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.
Contents
Key Residents
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. His sister is Wei Shi Kelsa. His father is Wei Shi Jaran. His mother, Wei Shi Seisha, is the soulsmith for the clan.
Sacred Snowfox
Another key character in the Valley is Elder Whisper, an ancient sacred beast, several hundred years old. The oldest in the valley. He is a white snowfox with five tails and the ability to create illusions with light aura. He calls it foxfire. He is usually locked in his white tower, but he can break out. He’s the strongest artist in the valley. He’s associated with the Wei clan. He has fathered numerous snowfoxes — a protected species here. His offspring only have three tails, but he has five.
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 landmark in Sacred Valley is the ancient mysterious Labyrinth, located beneath the valley and within the mountains. It has two entrances: 1) through the huge Nethergate at the foot of Yoma Mountain and 2) through the immense Ancestor’s Tomb, high on Mount Samara. Another important landmark is the tall white tower where the Wei clan keeps Elder Whisper locked up, much of the time.
Geography
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.
Surrounding Territory
Sacred Valley is surrounded by mountains and not far from the Western Sea. It is beyond the mountains that contain the western 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.
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 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 think 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.
Dampening Effect
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. The effect is ancient, caused by something placed under the holy peaks, inside the Labyrinth.
Spiritual Origin Test
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.
