Thread for all things ratfolk.
Mainly discussion on original ideas or existing rats such as Skaven.
Feel free to contribute lore or OC such as write or drawfaggotry.
Thread prompt: Bio-engineered ratmen prowl the sewers and hyperlanes of the galaxy.
What sets their ships and technology aside from humanities?
ratscum
If they're Skaven-ish, probably the fact that they have zero construction standards and sub-par materials as well as a complete disregard for any kind of comfort.
So like Ork tech but with more common sense.
Ah, this thread! Happy to see it survive.
Tbh, this is the user that worked on some writefaggotry a few threads ago. Part 2 is half-way done.
Better question:
What the fuck is the point of that tooth sticking off the end of the rifle?
It's not nearly wide enough to be useful in melee the way an axe blade is, and even if you turned it forward it'd make for a shitty bayonet with that length.
It infuriates me with its very presence. Fuck you OP for posting this image, I was having a perfect day and now I want to commit seppuku.
Probably a mono-pod. Something to keep the rifle steady.
Does "ratfolk general" really need to be a thing?
Sure it does, user. Otherwise, there'd be no one to command ratfolk armies.
On the subject, what sort of command structure would ratfolk military groups have? How do they organize in your setting, if at all?
Try the drawfag thread.
What faggotry? Is it good? Do you have it on you? Give-give!
Keep it rolling, writefriend!
NO SHARE-SHARE THINGS WITH MANFOLK! DIRTY MANTHING AND ORCTHING AND DWARFTHING GET THEIR OWN THREAD! THIS WAY WE KEEP ALL WARPSTORM TO SELF-SELF...YEEEEESSSS HEHEHEHEH
Here you go. Read and enjoy, at your own pace-speed.
It needs to be a thing until we run out of stuff to talk about. Then, and only then these threads can die, so we can make them again in a few months.
It's a Veeky Forums related thread that avoids the applesponges and has some actual lore and discussion coming out of it.
I'd say they deserve a spot on the board.
Reposting because I like it damnit.
>Plasma Breacher
The details surrounding the so called 'Ratkin Revolution' are hazy at best, considering how the length of the war took place in hidden, submerged megafacilities on distant worlds. One thing that is well known is the rats victory was hard fought with an ingenious array of scrap work weaponry and armor. One which weapon that saw widespread use despite it's drawbacks was the 'Plasma Breacher' or as the FOE (Federation of Earth) troopers affectionately named it, 'The Can Gun'.
The weapon consists of a hydraulic crusher jury rigged to a trigger that when pulled forcibly tears a hole in a standard-issue plasma cell, venting a short-lived spray of superheated plasma and metal shards in the direction of the target. The oldest models being single shot weapons and carried with a chainsaw-grip, usually with the entire device given extra length not for the sake of accuracy, but simply keeping the operator away from what is effectively a can of soda that you shook and has now taken extreme issue with you.
Self harm was a constant worry for the original operators as the cell may not rupture exactly as intended, not rupture at all, or simply explode wholesale. But as the conflict dragged on longer and longer the design was refined, with some of the last breachers constructed during the war looking akin to something professionally made, with dedicated magazines, reloading mechanisms, and a standardized design. While the weapon has not been adopted by any professional military outfit due to concerns over it's expensive ammunition, it's range, and despite design refinements, it's safety, it has never lost prominence in Hive-City conflicts or the Warplanes of the galaxy with gangs, mercenaries, and space pirates using it with horrific effect in the tight confines this weapon is oh-so effective in.
Applesponges?
Because /pol/ calls everything and everyone they don't like a soyboy, some people on Veeky Forums use applesponge as sort of a joke on /pol/'s constant usage of soyboy it's even more of a shitty forced meme than soyboy.
That's really reaching, it doesn't even rhyme.
I've never heard it before.
Sounds like it's just as terrible of a meme.
H-hello, manthings. You give me warpstone, in exchange for hug-hugs? I will allow you to scratch-itch behind my ears as well?
I assure you, manthings. I am very soft-soft. Oh! Yes-yes!
I think that's entirely the point.
It's mocking their forced meme with an even dumber one.
Well alright, not like this little nugget is doing me any good anyway. But i swear to sigmar if you bite me I'll cane you but good.
I would unironically pat and pamper the Skaven Scribe.
Does he have a name?
Bracing.
Hook it over something like a wall or press it forward to help with recoil.
