Hell Pit

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To the north, in the blasted wasteland known as the Troll country. lie the infernal breeding pits of Clan Moulder. This overpopulated stronghold is burrowed into the walls and floor of a ragged chasm in a snowy mountainside on the northern spur of the Worlds Edge Mountain. Volcanic pools at the bottom of the ravine raise a greyish plume of noxious steam and the foul stench is legendary. But worse is the dreadful cacophony of howls, screams, snarls and shrieks that clamour out of the frozen chasm. Not without good reason is this place known as Hell Pit.

The great labyrinthine tunnels of Hell Pit spiral in nine expansive circles, each worming and twisting like a great intestinal tract, each overburdened with numbers of preposterous proportions, and each full of mutated beasts. To perpetuate their crossbreeding, flesh-bonding crimes against nature, Clan Moulder requires constantly toiling slaves and captured creatures in staggering multitudes. the great circles of Hell Pit are riddled with laboratories, breeding pits, flesh distilleries, arenas and skin forges that allow Clan Moulder to continue seeking new more stable beats to sell or rent to other clans.

The Chaos Wastes are barren around Hell Pit save for packmasters scouring the lands for dangerous beasts to capture. Chaos monsters and mutated beasts offer the best chance for Master Moulders to extract enhancements for existing creatures or even to create a new kind of beast. Expert hunters will trail a Manticore, Hydra or Chimera for days waiting for an opening to strike. Captured creatures are led back to Hell Pit in cages.

If the toxic fumes don't put off an enemy's approach to Hell Pit then perhaps the twisted death throes of failed experiments will. These shambling, still mutating, beasts are rejected from the warrens to spend their last misrable days howling in agony amidst the barren rocks, attacking anything they happen to sense. Despite such defences Hell Pit is regularly attacked. Every few generations a boastful over-reaching champion of the savage tribes attempts to conquer the sprawling stronghold. Warriors of Chaos may be individually mighty, but the assaults are foolish, daring to assail the overwhelming numbers housed under the streaming vents of Hell Pit. Merciless death awaits the lucky.

The only assault on Hell Pit to gain headway occurred during the Great War against Chaos. Warrior tribes and warherds of beastmen allied in a attempt to raze Clan Moulder's capital. The Chaos armies forced their way inside the warrens, laying waste to the first three circles in a blaze of blood and ruin. The minions of the Dark Gods were halted, as innumerable Giant Rats were driven forward by Packmasters to bog down the foe. The invaders were eventually surrounded and wiped out when Throt the Unclean led an entire army of rabid Rat Orgres, mant of them especially augmented, to completely clear out the tunnels and warrens.

Sources

  • Warhammer Armies - Skaven 7th.
  • Warhammer Armies - Skaven 5th.