Greatest of Seers!

Semi-Selective| Low-Mid Activity | Est 7.28.21 | Written by Jaxter NO MINORS. 20+ ONLY. Status: Semi-Hiatus.

[heliinx]

“There is power in numbers--”

“ -- And I control hordes!”

#𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐈𝐍𝐗. Independent 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐘 RP blog. Skaven OC multimuse, Heliinx Primary Muse! Please read Rules and Guidelines before interaction. No TEENAGERS, No MINORS.

SEMI-HIATUS. I am NOT taking new multi-para threads at the moment.

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[heliinx]

A Treatise on Female Skaven

Small preword: I originally deleted this partways into it's writing when I discovered that Warpstone Magazine was not canon, but a very popular piece of fanon. WM is not endorsed by GW; hell, they even lobbed a cease and desist at it which ultimately killed it, but I've decided to forge ahead and marry concepts from canon, the fanzine and of course my own interpretations of this crazy fantasy world!

Obviously, there's going to be discussions of sexual assault so read at your discretion.

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For the vast majority of Skaven History, female Skaven have been absent from any roles or figures of note. However, the exact reasons and the extent to which they have been has varied throughout the history of the species. Even stretching back to Kazvar, when common rats were only just beginning to mutate into the monstrosities known today as Skaven, there were differences and biases.

Female rats are smaller, lighter, and not as robustly built as their male counterparts, which pairs poorly with Warpstone's tendency to warp animals into grotesque and malevolent creatures. What followed was a predictable tyranny of might; a gross exaggeration of what could be observed among the men that the skaven is often said to be a parody of.

Before the Summoning of the Horned Rat, Female Skaven accounted for about a quarter of the population. Their ability to produce more skaven made them a neccesary resource in the eyes of the males, invariably the occupants of most if not all positions of power in Skavendom. However, this did not confer value to them as persons. While a male skaven could claim to be a (albeit mistreated) member of a clan with opportunities to rise higher, female skaven were little more than breeding slaves. The fate of a female was to be attatched to a male or males of high rank and used to produce generations and generations of future laborers, canon fodder, or breeders like themselves. Often, these males were of some relation to them, as Skaven generally do not care to track bloodlines unless they are unique. In the case of communal breeders, this was simply not possible (and the constant exposure to the mutagen Warpstone ultimately makes it a non-issue, at least biologically).

If they were unable to do what was seen as "the point" for their entire existence due to infertility, a female skaven could expect to nominally be treated as a typical male skaven: either as a slave (common) or a clanrat (less common, but not unheard of). However, being a single female amid of sea of males, many of which would never see the interior of a harem chamber, made for a harrowing existence indeed. Harem life was safer, at least relatively speaking.

Finally, it was not unknown for a breeder to produce a female ratling with horns and pale fur. Law dictates that such skaven be handed over to be indoctrinated into the deepest lore and secrets of the Horned Rat, irrespective of their sex, but a female Grey Seer has challenges related to their biology just as her typical sisters do. Still, a Skaven is skaven, scheming and perservering and in the earlier days of the Order of the Grey Seers, it was not unknown for one or two of the 169 Grey Seers to be a she-rat. Granted, this position was not held for long; a Grey Seer sow could almost certaintly be expected to killed by her contemporaries, her Seerlord, or even male apprentices she took on.

Grey Seer females do not escape the expectation to breed, though it is not pressed on them quite as hard. Grey Seer males are insistent, viewing females with white fur as being ordained for them by the Horned Rat. The She-Seers react to this in a variety of ways; avoidance, violence-- some were even known to keep a retinue of blackfurred guards that they may-or-may not be breeding with. Some acquiesed; matings between two Seers indeed produce ratlings with pale, white, cream, and albino fur but not neccesarily a litter of Grey Seers.

Reactions to this obvious raw deal amongst the female skaven were broad. A Clanrat female commonly ended her own life after enduring abuses from her fellow soldiers. Some would flee and be branded as traitors, forever after risking the hatred of all non-skaven and recapture by different ratmen with the same views and the same vile designs in mind for her. Others tried to append themselves to Stormvermin or Chieftains or other high ranking skaven in a bid to preserve their hides, but ratmen of high station have limited use for a she-rat who cannot produce litters. Even if accepted, this was often limiting her torment to one or a handful of skaven rather than an entire burrow of them and her inability to bear offspring made her a prime target for the more sadistic impulses of her new master (as an infertile female is viewed as worth less than one can spawn ratlings). On top of this, she would likely find no friends in those fertile harem-sisters, who would envy her inability to be pregnant or look down on her for it.

