Stormriders

Stormriders, or Riders, were a race of beings which lived in the deep ocean trench of the Ocean of Storms between Quon Tali and Korel.Stonewielder, Glossary They were isolationist and disliked foreigners and were known to attack ships crossing through their territory. For over four thousand years they lived in a constant state of war with the residents of Korel who had built the enormous Stormwall along the shore to protect themselves from Stormrider attack.
Fair skinned, with pale hair resembling the Tiste Andii,Stonewielder, Chapter 12, UK TPB p.618 they wore what appeared to be armour, which gleamed with sapphire and rainbow opalescence.Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 1, Chapter 2 It shone like frost and they carried jagged-edged lances.Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 1, Chapter 2, UK PB p.87 They could ride waves, which would curl into horse-like shapes beneath them.Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 1, Chapter 2
Their power was of sea and ice and seemed to be connected to Omtose Phellack, however Ieleen, the blind Falaran Sea Witch and pilot of the Silver Dawn, explained that, like the Crippled God, the Stormriders were from another realm. Their sorcerers were called Wandwielders by the Stormguard.Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 1, Chapter 2
They often fought with lances and shields or swords so cold they burned to the touch.Stonewielder, Chapter 8, UK TPB p.443
Both their origin and aims were shrouded in mystery, as they were generally feared and viewed as antagonists.
Stormriders were capable of speaking Korelan, which they learned from eavesdropping on sailors and those who guarded the Stormwall.Stonewielder, Chapter 1, UK TPB p.69
==In The Bonehunters==
Before Bottle joined the Malazan Military, he sold dolls to sailors in Jakata that were used as propitiations to appease the Stormriders. Fiddler thought such gifts had not worked in years. But Bottle said the strange beings seemed to like the dolls and they sometimes worked, which was more often than most types of propitiations.The Bonehunters, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.143
Bottle, Koryk, Cuttle, and Smiles gossiped over Captain Faradan Sort's reputed history serving on the Stormwall against the "demonic warriors" of the Stormriders. Smiles thought them old fishers' tales, but Cuttle claimed to have seen them himself when plying their waters. He described how the sailors of his ship had slit the throats of six goats to paint the water with their blood and appease the Stormriders. The rite had failed until they had thrown the cabin boy over the side of the ship as well.The Bonehunters, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.204
==In Reaper's Gale==
Beak recalled that the Jakata people had been the first to settle Malaz Island after the Stormriders retreated.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 22, US HC p.672
==In Dust of Dreams==
Ruthan Gudd's appearance seemed to change into that of a Stormrider as he charged the K'Chain Nah'ruk.Dust of Dreams, Chapter 23, UK HB p.837/838 At the time, his thoughts were that, "This Stormrider crap had better work. But gods below, it does hurt to wear."Dust of Dreams, Chapter 23, UK HB p.839
== In The Crippled God ==
Faradan Sort had forsaken the wall presumably due to an understanding between her and the Stormriders when she was herself a Stormguard. 
Both she and Ruthan Gudd were present with the Adjunct's army due to the fact that the Stormriders wanted them there. Ruthan was invested with Stormrider sorcery which he could use, while Faradan seemed to know of their purpose. She said they 'are driven'.The Crippled God, Chapter 24
==In Night of Knives==
The Stormriders attempted to take advantage of the Shadow Moon to advance against Malaz City with unknown intentions. On their way to the island, they crossed the path of the Rheni's Dream, whose crew was killed by the cold. The ship became encased in ice.Night of Knives, Prologue, US TPB p.1-5 The Stormriders were delayed in the harbour by local mage, the Fisherman, until they killed him using an iceberg containing the frozen Rheni's Dream.Night of Knives, Chapter 4, US TPB p.146
After the fisherman's failure, Agayla and Obo managed to hold back the Stormriders until Tayschrenn arrived. Tayschrenn observed the magical work of the Wandwielders through his Thyr warren, and he was startled to see that "It appeared like a curtain of energy, a replica of the shimmering light that sometimes played above the northern night sky ... it cut a dividing line that ... did not end at the water but plunged downwards through it ... [to] continue unbroken, down through the depths of the cut into unplumbed crevasses, where he glimpsed a glowing heart of otherworldly ice."Night of Knives, Chapter 5, US MMPB p.232 With Tayschrenn's assistance the mages were able to successfully hold back the Stormriders from the island.
