Tower (Taldain)
| Tower (Taldain) | |
|---|---|
| Nation | Lossand |
| World | Taldain |
| Universe | Cosmere |
The Tower is the seat of power of the military forces of Lossand on the Dayside of Taldain.[1] The Tower is a physical location, and the term is also used as a name for the Profession that is headquartered there.
Location
The Tower is presumably located in or near the Lossandin capital of Kezare. Khrissalla visits the headquarters of all of the Professions, including the Tower, when she is staying in the city.[2] The architecture of the Tower is not known, but it includes barracks.[2]
History
The soldiers of Lossand make up one of the eight Professions officially represented in the Taishin, the council of guilds; their Taisha is known as the Lord General.[2] Raagent, the current Lord General, resides in the Tower.[2] The Tower makes up the physical defense force of Lossand; notably, it does not have authority over the trackts, who report to Lady Judge Heelis.[3]
Historically, the Tower and the sand masters of the Diem presumably worked together to defend against external forces such as the Kerztians, but there has been peace for two hundred years[3] and each Profession now generally regards the other with contempt.[4][1] The Lossandin government spends a significant amount of tax revenue on the Tower, even more than they spend on the Diem.[2] In recent years, the Taishin have increasingly come to believe that the Tower affords the nation all the protection that they need, and that the cost and arrogance of the Diem are not worth the trouble.[5]
Despite the rift between Professions, Kenton spent many hours training with soldiers of the Tower in his youth,[4][3] seeking to gain any edge that he could in battles[1] due to his weak powers of sand mastery.[4] The training has given him excellent instincts and reflexes, serving him well in a number of situations, including his run of the Mastrell's Path.[4] The Tower's soldiers taught him that pushing his muscles past their limits would result in them becoming stronger, a principle that Kenton later relates to increasing one's power of sand mastery by overmastering.[6]
After the Taishin vote to dissolve the Diem, Raagent proves to be power-hungry, offering to pay sand masters to join the Tower rather than allow them to shift allegiances to another country such as Seevis.[1] When Kenton points out his hypocrisy, Raagent is insulted, but ultimately cuts a deal with Kenton to help save the Diem after seeing him single-handedly behead a massive sandling.[1]