The wastland artist in the excerpt is described as "horned". What does his horn (horns?) look like?A heavy rhinotype horn, like a stag etc or?
Two upward-curving emerald horns. They’re luminous lime green at the base and they run up the gradient to the points, which are dark green.
Are you able to reverse advancement/progress? For example, it was mentioned that not having a perfect iron body hurts your chances for advancement. Is it at all possible to reverse damage done by not advancing correctly?
Often, yes.
Is Hunger Madra an artificial creation? If not, where would it show up naturally? If this is too spoiler-y, then what techniques did the Path of the Broken Star use, and how did its practitioners evolve into the Jai clan?
It is artificial.
What Iron body does Cassius have?Edit: Also, since I don't think it's a spoiler at this point, is there a stage between Lord and Herald?
I don’t remember. I do have a name for Cassias’ Iron body, I just don’t have my notes with me and I can’t remember.
It goes Archlord—Herald, unless you’re awesome enough to be titled a Sage.
Is there another level we haven't seen yet or were you counting sage (or just miscounting) in saying there were 5 levels between Eithan and the Monarchs?
I've been going back and forth on the number of ranks and how to describe them. I knew generally what they were, but I've been messing with them behind the scenes for a while.
So it could either be that I was counting Sage back then or that, at the time I answered the question, there were five ranks. I don't really remember.
Are there any sacred beast only villages?
Yes, and hopefully you will get to see an example very soon.
When are you functionally immortal?
I may change this, as with anything that hasn't happened in the books yet, so take it with a grain of salt.But Sages almost don't age, and Heralds and Monarchs do not.Most Heralds and Monarchs, I should say.
No.
I'm going to assume that means it only applies to Sages
Yes.
How does aging work as you advance?
For the Lord realm, your body is re-forged in stronger soulfire each time you advance, so your body is made more like it was in your prime. If you were younger than your prime, you would look older, and older people look younger. Then, from there on, you age more slowly. It gets stronger each time you advance, but it only happens when you advance, so basically Jai Daishou's only hope of living significantly longer would have been to hit Overlord. Which he accepted that he couldn't do.
It has been confirmed by Will that Lindon does not need his pure core to offset the blackflame madra degeneration of his madra channels, as Lil'Blue can heal the damage caused
I may have said this, but it’s not entirely accurate/complete. With Little Blue’s help, Lindon could replace his pure Path with another random Path and not be crippled from damage to his madra channels. However, he would have to play around Blackflame damage by intentionally limiting the amount he used Blackflame. Basically, he’d use his other Path as the default and Blackflame as backup.
Whereas with pure madra, since it causes almost no strain to the madra channels and even somewhat helps cleanse impurities, he can lean on Blackflame harder.
Point is, he could learn another Path if he wanted, he’d just have to be intentional about managing his madra.
Do remnants exist only on cradle? theoretically, if suriel were to die on cradle, would she leave a remnant?
Great question! Puppet Master is indeed correct: practicing the sacred arts is essentially nurturing a Remnant inside you, so when someone from Cradle dies anywhere, they leave a Remnant. Not if someone from outside dies on Cradle.
If Suriel did practice the sacred arts, she would advance absurdly quickly, and her Remnant could potentially eliminate all life on Cradle. But it wouldn't. It would heal people and fix decaying structures and prop up failing governments until it eventually ran out of energy and dissipated into aura.
it's mentioned there is only one underlord in the desolate wilds, and only a handful in the blackflame empire, so who is the underlord in the wilds? Assuming someone from the cloud hammers or the 5th unmentioned sect, or another unmentioned sect?
The Cloud Hammers are a relatively small sect, but they produced an Underlord and have a pretty good chance at a second one, so their influence is growing in the Blackflame Empire. And the Arelius family is far bigger and more important than the Jai clan branch from the Desolate Wilds. I should have explained that better in the book, using clearer terminology, and I apologize for that. The Jai in the Wilds are the unimportant. The cast-offs. The only reason the main branch of the clan got involved with them at all was because of Eithan's actions, as well as Cassias' and Jai Long's. Otherwise, the main branch would have let them die alone and never noticed or cared. EDIT: And the Cloud Hammer Underlord stayed out of the events of Soulsmith because he considered squabbling for prizes with Golds beneath him. If Eithan had stayed longer (cough cough if the books were longer cough cough), then the CH Underlord would have made an appearance.
If Lindon had a magic encyclopedia with every single Path/Territory/Awakened Weapon/miscellaneous magic powers throughout all the Iterations, which one would most interest him?
I don't have the mental energy to answer that right now, unfortunately, because it's an interesting question. I'm releasing a book, so my MP is 0.
Will you ever release official art of the Cradle characters?
Probably, yes.
In Ghostwater, Orthos mentioned that there were Paths that take in the power of natural spirits, can you tell us more about them?
Unfortunately, this is a question that would take me too much effort to answer. Someday I'll do one of those "Ask me a world-building question, and I'll make up an answer!" things again, and this would be a good question for that time. It's a great question, it would just take me too long to make up an answer. Sorry!
Could two different Sacred Beasts who had advanced to Underlord or beyond, and taken human form have a child together? If so, what would that child be like?
Yes. Weird.
There were two powers used but not mentioned that belong to valinhall; one let Kai shatter the green shields Alin can summon, the other allowed indrial to knock someone out. do these abilities have a name at this time?
Kai's did, at one point, but it's been so long since I wrote CoL that I would have to delve deep into my notes to find it. However, I'll need to do a complete inventory of the House before I return to TG, so that will be explored!
Not sure if this has been answered already, but does madra regeneration get affected by the size/depth/whatever HEPW embiggens of a core? Eg does Eithan take the same time to refill his oversized core as any other Underlord given identical conditions or does he have to wait a proportionally longer time for his madra to refill?
A bigger core takes proportionally longer to refill. Someone else asked how Eithan refills it. Good question! Unless I cut the scene, you find out in Underlord.
How does Akura Malice pick who she has kids with, and what sort of presence does the father have in the life of the child?
She chooses her consorts from people with talents or bloodline abilities she values. Normally, the father has no contact with the child whatsoever.
Titans bone, sacred pool, and the flame you just answered about, is there a collective term for that?
There will be, but I haven't made it up yet.
Are there multiple Ways throughout the Void?
Potentially, but even the Abidan don't know for sure.
