History Literature / CradleSeries

* BrickJoke: Eithan telling Lindon to take care of his hair. In Wintersteel, as Eithan's being dragged through a portal by the Oracle Sage, he shouts for Lindon to visit a barber and says his hair lacks definition. In Waybound, at Lindon's big reunion, Eithan grabs him in a hug and tearfully says how happy he is Lindon has finally used the shampoo he left him.
** Even Ozmanthus gets in on this; when Lindon speaks to his echo in the labyrinth for help wirth the dreadgods, Ozmanthus' parting shot is for Lindon to get a hair cut.

On December 17th 2023, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Iteration110Cradle/comments/18l9k1m/unsouled_we_are_finally_animating_cradle/ a Kickstarter for an animation project]] was announced, starting on Jaunary 15th.

* AntiMagic: Pure madra, the type every human is born with, disrupts other madra and is also great for working with soulsmith constructs. There are two major problems with it: There is no such thing as pure aura (meaning you can't cycle aura to restore your madra, you have to wait for your body to replenish it naturally), and pure madra can ''only'' affect madra. It has no effect on, say, someone throwing a rock at you. The vast majority of people outgrow pure madra shortly after they learn to walk, as they choose a Path with different types of madra and cycle those, which changes the composition of their cores. Lindon, since he was denied the right to study his family Path, kept pure madra much longer than normal. [[spoiler:Once he split his core in two, he kept one pure when he used the other one to walk the Blackflame Path. Eithan also uses pure madra]].

** Carried over to Uncrowned and Wintersteel where [[spoiler:Orthos was forced to rebuild Wei Shi Kelsa's Iron Body because the residents of the Sacred Valley did not know that they could or should be tailored to your individual path]].

** Armor in Cradle usually comes packed with constructs and different abilities that [[CastFromStamina use the wearers Madra]] to fuel them, but it still can be completely negated by a powerful enough opponent. [[spoiler:Sort of played straight in Wintersteel with Lindon's PoweredArmor, it makes him monstrously powerful, but the [[TooAwesomeToUse financial cost to fix it]] each time is such that Lindon would rather just make himself stronger.]]

** Once someone on Cradle reaches a sufficient power level (specifically Herald or Sage, either of which is the stage before Monarch), they can choose to ascend from their world and join the wider cosmos. In fact, this is possible on ''any'' world, but Cradle's magic system greatly encourages personal strength, so it happens with far more frequency. Most Iterations will be lucky to produce one ascendant being through their entire lifetime, but Cradle produces roughly one every century. Hence why the Abidan named it "Cradle." The Monarchs have all refused to ascend, and therefore are looked down on by the Abidan like teenagers throwing a tantrum.
** In book 10, [[spoiler:we find out that it's more than that. The Monarchs are, in fact, fully ascendant beings who ''absolutely'' should not be on the planet any more. The world is constantly trying to push them out, and their mere presence creates the Hunger aura that creates the Dreadbeasts and the [[GodOfEvil Dreadgods]].]].

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Those born into powerful clans have a ''far'' easier time advancing along their Path than the average sacred artist, thanks to the rare and expensive resources available to them: medicines and pills, training manuals and dream tablets, etc.

* BizarroElements: Aura and madra come in many different forms. You've got the basics like [[PlayingWithFire fire]], [[MakingASplash water]], [[HealingHands life]] and [[{{Necromancer}} death]], then the weirder ones like [[MindOverMatter force]], [[PsychicPowers dream]], and [[CannibalismSuperpower hunger]]. Since aura can also be influenced by human creations, some really weird types are perfectly commonplace; sword aura is technically a specialized type of force aura that gathers around edged weapons, but it's generally more common since people use sharp weapons more than blunt ones.
* BlackSwordsAreBetter: Netherclaw, the Archlord weapon that Yerin gets as a prize in the Uncrowned tournament, has a black blade. Yerin sometimes dual weilds it with [[YinYangBomb her master's sword, which is white.]]

* CommonTongue: Absolutely everyone on the planet speaks the same language, to the point that it doesn't even need a name. Lindon, who lives in a secluded valley that has had absolutely minimal contact with the outside world for a thousand years, has no trouble communicating with outsiders. Eventually it's explained that Emeriss Silentborn, one of the [[PhysicalGod Monarchs]], wanders the world spreading language and making sure everyone can communicate. Lindon mentions that he's heard ''of'' other languages, but has never actually encountered any. The closest is when he meets foreigners from the other side of the planet, who have accents so thick it takes time to sort out what they're saying.

* CoolGate: One of the many means of travel on Cradle. They are massively inefficient in terms of power consumption, and only Sages and Monarchs can make them, so they're used sparingly. The one from Eithan's homeland to the Blackflame Empire only opens once every ten years. [[spoiler:One is set up as a method of escape for the Akura forces in Wintersteel in the event that their fighters lose the Uncrowned King tournament. It ends up being used as a method of evacuation anyway when a four-way fight between [[PersonOfMassDestruction Akura Fury]] and three other Heralds begins.]]
* CoolSword: Yerin inherits her master's sword, which has a pure white blade made of [[FantasyMetals wintersteel.]] It has a binding, but since it's an Archlord weapon she can't activate it. [[spoiler: At least until she gets strong enough, and reveals that its binding is an [[AnIcePerson Ice ruler technique.]]]]

* CrimeOfSelfDefense: Lindon spends most of the series weaker than basically everyone around him, and in this world, no one much cares if the weak are killed. So when someone decides to crush the annoying little insect instead of having a conversation, Lindon defends himself, often with lethal results. Multiple people have demanded duels of honor after he defended himself from an unprovoked attack. It doesn't help that he has a FaceOfAThug, so everyone always assumes his genuine politeness is him mocking them.

** The Blackflame royal family cultivated Iron bodies that would improve the already incredible offensive power of the Blackflame Path. This backfired as the flames ate away at their minds and bodies; in a world where a normal sacred artist can still be in fighting shape at age one hundred, they were practically paralyzed at age sixty. [[spoiler:Part of the reason Eithan gave Lindon an Iron body with such an overpowered HealingFactor was to handle the black flames]].

