[Tiste Simeon]

mjgill said:

perhaps the duke of the family died in that battle...but i don't remeber that battle being against the forces of the emperor though

It was before the time of the emperor wasn't it?

[Abyss]

Actually, I thought the Diadem was the gem thing Corlo used to enhance his own powers, albeit at a physical price. I seem to recall him saying it could do many things.

It's interesting that in spite of having the seemingly unstoppable Avowed on their side, the Crimson Guard are clearly not unstoppable. Something massacred them on Assail. The Malazans on Genabackis were able to hold against them.
NOK SPOILER:

Spoiler

Dassem beat or killed a few.

So clearly they're heavy hitters, but not gods, even if some of them can hold their own against gods.

- Abyss, figures K'azz got the Blues....

[Tiste Simeon]

Abyss said:

So clearly they're heavy hitters, but not gods, even if some of them can hold their own against gods.

It seems to me that the Avowed are few and far between - you have Skinner (or was it blues) on Genebackis, in Darujhistan, and Iron Bars on the Letherii continent.
Methinks each platoon or whatever is given one avowed to help them and that... Though I think it would be better if they were all together... more effective like.

[vaiski]

Tiste Simeon said:

It seems to me that the Avowed are few and far between - you have Skinner (or was it blues) on Genebackis, in Darujhistan, and Iron Bars on the Letherii continent.
Methinks each platoon or whatever is given one avowed to help them and that... Though I think it would be better if they were all together... more effective like.

IB says in MT that there are a few hundred Awoved among Crimson Guard.
So one per platoon.. 12-16000 Guardsmen total.. yeah seems reasonable.

Was there mention in GotM about the size of K'azz's forces?

[tiam]

The Crimson Guard are mercenaries created by the Untan army defeating Duke Kenessen Davore (i assume this was Kellenved after he had conqured the main land) and in HoC we see Tavore reenecating this battle. The duke i always assumed was prine K'azz father. I didnt realise there were so many scattered about on Assail and such but i realised they were around the world. In GoTM crokus says '' 500 men and woman and not a shiny buckle beetween them''.

I assume there is an Avowed or 2 to every squad(iron bars is an avowed but the rest arent. we see this from how 2 Crimson Guardsmen die against the pack wereas iron bars single handedly takes the seragahl.) and that the 6th blade is an acception to this by having 3 avowed(Blues Cowl and Fingers i assume was an avowed)

[Abyss]

I had thought only Blues was actually an Avowed. Cowl was a (foul) mage and Fingers was a slick dude in a trench coat, probably a thief or scout.

NoKism again...

Spoiler

Several Avowed are mentioned by name in Nok and Fingers isn't among them. Blues, Iron Bars, Skinner and Lazar are the ones I recall off the top of my head.

- Abyss, fond of fowl.

[tiam]

I just got the impression that Cowl and Fingers were. I thought that as Cowl took down the most powerful Tiste Andii assasin mage with no trouble then he must be. However i have no basis for fingers. Also cowl is as the cripplied god says ''Who would have thought an avowed of the Crimson guard. Be thankful it wasnt skinner or indeed Cowl. they would have took more notice.

[Dolmen 2.0]

Greymane. Apparently the best of the avowed. Caladan Brood names him amoung the likes of Dassem, The seguleh first and even Anomander Rake. Does anyone remember anything else about him???

[tiam]

Grey mane is the Malazan commander in charge of the Korel Campaign. However are you sure he is an Avowed? I got the impression that the avowed were sworn enemies of the Malaznas or atleast Kellenved?

[Dolmen 2.0]

I said apparently, My guess is as good as yours really. Its been a while since I read the books so I may have it wrong.

[Dolmen 2.0]

so then greymane was probably a subordinate to dassem, (?possibly a member of his sword?) then that puts skinner at the top of the avowed swordsmen heirachy meaning dassems awesomeness just rose two points in my table of awesome.

:Table of awesome:
dassem:12
anomander:12
skinner:10
greymane:10/0(dead)
brys:8/0
Seguleh first:???/10
rhulad:-1
Gruntle:8
silchus:13
(to be continued...)

[Tenaka Khan]

Dolmen said:

so then greymane was probably a subordinate to dassem, (?possibly a member of his sword?)

Spoiler

In NoK we get to know Dassem's First Sword, and Greymane was definitely not mentioned

Greymane is definitely not an Avowed, for the reasons stated above. But he sure seems to be another ka-character, hopefully he is not dead yet and we get to meet him further on in the series *crosses fingers*

Btw, nice table of awesomeness, but you might also include Cotillion, even though he is a god, he still is awesome imo

[tiam]

Apparently he appears in the novel Blood Follows but i cant get it. Im still waitin for my NoK through.

[Abyss]

Also, note that not all Crimson Guardsmen are Avowed, altho it appears all Avowed are Crimson Guard. Probably something to do with the vow.

I understood the 6th Blade to be a sort of 'elite' group amongst the CGuard.

I interpretted the Chained God's comment to mean just that Cowl was badass. That Cowl was able to challenge Serrat doesn't mean anything - Kalam and QB both took down Andii in the rooftop battle i GotM, and neither of them are Avowed. Again, just badass.

Greymane is/was a Fist or High Fist. At some point Dassem was running the Army, so EVERYONE answered to him, but no connection to Dassem's Sword that I can recall.


- Abyss, veritable font of information.

[tiam]

I still feel that Cowl is avowed. The way brood says ''i need the Crimson Guard sixth blade'' i always assumed he needed Cowl who appears to be a very powerful mage and a good assasin ( to sneak up on Serrat). With regards to QB and Kalam i assumed they were surprised to see a skilled individual such as Kalam. Also they were sed to have been '' Hard pressed in Broods campaign'' this meant they were weakened against the guild and Kalam.