[hider=Clan Mordkin] [hider=Banner][img]https://i.imgur.com/sn2aDuu.png[/img][/hider] [hider=Culture] The dreadful “culture” of Clan Mordkin is worth detailing before going further. From centuries spent fighting Nagash’s forces under Cripple Peak, Clan Mordkin became obsessed with death. They adorn themselves with bones of their enemies and dye patches of their fur white. Bones and skulls are worked into their designs, and bone weapons are not uncommon. But most gruesomely, the skaven of Clan Mordkin have gained a dietary preference for rotten and decayed flesh. They often “let their meat ripen” in carnal pits before eating it. A sign of hard times for Clan Mordkin is having to eat their meat fresh. Skaven of Clan Mordkin often form nests under graveyards and scour refuse piles and battlefields. They gain both meat ripened to their liking, bones for their crafts, and often trinkets to sell or adorn themselves with. They appreciate baubles and trinkets they extract from graves, so it isn’t uncommon to see higher caste Mordkin skaven with silver hammer pendants or golden chains. But it all goes back to the undead. They hold a particular hatred for the undead, who they have fought for millennia. Bitter struggles with vampires and necromancers have kept their hatred for undead alive since Nagash’s time; a war forgotten by most Skaven clans. To say they “have no fear” of the undead would be a sore overstatement, but they certainly attack dead-things with a viciousness unparalleled in the rest of Skavendom. There is also always the promise of a meal with each zombie and ghoul slain. One other quirk of Clan Mordkin is their particular religious fervency for the Horned Rat; perhaps a result of their long centuries of combat with the unholy. Typically, detachments of Clan Mordkin find themselves as enforcers for Grey Seers, but this has diminished over the years as Clan Mordkin has suffered many devastating losses as puppets of the prophets. Their faith still remains strong, with one ancient superstition saying that gnawing on the bones of Grey Seers can provide visions into the Horned Rat’s designs. Rumors have spread that the corpse of Grey Seer can be found somewhere beneath Helmgart, so some of them spent time searching for this dead prophet. Their leader claims to have gnawed on the bones of a Grey Seer, providing him great wisdom, but the veracity of this is uncertain. Their leader does hope to attract one of them to his cause to give his mission holy inspiration and magical artillery. [/hider] [hider=Held territory] The Skaven of Clan Mordkin have burrowed and tunneled into the Grey Mountains near Helmgart. They have travelled far from the traditional warrens of their clan in Sylvania and the World’s Edge Mountains after one prize: the Realm of Azzsar. So though the confusing network of tunnels they occupy, contested as it often is between rivals, may be impossible to map in detail, most of their dingy grottos and tunnels are beneath the Realm of Azzsar. Though they do not dare as of yet emerge into the higher caverns where more of Azzsar’s dead-things lurk in numbers, they constantly pick at the edges of his rule, striking fast and scampering away before ghouls arrive in greater numbers. They devote more forces to occupying and taking warpstone veins in the mountains, so more permanent shanties are thrown up there. The warren at the heart of this operation is the Osseous Hollow, an expansive and deep cavern where skaven throw up hives amongst the huge bones of long dead prehistoric creatures. Even a skaven knows, however, to not keep all their warpstone nuggets in one basket. They have a smaller under-town in Helmgart, where they nibble at the edges of the city’s Garden of Morr. They tread carefully here though, as other skaven clans devote more of their resources to Helmgart. Humans also may begin to suspect something if the less forgotten crypts begin to turn up empty. After all, the unscrupulous doktors of Helmgart only need so many corpses for dissection. [/hider] [hider=Ruler WIP] Bonelord Skelett Skullreaper - Bonelord Skelett Skullreaper is an enterprising traditionalist of a ratman, rigorously following the grotesque customs of Clan Mordkin but charting a risky course by relocating his branch of the clan to the Grey Mountains. Devoted to the Horned Rat, a connoisseur of the dead, and somewhat learned by skaven standards, Skelett considers himself a scholarly and cultured warlord. So much so, he claims the title of “Bonelord”, a throwback to the older days of Clan Mordkin. Indeed, he considers himself superior to the clan’s elite who make their nest in the Skulsreach Cavern in Sylvania, considering them “snotling brained, false-squeekers” who style themselves as “Warlords” and fail to rigorously follow Clan Mordkin’s customs. When reports filtered back