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Questioner

Does valinhall have plumbing?

Will Wight

It does not. The pool has a weird organic system that cleans and drains it, and the toilets are haunted and flush waste beyond reality.The air comes from magic.

Questioner

Bets you say...

I'm assuming there were some bets on whether or not Simon would survive the house?

Was the Elder in on that bet and if so did he win or lose?

Also what were his odds? I'm assuming many bet against him and maybe a few prospered greatly?

Will Wight

People don't bet against the Eldest anymore. He's right too often.

It's pretty common for him to ruin bets between other Nye by making cryptic comments that cause them to second-guess themselves. He thinks it's hilarious.

Questioner

How would you, using cradle lingo in the blackflame empire, ask someone if they wanted to "Netflix and chill"? Same for in Damasca (Im think both what Simon would say and what Leah would say).

Will Wight

If you're asking what Simon would say and what Leah would say, I have to imagine Leah would be smoother about it than Simon.

Questioner

How much of the Traveler's gate world have we seen? Are there explorers/colonies lost within a territory Robinson Crusoe style?

Will Wight

We have seen one small area of the Traveler's Gate world. Like a medium country, or a large state.

Why such a small area, if they have Territories to travel long distances? That's a great question, and hopefully one that I will have a chance to answer in the next book.

Most stories of lost colonies come from Asphodel, both because it is easy to get lost and forgotten there (the Mist is known to devour thoughts and memories) and because there are more colonies in Asphodel. It's the best Territory for farmland, so it's actually the Territory with the greatest number of Travelers. They just don't typically fight; they usually focus on raising crops and keeping farmers safe.

Questioner

Do all Abidan have to have used madra? I mean Simon cant become one.

Will Wight

Nope. Simon could become one, if circumstances allowed.

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.

Jayce

Are there religious sects in Travelers Gate?

Will Wight

I have a meta answer and a story answer for you, Jayce!

(Story)

Yes, there are, though perhaps because of the influence of Territory culture, organized religion never grew as widespread as you might expect. There's a sect that worships the Incarnations, a people who believe that Territories are holy ground and they can only take from naturally occurring Gates, and isolated groups who worship powerful artifacts that fell from Territories.Enosh still swears by the "saints above," which reflects what they believe happens to people when they die: they are purified and become saints, to watch over the people below.

(Meta)

I find that including religion in stories is more trouble than it's worth.House of Blades was almost banned from a school, I once found out, because the administration believed it was promoting religion. I have no idea what that was about.There's also a subset of people who lose their minds whenever you write a fantasy novel with religion in it. If you write a story with a pantheon in it, you're promoting polytheism. If you write a story where there's one creator god, you're promoting monotheism. If I wrote a story where the characters sincerely believed in their religion and it was a positive force in their life, I guarantee you I'd get complaints from atheists about my promoting religion.I've already gotten such complaints, and that's WITHOUT religion in my books. I can't tell you how many people tripped up over my use of the word "soul" in Cradle.So since I can't create a fictional belief system without people taking it as a statement of my actual beliefs, I find it's easier to just skirt religion entirely.

Questioner

Which is stronger, Elysia or Ragnarus.

Will Wight

I don't know how to do a battle of one place against another. In a war, obviously Elysia would win, because Ragnarus is uninhabited (OR IS IT?) and Elysia has a ton of soldiers.But I will tell you that, when I'm writing the books, I think of Valinhall, Ragnarus, and Elysia all on the same tier.

Questioner

How do you probe your with to use the valinhall toilets

Will Wight

I don't understand this question except for the words "Valinhall toilets," so I'll answer what I can! The Valinhall toilets are basically bottomless outhouses. There appears to be nothing down there at all, forever, but no one dives deep enough to find out. Only the waste goes down. Also, the bathrooms are haunted.

Questioner

Who would be a good matchup for Valin?

Questioner

I have trouble matching the Cradle power scale to other realities too, because the Cradle scale only works relative to its own magic system.I have some minor characters who might be a good matchup for Valin, but they won't be introduced until Blackflame (or possibly the next book, depending on where I end up). So...spoilers!

