Letheras

Letheras [leh-THAIR-as]Steven Erikson Interview - Midnight Tides - Ten Very Big Books podcast - As pronounced by Steven Erikson at 15:06 was the capital city of the Kingdom of Lether, the largest and richest city on the Lether continent, and the site of the Imperial Palace. It was the most populous city in the Letherii Empire with over a hundred thousand residents.Midnight Tides, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.124
It was a walled city of domes, terraces, garishly painted buildings, towers, and platforms--many obscured by a haze of smoke.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 20, US HC p.615Reaper's Gale, Chapter 7, US HC p.160-161 The Lether River passed through the city's centre and the city was crisscrossed by canals, magnificent bridges, and multi-leveled tiers. The city was a crowded, sordid maze.Midnight Tides, Chapter 10, US SFBC p.321 Many of its narrow, twisted, garbage strewn alleys never knew the light of day as they were crowded overhead with balconies, ledges, and projections that served as makeshift roofs.Midnight Tides, Chapter 20, US SFBC p.598 The city's wealthy kept their fortunes hidden within walled estates while the streets swelled with lost and indigent Indebted and tribal refugees.Midnight Tides, Chapter 10, US SFBC p.321/326 
The huge, double main gate in the city's white walls led to a cobblestoned imperial road wide enough to fit ten columns of soldiers.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.744-745/748 Along the wall were sunken posterns, whose tunnels invited breaching, but which could be flooded at the pull of a lever. Each ended in a thick wooden door.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.749 Two thousand paces beyond the city's western wall was Kravos Hill.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 20, US HC p.615 There were also several shanty-towns outside the city wall.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.749
During the heat of the summer months, shops stayed open late into the night and the streets were crowded with shoppers.Midnight Tides Chapter 4, US SFBC p.144
==Economy==
The Merchant Tolls, a kind of stock market, listed Letheras' gross value at between twelve and fifteen Peaks with possibly another five buried.Midnight Tides, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.89 In recent years, the eccentric Tehol Beddict had nearly caused the economy to crash through an unprecedented series of canny investments. In the end, Tehol's fortune crashed bringing down the fortunes of countless investors and causing the Tolls to write off an entire Peak as a loss. Ten thousand coins cursed against Tehol's name lay at the bottom of the city's canals.Midnight Tides, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.89-90Midnight Tides, Chapter 12, US SFBC p.387 
Powerful guilds controlled the various industries within the city. They designated which companies could accept certain contracts, what wages and benefits could be paid, and kept blacklists of employees not eligible for guild jobs. Workers known as the Unwelcomes were often de-certified and removed from the guilds' working rolls for political reasons. The guilds were powerless to stop the Unwelcoms from being hired for jobs paying below the guilds' rates.Midnight Tides, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.133-134Midnight Tides, Chapter 6, US SFBC p.187 Some employers, such as the Royal Engineers, were required to hire only guild members.Midnight Tides, Chapter 12, US SFBC p.366 The Chamber of Contracts and Royal Charters was responsible for assigning government work to the various guilds and assessing their progress.Midnight Tides, Chapter 12, US SFBC p.368 
==Crime and Punishment==
Order was maintained by the city garrison which had stations throughout the city. In case of emergency, the stations used bells to summon other city guard units to their aid.Midnight Tides, Chapter 20, US SFBC p.604 Squads of armed guards patrolled the city at night by lantern light. Near the Eternal Domicile, soldiers stood watch from corner blockhouses or at postern gates. Street intersections were lit by lantern poles.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 11, US HC p.296-297
Criminals who could not pay the fines to expunge their records were sentenced to swim the Quillas Canal while weighted down with coin. Few survived, and large crowds observed and placed wagers on the outcome.Midnight Tides, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.125-126
