Skylord
Names: SkylordSkylordsSky-lord
First appears in Book 1: The Dreaming Void, chapter 2 (1)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: The Dreaming Void
- Ch 7Skylords have not been seen for ages and are believed to carry souls to the Heart of the Void; unworthy souls fall into Honious.
- Ch 10The Skylord is a creature in the Void, sending dreams; Living Dream followers hope it will fly to Makkathran to collect the Waterwalker's soul.
- Ch 10Living Dream leaders believe the Skylord is heading for Querencia to collect souls and carry them to Odin's Sea, fulfilling the Lady's teachings.
- Ch 12The Skylord, dreamed by the Dream Masters, glides into a planet's atmosphere above an ancient coastal city and senses the dreamers' presence.
- Ch 14The Skylord told the Second Dreamer it could greet and guide those who wish to join it, and was agitated by rejection.
Book 2: The Temporal Void
- Ch 1The Skylords ferry souls into the Heart of the Void; the expansion began after the Second Dreamer told a Skylord he would not lead a Pilgrimage.
- Ch 3A Skylord says it still searches for the Second Dreamer and that its nucleus aches with longing; it agrees to welcome the emissary and open the boundary.
- Ch 6Justine broadcasts a repeating greeting amplified by the confluence nest, asking the Skylords to find her; they are slower-than-light creatures.
- Ch 9Skylords guide fulfilled human souls to the Heart; their visits declined, and none has been seen above Querencia since the Lady and Rah died.
- Ch 10The Skylord is mountain-sized, surrounded by gossamer vacuum wings, with a folded crystalline Calabi-Yau-like structure; it matches Inigo's dream images.
- Ch 10Skylords guide beings who reach fulfillment to the nucleus, and the Skylord regards this as its own fulfillment.
- Ch 10This Skylord refused to guide Justine to the nucleus until she reached fulfillment, and said none of her kind remain in this universe.
- Ch 10After the talk, the Skylord abruptly accelerated away at perhaps five hundred gees and vanished from sensors.
- Ch 11The Skylord does not understand that a universe exists outside the Void and repeatedly says it will guide only those who have reached fulfillment.
Book 3: The Evolutionary Void
- Ch 2The Skylord remembers Querencia and says it guided many human souls from there to the Heart.
- Ch 2The Skylord speaks in literal terms, like a savant child, and says change in the Void means finding fulfillment.
- Ch 2The Skylord says Querencia will have orbited its star thirty-seven times by the time they arrive.
- Ch 2The Skylord's course change drags the Silverbird in its wake, accelerating it at hundreds of gees to about 0.93 lightspeed.
- Ch 2The Skylord's kindred all listen for the woman who asked them to let Justine in, who will lead other humans into the Void.
- Ch 3The Skylord says one of humankind is within the Void universe and that Skylords will guide humans to the Heart again.
- Ch 5Skylords search for new souls to guide to the Heart, since their old souls are gone; Araminta connects with one through similarity of mental state.
- Ch 5A Skylord is coming to Querencia to see whether any humans have reached fulfillment and to guide their souls to the Heart.
- Ch 5The Skylord is a colossal flying creature of folded crystalline sheets, about half the size of Makkathran, with benevolent thoughts that calm everyone.
- Ch 5The Skylord answers Finitan's call and claims his soul in cold light, saying its kindred will return to guide others to the Heart.
- Ch 7Five Skylords are due to arrive in nine days, drawing thousands of elderly people to Makkathran seeking guidance.
- Ch 9Skylords at this point accept people for guidance only from Eyrie's towers, causing a flood of refugees outside North Gate.
- Ch 11Skylords guide fulfilled souls to the Heart and can gather them wherever those souls assemble; the towers were built by earlier inhabitants for farewells.
- Ch 11A Skylord is approaching Makkathran over the Lyot Sea, which Edeard says will bring great change.
- Ch 13Skylords guide the souls of those who seek guidance to the Heart, and a Skylord accepts Edeard and his friends.
- Ch 16Skylords cannot grasp the concept of being outside the Void; they keep insisting Araminta-two is approaching and will arrive.
- Ch 17The Skylord carried the Silverbird to Querencia using temporal manipulation, then offered to take it closer; Justine declined and it left her 150,000 km out.
