Location from Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson
Letherii city on the empire's edge — a place where the machinery of debt-conquest ground against peoples who refused to be bought.
Drene represents the Letherii empire's edges — where the debt-machine met resistance and resorted to the military force it claimed to have transcended. The city served as a staging ground for expansion into territories whose peoples had no concept of Letherii economics and therefore couldn't be conquered by ledger. Like all Letherii cities, Drene's wealth was built on the suffering of its lower classes and the subjugation of its neighbors, but its frontier position gave it a rougher character than the capital.
A mid-sized Letherii city of typical pale stone construction, positioned near the frontier. Markets bustle with trade that is half commerce and half economic warfare against neighboring peoples. Garrison walls show recent reinforcement.
Also known as: Drene