The Imperium Are The Space Skaven

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/ @pancreasnowork9939
Rats in space? Nah man, the people ARE the rats in space.
Music:
Age of Mythology - In a Pile of Its Own Good, Flavor Cats, Hoping For Real Betterness, Adult Swim

[@shanebruhVEVO]

great, as if my day wasnt bad enough, now i have to watch this slop

[@kolbycampbell3957]

Can't tell if this is an inside joke or pin of shame

[@dinodude6992]

@@kolbycampbell3957 Perhaps both-both

[@DylanJo123]

@@kolbycampbell3957 Im assuming its a joke we're not in on since homie is acting like he didnt have a choice in watching the video. Pancreas must be holding a gun to his head or something lol

[@SK-ww7ud]

​@@kolbycampbell3957man's a channel member so fairly safe bet on the joke lmao

[@DylanJo123]

​@@imvictorhugscant rule out that possibility lol. OP blink twice if youre in danger

[@TheNameAlcorWasStolenFromMe]

The imperium is literally lead by the 13th primarch i am shocked people are in denial of this

[@wingedhussar8552]

Now I need some skaven to venerate Guilliman as an avatar of the great horned rat, much to his confusion

[@EungsuLee]

@@wingedhussar8552 Robot Gorillaman is a Verminlord, Senatorum Imperialis is the Council of Thirteen, AdMech is Clan Skryre, Officio Assasinorum is Clan Eshin, and Adeptus Astartes is the army of Rat Ogres. PERFECT.

[@rh0mbus104]

​@@wingedhussar8552 and the Great Horned Rat's anger.

[@BrBetim]

@@EungsuLee You can even have the Custodes as the stormvermins and your average guardsmen as the clanrats. Truly perfect.

[@loomi1481]

Don’t care, want rat

[@BrBetim]

If the Skaven were to ever get in the 40k universe, they'd be so at home on the Empire they'd think the Emperor was some incarnation of the Great Horned Rat

[@alderbernhardt]

Eeeeh no. They'd still try to kill the man things

[@yokaiou5848]

​@alderbernhardt not so sure, they live in Warren's, backstabbing is politics and their technology is hostile to life. They fit right in in the Imperium.

[@shiftygypsy89migh41]

We can dream....its a big universe.

[@Athetos_Admech]

If the skaven could be convinced to tolerate human leadership, worship big E as the living incarnation of their god or vice-versa (kinda like how the mechanicus get away with worshiping thier machine god), and purge Clan Pestilens (they seem to be cursed/blessed by Nurgle and are suspected of heresy by the other skaven clans) then there is an extremely slim chance that the high lords of terra might decide to bring them into the fold as a 'forgotten abhuman strain'. There used to be minotaur-like beastmen that were under imperial rule but were later persecuted because of their resemblance to demons, so it wouldn't be the first time something like that happened. The Great Horned Rat's influence might also escape the notice of most Inquisitors because, unlike the other chaos gods who rely on demonic underlings and possessed psykers, the Great Horned Rat almost exclusively works through the skaven who still have free will. The Great Horned Rat's more subtle influence might be dismissed by all but the most puritanical factions as a combination of local superstitions and the actions of skaven psykers.

[@Tokumastu1]

Skaven looking at the Emperor like "That's not a no-fur! Dried husk is Skaven-champion of Great Horned Rat! We must purge-kill the no furs infecting Skaven Imperium!"

[@pancreasnowork9939]

"This is a World of Warcraft game" no the fuck it isn't KZbin, thank you for that

[@podero2.022]

Eh, close enough.

[@WAAAAAGH1984]

Blizzard are rats though to be fair

[@smartsalamander8753]

Why don't you World of Warcraft some bi-*I am instantly vaporized*

[@kakkakapwppwow]

It is, wake up bro...

[@edmundthespiffing2920]

Then why do you show and talk of Captain Picard ?

[@PhthaloGreenskin]

I was in a rogue trader game where the Priest brought skaven on board the ship and made them worship the emperor. Then the techprist made some of the skaven worship the ommnisiah and the skaven had a religious civil war. Nothing came of it because the ship suffered catastrophic geller field failure.

[@JaysonVaughn]

that shit is hilarious! any more silly rogue trader stories?

[@olorinmagus4479]

Did the catastrophic gellar field failure have anything to do with the skaven civil war on board?

[@natalie6811]

“Catastrophic Gellar Field Failure” That’s just what the Skaven want you to think

[@skeeter5076]

Sounds like a classic RT game

[@skeeter5076]

RT is definitely my favorite of the FFG RPGs

[@Al3xtheMeh]

I desperately want a short story about the Skaven opening up a portal to an Imperial Hive City where they have to fight against Gene Stealers and Imperials. Then get wiped from existence either through their own incompetence or the Great Horned Rat physically pulls them back into the Mortal Realms because he can't accept his children not being under his control in another universe.