** Both fights between Lindon and [[spoiler:Li Markuth]]. The first is so lopsided that it can't even be called a fight: [[spoiler:Li Markuth is so much more powerful than Lindon that he never noticed Lindon's attack, and is only vaguely aware that he killed Lindon]]. The second takes place after intense LevelGrinding on Lindon's part: [[spoiler:Li Markuth is confident that he can beat the "Wei Grand Elder" without trouble, but unloads everything he's got at him just to be safe. Lindon proceeds to NoSell the barrage while simultaneously protecting any bystanders, then [[OhCrap refuses Li Markuth's attempt to surrender]].]]
* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: The Blackflame Path, a sacred art stolen from dragons, which was used to build an empire. In a world where AsskickingLeadsToLeadership and everyone challenges everyone, ''no one'' challenges the Blackflame sacred artists. Not only is it [[CripplingOverspecialization focused on offense to an insane degree]], but the flames are not designed for humans; they slowly eat away at mind and body, resulting in the imperial family slowly dying out without any outside intervention at all. [[spoiler:When Eithan tells Cassias that he plans to train Lindon in this path, a normally calm Cassias ''screams'' at him]].
* DarkSecret: [[spoiler: Dreadbeasts, Subject One, and the Dreadgods themselves only exist on Cradle because the Monarchs of the Iteration [[RefusalOfTheCall refuse to ascend]] like they're supposed to, leading to a build up in [[HorrorHunger Hunger Aura]]. [[AncientConspiracy They all know this]] and to keep the people of Cradle from rising up against them they force anyone who reaches Sage or Herald to take an [[BloodOath oath on their soul]] to not reveal this secret, ascend right then, or die. Tiberian Arelius was killed by Reigan Shen because he wanted to kill the Dreadgods and talk the other Monarchs into ascending. Emriss Silentborn was killed in her first life to keep this secret as she was originally intending to spread all knowledge to all corners of Cradle.]]

* DividedWeFall: The squabbling Monarchs don't even agree that the Dreadgods rising is a bad thing. Which makes it hard for ''any'' of them to intervene when one does, because if they do, even when they beat the Dreadgod, they'll be weakened and their assets threatened by their rivals. Akura Malice was able to make the Bleeding Phoenix back off from the Blackflame Empire, but after that [[GodsHandsAreTied her hands were tied]], and even that cost the Akura clan a lot. [[spoiler:This is partly an excuse: they could defeat them any time but don't want to pay the personal price that it would require. They would rather spend the lives of their subjects.]]

* DontYouDarePityMe: Lindon and Eithan both often give their opponents the chance to surrender, and refuse to kill defeated enemies. Everyone always gets mad. Multiple people have sworn vengeance on Lindon for leaving them alive.

* DugTooDeep: What the original empire of the Blackflame dragons did. They found the Labyrinth filled with treasures and left the doors open for years. This caused the Dreadgods to all converge upon the Blackflame Empire and lay waste to it. When they were finished, the Empire was a fraction of a fraction of its original size and strength. Now entering the Labyrinth is considered a last resort and requires the Monarch's approval to do so. [[spoiler:Jai Daishou violated this restriction and his going into the Labyrinth (along with interference from the Abidan), caused the Bleeding Phoenix to attack the Blackflame Empire.]]

* EccentricMentor: Eithan often gives Lindon and Yerin bizarre orders that make no sense, such as locking Lindon in a room with monsters for two weeks. He will explain himself when pressed, and everything he does ultimately has a reason behind it. Yerin grudgingly admits that this isn't too different from how her master trained her; the difference is she doesn't trust Eithan enough to obey his seemingly random orders.
* EldritchTransformation: The Dreadgods [[spoiler:were once ordinary sacred beasts who were transformed by an infusion of Hunger]].

** While Suriel speaking Lindon's language is justified by her [[ArtificialIntelligence Presence]] (Lindon even notes her accent shifting to one he's more familiar with), no explanation is given for why the rest of the world shares a language with Sacred Valley until most of the way through the series. The Valley only had minimal contact with the rest of the world for thousands of years at least, but somehow Lindon understands everyone perfectly. No one even comments on his accent being especially odd.

** ''Wintersteel'' expands on this reveal. [[spoiler:When she was alive, Emriss shared ALL knowledge throughout the world, going as far as to make constructs that would update with new knowledge automatically as it was discovered. She was killed by an alliance of three Monarchs who believed that sharing knowledge was dangerous. When Emriss came back as a Remnant, she came up with a new plan: make sure that everyone can speak to each other. Cooperation is more dangerous than knowledge.]]
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Most Sages are known only by their title, such as "Sage of a Thousand Eyes" or "Sage of the Winter Heart". Despite the Sword Sage being introduced ([[PosthumousCharacter posthumously]]) during the first book, we don't learn his first name until most of the way through the seventh book, and his full name isn't revealed until the eighth.

* EvolutionaryLevels: Sacred Beasts seem to have this in regards to their advancement levels. When they get to Underlord they have to decide what form to take. Some decide to just become insanely large and others decide to change their appearance to that of another species. The Dragon King is notable for taking on the appearance of a human child of maybe twelve years old and staying that way for hundreds of years.

** Lindon finds the Akura trapped by dragons in a mockery of the Uncrowned King tournament, forced to fight for their amusement. Lindon, identifying it as a game, proposes a prize: The winner gets to take everything the loser has on them when they enter the ring. His opponent, of course, removes all her most valuable treasures before stepping into the ring. [[spoiler:[[CannibalismSuperpower He consumes her life, madra, and spirit]]]]. For some reason, they aren't willing to play after that.

* ExoticEyeDesigns: All over the place in the universe of Cradle, most commonly in form of a [[MarkOfTheSupernatural Goldsign]] or due to [[FusionDance merging with their remnant]]. After reaching Lowgold, Lindon's eyes take on a black sclera with red irises while he's using Blackflame. The entire Akura family seems to have the same purple eyes, save Fury whose eyes are [[RedEyesTakeWarning red]]. [[spoiler:After merging with her Blood Shadow, Yerin's eyes turn red as well.]] The [[SpacePirates Vroshir]] [[PhantomThief Iri the Angler]] has electric blue triangular pupils as a result of her ascension from her homeworld.

* FakeRealTurn: Jai Chen makes up the Sect [[spoiler:of Twin Stars]] on the spot to explain where a horde of refugees from [[spoiler: Sacred Valley came from. The bluff takes on a life of its own, and Lindon finds himself with an ''actual'' sect at his command.]]

** What Northstrider has been doing for years, Lindon knows that he is alive thanks to Suriel telling him, but no one believes him until [[spoiler:Northstrider himself decides to stop hiding and takes over as the judge of the Uncrowned King tournament]].

