#the soulsmith

[pokesoniclegend]

Okay but this is literally how the Reaper dynamic is in SoulBond. Altair - Ciel William - Sebastian Michaelis Rosaka - Mey Rin Luxine - Finnian Soulsmith -Baldroy Grimmale - Tanaka (Additionally, Guido could also technically be the Snake of the bunch, but I don't actually have much of a comparison point between the two like the others.)

Okay but imagine an au centred around the grim reapers. Undertaker is in a position to similar to how he is in the anime, being on relatively good terms with the others and just retired. It’s centred around the reapers, but in a way paralleling the Phantomhive servants (Grelle - Mey Rin, Will - Bard, Ron - Finny) and then it’s just the Undertaker as Tanaka. Same “hoho” and everything.

[yerinarelius]

does eithan arelius is gay?

[the--grin--reaper]

Okay but Eithan said that Lindon exceeded even his expectations, in Soulsmith. This man is the literal Reaper of Worlds, prodigy extraordinaire, milennia old expert who wants to raise people that can "reach the end of the sacred arts with him". And despite his misgivings initially, Lindon actually managed to impress him.

[azrithart]

Its silly sketches hours!

Rahamin (left) is a pathetic mini boss NPC @c-cloudyy and friends adopted! The Drow is their PC, Ilmryn!

Needless to say, you cannot domesticate a feral scientist. However, you can bribe them with treats (such as fireball)

[seraphicsmilodon]

Just finished Blackflame. Enjoying this series so far, though destruction madra did feel a bit weird, not something I thought could be an aspect.

[desdasiwrites]

– Will Wight, Soulsmith (Cradle, #2)

[somerunner]

[Image ID: The character Fisher Gesha from the Cradle series by Will Wight. She is a short, elderly woman, standing on a spider-construct which (among several practical uses) makes her appear taller.

She is wearing a thick winter robe, with a large one-handed hook hanging on a belt at the back. The robe is lined with fur on the sleeves and hood, and is tied at the waist with a tassel rope.

Gesha is wearing hoop earrings and has her hair done up in a bun. She is squinting in accusation, and pointing at someone offscreen.

(The art is labeled with Fisher Gesha's name, Cradle Inktober and the prompt, and the artist's signature.)

/End ID]

Fisher Gesha growled and gave the young man's shins a kick. She might as well have kicked a tree, for all the reaction that provoked. "Prattle prattle prattle. You have a message, tell me the message! Do I have to pull it out of your throat? Hm?"

Soulsmith (Cradle book 2), Will Wight

Cradle Inktober Day 2: Spiders : Fisher Gesha

[kingsonne-zedecks]

It's Here!

Cradle Animation Trailer

The trailer for the upcoming animation of the bestselling novel series Cradle, by Will Wight, produced by Jay Oliva at Lex + Otis Animation Studio has been released at last!

Cradle

Cradle is an amazing fantasy series by author Will Wight that reached its conclusion with the publishing of Book 12: Waybound, in 2023. Cradle is a western interpretation of the Xianxia genre, which can be described as "Magical Martial Arts."

As shown in the trailer, Cradle follows the journey of Wei Shi Lindon as he starts a journey of growth rather than remaining the weak Unsouled that his Clan has labeled him.

Fans of Naruto, Demon Slayer, Dragon Ball, Avatar the Last Airbender and more will all find elements from the stories they love in Cradle.

Lex + Otis Animation Studio

Cradle is being animated by Jay Oliva and his studio, Lex and Otis. If you don't recognize the name, you'll probably recognize some of his past work, particularly his work with DC Animations in general and Batman in specific.

His studio is equally impressive, and released a bit of a showcase of some of their more recent work that you can see here (in addition to the Cradle teaser, you did already watch that a couple of times right?)

The Cradle animation is a passion project for Jay, who loved the books so much that he reached out to Will to make sure that he had the chance to see them brought to the screen.

The Cast

The upcoming animation already has a fantastic cast announced, with more to come. The following have already been confirmed for the project.

Travis Baldree

Phil Lamarr

Steve Blum

Matt Mercer

Morla Gorrondona

Baraka May

Sumalee Montano

Maxine Phoenix

Matt Yang King

Where/When/How Can I Watch?

