So I've talked about Fate in Cradle before with regards to its connection with Hubris, but I want to do it again because I think I missed one of the key things that highlights the flaws of the Abidan.
Fate is not Capital "D" Destiny.
This is established right from the very beginning of the series by Suriel
Fate is not the future. What is destined to occur does not always occur.
Fate is only a direction. That is the direction your life would have gone, like a river flowing downhill
And is reiterated in Bloodline
That…those were…possible futures, right?
Strands of Fate. All possible, if some more likely than others. And that list was by no means exhaustive.
Fate is nothing more than magically/mathematically calculated statistical probabilities. It's something that gets hammered in over and over again by the probabilities spit out by Presences, and by the experiences of people actively reading and manipulating Fate.
Not only is it all one giant statistic formula, its one where countless people of varying strengths—from Iteration-local power players all the way up to Judges and Vroshir themselves—are constantly competing. Each trying to weight the calculation in their favor, hiding variables from each other, discovering other's hidden influences, and making decisions based on what they see that in turn act as new data that affects the outcome.
And yet, when it comes to the Fate of Iterations, it is treated as something sacrosanct. An inherent quality of the Way that is not to be tampered with.
Makiel says that an Iteration deviating from its Fate causes Chaos and Corruption, but if that were established fact, why would they ever even risk trying the Executor program in the first place?
We look at the "fates" of the Executors and have to ask, "is this corruption and chaos?" given that we have actually seen the signs of Chaos and Corruption first hand on Harrow and Limit. They are the breakdown of natural order, the failing of the laws of reality, the twisting and warping of matter into unnatural forms.
The Executors didn't meet any of that criteria. What they did, was act outside of the expectations of the Hounds. As agents unreadable in Fate, they could not be predicted through Fate. And the Hubris of Fate readers, and the Weakness of the Abidan, as acknowledged even by Suriel on Harrow/Limit, is that they rely too heavily on their Way Powers to perform their duties.
"No way to have seen this coming" says alarmed Hound Division when the individual they have been throwing at Apocalypses for untold amounts of time, subjecting them to uncountable horrors and devastation, gets burnt out and quits. They have exactly one way in which they "see things coming" and have a breakdown when it doesn't work.
But that's enough about the Executors themselves. If they were not corrupted by their constant deviations from Fate, surely the worlds they "saved" were actually failures as well. Hmm. Actually no.
At first, the experiment was declared a success. None of those first-generation Executors were less than perfect, world-level combatants with sharp minds and resolute hearts. They saved world after world, allowing the Abidan to expand their Sectors and add more and more Iterations to their protection.
And that declaration was never walked back. The "at first" is only followed by the "but then" of the fall of the Executors. Nothing bad ever happened to the Iterations that were saved.
So why the firm grip on maintaining the independent Fates of Iterations? It seems like the only thing the second Court of Seven cares about as much as preserving Fate is expanding Abidan control and adding more and more Iterations to the Way...
Those probably aren't related at all, so let's turn our focus to the Eledari Pact itself. After all, its the entire reason for the non interference, so maybe it has a clue.
The Eledari Pact: An ancient agreement between the original Court of Seven [and the Way] that both increases and restricts the power of the Abidan. [...] This pact is the tool that allows the Abidan to control the power of the Way as they do. There are many rules in the Eledari Pact, but the most relevant one is this: the Abidan cannot use their [Way level] powers to prevent the natural progression of an Iteration.
Note: Emphasis added by stitching together relevant clarifying details from multiple Words of Will. Modifications in brackets.
So... the power and strength of the Abidan is inherently tied up in two factors: their adherence to the Pact, and the strength of the Way itself, from which they directly draw their power. And what strengthens the Way? More lives and more people and more stable Iterations.
Like tugging on a loose thread, a whole lot of the actions of the Abidan start to make a whole lot of sense. Especially when you remember that no member of the Abidan, no Ascendant, ever reached their position accidentally, (except maybe Sha Miara) They are all, Vroshir and Abidan alike, individuals that consistently and continually grew their own power. For the most part, any limits on the growth of an ascended individual can squarely be placed on their ability, not their desire, so it cannot be a surprise that the Court of Seven is no exception.
The Eledari Pact is the Abidan's Infinite Power Scaling Technique. And that is why they treat Fate as sacrosanct when it is convenient for them. That is why they exploited their Executors and Ozriel to fuel unsupportable expansion.
It also explains why Ozriel faced so much pushback to his calls for reform. The system was working for the Abidan, it directly benefit them, they were insulated from the costs of its flaws by their distance from the dirty work and by the fact that it was only ever going to be normal people that died because of it, never them. Plus, there was just no guarantee that changing the system would even work. Since Ozriel couldn't prove that things would get better and not worse, why change things at all?
Anyway, Fate is bullshit like always, Makiel sucks, and reading Cradle as a commentary on power structures within society doesn't just stop at the Monarchs.
