BONUS CONTENT
Before you dive in, I want to be upfront with you — this is not a story update. No new chapters here, no plot twists, no cliffhangers. Just a writer pulling back the curtain a little. So again if this isn’t your kind of thing, I understand. You don’t have to read any further. We’ll see you next week!
The Second Cradle launches April 13th, 2026, and I’ll be posting one new chapter every day for the first ten days. So mark your calendars, because Earth’s champions are heading back in, and things are about to get a lot more complicated.
In the meantime, this bonus content is my way of giving a little extra something to the readers who love digging into the details.
Now, if crunchy stats and numbers aren’t really your thing — totally fair, I get it. This content might not be for you, and that’s completely okay. But for those of you who’ve been itching to see it all laid out, the builds, the skill trees, the numbers — this one’s for you.
A couple of things worth noting before we get started. Several of our champions did reach Level 5 or higher by the end of Book One, which means class selections and skill choices were on the table for some of them. I’ve made the deliberate decision to leave those choices for The Second Cradle. However, I will include the character sheets of our champions as of the end of book one.
WARNING CRUNCHY SHIT BELOW!!
Before we dive into our champions, let’s start with the backbone of Earth’s forces, the cohorts.
Here’s how cohort class progression works.
When a cohort is the first of its type to reach a level pinnacle, a class choice is presented through Gavin’s Architect interface. Gavin makes the call, though he’s made a point of letting his cohorts choose their own path whenever possible.
Once that choice is made, any existing cohorts of that type who reach that same level are automatically assigned that class. From that point forward, Gavin’s spawn pool updates. He’s no longer summoning the base unit. Instead he’s pulling from whatever new options that choice unlocked.
No skills or abilities are ever lost. Everything a cohort earned from their previous class carries forward, stacking on top of whatever their new class brings. This is how cohorts grow into something far more dangerous than what they started as.
This also means there’s a real difference between a veteran and a fresh summon. A Shield Bearer who fights his way up to Legionary Spearman carries every skill he earned along the way. A Legionary Spearman summoned directly into the field does not.
This gives Gavin every reason to keep his people alive.
One choice permanently evolves an entire line.
Below are the current established classes and subclasses for each cohort line, along with the class skill associated with each unit type.
KOBOLD SHIELDBEARER CLASS TREE:
LEVEL 1 ── Kobold Shield Bearer
LEVEL 5 ── Roman Empire
├── Legionary Spearman
│ Class Skill: Shield-Interlock
├── Principes Swordsman
│ Class Skill: Focused-Breach
└── Velites Javelineers
Class Skill: Skirmish-Volley
LEVEL 10 ── Praetorian Legionary
├── Praetorian Blade-guard
│ Class Skill: Imperial-Line-Strike
├── Praetorian Spearman
│ Class Skill: Gate-breaker-Thrust
└── Praetorian Shock-Legionnaire
Class Skill: Rapid-Reformation
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KOBOLD ROGUE CLASS TREE:
LEVEL 1 ── Kobold Rogue
LEVEL 5 ── Indic Traditions
├── Viṣakanyā Assassin
│ Class Skill: Venom-Edge
│ │
│ LEVEL 5 ── Wraith
│ ├── Shadow Dancer
│ │ Class Skill: Phantom-Step
│ ├── Wraith
│ │ Class Skill: Phase-Walk
│ └── Venom Adept
│ Class Skill: Toxin-Synthesis
│
├── Rakshaka Guardian
│ Class Skill: Shadow-Bind
│
└── Sikh-Warrior
Class Skill: Chakram-Slash
│
LEVEL 10
├── Revenant
│ Class Skill: Death-Defiant
├── Phantom
│ Class Skill: Ghost-Step
└── Apsara
Class Skill: Divine-Retribution
At any given time, a cohort’s character sheet will always display one class and one subclass if they have one. These update independently as each new pinnacle is reached. So a Kobold Shield Bearer who reaches Level 5 and chooses Legionary Spearman would read as:
Kobold Shield Bearer – Legionary Spearman
When that same cohort reaches Level 10 and earns their new class, their sheet updates to reflect it. Depending on the path they chose, they might now read as:
Praetorian Legionary – Legionary Spearman
That Legionary Spearman subclass stays with them until they hit Level 15 and earn a new one. I only bring this up to make sure that everybody knows it’s not a typo it’s a mechanism I have in place to help better track them.
The next section will go over all of the class skills with a brief description of what they do.
KOBOLD SHIELDBEARER CLASS TREE:
Shield-Interlock While braced in formation, reduces stagger and strengthens cohesion, making it harder for enemies to break the line.
