The T'lan Imass

 

 

"Life is fire... With such words was born the First Empire. The Empire of Imass, the Empire of Humanity."

- Onos T'oolan

GotM, US HC, p.239

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Summary

 

The T'lan Imass are a race of undead humanoids and one of the four founding races. Known to some as the Silent Host, the T'lan Imass are the remnant of a large number of Imass who achieved immortality through the Ritual of Tellann approximately 300 000 years prior to the main events of the Book of the Fallen. The T'lan Imass have been seen on many continents but they no longer use structures or cultivate resources as they did as Imass, so the only signs of their civilization are sites dedicated to their fallen.

 

The immortality wrought by the Ritual of Tellann has prevented any aging among the T'lan Imass, but 300 000 years have resulted in damage and decay to most of them. T'lan Imass that are relatively hale can disintegrate into dust and travel with the aid of their Tellann warren, allowing them to cover vast distances and remain hidden.

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Physical Characteristics

 

The Imass are the forebearers of humanity. In their prime, they had smooth gold skin and amber eyes, with high cheeks and pronounced brows. Though they look to be undead, that is a misconception, they have simply been preserved through the Ritual of Tellann. The T'lan Imass have outlived their gods.

 

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Culture

 

T'lan Imass culture is the product of their Imass culture from before the Ritual of Tellann and their ongoing war with the Jaghut.

 

The Imass developed tools of flint and had a connection with nature through their Bonecasters, their magic users. They wear clothes of fur, though post-Ritual they are tattered. Likewise, their weapons look weak and primitive, but they can cut through the finest armor.

 

 

 

Organization 

 

The T'lan Imass are divided into several armies with each army taking the name of its leader. Within each army are many clans which denote bonds of family and kinship. Each clan has a leader, but the clans have names independent from the leader.

 

T'lan Imass Armies:

 

Logros 

The Logros was tasked with remaining at the site of the First Empire and guarding the First Throne against any threats. Shortly before the founding of the Malazan Empire, the catatonic Logros were awakened by Kellanved when he located and took control of the First Throne. They served the Malazan Empire until shortly after the Emperor's death whereupon they traveled into the Jhag Odhan to hunt newly discovered Jaghut. Following that Jaghut War, they have began hunting the Seven of the Dead Fires who were traveling across Seven Cities and through the Nascent.

 

The Logros T'lan Imass is also the army to whom belong the First Sword, Onos T'oolan and the First among the Bonecasters, Olar Ethil.

 

Known Clans of Logros:

- Tarad (Onos T'oolan and Kilava Onas' clan, of whom the rest were killed by Kilava just before the Ritual)

- L'echae Shayn (of whom Legana Breed is the last)

 

Kron 

The Kron T'lan Imass were the only army to attend the Second Gathering en masse. At the behest of Silverfox, they opposed the undead K'Chain Che'malle in the Pannion War. Following the Battle of Black Coral, they undertook to travel to Assail to liberate the Ifayle trapped upon the continent.

 

Known Clans of Kron:

- Nashar (Kron's own)

- Bek'athana Ilk

 

Bentract 

It is believed by Olar Ethil that only four clans remain among the Bentract are trapped within the Warren of Chaos upon Jacuruku.

 

Kerluhm 

Roughly eight months prior to the Second Gathering, the Kerluhm entered into a war against human opposition on the continent of Assail. The army has since been annihilated and it is believed that Lanas Tog, sent by Kerluhm to the Second Gathering, is the last of them.

 

Ifayle 

The Ifayle joined the Kerluhm in the war on Assail and, as of the Second Gathering, there are a small number of them unable to withdraw from the engagement.

 

Orshan 

There is no known information of the whereabouts and/or condition of the Orshan army.

 

 

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The Jaghut Wars and the Ritual of Tellann

 

The Imass were intially enslaved by the Jaghut Tyrants. This forged within them a grudge and loathing against the Jaghut. After the Tyrant was entombed, the Imass rose to power and warred with the Jaghut, a conflict that would have dire consequences on the fate of their race.