Will and Jay have really put the Tease in Teaser, as we'll have to live off of replaying the trailer and reading the books for the time being. But more is to come, and announcements will continue to be made as the project continues.

For those who have not been involved in the project yet, a brief explanation to get up to speed.

When Jay reached out to Will about the possibility of animating Cradle, Will decided to personally fund this trailer that they could then take to Netflix and Amazon and the likes to pitch the show. Then, together, they asked how much further they might be able to go, and so they reached out to the fans with a Kickstarter that ended up raising 1.25 million dollars.

Animation is expensive, especially when you choose to only work with studios that treat their employees well, so Will and Jay had to be smart with the money. The upcoming animation will be released to the fans as a thank you for our support in making this a reality, but it's real strength will be in supporting Will and Jay's original plan.

The 80-90 minute animatic that has been funded will be complete in mid to late 2025. With that, the teaser trailer, and the fans reactions in hand, Will and Jay will be able to approach platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, and Apple to pitch a full Cradle Animation.

Animatic?

Yes, Animatic. While the trailer is fully colored and animated, the final result of the kickstarted animation will not be. Here is a sample of the style of animation we will be getting next year

This particular animatic is taken from the website of Tiger Animation, which is the South Korean studio that Lex + Otis partnered with for the Cradle Teaser and many of their other projects.

The animatic we get will be fully voice acted and scored, and the only step remaining to turn it into full animation is the funding required to send it off to Tiger Animation. Tiger Animation has an amazing portfolio as well, including Avatar the Last Airbender, Castlevania, and a large number of both Marvel and DC Animations.

Animation Structure

The 80-90 minute animatic will be released as a standalone product and will cover the contents of the first two books of the Cradle Series, Unsouled and Soulsmith regardless of any potential contracts with distribution platforms like Netflix or Amazon.

If/When a platform picks up Cradle and decides to fund the full animation, the show will follow a fairly standard 22 minute episode format. As such the animatic will also serve as the first four episodes of season 1 of the show.

This was a creative decision made by Will and Jay as part of the adaptation process. A number of the fan-favorite characters are introduced in books two and three, and its fairly unanimous that any fan that wasn't hooked immediately, was hooked by the third book, Blackflame.

That is to say, that, while the first two books will only receive two episodes each, this will not be the pace the rest of the show follows. The total number of episodes per season is dependent on funding, but the goal is currently to take 4 season to tell the story of Cradle.

So What Now?

Well. Now we wait. But in the meantime, share the information about Cradle, watch the trailer, show it to your friends and family, read the books if you haven't already, check out the wonderful audiobooks narrated by Travis Baldree if you prefer listening, join us on reddit and discord to talk about things.

In addition to just exposing more people to a wonderful story, each bit of interaction with Cradle is another piece of evidence to show the streaming platforms and prove that a Cradle animation is worth the investment.

[mehmetminded]

White and Black and Gold

(Part 2)

By: MehmetMinded

Potential spoilers for Beware of Chicken and Cradle!

[Iteration 873 Scale]

Lindon was very confused as he sat at the broad table laden with food. The thing this “Jin” had told him had pushed what little composure he had managed to maintain to its breaking point. Was this man just casually admitting to a violation of fate? Or was he really not aware? Question after question whirled in his mind as he sat. He could feel his madra tremble in his channels, ever so slightly. A non-ascended being would never notice, but it was a bad sign.

[For someone with a reputation as a ‘strong silent type’ you sure do worry a lot.]

Worrying is what’s kept us alive so far, Lindon thought, I’d rather not lose the habit now.

[Sure! Sure! Just so long as you can keep that ever present anxiety from swallowing your every waking thought! You can do that right? How hard could it be? I can’t wait to find out!]

