Skaven

Skaven (Rat Men by the Allies), Second Human Empire name Fikki'llo Erri'kii but commonly refer to as the Underworlders, the Rot and the Natives of the Graves within Ancient Space) are the humanoid rat-men of the Under-Empire, and the secret shapers of their homeward. Skaven live in a phenomenally vast and intricate network of underground tunnels called the Under-Empire, which extends all throughout the planet and beyond the Vop’lla and Xop’lla Universes. They hide themselves away from the eyes of surface-dwellers, emerging only to carry out their secret schemes and to gather the massive amounts of warpstone needed to sustain their technological users and the technological machines of their warlords.

On rare occasions the Skaven clans gather in vast swarm armies to wage sudden war on the other intelligent races of the Multiverse in the name of their foul God; the Horned Rat. The Skaven joined the Coalition of Independent States after first contact to 2522 (1427 NE) to gain a greater chance over their common enemies and rivals.

Biology

The Skaven by appearance look exactly like giant bipedal rats, possessing enough intelligence to make simple tools and converse in a developed language of their own. The more gifted among them are able to learn complex mathematics and rudimentary engineering. Skaven have an expected lifespan of about a handful of years or less (some likely to live by centuries after being extended by Combine Nanites); that said, were it not for the (often violent) internal competition of their species, they could live by centuries depend on their lifestyle. More powerful members of Skaven society tend to live longer, even over a thousand years, before the nanite exposure, this was due to the use of drugs, magic, or frequent use/exposure to the unstable magical substance known as warpstone.

Most have brown, often dirty or matted fur, with large fangs in the upper jaw structure, red blood-shot eyes, over-grown claws, and a naked tail growing to the size of its body length. The large majority of the Skaven are normally malnourished, having scrawny arms and legs, and lacking greatly in terms of strength or weight. Though physically weaker than most races, Skaven are naturally faster, more agile, and natural diggers. As such, a Skaven can never truly go head to head with a human, and due to their cowardly nature, they will more likely run than engage in direct conflict. Only when cornered will a Skaven fight with a reckless sense of rage

History

First Multiverse War

In the year 2522 (1427 NE), the Skaven received astonishing news of dimensional rifts opened above their worlds, witnessing fleets of ships and needed to gather information about these outworlders.

Language

Skaven lnaugae, Queekish, is a chittering and hasty speech. Skaven dialogue is often littered with a hodgepodge of rapid squeaks and trills. Queekish words are short, clipped, and often repeated several times in a row in an effort to add emphasis to statements. Due to the speed with which Queekish is spoken, long sentences are often broken up into several fragments. As such, these fragmentary sentences must be pieced together to form coherent thoughts, especially during long stretches of dialogue.

The written form of Queekish consists of several thousand pictograms, each representing a single word or concept. Most Skaven know the most important pictograms, while only a few can recite them all. As new discoveries are made, new pictograms are devised. Many are so similar as to be indistinguishable to the untrained eye. Writing is accomplished by the use of a sharpened stylus or an extended claw.

Technology

Prior to first contact with other worlds, the Skaven were a primitive but advanced enough to rival the Dwarves with , capable of using the technology to built machineries such such as drillers for their underground caverns, as well as for military uses; tanks, guns and even rocket ships which are mostly run by warp stones as their source of energy. Their technology is consider mix of magic using Warpstones as the main source of their dark magic. Creating deadly biological weapons and bio-engineering. The Skaven from two different realities traded or stole from one another to advance themselves, yet still considered primitive to create portals to other dimensions using magitek close enough in the later years as well as develop advance ships.

By the time of the Nationalist Wars, the Skaven still use their traditional means of weapons and warpstones, yet become one of the top mechanics to play a part in building artificial colonies.

Alternate Realities

Xop’lla Universe

A race of Skaven exist in the Mortal Realms where they were know as the Skaventide and like their counterparts, they sought to expand their Under-Empire across the realms, they also worship the Great Horned Rat as one of the five major Chaos Gods, who sees their ascendancy over all the other races of their home universe as the key to its own triumph over the other Ruinous Powers in the Great Game played between them for influence and power.