 

They were ruthless in their hunting of the Jaghut, and would follow them to the edges of existence. There were many different wars against the Jaghut, usually distinguished by numbers, i.e. 'The 33rd Jaghut War'. However, all of these conflicts fall into the category of one macrowar against the Jaghut. It is their quest, a crusade to eliminate the Jaghut.

 

The Ritual of Tellann was enacted as a tool in their holy war. Of this ritual, this was said:

 

'The last Gathering...was hundreds of thousands of years ago, at which was invoked the Ritual of Tellann – the binding of the Tellann warren to each and every Imass. The ritual made them immortal...The life force of an entire people was bound in the name of a holy war destined to last for millennia...Logros and the clans under his command were entrusted with the task of defending the First Throne. The other armies departed to hunt down the last Jaghut strongholds – the Jaghut had raised barriers of ice. Omtose Phellack is a warren of ice...a place deathly cold and almost lifeless. Jaghut sorceries threatened the world . . . sea levels dropped, whole species died out – every mountain range was a barrier. Ice flowed in white rivers down from the slopes. Ice formed a league deep in places. As mortals, the Imass were scattered, their unity lost. They could not cross such barriers. There was starvation...As Tellann undead, our armies could cross such barriers. The efforts at eradication proved . . . costly. You (Dujek Onearm) have heard no whispers of those armies because many have been decimated, whilst others perhaps continue the war in distant, inhospitable places.’ 

-Silverfox

MoI, UK Trade, p.88-9

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Senses:

 

Regarding the state of the Imass senses under the Ritual of Tellann, this is said:

"Of course, the word 'smell' had acquired new meaning for the T'lan Imass in the wake of the Ritual. Mundane senses had for the most part withered along with the flesh. Through the shadowed orbits of his (Onrack's) eyes, for example, the world was a complex collage of dull colours, heat and cold and often measured by an unerring sensitivity to motion. Spoken words swirled in mercurial clouds of breath - if the speaker lived, that is. If not, then it was the sound itself that was detectable, shivering its way through the air. Onrack sensed sound as much by sight as by hearing."

HoC, UK MMPB, p.324

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Quotes and Reference

Appearance: brown skin, dried flesh, high cheeks, pronounced brow and chinless jaw (GotM, UK Trade, p.202) ,in life, Pran Chole has "smooth, gold skin" with eyes "a startling amber in color."

Famous Members: Onos T'oolan, Olar Ethil

Members we have met: Onos T'oolan, Olar Ethil, Onrack the Broken, Pran Chole

 

 

T'lan Imass: ancient undead army commanded by the Emperor

NoK, UK mmpb, Glossary

 

T’lan Imass: one of the Four Founding Races, now immortal

GotM, Glossary

 

'Among the Malazan Empire, the T’lan Imass were also known as the Silent Host.'

GotM, UK Trade, p.234

 

'T’lan Imass, who travelled as easily as dust on the wind'

GotM, UK Trade, p.46

 

'The skin that stretched across the squat man’s robust bones was a shiny

nut brown in colour, the texture of leather. Whatever flesh it had once

covered had contracted to thin strips the consistency of oak roots – such

muscles showed through torn patches here and there. The creature’s face,

what Toc could see of it, bore a heavy chinless jawbone, high cheeks and

a pronounced brow ridge. The eye sockets were dark holes.'

GotM, UK Trade, p.202

 

'The mud was transmogrifying, coalescing into the shapes of figures. Flint blades appeared, some grey, some the deep red of chalcedony. Bedraggled fur slowly sprouted, riding broad, bony shoulders. Bone helmets gleamed polished gold and brown - the skulls of beasts that Felisin could not imagine existing anywhere. Long ropes of filthy hair were now visible, mostly black or brown. The mud did not so much fall away as change. These creatures were one with the clay...All wore furs except one, who was smaller than the others and last to appear. It was bedecked in the oily, ragged feathers of colourful birds, and its long hair was iron grey streaked with red. Shell, antler and bone jewellery hung from its rotting hide shirt, but it appeared to carry no weapons.'

