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Questioner

Is it in anyway disappointing that Cradle has been more successful than Elder Empire?

Will Wight

It's hard to say that Cradle has been disappointing in any way. Cradle has vastly exceeded my expectations. So, I can't in good conscience say that Cradle has disappointed me at all. But, I mean, I guess, sort of, I do wish Elder Empire had been more successful, but isn't that kind of like of course I do, it'd be great if everybody loved every series I write. But, I didn't have any real expectations of that, there's no blame or anything like that. The only thing that I feel a little bit disappointed in, I guess, is I put a lot more work in Elder Empire than I initially did into Cradle. Now at this point in Cradle, I'm trying hard. But, it was a lot harder to write Elder Empire. The minimum standard of Elder Empire is a lot higher, it's just difficult to write. So, when you put that much effort into something and people enjoy it less than they do the thing you put less effort into, that is difficult. But, nowadays there's not that difference. Now writing Cradle, after basically Soulsmith, I put just as much effort into Cradle, but it's a lot more straightforward, it's a lot easier to write, basically. It's easier and people like it more. It feels better when you're effort is proportional to the response, but that's not always the case. So, there you go.

Questioner

When is Cradle book 8?

Will Wight

Book 8 is after Elder Empire. So my current plan, and I want to emphasize that this is my current plan and is all subject to change, is that I am going to do Elder Empire, well I'm definitely doing Elder Empire, I'm already working on Elder Empire. Then after that, my intention is to do Cradle 8 and 9 and then something different. I'm not changing my mind on Elder Empire, that one's happening. After that one I can do 8 and 9.

Travis Baldree

Qirani shifted her goggles from her eyes to her forehead and leaned back from the engine. Fire aspect Remnants burned inside the metallic chamber that was bigger than her entire house. She could see the spirits through the viewpoints pursuing their strange Remnant tasks. Even with heat and dampening scripts it was a sauna in here. Though not nearly as relaxing as the actual saunas she visited on her occasional holidays. Without her goggles she could get unfiltered looks at the engine’s control panel. It seemed fine. She'd welded two metal plates together and the control script was whole again. She gave it long eye making sure the light stayed steady.

When she was certain that the script was functional she sighed in relief and gathered up her tools. Her personal bound spirit was contained in a tank on her back. Burning Swan was a natural fire spirit she’d raised for years. And she could channel his energies for welding or, theoretically for combat. She hadn’t seen any duels since graduating the Academy and she didn’t expect she ever would again. Her grades in the arena had been adequate at best. 

Her supervisor, a pudgy woman named Torkle, slammed the door open in an enthusiastic burst and practically danced down the stairs. She had a massive cloud of gray hair and a pair of smaller spirit tanks strapped to her forearms instead of a large one on her back.

“Oh my darling, my favorite how are you doing this fine evening?" Torkle sang. She did a pirouette and finished her spin with a flourish as she reached Qirani. Qirani smiled in spite of herself. Today she had planned to duck her supervisor and get home on time for once but Torkle’s enthusiasm was infectious. 

“Not so bad” Qirani admitted “Finished sooner than I thought and we didn’t have any further breaches.” Torkle gasped in amazement, raising her hands to her lips. “You’re a genius and a savant! Without you we would be ashes in a crater.”

If Torkle saw someone lace up their boots she would exclaim that no one had ever tied such a perfect knot. When Qirani had finished her hundredth job with the company  Torkle had commissioned a light sculpture of the triumphant moment. The job had been the inspection of rivets in a sewer runoff pipe and it had taken fifteen minutes. Still Qirani’s cynicism melted before Torkle’s positivity like ice under the sun “Nothing that bad, maybe a few burns.”

“Burns!” Torkle fluddered her collar as though overcome by the heat though she had only been in the engine room for a few seconds. “Theres nothing worse than the heat. To me you stave off doom. You’ll have dinner with our family tonight won’t you? I’ll take no for an answer but I won’t be happy about it.” 

