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In light of THIS beautiful article I present to you: Brandon Sanderplant Bonus: A fish stick wearing a mustachioed knitted cozy on top of a potted plant

Sigh. I'm honestly disappointed that I have to do this. I'd hoped more people would've read the rules but I guess not. Let's look at the win conditions for the all the factions/possible factions. Villagers: Eliminators: Neutral: Neutral-Evil: Now, let's look at what we're heard about the Jeskeri faction. For the sake of this discussion, I am going to assume that the Jeskeri are a real team. Are the Jeskeri Neutral? Or are they Neutral-Evil? As previously mentioned, Neutrals can win with anyone. Neutral-Evils can only win with Neutrals or Eliminators. What is the (claimed) Jeskeri win con? To kill all non-Jeskeri players. Well, if they were Neutral, they wouldn't have to kill everyone because they can win with anyone. So they're not Neutral. Which leaves Neutral-Evil. Which means that they can win with everyone but the village. Now, I want to note something about their claimed win con: they say they can only win when all non-Jeskeri are dead. What about Neutrals, who, per the WoJ ("Neutral roles have win conditions that can be fulfilled with any team"), can win with anyone? According to the Jeskeri, they would have to kill or convert the Neutrals. According to Joe, they should be able to win with the Neutrals. Someone is lying here, and I'm certain that it's not Joe. What does this lie tell us? They have something they wish to hide from the village. Why would they want to hide something from the village? What would they gain for wishing to deceive the village? Well, they'd gain the village's blind acceptance of a plan where the village doesn't actually have all the details. And why would they lie? Because they can't win with the village, and because of that, they have no allegiance to the village and won't actually abide by any "alliance" that some villagers may wish to agree to. Result of analysis: Jeskeri are Neutral-Evil (or they are eliminators) Moving on. Will this alliance work? Can a village convert cause a win for both teams? No. Why do I say that? Because of win conditions: Joe specifically says in the signup post that Neutral-Evils or Eliminators (of which the Jeskeri are one or the other) cannot win with the village. 'But Elodin said the convert retains their alignment win conditions!' you say. Sure. That's what he says. Is that true? We have no idea. And even if it is, that would just mean that they specific convert can win with either team. But they have to choose which team they want to win as. If the Jeskeri convert an eliminator and a villager, does that mean everyone can win? No! Per the rules, Neutral-Evils cannot win with the village. Therefore, the village convert has to choose. The eliminator, however, might not have to. Because Neutral-Evils can win with Eliminators. Result of analysis: Saying that a convert keeps both alignments does not equate to them being able to win for both alignments. We will never know all the information about the Jeskeri, because Joe will PAFO it. Not true. Per the rules: So if a role is revealed, Joe will will answer questions about it. I'm not sure if that means attacked and revealed or player-thread-revealed. Regardless, he specifically says that he will reveal all rules about a role when that role dies. I would assume that this also goes for secret alignments/teams, since those are parts of the role. The "other circumstances" more likely refers to a situation where you could glean more info without a person dying. I really really don't think a player with a secret role would die without the secrets inherent in their role being revealed. Result of analysis: We can know the Jeskeri information by killing one of the Jeskeri. If we maintain a strong enough grip on them, we can control them for a short period of time. No, we can't. For one, that assumes that we know everything about them, which we don't. We don't even know what their real win con is. We need to kill one of them to know all the secrets their keeping from us. Only then can we trust them to be telling the truth about their team. But how receptive do you really think they'll be when we've killed one of their members? Not very. And if we can't kill one of their members to know what they're withholding, we can't maintain any kind of a grip on them at all, because we don't know what they can do. We don't know what their real goal is. Well, actually we know one thing: They cannot win with the village. Two, do you honestly think they will let themselves be controlled by a faction they can't win with? No. They will be holding the reins the entire time, even while they convince us that we are in charge. We're not and we never will be. Not with this alliance. There is no controlling them. "Oh, but we'll threaten to kill them!" Okay, and you think they honestly haven't predicted that? I guarantee you that they have and that they have a plan in place should we do that (as we should). It doesn't matter because we will only know one of them at a time, and while their team is small, we don't know all their members. So a threat to kill them falls just a little bit short when we can't actually kill them. We can only kill the person we know of. Who wouldn't be known if he wasn't expendable. Three, why do we even need an alliance? For information? You realize that's not information we can trust, right? They want to kill us. That's their win con. While they'll be honest