Skaven

Skaven are a Xenos species susceptible to the neurotoxin rodotoxin, an optional supply carried by Ratling Snipers for their Needle Sniper Rifle.^[1]

Nothing else is known about them.

Development History

The following information is not to be regarded as officially sanctioned and/ or is not written from an in-universe point of view. A detailed explanation of the term "Trivia" as used in the Lexicanum can be found here.

1991 Jes Goodwin sketch of a Warhammer 40,000 Skaven.^[3]

Skaven, a race of technomagical humanoid rat-men who worship the Chaos deity The Great Horned Rat. They have been a mainstay of Warhammer Fantasy Battles since their introduction in 1986.^[2]

Many factions in Warhammer 40,000 saw their origins in the fantasy races of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, and initial concept sketches for a Warhammer 40,000 version of the Skaven were drawn by Jes Goodwin in 1991.^[3] For unknown reasons the race would never see it's debut.

Skaven have been mentioned only once in text in Warhammer 40,000, in the original Imperial Guard army rules for Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader found in White Dwarf 109 (UK) in 1989 (and in its reproduction in the Warhammer 40,000 Compendium the same year), as the target of a specific poison.^[1] They have received no mentions since 1989.

See also

• Necromundan Giant Rats
• Kweethul – a lesser Daemon who took part in the Siege of Terra who shares a name with the Warhammer Fantasy Battles character Kweethul Gristlegut, associated with the Skaven of that game.^[4]

Sources

• 1: White Dwarf 109 (UK), pg. 52
• 2: The Citadel Journal Spring 86, pg. 10
• 3: The Gothic and the Eldritch, pgs. 38-39
• 4: The End and the Death: Volume I (Novel) - 2:ii