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Questioner

What's the best Mexican or Tex-mex meal you've ever eaten?

Will Wight

Well, one time I was driving late at night, and I ran out of gas.  And it was one of those, it was dark, so it was one of those roads that there was forest to either side, just trees, so it's kind of like a road, like you're driving down in a nightmare.  And I broke down, and I'm like oh, crap.  So I'm pulling out my phone and I'm trying to figure out where I'm going.  And I start walking to the nearest gas station I can find on Google maps, and I end up next to a, it really looked like an aluminum siding sort of barn, and it just had a neon sign up, that just said Jeff's.  It didn't say Jeff's Mexican food, it just said Jeff's.  And I went inside, and it was a Tex-Mex place.  And it was just, I mean I still, I tried to find it later, and I just couldn't.  I have no idea where I was and I couldn't find it.  Couldn't find it under Jeff's, couldn't find it under Jeff's tacos, whatever.  And they had just the freshest, just the freshest beef I have ever had.  I'm pretty sure they kept cows out back.  And we just had the best burritos and the best couple of tacos I ever had.  And Jeff was  really cool.  Jeff was a chill guy.  I was the only one there so he just sat there and chatted with me the whole time.

Questioner

If Urg'naut was set loose on a dying Iteration, would he be able to destroy it as thoroughly as Ozriel?

Will Wight

Probably, yeah. If he was put into an Iteration that was dying, would be be able to just obliterate everything, yeah probably. That would be within his powers. But the problem is, you can't control him, so you couldn't even consistently get him to do that. So even if you could move him around and put him in different Iterations, what he would be doing is constantly working toward a goal, eliminating the Abidan and their organisation and other living Iterations. He also is less interested in destroying already dying Iterations, because they're already dying, they're good, he approves, they're on their way! So that would be the difference.

Questioner

What kind of writing schedule do you keep?  Do you keep to a 9-5 or do you brainstorm when inspired?

Will Wight

Neither.  I touched on this a little bit earlier, but I don't do everyday 9-5, I just don't do that well.  I don't do that with anything.  I don't really keep a schedule very well.  I just kind of don't.  I guess that's the temporal version of getting lost.  So what I do instead, is I do blocks of time.  I do days, or even weeks at a time, where I just do nothing but write.  And that helps me more.  I can concentrate more easily.

Questioner

Is it possible to make a contract with a Remnant to advance to Gold, instead of absorbing it?

Will Wight

Yes, that is possible. You can advance to gold with any level of remnant. But to make a contract with a remnant the remnant would have to have a certain level of advancement. But you could do that. You could make a contract with a remnant to advance to gold instead of absorbing it. 

Questioner

I feel like I've lost my characters voices in the middle of writing my book, should I start over, try something new, or push through?

Will Wight

Always, the answer to that question is push through. Always push through to the end of the book. What you need to do is get to the end of the book. You don't know what book you're writing until you finish it. So, you've got to get to the end of the book and then you've got a story to work with. Until you finish the book you don't know if your voices really are inconsistent. Maybe they're not, maybe you just feel that way. Maybe you don't feel like you can write your characters anymore, but you actually are.  You don't know that. Finish the draft, always, always always, finish the draft. 

Questioner

How powerful is a monarch butterfly?

Will Wight

It's a Monarch.

Questioner

Dross cycled Charity's madra scales of shadow and dream. Does he only cycle the dream aspect of the scale?

Will Wight

Yeah, that's kinda how that works. There's a couple of ways to cycle things. It doesn't have to actually be the exact madra type that you cycle. So if you get the scale, you can process just the part of it that you can process.

Questioner

Was Northstrider originally a fish species?

Will Wight

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

Questioner

Does the late Elder Serenity of Heaven's Glory have any relation to the Akura clan?

Will Wight

No.  So, Elder Serenity did not have any relations to the Akura clan.  That was before I had decided on Akura clan naming conventions.  And in fact, funny enough, I had already named a few members of the Akura clan at that point, like Malice. But I hadn't thought of it like as a  family trait, like I thought of it just as a trait of the family at the top, not the whole clan.  And then I was just kind of like, why not? So I expanded it to make it pretty much anybody who was directly related, like not everybody in the Akura clan has a virtue name, but the cool ones do.

Questioner

Is the Traveler's Blade series in the works or will I be sad?

Will Wight

I don't know what to tell you.  You will probably be sad AND it's in the works.  I haven't started anything.  Other than Cradle.  Cradle I have.  Cradle I'm in the middle of.  Eight books deep in fact.

Questioner

Ok so you have stated that chicken exists in cradle. So my question is regarding sacred chickens. What madra type would the chicken have to use to become the most tasty sacred chicken?

Will Wight

Blood path. That way they get all meaty.

Questioner

I've always loved that in Cradle it seems that you've taken abilities from popular anime and put your own spin on them for Sacred Arts. Is there an anime ability you'd like to adapt but can't see how? Or one you haven't got the chance to yet that you would like to?

Will Wight

HMMMM.  My brother started saying Kame... and I had to cut him off.  Let's see.  Is there an anime ability... Uh, yeah.  Super Saiyin man.  Super Saiyin.  So, I obviously have powerups that are just general power ups, like Simon's mask, so functionally it's Super Saiyin, right?  But it's just cool, it's iconic, it's just neat looking.  I could have someone's hair stand up, with their energy glowing all around them, and it'd be like yeah, ok yeah.

Somebody said the frog girl from MHA.  Yes, I would just love to give someone frog power.  I'm desperate for that.  Or tape powers.  Like, someone shooting Scotch Tape from their elbows.  Just can't adapt it.  Can't figure it out.

