Rock the Cradle: A cultivation story

[ArcanaVitae]

To be fair, this quest has stretched the idea of slaughter artists quite a bit from what we see in the series.

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I really like the world building of this quest it really makes sense and is interesting. I'd love to see more about stuff like how slaughter artists operate in Cradle. Different people have different views on Slaughter Artists and that's effected by their culture, their origin, their rankings as well as how that Slaughter Artist meshes with their sensibilities. People could react to a slaughter artist like oh this is a soldier, hunter or butcher or they could react oh no it's an evil monster and there's a wide range of reasons for that. For example someone with a historically unpopular path isn't given the benefit of the doubt, see Lindon or Bronze Serpents. Also there is the nature of someone's path and how they operate as a slaughter artist looks at the Assassin who went to Destruction - Death and full on murder for slaughter arts. Stuff like that can heavily effect how someone is viewed and treated.

Also speaking of how roles are viewed and treated that makes me curious how people like Refiners, Scripters and Soulsmiths are treated and how that interacts with Rank and if they're a slaughter artist. Refiners, Scripters and Soulsmiths are treated as respected professionals, Keras hasn't really gotten a look at how Soulsmiths are treated by they've seen the pinnacle of Scripters and Refiners in the Empire in the form of their patrons. A talented crafter's time is heavily valued and in demand because their skills are extremely useful. And even a less skilled and less potent ranked crafter still has very valuable and vital skills that sees them get a lot of work even if they're not sought out for the best commissions. But I'm thinking that a Slaughter Artist that is a crafter would be treated more of an Evil Scientist kinda like the Blood Sage.

It's interesting to think of how a full scale war would work in Cradle rather than the more small scale dueling and skirmishing we mostly see in series. I imagine a large battle would have a bit of emphasis on ruler techniques given they're the go to aoe effect and how a large group of sacred artists would generate large amounts of aura in their fighting. I can picture entire teams of death or blood or sword artists on each side wrestling with each other for control of the ambient aura given off by the fighting so they can annihilate the enemy army with a massive attack while strike teams try to assassinate them to gain the advantage. It'd add another element for why most sects all tend to follow the same general path rather than branching out too far, since a hundred fire artists, like the brightflares maybe, all working together is going to create incredible amounts of fire aura to use against their foes.

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War in Cradle would be very scary, there's a reason the whole culture of facing people on your advancement level was created and while that's not uniformly followed when the knives really come out the appearance of it is usually maintained for various reasons. Large scale battles having Ruler techniques being common makes sense given how they're very good at large scale damage. But there's also the fact that higher ranks are a big deal and that while people can punch up its tricky to do so. Underlords are used as power projection tools and weapons of war by the Empire for a reason.

 

[Karnax626]

It's not a taboo but it's still very much an unpopular subject to research with a stigma attached to it. I'd like to look into the Bloody Lords and other people who use Life and Death because it is an interesting type of path and it would be neat to see what other people do with that type combination.

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I thought the Bloody Lords still only used Life and Blood, they just used them to kill and cycle other people's madra? Which wouldn't necessarily need Death.

 

[ArcanaVitae]

I thought the Bloody Lords still only used Life and Blood, they just used them to kill and cycle other people's madra? Which wouldn't necessarily need Death.

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That's the case but I just imagine that it's close enough that Keras counts it as a similar type of research based off the reply that VaugeZ gave. I was more curious about other people who use Life and Death and don't really care if they're slaughter artists are not. Also I imagine there was some subpaths of the Bloody Lords that did use Death along with Life and Blood and possibly replaced Blood with Death.

 

[Tylansimov]

It's interesting to think of how a full scale war would work in Cradle rather than the more small scale dueling and skirmishing we mostly see in series. I imagine a large battle would have a bit of emphasis on ruler techniques given they're the go to aoe effect and how a large group of sacred artists would generate large amounts of aura in their fighting. I can picture entire teams of death or blood or sword artists on each side wrestling with each other for control of the ambient aura given off by the fighting so they can annihilate the enemy army with a massive attack while strike teams try to assassinate them to gain the advantage. It'd add another element for why most sects all tend to follow the same general path rather than branching out too far, since a hundred fire artists, like the brightflares maybe, all working together is going to create incredible amounts of fire aura to use against their foes.

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Wars generally seem to be dueling as well, actually. AFAIK the largest battle we see (in terms of number of combatants) is probably the one at Sacred Valley in Reaper and that seems to be mostly one-on-one duels that respect the "only fight people at the same advancement" rule.

