Sotek

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The Serpent God Sotek is a god of the Lizardmen, who are the archenemies of the Skaven.

[edit] Overview

Sotek is not mentioned often, other than in the two Warhammer Fantasy battle army books: Lustria and Lizardmen. He is nearly always mentioned as the God of Serpents, Lizards and vengeance. He has many Lizardmen followers due to a decree by the sacred slann-Mage priests that there be a temple in his name in every city. For the lizardmen, Sotek is the god who chased away the threat of the Skaven in Clan Pestilens once and for all from Lustria.

Sotek was foreseen in the shape of a two-tailed comet. The comet also has meaning to most races as some kind of godly being, such as the Empire's chief deity Sigmar, the first Emperor and one of the few mortal beings to ascend into immortality and become a "god". Sotek is comparable to some of the Aztec gods who also required many sacrifices in a similar bloody way, with the heart being plucked out of the chest. Tehenhauin, high priest of Sotek, is the mortal foe of the Skaven clan Pestilens and indeed all enemies of the old ones.

Although the Slann do not know it, Tehenhauin is perhaps the greatest tool of the Old Ones and best hope for the success of their great plans for the Warhammer world.

[edit] In-Universe Controversy

In the Warhammer Fantasy fiction it is hinted that Sotek is not a God, but one of the Old Ones' humble servants. The Slann Mage Priests did not acknowledge Sotek as a Deity until recently, and do not seem to worship him. However, Saurus are spawned under Sotek's influence, and this is a feat only an Old One can perform. More likely Sotek is the manifestation of the Lizardmen's sense of outrage and vengeance. Like all aethryic beings, Sotek requires ritual, sacrifice, and the need to be summoned, lending weight to the argument.