Bloodvermin

The Bloodvermin were a race of bestial demon (that is, creatures from the Dreadlands of sub-Human intelligence) known for their extremely vast numbers, obscene uncleanliness and obsessively murderous and disloyal nature. They infested large swathes of the Dreadlands, and several times they established significant colonies in this world. They had allegiance to nobody, not even themselves, but were often manipulated (or terrified) into doing the bidding of Dread Titans.

Due to their tendency to carry and spread plague, they often found themselves inadvertedly working alongside Putrid Ones, and they also found themselves enslaved in large numbers by the Festerkin, who found it greatly amusing to experiment upon them. Most commonly, though, they only worked with themselves, and often actively attacked other demons - for their goal was simply the procurement of food to sustain their huge and rabidly hungry populations.

The most dire threat the Bloodvermin posed to this world was during the Time of Troubles, but there were also significant Bloodvermin incursions during the Imperial Civil War. Although the more technologically advanced world was better at dealing with the Bloodvermin in the latter conflict, they still caused substantial devastation, most notably in Nesaria.

## Psychology

Bloodvermin had far simpler minds than those of hominids, but did possess high intelligence compared to other animals; scholars have characterised them as being as intelligent as crows or particularly clever breeds of dog. They were capable of comprehending (but not speaking) language, calculating simple mathematics and deducing effective tactics and strategies, and they understood the concept of trades and agreements - as well as when it was more profitable to deceive and backstab than to honour their dealings.

Although they were cunning creatures, they sorely lacked what could be described as emotional intelligence; they were utterly apathetic to the suffering of others and cared only for themselves, feeling little obligation even to their own offspring, cannibalising them without a second thought if food became scarce. It was common practice for young offspring to attack and devour a mother that was for whatever reason unable to provide milk, and all of their reproduction was seemingly achieved through rape.

Bloodvermin, having absolutely nothing in the way of a sense of loyalty, were instead convinced to make organised efforts through intimidation; the only sure way to get a Bloodvermin to do what it was told was to make the creature sure it was going to die if it disobeyed. It was therefore always the largest, strongest and most ruthless Bloodvermin that dominated their colonies, and these were typically the primary breeders, taking females as their own and cannibalising any who dared approach them.

## Physiology

Bloodvermin somewhat resembled skinny wolves with dark brownish-red fur (hence their name), with the heads and tails of rats and dark green goat-like eyes. On their front legs, which doubled as arms, they had clawed paws bearing three fingers and a thumb, and they had cloven hoofs on their rear legs.

Bloodvermin had the remarkable ability to simply never cease growing as long as they lived, and they were never observed dying of old age. Upon reaching physical maturity they would stand approximately 60 centimetres at the shoulder (or about the size of an Arctic Wolf), but they would steadily grow year after year. After several years - when exactly, it is not known - their rear legs would strengthen considerably to the point where they could comfortably walk on them in a bipedal fashion for extended periods, and at this point they were easily as tall as a Human male, though their hunched stature made their actual standing height somewhat shorter. The largest known Bloodvermin, which are sometimes termed Vermin Ogres, stood as high as four metres (13 feet) tall. Of course, their hunger would increase proportional to their size, and as even a small Bloodvermin was a ravenous creature, the largest must have consumed an extreme amount of food each day - likely turning to cannibalism when they did not receive other food.

Those Bloodvermin which could walk in a bipedal fashion had their hands free to carry weapons, though they lacked the intelligence to use these with any real skill, and they certainly did not have the capacity to make any weapons of their own, instead looting them from other civilisations. They favoured weapons which were easy to use and operated largely off the concept of "if the foe is hit with this, they will die faster"; maces, clubs and simple, large bladed weapons such as falchions were favourites. The more cunning Bloodvermin were capable of learning how to correctly use polearms, but they still seemingly preferred the savage joy of chopping and crushing their foes rather than poking them.

## Society

Although Bloodvermin had nothing at all in the way of culture, they did have societies, albeit extremely simple and dangerous ones where the mighty ruled and the weak would obey or be eaten. They coalesced in great colonies, which provided safety in numbers to their inhabitants, and from there they would stage raids upon valuable targets. Occasionally, these raids sought out equipment, but most of the time they were purely for food.

Bloodvermin colonies would often find themselves out of food after several years, as they had exhausted local supplies and those in the local vicinity had either mobilised to arms against the Bloodvermin, making raids excessively dangerous, or they had wisely chosen to flee, stopping the production of new food. It was common for colonies to degenerate into internal violence as they fought over the remaining food supplies (not that they particularly had the wisdom to store supplies, nor did they have the restraint to not eat them until later, nor did they have the capacity to protect them against intruders), but this violence would eventually settle down - at least to normal levels - as the colony began a great migration to better hunting grounds.