Advancement Level

The sacred arts are Cradle’s “magic” system. This page provides a detailed and extensive description of the advancement levels or ranks within this system.

Humans vs Beasts

Humans, animals, and even plants engage in the Sacred Arts, albeit differently. Following their chosen Path, sacred artists develop their spiritual power or madra by cycling vital aura through their spirit and body. The sacred arts are structured in such a way as to naturally lead to advancement. However, humans advance differently than sacred beasts or sacred plants.

Advancement Overview

• In the books, ranks or levels are capitalized. Example: He is just a Copper.

A sacred artist may progress through realms of advancement, with clearly defined ranks in each realm. Advancement comes when physical and spiritual development and understanding is ready, and not before, unless it’s forced with expensive elixirs. The known realms are the Foundation Realm, the Gold Realm, and the Lord Realm. Additionally, beyond that, there are Sages and Heralds and Monarchs.

Every child begins at the Foundation level with pure madra. Then, the child may gradually begin to cycle a specific madra aspect, or in rare cases, keep a pure core. (See Madra)
Only the rarest and most committed sacred artist might possibly advance to the Lord Realm, or even beyond, to Sage or Herald, typically after they reach Archlord —- but not always. The highest advancement level on Cradle is Monarch. (Unless the monstrous and nearly immortal Dreadgod is counted as a level.)

The Foundation Realm

In childhood, typically. The main effort and role of the Foundation Realm is to set and create the very foundation that a Sacred Artist will use for the rest of their life. A weak foundation will limit their future advancement, while a strong one can carry them far beyond Gold.

Foundation Level

All citizens of Cradle are born at the foundation stage. Cradle, as a planet, is quite large and possesses slightly greater gravity than standard. The existence of madra in one's spirit and the circulation of that madra throughout one's body is what allows otherwise standard humans to thrive in the more intense gravity of their home. Outside of children, the only people that remain at this stage are spiritually crippled. This stage grants the individual the ability to sense their own core and madra. Compared to all other sacred artists they are spiritually weak and have the bodies of normal humans. They are capable of activating weak scripts and can employ simple techniques, though doing so quickly exhausts them. Foundation stage artists can cycle but are not yet able to take in the Vital Aura of the world.