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Azqa

I think you'd stopped reading comments by the time I posted this one on a different blog post, so I'll copy it below since it seems relevant to me.

UnsouledCopperIronJadeLowgoldHighgoldTruegoldUnderlord

Lindon finds badges of other materials - "The first row contained a badge each of copper, iron, jade, and gold. That much he expected. But the second row moved from halfsilver to goldsteel to materials he couldn't identify. One of them was a deep, fiery red, and the other a blue so rich it was like a Forged slice of the sky."

Does the description of the power scale change at Underlord, or is that one term an aberration? Will we see people at Halfsilver / Goldsteel level, or is Underlord [now the ___Lord range of levels] simply represented by one of those?

Heck, I was wondering if Underlord was more a political title than truly an advancement-in-the-sacred-arts label.

If Halfsilver is used for the ___Lord stage, then what about "Silverlord"?

Will Wight

The materials motif changes after Gold, reflecting the fact that improving the quality of your madra alone is not how you advance. You could technically get all the way to Truegold just by cycling and refining your madra, it would just take forever.

I actually like Silverlord a lot, because it sounds cool. It seems kind of random in sequence, though: Underlord, Silverlord, Overlord.

Questioner

What would an amazing pure goldsign be What would a meh pure goldsign be

Will Wight

Amazing: blades extending out of your forearms that cut through only spirits, ignoring matter and flesh. Meh: endless pure madra tears running down from your eyes.

Questioner

This is probably too spoilery, but in Blackflame Jai Daishou (I forget how to spell his name) mentions how the the six or so truegolds he brought probably could have killed Eithan without him. So, it is possible for truegolds to gang up on an Underlord and kill him. Is this possible with higher ranks too with sacred artists ganging up on those above? For example, could a bunch of sages kill a herald? And could a bunch of heralds kill a Monarch? It seems the gap between ranks gets bigger and bigger so I’m just curious.

Will Wight

As the gap between ranks gets bigger, this possibility gets less likely. One of the reasons Jai Daishou believes this strategy could work against Eithan is because the Truegolds had set up a trap that he believed would work.

Questioner

Have Dreadgods become more powerful?

Will Wight

Possibly.

Will

(I guess this is a spoiler, but not really, because I’m speaking hypothetically about things I haven’t written yet) Tbh it would be super cool to give Lindon the Arelius bloodline ability because of Dross, but if I did, that would rob me of the fun of giving him a new cool bloodline power.

Questioner

What is the Cradle analogue of a TV ? Like what do average people do to chill ?

Will Wight

What people do to relax on Cradle varies wildly depending on where you are. Some people have access to devices that record audio and video, so they have what is essentially a TV. For cultures with advanced dream tablets, they have accessible virtual reality experiences, and use those for entertainment.And of course they have books and games and everything else people did to entertain themselves before TV.

Questioner

How would the Abidan deal with a sci-fi Iteration with millions of worlds?

Will Wight

When Suriel personally intervened in Harrow, it was because the Abidan were not prepared for Harrow to be infected with corruption at all. She decided to save as many people as she could. Limit was the world that was scheduled for demolition, its population evacuated and quarantine implemented. But Ozriel didn't show up to destroy it. The corruption spread until the Abidan weren't prepared to contain it, and that's when it spread through the Way into Harrow. So: if they were prepared to save a sci-fi world with a galactic empire, they absolutely could. It would be easier and far more organized than what Suriel did in Harrow. That said, civilizations with trillions of inhabitants and multiple inhabited planets are tethered very tightly to the Way. They're very stable and difficult to corrupt naturally, so they tend to be safer.

kruppe12

What effect, if any, would an Empty palm or Madra Bullet (eithan's core - breaker) have on a non-madra user? Could it scramble a reader's senses or some such, or would they just look at you funny?

Will Wight

Just look at you funny. If Lindon Empty Palmed Simon, Simon wouldn't even feel it.

manty05

I thought that if in Cradle there is something like the champion agumentation treatments of Asylum(in addition to sacred arts in general) could be be effected by turning humans into a sacred beast (or a dread beast).

Though turning humans into dread beasts if possible could result into something rather ghoulish.

Will Wight

I plan to explore this concept in Book 7. The plan might change, but as of now, it’s something I’m including in 7.

Questioner

If Lindon decided to give up the sacred arts to become a tavern keeper (Think Kvothe from the Kingkiller Chronically), what would he name his tavern?

Will Wight

Greatfather's Rest.

It's a reference to one of the sacred peaks in Sacred Valley, and there's a mythical inn called Greatfather's Rest that supposedly once existed on its slopes.

Ruff

I like that Idea.... I personally want to see Lindon get into Underlord soon

Will Wight

Questioner

How would you, using cradle lingo in the blackflame empire, ask someone if they wanted to "Netflix and chill"?

Will Wight

In the Blackflame Empire, you'd likely be asking a girl if she wanted to come cycle back at your place. There's no benefit to cycling together, so it's just a thin excuse she's meant to see through.

Questioner

Screw Lindons wolverine body. The Drifting Iron body is the one for me. I imagine its for people whom want to fly ,glide, float or be a parkour ninja.

Will Wight

There's a similar Iron body for a Path that has rigid metallic wings as their Goldsign. They're not a wind Path, so it's difficult for them to fly, but if their bodies are light enough they can glide.This particular Iron body is from a sect of body-enhancing life artists that you might call ninjas.

Lil' Blue

So, a bunch of discussions about Lindon fighting other people are ending with people saying "But Dross" as if that answers all questions. Can you confirm that Dross isn't going to be an auto win from every fight going forward? (The same usually happens with anything about Eithan.)

Will Wight

Yes, actually. From here on out, Lindon will now easily coast through every challenge.

-Ali-sh

What would happen if an Underlady put soulfire into her unborn baby?

Will Wight

The baby would die or be horrifically harmed.

Questioner

Elder Whisper vs. Asphodel Incarnation

Will Wight

This would be another one of those really interesting, sort of irritating fights where everyone is trying to figure out what is real and what's just an illusion.

Honestly, I think this probably comes down to chance. One of them falls into the other's trap first, and it's 50-50 who.

Chris646

If all Monarchs can travel like Northstrider and at least Heralds have a gate key why don’t they run whenever they are in danger? Is it just pride/reputation? Or can someone sufficiently skilled follow them? I’m asking because at one point you mentioned Reigen Shan killed his biggest rival, and people thought Northstrider was dead. Is it just that the rival wasn’t losing but was suddenly overwhelmed or is teleporting way not an option or..? Also, would the trick Jai Daishou used to remain alive work at higher ranks or would that person either be too strong to bring back or would someone better immediately see through it?

Will Wight

That's a lot of questions, but I'm boiling it down to what I think you're asking: >Why do Monarchs and Heralds not just teleport away when they're about to die? They do. But anyone capable of killing a Monarch or Herald can follow them.

TransEmo

I have to ask Will, does the sword sage have a name? I’ve been assuming it’s Tim until proved otherwise.

Will Wight

He does. It is Tim.

(Not to take us too far back on topic, but just to be clear: the Sword Sage does have a name, it will be used in the series, and it isn’t really Tim. Let your meme-y hopes die.)

It’s Timothy. He didn’t like nicknames.

Terrible

If Lindon and Company wanted to take a relaxing, week long vacation to somewhere tropical, where on Cradle would they go?

Will Wight

There's actually a beach not too far to the west of Sacred Valley. Lindon had no idea it existed, but if they got there, it's a decent beach during the summer months. They just have to watch out for wraiths.

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.