[Abyss]

amphibian;122033 said:

One of the obvious yet hidden things about this series is that people move all over the place...

High level magi worldwide would almost certainly be aware of the Trygalle Trade Guild and make their decisions accordingly. In the real world, people frequently move from continent to continent to find jobs and/or escape situations. Why would it be any different on Wu?

Correct me if i'm wrong, but until Darujhistan in MoI, which overlapped the TTG's supply run to the Chain of Dogs in DG, as far as we see, none of the Malazans had ever heard of the TTG.

Wu doesn't have the internet, and warren travel is dangerous and not generally inter-continentally except by a few very powerful or connected individuals who have their own agendas.

I see your point that mages might look for options, but it seems to me that the TTG is an elite and exclusive bunch with a high mortality rate, not a refuge for any mage who doesn't feel like serving in the Malazan army.

- Abyss, wonders if mages read wanted ads.

[Tremolo]

fan_83;122408 said:

lazeen on the otehr hand indiscriminately destroyed the mouse quarters which is a hotbed formagical talent in malaz island

Laseen has trouble cointrolling the purges that she starts. I don't think that is the same as she is being ndiscriminate. After all Kell didn't have the subverted command structure to fight when he was in charge


Tremolo - thinks that Abyss should take http://www.sofmag.com/news/index.html into his considerations

[fan_83]

she sent in untested troops without limits to her orders.. thats indiscriminate

[Thelomen Toblerone]

It's either indiscriminate or idiotic, and you'd have to think that, as a successful assassin and perpetrator of a successful coup (even if Cot&Kellanved knew what was coming) is unlikely- certainly some sort of brains and cunning would be required to stay alive with her history.

[Onrack the breakable]

figroll;120691 said:

And let's not forget the purge - it's the opening scene in the series after all.

Yeah, I still remember that Laseem purged alot of "minor" mages for some paranoid reasons. Shes made alot of serious misjudgments, arguably more than real world famous tyrants that toppled pathetically. Whats amazing is that she is still clinging to the thrown after basically setting the whole empire on fire. Her just deserts. That seems like the whole theme of the series except she still manages to stay up due mostly to the unappreciated, super human efforts of people she has already stabbed in the back like the BB, QB, Coltain,etc. At the same time, she places her trust and power in the Pormquals, Lorns, Korbolo Doms, and Mallic Rels who are just psychotic killers who have no honor or loyalty(like herself).

[The Rope]

Whats wrong with Lorn? Ganoes liked her... and remember, Ganoes was elected High Fist because of Onearm's obvious regard for him and his judgement. Hell, the BB loved him... eventually... sorta...

[Grimlock]

KaL;122070 said:

I thought I'd mention that whoever said it, the mage cadres were indeed much larger back in the earlier days of the war, I forget which book mentioned it but Mallet was the leader of a healer cadre (not cutters) and that speaks volumes about their losses.

It was in Memories of Ice

Picker and someone else was discussing how the Bridgeburners all ( or many, anyway ) had a "glorious" past.

[Kage-za]

egnatius;128040 said:

Recall her unprovoked attack on Kruppe & Co. and how she was bent on killing out Rake and the Bridgeburners. Granted, she was ordered to take out those last two, but there was no reason at all for her to go at Kruppe, Murillio and Coll like she did. If Crokus hadn't reasoned with her, she might have killed them all.

The "unprovoked attack" came when Lorn encountered a group of spies sent by the leaders of Darujhistan to suss out what was going on in the place where she was trying to raise a Jhagut tyrant... to attack Darujhistan. It would have been more appropriate for her to kill them, except Crokus was still a lucky fellow at the time. Plus she didn't want the BBs killed--she just wanted to eliminate the threat that the Rope, possessing Sorry, posed to the Empress.

At the current time, aside from the Edur, there is not really that much that seems to be threatening the Malazan Empire. 7 Cities is done, Genabackis seems to have become resigned to the presence of the Malazans, and presumably the Edur could cause some damage, but I don't see them overcoming the Malazans altogether just because of the logistical nightmare of it. The expansion of the Malazan empire may be over without any high ranking mages, but it should be able to hang on to what it currently has.

[amphibian]

Kage-za;128856 said:

At the current time, aside from the Edur, there is not really that much that seems to be threatening the Malazan Empire. 7 Cities is done, Genabackis seems to have become resigned to the presence of the Malazans, and presumably the Edur could cause some damage, but I don't see them overcoming the Malazans altogether just because of the logistical nightmare of it. The expansion of the Malazan empire may be over without any high ranking mages, but it should be able to hang on to what it currently has.

The Edur don't seem overly concerned with logistics, as the Gray Helms have already encountered a fleet, at the same time Lether was being overrun. A steady rate of expansion like the Malazans seem to dictate a period of digestion (further subjugation if necessary and the tightening of economic ties) before further expansion, the Edur seem to be going at it like Alexander - grabbing as much as they can for as long as they can. Plus, I think the Edur will try and chase the Malazans after getting faced by Bottle and Quick Ben.

Your point about the mages/expansion correlation seems dead-on to me, but how long will it take for the Malazans to reload, especially with all those people under their dominion? Five, ten years? Assuming some measure of imperial stability survives post-Bonehunters world, this doesn't sound too unreasonable.

[Grimlock]

amphibian;128862 said:

The Edur don't seem overly concerned with logistics, as the Gray Helms have already encountered a fleet, at the same time Lether was being overrun.

Sorry? Eh, when you say Lether, do you mean the continent or the nation, which happened in Midnight Tides? Because I think the Edur fleet wasn't solely Edur, but also letherii mages and such. Of course, I might be completely confused. Which I am, now that I think about it...

Time to re-read BH then xD

[Segulah 2nd]

I think that given a stable environment, the Malazans could rebuild their mage cadres relatively easily. We know that there are squad mages with a lot of raw talent out there (eg the likes of Bottle and Sinn - Wasnt it mentioned after the 'controlling the fire incident' that Sinn had the potential of a high mage?) At the current time, there seems to be no real mage academy in place and as somone quite rightly pointed out, most of the mages with talent are keeping their heads down and 'hiding' in the squads.

If things changed and the Malazan empire had more 'stable' rulers, these mages could be developed into effective cadres with a few more high mages thrown into the bargain.

The only problem is, will any of them survive long enough to see a 'stable' environment??!!

[Grimlock]

Segulah 2nd;129381 said:

Wasnt it mentioned after the 'controlling the fire incident' that Sinn had the potential of a high mage?

Yes, it was