Chapter X: The Empire
small villages and farmsteads. Often homes or hamlets are raided in the night, their inhabitants slain, the buildings burned down, and the animals carried away to be consumed by the Beastmen. Only the very strongest Beastlords with a will of iron can hold together their hordes for long enough to pose a serious threat to the Empire, but when this happens the lands of the Emperor are in dire peril. The Beastmen gather around their holy herdstones, attracted by the bonfires lit by a Beastman Chieftain who wishes to call the scattered warbands together. As well as Beastmen, the forests and subterranean depths hide many other things of foul form and evil disposition. These are not creatures of any recognisable species or type; their ancestry is submerged beneath generations of physical corruption. They have no name, these Children of Chaos, but they are there…waiting. When the power of Chaos grows strong and the Dark Gate pours forth its evil energy then the Children of Chaos will rise from the shadows—braying, screaming and howling in anticipation of the final victory of the Dark Gods. And yet it is not even the corrupted Beastmen and the drooling spawn that linger in the wilds that are most likely to bring about the Empire’s downfall. No, by far the greatest threat is the Enemy Within, the vile canker at the heart of man himself, which dwells in the villages, towns and cities, and even walks abroad in plain sight, masquerading as The cults of Chaos are like worms in the core of a rotten apple, gathered together from the rich and decadent to the poor and desperate. All men have dreams and fears, and it is to these fears that the Dark Gods appeal. Fear of death, want of revenge, desire for power or recognition, these are all the humble beginnings of the Chaos cultist; for when a man puts himself before the will of the Dark Gods, he takes the first steps to damnation. Though all worship of Chaos is forbidden in the Empire, and the Witch Hunters and others destroy what foes they can find, it is impossible for knowledge of the Dark Gods to be expunged. Mutation is an ever-present phenomenon across the Empire, while Chaos lurks at the edges of the most ancient stories and old memories. When the harvests fail, is it not tempting to believe that the Gods have deserted the farmer and that he should turn to older, more powerful entities? When one desires political influence or magical power, is it not the test of a man that he should risk his soul in pursuit of knowledge and glory? When your foes are many and your sword arm weak, to whom would you call except the greatest of the lords of battle? When one desires companionship, love or adoration, is it not the prince of the Gods who offers succour? With a hundred small lies, even pious, noble men can begin down the path towards Chaos, and there are those who await him, ready to accept him with open arms. Such magisters and cultists may not even be aware that what they do is for the power of Chaos, for not all men will blindly give their soul to another. There are those, however, who have accepted their fate and willingly barter their eternal life for power in this world, and perhaps even the chance to cheat death and achieve immortality. The goals of such men inevitably turn them against their fellow man goodness when it is nothing but evil. s laVes To d arkness
not knowing that each time they do so is to bring them closer to the Eye of Chaos and ultimate success or mindless oblivion. All Chaos corrupts. The journey may be swift or it may be slow, but the path leads ever to the same place—the desire to dominate all others and see the world that has spurned you turned into a plaything of the Dark Gods. T he l oaThsome r aTmen Although the perils of Chaos are known but not widely understood, there is another danger that has been a source of contention amongst the learned and the ignorant all across the Empire. Despite the arguments that such a thing could not exist and still be unknown, there are those that claim a race of rat-like mutants rules an Under- Empire that stretches the length and breadth of the Old World. Such claims are true, but the secrecy with which the Skaven shroud themselves, and the power of men to delude themselves and each other, is sufficient to cast doubt on the stories of giant rats that walk like men beneath the streets—but there are those who know the truth. There are those who have seen the Skaven and lived to tell the tale. It was in the year 1111 that the Skaven first struck against the Empire, when agents of the Lords of Decay sneaked into the villages and towns and poured warp-contagions into the wells, pools, and rivers. The plague spread through the populace like wildfire, poisoning the young, the old, and the fit equally. The pox began almost at once in Nuln, Altdorf, and Talabheim, spreading through the cities and surrounding areas within days. The rivers that are the lifeblood of the Empire became the means by which the Black Plague spread, until the pestilence was as far afield as Marienburg and Stirland. As winter closed in and the numbed survivors fought against starvation, the Lords of Decay unleashed the warrior clans. In their thousands, the Skaven warriors overran the few survivors of the devastated towns and villages. Slaves, crops, and livestock were all taken, disappearing back into the labyrinthine warren of the Under- Empire. In response, the Counts ordered the villages burned to the ground to stem the tide of foulness, often with their inhabitants still within, kept back by crossbowmen and arquebusiers. Only the largest cities escaped the scourging disease and the Skaven clanrats. The Ratmen knew that though a great victory had been won, the Empire still yet had the power to resist them should their presence be discovered and the Counts moved against them. In 1115, Emperor Boris Goldgather died from the plague still lingering in the lands, one of the last of almost three-quarters of the population to have succumbed to the dread contagion. When finally the Skaven Council of Thirteen deemed the time was ripe, after years of enslavement and slaughter, they were unprepared for the resistance of Count Mandred of Middenheim. As the Skaven attacked Middenland, thousands of refugees poured into the city from the surrounding area. Despite the cordons and troops to keep back the infected, the Skaven infiltrated the catacombs beneath the city and unleashed the plague in the heart of Middenheim. As death and panic gripped the capital of Middenland, Mandred marched forth with what army he could muster and rallied enough support from the other Counts to drive the plague of Ratmen back under the ground. For a while, the Skaven attack had been staved off.
and the Empire that nourished and raised them, like a babe taking blood from the bosom that feeds it. For them to rule, the cultists must overthrow those in power, destroy those who oppose them, and
By 1124, Mandred’s crusade had all but destroyed the Skaven in many areas of the Empire, driving them to the south and east. Internal
to gather followers to their cause. In secret meetings and with dark rituals, they weave their schemes and conjure spirits and daemons to grant them power, perhaps
division within the Council of Thirteen forced the Skaven to turn their attention
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