Vroshir

Antagonists in the Cradle series.

The Vroshir

Cosmic antagonists on an über-apocalyptic scale. They are one of the largest threats to the Abidan. They travel in and out of the Void, hunting in the Way. They oppose the Court of Seven and possibly even the concept of The Way, of an ordered universe. Perhaps they prefer chaos, but more info is needed. They steal populations from Iterations or Worlds, separating them from the power of the Judges. There have been at least ten generations of Vroshir.

The Silverlords gather armies from the worlds they conquer. Between them, they may have found a combination of specialists and assassins capable of catching Ozriel unaware.

The Horseman rides from world to world, gathering energy systems and replicating their effects. He has demonstrated capabilities from at least thirteen dead worlds, and under certain conditions, he could have bypassed Ozriel’s protection.

The Mad King hosts an entity that has killed Judges before, but the Court would have been notified if he had left his Iteration. If he has found a way to cross the Way without alerting Sector Control, then he represents a Class One threat.

The Angler has stolen six weapons from Abidan Iterations, and she remains at large. Her confirmed arsenal holds nothing that could threaten the Reaper, but she certainly possesses other weapons beyond the knowledge of the Court. (Blackflame, ch 21)

Fiends of Chaos: True Fiends defy classification by nature, and the only individuals known capable of threatening Judges remain imprisoned in Asylum. Also, no Fiend has ever demonstrated the ability to pass into existence without disturbing the Way, (Blackflame, ch 21)

Vroshir Planet Killers

Vroshir don’t mind destroying a planet, and millions of souls, but they try to take some of the population away, supposedly so they can be free of the Abidan.

Iteration 246: Commandment
From far away, Suriel watched a rain of orange lightning fall across the eastern hemisphere of the planet, scorching it to bare rock in seconds. Dull gray vessels drifted away, bearing most of the people and objects of any significance. Around the planet, war raged. Vroshir defended their ships’ retreat with protective workings, barriers, guardian beasts the size of moons, and shields that could block exploding stars. Abidan attacked to seize the ships, lances of blue as they drew on the Way to reinforce their attacks with absolute authority. But it was too late; millions had died in the planetary barrage, and the Iteration’s relationship to the Way was weak. Color-swirling portals bloomed in front of the ships as they prepared to leave through the Void. (Bloodline, prologue)

Vroshir characters

• The Vroshir organization includes all sorts of humanoid warriors, plus Void beasts of all types and sizes:
• “Void beasts clawed their way into being, indescribable horrors slashing their way through more strands of order.” (Reaper, ch 14)

The Silverlords

“The Silverlords were elites, powerful figures even by the standards of Judges.” (Bloodline prologue)

“They knew better than to fight a Judge directly, but that meant only that they were cautious. Not afraid. She couldn’t hunt them down, and they knew it. If she chased them too far, eventually they’d overwhelm her with numbers. A saying passed down among Judges: “There are always more Silverlords.” (Bloodline, prologue)

There are vast numbers of Silverlords, all wearing silver crowns.

Suriel glimpsed a group of Silverlords chanting in tandem. The silver crowns on their heads shone and serpentine runes twined around them as they called on the energy systems of plundered worlds to make their attack. That working would be enough to rewrite the physics of any local Iteration, but Razael backhanded the ribbon of symbols with an armored fist. The working of the Silverlords shattered. (Reaper, ch 14)

Silverlords attacked Iteration 247: Jester.(Bloodline, prologue)

Iri, the Angler

Iri, the Angler of the Crystal Halls. The Crystal Angler. The Cosmic Thief.

• Her fortress is at the Crystal Halls
• As a mortal on her homeworld, she forged an invisibility cloak. (Bloodline, ch 8)
• With her magical fishing rod, she angled (stole) a dozen scythes made by Makiel the Abidan judge and reforged them into one scythe.

  Iri was robbing the Abidan. She stayed focused on her excitement to distract her from the fact that she was packed inside a box buried beneath one of the most secure Abidan facilities in their vault-world of Haven.. . So the Angler sat with her power extended like a fishing-line, dangling outside the impenetrable vault. Waiting. She knew what was locked in the vault, and she knew that with Ozriel dead or missing, the Hound would send for its contents. He would never come himself—that would leave too much of a trail—but this vault would soon open. She only had to be patient. For nine months, she waited. Finally, a lesser Hound arrived at the facility. She sat up, the triangles in her eyes burning. Through hundreds of meters of rock, she could see the authority of Makiel on this messenger.. . When the Spiders were thoroughly confused, she would slip out of their web and back to her fortress at the Crystal Halls. Where these scythes would be the crown jewels of her collection. Except...they didn't work, did they? The Scythe of Ozriel was unique, and these were only pale imitations. It would take the greatest craftsman in all the worlds to cobble them together into something resembling the original. Something worthy of display in her Halls. Iri cracked her knuckles and got to work. (Uncrowned, ch 1)

The Mad King

Duraman was a very wise and good king originally, and part of the Abidan’s executor group. However, he tried to save a world by merging with an attacking Fiend, Oth’kimeth, the Conqueror. He went mad. He hates the Abidan judges because they are inflexible and arrogant, a d because his Fiend hates them. He lives in Tal’gullour, Fortress of the Mad King.

• Report on Mad King, Bloodline, ch 5

His Origin Shroud

The Mad King created an Origin Shroud from four sacred treasures, including an invisibility cloak the Angler had made when she was mortal and living runes he stole from Darandiel, the Ghost of the Abidan.

He had stolen from the personal collection of the Third Judge of the Abidan Court: Darandiel, the Ghost. He had taken from her a band of silver bound with living runes, designed to allow even a Judge to veil their power.” (see book #9, Bloodline, ch 8)