterious individuals in the whole of a Skaven army. It is possible they are a unique subspecies and this is a view that the Grey Seers themselves help to propagate. They advise and coerce the Warlord clans towards fulfilling the will of the Horned Rat, in accordance to their own interpretations, and act as intermediaries to relay the decrees of the Council to the Skaven clans. The leader of the Grey Seers, known as the Seerlord, sits on the Council of Thirteen, although this causes some resentment amongst the clans, who say that this compromises the intended role of the Grey Seers as intermediaries and arbitrators, but the Seers loudly proclaim their devotion to the Horned One and emphasize that they are merely servants of his will. The potent mage-rats travel the Under-Empire seeking to coordinate and unite the bickering clans, as well as furthering their own sinister plans of advancement. Many Warlords fear, quite rightfully, that they and their clans are just pawns in the subtle manipulations of the horned sorcerer-rats.
The birth of a Grey Seer is a rare and auspicious occasion. An infant so blessed is immediately carried off to be raised in seclusion by his kind. Such an apprenticeship is a long and dangerous course, and most Grey Seer juveniles do not survive the ordeal. They must not only suffer dangerous training and religious indoctrination, but they are also set one against the other, much as their mundane birthkin are. The stakes are indeed high, and the Horned Rat rewards those Grey Seers who are resourceful enough to carve their place within his priesthood's hierarchy. Once they have completed their apprenticeships and proven their ability to survive the cutthroat tactics of their brethren, young Grey Seers are allowed to administer their dark religion to the teeming Skaven hordes of the Under-Empire. They are expected to provide religious counsel to all of the Horned Rat's offspring, interpret signs and omens, and craft some manner of unity between the assorted clans. Their methods are varied, and their motives are often impure. Like other Skaven, the Grey Seers are often more interested in their individual successes, rather than the triumphs of their race as a whole.
The mere mention of their God aids the Grey Seers in mastering the politics of the Under-Empire. No clan dares to oppose them, lest they be declared heretics and be hunted down by the rest of their species. The oblique threat of being dubbed a heretic by a Grey Seer brings even the most rebellious Skaven back into line. Seers that oppose one another rarely engage in direct conflict. Instead, they use the Horned Rat's worshippers as pawns in a devious chess game that can last for decades.
Grey Seers define scants within their organization through a combination of accomplishment and seniority. As they tend to be longer-lived than typical Skaven, age plays a substantial role in determining a Seer's standing within his religious order. At the pinnacle of this ever-changing pyramid, just below the Horned Rat himself, stands the Seerlord, currently known as Kritislik. The Seerlord is an enigmatic figure, the supreme religious leader of all Skaven. He is the leader of the Grey Seers, who also happens to occupy the first, and most important, seat on the Council of Thirteen. Kritislik spends so much time vehemently denying any abuse of position or the sacrosanct nature of all clan dealings, that he occasionally misses opportunities to exploit such precious information. It is their role of intermediaries for the Council of Thirteen that grants the Grey Seers such power and it is a position they jealously guard. Even implied displeasure from a Grey Seer causes much self-castigation (however insincere). Not even the Greater clans can easily afford so much as the merest slight to a Grey Seer.
-The Council of Thirteen: The Skaven are a people with a long and proud tradition of government. They are ruled by the Council of Thirteen, also known as the Thirteen Lords of Decay, an august body of powerful Skaven comprised of representatives of the most powerful Clans. They are the leaders of the greatest cities and fortresses of the Skaven or else lead a reclusive life studying the ways of magic and death. Though they are ostensibly united by a common cause, the Council of Thirteen is fraught with infighting, conspiracy, and betrayal. Add the Grey Seers to this system of government, and things become even more intriguing.
The Council of Thirteen oversees all matters pertaining to the Skaven, from hatching terrible plots to initiating an offensive against one of the hated Human cities on the surface. The Council of Thirteen's members, are always twelve in number, being completed symbolically by the Horned Rat. The Council consists of the Warlords of the Four Great Clans plus seven other lesser Warlords. The Seer Lord claims the twelfth seat, and the Council reserves the thirteenth seat for the Horned Rat. No others are permitted to sit in his place. To do so would be heresy. Though largely symbolic in nature, it is said that the Horned Rat's seat is occasionally taken by a shadowy figure with luminous green eyes. Whether this is an avatar of the Horned Rat or merely a Warpstone-induced hallucination is unknown.
