Seven Cities sub-continent
Steven Erikson's hand drawn map of the city
G'danisban was a small city on the northeastern part of the Seven Cities continent near Pan'potsun.[1] It was found on the eastern border of the holy desert of Raraku where it abutted the Pan'potsun Odhan.[2] The residents were known as the G'danii.[3]
The city was surrounded by tall walls of bleached limestone and entered through a huge gate flanked by windowed square towers.[4] Flocks of pigeons flew above the city, and crows and blue-tinted desert starlings perched among the city's battlements.[4]
The city's central square was the site of the Grand Temple of Poliel.[5][6] Nearby was the Temple of Soliel.[7]
A cobbled road led southwest to the cliffside fortress, B'ridys.[8] The caravan route leading northwards to Ehrlitan required a week's travel by horse.[9] Another road led west then north near the rolling western hills dotted with domestic goats.[10]
- "At night ghosts come
In rivers of grief,
To claw away the sand
Beneath a man’s feet" - ―G'danii saying
Notable residents[]
In Deadhouse Gates[]
The city fell to the Army of the Apocalypse during the Whirlwind Uprising. A few hundred of the city's Malazan merchants and nobles were arrested and then flayed alive. Armed men moved through the streets killing, raping, looting, and burning, while Arak and Gral tribal horse-warriors set up camp outside the city, eager to take part.
Fiddler, Apsalar, and Crokus passed through the city disguised as pilgrims during the violence. After killing a gang of six intent on raping a young girl, they passed through the city's centre, which was littered with the bodies of several hundred old men, old women, and children.[11]
In Memories of Ice[]
After the Bridgeburners had been forged by the crossing of Raraku, they found themselves at the trail leading down the cliffs to G'danisban. In a single night, seventy Malazan soldiers, a mage, and an assassin retook the rebel stronghold from four hundred desert warriors. It was the Bridgeburners first blood-letting engagement.[12]
In House of Chains[]
During the Whirlwind, several hundred Malazans from G'danisban, Ehrlitan, and Pan'potsun had fled to the mountain fortress, B'ridys. The city itself keenly felt the loss of imperial trade and its market was sparsely populated by buyers. Many from the city had left to besiege B'ridys.[13]
In The Bonehunters[]
Dujek Onearm and his Host journeyed to Seven Cities after the Pannion War to put down the Whirlwind rebellion. When they discovered that the source of the Bluetongue Plague ravaging the subcontinent was the Grand Temple of Poliel in G'danisban, the Host made camp outside of G'danisban's northwest wall. Dujek led a company in an assault on the temple only to discover it was inhabited by Poliel herself. Dujek's force was repelled and he and the soldiers who accompanied were infected with the plague. Ganoes Paran found the army immobilised by its lack of able bodied officers and named himself its captain.[14]
Paran entered the city to confront Poleil and found it empty and lifeless. Bones were scattered here and there and glutted rats wandered the streets. The former soldier, Brokeface, led a motley mob of diseased hunters through the city in search of Poliel's enemies. At the Grand Temple of Poliel, Paran impaled the goddess with an Otataral shard that held her in place. Then Shadowthrone used the Hounds of Shadow to lure the Deragoth to Poliel's throne. The Deragoth tore the goddess to pieces and collapsed her temple.[15]
Afterwards, Paran broke into Soliel's Temple and summoned the goddess before him. He commanded her to share her healing powers with Noto Boil and the survivors of G'danisban so the cure for the plague could be spread across Seven Cities.[16] Dujek succumbed to the plague and was buried in a barrow outside the city.[17]
In The God is Not Willing[]
Shortly after playing a game of Fiddler's Gambit with Stillwater in G'Danisban, Three-Finger Herahv deserted the Malazan army in search of the Path of Hands.[18]
The XIVth Legion, formed with lines of pikes, stood up to an Arthani cavalry charge of five hundred horses outside G'danisban.[19]
In No Life Forsaken[]
(Information needed)
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Deadhouse Gates, Glossary, UK MMPB p.938
- ↑ Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 5, US HC p.122/130
- ↑ House of Chains, Chapter 9, Epigraph
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Bonehunters, Chapter 15, US SFBC p.600-601
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.518
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 15, US SFBC p.611
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 15, US SFBC p.628
- ↑ House of Chains, Chapter 9, US SFBC p.348
- ↑ Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 3, US HC p.108
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.514
- ↑ Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 5, US HC p.122-130
- ↑ Memories of Ice, Chapter 8
- ↑ House of Chains, Chapter 9, US SFBC p.345/347-348
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.514-520
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 15, US SFBC p.611-630
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 15, US SFBC p.628-629
- ↑ The Bonehunters, Chapter 16, US SFBC p.654-655
- ↑ The God is Not Willing, Chapter 2, US HC p.38
- ↑ The God is Not Willing, Chapter 5, US HC p.88