Blue Moranth

The Blue Moranth were a clan of Moranth considered to be the sailors and traders amongst their people. They were known to take on the Seguleh on occasions where they encountered them at sea.
==Ships and Weaponry==
Blue Moranth vessels were extraordinarily large, dark-painted, three-masted, deepwater ships. They had three banks of oars and an armoured three storey tower on their forecastles.Stonewielder, Chapter 3, US HC p.175-176Stonewielder, Chapter 7, US HC p.383 Inside they were roomy, clean, and nearly odourless. They carried the faint smell of sulphur, honey, and pine sap.Stonewielder, Chapter 5, US HC p.229
The Blue Moranth were able to communicate between vessels using tall braziers on deck. Specific commands were issued by dropping packets into the fire resulting in colours of intense orange, brilliant red, green, sea blue, or silver-white.Stonewielder, Chapter 5, US HC p.227/229
During close-quarters combat, the forecastle towers could project an alchemical stream of liquid fire, which even burned on water, rolling over waves and collecting in pools. Ship mounted crossbows fired grapnels trailing ropes in order to entangle the opposing ship.Stonewielder, Chapter 5, US HC p.230-231 
The Moranth also had access to more traditional munitions and over longer ranges could fire sheets of flaming projectiles that used secondary bursts to scatter an inferno.Stonewielder, Chapter 5, US HC p.231Stonewielder, Chapter 11, US HC p.540 Their handheld sharpers were like works of art, perfect porcelain globes lacquered with a thick, mostly transparent gloss that was nevertheless faintly cerulean.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 15, US SFBC p.611-612Toll the Hounds, Chapter 21, US SFBC p.855
In one instance, the Blue Moranth joined two vessels together like a catamaran with a ship-length beam construction suspended between them. During the marine assault on the harbour fortifications of Aamil, the beam was revealed to be a siege tower. After maneuvering below a seaside curtainwall, the tower was swung up between the ships to a vertical position before being extended upwards in multiple collapsible sections. Marines could then ascend an interior ladder to the top of the wall.Stonewielder, Chapter 5, US HC p.235/253-255
== Notable Blue Moranth ==
* Halat
* Swirl
==In Memories of Ice==
By the time of the Pannion War in 1164 BS, a schism had occurred amongst the Moranth, triggered by a succession of Gold Moranth defeats. Afterwards, only the Black Moranth remained loyal allies of the Malazan Empire, although the Blue continued to operate the Malazan sea-lanes to Seven Cities.Memories of Ice, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.181
==In Toll the Hounds==
Cutter possessed a coin described as a Blue Moranth silver sceptre.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 15, US SFBC p.108 It was unclear if the coin was minted by the Blue Moranth, or if it was a traditional Seven Cities sceptre decorated with an image of a Blue Moranth.
Torvald Nom returned to Darujhistan carrying a number of objects he kept hidden away and wrapped in Blue Moranth silk. Among them were a pair of glistening sealskin gloves and a water-etched, blue iron throwing axe with swirling inset patterns and a handle made from an oversized ivory tusk. Also included were thirteen Blue Moranth sharpers (of which, one was inert in the Moranth fashion). The entire bundle reeked of Mael's Elder sorcery, causing his wife Tiserra to wonder what connection the Blue Moranth had to the Elder God. Torvald Nom was startled when Kruppe appeared to know about the formal panoply and its bestowal upon him by the Blue Moranth as a secret honorific.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 15, US SFBC p.611-612/614 When activated in combat, the Blue Moranth sharpers behaved remarkably different from any sharper previously depicted, creating "a bulging, sloshing sphere" filled with water.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 21, US SFBC p.855-856
==In Return of the Crimson Guard==
The Blue Moranth were contracted by the Talian League to transport troops from Genabackis to Quon Tali to fight in the Malazan civil war.
==In Stonewielder==
The Emperor Mallick Rel offered the Moranth a contract as a result of which the Blue Moranth under Admiral Swirl formed part of the Malazan Expeditionary Force. Their skilled navigation and superior weaponry allowed them to break the Mare blockade, possibly the first Malazan ships to do so in over twenty years.Stonewielder, Chapter 5Stonewielder, Chapter 3, US HC p.177 Afterwards, the Marese were forced to sue for peace.Stonewielder, Chapter 9, US HC p.482
==Notes and references==
Category:Moranth
de:Blaue Moranth