Soletaken

Soletaken [SOLE-take-en]Gardens of the Moon - Chatting with Steven Erikson, part 2 - Claudia Iovanovici - As pronounced by Steven Erikson at 44:35 were a lower order of shape-shifterGardens of the Moon, Glossary, UK MMPB p.709 than D'ivers. They sembled between a single humanoid form and a single other form. This was made possible by a ritual which involved the use of the blood of the creature into which the person veered. All Imass Bonecasters were Soletaken, and there were Soletaken among most races.
T'lan Imass, Soletaken, and D'ivers shared a mysterious bond of kinship.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 12, US HC p.331
== Nomenclature ==
It was common when Soletaken were being spoken of that the word "veer" was used when they were transforming into the creature, while "sembling" was used for the reverse, when they turned back into their original form.
==Appearance==
When a Soletaken was in the process of transforming, they appeared as an uncertain blurring and were strangely insubstantial. There was "a folding in of darkness itself" as the change completed.
== Scent ==
The "spice of shapeshifters"Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 4, UK MMPB p.174 was often noted in areas where either D'ivers or Soletaken have been in large numbers (sometimes long in the past),Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 12, UK MMPB p.523Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 14, UK MMPB p.582 where they have veered or sembled recently, in the vicinity of a recently veered/sembled individual,Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 14, UK MMPB p.592Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 19, UK MMPB p.778Memories of Ice, Chapter 5, UK MMPB - when Rake landsReaper's Gale, Chapter 23, UK MMPB p.1096-1097Toll the Hounds, Chapter 21, UK MMPB p.1106-1107 or preceding a transformation.Memories of Ice, Chapter 7 - when Kilava semblesMemories of Ice, Chapter 7 - when the T'lan Imass confronted Gethol It was, at least in one instance, a wood spice,Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 12, UK MMPB p.521-522 while elsewhere it was described as both sharp and sickly. It was also described as stale when the Soletaken were undead.
==Sickness==
Like a D'ivers, a Soletaken's fangs and claws spread a virulent infection that usually caused hallucinations, madness, and death. Those that survived their terrible wounds faced the possibility of recurring bouts of insanity several times a year for the rest of their lives.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 3, US HC p.98
== Selected Soletaken==
===Soletaken Eleint===
* Anomander Rake - took the form of a black dragon
* Envy 
* Korlat - took the form of a black dragon
* Menandore - took the form of a blindingly bright dragonMidnight Tides, Chapter 7, UK MMPB p.279
* Olar Ethil - took the form of a colossal undead dragon that was otherwise a twin to T'iamMemories of Ice, Chapter 19, US SFBC p.676 and was also known as the first SoletakenMemories of Ice, Dramatis Personae
* Orfantal - took the form of a black dragon, said to be second in size only to Rake
* Osserc - took the form of a gold and silver dragonMidnight Tides, Chapter 7, UK MMPB p.278
* Rud Elalle - took the form of a dragon with the appearance of an "unquenchable fire beneath its gilt scales"Dust of Dreams, Chapter 13, UK HB p.422
* Scabandari 
* Sheltatha Lore 
* Silchas Ruin - took the form of a bone-white dragon
* Spite - took the form of a rust red dragonThe Bonehunters, Prologue
* Sukul Ankhadu - took the form of a dappled dragon
Draconus and K'rul also took the form of Eleint, however, their shifting was due to their Azathanai nature.
===Others===
*Bauchelain - Took the form of a crow.
*Buke - Took the form of a sparrowhawk.
*Kilava Onass - Took the form of a black panther.
*Korbal Broach - Took the form of a crow.
*Messremb - Took the form of a bear.
*Moby - Took the form of a bhok'arala.
* Monok Ochem - Took the form of an enormous, gaunt and withered, silver-grey ape.House of Chains, Chapter 12, US SFBC p.468
* Pran Chole - Took the form of an Arctic fox.
* Silverfox - Born in a dream, including Tattersail, 2nd Army Mage.
*Trake - Took the form of a tiger.
== In Deadhouse Gates==
Soletaken and D'ivers sought the Path of Hands which promised Ascendancy to those shape-shifters who gained it. Many were killed in the convergence that followed, and others, misled by High House Shadow, were taken by the Azath House, Tremorlor. Due to the vast number of them moving through the Imperial Warren, the spice of shapeshifters was strong enough to be used by Kalam to determine their movements.
Felisin Paran, Heboric, and Kulp took shelter in a cave in Raraku that led to a buried and largely preserved city of the First Empire. The first room they entered contained the remains of a ritual gone awry, the bodies of the participants turned to stone where they fell. Heboric's enhanced sight revealed that the fallen had attempted the Path of the Soletaken.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 12, US HC p.323-331 The rest of the city's torturous streets and alleys were filled with the bodies of humans, Soletaken, and T'lan Imass from some cataclysmic battle.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 14, US HC p.371-373
==In Memories of Ice==
While recalling the ritual that created the First Heroes of the First Empire, Treach noted that it had unravelled unexpectedly and unpredictably. The strongest Soletaken were gripped by madness and splintered into pieces, birthing the D'ivers. The T'lan Imass attempted to exterminate those Soletaken and D'ivers created by the process.Memories of Ice, Chapter 7
As a result of coming into contact with the blood of a Hound of Shadow near Darujhistan, Ganoes Paran gained the ability to take the form of one of the Hounds. He was not a Soletaken in the full sense as his veerings seemed to happen uncontrollably.
==In Toll the Hounds==
Dillat's Dark and Light recorded how war had raged amongst the dragons once all the First Born (but one) had bowed their necks to K'rul. The children of the dragons, bereft of their inheritance, rose in battle to reject the First Born. Anomander Rake and Osseric had already tasted the blood of T'iam and others came to do the same. War raged upon all the Realms as long as the Gates of Starvald Demelain remained open. Under Osserick, Kurald Liosan was the first Realm to seal the portal between itself and the Realm of the dragons. He cleansed the world of all rivals--the Soletaken and the feral purebloods--and drove out the D'ivers. Crone found much fault in the book's account, so it was unclear how much of this report was accurate.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.52-54
==Soletaken Eleint==
According to Silchas Ruin, veering into the Eleint form opened him up to draconean bloodlust and hunger.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 2, US HC p.54 During a September 2019 discussion on his Facebook page, Steven Erikson noted a Soletaken's "Eleint blood brings with it that dragon's life: its memories, its relationships."Steven Erikson Facebook post 2 September 2019
Soletaken Eleint passed their blood to their offspring. If a parent had Eleint blood, so did their child.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 20, US HC p.598
==Trivia==
*According to author Steven Erikson, the word "soletaken" was invented for the Malazan world and refers both to "sole" in the sense of shape-shifting to a single form and to "soul" as a play on words.Gardens of the Moon: Chatting with Steven Erikson, Part 3 - See 35:00
*In an April 2022 interview, Erikson discussed the remains of disastrous First Empire ritual discovered by Heboric, Kulp, and Felisin in Deadhouse Gates. He confirmed that the mass transformation unleashed by the ritual was not one that many of the city's residents had willingly participated in.Deadhouse Gates: A Chat with Steven Erikson, Part 6 - Claudia Iovanovici - See 21:23
==Notes and reference==
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