Editing Midnight Tides/Prologue

__NOTOC__{{Chapters mt}}

''The First Days of the Sundering of Emurlahn<br>
''The Edur Invasion, the Age of Scabandari Bloodeye<br>
''The Time of the Elder Gods
 
==A Battlefield==
The prologue describes the aftermath of a battle between an army of [[K'Chain Che'Malle]] and an alliance of [[Tiste Edur]] and [[Tiste Andii]].  The hive cities of the K’Chain Che’malle have been reduced to rubble and four great [[Skykeep]]s are falling to earth and shattering, under the attack of the two [[Tiste]] armies.
[[File:The first days of the sundering by Artaya.jpg|left|thumb|240x240px|First days of the sundering by [https://www.artstation.com/artwork/zAXEPQ Artaya]]]
[[Scabandari Bloodeye]], a [[Soletaken]] [[Eleint]] and ruler of the Tiste Edur, is surveying the battle scene and counting the dead.  He sembles into his Tiste form and is joined by [[Silchas Ruin]], an albino Soletaken Eleint and a Tiste Andii, who also sembles into Tiste form.  Taller than the Edur and with red eyes, Silchas' body is slashed with sword cuts.  Both of his swords are broken and missing.
[[File:2019 Scabandari by Autumn Tavern.jpg|thumb|242x242px|The betrayal by [https://www.instagram.com/simiofdoom/ Autumn Tavern]]]
They talk and it is clear there are far more Edur than Andii left, with the Edur now surrounding the remnants of the Andii on the battlefield.  The two armies have travelled to this world through a [[Rents|rent]] from elsewhere.  Scabandari is exulting in the extent of their success but Silchas is bitter over the losses his people have suffered.  As they talk it is revealed Scabandari is responsible for the sundering of [[Kurald Emurlahn]]. 

Silchas notes a [[Jaghut]] witnessing the battle from a nearby ridge and senses a ritual of [[Omtose Phellack]] beginning.  As he speculates out loud to Scabandari on the nature of that ritual, he is betrayed. Scabandari stabs Silchas in the back, chains him in sorcery, and orders the surviving Andii slain.  Then he veers back into his Soletaken from and carries Silchas off to imprisonment, speculating as he does so on any other potential opposition to him in this new realm.  Amongst those mentioned are the three sons of [[Mother Dark]]: [[Anomander Rake]], [[Andarist]], and Silchas Ruin, the third and youngest.  With Silchas removed and the other brothers missing or powerless, there is nothing to stop Scabandari from conquering this new world.

[[File:Day 4 spell by shadaan.jpg|thumb|255x255px|Gothos unleashing Omtose Phellack by [https://www.deviantart.com/shadaan/art/Day-4-Spell-766828183 Shadaan]]]The POV changes to that of the Jaghut, [[Gothos]], who has watched the slaughter of the K'Chain Che'Malle.  Weaving his ritual he is approached by an [[Elder God]], [[Mael]], who mentions that he is to have help in subduing Scabandari from another elder god from beyond the rent, [[Kilmandaros]].   Mael then asks Gothos to preserve the battle site in ice in return for a future debt, to which Gothos agrees.  Despite Scabandari's belief that Anomander is no more, Gothos warns that Rake is also in this world and awakening to the danger.


''1159th Year of Burns Sleep<br>
''Year of the White Veins in the Ebony<br>
''Three years before the Letherii [[Seventh Closure]]

==The Warren of the Crippled God== 
A huge man has been washed up on an island beach.  He is the only survivor of a floating [[Meckros]] city destroyed by ice rising up from the depths.  Three unusually large [[Bhoka'rala]] approach him and gesture for him to follow them, which he does, and they lead him towards a tent.  At their gestures he enters the tent and finds himself facing a hooded and shrouded figure sitting in front of a brazier.  

The figure, who claims to be a [[Crippled God|fallen god]], calls him his name, [[Withal]] the Swordmaker, and offers to provide him a forge, with food, water, and a place to live, and in addition the help of the three bhoka’ral (who are in fact [[Nachts]]) if he will make a sword for him.  Withal attempts to turn down the offer, but the god informs the swordmaker that he is now his slave, and has no choice.  But the god promises to release him once the task is done.
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