and truthful about some of it--possibly even most of it--they will also tell some lies. It's guaranteed. How do you propose we separate the truths from the lies? We can't. Therefore, we cannot trust the info they provide because we cannot trust them. Hence, an alliance for information-gathering purposes is useless. Do you want an alliance to direct their kill? Why do we need their kill? We don't. We have our own kill abilities. You want to direct their kill so you can keep it off of important villagers? That won't help the village. That just narrows the field down for them on who we don't want them to attack so they know who to attack here in a couple cycles. So we might be able to to direct the kill for a couple nights, but that's not directing their kills. That's them choosing to kill who we tell them to kill. We're not forcing them to do anything. It is always their choice. Which is exactly why they will always remain in control. In MR10, Aman was an outed eliminator with a known kill ability. He told the village he'd provide information and that he would kill who they told him to kill, so long as they left him alive. The village made a temporary alliance with him, leaving him alive and directing his kills. He went with it for a cycle or two, but then eventually, he went against the village's wishes and turned on them, and before the village could kill him, his team finished off the remaining villagers and won the game. With Aman still alive. The village kept a known eliminator with a kill alive. Now, you can say that this is a different situation because the Neutral-Evils aren't Eliminators, but it's actually not terribly different at all. Sure, the village doesn't have to kill them to win, but they have to kill the village to win. That's certain, based on their part of their win conditions. Looking the other way and hoping that they won't stab you in the back while you're pointing out someone else for them to kill is foolhardy. Result of analysis: We cannot control them. An alliance is not in the village's best interests, for the reasons I've just stated. They will never give the full list of their faction to us. It won't happen. Even if they give one or two of their teammates, we won't get their full team, because they will withhold names, and we won't know. We only have their word for it. The word of people who do not share our win con and cannot win with us. Your insistence that it's a good idea makes me this close to suggesting your death because I honestly cannot see a single way that you could possibly be a villager at this point. You are far more likely to have been converted. I'd suggest you, Elenion, because you're not helping the village at all either. At least Stink is making sense even if he's Neutral. He's a lot better of a villager than you are, and he's not even village! And really, why do people keep threatening him? Why do people keep suggesting we should kill him? He's done nothing wrong or against his own personal win con. He is neutral. Let him be neutral. He's not being a troll. He's not being unhelpful. He doesn't know much. He just wants to survive. Let him.

I forgot to do my italics thing in C4… Poke Ranger Joe got a Leppa Berry Pie. He wondered at how he had been given such a specific pie, but then decided that really it was just pie, and you never say no to pie. His pokemon gotta eat a Leppa Berry Pie. (AN, I have no idea what that is, I assume it’s not English). Tebeh Dee immediately started saying something along the lines of ‘beep boop’ when he got his pie, saying if and else statements, as if he was playing python instead of SE. Well, luckily for us Overseers, someone had the bright idea to throw their pie at him. So in the end, Tebeh lost his pie when all he could see was a pie in his face, and the mysterious third player had also lost their pie when it hit Tebeh’s face. Red was annoyed. Really annoyed. Really annoyed. Really annoyed. So annoyed they could use italics all day long! In fact, they were gonna get so annoyed that they bold and make their words slanted! And you know what? NOW THEY WERE REALLY ANNOYED! YOU CAN JUST FEEL THE EMPHASIS RIGHT NOW! SO MUCH EMPHASIS THAT SOME PEOPLE WANNA KILL THEM! BUT YOU KNOW WHAT? THIS WILL NOT DO! RED WALKED UP TO NYA, THOUGH IT DIDN’T EVEN MATTER WHO SHE WAS! A QUICK JAB TO THE BRAIN AND SHE WAS DEAD. SIMPLE AS PIE. RED WALKED UP TO JAIME, AND GRABBED HER LEG AND SLAMMED HER INTO MICHEAL, WHO WAS FOOLISHLY TRYING TO SNEAK UP ON HIM, BUT ENDED IN MORE DEATH! THIS WAS SO REJUVENATING! RED SPRINTED UP TO MYSELF, CLEARLY IN THE OLYMPIC SPIRIT, AND SLAMMED HIS KNEE INTO HIS BELLY, GETTING A LOVELY ‘OOF’ BEFORE HE JUMPED AND BODY SLAMMED HIM INTO THE GROUND. HE WAS UNSTOPPABLE! A FORCE OF NATURE! RED was getting kind of tired. I mean, what was the point of all this? He’d already killed four people. Surely that was it. Then Lorien approached Red, pulling out a trusty knife. How dare he? Red was stabbed. I will not fall to this! The assailant tried to run away. I AM RED! FEAR ME! And so Red started charging Lorien. And Lorien turned around, knife still at the ready, and plunged it into Red’s heart. EVEN A DEATH BLOW WILL NOT STOP MY REVENGE! And so just before his death, Red ripped Lorien’s spine in half. Nyali has blacked out! She had a Kadabra. Jaimeleecee has blacked out! She had a Bulbasaur. Metacognition has blacked out! He had a Fearow. Ripplegylf has blacked out! She had a Bulbasaur. Lorien has blacked out! He had a Charmander. Emerald101 has blacked out! He had a Dragonair. AN: Pikachu!

