The Doom Brigade is a fantasy novel by Margaret Weis & Don Perrin. It is the beginning of the Kang's Regiment series and follows characters which originally appeared in The Dragons of Krynn and The Dragons at War anthologies.
The book covers how Kang and his regiment have lived for 25 years after the War of the Lance, and how their lives were interrupted by a group of dwarven thieves at the beginning of the Chaos War. The secret they uncover changes the fate of all draconians.
Blurb[]
To be filled in
Chronology & Geography[]
The story takes place 25 years after War of the Lance and immediately before the Chaos War.
The unnamed draconian village and the Neidar dwarf village of Celebundin are located in the valley between Mount Celebund and Mount Dashinak south of Thorbardin on the eastern edge of the Kharolis Mountains. The characters travel south to the edge of the Plains of Dust, over the road south of Thorbardin, through Pax Tharkas and Mish-ka, and into an abandoned mine of Thorbardin.
Plot Summary[]
The First Dragonarmy Engineering Brigade has built a small village in the Kharolis Mountains after escaping Neraka at the end of War of the Lance. For 25 years they have survived by raiding the nearby dwarven village of Celebundin, having repeatedly failed at growing crops and herding sheep. For years the draconians and the dwarves have raided each other back and forth. At first the raids were deadly but quickly they became non-deadly as both sides became accustomed to each other. Over the years, the regiment has been reduced to under 300 draconians.
After a raid on the draconian village, Selquist and his crew return with Kang's holy symbol of Takhisis and other goods. The war chief Moorthane threatens to have Selquist Cast Out of dwarven society. Selquist pretends not to be bothered by the threat and proceeds to make plans for his crew to enter Thorbardin.
A week later, the draconians plan an ambitious raid on the dwarves. The dwarves expect the raid and post sentries. Selquist and his crew used the raid as a diversion to leave for Thorbardin. Slith leaves the raid to follow Selquist. The raid proceeds and the draconians manage to drive the dwarves from the brewery shed, load their cart with Dwarf Spirits, and escape. Slith follows Selquist and his crew north from Celebundin, over Mt. Bletheron and Mt. Prenechial. Once he figures out their goal he returns to his regiment.
The dwarves continue onto Helefundis ridge where Selquist reveals the air shaft of an abandoned mine connected to Thorbardin. They pass a corpse from the Dwarfgate War on their way to an old forge chimney which they climb through to enter the city. Disguised as chimney sweeps, they sneak through the city into the Theiwar city of Themadlin. There they meet Selquist's mentor Chronix, who has a job for them.
Selquist and his crew return to Celebundin with the loot from their job. In the loot is a book Selquist stole from Chronix. Selquist and Auger begin reading while Mortar and Pestle travel to Pax Tharkas to fence the other loot. The book describes a Daewar expedition from Thorbardin to the Doom Range south of Neraka. The Daewar find a huge amount of treasure and also unhatched dragon eggs that contain female draconians. They return to Thorbardin and hide the treasure in an abandoned mine. Selquist discovers a map to the treasure hidden in the book.
Draconian reconnaissance spots a red dragon flying over the Plains of Dust, so Kang takes a troop to go speak with them. He meets with Talon Leader Huzzud and is impressed by her sense of honor. He offers to have his regiment join their army. The troop waits for the army to arrive and Kang meets with General Robert Sykes who agrees to bring the draconian regiment into the Army. The draconians rush home, pack everything they can, and join the army on the road to Thorbardin near the village of Mish-ka. Kang meets with the logistics commander who tells them to hand over all of their engineering equipment and assigns them to digging latrines. The regiment decides to leave rather than do that.
Mortar and Pestle arrive in Pax Tharkas which is preparing for invasion. They find that their fence has left months ago and a dozen kender now live in his house. They leave empty handed and are arrested by dark knights on the road home. The draconian regiment comes down the road and the dwarves use it as a distraction to escape, but are captured by the draconians. Kang fast talks the dark knights and continues on into the mountains. They let Mortar and Pestle go.
When the draconians get back to their village, they find that the dwarves are burning it down. They camp and decide to sneak into Celebundin to determine if the dwarves are going to finish them off. While spying, Slith's disguise fails and he hides in a house that turns out to be Selquist's. Kang and Slith try to steal the book but only get away with the map. Moorthane overhears about the map and blackmails Selquist for a portion of the treasure. Selquist goes to the draconian camp and returns Kang's holy symbol, hoping that his bad luck is removed and that he can get access to the map, but primarily to lure the draconians to the treasure. Selquist tells them what is in the treasure and is allowed to leave.
