Abidan

Abidan Organization

The Abidan are an organization that governs the Iterations, ensuring order among the worlds. Their job is to ensure the Iterations do not deviate too greatly from their natural progression. They protect worlds / Iterations from the enemy Vroshir and other outside interference. They quarantine worlds when it is time for collapse. The Abidan is an organization with seven divisions; each division is governed by a Judge. The Judges are also referred to as the Court Of Seven, or simply the Abidan. The Abidan are very powerful and their artifacts are coveted across all of the Way, and some artifacts have been found on Cradle, Iteration 110. Abidan strength is possibly due partly to the Eledari Pact, discussed below, which allows them great control when manipulating the Way. The common troops of the Abidan can be compared in strength to the Monarchs of Cradle.

The Abidan is composed of some seven or eight Judges and legions of supportive lesser Abidan. They are a force for order, not chaos, aligned with the Way. The Way is fundamentally a force of protection, a barrier against chaos and destruction.
Image, Suriel, Abidan Judge, by @sh_aye_ @sh_ aye_

History, Three Generations

The current Court of Seven Judges is the third panel of Abidan to maintain the Worlds. The original founding Abidan served thousands of years ago — perhaps 20,000 years, some readers have textimated. There are seven Abidan Judges in the Court of Seven, plus Ozriel the Reaper, 008.

Judges are mighty powerful, but they can die. They can be killed, for example, by a Class One Fiend of Chaos, like Oth’kimeth, the Conqueror:

The Mad King hosts an entity that has killed Judges before. . . he represents a Class One threat.(Blackflame ch 21)

1. The first group of Judges ascended from Cradle aeons ago, some time after they built the Labyrinth. Guided by the original Makiel, they created the Eledari Pact (see below). All Abidan are sworn to uphold the Eledari Pact. However, the non-interference clause is problematic. Apparently, for some as yet unstated reason, the first generation Abidan were killed? The books say little, though:

He held the Sword of Makiel in both hands. The massive two-handed blade had once been used to pass capital punishment on the first generation of Abidan. (Bloodline ch 18)

2. The second group of Judges set up the Executor Program, which failed. (more info below)

3. This third, current Court of Seven Judges initiated the growth of thousands of new Iterations, because they had finally found a Reaper who could erase all fragments of chaos and corruption, if and when the world finally died. These individual Judges are not united, cohesive, or even collaborative, based on dialogue between Suriel and her Presence:

“What are my odds of getting two other Judges to work with me against the Vroshir directly?” [Not high.] (Reaper, ch 2)

The Court of Seven

The Abidan Court of Seven was created with the founding of the Eledari Pact (see section on this page). The responsibilities of the Eledari Pact are divided between the seven, and their positions are named to reflect those duties. There are seven Judges in the current 3rd-generation Court of Seven, plus Ozriel the Reaper. Before they rose to the level of Judge, they typically served in a support capacity in an Abidan subdivision, learning from a master, eventually from the sitting Judge. If one of the Judges ever reaches their end, either through a desire to retire or through death in combat, a replacement is selected. Such a replacement takes up the mantle and authority of that Judge, going by that name for the duration of their service as a Judge.

The Abidan Judges are tremendously powerful. However, they are not perfectly benevolent — some are self-centered. They come in a variety of humanoid forms, from a variety of worlds, with a variety of personality quirks. Yet compared to the world-killing Vroshir, they are saints.

Every Judge wears a white mantle, passed down from generation to generation, except Ozriel, whose mantle is black. They all carry a unique and amazing personal weapon. They all have an intelligence, called a Presence. Each judge has a major connection to the Way, a connection to some fundamental aspect of reality. They all have a source of personal power, apart from the Way, and they have a great deal of Will.

The Abidan Court is the most powerful court in the “land” and the seven Judges have ultimate authority over life, death, imprisonment, the termination of entire worlds and Iterations, etc etc.

Seven Divisions

These names refer to the division, with the naming protocol dating back to the founding of the Abidan Court, long long ago.

