[2] Esslemont and Erikson co-created the Malazan world in 1982 as a setting for a tabletop role-playing game campaign.
His second novel, Return of the Crimson Guard, takes place within the main Malazan sequence, shortly after the events of the sixth book, The Bonehunters.
Characters include Kyle, Greymane and such members of the Crimson Guard like Shimmer, Blues, K'azz, Skinner and Cowl.
The Path to Ascendancy is a prequel series set in the world of Malazan, written by Ian Cameron Esslemont.
[3] The stories deal with the early adventures of Dancer and Kellanved (Dorin and Wu, in this series) and their eventual rise to power on Quon Tali.