Aren

Seven Cities, area north of Aren

Seven Cities

Aren [AIR-en or ar-EN] was a port-city on the southern coast of the Seven Cities continent and one of its seven Holy Cities. After the continent's conquest by the Malazan Empire, the city was the headquarters of the Imperial High Command.

Topography

The city was built on the north shore of the Menykh River where it reached Aren Bay. Its high walls were impregnated with otataral as proof against sorcery. Its north gate was flanked by two solid towers sporting T-shaped arrow slits midway up their heights and topped by broad observation platforms surrounded by stone merlons. The entrance was approximately twenty feet high and the gate could be raised to a height of at least fifteen feet. Inside the gate was a wide concourse that was used as a caravan staging area. Outside the north gate was the Aren Way, a broad cedar-lined Imperial road commissioned by Dassem Ultor, which ran three leagues north to the village of Balahn.

The other side of the city facing the river leading to the Dojal Hading Sea was home to the harbour district and the Imperial Yard where Malazan naval vessels docked. Towing vessels maneuvered ships from the inner yard further out into the harbour where the ships were allowed to stretch their sails. The harbour was normally filled with ships and the bay swirled with currents carrying the city's sewage out to sea. The city's enormous defensive Seawall of Aren was a wonder of the world formed by curving barrier after rising curving barrier. It had stood against attack for over a thousand years before the arrival of the Malazans.

Near the riverfront was Dregs, a district of Malazan expatriate hovels, containing colourfully named cobble streets such as No Help Alley. This may also have been the location of a city necropolis surrounded by high brick tenements and mourners' taverns such as the Squall Inn.

Within the city was a vast parade ground capable of holding six thousand fully armoured soldiers assembled in ranks. The parade ground's cobbles were so thick with dust that the ground appeared to be hard-packed earth almost white in colour. Nearby was a cemetery whose grounds had been blown clear exposing the bones of those interred.

Broad limestone steps led up from the harbour to the city's palace gate.

Within the city was a column at least twenty man-heights tall carved in a spiral from top to bottom.

A pall of smoke hung over the city at all times.

Climate

The city was hot and dry with sand blowing down its streets and alleys.

Government

The city was nominally ruled by High Fist Pormqual, although decisions on taxation and trade were made behind the scenes by a host of merchants largely for their own benefit. Pormqual's edicts were all delivered through the priest Mallick Rel.

The Aren Guard, led by Commander Blistig, maintained order in Aren from the City Garrison. The city was also home to approximately ten thousand Malazan soldiers.

Trell were not welcome within the city.

Customs

It was fashionable among men in the city's court to dust their cheeks with light blue powder.

Aren steel

The city was known for the quality of its tempered steel weapons. Aren steel possessed a silver colour and was difficult to break. When held in the light, the metal's watermark played on the blade like ripples on a pond. Such steel was meant for fighting weapons and not mundane activities like whittling, cutting up vegetables, or butchering meat. Aren steel was very rare and very expensive.

Places of interest

• Dancer's Tavern
• Dregs
• Prelid Quarter
• Pugroot's Bar
• Squall Inn

Streets

• No Help Alley

Notable residents

• Enezgura, late Falah'd
• Faels Ebal, historian
• Hethra, poet
• Siban, poet

History

The city's former Falah'd, Enezgura, had conducted a series of westward conquests. During one such campaign he had largely eliminated the area's Mekhar tribe, scattering its few survivors far and wide.

Aren Rebellion

See also: Aren Rebellion

In around 1152/1153 BS when Kellanved was still Emperor of the Malazan Empire, a revolt in Aren was put down by the Logros T'lan Imass and led to a slaughter of its citizens. The attack appeared to have been instigated by Surly although no written orders were ever found. After the slaughter was over Dancer was sent to investigate resulting in an argument between the two. The victims of the slaughter were buried in great barrow mounds running parallel to the eastern side of Aren Way.

