Cradle World: The Abidan (Part 5)

4/30/2017

The Judges of the Abidan Court
(The Reaper and the Creator)

Ozriel, the Reaper
When a world lives too long and drifts from the Way, only one person can terminate the Iteration without scattering corrupted fragments that threaten other worlds.
For most of the history of the Abidan, there was no Ozriel. They eliminated worlds the old-fashioned way, and most of their manpower was spent defending Iterations from chaos-corrupted fragments. Ozriel reduced the threat of corruption to such a degree that the Abidan could spread their manpower to an unprecedented degree. Where once it took hundreds of Abidan to protect and maintain a single Iteration, now that same team could supervise an entire Sector of ten or more worlds.
   However, the entire system of the current Abidan now hinges on one man.
Where most Judges are rule-abiding and structured by nature, Ozriel is not so rigid. He often challenges Abidan laws and traditions, trying to change and improve the policies of their organization. He might have succeeded by now if he were willing to relinquish control and cooperate with others. But, traditionally, he has never been much of a team player. When others don't agree with him, he tends to do exactly what he wants anyway.
As the one individual in existence with a world-erasing superweapon, he's used to getting his way.
   And now he's missing.

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.

50 Comments

Corey

4/30/2017 07:43:54 pm

Do we have a rough time scale of when Ozriel became part of the Abidan? Would that be a RAFO?

Will link

4/30/2017 08:00:00 pm

I'm still trying to decide whether or not the time scale is important enough to have Suriel explore it in the books. But it was several thousand years ago.

JohnJacojingleheimersmith

4/30/2017 07:47:41 pm

Now The 9 make sense

4/30/2017 08:00:38 pm

Weird coincidence, John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt: that's my name too!

Sean K

4/30/2017 07:48:14 pm

So, the Hammer. Like a Soulforger hammer?

493 light titan

4/30/2017 07:49:58 pm

HAMMER OF SOL

Daniel young

5/1/2017 12:54:49 am

That sounds like an awesome name for a star dreadnaught

Jack Day

4/30/2017 08:33:53 pm

What exactly does the corruption mean? How does chaos corrupt? Also then how are new iterations formed in the current era?

Mike

4/30/2017 09:07:53 pm

I figure it's that normally chaos and order are in balance. In the corrupted fragments it is mostly or pure chaos. When those fragments hit another iteration they tip the scale there towards chaos as Well. This would lead to a runaway chain reaction.

Will has said new iterations form from the remnants of old iterations coming together to form new ones that are different than the pieces of what went before.

4/30/2017 09:35:34 pm

I just wonder what form chaos takes in the Willverse? Is it nothingness? Is it moral corruption? What does a corrupted fragment appear as? What sets a corrupted iteration from one that follows the Way? Will mentioned that iterations become corrupted when they outlive their "expatriation date". I'm just unclear on what the court is actually fighting.

4/30/2017 09:39:19 pm

For instance if, Adriel forbid, Cradel or Amalgam became corrupted what would it look like? How would it change due to its new corrupted state?

4/30/2017 09:45:53 pm

Well it can't just be evil, as evil exist in healthy iterations aplenty. Same with simple moral corruption.

In my head cannon, it's more pure chaos. Fluctuating power, constantly shifting physical and mystical law. Basically an antithetical force to the ordered universe we know.

Bartimay

4/30/2017 09:53:05 pm

Well Will said(I think) that ilterations die when the population on the falls too low. So that would mean that on every ilteration that dies a lot of people, beings etc. die too, which probably means that on those ilteration they have somehow been killed(Will said there are rarely ilterations that live fulll lifetimes). They could have been killed by someone rogue who has gathered too much power and destroyed the world, thus corrupting it

4/30/2017 10:17:07 pm

I like your "head cannon" idea that chaos just means total lack of consistent reality. But again how does that distortion spread? Is it some kind of reality disease. Furthermore, I mean the existence of magic shows that reality isn't rigid ever in the Willverse. So is chaos present in ever iteration in the form of magic but grows. Then why would the court use the chaos derived magic? Furthermore, I don't think destruction is related to chaos. I think the scenario of a destructive individual gaining too much power would be a natural death for that iteration.

