From Steven Erikson: 'you also have questions about roles in the Deck of Dragons. Are they filled all the time? Probably, somewhere, with individuals in certain scenarios assuming the archetypes as required. (Q and A with malazanempire No 1 (2003))

Silverfox: ‘The Deck of Dragons. A kind of structure, imposed on power itself. Who created it? No-one knows. My belief – Tattersail’s belief – is that each card is a gate into a warren, and there were once many more cards than there are now. There may have been other Decks – there may well be other Decks . . .I said no-one knows who created the Deck of Dragons. Yet there is another entity equally mysterious, also a kind of structure, focused upon power itself. Think of the terminology used with the Deck of Dragons. Houses . . . Houses of Dark, of Light, of Life and Death . . .Think of the word “Finnest”. Its meaning, as the T’lan Imass know it, is “Hold of Ice”. Long ago, among the Elder races, a Hold was synonymous with a House in its meaning and common usage, and indeed, synonymous with Warren...Where resides a Jaghut’s wellspring of power? In a Finnest...Tremorlor is Trellish for “House of Life”...an Azath House in Seven Cities. In Malaz City in your own empire, there is the Deadhouse – the House of Death . . .'

Ganoes Paran: 'You believe the Houses of the Azath and the Houses of the Deck are one and the same.’

Silverfox: 'Yes. Or linked, somehow. Think on it!’

...

Ganoes Paran: 'Wait! Kellanved and Dancer went into Deadhouse – why didn’t they take that aspect – the aspect of the House of Death?'

Silverfox: 'I’ve thought about that myself, and have arrived at one possibility. The realm of Death was already occupied, Paran. The King of High House Death is Hood. I believe now that each Azath is home to every gate, a way into every warren. Gain entry to the House, and you may . . . choose. Kellanved and Dancer found an empty House, an empty throne, and upon taking their places as Shadow’s rulers, the House of Shadow appeared, and became part of the Deck of Dragons. Do you see?’

...

Ganoes Paran: 'What of the Deck’s Unaligned?’

Silverfox: 'Failed aspects? The imposition of chance, of random forces? The Azath and the Deck are both impositions of order, but even order needs freedom, lest it solidify and become fragile.’

(MoI, UK Trade, p.117-9)