[Aptorian]

Doing a quck search nothing relevant comes up in the forum.

I was doing some rereading of DG today and when I came upon Gryllen, the tide of madness, I couldn't help but think of the Ratcatchers.

I don't know if this topic has already been done, but just for fun lets have a discussion.

Who are/were they?

They seem like a covert mercenarie group with a talent for the sneaky but there's also something magical about them.

At the meeting between Tehol and Bugg and the leaders it's implied that not all of them are human. Some kind of illusion hides some of the members true appearance.

So what are they? A pile of rats in human form, giant rats, demons with a fondness (appetite) for rats? They didn't seem to be slaves of the other members.

I'd really have loved to see a match between Gryllen and the Ratcatchers...

[Dolorous Menhir]

Maybe they are all D'ivers cats.

[Varunwe]

Quote

At the meeting between Tehol and Bugg and the leaders it's implied that not all of them are human. Some kind of illusion hides some of the members true appearance.

I thought they were just that, illusions.

[Aptorian]

Well the guy that bites off the head of a rat and eats it I don't think we're supposed to think of as human, since this is the guy that leads Tehol to ask Bugg if they're all what they seem to be.

@ DM
I like the cat idea allthough no real hints are made at that possibility

[caladanbrood]

I've been re-reading MT, so I'll do my best to remember the comments.

****MT spoilers, obviously****
The rat-catchers guild operates as an unofficial spies and assassins guild. They can basically do anything, because they don't kill most of the rats they catch, but instead house them in their guild house. They obviously have some rather impressive illusionists among their ranks, as Bugg struggled to notice that the receptionist was a fake, although he found it easier to spot that half of the guild representatives they met the first time were illusions. This raises the distinct posibility that the guild only consists of three or four people, which would be... amusing;)

More later, I'm off out.

[Aptorian]

Yeah they did assassinations and spying but when Tehol asks, more or less as a joke, if they could invade "some place" cant remember, they immedietly start discussing the logistics.

This could of course just be their excentric nature but seeing as they were able to pull of the evacuation of the foreign races in Lether, they seem very competent and powerfull... if not simply Tehol and Quick Ben'ish brilliant.

Of course if they have every rat in Lether if not all of Letheras at their disposal, they would indeed be very good spies and wouldn't need that many operatives. Disposing of bodies suddenly doesn't sound so hard either.

[Rat Mentor]

You know it could be possible that some "Rats" could have developed into a higher life form, afterall Ormulogun critic is a toad.

I quite like the Rat Catchers Guild, wonder why?

[Silander]

Don't know if you ahve read the Novellas, the Healthy dead and Blood follows. But in Blood follows doesn't Bauchalain(?) come face to face with two members of the regions Rat catchers guild. There is no evidence to suggest they are illusions but they certainly are relatively powerful and def covert!

[caladanbrood]

And completely unconnected to the one in Lether, I would imagine.

[Flawed]

Perhaps the members of the Rat Catchers Guild simply have a understanding of Rats. Using them in a mutually beneficial way to glean information, to clean up er mess and other nefarious things. It seemed to me that they had a way of communicating with the Rats to get them to do as they pleased.

I do not think it has anything to do with Divers, Soletaken or Gryllen. They seem to be talented Mages using what everyone else shuns.

They are probably minted as a result. They would need to be as all those Rats dropping would stink.

[binderOflight]

Im re-reading ahead of Reapers Gale as well. I just read this section on the way into work this morning. The Rat Catchers Guild among other things - only kills the rats that aren't Avowed. SO, Avowed is all over this site, and Im sure there are thoroughly explored definitions.

Tehol also asks how many might flinch if they got poked in the eyes, and Bugg suggest three would flinch - Tehol guesses all but the one that bit the head off the rat, and Bugg verifies they are flinchers. Meaning, the head-biter is illusion.