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1%%Please remember that information about the End Times should go on the Warhammer: The End Times (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TabletopGame/WarhammerTheEndTimes) pages not here.
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3[[WMG:[[center: [- ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' [[Characters/{{Warhammer}} Main Character Index]]\
4[[Characters/WarhammerTheEmpire The Empire]] | [[Characters/WarhammerBretonnia Bretonnia]] | [[Characters/WarhammerDwarfs Dwarfs]] | [[Characters/WarhammerElves Elves]] ([[Characters/WarhammerHighElves High Elves]] | [[Characters/WarhammerDarkElves Dark Elves]] | [[Characters/WarhammerWoodElves Wood Elves]]) | [[Characters/WarhammerLizardmen Lizardmen]] | [[Characters/WarhammerVampireCounts Vampire Counts]] | [[Characters/WarhammerTombKings Tomb Kings]] ([[Characters/WarhammerNagash Nagash]]) | [[Characters/WarhammerChaosGodsAndDaemons Daemons of Chaos]] | [[Characters/WarhammerWarriorsOfChaos Warriors of Chaos]] | [[Characters/WarhammerBeastsOfChaos Beastmen]] | [[Characters/WarhammerChaosDwarfs Chaos Dwarfs]] | '''Skaven''' | [[Characters/WarhammerGreenskins Greenskins]] | [[Characters/WarhammerOgreKingdoms Ogre Kingdoms]] | [[Characters/WarhammerOtherFactions Others]]]]-]]]
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7[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/skaven_508.jpg]]
8[[caption-width-right:350: We're going to need a bigger cat...]]
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10->''"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..."''\
11--'''Translated from the Tilean tale "The Doom of Kavzar" also called "The Curse of Thirteen."'''
12
13The Skaven are a race of vicious, cunning Ratmen found in great numbers in the Under-Empire, a vast network of tunnels stretching across the Old and New Worlds. Their origin is shrouded in mystery but their goal is obvious: to conquer the world. The Skaven are a treacherous and ambitious race and while they could be formally divided into clans each having their specialties, the truth is all Skaven fight for themselves. Only their worship of the Great Horned Rat and deference to the twelve powerful Lords of the Council of Thirteen has prevented their society from imploding.
14
15The Skaven's battle doctrine is to bring a literal horde of fast but ultimately poor troops, as Leadership is remarkably low across their forces. However, the expendable clan warriors are completed by an eclectic array of specialized units forming the actual danger. Be it the Grey Seers and their magic, the powerful yet unreliable machines of Clan Skryre, the plaguemasters of Clan Pestilens, the warmutants of Clan Moulder or the assassins of Clan Eshin, those all come in numbers large enough for casualties pile up quickly in the battlefield... often without the enemy's intervention, at that.
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17In their goal to take over the world, the Skaven have no allies; nor do they need them, such are their numbers. The one reason they haven't succeeded yet is the internecine power struggle running rampant across Skaven society, between clans, equals, superiors and subordinates. However, they are particularly bitter enemies with the Dwarfs whose Karaks they besiege and the Lizardmen who regard this unplanned race as an error to wipe out.
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20[[folder:General Tropes]]
21* ThirteenIsUnlucky: Inverted. Thirteen is considered a sacred number in Skaven society. There are 169 (thirteen times thirteen) Grey Seers, thirteen members of the Lords of Decay, the emerald pillar that the Horned Rat used to determine those to go on the Lords of Decay had thirteen sides, and the Dreaded Thirteenth Spell is their most powerful spell. From the point of view of the other factions, however, this close association between the number and one of the most foul and dangerous races in the world plays the trope entirely straight.
22* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The Skaven are one of the most evil races in the entire setting. Vampires will enslave whole populations to use as food and servants but are capable of [[UnholyMatrimony feeling very genuine love]]. Dark Elves are cruel, and have a culture based on torture and slavery, but are more driven by historical grievances than innate nature and some of them can even potentially become questionably heroic. Orcs 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 become highly annoyed if his pet squig dies. Ogres are largely motivated by their [[BigEater insatiable appetite]] and their devotion towards [[EldritchAbomination The Great Maw]] rather than genuine malice, and they have no issues making deals with other races as long as the terms are profitable. Skaven meanwhile hate everyone and everything: they are more cowardly and paranoid than any goblin, crueller and more hostile than Dark Elves and more fractious than Chaos. Some of the background material even mentions that their reproduction rates being tied into how much dark magic saturates the world with an increase in dark magic causing a sudden explosion in their population. Such a rapid increase inevitably puts pressure on their resources so that they have to wage war on the other races, or even each other, to survive.
23* AppliedPhlebotinum: The Skaven use [[GreenRocks warpstone]], the condensed and solidified form of raw magic, to power and enhance their technology. From the basic metallurgy to sophisticated, if unreliable, {{magitek}} power generators, warpstone is an ever-present component of Skaven science and engineering, and they will go to any lengths to secure even the smallest amount of their powerful and dangerous substance.
24* AntiAir: The ''Warpstone Scroll'' and ''Howling Warpgale'' spell. Both are very effective at hindering the movement of flying units.
25* BadBoss: Skaven leaders universally see their underlings as useful pawns at best and think nothing of sacrificing them if their deaths could further their plans, have outlived their usefulness, failed them, delivered bad news or simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time when the leader was in a bad mood.
26* BewareTheSillyOnes: The Skaven's LaughablyEvil presentation and often pathetic misuse of their vast resource base can distract one from the fact that they are, if even mildly unified, by far the most powerful race in the setting, with technology in excess of everyone else's and enough troops to outnumber all of them combined. The two greatest demonstrations of this are probably the Goblin Wars that destroyed the old dwarf empire (they were both primary belligerents and the main backers of the goblins - without Skaven support the latter's efforts quickly crumbled), the Skaven Wars (in which the Skaven killed, depending on the source, ''50% to 90%'' of the Empire's population while also inflicting large damage on the Dwarfs; the same Empire that broke twelve successive Everchosen over its knee while taking little real damage) and the End Times, where they almost single-handedly took out ''Nagash'', the Lizardmen Empire, Karaz Ankor, Tilea, Estalia, Araby, the goblins, and the Border Princes, while also severely mauling the Empire and Bretonnia. Notably, their large-scale participation (along with Order's infighting) is the main thing that separates the End Times from the alternate-continuity Storm of Chaos, where Archaon got smacked back to the Wastes with his tail between his legs.
27* BizarreSexualDimorphism: Male Skaven are bipedal man-sized rats of vaguely human intelligence (they think they're smarter then they really are, but are still quite intelligent) while female Skaven are humongous, bloated, normal female rats that do nothing but lounge around, eat and produce litter after litter of new Skaven. Background material claims they're not naturally like this but are purposefully mutated into bloated birthing machines via Warpstone exposure. This has been going on for so long that not even the Skaven know what an unmutated female looks like any more, not that they care.
28* BlackComedy: Skaven are emphasized as being such utterly terrible and virtueless individuals (along with some seriously wacky tech [[MadeOfExplodium that is usually as much of a threat to themselves as to their enemies]]) that they go right back to hilarious.
29* BlackMagic: Skaven have their own unique forms of dark magic, fueled by warpstone and their connection to the Great Horned Rat, although the precise form that magic takes varies between editions.
30** In 4th and 6th edition of ''Warhammer Fantasy Battles'', Grey Seers can use the "Lore of Skaven", a singular magical discipline representing the collective magical knowledge of skavendom.
31** 6th edition also presents Clan Skryre Warlocks as not being "proper" casters, but instead using {{magitek}} devices that can let them cast a single spell -- "Warp-Lightning" -- with varying degrees of potency. The variant armies for Clans Eshin, Molder and Pestilens would feature unique clan-specific "lesser mages", who are Hero-tier characters who can only use a single spell thematically appropriate to that army; [[{{Teleportation}} Skitterleap]] for Clan Eshin, [[SummonMagic Vermintide]] for Clan Molder, and [[BreathWeapon Pestilent Breath]] for Clan Pestilens. The later Bubonic Court sub-army, a reimagining of the Clan Pestilens army, expanded their spellcasting abilities with the potential to access up to three spells from the Lore of Skaven; "Pestilent Breath", "Plague", and "Death Frenzy".
32** Inspired by 6th edition, the Skaven {{sourcebook}} for ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'' 2nd edition, "Children of the Horned Rat", would tinker with the formula. It would split skaven magic into three distinct lores; Grey Seers used the Lore of Warp, Clan Pestilens' Plague Priests used the [[PlagueMaster Lore of Plague]], and Clan Eshin's Sorcerers used the [[CastingAShadow Lore of Stealth]]. Clan Skryre's Warlocks don't use magic at all, specifically, but instead build warpstone-powered {{magitek}}. It also mentions the existence of "heretic" Grey Seers who use {{necromancy}} or turn their backs on the Horned Rats and embrace the Chaos Gods, wielding ''their'' magic instead.
33** 7th edition of ''Warhammer Fantasy Battles'' takes some inspiration from the "Children of the Horned Rat" interpretation of Skaven magic. It drops the idea of Clan Eshin's Sorcerers and their Lore of Stealth, and instead presents Skaven magic as divided into two Lores; the Lore of Ruin, used by Clan Skryre's Warlocks, and the Lore of Plague, used by Clan Pestilens' Plague Priests. Grey Seers are unique in that they are the only Lord-tier magic using characters in the army, they can freely pick from ''both'' Ruin and Plague, and they have exclusive access to the unique "The Dreaded Thirteenth Spell", which [[ForcedTransformation turns its victims into skaven]]. This interpretation of Skaven magic would persist into 8th edition and the End Times.
34* BreathWeapon: The aptly named "Pestilent Breath" spell, which lets its caster breathe a foul cloud of corruption at the enemy.
35* CannonFodder: The Skaven really don't seem to care how many of them die in battle and clan rats can be sent to die in droves. However, the Skavenslaves even stand out in all of the game. They are so expendable they have a rule allowing all Skaven units to fire at a melee combat between them and the enemy. The missed shots hit the slaves instead but no one of value will be lost either way.
36* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Skaven politics normally go all over the place, but Clan Skryre has been around since the founding of Skavenblight because of this. No matter what they do to any of the other clans their skills are ''always'' needed and they ''always'' have allies and resources to protect themselves from whoever they just pissed off because the work they do is just that important.
37* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: The root of all of their problems. The Skaven are so treacherous they constantly try to undermine their superiors and grab their positions with treacherous methods such as causing lucky accidents, or sabotage their subordinates if it looks like their successes will result in them and/or their clan looking better than the leader and/or the leader's clan. They'll do this whenever they deem it convenient to their individual needs, even if it'll ruin efforts to advance Skavendom's cause (i.e. assassinate a warband's leader right before a major battle). Their society only persists [[ExplosiveBreeder because they still manage to birth more than their losses]] and [[GenghisGambit they still hate all other species slightly more]]. Yet still, [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter some individuals from other races may try to make arrangements with them]], which always ends [[ForegoneConclusion exactly as expected]].
