History Characters / TotalWarWarhammerTheSkaven

* BigBadWannabe: The other Chaos gods regard him as pathetic, inasmuch as they're aware of him at all. Much of his motivation can be read as trying to do one over the big league with a race of unwanted vermin that are like him in every way.

Introduced in ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerII'', the Skaven are playable in custom/multiplayer games, the ''Eye of the Vortex'' campaign and the ''Mortal Empires'' super-campaign. In ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerIII'', they will be playable in the upcoming ''Immortal Empires'' combined mega-campaign for owners of ''I'', ''II'' and ''III''.

* CripplingOverspecialization: Clan Eshin's faction bonuses are geared towards the mass use of Runners and Assassins at the cost of making everything else that's non-Eshin too expensive to field in large numbers. In other words, you can have a small army that's great at running circles around opponents and kiting them non-stop but might not be so great in other situations such as endurance and sieging.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Actually averted, in that unlike all the other factions, the Skaven don't have any distinct similarities to real-world cultures.

* {{Foil}}: They are a pretty strong one to the Dwarfen Kingdoms, as they are both technologically-advanced civilizations who live underground. Their contrasts are plenty:
** The Dwarfs rely on elite troops with small unit sizes, which encourages slow-moving and defensive tactics. The Skaven rely on cheap but plentiful units that can easily be thrown into the meatgrinder with reckless charges.
** The Dwarfs prefer technology that is rather safe to use and often free from magic, obsessively testing and tweaking their creations for decades or even centuries before letting them be used widely. The Skaven, on the other hand, use risky slipshod technology powered by warpstone, going through many different designs in their pursuit of power, which can easily be as much of a threat to its user as it is to its target.
** The Dwarfs, despite their tendency to make enemies with races on the surface, at the very least try to forge alliances with other races. The Skaven see all other races as tools to be cast aside when convenient.
** The Dwarfs put loyalty and honor before all, even common sense, while the Skaven see betrayal and dishonesty to be cornerstones of their culture, and consider the concept of a front-line general downright freakish.
** The Dwarfs worship a pantheon of well-respected ancestor-gods, while the Skaven are monotheistic and generally venerate the Horned Rat out of fear.
** The Dwarfs are ruled by a singular [[TheHighKing High King]] who almost always have his people's well-being as his highest priority, right next to settling grudges. The Skaven are ruled by [[OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness the Council of Thirteen]], most of whom are more interested in squabbling among themselves and jockeying for positions of prominence instead of furthering Skaven society in the slightest. Further, while the High King is perfectly willing to fight and die for his people on the battlefield, the members of the Council of Thirteen do almost anything in their power to ensure that they never have to do any fighting of their own. And despite being an active combatant, the High King tends to live on for hundreds of years wile the members of the Council of Thitreen are almost constantly changing due to their members getting killed off by eachother or by their underlings looking for a quick powergrab.
** The Dwarfs use outwardly plain but safe runecrafting, and generally shun other forms of magic. The Skaven use the destructive and dangerous Lores of Ruin, Stealth and Plague, and make extensive use of GreenRocks to power their society and its weapons.
** Dwarf units are very resistant to magic attacks, especially vortex spells, while the Skaven's lightly-armored hordes are very vulnerable to area-of-effect spells.
** Dwarf units tend to have high morale and are thus very hard to frighten from the field, even when you kill their leaders. Some of them, such as The Slayers, will even fight to the very end. Skaven, however, consists almost entirely of cowards and are very easy to defeat with units that cause fear and terror.
** The Dwarfen roster consists of slow units and are vulnerable against cavalry charges without Slayers or cannons. Skaven consist mostly of fast-moving units and have plenty more ways to deal with cavalry than the dwarfs have.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Possibly more so than any other ''Warhammer'' race. You'd be hard pressed to find a single redeeming or sympathetic feature about them -- they're all hateful, backstabbing, savage monsters. They worship a GodOfEvil who encourages betrayal and cruelty, they practice WeHaveReserves to the ''extreme'' and make heavy use Chaos-based sorcery and [[{{Magitek}} magitek]], and their ultimate goal is to wipe out or enslave "the surface races" (read: everyone) and claim the world for themselves. To illustrate how foul the Skaven are, it's best to compare them to the other Destruction factions: Vampires will enslave whole populations to use as food and servants, but are capable of feeling very genuine love and even a sense of noblesse oblige toward their "flocks". Dark Elves are cruel and have a culture based on torture and slavery, but are more driven more by historical grievances than innate nature and some of them can even potentially become questionably heroic. Orcs are violent brutes, but they'll develop what could be considered friendships and attachments to their fellows, and even the most brutal Black Orc will cry if his pet squig dies (though not in front of the other boyz because that just makes him look like a runty git). The Beastmen may be savage animals that want to destroy civilization but they have a tragic FreudianExcuse of being discarded for their mutations and deformities as well as not having free will. Even the Dark Gods of Chaos can draw from humanity's positive attributes as well as the negative ones.[[note]]Khorne can represent martial bravery and skill, Slaanesh can represent love and joy, Tzeentch can represent knowledge and hope, and Nurgle can represent emotional and physical endurance[[/note]] Skaven hate everyone and everything: they are more cowardly and paranoid than any goblin, crueler and more hostile than Dark Elves, and more fractious than Chaos. Love, friendship, and honor are completely alien to the Skaven's psyche.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Possibly more so than any other ''Warhammer'' race. You'd be hard pressed to find a single redeeming or sympathetic feature about them -- they're all hateful, backstabbing, savage monsters. They worship a GodOfEvil who encourages betrayal and cruelty, they practice WeHaveReserves to the ''extreme'' and make heavy use Chaos-based sorcery and [[{{Magitek}} magitek]], and their ultimate goal is to wipe out or enslave "the surface races" (read: everyone) and claim the world for themselves. To illustrate how foul the Skaven are, it's best to compare them to the other Destruction factions: Vampires will enslave whole populations to use as food and servants, but are capable of feeling very genuine love. Dark Elves are cruel and have a culture based on torture and slavery, but are more driven more by historical grievances than innate nature and some of them can even potentially become questionably heroic. Orcs are violent brutes, but they'll develop what could be considered friendships and attachments to their fellows, and even the most brutal Black Orc will cry if his pet squig dies (though not in front of the other boyz because that just makes him look like a runty git). The Beastmen may be savage animals that want to destroy civilization but they have a tragic FreudianExcuse of being discarded for their mutations and deformities as well as not having free will. Even the Dark Gods of Chaos can draw from humanity's positive attributes as well as the negative ones.[[note]]Khorne can represent martial bravery and skill, Slaanesh can represent love and joy, Tzeentch can represent knowledge and hope, and Nurgle can represent emotional and physical endurance[[/note]] Skaven hate everyone and everything: they are more cowardly and paranoid than any goblin, crueler and more hostile than Dark Elves, and more fractious than Chaos. Love, friendship, and honor are completely alien to the Skaven's psyche.

