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Charles Shumway

What would happen if a person who had two Territories pulled on both hard enough to incarnate at the exact same time, would they die a gruesome death, or would the territories be linked? Also how does someone ascend from this world?

Will Wight

Would they die a gruesome death? Probably. Would the two Territories be linked? No, they would not get linked, they would, they might become an incarnation of both, that would be a weirdo hybrid thing, that could happen; but most likely they would just die. How does one ascend from this world? It's in between Territories, so Territory, obviously spacial travel, there's a lot of weird spacial stuff happening in Amalgam, which is the Traveller's Gate world. So there are a lot of ways where you could go from a Territory and be like a back way out, where you would get lost between worlds. That's the kind of thing where you would do, it's less ascending like it is in Cradle in terms of you have transcended this plane of existence, more or getting lost and stumbling out. In terms of if you were to ascend from Amalgam, in terms of becoming that great, you would basically just have to become the greatest Traveller of all time. 

Captain Nemo

Ok, so this is kind of related to answer 1). In the death match short story with the emperor and the incarnations, the emperor saw the incarnations' power as intent. Was this just something you allowed for the death match, or are Amalgam and Asylum's powers similar enough to be "compatible"?

Will Wight

Hjorth

How often does someone from Amalgam or Asylum join the abidan?

Will Wight

From Asylum? Never. From Amalgam? Very rarely.

chill-cheif

Can all territories grow in power like valinhall. And how powerful is Simon overall compared to the rest of amalgam?

Will Wight

All Territories can grow in power, yes!

Compared to the rest of Amalgam, Simon is extremely powerful for a short period of time. One of the most powerful active participants in the world.

Devin

Do the inhabitants of the territories fit the definition of human? The ape from Lirial (whose name escapes me), the Avernus bird-men, the Nye, Marakos/the gnomes from Elysia, the lizard creatures from Naraka Kai kills? Or are those humans who were affected by the time they spent on a fragment drifting through the void?

Follow up. Assuming that the Territories are fragments that haven't fully combined with the Traveler's Gate World, what happens to travelers when the territories do fully combine?

Will Wight

They do count, but not fully. They're either humans who were warped by their time in a fragment or the descendants of humans like that. OR they could be non-humans that achieved sentience and became more human.

Either way, they count, just not as much as a full human would. Just like how Valinhall held together for a long time without humans in it regularly--it was populated by the Nye and a bunch of other sentient beings, but humans are a much better anchor (so to speak).

The Traveler's Gate world, Amalgam, is unique in that it has formed a stable relationship with the fragments "orbiting" it. The Way between the main world and the fragmentary worlds is thin, so their realities tend to bleed together (showing up primarily as natural Gates--randomly occurring portals to a Territory that weren't created by a Traveler).

However, normally when one world bleeds into another, the bleeding gets faster and faster until they collide. Like what happened with Limit and Harrow, the two worlds that Suriel is trying to euthanize.

Amalgam is unique because it has formed an equilibrium with its extra fragments. They're free to exist and grow without accelerating into existential destruction.

Skeletickles

This might be a little too spoiler-y, but I believe you've mentioned before that we haven't seen the most powerful beings in Amalgam. Is the Old Man who appears in the Ragnarus short story one of those beings? Also, is he Ragnarus' Founder?

Will Wight

Take this with a big pile of salt, as I haven't gone back to my Traveler's Gate notes in many moons, but I do believe I was referring to the true Founders of the other Territories. Of which the Old Man is one.

Captain Nemo

The posts on the Abdian were a great idea! I really like how you've fleshed out the common denominator among the magic systems a bit more. 

I am curious, though, about the specific ways that each magic system relates to the Way. I think you said that the territories were connected to Amalgam and that travelers could enter them through a connection to the Way (more or less). How do intent and aura/madra relate to the Way?

Will Wight

They don't really, at least not in the way you're asking.

You know how each room in Valinhall has some of its own unique rules and powers, kind of like a mini-Territory each? That's because it's stitched together from small fragments, and each fragment has its own different magic.

So every world has a unique magic system. These are the powers of the Iterations themselves, not the powers of the Way.

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."

Questioner

Are scripts some form of universal language or just Cradle oriented? Are there similar things in Amalgam or Asylum?

Will Wight

Scripting is unique to Cradle, but other worlds have similar systems for guiding, shaping, or controlling their native energy.

dyring

Will Wight

Yes!

LucasRuby

How's stuff going with the books?

How many iterations has the coronavirus spread to so far?

By the way, could a Sage travel to another world, like say from Cradle to Amalgam? If not, someone above?

Will Wight

The books have been slowed by almost a month because of my neck injury, which is really annoying because I was way ahead of schedule before that. Alas.

Could a Sage travel to another world? Potentially they could, but they would be intercepted by Sector 11 Abidan first and subjected to a bunch of rules before they were allowed to do so.

The coronavirus is the corruption Suriel speaks of.

Diego

1.) Are humans from each iteration biologically diffrent? (I asked this in the previous post)2.)Easy to deduce Amalgam is Simons World but i find it weird no myths of people ascending exist in this world and as well as in Asylum. (The emperor was the closest we got to an immortal there)

Will Wight

1.) They may be biologically different in some ways, but essentially no. Not in the Iterations we've seen, anyway.