Though since it seems to just be tied on, it's probably just something to make the rifle into a giant icepick
>Ratkin Origins
The ratkin are unique in the fact that they did not develop naturally, and in fact were the creation of the attempted development of a slave-race by the Northstar Biotics Company.
Federation of Earth Troopers received garbled distress signals from a quarantined world owned by the Company, and arrived too a hidden megafacility filled to the brim with designer life-forms and intelligent ratmen living in the halls of what had, until recently, been the hab-block of now deceased research and security personel who had apparently lost an armed-conflict and uprising from their former test-subjects.
After a short exhange of fire, proper communications were established and the obviously intelligent ratkin were given proper context and information surrounding their creation and intended purpose. (This information was taken from Northstar on-site servers after a thorough de-encryption.)
Months later, after much study and a highly public cultural exhange program the ratkin were given the option to take full Federation of Earth citizenship and optional relocation.
This decision was considered highly controversial given the bloody origins of these new citizens, and tensions remain high in many of the settlements the ratkin were relocated too, and they remain a target from pro-pure-humanity extremist groups.
queek's piercings look dumb
Sneek Scratchett. Not that anyone really uses it, but presumably it becomes important when he does.
Well, if nothing else, it's a solid proof-of-concept-though violent slaughter is always a bitch to sell at a shareholders' meeting. Any particularly noteworthy occurrences since their emancipation?
Do they have any social oddities besides being somewhat discriminated against?
>A study of the Ratkin
During the highly streamed and broadcasted cultural exchanges between several Federation of Earth representatives and the Ratkin, it became readily apparent the extant at which Northstar Biotics both failed, and succeeded at their creation of a species of slaves.
The ratkin were eager to learn, curious too a fault, highly sociable, and readily industrious. Sating a natural urge to fidget and play with construction, working an assembly line or maid work was the goal, but it would appear that Northstar failed in light of the fact that the ratkin very much liked to know how the world around them worked and were not content to push the shiny button for a treat, or would question why the scientist was the one who got to control the button or 'what treat was'
Another failure is what the logs on-site referred too as 'The Proportion Issue' where the proportians and distribution of rat-like versus human-like traits would, and did, result in a subject either too human like, or too rat-like, the final breed of ratkin (and the one who would eventually rise up) was too rat-like in the desperate need for social contact and proximity to others, leading to community and bond-building that would constantly need to be challenged or broken for them to perform their intended duties for any profitable period, and too human-like in the fact that they would often reject their poor conditions and percieved inprisonment, with indoctrination proving to be a time-consuming and expensive process that cut into the schedule for a subjects training.
The ratkin also bred too fast for the size of the hab-cells they were originally intended to live in, further straining containment, with twins proving to be the norm, but matured very quickly in relation to humans with comparable, if shorter natural lifespans in relation to humans.
A fast metabolism also meaned that feeding the vast numbers of rats was difficult.
(Cont. Next post.)
One immediate question by FoE researchers was "Why go to such lengths to make happy little workers when robots existed"
Digging deeper into the correspondence of on-site executives found the answer.
The project since it's inception was the subject of constant shifts in focus and direction, with only one directive staying consistent. To quote one executive, 'Make slavery cheap, profitable, and palatable for a galaxy that finds the abuse of those below you 'icky' '
Plans for the funding and production of media that portrayed such concepts positively, mass media astroturfing, and intense lobbying was all planned and ready. (Several popular animated films released years prior would later be discovered to be the product of these plans)
The only thing missing was a slave race who would be happy with being slaves without needing to be sold on the idea every generation. In the end they almost succeeded, the ratkin weren't largely unsightly, were devoid of any species-wide repulsive habits or behaviors save perhaps a need to chew and gnaw for dental hygiene (Proper bowel control and scent-reduction was a big one for researchers, with them only solving the first one)they were quick learners, dexterous, and eager for praise. But they were also paranoid, incredibly social, often attemtping to form bonds and friendships with research or security personel, too intelligent for their role and smart enough to eventually figure out what was happening. This lead to a large-scale armed conflict and their eventual emancipation.
[/spoilers]I did entirely intend to talk about ratkin achievement but got seriously sidetracked. Hopefully this fleshes out what they're about but I feel like I missed the mark. [/spoiler]
Maybe it's attached to that metal bolt and not actually just tied on.
Either way he's got trigger discipline so that's nice.
Even rat monsters frown on accidental discharges, it seems.
How did Rats come to be?
