一个米登领的帝国医生写给自己阿尔道夫的老师，提醒他来自鼠人的威胁

致Heironymous Blitzen博士，阿尔道夫大学的动物学研究教授：
敬爱的Blitzen博士,
万分感谢您于百忙之中抽空阅读学生的拙笔，与您相比学生卑微的学识简直不值一提。（一大堆的英文敬语里面还夹着德文单词，我懒得直译干脆这么自己写个差不多的意译出来）恳请您原谅我的打扰，但我觉得我必须提请您注意一个令人震惊与不安的发现。这可能是本世纪最重要的发现，无论是对我们研究的动物学领域，也是为了帝国的安全而言! 之前所有的学者都认为这是一个传说，直到我第一个发现了确凿无疑的证据。我发现他们的尸体——斯卡文鼠人。
您自己也曾写道过，即使是在最疯狂的怪物故事里也能一窥自然的真理微光，但对于斯卡文鼠人，那道微光实际上似乎是一堆熊熊燃烧的篝火，而它的光芒可能照亮一直处于黑暗中的帝国。
不过我还是从头说起吧。
我已经照您所指导的，向村里的人传了口信。如果他们发现有任何不自然的奇怪野兽便立即来通知我。最近的报告来自于一群下水道工人，他们在帮忙扩建市政厅的地下室发现的。这些人都很善良，诚实，忠诚地信仰着西格玛，既不是酒鬼也不是狂热者，也不沉溺于幻想和伪造成性。我可以发誓他们都没有撒谎。。
他们显然是闯进了一个地下洞穴，在那里他们发现了令人窒息的含硫气体。当空气被净化干净后，他们发现洞内惨死于这些致命气体的受害者。因为在洞穴的另一边，有一个匆忙挖掘的小坑，里面是五只，正如传说中的斯卡文鼠人所描绘的样子的生物：巨大的，人型的大老鼠。我亲自去检查了尸体并命令他们立即搬到我的工作室。
我给每一只生物都画了素描(我已附件于这封信中)，然后开始解剖其内部结构，接下来便是您的同事约瑟夫·利纳在《解剖学原理》中详细描述的过程。下面是我在探索过程中所做的完整的、未删节的笔记，以及在操作过程中所做的进一步绘图。

I made sketches of each of the creatures (which I have taken the liberty of including with this letter) and then began to examine them internally, following to the letter the processes outlined so well in Anatomica Principia, by your colleague Sir Josef Liener. What follows below are my complete and unexpurgated notes made during this exploration, and further sketches made during the operation.

其中4张解剖草图，分别属于奴隶鼠，暴风鼠，灰先知和鼠巨魔

外观简述
如果我们相信自己的眼睛，那么这些生物就符合每个孩子的童话故事，以及我们称之为斯卡文这个种族的农民传说。这些生物都是巨大的老鼠。除了一个个体以外，所有的个体身长都超过五英尺（约1.5m），他们的身体都蜷曲着，但确实可以直立行走，或者更近些，可以站得像人一样高。这五个生物看起来都有驼背，这也许是它们的天生特征，还是由于它们长年在狭窄的地下生活所致？我不清楚。在其他所有方面，它们都与普通的老鼠相似:除了没毛的鼻子、耳朵和细长的肉尾巴，它们从头到脚都覆盖着皮毛。尾巴大约和身体一样长，可能用于在移动时保持平衡。它们的四肢末端都有一个凶恶的爪子。耳朵突出，在鼻子下面有长长的胡须。在所有方面，这些特征都与毫无疑问产生这些特征的老鼠的特征令人不安地相似。
至少在发现的5具尸体标本中，有3具确实。在另外两具标本中，也有一只非常像老鼠，但有两个异常巨大的曲角，像山羊或公盘羊的角，从它的头骨顶部突出来。最后一只与任何老鼠都不一样，更像是一种噩梦般的生物。我听说过传说中的鼠巨魔，斯卡文鼠人中可怕的巨怪，鉴于这种野兽的巨大体型，我能推测这正是我所发现的怪物。

即使是其他四个，虽然在基本外观上是一致的，但在其他方面也表现出很大的差异。这四具标本中最小的一个(解剖图中的标本Ⅰ)，身高只有四英尺十英寸，显然比其他的同类体质要弱得多，身上覆盖有棕色的皮毛。而更大的，肌肉更发达的斯卡文鼠人(标本II和III)则有深黑色的皮毛，而有角的那个(标本IV)毛发则是浅灰色的。根据这四种生物的总体健康状况，我推测皮毛的颜色是斯卡文地下社会等级的基础:白色皮毛在金字塔顶端，然后是黑色皮毛，最后才是棕色皮毛。最小的鼠人尸体上也有许多伤痕，我相信这是被鞭子打的，此外还有其他被打过的痕迹;因此，我推测他要么是一个囚犯，要么是一个仆人或奴隶阶层。尽管遭受了如此毒打，而且他的皮肤上有传染性的疾病损伤，但他看起来很健康，这表明这些生物体质很强健!
黑毛可能鼠一中战士职业的象征，如标本Ⅱ和III，它们不仅更大，肌肉更发达(每个肩高都超过6英尺（一米八）!)，而且有着更长的爪子和尖牙，更强壮的手臂和更有力的下颚。他们还身穿重型盔甲，携带着最大的武器，尾巴上穿有铁钉，可能是作为攻击敌人的武器。我们可以假设这群人是某支侦察队:一个灰毛首领，他的两个黑毛保镖，他的棕毛仆人和他控制的可怕的杀人机器鼠巨魔。
抛开它们的个体差异，我将把重点放在这五种生物共有的特征上，因为我相信，在这里，我们可以描绘出一幅斯卡文形态的本质图，因此，可能会让我们得以一窥这可怕敌人的真实面貌。