Qirani considered the offer instead of rejecting it out of hand like she usually did. A little money saved was a little closer to the vacation of her dreams. A local travel agency had been promoting a tour of the exotic Ashwind continent home of the dragons. She’d always wanted to see the place and since the tour made use of existing portal networks they could keep travel times down to only a month’s journey either way. Any use of portals skyrocketed the price since those were the workings of a Sage. Of course there was the cost of missing several months of work. But steadily she inched toward her dream.

She was about to accept Torkle’s offer when Burning Swan whispered in her mind. "Enemy" the spirit whispered. Burning Swan didn’t speak in actual words but in complex impressions passed through their bond. Suddenly the familiar clanks and hisses of the engine room sounded ominous and the shadows in the corners deepened. Qirani extended her spiritual sense but felt no one other than herself and Torkle. The supervisor frowned noticing her distress.

“Oh my, what’s wrong? You didn’t forget something did you? I left my spare wrist strap here last week and wouldn’t you know it that was the very day that my first one broke. I had just bought it too and it was a nicer one than I usually

She continued prattling but Qirani was paying more attention to her bond spirit. "Enemy?" she asked. The simpler the message the more clearly the spirit would understand. Burning Swan’s mental impression was firm."Enemy." His thoughts focused on Torkle. Qirani wondered if she should take Swan to a Soulsmith. Maybe a drudge could figure out where his senses had gone wrong. Torkle was harmless in every sense of the word. Not only had she once wept when she accidentally shut the door on a lizard’s tail but even if she did go mad and suddenly attack she wouldn’t be much of an opponent. Qirani wasn’t a fighter but she had still been forged through years of hard work. Torkle was soft and frail and much older.

The supervisor had one bond spirit of life and one of dreams which she used to monitor and coordinate her workers. Qirani was in more danger from burning her skin on an overheated bolt. Even so she decided to play it cautious. Just in case. “Torkle? You haven’t had any strange dreams have you?” Only days ago after the sky had turned black and the world had panicked one eyed leaves had drifted throughout the city and whispered reassurance. The voice of Emriss Silentborn the Monarch, spoke to the citizens directly and told them they were safe, protected.

Everyone Qirani knew had gotten the same message. Probably everyone on the continent had. But the Monarch had left a warning as well to remain on guard in their dreams. If they met a stranger there who asked to enter their minds they should deny him. That had been strange, of course but it was the warning of a Monarch. Torkle gasped when Qirani asked about her dreams. “Oh I almost forgot to tell you, I have had the best sleep of my life lately. I have this tea that you drink before bed and Emriss stake my lips now if I know what they put into it but the second I close my eyes I drift right off. 

She kept chittering but she didn’t say anything about meeting a stranger in her sleep, Qirani didn’t hear anything wrong. A wary voice came to her again. "Look!" Burning Swan commanded. Qirani’s senses shifted somehow in a strange direction that she didn’t have the words for. She opened her Copper's sight and looked at the world but only a little. She extended her perceptions halfway too. This felt like Burning Swan had forcibly made her open an eye in her spirit halfway. The sensation was hazy and frustrating even uncomfortable but after only a moment Qirani saw something. A glimmer of white light hovering behind Torkle’s head. like a halo or perhaps a crown.

Qirani’s breath died and for a moment she couldn’t even speak. Then she bolted for the exit. She took the metal stairs two at a time leaving Torkle sputtering in confusion behind her. Qirani dashed down the metal catwalk reaching out her perception for a script on the wall ahead of her, the emergency alarm. Qirani triggered it with a flow of madra as she flew out of the room slamming the heavy door after her. She panted as she leaned against it. Through the thick glass of the round porthole at the center she saw Torkle heaving her way up the stairs. The enthusiastic energy that had filled the supervisor earlier had wiltered leaving a heavy weight of disappointment that hung visibly on her.

Her muffled voice came through the door. “Qirani why, this isn’t funny!?”

Tears filled Qirani’s eyes. She didn’t quite know what to do. She had heard the rumors of what happened to people wearing that crown, the legends really. But Torkle seemed fine. She didn’t know what to do but that was all right. She didn’t have to know. Security arrived a moment later, wearing thick tanks on their back and their limbs covered by the energy of their bound spirits. They strode up to Qirani as she stammered out her story.