Focused-Breach Deliver a concentrated strike that deals bonus damage to a single target and briefly reduces that target’s ability to reform with its unit.
Skirmish-Volley Execute a rapid ranged volley that disrupts enemy formation and temporarily slows formation recovery.
Imperial-Line-Strike When pressing the line, gain increased damage output and reduced stagger.
Gate-breaker-Thrust Coordinated thrusts deal bonus damage to targets attempting to hold tight formations and briefly lower the target’s ability to counterattack.
Rapid-Reformation After performing a decisive strike, immediately regain a portion of stamina, allowing follow-up maneuvers.
KOBOLD ROGUE CLASS TREE:
Venom-Edge Each successful dagger strike increases subsequent poison potency and has a chance to trigger an instant lethal toxin burst.
Chakram-Slash Throw a spinning chakram that strikes multiple targets, dealing piercing damage and applying both poison and a bleed effect.
Phase-Walk Momentarily desynchronize from physical space, allowing explosive movement through solid matter or shadow before reemerging directly into lethal range.
Gavin’s control points are the limiting factor in how many cohorts he can field at any given time. Early on that ceiling is meant to feel low. The ranking system as the story progresses changes that.
When a cohort reaches Level 5 they become a Squad-Leader. A Squad-Leader directly commands three subordinate cohorts, making a full squad of four. Gavin only pays a control point for the Squad-Leader. The three subordinates beneath them cost him nothing.
When a cohort reaches Level 10 they become a Cohort-Captain. A Cohort-Captain commands three Squad-Leaders, and each of those Squad-Leaders still keeps their three subordinates. One control point covers the Captain, and through that Captain Gavin effectively commands thirteen cohorts.
When a cohort reaches Level 15 they become a Legion-Commander. A Legion-Commander commands three Cohort-Captains, each of whom commands three Squad-Leaders, each of whom commands three subordinates. One control point at the top of that chain puts forty cohorts in the field.
The math multiplies fast.
LEVEL 5 — SQUAD-LEADER
1 Control Point
└── Squad-Leader
├── Subordinate
├── Subordinate
└── Subordinate
Total cohorts per control point: 4
LEVEL 10 — COHORT-CAPTAIN
1 Control Point
└── Cohort-Captain
├── Squad-Leader
│ ├── Subordinate
│ ├── Subordinate
│ └── Subordinate
├── Squad-Leader
│ ├── Subordinate
│ ├── Subordinate
│ └── Subordinate
└── Squad-Leader
├── Subordinate
├── Subordinate
└── Subordinate
Total cohorts per control point: 13
LEVEL 15 — LEGION-COMMANDER
1 Control Point
└── Legion-Commander
├── Cohort-Captain
│ ├── Squad-Leader (+ 3 subordinates)
│ ├── Squad-Leader (+ 3 subordinates)
│ └── Squad-Leader (+ 3 subordinates)
├── Cohort-Captain
│ ├── Squad-Leader (+ 3 subordinates)
│ ├── Squad-Leader (+ 3 subordinates)
│ └── Squad-Leader (+ 3 subordinates)
└── Cohort-Captain
├── Squad-Leader (+ 3 subordinates)
├── Squad-Leader (+ 3 subordinates)
└── Squad-Leader (+ 3 subordinates)
Total cohorts per control point: 40
Gavin’s control points no longer determine how many cohorts he can bring. They determine how many leaders he can field directly. Everything beneath those leaders costs him nothing.
There is a critical vulnerability built into this system. If a leader falls in battle, Gavin immediately loses the ability to spawn additional cohorts until that deficit is addressed. The subordinates beneath a fallen leader don’t disappear, but the chain of command is broken. To restore it, either an existing cohort within that chain needs to rank up and fill the gap, or Gavin has to spend a control point to spawn a new leader directly. Losing a Legion-Commander at the wrong moment doesn’t just cost one cohort. It costs the entire chain beneath them until the position is filled.
This is why Gavin keeps his veterans close and his leaders alive.
A good example of how much this matters happens near the end of The First Cradle, when Sawyer takes his squad and goes after a Reaper on his own. At that point Sawyer was a Level 10 Cohort-Captain. Losing him wouldn’t just have meant losing an experienced veteran and, at that point, a friend. It would have put Gavin in an immediate deficit, leaving him unable to spawn additional cohorts until that captain position was filled. And if Gavin didn’t have the control points available to spawn a replacement, that meant waiting for an existing cohort to rank up into that position before the chain could be restored.
