Ziel

Ziel of the Wasteland
General information
Path	Path of the Dawn Oath
Rank	Damaged Archlord
Faction	Dawnwing Sect (defunct), born on Iceflower Continent, associates w Beast King, Northstrider, etc. Dawnwing Sect Wasteland
First Appearance	Ghostwater
Family
Home	Iceflower Continent

Ziel of the Wasteland was born on the Iceflower Continent, where he was a rising young genius in the sacred arts. He quickly advanced to Archlord and became Master of the Dawnwing Sect. He is brilliant with scripts. During the passing of the Weeping Dragon, the Stormcallers slaughtered his disciples he was tortured and crippled by the Sage of Calling Storms, reducing him to a Truegold. His challenge in the series is to regain his mangled spirit and restore his motivation. A little revenge, too!

The first book to showcase Ziel is Ghostwater, book 5. He plays a strong role in the 18th Uncrowned King Tournament as a Northstrider representative. Later, eventually he joins Eithan’s group. Ziel is also featured in The Savior of Garden’s Gate, a short story by Will Wight in the anthology Heroes Wanted.

Affiliations

"One of the youngest Archlords ever,
an elite among elites, reduced to
the level of a mere Underlord.”

-Uncrowned, ch 14

Before he was viciously attacked and injured, Ziel was an Archlord on the Path of the Dawn Oath, teaching his disciples in the Dawnwing Sect on the Iceflower Continent, his birthplace. The attack by Stormcallers occurred before book 1, offscreen. Within the series, he is Ziel of the Wasteland, under The Beast King’s protection in the Wastelands, on the border of the Blackflame Empire — Ziel sought Herald (Beast King) for healing. Beginning with book 5, Ghostwater, he develops a reluctant friendship with Wei Shi Lindon Arelius and company. He is also affiliated with Northstrider, who heard of him through the Beast King and invited him to compete in the Uncrowned Competition. (Underlord, epilogue, & Uncrowned, ch 14). Eventually he signs a contract with Eithan Arelius for one year, in exchange for Eithan’s healing services, which includes going to Sacred Valley in Akura Territory to evacuate people before the Dreadgod arrives.

“I present to you Ziel of the Wastelands, chosen of Northstrider, Uncrowned of the Uncrowned King tournament, former leader of the Dawnwing Sect, and representative of the Akura clan and the Sage of Twin Stars. Let his words be as the voice of heaven to you.” Ziel groaned as he realized she was going to make him speak. He was not needed for this. She could tell them all about the Dreadgod, and only if they resisted would he need to strongarm them into listening. But he was here now. He might as well do what he could. (Bloodline, ch 9)

Appearance

Ziel is 34 years old (in book 7, Uncrowned), but he looks only 18, having had his Archlord body re-forged in soulfire thrice. He always feels soul-deep weariness, due to his mutilated spirit. His eyes are tired and heavy, his voice flat. He wears a dusty grey cloak with a faded indistinguishable emblem — maybe a lotus flower or a web. Ziel has shoulder-length, slightly curly, shaggy black hair.
For his Goldsign, Ziel has two upward-curving emerald green horns. They’re luminous green at the base and run up the gradient to the points, which are dark green. “His Goldsign was so condensed as to look completely real.”
Ziel carries a powerful two-handed warhammer. It’s often kept in his void space. Because of his weakened state he has to drag it around: its haft is as long as he is tall, its head the width of his body.

Ziel invites Lindon to examine his ravaged spirit, while in Ghostwater pocket world:

Lindon opened his Copper sight. A venomous, toxic green ravaged his body, dimming the aura of his blood and life. He extended his perception, scanning the man’s spirit; he didn’t resist at all. His core, a hazy green light, had been destroyed. Something had deliberately sliced it into pieces, then stitched the pieces back together. Half his madra channels were dark, and the other half were twisted and knotted into chaotic patterns. Lindon closed off his perception, horrified. A Truegold with that much damage to their spirit should either be dead or Unsouled. But he had the power of a Truegold now. How powerful had he been before? (Ghostwater, Chapter 12)

Progression

Rank	Location		Details
Archlord	In the Past
Damaged Truegold	Ghostwater
Damaged Underlord
Underlord			Eithan Arelius treated Ziel's spiritual damage with the Pure Storm Baptism.
Overlord			At the peak of Overlord, he was able to exert strength comparable to a weak Archlord.
Archlord
Sage	Waybound	C?	Ziel manifested the Shield Icon, becoming the Shield Sage of the Dawn Oath.
Monarch		C28	Ziel's fusion with his remnant was a violent and brutal one. His remnant represented the self-destructive avatar of wrath that had been buried deep within him. He could not change it, only confront it and move past it. During the brutal fight, parts of his remnant that were destroyed fused with him, until eventually they were one. His ascension was a forced and unstable one but he was stabilised by the Heart Gem and Emriss Silentborn.