Dross wasn’t helping, but he was trying and that on its own helped center him just a little. Heavens, Lindon had even lost his breathing technique. It wasn’t as though he needed to breathe at this point, but the rhythm was so ingrained into him it took a real shock to knock him out of it. If this man had truly come from another world then that would be a violation of fate. While it wasn’t exactly Lindon’s job to correct such deviations, NOT doing so when presented with the opportunity would raise some eyebrows among the court. The last thing The Reapers needed right now was MORE suspicion-

Lindon’s thoughts were interrupted when another presence made itself known. Down the stairs came a small woman with short greenish hair and amethyst eyes that reminded Lindon of Mercy. Though, where Mercy’s eyes were bright and filled with joy, this woman’s gaze was sharp, her not insignificant willpower honed to a wicked edge. Jin’s will had been a large, diffuse thing. Heavy as a mountain, but spread out across the surrounding lands. This woman’s willpower was dense. Honed into a scalpel that lanced into him, attempting to peel open his soul as a soulsmith did a remnant. A few years ago, Lindon would have been pinned to the spot by her gaze alone, but he had grown since then. Her razor sharp will found no purchase. Lindon was as wintersteel before her, even weakened as he was. He stood calmly from his seat and bowed to her in the manner of his homeland.

“Greetings, my name is Lindon. I was invited in by the master of the house.”

The woman glanced at his dreadgod arm and sniffed once, before meeting his gaze a moment longer. Her willpower faded away like a dream as she sighed.

“Meiling.” The woman said as she seemed to let go of her tension, “If my husband trusts you, then I suppose that’s endorsement enough. Can I get you some tea?”

Though he wasn’t much of a tea drinker he was not so uncouth as to decline.

“Gratitude. Tea sounds lovely.”

_________________________________________

Honestly I had no idea what to make of this Lindon guy. Given how shit I was at qi sensing I couldn’t nail down his power exactly, but it reminded me of gramps. His intent spanned the horizon and the heavens themselves seemed to still in his presence. Long story short, he was strong. Really strong. Like stronger than me, gramps, and the Cloudy Sword Sect put together. But he seemed nice enough. He was polite to a fault and carried himself with the slight awkwardness of someone who hadn’t had a lot of friends as a kid.

“So,” I said, setting down the last of the food and taking a seat next to Meimei, across from our guest, “You’re one tough cookie, bud. That can’t have come from nowhere, what’s your story?”

Lindon looked taken aback by the question.

“You don’t want to know why I’m here?”

I shrugged. “None of my business what a man does with his time.”

The indifference was an act of course, I was dying to know what this guy was doing here, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t want to talk about it in front of a bunch of people.

“Very well,” Lindon said, “I was born in a distant land known as Sacred Valley…”

The story we were treated to was as xianxia as you could get. A boy cast off by his culture, defying his fate with the help of the heavens, eventually destroying the tyrants and monsters that ruled his homeland and ascending a hero.

Lindon seemed to relax more and more as he told his story, speaking with fondness of experiences that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I mean seriously, his description of what he did to refine his body was downright disturbing. From what he told us, his whole existence is centered around cultivation. He lives and breathes self-improvement like some kind of gym-bro from hell.

There was clearly something deeply wrong with this guy, but he seemed like a good egg. A bit thick headed, but he seemed to mean well.

“…and after excavating the last of The Labyrinth, Blue, Orthos, and I narrowly managed to ascend. The state of The Heavens being what it is, it's a miracle we made it in one piece.”

By now the rest of the house had moved on to start the day’s work, so Lindon and I sat alone at the table. As he finished his tale he seemed to be judging my reaction. I said just about the only thing I could after hearing that.

“Holy shit…”

____________________________________________

Do you have anything for me Dross?

Lindon hadn’t been idle as he told Jin his story. He had Dross rifling through The Way, searching for anything in the past, present or even any potential futures that might explain who or what this man was. Dross could read his fate simply enough. The man was still a mortal after all.

Rou Jin, born Jin Rou in Crimson Crucible City, trained by a wandering expert and admitted to The Cloudy Sword Sect. There he was nearly killed in a duel and left to become a farmer. It was all there for him to see.

And yet.

His mannerisms were odd. He had a way of speaking unlike anything Dross could find on this iteration. And he had known. He knew Lindon wasn’t a native immortal, returned to the world.

And he had implied that he was the same.

[I have literally everything for you Lindon. Every detail of his entire life down to the second. Unless you meant in regards to why his spirit is like that. In that case, I’ve got nothing.]

Dross had drawn Lindon’s attention to it almost immediately. There was a nearly imperceptible flaw in Jin’s soul, a tiny thread of gold that bound the two halves together.

Keep working on it, Lindon sent.

