Mordant
The Mordant is a Palleseen battery ship and sister-vessel of the Salient, armed with heavy siege engines sufficient to threaten any vessel in the harbour or the city of Alkhalend itself. Its anchored presence in the harbour forms part of the military occupation imposed on the city during the events of Days of Shattered Faith, operating alongside Palleseen soldiers in the palace, at the Usrani monastery, and at the gates of the Alkhand. - ch 40
The ship's arc across the novel is one of dramatic reversal: from an instrument of Palleseen siege pressure - the practical object of Alkhalend's fury during the Kakrops Jar removal operation - to a Cotto pirate prize seized in a single, violent action at the sea wall. Orhuhst secures the captured vessel and renames it the Jagged Hand That Feeds, after which the Mordant is pressed into service loading the jars. Its loss is subsequently logged in the diplomatic accounting of the garrison's collapse, treated alongside the burning of its sister ship as evidence of the Palleseen position's desperation. - ch 48, ch 50
The Object
Description
The Mordant is a Palleseen battery ship, a sister-vessel of the Salient, mounting heavy siege engines. Its armament and size make it capable of threatening any ship in the harbour or the city of Alkhalend from its anchorage. - ch 40
What It Does
The Mordant functions as a floating siege platform: its heavy guns impose a permanent military threat on the harbour and the adjacent city, reinforcing the Palleseen occupation in which soldiers occupy the palace, the Usrani monastery, and the Alkhand gates. - ch 40 During the Kakrops Jar removal operation the ship is repositioned to the sea wall to receive jars transferred by crane from an ogrodon on the wall above. - ch 48 After its capture the vessel is used to load the Kakrops jars for transport. - ch 48
Provenance
The Mordant belongs to the Palleseen naval contingent occupying Alkhalend. - ch 40 During the Jar removal operation it is overrun by Cotto pirates swarming up the sea wall's face in small boats, while Croskin's demons form a double firing line blocking the ogrodon's path above. - ch 48 Orhuhst secures the captured ship and renames it the Jagged Hand That Feeds, supervising the loading of the jars aboard. - ch 48 In the aftermath, Samellers reports the Mordant's loss to Outreach as part of the garrison's desperate straits, noting that coastal communications to Peor are unreliable due to pirate activity and forces are massing at Mantekor. - ch 50
History
Days of Shattered Faith
The Mordant is a Palleseen battery ship, sister-vessel of the Salient, whose heavy siege engines make it capable of threatening any ship in the harbour or the city of Alkhalend itself - ch 40. It is anchored in the harbour as part of the Palleseen military occupation that sees soldiers in the palace, at the Usrani monastery, and the Alkhand reachable only through Palleseen petition - ch 40. By the time Loret, Tally, and Caecelian's girl are retreating through the city toward the Sand Lanes, the Mordant's presence in the harbour is reported alongside the other news of occupation as an established and threatening fact - ch 40.
The ship's position shifts to the sea wall during the Kakrops Jar removal operation, where Flint leads a column of Peost Seraphi, regulars, an ogrodon with a howdah, wagons, and a crane toward the Mordant to transfer the jars - ch 48. The mood in Alkhalend at this moment is one of fury at the Palleseen, and the ship's presence at the sea wall is the practical object of that fury - ch 48. Cotto pirates swarm up the sea wall's face in small boats and overrun the Mordant while Croskin's demons form a double firing line blocking the ogrodon's path on the wall above - ch 48. Orhuhst secures the ogrodon and the captured Mordant, which is soon renamed the Jagged Hand That Feeds; Orhuhst then supervises the loading of the jars aboard the captured vessel - ch 48.
In the aftermath, the Mordant's loss is catalogued by Samellers in a report to Outreach describing the Palleseen garrison's desperate straits in Alkhalend: the Mordant lost, the Salient set ablaze, coastal communications to Peor unreliable due to pirate activity, and forces massing at Mantekor - ch 50. The ship thus passes from instrument of Palleseen siege pressure to Cotto prize in the space of a single operation, and its destruction or capture is treated in the diplomatic accounting of the garrison's collapse alongside the burning of its sister ship - ch 50.
Relationships
- Salient - Sister-vessel; both ships anchor the Palleseen battery presence in Alkhalend's harbour. The Salient is set ablaze while the Mordant is captured, and both losses are catalogued together in Samellers' report. - ch 40, ch 50
- Orhuhst - Secures the captured Mordant during the pirate assault, renames it the Jagged Hand That Feeds, and supervises the loading of the Kakrops jars aboard. - ch 48
- Croskin - His demons form a double firing line on the sea wall blocking the ogrodon's path while the Mordant is overrun below. - ch 48
- Flint - Leads the column of Peost Seraphi, regulars, the ogrodon, wagons, and crane toward the Mordant's position at the sea wall for the Jar transfer operation. - ch 48
- Samellers - Catalogues the Mordant's loss in the report to Outreach describing the garrison's collapse. - ch 50
Tags
- ship · #palleseen · #battery-ship · #warship · #naval