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Cradle ()
#1 Copy

Questioner

The people who have been asking how strong Simon would eventually become in the grand scheme of things have been making me think that it would actually be really interesting to see the Cradle universe from the perspective of a character that isn't from Cradle eventually. Especially given how broad the outside world's powers seem to be, compared to the relatively narrow set of powers Travellers have. So it would be interesting to see Simon go beyond the Traveller's Gate world (how does the limitation of Valinhall's chains interact with the seemingly unlimited power in the outside universe?)

Will Wight

Mild spoiler alert, but if you're this deep into this thread and you still care about spoilers...RIP you.

Eventually, we'll get to see how the Cradle magic system stacks up against others.

Also, Valin gathered the Valinhall powers essentially by running around outside.

Amalgam ()
#2 Copy

Questioner

How much can Simon lift?

Will Wight

As far as how much Simon can lift...I'm not sure how to answer that without contradicting something in the books or irritating somebody who already has a specific answer in mind.I know how strong I think he is, but I'll leave specific estimates to you.

Amalgam ()
#3 Copy

Questioner

Bets you say...

I'm assuming there were some bets on whether or not Simon would survive the house?

Was the Elder in on that bet and if so did he win or lose?

Also what were his odds? I'm assuming many bet against him and maybe a few prospered greatly?

Will Wight

People don't bet against the Eldest anymore. He's right too often.

It's pretty common for him to ruin bets between other Nye by making cryptic comments that cause them to second-guess themselves. He thinks it's hilarious.

Amalgam ()
#4 Copy

Questioner

How would you, using cradle lingo in the blackflame empire, ask someone if they wanted to "Netflix and chill"? Same for in Damasca (Im think both what Simon would say and what Leah would say).

Will Wight

If you're asking what Simon would say and what Leah would say, I have to imagine Leah would be smoother about it than Simon.

Cradle ()
#5 Copy

Questioner

Yerin vs. Simon

Will Wight

Yerin wouldn't get absolutely smoked against no-mask Simon, but I do think she would lose. We haven't fully seen her go all-out yet, so it's closer than you might think, but she doesn't have the raw strength Simon does. Yet. Simon (the commenter on this blog) is right about Yerin's master: the Sword Sage would toy with Simon (the character) until Simon's powers ran out and he lost.

Cradle ()
#8 Copy

Questioner

Yerin vs. Simon with only steel

Will Wight

Yerin. She's trained longer with the sword, she would be physically weaker than him but not so much that she would be overwhelmed, and she can do crazy magic things that Simon can't.

Amalgam ()
#9 Copy

Questioner

If Simon had to pick an animal he would be, what would he pick?

Will Wight

When Simon was a child, he found a badger burrow behind his family's house. The badger largely ignored humans, but viciously attacked any other animals who get close to the burrow entrance.

Simon enjoyed watching it, and he was impressed with the way the badger completely ignored anything that wasn't a threat, but wasn't afraid of anything. And it spent a lot of the day nestled snug in its den.

This left an impression on him, so he'd pick a badger.

Cradle ()
#10 Copy

Questioner

On a scale of baby snow bunny to eldritch-horror who is scarier when fully equipped. Simon with the mask and cloak or Lindon with his goldsign and his wriggly arm?

Will Wight

I'd say Lindon when he gets going is basically a 6/horror. He's kind of a rough-looking guy anyway, and he gets the dark aura of the Burning Cloak, demonic eyes, a skeletal arm, and a big, hulking, burning turtle.

Amalgam ()
#11 Copy

Questioner

What level of power could Simon earn?

Will Wight

This is kind of a meta answer, but I haven't decided yet.Totally depends on where I want to take the series. If I go where I've been planning to go, and keep the story relatively grounded but focused on Valinhall and giving Simon a satisfying arc of emotional development and growth, then yeah, probably Sword Sage level.But there's nothing that stops me from scrapping all those plans and having him ascend beyond his world just like Lindon is trying to ascend beyond Cradle. It's even easier for Simon, since he just needs to figure out how Valin left.

Amalgam ()
#12 Copy

Questioner

Out of curiosity, what rank would Simon be on Cradle? Both with his mask and without.And would he be practicing the Path of Valinhall?