How about NO
Essentially this. There was a time where there was enough interest for a Fallout general, but alas...
It's ok Saltzpyre, you can talk to us about your secret skaven fursona, we won't judge you!
>Same name as the warlord of clan fucking Eshin
>desperate need for social contact and proximity to others
>the ratkin weren't largely unsightly, were devoid of any species-wide repulsive habits or behaviors
>they were quick learners, dexterous, and eager for praise. But they were also paranoid, incredibly social, often attemtping to form bonds and friendships with research or security personel
It sounds like these scientists accidentally engineered the perfect waifu/husbando race.
Joke aside that's an interesting concept. Are the little critters resentful of the fact they are an artificial race that was intended for slavery?
...
>Not realizing that pretending to be a skaven scribe is his way of escaping the stresses of his job
>And hooking up with famous Skaven
Should skaven be cute?
They can be.
I think the idea of cute Skaven is too funny not to mess around with.
Because user, I want to pat the rat.
Supposedly, rodent remains appeared in fossil records from Asia and North America some 54 million years ago, though Rattus as a genus didn't show up for another 49-50 million years.
Anyone else want 40skaven just to see Clan Skryre and Clan Moulder Titans?
And stormvermarines.
I fucking wish.
>A Clan Skryre Titan so full of warpstone and skaventek that when at full tilt, engines screaming that a localized warp-lightning storm follows the machine
>Each shell, upon impact with it's target rends reality for a split second, sometime pulling a dropship full of clanrats out of a pocket-reality full of skaven
>Toxic, warpstone-laden exhaust billows out of the titan, some of it pumped and sprayed out towards the ground below the mechanical beast, bolstering the frothing tide of rats or choking the life out of anyone unfortunate enough to step into the shadow of such a mechanical travesty
Forgot pic.
I swear to god the waifu and husbando capacity wasn't my intention.
Also there is plenty of anti-human sentiment, but the majority of the civilian population of the rats are simply ratlike people.
fucking metal
>Thread prompt: Bio-engineered ratmen prowl the sewers and hyperlanes of the galaxy.
They infiltrate large cargo ships as stowaways, breed fast and spread diseases. Occasionally they will rise up and seize the vessel from the weakened crew.
Rolled 18 + 15 (1d20 + 15)
Rolling Forbidden lore: Veeky Forums
This thread was made on a monday
Thats slick, steal steal for age of sigmar book im write drafting
What alignment would ratfolk default to?
abzan
The settings I know of that use them tend to bounce between Neutral and Chaotic Evil. Not a lot of rat paladins showing up in tabletop.
Depends heavily on the setting.
In my setting, ratkin worship a neutral good fertility goddess who wishes to love and forgive all.
Working on a pseudo ratfolk for my setting. They're humanoid but short, have scaley tails, digitigrade legs, and whiskers (no muzzle or fur though). The working name I have for them right now is Quicklings, so named by other races both for their natural agility and short life spans (40 years). Roughly, they're my analogue for the "wee folk" races of common folklore, Halflings/Gnomes/Kobolds. Early concept was an amalgam of all subterranean mammalia before I moved away from furry races.
Traditionally nomadic (for setting reasons), they travel the world in caravans, essentially being gypsy/tinkers. They've actually been around longer than the other races, and are the ones who've taught others to survive in the settings unique environment. Very clan and family oriented, for a long time the only members of their race who would live in the cities of other races were exiles, which is a punishment reserved for only the very worst criminals of their kind due to the effect isolation has on them. As a result, despite their friendly and helpful nature, they have a bad reputation in cities and towns, though it's slowly improving (partially thanks to a grand communal moot where the male and female leadership circles both agreed it was permissible for families to settle in these new 'cities'). They also come from a culture of communal sharing, so while they do have a sense of property (no Kender here!) they feel no compunction about rooting through peoples trash for useful things or food, which contributes to that bad reputation I mentioned.
Though skilled carpenters, they lack a home building tradition, so their new permanent homes tend to be shoddy affairs thrown up on the edges of the settlements of other races, called quicktowns (both because of the race and because of how fast they spring up or die out). Dirt streets are dug out, as are mound and burrow homes that are quite comfortable and clean inside, but overall look ramshackle to outsiders.