- Ch 18The Skylord has waited long for this moment and promises to guide Araminta-two and pull the ship through to near Querencia.
- Ch 20The Skylords seem to lack rational intellect, with minds reduced to instinct; they grieve a slain kindred and recoil from Araminta's group.
- Ch 20A Skylord told Araminta-two it will guide her to the Heart once she is fulfilled and lacks only surety.
- Ch 20The Skylord is confused and grieving for kindred killed by Ilanthe.
Connections
- ally ofSecond Dreamer
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 12Dream Masters blocked
Ethan and the Dream Masters try to reach the Skylord and Makkathran but the Second Dreamer's dark force shatters the dream, and Ethan collapses.
- Book 1 · Ch 14Araminta accepts the engagement
Araminta accepts Mr Bovey's ring, agrees to share the night with several of his bodies, and later uses Likan's program to contact the Skylord in a dream.
- Book 2 · Ch 1Justine heads into the Void
Justine decides to fly the Silverbird into the Void to speak to the Skylords. Gore agrees to persuade the Second Dreamer to help her.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Justine's chase to the Void
Raiel warships pursue the Silverbird with hyperspace shock waves; Araminta, via the gaiafield, asks a Skylord to open the boundary, and Justine enters the Void.
- Book 2 · Ch 6Justine enters stasis
After failing to locate Querencia or the Skylords, Justine sends a repeating call to the Skylords, sets course for the nearest star at 0.7c, and enters suspended animation with periodic revival.
- Book 2 · Ch 10Justine speaks with the Skylord
Justine pleads with a Skylord to guide her to the Heart and warns it that its universe harms the outside one. It refuses until she reaches fulfillment, says no humans remain, and departs.
- Book 2 · Ch 11Araminta speaks with the Skylord
In the gaiafield Araminta avoids Living Dream traps and talks to the Skylord, which will not take anyone to the nucleus before fulfillment.
- Book 3 · Ch 2Reset confirmed and second Skylord encounter
Justine wakes in the reset timeline, meets the Skylord again, and persuades it to take her to Querencia; it accelerates the Silverbird to 0.93 lightspeed.
- Book 3 · Ch 2Justine enters suspension
Told the trip will take until Querencia has orbited thirty-seven times, Justine shuts down the confluence nest and enters suspension for the rest of the flight.
- Book 3 · Ch 3Araminta contacts the Skylord
After sensing Living Dream followers celebrating Justine's journey to Makkathran, Araminta speaks to the Skylord, then shares Edeard's dream with Jessile.
- Book 3 · Ch 5Edeard calls the Skylord
Unable to sleep, Edeard goes to an Eyrie tower top at night and calls to the Skylord with a thought of welcome; it answers.
- Book 3 · Ch 5The Skylord claims Finitan
A vast Skylord flies over Makkathran. The tower flares with light, Finitan's body turns to ash and his spectral soul is taken up by the Skylord to the Heart. The Skylord promises its kindred will return, and Edeard feels he has won.
- Book 3 · Ch 8Araminta reveals herself
Araminta, empowered by the Skylord, stops the mob, subdues Captain Darraklan, faces down Phelim and walks through the wormhole to Ellezelin followed by cheering followers.
- Book 3 · Ch 11Skylord approach troubles Edeard
Edeard watches two Skylords approach Querencia instead of the usual four and worries about the cause, planning to question them when in range.
- Book 3 · Ch 13Edeard takes guidance
Edeard, Kristabel, Macsen, Kanseen and Dinlay are accepted by a Skylord. As their bodies dissolve, Edeard gives the world the gift of travelling back through one's life to begin again.
- Book 3 · Ch 17Justine wakes near Querencia
Justine leaves suspension after forty years, recovers, and sees Querencia and nearby nebulae as the Skylord carries her in; she dismisses it and her ship goes on alone.
- Book 3 · Ch 18Passage into the Void
The Raiel let Mellanie's Redemption pass. The Skylord opens the boundary, pulls the ship in, and speeds it toward Querencia, three light-months away.
- Book 3 · Ch 20Ilanthe kills a Skylord
Ilanthe seizes and consumes a Skylord, absorbing its abilities, then flies off toward Odin's Sea, leaving Araminta and the Skylords grieving.