Recent entries

Captain Nemo

The posts on the Abdian were a great idea! I really like how you've fleshed out the common denominator among the magic systems a bit more. 

I am curious, though, about the specific ways that each magic system relates to the Way. I think you said that the territories were connected to Amalgam and that travelers could enter them through a connection to the Way (more or less). How do intent and aura/madra relate to the Way?

Will Wight

They don't really, at least not in the way you're asking.

You know how each room in Valinhall has some of its own unique rules and powers, kind of like a mini-Territory each? That's because it's stitched together from small fragments, and each fragment has its own different magic.

So every world has a unique magic system. These are the powers of the Iterations themselves, not the powers of the Way.

Havoc

If there are just 'thousands' of iterations, and each iteration lasts for trillions of years, there should be billions of years between iterations ending. 

What do the Abidan do to occupy their time in between?

Will Wight

I don't think I said trillions, did I? I think I said billions.

Either way, that's how long they COULD last. That's their maximum natural lifespan. It very rarely happens that an Iteration dies of old age, because they're tethered to the survival of humanity.

Most of the time, Iterations only last a few thousand years.

Let me put it to you this way: the Abidan have never shepherded a world from its birth to its full possible lifespan. An Iteration dying when humans die is still a natural death.

Tim

How many 'Hounds' are under Makiel's supervision, and how many Titans are under Gadrael's?

Will Wight

Thousands, but I couldn't tell you exactly how many.

There are more Titans than Hounds.

Latham

1. Suriel can manipulate strings of fate (even attaching one to London and forged madra ball) - is that a path of attributes of a path in your design, it seems that Fox clans Elder dreams of return of strategies and sees future ( this makes him connected to the way). Will there be others that can help Lindon learn to read fate from his connection to Suriel

2 if I was Ozriel and knew that other Abidan are looking for me and Suriel is the only one remotely compassionate I would try to sway Suriel to my camp and IF Somehow I, Ozriel learn about Suriels connection to Lindon, I would try to help and influence London from the very first steps along his development. So is it possible that something happenes along this line?

3. So far we have seen London primarily desire to do baby steps but he was the only one observe Suriels supreme powers- so naturally he would try to duplicate those right ? Right? It might bring conflict to Abidan if Makiel will notice that Suriels little protege tries to copy her powers while Ozriel in the shadows helping Lindon and stirring the pot to force the split in the court.ISo unique training along Eithans path? Or talking to Eithan and tell him everything about Suriel?

Will Wight

1.) I don't understand this question, I'm sorry. Probably not?

2.) It's possible that Ozriel has done something to sway Suriel to his side, but she hasn't seen it yet.

Suriel's connection to Lindon is relatively recent. So if Ozriel does learn about it and start intervening with Lindon, it won't have happened yet.

3.) Lindon is taking baby steps because those are the only steps he can take, but he has seen Suriel. No one else on Cradle has had their eyes widened quite so far.

Adaen

I was under the impression that the Judges were solo in their jobs. But it does make far more sense that there are others providing similar work in those fields. And the Judges are the head of each Division.

Now does each division follow the same Path? Or is it simply their path dictates which Judge/Division would best fit them?

Will Wight

Yeah, there are tens of thousands of Abidan, but only seven Judges. That's why Suriel says that normally a deviation like the one on Cradle would be beneath her; normally it would be handled by a grunt in Sector 11.

Only the Abidan from Cradle follow a Path at all. 

They decide which divisions you can join by which core skills of Way manipulation you've mastered. If you're a powerful healer but crappy at reading Fate, they won't let you join the Hounds. There's a minimum test for each one, as well as a test for mastery.

That's Gadrael's deal, by the way. Most of the other Judges have mastered several other areas, but he hasn't even passed the minimum requirement for any division other than his own.

He's just THAT good at it.

Lyrian Rastler

Does Chaos have tangible elements as well, like creatures and stuff, or does it something that occurs when the balance of the way is offset? Also, is there an equivalent of The Way for Chaos as well?

Will Wight

Sort of, yes! We'll go into that in the books eventually.

George

Why is Ozriel being hunted again?I thought he simply left the Abidan, or is this, actually, the crime?

Reddan

Ozriel basically abandoned his post. As I understand it, the Abidan were able to expand their scope dramatically because of Ozriel's ability to cleanly remove worlds (especially corrupted ones). They're trying to find him because they can't support all the worlds they've been watching over without him.

Will Wight

Yep, that's it!

Since Ozriel came along, the whole strategy of the Abidan has basically hinged around his personal ability. But he wanted to change the way things are done, so he didn't have to kill as many people, and they resisted.

