open/close all folders
Sacred Artist as a term
- Why is there even a term for "sacred artists?" It makes sense to have a word like that in a cultivation setting where cultivators are rare, but literally every single person on Cradle is a Sacred Artist (except Unsouled, which aren't even a thing outside the valley). That means... the term doesn't make any sort of meaningful distinction. It just means "person", like calling someone a breathing human or someone capable of walking.
- We do know one normal type of person that isn't considered a Sacred Artist: Anyone below Gold. In that way, "Sacred Artist" is generally synonymous with "adult." It's also possible that they used to be more rare and the term is a holdover from that. There are a lot of old traditions on Cradle that they've forgotten the meaning of.
- Sacred can actually be defined as dedicating ones life to a spiritual practice, and since everybody on Cradle practices Sacred Arts religiously, the term ends up fitting.
- The term seems to typically refer to individuals who are actively following their cultivation path. If someone is content to remain at their current level then they are a civilian instead. For instance, Jai Long notes that since he has withdrawn to Sacred Valley he can't really be considered a Sacred Artist anymore. Most of the main characters are core members of their clans or otherwise dedicated to combat, but the majority of people are not.
Lindon's duel with Jai Long in the original timeline
- When Suriel is reviewing Lindon's fate from outside of Cradle (with no connection to it and no way to update what's actually happening), she reads that he's fated to die in his duel to Jai Long. He ultimately does not because of Eithan's interference, which she hadn't foreseen. But... the duel only happened because of Eithan's interference! How did it happen in the original timeline, when Lindon never caught Eithan's eye? Even if Eithan had somehow came to Jai Long's attention, he'd just be killed immediately - Eithan's protection was the only thing turning it into a duel.
- One guess for why this is, is that when Suriel made her prediction the flow of fate was still in tact, but the more Eithan interacted with Lindon the more things got tangled.
- Suriel did notice at some point that there were gaps in the information her presence was giving her. Anything regarding Arelius influence was left out of her prediction, likely because Eithan himself was messing with fate at those key moments.
- Eithan appears to be at least slightly Immune to Fate (presumably due to Ozriel's marble). In Wintersteel, when an Abidan gets a report on Tiberius Arelius, Eithan is only indirectly referenced as a "young adviser," and there are several warnings about Fate glitches.
- So now we know that it was definitely Eithan's interference, but more specifically, Suriel could see what Eithan did after the fact, but couldn't see the future effects of his continued interference. So in her original predictions, his most likely future was just to die in the Ruins as a miner, or maybe escape and continue grinding away with the Fishers. Eithan interfered and got him into the duel, which for the purposes of Fate predictions was as if Lindon was just plopped into that situation out of nowhere. All her predictions were based on Lindon having no backing and no support; you'll note that the predictions are mostly "Lindon runs" or "Jai Daishou decides to use Lindon."
Jai Long's oath
- After Jai Daishou's death, how is Jai Long able to just say Screw This, I'm Outta Here? The whole point of his oath to Jai Daishou is that he's supposed to be protecting the clan when Jai Daishou is dead - doesn't leaving to search for the Sacred Valley put him in violation?
- His oath wasn't to protect the clan it was to act in the best interests of the clan. Also it was made null and void when Jai Daishou failed on his end of the bargain by using the Archstone while in the presence of both Jai Long and Jai Chen. By him attacking them he went back on his terms of the oath which were to "protect them as long as their loyalty remained true," so at that point Jai Long was no longer bound.
- Soul oaths only persist as long as both sides are alive. While they can sometimes (but not always) persist if the other party left a remnant, Daishou didn't even manage that because the Archstone wrecked his spirit. this is why the Blood sage is able to reveal the Dark Secret about the Monarchs and Dreadgods to Yerin in Dreadgod.
- Is there a Word of God on that? Because I'm pretty sure that the Blood Sage was the exception, due to poorly-worded oaths. Jai Daishou's entire plan relied on the oath continuing after his death. It makes more sense that he accidentally broke it first.
How could Yerin possibly have been unaware of the Sacred Valley's suppression field?
- Even if her master, for some completely inexplicable reason, decided not to mention it to her at all, its effects are extremely obvious - there is simply no way, even as a Jade, that she could have missed how severely her master's power level would have changed. Normally he would have been completely impossible for anyone in the Sacred Valley to harm even if he ate every poison they have and then laid down and bared his neck for them; normally he could have killed every person in the valley with one attack. Lindon might have been unaware of this, but Yerin couldn't have been.
- Throughout the series, Yerin has stated that her master was typically short on details with her. The reason why she didn’t recognize a dip in power was probably that she thought he was using a veil.
