The Skittergate

Lore & Background

The Skittergate was conceived as a solution to the skaven's logistical nightmare: moving a massive army across the Empire without alerting human defenders. Traditional tunnel networks were too slow and vulnerable, so the warlock-engineers of Clan Mors, under the direction of the grey seer Rasknitt, devised a portal that could teleport entire regiments directly from the Chaos Wastes to the heart of the Reikland. The gate was anchored by massive warpstone crystals, harvested from fallen meteors and fortified with the bones of countless slaves and prisoners. Its activation required a constant flow of warpstone energy, sustained by the suffering of captives and the chants of grey seers.

The Skittergate's construction was a closely guarded secret, hidden within a fortified skaven stronghold in the Blighted Marshes. The Ubersreik Five, having fought through the skaven-infested city and its surroundings, discovered the gate's existence through intercepted communications and the testimony of captured skaven. They realized that destroying the gate was the only way to prevent the full might of the skaven horde from overwhelming the Empire. Their assault on the gate's fortress was a desperate gamble, facing not only endless waves of clanrats and stormvermin but also the gate's own unstable warpstone core, which threatened to explode and annihilate everything in the area.

The final confrontation saw the heroes battling Rasknitt and his elite bodyguards atop the Skittergate itself, as the grey seer attempted to complete the portal's activation. The heroes succeeded in shattering the gate's warpstone heart, causing a catastrophic chain reaction that destroyed the structure and sealed the rift. The destruction of the Skittergate was a major victory for the forces of order, but it came at a great cost, leaving the heroes stranded in the Chaos Wastes and setting the stage for their subsequent struggles against the forces of Chaos.

In Their Own Story

The air reeked of ozone and decay as Kruber hacked through another stormvermin, its body crumpling onto the slick stone. Ahead, the Skittergate loomed, a grotesque archway of fused bone and green-glowing warpstone, its surface crawling with arcane runes that pulsed like a diseased heart. Saltzpyre's voice cut through the din: 'The gate is nearly stable! We must strike now, before the grey seer completes his ritual!' Sienna's flames licked at the gate's base, but the warpstone drank the fire, swelling brighter, hungrier. Kerillian's arrow found the eye of a chittering warlock-engineer, and as he fell, the gate's hum shifted to a discordant shriek. Bardin roared, swinging his axe into a warpstone crystal, cracking it—and the whole structure shuddered, as if wounded.

Reader's Guide

The Skittergate is the final mission of Warhammer: Vermintide 2's base campaign, representing the climax of the skaven invasion. Players fight through a fortified skaven stronghold in the Blighted Marshes, a swampy region southeast of Ubersreik that is heavily corrupted by warpstone and skaven activity. The gate itself is a massive portal structure, similar to the warpstone-powered devices seen in other Warhammer Fantasy lore, but here it is uniquely tied to the skaven's attempt to bridge the Chaos Wastes.

Key terms: 'Warpstone' is the green, radioactive substance that fuels skaven technology and magic, often described as 'solidified chaos.' 'Grey seers' are the highest-ranking skaven priests, wielding powerful magic from the Horned Rat. 'Clan Mors' is one of the most powerful skaven clans, known for their military discipline, while 'Clan Rictus' specializes in elite stormvermin.

In dialogue, characters reference the gate's connection to the Chaos Wastes, a realm of pure chaos where the laws of reality break down. This sets up the game's later expansion, 'Winds of Magic,' where the heroes venture into the Wastes. The Skittergate's destruction is a turning point, but its legacy lingers in the warpstone contamination of the Blighted Marshes and the skaven's continued attempts to rebuild their invasion plans.

Did You Know?

• The Skittergate's design is inspired by the 'gnawholes' of skaven lore, which are unstable tunnels through the Warp, but scaled up to a massive degree.
• The gate's destruction creates a permanent scar on the landscape, visible in the game's hub area as a green glow on the horizon.
• Rasknitt, the grey seer who oversaw the gate's construction, is one of the few named skaven characters in the Vermintide series, though his backstory remains largely unexplored.
• The Blighted Marshes where the gate is located are said to be a dumping ground for warpstone waste, making the area extremely hazardous to non-skaven.