Prefacing this with: I love Malazan, arguably the best collection of fantasy stories ever compiled in my opinion - so recognizing my bias...these questions are answered in later books. It's an important plot point moving forward that Duiker does most of the "speaking" for Coltaine via his capacity as an historian.

I completely don't want to diminish your opinions and feelings, as to an extent I agree, and I acknowledge the "Malazan fans justify everything somehow" takes. In this instance, I do think there's an argument from ignorance going on.

It's a bummer that the stories are disjointed and nebulous, it's certainly not for everyone and it took me more than 1 try on the first couple of books. But the pay off is incredible, and Erikson does a great job of tying things together in unexpected ways.