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If Lindon were gain a physical goldsign (i.e. a flaming shell) when he switched from pure to BF core would the goldsign shift with the core as his eyes do or remain the same?
It would change, but it wouldn't entirely vanish like the eyes do.
Is there a decision/scene/event which wasn't pre-planned (i.e. you decided on something while writing a book that wasn't part of the vision for the series) which has greatly impacted the story's direction? What is that decision/event/scene?
Alright. Yes. Absolutely there is. There's a lot of them. I don't even know where to begin answering that question. Not because its a bad question, it's a great question, but because there's so many answers to that...So, when I'm writing, one of the reasons why I wrote Uncrowned the way I did in terms of writing the major rounds first and then going in and filling in the gaps is because I needed to lock down the story line because if I don't lock down the story line I change my mind constantly and I'm always like 'aw, I've got a better idea' and 'aw, this would be an awesome thing I could explore.' So, I have to lock that down so I don't, so the story doesn't run away with me. There were a few, mostly, I'll create characters or concepts or powers or places just because..So if you've read Traveler's Gate, there is a scene in the second book that is everybody's favorite room in the house, in Valinhall, and its these water cats that are made of water and they...there's rain in the room and its an enclosed room in a magical house, but it basically is like this open garden because magic and its raining and there are gaps in the rain that form the basis of perfect movement that you have to fight your way through the rain and if you touch the raindrops, the rain stops and the raindrops coalesce into these cats made of water that then attack you. And I loved the visual design of that room and that took me absolutely no time at all to come up with because I just came up with that off the top of my head. That entire concept was completely random. I was just like 'Hmm, I need this room to be cool,' tap, tap, tap, 'what's coming out of my fingers? There it is.' So that was one of my ideas that I was like 'Huh, that was cool.' And, yep, that was a surprise to all of us when that happened and so then I thought it was really great and so I came back to the room and I knew that in this room which I didn't know the details of, but I knew that in this room this was gonna be something that Simon was going to attempt multiple times, this was kind of going to be his growth over the course of the book, and it was and that was very cool. So, I really liked that. That's one thing that was completely of the top of my head. What about in Cradle? What was something in Cradle that I didn't plan? I don't know. There's definitely some, I don't know. Let me think back to Underlord, there's gotta be something there. For one thing, its hard for me to remember where each idea came from sometimes but its very often I'm writing the book and....but anyway, that happens all of the time. It doesn't usually affect the whole shape of the book. For instance, I had already plotted out that Simon goes to a room and he ends up learning and growing over the course, and he gets mentored. So, what happens in the plot, I had already determined and it didn't change that. But the actual execution of what the room looks like that and how that all worked out was all pure improv.
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.
Is there room in the willverse for an iteration that is populated entirely by nonhuman intelligence? And what about AI? Do they add stability to they way or do they not count cause they are "artificial"?
This is one of the sacrifices I had to make in designing the Willverse, which I still think is a hilarious name: truly artificial intelligence doesn't exist.
In theory, as we understand intelligence in our world right now, we should soon reach a point where artificial intelligence starts increasing exponentially until it changes the world entirely.
Well, in the Willverse, developing civilizations eventually discover a hard limit to artificial intelligence. The same X factor that ties the Way to human consciousness also means that non-human entities can never be truly sentient.
A pure computer in the Willverse is never going to beat a really good Turing Test.
However, you CAN manipulate human consciousness to get around the intelligence barrier.
A Presence is an AI built out of what you might call human souls.
***
I had to make this decision because, if hyper-advanced AI is possible in this multiverse, then *that's* what would be running the Abidan. Not the Judges. Human decisions would be overrated, since an AI could come to the optimized conclusions a billion times faster and without emotional bias.
It also kind of fits the premise of a multiverse where human will is intrinsic to existence. If it's that fundamental and important, then it can't be faked.
Does mean that existential questions about what it means to be human are easier to answer, though.
(You also asked about nonhuman intelligence; bottom line is, non-humans gain intelligence by stealing or copying or otherwise transferring it from humans. So as they become more intelligent, they also become more human.)
Huh. Well I'm glad that you wove a reason as to why AI doesn't work in your universe. Makes you greater than most in that regard.
Years ago, I got to a point in this system's development and I realized I was pretending they didn't have AI. Which they would obviously have, as advanced as they are.
So I got down into it and realized that having AI violates the one core tenet of how this multiverse works: humans are important.
"Humans are important" is a key rule in the Willverse, because I wanted room for as many characters as possible. I wanted it to be people from the ground up, so that when you get up to the very apex of the universe (the Judges), you're not dealing with a bland personification of the will of the universe, or a hyper-advanced AI, or an unknowable alien god. You're dealing with a person, who might be incredibly advanced and powerful but is still human deep down.
So instead of humans being one sentient species on one insignificant planet in one insignificant system in one insignificant galaxy in a vast, uncaring universe, we are (in my world) a crucial part of the machinery of reality.
Many stories PRETEND humans are important, but how many of them hard-code it into the way the universe functions? HUH? HUH!?...anyway, since AI makes humans less special and unique, I built a set of rules that precluded AI. Sad to see them go, but I think it makes room for some interesting stories.
For clarification:--When I say AI, I mean advanced sentient AI. Obviously they do have some level of artificial intelligence.
--Here's the REASON I wanted all those humans: characters are what make a story interesting. An AI isn't relatable, and gods don't have flaws.
