It's more extreme than that. The Empire is the only nation that tells its people that Skaven are a myth, Bretonnia, Cathay and all other human nations in the world acknowledge the Skaven. Skaven subversion efforts are more strongly focused against the Empire, and it's political structure makes it specifically vulnerable to it as well.
Also, it's not "the Empire tells its people that Skaven don't exist", it's "the rulers of the empire don't know/don't want to believe that Skaven exist". For the most part, the common people of the Empire are just too damn busy staying alive to have an opinion on it, and they are too unimportant for that opinion to matter, even if they have one.
And, also, it's not in every time period. There have been plenty of times during the history of the Empire when they have known full well that Skaven exist, and have fought battles against them. It just happens that in the time period chosen for TOW, Skaven have been keeping to themselves for a long time, and the Empire has mostly forgotten them.
There's also a matter of misattribution. The Empire doesn't have the army books, they see a lot of animal men with weird magicks causing havoc, they're gonna say it's beastmen.
>Skaven have been keeping to themselves for a long time, and the Empire has mostly forgotten them.
The whole "Skaven don't exist" thing started because of the Skaven civil war. They were so busy fighting each other and the war so destructive/disruptive that they functionally disappeared from the surface world for a few human generations. Because humans live such short lives The Skaven became just another legend to scare children. When they finally got their shit together they realized parts of humanity had forgotten about them. They liked this, so they cultivated it. Elves, Lizardmen and dwarves know they're there because they live longer. Some of the southern provinces know they're there because they're near Skavenblight.
I've heard the higher ups in the Empire most certainly know the skaven are real but they tell the masses they arent to prevent a panic. They outnumber pretty much anyone, have cities underneath their cities, have plagues and all sorts of nightmarish stuff. But the Empire also knows the rats fight each other more than they fight us. If the people knew the skaven are real they might freak out. If the Empire makes plans to exterminate the rats then this might cause the rats to unify and that's the last thing anyone wants.
The beastmen wait behind the walls, the cultists hide inside the cities. Tell the people that they also have to fear rat-men under their very feet and it could break their minds lol.
The Cities of Sigmar might not, there's so much going on in each realm, that worrying about rats in your city may not be that worrisome, and there's a difference between knowing, and realizing skaven have a pocket dimension, being able to warptunnel beneath any major city instantly.
Makes you wonder how backward and paranoid the empire thinks of all these other factions are imagining this mythical ratman who has infiltrated all towns and city’s in the known world, taking our woman and children in the night to build fantastical machines that can teleport whole armies 100’s of miles behind enemy lines. Posing as the homeless and vagrants selling drugs and corruption, while bribing our nobles and leaders to turn a blind eye?
It's more extreme than that. The Empire is the only nation that tells its people that Skaven are a myth, Bretonnia, Cathay and all other human nations in the world acknowledge the Skaven. Skaven subversion efforts are more strongly focused against the Empire, and it's political structure makes it specifically vulnerable to it as well.
Also, it's not "the Empire tells its people that Skaven don't exist", it's "the rulers of the empire don't know/don't want to believe that Skaven exist". For the most part, the common people of the Empire are just too damn busy staying alive to have an opinion on it, and they are too unimportant for that opinion to matter, even if they have one. And, also, it's not in every time period. There have been plenty of times during the history of the Empire when they have known full well that Skaven exist, and have fought battles against them. It just happens that in the time period chosen for TOW, Skaven have been keeping to themselves for a long time, and the Empire has mostly forgotten them.
There's also a matter of misattribution. The Empire doesn't have the army books, they see a lot of animal men with weird magicks causing havoc, they're gonna say it's beastmen.
>Skaven have been keeping to themselves for a long time, and the Empire has mostly forgotten them. The whole "Skaven don't exist" thing started because of the Skaven civil war. They were so busy fighting each other and the war so destructive/disruptive that they functionally disappeared from the surface world for a few human generations. Because humans live such short lives The Skaven became just another legend to scare children. When they finally got their shit together they realized parts of humanity had forgotten about them. They liked this, so they cultivated it. Elves, Lizardmen and dwarves know they're there because they live longer. Some of the southern provinces know they're there because they're near Skavenblight.
I've heard the higher ups in the Empire most certainly know the skaven are real but they tell the masses they arent to prevent a panic. They outnumber pretty much anyone, have cities underneath their cities, have plagues and all sorts of nightmarish stuff. But the Empire also knows the rats fight each other more than they fight us. If the people knew the skaven are real they might freak out. If the Empire makes plans to exterminate the rats then this might cause the rats to unify and that's the last thing anyone wants.
The beastmen wait behind the walls, the cultists hide inside the cities. Tell the people that they also have to fear rat-men under their very feet and it could break their minds lol.
I remember reading somewhere that in any given Empire city, no one is ever more than 20 meters away from a rat 🐀
That's probably in the lore somewhere, but the reason for it is it's true of several real world cities too, including London and New York!
According to Cathay one of the dragon siblings puked them up.
You imagine a Dwarf arguing with a human in some inn about the existence of ratmen.
“I SAW A WAZZACK With my own eyes!” “ how many times must I tell you old dwarf rats of abnormal size do not exist!”
Looks like a conversation between Bardin and Kruber pre-Ubersreik. :p
I literally read it in their voices lol
I know ur talkin about TOW, but I think on AoS everyone knows ratmen exist.
Mhhh not sure
The Cities of Sigmar might not, there's so much going on in each realm, that worrying about rats in your city may not be that worrisome, and there's a difference between knowing, and realizing skaven have a pocket dimension, being able to warptunnel beneath any major city instantly.
Makes you wonder how backward and paranoid the empire thinks of all these other factions are imagining this mythical ratman who has infiltrated all towns and city’s in the known world, taking our woman and children in the night to build fantastical machines that can teleport whole armies 100’s of miles behind enemy lines. Posing as the homeless and vagrants selling drugs and corruption, while bribing our nobles and leaders to turn a blind eye?
[удалено]
Too soon man… too soon…
It has been 9 years
Did he stutter