[@jamesmckenna4460]

Or they bring the great horned rat with them and make the far future a lot more interesting

[@BS-cc4ks]

@@jamesmckenna4460 The Great Horned Rat getting a Loss would be, by far, the most interesting thing to do with him.

[@andresmarrero8666]

​@@jamesmckenna4460that sounds more likely. It is either that or the planet blows up due to the sheer concentrated manipulative vice, and the rats still live.

[@WeOnlyEatSoup]

Yes please what a fun one off short story this could be 😭 skaven vs genestealers fighting over a hive city that gets the inquisition treatment in the end lol

[@Bluecho4]

I would go the other way: the Great Horned Rat is strong in AoS, but has no worshipers in 40K like the other Chaos Gods. So sends Skaven through the portal to give him a foothold in that galaxy. What follows is a massive war in the hive, where the Imperium is faced with its furry counterparts on a one-to-one basis. The Imperium wins, despite incompetence, backstabbing, and internecine conflict (on both sides). But in true Imperium fashion, they fail to learn anything from the experience. Plus, some Skaven stow away on their ships, ensuring the rat-men will spread throughout the galaxy.

[@Never_heart]

We need Space Skaven because I want to see a faction with tech as powerful and advanced as Necrons, while being even less stable and reliable than anything made by the Orks

[@catalyst9955]

I would absolutely love this

[@PeachDragon_]

Agreed

[@AnnoyanceHazard]

@@pinkythemighty What do you mean "it wouldn't be lore friendly". When man was barely discovering flintlocks the skaven were experimenting with warp artillery and frankensteins monsters proving great technical aptitude for the rats. Humanities tech was not just dropped in a day but developed over millennia and skaven tech would have developed in parallel. Even if humanity did start out advancing the rats they would just copy the human tech and adapt it to their own needs, like what happened during the world wars. If you are talking about the DaoT then humanity was not genocidal during that time. Just like dark age humanity did NOT wipe out the orks(species who literally lives just to plunder and kill in a war) they would not have genocide the skaven but probably keep them contained to their own skaven star systems in a form of space quarantine. So the only canonical time humanity could have massively out tech the skaven was the time they would just contain them to a small set of space. And if you mean the interpretation of "skaven were on a primitive planet then suddenly lol imperium colonizes it" the existence of gene stealer cults proves the imperiums "tech" to locate much of anything is long in the past. TLDR: People who most confidently state that something is against the lore think the least about it.

[@Teaseal8]

​@@pinkythemightyso did you not read anything they just said (type whatever you want to call it) or what?

[@calebbarnhouse496]

​@@pinkythemightystop being asinine, the skaven had better tech development in the same amount of time as empire, they easily could have had tech on par with golden age humanity, they wouldn't be the only faction that did

[@maddlarkin]

There was a 40k novel where one of the main characters was talking about a joking theory that rats have spread so far and so ubiquitously on human worlds that the Imperium is intact just a vehicle for rats to Conquer the stars, if that's not a set up for space skaven, mutant 'intelligent' rats hiding under the Imperium then I dont know what is

[@sergeantsharkseant]

I am pretty sure that is one of the gaunt ghosts novels Dan Abnett always has the best ideas, wonder who came up with the necron pylons on cadia? It was Abnett. anyways I remember in the same book and in others it was mentioned that earths rats often mutate and cross breed with local lifeforms creating monsters. It would be absolutely fitting if in some underhive rats evolved to skaven and started building their underempite across the stars due to how ships work their lower decks also are perfect hiding spaces for scum and due to mutations being rampant at these locations nobody would bat an eye. A year ago or so the liber. xenos was released an in canon xenos study book. And on the hrud it was theorized that there have been two species independently been described as the hrud due to similar behavior. And I remember rat like xenos being mentioned being on the black star fortress too

[@GunRunner106]

i fondly remember that one combat report where a skaven army was fighting the lizardmen and the skaven dud was using an assassin from house eshin. the asssassin had the ability to shadow jump across the map, was carrying a warp bomb. when chance presented itself assassin jumped over into the back of enemy leader slain mr frog mage rolled to deploy his warp bomb spectacularly failed. activated bomb > didnt drop bomb > jumped back to own side > bomb activated > blew away half the skaven army

[@captainnyet9855]

Taking out a Slann and a rival clan's army all in one go; could barely have planned it better myself.

