Editing Lost (section)

===Boss===
Also called Cornerstones,<ref name="cs"/> "Boss" is used here for lack of an 'official' term.<ref>“You had a Path of your own?” Avery asked.<br>[...]<br>
“The Dream was The Run-Down Kingdom,” Sootsleeves replied. <br>[...]<br>“You were the final boss?” Avery asked.<br><br>“I have no idea what that means.”<br><br>“From games.  The last and biggest challenge.”<br><br>“Then yes.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/11/20 Excerpt] from [[Playing a Part 15.7]]</ref> These Lost are major obstacles of a path, whether tied to a specific Path or one of the wandering dangers of the Paths, typically powerful and able to kill a Finder.<ref>Another backwards thing was that a lot of Paths had a large or important Lost like Sootsleeves, the Falling Oak Avenue’s Teacher, Left Field’s Scarecrow Keeper, or the Watcher of Ways in the Watched Way.  They tended to appear at the end, which Avery figured was a way to minimize the hassle of having to get dressed and ready for every passer-through.<br>[...]<br>Forty-nine killers from various Paths.  Some were staples, as much a part of a Path as anything, some wandered between Paths, serving a role when a Path needed a danger.  All attending a stale, boring dinner party in a dingy apartment littered with the carcasses of those who had come before. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2022/08/06 Excerpt] from [[Let Slip 20.2]]</ref> A somewhat nebulous category, while the Ballerina in Blue is a known Finder killer she may not count as a 'heavy'. Can be the ones who created their particular path with an understanding of how realms work.<ref name="cs">“This Other who provided the information, she wasn’t ever the cornerstone of a Path, was she?”<br><br>Sootsleeves shook her head.<br><br>“No.  Why?” Avery asked.<br><br>“If she was, I’d be worried about how much she set this up, how much she might be setting you up for a fall- her founding, I guess.  It’s happened before.”<br><br>“She wasn’t ever, and she’s not that cruel,” Sootsleeves said.<br>[...]<br>“Right.  Toothpicks and bubble gum.  Right, sure.  Also, just saying, if <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Miss]]]''did'' have experience with being a cornerstone- a culmination or final boss of a Path, like Sootsleeves was, it’d make the outcome better.  She’d have experience as the controlling force of a realm.”<br><br>Sootsleeves nodded at that.<br>[...]<br>Sootsleeves said.  “Even when I visited, I was prominent enough they didn’t dare get on my bad side with cruel rules.”<br><br>“I was curious how that works,” Avery remarked.  “Did you leave your kingdom?”<br><br>“Sometimes, but this was a place I visited on my way to forging my kingdom.”<br><br>“Same deal as Founding,” Jude explained.  “A Lost collects enough Lost stuff, develops a kind of gravity…”<br><br>“Right.  Except wait, I thought a Lost had trouble holding onto a lot of stuff.”<br><br>“They do.  It’s my understanding it helps if they collect fitting allies or people in your orbit, and if they collect items that group together or form little collections with a theme.  Those that are bigger and more powerful tend to get a headstart.”<br><br>“Just so,” Sootsleeves said.  “I rode out of my mother’s womb with a kingdom behind me, and even then I was not so large as some.  Still, it earned me the respect I needed to not be tied to too many rules. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2022/03/06 Excerpt] from [[Gone and Done It 17.10]]</ref>

They can be "large" enough to view reality having a form of clairvoyance,<ref>“I’m still sorry,” Avery said.  “You remind me of friends.  Nibble and Chloe.”<br><br>“The ghouls.”<br><br>Avery nodded.  “You know?”<br><br>“I’m large enough I can see things from angles you can’t.  Perhaps I once was a ghoul, before I was Lost.”
  - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2022/06/04 Excerpt] from [[Crossed with Silver 19.3]]</ref> able to peer through the nothingness the paths exist in to gain knowledge of reality.<!--So it’s just kludge at the edge of spirit or the edge of ruins or abyss or Faerie or the magic side of Earth. With this idea of things the stuff just drifts loose in Nothingness and clumps together because of gravity. But stuff without the connections is just weirdness. It’s the connections and the stuff that comes with connections that knit it together or give it any kind of logic at all. Connections = Paths.
(That Nothingness may be important. It’s why travel between any Paths seems so seamless or close together. There’s Nothing in between them. Not even empty space or time)

https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/02/18/9-3-spoilers-path-practicalities/
--> This is how Lost like [[The Wolf]] know what hard truths they need to use to mess with people.<ref>
  - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2022/08/02 Excerpt] from [[Let Slip 20.1]]</ref>