Jaghut

 

Race: Jaghut

Warren: Omtose Phellack

Famous Members: Hood, Gothos, Raest, Gethol

Members we have met: Huntress, Aramala, Jhenna, Cynnigig, Phyrllis Ganath

 

Jaghut (non-human): extinct mythical people (one of the Four Founding

Races) (GotM, Glossary)

 

 

Mael: ‘Ice...The Jaghut answer to everything.’(MT, UK Trade, p.6)

 

'The Warrens of the Imass are similar to those of the Jaghut and the Forkrul Assail – Elder-, blood- and earthbound –'(GotM, UK Trade, p.204)

 

Sormo E'nath: 'Jaghut. To stem the tides of invading humans, they raised ice. Sometimes swiftly, sometimes slowly, as their strategy dictated. In places it swallowed entire continents, obliterating all that once stood upon them. Forkrul Assail civilizations, the vast mechanisms and edifices of the K'Chain Che'Malle, and of course the squalid huts of those who would one day inherit the world.(DG, UK MMPB, p.428)

 

'...the Jaghut feared community, pronouncing society to be the

birthplace of tyranny – of the flesh and the spirit – and citing their own

bloody history as proof...'(GotM, UK Trade, p.435)

 

List: 'Jaghut...They lived apart, you know. No villages, no cities, just single, remote dwellings. Like this one (a ruined tower)...They feared each other almost as much as they feared the T'lan Imass...' (DG, UK MMPB, p.768-9)

 

'Jaghut women had deceptive strength and admirable ferocity, especially when cornered.'(HoC, UK MMPB, p.323)

 

 

List and Duiker on the ancient battleground crossed by The Chain of Dogs:'Each siege lasted centuries, the losses among the T'lan Imass staggering. Jaghut were anything but wanderers. When they chose a place...A strange bond, unique among the Jaghut. When the mother was in peril, the children returned, joined the battle. Then the father. Things...escalated...Duiker: She must have been...special...Is she your guide?...List: No. Her mate.'(DG, UK MMPB, p.769)

 

Jaghut Cities

 

The ruins were far more extensive than is commonly imagined.  In fact, most historians of the early period of the colony have paid little or no attention to the reports of the Royal Engineer, specifically those of Keden Qan, who served from the founding until the sixth decade.  During the formulation of the settlement building plan, a most thorough survey was conducted.  The three extant Jhag towers behind the Old Palace, were in fact part of a far larger complex, which of course runs contrary to what is known of Jhag civilisation.  For this reason, it may be safe to assume that the Jhag complex on the bank of the Lether River represents a pre-dispersion site.  That is, before the culture disintegrated in its sudden, violent diaspora.  An alternative interpretation would be that the three main towers, four subterranean vaults, and what Qan called the Lined Moat, all belonged to a single, unusually loyal family.

In either case, the point I am making here is this: beyond the Jhag -- or more correctly, Jaghut -- complex, there were other ruins.  Of course, one need not point out the most obvious and still existing Azath structure -- that lecture will have to wait another day.  Rather, in an area  covering almost the entire expanse of present-day Letheras, could be found foundation walls, plazas or concourses, shaped wells, drainage ditches and, indeed, some form of cemetery or mortuary, and, listen carefully now -- all of it not of human design.  Nor Jaghut, nor even Tarthenal.

Now, what were the details of this unknown complex?  Well, for one, it was self-contained, walled, entirely covered by multi-level roofing -- even the plazas, alleys and streets.  As a fortress, it was virtually impregnable.  Beneath the intricately paved floors and streets, there was a second even more defensible city, the corridors and tunnels of which can now be found as an integral part of our sewer outflow.

                In short, Letheras, the colony of the First Empire, was founded upon the ruins of an earlier city, one whose layout seemed to disregard the presence of the Jaghut towers and the Azath.  Suggesting that it pre-dates both.