** The Blackflame Empire, where most of the story takes place, uses [clan] [given], so Jai Long is Long of the Jai clan. Some clans always use their clan names and given names together (even Jai Long's sister calls him Jai Long), but the Akura clan that rules most of the continent typically just uses their given name in casual conversation; Akura Mercy is almost exclusively just called Mercy. Likewise, Akura are almost exclusively named after virtues, with the occasional vice thrown in (Mercy has a brother named Pride, and the matriarch is named Malice). Although, from the Akura clan's perspective, [[GoodIsNotNice they're all virtues]].
** The Arelius clan uses a [given] [clan] format, so Eithan Arelius is Eithan of the Arelius clan. While they are well-established in the Blackflame Empire, they're foreigners from another continent, so presumably that's the format used over there. It also makes it convenient when they want to adopt promising young people into the family, as they can just slap their clan name on the end. Lindon becomes Wei Shi Lindon Arelius when he joins the family.
* FantasticRacism: Lindon's status as an Unsouled means he has ''no'' standing among his own people. He is allowed to live and eat, but little more. He is not allowed to learn any sacred arts beyond basic breathing techniques, he will not be allowed to marry, and anyone could kill him at any time if he annoyed them.
* FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence: Lindon finds himself on the receiving end of this a ''lot''. First off, as an [[UnSorcerer Unsouled]], in his home he is considered completely worthless and could be murdered by anyone at any time with no fear of reprisal. In the first book, some teenagers blame him for ruining their (illegal) hunt because he happened to be nearby, he is blamed for winning two different impossible fights that he was forced into, and is challenged to a duel because Lindon survived a trial while someone else didn't. Lindon wasn't even ''nearby'', but he still gets blamed. This tapers off once he leaves Sacred Valley since outside he is merely seen as weak rather than an abomination, but stronger people repeatedly call him an honorless coward for ''not dying'' [[CrimeOfSelfDefense when they decide to attack him for whatever random reason]].

** TheLeader/ TheHero: Lindon. While Eithan is the team's teacher for most of the series, he increasingly puts Lindon into leadership positions. As of ''Reaper'' he's also [[spoiler:the [[CoolTeacher head]] of the Sect of Twin Stars.]] As the tallest and most visibly muscular member of the team he could also count as TheBigGuy, particularly with his tendency to [[GadgeteerGenius make]] [[{{BFG}} huge]] EnergyWeapons on the fly.

** During Eithan and Reigan Shen's conversation in ''Wintersteel'', there are a couple of mentions of killing Dreadgods and Shen ascending. One in particular is Eithan mentioning that Shen's plan, ostensibly to kill the Dreadgods, won't work [[spoiler: unless Shen ascends.]]

** [[spoiler:Makiel issues the call to recruit more Abidan from the upper ranks of the [[TheMultiverse Iterations]]. His people are powerful, but they are spread too thin fighting the Vroshir.]]

** Even the lowest of sacred artists can improve their healing ability by cycling madra through their body, but it gets really impressive at the Iron level. At that point, anything that doesn't kill you can be healed--and it takes a lot to kill you. [[spoiler:Eithan intentionally gives Lindon an overpowered Bloodforged Iron body, which has an even higher healing factor, to the point that he can be back at full capacity in hours after a near-lethal wound in a matter of hours]].
** Akura Pride's is even more impressive as it makes him essentially immune to bleeding out. He demonstrates this by stabbing himself directly in the throat [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction while staring directly at Lindon.]]

* HeroOfAnotherStory: Yan Shoumei is the "[[GuardianEntity guardian spirit]]" of her home city, and has an arch nemisis who is named but never described.

** Subverted by Fisher Gesha. After Lindon masterfully builds a bomb Fisher Gesha suspiciously accuses him of cheating. Lindon starts to apologize before Gesha gleefully interrupts him with, "No no! Cheat some more!" Unsurprisingly, Gesha, like Lindon, is a CombatPragmatist.

** In ''Reaper'', [[spoiler:Eithan drops all pretense and reveals his actual ability as Ozriel, the Reaper, Eighth Judge of the Abidan Court and the most powerful being in the multiverse in a straight-up fight]].

* InstantAIJustAddWater: Literally. Dross started out as a construct with some pre-programmed phrases he would speak under specific circumstances; he was little more than an automated greeter. He was annoying enough that someone tossed him in the Dream Water pool, which is used to sharpen the focus of mortal minds. After fifty years, he developed real intelligence and a mind of his own... but he was still stuck in the pool for five years until Lindon found him. [[spoiler:He becomes a Presence on par with that of an Abidan's once he is able to finish the Monarch Northstrider's AI project]].

** In ''Wintersteel'', Lindon [[VampiricDraining Consumes]] a black dragon Underlord who from his memories was a vocal opponent of the Dragon King's directive to destroy the empires of humanity and had adopted many human children to protect them from other dragons. Lindon awkwardly assures himself that the dragon will recover.
** In ''Reaper'' [[spoiler:we find out that Ozriel has been this the entire time. His strongest desire is to form a team who's sole purpose is saving worlds from corruption, but unfortunately the Abidan in general would much rather purge those corrupted worlds from The Way because AMillionIsAStatistic.]]

** The Sandvipers use the Bloodforged Iron body, which grants improved healing, by taking a single prick of sandviper venom and drinking a thimble of sandviper blood. Eithan gives Lindon a Bloodforged Iron body by having ''four'' sandvipers bite him directly and then drink all their blood. Lindon's body is ridiculously overpowered, to the point that he has trouble keeping up with it considering his madra supply.

** Between ''Uncrowned'' and ''Wintersteel'', Orthos goes through the lengthy process of [[spoiler:removing Wei Shi Kelsa's old malformed Iron body and replacing it with one that will best fit her path. Not too much detail is given on the Skyhunter Iron body, but it has something to do with tracking objects in flight]].

* MasterOfNone: The reason why no one learns more than one Path. Even if you could find two Paths with compatible madra and find someone willing to teach you, you'd still have to focus on them both separately. Instead of having two full-power Paths, you'd have two half-power Paths, which is deadly when there are such major differences in power levels in the world. [[spoiler:Lindon finds a loophole by splitting his core (letting him use madra types that would otherwise conflict), a Path that is extremely powerful, and by training at every waking moment.]]

* MundaneMadeAwesome: The people in and around Sacred Valley tend to have dark hair, so when Lindon first encounters Eithan, he assumes the latter's long yellow locks are his Goldsign. In reality, he's just naturally blond.

