Farrog was the destination city for pilgrims travelling the Cracked Pot Trail to the Shrine of the Indifferent God. It lay on a wide river mouth one day's travel by ferry from the Great Dry and then another thirty-nine days of harsh, cobbled trail from the Gates of Nowhere at Reliant City.[1][2] The city was the capital of a modest-sized Kingdom of the same name ruled by ruled by King N'Gorm the Lesser.[3][4] Its people were referred to as the Farrogese.[5]
Farrog bordered the mountainous Imperial Kingdom of Nightmaria whose reclusive Fiends made little contact with the outside world.[6] King N'Gorm maintained peaceful relations with his neighbour,[3] and the Nightmarians established their sole embassy in Farrog. Ambassador Ophal D'Neeth Flatroq was Farrog's only glimpse at the repulsive Fiends of Nightmaria.[3][7] Down the coast from Farrog was the settlement of Prylap.[8]
Farrog was once known as Fan'arrogal until an infestation of demons resulted in a night of slaughter and a city burned to ruins. Since then a rebuilding program had returned the city to greatness.[9]The Festival of Flowers and Sunny Days was held annually, a grand fete culminating in a contest of poetry and song to name The Century's Greatest Artist.[10]
The Royal Farrogal Army could field five legions totaling four thousand soldiers.[11]
The city's dirty, cobbled streets were home to Dart-snakes and kilaptra worms.[12]
Some Notable Features of the City of Farrog[]
- Embassy of Nightmaria in Farrog[13]
- Farrog City harbor and docks[14]
- Farrog's Grand Library of the Arts, Alchemy, Nature and Divination[15]
- Harbor Square[16]
- Herbmongers' Round[17]
- 'Holy Church of the Indifferent God' (usually referred to as his "Shrine")[18]
- Performance venue(s) for the 'Century's Greatest Artist' Competition
- Pink's Tavern[19]
- Royal Palace of Farrog
- South Gate[20]
Groups and Organisations[]
- Fancy Pillagers[21]
- Grand High Order of the Wax Masons[21]
- Party of Five
- The Seven Thieves of The Baker's Dozen[21]
- Thieves' Guild[22]
In Crack'd Pot Trail[]
A group of travellers made their way over the Cracked Pot Trail to Farrog. They included an assortment of artistic souls and critics on their way to that city to participate in The Festival of Flowers and Sunny Days as well as the Nehemothanai hot on the trail of the infamous necromancers, Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, who were somewhere ahead on the Trail. The intention of the Nehemothanai was to kill the necromancers before they could reach the city. However, nothing was ever simple where Bauchelain and Korbal Broach were concerned and things became extremely 'interesting' before any of the hunters had even laid eyes on the pair.[23][24]
In The Fiends of Nightmaria[]
Arriving in Farrog, Bauchelain and Korbal Broach beheaded King N'Gorm and usurped rule over the kingdom. Bauchelain named himself king, while Broach had himself invested as the Grand Bishop of the Indifferent God's Holy Church.[25][26] The city's currency became known as the 'Broach'.[27]
The new king took advantage of mild civil unrest over the results of the city's 'Artist of the Century' competition to arrest all the artists, poets, singers, musicians, dancers, and other voices of potential subversion.[28][29][30] Anyone who they thought might possibly be a threat to their domination of the city, such as Thieves Guild Mistress Dam Loudly Heer or the pursuing Nehemothanai, was ruthlessly culled.[31] Within three months, the residents showed a hint of emaciation.[32][33]
Bauchelain, greedy as ever, encouraged the General of the Royal Farrogal Army, Pin Dollop, to initiate hostilities with the wealthy Nightmarians--attacking their Imperial caravans and encroaching on their borders.[34][35] This state of affairs resulted in Nightmaria declaring war on Farrog through Ambassador Ophal D'Neeth Flatroq. Bauchelain was surprised to learn that Ophal's inhuman appearance was due to various birth defects and other disfiguring conditions that were unique to himself and not, as the citizens of Farrog mistakenly thought, common to all Nightmarians. In fact, the Fiends did not call themselves Fiends at all. Their true name was distorted by Ophal's distorted speech into "Firrwends", which was misheard as Fiends. The notoriously reclusive nation was only too happy to allow these misunderstandings to keep unwanted foreigners out.[36]
To Bauchelain's horror, the ambassador also apprised the King that a Nightmarian army--some 150,000 strong and far outnumbering their own--had crossed the border and were only two days' march from the Farrog city walls. Their intent was to take extensive and dire revenge on Farrog and all of its institutions. Bauchelain hurriedly ordered Emancipor Reese to ready the necromancers' carriage and horses to flee with the royal treasury safe stowed inside.[37][38][39] Broach sent his undead to clear a path to the city gates, but the population rose up to destroy them, so Bauchelain was forced to cut a path through the crowd for the carriage with his flaming sword.[40][41] Meanwhile, a confrontation between the Nehemothanai and one of Bauchelain's demonic mice resulted in the collapse of the Royal Palace.[42][43] A day later, the city was burning.[44]
Trivia[]
Farrog and Nightmaria do not appear on any maps of the Malazan world published yet to date. Steven Erikson says, "I know where it is geographically speaking, but I think it's one of those...we have a number of maps that are simply land mass and there's no cities marked, there's no territories marked , so I think it's one of those, is where I placed that story."[45]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 2
- ↑ Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 6
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 3
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 11
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 7
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 3
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 16
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 11
- ↑ Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 6
- ↑ Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 2
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 3
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 7
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 1
- ↑ Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 6
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 13
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 13
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 10
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 5
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 2
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 21
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 22
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 2
- ↑ Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 2
- ↑ Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 6
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 3
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 5
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 12
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 3
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 5
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 10
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 2
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 3
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 7
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 5
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 7
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 7
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 16
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 19
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 21
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 21
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 25
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 27
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 28
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 31
- ↑ Novellas (and more) with Steven Erikson - Smiley's Podcast - See 22:30