Onyx Wizards

The Onyx Wizards were five pure-blooded Tiste Andii mages who formed the Onyx Order of Andara.^[1][2] Along with the High King of the Obsidian Throne, they had once been the traditional rulers of the Kingdom of Bluerose.^[1][3] After Bluerose's annexation by the Kingdom of Lether, the Onyx Wizards had been outlawed and forced into exile in Andara, a monastery well-hidden in a crevasse in the far northwestern region of the Bluerose Mountain Range.^[4]

Andara was the last secret refuge of their people and home to some five hundred Andii, virtually all of whom were the progeny of the Andii's intermingling with a diverse array of Lether's Human population.^[4][2] They worshipped Anomander Rake, who they called the Black-Winged Lord.^[4] Over time, the Onyx Wizards grew comfortable with exile suffocating the population's younger generations in stultifying traditions of antiquity.^[4]

During the Onyx Wizards' reign of Bluerose, they had had a reputation as distant and benign rulers, who were reluctant to interfere in daily activities and made few demands of the populace. It was a kingdom where both Andii and humans lived in peaceful coexistance.^[5][6] Since the exile, Letherii and then Tiste Edur rule had become increasingly invasive, causing seething resentment and resistance among their former subjects.^[6]

The five Onyx Wizards were eternally at odds with each other, each sometimes seeming to purposefully confound the others.^[7][8] [Clip]] wondered whether their individual titles (Rock, Root, etc) influenced their personalities or vice versa.^[8]

The Onyx Wizards wore magnificent cloaks of supple, liquid stone.^[1]

The Onyx Order

• Draxos Hulch - Reve Master of the Dark Water
• Gestallin Aros - Reve Master of the Air
• Ordant Brid - Reve Master of the Rock
• Penith Vinandas - Reve Mistress of the Root
• Rin Varalath - Reve Master of the Night

History

The Onyx Order originated from the time Silchas Ruin and Scabandari Bloodeye invaded the Malazan world with an alliance of Tiste Andii and Tiste Edur. After defeating an army of K'Chain Che'Malle, Bloodeye turned on Ruin and his Andii, and ordered them slain. But his slaughter was not as complete as he had thought. The Tiste Andii wounded, stragglers, and elders and mothers and children fled the massacre. They were guided to safety in the caves below the Bluerose Mountains by four barely grown sorcerers who would become the founders of the Onyx Order.^[1] Shortly afterwards, Anomander Rake had lived among them for a time.^[4]

The High King of Bluerose and the Council of the Onyx Wizards ruled Bluerose until they were invaded by the Kingdom of Lether.^[1] The Onyx Wizards had been no match for the Mage cadres of the Letherii Ceda^[9] and had been forced to retreat into exile (with the remaining Bluerose Tiste Andii population) to Andara.^[4]

In Reaper's Gale

Ordant Brid became aware that Silchas Ruin, the brother of the Onyx Order's god, was entering Bluerose territory. Knowing the other Wizards would stop him if they learned of it, he secretly assigned the young Tiste Andii, Clip, to greet Ruin and guide his party of 'The Hunted' (i.e., Seren Pedac, Fear Sengar, Kettle, Udinaas, and Wither) back to the hidden Andii refuge via the Elder Warren of Kurald Galain.^[10]

Once at Andara, Ruin engaged in a fractious consultation with the five Onyx Wizards over his quest to find Scabandari Bloodeye's soul. The wizards argued over preserving the balance they had recently won and whether Ruin would destroy it. They eventually reached a rare consensus and Brid offered up Clip as a guide once more, this time identifying him as Anomander Rake's Mortal Sword. Brid also noted that Menandore had recently visited Andara and Draxos Hulch warned Ruin she meant to oppose him. The Onyx Order themselves could not directly assist as their talents were needed to redirect a fast-moving glacier and its meltwater bearing down on their refuge as a result of the dissolution of Gothos' aging ritual.^[11][12]

While investigating the disappearance of one of his illicit weapons shipments in the Bluerose Mountains, Factor Letur Anict convinced Orbyn Truthfinder to lead his soldiers to Andara to search for Fear Sengar and dispatch the Onyx Wizards. The Factor's twenty soldiers, along with Orbyn's mages, killed everyone in the monastery within four hours without losing any of their own. One of the Patriotist mages reported to Orbyn that they had killed the half-dozen tottering priests as they prayed for aid before an altar of the Black-Winged Lord. The mage was startled to learn that the altar was truly sanctified to the Hold of Darkness. He also expressed his uneasiness that the Andii seemed to have put aside their feud with the Tiste Edur to work with Fear Sengar.^[13]

Notes and references