Weight of Worlds

What inspired your tethered system? What drew you towards the terminology you use for it?

First, I'll say that my inspirations come from a lot of different places, some that I'm not even aware of. Like I've been revisiting 'He Who Fights With Monsters', and there's definitely a few things that has been inspired my writing in there, same with 'Beneath the Dragoneye Moons' and others, that I hadn't realized until I read it again.

It was originally supposed to be a more limited, one element, one discipline, one technique, system which much more heavily limited an user's possibilities, but I'd scrapped that idea before I was finished with the world-building. And there are definitely still signs of that in the pre-stage tethered with them being very limited.

The tether originally started as I wanted something that showed more granularity in strength within Ranvir, than him being in stage x of 3, on Discipline x of 3. I wanted something that could change a little bit more and represent the differences in strength of tethered. And I didn't want to use a word core/dantian since that would give the wrong imagery. I wanted an image I could easily scale, while also having a 'realistic' upper limit that I could break.

I've always found myself wondering how the people of fantasy worlds discovered how their magic works, most of the time there's very little discovery in magic systems. In 'Cradle' most everyone knows how most of the advancements work, but what about when the first True Gold advanced to Underlord? In 'He Who Fights With Monsters' like how did they discover that an aura power was a necessity, especially as they got stronger. Stuff like that was always very interesting to me and no stories seemed interested in talking about it.

As for terminology? I am absolute ass at terminology, more on that below.

Is it wheel of time inspired? Embracing the source, weaving etc..?

Yes.

When I first begin world building, there's usually some aspect that I completely overlook until I get into the writing. It's often some terminology or aspect of society. In this case, it was stuff like tether-space and embracing the pressure. Tether-space was a relatively quick fix that I'd made to the manuscript before releasing it here even got on the table. I struggled with 'embracing the pressure', however, because of the way I initially wrote it.

I kept referring to it as a state and using really imprecise words, that made paragraphs confusing and cumbersome. When it became really clear was when I needed Ranvir to just quickly embrace the pressure, and it nearly turned into a whole paragraph. (Press against chest, open tether-space, sense the pressure, then allow it inside, but less succinct because writing). Then a trailer for the Wheel of Time came out and inspirations struck!

What makes a space manipulator special?

Space manipulators are special because of rarity, though they have a gift for travel.

What do you think is the most versatile power? Are there ones you haven't introduced yet?

Not wanting to give too much away, I'll say light is the most versatile power. Wanna be good at range, destroying your opponents? Light can do that. Wanna be a terror in hand-to-hand combat? Light can make you fast. Wanna be behind the front lines, healing the injured? Light can do that.

But in reality, with the way the magic system works in world, most of the other powers could find a way to do something similar. But you can either be a specialist or a jack of all trades, you can't be both.

I have introduced all the elements pertinent to Vednar (the planet the story takes place on).

Which of the ones shown would you want?

I often find myself wandering in the direction of support and assistance, so I'd probably go with something like ice, as that could work both as a heavy defense, or a healer. Also ice powers are kinda cool.

Who hurt you? To make you see love as an open wound?

Nobody.

I was thinking on Ranvir's love life and how he would think about it, especially after dealing with such heavy trauma as he's been exposed to. I realized it didn't feel right to hand Ranvir a SO, and say that he would be fine with it. Not after seeing what his dad went through while his mother was sick. He would most likely run from it, as fast as he could. Or he would subconsciously ruin it. Ranvir would be very toxic to be in a relationship with at the moment.

He has lived in a household where the most important woman in his life has suffered greatly and there was nothing he could do about it. He's watched his dad struggle with the same situation. I think, perhaps, it's no surprise that he doesn't view relationships favorably.

What are your inspirations for Ranvir?

I can't really say without spoiling part of where the story will go later on. But I wanted to write a story about understanding, learning and developing on the magic in the world. For that I wanted a quieter, maybe a more thoughtful MC that could explore some of those elements. I've also read enough progression, cultivation, and litrpg stuff where the MC has an inhuman drive to train, despite a seeming lack of inspiration and I wanted to write someone that initially lacked that kind of drive.

As for direct inspirations, there's maybe one that led to Ranvir's eventual powerset (When Suriel asks for Judge Killers from her Presence in Blackflame, Cradle #3).

But for his personality there's nothing that directly led to Ranvir's development. But you can probably tell which are my favorite authors based on my characters and worlds. Corin Cadence, is a favorite definitely, Kaladin, I love a sad boy, I can't help it. Rand is probably one of the best written characters ever, imo.

Before I started writing I used to draw. I was never very good at it, but I learned a lot about getting inspiration from youtubers I followed in relation to it. Taking inspiration from one other thing tends to create a lesser version. But if your inspiration comes from a lot different sources, then that can become something new and interesting.

What made you decide on space manipulation?

There are some possibilities with space manipulation that I thought were incredibly fun and interesting and I wanted to explore them.

If I go into detail it will spoil the future of the series, but I'll leave you with a hint:

Look at the title: Weight of Worlds