After their failure, one Stormrider was found dying on a beach by local residents. When approached, the Stormrider asked, "Why are you killing us?"Night of Knives, Epilogue, US TPB p.282
 
==In Return of the Crimson Guard==
Stormriders were seen by the members of the Crimson Guard on board the Kestral as they were making their way from Bael to Stratem. Greymane commented that one of the riders appeared to salute Kyle.Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 1, Chapter 2 Kyle proposed that, rather than him, they might have been saluting Greymane upon which the latter replied, "No. I told them to cut that out long ago".Return of the Crimson Guard, Book 1, Chapter 2, UK PB p.88
The Stormriders had greatly impacted Greymane's fate when they had slain Greymane's fisherman father when they both lived on Geni. The experience led Greymane to forswear the sea and join the Malazan Military.
==In Stonewielder==
Over four thousand years before the events of the Malazan Book of the Fallen, the Stormriders battled Temal and his war band who were newly arrived on the shores of Korel. The outmatched outlanders were forced to make alliance with the powerful and mysterious Lady, who directed them to build a great wall along the coast in return for her protection.Stonewielder, Prologue This wall would eventually come to be called the Stormwall and was protected against constant Stormrider attacks by the Stormguard, conscripts, prisoners, and slaves. The Stormriders were seen as the great enemy of the subcontinent's residents and any attempt to treat with them was considered an act of treason.Stonewielder, Chapter 3, US HC p.167
It was revealed that Greymane's original failure on Korel occurred when the Fist decided to try talking to the Stormriders. He had waited at the edge of the Ocean of Storms until several had approached him. Then he learned that the Stormriders viewed themselves as the injured party, claiming the peoples of Korel were denying them access to their own territory and preventing them from their ancient obligation. As a gift for allowing them to speak, they presented Greymane with an ancient stone blade they had found at the bottom of the Cut. When his actions were discovered, Malazan Governor Hemel 'Et Kelal and several minor officers court-martialed him.Stonewielder, Chapter 1, US HC p.69-70 
Greymane later returned to Korel as head of the Malazan Expeditionary Force, and used the stone sword to destroy the Stormwall by plunging the sword into the Earth close to the wall's foundation.Stonewielder, Book 3 Chapter 12, US TPB p.576-578 The Stormriders rode the waves that flooded the island and swept into the interior of the continent where their presence had previously been forbidden.Stonewielder, Chapter 12
The Stormriders carried Greymane's body to the depths of The Hole where they left him lying in state holding his sword beneath the waters.Stonewielder, Chapter 12Stonewielder, Epilogue
== Speculations ==
Edgewalker, noting the presence of a glacier within the Shadow Realm, seemed to suggest the Jaghut, in some magical ritual that got out of control, brought the glacier and perhaps also the Stormriders to the Malazan world. Edgewalker said the glacier was the "true danger", calling it something "alien to this realm." It reminded him "of the Jaghut, but profoundly alien from them. They, at least, were not so different from you. It is said that long ago the Jaghut inadvertently allowed it into this world when they wrought their ice-magic too strongly."Night of Knives, Chapter 5
== Author's comments ==
In answer to a reader's question, about the origins of the Stormriders (and Ruthan Gudd), Steven Erikson explained that "backstory in this instance is like a giant vault full of gold, but I'll be holding onto the key for a while longer. Sorry."Steven Erikson Answers Your Dust of Dreams Questions!
==Notes and references==
Category:Races
de:Sturmreiter
es:Jinetes de la Tormenta‎
it:Cavalieri della Tempesta