Ratkin are not a true race; they are the result of experimentation on dire rats. Every ratkin knows the story even if the specifics are blurred or contradictory. An ancient wizard (or other caster) needed servants and used the materials he had, namely giant rats. These stories often include a ratkin insurrection against their master, although bards and scholars tend to agree that this master, if he existed, was more likely vanquished by an enemy and the ratkin were left to fend for themselves. Hated by other races, the ratkin learned to band together, surviving on the scraps and trash of other races.

Physical Description: Ratkin generally look like humanoid rats, roughly human size with a rat’s head and tail and covered in hairy fur. This unfortunately makes them resemble were-rats and many small ratkin communities were wiped out during a were-rat infestation “just to make sure.”

Society: Ratkin tend to form small tribes or bands, living in areas that other races avoid. In the cities, ratkin congregate in slums or sewers. While ratkin appreciate protective laws, they are unconvinced that the authorities have their interests at heart. the wild, ratkin form bands that follow more aggressive tribes, picking the scraps left over from vicious raids.

Relations: Ratkin tend to get along with other “outcast” races, such as half-ogres, half-orcs, and saurians, or any race that is a minority in the geographic area. As ratkin have a reputation for being dirty disease carriers, most races give them a wide berth. Still, a ratkin may be tolerated when isolated from other ratkin, and his skills often determine his worth.

Alignment and Religion: As a created race, the ratkin have no patron deity. Instead, ratkin approach religion as they do everything else; they generally worship deities that have been discarded or fallen out of favor within a particular pantheon. Ratkin priests occupy abandoned temples to such deities and fuse old remnants of rituals with ratkin philosophy. Ratkin tend to be neutral in alignment and rarely good.

Adventurers: Ratkin favor speed and stealth over brute force and martial ratkin tend to be rangers and swashbucklers. This also accounts for there being more ratkin priests than clerics (and, since ratkin don’t feel a connection to the natural world, few are druids or shamans). As befitting a race of scavengers, a large number of ratkin are rogues. While magically created, ratkin have had little interbreeding and as such arcane casters tend to be wizards rather than sorcerers and warlocks.