Yerin vs. Simon
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.
Eldest Nye versus Suriel 1.0- the prior bearer of Suriel's mantle. In Valinhall. Since I feel location would be important there, maybe. When they give up a mantle does that make them more or less human?
Eldest Nye vs. Former Suriel
They're more human when they pass on the mantle, and they lose access to the former extent of their powers.
However, this only means that he would be unable to tear Valinhall apart with the force of her will alone. He'd still have his millennia of experience and skills, as well as his personal power.
However, he's scarred from killing people so he would likely stall, which the Eldest Nye would not do, and the Eldest has the backup of the entire House.
In the end, I don't think the Eldest has enough firepower to kill even a mortal Suriel. In the end, Suriel 1.0 would probably just find a method to cut through the Way and leave.
Ozriel vs Suriel. The destroyer versus the Phoenix! Is that the plot of a future novel? Whups.
Ozriel versus Suriel:
Ozriel would go into hiding and Suriel would be sent to hunt him down. She is reluctant to take on this responsibility, so she would drag her feet searching worlds where she knows Ozriel wouldn't go, with Cradle chief among them. While in Cradle, she would distract herself by intervening in a small problem she can control, and then watch events play out in the same way that some people keep plants on their windowsills just to watch them grow. It soothes her. It's like a desktop zen garden.
Then circumstances would force her to get back to her task, and she would continue searching for Ozriel, encountering a number of obstacles and surprising truths along the way.
I should have expected that. If the humans can kinda do it, why can't Suriel.(referring to the above question)
Suriel did it already. It's how the Great Elders came to be sealed in that world in the first place.
And the versions the Emperor and Estyr Six dealt with were pale shadows of the entities Suriel would be dealing with. When they're inside an Iteration, they're bound by its rules to some degree. Not so outside.
What about Kelarac vs. Suriel? Or any of the Great Elders vs. Suriel?
In a complicated and protracted battle fought on many levels simultaneously, Suriel eventually gets the upper hand. She knows that banishing the Elder will only delay the problem, so she seals the Elder's power and banishes it to a lesser world. A world with special characteristics that will keep the Elder sealed for as long as possible.
Okay guys these are the strongest characters1. Abidan Court2. Great Elders before they were sealed3.Strongest Cradle characters, including Li Markuth (not really Cradle universe), Ninecloud Court Princess, NorthStrider, Eithan, Yerins master4 .Sealed Great Elders and Emperor tie5. Urzia, Meia and other enhanced warroirs6. Ragnarus Incarnation7. Valinhall
That's just about right!
#3 is a broad variety of characters over several different power levels--the Ninecloud Court princess and Northstrider are a level beyond Li Markuth and the Sword Sage, who are both a level beyond Underlord. Some of those would defeat the Emperor and the sealed Great Elders easily, some would have a hard time, and some of them couldn't do it.
Also #5-7 are all very close. Valinhall can compete with the Champions, but they would be difficult fights. And while the Ragnarus Incarnation is the strongest Incarnation thus far, and thus a notch above Valinhall/the Champions, in the end (City of Light SPOILER ALERT, I guess) a Valinhall Traveler DID beat him.
But I'd still put him a notch above them in terms of pure power level.
Im starting to realize you cant kill Suriel. Anything you throw at her she can banish it. I guess Suriel is too strong. I wonder whst Path she follows.................
Well, she's immortal.
That said, there are entities that threaten her and the rest of the Abidan, but at that point you're dealing with specific power interactions. She draws her power from the Way, the force of pure order that keeps time, space, and reality in the universe on track. There are beings that draw from pure chaos, disrupting that order. There are also entities that could cut off her access to the Way, or out-predict and maneuver her into a situation where she could be destroyed.
...but all that comes in later books.
Wait a sec, could Suriel banish the Doctor out of Space and Time?
Out of her space and her timeline, sure.
I know that splitting your core was created by the rival of the first Empty Palm-user. I just do not think that Simon and the rival are the only people in the world who have thought of this. Surely their must be others. Also, can one keep splitting their core repeatedly. I can imagine how strong Lindon could he be if he had multiple paths in his body. I'm still unclear if splitting your core doubles your madra and if it has a cost. Another thing that comes to mind is can Lindon upgrade one of his cores to jade while still having his other core at the copper-level?
