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Ratling

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A Ratling sniper lies in wait.[1]

Ratlings (Homo Sapiens Minimus)[2], known also as Runtlings, Stunties[3][4] and Maggots[3] but among themselves as Halflings,[3][4] – small and hedonistically jovial abhumans, which commonly work aboard spacecraft as cabin crew and runarounds, benefitting from their low posture,[4] they rarely find employment in Imperial Guard due to their lessened strength and less than ideal temperament.[3][4] However, they exhibit a heightened expertise in marksmanship which, alongside their lesser posture and low weight aiding in stealth, makes them the most often filling the positions of Snipers.[3][1]

Overview

Ratlings are the smallest type of abhuman, their ancestors having become stunted by thousands of years of inbreeding on worlds with naturally soporific climates and abundant harvests.[4]

Ratlings rarely reach 1.3 meters in height,[4] being even smaller and slighter than Squats,[3] and although due to dietary lack of restrictions they tend to be dumpy, they are not particularly strong[4] or resilient.[3] They are idle, hedonistic, loud and gregarious, over-friendly and sexually promiscuous. Their lives are spent eating until sick, drinking copious amounts of intoxicating liquids, and procreating uncontrollably.[4] Their proclivities towards food exemplifies in their cuisine, well known as phenomenal among the Imperial Guard.[1]

Their short posture and relatively lithe build allows them to move through the undergrowth without making much noise.[3][1] They have a penchant towards activities of dubious morality and legality, like thievery and fencing contraband, known to acquire extra supplies within regimens they are stationed with and trading to other soldiers.[1]

Ratling Sniper[Needs Citation]

Homeworlds

Ratling homeworlds are self-sufficient and agricultural Feudal Worlds,[4] which, like worlds populated by baseline humans, are subjects to the tithe of soldiers for the Imperial Guard.[1]

List of the worlds

Ratlings in the Imperial Guard

Although Ratlings make generally poor warriors, the Imperium still has a use for them, and they are often recruited into the Imperial Guard as snipers, one of the battlefield roles in which they excel.[3][7] Their role extends to infiltrators, who can traverse the war zone in relatable discretion.[1] In those roles they operate independently of the rest of the Imperial Guard force, and are equipped with sniper rifles and flak armour.[7] Teams of ratlings sharpshooters are often divided into smaller units placed directly under a command of regimental officers, each put in widespread array of strategical locations providing a commanding field of covering fire. They are known to be disparaged against by the majority of the baseline human regimens, although many of them could attribute their own survival to the cover fire of ratling regimens.[1]

Ratlings are also well known for their culinary abilities and often serve as cooks off the battlefield. Some Ratlings take advantage of their position as company cooks to acquire extra supplies to sate their voracious appetites. Others extend these benefits to their foster regiments for a price, their kitchens serving as fronts for their illegal activities. Their abilities as fences, thieves and black marketeers find them acceptance from the men they serve alongside, as they offer a wide range of goods, from extra rations, to drugs and alcohol, and even non-standard issue weapons common among veteran soldiers.[1] Conversely it is documented that guardsmen who give too much grief in their immense prejudice towards ratlings find themselves mysteriously short of ammunition on the battlefield, preyed upon not only by the enemy finding an opening but also by the mocking eyes of their diminutive tormentors, watching through telescopic lenses some place far away.[8][9b]

Ratlings of Note

Known Ratling Units

Images

Ratling Snipers (5th edition) - valued both for their stealth and accuracy, but little else[15]

Sources


Imperial Guard Infantry
Command Company Command SquadPlatoon Command SquadScion Command SquadTank CommanderRegimental AdvisorsCommissarPrimaris PsykerTech-priest EnginseerPriest
Specialists Master of OrdnanceBreacherScoutMedicVox-OperatorWeapons SpecialistSharpshooterOperator
Troops Infantry SquadHeavy Weapons SquadSpecial Weapons SquadArmoured Fist SquadVeteran SquadScions SquadCanidsPenal Legion TroopersOgryn SquadRatling SquadPsyker Battle SquadRough Rider SquadField Ordnance BatteryJump TrooperH-Grade Combat Servitor