Malazan Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Malazan Wiki

Shurq Elalle: "You get wiser with every body part you lose, Pretty."
Skorgen Kaban: "Gotta be some kind of upside."
―Shurq Elalle and Skorgen the Pretty[src]

Skorgen Kaban, also known as "Skorgen the Pretty", was Shurq Elalle's First Mate on the Undying Gratitude.[1] He had one good eye, one working ear, blackened teeth, a prodigious gut, and all that remained of his once large, hawkish nose were gaping nostrils and sensitive scar tissue.[2][3] Additionally he had arm and leg injuries such that he referred to his limbs in terms of his good arm or his bad leg.[4] His bad arm was only a stump,[5] while his bad leg caused him to limp.[6]

His nostrils had a tendency to weep, so he often feigned scratches to check on them. This was just one of his many "subtle" gestures that did not go unnoticed by his crew mates.[7] The mass of injuries left him in constant pain and caused him to move awkwardly, although he was quick when required.[8] Skorgen and his misfortune were notorious enough that there was a trade in relics reputed to be his missing eye. The surest way to prove them fake was to compare their colour to his remaining eye as the colours of his eyes had been mismatched.[9]

Skorgen was a religious man, praying to the many Sea spirits who could potentially endanger his travel. He engaged in acts of propitiation and complicated warding gestures to keep himself and his ship safe. He also gave credence to the Fent prophecy that the sea spirits would one day rise, lifting the seas to claim the sky and drown the entire world.[10]

He possessed a wealth of esoteric knowledge regarding the culture of the Tiste Edur.[4] When anxious, steered his vessel back and forth almost as if the ship was pacing.[11] He used his fingers to clear his mangled, rose-red ear of wax, then sucked them clean afterward.[12]

In Reaper's Gale[]

After twenty months at sea, the Undying Gratitude was becalmed west of the Draconean Isles when they came across a battered and abandoned Tiste Edur vessel.[13][14] They boarded in search of loot, finding signs of a battle and the lone corpse of an Edur, who seemed to have been tortured. All of the ship's logs and charts were missing, but its hold was still filled with cargo--amphorae decorated with the image of a crucified man and filled with blood. Skorgen identified the blood as used by the Edur in their sacred rites. Without realising they had stumbled on the work of the Bonehunters, Shurq concluded that the attackers had only sought information. Uneasy at the idea of being discovered by the nearby Edur fleet and blamed for the carnage, Shurq took on the ship's cargo, set the ship ablaze, and made haste toward Letheras to sell off their booty and load up on crew.[14]

As they neared the mouth of the Lether River an Imperial fleet of Edur and Letherii ships appeared from the south-west at a converging angle. Shurq decided to change her course, heading in the direction of Fent Reach to avoid possibly losing her cargo to the Edur. No ship followed. When they reached Second Maiden Fort, they found the former prison isle besieged by an onrushing mass of ice and just made it into the safety of the harbour ahead of it. Shurq noted a strange foreign vessel also in port while port inspectors Brevity and Pithy took their anchoring fees. Brevity quibbled with Skorgen over the authenticity of a jar she owned that she claimed contained his missing eye.[15]

While trapped on the island, Skorgen and Shurq frequented the Harridict Tavern. There they observed some of the foreigners that had taken up residence on the isle.[16] Skorgen and Shurq resorted to subterfuge to win an audience with Shake Brullyg, the island's ostensible ruler and an old acquaintance of Shurq's. They found him kept under secret house arrest by Sergeant Balm's squad, an advance team of the Bonehunters who were in the process of invading the Letherii Empire. Now Skorgen and Shurq were prisoners too.[17]

Adjunct Tavore Paran recruited Shurq and her ship to guide her fleet to the mouth of the Lether River. Shurq was well paid in gold, but was kept aboard the Adjunct's flagship, the Froth Wolf, while Skorgen helmed the Undying Gratitude.[18] Once the Bonehunters had defeated the Imperial Brigade outside the walls of Letheras, Shurq regained control of her ship.[19]

In Dust of Dreams[]

(Information needed)

In The Crippled God[]

(Information needed)

Quotes[]

Brevity: "You wouldn't be Skorgen Kaban the Pretty, would you?"
Skorgen: "Aye, that's me."
Brevity: "I happen to have your lost eye, Skorgen. In a jar."
Skorgen: "You and about fifty other people."
Brevity: "What? But I paid good money for that! How many people lose an eye sneezing? By the Errant, you're famous!"
Skorgen: "Sneeze is it? That's what you heard? And you believed it?"
―Brevity and Skorgen Kaban[src]

Notes and references[]

Advertisement