* EvilSoundsDeep: Queek's voice is noticeably much deeper than the average Skaven, best shown when he speaks with his associates in the Skaven campaign introduction. Interestingly, in contrast to the campaign intro, his in-game voice is noticeably lighter and more nasally.

* DemonicPossession: Ending his Vortex campaign sees Snikch [[spoiler:taking T'zarkhan from Malus]].

* BladeOnAStick: Wields the '''Storm Daemon''', a Warpstone halberd of Ikit's own design that fires warp lightning from its blade.

* BladeOnAStick: Skaven make heavy use of spears, which includes the infamous rusty halberds of the Stormvermin, but what really takes the cake is the weapons of the Eshin Triad's; Chinese-styled ''Guandao's'', powerful bladed spears imported from far Cathay.

* BadassBaritone: Out of all the Legendary Lords of the Skaven, he has the darkest and deepest voice out of all of them.

* BadassBaritone: Keeps his original voice as a Khornate Berserker and the deepest voice of all Skaven characters.

* WhipItGood: One of the weapons Throt wields is the '''Whip of Domination''', a whip made of Minotaur hide and bathed in Troll digestive juices -- the same digestive juices that can melt through flesh with ease.

-->'''Queek:''' [spoiler:Clan Mors victorious, with me-me at its head!]]