38* ColdSniper: Some Skaven use Warplock Jezzails, long-barreled guns firing warpstone bullets. There exists rather hilarious stories of Jezzail teams racking quite impressive kills, such as Natty Buboe of Clan Mors, who managed to kill a Dwarf Engineer who was watching Natty with a bullet [[ScopeSnipe through the Engineer's telescope]] and then killed several other Dwarfs who tried [[TooDumbToLive looking through the same telescope]], unable to believe a ratman would be so precise.
39* CombatPragmatist: Like you wouldn't believe. Very few Skaven go out of their way to seek challenges, preferring to shove an underling forward instead. That being said, they will fight if the odds are tilted ''heavily'' in their favour and [[ZergRush no fight in their favour has them equal their enemy in number]]. In fact they have a special rule which allows their characters to refuse challenges and still give their leadership to their unit.
40* {{Cyborg}}: Stormfiends, hulking brutes stitched together from a variety of body parts and mechanical components, most prominently guns and armor plating.
41* DarkerAndEdgier: At one point, the Doomwheel and the Verminlords were removed from the army list because Games Workshop considered the former too silly and the latter too Chaos-y. The Doomwheel in particular was treated with some scorn from the developers, who thought that a giant hamster wheel was too much of a joke for a game now taking itself more seriously than in its early incarnations. After much fan protest, they eventually relented and added both back into future lists.
42* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Their distinctive VerbalTic has them highlight words in their statements for emphasis by saying the word twice, or immediately following it with a synonym. (E.g. "Kill-slay the no-furs! All will die-die!")
43* DetonationMoon: "Project Moonbreaker", a plan the Skaven hatched to destroy the green moon of Morrslieb with a giant cannon. The intended goal of this is to cause massive quantities of warpstone to rain down on the surface world, killing off most non-Skaven on the surface and ensuring the Skaven had abundant riches of warpstone to use.
44* DirtyCoward: Cowardice is considered a virtue among the Skaven. While everyone else has their heroes in the first rank of a unit and suffers quite a few drawbacks if they decline a challenge for a duel, Skaven leaders lead from the back without problems.
45* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Warpfire is specifically said to stick to anything and cannot be doused -- it's fantasy-napalm on steroids and Chaos.
46* EatenAlive: Woe betide any Skavenslave who is injured on the job, as his own compatriots will quickly take the opportunity to get [[IAmAHumanitarian what little fresh meat they can]]. Unfortunately for Skavenslaves, on-the-job injury is [[WeAreTeamCannonFodder fairly common]].
47* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The earliest iteration of Skaven lore presented them as more or less a divergent culture of Beastmen, making them fundamentally aligned to Chaos. A Chaos Champion could include Skaven followers in his warband, and the existence of Skaven Champions of Chaos was implied to be a thing -- there was even a canonical Daemon Prince who had ascended ''from'' a former existence as a Skaven. Verminlords were characterized as (Greater) Daemons of the Horned Rat, and in some lore are said to be the reincarnated souls of mighty Skaven champions -- identical in concept to the Daemon Princes of Chaos. Grey Seers having horns references the two status symbols of the Beastmen; horns, and magical proficiency. Concept-wise, Clan Molder is basically a rat-specific iteration of the general Chaos propensity for fielding horrible mutant monsters, whilst Clan Pestilens overlaps heavily with the Chaos God Nurgle, to the point a popular fan theory is that they may be an attempt by Nurgle to subvert the Skaven to his worship. From 6th edition onwards, the direct Chaos connections were downplayed, but it's never gone away entirely.
48* EliteMooks: Stormvermin, who are the fighting elite of any Skaven army. The Skaven leadership may have [[WeHaveReserves little care for the well-being of their underlings]] but even they recognize the need for having at least a handful of professional soldiers they can count on. Thus Skaven born with black fur are recruited at an early age for the Stormvermin, fed very well, given extensive training, clad in heavy armor and equipped with quality weaponry. All of this creates larger, stronger, more disciplined guards with superior equipment, and who are usually fairly loyal (by Skaven standards).
49* EminentlyEnigmaticRace: Most of the Old World has discounted the existence of the legendary rat-men, and only the few vigilantes dedicated to combating their spread have the slightest idea of their under-empire; on the few occasions in which Skaven corpses have been left behind, they've been disregarded by authorities as elaborate fakes or some minor species of Beastman. For good measure, the Skaven themselves are very good at erasing any proof of their existence - along with people who might have seen it.
50* EnemyCivilWar: The Skaven as a whole are in a labyrinthian civil war at all times, as they are constantly fighting and scheming to betray their many enemies, real or imagined. One of the most notable episodes of Skaven history is the civil war that began between the Council of Thirteen and the rising Clan Pestilens, freshly returned from Lustria. The Skaven were practically split in two factions until Clan Eshin returned from the East and offered their services to the Council of Thirteen. The war ended but Pestilens managed to negotiate peace and grab a seat in the Council. It's even explained that the reason why the Empire doesn't want the existence of the Skaven to be publicly known is that if humanity is actively opposing them, they might pull an EnemyMine and manage to organize themselves into an effective fighting force, while leaving them alone causes nine out of every ten Skaven plots to be foiled by other Skaven without any need for human intervention.
51* EvilCannotComprehendGood: They ''really'' don't understand any of the things humans would call 'virtues'. Traits like loyalty, compassion, and courage are completely alien concepts to them, as is the concept of self-sacrifice for any reason beyond "it'll be worse for you if you don't." What this means is that while they are very good at manipulation and deception, their 'society' is in a constant state of near-collapse, and when other species act on HonorBeforeReason, it can end up completely blindsiding them.
52* EvilCounterpart: Oddly enough to the Empire and Bretonnia. The Skaven represent the worst traits of humanity: treachery, spite, paranoia, greed, cowardice and racism.
53* ExplosiveBreeder: Both a benefit and a massive drawback to the ratmen. Skaven reproduce ''quickly'', with female Skaven giving birth to huge litters after a short gestation cycle. The vast majority are runts who are small and twisted in form and fur, destined for a brutal and mercifully short life, while those who are larger and healthier are made clanrats. This borders on PowerIncontinence as the Skaven frequently reproduce faster than their infrastructure can be expanded to provide for them, leading to food shortages and cannibalism or pushing them into surface conquest. When dark magic surges across the world, that breeding is even faster than usual.
54* ExplosiveOverclocking: While most of Skaven technology is quite powerful, it's also very prone to self-disintegration.
55* FantasticCasteSystem: The Skaven society is rather sharply divided.
56** First of all, their race is divided into different clans united more by early coexistence than any loyalty. Each of the Clans has its own strongholds and specialty, but all Clans are dwarfed by the Great Clans, which each oversee a major facet of Skaven life (assassination, breeding monsters, plagues and technology) and rule over Skaven society and politics.
57*** Clan Eshin is a collection of rat ninjas that serve as the official MurderInc for the entirety of Skaven society, available to anyone and targeting anyone. Their price is quite high but the results are highly variable anyway. Being {{Stealth Expert}}s and {{Professional Killer}}s, their presence on the battlefield consists of scout units and individual assassins meant to target a hero or lord.
58*** Clan Moulder is powerful clan of {{Evilutionary Biologist}}s who create a variety of rat-based monsters, ranging from regular oversized rodents to chimeric and biotechnological abominations. They sell their creations as shock troops and their handlers act as TheBeastmaster on the battlefield, and also provide Skaven society's beasts of burden. They are actually the richest and most influential of the clans.
59*** Clan Pestilens are the Skaven's {{Plague Master}}s, worshipping TheCorruption aspect of the Great Horned Rat. They bring their numbers and plagues to the battlefield, expanding their influence to any Lord desperate to call for them. Ill-regarded by everyone, they're too powerful and devoted to their cause to be challenged.
60*** Clan Skryre specializes in {{Magitek}}. MadScientist Warplock Engineers create many foul, powerful and unreliable inventions involving MoreDakka, ShockAndAwe and DeadlyGas. Then they sell them as support firing units and artillery and rival Moulder as the most openly influential of the Clans.
61** In general terms, Skaven society has [[EvilSorceror Grey Seers]] and [[EvilOverlord Warlords]] at the top, followed by [[KingMook Chieftains]], then [[EliteMooks Stormvermin]], then [[{{Mooks}} Clan Rats]], the [[SlaveMook slaves]], and finally non-Skaven slaves at the very bottom.
62** Stormvermins and Grey Seers are picked out early in the litter by the color of their fur; Grey Seers are often grey or near albino while Stormvermins often have a pelt of jet black fur, and are socially valued above common brown-furred skaven. Stormvermins also tend to be much, much larger than the average non-mutated skaven.
63* FantasticDrug: Some Skaven consume warpstone, possibly crushed into a dust for further parallels, which increases their magical powers. [[DrunkOnTheDarkSide And you better believe it is addictive]] and causes them to lose what little sensibilities they had in the first place.
64* FantasticRacism: In addition to looking down their snouts at all other races, even among Skaven fur color tends to come with stereotypes about their value or lack thereof. Thanks to Skaven with particular fur colors being selected at birth for special roles, training, and feeding, those stereotypes tend to be a SelfFulfillingProphecy.
65* FantasyCounterpartCulture: In general terms, with their [[StupidJetpackHitler crazy technology]], {{Evilutionary Biologist}}s, DeadlyGas and [[EliteMooks "Stormvermin"]], there's more than a little resemblance to ThoseWackyNazis.
66* FatalFlaw: Disunity and cowardice. On paper, the Skaven have a massive quantitative advantage over everyone else, and aren't even particularly inferior qualitatively (a Clanrat for example is only ''slightly'' inferior to a State Trooper), their high-end weapons' rarity and unreliability being compensated for by sheer power. However they spend more time fighting each other than they do every other faction combined, and when they do fight other factions, they often punch well below their weight due to poor leadership and morale (and occasional outright backstabbing) causing their on-paper powerful forces to flounder. The city-states of Tilea, Estalia, and the Border Princes have spent centuries holding off numerically superior hordes of Skaven with little more than lances and crossbows (and later a smattering of gunpowder). Their 1116 invasion of the Empire and 1813 invasion of Bretonnia demonstrate their weakness well, as both invasions had massive early success, fell to infighting over the spoils, broke up into more-or-less independent warbands, and were promptly routed when the humans and their elven and dwarven allies rallied to strike back. Even though both the Empire and Bretonnia were medieval polities heavily hollowed out by plague and war, and the Skaven at the time already had cannons and guns. Skaven hordes have also been known to flee in fear before forces they would crush if they just maintained discipline.
67* FireBreathingWeapon: The warpfire thrower, a two man flamethrower that tags along with other units that fires what is essentially {{Hellfire}}.
68* {{Foil}}: To the Dwarfs, some of their primary rivals. They are some of the most technologically advanced civilizations in the setting and both live underground, but otherwise their contrasts are many:
69** The Dwarfs rely on highly trained, heavily armored elite troops, which encourages slow-moving and defensive tactics. The Skaven rely on cheap but plentiful units that can easily be thrown into the meatgrinder with reckless charges.
