The Heretical Edge (Object)

The Heretical Edge refers to the means by which Crossroads and Eden’s Garden create Heretics. There exist two different forms of the Edge: the ‘lighthouse’ in Crossroads that uses a device constructed by
Hieronymous Bosch using the skull of a Hangman, and the ‘Fruit of Knowledge’ grown in Eden’s Garden which are grown from a plant that was mixed with the blood of a Hangman, taken from some of Hieronymous Bosch’s paintings.

Both versions of the Edge function in much the same way: a person, upon being exposed to the Light or eating a Fruit, will experience a vision of some time in the past when an ancestor of theirs crossed paths with an Alter. This can range from being within their lifetime, indeed in at least two cases the witnessed event featured the individual going through the Edge, or may take place centuries in the past.

During this vision, the individual that’s becoming a Heretic is able to freely move about in the environment the vision takes place in so long as they don’t go too far from their ancestor, however, since it is a memory they may not affect anything or be perceived by anyone inside the vision. In the Crossroads version of the Edge, the person operating the Edge seems to be capable of communicating with people whilst they are in their visions, though this may be an ability unique to Virginia Dare.
Upon emerging from their vision, the individual will have gained the powers of a Heretic.

Although the Edge is generally used only on Bystanders (humans under the influence of the Bystander Effect), the Edge can also be used on at least some Natural Heretics as Seller and Gaia precede either of their respective organisations while Dare was originally an Amarok-Heretic.
Additionally, half-human/half-Alter hybrids or humans that were previously Alters cannot naturally go through the Edge even if they do not trigger an Edge-Heretic’s Stranger sense.

This restriction was removed on the Crossroads Edge during or subsequent to 1984 by Nevada using her powers as a Djinni, who subsequently became the first former Alter to become an Edge-Heretic. According to Cerulean, there is a limit on how much energy the Crossroads Edge can use to turn people into Heretics each year. The Edge used by Eden’s Garden is subject to a similar limit, apparently based on the limited availability of apples.

Notably, while the Crossroads Edge is restricted to one spot and requires some degree of knowledge to operate, it seems that any human can eat an apple from Eden’s Garden and at least one apple was in Fossor’s possession for an unknown period of time.
The original Edge was constructed by Hieronymous Bosch, the founder of Crossroads, using the head of the Reaper that he had killed to gain his own Hangman-Heretic powers.

Supposedly, Bosch sought out and gained the powers of a number of Alters with powers related to insight and intelligence in order to construct the Edge, but this story is cast in some degree of doubt since, according to Deveron and Joselyn’s allies, Bosch was under the control of a Seosten at the time and that they were responsible for the creation of the Edge and all of Crossroads society.

At some point, Bosch painted a series of pictures describing the founding of Crossroads and used the blood of the Hangman he’d killed in the paint. These paintings were later stolen by the Heretics who went on to create Eden Garden, using the blood in the paint in order to make their own Edge.
However, the Hangman who comprises the original Edge is believed to be still alive and capable of exerting some degree of power.

This is first discovered when Ammon is revealed to have entered Crossroads Island undetected by using his powers of mind control on the Edge, ordering it to take him back to where he had been. It seems Joselyn used to use the same method to enter and leave the island at will and informed Ammon on how to do the same in order to expose this vulnerability. It was later revealed that Joselyn was able to talk to the Hangman and befriend it, convincing it to give her access to Crossroads Academy and the Committee's powers.

Additionally, there is a setting on the Crossroads Edge that will cause a Heretic exposed to its light to lose their powers as a Heretic along with all memories of being one. It is unknown if Eden’s Garden’s Edge has a similar function.