Sacred Valley

Sacred Valley is forbidden and restricted, held in the iron fist of the distant Monarch, Akura Malice. This “cursed valley” is just across the western border of the Blackflame Empire. The Cradle series protagonist Wei Shi Lindon grew up here with his mother Wei Shi Seisha, the soulsmith for the Wei clan, his father Wei Shi Jaran, and his sister Wei Shi Kelsa.

Size, Scale, Population

Sacred Valley is large and spread out. It’s not crowded, but it is well populated. To get an idea of scale, in book 1, Wei Shi Lindon had to walk a dozen miles through the wilderness at the foot of Yoma Mountain to return home — in adjacent Wei clan territory — with his ancestral orus fruit (Unsouled, chapter 2).

Almost a million people called Sacred Valley home, and the Wei clan alone accounted for over a hundred thousand of those. Even so, the one resource no one lacked was space. Each family received a generous portion of land, with a small house added on to the main complex for each member. (Unsouled, ch 2)

Three Clans

This valley is home to almost a million people, living within three clan territories - the Wei clan, the Li clan, and the Kazan clan. Also, criminals and outcasts roam the valley.

The protagonist in the Cradle series, Wei Shi Lindon Arelius, is from the Wei clan, in the northeast section of the valley. The Wei clan lives under the light-aura ring above Mount Samara and Heaven’s Glory School. They also live near Yoma Mountain, carpeted with purple-leafed orus trees and home to Falling Leaf School.

"Most buildings in the Wei clan were purple and white, reflecting the purple leaves of the orus tree and the white fur of the snowfox. From a distance, the clan was a collage of those two colors. Only one tower stood out: a needle of white, so tall that it seemed thin." (Soulsmith, ch 3).

To the west, the hardworking Kazan clan mine Mount Venture and their young sacred artists hope to attend Golden Sword School. To the south, the snooty Li clan live near the Greatfather and Holy Winds School.

Sacred Snowfox

Important to the Valley — and especially the Wei clan — is Elder Whisper, an ancient sacred beast, several hundred years old. The oldest inhabitant in the valley. His species is native to this valley. He is a white snowfox with five tails and the ability to create illusions with light aura, using foxfire. He is usually locked in his white tower for some unknown reason, but he can easily break out, being the strongest artist in the valley. He has fathered numerous snowfoxes — a protected species here. His offspring only have three tails, but he has five.

Elder Whisper had joined the clan founders to create the Wei clan, dominating the native Remnants to carve out a section of wilderness in Sacred Valley. He had created the Path of the White Fox, the most common Path in the entire clan, and used its powers to control and assimilate several lesser clans. Not even the current Wei Patriarch was as honored as Elder Whisper. (Soulsmith chapter 3)

Ancestral Orus Tree

“It’s native to Sacred Valley. This one is three hundred and fifty years old, and it was raised in rich aura, so its spirit-fruits are stronger than usual.” (Bloodline, ch 4)

An orus fruit tree can live for centuries. If it does, it has enough time to soak up the rich aura around Yoma Mountain and develop a spirit, and then it can cycle madra, practicing its own limited form of Sacred Arts. When it dies, it will leave its spirit Remnant behind — dangerous and yet very valuable.
Description: a tall purple-leafed tree with pale bark and white fruit.

He'd found an ancestral tree. Among the tree’s purple leaves, a lone speck of white dangled from the highest branch: a single fruit. A normal orus fruit was like a pure white peach, and grew only in Sacred Valley. Lindon had grown up eating them in everything from pies to juice, but it seemed the outside world considered them delicacies. They had no special properties, only a unique flavor. Fruit from an ancestral orus tree looked no different, but a bite would deliver him years' worth of purified vital aura that he could process into madra. He wanted to claw his way up the bark, but the nearest branch was far too high to reach.”(Unsouled, ch 2)

Landmarks

The most important man-made landmark in Sacred Valley is the ancient mysterious Labyrinth, located beneath the valley and within the mountains. It contains the monstrous prisoner, Subject One. It has two known entrances: 1) through the huge Nethergate at the foot of Yoma Mountain and 2) through the immense Ancestor’s Tomb, high on Mount Samara. There could also be hidden or unknown entrances.
Another important landmark is the tall white tower where the Wei clan keeps Elder Whisper locked up, much of the time.
Geographical landmarks include the four holy peaks, or mountains, described below.

Peaks and Schools

The four mountains bracketing Sacred Valley are known to the locals as the “holy peaks,” locations of myth and mystery. The four sacred arts schools in the region have each claimed a peak as their home, and the secrets found within have given these organizations strong roots. 

To the north, Yoma Mountain is carpeted in purple orus trees for most of the year. The Fallen Leaf School processes the fruits of these trees into products to be sold, as well as secret elixirs to strengthen their own students. They also possess the largest and most obvious entrance into the labyrinth that forms the foundation of the entire Sacred Valley, an entrance they call the Nethergate. The door stands thirty meters high, and is carved with the image of a Dreadgod. Every ten years, it opens, and the Fallen Leaf elders are able to retrieve some treasures from the shallowest levels of the labyrinth within.

