No one knows exactly when the legend of the Serpent God Sotek first appeared.
Today, all the gods worshiped by the lizardmen are actually the Old Ones. The beings they revere are those who once came to this world, creating countless races and conducting innumerable experiments. These include the Sun God Potek, the Guardian God Quetzl, and the Revered God Tzunki. These deities are all incarnations of the Old Ones.
Only the Serpent God Sotek is different.
The first mention of Sotek came after the Chaos invasion. The lizardmen, already weakened by prolonged battles against the Chaos Demons, faced further decline. It was then that Clan Pestilens, the Skaven pestilence clan, arrived in Lustria. This marked the beginning of the long war known as the "Forgotten War" between the lizardmen and the Skaven.
With most of the Slann occupied with guarding the geomantic web and maintaining the Great Ward, the lizardmen gradually succumbed to Clan Pestilens' disease offensives, forced to abandon many cities.
Chakwa was one such city. Known as the "City of the Gods," it had already suffered severe damage during the Chaos invasion. When the Skaven introduced their diseases into the city, it became uninhabitable.
As the city fell into chaos, with the lizardmen leaderless, a strong skink priest stepped forward, rallying the lizardmen and helping his kin through the crisis.
This was Tehenhauin, the first and greatest prophet of Sotek.
While rescuing the prophecy tablets from the pyramid's secret chamber, Tehenhauin noticed a tablet that prophesied the birth of Sotek to combat the "evil rat gods" and ultimately devour the rat gods spreading destruction and plague. Overjoyed, the skink priest fully believed in this prophecy.
Tehenhauin's efforts were not in vain. Wherever he preached, lizardmen afflicted by plague were restored to health. Driven by hatred and devotion, those healed declared that this aligned with Sotek's prophecy, and they spread the word that ratmen must be blood-sacrificed to bring forth the god before the world's end.
In Chakwa, the skinks differed from ordinary skinks. They mostly bore bright red crests, were physically stronger, and more intelligent than their kin. With unparalleled prestige and unified faith, Tehenhauin quickly organized an army, determined to blood-sacrifice the Skaven to bring forth Sotek and save Lustria.
Thus began a full-scale war between the lizardmen and the Skaven.
After thousands of years of warfare and countless blood sacrifices, Tehenhauin's force grew into the current Serpent God Legion. In the Battle of Quimoro Pit, Tehenhauin set a perfect ambush, annihilating tens of thousands of Skaven. The blood sacrifice was finally successful. The new deity, Sotek, appeared from the heavens, thoroughly defeating the Skaven, who then retreated from Lustria.
And today, the chosen prophet of the Serpent God, the greatest prophet Tehenhauin, roared a challenge to the sky. Amidst dark clouds and lightning, the Serpent God Legion charged onto the battlefield, thundering towards the Skaven with unstoppable force!
Several waiting plague monk legions at the rear found themselves facing a terrible threat. The Serpent God Sotek's legion was launching a fierce attack from behind. Red-crested skink battalions and stegadons bearing the Sacred Flame of Sotek tore through the plague monks' ranks, beginning the battle.
"Skaven, rot, decay, disease, and evil, destroy them! Destroy them all!" Tehenhauin, chosen of the Serpent God, hissed with a forked tongue, releasing his fury. This six-thousand-year-old prophet gripped the Serpent Blade, a divine weapon gifted by Sotek, in one hand, and the tablet recording Sotek's birth in the other. Leading the red-crested skinks, he charged!
The Skaven formation fell into chaos under the assault, the carpet of snakes on the ground devouring the rat tide wave after wave. Tehenhauin chanted Sotek's spells, tearing apart any ratmen daring to stand before him. His Serpent Blade thirsted for the Skaven's filthy blood with every strike. Fueled by endless hatred and a desire for vengeance, the prophet roared Sotek's name amidst a storm of blood and flesh, leaving a trail of Skaven corpses behind him.
"For Sotek! Kill!"
"For Sotek! For Itza! For Tehenhauin!" The Serpent God Legion's morale soared, crushing the Skaven tide with the force of a hurricane.
Clan Pestilens tried to retaliate with various poisonous plague bombs and magic, but the outcome disappointed them.
