Cult of the Thirteenth Toll
The Cult of the Thirteenth Toll was born in the city of Burningbridge after the Skavendoom ripped apart the realm of fire as the Skaven poured out of their blight city conquer half of realm the population of the city that didn’t resist the Skaven willing joined them out of desperation and survival because sigmars Empire and perhaps the mortal realms is doomed and have decided that to survive and even prosper, they need to throw in with the winners.
The cult has started to spread its influence to other free cities, preaching the word of the great horned rat and preparing the advance of their Skaven master grey seer Vorkin Greysnout masterclan. A claw lord with great significance is Otto von Schottenstein, someone who has gained the ability and knowledge of how to cast spells from the lore of GHR.
“Otto von Schottenstein always looked like a rat and that is before he joined them ratmen willingly they give him that damn Warpstone in turn forced his political rivals and anybody that rebels against the rat man he forces them into slavery mining Warpstone or food for our city’s new masters this how he earned his place on Forsaken council or something like that is what I heard at least,”
It is not made clear how exactly such a vast network of Cult of the Thirteenth Toll is completely organised. In almost all cases, the only thing that any of the Cultists have in common with each other is that they worship the great horned rat. From the highest to the lowest Cultists there are, although rank in the regular world means nothing, Cultists have their own internal hierarchy and a king or noble would have to obey the lowest beggar if they stood higher than them and gave the correct signs (for example, there was a Cultist beggar in Excanstone named Old Altis who stood high enough that even Otto von Schottenstein, one of the more notable Cultist in realm have knelt to him ‘had circumstances been different’).
A known sign used by the Cultists is done by placing your hands at your side while forming a rough approximation of the Skaven symbol. Cultist councils have been mentioned before, thus indicating some kind of central leadership. Since the Forsaken 13 (or the claw lords as they are known amongst servants of the rat) have been released, they have taken control of most Cultist networks, and they now direct their actions. Some Cultist circles and individuals, such as Kan Snakefiend group of dark oath mercenaries under Barzus skull taker, have found themselves being given conflicting orders by different members of the claw lords, putting them in a difficult position as they would not hesitate to kill them for disobedience or failure.
In most cases, to become a member of the Cult of the Thirteenth Toll must be noticed by other Cultists. Cultists are always on the lookout for new recruits to raise their numbers. Upon joining, each member adopts a cryptonym when corresponding with each other, no real names referenced to keep them hidden and safe from sigmars witch hunters.
A cell of Cultists might watch people in public and see how they react, and if they think that someone shows signs of being a possible candidate, they will approach them. Often they kill people who refuse to stay hidden. All that said, if someone wishes to become a Cultist, they can speak against Sigmar and the other chaos gods, although that runs the risk of being caught.
The Cult of the Thirteenth Toll ceremonies are held every 13 days. All members are required to attend all the ceremonies dressed in a painted wooden rat mask and robes of what sect they are from black robes for those that serve under eshin clan Kretar and the brown robes newest of the cult serve as thralls to all the major clans. The green robes for servants of Moulder and Pestilens, the Red Robes for servants of clan Verminus and finally The blue robes for servants of clan Skryre.