The positions on the Council command a descending order of precedence. The first and the twelfth places (the places which would be at the right and left hand of the Horned Rat) are the most important and may overrule any of the other Lords of Decay; the six and the seventh places are the least important. However, any Lord of Decay can abstain and by so doing veto a command from his "opposite number". Hence Lord Kritislik, the Seerlord, can (and frequently does) veto the orders of Lord Morskittar, the Lord-Warlock of Clan Skryre. This means that even the most powerful Lords of Decay often need the help of the lower placed Lords to set their plans in motion. Equally, the lower Lords must have the support of some of the Lords above them to ensure their own plans are approved by the Council.
This process encourages shifting political alliances, blackmail, bribery and favoritism within the Council – corruption basically. Assassination attempts amongst the Lords of Decay are considered rather crude. More frequently the Lords of Decay manipulate the actions of the clans to set up circumstances which in turn manipulate the Council of Thirteen. Below the Lords of Decay a complex hierarchy of upcoming clanlords scheme and politic against one another to gain more power and favour from their masters. To this end the clans are constantly hatching maze-like plots and planning treacherous coups which all too often involve the corruption and destruction of the kingdoms of men or Dwarfs.
-Clan Pestilens: Perhaps the most ill-regarded of all clans is Clan Pestilens. They are known as the Plague Monks, for they are the disciples of disease and decay. Members of Clan Pestilens dedicate themselves with insane fervor to spreading pestilence and corruption in the name of the Skaven god, the Great Homed Rat. They now specialize in the creation of new diseases with which to torment the populace of the Old World, some of which manage to mutate and swiftly rage beyond their meager control. Even other Skaven are highly wary of the fanatics of Clan Pestilens.
Centuries ago a Skaven expedition ventured into the steaming jungles of Lustria, only to be decimated by virulent tropical diseases and the reptilian warriors that defends that land. The few survivors, hid in the ruins of a temple they had discovered in the depths of the jungle. There they unearthed ancient secrets which should have been left forever undisturbed. Perhaps it was because of the knowledge they chanced upon, or perhaps their destiny was decreed by the Horned Rat, but these Skaven mysteriously began to revere the very diseases that were slowly killing them. A strange new breed of Skaven was born: the Plague Monks of Clan Pestilens. Constantly plague ridden, they were capable of withstanding their diseases as long as they remained devoted to their festering god.
Their monomaniacal zeal and devotion makes Clan Pestilens the most single-minded of all the Skaven clans. They are different, counted strange by all other ratmen. Recognised as a major power, Clan Pestilens has a high seat amongst the Lords of Decay, having risen from the seventh to the tenth position. It is no secret, however, that many scheme to have the diseased ones destroyed. It has been this way since Clan Pestilens' rise to power, when they nearly overthrew the Council.
-Clan Eshin: Shrouded in shadow and mystery, Clan Eshin is by far the most nefarious of the Skaven clans. They are feared as murderers and the art of stealthy death is one that they have mastered. They are silent stalkers more than capable of infiltrating past any number of guards or traps. At their disposal are a range of troops trained to kill, from the solitary Assassins, to whole death squads known as Gutter Runners. For the right price Clan Eshin will slay any rival, steal any information, or commit any act of sabotage required. No Warlord wants to be targeted by a Clan Eshin contract and the mere mention of the black-clad killers is enough to make any ratman look over his shoulder. There are Clan Eshin agents scattered throughout the strongholds of many Warlord clans and even hidden within the cities of the surface dwellers.
Clan Eshin disappeared into the East early in Skaven history and had been considered lost for many centuries. When its members returned to Skavenblight to offer its allegiance to the Lords of Decay, they were changed. During that long period in contact with the mysterious human cultures of Ind, Cathay and Nippon, the Skaven had learned much, especially about the arts of stealth and assassination. From then on, Clan Eshin has found a clear role in Skaven society - its assassins have become the force which the Council of Thirteen uses to uphold its decisions and maintain its reign of terror among the clans. Of course, the services of Clan Eshin are often hired by many other influential Skaven to spy on their rivals or to 'remove' political opponents who are too successful. Clan Eshin also provides light skirmishing troops and units of infiltrators to any Warlord who is willing to pay their exorbitant price.
