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Questioner

Were the sacred artists Suriel revealed to Lindon a mere sampling of the beings at that power level, or are these literally the only three groups at their level?

Will Wight

They are not the only ones. In the form of a young boy, an ancient dragon rules the desert to the east of the Blackflame Empire. He is kept from consuming the humans by the deterrent of the Akura clan, whose Matriarch is one of the few beings on the planet he respects. Northstrider gathers power in the hopes that he will one day be able to challenge this particular dragon.

Questioner

When it is said that Northstrider drains a dragon of their latent authority, is that just authority associated with his dragon icon, or is it just a neutral flavor of authority?

Will Wight

No, it's dragon icon.  So it's dragon icon authority.  Dragons are multi-iteration representations of strength and power, all sorts of stuuf, elemental control, all that kind of thing.  And therefore, when he drains them, he expands his authority and his connection to the dragon icon.

SomeWhoCallMe... Tim

So a presence isn't exactly what Northstrider was trying to make, then?

Will Wight

A Presence is what he was trying to make, but he didn't entirely understand what it was or how to make one. He's fumbling in the dark. So he has focused on the capacity of the Presence more than its nature. He would think of it as a failed product even if he encountered Dross directly, because Dross doesn't have the limitless store of knowledge or processing capacity of one of the Abidan Presences.

PlaceboJesus

[Emriss] may actually be saddened by the state of the world, but I think a certain part of that "sadness" is the mask she's been wearing while she waited for an opportunity like this one. To put it to a whole class of self-absorbed murdering bastards.

Will Wight

”I don’t forget anything,” she said sadly.

I don’t see her sadness as a facade at all. She’s sad because she’s thinking back over everything she remembers from her long history and ruminating on how nothing fundamental has changed.

She doesn’t take Northstrider’s threat to heart at all, because she’s always been conscious of the threat the other Monarchs can pose. Him outright threatening her doesn’t change anything for her.

That is certainly not mutually exclusive with anger.

OjoGrande

In the scene prior to Sophara's semi final round, when she is reviewing her prizes she expresses disgust that Ghostwater is a product of Northstrider.

How the hell could she not have known this?

Will Wight

It’s mentioned in Wintersteel that she bought that drop of ghostwater. The Herald she bought it from knew where it came from.

Bamfious

Who has ascended to Monarch fastest without inheriting the power? How long did it take them and what’s their story?

Will Wight

yeah see that's still a great question, its just its another one of those things that its hard for me to answer, i really should do the research on this question and actually answer you cos you've asked me several times. So who ascended to monarch the fastest... that's a difficult question for me to answer, because i actually went back and looked over, this is kinda cool, i went back and did a timeline of all the living monarchs now, the 8 monarchs who are currently on - 7 monarchs who are still currently on Cradle. And so I have a good timeline for Northstrider, and Akura Malice and people like that, but i don't have, yeah i'd have to look it up, i'd have to partially look it up partially make it up. So i could make it an answer right now, but i'm afraid that it its going to contradict something else i'll say later. So that's why its tricky for me, so i apologise i really do wanna answer this question, I will eventually, I'm gonna make it happen. Its actually seven, seven are left.

Rhys

1. You mentioned that the blackflame emporer was the level above under lord. How much higher were the proper black fame family? 2. How big is the ninecloud court, compared to the blackflame empire now and at its height. 3. Were any of the dragons at the peak of the cultivation of cradle I.e like northstrider or Shia miara4. Who would win a war between ninecloud court of today and the blackflame empire of the dragons5. Finally has the loss of the blackflame family resulted in a reduction of territory? Have other states taken land from them now there is no longer a blackflame cultivator to be afraid of?

Will Wight

1.) Can't tell you, spoilers.2.) Can't tell you, spoilers.3.) No.4.) The Ninecloud Court of today. The Ninecloud Court existed back during this dragon empire, and they outlived it for a reason.