So he just left.

WITH the ability to cleanly remove corrupted worlds, they can control ten thousand Iterations.

WITHOUT that ability, every corrupted world becomes a virus, and every world they control is potentially another point of infection. They can't hold nearly as much territory.

GL

Does Lindon create his own weapon with the soulsmith things he took from pyramid? Cause so far he hasn't used a weapon beyond a spear.Does being a soulsmith require a specific talent in madra uses? 

Will Wight

1.) Read and find out!

2.) Essentially yes. We touch on this in Blackflame a little bit, but you have to have madra that's compatible with a lot of other aspects.

For instance, the Fishers make good Soulsmiths because they have madra that mimics gravity. So it binds two things together. Not a whole lot conflicts with that.

But if you were a Sandviper Soulsmith, every construct you made would be poisonous or acidic, so it would either hurt the person holding it, fall apart, or neutralize the madra you tried to use to build it.

Daniel

Huh so the greatest soul smith would theoretically have to have pure madra because that would conflict with nothing. Unless their is a path of anti madra somewhere

Will Wight

Not necessarily pure, just widely compatible.

Nosna

If iterations are destroyed be under population, which creates corruption, then how are uncorrupt worlds created? In other words, iterations are created from pieces of other destroyed iterations. But iterations are destroyed from under population, and under population creates corruption. So how are uncorrupt worlds created?

Jay

I don't think under-population necessarily equals corruption. It seems more like under-population creates a scenario where corruption can more easily take hold, unless actively tended to/guarded by the Ghosts from Abidan.

From the description of Darandiel, "guiding the development of new Iterations and protecting them from malign influence during the vulnerable cycle of destruction and creation."

Will Wight

Jay's got it!

You're not automatically corrupt as soon as you fall within a certain population range. It just makes you vulnerable.

Captain Nemo

Ok, so this is kind of related to answer 1). In the death match short story with the emperor and the incarnations, the emperor saw the incarnations' power as intent. Was this just something you allowed for the death match, or are Amalgam and Asylum's powers similar enough to be "compatible"?

Will Wight

There's usually some overlap. For instance, a Reader in Cradle would see aura as a weird kind of Intent, and a sacred artist in Amalgam would be able to sense vague danger and power from Travelers, even if they don't know what or why. Yeah, a large part of the reason the Emperor won so easily was because the Incarnations were instinct-driven rather than coordinated. But he is still overpowered and would still have won. He didn't even have his armor and weapons with him.

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?

Coldsteel

Now, I have a theory about Ozriel and it will be interesting to see if I'm right (eventually). We know that he developed his own path. We also know that he died and returned to life in a labyrinth (somewhere). We also know that a massive labyrinth forms the foundation of Sacred Valley. And this labyrinth is full of secrets and treasures. Could they be one and the same? It's hard to believe in coincidence in books like these. I also find it fascinating that Sacred Valley is being protected from the outside by powerful individuals and that the outside world has, for the most part, forgotten it even exists. I think perhaps there's more to Sacred Valley than meets the eye. Am I right?

Will Wight

As for Sacred Valley...You COULD be right. You certainly could be.

George

Will, is it a coincident that the Wei Clan was taught their skills by A or several FOXEs, and that there is a Division with the same name.I'M rather scepticall, though, as both concentrate on completely different skills; while the one focuses on illusions, the other one on spatial control.

Will Wight

Well, the Abidan originally came from Cradle, so the names of their divisions come from animals that exist in Cradle and were significant there.Other than a distant cultural connection, no, there's no tie between the Wei Clan and the Fox Division.

Diego

1.) Are all your books happening roughly around the same *time*? (If yes any chance of a crossover series?)

2.) Can Immortals have kids? (If both parents are immortals are the kids immortal too?)

3.) I know this is weird but if you ever do a time skip will your main characters ever have kids? (At least some of them? Just curious I'd where that came from)

Will Wight

1.) Can't tell you.

2.) Depends on the nature of their immortality. People achieve immortality in different ways.

3.) Yes, at least some of my main characters will end up with kids.

FoolRegnant

So, does each Abidan division have an internal power-ranking? Does the Abidan have a specific set of ranks below Judge, or is it organized more organically/decentralized?

Will Wight

There are ranks below Judge, and there are specialized positions as well.The different Divisions are organized differently, but there are some common ranks.