[@henryficklin3333]

Peak Skaven moment

[@sukhrobmirzodavlatov2385]

Average skaven batlle tactic in a nutshell

[@Raziel312]

"You are now picturing a skaven sister of battle. Have fun with that." Okay! I'm picturing Gadget Hackwrench in sororitas armor.

[@Bloodlyshiva]

No good. Skaven treat their females and breeders and nothing more.

[@longwlenguyen4214]

Either that or Naked Mole Rat queen because they’re weird and ironically opposite of Skaven despite similar outcome when it came to succession to the throne.

[@autobotskyflame6287]

Imagine you read the Hive Mind and you find out it was the Great Horned Rat all along.

[@nonya1366]

The tyranid hivemind doesn't have enough infighting- *Glances at the hive fleets eatting eachother* The tyranid hivemind doesn't have enough infighting at the lower levels.

[@Leofilmperson]

The Tyranid expansion book for Epic 40k contained a forgotten piece of lore wherein a fullblooded tyranid organism (possibly a fleshborer) manages to communicate with inquisitor Kryptman. The speech patterns were rather skavenlike. "We must hunt the fleshthings. Quick quick."

[@nonya1366]

@@Leofilmperson Wait, tyranids are just skaven who learned to work with eachother most of the time?

[@Leofilmperson]

@@nonya1366 They're thematically connected by insatiable hunger.

[@kabob0077]

@@nonya1366 The Brain has no idea what the Left or Right Hands are doing.

[@maddestlad3868]

That bell ringing in Trazyn's museum 13 times only coincidentally rang right before Cadia got deleted. It ACTUALLY summoned the skaven, who have been infesting the web way and sneakily infecting the galaxy at large since then. Eventually the Eldar are gonna find giant rats building shanty towns everywhere and wonder how the hell this happened.

[@cheesebucket142]

The webway would be the perfect way to have the whole "there's always a rat lurking just below the surface" thing. Gnawholes being made to infest and expand it.

[@krel7160]

@@cheesebucket142 "Glory-praise the understream!"

[@Biotear]

Vect just looking out his window and wondering why the fuck there's a bunch of crack dens full of giant rats with machine guns in Commoragh.

[@WeaverOfStars]

@@Biotear Vect shaking down half of the Haemonculi in the city because he thinks the Skaven came from one of their really messed up experiments.

[@gamerz1172]

I always joke with my friends, a literal skaven representation in 40k peaked its head out of the tunnels, saw the state of the galaxy, went "Nope" and fled back into hiding in the tunnels

[@krel7160]

"Human-things gone crazy-mad! Hide-seek the Underhive!"

[@marcusaaronliaogo9158]

The Imperium is basically the empire and skaven fusion form

[@nonya1366]

faith, steel, gunpowder, AND DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM ROCKETS YESYES

[@burningbronze7555]

With some bretonian

[@scrollkeeper5272]

I'm so glad to know that I'm not the only one who thinks this. From infighting, to mad scientists, thinking their superior to every other from of life and a few other small things; the Skaven snd Imperium couldn't be more alike no matter how much some may deny it.

[@gotmilk5899]

Endless bodies to chuck at their enemies, somehow shittier to themselves than they are towards everyone else the list just goes on and on

[@scrollkeeper5272]

@@gotmilk5899 Indeed!

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

And yet no DOOMWHEELS Checkmate ratto

[@bigsadge747]

Not to mention their super roided monsters whether be it lobotomized criminals to space marines

[@dustinnabil798]

​@@aprinnyonbreak1290Can't argue with that

[@historiasdeinternet2585]

finally, a take on 40k that we can all agree on. now I wish the empire had wraithscreamers, psyquers that scream to create warpstone, wich is like a worse version of wraitbone.

[@UltraVioletKnight]

Don't forget the doomwheel

[@ekothesilent9456]

@@UltraVioletKnightspinny wheel kill man-thing! Yes-yes.

[@greenxxxable]

I imagine Age of Sigmar Skaven making Titan equivalents.

[@ce4879]

They did a close version back in the Godbeast campaign to infect Behemat’s sleeping continent-sized body via colossal machines that were walking Skaven cities. Google “Lexicanum Parasite Engine” to see the Skaven equivalent of a mosquito on a world titan’s body.

[@Bluecho4]

I mean, you COULD make giant Skaven robots, and run them as Chaos Gargants.

[@UGNAvalon]

The Sisters of Clan Pestilens connection gets even stronger once you realize that both became integrated into their respective societies as a whole only after a massive civil war that resulted in their leaders having private audiences with the heads of state of the opposing faction, and said interaction resulting in a poor sop’s death & replacement by a new leader.

