[Originally called “ver’men”. I removed the pun as the mandatory name, but it remains as an option. Incidentally, the art above makes them look a bit more noble than I intended, but I like it much better than the original Hackmaster art. If you want heroic rodent people, use ratfolk. If you want little monsters, use the ver.]
Ver This
creature appears to be a rodent walking upright, with rounded ears and a stump
of a tail. Its face bears a grim expression.
Vers, sometimes called vermen
or mousefolk, are sinister, intelligent rodents. They live in the shadows and
margins of other societies, including those of other evil humanoids such as
goblins and kobolds. They are versatile omnivores, but raise none of their own
food. Theft and piracy have an almost sacred nature to the ver, and they
believe that nothing should be gained by honest labor if it can be obtained by
stealing.
Ver warrens are filthy,
cramped places, frequently home to rodents of both normal and unusual size. Ver
are natural tinkerers and trap-builders, and the longer a ver tribe has
occupied a region, the more elaborate and sadistic the traps will be. Ver
society is meritocratic—the cleverest and meanest ver is the one that claws
their way to the top, and these ver rulers frequently have levels in character
classes. Rogue is the most common class among the ver, and spellcasting ver
frequently become witches.
These diminutive thieves are common in the rural areas of Reb’ka, always living in close proximity to agricultural complexes so they can steal readily from them. Reb’kan legend ties their forms and covetousness to the work of Seshket, and some ver even become priests to that wicked god. They are rivals to bogles, which seek to simply destroy farmland, while ver prefer to establish themselves similar to parasites.
Shores of Swords 