“Jin,” Lindon said aloud, “may I ask you a question?”

The man shook himself out of his stupor at Lindon's question, “Huh? Oh! Sure, ask away!”

“Why farming? Someone with your obvious talent could have gone far. You may have even ascended to the heavens. Even if you wanted to give up cultivation, why settle for such a humble life?”

Lindon had a guess, but seeing how the man responded would help Dross build his model.

“Well, to be honest, I kind of did give up on cultivation. I was fully ready to pack it in and be a farmer for the rest of my life. The fact that I got this strong was more or less an accident…”

The man repaid Lindon’s story with his own. It wasn’t the facts that Lindon was interested in, he had those already. He wanted to see what mattered to Rou Jin, what events were important to him. He spoke with a detached fondness about his birth family, their deaths were old scars now and he had made his peace with them. He talked for a long time about his adoptive grandfather, the wandering expert Shen Yu. He spoke of his adoption by the old man, the beginnings of his training. He complained only half seriously about the “old bastard” abandoning him to the sect that nearly let him be killed. He spoke little of his actual time in the sect save for the time he had spent refining his plant bolstering technique. He glossed over the duel that had almost ended him, mentioning only that a senior disciple Lu Ri had returned his exit fee. From there his tale grew stranger. There were spirit beast attacks and a desperate trek north to be away from it all. He spoke of the Azure Hills and of his new home. He talked with pride about each and every member of his odd family, as though their achievements were his own.

The sun was high by the time Rou Jin finished his story and Lindon held a newfound respect for the man along with a more complicated emotion.

[Is that the beginnings of jealousy I’m detecting? Need I remind you that you can crack planets in half with a punch?]

He’s content Dross, Lindon thought, he’s genuinely happy where he is. I’m not made of stone.

[No, you’re much much tougher than stone. I can feel you about to correct me but I got it. Just don’t forget about what you have while you pine after what you don’t.]

Dross was probably right, but Lindon couldn’t deny the small thread of envy that wormed its way into his heart. Some part of him longed for the peace Rou Jin had found on his small farm. He took a sip of the now cold tea to try and drown the feeling.

“So,” Jin said, “how long before your boss comes down here and drags you back to work?”

Lindon spat tea everywhere.

_______________________________________

Part 2 is finally done! I totally didn’t completely forget about this project for half a year! Part 3 soon! (I hope)

[stingrayy20]

Currently obsessing over lindon and yerin just falling asleep around each other

Lindon laser focusing in on a soulsmith project only to come of his own head to a yerin asleep against his back. Them just collapsing in a heap on the nearest surface big enough after a particularly taxing day

They just bounce around in my head, occasionally spawning a thought

[somerunner]

6. Geisha meets Jaran

(whatever context you like)

Gesha meets Jaran

Fisher Gesha had advanced to Truegold during her time in the Blackflame Empire. Her family had migrated with her and integrated into the empire, no longer scraping by in the Desolate Wilds. No, now they were being paid for fulfilling services and responsibilities left behind by the collapsing Jai clan.

Because she had followed an Arelius Underlord's whims, her family was now rather prosperous. She had access to Soulsmithing research that was normally kept secret. The only thing she was missing was that mind-spirit attached to the Wei clan boy, Lindon.

She did wonder what happened to him after the Uncrowned King tournament. Reportedly, the Wandering Titan woke up and attacked his home, and he got them out. Then he founded a sect, called himself a Sage, and led it himself.

She had to find the Arelius man's ear to confirm that one. It seemed that the real one behind the sect was the Arelius Underlord. Well, Archlord now. He didn't scare her all that much anymore, either because he was too busy or because she had gotten used to his antics. Now, she was usually the one hounding him.

Right now, she was asking for Lindon. She was working on a particularly difficult Soulsmithing project and could use some simulation work. Mister sees-everything didn't respond to her, though, so she looked for the next person she could find.

Surprisingly, she came across Lindon's father. He was at the market for Soulsmithing tools and parts, same as her. She only recognized him because of the scowl on his face, so similar to his son's. She confirmed it by asking if he knew the boy. "I'm looking for a boy named Lindon, do you know him? Has a white arm, looks like you?" She neglected to mention he was the leader of the Twin Star sect. Everyone in this city knew that already.