Will Wight

This is a tricky question, because while I know what you mean, they're practicing different magic systems. Simon hasn't worked on his madra at all, so if he were plopped down in Cradle, they would see him as completely untrained.If we're talking parallels, yes his chains are like a Goldsign, and the dolls would be something like a Remnant.In terms of combat potential, he'd be at Underlord level physically with his mask on. In fact, he might have an advantage even at that tier (WITH the mask on, in a head-to-head confrontation).But that's purely a physical measurement. He'd have to ghost armor his way through their techniques, and hope that Nye essence makes him faster than their Enforcer techniques so they didn't break the armor, lock him in place, and cook him alive with fireballs or something before he gets close.Then again, let's say there's a fight between Simon and a sacred artist with similar powers. Path of the Steel Chains, or whatever. It focuses on Enforcer techniques and making the body stronger and faster, and uses giant weapons.Simon would have the advantage in a shorter battle, but if the sacred artist hangs on past the first few minutes, Simon is going to start running out of powers. The sacred artist isn't. Sure, he'll exhaust his madra eventually, but it's not on a timer like many of Simon's powers are. The mask extends that, but of course the mask itself has a time limit.And because of the Iron body, once Simon runs out of Nye essence OR steel, the sacred artist is going to dribble him like a basketball.

Eithan, for instance, would just dodge until Simon gave up, retreated, or had to take the mask off. A lot of an actual matchup would come down to information. Does the sacred artist know that Simon has a time limit, and does Simon know that he has to finish the fight quickly? Does Simon know what Path his opponent is on? Does he have Caela with him? How do the sacred artist's techniques interact with ghost armor?Then again, if some Abidan plucked Simon out of his world and dumped him into Cradle, Simon WOULD be able to learn sacred arts. In addition to his Traveler powers.He'd have to adjust to the planet itself, which is bigger and has higher gravity, and some of his Traveler abilities wouldn't work--notably, he probably wouldn't be able to cut open a Gate, so there goes the healing pool. But he'd still be able to call steel, essence, and so on, and he'd be able to use the mask and doll as long as he had them on him to begin with.Summoning Mithra would PROBABLY be possible, but it would certainly take longer.

To expand on the theory behind what I just said:Amalgam (the TG world) has a bunch of tiny fragmented worlds stuck to it like ticks on a dog. Those are the Territories. It's easy to cut Gates to and from these miniature worlds because they're close, and they're already somewhat connected to the main world. They're like the elemental planes in D&D, if that means anything to you.Cradle is NOT close. So anything Simon takes from his Territory will still work the same, but anything he has to call on the Territory for--like cutting a Gate, or summoning a weapon, or calling more power from a room (as Simon and Kai have both done before)--is going to either take much longer, reflecting the greater distance, or isn't going to work at all.This is metaphysical distance, by the way. These are worlds as in dimensions, not worlds as in planets. Although they are also planets. Suriel gets into detail about this in Blackflame, in a scene that I had originally written for Soulsmith and then cut.But there's a reserve of steel and of Nye essence inside his body, and those will work. Anything he carries with him and all his internal powers will function as normal, just like they do when he's inside someone else's Territory.

Cradle ()
#13 Copy

Questioner

If all of your protagonists had to take the SAT's and the GRE's, who would score the best? Who would score the lowest?

Will Wight

For everyone on his list, we have to assume that they don't get questions that are impossible for them to answer. Like questions relating to Earth's literature or technology.

Yerin would score the worst, as she's illiterate and would have no idea what to do with the tests.

Simon would be second-worst. His parents only cared about his education until the events of the HoB prologue, when he was eight years old. After that, the only math skill he exercised was counting, and he rarely wrote anything besides his name.

Calder is next up. He received a noble education, thanks to his mother, but not early in life. He would score better in math than in English (assuming we translated the fictional Imperial language he actually speaks into English), and his scores would be decent in both categories.

Leah would do better than Calder, but not much better. She's extremely well-educated, but to the limits of her time period and world.

Lindon's education is more suited to standardized tests; he actually learned math and linguistics (obviously he's not speaking English, as none of these characters are) from textbooks, and while his scientific education is either not applicable to our tests or is downright wrong even by Cradle standards, his mathematical and language skills are solid.

Shera would do the best. Gardeners got a great education and she has a well-trained memory and a precise mind. She would score higher than any of my other protagonists.

...if she could be bothered to finish the test.

Asylum ()
#14 Copy

Questioner

Simon minus his nye essence vs Urzaia.

Will Wight

Without the Nye essence, Simon loses what I think is his biggest chance to kill Urzaia: going all-out from the very beginning.

The problem is that Urzaia's hatchets can turn a blow from Mithra, as can his Soulbound Vessel (the hide of a Sandborn Hydra). Without Simon's Nye essence, he can't blitz a win, so Urzaia probably wins on the strength of endurance and superior experience.

