Darujhistan
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Darujhistan is a fictional city in the fantasy series Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. Darujhistan is on the continent of Genabackis and is the setting for the novels Gardens of the Moon, Memories of Ice, Toll the Hounds and a lengthy sequence at the start of House of Chains.
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[edit] Origins
Three thousand years before the events in the Malazan Book of the Fallen, the Forkrul Assail, Jaghut and T'lan Imass struggled to rule the continent of Genabackis. Ultimately the Assail departed, while the T'lan Imass conquered the Jhagut, entombing them beneath great barrows.
The barrows ultimately were the source of the city; when the area was settled by the human Gadrobi tribes, legends arose of the entombment of a powerful Jaghut Tyrant. Rumors crossed the continent, attracting treasure seekers and grave robbers. Camps and shanty towns eventually grew into the Blue City, Darujistan.
[edit] Nowaday Darujhistan
Darujhistan was an influential city apart of the confederation known as the Free Cities, situated on the south shore of Lake Azur and populated mainly by Daru and Gadrobi populations in the numbers of three hundred thousand people. However, since the occupation of the Malazans in Pale, Darujhistan is a prime trading partner with the Malazans.
[edit] City Structure
In from Gadrobi District’s harbor, the land rises in four tiers climbing eastward.
Ramped cobblestone streets mark Gadrobi District’s Trade Streets, five in all, which are the only routes through Marsh District and into the next tier, the Lakefront District.
Beyond Lakefront’s crooked aisles twelve wooden gates open to Daru District, and from Daru another twelve gates, these ones manned by the City Watch and barred by iron portcullis, connect the lower and upper cities. Phoenix Inn is a popular bar in the Daru District frequented by Kruppe, Murillio, Rallick Nom, Coll, and Crokus. However, these characters have since taken separate paths.
On the fourth and highest tier are the estates of Darujhistan’s nobility as well as its publicly known sorcerers. At the intersection of Old King’s Walk and View Street rises a flat-topped hill on which sits Majesty Hall, where the Council gathers daily. The Wheel of Ages is a massive stone disc in Majesty Hall that marks the Cycle of the Age, naming each year in accordance with its mysterious moving mechanisms. The wheel is in fact a machine gifted to Darujhistan over a thousand years ago by Icarium.
A narrow park encircles the hill, with sand-strewn pathways winding among centuries-old acacias. At the park’s entrance, near High Gallows Hill, stands a massive rough-hewn stone gate, the last-surviving remnant of the castle that once commanded Majesty Hill.
K’rul’s Belfry/Temple is an abandoned temple in the Noble District which as of Memories of Ice became newly consecrated ground with the return of K'rul.
[edit] Government
The official government is a group of counselors in the form of a Republic.
The T’orrud Cabal, however, is Darujhistan’s secret rulers. They are a group of mages who have been around for centuries. They had 9 members before Vorcan, the Head Assassin of the Assassin's Guild killed them. They included Baruk, a High Alchemist; Mammot, High Priest of D'riss and eminent scholar, uncle to Crokus, and Jaghut-possessed who was then killed by the Bridgeburners; Derudan, a Witch of Tennes; Tholis, a High Mage; Paral, a High Mage; and four unknown members.
[edit] Finnest House
The Finnest House was created by the Azath for the Jaghut Tyrannt due to his escape from his burrow through the meddling of Adjunct Lorn and Onos T'oolan, a T'lan Imass. The Tyrant's power an dessence was held in a Finnest. The Azath house, which grew like a tree, swallowed it after a Otataral cusser destroyed the Tyrant's host.
Finnest, as the T’lan Imass know it, means “Hold of Ice”.
[edit] The Glow of Darujhistan
The gas is drawn from great caverns beneath the city and channeled by massive valves. For nine hundred years, the gas has fed at least one of the city’s districts. Fed through ancient copper pipes, gas hisses streams of flame that cast a blue and green light. From a distance gives the city its own blue glow.
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