==Festivals==
One of the holiday festivals celebrated by the people of Letheras was dedicated to the Errant. The festival was accompanied by frenzied wagering at the Special Drownings, which were reserved for the most notorious criminals. According to Tehol Beddict, the city's wealthy class used the festival to make public displays of their indolence.Midnight Tides, Chapter 6, US SFBC p.197
== Districts ==
*Counters' QuarterMidnight Tides, Chapter 20, US SFBC p.604
*Creeper District
*Down Markets
*Drownings District
*Far Reaches District
*Low MarketsReaper's Gale, Chapter 11, US HC p.281 (possibly an alternate name for the Down Markets)
*North Tiers District
*Peaks District
*Prostitutes' DistrictMidnight Tides, Chapter 10, US SFBC p.299
*Pursers' DistrictMidnight Tides, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.130 (or Purser's District)
*South Tiers District
*Up MarketsReaper's Gale, Chapter 5, US HC p.118
== Roads, Squares etc. ==
* Adventure AlleyReaper's Gale, Chapter 3, US TPB p.84-87
* Avenue of the Seventh ClosureMidnight Tides, Chapter 22
* Buried Round
* Burl Square
* Cul Street
* Errant's Heel - refuse pit
* Fishers' GateMidnight Tides, Chapter 22, US SFBC p.654
* Front StreetMidnight Tides, Chapter 24
* Low WalkMidnight Tides Chapter 2, US SFBC p.75	
* Main Avenue
* Quarry Road
* Red Lane
* Sherp's Last LaneMidnight Tides, Chapter 6, US SFBC p.208
* Soulan Bridge
* Turol Avenue
* West GateMidnight Tides, Chapter 20, US SFBC p.597
* Wormface AlleyReaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.789
== Places of interest ==
* Academy of Imperial LearningReaper's Gale, Chapter 2
* Azath Tower
* Beastmonger Shill's shop, which sold miniaturized creaturesReaper's Gale, Chapter 3, US TPB p.85-87
* Biri's residence
* Blunt's Letherii Steel and Blunt Weaponry
* Cargo Olives
* The EddiesMidnight Tides Chapter 4, US SFBC p.127/136
* Eternal Domicile
* Grool's Immeasureable PotsReaper's Gale, Chapter 3, US TPB p.84-86
* Half-Axe Temple of HerbsReaper's Gale, Chapter 3, US TPB p.84-85
* Huldo's
* Imperial ArenaReaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.772
* Imperial LibraryReaper's Gale, Chapter 7, US HC p.172
* Imperial quays
* Inn of the Belly-up SnakeReaper's Gale, Chapter 1, US HC p.34
* Merchant Tolls (or Merchants' Tolls)
* Old Palace complex
* Physicians' CollegeReaper's Gale, Chapter 1, US HC p.33
* Patriotists Headquarters
* Porul's	
* Rild's
* Rinnesict EstateReaper's Gale, Chapter 1, US HC p.50
* Scale House
* Second TierMidnight Tides Chapter 4, US SFBC p.126
* Settle Lake
* Shand's office
* Stink FlatsMidnight Tides Chapter 2, US SFBC p.68
* Stinking House
* Tehol Beddict's residence
* Temple Brothel
* Temple of the FulcraMidnight Tides Chapter 14, US SFBC p.425
* Temple School (possibly the same institution as Temple Thurlas)Midnight Tides, Glossary
* Temple Thurlas, the Shrouded Sisters of the Empty Throne
* Third HeightMidnight Tides Chapter 2, US SFBC p.69
* Third TierMidnight Tides Chapter 4, US SFBC p.128
* Tolls Repository
* The Trampled Peacock
* Urum's Lenders
* Windlow's Meatgrinders
==Organisations==
*Guild of Sandal-Clasp MakersReaper's Gale, Chapter 5, Epigraph
*Guild of SculptorsReaper's Gale, Chapter 18
*Guild of Street InspectorsMidnight Tides, Chapter 12, US SFBC p.374
*Liberty Consign of Merchants
*Patriotists
*Rat Catchers' Guild
== Known Canals ==
* Creeper Canal
* The Great Drain
* Main Canal
* Narrow CanalMidnight Tides, Chapter 6, UK MMPB p.226
* Quillas Canal
* Sludge Canal
* Small CanalMidnight Tides, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.162
* Trench CanalMidnight Tides, Chapter 6, US SFBC p.200
== History ==
The land where Letheras was founded was once a marshland basin fed by eleven rivers. Beneath the basin's brittle and porous crust was a vast underground chasm. Erosion eventually caused the basin to collapse resulting in a catastrophic draining of the area's rivers and swamps. All that remained of this cataclysm was Settle Lake, which despite its modest size was deceptively deep.Midnight Tides, Chapter 23, Epigraph 
