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Skaven

2021-10-20T00:38:15Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8DAB:A0D2:F0DE:1CE6: /* History */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Skaven|Logo=Capture131114532.png|Alliance=Chaos|Motto=DIE DIE SOLDIER MANTHINGS DIE!!!!}}

{{Topquote|It would be ugly to watch people poking sticks at a caged rat. It is uglier still to watch rats poking sticks at a caged person.|Jean Harris}}

{{Topquote|I WILL JOIN YOU, FAGGOTY ELF! IF THERE IS ANYTHING I HATE WORSE THAN ELVES, IT'S FUCKING RAT FURRIES GOING FULL NORTH KOREA WITH NUCLEAR ROCKS!|Urist, Warhammer: Ravandils Quest}}

{{Topquote|Rodents of unusual size? I don't believe they exist.|Free Company Sergeant Roberts, last words before being killed by a rodent of unusual size}}
The '''Skaven''' are technologically advanced [[ratfolk]] in the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and [[Age of Sigmar]] settings. Ugly, evil creatures that spread [[AIDS|plague]] wherever they go and topple kingdoms for fun and [[profit]], you will be hard pressed to find a more unlikeable race out there. Much like the [[Orks]], they're so excessively over-the-top that it's pretty funny.

Skaven are said to be '''''the''''' most evil race in the entire setting, and that's no idle claim. For all [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|the Empire]], [[Bretonnia]]ns, [[Dwarf (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dwarfs]], [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|High Elves]], [[Wood Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Wood Elves]] and [[Lizardmen]]'s many flaws (and make no mistake, they ''are'' numerous) each of them has at least some claims to heroism that keep them out of being villains. Most undead are mindless automata executing their programming while their masters are usually capable of genuine love and altruism. [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dark elves]] are cruel and have a culture based on torture and slavery, but they are more driven by historical grievances and living in an inhospitable homeland, and can display family loyalty along with traits that some would call decent or even questionably heroic. Orcs and Goblins are violent brutes, but they'll develop what could be considered friendships and attachments to their fellows, and even the most brutal Black Orc will cry if his pet squig dies (Not in front of the other boyz though, because they'll all see him as nothing but a runty git). Or at the very least he will bash someone’s head into the ground, point is, he'll grieve. Ogres are well-known to be gluttonous and casually cruel almost to a man, but they usually still love their families and their Gnoblar pets, and any Maneater worth his salt is usually good for his word upon payment. Despite their propensities towards [[Khorne|killing]], [[Tzeentch|scheming]], [[Nurgle|festering]] and [[Slaanesh|raping]], the mortal followers of Chaos are capable of honor, friendship and a warped form of love. Even Daemons, who may or may not count as their own separate race, usually respect the chain of command without [[Drow|constantly trying to murder their leaders and take their place]]. And the Beastmen, who are also inherently evil like the Skaven, respect their chieftains and shamans, deal honorably with their few allies and give worthy foes a fair fight.

Skaven have none of the above qualities, or any other that could be considered even vaguely noble or redeeming: they openly hate everyone and everything, are more cowardly and paranoid than any goblin, more cruel and hostile than Dark Elves, and more fractious than Chaos. Love, friendship and honor are completely alien to the Skaven's psyche. Due to their chronic backstabbing disorder, nobody trusts them, likes them, or wants to be 'allies' with them (except Dark Elves, who have a treaty with them that both sides betray at times). The only times they have done something that benefited non-Skaven or the world, such as helping beat the first incarnation of Nagash, are due for purely selfish reasons - Nagash did his best to enslave them and deny them warpstone. One of the only three reasons the Skaven have lasted this long and not killed themselves in an ''en masse'' fratricidal free-for-all is because their hatred of all other things outweighs their hatred of other Skaven by '''''just enough''''' for them to slightly function (that and their crazy-high birthrates or the direct intervention of their god, who's little better than them). However the 'just enough' cannot be stressed enough. Even with the all-out doom of their race present, as with Nagash or Chaos, they're still intent on fucking each other over. <strike>If</strike> when possible, Skaven <strike>would</strike> will kill each other in the womb.

And that's why we love to hate them so much.

It should be noted that there is one non-evil one in [[Warhammer Adventures]], the Warhammer children's book series (yeah, that exists). Named Kreech, he's still the villain of that series, but by the standards of Skaven he's damn near a fucking Grail Knight. Screech actually lives in human culture, preferring it to his own people's, and has a 12-year-old human slave as his sidekick. Even in children's media they're utter bastards.

==So who are they?==
In a lot of science fiction going back to [[Starship Troopers]] and likely far earlier, there are races of [[Tyranid|Hive Creatures]]. Vast beings that may have separate bodies, but have one will. One Consciousness. Each "individual" soldier or worker is akin to someone's finger, or a cell on someone's fingertip, and is ultimately an expendable resource in service to the greater whole. All march in lockstep to expand the influence of the gestalt consciousness as far as possible, either assimilating or crushing anything they come across. The Skaven are the antithesis of this, though this fact in no way makes them nice.

The Skaven are a race of walking humanoid rats with dubious (but not to be underestimated) intelligence and a hideous feral cunning out to conquer the world in the name of their God, the Horned Rat, and also for their own personal gains. If there was one quality which defined their species, it would be raw unconstrained '''''selfishness'''''. By instinct, culture and the will of their asshole god, each Skaven is self-obsessed, paranoid, greedy, power-hungry, murderous and doesn't give a rat's ass (hehe) for their family or their race's well-being unless their own is at stake. They find the concepts of love, honor, loyalty and friendship to be so alien they can't comprehend them. In the prisoner's dilemma, they always defect. By nature, each of them is fundamentally evil, and this is not racism speaking here. To give context for this, a [[Skarsnik|greenskin]] in the End Times event was traumatized by the loss of his beloved [[Skarsnik#The_End_Times|Squig]], while no Skaven individual has ever, at any point, been shown to have an attachment to any living thing other than themselves. The closest they can get is the exceedingly rare example where a Skaven can understand that certain other individuals are tools worth cultivating and protecting from outside threats, and are assets too valuable to allow their casual destruction or squandering (see Gnawdwell and [[Queek Head-Taker]]). The only thing a Skaven hates more than other Skaven is creatures who are non-Skaven, and this gives the ratmen the vaguest ability to work together when they have a common enemy; otherwise they would fall on each other like, well, a pack of rats.

Skaven have an odd relationship with fear. On the one hand, cowardice is the order of the day. They definitely don't want to be sliced, stabbed, shot, skewered, squished, scorched or Slaaneshed. They'll face the perils of battle for the prospects of rewards, killing rival Skaven or non-Skaven (which they collectively call "Things") and because their bosses WILL have them killed horribly if they don't at least ''try'' to fight, but most Skaven have a reticence to enter battle unless the odds are decidedly stacked in their favor, and they're more prone to breaking and running if things go pear shaped. On the other hand, Skaven have a weird fondness for quick routes to power. If you give a Skaven a potion which has a 25% chance of killing them quickly, a 25% chance of killing them slowly, a 25% chance of doing nothing and a 25% chance of giving them the ability to breathe fire like a dragon, they'll usually take it.

Remember the saying about a bunch of monkeys with typewriters eventually producing Shakespeare? Well, at a species level they are sort of like that: keep throwing rats at the problem to try every cockamamie dunderheaded idea that said collection of drugged up hyperactive megalomaniacs desperate to get ahead can dream up until eventually they stumble on one that works, which others will shamelessly copy when it does. Each Skaven, be he a member on the Council of Thirteen or the lowliest of slaves who's used up and sent to the slaughterhouse, operates under the belief that they are the one true leader of the Skaven whose visionary insights would lead their species to domination of the universe in the name of the Horned Rat, if he can just gain the keys to power and overcome the short-sighted idiots which stand in his way. Introspection and self-reflection are not common Skaven traits, though some older Skaven like the aforementioned Gnawdwell and his former protege Sleek Sharpwit show that such qualities are possible, even if it’s ''exceedingly'' rare.

In terms of physiology, Skaven are shorter than humans, less bulky than them, slightly weaker (surprisingly not as much, considering the difference in size and mass), and generally "less" in every regard but one. Where they do pick up is speed: Skaven live their life in perpetual super speed with all its advantages and drawbacks - they move faster, think faster, breed faster and age faster, generally reaching adulthood at five months and growing old, gray and frail by the age of thirteen (though very few survive for that long). All that speed builds an almost insatiable appetite, and as they have no body fat reserves, they're '''always''' hungry, except maybe after the battle when they can eat the dead (of both sides). Skaven look unnervingly twitchy and energetic to other races (even Elves, who also have a kind of inherent superspeed), while Skaven see others as slow lumbering idiots. Like rats, the Skaven have a good sense of smell; it is stated by Teclis in [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] 2's high elves vortex campaign that they could smell fear and "treachery" from others. According to Teclis, the Horned Rat's rat swarm smelled through the fake Galifreius' disguises and went for her while ignoring Talarian. This being said though, Stormvermin (who are consistently well-fed and trained) tend to grow to the height and weight of a healthy man which may imply Skaven actually may be generally capable of growing to the dimensions of normal men, but few of them get fed enough to achieve this.

They live in a massive underground empire known as, well, the Under Empire (with the Horned Rat being the God Emperor, ironically far more successfully than the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|OTHER Emperor]]) which spans through the Warhammer world like the [[Underdark]]. The only regions it fails to reach are Ulthuan because it's a giant floating island and Athel Loren because the Skaven diggers get murdered by tree roots or the soil itself refuses to be touched. Its capital is called [[Skavenblight]], and is also one of the only visible signs of Skaven from the surface (because it is such an indescribable shithole), up until it was teleported to another dimension post [[End Times]] (it's still a shithole though). No one trusts them quite rightly, and few other races resist killing them on sight, which is reciprocated in kind. They are more numerous than any other race in the world, and only one enemy keeps them truly in check: themselves.

On a very amusing note, the Skaven are one of the rare examples of a race of furries actually liked by most of /tg/, because by all intents and purposes they are everything your average mary-sue furry self-insert is not: hilariously villanous, dirtily non-sexualized, full of character flaws and their actions are actually relevant and well implemented into some of the most important plot twists in the setting.

=== History ===
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==== Warhammer Fantasy ====
No-one knows where they came from but it is suspected [[Tzeentch]] had a hand in their creation using Warpstone, a hideous amount of mutation, and generations of breeding with normal rats. (That is to say, breeding rats with other rats, not Tzeentch breeding with the rats. That's more [[Slaanesh]]'s thing.) The 7th edition Lizardmen army book states that they came about during the Great Catastrophe. There's a poem in the Skaven codex, dating all the way back to their first codex in 4th edition, called "The Doom Of Kavzar". Written in-universe by an author in the Warhammer world's equivalent of Italy, it offers what is generally accepted as the most concrete explanation of their origins. To summarize;

Humans and Dwarfs lived together in a city called Kavzar, and decided to build a Noblebright Tower of Babel rip-off to thank the gods for their prosperity. But even Dorf engineering couldn't complete it, so they got some mysterious grey-clad stranger to complete it in exchange of him being allowed to add a giant bell as a dedication to his own gods.
Upon completion, the temple sealed itself shut, the stranger disappeared, and terrible things happened after the bell rang thirteen times. The weather turned bad with constant Warpstone-laced rain, people got sick, babies were born dead or mutated, crops failed and rats multiplied while growing bigger and smarter. Older fluff said the stranger cursed the city because the people refused to give him money as well for finishing the temple, newer fluff just makes him out to be evil and mysterious.
Every day, the bell rang thirteen times. Rain became hail, then hail became meteor showers. The rats kept growing to the point that swarms of rats started preying on humans. Realizing things were becoming [[Dwarf Fortress]], the humans asked the Dwarfs for help.
The first time the Dwarfs turned them down after calling them wimps for complaining about rain. The second time they were rebuffed was due to the rats eating all the Dwarfs' food. The third time the surviving humans got desperate and smashed open the Dwarf gates to demand their help... only to find bearded Dorf skeletons and well-fed, but still hungry, hordes of rats and the poem ends with them swarming and eating the last surviving humans.

tl:dr a [[wizard]] met [[human]]s and [[dwarf]]s, someone was swindled so magic happens that turns rats into tyranids.
And the rest, is history...

Notable this story appears to be known in universe. [[Vermintide 2|Victor Saltzpyre]] mentioned a reference to it at one point in Vermintide.

Incidentally, this isn't the only theory presented to their origins, but it's the one most gamers take as canon. Some in-universe origin theories mentioned in the 6e fluffbook "The Loathsome Ratmen and Their Vile Kin" include:
* An Imperial naturalist named Wilfried Schtutt argued that the skaven descend from rats warped into a semblance of the human form by some malign external power, such as [[Chaos]].
* A Tilean classicist, Marcelli Verdallo, argues that the skaven are living proof of the ancient philosopher-sage Proti's theorem that all things in the universe are created by the mystical interactions of cosmic archetypes from beyond time and space, being the fruit of some union between the archetypes of Rat and Man.
* Johannes Krueger's Bestiarium mentions an ancient Estalian legend wherein shipwrecked survivors turned to cannibalism and were cursed by Manann, the Sea God, assuming rat-like forms.

Also there are a few [https://i.imgur.com/FWzQkHn.jpg other origin] stories.

It is said that after their creation, Skaven spread across the world, [[Ikit Claw|learning many cultures, stealing technologies and magic techniques that could help them in their conquest for Skavendom or personal power]]. Namely the Clan Pestilens who traveled southward and westward and ended up in Lustria, Clan Eshin who traveled eastward and ended up in Cathay, Clan Moulder who traveled northward and established a stronghold in some backwater hellish landscape known as the Hellpit near Kislev and Norsca.

Further evidence that the Doom of Kavzar is the canon origins of the Skaven is that the poem's author was assassinated by [[Clan Eshin|means unknown in-universe]] and copies of the poem keep disappearing. Plus their capital city, Skavenblight, is all but stated to be Kavzar (the tower with the bell being the headquarters of the Grey Seers). This makes them a surprisingly old race, as they were actually well-established before the rise of the [[Tomb Kings]] as the undead rulers of Khemri - in fact, they had a grubby little paw in that whole sordid affair.

It was the Skaven that supplied Nagash with many slaves and warriors such as savage orcs for him to kill and raise. It was the Skaven that helped Nagash to poison the River Vitae, unleashing a magical plague to devastate every living thing in Nehekhara. It was also the Skaven who betrayed Nagash by assisting the human Alcadizaar in his defeat, which resulted in the rise of the Tomb Kings since Nagash was no longer around to control the dead Nehekharans. So, aside from the Dark Elves who taught Nagash the [[Warhammer Magic|Lore of Darkness magic]] that would eventually evolve into the necromancy all [[Vampire Counts|vampires]] love, and the [[Tomb King|Nehekharans]] hate, the Skaven were the ones that supported Nagash, making him powerful and undefeated. (This is because every time Nagash died, he re-spawned back to his black pyramid. Although it takes a fuck load of time for him to actually get up, it allows him to grasp the mortal world while preserving his existence. Also the pyramid itself is indestructible so he has no need to trust anyone to guard it.) In the end, they still betrayed him for their own selfish desires. Classic Skaven.

The Skaven have been popping out numerous times across history, trying to weaken the forces of order to favor themselves in the long run. For example, they appeared during one of the Norseman invasions, when Sigmar was still around. In fear that Sigmar's Empire might threaten their very existence, they tried to use the invasion as an opportunity to destroy mankind, but failed nonetheless thanks to the Dwarfs that were blocking their tunnels.

After that, the Skaven didn't lay a hand on the Empire until after their own civil war. It was at this time that Clan Pestilens developed a new disease called the Black Plague (nice real life reference [[Games Workshop|GW]]), spreading it among the Empire's population. The plague not only killed and reduced its population to less than half the size of the generation before, it also killed the current Emperor (AKA the worst Emperor, who was actually killed by an Eshin assassin's shuriken, but who cares) and every other corrupt noble in his hideout, and good riddance some say. The Skaven then launched their attack after the plague weakened the Empire, but were stopped by a pretty cool guy named Mandred von Zelt of Middenland, who gathered the rest of the elector counts and launched an anti-Skaven crusade. Ironically, the black plague played a major role in many of Mandred's victories, since the disease affected the Skaven rat bodies as well, weakening the Skaven army and killing enough of them to force their retreat. In the last battle, the Skaven launched their last counterattack, only to fail after their leader, Vrrmik, the warlord of Clan Mors and a member of the Council of Thirteen, was slain by Mandred. The rest of the vermin were then driven back to their Under-Empire by the Empire’s forces while suffering under their own plague from the war. What's worse for the Skaven was that the slaves they bought ended up revolting, and destroyed several already plague weakened clans while Mandred, who was declared the Emperor and sporting Vrrmik's own helmet at the time, rebuilt the Empire. The process was faster than the Skaven could expect, with the humans even installing the sewer watch to prevent further Skaven movement on the Empire. After such a humiliating defeat, the Council received many compensation notices from other disease ridden clans. But the Council decided to just assassinate them all, including our beloved Emperor rat slayer, and called it even. The assassination made mankind forget about the Skaven, even dismissing them as myth.

The Skaven are also pretty famous on [[Cathay|the eastern side that]] [[Nippon| Games Workshop refuses to talk about]]. Clan Eshin's ancestors once journeyed far to the east, losing contact with its society for 100 years. When they came back however, they had learned the art of NINJUTSU from some jerk-off at [[Nippon]] where they have skilled rats throwing shuriken, and frigging ninja flipping better than [[Gabriel Angelos|the Chapter Master Gabriel Angelos]]. In [[Cathay]], some filthy beastman and a Sun Wukong wannabe became the Emperor of not-China and took an Eshin Skaven warlord as his right hand man. Thus began an unhealthy relationship of trading warpstones and rat shit, which means either the Cathay Emperor is nuttier than a warp fruit cake (which should be obvious since the new Emperor was mentioned to be a fucking magical monkey beastman, or probably something worse if he is also like Wukong born from the meteor except the meteor is made of warpstones), or Eshin Skaven are ''slightly'' more trustworthy than the rest of Skaven. (If you believe [[Total_War:_WARHAMMER#Skaven|Total War]], they are; they're the only clan that doesn't have to deal with warlord loyalty.) It might be true depending on how [[weeaboo]] the Eshin has become; if you look up on real world ninja, they do tend to be surprisingly loyal compared to what you might think. However, one could say that the eastern legion doesn't really have any experiences with Skaven betrayals, plus the Skaven did assist the Chaos Dwarves in the End Times to siege Cathay, meaning everything the Skaven did in Cathay was but a diplomatic ploy to fool the Cathayans.

As if the Skaven aren't widespread enough, they have the operation worldwide. There is Clan Pestilens in Lustria, who like to infect themselves with diseases that Nurgle doesn't approve of, and throw feces at lizard-things for the lulz. Some of the rats made it into Naggaroth (probably as slaves or a few via the under-Empire) while trying not to provoke the wrath of [[Malekith|the strongest mama's boy in Warhammer history]]. The only place they could never set their foot on would be Ulthuan, which is a giant continent that floats on top of the water and obviously can't be connected to Skavenblight via tunnels. It's regardless just too scary for the rat-things to deal with: flame spewing dragon-things, elf-things that shoot rains of arrows from far away, and mages that have the power to summon a [[exterminatus|giant bombardment of nukes from the sky]].

The Skaven themselves have no records of their origins, and do not particularly care about their past. As far as they are concerned, the only relevant historical eras are "now, when we don't rule the world" and "soon, when we will be ruling it". Of course, any given Skaven will be plenty interested in the history of his own life, but the history of the rest of their race is dismissed as unimportant. On day to day affairs, history is whatever the Council of 13 says it is, though it wouldn't be surprising if Grey Seers keep records.

==== Age of Sigmar ====
The Skaven survived the end of the old world by teleporting [[Skavenblight]] to another dimension. When the Horned Rat became the Great Horned Rat he immediately drew Skavenblight into the Warp and created more of his Daemons. What followed was a golden age for the Skaven, where there was Warpstone everywhere to be found, they had the direct blessing of the Great Horned Rat, and unlimited space and potential around them. They then promptly did the impossible and somehow dug so deep that part of the Warp collapsed into Skavenblight which collapsed into the material realm which is now made up of eight "nearly infinite" planes made of the former Winds of Magic.

Skaven now have access to all of reality at once, and can create realm-spanning 'Gnawholes' everywhere from beneath Sigmar's throne to beneath Khorne's throne. As can be expected the tunnels are not stable and thus only the Skaven are willing to use them, as even immortal and deathless Daemons can somehow vanish into the space between spaces never to be seen again when Skaven are involved. This doesn’t mean that the Gnawholes are completely safe for the rat kin though. Just the process of constructing one of these inter-dimensional tunnels costs tens of thousands of <strike>lives</strike> slaves, and when the Gnawhole is complete, there’s a good chance that the big brains in charge of the project were off on their calculations. So instead of tunneling directly into [[Cities of Sigmar|Hammerhal]], you instead end up in the middle of nowhere or an active volcano.

Skaven have also had an exponential population boom, which is impressive considering they damn near outnumbered insects in the old setting. Each of the four former great clans from the Old World is alive and kicking <strike>eachother</strike>, containing billions of Skaven and even entire clans. A fifth great clan is Verminus, an especially numerous and martial clan (the techy/monstery/sneaky/stinky niches were taken so someone's gotta make Stormvermin their thing).

However, Skryre, Pestilens, Moulder, Eshin and Verminus were not always the only Great Clans. In the age of Myth, there were said to be as many as 13 great clans (probably like 9 or 10 but the Grey Seers rounded up). What happened to the rest? A couple of examples:

* Clans Tichritt attempts launches an invasion of Thandria, a Sigmarite nation. It may as well be Russia in winter with the pantheon of Order united - Tichritt is annihilated.
* Clan Ikk does well during the tumult of the age of chaos, gaining a momentous ''four'' seats on the Council of Thirteen which sparks civil war with the equally ascendant Clan Verminus. Verminus enlist the help of Clan Pestilens to spread an epidemic of frothjaw. The rabid rats get so erratic the other great clans temporarily unite to destroy them.
* Clans Shrykt dig a huge gnawhole and, one by one, its clans disappear through the portal. They were never heard from again. Maybe they left to join 9th age.

The increased scope of AoS lore has meant Skaven society is EVEN MORE chaotic and self-destructive than it was. And this lore makes a little more sense than their old world history: you can't expect such volatile societies to [[Warhammer 40000|maintain a millennia-long deadlock between the same four great powers.]] Still, the current status quo of vying great clans is not that different from the old world's coz... those are the models GW sells. The unknown great clans continue the trend of GW giving AoS lore lots of missing primarchs (deliberately left gaps for homebrew and headcanon). In the Age of Chaos, Pestilens profited greatly from their alliance with Nurgle. However, Order managing to push back against this smelliance has meant that the Clans Skryre is better poised to vie with Pestilens for pre-eminence on the council of thirteen. They'll probably work it out peacefully (by Skaven standards, meaning only several million rats will die).

Skaven continue to be fuck-ups at a scale never before witnessed. When Nagash attempted a great ritual of necromantic binding, it was sabotaged by the Skaven nibbling a power cord. Eshin agents had managed to open gnawholes in Nagash's great pyramid. Huge success for Skavendom? Well, maybe had another group not accidentally opened a gnawhole at the bottom of the Shyish sea. Blight City was decimated by a zombie-infested flood, like The Day after Tomorrow meets World War Z. Hilariously, the drained Shyish seabed revealed the soul-stealing [[Idoneth Deepkin]] to Nagash, Slaanesh and everyone else who was wondering about those mysteriously empty towns that smelled faintly of halibut.

The moral of the story is clear: you might be able to foil Skaven schemes but it's their fuck-ups you wanna watch out for.

=== Society ===
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If you do not know much about rat social behavior, you might be surprised to learn it is fairly well developed and includes among other things evidence of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa16P4nFgD8 rodent altruism]. As you might expect, GeeDubs ignored it entirely to make the Skaven more grimdark and work on people's stereotypes of what rats are like rather than how rats interact. Skaven society is literally cutthroat when it comes to promotions (but luckily not [[PROMOTIONS]]). In a world where you have chaos warriors who can Honor the chaos gods by killing/raping/getting minions caught up and expended in complex plots, beastmen which are in a similar lot as chaos on top of animalistic aggression who still practice a survival-of-the-fittest pack-mindset based loyalty, orcs that are hardwired to love to scrap, goblins who are no strangers to backstabbing and dark elves who've literally made assassination and treachery an art the Skaven have managed to collect the gold medal in (f)ratricide. After receiving said award they promptly began killing each other to see which Skaven individual got to keep it; the conflict continues to this day, with no resolution in sight. The '''only''' reason why their society has not murdered itself into extinction is because of a very high reproductive rate. Despite their teamkilling tendencies they obey the Grey Seers, the prophets of their god the [[Horned Rat]]. Although this obedience is done purely out of fear, it is done without question. Except for the other Grey Seers.

==== Hierarchy ====
The Skaven race is ruled over by the [[Council of Thirteen]], Skaven of such evil they have been chosen by their vile god and manage to survive the constant threat of assassination, most likely because everyone is too afraid of these uber-ratman to go near them. Although they squeak big about their plans for world domination, they are too busy trying to outdo and kill each other. Despite the name there are only twelve Councillors; the 13th seat is symbolic and reserved for their god and woe betide anyone that tries to sit on it! To become a member of the council all any Skaven need do is touch the sacred Black Pillar and challenge a current member for his seat in a duel. In practice it has been over 200 years since someone actually manage to pull it off, which is a minor point in favor of the current crop of leaders on it, even though a large part of it is that touching the Black Pillar has a tendency to make Rats explode.

Beneath the council of thirteen are the Grey Seers and the Warlords. Horned, grey furred skaven pups are raised to be the priests and magic users of Skavendom that act on behalf of the council. Ironically enough the Skaven are more prone to throw around claims of [[HERESY]]! than the Sigmarite Empire. Not showing proper reverence to the Horned Rat brings down his wrath on the offender and everyone around him, so they take a dim view of anyone who misses their services. Secular Rodentism is not something which is going to catch on in Skavenblight. Warlords are those lucky rats that have managed through guile, luck, accomplishment on the battlefield and the elimination of rivals to get in charge of a Clan. Sometimes you get a Grey Seer warlord with his own clan, but that's usually the exception. There is a hard cap on 169 Grey Seers at any one time, though there are a bunch of apprentices waiting in the wings for one to die. Skaven being Skaven, one of the mos popular pass times of said novices is making slots available through assassination.

Beneath them, you have an upper crust of prominent individuals within the clans: Warlock Engineers, Master Molders, Plague Priests, Assassins, Chieftans, high ranking officers and so forth. Either through command of some arcane skill or having armed rats behind them they have wealth, better accommodations, hosts of underlings and regular access to breeders. Underneath them are those with a modicum of cultivated value: the merchants, the technicians, the packmasters, the rank and file of the Stormvermin, the apprentices to the great ones, the Gutter Runners, the overseers, skilled workers and so forth. All of which have to some degree or another got their position by struggling tooth and claw and are with it some measure of power and authority. Most of them rose from the Clanrats. Those poor bastards live in poverty packed up like sardines and have to work hard for their daily Skavenbread™ and fight tooth and claw to keep what little they've amassed. But even these wretched rats have it better than the Slaves. They are the remnants of defeated clans, the pups deemed surplus to requirements if not quite bad enough to be culled, those that earned the ire of their overseers and those whose power struggles failed them and avoided being killed. Their status is somewhere between that of a native in the Belgian Congo and a Pig in a Factory Farm. Clanrats may be exploited but Skavenslaves are actively worked to death, thrown at the enemy to absorb arrows and are fed a meager diet of scraps, garbage and each other. That's when they are not being taken to the butcher's block so their betters can enjoy a meat dinner and and have some leather. The best they can hope for is that a good deal of their superiors fuck up and die or that their clan conquers another leading to enough shuffling in the org chart that they can get promoted to clanrat status. But while clans do wax strong and skavendom produces a lot of said fuckups it also burns through skavenslaves like nobody's business.

Two key facts of this hierarchy are ''Shit Flows Downhill'' and ''The Rodent Staircase''. To a high ranking Skaven everyone else is a rival, either an immediate threat or a potential one just waiting for the right moment to make its move against you, so keep a lid on them if you can. Subordinates are to be given the minimum they need to accomplish their tasks, some rewards if they exceed expectations, and nothing else. If they step out of line they can be beaten. If they cause too much trouble they can be replaced with some up and coming Rat eager to not be a skavenslave. If things are going badly for you, assert your dominance with a show of force. Even if things are going well, you should put the fear of the Horned Rat into your underlings just to remind them who's boss to be on the safe side. This comes before the fact that Skaven are vindictive little shits that have no qualms about taking out their frustrations on others. A sternly worded Letter to a Warlord from the Council of Thirteen will lead him snapping at his second in command and will eventually manifest itself in clanrats biting the tails off Skavenslaves because they'd been the subject of the ire of their overseers and need to re-assert dominance.

Likewise if you want to get up (and between their megalomania and what the bottom is like ALL Skaven want to go up all the way), you need to not only excel or have some useful talent but also deal with the million other rats out there with the same ambitions. If you want to survive in the slave pits, shiv your neighbor and eat him to get enough calories so you'll have the strength to see another day. If the clawleader's favorite mug has gone missing, say the guy who's always admired it stole it to bring down the bosses wrath upon him so you have one less rival, the boss's wrath is directed elsewhere and if you happen to be right he just might throw you a bone for being (due to the lack of a better word) loyal. Apprentices could and should steal the ideas of their fellows to become Warlock Engineers Attempting to police the Skaven to stop such backstabbing is usually an exercise in futility, especially since whatever Police Rats you can scrounge up will inevitably engage in said activities on their own. Not that it matters much in most cases, there is always a fresh stream of replacements and those eager for dead rat's shoes. At most murder provides an excuse for removing individuals that they don't like in a move that is slightly less likely to spark the paranoia of your rivals. A good Skaven leader knows how to use this competition to keep his minions in line and to get the most out of them. A bad skaven leader is going to end up on the barbecue sooner rather than later. This is the case from birth, even for those whose role was determined at birth like grey seers and stormvermin have to fend off both ruthless instructors and backstabbing fellow applicants. Nobody is unscathed.

==== Misc ====
Although unintentional on the side of writers, there are circumstances where real life rats can become Skaven-like. In a series of social experiments involving overpopulation designed to see what effects human overpopulation in cities like New York or Tokyo could be paralleled, rat populations with far too many beings in far too small an area begin to go, as individuals, insane while the group becomes far more violent despite having more than enough food and water to sustain the entire population. When a high-density population that shows these behaviors is given more area to roam in by having another set of open cages attached or being shifted to smaller population cages, the behavior remains the same meaning the rats have been permanently mentally damaged; only with successive generations do they regain sanity. So in a way, Skaven have inadvertently made themselves fucking insane by choosing to live in horrible conditions and to overpopulate. Theoretically, saner and more level-headed (if not necessarily less evil) generations of Skaven could emerge if the species got access to more room and better conditions, and was completely removed from its old environment and the previous rats who inhabited it.

In fact, if the root of the Skaven's evil nature could be traced to both their terrible environment and the terrible culture that both feeds and feeds off of that environment rather than anything genetic, theoretically, there ''could'' actually be ''good'' Skaven if they were somehow separated from Skavenblight immediately after birth and raised outside of it by someone willing to give them a chance. However, seeing as how the primary…“engines” of Skaven reproduction are heavily guarded in the very heart of Skavenblight, and literally every other race in Warhammer is hard-wired to kill the mangy rat-bastards on sight (and with FUCKING good reason), such a thing will almost certainly remain purely theoretical. Especially since all that trouble would ultimately amount to little more than proving a petty point, with little to no real pay-off beyond making the Horned Rat personally pissed off at you (then again there are [[Tzeentch|some]] that might find ''that'' outcome a goal in and of itself).

=== Armies ===

==== The Rank and File ====
* '''Skavenslaves''': Large numbers of starved skavenslaves are thrown at the enemy's front lines with crummy scrounged up weapons for the enemy to waste arrows, bog down enemy movements and hopefully take down a few manthings by sheer numbers. Some lucky ones get to annoy the enemy at a range with slings, which is sort of a luxury as nobody else in the army can take them.

* '''Clanrats''': The basic Rank and File of a Clan with some armor and better weapons (swords, shields and spears). Better fed, more durable and less likely to run than Skavenslaves, but still cannon fodder that relies on numbers against all but the crummiest of foes. Various campaign supplements would expand on the basic Clanrat with unique variations for each Great Clan, like the Rotten Rodents of Clan Pestilens, who trade their shield for an extra hand weapon.

* '''Stormvermin''': Basic elite units for when you want something that has more staying power than Clanrats. Black furred pups are singled out to be soldiers. They get given extra food, ruthless spartan way training, better weapons and armor than the common riff-rats and take some pride in their units (which means that they are less likely to randomly stab their fellows in the back than most skaven and any failure to meet the standards is liable to get a stormvermin executed). The Clans [[Clan Mors|Mors]] and [[Clan Rictus|Rictus]] are known for their particularly nasty regiments of Stormvermin and regularly sell themselves to the other aspiring Warlords for a sizable sum.

*'''Chieftain''': The Skaven equivalent to a Greenskin Big Boss or Empire Captain. They serve under the Warlord as his enforcer and field commander. Usually it’s from this rank that new Warlords are “promoted”.

*'''Warlord''': Also called Clawlords in AoS, Warlords are not the best fighters of a Skaven Clan, but the most cunning. They lead the ravenous swarms of ratmen into combat from the safety of the rear lines. They get first pick of any loot they come across and play a constant game of 3D chess with their subordinates to make sure they keep their position...and their lives.

==== Specialists ====
*'''Poisoned-Wind Globadiers''': A elite corps of Clan Skryre clanrats trained in the usage of special glass spheres filled with toxic vapors. They lob said orbs at hordes of enemy troopers where they shatter disperse their poisonous payload into the air. To protect themselves, the Globadiers wear special breathing equipment on the (common) chance one of their globes is faulty. TWW2 introduces a more potent type of poison called the '''Death Globe''', whose toxins are harmful even with the slightest of skin contact. In AoS, they are renamed to '''Skryre Acolytes''' and function as interns for the various Engineers.

* '''Weapons Teams''': Clan Skryre’s bread and butter. A vast collection of various weapons all designed to be carried by a pair of skaven and have a staggeringly high rate of (explosive) failure. The '''Warp-Fire Thrower''' is a crude fire hose connected to a gas tank that spews a corrosive fluid that ignites upon exposure to air. It was created to melt through heavily armored dwarfen shield walls during their first wars against the beard-things. '''Ratling Guns''' are the skaven’s take on real world gatling guns; six barrels of rapid fire warpstone bullets all powered by a hand crank. Said cranking mechanism is prone to overheating and explosion should the gunners get too eager on the spinner. For more precise weaponry, the '''Warplock Jezzail''' provides. It’s an oversized rifle held in place by a rickety shield and built to deliver lethal warpstone bullets into the heads of an enemy leader from miles away. A '''Doom-Flayer''' is what happens when you take the Green Goblin’s pumpkin bombs and turn it into an armored chariot. These bladed balls were originally meant for tunnel clearance and mowing down pesky dwarf battle lines. Similarly, the '''Warp-Grinder''' was also initially made for utility purposes, serving as a quick means of excavating new underways, though it was soon repurposed for drilling into armored units and bastions. Finally the '''Poisoned Wind Mortar''', the grown up version of the Globadier, these mini artillery pieces launch lethal spheres of toxic fumes across the battlefield to choke the lives out of enemies, though it is the only weapons team to not make the jump to Age of Sigmar, for some goddamn reason. And naturally there’s also the '''Death Globe Mortar''' in TWW2 as well.

*'''Night Runners''': The initiates of Clan Eshin. Having yet to fully grasp the importance of discipline, stealth, and basic fucking patience, they run headlong into enemies throwing sharpened metal stars and knives at them (likely Naruto running and shouting attack names as well). They do have their uses though, serving as excellent skirmishers thanks to their ranged attacks and natural agility.

*'''Gutter Runners''': Those lucky few Night Runners who survive their first battle and learn how to stand still are soon claw-picked to become Gutter Runners. These elite teams are the main agents of Clan Eshin you’ll find. Often hired for sabotage, espionage, eating fromage, and of course assassination. TWW2 adds an even more elite variant of the Gutter Runners called the '''Death Runners''', who are noted for having zero armor and simply dodging most attacks.

*'''Assassin''': Pretty straight forward. Picked from the most elite of Gutter/Death Runners, these expert killers are so feared among the Under-Empire that rumors spread about them having special abilities, from squeezing into a coin sized hole to having a poisonous shadow. Outlandish that may sound, Clan Eshin isn’t one to confirm or disperse these rumors.

*'''Eshin Sorcerer''': One of the ninja clan’s better kept secrets. In addition to being rigorously trained in the arts of murder and sabotage like the other initiates, these Skaven are capable of wielding their own unique magic called the Lore of Stealth (likely a mixture of Shadow magic and the standard Skaven Lore of Ruin). As expected, the Nightlord doesn’t want too many people to know about their existence (Grey Seers in particular), so much so that they vanished from the lore and tabletop for a while...until TWW2 brought them back into the limelight.

*'''Packmaster''': Part slave-driver, part animal tamer, Packmasters are adepts of Clan Moulder who specialize in the “care” of their menagerie of beasts. Often recruited from the most bully like Skaven, they are cruel and relentless with their whips and spiked prodders which double as a means of defense as well as way to encourage their monsters to fighter harder. Some also are known to carry large snapping claws on pole arms called thing-catchers, which they eagerly use to grab new test subjects whilst on the battlefield.

*'''Giant Rats''': The most common/simple of Clan Moulder’s monsters. They’re just big ass rats, usually the size of a small domestic dog. They are herded into massive swarms by their Packmaster(s) to drown the foe in furry bodies.

*'''Pox Rats''': A step up from the Giant Rat, these boar sized rodents are commonly used as mounts for various Skaven leaders, though as their sickly name suggests, the Plague Priests of Clan Pestilens are particularly fond of them.

*'''Rat Ogres''': The premier product of Clan Moulder. Through a fusion of skaven, [[Ogre Kingdoms|ogre]], and countless other beasties, a hulking monstrosity was born. Ill-tempered, violent brutes who serve as shock troopers/bodyguards for skaven armies. Like actual ogres, they are very strong but also quite dumb. Despite this, they can be equipped with several rudimentary upgrades and weapons for more specialized needs. During the End Times, Clan Skryre improved upon the base Rat Ogre and created the even more dangerous '''Stormfiend'''. By adding a secondary brain via an tiny ass skaven slave to the beast’s back, they can now operate more advanced weaponry, such as warp fire projectors, shock gauntlets, rattling guns, and many more, while still keeping the same base level instincts and loyalty they are known for.

*'''Brood Horrors''': What happens when you cram a bunch of starved Pox Rats into an enclosed area and leave them alone for a while? Well eventually only one of them remains having swallowed whole all of its packs mates and bloated to monstrous sizes. It has now become a Brood Horror, a hideously mutant creature that’s either used as a stand alone monster or as a mount for the most daring of Warlords.

*'''Hell-Pit Abomination''': And you thought the Brood Horror was grotesque. Named after the capital warren of Clan Moulder, the Hell-Pit Abomination is a Frankenstein fusion of left over body parts, machinery, and gallons of liquid warpstone given unholy life. No two Abominations are quite a like, though they all have the general shape of a massive multi-headed centaur-rat.

*'''Plague Monks''': The zealous followers of Clan Pestilens. Less armored than a Clanrat, these ragged devotees rush into battle with filth encrusted robes and rusted blades while chittering prayers and wishes to the Horned Rat. Each one is infected with enough viruses and sickness that just being in the vicinity of them is detrimental to your health. They gladly throw themselves onto foes to smother them in corruptive ilk and often carry tomes full of various litanies and vows to their pestilential deity.

*'''Plague Censer Bearers''': The more rabid Plague Monks who don’t become Plague Priests will often be given the “privilege” of carrying large censer flails that are blessed with filth and constantly emit toxic fumes. They then rush headlong into combat swinging their weapons to create a noxious cloud of gas, invigorating their brethren and smothering their enemies. Much like the similar in concept Night Goblin Fanatics, Plague Censer Bearers have a short life expectancy as the fumes are so toxic that it can even kill the rats of Clan Pestilens, albeit very slowly.

*'''Plague Priest''': Looking more like champions of [[Nurgle]] rather than skaven, these pox-filled vermin are the heads of the Pestilent Brotherhood. They lead vast congregations of sickly followers on a holy mission to corrupt the world in the name of the Great Horned Rat. The most distinguished Priests often ride into battle upon massive '''Plague Furnaces''', a rickety siege engine centered around a giant swinging censer, constantly filling the air with toxic warpstone fumes. These fumes invigorate the warriors of Clan Pestilens and choke the life out of all others.

===Clans===
Skaven organize themselves into Clans, through which they organize their backstabbing. The individual backstabs for position within a Clan, the Clan backstabs for position in Skaven society.

There are many Clans, far more than any being other than the Horned Rat (presumably) knows. Clans rise, fall, split, infight, reform, and even ally constantly. Each Clan seeks to have one of their members in a position in the Council of Thirteen, which runs the business of their entire race.

The [[Council of Thirteen]] is conveniently organized like a clock, with 13 at the 12 position which is representative of the Horned Rat. Members are called Lords of Decay. Each position is more powerful within the Council based on their proximity to the Horned Rat, so the Lords of Decay at the 1 and 12 position are the two most powerful, 2 and 11 behind them, while the Lords of Decay at the 6 and 7 positions are the weakest. Each Lord of Decay can outright veto the position of the one opposite them. Each Lord of Decay has their position marked by a symbol, either that of themselves or that of their Clan. The Lords of Decay have thus far remained in power for most of the existence of the Council thanks to the life-prolonging Warpstone they use (so Skeksis), although they rise and fall in power.

Skaven Clans fall into three categories: Great Clans, Warlord Clans, and Thrall Clans. The four Great Clans are extremely powerful, and epitomize the different aspects of Skaven society (Each Greater Clan later became a type of Clans in [[Age of Sigmar]] due to an exponential population boost). Warlord Clans are essentially the middle class of Skaven, usually doing their own thing and not tied to any specific Great Clan. The Thrall Clans are weaker warrens that swear allegiance to a Great Clan to survive or grow in power. Of course thanks to Skaven backstabbing, a Thrall Clan is an expendable frontline infantry source while the Great Clans are just sources of really neat toys like Rat Ogres and Ratling Guns, and of course every Clan is waiting to betray each other while making allegiances to other Clans and to betray their REAL allies that they're of course waiting to be backstabbed by while totally being unaware of the fact that a fourth set of Clans have set up the backstabbing conga for their own benefit, and so on as far as you want to get into it (note: this describes a single day of plotting or so).

When fielding an army, one or two Clan paint jobs and multiple Thrall-Clan paint jobs are quite fluffy.

The four Great Clans are:
* [[Clan Eshin]], the ninja assassin Clan. {MURDER [[Lizardmen|ALL]] [[Dwarfs|OF]] [[Undead|THESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!]]}
* [[Clan Moulder]], the Clan which breeds monsters and sews them together Frankenstein style to make even better (by Skaven standards, slightly less volatile) monsters.
* [[Clan Pestilens]], the founder of the Pestilent Brotherhood and the largest and most powerful Pestilent Brotherhood member.
* [[Clan Skryre]], the Clan which produces Warp-powered Tesla cannons, machine guns, vehicles, and other assorted machines.

In addition, there are the [[Grey Seers]], silver furred Skaven with horns that represent the servants of the Council and the Horned Rat. They are above all Skaven other than the Lords of Decay and as a result tend to be somewhat free from the backstabbing conga, other than that of other Grey Seers. Any grey Skaven who do not have horns are part of the Council Guard, the elite warriors that protect the Council and the Grey Seers. However those Skaven that protect the Council of Thirteen directly are The Albino Guard, purely white furred giga-stormvermin.

{{Skaven-Clans}}

===Deity===
The Skaven worship their creator the [[Horned Rat]], a god as sickening and vile as they are. God of disease and vermin, thankfully he gets the crap kicked out of him by Sigmar and Sotek on a regular basis and frankly anyone that feels like having a go. He got fed up with such bullshit at the [[End Times]], telling the Skaven to stop backstabbing eachother and get shit done, which they proceed to do by destroying many cities. He also made a deal with the [[Chaos Gods]] as he cannot defeat them.

As of [[Age of Sigmar]], [[Slaanesh]] [[bullshit|was kidnapped]] by three Elf gods that were formerly mortals ([[Tyrion]], [[Teclis]], [[Morelion]]) at the manipulations of [[Tzeentch]] and the newly-appointed HNIC of all Chaos [[Archaon]]. This resulted in [[Nurgle]] and [[Khorne]] immediately voting with them to boot him out of the pantheon and the [[Great Game]] and promoting Horned Rat to proper Chaos God in his place. Horned Rat immediately renamed himself Great Horned Rat, but found out that the big kids table was full of backstabbing assholes with absolutely no respect for each other, and somehow even less for him. When the Chaos Gods gave Archaon their blessings, Archaon rejected the Horned Rat's blessings and spat directly in his face for daring to presume GHR can bless the self-righteous ass that is Archaon(Though this could just be Archaon not having absolutely abysmal standards).

=== Magic ===
Skaven wield a form of Dark Magic fueled by [[warpstone]] and derived from their own inherently corrupt abilities. However, select kinds of skaven are capable of actually tapping that energy; traditionally, only the Grey Seers, rare mutants who function as the skaven's shamans and the Warlock Engineers of [[Clan Skryre]], who use [[magitek]] devices to draw upon and manipulate Dark Magic, possess this power, but that lore has fluctated over editions.

In 4th edition, Warlocks could be 1st to 3rd level casters, with Grey Seers being 4th level casters, and both used the same "Lore of Skaven" magic system.

In 6th edition, only Grey Seers were casters, still using the Lore of Skaven; Warlock Engineers instead had to spend points on magitek weapons that also allowed them to cast a single spell, ''Warp Lightning''. However, the optional rules for Great Clan armies in the back of the book also featured clan-based casters; these "lesser mages" were treated as level 1 casters who only knew a single pre-selected spell. Clan Eshin had Sorcerers (Skitterleap), Clan Pestilens had Festoring Chantors (Pestilent Breath), and Clan Moulder had Harbingers of Mutation (Vermintide). Clan Skyre's Warlock Masters could still only cast Warp Lightning, but could try and cast an 11+ variant that was much more powerful.

In 7th edition, things changed; now, Skaven had two different schools of magic - Ruin and Plague, with Warlock Engineers being Hero level casters of Ruin and Plague Priests getting an upgrade to be Hero level casters of Plague, with Grey Seers being Lord level casters who could mix and match spells from both lores, and had access to the unique "Dreaded 13th Spell", which could transform enemy troops into skaven clanrats.

"Children of the Horned Rat", the skaven sourcebook for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 2nd edition, tweaked the Skaven magical lores around. Naming the two primary schools of Skaven magic as Plague and Warp, it also upgraded Eshin Sorcerers to full-fledged casters, with their own unique school of magic; the Dark Lore of Stealth, a corrupt form of Shadow Magic that lets them do more animesque ninja stuff. As CotHR was written around the time of 6th edition, it doesn't quite mesh up with either 6e or 7e fluff; instead of being masters of all the skaven styles, it's implied (it's a little hard to ascertain) that Grey Seers only use Warp Magic, whilst Plague Priests and Eshin Sorcerers only use Plague Magic and Stealth Magic respectively. Warlock Engineers, meanwhile, can't use magic at all, but instead can make unique magitek gizmos.

Also, CotHR says that rogue Grey Seers can learn Chaos Magic or Necromancy, although this paints them as skaven heretics.

=== Army ===
Skaven are your <strike>standard</strike> easily abused horde army. Lots of cheap vermin, whose numbers allow them to easily ignore their one theoretical weakness: shitty leadership, backed up by more expensive and/or specialized units, that are in theory unreliable but will still wreck your shit moar consistently than most anything else by sheer volume. Also, DOOMWHEELS.

<strike>Under current rules</strike> they <strike>are</strike> have always been considered overpowered, except for a brief period where DoC reigned thanks to your [[Matt Ward|Spiritual]] [[Spiritual Liege|Liege]]. They have now reclaimed their mantle, since 8th edition heavily favors mass infantry blocks, and the Skaven can easily throw out a block of 100 models for less than what some other armies will spend on a lord, no, I'm not exaggerating, which under the current rules is virtually unbeatable.

=== Special Characters ===
====Wargame====
The cast of Skaven special characters has shifted and flowed across editions, but this is the original list from 4e:
* [[Verminlord]]
* Grey Seer [[Thanquol]]
* [[Lord Skrolk]], Plaguelord of Clan Pestilens
* [[Ikit Claw]], Chief Warlock of Clan Skryre
* [[Throt the Unclean]], Master Mutator of Clan Moulder
* [[Deathmaster Snikch]], Chief Assassin of Clan Eshin
* [[Queek Head-Taker]], Warlord of Clan Mors

6th edition saw the creation of a handful of new characters, whose stats appeared either in [[White Dwarf]] or on Games Workshop's website - back before they turned it into a mere shopping center. In addition to converting many 4e characters who'd been left out of their 6e army book, such as Snikch and Ikit Claw, 6e saw the creation of:
* [[Ghoritch]], Castellan of Hell Pit
* Warlock Master [[Klawmunkast]] and his [[Steam Tank|Rat Tank]].
* Plague Lord [[Morbus Sanguis]]

7th edition added two new characters to the list:
* Beastmaster [[Skweel Gnawtooth]]
* Chieftain [[Tretch Craventail]]

====Fluff-only, Other Games, Other Continuities====
[[Image:Reverse Furry And His Pet.png|thumb|200px|right|Somehow worse than legit Skaven!]]
* Kreech: FUCK, I thought we agreed never to mention him again. Exists in Age of Sigmar to be the PG version (no depicted cannibalism, drug addiction and mass murder) of Thanquol to the pacifist protagonist adolescents of [[Warhammer Adventures]], is a complete weeb for humans, and has a slaveboy from the Realm Of Beasts named Scratch.
* Sneek Scratchett: a scribe from the [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] continuity who serves as your chosen faction's mission control during the Vortex campaign. MST'd the sequel's reveal trailer and wears a small pair of glasses, though whether he actually needs it or likes-prefers the look is known only to him.
* Vulskreek: a Grey Seer also from TWW and Sneek's supervisor, and regularly bosses Sneek around as all Skaven higher-ups do. After the Black Pillar forsees great things for the Horned Rat, Vulskreek's put in charge of mobilizing the ratmen to do their god's bidding, but the Grey Seer's also working on orders known only to the Council...

=== Fun Facts ===
* They consider the number thirteen to be lucky/holy. This a reference to how thirteen is seen as unlucky in Western society. However, several real-life nations/cultures consider thirteen a lucky number.
* Grey Seers regularly ride giant bells on scaffolds into battle
* [[DOOMWHEELS]]
* in ye olden days they could be led by friggin master splinter! im not kidding this was a thing
* Their leaders lead from the back, to get a better view of the battle of course and not due to the meatshield tactic.
* They can improve anything, with the addition of magical radiation rocks!
**This may or may not involve improving themselves by snorting said rock.
* GIANT LIGHTNING CANNONS
* Backstabbing little bastards, they'll fuck you up five different ways without you even knowing about it, if you're lucky.
* Skaven do not abide by any codes of honor or battle etiquette, and as such, they WILL bring a gun to a swordfight (and even then they'll try to steal your sword beforehand (and poison you (and improve themselves with warpstone before (aaaaand the gun might be a DOOMWHEEL)))).
* Skaven have a combination of ego and incompetence that would make [[Transformers|Starscream]] look down his nose at them. (Bad comedy right there)
* Skaven do NOT think about the potential consequences of ''anything'' that they do. Taken to its logical conclusion in [[The End Times]] when '''they blow up the motherfucking Chaos Moon''' and nearly destroy the planet with moon-fragments.
* At one point they had the cheapest troops in any game setting. How cheap? It was measured in ''fractions of a point!''
* They can carry giant rocket launcher weaponry that will most likely explode in their own damn faces.
* RATLING GUNS! its as cool as they sound! and yes, it does what it says on the tin
* for the last time, master splinter did NOT teach all of clan Eshin how to all be ninja rats...only a few
* As of Total Warhammer II, Skavens can into space. (No, seriously, go play the campaign!)
* BTW, they also have sniper rifles. Warpstone rifles of instant brain pop, yes-yes

== Thematic Stuff ==
In Warhammer seriousness and farce walk hand in hand. Some factions are in general more jokey like the Greenskins and others are more somber like the Druchii, but all of them are capable of both. This is especially true of the Skaven. On the one hand, they're a malignant horde of self centered sociopaths in which every twisted manifestation of this fact is explored driven on by a malevolent deity spreading underground like a cancer who surge forth to lay waste to the realms of men leaving nothing behind but ruins and gnawed bones are ultimately responsible for bringing about the End Times. On the other hand they're a species of Cartoonish Ratguys with Mad Science super-weapons, Ninjas and and convoluted plots that often blow up in their filthy faces with odd verbal ticks which are despite it all can sometimes be, well, cute.

The Skaven have no direct counterpart in Warhammer 40,000. In of itself this is not unprecidented. After all the neither do the Lizardmen or Vampire Counts and on the same note you don't have any Tau or Tyranids having raves in Athel Loren keeping the wood elves up. Even so, they do seem to be a natural fit. After all, they are one of the most technological factions and it's not a huge leap to imagine their space fleets and similar. They're also GW original content, so why are they not a thing? One possible answer is that while they could fit into 40k, they would be kind of redundant. Simply put the role of Theocratic Empire with cutthroat internal politics ruled through fear, driven by hatred of The Other on which a small priviledged elite rules over a vast ocean of individuals living cheek to jowl in huge labyrinthine warrens either as disposable factory workers or soldiers expended like ammunition [[Imperium of Man|is already filled in 40k]]. In fact the parallel may be more direct then accidental given that there are explicitly 13 high lords of Terra, same as the 13 lords of the Skaven council. The Empire of Man is not The Shire or some other idealized fantasy utopia, but on the same note in of itself it's not actually that bad by the standards of the era it was based on. Most of it's big problems are external (chaos, greenskins, druchii, whatever) and most of the crappiness you'd find in it is the sort of stuff you'd find in basically every early modern state along with the virtues there-of. It just so happens that those flaws get magnified a million fold once it territory can be listed in 'light years'.

== DIE-DIE MAN-THINGS! ==
The above sentence clearly illustrates the quirks of skaven language (which is titled Queekish): they often say certain monosyllabic words twice (words like "die-die" and "fool-fool" are popular). Skaven are also known to link similar-related words together.
[https://forums.totalwar.com/discussion/199375/on-skaven-jitter-speak-in-game-2 Some people believe these things should only be done to the most important part of a sentence. However, in some official works, such as Total Warhammer II, these quirks are applied seemingly at random in skaven speech.]

Also, they often end the name of a species with the suffix -things, so men are man-things, dwarfs are dwarf-things, et cetera.

This helps indicate that non-Skaven are not people in their eyes. Although considering their backstabby natures it isn't as if they're trying to avert sense of shame or horror from killing others, which is why humans dehumanize during war... so why? Likely the Skaven equivalent of racial slurs.

==Female Skaven==
[[Image:Female skaven.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Canon image of a female Skaven.]]
[[Image:Skaven female cheerleaders.jpg|thumb|250px|left|The closest thing to a female Skaven model to come out of Games Workshop.]]
The skaven as a whole fit the idea of "ratmen" - with particular emphasis on the ''men'' part. All named skaven characters are male, and new fans invariably wonder; what about females? Where do skaven come from?

There was never any great emphasis placed on them. Indeed, they were left so ambiguous that the first ever description of skaven females actually came about as a result of one fan's fanfiction, during those hoary days when [[Gnome#Gnomes_in_Warhammer|Gnome]]s and [[Half-Orc]]s were still canon. In "[https://the-eye.eu/public/Books/rpg.rem.uz/Warhammer/Fantasy/Roleplay/1st%20edition/Skaven%20-%20Book%20of%20the%20Rat.pdf The Book of the Rat]", a fan-made netbook of skaven lore for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 1st edition, female skaven were stated to exist but were hugely oppressed; they were kept as sexual slaves in segregated chambers of the warren, to which only the clan's elites were allowed access. Kept in miserable conditions, their life consisted of nothing but rough sex, pregnancy and looking after their mewling ratlings. Female skaven were described as rarer than male skaven, partially due to biology, primarily because their mothers and the bitter, infertile/elderly midwives tended to be particularly callous towards the female offspring and so female skaven have a much, ''much'' higher mortality rate than the males.

When we got official lore, however, it turned out to be far worse... when the first ever Warhammer Armies: Skaven sourcebook was released, way back in Warhammer 4th edition, fans were presented with what is the earliest known mention of skaven females: a single line describing them as being "indolent" and "semi-intelligent" in the general Skaven entry in the bestiary section (page 50). Modern lore, established in the Skaven's 6e army book and preserved since then, built upon this singular line and is considerably more [[grimdark]] than the fanon presented in "The Book of the Rat": female skaven are horrific monsters, implied to be basically female [[Giant Rat]]s of enormous stature, who build upon their description in 4e by being described as feral, effectively non-sapient creatures. They are basically giant wombs, locked away separately from the males and existing only to feed and produce offspring, so monstrously pregnant and indolent that their limbs have atrophied, rendering them incapable of doing anything but wallow in the breeding pits.

Further female skaven lore, such as it is, was fleshed out by Black Library fiction and most prominently by ''Children of the Horned Rat'', a skaven sourcebook for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 2nd edition. In CotHR, it's theorized that only one in ten skaven are female, reaching sexual maturity at the age of 2 and spending the rest of their 2 decades of life doing nothing but breed, averaging 12-24 pups a litter and 4-5 litters per year.

What's ''truly'' grimdark however, as explicitly stated in that same book is, that skaven females are actually <b>NOT NATURALLY LIKE THIS</b>; rather, their condition is the result of the skaven's malevolence and their need to [[fleshcrafting|"improve" upon nature]]; from a young age, skaven females are constantly dosed with Warpstone-based narcotics and hallucinogens, intended to keep them docile and segregated, so they will not protest their life of endless baby-making. There is a single line hinting that this may not be as effective as the male skaven think: "So cloistered away from the rest of their race are they that they do not learn their race’s chittering speech, nor are they proficient in even the simplest social skills…or so the Skaven believe." But still the vast majority of "Rat Mothers" spend their lives incessantly pregnant and in an interminable drug-fueled haze, often blind and/or crippled, and dependent on the ministrations of the "Ratwives" - castrated skaven who serve as nurses to the female Skaven themselves and midwives to their endless litters.

TL;DR: skaven females are practically furry [[Daemonculaba]].

Access to the females is carefully guarded. The most powerful of skaven are allowed to own one or more females for their private use - females are readily traded between clans as extremely valuable bargaining chips - and access to the communal females in the breeding pits is restricted to high-ranked or otherwise successful skaven; in one of the [[Gotrek & Felix]] novels, a Skaven is rewarded by his superior by being given permission to mate with one, whilst "Thanquol's Doom" features a skaven who partially lost his nose in an "incident" whilst mating with a breeder - apparently, she got too excited and tried to eat him.

The female Skaven's status as "bloated, indolent baby-makers" was referenced in the End Times. In "End Times: Thanquol", a Dwarf Slayer separated from the other during the battle of Karak Eight Peaks found his way into a Skaven breeding pit filled with hundreds of females in such a state, their litters and a handful of Ratwives. He killed the Ratwifes, the breeders and their litters, there being so many Skaven the Slayer's arms got sore from all the killing. Then the Slayer stumbled upon another breeding pit just as big, but by then Skaven soldiers had discovered what he did in the previous breeding pit so they swarmed him and slaughtered him. The End Times is the most recent lore on this, so it looks like the baby-factory fate is canon for most, if not all, female Skaven.

It bears mentioning that the status of the "breeders" does have some real-world basis to it. The rodent contains the only known eusocial mammals; the mole-rats, who live in colonies consisting of a single reproducing female with one (or up to three, for naked mole rats) reproducing males reigning over a large brood of sterile offspring that work as a collective to survive. In these cases, however, there are equal numbers of males and females, and it's the presence of a breeding queen and her pheromones that causes sterility into the younger mole-rats; if removed from her presence, they become fertile in turn.

It also bears mentioning that, in [[Blood Bowl]], the Skaven team comes with cheerleaders who are non-"Breeder" females, which you can tell because they have [[/d/|four big breasts each]]. But then, Blood Bowl also has [[Orcs & Goblins|fem-Orcs]], so its connection to canon of any edition after 3e is kind of dubious.

==Beastmen connection==
So, since this is a race made of humanoid rats empowered by [[Warpstone]] (which is officially described as being Chaos energy manifest), you may be wondering whether or not they're [[Beastmen]]. Well, the answer is that it kind of flips back and forth. Way back in the early editions, yes, Skaven were explicitly a break-away faction of relatively stabilised Beastmen, even pitching in with the Hordes of Chaos or spawning Chaos Champions of their own -- the "Design a [[Daemon Prince]]/Chaos God" rules in 3e's Slaves to Darkness - The Lost and The Damned even features a skaven turned Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided.

Since then, the connection has been downplayed extremely; the Empire generally describes Skaven (when they acknowledged they exist) as just "Beastmen who happen to look like rats", but there's no official connection between the two other than the fact Grey Seers have horns that signal them as important (a classically Beastman trait) and the fact both are animals mutated by Chaos-stuff.

==Warhammer 40k==
While no direct space Skaven exist, there are ratlike mutants described in the fluff, rat-worshiping cultists in [[Necromunda]], a [[mutant]] race called [[Ratlings]] which despite being more [[halfling]] than rat could be argued as a successor, <strike>the Imperial Guard itself which serves as uneducated and amoral xenophobes who are mass-bred and treated as currency by the Imperium with access to some nice and fancy toys which are more likely to cause teamkilling than damage to foes</strike> [[Blam|'''*BLAM*''' HERESY!]], and lastly there are the Tyranids who are 40k's version of ungodly numbers faction crossed with the [[Ogre Kingdoms]] motivation to eat everything in sight (though for different reasons). The [[Hrud]] used to be the Space Skaven, as in giant dieselpunk rat people, but that was pretty much retconned. They look different now (on the rare occasion they are mentioned in the fluff), so the only actual space Skaven are the Veer-Myn from [[Warpath]] by Mantic games. As usual, most of their models are, well not terrible, but not the greatest things ever, there is however great potential for a fantasy warlock engineer conversions. However, it does appear that the recent Skitarii model releases may have taken inspiration from the Skaven aesthetic (though not gameplay) with their many steampunk-styled weapons, most notably the Transuranic Arquebus and Radium Jezzail. Alternatively, the Genestealer Cults are a particularly close match gameplay-wise, with lots of ambushing troops and monsters backed up by armor and artillery.

==Models==
Skaven are one of the primary things in the Warhammer IPs that are actually unique to Games Workshop. As a result, its hard to obtain miniatures for them from third party companies, which is of particular irritation to Skaven players who want Skaven Slaves to actually look like downtrodden Skaven or those who refuse to give any more money to [[Games Workshop]].

However, [[Reaper Miniatures]] thankfully has begun to produce a "Wererat" range which includes decent alternatives to Rat Ogres, Assassins, a Verminlord, and even a female Skaven with six breasts for those wanting to have the most unique Warlord in the FLGS. This is in addition to the ordinary rat models, useful for spicing up scenery or large kits (or obtaining cheap Rat Swarms). These models are produced in the "Bonesium" material in the Bones line, which while being prone to bending badly is LUDICROUSLY cheap and completely safe from being dropped from any height onto any surface. Notably, some have taken to replacing the parts notorious for bending (weapons, especially spears) and replacing them with kitbashed weapons or even greenstuff. As far as the metal range goes, Reaper also produces Barrow Rats which can be useful as Pox Rats, Giant Rats, or Rat Hounds.

A further alternative source is [[Mierce Miniatures]], in particular their Vras faction of models. They have two warrior characters, more hamster-like than rat-like in proportions but with a paintjob serve as spectacular bloated disease-spreading characters (or just fat rat bastards). More importantly, Mierce has five large creatures that serve as [[Hellpit Abominations]] or as [[Verminlords]]. "Flint-Fang, Kill-Thing of the Infernal Pits" is preferred by some as an Abomination for its less Akira and more Frankenstein appearance (some praise or are horrified by its...anatomical correctness). "Back-Cracker, Goz-Horror" is an Abomination looking more like some kind of mad science genetic horror, while "Three-Faces, the Verminous Horror" takes the basic Games Workshop Abomination and replaces "steam-powered" with "tumor". "Scar-Claw, Rat Fiend" and "Scar-Scath, Vermin-Fiend" are alternative Verminlords, and thanks to the monopose nature of the End Times Verminlord kits make decent alternatives or just sources of kitbashing materials when fielding more than one.