* BadBoss: Even compared to other Skaven, Queek is infamous for the casual disregard for his minions, often personally killing them solely to make an example of them to the rest of his men. One of his unique skills is aptly titled "Make Example!" which increases Queek's leadership effects, and makes Warlord's more loyal to him, at the cost of loyalty from Grey Seers.
* BattleTrophy: Has a fondness of collecting the remains of his notable enemies and proudly displays them on the trophy rack on his back. These range from skulls or severed hands to the entire spine of a dead skaven.
-->'''When selected on the campaign map:''' "N-need to restock my trophy-rack!"
* TheBerserker: When fighting, Queek is nothing more then a raging furball of death.
* BloodKnight: Skaven are cowardly creatures as a rule, and whilst some might be occasionally more brave than others, Queek is notable for being unnaturally courageous (by Skaven standards). This is entirely due to Queek's love of violence, and he is so eager to kill that he chooses to lead from the front (in a society that regards the leader's place to be ''at the back'').
* TheBrute: While he's hardly stupid, he's still a direct, temperamental individual who prefers leading armies and killing enemies in battle to the schemes and politicking of his fellow Skaven, a trait he ''utterly despises''. His master is more then fine with this, using Queek as an attack dog and enforcer, sending him to take care of threats to his power that require no subtlety.

* EliteMooks: Queek is infamous for his personal company of crimson armored Stormvermin, the Red Guard, which is represented by a handful of special skills.

* FantasticRacism:
** He hates Dwarfs above all other races, and a good number of the trophies on his back are Dwarfen skulls.
** Queek also hates Grey Seers because he despises playing politics and doesn't respect their authority. In-game this is represented by all Grey Seers in your faction starting out at -2 loyalty.

-->"Squirt Musk of Fear, vermin, ''for the Headtaker comes before you!''"
* LargeAndInCharge: Queek is notably large and powerful for a Skaven, to the point of being the largest of his litter, who, being black-furred stormvermin, were all very large to begin with.

* MeleeATrois: Subverted in the Eye of the Vortex campaign. You'd expect him to be fighting Belegar Ironhammer and Warlord Skarsnik for control of Karak Eight Peaks, but he's not even on the right continent for that, so it's not a factor. Played straight in the Mortal Empires campaign, which moves him to the deserts of Khemri and gives him the same "Take Karak Eight Peaks" overarching mission Belegar and Skarsnik have, with a unique building chain available to him once he take it just like them. Notably, he gets improved Melee Attack and Weapon Strength stats when fighting Dwarfs and Greenskins as a reflection of his rivalry with them.
* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: A decidedly evil example of this trope. Unlike most Skaven, he has few — if any — problems putting himself in danger, and relishes a good fight. Also, while he isn't stupid, he's not the schemer you'd expect from a Skaven, and is generally blunt and to the point. It's what makes him such a wildcard in Skaven politics, and why the Council of Thirteen fears him.

* SoProudOfYou: In a loading quote Queek's ParentalSubstitute Lord Gnawdwell invokes this, in what is possibly the nicest thing a Skaven has ever said of anyone else that wasn't them. Presumably he takes pride in his pet project growing up to be a ruthless and powerful warrior in the same way a blacksmith takes pride in a well-made weapon.

* UndyingLoyalty: One thing that sets him apart from other Skaven is his eternal loyalty to his master, Warlord Gnawdwell. A ''very'' rare trait for a Skaven to have.
** [[SubvertedTrope However]], his loyalty does have its limits, as when [[spoiler:he finds out that the Council of Thirteen, and by extension Gnawdwell, have decided to sacrifice the entirety of Clan Mors to summon the Horned Rat, he revolts against it and his master. By the time of the battle at the Vortex, he's decided that a change in leadership is in order.]]
-->"[[spoiler:Clan Mors victorious, with me-me at its head!]]"

* WeHaveReserves: Even more so then other Warlords, Queek cares little for his men, besides his Stormvermin, and sends them out to die in droves. One of his unique skills emphasises this, increasing replenishment, and significantly buffing up [[SlaveMook Skaven Slaves]] and [[{{Mook}} Clan Rats]].

* NoPronunciationGuide: A lot of people, including [=CA=] staff members and even his own [=VA=], have been saying his name wrong which is both funny and sad at the same time.
** The proper pronunciation is "Snik-ch". Not "Snitch", "sneak-itch", or "snick-itch".