The city was settled by colonists of the First Empire many thousands of years before the current day and before that empire's downfall.Midnight Tides, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.86 Most Letherii inaccurately believed the city was the site of the colonists' First Landing.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, US HC p.350 Letheras' first Royal Engineer, Keden Qan, conducted a thorough survey of the area at the time of its planning.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 5, US HC p.122-123 The Old Palace was built around a complex of three Jaghut towers and an Azath Tower so old as to predate the founding of the First Empire. Qan's study showed that the Jaghut towers were part of a single and far larger complex, suggesting they were constructed prior to that race's dispersion. A six-hundred-year-old proclamation forbid any attempt to demolish or resettle the area.Midnight Tides, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.152 
The Jaghut ruins and Azath Tower themselves appeared to be constructed on the ruins of a far older non-human settlement. Within most of the area covered by the modern city were ancient foundation walls, plazas and concourses, shaped wells, drainage ditches, and cemeteries. These formed a self-contained complex of intricately paved floors and streets entirely contained within multi-level roofing, with a second more defensible city below it. The underground corridors and tunnels were reused for the modern city's sewer system. Virtually no artifacts were left behind by this mystery civilisation, but there remained evidence that the residents made frantic attempts to insulate their dwellings. Qan theorised this was in response to catastrophic climate change.
Ancient tombs of origin unknown to the Letherii could still be found beneath the city, though most had collapsed or sunk into the mud. Their doors were covered with hieroglyphics which scholars had only partially deciphered to reveal as curse-laden and aspected to the Errant in some mysterious way. Few Letherii ever broke into the tombs as they were always empty and trespassers were reputed to die in horrific ways. Bugg claimed the tombs had been built and warded by the Forkrul Assail for the Jaghut in an attempt to provide haven from their enemies, the T'lan Imass.Midnight Tides, Chapter 12, US SFBC p.370-372 
Icarium visited the city in ancient times and constructed a mysterious device beneath it.
==In Midnight Tides==
The kingdom was at the height of its power and preparing for the Seventh Closure, the prophesied renaissance when the First Empire would be reborn and King Ezgara would Ascend and assume the title of First Emperor.Midnight Tides, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.86Midnight Tides, Glossary After seventeen years,Midnight Tides, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.69 the Eternal Domicile was nearing completion to serve as the site of Ezgara's coronation.
It was revealed that Tehol Beddict's spectacular failure in the Tolls was in fact an ingenious ruse. With no one in the city the wiser, he had accumulated and disappeared a fortune from notice which he used to resettle the city's tribal refugees on newly purchased islands. The tribal mixed-bloods, Shand, Rissarh, and Hejun were the only ones to unravel his con. They convinced him to secretly repeat his plan but at a much higher level with the goal of crashing the Letherii economy to trigger a cultural reformation.Midnight Tides, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.89-92Midnight Tides, Chapter 14, US SFBC p.438 
A disastrous war provoked by Queen Janall Diskanar, Prince Quillas Diskanar, and Chancellor Triban Gnol brought the Tiste Edur army of Emperor Rhulad Sengar to the city's doorstep. On the day of the Seventh Closure, Emperor Rhulad seized the city from the king and named himself emperor of the new Letherii Empire on the day of the Seventh Closure.Midnight Tides, Chapter 25
By the time it became clear that the Edur might win the war, Tehol had called a halt to his scheme. Although he was able to evacuate the city's refugee population before the city's occupation, he was not ready to trade the Letherii's corrupt civilisation for the Edur's stagnant one.Midnight Tides, Chapter 14, US SFBC p.440Midnight Tides, Chapter 20, US SFBC p.599
==In Reaper's Gale==
As the capital settled in under the rule of their Tiste Edur conquerors, two new organisations appeared in the city. The Patriotists under Invigilator Karos Invictad were officially chartered as the empire's secret police, launching a brutal reign of terror to root out traitors both real and imagined. Hundreds of citizens were arrested every week and many found their way to the Drownings, which were taken over by the Patriotists as a means of execution. At the same time, the capital's wealthiest families formed a loose consortium of businesses known as the Liberty Consign of Merchants and led by Rautos Hivanar.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 1
