So the reason that Blackflame is corrosive to madra channels is because the fire part slighty damages them, and the destruction part speeds that up?
That, and because their cycling techniques emphasize output over safety. The original version of this Path was developed by pure-blooded black dragons for use by other pure-blooded black dragons, so they weren’t concerned about the fragility of humans.
Would Destruction madra strain your madra channels in the same way that blackflame does, or is that only blackflame?
Would it be possible for Lindon to use a technique that only used the destruction aspect of his madra? Kind of like how Jai Daishuo used a force ruler technique in Skysworn.
Sure he could, yeah. He could use fire aura to light fires or destruction aura to...accelerate the destruction of something that was already dissolving.
Destruction aura isn’t as useful as it sounds unless there’s a ton of it or you’re at a much higher level.
Destruction madra alone wouldn’t necessarily strain you the way Blackflame does, but it would also be more difficult to use in any useful way. If you didn’t learn to focus it effectively, a destruction Striker technique would be like spritzing weak acid on something.
Would Wind and Destruction cause damage like Blackflame does? Or is that only the combination of Fire and Destruction?
Sure. Blackflame is a good combination because fire naturally releases destruction aura as it burns fuel, which wind doesn’t normally do. But yeah, you could have other combinations that could conceivably work just as well.Blackflame has also had generations of work refining their techniques, so that’s another reason why it’s effective. Other fire/destruction Paths might not be as efficient or complete.
What madra would a path using speech to destroy use?
Wind and destruction? The elemental categories are pretty soft, so I could see wind and blood, wind and life, wind and force...
Is sound madra a thing
Sound manipulation is based on air madra, but there are certainly Paths of musicians that carry their techniques through music. At least one of them is a famous Herald who I would like to feature or at least reference in the books eventually.
How old is yerin, I am under the impression she is about Lindon's age.
She’s roughly Lindon’s age, but she doesn’t know exactly. She didn’t track time during her time with the Sword Sage, so she could be 17-19 as far as she knows. EDIT: I didn’t account for enough time passing. 18-20.
Is there anyone who came from a different world to cradle and went unnoticed by the abidan? If so do their powers transfer over? If we follow our heroes out of cradle, will their powers still work?
Powers do carry over from world to world. Sometimes they work a little differently elsewhere.
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.
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.
Are there any people on Cradle who don't cycle at all or is it as natural as breathing?
You can be born with madra and not ever cycle or develop it.They can sort of feel their spirits, even without training, so it requires a degree of deliberate or culturally enforced ignorance to never do anything with it, but there are definitely isolated locations where they don’t learn to cycle and therefore don’t quite advance or use real techniques.
Does remnants have a core, or to they just absorb madra they are given? Can they actually learn new things, or just grow stronger in what they already know?
Remnants have a limited capacity for change. They can learn new things, but they can’t always adapt to the new information they learn.
And is there other ways to create illusions than with light + dreams?
Yes. There are light Paths or dream Paths that craft either purely visual or purely mental illusions. And there are other Paths that rely on sensory trickery, it’s just that those are the most common.
Shadow madra is a thing, for instance.
How would someone on a death path use an enforcement technique?
They probably wouldn’t, as you wouldn’t want death madra in your body. However, Enforcing a weapon is still an Enforcer technique.
If a person breaks an oath and is strong enough to influence aura around them, are the consequences permanent, or temporarily manifested where the oath is broken?
Technically permanent, but there are ways to mitigate or avoid the consequences over time.
What are the mechanics of a soul oath? Does the oath need to be made with equal consideration on each side? What happens if you break an oath? Can an oath be annulled by mutual agreement?
A soul oath is your spirit holding you to an agreement. When two people’s spirits are holding them to the same agreement, they resonate, and it creates a sort of subtle link.
Therefore, both people have to recognize that they have made an oath. Forcing someone to swear an oath under duress works, but is much weaker, because both participants know the oath is unfair. However, making a false oath isn’t really possible, because your spirit and the other person’s would recognize that you had made an oath.
Yes, you can annul an oath under mutual agreement.
If you break one, your spirit suffers the consequences. So you can have your madra channels or core injured, your madra can become more difficult to control, etc.
In the worst case, you can die, though those risks are exaggerated in rumor. Usually, if you do die from breaking an oath, it’s because your powers screwed up.
Some people with more powerful souls even influence the aura around them to hold them to their oath, meaning the natural world would curse them with consequences for oath-breaking.
So how does aura become madra?
A sacred artist draws the aura into themselves and into their core, where they make it part of their spirit. If they succeed, they’ve taken control of a small amount of aura, which merges with their current madra so they share properties.
So in the new Ghostwater excerpt is the construct that may have something to do with ghostwater littleblue or is it a yet to be introduced construct?
It’s yet to be introduced! It shows up in the first couple of GW chapters.
Will we find out what Eithan took from the Ruins on Yerin’s behalf? Also Will we learn about the black scripted stones Lindon took from the ruins?
I thought he lost those stones. Did he not? I have a file specifically to keep track of Lindon’s inventory, so I’ll have to check.
What happens if you try to Awaken a weapon from Cradle? I don't recall if anyone has asked this before, but can someone use the powers of one world in another world? What about learning a power from a different world than the one you're on?
Yes, you can mix-and-match magic systems.
I’m trying to decide which world they’ll go to after Cradle. Initially I was planning on it being an in-between world called Threshold, which would have been a melting pot of all the Sector 11 magic systems, but those plans have subtly morphed over time.
Now Sanctum might end up being that melting pot.
So do they all have split cores? Or do their paths just work well together?
They have a mechanism for allowing their Paths to work together.
Do the members of the 8-Man Empire all practice the same path from birth, or did they join up with their own and have to change it, or are they able to keep their own individual paths and still join?
They’re a weird case in that they are each practicing an individual Path and one together. The Path of the Eight-Fold Spear is the name of their collective Path.