Background

A Dreadgod, the Weeping Dragon, passed over Ziel’s location on Iceflower. Soon afterwards, Ziel and his Dawnwing Sect disciples were attacked by Dreadgod cult followers, the Stormcallers. They attack with lightning and storm madra. Ziel fought and lost to the Stormcaller Sage. His soul was deliberately torn apart with lightning and stitched together wrong, leaving him to helplessly watch all his students die. He was near death and weakened to the level of a Truegold or an Underlord. (While there is usually a clear distinction between the two, Ziel has qualified for both the Ghostwater (Pocket World) visit and the Uncrowned King Tournament — twice — so his power level is unclear). He has been seeking healing ever since the Sage mangled his spirit. He’d also like revenge for his dead disciples and himself.

When?

We don’t know exactly when Ziel was injured by the Stormcaller Sage. Some readers say it was about seven years ago. Is that seven years before Ghostwater?

His Baptism (healing)

He just wanted his own spirit to stop hurting.

-Wintersteel ch 14

After he was injured, Ziel went to The Beast King of the Wastelands for healing. The Herald’s treatment helped alleviate the pain a little. Later, at the time of the Uncrowned King Tournament, Monarch Emriss Silentborn gave Ziel a healing elixir, which also helped.
Finally, in exchange for one year of service, Eithan Arelius offered Ziel a way to restore his splintered spirit. Ziel accepted the bargain and Eithan treated him several times with rare elixirs and a restoration technique using lightning madra — the Pure Storm Baptism, created by Tiberian Arelius. With this treatment, healing occurs when Ziel sleeps with sparks of lightning madra playing through his spirit and over his body. This is logical, because it was lightning the Stormcaller’s Sage used to rip his spirit to shreds. (See books 8-10).

Pure Storm Baptism
Lightning-Based Treatment

The Sage of Calling Storms had
abused some of the Arelius Monarch’s
research to damage Ziel’s soul
in the first place.

-Wintersteel ch 14

Finally in Reaper, book 10, Ziel’s splintered spirit seems to be restored. Eithan — who isn’t just Eithan anymore — tells him he’s a strong candidate for advancing to Sage.

Q & A with the Author Questioner: Once Pure Storm Baptism is complete, will Ziel be an Archlord? Will Wight: Yes. He'll have the capacity to be an Archlord. He will be healed back up. He'll still have to probably work a little bit to get back to his former power, but he'll have the capacity to catch up, and it won't take long. Just have to jam him full of resources. (https://abidanarchive.com/events/25/#e1785)

Sacred Arts

Ziel’s goldsign is two green horns on his head. He is on the Path of the Dawn Oath. It’s the Path used by brilliant soulsmiths and scriptors. He cycles force madra, like gravity.

Techniques

The Path of the Dawn Oath has only two techniques, but the Oathsign technique is endlessly versatile. It involves Forging runes out of madra so they float in rings in midair, effectively creating scripts that have one of many different effects. The strength of the Path is its flexibility, the weakness is the precision and years of training that it required to master.

(Image depicting two main techniques, source: Ziel by Inucorn on Reddit)

Two Main Techniques:

1. Oathsign: the name of their scripting techniques in combat technique (his cornerstone technique)
2. Stone Anchor: enforcer technique that binds the user to the ground and make them solid as a boulder.

“The Path of the Dawn Oath had only two techniques, and Ziel used them both. The Stone Anchor, his full-body Enforcer technique, ran through him like iron bars reinforcing his skeleton. It bound him to the ground, so that with stable footing he could stand as though nailed in place. But the cornerstone of his Path was the Oathsign technique. He Forged eleven green, shining runes in a circle that hung in the air in front of him. This circle hardened force aura into a solid barrier that stopped physical impacts.” (Wintersteel)

A genius with scripts, he can forge runes on the fly that magnify his strength, act as platforms, boost his war-hammer, and he can create many different boundary fields among other things. He can maintain several scripts simultaneously, as he did in Sacred Valley to protect the Kazan clan from bloodspawn in the wake of The Bleeding Phoenix (see book 9, Bloodline).

Zeil was once Master of the Dawnwing Sect on the Path of the Dawn Oath, so he has experience in guiding young sacred artists. For example, he offered a script tablet to help Linden, which might reflect elements of Ziel’s own Dawn Oath path. Excerpt: Ziel paced down the shelves until he found the tablet he wanted. The Script Lord, Archlord on the Path of Whispering Wind: the Creation of the Seven Principles. Ziel nodded to it. “For you. Try it.” —Ghostwater, book 5

A few years later, Ziel reluctantly found himself teaching young Coppers and Irons in Lindon's Twin Star Sect. See excerpt, Reaper:

Ziel. He kept trying to rest, but wherever he went, the Sect of Twin Stars found him. They always found him. Someone had given Ziel the title “Master of the Training Hall,” and any students who needed specialized training hunted him down. Ziel tried his best to scare them off, but he was prevented from outright refusing by the oath he’d made to Eithan in return for the Pure Storm Baptism. The sect quickly figured out that he didn’t mean all the harsh things he said, and that became part of his charm. Pretty soon they sought his advice on everything from scripting to advancement to technique training to roommate squabbles. (Reaper)