Honestly, this is something I didn’t do a great job of highlighting in The First Cradle. The stakes were there, but I didn’t always make them visible on the page the way I should have. That’s something I plan on being a lot more deliberate about in The Second Cradle. When a leader goes down, you’re going to feel it.
At the close of the battle for Maelun, the champions were preparing to return to Earth. The kobolds were given a choice — enter stasis and wait for the Architect’s call, or remain on Aedaea and hold what Earth had won.
Remaining in Maelun
Jack stayed to guard the city and train the native kobolds.
Sawyer took to the wilderness to hunt down the remaining Kobolkai.
Boone and a small number of Legionaries, Principes, and Velites volunteered to split their service between them.
Toni, now a Wraith, stayed behind with her squad to guard the library housed in what had once been the bunker and was now Earth’s embassy on Aedaea.
-
Jack, Sikh Warrior, Revenant — Cohort Captain
-
Sawyer, Sikh Warrior — Squad Leader
-
Boone, Praetorian Bladeguard — Squad Leader
-
Toni, Viṣakanyā, Wraith — Squad Leader
-
Toni’s squad — 3 Viṣakanyā Wraiths
-
10 Legionaries
-
7 Principes Swordsmen
-
4 Velites Javelineers
The rest of the cohorts including: Red, Charlie, and the bulk of the legion entered stasis.
-
Red, Legionary, Praetorian Shock Cohort — Cohort Captain
-
Charlie, Legionary, Praetorian Shock Cohort — Cohort Captain
-
Desmond, Praetorian Bladeguard — Squad Leader
-
Erica, Viṣakanyā, Wraith — Squad Leader
-
Maddie, Viṣakanyā, Wraith — Squad Leader
-
Hugo, Sikh Warrior — Squad Leader
-
Remainder of the legion
Total Spirit Born Spawned by End of Book One — 87
If you haven’t fallen asleep and your brain isn’t hurting with your eyeballs bleeding, we can get into where we left off with our champions. Below you’ll find their character sheets as they stood at the close of The First Cradle, along with a breakdown of their classes, skills, and where they are headed as we move into The Second Cradle.
[SYSTEM WINDOW] CHARACTER SHEET:
ARi, 26-year-old Human Female, Level 6 System Guide
Experience: 0 out of 8,000 for Level 7
Health: 120 out of 120. Stamina: 125 out of 125.
Energy Reserves: 0 out of 2,640. Energy Generation Rate: 2.54 per minute.
Control Points: 0 out of 7. Research Slots: 0 out of 5. Manufacturing Slots: 0 out of 4.
Unassigned Attribute Points: 5
Unassigned Skill Points: 2
Subclass Selection: Pending
Base Attributes:
Strength: 7
Constitution: 9
Agility: 5
Willpower: 15
Intelligence: 18
Perception: 11
Charisma: 14
Secondary Attributes:
Endurance (Constitution plus Willpower): 24
Toughness (Strength plus Constitution): 16
Awareness (Perception plus Willpower): 26
Accuracy (Perception plus Agility): 16
Focus (Willpower plus Intelligence): 33
Derived Stats:
Movement Speed: 104
Reflex / Dodge: 104
Environmental Resistance: 112
Detection Radius: 106
Cognitive Processing: 109
Social Influence: 107
Territory Radius: 203 yards (When Anchored) / 25 feet (Outside Established Territory)
Territory Expansion Rate: 3 yards per day
Active Node: Den / Keep – Aedaea
Class Skill:
Phase-Manipulation 1
Skills:
Soul-Binder 1
Void-Reservoir 1
Echo 1 (Quantum-Storage copied from Kyle Mercer)
Territorial Simulacrum 1
Quantum Storage 1
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[SYSTEM WINDOW] CHARACTER SHEET:
Gavin Daniels, 26-year-old Human Male, Level 9 Architect, Territory System Specialist
Experience: 528 out of 18,500 for Level 10
Health: 310 out of 310. Stamina: 310 out of 310.
Control Points: 0 out of 6.
Energy Generation Rate: 3.31 per minute.