[@EungsuLee]

Yes-yes, glory to empire-imperium of man-thing!

[@Slavesforsale1]

I adore the idea of Skaven being in 40K. Imagine a Imperium exploration fleet finding a world populated with a nigh uncountable number of rat like xenos, and thinking its their homeworld they attack, only for it to be a minor colony of the Skaven Void Empire. So now the Imperium finds themselves in a new war with a species that is just as militaristic, vile and numerous as them.

[@andressotil4671]

Maybe they were the Rangan

[@WASDLeftClick]

Give them horde fleets made up of scavenged ships barely put together better than ork ones and flagships made of space hulks that they’ve actually managed to clear out.

[@marcantiojo7703]

@@WASDLeftClick Maybe they could also be industrial revolution themed, seeing as the time was filled with rats, disease, and horrible working conditions despite the huge boom in progress.

[@funfungerman8401]

damn never new anything about the rangan but they really have many similarities with the skaven from warhammer fantasy@@andressotil4671

[@Kuhmuhnistische_Partei]

It's kinda fun to think about how they would've spread over multiple worlds to begin with. Maybe one day some other species landed on their planet, got swarmed and they found a way to use the ships of the invadors just long enough to get to another planet - maybe like 80% of those ships just crash and kill all skaven on board, but the remaining ones are enough to flood the new world with skaven in no time. And maybe from that day one they actually try to build their own spaceships and it's just the kind of try-and-error they do with everything. An endless line of wannabe engineers throwing together thrusters and metal hulls, cramming a bunch of skaven including 1-2 breeding mothers into it and sending it into space - if those piles of junks even manage to start without just blowing up. And once they are on multiple planets spread over the galaxy, they may also further colonize by just doing it like the first time: getting invaded by some fools just to swarm them and kill them all and send those spaceships right back to their origin coordinates filled with skaven.

[@Senaneone]

They hated him because he spoke the truth

[@matthewyeldig4608]

All this time... All this time we've wondered where the funny rat-men were... We didn't even stop to check under our noses!

[@Draxynnic]

The 40K equivalent of halflings are even called ratlings, in some versions of the models I think they even have tails.

[@matthewyeldig4608]

@@Draxynnic (Pulls off sunglasses) Mother of god...

[@bruce2655]

classic Skaven

[@roland228]

You mean check in a mirror.

[@matthewyeldig4608]

@@roland228 ...Alright, fair-fair!

[@michalo.gregorius1313]

That's cool and all, but I still want my Space Rats.

[@Meuduso1]

WAIT WHAT THE HELL?!? I thought the "Space Skaven = Imperium" thing was a joke soley based on "There's a lot of rats and a lot of humans basically living like rats". I never put all these things together

[@ultraranger1286]

Yes I've realized this as well. Eldars feel more human than the humans of the Imperium because the later feel more like rats while Eldars still have those Tolkein Elves characteristics.

[@Draxynnic]

Possibly more accurately, the Asuryani still place value on the lives of their citizens. So from the modern human perspective, they're a much more functional society.

[@PhthaloGreenskin]

Yes.

[@adrianaslund8605]

Yeah the Eldar I feel are more like posthumans than the humans in 40k. With all human qualities separating us from apes refined. Greater dexterity, longevity, larger capacity for symbolic and abstract thought and complex social behaviours. With some similarities to the posthumans of Dune. The Bene Gesserit for example. The idea of humanity developing into some kind of hyperintelligent, decadent and sensuous species addicted to constant stimulation like the Dark Eldar also feels somewhat more relatable.

[@Draxynnic]

@@adrianaslund8605 There is a degree to which the Eldar could be seen as a point to which 40k humans might evolve to if given the opportunity and if the warp was calmer and less destructive - longer lives, greater intelligence, greater psychic sensitivity, and a more developed sense of art.

[@user-qi1jc1yn3o]

Elves in Space 😂 probably why I am more inclined to Orc, or Ork because it is so different 🫡

[@Maxusxavier]

I think the biggest difference is actually a dig at the imperium and that's that the appeal of the skaven is that they refuse the status quo they are always moving forward, up through ranks, forward into the tech tree, they are always advancing, except when they are retreating but still. The empirium is cinstantly stuck and obsessed with a back sliding status quo doomed to keep backsliding

[@Vaprous]

Yeah the Imperium are somehow *worse* than the Skaven.

[@noabsolutelynot3660]

Use more commas. Especially when the same word repeats, i.e. "that that's"

[@ToaArcan]

The Skaven don't retreat, they just advance away from the enemy!