Even the other four, though uniform in their basic appearances, showed great divergence in other factors. The smallest of the four (Creature I in my sketches) would have stood only four feet ten inches tall and was clearly a far weaker physical specimen than the others. It also had brown fur, whereas the large, muscular Skaven (Creatures II and III) have a deep black fur, and the horned one (Creature IV) a very light grey. Judging by the general health of all four creatures, I have postulated that fur colour is used as a basis of social hierarchy in the Skaven burrow: white furred at the top, then black furred, then brown. The smallest creature is also marked by many scars from what I believe are whips, and had other signs of beatings; I surmise therefore that he is either a prisoner, or of a servant or slave caste. Despite the beatings, and indeed the infectious lesions on his skin, he seemed in good health, indicating these creatures have a hardy constitution!

The black fur may perhaps denote a warrior class, as Creatures II and
III are not just larger and more muscular (each over six feet tall at the shoulder!) but have longer claws and fangs, stronger forearms and more powerful jaws. They were also found wearing heavy armour and carrying the largest weapons, and their tails are pierced with iron spikes, presumably for attacking enemies. We can suppose that this group was some sort of advance scouting party: a leader with his two bodyguards, his servant and the monstrous killing machine he controls.
Turning aside now from their individual differences, I will focus instead on what characteristics all five creatures share, for here, I believe, we can form a picture of the nature of the Skaven form, and thus, perhaps lead us to hypothesize on the mind of this terrible enemy.

毛与皮
所有鼠人的毛都很细，很厚，很像老鼠。很明显，这能很好地御寒，外面覆盖着一层很好的油脂，可以防水。我们可以大胆猜测，同水鼠和水獭一样，斯卡文鼠人也是种擅长游泳的动物。这种油脂是从皮肤上的不同腺道中分泌出来的，这些孔道集中分布在背部、颈部、腋窝下、髋关节和尾巴上方，可能是通过爪子涂抹展开到全身的。我看了看这些腺体孔洞，看起来非常复杂，有点像臭鼬的发臭腺体。我猜测斯卡文鼠人可以从这些腺体中分泌出具有不同气味的液体，这就形成了一种它们独特的交流方式，气味的每一个细微变化都包含了我们可能会用到的各个词意。我还在皮毛中发现了小块的尿液和粪便，这可能会进一步增强它们身上的臭味，就像狗喜欢在马粪中打滚一样。
毛下的皮肤很厚，下面紧挨着一层脂肪，同样可以抵御寒冷和潮湿。鼠人皮不是特别坚韧，但很耐久。每一具尸体的皮肤上都有无数的擦伤和疤痕，新旧的都有，而且大部分疤痕痕迹都和另一只斯卡文的爪子大小相当，这表明即使不和敌人战斗，鼠人们也是会和它的同类在持续不断地战斗。
所有尸体的皮肤也显示出各种感染和疾病的迹象。在这些症状大多已经痊愈，只留下了痘痕和皮肤瘢痕;在其他地方则出现了新鲜的脓疱、疖子和皮疹。由于有感染的风险，所以我并没有去研究这些区域。相反，肌肉被我切断并立即给烧了。你可以想象，触碰这些鼠人，就像触碰街上满是虱子的乞丐一样危险。
皮肤上还有最后一个值得注意的点:每一具尸体上都至少有一个带有仪式疤痕或纹身的区域，典型的形式是一个印记:三条相交形成一个三角形的线。我只能猜测这是具有某种神秘的意义的符号。虽然这是一个可怕的想法，但这些野兽也可能有类似的神的崇拜物!

FUR AND SKIN
On all the creatures, the fur is quite fine, and thick, again much like a rat. It is clearly well-insulated from the cold, and is covered with a fine oil that makes it virtually water-proof. We can assume that, like the water-rat and otter, the Skaven are good and frequent swimmers. This oil is secreted from various orifices in the skin, located along the back and neck, under the arm-pits, on the hip joints and above the tail, and is presumably spread with their claws. I examined these orifices and they seem extremely complex, and somewhat like the stink-vessel of the common skunk. I hypothesize the Skaven can produce liquids from these glands with a variety of aromas, and that this forms a type of communication for them, with each subtle change in scent containing as much meaning as we might include in an entire sentence. I also found patches of urine and faeces among the fur, which may be used to further enhance their foul stink, just as dogs like to roll in horse manure.
The skin is quite thick beneath the fur, and there is a layer of fat immediately below, which again would protect against the cold and wet. The hide is not particularly tough, but it is clearly durable. Every creature’s skin was marked with countless scars and abrasions, both old and new, and most of them matching the claw size of another Skaven, indicating even when not engaged against their enemies, the life of a Skaven is one of constant battle with his own kind.