This will be explored in Blackflame, but I don't really consider it a spoiler, as it deals with mechanics we've already seen in the books.
If you're especially allergic to SPOILERS, stop reading now.
Now!
No, the Heart of Twin Stars is not the only technique in the world for splitting cores. Others have done it, and I expect we'll run into them.
Yes, you can split your core repeatedly.
Splitting your core does not double your madra, and there's a very slight loss in energy when you split. So if you had 100 MP before the split, now you have two sources of 49 MP each. The other 2 MP are lost in the process.
He can upgrade one core without the other. At the end of Soulsmith, one of his cores is Iron and the other Copper. But he's considered an Iron, because his body was upgraded.
Here's something else that will be dealt with in Blackflame: an Iron core split into two doesn't make two Copper cores, it makes two very small Iron cores. Your stage of advancement is based on the quality of your madra, not the amount.
How would Simon compare to people on Cradle?
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.
How does the Eight Man Empire work?
The Eight-Man Empire operate collectively, not individually. Suriel singles one out in order to give Lindon perspective, but their powers are very limited when they're not working in formation with the other seven.
Not that they're pushovers individually, but yes, Reigan Shen would eat them alive* if they tried to fight him separately.
*Not literally.
...maybe literally.
How strong are your characters in comparison to say Goku or Superman.
How much would Suriel be able to lift...that's kind of a difficult question, because it's like asking how much a Star Destroyer can bench-press. "As much as she needs to," would I think be the most accurate answer. She'll have some fights, but fights among Judge-level individuals are less "I'm going to punch you," and more "I predicted where you were going to be standing and I already willed that space out of existence."
How fast can Suriel fly?
Suriel slows down to the speed of sound when she's in atmosphere so she doesn't destroy anything. Usually, she would just slip between space and teleport where she needs to go, but that's most useful over very short or very long distances.
Also, what path would be best suited to creating an army of forged madra garden gnome soldiers?
Path of the Clay Walkers.
Life and stone. They craft clay golems from special clay and other materials, kneading their madra into the dolls and bringing them to life under their control. It's not an especially powerful Path, but it's useful for a variety of mundane tasks.
Like creating a parade of garden gnomes.
Has there ever been anyone on cradle who "messed up" their path yet still ascended to the Monarch level? Say someone who, out of ignorance, got a poorly matching iron body, or cultivated a really weird mix of auras.
This is a great question. I like this question.
The Beast King is a Herald (right below Monarch) who was crippled as a child while attempting to gain his Iron body. He refocused his Path into communicating with animals, using a mix of life and dream aura. Despite being unable to walk, he ended up befriending some truly ancient sacred beasts, and with their help baptized his body in soulfire and ascended to Underlord.
He's now many levels above that, and can walk just fine, but without the foundation of an Iron body he's physically not as dominant as his peers.
However, he's guarded by enormous behemoths from the deep places of the earth, so it balances out.
What is Yerin’s favorite color?
If Yerin fought against Shera, who would win?
1.) If you asked her that, she would have no idea what to say. But it's lavender.
2.) In a straight-up fight? Yerin. But if they were given orders to find and kill one another, probably Shera.
If Lindon had access to all the books you've read, what would be his favorite novel?
The Martian, by Andy Weir.It would blow his mind.
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?
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.
Do you have tons of notes on a magic system and slowly reveal more over time, or is the creative process more organic in how they develop?
A little of both. I usually start out with a ton of detailed notes and then let it develop from there.
Vital aura, for instance. I know exactly how I wanted aura to work, but I had trouble describing it clearly in Unsouled, so I started tweaking the rules and principles in later books and let it deviate from what I originally intended and found difficult to explain.
...although in doing so I kind of tripped over my own feet a little bit, because describing it only gets more difficult when you change your mind, but oh well. Live and learn.
Would you ever hold a fan-made Path competition?
Maybe. I'm not against it, and in fact something along those lines sounds like a lot of fun. I've always wanted to work in a world that we as a community designed together, though I usually imagine that as building a world from the ground up with a bunch of fans in a Twitch- or Patreon-like setting.
But it's not like I actually NEED fan submissions to fill out the world. When I run into a new sacred artist and I need to make up a new Path, I just...do.