[[Otherworld Miniatures]] produces both small rats and naked ratmen, although the latter sadly only come in two poses.

[[Mirilton]] Ratscum resemble Slaves or Clanrats, have ratmen gunners, and ratmen cavalry riding weasels, although the sculpts are in different proportions to the Skaven in many cases and resemble older Games Workshop models (this can be a bonus to some people however).

[[Curious Constructs]] produces weapon sets including a Gatling Gun, Mortar Launcher, and Flamethrower which could be kitbashed with any ratmen models to produce the various weapons teams of the Skaven.

[[Black Tree Design]] produces ratmen monks, assassins, warriors, a rat ogre creature, and rats in gas masks with poison bombs.

[[Impact Miniatures]] produce not-[[Bloodbowl]] ratmen models that require little to no alteration to become Skaven soldiers. Or that Skaven Blood Bowl team fielded as Stormvermin for a silly army.

[[Mantic Games]] produce not-Skaven known as [[Ratkin]] for their game [[Kings of War]].

Of course, Screaming Bells and Plague Furnaces can be made with balsa wood and the kinds of things one can find at any head shop or similar purveyor of hippie paraphernalia.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Skaven.jpg|The original Skaven Clans.
Image:SkavenNutshell.png|Pretty much any Skaven, pretty much all of the time.
</gallery>

==See Also==
* [[Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Skaven|Warhammer Tactics/Skaven]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Skaven]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Masterclan|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Masterclan]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Verminus|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Verminus]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clan_Moulder| Age of Sigmar Tactics/Moulder]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clan_Eshin|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Eshin]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Skryre|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Skryre]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Pestilens|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Pestilens]]
* [https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/57408867/ Sir Harumphington sets the record straight about these so-called "rat-men"]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BhV3CxvcF0/ Play this when a wave of rat men completely swamp your opponents army.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od06TLDO1CU/ “Underground” by Tom Waits, for any spelunking skaven.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaFIzPdxuF8 Every Skaven's idea of risk assessment in a nutshell]

==In Other Media==
While not ripped off as much as some of the other concepts Warhammer <strike>created</strike> expanded upon from existing sources, like Mesoamerican lizard people or Orcs/Goblins with green skin, Skaven have helped popularize rat people as a more standard fantasy race in a few places. Its theorized by some that the inclusion of [[Nezumi]] in the Asiatic settings of [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and [[Magic: The Gathering]] were inspired by the popularity of Skaven. Still, Skaven as a whole remain one of the most iconic things that are wholly unique to Warhammer. The League Of Legends character Twitch is clearly inspired by Skaven and has a line referencing them, although he lacks the insane flamboyancy compared to the setting he's in that Skaven have. They even had enough mainstream awareness to be referenced by British journalist Stewart Lee in the Guardian (comparing Brexit negotiations to Plague Monks, naturally).

The most direct and unexpected place for them to appear is being referenced to exist in both the Japanese and English versions of the Japanese anime [[Goblin Slayer]], listed off as a type of monster to specialize in studying. Just the idea of a Skaven Slayer could also be nod to [[Gotrek & Felix]].

==Non-Canon Female Skaven==
{{Promotions}}
{{Heresy}}

So it's universally agreed upon both in and out of universe that the only appropriate response to meeting a skaven is to kill them on sight, right? Well in an astounding display of hypocrisy, some [[furries]] went "yeah but I kinda also want to cuddle one?" and further demonstrated just how mentally broken certain subtypes of that culture are. So, there is an undercurrent in the darker hidden recesses of /tg/ where furfags like to talk about non-Rat Mother female skaven. Many have tried arguing that, given the reverence for the Grey Seers, combined with the Chaotic tinge of the skaven, then surely there are rare female Grey Seers who are thus spared the fate of their sisters. Others have pointed that since Breeders are heavily dosed up with chemicals, then if that fate was spared for some reason, then surely female skaven would turn out to be at least as competent as their brothers. Still others note that skaven can't resist tinkering, so it's not impossible a Grey Seer or Master Moulder might make use of a "thinking Breeder".

And, in fact, this last argument one even has a dash of canon to it: in C.L. Werner's "Grey Seer" novel, [[Thanquol]] encounters a [[Grey Seer]] (Thratquee of Under-Altdorf) who owns two personal breeders he has [[fleshcrafting|"improved"]], granting them an unusual clarity of thought, freedom of motion and muscle hidden under their chub; built like a cross between a breeder and a [[Rat Ogre]], they're essentially the skaven equivalent of [[amazon]] bodyguards, and Thanquol is simultaneously horrified and a little impressed at the realization that these "harmless females" will actually kill any skaven who dare to threaten their mate. This makes them the ultimate bodyguards in the eternal backstab-fest that is skaven society.

All of these arguments are reaching, understandably (I mean, why not just work with the idea of some developing an immunity or something?). But that hasn't stopped fans from dabbling in fem-skaven [[Your dudes|homebrew characters]] or [[Rule 34|more cheesecake-level artwork]]. One infamous skaven-loving furry even created his own homebrew clan of renegade female skaven, Clan Sniek, an offshoot clan of Clan Eshin who scavenge on the outskirts of skaven society and raid weaker warlord clans to steal away their females to bolster their own numbers. Clan Sniek is also known to "dabble" with human men, for pleasure and/or procreative purposes; there's even a named Gutter Runner female in a relationship with an Imperial human. His artwork tends to pop up whenever a [[ratfolk]] thread does or the topic of non-Breeder female skaven arises.

Thus, the argument about whether or not Rat Mothers are interesting will probably rage forever. You'd think that with the talks of non-breeder females and Clan Sniek that there would be more Sniek, fem-rats, or even Skaven related stories in general at the Smut archive, but hey what are you gonna do? You can't fap it to femskaven stories if there are no femskaven stories.

<center>
<gallery>
Image:Femskaven 1.jpg|Fanart of femSkaven.
Image:Femskaven 2.jpg|More fanart depicting femSkaven experiments.
Image:Reaper Wererat Matriarch.png|The Reaper "Wererat Matriarch" for those wanting to field a non-giant female Skaven model.
Image:Wererat Female.jpg|What an unmodified female Skaven would probably look like.
Image:FemSkaven Chieftain Uberous.jpg|Breeder or no, female skaven would admittedly probably spend more time pregnant than not.
Image:Female Gutter Runner.jpg|Sneaking around in the human's storehouses clearly has its advantages.
Image:Female Poison Wind Globadier.jpg|
Image:Female Stormvermin.jpg|Being high in the clan's totem pole has its perks.
Image:Futa Master Molder.jpg|Some Master Moulders go [[dickgirl|a lot further]] than others when it comes to [[fleshcrafting]].
Image:Female Stormvermin Fangleader.jpg
File:Longhaired skaven assassin.jpg
</gallery>
</center>

;Clan Sniek
<center>
<gallery>
Image:Gutter Runner of Clan Sniek.jpg|A Gutter Runner of Clan Sniek; the clan relies on stealth for survival.
Image:Assassin of Clan Sniek.jpg|An Assassin of Clan Sniek; they tend to focus more on other skaven than on humans.
Image:Packmaster of Clan Sniek.jpg|Clan Sniek's packmasters specialize in capturing human men - sometimes as slaves, sometimes as breeding partners.
Image:Master Assassin of Clan Sniek.jpg|Almost Prophet, a mutant female skaven born with pale fur but no horns, Master Assassin and founder of Clan Sniek.
Image:Grey Seer of Clan Sniek.jpg|Clan Sniek's Grey Seer yearns to dethrone Almost Prophet and rule the clan herself.
Image:Master Molder of Clan Sniek.jpg|Tichiz, Clan Sniek's Master Moulder, is perhaps the most feared skaven in the clan.
Image:Sorceress of Clan Sniek.jpg|Vaquit Silverspit, a female skaven sorcerer, wields great power in Clan Sniek for both her mastery of the Dark Lore of Stealth and her expertise with her rifle.
Image:Verminqueen.jpg|The mysterious Verminqueen is the dark patron of Clan Sniek.
Image:Audience with the Verminqueen.jpg|Sometimes, the Verminqueen deigns to tryst with mortals.
</gallery>
</center>

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}
{{Skaven-Clans}}
{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category: Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Skaven]]
[[Category:Furry]]

Skaven

2021-10-20T00:34:43Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8DAB:A0D2:F0DE:1CE6: /* History */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Skaven|Logo=Capture131114532.png|Alliance=Chaos|Motto=DIE DIE SOLDIER MANTHINGS DIE!!!!}}

{{Topquote|It would be ugly to watch people poking sticks at a caged rat. It is uglier still to watch rats poking sticks at a caged person.|Jean Harris}}

{{Topquote|I WILL JOIN YOU, FAGGOTY ELF! IF THERE IS ANYTHING I HATE WORSE THAN ELVES, IT'S FUCKING RAT FURRIES GOING FULL NORTH KOREA WITH NUCLEAR ROCKS!|Urist, Warhammer: Ravandils Quest}}

{{Topquote|Rodents of unusual size? I don't believe they exist.|Free Company Sergeant Roberts, last words before being killed by a rodent of unusual size}}
The '''Skaven''' are technologically advanced [[ratfolk]] in the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and [[Age of Sigmar]] settings. Ugly, evil creatures that spread [[AIDS|plague]] wherever they go and topple kingdoms for fun and [[profit]], you will be hard pressed to find a more unlikeable race out there. Much like the [[Orks]], they're so excessively over-the-top that it's pretty funny.

Skaven are said to be '''''the''''' most evil race in the entire setting, and that's no idle claim. For all [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|the Empire]], [[Bretonnia]]ns, [[Dwarf (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dwarfs]], [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|High Elves]], [[Wood Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Wood Elves]] and [[Lizardmen]]'s many flaws (and make no mistake, they ''are'' numerous) each of them has at least some claims to heroism that keep them out of being villains. Most undead are mindless automata executing their programming while their masters are usually capable of genuine love and altruism. [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dark elves]] are cruel and have a culture based on torture and slavery, but they are more driven by historical grievances and living in an inhospitable homeland, and can display family loyalty along with traits that some would call decent or even questionably heroic. Orcs and Goblins are violent brutes, but they'll develop what could be considered friendships and attachments to their fellows, and even the most brutal Black Orc will cry if his pet squig dies (Not in front of the other boyz though, because they'll all see him as nothing but a runty git). Or at the very least he will bash someone’s head into the ground, point is, he'll grieve. Ogres are well-known to be gluttonous and casually cruel almost to a man, but they usually still love their families and their Gnoblar pets, and any Maneater worth his salt is usually good for his word upon payment. Despite their propensities towards [[Khorne|killing]], [[Tzeentch|scheming]], [[Nurgle|festering]] and [[Slaanesh|raping]], the mortal followers of Chaos are capable of honor, friendship and a warped form of love. Even Daemons, who may or may not count as their own separate race, usually respect the chain of command without [[Drow|constantly trying to murder their leaders and take their place]]. And the Beastmen, who are also inherently evil like the Skaven, respect their chieftains and shamans, deal honorably with their few allies and give worthy foes a fair fight.

Skaven have none of the above qualities, or any other that could be considered even vaguely noble or redeeming: they openly hate everyone and everything, are more cowardly and paranoid than any goblin, more cruel and hostile than Dark Elves, and more fractious than Chaos. Love, friendship and honor are completely alien to the Skaven's psyche. Due to their chronic backstabbing disorder, nobody trusts them, likes them, or wants to be 'allies' with them (except Dark Elves, who have a treaty with them that both sides betray at times). The only times they have done something that benefited non-Skaven or the world, such as helping beat the first incarnation of Nagash, are due for purely selfish reasons - Nagash did his best to enslave them and deny them warpstone. One of the only three reasons the Skaven have lasted this long and not killed themselves in an ''en masse'' fratricidal free-for-all is because their hatred of all other things outweighs their hatred of other Skaven by '''''just enough''''' for them to slightly function (that and their crazy-high birthrates or the direct intervention of their god, who's little better than them). However the 'just enough' cannot be stressed enough. Even with the all-out doom of their race present, as with Nagash or Chaos, they're still intent on fucking each other over. <strike>If</strike> when possible, Skaven <strike>would</strike> will kill each other in the womb.

And that's why we love to hate them so much.

It should be noted that there is one non-evil one in [[Warhammer Adventures]], the Warhammer children's book series (yeah, that exists). Named Kreech, he's still the villain of that series, but by the standards of Skaven he's damn near a fucking Grail Knight. Screech actually lives in human culture, preferring it to his own people's, and has a 12-year-old human slave as his sidekick. Even in children's media they're utter bastards.

==So who are they?==
In a lot of science fiction going back to [[Starship Troopers]] and likely far earlier, there are races of [[Tyranid|Hive Creatures]]. Vast beings that may have separate bodies, but have one will. One Consciousness. Each "individual" soldier or worker is akin to someone's finger, or a cell on someone's fingertip, and is ultimately an expendable resource in service to the greater whole. All march in lockstep to expand the influence of the gestalt consciousness as far as possible, either assimilating or crushing anything they come across. The Skaven are the antithesis of this, though this fact in no way makes them nice.

The Skaven are a race of walking humanoid rats with dubious (but not to be underestimated) intelligence and a hideous feral cunning out to conquer the world in the name of their God, the Horned Rat, and also for their own personal gains. If there was one quality which defined their species, it would be raw unconstrained '''''selfishness'''''. By instinct, culture and the will of their asshole god, each Skaven is self-obsessed, paranoid, greedy, power-hungry, murderous and doesn't give a rat's ass (hehe) for their family or their race's well-being unless their own is at stake. They find the concepts of love, honor, loyalty and friendship to be so alien they can't comprehend them. In the prisoner's dilemma, they always defect. By nature, each of them is fundamentally evil, and this is not racism speaking here. To give context for this, a [[Skarsnik|greenskin]] in the End Times event was traumatized by the loss of his beloved [[Skarsnik#The_End_Times|Squig]], while no Skaven individual has ever, at any point, been shown to have an attachment to any living thing other than themselves. The closest they can get is the exceedingly rare example where a Skaven can understand that certain other individuals are tools worth cultivating and protecting from outside threats, and are assets too valuable to allow their casual destruction or squandering (see Gnawdwell and [[Queek Head-Taker]]). The only thing a Skaven hates more than other Skaven is creatures who are non-Skaven, and this gives the ratmen the vaguest ability to work together when they have a common enemy; otherwise they would fall on each other like, well, a pack of rats.

Skaven have an odd relationship with fear. On the one hand, cowardice is the order of the day. They definitely don't want to be sliced, stabbed, shot, skewered, squished, scorched or Slaaneshed. They'll face the perils of battle for the prospects of rewards, killing rival Skaven or non-Skaven (which they collectively call "Things") and because their bosses WILL have them killed horribly if they don't at least ''try'' to fight, but most Skaven have a reticence to enter battle unless the odds are decidedly stacked in their favor, and they're more prone to breaking and running if things go pear shaped. On the other hand, Skaven have a weird fondness for quick routes to power. If you give a Skaven a potion which has a 25% chance of killing them quickly, a 25% chance of killing them slowly, a 25% chance of doing nothing and a 25% chance of giving them the ability to breathe fire like a dragon, they'll usually take it.

Remember the saying about a bunch of monkeys with typewriters eventually producing Shakespeare? Well, at a species level they are sort of like that: keep throwing rats at the problem to try every cockamamie dunderheaded idea that said collection of drugged up hyperactive megalomaniacs desperate to get ahead can dream up until eventually they stumble on one that works, which others will shamelessly copy when it does. Each Skaven, be he a member on the Council of Thirteen or the lowliest of slaves who's used up and sent to the slaughterhouse, operates under the belief that they are the one true leader of the Skaven whose visionary insights would lead their species to domination of the universe in the name of the Horned Rat, if he can just gain the keys to power and overcome the short-sighted idiots which stand in his way. Introspection and self-reflection are not common Skaven traits, though some older Skaven like the aforementioned Gnawdwell and his former protege Sleek Sharpwit show that such qualities are possible, even if it’s ''exceedingly'' rare.

In terms of physiology, Skaven are shorter than humans, less bulky than them, slightly weaker (surprisingly not as much, considering the difference in size and mass), and generally "less" in every regard but one. Where they do pick up is speed: Skaven live their life in perpetual super speed with all its advantages and drawbacks - they move faster, think faster, breed faster and age faster, generally reaching adulthood at five months and growing old, gray and frail by the age of thirteen (though very few survive for that long). All that speed builds an almost insatiable appetite, and as they have no body fat reserves, they're '''always''' hungry, except maybe after the battle when they can eat the dead (of both sides). Skaven look unnervingly twitchy and energetic to other races (even Elves, who also have a kind of inherent superspeed), while Skaven see others as slow lumbering idiots. Like rats, the Skaven have a good sense of smell; it is stated by Teclis in [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] 2's high elves vortex campaign that they could smell fear and "treachery" from others. According to Teclis, the Horned Rat's rat swarm smelled through the fake Galifreius' disguises and went for her while ignoring Talarian. This being said though, Stormvermin (who are consistently well-fed and trained) tend to grow to the height and weight of a healthy man which may imply Skaven actually may be generally capable of growing to the dimensions of normal men, but few of them get fed enough to achieve this.

They live in a massive underground empire known as, well, the Under Empire (with the Horned Rat being the God Emperor, ironically far more successfully than the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|OTHER Emperor]]) which spans through the Warhammer world like the [[Underdark]]. The only regions it fails to reach are Ulthuan because it's a giant floating island and Athel Loren because the Skaven diggers get murdered by tree roots or the soil itself refuses to be touched. Its capital is called [[Skavenblight]], and is also one of the only visible signs of Skaven from the surface (because it is such an indescribable shithole), up until it was teleported to another dimension post [[End Times]] (it's still a shithole though). No one trusts them quite rightly, and few other races resist killing them on sight, which is reciprocated in kind. They are more numerous than any other race in the world, and only one enemy keeps them truly in check: themselves.

On a very amusing note, the Skaven are one of the rare examples of a race of furries actually liked by most of /tg/, because by all intents and purposes they are everything your average mary-sue furry self-insert is not: hilariously villanous, dirtily non-sexualized, full of character flaws and their actions are actually relevant and well implemented into some of the most important plot twists in the setting.

=== History ===
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==== Warhammer Fantasy ====
No-one knows where they came from but it is suspected [[Tzeentch]] had a hand in their creation using Warpstone, a hideous amount of mutation, and generations of breeding with normal rats. (That is to say, breeding rats with other rats, not Tzeentch breeding with the rats. That's more [[Slaanesh]]'s thing.) The 7th edition Lizardmen army book states that they came about during the Great Catastrophe. There's a poem in the Skaven codex, dating all the way back to their first codex in 4th edition, called "The Doom Of Kavzar". Written in-universe by an author in the Warhammer world's equivalent of Italy, it offers what is generally accepted as the most concrete explanation of their origins. To summarize;

Humans and Dwarfs lived together in a city called Kavzar, and decided to build a Noblebright Tower of Babel rip-off to thank the gods for their prosperity. But even Dorf engineering couldn't complete it, so they got some mysterious grey-clad stranger to complete it in exchange of him being allowed to add a giant bell as a dedication to his own gods.
Upon completion, the temple sealed itself shut, the stranger disappeared, and terrible things happened after the bell rang thirteen times. The weather turned bad with constant Warpstone-laced rain, people got sick, babies were born dead or mutated, crops failed and rats multiplied while growing bigger and smarter. Older fluff said the stranger cursed the city because the people refused to give him money as well for finishing the temple, newer fluff just makes him out to be evil and mysterious.
Every day, the bell rang thirteen times. Rain became hail, then hail became meteor showers. The rats kept growing to the point that swarms of rats started preying on humans. Realizing things were becoming [[Dwarf Fortress]], the humans asked the Dwarfs for help.
The first time the Dwarfs turned them down after calling them wimps for complaining about rain. The second time they were rebuffed was due to the rats eating all the Dwarfs' food. The third time the surviving humans got desperate and smashed open the Dwarf gates to demand their help... only to find bearded Dorf skeletons and well-fed, but still hungry, hordes of rats and the poem ends with them swarming and eating the last surviving humans.

tl:dr a [[wizard]] met [[human]]s and [[dwarf]]s, someone was swindled so magic happens that turns rats into tyranids.
And the rest, is history...

Notable this story appears to be known in universe. [[Vermintide 2|Victor Saltzpyre]] mentioned a reference to it at one point in Vermintide.

Incidentally, this isn't the only theory presented to their origins, but it's the one most gamers take as canon. Some in-universe origin theories mentioned in the 6e fluffbook "The Loathsome Ratmen and Their Vile Kin" include:
* An Imperial naturalist named Wilfried Schtutt argued that the skaven descend from rats warped into a semblance of the human form by some malign external power, such as [[Chaos]].
* A Tilean classicist, Marcelli Verdallo, argues that the skaven are living proof of the ancient philosopher-sage Proti's theorem that all things in the universe are created by the mystical interactions of cosmic archetypes from beyond time and space, being the fruit of some union between the archetypes of Rat and Man.
* Johannes Krueger's Bestiarium mentions an ancient Estalian legend wherein shipwrecked survivors turned to cannibalism and were cursed by Manann, the Sea God, assuming rat-like forms.

Also there are a few [https://i.imgur.com/FWzQkHn.jpg other origin] stories.

It is said that after their creation, Skaven spread across the world, [[Ikit Claw|learning many cultures, stealing technologies and magic techniques that could help them in their conquest for Skavendom or personal power]]. Namely the Clan Pestilens who traveled southward and westward and ended up in Lustria, Clan Eshin who traveled eastward and ended up in Cathay, Clan Moulder who traveled northward and established a stronghold in some backwater hellish landscape known as the Hellpit near Kislev and Norsca.

Further evidence that the Doom of Kavzar is the canon origins of the Skaven is that the poem's author was assassinated by [[Clan Eshin|means unknown in-universe]] and copies of the poem keep disappearing. Plus their capital city, Skavenblight, is all but stated to be Kavzar (the tower with the bell being the headquarters of the Grey Seers). This makes them a surprisingly old race, as they were actually well-established before the rise of the [[Tomb Kings]] as the undead rulers of Khemri - in fact, they had a grubby little paw in that whole sordid affair.

It was the Skaven that supplied Nagash with many slaves and warriors such as savage orcs for him to kill and raise. It was the Skaven that helped Nagash to poison the River Vitae, unleashing a magical plague to devastate every living thing in Nehekhara. It was also the Skaven who betrayed Nagash by assisting the human Alcadizaar in his defeat, which resulted in the rise of the Tomb Kings since Nagash was no longer around to control the dead Nehekharans. So, aside from the Dark Elves who taught Nagash the [[Warhammer Magic|Lore of Darkness magic]] that would eventually evolve into the necromancy all [[Vampire Counts|vampires]] love, and the [[Tomb King|Nehekharans]] hate, the Skaven were the ones that supported Nagash, making him powerful and undefeated. (This is because every time Nagash died, he re-spawned back to his black pyramid. Although it takes a fuck load of time for him to actually get up, it allows him to grasp the mortal world while preserving his existence. Also the pyramid itself is indestructible so he has no need to trust anyone to guard it.) In the end, they still betrayed him for their own selfish desires. Classic Skaven.

The Skaven have been popping out numerous times across history, trying to weaken the forces of order to favor themselves in the long run. For example, they appeared during one of the Norseman invasions, when Sigmar was still around. In fear that Sigmar's Empire might threaten their very existence, they tried to use the invasion as an opportunity to destroy mankind, but failed nonetheless thanks to the Dwarfs that were blocking their tunnels.

After that, the Skaven didn't lay a hand on the Empire until after their own civil war. It was at this time that Clan Pestilens developed a new disease called the Black Plague (nice real life reference [[Games Workshop|GW]]), spreading it among the Empire's population. The plague not only killed and reduced its population to less than half the size of the generation before, it also killed the current Emperor (AKA the worst Emperor, who was actually killed by an Eshin assassin's shuriken, but who cares) and every other corrupt noble in his hideout, and good riddance some say. The Skaven then launched their attack after the plague weakened the Empire, but were stopped by a pretty cool guy named Mandred von Zelt of Middenland, who gathered the rest of the elector counts and launched an anti-Skaven crusade. Ironically, the black plague played a major role in many of Mandred's victories, since the disease affected the Skaven rat bodies as well, weakening the Skaven army and killing enough of them to force their retreat. In the last battle, the Skaven launched their last counterattack, only to fail after their leader, Vrrmik, the warlord of Clan Mors and a member of the Council of Thirteen, was slain by Mandred. The rest of the vermin were then driven back to their Under-Empire by the Empire’s forces while suffering under their own plague from the war. What's worse for the Skaven was that the slaves they bought ended up revolting, and destroyed several already plague weakened clans while Mandred, who was declared the Emperor and sporting Vrrmik's own helmet at the time, rebuilt the Empire. The process was faster than the Skaven could expect, with the humans even installing the sewer watch to prevent further Skaven movement on the Empire. After such a humiliating defeat, the Council received many compensation notices from other disease ridden clans. But the Council decided to just assassinate them all, including our beloved Emperor rat slayer, and called it even. The assassination made mankind forget about the Skaven, even dismissing them as myth.

The Skaven are also pretty famous on [[Cathay|the eastern side that]] [[Nippon| Games Workshop refuses to talk about]]. Clan Eshin's ancestors once journeyed far to the east, losing contact with its society for 100 years. When they came back however, they had learned the art of NINJUTSU from some jerk-off at [[Nippon]] where they have skilled rats throwing shuriken, and frigging ninja flipping better than [[Gabriel Angelos|the Chapter Master Gabriel Angelos]]. In [[Cathay]], some filthy beastman and a Sun Wukong wannabe became the Emperor of not-China and took an Eshin Skaven warlord as his right hand man. Thus began an unhealthy relationship of trading warpstones and rat shit, which means either the Cathay Emperor is nuttier than a warp fruit cake (which should be obvious since the new Emperor was mentioned to be a fucking magical monkey beastman, or probably something worse if he is also like Wukong born from the meteor except the meteor is made of warpstones), or Eshin Skaven are ''slightly'' more trustworthy than the rest of Skaven. (If you believe [[Total_War:_WARHAMMER#Skaven|Total War]], they are; they're the only clan that doesn't have to deal with warlord loyalty.) It might be true depending on how [[weeaboo]] the Eshin has become; if you look up on real world ninja, they do tend to be surprisingly loyal compared to what you might think. However, one could say that the eastern legion doesn't really have any experiences with Skaven betrayals, plus the Skaven did assist the Chaos Dwarves in the End Times to siege Cathay, meaning everything the Skaven did in Cathay was but a diplomatic ploy to fool the Cathayans.

As if the Skaven aren't widespread enough, they have the operation worldwide. There is Clan Pestilens in Lustria, who like to infect themselves with diseases that Nurgle doesn't approve of, and throw feces at lizard-things for the lulz. Some of the rats made it into Naggaroth (probably as slaves or a few via the under-Empire) while trying not to provoke the wrath of [[Malekith|the strongest mama's boy in Warhammer history]]. The only place they could never set their foot on would be Ulthuan, which is a giant continent that floats on top of the water and obviously can't be connected to Skavenblight via tunnels. It's regardless just too scary for the rat-things to deal with: flame spewing dragon-things, elf-things that shoot rains of arrows from far away, and mages that have the power to summon a [[exterminatus|giant bombardment of nukes from the sky]].

The Skaven themselves have no records of their origins, and do not particularly care about their past. As far as they are concerned, the only relevant historical eras are "now, when we don't rule the world" and "soon, when we will be ruling it". Of course, any given Skaven will be plenty interested in the history of his own life, but the history of the rest of their race is dismissed as unimportant. On day to day affairs, history is whatever the Council of 13 says it is, though it wouldn't be surprising if Grey Seers keep records.

==== Age of Sigmar ====
The Skaven survived the end of the old world by teleporting [[Skavenblight]] to another dimension. When the Horned Rat became the Great Horned Rat he immediately drew Skavenblight into the Warp and created more of his Daemons. What followed was a golden age for the Skaven, where there was Warpstone everywhere to be found, they had the direct blessing of the Great Horned Rat, and unlimited space and potential around them. They then promptly did the impossible and somehow dug so deep that part of the Warp collapsed into Skavenblight which collapsed into the material realm which is now made up of eight "nearly infinite" planes made of the former Winds of Magic.

Skaven now have access to all of reality at once, and can create realm-spanning 'Gnawholes' everywhere from beneath Sigmar's throne to beneath Khorne's throne. As can be expected the tunnels are not stable and thus only the Skaven are willing to use them, as even immortal and deathless Daemons can somehow vanish into the space between spaces never to be seen again when Skaven are involved. This doesn’t mean that the Gnawholes are completely safe for the rat kin though. Just the process of constructing one of these inter-dimensional tunnels costs tens of thousands of <strike>lives</strike> slaves, and when the Gnawhole is complete, there’s a good chance that the big brains in charge of the project were off on their calculations. So instead of tunneling directly into [[Cities of Sigmar|Hammerhal]], you instead end up in the middle of no where or an active volcano.

Skaven have also had an exponential population boom, which is impressive considering they damn near outnumbered insects in the old setting. Each of the four former great clans from the Old World is alive and kicking <strike>eachother</strike>, containing billions of Skaven and even entire clans. A fifth great clan is Verminus, an especially numerous and martial clan (the techy/monstery/sneaky/stinky niches were taken so someone's gotta make Stormvermin their thing).

However, Skryre, Pestilens, Moulder, Eshin and Verminus were not always the only Great Clans. In the age of Myth, there were said to be as many as 13 great clans (probably like 9 or 10 but the Grey Seers rounded up). What happened to the rest? A couple of examples:

* Clans Tichritt attempts launches an invasion of Thandria, a Sigmarite nation. It may as well be Russia in winter with the pantheon of Order united - Tichritt is annihilated.
* Clan Ikk does well during the tumult of the age of chaos, gaining a momentous ''four'' seats on the Council of Thirteen which sparks civil war with the equally ascendant Clan Verminus. Verminus enlist the help of Clan Pestilens to spread an epidemic of frothjaw. The rabid rats get so erratic the other great clans temporarily unite to destroy them.
* Clans Shrykt dig a huge gnawhole and, one by one, its clans disappear through the portal. They were never heard from again. Maybe they left to join 9th age.

The increased scope of AoS lore has meant Skaven society is EVEN MORE chaotic and self-destructive than it was. And this lore makes a little more sense than their old world history: you can't expect such volatile societies to [[Warhammer 40000|maintain a millennia-long deadlock between the same four great powers.]] Still, the current status quo of vying great clans is not that different from the old world's coz... those are the models GW sells. The unknown great clans continue the trend of GW giving AoS lore lots of missing primarchs (deliberately left gaps for homebrew and headcanon). In the Age of Chaos, Pestilens profited greatly from their alliance with Nurgle. However, Order managing to push back against this smelliance has meant that the Clans Skryre is better poised to vie with Pestilens for pre-eminence on the council of thirteen. They'll probably work it out peacefully (by Skaven standards, meaning only several million rats will die).

Skaven continue to be fuck-ups at a scale never before witnessed. When Nagash attempted a great ritual of necromantic binding, it was sabotaged by the Skaven nibbling a power cord. Eshin agents had managed to open gnawholes in Nagash's great pyramid. Huge success for Skavendom? Well, maybe had another group not accidentally opened a gnawhole at the bottom of the Shyish sea. Blight City was decimated by a zombie-infested flood, like The Day after Tomorrow meets World War Z. Hilariously, the drained Shyish seabed revealed the soul-stealing [[Idoneth Deepkin]] to Nagash, Slaanesh and everyone else who was wondering about those mysteriously empty towns that smelled faintly of halibut.

The moral of the story is clear: you might be able to foil Skaven schemes but it's their fuck-ups you wanna watch out for.

=== Society ===
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If you do not know much about rat social behavior, you might be surprised to learn it is fairly well developed and includes among other things evidence of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa16P4nFgD8 rodent altruism]. As you might expect, GeeDubs ignored it entirely to make the Skaven more grimdark and work on people's stereotypes of what rats are like rather than how rats interact. Skaven society is literally cutthroat when it comes to promotions (but luckily not [[PROMOTIONS]]). In a world where you have chaos warriors who can Honor the chaos gods by killing/raping/getting minions caught up and expended in complex plots, beastmen which are in a similar lot as chaos on top of animalistic aggression who still practice a survival-of-the-fittest pack-mindset based loyalty, orcs that are hardwired to love to scrap, goblins who are no strangers to backstabbing and dark elves who've literally made assassination and treachery an art the Skaven have managed to collect the gold medal in (f)ratricide. After receiving said award they promptly began killing each other to see which Skaven individual got to keep it; the conflict continues to this day, with no resolution in sight. The '''only''' reason why their society has not murdered itself into extinction is because of a very high reproductive rate. Despite their teamkilling tendencies they obey the Grey Seers, the prophets of their god the [[Horned Rat]]. Although this obedience is done purely out of fear, it is done without question. Except for the other Grey Seers.

==== Hierarchy ====
The Skaven race is ruled over by the [[Council of Thirteen]], Skaven of such evil they have been chosen by their vile god and manage to survive the constant threat of assassination, most likely because everyone is too afraid of these uber-ratman to go near them. Although they squeak big about their plans for world domination, they are too busy trying to outdo and kill each other. Despite the name there are only twelve Councillors; the 13th seat is symbolic and reserved for their god and woe betide anyone that tries to sit on it! To become a member of the council all any Skaven need do is touch the sacred Black Pillar and challenge a current member for his seat in a duel. In practice it has been over 200 years since someone actually manage to pull it off, which is a minor point in favor of the current crop of leaders on it, even though a large part of it is that touching the Black Pillar has a tendency to make Rats explode.

Beneath the council of thirteen are the Grey Seers and the Warlords. Horned, grey furred skaven pups are raised to be the priests and magic users of Skavendom that act on behalf of the council. Ironically enough the Skaven are more prone to throw around claims of [[HERESY]]! than the Sigmarite Empire. Not showing proper reverence to the Horned Rat brings down his wrath on the offender and everyone around him, so they take a dim view of anyone who misses their services. Secular Rodentism is not something which is going to catch on in Skavenblight. Warlords are those lucky rats that have managed through guile, luck, accomplishment on the battlefield and the elimination of rivals to get in charge of a Clan. Sometimes you get a Grey Seer warlord with his own clan, but that's usually the exception. There is a hard cap on 169 Grey Seers at any one time, though there are a bunch of apprentices waiting in the wings for one to die. Skaven being Skaven, one of the mos popular pass times of said novices is making slots available through assassination.

Beneath them, you have an upper crust of prominent individuals within the clans: Warlock Engineers, Master Molders, Plague Priests, Assassins, Chieftans, high ranking officers and so forth. Either through command of some arcane skill or having armed rats behind them they have wealth, better accommodations, hosts of underlings and regular access to breeders. Underneath them are those with a modicum of cultivated value: the merchants, the technicians, the packmasters, the rank and file of the Stormvermin, the apprentices to the great ones, the Gutter Runners, the overseers, skilled workers and so forth. All of which have to some degree or another got their position by struggling tooth and claw and are with it some measure of power and authority. Most of them rose from the Clanrats. Those poor bastards live in poverty packed up like sardines and have to work hard for their daily Skavenbread™ and fight tooth and claw to keep what little they've amassed. But even these wretched rats have it better than the Slaves. They are the remnants of defeated clans, the pups deemed surplus to requirements if not quite bad enough to be culled, those that earned the ire of their overseers and those whose power struggles failed them and avoided being killed. Their status is somewhere between that of a native in the Belgian Congo and a Pig in a Factory Farm. Clanrats may be exploited but Skavenslaves are actively worked to death, thrown at the enemy to absorb arrows and are fed a meager diet of scraps, garbage and each other. That's when they are not being taken to the butcher's block so their betters can enjoy a meat dinner and and have some leather. The best they can hope for is that a good deal of their superiors fuck up and die or that their clan conquers another leading to enough shuffling in the org chart that they can get promoted to clanrat status. But while clans do wax strong and skavendom produces a lot of said fuckups it also burns through skavenslaves like nobody's business.

Two key facts of this hierarchy are ''Shit Flows Downhill'' and ''The Rodent Staircase''. To a high ranking Skaven everyone else is a rival, either an immediate threat or a potential one just waiting for the right moment to make its move against you, so keep a lid on them if you can. Subordinates are to be given the minimum they need to accomplish their tasks, some rewards if they exceed expectations, and nothing else. If they step out of line they can be beaten. If they cause too much trouble they can be replaced with some up and coming Rat eager to not be a skavenslave. If things are going badly for you, assert your dominance with a show of force. Even if things are going well, you should put the fear of the Horned Rat into your underlings just to remind them who's boss to be on the safe side. This comes before the fact that Skaven are vindictive little shits that have no qualms about taking out their frustrations on others. A sternly worded Letter to a Warlord from the Council of Thirteen will lead him snapping at his second in command and will eventually manifest itself in clanrats biting the tails off Skavenslaves because they'd been the subject of the ire of their overseers and need to re-assert dominance.

Likewise if you want to get up (and between their megalomania and what the bottom is like ALL Skaven want to go up all the way), you need to not only excel or have some useful talent but also deal with the million other rats out there with the same ambitions. If you want to survive in the slave pits, shiv your neighbor and eat him to get enough calories so you'll have the strength to see another day. If the clawleader's favorite mug has gone missing, say the guy who's always admired it stole it to bring down the bosses wrath upon him so you have one less rival, the boss's wrath is directed elsewhere and if you happen to be right he just might throw you a bone for being (due to the lack of a better word) loyal. Apprentices could and should steal the ideas of their fellows to become Warlock Engineers Attempting to police the Skaven to stop such backstabbing is usually an exercise in futility, especially since whatever Police Rats you can scrounge up will inevitably engage in said activities on their own. Not that it matters much in most cases, there is always a fresh stream of replacements and those eager for dead rat's shoes. At most murder provides an excuse for removing individuals that they don't like in a move that is slightly less likely to spark the paranoia of your rivals. A good Skaven leader knows how to use this competition to keep his minions in line and to get the most out of them. A bad skaven leader is going to end up on the barbecue sooner rather than later. This is the case from birth, even for those whose role was determined at birth like grey seers and stormvermin have to fend off both ruthless instructors and backstabbing fellow applicants. Nobody is unscathed.

==== Misc ====
Although unintentional on the side of writers, there are circumstances where real life rats can become Skaven-like. In a series of social experiments involving overpopulation designed to see what effects human overpopulation in cities like New York or Tokyo could be paralleled, rat populations with far too many beings in far too small an area begin to go, as individuals, insane while the group becomes far more violent despite having more than enough food and water to sustain the entire population. When a high-density population that shows these behaviors is given more area to roam in by having another set of open cages attached or being shifted to smaller population cages, the behavior remains the same meaning the rats have been permanently mentally damaged; only with successive generations do they regain sanity. So in a way, Skaven have inadvertently made themselves fucking insane by choosing to live in horrible conditions and to overpopulate. Theoretically, saner and more level-headed (if not necessarily less evil) generations of Skaven could emerge if the species got access to more room and better conditions, and was completely removed from its old environment and the previous rats who inhabited it.

In fact, if the root of the Skaven's evil nature could be traced to both their terrible environment and the terrible culture that both feeds and feeds off of that environment rather than anything genetic, theoretically, there ''could'' actually be ''good'' Skaven if they were somehow separated from Skavenblight immediately after birth and raised outside of it by someone willing to give them a chance. However, seeing as how the primary…“engines” of Skaven reproduction are heavily guarded in the very heart of Skavenblight, and literally every other race in Warhammer is hard-wired to kill the mangy rat-bastards on sight (and with FUCKING good reason), such a thing will almost certainly remain purely theoretical. Especially since all that trouble would ultimately amount to little more than proving a petty point, with little to no real pay-off beyond making the Horned Rat personally pissed off at you (then again there are [[Tzeentch|some]] that might find ''that'' outcome a goal in and of itself).

=== Armies ===

==== The Rank and File ====
* '''Skavenslaves''': Large numbers of starved skavenslaves are thrown at the enemy's front lines with crummy scrounged up weapons for the enemy to waste arrows, bog down enemy movements and hopefully take down a few manthings by sheer numbers. Some lucky ones get to annoy the enemy at a range with slings, which is sort of a luxury as nobody else in the army can take them.

* '''Clanrats''': The basic Rank and File of a Clan with some armor and better weapons (swords, shields and spears). Better fed, more durable and less likely to run than Skavenslaves, but still cannon fodder that relies on numbers against all but the crummiest of foes. Various campaign supplements would expand on the basic Clanrat with unique variations for each Great Clan, like the Rotten Rodents of Clan Pestilens, who trade their shield for an extra hand weapon.

* '''Stormvermin''': Basic elite units for when you want something that has more staying power than Clanrats. Black furred pups are singled out to be soldiers. They get given extra food, ruthless spartan way training, better weapons and armor than the common riff-rats and take some pride in their units (which means that they are less likely to randomly stab their fellows in the back than most skaven and any failure to meet the standards is liable to get a stormvermin executed). The Clans [[Clan Mors|Mors]] and [[Clan Rictus|Rictus]] are known for their particularly nasty regiments of Stormvermin and regularly sell themselves to the other aspiring Warlords for a sizable sum.

*'''Chieftain''': The Skaven equivalent to a Greenskin Big Boss or Empire Captain. They serve under the Warlord as his enforcer and field commander. Usually it’s from this rank that new Warlords are “promoted”.

*'''Warlord''': Also called Clawlords in AoS, Warlords are not the best fighters of a Skaven Clan, but the most cunning. They lead the ravenous swarms of ratmen into combat from the safety of the rear lines. They get first pick of any loot they come across and play a constant game of 3D chess with their subordinates to make sure they keep their position...and their lives.

==== Specialists ====
*'''Poisoned-Wind Globadiers''': A elite corps of Clan Skryre clanrats trained in the usage of special glass spheres filled with toxic vapors. They lob said orbs at hordes of enemy troopers where they shatter disperse their poisonous payload into the air. To protect themselves, the Globadiers wear special breathing equipment on the (common) chance one of their globes is faulty. TWW2 introduces a more potent type of poison called the '''Death Globe''', whose toxins are harmful even with the slightest of skin contact. In AoS, they are renamed to '''Skryre Acolytes''' and function as interns for the various Engineers.

* '''Weapons Teams''': Clan Skryre’s bread and butter. A vast collection of various weapons all designed to be carried by a pair of skaven and have a staggeringly high rate of (explosive) failure. The '''Warp-Fire Thrower''' is a crude fire hose connected to a gas tank that spews a corrosive fluid that ignites upon exposure to air. It was created to melt through heavily armored dwarfen shield walls during their first wars against the beard-things. '''Ratling Guns''' are the skaven’s take on real world gatling guns; six barrels of rapid fire warpstone bullets all powered by a hand crank. Said cranking mechanism is prone to overheating and explosion should the gunners get too eager on the spinner. For more precise weaponry, the '''Warplock Jezzail''' provides. It’s an oversized rifle held in place by a rickety shield and built to deliver lethal warpstone bullets into the heads of an enemy leader from miles away. A '''Doom-Flayer''' is what happens when you take the Green Goblin’s pumpkin bombs and turn it into an armored chariot. These bladed balls were originally meant for tunnel clearance and mowing down pesky dwarf battle lines. Similarly, the '''Warp-Grinder''' was also initially made for utility purposes, serving as a quick means of excavating new underways, though it was soon repurposed for drilling into armored units and bastions. Finally the '''Poisoned Wind Mortar''', the grown up version of the Globadier, these mini artillery pieces launch lethal spheres of toxic fumes across the battlefield to choke the lives out of enemies, though it is the only weapons team to not make the jump to Age of Sigmar, for some goddamn reason. And naturally there’s also the '''Death Globe Mortar''' in TWW2 as well.

*'''Night Runners''': The initiates of Clan Eshin. Having yet to fully grasp the importance of discipline, stealth, and basic fucking patience, they run headlong into enemies throwing sharpened metal stars and knives at them (likely Naruto running and shouting attack names as well). They do have their uses though, serving as excellent skirmishers thanks to their ranged attacks and natural agility.

*'''Gutter Runners''': Those lucky few Night Runners who survive their first battle and learn how to stand still are soon claw-picked to become Gutter Runners. These elite teams are the main agents of Clan Eshin you’ll find. Often hired for sabotage, espionage, eating fromage, and of course assassination. TWW2 adds an even more elite variant of the Gutter Runners called the '''Death Runners''', who are noted for having zero armor and simply dodging most attacks.

*'''Assassin''': Pretty straight forward. Picked from the most elite of Gutter/Death Runners, these expert killers are so feared among the Under-Empire that rumors spread about them having special abilities, from squeezing into a coin sized hole to having a poisonous shadow. Outlandish that may sound, Clan Eshin isn’t one to confirm or disperse these rumors.

*'''Eshin Sorcerer''': One of the ninja clan’s better kept secrets. In addition to being rigorously trained in the arts of murder and sabotage like the other initiates, these Skaven are capable of wielding their own unique magic called the Lore of Stealth (likely a mixture of Shadow magic and the standard Skaven Lore of Ruin). As expected, the Nightlord doesn’t want too many people to know about their existence (Grey Seers in particular), so much so that they vanished from the lore and tabletop for a while...until TWW2 brought them back into the limelight.

*'''Packmaster''': Part slave-driver, part animal tamer, Packmasters are adepts of Clan Moulder who specialize in the “care” of their menagerie of beasts. Often recruited from the most bully like Skaven, they are cruel and relentless with their whips and spiked prodders which double as a means of defense as well as way to encourage their monsters to fighter harder. Some also are known to carry large snapping claws on pole arms called thing-catchers, which they eagerly use to grab new test subjects whilst on the battlefield.

*'''Giant Rats''': The most common/simple of Clan Moulder’s monsters. They’re just big ass rats, usually the size of a small domestic dog. They are herded into massive swarms by their Packmaster(s) to drown the foe in furry bodies.

*'''Pox Rats''': A step up from the Giant Rat, these boar sized rodents are commonly used as mounts for various Skaven leaders, though as their sickly name suggests, the Plague Priests of Clan Pestilens are particularly fond of them.

*'''Rat Ogres''': The premier product of Clan Moulder. Through a fusion of skaven, [[Ogre Kingdoms|ogre]], and countless other beasties, a hulking monstrosity was born. Ill-tempered, violent brutes who serve as shock troopers/bodyguards for skaven armies. Like actual ogres, they are very strong but also quite dumb. Despite this, they can be equipped with several rudimentary upgrades and weapons for more specialized needs. During the End Times, Clan Skryre improved upon the base Rat Ogre and created the even more dangerous '''Stormfiend'''. By adding a secondary brain via an tiny ass skaven slave to the beast’s back, they can now operate more advanced weaponry, such as warp fire projectors, shock gauntlets, rattling guns, and many more, while still keeping the same base level instincts and loyalty they are known for.

*'''Brood Horrors''': What happens when you cram a bunch of starved Pox Rats into an enclosed area and leave them alone for a while? Well eventually only one of them remains having swallowed whole all of its packs mates and bloated to monstrous sizes. It has now become a Brood Horror, a hideously mutant creature that’s either used as a stand alone monster or as a mount for the most daring of Warlords.

*'''Hell-Pit Abomination''': And you thought the Brood Horror was grotesque. Named after the capital warren of Clan Moulder, the Hell-Pit Abomination is a Frankenstein fusion of left over body parts, machinery, and gallons of liquid warpstone given unholy life. No two Abominations are quite a like, though they all have the general shape of a massive multi-headed centaur-rat.

*'''Plague Monks''': The zealous followers of Clan Pestilens. Less armored than a Clanrat, these ragged devotees rush into battle with filth encrusted robes and rusted blades while chittering prayers and wishes to the Horned Rat. Each one is infected with enough viruses and sickness that just being in the vicinity of them is detrimental to your health. They gladly throw themselves onto foes to smother them in corruptive ilk and often carry tomes full of various litanies and vows to their pestilential deity.

*'''Plague Censer Bearers''': The more rabid Plague Monks who don’t become Plague Priests will often be given the “privilege” of carrying large censer flails that are blessed with filth and constantly emit toxic fumes. They then rush headlong into combat swinging their weapons to create a noxious cloud of gas, invigorating their brethren and smothering their enemies. Much like the similar in concept Night Goblin Fanatics, Plague Censer Bearers have a short life expectancy as the fumes are so toxic that it can even kill the rats of Clan Pestilens, albeit very slowly.

*'''Plague Priest''': Looking more like champions of [[Nurgle]] rather than skaven, these pox-filled vermin are the heads of the Pestilent Brotherhood. They lead vast congregations of sickly followers on a holy mission to corrupt the world in the name of the Great Horned Rat. The most distinguished Priests often ride into battle upon massive '''Plague Furnaces''', a rickety siege engine centered around a giant swinging censer, constantly filling the air with toxic warpstone fumes. These fumes invigorate the warriors of Clan Pestilens and choke the life out of all others.

===Clans===
Skaven organize themselves into Clans, through which they organize their backstabbing. The individual backstabs for position within a Clan, the Clan backstabs for position in Skaven society.

There are many Clans, far more than any being other than the Horned Rat (presumably) knows. Clans rise, fall, split, infight, reform, and even ally constantly. Each Clan seeks to have one of their members in a position in the Council of Thirteen, which runs the business of their entire race.

The [[Council of Thirteen]] is conveniently organized like a clock, with 13 at the 12 position which is representative of the Horned Rat. Members are called Lords of Decay. Each position is more powerful within the Council based on their proximity to the Horned Rat, so the Lords of Decay at the 1 and 12 position are the two most powerful, 2 and 11 behind them, while the Lords of Decay at the 6 and 7 positions are the weakest. Each Lord of Decay can outright veto the position of the one opposite them. Each Lord of Decay has their position marked by a symbol, either that of themselves or that of their Clan. The Lords of Decay have thus far remained in power for most of the existence of the Council thanks to the life-prolonging Warpstone they use (so Skeksis), although they rise and fall in power.

Skaven Clans fall into three categories: Great Clans, Warlord Clans, and Thrall Clans. The four Great Clans are extremely powerful, and epitomize the different aspects of Skaven society (Each Greater Clan later became a type of Clans in [[Age of Sigmar]] due to an exponential population boost). Warlord Clans are essentially the middle class of Skaven, usually doing their own thing and not tied to any specific Great Clan. The Thrall Clans are weaker warrens that swear allegiance to a Great Clan to survive or grow in power. Of course thanks to Skaven backstabbing, a Thrall Clan is an expendable frontline infantry source while the Great Clans are just sources of really neat toys like Rat Ogres and Ratling Guns, and of course every Clan is waiting to betray each other while making allegiances to other Clans and to betray their REAL allies that they're of course waiting to be backstabbed by while totally being unaware of the fact that a fourth set of Clans have set up the backstabbing conga for their own benefit, and so on as far as you want to get into it (note: this describes a single day of plotting or so).

When fielding an army, one or two Clan paint jobs and multiple Thrall-Clan paint jobs are quite fluffy.

The four Great Clans are:
* [[Clan Eshin]], the ninja assassin Clan. {MURDER [[Lizardmen|ALL]] [[Dwarfs|OF]] [[Undead|THESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!]]}
* [[Clan Moulder]], the Clan which breeds monsters and sews them together Frankenstein style to make even better (by Skaven standards, slightly less volatile) monsters.
* [[Clan Pestilens]], the founder of the Pestilent Brotherhood and the largest and most powerful Pestilent Brotherhood member.
* [[Clan Skryre]], the Clan which produces Warp-powered Tesla cannons, machine guns, vehicles, and other assorted machines.

In addition, there are the [[Grey Seers]], silver furred Skaven with horns that represent the servants of the Council and the Horned Rat. They are above all Skaven other than the Lords of Decay and as a result tend to be somewhat free from the backstabbing conga, other than that of other Grey Seers. Any grey Skaven who do not have horns are part of the Council Guard, the elite warriors that protect the Council and the Grey Seers. However those Skaven that protect the Council of Thirteen directly are The Albino Guard, purely white furred giga-stormvermin.

{{Skaven-Clans}}

===Deity===
The Skaven worship their creator the [[Horned Rat]], a god as sickening and vile as they are. God of disease and vermin, thankfully he gets the crap kicked out of him by Sigmar and Sotek on a regular basis and frankly anyone that feels like having a go. He got fed up with such bullshit at the [[End Times]], telling the Skaven to stop backstabbing eachother and get shit done, which they proceed to do by destroying many cities. He also made a deal with the [[Chaos Gods]] as he cannot defeat them.

As of [[Age of Sigmar]], [[Slaanesh]] [[bullshit|was kidnapped]] by three Elf gods that were formerly mortals ([[Tyrion]], [[Teclis]], [[Morelion]]) at the manipulations of [[Tzeentch]] and the newly-appointed HNIC of all Chaos [[Archaon]]. This resulted in [[Nurgle]] and [[Khorne]] immediately voting with them to boot him out of the pantheon and the [[Great Game]] and promoting Horned Rat to proper Chaos God in his place. Horned Rat immediately renamed himself Great Horned Rat, but found out that the big kids table was full of backstabbing assholes with absolutely no respect for each other, and somehow even less for him. When the Chaos Gods gave Archaon their blessings, Archaon rejected the Horned Rat's blessings and spat directly in his face for daring to presume GHR can bless the self-righteous ass that is Archaon(Though this could just be Archaon not having absolutely abysmal standards).

=== Magic ===
Skaven wield a form of Dark Magic fueled by [[warpstone]] and derived from their own inherently corrupt abilities. However, select kinds of skaven are capable of actually tapping that energy; traditionally, only the Grey Seers, rare mutants who function as the skaven's shamans and the Warlock Engineers of [[Clan Skryre]], who use [[magitek]] devices to draw upon and manipulate Dark Magic, possess this power, but that lore has fluctated over editions.

In 4th edition, Warlocks could be 1st to 3rd level casters, with Grey Seers being 4th level casters, and both used the same "Lore of Skaven" magic system.

In 6th edition, only Grey Seers were casters, still using the Lore of Skaven; Warlock Engineers instead had to spend points on magitek weapons that also allowed them to cast a single spell, ''Warp Lightning''. However, the optional rules for Great Clan armies in the back of the book also featured clan-based casters; these "lesser mages" were treated as level 1 casters who only knew a single pre-selected spell. Clan Eshin had Sorcerers (Skitterleap), Clan Pestilens had Festoring Chantors (Pestilent Breath), and Clan Moulder had Harbingers of Mutation (Vermintide). Clan Skyre's Warlock Masters could still only cast Warp Lightning, but could try and cast an 11+ variant that was much more powerful.

In 7th edition, things changed; now, Skaven had two different schools of magic - Ruin and Plague, with Warlock Engineers being Hero level casters of Ruin and Plague Priests getting an upgrade to be Hero level casters of Plague, with Grey Seers being Lord level casters who could mix and match spells from both lores, and had access to the unique "Dreaded 13th Spell", which could transform enemy troops into skaven clanrats.

"Children of the Horned Rat", the skaven sourcebook for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 2nd edition, tweaked the Skaven magical lores around. Naming the two primary schools of Skaven magic as Plague and Warp, it also upgraded Eshin Sorcerers to full-fledged casters, with their own unique school of magic; the Dark Lore of Stealth, a corrupt form of Shadow Magic that lets them do more animesque ninja stuff. As CotHR was written around the time of 6th edition, it doesn't quite mesh up with either 6e or 7e fluff; instead of being masters of all the skaven styles, it's implied (it's a little hard to ascertain) that Grey Seers only use Warp Magic, whilst Plague Priests and Eshin Sorcerers only use Plague Magic and Stealth Magic respectively. Warlock Engineers, meanwhile, can't use magic at all, but instead can make unique magitek gizmos.

Also, CotHR says that rogue Grey Seers can learn Chaos Magic or Necromancy, although this paints them as skaven heretics.

=== Army ===
Skaven are your <strike>standard</strike> easily abused horde army. Lots of cheap vermin, whose numbers allow them to easily ignore their one theoretical weakness: shitty leadership, backed up by more expensive and/or specialized units, that are in theory unreliable but will still wreck your shit moar consistently than most anything else by sheer volume. Also, DOOMWHEELS.

<strike>Under current rules</strike> they <strike>are</strike> have always been considered overpowered, except for a brief period where DoC reigned thanks to your [[Matt Ward|Spiritual]] [[Spiritual Liege|Liege]]. They have now reclaimed their mantle, since 8th edition heavily favors mass infantry blocks, and the Skaven can easily throw out a block of 100 models for less than what some other armies will spend on a lord, no, I'm not exaggerating, which under the current rules is virtually unbeatable.

=== Special Characters ===
====Wargame====
The cast of Skaven special characters has shifted and flowed across editions, but this is the original list from 4e:
* [[Verminlord]]
* Grey Seer [[Thanquol]]
* [[Lord Skrolk]], Plaguelord of Clan Pestilens
* [[Ikit Claw]], Chief Warlock of Clan Skryre
* [[Throt the Unclean]], Master Mutator of Clan Moulder
* [[Deathmaster Snikch]], Chief Assassin of Clan Eshin
* [[Queek Head-Taker]], Warlord of Clan Mors

6th edition saw the creation of a handful of new characters, whose stats appeared either in [[White Dwarf]] or on Games Workshop's website - back before they turned it into a mere shopping center. In addition to converting many 4e characters who'd been left out of their 6e army book, such as Snikch and Ikit Claw, 6e saw the creation of:
* [[Ghoritch]], Castellan of Hell Pit
* Warlock Master [[Klawmunkast]] and his [[Steam Tank|Rat Tank]].
* Plague Lord [[Morbus Sanguis]]

7th edition added two new characters to the list:
* Beastmaster [[Skweel Gnawtooth]]
* Chieftain [[Tretch Craventail]]

====Fluff-only, Other Games, Other Continuities====
[[Image:Reverse Furry And His Pet.png|thumb|200px|right|Somehow worse than legit Skaven!]]
* Kreech: FUCK, I thought we agreed never to mention him again. Exists in Age of Sigmar to be the PG version (no depicted cannibalism, drug addiction and mass murder) of Thanquol to the pacifist protagonist adolescents of [[Warhammer Adventures]], is a complete weeb for humans, and has a slaveboy from the Realm Of Beasts named Scratch.
* Sneek Scratchett: a scribe from the [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] continuity who serves as your chosen faction's mission control during the Vortex campaign. MST'd the sequel's reveal trailer and wears a small pair of glasses, though whether he actually needs it or likes-prefers the look is known only to him.
* Vulskreek: a Grey Seer also from TWW and Sneek's supervisor, and regularly bosses Sneek around as all Skaven higher-ups do. After the Black Pillar forsees great things for the Horned Rat, Vulskreek's put in charge of mobilizing the ratmen to do their god's bidding, but the Grey Seer's also working on orders known only to the Council...

=== Fun Facts ===
* They consider the number thirteen to be lucky/holy. This a reference to how thirteen is seen as unlucky in Western society. However, several real-life nations/cultures consider thirteen a lucky number.
* Grey Seers regularly ride giant bells on scaffolds into battle
* [[DOOMWHEELS]]
* in ye olden days they could be led by friggin master splinter! im not kidding this was a thing
* Their leaders lead from the back, to get a better view of the battle of course and not due to the meatshield tactic.
* They can improve anything, with the addition of magical radiation rocks!
**This may or may not involve improving themselves by snorting said rock.
* GIANT LIGHTNING CANNONS
* Backstabbing little bastards, they'll fuck you up five different ways without you even knowing about it, if you're lucky.
* Skaven do not abide by any codes of honor or battle etiquette, and as such, they WILL bring a gun to a swordfight (and even then they'll try to steal your sword beforehand (and poison you (and improve themselves with warpstone before (aaaaand the gun might be a DOOMWHEEL)))).
* Skaven have a combination of ego and incompetence that would make [[Transformers|Starscream]] look down his nose at them. (Bad comedy right there)
* Skaven do NOT think about the potential consequences of ''anything'' that they do. Taken to its logical conclusion in [[The End Times]] when '''they blow up the motherfucking Chaos Moon''' and nearly destroy the planet with moon-fragments.
* At one point they had the cheapest troops in any game setting. How cheap? It was measured in ''fractions of a point!''
* They can carry giant rocket launcher weaponry that will most likely explode in their own damn faces.
* RATLING GUNS! its as cool as they sound! and yes, it does what it says on the tin
* for the last time, master splinter did NOT teach all of clan Eshin how to all be ninja rats...only a few
* As of Total Warhammer II, Skavens can into space. (No, seriously, go play the campaign!)
* BTW, they also have sniper rifles. Warpstone rifles of instant brain pop, yes-yes

== Thematic Stuff ==
In Warhammer seriousness and farce walk hand in hand. Some factions are in general more jokey like the Greenskins and others are more somber like the Druchii, but all of them are capable of both. This is especially true of the Skaven. On the one hand, they're a malignant horde of self centered sociopaths in which every twisted manifestation of this fact is explored driven on by a malevolent deity spreading underground like a cancer who surge forth to lay waste to the realms of men leaving nothing behind but ruins and gnawed bones are ultimately responsible for bringing about the End Times. On the other hand they're a species of Cartoonish Ratguys with Mad Science super-weapons, Ninjas and and convoluted plots that often blow up in their filthy faces with odd verbal ticks which are despite it all can sometimes be, well, cute.

The Skaven have no direct counterpart in Warhammer 40,000. In of itself this is not unprecidented. After all the neither do the Lizardmen or Vampire Counts and on the same note you don't have any Tau or Tyranids having raves in Athel Loren keeping the wood elves up. Even so, they do seem to be a natural fit. After all, they are one of the most technological factions and it's not a huge leap to imagine their space fleets and similar. They're also GW original content, so why are they not a thing? One possible answer is that while they could fit into 40k, they would be kind of redundant. Simply put the role of Theocratic Empire with cutthroat internal politics ruled through fear, driven by hatred of The Other on which a small priviledged elite rules over a vast ocean of individuals living cheek to jowl in huge labyrinthine warrens either as disposable factory workers or soldiers expended like ammunition [[Imperium of Man|is already filled in 40k]]. In fact the parallel may be more direct then accidental given that there are explicitly 13 high lords of Terra, same as the 13 lords of the Skaven council. The Empire of Man is not The Shire or some other idealized fantasy utopia, but on the same note in of itself it's not actually that bad by the standards of the era it was based on. Most of it's big problems are external (chaos, greenskins, druchii, whatever) and most of the crappiness you'd find in it is the sort of stuff you'd find in basically every early modern state along with the virtues there-of. It just so happens that those flaws get magnified a million fold once it territory can be listed in 'light years'.

== DIE-DIE MAN-THINGS! ==
The above sentence clearly illustrates the quirks of skaven language (which is titled Queekish): they often say certain monosyllabic words twice (words like "die-die" and "fool-fool" are popular). Skaven are also known to link similar-related words together.
[https://forums.totalwar.com/discussion/199375/on-skaven-jitter-speak-in-game-2 Some people believe these things should only be done to the most important part of a sentence. However, in some official works, such as Total Warhammer II, these quirks are applied seemingly at random in skaven speech.]

Also, they often end the name of a species with the suffix -things, so men are man-things, dwarfs are dwarf-things, et cetera.

This helps indicate that non-Skaven are not people in their eyes. Although considering their backstabby natures it isn't as if they're trying to avert sense of shame or horror from killing others, which is why humans dehumanize during war... so why? Likely the Skaven equivalent of racial slurs.

==Female Skaven==
[[Image:Female skaven.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Canon image of a female Skaven.]]
[[Image:Skaven female cheerleaders.jpg|thumb|250px|left|The closest thing to a female Skaven model to come out of Games Workshop.]]
The skaven as a whole fit the idea of "ratmen" - with particular emphasis on the ''men'' part. All named skaven characters are male, and new fans invariably wonder; what about females? Where do skaven come from?

There was never any great emphasis placed on them. Indeed, they were left so ambiguous that the first ever description of skaven females actually came about as a result of one fan's fanfiction, during those hoary days when [[Gnome#Gnomes_in_Warhammer|Gnome]]s and [[Half-Orc]]s were still canon. In "[https://the-eye.eu/public/Books/rpg.rem.uz/Warhammer/Fantasy/Roleplay/1st%20edition/Skaven%20-%20Book%20of%20the%20Rat.pdf The Book of the Rat]", a fan-made netbook of skaven lore for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 1st edition, female skaven were stated to exist but were hugely oppressed; they were kept as sexual slaves in segregated chambers of the warren, to which only the clan's elites were allowed access. Kept in miserable conditions, their life consisted of nothing but rough sex, pregnancy and looking after their mewling ratlings. Female skaven were described as rarer than male skaven, partially due to biology, primarily because their mothers and the bitter, infertile/elderly midwives tended to be particularly callous towards the female offspring and so female skaven have a much, ''much'' higher mortality rate than the males.

