Skaven Steeling themselves, the pitiful remnants of the city's once proud populace descended. In the ancient halls of kingship they found the Dwarfs, now naught but gnawed bones and scraps of cloth. And there they saw by the dying light of their torches the myriad eyes about them, glittering like liquid midnight as the rats closed in for the kill. The manlings stood back to back and fought for their lives, but against such implacable ferocity and countless numbers of the verminous horde, their weapons were useless. The tide of monstrous rats flowed over them one by one, dragging them down to be torn apart, the yellow chisel-teeth sinking into their soft-flesh, the dark furred mass drowning their pitiful screams with their hideous chittering... My loved ones and I were cursed at, spat upon, beaten, and worse. It was out of the desire to protect them that I began my research. —Translated from the Tilean tale "The Doom of Kavzar" also called "The Curse of Thirteen" The verminous Skaven are everything that is wrong in this world. Their greed and lust for power is immense and they would betray their own clan to get more. A ravenous civilization, with numbers counting over the tens of thousands, they scurry and scitter through the bowels of the earth in search for more warpstone and food. Children of The Great Horned Rat No one really knows where the Skaven hail from. Some say they lived in tunnels closed of from the surface world and were unleashed upon the world when the dwarfs dug too deep. Other think that they are a creation of some mad wizards, trying to combine human and rat. One thing can be said for sure and that is that each skaven has a unquestionable veneration of the Great Horned Rat. A divine being of pestilence and plagues, it favours the skaven and is represented by the rat skull with horns. The grey seers say the Great Horned Rat will walk this plane once more. The rite of the great ascendancy is at hand, and those who would underestimate the power of the Skaven, would be fools indeed.

Divided By Clans The Skaven have been divided into countless clans dating back from when they first started to record their history. These clans vie for more power over the other and make use of their own specialized talents to gain dominion. There were dark moments in Skaven history when civil war between the clans broke out, only through the direct intervention of the Great Horned Rat could the infighting stop. Now the recently united skaven clans decided to create a place called Skavenblight where each clan can send their emissaries, and by a wicked trail thirteen Skaven were chosen to lead all of Skavendom. They are called the council of thirteen, consisting out of twelve plague lords and reserving one spot for the Great Horned Rat and they shall lead the Skaven into a new era of vermintide. The Under-Empire The under-empire is a massive set of tunnels and pathways deep beneath the earth. All roads lead to Skavenblight, and those non-skaven who would dare to enter these tunnels will be swept away by a tide of Skaven. Living underneath the surface made the Skaven extremely well adapted for life in pitch black darkness. There are rumours of maps that draw out the entirety of the under-empire but these would be extremely well guarded if they exist at all. Warpstone Warpstone is the main currency of the Skaven. It is a rare mineral that glows sickly green. It is poisonous to the touch but most Skaven tend to have a built-up resilience to the negative effects of the ore. The ore is used in many of the vile rituals of the grey seers and the ingenious machines of clan Skryre and thus is very valuable. Some of the warpstone is refined into warptokens for easier handling so that it can be used as currency.

Skaven Names Skaven naming convention is an unusual one. The hyperkinetic nature of Skaven makes their names erratic, and best pronounced by chittering like a rodent. Most skaven do not even have a name, especially the skavenslaves, for their lives are so fleeting, worthless and they are with so many. In Skaven society, there are only males, the females are used as broodmothers and are injected with all manner of concotions to render them mindless. A named Skaven can choose its last name since Skaven are born from massive litters produced by the broodmothers. These last names tend to be a special feature the Skaven possesses or feat that the Skaven performed. Male Skaven Names. Skielk, Tutch, Strul, Znet, Qhueelk, Qhach, Xuchuokch, Axkreenq, Oshruoch, Struzqutch, Snech, Iqal ,Vinqrel,Skrexqiach. Male Skaven Last Names. Tuskhunter, Featherbuster, Nightflayer, Fierycleaver, Stonechest, Verminbrow Skaven Traits Your Skaven character has a variety of natural abilities. Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2. Age. Skaven reach maturity around age 2 and rarely live longer than 20 years. Alignment. Almost all Skaven are evil. They represent all negative traits of most races: greed, lust for power, treachery, and the list goes on. However there have been few skaven who were able to supress their innate wickedness, these rare skaven are far from good but have been known to work together with other races. Size. Due to malnutrition and bad posture skaven seem to be smaller than they look but a skaven who stands upright is as tall as your average human. Skaven stand between 5-6 feet when standing upright and average about 120 pounds Your size is medium. Speed. Your base walking speed is 30ft. Superior Darkvision. Your darkvision has a range of 120 feet. Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks when you, the target of your attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight. Scitter! Scurry! Life in the skaven nest-burrows and connecting maze-like tunnels has trained you to navigate them. While prone your movement is not reduced and standing up only takes 5 ft. of your movement. Nimble Escape. You can take the disengage or hide option as a bonus action on each of your turns. Languages. You can speak, read and write Common and Skaven. Subrace. The Skaven subraces are split between the multiple clans of the Skaven under-empire. This means that the environment the Skaven grew up in and the training he received determines the natural affinities of the Skaven. Watch Your Back-tails The Skaven are one of the more treacherous beings in existence. The most powerful of Skaven were able to climb to their position by killing or betraying the competition. Most races on the surface don't know much about the rat-folk deep beneath their cities. Skaven are also obsessed with the mysterious ore named warpstone. They would do anything to obtain the mineral. This coupled with the fact that beneath the holds of the mountain dwarfs very large deposits of warpstone rest, made it so that Skaven and Mountain Dwarfs harbor an intense hatred towards eachother. Clan Eshin You have been trained in the arts of subterfuge, infiltration and death. Clan Eshin is, compared to the other clans, a very small clan. It is shrouded in mystery and many skaven fear the power of your clan. One single assassin can be enough to topple an empire. When a Skaven civil war breaks out, your clan sticks to the shadow, remaining neutral so that the clan can offer its many deadly services to the highest bidder. Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1. Clan Eshin training. You have proficiency in the Stealth skill. Swift Death. Your base walking speed increases to 35 feet. Clan Mors Your clan is by Skaven standards one of the most honor bound clan there is. It is the only clan where your clan-brethren remain loyal to their masters. The clan's power is growing by the day and you must remain united for the more powerful clans could band together and wipe you out completely. Continue following the guidance of Lord Gnawdell and clan Mors will be victorious! Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 1. United as one! The Skaven has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of the skaven's allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated. Clan Moulder Deep beneath the earth, your clan creates the most powerful and the most horrifying creatures the world has ever seen. The abominable hell-pit abomination an afront to the gods themselves or the bone-crushing rat ogre. Your clan has created them all, and you the servant of Lord Verminkin must continue on the work of grafting flesh and moulding bones into the next perfect invention of Clan Moulder. Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1. Anatomical Prowess. Life in clan moulder has taught you about the inns and outs of most living creatures. Whenever you make an ability check related to determining the useful parts of slain creatures, you can make that check with advantage.