| abstract | - These devout disciples of disease are unique amongst Skaven society in that they are fanatically committed to their clan and its purpose of creating the ultimate disease. Once this plague devastates all surface- dwellers, the Skaven can rise up in the ruins and claim their proper inheritance - nothing short of the entirety of the world. The Great Horned Rat will know who brought his children to their rightful and preordained ascendancy and Clan Pestilens will sit over all and rule supreme.[1a] Plague Monks form the bulk of Clan Pestilens' troops. When Plague Monks gather, their squeaky chanting can be heard as they recite from the foul Book of Woe, endlessly repeating the Liturgus Infectus, or the Rites Infection. If they are going to war, the Plague Monks march under one of their Clan Pestilens banners - often a half-rotted carcass hanging from a banner pole bearing unimaginably twisted visions rendered in pigments distilled from blood and warpstone. As the foul brethren march forward towards an enemy battleline, their chanting picks up its pace and the Plague Monks seem to incite themselves into a terrible rage. In combat Plague Monks hurl themselves into the fray with fanatical ferocity, eager to bring death and destruction to their foes.[1a] It is easy to discount their abilities, given their illnesses, yet it seems that they find solace in their constant pain. With bulging eyes and foaming mouths, the Plague Monks seem possessed of an unnatural and unholy fervour. They relentlessly attack with filth-encrusted blades, iron-tipped staves, or even their needle-sharp teeth. A Plague Monk's exposure to pestilence has rendered its toughened, boil-ridden skin immune to pain. Mundane discomforts like severed limbs and opened bellies cause them no more than passing discomfort. The ability to shrug off crippling injury combined with their near-hysterical zealotism means that the only reliable way of stopping a Plague Monk attack is to wholly dismember the disease-ridden Skaven.[1a]
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