Dragnipur

THE MALAZAN BOOK OF THE FALLEN

Dragnipur

A long time ago, Mother Dark — the Elder Goddess — gave birth to the Tiste Andii; a race that uses magic drawn from Darkness (‘Kurald Galain’). The Gate of Darkness held this raw and infinitely powerful magic that was created from Chaos. Yet, Chaos sought to consume Darkness — an act that would exterminate the Tiste Andii. Furthermore, Mother Dark had deserted the Tiste Andii under mysterious circumstances. To preserve Darkness, the Elder God, Draconus, had no choice but to forge a tool to house the Gate of Darkness.

At first, Draconus tried using iron that was melted in the Sleeping Goddess’ molten heart. He sought to form a core that was powerful enough to contain Darkness. However, that proved insufficient. As such, Draconus resorted to melting all the metals in the universe, before tempering them countless times. The result is Dragnipur — a bastard sword with a blade so dark no light could escape. Fortunately, it was able to contain Darkness. With the passage of time, Dragnipur and Darkness became one and the same.

Despite his success, Draconus still had the unforgiving task of keeping Dragnipur from Chaos. To that end, he created a cart —made from the ancient Blackwood — that would act as a vehicle for Dragnipur. The cart was then kept in constant motion by the souls consumed by Dragnipur, so as to elude the clutches of Chaos. When a soul was expended, it was added to the cart. With its weight increased, the cart then required more souls from Dragnipur to pull it onward. In the end, Draconus had created a weapon that is abominable in its thirst for souls.

Anomander Rake

Given the Tiste Andii's ties with Darkness, Draconus gave Dragnipur to Anomander Rake — Archmage of the Tiste Andii. The Elder God had hoped that Anomander would serve his purpose and continually feed souls — of the people of Tiste Andii — to Dragnipur. However, Anomander loved his people dearly. He scorned Draconus’ intentions, and sealed the Elder God in his own creation.

Regardless, Anomander understood that Chaos should never be allowed to possess Darkness. There was only one salvation — to bring Mother Dark back to the Tiste Andii. To that end, Anomander to sacrifice his soul to Dragnipur. His resolve to protect his people was accepted by Mother Dark. Not only did the Elder Goddess removed the Gate of Darkness from Dragnipur; she also returned to the Tiste Andii as their matron goddess. As for the sword, it was destroyed by Anomander’s trusted friend, Caladan Brood, and never spoken of again.

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