Wererats

Mythic History
The mice/rat changers were produced by the Gwydion-Gilfaethwy trysts and found patronage with Llwyd, a minor forest god who fell in love with Gwenaby their Queen. Llwyd and Gwenaby were allies of Gwawl who had been promised Rhiannon's hand in marriage by her father Llŷr. When Rhiannon shames Gwawl and runs off with Pwll. Gwenaby & Llwyd used the Swarm to cause famine to strike across Rhiannon-Pwll's kingdom before the Cad Goddeu, but she was captured by them and the famine had to be lifted to secure her freedom.

During the Cad Goddeu, the llygoden fawr-ddyn fought on the side of Gwydion and were blessed by him thereafter with exceptional fecundity. They became known afterwards as The Swarm.

The Age of Saints
Thier small size and fertility served The Swarm very well during the War of Salt & Silver. They were more resistant to the magic of the saints than most changers and responded to the attacks on the otherworld by creating and spreading the Black Plague, surrendering themselves to madness as sacrifice. Warped by the plague, the Swarm became a demonic entity that moved in and out of the ghost world, consuming all food sources they could find including human flesh.

The Age of Reason
The Swarm survived the fanaticism of the saints & the early Church but was not able fare as well against the philophers and scientists of the late 1500s-early 1600s. Their numbers became to drastically diminish between 1550 and the Resurgence.

The Resurgence
In Cymru, The Swarm was strongest in Cardiff and the other cities and towns. They flooded out of the undercity to attack humans, using their ability to command mundane vermin to create overwhelming waves that bit and chewed their way through the streets. Their raids upon humans were curtailed in the Treaty of Souls.

Important Characters
Mara Silvermane is the leader of the Swarm in Newport; she is an ally of the vampire Myfawny and the sorcerer Jericho and one of the central villains in the Blood Reign books.

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