** Lindon is shockingly kind and compassionate considering his upbringing, constantly worried about slaves and workers who are getting hurt by the titanic events he's involved in. His entire reason for becoming stronger is so that he can save Sacred Valley from a coming cataclysm, despite the fact that no one in the Valley except ''maybe'' his family cares for him in the slightest.
** Eithan also dislikes the constant dog-eat-dog nature of the world, where the strong bully the weak and everyone tries to fight everyone else. He has repeatedly forgiven ''major'' slights to his honor that he could have used as excuses to execute his enemies, and often uses his [[TheOmniscient omniscience]] to make minor corrections to make people happier (such as moving a ladder half an inch so that it won't fall).
** Akura Fury is similar to Eithan, in that as long as someone is trying their best at whatever they're doing he will treat them with the utmost respect. [[spoiler:His opinion of Eithan dips in a major way after Eithan takes a dive in the Uncrowned King Tournament.]]

** [[spoiler:Ruby is basically plastered to Lindon's side for the two chapters they're together in Wintersteel and this seems to have carried over to Yerin after her and Ruby's FusionDance.]]
* NormalFishInATinyPond: [[spoiler: By Blackflame Empire standards, Jai Long is powerful (one in ten thousand) but not particularly special. However, by Sacred Valley standards, he's a warrior of legendary strength and skill. He hopes to exploit this by moving to Sacred Valley when he wants to retire from the sacred arts, though it doesn't work out that way.]]

* OfficialCouple: [[spoiler: After eight books and several in universe years together, Lindon and Yerin finally reconcile their feelings for each other and share a kiss in Wintersteel.]]

** The SignatureMove of the Arelius family involves spreading out a wide net of madra that lets you sense absolutely everything in range. At minimum this is a dozen feet, but Eithan can cover at least a small city. It's considered polite not to acknowledge all this, though, resulting in Cassias relaying a message to Eithan that everyone knows Eithan heard. Ozriel, the founding patriarch of the Aurelius, clan seems to have senses that cover the entire ''multiverse.'' Even the other Abidan only refer to him as ''him'' most of the time so as to avoid his notice.
--->'''Lindon:''' You can see the future?\\

** All Monarchs seem to have this to a certain extent. In particular, they can extend their spiritual sense anywhere their name is spoken aloud.
* OneHitKill: Essentially what the Abidan weapon Penance is, which makes sense as it was created by Ozriel, the Abidan's [[TheGrimReaper Reaper]]. In Wintersteel [[spoiler:Yerin uses it to instantly kill a Monarch who is orders of magnitude more powerful than she is. The amount of power she had in that moment terrified her.]]
* OurGhostsAreDifferent: When something filled with madra dies, it leaves behind a Remnant, the remains of its power. Weaker Remnants act completely at random, but stronger ones have some intelligence and are even capable of speech. Notably, Remnants actually get ''stronger'' the longer they last, rather than weaker (so long as they have other spirits to eat).
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: In ''Reaper'' Eithan wears the same outfit for three days straight, and since he usually changes clothes at least twice per day, Lindon worries that he might be dying.

* PersonOfMassDestruction: After a certain level of advancement nearly all of the residents of Cradle have the ability to become this. Chief among them are all of the Monarchs, Heralds, Sages, and Ascended Beings such as the Abidan. The Abidan have members among them that fit comfortably in the PlanetDestroyer trope.

** What all of Ghostwater is, created by the [[PhysicalGod Monarch]] [[SpaceMaster Northstrider]] as a research facility. Abandoned by him when it apparently failed, but still picked over every once and awhile because "The trash of a Monarch is still the treasure of lesser beings". Thanks to The Bleeding Phoenix waking up and destroying Ghostwater's anchor to Cradle, it slowly falls apart.
** [[SpaceMaster Northstrider]] creates another one of these [[spoiler: as a reward for Yerin's advancement in the Uncrowned King Tournament. This one only lasts a day, but thanks to YearInsideHourOutside, they get thirty-six days inside of it.]]
** What all Void Keys essentially are. We have seen them as small as a picknick basket and as big as a barn when opened. They are controlled by small constructs that are kept on one's person.
** Sophara receives one that turned out to be the late Aurelius Monarch's vacation home. [[spoiler:After her death at his hands it comes into Lindon's possession.]]
** In Dreadgod, [[spoiler:Lindon and Yaren steal an incomplete pocket world from Reigan Shen to make a YearInsideHourOutside training space for the rest of the team before the FinalBattle.]]

** According to Sacred Valley, there are five power levels: Foundation, Copper, Iron, Jade, and Gold. No one has reached Gold in centuries. As it turns out, the outside world considers Gold to be the ''first'' level of a real sacred artist; everything below that is for children. Gold is split into Lowgold, Highgold, and Truegold, the Lord level is split into Underlord, Overlord, and Archlord, and above that are the Heralds, the Sages, and finally the Monarchs. Monarchs are the strongest a sacred artist can be before leaving the planet; apparently Heralds and Sages have the choice to either stay and rule or leave and become even more powerful.
** And then subverted once more is revealed about the nature of Heralds and Sages: in contrast to the earlier stages, which have a strict order of progression, the latter are more freeform - an Archlord can advance directly to Herald ''or'' to Sage, and a Monarch is 'just' someone who is both a Herald and a Sage. In fact, it's not even strictly necessary to reach Archlord first. [[spoiler: During the events of Wintersteel, Yerin becomes an Overlord-level Herald by fusing with her blood shadow, and Lindon an ''Underlord''-level Sage by invoking the Void Icon.]]
** [[spoiler:Sages and Heralds are half-ascendant beings. Monarchs are ''fully'' ascendant beings who are supposed to leave the world. The fact that they remain creates Hunger Aura, which weakens all other aura in the world. The first attempt to fix this created the Dreadgods, and now the more Monarchs there are in Cradle the more powerful the Dreadgods are. If all the Monarchs left, the Dreadgods and Dreadbeasts would disappear over the course of decades. [[DarkSecret The Monarchs are well aware of this]].]]

* RealityWarper: All Sages and Monarchs are this. Heralds can do it to a lesser degree. [[spoiler:Yerin eventually gains reality warping strength due to her iron body, and Lindon gains enough to at least be able to hold hands with Yerin without having his hand pulverized thanks to his theft of power from Yan Shoumei's Blood Shadow.]]

-->'''Mercy''': [[spoiler:Sages are always old, at least on the inside. A Sage my age is just ''wrong''.]] It's like he's a young man with an old head, you know?

** Elder Rahm of the Heaven's Glory school is perfectly happy to have Lindon as a student despite him being an Unsouled, makes it clear he knows Lindon cheated his way in but praises him anyway, and offers him a small but honorable job helping to maintain the smallest treasure vault. [[spoiler:Lindon feels guilty that he has to rob him on the way out, and asks Yerin not to kill him]]. [[spoiler:Later subverted in ''Bloodline,'' when he stubbornly refuses to believe that Sacred Valley is about to be destroyed because the news comes from Lindon.]]

