A Comprehensive Guide to Old World Rat Catchers

A Comprehensive Guide to Old World

Rat Catchers
 A Comprehensive Guide to Old World Rat Catchers

Credits and Further Reading

Article compiled by Dave Allen. Sources include Children of the Horned Rat, The
Loathsome Ratmen and their Vile Kin, White Dwarf, Blood on the Reik, Witch Finder,
Marienburg: Sold Down the River and Middenheim: City of Chaos. Thanks to Dan
White, Andy Law, Steve Darlington, Jody Macgregor and the gang on the Black
Industries forums for advice on this article.
Thanks to Robin Low for his thoughts on Rat Catchers. Read Robin’s in-depth article A
Fistful of Rat Tails in issue 24 of Warpstone magazine, which gives extra information on
the family unions in Altdorf, bounty payment, use of trappings and many other aspects
of the ‘definitive WFRP career’.
Thanks also to Tim Eccles for his thoughts on the Rechenguild of Carroburg. More
information about the city and it’s guilds can be found in issue 26 of Warpstone.

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 A Comprehensive Guide to Old World Rat Catchers A Comprehensive Guide to Old World Rat Catchers

Jakob Bleich - Rat Catcher The Rat Catcher is a common sight everywhere in villages, towns and cities,
Jakob is from Wurtbad. The town is not one of the Empire’s largest and Jakob works making a living by disposing of the vermin which infest all dwellings in this
alongside a small group of professional Rat Catchers who have not numbered more unsanitary age.
than a dozen during his tenure. They have formed an informal guild to make sure that Rat Catchers are often travelling folk, moving from village to village in order to make a
commissions are shared out amongst them so that no single Rat Catcher goes without living, although in a large town or city settled ‘vermin soldiers’ may actually be employed
a big job for too long, and to make sure that no enthusiastic amateurs or itinerant Rat by the authorities and have their interests attended to by their own guild. Rats are their
Catchers attempt to cash in on their business. Jakob has a fine reputation within this chief enemy, but a Rat Catcher will also be able to deal with moles, mice and similar
group, his skill with the sling has won him particular kudos. pests. It isn’t a great life, and many soon retire from the cellars and seek adventure in the
clean air of the country where they become favoured scouts among adventurers who
Most of the commissions come from the town’s famous Vintner’s Guild, who pay very
good coin to make sure that supplies of grain goes on to become wine without suffering poke around in caves and caverns.
from spoilage from rodents. The owners of the famous hot spring baths in Wurtbad also Rat Catchers are well established in most settlements of any size. They are a common
provide a lot of custom, as the sight of a rat or two in their buildings can be a turn off for sight, especially in the poorer areas, with their ratting poles and their small but vicious
their rich clientele. dogs. A Rat Catcher may be known as Cazarratas in Estalian, Rattenfänger in Reikspiel,
Jakob regularly visits Wurtbad’s lively Stahlstrasse, in the Griefweg neighbourhood of Ratier in Bretonnian and Acchiappatopi in Estalian.
the town. This area can provide a lot of income for a good Rat Catcher, as the owners
of the abundance of taverns, brothels and gambling dens that can be found there like to
Day to Day Rat Catching
keep their premises sanitary. Jakob’s connections here have netted him a lot of income
that he hasn’t been honest about with his fellows in the guild, a fact that would annoy There are many reasons why an inhabitant of the Old World might take up rat catching.
them a great deal were they to discover it. Most Rat Catchers are employed purely as pest controllers, accepting commissions to
rid a particular area, such as a barn or a tavern kitchen, of rats or other vermin; or they
In Wurtbad the sewer system is limited to the rich part of the town, in the poorer areas
make money by taking a bounty in times of plague. Some hunt rats for other reasons
shallow channels ferry effluent slowly to the Stir. The town’s elite make sure the city
though, such as to provide live rats to scholars, or establishments that hold rat baits.
authorities pay a very generous bounty of four pence per tail for sewer rats, and the
local Shallyan Temple of the Lonely Sacrament lobbies to make sure the poor district There is even a small market for charms made out of parts of dead rat, and in large cities
does not go unattended. In lean times Jakob can be found patrolling the sewers and you may encounter a Rat Catcher who supplements his living by peddling ‘lucky rat’s
streets of the town with his small black-tan terrier, Finkler. claws’. There are also those who have ulterior motives for delving into and surveying the
sewers of the Old World’s cities, these can include the cultists of some foul god, looking
Jakob has never even heard of such a thing as the Skaven, the Ratmen have no for a secret and secure place to hold rituals and private gatherings, as well as those who
presence under the town or in the immediate surrounding area. Were Jakob and his
seek to uncover (or to cover up) evidence of the existence of the Skaven.
colleagues to hear of such creatures they would willingly add their voices to those who
regard them as mere fancies. Rat Catchers work, and are invariably encountered, on their own. Rat Catching isn’t a
desirable job, the pay is not good and the working conditions can easily lead to an early
Main Profile
death as the result of the infections that can be caught from rat bites or from spending
WS BS S T Ag Int WP Fel time in unsanitary environments. Still, it is a living, and many cities and large towns
37 41 32 39* 35 37 36 30 around the Old World have a Rat Catchers’ guild or union to help look after the interests
of their members. The job is a relatively easy one to enter and, once established, a Rat
Secondary Profile Catcher can make a fairly steady, albeit meagre, income.
A W SB TB M Mag IP FP There are many opportunities available to successful Rat Catchers, though they may
1 11 3 3 4 0 0 3 have to have an unscrupulous streak in order to be able to take advantage of them, after
all, it is common for Rat Catchers to acquire the skills needed to become a Cat Burglar
* An advance has been taken in this characteristic. or Thief if they don’t find the life of a pest controller rewarding enough.
Skills: Animal Care (+10%), Animal Training, Gossip, Common Knowledge (The Rats breed throughout the year, but litters born in the spring or summer months typically
Empire), Concealment, Perception, Search, Set Trap, Silent Move, Speak Language have more of a chance of surviving and bearing litters of their own, so Catchers tend to
(Reikspeil). do brisk business between the equinoxes, Mitterfruhl and Geheimnistag. However, they
Talents: Marksman (added to profile above), Resistance to Disease, Resistance to tend to recieve more commissions for clearing premises of rats in the winter months
Poison, Specialist Weapon Group (Sling), Tunnel Rat. (when they tend to be bolder about entering buildings in order to seek shelter).
 A Comprehensive Guide to Old World Rat Catchers A Comprehensive Guide to Old World Rat Catchers

Rural Rat Catching Rural Rat Catchers in WFRP A Family Affair. A new run of The Rats of Hammstadt is being performed at the
Rotunda Playhouse in Altdorf’s run-down East End district. The play is unusual in that
There isn’t much in the way of underground
Whilst most Rat Catchers in the Empire (and the director has cast one of the feuding families in a flattering light. The impoverished
sewer systems in the countryside, but there almost all from other areas of the Old World)
are lots of barns and farmhouses that can and sprawling Stahlt family are usually as venal and myopic as the other members of
work in rural communities the career as the town, but in this production they are cast as a poor yet noble clan who urge the
suffer from infestations of rats or mice. The written assumes the rather more archetypal
arable farmland of the Empire is also home other families to cooperate but are ignored.
image of the urban pest controller, scouring
to vermin such as moles, field mice, the sewers with his Tunnel Rat talent. This has caused some outrage in Altdorf’s Rat Catcher community, as the other
rabbits, foxes and (during the spring when Rural Rat catchers would not have had the families claim that the Wiesal family have obviously had some say in the production in
fields are being sown) crows and other same opportunities to develop this particular an attempt to satirise the more successful Frettchen and Hermelin families. Asked to
birds that eat seeds. ability, but they are famous for wandering comment on the situation by a writer for the Altdorf Speiler, the aging playwright Detlef
from place to place in search of work. As a Sierck has claimed that he would “never have sunk to such a vulgar analogy in the first
Successful rural Rat Catchers might be
result of this alternative lifestyle it is place”, and so washes his hands of the affair.
called upon to deal with less mundane suggested that rural Rat Catchers take the
threats, like clearing out infestations of Orientation talent instead of Tunnel Rat if Pieter Hermelin, one of the more senior members of his family, is curious to learn the
small greenskins such as Snotlings or they wish. truth of the matter, and has put the word out to some underworld contacts of his to see
Gnoblars. if some larcenous types can be hired to find or fabricate some evidence of the Wiesals’
involvement with the play.
A Giant Draw. The Splintered Skull in Wurtbad is one of the more popular taverns
Payment
along the town’s Stahlstrasse. One of the entertainments held at the tavern is a regular
Many town and city councils levy a standard bounty on rat tails. Usually this is a rat bait, where dozens of trapped
meagre amount, rarely exceeding a few pennies per tail, but in times of plague (or rodents are thrown into a pit and bets
rumoured plague), or in an effort to beautify a certain area of the town or to be seen to taken on which will be the last one
care more for the hygiene of the city, the authorities might increase the bounty to five or standing. A recent visitor to the
more pence a tail. It is only during these times that Rat Catchers are likely to be found tavern, a northerner with some
living up to their reputation for skulking about in the sewers to earn their living, as the irritating airs and graces, has watched
money to be made from the bounty recoups the costs of regular laundry and justifies one of these baits and loudly pooh-
the risk of contracting some disease. Councils may well pay a higher bounty if the poohed the performance. Apparently
catcher can prove he has dealt with a giant rat, or a rat with an obvious mutation. the Drowned Rat in Middenheim has
Councils often refuse to pay the bounty unless a certain number of rat tails are turned a similar arrangement, except the rats
over at a time, a dozen or a score, for example. This prevents them from the extra they have compete against one
administration they would have to perform should they be dealing constantly with another are three feet long, and that’s
opportunistic killers of vermin. not including the tails.
Most of the money a Rat Catcher makes comes from accepting a commission to rid a Leopold Arschel, the organiser of the
certain area, such as a field or a warehouse, of vermin for a private individual. rat baits, paid to have the northerner
Sometimes these individuals will pay for a bounty per dead rat, but to avoid soundly worked over by a pair of local
unscrupulous Rat Catchers from obtaining dead rats from other sources most Protagonists, but the tale of the giant
employers will simply pay on completion of the task, often offering the Rat Catcher rats has excited his imagination. He’s
relatively little up front, but then a bonus on quick and efficient completion of the task. pondering getting in touch with his
The Rat Catcher can then take the rats he has killed and claim any bounty the local cousin Laurencius, who moved to
authorities award for rat tails. Middenheim some years back to
pursue a vocation in ceramics, to see
More money can often be made by capturing rats alive. These can then be sold to if he can hire some likely lads to go to
various interested parties who will be willing to pay more than a few pence for delivery the Drowned Rat and try to get their
of whole live specimens. The universities in large cities pay for rats in order to teach hands on one of these monster
scholars of the little understood science of Biology a little about anatomy or vermin and have it sent to Wurtbad.
reproduction in animals.
Those Rat Catchers who trap large numbers of their prey alive can make extra money
 A Comprehensive Guide to Old World Rat Catchers A Comprehensive Guide to Old World Rat Catchers

Adventure Seeds for Rat Catchers by selling rats to entertainers around the cities of the Old World, who regularly hold rat
baiting contests in taverns. These betting contests take many forms, starved rats can be
A Musical Remedy. It can be tedious forever going back to the traps you have laid just
to find them empty, and dangerous cornering frightened rats in the hope of taking them set on each other in a pit and bets taken on which rats will survive, or bets can be taken
out with a blow from your ratting pole, and mucky and unpleasant scouring the sewers on how long it will take a rat dog to kill a dozen rats. The capture of a giant rat, or rats
with notable mutations, can make a real draw for an establishment running such
for vermin with your small dog - what if the often repeated rumours of individuals able to
competitions. The organisers of rat baiting events may even be generous enough to
charm and control rats with a musical instrument were true?
allow the Catcher to remove the tails of his catch in order to collect the bounty on them.
People talk of the animal charmers of Ind, able to make the rats there dance to the tune
of squealing flute, but stories are also told of individuals with similar skills in the Empire. Another group of customers who desire live rats are those who are interested in having
them as pets. These can include noblewomen who have succumbed to the fashion of
The most famous of these are the tales of the Pie-Eyed Piper of Middenheim, said to be
able to charm vermin from their holes with his playing. The motif has even made it into keeping fancy white rats in gilded cages (it is rumoured in some corners of the world
that there is something special, if not even uncanny, about a rat with white fur, and
a Detlef Sierck’s The Rats of Hammstadt, and variations on the trick are performed
some are therefore kept in the belief that they are lucky talismans). Some of these
regularly in carnival sideshows.
customers are even wizards, who are on the look out for a large and healthy specimen
Surely many a Rat Catcher has daydreamed about utilising such an easy method to to make a suitable familiar. Pleasing such luminary customers can make the Rat
make his living? However, there is a darker side to such stories, in that the musical Rat Catcher a highly useful contact.
Catchers are often said to have brokered a deal with dark gods for their gifts, and that
Some Rat Catchers take to breeding dogs. There is a healthy market for these animals
their real prey isn’t rats, but children.
as the small but vicious breeds favoured by the Rat Catchers are also favoured by those
The Snake God. Some scholars talk of how the reptilian inhabitants of the New World with an interest in animal baiting and dog fights, or even clearing out infestations of
once fought an infestation of rats running rampant in their jungle home and spreading a Snotlings.
virulent disease. Myths translated from stolen stone plaques are said to speak of the
priests of the lizardmen invoking an ophidian god, who sent swarms of serpents into the
rats’ tunnels to consume or poison them all, leaving the Lustrian jungles mysteriously What can you expect from a Rat Catchers’ Guild?
free of rats to the present day, a fact many explorers of the New World confirm. Rat Catchers’ guild houses tend to be poor premises – for example the Middenheim
Such legends may be of great appeal to Rat Catchers, who might offer up the odd Ratter’s guild is based in a room above a tavern in the somewhat rough Ostwald district
private prayer to the Lustrian snake god, or bear the likeness of a snake as some kind of the city.
of personal totem. Of course, the worship of such a strange and alien deity would not Joining a Rat Catchers’ guild is often easier than most, in many towns and cities there is
be looked upon with kindness by many of the traditional religious authorities in the Old often a dearth of Rat Catchers, especially in times of plague (when the demand for Rat
World. Catchers is higher) or in a location with a Skaven problem (where potential recruits can
A Trip to Tilea. These days the Rat Catchers who regularly patrol the sewer system of be put off by rumours of the Ratmen and Rat Catchers are more likely to meet a violent
Delberz do so with a freshly formed force of Sewer Jacks. They never encounter end whilst working in the sewers). As such the family ties, proofs of experience or official
Ratmen, but those amongst them with sharper hearing often claim to be able to hear recommendations that more salubrious guilds might require from a potential member
sounds of activity emanating from below. are often overlooked in the case of Rat Catchers.
Direktor Liebrecht Schleicher, the head of the Delberz Guild of Safety and Sanitation However, because of these lax entry requirements, as well as the fact that many of their
(which looks after the interests of numerous parties including the town’s Rat Catchers, members are very impoverished, Rat Catchers’ guilds can be open to corruption and
Sewer Jacks and Dung Farmers), has studied accounts of the histories of Tobaro and bribery.
Miragliano. Based on his knowledge of these cities he is planning to finance an The Rat Catchers guild usually have reasonably accurate maps of the sewer systems of
expedition to Tilea in order to hire the services of some of the country’s most their home city, though in order for an inquisitive individual to get a look at one he or she
experienced Skaven hunters. would need to be a guild member, a figure of some authority, be able to pay a decent
However, the Skaven are keeping a careful eye on their enemies above, and plan to bribe or craft a convincing cover story.
shadow the expedition to make sure they don’t return to Delberz. They will send a party Operating as a Rat Catcher without guild membership carries the usual risks, but as Rat
of their own to ambush the travellers in some quiet location, and may also try and get in Catchers’ guilds tend not to have the funds to pursue justice via the courts a putative
touch with members of the Tavelli family, a Miraglianese clan who have had a
Rat Catcher who works without guild membership can find himself on the receiving end
longstanding alliance with the Ratmen and remain members of the dwindling Poison of some rough justice at the hands of some cheap hired thugs, rather than being forced
Claw Cult. These human followers of the Horned Rat will act to head the party off if they to take part in what may be costly legal proceedings.
reach Tilean soil.
 A Comprehensive Guide to Old World Rat Catchers A Comprehensive Guide to Old World Rat Catchers

Rat Catching in Altdorf Trappings

Rat Catching in Altdorf is very much a family affair, with three highly nepotistic unions Rat Catchers carry a long, sturdy pole, often adorned with the corpses of rats they have
controlling the business within the city. As such it can be very hard for a Rat Catcher to slain. This pole is partly a badge of office, a sign of the bearer’s profession that is
find work in Altdorf unless they are either from one of these families or are willing to recognised throughout the Old World. It is also very useful for crushing the skull or the
work with them (and such employment carries little chance of promotion or recognition spine of a cornered rat. Some ratting poles may also have barbs or thorns attached to
as job opportunities are almost always only passed to family members). one end, so that they can catch onto the fur of a rat when swept from side to side.
There are three families who have territories divided into vague geographical areas of Suitable poles are of Common Availability, and can be bought for 2 s, but many Rat
Altdorf. The Frettchens are the most powerful of these families, and they work in the Catchers just make do with a suitably sturdy branch.
area of the city to the south and west of the river Reik. The Hermelin family looks after The traps carried by Rat Catchers can take many different forms, though most are
matters of pest control to the north of the Reik and Talabec. The largest of these simple mechanical devices with spiked jaws or solid metal bars that spring shut when a
families, the Wiesal family, is also the least wealthy, and they are based in Altdorf’s rat steps on a balanced plate, or attempts to remove food from a trap. Poisons are also
dilapidated East End. commonly used by Rat Catchers, so in some cases the ‘traps’ employed by Catchers
Fortune has never smiled kindly upon the Wiesals, their limited resources have never simply take the form of a piece of bread or meat laced with Black Lotus or some similar
kept the rampant rodent population in their territory in check, and their reputation has kind of venom. Small mechanical traps are of Common Availability, and can be bought
suffered as a result. Furthermore there has been talk of the Frettchens and Hermelins for 1 gc.
combining to form a more official Rat Catchers’ guild in the capital, which has alarmed Slings can be useful for taking out a fleeing rat, or breaking up rats in a swarm. They
members of the Wiesal family. are the preferred missile weapons of Rat Catchers as they can be used in confined
The competition and disputes between the three families is said to be parodied in Detlef spaces (unlike many types of bow) and they don’t suffer from getting damp (unlike
Sierck’s famous comic opera The Rats of Hammstadt, in which the growing problem of gunpowder weapons).
a rat infestation in a sleepy Reikland hamlet goes unnoticed whilst attentions are fixed Rat Dogs are small and compact breeds,
on petty disputes between village families. They play is therefore somewhat unpopular trained from birth to chase down and seize
Small but Vicious Dogs
with the Rat Catchers of Altdorf, but much beloved by Rat Catchers elsewhere. vermin by the scruff of their necks, and then The dogs used by Rat Catchers have the
shake them violently to kill them. Rat dogs following profile.
are also carefully trained not to consume or . WS BS
Rat Catching in Middenheim S T AG INT WP FEL
damage the rats they kill, but to leave the
bodies intact so that the Catcher can go on 30% 0% 21% 21% 30% 15% 30% 0%
The Ratters’ Guild in Middenheim is based in a room above one of the many drinking
holes in the Ostwald (an infamously rough district where many members of the city’s to claim his bounty. Training these dogs to A W SB TB M Mag IP FP
lower classes dwell). This organisation looks after its members’ interests and deals with the sensibilities of a particular owner can be 1 6 2 2 6 0 0 0
the occasional contract from Middenheim’s Komission for Health, Education and the most arduous part of joining the
profession, but most Rat Catchers Skills: Follow Trail, Perception +20%, Swim.
Welfare to exterminate vermin in public buildings (in fact the Komission is meant to
permanently employ a body of Rat Catchers for this work, but since the chancellor nevertheless develop a strong bond with Talents: Flee!, Keen Senses, Natural
seems reluctant to fund them, the Catchers of the city are left to operate on a freelance their belligerent mutts. Weapons, Warrior Born (added to profile
above).
basis). The breed typically used by Rat Catchers
The guild also has long-standing contracts with the city’s mercantile concerns, for are short-legged and stocky black-tan
dealing with the rats that infest the merchant’s warehouses, which line the Sudetenweg. terriers, though there is a breed of Wissenland spaniel that is particularly renowned for
catching and killing rats.
Rat Catchers in Middenheim may often be distinguished by their high-crowned hats of
rat-skin, this is just a popular fashion amongst members of the Guild, not a uniform as Some Rat Catchers take up dog breeding as a supplement to their income, earning
such, though it is so ubiquitous an article that it can be safely assumed that anyone around 3 gc for a trained young adult dog. The breeds that appeal to Rat Catchers are
wearing such a hat will be one of the city’s Catchers - and that all the city’s Catchers also in demand by those who organise animal baits, or coursing.
wear such hats. Not all Rat Catchers rely on their dogs however, and some of the more maverick use
Some years ago stories circled the city of an individual who was able to coax rats out of other animals to track down and kill rats, like cats, stoats or ferrets. There have even
their holes by playing a bright and lively air upon a flute. Reports regarding the man been reports of an Altdorf Rat Catcher who used a trained hawk to bring down his prey,
differ, but most agree that he came to a bad end, exposed as a worshipper of a though he is said to have come to a bad end which more traditional Rat Catchers
proscribed deity. ascribe to his break from the norm.
 A Comprehensive Guide to Old World Rat Catchers A Comprehensive Guide to Old World Rat Catchers

The Rat-Catchers of Miragliano Rat-Catchers of Miragliano in WFRP Rat Catching in Marienburg

In the Tilean city of Miragliano when people Life in the city of Marienburg is invariably influenced by the interests of its merchant
Of course there are regular Rat Catchers
talk of Rat-Catchers they don’t tend to refer working within the city, and these work class, and this influence even extends to the lowly Rat Catcher. There is no
to pest controllers, but to the highly trained alongside the mercenary regiment and make recognisable guild within the city, instead private individuals (who are mostly rich
mercenaries who patrol the sewers and up many of their new recruits. merchants or their lackeys) tend to employ Rat Catchers to clear vermin from
canals of the city. Founded in the aftermath warehouses and ships. Unchecked, populations of rats in these areas could devastate
Any Rat Catcher within the city may count
of the devastation of Miragliano by the Red Mercenary amongst their Career Exits, the cargos of grains and spices that make their way to and from the great port.
Pox in the year 1812 IC, the Rat-Catchers though they will have to acquire the following However, whilst the practices of the Rat Catchers of Marienburg are influenced by the
are one of the most renowned mercenary trappings in order to be considered for the merchants of the city they are also often swayed by another of the city’s groups - it’s
regiments in all of Tilea. regiment: criminal fraternity. Many of the jobs that are offered to Marienburger Rat Catchers are
The Rat-Catchers are trained and Crossbow with 10 Bolts, Mail Shirt, Leather on board ships, and it is not unknown for some expensive items in the hold of a ship to
equipped at the Prince of Miragliano’s Jack, Helmet, 2 Knives, Sword, Grappling be dropped into the waiting hands of mudlarks wading about beneath the vessels. Rat
expense, and the regiment’s main duty is Hook or Tickler (counts as a Spear with the Catchers have also been caught smuggling live rats onto ships and into warehouses in
to keep the city safe from a Skaven Snare Quality). Ticklers can be bought as an an attempt to create or increase custom. Indeed, some particularly committed criminal
item of Average Availability in Miragliano
incursion. Typically, each member of the Rat Catchers may even take to breeding their own stocks of rats specifically for this
(Scarce elsewhere) for 11 gc.
regiment is armed with a short sword, a purpose.
crossbow and several knives, although
Rat Catchers can have surprisingly good relations with the cult of Shallya, thanks to
officers often replace the crossbow with a handbow to allow them to carry a lantern in
their work in preventing the spread of plague, and this relationship is particularly notable
the other hand. Each patrol is also accompanied by a dog handler with two large and
in Marienburg. The Board of Public Health, set up by Sister Anneloes van de Maarel
very vicious dogs, powerful mastiffs bred to fight the Skaven from birth and fed
(the city’s Shallyan High Priestess), has been working to make it more rewarding for the
exclusively on a diet of rat-meat.