to Skulsreach Cavern of a mountain filled with ghouls and warpstone, a veritable El-Dorado to the Skaven of Clan Mordkin, the young, self-righteous warlord Skelett knew he found his chance to prove his superiority. Other skaven called him “foolish” when there were so many unquiet dead in Sylvania to feast upon, but Skelett decided he would prove them wrong! Thus, he renounced the titles of Warlord and Chieftain, and moved his warband and any other enterprising skaven to the Realm of Azzsar. Quirks aside, Skelett is no Warlor- eh, Bonelord to disregard as a fangless eccentric. He hulks above other Skaven at six feet tall; a muscled mass of fur bleached white. He wears a mix of mail and jagged plate typical for Skaven warlords, but is set apart by another Clan Mordkin tradition. A previous Warlord’s skeleton, slayed by Skelett, is worked into the armor. Skelett dipped the bones in molten steel to act as better protection, and stained them bone white. Rather than a chest plate, the steel ribs of the unfortunate Warlord are worked into Skelett’s chain coat. His pelvis was split into two thigh plates. Choice arm and leg bones were welded to the leg and arm plates, with the blunt, heavy end of a leg bone extending just past Skelett’s sword hand to act as a gauntlett bludgeon. And of course, the skull was stretched out and molded into a helmet connected to a mail coif, with the jawbone also bending around Skelett’s jaw. The mail coif connects down to Skelett’s backplate, which is naturally ordained with a protruding skull rack. Indeed, Skelett sees skulls as a wonderful piece of natural art, collecting them from his various victims. In battle, Skelett wields an atypical sword and shield. The shield is a common, triangular shape, but is made of a single oak trunk with steel trimming rather than the typical assortment of wooden boards banded with iron. Protruding spikes at the shield’s top often hold two or three skulls from his collection; preferably, orc skulls for their hardiness. Fastened to the shield’s face are a chaotic, gnarled, and protruding mass of ribs and jawbones meant to spike enemies or trap their blades. For a sword, Skelett wields a facsimile of the infamous Fellblade used to slay Nagash. The blade is made out of steel stolen from dwarfs rather than gromril, and Skelett was not wealthy enough to have Grey Seers imbue it with deadly enchantment like the Fellblade. The blade is nevertheless blended with silver and warpstone so as to better slay undead. A warpstone nugget is embedded in the blade’s base like the Fellblade, theoretically providing protection from magic. Thinking himself clever and witty, Skelett named his own sword the similar title of Direbrand. Despite his impressive physique and certainly astonishing intellect, Skelett has problems roiling through his expedition. His clan’s position in the Grey Mountains is a precarious one, as other, more entrenched clans have not taken kindly to the new arrival. Skelett’s vicious assault on the previous warrens under Azzsar earned him enmity. Now that he has dominance under Azzsar, he has since attempted to smooth friction with the clans under nearby Helmgart, but has naturally had mixed success. Clashes with other Skaven clans break out infrequently. His two primary chieftains also have begun tentatively nibbling at his control. Zatch Mournjaw, hulking, ruthless, and often possessed with a menacing silence, has risen from the "Necroflayers", Skelett's personal stormvermin guard and enforcers, to be Skelett’s trusted Chieftain, but secretly wonders if his less eccentric and more forthright rule would better serve the war against Azzsar. Zatch commands daring underground raids and the most meaningful battles underneath Azzsar. Veskitt Foulthief is a nimble and cunning chieftain who commands the clan’s position under Helmgart. As the best sneaker in the warband, Veskitt is perfectly suited to prowling through Helmgart’s tombs undetected. Veskitt believes Skelett’s obsession with Azzsar is poisonous when there are perfectly good graveyards and ruined battlefields all throughout the Imperial border. He is generally less traditional than other skaven of Clan Mordkin too, but follows Skelett opportunistically. These ambitious chieftains respect Skelett’s authority (Zatch more than Veskitt) for now, but the longer the clan goes without a vampire’s head on a stake the more restive they grow. [/hider] [hider=Economy] The Skaven of Clan Mordkin have no impressive sector of the Under Empire’s economy cornered like Clan Skyre, but have a few specialties that Skelett Skullreaper brought with his expedition. Mordkin is no wealthy clan and many Skaven refuse to do business with the foul rats. But if skaven refused to do business with every clan they found disgusting, then there would be few trade partners