2.) That's why Cradle is unique. The magic systems of the others don't naturally lead to someone ascending beyond the world.Especially not in Asylum. The Emperor had even a slight knowledge of the Abidan because he was such an exception to the rule; Asylum was specifically designed to be extraordinarily difficult to leave.

Emeraldreader

Is it possible for someone to steal a pocket world like Ghostwater and add it onto Valinhall or as another Territory to Amalgam?

Will Wight

Yes, that is possible.

Decadakon

Does creating a territory require using a way? Does this mean valin can access the way and is an amalgam equivalent of a sage?

Will Wight

Creating a Territory does involve using the Way in a sense, but not as directly as Suriel, for instance, does it.

TristanLN

Can people at the peak of their progression on Amalgam manifest their Territory on the physical world? Similar to how Incarnations are able to

Will Wight

There are ways to learn abilities like that, yes! But it's not like every advanced Helgard Traveler can turn dust to snow, for instance.

Adarsh

So I know that what Li Markuth did was a violation of Fate, but would it also be a violation of fate if in some super high-tech world some scientists accidentally create a breach between iterations and wind up on Cradle or Amalgam? OR does it only count if it was your own personal power?

Will Wight

No, that would absolutely count. In fact, something like that is usually what happens.

Tacroy

Huh but then at what point does something become a violation of Fate?

Will Wight

Whenever it becomes a violation of Fate.

Seriously, you have to look and see where Fate is headed in order to know whether something is a violation or not.

There are some clear-cut infractions, like when ANYTHING from one world crosses over into another. That's two worlds that were never supposed to interact, and they're interacting.

But for the most part, it's very situational.

However, within a single world, you can't ACCIDENTALLY violate Fate. You have to be intentionally working against the forces of the rules, like trying to make yourself immortal, or tampering with time, etc.

Riley

Wait... if anything moving from one iteration to another is a violation, then how does one ascend from their world? Is that an exception to the rule since Sanctum has knowledge of the Way, the Abidan, and other iterations?

Will Wight

If everything goes to plan, we'll eventually get to see the ascension process firsthand! All those questions will be answered in time.

Turbulent Swordfish

Will Wight

Sacred artist feels like the correct answer, but at the same time then you’d have to live in Cradle and are at the most risk of death.

In Asylum, you’d never ascend, but you also don’t really have to, can get a good job as a Reader, and have widely available modern conveniences.

In Amalgam, it depends strongly on where you are and what Territory you Travel. A lot of them are relatively safe as long as you’re not doing dangerous missions or recklessly trying to get stronger. The average Helgard or Avernus Traveler lives a pretty chill life, but it’s still a more-or-less medieval world.

I would choose sacred artist, though. I know the location of Abidan artifacts that I’ve kept secret from the books and I can parlay them into a trip off-world. Cya, suckers, I’m off to get killed by Vroshir.

Wait…

Bloopblop497

Interesting, I had thought that this applied to us having the abilities on EARTH. Like we are the only ones with access tot he magic system. I chose reader, cuz I figured a sacred artists powers would pretty much help me for sports, war, and getting tested on by governments. I could lay low while still using magic if I was a reader :)

Will Wight

On Earth, I’d be a Reader no question.

It’s the safest and easiest. No Elders, psychometry is a useful power, and if I end up being able to Awaken invested objects then I’m the only person able to create magic artifacts.

Win-win.

Definitely Not Will Wight

When you inevitably write Traveller's Blade, as an Akura Harmony, an Amalgam spin off series, how many Oreos will you eat during the production of the first chapter?

Will Wight

You're in my mind. Let's see, I would say about a quarter of a package.

Questioner

Do any of the Iterations have standard holidays?

Will Wight

Yeah.  Yeah, first of all, the iterations, they all have some kind of standard holiday.  But one of the reason I did the Traveler's Gate short stories a few years ago, I did them around the holidays, is that Amalgam, the Traveler's Gate world, has a seasonal calendar.  At least Damasca does.  So therefore, the turning of the seasons is always marked by a holiday.  And I did that both so you could have a sense of time that was sort of memorable, and so I could make a time line really clear.  But that means they have a winter holiday.  They have a spring holiday.  They a fall holiday and a summer holiday.  Everything kind of revolves around those.  So the have a lot of seasonal holidays. 

So if this person is asking if there are any cross-iteration holidays, not sure.  I think seasonal holidays tend to be, most cultures have seasonal holidays.  So I would suspect, and this is probably how I would work in a holiday series, I would suspect there would be some sort of resonance in the Way, because it's such a commonly held concept.  So there would be some icon, so to speak, that would be reflective of what fall is, and what a fall holiday is, so you would end up getting some sort of blend between Halloween and Thanksgiving, that is almost a universal holiday, then there would be one of those for each season.  So that is probably the way I would do it.  (responding to chat)  The Santa icon.  Yes, that would be what it is.  It would be something like the winter, I mean you wouldn't, there wouldn't be a name for it.  It's not like an icon you manifest.  It's just a concept in the way.

Mahfuz

Also, Valinhall is a relatively new fragment that joined with Amalgam and was molded to Valin's will, right? If that's true then were all the other territories molded to someone or something so that they could become stable? Is that what the original founders were?

Will Wight

And yes, that's what Founders are. The person whose will shapes the Territory to the greatest degree. Valinhall is still young and malleable, and most of the other Territories are way more stable, so they don't need a Founder anymore.Valinhall does because it's still, to some degree, in the process of being formed.