5.) Yes! Partially because Blackflame cultivators were scary death-weapons that are now gone, lending boldness to the border-states, and partially because the clans are still (fifty years later) pushing and testing the new Imperial clan, trying to get as much autonomy as possible. It's resulting in weaker borders due to a lack of cooperation.

However, the Naru clan are much better administrators than the Blackflames ever were, and the life of the average citizen in the Empire has improved over the last few decades.

The highest levels of the Ninecloud Court (like Luminous Queen Sha Miara) are on the same tier as the Dreadgods. They are capable of evaporating seas and obliterating nations singlehandedly.The dragons of the Blackflame Empire were scary, but not THAT scary.

Questioner

What current Monarch is connected to the most Icons?

Will Wight

Ah, man. I have the answer for this. I want to say its Northstrider. That's what I want to say, I'm not certain about that. I think the oldest remaining Monarch is

Will's brother

Lil' Blue.

Will Wight

Is Lil' Blue, but the second oldest is Emriss Silentborn and she only has a couple of Icons. Her connection to them is just very thorough.

Questioner

Portals - Some are tinged blue because of the Way and others with the user's madra. Why?

Will Wight

So, the question is, some portals are blue because they go through the way, and other portals look like the users madra.  There's a more nuanced answer to this question.  I don't know how much I can go into without getting super weirdly technical.  But it's almost a, it's sort of a style, a method of transportation.  So there are people like Charity, who exercise their authority by going through the medium of their techniques.  They use their madra to move through the Way.  There is also a difference between short range teleportation and long range teleportation.  And others tear open the Way directly and walk through.  So someone like Northstrider could do whichever of those he felt was most appropriate.  And then there are pros and cons to each approach.  There are also others that mask what they are doing in their madra.  So it looks like they are teleporting you through a technique, but in reality they are just opening the Way and taking you through.  So one of the constants of that, is unless you are deliberately masked somehow, you are always going to notice the Way if you are going a longer distance.  Even when its used through a technique.  If you are not being teleported that far, relatively speaking, you might not be able to perceive the blue fabric of the Way.

Taylor

I meant favorite character in Cradle as a whole.

Will Wight

You're probably following up on another question, but I'm going to answer that half of the question. Yikes. I'm a fan of a lot of them. I'm a fan of Fury, I'm a fan of Eithan. I really like Emriss Silentborn. I really like Malice, Malice is cool. I like all of the powerful people, they're fun to write. Northstrider's fun. I enjoy most of them, that's why I write them that way. 

It's Mu Enkai, nevermind, that was the correct answer. It's Mu Enkai, the guy from the prologue of Cradle 5, he's obviously my favorite character and I don't know why you even needed to ask.

Questioner

The Emperor is way more powerful than a lot of people on the blog give him credit for!

How about him vs. Northstrider or any of those guys Suriel showed Lindon at the beginning of Unsouled. Actually I believe The Emperor would kick any of their butts one on one. How about The Emperor vs. the three strongest people on the planet Cradle? Besides Suriel because she is not a resident of Cradle.

Basically is anyone on Cradle on par with The Elders, or could The Emperor handily destroy anyone on Cradle?

Will Wight

Their powers work differently, but no, the Emperor would not be one of the strongest people on Cradle. The reason the Abidan value Cradle is because it nurtures and produces extremely powerful individuals.

A fight against Yerin's master would be pretty even. Depends on the circumstances at that point, like how well-armed the Emperor is and how seriously the Sword Sage takes the fight from the very beginning.

rawlsrorty

Why is Akura Malice So Passive in Uncrowned?

First, I’d like to say that I love this series. I even loved Uncrowned (Akura Justice’s interactions with Lindon were worth the price of admission).

That said, I don’t understand why Malice acted the way she did. We hear, again and again, from Charity, that the stakes of the Uncrowned tournament are very high for the Akura. They have to do well because they have enemies encroaching from every corner.