When we got official lore, however, it turned out to be far worse... when the first ever Warhammer Armies: Skaven sourcebook was released, way back in Warhammer 4th edition, fans were presented with what is the earliest known mention of skaven females: a single line describing them as being "indolent" and "semi-intelligent" in the general Skaven entry in the bestiary section (page 50). Modern lore, established in the Skaven's 6e army book and preserved since then, built upon this singular line and is considerably more [[grimdark]] than the fanon presented in "The Book of the Rat": female skaven are horrific monsters, implied to be basically female [[Giant Rat]]s of enormous stature, who build upon their description in 4e by being described as feral, effectively non-sapient creatures. They are basically giant wombs, locked away separately from the males and existing only to feed and produce offspring, so monstrously pregnant and indolent that their limbs have atrophied, rendering them incapable of doing anything but wallow in the breeding pits.

Further female skaven lore, such as it is, was fleshed out by Black Library fiction and most prominently by ''Children of the Horned Rat'', a skaven sourcebook for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 2nd edition. In CotHR, it's theorized that only one in ten skaven are female, reaching sexual maturity at the age of 2 and spending the rest of their 2 decades of life doing nothing but breed, averaging 12-24 pups a litter and 4-5 litters per year.

What's ''truly'' grimdark however, as explicitly stated in that same book is, that skaven females are actually <b>NOT NATURALLY LIKE THIS</b>; rather, their condition is the result of the skaven's malevolence and their need to [[fleshcrafting|"improve" upon nature]]; from a young age, skaven females are constantly dosed with Warpstone-based narcotics and hallucinogens, intended to keep them docile and segregated, so they will not protest their life of endless baby-making. There is a single line hinting that this may not be as effective as the male skaven think: "So cloistered away from the rest of their race are they that they do not learn their race’s chittering speech, nor are they proficient in even the simplest social skills…or so the Skaven believe." But still the vast majority of "Rat Mothers" spend their lives incessantly pregnant and in an interminable drug-fueled haze, often blind and/or crippled, and dependent on the ministrations of the "Ratwives" - castrated skaven who serve as nurses to the female Skaven themselves and midwives to their endless litters.

TL;DR: skaven females are practically furry [[Daemonculaba]].

Access to the females is carefully guarded. The most powerful of skaven are allowed to own one or more females for their private use - females are readily traded between clans as extremely valuable bargaining chips - and access to the communal females in the breeding pits is restricted to high-ranked or otherwise successful skaven; in one of the [[Gotrek & Felix]] novels, a Skaven is rewarded by his superior by being given permission to mate with one, whilst "Thanquol's Doom" features a skaven who partially lost his nose in an "incident" whilst mating with a breeder - apparently, she got too excited and tried to eat him.

The female Skaven's status as "bloated, indolent baby-makers" was referenced in the End Times. In "End Times: Thanquol", a Dwarf Slayer separated from the other during the battle of Karak Eight Peaks found his way into a Skaven breeding pit filled with hundreds of females in such a state, their litters and a handful of Ratwives. He killed the Ratwifes, the breeders and their litters, there being so many Skaven the Slayer's arms got sore from all the killing. Then the Slayer stumbled upon another breeding pit just as big, but by then Skaven soldiers had discovered what he did in the previous breeding pit so they swarmed him and slaughtered him. The End Times is the most recent lore on this, so it looks like the baby-factory fate is canon for most, if not all, female Skaven.

It bears mentioning that the status of the "breeders" does have some real-world basis to it. The rodent contains the only known eusocial mammals; the mole-rats, who live in colonies consisting of a single reproducing female with one (or up to three, for naked mole rats) reproducing males reigning over a large brood of sterile offspring that work as a collective to survive. In these cases, however, there are equal numbers of males and females, and it's the presence of a breeding queen and her pheromones that causes sterility into the younger mole-rats; if removed from her presence, they become fertile in turn.

It also bears mentioning that, in [[Blood Bowl]], the Skaven team comes with cheerleaders who are non-"Breeder" females, which you can tell because they have [[/d/|four big breasts each]]. But then, Blood Bowl also has [[Orcs & Goblins|fem-Orcs]], so its connection to canon of any edition after 3e is kind of dubious.

==Beastmen connection==
So, since this is a race made of humanoid rats empowered by [[Warpstone]] (which is officially described as being Chaos energy manifest), you may be wondering whether or not they're [[Beastmen]]. Well, the answer is that it kind of flips back and forth. Way back in the early editions, yes, Skaven were explicitly a break-away faction of relatively stabilised Beastmen, even pitching in with the Hordes of Chaos or spawning Chaos Champions of their own -- the "Design a [[Daemon Prince]]/Chaos God" rules in 3e's Slaves to Darkness - The Lost and The Damned even features a skaven turned Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided.

Since then, the connection has been downplayed extremely; the Empire generally describes Skaven (when they acknowledged they exist) as just "Beastmen who happen to look like rats", but there's no official connection between the two other than the fact Grey Seers have horns that signal them as important (a classically Beastman trait) and the fact both are animals mutated by Chaos-stuff.

==Warhammer 40k==
While no direct space Skaven exist, there are ratlike mutants described in the fluff, rat-worshiping cultists in [[Necromunda]], a [[mutant]] race called [[Ratlings]] which despite being more [[halfling]] than rat could be argued as a successor, <strike>the Imperial Guard itself which serves as uneducated and amoral xenophobes who are mass-bred and treated as currency by the Imperium with access to some nice and fancy toys which are more likely to cause teamkilling than damage to foes</strike> [[Blam|'''*BLAM*''' HERESY!]], and lastly there are the Tyranids who are 40k's version of ungodly numbers faction crossed with the [[Ogre Kingdoms]] motivation to eat everything in sight (though for different reasons). The [[Hrud]] used to be the Space Skaven, as in giant dieselpunk rat people, but that was pretty much retconned. They look different now (on the rare occasion they are mentioned in the fluff), so the only actual space Skaven are the Veer-Myn from [[Warpath]] by Mantic games. As usual, most of their models are, well not terrible, but not the greatest things ever, there is however great potential for a fantasy warlock engineer conversions. However, it does appear that the recent Skitarii model releases may have taken inspiration from the Skaven aesthetic (though not gameplay) with their many steampunk-styled weapons, most notably the Transuranic Arquebus and Radium Jezzail. Alternatively, the Genestealer Cults are a particularly close match gameplay-wise, with lots of ambushing troops and monsters backed up by armor and artillery.

==Models==
Skaven are one of the primary things in the Warhammer IPs that are actually unique to Games Workshop. As a result, its hard to obtain miniatures for them from third party companies, which is of particular irritation to Skaven players who want Skaven Slaves to actually look like downtrodden Skaven or those who refuse to give any more money to [[Games Workshop]].

However, [[Reaper Miniatures]] thankfully has begun to produce a "Wererat" range which includes decent alternatives to Rat Ogres, Assassins, a Verminlord, and even a female Skaven with six breasts for those wanting to have the most unique Warlord in the FLGS. This is in addition to the ordinary rat models, useful for spicing up scenery or large kits (or obtaining cheap Rat Swarms). These models are produced in the "Bonesium" material in the Bones line, which while being prone to bending badly is LUDICROUSLY cheap and completely safe from being dropped from any height onto any surface. Notably, some have taken to replacing the parts notorious for bending (weapons, especially spears) and replacing them with kitbashed weapons or even greenstuff. As far as the metal range goes, Reaper also produces Barrow Rats which can be useful as Pox Rats, Giant Rats, or Rat Hounds.

A further alternative source is [[Mierce Miniatures]], in particular their Vras faction of models. They have two warrior characters, more hamster-like than rat-like in proportions but with a paintjob serve as spectacular bloated disease-spreading characters (or just fat rat bastards). More importantly, Mierce has five large creatures that serve as [[Hellpit Abominations]] or as [[Verminlords]]. "Flint-Fang, Kill-Thing of the Infernal Pits" is preferred by some as an Abomination for its less Akira and more Frankenstein appearance (some praise or are horrified by its...anatomical correctness). "Back-Cracker, Goz-Horror" is an Abomination looking more like some kind of mad science genetic horror, while "Three-Faces, the Verminous Horror" takes the basic Games Workshop Abomination and replaces "steam-powered" with "tumor". "Scar-Claw, Rat Fiend" and "Scar-Scath, Vermin-Fiend" are alternative Verminlords, and thanks to the monopose nature of the End Times Verminlord kits make decent alternatives or just sources of kitbashing materials when fielding more than one.

[[Otherworld Miniatures]] produces both small rats and naked ratmen, although the latter sadly only come in two poses.

[[Mirilton]] Ratscum resemble Slaves or Clanrats, have ratmen gunners, and ratmen cavalry riding weasels, although the sculpts are in different proportions to the Skaven in many cases and resemble older Games Workshop models (this can be a bonus to some people however).

[[Curious Constructs]] produces weapon sets including a Gatling Gun, Mortar Launcher, and Flamethrower which could be kitbashed with any ratmen models to produce the various weapons teams of the Skaven.

[[Black Tree Design]] produces ratmen monks, assassins, warriors, a rat ogre creature, and rats in gas masks with poison bombs.

[[Impact Miniatures]] produce not-[[Bloodbowl]] ratmen models that require little to no alteration to become Skaven soldiers. Or that Skaven Blood Bowl team fielded as Stormvermin for a silly army.

[[Mantic Games]] produce not-Skaven known as [[Ratkin]] for their game [[Kings of War]].

Of course, Screaming Bells and Plague Furnaces can be made with balsa wood and the kinds of things one can find at any head shop or similar purveyor of hippie paraphernalia.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Skaven.jpg|The original Skaven Clans.
Image:SkavenNutshell.png|Pretty much any Skaven, pretty much all of the time.
</gallery>

==See Also==
* [[Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Skaven|Warhammer Tactics/Skaven]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Skaven]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Masterclan|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Masterclan]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Verminus|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Verminus]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clan_Moulder| Age of Sigmar Tactics/Moulder]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clan_Eshin|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Eshin]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Skryre|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Skryre]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Pestilens|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Pestilens]]
* [https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/57408867/ Sir Harumphington sets the record straight about these so-called "rat-men"]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BhV3CxvcF0/ Play this when a wave of rat men completely swamp your opponents army.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od06TLDO1CU/ “Underground” by Tom Waits, for any spelunking skaven.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaFIzPdxuF8 Every Skaven's idea of risk assessment in a nutshell]

==In Other Media==
While not ripped off as much as some of the other concepts Warhammer <strike>created</strike> expanded upon from existing sources, like Mesoamerican lizard people or Orcs/Goblins with green skin, Skaven have helped popularize rat people as a more standard fantasy race in a few places. Its theorized by some that the inclusion of [[Nezumi]] in the Asiatic settings of [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and [[Magic: The Gathering]] were inspired by the popularity of Skaven. Still, Skaven as a whole remain one of the most iconic things that are wholly unique to Warhammer. The League Of Legends character Twitch is clearly inspired by Skaven and has a line referencing them, although he lacks the insane flamboyancy compared to the setting he's in that Skaven have. They even had enough mainstream awareness to be referenced by British journalist Stewart Lee in the Guardian (comparing Brexit negotiations to Plague Monks, naturally).

The most direct and unexpected place for them to appear is being referenced to exist in both the Japanese and English versions of the Japanese anime [[Goblin Slayer]], listed off as a type of monster to specialize in studying. Just the idea of a Skaven Slayer could also be nod to [[Gotrek & Felix]].

==Non-Canon Female Skaven==
{{Promotions}}
{{Heresy}}

So it's universally agreed upon both in and out of universe that the only appropriate response to meeting a skaven is to kill them on sight, right? Well in an astounding display of hypocrisy, some [[furries]] went "yeah but I kinda also want to cuddle one?" and further demonstrated just how mentally broken certain subtypes of that culture are. So, there is an undercurrent in the darker hidden recesses of /tg/ where furfags like to talk about non-Rat Mother female skaven. Many have tried arguing that, given the reverence for the Grey Seers, combined with the Chaotic tinge of the skaven, then surely there are rare female Grey Seers who are thus spared the fate of their sisters. Others have pointed that since Breeders are heavily dosed up with chemicals, then if that fate was spared for some reason, then surely female skaven would turn out to be at least as competent as their brothers. Still others note that skaven can't resist tinkering, so it's not impossible a Grey Seer or Master Moulder might make use of a "thinking Breeder".

And, in fact, this last argument one even has a dash of canon to it: in C.L. Werner's "Grey Seer" novel, [[Thanquol]] encounters a [[Grey Seer]] (Thratquee of Under-Altdorf) who owns two personal breeders he has [[fleshcrafting|"improved"]], granting them an unusual clarity of thought, freedom of motion and muscle hidden under their chub; built like a cross between a breeder and a [[Rat Ogre]], they're essentially the skaven equivalent of [[amazon]] bodyguards, and Thanquol is simultaneously horrified and a little impressed at the realization that these "harmless females" will actually kill any skaven who dare to threaten their mate. This makes them the ultimate bodyguards in the eternal backstab-fest that is skaven society.

All of these arguments are reaching, understandably (I mean, why not just work with the idea of some developing an immunity or something?). But that hasn't stopped fans from dabbling in fem-skaven [[Your dudes|homebrew characters]] or [[Rule 34|more cheesecake-level artwork]]. One infamous skaven-loving furry even created his own homebrew clan of renegade female skaven, Clan Sniek, an offshoot clan of Clan Eshin who scavenge on the outskirts of skaven society and raid weaker warlord clans to steal away their females to bolster their own numbers. Clan Sniek is also known to "dabble" with human men, for pleasure and/or procreative purposes; there's even a named Gutter Runner female in a relationship with an Imperial human. His artwork tends to pop up whenever a [[ratfolk]] thread does or the topic of non-Breeder female skaven arises.

Thus, the argument about whether or not Rat Mothers are interesting will probably rage forever. You'd think that with the talks of non-breeder females and Clan Sniek that there would be more Sniek, fem-rats, or even Skaven related stories in general at the Smut archive, but hey what are you gonna do? You can't fap it to femskaven stories if there are no femskaven stories.

<center>
<gallery>
Image:Femskaven 1.jpg|Fanart of femSkaven.
Image:Femskaven 2.jpg|More fanart depicting femSkaven experiments.
Image:Reaper Wererat Matriarch.png|The Reaper "Wererat Matriarch" for those wanting to field a non-giant female Skaven model.
Image:Wererat Female.jpg|What an unmodified female Skaven would probably look like.
Image:FemSkaven Chieftain Uberous.jpg|Breeder or no, female skaven would admittedly probably spend more time pregnant than not.
Image:Female Gutter Runner.jpg|Sneaking around in the human's storehouses clearly has its advantages.
Image:Female Poison Wind Globadier.jpg|
Image:Female Stormvermin.jpg|Being high in the clan's totem pole has its perks.
Image:Futa Master Molder.jpg|Some Master Moulders go [[dickgirl|a lot further]] than others when it comes to [[fleshcrafting]].
Image:Female Stormvermin Fangleader.jpg
File:Longhaired skaven assassin.jpg
</gallery>
</center>

;Clan Sniek
<center>
<gallery>
Image:Gutter Runner of Clan Sniek.jpg|A Gutter Runner of Clan Sniek; the clan relies on stealth for survival.
Image:Assassin of Clan Sniek.jpg|An Assassin of Clan Sniek; they tend to focus more on other skaven than on humans.
Image:Packmaster of Clan Sniek.jpg|Clan Sniek's packmasters specialize in capturing human men - sometimes as slaves, sometimes as breeding partners.
Image:Master Assassin of Clan Sniek.jpg|Almost Prophet, a mutant female skaven born with pale fur but no horns, Master Assassin and founder of Clan Sniek.
Image:Grey Seer of Clan Sniek.jpg|Clan Sniek's Grey Seer yearns to dethrone Almost Prophet and rule the clan herself.
Image:Master Molder of Clan Sniek.jpg|Tichiz, Clan Sniek's Master Moulder, is perhaps the most feared skaven in the clan.
Image:Sorceress of Clan Sniek.jpg|Vaquit Silverspit, a female skaven sorcerer, wields great power in Clan Sniek for both her mastery of the Dark Lore of Stealth and her expertise with her rifle.
Image:Verminqueen.jpg|The mysterious Verminqueen is the dark patron of Clan Sniek.
Image:Audience with the Verminqueen.jpg|Sometimes, the Verminqueen deigns to tryst with mortals.
</gallery>
</center>

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}
{{Skaven-Clans}}
{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category: Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Skaven]]
[[Category:Furry]]

Skaven

2021-10-20T00:33:33Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8DAB:A0D2:F0DE:1CE6: /* History */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Skaven|Logo=Capture131114532.png|Alliance=Chaos|Motto=DIE DIE SOLDIER MANTHINGS DIE!!!!}}

{{Topquote|It would be ugly to watch people poking sticks at a caged rat. It is uglier still to watch rats poking sticks at a caged person.|Jean Harris}}

{{Topquote|I WILL JOIN YOU, FAGGOTY ELF! IF THERE IS ANYTHING I HATE WORSE THAN ELVES, IT'S FUCKING RAT FURRIES GOING FULL NORTH KOREA WITH NUCLEAR ROCKS!|Urist, Warhammer: Ravandils Quest}}

{{Topquote|Rodents of unusual size? I don't believe they exist.|Free Company Sergeant Roberts, last words before being killed by a rodent of unusual size}}
The '''Skaven''' are technologically advanced [[ratfolk]] in the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and [[Age of Sigmar]] settings. Ugly, evil creatures that spread [[AIDS|plague]] wherever they go and topple kingdoms for fun and [[profit]], you will be hard pressed to find a more unlikeable race out there. Much like the [[Orks]], they're so excessively over-the-top that it's pretty funny.

Skaven are said to be '''''the''''' most evil race in the entire setting, and that's no idle claim. For all [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|the Empire]], [[Bretonnia]]ns, [[Dwarf (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dwarfs]], [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|High Elves]], [[Wood Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Wood Elves]] and [[Lizardmen]]'s many flaws (and make no mistake, they ''are'' numerous) each of them has at least some claims to heroism that keep them out of being villains. Most undead are mindless automata executing their programming while their masters are usually capable of genuine love and altruism. [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dark elves]] are cruel and have a culture based on torture and slavery, but they are more driven by historical grievances and living in an inhospitable homeland, and can display family loyalty along with traits that some would call decent or even questionably heroic. Orcs and Goblins are violent brutes, but they'll develop what could be considered friendships and attachments to their fellows, and even the most brutal Black Orc will cry if his pet squig dies (Not in front of the other boyz though, because they'll all see him as nothing but a runty git). Or at the very least he will bash someone’s head into the ground, point is, he'll grieve. Ogres are well-known to be gluttonous and casually cruel almost to a man, but they usually still love their families and their Gnoblar pets, and any Maneater worth his salt is usually good for his word upon payment. Despite their propensities towards [[Khorne|killing]], [[Tzeentch|scheming]], [[Nurgle|festering]] and [[Slaanesh|raping]], the mortal followers of Chaos are capable of honor, friendship and a warped form of love. Even Daemons, who may or may not count as their own separate race, usually respect the chain of command without [[Drow|constantly trying to murder their leaders and take their place]]. And the Beastmen, who are also inherently evil like the Skaven, respect their chieftains and shamans, deal honorably with their few allies and give worthy foes a fair fight.

Skaven have none of the above qualities, or any other that could be considered even vaguely noble or redeeming: they openly hate everyone and everything, are more cowardly and paranoid than any goblin, more cruel and hostile than Dark Elves, and more fractious than Chaos. Love, friendship and honor are completely alien to the Skaven's psyche. Due to their chronic backstabbing disorder, nobody trusts them, likes them, or wants to be 'allies' with them (except Dark Elves, who have a treaty with them that both sides betray at times). The only times they have done something that benefited non-Skaven or the world, such as helping beat the first incarnation of Nagash, are due for purely selfish reasons - Nagash did his best to enslave them and deny them warpstone. One of the only three reasons the Skaven have lasted this long and not killed themselves in an ''en masse'' fratricidal free-for-all is because their hatred of all other things outweighs their hatred of other Skaven by '''''just enough''''' for them to slightly function (that and their crazy-high birthrates or the direct intervention of their god, who's little better than them). However the 'just enough' cannot be stressed enough. Even with the all-out doom of their race present, as with Nagash or Chaos, they're still intent on fucking each other over. <strike>If</strike> when possible, Skaven <strike>would</strike> will kill each other in the womb.

And that's why we love to hate them so much.

It should be noted that there is one non-evil one in [[Warhammer Adventures]], the Warhammer children's book series (yeah, that exists). Named Kreech, he's still the villain of that series, but by the standards of Skaven he's damn near a fucking Grail Knight. Screech actually lives in human culture, preferring it to his own people's, and has a 12-year-old human slave as his sidekick. Even in children's media they're utter bastards.

==So who are they?==
In a lot of science fiction going back to [[Starship Troopers]] and likely far earlier, there are races of [[Tyranid|Hive Creatures]]. Vast beings that may have separate bodies, but have one will. One Consciousness. Each "individual" soldier or worker is akin to someone's finger, or a cell on someone's fingertip, and is ultimately an expendable resource in service to the greater whole. All march in lockstep to expand the influence of the gestalt consciousness as far as possible, either assimilating or crushing anything they come across. The Skaven are the antithesis of this, though this fact in no way makes them nice.

The Skaven are a race of walking humanoid rats with dubious (but not to be underestimated) intelligence and a hideous feral cunning out to conquer the world in the name of their God, the Horned Rat, and also for their own personal gains. If there was one quality which defined their species, it would be raw unconstrained '''''selfishness'''''. By instinct, culture and the will of their asshole god, each Skaven is self-obsessed, paranoid, greedy, power-hungry, murderous and doesn't give a rat's ass (hehe) for their family or their race's well-being unless their own is at stake. They find the concepts of love, honor, loyalty and friendship to be so alien they can't comprehend them. In the prisoner's dilemma, they always defect. By nature, each of them is fundamentally evil, and this is not racism speaking here. To give context for this, a [[Skarsnik|greenskin]] in the End Times event was traumatized by the loss of his beloved [[Skarsnik#The_End_Times|Squig]], while no Skaven individual has ever, at any point, been shown to have an attachment to any living thing other than themselves. The closest they can get is the exceedingly rare example where a Skaven can understand that certain other individuals are tools worth cultivating and protecting from outside threats, and are assets too valuable to allow their casual destruction or squandering (see Gnawdwell and [[Queek Head-Taker]]). The only thing a Skaven hates more than other Skaven is creatures who are non-Skaven, and this gives the ratmen the vaguest ability to work together when they have a common enemy; otherwise they would fall on each other like, well, a pack of rats.

Skaven have an odd relationship with fear. On the one hand, cowardice is the order of the day. They definitely don't want to be sliced, stabbed, shot, skewered, squished, scorched or Slaaneshed. They'll face the perils of battle for the prospects of rewards, killing rival Skaven or non-Skaven (which they collectively call "Things") and because their bosses WILL have them killed horribly if they don't at least ''try'' to fight, but most Skaven have a reticence to enter battle unless the odds are decidedly stacked in their favor, and they're more prone to breaking and running if things go pear shaped. On the other hand, Skaven have a weird fondness for quick routes to power. If you give a Skaven a potion which has a 25% chance of killing them quickly, a 25% chance of killing them slowly, a 25% chance of doing nothing and a 25% chance of giving them the ability to breathe fire like a dragon, they'll usually take it.

Remember the saying about a bunch of monkeys with typewriters eventually producing Shakespeare? Well, at a species level they are sort of like that: keep throwing rats at the problem to try every cockamamie dunderheaded idea that said collection of drugged up hyperactive megalomaniacs desperate to get ahead can dream up until eventually they stumble on one that works, which others will shamelessly copy when it does. Each Skaven, be he a member on the Council of Thirteen or the lowliest of slaves who's used up and sent to the slaughterhouse, operates under the belief that they are the one true leader of the Skaven whose visionary insights would lead their species to domination of the universe in the name of the Horned Rat, if he can just gain the keys to power and overcome the short-sighted idiots which stand in his way. Introspection and self-reflection are not common Skaven traits, though some older Skaven like the aforementioned Gnawdwell and his former protege Sleek Sharpwit show that such qualities are possible, even if it’s ''exceedingly'' rare.

In terms of physiology, Skaven are shorter than humans, less bulky than them, slightly weaker (surprisingly not as much, considering the difference in size and mass), and generally "less" in every regard but one. Where they do pick up is speed: Skaven live their life in perpetual super speed with all its advantages and drawbacks - they move faster, think faster, breed faster and age faster, generally reaching adulthood at five months and growing old, gray and frail by the age of thirteen (though very few survive for that long). All that speed builds an almost insatiable appetite, and as they have no body fat reserves, they're '''always''' hungry, except maybe after the battle when they can eat the dead (of both sides). Skaven look unnervingly twitchy and energetic to other races (even Elves, who also have a kind of inherent superspeed), while Skaven see others as slow lumbering idiots. Like rats, the Skaven have a good sense of smell; it is stated by Teclis in [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] 2's high elves vortex campaign that they could smell fear and "treachery" from others. According to Teclis, the Horned Rat's rat swarm smelled through the fake Galifreius' disguises and went for her while ignoring Talarian. This being said though, Stormvermin (who are consistently well-fed and trained) tend to grow to the height and weight of a healthy man which may imply Skaven actually may be generally capable of growing to the dimensions of normal men, but few of them get fed enough to achieve this.

They live in a massive underground empire known as, well, the Under Empire (with the Horned Rat being the God Emperor, ironically far more successfully than the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|OTHER Emperor]]) which spans through the Warhammer world like the [[Underdark]]. The only regions it fails to reach are Ulthuan because it's a giant floating island and Athel Loren because the Skaven diggers get murdered by tree roots or the soil itself refuses to be touched. Its capital is called [[Skavenblight]], and is also one of the only visible signs of Skaven from the surface (because it is such an indescribable shithole), up until it was teleported to another dimension post [[End Times]] (it's still a shithole though). No one trusts them quite rightly, and few other races resist killing them on sight, which is reciprocated in kind. They are more numerous than any other race in the world, and only one enemy keeps them truly in check: themselves.

On a very amusing note, the Skaven are one of the rare examples of a race of furries actually liked by most of /tg/, because by all intents and purposes they are everything your average mary-sue furry self-insert is not: hilariously villanous, dirtily non-sexualized, full of character flaws and their actions are actually relevant and well implemented into some of the most important plot twists in the setting.

=== History ===
----

==== Warhammer Fantasy ====
No-one knows where they came from but it is suspected [[Tzeentch]] had a hand in their creation using Warpstone, a hideous amount of mutation, and generations of breeding with normal rats. (That is to say, breeding rats with other rats, not Tzeentch breeding with the rats. That's more [[Slaanesh]]'s thing.) The 7th edition Lizardmen army book states that they came about during the Great Catastrophe. There's a poem in the Skaven codex, dating all the way back to their first codex in 4th edition, called "The Doom Of Kavzar". Written in-universe by an author in the Warhammer world's equivalent of Italy, it offers what is generally accepted as the most concrete explanation of their origins. To summarize;

Humans and Dwarfs lived together in a city called Kavzar, and decided to build a Noblebright Tower of Babel rip-off to thank the gods for their prosperity. But even Dorf engineering couldn't complete it, so they got some mysterious grey-clad stranger to complete it in exchange of him being allowed to add a giant bell as a dedication to his own gods.
Upon completion, the temple sealed itself shut, the stranger disappeared, and terrible things happened after the bell rang thirteen times. The weather turned bad with constant Warpstone-laced rain, people got sick, babies were born dead or mutated, crops failed and rats multiplied while growing bigger and smarter. Older fluff said the stranger cursed the city because the people refused to give him money as well for finishing the temple, newer fluff just makes him out to be evil and mysterious.
Every day, the bell rang thirteen times. Rain became hail, then hail became meteor showers. The rats kept growing to the point that swarms of rats started preying on humans. Realizing things were becoming [[Dwarf Fortress]], the humans asked the Dwarfs for help.
The first time the Dwarfs turned them down after calling them wimps for complaining about rain. The second time they were rebuffed was due to the rats eating all the Dwarfs' food. The third time the surviving humans got desperate and smashed open the Dwarf gates to demand their help... only to find bearded Dorf skeletons and well-fed, but still hungry, hordes of rats and the poem ends with them swarming and eating the last surviving humans.

tl:dr a [[wizard]] met [[human]]s and [[dwarf]]s, someone was swindled so magic happens that turns rats into tyranids.
And the rest, is history...

Notable this story appears to be known in universe. [[Vermintide 2|Victor Saltzpyre]] mentioned a reference to it at one point in Vermintide.

Incidentally, this isn't the only theory presented to their origins, but it's the one most gamers take as canon. Some in-universe origin theories mentioned in the 6e fluffbook "The Loathsome Ratmen and Their Vile Kin" include:
* An Imperial naturalist named Wilfried Schtutt argued that the skaven descend from rats warped into a semblance of the human form by some malign external power, such as [[Chaos]].
* A Tilean classicist, Marcelli Verdallo, argues that the skaven are living proof of the ancient philosopher-sage Proti's theorem that all things in the universe are created by the mystical interactions of cosmic archetypes from beyond time and space, being the fruit of some union between the archetypes of Rat and Man.
* Johannes Krueger's Bestiarium mentions an ancient Estalian legend wherein shipwrecked survivors turned to cannibalism and were cursed by Manann, the Sea God, assuming rat-like forms.

Also there are a few [https://i.imgur.com/FWzQkHn.jpg other origin] stories.

It is said that after their creation, Skaven spread across the world, [[Ikit Claw|learning many cultures, stealing technologies and magic techniques that could help them in their conquest for Skavendom or personal power]]. Namely the Clan Pestilens who traveled southward and westward and ended up in Lustria, Clan Eshin who traveled eastward and ended up in Cathay, Clan Moulder who traveled northward and established a stronghold in some backwater hellish landscape known as the Hellpit near Kislev and Norsca.

Further evidence that the Doom of Kavzar is the canon origins of the Skaven is that the poem's author was assassinated by [[Clan Eshin|means unknown in-universe]] and copies of the poem keep disappearing. Plus their capital city, Skavenblight, is all but stated to be Kavzar (the tower with the bell being the headquarters of the Grey Seers). This makes them a surprisingly old race, as they were actually well-established before the rise of the [[Tomb Kings]] as the undead rulers of Khemri - in fact, they had a grubby little paw in that whole sordid affair.

It was the Skaven that supplied Nagash with many slaves and warriors such as savage orcs for him to kill and raise. It was the Skaven that helped Nagash to poison the River Vitae, unleashing a magical plague to devastate every living thing in Nehekhara. It was also the Skaven who betrayed Nagash by assisting the human Alcadizaar in his defeat, which resulted in the rise of the Tomb Kings since Nagash was no longer around to control the dead Nehekharans. So, aside from the Dark Elves who taught Nagash the [[Warhammer Magic|Lore of Darkness magic]] that would eventually evolve into the necromancy all [[Vampire Counts|vampires]] love, and the [[Tomb King|Nehekharans]] hate, the Skaven were the ones that supported Nagash, making him powerful and undefeated. (This is because every time Nagash died, he re-spawned back to his black pyramid. Although it takes a fuck load of time for him to actually get up, it allows him to grasp the mortal world while preserving his existence. Also the pyramid itself is indestructible so he has no need to trust anyone to guard it.) In the end, they still betrayed him for their own selfish desires. Classic Skaven.

The Skaven have been popping out numerous times across history, trying to weaken the forces of order to favor themselves in the long run. For example, they appeared during one of the Norseman invasions, when Sigmar was still around. In fear that Sigmar's Empire might threaten their very existence, they tried to use the invasion as an opportunity to destroy mankind, but failed nonetheless thanks to the Dwarfs that were blocking their tunnels.

After that, the Skaven didn't lay a hand on the Empire until after their own civil war. It was at this time that Clan Pestilens developed a new disease called the Black Plague (nice real life reference [[Games Workshop|GW]]), spreading it among the Empire's population. The plague not only killed and reduced its population to less than half the size of the generation before, it also killed the current Emperor (AKA the worst Emperor, who was actually killed by an Eshin assassin's shuriken, but who cares) and every other corrupt noble in his hideout, and good riddance some say. The Skaven then launched their attack after the plague weakened the Empire, but were stopped by a pretty cool guy named Mandred von Zelt of Middenland, who gathered the rest of the elector counts and launched an anti-Skaven crusade. Ironically, the black plague played a major role in many of Mandred's victories, since the disease affected the Skaven rat bodies as well, weakening the Skaven army and killing enough of them to force their retreat. In the last battle, the Skaven launched their last counterattack, only to fail after their leader, Vrrmik, the warlord of Clan Mors and a member of the Council of Thirteen, was slain by Mandred. The rest of the vermin were then driven back to their Under-Empire by the Empire’s forces while suffering under their own plague from the war. What's worse for the Skaven was that the slaves they bought ended up revolting, and destroyed several already plague weakened clans while Mandred, who was declared the Emperor and sporting Vrrmik's own helmet at the time, rebuilt the Empire. The process was faster than the Skaven could expect, with the humans even installing the sewer watch to prevent further Skaven movement on the Empire. After such a humiliating defeat, the Council received many compensation notices from other disease ridden clans. But the Council decided to just assassinate them all, including our beloved Emperor rat slayer, and called it even. The assassination made mankind forget about the Skaven, even dismissing them as myth.

The Skaven are also pretty famous on [[Cathay|the eastern side that]] [[Nippon| Games Workshop refuse to talk about]]. Clan Eshin's ancestors once journeyed far to the east, losing contact with its society for 100 years. When they came back however, they had learned the art of NINJUTSU from some jerk-off at [[Nippon]] where they have skilled rats throwing shuriken, and frigging ninja flipping better than [[Gabriel Angelos|the Chapter Master Gabriel Angelos]]. In [[Cathay]], some filthy beastman and a Sun Wukong wannabe became the Emperor of not-China and took an Eshin Skaven warlord as his right hand man. Thus began an unhealthy relationship of trading warpstones and rat shit, which means either the Cathay Emperor is nuttier than a warp fruit cake (which should be obvious since the new Emperor was mentioned to be a fucking magical monkey beastman, or probably something worse if he is also like Wukong born from the meteor except the meteor is made of warpstones), or Eshin Skaven are ''slightly'' more trustworthy than the rest of Skaven. (If you believe [[Total_War:_WARHAMMER#Skaven|Total War]], they are; they're the only clan that doesn't have to deal with warlord loyalty.) It might be true depending on how [[weeaboo]] the Eshin has become; if you look up on real world ninja, they do tend to be surprisingly loyal compared to what you might think. However, one could say that the eastern legion doesn't really have any experiences with Skaven betrayals, plus the Skaven did assist the Chaos Dwarves in the End Times to siege Cathay, meaning everything the Skaven did in Cathay was but a diplomatic ploy to fool the Cathayans.

As if the Skaven aren't popular enough, they have the operation worldwide. There is Clan Pestilens in Lustria, who like to infect themselves with diseases that Nurgle doesn't approve of, and throw feces at lizard-things for the lulz. Some of the rats made it into Naggaroth (probably as slaves or a few via the under-Empire) while trying not to provoke the wrath of [[Malekith|the strongest mama's boy in Warhammer history]]. The only place they could never set their foot on would be Ulthuan, which is a giant continent that floats on top of the water and obviously can't be connected to Skavenblight via tunnels. It's regardless just too scary for the rat-things to deal with: flame spewing dragon-things, elf-things that shoot rains of arrows from far away, and mages that have the power to summon a [[exterminatus|giant bombardment of nukes from the sky]].

The Skaven themselves have no records of their origins, and do not particularly care about their past. As far as they are concerned, the only relevant historical eras are "now, when we don't rule the world" and "soon, when we will be ruling it". Of course, any given Skaven will be plenty interested in the history of his own life, but the history of the rest of their race is dismissed as unimportant. On day to day affairs, history is whatever the Council of 13 says it is, though it wouldn't be surprising if Grey Seers keep records.

==== Age of Sigmar ====
The Skaven survived the end of the old world by teleporting [[Skavenblight]] to another dimension. When the Horned Rat became the Great Horned Rat he immediately drew Skavenblight into the Warp and created more of his Daemons. What followed was a golden age for the Skaven, where there was Warpstone everywhere to be found, they had the direct blessing of the Great Horned Rat, and unlimited space and potential around them. They then promptly did the impossible and somehow dug so deep that part of the Warp collapsed into Skavenblight which collapsed into the material realm which is now made up of eight "nearly infinite" planes made of the former Winds of Magic.

Skaven now have access to all of reality at once, and can create realm-spanning 'Gnawholes' everywhere from beneath Sigmar's throne to beneath Khorne's throne. As can be expected the tunnels are not stable and thus only the Skaven are willing to use them, as even immortal and deathless Daemons can somehow vanish into the space between spaces never to be seen again when Skaven are involved. This doesn’t mean that the Gnawholes are completely safe for the rat kin though. Just the process of constructing one of these inter-dimensional tunnels costs tens of thousands of <strike>lives</strike> slaves, and when the Gnawhole is complete, there’s a good chance that the big brains in charge of the project were off on their calculations. So instead of tunneling directly into [[Cities of Sigmar|Hammerhal]], you instead end up in the middle of no where or an active volcano.

Skaven have also had an exponential population boom, which is impressive considering they damn near outnumbered insects in the old setting. Each of the four former great clans from the Old World is alive and kicking <strike>eachother</strike>, containing billions of Skaven and even entire clans. A fifth great clan is Verminus, an especially numerous and martial clan (the techy/monstery/sneaky/stinky niches were taken so someone's gotta make Stormvermin their thing).

However, Skryre, Pestilens, Moulder, Eshin and Verminus were not always the only Great Clans. In the age of Myth, there were said to be as many as 13 great clans (probably like 9 or 10 but the Grey Seers rounded up). What happened to the rest? A couple of examples:

* Clans Tichritt attempts launches an invasion of Thandria, a Sigmarite nation. It may as well be Russia in winter with the pantheon of Order united - Tichritt is annihilated.
* Clan Ikk does well during the tumult of the age of chaos, gaining a momentous ''four'' seats on the Council of Thirteen which sparks civil war with the equally ascendant Clan Verminus. Verminus enlist the help of Clan Pestilens to spread an epidemic of frothjaw. The rabid rats get so erratic the other great clans temporarily unite to destroy them.
* Clans Shrykt dig a huge gnawhole and, one by one, its clans disappear through the portal. They were never heard from again. Maybe they left to join 9th age.

The increased scope of AoS lore has meant Skaven society is EVEN MORE chaotic and self-destructive than it was. And this lore makes a little more sense than their old world history: you can't expect such volatile societies to [[Warhammer 40000|maintain a millennia-long deadlock between the same four great powers.]] Still, the current status quo of vying great clans is not that different from the old world's coz... those are the models GW sells. The unknown great clans continue the trend of GW giving AoS lore lots of missing primarchs (deliberately left gaps for homebrew and headcanon). In the Age of Chaos, Pestilens profited greatly from their alliance with Nurgle. However, Order managing to push back against this smelliance has meant that the Clans Skryre is better poised to vie with Pestilens for pre-eminence on the council of thirteen. They'll probably work it out peacefully (by Skaven standards, meaning only several million rats will die).

Skaven continue to be fuck-ups at a scale never before witnessed. When Nagash attempted a great ritual of necromantic binding, it was sabotaged by the Skaven nibbling a power cord. Eshin agents had managed to open gnawholes in Nagash's great pyramid. Huge success for Skavendom? Well, maybe had another group not accidentally opened a gnawhole at the bottom of the Shyish sea. Blight City was decimated by a zombie-infested flood, like The Day after Tomorrow meets World War Z. Hilariously, the drained Shyish seabed revealed the soul-stealing [[Idoneth Deepkin]] to Nagash, Slaanesh and everyone else who was wondering about those mysteriously empty towns that smelled faintly of halibut.

The moral of the story is clear: you might be able to foil Skaven schemes but it's their fuck-ups you wanna watch out for.

=== Society ===
----

If you do not know much about rat social behavior, you might be surprised to learn it is fairly well developed and includes among other things evidence of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa16P4nFgD8 rodent altruism]. As you might expect, GeeDubs ignored it entirely to make the Skaven more grimdark and work on people's stereotypes of what rats are like rather than how rats interact. Skaven society is literally cutthroat when it comes to promotions (but luckily not [[PROMOTIONS]]). In a world where you have chaos warriors who can Honor the chaos gods by killing/raping/getting minions caught up and expended in complex plots, beastmen which are in a similar lot as chaos on top of animalistic aggression who still practice a survival-of-the-fittest pack-mindset based loyalty, orcs that are hardwired to love to scrap, goblins who are no strangers to backstabbing and dark elves who've literally made assassination and treachery an art the Skaven have managed to collect the gold medal in (f)ratricide. After receiving said award they promptly began killing each other to see which Skaven individual got to keep it; the conflict continues to this day, with no resolution in sight. The '''only''' reason why their society has not murdered itself into extinction is because of a very high reproductive rate. Despite their teamkilling tendencies they obey the Grey Seers, the prophets of their god the [[Horned Rat]]. Although this obedience is done purely out of fear, it is done without question. Except for the other Grey Seers.

==== Hierarchy ====
The Skaven race is ruled over by the [[Council of Thirteen]], Skaven of such evil they have been chosen by their vile god and manage to survive the constant threat of assassination, most likely because everyone is too afraid of these uber-ratman to go near them. Although they squeak big about their plans for world domination, they are too busy trying to outdo and kill each other. Despite the name there are only twelve Councillors; the 13th seat is symbolic and reserved for their god and woe betide anyone that tries to sit on it! To become a member of the council all any Skaven need do is touch the sacred Black Pillar and challenge a current member for his seat in a duel. In practice it has been over 200 years since someone actually manage to pull it off, which is a minor point in favor of the current crop of leaders on it, even though a large part of it is that touching the Black Pillar has a tendency to make Rats explode.

Beneath the council of thirteen are the Grey Seers and the Warlords. Horned, grey furred skaven pups are raised to be the priests and magic users of Skavendom that act on behalf of the council. Ironically enough the Skaven are more prone to throw around claims of [[HERESY]]! than the Sigmarite Empire. Not showing proper reverence to the Horned Rat brings down his wrath on the offender and everyone around him, so they take a dim view of anyone who misses their services. Secular Rodentism is not something which is going to catch on in Skavenblight. Warlords are those lucky rats that have managed through guile, luck, accomplishment on the battlefield and the elimination of rivals to get in charge of a Clan. Sometimes you get a Grey Seer warlord with his own clan, but that's usually the exception. There is a hard cap on 169 Grey Seers at any one time, though there are a bunch of apprentices waiting in the wings for one to die. Skaven being Skaven, one of the mos popular pass times of said novices is making slots available through assassination.

Beneath them, you have an upper crust of prominent individuals within the clans: Warlock Engineers, Master Molders, Plague Priests, Assassins, Chieftans, high ranking officers and so forth. Either through command of some arcane skill or having armed rats behind them they have wealth, better accommodations, hosts of underlings and regular access to breeders. Underneath them are those with a modicum of cultivated value: the merchants, the technicians, the packmasters, the rank and file of the Stormvermin, the apprentices to the great ones, the Gutter Runners, the overseers, skilled workers and so forth. All of which have to some degree or another got their position by struggling tooth and claw and are with it some measure of power and authority. Most of them rose from the Clanrats. Those poor bastards live in poverty packed up like sardines and have to work hard for their daily Skavenbread™ and fight tooth and claw to keep what little they've amassed. But even these wretched rats have it better than the Slaves. They are the remnants of defeated clans, the pups deemed surplus to requirements if not quite bad enough to be culled, those that earned the ire of their overseers and those whose power struggles failed them and avoided being killed. Their status is somewhere between that of a native in the Belgian Congo and a Pig in a Factory Farm. Clanrats may be exploited but Skavenslaves are actively worked to death, thrown at the enemy to absorb arrows and are fed a meager diet of scraps, garbage and each other. That's when they are not being taken to the butcher's block so their betters can enjoy a meat dinner and and have some leather. The best they can hope for is that a good deal of their superiors fuck up and die or that their clan conquers another leading to enough shuffling in the org chart that they can get promoted to clanrat status. But while clans do wax strong and skavendom produces a lot of said fuckups it also burns through skavenslaves like nobody's business.

Two key facts of this hierarchy are ''Shit Flows Downhill'' and ''The Rodent Staircase''. To a high ranking Skaven everyone else is a rival, either an immediate threat or a potential one just waiting for the right moment to make its move against you, so keep a lid on them if you can. Subordinates are to be given the minimum they need to accomplish their tasks, some rewards if they exceed expectations, and nothing else. If they step out of line they can be beaten. If they cause too much trouble they can be replaced with some up and coming Rat eager to not be a skavenslave. If things are going badly for you, assert your dominance with a show of force. Even if things are going well, you should put the fear of the Horned Rat into your underlings just to remind them who's boss to be on the safe side. This comes before the fact that Skaven are vindictive little shits that have no qualms about taking out their frustrations on others. A sternly worded Letter to a Warlord from the Council of Thirteen will lead him snapping at his second in command and will eventually manifest itself in clanrats biting the tails off Skavenslaves because they'd been the subject of the ire of their overseers and need to re-assert dominance.

Likewise if you want to get up (and between their megalomania and what the bottom is like ALL Skaven want to go up all the way), you need to not only excel or have some useful talent but also deal with the million other rats out there with the same ambitions. If you want to survive in the slave pits, shiv your neighbor and eat him to get enough calories so you'll have the strength to see another day. If the clawleader's favorite mug has gone missing, say the guy who's always admired it stole it to bring down the bosses wrath upon him so you have one less rival, the boss's wrath is directed elsewhere and if you happen to be right he just might throw you a bone for being (due to the lack of a better word) loyal. Apprentices could and should steal the ideas of their fellows to become Warlock Engineers Attempting to police the Skaven to stop such backstabbing is usually an exercise in futility, especially since whatever Police Rats you can scrounge up will inevitably engage in said activities on their own. Not that it matters much in most cases, there is always a fresh stream of replacements and those eager for dead rat's shoes. At most murder provides an excuse for removing individuals that they don't like in a move that is slightly less likely to spark the paranoia of your rivals. A good Skaven leader knows how to use this competition to keep his minions in line and to get the most out of them. A bad skaven leader is going to end up on the barbecue sooner rather than later. This is the case from birth, even for those whose role was determined at birth like grey seers and stormvermin have to fend off both ruthless instructors and backstabbing fellow applicants. Nobody is unscathed.

==== Misc ====
Although unintentional on the side of writers, there are circumstances where real life rats can become Skaven-like. In a series of social experiments involving overpopulation designed to see what effects human overpopulation in cities like New York or Tokyo could be paralleled, rat populations with far too many beings in far too small an area begin to go, as individuals, insane while the group becomes far more violent despite having more than enough food and water to sustain the entire population. When a high-density population that shows these behaviors is given more area to roam in by having another set of open cages attached or being shifted to smaller population cages, the behavior remains the same meaning the rats have been permanently mentally damaged; only with successive generations do they regain sanity. So in a way, Skaven have inadvertently made themselves fucking insane by choosing to live in horrible conditions and to overpopulate. Theoretically, saner and more level-headed (if not necessarily less evil) generations of Skaven could emerge if the species got access to more room and better conditions, and was completely removed from its old environment and the previous rats who inhabited it.

In fact, if the root of the Skaven's evil nature could be traced to both their terrible environment and the terrible culture that both feeds and feeds off of that environment rather than anything genetic, theoretically, there ''could'' actually be ''good'' Skaven if they were somehow separated from Skavenblight immediately after birth and raised outside of it by someone willing to give them a chance. However, seeing as how the primary…“engines” of Skaven reproduction are heavily guarded in the very heart of Skavenblight, and literally every other race in Warhammer is hard-wired to kill the mangy rat-bastards on sight (and with FUCKING good reason), such a thing will almost certainly remain purely theoretical. Especially since all that trouble would ultimately amount to little more than proving a petty point, with little to no real pay-off beyond making the Horned Rat personally pissed off at you (then again there are [[Tzeentch|some]] that might find ''that'' outcome a goal in and of itself).

=== Armies ===

==== The Rank and File ====
* '''Skavenslaves''': Large numbers of starved skavenslaves are thrown at the enemy's front lines with crummy scrounged up weapons for the enemy to waste arrows, bog down enemy movements and hopefully take down a few manthings by sheer numbers. Some lucky ones get to annoy the enemy at a range with slings, which is sort of a luxury as nobody else in the army can take them.

* '''Clanrats''': The basic Rank and File of a Clan with some armor and better weapons (swords, shields and spears). Better fed, more durable and less likely to run than Skavenslaves, but still cannon fodder that relies on numbers against all but the crummiest of foes. Various campaign supplements would expand on the basic Clanrat with unique variations for each Great Clan, like the Rotten Rodents of Clan Pestilens, who trade their shield for an extra hand weapon.

* '''Stormvermin''': Basic elite units for when you want something that has more staying power than Clanrats. Black furred pups are singled out to be soldiers. They get given extra food, ruthless spartan way training, better weapons and armor than the common riff-rats and take some pride in their units (which means that they are less likely to randomly stab their fellows in the back than most skaven and any failure to meet the standards is liable to get a stormvermin executed). The Clans [[Clan Mors|Mors]] and [[Clan Rictus|Rictus]] are known for their particularly nasty regiments of Stormvermin and regularly sell themselves to the other aspiring Warlords for a sizable sum.

*'''Chieftain''': The Skaven equivalent to a Greenskin Big Boss or Empire Captain. They serve under the Warlord as his enforcer and field commander. Usually it’s from this rank that new Warlords are “promoted”.

*'''Warlord''': Also called Clawlords in AoS, Warlords are not the best fighters of a Skaven Clan, but the most cunning. They lead the ravenous swarms of ratmen into combat from the safety of the rear lines. They get first pick of any loot they come across and play a constant game of 3D chess with their subordinates to make sure they keep their position...and their lives.

==== Specialists ====
*'''Poisoned-Wind Globadiers''': A elite corps of Clan Skryre clanrats trained in the usage of special glass spheres filled with toxic vapors. They lob said orbs at hordes of enemy troopers where they shatter disperse their poisonous payload into the air. To protect themselves, the Globadiers wear special breathing equipment on the (common) chance one of their globes is faulty. TWW2 introduces a more potent type of poison called the '''Death Globe''', whose toxins are harmful even with the slightest of skin contact. In AoS, they are renamed to '''Skryre Acolytes''' and function as interns for the various Engineers.

* '''Weapons Teams''': Clan Skryre’s bread and butter. A vast collection of various weapons all designed to be carried by a pair of skaven and have a staggeringly high rate of (explosive) failure. The '''Warp-Fire Thrower''' is a crude fire hose connected to a gas tank that spews a corrosive fluid that ignites upon exposure to air. It was created to melt through heavily armored dwarfen shield walls during their first wars against the beard-things. '''Ratling Guns''' are the skaven’s take on real world gatling guns; six barrels of rapid fire warpstone bullets all powered by a hand crank. Said cranking mechanism is prone to overheating and explosion should the gunners get too eager on the spinner. For more precise weaponry, the '''Warplock Jezzail''' provides. It’s an oversized rifle held in place by a rickety shield and built to deliver lethal warpstone bullets into the heads of an enemy leader from miles away. A '''Doom-Flayer''' is what happens when you take the Green Goblin’s pumpkin bombs and turn it into an armored chariot. These bladed balls were originally meant for tunnel clearance and mowing down pesky dwarf battle lines. Similarly, the '''Warp-Grinder''' was also initially made for utility purposes, serving as a quick means of excavating new underways, though it was soon repurposed for drilling into armored units and bastions. Finally the '''Poisoned Wind Mortar''', the grown up version of the Globadier, these mini artillery pieces launch lethal spheres of toxic fumes across the battlefield to choke the lives out of enemies, though it is the only weapons team to not make the jump to Age of Sigmar, for some goddamn reason. And naturally there’s also the '''Death Globe Mortar''' in TWW2 as well.

*'''Night Runners''': The initiates of Clan Eshin. Having yet to fully grasp the importance of discipline, stealth, and basic fucking patience, they run headlong into enemies throwing sharpened metal stars and knives at them (likely Naruto running and shouting attack names as well). They do have their uses though, serving as excellent skirmishers thanks to their ranged attacks and natural agility.

*'''Gutter Runners''': Those lucky few Night Runners who survive their first battle and learn how to stand still are soon claw-picked to become Gutter Runners. These elite teams are the main agents of Clan Eshin you’ll find. Often hired for sabotage, espionage, eating fromage, and of course assassination. TWW2 adds an even more elite variant of the Gutter Runners called the '''Death Runners''', who are noted for having zero armor and simply dodging most attacks.

*'''Assassin''': Pretty straight forward. Picked from the most elite of Gutter/Death Runners, these expert killers are so feared among the Under-Empire that rumors spread about them having special abilities, from squeezing into a coin sized hole to having a poisonous shadow. Outlandish that may sound, Clan Eshin isn’t one to confirm or disperse these rumors.

*'''Eshin Sorcerer''': One of the ninja clan’s better kept secrets. In addition to being rigorously trained in the arts of murder and sabotage like the other initiates, these Skaven are capable of wielding their own unique magic called the Lore of Stealth (likely a mixture of Shadow magic and the standard Skaven Lore of Ruin). As expected, the Nightlord doesn’t want too many people to know about their existence (Grey Seers in particular), so much so that they vanished from the lore and tabletop for a while...until TWW2 brought them back into the limelight.

*'''Packmaster''': Part slave-driver, part animal tamer, Packmasters are adepts of Clan Moulder who specialize in the “care” of their menagerie of beasts. Often recruited from the most bully like Skaven, they are cruel and relentless with their whips and spiked prodders which double as a means of defense as well as way to encourage their monsters to fighter harder. Some also are known to carry large snapping claws on pole arms called thing-catchers, which they eagerly use to grab new test subjects whilst on the battlefield.

*'''Giant Rats''': The most common/simple of Clan Moulder’s monsters. They’re just big ass rats, usually the size of a small domestic dog. They are herded into massive swarms by their Packmaster(s) to drown the foe in furry bodies.

*'''Pox Rats''': A step up from the Giant Rat, these boar sized rodents are commonly used as mounts for various Skaven leaders, though as their sickly name suggests, the Plague Priests of Clan Pestilens are particularly fond of them.

*'''Rat Ogres''': The premier product of Clan Moulder. Through a fusion of skaven, [[Ogre Kingdoms|ogre]], and countless other beasties, a hulking monstrosity was born. Ill-tempered, violent brutes who serve as shock troopers/bodyguards for skaven armies. Like actual ogres, they are very strong but also quite dumb. Despite this, they can be equipped with several rudimentary upgrades and weapons for more specialized needs. During the End Times, Clan Skryre improved upon the base Rat Ogre and created the even more dangerous '''Stormfiend'''. By adding a secondary brain via an tiny ass skaven slave to the beast’s back, they can now operate more advanced weaponry, such as warp fire projectors, shock gauntlets, rattling guns, and many more, while still keeping the same base level instincts and loyalty they are known for.

*'''Brood Horrors''': What happens when you cram a bunch of starved Pox Rats into an enclosed area and leave them alone for a while? Well eventually only one of them remains having swallowed whole all of its packs mates and bloated to monstrous sizes. It has now become a Brood Horror, a hideously mutant creature that’s either used as a stand alone monster or as a mount for the most daring of Warlords.

*'''Hell-Pit Abomination''': And you thought the Brood Horror was grotesque. Named after the capital warren of Clan Moulder, the Hell-Pit Abomination is a Frankenstein fusion of left over body parts, machinery, and gallons of liquid warpstone given unholy life. No two Abominations are quite a like, though they all have the general shape of a massive multi-headed centaur-rat.

*'''Plague Monks''': The zealous followers of Clan Pestilens. Less armored than a Clanrat, these ragged devotees rush into battle with filth encrusted robes and rusted blades while chittering prayers and wishes to the Horned Rat. Each one is infected with enough viruses and sickness that just being in the vicinity of them is detrimental to your health. They gladly throw themselves onto foes to smother them in corruptive ilk and often carry tomes full of various litanies and vows to their pestilential deity.

*'''Plague Censer Bearers''': The more rabid Plague Monks who don’t become Plague Priests will often be given the “privilege” of carrying large censer flails that are blessed with filth and constantly emit toxic fumes. They then rush headlong into combat swinging their weapons to create a noxious cloud of gas, invigorating their brethren and smothering their enemies. Much like the similar in concept Night Goblin Fanatics, Plague Censer Bearers have a short life expectancy as the fumes are so toxic that it can even kill the rats of Clan Pestilens, albeit very slowly.

*'''Plague Priest''': Looking more like champions of [[Nurgle]] rather than skaven, these pox-filled vermin are the heads of the Pestilent Brotherhood. They lead vast congregations of sickly followers on a holy mission to corrupt the world in the name of the Great Horned Rat. The most distinguished Priests often ride into battle upon massive '''Plague Furnaces''', a rickety siege engine centered around a giant swinging censer, constantly filling the air with toxic warpstone fumes. These fumes invigorate the warriors of Clan Pestilens and choke the life out of all others.

===Clans===
Skaven organize themselves into Clans, through which they organize their backstabbing. The individual backstabs for position within a Clan, the Clan backstabs for position in Skaven society.

There are many Clans, far more than any being other than the Horned Rat (presumably) knows. Clans rise, fall, split, infight, reform, and even ally constantly. Each Clan seeks to have one of their members in a position in the Council of Thirteen, which runs the business of their entire race.

The [[Council of Thirteen]] is conveniently organized like a clock, with 13 at the 12 position which is representative of the Horned Rat. Members are called Lords of Decay. Each position is more powerful within the Council based on their proximity to the Horned Rat, so the Lords of Decay at the 1 and 12 position are the two most powerful, 2 and 11 behind them, while the Lords of Decay at the 6 and 7 positions are the weakest. Each Lord of Decay can outright veto the position of the one opposite them. Each Lord of Decay has their position marked by a symbol, either that of themselves or that of their Clan. The Lords of Decay have thus far remained in power for most of the existence of the Council thanks to the life-prolonging Warpstone they use (so Skeksis), although they rise and fall in power.

Skaven Clans fall into three categories: Great Clans, Warlord Clans, and Thrall Clans. The four Great Clans are extremely powerful, and epitomize the different aspects of Skaven society (Each Greater Clan later became a type of Clans in [[Age of Sigmar]] due to an exponential population boost). Warlord Clans are essentially the middle class of Skaven, usually doing their own thing and not tied to any specific Great Clan. The Thrall Clans are weaker warrens that swear allegiance to a Great Clan to survive or grow in power. Of course thanks to Skaven backstabbing, a Thrall Clan is an expendable frontline infantry source while the Great Clans are just sources of really neat toys like Rat Ogres and Ratling Guns, and of course every Clan is waiting to betray each other while making allegiances to other Clans and to betray their REAL allies that they're of course waiting to be backstabbed by while totally being unaware of the fact that a fourth set of Clans have set up the backstabbing conga for their own benefit, and so on as far as you want to get into it (note: this describes a single day of plotting or so).

When fielding an army, one or two Clan paint jobs and multiple Thrall-Clan paint jobs are quite fluffy.

The four Great Clans are:
* [[Clan Eshin]], the ninja assassin Clan. {MURDER [[Lizardmen|ALL]] [[Dwarfs|OF]] [[Undead|THESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!]]}
* [[Clan Moulder]], the Clan which breeds monsters and sews them together Frankenstein style to make even better (by Skaven standards, slightly less volatile) monsters.
* [[Clan Pestilens]], the founder of the Pestilent Brotherhood and the largest and most powerful Pestilent Brotherhood member.
* [[Clan Skryre]], the Clan which produces Warp-powered Tesla cannons, machine guns, vehicles, and other assorted machines.

In addition, there are the [[Grey Seers]], silver furred Skaven with horns that represent the servants of the Council and the Horned Rat. They are above all Skaven other than the Lords of Decay and as a result tend to be somewhat free from the backstabbing conga, other than that of other Grey Seers. Any grey Skaven who do not have horns are part of the Council Guard, the elite warriors that protect the Council and the Grey Seers. However those Skaven that protect the Council of Thirteen directly are The Albino Guard, purely white furred giga-stormvermin.

{{Skaven-Clans}}

===Deity===
The Skaven worship their creator the [[Horned Rat]], a god as sickening and vile as they are. God of disease and vermin, thankfully he gets the crap kicked out of him by Sigmar and Sotek on a regular basis and frankly anyone that feels like having a go. He got fed up with such bullshit at the [[End Times]], telling the Skaven to stop backstabbing eachother and get shit done, which they proceed to do by destroying many cities. He also made a deal with the [[Chaos Gods]] as he cannot defeat them.

As of [[Age of Sigmar]], [[Slaanesh]] [[bullshit|was kidnapped]] by three Elf gods that were formerly mortals ([[Tyrion]], [[Teclis]], [[Morelion]]) at the manipulations of [[Tzeentch]] and the newly-appointed HNIC of all Chaos [[Archaon]]. This resulted in [[Nurgle]] and [[Khorne]] immediately voting with them to boot him out of the pantheon and the [[Great Game]] and promoting Horned Rat to proper Chaos God in his place. Horned Rat immediately renamed himself Great Horned Rat, but found out that the big kids table was full of backstabbing assholes with absolutely no respect for each other, and somehow even less for him. When the Chaos Gods gave Archaon their blessings, Archaon rejected the Horned Rat's blessings and spat directly in his face for daring to presume GHR can bless the self-righteous ass that is Archaon(Though this could just be Archaon not having absolutely abysmal standards).

=== Magic ===
Skaven wield a form of Dark Magic fueled by [[warpstone]] and derived from their own inherently corrupt abilities. However, select kinds of skaven are capable of actually tapping that energy; traditionally, only the Grey Seers, rare mutants who function as the skaven's shamans and the Warlock Engineers of [[Clan Skryre]], who use [[magitek]] devices to draw upon and manipulate Dark Magic, possess this power, but that lore has fluctated over editions.

In 4th edition, Warlocks could be 1st to 3rd level casters, with Grey Seers being 4th level casters, and both used the same "Lore of Skaven" magic system.

In 6th edition, only Grey Seers were casters, still using the Lore of Skaven; Warlock Engineers instead had to spend points on magitek weapons that also allowed them to cast a single spell, ''Warp Lightning''. However, the optional rules for Great Clan armies in the back of the book also featured clan-based casters; these "lesser mages" were treated as level 1 casters who only knew a single pre-selected spell. Clan Eshin had Sorcerers (Skitterleap), Clan Pestilens had Festoring Chantors (Pestilent Breath), and Clan Moulder had Harbingers of Mutation (Vermintide). Clan Skyre's Warlock Masters could still only cast Warp Lightning, but could try and cast an 11+ variant that was much more powerful.

In 7th edition, things changed; now, Skaven had two different schools of magic - Ruin and Plague, with Warlock Engineers being Hero level casters of Ruin and Plague Priests getting an upgrade to be Hero level casters of Plague, with Grey Seers being Lord level casters who could mix and match spells from both lores, and had access to the unique "Dreaded 13th Spell", which could transform enemy troops into skaven clanrats.

"Children of the Horned Rat", the skaven sourcebook for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 2nd edition, tweaked the Skaven magical lores around. Naming the two primary schools of Skaven magic as Plague and Warp, it also upgraded Eshin Sorcerers to full-fledged casters, with their own unique school of magic; the Dark Lore of Stealth, a corrupt form of Shadow Magic that lets them do more animesque ninja stuff. As CotHR was written around the time of 6th edition, it doesn't quite mesh up with either 6e or 7e fluff; instead of being masters of all the skaven styles, it's implied (it's a little hard to ascertain) that Grey Seers only use Warp Magic, whilst Plague Priests and Eshin Sorcerers only use Plague Magic and Stealth Magic respectively. Warlock Engineers, meanwhile, can't use magic at all, but instead can make unique magitek gizmos.

Also, CotHR says that rogue Grey Seers can learn Chaos Magic or Necromancy, although this paints them as skaven heretics.

=== Army ===
Skaven are your <strike>standard</strike> easily abused horde army. Lots of cheap vermin, whose numbers allow them to easily ignore their one theoretical weakness: shitty leadership, backed up by more expensive and/or specialized units, that are in theory unreliable but will still wreck your shit moar consistently than most anything else by sheer volume. Also, DOOMWHEELS.

<strike>Under current rules</strike> they <strike>are</strike> have always been considered overpowered, except for a brief period where DoC reigned thanks to your [[Matt Ward|Spiritual]] [[Spiritual Liege|Liege]]. They have now reclaimed their mantle, since 8th edition heavily favors mass infantry blocks, and the Skaven can easily throw out a block of 100 models for less than what some other armies will spend on a lord, no, I'm not exaggerating, which under the current rules is virtually unbeatable.

