Bilgewater Bestiary: The Wharf Rat
BILGEWATER BESTIARY: THE WHARF RAT, A Riot creation fleshed out.
Fleshing out is what I do. This all based on some degree of lore, creative licences on gameplay, or my own conclusions.
https://41.media.tumblr.com/c28b7264f1aa75207598992292a86384/tumblr_o2q9b0owOY1v87xy0o1_540.jpg Overview
- It might not be the single most dangerous creature known to Bilgewater, but few creatures are considered a greater blight on the port city than the Wharf Rat. Resembling a cross between a shark and a rat, these amphibious nuisances are considered the worst kind of pest possible: they’re aggressive, prolific, insatiable, and completely unafraid of people.
- Wharf rats are technically named Razorfins, after their resemblance to sharks, but the name has become more commonly associated with “wild” populations (away from Bilgewater), fully-grown adults or tamed individuals. The creature is known abroad as the Razorfin, but most people in Bilgewater settle for ‘wharf rat’.
Ecology
- Wharf rats will eat just about anything, including garbage, waste, carrion, and if the opportunity arises, people. They will prey upon drunkards too inebriated to defend themselves, unattended children, even babes. In fact, dock workers will sleep on raised cots to prevent wharf rats from eating them while they sleep. Fortunately, most wharf rats settle for scuffling about for scraps, which they can get without a fight. They’re desensitized toward people, but they’re still smart enough to realize the danger of human adults, so they will only attack grown people out of desperation of if they feel threatened. For this reason, wharf rats are somewhat of an inconsistent threat. One can often pass a wharf rat without incident or even drawing its attention; often enough, wharf rats are just a nuisance; but to the wrong person, a hungry pack of the things can become the worst thing in the world.
- Unbeknownst to many, the wharf rat has well-hidden poisonous barbs located on its tail. These barbs aren’t apparent at a glance, and most people don’t fight (or survive) wharf rats long enough to notice them, but the barbs are purely defensive in nature. They are meant to allow the wharf rat to escape if a predator bites onto its tail. They are meant to force predators that catch the wharf rat’s tail to immediately let go, on account of the poison’s burning sensation. The poison isn’t lethal to humans, but a fresh or amateur wharf rat-catcher is in for a nasty surprise if they think holding a wharf rat by the tail will render them helpless.
- Wharf rats are clever enough to realize strength in numbers, so they often form packs for their mutual benefit. One male wharf rat will become dominant in such groups. He will receive adequate food and have no shortage of mates, but he does not lead. He’s just a wharf rat taking advantage of his natural strengths and of other wharf rats’ weaknesses.
- Baby wharf rats (called pups) are born in litters. A mother wharf rat will actually leave her pack to deliver her pups safely, as wharf rats aren’t above eating each other’s young in absence of other food. These pups can take care of themselves the moment they are born, and are always hungry, but their small size limits the scope of their prey and makes them easy prey in turn. Hence, pups will remain with their mother for the first part of their lives for safety, and also to feed off her scraps.
- Wharf rats become larger and more monstrous as they age. Some Bilgewater residents find baby wharf rats cute, in a sort of ugly way, but the pups don’t stay that way for long.
History and Culture
- Someone once tried to use wharf rats as a way of keeping the wharfs clear of debris. Said person’s name has been stricken from all records, on account of permanently introducing wharf rats.
- Wharf rats are social enough creatures that they can be tamed while they’re young. They will recognize a single handler, always the person that raises them, as dominant. They make for formidable attack animals once trained, and can learn remarkably complex commands. Some cartels train wharf rats specifically to seek out and hound high-value targets; such wharf rats are relentless hunters. Indeed, once they draw blood from their target, only death will deter them.
- Despite its noisome qualities, comical illustrations of the wharf rat have become an enduring symbol in Bilgewater, and through the city’s ships, have even spread to the mainland. A popular (and very self-aware) representation plays on the stereotypes held abroad of people from Bilgewater, depicting an eyepatch-wearing wharf rat with a golden tooth. Anybody from Bilgewater knows these caricatures are far from accurate, but visiting foreigners may be in for an awful surprise (which may have something to do with Bilgewater sailors purposefully withholding the truth to have some fun at the ignorant foreigner’s expense).
- Being likened to a wharf rat is a grave insult, but some take perverse pride in appropriating the beast’s viciousness and adaptability.
- While the wharf rat population in Bilgewater is practically indestructible, some infestations warrant extermination. If there is any job in Bilgewater that’s universally respected and pitied, it’s wharf rat extermination. An adult wharf rat can maim a man’s leg with a single bite; a bunch of incensed wharf rats can render a hapless soul down to the bone with horrifying speed. Death is just as likely a fate for a wharf rat exterminator as a Slaughter Fleet sailor, but someone’s got to do it. Some even take pride in their line of work. To ward off the wharf rats’ attacks, exterminators will don the same chain-mail suits used to protect against shark bites while diving.
- Wharf rats aren’t frightened by people, but there’s a reason why it’s commonly advised to make yourself look as big and unappetizing as possible when confronted by a wharf rat… you mimic the wharf rat’s mortal enemy, the Bilge-Lion (coming soon).
References
- http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/special-event/origins-wharf-rat
- Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants, by Robert Sullivan
