BACKGROUND
The Charrakhin and Shemenoah under their Dark Lord of Woe and all that goes bump in the night have long remained hidden, content to play no part in the future of the Warhammer world. But recently Taloth has taken an interest in the actions of his brother god, Nurgle and his cohorts, and so the Brothers of the Spider march forth from their hidden kingdom in the Underworld Sea to do battle upon the Overworld.
The Charrakhin and Shemenoah have a very subtle history, and while it is the longest in the Warhammer world, it has very little by way of actual events, as they kept pretty much to themselves. The first life on Warhammer was created in the Boiling Sea, where the water was full of amino acids, proteins and other minerals essential for the development of life, as well as sufficient warmth to get it going. The first multicellular organisms to come out of the Boiling Sea were sea-based and populated the world before anything made it onto land. The plants were the first organisms to populate anywhere, and they made the way possible for other life to form, and hence the Sauruses and Charrakhin developed, ach of them coming from the Boiling Sea, but the Charrakhin first, as they are closely linked to spiders, which were around long before any kind of lizard. The Charrakhin developed into a race in the Underworld Sea, and built their cities, which are only hamlets by any human standard, around the mighty stalagmites and stalactites they found there. The Charrakhin became a race of hunter-gatherer's, using the Cold Ones, which arrived before they became civilised enough to form even language, as mounts and beasts of burden.
The Charrakhin live in isolated settlements, but have regular contact with other nearby settlements, and so this mingling of the gene-pools ensures the overall health of the population. However, in the far north, where there are few settlements, and those are far apart, there is little contact, the journey being too long and hard. For many centuries, and even more generations, one particular settlement was separated from the regular Charrakhin population and without the normal contact and inter-breeding, the Charrakhin resident there became something else entirely. They took on more of the spider's shape and nature, becoming little more than beasts, and violent as beasts as well. When the settlement was rediscovered, the Charrakhin had mutated into the Shemenoah, a slightly psychic race, with no language, no intellect, but who are very deadly in combat, mainly by virtue of the ferocity of their attack and the accompaniment of thousands of biting spiders.
The Charrakhin and Shemenoah were fairly peacefully living simply in an inhospitable area, until the recent wars which have torn apart the Warhammer World. The Cold Ones, as most know, live in both the swamps and jungles of Lustria and the caverns of the Underworld Sea. Both the Dark Elves and the Skinks ride Cold Ones to battle, and in the ever escalating wars on the Overworld, the Cold Ones were becoming scarce in both areas, though both knew that there was a plentiful supply of Cold Ones in the southern Underworld Sea, the Charrakhin homeland. Initially the Charrakhin and Shemenoah(who had been enslaved by the Charrakhin) retreated before the advance into their domain and clustered mainly in Shora'k Taloth, the Charrakhin capital. All the while the skinks and Dark Elf scouts were skirmishing inside their land. The Charrakhin, to put it bluntly, got pissed off and decided that they needed their privacy, and so made themselves into an effective fighting force(they are pretty much big spiders in humanoid form and they do live in the most inhospitable environment on the Warhammer World, ya know). They quickly forced the Dark Elves back north and the Skinks back into Lustria, and, riding upon a wave of success and a thirst for conquest, made huge versions of their Coricles and rafts to transport their armies to all corners of the world.
Religion
The Charrakhin and Shemenoah worship the Spider God, Taloth. Taloth is the younger brother of Nurgle, and as said before is the god of Spiders, he is actually the god of all things that crawl and bite, etc., such as flies, mosquitoes and spiders. Taloth was cast out of the Realm to find his followers by Nurgle, hoping his brother might become a worthy adversary, or even fight his way back into the Realm. Taloth never actually got homesick
for the Realm, and in his semi-mortal form as High Chief Ur-Taloth, he rules supreme among his people, the Charrakhin and Shemenoah. In the religion of Taloth, blood-sacrifice is an important part, if Ur-Taloth is not pacified by the blood of innocents or enemies, his rage is enough to boil the Underworld Sea to put the Boiling Sea to shame, his rage has been known to bury entire cities of Charrakhin under rubble or tonnes of sea water.
Structure
All Charrakhin and Shemenoah pay absolute fealty to Ur-Taloth, and secondly to his daemons, who come in the forms of spiders, flies and other crawling beasts in massive form. After their supernatural masters the Chjarrakhin break into three groups, Charrakhin, Shemenoah and Ur-Shemenoah(Wizards). The Charrakhin are supreme over the others, and the Ur-Shemenoah are the rulers of the small Shemenoah tribes. The Charrakhin themselves have no formal hierarchy, except that any who wish to lead must prove themselves worthy by defeating whoever currently rules. The current ruler is Chieftain Marak'th Gan-Taloth, and he has ruled for 25 years, which is about four fifths of the
lifespan of a normal Charrakhin.
Charrakhin in Combat
The Charrakhin wield combat picks, which are modified versions of the picks they use to mine, and the rangers carry handbows, which are small enough to take advantage of their maneuverability. However, when placed upon the Overworld, the speed and accuracy of the Charrakhin are negated by the light, which they most definitely not adapted for. The Shemenoah, however are not affected, as their style of attack negates it, indeed, little affects a group of screaming beasts who know which direction the enemy is...