Considering the treacherous scheming and paranoid nature of the Skaven, it is no wonder that Clan Eshin has become so powerful. The Adepts of Clan Eshin are used by the Council to enforce its will, hunting down and eliminating any who defy their supreme decrees, as well as any perceived threat to their position. Indeed, Clan Eshin provides an unseen force with which the Council of Thirteen and other powerful Skaven maintain (or gain) their positions of power. Within the highly feared Caverns of Unyielding Shadow, the Clan Eshin district deep in the belly of Skavenblight, treaty- pacts are claw-marked and the doom of many rivals is assured.
-Clan Moulder: Clan Moulder are the undisputed masters of breeding, mutating, and surgically creating horrible fighting creatures and monstrous beasts of war. Such is the demand for these ferocious creatures that Clan Moulder is one of the wealthiest of all Skaven Clans. Clan Moulder sells its heinous creations to the Warlord clans, who are eager to boost their fighting prowess by adding swarms of Giant Rats, packs of towering Rat Ogres, or perhaps something even more bizarre. They are therefore a much respected and sought-after ally for the ever-warring Skaven. A portion of many Warlord clans’ military strength was birthed in Hell Pit. While many are jealous of Clan Moulder's might, few dare to openly challenge them not when the clan can field an entire army of grotesquely mutated war-beasts.
Clan Moulder has its stronghold in the depths of Hell Pit, far north of Praag in the land called Kislev by its human inhabitants. The mines of this teeming Skaven metropolis are rife with Warpstone, and it is this material that is used to such excellent effect in the clan's horrific work. Its proximity to the Northern Wastes makes Hell Pit a nightmarish receptacle of the mutating energies of Chaos. The many foul creatures that roam this land provide the raw material used in the clan's breeding pits, skin forges and flesh laboratories. The Masters of Clan Moulder have learned the art of controlling these mutations and use them to create ferocious fighting beasts in foul experiments that combine mad surgery and the darkest of magics. The Packmasters capture many different animals and monsters from the lands south of Hell Pit, but most of their subjects come from the savage Northern Wastes and the dangerous Troll Country. They study the creatures they capture and experiment on them with feverish imagination. The Master Moulders meld flesh and bone like clay, breeding or building beasts that can be used to bolster their armies.
Conscience plays no part in the experiments of this clan's Master Moulders as they seek the key to creating the deadliest fighting beast possible. With Warpstone laced unguents, revolting medical experiments and unholy crossbreeding, they often succeed in creating effective, if debased, monstrosities. It uses the power of warpstone to breed fell beasts from slave-stock, crossbreeding and tampering with their genetic structure. Their greatest triumph to date has been the creation of the fearsome Rat Ogres. These ghastly creations are the source of much of the Clan Moulder's power as Grey Seers and Skaven sorcerers will pay a fortune in warp tokens to buy a Rat Ogre bodyguard, and those who have one enjoy vast respect and prestige from the fearful lesser Skaven.
-Clan Skryre: Clan Skryre specialises in the insane blending of sorcery and arcane Skaven technology. Its members, known as Warlock Engineers, are inventors that build infernal devices capable of fiendish destruction and constantly experiment to create newer and more powerful weapons of mass destruction. They often steal war machines from other races and then strive to 'improve' them in their own unique way. This almost invariably involves the inclusion of warpstone-based mechanisms that increase the weapons' potential for destruction, but also tend to make them much more unstable. Other races would consider such weapons far too dangerous for large scale use on the battlefield, but Skaven have a different attitude, normally accepting a few losses from their own weapons as normal. After all, that's what slaves are for!
Many are sorcerers in their own right, able to manipulate the Winds of Magic to cast spells and intertwine enchantments into mechanical form. From their warpforges under the verminous capital of Skavenblight, Clan Skryre has produced untold weaponry, including the poisoned wind globe, the Warpfire Thrower, and the deadly Warp Lightning Cannon. Clan Skryre has risen to become, arguably, the most influential of all clans. By selling their weird arsenal of devastation to the Warlord clans as quickly as slaves can churn them off the assembly lines, Clan Skryre has grown as wealthy as Clan Moulder. None dare offend Clan Skryre for fear of ending up at the wrong end of any number of weapons that could melt, blast, desiccate, or otherwise cause grievous death.
-The Lesser Clans: Most Skaven claim membership to one of the lesser Warlord Clans. There's no telling how many there are, but most believe they number in the hundreds. Rivalry among these lesser Clans is fierce and treachery is rampant. A new clan can rise and fall in a matter of days. Among these small factions, there are a few that stand out from the rest, though even they pale before the might of the Great Clans. Though weaker, they do have representation on the Council of Thirteen.