He turned to face her fully. "Huh? You're looking for Lindon? That boy really does get into too much trouble. Your best bet is with the Twin Star Sect, but I can pass along a message if you're in a hurry." He shifted his weight as he spoke, trying to get comfortable with standing still. He had Remnant eyes, and he seemed to be in the process of getting used to them. And maybe a Remnant leg, judging by his gait.

She snorted. "Oh, I'm not settling a debt with him. I need some Soulsmithing help, and he's the only one I trust to do the job right. Without paying through the nose, that is. I taught him, you know?"

His face shifted off from its scowl. "Oh, you're his Soulsmithing master? He said something about that. I hope he wasn't too much trouble. He's a frustrating student. He's my son, in fact, so I taught him when he was young." He neglected to mention how little he had actually taught Lindon of the sacred arts. His wife, Wei Shi Seisha, would consider him a model student.

Internally, Fisher Gesha frowned. This man had badmouthed his son twice now. She only did that right in front of the boy, when his head was getting too big, which was always. It wasn't worth the effort to do that when he was gone.

Well, considering the trouble Lindon had caused her only a week into his stay in the Desolate Wilds, she didn't exactly disagree that the boy was a troublemaker…

He continued. "Well, my wife is a Soulsmith and she sent me out for parts, so would you mind joining us for a while? Lindon said he would visit her foundry today." He was only a Jade. His wife was probably only a Jade. Gesha would learn nothing in their little workshop.

However, it was a sure bet to seeing Lindon, so she went.

A few hours later and she had learned quite a bit about Sacred Valley. As much as she left her smithing foundry and heard the common news, Gesha missed out on quite a lot. Wei Shi Seisha and Jaran were both only recently Jade, as was almost everyone from Sacred Valley. The whole valley was under some kind of suppression field, which Lindon had used to his advantage to fight the Wandering Titan. He had actually fought a Dreadgod, him!

Seisha was suitably impressed by this, but Jaran seemed reluctant to offer any praise to his son. It wasn't a case of general pessimism, he was sure impressed by some of Gesha's basic Soulsmithing knowledge, but not by his son's achievements. She knocked her opinion of his perception down a few steps.

A knock came at the door. Jaran walked over and opened it. "Humblest apologies, family of the Sage of Twin Stars. The Emperor has requested his presence, and he will be gone for a few days. The Sage sends his apologies, and has sent me with these dream tablets."

Hmph. Gesha would have to come back another day, then. "Sure bet," she thought, but that was clearly wrong. She spent a few more minutes at the Shi household, then bid farewell.

The boy was too busy. What did advancement get you? Just more people looking for your ear, that was what. Even Truegold was almost too high for her. But the boy would just keep climbing anyway, wouldn't he?

---------

Author's notes: Yeah, this was really meandering. This whole thing was kind of a first draft, but I don't know if I would change all that much. I'm not sure how to get the characters' voices quite right, so I'm just going to leave it where it is. For what it's worth, I don't think Gesha would clash all that much with Jaran; they are both rather negative towards Lindon. The only difference is that Gesha is demanding, and Jaran is dismissive.

I do like how in Waybound, Gesha is completely dismissive of Jaran as a teacher figure. I didn't know how to fit that in here, so I didn't.

[vulturereyy]

Going to take some questions for my ocs that I'd love to draw them answering as warm ups for art :)

Hollow Knight ones only this time, you can find pics of all here!

(Though not pictured yet is the Soulsmith below)

[yerinarelius]

sassy lindon lol

[the--grin--reaper]

That one scene in Soulsmith

Eithan: THEY'LL KILL US ALL

Jai Long, startled: WHAT THE SHIT-?!

[mysticallion]

The Soulsmith

or

Metaphorical Metallurgical Metaphysics

Certainty is forged in the crucible of experience.

The seemingly solid constructs of circumstance must be melted down into the molten liquidity of Reality.

Fierce heat is aroused and applied. Inner and outer are carefully alloyed into their actual amalgamation.

The ore of identity is smelted, reduced to its elemental forms and refined with the flux of mindfulness.

Emptiness is fused with expression. Material is shaped and transformed on an energetic level. Appearance is outshined in the blazing incandescence of it all.

Breath is the bellows. Mind is the furnace. Awareness is the eternal fire.

