Ratfolk Thread

Down with KSR scum! Come join the Commonfolk!

I start with Skaven and work from there. I also like wererats. There are also these ratings born from female wererats which are like giant rats with hands. So something using those ideas

user, i don't like ratfolk myself all that much, but you're being a faggot in a thread you don't like.

Please don't be a faggot.

Giant rats with hands you say?

Desperately wanted to like this game and setting, the art is solid, and rats are always good, but for fucks sake the setting is so dark, and everyone faction is a malicious prick.
Quartermaster best girl though.

where my reepicheep niggas at

Yeah. They're literally rats with front hand paws. That's some pretty freaky imagery. Apparently theyre like wererat children and can take the forms of creepy children too. Personally that just makes them worse for me.

Try Armello, it's still got a bit of dark innit but it has the noblebright side as well.
And the main artist for both games are the same, so yeah.

Wasn't he a mouse?
Also his "death" at the end of the-book-with-the-boats-in-it has always stuck with me in a bad way.

Oh I adore Armello, but it feels furry enough that I find myself playing it a lot less than I want too.
My odd hangups aside, it's a solid game and a solid setting.

The Ratfolk produce the finest cheeses in the land.
Dwarves are VERY jealous.

>The city has a bit of a "Rat Problem"
>Massive communities of ratfolk have taken over the undercity, the slums, and the once-forgotten corners of town
>They have formed guilds, trading 'companies' and even more
>And now a form of economic warfare is being fought between the Rats and the Human denizens of the city
What do Veeky Forums?

pest control

>Sir Alfred Ratslayer is informed by his liege that the town of Anonsburg must have it's rat problem...'solved'
>Alfred is understandably excited.
>hfw 'pest control' means handing out flyers informing citizens to buy from human-owned shops and making sure rats are paying their taxes

>how do they operate militarily
Overwhelm their opponent in bodies till they collapse.

While I know one race for which that works, does that same idea still apply if the ratfolk you're dealing with aren't so evil and swarmy?

Do what we've always done. Round up all the Rat leaders and publicly execute them for crimes against the kingdom (economic warfare against the Crown), sparking Rat riots which spills into a race war. After their population is culled enough, things will start calming down and we can use the corpses to power industry.

A british kind of evil.

We haven't hit peak british yet, we'll do that when we de-arm the town guards and stop inspecting anybody who wants to enter town.

I dunno, I kinda like those rat shops...

And by 'Ratfolk' you mean Elves, right?

...

Bloodborne doll rat Marcille is best rat Marcille.

Most likely a ratfolk military would focus on commando units that rely on guerilla tactics. Hit and run strikes combined with sabotage, assassination, etc; a ratfolk stays for the fight only if backed into a corner, and then relies on numbers and ferocity to take down their foe.

It is honestly a very weird crossover.
But I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fun.

You know something? Honestly, I would love to see more talk about how to do something interesting with squirrelfolk or rabbitfolk. Still, at the very least, this thread's a nice change of pace to the threads that've been here for the last few days.

...

What do ya'll think of a... not so much sub species but offshoot of ratfolk with an unusually high affinity for psycic abilities? The ancestors of these lab rats, for lack of a better term, were experimented on by some wizard or something, it's been so long no ones sure exactly what was done to them or by whom. The results where unusual coat and eye colorations that don't always corraspond with potent psycic abilities, even after many generations of mingling blood with their unaltered brethren.
I could see them being alternatively respected or feared by others of their kind for their abilities and downright frightening to outsiders. Leading to superstition and fear of oddly colored ratfolk, something the savvy rats might use to their advantage by bleaching and dying or applying cosmetics to their fur when fear is the desired response.

Honestly seems like low-magic wizard stuff, just with rats.
I do adore lab-rats though.

Sounds quite fitting to me. But then, I have rebellious psychic gnolls and divinely blessed jackalope-folk in my own setting, so...

Post in the Veeky Forums you want, not the Veeky Forums you have user.