Whilst all Warlord clans are eager to secure treaties and pacts with more powerful clans, there are those who cannot purchase such alliances. Some Warlord clans willingly throw in their lot with one of the four Great Clans, trading total obedience for power otherwise unobtainable. These clans, known as Thrall Clans, are in effect extensions of the Great Clans themselves. Whether the Great Clans see these Skaven as actual (if temporary) allies or as unwitting pawns likely depends on the size and strength of the Thrall clan in question at any particular time. Unsurprisingly, many of these Thrall clans share the same ideology and goals of their masters and their armies incorporate a disproportionate number of their patron's weaponry, warriors and war-beasts. With such favors do the Thrall clans defeat their rivals and secure their own powerbase. Many tend to dwell in lairs and strongholds far from the eyes of their masters and hence they have a greater rein to pursue their own, nefarious agendas. However, it is a foolish Thrall clan that forgets its bonds of fealty altogether...
What follows are some of the more notable Lesser Clans:
-Clan Mors: Clan Mors is arguably the most successful of all Warlord clans. Its influence is so great that it is not lacking for war beasts or weapon teams, and its ranks are bolstered by warriors from other clans - hired, bribed, coerced to fight in the first wave. Clan Mors' rise in power, size, and status is due in no small part to the taking of the Dwarf stronghold of Karak Eight Peaks, known to the Skaven as the City of Pillars - a major nexus for the passageway that make up the Under-Empire. Clan Mors' aggressive warriors bear many trophy scars and they have better weaponry and more armor than other Skaven – the spoils looted over many long campaigns. The upper levels of the City of Pillars are constantly assailed by vengeful Dwarf warbands and spiteful Night Goblin tribes. This provides Clan Mors with a brutal proving ground for its Chieftains, and a chance to grind the teeth of a growing cadre of elite warriors.
The Skaven of Clan Mors are considered to be upstarts by the Great Clans. Due to recent victories and prodigious expansion, Clan Mors is very near to matching Clans Eshin, Pestilens, Moulder, and even Skryre in sheer power and influence. Together, the four Great Clans might easily crush Mors, much as they have destroyed other upstart clans in the past. Yet Mors continues to flaunt its power, and none are certain why the Great Clans have failed to act as they are expected to.
The Skaven of Mors are uncharacteristically united as one, and exhibit a loyalty to their leaders unheard of in Skaven society. Even those Skaven who have been conscripted into Mors from less fortunate clans are soon heard voicing praises to Warlord Gnawdwell and his staff. None are certain if this loyalty is a result of sorcery most foul, as of yet undiscovered drugs, or the product of something else that has yet to be discovered.
Clan Mors has yet to prove its value to the Lords of Decay, though it will indeed have an opportunity to do so if Warlord Gnawdwell has his way. The Council itself is not yet sure how to best employ Clan Mors, and discussions between individual Council members have been heated on this topic for some time. It is no secret that Skryre wishes to see Mors destroyed, a sentiment Clan Moulder has dismissed on many occasions. Pestilens, which was in a similar position to Mors' at one time, has yet to make a determination. Eshin, of course, keeps its own counsel regarding the upstart clan.
Of the Lords of Decay, it seems only the Seer Lord has lent his support to Clan Mors. The unity exhibited by Mors' members, which is an obvious factor in its recent successes, intrigues the Seer Lord. If the methods by which Gnawdwell guarantees the loyalty and stability of his Clanmares can be discovered, then perhaps the Great Ascendancy will become reality. After all, it is the duty of the Grey Seers to keep the Skaven united as a race, and Gnawdwell has obviously seen some success in keeping his own forces in line.
-Clan Flem: Often confused with Clan Pestilens, the Skaven of Clan Flem are deeply invested in the arts of plague. They differ from their far more powerful rivals in that they lack the religious trappings of the Plague Monks, though few other Skaven make the effort to notice or distinguish the two clans. Clan Flem walks a dangerous road, knowing full well that Pestilens tolerates their existence and also knowing that it is just a matter of time before Pestilens absorbs them into their sickened fold. Until this happens, Flem knows to follow its betters and always supports Pestilens in all that they do.