Now, there are people who work together, but usually they're operating constructs or soulsmithed weapons. We see vast numbers of Golds operating weapons or defensive constructs in some of the larger battles.

My guess is that the reasoning for this is twofold. First off, by simply channeling madra into constructs, this makes them a lot more flexible. Instead of needing to teach a hundred Golds the same Fire technique and drill them on performing it together, you simply need a hundred Fire sacred artists to feed their madra into a construct.

The other reason is that it's pretty hard to punch above your weight class, especially as the gaps get bigger. A hundred Golds, even working together, are not going to be that much of threat to an Overlord. But an Overlord construct, powered by a hundred Golds, might be.

 

[SinisterPorpoise]

I really like the world building of this quest it really makes sense and is interesting. I'd love to see more about stuff like how slaughter artists operate in Cradle. Different people have different views on Slaughter Artists and that's effected by their culture, their origin, their rankings as well as how that Slaughter Artist meshes with their sensibilities. People could react to a slaughter artist like oh this is a soldier, hunter or butcher or they could react oh no it's an evil monster and there's a wide range of reasons for that. For example someone with a historically unpopular path isn't given the benefit of the doubt, see Lindon or Bronze Serpents. Also there is the nature of someone's path and how they operate as a slaughter artist looks at the Assassin who went to Destruction - Death and full on murder for slaughter arts. Stuff like that can heavily effect how someone is viewed and treated.

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In addition, I find it interesting how someone could react to a person on a Mono-Blood Path.
They could be a Serial Killer, a Battle Junky, a Doctor, or a Dread God Cultist.
And speaking of; someone that has a Blood Shadow.....

 

[Peanut-007]

Most of the time, for larger powers, war comes down to advancement level. If you have a Monarch and they don't you win. If you have a sage and they don't you win. And so on and so forth.

An advancement gap tends to be such a large advantage that the more advanced attacker can dominate an effectively unlimited number of their weaker foes. I'd say that continues down to around Underlord. A couple of golds is a threat to a true gold in a way that a couple of true golds probably won't be to an underlord.

 

[Wiggy]

Most of the time for larger powers war comes down to advancement level. If you have a Monarch and they don't you win. If you have a sage and they don't you win. And so on and so forth.

An advancement gap tends to be such a large advantage that the more advanced attacker can dominate an effectively unlimited number of their weaker foes. I'd say that continues down to around Underlord. A couple of golds is a threat to a true gold in a way that a couple of true golds probably won't be to an underlord.

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I mean, the Aurelius *did* manage to fight a guerrilla war against Shen for a decade despite losing their monarch and getting wrecked by a dreadgod. They weren't in particularly good shape by the end of it, but they certainly managed to put up a fight. Though I suppose having a Sage helps. Even if the gap between sage and monarch is still massive in a raw power sense, every sage in the series (until the protagonists at least) is someone that's lived a long time and survived a ridiculous array of things, so they all have an incredible repertoire of tricks to help them survive whatever's thrown at them. Sages are sort of by definition exceptional individuals that aren't just going to keel over and die because someone of higher advancement looked funny at them.

 

[ArcanaVitae]

Wars generally seem to be dueling as well, actually. AFAIK the largest battle we see (in terms of number of combatants) is probably the one at Sacred Valley in Reaper and that seems to be mostly one-on-one duels that respect the "only fight people at the same advancement" rule.

Now, there are people who work together, but usually they're operating constructs or soulsmithed weapons. We see vast numbers of Golds operating weapons or defensive constructs in some of the larger battles.

My guess is that the reasoning for this is twofold. First off, by simply channeling madra into constructs, this makes them a lot more flexible. Instead of needing to teach a hundred Golds the same Fire technique and drill them on performing it together, you simply need a hundred Fire sacred artists to feed their madra into a construct.

The other reason is that it's pretty hard to punch above your weight class, especially as the gaps get bigger. A hundred Golds, even working together, are not going to be that much of threat to an Overlord. But an Overlord construct, powered by a hundred Golds, might be.

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Punching up is very hard and takes exceptional people given the number of people there are on Cradle it's not unheard of for it to happen but it's still rare enough that you can't really depend on it to happen. The "only fight on the same advancement" rule is mostly to prevent mass slaughters and the breakdown of order and it works pretty well for that. I agree that artifacts/constructs powered by many lesser Sacred Artists can be a threat.

In addition, I find it interesting how someone could react to a person on a Mono-Blood Path.
They could be a Serial Killer, a Battle Junky, a Doctor, or a Dread God Cultist.
And speaking of; someone that has a Blood Shadow.....