Bed one of the guild leader's daughters, systematically absorb all of them through diplomacy into one-mega conglomerate, create massive trading empire, go to the local church and receive their blessing and, with the full economic and political weight of an entire race, the Church, and any other prospective trading guilds, take over the kingdom for the good of the Under-Over Company.

I like your style.
But what of an heir?
Tell me you take good care of your rat wife.

What's that supposed to mean? I should actually start threads about the stuff I wish to talk more about?

Because I've tried, but nobody ever responds in my threads.

Odd idea I had for ratfolk: the entire race is afflicted by locust like curse. I'm small numbers they are highly social and intelligent, however once a certain threshold is reached their already prodigious birth rate increases dramatically the general intelligence of their offspring decreases while aggression rises.
As a result while ratfolk can be found pretty much everywhere they are careful to stay in small numbers often integrating into the cities of other species in order to sate their innate desire for large communities and social contact.

This

Furries please stay on /v/ where you belong. Or maybe /trash/ I guess.

You'll figure out the good thread formula™ user.
Hell, I have several threads archived in Suptg and I still make duds more than hits.

Let me remind you that Beastfolk was the second most populous race in the Veeky Forums player race survey.

...

Get a load of this man-thing.
it thinks is can hurt-stab our feelings and make us stop having fun. Stupid man-thing.

What sort of religion would ratfolk come up with? Adopt an existing god and put their own spin on the rites and rituals or make their own from whole cloth?

I only just noticed the breasts on this character.
Neat.

Many moons ago there was bizarro-warhammer discussion where people suggested Good!Skaven would worship the sun.
Stepping away from that, and looking at the idea that ratfolk are community-focused, why not give them a crowded pantheon, a family of gods?
And if that's not your jam, why not make their god an 'Honest-Rogue' kind of god?

A lot of hearth and family gods, perhaps ancestor spirits. I also like to imagine ratfolk occupying a similar position to halflings in relation to humans, being essentially adjunct to their civilization, so they'd have their own takes on the dominant human gods and faiths.

>The Rat-God of Trickery actually just lives in the pantry of the Human-God of Hearth and Home
>He's been there since his inception, and only rarely leaving
>Funnily enough, he is also the Rat-God of survival.

can't recall if it was end time garbage but i think thanquol implies at least once that the vast majority of skaven are alot nicer then you ever see from the named masses of warring skaven and the backstabbing psychos who rule over them.

There probably are more then a few decentish skaven but the % of backstabbing psychos is just too high for them to ever succeed when the system is set up to keep backstabbing psychos in power.

Rats are really unpopular with furries; they lack the cool factor of dragons and wolves, or the familiarity of cats and dogs, and people think mice are cuter thanks to cultural indoctrination. I mean, other animals are usually associated with like strength or cunning or loyalty or something, but rats are associated with cowardice and dieseses, so they're unpopular.

Which is a real shame. Rats are some of the cleverest critters around and are consistantly shown to be some of the most empathetic animals.

I'd be absolutely shocked if they went "Clanrats are nice" after decades of saying over and over that all skaven are irredeemable shits.

I really like the idea of a crowded pantheon, fits with their crowded warrens. As we see IRL religion reflects the culture of the people it springs from so that makes a lot of sense.

Holy shit yes, all of this. Even better if the chief god's function is to beg/borrow/steal what his pantheon family needs from anygod he can. Setting him up as an idealized version of what a ratfolk father should be like. Constantly run ragged caring for his vast brood but very content when he sees them prosper. Showing cleverness in stealing, sweet talking, honest labor and defending his own. Basically the stories would show him doing anything and everything to care for his family, who in turn show him a high degree of respect for his efforts and care for him when he needs it. With a side of the youngsters pitching in to help take the load off father rats back to emphasize that isn't not just His duty, though he is the best at it. I feel like all the stealing needs to be counterbalanced with some parables of only taking what you need, not taking from those who have less than you, giving back to those you stole from in some way. A kind of, "better to ask forgiveness than permission, but bring a gift when you beg forgiveness to smooth things over" attitude.

