Far below the surface of the world, beneath the cities of the Empire and the jungles of
Lustria, from the Chaos Wastes to Distant Cathay, stretches a labyrinthine network of
tunnels and passageways.
Man made sewers intersect with natural caverns and Dwarven ruins give way to an endless abyss.
Should a careless traveler stumble upon an entrance to this place and venture too far
and too deep, it might be a thousand lifetimes before they found their way back upon the surface.
Yet to the foul creatures who have learned to navigate its secrets and scurry in untold
numbers throughout this twisted maze, all the tunnels of the Under-Empire lead to a
single place; a rotting heart known as Skavenblight.
If such a patchwork of ruins and hovels might be considered a city, then Skavenblight is
the largest and most populated city that ever was or will be.
Located in the heart of the Blighted Marshes, a putrid mire forever cloaked in reeking mist
and unnatural smog, Skavenblight viewed from the surface is but a great ruin, forgotten
towers and broken streets slowly sinking into the muck.
At first glance, the city might seem abandoned, but shadowy figures scamper between crumbling
buildings and ominous green lights flicker in some of the tallest towers and deepest burrows.
Beneath it all, the ceaseless rhythm of machinery can be felt as much as heard, betraying the
true nature of Skavenblight.
The city itself exists underground in unfathomable levels, countless districts, lairs, breeding
pits and mines all linked together by an interconnected and ever-changing web of tunnels.
Skavenblight serves as the capital of the Skaven race and endless slave-workers continually
shift whole mountains of rock, drilling ever outward and ever deeper, utilizing arcane
machinery and disposable chattel.
Even so, its passageways are always filled with seething hordes of insatiable ratmen
that demand constant expansion.
Every Skaven clan maintains at least some foothold within the capital, but it is the
Four Great Clans who control the most impressive districts.
Clan Skryre and Clan Moulder dominate the economic interests of the city, running vast
workshops and markets, trading their wares to aspirant warlords.
The plague monks of Clan Pestilens maintain a more religious quarter where zealous Skaven
go to embrace the diseased aspect of their terrible horned god.
Last and smallest of the Great Clan’s districts is that of Clan Eshin - a secretive place
known only to a select few who practice the arts of stealth, poison, and assassination.
The limitless wealth and prosperity of the city attracts the worst of the Skaven race,
and Skavenblight is said to have the greatest concentration of warlocks, thieves, bandits,
renegades and outlaws than all other Skaven strongholds combined.
A state of lawlessness presides at all times, as clans partake in a perpetual cycle of corruption,
murder and betrayal, each vying for control over the city’s countless territories.
At the center of Skavenblight lies the Great Temple of the Horned Rat, meeting place of
the Council of Thirteen where the Lords of Decay gather to oversee the greatest issues
of their race and plot invasion against their enemies above.
The Temple extends for many miles beneath the city but is marked above by a single great
tower reaching to impossible heights over the surrounding wasteland.
The Shattered Tower is said to be a piece of madness made manifest, perfect marble-white
sections intertwined with crude scaffolding, masonry of every style and realm haphazardly
stacked upon each other.
If the old legends can be trusted, then this tower was the dream of men and dwarves who
once lived together in Kavzar - said to be the oldest and grandest city in the world.
Envisioned as a temple of honor their forgotten gods, the city laboured to create a tower
that would touch the very heart of the heavens.
The work continued across the ages, generations of sons progressing the labour of their fathers.
At last, construction began on the spire itself, but the work had slowed to a crawl and finishing
this monumental task seemed impossible.
Then a grey-clad stranger arrived among the men of the city and offered to complete the
spire in a single night.
With nothing to lose his offer was accepted and in return the stranger was allowed to
add his own dedication to the gods.
At midnight, the clouds parted revealing the stranger had made good on his promise, and
the tower was adorned with a great horned bell which tolled thirteen times to the growing
dread of those below.
Kavzar was beset by a tremendous storm and the rains lasted days and then weeks.
In vain, the men of the city beseeched the help of the Dwarves in their underground strongholds.
In the city above, each day grew more deadly than the one before.
Pestilence and famine struck their crops, newborns arrived twisted and malformed, and
everywhere, skulking vermin devoured what little food remained until eventually the
people lived as hunted creatures in their own city, preyed upon by great packs of vermin
who roamed the streets in search of them.
In desperation, the men of the city battered down the gates to the Dwarven tunnels, and
deep below in the ancient hall of Kingship found only gnawed bones and scraps of cloth.
By the fires of their torches they saw a myriad of eyes about them, which glittered in the
dying light.
If the foul ruins of Skavenblight were once known as Kavzar, then none now remain who
remember it, least of all the Skaven themselves, who care only for their current plans and
their eventual victory that is certain to one day arrive.
In Atlas, The Templin Institute investigates the most storied places from across alternate worlds.
Atlas is the third of four new shows we're pitching this week,
before letting our Patrons vote on which shows they want to be added to our regular schedule.
If you'd like to see The Templin Institute investigate the smugglers moon of Nar Shaddaa,
the wizarding school of Hogwarts, or crime-ridden Gotham City,
a pledge of just one dollar a month on our Patreon page will get you access to the polls when they open this Friday.