Seguleh

The Seguleh [seh-GOO-leh]Spoiler Talk: Return of the Crimson Guard by Ian C. Esslemont - A Critical Dragon - As pronounced by Ian C. Esslemont at 2:40 were a warrior people inhabiting an island to the southwest of the continent of Genabackis. Trained in combat from their youths, the Seguleh gained a reputation as some of the finest swordsmen in the entire world. Although rarely sighted outside of their native island, Seguleh expeditions were known to have occurred on occasion.
Seguleh seemed to be of similar appearance — medium height, whip lean, wearing light armour and a white, enamelled mask.Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 2 Chapter 1, UK Bantam Press edition p.263Memories of Ice, Chapter 1
== Notable Seguleh ==
* Beru, of the Thirtieth
* Enoc, one-time ThirdOrb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 2
* Gall, Third (after Mok)
* Handmaiden of Felash
* Ina
* Jan, Second
* Lazan Door, renegade
* Leal
* Lo, Eighth
* Madrun, renegade
* Mok, Third
* Oru, EleventhOrb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 20
* Palla, Sixth
* Rell
* Sall, of the Three-Hundredth
* Seguleh Twelfth
* Senu, Eleventh Level Initiate
* Shear
* Studlock, uncertain - may have been a Seguleh
* Thurule (also spelled 'Therule')Toll the Hounds, Chapter 13, US TPB p.441
== Seguleh Society ==
thumb|Seguleh masks by [https://www.instagram.com/p/CUr9prnKTZd/ Shadaan] 
Seguleh society was a hierarchy exclusively based on the martial prowess of the individual. All Seguleh who successfully survived to adulthood donned a mask with a number of markings signifying their position within the Seguleh hierarchy. 
The substance used to mark a mask was described in one case as a mixture of charcoal, saliva, and human blood.Memories of Ice, Chapter 1, UK MMPB p.72 
*The overall commander was the Seguleh First and he had no marks on his mask, the Seguleh Second was second-in-command with one mark on his mask, and so on. The top ten in rank were known as the ruling Ten, or Eldrii.Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 10, US HC p.303 
*The Agatii - In order to advance within the society, a warrior of a lesser rank had to defeat a Seguleh warrior of a higher rank, in single combat, thus acquiring that warrior's position within the society. The 1,000 highest ranked Seguleh were known as the Agatii, or Honoured Thousand. A high ranking Seguleh could take the role of Yovenai, which roughly translated to some combination of patron, commander, and teacher.Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 2 Chapter 1, UK PB p.267
*Initiate Levels - The lowest level warriors were First Level Initiates known as Blackmasks.Memories of Ice, Chapter 5, UK MMPB p.187 The exact number of possible levels was not mentioned, however, Senu was an Eleventh Level Initiate, which had taken him fourteen years to achieve.Memories of Ice, Chapter 5, UK MMPB p.188 There were likely at least three to four hundred Level Eleven warriors.Memories of Ice, Chapter 7, UK MMPB p.326
The Seguleh saw fighting as "a form of religious dedication and expression." They were committed to perfection of form and technique. At the highest level, duels could be fought without bloodshed, the winner to be determined based on a judging body's appraisal of speed, technique, and execution. To question the judges' ruling was to risk being expelled from the martial order.Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 3 Chapter 2, US HC p.578
The Seguleh rarely spoke, communicating instead via body language. They asserted dominance with posture, faint gestures, stance, and head tilts.Memories of Ice, Chapter 5 Seguleh of a lower rank were required to act humbly and to be servile towards members of higher rank, lest the former provoke a disciplinary attack by the latter. If a lower ranking warrior wished to challenge one of higher rank, he could do so by acting superior towards the one whom he wished to challenge.
Sustained eye contact was considered a challenge,Memories of Ice, Chapter 1 and visible unease was treated as submission. The Seguleh were an intelligent society, despite the culture of ritual combat as a form of advancement in 'political' rank.