[@SirBrasstion]

Next episode: Skaven are the Orks of Fantasy. Comic relief, mix of beasts and mad science, easily replaceable hordes, constant transitions from waaagh/vermintide to infighting.

[@snickersbaja7706]

Too bad the skaven lack a Ghazghkull equivilant whom is scary competent

[@jahrusalem3658]

@@snickersbaja7706 Isn't that Queek Headtaker?

[@snickersbaja7706]

@@jahrusalem3658 Now that I think about it, you are right. So going with this I guess his prized trophy skulls that he speaks to are his Makari equivilant, and Karak Eight Peaks is his Armageddon equivalent

[@jahrusalem3658]

@@snickersbaja7706 But then who's his Yarrick?

[@obamabiden]

by process of elimination i suppose belegar ironhammer or, as a more out there suggestion: Skarsnik

[@rararasputin7017]

That is a Horus Heresy level take. But he's got a point

[@andressotil4671]

How could anyone trust the guy? I mean his last name was literally Heresy

[@yaelz6043]

So did Horus.

[@adarshkamoda9183]

Pancreas, it's GW. They have goofed up before but when your brand is defined by it's scope and complexity, there's no way they missed the similarities to Skaven. Hell, it's probably a meta grimdark theme to make the Imperium look even worse. I'm all for it

[@whogoeshere]

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm saying how dare you?!

[@jaredmartinez7323]

How could you say something so controversial yet so brave

[@channingtaintum]

My favorite parallel between the two is that their most abundant expendable resource is their own constituents, whom are used en masse to defend their own constituents. Never gets old.

[@CarsonRH]

Yes finally! Someone else seeshumanity as the ratmen we we are.

[@Piemasta9000]

Yes-yes

[@darkunor6687]

Yes inquisitor, this mo-moron right here.

[@centercannothold]

human do share 90% DNA with rat so is not really that far off.

[@casmd2131]

When the great horned rat becomes a thing in 40K, we all know Hermann Vin strab will be leading the charge as his demon prince.

[@disappointedbananas2365]

The Emperor *is* the Great Horned Rat

[@void-creature]

The main difference to me is that while both societies are absolutely terrible in very similar ways, within the imperium exist at least a few individual people who are decent. Though honestly I think it might be quite interesting to see something similar for the Skaven, where there ARE actually a small few rats who try to do what's best for their kind instead of just being selfish, but the society of the under empire just crushes rats like that.

[@segismundosaulalex3065]

Just like most of the imperium crushes people who actually want to do something better for others because HERESY! That or another race is quickly to dispatch them. "There can be no hope in this hell... no hope at all..."

[@Dingus_Khaan]

I do like when settings do that sort of thing where factions can be systemically evil but there are good people within the bad system, and vise versa like the T'au Empire.

[@ChucktheSpicyChicken]

If i remember correct there was a skaven slave that tried to raly other slaves for better lives, the other slaves were told if they kill the dude they will all be free. All the slave were killed and eaten.

[@gamer47e17]

I believe there have been a few skaven that were like that, genuinely progressive, kind, etc, but they usually have to lose those qualities to survive, they get killed because such thoughts are a threat to the skaven power order, or they escape (or attempt to)

[@kingalphawerewolf]

You don't understand. The constant backstabbing and forward energy IS what's best for the skaven. It's why they're the greastest power in fanasty.

[@transhumanhivemind3048]

Honestly I never really thought about it And at first I thought it was just some weird funny hot take but then I started thinking about it and I'm coming to the realization that that makes a weird amount of sense. I mean the imperium certainly is nothing like the empire from fantasy battle aside from the most loosest sense possible. God it's like the empire and the skaven had a baby and the result was the imperium of Man. At least that's what my thoughts are before I even watch the video

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

I mean They're also the Lizardmen. Space Marines are Saurus, bioengineered super soldiers with little ability outside of war. The Imperium has massive piles of technology they don't use, because the ones who know how are dead or missing. They have a giant, psychically powerful toad mummy on a portapotty preventing everything from exploding. Their leadership is stupidly overpowered, but eternally absent. They are weirdly omnicidal despite ostensibly being the "good guys" and definitely fighting the bad guys.

[@transhumanhivemind3048]

@@aprinnyonbreak1290 HAHAHA 🤣 Oh my god you are right You actually have a point there. They are the God forsaken love child of the empire, skaven and f****** lizard men!!!🤣

[@monotov4765]

@@aprinnyonbreak1290 the imperium is a mix between the mortal kingdoms of the old world quite simply... from Bretonnia to Katey concerning the Skaven in the idea they are closer to the Necrons and the Tyranids in many aspects at least from what I know old world lore...