“Torkle! She! My supervisor! Crown! I saw it! My spirit warned me!” Enemies, Burning Swan said. And this time Qirani heard the distinct tones of despair. Dreading what she would see she once again half opened her spiritual senses as Swan had shown her. Both guards had a faint white ring floating behind their heads. She backed up against the wall as the alarm died and the door slid open. A panting Torkle made it through turning to glare at Qirani. 

“What has gotten into you? If you don’t want to have dinner with us I’m not going to force you. Is it my cooking?” Torkle still seemed normal but disturbingly so. Qirani glanced down the hallway toward the exit. She would never make it not with security here. You didnt get to be a company guard by only getting mediocre grades in your arena classes. Torkle knelt at her side and gave her a kindly smile. “Poor thing you're so frightened? What do you think is going to happen to you?”

Qirani shivered and didn’t answer. “Come on then, shoo boys and leave her alone. Let’s talk in my office my sweet girl.”

Torkle led Qirani down the hallway but at the first corner they rounded Qirani shrieked. There was a body lying in blood soaked carpet. He wore a tank on his back and a security uniform. But without seeing his face she didn’t recognize him. The first guard strode over the body the second stopped at the sound of her shriek and Torkle turned with a frown. She was standing with one foot casually braced on the mans skull. Are you still scared? You’re safe with me Qirani I swear.

“Did you kill him?” Qiranis accusatory finger trembled. Torkle looked around blankly. “Who?” “Him right there! You’re standing on his head!” Torkle looked all the way around the hallway until her expression softened. “Oh dear. Oh dear. You need that vacation more than I realized. Stress can get to all of us sweet girl.” With a dawning horror, Qirani realized that this wasn’t an act. Torkle really couldn’t see the man’s body "enemy" Burning Swan insisted.

Qirani followed Torkle to her office and sat on a plush chair. The place was so ordinary and familiar that it was easy to forget anything was wrong. Torkle chattered as she brewed tea while Qirani remained silent. The supervisor poured two cups and slid one over on a saucer. "Take a drink and relax you poor thing. I didn’t mean to work you so hard.”

Qirani took it on reflex. She had tea with Torkle hundreds of times. Before she thought about it she had already taken her first sip. Someone hammered on the office door. Torkle didn’t seem surprised. “Could you get that for me, dear?”

Qirani had her hand on the door, but Burning Swan was vibrating in its case trying to extend fiery wings. "Danger!" She removed her hand. “Why don’t you get it?” “It has to be you.” Torkle sipped from her own tea and smiled. “Go on my girl." A man’s voice came from outside, regal and assured. “Let me in Qirani and I will explain everything.”

She stumbled back from the door and looked from her tea to her supervisor. “You brought me into a dream” The steel container strapped to Torkle’s left wrist was open and there was no shimmering purple light coming from inside. Her Dream Remnant was missing. She had used a technique or an elixir in the tea, or both. Qirani looked at the window which was made of the same thick barely transparent glass as most in this place. She wasn’t strong enough to break her way through.

But she could melt it. "Swan, please?" With a quick flick of madra she released a panel on the side of her spirit tank. A wing of flame madra emerged and plunged into the glass which began to glow red hot. Torkle leaned back so fast she spilled her tea. “Really now, you’re going to dry out my skin” Qirani’s own skin was singed by the time she melted enough glass and she wasn’t even sure that going out a different way would help her escape. How much of this was a dream and how much was real?

She had to try something. She almost leaped through but the red hot glass around the hole made her hesitate. As did the voice from the door. “There’s no risk to you,” the stranger said. “Life is far safer for my friends than my enemies.” If Qirani hadn’t been warned she might have opened the door already. But she knew who the voice belonged to, the Silent King..

She gritted her teeth and prepared to plunge through the hole in the glass to the desolate and metal and concrete streets outside. It was late enough that no one was nearby and she wasn’t sure if that was a curse or a blessing. The burning glass was a threat one she could risk. She snapped her goggles over her eyes and pulled up the collar of her thick fire resistant work uniform. Then she screamed as a face floated out of the shadows from the window a face but not a human one.

