It seems that everywhere you find a group of humans, you'll find a clan of rats hiding in the shadows. This history seems born out of opportunity for the rat, but human's have done their part to help them get around the world rather easily. This commensalism - a relationship where one species benefits, but the other receives little or no harm - is probably the result of the sloppy nature of humans. The flagship rat species, Rattus Rattus, once originated in India, and while some of its cousins hung around on forest edges and fields, many found a living chasing down humans and loitering around their encampments for scraps. In more modern times, Rats are everywhere – at least everywhere that humans are. In almost every big city in the world, rats are eating human rubbish, breeding in human buildings, and running through city streets.
Even on a different planet, the relationship between man and rodent, be it good or not, has changed little. Even if the rodent's in question have.
Scourge of the world, the pestilence bringer, ever-present yet hardly welcome.
Many titles are given to the Corpse Rat, a large deadly rodent-like creature found within the deep darkness of caves, sewers and chasms surrounding many parts of Elysium. Oversized version's of
Black Rat (Rattus Rattus) , large eyes allow them to see in near pitch black, low light conditions, and their large ears are perfectly tuned for listening to the sounds of prey who stumbled too far into the darkness.
Opportunistic omnivores that feed on all matter of filth as well as the sick weak dying or already dead, their disgusting diet causes their saliva to usually be laced with a cocktail of often quite dangerous pathogens, most of which are unknown to even science. Even if prey was too survive the initial attack, they are doomed for a slow, painful agonizing demise by horrible disease. Despite however their nonexistent dental hygiene and highly aggressive nature, Corpse rats are fairly low down in the subterranean food chain kept in check by
Corpsecleaner centipedes and a host of other predators looking to make a meal out of these rambunctious rodents.
However, they have been known to travel above ground at night to attack wayward children, unsuspecting wildlife and loose pets. As a result they are often killed on sight and are often one of the common animals in the world to have bounties put of their heads.
In addition to the Corpse Rat, another large rat species makes its home in the worlds extensive landscape. However unlike its more aggressive cousin, this one makes it’s home in the comfort of a couch curled up in a lap, then a dank dirty sewer.
The Northern Jackrat, so named for their behavior of slapping their foot on the ground like a Jackrabbit when they are content, are the result of the North Arkaelean rat population being tainted by the magical fallout from the onslaught of warfare. However unlike Corpse-rat who evolved the same way, Jackrats, once derived from a variety of
Fancy pet rats (Rattus domestica) , do not exhibit the same aggression that plagues their relatives, and instead have been domesticated as companions, adored and loved for their independent and loyal behavior, and high intelligence.
Not much separates the Jackrat from the Corpse-rat in terms of appearance. Much like the Corpse-rat, prolonged exposure to magical fallout has caused Jackrat to also double in size and age, with them growing to be the size of a medium sized dog, and where as their ancestor only sadly use to live only 2-3 years in captivity, Jackrats live almost triple that, ranging ages from 8-10 years, with the longest said to be almost 15.
One of the main differences in appearance between the two rodents is body-type. Jackrats are naturally a bit more smaller and more “plump” then Corpse-rat, with Jackrat having a rounder face, slightly rounder ears and a more healthy look to them, lacking a natural loss of fur and diseased look which is prevalent in Corpse-rat.
They also behave differently, as Jackrats are highly social animals, while Corpse-rat tend to be on the more solitary side outside of breeding pairs. Because of this, Jackrats can be housed together regardless of sex, as males are not all that aggressive towards one another. The same can not be said for the territorial Corpse-rat, who usually act intensely aggressive to any sex regardless. Being derived from fancy rats also gives Jackrats the ability to come in many forms of pattern and color, that are not found outside in wild rat populations out-side of uncommon colors or morphs. Jackrats can also be taught to co-exist with other household pets, where as Corpse-rat are aggressive to anything and are more likely to kill then bond with their house-mates.
While they are known as pests, the corpse-rat is actually one of the largest-known food sources for predatory animals in the entire continent. It is a popular prey for larger creatures but it is also a very common meal to find cooked in a campfire.
Although the Corpse-rat are more common in Arkael, they can be found as far as the Southern Sea and across the ocean in Gudeth. This is because traders from the far north travel across the continent, inadvertently bringing them with them, similar to how rats once and still stowaway on trading ships. Because of this Corpse-rat tend to live in a variety of places. They can nests in caves, sewers, and underground warrens, etc, and while many of them can be found out in the wilderness, where they will build nests deep in the forests, they can also be found burrowing in beaches, and when the tide rolls in, so do the burrowed animals.
Trivia
- Did you know, that despite being known as “Pinkies” much like their Earthen-Realm brethren, baby Jackrat pup are most popularly known as “squeakers”. This is because at such a young age the babies are much more vocal then their adult counterparts. Babies who start growing their hair out and start exploring are nicknamed “Thumpers” as this is around the age where they become more accustom to slapping their feet on the ground to express their emotions rather than become vocal. Despite being silent, it is believed that these rats emit frequencies in low noises, similar to how an Elephant emits low frequencies with their rumbling, the sound traveling large distances being virtually undetectable outside of those trained to listen, or their own kind.
Despite common misconception, Corpse-rats are not
always unhealthy. In fact they are actually generally
healthy animals who spend a good chunk of their time grooming themselves. The issue stems that similiar to humans, These rats can serve as zoonotic vectors for certain pathogens and thus spread disease, such as bubonic plague, that can be transferred between host-to-victim. However similiar to the poor rats of earth, they are not always the cause.
In face most of the times it is
them who are the victims as well, coming into contact with poorly disposed corpses of disease victims, insects that carry disease and a entire host of factors. In fact, much like on earth, rats have long been held up as the chief villain in the spread of the Plague on Elysium similar to earth. However, much like earth, it has been shown that rats alone could not account for the rapid spread of the disease and that most of the issue came from HUMAN error. Despite this, many medical professions do list nearly a dozen diseases directly linked to rats. In addition, corpse-rats are regularly known to be volatile creatures, which many believe is due to personality alone and not just diseases alerting the brain of the creatures. In the popular opinion, they are considered dangerous vermin and regarded as pests associated with death and disease and a plethora of demons and gods.
Despite this, in many places they are actually considered useful, basically being labeled as part of
natures clean up crew, eating refuse and other such undesirable material in places where some others might not get too. Alas, while this habit allows the rat to be immune to certain diseases, there are always the few that the poor vermin cannot contend with.
Diseases that Corpse-Rats can spread usually are familiar to those of earth
Salmonella, Rat bite fever, Bubonic Plague, are just ones commonly spread and in terms of the plague, are liable too cause a pandemic. Smaller diseases such as
Rock-Joint can not be spread but can be just as debilitating, causing painful swelling and immobility of all joints and in more dire-cases, the complete degregation and rotting of bone. Certain skin-conditions are most commonly caused by ticks and parasites that inhabit corpse-rats, and are in fact part of the reason why corpse-rats are even reffered to as
Corpse-Rats to begin with; loss of hair, itchy scabs and open sores often give the rats a diseases "corpse-look"
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