left, wouldn’t there? Skelett’s warband in the Osseous Hollow has moderate wealth, but only just. They only trade with other skaven clans as of now, but Veskitt Foulthief has been pushing to trade with the chaos-things in the woods nearby. Steel. Long ago, an unsafe proliferation of bones in a ratsmith’s workshop led to the discovery that the carbon in bones can turn iron into steel akin to that of humans. With so much osseous material around, Clan Mordkin have made it into a chief craft of theirs to mix bone and iron into stronger weapons. This is no incredibly rich trade, since most warlords are content to send their rats into battle with ancient scraps of rusty iron, but still draws a moderate amount of warptokens from stormvermin regiments and wandering tinkerers. Skelett has a handful of workshops dedicated to this craft, though most goes to his own warriors. Ore. There are rich veins of ore beneath the grey mountains, some of it warpstone. They make good profit off it, but most clans have mining operations already, given the obvious nature of the Under Empire. Scavenging. The skaven of Clan Mordkin make a life off prowling through dusty tombs, battlefields, and any other place with many corpses. Whether rich merchants in gilded tombs or fallen soldiers, man-things often go to their graves with much wealth. Clan Mordkin makes many warptokens off family jewels, Morrite trappings, weapons pried from corpses, and all manner of trinkets and baubles. And of course, it’s even better when the corpses get up and walk to them, their now forgotten silver pendants and golden rings ripe for the taking. [/hider] [hider=Resources] Clan Mordkin has the resources above, as well as an abundance of bones for their own use. The brutal world of Skavendom requires self-suffiency, but they often import technology and beasts from Clans Skyre and Moulder respectively. Occasionally they run low on fungus and stunty grain for the slaves, such is their relentless focus on ripened meat, so food imports are needed. [/hider] [hider=Active Service] (OOC Skaven numbers are a bit hard, but I’ll do my best) Chieftain - 2 Warlock Engineer, charged with overseeing weapons teams - 2 Packmaster, charged with overseeing the Moulder beasts - 1 Skavenslaves - 2000 Clanrats - 1000 Skavenslave Slingers - 500 Stormvermin - 350 Poison Wind Globadiers - 12 Ratling Guns - 12 Warpfire Throwers - 36 Warp-Grinders - 50 Rat Ogres - 12 Giant Rats - 100 [/hider] [hider=Reserves] Warlord - 1 Warlock Engineer, charged with overseeing weapons teams - 2 Packmaster, charged with overseeing the Moulder beasts - 1 Skaven Slaves - 5000 Clanrats - 500 Stormvermin - 100 Warplock Jezzails - 12 Poison Wind Globadiers - 16 Ratling Guns - 24 Warpfire Throwers - 24 Warp-Grinders - 36 Giant Rats - 250 Rat Ogres - 24 Stormfiends - 9 Hell Pit Abomination - 1 Warp-Lightning Cannon - 1[/hider] [hider=Garrisons] Tunnel Network - Most active service with varying concentrations Osseous Hollow: All the reserves Rotbane Warpstone Mine: 400 Skaven Slaves, 100 Skaven Slave Slingers, 100 Clanrats, 30 Stormvermin Cripple Cave Warpstone Mine: 400 Skaven Slaves, 100 Skaven Slave Slingers, 100 Clanrats, 30 Stormvermin Lucky Paw Warpstone Mine: 400 Skaven Slaves, 100 Skaven Slave Slingers, 100 Clanrats, 30 Stormvermin Helmgart Undertown: 300 Skaven Slaves, 200 Skaven Slave Slingers, 200 Clanrats, 50 Bonerunners, 24 Warpfire Throwers, 12 Warplock Jezzails, 12 Ratling Guns. [/hider] [hider=Regiments of Renown] “Bonerunners” - Veskitt Foulthief’s force of Nightrunner imitators that prowl with him beneath Helmgart (These are worse than actual Nightrunners, but are unique, so I thought I would put them here.) - 200 “Necroflayers” - Skelett Skullreaper’s elite guard of stormvermin, with fur bleached white and equipped with finest bonesteel like their master. These stormvermin are masters at the slaying of undead, jabbing out to pierce brains and shear off clawed arms with blinding speed and ferocity. Most have a variety of superstitious trinkets and gadgets in addition to their glaives, swords, and halberds, such as powdered silver, garlic, and bags of grain. They often debate the nature of the macabre and how to best slay it when unoccupied. [/hider] [hider=Foreign Policy] Besides total war with Azzsar, they hope to stabilize relations with the other nearby skaven clans in the wake of their conquest of the rich tunnels beneath Azzsar. Otherwise, they have no diplomatic relations with other powers. They try to keep a low profile under Helmgart, as generations of skaven have done. Some minds, such as Veskitt, suggest discussing terms with chaos factions, but this has not been done yet. [/hider] [hider=Notable locations WIP] WIP, done sort of previously. [/hider] [/hider] Warning, a bit gory, stomach turning perhaps, and a bit mean as Skaven can be.