Even the first engineer, Keden Qan, was unable or unwilling to attempt an identification of these early builders.  Virtually no artifacts were found -- no potsherds, no sculptures, no remnants of metal-working.  One last interesting detail.  It appeared that in the final stages of occupation, the dwellers set about frantic alterations to their city.  Qan’s analysis of these efforts led him to conclude that a catastrophic climate change had occurred, for the efforts indicated a desperate attempt to add insulation.(RG)

 

see also : Icarias 

 

Jaghut tombs (made by Forkrul Assail)

 

'It looked like nothing more than a cairn marker, a huge, elongated slab of stone tilted upward at the southernmost end'(DG, UK MMPB, p.783)

  

Bugg : He descended the ladder, twenty-three rungs, to arrive at a tunnel roughly cut from the heavy clay and then fired to form a hard shell. Ten paces forward to a crooked stone arch beneath which was a cracked

stone door crowded with hieroglyphs. Old tombs like this were rare.

Most had long since collapsed beneath the weight of the city overhead or had simply sunk so far down in the mud as to be unreachable.  Scholars had sought to decipher the strange sigils on the doors of the

tombs, while common folk had long wondered why tombs should have doors at all. The language had only been partially deciphered, sufficient to reveal that the glyphs were curse-laden and aspected to the Errant in

some mysterious way…..  

….’The language on the door belongs to an extinct people known as Forkrul Assail, who are collectively personified in our Fulcra by the personage we call the Errant. The tombs were built for another  extinct people, called the Jaghut, whom we acknowledge in the Hold we call the Hold of Ice. The wards were intended to block the efforts of another people, the T’lan Imass, who were the avowed enemies of the Jaghut. The T’lan Imass pursued the Jaghut in a most relentless manner, including those Jaghut who elected to surrender their place in the world – said individuals choosing something closely resembling death. Their souls would travel to their Hold, leaving their flesh behind, the flesh being stored in tombs like this one. That wasn’t good enough for the T’lan Imass.  Anyway, the Forkrul Assail considered themselves impartial arbiters in the conflict, and that was, most of the time, the extent of their involvement. Apart from that,’ Bugg said with a shrug, ‘I really can’t say.’(RG) 

'Imass had been enslaved by Deceitful Jaghut tyrants, led down paths of false worship, made to do unspeakable things. Until they had uncovered the deceivers. Unleashing vengeance, first against the tyrants, then against the Jaghut.' (BH UK Tpb, p.56)

  

 

Verdith'anath - The Jaghut Realm of Death

 

The bridge was made of black stones, each one roughly carved yet perfectly fitted.  Wide enough to accommodate two wagons side by side, although there were no barriers flanking the span and the edges looked worn, crumbly, enough so as to make Paran uneasy.  Especially since there was nothing beneath the bridge.  Nothing at all.  Grey mists in a depthless sea below.  Grey mists swallowing the bridge itself twenty paces distant; grey mists refuting the sky overhead.

A realm half-born, dead in still-birth, the air was cold, clammy, smelling of tidal pools.  (BH)

 

“This is older than the Holds, isn’t it?”  Paran asked her.  “And you recognise it, don’t you, Ganath?”

“Yes, in answer to both of your questions.  This place belongs to the Jaghut -- to our own myths.  This is our vision of the underworld, Master of the Deck.  Verdith’anath, the Bridge of Death.  "

“In your myths, Ganath, who or what guards this bridge?”

She shook her head.  “This place lies beneath the ground beneath Hood’s feet.  He may well know of this realm, but would not presume to claim dominance over it … or its inhabitants.  This is a primal place, Master of the Deck, as are those forces that call it home.  It is a modern conceit to believe that death has but a single manifestation.  As with all things, layer settles upon layer, and in time the deepest, darkest ones become forgotten -- yet they have shaped all that lies above.” (BH)

 

"Verdith'anath is an ancient creation.  It may be that the first Jaghut souls found it not to their liking.  To create a realm of death is the truest manifestation of will, after all.  And yet, what is created is not always solely what was willed.  Every realm finds … resident beings.  Every realm, once formed, is rife with bridges, gates, portals.  If the Jaghut did not find it to their liking, other creatures did."

