By: Jonathan M. Hubert

Published via Hawden & Sons, Redholme City, 1345 AS

It is common knowledge that a litany of troubles plagued Tor long before its fall. But my contemporaries rarely mention the troubles caused by the emergence of ratmen from beneath the city in its latter years. The Apothecary Corp’s urban ecologists’ of the day made many an expedition into the sewers of Tor to observe the ratmen, and even fewer returned; it is by their observations we have come to understand their rudimentary culture.

This subterranean species needs not flowery adjectives to paint the reader a picture, for they are very much their namesake - anthropomorphic rodents who walk on two legs. The longest lifespans recorded in Apothecarian captivity have been between 2-3 years. All ratmen can dig pretty well. They also are exceptional climbers and swimmers. They have even been observed to have their own language consisting of squeaks (Tch-tch gwaragle pfft-pfft-pfft-gwaargh!), twitching noses and whiskers. Some ratmen have demonstrated and aptitude for understanding common language. Such ability has been most often referenced when observing their shamans.

Of those who managed to infiltrate the depths of the sewers, either by brute force or unseen, it was observed that the ratmen had exhibited the ability to engage in the creation of simple crafted objects: tools and the construction of precarious structures. The materials used and were often stolen from the city above. This collaborates reports of rampant theft prior to the raids in Legion reports of the period. Amongst experts on the subject, ratmen society is described as a flimsy, chaotic structure with a “might is right” mentality. There's not really any clear rank and file among them, but the most powerful are the ones to boss others around. Murder, maiming, and cannibalizing each other is quite common. The strongest of them all rise to packlord status. Packlords exhibit their power over their fellow ratmen in varying degrees of superior physical prowess or mental cunning. Their peers do not necessarily see them as a leader, but more-so they comply with the packlords demands out of fear. Due to the rapid breeding habits of these creatures, packlords are easily replaced by a new ratmen stepping in when the last one gets snuffed out.

First historical mentions of ratmen began in official Legion reports around the late 1330’s. It started with a surge of petty theft reports followed by sudden, overwhelming raids of Tor’s Labor District. While ratmen were beaten back to the sewers, general consensus is they are credited towards the district’s eventual degradation into a proper slum. Though origins of ratmen have never been confirmed by any Republic organization, the strongest theory suggests alchemical and magical pollution from the Consortium District is responsible for the rise of ratmen. Common sewer rats consumed this arcane waste, which altered their forms and minds over the course of many rapid generations. Due to rats being prolific breeders, generations are believed to have mutated quickly in this magic runoff until we got what we see today. The theory of magical byproduct influence is strongly supported by the ruling class of ratmen in their society possessing magical ability; what Apothecaries have categorized as shamans, a name borrowed from similar primitive pagan tribes who plague corners of the Republic. This theory is further supported by the eventually of the Consortium District’s runaway experimental magics in 1341 AS, the specifics of which to this day have not been made public.

Since quarantine measures were put into effect after the Torment outbreak of Tor in 1342 AS, there have been no new recorded sightings of ratmen. It is likely what remains of the species still inhabits the sewers and caverns underneath Tor, though whether they have succumb to the Torment or managed to retreat further into the underground remain unknown at the time of this writing. The Republic’s immediate quarantine of the First Province, as well as the scrutinizing and systematic culling of refugees deemed high risk of further outbreak upon the mass exodus, places this ratmen phenomena to the annals of history. The average Redholmian need only fear exposure to disease or civilian ne’er-do-well should they ever find themselves in their cities’ sewers.