1. Makiel, The Hound: Pillar of Fate - tap into the Way to read the past and the future, and to deal with any deviations that may jeopardize one or more worlds
2. Gadrael, the Titan: Pillar of Protection - the defenders of the Abidan worlds, raising shields and barriers against creatures of chaos and against the enemies of the Court
3. Durandiel, the Ghost : Pillar of Will (Conscious Will) - shepherding the birth of new worlds and defending old ones from the chaos of the void
4. Telariel, the Spider: Pillar of Awareness (Communication) - maintain the system of Sector Control, through which Iterations are divided into sectors in order to make them easier to manage. Also, Inter-universal communication between Abidan.
5. Razael, the Wolf: Pillar of Unstoppable Force (Warrior, Destruction) - As Gadrael is the Court's shield, Razael is their sword, an unstoppable force, the heavy artillery unleashed against the greatest of the Abidan's enemies. (Pre-Ozriel, it fell to the office of Razael to destroy worlds as completely as possible.)
6. Suriel, the Phoenix: Pillar of Restoration, Healing and Order (the Way) - can use the Way to return order to a system, restoring it to prime condition. Phoenixes are used as mechanics and engineers as often as healers, and are prized on any battlefield. They are also very durable.
7. Zakariel, the Fox: Pillar of Spatial Travel, tunneling into the Way as a shortcut through space - the heralds, scouts, and couriers of the Abidan.

Legendary Adriel

Adriel, the Creator: Pillar of Creation - design and create Iterations out of whole cloth. With his legendary hammer, he forged new worlds, introducing fresh pieces into the cycle of existence. (Adriel is not explicit in the books and is possibly a myth)

Adriel, the Creator: The first seven Judges inherited their power and titles. Only Ozriel and Adriel are the exceptions: Ozriel because there has never been a Reaper before him, and Adriel because there has never been a Creator since.Adriel is a myth to the modern Abidan. Some of their oldest records posit his existence, but he vanished before the Eledari Pact was signed. The strongest pieces of evidence for his existence are indirect references left behind by the first Abidan Court.The Judges can defend, maintain, and alter Iterations. They can combine fragments into new worlds.But only one person could, according to legend, design and create Iterations out of whole cloth: Adriel. He created new worlds, introducing fresh pieces into the cycle of existence.His weapon, the Hammer of Adriel, is sometimes used by the Abidan as a symbol of creation. (Will Wight, Abidan Archive e36)

Current Judges

This 3rd-generation Court of Seven is not united, cohesive, or even collaborative, based on dialogue between Suriel and her Presence:

“What are my odds of getting two other Judges to work with me against the Vroshir directly?” Suriel asked.
[Not high.]. . . [It is a shame that those who rise to become Judges tend to be unusually individualistic,] her Presence continued. [Forceful. Difficult to persuade, even with objective facts.] (Reaper, ch 2)

Telariel, the Spider, wouldn’t risk his own life even in the event of total system collapse.. . Zakariel, the Fox, was more selfish even than Telariel. She had a lot in common with the Angler of the Crystal Halls, and each considered the other something of a rival. If it didn’t benefit her directly, she usually didn’t do it. . . (Reaper ch 2)

• Makiel, the Hound - 001 future sight, supervise fate
• Gadrael, the Titan - 002 defense
• Durandiel, the Ghost - 003 unmaking techniques, spatial control, guiding new Iterations together
• Telariel, the Spider - 004 communication and detection
• Razael, the Wolf - 005 attack
• Suriel, the Phoenix - 006 healing and restoration
• Zakariel, the Fox - 007 transportation

Additionally

• Ozriel, the Reaper - 008 ultimate termination, destruction, but has abilities on par or better with all the other divisional judges, except Suriel of the Phoenix division

Lesser Abidan

Not judges, but supporting members

• Pariana of the Titans
• Kiuran of the Hounds

Abidan Purpose

The Judges and their support forces access the serene blue Way, white-armored legions fulfilling their purpose: taking care of the numerous Iterations that make up The Way and The Worlds. They cannot create new Worlds from whole cloth, but they can help stitch Iterations together from fragments of dead worlds. They would need a valuable and rare Worldseed to create a brand new world, and they only have three left (Uncrowned, ch 17).

Each division of the Abidan has a different job description. The responsibilities of the Phoenix Division are varied, including healing and restoration, and protecting the weak, within the bounds of non-interference with fate.

Suriel thought. This was the sort of person the Abidan were created to save: the weak who stood against the strong. The sort of person the Phoenix was meant to save. The sort of person who might, with a little outside help, even reach beyond their fate. (Unsouled, ch 11)

The Abidan also uphold the tenets of the Eledari Pact across the cosmos, and battle cosmic supervillains, including the Vroshir, etc.

• See article about The Way, The Void, The Worlds

Abidan Headquarters

HQ is located on Sanctum, Iteration #001. This is where the vast numbers of Abidan forces are based, where they work and where they live when not called away.
However, Makiel’s First Division: the Hounds moved to Outpost #01, aka Oversight, to improve on their ability to observe Fate.

