Empress Laseen

Character from Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson

Former Claw who assassinated Emperor Kellanved to seize the Malazan throne — a cold, calculating ruler whose paranoia is slowly dismantling the empire she murdered to possess.

Laseen took the Malazan throne by killing her emperor and his partner — or so she believes. The irony that Kellanved engineered his own assassination to ascend is a joke the universe is playing on her at civilizational scale. She purged the Old Guard, demoted Whiskeyjack, alienated Dujek, and systematically dismantled the loyalty structures that held the Empire together, all in the name of security. She is not stupid — she is brilliant, in fact — but her brilliance is corroded by the paranoia that every usurper carries like a disease.

Appearance

Unremarkable in appearance — medium height, dark hair, the kind of face that served her well as an assassin because no one remembered it. Her eyes are the only notable feature: flat, measuring, the gaze of someone who sees threats in every direction and trusts no one.

Also known as: Laseen, Empress Laseen, Surly

What They Know

• Personally trained as a Claw and knows the organization's every safe house, poison cache, and communication dead-drop across the empire
• Aware that Shadowthrone and Cotillion are the Ascended forms of Kellanved and Dancer — the emperor and assassin she murdered — and that they are working to undermine her
• Knows the location of Kellanved's hidden vaults beneath the Deadhouse in Malaz City, containing artifacts from his travels through the Azath
• Controls the Orb of Sessomon, which allows limited scrying of warren activity across Quon Tali — her private intelligence advantage over the High Mages
• Understands that the Wickan and Seven Cities populations are on the verge of open rebellion and has been positioning loyal Fists to contain it — too few and too late

Connections

• slew — kellanved
• rival_of — shadowthrone
• rival_of — cotillion
• betrayed — whiskeyjack
• commands — malazan_empire
• rival_of — kalam
• betrayed — kalam
• betrayed — ganoes
• commands — tavore
• rival_of — tavore
• rival_of — karsa
• betrayed — cotillion
• betrayed — shadowthrone
• commands — dujek
• rival_of — dujek
• commands — coltaine
• commands — tayschrenn
• commands — pearl

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