Then, the dragon faction proceed to kill an entire vassal team of hers, forcing the Akura to embarrassingly put in a backup team from their own family. Another vassal team has their transportation sabotaged -again by her greatest enemies- and she does nothing. Then, the one monarch who should be a logical ally of hers makes a last minute decision that certainly looks like it’s screwing over her faction. And again, she does nothing.

I find Malice’s behavior in Uncrowned even more inexplicable than Northstrider’s. Either she’s playing 17-dimensional chess, or she’s much weaker than the other monarchs and so is afraid to stand up to them even when they blatantly provoke her.

Will Wight

It’s political. In the sense that she and the other Monarchs are constantly jockeying against each other to try and get one up on each other without provoking anyone into a fight.

I originally intended for there to be 2-3 scenes of the Monarchs interacting over the course of Uncrowned in order to explain what was going on from their perspective, but I cut it because I’m already introducing a ton of new characters and names in the book and didn’t want to throw in a bunch more character introductions.

As for why she didn’t just teleport them there, at this point in the series we haven’t seen anyone teleport anyone else between continents. The Arelius portals do it once every ten years, which requires a permanent portal network, and until the last time they actually had an active Monarch.

Charity borrows Malice’s power to teleport a bunch of people across a long distance on the same continent, and she spends time and resources setting that up.

(I intend to include the Monarch scenes in the next book because I’m going lighter on the new characters this time.)

SirMisterGuyMan

Lindon seemed like he screwed up but somehow Malice and NS accept this as a victory.

Will Wight

That’s why Northstrider is initially furious. Lindon ruined their chance to fight and helped Shen run away.

The Monarchs treat it like a victory when they realize that teleporting RS away means Lindon has permanent control of the labyrinth, and since Malice and NS consider him a loyal asset, that means THEY have control of an ancient globe-spanning repository of power and knowledge.

Until the end of the book, when they realize Lindon’s not quite as under control as they thought.

Questioner

Underlords vs. Underlord+

Will Wight

The Sword Sage and Li Markuth are both roughly two stages above Underlord.

The three entities listed by Suriel as the top of the Cradle food chain are FIVE stages above Underlord, including one big leap (like the difference between Truegold and Underlord, it's only one stage, but it's a big one). The Dreadgods are a threat on THEIR level--and notice that Suriel said the 8-Man Empire, Sha Miara, and Northstrider could save Sacred Valley from them. She didn't say they could destroy the Dreadgods.

The BF Emperor is the one person in the Empire who is a level over Underlord.

The EE Emperor is about his level, although since they're using different magic systems, it's less about stages and more about what they can and can't do to counter one another.

Questioner

What is your favorite power set you have created for your characters in the books?

Will Wight

Favorite power set? Hm. I don't know what do you guys think? Have a thought?

Will's brother (offscreen)

Power set? For any of the characters?

Will Wight

Yeah.

Will's brother (offscreen)

I don't know. I really enjoy watching Northstrider fight but I'm all about that shit.

Will Wight

That's fair. That's fair. I think it's probably got to be Lindon. I think he's got a very flexible power set.

Will's brother (offscreen)

First time Simon puts on the mask! BOY~!

Will Wight

That's true. That is a good point. I do like the Valenhall power set that one's fun. And I think it's got a lot of inherent limitations that I like that work with the system.

Questioner

I love Ziel's power set.

Will Wight

I loved Ziel's power set. Like I had a couple of ideas that I really wanted because they were just power sets that I liked. It wasn't something that, ugh, now his power sets fun, it's kind of neat. You get to work some scripting a little bit, you get to work some forge manipulation a little bit. I still like it but it's not the thing that popped into my head first when you asked me for my favorite.

Questioner

Was Northstrider originally a fish species?

Will Wight

He was not. At no point was he anything but human.

Cash4Golda

Was the icy location where Northstrider killed the huge dragon at the end of GW on the Iceflower Continent? What kind of dragon and level was it? 

Will Wight

It was on the ice flower continent if i recall correctly, and what level was it? I am not at liberty to discuss that, because it may or may not come up.