Tehol Beddict and Bugg developed a new scheme to bring down the empire by acquiring and removing large quantities of imperial coin from circulation.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 1, US HC p.47-51 At the same time, Karos Invictad was conducting a similar scheme to strip the coffers of the Liberty Consign bare.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 18, US HC p.532-535 When the economy reached a crisis, angry mobs rioted in the city and the poorer districts in the north burned.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.759 A mob lay siege to the compound of the Patriotists, setting it on fire, calling for the imprisoned Tehol's death, and killing a dozen agents.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.763
Icarium activated a millennia-old machine he had constructed on the site of the Rat Catchers' Guild. When he entered the device, it caused buildings all over the city to collapse and annihilated the entire neighbourhood around the Guild in white fire.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.771-772/795-799
Adjunct Tavore Paran's Bonehunters invaded Lether in response to the Tiste Edur fleet's attack on Sepik.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, US HC p.356 The Imperial Brigade faced Fist Keneb's Marines without conclusive result on Kravos Hill outside the city before being defeated by the Adjunct's main force near the Lether River. The Malazan marines found a hidden entrance beneath the city walls and seized the city's western gate to allow the rest of the army entrance. Four squads of marines simultaneously conducted guerrilla warfare within the city to keep the City Garrison busy. Fiddler, Quick Ben, and Hedge delivered Silchas Ruin a decisive rebuke as the Soletaken Eleint attempted to take vengeance on the city and its patron, the Crippled God. Then Fiddler's squad assaulted the Eternal Domicile where they slew Chancellor Triban Gnol. Once the main force of Malazans entered the city, the City Garrison surrendered and the city fell.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24
The Tiste Edur abandoned the city, returning to their homeland in the north. Some had departed at Hannan Mosag's behest, while the others left with Hanradi Khalag after their betrayal by the Letherii at Kravos Hill.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.786Reaper's Gale, Chapter 22, US HC p.694-695 Rhulad Sengar was slain in his arena by Karsa Orlong ending the immortal Edur emperor's reign.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.801-802/805-808
Rucket and Ormly spent a fortune hiring criers to proclaim Tehol a hero of the people who eliminated everyone's debt to successfully turn public sentiment back in his favour. When Adjunct Tavore and the marines reached the Eternal Domicile, Rucket introduced Brys Beddict as Lether's saviour and Tehol as Lether's new emperor.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.811-813 Janath Anar married Tehol becoming both his empress and the empire's new chancellor.Reaper's Gale, Epilogue, US HC p.827-828
==In Fall of Light==
Letheras may have been built on the site of the ancient Jaghut capital of Omtose Phellack. The Seregahl who were released from the dying Azath Tower in Letheras in Midnight Tides, were imprisoned there when Hood challenged them to prove their worth as the vanguard of the army which was assembling to march on Death itself. In exchange, the Azath House released Gethol, brother of Gothos.Fall of Light, Chapter 13, UK HB p.391-393, 398/399
==Trivia==
*According to author Steven Erikson, some of the inspiration for Letheras came from the city of Venice, which is famous for its canals and its steady subsidence into the lagoon it is built upon. And "at the height of their power, they were all about wealth, and...looting everything they could in the Mediterranean and beyond." Erikson thought it was "a great metaphor for capitalism itself...you have to keep building on top of it because the foundations keep sinking into the mud."Ten Very Big Books podcast - Midnight Tides - See 19:00
==Notes and references==
Category:Cities
Category:Lether
 
de:Letheras
es:Letheras