* TheRedMage: The Twin Stars technique allows a person to split their core and their madra, which was traditionally seen as a useless curiosity. The Path of Twin Stars, however, allows someone with a split core to master two separate paths. Lindon uses this to combine the awe-inspiring Blackflame Path with a new AntiMagic path that relies on pure madra.
* RemovedAchillesHeel: Every Path has its strengths and weaknesses. A well-chosen Iron body, however, can mitigate or eliminate the weaknesses of more [[CripplingOverspecialization overspecialized]] paths. [[spoiler: Lindon's [[HealingFactor Bloodforged Iron body]], while not as directly powerful as the offensive bodies of the original Blackflame Emperors, can heal from and survive the corrosive power of the Blackflame Path. And since Yerin's Endless Sword Path has no useful Enforcement techniques, she received a Steelborn Iron body that Enforces itself.]]

* SemanticSuperpower: The defining trait of a Sage is connecting to an Icon, an abstract concept which gives the Sage Authority over the scope of that Icon. Their ability to reality warp is limited by the nature of the Icon or Icons they can access. But a powerful sage can use the concept creatively to achieve various effects, such as using the void icon to empty a shelf of a cup to move it to another place.

** Lindon gets the tiniest dash with several other Akura women. Not only does Pride [[MistakenForRomance mistakenly think that Lindon and Mercy are dating]], but Mercy is notably horrified at the thought of Lindon specifically seeing her shamed. Lindon and Charity grow to have a healthy respect for each other over their association, and she gives him permission to [[FirstNameBasis call her by name]] [[spoiler:after he becomes a Sage]]. And then there's Malice, who shamelessly flirts with Lindon every time she sees him. [[ObliviousToLove Lindon is unnerved by Malice's attention]].

* SummonEverymanHero: Parodied near the end of ''Waybound''. With the worlds within the Way collapsing, there's a lot of worlds summoning heroes to save them. [[spoiler: But instead of some random schmuck like your average isekai, they get Yerin, Mercy and Ziel, who are all new-minted Abidan who've just taken their first steps past Monarch level. The only thing that slows them down is deciding ''how'' to solve the various problems, since any EvilOverlord they'd have to face is like an insect beneath their boots.]]

** Lindon proves that he is Eithan's apprentice in ''Wintersteel'' [[spoiler:by breaking through every security measure that the Nine Cloud Court puts in front of him to reach Yerin and Mercy]].
*** [[spoiler:He does so again in ''Dreadgod'' by robbing the Monarchs.]]

* SwordOfDamocles: Yerin attempts to invoke this in ''Wintersteel''. [[spoiler: After winning the Uncrowned King tournament and taking control of Penance, which can kill any one being in Cradle, Kiuran asks her who she's going to kill. She says that she wants to hold it for later, because the ''threat'' of annihilation is a far more potent tool than just killing someone off. Kiuran tells her that she's absolutely right, but he can't allow it because it'd disrupt the existing BalanceOfPower in Cradle.]]

* TrainingFromHell: Standard practice for all sacred artists. The Sword Sage trapped Yerin in a ring of razor-sharp swords so close that every time she breathed she cut herself, and Eithan locked Lindon in a room with monsters for two weeks. Lindon isn't much better himself, constantly pushing himself even farther and doing the equivalent of training with weights on his arms.

* UnSorcerer: When Lindon was tested as a child in the Sacred Valley, it was determined he had no affinity for the sacred arts. He was named an "Unsouled," a cripple to be spat upon and ignored. He wasn't allowed to learn any of the sacred arts beyond some basic breathing exercises. By the time Lindon was sixteen, he was only barely strong enough to fight children. As it turns out, the Sacred Valley is full of idiots who have no idea what they're talking about. Lindon's "disability" is so minor that most cultures don't even have a name for it; he has to train a bit harder, but not ''that'' much harder.

** In ''Bloodline'', however, [[spoiler:[[AntiHero Jai Long]], who has spent the last couple of years in Sacred Valley's suppression field, assumes that Lindon is still Gold like he is. He is shocked when he realizes that Lindon is an Underlord, and doesn't believe that he's a Sage until he witnesses his Sage Authority in action.]]

** Sacred Beasts that reach a certain level of advancement seem to gain this ability. Xorrus of the Gold Dragons is seen both in the form of a young beautiful woman and [[OurDragonsAreDifferent a mile long dragon]].
** [[spoiler:Orthos leaves the party in Underlord to try and determine what his next form would be, Lindon jokes that he could finally turn into the Dragon he has called himself since the beginning, but he says he might look like a human the next time they meet.]]
** [[spoiler:Orthos doesn't look like a human when he finally does advance to Underlord, instead he grows to the size of a baby [[OurGiantsAreBigger Dreadgod]], but since that form is too large to travel easily he then shapeshifts again to the size of a normal baby turtle.]]

** ''Reaper'' reveals [[spoiler:that the Dreadgods only exist at all because the Monarchs of Cradle refuse to ascend. Their continued presence on the Iteration creates artificial [[HorrorHunger Hunger Madra]] which feeds into the Dreadgods themselves. They all have taken an oath upon reaching Herald/Sage to not reveal this DarkSecret to the world and force all new Heralds/Sages to take this same oath or ascend upon pain of death.]]

* WindsOfDestinyChange: The Abidan have the ability to manipulate Fate, often on the scale of a world. For example, there was only a one-in-a-hundred chance that the Jai Patriarch's betrayal of his vows would wake up a Dreadgod, but Makiel loaded the dice.

* Abidan armor is so invincible that most Abidan don't wear helmets. The only weapons that work on them are ones that work on a conceptual level.

* PracticalCurrency: The standard currency is a "scale," a coin made of Forged pure madra (though the actual shape doesn't matter). Pure madra can be given to children to advance them faster, or be used to activate magical devices and items. Pure madra is the type that humans are born with, but due to its limited uses nearly everyone gives it up for something else very quickly. Scales are therefore made using special devices to purify aura, though the extremely rare adults who use pure madra can just forge scales themselves, making them richer than usual for their advancement. It is also perfectly possible to forge non-pure scales, but those are only useful to people of the exact same madra type, or for powering constructs so they're less common.

* SpiritCultivationGenre: Everyone has madra, meaning they practice cultivation to some extent. Lindon is the weakest in Sacred Valley due to being an UnSorcerer, but he is the one who discovers that his home is going to be destroyed in thirty years. He needs to become one of the strongest beings in the world in an impossibly short timeframe to stand a chance of saving everyone.