DG, UK MMPB, p.375

 

'Their faces were withered, the bones underneath close to the surface and robust. The sockets of their eyes were black pits. The wiry remnants of beards remained, except on the silver-haired one...'

DG, UK MMPB, p.375

 

'The fur humped over its shoulders came from some kind of bear, the hairs were silver-tipped.'

DG, UK MMPB, p.375

 

'We can cross bodies of water...But we can only find our shapes on land'

DG, UK MMPB, p.377

 

'The Warrens of the Imass are similar to those of the Jaghut and the Forkrul Assail – Elder-, blood- and earthbound –'

GotM, UK Trade, p.204

 

'Of course, the word 'smell' had acquired new meaning for the T'lan Imass in the wake of the Ritual. Mundane senses had for the most part withered along with the flesh. Through the shadowed orbits of his (Onrack's) eyes, for example, the world was a complex collage of dull colours, heat and cold and often measured by an unerring sensitivity to motion. Spoken words swirled in mercurial clouds of breath - if the speaker lived, that is. If not, then it was the sound itself that was detectable, shivering its way through the air. Onrack sensed sound as much by sight as by hearing.'

HoC, UK MMPB, p.324

 

'Hentos Ilm tilted her head back, then began dissolving, the dust of her being spinning in place. A moment later it spiralled upward...'

DG, UK MMPB, p.378

 

Clans and Armies of the T'lan Imass

 

'‘The four remaining clans of Bentract T’lan Imass are on Jacuruku, I believe, yet trapped within the Warren of Chaos. I searched there, Summoner, without success. [...] Of the Orshan, the Ifayle and Kerluhm, I report my failure in discovering any sign. It follows that we must conclude they no longer exist."

- Olar Ethil

MoI, UK Trade, p.596

 

" 'Kron, the clan of Bek'athan Ilk who dwelt in the Cliffs Above the Angry Sea. Forty-three hunters and a Bonecaster. They found me.' [...] 'I killed them all' "

-Gothos

TtH, UK tpb, p. 284

 

 

 

T'lan Imass and Soletaken

'There is a bond between the T'lan Imass and Soletaken and D'ivers, a mysterious kinship that was unsuspected by the dwellers of this city - though they claimed for themselves the proud title of First Empire. That would have irritated the T'lan Imass - assuming such creatures can feel irritation - to have so boldly assumed a title that rightly belonged to them. Yet what drew them here was the ritual, and the need to set things right.'

-Heboric

DG, UK MMPB, p.517

 

 

T'lan Imass Customs and Rituals 

 

'Failure'

'Too shattered to remain with their kin, they had been left behind, as was the custom of their kind. Failure's sentence was abandonment, an eternity of immobility. When failure was honourable, their sentient remnants would be placed open to the sky, to vistas, to the outside world, so that they might find peace in watching the passing of eons. But for these seven, failure had not been honourable. Thus, the darkness of a tomb had been their sentence.'

HoC, UK MMPB, p.36

 

Ritual of Binding

'Their kin had marked this place of internment, with carved faces, each a likeness, mocking the vista with blank, blind eyes. They had spoken their names to close the ritual of binding, names that lingered in this place with a power sufficient to twist the minds of the shamans of the people who had found refuge in these mountains...'

HoC, UK MMPB, p.37

 

 

T'lan Imass and Warrens

 

 '...Kurald Emurlahn, fragmented or otherwise, was not amenable to the T'lan Imass. Without a Bonecaster beside him, Onrack could not extend his Tellann powers, could not reach out to his kin...'

HoC, UK MMPB, p.322

 

 

T'lan Imass 'Dissolution'

 

'The roiling waters...offered true oblivion. Dissolution was the only escape possible from this eternal ritual...Onrack knew of kin who had chosen that path.'

HoC, UK MMPB, p.322

 

 

The Clanless among the T'lan Imass

 

'With his (Onrack's) link, born of the Ritual, now severed, he could only communicate with these T’lan Imass by speaking out loud.'

HoC, UK Trade, p.330

 

Return to Non-Human Sentients

See also Imass First Empire