Editing Ratfolk



Around the time that the Dawn People were making war on the serpentfolk, a second group of mammals developed sentience. These creatures dubbed rodentia scitus by modern scholars developed in an way that almost paralleled homo primus, starting as tree dwelling creatures and then as the forests began to vanish, descending to the ground and learning to manipulate objects with their hands, etc. 


That being said, ratfolk (as the Nezumi are often called by humanoids) are looked down upon, believed by many to be hopelessly inferior and backward. While ratfolk certainly have an alien mindset compared to that of hominids they are no less intelligent, and their strange behavior is as natural to them as are most of the fundamental qualities of most humanoids. Still, ratfolk are not largely accepted into humanoid society, and have by necessity carved out their own territories underground in the larger forests, suffered by most races to live in close proximity but never to really mingle. The only exception to this has been the enterprising gnomes, who view the ratfolk as useful tools and will often do business with them, giving ratfolk a great reputation as traders, and the gnomes a convenient scapegoat if a deal should go south. True to their origins ratfolk remain scavengers at the edge of society, though it is rumored that below ground, just beyond the dwarven claimed territories that ratfolk are breeding en masse and that more than a few goblin tribes have simply vanished, possibly heralding a time when the race will at last start asserting itself toward dominance. While an individual ratfolk is small and hardly a threat, the thought of huge armies of the sentient vermin cause many to lose sleep at night, for humans largely conquered the world through their proliferation and ratfolk are far better at it than they are.