You are the smith.

[tmae3114]

this may be a silly question but do you have thoughts on verly in we are full of stories to be told? I was wondering who verly was, if anyone, before they became an elemental spirit but I couldn't think on who it might've been so I was wondering if you knew? anyways. that fic lives rent free in my head it is my FAVOURITE df fic EVER. good fic.

Verity!!! Yes, I do have some thoughts on her!!!

The short answer is: Verity is 100% an OC and my intention in writing her was that, prior to becoming an elemental spirit, Verity was an Edelia graduate who had a pretty standard life for a soulweaver in Tkaanie

The long answer is:

Okay, so, the thing with Verity is, she's very much a Purpose-Built Character. That is, there was a Very Specific Narrative Role I needed her to fulfil, so the rest of her was built around that. I knew what actions I needed her to take and what words I needed her to say and then worked backwards from those things to get a person who would do those things. (Compare & contrast the We Are Full Of Stories Ravenloss friend group, who's personalities I let grow naturally around the much broader role of "Tomix's friends")

And because I am a person who adores subtext and coding and things that let me sink my teeth into a text, I put some small hints into her scenes in the text to imply stuff about Verity without outright saying it.

I will now elaborate on some of those things because I am Extremely A Nerd and Very Excited To Be Asked About My Writing. Specifically, the main thing I was trying to get across in subtext that isn't just, like, her personality.

“I don’t think I’m lost,” he says “but I haven’t been able to find anyone.” “You must have been knocked off track when your teacher sent you in,” the elemental spirit says, drifting by him in a way that reminds him of someone falling into step. “I’m not surprised you haven’t found anyone. If you came from the direction it looks like you came from, then you arrived where nobody goes.” He looks back the way he came and then back to the elemental spirit. He’s not sure how expressive his soul is but he hopes he’s being sufficiently quizzical. “That,” the elemental spirit says, pointing off in the distance “used to be Pandora’s Domain.”

This is the first significant detail about Verity that's presented via implication. She knows exactly where Pandora's Domain was. This necessarily means that she's a pretty old elemental spirit. The scene directly prior to meeting her establishes that it's been two hundred years since a Persefona student was last lost in the Plane of Elemental Spirits, meaning the school itself must be more than two hundred years old, which would hopefully have the amount of time that has passed since canon on a reader's mind, to make the connection. Verity knowing where Pandora's Domain means she's been around since before the Tomix Saga finale, when Pandora (effectively) died the second time.

An additional detail which this provides is that, given Verity is revealed as an elemental spirit of kindness (and, thus, a virtue elemental spirit, not a corrupted one, and therefore, a soulweaver or soulsmith in life), she must have trained at Edelia because Persefona didn't exist yet when she died.

(When he stops crying, heart aching but a little lighter for finally being allowed to grieve, he finds that he’s no longer the only one in his room. Verity is there, having felt his distress, and her face is apologetic. The book is cover-up next to him and she has already come to her own conclusions. Quietly, she admits that she had suspected. He asks how long? and she says your soul was called to Pandora’s domain the first day you entered the Plane of Elemental Spirits, which is answer enough. They talk for a while. It soothes something in him, some ragged edge, that she is honest about it.)

It's not so much implication or subtext here as it is, just, indirectly stated text, that Verity has suspected that Tomix is reincarnated from day one. If you read back with that in mind, a couple of things about her behaviour might ring a little differently (her reaction to Tomix calling Pandora's Domain sad, the look she gives him before asking what he's looking for in a soulally).

The implication in this bit is that the first thing that made her suspect was that his soul was drawn to Pandora's Domain. This means that Verity has a reason to associate Tomix Danao and Pandora with one another and, thus, remembers that they were soulallies. The question that implication raises is, why does this one random elemental spirit with seemingly no connection to anything that happened in the Tomix Saga know and remember that?

When you add that to the earlier implied information about her age and the fact that she still remembers where Pandora's Domain was... it's not that far a jump to conclude that maybe she was in the vicinity when Tomix and Pandora became soulallies, is it? And that she suspected Tomix was reincarnated because she recognised him?

...that's what I was going for, anyways XD Who knows if it actually comes across well or if it just seems obvious to me because I wrote it!