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There's a lot of different paths for a mono blood Artist to take and I imagine a person would react accordingly to whichever path they'd take, a Serial Killer, Dreadgod Cultist and Blood Shadow person would get treated with a lot more suspicion and vitriol then an Battle Junkie or Doctor. And due to the nature of madra and paths people would be able to somewhat sense the difference unless veils are invovled. Speaking of which we really need Keras to learn how to make those.

Most of the time for larger powers war comes down to advancement level. If you have a Monarch and they don't you win. If you have a sage and they don't you win. And so on and so forth.

An advancement gap tends to be such a large advantage that the more advanced attacker can dominate an effectively unlimited number of their weaker foes. I'd say that continues down to around Underlord. A couple of golds is a threat to a true gold in a way that a couple of true golds probably won't be to an underlord.

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At higher levels the advancement gap gets bigger and bigger the higher and higher you go, the Lord level is where it starts to get really out of hand due to Soulfire.

I mean, the Aurelius *did* manage to fight a guerrilla war against Shen for a decade despite losing their monarch and getting wrecked by a dreadgod. They weren't in particularly good shape by the end of it, but they certainly managed to put up a fight. Though I suppose having a Sage helps. Even if the gap between sage and monarch is still massive in a raw power sense, every sage in the series (until the protagonists at least) is someone that's lived a long time and survived a ridiculous array of things, so they all have an incredible repertoire of tricks to help them survive whatever's thrown at them. Sages are sort of by definition exceptional individuals that aren't just going to keel over and die because someone of higher advancement looked funny at them.

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It's mostly because they went underground and where already a very established faction with centuries of resources to fall back upon and they had a Sage to help out. But they still did do it and Sages have the chance to survive Monarchs if they're clever and the circumstances are right because as noted that once you reach that level you're exceptional by default.

 

[SinisterPorpoise]

There's a lot of different paths for a mono blood Artist to take and I imagine a person would react accordingly to whichever path they'd take, a Serial Killer, Dreadgod Cultist and Blood Shadow person would get treated with a lot more suspicion and vitriol then an Battle Junkie or Doctor. And due to the nature of madra and paths people would be able to somewhat sense the difference unless veils are invovled.

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That was the point I was making, yes.
Blood inherently leads to a messy Path since it's the Madra of living flesh, and a sadistic torturer and surgeon would both feel like people that dispassionately peel and cut open skin.
And having a Blood Shadow isn't necessarily a voluntary thing, Yerin being the prime example of that, and the fact that the Bleeding Phoenix is actually a colony organism composed of uncountable parasites bundled together into a vaguely avian shape.

 

[VagueZ]

Blood inherently leads to a messy Path since it's the Madra of living flesh, and a sadistic torturer and surgeon would both feel like people that dispassionately peel and cut open skin.

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It's certainly doable for the surgeon to end up feeling like that, but I read it the other way in most cases. We see a handful of dedicated healers in canon (such as the Brightcrown who assists Lindon in "Underlord"), and nothing indicates they feel as nasty as a Blood Shadow does.

It's one of those cases where intent matters, the way I see it. It's not what you do but why you do it that twists the spirit. This may or may not be Cradle canon. I think Will Wight intends it the way I'm using it, but it wouldn't be too surprising if I'm wrong and you're right. For this quest, though, I'm sticking with the intent because I think it makes for a better setting.

 

[ArcanaVitae]

That was the point I was making, yes.
Blood inherently leads to a messy Path since it's the Madra of living flesh, and a sadistic torturer and surgeon would both feel like people that dispassionately peel and cut open skin.
And having a Blood Shadow isn't necessarily a voluntary thing, Yerin being the prime example of that, and the fact that the Bleeding Phoenix is actually a colony organism composed of uncountable parasites bundled together into a vaguely avian shape.

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Blood Shadow is kinda a disease, infection, curse culturally. I imagine a couple of the Phoenix Cult who've joined up are people who've gotten it and been treated horribly and join the Cult to have a new chance at life and to be with people like them

It's certainly doable for the surgeon to end up feeling like that, but I read it the other way in most cases. We see a handful of dedicated healers in canon (such as the Brightcrown who assists Lindon in "Underlord"), and nothing indicates they feel as nasty as a Blood Shadow does.