-Clan Skab: Regarded as some of the finest warriors in Skaven society, Clan Skab Clanrats are often leased out to other Clans for service. Even more important, Clan Skab tends to produce more Black Skaven than other Clans, and so they have an inordinately high number of Stormverrnin in their ranks. These expertly trained warriors are often sold to other Clans to act as guards for Chieftains and Warlords, or are claimed by the Grey Seers for similar purposes.
-Clan Skaar: Clan Skaar is known for its extensive mining operations. Skilled at ferreting out lodes of Warpstone, they often work closely with Clan Skryre and Clan Moulder, supplying each Clan with the precious substance. It's rumored that Clan Skaar plays a dangerous game, pitting Moulder and Skryre against each other. Most Skaven believe that this militarily weak Clan will eventually be destroyed, and their mining operations claimed, by Skryre, Moulder, or both.
-Clan Skaul: It isn't entirely clear to anyone why Clan Skaul maintains its position on the Council of Thirteen. The clan's population is composed almost entirely of hedonists and addicts who persist in making extensive use of Warp-laced narcotics. One answer for their success may lie in the fact that several Grey Seers have been born to Skaul's breeders within the past five decades. Some postulate that the drug use of the clan's rank and file may have something to do with the increased number of Grey Seers being born there.
-Clan Sleekit: Many of the byways of the Under-Empire are linked by subterranean rivers and seas. While most Skaven avoid these regions for the dark things they are said to contain, Clan Sleekit sees these routes as a commodity. Expert boatmen and navigators, the Skaven of Clan Sleekit are said to have explored the dim reaches of the world below, and harbor terrible secrets about what other things lurk in the sunless world.
-Clan Verms: Clan Verms is a pitiful Clan, shunned and reviled by all others, even those lesser clans who cannot hope to compete with its rather limited power. Verms has affinity with insects, bugs, and other types of vermin. Many species of over-sized insects, spiders, and the like have been attributed to the experiments of Clan Verms.
-Clan Volkn: Clan Volkn dwells in fortress warrens carved into the searing heart of Fire Mountain. All clan members are branded upon birth and its warriors dye their fur a bright red. The warriors of Clan Volkn bear blades of shiny black obsidian, mined deep beneath their volcanic lairs. The Stormvermin and Warlords of Clan Volkn even incorporate this material into their armor, inscribing it with runes that glow red with an infernal heat. Clan Volkn's banners typically display icons and markings on a background of lava, flames, or else upon an image of an erupting volcano. Unsurprisingly, Clan Volkn breeds many pyromaniacs and the clan is known for its fondness of Warpfire Throwers. As a result, many of Volkn's warriors are covered in soot stains, scorched fur and scar-tissue.
-Clan Mobidus: Clan Morbidus is one of the growing members of the Pestilent Brotherhood. They have unleashed seven foul plagues throughout the Old World, including the lethal outbreak of Foaming Lungrot that ravaged Wissenland and the Bleekbelly Fever that decimated the Dwarf stronghold of Grim-Duraz. Clan Morbidus is rather more mercenary than their Clan Pestilens masters and they willingly offer their services to the highest bidder: after all, the only thing better than spreading contagions is getting paid to do so. Much of the clan's warptokens are spent in the Clan Moulder breeding pits, exchanged for plague-ridden Rat Swarms, Great Pox Rats and Rat Ogres dripping with disease. These are seen by Clan Morbidus chieftains as necessary investments that will aid them in their cause to spread more pestilence and, of course, amassing greater power. Such avarice has not gone unnoticed by the Plaguelords of Clan Pestilens...
-Clan Krizzor: Clan Krizzor was once a poor and unremarkable clan that dwelt deep within the monster-infested region known as the Dark Lands. Clan Krizzor's fortunes changed with the discovery that Skavenslaves dipped in pig's blood make irresistible bait for traps. Soon they were caging enough creatures to secure an alliance with Clan Moulder, counting on the Master Moulders' greed to get their claws on new specimens. Clan Krizzor are one of the few clans that have an affinity for developing their own Packmasters, meaning that the clan is instead able to spend their spare warptokens on the Master Moulders' latest 'experiments'. Clan Krizzor's menagerie of war-beasts is now the most impressive outside of Hell Pit itself. Clan Krizzor have a particular loathing for Clan Rictus whose extortionate taxes to cross the Dark Lands' border cost them dearly. Little do Krizzor realize that their allies in Clan Moulder are plotting with Rictus to triple such tolls - after all, it wouldn't do to let a potential rival get too powerful.