* {{Workaholic}}: Even among sacred artists, who work insanely hard as a rule, Lindon takes this to an absurd extreme. He was denied the right to training in the Sacred Valley, so instead he just worked even harder on his own. Outside the Valley he discoved he was even further behind than he thought, and simply redoubled his efforts to cath up. He's training, planning, or at the very least cycling. ''Always''. While Eithan (who pushes him as hard as he can) and Yerin (who's an absurd workaholic herself) don't really see an issue, others do notice how absurdly hard Lindon works. Fisher Gesha lambastes Eithan for the fact that they're in the cultural heart of the Empire for a year and Lindon has seen literally none of that since he hasn't had a single break in his training. Mercy takes Lindon to a play and ends up chiding him when he takes the intermission as a chance to get in some more cycling. Even [[spoiler:Akura Charity]], who fully admits she pushes her students to the breaking point, feels the need to force him to take a break from his training. Not counting the times he is actively fighting or unconscious, it generally takes active threats to get Lindon to stop training. And even then he's probably still thinking about training.

* YouCantFightFate: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. Lindon was shown the future and is actively improving himself to fight that fate. At the time, Suriel had plotted out his future, but did not anticipate him running into Eithan and Ozriel's own alterations to fate. When Eithan and Lindon met it caused a massive shift in fate throughout the world, and the Abidan wonder if they should do something about it. But then the Mad King begins accelerating his own plans, and the Abidan decide that having more powerful allies rising out of Cradle isn't a bad thing.

* AuraVision: What everyone in Cradle obtains when they reach the Copper cultivation level, referred to as Coppersight.

* BizarroElements: Aura and madra come in many different forms. You've got the basics like [[PlayingWithFire fire]], [[MakingASplash water]], [[HealingHands life]] and [[{{Necromancer}} death]], then the weirder ones like [[PsychicPowers dream]] and [[CannibalismSuperpower hunger]]. Since aura can also be influenced by human creations, some really weird types are perfectly commonplace; sword aura is technically a specialized type of force aura that gathers around edged weapons, but it's generally more common since people use sharp weapons more than blunt ones.

** Lindon has a few of these. One of his key advantages throughout the series is that he has pure [[{{Mana}} madra]]--the same kind children have--which has some AntiMagic properties and some benefit to soulsmithing. When he eventually invents an [[MagicEnhancement Enforcement]] technique for his pure madra, all it does is improve his physical abilities a bit. It's not much, but compared to the explosive bursts of power from his other Enforcer technique, it's often more useful.

* CoolGate: One of the many means of travel on Cradle. They are massively inefficient in terms of power consumption, and only Sages and Monarchs can make them, so they're used sparingly. The one from Eithan's homeland to the Blackflame Empire only opens once every ten years. [[spoiler:One is set up as a method of escape for the Akura forces in Wintersteel in the event that their fighters lose the Uncrowned King tournament. Ends up being used as a method of evacuation anyways when a four-way fight between [[PersonOfMassDestruction Akura Fury]] and three other Heralds begins.]]

* CrimeOfSelfDefense: Lindon spends most of the series weaker than basically everyone around him, and in this world, no one much cares if the weak are killed. So when someone decides to crush the annoying little insect instead of having a conversation, Lindon defends himself, often with lethal results. Multiple people have demanded duels of honor after he defended himself from an unprovoked attack. It doesn't help that he has a FaceOfAThug, so everyone always assumes his peaceful overtures are just him mocking them.

** The Blackflame royal family cultivated Iron bodies that would improve the already incredible offensive power of the Blackflame Path. This backfired as the flames ate away at their minds and bodies; in a world where a sacred artist can still be in fighting shape at age one hundred, they were practically paralyzed at age sixty. [[spoiler:Part of the reason Eithan gave Lindon an Iron body with such an overpowered HealingFactor was to handle the black flames]].

* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: The Blackflame Path, a sacred art stolen from dragons, which was used to build an empire. In a world where AsskickingLeadsToLeadership and everyone challenges everyone, ''no one'' challenges the Blackflame sacred artists. Not only is it [[CripplingOverspecialization focused on offense to an insane degree]], but the flames are not designed for humans; they slowly eat away at mind and body, resulting in the imperial family slowly dying out without any outside intervention at all. [[spoiler:When Eithan admits that he plans to train Lindon in this path, a normally calm Cassias ''screams'' at him]].

* DugTooDeep: What the original empire of the Blackflame dragons did. They found the Labyrinth filled with treasures and left the doors open for years. This caused the Dreadgods to all converge upon the Blackflame Empire and lay waste to it. When they were finished, the Empire was a fraction of a fraction of its original size and strength. Now entering the Labyrinth is considered a last resort and requires the emperor's approval to do so. [[spoiler:Jai Daishou violated this restriction and his going into the Labyrinth (along with interference from the Abidan), caused the Bleeding Phoenix to attack the Blackflame Empire.]]

* EvolutionaryLevels: Sacred Beasts seem to have this in regards to their advancement levels. When they get to Underlord they have to decide what form to take. Some decide to just become insanely large and others decide to change their appearance to that of another species. The Dragon King is notable for taking on the appearance of a male human child of maybe twelve years old and staying that way for hundreds of years.

* ExoticEyeDesigns: All over the place in the universe of Cradle, most commonly in form of a [[MarkOfTheSupernatural Goldsign]] or due to [[FusionDance merging with their remnant]]. After reaching Lowgold, Lindon's eyes take on a black sclera with red irises while he's using Blackflame. The entire Akura family seems to have the same purple eyes, save Fury whose eyes are [[RedEyesTakeWarning red]]. [[spoiler:Post merging with her Blood Shadow, Yerin's eyes are now red as well.]] The [[SpacePirates Vroshir]] [[PhantomThief Iri the Angler]] has electric blue triangular pupils as a result of her ascension from her homeworld.

* FakeRealTurn: Jai Chen made up the idea of the Sect of Twin Stars on the spot to explain where a horde of refugees from [[spoiler: Sacred Valley]] came from. The bluff took on a life of its own, and Lindon found himself with an ''actual'' sect at his command before he even knew about it.