=== Special Characters ===
====Wargame====
The cast of Skaven special characters has shifted and flowed across editions, but this is the original list from 4e:
* [[Verminlord]]
* Grey Seer [[Thanquol]]
* [[Lord Skrolk]], Plaguelord of Clan Pestilens
* [[Ikit Claw]], Chief Warlock of Clan Skryre
* [[Throt the Unclean]], Master Mutator of Clan Moulder
* [[Deathmaster Snikch]], Chief Assassin of Clan Eshin
* [[Queek Head-Taker]], Warlord of Clan Mors

6th edition saw the creation of a handful of new characters, whose stats appeared either in [[White Dwarf]] or on Games Workshop's website - back before they turned it into a mere shopping center. In addition to converting many 4e characters who'd been left out of their 6e army book, such as Snikch and Ikit Claw, 6e saw the creation of:
* [[Ghoritch]], Castellan of Hell Pit
* Warlock Master [[Klawmunkast]] and his [[Steam Tank|Rat Tank]].
* Plague Lord [[Morbus Sanguis]]

7th edition added two new characters to the list:
* Beastmaster [[Skweel Gnawtooth]]
* Chieftain [[Tretch Craventail]]

====Fluff-only, Other Games, Other Continuities====
[[Image:Reverse Furry And His Pet.png|thumb|200px|right|Somehow worse than legit Skaven!]]
* Kreech: FUCK, I thought we agreed never to mention him again. Exists in Age of Sigmar to be the PG version (no depicted cannibalism, drug addiction and mass murder) of Thanquol to the pacifist protagonist adolescents of [[Warhammer Adventures]], is a complete weeb for humans, and has a slaveboy from the Realm Of Beasts named Scratch.
* Sneek Scratchett: a scribe from the [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] continuity who serves as your chosen faction's mission control during the Vortex campaign. MST'd the sequel's reveal trailer and wears a small pair of glasses, though whether he actually needs it or likes-prefers the look is known only to him.
* Vulskreek: a Grey Seer also from TWW and Sneek's supervisor, and regularly bosses Sneek around as all Skaven higher-ups do. After the Black Pillar forsees great things for the Horned Rat, Vulskreek's put in charge of mobilizing the ratmen to do their god's bidding, but the Grey Seer's also working on orders known only to the Council...

=== Fun Facts ===
* They consider the number thirteen to be lucky/holy. This a reference to how thirteen is seen as unlucky in Western society. However, several real-life nations/cultures consider thirteen a lucky number.
* Grey Seers regularly ride giant bells on scaffolds into battle
* [[DOOMWHEELS]]
* in ye olden days they could be led by friggin master splinter! im not kidding this was a thing
* Their leaders lead from the back, to get a better view of the battle of course and not due to the meatshield tactic.
* They can improve anything, with the addition of magical radiation rocks!
**This may or may not involve improving themselves by snorting said rock.
* GIANT LIGHTNING CANNONS
* Backstabbing little bastards, they'll fuck you up five different ways without you even knowing about it, if you're lucky.
* Skaven do not abide by any codes of honor or battle etiquette, and as such, they WILL bring a gun to a swordfight (and even then they'll try to steal your sword beforehand (and poison you (and improve themselves with warpstone before (aaaaand the gun might be a DOOMWHEEL)))).
* Skaven have a combination of ego and incompetence that would make [[Transformers|Starscream]] look down his nose at them. (Bad comedy right there)
* Skaven do NOT think about the potential consequences of ''anything'' that they do. Taken to its logical conclusion in [[The End Times]] when '''they blow up the motherfucking Chaos Moon''' and nearly destroy the planet with moon-fragments.
* At one point they had the cheapest troops in any game setting. How cheap? It was measured in ''fractions of a point!''
* They can carry giant rocket launcher weaponry that will most likely explode in their own damn faces.
* RATLING GUNS! its as cool as they sound! and yes, it does what it says on the tin
* for the last time, master splinter did NOT teach all of clan Eshin how to all be ninja rats...only a few
* As of Total Warhammer II, Skavens can into space. (No, seriously, go play the campaign!)
* BTW, they also have sniper rifles. Warpstone rifles of instant brain pop, yes-yes

== Thematic Stuff ==
In Warhammer seriousness and farce walk hand in hand. Some factions are in general more jokey like the Greenskins and others are more somber like the Druchii, but all of them are capable of both. This is especially true of the Skaven. On the one hand, they're a malignant horde of self centered sociopaths in which every twisted manifestation of this fact is explored driven on by a malevolent deity spreading underground like a cancer who surge forth to lay waste to the realms of men leaving nothing behind but ruins and gnawed bones are ultimately responsible for bringing about the End Times. On the other hand they're a species of Cartoonish Ratguys with Mad Science super-weapons, Ninjas and and convoluted plots that often blow up in their filthy faces with odd verbal ticks which are despite it all can sometimes be, well, cute.

The Skaven have no direct counterpart in Warhammer 40,000. In of itself this is not unprecidented. After all the neither do the Lizardmen or Vampire Counts and on the same note you don't have any Tau or Tyranids having raves in Athel Loren keeping the wood elves up. Even so, they do seem to be a natural fit. After all, they are one of the most technological factions and it's not a huge leap to imagine their space fleets and similar. They're also GW original content, so why are they not a thing? One possible answer is that while they could fit into 40k, they would be kind of redundant. Simply put the role of Theocratic Empire with cutthroat internal politics ruled through fear, driven by hatred of The Other on which a small priviledged elite rules over a vast ocean of individuals living cheek to jowl in huge labyrinthine warrens either as disposable factory workers or soldiers expended like ammunition [[Imperium of Man|is already filled in 40k]]. In fact the parallel may be more direct then accidental given that there are explicitly 13 high lords of Terra, same as the 13 lords of the Skaven council. The Empire of Man is not The Shire or some other idealized fantasy utopia, but on the same note in of itself it's not actually that bad by the standards of the era it was based on. Most of it's big problems are external (chaos, greenskins, druchii, whatever) and most of the crappiness you'd find in it is the sort of stuff you'd find in basically every early modern state along with the virtues there-of. It just so happens that those flaws get magnified a million fold once it territory can be listed in 'light years'.

== DIE-DIE MAN-THINGS! ==
The above sentence clearly illustrates the quirks of skaven language (which is titled Queekish): they often say certain monosyllabic words twice (words like "die-die" and "fool-fool" are popular). Skaven are also known to link similar-related words together.
[https://forums.totalwar.com/discussion/199375/on-skaven-jitter-speak-in-game-2 Some people believe these things should only be done to the most important part of a sentence. However, in some official works, such as Total Warhammer II, these quirks are applied seemingly at random in skaven speech.]

Also, they often end the name of a species with the suffix -things, so men are man-things, dwarfs are dwarf-things, et cetera.

This helps indicate that non-Skaven are not people in their eyes. Although considering their backstabby natures it isn't as if they're trying to avert sense of shame or horror from killing others, which is why humans dehumanize during war... so why? Likely the Skaven equivalent of racial slurs.

==Female Skaven==
[[Image:Female skaven.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Canon image of a female Skaven.]]
[[Image:Skaven female cheerleaders.jpg|thumb|250px|left|The closest thing to a female Skaven model to come out of Games Workshop.]]
The skaven as a whole fit the idea of "ratmen" - with particular emphasis on the ''men'' part. All named skaven characters are male, and new fans invariably wonder; what about females? Where do skaven come from?

There was never any great emphasis placed on them. Indeed, they were left so ambiguous that the first ever description of skaven females actually came about as a result of one fan's fanfiction, during those hoary days when [[Gnome#Gnomes_in_Warhammer|Gnome]]s and [[Half-Orc]]s were still canon. In "[https://the-eye.eu/public/Books/rpg.rem.uz/Warhammer/Fantasy/Roleplay/1st%20edition/Skaven%20-%20Book%20of%20the%20Rat.pdf The Book of the Rat]", a fan-made netbook of skaven lore for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 1st edition, female skaven were stated to exist but were hugely oppressed; they were kept as sexual slaves in segregated chambers of the warren, to which only the clan's elites were allowed access. Kept in miserable conditions, their life consisted of nothing but rough sex, pregnancy and looking after their mewling ratlings. Female skaven were described as rarer than male skaven, partially due to biology, primarily because their mothers and the bitter, infertile/elderly midwives tended to be particularly callous towards the female offspring and so female skaven have a much, ''much'' higher mortality rate than the males.

When we got official lore, however, it turned out to be far worse... when the first ever Warhammer Armies: Skaven sourcebook was released, way back in Warhammer 4th edition, fans were presented with what is the earliest known mention of skaven females: a single line describing them as being "indolent" and "semi-intelligent" in the general Skaven entry in the bestiary section (page 50). Modern lore, established in the Skaven's 6e army book and preserved since then, built upon this singular line and is considerably more [[grimdark]] than the fanon presented in "The Book of the Rat": female skaven are horrific monsters, implied to be basically female [[Giant Rat]]s of enormous stature, who build upon their description in 4e by being described as feral, effectively non-sapient creatures. They are basically giant wombs, locked away separately from the males and existing only to feed and produce offspring, so monstrously pregnant and indolent that their limbs have atrophied, rendering them incapable of doing anything but wallow in the breeding pits.

Further female skaven lore, such as it is, was fleshed out by Black Library fiction and most prominently by ''Children of the Horned Rat'', a skaven sourcebook for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 2nd edition. In CotHR, it's theorized that only one in ten skaven are female, reaching sexual maturity at the age of 2 and spending the rest of their 2 decades of life doing nothing but breed, averaging 12-24 pups a litter and 4-5 litters per year.

What's ''truly'' grimdark however, as explicitly stated in that same book is, that skaven females are actually <b>NOT NATURALLY LIKE THIS</b>; rather, their condition is the result of the skaven's malevolence and their need to [[fleshcrafting|"improve" upon nature]]; from a young age, skaven females are constantly dosed with Warpstone-based narcotics and hallucinogens, intended to keep them docile and segregated, so they will not protest their life of endless baby-making. There is a single line hinting that this may not be as effective as the male skaven think: "So cloistered away from the rest of their race are they that they do not learn their race’s chittering speech, nor are they proficient in even the simplest social skills…or so the Skaven believe." But still the vast majority of "Rat Mothers" spend their lives incessantly pregnant and in an interminable drug-fueled haze, often blind and/or crippled, and dependent on the ministrations of the "Ratwives" - castrated skaven who serve as nurses to the female Skaven themselves and midwives to their endless litters.

TL;DR: skaven females are practically furry [[Daemonculaba]].

Access to the females is carefully guarded. The most powerful of skaven are allowed to own one or more females for their private use - females are readily traded between clans as extremely valuable bargaining chips - and access to the communal females in the breeding pits is restricted to high-ranked or otherwise successful skaven; in one of the [[Gotrek & Felix]] novels, a Skaven is rewarded by his superior by being given permission to mate with one, whilst "Thanquol's Doom" features a skaven who partially lost his nose in an "incident" whilst mating with a breeder - apparently, she got too excited and tried to eat him.

The female Skaven's status as "bloated, indolent baby-makers" was referenced in the End Times. In "End Times: Thanquol", a Dwarf Slayer separated from the other during the battle of Karak Eight Peaks found his way into a Skaven breeding pit filled with hundreds of females in such a state, their litters and a handful of Ratwives. He killed the Ratwifes, the breeders and their litters, there being so many Skaven the Slayer's arms got sore from all the killing. Then the Slayer stumbled upon another breeding pit just as big, but by then Skaven soldiers had discovered what he did in the previous breeding pit so they swarmed him and slaughtered him. The End Times is the most recent lore on this, so it looks like the baby-factory fate is canon for most, if not all, female Skaven.

It bears mentioning that the status of the "breeders" does have some real-world basis to it. The rodent contains the only known eusocial mammals; the mole-rats, who live in colonies consisting of a single reproducing female with one (or up to three, for naked mole rats) reproducing males reigning over a large brood of sterile offspring that work as a collective to survive. In these cases, however, there are equal numbers of males and females, and it's the presence of a breeding queen and her pheromones that causes sterility into the younger mole-rats; if removed from her presence, they become fertile in turn.

It also bears mentioning that, in [[Blood Bowl]], the Skaven team comes with cheerleaders who are non-"Breeder" females, which you can tell because they have [[/d/|four big breasts each]]. But then, Blood Bowl also has [[Orcs & Goblins|fem-Orcs]], so its connection to canon of any edition after 3e is kind of dubious.

==Beastmen connection==
So, since this is a race made of humanoid rats empowered by [[Warpstone]] (which is officially described as being Chaos energy manifest), you may be wondering whether or not they're [[Beastmen]]. Well, the answer is that it kind of flips back and forth. Way back in the early editions, yes, Skaven were explicitly a break-away faction of relatively stabilised Beastmen, even pitching in with the Hordes of Chaos or spawning Chaos Champions of their own -- the "Design a [[Daemon Prince]]/Chaos God" rules in 3e's Slaves to Darkness - The Lost and The Damned even features a skaven turned Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided.

Since then, the connection has been downplayed extremely; the Empire generally describes Skaven (when they acknowledged they exist) as just "Beastmen who happen to look like rats", but there's no official connection between the two other than the fact Grey Seers have horns that signal them as important (a classically Beastman trait) and the fact both are animals mutated by Chaos-stuff.

==Warhammer 40k==
While no direct space Skaven exist, there are ratlike mutants described in the fluff, rat-worshiping cultists in [[Necromunda]], a [[mutant]] race called [[Ratlings]] which despite being more [[halfling]] than rat could be argued as a successor, <strike>the Imperial Guard itself which serves as uneducated and amoral xenophobes who are mass-bred and treated as currency by the Imperium with access to some nice and fancy toys which are more likely to cause teamkilling than damage to foes</strike> [[Blam|'''*BLAM*''' HERESY!]], and lastly there are the Tyranids who are 40k's version of ungodly numbers faction crossed with the [[Ogre Kingdoms]] motivation to eat everything in sight (though for different reasons). The [[Hrud]] used to be the Space Skaven, as in giant dieselpunk rat people, but that was pretty much retconned. They look different now (on the rare occasion they are mentioned in the fluff), so the only actual space Skaven are the Veer-Myn from [[Warpath]] by Mantic games. As usual, most of their models are, well not terrible, but not the greatest things ever, there is however great potential for a fantasy warlock engineer conversions. However, it does appear that the recent Skitarii model releases may have taken inspiration from the Skaven aesthetic (though not gameplay) with their many steampunk-styled weapons, most notably the Transuranic Arquebus and Radium Jezzail. Alternatively, the Genestealer Cults are a particularly close match gameplay-wise, with lots of ambushing troops and monsters backed up by armor and artillery.

==Models==
Skaven are one of the primary things in the Warhammer IPs that are actually unique to Games Workshop. As a result, its hard to obtain miniatures for them from third party companies, which is of particular irritation to Skaven players who want Skaven Slaves to actually look like downtrodden Skaven or those who refuse to give any more money to [[Games Workshop]].

However, [[Reaper Miniatures]] thankfully has begun to produce a "Wererat" range which includes decent alternatives to Rat Ogres, Assassins, a Verminlord, and even a female Skaven with six breasts for those wanting to have the most unique Warlord in the FLGS. This is in addition to the ordinary rat models, useful for spicing up scenery or large kits (or obtaining cheap Rat Swarms). These models are produced in the "Bonesium" material in the Bones line, which while being prone to bending badly is LUDICROUSLY cheap and completely safe from being dropped from any height onto any surface. Notably, some have taken to replacing the parts notorious for bending (weapons, especially spears) and replacing them with kitbashed weapons or even greenstuff. As far as the metal range goes, Reaper also produces Barrow Rats which can be useful as Pox Rats, Giant Rats, or Rat Hounds.

A further alternative source is [[Mierce Miniatures]], in particular their Vras faction of models. They have two warrior characters, more hamster-like than rat-like in proportions but with a paintjob serve as spectacular bloated disease-spreading characters (or just fat rat bastards). More importantly, Mierce has five large creatures that serve as [[Hellpit Abominations]] or as [[Verminlords]]. "Flint-Fang, Kill-Thing of the Infernal Pits" is preferred by some as an Abomination for its less Akira and more Frankenstein appearance (some praise or are horrified by its...anatomical correctness). "Back-Cracker, Goz-Horror" is an Abomination looking more like some kind of mad science genetic horror, while "Three-Faces, the Verminous Horror" takes the basic Games Workshop Abomination and replaces "steam-powered" with "tumor". "Scar-Claw, Rat Fiend" and "Scar-Scath, Vermin-Fiend" are alternative Verminlords, and thanks to the monopose nature of the End Times Verminlord kits make decent alternatives or just sources of kitbashing materials when fielding more than one.

[[Otherworld Miniatures]] produces both small rats and naked ratmen, although the latter sadly only come in two poses.

[[Mirilton]] Ratscum resemble Slaves or Clanrats, have ratmen gunners, and ratmen cavalry riding weasels, although the sculpts are in different proportions to the Skaven in many cases and resemble older Games Workshop models (this can be a bonus to some people however).

[[Curious Constructs]] produces weapon sets including a Gatling Gun, Mortar Launcher, and Flamethrower which could be kitbashed with any ratmen models to produce the various weapons teams of the Skaven.

[[Black Tree Design]] produces ratmen monks, assassins, warriors, a rat ogre creature, and rats in gas masks with poison bombs.

[[Impact Miniatures]] produce not-[[Bloodbowl]] ratmen models that require little to no alteration to become Skaven soldiers. Or that Skaven Blood Bowl team fielded as Stormvermin for a silly army.

[[Mantic Games]] produce not-Skaven known as [[Ratkin]] for their game [[Kings of War]].

Of course, Screaming Bells and Plague Furnaces can be made with balsa wood and the kinds of things one can find at any head shop or similar purveyor of hippie paraphernalia.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Skaven.jpg|The original Skaven Clans.
Image:SkavenNutshell.png|Pretty much any Skaven, pretty much all of the time.
</gallery>

==See Also==
* [[Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Skaven|Warhammer Tactics/Skaven]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Skaven]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Masterclan|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Masterclan]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Verminus|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Verminus]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clan_Moulder| Age of Sigmar Tactics/Moulder]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clan_Eshin|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Eshin]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Skryre|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Skryre]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Pestilens|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Pestilens]]
* [https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/57408867/ Sir Harumphington sets the record straight about these so-called "rat-men"]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BhV3CxvcF0/ Play this when a wave of rat men completely swamp your opponents army.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od06TLDO1CU/ “Underground” by Tom Waits, for any spelunking skaven.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaFIzPdxuF8 Every Skaven's idea of risk assessment in a nutshell]

==In Other Media==
While not ripped off as much as some of the other concepts Warhammer <strike>created</strike> expanded upon from existing sources, like Mesoamerican lizard people or Orcs/Goblins with green skin, Skaven have helped popularize rat people as a more standard fantasy race in a few places. Its theorized by some that the inclusion of [[Nezumi]] in the Asiatic settings of [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and [[Magic: The Gathering]] were inspired by the popularity of Skaven. Still, Skaven as a whole remain one of the most iconic things that are wholly unique to Warhammer. The League Of Legends character Twitch is clearly inspired by Skaven and has a line referencing them, although he lacks the insane flamboyancy compared to the setting he's in that Skaven have. They even had enough mainstream awareness to be referenced by British journalist Stewart Lee in the Guardian (comparing Brexit negotiations to Plague Monks, naturally).

The most direct and unexpected place for them to appear is being referenced to exist in both the Japanese and English versions of the Japanese anime [[Goblin Slayer]], listed off as a type of monster to specialize in studying. Just the idea of a Skaven Slayer could also be nod to [[Gotrek & Felix]].

==Non-Canon Female Skaven==
{{Promotions}}
{{Heresy}}

So it's universally agreed upon both in and out of universe that the only appropriate response to meeting a skaven is to kill them on sight, right? Well in an astounding display of hypocrisy, some [[furries]] went "yeah but I kinda also want to cuddle one?" and further demonstrated just how mentally broken certain subtypes of that culture are. So, there is an undercurrent in the darker hidden recesses of /tg/ where furfags like to talk about non-Rat Mother female skaven. Many have tried arguing that, given the reverence for the Grey Seers, combined with the Chaotic tinge of the skaven, then surely there are rare female Grey Seers who are thus spared the fate of their sisters. Others have pointed that since Breeders are heavily dosed up with chemicals, then if that fate was spared for some reason, then surely female skaven would turn out to be at least as competent as their brothers. Still others note that skaven can't resist tinkering, so it's not impossible a Grey Seer or Master Moulder might make use of a "thinking Breeder".

And, in fact, this last argument one even has a dash of canon to it: in C.L. Werner's "Grey Seer" novel, [[Thanquol]] encounters a [[Grey Seer]] (Thratquee of Under-Altdorf) who owns two personal breeders he has [[fleshcrafting|"improved"]], granting them an unusual clarity of thought, freedom of motion and muscle hidden under their chub; built like a cross between a breeder and a [[Rat Ogre]], they're essentially the skaven equivalent of [[amazon]] bodyguards, and Thanquol is simultaneously horrified and a little impressed at the realization that these "harmless females" will actually kill any skaven who dare to threaten their mate. This makes them the ultimate bodyguards in the eternal backstab-fest that is skaven society.

All of these arguments are reaching, understandably (I mean, why not just work with the idea of some developing an immunity or something?). But that hasn't stopped fans from dabbling in fem-skaven [[Your dudes|homebrew characters]] or [[Rule 34|more cheesecake-level artwork]]. One infamous skaven-loving furry even created his own homebrew clan of renegade female skaven, Clan Sniek, an offshoot clan of Clan Eshin who scavenge on the outskirts of skaven society and raid weaker warlord clans to steal away their females to bolster their own numbers. Clan Sniek is also known to "dabble" with human men, for pleasure and/or procreative purposes; there's even a named Gutter Runner female in a relationship with an Imperial human. His artwork tends to pop up whenever a [[ratfolk]] thread does or the topic of non-Breeder female skaven arises.

Thus, the argument about whether or not Rat Mothers are interesting will probably rage forever. You'd think that with the talks of non-breeder females and Clan Sniek that there would be more Sniek, fem-rats, or even Skaven related stories in general at the Smut archive, but hey what are you gonna do? You can't fap it to femskaven stories if there are no femskaven stories.

<center>
<gallery>
Image:Femskaven 1.jpg|Fanart of femSkaven.
Image:Femskaven 2.jpg|More fanart depicting femSkaven experiments.
Image:Reaper Wererat Matriarch.png|The Reaper "Wererat Matriarch" for those wanting to field a non-giant female Skaven model.
Image:Wererat Female.jpg|What an unmodified female Skaven would probably look like.
Image:FemSkaven Chieftain Uberous.jpg|Breeder or no, female skaven would admittedly probably spend more time pregnant than not.
Image:Female Gutter Runner.jpg|Sneaking around in the human's storehouses clearly has its advantages.
Image:Female Poison Wind Globadier.jpg|
Image:Female Stormvermin.jpg|Being high in the clan's totem pole has its perks.
Image:Futa Master Molder.jpg|Some Master Moulders go [[dickgirl|a lot further]] than others when it comes to [[fleshcrafting]].
Image:Female Stormvermin Fangleader.jpg
File:Longhaired skaven assassin.jpg
</gallery>
</center>

;Clan Sniek
<center>
<gallery>
Image:Gutter Runner of Clan Sniek.jpg|A Gutter Runner of Clan Sniek; the clan relies on stealth for survival.
Image:Assassin of Clan Sniek.jpg|An Assassin of Clan Sniek; they tend to focus more on other skaven than on humans.
Image:Packmaster of Clan Sniek.jpg|Clan Sniek's packmasters specialize in capturing human men - sometimes as slaves, sometimes as breeding partners.
Image:Master Assassin of Clan Sniek.jpg|Almost Prophet, a mutant female skaven born with pale fur but no horns, Master Assassin and founder of Clan Sniek.
Image:Grey Seer of Clan Sniek.jpg|Clan Sniek's Grey Seer yearns to dethrone Almost Prophet and rule the clan herself.
Image:Master Molder of Clan Sniek.jpg|Tichiz, Clan Sniek's Master Moulder, is perhaps the most feared skaven in the clan.
Image:Sorceress of Clan Sniek.jpg|Vaquit Silverspit, a female skaven sorcerer, wields great power in Clan Sniek for both her mastery of the Dark Lore of Stealth and her expertise with her rifle.
Image:Verminqueen.jpg|The mysterious Verminqueen is the dark patron of Clan Sniek.
Image:Audience with the Verminqueen.jpg|Sometimes, the Verminqueen deigns to tryst with mortals.
</gallery>
</center>

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}
{{Skaven-Clans}}
{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category: Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Skaven]]
[[Category:Furry]]

Skaven

2021-10-20T00:31:13Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8DAB:A0D2:F0DE:1CE6: /* History */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Skaven|Logo=Capture131114532.png|Alliance=Chaos|Motto=DIE DIE SOLDIER MANTHINGS DIE!!!!}}

{{Topquote|It would be ugly to watch people poking sticks at a caged rat. It is uglier still to watch rats poking sticks at a caged person.|Jean Harris}}

{{Topquote|I WILL JOIN YOU, FAGGOTY ELF! IF THERE IS ANYTHING I HATE WORSE THAN ELVES, IT'S FUCKING RAT FURRIES GOING FULL NORTH KOREA WITH NUCLEAR ROCKS!|Urist, Warhammer: Ravandils Quest}}

{{Topquote|Rodents of unusual size? I don't believe they exist.|Free Company Sergeant Roberts, last words before being killed by a rodent of unusual size}}
The '''Skaven''' are technologically advanced [[ratfolk]] in the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and [[Age of Sigmar]] settings. Ugly, evil creatures that spread [[AIDS|plague]] wherever they go and topple kingdoms for fun and [[profit]], you will be hard pressed to find a more unlikeable race out there. Much like the [[Orks]], they're so excessively over-the-top that it's pretty funny.

Skaven are said to be '''''the''''' most evil race in the entire setting, and that's no idle claim. For all [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|the Empire]], [[Bretonnia]]ns, [[Dwarf (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dwarfs]], [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|High Elves]], [[Wood Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Wood Elves]] and [[Lizardmen]]'s many flaws (and make no mistake, they ''are'' numerous) each of them has at least some claims to heroism that keep them out of being villains. Most undead are mindless automata executing their programming while their masters are usually capable of genuine love and altruism. [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dark elves]] are cruel and have a culture based on torture and slavery, but they are more driven by historical grievances and living in an inhospitable homeland, and can display family loyalty along with traits that some would call decent or even questionably heroic. Orcs and Goblins are violent brutes, but they'll develop what could be considered friendships and attachments to their fellows, and even the most brutal Black Orc will cry if his pet squig dies (Not in front of the other boyz though, because they'll all see him as nothing but a runty git). Or at the very least he will bash someone’s head into the ground, point is, he'll grieve. Ogres are well-known to be gluttonous and casually cruel almost to a man, but they usually still love their families and their Gnoblar pets, and any Maneater worth his salt is usually good for his word upon payment. Despite their propensities towards [[Khorne|killing]], [[Tzeentch|scheming]], [[Nurgle|festering]] and [[Slaanesh|raping]], the mortal followers of Chaos are capable of honor, friendship and a warped form of love. Even Daemons, who may or may not count as their own separate race, usually respect the chain of command without [[Drow|constantly trying to murder their leaders and take their place]]. And the Beastmen, who are also inherently evil like the Skaven, respect their chieftains and shamans, deal honorably with their few allies and give worthy foes a fair fight.

Skaven have none of the above qualities, or any other that could be considered even vaguely noble or redeeming: they openly hate everyone and everything, are more cowardly and paranoid than any goblin, more cruel and hostile than Dark Elves, and more fractious than Chaos. Love, friendship and honor are completely alien to the Skaven's psyche. Due to their chronic backstabbing disorder, nobody trusts them, likes them, or wants to be 'allies' with them (except Dark Elves, who have a treaty with them that both sides betray at times). The only times they have done something that benefited non-Skaven or the world, such as helping beat the first incarnation of Nagash, are due for purely selfish reasons - Nagash did his best to enslave them and deny them warpstone. One of the only three reasons the Skaven have lasted this long and not killed themselves in an ''en masse'' fratricidal free-for-all is because their hatred of all other things outweighs their hatred of other Skaven by '''''just enough''''' for them to slightly function (that and their crazy-high birthrates or the direct intervention of their god, who's little better than them). However the 'just enough' cannot be stressed enough. Even with the all-out doom of their race present, as with Nagash or Chaos, they're still intent on fucking each other over. <strike>If</strike> when possible, Skaven <strike>would</strike> will kill each other in the womb.

And that's why we love to hate them so much.

It should be noted that there is one non-evil one in [[Warhammer Adventures]], the Warhammer children's book series (yeah, that exists). Named Kreech, he's still the villain of that series, but by the standards of Skaven he's damn near a fucking Grail Knight. Screech actually lives in human culture, preferring it to his own people's, and has a 12-year-old human slave as his sidekick. Even in children's media they're utter bastards.

==So who are they?==
In a lot of science fiction going back to [[Starship Troopers]] and likely far earlier, there are races of [[Tyranid|Hive Creatures]]. Vast beings that may have separate bodies, but have one will. One Consciousness. Each "individual" soldier or worker is akin to someone's finger, or a cell on someone's fingertip, and is ultimately an expendable resource in service to the greater whole. All march in lockstep to expand the influence of the gestalt consciousness as far as possible, either assimilating or crushing anything they come across. The Skaven are the antithesis of this, though this fact in no way makes them nice.

The Skaven are a race of walking humanoid rats with dubious (but not to be underestimated) intelligence and a hideous feral cunning out to conquer the world in the name of their God, the Horned Rat, and also for their own personal gains. If there was one quality which defined their species, it would be raw unconstrained '''''selfishness'''''. By instinct, culture and the will of their asshole god, each Skaven is self-obsessed, paranoid, greedy, power-hungry, murderous and doesn't give a rat's ass (hehe) for their family or their race's well-being unless their own is at stake. They find the concepts of love, honor, loyalty and friendship to be so alien they can't comprehend them. In the prisoner's dilemma, they always defect. By nature, each of them is fundamentally evil, and this is not racism speaking here. To give context for this, a [[Skarsnik|greenskin]] in the End Times event was traumatized by the loss of his beloved [[Skarsnik#The_End_Times|Squig]], while no Skaven individual has ever, at any point, been shown to have an attachment to any living thing other than themselves. The closest they can get is the exceedingly rare example where a Skaven can understand that certain other individuals are tools worth cultivating and protecting from outside threats, and are assets too valuable to allow their casual destruction or squandering (see Gnawdwell and [[Queek Head-Taker]]). The only thing a Skaven hates more than other Skaven is creatures who are non-Skaven, and this gives the ratmen the vaguest ability to work together when they have a common enemy; otherwise they would fall on each other like, well, a pack of rats.

Skaven have an odd relationship with fear. On the one hand, cowardice is the order of the day. They definitely don't want to be sliced, stabbed, shot, skewered, squished, scorched or Slaaneshed. They'll face the perils of battle for the prospects of rewards, killing rival Skaven or non-Skaven (which they collectively call "Things") and because their bosses WILL have them killed horribly if they don't at least ''try'' to fight, but most Skaven have a reticence to enter battle unless the odds are decidedly stacked in their favor, and they're more prone to breaking and running if things go pear shaped. On the other hand, Skaven have a weird fondness for quick routes to power. If you give a Skaven a potion which has a 25% chance of killing them quickly, a 25% chance of killing them slowly, a 25% chance of doing nothing and a 25% chance of giving them the ability to breathe fire like a dragon, they'll usually take it.

Remember the saying about a bunch of monkeys with typewriters eventually producing Shakespeare? Well, at a species level they are sort of like that: keep throwing rats at the problem to try every cockamamie dunderheaded idea that said collection of drugged up hyperactive megalomaniacs desperate to get ahead can dream up until eventually they stumble on one that works, which others will shamelessly copy when it does. Each Skaven, be he a member on the Council of Thirteen or the lowliest of slaves who's used up and sent to the slaughterhouse, operates under the belief that they are the one true leader of the Skaven whose visionary insights would lead their species to domination of the universe in the name of the Horned Rat, if he can just gain the keys to power and overcome the short-sighted idiots which stand in his way. Introspection and self-reflection are not common Skaven traits, though some older Skaven like the aforementioned Gnawdwell and his former protege Sleek Sharpwit show that such qualities are possible, even if it’s ''exceedingly'' rare.

In terms of physiology, Skaven are shorter than humans, less bulky than them, slightly weaker (surprisingly not as much, considering the difference in size and mass), and generally "less" in every regard but one. Where they do pick up is speed: Skaven live their life in perpetual super speed with all its advantages and drawbacks - they move faster, think faster, breed faster and age faster, generally reaching adulthood at five months and growing old, gray and frail by the age of thirteen (though very few survive for that long). All that speed builds an almost insatiable appetite, and as they have no body fat reserves, they're '''always''' hungry, except maybe after the battle when they can eat the dead (of both sides). Skaven look unnervingly twitchy and energetic to other races (even Elves, who also have a kind of inherent superspeed), while Skaven see others as slow lumbering idiots. Like rats, the Skaven have a good sense of smell; it is stated by Teclis in [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] 2's high elves vortex campaign that they could smell fear and "treachery" from others. According to Teclis, the Horned Rat's rat swarm smelled through the fake Galifreius' disguises and went for her while ignoring Talarian. This being said though, Stormvermin (who are consistently well-fed and trained) tend to grow to the height and weight of a healthy man which may imply Skaven actually may be generally capable of growing to the dimensions of normal men, but few of them get fed enough to achieve this.

They live in a massive underground empire known as, well, the Under Empire (with the Horned Rat being the God Emperor, ironically far more successfully than the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|OTHER Emperor]]) which spans through the Warhammer world like the [[Underdark]]. The only regions it fails to reach are Ulthuan because it's a giant floating island and Athel Loren because the Skaven diggers get murdered by tree roots or the soil itself refuses to be touched. Its capital is called [[Skavenblight]], and is also one of the only visible signs of Skaven from the surface (because it is such an indescribable shithole), up until it was teleported to another dimension post [[End Times]] (it's still a shithole though). No one trusts them quite rightly, and few other races resist killing them on sight, which is reciprocated in kind. They are more numerous than any other race in the world, and only one enemy keeps them truly in check: themselves.

On a very amusing note, the Skaven are one of the rare examples of a race of furries actually liked by most of /tg/, because by all intents and purposes they are everything your average mary-sue furry self-insert is not: hilariously villanous, dirtily non-sexualized, full of character flaws and their actions are actually relevant and well implemented into some of the most important plot twists in the setting.

=== History ===
----

==== Warhammer Fantasy ====
No-one knows where they came from but it is suspected [[Tzeentch]] had a hand in their creation using Warpstone, a hideous amount of mutation, and generations of breeding with normal rats. (That is to say, breeding rats with other rats, not Tzeentch breeding with the rats. That's more [[Slaanesh]]'s thing.) The 7th edition Lizardmen army book states that they came about during the Great Catastrophe. There's a poem in the Skaven codex, dating all the way back to their first codex in 4th edition, called "The Doom Of Kavzar". Written in-universe by an author in the Warhammer world's equivalent of Italy, it offers what is generally accepted as the most concrete explanation of their origins. To summarize;

Humans and Dwarfs lived together in a city called Kavzar, and decided to build a Noblebright Tower of Babel rip-off to thank the gods for their prosperity. But even Dorf engineering couldn't complete it, so they got some mysterious grey-clad stranger to complete it in exchange of him being allowed to add a giant bell as a dedication to his own gods.
Upon completion, the temple sealed itself shut, the stranger disappeared, and terrible things happened after the bell rang thirteen times. The weather turned bad with constant Warpstone-laced rain, people got sick, babies were born dead or mutated, crops failed and rats multiplied while growing bigger and smarter. Older fluff said the stranger cursed the city because the people refused to give him money as well for finishing the temple, newer fluff just makes him out to be evil and mysterious.
Every day, the bell rang thirteen times. Rain became hail, then hail became meteor showers. The rats kept growing to the point that swarms of rats started preying on humans. Realizing things were becoming [[Dwarf Fortress]], the humans asked the Dwarfs for help.
The first time the Dwarfs turned them down after calling them wimps for complaining about rain. The second time they were rebuffed was due to the rats eating all the Dwarfs' food. The third time the surviving humans got desperate and smashed open the Dwarf gates to demand their help... only to find bearded Dorf skeletons and well-fed, but still hungry, hordes of rats and the poem ends with them swarming and eating the last surviving humans.

tl:dr a [[wizard]] met [[human]]s and [[dwarf]]s, someone was swindled so magic happens that turns rats into tyranids.
And the rest, is history...

Notable this story appears to be known in universe. [[Vermintide 2|Victor Saltzpyre]] mentioned a reference to it at one point in Vermintide.

Incidentally, this isn't the only theory presented to their origins, but it's the one most gamers take as canon. Some in-universe origin theories mentioned in the 6e fluffbook "The Loathsome Ratmen and Their Vile Kin" include:
* An Imperial naturalist named Wilfried Schtutt argued that the skaven descend from rats warped into a semblance of the human form by some malign external power, such as [[Chaos]].
* A Tilean classicist, Marcelli Verdallo, argues that the skaven are living proof of the ancient philosopher-sage Proti's theorem that all things in the universe are created by the mystical interactions of cosmic archetypes from beyond time and space, being the fruit of some union between the archetypes of Rat and Man.
* Johannes Krueger's Bestiarium mentions an ancient Estalian legend wherein shipwrecked survivors turned to cannibalism and were cursed by Manann, the Sea God, assuming rat-like forms.

Also there are a few [https://i.imgur.com/FWzQkHn.jpg other origin] stories.

It is said that after their creation, Skaven spread across the world, [[Ikit Claw|learning many cultures, stealing technologies and magic techniques that could help them in their conquest for Skavendom or personal power]]. Namely the Clan Pestilens who traveled southward and westward and ended up in Lustria, Clan Eshin who traveled eastward and ended up in Cathay, Clan Moulder who traveled northward and established a stronghold in some backwater hellish landscape known as the Hellpit near Kislev and Norsca.

Further evidence that the Doom of Kavzar is the canon origins of the Skaven is that the poem's author was assassinated by [[Clan Eshin|means unknown in-universe]] and copies of the poem keep disappearing. Plus their capital city, Skavenblight, is all but stated to be Kavzar (the tower with the bell being the headquarters of the Grey Seers). This makes them a surprisingly old race, as they were actually well-established before the rise of the [[Tomb Kings]] as the undead rulers of Khemri - in fact, they had a grubby little paw in that whole sordid affair.

It was the Skaven that supplied Nagash with many slaves and warriors such as savage orcs for him to kill and raise. It was the Skaven that helped Nagash to poison the River Vitae, unleashing a magical plague to devastate every living thing in Nehekhara. It was also the Skaven who betrayed Nagash by assisting the human Alcadizaar in his defeat, which resulted in the rise of the Tomb Kings since Nagash was no longer around to control the dead Nehekharans. So, aside from the Dark Elves who taught Nagash the [[Warhammer Magic|Lore of Darkness magic]] that would eventually evolve into the necromancy all [[Vampire Counts|vampires]] love, and the [[Tomb King|Nehekharans]] hate, the Skaven were the ones that supported Nagash, making him powerful and undefeated. (This is because every time Nagash died, he re-spawned back to his black pyramid. Although it takes a fuck load of time for him to actually get up, it allows him to grasp the mortal world while preserving his existence. Also the pyramid itself is indestructible so he has no need to trust anyone to guard it.) In the end, they still betrayed him for their own selfish desires. Classic Skaven.

The Skaven have been popping out numerous times across history, trying to weaken the forces of order to favor themselves in the long run. For example, they appeared during one of the Norseman invasions, when Sigmar was still around. In fear that Sigmar's Empire might threaten their very existence, they tried to use the invasion as an opportunity to destroy mankind, but failed nonetheless thanks to the Dwarfs that were blocking their tunnels.

After that, the Skaven didn't lay a hand on the Empire until after their own civil war. It was at this time that Clan Pestilens developed a new disease called the Black Plague (nice real life reference [[Games Workshop|GW]]), spreading it among the Empire's population. The plague not only killed and reduced its population to less than half the size of the generation before, it also killed the current Emperor (AKA the worst Emperor, who was actually killed by an Eshin assassin's shuriken, but who cares) and every other corrupt noble in his hideout, and good riddance some say. The Skaven then launched their attack after the plague weakened the Empire, but were stopped by a pretty cool guy named Mandred von Zelt of Middenland, who gathered the rest of the elector counts and launched an anti-Skaven crusade. Ironically, the black plague played a major role in many of Mandred's victories, since the disease affected the Skaven rat bodies as well, weakening the Skaven army and killing enough of them to force their retreat. In the last battle, the Skaven launched their last counterattack, only to fail after their leader, Vrrmik, the warlord of Clan Mors and a member of the Council of Thirteen, was slain by Mandred. The rest of the vermin were then driven back to their Under-Empire by the Empire’s forces while suffering under their own plague from the war. What's worse for the Skaven was that the slaves they bought ended up revolting, and destroyed several already plague weakened clans while Mandred, who was declared the Emperor and sporting Vrrmik's own helmet at the time, rebuilt the Empire. The process was faster than the Skaven could expect, with the humans even installing the sewer watch to prevent further Skaven movement on the Empire. After such a humiliating defeat, the Council received many compensation notices from other disease ridden clans. But the Council decided to just assassinate them all, including our beloved Emperor rat slayer, and called it even. The assassination made mankind forget about the Skaven, even dismissing them as myth.

The Skaven are also pretty famous on [[Cathay|the eastern side that]] [[Nippon| Games Workshop refuse to talk about]]. Clan Eshin's ancestors once journeyed far to the east, losing contact with its society for 100 years. When they came back however, they had learned the art of NINJUTSU from some jerk-off at [[Nippon]] where they have skilled rats throwing shuriken, and frigging ninja flipping better than [[Gabriel Angelos|the Chapter Master Gabriel Angelos]]. In [[Cathay]], some filthy beastman and a Sun Wukong wannabe became the Emperor of not-China and took an Eshin Skaven warlord as his right hand man. Thus began an unhealthy relationship of trading warpstones and rat shit, which means either the Cathay Emperor is nuttier than a warp fruit cake (which should be obvious since the new Emperor was mentioned to be a fucking magical monkey beastman, or probably something worse if he is also like Wukong born from the meteor except the meteor is made of warpstones), or Eshin Skaven are ''slightly'' more trustworthy than the rest of Skaven. (If you believe [[Total_War:_WARHAMMER#Skaven|Total War]], they are; they're the only clan that doesn't have to deal with warlord loyalty.) It might be true depending on how [[weeaboo]] the Eshin has become; if you look up on real world ninja, they do tend to be surprisingly loyal compared to what you might think. However, one could say that the eastern legion don't really have any experiences with Skaven betrayals, plus the Skaven did assist the Chaos Dwarves in the End Times to siege Cathay during the [[End Times]], meaning everything the Skaven did in Cathay was but a diplomatic ploy to fool the Cathayan.

As if the Skaven aren't popular enough, they have the operation worldwide. There is Clan Pestilens in Lustria, who like to infect themselves with diseases that Nurgle doesn't approve of, and throw feces at lizard-things for the lulz. Some of the rats made it into Naggaroth (probably as slaves or a few via the under-Empire) while trying not to provoke the wrath of [[Malekith|the strongest mama's boy in Warhammer history]]. The only place they could never set their foot on would be Ulthuan, which is a giant continent that floats on top of the water and obviously can't be connected to Skavenblight via tunnels. It's regardless just too scary for the rat-things to deal with: flame spewing dragon-things, elf-things that shoot rains of arrows from far away, and mages that have the power to summon a [[exterminatus|giant bombardment of nukes from the sky]].

The Skaven themselves have no records of their origins, and do not particularly care about their past. As far as they are concerned, the only relevant historical eras are "now, when we don't rule the world" and "soon, when we will be ruling it". Of course, any given Skaven will be plenty interested in the history of his own life, but the history of the rest of their race is dismissed as unimportant. On day to day affairs, history is whatever the Council of 13 says it is, though it wouldn't be surprising if Grey Seers keep records.

==== Age of Sigmar ====
The Skaven survived the end of the old world by teleporting [[Skavenblight]] to another dimension. When the Horned Rat became the Great Horned Rat he immediately drew Skavenblight into the Warp and created more of his Daemons. What followed was a golden age for the Skaven, where there was Warpstone everywhere to be found, they had the direct blessing of the Great Horned Rat, and unlimited space and potential around them. They then promptly did the impossible and somehow dug so deep that part of the Warp collapsed into Skavenblight which collapsed into the material realm which is now made up of eight "nearly infinite" planes made of the former Winds of Magic.

Skaven now have access to all of reality at once, and can create realm-spanning 'Gnawholes' everywhere from beneath Sigmar's throne to beneath Khorne's throne. As can be expected the tunnels are not stable and thus only the Skaven are willing to use them, as even immortal and deathless Daemons can somehow vanish into the space between spaces never to be seen again when Skaven are involved. This doesn’t mean that the Gnawholes are completely safe for the rat kin though. Just the process of constructing one of these inter-dimensional tunnels costs tens of thousands of <strike>lives</strike> slaves, and when the Gnawhole is complete, there’s a good chance that the big brains in charge of the project were off on their calculations. So instead of tunneling directly into [[Cities of Sigmar|Hammerhal]], you instead end up in the middle of no where or an active volcano.

Skaven have also had an exponential population boom, which is impressive considering they damn near outnumbered insects in the old setting. Each of the four former great clans from the Old World is alive and kicking <strike>eachother</strike>, containing billions of Skaven and even entire clans. A fifth great clan is Verminus, an especially numerous and martial clan (the techy/monstery/sneaky/stinky niches were taken so someone's gotta make Stormvermin their thing).

However, Skryre, Pestilens, Moulder, Eshin and Verminus were not always the only Great Clans. In the age of Myth, there were said to be as many as 13 great clans (probably like 9 or 10 but the Grey Seers rounded up). What happened to the rest? A couple of examples:

* Clans Tichritt attempts launches an invasion of Thandria, a Sigmarite nation. It may as well be Russia in winter with the pantheon of Order united - Tichritt is annihilated.
* Clan Ikk does well during the tumult of the age of chaos, gaining a momentous ''four'' seats on the Council of Thirteen which sparks civil war with the equally ascendant Clan Verminus. Verminus enlist the help of Clan Pestilens to spread an epidemic of frothjaw. The rabid rats get so erratic the other great clans temporarily unite to destroy them.
* Clans Shrykt dig a huge gnawhole and, one by one, its clans disappear through the portal. They were never heard from again. Maybe they left to join 9th age.

The increased scope of AoS lore has meant Skaven society is EVEN MORE chaotic and self-destructive than it was. And this lore makes a little more sense than their old world history: you can't expect such volatile societies to [[Warhammer 40000|maintain a millennia-long deadlock between the same four great powers.]] Still, the current status quo of vying great clans is not that different from the old world's coz... those are the models GW sells. The unknown great clans continue the trend of GW giving AoS lore lots of missing primarchs (deliberately left gaps for homebrew and headcanon). In the Age of Chaos, Pestilens profited greatly from their alliance with Nurgle. However, Order managing to push back against this smelliance has meant that the Clans Skryre is better poised to vie with Pestilens for pre-eminence on the council of thirteen. They'll probably work it out peacefully (by Skaven standards, meaning only several million rats will die).

Skaven continue to be fuck-ups at a scale never before witnessed. When Nagash attempted a great ritual of necromantic binding, it was sabotaged by the Skaven nibbling a power cord. Eshin agents had managed to open gnawholes in Nagash's great pyramid. Huge success for Skavendom? Well, maybe had another group not accidentally opened a gnawhole at the bottom of the Shyish sea. Blight City was decimated by a zombie-infested flood, like The Day after Tomorrow meets World War Z. Hilariously, the drained Shyish seabed revealed the soul-stealing [[Idoneth Deepkin]] to Nagash, Slaanesh and everyone else who was wondering about those mysteriously empty towns that smelled faintly of halibut.

The moral of the story is clear: you might be able to foil Skaven schemes but it's their fuck-ups you wanna watch out for.

=== Society ===
----

If you do not know much about rat social behavior, you might be surprised to learn it is fairly well developed and includes among other things evidence of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa16P4nFgD8 rodent altruism]. As you might expect, GeeDubs ignored it entirely to make the Skaven more grimdark and work on people's stereotypes of what rats are like rather than how rats interact. Skaven society is literally cutthroat when it comes to promotions (but luckily not [[PROMOTIONS]]). In a world where you have chaos warriors who can Honor the chaos gods by killing/raping/getting minions caught up and expended in complex plots, beastmen which are in a similar lot as chaos on top of animalistic aggression who still practice a survival-of-the-fittest pack-mindset based loyalty, orcs that are hardwired to love to scrap, goblins who are no strangers to backstabbing and dark elves who've literally made assassination and treachery an art the Skaven have managed to collect the gold medal in (f)ratricide. After receiving said award they promptly began killing each other to see which Skaven individual got to keep it; the conflict continues to this day, with no resolution in sight. The '''only''' reason why their society has not murdered itself into extinction is because of a very high reproductive rate. Despite their teamkilling tendencies they obey the Grey Seers, the prophets of their god the [[Horned Rat]]. Although this obedience is done purely out of fear, it is done without question. Except for the other Grey Seers.

==== Hierarchy ====
The Skaven race is ruled over by the [[Council of Thirteen]], Skaven of such evil they have been chosen by their vile god and manage to survive the constant threat of assassination, most likely because everyone is too afraid of these uber-ratman to go near them. Although they squeak big about their plans for world domination, they are too busy trying to outdo and kill each other. Despite the name there are only twelve Councillors; the 13th seat is symbolic and reserved for their god and woe betide anyone that tries to sit on it! To become a member of the council all any Skaven need do is touch the sacred Black Pillar and challenge a current member for his seat in a duel. In practice it has been over 200 years since someone actually manage to pull it off, which is a minor point in favor of the current crop of leaders on it, even though a large part of it is that touching the Black Pillar has a tendency to make Rats explode.

Beneath the council of thirteen are the Grey Seers and the Warlords. Horned, grey furred skaven pups are raised to be the priests and magic users of Skavendom that act on behalf of the council. Ironically enough the Skaven are more prone to throw around claims of [[HERESY]]! than the Sigmarite Empire. Not showing proper reverence to the Horned Rat brings down his wrath on the offender and everyone around him, so they take a dim view of anyone who misses their services. Secular Rodentism is not something which is going to catch on in Skavenblight. Warlords are those lucky rats that have managed through guile, luck, accomplishment on the battlefield and the elimination of rivals to get in charge of a Clan. Sometimes you get a Grey Seer warlord with his own clan, but that's usually the exception. There is a hard cap on 169 Grey Seers at any one time, though there are a bunch of apprentices waiting in the wings for one to die. Skaven being Skaven, one of the mos popular pass times of said novices is making slots available through assassination.

Beneath them, you have an upper crust of prominent individuals within the clans: Warlock Engineers, Master Molders, Plague Priests, Assassins, Chieftans, high ranking officers and so forth. Either through command of some arcane skill or having armed rats behind them they have wealth, better accommodations, hosts of underlings and regular access to breeders. Underneath them are those with a modicum of cultivated value: the merchants, the technicians, the packmasters, the rank and file of the Stormvermin, the apprentices to the great ones, the Gutter Runners, the overseers, skilled workers and so forth. All of which have to some degree or another got their position by struggling tooth and claw and are with it some measure of power and authority. Most of them rose from the Clanrats. Those poor bastards live in poverty packed up like sardines and have to work hard for their daily Skavenbread™ and fight tooth and claw to keep what little they've amassed. But even these wretched rats have it better than the Slaves. They are the remnants of defeated clans, the pups deemed surplus to requirements if not quite bad enough to be culled, those that earned the ire of their overseers and those whose power struggles failed them and avoided being killed. Their status is somewhere between that of a native in the Belgian Congo and a Pig in a Factory Farm. Clanrats may be exploited but Skavenslaves are actively worked to death, thrown at the enemy to absorb arrows and are fed a meager diet of scraps, garbage and each other. That's when they are not being taken to the butcher's block so their betters can enjoy a meat dinner and and have some leather. The best they can hope for is that a good deal of their superiors fuck up and die or that their clan conquers another leading to enough shuffling in the org chart that they can get promoted to clanrat status. But while clans do wax strong and skavendom produces a lot of said fuckups it also burns through skavenslaves like nobody's business.

Two key facts of this hierarchy are ''Shit Flows Downhill'' and ''The Rodent Staircase''. To a high ranking Skaven everyone else is a rival, either an immediate threat or a potential one just waiting for the right moment to make its move against you, so keep a lid on them if you can. Subordinates are to be given the minimum they need to accomplish their tasks, some rewards if they exceed expectations, and nothing else. If they step out of line they can be beaten. If they cause too much trouble they can be replaced with some up and coming Rat eager to not be a skavenslave. If things are going badly for you, assert your dominance with a show of force. Even if things are going well, you should put the fear of the Horned Rat into your underlings just to remind them who's boss to be on the safe side. This comes before the fact that Skaven are vindictive little shits that have no qualms about taking out their frustrations on others. A sternly worded Letter to a Warlord from the Council of Thirteen will lead him snapping at his second in command and will eventually manifest itself in clanrats biting the tails off Skavenslaves because they'd been the subject of the ire of their overseers and need to re-assert dominance.

Likewise if you want to get up (and between their megalomania and what the bottom is like ALL Skaven want to go up all the way), you need to not only excel or have some useful talent but also deal with the million other rats out there with the same ambitions. If you want to survive in the slave pits, shiv your neighbor and eat him to get enough calories so you'll have the strength to see another day. If the clawleader's favorite mug has gone missing, say the guy who's always admired it stole it to bring down the bosses wrath upon him so you have one less rival, the boss's wrath is directed elsewhere and if you happen to be right he just might throw you a bone for being (due to the lack of a better word) loyal. Apprentices could and should steal the ideas of their fellows to become Warlock Engineers Attempting to police the Skaven to stop such backstabbing is usually an exercise in futility, especially since whatever Police Rats you can scrounge up will inevitably engage in said activities on their own. Not that it matters much in most cases, there is always a fresh stream of replacements and those eager for dead rat's shoes. At most murder provides an excuse for removing individuals that they don't like in a move that is slightly less likely to spark the paranoia of your rivals. A good Skaven leader knows how to use this competition to keep his minions in line and to get the most out of them. A bad skaven leader is going to end up on the barbecue sooner rather than later. This is the case from birth, even for those whose role was determined at birth like grey seers and stormvermin have to fend off both ruthless instructors and backstabbing fellow applicants. Nobody is unscathed.

==== Misc ====
Although unintentional on the side of writers, there are circumstances where real life rats can become Skaven-like. In a series of social experiments involving overpopulation designed to see what effects human overpopulation in cities like New York or Tokyo could be paralleled, rat populations with far too many beings in far too small an area begin to go, as individuals, insane while the group becomes far more violent despite having more than enough food and water to sustain the entire population. When a high-density population that shows these behaviors is given more area to roam in by having another set of open cages attached or being shifted to smaller population cages, the behavior remains the same meaning the rats have been permanently mentally damaged; only with successive generations do they regain sanity. So in a way, Skaven have inadvertently made themselves fucking insane by choosing to live in horrible conditions and to overpopulate. Theoretically, saner and more level-headed (if not necessarily less evil) generations of Skaven could emerge if the species got access to more room and better conditions, and was completely removed from its old environment and the previous rats who inhabited it.

In fact, if the root of the Skaven's evil nature could be traced to both their terrible environment and the terrible culture that both feeds and feeds off of that environment rather than anything genetic, theoretically, there ''could'' actually be ''good'' Skaven if they were somehow separated from Skavenblight immediately after birth and raised outside of it by someone willing to give them a chance. However, seeing as how the primary…“engines” of Skaven reproduction are heavily guarded in the very heart of Skavenblight, and literally every other race in Warhammer is hard-wired to kill the mangy rat-bastards on sight (and with FUCKING good reason), such a thing will almost certainly remain purely theoretical. Especially since all that trouble would ultimately amount to little more than proving a petty point, with little to no real pay-off beyond making the Horned Rat personally pissed off at you (then again there are [[Tzeentch|some]] that might find ''that'' outcome a goal in and of itself).

=== Armies ===

==== The Rank and File ====
* '''Skavenslaves''': Large numbers of starved skavenslaves are thrown at the enemy's front lines with crummy scrounged up weapons for the enemy to waste arrows, bog down enemy movements and hopefully take down a few manthings by sheer numbers. Some lucky ones get to annoy the enemy at a range with slings, which is sort of a luxury as nobody else in the army can take them.

* '''Clanrats''': The basic Rank and File of a Clan with some armor and better weapons (swords, shields and spears). Better fed, more durable and less likely to run than Skavenslaves, but still cannon fodder that relies on numbers against all but the crummiest of foes. Various campaign supplements would expand on the basic Clanrat with unique variations for each Great Clan, like the Rotten Rodents of Clan Pestilens, who trade their shield for an extra hand weapon.

* '''Stormvermin''': Basic elite units for when you want something that has more staying power than Clanrats. Black furred pups are singled out to be soldiers. They get given extra food, ruthless spartan way training, better weapons and armor than the common riff-rats and take some pride in their units (which means that they are less likely to randomly stab their fellows in the back than most skaven and any failure to meet the standards is liable to get a stormvermin executed). The Clans [[Clan Mors|Mors]] and [[Clan Rictus|Rictus]] are known for their particularly nasty regiments of Stormvermin and regularly sell themselves to the other aspiring Warlords for a sizable sum.

*'''Chieftain''': The Skaven equivalent to a Greenskin Big Boss or Empire Captain. They serve under the Warlord as his enforcer and field commander. Usually it’s from this rank that new Warlords are “promoted”.

*'''Warlord''': Also called Clawlords in AoS, Warlords are not the best fighters of a Skaven Clan, but the most cunning. They lead the ravenous swarms of ratmen into combat from the safety of the rear lines. They get first pick of any loot they come across and play a constant game of 3D chess with their subordinates to make sure they keep their position...and their lives.

==== Specialists ====
*'''Poisoned-Wind Globadiers''': A elite corps of Clan Skryre clanrats trained in the usage of special glass spheres filled with toxic vapors. They lob said orbs at hordes of enemy troopers where they shatter disperse their poisonous payload into the air. To protect themselves, the Globadiers wear special breathing equipment on the (common) chance one of their globes is faulty. TWW2 introduces a more potent type of poison called the '''Death Globe''', whose toxins are harmful even with the slightest of skin contact. In AoS, they are renamed to '''Skryre Acolytes''' and function as interns for the various Engineers.

* '''Weapons Teams''': Clan Skryre’s bread and butter. A vast collection of various weapons all designed to be carried by a pair of skaven and have a staggeringly high rate of (explosive) failure. The '''Warp-Fire Thrower''' is a crude fire hose connected to a gas tank that spews a corrosive fluid that ignites upon exposure to air. It was created to melt through heavily armored dwarfen shield walls during their first wars against the beard-things. '''Ratling Guns''' are the skaven’s take on real world gatling guns; six barrels of rapid fire warpstone bullets all powered by a hand crank. Said cranking mechanism is prone to overheating and explosion should the gunners get too eager on the spinner. For more precise weaponry, the '''Warplock Jezzail''' provides. It’s an oversized rifle held in place by a rickety shield and built to deliver lethal warpstone bullets into the heads of an enemy leader from miles away. A '''Doom-Flayer''' is what happens when you take the Green Goblin’s pumpkin bombs and turn it into an armored chariot. These bladed balls were originally meant for tunnel clearance and mowing down pesky dwarf battle lines. Similarly, the '''Warp-Grinder''' was also initially made for utility purposes, serving as a quick means of excavating new underways, though it was soon repurposed for drilling into armored units and bastions. Finally the '''Poisoned Wind Mortar''', the grown up version of the Globadier, these mini artillery pieces launch lethal spheres of toxic fumes across the battlefield to choke the lives out of enemies, though it is the only weapons team to not make the jump to Age of Sigmar, for some goddamn reason. And naturally there’s also the '''Death Globe Mortar''' in TWW2 as well.

*'''Night Runners''': The initiates of Clan Eshin. Having yet to fully grasp the importance of discipline, stealth, and basic fucking patience, they run headlong into enemies throwing sharpened metal stars and knives at them (likely Naruto running and shouting attack names as well). They do have their uses though, serving as excellent skirmishers thanks to their ranged attacks and natural agility.

*'''Gutter Runners''': Those lucky few Night Runners who survive their first battle and learn how to stand still are soon claw-picked to become Gutter Runners. These elite teams are the main agents of Clan Eshin you’ll find. Often hired for sabotage, espionage, eating fromage, and of course assassination. TWW2 adds an even more elite variant of the Gutter Runners called the '''Death Runners''', who are noted for having zero armor and simply dodging most attacks.

*'''Assassin''': Pretty straight forward. Picked from the most elite of Gutter/Death Runners, these expert killers are so feared among the Under-Empire that rumors spread about them having special abilities, from squeezing into a coin sized hole to having a poisonous shadow. Outlandish that may sound, Clan Eshin isn’t one to confirm or disperse these rumors.

*'''Eshin Sorcerer''': One of the ninja clan’s better kept secrets. In addition to being rigorously trained in the arts of murder and sabotage like the other initiates, these Skaven are capable of wielding their own unique magic called the Lore of Stealth (likely a mixture of Shadow magic and the standard Skaven Lore of Ruin). As expected, the Nightlord doesn’t want too many people to know about their existence (Grey Seers in particular), so much so that they vanished from the lore and tabletop for a while...until TWW2 brought them back into the limelight.

*'''Packmaster''': Part slave-driver, part animal tamer, Packmasters are adepts of Clan Moulder who specialize in the “care” of their menagerie of beasts. Often recruited from the most bully like Skaven, they are cruel and relentless with their whips and spiked prodders which double as a means of defense as well as way to encourage their monsters to fighter harder. Some also are known to carry large snapping claws on pole arms called thing-catchers, which they eagerly use to grab new test subjects whilst on the battlefield.

*'''Giant Rats''': The most common/simple of Clan Moulder’s monsters. They’re just big ass rats, usually the size of a small domestic dog. They are herded into massive swarms by their Packmaster(s) to drown the foe in furry bodies.

*'''Pox Rats''': A step up from the Giant Rat, these boar sized rodents are commonly used as mounts for various Skaven leaders, though as their sickly name suggests, the Plague Priests of Clan Pestilens are particularly fond of them.

*'''Rat Ogres''': The premier product of Clan Moulder. Through a fusion of skaven, [[Ogre Kingdoms|ogre]], and countless other beasties, a hulking monstrosity was born. Ill-tempered, violent brutes who serve as shock troopers/bodyguards for skaven armies. Like actual ogres, they are very strong but also quite dumb. Despite this, they can be equipped with several rudimentary upgrades and weapons for more specialized needs. During the End Times, Clan Skryre improved upon the base Rat Ogre and created the even more dangerous '''Stormfiend'''. By adding a secondary brain via an tiny ass skaven slave to the beast’s back, they can now operate more advanced weaponry, such as warp fire projectors, shock gauntlets, rattling guns, and many more, while still keeping the same base level instincts and loyalty they are known for.

*'''Brood Horrors''': What happens when you cram a bunch of starved Pox Rats into an enclosed area and leave them alone for a while? Well eventually only one of them remains having swallowed whole all of its packs mates and bloated to monstrous sizes. It has now become a Brood Horror, a hideously mutant creature that’s either used as a stand alone monster or as a mount for the most daring of Warlords.

*'''Hell-Pit Abomination''': And you thought the Brood Horror was grotesque. Named after the capital warren of Clan Moulder, the Hell-Pit Abomination is a Frankenstein fusion of left over body parts, machinery, and gallons of liquid warpstone given unholy life. No two Abominations are quite a like, though they all have the general shape of a massive multi-headed centaur-rat.

*'''Plague Monks''': The zealous followers of Clan Pestilens. Less armored than a Clanrat, these ragged devotees rush into battle with filth encrusted robes and rusted blades while chittering prayers and wishes to the Horned Rat. Each one is infected with enough viruses and sickness that just being in the vicinity of them is detrimental to your health. They gladly throw themselves onto foes to smother them in corruptive ilk and often carry tomes full of various litanies and vows to their pestilential deity.

*'''Plague Censer Bearers''': The more rabid Plague Monks who don’t become Plague Priests will often be given the “privilege” of carrying large censer flails that are blessed with filth and constantly emit toxic fumes. They then rush headlong into combat swinging their weapons to create a noxious cloud of gas, invigorating their brethren and smothering their enemies. Much like the similar in concept Night Goblin Fanatics, Plague Censer Bearers have a short life expectancy as the fumes are so toxic that it can even kill the rats of Clan Pestilens, albeit very slowly.

*'''Plague Priest''': Looking more like champions of [[Nurgle]] rather than skaven, these pox-filled vermin are the heads of the Pestilent Brotherhood. They lead vast congregations of sickly followers on a holy mission to corrupt the world in the name of the Great Horned Rat. The most distinguished Priests often ride into battle upon massive '''Plague Furnaces''', a rickety siege engine centered around a giant swinging censer, constantly filling the air with toxic warpstone fumes. These fumes invigorate the warriors of Clan Pestilens and choke the life out of all others.

