Coup of Urteau
Coup of Urteau | |
---|---|
Part of the Skaa rebellion | |
Era | New Empire |
Participants | Quellion, Spook, Sazed, Breeze |
City | Urteau |
Dominance | Northern Dominance |
World | Scadrial |
Universe | Cosmere |
The Coup of Urteau was one of the major events on Scadrial, in the city of Urteau between the end of the Final Empire and Sazed's ascension.
Quellion rules in Urteau since Straff Venture left to besiege Luthadel. Spook, Sazed and Breeze try to reason with Quellion, but decide to take him down instead. They attempt to incite a revolution, but discover that they have been playing into the hands of Ruin, who has been subtly influencing both Spook and Quellion via Hemalurgic Spikes. A fire breaks out, threatening to destroy the town, but Spook removes the spikes and floods the Canals, saving the city.[1]
Previous History
Urteau is the historical home of House Venture, and the capital city of the Northern Dominance of the Final empire.[2][3] It was the location of one of the Lord Ruler's storage caverns.[4] The city used to have canals crossing the city until, unbeknownst to most of the city's residents, the Lord Ruler had the water drained into an underground lake in the storage cavern.[5] Most of the former canals were left unfilled and the city's residents began calling them "streetslots" and using them in the place of ordinary streets and sidewalks, with ladders and even a few ramps or stairs in place for people to climb in and out of them.[4] In wealthier parts of the city, however, the canals were filled in and paved with cobblestones.[6]
Lead up
In the years after the Collapse, Straff Venture retreated to Urteau to regroup before he went to besiege Luthadel. While he is gone, Quellion, an unstable Skaa, spiked himself, making him a seeker.[7][8] He than saw Ruin, as Kelsier, who influenced him in his actions.[1] He went out in the mists, and claimed that anyone who was a true follower of Kelsier would be spared by the mist. He killed anyone was affected by the mistsickness. He also killed all of the nobles except his sister, even though they were not affected by the mists. He then took control of the city, and became the Citizen-the leader of Urteau. He set up his own government, and renounced Kelsier's crew as impostors.[5]
Importance of Urteau
Urteau is of rather large importance as it used to be situated upon the canals, which means that the family Venture, who had ownership of the city, had control over every shipment of merchandise that needed to get to other cities (particularly, Luthadel). Since ships are one of the only ways to transport heavy merchandise at a reasonable speed, through taxes and other fees, the city has quickly risen to become one of the most important ones in the area.[citation needed] However, during the time of Quellion's rule, the canals are dried and used as roads, as places for merchants and beggars, and as a location for homeless skaa to spend the night.[6]
Even more importantly, Urteau is the location of one of the Lord Ruler's storage caches. It contains not only food, resources and equipment, but also information about electrum, one of the previously undiscovered metals.[9] The information left there also discusses the upcoming danger that Ruin represented.[citation needed] It is later discovered that the Lord Ruler redirected the canal's water to the city's storage cavern. This causes the canal to dry out but ensures a fresh water supply for the cavern.[citation needed]
These are reasons why Elend sent Spook to the city of Urteau to gauge the political climate.
Political climate of Urteau
With the collapse of the Final Empire, the people of Urteau followed the rebellion along with many cities. A skaa named Quellion takes the power of the city, and gives himself the title The Citizen.
Notes
History of Scadrial | ||
---|---|---|
Battle of Luthadel | Coup of Urteau | Siege of Fadrex City |
- ↑ a b The Hero of Ages chapter 58#
- ↑ The Well of Ascension chapter 3#
- ↑ Map of Urteau
- ↑ a b The Hero of Ages chapter 14#
- ↑ a b The Hero of Ages chapter 29#
- ↑ a b The Hero of Ages chapter 16#
- ↑ The Hero of Ages chapter 70#
- ↑ The Hero of Ages Annotations
— Arcanum - 2010-02-04# - ↑ The Hero of Ages chapter 5#