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Questioner

What path do professional sex workers follow? Are they in a house and ranked like the janitors?

Will Wight

Prostitutes often follow dream Paths, because dream madra can be used to alter appearances, induce emotions, and even find potential customers. In the Blackflame Empire, they are of course ranked. Everything is ranked. The top brothel is The Court of Roses, which caters to members of the royal family and influential clan leaders. The number one courtesan in the Court of Roses is Haru Mei, a woman on the Path of Twining Vines. She cycles aura of life and dreams, in a strange combination that helps her sense what others are feeling and manipulate those sensations.

Questioner

Where did you get the idea for Cradle?

Will Wight

It was really just I was reading a lot of cultivation novels that are mostly Chinese, but then I was also reading a lot of Korean martial arts web comics, so there's a lot of shared mythology there. So that was kind of where I was... that idea started percolating, and I was going to do it as a web serial, just on the website on my blog, at a couple of chapters a week to get some traffic to cover up the gap between writing Kings and Killers. And then I ended up doing the short stories instead, so then I bound the chapters I had left together and turned them into Unsouled, and then I... that took off, far more than Elder Empire ever had, so I pursued Cradle. So that's the long and the short of Cradle.

Questioner

Who does all of the farming in Cradle? In a society so focused on martial martial abilities. Who would waste time on farming? We know the population of Cradle is many times greater then Earth. So tens of billion of people need to eat. The only real solution I could think of is if there are Paths that happen to both greatly help agriculture and has combat potential. Or as we saw in book two slavery.

Will Wight

There are Paths that are used for agriculture and irrigation, they're just usually low-key. There's a (very) brief reference in Blackflame to the Redflower family, who are in charge of feeding the Empire. By law, they are neutral in every conflict, and anybody who starts a fight with them or tries to pressure them will soon regret it.

Questioner

You've stated in the past that you include secret bunkers in your settings In the case of an unexpected isekai, where's the one on cradle and what's inside? 

Just in case.

Will Wight

Well, I can't tell you the secret bunker because then if we both got isekai’d there, we would both have access to it. 

I want to also point out that it only responds to my authorization code, so even if you were there, you couldn't open it but, 

I have left secret......but what they're referring to is that what I do is I designed in my setting books for each one of my settings, I design some sort of vault that only I can open in the case that - in the very likely case that I ever did isekai’d - as in “banished” to my own fantasy reality. 

So if some sort of omnipotent dimensional entity makes my setting real and puts me in it, I've already outsmarted them by including secret cheat codes. 

It's like a like a little backdoor cheat. 

So for cradle, because cradle is so big, I have a number of vaults spread around. 

I've got one in Sacred Valley and then I have several under the control of the different monarchs so that if I really needed access to it, I could summon one of the monarchs by being within their territory and saying their name a bunch and then I would have The authorization code to access it and I have all sorts of cheat codes that would help it make it easier to advance and pads that would and iron bodies and stuff that would be easy to acquire and would make my life on cradle easy because I'm not here for an adventure. 

I'm here to stay alive, so that is my answer. 

In elder empire I have vaults in several major cities on file with the consultants guild, so all I would have to do is go into a branch of chapter House of the consultant skill, then tell them my name and they have a file for me. 

So I just want you to know in case you were planning on banishing me to another dimension, that I'm already prepared. 

Case anybody was considering that? 

Unless it's not something I wrote, in which case, I’m screwed 

OtherAndrew

Will you directly deal with the Abidan in your other series?

Will Wight

In Elder Empire, yes. In Traveler's Gate? ...maybe.

Will Wight (in progress)

The topic that I really wanted to talk about tonight, in the sense that I wanted to talk about any particular topic in mind, is that Dreadgod is my twentieth book.  Which is crazy.  That's just a lot of books.  So it's eleven books in this series, 3 books in Traveler's Gate Trilogy ('cause it's a trilogy,) and then six books in Elder Empire.  So this book number twenty.  We are having out twentieth book come out.  I was talking before hand about things that I could talk about on stream, and they were going, "Do you have stories from the books?"  What I thought, was I could do a really quick, rapid fire version, where I gave you whatever, just the first memory I have, just really quickly, just the first memory I have of writing each book.  In all twenty books.  In all of my series.  So I'm going to go through them all; I'm going to tell you twenty stories, real quick.  About whatever the first memory, I've not rehearsed this, this is something a just thought to do a few minutes ago, so I'm going to give you whatever story pops off my head for each book.  It's going to be about the writing of the book, or where I was, or what I was doing, or any of that.  Ok.

