Editing Skaven (section)

===Clans===
Skaven organize themselves into Clans, through which they organize their backstabbing. The individual backstabs for position within a Clan, the Clan backstabs for position in Skaven society.

There are many Clans, far more than any being other than the Horned Rat (presumably) knows. Clans rise, fall, split, infight, reform, and even ally constantly. Each Clan seeks to have one of their members in a position in the Council of Thirteen, which runs the business of their entire race.

The [[Council of Thirteen]] is conveniently organized like a clock, with 13 at the 12 position which is representative of the Horned Rat. Members are called Lords of Decay. Each position is more powerful within the Council based on their proximity to the Horned Rat, so the Lords of Decay at the 1 and 12 position are the two most powerful, 2 and 11 behind them, while the Lords of Decay at the 6 and 7 positions are the weakest. Each Lord of Decay can outright veto the position of the one opposite them. Each Lord of Decay has their position marked by a symbol, either that of themselves or that of their Clan. The Lords of Decay have thus far remained in power for most of the existence of the Council thanks to the life-prolonging Warpstone they use (so Skeksis), although they rise and fall in power.

Skaven Clans fall into three categories: Great Clans, Warlord Clans, and Thrall Clans. The four Great Clans are extremely powerful, and epitomize the different aspects of Skaven society (Each Greater Clan later became a type of Clans in [[Age of Sigmar]] due to an exponential population boost). Warlord Clans are essentially the middle class of Skaven, usually doing their own thing and not tied to any specific Great Clan. The Thrall Clans are weaker warrens that swear allegiance to a Great Clan to survive or grow in power. Of course thanks to Skaven backstabbing, a Thrall Clan is an expendable frontline infantry source while the Great Clans are just sources of really neat toys like Rat Ogres and Ratling Guns, and of course every Clan is waiting to betray each other while making allegiances to other Clans and to betray their REAL allies that they're of course waiting to be backstabbed by while totally being unaware of the fact that a fourth set of Clans have set up the backstabbing conga for their own benefit, and so on as far as you want to get into it (note: this describes a single day of plotting or so).

When fielding an army, one or two Clan paint jobs and multiple Thrall-Clan paint jobs are quite fluffy.

The four Great Clans are:
* [[Clan Eshin]], the ninja assassin Clan. {MURDER [[Lizardmen|ALL]] [[Dwarfs|OF]] [[Undead|THESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!]]}
* [[Clan Moulder]], the Clan which breeds monsters and sews them together Frankenstein style to make even better (by Skaven standards, slightly less volatile) monsters.
* [[Clan Pestilens]], the founder of the Pestilent Brotherhood and the largest and most powerful Pestilent Brotherhood member.
* [[Clan Skryre]], the Clan which produces Warp-powered Tesla cannons, machine guns, vehicles, and other assorted machines.
*Clan Verms, the Clan that Clan Moulder replaced and Clan Pestilens betrayed to get on the Council of 13, specialized in utilizing the various invertebrates of the deep underground places of the world as weapons and tools for Skavendom. Giant Scorpions and swarms of venomous insects were their main military contribution, with worm-oil for lighting being their main non-military contribution. Their lair in Skavenblight was a huge wasp-nest-looking structure called "The Hive". When Clan Moulder proved better able to create horrific warbeasts, and Clan Skryre created Warpstone Lights, they essentially became worthless, especially after their various vermin helped spread the Black Plague among the Under-Empire, and were betrayed by the other Skaven, looked down upon so much even the lowest of Slave Clans spits upon them.

In addition, there are the [[Grey Seers]], silver furred Skaven with horns that represent the servants of the Council and the Horned Rat. They are above all Skaven other than the Lords of Decay and as a result tend to be somewhat free from the backstabbing conga, other than that of other Grey Seers. Any grey Skaven who do not have horns are part of the Council Guard, the elite warriors that protect the Council and the Grey Seers. However those Skaven that protect the Council of Thirteen directly are The Albino Guard, purely white furred giga-stormvermin.

{{Skaven-Clans}}