[[center: [-[[{{Characters/TotalWarWarhammer}} Main characters index]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheEmpire The Empire of Man]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheKingdomOfBretonnia The Kingdom of Bretonnia]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheTzardomOfKislev The Tzardom of Kislev]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheEmpireOfGrandCathay The Empire of Grand Cathay]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheDwarfenKingdoms The Dwarfen Kingdoms]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheHighElves The High Elves]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheDarkElves The Dark Elves]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheWoodElves The Wood Elves]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheLizardmen The Lizardmen]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheVampireCounts The Vampire Counts]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheTombKings The Tomb Kings]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheVampireCoast The Vampire Coast]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheDaemonsOfChaos The Daemons Of Chaos]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheWarriorsOfChaos The Warriors of Chaos]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheNorscanTribes The Norscan Tribes]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheBeastmen The Beastmen]] | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheGreenskins The Greenskins]] | '''The Skaven''' | [[Characters/TotalWarWarhammerTheOgreKingdoms The Ogre Kingdoms]] ]]-]

Queek Headtaker leads the Clan Mors sub-faction. In ''The Eye of the Vortex'', he begins the game in the Southern Jungles province in the Southlands. In ''Mortal Empires'', he instead begins in Charnel Valley, on the border between the Southlands and the Badlands.

Lord Strolk leads the Clan Pestilens sub-faction. In ''The Eye of the Vortex'', he begins the game in the Lost Valley province in Lustria. In ''Mortal Empires'', he instead begins in the Headhunter's Jungle, also in Lustria.

Becoming available as FLC, Tretch Craventail leads the Clan Rictus sub-faction. In both ''The Eye of the Vortex'' and ''Mortal Empires'', he begins the game on the Clawed Coast in Naggaroth.

Ikit Claw is a Legendary Lord available to those who purchase the DLC pack ''The Prophet and the Warlock''. Ikit Claw leads his own sub-faction, Clan Skryre, in the Eye of the Vortex and Mortal Empires campaigns.

Deathmaster Snikch is a Legendary Lord available to those who purchase the DLC pack ''The Shadow and the Blade''. Deathmaster Snikch leads the Clan Eshin sub-faction in the in the Eye of the Vortex and Mortal Empires campaigns.

Throt the Unclean is a Legendary Lord available to those who purchase the DLC pack ''The Twisted and the Twilight''. He leads the Clan Moulder sub-faction in the Eye of the Vortex and Mortal Empires campaigns, starting in the Chill Road and Hell Pit, respectively.

* ChronicBackStabbingDisorder: This is considered a virtue for Skaven to have, but Tretch's gameplay mechanics ''encourage'' this, gaining a moderate public order boost to his cities whenever he breaks a treaty.

* KlingonPromotion: Noted to have gained his chieftain title by assassinating his predecessor [[ZanyScheme by disguising himself as a stalactite and dropping onto his head]].

* LonelyAtTheTop: Tretch's faction bonus rewards you with suddenly breaking agreements but this would mean having to give up the possibility of having trading partners or military allies as your reliability rating will gradually plummet downwards to nothing.

* PowerUpLetdown: Tretch's faction bonus, which gives +4 Public Order for breaking a treaty, has been thoroughly evaluated as completely useless because the tradeoff is simply not worth it: You're getting a very insignificant "reward" for a universally deplorable action that will bring serious consequences upon you in the long-term. And it takes a very, very long time to get your reliability rating back up to a level where other factions, including Skaven ones, will want to be friendly and trusting towards you.

* ToServeMan: The Skaven, like the Greenskins, Lizardmen and Beastmen, can replenish their casualties by devouring captives after battle. They can also take them as slaves, adding them to their food stockpile to be consumed later.

** AchillesHeel: Because of how heavily they rely on overwhelming numbers, they can be greatly harmed by spells that [[HerdHittingAttack cover a great area]], such as breath spells and vortex spells. They have a similar issue when it comes to factions that have large artillery arsenals. Their leadership is also so abysmal (see below) that in addition to the casualties, a direct hit by a spell or artillery blast can cause a skaven unit to rout.

* AchillesHeel: Because of how heavily they rely on overwhelming numbers, they can be greatly harmed by spells that [[HerdHittingAttack cover a great area]], such as breath spells and vortex spells. They are also easily affected by Fear and Terror due to their cowardly nature giving them low morale. As a whole, Skaven armies tend to rout much easier than other factions due to their inherent cowardice; if they're not winning at least slightly, they're more concerned with saving their own hides than winning the fight for you by risking their lives.

* EpicFlail: His WeaponOfChoice, is the '''Rod of Corruption''', a disgusting censer, is this mixed with a staff.