70** The Dwarfs prefer technology to be safe, reliable and efficient and deeply distrust innovation, obsessively testing and tweaking their creations for centuries before letting them be used widely. The Skaven use untested and often slipshod technology and experiment obsessively, recklessly throwing away resources and lives to produce new weapons and accepting disastrous battlefield malfunctions as a fact of life.
71** The Dwarfs, despite their tendency to make enemies with races on the surface, at the very least try to forge alliances with others. The Skaven see all other races as tools to be cast aside when convenient.
72** The Dwarfs put loyalty and honor before all, even common sense, while the Skaven see betrayal and dishonesty to be cornerstones of their culture.
73** The Dwarfs worship a pantheon of well-respected ancestor-gods, while the Skaven are monotheistic and generally venerate the Horned Rat out of fear.
74** The Dwarfs are ruled by a singular [[TheHighKing High King]] who almost always has his people's wellbeing as his highest priority. The Skaven are ruled by the Council of Thirteen, which is chiefly interested in squabbling among themselves and jockeying for positions of prominence. Further, while the High King is perfectly willing to fight and die for his people on the battlefield, the members of the Council of Thirteen will do anything in their power to ensure that they never have to do any fighting of their own.
75** The Dwarfs use outwardly plain but safe runecrafting, and generally shun other forms of magic. The Skaven use the destructive and dangerous Lores of Ruin and Plague, and make extensive use of GreenRocks to power their society and its weapons.
76* FragileSpeedster: While exceptions exist, in general, Skaven tend to be small and underfed and thus lack the muscles and dense bones that would make them as strong as many other races. However, they do tend to be extremely agile, able to scramble and clamor around and across difficult terrain with ease and move with a speed born of desperation. Thus in game Skaven have Movement 5 and Initiative 4 at worst, but are otherwise as fragile as humans.
77* GatlingGood: ''[[{{Pun}} Ratling]]'' Good. The Ratling Gun is a multi-barrel cannon that rapidly fires shards of warpstone, using a warpstone-heated [[{{Steampunk}} steam engine]] to drive it.
78* GenderRarityValue: It's never stated just how common Skaven "breeders" are[[note]]the TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay 2e sourcebook "Children of the Horned Rat" does claim that females make up only 1 in 10, but the lore from that game is not necessarily canon to the main game[[/note]], but they are considered extremely valuable property. A clan without a healthy breeder or two is doomed to eventually die out without their own source of fresh ratmen. Breeders are traded as extremely high value goods, and owning a private breeder, rather than having to impress a clan leader in order to gain access to the communal breeders, is a mark of great wealth and status amongst Skaven.
79* GenghisGambit: Well, unite-ish. All Skaven distrust and hold all other species in contempt just slightly more than they feel the same for all other Skaven individuals who are not themselves, which is the only reason (along with [[ExplosiveBreeder extremely high breeding rates]]) that their society functions to a minimum degree [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder in spite of themselves]]. However, this does not prevent them from actively betraying or utterly disregarding the lives of their own troops even in active battle for whatever reason once the opportunity presents itself -- it's only enough to make them get to the battlefield in the first place.
80* GloryHound: Virtually every Skaven wants to be seen to take the credit for something that furthers the Horned Rat's cause (because that's how they gain the approval of their superiors and rise in esteem before they're in a position to [[TheStarscream surpass those superiors]]), but almost all of them prefer that someone ''else'' bears the brunt of the risk for doing so. Lots of scheming, lying, backstabbing, and posturing is the inevitable result.
81* GodzillaThreshold:
82** When the Skaven realised what Nagash was planning to do (namely [[AnimateDead raise the dead of all Nehekhara as an army]] to conquer the entire world), knowing they were likely to be among the first on his revenge list, the Council of Thirteen made the ([[OOCIsSeriousBusiness for the only time in its entire history]]) unanimous decision to assassinate him, with no plots to betray each other until Nagash was fully defeated.
83* HamsterWheelPower: Skaven doomwheels are war machines that are propelled by Rat Ogres running in wheels.
84* HornsOfVillainy: Horns are viewed as a sign of a Skaven being blessed by their evil god, which happens to be the Great ''Horned'' Rat. The Grey Seers are all horned and are the foremost masterminds of the Skaven, while the Verminlords naturally possess huge horns, being greater daemons of the Horned Rat.
85* HorrorHunger: Skaven who've just been through combat are frequently subject to the "Black Hunger" as they come off the battle fever, a near-compulsive desire to feed, especially on meat if possible. Fortunately, battle leaves plenty of fresh corpses and [[IAmAHumanitarian the Skaven aren't picky at taking what meat they can get]].
86* HurricaneOfPuns: Beginning with ''ratling guns'' and getting worse from there. Shooting into a melee is called ''coratteral damage'' in some editions.
87* ImAHumanitarian: Due to their extremely high metabolism, Skaven often feed on the corpses of their own fallen after a battle. Due to their extremely high [[ExplosiveBreeder breeding rate]], it's not uncommon for Skaven within a clan to just outright murder and eat each other when there's too many of them, there's not enough food going around, and they can't find an enemy within reach.
88* InfinityPlusOneSword: The ''Fellblade'' is one of the most notable magic weapons in the game. Forged out of raw warpstone and gromril then cursed with powerful incantations of doom, it was made specifically to kill Nagash and [[SoulCuttingBlade tear his very soul]], making his comebacks more and more taxing. In game it gives its wearer Strength 10, forces to reroll successful ward saves and causes D6 wounds per unsaved wounds. However, having such a deadly blade in hand may cause its user [[ArtifactOfDeath to lose 1 Wound per turn]].
89* IntelligentGerbil: The Skaven are a race of sentient and intelligent human-like rats who routinely develop cunning plans or groundbreaking technology but are held back by their many faults.
90* ItsAllAboutMe: The standard attitude of any Skaven -- if the universe was as it should be, the Skaven would be its masters and the specific Skaven in question the ruler of the entire race. No Skaven would never give up something of theirs to help someone else unless they planned to benefit from it and no Skaven has ever been shown to regret the death of another being unless it also entails them losing a benefit.
91* LawOfChromaticSuperiority: The vast majority of Skaven are born with brown fur, and these are for the most part consigned to life as slaves or nameless clanrats. Very occasionally, Skaven pups are born with distinctly black or white fur -- the former become much larger and stronger than common brown-furred specimens and are raised as Stormvermin, while the latter develop magical powers and are raised as Grey Seers.
92* LightningGun: The Lightning ''cannon'', which shoots a magic ray of lightning that disintegrates everything on a straight path in front of it.
93* LuckBasedMission: A Skaven player going all out on the special weapons can win or lose a battle in the first turn purely by the roll of the dice, either disintegrating their enemy's most powerful units or shooting stray warp lightning through most of their own army. More reliable [[RuleOfFunny and less amusing]] methods of warfare are available, however.
94* MadeOfExplodium: The Skaven's most dangerous weaponry isn't hugely less dangerous to their users.
95* {{Magitek}}: Warpstone is essentially "solid magic", created when [[{{Precursors}} The Old Ones]]' [[PortalNetwork warp gates]] exploded, sending fragments of its essence into the sky to rain down over the land as meteors for the next few thousand years. The Skaven make heavy use of this in their technology, in everything from conducting arcane electricity to magic foci, from to steam engines to toxic brews, from mutagens to chemical propellants.
96* ManipulativeBastard: An entire race of them, constantly seeking to outwit, con, or backstab all the other races and each other in pursuit of their nefarious schemes. Woe betide anyone foolish enough to strike a deal with one...
97* {{Masquerade}}: The Skaven try their best to erase traces of their presence to the humans, assassinating scholars who get too curious and burning records. It seemingly works as the populace of the Empire at least think of them as legends and conspiracies. That is, despite the Dwarfs knowing about them and having many reasons to warn the humans.
98* MonowheelMayhem: The Doomwheel is one of Ikit Klaw's masterpieces. It's a giant wooden hamster wheel acting as a chariot, powered by a swarm of rats running at its bottom and giving it random movement, and a lightning gun platform as well.
99* MeaningfulName: "Skaven" is one letter away from "[[DirtyCoward craven]]", a skave is also a somewhat obscure British slang term for someone with poor cleanliness habits.
100* MonstrousCannibalism: Skaven are generally perfectly willing to eat their own dead... or just make other Skaven dead to eat them, if need be.
101* MysteriousPast: The Skaven do not have a clear origin, some claiming that they were born mutated by Chaos but other scholars saying that the Skaven are a separate race altogether. The story "Doom of Kazvar", which details the legend of an ancient city overrun by rats, is perhaps the most significant document about their origin, but even it makes little sense.
102* NeverMyFault: The standard Skaven view of any time things don't go their way. The reasons why this is not the case are manifold, but most of them boil down to [[SurroundedByIdiots incompetent subordinates]], SelectiveObliviousness about past actions, superiors refusing to [[KlingonPromotion make way for someone who knows what they're doing]] and [[WhyWontYouDie enemies that just won't die]].
103* NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering: The Council of Thirteen is usually crippled by every Lord of Decay having their contradicting agendas and thus they rarely coordinate the Skaven on a large enough scale to conduct noteworthy attacks on the surface.
104* OneWheeledWonder: The Doomwheel, which has lasers and is powered by rats running inside it. It is one of the most recognizable, random and popular Skaven unit in the game by virtue of being a silly but deadly weapon.
105* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The first and only time the Council of Thirteen unanimously agreed on a clear objective was when Nagash almost turned the whole world into undead. Such was their desperation that they agreed to forge the ''[[EvilWeapon Fellblade]]'' and gave it to Alcadizzar so he could kill Nagash. Oh, and all the Grey Seers risked their lives to protect Alcadizzar from the ''Fellblade'', performing a HeroicSacrifice of a sort whenever one of them died from exhaustion.
106* OpenSecret: ''Warhammer'' canon goes back and forth on just who knows about the existence of the Skaven. While it's clear that the Dwarfs, Lizardmen, Elves and certain human factions know about them, parts of the Empire seems to regard them as just another flavour of Beastmen, with scholars that postulate the race's existence being ridiculed (and possibly slain by Clan Eshin assassins in incidents meant to look like "accidents"). Just how precisely a race that outnumbers humanity and subsists mostly on raiding can remain hidden is generally [[{{Handwave}} handwaved]]. The Skaven splatbook lampshades this:
107-->''There are two lies concerning the Skaven. The first one is that they don't exist. The second one is that anyone believes the first.''
108* PlayingWithFire: The Spell of Ruin "Scorch" allows a Skaven magic user to summon a plume of fire from the earth that, in the 7th and 8th Editions of the game, causes flaming hits to multiple models and forces them to make a [[MoraleMechanic Panic test]].
109* PracticalCurrency: Skaven use Warpstone Tokens as currency, essentially little coins made of refined warpstone. This functions both as a medium of trade, as well as being regularly consumed by Skaven spellcasters [[CastFromMoney to fuel their magical power]] and serving as fuel-pellets for [[{{Magitek}} warpstone-powered devices]].