Kang brings a squad of 25 sivak and bozak draconians to follow Moorthane's 20 dwarf soldiers and Selquist's crew to the secret entrance to Thorbardin. Kang encounter's Huzzud while praying and she tells him about her vision of the upcoming Chaos War and then tells him the message Takhisis gave to her. Takhisis is pleased with Kang and tells him of the wand he will need to hatch the eggs, which are guarded by Fire Dragons of Chaos. Then Huzzud leaves.
The draconians find the entrance to the abandoned mine. The dwarves, ahead of them in the mine, hear some sort of battle raging in Thorbardin. The dwarves hide and wait for the draconians with the map to take the lead. The draconians come to a broken bridge and proceed to build a span to cross. When it's complete, the dwarves rush across ahead of them. The dwarves are immediately attacked by a grell. Since the grell has the wand Kang needs, the draconians help defeat it and then move ahead. Selquist takes charge since Moorthane was killed by the grell.
The draconians find a room with a fiery pit that emanates fear. Kang orders his troop to find another path while he fights the chaos beasts alone. The draconians reluctantly follow another path trying to go around. The dwarves are already on that path and it leads to another part of the room with the fiery pit. There is a climactic battle that ends with Kang causing a cave in of the entire chamber. The dwarves steal the wand and escape while the draconians are trapped.
The dwarves find the location of the treasure. They cut through the wall into the secret chamber and begin loading up on treasure. Magic protects the dragon eggs and prevents the dwarves from destroying them. Selquist accidentally uses the wand to hatch the eggs. The draconians dig themselves out and confront the dwarves. Everyone agrees to a truce where the draconians take the babies and leave the valley.
Characters[]
Major Characters[]
- Kang, Bozak draconian commander of the First Dragonarmy Engineering Company
- Slith, Sivak draconian, second in command
- Selquist the Expediter, half Neidar, half Daergar dwarven thief from Celebundin, named after an elven hero
- Auger, Neidar dwarf member of Selquist's crew
- Mortar, Neidar dwarf member of Selquist's crew
- Pestle, half Neidar, half Hylar dwarf member of Selquist's crew
- Moorthane, Neidar dwarf war chief of Celebundin
- Vellmer, Neidar chief brewmaster of Celebundin
- Huzzad, Knight of the Lily, Red Talon Leader, Fifth Army of Conquest (spelled Huzzud in some sources)
Minor Draconian Characters[]
- Fulkth, chief engineer
- Gloth, Bozak draconian, leader of First Squadron
- Irlih'k, Bozak draconian, leader of Second Squadron ("Irlih'k" is a title meaning Bridge Master)
- Rog, leader of Support Troop
- Yethik, chief supply officer and quartermaster
- Vruss, corporal in Second Squadron
- Stemhmph, Bozak draconian reconnaissance officer
- Viss, Sivak draconian
- Hornalak, plans officer of second squadron
- Drossak, second officer of plans in second squadron
- Three lame draconians who suffered back injuries building the village
- draconian soldiers Rorc, Clotdoth, Glish, Roxl
Minor Dwarven Characters[]
- The High Thane of Celebundin (a baker by trade), his wife, and his daughter Sugarpie.
- Anvil, Neidar dwarf member of Selquist's crew (possibly a typo of Auger; only used in one chapter)
- Chronix, Theiwar dwarf of Themadlin city in Thorbardin
- dwarven soldiers Gilbert, Harold Brickman
Other Minor Characters[]
- Rhanga Changehands, a male kender, probably part human, a fence in Pax Tharkas
- Robert Sykes, Lord of the Skull, General of Ariakan's Fifth Army of Conquest, Second Army of Queen Takhisis, Formerly of the Second Dragon Army
- Mumul, human Quadron Leader and logistics commander, Second Army of Queen Takhisis
- Glaf Herrik, human knight of Takhisis Talon Second
Appearances[]
| Characters | Species | Creatures | Events | Locations |
| Deities | Organizations | Weapons and Tools | Spells | Miscellaneous |
Characters
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Importance to Dragonlance[]
The Doom Brigade sets up a means to continue the draconians into the future of Dragonlance. Without the events of the book, draconians would go extinct in one generation.
Trivia[]
- Dwarven legend has it that grells inhabited the mountain before Thorbardin was founded. Thane Hamish Ironfist, first Thane, led his people to defeat them.
- Kang explains that the term Doom Brigade refers to soldiers being sent to their doom, as in a suicide mission.
Covers[]
Release details[]
- (1996) The Doom Brigade (Hardback), Random House. ISBN 0-7869-0526-3.
- The Doom Brigade (Paperback), Random House. ISBN 0-7869-0785-1.
- (????) The Doom Brigade (The Chaos War Series) (Paperback), ???. ISBN ?-????-????-?.
- (????) The Doom Brigade (Kang's Regiment Volume I) (Paperback), ???. ISBN ?-????-????-?.
Also Known As[]
- Drachen Nest (German)
- Tuomion Prikaati
- Kiyamet Tugayi (Turkish)