4/30/2017 11:15:00 pm

I think the spread is a lot like dominos. As long as everything is in balance all the dominos stay upright. But the contamination of in balanced chaos is like the tipping of the first domino. If that fragment (domino) hits another iteration it will tip dominos in the area it hits, those will tip those further out, and so on until the entire world is corrupted.

I think worlds can come to an end on their own, but the total corruption of a world ensures it's destruction. With so much flux the laws that hold it together fray like the ends of a piece of cloth. When the corrupted world frays it sends of corrupted fragments hitting more worlds and starting the domino chain all over again.

A FAMILY OF RACCOONS ON THE RUN FROM JANGO FET WHILE DRINKING LARGE AMOUNTS OF VODKA WHILE FIGHTING THE OTHER FAMILY OF RACCOONS WHO WANT TO FIGHT THE ROMAN LEGIONS

7/26/2017 04:29:58 am

Wasn't chaos in black flame complete and utter loss of physics, magic and otherwise? By this I mean random things just happen because of chaos, as shown in the limit/haven split. The way seems to connect all of the worlds together, gives by it power and life. However, the less sentient life, the farthest away a planet goes from the way. Because of this chaos can fill the gap left by the way. Not sure though, just this seems to make the most sense

Jim

4/30/2017 08:57:33 pm

Perhaps they both ascended to a new level.

Illar

4/30/2017 11:29:23 pm

And the entire Willverse is just ilteration 158 to a higher Abidan like group.

Adarsh

4/30/2017 09:06:50 pm

I bet at the end of book 13 of the Cradle series, Lindon will find the Hammer of Adriel and become the second Creator.

Caleb

4/30/2017 10:19:00 pm

God, I'm going to live my entire life with baited breath while Will writes the rest of these books. Him and Sanderson. Dammit.

Ryan

11/27/2018 01:22:36 am

I have come to this same exact conclusion as well.

Jay W

5/1/2017 07:14:06 am

That's what I'm thinking too. Or, he keeps becoming the ultimate soulsmith and eventually makes himself something equivalent to that. Either way becoming the second Creator.

Joe

5/8/2017 08:15:25 am

Maybe Eithan will become the new Ozriel (given Will's prior comments about how he might be hiding in chaos and the chaos?
in Eithan's marble) and Lindon the new Adriel.

4/30/2017 09:28:22 pm

Will, I actually just noticed, but could it be? Your progress bar says Truegold. Does it show how far you are in the whole series? And would that mean that the end of the series is a myth you are tying to reach just like Eithan? I myself don't believe it, but maybe it even shows how far Lindon manages to progress...

Garbagiel the Raccoon

4/30/2017 10:14:27 pm

I know that it's a pretty tenuous connection, but something about Ozriel always made me think of Ozymandius.

Yosef

5/1/2017 12:54:01 am

Is it because their names both start with Oz??

I don't think they are alike, Ozymandius is the ultimate puppet master and chess player always playing the long game. Whereas from what little we know so far about him, Ozriel sounds more like a teenager who is throwing a temper tantrum over people not listening to his ideas which kinda reminds me a little of Frieza from dbz

Garbagiel the raccoon

5/1/2017 05:23:00 am

Are we talking about different Ozymandius's? I'm talking about the one from the poem Ozymandius.

5/1/2017 06:24:10 am

I suspect Yosef is referring to the villain from Watchmen, which is still a good comparison.

But I can see the comparison to Shelley's Ozymandias: they could both be interpreted as powerful kings with their legacies eroded by time.

Evan

4/30/2017 11:52:18 pm

Stretch... Hold... Release... Alternate... Repeat....

Doing finger stretches in preparation for spamming the refresh button on Amazon.

Liko

5/1/2017 12:02:09 am

It is 12:01 am, May 01, 2017 PST. Guess what I am doing?!

Darryl

5/1/2017 12:03:12 am

I'm looking for blackflame

David

5/1/2017 12:07:56 am

where...is..it...

Blake

5/1/2017 12:10:32 am

It's not there. Panic.

5/1/2017 12:12:15 am

Will posted on FB that it has been uploaded. Up to Amazon to get it processed and the database updated.