110* ProperlyParanoid: Every Skaven is out to get every other Skaven and they all know it.
111* RadiationImmuneMutants: It is heavily implied that the Skaven were mutated to their current form by exposure to warpstone. While this produces uncontrolled mutation in other species with enough exposure, the Skaven themselves seem to be able to stay relatively stable around it. As a result, they use it much more frequently than other races do, as its potency as "solidified magic" is vast.
112* RatMen: A possible TropeCodifier for tabletop gaming, being one of the most famous and influential examples in the medium, and an archetypal example of Rat Men as swarming, sapient vermin closely tied to decay and disease.
113* ResourcefulRodent: The Skaven are a race of rats living in underground cities and able to make devices such as the Ratling and technological devices using the Warpstone such as tools and power generation. The only reason why they haven't taken over the world yet is because they are infamously treacherous.
114* RodentsOfUnusualSize: Even discounting the Rat Ogres and "Giant Rats", the Skaven themselves are usually only a little smaller than humans. Stormvermin, who are better fed than most other Skaven, tend to be around an male adult human's height and it can be presumed that if the average Skaven was actually fed well consistently enough, they'd usually be around human height.
115* RuleOfCool: Why on earth ''do'' they have hamster wheels with lasers? Because it's cool and absolutely hilarious on the battlefield!
116* ShortLivedOrganism: On average, the ratlike Skaven have a maximum lifespan of about twenty years, but most die a lot earlier than that due to backstabbing, starvation, industrial accidents, being conscripted as cannon fodder or a hundred other different things. However, [[WizardsLiveLonger magic-users such as Grey Seers and plague priests can live to be hundreds of years old]] as long as they can navigate the pit of treachery of Skaven politics.
117* SicklyGreenGlow: Due to the amount of Warpstone they use, this shows up all over the place.
118* SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Skaven are really big on enslaving their own kind, each clan and Skaven of importance having slaves they mistreat and in the case of servants cripple to ensure they cannot kill their masters. Skavenslaves can even be fielded on the battlefield as even more expendable CannonFodder.
119* SmallNameBigEgo: No matter how lowly a Skaven may be, he's utterly convinced that only his brilliant plans after becoming the head of the Skaven race will lead to their utter supremacy under his wise rule. Anything that gets in the way to reaching this goal is totally because [[NeverMyFault of someone else's fault entirely]], and anyone who thinks ''they'' would be a better leader is obviously in the way of Skavendom's best.
120* SneakySpySpecies: The Skaven are by nature secretive, vicious, and backstabbing, and serve as an extremely non-mercenary example of this culture: they're planning world domination, but rather than achieve this through traditional warfare, they have built a vast under-empire of tunnels through which they launch surprise attacks on the surface world - sometimes depopulating entire settlements in the process. Because of this approach, they're widely perceived as a myth by most human societies. Like all aspects of the Skaven character, this sneaky, devious aspect is embodied by one of the four Great Clans - this case, the mercenary Clan Eshin, who are composed entirely of spies, assassins, and poisoners.
121* TheStarscream: An entire race of them. Every Skaven has an instinctive ambitious and traitorous streak and every subordinate plans to eventually overthrow their superiors through open challenges, "accidents", or plain backstabbing. The only reason their society hasn’t collapsed is that the Skaven are also too busy outdoing their equals to completely commit to overthrowing all of their superiors.
122* StealthExpert: The hat of all Clan Eshin units from Night Runners to Assassins, whose stealthiness is represented in some way by special rules. For instance, the Night Runners are infiltrators and can move once before the start of the game whereas the Gutter Runners have the ''Scout'' special rule allowing them to appear as reinforcement from anywhere on the table.
123* SuperReflexes: The Clan Eshin units all have a ''Dodge'' special rule representing their training at dodging attacks and thus granting them a nice Ward save which even the deadly Khainite Assassins don't have.
124* SwarmOfRats: Swarms of rats of unusual size that walk on their hind legs and wield hand weapons at that. The Skaven also employ actual swarms of rats on the battlefield.
125* TrialByFriendlyFire: Skaven may use ranged attacks against enemies engaged only with Skavenslaves, probably half of which will hit the enemy while the other half hits the slaves. [[CannonFodder Considering how numerous, cheap and otherwise ineffective Skavenslaves are]], this will usually be to the Skaven's advantage. Shooting into close-combat is ''completely'' impossible for any other factions, because only the Skaven [[AlwaysChaoticEvil are that bad]].
126* TunnelKing: The Skaven are the masters of quickly digging tunnels, even if they don't manage this safely. Their empire is almost entirely made of tunnels and underground holds and be it done with their claws or a warpstone drill, a Skaven will quickly dig from point A to point B even if half the time, the tunnel will collapse and kill him. Skavenslaves are usually the ones forced to be the diggers for this reason.
127* UndergroundCity: The Skaven almost exclusively live underground in complex networks of tunneled settlements which are dug and collapse daily. Some parts of these networks, controlled under one clan, could be generously called cities. Their capital Skavenblight is an notable aversion, being the first city the Skaven conquered and hid in the middle of an inhospitable area.
128* UnfriendlyFire: Unlike every other faction in the game, the Skaven have had over-the-years a number of rules allowing to shoot into a melee combat. In the 8th version, this is restricted to the Poisoned Wind Globadiers and Skavenslaves being allowed to be shot at.
129* VerbalTic: The Skaven have this, yes-yes. They'll kill-slay all the men-things, green-things and else-else. (To add emphasis for subjects they're mentioning in their statements, the Skaven are prone to [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment repeating the word or immediately following a word with a synonym]], and refer to all other species as "[species]-thing" or "[adjective]-thing".)
130* VillainTeamUp: [[spoiler:They ally with Chaos]] during the events of ''End Times: Thanquol''.
131* VillainExitStageLeft: The spell ''Skitterleap'' allows the Grey Seers to teleport a character. Given no Skaven Lord or Hero is a real match for their counterparts in other armies, the best use of it is to actually teleport the character away from a losing battle.
132%%Please see Discussion page about the following trope
133%%* WasOnceAMan: Was Once a Dwarf, rather. The origins of the Skaven are ShroudedInMyth, but it is implied that the Skaven are to Dwarfs what the [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheBeastmen Beastmen]] are to Humans. The two most popular explanations are that the first Skaven was Skavor, exiled son of the Ancestor God Gazul, or that a meteor of warpstone caused rats to merge with the Dwarfs living in Kazvar, the city which is now Skavenblight.
134* WeAreStrugglingTogether: Or to put it into any Skaven's own words, their genius and designs are not being properly recognized and is also being actively sabotaged by the treachery of their rivals...[[ProperlyParanoid the latter is actually true to some degree]], though likely [[SmallNameBigEgo not as much as they think]].
135* WeHaveReserves: Even moreso than any other army in either formats since they are the only ones allowed to shoot into melee combat (which even the Chaos Gods frown upon). And when there's a group of 40+ points-per-model knights attacking your at most 5 point standard infantry, that 50:50 chance of hitting a knight with some warp lightning becomes mighty tempting. In the End Times the Skaven's assaults on Dwarf and Imperial cities include handfuls of actual soldiers following countless Skavenslaves just meant to soak up ammo; to reflect this, the battle scenarios in ''Thanquol'' give the Skaven player infinite respawns of Skavenslave and Clanrat units for their duration. They do have limits though; towards the end of ''Thanquol'' it is noted that overwhelming Lustria, the Southern Realms, Araby, the Grey Mountains/Vaults, Karaz Ankor, and much of the Empire and Bretonnia actually cost them a lot, to the point that most of the Council of Thirteen wanted to suspend the offensives and go back underground to replenish their losses. When Archaon finally shows up, their forces are depleted enough that they're forced into a subservient role to the Warriors of Chaos, albeit while fully intending to double-cross them later after rebuilding their armies.
136* WizardsLiveLonger: If they can survive the inherently dangerous politics of Skaven society, many Skaven magic users are able to live many years longer than the average lifespan of a Skaven. Whether this is due to life-extending magic, a quirk of Skaven biology or the blessing of their god, the Horned Rat, is unknown.
137* YouDirtyRat: The ''Warhammer Fantasy'' faction. Seriously, even in this CrapsackWorld, Skaven are said to be the most absolutely vile creatures of them all.
138* ZergRush: The tactic most Skaven Warlords use is to send waves of troops forward and lead from the back.
139[[/folder]]
140
141[[folder:The Horned Rat]]
142[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/great_horned_rat.png]]
143[[caption-width-right:350:The symbol of the Great Horned Rat]]
144
145A Chaos God, the Horned Rat is the supreme deity of the Skaven, who brooks no other gods before him. He represents all things the Skaven are, or wish to be. Undying and eternally scheming, this cunning deity patiently awaits the day of the Great Ascendancy, when his children will swarm across the face of the world, devouring it from within. Entropy is his mantra; decay is his stock in trade. All things must rot, figuratively or literally, and the Horned Rat and his offspring are the worldly reality of this simple truth.
146----
147* ThirteenIsUnlucky: He's strongly associated with the number thirteen -- it's the number set for the Skaven's ruling Council, where he symbolically occupies the thirteenth seat, and is often depicted with thirteen horns -- and anything associated with the Skaven and their god is definitionally unlucky.
148* BadBoss: He's extremely unforgiving of mistakes and failure, and entirely willing to devour his own vermin children should they disappoint him or the mood just strike him.
149* GodOfEvil: He's one of the Ruinous Powers, and his cruelty knows few limits.
150* HornedHumanoid: He's generally depicted as a gigantic humanoid rat with horns, though how many horns he has is variable.
151* ReligionOfEvil: His faith is heavily centered on the ideal of Skaven racial dominance, the spread of plague and ruin, and the infiltration and corruption of all the other races' works.
152[[/folder]]
153
154[[folder:Verminlords]]
155[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/verminlord_9.png]]
156
157Verminlords are the daemons of the Horned Rat, living icons of ruin and decay that can only be brought into the mortal world at high cost and through dangerous rituals. They are beings of immense physical and sorcerous might, their power a match for the Greater Daemons of Chaos and their cunning and knowledge greater than those of any living mortal. Even the Skaven find these beings intimidating and unnerving, and will only summon them when given absolutely no other choice -- for Verminlords abide by their word no more than mortal Skaven, and in the end their loyalty is to the Horned Rat and him alone.
158----
159* AwesomeButImpractical: Verminlords have a monster level statline (read -- very good) and are powerful wizards to boot but their high point cost, low ward save, lack of unbreakable and size (say hello to the [[Characters/WarhammerOgreKingdoms Ironblaster)]] means that players are often better off using the points to get warlords and Grey Seers instead.
160* ForcedTransformation: Verminlords with ''The Dreaded Thirteenth Spell'' can, with some luck, turn any infantry unit within distance and line of sight into clan rats. From the core units to the elite ones and even prized heroes and lords, no one is safe from being turned into their very enemy.