It's one of those cases where intent matters, the way I see it. It's not what you do but why you do it that twists the spirit. This may or may not be Cradle canon. I think Will Wight intends it the way I'm using it, but it wouldn't be too surprising if I'm wrong and you're right. For this quest, though, I'm sticking with the intent because I think it makes for a better setting.

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Intent mattering makes a lot of sense based off how magic system of Cradle works. Someone who learns blood to be a warrior would feel different from someone who learns blood to be a healer or someone who learns blood to study how bodies work and to be a serial killer.

For example it's noticeable that Keras as a life artist is a Gardner that is bound to feel differently from someone who's a Life artist to Hunt or be a healer. Though Keras's vibe as a life artist has likely changed a bit due to their studying in healing, enhancing the body and into learning how Life works. The same could be said for Keras as a death artist where they learned Death out of curiosity, to see how it interacts with Life and as a weapon. That would feel very different from someone who learned Death to be a soldier, a serial killer or an executioner.

 

[veekie]

Keras for a significant part learned Death to help their friend I think? That colors it a lot.

 

[ArcanaVitae]

I think something that should be noted is Keras's exposure to Death Madra and Death in general.

Their first look at it was Olerac using it as a secret weapon in their duel and then seeing Kyeol use it while stomping over everyone in the Silent Hinterlands until Than swooped in to kill Kyeol which both invoked a sense of fear and awe both the use of Death Madra and death itself. Then Keras gets a chance to look at Death Madra in a non combat setting through helping Olerac learn how to use it and they find the concept of death madra fascinating both in of itself and how it interacted with Life.

The next major exposure they had to death and near death experiences was the whole mess with the assassins where Keras saw that even the strongest person in their life could be brought low to the edge of death and that death was used to get what people wanted. They then got to see Beti and Cheng which was a path to explore their curiosity with Death, Refining and walk their own path and choose that out of all the possible options for their future.

Keras then spends a while crafting their cycling to work with Beti and Death madra and then learning how to use techniques with Death madra. They also are learning combat skills all the while because they're very aware that they live in a dangerous world. But all the while they're poking at death with a sense of curiosity and wonder and seeing how it works and meshes with the ecosystem. And after a while the elevator incident happens where Keras gets their first look at mass death and how a healer needs to beat death off, they had to make judgement calls on how to spend their energy, had people in their care die but was also able to save many lives.

Then after that Keras gets further combat lessons and sees the Dream Tablets that shows Death from a soldier's perspective both in inflicting it and nearly having it inflicted upon them, Prachi did this to impress the realities of what it'll mean to be a combatant to Keras and they understood the weight of this. Shortly after that Keras ends up learning the final family technique the Desiccated Valley which they then combined seamlessly with the use of Death madra.

And then there's the latest experience with Death which is seeing Enohel use Death and Destruction to murder people in a way that's chillingly casual and excessive. Keras then also sees Enohel use it to wound Farzana and escape from her and she's the most powerful person Keras has ever met in their life. Keras seems to be both disgusted by Enohel's use of death madra to the point that not wanting to be like them or use death like them is a consideration when they choose not to huff their madra. But I think subconsciously despite themselves they're kinda curious and impressed by it as well, not the wanton slaughter but the ability to use Death as a weapon which is part of what drew them to death in the first place.

Death to Keras is a natural part of life that interacts with life and the ecosystem at large, a threat to themselves and their life, a curiosity they seek to understand and a weapon to wield and harness.

 

[Puffy]

It's one of those cases where intent matters, the way I see it. It's not what you do but why you do it that twists the spirit. This may or may not be Cradle canon. I think Will Wight intends it the way I'm using it, but it wouldn't be too surprising if I'm wrong and you're right. For this quest, though, I'm sticking with the intent because I think it makes for a better setting.

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Fairly certain Will wanted intent to matter. We know it matters when you're a Sage trying to use your Icon to warp reality, and the mechanics of willpower aren't exclusive to Sages.

 

[ArcanaVitae]

Intent, Willpower and Authority is a factor even at lower levels of Sacred Arts due to how the Way functions sure people don't tap into it consciously until higher levels like the Lord realms and then even further at Sage/Herald levels with Sage going much much deeper into it.

Keras for example is building up their willpower through their cycling method and that's mentioned to be a very important thing for future development and Etaja noted how it's useful for higher levels stuff. By delving into Madra types you get an Authority over it and developing Soulfire gives you general Authority which is impressive. Due to developing Intent, Willpower and Authority, Cradle is a good recruitment world and there's a reason why Etaja is researching how it's done. It's not the most impressive world or important one in the Abidan but there's still a reason why it's a noted recruitment world. The Abidan have an edge in terms of Authority due to their Pact and their Judges get it even more so, the Vroshir also tend to have lower recruitment standards but a lot more people so information on Cradle's systems and possibly developing Cradle's power system works heavily in Etaja's favor.

