Inside the rat kingdom, another report arrived from the last four creatures to enter. These rats weren't considered part of the Kingdom proper. They were slaves, distinguished by their genetic makeup. They were mutated rats, not rat men.
Rat men were the superior species of the rat kingdom. They weren't exactly human, but they were considered humanoid because they stood upright like bipedals, unlike their previous selves as lower tiered creatures. The rat man currently receiving this report from the enslaved mutated rats was a captain of the kingdom's prestigious knight order, the Filthguard Knights, one of four orders under the same brotherhood.
**The Oath of the Rusted Tails**
(Also called the Rusted Brotherhood, or simply the Rusttails)
*Founding and Myth*
The order traced its origins to the legendary Brood-Sire Skarn Gnawblood, who bound the tails of his first warriors with rusted iron rings, swearing them to protect the warrens during a great plague-war against the surface folk. These humans who had once inhabited the Ancient City of Eryndorath, now known as Dolmurath, the Eternal Tomb-City. It was said the warriors vowed to"rot before breaking," and from their corpses, the first sacred diseases were born.
*Core Tenets: The Three Rusted Vows*
**The Filthguard's Charge** – Protect the brood-nests, plague-shrines, and queens at all cost, for without them the swarm withers.
**The Tailbound Oath** – A brother's life is your own. Betrayal severs not only trust, but tail and bloodline. Oath-breakers are shamed, their tails hacked off and gnawed upon.
**The Plaguebearer's Devotion** – Disease is not a curse but a blessing. To spread it is to spread the will of the Rat-King Below.
*Appearance and Heraldry*
**Armor:** Patchwork metal, lacquered with filth and green patina, draped in plague-rags and vermin pelts.
**Symbol:** A rat's tail bound in iron rings, dripping with rust and pus.
**Weapons:** Jagged halberds, plague-smeared maces, rusted shields painted with diseased blotches.
**Ritual Markings:** Members branded their tails with rusted rings. Higher ranks added more rings until their tails were nearly crushed and useless, a sign of devotion.
*Ranks of the Orders*
**Rustbound Initiates** – Young rat-warriors who swore their first tail-ring and carried diseased fetishes into battle.
**Filthguard Knights** – Full members, guardians of plague-shrines, tasked with defending the queens (kings) and relics.
**Tailbearers** – Senior oath-keepers who carried the sacred duty of binding new initiates. Their tails were heavily ringed, often broken or rotted.
**Plague-Champions** – Elite zealots who willingly infected themselves with sacred diseases, fighting as living vectors of corruption.
**The Rusted Master** – The leader of the order, chosen by ritual trial of endurance. The last rat to collapse from infection was crowned with the Iron Crown of Rot.
*Role in Society*
The Oath of the Rusted Tails served as both unholy order and military arm. They guarded the most sacred warrens, defended the broodmothers, and acted as plague-bearers in war. To surface dwellers, they were abominations, knightly zealots of decay. To rat men, they were champions of survival, sworn to ensure the swarm thrived even in filth, famine, and disease.
---
The captain was a ranked Filthguard Knight investigating the claims of these four lower beings. They reported that something had clung to them, but they had nothing to show for it, no proof to present.
He had received one similar report a few months ago. A rat had returned claiming it felt something clutch onto its back just as it was about to enter the crack in the dimension. Now the same thing had happened to the last of those who entered the dimensional crack, or what Benny called the Sub-Space.
Unfortunately, even though they had increased the number of slaves sent out into the labyrinth city, the incidents continued. The rat man made no further comments, dismissing the claims as the ramblings of slaves who had witnessed the horrors of the labyrinth.
In fact, this outing they had sent to the labyrinth served two purposes. First, to confirm whether any of those pesky humans (ancients) had survived that place. Second, to curb the population of the low-tier rats, the slaves and those beneath them that the rat man considered expendable.
Still, he took note of it. He would share this information with the other commanders and those who ranked above them, especially with the Rusted Master.
---
Meanwhile, in another part of the rat domain, the four people who had managed to enter were establishing themselves.
They had found a cavern of considerable depth to use as a temporary operating base during their time in the Sub-Space. Their eyes, already accustomed to the darkness of the labyrinth, adjusted easily. This place was actually brighter than their current home.
Gustav and the rest commented on how the light from the sun's rays that orbited the sky of this Sub-Space never set. It was almost a perpetual day here, the opposite of the dark labyrinth. Yet when they first entered, the light hadn't been harmful to their eyes.
Days passed. They acclimated to the climate and the strange passage of time here, though they couldn't accurately measure it. They scouted the surrounding area, cataloging the flora and searching for other monsters that might be wild, unlike the sophisticated rats they'd observed.
These had been their activities since arriving. There was much more to do in the days ahead, but one thing was certain. They had to remain hidden from the rats' sight for as long as possible.