Recent entries

Questioner

What would happen if someone Awakened a horror novel?

Will Wight

Intent accumulates in an object based on the purpose it is used for. So a horror novel's Intent would either scare people or fascinate them, depending on the Intent of the people who have read the novel over the years.

I can imagine a novel that frightens people just by sitting on a table, where you keep casting sidelong glances at it without knowing why, taking any excuse to get out of the room away from a book. Conversely, I could imagine a book that practically hypnotizes those who read it, so it's all but impossible to voluntarily stop reading until you reach the end.

Questioner

I'd like you to make up a 6 or 7 book series about the founding of the elder empire!

Will Wight

I like six or seven books as a series size. Idk about the founding of the Elder Empire--depends on how the main series does after the relaunch.

Questioner

What is the most powerful awakened item in EE that doesn't have great elder intent in some way

Will Wight

Estyr Six's Soulbound Vessels have no Elder Intent. They're the skulls of ancient, powerful Kameira that she defeated in battle.

The Magisters have sealed away a spear that combined the powers of multiple ice-controlling Kameira, but it was too difficult to use. Their tests blanketed an isolated Magister facility in snow for years.

Mierin

If the Emperor had been born on a world like Cradle where he could actually train and develop instead of having to hold back the Elders, how high would he or someone with his will/strength/etc. have been able to advance?

Will Wight

He certainly COULD have reached Monarch, but most of those with the potential to reach Monarch fail to do so. It requires so much luck and unique opportunity that it's impossible to guarantee anyone with reach Monarch, no matter how driven and/or talented. In the Blackflame Empire, he would have almost certainly become a powerful Underlord. With the right resources and chances, he could have potentially left the Empire and ascended to Overlord or better outside.

Questioner

Are there any independent nations or territories on Asylum? Are there multiple worlds in the Asylum iteration?

Will Wight

No, there are no independent nations or territories in Asylum. There are isolated communities that aren't aware they are part of the Empire, but the Empire considers them Imperial territory. They're not undiscovered, after all, just so remote as to be not worth collecting taxes from.

Questioner

So if I loose my horse while training for the Blue Ribbon Race, and I accidentally run into a elderspawn instead of the usual skunks and such, what should I do?

Will Wight

Now, this depends entirely on what kind of Elderspawn you've encountered.

If it has the spindly legs of a spider and eyes on stalks, you just don't want to do anything interesting. As long as it has no reason to investigate you, it won't tear you apart and rearrange your organs alphabetically. You should respond in the most boring possible fashion: by turning and running away, screaming as loud as you can.

This is the response it expects, and it will be bored and turn away. Usually.

If it looks like a frog the size of a human infant, dripping with luminous slime and humming with a high-pitched sound you can barely hear, you should kill it immediately. If you succeed, you have saved us all from an outbreak.

If you leave it alone for too long, it will consume anything organic nearby: grass, leaves, roadkill, garbage, small animals and insects. When it has eaten many times its body weight, it will give birth.

The hordes of Othaghor have devastated many isolated communities. No one has seen these Elderspawn in centuries, which contributes to many ordinary citizens considering them myths. They are not.

Questioner

Is there a limit to how many Vessels can be bound to a person?

Will Wight

This is a subject of debate and research in the Aurelian Empire. The Vessel gets its power from the Kameira or Elder parts that went into its creation, but it's connected to the Soulbound through Intent. Basically, it has to be connected to you personally in order for a bond to be born.

The Magisters would see any claims of a Soulbound with three Vessels very skeptically. They would never believe a report of a Soulbound with four.

But in theory, the limit is however many objects you see as part of your identity.

Questioner

"Tell me about mountain climbers in Elder Empire."

Will Wight

The body of Kthanikahr, the Worm Lord, weaves through a mountain as though through a rotten apple. The Great Elder is miles long, and the stench of his decay is overpowering. Still, some brave the corpse--and the cordon of Imperial troops around the area--to scale the peak and try to harvest a strip of the Worm Lord's skin. It is said that a charm made from this leathery strap can repel Elderspawn, so dozens make the trip each year...and only a handful return.

Questioner

Is there an awakened object that was awakened to be the aqivelent of an AI (artificial intelligence)

Will Wight

In a certain sense, yes. There are records of a dozen Soulbound whose Vessels were books. These Soulbound exhibited superior memories, enhanced insight, and a remarkable ability to organize their thoughts and impressions.