The Eledari Pact

An ancient agreement between the original Founders of the Abidan — all of them originally ascended from Iteration #110, Cradle. This pact both increases and restricts the powers of the Abidan. It is the tool that allows the Abidan Judges to control the power of the Way as they do. There are many rules in the Eledari Pact, but the most relevant one is the Abidan cannot use their powers to prevent the natural progression of an Iteration. If an Iteration, or World, is destined to die, then that’s a matter of fate. “Everything ends.”

The Eledari Pact was first conceived of by the original, first generation Makiel, Hound of Fate, thousands of years ago.

Makiel is something of a leader among the seven Judges, though the Eledari Pact technically gives him no authority over his peers. This is a tradition continued from the original Makiel, who first realized the need for such a pact and organized its creation. (-Excerpt Makiel, Will Wight’s blog)

Executor Program & Eledari Pact

The former panel of seven Abidan Judges created the Executor Program to work around the most upsetting clause of the Eledari Pact, non-interference. The Executor Program failed abysmally, as Duruman, The Mad King, will testify:

Daruman was chosen by the second Court of Seven to be among the first of what they were to call their Executors. He was an agent of the Abidan, but un-bound to the Eledari Pact, so he was not prevented from interfering in Fate. He and his four peers were sent to dying worlds, to defeat the threat from the inside and prolong the existence of the Iterations as long as possible. At first, the experiment was declared a success. . . . By this point, trust in the Executors was nonexistent. A second generation had already been appointed, but these had been raised from birth by the Abidan themselves, designed to be perfectly competent and loyal. Daruman was already considered a relic of an embarrassing past. (Bloodline ch 5)

The second group of hand-raised and loyal Executors failed, too, and the program was discontinued. So, as it stands, the Abidan, according to the Pact, cannot stop a global war from claiming billions of lives and destroying a planet, unless that war was started by outside forces or by a significant subversion of fate. Abidan representatives only descend to correct a deviation of fate, though they're granted a certain freedom of action in doing so. This law exists both to preserve the natural balance of existence and to prevent the Abidan or other powers from settling down in lesser worlds and ruling like gods.

For example, Judge Suriel the Phoenix descended to Sacred Valley to arrest the ascended Grand Patriarch Li Markuth, who returned to rule as king. His crime: spatial violation and attempted domination of local inhabitants.

“Li Markuth was not permitted to return to this world. His attack was a deviation from fate, which I have reversed. When I depart, it will be as though your festival continued uninterrupted.” (Unsouled, ch 11)

Enemies

• Members of the Vroshir, a cosmic criminal organization, are relentless against Abidan order.
• The Mad King in particular absolutely hates the judges and their Eledari Pact. He considers the Abidan to be criminals themselves, and tyrants.
• Class-One Fiends are another threat to the Abidan, but there are only a limited number of them, and they are imprisoned on Asylum. Right?
• The Abidan Court of Seven itself seems to be splintering from within. Perhaps the judges are their own worst enemy. Certainly, Makiel is not supportive of Ozriel, for one example.

Detailed info on enemies at Vroshir

Key Iterations

The Abidan oversee thousands of Iterations, or worlds, more fully listed and detailed at The Way and The Worlds, but some Iterations are central to the Abidan and to the Cradle series.

Important worlds like Cradle, Haven, Sanctum, and Asylum would be protected. Even in the event of total system collapse, the Abidan would collect and quarantine these worlds, their last bastion against the infinite chaos. But in times like this, anything could go wrong. Cradle might be safer than anywhere else, but it wasn’t safe. (Unsouled, epilogue)

• Cradle #110 — Birthplace of founding Abidan and later, of Ozmanthus Arelius, who became Ozriel, the Reaper of the Abidan, 008
• Limit #216 — Where Ozriel was last seen when he stopped the The Mad King’s attack 200 years ago (Bloodline, ch 8)
• Outpost #01 - aka Oversight. Headquarters of Makiel’s First Division: the Hounds
• Sanctum #001 - Headquarters of the Abidan organization, except for Makiel’s HQ
• Haven #002 — Where Mad King was imprisoned and where the Abidan keep their treasures in a secure vault (but Oz keeps his in the deepest Void)
• Asylum - Major fiends of chaos kept in prison here

All Iterations are listed and detailed at The Way and The Worlds