161* GodzillaThreshold: When backed against the metaphorical (or possibly ''literal'') wall, the Council of Thirteen will sometimes summon a Verminlord to the field of battle. The thing is, the Verminlords listen to ''no one'' except the Great Horned Rat, so summoning one is often as or even more dangerous than the foes it's being summoned to protect them from.
162* HornedHumanoid: Verminlords are humanoid, ratlike beings crowned by many twisting horns.
163* LivingLieDetector: Verminlords are said to be able to smell falsehoods as they are said, making it impossible to lie, embellish the truth or withhold information when talking to one. For the highly duplicitous and deceitful Skaven, this is a particularly intimidating ability.
164* OurDemonsAreDifferent: The Verminlords are demons of the Great Horned Rat, occasionally summoned by Grey Seers although they view it as a GodzillaThreshold since the Seers cannot hope to control them. They are {{Living Lie Detector}}s and TheChessmaster on top of being on the same level as Greater Daemons of Chaos.
165[[/folder]]
166
167----
168
169[[folder:Skaven Clans]]
170* PlanetOfHats: Each Skaven clan has a very clear-cut identity and specialty, which all its members above rank-and-file cannon fodder adhere to. This is especially so for the Great Clans, which each define themselves along very specific lines of thought, profession and personal interest, but holds true for the lesser Warlord Clans as well -- Clan Skab are soldiers with a lot of Stormvermin, Clan Skaar are warpstone miners, Clan Sleekit are underground navigators and sailors, Clan Volkn are a bunch of pyromaniacs, Clan Skurvy are pirates, Clan Carrion are thieves and scavengers, and so on.
171
172!The Four Great Clans
173Skaven society is dominated by the four largest, oldest and most influential of the clans, which enjoy a level of power and social standing beyond that of any of the lesser ones and who provide specialist services for other Skaven to purchase for considerable prices. These are Clan Eshin, whose stealthy assassins never find dearth of work in Skaven politics; Clan Moulder, a collection of mutators and monster breeders who make their fortune selling off their assortments of war beasts and the services of their animal handlers; Clan Pestilens, which is as much a cult to disease as a political force; and Clan Skryre, which provides the bulk of Skaven military technology.
174
175!!Clan Eshin
176[[quoteright:768:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clan_eshin_4.png]]
177
178Clan Eshin vanished into the distant East early in Skaven history, and when it returned it had become finely honed in the arts of subterfuge and stealth. The deadly assassins of Clan Eshin soon established themselves as an invaluable tool for enforcing the rule of the Council of Thirteen, ruthlessly assassinating any challengers to their power and dispatching any surface-dwellers who become too well-informed on the menace below. Eshin agents are the boogeymen of the Under-Empire, and will perform assassinations, sabotage and espionage for anyone who meets their prices -- and in the cutthroat world of Skaven politics, Clan Eshin is never short on business. The symbol of Clan Eshin is a white hand clutching a dagger upon a black field.
179----
180* DeviousDaggers: Eshin assassins and skirmishers commonly use large knives, usually one in each hand, as melee weapons. At need, this allows them to run and climb even with their weapons clutched in their claws.
181* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Clan Eshin has a lot of Japanese elements, particularly focusing upon {{Ninja}} aesthetics.
182* MasterPoisoner: Assassin adepts typically make extensive use of poison in their deadly art, and can prepare a great variety of specialized and intensely deadly toxins to deliver through tainted food, a blow dart from the shadows or the edge of a weeping blade.
183* {{Ninja}}: Clan Eshin learned the arts of ninjutsu in a FantasyCounterpartCulture of Japan, Nippon, and makes heavy use of ninja trappings and aesthetics such an emphasis on stealth, espionage and assassinations, shuriken, and all-concealing black outfits.
184* ParanoiaFuel: In-universe, Clan Eshin deliberately cultivates an image of being deadly, unavoidable killers that could be hiding in every shadow and whom no-one and nothing is safe from. The fear of being paid a visit by Eshin agents is never far from ambitious Skaven's minds, and this hanging threat is often as effective a tool in quelling rebellions as the actual assassinations.
185* ProfessionalKiller: While they also provide scouts, spies and light skirmishing troops, the most notable service provided by Clan Eshin is the use of its assassins. Eshin assassins have a very well-earned reputation for being stealthy, ruthless and efficient killers, and will mercilessly hunt down and execute anyone whom their current employers wish dead.
186* StealthExpert: The hat of all Clan Eshin units from Night Runners to Assassins, whose stealth is represented in some way by special rules. For instance, the Night Runners are infiltrators and can move once before the start of the game whereas the Gutter Runners have the ''Scout'' special rule allowing them to appear as reinforcement from anywhere on the table.
187* StockNinjaWeaponry: Clan Eshin makes heavy use of these as part of their general ninja gimmick, most prominently shuriken, handheld and throwing daggers, and shuko hand-claws.
188* SuperReflexes: Clan Eshin units all have a ''Dodge'' special rule representing their training at dodging attacks, thus granting them a nice Ward save that even the deadly Khainite Assassins don't have.
189
190!!Clan Moulder
191[[quoteright:342:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clan_moulder_9.png]]
192
193Clan Moulder specializes in the creation of monsters and living weapons, performing horrific experiments on captive creatures and intelligent prisoners alike within their fortress of Hell Pit in the far north. Through creative use of warpstone salves, grotesque surgeries, obscene cross-breeding and the channeling of the powers of Chaos into living flesh, the master mutators of Clan Moulder have produced a vast array of monsters, from swarms of giant rats and the reliable mainstay of rat ogres to the colossal, writhing Hell Pit Abominations, which they either use in their own armies or sell to other Skaven as bodyguards, attack animals or weapons of war. There is always demand for Moulder's grisly products, and this has made the clan one of the wealthiest in the Under-Empire. The symbols of Clan Moulder are twofold, comprising both a rat shrouded in green glow and a crisscrossing set of lines in the shape of a spine.
194----
195* TheBeastmaster: Moulder Packmasters are trained to direct and control their clan's varied abominations, using a combination of whips and goads, vicious abuse and behavioral conditioning to get them to obey their orders. A few particularly gifted Packmasters have managed to earn their beasts' loyalty more directly, however, actively leading and directing them rather than just driving them towards a target.
196* BioPunk: Their capital, Hell Pit, has the classic punk aesthetic of tall towers in which the powerful masters of the clan live and the various workshops and bestiaries below where the rest of the clan toils, incorporating OrganicTechnology and powerful beasts created via mutation, selective breeding, and extensive vivisection and surgical augmentation.
197* BodyHorror: Clan Moulder loves inducing horrific mutations in their warbeasts. One of their masterpieces is the Hell Pit Abomination, a worm-like giant mass of flesh and limbs of all sorts with a clump of rat-like heads, twice as many clawed arms, and a swarm of rats living under its skin.
198* JarOfTheBizarre: Moulder laboratories often contain many jars holding mutated and still living organs extracted from all manner of creatures that the Master Moulders will use in their tests, most times implanting random body parts in their subjects of experimentation just to see what happens to them -- subjects that can be exposed in jars later if the Masters consider the result to be interesting enough.
199* MadScientist: Clan Moulder chiefly represents the mad biologist side of this trope, and its Master Mutators spend much of their time in dimly lit laboratories performing horrific experiments on living subjects and stitching together Frankensteinian creations from metal and dead flesh. While these often create viable guard and combat monsters, many are also performed out of a simple obsessive need to tamper with life for the sheer hell of it.
200* MakerOfMonsters: Clan Moulder specialize in the creation of horrific rat monsters through the use of selective breeding, alchemical and magical mutagens and Frankensteinian surgeries, coupled with weapon implants provided by the {{magitek}} engineers of Clan Skyre. These range from "regular" RodentsOfUnusualSize and hulking Rat Ogres to immense and bloated Brood Horrors or the horrific, writhing behemoths known as Hell Pit Abominations, all of which are then sold to other Skaven clans for hefty prices to be used as war animals and living siege engines. Expanded setting lore establishes that they took over this role from a former Great Clan called Clan Verms, who [[PestController bred various mutant bugs as living tools and weapons]].
201* MutagenicGoo: Various warpstone-derived salves and compounds are one of Clan Moulder's most common tools. They routinely expose captured beasts and prisoners to these substances, looking to cause mutations they can find useful as the basis of more specialized work.
202
203!!Clan Pestilens
204[[quoteright:372:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clan_pestilens_3.png]]
205
206The origins of Clan Pestilens lie in an ancient Skaven expedition to Lustria that was all but wiped out by tropical diseases and furious Lizardmen, and whose few survivors embraced the same diseases that plagued them as a sign of divine favor. Clan Pestilens' monomaniacal devotion to plague and to the Horned Rat, whom they revere in his aspect of the Lord of the Decay, makes other Skaven factions intensely wary of them. Despite that, their many successes in using disease to harrow and destroy other races have won the Skaven many victories, and Pestilens remains a very powerful clan. The symbol of Clan Pestilens is a diseased rat's head superimposed on the Horned Rat's symbol upon a green field.
207----
208* BodyHorror: Members of Clan Pestilens eagerly accept disease into their bodies, and their devotion to their god allows them to survive no matter how extreme or disfiguring their ailments get. As a result, their monks and priests are horrific sights, hunched and hairless, covered in swellings, lesions and weeping sores, and generally embodying every unpleasant aspect of disease as can be forced into a single tortured body.
209* ChurchMilitant: Clan Pestilens dedicate themselves to [[PlagueMaster spreading poxes and plagues]] with a [[ReligionOfEvil religious zeal]] both off and on the battlefield. In combat, their Plague Monks wield noxious censers like they were flails, smashing them into enemies and spreading their virulent contents as a weapon of terror. Their zealotry also confers them the ''Frenzy'' special rule.
210* EpicFlail: Pestilens Plague Censer Bearers carry huge censers dispersing foul plague fumes which are more dangerous than the weight of the censers themselves.
211* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The invasion of Lustria by Clan Pestilens resembles the Conquistadors arriving in the Americas. An army of greedy religious fanatics shows up uninvited to kill and enslave a continent through war and disease.
212* PlagueMaster: The clan follows a ReligionOfEvil centered around spreading plagues and turning themselves into vessels for contagion. They are expert in brewing deadly diseases and liberally use biological weapons on the battlefield even at the cost of their own troops. Though they worship The Horned Rat, the similarity they bear to Nurglite Chaos cults has not gone unnoticed, with some members even secretly worshiping Nurgle.
213* ReligionOfEvil: Clan Pestilens is deeply devoted to an interpretation of the Horned Rat as an ultimate maker of plague, and devote their lives to spreading suffering, disease and decay in the name of their god. Their ultimate goal is to sway all of Skavendom to their faith, after which all the world shall drown in plague and the Skaven shall reign supreme in the Horned Rat's name.
214* WalkingWasteland: Plague Monks and Priests are utterly saturated with disease, and a miasma contagion follows them and their armies everywhere they go. Living things wither and water is poisoned where the hosts of Pestilens tread, and even when they are defeated their vanquishers are often brough low soon after by the taint their foes brough with them.