Unassigned Attribute Points: 0
Unassigned Skill Points: 1
Subclass Selection: Pending (Level 10)
Base Attributes:
Strength: 22
Constitution: 34
Agility: 13
Willpower: 28
Intelligence: 15
Perception: 12
Charisma: 11
Secondary Attributes:
Endurance (Constitution plus Willpower): 62
Toughness (Strength plus Constitution): 56
Awareness (Perception plus Willpower): 40
Accuracy (Perception plus Agility): 25
Focus (Willpower plus Intelligence): 43
Derived Stats:
Movement Speed: 106
Reflex / Dodge: 106
Environmental Resistance: 131
Detection Radius: 110
Cognitive Processing: 107
Social Influence: 105
Class Skill:
Territory Anchor 2
Skills:
Kobold Shield Bearers 1
Kobold Rogues 1
Cohort Cross-Training 1
Bot-Link 2
Shared-Senses 1
Overseer 1
Rapid Muster 1
Quantum Storage 1
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[SYSTEM WINDOW] CHARACTER SHEET:
Tanya Ramirez, 27-year-old Human Female, Level 5
Experience: 0 out of 5,500 for Level 6
Health: 180 out of 180. Stamina: 180 out of 180.
Energy Reserve: 175. Energy Generation Rate: 2.70 per minute.
Unassigned Attribute Points: 5
Unassigned Skill Points: 1
Class Selection: Pending
Base Attributes:
Strength: 13
Constitution: 19
Agility: 12
Willpower: 17
Intelligence: 18
Perception: 15
Charisma: 11
Secondary Attributes:
Endurance (Constitution plus Willpower): 36
Toughness (Strength plus Constitution): 32
Awareness (Perception plus Willpower): 32
Accuracy (Perception plus Agility): 27
Focus (Willpower plus Intelligence): 35
Derived Stats:
Movement Speed: 106
Reflex / Dodge: 106
Environmental Resistance: 118
Detection Radius: 108
Cognitive Processing: 109
Social Influence: 105
Skills:
Botanical Analysis 1
Cellular Restoration 2
Tissue Mending 1
Reaper’s Coil 1
Quantum Storage 1
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[SYSTEM WINDOW] CHARACTER SHEET:
Yumi Takahashi, 26-year-old Human Female, Level 6
Experience: 0 out of 8,000 for Level 7
Health: 145 out of 145. Stamina: 145 out of 145.
Energy Reserve: 240. Energy Generation Rate: 3.70 per minute.
Control Points: 0 out of 2.
Unassigned Attribute Points: 10
Unassigned Skill Points: 2
Class Selection: Pending
Base Attributes:
Strength: 10
Constitution: 11
Agility: 12
Willpower: 20
Intelligence: 28
Perception: 13
Charisma: 10
Secondary Attributes:
Endurance (Constitution plus Willpower): 31
Toughness (Strength plus Constitution): 21
Awareness (Perception plus Willpower): 33
Accuracy (Perception plus Agility): 25
Focus (Willpower plus Intelligence): 48
Derived Stats:
Movement Speed: 106
Reflex / Dodge: 106
Environmental Resistance: 115
Detection Radius: 108
Cognitive Processing: 114
Social Influence: 105
Skills:
Combat Drone Link 1
Barrier Drone Subroutine 2
Remote Fabrication Link 1
Reaper-Soul-Dart 1
Quantum Storage 1
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[SYSTEM WINDOW] CHARACTER SHEET:
Kyle Mercer, 27-year-old Human Male, Level 5
Experience: 0 out of 5,500 for Level 6
Health: 155 out of 155. Stamina: 155 out of 155.
Energy Reserve: 225. Energy Generation Rate: 3.47 per minute.
Unassigned Attribute Points: 5
Unassigned Skill Points: 1
Class Selection: Pending
Base Attributes:
Strength: 12
Constitution: 12
Agility: 11
Willpower: 19
Intelligence: 26
Perception: 14
Charisma: 11
Secondary Attributes:
Endurance (Constitution plus Willpower): 31
Toughness (Strength plus Constitution): 24
Awareness (Perception plus Willpower): 33
Accuracy (Perception plus Agility): 25
Focus (Willpower plus Intelligence): 45
Derived Stats:
Movement Speed: 106
Reflex / Dodge: 106
Environmental Resistance: 115
Detection Radius: 108
Cognitive Processing: 113
Social Influence: 105
Skills:
Phase Displacement 2
Quantum Storage 1
Terra Grasp 1
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[SYSTEM WINDOW] CHARACTER SHEET:
Timothy Patel, 27-year-old Human Male, Level 7 Vanguard
Experience: 0 out of 11,000 for Level 8
Health: 155 out of 155. Stamina: 155 out of 155.
Energy Reserve: 125. Energy Generation Rate: 1.93 per minute.