"Like your T'lan Imass."

"In the ages of ice that beset our kind,"  Emroth said, "there existed pockets of rich land, often surrounded in ice, yet resisting its fierce power.  In these pockets, Ghost, the old ways of the Imass persisted.  Places of forests, sometimes tundra, and, always, the beasts we knew so well.  Our name for such a place was Farl ved ten ara.  A refugium."

Hedge studied the forested hills.  "There are Imass in there." (RG)

 

The bridge leads into the Nascent - 'Dismounting, Paran crouched by the water.  No waves -- perfect calm.  He cupped his hand and dipped it into the cool, silty liquid.  Raised it up, sniffed.  “Smells like rot.  This is flood water --”' 

'From the top of the hill, five huge black statues were visible in the distance, the intervening ground broken by small lakes and marsh grasses.  Paran studied the rearing edifices for a time.  Bestial hounds, seated on their haunches, perfectly rendered yet enormous in scale, carved entirely of black stone.' (BH)

 

The Throne of Ice

 

The up-thrust spar was in fact a throne of ice, and on it sat the frozen corpse of a male Jaghut.  Mummified by cold and desiccating winds, it nevertheless presented an imposing, if ghastly figure, a figure of domination, the head tilted slightly downward, as if surveying a ring of permanently supine subjects.

 

“Death observing death,”  Hedge muttered.  “How damned appropriate.  He collected the bodies, then sat down and just died with them.  Gave up.  No thoughts of vengeance, no dreams of resurrection.  Here’s your dread enemy, Emroth.” (RG)

 

Hedge stared up at the Jaghut on his half-melted throne.  All thrones should be made of ice, I think.

Sit on that numb ass, sinking down and down, with the puddle of dissolution getting ever wider around you.  Sit, dear ruler, and tell me all your grand designs.

Of course, the throne wasn’t the only thing falling apart up there.  The Jaghut’s green, leathery skin had sloughed away on the forehead, revealing sickly bone -- almost luminescent in the gloom; and on the points of the shoulders the skin was frayed, with the polished knobs of the shoulder bones showing through.  Similar gleams from the knuckles of both hands where they rested on the now-tilted arms of the chair.

Hedge’s gaze returned to the face.  Black, sunken pits for eyes, a nose broad and smashed flat, tusks of black silver.  I thought these things never quite died.  Needed big rocks on them to keep them from getting back up.  Or chopped to pieces and every piece planted under a boulder.

I didn’t think they died this way at all. 

 

“The Throne of Ice was dying.  Is dying still.  There was -- is -- nothing left to rule, ghost.  Would you have him sit there forever?”  She did not seemed inclined to await a reply, for she then said,  “I have not been here before, Hedge of the Bridgeburners.  For I would have known.”

“Known what, Emroth?”

“I have never before seen the true Throne of Ice, in the heart of the Hold.  The very heart of the Jaghut Realm.”(RG) 

 

 

The figure on the throne had been frozen, lifeless, for a long, long time. 

A fine shedding of dust from the corpse marked that something had changed.  Ice then crackled.  Steam rose from flesh slowly thickening with life.  The hands, gripping the arms of the throne, suddenly twitched, fingers uncurling.

Light flickered in its pitted eyes.

And, looking out from mortal flesh once more, Hood, who had once been the Lord of Death, found arrayed before him fourteen Jaghut warriors.  They stood in the midst of frozen corpses, weapons out but lowered or resting across shoulders.

One spoke.  "What was that war again?"

The others laughed.

The first one continued,  "Who was that enemy?"

The laughter this time was louder, longer.

"Who was our commander?"

Heads rocked back and the thirteen roared with mirth.

The first speaker shouted,  "Does he live?  Do we?"

Hood slowly rose from the throne, melted ice streaming down his blackened hide.  He stood, and eventually the laughter fell away.  He took one step forward, and then another.