215
216!!Clan Skryre
217[[quoteright:560:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clan_skyre_6.png]]
218
219The Warlock-Engineers of Clan Skryre are the driving force behind the Skaven's advanced technology, which they create through endless experimentation with warpstone, sorcery and technological mechanisms. The weapons created as a result of Clan Skryre's work tend to be deadly beyond anything the other races possess, but also extremely unstable and prone to devastating malfunctions. To the Skaven, however, friendly fire and the loss of low-ranking weapons crews aren't particularly grievous issues, and Skryre's creations have become mainstays of larger Skaven armies. The symbol of Clan Skryre is a horned Skaven head, with the symbol of the Great Horned Rat upon its forehead.
220----
221* BoringButPractical: While Clan Skryre's dramatic weapons tend to get most of the spotlight, the clan also produces a considerable quantity of more mundane technology that plays an important role in keeping the Under-Empire running, such as mass transit systems, long-range communications and drilling and mining equipment.
222* {{Cyborg}}: Skryre engineers often replace extensive parts of their bodies, such as limbs and eyes, with mechanical replacements.
223* DeadlyGas: Wielded by their [[GasMaskMook Poison Wind Globadiers]], who fill globules full of warpstone-infused gas to hurl at the enemy on the battlefield and spread into a cloud on impact. While it can be used against large units in tight formation, more often these precious globes are reserved for dealing with elite units wearing heavy armor that is no proof against inhaled death.
224* TheEngineer: For all their madness and disregard for basic safety measures, Warlock-Engineers are genuinely very good at what they do, and are extremely skilled at devising new mechanical contraptions, adapting them on the fly and putting them back together when they inevitably fall apart.
225* GatlingGood: Skryre weapon teams can carry [[IncrediblyLamePun ratling guns]], multi-barrel gatling cannons that rapidly deliver dozens of warpshards a second at incoming enemies, using a warpstone-heated steam engine to drive it.
226* MadScientist: Clan Skryre chiefly represents the mad engineer side of this trope, producing what is arguably the most advanced Magitek in the setting and do so almost exclusively in the form of deadly, dramatic weapons such as automatic firearms, rockets and laser cannons. The safety of their inventions is quite lacking however, with even their most "reliable" machines killing their operators (and everyone in a fifty-foot radius) shockingly often.
227* {{Magitek}}: Warlock-Engineers make extensive use of dark magic in their work -- most of their inventions are directly powered by or weaponize warpstone, the solid form of raw, primal magic, and many others are enhanced by or serve as conduits for more complex sorcerous workings.
228* NoOSHACompliance: As a byproduct of general Skaven recklessness and disregard for casualties, Skryre inventors take absolutely no steps whatsoever to make their laboratories and factories safe to work in -- the slaves and underlings working in Skryre facilities routinely die by the dozens from falling off of unstable platforms, getting facefuls of steam or noxious gases or being caught within exposed gears or moving parts, and larger workplace accidents can kill of hundreds or thousands of workers at once. This goes on all the time, and Skryre higher-ups don't care -- you can always get more slaves, after all.
229
230!Warlord Clans
231Beneath the four Great Clans are hundreds of lesser warlord clans, who constantly rise and fall as their fortunes change. Most are minor powers, holding onto specialized niches or specific territories or thralls under a greater clan's thumb, but a few have risen to become formidable powers in their own right.
232----
233* ConspicuousConsumption: Clan Grutnik is very rich due to its extensive warpstone mining, and high-ranking members of the clan often sport their wealth by wearing the precious material as lacquered armor, jewelry, talismans, or even prosthetic eyes and teeth.
234* ElementalHairColors: Invoked by the fire-loving Clan Volkn, whose members dye their fur bright red.
235* GenuineHumanHide: Clan Spittl lives beneath Lustria and spends a great deal of time battling the Lizardmen, and its warriors often wear their enemies' flayed, scaly hides as clothing.
236* HamsterWheelPower: The ships of Clan Skurvy are powered by teams of Skaven running on giant treadmills, allowing them to move in reverse.
237* HighlyVisibleNinja: Clan Scully yearns to imitate Clan Eshin's stealthy ways, but its members' habit of wearing heavy, clanking armor and bright red cloaks makes this a touch difficult.
238* JackOfAllStats: Clan Mors' identity is rooted in its generalism and lack of the other clans' intense specialization, allowing them to adapt their tactics and mindsets to changing situations.
239* PestController: Clan Verms, a clan reviled even by other Skaven, shares a close affinity with insects, spiders and other tiny, crawling things, and is believed to have been responsible for creating several of the larger varieties known to exist. They used to be a Great Clan, or at least close to one in power, but were upstaged by Clan Moulder.
240* {{Pirate}}: Clan Skurvy is a nautically-oriented clan that has made its fortune by sailing the seas and robbing anything they find upon it, earning them a respectable amount of power despite the fact that every rat on a Skurvy ship can be counted on to be planning mutiny.
241* PlagueMaster: Several clans within Pestilens' orbit, such as Flem, Morbidus and Septik, specialize in the breeding and spreading of plagues.
242* PragmaticVillainy: One of the reasons behind Clan Mors' rapid rise in power is that its members are able to reject the more maniacal and self-destructive aspects of the Skaven mindset, such as by discouraging betrayal when this hinders the greater clan, accepting enemy surrender rather than slaughtering everyone and recruiting defeated foes when these seem to be valuable assets.
243* {{Pyromaniac}}: The Skaven of Clan Volkn, which lives within the volcano of Fire Mountain, have a decidedly unhealthy fascination with fire and the setting thereof, and the clan is particularly known for its propensity for using large number of warpfire throwers in battle.
244* RefugeInAudacity: Clan Skrapp is poor as dirt and equipped with some of the worst gear in the Under-Empire, and has avoided conquest by the other clans chiefly by spreading outrageous rumors about their military strength and by claiming to have great numbers of Grey Seers in their midst -- Skrapp clanrats even daub themselves grey and white and tie horns to their helmet to imitate their appearance, something that would normally earn the powerful Seers' violent wrath. Most Skaven assume they're either deluded or out of their minds, but leave them alone on the off chance that their claims may actually be true.
245* TheScrounger: Clan Carrion makes its living as nomadic scavengers, wandering between fallen fortresses and battlefields to glean anything of potential value that the feuding forces have left behind.
246* SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset: Members of Clan Mortkin adorn themselves with the bones of their enemies in an attempt to emulate the fearsome appearance of the undead, in addition to painting their fur and armor black and white to make themselves resemble skeletons.
247* StickyFingers: Clan Carrion are shameless thieves, and will gladly help themselves to anything they think they can get away with filching -- even within the clan, a Skaven of Clan Carrion only truly owns what he's currently clutching in his own claws.
248[[/folder]]
249
250[[folder:Grey Seers]]
251[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/skaven_grey_seer_8.png]]
252->''"Of my brothers, what need be said? We are the chosen of our Master, the true Lord of Decay, whose seat remains always-always filled upon the Council of Thirteen. Other seats may change hands, but His will always remain, and no-none other can lay claim to it. We speak His truths. We hear His thoughts. We know His purpose. We are the guids of our people, the spirutal compass that guides-leads them to their destines as the killer-masters of the world."''
253-->--'''Skreelin Thurntik, Grey Seer'''
254
255Blessed with curling horns in the image of their god, the Grey Seers are the Under-Empire's native spellcasters and the self-appointed interpreters of the Great Horned Rat's will and masterminds of of Skavenkind's rise towards its glorious destiny. Their powerful sorceries and devious cunning make them admittedly well-suited towards this role, at least when they aren't using them against each other.
256----
257* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: Where warpstone is involved, smart Grey Seers are quite wary of the megalomania (which is extreme even by Skaven standards) that comes with the power chewing on warpstone gives.
258* EvilSorcerer: They are scheming, manipulative and treacherous to the last, and primarily wield magic intended to do intensely unpleasant things to people who earn their easily-obtained enmity.
259* ForcedTransformation: Grey Seers with ''The Dreaded Thirteenth Spell'' can, with some luck, turn any infantry unit within distance and their line of sight into clan rats.
260* ForDoomTheBellTolls: A great bell features prominently in Skaven mythology and Grey Seers often ride into battle on a wagon mounted with a Doom Bell, an enchanted bell capable of evoking various magical effects (or just cracking and being destroyed if the RandomNumberGod doesn't like you).
261* HornedHumanoid: Grey Seers are humanoid rodents bearing either one or two sets of ram- or goatlike horns.
262* SorcerousOverlord: The Grey Seers are both the official sorcerers and foremost leaders of the Skaven by virtue of being visibly blessed by the Great Horned Rat. Despite their natural religious authority, however, their reign is challenged everywhere and only the threat of summoning a Verminlord can silence dissenters.
263[[/folder]]
264
265!The Scheming Lords of the Under-Empire
266
267[[folder:Skreech Verminking]]
268The greatest of the Verminlords, Skreech Verminking was created in the moment of Nagash’s first death millennia ago. Since then he has plotted and schemed to see the Skaven ascend to power and conquer the world from below.
269----
270* TheDragon: To the Horned Rat, as the greatest of the Verminlords.
271* DualWielding: Skreech Verminking is armed with both a ''Plaguereaper'' and a ''Doom Glaive'', deadly weapons of incredible power
272* FusionDance: Verminking was created by the Horned Rat when he, pleased with the Council of Thirteen for having thwarted Nagash, moulded them into something greater than they had individually been.
273* HornedHumanoid: He's a humanoid rat with six horns.
274* MagicKnight: As a Verminlord, he's both an impressive fighter and a powerful wizard. In addition to his Monster statline, he's also a Level 4 Wizard in the ''Lores of Ruin and Plague''.
275* RatKing: He's a near-divine leader of the Skaven who was created when the Great Horned Rat took the members of the Council of Thirteen and fused and molded them into a single powerful being.
276* SinisterScythe: Skreech wields an enormous, enchanted scythe called "Plaguereaper", which is imbued with dark magic that allow it to strike with uncanny speed and strength.
277[[/folder]]
278
279[[folder:Thanquol & Boneripper]]
280[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thanquol.jpg]]
281
282A powerful and ambitious Grey Seer and a favored agent of the Council of Thirteen. Although a talented sorcerer, Thanquol is also a GeneralFailure whose every plan failed in part because of ''Literature/GotrekAndFelix'' but also his own incompetence. The only reason he's survived is that so far, he's managed to deflect the blame onto someone else. Thanquol is always accompanied by a bodyguard, a Rat Ogre which he names Boneripper, and there have been quite a few Bonerippers in his life.
283----
284* AmuletOfConcentratedAwesome: Thanquol has a ''Warp-amulet'', giving him basically the ability to regenerate lost wounds.
285* ArchEnemy: To Gotrek and Felix. At least [[UnknownRival in his mind]] -- they, more accurately, [[SpannerInTheWorks just happened to kill a bunch of rats he was using repeatedly]], and never even knew that it was Thanquol's rats they were slaughtering.
286* TheArchmage: While Thanquol's ability is questionable in... most other things, he is genuinely highly powerful as a Grey Seer.
