Kurald Emurlahn, the shattered warren
"A rivening by your own hand, Scabandari" (MT HB pg 4)
'A multitude of fragments from the riven warren of Kurald Emurlahn. Shadow’s power displayed myriad flavours.'(MT, UK Trade, p.77)
(Scillara talking about Bidithal) 'He dreams of true Darkness unfolding... Shadow is but an upstart, a realm born of compromise and filled with impostors. The fragments must be returned to the First Mother.' (HoC TB, p.676)
'...Kurald Emurlahn, fragmented or otherwise, was not amenable to the T'lan Imass. Without a Bonecaster beside him, Onrack could not extend his Tellann powers, could not reach out to his kin...'(HoC, UK MMPB, p.322)
'Kurald Emurlahn might be Elder, but it was also in pieces. Weakened, riven through with Rashan – a warren that was indeed vulnerable to the effects of otataral.'(HoC, UK Trade, p.424)
There was no Azath House in the Warren of Shadow(BH)
Icarium to Mappo : 'In that realm, as you know, things can be in two places at once, or begin in but one yet find itself eventually manifesting in another. Shadow wanders, and respects no borders.' (BH UKTpb, p.194)
Kurald Emurlahn, the Realm of Shadows, the first realm born of the conjoining of Dark and Light, convulsed in its death-throes. Far away, the civil wars still raged on, whilst in other areas the fragmenting had already begun, vast sections of this world’s fabric torn away, disconnected and lost and abandoned -- to either heal round themselves, or die (RG)
The Nature of Shadow
An observation by Endest Silann
To break Shadow is to release it into every other world. Even in its birth, it had been necessarily ephemeral, an illusion, a spiral of endless, self-referential tautologies. Shadow was an argument and the argument alone was sufficient to assert its existence. To stand within was a solipsist's dream, seeing all else as ghostly, fanciful delusion, at best the raw matter to give Shadow shape, at worst nothing more than Shadow's implicit need to define itself – Gods, what is the point of trying to make sense of such a thing? Shadow is, and Shadow is not, and to dwell within it is to be neither of one thing nor any other.
And your children, dear Shadow, took upon themselves the strength of Andiian courage and Liosan piety, and made of that blend something savage, brutal beyond belief. So much for promises of glory. (TtH)
The Shattering of Kurald Emurlahn
Phyrlis : ‘The foundations survive, of course. The House’s walls. The anchorstone in the yard’s corners – all beneath my cloak of soil.’
‘Foolish, unmindful T’lan Imass, to drive a spear into the grounds of an Azath House.’ (HoC)
‘What did they know of houses, Cynnigig? Creatures of caves and hide tents. Besides, it was already dying and had been for years. Fatally wounded. Oh, Icarium was on his knees by the time he finally delivered
the mortal blow, raving with madness. And had not his Toblakai companion taken that opportunity to strike him unconscious . . .’
‘He would have freed his father.’ Cynnigig nodded around a mouthful of meat.
Icarium’s father had no desire to be saved. And so the House died, weakening the fabric . . .’
‘Sufficiently for the warren to be torn apart. ..’ (HoC)
Known Fragments of Kurald Emurlahn
Trull Sengar: 'The suns return,' the Tiste Edur murmured. 'Here, in the Nascent, the ancient twin hearts of Kurald Emurlahn live on. There was no way of telling, for we did not rediscover this warren until after the Breach. The flood waters must have brought chaos to the climate. And destroyed the civilization that existed here. (HoC)
- fragment trapped by Tremorlor: see above ref.
- fragment in Raraku, claimed by the Whirlwind Goddess - Even more precarious, the fragment of Kurald Emurlahn that the Whirlwind Goddess would claim is manifesting itself. (HoC, UK Trade, p.705)
- fragment in Cloud Forest, Twist:'A fragment had been discovered, in the vast forest of Moranth that would become our new homeland. Kurald Emurlahn, the true face of Shadow.' (MoI, UK Trade, p.718)
- A fragment, prone to wander. - the Crippled God. (MT)
The Throne of Shadow
'on a raised dais, stood a throne. Carved from a single trunk of crimson wood, unplaned, broad strips of bark on its flanks, many of them split, had pulled away from the wood beneath. Shadows flowed in that bark, swam the deep grooves, spilling out to dart through the surrounding air before vanishing in the chamber’s gloom. The Throne of Shadow. Not in some hidden, long-forgotten realm. It’s here, on – or rather in – my (Ganoes Paran's) world . . . A small, tattered fragment of Kurald Galain(on Drift Avalii).' . . . and the Tiste Edur have come to find it. They’re searching, crossing the seas, seeking this place. How do I know this?
He stepped forward. The shadows raced over the throne in a frenzy.
Another step. You want to tell me something, Throne, don’t you? He strode to the dais, reached out—
The shadows poured over him.
Hound – not Hound! Blood and not blood! Master and mortal!
‘Oh, be quiet! Tell me of this place.’