Unassigned Attribute Points: 10
Unassigned Skill Points: 1
Subclass Selection: Pending
Base Attributes:
Strength: 21
Constitution: 20
Agility: 15
Willpower: 11
Intelligence: 14
Perception: 10
Charisma: 8
Secondary Attributes:
Endurance (Constitution plus Willpower): 31
Toughness (Strength plus Constitution): 41
Awareness (Perception plus Willpower): 21
Accuracy (Perception plus Agility): 25
Focus (Willpower plus Intelligence): 25
Derived Stats:
Movement Speed: 106
Reflex / Dodge: 106
Environmental Resistance: 115
Detection Radius: 105
Cognitive Processing: 107
Social Influence: 104
Skills:
Momentum Surge 1
Blade Discipline 2
Plasma Edge 1
Iron Stance 1
Precision Strike 1
Quantum Storage 1
What the hell, man? What about Lilly and Bishop?
A quick note on our familiars before we get into their sheets.
Only one entity could make the journey back to Earth with the champions, and that was ARi. That meant some difficult decisions had to be made before they left Aedaea.
Lilly, Yumi’s water drake, stayed behind with Toni and her squad. Honestly, Lilly has always done her own thing. When she’s not with Toni she’s out in the forests and jungles of Aedaea doing whatever she pleases. Yumi wasn’t happy about leaving her. But she knew Lilly would be okay. Also, water dragons live for a very long time she’ll be there when they get back.
Bishop was absorbed by ARi before they left. Because he’s mechanical he can be placed back down anywhere, anytime.
Both of them will be back in The Second Cradle. And they will be even more badass than before.
[SYSTEM WINDOW] CHARACTER SHEET:
Full Status Overview
Lilly, Water Drake Hatchling, Level 2
Experience: 0 out of 1,000 for Level 3
Health: 45 out of 45. Energy: 60 out of 60.
Base Attributes:
Strength: 8
Constitution: 9
Agility: 12
Willpower: 7
Intelligence: 5
Perception: 11
Charisma: 6
Skills:
Phase-Growth 1
Water-Shift 1
Shared-Senses 1
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[SYSTEM WINDOW] CHARACTER SHEET:
Full Status Overview
Bishop, Adaptive Combat Construct, Level 2
Experience: 528 out of 1,000 for Level 3
Health: 110 out of 110. Energy Reserves: 50 out of 50.
Base Attributes:
Strength: 20
Constitution: 18
Agility: 15
Willpower: 4
Intelligence: 6
Perception: 10
Charisma: 1
Available Hard Points: 3 out of 3
Installed Upgrades:
Cloaking Module 1
Shoulder-Mounted-Cannon 1
Recon-Drone-Deployment 1
Chassis Enhancements:
Fin-Blade-Array 1
For those who are curious, most of my artwork outside of the napkin doodles is done in programs like Inkscape or Photoshop. Most of my graphics experience is with vector images. I’ve played around with AI art here and there, but I don’t sell any of it.
Honestly, what I’d love more than anything is to find an artist someday who could bring their own touch to this world. The kobolds, Bishop, the keep. That’s the dream. But I’m a starving artist. I’m a broke, hoe. But one day I will sort out the artwork for this series with some original work. Let me know if anybody out there knows anybody who maybe just wants to get their work out there a little bit. Maybe we could work something out.
Anyway, I’m going to show you the progression of my maps. How I went from a little vector doodle to an actual vectored image. And then I gave it to AI for funsies.
Sometimes it’s fun to see if your descriptions, when you’re writing, are clean enough to get the AI to actually render what you’re trying to describe. I’m not very good at AI prompts. But it was fun to see it put texture and color on my vector images. Again the two images on the bottom were generated by AI and are not ever going to be sold.
From time to time I will be adding more of these vector images and artwork to my Patreon. Anything rendered by AI will be on the free tier. But anything I sit down and make myself might find itself behind the paywall. Daddy wants to eat tonight.
This has gone on long enough, so let’s wrap things up by talking about the weapons in this series.
On Aedaea, traditional guns and conventional technology involving ferrous metals simply don’t work. This has been a unique writing challenge, forcing me to think more along the lines of a Steampunk Bronze Age. Tension-powered weapons like crossbows and bows. Spring-powered dart launchers on the Rogues’ wrists. Air-powered dart launchers, bolt launchers, and air-powered cannons. When you have access to phase tech and can literally compress air at high pressures inside containers for use in devices like these, it just made a lot of sense.
I’ve had a lot of fun writing the first book in this series and getting to share it with everybody. I hope anyone who was looking for an info dump like this found what they were looking for. I’m super excited to share the first ten chapters of The Second Cradle with everybody next week.
Let me know in the comments if there is anything that I didn’t cover here. If you have any itching questions about the story so far. Or just to say hi! I always do my best to answer comments.
Have a great weekend and we’ll see you all next week!