287* BornLucky: Incompetence on a scale like Thanquol's would be shocking to survive once, let alone repeatedly, yet he always somehow does...
288* ChessMaster: His plans involve getting his enemies do the dirty work for him like with Gotrek and Felix.
289* {{Cyborg}}: Thanquol's preferred bodyguard is always a rat ogre that he names Boneripper, and sometimes he spends some extra money and gets the current ogre made into a MagiTek cyborg.
290* TheDragon: To the Verminlord Skreech Verminking.
291* DumbMuscle: Not him, but he exploits this through his rat ogre companions and bodyguards, always named Boneripper. Thanquol specifically trains rat ogres to be his personal guards due to how strong and intimidating they are, along with being too stupid to betray him like other Skaven would be.
292* EvilSorcerer: He's a Grey Seer. It comes with the territory. And when he's amped up on [[FantasticDrug warpstone dust]], he can pull off some impressive feats of magical power. In game, he's a Level 4 Wizard able to generate spells from either the ''Lores of Ruin or Plague''.
293* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Thanquol is seemingly cursed with horrible luck that ensures he survives but nothing else. His plots and schemes almost come to fruition, but the key word is ''almost''. He has no actual successes as a Grey Seer beyond making sure he doesn't get executed for failure.
294* FunctionalAddict: Like most Grey Seers, Thanquol is addicted to Warpstone but is quite resistant to their effects. On the tabletop, he can reroll the Wound roll when he uses a Warpstone token.
295* GeneralFailure: Thanquol is humorously so incompetent that a Slaan (a member and leader of the Lizardmen, a species essentially dedicated to fighting Chaos that also kill Skaven on sight) once decided to let him live after peering into Thanquol's future, [[BetterTheDevilYouKnow since the Skaven would be worse off with his continued existence]]. A revealing example would be when he ruined a Skaven attack on a citadel by giving the Gutter Runners' assigned to get the drawbridge down a poison so watered down it was no longer poisonous [[CuttingCorners to save on warpstone tokens]], and tying up the Eshin Assassin who was supposed to murder its commander with bumping off his rivals that he ([[ProperlyParanoid definitely rightly]]) feared.
296* HumiliationConga: His entire life seems to be one long conga line of failure. Even when he succeeds, he still fails. [[TookALevelInBadass But he eventually gets better]].
297* KarmaHoudini: Whether due to blind luck, cunning, the blessing of the Great Horned Rat or a combination of the aforementioned, Thanquol has managed to avoid his due retribution for his plans and subsequent failures every time. It is represented as him having a natural 4+ Ward save, [[DoomMagnet saved wounds being allocated to someone nearby]]. Even in ''combat'', others end up taking the fall for him...
298* LegacyCharacter: Boneripper. Thanquol goes through Bonerippers at a rate of about one per book.
299* MagicStaff: His ''Staff of the Horned One'' allows Thanquol to know an additional spell, making it five.
300* NeverMyFault: Like any, uh, "good" Skaven. Thanquol especially makes plenty of use of this trope and must have managed to make the Council of Thirteen believe it [[GeneralFailure despite having a track record to indicate otherwise]].
301* TookALevelInBadass: In The End Times, with some help from the daemon Skretch Verminking, Thanquol conquers Nuln and [[spoiler:allies the Skaven with Archaon the Everchosen.]]
302* UnknownRival: He hates Gotrek and Felix, but the duo have ''no idea who he is'', nor that many of their troubles come from Thanquol's repeated attempts to kill them. Thanquol all but has an aneurysm when he finds this out after twenty years of trying to kill the duo.
303* UnluckilyLucky: [[BornLucky Thanquol's survived quite a lot]], to nigh-impossible degrees. He's also had to survive quite a lot from Gotrek and Felix [[UnknownRival entirely incidentally]]. He always lives to see how he's failed ([[NeverMyFault and explain how it wasn't his fault]]).
304* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: He is not once mentioned in ''End Times: Archaon'' after being a major player in ''End Times: Thanquol''. Archaon offhandedly mentions he has beheaded "the rat that negotiated the alliance with him", though the odds that rat is actually Thanquol is unlikely, since it's the Skaven we're talking about here; this is especially so considering that Thanquol is still canonically alive and kicking by the time of ''Age of Sigmar'' millennia after the End Times, making what actually happened with him in the final days of the ''Warhammer'' world even more unclear.
305[[/folder]]
306
307[[folder:Lord Skrolk]]
308->''"Brother-under-the-fur. Ha! Now you are brother-true. Reject false-words of seers and embrace true face of the Horned One! Bring Skrolk to the Wormstone, and you will be plague priest. Betray, and you become pus-bag."''
309-->--Lord Skrolk talking to a prospective Plague Priest.
310
311The first of the Plaguelords, the rulers of Clan Pestilens under the direct command of Arch-plaguelord Nurglitch.
312----
313* BeneficialDisease: Each new pox only toughens the aged Plague Monk, who has himself become a disease that walks.
314* BlindWeaponmaster: Even though he no longer has eyes, Skrolk's reflexes are still amazing.
315* BodyHorror: Skrolk's flesh is leathery and covered in a layer of dripping buboes.
316* TheDragon: To both Arch-Plaguelord Nurglitch and the Verminlord Corruptor Vermalanx.
317* EpicFlail: He wields the ''Rod of Corruption'', a flail so saturated with unclean magic and diseased fluids that even approaching him can be deadly. Mechanically, this works by forcing enemies in base contact to roll a Toughness test and lose a wound if they fail.
318* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Skrolk meets his end at the hands of Kroq-Gar, who impales him with his spear.
319* PlagueMaster: Skrolk is a Wizard of the Lore of Plague, throwing disease spells at the enemy, but can also strengthen his troops with magic from the ''Liber Bubonicus''.
320* StrongerWithAge: Skrolk is noted to be old for a Skaven, and time has only made him tougher.
321* WalkingWasteland: Insects literally drop dead from the noxious fumes surrounding Skrolk, and only extreme devotees can abide his presence.
322* YouHaveFailedMe: Skrolk executes Lord Skrimanx, Archdeacon of Disease and fellow Plaguelord, after he fails to breach the mist surrounding the Lizardmen city of Xlanhuapec.
323[[/folder]]
324
325[[folder:Deathmaster Snikch]]
326[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deathmaster_snikch.jpg]]
327
328Deathmaster Snikch is the deadliest assassin of Clan Eshin, and widely feared among the Skaven.
329----
330* BadassCape: The ''Cloak of Shadows'' is an enchanted cape capable of hiding Snikch in plain sight. On the tabletop units wishing to shoot at him must pass a test first.
331* TheDragon: To his master on the Council of Thirteen, Nightlord Sneek.
332* TheDreaded: He is the most feared assassin of the Skaven, and his targets will never know that they are dead already.
333* DualWielding: Not just dual, ''triple''; he holds three [[PoisonedWeapons poisoned blades]], two in his hands and one in his tail.
334* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: With the title Deathmaster, and his name is the sound of a knife slitting a throat.
335* {{Ninja}}: Like all members of Clan Eshin, though he gets the honour of being the best of the entire clan.
336* PrehensileTail: He wields a blade in his tail with as much dexterity as the two in his hands.
337* ShroudedInMyth: Every Skaven knows about him, but that is all. Many of the most impressive and terrifying Eshin operations are attributed to him, but Nightlord Sneek knows that keeping silent will only increase Snikch's reputation and power to scare his rivals.
338* SuperReflexes: Like all members of Clan Eshin, Snikch is a master at dodging attacks through reflexes, represented as a natural 4+ Ward save.
339[[/folder]]
340
341[[folder:Ikit Claw]]
342[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ikit_claw.jpg]]
343
344The greatest warlock-engineer of Clan Skryre. After a disastrous experiment, he's been forced to encase himself in an armor of his making.
345----
346* DualWielding: He carries a sword made of pure warpstones, and a warpfire projector.
347* FireBreathingWeapon: Ikit Claw has used his technological genius to incorporate a small warpfire projector into the mechanical claw that he built to [[ArtificialLimbs strengthen his withered arm]].
348* MadScientist: Ikit Klaw is one of Clan Skryre's best warlock engineers, inventor among others of the Doom Wheel and pioneer in the rocket technology.
349* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: He's a warlock-engineer. He can cast warp lightning at his foes, and if that doesn't work he'll use his warpfire thrower to finish the job.
350* PoweredArmor: His ''Iron Frame'' grants him a natural Strength of 5, a good 3+ armor save and 5+ ward save, and it also includes a flamethrower.
351[[/folder]]
352
353[[folder:Throt the Unclean]]
354[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/throt_the_unclean_skaven.jpg]]
355
356Throt is one of the Master Mutators of Clan Moulder. Terrifyingly huge and fat, he's among the foremost creators of the Hellpit Abomination among other twisted mutants of his creation.
357----
358* TheBeastmaster: He's so good at manipulating his creations every Moulder unit near him can use his leadership like a general.
359* BlessedWithSuck: Or possibly CursedWithAwesome. Throt has experimented on himself to the point he is vastly stronger than the average skaven, blessed with unnatural longevity and virility, and with a constitution so augmented his injuries heal nearly as fast as they are inflicted. The price he pays for this is a metabolism that has been hyper-charged even by skaven standards, leaving him near-constantly starving.
360* CoDragons: Together with Ghoritch, he serves Packlord Verminkin.
361* EvilutionaryBiologist: Throt is a master mutator, and expert in piecing together flesh to create war monsters.
362* FatBastard: Throt is extremely huge and fat by Skaven standard, in no small part because of his HorrorHunger.
363* HealingFactor: Throt's experiments on his own body have manipulated his metabolism to greatly augment his natural healing, allowing him to regrow severed limbs, survive disembowelment, and otherwise recover from virtually anything. This is represented as the ''Regeneration'' special rule.
364* HorrorHunger: Throt is constantly hungry, to an obsessional level even for a Skaven. His subordinates live in constant terror of being devoured by him just because they were what was closest to hand. On the tabletop, he has to take a test each round to represent if he can rein in his appetite - if he fails, he instantly kills a trooper in a unit he is attached to (representing him consuming them on the spot), or else takes damage as his mutant metabolism consumes his own tissues. Likewise, he can't chase after fleeing enemies, because he's too busy eating the dead.
365* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Throt has a third arm growing out of his shoulder, allowing him to wield no less than three weapons at once.
366* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Creating Ghoritch is the ''only'' thing he regrets doing. While the behemoth proved to be every bit as formidable as Throt had hoped, it also retained sentience, and is now Throt's greatest rival in Clan Moulder's power games.
367* RestrainingBolt: His ''Creature-Killer'', a huge metal collar attached to the end of a pole, grants him ''Killing Blow'' and a ''Multiple Wounds'' bonus against creatures larger than humans.
368* TheRival: To Ghoritch. They hate each other with a vengeance, but because both are too competent at their jobs, Verminkin keeps them separate to prevent them from coming to blows.
