Vetitan
| Vetitan | |
|---|---|
| Ruled by | Fatren |
| Dominance | Southern Dominance |
| Nation | Final Empire |
| World | Scadrial |
| Universe | Cosmere |
Vetitan is a small town in the Southern Dominance of Scadrial.[1] It is the location of one of the Lord Ruler's storage caverns.[2]
Geography[edit]
Vetitan lies in the Southern Dominance of the Final Empire, reasonably close to Garthwood.[1] It is not far from the Central Dominance.[3]
With a population of around seven thousand, Vetitan is fairly large for a farming community. Most houses are one-story buildings, but it is more urban than a plantation.[1] The presence of nearby ore deposits make it both a farming and mining town.[3]
Landmarks[edit]
There is a lord's manor at the center of the town built with wood and fine stone. There are Steel Ministry offices in a tall, imposing building.[1] The Ministry building contains a trapdoor to a cellar that hides the entrance to a storage cache behind a stone wall, accessible only by Allomancers.[2]
History[edit]
Fatren's Administration[edit]
Vetitan was once ruled by some local lords and the Steel Ministry. After the Collapse, the lords and their obligators abandoned the city, perhaps intending to return at a later date.[1][2] However, their soldiers eventually left to join other armies when the lords did not return, and a skaa named Fatren stepped into a leadership role. He convinced his fellow residents to go ahead with their plantings to produce crops, which he used as bribes to prevent the citizens from being drafted into any of several nearby armies. Instead, he trained a garrison of a thousand soldiers largely made up of former mineworkers, along with another thousand unskilled reserves.[1]
Fatren competently ran the city, but he came under increasing pressure as the mists were getting denser, making agriculture more difficult. The city ran low on resources, and he wondered if he should have kept the mines operating, although he concluded that the ore would not have done him much good. He also worried about koloss; they had recently destroyed the nearby city of Garthwood, and fewer than a hundred survivors escaped to Vetitan. At the suggestion of Fatren's brother Druffel, they built an earthen fortification around the town with real city gates. The garrison was able to fight off bandits, but Fatren knew his defenses would be inadequate if a koloss army attacked.[1]
Koloss Attack[edit]
Three months after Garthwood was razed, Fatren's fears were realized as ten thousand koloss were making their way to Vetitan. Emperor Elend Venture arrived there just in time to teach Vetitan's garrison how to fight the koloss. Emperor Venture demanded fealty from Fatren, offering him a title in return; Fatren generally did not trust nobles, but saw that Elend was a remarkable leader and eventually agreed.[1] Elend led a charge to attack the koloss while they were still setting up their camp, taking down several hundred of them in the surprise. The Vetitan garrison was inspired by Elend, and kept fighting until Vin arrived at the battle and killed the Inquisitor who controlled the koloss using emotional Allomancy. This allowed Elend to take control of all of the koloss instead, ending the battle.[4] He assigned some of the koloss to obey Fatren.[2]
Storage Cache and Evacuation[edit]
“Be careful what you speak. It can hear what you say. It can read what you write. Only your thoughts are safe.”
—The inscription in the Vetitan storage cavern[2]
Vin and Elend knew there was a storage cache in the city, and quickly located it. The cache contained a large amount of supplies, including food, water, and the first eight Allomantic metals.[2][5] The inscription in the cavern included details about malatium and the use of emotional Allomancy on koloss and kandra. Elend already had some of this information, but was heartened by the thought that the Lord Ruler would not have maintained the caverns if he did not think the Deepness could be stopped. The pair then learned that the last cache was hidden in Fadrex City.[2]
Elend then grudgingly began the evacuation of the people of Vetitan to Luthadel. He was glad they had become independent, but the town was outside of his defensive perimeter and would eventually succumb to the Deepness even if it were not attacked.[2][6] Some of the skaa were killed by the mists during the journey, but Elend had no other options. The residents would be employed as farmers in the city, and the soldiers were allowed to join the army if they wished. When the group reached Demoux's camp, Elend ordered him to send five hundred soldiers back to Vetitan with the task of transferring the remaining supplies in the storage cache to Luthadel on barges.[6]