-Clan Rictus: Clan Rictus control the tunnel lairs and passageways of Crookback Mountain and they demand a steep toll from all those entering the Dark Lands (and twice as much again if they wish to leave it). The proximity of several Night Goblin tribes affords Clan Rictus an almost inexhaustible supply of slaves, making the clan immensely wealthy, so much in fact that its stash of warptokens rivals the treasure holds of Clan Mors: the two clans are forever scheming for a way to usurp the other's power. Clan Rictus' warriors are all vicious and grim, but it is for their inordinate numbers of large, jet- black furred Stormvermin that they are rightly feared. These elite warriors are stronger and more violent than any Clanrats, and lesser Skaven go to great lengths to keep out of their way.
-Clan Mordkin: Clan Mordkin was one of the many Warlord Clans to fight against the Undead legions of Nagash. Inspired by the fearsome sight of the walking dead, and wishing to intimidate any rivals, the Skaven of Clan Mordkin took to adorning themselves with the bones of their foes. Many of the Skaven dyed patches of their fur or else painted their clothing and armor white to resemble skeletons. Even the fur of the clan's Giant Rats and Rat Ogres are dyed to give them a more deathly appearance. To this day, the Skaven of Clan Mordkin remain obsessed with death. They are instantly recognizable for their fearsome appearance and they still frequently incorporate bones and skulls into their armor. Shields, banners and totems are likewise adorned and many of the clan's warriors carry daggers carved from bone.
-Clan Septik: Clan Septik swore fealty to Clan Pestilens during the first great Skaven Civil War. They are the most fanatical believers in the entire Pestilent Brotherhood, rabid zealots whose fervor rivals (and possibly exceeds) that of their Clan Pestilens masters. Clan Septik see themselves as the right-hand claw of Clan Pestilens, who have thus far encouraged this view – after all, you can never have enough devout troops willing to fight (and die) for your cause. Despite the casual way in which this Thrall clan is thrown into battle, they have (so far) always emerged relatively intact, leading many to believe that the Horned Rat himself is looking favorably upon Clan Septik.
-Clan Ektrik: Clan Ektriks addiction to lightning has made them the thralls of Clan Skryre, for nowhere else can Ektrik's Warlords get their claws on the much-treasured Doomwheels and Warp Lightning Cannons. Clan Ektrik dwell in Foul Peak, where a vast array of machinery, connected to arcane lightning conductors atop the mountain's summit, hangs from the lair's ceiling. A horde of Warlock Engineers tends to this array, harnessing the power of the storm-wracked skies, but to what diabolical purpose none can guess, and they will not tell. The air hums with electricity and frequent 'accidental' electrocutions keep Clan Ektrik's life expectancy well below the Skaven average. With so many Warlock Engineers in their ranks, Clan Ektrik's weapons are forever being tinkered with. When Clan Ektrik march to war they do so with a dizzying assortment of upgrades, from electro-prods capable of stunning a Troll, to Warpfire ratbombs and part-mechanical Rat Ogres with Ratling Guns for arms.
-Clan Skurvy: The Skaven of Clan Skurvy are a bunch of mangy cutthroats and many bear the scars of their trade, including lost eyes and limbs. Clan Skurvy controls the largest of all the Skaven Clanfleets, having gnawed out the cavern-harbor known as Spineport. From here the clan's ramshackle fleet reaps a fortune (and no small amount of dread repute) from piracy, much of which is spent on buying and press-ganging replacement slaves to replenish the fleet's short-lived crew. Clan Skurvy's spoils are also supplemented by salvaging wrecks off the coast of the Isle of Sirens, bounty that is hauled back to the clan's secret lair beneath the Tilean city of Tobaro. On board a clanship, every Skaven is a suspect of mutiny, which is just as well as they are all planning to do it sooner or later. No captain keeps command for long unless he is utterly ruthless, and those that lapse for even a moment tend to 'fall' overboard or 'accidentally' walk the plank.
-Clan Gritus: Clan Gritus were once part of Clan Mors, but following the death of Great Warlord Vrrmik there was an absence of a leader ruthless enough to prevent the vast clan from fracturing. Clan Gritus was one of the factions that split off before tyranny was restored. Clan Gritus is a now a powerful clan in its own right, one that actively seeks out and preys on weaker clans. Those not destroyed are absorbed into their own ranks and as a result, Clan Gritus boasts many slaves and captured warbeasts. Even after post-battle feeding and inter-clan trading, there is such a surplus that this stock is used for sport. Many of Clan Gritus' warriors test their blades in lethal pit-fights and many bear scars, including the clan's current Warlord who lost an eye in the games. Clan Gritus maintains an ample supply of both Stormvermin and captured weaponry (of which jezzalls are particularly prized) to help put down the frequent slave revolts.