===Clans===
Skaven organize themselves into Clans, through which they organize their backstabbing. The individual backstabs for position within a Clan, the Clan backstabs for position in Skaven society.

There are many Clans, far more than any being other than the Horned Rat (presumably) knows. Clans rise, fall, split, infight, reform, and even ally constantly. Each Clan seeks to have one of their members in a position in the Council of Thirteen, which runs the business of their entire race.

The [[Council of Thirteen]] is conveniently organized like a clock, with 13 at the 12 position which is representative of the Horned Rat. Members are called Lords of Decay. Each position is more powerful within the Council based on their proximity to the Horned Rat, so the Lords of Decay at the 1 and 12 position are the two most powerful, 2 and 11 behind them, while the Lords of Decay at the 6 and 7 positions are the weakest. Each Lord of Decay can outright veto the position of the one opposite them. Each Lord of Decay has their position marked by a symbol, either that of themselves or that of their Clan. The Lords of Decay have thus far remained in power for most of the existence of the Council thanks to the life-prolonging Warpstone they use (so Skeksis), although they rise and fall in power.

Skaven Clans fall into three categories: Great Clans, Warlord Clans, and Thrall Clans. The four Great Clans are extremely powerful, and epitomize the different aspects of Skaven society (Each Greater Clan later became a type of Clans in [[Age of Sigmar]] due to an exponential population boost). Warlord Clans are essentially the middle class of Skaven, usually doing their own thing and not tied to any specific Great Clan. The Thrall Clans are weaker warrens that swear allegiance to a Great Clan to survive or grow in power. Of course thanks to Skaven backstabbing, a Thrall Clan is an expendable frontline infantry source while the Great Clans are just sources of really neat toys like Rat Ogres and Ratling Guns, and of course every Clan is waiting to betray each other while making allegiances to other Clans and to betray their REAL allies that they're of course waiting to be backstabbed by while totally being unaware of the fact that a fourth set of Clans have set up the backstabbing conga for their own benefit, and so on as far as you want to get into it (note: this describes a single day of plotting or so).

When fielding an army, one or two Clan paint jobs and multiple Thrall-Clan paint jobs are quite fluffy.

The four Great Clans are:
* [[Clan Eshin]], the ninja assassin Clan. {MURDER [[Lizardmen|ALL]] [[Dwarfs|OF]] [[Undead|THESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!]]}
* [[Clan Moulder]], the Clan which breeds monsters and sews them together Frankenstein style to make even better (by Skaven standards, slightly less volatile) monsters.
* [[Clan Pestilens]], the founder of the Pestilent Brotherhood and the largest and most powerful Pestilent Brotherhood member.
* [[Clan Skryre]], the Clan which produces Warp-powered Tesla cannons, machine guns, vehicles, and other assorted machines.

In addition, there are the [[Grey Seers]], silver furred Skaven with horns that represent the servants of the Council and the Horned Rat. They are above all Skaven other than the Lords of Decay and as a result tend to be somewhat free from the backstabbing conga, other than that of other Grey Seers. Any grey Skaven who do not have horns are part of the Council Guard, the elite warriors that protect the Council and the Grey Seers. However those Skaven that protect the Council of Thirteen directly are The Albino Guard, purely white furred giga-stormvermin.

{{Skaven-Clans}}

===Deity===
The Skaven worship their creator the [[Horned Rat]], a god as sickening and vile as they are. God of disease and vermin, thankfully he gets the crap kicked out of him by Sigmar and Sotek on a regular basis and frankly anyone that feels like having a go. He got fed up with such bullshit at the [[End Times]], telling the Skaven to stop backstabbing eachother and get shit done, which they proceed to do by destroying many cities. He also made a deal with the [[Chaos Gods]] as he cannot defeat them.

As of [[Age of Sigmar]], [[Slaanesh]] [[bullshit|was kidnapped]] by three Elf gods that were formerly mortals ([[Tyrion]], [[Teclis]], [[Morelion]]) at the manipulations of [[Tzeentch]] and the newly-appointed HNIC of all Chaos [[Archaon]]. This resulted in [[Nurgle]] and [[Khorne]] immediately voting with them to boot him out of the pantheon and the [[Great Game]] and promoting Horned Rat to proper Chaos God in his place. Horned Rat immediately renamed himself Great Horned Rat, but found out that the big kids table was full of backstabbing assholes with absolutely no respect for each other, and somehow even less for him. When the Chaos Gods gave Archaon their blessings, Archaon rejected the Horned Rat's blessings and spat directly in his face for daring to presume GHR can bless the self-righteous ass that is Archaon(Though this could just be Archaon not having absolutely abysmal standards).

=== Magic ===
Skaven wield a form of Dark Magic fueled by [[warpstone]] and derived from their own inherently corrupt abilities. However, select kinds of skaven are capable of actually tapping that energy; traditionally, only the Grey Seers, rare mutants who function as the skaven's shamans and the Warlock Engineers of [[Clan Skryre]], who use [[magitek]] devices to draw upon and manipulate Dark Magic, possess this power, but that lore has fluctated over editions.

In 4th edition, Warlocks could be 1st to 3rd level casters, with Grey Seers being 4th level casters, and both used the same "Lore of Skaven" magic system.

In 6th edition, only Grey Seers were casters, still using the Lore of Skaven; Warlock Engineers instead had to spend points on magitek weapons that also allowed them to cast a single spell, ''Warp Lightning''. However, the optional rules for Great Clan armies in the back of the book also featured clan-based casters; these "lesser mages" were treated as level 1 casters who only knew a single pre-selected spell. Clan Eshin had Sorcerers (Skitterleap), Clan Pestilens had Festoring Chantors (Pestilent Breath), and Clan Moulder had Harbingers of Mutation (Vermintide). Clan Skyre's Warlock Masters could still only cast Warp Lightning, but could try and cast an 11+ variant that was much more powerful.

In 7th edition, things changed; now, Skaven had two different schools of magic - Ruin and Plague, with Warlock Engineers being Hero level casters of Ruin and Plague Priests getting an upgrade to be Hero level casters of Plague, with Grey Seers being Lord level casters who could mix and match spells from both lores, and had access to the unique "Dreaded 13th Spell", which could transform enemy troops into skaven clanrats.

"Children of the Horned Rat", the skaven sourcebook for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 2nd edition, tweaked the Skaven magical lores around. Naming the two primary schools of Skaven magic as Plague and Warp, it also upgraded Eshin Sorcerers to full-fledged casters, with their own unique school of magic; the Dark Lore of Stealth, a corrupt form of Shadow Magic that lets them do more animesque ninja stuff. As CotHR was written around the time of 6th edition, it doesn't quite mesh up with either 6e or 7e fluff; instead of being masters of all the skaven styles, it's implied (it's a little hard to ascertain) that Grey Seers only use Warp Magic, whilst Plague Priests and Eshin Sorcerers only use Plague Magic and Stealth Magic respectively. Warlock Engineers, meanwhile, can't use magic at all, but instead can make unique magitek gizmos.

Also, CotHR says that rogue Grey Seers can learn Chaos Magic or Necromancy, although this paints them as skaven heretics.

=== Army ===
Skaven are your <strike>standard</strike> easily abused horde army. Lots of cheap vermin, whose numbers allow them to easily ignore their one theoretical weakness: shitty leadership, backed up by more expensive and/or specialized units, that are in theory unreliable but will still wreck your shit moar consistently than most anything else by sheer volume. Also, DOOMWHEELS.

<strike>Under current rules</strike> they <strike>are</strike> have always been considered overpowered, except for a brief period where DoC reigned thanks to your [[Matt Ward|Spiritual]] [[Spiritual Liege|Liege]]. They have now reclaimed their mantle, since 8th edition heavily favors mass infantry blocks, and the Skaven can easily throw out a block of 100 models for less than what some other armies will spend on a lord, no, I'm not exaggerating, which under the current rules is virtually unbeatable.

=== Special Characters ===
====Wargame====
The cast of Skaven special characters has shifted and flowed across editions, but this is the original list from 4e:
* [[Verminlord]]
* Grey Seer [[Thanquol]]
* [[Lord Skrolk]], Plaguelord of Clan Pestilens
* [[Ikit Claw]], Chief Warlock of Clan Skryre
* [[Throt the Unclean]], Master Mutator of Clan Moulder
* [[Deathmaster Snikch]], Chief Assassin of Clan Eshin
* [[Queek Head-Taker]], Warlord of Clan Mors

6th edition saw the creation of a handful of new characters, whose stats appeared either in [[White Dwarf]] or on Games Workshop's website - back before they turned it into a mere shopping center. In addition to converting many 4e characters who'd been left out of their 6e army book, such as Snikch and Ikit Claw, 6e saw the creation of:
* [[Ghoritch]], Castellan of Hell Pit
* Warlock Master [[Klawmunkast]] and his [[Steam Tank|Rat Tank]].
* Plague Lord [[Morbus Sanguis]]

7th edition added two new characters to the list:
* Beastmaster [[Skweel Gnawtooth]]
* Chieftain [[Tretch Craventail]]

====Fluff-only, Other Games, Other Continuities====
[[Image:Reverse Furry And His Pet.png|thumb|200px|right|Somehow worse than legit Skaven!]]
* Kreech: FUCK, I thought we agreed never to mention him again. Exists in Age of Sigmar to be the PG version (no depicted cannibalism, drug addiction and mass murder) of Thanquol to the pacifist protagonist adolescents of [[Warhammer Adventures]], is a complete weeb for humans, and has a slaveboy from the Realm Of Beasts named Scratch.
* Sneek Scratchett: a scribe from the [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] continuity who serves as your chosen faction's mission control during the Vortex campaign. MST'd the sequel's reveal trailer and wears a small pair of glasses, though whether he actually needs it or likes-prefers the look is known only to him.
* Vulskreek: a Grey Seer also from TWW and Sneek's supervisor, and regularly bosses Sneek around as all Skaven higher-ups do. After the Black Pillar forsees great things for the Horned Rat, Vulskreek's put in charge of mobilizing the ratmen to do their god's bidding, but the Grey Seer's also working on orders known only to the Council...

=== Fun Facts ===
* They consider the number thirteen to be lucky/holy. This a reference to how thirteen is seen as unlucky in Western society. However, several real-life nations/cultures consider thirteen a lucky number.
* Grey Seers regularly ride giant bells on scaffolds into battle
* [[DOOMWHEELS]]
* in ye olden days they could be led by friggin master splinter! im not kidding this was a thing
* Their leaders lead from the back, to get a better view of the battle of course and not due to the meatshield tactic.
* They can improve anything, with the addition of magical radiation rocks!
**This may or may not involve improving themselves by snorting said rock.
* GIANT LIGHTNING CANNONS
* Backstabbing little bastards, they'll fuck you up five different ways without you even knowing about it, if you're lucky.
* Skaven do not abide by any codes of honor or battle etiquette, and as such, they WILL bring a gun to a swordfight (and even then they'll try to steal your sword beforehand (and poison you (and improve themselves with warpstone before (aaaaand the gun might be a DOOMWHEEL)))).
* Skaven have a combination of ego and incompetence that would make [[Transformers|Starscream]] look down his nose at them. (Bad comedy right there)
* Skaven do NOT think about the potential consequences of ''anything'' that they do. Taken to its logical conclusion in [[The End Times]] when '''they blow up the motherfucking Chaos Moon''' and nearly destroy the planet with moon-fragments.
* At one point they had the cheapest troops in any game setting. How cheap? It was measured in ''fractions of a point!''
* They can carry giant rocket launcher weaponry that will most likely explode in their own damn faces.
* RATLING GUNS! its as cool as they sound! and yes, it does what it says on the tin
* for the last time, master splinter did NOT teach all of clan Eshin how to all be ninja rats...only a few
* As of Total Warhammer II, Skavens can into space. (No, seriously, go play the campaign!)
* BTW, they also have sniper rifles. Warpstone rifles of instant brain pop, yes-yes

== Thematic Stuff ==
In Warhammer seriousness and farce walk hand in hand. Some factions are in general more jokey like the Greenskins and others are more somber like the Druchii, but all of them are capable of both. This is especially true of the Skaven. On the one hand, they're a malignant horde of self centered sociopaths in which every twisted manifestation of this fact is explored driven on by a malevolent deity spreading underground like a cancer who surge forth to lay waste to the realms of men leaving nothing behind but ruins and gnawed bones are ultimately responsible for bringing about the End Times. On the other hand they're a species of Cartoonish Ratguys with Mad Science super-weapons, Ninjas and and convoluted plots that often blow up in their filthy faces with odd verbal ticks which are despite it all can sometimes be, well, cute.

The Skaven have no direct counterpart in Warhammer 40,000. In of itself this is not unprecidented. After all the neither do the Lizardmen or Vampire Counts and on the same note you don't have any Tau or Tyranids having raves in Athel Loren keeping the wood elves up. Even so, they do seem to be a natural fit. After all, they are one of the most technological factions and it's not a huge leap to imagine their space fleets and similar. They're also GW original content, so why are they not a thing? One possible answer is that while they could fit into 40k, they would be kind of redundant. Simply put the role of Theocratic Empire with cutthroat internal politics ruled through fear, driven by hatred of The Other on which a small priviledged elite rules over a vast ocean of individuals living cheek to jowl in huge labyrinthine warrens either as disposable factory workers or soldiers expended like ammunition [[Imperium of Man|is already filled in 40k]]. In fact the parallel may be more direct then accidental given that there are explicitly 13 high lords of Terra, same as the 13 lords of the Skaven council. The Empire of Man is not The Shire or some other idealized fantasy utopia, but on the same note in of itself it's not actually that bad by the standards of the era it was based on. Most of it's big problems are external (chaos, greenskins, druchii, whatever) and most of the crappiness you'd find in it is the sort of stuff you'd find in basically every early modern state along with the virtues there-of. It just so happens that those flaws get magnified a million fold once it territory can be listed in 'light years'.

== DIE-DIE MAN-THINGS! ==
The above sentence clearly illustrates the quirks of skaven language (which is titled Queekish): they often say certain monosyllabic words twice (words like "die-die" and "fool-fool" are popular). Skaven are also known to link similar-related words together.
[https://forums.totalwar.com/discussion/199375/on-skaven-jitter-speak-in-game-2 Some people believe these things should only be done to the most important part of a sentence. However, in some official works, such as Total Warhammer II, these quirks are applied seemingly at random in skaven speech.]

Also, they often end the name of a species with the suffix -things, so men are man-things, dwarfs are dwarf-things, et cetera.

This helps indicate that non-Skaven are not people in their eyes. Although considering their backstabby natures it isn't as if they're trying to avert sense of shame or horror from killing others, which is why humans dehumanize during war... so why? Likely the Skaven equivalent of racial slurs.

==Female Skaven==
[[Image:Female skaven.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Canon image of a female Skaven.]]
[[Image:Skaven female cheerleaders.jpg|thumb|250px|left|The closest thing to a female Skaven model to come out of Games Workshop.]]
The skaven as a whole fit the idea of "ratmen" - with particular emphasis on the ''men'' part. All named skaven characters are male, and new fans invariably wonder; what about females? Where do skaven come from?

There was never any great emphasis placed on them. Indeed, they were left so ambiguous that the first ever description of skaven females actually came about as a result of one fan's fanfiction, during those hoary days when [[Gnome#Gnomes_in_Warhammer|Gnome]]s and [[Half-Orc]]s were still canon. In "[https://the-eye.eu/public/Books/rpg.rem.uz/Warhammer/Fantasy/Roleplay/1st%20edition/Skaven%20-%20Book%20of%20the%20Rat.pdf The Book of the Rat]", a fan-made netbook of skaven lore for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 1st edition, female skaven were stated to exist but were hugely oppressed; they were kept as sexual slaves in segregated chambers of the warren, to which only the clan's elites were allowed access. Kept in miserable conditions, their life consisted of nothing but rough sex, pregnancy and looking after their mewling ratlings. Female skaven were described as rarer than male skaven, partially due to biology, primarily because their mothers and the bitter, infertile/elderly midwives tended to be particularly callous towards the female offspring and so female skaven have a much, ''much'' higher mortality rate than the males.

When we got official lore, however, it turned out to be far worse... when the first ever Warhammer Armies: Skaven sourcebook was released, way back in Warhammer 4th edition, fans were presented with what is the earliest known mention of skaven females: a single line describing them as being "indolent" and "semi-intelligent" in the general Skaven entry in the bestiary section (page 50). Modern lore, established in the Skaven's 6e army book and preserved since then, built upon this singular line and is considerably more [[grimdark]] than the fanon presented in "The Book of the Rat": female skaven are horrific monsters, implied to be basically female [[Giant Rat]]s of enormous stature, who build upon their description in 4e by being described as feral, effectively non-sapient creatures. They are basically giant wombs, locked away separately from the males and existing only to feed and produce offspring, so monstrously pregnant and indolent that their limbs have atrophied, rendering them incapable of doing anything but wallow in the breeding pits.

Further female skaven lore, such as it is, was fleshed out by Black Library fiction and most prominently by ''Children of the Horned Rat'', a skaven sourcebook for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 2nd edition. In CotHR, it's theorized that only one in ten skaven are female, reaching sexual maturity at the age of 2 and spending the rest of their 2 decades of life doing nothing but breed, averaging 12-24 pups a litter and 4-5 litters per year.

What's ''truly'' grimdark however, as explicitly stated in that same book is, that skaven females are actually <b>NOT NATURALLY LIKE THIS</b>; rather, their condition is the result of the skaven's malevolence and their need to [[fleshcrafting|"improve" upon nature]]; from a young age, skaven females are constantly dosed with Warpstone-based narcotics and hallucinogens, intended to keep them docile and segregated, so they will not protest their life of endless baby-making. There is a single line hinting that this may not be as effective as the male skaven think: "So cloistered away from the rest of their race are they that they do not learn their race’s chittering speech, nor are they proficient in even the simplest social skills…or so the Skaven believe." But still the vast majority of "Rat Mothers" spend their lives incessantly pregnant and in an interminable drug-fueled haze, often blind and/or crippled, and dependent on the ministrations of the "Ratwives" - castrated skaven who serve as nurses to the female Skaven themselves and midwives to their endless litters.

TL;DR: skaven females are practically furry [[Daemonculaba]].

Access to the females is carefully guarded. The most powerful of skaven are allowed to own one or more females for their private use - females are readily traded between clans as extremely valuable bargaining chips - and access to the communal females in the breeding pits is restricted to high-ranked or otherwise successful skaven; in one of the [[Gotrek & Felix]] novels, a Skaven is rewarded by his superior by being given permission to mate with one, whilst "Thanquol's Doom" features a skaven who partially lost his nose in an "incident" whilst mating with a breeder - apparently, she got too excited and tried to eat him.

The female Skaven's status as "bloated, indolent baby-makers" was referenced in the End Times. In "End Times: Thanquol", a Dwarf Slayer separated from the other during the battle of Karak Eight Peaks found his way into a Skaven breeding pit filled with hundreds of females in such a state, their litters and a handful of Ratwives. He killed the Ratwifes, the breeders and their litters, there being so many Skaven the Slayer's arms got sore from all the killing. Then the Slayer stumbled upon another breeding pit just as big, but by then Skaven soldiers had discovered what he did in the previous breeding pit so they swarmed him and slaughtered him. The End Times is the most recent lore on this, so it looks like the baby-factory fate is canon for most, if not all, female Skaven.

It bears mentioning that the status of the "breeders" does have some real-world basis to it. The rodent contains the only known eusocial mammals; the mole-rats, who live in colonies consisting of a single reproducing female with one (or up to three, for naked mole rats) reproducing males reigning over a large brood of sterile offspring that work as a collective to survive. In these cases, however, there are equal numbers of males and females, and it's the presence of a breeding queen and her pheromones that causes sterility into the younger mole-rats; if removed from her presence, they become fertile in turn.

It also bears mentioning that, in [[Blood Bowl]], the Skaven team comes with cheerleaders who are non-"Breeder" females, which you can tell because they have [[/d/|four big breasts each]]. But then, Blood Bowl also has [[Orcs & Goblins|fem-Orcs]], so its connection to canon of any edition after 3e is kind of dubious.

==Beastmen connection==
So, since this is a race made of humanoid rats empowered by [[Warpstone]] (which is officially described as being Chaos energy manifest), you may be wondering whether or not they're [[Beastmen]]. Well, the answer is that it kind of flips back and forth. Way back in the early editions, yes, Skaven were explicitly a break-away faction of relatively stabilised Beastmen, even pitching in with the Hordes of Chaos or spawning Chaos Champions of their own -- the "Design a [[Daemon Prince]]/Chaos God" rules in 3e's Slaves to Darkness - The Lost and The Damned even features a skaven turned Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided.

Since then, the connection has been downplayed extremely; the Empire generally describes Skaven (when they acknowledged they exist) as just "Beastmen who happen to look like rats", but there's no official connection between the two other than the fact Grey Seers have horns that signal them as important (a classically Beastman trait) and the fact both are animals mutated by Chaos-stuff.

==Warhammer 40k==
While no direct space Skaven exist, there are ratlike mutants described in the fluff, rat-worshiping cultists in [[Necromunda]], a [[mutant]] race called [[Ratlings]] which despite being more [[halfling]] than rat could be argued as a successor, <strike>the Imperial Guard itself which serves as uneducated and amoral xenophobes who are mass-bred and treated as currency by the Imperium with access to some nice and fancy toys which are more likely to cause teamkilling than damage to foes</strike> [[Blam|'''*BLAM*''' HERESY!]], and lastly there are the Tyranids who are 40k's version of ungodly numbers faction crossed with the [[Ogre Kingdoms]] motivation to eat everything in sight (though for different reasons). The [[Hrud]] used to be the Space Skaven, as in giant dieselpunk rat people, but that was pretty much retconned. They look different now (on the rare occasion they are mentioned in the fluff), so the only actual space Skaven are the Veer-Myn from [[Warpath]] by Mantic games. As usual, most of their models are, well not terrible, but not the greatest things ever, there is however great potential for a fantasy warlock engineer conversions. However, it does appear that the recent Skitarii model releases may have taken inspiration from the Skaven aesthetic (though not gameplay) with their many steampunk-styled weapons, most notably the Transuranic Arquebus and Radium Jezzail. Alternatively, the Genestealer Cults are a particularly close match gameplay-wise, with lots of ambushing troops and monsters backed up by armor and artillery.

==Models==
Skaven are one of the primary things in the Warhammer IPs that are actually unique to Games Workshop. As a result, its hard to obtain miniatures for them from third party companies, which is of particular irritation to Skaven players who want Skaven Slaves to actually look like downtrodden Skaven or those who refuse to give any more money to [[Games Workshop]].

However, [[Reaper Miniatures]] thankfully has begun to produce a "Wererat" range which includes decent alternatives to Rat Ogres, Assassins, a Verminlord, and even a female Skaven with six breasts for those wanting to have the most unique Warlord in the FLGS. This is in addition to the ordinary rat models, useful for spicing up scenery or large kits (or obtaining cheap Rat Swarms). These models are produced in the "Bonesium" material in the Bones line, which while being prone to bending badly is LUDICROUSLY cheap and completely safe from being dropped from any height onto any surface. Notably, some have taken to replacing the parts notorious for bending (weapons, especially spears) and replacing them with kitbashed weapons or even greenstuff. As far as the metal range goes, Reaper also produces Barrow Rats which can be useful as Pox Rats, Giant Rats, or Rat Hounds.

A further alternative source is [[Mierce Miniatures]], in particular their Vras faction of models. They have two warrior characters, more hamster-like than rat-like in proportions but with a paintjob serve as spectacular bloated disease-spreading characters (or just fat rat bastards). More importantly, Mierce has five large creatures that serve as [[Hellpit Abominations]] or as [[Verminlords]]. "Flint-Fang, Kill-Thing of the Infernal Pits" is preferred by some as an Abomination for its less Akira and more Frankenstein appearance (some praise or are horrified by its...anatomical correctness). "Back-Cracker, Goz-Horror" is an Abomination looking more like some kind of mad science genetic horror, while "Three-Faces, the Verminous Horror" takes the basic Games Workshop Abomination and replaces "steam-powered" with "tumor". "Scar-Claw, Rat Fiend" and "Scar-Scath, Vermin-Fiend" are alternative Verminlords, and thanks to the monopose nature of the End Times Verminlord kits make decent alternatives or just sources of kitbashing materials when fielding more than one.

[[Otherworld Miniatures]] produces both small rats and naked ratmen, although the latter sadly only come in two poses.

[[Mirilton]] Ratscum resemble Slaves or Clanrats, have ratmen gunners, and ratmen cavalry riding weasels, although the sculpts are in different proportions to the Skaven in many cases and resemble older Games Workshop models (this can be a bonus to some people however).

[[Curious Constructs]] produces weapon sets including a Gatling Gun, Mortar Launcher, and Flamethrower which could be kitbashed with any ratmen models to produce the various weapons teams of the Skaven.

[[Black Tree Design]] produces ratmen monks, assassins, warriors, a rat ogre creature, and rats in gas masks with poison bombs.

[[Impact Miniatures]] produce not-[[Bloodbowl]] ratmen models that require little to no alteration to become Skaven soldiers. Or that Skaven Blood Bowl team fielded as Stormvermin for a silly army.

[[Mantic Games]] produce not-Skaven known as [[Ratkin]] for their game [[Kings of War]].

Of course, Screaming Bells and Plague Furnaces can be made with balsa wood and the kinds of things one can find at any head shop or similar purveyor of hippie paraphernalia.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Skaven.jpg|The original Skaven Clans.
Image:SkavenNutshell.png|Pretty much any Skaven, pretty much all of the time.
</gallery>

==See Also==
* [[Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Skaven|Warhammer Tactics/Skaven]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Skaven]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Masterclan|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Masterclan]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Verminus|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Verminus]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clan_Moulder| Age of Sigmar Tactics/Moulder]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clan_Eshin|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Eshin]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Skryre|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Skryre]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Pestilens|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Pestilens]]
* [https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/57408867/ Sir Harumphington sets the record straight about these so-called "rat-men"]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BhV3CxvcF0/ Play this when a wave of rat men completely swamp your opponents army.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od06TLDO1CU/ “Underground” by Tom Waits, for any spelunking skaven.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaFIzPdxuF8 Every Skaven's idea of risk assessment in a nutshell]

==In Other Media==
While not ripped off as much as some of the other concepts Warhammer <strike>created</strike> expanded upon from existing sources, like Mesoamerican lizard people or Orcs/Goblins with green skin, Skaven have helped popularize rat people as a more standard fantasy race in a few places. Its theorized by some that the inclusion of [[Nezumi]] in the Asiatic settings of [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and [[Magic: The Gathering]] were inspired by the popularity of Skaven. Still, Skaven as a whole remain one of the most iconic things that are wholly unique to Warhammer. The League Of Legends character Twitch is clearly inspired by Skaven and has a line referencing them, although he lacks the insane flamboyancy compared to the setting he's in that Skaven have. They even had enough mainstream awareness to be referenced by British journalist Stewart Lee in the Guardian (comparing Brexit negotiations to Plague Monks, naturally).

The most direct and unexpected place for them to appear is being referenced to exist in both the Japanese and English versions of the Japanese anime [[Goblin Slayer]], listed off as a type of monster to specialize in studying. Just the idea of a Skaven Slayer could also be nod to [[Gotrek & Felix]].

==Non-Canon Female Skaven==
{{Promotions}}
{{Heresy}}

So it's universally agreed upon both in and out of universe that the only appropriate response to meeting a skaven is to kill them on sight, right? Well in an astounding display of hypocrisy, some [[furries]] went "yeah but I kinda also want to cuddle one?" and further demonstrated just how mentally broken certain subtypes of that culture are. So, there is an undercurrent in the darker hidden recesses of /tg/ where furfags like to talk about non-Rat Mother female skaven. Many have tried arguing that, given the reverence for the Grey Seers, combined with the Chaotic tinge of the skaven, then surely there are rare female Grey Seers who are thus spared the fate of their sisters. Others have pointed that since Breeders are heavily dosed up with chemicals, then if that fate was spared for some reason, then surely female skaven would turn out to be at least as competent as their brothers. Still others note that skaven can't resist tinkering, so it's not impossible a Grey Seer or Master Moulder might make use of a "thinking Breeder".

And, in fact, this last argument one even has a dash of canon to it: in C.L. Werner's "Grey Seer" novel, [[Thanquol]] encounters a [[Grey Seer]] (Thratquee of Under-Altdorf) who owns two personal breeders he has [[fleshcrafting|"improved"]], granting them an unusual clarity of thought, freedom of motion and muscle hidden under their chub; built like a cross between a breeder and a [[Rat Ogre]], they're essentially the skaven equivalent of [[amazon]] bodyguards, and Thanquol is simultaneously horrified and a little impressed at the realization that these "harmless females" will actually kill any skaven who dare to threaten their mate. This makes them the ultimate bodyguards in the eternal backstab-fest that is skaven society.

All of these arguments are reaching, understandably (I mean, why not just work with the idea of some developing an immunity or something?). But that hasn't stopped fans from dabbling in fem-skaven [[Your dudes|homebrew characters]] or [[Rule 34|more cheesecake-level artwork]]. One infamous skaven-loving furry even created his own homebrew clan of renegade female skaven, Clan Sniek, an offshoot clan of Clan Eshin who scavenge on the outskirts of skaven society and raid weaker warlord clans to steal away their females to bolster their own numbers. Clan Sniek is also known to "dabble" with human men, for pleasure and/or procreative purposes; there's even a named Gutter Runner female in a relationship with an Imperial human. His artwork tends to pop up whenever a [[ratfolk]] thread does or the topic of non-Breeder female skaven arises.

Thus, the argument about whether or not Rat Mothers are interesting will probably rage forever. You'd think that with the talks of non-breeder females and Clan Sniek that there would be more Sniek, fem-rats, or even Skaven related stories in general at the Smut archive, but hey what are you gonna do? You can't fap it to femskaven stories if there are no femskaven stories.

<center>
<gallery>
Image:Femskaven 1.jpg|Fanart of femSkaven.
Image:Femskaven 2.jpg|More fanart depicting femSkaven experiments.
Image:Reaper Wererat Matriarch.png|The Reaper "Wererat Matriarch" for those wanting to field a non-giant female Skaven model.
Image:Wererat Female.jpg|What an unmodified female Skaven would probably look like.
Image:FemSkaven Chieftain Uberous.jpg|Breeder or no, female skaven would admittedly probably spend more time pregnant than not.
Image:Female Gutter Runner.jpg|Sneaking around in the human's storehouses clearly has its advantages.
Image:Female Poison Wind Globadier.jpg|
Image:Female Stormvermin.jpg|Being high in the clan's totem pole has its perks.
Image:Futa Master Molder.jpg|Some Master Moulders go [[dickgirl|a lot further]] than others when it comes to [[fleshcrafting]].
Image:Female Stormvermin Fangleader.jpg
File:Longhaired skaven assassin.jpg
</gallery>
</center>

;Clan Sniek
<center>
<gallery>
Image:Gutter Runner of Clan Sniek.jpg|A Gutter Runner of Clan Sniek; the clan relies on stealth for survival.
Image:Assassin of Clan Sniek.jpg|An Assassin of Clan Sniek; they tend to focus more on other skaven than on humans.
Image:Packmaster of Clan Sniek.jpg|Clan Sniek's packmasters specialize in capturing human men - sometimes as slaves, sometimes as breeding partners.
Image:Master Assassin of Clan Sniek.jpg|Almost Prophet, a mutant female skaven born with pale fur but no horns, Master Assassin and founder of Clan Sniek.
Image:Grey Seer of Clan Sniek.jpg|Clan Sniek's Grey Seer yearns to dethrone Almost Prophet and rule the clan herself.
Image:Master Molder of Clan Sniek.jpg|Tichiz, Clan Sniek's Master Moulder, is perhaps the most feared skaven in the clan.
Image:Sorceress of Clan Sniek.jpg|Vaquit Silverspit, a female skaven sorcerer, wields great power in Clan Sniek for both her mastery of the Dark Lore of Stealth and her expertise with her rifle.
Image:Verminqueen.jpg|The mysterious Verminqueen is the dark patron of Clan Sniek.
Image:Audience with the Verminqueen.jpg|Sometimes, the Verminqueen deigns to tryst with mortals.
</gallery>
</center>

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}
{{Skaven-Clans}}
{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category: Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Skaven]]
[[Category:Furry]]

Skaven

2021-10-20T00:27:35Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8DAB:A0D2:F0DE:1CE6: /* History */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Skaven|Logo=Capture131114532.png|Alliance=Chaos|Motto=DIE DIE SOLDIER MANTHINGS DIE!!!!}}

{{Topquote|It would be ugly to watch people poking sticks at a caged rat. It is uglier still to watch rats poking sticks at a caged person.|Jean Harris}}

{{Topquote|I WILL JOIN YOU, FAGGOTY ELF! IF THERE IS ANYTHING I HATE WORSE THAN ELVES, IT'S FUCKING RAT FURRIES GOING FULL NORTH KOREA WITH NUCLEAR ROCKS!|Urist, Warhammer: Ravandils Quest}}

{{Topquote|Rodents of unusual size? I don't believe they exist.|Free Company Sergeant Roberts, last words before being killed by a rodent of unusual size}}
The '''Skaven''' are technologically advanced [[ratfolk]] in the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and [[Age of Sigmar]] settings. Ugly, evil creatures that spread [[AIDS|plague]] wherever they go and topple kingdoms for fun and [[profit]], you will be hard pressed to find a more unlikeable race out there. Much like the [[Orks]], they're so excessively over-the-top that it's pretty funny.

Skaven are said to be '''''the''''' most evil race in the entire setting, and that's no idle claim. For all [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|the Empire]], [[Bretonnia]]ns, [[Dwarf (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dwarfs]], [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|High Elves]], [[Wood Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Wood Elves]] and [[Lizardmen]]'s many flaws (and make no mistake, they ''are'' numerous) each of them has at least some claims to heroism that keep them out of being villains. Most undead are mindless automata executing their programming while their masters are usually capable of genuine love and altruism. [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dark elves]] are cruel and have a culture based on torture and slavery, but they are more driven by historical grievances and living in an inhospitable homeland, and can display family loyalty along with traits that some would call decent or even questionably heroic. Orcs and Goblins are violent brutes, but they'll develop what could be considered friendships and attachments to their fellows, and even the most brutal Black Orc will cry if his pet squig dies (Not in front of the other boyz though, because they'll all see him as nothing but a runty git). Or at the very least he will bash someone’s head into the ground, point is, he'll grieve. Ogres are well-known to be gluttonous and casually cruel almost to a man, but they usually still love their families and their Gnoblar pets, and any Maneater worth his salt is usually good for his word upon payment. Despite their propensities towards [[Khorne|killing]], [[Tzeentch|scheming]], [[Nurgle|festering]] and [[Slaanesh|raping]], the mortal followers of Chaos are capable of honor, friendship and a warped form of love. Even Daemons, who may or may not count as their own separate race, usually respect the chain of command without [[Drow|constantly trying to murder their leaders and take their place]]. And the Beastmen, who are also inherently evil like the Skaven, respect their chieftains and shamans, deal honorably with their few allies and give worthy foes a fair fight.

Skaven have none of the above qualities, or any other that could be considered even vaguely noble or redeeming: they openly hate everyone and everything, are more cowardly and paranoid than any goblin, more cruel and hostile than Dark Elves, and more fractious than Chaos. Love, friendship and honor are completely alien to the Skaven's psyche. Due to their chronic backstabbing disorder, nobody trusts them, likes them, or wants to be 'allies' with them (except Dark Elves, who have a treaty with them that both sides betray at times). The only times they have done something that benefited non-Skaven or the world, such as helping beat the first incarnation of Nagash, are due for purely selfish reasons - Nagash did his best to enslave them and deny them warpstone. One of the only three reasons the Skaven have lasted this long and not killed themselves in an ''en masse'' fratricidal free-for-all is because their hatred of all other things outweighs their hatred of other Skaven by '''''just enough''''' for them to slightly function (that and their crazy-high birthrates or the direct intervention of their god, who's little better than them). However the 'just enough' cannot be stressed enough. Even with the all-out doom of their race present, as with Nagash or Chaos, they're still intent on fucking each other over. <strike>If</strike> when possible, Skaven <strike>would</strike> will kill each other in the womb.

And that's why we love to hate them so much.

It should be noted that there is one non-evil one in [[Warhammer Adventures]], the Warhammer children's book series (yeah, that exists). Named Kreech, he's still the villain of that series, but by the standards of Skaven he's damn near a fucking Grail Knight. Screech actually lives in human culture, preferring it to his own people's, and has a 12-year-old human slave as his sidekick. Even in children's media they're utter bastards.

==So who are they?==
In a lot of science fiction going back to [[Starship Troopers]] and likely far earlier, there are races of [[Tyranid|Hive Creatures]]. Vast beings that may have separate bodies, but have one will. One Consciousness. Each "individual" soldier or worker is akin to someone's finger, or a cell on someone's fingertip, and is ultimately an expendable resource in service to the greater whole. All march in lockstep to expand the influence of the gestalt consciousness as far as possible, either assimilating or crushing anything they come across. The Skaven are the antithesis of this, though this fact in no way makes them nice.

The Skaven are a race of walking humanoid rats with dubious (but not to be underestimated) intelligence and a hideous feral cunning out to conquer the world in the name of their God, the Horned Rat, and also for their own personal gains. If there was one quality which defined their species, it would be raw unconstrained '''''selfishness'''''. By instinct, culture and the will of their asshole god, each Skaven is self-obsessed, paranoid, greedy, power-hungry, murderous and doesn't give a rat's ass (hehe) for their family or their race's well-being unless their own is at stake. They find the concepts of love, honor, loyalty and friendship to be so alien they can't comprehend them. In the prisoner's dilemma, they always defect. By nature, each of them is fundamentally evil, and this is not racism speaking here. To give context for this, a [[Skarsnik|greenskin]] in the End Times event was traumatized by the loss of his beloved [[Skarsnik#The_End_Times|Squig]], while no Skaven individual has ever, at any point, been shown to have an attachment to any living thing other than themselves. The closest they can get is the exceedingly rare example where a Skaven can understand that certain other individuals are tools worth cultivating and protecting from outside threats, and are assets too valuable to allow their casual destruction or squandering (see Gnawdwell and [[Queek Head-Taker]]). The only thing a Skaven hates more than other Skaven is creatures who are non-Skaven, and this gives the ratmen the vaguest ability to work together when they have a common enemy; otherwise they would fall on each other like, well, a pack of rats.

Skaven have an odd relationship with fear. On the one hand, cowardice is the order of the day. They definitely don't want to be sliced, stabbed, shot, skewered, squished, scorched or Slaaneshed. They'll face the perils of battle for the prospects of rewards, killing rival Skaven or non-Skaven (which they collectively call "Things") and because their bosses WILL have them killed horribly if they don't at least ''try'' to fight, but most Skaven have a reticence to enter battle unless the odds are decidedly stacked in their favor, and they're more prone to breaking and running if things go pear shaped. On the other hand, Skaven have a weird fondness for quick routes to power. If you give a Skaven a potion which has a 25% chance of killing them quickly, a 25% chance of killing them slowly, a 25% chance of doing nothing and a 25% chance of giving them the ability to breathe fire like a dragon, they'll usually take it.

Remember the saying about a bunch of monkeys with typewriters eventually producing Shakespeare? Well, at a species level they are sort of like that: keep throwing rats at the problem to try every cockamamie dunderheaded idea that said collection of drugged up hyperactive megalomaniacs desperate to get ahead can dream up until eventually they stumble on one that works, which others will shamelessly copy when it does. Each Skaven, be he a member on the Council of Thirteen or the lowliest of slaves who's used up and sent to the slaughterhouse, operates under the belief that they are the one true leader of the Skaven whose visionary insights would lead their species to domination of the universe in the name of the Horned Rat, if he can just gain the keys to power and overcome the short-sighted idiots which stand in his way. Introspection and self-reflection are not common Skaven traits, though some older Skaven like the aforementioned Gnawdwell and his former protege Sleek Sharpwit show that such qualities are possible, even if it’s ''exceedingly'' rare.

In terms of physiology, Skaven are shorter than humans, less bulky than them, slightly weaker (surprisingly not as much, considering the difference in size and mass), and generally "less" in every regard but one. Where they do pick up is speed: Skaven live their life in perpetual super speed with all its advantages and drawbacks - they move faster, think faster, breed faster and age faster, generally reaching adulthood at five months and growing old, gray and frail by the age of thirteen (though very few survive for that long). All that speed builds an almost insatiable appetite, and as they have no body fat reserves, they're '''always''' hungry, except maybe after the battle when they can eat the dead (of both sides). Skaven look unnervingly twitchy and energetic to other races (even Elves, who also have a kind of inherent superspeed), while Skaven see others as slow lumbering idiots. Like rats, the Skaven have a good sense of smell; it is stated by Teclis in [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] 2's high elves vortex campaign that they could smell fear and "treachery" from others. According to Teclis, the Horned Rat's rat swarm smelled through the fake Galifreius' disguises and went for her while ignoring Talarian. This being said though, Stormvermin (who are consistently well-fed and trained) tend to grow to the height and weight of a healthy man which may imply Skaven actually may be generally capable of growing to the dimensions of normal men, but few of them get fed enough to achieve this.

They live in a massive underground empire known as, well, the Under Empire (with the Horned Rat being the God Emperor, ironically far more successfully than the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|OTHER Emperor]]) which spans through the Warhammer world like the [[Underdark]]. The only regions it fails to reach are Ulthuan because it's a giant floating island and Athel Loren because the Skaven diggers get murdered by tree roots or the soil itself refuses to be touched. Its capital is called [[Skavenblight]], and is also one of the only visible signs of Skaven from the surface (because it is such an indescribable shithole), up until it was teleported to another dimension post [[End Times]] (it's still a shithole though). No one trusts them quite rightly, and few other races resist killing them on sight, which is reciprocated in kind. They are more numerous than any other race in the world, and only one enemy keeps them truly in check: themselves.

On a very amusing note, the Skaven are one of the rare examples of a race of furries actually liked by most of /tg/, because by all intents and purposes they are everything your average mary-sue furry self-insert is not: hilariously villanous, dirtily non-sexualized, full of character flaws and their actions are actually relevant and well implemented into some of the most important plot twists in the setting.

=== History ===
----

==== Warhammer Fantasy ====
No-one knows where they came from but it is suspected [[Tzeentch]] had a hand in their creation using Warpstone, a hideous amount of mutation, and generations of breeding with normal rats. (That is to say, breeding rats with other rats, not Tzeentch breeding with the rats. That's more [[Slaanesh]]'s thing.) The 7th edition Lizardmen army book states that they came about during the Great Catastrophe. There's a poem in the Skaven codex, dating all the way back to their first codex in 4th edition, called "The Doom Of Kavzar". Written in-universe by an author in the Warhammer world's equivalent of Italy, it offers what is generally accepted as the most concrete explanation of their origins. To summarize;

Humans and Dwarfs lived together in a city called Kavzar, and decided to build a Noblebright Tower of Babel rip-off to thank the gods for their prosperity. But even Dorf engineering couldn't complete it, so they got some mysterious grey-clad stranger to complete it in exchange of him being allowed to add a giant bell as a dedication to his own gods.
Upon completion, the temple sealed itself shut, the stranger disappeared, and terrible things happened after the bell rang thirteen times. The weather turned bad with constant Warpstone-laced rain, people got sick, babies were born dead or mutated, crops failed and rats multiplied while growing bigger and smarter. Older fluff said the stranger cursed the city because the people refused to give him money as well for finishing the temple, newer fluff just makes him out to be evil and mysterious.
Every day, the bell rang thirteen times. Rain became hail, then hail became meteor showers. The rats kept growing to the point that swarms of rats started preying on humans. Realizing things were becoming [[Dwarf Fortress]], the humans asked the Dwarfs for help.
The first time the Dwarfs turned them down after calling them wimps for complaining about rain. The second time they were rebuffed was due to the rats eating all the Dwarfs' food. The third time the surviving humans got desperate and smashed open the Dwarf gates to demand their help... only to find bearded Dorf skeletons and well-fed, but still hungry, hordes of rats and the poem ends with them swarming and eating the last surviving humans.

tl:dr a [[wizard]] met [[human]]s and [[dwarf]]s, someone was swindled so magic happens that turns rats into tyranids.
And the rest, is history...

Notable this story appears to be known in universe. [[Vermintide 2|Victor Saltzpyre]] mentioned a reference to it at one point in Vermintide.

Incidentally, this isn't the only theory presented to their origins, but it's the one most gamers take as canon. Some in-universe origin theories mentioned in the 6e fluffbook "The Loathsome Ratmen and Their Vile Kin" include:
* An Imperial naturalist named Wilfried Schtutt argued that the skaven descend from rats warped into a semblance of the human form by some malign external power, such as [[Chaos]].
* A Tilean classicist, Marcelli Verdallo, argues that the skaven are living proof of the ancient philosopher-sage Proti's theorem that all things in the universe are created by the mystical interactions of cosmic archetypes from beyond time and space, being the fruit of some union between the archetypes of Rat and Man.
* Johannes Krueger's Bestiarium mentions an ancient Estalian legend wherein shipwrecked survivors turned to cannibalism and were cursed by Manann, the Sea God, assuming rat-like forms.

Also there are a few [https://i.imgur.com/FWzQkHn.jpg other origin] stories.

It is said that after their creation, Skaven spread across the world, [[Ikit Claw|learning many cultures, stealing technologies and magic techniques that could help them in their conquest for Skavendom or personal power]]. Namely the Clan Pestilens who traveled southward and westward and ended up in Lustria, Clan Eshin who traveled eastward and ended up in Cathay, Clan Moulder who traveled northward and established a stronghold in some backwater hellish landscape known as the Hellpit near Kislev and Norsca.

Further evidence that the Doom of Kavzar is the canon origins of the Skaven is that the poem's author was assassinated by [[Clan Eshin|means unknown in-universe]] and copies of the poem keep disappearing. Plus their capital city, Skavenblight, is all but stated to be Kavzar (the tower with the bell being the headquarters of the Grey Seers). This makes them a surprisingly old race, as they were actually well-established before the rise of the [[Tomb Kings]] as the undead rulers of Khemri - in fact, they had a grubby little paw in that whole sordid affair.

It was the Skaven that supplied Nagash with many slaves and warriors such as savage orcs for him to kill and raise. It was the Skaven that helped Nagash to poison the River Vitae, unleashing a magical plague to devastate every living thing in Nehekhara. It was also the Skaven who betrayed Nagash by assisting the human Alcadizaar in his defeat, which resulted in the rise of the Tomb Kings since Nagash was no longer around to control the dead Nehekharans. So, aside from the Dark Elves who taught Nagash the [[Warhammer Magic|Lore of Darkness magic]] that would eventually evolve into the necromancy all [[Vampire Counts|vampires]] love, and the [[Tomb King|Nehekharans]] hate, the Skaven were the ones that supported Nagash, making him powerful and undefeated. (This is because every time Nagash died, he re-spawned back to his black pyramid. Although it takes a fuck load of time for him to actually get up, it allows him to grasp the mortal world while preserving his existence. Also the pyramid itself is indestructible so he has no need to trust anyone to guard it.) In the end, they still betrayed him for their own selfish desires. Classic Skaven.

The Skaven have been popping out numerous times across history, trying to weaken the forces of order to favor themselves in the long run. For example, they appeared during one of the Norseman invasions, when Sigmar was still around. In fear that Sigmar's Empire might threaten their very existence, they tried to use the invasion as an opportunity to destroy mankind, but failed nonetheless thanks to the Dwarfs that were blocking their tunnels.

After that, the Skaven didn't lay a hand on the Empire until after their own civil war. It was at this time that Clan Pestilens developed a new disease called the Black Plague (nice real life reference [[Games Workshop|GW]]), spreading it among the Empire's population. The plague not only killed and reduced its population to less than half the size of the generation before, it also killed the current Emperor (AKA the worst Emperor, who was actually killed by an Eshin assassin's shuriken, but who cares) and every other corrupt noble in his hideout, and good riddance some say. The Skaven then launched their attack after the plague weakened the Empire, but were stopped by a pretty cool guy named Mandred von Zelt of Middenland, who gathered the rest of the elector counts and launched an anti-Skaven crusade. Ironically, the black plague played a major role in many of Mandred's victories, since the disease affected the Skaven rat bodies as well, weakening the Skaven army and killing enough of them to force their retreat. In the last battle, the Skaven launched their last counterattack, only to fail after their leader, Vrrmik, the warlord of Clan Mors and a member of the Council of Thirteen, was slain by Mandred. The rest of the vermin were then driven back to their Under-Empire by the Empire’s forces while suffering under their own plague from the war. What's worse for the Skaven was that the slaves they bought ended up revolting, and destroyed several already plague weakened clans while Mandred, who was declared the Emperor and sporting Vrrmik's own helmet at the time, rebuilt the Empire. The process was faster than the Skaven could expect, with the humans even installing the sewer watch to prevent further Skaven movement on the Empire. After such a humiliating defeat, the Council received many compensation notices from other disease ridden clans. But the Council decided to just assassinate them all, including our beloved Emperor rat slayer, and called it even. The assassination made mankind forget about the Skaven, even dismissing them as myth.

The Skaven are also pretty famous on [[Cathay|the eastern side that]] [[Nippon| Games Workshop refuse to talk about]]. Clan Eshin's ancestors once journeyed far to the east, losing contact with its society for 100 years. When they came back however, they had learned the art of NINJUTSU from some jerk-off at [[Nippon]] where they have skilled rats throwing shuriken, and frigging ninja flipping better than [[Gabriel Angelos|the Chapter Master Gabriel Angelos]]. In [[Cathay]], some filthy beastman and a Sun Wukong wannabe become the Emperor of not-China and took an Eshin Skaven warlord as his right hand man. Thus began an unhealthy relationship of trading warpstones and rat shit, which means either the Cathay Emperor is nuttier than a warp fruit cake (which should be obvious since the new Emperor was mentioned to be a fucking magical monkey beastman, or probably something worse if he is also like Wu Kong born from the meteor except the meteor is made of warpstones), or Eshin Skaven are ''slightly'' more trustworthy than the rest of Skaven. (If you believe [[Total_War:_WARHAMMER#Skaven|Total War]], they are; they're the only clan that doesn't have to deal with warlord loyalty.) It might be true depending on how [[weeaboo]] the Eshin has become; if you look up on real world ninja, they do tend to be surprisingly loyal compared to what you might think. However, one could say that the eastern legion don't really have any experiences with Skaven betrayals, plus the Skaven did assist the Chaos Dwarves in the End Times to siege Cathay during the [[End Times]], meaning everything the Skaven did in Cathay was but a diplomatic ploy to fool the Cathayan.

As if the Skaven aren't popular enough, they have the operation worldwide. There is Clan Pestilens in Lustria, who like to infect themselves with diseases that Nurgle doesn't approve of, and throw feces at lizard-things for the lulz. Some of the rats made it into Naggaroth (probably as slaves or a few via the under-Empire) while trying not to provoke the wrath of [[Malekith|the strongest mama's boy in Warhammer history]]. The only place they could never set their foot on would be Ulthuan, which is a giant continent that floats on top of the water and obviously can't be connected to Skavenblight via tunnels. It's regardless just too scary for the rat-things to deal with: flame spewing dragon-things, elf-things that shoot rains of arrows from far away, and mages that have the power to summon a [[exterminatus|giant bombardment of nukes from the sky]].

The Skaven themselves have no records of their origins, and do not particularly care about their past. As far as they are concerned, the only relevant historical eras are "now, when we don't rule the world" and "soon, when we will be ruling it". Of course, any given Skaven will be plenty interested in the history of his own life, but the history of the rest of their race is dismissed as unimportant. On day to day affairs, history is whatever the Council of 13 says it is, though it wouldn't be surprising if Grey Seers keep records.

==== Age of Sigmar ====
The Skaven survived the end of the old world by teleporting [[Skavenblight]] to another dimension. When the Horned Rat became the Great Horned Rat he immediately drew Skavenblight into the Warp and created more of his Daemons. What followed was a golden age for the Skaven, where there was Warpstone everywhere to be found, they had the direct blessing of the Great Horned Rat, and unlimited space and potential around them. They then promptly did the impossible and somehow dug so deep that part of the Warp collapsed into Skavenblight which collapsed into the material realm which is now made up of eight "nearly infinite" planes made of the former Winds of Magic.

Skaven now have access to all of reality at once, and can create realm-spanning 'Gnawholes' everywhere from beneath Sigmar's throne to beneath Khorne's throne. As can be expected the tunnels are not stable and thus only the Skaven are willing to use them, as even immortal and deathless Daemons can somehow vanish into the space between spaces never to be seen again when Skaven are involved. This doesn’t mean that the Gnawholes are completely safe for the rat kin though. Just the process of constructing one of these inter-dimensional tunnels costs tens of thousands of <strike>lives</strike> slaves, and when the Gnawhole is complete, there’s a good chance that the big brains in charge of the project were off on their calculations. So instead of tunneling directly into [[Cities of Sigmar|Hammerhal]], you instead end up in the middle of no where or an active volcano.

Skaven have also had an exponential population boom, which is impressive considering they damn near outnumbered insects in the old setting. Each of the four former great clans from the Old World is alive and kicking <strike>eachother</strike>, containing billions of Skaven and even entire clans. A fifth great clan is Verminus, an especially numerous and martial clan (the techy/monstery/sneaky/stinky niches were taken so someone's gotta make Stormvermin their thing).

However, Skryre, Pestilens, Moulder, Eshin and Verminus were not always the only Great Clans. In the age of Myth, there were said to be as many as 13 great clans (probably like 9 or 10 but the Grey Seers rounded up). What happened to the rest? A couple of examples:

* Clans Tichritt attempts launches an invasion of Thandria, a Sigmarite nation. It may as well be Russia in winter with the pantheon of Order united - Tichritt is annihilated.
* Clan Ikk does well during the tumult of the age of chaos, gaining a momentous ''four'' seats on the Council of Thirteen which sparks civil war with the equally ascendant Clan Verminus. Verminus enlist the help of Clan Pestilens to spread an epidemic of frothjaw. The rabid rats get so erratic the other great clans temporarily unite to destroy them.
* Clans Shrykt dig a huge gnawhole and, one by one, its clans disappear through the portal. They were never heard from again. Maybe they left to join 9th age.

The increased scope of AoS lore has meant Skaven society is EVEN MORE chaotic and self-destructive than it was. And this lore makes a little more sense than their old world history: you can't expect such volatile societies to [[Warhammer 40000|maintain a millennia-long deadlock between the same four great powers.]] Still, the current status quo of vying great clans is not that different from the old world's coz... those are the models GW sells. The unknown great clans continue the trend of GW giving AoS lore lots of missing primarchs (deliberately left gaps for homebrew and headcanon). In the Age of Chaos, Pestilens profited greatly from their alliance with Nurgle. However, Order managing to push back against this smelliance has meant that the Clans Skryre is better poised to vie with Pestilens for pre-eminence on the council of thirteen. They'll probably work it out peacefully (by Skaven standards, meaning only several million rats will die).

Skaven continue to be fuck-ups at a scale never before witnessed. When Nagash attempted a great ritual of necromantic binding, it was sabotaged by the Skaven nibbling a power cord. Eshin agents had managed to open gnawholes in Nagash's great pyramid. Huge success for Skavendom? Well, maybe had another group not accidentally opened a gnawhole at the bottom of the Shyish sea. Blight City was decimated by a zombie-infested flood, like The Day after Tomorrow meets World War Z. Hilariously, the drained Shyish seabed revealed the soul-stealing [[Idoneth Deepkin]] to Nagash, Slaanesh and everyone else who was wondering about those mysteriously empty towns that smelled faintly of halibut.

The moral of the story is clear: you might be able to foil Skaven schemes but it's their fuck-ups you wanna watch out for.

=== Society ===
----

If you do not know much about rat social behavior, you might be surprised to learn it is fairly well developed and includes among other things evidence of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa16P4nFgD8 rodent altruism]. As you might expect, GeeDubs ignored it entirely to make the Skaven more grimdark and work on people's stereotypes of what rats are like rather than how rats interact. Skaven society is literally cutthroat when it comes to promotions (but luckily not [[PROMOTIONS]]). In a world where you have chaos warriors who can Honor the chaos gods by killing/raping/getting minions caught up and expended in complex plots, beastmen which are in a similar lot as chaos on top of animalistic aggression who still practice a survival-of-the-fittest pack-mindset based loyalty, orcs that are hardwired to love to scrap, goblins who are no strangers to backstabbing and dark elves who've literally made assassination and treachery an art the Skaven have managed to collect the gold medal in (f)ratricide. After receiving said award they promptly began killing each other to see which Skaven individual got to keep it; the conflict continues to this day, with no resolution in sight. The '''only''' reason why their society has not murdered itself into extinction is because of a very high reproductive rate. Despite their teamkilling tendencies they obey the Grey Seers, the prophets of their god the [[Horned Rat]]. Although this obedience is done purely out of fear, it is done without question. Except for the other Grey Seers.

==== Hierarchy ====
The Skaven race is ruled over by the [[Council of Thirteen]], Skaven of such evil they have been chosen by their vile god and manage to survive the constant threat of assassination, most likely because everyone is too afraid of these uber-ratman to go near them. Although they squeak big about their plans for world domination, they are too busy trying to outdo and kill each other. Despite the name there are only twelve Councillors; the 13th seat is symbolic and reserved for their god and woe betide anyone that tries to sit on it! To become a member of the council all any Skaven need do is touch the sacred Black Pillar and challenge a current member for his seat in a duel. In practice it has been over 200 years since someone actually manage to pull it off, which is a minor point in favor of the current crop of leaders on it, even though a large part of it is that touching the Black Pillar has a tendency to make Rats explode.

Beneath the council of thirteen are the Grey Seers and the Warlords. Horned, grey furred skaven pups are raised to be the priests and magic users of Skavendom that act on behalf of the council. Ironically enough the Skaven are more prone to throw around claims of [[HERESY]]! than the Sigmarite Empire. Not showing proper reverence to the Horned Rat brings down his wrath on the offender and everyone around him, so they take a dim view of anyone who misses their services. Secular Rodentism is not something which is going to catch on in Skavenblight. Warlords are those lucky rats that have managed through guile, luck, accomplishment on the battlefield and the elimination of rivals to get in charge of a Clan. Sometimes you get a Grey Seer warlord with his own clan, but that's usually the exception. There is a hard cap on 169 Grey Seers at any one time, though there are a bunch of apprentices waiting in the wings for one to die. Skaven being Skaven, one of the mos popular pass times of said novices is making slots available through assassination.

Beneath them, you have an upper crust of prominent individuals within the clans: Warlock Engineers, Master Molders, Plague Priests, Assassins, Chieftans, high ranking officers and so forth. Either through command of some arcane skill or having armed rats behind them they have wealth, better accommodations, hosts of underlings and regular access to breeders. Underneath them are those with a modicum of cultivated value: the merchants, the technicians, the packmasters, the rank and file of the Stormvermin, the apprentices to the great ones, the Gutter Runners, the overseers, skilled workers and so forth. All of which have to some degree or another got their position by struggling tooth and claw and are with it some measure of power and authority. Most of them rose from the Clanrats. Those poor bastards live in poverty packed up like sardines and have to work hard for their daily Skavenbread™ and fight tooth and claw to keep what little they've amassed. But even these wretched rats have it better than the Slaves. They are the remnants of defeated clans, the pups deemed surplus to requirements if not quite bad enough to be culled, those that earned the ire of their overseers and those whose power struggles failed them and avoided being killed. Their status is somewhere between that of a native in the Belgian Congo and a Pig in a Factory Farm. Clanrats may be exploited but Skavenslaves are actively worked to death, thrown at the enemy to absorb arrows and are fed a meager diet of scraps, garbage and each other. That's when they are not being taken to the butcher's block so their betters can enjoy a meat dinner and and have some leather. The best they can hope for is that a good deal of their superiors fuck up and die or that their clan conquers another leading to enough shuffling in the org chart that they can get promoted to clanrat status. But while clans do wax strong and skavendom produces a lot of said fuckups it also burns through skavenslaves like nobody's business.

Two key facts of this hierarchy are ''Shit Flows Downhill'' and ''The Rodent Staircase''. To a high ranking Skaven everyone else is a rival, either an immediate threat or a potential one just waiting for the right moment to make its move against you, so keep a lid on them if you can. Subordinates are to be given the minimum they need to accomplish their tasks, some rewards if they exceed expectations, and nothing else. If they step out of line they can be beaten. If they cause too much trouble they can be replaced with some up and coming Rat eager to not be a skavenslave. If things are going badly for you, assert your dominance with a show of force. Even if things are going well, you should put the fear of the Horned Rat into your underlings just to remind them who's boss to be on the safe side. This comes before the fact that Skaven are vindictive little shits that have no qualms about taking out their frustrations on others. A sternly worded Letter to a Warlord from the Council of Thirteen will lead him snapping at his second in command and will eventually manifest itself in clanrats biting the tails off Skavenslaves because they'd been the subject of the ire of their overseers and need to re-assert dominance.

Likewise if you want to get up (and between their megalomania and what the bottom is like ALL Skaven want to go up all the way), you need to not only excel or have some useful talent but also deal with the million other rats out there with the same ambitions. If you want to survive in the slave pits, shiv your neighbor and eat him to get enough calories so you'll have the strength to see another day. If the clawleader's favorite mug has gone missing, say the guy who's always admired it stole it to bring down the bosses wrath upon him so you have one less rival, the boss's wrath is directed elsewhere and if you happen to be right he just might throw you a bone for being (due to the lack of a better word) loyal. Apprentices could and should steal the ideas of their fellows to become Warlock Engineers Attempting to police the Skaven to stop such backstabbing is usually an exercise in futility, especially since whatever Police Rats you can scrounge up will inevitably engage in said activities on their own. Not that it matters much in most cases, there is always a fresh stream of replacements and those eager for dead rat's shoes. At most murder provides an excuse for removing individuals that they don't like in a move that is slightly less likely to spark the paranoia of your rivals. A good Skaven leader knows how to use this competition to keep his minions in line and to get the most out of them. A bad skaven leader is going to end up on the barbecue sooner rather than later. This is the case from birth, even for those whose role was determined at birth like grey seers and stormvermin have to fend off both ruthless instructors and backstabbing fellow applicants. Nobody is unscathed.

==== Misc ====
Although unintentional on the side of writers, there are circumstances where real life rats can become Skaven-like. In a series of social experiments involving overpopulation designed to see what effects human overpopulation in cities like New York or Tokyo could be paralleled, rat populations with far too many beings in far too small an area begin to go, as individuals, insane while the group becomes far more violent despite having more than enough food and water to sustain the entire population. When a high-density population that shows these behaviors is given more area to roam in by having another set of open cages attached or being shifted to smaller population cages, the behavior remains the same meaning the rats have been permanently mentally damaged; only with successive generations do they regain sanity. So in a way, Skaven have inadvertently made themselves fucking insane by choosing to live in horrible conditions and to overpopulate. Theoretically, saner and more level-headed (if not necessarily less evil) generations of Skaven could emerge if the species got access to more room and better conditions, and was completely removed from its old environment and the previous rats who inhabited it.

In fact, if the root of the Skaven's evil nature could be traced to both their terrible environment and the terrible culture that both feeds and feeds off of that environment rather than anything genetic, theoretically, there ''could'' actually be ''good'' Skaven if they were somehow separated from Skavenblight immediately after birth and raised outside of it by someone willing to give them a chance. However, seeing as how the primary…“engines” of Skaven reproduction are heavily guarded in the very heart of Skavenblight, and literally every other race in Warhammer is hard-wired to kill the mangy rat-bastards on sight (and with FUCKING good reason), such a thing will almost certainly remain purely theoretical. Especially since all that trouble would ultimately amount to little more than proving a petty point, with little to no real pay-off beyond making the Horned Rat personally pissed off at you (then again there are [[Tzeentch|some]] that might find ''that'' outcome a goal in and of itself).

=== Armies ===

==== The Rank and File ====
* '''Skavenslaves''': Large numbers of starved skavenslaves are thrown at the enemy's front lines with crummy scrounged up weapons for the enemy to waste arrows, bog down enemy movements and hopefully take down a few manthings by sheer numbers. Some lucky ones get to annoy the enemy at a range with slings, which is sort of a luxury as nobody else in the army can take them.

* '''Clanrats''': The basic Rank and File of a Clan with some armor and better weapons (swords, shields and spears). Better fed, more durable and less likely to run than Skavenslaves, but still cannon fodder that relies on numbers against all but the crummiest of foes. Various campaign supplements would expand on the basic Clanrat with unique variations for each Great Clan, like the Rotten Rodents of Clan Pestilens, who trade their shield for an extra hand weapon.