Asylum ()
#15 Copy

Questioner

Simon vs. Shera

Will Wight

I give this to Simon by virtue of super-speed, but in "Of Killers and Kings" we get to see Shera using both her newly Awakened knife AND Syphren at the same time. In that state, she'd be able to give him a fight, and it would depend on several specific factors (that I don't want to spoil for fear of revealing too many of her new powers).In summary: current Shera dies.

Cradle ()
#16 Copy

Questioner

Simon vs. Eithan.

Will Wight

Simon would have no chance to win under any circumstances. If he started out wearing the mask and fully drawing on Nye essence, that's the only chance he would have to see what was killing him.

In any other situation, he would die unaware.

Amalgam ()
#17 Copy

Questioner

Lucan, Meia, and Shera vs. Simon, Elaina, and Andra

Will Wight

Hmmm...I think the Gardeners have the advantage if they have time to plan and it's more than just a "run out there and fight RIGHT NOW" battle. If they have to face three Valinhall Traveler's head-on immediately without preparation or anything to use in their surroundings, I don't see how they could overcome the advantage in strength and speed.The most even matchup would probably be sealing both teams in a small town for three days, by which time the team with the most surviving fighters will be declared the winner. A tie results in being tossed into a ring and made to fight straight-up.This gives a chance for Lucan's Reading to come into play, both in tracking the opponents down and preparing weapons or other items. He finds them, Shera goes in to kill them, and Meia fights to cover their retreat....in the meantime, Simon and the others are going to be using the powers of their advisors (Korr senses sources of danger, Caela senses movement, and Andra's advisor--whose name is escaping me and I'm too tired to look it up--has a perfect spatial memory) to find their opponents and try to trap them into a battle.The advantage the Valinhall Travelers have is that they're very difficult to surprise.The Gardeners have the advantage of being perfectly willing and trained to kill people unaware.In that scenario, I think Shera and her team get it unless Simon-and-company get lucky.

Cradle ()
#18 Copy

Questioner

How would Simon compare to people on Cradle?

Will Wight

Steel reinforces your body in general, so your muscles and bones are able to handle a greater degree of stress. It affects your skin to some degree too, but not like it's going to turn a knife blade. There would just be a little more resistance before it cut you. Turning a knife blade is what the stone is for.

In terms of Iron bodies, the "perfect" Iron bodies introduced in Soulsmith are specialized. So some of them would have tougher skin, others would have greater strength, others heal faster. In general, leaving aside the specialization, an Iron body is just the result of your spirit improving and to some degree perfecting your body. It's a general physical upgrade.

Simon, when drawing on the Valinhall powers, would be better than an Iron body. But a sacred artist would also be using Enforcer techniques, which could compete on the same level. It would depend on the specific situation, but in general, Simon is going to be Underlord-level physically with his mask on. Truegold-level would be his peak without it.

Of course, that's purely in terms of physical strength and ability. Also, there would be some Enforcer-focused Underlords who might be able to trade punches with him in the mask, and then when the mask wore off, they would tear him apart.

September 2018 - December 2018 ()
#19 Copy

ha ha yes

If Lindon was a character in overwatch, what would his ultimate be? What would Simons be

Will Wight

Lindon's: Void Dragon's Dance. His passive in Blackflame form would leave little black flames around the battlefield as he uses his abilities, kind of like Reaper's old passive. His ult would detonate all of those flames in a massive nova.   Simon's: Mask of Valinhall. Gives him armor and shield and greatly increases move speed and attack damage for the duration. If he doesn't have some sort of mobility skill in his kit, like a double jump or a dash or something, he gets one during his ult.

Cradle ()
#20 Copy

Adarsh

So if Simon managed to ascend, would he become a Wolf? And how far away is he in terms of power from the weakest of the wolves?

Jerry

I'm going to guess LIGHT YEARS away from ascending. Remember that the Emperor could smite all the incarnations at once, and unless he was secretly an ascended being, it would seem that Simon is way way behind even that. So unless he masters valinhall and becomes the next traveler.. He's got a ways to go.

Will Wight

Yeah, the Emperor has enough power to ascend past his world. The only reason he hasn't is because he's in Asylum, which is effectively a prison.We haven't seen anyone in Traveler's Gate strong enough to do that. But if Simon DID get to ascend, then he would end up as a Wolf, yeah.

 

Otarin

Would the emperor have ascended and ditched his planet had he been able to or would his sense of duty have kept him there?

Will Wight

He wouldn't have left on his own. He may have tried to take a team into the Way, or tried to cast the Elders out.

Amalgam ()
#21 Copy

Questioner

What is Kai’s favorite food? Simon’s? Leah’s?

Will Wight

Kai enjoys sautéed mushrooms on steak served with a glass of red wine. Simon likes honey-frosted cakes. Leah has a soft spot for sharp cheese.