Ziel

Ziel of the Wasteland
General information
Path	Path of the Dawn Oath
Rank	Damaged Archlord
Faction	Northstrider Dawnwing Sect Wasteland
First Appearance	Ghostwater
Family

Ziel of the Wasteland was born on the Iceflower Continent, where he was a rising young genius in sacred arts, especially scripting. He quickly advanced to Archlord and became Master of the Dawnwing Sect. He is brilliant with scripts. Some years before the Cradle series begins, Stormcaller Cultists kill his disciples and viciously injure him, reducing his power to Underlord. His challenge in the series is to regain his mangled spirit and restore his motivation. The first book to showcase him is Ghostwater, book 5.

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 injured, Ziel was the leader of the Dawnwing Sect on the Iceflower Continent, his birthplace. Within the series, Ziel of the Wasteland is under the Beast King's protection in the Wastelands, on the border of the Blackflame Empire —- Ziel sought the Beast King for healing. He is also affiliated with Northstrider, who heard of him through the Beast King and invited him to compete in the Uncrowned Competition. (Uncrowned, ch 14). Beginning with book 5, Ghostwater, he develops a reluctant friendship with Wei Shi Lindon Arelius and company. Eventually he signs a contract with Eithan Arelius for one year, in exchange for Eithan’s healing services.

Excerpt, book 9: “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.

Appearance

Ziel is 35 years old (in book 7, Uncrowned, but he looks only 18, having had his Archlord body re-forged in soulfire thrice. He always feels weary, due to his mutilated core. He has bloodshot, half-lidded eyes and a weary expression. Ziel wears a dusty grey cloak with a faded indistinguishable emblem — maybe a lotus flower or a web. He 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 they 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.

His Injury

Years before the series began, the Dreadgod Weeping Dragon flew over Ziel’s location on Iceflower. Soon afterwards, Ziel and his Dawnwing Sect disciples were attacked by the Dreadgod’s followers, the Stormcaller cult. Ziel fought and lost to the Sage of the Stormcallers. His soul was deliberately torn apart and put back together wrong, leaving him 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.

His Restoration

After he was injured, he went to the Beast King of the Wastelands for healing. The treatment helped alleviate the pain. Also, Monarch Emriss Silentborn gave Ziel a healing elixir, which helped but didn’t do the trick. Finally, in exchange for one year of service, Eithan offered Ziel a way to restore his shattered core spirit. Ziel accepted the bargain and Eithan treated him several times with elixir and a long-lost restoration technique — the Pure Storm Baptism, created by Tiberian Arelius. With this treatment, occurs when Ziel sleeps with sparks of lightning madra playing through his spirit and over his body. (See books 8-10).
In Reaper, book 10, Ziel seems to have finally gotten back onto his feet. Eithan tells him he’s a strong candidate for becoming a Sage.

His Path

Ziel’s goldsign are his green horns on his head. He is on the Path of the Dawn Oath — the Path of brilliant Soul smiths and scriptors. 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.

Two Main Techniques:

1. Oathsign: the name of their scripting techniques in combat technique (his cornerstone technique)

1. Stone Anchor: enforcer technique that binds the user to the ground and make them solid as a boulder.

Excerpt: “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.

Sect Leader:

Zeil was once the master of the Dawnwing Sect and has experience in guiding young sacred artists. He offered a script tablet to help Linden, which might reflect elements of Ziel’s own Dawn Oath path. Excerpt from Ghostwater:

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)

Sect of Twin Stars Support

• Master of the Training Hall
• In book 10, Ziel reluctantly found himself teaching young sacred artists in Lindon's sect, The Sect of Twin Stars. 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. They sought his advice on everything from scripting to advancement to technique training to roommate squabbles.(Reaper)