Got in a debate over on r/Malazan about what the current state of the Malazan Empire is. The last we heard of it in any meaningful sense was, well in some respects ROTCG. I guess in some ways you could say that TTH and OST mention things but we haven't seen what is going on "back home" if you like for a while. I just thought it would be interesting to speculate what is going on.
In this thread, where the argument started, I said that actually, despite all things, I thought the Empire was not in too bad a state. Most major enemies have gone and a lot of the internal dudes whipping up a frenzy are dead or subdued. I know that this will most likely be covered when the Toblakai trilogy comes out, but I would welcome all thoughts and ideas.
My initial reply for all those too lazy to click the link:
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Having said that, here we go with spoilers from everything that has been written so far. Please bear in mind that I am mostly doing this from memory and it's been a while since I read them all. Feel free to correct me:
I think Korel is done with. One of aims of the campaign was to get rid of the Lady and that was achieved. With the Mare fleet mostly destroyed or at least severely depleted by the blue Moranth, keeping in touch with the Empire will be a lot easier.
Seven Cities won't be a major problem now - they destroyed the Whirlwind army & the plague having sucked the life out of the rest of the continent I doubt it will cause issues for a long time now.
As for Jacuruku and Assail I don't think there is an official Empire presence there, at least not a major one at the moment. However there are representatives around which means they have an interest in those two continents. (I don't remember a lot of Blood and Bone so I might be wrong about that. Any correction welcome.)
Return of the Crimson Guard shows that they have subjugated the main rebellious elements of the people on Quon Tali. Assail - all of ICEs books after Stonewielder - shows that the Crimson Guard are now no longer interested in their perpetual war against the Empire so that is no longer a primary concern for the Emperor.
What I imagine he is mostly focused on now is Lether. It is a flipping big place and they now have a stable economy and a popular leader. Will that mean anything to Mallick Rel? Will he start thinking about expansion & conquest? I personally don't think so. A lot of the places the Empire conquered were horrible places and there is a consensus that actually, the Empire was a good thing. Lether is now not like that. Taking over would be a lot harder and the locals even more resistant than the likes of Genebackis and Seven Cities.
All in all the Empire is not in a bad state. I hate to admit it because I despise him, but actually Mallick Rel isn't that bad as an Emperor. I seriously can't wait for the Toblakai Trilogy. That should give us an insight into what has happened since, well Bonehunters and Return of the Crimson Guard/Stonewielder.
Tl;dr read the flipping thing it took me long enough to write on my phone...
This post has been edited by Tiste Simeon: 26 November 2014 - 03:07 PM