I wanted to be able to give every significant force in this multiverse a personality, a backstory, and a relatable motivation.
Not to mention cool powers.
...plus, it's kind of neat to have a universe where everyone, even on a cosmic scale, earned their way there.
Adriel, the Creator
The first seven Judges inherited their power and titles. Only Ozriel and Adriel are the exceptions: Ozriel because there has never been a Reaper before him, and Adriel because there has never been a Creator since.
Adriel is a myth to the modern Abidan. Some of their oldest records posit his existence, but he vanished before the Eledari Pact was signed. The strongest pieces of evidence for his existence are indirect references left behind by the first Abidan Court.
The Judges can defend, maintain, and alter Iterations. They can combine fragments into new worlds.
But only one person could, according to legend, design and create Iterations out of whole cloth: Adriel. He created new worlds, introducing fresh pieces into the cycle of existence.
His weapon, the Hammer of Adriel, is sometimes used by the Abidan as a symbol of creation.
Are the Akura Path of Seven Pages unique? Is there only one "Book of Eternal Night" as long Mercy is alive none can walk her Path?
In that particular case, yes, there is only one book of Eternal Night and as long as Mercy is alive there will be nothing else.In the case of other books of seven pages, I think most of them are unique. I don't think all of them are. If I had to answer off the top of my head...Which I do because that is the whole premise, I believe that there are some of them that are not unique. Some of them are sort of mass produced…Like, not really but this is like two or three copies.
Has Fury or Charity penned a book of seven pages?
No. No they have not. So what Charity did was Charity developed her book with her grandmother so - With Malice. Malice had started had this dream shadow book and she and Charity finished it together but once Charity started showing signs of ascending to sage, they finished the rest of it together. So it was an unfinished booked and that was true in a lot of like, there was a lot of things, a lot of these books Malice didn't do herself. So the first person who carried the book or the first person who helped her make it or whatever was the person who helped her finish it.
Are there new books of Seven Pages being written?
Not anymore. Not really. They typically have more books than they have people capable of using the books so there’s really not a point in developing more.
"What are prisons like in Cradle?
On the Iceflower Continent, far from the Blackflame Empire, there's a buried chamber chiseled into the heart of a halfsilver vein. Madra is dispersed as soon as it touches the air, and thirteen layers of script repel all aura. There are twenty cells, and no more than twenty prisoners. Imprisoned here are those who cannot be executed.
About what level of Cradle advancement would various travelers be at? The obvious examples would be the incarnations Alin, Zakarath, and Simon.
Uh, again. Mapping other magic systems onto Cradle advancement system is a little harder than it sounds, because Cradle advancement system is relative to itself. So, you don't map them exactly; but in general they'd be about gold level, and then, would Simon or the higher level incarnations would be like Underlord level. So... They would just get absolutely trashed in Cradle, where as then the, so the, but they can do other things right. So it's a more flexible magic system, so you have things like ragnarus things being able to curse people, or give them commands, or having stuff that Cradle would have to do manually they can do kind of automatically.
Are you guys still wanting to do a Kickstarter like thing for signed copies, hardcovers, special editions, etc. You guys mentioned it in a blog post at one point.
You know, that's something we're still working on, something we're still considering. The only reason we haven't done it it already is it just takes effort. It takes time and energy and somebody's got to lead it; somebody's got to put the Kickstarter together. It's obviously not something we couldn't do, it's just something that we'd have to put energy into, and we're not sure it would be worth it. We do want to, we'd like to, we plan on it, but when, or what it's going to be... It'll probably be some kind of special edition thing. Some sort of hard cover printing or something. Real life sacred weapons with real magic powers. Portal to Cradle. A date with Will, Sam said. That's right, that's on the table. Actual dragon eggs. One of the lost Valinhall swords I think is up for grabs. Other than that, nothing special.
What path is the best later on in the stages but sucks early in your advancement?
Path of the Starseed.
Practitioners gather aura of light and heat into a tiny ball of madra that they keep inside their spirits. They can manifest it, like a tiny star in their hands, but any power they use is taken away from the Starseed's growth.
As they advance, they also advance their Starseed, but it's far less useful than any similar Paths (like, say, Heaven's Glory) until they reach Underlord. Once the Starseed is bathed and forged in soulfire, it becomes another level of existence entirely.Now practitioners can use their Starseed to melt through stone, and as it gets larger and more dense, the sacred artists become deadlier. If they continue to advance, their Starseeds can eventually burn cities in seconds after manifesting.
Me and my friend have been arguing about this point. It sounds to me that Dreadgods are more powerful or aware when they first awaken then slowly get corrupted by the hunger madra but he thinks that they become more aware the more they are awake.
It fluctuates depending on how strong they are. How strong they are at a certain time is how aware they are in general. But also the Dreadgods, some Dreadgods are more intelligent than the others. The Silent King is always aware, he's always self aware, and he's the smartest one. And the Weeping Dragon actually is the second most self aware. I kind of wanted to do the, I thought it would make sense for the Bleeding Phoenix to be that person because the Bleeding Phoenix absorbs a lot of awareness like its Emissaries and its Blood Shadows are all aware to some degree. But I figured the hive mind thing actually causes more problems than it solves, so the Bleeding Phoenix is now third. And the Wandering Titan is just kind of an idiot.