* '''Stormvermin''': Basic elite units for when you want something that has more staying power than Clanrats. Black furred pups are singled out to be soldiers. They get given extra food, ruthless spartan way training, better weapons and armor than the common riff-rats and take some pride in their units (which means that they are less likely to randomly stab their fellows in the back than most skaven and any failure to meet the standards is liable to get a stormvermin executed). The Clans [[Clan Mors|Mors]] and [[Clan Rictus|Rictus]] are known for their particularly nasty regiments of Stormvermin and regularly sell themselves to the other aspiring Warlords for a sizable sum.

*'''Chieftain''': The Skaven equivalent to a Greenskin Big Boss or Empire Captain. They serve under the Warlord as his enforcer and field commander. Usually it’s from this rank that new Warlords are “promoted”.

*'''Warlord''': Also called Clawlords in AoS, Warlords are not the best fighters of a Skaven Clan, but the most cunning. They lead the ravenous swarms of ratmen into combat from the safety of the rear lines. They get first pick of any loot they come across and play a constant game of 3D chess with their subordinates to make sure they keep their position...and their lives.

==== Specialists ====
*'''Poisoned-Wind Globadiers''': A elite corps of Clan Skryre clanrats trained in the usage of special glass spheres filled with toxic vapors. They lob said orbs at hordes of enemy troopers where they shatter disperse their poisonous payload into the air. To protect themselves, the Globadiers wear special breathing equipment on the (common) chance one of their globes is faulty. TWW2 introduces a more potent type of poison called the '''Death Globe''', whose toxins are harmful even with the slightest of skin contact. In AoS, they are renamed to '''Skryre Acolytes''' and function as interns for the various Engineers.

* '''Weapons Teams''': Clan Skryre’s bread and butter. A vast collection of various weapons all designed to be carried by a pair of skaven and have a staggeringly high rate of (explosive) failure. The '''Warp-Fire Thrower''' is a crude fire hose connected to a gas tank that spews a corrosive fluid that ignites upon exposure to air. It was created to melt through heavily armored dwarfen shield walls during their first wars against the beard-things. '''Ratling Guns''' are the skaven’s take on real world gatling guns; six barrels of rapid fire warpstone bullets all powered by a hand crank. Said cranking mechanism is prone to overheating and explosion should the gunners get too eager on the spinner. For more precise weaponry, the '''Warplock Jezzail''' provides. It’s an oversized rifle held in place by a rickety shield and built to deliver lethal warpstone bullets into the heads of an enemy leader from miles away. A '''Doom-Flayer''' is what happens when you take the Green Goblin’s pumpkin bombs and turn it into an armored chariot. These bladed balls were originally meant for tunnel clearance and mowing down pesky dwarf battle lines. Similarly, the '''Warp-Grinder''' was also initially made for utility purposes, serving as a quick means of excavating new underways, though it was soon repurposed for drilling into armored units and bastions. Finally the '''Poisoned Wind Mortar''', the grown up version of the Globadier, these mini artillery pieces launch lethal spheres of toxic fumes across the battlefield to choke the lives out of enemies, though it is the only weapons team to not make the jump to Age of Sigmar, for some goddamn reason. And naturally there’s also the '''Death Globe Mortar''' in TWW2 as well.

*'''Night Runners''': The initiates of Clan Eshin. Having yet to fully grasp the importance of discipline, stealth, and basic fucking patience, they run headlong into enemies throwing sharpened metal stars and knives at them (likely Naruto running and shouting attack names as well). They do have their uses though, serving as excellent skirmishers thanks to their ranged attacks and natural agility.

*'''Gutter Runners''': Those lucky few Night Runners who survive their first battle and learn how to stand still are soon claw-picked to become Gutter Runners. These elite teams are the main agents of Clan Eshin you’ll find. Often hired for sabotage, espionage, eating fromage, and of course assassination. TWW2 adds an even more elite variant of the Gutter Runners called the '''Death Runners''', who are noted for having zero armor and simply dodging most attacks.

*'''Assassin''': Pretty straight forward. Picked from the most elite of Gutter/Death Runners, these expert killers are so feared among the Under-Empire that rumors spread about them having special abilities, from squeezing into a coin sized hole to having a poisonous shadow. Outlandish that may sound, Clan Eshin isn’t one to confirm or disperse these rumors.

*'''Eshin Sorcerer''': One of the ninja clan’s better kept secrets. In addition to being rigorously trained in the arts of murder and sabotage like the other initiates, these Skaven are capable of wielding their own unique magic called the Lore of Stealth (likely a mixture of Shadow magic and the standard Skaven Lore of Ruin). As expected, the Nightlord doesn’t want too many people to know about their existence (Grey Seers in particular), so much so that they vanished from the lore and tabletop for a while...until TWW2 brought them back into the limelight.

*'''Packmaster''': Part slave-driver, part animal tamer, Packmasters are adepts of Clan Moulder who specialize in the “care” of their menagerie of beasts. Often recruited from the most bully like Skaven, they are cruel and relentless with their whips and spiked prodders which double as a means of defense as well as way to encourage their monsters to fighter harder. Some also are known to carry large snapping claws on pole arms called thing-catchers, which they eagerly use to grab new test subjects whilst on the battlefield.

*'''Giant Rats''': The most common/simple of Clan Moulder’s monsters. They’re just big ass rats, usually the size of a small domestic dog. They are herded into massive swarms by their Packmaster(s) to drown the foe in furry bodies.

*'''Pox Rats''': A step up from the Giant Rat, these boar sized rodents are commonly used as mounts for various Skaven leaders, though as their sickly name suggests, the Plague Priests of Clan Pestilens are particularly fond of them.

*'''Rat Ogres''': The premier product of Clan Moulder. Through a fusion of skaven, [[Ogre Kingdoms|ogre]], and countless other beasties, a hulking monstrosity was born. Ill-tempered, violent brutes who serve as shock troopers/bodyguards for skaven armies. Like actual ogres, they are very strong but also quite dumb. Despite this, they can be equipped with several rudimentary upgrades and weapons for more specialized needs. During the End Times, Clan Skryre improved upon the base Rat Ogre and created the even more dangerous '''Stormfiend'''. By adding a secondary brain via an tiny ass skaven slave to the beast’s back, they can now operate more advanced weaponry, such as warp fire projectors, shock gauntlets, rattling guns, and many more, while still keeping the same base level instincts and loyalty they are known for.

*'''Brood Horrors''': What happens when you cram a bunch of starved Pox Rats into an enclosed area and leave them alone for a while? Well eventually only one of them remains having swallowed whole all of its packs mates and bloated to monstrous sizes. It has now become a Brood Horror, a hideously mutant creature that’s either used as a stand alone monster or as a mount for the most daring of Warlords.

*'''Hell-Pit Abomination''': And you thought the Brood Horror was grotesque. Named after the capital warren of Clan Moulder, the Hell-Pit Abomination is a Frankenstein fusion of left over body parts, machinery, and gallons of liquid warpstone given unholy life. No two Abominations are quite a like, though they all have the general shape of a massive multi-headed centaur-rat.

*'''Plague Monks''': The zealous followers of Clan Pestilens. Less armored than a Clanrat, these ragged devotees rush into battle with filth encrusted robes and rusted blades while chittering prayers and wishes to the Horned Rat. Each one is infected with enough viruses and sickness that just being in the vicinity of them is detrimental to your health. They gladly throw themselves onto foes to smother them in corruptive ilk and often carry tomes full of various litanies and vows to their pestilential deity.

*'''Plague Censer Bearers''': The more rabid Plague Monks who don’t become Plague Priests will often be given the “privilege” of carrying large censer flails that are blessed with filth and constantly emit toxic fumes. They then rush headlong into combat swinging their weapons to create a noxious cloud of gas, invigorating their brethren and smothering their enemies. Much like the similar in concept Night Goblin Fanatics, Plague Censer Bearers have a short life expectancy as the fumes are so toxic that it can even kill the rats of Clan Pestilens, albeit very slowly.

*'''Plague Priest''': Looking more like champions of [[Nurgle]] rather than skaven, these pox-filled vermin are the heads of the Pestilent Brotherhood. They lead vast congregations of sickly followers on a holy mission to corrupt the world in the name of the Great Horned Rat. The most distinguished Priests often ride into battle upon massive '''Plague Furnaces''', a rickety siege engine centered around a giant swinging censer, constantly filling the air with toxic warpstone fumes. These fumes invigorate the warriors of Clan Pestilens and choke the life out of all others.

===Clans===
Skaven organize themselves into Clans, through which they organize their backstabbing. The individual backstabs for position within a Clan, the Clan backstabs for position in Skaven society.

There are many Clans, far more than any being other than the Horned Rat (presumably) knows. Clans rise, fall, split, infight, reform, and even ally constantly. Each Clan seeks to have one of their members in a position in the Council of Thirteen, which runs the business of their entire race.

The [[Council of Thirteen]] is conveniently organized like a clock, with 13 at the 12 position which is representative of the Horned Rat. Members are called Lords of Decay. Each position is more powerful within the Council based on their proximity to the Horned Rat, so the Lords of Decay at the 1 and 12 position are the two most powerful, 2 and 11 behind them, while the Lords of Decay at the 6 and 7 positions are the weakest. Each Lord of Decay can outright veto the position of the one opposite them. Each Lord of Decay has their position marked by a symbol, either that of themselves or that of their Clan. The Lords of Decay have thus far remained in power for most of the existence of the Council thanks to the life-prolonging Warpstone they use (so Skeksis), although they rise and fall in power.

Skaven Clans fall into three categories: Great Clans, Warlord Clans, and Thrall Clans. The four Great Clans are extremely powerful, and epitomize the different aspects of Skaven society (Each Greater Clan later became a type of Clans in [[Age of Sigmar]] due to an exponential population boost). Warlord Clans are essentially the middle class of Skaven, usually doing their own thing and not tied to any specific Great Clan. The Thrall Clans are weaker warrens that swear allegiance to a Great Clan to survive or grow in power. Of course thanks to Skaven backstabbing, a Thrall Clan is an expendable frontline infantry source while the Great Clans are just sources of really neat toys like Rat Ogres and Ratling Guns, and of course every Clan is waiting to betray each other while making allegiances to other Clans and to betray their REAL allies that they're of course waiting to be backstabbed by while totally being unaware of the fact that a fourth set of Clans have set up the backstabbing conga for their own benefit, and so on as far as you want to get into it (note: this describes a single day of plotting or so).

When fielding an army, one or two Clan paint jobs and multiple Thrall-Clan paint jobs are quite fluffy.

The four Great Clans are:
* [[Clan Eshin]], the ninja assassin Clan. {MURDER [[Lizardmen|ALL]] [[Dwarfs|OF]] [[Undead|THESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!]]}
* [[Clan Moulder]], the Clan which breeds monsters and sews them together Frankenstein style to make even better (by Skaven standards, slightly less volatile) monsters.
* [[Clan Pestilens]], the founder of the Pestilent Brotherhood and the largest and most powerful Pestilent Brotherhood member.
* [[Clan Skryre]], the Clan which produces Warp-powered Tesla cannons, machine guns, vehicles, and other assorted machines.

In addition, there are the [[Grey Seers]], silver furred Skaven with horns that represent the servants of the Council and the Horned Rat. They are above all Skaven other than the Lords of Decay and as a result tend to be somewhat free from the backstabbing conga, other than that of other Grey Seers. Any grey Skaven who do not have horns are part of the Council Guard, the elite warriors that protect the Council and the Grey Seers. However those Skaven that protect the Council of Thirteen directly are The Albino Guard, purely white furred giga-stormvermin.

{{Skaven-Clans}}

===Deity===
The Skaven worship their creator the [[Horned Rat]], a god as sickening and vile as they are. God of disease and vermin, thankfully he gets the crap kicked out of him by Sigmar and Sotek on a regular basis and frankly anyone that feels like having a go. He got fed up with such bullshit at the [[End Times]], telling the Skaven to stop backstabbing eachother and get shit done, which they proceed to do by destroying many cities. He also made a deal with the [[Chaos Gods]] as he cannot defeat them.

As of [[Age of Sigmar]], [[Slaanesh]] [[bullshit|was kidnapped]] by three Elf gods that were formerly mortals ([[Tyrion]], [[Teclis]], [[Morelion]]) at the manipulations of [[Tzeentch]] and the newly-appointed HNIC of all Chaos [[Archaon]]. This resulted in [[Nurgle]] and [[Khorne]] immediately voting with them to boot him out of the pantheon and the [[Great Game]] and promoting Horned Rat to proper Chaos God in his place. Horned Rat immediately renamed himself Great Horned Rat, but found out that the big kids table was full of backstabbing assholes with absolutely no respect for each other, and somehow even less for him. When the Chaos Gods gave Archaon their blessings, Archaon rejected the Horned Rat's blessings and spat directly in his face for daring to presume GHR can bless the self-righteous ass that is Archaon(Though this could just be Archaon not having absolutely abysmal standards).

=== Magic ===
Skaven wield a form of Dark Magic fueled by [[warpstone]] and derived from their own inherently corrupt abilities. However, select kinds of skaven are capable of actually tapping that energy; traditionally, only the Grey Seers, rare mutants who function as the skaven's shamans and the Warlock Engineers of [[Clan Skryre]], who use [[magitek]] devices to draw upon and manipulate Dark Magic, possess this power, but that lore has fluctated over editions.

In 4th edition, Warlocks could be 1st to 3rd level casters, with Grey Seers being 4th level casters, and both used the same "Lore of Skaven" magic system.

In 6th edition, only Grey Seers were casters, still using the Lore of Skaven; Warlock Engineers instead had to spend points on magitek weapons that also allowed them to cast a single spell, ''Warp Lightning''. However, the optional rules for Great Clan armies in the back of the book also featured clan-based casters; these "lesser mages" were treated as level 1 casters who only knew a single pre-selected spell. Clan Eshin had Sorcerers (Skitterleap), Clan Pestilens had Festoring Chantors (Pestilent Breath), and Clan Moulder had Harbingers of Mutation (Vermintide). Clan Skyre's Warlock Masters could still only cast Warp Lightning, but could try and cast an 11+ variant that was much more powerful.

In 7th edition, things changed; now, Skaven had two different schools of magic - Ruin and Plague, with Warlock Engineers being Hero level casters of Ruin and Plague Priests getting an upgrade to be Hero level casters of Plague, with Grey Seers being Lord level casters who could mix and match spells from both lores, and had access to the unique "Dreaded 13th Spell", which could transform enemy troops into skaven clanrats.

"Children of the Horned Rat", the skaven sourcebook for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 2nd edition, tweaked the Skaven magical lores around. Naming the two primary schools of Skaven magic as Plague and Warp, it also upgraded Eshin Sorcerers to full-fledged casters, with their own unique school of magic; the Dark Lore of Stealth, a corrupt form of Shadow Magic that lets them do more animesque ninja stuff. As CotHR was written around the time of 6th edition, it doesn't quite mesh up with either 6e or 7e fluff; instead of being masters of all the skaven styles, it's implied (it's a little hard to ascertain) that Grey Seers only use Warp Magic, whilst Plague Priests and Eshin Sorcerers only use Plague Magic and Stealth Magic respectively. Warlock Engineers, meanwhile, can't use magic at all, but instead can make unique magitek gizmos.

Also, CotHR says that rogue Grey Seers can learn Chaos Magic or Necromancy, although this paints them as skaven heretics.

=== Army ===
Skaven are your <strike>standard</strike> easily abused horde army. Lots of cheap vermin, whose numbers allow them to easily ignore their one theoretical weakness: shitty leadership, backed up by more expensive and/or specialized units, that are in theory unreliable but will still wreck your shit moar consistently than most anything else by sheer volume. Also, DOOMWHEELS.

<strike>Under current rules</strike> they <strike>are</strike> have always been considered overpowered, except for a brief period where DoC reigned thanks to your [[Matt Ward|Spiritual]] [[Spiritual Liege|Liege]]. They have now reclaimed their mantle, since 8th edition heavily favors mass infantry blocks, and the Skaven can easily throw out a block of 100 models for less than what some other armies will spend on a lord, no, I'm not exaggerating, which under the current rules is virtually unbeatable.

=== Special Characters ===
====Wargame====
The cast of Skaven special characters has shifted and flowed across editions, but this is the original list from 4e:
* [[Verminlord]]
* Grey Seer [[Thanquol]]
* [[Lord Skrolk]], Plaguelord of Clan Pestilens
* [[Ikit Claw]], Chief Warlock of Clan Skryre
* [[Throt the Unclean]], Master Mutator of Clan Moulder
* [[Deathmaster Snikch]], Chief Assassin of Clan Eshin
* [[Queek Head-Taker]], Warlord of Clan Mors

6th edition saw the creation of a handful of new characters, whose stats appeared either in [[White Dwarf]] or on Games Workshop's website - back before they turned it into a mere shopping center. In addition to converting many 4e characters who'd been left out of their 6e army book, such as Snikch and Ikit Claw, 6e saw the creation of:
* [[Ghoritch]], Castellan of Hell Pit
* Warlock Master [[Klawmunkast]] and his [[Steam Tank|Rat Tank]].
* Plague Lord [[Morbus Sanguis]]

7th edition added two new characters to the list:
* Beastmaster [[Skweel Gnawtooth]]
* Chieftain [[Tretch Craventail]]

====Fluff-only, Other Games, Other Continuities====
[[Image:Reverse Furry And His Pet.png|thumb|200px|right|Somehow worse than legit Skaven!]]
* Kreech: FUCK, I thought we agreed never to mention him again. Exists in Age of Sigmar to be the PG version (no depicted cannibalism, drug addiction and mass murder) of Thanquol to the pacifist protagonist adolescents of [[Warhammer Adventures]], is a complete weeb for humans, and has a slaveboy from the Realm Of Beasts named Scratch.
* Sneek Scratchett: a scribe from the [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] continuity who serves as your chosen faction's mission control during the Vortex campaign. MST'd the sequel's reveal trailer and wears a small pair of glasses, though whether he actually needs it or likes-prefers the look is known only to him.
* Vulskreek: a Grey Seer also from TWW and Sneek's supervisor, and regularly bosses Sneek around as all Skaven higher-ups do. After the Black Pillar forsees great things for the Horned Rat, Vulskreek's put in charge of mobilizing the ratmen to do their god's bidding, but the Grey Seer's also working on orders known only to the Council...

=== Fun Facts ===
* They consider the number thirteen to be lucky/holy. This a reference to how thirteen is seen as unlucky in Western society. However, several real-life nations/cultures consider thirteen a lucky number.
* Grey Seers regularly ride giant bells on scaffolds into battle
* [[DOOMWHEELS]]
* in ye olden days they could be led by friggin master splinter! im not kidding this was a thing
* Their leaders lead from the back, to get a better view of the battle of course and not due to the meatshield tactic.
* They can improve anything, with the addition of magical radiation rocks!
**This may or may not involve improving themselves by snorting said rock.
* GIANT LIGHTNING CANNONS
* Backstabbing little bastards, they'll fuck you up five different ways without you even knowing about it, if you're lucky.
* Skaven do not abide by any codes of honor or battle etiquette, and as such, they WILL bring a gun to a swordfight (and even then they'll try to steal your sword beforehand (and poison you (and improve themselves with warpstone before (aaaaand the gun might be a DOOMWHEEL)))).
* Skaven have a combination of ego and incompetence that would make [[Transformers|Starscream]] look down his nose at them. (Bad comedy right there)
* Skaven do NOT think about the potential consequences of ''anything'' that they do. Taken to its logical conclusion in [[The End Times]] when '''they blow up the motherfucking Chaos Moon''' and nearly destroy the planet with moon-fragments.
* At one point they had the cheapest troops in any game setting. How cheap? It was measured in ''fractions of a point!''
* They can carry giant rocket launcher weaponry that will most likely explode in their own damn faces.
* RATLING GUNS! its as cool as they sound! and yes, it does what it says on the tin
* for the last time, master splinter did NOT teach all of clan Eshin how to all be ninja rats...only a few
* As of Total Warhammer II, Skavens can into space. (No, seriously, go play the campaign!)
* BTW, they also have sniper rifles. Warpstone rifles of instant brain pop, yes-yes

== Thematic Stuff ==
In Warhammer seriousness and farce walk hand in hand. Some factions are in general more jokey like the Greenskins and others are more somber like the Druchii, but all of them are capable of both. This is especially true of the Skaven. On the one hand, they're a malignant horde of self centered sociopaths in which every twisted manifestation of this fact is explored driven on by a malevolent deity spreading underground like a cancer who surge forth to lay waste to the realms of men leaving nothing behind but ruins and gnawed bones are ultimately responsible for bringing about the End Times. On the other hand they're a species of Cartoonish Ratguys with Mad Science super-weapons, Ninjas and and convoluted plots that often blow up in their filthy faces with odd verbal ticks which are despite it all can sometimes be, well, cute.

The Skaven have no direct counterpart in Warhammer 40,000. In of itself this is not unprecidented. After all the neither do the Lizardmen or Vampire Counts and on the same note you don't have any Tau or Tyranids having raves in Athel Loren keeping the wood elves up. Even so, they do seem to be a natural fit. After all, they are one of the most technological factions and it's not a huge leap to imagine their space fleets and similar. They're also GW original content, so why are they not a thing? One possible answer is that while they could fit into 40k, they would be kind of redundant. Simply put the role of Theocratic Empire with cutthroat internal politics ruled through fear, driven by hatred of The Other on which a small priviledged elite rules over a vast ocean of individuals living cheek to jowl in huge labyrinthine warrens either as disposable factory workers or soldiers expended like ammunition [[Imperium of Man|is already filled in 40k]]. In fact the parallel may be more direct then accidental given that there are explicitly 13 high lords of Terra, same as the 13 lords of the Skaven council. The Empire of Man is not The Shire or some other idealized fantasy utopia, but on the same note in of itself it's not actually that bad by the standards of the era it was based on. Most of it's big problems are external (chaos, greenskins, druchii, whatever) and most of the crappiness you'd find in it is the sort of stuff you'd find in basically every early modern state along with the virtues there-of. It just so happens that those flaws get magnified a million fold once it territory can be listed in 'light years'.

== DIE-DIE MAN-THINGS! ==
The above sentence clearly illustrates the quirks of skaven language (which is titled Queekish): they often say certain monosyllabic words twice (words like "die-die" and "fool-fool" are popular). Skaven are also known to link similar-related words together.
[https://forums.totalwar.com/discussion/199375/on-skaven-jitter-speak-in-game-2 Some people believe these things should only be done to the most important part of a sentence. However, in some official works, such as Total Warhammer II, these quirks are applied seemingly at random in skaven speech.]

Also, they often end the name of a species with the suffix -things, so men are man-things, dwarfs are dwarf-things, et cetera.

This helps indicate that non-Skaven are not people in their eyes. Although considering their backstabby natures it isn't as if they're trying to avert sense of shame or horror from killing others, which is why humans dehumanize during war... so why? Likely the Skaven equivalent of racial slurs.

==Female Skaven==
[[Image:Female skaven.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Canon image of a female Skaven.]]
[[Image:Skaven female cheerleaders.jpg|thumb|250px|left|The closest thing to a female Skaven model to come out of Games Workshop.]]
The skaven as a whole fit the idea of "ratmen" - with particular emphasis on the ''men'' part. All named skaven characters are male, and new fans invariably wonder; what about females? Where do skaven come from?

There was never any great emphasis placed on them. Indeed, they were left so ambiguous that the first ever description of skaven females actually came about as a result of one fan's fanfiction, during those hoary days when [[Gnome#Gnomes_in_Warhammer|Gnome]]s and [[Half-Orc]]s were still canon. In "[https://the-eye.eu/public/Books/rpg.rem.uz/Warhammer/Fantasy/Roleplay/1st%20edition/Skaven%20-%20Book%20of%20the%20Rat.pdf The Book of the Rat]", a fan-made netbook of skaven lore for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 1st edition, female skaven were stated to exist but were hugely oppressed; they were kept as sexual slaves in segregated chambers of the warren, to which only the clan's elites were allowed access. Kept in miserable conditions, their life consisted of nothing but rough sex, pregnancy and looking after their mewling ratlings. Female skaven were described as rarer than male skaven, partially due to biology, primarily because their mothers and the bitter, infertile/elderly midwives tended to be particularly callous towards the female offspring and so female skaven have a much, ''much'' higher mortality rate than the males.

When we got official lore, however, it turned out to be far worse... when the first ever Warhammer Armies: Skaven sourcebook was released, way back in Warhammer 4th edition, fans were presented with what is the earliest known mention of skaven females: a single line describing them as being "indolent" and "semi-intelligent" in the general Skaven entry in the bestiary section (page 50). Modern lore, established in the Skaven's 6e army book and preserved since then, built upon this singular line and is considerably more [[grimdark]] than the fanon presented in "The Book of the Rat": female skaven are horrific monsters, implied to be basically female [[Giant Rat]]s of enormous stature, who build upon their description in 4e by being described as feral, effectively non-sapient creatures. They are basically giant wombs, locked away separately from the males and existing only to feed and produce offspring, so monstrously pregnant and indolent that their limbs have atrophied, rendering them incapable of doing anything but wallow in the breeding pits.

Further female skaven lore, such as it is, was fleshed out by Black Library fiction and most prominently by ''Children of the Horned Rat'', a skaven sourcebook for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 2nd edition. In CotHR, it's theorized that only one in ten skaven are female, reaching sexual maturity at the age of 2 and spending the rest of their 2 decades of life doing nothing but breed, averaging 12-24 pups a litter and 4-5 litters per year.

What's ''truly'' grimdark however, as explicitly stated in that same book is, that skaven females are actually <b>NOT NATURALLY LIKE THIS</b>; rather, their condition is the result of the skaven's malevolence and their need to [[fleshcrafting|"improve" upon nature]]; from a young age, skaven females are constantly dosed with Warpstone-based narcotics and hallucinogens, intended to keep them docile and segregated, so they will not protest their life of endless baby-making. There is a single line hinting that this may not be as effective as the male skaven think: "So cloistered away from the rest of their race are they that they do not learn their race’s chittering speech, nor are they proficient in even the simplest social skills…or so the Skaven believe." But still the vast majority of "Rat Mothers" spend their lives incessantly pregnant and in an interminable drug-fueled haze, often blind and/or crippled, and dependent on the ministrations of the "Ratwives" - castrated skaven who serve as nurses to the female Skaven themselves and midwives to their endless litters.

TL;DR: skaven females are practically furry [[Daemonculaba]].

Access to the females is carefully guarded. The most powerful of skaven are allowed to own one or more females for their private use - females are readily traded between clans as extremely valuable bargaining chips - and access to the communal females in the breeding pits is restricted to high-ranked or otherwise successful skaven; in one of the [[Gotrek & Felix]] novels, a Skaven is rewarded by his superior by being given permission to mate with one, whilst "Thanquol's Doom" features a skaven who partially lost his nose in an "incident" whilst mating with a breeder - apparently, she got too excited and tried to eat him.

The female Skaven's status as "bloated, indolent baby-makers" was referenced in the End Times. In "End Times: Thanquol", a Dwarf Slayer separated from the other during the battle of Karak Eight Peaks found his way into a Skaven breeding pit filled with hundreds of females in such a state, their litters and a handful of Ratwives. He killed the Ratwifes, the breeders and their litters, there being so many Skaven the Slayer's arms got sore from all the killing. Then the Slayer stumbled upon another breeding pit just as big, but by then Skaven soldiers had discovered what he did in the previous breeding pit so they swarmed him and slaughtered him. The End Times is the most recent lore on this, so it looks like the baby-factory fate is canon for most, if not all, female Skaven.

It bears mentioning that the status of the "breeders" does have some real-world basis to it. The rodent contains the only known eusocial mammals; the mole-rats, who live in colonies consisting of a single reproducing female with one (or up to three, for naked mole rats) reproducing males reigning over a large brood of sterile offspring that work as a collective to survive. In these cases, however, there are equal numbers of males and females, and it's the presence of a breeding queen and her pheromones that causes sterility into the younger mole-rats; if removed from her presence, they become fertile in turn.

It also bears mentioning that, in [[Blood Bowl]], the Skaven team comes with cheerleaders who are non-"Breeder" females, which you can tell because they have [[/d/|four big breasts each]]. But then, Blood Bowl also has [[Orcs & Goblins|fem-Orcs]], so its connection to canon of any edition after 3e is kind of dubious.

==Beastmen connection==
So, since this is a race made of humanoid rats empowered by [[Warpstone]] (which is officially described as being Chaos energy manifest), you may be wondering whether or not they're [[Beastmen]]. Well, the answer is that it kind of flips back and forth. Way back in the early editions, yes, Skaven were explicitly a break-away faction of relatively stabilised Beastmen, even pitching in with the Hordes of Chaos or spawning Chaos Champions of their own -- the "Design a [[Daemon Prince]]/Chaos God" rules in 3e's Slaves to Darkness - The Lost and The Damned even features a skaven turned Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided.

Since then, the connection has been downplayed extremely; the Empire generally describes Skaven (when they acknowledged they exist) as just "Beastmen who happen to look like rats", but there's no official connection between the two other than the fact Grey Seers have horns that signal them as important (a classically Beastman trait) and the fact both are animals mutated by Chaos-stuff.

==Warhammer 40k==
While no direct space Skaven exist, there are ratlike mutants described in the fluff, rat-worshiping cultists in [[Necromunda]], a [[mutant]] race called [[Ratlings]] which despite being more [[halfling]] than rat could be argued as a successor, <strike>the Imperial Guard itself which serves as uneducated and amoral xenophobes who are mass-bred and treated as currency by the Imperium with access to some nice and fancy toys which are more likely to cause teamkilling than damage to foes</strike> [[Blam|'''*BLAM*''' HERESY!]], and lastly there are the Tyranids who are 40k's version of ungodly numbers faction crossed with the [[Ogre Kingdoms]] motivation to eat everything in sight (though for different reasons). The [[Hrud]] used to be the Space Skaven, as in giant dieselpunk rat people, but that was pretty much retconned. They look different now (on the rare occasion they are mentioned in the fluff), so the only actual space Skaven are the Veer-Myn from [[Warpath]] by Mantic games. As usual, most of their models are, well not terrible, but not the greatest things ever, there is however great potential for a fantasy warlock engineer conversions. However, it does appear that the recent Skitarii model releases may have taken inspiration from the Skaven aesthetic (though not gameplay) with their many steampunk-styled weapons, most notably the Transuranic Arquebus and Radium Jezzail. Alternatively, the Genestealer Cults are a particularly close match gameplay-wise, with lots of ambushing troops and monsters backed up by armor and artillery.

==Models==
Skaven are one of the primary things in the Warhammer IPs that are actually unique to Games Workshop. As a result, its hard to obtain miniatures for them from third party companies, which is of particular irritation to Skaven players who want Skaven Slaves to actually look like downtrodden Skaven or those who refuse to give any more money to [[Games Workshop]].

However, [[Reaper Miniatures]] thankfully has begun to produce a "Wererat" range which includes decent alternatives to Rat Ogres, Assassins, a Verminlord, and even a female Skaven with six breasts for those wanting to have the most unique Warlord in the FLGS. This is in addition to the ordinary rat models, useful for spicing up scenery or large kits (or obtaining cheap Rat Swarms). These models are produced in the "Bonesium" material in the Bones line, which while being prone to bending badly is LUDICROUSLY cheap and completely safe from being dropped from any height onto any surface. Notably, some have taken to replacing the parts notorious for bending (weapons, especially spears) and replacing them with kitbashed weapons or even greenstuff. As far as the metal range goes, Reaper also produces Barrow Rats which can be useful as Pox Rats, Giant Rats, or Rat Hounds.

A further alternative source is [[Mierce Miniatures]], in particular their Vras faction of models. They have two warrior characters, more hamster-like than rat-like in proportions but with a paintjob serve as spectacular bloated disease-spreading characters (or just fat rat bastards). More importantly, Mierce has five large creatures that serve as [[Hellpit Abominations]] or as [[Verminlords]]. "Flint-Fang, Kill-Thing of the Infernal Pits" is preferred by some as an Abomination for its less Akira and more Frankenstein appearance (some praise or are horrified by its...anatomical correctness). "Back-Cracker, Goz-Horror" is an Abomination looking more like some kind of mad science genetic horror, while "Three-Faces, the Verminous Horror" takes the basic Games Workshop Abomination and replaces "steam-powered" with "tumor". "Scar-Claw, Rat Fiend" and "Scar-Scath, Vermin-Fiend" are alternative Verminlords, and thanks to the monopose nature of the End Times Verminlord kits make decent alternatives or just sources of kitbashing materials when fielding more than one.

[[Otherworld Miniatures]] produces both small rats and naked ratmen, although the latter sadly only come in two poses.

[[Mirilton]] Ratscum resemble Slaves or Clanrats, have ratmen gunners, and ratmen cavalry riding weasels, although the sculpts are in different proportions to the Skaven in many cases and resemble older Games Workshop models (this can be a bonus to some people however).

[[Curious Constructs]] produces weapon sets including a Gatling Gun, Mortar Launcher, and Flamethrower which could be kitbashed with any ratmen models to produce the various weapons teams of the Skaven.

[[Black Tree Design]] produces ratmen monks, assassins, warriors, a rat ogre creature, and rats in gas masks with poison bombs.

[[Impact Miniatures]] produce not-[[Bloodbowl]] ratmen models that require little to no alteration to become Skaven soldiers. Or that Skaven Blood Bowl team fielded as Stormvermin for a silly army.

[[Mantic Games]] produce not-Skaven known as [[Ratkin]] for their game [[Kings of War]].

Of course, Screaming Bells and Plague Furnaces can be made with balsa wood and the kinds of things one can find at any head shop or similar purveyor of hippie paraphernalia.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Skaven.jpg|The original Skaven Clans.
Image:SkavenNutshell.png|Pretty much any Skaven, pretty much all of the time.
</gallery>

==See Also==
* [[Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Skaven|Warhammer Tactics/Skaven]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Skaven]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Masterclan|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Masterclan]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Verminus|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Verminus]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clan_Moulder| Age of Sigmar Tactics/Moulder]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clan_Eshin|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Eshin]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Skryre|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Skryre]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Pestilens|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Pestilens]]
* [https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/57408867/ Sir Harumphington sets the record straight about these so-called "rat-men"]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BhV3CxvcF0/ Play this when a wave of rat men completely swamp your opponents army.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od06TLDO1CU/ “Underground” by Tom Waits, for any spelunking skaven.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaFIzPdxuF8 Every Skaven's idea of risk assessment in a nutshell]

==In Other Media==
While not ripped off as much as some of the other concepts Warhammer <strike>created</strike> expanded upon from existing sources, like Mesoamerican lizard people or Orcs/Goblins with green skin, Skaven have helped popularize rat people as a more standard fantasy race in a few places. Its theorized by some that the inclusion of [[Nezumi]] in the Asiatic settings of [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and [[Magic: The Gathering]] were inspired by the popularity of Skaven. Still, Skaven as a whole remain one of the most iconic things that are wholly unique to Warhammer. The League Of Legends character Twitch is clearly inspired by Skaven and has a line referencing them, although he lacks the insane flamboyancy compared to the setting he's in that Skaven have. They even had enough mainstream awareness to be referenced by British journalist Stewart Lee in the Guardian (comparing Brexit negotiations to Plague Monks, naturally).

The most direct and unexpected place for them to appear is being referenced to exist in both the Japanese and English versions of the Japanese anime [[Goblin Slayer]], listed off as a type of monster to specialize in studying. Just the idea of a Skaven Slayer could also be nod to [[Gotrek & Felix]].

==Non-Canon Female Skaven==
{{Promotions}}
{{Heresy}}

So it's universally agreed upon both in and out of universe that the only appropriate response to meeting a skaven is to kill them on sight, right? Well in an astounding display of hypocrisy, some [[furries]] went "yeah but I kinda also want to cuddle one?" and further demonstrated just how mentally broken certain subtypes of that culture are. So, there is an undercurrent in the darker hidden recesses of /tg/ where furfags like to talk about non-Rat Mother female skaven. Many have tried arguing that, given the reverence for the Grey Seers, combined with the Chaotic tinge of the skaven, then surely there are rare female Grey Seers who are thus spared the fate of their sisters. Others have pointed that since Breeders are heavily dosed up with chemicals, then if that fate was spared for some reason, then surely female skaven would turn out to be at least as competent as their brothers. Still others note that skaven can't resist tinkering, so it's not impossible a Grey Seer or Master Moulder might make use of a "thinking Breeder".

And, in fact, this last argument one even has a dash of canon to it: in C.L. Werner's "Grey Seer" novel, [[Thanquol]] encounters a [[Grey Seer]] (Thratquee of Under-Altdorf) who owns two personal breeders he has [[fleshcrafting|"improved"]], granting them an unusual clarity of thought, freedom of motion and muscle hidden under their chub; built like a cross between a breeder and a [[Rat Ogre]], they're essentially the skaven equivalent of [[amazon]] bodyguards, and Thanquol is simultaneously horrified and a little impressed at the realization that these "harmless females" will actually kill any skaven who dare to threaten their mate. This makes them the ultimate bodyguards in the eternal backstab-fest that is skaven society.

All of these arguments are reaching, understandably (I mean, why not just work with the idea of some developing an immunity or something?). But that hasn't stopped fans from dabbling in fem-skaven [[Your dudes|homebrew characters]] or [[Rule 34|more cheesecake-level artwork]]. One infamous skaven-loving furry even created his own homebrew clan of renegade female skaven, Clan Sniek, an offshoot clan of Clan Eshin who scavenge on the outskirts of skaven society and raid weaker warlord clans to steal away their females to bolster their own numbers. Clan Sniek is also known to "dabble" with human men, for pleasure and/or procreative purposes; there's even a named Gutter Runner female in a relationship with an Imperial human. His artwork tends to pop up whenever a [[ratfolk]] thread does or the topic of non-Breeder female skaven arises.

Thus, the argument about whether or not Rat Mothers are interesting will probably rage forever. You'd think that with the talks of non-breeder females and Clan Sniek that there would be more Sniek, fem-rats, or even Skaven related stories in general at the Smut archive, but hey what are you gonna do? You can't fap it to femskaven stories if there are no femskaven stories.

<center>
<gallery>
Image:Femskaven 1.jpg|Fanart of femSkaven.
Image:Femskaven 2.jpg|More fanart depicting femSkaven experiments.
Image:Reaper Wererat Matriarch.png|The Reaper "Wererat Matriarch" for those wanting to field a non-giant female Skaven model.
Image:Wererat Female.jpg|What an unmodified female Skaven would probably look like.
Image:FemSkaven Chieftain Uberous.jpg|Breeder or no, female skaven would admittedly probably spend more time pregnant than not.
Image:Female Gutter Runner.jpg|Sneaking around in the human's storehouses clearly has its advantages.
Image:Female Poison Wind Globadier.jpg|
Image:Female Stormvermin.jpg|Being high in the clan's totem pole has its perks.
Image:Futa Master Molder.jpg|Some Master Moulders go [[dickgirl|a lot further]] than others when it comes to [[fleshcrafting]].
Image:Female Stormvermin Fangleader.jpg
File:Longhaired skaven assassin.jpg
</gallery>
</center>

;Clan Sniek
<center>
<gallery>
Image:Gutter Runner of Clan Sniek.jpg|A Gutter Runner of Clan Sniek; the clan relies on stealth for survival.
Image:Assassin of Clan Sniek.jpg|An Assassin of Clan Sniek; they tend to focus more on other skaven than on humans.
Image:Packmaster of Clan Sniek.jpg|Clan Sniek's packmasters specialize in capturing human men - sometimes as slaves, sometimes as breeding partners.
Image:Master Assassin of Clan Sniek.jpg|Almost Prophet, a mutant female skaven born with pale fur but no horns, Master Assassin and founder of Clan Sniek.
Image:Grey Seer of Clan Sniek.jpg|Clan Sniek's Grey Seer yearns to dethrone Almost Prophet and rule the clan herself.
Image:Master Molder of Clan Sniek.jpg|Tichiz, Clan Sniek's Master Moulder, is perhaps the most feared skaven in the clan.
Image:Sorceress of Clan Sniek.jpg|Vaquit Silverspit, a female skaven sorcerer, wields great power in Clan Sniek for both her mastery of the Dark Lore of Stealth and her expertise with her rifle.
Image:Verminqueen.jpg|The mysterious Verminqueen is the dark patron of Clan Sniek.
Image:Audience with the Verminqueen.jpg|Sometimes, the Verminqueen deigns to tryst with mortals.
</gallery>
</center>

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}
{{Skaven-Clans}}
{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category: Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Skaven]]
[[Category:Furry]]

Skaven

2021-10-20T00:23:04Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8DAB:A0D2:F0DE:1CE6: /* History */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Skaven|Logo=Capture131114532.png|Alliance=Chaos|Motto=DIE DIE SOLDIER MANTHINGS DIE!!!!}}

{{Topquote|It would be ugly to watch people poking sticks at a caged rat. It is uglier still to watch rats poking sticks at a caged person.|Jean Harris}}

{{Topquote|I WILL JOIN YOU, FAGGOTY ELF! IF THERE IS ANYTHING I HATE WORSE THAN ELVES, IT'S FUCKING RAT FURRIES GOING FULL NORTH KOREA WITH NUCLEAR ROCKS!|Urist, Warhammer: Ravandils Quest}}

{{Topquote|Rodents of unusual size? I don't believe they exist.|Free Company Sergeant Roberts, last words before being killed by a rodent of unusual size}}
The '''Skaven''' are technologically advanced [[ratfolk]] in the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and [[Age of Sigmar]] settings. Ugly, evil creatures that spread [[AIDS|plague]] wherever they go and topple kingdoms for fun and [[profit]], you will be hard pressed to find a more unlikeable race out there. Much like the [[Orks]], they're so excessively over-the-top that it's pretty funny.

Skaven are said to be '''''the''''' most evil race in the entire setting, and that's no idle claim. For all [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|the Empire]], [[Bretonnia]]ns, [[Dwarf (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dwarfs]], [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|High Elves]], [[Wood Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Wood Elves]] and [[Lizardmen]]'s many flaws (and make no mistake, they ''are'' numerous) each of them has at least some claims to heroism that keep them out of being villains. Most undead are mindless automata executing their programming while their masters are usually capable of genuine love and altruism. [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dark elves]] are cruel and have a culture based on torture and slavery, but they are more driven by historical grievances and living in an inhospitable homeland, and can display family loyalty along with traits that some would call decent or even questionably heroic. Orcs and Goblins are violent brutes, but they'll develop what could be considered friendships and attachments to their fellows, and even the most brutal Black Orc will cry if his pet squig dies (Not in front of the other boyz though, because they'll all see him as nothing but a runty git). Or at the very least he will bash someone’s head into the ground, point is, he'll grieve. Ogres are well-known to be gluttonous and casually cruel almost to a man, but they usually still love their families and their Gnoblar pets, and any Maneater worth his salt is usually good for his word upon payment. Despite their propensities towards [[Khorne|killing]], [[Tzeentch|scheming]], [[Nurgle|festering]] and [[Slaanesh|raping]], the mortal followers of Chaos are capable of honor, friendship and a warped form of love. Even Daemons, who may or may not count as their own separate race, usually respect the chain of command without [[Drow|constantly trying to murder their leaders and take their place]]. And the Beastmen, who are also inherently evil like the Skaven, respect their chieftains and shamans, deal honorably with their few allies and give worthy foes a fair fight.

Skaven have none of the above qualities, or any other that could be considered even vaguely noble or redeeming: they openly hate everyone and everything, are more cowardly and paranoid than any goblin, more cruel and hostile than Dark Elves, and more fractious than Chaos. Love, friendship and honor are completely alien to the Skaven's psyche. Due to their chronic backstabbing disorder, nobody trusts them, likes them, or wants to be 'allies' with them (except Dark Elves, who have a treaty with them that both sides betray at times). The only times they have done something that benefited non-Skaven or the world, such as helping beat the first incarnation of Nagash, are due for purely selfish reasons - Nagash did his best to enslave them and deny them warpstone. One of the only three reasons the Skaven have lasted this long and not killed themselves in an ''en masse'' fratricidal free-for-all is because their hatred of all other things outweighs their hatred of other Skaven by '''''just enough''''' for them to slightly function (that and their crazy-high birthrates or the direct intervention of their god, who's little better than them). However the 'just enough' cannot be stressed enough. Even with the all-out doom of their race present, as with Nagash or Chaos, they're still intent on fucking each other over. <strike>If</strike> when possible, Skaven <strike>would</strike> will kill each other in the womb.

And that's why we love to hate them so much.

It should be noted that there is one non-evil one in [[Warhammer Adventures]], the Warhammer children's book series (yeah, that exists). Named Kreech, he's still the villain of that series, but by the standards of Skaven he's damn near a fucking Grail Knight. Screech actually lives in human culture, preferring it to his own people's, and has a 12-year-old human slave as his sidekick. Even in children's media they're utter bastards.

==So who are they?==
In a lot of science fiction going back to [[Starship Troopers]] and likely far earlier, there are races of [[Tyranid|Hive Creatures]]. Vast beings that may have separate bodies, but have one will. One Consciousness. Each "individual" soldier or worker is akin to someone's finger, or a cell on someone's fingertip, and is ultimately an expendable resource in service to the greater whole. All march in lockstep to expand the influence of the gestalt consciousness as far as possible, either assimilating or crushing anything they come across. The Skaven are the antithesis of this, though this fact in no way makes them nice.

The Skaven are a race of walking humanoid rats with dubious (but not to be underestimated) intelligence and a hideous feral cunning out to conquer the world in the name of their God, the Horned Rat, and also for their own personal gains. If there was one quality which defined their species, it would be raw unconstrained '''''selfishness'''''. By instinct, culture and the will of their asshole god, each Skaven is self-obsessed, paranoid, greedy, power-hungry, murderous and doesn't give a rat's ass (hehe) for their family or their race's well-being unless their own is at stake. They find the concepts of love, honor, loyalty and friendship to be so alien they can't comprehend them. In the prisoner's dilemma, they always defect. By nature, each of them is fundamentally evil, and this is not racism speaking here. To give context for this, a [[Skarsnik|greenskin]] in the End Times event was traumatized by the loss of his beloved [[Skarsnik#The_End_Times|Squig]], while no Skaven individual has ever, at any point, been shown to have an attachment to any living thing other than themselves. The closest they can get is the exceedingly rare example where a Skaven can understand that certain other individuals are tools worth cultivating and protecting from outside threats, and are assets too valuable to allow their casual destruction or squandering (see Gnawdwell and [[Queek Head-Taker]]). The only thing a Skaven hates more than other Skaven is creatures who are non-Skaven, and this gives the ratmen the vaguest ability to work together when they have a common enemy; otherwise they would fall on each other like, well, a pack of rats.

Skaven have an odd relationship with fear. On the one hand, cowardice is the order of the day. They definitely don't want to be sliced, stabbed, shot, skewered, squished, scorched or Slaaneshed. They'll face the perils of battle for the prospects of rewards, killing rival Skaven or non-Skaven (which they collectively call "Things") and because their bosses WILL have them killed horribly if they don't at least ''try'' to fight, but most Skaven have a reticence to enter battle unless the odds are decidedly stacked in their favor, and they're more prone to breaking and running if things go pear shaped. On the other hand, Skaven have a weird fondness for quick routes to power. If you give a Skaven a potion which has a 25% chance of killing them quickly, a 25% chance of killing them slowly, a 25% chance of doing nothing and a 25% chance of giving them the ability to breathe fire like a dragon, they'll usually take it.

Remember the saying about a bunch of monkeys with typewriters eventually producing Shakespeare? Well, at a species level they are sort of like that: keep throwing rats at the problem to try every cockamamie dunderheaded idea that said collection of drugged up hyperactive megalomaniacs desperate to get ahead can dream up until eventually they stumble on one that works, which others will shamelessly copy when it does. Each Skaven, be he a member on the Council of Thirteen or the lowliest of slaves who's used up and sent to the slaughterhouse, operates under the belief that they are the one true leader of the Skaven whose visionary insights would lead their species to domination of the universe in the name of the Horned Rat, if he can just gain the keys to power and overcome the short-sighted idiots which stand in his way. Introspection and self-reflection are not common Skaven traits, though some older Skaven like the aforementioned Gnawdwell and his former protege Sleek Sharpwit show that such qualities are possible, even if it’s ''exceedingly'' rare.

In terms of physiology, Skaven are shorter than humans, less bulky than them, slightly weaker (surprisingly not as much, considering the difference in size and mass), and generally "less" in every regard but one. Where they do pick up is speed: Skaven live their life in perpetual super speed with all its advantages and drawbacks - they move faster, think faster, breed faster and age faster, generally reaching adulthood at five months and growing old, gray and frail by the age of thirteen (though very few survive for that long). All that speed builds an almost insatiable appetite, and as they have no body fat reserves, they're '''always''' hungry, except maybe after the battle when they can eat the dead (of both sides). Skaven look unnervingly twitchy and energetic to other races (even Elves, who also have a kind of inherent superspeed), while Skaven see others as slow lumbering idiots. Like rats, the Skaven have a good sense of smell; it is stated by Teclis in [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] 2's high elves vortex campaign that they could smell fear and "treachery" from others. According to Teclis, the Horned Rat's rat swarm smelled through the fake Galifreius' disguises and went for her while ignoring Talarian. This being said though, Stormvermin (who are consistently well-fed and trained) tend to grow to the height and weight of a healthy man which may imply Skaven actually may be generally capable of growing to the dimensions of normal men, but few of them get fed enough to achieve this.

They live in a massive underground empire known as, well, the Under Empire (with the Horned Rat being the God Emperor, ironically far more successfully than the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|OTHER Emperor]]) which spans through the Warhammer world like the [[Underdark]]. The only regions it fails to reach are Ulthuan because it's a giant floating island and Athel Loren because the Skaven diggers get murdered by tree roots or the soil itself refuses to be touched. Its capital is called [[Skavenblight]], and is also one of the only visible signs of Skaven from the surface (because it is such an indescribable shithole), up until it was teleported to another dimension post [[End Times]] (it's still a shithole though). No one trusts them quite rightly, and few other races resist killing them on sight, which is reciprocated in kind. They are more numerous than any other race in the world, and only one enemy keeps them truly in check: themselves.

On a very amusing note, the Skaven are one of the rare examples of a race of furries actually liked by most of /tg/, because by all intents and purposes they are everything your average mary-sue furry self-insert is not: hilariously villanous, dirtily non-sexualized, full of character flaws and their actions are actually relevant and well implemented into some of the most important plot twists in the setting.

=== History ===
----

==== Warhammer Fantasy ====
No-one knows where they came from but it is suspected [[Tzeentch]] had a hand in their creation using Warpstone, a hideous amount of mutation, and generations of breeding with normal rats. (That is to say, breeding rats with other rats, not Tzeentch breeding with the rats. That's more [[Slaanesh]]'s thing.) The 7th edition Lizardmen army book states that they came about during the Great Catastrophe. There's a poem in the Skaven codex, dating all the way back to their first codex in 4th edition, called "The Doom Of Kavzar". Written in-universe by an author in the Warhammer world's equivalent of Italy, it offers what is generally accepted as the most concrete explanation of their origins. To summarize;

Humans and Dwarfs lived together in a city called Kavzar, and decided to build a Noblebright Tower of Babel rip-off to thank the gods for their prosperity. But even Dorf engineering couldn't complete it, so they got some mysterious grey-clad stranger to complete it in exchange of him being allowed to add a giant bell as a dedication to his own gods.
Upon completion, the temple sealed itself shut, the stranger disappeared, and terrible things happened after the bell rang thirteen times. The weather turned bad with constant Warpstone-laced rain, people got sick, babies were born dead or mutated, crops failed and rats multiplied while growing bigger and smarter. Older fluff said the stranger cursed the city because the people refused to give him money as well for finishing the temple, newer fluff just makes him out to be evil and mysterious.
Every day, the bell rang thirteen times. Rain became hail, then hail became meteor showers. The rats kept growing to the point that swarms of rats started preying on humans. Realizing things were becoming [[Dwarf Fortress]], the humans asked the Dwarfs for help.
The first time the Dwarfs turned them down after calling them wimps for complaining about rain. The second time they were rebuffed was due to the rats eating all the Dwarfs' food. The third time the surviving humans got desperate and smashed open the Dwarf gates to demand their help... only to find bearded Dorf skeletons and well-fed, but still hungry, hordes of rats and the poem ends with them swarming and eating the last surviving humans.

tl:dr a [[wizard]] met [[human]]s and [[dwarf]]s, someone was swindled so magic happens that turns rats into tyranids.
And the rest, is history...

Notable this story appears to be known in universe. [[Vermintide 2|Victor Saltzpyre]] mentioned a reference to it at one point in Vermintide.

Incidentally, this isn't the only theory presented to their origins, but it's the one most gamers take as canon. Some in-universe origin theories mentioned in the 6e fluffbook "The Loathsome Ratmen and Their Vile Kin" include:
* An Imperial naturalist named Wilfried Schtutt argued that the skaven descend from rats warped into a semblance of the human form by some malign external power, such as [[Chaos]].
* A Tilean classicist, Marcelli Verdallo, argues that the skaven are living proof of the ancient philosopher-sage Proti's theorem that all things in the universe are created by the mystical interactions of cosmic archetypes from beyond time and space, being the fruit of some union between the archetypes of Rat and Man.
* Johannes Krueger's Bestiarium mentions an ancient Estalian legend wherein shipwrecked survivors turned to cannibalism and were cursed by Manann, the Sea God, assuming rat-like forms.

Also there are a few [https://i.imgur.com/FWzQkHn.jpg other origin] stories.

It is said that after their creation, Skaven spread across the world, [[Ikit Claw|learning many cultures, stealing technologies and magic techniques that could help them in their conquest for Skavendom or personal power]]. Namely the Clan Pestilens who traveled southward and westward and ended up in Lustria, Clan Eshin who traveled eastward and ended up in Cathay, Clan Moulder who traveled northward and established a stronghold in some backwater hellish landscape known as the Hellpit near Kislev and Norsca.

Further evidence that the Doom of Kavzar is the canon origins of the Skaven is that the poem's author was assassinated by [[Clan Eshin|means unknown in-universe]] and copies of the poem keep disappearing. Plus their capital city, Skavenblight, is all but stated to be Kavzar (the tower with the bell being the headquarters of the Grey Seers). This makes them a surprisingly old race, as they were actually well-established before the rise of the [[Tomb Kings]] as the undead rulers of Khemri - in fact, they had a grubby little paw in that whole sordid affair.

It was the Skaven that supplied Nagash with many slaves and warriors such as savage orcs for him to kill and raise. It was the Skaven that helped Nagash to poison the River Vitae, unleashing a magical plague to devastate every living thing in Nehekhara. It was also the Skaven who betrayed Nagash by assisting the human Alcadizaar in his defeat, which resulted in the rise of the Tomb Kings since Nagash was no longer around to control the dead Nehekharans. So, aside from the Dark Elves who taught Nagash the [[Warhammer Magic|Lore of Darkness magic]] that would eventually evolve into the necromancy all [[Vampire Counts|vampires]] love, and the [[Tomb King|Nehekharans]] hate, the Skaven were the ones that supported Nagash, making him powerful and undefeated. (This is because every time Nagash died, he re-spawned back to his black pyramid. Although it takes a fuck load of time for him to actually get up, it allows him to grasp the mortal world while preserving his existence. Also the pyramid itself is indestructible so he has no need to trust anyone to guard it.) In the end, they still betrayed him for their own selfish desires. Classic Skaven.

The Skaven have been popping out numerous times across history, trying to weaken the forces of order to favor themselves in the long run. For example, they appeared during one of the Norseman invasions, when Sigmar was still around. In fear that Sigmar's Empire might threaten their very existence, they tried to use the invasion as an opportunity to destroy mankind, but failed nonetheless thanks to the Dwarfs that were blocking their tunnels.

After that, the Skaven didn't lay a hand on the Empire until after their own civil war. It was at this time that Clan Pestilens developed a new disease called the Black Plague (nice real life reference [[Games Workshop|GW]]), spreading it among the Empire's population. The plague not only killed and reduced its population to less than half the size of the generation before, it also killed the current Emperor (AKA the worst Emperor, who was actually killed by an Eshin assassin's shuriken, but who cares) and every other corrupt noble in his hideout, and good riddance some say. The Skaven then launched their attack after the plague weakened the Empire, but were stopped by a pretty cool guy named Mandred von Zelt of Middenland, who gathered the rest of the elector counts and launched an anti-Skaven crusade. Ironically, the black plague played a major role in many of Mandred's victories, since the disease affected the Skaven rat bodies as well, weakening the Skaven army and killing enough of them to force their retreat. In the last battle, the Skaven launched their last counterattack, only to fail after their leader, Vrrmik, the warlord of Clan Mors, and a member of the Councils of Thirteen, was slain by Mandred. The rest of the vermin were then driven back to their Under-Empire by the Empire’s forces while suffering under their own plague from the war. What's worse for the Skaven was that the slaves they bought ended up revolting, and destroyed several already plague weakened clans while Mandred, who was declared the Emperor and sporting Vrrmik's own helmet at the time, rebuilt the Empire. The process was faster than the Skaven could expect, with the humans even installing the sewer watch to prevent further Skaven movement on the Empire. After such a humiliating defeat, the Council received many compensation notices from other disease ridden clans. But the Council decided to just assassinate them all, including our beloved Emperor rat slayer, and called it even. The assassination made mankind forget about the Skaven, even dismissing them as myth.

The Skaven are also pretty famous on [[Cathay|the eastern side that]] [[Nippon| Games Workshop refuse to talk about]]. Clan Eshin's ancestors once journeyed far to the east, losing contact with its society for 100 years. When they came back however, they had learned the art of NINJUTSU from some jerk-off at [[Nippon]] where they have skilled rats throwing shuriken, and frigging ninja flipping better than [[Gabriel Angelos|the Chapter Master Gabriel Angelos]]. In [[Cathay]], some filthy beastman and a Sun Wukong wannabe become the Emperor of not-China and took an Eshin Skaven warlord as his right hand man. Thus began an unhealthy relationship of trading warpstones and rat shit, which means either the Cathay Emperor is nuttier than a warp fruit cake (which should be obvious since the new Emperor was mentioned to be a fucking magical monkey beastman, or probably something worse if he is also like Wu Kong born from the meteor except the meteor is made of warpstones), or Eshin Skaven are ''slightly'' more trustworthy than the rest of Skaven. (If you believe [[Total_War:_WARHAMMER#Skaven|Total War]], they are; they're the only clan that doesn't have to deal with warlord loyalty.) It might be true depending on how [[weeaboo]] the Eshin has become; if you look up on real world ninja, they do tend to be surprisingly loyal compared to what you might think. However, one could say that the eastern legion don't really have any experiences with Skaven betrayals, plus the Skaven did assist the Chaos Dwarves in the End Times to siege Cathay during the [[End Times]], meaning everything the Skaven did in Cathay was but a diplomatic ploy to fool the Cathayan.

As if the Skaven aren't popular enough, they have the operation worldwide. There is Clan Pestilens in Lustria, who like to infect themselves with diseases that Nurgle doesn't approve of, and throw feces at lizard-things for the lulz. Some of the rats made it into Naggaroth (probably as slaves or a few via the under-Empire) while trying not to provoke the wrath of [[Malekith|the strongest mama's boy in Warhammer history]]. The only place they could never set their foot on would be Ulthuan, which is a giant continent that floats on top of the water and obviously can't be connected to Skavenblight via tunnels. It's regardless just too scary for the rat-things to deal with: flame spewing dragon-things, elf-things that shoot rains of arrows from far away, and mages that have the power to summon a [[exterminatus|giant bombardment of nukes from the sky]].

The Skaven themselves have no records of their origins, and do not particularly care about their past. As far as they are concerned, the only relevant historical eras are "now, when we don't rule the world" and "soon, when we will be ruling it". Of course, any given Skaven will be plenty interested in the history of his own life, but the history of the rest of their race is dismissed as unimportant. On day to day affairs, history is whatever the Council of 13 says it is, though it wouldn't be surprising if Grey Seers keep records.

==== Age of Sigmar ====
The Skaven survived the end of the old world by teleporting [[Skavenblight]] to another dimension. When the Horned Rat became the Great Horned Rat he immediately drew Skavenblight into the Warp and created more of his Daemons. What followed was a golden age for the Skaven, where there was Warpstone everywhere to be found, they had the direct blessing of the Great Horned Rat, and unlimited space and potential around them. They then promptly did the impossible and somehow dug so deep that part of the Warp collapsed into Skavenblight which collapsed into the material realm which is now made up of eight "nearly infinite" planes made of the former Winds of Magic.

Skaven now have access to all of reality at once, and can create realm-spanning 'Gnawholes' everywhere from beneath Sigmar's throne to beneath Khorne's throne. As can be expected the tunnels are not stable and thus only the Skaven are willing to use them, as even immortal and deathless Daemons can somehow vanish into the space between spaces never to be seen again when Skaven are involved. This doesn’t mean that the Gnawholes are completely safe for the rat kin though. Just the process of constructing one of these inter-dimensional tunnels costs tens of thousands of <strike>lives</strike> slaves, and when the Gnawhole is complete, there’s a good chance that the big brains in charge of the project were off on their calculations. So instead of tunneling directly into [[Cities of Sigmar|Hammerhal]], you instead end up in the middle of no where or an active volcano.

Skaven have also had an exponential population boom, which is impressive considering they damn near outnumbered insects in the old setting. Each of the four former great clans from the Old World is alive and kicking <strike>eachother</strike>, containing billions of Skaven and even entire clans. A fifth great clan is Verminus, an especially numerous and martial clan (the techy/monstery/sneaky/stinky niches were taken so someone's gotta make Stormvermin their thing).

However, Skryre, Pestilens, Moulder, Eshin and Verminus were not always the only Great Clans. In the age of Myth, there were said to be as many as 13 great clans (probably like 9 or 10 but the Grey Seers rounded up). What happened to the rest? A couple of examples:

* Clans Tichritt attempts launches an invasion of Thandria, a Sigmarite nation. It may as well be Russia in winter with the pantheon of Order united - Tichritt is annihilated.
* Clan Ikk does well during the tumult of the age of chaos, gaining a momentous ''four'' seats on the Council of Thirteen which sparks civil war with the equally ascendant Clan Verminus. Verminus enlist the help of Clan Pestilens to spread an epidemic of frothjaw. The rabid rats get so erratic the other great clans temporarily unite to destroy them.
* Clans Shrykt dig a huge gnawhole and, one by one, its clans disappear through the portal. They were never heard from again. Maybe they left to join 9th age.

The increased scope of AoS lore has meant Skaven society is EVEN MORE chaotic and self-destructive than it was. And this lore makes a little more sense than their old world history: you can't expect such volatile societies to [[Warhammer 40000|maintain a millennia-long deadlock between the same four great powers.]] Still, the current status quo of vying great clans is not that different from the old world's coz... those are the models GW sells. The unknown great clans continue the trend of GW giving AoS lore lots of missing primarchs (deliberately left gaps for homebrew and headcanon). In the Age of Chaos, Pestilens profited greatly from their alliance with Nurgle. However, Order managing to push back against this smelliance has meant that the Clans Skryre is better poised to vie with Pestilens for pre-eminence on the council of thirteen. They'll probably work it out peacefully (by Skaven standards, meaning only several million rats will die).

Skaven continue to be fuck-ups at a scale never before witnessed. When Nagash attempted a great ritual of necromantic binding, it was sabotaged by the Skaven nibbling a power cord. Eshin agents had managed to open gnawholes in Nagash's great pyramid. Huge success for Skavendom? Well, maybe had another group not accidentally opened a gnawhole at the bottom of the Shyish sea. Blight City was decimated by a zombie-infested flood, like The Day after Tomorrow meets World War Z. Hilariously, the drained Shyish seabed revealed the soul-stealing [[Idoneth Deepkin]] to Nagash, Slaanesh and everyone else who was wondering about those mysteriously empty towns that smelled faintly of halibut.

The moral of the story is clear: you might be able to foil Skaven schemes but it's their fuck-ups you wanna watch out for.

=== Society ===
----

If you do not know much about rat social behavior, you might be surprised to learn it is fairly well developed and includes among other things evidence of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa16P4nFgD8 rodent altruism]. As you might expect, GeeDubs ignored it entirely to make the Skaven more grimdark and work on people's stereotypes of what rats are like rather than how rats interact. Skaven society is literally cutthroat when it comes to promotions (but luckily not [[PROMOTIONS]]). In a world where you have chaos warriors who can Honor the chaos gods by killing/raping/getting minions caught up and expended in complex plots, beastmen which are in a similar lot as chaos on top of animalistic aggression who still practice a survival-of-the-fittest pack-mindset based loyalty, orcs that are hardwired to love to scrap, goblins who are no strangers to backstabbing and dark elves who've literally made assassination and treachery an art the Skaven have managed to collect the gold medal in (f)ratricide. After receiving said award they promptly began killing each other to see which Skaven individual got to keep it; the conflict continues to this day, with no resolution in sight. The '''only''' reason why their society has not murdered itself into extinction is because of a very high reproductive rate. Despite their teamkilling tendencies they obey the Grey Seers, the prophets of their god the [[Horned Rat]]. Although this obedience is done purely out of fear, it is done without question. Except for the other Grey Seers.

