Wharf Rat

Wharf rats, also called razorfins, are amphibious quadrupeds native to the tropical seaside settlements of Bilgewater and Ixtal. A nightmarish mix of shark and rat, they infest the docks of Bilgewater, where their young are most often found near Butcher's Bridge. They are not large animals, but they are voracious carnivores that thrive in the filth of the port. As quayside scavengers they feed on carrion, and in the murder-ridden streets of Bilgewater that often means the dead. Red-fanged and red-eyed, they bare long, needle-like fangs and spit gobbets of diseased saliva, hissing and raising their hackles when disturbed. Warm meat is a prize they will not surrender lightly, and they will snap and bite at anyone who tries to drive them off it. One such pack appears in the aftermath of the Corsair King's fall, when rival gangs like the Butcher Blades and the Jackdaws warred over the leaderless city. A murdered Jackdaw had been hung from a marlinspike and left for the quayside scavengers, and the rats had already eaten most of his feet and were perched on stacked kreels tearing at his calves when the hunter Lucian passed by. As he approached, the rats hissed and bared their fangs. He kicked one out over the water, crushed a second underfoot, and killed several more before the rest scattered into the shadows with their sullen eyes glaring red in the dark. The animal's reputation as a grasping, opportunistic dockside pest has also made its name a common Bilgewater insult. Reavers speak of a rival closing in on a dead captain's crew like a wharf rat in heat, and old sailors curse a tight-fisted, untrustworthy captain as nothing more than an aged wharf rat.