Questioner

What is the deepest point in the Aion Sea (that's the Elder Empire sea, right? Forgive this one's idiodicy if he's wrong.), how deep is it, and what is the most horrible creature that lives there?

Will Wight

The Vebross Pit is a legendary location at the bottom of the Aion Sea, passed down through Navigator tradition.

No one has ever explored it--there are many shallow locations in the Aion Sea that have never been explored, to say nothing of the true depths--but many Navigators employ Soulbound with water-scanning and scouting powers. All of them report impenetrable depths around a general location near the center of the Sea, and that area has been referred to as the Vebross Pit.

The ocean seems almost dead around the Pit, with no sightings reported of anomalous events, Kameira, Elderspawn, or anything but natural fish. Therefore, the Navigators once preferred routes over the Pit.

But that only lasted a short time.

Navigator ships began to go missing. This is not in itself too unusual, but when it continued for three or four years and started to cost the Guild money, the Guild Head sent out an expeditionary force to investigate the Pit.

The Witnesses accompanying the expedition returned reporting a phenomenon that happened at night. As the moon rose, a vast humanoid face seemed to rise from the depths. It grew closer and closer, until the captain of their vessel realized that the face was big enough to cover the ocean for miles.

Their force escaped with no losses, and from then on, the Vebross Pit was classified by the Navigator's Guild as an Unknown Danger Zone. A captain plotting a course through such a zone must leave all Guild assets behind, as they are likely to be lost.

Questioner

What is generally held to be the must ridiculous awakened object that turned out to be much more useful than anticipated?

Will Wight

A wide-brimmed hat invested to keep its wearer cool. When a Magister spent weeks attempting to Awaken it, his colleagues thought he was crazy. He was actually called into the Guild to question the use of his time.

Now he makes a fortune selling them. They can't be mass-produced, so each hat is a work of the Reader's art. There's a waiting list.

Wearing such a hat is like wearing sunglasses while your head is stuck in an air-conditioned room.

Questioner

What is the greatest battle ever to take place in the arena

Will Wight

Baldesar Kern, the current Head of the Champion's Guild, was never a gladiator. But he did have one fight in the arena.

He had attempted to persuade a rival of his to back the Guild, but his rival was not convinced of Kern's strength. Therefore, Kern agreed to meet his rival's representative in the arena.

His rival's "representatives" turned out to be a half-dozen Kameira trained and equipped for battle. There was a lizard bigger than a horse with red-hot teeth, a lion-headed ape with a pair of axes, two shark-creatures that may have been Elderspawn, a worm that burrowed through the sand, and a puppy-sized flea that conjured clouds of smoke.

Baldesar's battle with this army of creatures lasted over an hour, and is widely considered the greatest battle ever to take place in an Izyrian arena. It became a mark of honor to say that you were there that day.

At the end, his rival had no choice but to support the Champion's Guild, and the Champions were victorious. As they always are.

Questioner

Do people with great Intent leave bodies that can be Awaken?

Will Wight

Objects gather Intent when they are used by a human for a purpose. You would have to use a body for a particular purpose in order to invest it, which is required for Awakening. Body PARTS are often Awakened.

Questioner

In Asylum could the emperor have "Awakened" himself if he wanted to?

Will Wight

Commonly accepted Reader theory in the Aurelian Empire states that human beings are already Awakened. That's what makes us sentient and aware, and why Intent doesn't seem to build up in our body as we age.

Questioner

Are there any awakened, sentient, wepaons or items in the Elder Empire?

Will Wight

By definition i think awakened items possess thoughts even if they are just simple thing like "KILL!" Or "FEED ME!".Are the Awakened weapons sentient?That's a hotly debated question in the Empire. Many Soulbound feel that their Vessels "speak" to them, but always in impressions or mentally communicated desires. Some of them swear they hear an actual voice in their head, but is that really the weapon? Or is it their imagination providing words for the impressions the weapon sends them?The common belief is that Awakened objects do have a measure of awareness, but not true sapience. They can't "think" or reason beyond the capacity and purpose for which they were created....as far as anyone knows.