Devin

5/1/2017 09:41:59 am

Couple questions:

1. How is the Mantle of a Judge made, and what does it do?

2. How does Eithan do what he does with pure madra?

3. Will Lindon ever integrate the Sylvan Riverseed as a goldsign, or will he keep it as a pet like he does currently?

7/26/2017 04:42:27 am

Pure madra cancels out other madra and aura (empty fist). Eithan's cycling technique increases mana capacity(covering himself to pass through the boundary, flooding his body with madra to enforce himself, things like that). I don't understand the teleporting, but that could just be how fast he is going.

Lightsyde link

5/2/2017 10:46:26 pm

Wow!! I just finished reading Blackflame will!! Without a single break!! Its everything I expected and more!!

Benjamin

5/3/2017 04:37:03 pm

Tfw when you are ozriel, the reaper, destroyer of world and makeal tries to copy your scythe so you copy his entire Abidan jury...

JMAC

5/7/2017 12:57:34 pm

So, I'm going to do my best to not write any spoilers, but as a heads up, this post WILL CONTAIN HINTS AS TO THE EVENTS FROM BLACKFLAME.

As such, this is only for people who have read it....

Based on the abilities Lindon achieves in Blackflame, and added onto his clear underlying desire to be a soul smith (I.e. A creator), AND Will's mention that this entire series is about someone coming from nothing, and ending up in God status... I don't think it's too far fetched to suggest that Lindon will end up matching or replacing Ozriel in destructive capability by starting down his new sacred arts path. Additionally, I think this path will continue with him becoming the ultimate soulsmith, in the form of replacing Adriel... Just my insight/end wish.

Cristi

11/17/2021 09:08:18 pm

Totally agree.
In Reaper we have additional evidence.
The hammer Genesis is the first version of the hammer of creation. Lindon's connection with the Void Icon allows his to create from nothing, using Genesis.
More so, he actually IS Adriel, the original. The one of old, through a twist of time; and the one of new once the arc of story in the Cradle cycle is complete.
All in all, a beautiful, inspirational story of how the most humble of us becomes Highest.
Creator brought forth by himself, with aid from the Phoenix and The Reaper.
All is as it should be.

Lance

5/7/2017 01:25:18 pm

I just reread Unsouled and Soulsmith and then read Blackflame. I have only one thing to say, Will. Write faster, damn you!

Darren

5/7/2017 03:50:29 pm

pretty much my thoughts.
not sure if i want elder empire, or the next cradle book!

Reyna

5/8/2017 01:41:22 pm

When did Ozriel go missing?

Tempest

6/22/2017 10:28:34 am

Can we get a scale of where sage is? It's confusing me how jades were able to take him down (even if they used poison) when underlord is said to be under sage

Samuel

8/7/2017 12:23:48 pm

It was not an easy victory for them, and when you are attacked in the middle of the night while poisoned with 30 of them and one of you and you still kill some of them, that sounds about right for a sage...

Nosna

8/16/2017 01:29:41 pm

Well, Serial said that a thousand gold sacred artists could not scratch the armor of the girl in the 8 man empire, and I am pretty sure she wasn't a sage, so...

1/8/2018 12:59:46 am

Could someone like make a list or scale of all the levels of advancement in the sacred arts? It would be cool to see where everyone is at and what not. I’m just slowly dying cause there is no more good books for me to read. Will Wright your one of my favorite authors. I need the fifth book so badly. Outstanding writing. 😊👍 :)

Peter

1/13/2018 09:22:08 pm

When can we expect book five for Cradle? I loved all the other books!

Rick link

3/6/2018 08:41:57 am

Will,
It seems to me, your fights lack “technique”. Brute strength is great, and can be satisfying to some extent, but that is only one note in a song of violence. If you play the note too often, the song becomes boring. I know you’ve watched dragon ball. (Rideable cloud) they do a great job of building suspense, the consequences of losing are terrible....how can they possibly win??....they dig deep and suddenly they are stronger(brute strength) and they do the same exact move as always....resolve. They suck at getting to resolve. It’s boring. How about a failed arm bar? Some grappling, some holds, counters to holds, counters to punches. Catching the blade of the sharpest edged weapon ever! The pain of being in a hold while trying to defend against a move that will rip your arm out of its socket. Using superior technique to win. Forcing your enemies to submit.

George

11/17/2021 06:57:21 am

Why is it called the original court of 7 then if adriel is counted but was among the early judges

In which we ramble on.
And by we, I mean me.