Keras developing techniques that use death and life madra deepen their connection and authority over them which after a certain point could manifest into Icons. Of course it's possible to develop Icons without using Madra, for example people have gotten Joy without using dream madra and they get stuff like Strength, Weapons, Dragon, ect ect ect, You just need to have a connection to the concept and authority and Sacred Arts is good at helping to develop that.

 

[Wiggy]

Intent, Willpower and Authority is a factor even at lower levels of Sacred Arts due to how the Way functions sure people don't tap into it consciously until higher levels like the Lord realms and then even further at Sage/Herald levels with Sage going much much deeper into it.

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Yeah, Keras mentioned that healing people injured by more advanced people was more difficult even if the actual injuries were the same. My theory is that they have to fight the Intent of the person to inflict that damage and overcome their Authority before they can undo it and heal them. Still weak down in the golds, but definitely present. Honestly, gold is probably where it really starts, the act of absorbing and subjugating a Remnant is exactly the sort of thing to develop and demonstrate your Authority.

 

[HeWhoLurks]

Makes me wonder if a Life-Destruction path could make for an effective healer by allowing one's healing to overcome/destroy elements that normally impede a healing processes, such as foreign madra, poisons or other contaminants.

 

[Karnax626]

Makes me wonder if a Life-Destruction path could make for an effective healer by allowing one's healing to overcome/destroy elements that normally impede a healing processes, such as foreign madra, poisons or other contaminants.

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You mean like the below, but using Destruction in place of Venom madra?

"Traditionally, three aspects of madra are used to heal people. Blood aspect is used to affect the body directly, lancing out damaged sections. Life aspect is used to rebuild. Venom aspect, typically in very small ratios, is used to burn out diseases and foreign objects, or to cut out unhealthy tissue. Some substitutions are possible, but, in short, you can do a lot better by not just throwing as much madra as possible at the problem, and instead weaving a technique more focused on directly the problem you're trying to address."

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[HeWhoLurks]

You mean like the below, but using Destruction in place of Venom madra?

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Didn't remember that, but pretty much yeah. I could also see it tying into themes of life overcoming obstacles in its path.

 

[SinisterPorpoise]

It's probably something to do with human perception of them as a disaster that destroys everything around them. Sword aura is certainly a human thing, it's just sharp force aura but people mythologized it enough that it became its own thing.

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Also Sword Madra is apparently a "modification" of Force Madra.

 

[ArcanaVitae]

Yeah, Keras mentioned that healing people injured by more advanced people was more difficult even if the actual injuries were the same. My theory is that they have to fight the Intent of the person to inflict that damage and overcome their Authority before they can undo it and heal them. Still weak down in the golds, but definitely present. Honestly, gold is probably where it really starts, the act of absorbing and subjugating a Remnant is exactly the sort of thing to develop and demonstrate your Authority.

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The difference between a Jade and a Gold is a mountain of power, even though Golds haven't developed having Authority overall due to having Soulfire they would likely have a weak form of authority in their madra and techniques which they'd be using even without knowing. Not everyone subjugates a Remnant to advance through Truegold it's just that it's useful for boosting skills the remnant was good at and understanding of it, plus wrestling wills with something would train authority so that may be part of it but it isn't necessary.

Makes me wonder if a Life-Destruction path could make for an effective healer by allowing one's healing to overcome/destroy elements that normally impede a healing processes, such as foreign madra, poisons or other contaminants.

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It was mentioned that Destruction Artist aren't really trained in healing which is understandable given the nature of the element and that most people who use it are either demolition people or combat focused. That's totally a viable way for Life-Desturction to be used, I also imagine it's also a very scary path for killing as well due to being able to take apart life.

You mean like the below, but using Destruction in place of Venom madra?

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Didn't remember that, but pretty much yeah. I could also see it tying into themes of life overcoming obstacles in its path.

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Destroying diseases, foreign objects and unhealthy tissue seems like it would be something that Destruction could do well without possibly spreading damage.. It's just that such a use of destruction would need to be very fine to prevent excessive damage. I imagine Death madra could be used in a similar manner.

 

[VagueZ]

Makes me wonder if a Life-Destruction path could make for an effective healer by allowing one's healing to overcome/destroy elements that normally impede a healing processes, such as foreign madra, poisons or other contaminants.