It was like a floating head with pebbly flesh such a dark purple as to be almost black. One giant eye took up most of its face and its mouth was stretched into a strange almost smile with an expression she couldn’t read. It had two boneless arms that undulated slowly. "I have come to pull you from the abyss of silence" the spirit whispered "To free you from the chains that bind your mind and restore you to the waking world."

Then as though if it had suddenly remembered something it added "And don’t be afraid" Qirani commanded Burning Swan to attack but its fiery wing shivered and retreated. "Not enemy", the spirit told her, "and strong"

There came a crash from behind Torkle’s desk. The supervisor had hurled her teacup, part of a set she’d inherited from her mother to the ground. Where it shattered. She glared furiously at the one eye spirit with teeth bared.

“Get out” Torkle shrieked “I’ll claw out your soul!” The dark, floating spirit giggled. "That would be impressive." The Silent King’s voice from the door was amused. “Intruders? How bold.”

A force slammed into the door shaking the room. Qirani hesitated only another instant before she reached out to the strange spirit tendril. If this was an elaborate trick by the Dreadgod to get her to walk outside it was working. The spirit pulled her out through the glass coming within an inch of searing her flesh off. But Qirani didn’t land on the street outside Torkle’s office. She was back in the engine room standing before a welded steel panel. Had she fallen asleep after finishing her job? How would that be possible? The dark spirit still floated before her, chuckling in an unnerving voice.

"Walk with me, unless you wish to see the void of death." “Who are you?” she demanded “What’s going on?” "You’ll see "it said "And you can call me Dross."

Questioner

What about Kelarac vs. Suriel? Or any of the Great Elders vs. Suriel?

Will Wight

In a complicated and protracted battle fought on many levels simultaneously, Suriel eventually gets the upper hand. She knows that banishing the Elder will only delay the problem, so she seals the Elder's power and banishes it to a lesser world. A world with special characteristics that will keep the Elder sealed for as long as possible.

Jason

1.) So we know that there are many, many, rooms in Valinhall. Is there a room for all the counter abilities of all the other territories?2.) Where are the other Dragon Fangs? (This is a short story or long one definately.)3.) Are the Dragon Fangs advisors still with those swords?4.) If the Dragon Fangs do indeed have some sort of sentience, why have they not communicated with Simon?5.) Was there a time before the Elder Gods?6.) Could Lindon potentially split the other two cores to make 4?

Will Wight

1.) Not everything.

2.) This one I'll definitely be getting to in a story.

3.) No, they're in Valinhall. Bored.

4.) They have.

5.) If you mean the Elders...that WOULD be a good thing for me to explore at some point. Because I'm not sure.

There definitely was a time before THESE Great Elders. They're old, but it's not like they were around at the creation of the universe.

However, was there a time before Elders? I'll have to think about that, I'm not sure.

Thanks for asking! That gives me something to decide.

6.) Potentially? Yes, he could.

the questioner

Will, you said in the previous thread that if Lindon were to fight against an elder of his clan he MIGHT win.His biggest problem would be their illusions.Does it mean, though, that physically they are more or less on the same level.I remember the scene in the 1st book, when he was attacked by an iron of the, I think, Mon family, because he shamed that iron by winning against him. Before he could hit Lindon,though, his attack was blocked by an elder, which seemed to lindon, as though the elder teleported in front of him. Would lindon accomplish similar feats..

Will Wight

The elder didn't seem to teleport because he was moving so fast (although he WAS fast, just not that fast). It was because of his mastery over illusion.

That's exactly what Lindon would have to deal with.

Physically, he'd be on a similar level to the Jades of Sacred Valley. His Iron body is of a higher quality, but it's specialized for recovery, not pure strength.

Will Wight

Let me clarify some things in this post, since I’m getting some common responses here and in the blog comments.

Elder Empire didn’t sell well compared to Traveler’s Gate and Cradle. It actually sold fine, it’s just that the books were spread out over such a long time that the income was unsustainable.