-Clan Kreepus: Clan Kreepus of Gnaw Pit was once conquered by Clan Grikk. Despite months of plotting, Clan Kreepus were unable to overthrow their jailers – until, that is, Clan Eshin promised to intervene in exchange for unswerving fealty. Deciding that service was better than slavery, Clan Kreepus accepted and a stash of poisoned daggers was smuggled into Gnaw Pit that night. Unable to clutch the weapons in their manacled claws, the Skaven of Clan Kreepus instead wielded them in their tails. When the guards next opened the cages they were overwhelmed. Clan Kreepus have been the willing thralls of Clan Eshin ever since and they have adopted many of their patron's mysterious ways. They are a secretive clan, running many mysterious errands for their Clan Eshin masters. Wary of reprisals, the warriors of Clan Kreepus rarely show their faces: it is rare for them not to obscure their faces with cloths, masks, or at least a few rags.
-Clan Carrion: Clan Carrion are the best scavengers in all of Skavendom. Clan Carrion have no permanent settlement. Instead they travel from battlefield to battlefield in search of the richest salvage, carrying heaped spoils upon their backs. Clan Carrion's banners and clothing are a patchwork of scraps and their warriors are armed with a hodgepodge of weaponry, shields and cobbled-together pieces of armor. Nothing is ever wasted and that which can't be used directly is traded. The Skaven of Clan Carrion make sure that their most valuable items, such as Giant Rats (a valuable source of protein) and Clan Skryre weaponry are painted in vivid, bright colors such that they can be more easily found amongst the post battle detritus. Clan Carrion firmly believe in 'finder's keepers' and they will quickly scurry away with anything of value if its owner happens to be looking in the wrong direction. Indeed, the Skaven of Clan Carrion are such prolific thieves that they only truly own what they can firmly clasp with their own claws.
-Clan Grutnik: Clan Grutnik's vast power is derived from rich deposits of warpstone beneath their mountain lair. Clan Moulder and Clan Skryre are eager to secure as much of this substance as they can and the cunning leaders of Clan Grutnik have pledged exclusive supply-rights to both, acquiring many weapons and warbeasts in the process. Clan Grutnik trades many of these acquisitions with surrounding Warlord Clans (making a further profit in the process), for many slaves are required to mine the warpstone, and mutations and fatal accidents are commonplace. There is so much warpstone at Clan Grutnik's disposal that it is often forged into their warriors' weapons and lacquered armor. Some further sport their wealth by wearing raw chunks of the stuff as trinkets, talismans, and even as replacement eyeballs or teeth.
-Clan Scruten: Wishing to establish a secret army, Seerlord Kritislik, leader of the Grey Seers and lord of the Council of Thirteen, led Clan Scruten away from the battles in Skavenblight and established major warrens hidden in the Cursed Marshes. Over time this lair has grown, and it now extends beneath the city of Marienburg. Clan Scruten's mysterious patron has granted them much wealth, so much in fact that the other members of the Council have become suspicious. The Seerlord vehemently denies that Clan Scruten receive any special favors and insists that the unusually high number of expensive weapons and Grey Seers amidst their ranks, as well as the common occurrence of Kritislik's own personal rune amongst the clan's iconography, is pure coincidence.
-Clan Treeeherik: Clan Treeeherik are the thralls of Clan Eshin, and they are a murderous, untrustworthy and perfidious clan – even by the dubious standards of the Skaven. Assassination among its ranks is rife and such is the risk of an assassin's knife that the warriors of Clan Treeeherik always strap their shields across their backs. Furthermore, the clan's warriors tend to wear clothing the color of Skaven blood - it doesn't pay to let your pack-mates know you're wounded in Clan Treeeherik. Far from being detrimental to the clan's long term survival, this unremitting killing culls the weak and assures that only the most skilled and ruthless endure. If a Skaven can survive in Clan Treeeherik, he is a born survivor and has little to fear from the scheming and plotting of other clans.
