Andara

Andara was the secret, eternally lightless monastery of the Onyx Wizards. It was located at the bottom of a steep gorge a thousand paces deep and half a league long in the northwestern Bluerose Mountains about a day's journey north of the passes between Bluerose and Lether.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 6, US HC p.152-153 It was dedicated to the Black-Winged Lord (otherwise known as Anomander Rake), who was revered by the dwindling Tiste Andii population of Bluerose. When the Kingdom of Lether had conquered Bluerose, Andara became the last, hidden refuge of the remaining Bluerose Tiste Andii.
Only some five hundred Andii lived in exile in Andara, and other than the Onyx Wizards, only fourteen were of pure blood.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 8, US TPB p.197Reaper's Gale, Chapter 6, US TPB p.153 Only three of these pure-blooded Andii had ever climbed to the world above to see daylight, which they called the "blinded stars". The monastery counted at least a hundred warriors among its population.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 6, US TPB p.156 While Andara's older population grew comfortable with exile, the population's younger generation--the first generation born to the Exile--felt suffocated by the stultifying traditions of antiquity. They were likely to have racially diverse backgrounds, mixing the blood of multiple human cultures (such as the Nerek, the Letherii, and the D'rhasilhani) with their Andii forebears. They rejected the old ways by casting aside their clan names and language of their birth and renaming themselves.
Andara was a crumbling structure made of blackstone, as isolated as a prison. The cliff walls around it were riddled with caves, strangely-shaped chambers, twisting tunnels, and steep passages traversable only by rope ladder. Hollowed out towers were carved into solid bedrock and amorphous bridges were carved of white pumice to cross subterranean chasms. A large, smooth lake of red-streaked obsidian, known as the Amass Chamber, allowed the entire population to congregate to witness the endless wrangling of the Onyx Wizards. Andara was separated from the outside world by a long, steep passage to the top of the hard-to-find crevasse, which was invisible from only thirty paces away.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 8, US TPB p.196-197 The entrance in the crevasse was protected by wards of magic.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.458
Andara was also home to inumerable Shadow wraiths, the countless ghosts of Andii who had followed Silchas Ruin into the Malazan world only to perish at the hands of the K'Chain Che'Malle or Scabandari Bloodeye's traitorous Tiste Edur. They had been denied entrance to Hood's Realm by Gothos' ritual and fled to Andara to evade slavery under the Tiste Edur.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 8, US HC p.203-204
==Notable residents==
*Clip
*Draxos Hulch - Reve Master of the Dark Water
*Gestallin Aros - Reve Master of the Air
*Ordant Brid - Reve Master of the Rock
*Penith Vinandas - Reve Mistress of the Root
*Rin Varalath - Reve Master of the Night
==In Reaper's Gale==
Ordant Brid became aware that Silchas Ruin, the brother of the Onyx Order's god, was entering Bluerose territory. Knowing the others would stop him if they learned of it, he secretly assigned the young Tiste Andii archer, Clip, to greet Ruin and guide his party of 'The Hunted' (i.e., Seren Pedac, Fear Sengar, Kettle, Udinaas, and Wither) back to the hidden Tiste Andii refuge via the Elder Warren of Kurald Galain.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 6, US TPB p.153-156 
Once at Andara, Ruin engaged in a fractious consultation with the five Onyx Wizards over his quest to find Scabandari Bloodeye's soul. The wizards eventually reached a rare consensus and Brid offered up Clip as a guide once more, this time identifying him as Anomander Rake's Mortal Sword. Brid also noted that Menandore had recently visited Andara and Draxos Hulch warned Ruin she meant to oppose him. The Onyx Order themselves could not directly assist as their talents were needed to redirect a fast-moving glacier bearing down on their refuge as a result of the dissolution of Gothos' aging ritual.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 8, US TPB p.196-203
While investigating the disappearance of one of his illicit weapons shipments in the Bluerose Mountains, Factor Letur Anict convinced Orbyn Truthfinder to lead his soldiers to Andara to search for Fear Sengar and dispatch the Onyx Wizards. The Factor's twenty soldiers, along with Orbyn's mages, butchered everyone in the monastery within four hours without losing any of their own. One of the Patriotist mages reported to Orbyn that they had killed the half-dozen tottering priests as they prayed for aid before an altar of the Black-Winged Lord. The mage was startled to learn that the altar was truly sanctified to the Hold of Darkness. He also expressed his uneasiness that the Andii seemed to have put aside their feud with the Tiste Edur to work with Fear Sengar.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.458-460 Despite their efforts, the Letherii mages failed to desecrate the altar.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.462
==In Toll the Hounds==
Clip concluded that the power used by the people of Andara to fashion his chain of rings had left them fatally weakened when the Letherii came to slay them.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.74
==Notes and references==
Category:Lether
Category:Structures