I just stick with the smug rabbit kid that's covered head to foot in armor. It's hard to argue with anything so covered in armor you can barely tell what it is.

I don't have anything really good for this thread, take what I have been assured are Redwall otters.

So, random question; my (human) character got sent by his ruler to form an alliance between their kingdom and a neighboring kingdom of ratfolk. Things've gone well, seeing as how we got rid of the hydra that's been terrorizing them, but now the ratfolk king wants my PC to marry his daughter to seal the alliance. If he refuses, no deal, the whole mission is a failure.

Said daughter looks like this: 1d4chan.org/images/thumb/1/16/Female_Stormvermin.jpg/120px-Female_Stormvermin.jpg

How screwed is my PC?

Thank you for dat rat for ants, user.

Assuming that you're trying to be at all serious, how would a human/ratfolk marriage work to seal an alliance? I know marriage alliances could be tradition and are historical in our world, but we only ever had to work with humans. There'd be no mixed bloodline or real family ties here.

Huh? Razzafrazzing stupid glitching link-making...

1d4chan.org/wiki/File:Female_Stormvermin.jpg

Anyway!
>Assuming that you're trying to be at all serious, how would a human/ratfolk marriage work to seal an alliance? I know marriage alliances could be tradition and are historical in our world, but we only ever had to work with humans. There'd be no mixed bloodline or real family ties here.
Considering that ratfolk probably are at least slightly more fertile than humans, the production of heirs is probably not that big a deal - it's the symbolism of the act itself. Ratfolk most likely prioritize loyalty to direct families first, ala the Roddun and their "circles of kinship".

Also, fantasy world; we don't necessarily know that the two races can't interbreed. Lankhmar had a whole race of ratfolk that had evolved from magical rats interbreeding with humans, why should a D&D type setting not have the same logic?

Rats are the best.
I want to BE the Rat.

Well....does your PC like rats? Does he like the king's daughter? He's been ordered to form an alliance, this would work.

Well, they certainly respect each other, even admire each other's skills (he's a mage, she's a fighter). And it's not like she looks THAT inhuman.

Heck, it's not even without precedent; in "The Swords of Lankhmar", the Gray Mouser had sex with an eight-breasted rat-woman, and the Undercity of Lankhmar was full of humans who were interbreeding with the sapient rats, which is where the ratfolk came from.

>the Gray Mouser had sex with an eight-breasted rat-woman
Always wondered where the name came from.

Sounds magical realm.

This is the same setting where either Fafhrd or the Gray Mouser had sex with a female Nehwon Ghoul, which is a cannibalistic human offshoot with invisible flesh, so they look like walking skeletons.

lomion.de/cmm/ghoulank.php

I'm not honestly sure at this point if you're struggling with your PC not liking the deal, or you just want someone to justify it.

Fuck it, marry the rat. Do what you want.

Raccoons?

There is a great difference between skaven and the OP pic. Now fuck off and kill yourself, furfag.

>Implying Skaven was the option when 'ratfolk' was on the graph for a while
Stay mad my guy.

Join the Mech-Patrols and protect the warrens today!

Reminds me of the fact Ravenloft fans added a Were-Possum monster to their setting. Mind you, they also added a Were-Wolverine, a Were-Weasel and a Were-Raccoon, so.. yeah.

>Rat Thread
>No mention of "In Our Shadow" anywhere

Well user, I've never heard of that, you gotta tell us man!
I've missed a lot of rat content, secret of nimh, american tail...

>Were-Anything but Wolf
Can't say I'm a fan. I don't think Town-Guards, Mercenaries, Knights, and Monster-Hunters would feel the same terror of a Werewolf if confronted with a Werepossum.