Not all Seguleh were fighters. Some were farmers, craftsmen, or servants. But these members of society were forbidden to wield weapons and were at the bottom of the social ladder.Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 3 Chapter 2, US HC p.578
When encountering non-Seguleh, verbal communication was handled by the lowest ranking member present and was considered a shameful act. If an outsider attacked or merely possessed a weapon in a Seguleh's presence they would be slain, regardless of whether they were aware of Seguleh custom. If an outsider was able to defeat a Seguleh, they gained their opponent's rank just as if they had been a Seguleh themselves and were subject to the same right of challenge.Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 2 Chapter 1, UK PB p.263-267 The Seguleh did not fight women unless attacked.Memories of Ice, Chapter 22, UK MMPB p.930
The Seguleh also had provisions for outsiders who helped them. They were classified as Eshen-ai, outsiders with countenance, as Sall described it. It meant that they were willing to protect the person who was under their patronage, as evidenced by Lo and Sall as they fought Dernan and his army to protect Yusek and nurse her back from cold so that they could continue their search for the monastery.Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 8
==Currency==
Seguleh currency resembled ridged bars.Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 7, US HC p. 176
== History ==
Not much was known to outsiders of the Seguleh, save that they were very fierce warriors and tended to keep to themselves. It was said that Anomander Rake had visited the island and, due to his perceived arrogance, provoked countless attacks by the Seguleh present. A skilled swordsman, Anomander defeated numerous Seguleh warriors, unknowingly advancing through the hierarchy and achieving the rank of Seguleh Seventh. Frustrated and uncomprehending, Anomander left the island without taking the mask of his rank, an act which angered all Seguleh and persisted into the modern Malazan period of history as this was considered an insult to their customs and traditions.
The scholar, Samar Dev, thought the Seguleh were likely descendants of the First Empire as the word meant "The Anvil" in that civilisation's language. She surmised the Seguleh had been a fragment of an army from the empire's colonial period when variations on such names had been common among the First Empire military. It was not uncommon for such a remnant clan to settle on a pleasant island as reward for some great victory.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 11, US HC p.171
The Seguleh had had a historical rivalry with the Moranth from the past. The two societies fought each other almost incessantly, their fights being brutal. At some point, the Seguleh were forced into an exile, leaving Darujhistan's environs, and settling down at an island that came to be known as the Seguleh Island.Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 2
The society of the Seguleh was created by the last Tyrant of Darujhistan, to act as his personal guard.Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 15When the Tyrant went to war with the Moranth, occupying Moranth colonies and offering no terms or conditions, the Moranth lost their colonies to the Seguleh.Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 19 After the Tyrant had been defeated and interned in the barrow, the Seguleh were exiled,Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 2 and that is how they came to live in the Island. The origins of the Seguleh were an ancient knowledge known only to the original First (the First during Jan's earlier time as Second) and this knowledge was lost when the First went missing.Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 2
==In Memories of Ice==
The Pannion Domin provoked the Seguleh by sending priests to their island in an attempt to convert them. The Seguleh tasked their Blackmask initiates with killing the intruders. Eventually, the incessant arrivals began to interfere with Seguleh discipline and mindfulness. When threatened with an invasion, the Seguleh welcomed battle, even offering gifts to the Pannion Domin to assure the conflict would take place. But the Pannion Domin was insulted by the offer. Tired of the tedious discourse, the Seguleh sent a punitive army of three (Mok, Thurule, and Senu) to slay the one sending his priests to the island. The three Seguleh proved more than able at slaying the Seer's undead K'Chain Che'Malle K'ell Hunters.Memories of Ice, Chapter 9, US SFBC p.326-327
==In The Bonehunters==
The undead Seguleh Second, Soldier of High House Death, appeared before Cutter and Heboric on Seven Cities. Like Hood's other servants, he chased after Skinner. The talkative and emotional Second was nothing like his living kin, and his knowledge of their society appeared rooted in antiquity. When Cutter marveled at the Second's loquaciousness, the Second lamented that "the fever zeal" must still grip his idiotic kin. Much to Cutter's confusion, the Second seemed to believe that the Seguleh race served as the army of Darujhistan's Tyrant King. When Cutter reported that the Seguleh lived on their own island, the Second reasoned that they were being held in readiness for the Tyrant's return.The Bonehunters, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.158-162
