After the Garden World’s abandonment by the other sapients, an ecological niche was opened at the top of the food chain for an intelligent civilization that was able to adapt to and thrive in the ruined and ecologically devastated envioronment. This niche was taken by the muroids, also known as the ratlings or ratfolk. Evolving from small scavengers that were left behind after the exodus of most other sapients, the muroids were forced to abandon the Garden World in turn after their own numbers grew and worsened the ecological catastrophe that had driven the others away.

As a result of this evolutionary crucible, the muroids have far greater tolerances to heat, cold, and variable oxygen levels than their cousins. They are also able to subsist on a wider variety of foodstuffs, and have powerful gigestive juices capable of neutralizing many pathogens. These adaptations have allowed the muroids to be equally at home in extreme climes, on normally habitable worlds, and in the margins of large settlements.

Often disdained as dirty or diseased by other sapients, the muroids theoretically owe fealty to a number of Exilarchs, who serve as religious leaders and prophets for their people. Muroid spirituality often emphasizes a connection with the natural (or unnatural, as may be the case) world, and the Exilarchs serve as intermediaries and conduits between the lost Garden World and the worlds on which the muroids now find themselves.

Muroid exilarchs include Aleztrazian the Strict, Scuttlebane Broodfather, The Eternal Pup, and the Empty Chair, which serves as a symbolic rejection of the concept by non-believing muroids.

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