Family of Raccoons attempting to rally the broken Australian troops in the great emu war

Will, I was rereading the house of blades, and something occurred to me: Why did Damasca take the yearly sacrifices from their outlying villages instead using criminals on death row? Just seems like it would be easier, and would greatly reduce to chances of, say, having Damasca's outlying villages begin to conspire against the throne

Will Wight

It started off as a way of bringing the whole country together, making sure that everyone shared the pain of the sacrifice so that everyone would feel how important it was.And, over time, it just became tradition.

Reddan

(1) So the Ghosts manage fragments of worlds that died naturally, while the Reaper (Reapers, plural?) is called in when a world gets corrupted? Before Ozriel became the Reaper, were the Ghosts busy dealing with corrupted fragments too?

(2) Is there any overlap/connection between the Spider’s intelligence gathering and the Hound’s investigation of Fate?

(3) Does Suriel’s Presence draw information from the intelligence network of the Spiders, or is it capable of detecting all of it on its own?

(4) In your original post you said, “Any universe that the Abidan recognize as capable of sustaining human existence and living out a complete life-cycle.” Are there places that aren’t recognized by the Abidan (but are still capable of sustaining humans)? Are there any places that are excluded out of spite or other bad feelings among the Abidan?

Minor theory time:the Wolves are the combat arm of the Abidan (none of the divisions discussed so far seem well suited)the Phoenixes (Phoenices? Phoenies? Does anyone know the correct plural of Phoenix?) are the healers and fixers of problems, in line with what we’ve seen Suriel do so far.

Will Wight

1.) Yes they were! They actually deal with corruption and chaos more than most Abidan ever have to, as their job takes them far from the Way.

2.) Yes there is, but the Spiders kind of work with everyone.

3.) Suriel's Presence is capable of drawing and processing information on its own, but it is also (usually) connected to the Spiders' network. Right now it's disconnected, with results that I hope to show in Blackflame (I might end up having to cut the scene, but I hope not.)

4.) There are pseudo-Iterations (and there should probably be a name for that status) where fragments combined but not fully. In that case, they wouldn't be a full universe, or the fragments would have combined in such a way that the universe will be unable to support life.

--Phoenixes. Also, in my head but nowhere else, Phoenii.

Crimson Red

I get that Ozriel is rather "jacked" in power, but is it not possible that another of the Abidan aided in his concealment. Seems likely. I get Ozriel is all powerful, but surely he would require assistance in the level of concealment require.

Will Wight

It is possible, yes.

George

Will, does one, though, by mastering a law raise one's cultivation stage, or does the same stage remain, yet the strength increases immensely, thus making that person as strong as someone from a higher stage?It is, after all, often seen that the MC of various Xianxia novels is stronger than people of much higher ranks, if we take Cradle system, then it could be a an Underlord defeating a Sage.I, personally, dislike it, as it makes the whole ranking system almost worthless. Why build it, when you completely disregard it later on. You made Lindon, a Copper, defeat a Truegold, though, but the difference is that you used an understandable reason for the shocking result, namely the carelessness of the Truegold(showing the back to an enemy without checking his status). I hope, when similar scenes come up, you keep using methods that don't seem over the top, like him using some overpowered technique, which One-shots him.

Will Wight

Yes, there will be people of lower ranks capable of defeating people at higher ranks.However, you won't have the situation you find in a lot of cultivation novels where the MC has the strength of someone five stages stronger than him, and then six stages stronger, and then seven stages stronger, until at a certain point he's just the strongest and you might as well stop comparing his cultivation level.[SPOILERS FOR MARTIAL WORLD]In Martial World, for instance, the main character is at Revolving Core, but he can kill sixth-stage Life Destruction experts like it's nothing. That's literally six levels above where he is....so his cultivation level is totally irrelevant to his strength. If that's true, why have cultivation levels at all? Why not just say X is stronger than Y because he's better?I agree with you, and we won't see that. There won't be Jades going around killing Sages (except under very specific circumstances, HMMMM?).But, for instance, you might see a particularly skilled, suitable, or lucky Lowgold defeat a Truegold.

Jon

I was wondering if there was a difference between ascending beyond an iteration and traveling between iterations? Also, do the magic systems of some iterations predispose a person to ascending?

Will Wight

Yeah, Valin didn't ascend, he just wandered out the back door and got lost.

The Emperor would be capable of ascending from Asylum, were it possible to leave Asylum under normal circumstances (it's a prison, so he couldn't leave).

Cradle's requirements for ascension are higher than a world like Asylum's. The Sword Sage COULD have ascended, had he the necessary knowledge and skill. And, of course, the desire to do so.

But if he had gotten too much more powerful, the Abidan would have removed him before he affected the course of the world.