However, some female skaven do not try to fit themselves into the nary and dangerous places that the males have carved out for them. Some are unable to resolve their dogma with the hardship of their existence, which is unique to males. They reject the "path" the Horned Rat has set out for them, because even if they follow it, they still suffer. And for those who cannot bare, this path is not even offered to begin with. So, perhaps it is not surprising that lone female skaven, having accumulated over time and joined up with one another over shared grievance, suffering, and hardship have, in the true spirit of the malice and malevolence common to their speices, decided to strike back at the Horned One and his children.

The rebellions range from devastating an individual unlucky male rat to the devastation of clans. The she-rats have no name for it, but Grey Seers and other Skaven Leaders who come to know of this new enemy of their own devising deem them "Female Clans" or "Breeder Clans". The entire point of these clans is the downfall of the Skaven race, or at least the hold it's males have over all facets of society, but while a noble goal the means they use are not. After all, a female skaven is still a skaven. Those Breeders from the Clans Eshin use poison to dispatch high ranking males. Those from Pestilens carry disease to a warren or else infect existing, trusted breeders and then wait as ratlings and adult skaven wither and die. The actions of the Breeder Clans prompts a general air of distrust and fear among the males, who begin putting in place mechanisms to more tightly control it's females. It is the Ratmen of Moulder that come up with the warpstone-based narcotics that are still used today to keep Rat-Mothers pliant. It is also this invention that prompts more Breeders to flee for their lives, either into solitary exile or into the waiting arms of the Female Clans. At first, the use of the drugs is not widespread, both due to internal and external sabotaging as well as the largely experimental nature of the substance. A skaven with evil intentions could easily doom a rival clan by selling them a "solution" to the female "problem", poisoning the breeders and damning the future of that group of ratmen.

Skriss, The Thirteenth Lord

This battle of the sexes did not go unnoticed in the Empyream, not by the Horned Rat or indeed any of the other gods. For a time, they watched and they were entertained, but eventually turned away to greater matters. Khorne first, never a fan of the rats, and then Slaanesh, also disgusted by them. Tzeentch lingered a bit longer, but the vibrant draw of the race of men won out over those of the rats. Only Nurgle continued to watch, taking a keen interest in one she rat breeder: a prolific Clan-Killer, called Skriss the Leper.

Skriss was a Pestilens breeder, paired to a Chantor of the Horned Rat. In the clans of Pestilens, it is said that license and privledge were the Horned Rat's alone to grant through the ordeal of plague; any ratman could demand to undergo the Trial of the Seven Lethal Poxes and, upon surviving, increase his standing. Skriss demanded such, unsatisfied with her role as a breeder, and though her betters snickered and chided, they ultimately granted what they saw to be a death wish. To her credit, she did not die, but never again would she live well. However, whether she succeeded or not was a matter of debate, as this outcome was most unusual. Applicants either lived, recovering from their ordeal with infection, or died and revealed their unworth. Never did they linger in between like Skriss was doing. However, the discussions enraged Skriss, who was not granted her deserved rank or the respect accorded with it. They were waiting, hoping even, for her to die. But she knew she wouldn't. She knew what the debates had yet to settle on: this was a punishment from the Horned Rat for daring to step outside what he had ordained for ratwomen, nothing more or less. The day she realized that was the day she abandoned the clan and her faith.

And only when she did that did her strength and vitality return, though her visage was forever deeply marred with infection and decay. Taking advantage of this second wind, Skriss immediately set herself to the task of revenge, using her new bulk and knowledge of plague in deadly tandem. She hid her scent in the blood of her brother-kin and the death toll she amassed earned her the name of Clan Killer. Skriss was enough of a threat that voices in high places sent Eshin assassins to deal with her, forcing her to seek sanctuary among the She-Clans. But this respite was not free, and the Council of Breeders demanded payment by way of tutelage: she would teach her trade of disease to those who would learn and illness would become one more tool in their crusade against Skavendom and the Horned Rat.