The rebellion was instigated by the murder of the Fist of Aren by a Red Blade officer. The officer was arrested and scheduled for crucifixion on the Aren Way. However, the people rose up in his name to slay the Malazan Garrison and drive the Red Blades out of the city. When the T'lan Imass arrived to put down the rebellion, the Red Blade officer threw open the north gate and escaped. The T'lan Imass swept into the city killing thousands and the Red Blade officer's name was cursed to infamy.

In Deadhouse Gates

During the Whirlwind rebellion of 1164 BS, Aren was the last city held by the Malazans after all the others on Seven Cities had fallen Sha'ik's armies. Pormqual cowered within the city walls ordering Blistig's Guard to arrest anyone he feared of treason. The city's jails were crowded with monks, priests, soldiers, and Red Blades, including Orto Setral. Pormqual also ordered Admiral Nok arrested to force the Malazan fleet to remain in the city's harbour. Meanwhile, the High Fist evacuated his household and the city's treasury.

Spoiler warning: The following section contains significant plot details about Aren.

Just outside Aren's north gate was where Fist Coltaine's Chain of Dogs came to an end. While the thirty thousand refugees he protected safely entered the city's gates, he and his men were massacred in full view of the city's soldiers watching from the walls. Pormqual refused to intervene fearing his troops were outnumbered by Korbolo Dom's hordes. The next morning, the High Fist was tricked by Mallick Rel into taking the field and then surrendering to the army of the Apocalypse. All were taken captive and crucified by Dom's forces. Only Blistig's act of disobedience in withholding two to three hundred members of his Guard from the excursion prevented the city from falling.

Significant plot details end here.

In House of Chains

After Coltaine's fall, the Aren markets thrived with the sale of relics from the Chain of Dogs. Everything from broken long-knives and scraps of feathered capes to pieces of withered flesh were plentiful.

Adjunct Tavore Paran brought the Malaz 14th Army to Aren making it the army's staging area for the punitive expedition against the Whirlwind rebels. During the first muster of the 14th, the interruption of the muster by Captain Keneb's adopted son Grub with a human longbone was taken as an ill omen. Upon Fiddler's suggestion, the sergeants turned the omen around by adopting pieces of human bone, stolen from a local cemetery as an accoutrement to their uniform. Tavore endorsed the veteran's idea and further bolstered it by incorporating a bone in the official standard. The incident served to make Aren the likely birthplace of the name 'Bonehunters'.

In The Bonehunters

Barathol Mekhar was revealed to be the Red Blade officer who was reviled as the villain of the Aren uprising. He had murdered the Fist of Aren and been sentenced to be crucified on Aren Way. But before his punishment could be carried out, the city rose in rebellion in his name, slaughtering the Malzan Garrison and driving the Red Blades out of the city. When the Empire's T'lan Imass arrived to put down the populace, Barathol was spotted opening the north gate to them. Thousands of citizens were killed in the slaughter that followed and Barathol's name carried ten thousand curses. Many sought to slay him in revenge following him all the way to Karashimesh before he killed the last and was able to disappear. But popular perception of his action at the gate was mistaken. As Barathol argued, what need did the T'lan Imass have of an open gate?

In Blood and Bone

The Queen of Dreams informed Captain Yusen that he and his squad had been exonerated for their involvement in the slaying of the Fist who had been appointed governor in Aren. Apparently, the Fist had been about to declare independence from the Malazan Empire, and had started killing everyone opposed to him. Knowing he had no choice if he refused, Yusen killed the Fist, while Burastan, Yusen's aide killed the Fist's aides.

In Forge of the High Mage

At the time of the Malazan invasion of Falar, Aren was ruled by the aging Queen and High Priestess Ismara. Her son, Imanaj D'Shren was the city's Holy Champion until rejecting his duty and fleeing by ship. After being marooned at War Isle in the Falari Isles, he was eventually able to return even as the Malazans defeated Falar's rulers. His mother welcomed him hone and asked for his view of the southern invaders. The Holy Champion dismissed the Malazans as no threat to Aren.

Notes and references

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