==== Hierarchy ====
The Skaven race is ruled over by the [[Council of Thirteen]], Skaven of such evil they have been chosen by their vile god and manage to survive the constant threat of assassination, most likely because everyone is too afraid of these uber-ratman to go near them. Although they squeak big about their plans for world domination, they are too busy trying to outdo and kill each other. Despite the name there are only twelve Councillors; the 13th seat is symbolic and reserved for their god and woe betide anyone that tries to sit on it! To become a member of the council all any Skaven need do is touch the sacred Black Pillar and challenge a current member for his seat in a duel. In practice it has been over 200 years since someone actually manage to pull it off, which is a minor point in favor of the current crop of leaders on it, even though a large part of it is that touching the Black Pillar has a tendency to make Rats explode.

Beneath the council of thirteen are the Grey Seers and the Warlords. Horned, grey furred skaven pups are raised to be the priests and magic users of Skavendom that act on behalf of the council. Ironically enough the Skaven are more prone to throw around claims of [[HERESY]]! than the Sigmarite Empire. Not showing proper reverence to the Horned Rat brings down his wrath on the offender and everyone around him, so they take a dim view of anyone who misses their services. Secular Rodentism is not something which is going to catch on in Skavenblight. Warlords are those lucky rats that have managed through guile, luck, accomplishment on the battlefield and the elimination of rivals to get in charge of a Clan. Sometimes you get a Grey Seer warlord with his own clan, but that's usually the exception. There is a hard cap on 169 Grey Seers at any one time, though there are a bunch of apprentices waiting in the wings for one to die. Skaven being Skaven, one of the mos popular pass times of said novices is making slots available through assassination.

Beneath them, you have an upper crust of prominent individuals within the clans: Warlock Engineers, Master Molders, Plague Priests, Assassins, Chieftans, high ranking officers and so forth. Either through command of some arcane skill or having armed rats behind them they have wealth, better accommodations, hosts of underlings and regular access to breeders. Underneath them are those with a modicum of cultivated value: the merchants, the technicians, the packmasters, the rank and file of the Stormvermin, the apprentices to the great ones, the Gutter Runners, the overseers, skilled workers and so forth. All of which have to some degree or another got their position by struggling tooth and claw and are with it some measure of power and authority. Most of them rose from the Clanrats. Those poor bastards live in poverty packed up like sardines and have to work hard for their daily Skavenbread™ and fight tooth and claw to keep what little they've amassed. But even these wretched rats have it better than the Slaves. They are the remnants of defeated clans, the pups deemed surplus to requirements if not quite bad enough to be culled, those that earned the ire of their overseers and those whose power struggles failed them and avoided being killed. Their status is somewhere between that of a native in the Belgian Congo and a Pig in a Factory Farm. Clanrats may be exploited but Skavenslaves are actively worked to death, thrown at the enemy to absorb arrows and are fed a meager diet of scraps, garbage and each other. That's when they are not being taken to the butcher's block so their betters can enjoy a meat dinner and and have some leather. The best they can hope for is that a good deal of their superiors fuck up and die or that their clan conquers another leading to enough shuffling in the org chart that they can get promoted to clanrat status. But while clans do wax strong and skavendom produces a lot of said fuckups it also burns through skavenslaves like nobody's business.

Two key facts of this hierarchy are ''Shit Flows Downhill'' and ''The Rodent Staircase''. To a high ranking Skaven everyone else is a rival, either an immediate threat or a potential one just waiting for the right moment to make its move against you, so keep a lid on them if you can. Subordinates are to be given the minimum they need to accomplish their tasks, some rewards if they exceed expectations, and nothing else. If they step out of line they can be beaten. If they cause too much trouble they can be replaced with some up and coming Rat eager to not be a skavenslave. If things are going badly for you, assert your dominance with a show of force. Even if things are going well, you should put the fear of the Horned Rat into your underlings just to remind them who's boss to be on the safe side. This comes before the fact that Skaven are vindictive little shits that have no qualms about taking out their frustrations on others. A sternly worded Letter to a Warlord from the Council of Thirteen will lead him snapping at his second in command and will eventually manifest itself in clanrats biting the tails off Skavenslaves because they'd been the subject of the ire of their overseers and need to re-assert dominance.

Likewise if you want to get up (and between their megalomania and what the bottom is like ALL Skaven want to go up all the way), you need to not only excel or have some useful talent but also deal with the million other rats out there with the same ambitions. If you want to survive in the slave pits, shiv your neighbor and eat him to get enough calories so you'll have the strength to see another day. If the clawleader's favorite mug has gone missing, say the guy who's always admired it stole it to bring down the bosses wrath upon him so you have one less rival, the boss's wrath is directed elsewhere and if you happen to be right he just might throw you a bone for being (due to the lack of a better word) loyal. Apprentices could and should steal the ideas of their fellows to become Warlock Engineers Attempting to police the Skaven to stop such backstabbing is usually an exercise in futility, especially since whatever Police Rats you can scrounge up will inevitably engage in said activities on their own. Not that it matters much in most cases, there is always a fresh stream of replacements and those eager for dead rat's shoes. At most murder provides an excuse for removing individuals that they don't like in a move that is slightly less likely to spark the paranoia of your rivals. A good Skaven leader knows how to use this competition to keep his minions in line and to get the most out of them. A bad skaven leader is going to end up on the barbecue sooner rather than later. This is the case from birth, even for those whose role was determined at birth like grey seers and stormvermin have to fend off both ruthless instructors and backstabbing fellow applicants. Nobody is unscathed.

==== Misc ====
Although unintentional on the side of writers, there are circumstances where real life rats can become Skaven-like. In a series of social experiments involving overpopulation designed to see what effects human overpopulation in cities like New York or Tokyo could be paralleled, rat populations with far too many beings in far too small an area begin to go, as individuals, insane while the group becomes far more violent despite having more than enough food and water to sustain the entire population. When a high-density population that shows these behaviors is given more area to roam in by having another set of open cages attached or being shifted to smaller population cages, the behavior remains the same meaning the rats have been permanently mentally damaged; only with successive generations do they regain sanity. So in a way, Skaven have inadvertently made themselves fucking insane by choosing to live in horrible conditions and to overpopulate. Theoretically, saner and more level-headed (if not necessarily less evil) generations of Skaven could emerge if the species got access to more room and better conditions, and was completely removed from its old environment and the previous rats who inhabited it.

In fact, if the root of the Skaven's evil nature could be traced to both their terrible environment and the terrible culture that both feeds and feeds off of that environment rather than anything genetic, theoretically, there ''could'' actually be ''good'' Skaven if they were somehow separated from Skavenblight immediately after birth and raised outside of it by someone willing to give them a chance. However, seeing as how the primary…“engines” of Skaven reproduction are heavily guarded in the very heart of Skavenblight, and literally every other race in Warhammer is hard-wired to kill the mangy rat-bastards on sight (and with FUCKING good reason), such a thing will almost certainly remain purely theoretical. Especially since all that trouble would ultimately amount to little more than proving a petty point, with little to no real pay-off beyond making the Horned Rat personally pissed off at you (then again there are [[Tzeentch|some]] that might find ''that'' outcome a goal in and of itself).

=== Armies ===

==== The Rank and File ====
* '''Skavenslaves''': Large numbers of starved skavenslaves are thrown at the enemy's front lines with crummy scrounged up weapons for the enemy to waste arrows, bog down enemy movements and hopefully take down a few manthings by sheer numbers. Some lucky ones get to annoy the enemy at a range with slings, which is sort of a luxury as nobody else in the army can take them.

* '''Clanrats''': The basic Rank and File of a Clan with some armor and better weapons (swords, shields and spears). Better fed, more durable and less likely to run than Skavenslaves, but still cannon fodder that relies on numbers against all but the crummiest of foes. Various campaign supplements would expand on the basic Clanrat with unique variations for each Great Clan, like the Rotten Rodents of Clan Pestilens, who trade their shield for an extra hand weapon.

* '''Stormvermin''': Basic elite units for when you want something that has more staying power than Clanrats. Black furred pups are singled out to be soldiers. They get given extra food, ruthless spartan way training, better weapons and armor than the common riff-rats and take some pride in their units (which means that they are less likely to randomly stab their fellows in the back than most skaven and any failure to meet the standards is liable to get a stormvermin executed). The Clans [[Clan Mors|Mors]] and [[Clan Rictus|Rictus]] are known for their particularly nasty regiments of Stormvermin and regularly sell themselves to the other aspiring Warlords for a sizable sum.

*'''Chieftain''': The Skaven equivalent to a Greenskin Big Boss or Empire Captain. They serve under the Warlord as his enforcer and field commander. Usually it’s from this rank that new Warlords are “promoted”.

*'''Warlord''': Also called Clawlords in AoS, Warlords are not the best fighters of a Skaven Clan, but the most cunning. They lead the ravenous swarms of ratmen into combat from the safety of the rear lines. They get first pick of any loot they come across and play a constant game of 3D chess with their subordinates to make sure they keep their position...and their lives.

==== Specialists ====
*'''Poisoned-Wind Globadiers''': A elite corps of Clan Skryre clanrats trained in the usage of special glass spheres filled with toxic vapors. They lob said orbs at hordes of enemy troopers where they shatter disperse their poisonous payload into the air. To protect themselves, the Globadiers wear special breathing equipment on the (common) chance one of their globes is faulty. TWW2 introduces a more potent type of poison called the '''Death Globe''', whose toxins are harmful even with the slightest of skin contact. In AoS, they are renamed to '''Skryre Acolytes''' and function as interns for the various Engineers.

* '''Weapons Teams''': Clan Skryre’s bread and butter. A vast collection of various weapons all designed to be carried by a pair of skaven and have a staggeringly high rate of (explosive) failure. The '''Warp-Fire Thrower''' is a crude fire hose connected to a gas tank that spews a corrosive fluid that ignites upon exposure to air. It was created to melt through heavily armored dwarfen shield walls during their first wars against the beard-things. '''Ratling Guns''' are the skaven’s take on real world gatling guns; six barrels of rapid fire warpstone bullets all powered by a hand crank. Said cranking mechanism is prone to overheating and explosion should the gunners get too eager on the spinner. For more precise weaponry, the '''Warplock Jezzail''' provides. It’s an oversized rifle held in place by a rickety shield and built to deliver lethal warpstone bullets into the heads of an enemy leader from miles away. A '''Doom-Flayer''' is what happens when you take the Green Goblin’s pumpkin bombs and turn it into an armored chariot. These bladed balls were originally meant for tunnel clearance and mowing down pesky dwarf battle lines. Similarly, the '''Warp-Grinder''' was also initially made for utility purposes, serving as a quick means of excavating new underways, though it was soon repurposed for drilling into armored units and bastions. Finally the '''Poisoned Wind Mortar''', the grown up version of the Globadier, these mini artillery pieces launch lethal spheres of toxic fumes across the battlefield to choke the lives out of enemies, though it is the only weapons team to not make the jump to Age of Sigmar, for some goddamn reason. And naturally there’s also the '''Death Globe Mortar''' in TWW2 as well.

*'''Night Runners''': The initiates of Clan Eshin. Having yet to fully grasp the importance of discipline, stealth, and basic fucking patience, they run headlong into enemies throwing sharpened metal stars and knives at them (likely Naruto running and shouting attack names as well). They do have their uses though, serving as excellent skirmishers thanks to their ranged attacks and natural agility.

*'''Gutter Runners''': Those lucky few Night Runners who survive their first battle and learn how to stand still are soon claw-picked to become Gutter Runners. These elite teams are the main agents of Clan Eshin you’ll find. Often hired for sabotage, espionage, eating fromage, and of course assassination. TWW2 adds an even more elite variant of the Gutter Runners called the '''Death Runners''', who are noted for having zero armor and simply dodging most attacks.

*'''Assassin''': Pretty straight forward. Picked from the most elite of Gutter/Death Runners, these expert killers are so feared among the Under-Empire that rumors spread about them having special abilities, from squeezing into a coin sized hole to having a poisonous shadow. Outlandish that may sound, Clan Eshin isn’t one to confirm or disperse these rumors.

*'''Eshin Sorcerer''': One of the ninja clan’s better kept secrets. In addition to being rigorously trained in the arts of murder and sabotage like the other initiates, these Skaven are capable of wielding their own unique magic called the Lore of Stealth (likely a mixture of Shadow magic and the standard Skaven Lore of Ruin). As expected, the Nightlord doesn’t want too many people to know about their existence (Grey Seers in particular), so much so that they vanished from the lore and tabletop for a while...until TWW2 brought them back into the limelight.

*'''Packmaster''': Part slave-driver, part animal tamer, Packmasters are adepts of Clan Moulder who specialize in the “care” of their menagerie of beasts. Often recruited from the most bully like Skaven, they are cruel and relentless with their whips and spiked prodders which double as a means of defense as well as way to encourage their monsters to fighter harder. Some also are known to carry large snapping claws on pole arms called thing-catchers, which they eagerly use to grab new test subjects whilst on the battlefield.

*'''Giant Rats''': The most common/simple of Clan Moulder’s monsters. They’re just big ass rats, usually the size of a small domestic dog. They are herded into massive swarms by their Packmaster(s) to drown the foe in furry bodies.

*'''Pox Rats''': A step up from the Giant Rat, these boar sized rodents are commonly used as mounts for various Skaven leaders, though as their sickly name suggests, the Plague Priests of Clan Pestilens are particularly fond of them.

*'''Rat Ogres''': The premier product of Clan Moulder. Through a fusion of skaven, [[Ogre Kingdoms|ogre]], and countless other beasties, a hulking monstrosity was born. Ill-tempered, violent brutes who serve as shock troopers/bodyguards for skaven armies. Like actual ogres, they are very strong but also quite dumb. Despite this, they can be equipped with several rudimentary upgrades and weapons for more specialized needs. During the End Times, Clan Skryre improved upon the base Rat Ogre and created the even more dangerous '''Stormfiend'''. By adding a secondary brain via an tiny ass skaven slave to the beast’s back, they can now operate more advanced weaponry, such as warp fire projectors, shock gauntlets, rattling guns, and many more, while still keeping the same base level instincts and loyalty they are known for.

*'''Brood Horrors''': What happens when you cram a bunch of starved Pox Rats into an enclosed area and leave them alone for a while? Well eventually only one of them remains having swallowed whole all of its packs mates and bloated to monstrous sizes. It has now become a Brood Horror, a hideously mutant creature that’s either used as a stand alone monster or as a mount for the most daring of Warlords.

*'''Hell-Pit Abomination''': And you thought the Brood Horror was grotesque. Named after the capital warren of Clan Moulder, the Hell-Pit Abomination is a Frankenstein fusion of left over body parts, machinery, and gallons of liquid warpstone given unholy life. No two Abominations are quite a like, though they all have the general shape of a massive multi-headed centaur-rat.

*'''Plague Monks''': The zealous followers of Clan Pestilens. Less armored than a Clanrat, these ragged devotees rush into battle with filth encrusted robes and rusted blades while chittering prayers and wishes to the Horned Rat. Each one is infected with enough viruses and sickness that just being in the vicinity of them is detrimental to your health. They gladly throw themselves onto foes to smother them in corruptive ilk and often carry tomes full of various litanies and vows to their pestilential deity.

*'''Plague Censer Bearers''': The more rabid Plague Monks who don’t become Plague Priests will often be given the “privilege” of carrying large censer flails that are blessed with filth and constantly emit toxic fumes. They then rush headlong into combat swinging their weapons to create a noxious cloud of gas, invigorating their brethren and smothering their enemies. Much like the similar in concept Night Goblin Fanatics, Plague Censer Bearers have a short life expectancy as the fumes are so toxic that it can even kill the rats of Clan Pestilens, albeit very slowly.

*'''Plague Priest''': Looking more like champions of [[Nurgle]] rather than skaven, these pox-filled vermin are the heads of the Pestilent Brotherhood. They lead vast congregations of sickly followers on a holy mission to corrupt the world in the name of the Great Horned Rat. The most distinguished Priests often ride into battle upon massive '''Plague Furnaces''', a rickety siege engine centered around a giant swinging censer, constantly filling the air with toxic warpstone fumes. These fumes invigorate the warriors of Clan Pestilens and choke the life out of all others.

===Clans===
Skaven organize themselves into Clans, through which they organize their backstabbing. The individual backstabs for position within a Clan, the Clan backstabs for position in Skaven society.

There are many Clans, far more than any being other than the Horned Rat (presumably) knows. Clans rise, fall, split, infight, reform, and even ally constantly. Each Clan seeks to have one of their members in a position in the Council of Thirteen, which runs the business of their entire race.

The [[Council of Thirteen]] is conveniently organized like a clock, with 13 at the 12 position which is representative of the Horned Rat. Members are called Lords of Decay. Each position is more powerful within the Council based on their proximity to the Horned Rat, so the Lords of Decay at the 1 and 12 position are the two most powerful, 2 and 11 behind them, while the Lords of Decay at the 6 and 7 positions are the weakest. Each Lord of Decay can outright veto the position of the one opposite them. Each Lord of Decay has their position marked by a symbol, either that of themselves or that of their Clan. The Lords of Decay have thus far remained in power for most of the existence of the Council thanks to the life-prolonging Warpstone they use (so Skeksis), although they rise and fall in power.

Skaven Clans fall into three categories: Great Clans, Warlord Clans, and Thrall Clans. The four Great Clans are extremely powerful, and epitomize the different aspects of Skaven society (Each Greater Clan later became a type of Clans in [[Age of Sigmar]] due to an exponential population boost). Warlord Clans are essentially the middle class of Skaven, usually doing their own thing and not tied to any specific Great Clan. The Thrall Clans are weaker warrens that swear allegiance to a Great Clan to survive or grow in power. Of course thanks to Skaven backstabbing, a Thrall Clan is an expendable frontline infantry source while the Great Clans are just sources of really neat toys like Rat Ogres and Ratling Guns, and of course every Clan is waiting to betray each other while making allegiances to other Clans and to betray their REAL allies that they're of course waiting to be backstabbed by while totally being unaware of the fact that a fourth set of Clans have set up the backstabbing conga for their own benefit, and so on as far as you want to get into it (note: this describes a single day of plotting or so).

When fielding an army, one or two Clan paint jobs and multiple Thrall-Clan paint jobs are quite fluffy.

The four Great Clans are:
* [[Clan Eshin]], the ninja assassin Clan. {MURDER [[Lizardmen|ALL]] [[Dwarfs|OF]] [[Undead|THESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!]]}
* [[Clan Moulder]], the Clan which breeds monsters and sews them together Frankenstein style to make even better (by Skaven standards, slightly less volatile) monsters.
* [[Clan Pestilens]], the founder of the Pestilent Brotherhood and the largest and most powerful Pestilent Brotherhood member.
* [[Clan Skryre]], the Clan which produces Warp-powered Tesla cannons, machine guns, vehicles, and other assorted machines.

In addition, there are the [[Grey Seers]], silver furred Skaven with horns that represent the servants of the Council and the Horned Rat. They are above all Skaven other than the Lords of Decay and as a result tend to be somewhat free from the backstabbing conga, other than that of other Grey Seers. Any grey Skaven who do not have horns are part of the Council Guard, the elite warriors that protect the Council and the Grey Seers. However those Skaven that protect the Council of Thirteen directly are The Albino Guard, purely white furred giga-stormvermin.

{{Skaven-Clans}}

===Deity===
The Skaven worship their creator the [[Horned Rat]], a god as sickening and vile as they are. God of disease and vermin, thankfully he gets the crap kicked out of him by Sigmar and Sotek on a regular basis and frankly anyone that feels like having a go. He got fed up with such bullshit at the [[End Times]], telling the Skaven to stop backstabbing eachother and get shit done, which they proceed to do by destroying many cities. He also made a deal with the [[Chaos Gods]] as he cannot defeat them.

As of [[Age of Sigmar]], [[Slaanesh]] [[bullshit|was kidnapped]] by three Elf gods that were formerly mortals ([[Tyrion]], [[Teclis]], [[Morelion]]) at the manipulations of [[Tzeentch]] and the newly-appointed HNIC of all Chaos [[Archaon]]. This resulted in [[Nurgle]] and [[Khorne]] immediately voting with them to boot him out of the pantheon and the [[Great Game]] and promoting Horned Rat to proper Chaos God in his place. Horned Rat immediately renamed himself Great Horned Rat, but found out that the big kids table was full of backstabbing assholes with absolutely no respect for each other, and somehow even less for him. When the Chaos Gods gave Archaon their blessings, Archaon rejected the Horned Rat's blessings and spat directly in his face for daring to presume GHR can bless the self-righteous ass that is Archaon(Though this could just be Archaon not having absolutely abysmal standards).

=== Magic ===
Skaven wield a form of Dark Magic fueled by [[warpstone]] and derived from their own inherently corrupt abilities. However, select kinds of skaven are capable of actually tapping that energy; traditionally, only the Grey Seers, rare mutants who function as the skaven's shamans and the Warlock Engineers of [[Clan Skryre]], who use [[magitek]] devices to draw upon and manipulate Dark Magic, possess this power, but that lore has fluctated over editions.

In 4th edition, Warlocks could be 1st to 3rd level casters, with Grey Seers being 4th level casters, and both used the same "Lore of Skaven" magic system.

In 6th edition, only Grey Seers were casters, still using the Lore of Skaven; Warlock Engineers instead had to spend points on magitek weapons that also allowed them to cast a single spell, ''Warp Lightning''. However, the optional rules for Great Clan armies in the back of the book also featured clan-based casters; these "lesser mages" were treated as level 1 casters who only knew a single pre-selected spell. Clan Eshin had Sorcerers (Skitterleap), Clan Pestilens had Festoring Chantors (Pestilent Breath), and Clan Moulder had Harbingers of Mutation (Vermintide). Clan Skyre's Warlock Masters could still only cast Warp Lightning, but could try and cast an 11+ variant that was much more powerful.

In 7th edition, things changed; now, Skaven had two different schools of magic - Ruin and Plague, with Warlock Engineers being Hero level casters of Ruin and Plague Priests getting an upgrade to be Hero level casters of Plague, with Grey Seers being Lord level casters who could mix and match spells from both lores, and had access to the unique "Dreaded 13th Spell", which could transform enemy troops into skaven clanrats.

"Children of the Horned Rat", the skaven sourcebook for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 2nd edition, tweaked the Skaven magical lores around. Naming the two primary schools of Skaven magic as Plague and Warp, it also upgraded Eshin Sorcerers to full-fledged casters, with their own unique school of magic; the Dark Lore of Stealth, a corrupt form of Shadow Magic that lets them do more animesque ninja stuff. As CotHR was written around the time of 6th edition, it doesn't quite mesh up with either 6e or 7e fluff; instead of being masters of all the skaven styles, it's implied (it's a little hard to ascertain) that Grey Seers only use Warp Magic, whilst Plague Priests and Eshin Sorcerers only use Plague Magic and Stealth Magic respectively. Warlock Engineers, meanwhile, can't use magic at all, but instead can make unique magitek gizmos.

Also, CotHR says that rogue Grey Seers can learn Chaos Magic or Necromancy, although this paints them as skaven heretics.

=== Army ===
Skaven are your <strike>standard</strike> easily abused horde army. Lots of cheap vermin, whose numbers allow them to easily ignore their one theoretical weakness: shitty leadership, backed up by more expensive and/or specialized units, that are in theory unreliable but will still wreck your shit moar consistently than most anything else by sheer volume. Also, DOOMWHEELS.

<strike>Under current rules</strike> they <strike>are</strike> have always been considered overpowered, except for a brief period where DoC reigned thanks to your [[Matt Ward|Spiritual]] [[Spiritual Liege|Liege]]. They have now reclaimed their mantle, since 8th edition heavily favors mass infantry blocks, and the Skaven can easily throw out a block of 100 models for less than what some other armies will spend on a lord, no, I'm not exaggerating, which under the current rules is virtually unbeatable.

=== Special Characters ===
====Wargame====
The cast of Skaven special characters has shifted and flowed across editions, but this is the original list from 4e:
* [[Verminlord]]
* Grey Seer [[Thanquol]]
* [[Lord Skrolk]], Plaguelord of Clan Pestilens
* [[Ikit Claw]], Chief Warlock of Clan Skryre
* [[Throt the Unclean]], Master Mutator of Clan Moulder
* [[Deathmaster Snikch]], Chief Assassin of Clan Eshin
* [[Queek Head-Taker]], Warlord of Clan Mors

6th edition saw the creation of a handful of new characters, whose stats appeared either in [[White Dwarf]] or on Games Workshop's website - back before they turned it into a mere shopping center. In addition to converting many 4e characters who'd been left out of their 6e army book, such as Snikch and Ikit Claw, 6e saw the creation of:
* [[Ghoritch]], Castellan of Hell Pit
* Warlock Master [[Klawmunkast]] and his [[Steam Tank|Rat Tank]].
* Plague Lord [[Morbus Sanguis]]

7th edition added two new characters to the list:
* Beastmaster [[Skweel Gnawtooth]]
* Chieftain [[Tretch Craventail]]

====Fluff-only, Other Games, Other Continuities====
[[Image:Reverse Furry And His Pet.png|thumb|200px|right|Somehow worse than legit Skaven!]]
* Kreech: FUCK, I thought we agreed never to mention him again. Exists in Age of Sigmar to be the PG version (no depicted cannibalism, drug addiction and mass murder) of Thanquol to the pacifist protagonist adolescents of [[Warhammer Adventures]], is a complete weeb for humans, and has a slaveboy from the Realm Of Beasts named Scratch.
* Sneek Scratchett: a scribe from the [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] continuity who serves as your chosen faction's mission control during the Vortex campaign. MST'd the sequel's reveal trailer and wears a small pair of glasses, though whether he actually needs it or likes-prefers the look is known only to him.
* Vulskreek: a Grey Seer also from TWW and Sneek's supervisor, and regularly bosses Sneek around as all Skaven higher-ups do. After the Black Pillar forsees great things for the Horned Rat, Vulskreek's put in charge of mobilizing the ratmen to do their god's bidding, but the Grey Seer's also working on orders known only to the Council...

=== Fun Facts ===
* They consider the number thirteen to be lucky/holy. This a reference to how thirteen is seen as unlucky in Western society. However, several real-life nations/cultures consider thirteen a lucky number.
* Grey Seers regularly ride giant bells on scaffolds into battle
* [[DOOMWHEELS]]
* in ye olden days they could be led by friggin master splinter! im not kidding this was a thing
* Their leaders lead from the back, to get a better view of the battle of course and not due to the meatshield tactic.
* They can improve anything, with the addition of magical radiation rocks!
**This may or may not involve improving themselves by snorting said rock.
* GIANT LIGHTNING CANNONS
* Backstabbing little bastards, they'll fuck you up five different ways without you even knowing about it, if you're lucky.
* Skaven do not abide by any codes of honor or battle etiquette, and as such, they WILL bring a gun to a swordfight (and even then they'll try to steal your sword beforehand (and poison you (and improve themselves with warpstone before (aaaaand the gun might be a DOOMWHEEL)))).
* Skaven have a combination of ego and incompetence that would make [[Transformers|Starscream]] look down his nose at them. (Bad comedy right there)
* Skaven do NOT think about the potential consequences of ''anything'' that they do. Taken to its logical conclusion in [[The End Times]] when '''they blow up the motherfucking Chaos Moon''' and nearly destroy the planet with moon-fragments.
* At one point they had the cheapest troops in any game setting. How cheap? It was measured in ''fractions of a point!''
* They can carry giant rocket launcher weaponry that will most likely explode in their own damn faces.
* RATLING GUNS! its as cool as they sound! and yes, it does what it says on the tin
* for the last time, master splinter did NOT teach all of clan Eshin how to all be ninja rats...only a few
* As of Total Warhammer II, Skavens can into space. (No, seriously, go play the campaign!)
* BTW, they also have sniper rifles. Warpstone rifles of instant brain pop, yes-yes

== Thematic Stuff ==
In Warhammer seriousness and farce walk hand in hand. Some factions are in general more jokey like the Greenskins and others are more somber like the Druchii, but all of them are capable of both. This is especially true of the Skaven. On the one hand, they're a malignant horde of self centered sociopaths in which every twisted manifestation of this fact is explored driven on by a malevolent deity spreading underground like a cancer who surge forth to lay waste to the realms of men leaving nothing behind but ruins and gnawed bones are ultimately responsible for bringing about the End Times. On the other hand they're a species of Cartoonish Ratguys with Mad Science super-weapons, Ninjas and and convoluted plots that often blow up in their filthy faces with odd verbal ticks which are despite it all can sometimes be, well, cute.

The Skaven have no direct counterpart in Warhammer 40,000. In of itself this is not unprecidented. After all the neither do the Lizardmen or Vampire Counts and on the same note you don't have any Tau or Tyranids having raves in Athel Loren keeping the wood elves up. Even so, they do seem to be a natural fit. After all, they are one of the most technological factions and it's not a huge leap to imagine their space fleets and similar. They're also GW original content, so why are they not a thing? One possible answer is that while they could fit into 40k, they would be kind of redundant. Simply put the role of Theocratic Empire with cutthroat internal politics ruled through fear, driven by hatred of The Other on which a small priviledged elite rules over a vast ocean of individuals living cheek to jowl in huge labyrinthine warrens either as disposable factory workers or soldiers expended like ammunition [[Imperium of Man|is already filled in 40k]]. In fact the parallel may be more direct then accidental given that there are explicitly 13 high lords of Terra, same as the 13 lords of the Skaven council. The Empire of Man is not The Shire or some other idealized fantasy utopia, but on the same note in of itself it's not actually that bad by the standards of the era it was based on. Most of it's big problems are external (chaos, greenskins, druchii, whatever) and most of the crappiness you'd find in it is the sort of stuff you'd find in basically every early modern state along with the virtues there-of. It just so happens that those flaws get magnified a million fold once it territory can be listed in 'light years'.

== DIE-DIE MAN-THINGS! ==
The above sentence clearly illustrates the quirks of skaven language (which is titled Queekish): they often say certain monosyllabic words twice (words like "die-die" and "fool-fool" are popular). Skaven are also known to link similar-related words together.
[https://forums.totalwar.com/discussion/199375/on-skaven-jitter-speak-in-game-2 Some people believe these things should only be done to the most important part of a sentence. However, in some official works, such as Total Warhammer II, these quirks are applied seemingly at random in skaven speech.]

Also, they often end the name of a species with the suffix -things, so men are man-things, dwarfs are dwarf-things, et cetera.

This helps indicate that non-Skaven are not people in their eyes. Although considering their backstabby natures it isn't as if they're trying to avert sense of shame or horror from killing others, which is why humans dehumanize during war... so why? Likely the Skaven equivalent of racial slurs.

==Female Skaven==
[[Image:Female skaven.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Canon image of a female Skaven.]]
[[Image:Skaven female cheerleaders.jpg|thumb|250px|left|The closest thing to a female Skaven model to come out of Games Workshop.]]
The skaven as a whole fit the idea of "ratmen" - with particular emphasis on the ''men'' part. All named skaven characters are male, and new fans invariably wonder; what about females? Where do skaven come from?

There was never any great emphasis placed on them. Indeed, they were left so ambiguous that the first ever description of skaven females actually came about as a result of one fan's fanfiction, during those hoary days when [[Gnome#Gnomes_in_Warhammer|Gnome]]s and [[Half-Orc]]s were still canon. In "[https://the-eye.eu/public/Books/rpg.rem.uz/Warhammer/Fantasy/Roleplay/1st%20edition/Skaven%20-%20Book%20of%20the%20Rat.pdf The Book of the Rat]", a fan-made netbook of skaven lore for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 1st edition, female skaven were stated to exist but were hugely oppressed; they were kept as sexual slaves in segregated chambers of the warren, to which only the clan's elites were allowed access. Kept in miserable conditions, their life consisted of nothing but rough sex, pregnancy and looking after their mewling ratlings. Female skaven were described as rarer than male skaven, partially due to biology, primarily because their mothers and the bitter, infertile/elderly midwives tended to be particularly callous towards the female offspring and so female skaven have a much, ''much'' higher mortality rate than the males.

When we got official lore, however, it turned out to be far worse... when the first ever Warhammer Armies: Skaven sourcebook was released, way back in Warhammer 4th edition, fans were presented with what is the earliest known mention of skaven females: a single line describing them as being "indolent" and "semi-intelligent" in the general Skaven entry in the bestiary section (page 50). Modern lore, established in the Skaven's 6e army book and preserved since then, built upon this singular line and is considerably more [[grimdark]] than the fanon presented in "The Book of the Rat": female skaven are horrific monsters, implied to be basically female [[Giant Rat]]s of enormous stature, who build upon their description in 4e by being described as feral, effectively non-sapient creatures. They are basically giant wombs, locked away separately from the males and existing only to feed and produce offspring, so monstrously pregnant and indolent that their limbs have atrophied, rendering them incapable of doing anything but wallow in the breeding pits.

Further female skaven lore, such as it is, was fleshed out by Black Library fiction and most prominently by ''Children of the Horned Rat'', a skaven sourcebook for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 2nd edition. In CotHR, it's theorized that only one in ten skaven are female, reaching sexual maturity at the age of 2 and spending the rest of their 2 decades of life doing nothing but breed, averaging 12-24 pups a litter and 4-5 litters per year.

What's ''truly'' grimdark however, as explicitly stated in that same book is, that skaven females are actually <b>NOT NATURALLY LIKE THIS</b>; rather, their condition is the result of the skaven's malevolence and their need to [[fleshcrafting|"improve" upon nature]]; from a young age, skaven females are constantly dosed with Warpstone-based narcotics and hallucinogens, intended to keep them docile and segregated, so they will not protest their life of endless baby-making. There is a single line hinting that this may not be as effective as the male skaven think: "So cloistered away from the rest of their race are they that they do not learn their race’s chittering speech, nor are they proficient in even the simplest social skills…or so the Skaven believe." But still the vast majority of "Rat Mothers" spend their lives incessantly pregnant and in an interminable drug-fueled haze, often blind and/or crippled, and dependent on the ministrations of the "Ratwives" - castrated skaven who serve as nurses to the female Skaven themselves and midwives to their endless litters.

TL;DR: skaven females are practically furry [[Daemonculaba]].

Access to the females is carefully guarded. The most powerful of skaven are allowed to own one or more females for their private use - females are readily traded between clans as extremely valuable bargaining chips - and access to the communal females in the breeding pits is restricted to high-ranked or otherwise successful skaven; in one of the [[Gotrek & Felix]] novels, a Skaven is rewarded by his superior by being given permission to mate with one, whilst "Thanquol's Doom" features a skaven who partially lost his nose in an "incident" whilst mating with a breeder - apparently, she got too excited and tried to eat him.

The female Skaven's status as "bloated, indolent baby-makers" was referenced in the End Times. In "End Times: Thanquol", a Dwarf Slayer separated from the other during the battle of Karak Eight Peaks found his way into a Skaven breeding pit filled with hundreds of females in such a state, their litters and a handful of Ratwives. He killed the Ratwifes, the breeders and their litters, there being so many Skaven the Slayer's arms got sore from all the killing. Then the Slayer stumbled upon another breeding pit just as big, but by then Skaven soldiers had discovered what he did in the previous breeding pit so they swarmed him and slaughtered him. The End Times is the most recent lore on this, so it looks like the baby-factory fate is canon for most, if not all, female Skaven.

It bears mentioning that the status of the "breeders" does have some real-world basis to it. The rodent contains the only known eusocial mammals; the mole-rats, who live in colonies consisting of a single reproducing female with one (or up to three, for naked mole rats) reproducing males reigning over a large brood of sterile offspring that work as a collective to survive. In these cases, however, there are equal numbers of males and females, and it's the presence of a breeding queen and her pheromones that causes sterility into the younger mole-rats; if removed from her presence, they become fertile in turn.

It also bears mentioning that, in [[Blood Bowl]], the Skaven team comes with cheerleaders who are non-"Breeder" females, which you can tell because they have [[/d/|four big breasts each]]. But then, Blood Bowl also has [[Orcs & Goblins|fem-Orcs]], so its connection to canon of any edition after 3e is kind of dubious.

==Beastmen connection==
So, since this is a race made of humanoid rats empowered by [[Warpstone]] (which is officially described as being Chaos energy manifest), you may be wondering whether or not they're [[Beastmen]]. Well, the answer is that it kind of flips back and forth. Way back in the early editions, yes, Skaven were explicitly a break-away faction of relatively stabilised Beastmen, even pitching in with the Hordes of Chaos or spawning Chaos Champions of their own -- the "Design a [[Daemon Prince]]/Chaos God" rules in 3e's Slaves to Darkness - The Lost and The Damned even features a skaven turned Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided.

Since then, the connection has been downplayed extremely; the Empire generally describes Skaven (when they acknowledged they exist) as just "Beastmen who happen to look like rats", but there's no official connection between the two other than the fact Grey Seers have horns that signal them as important (a classically Beastman trait) and the fact both are animals mutated by Chaos-stuff.

==Warhammer 40k==
While no direct space Skaven exist, there are ratlike mutants described in the fluff, rat-worshiping cultists in [[Necromunda]], a [[mutant]] race called [[Ratlings]] which despite being more [[halfling]] than rat could be argued as a successor, <strike>the Imperial Guard itself which serves as uneducated and amoral xenophobes who are mass-bred and treated as currency by the Imperium with access to some nice and fancy toys which are more likely to cause teamkilling than damage to foes</strike> [[Blam|'''*BLAM*''' HERESY!]], and lastly there are the Tyranids who are 40k's version of ungodly numbers faction crossed with the [[Ogre Kingdoms]] motivation to eat everything in sight (though for different reasons). The [[Hrud]] used to be the Space Skaven, as in giant dieselpunk rat people, but that was pretty much retconned. They look different now (on the rare occasion they are mentioned in the fluff), so the only actual space Skaven are the Veer-Myn from [[Warpath]] by Mantic games. As usual, most of their models are, well not terrible, but not the greatest things ever, there is however great potential for a fantasy warlock engineer conversions. However, it does appear that the recent Skitarii model releases may have taken inspiration from the Skaven aesthetic (though not gameplay) with their many steampunk-styled weapons, most notably the Transuranic Arquebus and Radium Jezzail. Alternatively, the Genestealer Cults are a particularly close match gameplay-wise, with lots of ambushing troops and monsters backed up by armor and artillery.

==Models==
Skaven are one of the primary things in the Warhammer IPs that are actually unique to Games Workshop. As a result, its hard to obtain miniatures for them from third party companies, which is of particular irritation to Skaven players who want Skaven Slaves to actually look like downtrodden Skaven or those who refuse to give any more money to [[Games Workshop]].

However, [[Reaper Miniatures]] thankfully has begun to produce a "Wererat" range which includes decent alternatives to Rat Ogres, Assassins, a Verminlord, and even a female Skaven with six breasts for those wanting to have the most unique Warlord in the FLGS. This is in addition to the ordinary rat models, useful for spicing up scenery or large kits (or obtaining cheap Rat Swarms). These models are produced in the "Bonesium" material in the Bones line, which while being prone to bending badly is LUDICROUSLY cheap and completely safe from being dropped from any height onto any surface. Notably, some have taken to replacing the parts notorious for bending (weapons, especially spears) and replacing them with kitbashed weapons or even greenstuff. As far as the metal range goes, Reaper also produces Barrow Rats which can be useful as Pox Rats, Giant Rats, or Rat Hounds.

A further alternative source is [[Mierce Miniatures]], in particular their Vras faction of models. They have two warrior characters, more hamster-like than rat-like in proportions but with a paintjob serve as spectacular bloated disease-spreading characters (or just fat rat bastards). More importantly, Mierce has five large creatures that serve as [[Hellpit Abominations]] or as [[Verminlords]]. "Flint-Fang, Kill-Thing of the Infernal Pits" is preferred by some as an Abomination for its less Akira and more Frankenstein appearance (some praise or are horrified by its...anatomical correctness). "Back-Cracker, Goz-Horror" is an Abomination looking more like some kind of mad science genetic horror, while "Three-Faces, the Verminous Horror" takes the basic Games Workshop Abomination and replaces "steam-powered" with "tumor". "Scar-Claw, Rat Fiend" and "Scar-Scath, Vermin-Fiend" are alternative Verminlords, and thanks to the monopose nature of the End Times Verminlord kits make decent alternatives or just sources of kitbashing materials when fielding more than one.

[[Otherworld Miniatures]] produces both small rats and naked ratmen, although the latter sadly only come in two poses.

[[Mirilton]] Ratscum resemble Slaves or Clanrats, have ratmen gunners, and ratmen cavalry riding weasels, although the sculpts are in different proportions to the Skaven in many cases and resemble older Games Workshop models (this can be a bonus to some people however).

[[Curious Constructs]] produces weapon sets including a Gatling Gun, Mortar Launcher, and Flamethrower which could be kitbashed with any ratmen models to produce the various weapons teams of the Skaven.

[[Black Tree Design]] produces ratmen monks, assassins, warriors, a rat ogre creature, and rats in gas masks with poison bombs.

[[Impact Miniatures]] produce not-[[Bloodbowl]] ratmen models that require little to no alteration to become Skaven soldiers. Or that Skaven Blood Bowl team fielded as Stormvermin for a silly army.

[[Mantic Games]] produce not-Skaven known as [[Ratkin]] for their game [[Kings of War]].

Of course, Screaming Bells and Plague Furnaces can be made with balsa wood and the kinds of things one can find at any head shop or similar purveyor of hippie paraphernalia.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Skaven.jpg|The original Skaven Clans.
Image:SkavenNutshell.png|Pretty much any Skaven, pretty much all of the time.
</gallery>

==See Also==
* [[Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Skaven|Warhammer Tactics/Skaven]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Skaven]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Masterclan|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Masterclan]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Verminus|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Verminus]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clan_Moulder| Age of Sigmar Tactics/Moulder]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clan_Eshin|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Eshin]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Skryre|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Skryre]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Pestilens|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Pestilens]]
* [https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/57408867/ Sir Harumphington sets the record straight about these so-called "rat-men"]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BhV3CxvcF0/ Play this when a wave of rat men completely swamp your opponents army.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od06TLDO1CU/ “Underground” by Tom Waits, for any spelunking skaven.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaFIzPdxuF8 Every Skaven's idea of risk assessment in a nutshell]

==In Other Media==
While not ripped off as much as some of the other concepts Warhammer <strike>created</strike> expanded upon from existing sources, like Mesoamerican lizard people or Orcs/Goblins with green skin, Skaven have helped popularize rat people as a more standard fantasy race in a few places. Its theorized by some that the inclusion of [[Nezumi]] in the Asiatic settings of [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and [[Magic: The Gathering]] were inspired by the popularity of Skaven. Still, Skaven as a whole remain one of the most iconic things that are wholly unique to Warhammer. The League Of Legends character Twitch is clearly inspired by Skaven and has a line referencing them, although he lacks the insane flamboyancy compared to the setting he's in that Skaven have. They even had enough mainstream awareness to be referenced by British journalist Stewart Lee in the Guardian (comparing Brexit negotiations to Plague Monks, naturally).

The most direct and unexpected place for them to appear is being referenced to exist in both the Japanese and English versions of the Japanese anime [[Goblin Slayer]], listed off as a type of monster to specialize in studying. Just the idea of a Skaven Slayer could also be nod to [[Gotrek & Felix]].

==Non-Canon Female Skaven==
{{Promotions}}
{{Heresy}}

So it's universally agreed upon both in and out of universe that the only appropriate response to meeting a skaven is to kill them on sight, right? Well in an astounding display of hypocrisy, some [[furries]] went "yeah but I kinda also want to cuddle one?" and further demonstrated just how mentally broken certain subtypes of that culture are. So, there is an undercurrent in the darker hidden recesses of /tg/ where furfags like to talk about non-Rat Mother female skaven. Many have tried arguing that, given the reverence for the Grey Seers, combined with the Chaotic tinge of the skaven, then surely there are rare female Grey Seers who are thus spared the fate of their sisters. Others have pointed that since Breeders are heavily dosed up with chemicals, then if that fate was spared for some reason, then surely female skaven would turn out to be at least as competent as their brothers. Still others note that skaven can't resist tinkering, so it's not impossible a Grey Seer or Master Moulder might make use of a "thinking Breeder".

And, in fact, this last argument one even has a dash of canon to it: in C.L. Werner's "Grey Seer" novel, [[Thanquol]] encounters a [[Grey Seer]] (Thratquee of Under-Altdorf) who owns two personal breeders he has [[fleshcrafting|"improved"]], granting them an unusual clarity of thought, freedom of motion and muscle hidden under their chub; built like a cross between a breeder and a [[Rat Ogre]], they're essentially the skaven equivalent of [[amazon]] bodyguards, and Thanquol is simultaneously horrified and a little impressed at the realization that these "harmless females" will actually kill any skaven who dare to threaten their mate. This makes them the ultimate bodyguards in the eternal backstab-fest that is skaven society.

All of these arguments are reaching, understandably (I mean, why not just work with the idea of some developing an immunity or something?). But that hasn't stopped fans from dabbling in fem-skaven [[Your dudes|homebrew characters]] or [[Rule 34|more cheesecake-level artwork]]. One infamous skaven-loving furry even created his own homebrew clan of renegade female skaven, Clan Sniek, an offshoot clan of Clan Eshin who scavenge on the outskirts of skaven society and raid weaker warlord clans to steal away their females to bolster their own numbers. Clan Sniek is also known to "dabble" with human men, for pleasure and/or procreative purposes; there's even a named Gutter Runner female in a relationship with an Imperial human. His artwork tends to pop up whenever a [[ratfolk]] thread does or the topic of non-Breeder female skaven arises.

Thus, the argument about whether or not Rat Mothers are interesting will probably rage forever. You'd think that with the talks of non-breeder females and Clan Sniek that there would be more Sniek, fem-rats, or even Skaven related stories in general at the Smut archive, but hey what are you gonna do? You can't fap it to femskaven stories if there are no femskaven stories.

<center>
<gallery>
Image:Femskaven 1.jpg|Fanart of femSkaven.
Image:Femskaven 2.jpg|More fanart depicting femSkaven experiments.
Image:Reaper Wererat Matriarch.png|The Reaper "Wererat Matriarch" for those wanting to field a non-giant female Skaven model.
Image:Wererat Female.jpg|What an unmodified female Skaven would probably look like.
Image:FemSkaven Chieftain Uberous.jpg|Breeder or no, female skaven would admittedly probably spend more time pregnant than not.
Image:Female Gutter Runner.jpg|Sneaking around in the human's storehouses clearly has its advantages.
Image:Female Poison Wind Globadier.jpg|
Image:Female Stormvermin.jpg|Being high in the clan's totem pole has its perks.
Image:Futa Master Molder.jpg|Some Master Moulders go [[dickgirl|a lot further]] than others when it comes to [[fleshcrafting]].
Image:Female Stormvermin Fangleader.jpg
File:Longhaired skaven assassin.jpg
</gallery>
</center>

;Clan Sniek
<center>
<gallery>
Image:Gutter Runner of Clan Sniek.jpg|A Gutter Runner of Clan Sniek; the clan relies on stealth for survival.
Image:Assassin of Clan Sniek.jpg|An Assassin of Clan Sniek; they tend to focus more on other skaven than on humans.
Image:Packmaster of Clan Sniek.jpg|Clan Sniek's packmasters specialize in capturing human men - sometimes as slaves, sometimes as breeding partners.
Image:Master Assassin of Clan Sniek.jpg|Almost Prophet, a mutant female skaven born with pale fur but no horns, Master Assassin and founder of Clan Sniek.
Image:Grey Seer of Clan Sniek.jpg|Clan Sniek's Grey Seer yearns to dethrone Almost Prophet and rule the clan herself.
Image:Master Molder of Clan Sniek.jpg|Tichiz, Clan Sniek's Master Moulder, is perhaps the most feared skaven in the clan.
Image:Sorceress of Clan Sniek.jpg|Vaquit Silverspit, a female skaven sorcerer, wields great power in Clan Sniek for both her mastery of the Dark Lore of Stealth and her expertise with her rifle.
Image:Verminqueen.jpg|The mysterious Verminqueen is the dark patron of Clan Sniek.
Image:Audience with the Verminqueen.jpg|Sometimes, the Verminqueen deigns to tryst with mortals.
</gallery>
</center>

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}
{{Skaven-Clans}}
{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category: Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Skaven]]
[[Category:Furry]]

The Elder Scrolls

2021-10-19T04:01:44Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8DAB:A0D2:F0DE:1CE6: /* Daedra */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:Crabomancy.jpg|300px|thumb|right|During the Oblivion Crisis, the Dunmer of House Redoran revived a whole city, Ald'ruhn, which was made out of shell of the Great Skar to fight on their side, as a Giant Friendly Crab. This series is hardcore like that. They still lost.]]
'''The Elder Scrolls''' is a [[video game|vidya]] series, and the setting of five main games and a number of spinoffs. Despite being a vidja, it is considered a type II game.

/tg/ also has a [[Scrollhammer|40k/WHFB hack named Scrollhammer]], [[Scrollhammer 2nd Edition|Infinity hack 2nd edition]], and a number of pen and paper games (notably [[Morrowind PNP]] and the [[Unofficial Elder Scrolls RPG|UESRPG]]) set in [[The Elder Scrolls]] universe. Recently, Modiphius created "The Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms", which features a solid PVE game mode and reflects much of Skyrim on the tabletop (down to the Dragonborn deciding to loot everything in sight whilst their companions are slaughtered by Draugr). Currently only features models from Skyrim, but much like [[Fallout Wasteland Warfare| Wasteland Warfare]], they'll likely expand it to the other games in due time.

Its canon is notoriously unstable and intentionally 'postmodern'. Long story short: imagine every canon clusterfuck 40K has ever experienced, only there are no editions to draw a neat line between lore changes. And on at least one occasion, time has been known to break in order to allow simultaneous mutually exclusive outcomes. You know how in 40K everything is canon, but not everything is necessarily true? Here, nothing is canon and everything is true, especially when it contradicts itself, so histories are intentionally interpretive and unreliable.

==Setting==
[[File:Elder_Scrolls_Cosmology.jpg|400px|thumb|right|An approximation of the cosmology of the Elder Scrolls. Not shown: mindfucks.]]
The games mainly take place in Tamriel, a continent consisting of nine separate lands. After being [[Anal Circumference|buttfucked]] by the [[Eldar|Ayleid]] for several centuries, humanity rises up and overthrow their elven overlords, and took control themselves. Then, a few thousand years later, a man named [[God-Emperor|Tiber]] [[Alpharius|Septim]] steps up and leads his armies to [[Great Crusade|conquer all of Tamriel to found the Third Empire of Cyrodiil]]. But instead of exterminating all the elves and beast races, they were allowed to co-exist with the other races and a time of prosperity began, ending with the death of Emperor [[Star Trek|Jean-Luc Picard the 7th]], and [[Khorne|Mehrunes Dagon]] then began to fuck his way from [[Warp|Oblivion]] into Tamriel, starting a chain of events that resulted in him being kicked back into hell by the Emperor's lost son, [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Sean Bean]].

Being Sean Bean meant he died in the process, and without an Emperor the Empire began to crumble. The Aldmeri Dominion (think Ayleid 2.0) sensed their weakness and began a war to subjugate the lesser races. The Empire only barely managed to stop them, and a tense cease-fire is currently in effect. The fluff of this series, unfortunately, suffers greatly from dissonance between written background and shown foreground due to all the shit mentioned in the intro.

There's also a bunch of other weird cosomology crap involved, but it's all kind of trippy and kind of in a grey area when it comes to canon. Don't think too much about it, unless you're into that. The setting works if you don't care for it, and it works if you do. The games themselves don't acknowledge the "deeper" lore outside some in-game books and a few references thrown in some main-story dialogue.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
If you ''do'' want to read on some of the (possibly) weirdest, at times incomprehensible, yet at times original without being ~~subversive because we can~~ lore ever written, click to open.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

'''Creation of the world'''

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJD-Ufi1jGk Listen to this.] This is the main theme of Morrowind, the third game in the series. It also contains the history of the cosmology of The Elder Scrolls. Listen to it, because it's a damn fine tune. But as you listen to it, you might realise there are no spoken words in this music. So how can it tell the history of a setting? Well, sit that five-dollar ass of yours down before I make [[Tzeentch|change]].

Long ago there was an entity who had fallen deeply in love, but his brother loved the same person, so he out of jealousy killed his loved one. That brought such distress to him that he fell into a coma of sorts, he "hid in a sun" and started dreaming. Thus he became The Godhead. From his dreams sprung Anu and Padomay, Stasis and Change. These "brothers" (the term used in the loosest sense here, solely on being related but different forces) accidentally created Nir, Grey maybe, personification of creation itself. But Padomay grew jealous of the relationship between Anu and Nir and out of spite decided to break her. Nir was killed and Creation was shattered, maimed for ever. Anu then fought Padomay and they were cast out of time forever, even though they still exist and will always exist as long as there is Order and Chaos. You might have thought to yourself, "Didn't that happen twice?", yes it did. Everything in the Dream mimics original Godhead and his mind, everything comes from it. In this case Anu was avatar of the Dreamer while Padomay represented Godheads brother and Nir their shared love. Same scenario of two mirror brothers, one being force of Stasis, The King and one being force of Change, The Rebel always repeats. The souls or core concepts of Anu and Padomay on which all of creation runs are called, Anui-El (IS) and Sithis (IS NOT).

Eventually from endless energies and "blood" of Anu and Padomay came the Et'ada (Et'ada means original spirit, while Ada means just generally any spirit), each representing different idea and concepts. Et'ada tended to categorize themselves with Anu or Padomay. Auri-El, Kyne and other Et'ada who lean more towards Order are Anuic while more chaotic ones like Mehrunes Dagon or Molag Bal are more Padomaic. Later after creation of realms those who were Anuic became Aedra, which means "our ancestor" in Ehlnofex, because Aedra took part in creation of the world we usually visit in TES games, while those Padomaic spirits who did not take part in creation and created their own solo realms became Daedra, which translates to "not our ancestor" (though that was not always the case, Jyggalag for example is a Daedra, but he is clearly Anuicly aligned.)

In the Dawn Era, time, in the shape of Akatosh (Ara, Auriel, Auri-El Tosh'Raka, AKHAT; take your pick), was non-linear. It flowed freely wherever it wanted, without direction, form of shape. In this temporal soup floated the souls of the proto-Mer. Think pea soup, except with millions of Ada of all sorts instead of peas. Time, in this form, was a single point. It was called the Ur-Tower, Ada-Mantia. Except it was not really a point or a tower, but more of a sound.

''Bom. (0:00 to 0:01 of the song)''

The Et'Ada saw it, and it was good. Except for one. A being born from Padomay who wanted no name, but eventually came to be first known as Lorkhan (LKHAN, Shor, Sep, Shezarr, maybe even Shepard). Having little interest with the rest of the Et'Ada's activities, or more likely inactivity, he spent his time wandering the Aurbis (all of existence), eventually coming to the very edge. He saw the universe, shaped like a wheel with eight spokes. Then he looked at the wheel from another perspective, and it looked like a Tower, a perfect line. An I.

"I."

This was his first word, and he would never, ever forget it. He understood everything right then and there, all of creation and its true nature was revealed to him.

Wanting to share this revelation with the other Ada but knowing that none of them would be able to comprehend it as they were, he came up with a plan for a creation and showed it to Magnus, The Grand Architect. Magnus went along with the plan and recruited the help of the Et'ada that we know as Aedra today: Akatosh, Dibella, Julianos, Kynareth, Mara, Stendarr, Zenithar and many other lesser spirits that you probably never heard of to serve as the basis of their creation. Except that they did not know this last part, Lorkhan had fooled them. Their divinity was drained into the creation, or re-creation of long shattered Nir, Nirn was born. When they discovered they were tricked the Et'Ada were [[RAGE|not amused]]. Magnus buggered off into infinity along with his servants, tearing through the edge of Mundus and creating The Sun and The Stars in the process...yeah, everything you see in sky is a giant non euclidean portal to realm of infinite energy, the original crib of Et'ada, The Aetherius. Others gave Lorkhan his due: [[RIP AND TEAR|Trinimac tore his heart out and Auriel(Elven aspect of Akatosh) shot it out over the sea]], where it landed in a spot and created a crater that would gain the moniker "Red Mountain". The halves of Lorkhan's body became the moons Masser and Secunda, [[Emperor|the last visible remnants of a corpse god.]] But this was [[just as planned]], throughout the whole thing the Heart of Lorkhan was laughing at them like a maniac, because Red Mountain was Red Tower, the second Tower, and the beat of his heart would be added to the sound of Akatosh. His Heart would become the prison for The Dragon God of Time.

''Bom bom. (0:01 to 0:07 of the song)''

This completely, utterly and irrevocably buttfucked spacetime. Because there now was a second point in existence, time could no longer flow anywhere it wanted and had to flow from Akatosh to Lorkhan. With time becoming linear, Nirn could start to grow. Aedra were drained and "dying", so they had to reproduce, create worshipers or someone that could sustain them. Slowly Ehlnofey, the "Earth Bones", Ada of all forms and shapes, some descendants of crazy reproduction, started popping up. Some created simple truths and laws for Nirn, for example gravity, others reproduced more, creating less energized spirits that slowly stabilized in different ways, slowly becoming mortal. They are ancestors of Humans (Men) and Elves (Mer). These Ehlnofey fortified their borders from the chaos outside, hid their pocket of calm, and attempted to live on as before. Other Ehlnofey arrived on Nirn scattered amid the confused jumble of the shattered worlds, wandering and finding each other over the years. Eventually, the wandering Ehlnofey found the hidden land of Old Ehlnofey, and were amazed and happy to find their kin and a comfy place, built by them. The wandering Ehlnofey expected to be welcomed into the peaceful realm, but the Old Ehlnofey being arrogant douchebags, refused to accept their kin. Anywho, war broke out between them and raged across the whole of Nirn and sunk large part of planet in ocean. Old Ehlofney (the asshole ones), who primarly lived in Tamriel, became Elves (gee, you didn't expect that, did you?), while their kin on other continents became Humans (Yokudans, Atmorans and Akaviri/Tsaesci).

''Bom bom. (0:07 to 0:39 of the song)''

The Mer, one of the first to mortalize were [[RAGE|not pleased]] by this. They blamed Lorkhan for their predicament, naming him the Doom Drum, bringer of mortality, death and the herald of all misfortune. But they made the best out of the situation, and the races of Mer prospered. New Towers came into existence, one by one: Walk-Brass Tower, White-Gold Tower, Snow-Throat Tower, Crystal-Like-Law, Orchalc, Khajit and Tree-Sap.

''Bom bom. (0:39 to 1:19 of the song)''

But, as time went on (something new back then), more and more happened. New peoples stood up. Empires were founded and fell. The races of Men were discovered, the beast races prospered, and the Empires of Men were founded.

''Bom bom. (1:19 to 1:42 of the song)''

Yet nothing is eternal. The Thalmor, the ruling faction of the High Elves, desires nothing less than the destruction of the Doom Drum and all of creation so time once again becomes non-linear, mortality would get destroyed and they could return their eternal soup-floating. Removing Lorkhan would stop the music of existence, and everything once again becomes singular.

''Bom bom. Bom. (1:42 to 1:55 of the song)''

And then... silence.

'''On the importance of Towers'''

For every Tower there is a Stone, an artifact that can be used to activate or deactivate a Tower. For Ada-Mantia Tower this is the Moment of Creation itself (making it rather difficult to obtain), for Red Tower this is the Heart of Lorkhan and for White-Gold Tower this is the Amulet of Kings. The Towers serve many purpose besides keeping [[Homestuck|spacetime]] from becoming a massive alinear clusterfuck. What is this? Well, it's easier for you to do it yourself that for me to explain. Make yourself a print of the map of Tamriel further down on this page. Then get yourself a pin board and a black, a red, two brown, three white, and two green tacks. Put the map against the pinboard and do the following:

*Put the white tacks through the map in the Imperial City in Cyrodiil, the Throat of the World slightly south-east of Whiterun in Skyrim, and Crystal Tower in the Summerset Isles (northern part, west of King's Watch). (White-Gold, Snow-Throat and Crystal-Like-Law)
*Put the green tacks in Yokuda (exact location unknown) and in Valenwood (somewhere in the middle). (Orichalc and Tree-Sap)
*Put the brown tacks in Daggerfall (southernmost tip of High Rock) and in Elsweyr (again in the middle). (Walk-Brass and Khajiit)
*Put the red tack in the middle of Vvardenfell in Morrowind. (Red)
*Put the black tack on the little island deep in the Iliac Bay near High Rock. (Ata-Mantia)

That's the locations of the Towers that keep time flowing. All's fine and dandy with those holding the world together, right? Wrong! Some have been destroyed or deactivated over the course of time; three times, this was done by the player. [[Fail|Whoops]]. Remove the following:

*Red Tower (deactivated in Morrowind by you)
*White-Gold Tower (deactivated in Oblivion by you)
*Crystal Tower (destroyed in Oblivion by the Daedra)
*Khajiit Tower (Their leader, the Mane was killed, likely assassinated by Thalmor. S/He was also known as the Mane Moon which appeared when Secunda and Masser overlap)
*Tree-Sap Tower (both located in Thalmor territory, likely deactivated)
*Orichalc Tower (destroyed along with Yokuda)

Snow-Throat Tower is very much active (but damaged), but its Stone is an unknown cave. Ata-Mantia Tower remains active, and its stone, the "zero stone" is the physical manifestation of a meeting the Aedra had to discuss how to punish Lorkhan for his role in the creation. Walk-Brass Tower is very much active, but somehow it is "besieging reality well into the Fifth Era", meaning that it's in the future yet somehow active. Which is not a bad thing, since [[Titans_40k|Walk-Brass tower is a fuckhueg robot]] that fucks Time so hard it breaks every time someone just ''turns the thing on'' . So yeah, the only things standing between Tamriel and the primordial time-grog are a mountain, a meeting, and one of the [[Void Dragon]]'s action figures. Unless, of course, Akavir and\or Pyandonea would be revealed to host their own Towers, which is likely since certain prominent rulers of both lands somehow managed to achieve godhood, something that Towers are very helpful at.

Removing the Tower-Tacks has another side effect: the veil between Nirn and [[Warp|Oblivion]] becomes thinner. At the time of Oblivion it had even grown so thin that the Daedra could slip into this realm on their own accord. So your actions in Morrowind partially caused the Oblivion Crisis. [[Fail|Way to go, champ.]]

Now the Thalmor, who a lot of fans believe want to shut down all Towers, [https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/gwy1yx/ don't really need that]. Their main goal is the biggest and newest anchor of existence, Talos (essentially Lorkhan 2.0), hence why they try to unmake him by outlawing his worship. The Thalmor want him and all of mankind gone, believing their extermination necessary to unmake the Mundus.

'''How to Break your Dragon (Or Jump Your Shark)'''

You might have heard the phrase "Dragon Break" (both words capitalized) a few times. Simply put, this means cock-slapping Time so hard it breaks and becomes non-linear for a while. But not just any cock-slap, oh no. This is the hard part: Imagine a dick if you will. A really big dick (no, this does not make you [[gay]] <s>unless you imagine balls touching</s>). So big in fact, that even Long Dick Johnson would say "That's a big fucking dick". Right, you see it? The biggest fucking dick your feeble mind could comprehend? Good.

Now, imagine if you will, Time. How you do this is up to you: [[Doctor Who|causality, a linear progression of cause and effect]], floaty magic thingies, [[Tallarn|sand]], a clock, perhaps even a more anthropomorphic presentation in the shape of a [[loli]] or a cute [[monstergirl]]. Right. Now take the dick and slap Time in the face. Cockslap it so hard that time itself just outright breaks and loses its linearity. This is a Dragon Break. The name itself is derived from the notion that the Linearity of Time is Akatosh, who is a dragon. Hence if you break time, you "Break the Dragon". While inside a Dragon Break time is perceived to pass normally, but when one exits it might appear that a lot more or less time than you observed has passed in the rest of the world.

The first known Dragon Break occurred near the end of the Dragon War, where a trio of [[Vikings|Nords]] confronted Alduin the World-Eater, First-Born and Aspect of Akatosh that personifies the End of Time (meaning that somehow he was [[Wat|his own father]]), the leader of the [[dragon]]s. The Nords created a localized Dragon Break to fling Alduin into the future so that he wasn't their problem anymore. Mind you, they had no idea where the stuff they shunted was actually going; they just knew it disappeared things, and decided that making Alduin someone else's problem was as good as killing him, essentially causing (or at least amplifying) all the problems in the 4th Era out of laziness. [[Eldrad|What a bunch of dicks.]]