Day 4: In which the Enemy shows it’s face, and the Citizenry know fear. Iadon stood on his Balcony, grinning up at the Full Moon. It was Time. Time to act. If the Citizenry couldn’t find the Conspirators, well, he’d just remove them all, one by one. He twirled around, and strode confidently into his bedroom, where a maid stood waiting nervously. He had summoned her here earlier, and told her to wait. But now, “It is time Sheeo. Come with me.” He ignored her queries, as he lead her into the palace. Deeper than she probably had permission to go. She would be seeing things that no servant ever should without him there. He pulled on a fake torch, and opened a secret passageway. One he had had installed in the first month of his reign. He smiled kindly, and gestured for her to go in first. She hesitated, rather than obeying instantly, but his suddenly frosted smile convinced her to scurry into the passage. He followed her in, and closed the passage behind him. As he walked, a tune began to beg for escape from his mind. He began to hum. Then sing. “They say, the price of my rule’s not a price that they’re willing to pay. They scheme, in their city when they hear me proclaim ‘I am King.’ Remember I made a Monarchy when Elantris fell, now you’re plotting my fall. Remember all of my commandments, I’m your king.” Sheeo kept giving him backwards looks over her shoulder as she walked fearfully through the dimly lit passage. He ignored her, and kept moving forward, leaving her no option but to continue. “They’ll be gone, soon they’ll know, they’ll understand why I’m unopposed. Gods will fall, Men will rise! I have seen the people through it all. And when hate, turns to war, I will send the bloody Jeskeri Cultists to remind them of my crown!” A wall suddenly opened, and two strong pairs of arms grabbed Sheeo and pulled her into the room. She tried to scream, but the hooded men stuffed what Iadon only know from experience was a severed fist into her mouth to silence her. They pulled her roughly to a stone altar in the middle of the room, and tied her down. Iadon grinned as they looked to him for permission to begin. He shook his head and walked over to her. He sat on the altar, and gently stroked her cheek. “They’ll say my crown is heavy and I can’t be king! They’ll be the ones exploding when you are gone. . . And no, you won’t survive this, cuz you’re the Sacrifice. My fearful, scared Sacrifice. Forever and ever and ever and ever. . .” The Practitioner swung his knife with precision, burying it in her belly. The Acolytes dipped their hands into the blood, and began to draw. Officer Kailin finished writing down the rest of the information that the man had told him during their interrogation. It wasn’t much. But he was mostly certain of the man’s innocence now. It was time to set him free with the dawn. He rose from the table, and went to the front door of the safehouse. He rapped on the door four times, waited, then once more. The door opened and Wilson and Janomi walked in, weapons oddly at the ready. Wilson closed the door, and Janomi prowled over to a window, looking through it as if searching for someone. “What is it?” He asked, pulling out his own blade. “We saw someone out there. Come on, let’s get the prisoner out of here.” Wilson gestured to the basement door, where the prisoner was being kept in the darkness. Kailin leaned his sword against the wall, then drew out a thick Iron key. He slipped it into the lock, twisted it, and kicked the door open. Just like every time, they went in fast, grabbing the hooded prisoner and throwing him over a shoulder before he could react. There was a muffled gasp of fear from him, but he offered no resistance. A night with Kailin could do that to a man. They bundled him up the stairs and into the parlor. Wilson cracked the door open, and peeked through it. The door shot the rest of the way open, slamming into her head. And knocking her backwards. A man, unarmed and unarmored danced into the room. He never said a word, simply lunged forward towards the prisoner, dodging around Kailin’s jabs. “For Kae!” Janomi cried as she tackled the man. He twisted, eyes closed, grabbed her by the waist and threw her into Wilson. “Lexicon!” Kailin snapped, stepping back, “What in Domi’s name are you doing?” The man paused, and opened his eyes. Lexicon regarded him coolly, then gestured to the prisoner. “The man is guilty of conspiracy to commit regicide. I’ll be killing him first.” He dived forward again, hitting Kailin in the waist and knocking him over. The prisoner’s muffled screams accompanied the ponderous thud of Kailin hitting the floor. Lexicon jumped over the legionnaire and picked up the prisoner in one hand. He drew his hand back to punch him, but paused when he began to glow. The glow quickly spread to Lexicon, covering both of them in a sickly green light. Lexicon dropped him and backed away, staring at his hands. Wilson grabbed Kailin’s