Agreed, never heard of that.

m.tapas.io/series/InOurShadow

not the best webcomic in the world but a cool take on rats as the antagonists.

w-whoa

Fpbp, furfags begone

I like tiny rat/mousefolk. Something about very small, very cute hardened mercenaries just makes me happy

‘Mech-rats and god humans’ the webcomic is pretty much the more accurate title and is pretty much what it is all about.

Smug rabbit knight is king, got lucky with treasure draws and ended up turn 3 with +2 Attk/def dice and 2 fail re-rolls each. Ended up one shooting the first hero I ran into because exploding dice.

No, giant rats with hands. no human arms, just hands, like rat paws with thumbs.

That doesn't really matter, if you're using a rat, you want it for it's known cultural connotations. Rats are disease carriers, rats scurry and covet, rats live in sewers and places and refuse, rats have been portrayed as ugly and wicked. IMO Skaven are one of the best depictions of ratpeople in fiction.

I think there's more value in portraying animal hybrids, or humanoids based on animals with a combination of cultural expectations but also reality. It'll never stop annoying me how for example, owls are constantly associated with wisdom when they are in fact stupid as fuck compared to other birds of prey, where vultures for example are arguably the most intelligent of them.

Not the user you're responding too, but want if I want to play Ratpeople as misunderstood, good hearted heroes?
Rats ALSO work for that given how nice healthy rats are irl.

Being swarmy doesn't seem like a trait unique to evil creatures-relying on numbers is a perfectly viable and respectable tactic for smaller, weaker creatures to take down bigger, stronger ones. But if they can move faster than most troops, then they'd probably make decent skirmishers. Being able to move swiftly to outflank the enemy is certainly a valuable asset in warfare-though they need a way to reliably hold an enemy in place if they want to benefit from that sort of thing.

>misunderstood, good hearted heroes

Sounds boring. Prefer selfish heroes.

>Rat-focused setting
>Owls are automated, unintelligent death-machines who simply kill, and kill, and kill.
>Crows are mischevious spirits who you can bargain with for knowledge, treasure, or perhaps even people if you have something s̶m̶o̶o̶t̶h̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶i̶l̶k̶y̶ nice enough
>Vultures are friendly reapers and nomads who eat the flesh of dead titans and travel around performing proper burial rites

Small rats you say?

>What manner of ungodly beast is that?!
>Wait, it just stopped and fell over.
>Is it dead?
>I think it's dead.
>Seems like it had a heart attack or something.

Not exactly the stuff of bone-chilling tales shared around the tavern fire.

Yeah, though generally I feel wererat or werecat are both plenty reasonable.

Could also flip it around and have vultures as the intelligent threat who sees rats not only as competition to carrion, but also disease carriers who undo the vultures' act of cleansing disease.

It's a numbers game. Forget about the failures cause like 50% of the factors that make a thread popular have nothing to do with the OP or how they wrote it, or at least don't dwell on that shit for very long. Just make some threads about stuff you think would be cool and wait until people forget about the last time you brought something up before you post it again.

The snout is only a little weird, the breasts are overly large, the claws look a little bit dangerous.
She looks fairly well groomed, though not so much into human hairstyles.

Could be worse. Figure out how she feels about hair removal if that shit is a deal breaker, or open relationships if she's not trying to spawn a little with you right away, or gradually talk her into having some fun with polymorph if that's ever an available option.

Anybody saved the picture titled "Skaven had second thoughts on the Horned Rat replacing Slaanesh" or something along those lines?
Had three campaigns which featured the ratkin prominently. Through series of unknown events some rats have gained the sentience and increased in size up to to average 5yo human child. Communities were formed and rats started gaining on humans through theft, hacking, contraband, stock trade and outsourcing. First campaign was played as human investigators discovering the existence of the rats and reacting predictably. Second - a team of rats desperately scrambling to eliminate the evidence while the rest ran cover-up, this one ended more or less open - in TPK, but objective was likely achieved. Third was the all-out war, well, more all-out genocide versus terrorist guerilla, played as humans. Will play the fourth that will be more of sneaky rat shenanigans in the universe where gutter runners were successful.

this is LEWD