[@Magnustopheles]

RATS WE'RE RATS WE'RE THE RATS

[@user-qi1jc1yn3o]

🤮🤮🤮🤮

[@mistertaz94]

No no folks. Let him cook.

[@memethief5878]

Fun fact. You can find skaven symbols in darktide

[@justsomeogrewithinternetac1494]

I honestly love hrud. I think them being these ever present cryptid time warpers is cool. I'd prefer them to be made into more or less space skaven since them being reasonably advanced beings of decay and time warping who swarm means there thematically very space skaven. I actually really don't want "just rats" in space, but I think skaven thematically as an army fit.

[@Invizive]

I've been thinking the same for years The things they have in common is what makes them both awesome and objectively superior

[@jiado6893]

0:26 “ deservedly or not.” I am so glad to hear someone else in the fandom say this. GW’e hyper focus on the Imperium isn’t just bad for crowding out the other factions of the species. Taking them so seriously (and not in the FUN over-serious kind) ends up missing the point that everything they do is stupid, and that fascism is a loser form of government.

[@MiguelFlores-pg8fi]

After going through the first five audiobooks of Gotrek and Felix, it all true and hey they’re funny as hell while doing whatever the hell they do

[@CrimsonUltrafox]

The Emperor is the Great Horned Rat. It all makes perfect sense.

[@MyMomSaysImKeen]

By the Horned Emporer this upload better have your old public domain song playing ad nauseum in the background.

[@listenherejack]

I can only imagine just how hard Colin was laughing at the idea of just how many people he would upset with the video title

[@benjaminstorace6699]

Yes. With a seasoning of "The Empire of Man" and "The undead hordes of Nagash"

[@EDuarteVillanueva]

This recontextualizes the Great Crusade as the 40k galaxy's Vermintide

[@kemalkeser7682]

I was sad about 40k not having space rats. This makes me feel better about it, lol.

[@akumaking1]

Well, you’re not wrong . . .

[@EightPhasesofTwilight]

I feel like Queek is the only Skaven that isn't an outright backstabber like the rest. Although he's unique in having a pride problem of wanting to say he's better than you as he stabs you in the face.

[@gigachad5961]

Queek is still a backstabbing rat however his loyal bodyguard ska blood tail is actually a genuine loyal skaven to queek

[@dank_smirk2ndchannel200]

12:19 the Skaven actually do have a Titan-equivalent in AoS called a Parasite Engine. Parasite Engines (named for their rapacious plunder of the realms) are basically giant, walking cities created by the Clans Skryre from the underground semi-liquid warpstone to conquer and corrupt the Scabrous Sprawl while keeping them safe from the Gargants. They follow geomantic lines to extract nodes of Warpstone and other subterranean riches leaving behind underground factories and glowing craters, the land tainted and writhing in ruin at their passing. Each Parasite Engine is a many-legged, segmented abominations powered by enormous warpstone furnaces fuelled by miner-claws and deforestation maws. The chief Warlock Engineers of each of these machines compete with their rivals by creating bigger and more powerful designs. Each has unique feature, with the likes of the Drill-Stabber being a mix of rat and mosquito while others like the Scrabble-Chewer was a city made to crunch through bedrock.

[@nerdyvids1]

I’ve been thinking this for years, glad someone with production abilities finally put it to record.

[@ce4879]

My first connection to the two was playing Dawn of War expansion and noticed the Imperial Guard’s best gimmick was moving massed of troops underground between buildings so they could swarm opponents while their heroes would kill a few cowards off to keep them fighting. Also three fun notes: 1. Skaven in AoS do a lore-version if titans with the parasite engines that infected Behemat’s body back in the Realmgate Wars. They were like walking Skaven cities on the backs on mechanical spiders or centipedes that would lower down to gobble up entire forests to keep their warpstone furnaces burning, their size and purpose was to corrupt the continental leylines in Behemat’s body like mosquitoes injecting infected blood to weaken him so Archaon could enslave him. 2. Stormcast Eternals were noted back then to have slain countless billions of Skaven nearly wiping them out and now the recent Skaven tome confirms that was true. Why was this possible? Because even though the GHR got forewarned knowledge by clans Eshin of Sigmar’s newest legions to reclaim the realms(and bring about the Age of Sigmar) he actually kept the info to himself so as to use it at the perfect moment and gain the upper hand over the other dark gods. ….but that meant not even telling his own people of the coming tempest so they got completely blindsided by these 8 foot-tall Ogor-strong immortal supermen that can blast in on lightning anywhere including deep underground tunnels to even underwater passages and bring overwhelming firepower or super-sized magic weapons to bear. If not for Clans Verminous(the warrior clans that love battle) making last stands until Chaos as a whole was able to turn it’s attention on the new threat and get it’s forces momentum against them then the Skaven would’ve been wiped out of the Realms almost entirely. 3. When attacking Alarielle in Broken Realms she turned the tables and had one cornered who tried to beg his way out that “it wouldn’t be right for a life goddess to kill someone that’s only 3 years old”. She agreed and turned him into a tree. 🌳

[@Draxynnic]

I'll have to keep this in mind as a means of simultaneously trolling the imperium superfanatics and the skaven superfanatics.

