Silker's Rat

A rat and a needle make good men beware, Their deceit seeps deep, leaving reputations threadbare.

— A Rhyme about a Silker's Rat

The Silkers' Rat is a fictitious creature created by an unknown apprentice Mason in the aftermath of the Silkers' War. It was meant to be a caricature of Silkers' apprentice Meryem Hanraghty. It has since been adopted by the Silkers of the Valenmire Piano & Sons' Company to represent their power, skill and bravery.

Background

Meryem Hanraghty and the Rat by Caitlin Wright via Bing

Meryem Hanraghty was an apprentice Silker at the Valenmire Piano & Sons' Company in 243SGC. After an illicit relationship with a apprentice Mason, Meryem became pregnant. Her attempts to convince her lover to marry her, thus saving her position as a student at the factory, resulted in a murder attempt against her life. She was thrown in the sewer and left for dead; however, she survived her attack. Meryem claimed to have made her way to the banks of the Rhaeliria River by following a rat through the tunnels.
In the days immediately following the Silkers' War, the story of Meryem's unusual saviour became widespread in Rykfontein.

Cheap pamplets, decorated with crude drawings of rats and worse rhyming couplets, began to appear in the Tisston District where the Valenmire factory was located.

Modern Usage

Silkers' Badge by Caitlin Wright via Bing

All workers at Valenmire Pianos are permitted by their employer to wear a small, embroidered patch of the Silkers' Rat on their uniform. If they are particularly devout followers of the Holy Chorus of Saints, this priviledge is usually declined, because the association of the symbol with Meryem Hanraghty as a lay-Saint is considered blasphemous by true believers.
At festivals and other large, communal events in the city, where apprentices or craftsmen have a presence, their banner is commonly displayed.

Now is the time for Marching,
Brandish your Needle and Thread!
We'll march to the beat of our hearts,
And fill you cowards with dread!

— An excerpt from The Silkers' Marching Chant

The Silkers' Rat by Caitlin Wright via Imagine AI

Literary Characteristics

In the original smear campaign by the Mason apprentices, the Silkers' Rat was a dishonest creature whose occupation (the creation of the fashionable, tapestried fronts of pianos) spread a plague of vanity into honest, hardworking households. The fertility of the rats was mentioned as a means of trapping good men in miserable relationships. The lyrics often warned that involving yourself romantically with these rats condemned apprentices to such a shameful, destitute life, they might as well dwell in the sewers. Several of the pamphlets used the term "Silkers' Rat" as a vulgar euphemism for the genital area, which has unfortunately been adopted into modern slang.
In turn, the scant Silkers' literature mentioning Silkers' Rats celebrates the creature for its for intelligence, compassion and loyalty. They openly and vehemently reject the negative connotations attributed to it.

Artistic Uses

The Silkers produced very little literature referencing the Silkers' Rat. However, a rat holding a tapestry needle has become a symbol of their craft, bravery and comradeship.

Silkers' Rat by Caitlin Wright via Bing