Skaven (Warhammer) - Appearance and Culture

Appearance and Culture

Skaven are described as a cross between a rat and a man. They worship a deity known as "The Horned Rat," who is also often referred to as simply "The Horned One." Skaven have the appearance of large bipedal rats and possess a conniving and distrustful intelligence. They can make tools, converse in a developed language and develop and use advanced weaponry. They often steal technology from other races and improve upon it which usually involves warpstone. The Skaven wizards will consume warpstone to boost their power to great heights. The Skaven centric Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay supplement "Children of the Horned Rat" gives the average Skaven an expected lifespan of about 20 years, asserting that, were it not for the (often violent) internal competition of their species, they might live well past 50. More powerful members of Skaven society such as the dreaded Council of Thirteen tend to live far longer, even hundreds of years, due to the use of drugs, of magic, or frequent use/exposure to the unstable magical substance, warpstone.

Skaven represent the worst aspects of humanity, with none of its redeeming features. All Skaven are selfish, spiteful, paranoid, cowardly, treacherous, greedy and hateful. Concepts such as love, loyalty, self sacrifice and honor are alien concepts to the ratmen. From birth to death all Skaven attempt to climb the rungs of power by backstabbing, cheating and killing to gain any position ahead of their rivals.

Skaven are roughly man-sized, the typical specimen being between four and five feet tall on average. Most have brown or piebald fur, although this can vary. White and grey-furred ratlings are prized among Skaven litters, as they often become Grey Seers (the Skaven equivalent of priests and wizards). Black fur is looked upon as the sign of a true killer, so the elite Stormvermin corps draw their members from black furred ratlings, it is also common for lighter colored Skaven to dye their fur. Whole Skaven clans sometime dye their fur as well to represent their clan allegiance, an example of this is Clan Volkn whose warriors dye their fur dark red. Albino Skaven are rare but not unheard of. The Stormvermin in charge of protecting the Council of Thirteen (the Skaven ruling body) are all albino.

Male Skaven are Warriors or workers/slaves. Females are called breeders and are docile, barely intelligent creatures who spend much of their lives hidden away in the nest to breed. Though they are far larger than the average Skaven (about 10 foot tall), female Skaven can't take care of themselves and rely on eunuchs to feed and protect them. Female Skaven typically produce three to five litters a year, each containing about 20 young called ratlings.