What does it mean to be Whole...? (TAW Spoilers)

[Quantus]

Sounds very abstract and philosophical, and it very well could be.  But it also seems to be the reason that

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The Enemy couldn't make a puppet out of Folly,

so there is at least one qualitative trait involved in the world of the Cinder Spires. 

Any Ideas?

[Rygar]

It says she is of one piece.  I'd say there is a lack of conclusive information, and hence anything ventured at this point is wild speculation.  I had a half formed idea that it may be related to age.  Folly is young, and thus the energies she's exposed to haven't damaged as thoroughly as they have Sycorax or Efferus.

[Quantus]

It says she is of one piece.  I'd say there is a lack of conclusive information, and hence anything ventured at this point is wild speculation.  I had a half formed idea that it may be related to age.  Folly is young, and thus the energies she's exposed to haven't damaged as thoroughly as they have Sycorax or Efferus.

Precisely, let the wild speculation fly!

[KevinSig]

I'd guess it has to do with her crystals & her Master's collection.  I'll bet that the Cavendish lost a great deal of whatever held her sanity together.  When Folly's Master (sorry can't remember his name currently & using my phone) last saw Cavendish, she must have been so far gone that he assumed she would certainly die, she might have also been aboard a ship crashing to the surface.

The Enemy came to her in that state & was able to fill her mental gap with its own will.  The Enemy just assumed it could control Folly because she is likewise an Ethrealist like Cavendish.

[Quantus]

I'd guess it has to do with her crystals & her Master's collection.  I'll bet that the Cavendish lost a great deal of whatever held her sanity together.  When Folly's Master (sorry can't remember his name currently & using my phone) last saw Cavendish, she must have been so far gone that he assumed she would certainly die, she might have also been aboard a ship crashing to the surface.

The Enemy came to her in that state & was able to fill her mental gap with its own will.  The Enemy just assumed it could control Folly because she is likewise an Ethrealist like Cavendish.

That's fair I suppose.  I was jumping to the assumption that being "Of One Piece" was the more rare state, rather than Cavendish being unusually broken.  Which I suppose was based on the assumption that The Enemy is more broadly familiar with humans, if it's truly puppeteering Cavendish rather than just nudging her this way or that; whether it's the one that came up with the elaborate infiltration scheme or if that came from a human mind. 

[novaseaker]

I think KevinSig is onto something. We know that Master Ferrus thought that Cavendish was dead. I believe he says as much when he first realizes that another etherealist is working against Spire Albion. We also know that as an etherealist grows in power, they develop "holes" in their sanity that they have to "fill" with something, and that eventually the "holes" become too big and/or too numerous that they "fall" through them, essentially having a mental breakdown where they cease to function.

Perhaps Cavendish had been deprived of her coping mechanism, like Folly's crystals or Ferrus's collection, when last Ferrus saw her, and she was "falling" to her death. I think that The Enemy is able to fill these "holes" with itself. It is putting itself into the pieces of her personality and mind that are missing. She appears sane (compared to Folly and Ferrus's endearing eccentricity), but her mind is not wholly human now. It sounds like some kind of partial possession to me.