So, obviously House of Blades is the first one.  And when I think of writing House of Blades, the number one thing that comes to my mind is we were in Roan Mountain.  Roan Mountain, which is a park here in the US, and we're camping, and we're at a stone table, that is covered in moss.  And I have set my laptop up, and I'm wearing a camp chair, and I've set my laptop up on the table, and I'm writing notes.  Which rooms have which swords, and which advisors go with the swords.  So that's the strongest memory for me from House of Blades.  That's what I was doing.

Then, Crimson Vault, which was only two months later, we went back camping, because obviously that worked for the first one, but this time we were getting cabins.  So I remember sitting in a cabin, because we could afford it, with House of Blades money, so I remember sitting in a cabin, and thinking over them, and trying to figure out the scene where we went on this montage over the Overlords of Damasca, and how they were reacting to the hanging tree; reacting in Crimson Vault to Valin breaking free.  So that's the strongest memory for me from that one.

For City of Light, the strongest memory I 

Anon

1) Does Yerin ever get a Dragon fang? Would she even want one?2) Did the Sword sage pick Yerin because of her unwelcome guest?2.1) Is there a flaw in the path that the sage practiced? I.E. the build up of toxins in the type of Iron Body he prefers (he was constantly taking elixirs and medicines to purify himself right?) Would the full mastered guest solve the problem and allow Yerin to go beyond where the sage saw himself being able?3) Was Ethan involved in any way with the regime change in the Blackflame empire?4) Does Ethan use some form of the OODA Decision Loop? Or something like it? Where did he learn it? I'm asking this one because of the nature of his abilities and the inverse relationship between amounts data and actual actions.5) Why are the parts of the Multiverse (Willverse) controlled by Abadon under siege?5.1) Why can't the Way fix it?6) Do cultivators from cradle eventually reach the point where they no longer need to eat and drink / sleep? 7) Will any of the characters we have met besides Lindon split their cores? Will we meet other multi core cultivators in the future?Will, some of this is probably too spoilery. It's fun to ask anyway. I like the world you are building and the people you have living in it. 

Will Wight

1.) Normally I don't answer questions about the future, but no, Yerin will not get a Dragon's Fang. I'm not planning an elaborate Cradle / Traveler's Gate crossover.2.) Can't tell you, spoilers.3.) No, it happened fifty years ago.4.) In...a way, sure, because everybody does. The OODA Loop is a method of breaking down the decision-making process. In a way, we all use it.5.) Can't tell you, spoilers.6.) Sort of, yes.7.) Yes.

Questioner

Are there banks and interest rates in Cradle?

Will Wight

Yes, there are! There is a banking system and a financial system in most major empires, especially those that are backed by Monarchs or other factions. So yes, they are established.

Questioner

what is a Cradle calendar like? I know that time basically works the same as here i.e. a day is 24 hours and a week is 7 days, but do the people on cradle count the days the same way as the do in travellers by counting the number of days to big days of each season? do they even have four season or is it more of a wet/dry season than winter/spring ect.

How many moons does cradle have? how many other planets are there in cradle's solar system?

Will Wight

Cradle has one moon, and it appears larger in the night sky than ours does. It's pocked with scars not just from ancient meteor showers, but also from the sacred arts techniques that have struck it over the millennia.

I haven't brought up the calendar in the main series because it changes so often. Sacred Valley had a calendar, the Desolate Wilds had a calendar, the Blackflame Empire has an official calendar and several more colloquial ones, and so on.

In order to keep it consistent in each region, I personally use a calendar based on year and season. That's not what they use in the world, though.

u/SayLessThanYouKnow

[Cradle] is sincere but doesn't take itself too seriously

Will Wight

Well said. And thanks!

That’s definitely how I think of it. Sincerity is higher priority to me than taking the world seriously.

On the one hand, I do take the characters seriously and I want them to live meaningful lives and grapple with sincere struggles.

