Skaven
The Skaven are human-sized anthropomorphic rat creatures that live in subterranean areas that are often plagued in disease and filth. They are clever vermin, with an itch for the dangerous. Their cowardice is only matched by their tendency to stab their fellow rat and commander alike in the back with a rusty dagger. Night Skaven and Risen Skaven look very similar in terms of build and physique both having many scars with grimy short fur.
No one knows where the Skaven came from. Ancient Dwarves, tell horrifying tales of hungry red eyes, scouring through a human settlement in the mountains. Dwarven scholars speculate, that it was the great bell in the recently constructed cathedral, which rung specifically thirteen times, before going silent. The following chaos was one never seen before, man turning on man, children eating the faces of their own mothers, large green meteors of pure chaos fell from the sky; almost none of those exposed to the bell's tolls were spared from the madness. The few souls that were still sane, knocked the doors of the cathedral open, with the intent of finding the culprits to this dark sorcery. Inside, corpses of dwarves lay scattered throughout its great halls, every single piece of flesh torn from their bones. From the darkness, lay thousands of red eyes on the disturbers of the feast. Since then, that city has been renamed to Skavenblight, the wretched capital of all Skaven.
The Skaven live in large underground cities, where all rats, sooner or later, go. Life here is harsh, with few Skaven reaching the age of a human teenager, before being crushed under a rock, stabbed in the back by a colleague, or falling from a high point to his death. Four clans dominate most of Skaven society, and all who wish to make it far in Skaven society will eventually join one. The four clans are: Skyre, Moulder, Eshin, and Pestilens. Clan Skyre focuses on developing new and interesting toys to blow soldiers up with, and occasionally something useful for nonmilitary purposes. Such as, massive drills that can do what would take thousands of slaves a month to do, in a week's time. These drills have been limited to drilling out new tunnels, far away from cities, as one of them almost got Skavenblight crushed under tons of stone. Clan Moulder are the breeders of the clans, using magical rocks known as Warpstone, filled with pure mutating chaos inside it. Clan Eshin is a clan of assassins. Eshin is almost permanently bought out by the Council of Thirteen, for their services in dealing with troublesome Skaven or those of other empires. The fourth clan is Clan Pestilens, an entire clan of decease-ridden monks who screech the teachings of Horned Rat from their tomes. They love inventing new plagues and would want nothing but to watch the entire world rot. At the center of all is the Pillar of Commandments, a large stone of pure Warpstone containing thirteen sides with thirteen commandments. If you survive the horrible mutations, you have a chance at getting a seat in the Council of Thirteen. That is if you kill one of the current members in a fight to the death. Though some have tried members haven't changed for four hundred years.
Due to their extremely fast metabolism Skaven can live naturally to the ages of 12 to 15, however, due to their tendency to stab and kill co-workers, they normally live to the age of 4 if they're lucky. Although there are many other contributing factors to the age of a Skaven rat. For example, being blessed by their god, known as the Horned Rat, becoming so disease ridden it prolongs their life, or through the use of a long-life elixir developed by clan Skyre.
Skaven have a strict hierarchy to their volatile lifestyle, and they will often use their position to exterminate any and all who oppose them. The only way to go up in their society is to murder your rival and to obtain his position in a sly or cunning way. They favor trickery or short-lived truces with enemies to which they will eventually backstab at a later date if they don't get backstabbed themselves. They typically turn out chaotic evil.
Most Skaven grow to no taller than 5 feet tall but some can be much bigger. Your size is Medium.
Skaven names are often beast-like or attributed to disease, rot, beast features and are often genderless. Male/Female: Skrin, Vaskal, Roter, Kritess, Scife
Unknown Origins
No one knows where the Skaven came from. Ancient Dwarves, tell horrifying tales of hungry red eyes, scouring through a human settlement in the mountains. Dwarven scholars speculate, that it was the great bell in the recently constructed cathedral, which rung specifically thirteen times, before going silent. The following chaos was one never seen before, man turning on man, children eating the faces of their own mothers, large green meteors of pure chaos fell from the sky; almost none of those exposed to the bell's tolls were spared from the madness. The few souls that were still sane, knocked the doors of the cathedral open, with the intent of finding the culprits to this dark sorcery. Inside, corpses of dwarves lay scattered throughout its great halls, every single piece of flesh torn from their bones. From the darkness, lay thousands of red eyes on the disturbers of the feast. Since then, that city has been renamed to Skavenblight, the wretched capital of all Skaven.
The Skaven Living
The Skaven live in large underground cities, where all rats, sooner or later, go. Life here is harsh, with few Skaven reaching the age of a human teenager, before being crushed under a rock, stabbed in the back by a colleague, or falling from a high point to his death. Four clans dominate most of Skaven society, and all who wish to make it far in Skaven society will eventually join one. The four clans are: Skyre, Moulder, Eshin, and Pestilens. Clan Skyre focuses on developing new and interesting toys to blow soldiers up with, and occasionally something useful for nonmilitary purposes. Such as, massive drills that can do what would take thousands of slaves a month to do, in a week's time. These drills have been limited to drilling out new tunnels, far away from cities, as one of them almost got Skavenblight crushed under tons of stone. Clan Moulder are the breeders of the clans, using magical rocks known as Warpstone, filled with pure mutating chaos inside it. Clan Eshin is a clan of assassins. Eshin is almost permanently bought out by the Council of Thirteen, for their services in dealing with troublesome Skaven or those of other empires. The fourth clan is Clan Pestilens, an entire clan of decease-ridden monks who screech the teachings of Horned Rat from their tomes. They love inventing new plagues and would want nothing but to watch the entire world rot. At the center of all is the Pillar of Commandments, a large stone of pure Warpstone containing thirteen sides with thirteen commandments. If you survive the horrible mutations, you have a chance at getting a seat in the Council of Thirteen. That is if you kill one of the current members in a fight to the death. Though some have tried members haven't changed for four hundred years.
Age
Due to their extremely fast metabolism Skaven can live naturally to the ages of 12 to 15, however, due to their tendency to stab and kill co-workers, they normally live to the age of 4 if they're lucky. Although there are many other contributing factors to the age of a Skaven rat. For example, being blessed by their god, known as the Horned Rat, becoming so disease ridden it prolongs their life, or through the use of a long-life elixir developed by clan Skyre.
Alignment
Skaven have a strict hierarchy to their volatile lifestyle, and they will often use their position to exterminate any and all who oppose them. The only way to go up in their society is to murder your rival and to obtain his position in a sly or cunning way. They favor trickery or short-lived truces with enemies to which they will eventually backstab at a later date if they don't get backstabbed themselves. They typically turn out chaotic evil.
Size
Most Skaven grow to no taller than 5 feet tall but some can be much bigger. Your size is Medium.
Skaven Names
Skaven names are often beast-like or attributed to disease, rot, beast features and are often genderless. Male/Female: Skrin, Vaskal, Roter, Kritess, Scife
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments