Clan Pestilens are the plague-priests of the Skaven, a fanatical brotherhood who worship the Great Horned Rat in his aspect as Lord of Decay and hold pestilence to be the holiest of sacraments. Where other clans crave warpstone or power, the Plague Monks crave contagion, and they cultivate diseases with the loving patience of a monk illuminating a manuscript — brewing them in fetid censers, incubating them in their own scarred flesh, and loosing them upon the world as acts of devotion. To fall sick in their presence is to be blessed; to spread the sickness further is to preach.
Their history is one of schism and holy war. Long ago the clan vanished into the jungles of Lustria in search of some ancient corruption, and returned changed, zealous, and riddled with a thousand new plagues to carry home. Since then Pestilens has warred as often against the Council of Thirteen as against the surface races, for its priests answer to the Horned Rat alone and reckon the rest of Skavendom insufficiently diseased. In battle their Plague Monks throw themselves forward in shrieking, frothing waves, indifferent to wounds, singing hymns through rotted throats, eager to die so long as they cough their gift upon the enemy first.
Skaven
Order of battle
The Clan Pestilens field the units of the Skaven — a detachment from the roster:
Kindred formations
Other Skaven formations
Clan EshinThe assassins and spies of Skavendom, who learned their arts in the shadow of the far east and now sell murder, sabotage, and secrets to every clan that can meet their price in warpstone.
Clan SkryreThe mad warlock-engineers of the Under-Empire, whose warpstone science arms Skavendom with lightning cannons, jezzails, and doomwheels — weapons generations ahead of the surface and half as reliable as they need to be.