If I could have released two pairs a year, it would have been perfectly viable, but my fingers would have fallen off like a leper’s.

And when they read something like this, a lot of people react by explaining to me why they’ve never tried to read the books.

First off, that’s fine! Any new story concept is going to have people it turns off, and I understand that going into everything I write. And this one in particular is weird and confusing on the surface.

I think there’s this perception that I blame readers for EE not selling as well as TG or Cradle, and that is ridiculously not the case.

Though I tend to mention it a lot, Elder Empire selling not-quite-as-well has never bothered me emotionally very much.

I never expected to succeed as an author in the first place, so I saw Traveler’s Gate’s high sales as the fluke and Elder Empire as the expected outcome.

My business manager mentioned to me not too long ago: “You know, you really never got upset by Elder Empire not selling well.” And I hadn’t thought about it much, but it genuinely never did bother me.

I would characterize my reaction as “Eh, I wish that had sold better. Oh well. I hope they enjoy the next one!”

I definitely take some things too personally, but EE’s less-than-stellar performance isn’t one of them.

Questioner

Northstrider vs Kelerac, or Northstrider vs high ranking elders

Will Wight

Unsealed Elders no, simply due to the nature of the fight. At that point it's not a power level thing. Using sacred arts to fight unsealed Elders is, by and large, like trying to use your fists to fight a virus.But sealed Great Elders (like the ones the Emperor dealt with)...yeah, easily.

Questioner (paraphrased)

What is the connection between Great Elders and Incarnations?

Will Wight (paraphrased)

An Incarnation has become a living manifestation of their Territory. They're carrying the physical laws of their world around with them, so to speak, and earth warps to meet that.

In a similar way, the Elders are using their Intent to corrupt the world around them. It's a part of who and what they are. Each of them exists for a specific purpose, and they're constantly trying to recreate the world in their image.

It's not much of a distinction in effect, I'll grant you that. But Elders and Incarnations are different. For one thing, Elders were never human.

RekTer

Wow. Why is it that Elder Empire gets amazing art like this, yet Cradle just gets some scribbles for the covers?

Also I should probably just bite the bullet and read Elder Empire. I haven't yet because the "simultaneous stories" hook really doesn't excite me, but with art like this how could I not enjoy it?

Will Wight

"Some scribbles" = I'll kill you. I like that art.

But the reason why Elder Empire gets full paintings while Cradle covers are done in photoshop is because there are way more Cradle books and they come out more frequently. There's no delaying a Cradle book to wait on the cover art, and there never will be!

The Lost Reader

Hey Will, If you suddenly teleported to Cradle and gained the ability to practice the sacred arts. What path would you choose and why?

Will Wight

So here's an interesting fact about me, what I do with every one of my books, is I make sure I'm prepared for the eventuality that I am magically transported into the world. Because so many people have not prepared for that, and it's too likely to avoid. So I therefore include a stash in all of my books, where there are things for me, that I know where they are, and nobody else does. So if I get sucked into the world, I'll be fine. So the Path I have chosen is the Path of the Cloud Hammer, from the Blackflame Empire, which I know I didnt get into, but its a cloud and force path, so its very versatile, its also something I can use to get along normally in the world, and i've included a lot of different artifacts and elixirs and stuff, to get me up to code, as well as some training things, so that I dont completely suck. So i've done that.

In Elder Empire, I left one file at the Consultants Guild, in all the major cities I've left a bunch of invested items and Awakened items under my name, that will help protect me, keep me alive, and protect me from Elders, so that I can just live out my life, and a bunch of money, because they have paper money in Elder Empire, so I just left myself a bunch of cash.

Then in Traveler's Gate I buried in a bunch of key locations, I have buried a lot of artifacts from Territories, that will allow me to get along and basically able to live a comfortable life in Damasca and not get murdered by Travelers. So basically what I did was I made sure that I could live as a normal person in these inhospitable worlds that I was in. In Traveler's Gate I didn't find a way to make myself a Traveler or anything, I think probably I would rather just live as a regular person.