But being cloistered was never enough for Skriss. Even with the threat of assassination, she donned the mask of rusted metal used to conceal her face, and dove into the fray, poisoning water supplies, infecting scouts with infected throwing blades or darts, or simply ripping groups of clanrats apart with her newfound strength. Whilst raiding the larders of Plague Clan, she finds a strange blade with a strange tryptch sigil and can smell the decay on it's edge, deciding to use it in tandem with her current weapon.

After seven years of horror and unwittingly delivering countless rodentine souls into the embrace of Father Nurgle, the Fly Lord comes to her in a dream brought on by a fever: Skriss accidentally nicks her hand, falls into a deathlike coma for six days, and comes face to face with the true Plaguelord on the seventh.

And when next the sun rises, she is a mortal no longer, but a Daemon Prince of Nurgle. She and her disciples break from the Breeder Clans and target Festerhole, where the Arch-Plaguelord Nurglitch IV was rumored to have fortified himself, hiding from the very plague he had inflicted upon the world. This disappointed Nurgle...

And Skriss brought that "disappointment" in full, delivering Nurglitch IV's soul to the god he so named himself after. After this, Skriss and her retinue were invited to rest at least in Nurgle's Garden, where she and her followers is given Lordship over Gnawhame. Gnawhame is a parcel of territory accorded to Nurgle's skaven followers (and victims), over which Skriss is responsible.

End of the Breeder Wars

At last, the Summoning of the Great Horned Rat changes everything, as the Chaos God himself reaches down and places the Pillar of Commandments. And upon it's 13-sided surface, stated plainly and without need of interpretation, the Horned Rat scrawls the command that the females of the species have one ordained role: vessels for his children, the Children of the Horned Rat. Emboldened by their deity, the Skaven set themselves to soundly squashing the Breeder Rebellion and the Council of Thirteen. This has the double-benefit of providing a common enemy for the previously fueding Pestilent Brotherhood and the rest of Skavendom to jointly destroy; indeed, all overt grievances and aggressions are turned towards this goal both out of a desire to please the Horned Rat and nuetralize a dire enemy.

Legacy of the Females

The only surviving Breeder Clan from the Female Purges in Clan Skrittlespike, an outcast and isolated clan situated in the deepest reaches of the earth where most clans do not dig. Clan Skrittlespike is run by Female Skaven. Males exist among it's number, but only to do it's dirty work. It supplements itself by kidnapping pups, wealth, weapons, and breeders from wealthier clans. It is desperately poor, often scorned and ignored by other clans, but that suits it just fine.

Retaining the hatred of their predecessors, Skrittlerats do not hesitate to kill influential ratmen from broader Skaven society. It's females are almost never seen and it's males even more rarely. It is unclear which gods they follow; though their cresh bares the Horned Rat's three-barred triangle, the rats themselves have no issue killing his chosen. Even male grey seers ratlings are slated for immediate execution: they are abandoned at the doorstep of Clan Mordkin, well known for their desire to eat the Horned Rat's chosen.

[smallestbubs]

wet beasts

[heliinx]

Female Skaven make up less than a quarter of the Skaven population. Many Skaven females die under the squalid conditions they are kept under. Skaven female newborns are often either killed and eaten by their mothers, or neglected of care and die. The lot of all female Skaven is a terrible one. Most are sequestered in filthy breeding warrens, where they merely sit and wait for the conjugal visits of the Clan Chieftain and his Clan Guard. Skaven females are seen as useless in Skaven society beyond their reproductive purposes, and few if any female Skaven escape this fate. The female Skaven can look forward to bearing between three to five litters of squealing newborns, with each litter consisting of up to a score. Of their progeny, around a quarter may survive into adulthood.

Female Skaven, Book of the Rat (Garret Lepper)

[heliinx]

idk i think this belongs here tho

[heliinx]

Gentle-thing :3c

[heliinx]

Clans of Chaos: The Clans Nurglitch

The Clans of Chaos are a small put persistent offshoot of the standard Skaven, who believes wholly and truly in the Horned Rat. However, like the species that worships him, the Horned Rat is not a kind or generous god and perhaps it is unsurprising that the opportunistic skaven seek boons elsewhere.

