The rat people were not the same as ratfolk.
Different from purebloods such as the ratfolk, the Turan, and wild boar people, the rat people were full fledged hybrids.
In the beginning, during a glorious battle thousands of years ago, the ratfolk's cowardice and escape had led to their defeat in the entire war.
This made the ratfolk hated by all the Turan people. They believed that there was unclean blood flowing in their bodies and that they were not worthy of the ancestral spirit's blessing or qualified to use the power of totems.
The five great clans joined hands and exiled all the ratfolk, driving them to the barren mountains and rivers at the edge of Picturesque Orchid Lake. They left them to fend for themselves.
Gradually, the Turan people branded the cowards, surrenders, and escapees of their respective clans as "cowardly rats" and banished them to the place where the ratfolk had been exiled.