Rat Catcher’s of the city to work in public areas by petitioning the authorities to raise the
Finally the Rat-Catchers often make use of two signature pieces of equipment when bounty paid for rat tails. This is in an effort to get Rat Catchers to concentrate less on
they need to drag the waters of the canals for swimming Ratmen: grappling hooks and saving merchant’s wares from the predations of rats, and more on controlling the
il Sollecitare (“the Tickler”) - a long spear covered in a profusion of barbed hooks. population of vermin in residential areas of Marienburg where they are thought to
spread disease.
Rat Catchers and the Cult of Nurgle Sister van der Maarel may have been persuaded to take this action on advice from one
Another menace that can have a clash of interests with the day to day working of Rat of the junior members of the priesthood. Sister Wilhemina Pleegster of the Edelmoed
Catchers are the Cult of Nurgle. These Chaos worshippers may look upon the efforts of Temple used to be a Rat Catcher herself - taking on the profession from a desire to
the Rat Catchers to halt the spread of a particular plague with antipathy. Also in some improve the lives of those who lived in the city’s Suiddock district. Despite leaving the
cities and towns Nurgle Cultists may choose to create a meeting place within the Rat Catcher’s life when she realised she could do a greater good as a member of the
sewers, where they can practice their foul rites in private but also safely meet with Shallyan priesthood, she may well be keeping a friendly eye out for her former friends
members of Clan Pestilens, who they may do dealings with far away from the prying and colleagues.
eyes of either the human society above, or the Skaven underworld beneath. Such is the
case in Middenheim, where the city sewers and the tunnels running through the Street Vendor and Rat Catcher
Fauschlag have long provided a haven for cultists of Nurgle and Skaven alike. I remember a time in Nuln when I was on business for the elector count of Wissenland, buying
For these reasons the cultists of the Plague Lord can be every bit as much a committed what was pertained to be charred chicken breast stuffed in herbs and onion and dipped in
adversary of Rat Catchers as the Skaven and their agents are, and followers of Nurgle mead sauce from a street vendor, and wolfing it down on my way to the palace. Within an
hour I was lying in the gutter, curled up like a ball of wool, moaning for Morr to take me
can seek to neutralise the Catchers of a town or city they seek to gain a foothold in as a
through lips frothing with vomit.
pressing priority.
I blamed the ruffian food vendor, and I made it my business - when I had recovered - to track
Sometimes the cult of Nurgle can find an ally in a Rat Catcher though, after all, times of him down and teach him a hard lesson. I never did find him, but my investigations uncovered
pestilence can be highly profitable as the bounty on rat tails increases. A greedy Rat that I was not the only one to suffer at the mercy of his culinary crimes, and that he was often
Catcher can therefore prove a willing pawn in the schemes of the Plague Lord, seen with the local rat catcher. The conspiracy became clear.
performing tasks such as clearing a warehouse out of a plague of rats but then I did find the rat catcher, and a lesson was meted out in swift and brutal fashion.
depositing a single specimen of a rat infected with some new and virulent plague in a
secure cranny, where it can give birth and fester. - From Blood on the Reik, a Journey Through the Old World by Tobias Helmgart
 A Comprehensive Guide to Old World Rat Catchers A Comprehensive Guide to Old World Rat Catchers

Rat Catchers in Carroburg The vast majority of Rat Catchers in Bretonnia are traveling rural Rat Catchers, only a
The Rechenguild of Carroburg looks after the interests of the city’s Rat Catchers and very small percentage of them work based in one of the cities of the kingdom.
Rakers. Much of the sewerage in the city is taken care of by small channels of water
running along many of the city’s streets and the Rakers keep the streets clean by
Rat Catchers and the Skaven
sweeping dung and refuse into these channels. The Rat Catchers of Carroburg find
themselves working alongside the Rakers as a result - hence the formation of the guild. Rat Catchers might seem like obvious candidates for Old Worlders who believe in the
This arrangement is not always amicable though, and members of the two professions Skaven, but in fact many involved in the profession can be loud advocates of their non-
jockey for position within the guild if they are given the opportunity. existence and decry those who talk of ‘the controversy’.