shoulder and pulled him up. She grabbed the dazed, glowing prisoner, and threw him onto his broad shoulders. “Go, free him, I’ll take care of Lexicon.” she turned to Lexicon as the glowing spread to her and Kailin as well. “What have you done? What is this?” Lexicon met her eyes, wide with fear. “This wasn’t me, this isn’t the Dor I know. This is, hostile.” “I know.” All three turned to look at Janomi as she rolled to her feet. “It’s the Mysteries.” She took the prisoner from Kailin, and laid him down on the table. “You’re all already dead. That glow will force your heart to implode in the next minute. It’s completely lethal, unless blocked by a higher power.” She was not glowing. In fact, the prisoner’s glow retracted away from her hands. But when she removed them, the glow returned. “I can only save one, and I choose him.” She reached under her tunic, and withdrew a Korathi amulet. It was shaped into the Aon Dao. she pulled it off, and tied it around the prisoner’s neck instead. The prisoner’s glow seemed to jump through the air, onto her. Lexicon gasped, then began to choke. His eyes bulged out, and he fell to his knees, grasping his chest. The glow faded as he fell to his side. His hands fell away, revealing a distorted chest. Kailin cursed, the lunged for the prisoner, in a desperate bid to grab the amulet. His corpse hit the prisner instead. He fell in unison wil Wilson, leaving only a sorrowful Janomi. She pulled out her knife, and cut the prisoner’s bonds. His hands trying to pull the hood off his face was her last sight as her heart burst in her chest. Liadan sat between the feet of the half finished statue. Straw's will had insisted his gravestone be larger than life, and he had left enough money to afford one. They had started construction on it almost as soon as his body had been found, as the will specified payment only upon completion. For now, the legs alone were nice to lean against. They reminded her of him. Sometimes, she didn't want the reminders, and other times, she did. Something was strange about the graveyard tonight though. The animals had gotten used to her presence and tended to ignore her, but tonight, they were silent. Someone else was in the graveyard with her. She was certain of it. If she was quiet, she could hear the occasional footfall, or the intake of breath She felt like one of the statues, being studied by a curious scholar. But, she wasn't a statue, was she? "You can come out." She called to the unseen visitor. "I won't bite. Honest." The silence became more ponderous, as if the unseen person was worried about her offer. So she called out again, "I know you're out there, come talk with me." A tall figure, wrapped all about in a cloak, stepped out from behind the statue of the mother. He stood there, face shrouded in darkness, studying her, as an artist studies a blank canvas. "Come have a seat with me, I like to talk to people." The man ignored her invitation, and instead began to walk sideways, maintaining his distance from her. "I'm not certain what to make of you little girl, everyone seems to trust you, but no one seems to know you. Why do you sit in this graveyard all night?" Liadan shrugged. "Life seems sweeter in a graveyard. More, worthwhile." "Life? Sweet?" The figure stopped circling her. "Let me ask you little damsel, why should life be sweet? Should it not be dark and cruel, to test us for the life to come after? Is that not why people think the gods sent us here?" She smiled, and patted the statue's base. "Come, sit." The figure didn't move for a long while, but then advanced cautiously, looking this way and that. "What do you look for?" "Everyone knows Children are the most dangerous of all humanity." He snapped at her. "What traps do you have planned to sit there so openly?" She shrugged again. "No traps. I just like to talk to people. Or listen. Some people need one, and some need the other. I think you need to ask questions. You wouldn't be here otherwise." The figure halted before her, then sat cross legged on the ground. "You know far more than you seem little lady." "I thought you said I was supposed to be dangerous. Aren't dangerous people smart?" "Of course not! Smart people aren't dangerous, because dangerous people get killed! And if you're smart, you'd know that, so you wouldn't be dangerous. and then you won't get killed." He nodded his head firmly, seeming rather pleased with himself. "So, we should kill all the fools then?" The figure blinked, then opened his mouth. He closed it again, then frowned. "Bah, you're too talkative by half girl. Haven't you heard that children should be seen and not heard?" "Tell me sir, if I was seen, and not heard, what would be the point of talking to you?" "To figure out if you're dangerous to me or not!" he snapped. "And, am I?" "Of course not, you're a child." He frowned, and began to rub his chin. "Of course, you are surprisingly effective at getting people to