The deadly plagues that once worked so well had no effect on the warriors blessed by Sotek. Sotek's power protected the Serpent God Legion, strengthened by the bloody sacrifices. Especially Tehenhauin, the chosen of Sotek, was entirely immune to harm. His magical protections remained unbreached by any attack. In a divine storm of vengeance, he shredded any Skaven resistance.
The entire Starlight Bridge became a battlefield of flesh and blood. Both the Serpent God Legion and the Skaven showed no mercy, driven only by deep-seated hatred and relentless slaughter. The snake tide engulfed the rat tide. The colorful carpet of snakes swallowed the green and gray Skaven army. The plague monk legions and stormvermin left by Lord Skrulk began to crumble, especially after seeing their plagues fail.
Tehenhauin reached into the chest of a Grey Seer, ripping out and crushing its rotten heart. He chanted loudly, performing a sacrificial ritual to Sotek with the Skaven corpses. "For Sotek!"
The Serpent God heard Tehenhauin's call. In the high heavens, a colossal serpent moved among the clouds, responding to Tehenhauin's plea. A poisonous storm, miles in diameter, engulfed all the Skaven on the Starlight Bridge. In the bloody light, the rain of the snake storm dispelled the plague, throwing the ratmen into panic. The battle quickly turned into a rout, with the demoralized Skaven fleeing in all directions.
The Skaven's low morale and tendency to collapse finally showed. Thousands of ratmen armies crumbled, slaughtered by the Serpent God Legion. Clan Pestilens' seemingly invincible and numerous forces disintegrated into a disorganized rabble, with no Skaven daring to regroup and fight the Serpent God Legion again.
The collapse at the rear quickly impacted the battle atop the Great Pyramid. Lord Skrulk could hardly believe his rear guard was in total disarray when he looked back.
Kroq-Gar and Mazdamundi were leading their remaining forces in a counter-attack!
There was no time to reorganize the army! Lord Skrulk immediately realized that if he went back to reorganize his forces, he would lose the chance to kill Kroak once and for all!
"Advance! For the Great Horned Rat!" Fortunately, Kroak's body was now within reach. Skrulk let out a sharp rat cry, ordering all Skaven to block Kroq-Gar and Mazdamundi's counter-attack. He led his elite forces, the plague guards, and the rotting choir, in a final desperate assault.
Forbidden spells were cast, and Skrulk, now desperate, summoned a mighty Skaven Daemon, a Lord of Plagues, to the top of the Great Pyramid. Its power and magic heralded the final moments of this war.
Under the relentless assault of the Lord of Plagues and Skrulk, the Star Chamber Guardians were nearly wiped out. Only a handful of temple guards remained, bravely fighting to protect the shielded Kroak, but their defeat was only a matter of time.
At this moment, Fuggen, fighting amidst the rat tide, also felt despair. He was overwhelmed by hundreds of plague monks and stormvermin. Even as a primarch, Fuggen couldn't break free of the encirclement. He finally responded to the mysterious voice in his mind: "I need your help."
"Reach out, child of the Old Ones, reach out to the sky! I will give you all my power!" The mysterious hiss responded to Fuggen's words.
As Fuggen reached out, the dark clouds above split open, golden light tearing through the sky. In the dazzling light, a spear over three meters long fell into Fuggen's hand. The spear was engraved with the image of a giant serpent swimming among the stars. The golden serpent spat flames, the war spear ablaze with fire, roaring like a raging river, like an angry sea splitting the sky!
The Serpent God Sotek's gift, the Sotek War Spear!
Holding the war spear, Fuggen immediately understood its divine power. The primarch of the Emperor's Children laughed heartily, his blood surging. Since the Great Crusade, he had not felt such thrilling fervor. Gripping the war spear, he infused it with all his psychic energy.
"Ratmen! Feel my wrath!"
The Sotek War Spear swept across Fuggen's surroundings, slicing hundreds of Skaven in half in a blaze of light and thunder, turning them to ash.
Fuggen did not linger. He charged towards the top of the pyramid, carving a bloody path through the rat tide with the unrivaled power of the Sotek War Spear.
By now, the last Star Chamber Guardian had fallen before Skrulk and the Lord of Plagues. Nothing stood between Skrulk and the vulnerable Kroak.
Skrulk swung his plague censer, and the Lord of Plagues drew its cursed blade.
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