** The Arelius clan uses a familiar [given] [clan] format, so Eithan Arelius is Eithan of the Arelius clan. While they are well-established in the Blackflame Empire, they're foreigners from another continent, so presumably that's the format used over there. It also makes it convenient when they want to adopt promising young people into the family, as they can just slap their clan name on the end. Lindon becomes Wei Shi Lindon Arelius when he joins the family.
* FantasticRacism: Lindon's status as an Unsouled means he has ''no'' standing among his own people. He is allowed to live and eat, but little more. He is not allowed to learn any sacred arts beyond basic breathing techniques, he will not be allowed to marry, and anyone could kill him at any time if he annoyed them. Suriel does not approve of treating cripples this way, nevermind the fact that Lindon is nowhere near as crippled as Sacred Valley acts.
* FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence: Lindon finds himself on the receiving end of this a ''lot''. First off, as an [[UnSorcerer Unsouled]], in his home he is considered completely worthless and could be murdered by anyone at any time with no fear of reprisal. In the first book, some teenagers blame him for ruining their (illegal) hunt because he happened to be nearby, he is blamed for winning two different impossible fights that he was forced into, and near the end, someone is mad that Lindon survived a trial while someone else didn't--Lindon wasn't even ''nearby'', but he still gets blamed. This tapers off once he leaves Sacred Valley since outside he is merely seen as weak rather than an abomination, but stronger people repeatedly call him an honorless coward for ''not dying'' [[CrimeOfSelfDefense when they decide to attack him for whatever random reason]].

** TheLeader/ TheHero: Lindon. While not Eithan is the team's teacher for most of the series, he increasingly puts Lindon into leadership positions. As of ''Reaper'' he's also [[spoiler:the [[CoolTeacher head]] of the Sect of Twin Stars.]] As the tallest and most visibly muscular member of the team he could also count as TheBigGuy, particularly with his tendency to [[GadgeteerGenius make]] [[{{BFG}} huge]] EnergyWeapons on the fly.

* FlawedPrototype: Before he ascended, the man who would become Ozriel created Penance, the greatest weapon of Cradle, an arrowhead which would unerringly kill one single target. However, it apparently took him quite a while to perfect it, so in all his labs scattered around the world you could always find a handful of prototypes. Their exact capabilities compared to the final product are not explained, but they were all used up long ago.
* FloatingWater: Present in Ghostwater, forces Lindon and Orthos to swim through it to reach the next area. Oh and it's filled with giant carnivorous eels.
* FlyingOnACloud: The primary method of transportation is the Thousand-Mile Cloud, a relatively simple construct that is basically cloud madra scripted to hold its shape. The rider feeds it madra, and it travels. Small clouds are only big enough for two people, but "cloudships" carry a building or two, and the Skysworn headquarters is an entire city on a massive cloud.

** Even the lowest of sacred artists can improve their healing ability by cycling madra through their body, but it gets really impressive at the Iron level. At that point, anything that doesn't kill you can be healed--and it takes a lot to kill you. [[spoiler:Eithan intentionally gives Lindon an overpowered Bloodforged Iron body, which has an even higher healing factor, to the point that he can be back at full capacity in hours after a near-lethal wound]].

** Akura Fury is similar to Eithan, in that as long as someone is trying their best at whatever they're doing he will treat them with the utmost respect. [[spoiler:This is why his opinion of Eithan dips in a major way after Eithan takes a dive in the Uncrowned King Tournament.]]

* NormalFishInATinyPond: [[spoiler: By Cradle standards, Jai Long is powerful (one in ten thousand) but not particularly special. However, by Sacred Valley standards, he's a warrior of legendary strength and skill. He hopes to exploit this by moving to Sacred Valley when he wants to retire from the sacred arts, though it doesn't work out that way.]]
* NotSoOmniscientAfterAll: Eithan's powerful bloodline ability, combined with his spy network (which has plenty of people with a lesser version of the same ability), means that he is almost never blindsided in any situation. When he ''is'', the results are always extremely dangerous. The Jai Patriarch manages to trick him with [[spoiler:a magic item that resurrects him a single time, with a bound Remnant to fake his death]]. This almost causes the end of the world, as [[spoiler:Jai is desperate enough to gather a forbidden treasure that accidentally awakens a Dreadgod]].

* PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling: Ghostwater, once Monarch Northstrider's research facility, now more of a garbage heap. Lindon jumps from Lowgold to Truegold while spending some time inside, drinking magic water and killing and eating sacred fish.

* PlanetSpaceship: A necessity for the Vroshir. The void between universes is nothing but corrosive, horrific Chaos. The only thing that keeps it at bay is a healthy world with millions of living human souls. The Abidan control and watch over normal worlds, but the Vroshir are those who are criminals under Abidan law, so they can't find safety there. The solution is to kidnap people by the millions and force them to live on nomadic planets, giving the individual Vroshir a mobile base of operations.

* PracticalCurrency: The standard currency is a "scale," a coin made of Forged pure madra (though the actual shape doesn't matter). Pure madra can be given to children to advance them faster, or be used to activate magical devices and items. Pure madra is the type that humans are born with, but due to its limited uses nearly everyone gives it up for something else very quickly. Scales are therefore made using special devices to purify aura, though the extremely rare adults who use pure madra can just forge scales themselves, making them richer than usual for their advancement. It is also perfectly possible to forge non-pure scales, but those are only useful to people of the exact same madra type, so they're less common.

* SpiritCultivationGenre: Literally everyone is a sacred artist, meaning they practice cultivation. Lindon is the weakest in Sacred Valley due to being an UnSorcerer, but he is the one who discovers that his home is going to be destroyed in thirty years. He needs to become one of the strongest beings in the world in an impossibly short timeframe to stand a chance of saving everyone.

* SuccessAsRevenge: Lindon was spat on and mistreated his entire life by the people of Sacred Valley, who saw him as a cripple who couldn't do anything useful. He spent that life trying to make something of himself regardless, and never considered fighting back. When he discovers that a great catastrophe is coming, he leaves the Valley to train to become strong enough to defeat it. When he finally comes back, he tries to get all his old enemies to evacuate. They ''cannot'' understand why he would possibly want to help them, assume it's all a trick, and try to murder him multiple times.

* SummoningRitual: Is basically what kicks off the main plot of the story. Without Li Markuth being summoned to the Sacred Valley and Suriel arriving to banish him she would never have been able to witness Lindon attack Li and would not have given Lindon the knowledge to survive and advance.
* SupernaturalMartialArts: Absolutely everyone trains in the sacred arts, which result in incredible powers of attack and defense, a supernaturally powerful body, and even utility abilities like Forging items out of thin air. Since anyone can become stronger in every single way with dedication and practice, there is no reason ''not'' to learn the sacred arts. This has, unfortunately, resulted in a culture obsessed with strength, where little matters besides how good you are at fighting.