Questioner

Okay guys these are the strongest characters1. Abidan Court2. Great Elders before they were sealed3.Strongest Cradle characters, including Li Markuth (not really Cradle universe), Ninecloud Court Princess, NorthStrider, Eithan, Yerins master4 .Sealed Great Elders and Emperor tie5. Urzia, Meia and other enhanced warroirs6. Ragnarus Incarnation7. Valinhall

Will Wight

That's just about right!

#3 is a broad variety of characters over several different power levels--the Ninecloud Court princess and Northstrider are a level beyond Li Markuth and the Sword Sage, who are both a level beyond Underlord. Some of those would defeat the Emperor and the sealed Great Elders easily, some would have a hard time, and some of them couldn't do it.

Also #5-7 are all very close. Valinhall can compete with the Champions, but they would be difficult fights. And while the Ragnarus Incarnation is the strongest Incarnation thus far, and thus a notch above Valinhall/the Champions, in the end (City of Light SPOILER ALERT, I guess) a Valinhall Traveler DID beat him.

But I'd still put him a notch above them in terms of pure power level.

Questioner

Did the people who originally inhabited Asylum when it was used to trap the Elders/ Fiends volunteers/ criminals/ or did the Abidan breed or trap innocent people to tie the iteration to the way and support the prison?

Questioner

I don't know how much I want to go into that, I might want to do a short story on that someday. At the risk of telling you something that I am gonna change later, it was sort of an opportunistic thing. The world happened to be able to be used to lure the Great Elders there and be able to be trapped there. So they trapped them there expecting everyone on this world to die. So they did that because if the Elders had been released they would have killed a lot more people, so they saw it as an acceptable loss. But then the human population ended up producing the Emperor who figured out how to make a thriving population on what was supposed to be this cursed hell world. And they ended up lasting a lot longer than anyone expected. It's morally questionable, it sure is.

Questioner

Strongest sacred artist vs. a Great Elder

Will Wight

It's hard to say who the strongest Great Elder is, because they each measure strength differently.However, the strongest sacred artist in Cradle would be able to solo any of the Great Elders. Of course, that would only disperse them and make them spend centuries re-forming, since they don't treat death the same way mortals do, but it's enough for the sacred artist to win the battle.

tlor180

The character to character interactions in Elder Empire are leagues ahead of his other books,(although tbf cradle has a very different focus). I hope the relative obscureness compared to cradle doesn't dissaude will from writing more character focused stories.

Will Wight

Not to bring down the mood, but it kind of has dissuaded me.

IMHO, Elder Empire has two strengths:

1.) The world feels cohesive. It has history and culture and a postal system, different characters have different opinions on people and events that everyone is aware of, there’s shared mythology, etc.

2.) The major characters are a lot more fleshed out.

I believe I can bring some of that over to Cradle, especially having refreshed myself on it by skipping over to OKAK, but back when I started writing EE I thought this was the direction I was going to take my writing.

If you’ll pardon the comparison, let’s say Traveler’s Gate was halfway between a Japanese light novel and a traditional Western fantasy novel. Then Elder Empire would be a step more towards traditional novels and Cradle is a step towards light novels.

Well, one of those did 10-20x better than the other.

So I’m a lot more inclined to keep leaning toward the light novel side, which means not diving deeper into world and character development.

Having said all that, there’s still room to improve my character writing even without changing the formula of Cradle at all, it just comes down to skill. I’m working on it!

acog

It's a tough question to answer since you're trying to guess why someone didn't buy it, and people don't leave feedback for books they decided to skip. Still, I think I'm not alone. I had a small company for years and one lesson I learned in sales was that "analysis paralysis" is real. If the customer is the least bit confused, the easiest thing to do is not make the sale. Look at how many posts there are in this subreddit asking about the proper reading order for the trilogies. Might be a sign.

Will Wight

I actually completely agree with what you’re saying.

My experience is that readers need to think they know what they’re getting from a story in order to pick it up.

Then you have to give them what they came for, as well as a little something extra they didn’t expect.