To the west, Mount Venture shows off its distinct mineral composition with rust-red cliffs. It is the shortest of the four peaks, and most of the mining in Sacred Valley takes place here. This is the home of the Kazan clan and the territory of the Golden Sword School. The profits of the mine are split between them. Goldsteel and the poisonous halfsilver are the primary output of these mines.

To the south rises The Greatfather. The top of the mountain is broken, its peak shattered into a shape resembling the mouth of a bottle. Water pools up there, cascading down the cliffs in a stream known as the Dragon River. Fueled by the water aura at the top of the mountain, storms wrack these slopes year-round, and the Holy Wind School maintains shelters for unlucky travelers caught outside. Holy Wind School elders can bathe in the pool at the top, known as Greatfather’s Tears, regenerating their vitality of body and spirit. The Li clan live in this area.

To the east, Mount Samara rises as the tallest of the four holy peaks. It is blanketed in snow, and crowned in a ring of pale white light, called Samara's Halo, that circles the summit. The halo appears at sundown and disappears at sunrise, so that no one in Sacred Valley has ever experienced a dark night. Samara’s halo is a construction of light aura bound into form by an expert millennia past, and it is the reason why so many sacred artists in the valley practice light-aspect arts. The Heaven’s Glory School has claimed this peak, using the power of Samara’s ring to gather light aura even on a moonless night. The Ancestor’s Tomb is near the top of the mountain. The Wei clan claims the countryside beneath Mount Samara.

Sacred Arts in the Valley

The people of Sacred Valley have isolated themselves in their valley. They are afraid of the outside world. Moreover, they have been isolated by distant Monarch Akura Malice, as well as by mountains and sea. They have limited and flawed knowledge of the sacred arts, including the nature of madra. As such they are ignorant and weak compared to citizens of the Blackflame Empire and beyond. They believe that Jade is the highest rank and few of their members ever achieve it. To them the rank of Gold is mythical.

They also believe that each user of madra is limited at birth to be either an Enforcer, a Ruler, a Striker, or a Forger, and that it is impossible for an individual to learn techniques outside their own category.

Spiritual Origin Testing

Every six months the clans of the Sacred Valley hold a Spiritual Origin test. Untested children of ages six, seven, or eight come wearing formal clothing and, one by one, place a hand into a bowl full of liquid madra. The reaction of the madra reveals "the nature of their spirit" as determined by the heavens.

If it sticks to their hand, they are an Enforcer. If it flees from their hand, they are a Striker. If it rises, they are a Ruler. If it freezes, they are a Forger. If it does nothing, they are Unsouled, empty, shamed by the heavens. They have failed the test and will take it again at the next opportunity.
Wei Shi Lindon took the test seventeen times and was Unsouled every time.

Surrounding Territory

Sacred Valley is surrounded by mountains and not far from the Western Ocean. It is west of the mountains that contain the westernmost border of the Blackflame Empire. To the west of Sacred Valley is Sky’s Edge, where rare wintersteel is mined. All of these places are part of Akura territory, their overlord.

SPOILERS FOR BOOKS 9-10 BELOW!!!

Spoilers Books 9-10

Dampening Effect

SPOILERS FOR BOOKS 9-10 BELOW!!

It is now confirmed that the entire Sacred Valley — including the holy peaks — is constantly influenced by a strong suppression effect. This both restricts the locals from advancing past Jade and reduces outsiders to Jade over a short time. This suppression affects everyone, dampening their power, including Lords, Monarchs, Dreadgods. And especially it suppresses the power of Subject One, imprisoned deep in the ancient Labyrinth. The suppression effect is caused by something placed under the holy peaks, probably Mount Samara, deep inside the Labyrinth.

Hunger Aura

The suppression is necessary to reduce the power of the hunger aura that Subject One’s research team lured to the Labyrinth long ago, but it suppresses All kinds of aura, which is why sacred artists cannot advance much beyond Jade in the Valley.

When the lion Monarch Reigan Shen tampers with the suppression device in book 10, the hunger aura comes gushing out, filling the valley. It’s not good. Hunger aura is an unnatural and corrupting aura, and it draws dreadbeasts like flies to pie.

A pure white aura that felt to Lindon’s senses like an endless, gnawing greed for more. Hunger aura. Power blotted out Lindon’s senses, and he was swallowed by blinding pain. (Reaper, ch 7)

At about the same time, Monarch Akura Malice is furious at what she sees:

Instead of a desert of aura, Sacred Valley now gushed with power…but so much of it was hunger. Dreadbeasts would be born or empowered every second. The land around the labyrinth was like a slowly erupting volcano. (Reaper, ch 9)