The second known Dragon Break happened during the Battle of Red Mountain, where the First Council of the [[Elf|Chimer]] went to war with the [[Dwarves|Dwemer]]. The Dwemer were working on a giant golem they called Numidium. However, it had one minor design flaw: every time someone pushed the "ON" switch it fucked the dragon right up the butt, no lube. This allowed for the multiple truths on the events that transpired on Red Mountain: Ayem, Seht and Vehk stood by their friend Nerevar as he succumbed to his wounds. Almalexia, Sotha Sil and Vivec murdered their Hortator (war-leader) Nerevar. Ayem Seht Vehk = Almalexia Sotha Sil Vivec = ALMSIVI. Everything is true, nothing is correct.

The third suspected Dragon Break occurred during the time of the Alessian Empire, when Saint Alessia freed Man from the slavery of their Mer rulers (think of her as a booby [[Sigmar]]). A cult of the Alessian Order known as Marukhati, lead by monkey man Marukh. wanted to exorcise the aspects of Auriel from Akatosh, basically substracting the Elf from the Dragon. This is said to have resulted in a thousand-and-eight year Dragon Break and might have resulted in creating more Dragon aspects than just Auri-El and Akatosh. But some claim that this was little more than [[Administratum|a fuckup of the scholars and historians of the time]].

The fourth known Dragon Break took place when [[Emperor|Tiber Septim]] unleashed Numidium on the Khajiit of Elsweyr. This included the subjugation of Elsweyr, Valenwood and eventually the Summerset Isles. Tiber Septim threatened to activate it again and have it wreck the Aldmeri Dominion, but they liked their assholes to only be violated by one another, so they too stood down. It has been recorded that Numidium was then used to destroy hostile royal families to replace them with the Emperor's puppets, likely by having it step on them.

The fifth and currently final known Dragon Break occurred during the events of Daggerfall, where it was turned on in the Iliac Bay. But because of the nature of Numidium fucking space-time a new lovehole when it activates (hence, "turned on"), a number of the states in the region obtained the "FUCK EVERYTHING" button of Numidium and pressed it at the same time. Two days of hilarity later, everyone conquered one another until the Empire ended as top dog and everyone swore fealty to the Empire. Because of the events surrounding the activation of the Dragon Break, Numidium disappeared and fell into the future, where it still stands as Walk-Brass Tower.

When the Dragon Breaks happen, Akatosh deploys the Jill to fix time so that everything does not fall apart. These minute-menders (akin to angels) tend to take the form of great wyrms who fly around and fix the little bits of time with the power of their Voice (i.e.: they shout at holes in space-time until they bitch down). If this sounds familiar to you... it is! Jills are female Dragons, while Drakes are the male ones; Dragons can't really reproduce and are born of Time/Akatosh, but it's more of a conceptual thing, with Jills having the concept of healing while Drakes have the concept of Domination. So yeah, Dragons you kill, fight, kill and soul-rob to increase your own unholy power are actually servants and minor aspects of Akatosh. So in other words, [[Adeptus Evangelion|you have been killing the heralds of a new era]].

...Or at least ''you would be if they were actually doing what they were supposed to do'' - as it turns out, some time before that first Dragon Break Alduin, who is also aspect of Akatosh himself decided that he would rather rule over the broken bits of time himself, and the dragons are bound to obey him without question. It's not certain if he did it because he knew that he wouldn't get to eat the world this time around or if he just felt like ruling the world instead of resetting it. So all of reality is increasingly fucked and the only beings who can fix it stopped giving a shit a long time ago. Gods plotting against themselves is fairly common in TES since most of the Gods are broken and crazy with tons of split personalities.

There is also the whole issue of Aka-Tusk, or simply Aka. Apparently all the Dragon Aspects of time at one point or another were Great Dragon God of Time known as Aka-Tusk, but got broken and shed millions of times, maybe even before the Marukhati Dragonbreak. We may never know because Dragonbreaks are usually at least partially retroactive.

And then there is the whole issue of Akatosh and Lorkhan being one being and Akatosh being trapped in Heart of Lorkhan literally. This timey wimey bullshit is really getting out of hand.

'''CHIM: Or "You took HOW MUCH LSD!?'''

[[File:Chim explained.png|300px|thumb|right|CHIM. It's sort of like this.]]
That muffled explosion you just heard was caused by a number of people exploding out of sheer [[rage]]. Sit tight, because this shit is meta wrapped in an enigma inside a mindfuck.

In Morrowind you can find a series of books titled the 36 Sermons of Vivec. If you pick them up and read them at face value they might appear as parts of a religious text, filled with metaphors, truths twisted throughout the ages, and copious amounts of [[Anal Circumference|buttfucking]] (''literal'' buttfucking, in one case). In these books you will find several references to CHIM, The Tower, and The Ruling King. Now, early on in the books Vivec is shown as the teacher of Lord Indoril Nerevar (more on him below), yet Nerevar does not understand the lessons. Because he was not the intended student. Instead, these lessons were meant for you. Not only for your player character, but for ''you'', the player. For if one attains CHIM, one's physical form becomes a mere avatar of the self.

But now you may wonder, what the Charles fucking Dickens *is* CHIM?

Imagine if you will, a great wheel with eight spokes. The wheel is everything that exists: Aurbis. The hub is Nirn, the world that the series takes place on. The spokes are the Aedra, the <s>Nine</s> Eight Divines. The space between the spokes is Oblivion, where the Daedra reside. Mundus encompasses both Nirn, its moons and the realms of the Aedra. Now, if you were to turn the wheel 90 degrees, you'd be looking at the rim of the wheel so it resembles I (as in, the thin side of a disk). This is the Tower, the Secret of Aurbis, holder of the secret. CHIM. The wheel is the entire universe. Outside there exist only two forces: Anu and Padhome, stasis and change. Think a great void filled with only two bubbles: there where these bubbles touch exists the wheel. Now, the Tower is not something physical, but an ideal. Something that can be attained, conquered, stolen. For one to reside within the tower, is to know the truth of all that is. This was the revelation of Lorkhan's that made him want to create Nirn.

This truth is that everything is a dream. The supreme power in TES is the Godhead, the unknown creator of all. Everything, Aurbis, Anu, and Padomay - all created in the dreams of the Godhead. Attaining CHIM is to know this, the relentless alien terror that is God and your place in it. Everything you know, are and do is but a dream. Now, if you discover this one of two things can happen. The most common one is to realize you do and don't exist at the same time: you lose your individuality (you zero-sum) and become one with the dreamer, the Godhead, and you disappear in the proverbial puff of logic. The second option is the rare one: to realize that you are part of the Godhead, you *are* the Godhead. If everything is an extension of the same thing, and that the thing can reshape reality with a thought, being a dreamer within the dream.

If you thought that shit was meta, just you wait. The principles behind CHIM can be taken further to mean that the Godhead and its dreams are a metaphor for the computer running the game and the game itself. In-universe the metaphor of the godhead and being awake within the dream is needed to prevent characters who realize this from zero-summing out of existence at the resulting paradox. It can be inferred that a character who achieves CHIM essentially gains access to the console and the Construction Set. Talos used the Construction Set to retcon Cyrodiil from a jungle land into a generic European fantasy land (Talos has a terrible imagination). Vivec gave himself levitation abilities by using the console to erase the texture file for his chair (no seriously). Whether or not the player achieves CHIM varies. Generally when a player becomes fully immersed in the game, they do not have CHIM. However, a player who gets fed up of getting bugged by cliff racers every five seconds and installs a mod that removes them from the game is using CHIM. They are remembering that the world they are in is a game and altering it as they see fit. Exploits, mods, console commands, etc can all be explained in-universe as the player character achieving CHIM and using it to reshape reality or bend its rules... or all of that could be stupid speculation.

Meta as FUCK.

You can go deeper than that and find Amaranth though, but that is whole another level of [[mindfuck]].

'''It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine'''

We've mentioned a few times that the world of Nirn is slowing being destroyed by a few reasons. In a normal fantasy setting, this would be a terrible thing, and the hero must try and stop it; however, the Elder Scrolls isn't a normal fantasy setting. One of the dragons, Paarthurnax, mentions that when the world ends, Alduin, the first born of Akatosh, will/might simply recreate it, thus returning it to the point of creation. Granted he also states liking the current one is a good enough reason to fight Alduin (''that and the fact that Alduin is an absolute prick who would rather rule over the broken remains of the old one instead of actually doing his job'').

This is due to the Kalpic nature of Nirn; Kalpa is the time span from Convention to the end of the world, one turn of a wheel. Eventually, Alduin The World Eater grows in size and literally eats the world, turns the Kalpa like a wheel and everything resets back to the Convention, the moment when Heart of Lorkhan was torn out, time became linear. From that point on things can go differently in different Kalpas; for example, according to Seven Flights of Aldudagga, one Kalpa had Molag Bal as its ruler and Dreughs as the supreme race. That being said, it is possible to end the Kalpic cycle and destroy shit for good, hence what the Thalmor are trying to do. They also believe that this will make them Ada (Spirit/God) again.

In essence, the world might be ending, few care and fewer understand, and Elder Scrolls lore is more complicated than trying to keep track of the number of penises [[Slaanesh]] has at the moment.

'''Seriously?'''

Remember way at the beginning of this page, we said that how crazy the Elder Scrolls series is depends on if you take an ex-writer's blogposts as gospel? Well, if you don't, and only trust what you see in-game, it looks a bit like this.

The Godhead almost certainly doesn't exist. Neither does CHIM. Only two in-game sources claim it does; one is a colossal liar and the other is shown to be wrong about absolutely everything that comes out of his mouth. They're both bugfuck nuts and they both end up dead at your hands. The big historical event allegedly caused by CHIM could easily not have been. At least two alternate theories have been suggested: either the event never actually took place and was the result of a [[skub|transcription error]], which is boring, or the White-Gold Tower did it on its own after humans booted the elves from the Imperial City and moved in, which is not. Speaking of, the Tower thing is definitely true, because the plot of Oblivion is, broadly, that the bad guy shut one down and tore reality a new asshole. The Dragonbreak is an empirical event that happens within living memory; in Oblivion you can read the Imperial report on what the fuck happened in the last one, and you can see one happen in Skyrim. The kalpa thing is definitely happening, and you hear as much directly from the mouth of a time-spirit who knew Alduin personally. You meet Pelinal Whitestrake's ghost in a DLC questline, and he doesn't ''seem'' to be a robot, or even remotely crazy.

Mantling deserves special mention, even though it hasn't been mentioned anywhere else on the page. Basically, by adopting the mannerisms and vestments of something else, you become that something else, since oyu have become so like that thing that the universe itself has ceased to distinguish between the two of you. In a word: [[awesome|apotheosis]]. You mantle a daedric prince at the end of Shivering Isles, and use your new divine powers to kick the ass of another daedric prince. Have we mentioned that these games are really, really good and you should play them? SI also added the caveat that whatever you're mantling has to be either dead or gone in a big way for you to pull it off, and you're basically filling in its place in the universe.
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==Gods, Deities and other important people==
Most of the Gods in The Elder Scrolls are Et'Ada, the "original spirits" that came from the interplay of Anu and Padomay. These spirits later depending on their alignment with creation got categorized into Aedra and Daedra, if you took part in creation of Nirn you are Aedra, if you were egotistic dick and went to Oblivion to make your small shitty realm, you are Daedra.

===Supreme Gods===
*'''The Godhead''': Everything in the setting is all just the the godhead's dream, if you believe all of the weird lore. Fully comprehending this fact will either cause you to lose your sense of individuality and disappear, or give you the ability to change the world around you like a lucid dreamer, or cause you to exit the universe and create your own. Anu and Padomay are the godhead's first creations.
*'''Anu''': The personification of light, life, stasis, and order. Rarely is worshiped due to his lack of personality, but most religions acknowledge his existence. Hardly does anything because he removed himself and Padomay from reality to stop Padomay from causing more destruction.
*'''Padomay:''' The personification of darkness, death, change, and chaos. In the beginning of the universe he attacked Anu and the spilled blood of the two became new gods. While very unpopular among normal folks, he's considered the patron of the Dark Brotherhood assassins. Some vampires and even regular Argonians are known to worship him as well. Evil worshipers of Padomay and the assassins of the Dark Brotherhood prefer to call him by the more evil sounding name Sithis.

===Aedra===
The Aedra (Our ancestors in Aldmeris) are Et'Ada of Anuic origin. Many of them took part in the creation of Nirn, during which they "died", their essences fused together into Mundus. As such they do not have "physical" forms like the Daedra have. Yet their spirits live on in Nirn: as the Gods of the world they live in every part of it. While not as "focused" as their Daedric counterparts they are more widespread, worshiped and give their blessings and artifacts more freely than the Daedra, plus they have control over one realm that everyone wants to have - Nirn.

Eight of the Aedra are worshipped in Tamriel as the Eight Divines (along with the human god-hero Tiber Septim, aka. Talos, to make the more assonant Nine Divines), a fusion of the old Nordic pantheon and the Aedra worshipped by the Ayleids:
*'''Akatosh''': Also known as Auri-El to the Altmer, Alkosh to the Khajiit, and the father of the dragons, the chief deity of the Eight and the top god of the Cyrodiilic Empire as he represents duty, legitimacy, endurance and obedience (but his different identities also have additional roles. Akatosh proper is the god of time, but Auri-El is the god of the sun, which it is worth noting can be used as a timekeeping device. All the other gods also work like this, as Divinity in this setting is ''weird''). His artifacts are Auriel's Bow, and Auriel's Shield, which have completely different powers depending which game you are playing. In the Skyrim Dawnguard DLC, the bow infuses arrows fired from it with the power of the sun to do more damage to the undead, and the Shield can absorb energy from attacks it blocks and release it as wave similar to the Unrelenting Force shout. (If your first question was how one guy can wield both a shield ''and'' a bow, then take your Ritalin, because you obviously haven't been paying attention.)
*'''Arkay''': Lord of the Wheel of Life, master of life and death, burials and funeral rites. Arkay's priests are some of the fiercest necromancer hunters around, as those foul practices are an affront to their god.
*'''Dibella''': Goddess of beauty, affection and the carnal and sexual aspects of love, as well as art and music. Effectively Nirn's equivalent of Aphrodite. She teaches that, "No matter the seed, if the shoot is nurtured with love, will not the flower be beautiful?" Oh boy. Her artifact is the Brush of Truepaint, which can turn a canvas into a portal to a world made of paint that the artist creates with their imagination.
*'''Julianos''': God of wisdom and logic; literature, lore, history and contradiction are the domains of Julianos. Though Magnus is the god of magic, many wizards worship Julianos. The scholarly Bretons also hold a particular reverence for him. Monastic orders dedicated to Julianos are the keepers of the Elder Scrolls.
*'''Kynareth''': Goddess of heavens, winds and the elements. Known as Kyne among the Nords and the widow of Shor. It is said that Kyne gifted men with the Thu'um so they could harness the power of dragons and save themselves from Akatosh's errant children. Her artifact is the Lord's Mail, a cuirass that grants its wearer healing, magicka absorption, and the ability to cure their self of poison.
*'''Mara''': Goddess of agriculture, compassion, fertility, and the more romantic aspects of love. She is the one deity that is recognised by every culture on Tamriel. Among the Nords, Mara is Kyne's handmaiden and Shor's bit on the side. Among the Altmer, Bosmer and Bretons, Mara is the wife of Akatosh/Auri-El. Among the now extinct Kothringi of Black Marsh, Mara was just one of three aspects to an older Mother goddess with Kynareth and Dibella as the other two aspects. As said above, Divinity in this setting is ''weird''. Whatever the case, weddings in Tamriel are overseen by priests of Mara.
*'''Stendarr''': God of mercy, charity and justice. Apologist of men and patron deity of the Imperial Legion and many Breton knightly orders. Stendarr welcomes heretics, the afflicted, hopeless and forgotten just as readily as his devout followers. However his mercy ends at the enemies of mortals, the abhorrent and unnatural. Stendarr's priests are often hunters of lesser Daedra, lycanthropes, vampires and undead. Real bro-tier god overall. His artifact is Stendarr's Hammer, a hammer that increases the user's stamina and does incredible damage, but is also very fragile and far too heavy for a mortal to use.
*'''Zenithar''': God of honest work and commerce. The "almighty dollar" taken to the end conclusion. Very strong ties to the people of Cyrodiil, and many in High Rock and Hammerfell too.
*'''Talos''': NOT actually an Aedra, but worth mentioning as he is often placed among the other Eight. Talos, known in life as Tiber Septim and Ysmir to the Nords, is the greatest god-hero of mankind. He conquered all of Tamriel and ushered in the Third Empire of Cyrodiil at the end of the Second Era. When he died, his spirit supposedly ascended to godhood (and a quest in Oblivion lends support to this). As of the Fourth Era, Talos worship is banned in the Empire as per the terms of the White-Gold Concordat made with the Dominion, because the idea of a man becoming a god pisses the stupid sparkly prisses off to no end. That, and it is also likely that Talos is helping to hold the world together, and the Thalmor know this and want to starve him of worship, effectively destroying all Nirn to regain the divinity Lorkhan is said to have stolen from them. Fucking elves. Although worshipped mainly by the Nords during the 4th Era, his race is unknown, but he was most likely a Breton.

The Altmer also worship, or at least acknowledge, other Aedra that don't belong to the Eight Divines above, but are worshipped in most elven lands, these being:
*'''Jephre''': The god of songs and forests and the spirit of Now, also called Y'ffre. He was one of the first spirits to become Ehlnofey, or Earth Bones, and set in place the rules of nature and life on Nirn. The Bosmer consider him their main god and he's the reason they're carnivores and cannibals.
*'''Lorkhan''': The Creator-Trickster-Tester god present in every race's mythology. Known alternatively as Lorkhaj, Shor, Sheor, Sep, or Shezarr, every single version goes the same way: creation happens, other spirits and gods get pissed at him, he's bound, he's killed/torn to pieces/separated from his divine center and forced to wander the earth. His heart landed in Red Mountain, and was destroyed in Morrowind, and some say that his corpse became the two moons of Nirn.
*'''Magnus''': The god of magic and the supposed architect of creation. When he realized what he made, he ran the fuck away, ripping a hole through creation to Aetherius, with this hole becoming the sun. Some part of him got caught in creation though, becoming the force of magic. He also had a host of assistants called the Magna-Ge, who ripped similiar holes in creation when running away, these becoming the stars. Very little lore exists about the Magna-Ge, and believe us [https://www.imperial-library.info/content/magne-ge-pantheon it reads like a mushroom trip.] His associated artifact is the Staff of Magnus, which has the power to drain magicka, and possibly the Eye of Magnus, a mysterious floating orb of incredible power whose purpose is unclear, though may have been one of the tools Magnus used to create the world.
*'''Phynaster''': An Ancestor-God of the Altmer, though some Bretons also worship him, who taught them how to live another 100 years by using a shorter walking stride.
*'''Syrabane''': Another Ancestor-God of the Altmer, who aided men in destroying the Sload kingdom of Thras. Often called the Apprentice's God, as the younger members of the Mage's Guild worship him.
*'''Trinimac''': The warrior god of the ancient Aldmer, who lead armies against the men. He eventually got eaten by Boethiah and became Malacath (more below).
*'''Xarxes''': The scribe to Auri-El, and the god of ancestry and secret knowledge. He made his wife Oghma ([[Oghma|no, not that one]]) from his [[Wat|favorite moments in history]].

===Daedra===
"Not Our Ancestors" in Aldmeris and "Our stronger, better ancestors" in Dunmeris, the Daedra (singular: Daedroth, not to be confused with the crocodile-like Daedra called Daedroth) are the Et'Ada who did not partake in the creation of the world. Because they didn't quasi-suicide themselves to pour their essence into the world, their power is both more focused, but their power on Nirn is more limited compared to their Aedric counterparts. As such their powers are limited to the likes of curses and artifacts, and can only walk the realm in forms that severely limit their powers (or so they say).

Daedric Princes instead have their own singular realms, the Realms of Oblivion. A Daedric Prince is Omnipotent within their realm, because it is part of them and their mind. Their own realms are made out of them, similar to how Nirn is made out of Aedra; the Daedra are still fully alive and have much greater control over their own realm, but the tradeoff is that each realm is pretty small. Despite serving as the setting's "devils" (in that the word Daedra pretty much means Devil), they are not all completely evil. They range from "hates undead" and "wants to hunt dangerous game" to "prince of destruction" and "king of [[rape]]". Even if they are benevolent at times, the Daedra are not to be trifled with and are very dangerous.

* '''Azura:''' The Daedra associated with periods of change, twilight in particular, and magic and prophecy. Allegedly Nocturnal's sister, and one of the few Daedra not to be considered evil, though she is intensely prideful and easily aggravated, treating the Dunmer with a character not unlike how Old Testament Yahweh treated the 12 tribes of Israel. Azura is worshipped by the Dunmer and Khajiit, though she had a mutual hatred for the Dwemer. Her realm of Oblivion is Moonshadow, a beautiful place of silver cities, gardens, and perpetual twilight. Her artifact is Azura's Star, an item which can hold the souls of living creatures. If this sounds like the soul gem items found across the series, it is, but Azura's Star is a max capacity soul gem that doesn't get consumed upon use, and is thus reusable.
* '''Boethiah:''' The Daedra associated with deceit, ambition, treachery, competition and sedition. Goes hand in hand with Mephala and is basically her louder sibling. Despite sounding like some kind of fucked up noble, Boethiah often takes the appearance of a patrician warrior (can be female, but usually male), and enjoys inflicting mayhem and bloodshed on mortals. Regarded by the Dunmer, either through worship or hatred. Some versions of their origin tale have all sorts of scholarly pursuits emerging from their teachings. Their realm is Attribution's Share (also known as Snake Mount), a place of [[Tzeentch|labyrinthine policies and betrayals]]. Their artifacts are Goldbrand, a high-end katana, and the Ebony Mail, high-end armor that cloaks the wearer in shadow and causes poison damage to those around them.
*'''Clavicus Vile:''' The Daedra associated with wishes and pacts. He's the asshole genie who ensures that all the wishes and pacts are twisted so he comes out on top, usually while gaining the soul of the one foolish enough to deal with him. He appears as a jovial fellow with horns sprouting from his forehead, and is usually accompanied by '''Barbas''', a dog who holds half of Clavicus' power. His realm is the Fields of Regret, which, despite its name, is a tranquil countryside, dotted with cities of glass and ornate buildings. His artifact is the Masque of Clavicus Vile, which makes its wearer more popular and likeable.
*'''Hermaeus Mora:''' The Daedra associated with fate and forbidden knowledge. Supposedly the sibling of Mephala, he seeks gather and obtain as much knowledge as possible. He often appears as a collection of eyes, tentacles, and pincers. [[Call of Cthulhu|Proper Lovecraftian motherfucker]]. His realm is Apocrypha, an endless library filled with and made from books of forbidden knowledge, with seas of ink, alien geometries, and tentacles everywhere. His artifacts are the Black Books, which transport their reader to Apocrypha and can grant access to forbidden knowledge, and the Oghma Infinium, a tome that can allow one to achieve near-demigod level abilities.
*'''Hircine:''' The Daedra associated with hunting and therianthropes. He created the many werebeasts that exist in Tamriel, and claims their souls upon death. He appears either as an animal or a man with the horns of a deer, unless he appears as a deer. His realm is the Hunting Grounds, a place of dense woodlands and vast grasslands, inhabited by daedra, beasts, and therianthropes, where werebears and Nords hunt by day, and Hircine along with a pack of werewolves hunts by night. His artifacts are the Saviour's Hide, a hide cuirass that makes the wearer more resistant to magic, and the Ring of Hircine, a ring that allows one to transform into a werewolf, if not already a lycanthrope, and lycanthropes to control their transformations. Unless they stole it, in which case the ring fucks them over by forcing them to transform at random.
*'''Malacath:''' The Daedra associated with orcs, [[goblin]]s, [[ogre]]s, curses, and outcasts. ''Definitely'' a good daedra if you happen to be an Orc, but to other races he's benign at the best of times (although he's never outright malevolent to the degree of Molag or Mehrunes). He technically is not a daedric prince (and the other daedric princes don't count him as one of them, which is fitting for a patron of outcasts) because his origin makes him an aedra, but he often is counted as a daedric prince because he rules over a realm of Oblivion. Originally he was '''Trinimac''', one of the ancestor spirits of the Altmer, who was eaten by Boethiah and then shat out as Malacath, though he says the story is too literal minded, and there are those who say that Trinimac and Malacath are two separate deities. He appears as a muscular orc wielding a heavy weapon. His realm is Ashpit, a realm of dust and ash, dotted with palaces of smoke and gardens, where levitation and magical breathing are necessary to survive. His artifacts are the Scourge, a mace that banishes all daedra that make contact with it, and Volendrung, a Dwemer made warhammer.
*'''Mehrunes Dagon:''' The Daedra associated with destruction, revolution, change, ambition, and energy. One of the more evil daedra, of whom little is known, and the antagonist of ''Battlespire'' and ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion|Oblivion]]''. He appears as a red-skinned giant with four arms, carrying a two-headed axe. His realm is the Deadlands (no, not [[Deadlands|that one]]), a hellscape of scorched, volcanic islands and ruined structures amidst a sea of lava, with hostile life living on the islands. He once was a good guy before a curse was put on him by Alduin for interfering with his devouring of the world. His artifact is Mehrunes' Razor, a dagger that has a [[Vorpal Sword| small chance of instantly killing whatever it cuts]].
*'''Mephala:''' The Daedra associated with spiders, webs, [[Tzeentch|lies, secrets, plots]] and murder. Sibling to Hermaeus Mora, the Dunmer worship her as one of the "Good Daedra", with her having taught them the arts of stealth and assassination. The Morag Tong, the assassin's guild in Morrowind, worships her through murder. She often appears as a female of some form, but sometimes appears as a male. Her realm is the Spiral Skein, a wheel-shaped realm, with her palace in the middle, and the space between the "spokes" dedicated to one of eight sins. Her artifacts are the Ring of Khajiiti, a ring that makes its wearer faster and harder to detect, and the Ebony Blade, a life-leeching katana.
*'''Meridia:''' The Daedra asssociated with light and the energies of living things, and one of the few non-evil Daedric Princes. She was originally believed to have been one of the Magna-Ge, the spirits that followed Magnus to Aetherius, but was cast out for consorting with daedra, eventually creating her realm by bending and shaping the light of the sun. She hates all undead with a passion, and usually rewards those who destroy them. She either appears as an orb of light, or a blonde-haired woman in a gown. Despite all this, she generally does not command popular worship due to her haughty, bitter and aloof manner, stemming from her exile from the magna-ge. The last time she threw her support behind a mortal race She made the mistake of being the patron of the Heartland High Elves of Cyrodil, who were into human slavery and were generally tyrants. They ended up being near exterminated. There are hints in the lore that Molag Bal is obsessed with her and caused her fall from heaven. Her realm is the Colored Rooms, a cross between a coral reef and a field of floating stones, strewn with colorful trails of dust/clouds. Her artifacts are the Ring of Khajiiti and the Dawnbringer, a sword that burns the undead and upon killing them makes them explode.
*'''Molag Bal:''' The Daedra associated with domination, enslavement, rape, and vampires. Quite inarguably the most evil of the Daedric Princes, as he simply desires to harvest souls of mortals by inciting strife and discord among them. He also created the first vampire by raping a Nedic woman. He appears as a monstrous being of varying appearance, but usually has horns and hooves. His realm is Coldharbour, which is an apocalyptic and desolate reflection of Nirn where the air is freezing, every wall is smeared with blood and shit, and there are charnel houses and slave pens as far as the eye can see. His artifact is the Mace of Molag Bal, a mace that drains the energies of those it hits and traps their souls upon death. Main antagonist of both the original game and Elder Scrolls Online, with Mehrunes Dagon basically stealing his invasion plans. Seriously Mehrunes invades Nirn in the same ways in the same order.
*'''Namira:''' The Daedra associated with ancient darkness, revulsion, and cannibals. Not much is known of her, other than she's associated with anything revolting, and her followers prefer to live in dark and squalid conditions. Her realm is the Scuttling Void, of which nothing is really known about. Her artifact is the Ring of Namira, a ring that boosts one health after cannibalizing a corpse, or reflects damage back onto the wearer's attacker.
*'''Nocturnal:''' The Daedra associated with darkness, night, luck and thieves. Most thieves in Tamriel revere her to some degree, for obvious reasons, and the Thieves Guild reveres her as their patron. She appears often as a dark-haired woman in a hooded gown, accompanied by ravens. Her realm is Evergloam, a realm in perpetual twilight, consisting of a primary plane and constantly shifting pocket planes. Her artifacts are the Skeleton Key, a key/lockpick that can open anything from locks to portals to one's hidden potential, the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal, a cowl that hides the wearer's true identity and makes him a better thief, and the Bow of Shadows, a bow that can turn its wielder invisible.
*'''Peryite:''' [[Nurgle]]'s less-jovial cousin, this is the Daedra associated with tasks, pestilence, and natural order. Peryite is considered one of the weakest Daedric Princes (not that ''any'' daedric prince can be called "weak" by mortal standards), and is charged with keeping the lower realms of Oblivion and the lesser daedra in line. He often appears as a green, four-legged dragon, but sometimes appears as ghostly apparitions of vermin. His realm is The Pits, which resembles Molag Bal's Deadlands in its landscape. His artifact is the Spellbreaker, a Dwemer shield that can reflect magic.
*'''Sanguine:''' Basically just a less-rapey or /d/isgusting [[Slaanesh]]. The Daedra associated with hedonism, debauchery, indulgence, and revelry. He's often depicted on seals and signs of brothels and whorehouses. He appears as a portly dremora, with a bottle in one hand and a whore in another. His realms are the Myriad Realms of Revelry, countless pocket realms that are fashioned to meet the needs and demands of their visitors. His artifact is the Sanguine Rose, a rose-shaped staff/staff-sized rose that summons a dremora to fight for its owner.
*'''Sheogorath:''' Everyone's favorite, this is the lolrandom [[Chaotic Stupid]] Daedra associated with madness and creativity. There are many stories and legends about him, like how he invented music from [[Rip and tear|the body parts of a woman he killed]] and how he trolled every one of the other Daedric Princes at various points. He appears as an elderly, well-dressed gentleman with a nice beard and a cane. His realm is the Shivering Isles, a landmass surrounded by islands that's divided in two, to represent both shades of madness. His artifact is the Wabbajack, a staff that does something completely random when used. He is distinguishable from other daedra by the fact that Old Sheogorath was basically a result of Jyggalag getting his ass kicked by the other daedric princes and New Sheogorath was mortal at one point. The Hero of Kvatch is named the new Sheogorath by a grateful Jyggalag once his curse is lifted, and going by Sheogorath's dialogue in ''Skyrim'' as well as him fondly remembering his other adventures back then, this event is canon.
**'''Jyggalag:''' The [[Lawful Stupid]] Daedra associated with logic, order, and deduction. Originally, he was the most powerful of the Daedric Princes, but the others cursed him to become Sheogorath, who represented everything he hated. The curse did allow him to return at the end of every era, leading the event known as the "Greymarch" and obliterating the Shivering Isles only to revert back to Sheogorath and start the process all over again. This seemingly neverending cycle of torment finally ended when Sheogorath managed to lure the Hero of Kvatch to the Shivering Isles and successfully train them to halt the Greymarch and take up the mantle of Madgod. By the end of the Shivering Isles expansion, Jyggalag is defeated by the protagonist, thus finally lifting the curse. He then heads off to parts unknown, but not before naming the Hero of Kvatch as the new Sheogorath. He has yet to make a reappearance in the games despite his DLC being canon. He appears as a giant, gray knight wielding an XBOXHUEG fuckoff sword.
*'''Vaermina:''' The Daedra associated with dreams and nightmares. One of the more evil daedra, with some saying that torture also belongs to her sphere of influence. She appears as an old woman in a robe, wielding a staff. Her realm is Quagmire, a nightmarish realm where Vaermina draws the minds of mortals, collecting their memories and leavings nightmares in return. Her artifact is the Skull of Corruption, a staff that creates a clone of the target, who then attacks its original.

===Other Divinities===
Et'Ada and other gods that don't belong to either group also exist. Some of the more important ones being:

*'''Alduin:''' The firstborn of Akatosh and his destroyer aspect, who most believed was just the Nordic version of Akatosh. His job is to bring about the end of the current kalpa so that the next one may begin, but by the time of Skyrim, he's decided to just rule over the world. You defeat him at the end of Skyrim, but unlike any other dragon, his soul is ''not'' absorbed by the dragonborn, leaving many believing he'll return one day to do his job properly.
*'''All-Maker:''' Another name for Anu. The god of the Skaal and the source of all life, the Skaal believe that when you die you go to him, and he reincarnates you as new being. Oneness, or harmony, with nature is important, as the Skaal draw their magical powers from it and it pleases the All-Maker. Opposing him is '''The Adversary''', a many aspected god who torments and tests the Skaal.
*'''Dagoth Ur:''' The main antagonist of Morrowind, he was once the trusted advisor of Nerevar until he experimented with the Heart of Lorkhan and managed to draw power from it. By the events of the game he is properly batshit loopy with divinity, and also without question the most dangerous thing on Nirn because he exists within a terrifying middle-ground between CHIM, Zero Sum and Amaranth - he has godlike power because of his awarness of Anu's dream but cannot maintain his individuality or fade into the Dream, so his broken, traumatised mind is being slowly imprinted on the dream of Anu. Nevertheless, he seemingly dies by the hand of Nerevar's reincarnation after you sever his connection to the heart. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPAuvfqocFY Affable and almost as infinitely quotable as Sheogorath.]
*'''The Ideal Masters:''' Once mortal spellcasters during the Merethic era, they forsook their mortality and physical forms to become beings of pure soul energy. In the process however, they found they had become filled with a terrible hunger for souls. The Ideal Masters are the source of all soul gems, and of the arts of soul-trapping, and therefore enchantment. Their private realm within Oblivion, the Soul Cairn, is where ''every'' soul that is ever trapped in a Soul Gem goes. They rarely bother manifesting at all, though a few gigantic crystals in the Cairn channel their influence and their hunger. Their name comes from their belief that, by removing mortal souls from the cycle of rebirth and trapping them in eternal undeath, they are ultimately granting all beings eternal peace... and there is a small amount of evidence to support this. Despite all this, they aren't really ambitious, and they even helped the hero of ''Battlespire'' because they were tired of Mehrunes Dagon driving across their lawn on the way to the mortal world.
*'''Mannimarco:''' An old and powerful Altmer [[necromancer]] and [[lich]], supposedly [[Vecna|became the god of necromancy after the events of Daggerfall and returns as the main antagonist]] for the Mages Guild questline in Oblivion.
*'''The Tribunal:''' Also known as the Almsivi, they were originally three Chimer, the predecessors of Dunmer, Almalexia, Sotha Sil, and Vivec, and counselors to Nerevar, who also stole their powers from the Heart of Lorkhan, and promptly ruled over the Dunmer from early/mid First Era to the end of the Third Era. Almalexia eventually went insane and killed Sotha Sil, the Nerevarine killed her, and Vivec got dragged to Oblivion during the events of Oblivion. Without the influence of the Tribunal, the Red Mountain erupted and Morrowind promptly went to shit.
*'''Tsun:''' The Nordic god of trials against adversity and Shor's shield-thane, he died fighting against foreign (read: elven) gods and was then assigned to be the guardian of the whalebone bridge leading to the Hall of Valor in Sovngarde. You get fight him for your right to enter the hall in Skyrim.
*'''Sithis''': Another name for Padomay. The primordial manifestation of Chaos and Entropy. Exists somewhere outside of the bounds of the cosmos and is practically feared by nearly everyone, given that it represents death and the eventual end of all things. Inhabits a pocket-dimension called the Void. The Dark Brotherhood have a peerless connection to Sithis (the only entities who come close are actually trees known as Hist), and all things slain through their assassinations ends up in its realm. Basically the God of Many Faces from [[A Song of Ice and Fire|ASOIAF]] mixed with [[Mythology#Deities of Destruction|Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction]]. To contact Sithis, one must perform the Black Sacrament (an offering of human flesh, bones, and heart). If Sithis accepts, it passes on the information about the Sacrament and who it was intended for, to the Night Mother, a now-mummified corpse that is intimately connected to Sithis, who then in turn will pass it on to the leader of the Dark Brotherhood, called the Listener (named that way because only listeners can actually hear what the Night Mother says) and then passes the contract on to the field operatives of the Dark Brotherhood.

==Races==
[[File:Tamriel.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Tamriel, shown alongside the now sunken islands of Yokuda, the original home of the Redguards, and Pyandonea, a land inhabited by the Maormer, sea elves.]]
The first two Elder Scrolls games had eight playable races; the three after that added Imperials and Orcs as playable races. There's also a ton of unplayable races as well, but UESP can explain them better than us.

The races of Tamriel are generally divided into three categories; the races of Men are the various ethnicities of [[human]], the Mer races are the different species of [[elf]], and the [[Beastmen]] are explained as "where the fuck did these dudes come from?"

===Men===
*'''Akaviri/Tsaesci:''' Fantasy Japanese. Not directly presented in game, but their spirits may be seen in certain missions. Left a significant mark in imperial history, as Akaviri invaders were on a mission of search of Dragonborn, which turned out to be founder of the second Empire, Reman. They swore allegiance to him and served as elite guard of his descendants. These names are interchangeably used, but some sources imply that Akaviri and Tsaesci are actually different group of people, with Tsaesci being snake like, even naga, perhaps. As for how is it possible to have snek humans, well, dwarves and orks and most bizarrely, some imply that Khajiit are simply a subspecies of elves here, so just roll with this. One source suggests the human Akaviri were "devoured" by the Tsaesci but whether that means they were literally all [[Vore|eaten]] or simply enslaved or culturally assimiliated is anyone's guess.
*'''Bretons:''' Best described as [[Half-Elf|half-elves]] from [[Bretonnia]] with a hint of French-ness. Probably the least badass of the humans here (which is all relative - many great heroes throughout Tamriel's history were Bretons including several of Cyrodiil's Emperors) but they are still the most gifted with magic because of their elf blood. They even get a magic resistance out of the deal. True to the French stereotype, they're great cooks but also a bit snobby. Their home province of High Rock isn't even a united kingdom, but rather a [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|patchwork quilt of petty kingdoms, embroiled in political conflict]] and usually only tangentially aligned with the Empire at the best of times.
**'''Reachmen:''' Tribal people of Breton descent native to The Reach. Used to rule a bunch of petty kingdoms in the area before being subjugated by the Alessian Empire first, and later by Tiber Septim. By the Fourth Era they tried to take the Reach again but Ulfric Stormcloak put a stop to that in the now infamous "Markarth Incident" that gave rise to the Stormcloak Rebellion. Now split between those trying to just live their lives in peace, and the Forsworn, raiders who went back to the old ways of using fur and hide armor, weapons of stone, bone, and wood, and worshipping the Daedra and venerating hagravens (witches who gave their humanity to become powerful spellcasters).
*'''Imperials:''' Also known as the "Cyrodiils", the Imperials are a civilised and cosmopolitan people, more or less Roman in culture, but in very early lore they were actually Mesoamerican, and their ancestors the Nedes were ancient Chinese and some still [[Weeaboo|see themselves as ethnically Akaviri]]. Like practically all humans in fantasy settings, they're average at nearly everything, control the world, and are kind of boring compared to everyone else. They've forged three continent-spanning empires in their history, the first with the help of an actual Terminator (Schwarzenegger, not [[Terminator|these guys]]) and the third by using a time-bending magical giant robot. They've also had a space race with the Altmer to colonise Masser and Secunda, and exchanged threats of orbital bombardment. Yes, really. Surprisingly, for most of the Third Era, most Emperors were not Imperials, but Bretons.
*'''Nedes:''' The progenitors of the Bretons and Imperials, and possibly the Nords. Where they came from is [[Skub|a matter of lively debate]], with the competing theories stating they either arrived on Tamriel long before the Nords, or else were the Atmoran ancestors of the Nords. What is known is that while on Tamriel they took beatings from just about everyone, notably the Redguards wiping them from Hammerfell and the Ayleids enslaving them across Cyrodiil.
*'''Nords:''' On the surface, basically [[Norsca|manly as all hell, magic and elf-hating not-Vikings from the frozen land of Skyrim]]. Under the surface, a [[Chaotic Stupid|deeply intolerent, xenophobic and warlike people that would have ran their society into extinction long ago if they hadn't been conquered by smarter people]]. Tend to be very very badass because they have to live in an inhospitable hellhole with bears, sabre-tooth cats, trolls, giants, big nopey frost spiders the size of bears and they also fought and killed almost all the dragons in the past. [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|Their ancestors, the Atmorans, nearly exterminated the entire Snow Elf race with just five hundred warriors despite being basically cavemen with no understanding of agriculture or the written language, going up against a iron age civilisation with magic]]. The Nords then fell in line behind a badass named King Vrage the Gifted and went full [[Genghis motherfucking Khan]] on Tamriel, conquering a vast empire that fell apart when his grandson Borgas died and Skyrim fell into a succession crisis. Not much happened afterwards - the Nords fought, won and lost a few wars against the Dunmer, the Dwemer, the Akaviri and themselves until Tiber Septim rocked up and folded them into his Third Empire.
**'''Skaal:''' Nords native to Solstheim. Split between those trying to live like the Nords of olden times (read: fighting, drinking, and hunting like there's no tomorrow), and those living in harmony with nature and worshipping the All-Maker through it.
*'''Redguard:''' Fantasy Moors/Africans, but with the sword reverence of the Japanese. Skilled warriors hailing from the sunken islands of Yokuda, which they apparently nuked out of existence by being so good with a sword they could cut individual atoms, and the only guys to have invented gunpowder (''Daggerfall'' mentions their ships have cannon). Redguards are some of the greatest sailors in Tamriel, and they tend to scorn magic due to religious taboos against necromancy and their many past wars with the magic-proficient Bretons. This dislike faded over time and by the 4th era, Destruction and Restoration magic have obtained widespread acceptance due to their straightforwardness.

===Mer (Elves)===
*'''Altmer ([[High Elves]]):''' Every stereotype of Elves being narcissistic pricks, amplified a hundredfold. As of the Fourth Era, their home of Summerset Isle (now Alinor) is governed by the Thalmor, who are out to unravel all creation because they believe mortality was a cruel trick played on them by the gods of Men (and no, this belief is not just some quirk of the Thalmor, the ancient Aldmer believed this as well). [[Nazi|They even practice eugenics, wear long black coats and kill any undesirable progeny]]. It is suggested that they don't even have names among themselves, they just assign each other a long number that sounds like a name to human ears. Nearly every Altmer is either a [[Wizard]] or a magical warrior.
*'''Ayleids (Heartland High Elves):''' An offshoot race from the Aldmer, the ancestors of the Altmer. Notable for being the original founders of the Imperial City and the founders of the first empire in Tamriel. Also notable for worshipping the Daedra and torturing their Nedic slaves in nightmare fuel ways for shits and giggles ([[Dark Eldar|like skinning runaways alive, making gardens and sculptures out of their guts and bones, setting human children on fire, that kind of thing]]). If the Imperials are Romans then the Ayleids were the Etruscan kings who ruled Rome prior to the founding of the Roman Republic. The Nedes eventually rebelled under leadership of Alessia and exterminated large portions of them, while the remaining Ayleids who refused to fight would live as vassals of the newly formed First Empire of humanity. Then, after a while, a literal intellectual gorilla formed a sect which basically stated that men should have exterminated every single elf, thus the remaining Ayleids were slaughtered.
*'''Bosmer ([[Wood Elves]]):''' Wood Elves in the [[Dwarf Fortress]] sense, only not quite as insane. They are some of the greatest archers in Tamriel and they have a long history of warring with the Khajiit. They also happen to be cannibals because of an ancient pact they made with the forest god Y'ffre forbidding them from eating plant matter on pain of turning into [[Chaos Spawn|That Which Shall Not Be Named]], so they are the total opposite of the "vegan elf" stereotype. They have been known to use the aforementioned transformation trick ''en masse'' if their homeland of Valenwood is threatenen. Unsurprisingly, Bosmer have no understanding of woodworking and brew alcohol from animal sources, ranging from pigs' milk to the fermented flesh of their dead enemies. Hardcore. (As a note on the cannibalism thing, you don't actually have to worry about getting shanked and eaten by every wood elf you <s>meat</s> meet, it's just their standard means of dealing with dead bodies.)
*'''Dunmer ([[Dark Elves]]):''' Elves with a blue-grey tint to their skin who got cursed by one of their Daedric patrons for complex reasons. Their culture is a bizarre mish-mash of China, Japan, Mongolia, ancient Mesopotamia and the Biblical Israelites, with northern English accents (and a distinct gravelly voice for the men). They primarily revere the Daedra along with the Tribunal, three mortals who ascended to godhood by tapping into the Heart of Lorkhan. Since they joined the Empire by treaty instead of by conquest, their homeland of Morrowind has many unique laws, including [[Inquisitors]] and (till the tail end of the 3rd Era) legalized slavery. Highly supremacist and xenophobic, the Fourth Era has bitten them in the arse hard as most of Morrowind was devastated by volcanic eruption and their Argonian slaves have occupied what's left, leaving most surviving Dunmer as unwelcome refugees. How the mighty have fallen.
*'''Dwemer ([[Dwarves|Deep Elves]]):''' Elves who lived in the northern mountain ranges, they studied the process of creation in great detail and became the most advanced race to have existed, having figured out steam power and electricity, created steam-/electrically/soulgem-powered automata, and invented Tonal Architecture, the manipulation of sound to alter reality. Even though they are for all intents and purposes dwarves, they were actually human-sized - they were called dwarves by the giants of Tamriel. A very strong contender for the single most badass race in Tamrielic history, besides the early Nords and the modern Argonians. Their belief system was terrifyingly alien even to the other inhabitants of the continent and they were seen as arrogant and dogmatic, hated and dreaded by every other race they met. They were [[Fedora Masters RPG|atheists]] in a world where the existence of the gods is indisputable fact, which should tell you all you need to know about how crazy (and also kind of badass) they were. Relatively early into the First Era, all Dwemer on Nirn disappeared after they activated the Numidium, a massive time-bending robot powered by the Heart of Lorkhan. There are multiple hypotheses to explain the exact mechanism of their disappearance: they may have become the armoured skin of Numidium or the metaphysical concept of negation itself, ascended to another plane outside of Aetherius where not even Vivec can sense them, sent themselves forward in time, or just botched their attempt at reforging themselves into gods at the "reduce ourselves to base elements" part of the process, going ''poof'' as a result.
*'''Falmer ([[Snow Elves]]):''' Light-haired and pale-skinned elves originally native to Skyrim, they got their asses kicked so hard by the Atmorans they went into hiding, with most going to the Dwemer for shelter. What the Dwemer didn't tell them was that "shelter" meant "being enslaved and forced to eat addictive toxic fungi that make you blind (and not the manageable "grey-eyes-blindness", no, it's full on "your eyelids grow together"-Hellraiser-style blindness). Several generations of this diet and other factors eventually turned them into blind, noseless, [[/b/|hunchbacked, barely-sentient subterranean goblinoid degenerates]]. A small number of Falmer did escape being wiped out by the Atmorans or enslaved by the Dwemer in an isolated part of Skyrim, until one of them ended up becoming a [[Vampire]] and went crazy with anger at being cut off from his god and killed all of the others except for his brother. After the player kills him in the Dawnguard DLC, his brother may be the last remaining uncorrupted Falmer in existence (unless there are any others who found even better hiding places). He still believes his betrayed kin can be saved, though.
*'''Orsimer ([[Orcs]]):''' Also known as the "Pariah Elves", descended from a race of Elves who got screwed over by Daedric faggotry. Most Orsimer live assimilated into other cultures or in destitute and isolated strongholds, akin to native reservations, far out in the wilderness. Every time they tried to (re)build their city-state of Orsinium somewhere in High Rock or Hammerfell, the Bretons or Redguards came and knocked it over, and as of the Fourth Era, Orsinium exists somewhere on the Skyrim-Hammerfell border. Due to all the shit they've taken, the Orcs developed a warrior culture and also became renowned blacksmiths. Their martial prowess is such that even the Nords wish they could be as hardcore - but rather than eternal enmity, this created an odd friendship between the two races. Finally, it is worth noting that at the time of the first two games, they [[/pol/|weren't even considered people]] by Tamrielic culture, but by the time of Oblivion nobody would think twice about walking into a shop to find that it was run by an orc any more than they would a shopkeeper of any of the other playable races.

===Beastmen===
[[File:Khajiit Family.jpg|300px|thumb|right|A family of Khajiit. Given how these things work it is very possible that the housecat that the catgirl is holding is the father of the tiger in the back. TES is weird like that.]]
*'''Argonians:''' A race of warm-blooded lizard people, well-spoken and skilled as both warriors and mages. Have a weird connection to omniscient networked spore-trees known as the Hist: they may or may not be a genetically-engineered servant race mind-linked to the Hist, as hinted by Argonians starting their lives as perfectly ordinary lizards that only gain sapience and humanoid physique upon licking Hist sap. Despite being weirdos and the targets of discrimination, they have an unbreakable hold on their homeland. Even Tiber Septim never truly conquered Black Marsh; he just barely secured some of the border towns and called it a win, which the Argonians didn't care enough to contest. During the Oblivion Crisis, the invading Daedra were eventually forced to close their interdimensional portals [[Awesome|because the Argonians were counter-invading fire-and-brimstone Hell]]. When they aren't deploying wave tactics or sending child assassins to pre-emptively cut off the enemy leadership, Argonians are masters of Viet Cong-style jungle warfare and invading Black Marsh is about as big a military mistake as challenging Britain to a naval war or marching on Russia in winter, as the province is a veritable [[Catachan|green hell where every blade of grass conceals an angry lizardman just waiting to spear you to death or drag you under the mud and drown you, if your feet or eyes don't rot first]].
*'''[[Catfolk|Khajiit]]:''' Technically related to Elves, but hard to tell by looking because they have many different forms that are determined at birth by the waxing and waning of Masser and Secunda: some Khajiit look like Bosmer, some like furries, some look like housecats except they can talk and use magic, and some get to be completely badass horse-sized tigers, named Battlecats by the Imperials. They are skilled desert raiders, merchants and farmers. Their culture is basically the Romani outside of their homeland, and South/Southeast Asian within. The prime Khajiiti export is Moon Sugar, a substance that can be best described as magical opium made from crystallised moonlight. Like the Argonians they are a prime target for racism, and like the Argonians they responded by becoming skilled guerilla warriors, except flavoured like the Mujahideen instead of the Viet Cong.

===Other===

*'''Giants''': Giant humanoids said to be descended from the ancient Atmorans (which would make them and the modern Nords distant cousins, funnily enough) that after an undisclosed calamity grew in height at the cost of their intelligence. Generally a quite chill, nomadic people, unless you piss them off by annoying them or just looking wrong at their primary domesticated livestock, Mammoths. That said, big numbers of them can cause a lot of trouble for humans and frequently find themselves as targets of bounty hunters or armies. Some more "traditionally" minded Nords also like to hunt them for sport.
*'''Dragons''': Dragons are the timeless children of Akatosh, with Alduin as their leader. Their origin is kind of like a Big-Bang-Theory-ordeal that is complicated to explain. Used to be safekeepers of the flow of time in the world, until Alduin betrayed his purpose and enslaved the Ancient Nords during the Merethic Era, installing an unimaginably dystopic regime under the leadership of the Dragon Cult and its Priests. Said Dragon Cult also built the many tombs your PC steps through in Skyrim. Their way of communicating involves imparting a piece of your soul with every word you speak, using shouts with quite substantial effects on the physical world, which makes fighting and debating between them the exact same thing. Due to a quirk of fate, some mortals can be born as Dragonborn, mortals with the soul of a Dragon, that are able to absorb the soul of a Dragon (and therefore erasing its very existence from time itself) and become more powerful from it. True Dragonborn, however, are extremely rare, with only a handful ever being mentioned in recorded history, including Tiber Septim, the First Emperor and sometimes entire generations going by without one appearing. Moreover, normal mortals are also quite capable of learning how to use shouts, extreme caution and a tremendous amount of training provided, the Dragonborn is merely a natural prodigy at this. They were for the longest time thought to be extinct after the Ancient Nords rose up in revolt against Alduin and his Dragon Cult and seemingly killed a lot of them, only with their plan to kill Alduin failing. Their Plan B was to banish Alduin into another plane of existence with the help of an Elder Scroll, but the plan failed and Alduin was merely sent forward in time by about 5000 years, setting the events of TES 5: Skyrim into motion. While the majority of Dragons seem to be firmly unified behind Alduins leadership, there are quite a couple of them that retained their own agency, like the Dragon Paarthurnax who pitied the Nords while being very turned off by Alduin declaring himself a god and gifted them his knowledge about using Shouts, or the semi-undead Dragon Durnehviir who dabbled in Necromancy and was subsequently tricked by the Ideal Masters who keep him as their enforcer within the Soul Cairn.
*'''Vampires''': Undead, classic gothic horror vampires for the most part. Their origins lie in the unspeakable act of Molag Bal literally and figuratively raping a Nedic woman to her death and damning her to eternal servitude in unlife. Vampires live in hidden covens among mortals in the world, greatly enjoying pulling the strings behind political affairs of the world and generally just going around sucking people dry. Becoming a Vampire typically involves getting bitten by one, which transmits various germs that make up the root cause of vampirism itself. Vampires that don't dwell amongst the living tend to gather in cult-like structures, with the most senior Vampire at the top. Above all of them stand the Vampires that can trace their lineage back to the original Daughter of Coldharbor (aforementioned Woman that was raped) and openly worship Molag Bal as a god, which earns them special powers. There is also the option for mortals who pledge themselves to Molag Bal to repeat the ritual that gave birth to the first vampire. Nearly all of Tamriel despises Vampires and hunts them down without mercy when found out, especially those who worship the god of Mercy, Stendarr, but they are occasionally tolerated, even if their vampirism remains an open secret to some.
*'''Draugr''': Draugr occupy a middle ground in terms of undeath between the fully autonomous Vampires with their own ambitions and the fully lobotomized shells necromancers conjure. They are the embalmed footsoldiers of the Dragon Cult, who in life pledged their souls to its priests for eternal life. In spite of their undead condition, they remain quite lively when left alone, even if their free will is diminished greatly and their souls are mere fragments that get slowly leeched away by the Dragon Priests who need this kind of spiritual nourishment to retain their abilities and consciousness. To cite an allegory, regular Undead work like computers that need input to do something, while Draugr are running on an sophisicated AI. The extremely long time they spent buried in various tombs in Skyrim and Cyrodiil had their physical capabilities reduced, yet they remain fearsome adversaries for anyone who is daring (or foolish) enough to disturb their masters peace.
*'''Dragon Priests''': Technically not a race on their own, they are different and important enough to at least merit a mention. The Dragon Priests were the leaders of the Dragon Cult, numbering 14 in total. Their sole responsibility was to keep the enslaved Nords in line and under Anduins control, while regularly partaking in joyous activities such as necromancy, dark magic and human sacrifices. Each and everyone of them was and is a master at Spellcasting and commanding their Legions of Draugr, who keep them sustained by slowly leeching away at the Draugrs souls. The most powerful of them was Miraak, who, in addition to being Dragonborn, made a pact with Hermaerous Mora, to take control of the Dragons themselves and subsequently betrayed the Dragon Cult only to return thousands of years later on Solstheim.

==Games==
Though several spinoffs were made, when referring to "The Elder Scrolls" only the five central games are being referred to.

===The Elder Scrolls I: Arena===
Jagar Tharn, the Imperial Battlemage and trusted servant of the Emperor Uriel Septim VII turns evil, locks the Emperor inside Oblivion, and takes over Tamriel. His apprentice Ria Silmane discovered this and told the player, so Tharn killed the former and imprisoned the latter. Yet Silmane persisted, and helped the player escape prison and revealed how Tharn could be destroyed: by recovering the eight parts of the Staff of Chaos from all over the empire. The player succeeds, kills Tharn, returns the Emperor and all is well. This was the only game where the player could visit all of Tamriel.

===The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall===
The player, a personal friend of the Emperor, is sent to the city of Daggerfall, High Rock to investigate a haunting by the ghost of the former king. Things quickly get out of hand when you discover the Numidium, a massive golem used by Tiber Septim to gain control over Tamriel. There are several mutually exclusive endings possible; canon opted to [[what|make them all happen]] in an event called the Warp in the West, a Dragon Break, which is a specific type of event where divine fuckery causes [[FATAL|time and space to take it up the ass hard]]. Holds the record for the largest virtual world ever created, being about two times the size of the UK, although due to technical limitations, most of it was copy-and-paste.

===The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind===
[[File:Morrowind.jpg|300px|thumb|right|If you can explain at least 75% of what's going on on this image, you are a true fan.]]
{{Main|The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind}}
Morrowind ships the player to the island of Vvardenfell, in the Dunmer province of Morrowind, where you are to report to the [[Snowflame|perpetually shirtless crackhead]] called Caius Cossades to investigate a [[Cultist-Chan|cult]] that is growing rapidly in size. This cult is revealed to be the doings of the Sixth House, a clan of Dunmer that was destroyed after its leader, Lord Voryn Dagoth, rebelled against Lord Indoril Nerevar, the leader of the war against the Dwemer. Nerevar died shortly afterwards (though it is unclear if he died from the wounds Dagoth inflicted on him, or that his advisors, the Tribunal, murdered their lord so they could use the tools of the Dwemer to grant themselves near-divinity), and the Tribunal took over as the god-kings of the Dunmer.

There was only one problem: Dagoth wasn't actually dead, and he granted himself near-divinity too. He's also completely insane because mortal minds simply were not meant to handle that kind of power, and now he is using a divine disease to influence the dreams of a bunch of Dunmer nationalists, transforming them into horrifying humanoid cephalopods hellbent on driving the Empire and all the other races out of Morrowind.

You take the role of Nerevar's incarnation, the Nerevarine, and long story short you kill Dagoth, properly this time. However two of the Tribunal lie dead and the last one sacrificed his divinity to help you. Things in Morrowind do not get better after this.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ow5lGFju1c Here is a great review about the game. Every N'wah in existence worth their salt must watch it.]

===The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion===
{{Main|The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion}}
You play as a nobody prisoner rotting in a cell in the Imperial City in the waning years of the Third Era. You catch a break when Emperor <s>Patrick Stewart</s> Uriel Septim VII pays a visit to your cell because his escape tunnel happens to be in with you (it's chalked up to fate or a bureaucratic error). Turns out his heirs have been assassinated, and despite the best efforts of you and Cyrodiil's Finest, the Emprah gets shanked too. Before he does however, he entrusts you with the Amulet of Kings and tells you to go look for the Emperor's last son, a bastard child named Martin (who is voiced by Sean Bean) who is also being sought out by an apocalyptic cult of Mehrunes Dagon led by the last known child of the Camoran Dynasty, the family who had ruled over man for years before St. Alesseia came and slapped their shit down.

By the events of the ending, Mehrunes Dagon's attempted invasion has been thwarted and Tamriel has been saved from a truly horrifying outcome, but Martin is dead and the Septim Empire is officially left without an heir. Things in Tamriel do not get better after this.

It was the first big-name RPG to appear on seventh generation consoles, and made the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 work for their money.

===The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim===
[[File:Song of Skyrim.jpg|500px|thumb|Dat Nord Frost Resistance]]
Also known as the Volsunga Saga: The Game, chronologically set 201 years after Oblivion. It's been a long time and a lot has happened. Basically the Empire went to shit. A faction of Altmer supremacists named the Thalmor took over the Summerset Isles and seceded, also annexing Valenwood and turning Elsweyr into a client state. Morrowind got properly fucked because the Red Mountain erupted and the northern half of the country was left uninhabitable, the Argonians invaded the southern half as payback for years of slavery, and what isn't run by vengeful ex-slave lizards or covered in burning ash is in the midst of a political vacuum caused by the collapse of the pro-Imperial House Hlaalu. Then the newly-christened Aldmeri Dominion declared war on the Empire and even sacked the Imperial City. The Imperial Legion drove them out at great cost but the Emperor, Titus Mede II, was forced to sign a ceasefire with several punitive terms including a ban on Talos worship and giving up parts of Hammerfell. These terms (especially the Talos ban) were... [[Rage|controversial]] to say the least; Hammerfell, fed up with the fuckery of the elves and the Empire at this point, kicked them both out and declared independence. Between this and their handling of the Oblivion Crisis and the Red Mountain eruption, many people within the Empire began seeing it as weak and ineffectual, selling out the non-Cyrodiilic peoples to save their own sorry hides. But for now, an uneasy cold war exists between the two empires and everybody knows Round 2 is just around the corner.

You're a prisoner, but in a shocking turn of events, this time you're actually told WHY this time! Turns out you crossed the damn border illegally, you filthy alien - of course if you are a Nord or a High Elf then it's just chalked up to an asshole Imperial officer who doesn't want to deal with the paperwork and sends you to the block along with everyone else. See, at this point the Imperial authorities in Skyrim are very uneasy because there is a civil war going on, between the pro-Imperial ''de facto'' High Queen Elisif the Fair, and the eponymous forces of Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak, a former Legion soldier turned Nord warlord who took umbridge to the terms of the ceasefire with the Dominion and now wants to drive out the Empire and claim the throne (so he is basically the Nord version of Robert the Bruce, even down to the controversial murder of a noble puppet that has made him effectively an outlaw king; he is also quite awesomely voiced by Vladimir Kulich), but he was captured and is going to get executed with you. Just mere moments before the frosty-looking bloke with the big axe gives you a discount haircut, a giant dragon god named Alduin the World Eater (Nidhogg with a touch of Jörmundgandr, although his purpose makes him more similar to Fenrir) decides to introduce himself to the world after being banished for ages and begins fucking up the town, giving you, Ulfric and his men a chance to escape. While everyone but Ulfric thinks the dragon is part of Ulfric's plan, in truth Alduin is there for YOU - you end up learning that you're the legendary Dragonborn, a mortal with the soul of a dragon who can basically do any of the cool shit a real dragon can do (besides flying), leaving you to solve the mystery of why the mysterious dragons are returning and find a way to stop Alduin from eating the world. And possibly also end the civil war by leading either side to victory, leading to either an independent new Skyrim (Stormcloaks win) or a reinvigorated Empire that holds on to its most vital province and has a key figure of the dragonblood once again, leaving it in the best state it has been in decades (Imperials win). Either way, neither side likes the Aldmeri Dominion and war is on the horizon.

===The Elder Scrolls Online===
TES: the MMORPG. Early on it suffered from growing pains and problems, but after surviving the hate and becoming only buy to play, it became a rather nice game. It is set in the Second Era, 800 years before Oblivion and a full millennium before Skyrim. Tamriel is currently locked in a mêlée à trois between three fragile alliances all vying for the Imperial throne - the Ebonheart Pact (Nords, Dunmer and Argonians), the Aldmeri Dominion (Altmer, Bosmer and Khajiit) and the Daggerfall Covenant (Bretons, Redguards and Orcs). You can also play Imperials if you upgraded your account to the Imperial Edition, they can join any of the three alliances. Meanwhile behind the scenes Molag Bal is scheming to meld Mundus with his nightmare realm Coldharbour and enslave all the mortal races. Someone oughta stop that shit, right?

The game had a very rough release, with Elder Scrolls players criticizing it for missing the series's aesthetics and "feel" and MMO players for the lackluster end-game, and also for it's expensive subscription (same price as WoW, but without the decade worth of content). However the game received praise for it's Cyrodill PvP map. Fast-forward a couple of years and various updates, the most notable one being One-Tamriel which completely overhauled the game's balance and dropped the subscription, and had various DLCs released which added multiple zones, classes and Dungeons.

All in all the game today is a decent MMO, with a thriving and relatively non-toxic community. However the game's plot is lackluster compared to other Elder Scrolls games, and it has a notable lack of iconic characters, specially if compared to World of Warcraft.

===The Elder Scrolls VI===
Announced at E3 2018, the game was confirmed to be in production. The trailer shows a mountainous eastern or western coast with some stone ruins. Bethesda has been completely silent on it and the simultaneously announced Starfield since their announcements, leading to many claiming vaporware.

==Gallery==
{{promotions}}
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image:Lel.jpg
image:N'wahs with attitude.jpg
image:1402853718622.jpg
image:Averagedayatbeth.png|This is depressingly true.
image:Tribunal_awaken.jpg|[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure|Almsivi!]]
image:Kobold romance diary by Weaver.jpg|An average day for a TES protagonist.
</gallery>
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==See also==
*[http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Main_Page The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages, the definitive wiki for the series.]
*[[Scrollhammer]]: if the Elder Scrolls and Warhammer had a bastard son, it would probably be like this.
*[[Scrollhammer 2nd Edition]]: If Elder Scrolls and Infinity had a bastard son.
*[[Unofficial Elder Scrolls RPG]]: A pen and paper [[RPG]] currently dead because Seht decided to take a break, but he's back now. Core 3E is pretty polished with many supplements actively being worked on and released by various anons.
*[[Savage Worlds]]: For which fanmade Elder Scrolls rules exist.

[[Category:Video Games]]