The wandering isle! Wanders not! Flees! Yes! The Children are corrupted, the souls of the Edur are poisoned! Storm of madness – we elude! Protect us, Hound not Hound! Save us – they come!
‘The wandering isle. This is Drift Avalii, isn’t it? West of Quon Tali. I thought there were supposed to be Tiste Andii on this island—’
Sworn to defend! Spawn of Anomander Rake – gone! Leaving a blood trail, leading the Edur away with the spilling out of their own lives – oh, where is Anomander Rake? They call for him, they call andcall! They beg for his help!
(MoI, UK Trade, p.729)
The Seat of Shadow, the soul of Kurald Emurlahn, the throne that needed to be claimed, before the sundered realm could be returned to what it once was, to a warren whole, seething with power. (BH)
Shadow's Link to the First Empire & The Beast Ritual
'The Shattered Warren stirs awake once more. The broken heart of the First Empire begins to bleed' (HoC, UK Trade, p.145)
Iskaral Pust :The key to understanding lies in the unknown nature of warrens. Can they be torn into fragments? Oh yes, oh, yes indeed. And that is the secret of Raraku! They wander more than one world, all unknowing . . . and before us, ah, the slumbering giant that is the heart! The true heart, not Sha’ik’s grubby oasis (DG)
Brys : ‘Who? The Tiste Edur? We share nothing with them, Turudal—’
‘Not the Tiste Edur, although much of their history – that of their path of sorcery in particular – is bound with the succession of disasters that befell the First Empire. (MT)
The sun’s light was fading, the waters of the strait crimson. A lone sail from a trader’s barrack was cutting a path southward into the Ehrlitan Sea. “The warren feels strong here,” Apsalar said.
“Oh yes,” Telorast said, bony tail caressing Apsalar’s left ankle. “Fiercely manifest. This sea is new.”
“That is possible,” she replied, eyeing the jagged cliffs marking the narrows. “Are there ruins beneath the waves?”
“How would we know? Probably. Likely, absolutely. Ruins. Vast cities. Shadow Temples.”
Apsalar frowned. “There were no Shadow Temples in the time of the First Empire.”
Curdle’s head dipped, then lifted suddenly. “Dessimbelackis, a curse on his multitude of souls! We speak of the time of the Forests. The great forests that covered this land, long before the First Empire. Before even the T’lan Imass --”
“Shhh!” Telorast hissed. “Forests? Madness! Not a tree in sight, and those who were frightened of shadows never existed. So why would they worship them? They didn’t, because they never existed. It’s a natural ferocity, this shadow power. It’s a fact that the first worship was born of fear. The terrible unknown --”
“Even more terrible,” Curdle cut in, “when it becomes known! (BH)
“Tiste Edur forest,” Curdle said, scampering ahead. “They like their forests.”
“All those natural shadows,” Telorast added. “Power in permanence. Blackwood, bloodwood, all sorts of terrible things. The Eres were right to fear.” (BH)
Plenty of room between the trees, a cathedral of shadows and heavy gloom, the flow of damp air like water against her face as Apsalar jogged onward, flanked by the darting forms of Telorast and Curdle. To her surprise, she was indeed making good time. The ground was surprisingly level and tree-falls seemed nonexistent, as if no tree in this expanse of forest ever died. She had seen no wildlife, had come upon no obvious game trail, yet there had been glades, circular sweeps of moss tightly ringed by evenly spaced cedars, or, if not cedar, then something much like it, the bark rough, shaggy, black as tar. The circles were too perfect to be natural, although no other evidence of intent or design was visible. In these places, the power of shadow was, as Telorast had said, fierce.
Tiste Edur, Kurald Emurlahn, their presence lingered, but only in the same manner as memories clung to graveyards, tombs and barrows. Old dreams snarled and fading in the grasses, in the twist of wood and the crystal latticework of stone. Lost whispers in the winds that ever wandered across such death-laden places. The Edur were gone, but their forest had not forgotten them. (BH)
Olar Ethil guards the gate
‘I don’t know, Mage. A return to that ancient gate? Another unleashing?’
‘That Soletaken dragon we followed . . . it was undead.’
‘It was T’lan Imass,’ the ex-priest elaborated. ‘A Bonecaster. Perhaps it is the old gate’s custodian, drawn once again in answer to an impending calamity." (DG)
Shadow General References
Legana Breed, on the sorcery at work aboard the Silanda: 'Kurald Emurlahn, the sorcery has locked their (the decapitated crew) souls to their flesh'(DG, UK MMPB, p.379)
Feather Witch on the taint on Kurald Emurlahn. 'Uruth senses nothing. Her power feels pure to her. Yet it is...stained.' and then 'But it has lost it's purity. I do not know how, or what, but it has changed. Among all the Edur, it is changed.' (MT UK mmpb, p.66)
Moranth officer: ‘Within the seas, shadows swim. Kurald Emurlahn. The Warren of the Tiste Edur, Elder Shadow, is broken, and has been lost to mortals.’(MoI, UK Trade, p.728)