The fourteen warriors did not move.

Hood lowered to one knee, head bowing.  "I seek … penance."

A warrior far to the right said,  "Gathras, he seeks penance.  Do you hear that?"

The first speaker replied.  "I do, Sanad."

"Shall we give it, Gathras?"  another asked.

"Varandas, I believe we shall."

"Gathras."

"Yes, Haut?"

"What was that war again?"

The Jaghut howled.(DoD)

 

 

The Jaghut War against Death

 

Then the spear-wielder spoke.  "Flee.  Your hunters shall know the privilege of meeting the last soldiers of the only army the Jaghut ever possessed."

"The last to die,"  one added in a growl.

"And should you see Hood,"  said the swordwoman, "remind him of how his soldiers never faltered.  Even in his moment of betrayal.  We never faltered." (DoD)

 

"We have observed your folly countless times,"  replied the swordwoman.  "Nothing of what we are about to face will catch us unawares."  She turned to her companions.  "Is not Iskar Jarak a worthy leader?"

"He is,"  answered a chorus of rough voices.

"And what did he say to us, before he sent us here?"

And thirteen Jaghut voices answered:  "'Pretend they are T'lan Imass.'"

The last survivors of the only army of the Jaghut, who had not survived at all, then laughed once more.  And that laughter clattered on, to greet the Caste, and on, through the entire vicious, stunning battle that followed . 

 

Jaghut Undead

 

Fourteen in all.  Details assembling as Sag Churok and Gunth Mach raced ever closer.  Gaunt despite the blackened, gnarled armor encasing their torsos and limbs.  Strange helms with down-swept cheek guards that projected below their chins.  Ragged camails of black chain.  Thick, tattered and stained cloaks that had once been dyed an intense, deep yellow, trimmed in silver fur. 

Sag Churok saw that seven of the strangers held in their gauntleted hands long, narrow-bladed swords of blued steel, basket-hilted with half-moon knuckle-guards; and ornate bucklers.  He saw two others with heavier single-edged axes and embossed round shields covered in mottled hides.  Three with broad-headed, iron-sheathed spears.  And two more, standing behind the rest, preparing slings.

And, surrounding them all, spreading down from the faint rise on which they waited, frost sparkled on earth and stone. (DoD)

 

"Hood abused our goodwill,"  the swordwoman said, tusks gleaming with frost,  "at the first chaining.  He knew enough to face away from us at the next one."  An iron-sheathed finger pointed at the Destriant.  "Instead, he abused you, child of the Imass.  And made of one his deadliest enemy.  We yield him no sorrow." 

Olar Ethil : "And what of the Jaghut?  Popping up like poison mushrooms!  So comforting to believe they are incapable of working together – but then, lies can prove very comforting.  What if I told you that in the Wastelands but a handful of days ago, fourteen undead Jaghut annihilated a hundred Nah'ruk?  (DoD)

 

"We never faced them,"(T'lan Imass)  said Varandas.  "We were dead long before their ritual of eternal un-life."(DoD)

Captain Varandas, Harut, Suvalas, Burrugast, Gedoran, Gathras, Sanad

 

Jaghut Creations - creatures 

Nachts/Venath demons

Sandalath : "In a manner of speaking.  A geas, I suspect.  They're Soletaken … or maybe D'ivers.  Either way, this particular realm forced a veering – or a sembling – who can say which species is the original, after all."

"Then what do the Jaghut have to do with any of this?"

"They created the Nachts.  Or so I gathered – the mage Obo in Malaz City seemed to be certain of that.  Of course, if he's right and they did, then what they managed to do was something no one else has ever managed – they found a way to chain the wild forces of Soletaken and D'ivers.  (DoD)

 

 

General

Ganath: “Bik’trara -- ice flowers -- you must have crossed a Jaghut glacier some time in the past, to have harvested such rare plants.” (BH) 

 

Related Entries

 

Finnest

Gothos

Huntress

Jhag

Omtose Phellack

Pannion

The Ice Hold