Questioner

Has the power been shown so far in the Traveler's Gate series? Or would that be too spoilery?

Will Wight

I don’t think it has, but I’m not 100% on that.

Your Benevolent Dictator

What was Valinhall like when Valin arrived

Will Wight

I understand the spirit of your question, but Valin didn’t arrive in Valinhall. He built Valinhall.

Questioner

Who out of all your series is your favorite character to write?

Will Wight

I know this is your least world-building related question, but I'll answer it anyway: I enjoy the more colorful, less grounded characters. Kai, Bliss, Eithan, etc. They're just fun to write, and I can basically ad lib their dialogue and have fun with it. The problem is getting that type of character to care about what happens to them and have a relatable goal. So I have to try and humanize them as well, which can be difficult. There's a middle ground there, and I'm seeking it. If I could write more of that sort of character, I'd have more fun, and I feel like my characters would pop more. But it almost feels like there's a slider between making them interesting and making them relatable and organically motivated. There isn't, it just FEELS that way. I'm trying to hit the happy medium.

Questioner

Lucan, Meia, and Shera vs. Simon, Elaina, and Andra

Will Wight

Hmmm...I think the Gardeners have the advantage if they have time to plan and it's more than just a "run out there and fight RIGHT NOW" battle. If they have to face three Valinhall Traveler's head-on immediately without preparation or anything to use in their surroundings, I don't see how they could overcome the advantage in strength and speed.The most even matchup would probably be sealing both teams in a small town for three days, by which time the team with the most surviving fighters will be declared the winner. A tie results in being tossed into a ring and made to fight straight-up.This gives a chance for Lucan's Reading to come into play, both in tracking the opponents down and preparing weapons or other items. He finds them, Shera goes in to kill them, and Meia fights to cover their retreat....in the meantime, Simon and the others are going to be using the powers of their advisors (Korr senses sources of danger, Caela senses movement, and Andra's advisor--whose name is escaping me and I'm too tired to look it up--has a perfect spatial memory) to find their opponents and try to trap them into a battle.The advantage the Valinhall Travelers have is that they're very difficult to surprise.The Gardeners have the advantage of being perfectly willing and trained to kill people unaware.In that scenario, I think Shera and her team get it unless Simon-and-company get lucky.

Questioner

Are we ever going to see romance between Simon and Leah?

Will Wight

Romance? NEVER.

Questioner

Does the pool have a Valinhall power underneath in it? I must get to the bottom(haha) of this.....

Will Wight

It does.

Family of Raccoons attempting to rally the broken Australian troops in the great emu war

Will, I was rereading the house of blades, and something occurred to me: Why did Damasca take the yearly sacrifices from their outlying villages instead using criminals on death row? Just seems like it would be easier, and would greatly reduce to chances of, say, having Damasca's outlying villages begin to conspire against the throne

Will Wight

It started off as a way of bringing the whole country together, making sure that everyone shared the pain of the sacrifice so that everyone would feel how important it was.And, over time, it just became tradition.

Questioner

If Simon and Lindon both decided to give up fighting and become male escorts, who do you think would make more money per night?

Will Wight

Simon, unless Lindon tapped into a niche client base.

Lindon is taller and broader of shoulder, but he also looks like he wants to punch you as a matter of course. Simon's smaller, more slender, and has more delicate features.

Simon, however, would literally starve to death before he took such a course. He'd rather die on his own terms than sell his dignity.

Lindon would do what he had to.

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!

Questioner

Hey Will ! I am a big fan of your works (i probably already said this through my other user accounts but hey). I have a few questions if you don't mind entertaining.   Did Valin somehow have access to the Way when he created Valinhall ? Or the creation of Valinhall is kinda a Travelers Gate magic and nothing to do with the Way?   Did Eithan expect Yerin to eventually learn using the sword icon through his training ? Or that was just a pleasant surprise/coincidence that he did not know would bear fruit from his training?   Thanks for bringing Cradle/TG to life ! It has been a pleasure.

Will Wight

1.) It DOES have something to do with the Way, in fact. 2.) Who can know the mind of Eithan? (In all seriousness, #2 is a Read And Find Out.)