Recently events in the city have caused a stir within the ranks of the Rechenguild, as Diligent and observant Rat Catchers in cities and towns that are home to a population of
some grisly killings have the Rat Catchers complaining that someone has it in for them. Skaven may well encounter a lot of evidence as to the existence of the Ratmen, and
The murders have deepened the divisions between the factions in the guild and some find it highly frustrating that other people deny their existence. On the other hand, some
heated accusations have been made, resulting in threats of strikes and renewed plays Rat Catchers are highly dismissive of those who believe in Skaven, those who come
for power. The guild master, Wilhelm von Elffenstein, is considering hiring some from cities with no Skaven presence, or where the Ratmen have been effective at
independent investigators to try and find out who is behind the murders. covering their tracks, can be vociferous exponents of the belief that “if there were
organised rat-like beastmen living in the sewers we would know about it long before
Carroburg is also the centre of worship for the Cult of the Yellow Fang, who try and
now”.
maintain discrete yet amicable relations with the Rechenguild through bribery. The Cult
plan to use their contacts within the guild in an attempt to secure accurate maps of the For business reasons, this second opinion can be prevalent, with many Rat Catcher’s
sewer systems of many major settlements within the Empire. guilds finding it sometimes hard to attract new staff due to the rumours of Skaven
activity within city sewers. Senior members of Rat Catchers’ guilds can also be the
target of agents of the under-empire, who threaten or bribe them into cooperation. This
Rat Catchers in Delberz can lead to a climate of fear within the Rat Catchers of a city with a Skaven problem,
In contrast to the situation in Carroburg the Rat Catchers of Delberz have been far such as Altdorf or Middenheim, where Rat Catchers with information on the Skaven
more diligent in refusing to cooperate with the Poison Claw cult of Horned Rat may be unwilling to discuss it unless well paid and reassured as to their privacy, and
worshippers, to the extent of refusing bribes and reporting cult activities to the even then they will insist “you didn’t hear it from me”. Rat Catchers often employ
authorities. This may go some way to explaining why the fortunes of this cult have euphemisms when discussing the Skaven amongst themselves, such as “The Big
waned in these latter years. Ones”, “Tall Rats”, “Hind Leggers” or “Sewer Dukes”.

This situation wasn’t always the case, the Cult used to effectively bribe the Rat
Catchers of the town into keeping clear of the sewers during times when the Skaven, or Significant Old World settlements with and without Skaven problems.
their human agents, wished to use them to meet up or to perform some grisly ceremony
The Skaven have large established lairs below Nuln, Marienburg, Tobaro and
to the glory of the Horned Rat. However, one of these acts was stumbled upon by a
Middenheim, and make extensive use of the sewer systems there, to the extent of being
group of adventurers in 2512, and since then the people of the town have been more
pretty bold. Rat Catchers in such cities are therefore quite likely to come across some
vigilant than most men of the Empire to the reality of the Skaven menace.
sign and spoor of the Ratmen, and Rat Catchers who seek to prove the existence of
Skaven (or those with some reason to keep them secret) may seek employment in
these cities in order to find (or suppress) such evidence.
Rat Catchers in Bretonnia
Whilst the practice of pest control is pretty much the same in Bretonnia as it is in the Altdorf, Talabheim, Carroburg, Gisoreux, Bordeleaux, Remas, Kislev, Magritta,
Empire there are some differences. The feudal society of Bretonnia does not look kindly Quenelles and Parravon are amongst those cities that have Skaven lairs beneath them.
on guilds or unions for professions that are seen as typical of the peasantry, and Rat Rat Catchers from these cities might come across some evidence of the Skaven,
Catching is among them. Bretonnian Rat Catchers can therefore expect to be much though the Ratmen keep a much lower profile here than in the settlements mentioned
poorer than those who work in the Empire, or Kislev, and they may also suffer more earlier.
from amateur or itinerant Catchers providing competition. The Skaven have no permanent presence beneath settlements such as Hergig,
The links between rats and disease are not widely understood in Bretonnia, though the Averheim, Wolfenburg, Wurtbad, Eicheschatten, Sartosa, Luccinni, Erengrad, Praag,
Shallyan priesthood in the country works hard to try and educate the peasantry in Bilbali, Couronne and L’Anguille. Rat Catchers from these cities (especially from those
matters of hygiene, but most stubbornly prefer to believe in foul vapours and imbalance in the Empire) might be very dismissive of stories of the Skaven and the threat that they
of humours as the causes of disease. pose.