If we're basing it off of actual rats rather than rats in pop culture/western mythology, they would be some form of good. Rats are incredibly social and empathetic animals, routinely demonstrate capacity and tendency to bypass personal gain to end distress in others, establish dominance in playful and non-harm inducing ways, and outright cannot live without other rats around to keep them company
They're skilled diggers and miners, though not smiths (thats humans in my setting), but they are tinkers and menders. They're very dexterous and clever with their hands. If it involves fine hand work, they'll be good at it. Physically weak, at some point they formed a symbiotic relationship with the Elven race of the setting, helping the new arrivals learn to survive (the elves are their own completely tangential weird story, being literally aliens), so elven guards alongside their caravans are common.
>rat paladins
That could be kinda cool, though.
Mouse/rat world beneath the human world, tiny rat paladin with armor made out of tin and aluminium junk...
...
Loosely affiliated tribes in peace time, ad hoc warbands in conflict.
Warhammers aside, I never personally really saw ratfolk as managing big standing armies. Stable, social societies where crime and internal stress is kept at bay by a natural desire for companionship and what said. Not to say it's perfect, there's always the oddballs that step out, but it's not enough to destabilize society, and thus doesn't need a strong leadership or government structure to make the trains run on time.
In terms of command hierarchy, and playing off the idea of stable, social culture, I feel like it would likely be a meritocratic structure, natural leaders raising to higher positions due to local praise and admiration boosting them up. Once at these higher positions, the same thing happens within the leadership community, so on and so forth. Again, sort of classic tribal rules, seasoned elders acting as advisors, hardened mature leaders acting as the chiefs, young and naturally talented ratfolk taking charge at lower levels.
In times of war, again, ad hoc warbands. Quick to assemble themselves and loyal enough to link up forces between the tribes, each would coordinate, and tailor themselves against the threat at hand as best they could, allowing for multiple, simultaneous, and devastating defensive deep strikes. Really though, I see it being hit and run, incorporating lots of traps and fakes, definitely not a standup fight army.
In most traditional depictions small = nice and big = bad. Mice are typically cute and good whereas rats are ugly verminous monsters.
skaven are chaotic neutral
Well, just makes it surprising when they aren't.
Can anyone recommend some good stories or even fanfics with skaven protagonists? I tried the Thanquol series but the writing is a bit trashy.
Try Headtaker, it's about Queek doing his headtaker thing.
And if you DO find any fanfics, bring them back here. I don't have any bookmarked.
See, this is bait.
But it's not like, malicious bait.
It's just stupid bait.
?
How do rats fight? Do they use their teeth? Scratch with hands? or hold with their hands and scratch with ther feet?
They stab enemies with bullets.
>Sci Fi concept
>For age of Sigmar
Pardon the fuck outta me?
Fuck it, I'll bite.
Skaven are pure evil, nothing neutral about them. They're sadistic, greedy, selfish, malicious, abusive pricks to a rat. They're permanently chaotic evil with no variation aside from shades of lawful every now and again.
skaven act in their own self-interest. any time they fuck someone else over, it's to benefit themselves. if a skaven benefits from doing good, they will do so.
They hypnotize their victims with their cute beady little eyes and stab them.
I'm sorry, but D&D alignments are shit.
If you honestly believe Skaven are anything but evil, that is on you.
I wish we had a proper rat version of that reaction pic
...
Igor throw the switch...
What does that even mean?
Presumably it means that mad science opens many doors even in stories with a fantasy bent.
What height/size should ratfolk be?
4'6" as an average height
>ratlets
>not stronk rat-ogres
I really miss those custom models that people made that used a Rat ogre as a base and 40k's killakan claws replacing the hands. Those were pretty cool.
Rate this:
>Taller than 'Umies
Kangaroo Rodentfolk
>Near 'Umie
Ratpeeps
>Always smaller than 'Umie
Micehomies
Has anyone tried pic related? It looks good but it has been in early access for ages.
Idk, how tall is pic related?
Thredd dedd.
Let's talk 'bout Ratfolk tunes.
What kinda music fills the warrens?
Custom models are the shit.
Especially those custom Hellpit Abominations I've seen around here.
What the hell, let's try a little /d/ tier and see if that spices things up;
How do you handle ratfolk breeding? Do they literally breed like rats, or is their reproduction slowed down so they don't take over the world in a few generations?
Can ratfolk interbreed with humans and/or other demihumans in your settings? Keep in mind, Fritz Leiber had ratfolk in his Lankhmar setting that were literally the offspring of humans and sapient non-morphic rats.
rat movie theme song
I now hear this in my head when dealing with Skaven warrens.
youtube.com
Beat me to it, this will probably never be topped.
