Dreadgods

Dreadgods are the most powerful living beings on Cradle. They are the prime cause of death among Monarchs. They are virtually immortal. However, there is a way they can be done away with, explained in Reaper. Little is known about how they were created, but like Dreadbeasts, hunger madra is key. We learn a little more about some possible explanations for these beasts in book 10, Reaper.

The Four Five Beasts

Secret Keeper

Elder Whisper sat on his haunches,
tails waving smoothly behind him.
“Wei Shi Lindon. Would you like to
know how to kill the Dreadgods?”

-Bloodline, epilogue

1. The Weeping Dragon — A blue serpentine dragon that travels on thunderstorms, and sleeps on miles-long beds of clouds. Aspects: Storm. Techniques: Living Lightning. Cult: The Stormcallers
2. The Silent King — White Tiger crowned in a halo. Dream aspects. Cult: Silent Servants
3. The Wandering Titan — A stone warrior with the shell of a tortoise and the tail of a monkey. Aspects: Earth. Cult: Abyssal Palace
4. The Bleeding Phoenix — Huge crimson phoenix with wings large enough to stretch across the horizon. Blood madra aspects. If it’s cut, it reforms itself from blood droplets. Cult: Redmoon Hall
5. Subject One — also a Dreadgod, although few people know it. The first one. (Bloodline, ch 20)

In Bloodline, Lion Monarch Reigan Shen reveals that Subject One is also a Dreadgod, as he enters the Labyrinth via the Nethergate on Yoma Mountain.

The last chunk of masonry rolled away, revealing a towering stone door. It was carved with the image of a gaunt, sunken human with many grasping hands, its eyes hollow and mouth open unnaturally wide. This was Subject One, at least as he had appeared long ago. A Dreadgod, though few knew that. The man who had become warped by hunger aura. The origin of their bloodline.’ (Bloodline, ch 20)

Hunger Madra

• Dreadgods always feel hungry, never satisfied, even starving.
• Wei Shi Lindon’s prosthetic arm gives him a good sense of the nature of hunger madra.

“He studied the arm. What he called hunger wasn't just that. It felt similar to hunger, but it was more textured, with deeper layers. He felt ambition, greed, gluttony, an endless desire to reach for more and more.” (Skysworn, ch 12)

• There is an important relationship between hunger madra, Dreadgods, and the overweening ambitions of Monarchs.

Origin

The Bleeding Phoenix, like the other Dreadgods, is the result of research and experimentation conducted in the Labyrinth in an attempt to control hunger aura. It was originally an unremarkable Dreadbeast when it was infused with hunger aura. For an unexplained reason it quickly grew beyond its peers. It eventually escaped the researchers and entered the outside world. Subject One was the first one to become a Dreadgod because of exposure to hunger aura and madra, but he had been the scientist. Thus, the researcher became the subject. Subject One is confined deep in the Labyrinth at Sacred Valley. The other four Dreadgods did escape, but they always strive to come back to Subject One.

Entrances to Labyrinth

Labyrinth entrances / gates are carved with images of the four dreadgods as a warning to all intruders. (Skysworn, ch 2)

Doors in Sacred Valley

The Dreadgods are connected to the four holy peaks of Sacred Valley and to the ancient Labyrinth beneath the valley, that spans the Ashwind continent and runs beneath the Trackless Sea. There are several entrances to the labyrinth around the continent, doors marked with symbols of Dreadgods. Sacred Valley has two entrances to the Labyrinth. The easiest to access is the Nethergate, at the base of Yoma Mountain. That gate opens once every ten years, allowing access to nearby rooms only. The second gate in Sacred Valley is near Heaven’s Glory School. It is through the Ancestor’s Tomb, high on Mount Samara. In book 1, Li Markuth referred to the Dreadgods as 'the Four Beasts' when he returned to Sacred Valley, in Unsouled.

Dread Wars

A Monarch cannot withstand a Dreadgod. In the Dread Wars, the previous generation of Monarchs was all but eradicated, with only 2 out of 12 surviving following a combined attack on the Wandering Titan, which woke up the rest of his brothers.

“They are...disasters. Four monsters, big enough to blot out the sky, hungry for destruction, and so powerful that the most advanced sacred artists in the world have to join forces to drive them off. Drive them off, you understand. None of the Dreadgods have ever been killed.” “They're sacred beasts?” “Corrupted ones. Like the dreadbeasts of the Desolate Wilds, they were warped and twisted by their own powers.” “They're scattered all over the world. They burrow into a secure location and wait for decades...but when they wake up, they're hungry. Fortunately for humanity, no two have woken at the same time in centuries. But the last time they did, they destroyed the original Blackflame Empire.” Skysworn Cradle Book 4, (pp. 106-107)

Dreadgod Cults

Each known Dreadgod is followed by a cult, comprised of sacred artists who follow their monster and benefit from the destruction it creates. The Paths of each different cult uses aspects from their Dreadgods, borrowing power from them to create Blood Shadows and Living Lightning, etc. etc.

1. Redmoon Hall, with their Blood Shadows in a thousand different forms. Bleeding Phoenix
2. Abyssal Palace, their faces concealed beneath hoods and stony masks. Wandering Titan
3. Silent Servants, whose mouths are bound. Silent King
4. Stormcallers, who ring their arms in scripts that crackle with lightning. Weeping Dragon

The cults of the four Dreadgods (-Underlord, epilogue)

In the epilogue of Underlord, Shen recruits the four cults to his cause, to represent him in the upcoming Uncrowned King Tournament.