Skritt
From Guild Wars 2 Wiki
The skritt are a race of rat-like scavengers who share something of a hive intelligence when in sufficient numbers. Since being driven from the Depths of Tyria they have spread throughout Tyria. They are known to be targets of asura, who view their group intelligence and incredibly fast reproductive rate as a threat to all intelligent races.
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[edit] Physiology
The skritt are small omnivorous humanoids whose appearance is reminiscent of rats and bats. Male and female skritt are similar in appearance, any difference is only detectable for those particularly familiar with the race. Skritt communicate using a swift, near ultrasonic chirrups and chitters. While this sounds like a buzz to human ears, the skritt have exceptional hearing and so can communicate a great deal of information in a short period of time.
As individuals skritt are simple-minded creatures, capable of basic tasks and keeping themselves alive. However, like a hive intelligence, as a group of skritt grows in size the more rational, intelligent and cunning their actions become. How this communal intelligence works is unclear, but it is likely linked to their rapid communication.
The skritt are capable of rapidly multiplying. Female skritt may give birth to litters approximately three to five times in their lives. These litters rapidly become self-sufficient and move out to live on their own. However, young skritt occasionally find themselves isolated from the communal intelligence in dangerous situations so the overall population remains relatively small.
[edit] Culture
Skritt are opportunists. They take what they can when they can, though not by going through rubbish but by mooching — convincing others to part with their items for convenience or lack of requirement. They plan little and their tactics extend to exploiting any opening they can find. They're curious, any device they obtain they can eventually figure out how it works and possibly how to replicate it.
Skritt value useful items and items they cannot create themselves above others, they do not like and do not wear unnecessary items such as jewellery. They understand material worth and will value newer or more technically advanced items over others. Skritt parents will often pamper their children with the finest objects that can be bought, bartered for, or stolen.
Skritt living conditions reflect their lazy nature. The only farms they run are those which require an absolute minimum of work to maintain so they tend to prefer cooked meat and fungi harvested from underground. They prefer to live in large hollows or caverns, known as "scratches," using rocks and underground passageways to build a safe environment. They do have architecture, and build huts or structures within the main area of their hollow out of the items they scavenge. The concentration of skritt in their scratches means they're at their most intelligent and most dangerous to any attacker.
There is no societal distinction between male and female skritt.
Other species often have difficulty following a skritt in conversation. A skritt will often speak rapidly without specifics assuming the listener would understand them as another skritt would.
[edit] Religion
The skritt do not worship any god but they have a natural empathy for the world around them. They believe that the world exists for the pleasure of the living; as such, their culture is hedonistic in tendency.
[edit] Government
While the skritt cannot be said to have any true form of government, the fastest speaker or 'parser of information' amongst them will become leader in any stable group. This leader is seen as first among equals but is allowed to make strategies and plans for the future of the colony.
A group will get together on a regular basis, often linked to the cycles of the moon, to share important information, discuss events of the past cycle and plan for the next cycle.
A group of skritt may be intelligent enough to reach an agreement or treaty with another race. When they do so, they are generally loyal to this promise. However, if the group thins too much, these agreements might be forgotten and the skritt may act against them.
[edit] History
The skritt once lived in the Depths of Tyria and competed for space with the asura. The asura did their best to eradicate them, for they feared the skritt if left to multiply they would threaten the world. After the awakening of Primordus it was thought the skritt did not survive, but were later found spread throughout Tyria. The asura have since renewed their attempts to eradicate the skritt, though not all races agree the skritt need eradication.
[edit] Types
[edit] Related events
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[edit] Notes
- As a sylvari or charr you can choose to have racial sympathy for the skritt at a certain point in your personal storyline.
[edit] Trivia
- The skritt were designed when brainstorming the emergence of Primordus and who would be affected and how.
- Skritt are said to be the first exploration of a hive-mind in the Guild Wars games and ArenaNet wanted to avoid the genre trope of it being an insectoid race.
- The skritt were designed to be able to take on the asura without also being super intelligent.
[edit] See also
- Those Sneaky, Sneaky Skritt - ArenaNet blog post.