* ExactWords: Lindon finds the Akura trapped by dragons in a mockery of the Uncrowned King tournament, forced to fight for their amusement. Lindon, identifying it as a game, proposes a prize: The winner gets to take everything the loser has on them when they enter the ring. His opponent, of course, removes all her most valuable treasures before stepping into the ring. [[spoiler:[[CannibalismSuperpower He consumes her life, madra, and spirit]]]]. For some reason, they aren't willing to play after that.

*** That last bit isn't strictly true. It's later revealed that while Cradle *is* a relatively safe and low powered world, the real reason for it's name is that it has an inordinately high probability of producing Abidan candidates compared to literally anywhere else, *including* the Abidan core worlds. As in, *several orders of magnitude higher*. And none of the Abidan can figure out why.

* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: Cradle has one rule: The strong can do as they like. The physically strongest member of any group is, almost without exception, it's leader. Rules of honor limit abuse to some extent (for example, being forced to kill someone significantly weaker than you would be considered extremely embarasssing) but even then the only thing that truly stops extreme abuse of power is the risk of pissing off stronger people. Anything not backed by threat of force is basically worthless. Eithan tries to rule more gently, but doesn't have much success, and ulitmately still relies on throwing his weight around to get things done. This is played with, however, in that the honor system is based on ''theoretical'' asskicking potential. Lindon is seen as dishonorable for beating people of a higher rank because he simply shouldn't be challenging people that far above him and not just because he does it through [[CombatPragmatist Combat Pragmatism]].

** How most clans and families operate. An offense against any member is expected to be responded to by the house as a whole. Relaition will generally be appropriately to the strength of those who were attacking/attacked, but there will almost always be some sort of response.

** ''Reaper'' reveals [[spoiler:that the Dreadgods only exist at all because the Monarchs of Cradle refuse to ascend. Their continued presence on the Iteration creates artificial [[HorrorHunger Hunger Madra]] which feeds into the Dreadgods themselves. T hey all have taken an oath upon reaching Herald/Sage to not reveal this DarkSecret to the world and force all new Heralds/Sages to take this same oath or ascend upon pain of death.]]

* {{Workaholic}}: Even among sacred artists, who work insanely hard as a rule, Lindon takes this to an absurd extreme. He was denied the right to training in the Sacred Valley, so he instead he just worked even harder on his own. Outside the valley he discoved he was even further behind than he thought, and simply redoubled his efforts to cath up. He's training, planning, or at the very least cycling. ''Always''. While Eithan (who pushes him as hard as he can) and Yerin (who's an absurd workaholic herself) don't really see an issue, others do notice how absurdly hard Lindon works. Fisher Gesha lambastes Eithan for the fact that they're in the cultural heart of the Empire for a year and Lindon has seen literally none of that since he hasn't had a single break in his training. Mercy takes Lindon to a play and ends up chiding him when he takes the intermission as a change to get in some more cycling. Even [[spoiler:Akura Charity]], who fully admits she pushes her students to the breaking point, feels the need to force him to take a break from his training. Not counting the times he is actively fighting or unconscious, it generally takes active threats to get Lindon to stop training. And even then he's probably still thinking about training.

* WorkingOutTheirEmotions: Yerin's done basically nothing but fight and train since the Sword Sage took her in at the age of seven. As a result pretty much the only response she has to strong emotions is "train, preferably by killing something." She does develop emotionally as the series goes on, but she it does still generally feel better when she's confused and doesn't know what else to do.

* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: Cradle has one rule: The strong can do as they like. There are strict rules of honor and the like, but even they mostly boil down to "I might piss off too many strong people if I do this." Everything is backed by threat of force. Eithan tries to rule more gently, but doesn't have much success, and has to throw his weight around. This is played with, however, in that the honor system is based on ''theoretical'' asskicking potential. Lindon is seen as dishonorable for beating people of a higher rank, and not just because he does it through [[CombatPragmatist Combat Pragmatism]].
* AttackOnOneIsAnAttackOnAll: This is why fighting the Dreadgods is considered a stalling measure at best, if someone were to damage one of them enough the others would become active and the damage would be incalculable. The last time a group of [[PhysicalGod Monarchs]] attempted to do this it resulted in all but two of those Monarchs dying.

** TheHeart: Mercy. Generally cheerful [[NiceGuy nice girl]] who wants to be friends with everyone, but as the favored daughter of a Monarch she has been [[FriendlessBackground kept at a distance]] by everyone for most of her life.
** TheBigGuy: Ziel. A big guy with green horns who wields a giant [[DropTheHammer warhammer]] that's too heavy to lift withought [[SuperStrength enforcing himself]]. He is also TheSixthRanger, since he doesn't join the team until book 8, and is the [[InstantRunes scripting]] [[TechnoWizard genius]] to Lindon's [[GadgeteerGenius Soulsmith]].

** ''Reaper'' reveals [[spoiler:that the Dreadgods only exist at all because the Monarchs of Cradle refuse to ascend. Their continued presence on the Iteration creates artificial [[HorrorHunger Hunger Madra]] which feeds into the Dreadgods themselves. They all have taken an oath upon reaching Herald/Sage to not reveal this DarkSecret to the world and force all new Heralds/Sages to take this same oath or ascend upon pain of death.]]

* {{Workaholic}}: Lindon started his journey in the sacred arts some ten years late, and thus has to hit the training hard in order to catch up--and harder still to get strong enough to stop a coming catastrophe. The thing is, he never stops. ''Ever''. Fisher Gesha lambastes Eithan for the fact that they're in the cultural heart of the Empire but Lindon hasn't seen any of it because he's been training non-stop for a full year, when told to take a break he decides to join an elite police force instead, and he ends up reaching Underlord (an advancement level many people never reach) at age 18, and [[spoiler:becomes the youngest Sage in centuries]]. Not counting the times he is knocked unconscious, the only times he takes a break is when his friends actively threaten him.

* WorkingOutTheirEmotions: Yerin's general response to her emotions is "train, preferably by killing something." Of course, that's her response to everything, but she does note it makes her feel better when she's confused and doesn't know what else to do.

A series of fantasy novels by Creator/WillWight. The series currently consists of eleven books, the first three of which have been gathered into the "Foundation" collection, Books four through six into the "Path of Gold," and books seven through nine into the "Rise of Lords."

# ''Waybound'' (June 2023)

* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Since ageing slows down the more advanced you get, and the most talented Sacred Artists reach at least Underlord by their early twenties, most Monarchs, Sages, and Heralds look young. Subverted with Lindon and Yerin, who actually look their age.