Ratlings

Thieving, mischievous, sometimes malicious, the ratfolk (Tch'nuk in their language) of the north are the orcs' longtime foes. Where the orcs are nomadic, the ratlings burrow into the hills, creating sprawling permanent settlements. As a whole, they tend to be slightly mechanically inclined, but lack the attention span to truly create anything functional in the long-term. Nonetheless they create a persistent nuisance both for the Orcs of the Savage Lands and for the humans of the northern City-States Region, especially near to the Titan Wall.

Physiology

Standing around 4 feet tall, with prominent snouts and long semi-prehensile tails, to human eyes the Tch'nuk resemble nothing more than anthropomorphized rats. Their shaggy bodies and nimble fingers do little to dispel the notion. Their physical nature can be misleading, however, as their wiry strength and quick natures allow them to easily get the upper hand on an unaware opponent. The ratfolk are adept at physical manipulation and tool usage, and are highly nimble.

Culture

The Tch'nuk are, on the whole, creative but suffer from short attention spans. Living in large packs, constantly seeking out supplies both for living and for grandiose tinkering projects, the ratfolk easily come into conflict with others but just as easily slip away to seek an easier path. Their family structures are very communal, with little concept of ownership, with trinkets and tools being passed around and borrowed without little mind being paid to where a given item came from or belongs. If a ratling misplaces an item (or if the item was taken by another ratling) they'll just shrug and go seek out another one - or move onto something else. This lack of ownership as a concept is what frequently puts them into conflict with other species: they see the food and supplies grown by humans or orks as just something else that they can take for their general use.

Family

The Tch'nuk are similarly communal when it comes to family structure. There are very few familial bonds within ratling culture. Rather, younglings simply gravitate within various pods of youth, moving throughout the burrows at will and where their fancy takes them. This results in young ratfolk finding their way to others with a similar outlook or interest, leading to ratling culture being full of "tribes" focusing on different aspects of life - whether building, digging, cobbling together machines, or fighting.

Language

The language of the ratlings doesn't have a name in their culture, though humans and orcs call it "Chitter". It is full of squeaks and soft consonants, and moves extremely quickly.

Religion

The chaotic nature of the Ratlings does not generally lend itself to hierarchies of most sorts, nor does it tend towards seeking to better their society as a whole. As such there is no overarching spiritual philosophy that could be described as a Tch'nuk religion.

Blood Magic

While most view ratlings as mischevious troublemakers at most (even their occasional swarming attacks on the Titan Wall do not cause more than minor inconveniences) there is a small number within their population which grows to act fully malicious. The ability to access magic is exceptionally rare among ratlings compared to most sentient species, but those tch'nuk who are able to do so feel invariably drawn to draw blood of others.
The occasional Mage has studied these creatures and their connection to Magic. Their consensus has generally been that these ratling spellcasters believe that they are capable of drawing power from the blood and bone of other powerful creatures. Some will follow raider hordes when they attack Orcs camps; others will attempt to cross the Titan Wall and will murder sleeping Mercenary Guild soldiers in their sleep. Regardless of the method, these ratling blood mages often create fetishes and power focuses created from the bone and other remains of slain foes.
Other ratlings view these spellcasters with some degree of fear, never sure if they'll be slain for their own power. However they do not deny the usefulness of having a fellow ratling capable of throwing lightning against their foes.

Range

The largest ratling population lives in burrows that riddle the Northwall Mountains along the eastern edge of the Savage Lands, occasionally foraying into the Fertile Lands as their tunnels extend fully across the mountains. There are also smaller populations under other mountain ranges across Lasair, with one burrow near the Southern Wastes being that rare group that actually trades respectfully with others.

Game Notes

Ratlings can easily be represented in D&D using the various Goblin entries in the Monster Manual. If running a 3.5E-compatible or Pathfinder game, the Nezumi from Legend of the Five Rings were the direct inspiration for these ratlings, and statblocks for them can be found in the Oriental Adventures d20 books.