369* WhipOfDominance: He is a Skaven [[TheBeastmaster Master Mutator]] whose unique weapon is the Whip of Domination, a special whip made from Minotaur-hide and cured in Troll digestive juices, making an unsaved wound cause a drop in Leadership for the victim. He uses it both as a weapon and to control his [[BeastOfBattle mutated beasts]].
370* WoundThatWillNotHeal: The one wound Throt can't regenerate is his eye, which was gouged out in a fight before he mutated his HealingFactor. He responded by jamming a chunk of raw warpstone into the socket, something that even most ''skaven'' think was kind of nuts!
371[[/folder]]
372
373[[folder:Ghoritch, Castellan of Hell Pit]]
374Once, Ghoritch was a Norse war-leader who worshipped Khorne and marched with Archaon during a great invasion of the south. His thirst for blood led him to foolishly attacking an Imperial position too strong for him, and for his disobedience and the destruction of his forces Archaon punished him by giving him to the Skaven of Clan Moulder. Throt, pleased with this strong and fit specimen, chose him for an experimental new process -- a full brain transplant into the body of a mechanically augmented, heavily modified rat ogre. When he awoke and saw what had happened to him, Ghoritch promptly lost his mind and went on a bloodsoaked rampage through Hell Pit, slaughtering hordes of Skaven monsters and so impressing the rulers of the dark hold that he was made commander of its armed forces.
375----
376* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: When he awoke after his surgery and made his mad dash for freedom, he had to kill his way through the tides of monsters that Throt sent after him. The lords of Clan Moulder were so impressed by this display of carnage and power, alongside his intellect and strategic sense, that they made him leader of their armed forces.
377* TheBerserker: Ghoritch was a berserker of Khorne in his day, and lived for the roar of battle and the tang of blood on his tongue. As a Skaven-made monster, he retains his bloodloust and is prone to flying into berserk killing frenzies during battle.
378* BloodKnight: As a a champion of Khorne, he was aggressive to the point of foolhardiness. His fall from grace came when he allowed his bloodlust to cloud his judgement and he led a reckless and disastrous attack on an Imperial convoy because he couldn't control his thirst for violence.
379* BrainTransplant: Ghoritch is the product of Throt successfully transplanting the brain of the Norscan berserker that he once was into the body of a heavily modified Rat Ogre.
380* {{Cyborg}}: His Rat Ogre body is heavily agumented with warpstone-powered mechanical components, most notably a pair of piston-driven claws replacing his hands.
381* FourStarBadass: Goritch is a powerful, savage and deadly warrior whose string of scucesses against the monsters of Skavendom saw him rise to the position of Castellan of Hell Pit and supreme commander of Clan Moulder's forces.
382* GoneHorriblyRight: His creation of Ghoritch is both a notable success and a source of considerable problems for Throt, as he essentially made himself a bitter rival with a powerful body, a keen mind, and a high rank in his clan, and who is now a potentially very dangerous rival for him.
383* PowerFist: His ''Piston-Driven Claws'', a pair of sharpened mechanical claws that he has in place of hands, driven by warpstone-powered pistons and capable of handily carving through enemy armor.
384* WasOnceAMan: He was once a powerful Norscan chieftain but, after Archaon handed him over to the Skaven as punishment for getting a large chunk of the Chaos forces wiped out on a foolhardy attack on a strong posiiton, Throt decided that he would make good experimental stock and transplanted his brain into a modified Rat Ogre. In his current state, Ghoritch is a hulking, rodent-like cyborg monster with little outward resemblance to the man that he once was.
385[[/folder]]
386
387[[folder:Skweel Gnawtooth]]
388[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/skweel_gnawtooth.jpg]] %% Res. goes to 564
389
390The most accomplished of Clan Moulder's Beastmasters, Skweel Gnawtooth was raised by a colony of giant rats and retains a natural understanding of the creatures as an adult. Unlike other Beastmasters, he understands that beasts perform best when viewed as trained animals in need of motivation rather than as brutes to be whipped into action. As a result, he excels at drawing forth the loyalty and potential of even the most terrible monsters form his clan's breeding pits -- only the utterly unnatural Hell Pit Abominations do not respond to his training.
391----
392* TheBeastmaster: Skweel is one of the most successful Beastmasters of Clan Moulder, due to a combination of a strong innate understanding of animals borne from being raised by a wild rat colony and of the fact that he understands that animals perform a lot better when trained and motivated than when brutalized into compliance.
393* IControlMyMinionsThrough: In sharp contrast to other Beastmasters, who keep their charges in check through fear and brutality, Skweel directs and trains his beasts through careful training and by maintianing a personal rapport with them. The creatures under his command are carefully trained and motivated, eagerly responding to his commands and performing extremely well in combat.
394* RaisedByWolves: Skweel was raised by a colony of wild rats, allowing him to develop a strong rapport with common vermin.
395[[/folder]]
396
397[[folder:Queek Headtaker]]
398[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/queek_headtaker.png]]
399->''"Who is Queek? Queek is warlord here, not grey ones from far away. He claim he come from Council. He claims his good intent, but Queek is not stupid-slow, Queek know grey seers and their treacherous ways. White-fur will never be warlord here! He is never free of Queek's sight. Queek sees him always."''
400
401Second most senior warlord in Clan Mors, with his patron and superior being a member of the Council of Thirteen. Is noted for his vicious temper and being responsible for controlling the Skaven territory in Karak Eight Peaks when not leading Skaven to war elsewhere. This has ensured he has an enduring hatred for Dwarfs and Greenskins.
402----
403* BashBrothers: Ska Bloodtail, introduced by the book ''Headtaker'' and never mentioned outside of the novels, is Queek's most favored underling and they're the closest thing Skaven can have to best friends. Ska has saved Queek's life a number of times and Queek treats Ska with genuine trust and respect.
404* BattleTrophy: He carries trophies cut from his most notable opponents on a trophy rack on his back, displaying the grisly remains -- including the head of the Dwarf King Krug Ironhand, the spine, ribcage and skull of Warlord Ikit Slash, the skull of the Orc Big Boss Morglum Blacktooth and the hands of Baron Albrecht Kraus of Averland -- to remind followers -- and his boss Gnawdwell -- of the prowess of the almighty Warlord Queek. His ''Trophy Heads'' add +1 to his rolls to hit and wound in a challenge.
405* BloodKnight: He's unnaturally brave for a Skaven, preferring to pick fights at the front instead of leading from behind.
406* TheBrute: While he's hardly stupid, he's still a direct, temperamental individual who prefers leading armies and killing enemies in battle to the schemes and politicking of his fellow Skaven.
407* CompanionCube: He has been known to display a disturbing affection towards his collection of [[BattleTrophy severed heads]], treating them as his closest friends and [[ConsultingMisterPuppet advisers]]. In the novel ''Headtaker'' by David Guymer, Queek is noticeably distraught and grief-stricken when the skull of Big Boss Morglum Blacktooth is destroyed in battle against the forces of the Dwarf King Kazador of Karak Azul.
408* ConsultingMisterPuppet: Some background material mentions that he talks to the [[BattleTrophy severed heads on his trophy rack]] as though they speak to him, offering their advice and observations on his enemies. The ''Warlords of Karak Eight Peaks'' novel ''Headtaker'' states that the skull of an Orc named Big Boss Morglum Blacktooth supposedly told Queek the location of his signature weapon Dwarf-Gouger.
409* DarkIsEvil: His fur is black and, while he's different from most Skaven, he's no better than them in terms of morality.
410* TheDragon: Queek is the right claw to Warlord Gnawdwell, head of Clan Mors and member of the Council of Thirteen.
411* DualWielding: Queek wields a vicious sword alongside his enchanted [[PowerfulPick spike-maul]] [[NamedWeapon Dwarf Gouger]], allowing him to attack with a flurry of blows that are represented in-game with a higher Attack characteristic than regular Skaven Warlords.
412* EvenEvilHasStandards: Queek frowns on the scheming and cowardly habits of his species and is unusually blunt and straight to the point among Skaven warlords. It doesn't mean he isn't savvy to their plans and quite effortlessly manages to avoid plots against his person. His rule ''Extreme Distrust'' forbids him to join a unit with a Grey Seer in it as he doesn't trust them at all.
413* FearlessFool: By [[DirtyCoward Skaven standards]], Queek's willingness to confront his enemies head-on is [[TooDumbToLive considered practically insane]].
414* FrontlineGeneral: In contrast to most Skaven leaders, who generally stay behind the lines. Indeed, his Weapon Skill of 7 and special rules aiding him in a challenge make him quite at home in the heart of a close quarters battle.
415* HairTriggerTemper: Queek is notorious for his horrible temper.
416* LargeAndInCharge: According to his boss Gnawdwell, Queek was the biggest in his litter, and they were all large themselves.
417* MonstrousCannibalism: He ate his own littermates.
418* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: Unlike most Skaven, he has few -- if any -- problems putting himself in danger, and relishes a good fight. Also, while he isn't stupid, he's not the schemer you'd expect from a Skaven, and is generally blunt and to the point.
419* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: With the title of Head-Taker would you expect him to be a kind and compassionate rat-thing that is a dedicated pacifist?
420* ProperlyParanoid: Even though this is something all Skaven are, Queek is considered incredibly paranoid by the standards of his race. Then again his own master pays Clan Eshin to try and kill him to keep Queek from getting complacent or ambitious. To speak nothing of the many other Skaven who try to assassinate him to keep him dead, the Dwarfs who hate him for turning Karak Eight Peaks into a festering 3 way no-man's land and the goblins who also want Karak Eight Peaks to themselves.
421* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: From a color standpoint, Queek is a black-furred Skaven clad in crimson armor, and one of the most infamous Skaven warlords in the world.
422* RedIsViolent: He wears blood-red armor, which is fitting, considering his [[BloodKnight favorite activity]].
423* SiblingMurder: Queek killed and ate his littermates.
424* SoProudOfYou: Warlord Gnawdwell once said of Queek (in what was probably the nicest thing a Skaven has ever said of anyone else):
425-->''You were so magnificent when I found you, the biggest in your litter, and they were all large [[ImAHumanitarian before you ate them]]. I raised you, I fed you the best dwarf-meat and man-flesh. And you have become even more magnificent. Such courage. There is none other like you, Queek. You are unnaturally brave. Others think you freakish for leading from the front, not the back. But I do not. I am proud of my Queek.''
426* SpikesOfVillainy: Queek's ''Warp-shard Armour'' is covered in spikes, resulting in him potentially hitting the enemy with Strength 5 hits when they attack him.
427* StraightForTheCommander: Queek is a proud and actually exceptional fighter and so unlike his colleagues has a habit of aiming to kill the enemy leader as fast as possible and claim their heads. On the tabletop he thus must issue and challenges whenever possible.
428* VillainousValour: Despite his paranoia, he's certainly no coward and will usually be at the front lines.
429* WeaponOfXSlaying: Queek's [[CarryABigStick mace]], Dwarf-Gouger, was created centuries ago to be the bane of the dwarf-things. In-game this is represented by the weapon always wounding Dwarfs on a 2+.
430[[/folder]]

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