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I had not considered that combination at all! I could see it as something especially focused for surgery. We're getting your appendix out today: sit here for five minutes and don't move and I'll completely obliterate it for you.

That's a fun sort of field to think about.


Separate from that thought: a discussion of terminology that hasn't appeared much in quest yet but relevant to keeping some speculation accurate:

Spoiler

Authority, specifically, is a stable connection to the Way, which allows the user to order reality directly. Cradle's system of Sages and Icons is unique, but we see others in canon, like Suriel, make the same sort of pronouncements and have it called 'authority', and Suriel isn't from Cradle.

Those without authority can still weaponize willpower. The weaponized form seems to have only the faintest traces of direct utility for those who aren't yet Lords, at least, but it can be pitted against authority. We've seen Heralds and Archlords block workings of Sage authority by clashing with their willpower. It takes a Sage's authority to teleport through the Way: a Herald can't do the same. A Herald or even an Archlord can sometimes stop a Sage's teleportation or other Sage powers.

Both parties have well-developed willpower, but authority is a specific evolution of the basic willpower that marks one as a Sage.

 

[Wiggy]

I had not considered that combination at all! I could see it as something especially focused for surgery. We're getting your appendix out today: sit here for five minutes and don't move and I'll completely obliterate it for you.

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"No, no, don't think about how easily I could do this to a bit of your heart in combat, if your heart rate picks up like that you'll bleed more when I annihilate the organ and make me have to spend longer patching you up inside."

 

[Queshire]

I'd say that you'd certainly want some blood madra in there. Maybe even have it primarily Blood & Destruction rather than Life.

 

[ArcanaVitae]

I had not considered that combination at all! I could see it as something especially focused for surgery. We're getting your appendix out today: sit here for five minutes and don't move and I'll completely obliterate it for you.

That's a fun sort of field to think about.

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That would be all kinds of awesome and terrifying, there's bound to be at least one combat medic who's like that.

Separate from that thought: a discussion of terminology that hasn't appeared much in quest yet but relevant to keeping some speculation accurate:

Spoiler

Authority, specifically, is a stable connection to the Way, which allows the user to order reality directly. Cradle's system of Sages and Icons is unique, but we see others in canon, like Suriel, make the same sort of pronouncements and have it called 'authority', and Suriel isn't from Cradle.

Those without authority can still weaponize willpower. The weaponized form seems to have only the faintest traces of direct utility for those who aren't yet Lords, at least, but it can be pitted against authority. We've seen Heralds and Archlords block workings of Sage authority by clashing with their willpower. It takes a Sage's authority to teleport through the Way: a Herald can't do the same. A Herald or even an Archlord can sometimes stop a Sage's teleportation or other Sage powers.

Both parties have well-developed willpower, but authority is a specific evolution of the basic willpower that marks one as a Sage.

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Willpower is something that's very important and will matter a lot, I look forward to seeing how it'll work in the sequel of this quest because I don't really see Keras being able to consciously leverage it until either the end of this version of the quest with them being a peak Underlord and possible Sage. But Etaja mentioned that cultivating Willpower is something that's very important and Keras is trusting him on that.

Heralds seem to have authority over themselves and their energy due to how they function which is true for most beings but they take it to the next levels. People can have bits of Authority without Icons due to either being connected to the Icon or due to possessing authority but someone without an Icon has less authority in that area then someone with one.

Personally I think that Keras is going to become a Sage first due to their personality, curiosity, making their own path and having Etaja to help them understand Authority. Icons and Sages are a Cradle specific means of interacting with Authority and the Way but Etaja still knows how that works and understanding how Cradle people do it is something he'd love to know. Life, Death, Joy, possibly Oracle, Plants, Axe and Crow are all Icons I can see Keras possibly getting long term with the first three being the most likely.

"No, no, don't think about how easily I could do this to a bit of your heart in combat, if your heart rate picks up like that you'll bleed more when I annihilate the organ and make me have to spend longer patching you up inside."

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I'd say that you'd certainly want some blood madra in there. Maybe even have it primarily Blood & Destruction rather than Life.

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Exploding Blood sounds all kinds of awesome and terrifying, you just know there's one Phoenix Cultist that has such a path.

Speaking of the Phoenix and Dreadgods the Dreadgod attack is going to happen in a while sure it's going to take time but it's still something that'll happen in the future and it'll be Keras's first exposure to something that powerful. I'm curious what Etaja will make of the Dreadgods.