Jayce

Are there religious sects in Travelers Gate?

Will Wight

I have a meta answer and a story answer for you, Jayce!

(Story)

Yes, there are, though perhaps because of the influence of Territory culture, organized religion never grew as widespread as you might expect. There's a sect that worships the Incarnations, a people who believe that Territories are holy ground and they can only take from naturally occurring Gates, and isolated groups who worship powerful artifacts that fell from Territories.Enosh still swears by the "saints above," which reflects what they believe happens to people when they die: they are purified and become saints, to watch over the people below.

(Meta)

I find that including religion in stories is more trouble than it's worth.House of Blades was almost banned from a school, I once found out, because the administration believed it was promoting religion. I have no idea what that was about.There's also a subset of people who lose their minds whenever you write a fantasy novel with religion in it. If you write a story with a pantheon in it, you're promoting polytheism. If you write a story where there's one creator god, you're promoting monotheism. If I wrote a story where the characters sincerely believed in their religion and it was a positive force in their life, I guarantee you I'd get complaints from atheists about my promoting religion.I've already gotten such complaints, and that's WITHOUT religion in my books. I can't tell you how many people tripped up over my use of the word "soul" in Cradle.So since I can't create a fictional belief system without people taking it as a statement of my actual beliefs, I find it's easier to just skirt religion entirely.

Questioner

What's the most unconventional weapon of Valinhall?

Will Wight

By accident, Valin once created a living whip. He was trying to improve on the whip, which isn't really a combat-capable weapon, by weaving together Nye cloth with threads from other Territories that he found could move independently. He ended up creating a squirming, wriggling length of leathery rope that indeed could end up killing someone in the right hands, but only if it was in a helpful mood. He tried various methods of increasing its intelligence, perhaps in an attempt to make it an advisor, but ultimately gave up. It's currently in storage.

Questioner

Tell us about the most dangerous piece of furniture or collection of furniture in the house of blades.

Will Wight

Never question the dominion of the Devouring Sofa, whose hunger is never sated and whose thirst for blood is never quenched.

Adarsh

Out of curiosity, did Valin ever learn about Cradle? It seems like a few of Valinhall's powers mimic abilities from Cradle.

Will Wight

No, but both worlds are in Sector 11. They tend to have similar or overlapping powers.

Questioner

Apprentice Match up: Simon vs Kylar Stern (Brent Weeks, Night Angel)

Master Match up: Kai vs Durzo Blint (Same series as above)

Doubles: Lindon and Yerin vs Atticus and Granuaile (Iron Druid Series)

Queen/Ruler Match up: Leah vs Egwene al'Vere (Wheel of Time)

Will Wight

1.) Apprentices

This may be egotistical of me, but I give Simon the edge in this contest. He has strength greater than Kylar has ever displayed, and the magic-eating properties of the black ka'kari will be of no use against Valinhall, while Kylar's own unformed magic won't slow Simon down.

I say Simon cuts his head off without having to put on the mask.

2.) Masters

The tricky part here is that the full extent of Durzo's power is never revealed. I would imagine he has the edge, by virtue of centuries more experience. Even if he can't kill Kai immediately, he could almost certainly withdraw and gather enough information for a more lethal second attempt.

That said, since he's passed on the black ka'kari to Kylar, his abilities are more limited. Plus he's lost his immortality and his accelerated healing.

Too close to call. I think it might come down to luck, unless Durzo has learned some secret magical skills over the course of his endless journeys.

3.) Doubles

I'm afraid I don't know enough about the Iron Druid series to answer this. I've only read the first two books, and I don't remember who Granuaile is. Isn't she his apprentice or something?

4.) Queens The hard part about this matchup is the incompatibility of the two magic systems. Leah can't block/shield anyone from the Source, because she's not a channeler, and she can't sense, slash, or counter weaves. In the same vein, though, Egwene can't sense Leah's presence or power, and can't counter any of her powers.

Barring balefire, I'll give it to Leah. Her eye is more likely to be able to detect Egwene's magic than Egwene is to be able to sense Leah's abilities, and Leah has access to enough weapons in Ragnarus that her first strike on an unaware target will be enough.

But if Egwene decides the situation is grave enough for balefire and gets the chance to use it, there's really nothing Leah can do but be burned out of existence.