On the other hand, I’m very aware that this is a series about punching Godzilla in the face.

u/aboredgoat

So many series struggle with that concept. Either they have every instant be incredibly dire and epic and they just pound the reader with maximized stakes until they’re numb, or they turn everything into a joke and are unable to stay serious for more than a sentence, which kills the stakes entirely and makes the reader not care about the characters. Will strikes a good balance in Cradle. IMO, his earlier works were too far on the dire side.

Will Wight

Yeah, I feel like a lot of times sincerity is compromised by taking a series too seriously. There’s some integrity in the realization that “At the end of the day, this story is fantastical and ridiculous,” but at the same time, fantastical and ridiculous stories can still have real emotional impact.

IMO, his earlier works were too far on the dire side.

Funny enough, I agree, but I’d say it was for lack of ability, not lack of intention.

Early on, I thought the inflated over-the-top ridiculousness of the setting was enough to signal to the reader “Don’t take this too seriously.”

Simon’s carrying a doll and swinging a sword bigger than he is. Elder Empire is pirates versus ninjas versus Cthulhu.

But within the world, the characters take it seriously because of course they do. It’s not ridiculous to them, it’s real life.

That isn’t enough for someone reading fiction, though, because so often stories DO want you to take them 100% seriously. And I slowly realized that over a few years and adjusted how I presented them.

If I were to re-write my earlier books, basically through Soulsmith, I’d highlight the inherent humor a little more. Not necessarily ramping up the one-liners, but some more beats where I signal to the reader that THEY aren’t supposed to take this as dire and brooding even if the characters do.

Like Simon tripping over his cloak, Shera treating murder missions as the humdrum status quo, and so on.

For one thing, I could have exaggerated how overly stiff and formal Sacred Valley people are compared to outsiders.

RMvice

Was elder whisper a witness to the end of the first blackflame empire

Will Wight

Possibly.

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.

Will Wight

I'm glad you enjoy them! They're fun for me too, they just take a long time due to sheer volume.

I find it easier to be imaginative within constraints. So when someone asks me "What's the Cradle equivalent of a piano?" I tell myself that I have to give them a satisfying answer. I can't just say "There is none," or "It's a piano," unless there's a story reason to do so. I have to actually invent a Cradle piano.

Which is fun. It makes me consider avenues of the worlds that I hadn't considered.As for your trying to be imaginative, it's not like my systems are the most original magic systems ever designed. I just give myself permission to have fun with it.

I start with what general kind of magic I want the people to use. For Traveler's Gate, I started with the idea of an extradimensional mansion where you went for martial training. I knew I wanted the House to exist, so then I built a world where extradimensional training grounds were commonplace.

For Elder Empire, I started by knowing that I wanted a world where significant objects held automatic power through their significance. Excalibur wielded by King Arthur would have automatic power BECAUSE it was Excalibur and BECAUSE it was King Arthur's sword. Then I worked out from there.You can do that too. And there's nothing wrong with using principles from known magic systems; madra is basically just elemental mana.

My main weakness is that I throw in everything but the kitchen sink. Every idea I can think of goes in. There are more Territories than necessary, for instance. Too many Guilds. Reading, Awakening, Soulbound, etc. are more complicated than they need to be, and could probably be separated into two systems. Vital aura is essentially elemental energy, but by trying to integrate it into the madra system I accidentally made it muddy and unclear.

No approach is perfect, but I like mine because it's fun. My magic systems might be too unintuitive or complicated, but they're colorful and fun. That's my priority over a logical, fully hammered-out, and ultimately simpler system.Of course, the Holy Grail is a simple, intuitive system that nonetheless fires your imagination and can be used to create as many fun and colorful situations as you want. And toward that distant goal, we all strive.

Questioner

Did the Emperor from Elder Empire have any authority?

Will Wight

I really wanted to answer that in the literal sense in that yes, he did have authority; he was the ruler of the world. But I know what you're asking and I'd say yes. Yes he did.

Tim

Will, what does the Eight-Man-Empire, when they have conquered a country. Do they just take a of food and gold and move on, therefore simply going through the effort simply to show that they CAN conquer a whole country.OR, do they take as much as they can manage to carry?

Will Wight

I hope to show them in action at some point, Tim, so I don't want to give too much away about how they operate.

I will say that they almost always have a specific target. They're going after a person, place, or thing that they want.