Generally, the other Chaos Gods do not like the Horned Rat and do not favor his children either. Khorne thinks them cowardly, deserving little more than a swift death. Tzeentch sees them as amusing. Slaanesh finds them flea-ridden and loathesome. Only Nurgle is willing to take the Horned Rat's mortal spawn on as his own and indeed, after humans, Skaven are his most common worshippers.

Nurglish Skaven clans are often conflated with the Pestilential ratfolk making up the Clans Pestilens, and while there is certaintly overlap that the Grey Seers in particular like to harp on, the difference is that the Pestilens rats insists their faith is different and in fact the true aspect of the Horned Rat. The Clans Nurglitch make no bones about their alliegances and openly worship the Plaguefather, nesting themselves wherever his other mortal non-skaven followers may be found. They also send agents into Pestilens clans to either convert, disrupt, sabotage, or provoke conflict. Generally uniform when compared to other clans, it is the agents of Father Nurglitch that sows most of the dissent between fellow plague rats.

A Clan Nurglitch skaven is broadly similar to that of Pestilens, but for those not specifically sent to chaos chaos in proper skaven clans, Nurglitch Ratkin proudly display Grandfather's tryptch and when they speak of a Horned Sire, they are talking about Nurgle. One of the highest honors in a Nurglitch Rat's view is successfully contracting Nurgle's rot and perishing from it. Skaven are already resistent or even immune to many diseases, so this is easier said than done. Invariably, Plaguebearers of Skaven stock are made of stronger, sterner stuff than the Tallymen are typically; many of Nurgle's Plagueridden and even his Heralds were once ratmen.

Higher still is being raised to Daemonhood as an Infernal Prince of Chaos.

[shut-the-burrow-door-pls]

LMAO sounds like you get too many seer requests

I begin to grind my teeth VERY loud everytime i have to add horns on rat head!

[heliinx]

"Cope and seethe-seethe, man-thing!"

[glowfangarts]

COMMISSIONS OPEN

My, who's that lovely lady? Why, it's Greyseer @heliinx!

I had a lot of fun working with her design for this commission Mean lil thing

[nurrgleth]

Doodle of a Plaguebearer, based from a Skaven soul. I figured, depending on what they first came from, that Plaguebearers might look a lot like their species of origin.

I feel like Skaven, with their built in resistance to disease, would be able to rise high in Nurgle's sight.

[heliinx]

what does heliinx feel about other women liking her?

" Doe-doe relationships? Pragmatic. Males are such a pain-bother."

[heliinx]

Heliinx: the slaaneshi likes me? i mean, haha what can i say? im just like that ;)

also Heliinx: GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME DAEMON SCUM-STAIN

[serpentofslaanesh]

#heliinx vc: r u just around cuz there's two male rats lurking around me. is this jealousy

"Yes."

[heliinx]

A beat.

"Well, at least you're honest. But rest assured none of these bucks are worth my-my attention."

" And you are only marginally better."

[heliinx]

Pokes in. Where from? Who knows. Surely she's used to Slaaneshi bullshit by now.

"A little birdie told me you stargaze, pretty thing." Lyss hums. "... Why?"

" Stargaze? Not some misborn whelp-thing--"

A pause. A beat. Then, Heliinx realizes that's not what Lyss means. Strangely, the she-rat doesn't seem particular miffed by the daemon's presence, aside from the reflexive stand of hackles.

" Maybe looking-searching for the gods. The Horned Rat has been quiet of late."

As he should be to a traitor.

[heliinx]

[deviika]

Mary Oliver

[heliinx]

A giant basket of warpstone and exotic cheeses tied in ribbon. The Greyseer couldn't say 'truce-bribe' any louder if he shouted into a loudsqueaker.

As for the rat himself, he presented with humble posture, ears and tail low.

"Hope-pray the Pale Lady can forgive-excuse Vykstyrn's poor attitude....warpstone makes a silly fool-rat..."

He sounds like he's heard some shit and wants none of it..

(@skaven-shenanigans)

"Slave!" Heliinx kicks the rat in question forward before any of them can ask for clarification which slave she is talking to. The Skaven, a piebald, patchy-furred little wretch, fell forward, failing to catch himself. Heliinx didn't wait for him to rise.

" Taste-try cheese!" Did he think she was a fool-thing? Poison cheese and tainted warpstone was the oldest trick in the proverbial book!