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Starvald Demelain was an Elder Warren also known as 'The First Warren', the 'Warren of T'iam',[1] and the 'Warren of Eleint/Dragons'. It lay at the center of the system of Warrens that was the blood of K'rul. All other Warrens sprouted from this Warren.[2]

Lesser Creatures of Starvald Demelain

In Midnight Tides

Ulshun Pral, one of the Imass of the Refugium, told Udinaas and Feather Witch that the gate to Starvald Demelain had been closed "by the mixed bloods who gathered long ago." He named the mixed bloods as Draconus, K'rul, Anomandaris, Osserc, Silchas Ruin, Scabandari, Sheltatha Lore, Sukul Ankhadu, and Menandore.[5]

In Reaper's Gale

Shadowthrone and Menandore struck a deal to use Starvald Demelain's gate to help the goddess fight her sisters and perhaps for more that Shadowthrone did not specify.[6] The T'lan Imass, Emroth, searched for the Starvald Demelain gate ("Where anything is possible. Including the destruction of the warrens"), but was ultimately stopped by Hedge.[7]

The group of Silchas Ruin, Seren Pedac, Udinaas, Withal, and Kettle were guided by Clip to a gate that led to the Refugium and Starvald Demelain.

"The gate was a shattered mess on one side. The huge cyclopean stones that had once formed an enormous arch easily five storeys high had the appearance of having been blasted apart by multiple impacts, flinging some of the shaped blocks a hundred paces or more from the entranceway. The platform the arch had once spanned was heaved and buckled as if some earthquake had rippled through the solid bedrock beneath the pavestones. The other side was dominated by a tower of still standing blocks, corkscrew-twisted and seemingly precariously balanced."
―Description of the gate[src]

After passing through the gate, they found the bodies of hundreds of dead dragons on the other side.[8] Although the dragons' bones were shattered and their skin and sinew was desiccated and contracted, none showed any sign of wounds. They had all died of old age, not violence, and perished where they settled. Udinaas compared the sight by the gate to blue flies dying on the sill of a window which remained closed despite the flies' attempts to escape.[9]

Menandore declared to her sisters that Starvald Demelain was the very heart of the Warrens, the heart of K’rul. The gate was sealed by the spirit of a Bentract Bonecaster.[9] It was revealed that the authentic gate to Starvald Demelain was inside a cave in a mountain in the company of many other gates, and all were seething with silent, wild fire.[9]

According to his promise to the Azath, Silchas Ruin delivered the Azath's seed to the Refugium and used Scabandari Bloodeye's Finnest to awaken Kettle House at the same time to carry out his revenge against Scabandari. The House then sealed the twelve gates and anchored the Refugium, avoiding its disappearance.[9]

Quick Ben commented to Hedge that the Gates were now sealed inside the Azath, and that Shadowthrone and Cotillion already had a way in to access them.[9]

Notes and references

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