[@mausolus8466]

And another glaring middlefinger to Imperium-lovers. I salute you, good sir!

[@onyks991]

Mechanicus making servitors is just clan moulder tbh

[@gallusdomesticuskfptechpriest]

The Imperium and Skaven are the exact same narratively speaking, you can frankly swap them in a lot of stories without changing much... Also, Ikit Claw for Fabricator-General. Neo-phosphex for everyone!

[@BustyBraixen]

10:00 if there are any female skaven that dont get turned into one of those monstrosities, nobody will ever know because theyll never let anyone live long enough to tell if found out

[@Chapien]

I always imagined some female skaven slipped through the cracks... But they're still skaven so if anyone learns they're female they die xD

[@BustyBraixen]

@@Chapien with the sheer number of skaven being born at a constant rate, it is unbelievable that every single female would be picked out for the broodmother treatment. Especially considering how sloppy amd unreliable almost every single skaven is, of course they'd miss a few female pups. Also, I'd imagine creating and maintaining a broodmother would be rather resource intensive, so I find it a little hard to believe that any given skaven clan even COULD make broodmothers out of all the females born, unless the sex ratio is VERY skewed and hardly any females are ever born

[@Chapien]

@@BustyBraixen Sadly they never specify that there are more men than women born, so really we just don't know. AFAIK GW has not even brought up broodmothers in AoS.

[@Kuhmuhnistische_Partei]

To be honest, I find it a bit weird, like most eusocial species (although you could argue that the Skaven are more of an eu-antisocial species) are either mostly females with males only existing as drones for reproduction (like with most eusocial insects) or it's like with naked mole-rats and you have more or less a 50/50 distribution but the queens emit some sort of hormon that basically chemically spays all the other females. And once the queen dies the daughters start to fight for dominance until one (usually the one who produces the most offspring) becomes the new queen and monopolizes sexual reproduction again - one of these war of successions in captivity lasted 16 months and nine mole-rats died. The queens are also a lot bigger than normal female workers, but they mostly grow in length so they can still move through the tunnels. They are also super aggressive against all of the unfertile workers and even against sexually unproductive males (there are usually 1-3 non-related males in a colony with the privilege to mate with the queen; although as soon as they start to become sexually active, they actually start to age rapidly). I feel like you could just take this for the skaven and it would totally fit. And it would make sense, like when a breeding mother dies, they can immediately be replaced; well, not without some conflict that will first kill off half of the clan I guess. And let's be honest, skaven look more like mole-rats than normal rats anyway. Barely anyone of them has any fur.

[@longwlenguyen4214]

@@Kuhmuhnistische_Parteiyeah but naked mole rat also opposite of Skaven had somewhat anti cancer gene, live way longer than normal lifespan of rats and had a metabolism of a plant, the queen are the boss of their under kingdom unlike ant queen or Skaven “mother”, the queen can command and bully anyone around her so to her harem boy toy can have the same privilege, weirdly enough despite their society being hierarchical and smelly but when it come to food everyone is equal.

[@videocrowsnest5251]

I am still at awe at the amazing pun that is a ratling gun (which likely goes rat-a-rat-a-rat-a when it shoots to boot.) I can only dream of one day cracking such a good one myself.

[@ancientgearsynchro]

I keep telling my Fantasy friends that we have skaven in 40k....they are just alot more pink skinned.

[@OneReallyGrumpyJill]

Okay, but Skaven actually existing in 40K and worshipping Emperor as the aspect of Great Horned Rat would be pretty neat and a cool move on GW. They won't do it, but can you imagine.

[@_Tomon]

There goes the imperium reputation. "Oh rats!"

[@greeses5482]

I love that the skaven phone is called "farsqueaker"

[@cooldudeninja0219]

you know I heard about a race rat creatures similar to the skaven on a planet somewhere in the galaxy of 40k that was deemed not worth it to inhabit. So if I can make a theory it would be like the Tau a warp storm could hit the planet and somehow those rats become the Skaven. Though that if the bugs don't try to eat them first and if they can survive a warp storm in the first place.

