Cry of the Newborn

Cry of the Newborn
Author(s)	James Barclay
Language	English
Series	The Ascendants of Estorea
Genre(s)	Fantasy novel
Publisher	Gollancz
Publication date	20 October 2005
Media type	Print
ISBN	0575076178
OCLC Number	61302293
Followed by	Shout for the Dead

Cry of the Newborn is the first book in the duology The Ascendants of Estorea, written by James Barclay.

The book was released on 20 October 2005 in the United Kingdom and has received a number of positive reviews, whilst a small number of fans of Barclay's previous books regarding the world of The Raven felt that the book was too slow-paced, lacking the adventure feel of The Raven.

Plot introduction

The Estorean Conquord has stood for 850 years. Its Advocate, Herine Del Aglios, knows that she presides over the greatest civilisation in history. But she wants more. And in Estorea's recently conquered territories dissent is brewing.

Herine Del Aglios is an ambitious leader, constantly looking to expand her empire, and this will bring about many trials for the other characters who are affected by the Advocate's decision to invade Tsard. Hard times lie ahead for the people of the conquord, with its resources severely stretched and fighting its biggest war yet, the conquord must be held together under the strains of war.

Far from the war four unique children are discovering their powers. They are the first true Ascendants, in touch with the elements, able to shape the world.

An empire descending into war is about to discover the wonder and terror of magic.

Plot summary

Cry of the Newborn centers around four newborn babies, in the town of Westfallen, in Caraduk, in the Conquord empire. The entire town is unique in all of the Conquord, as magic not only exists, but is a part of everyday life, which differs greatly from the rest of the Conquord, where the Omniscient(also referred to as the God and variants) is worshipped and there is no awareness of magic. In fact, the Order of the Omniscient persecuted early magic practitioners and thought they had destroyed all evidence of its existence. However, writing existed from the original Gorian, who was recorded all his knowledge of magic and postulated the future existence of the The Ascendants, and the knowledge was kept alive in the town of Westfallen.

Due to the persecution of magic by the Order, the town of Westfallen shrouded itself in secrecy, taking the country's representative to the Conquord (the Marshal Defender Vasselis) into confidence four generations before the time of the story, and all the successors (all Marshal Defender Vasselis). The Marshal Defender during the story's time is Arvan Vasselis. Every town member is aware of the existence of magic and all play their part to continue its existence in secret, as does the Vasselis family.

Up until the time of the Ascendants, many people in the town of Westfallen were able to manipulate nature in some form, for a while in their lives, being able to breathe underwater or being impervious to heat, for example. However, these abilities appeared to be limited in time, and eventually would disappear from a person. The notable exception is Ardol Kessian, who, during the time of the Ascendants, was around about 140 years old and still able to predict the weather. What made the Ascendants unique was their ability to project their manipulations of nature, making their abilities active instead of passive, as the normal townspeople's abilities seem to be, and the Ascendants are able to manipulate nature outside of their original scope, for example, Mirron, who was originally a Firewalker (able to withstand heat), later developed the ability to breathe underwater.

The Ascendants, whilst having been predicted by the original Gorian, were completely new to the world and unprecedented. As such, their tutorage was largely experimental.

The four Ascendants are:

• Gorian
• Mirron
• Arducious
• Ossacer

The Ascendants grow up, and develop their powers to phenomenal levels. Throughout their childhood and adolescence, certain relationships and character traits begin to develop which will greatly affect the future of the Ascendants. For example, Gorian begins to show signs of megalomania and eventually, this develops into an inflated sense of self-importance, because he is an Ascendant and therefore above normal people. Eventually, this causes him to rape Mirron, because he believes they must breed together to create a line of new, more powerful Ascendants. This action causes Gorian to be expelled by the others, which has the unfortunate and unforeseen consequence of causing Gorian to ally with the enemies of the Conquord, whom the Ascendants (minus Gorian) are using their abilities to save.

The Conquord has expanded and expanded and resources are a bit thin in the time of the Ascendants, however, the Advocate, Herine Del Aglios, who is considered by the Conquord religion to be the living embodiment of the Omniscient, is convinced to continue expanding her empire into the kingdom of Tsard. This causes unrest in some of the newly acquired border states, most notably in Atreska, where rebellion breaks out and Atreska allies itself with Tsard, turning away from the Conquord.

The Conquord underestimated the Tsard people and its armies, and far from being conquered by the Conquord, the Tsard not only resisted but retaliated, essentially annexing Atreska and moving into place for an assault on Estorr, the capital of Estorea and centre of the Conquord. It is because of this that the abilities of the Ascendants have been employed by Paul Jhered, Exchequer of the Conqourd, manipulating weather and nature to halt and, at times, destroy, the Tsard armies and navy.

The main problem facing the Ascendants is the fact that, outside of Westfallen, almost nobody is aware of their existence and most citizens of the Conquord would be afraid of them and their abilities, and would view them as an affront to God (the Omniscient) as they can change and manipulate what he created at will. This also places them in danger from the Order, for the same reasons.

Religions

In Cry of the Newborn, the official religion is worship of the Omniscient. As new countries and territories are captured and incorporated into the Conquord, they are expected to adopt this religion. However, in many places, traditional worship still prevails, especially in times of need.

The Conquord religion is led by the Chancellor of the Order of the Omniscient, which at the time of the Ascendants, is Felice Koroyan. In each town and city is a member of the Order, called a Reader, whose job is the spiritual guidance of the town or city and outlying regions, much like a bishop in Christianity. The Reader in Westfallen has traditionally been selected by the Marshal Defender of Caraduk, and is aware of the existence of the magic in Westfallen, which further allows the magic to remain secret from the rest of the Conquord.

In most countries annexed by the Conquourd, the religions tended to be centred around plethora of Gods, which is vastly different from worship of the Omniscient. Many of these countries and territories follow the Conquord religion officially, but many of its citizens privately continue worship of their traditional gods, utilising traditions and following old superstitions.

It is known that Atreska, a newly conquered country, and Tsard, the country that the Conquord has set its sight on conquering, have very similar religions, probably stemming from the same origin. This is because Atreska and Tsard share a border and come from a similar people.