General Whf Lore Q&A

[LordLucan]

If you have a burning question or series of quesitons regarding the Warhammer Fantasy world in general, then post them up here, and our forumites (probably Ath) will try to answer your questions.

If I retain my modship, I will sticky this thread.

[Vivia]

Yay, I found it!

Anyone knows anything about the white stormvermin? From what I understand the stormvermin are usually black.
Any reason for the different colours?

[Mossy Toes]

As I understand it, white- and grey-furred skaven are generally raised as the skaven magicians and seers. Other than having a privileged place in society, I don't think there is much of a basis for white-furred skaven being stormvermin. Where was this written to raise it as a question?

[Vivia]

Well, from the novel Grey Seer. I couldn't find anything on Lexi on them. They are bigger than the usual black stormvermin and albino. Perhaps it's a way to say they're bio-engineered, you know like lab rats. A breed of super ratmen!

[Mossy Toes]

Wel, I (shamefully) haven't read it yet, so I can't offer too much assistance here.

[Vivia]

It could be a total spoiler, now that I think about it. Thanquol was given these two guards for his mission, two silent hulking Skavens. I so need to get the Skaven army book.

[shadowhawk2008]

I'm interested in doing some WHF stuff for submission purposes. Thinking about something regarding the chaos warriors. What books would be recommended other than the codex itself. I have blood for the blood god and valkia is next year. Any others?

[Mossy Toes]

Palace of the Plague Lord, Sigvald, and Wulfrik, I should think.

[Vivia]

Palace of the Plague Lord definitely, carnage all the way. Any of the anthologies; Realm of Chaos, The Laughter of Dark Gods and others. BL have an extract of LoDG on their site.
I need BftBG and Wulfrik myself.

[shadowhawk2008]

I highly recommend BftBG. Its quite a different type of WHF novel I think, kind of like how The Outcast Dead is for 40k.

[Vivia]

Less carnage and more intellect? That's what I get from HH, well, the HH was never much for the carnage I think.

[LordLucan]

Less with the carnage? HH has approx. three battles per book generally...

[shadowhawk2008]

BftBG is absolute carnage. It is different in that the carnage itself isnt the main focus but the characters' reactions to that carnage are.

[shadowhawk2008]

Hmmm. Getting a hold of those three books might be troublesome since I'm tapped out till at least BLL2012 and then there are a host of other books I need to get from that year.

Ah well.

[Vivia]

To get the old anthologies you would have to go E-bay, the maelstrom. The was also a special chapbook Storm of Chaos during the campaign, written by McNeill. Very dark and nice.

[Athelassan]

Stormvermin are usually black-furred. However that's not to say that Stormvermin with other colours of fur would necessarily be unheard of. It's probably unusual to get brown-furred ones (they'd start out as clanrats and rise through the ranks) but albino or grey-furred Skaven with no magical talent might well end up as elite Stormvermin or bodyguards, as they'd still be considered favoured by the Horned Rat.

Many of the really good books on Chaos Warriors are, I think, out of print: the Slaves to Darkness trilogy, the Mark of x novels, the Realm of Chaos anthology. It depends in part where you draw the line between marauders and Chaos Warriors. Most novels which cover the topic, incuding Palace of the Plague Lord and Blood for the Blood God focus largely on the former. Wulfrik and Sigvald are both worth reading. Konrad is not a very good story, but its depictions of Chaos are very effective. Riders of the Dead is worth checking out, too, as are some of the stories in Tales of the Old World and the short story The Ignorant Armies (printed in the anthologies Ignorant Armies (GW/Boxtree), Silver Nails and Vampire Genevieve.)

Also highly recommended, if you can find them and bring yourself to pay the asking price, are the WFB/WFRP books Tome of Corruption, Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness and Realm of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned.

Ath

[shadowhawk2008]

Thanks for the suggestions Ath! I'll see what I can dig up

[Vivia]

The albino bodyguards are intriguing because they made the black-furred SV look puny.

Just want to mention that the Mark of Chaos books are available as a POD omnibus. It's kind of worth it.

[Carandini]

The albino stormvermin are mentioned as far back as the 4th edition Skaven Army Book. They are a unqiue class of warriors that act as the guards of the Council of Thirteen and the Shattered Tower. There's a fiction piece in that book (possibly written by the great William King himself) where Thanquol muses on whether or not the albino stormvermin are especially bred for the Council by Clan Moulder.

Normal stormvermin are always black, even if it's not their natural fur colour. because skaven associate the colour black with violent killers and other things it is generally wise to show both respect and fear, a brown-furred skaven who is physically imposing enough to be a stormvermin would dye his fur black to match that role. similar to the way skaven assassins will dye their fur both for the psychological effect and to better blend into the dark.

white and grey ratmen generally become leaders, usually because whelps with these fur colours are treated better and given better opportunities for survival and advancement by their warrens. In the dark of the tunnels, these lighter fur colours are more visible and hence the leader is able to be seen by his troops - always a benefit in ensuring the army is aware of what's going on. Horned ratmen are the ones with a natural affinity for magic, and these whelps are supposed to be handed over to the Order of Grey Seers when they are born - though some clans no doubt hide these blessed offspirng so they can have some homegrown sorcerers of their own, possibly sawing off the horns to conceal their deception. Clan Pestilens in particular seems to gleefully ignore this mandate.

It is probably also worth mentioning that the clans of the Pestilent Brotherhood, ie those allied or enthralled to Clan Pestilens, maintain their own diseased version of stormvermin - so-called plaguevermin, who are always chosen for the interesting skin diseases and malformities they've developed and are always given the rustiest, nastiest armour and weapons their clans can provide.

[Xisor]

Horned ratmen are the ones with a natural affinity for magic, and these whelps are supposed to be handed over to the Order of Grey Seers when they are born - though some clans no doubt hide these blessed offspirng so they can have some homegrown sorcerers of their own, possibly sawing off the horns to conceal their deception. Clan Pestilens in particular seems to gleefully ignore this mandate.

Am I right in saying this aspect cropped up by stealth in Plague Priest? I remember wondering about horns, but by that point in the book I would've been a tad inebriated and thus perhaps had my perceptions altered a tad.

Moreover, 'twas mentioned on "QI" as I watched this evening that the root of the historic plague isn't the rats themselves, but the fleas the rats carried. This was news to me. I wonder if that sort of thing is really 'of note' in context of the Skaven?

Also, as this seems like the venue to expose the thought I just had: how advanced is Skaven knowledge on the front of the plagues and things - do they have a proper idea of germ theory, for example?