[@void-creature]

Technologically, the difference is that the Imperium's Tech makes sense, but they just don't know how it works. The Skaven's tech meanwhile doesn't make any sense, but they somehow figured it out regardless.

[@MissNulle2000]

The greyknight babycarrier is indeed something a Skaven would make. Imagine! Staring down upon the puny man-things as you stride proudly into battle! Peering down victoriously from above in your Doom-Throne!

[@sirunklydunk8861]

I thought we knew this already

[@kuradamax]

Love that this video cane out around the same time i started gluing spare skaven heads to guardsmen bodies, really good timing there!

[@yeastov5470]

It's also kind of hilarious how many parallels there are between the Skaven and the company I work for. Clearly I need to bring carry more warpstone to job work.

[@basementdweller2894]

skaven undercities on hive worlds would just be more hive world

[@wyvernharries4788]

All the yes. Yesen't, Yesrn't.

[@scurrystopthat9985]

Hol up. He's got a point

[@Khornecussion]

" Every single skaven is a backstabbing bastard. " Clan Mors is gonna come stab you in the chest to make a point.

[@OneDapperFrog]

If you want to play as Skaven in the 40k tabletop, you could probably do it just fine if you use GSC rules and Skaven models.

[@R17inator]

Or the Veer-Myn from Warpath.

[@earnestbrown6524]

Played at a game store where we did alot of 3+ player mult fights. The guard had a house rule the if a commissars was within 6in of a unit could fire into melee. Roll hits then roll to see what side got hit. Called it "For the Good of the Imperium."

[@germakenjuju]

I love when people bring up the Babybjörn Battle Mech

[@Whomobile]

I now imagine low Gothic has the same inflection as Slaven talk, it just gets translated every time we hear it

[@sssuperslayer25]

Any video about the Skaven is a great video. Hearing you talk about the skaven gives me more pleasure than watching Bretonnian peasants get rin down by steam tanks or shredded by ratling guns.

[@dinodude6992]

Pancreas out here pulling the pin on the metaphorical grenade that might make his pronouns: was/were like a mad lad and I can already see the reasoning one could make when looking at the skaven and the imperium.

[@KonstantineMortis13]

As both a Skaven and Guard player, you may think the comparison is insulting... But this pleases the Great Horned Emperor.

[@diegodankquixote-wry3242]

Drake no: Hurd Drake yes: Imperium of Man

[@mnk9073]

What do you think the Tyranids are fleeing from? A planet sized hamsterwheel of doom made out of pure warpstone powered by a miriad of Skaven, randomly vaporising galaxies for the lulz.

[@marlarki5280]

Damn, it is almost as if both the Imperium and the Skaven are made up of derived tropes on the worst aspects of real life humanity.

[@TCStink3]

Based af take

[@ahmadtarek7763]

The title just feels wrong to read, but is surprisingly very accurate.

[@GreasusGoldtooth]

"You are now thinking of a Skaven Sister of Battle." Well, I just learned something new and deeply concerning about myself.

[@brycedolishny4138]

@Pancreasnowork The Scaven titans/knights are the rat ogres. Not just in size but also in that knights absorb the consciousness of their former pilots and ogres are amalgamations too.

[@Tortle-Man]

Tbh, I do want space skaven in 40k. I know the way to do it to. When we eventually get a dark mechanicum army their basic line troops could be some very suspiciously ratty soldiers.

[@theswarmsquad3606]

Hold up… let him cook

[@louieburnham8090]

Ah yes, the old “breeding stump” trope. Wonder if *someone* read Hellstrom’s Hive at some point before making that lore.

[@blairdurward4324]

This makes me love the skaven more

[@federationprime]

I think Skaven might be able to survive, especially if they come into contact with a minor Ork group first. They have spacecraft, repeating firearms, energy weapons, genetic modification, psykers, and even atomic weapons.

[@peco0012]

Imagine if they put these guys in 40k and they were an actually functioning empire, perhaps new and untested like the tau but still. it would be funny if the space skaven were more functional and competent than the imperium

[@andreasbuehler1821]

I did it the other way round. I kitbashed ork mechs into Skaven mechs and used them as mounts for my generals and hellpit abominations.

[@ThatOneMan830]

I thought space Skaven applied to the ICOG from the Xeelee Sequence, but the Imperium fits a bit too.

[@noregrets5258]

Yet another hot take from our favorite diabetic.

[@kevinaustin51]

2:05 had me rolling had to stop the video I was laughing so much poor little guy🤣

[@dog_2172]

just imagine this: Skaven marines

[@SonnyBear5]

your age of empires and age of mythology bgm really sets the tone. awesome work dude