Cluny the Scourge was an enormous black male bilge sea rat horde leader with unknown origins. It is believed that he once was involved with seafaring, and came from distant jungles. Cluny had one eye, the other was lost in a battle with a pike and covered by an eye patch. He wore a cloak made of batwings that was fastened at his throat with the skull of a mole. His war helmet was adorned with blackbird feathers and stag beetle horns. One of Cluny's most distinguishing features - as well as his primary weapon - was his own tail, which was long, powerful, and whip-like. In battle, he fastened a poison spike to its tip and used it to lash out at enemies. The Scourge is well-known as one of the most infamous villains Brian Jacques created. He was extraordinarily strong, fast, and agile, but unusually intelligent and a master tactician as well. Cluny was very observant and ambitious. He commanded a vast 500-strong horde of rats with a smattering of weasels, stoats, and ferrets. The Scourge also employed Mossflower residents Sela and her son Chickenhound, both healer foxes, when he was injured in a fall from a tree.