So, given all that about the structure, here’s the situation I’m actually in: I’m going to start a new series, for which I’m DEFINITELY not doing a crazy new experimental format, and I have to decide whether to make it more like a traditional fantasy story or more like a light novel. (So to speak.)

And I have three data points. The hybrid version (TGT) did very well, the traditional series did relatively poorly, and the one that was most like a light novel performed by far the best.

Now, I too believe that it was mostly because of the structure that people didn’t try EE.

But is it worth the risk to gamble with a traditional fantasy series?

I feel like I’m at a crossroads where one road is covered in fog and vultures while the other is well-paved and raining gold.

Questioner

"Tell me about mountain climbers in Elder Empire."

Will Wight

The body of Kthanikahr, the Worm Lord, weaves through a mountain as though through a rotten apple. The Great Elder is miles long, and the stench of his decay is overpowering. Still, some brave the corpse--and the cordon of Imperial troops around the area--to scale the peak and try to harvest a strip of the Worm Lord's skin. It is said that a charm made from this leathery strap can repel Elderspawn, so dozens make the trip each year...and only a handful return.

AJ

How often in real life do you see something that you can hear how one of your characters would react to it?

Will Wight

This is why Dross and Eithan are the easiest characters to write. I could come up with Dross or Eithan reactions to almost literally anything, and then Lindon too I just know the character well enough to be able to do that. Yerin I could do, I would have to work on the phrasing, I couldn't just pin that off. When I know the characters well I can think of that. I don't hear it unless something triggers it specifically. If we're talking about something that the character, you know, it's a meme. So like there's a bunch of rocks sitting around and I'd be like "Mmm, Orthos would love munching on those." kind of thing. Unless there's a trigger for it, I don't sit there and have Eithan whispering in my ear. That's a bad example cause he does whisper in my ear, all the time.

Questioner

Have you thought about writing short stories about the Emperor and the Regents (from EE)? Could you give us a hint what these might be like?

Will Wight

I have! Especially while working on OKAK, I thought that might be something I would have liked to explore.   I would like to show the Elder War at its peak, when the Emperor and his companions had to go into territories warped and shaped by a Great Elder and convince slaves who had grown up with decades of indoctrination to follow fellow humans instead of the alien gods who own them.   I think that could be cool.

God of the Tower

How many other worlds have elders on them? Whats the strongest power in Valinhall and Ragnarus? Are different types of madra really different essences of intent of the universe? How many things in vallinhall are awakened objects?

Will Wight

1.) The only worlds with Elders in them are doomed, except for Asylum.2.) The strongest power in Valinhall and Ragnarus...I'm not sure. That's a difficult question.3.) Each Iteration has its own unique expression of power. In Asylum, it shows up as Intent. In Cradle, it's madra.4.) The relationship between Valinhall and Awakened objects is something I'll have to explore in a prequel novel/novella.

Sir Wolpertinger

1. If The Ghosts decide where the fragments of iterations go does that mean they pick which territories Amalgam can access?

2. You mentioned before that it once a person leaves their iteration they can't use that magics iteration any longer, but since Valinhall travelers summon the magic into themselves does that mean they still can, and if they can, are other travelers able to?and finally

3. Have you ever considered writing a story wherein the main character is a villain? It's obviously been tried many times, but with your unique writing style I think it could be really awesome.

Will Wight

1.) They could if they wanted to, yes.

2.) They can, and most of Ragnarus' magical weapons would still work too. If another Traveler took their creatures to a different world, like the Avernus birds for instance, their powers would probably stay intact (it depends on the magic system in their destination, but usually yes).

3.) Instead of Elder Empire, I almost wrote a story about a girl on a quest to become a dark lord while a guy is trying to trick people into thinking he's the hero destined to oppose that dark lord.

There were a few cool things about the story and the setting, but now I don't think I'll ever write that particular story. Too much of it went into Elder Empire and Cradle instead.

But yes, I would like to write a villain story. The trick is finding the sweet spot between "totally evil and therefore unsympathetic" and "effectively just a hero in black armor."