==In Reaper's Gale==
The Seguleh Twelfth was among the champions the Tiste Edur fleets brought back to Letheras to face Emperor Rhulad Sengar in mortal combat. She had been found near dead on a storm-battered scow south of Callows.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 7, UK BCA edition p.175 
==In Toll the Hounds==
The Bridgeburners discovered a dozen casks containing the pickled bodies of Seguleh (nine male and three female) in the basement of K'rul's Bar. Smelling of fermented peaches, the bodies looked so fresh Picker expected them to open their eyes at any moment. Duiker's research dated the seals on the casks to the time when the bar had served as a temple to K'rul.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 15, US SFBC p.588-589 One of the bodies wore a mask bearing four linear, vertical barbs across the forehead,Toll the Hounds, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.547 suggesting it was fifth-ranked. Baruk did not take news of the bodies' discovery well.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 15, US SFBC p.589
More than a score of Seguleh had fallen to a Dragnipur-wielding Anomander Rake over the course of their history and been cursed to pull The wagon. This defeat had left them with great shame and they fought ferociously for the Seguleh Second at the side of the Grey Swords against the legions of Chaos when Hood brought his army of the dead within Dragnipur.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 24, US SFBC p.954
==In Return of the Crimson Guard==
A ship of Seguleh boarded the slaver Ardent to commandeer supplies and steal slaves to serve as oarmen. Iron Bars and his squad of enslaved Crimson Guardsmen were ignorant of the Seguleh's reputation and Tillin was killed when he moved to attack them. Iron Bars then challenged the lowest ranked Seguleh, Leal, to a duel in order to save his soldiers. He barely defeated the Seguleh, thereby earning her rank.Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 2 Chapter 1, UK Bantam Press edition p.263-267
The supremely talented swordsman Rell, who served among Storo Matash's squad in Li Heng, was ultimately revealed to be a Seguleh in self imposed exile.Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 3 Chapter 2, UK TPB p.578 His skill at defending the city from the armies of the Talian League and the man-jackal Ryllandaras was so notable that some citizens proclaimed him the new Protector.Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 2 Chapter 3, US HC p.347Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 2 Chapter 5, US HC p.450Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 2 Chapter 5, US HC p.480
==In Orb Sceptre Throne==
(Information Needed)
==In Deadhouse Landing==
Shear was a SegulehDeadhouse Landing, Chapter 13, US TPB p.250 in the very early days of the formation of the Malazan Empire. She "held a rank among the most skilled" of the Seguleh — probably being one of the AgatiiDeadhouse Landing, Chapter 13, US TPB p.250/252 as she wore a half-mask which was "brightly painted".Deadhouse Landing, Chapter 8, US TPB p.157
Shear — for some reason not given — had been spending some time in Quon Tali, and had become a famous "caravanserai guard and fighting champion" there. She had signed up with a large caravan conducted by Horst GrethallDeadhouse Landing, Chapter 8, US TPB p.155 which travelled the north-south overland trade route across the Kanese lands.Deadhouse Landing, Chapter 15, US TPB p.280
Just south of Li Heng, Shear encountered Dassem UltorDeadhouse Landing, Chapter 8, US TPB p.157 and the two of them spent time as evenly-matched sparring partners.Deadhouse Landing, Chapter 13, US TPB p.249 Having taken her leave of Dassem, Shear then intended to make her way to Quon Tali's central southern coast so as to return — by sea — to her people.Deadhouse Landing, Chapter 15, US TPB p.287 
==Ranked Non-Seguleh==
If an outsider defeated a ranked Seguleh in combat, they were granted rank among the Seguleh just as if they were a native. These foreign Seguleh were subject to the same rights of challenge as any other Seguleh and could rise or fall in the Seguleh rankings without limit.
* Anomander Rake, technically held the rank of Seguleh Seventh, which was passed to Dassem Ultor when he defeated Rake.
* Dassem Ultor, achieved the role of Seguleh FirstOrb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 20
* Iron Bars, technically held the rank Leal previously held
==Author comments==
Author Ian C. Esslemont says magic is not one of the Seguleh's (or the Moranth's) strengths, saying "its there, but they chose to pursue other tools and put their time and resources and intellect to other purposes." But he says, "it could be argued that there is some channeling of that magic into their supernatural, almost, abilities with their chosen weapon. You could argue that. That's why they are just so good. That's where they're putting all their energy." Seguleh martial ability could be enhanced by an unconscious channeling of their warren.Spoiler Chat: Orb Sceptre Throne with Ian C. Esslemont - A Critical Dragon - See 12:30
==Fan art gallery==
Day 6 - Seguleh Masks by SimiofDoom.PNG|Seguleh masks by SimiofDoom
Day 6 - Seguleh Masks by yoltonsart.PNG|Seguleh mask by YoltonsArt
==Notes and references==
 
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