So, Super Saiyin, I just think it's iconic, it's a great look, it's really cool.  Ultra instinct is really great, although I do kind of have sort of a version of that, as you're exploring Sage powers, that's kind of sort of similar, in the sense that you get more and more in tune with an ability that lets you interact, whatever.  So, yeah.  I guess that'd be my answer.  There's a few others that would be neat that are probably not very practical.  

(Will almost cooked a bladderfish, but the crisis was averted.  Will also needs computer chips.  He sings a song about copper.  More info about bladderfish.)

Are there any other anime abilities?  There's got to be some.  Weirdly enough, I like one for all, and all for one.  Both of those.  But one for all is really what I was thinking of.  That'd be cool.  From My Hero Academia. 

Questioner

You can choose any object we have seen in any book you have written to bring into the real world. What object do you choose?

Will Wight

Ok, let's see.  Any object I have written.  I don't know.  So, my criteria for answering that question is I would think of something that I would think that if I brought it in the real world, it would make the world more magical.  It would give the world magic powers. So it depends on how it happens.  I just want the world to be cooler.  So I would look for an object in the books that would let me, oh, that's the answer.  That's actually it.  So it would be a world seed.  Which what a world seed is, which I of course didn't go into detail in Uncrowned, but what seed is, is it is effectively, I mean, it's literally that.  It's the seed of an Iteration.  But more than that, it is an Iteration, it's leftover material from the creation of the original Iterations.  So it can be used to do almost anything.  So it's effectively like a blank check for modifying reality.  Except when you use, you are kind of creating a new, you are overwriting your current reality, like your writing a new effect onto reality.  So you can't just be like "Ah! Now everybody in Cradle likes me."  It doesn't work that way.  But you can change some of the fundamental rules of reality, so I could make a world or add a magic system.  So that would be neat.  The exact mechanics of how that works, will of course be forthcoming in a published work.

(Hat switch!)

Questioner

Are you familiar with Attack on Titan? 

Will Wight

Yes.

Questioner

If so: the Blackflame Empire is suddenly invaded by the Titans, including the Colossal and Armored Titans. Assuming they can't call in backup, how well do they do?

Will Wight

Extremely well.  They just annihilate the Titans, the Titans have no chance to resist.  The Titan's run in fear.  The Titan's build walled cities against the Sacred Artists to keep them out.  The Titan's live everyday in fear that their loved ones will be destroyed by the people who can throw fire and eliminate matter.  Yeah, I feel the Titan's wouldn't be any threat to the Blackflame City at all, I feel like they would keep them as pets, that there would be no threat.  At all.

Questioner

Could you have a goldsign that looks like a giant chicken?

Will Wight

Yes. 

Questioner

What is your favorite path, not necessarily the path you would want? What path would you want to practice, assuming you gain madra channels?

Will Wight

So, the path that I have set up that I would practice, is probably Cloudhammer, from the Blackflame Empire.  Even though I never went into it, it is the one I would probably take, because it's good for combat, it's good for not combat.  You can walk in the air on it, you can repel people, you can do a lot of things with it.  And it feels like its the kind of, you can also cultivate it anywhere, like that aura is all over the place.  So, yeah.  Felt like the most convenient and the one I would most like in a real world scenario.

Questioner

When Ziel showed Lindon the Tablet on pure madra in Ghostwater after lecturing him, was that always his intention, or was that only after Lindon explained he was advancing to protect his home from a great disaster?

Will Wight

I don't understand that question exactly.  When Ziel showed Lindon the table on pure madra in Ghostwater, was that always his intention?  I don't understand it.  I think the question means did Ziel intend to help Lindon, or was he persuaded to help Lindon when he heard that Lindon had a good cause.  And the answer is, he was persuaded by Lindon, finding out that he, starting to know Lindon as a person a little bit, and then when he did, he was like all right, I'll help you.  He did not intend to help at the beginning.  So I hope that answers your question.

Questioner

What is the relationship between aura and physical processes on Cradle? Does a rainstorm cause an abundance of aura or does the aura cause the rainstorm?

Will Wight

A little of both, up to a point. The aura causes the rainstorm and the rainstorm gathers or causes water aura, as you choose to see it, but that is not an infinite loop. Otherwise, of course, all of Cradle would be water aura. So there's a natural cap.

Questioner

How common is it on Cradle for sacred artist to adopt Sacred Beasts or remnants as partners? 

Will Wight

It depends.  So one of the things that doesn't get brought up in the books a lot, because it's a, you know, magical Shonen fighting series, a lot of the people, a lot of the sacred artists on Cradle, don't fight a lot.  They don't have a lot of... They don't actually complete for resources.  They are part of an organization that does complete for resources, but they particularly don't, because they don't care if they really advance, so they plateau at whatever level.  So among those people, contracting with sacred beasts or spirits is more common, because you get a sudden boost of power, or alternatively, this happens a lot, you bond with a sacred beast when you are both very young.  So you grow up together.  So you get a partner and someone who is with you your whole journey.  Or if they are more advanced than you are, you get a sudden surge of power without having to fight for it.  So therefore sacred beast contracts are often for utility, rather than cultivation.

Questioner

Would you accept a copious donation of Oreos? Like a pallet?

Will Wight

You know, I don't know how many Oreos are in a pallet, but I'm going to guess it's not enough.

(Transcribers note: It is hard to get good data without being a retailer for Nabisco or having access to wholesalers, but as best as I can tell, there are twelve 20 oz packs of Double Stuf Oreos per case, and 36 cases per pallet.  This would be approximately 540 pounds of Oreos.  I will do everyone a favor and not figure out how many calories.)

(By request, I have now calculated the number of calories.  907,200 calories in a pallet of Oreos, assuming the above quantities.  For comparison, that's 1,055.07 kwH.  In 2017, the average home used 867 kwH per month.)