Garbagiel the Raccoon

1. If reaching copper allows you to see the madra around you, what would a copper see in the worlds of House of Blades or Elder Empire?

2. With a mixture of madra and intent, could someone create an invested or awakened object that followed a path?

3. During his travels, did Valin get mocked a lot for his nye cloak?

4. You mentioned that it is very difficult to awaken a gun, but how difficult would it be to create a gun/gunpowder based path?

Will Wight

1.) Nothing. Copper's change allows you to see aura, which (for the most part) only exists in Cradle.

2.) If a Reader and a Soulsmith joined forces, they would be able to create some crazy self-aware objects, yes.

3.) He didn't wear one.

4.) Unnecessary. Why would you need chemical accelerant when you can launch projectiles with your mind?

Questioner

How many books do you think Cradle will have?

Will Wight

I think 12. I said that recently on the subreddit. Which I fully understand, not everyone looks at the subreddit, so why would you know that? But I recently decided there is going to 12 for a couple of reasons. One is cradle is not structured in trilogies, but that's four trilogies. That's enough content. Secondly, it's a good length and I think that's about when I want them to reach an endpoint. That feels right to me, I think I can do the stuff I want to do in five more novels. After that there might be a spin-off or a continuation. Who knows? I would like to do some new stuff, because I just love doing new stuff. One of the things I like the most is coming up with new ideas, I just love doing that, and I don't get to do that a lot when I'm working on one series. That is something I'm looking forward to, and I also would like to go back to Traveler's Gate, it's been a long time. But of course, Elder Empire first.

OrgnlDave

With people being divided over the characters...       Which book you choose first is 50/50       In a book that combined the two stories, if you read for a while and it switched POVs to one you liked, you could get into it       But you're stuck with a bad taste in your mouth if you didn't like the one you randomly picked and probably won't try the other

Will Wight

Yeah, I’d have no problem believing that, but it doesn’t seem like a ton of people tried one and not the other. I’m not trying to figure out why people didn’t like Elder Empire—because by and large they did, at least in comparison to my other series—but why they didn’t try it in the first place.       I have some operating theories, but idk if I’ll ever know.

Nick Fuller

You said it on some podcast that it was twice as many books from more than double the amount of work. If you could do the series over again, would you approach it differently? 

Will Wight

Yeah, so one thing I would do is, we think the main deal with Elder Empire is, the concept is not super clear. So, I would clarify that. I think one thing that hurts that is, the titles, which I think are super fun, but they don't communicate the concept really that well; and they're hard to remember. So, it's, there's a lot of presentation things that we would change, I probably would, the thing is I probably wouldn't do, I would probably do a different concept; but it's hard to say that because I'm glad I did it, once, it was cool, it was a good experience. I grew as a writer, I learned a lot. Now I would do that, but I would only do that now with the benefit of hind sight, so if I really went back in time I would probably do the same thing. So... It's really the dual book structure thats not clear. 

Patrick Cannon

What's not clear about pirates vs ninjas...?

Will Wight

It's the dual novel structure that's not clear, why is it two novels? What is the structure, what are the flash backs? It's not clear. So I would clarify that more; but I did say before it is twice as many books for more than double the amount of work, yeah it, it look. Writing two books would be easier than writing two books in parallel; because two books in parallel you have to be extremely clear and exacting on where everything is at each time. Plus, they both have to be structured in relation to one another and also independently. So they have to work on a structural level, as themselves, and in relation to the other story. As you can imagine, that's hard; because you have to have characters, both characters pushing their story line forward in a way that interacts with the other, but in a way that's also satisfying on its own. It's very very difficult to do. So, that was a challenge that I took on. Some people have in the past been like, 'ah, yeah, you did that so you could get two pieces of income, for essentially the same book.' Uh, no. That, that's kind of the opposite of what happened; and it is really, I would have made way more money had I just written six books 1 2 3 4 5 6, instead of two at a time. So yeah. It would have been way easier. 

Questioner

Time-wise, does Lindon's adventure occur before, after or simultaneously to Simon's?

Will Wight

Traveler's Gate takes place slightly before Cradle, and Elder Empire takes place after Cradle (or at least after where Cradle is now). I don't want to lock myself into anything more specific than that.