Maheranga is a riverport town on the southeast bank of the great river that is very close to the southern continent's sprawling city of Taglios. This is where the Black Company disembarked from their third and final river barge after their long journey downriver from Gea-Xle in Shadow Games. A very short distance inland from Maheranga is Taglios proper, which straddles "a tributary that snakes between a half-dozen low hills".
Croaker described Maheranga as a "satellite" of Taglios itself, which "would share the fate of Trogo" – that is, become enveloped by the city's continual, creeping outward sprawl. He seemed to doubt that Maheranga would retain its identity when that happened, though, unlike Trogo, which retained its identity due to its governmental and religious and influence, and its wealth.[1]
Maheranga is mentioned by name only once in the Annals, suggesting that Croaker's guess that it would be fully enveloped by Taglios eventually came true. If this is accurate, any number of the later events described as taking place on the riverside of Taglios either took place on the tributary "that snakes between a half-dozen low hills" or in the area formerly known as Maheranga.
Maheranga is 480 miles north of the great river's First Cataract, where the towns Dadiz and Catorce are found. Dadiz and Catorce are above and below the First Cataract, respectively. Since the First Cataract is "an obstacle to navigation only to traffic coming up the river", a southbound traveler can reach Maheranga on a vessel hired immediately below the Second Cataract and Idon, and ride the currents past the Dadiz, the First Cataract, and Catorce without disembarking there. However, a northbound traveler departing Maheranga must disembark at Catorce, make the 18-mile portage overland to Dadiz above the First Cataract, and hire a new vessel at Dadiz to reenter the great river and continue against the current.
References[]
- ↑ Shadow Games, ch. 22