The Awakened

The word this era uses for a person whose gift has surfaced.

Where it appears

Three times, all in Act 1, all used casually, as a word everyone already knows.

• Sienna Blackwood is "the Awakened they whisper about in engineering circles" (ch. 8). Scientists write around her in architectural journals, calling her effects "structural decay acceleration" and "inexplicable material fatigue" because they have no other language for it.
• Calista Voss's presence is what "marked her as Awakened" (ch. 14).
• Louch Ashford uses it as the name of what Blook is looking for: "You're hunting the Awakened. And you're very good at it" (ch. 18).

No chapter explains it. It is treated as common knowledge, which tells us gifts are known about in this era and have a name.

The third use is the informative one. The first two label a person. Louch uses it as a category with members, known well enough that a businessman can name the hunt for them without being told. See ../characters/louch-ashford.md.

What it seems to mean

A gift that has surfaced and is being used, as opposed to whatever state precedes that. The word choice implies something that was already there and woke, rather than something acquired.

Why it matters later

By Arthur's era, centuries on, the language has changed completely. There the words are soul ability, for what a soul innately is, and Unmarked, for a person born without one. See ../systems/soul-abilities.md.

Whether Awakened and soul ability name the same thing is not established. Every Awakened gift shown in Act 1 is an expression of what the person already is, which fits the later definition exactly.

Open questions

• What awakens, and whether it can fail to.
• Whether an Awakened is rare. Ravenshollow, Ironhold, Meridian and Thornwick each have exactly one, which suggests rare, and nothing states it.
• Whether "Unmarked" in Arthur's era means the same as never Awakened.