-Clan Feesik: When Clan Pestilens rose in power it destroyed dozens of lesser clans, conquered many more and converted several to their cause. Clan Feesik was such a clan, one whose unwitting filth and squalor was mistakenly interpreted by passing Plague Priests as a sign of devotion. Clan Feesik were quick to seize the opportunity and maintain the pretense, and for centuries since they have appeared to be one of the most fervent members of the Pestilent Brotherhood. This false zeal is born of their own craven survival instincts rather than any genuine sense of faith, for Clan Feesik have many rivals in Festerspike and, without the support of Clan Pestilens' rabid Plague Monks, it is unlikely they would survive for long. As such, Clan Feesik meets all Clan Pestilens envoys with sycophantic acquiescence, only too willing for the chance to prove its 'devotion' and send its brown-clad warriors to do the Horned Rat's bidding. That so many of these warriors flee the battlefield at the first sign of trouble has forced Clan Feesik to construct some of the most creative and elaborate excuses in all the Under- Empire.
-Clan Skrapp: Clan Skrapp are poor even by the standards of the Under-Empire. They dwell deep below the Putrid Swamp and nowhere in the Under-Empire can more squalid dwellings be found. Their fur is mangy and bare in patches, and they are clothed in a patchwork of tattered rags. Armor is scarce and weaponry is rusty to the point of falling apart. That Clan Skrapp has not been challenged and conquered by a rival clan is a credit to the campaign of disinformation and propaganda spread by bribed Clan Eshin agents. Clan Skrapp proclaims itself to be favored of the Horned Rat and dubious rumors persist in the Under-Empire that the clan can muster an entire army of Grey Seers. The warriors of Clan Skrapp even daub themselves in white streaks of paint and bat droppings and fasten horns onto their helmets and fur in order to promote the facade and mimic the appearance of the feared Skaven seers. Many rivals suspect Clan Skrapp to be either self-deluded or else completely mad, but few seem willing to risk open combat on the off-chance that their outrageous claims about the size, strength and power of their forces are true.
-Clan Ferrik: Clan Ferrik are led by a particularly tyrannical and megalomaniacal Warlord who have carved out a small but powerful clan in the heart of the Worlds Edge Mountains, having wrested several forges and smeltries from the Dwarfs of Karak- Varn. This Warlord hides his face behind a steel mask, and seems blessed of extreme longevity - though his followers are often perplexed by how often his size, voice and fur color seem to magically change. Countless Skavenslaves toil beneath Clan Ferrik's lairs, while legions of steel-clad Stormvermin lead unrelenting raids to gather a fresh supply of skilled Dwarf labor. Clan Ferrik are now the largest supplier of iron and steel to the Under-Empire. They trade with many Warlord clans but it is their claw pact treaty with Clan Skryre that has granted them the most power and influence.
-Clan Vrrrtkin: Clan Vrrtkin have been the thralls of Clan Skryre ever since the Second Great Civil War, pledging their armies in return for power and eventually a lair of their own. Armed with hundreds of Poisoned Wind Globadiers and Mortar weapon teams, Clan Vrrtkin led many assaults and gassed many rival lairs. Indeed, such is their predilection to exterminating Skaven warrens with the deadly vapors, that the glass orb is often displayed on the clan's banners, warning enemies (and allies) not to stray too close. Unsurprisingly, the most sought-after item in Clan Vrrtkin is a gas-mask. These inevitably go to the toughest warlords and Stormvermin first, with weaker Skaven fighting for what damaged and faulty equipment is left over. Most Clanrats have to suffice with a urine-soaked bandage tied around their snout or else stuff rags up their nose to protect them should the direction of the wind change mid-battle.
VICTORY GAINS
Skaven are likely to take just about everything from those they defeat. Weapons, armor and treasure will be gleefully stolen and distributed among those in power (then stolen by others until they change hands at least a dozen times).
Monsters or interesting creatures will be taken by Clan Moulder and either tamed or made part of future Skaven beasts. Or both.
Clan Skryre will take any interesting enemy war machines or weapons and either try to replicate them or put their own spin on them. It is also possible that they will invent a new war machine entirely to counter some aspect of the enemy.
Clan Pestilens may invent some new plagues or find new ways to distribute them.
The Skaven may work with third parties to overcome an enemy, but will almost assuredly betray them at some point.
A great deal of the enemy forces (and third party factions) will be taken as Skaven slaves. Those captured will also serve as part of the the Skaven's food supply.
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