talk. I've watched you theses past few weeks you know. People open up to you, tell you their secrets." "Like I said, some people need someone to listen to. Tell me sir, what will your gravestone be?" The man's eyes narrowed. "My gravestone? I'd never thought of that. Hmm. . . That will require some consideration. Why? What do you think it should be?" "How about, a pair of glasses, with which to see? Or a book, with which to read?" He shook his head. "Both are far too humble for me. But I suppose, it doesn't matter, does it? If I'm dead, I shall want to be forgotten. A fitting punishment for failure." "Why would anyone want to be forgotten?" Liadan jumped off her statue, and walked over to the man. She smiled, and stuck out her hand. "Walk with me. I'll introduce you to all the people of the graveyard." He frowned, then took her hand. She couldn't actually pull him to his feet, but he graciously pretended she did. She walked through the moonlit night, pointing out each statue, and telling their stories.She told him of the mother statue, and the saint's statue.She showed him the statue that she pretended was the caretaker's baby brother. She showed him a statue of an Elantrian, proud but kind. With each statue, the man nodded along, looking confused, and contemplative. He looked, almost happier, his hand still in hers. Finally, she took him to the most opulent statues in the graveyard. She tended to avoid these four, because two of them were still alive. "The king had these built for his family as soon as Elantris fell. He moved his wife and eldest son here as soon as they were finished. And the other two are for him and Raoden. Iadon doesn't want to be forgotten, not ever. Some days, I think that's why he has everyone looking for the people conspiring against him. He wants to be big in our minds. Do you think so, sir?" She looked up at the figure, and nearly froze at the sight. His almost happy face was gone. Instead, he was scowling, and his teeth were clenched tightly together. "The king?" he whispered."The king built this?" "Sir, you're hurting my hand." She regretted her comment instantly, as his glare turned from the royal family to her. "Why did you bring me here, waif? What are you trying to say with this?" "I just wanted you to have a gravestone as well! You didn't want one, but everyone deserves to be remembered!" He lifted her off her feet by one arm so he could look at her eye to eye. "Do you know my name, little girl?" Trembling, she shook her head. He leaned forward, and whispered it into her ear. She shied back from the implications, as she understood him for the first time tonight. "Girl, I have already been forgotten. I will be remembered only if I succeed. I will not be remembered by statues, I will be remembered by history! I will choose who lives, and who dies!” “I will be the one to tell my story!" He grabbed her neck with his other hand and pivoted, spinning her about. She tried to scream, but the sound was trapped in her crushed throat. He took a step and flung her at the statues of the royals. Her back hit Iadon's knee, and something inside her broke. Her back cried out in pain, and at the same time as her legs went silent. She screamed in agony as the figure stalked towards her. He knelt down, and as her vision faded, whispered, "Not everyone deserves to be remembered." The shop was dark, save for the moonlight shining in through the two open windows. By some divine happenstance, one was perfectly placed to illuminate his desk as Alaraon did his final inventory of the days sales. The other fell in the empty middle section of the shop. The only sounds he coiuld hear were the scribbling of his quill, and the occasional scurry of the ever present rodents. His back ached from hunching over for so long, but it hardly mattered to him. He carefully inked in the last sale, and closed the ledger, allowing himself a soft smile of satisfaction. He had been worried that he wouldn't be able to get back into business without his wife, but he had managed it. And perhaps soon he would be able to regain the fortune he had lost with her. He carefully tied his ledgers shut, slipped the quill back into it's drawer and stood up, stretching to relieve beleagured muscles He blinked and squinted as something flashed in the darkness. Alaraon looked carefuly at the blank patch of stone, then at his desk. There was no obvious source of the flash. He moved the few items on his desk, his inkjar, spare quills, rolls of parchment, to see if he could replicate it, but to no avail. The darkness, once familiar and comfortable, now seemed ominous as he examined the moonlit space He wanted to believe it was nothing, but as his father always said, 'See what's actually there, not what you want, and you'll see further than most'. He reached under his desk and grabbed a dagger, one he had purchased after that pirate had been murdered barely a street away. He raised one hand above his eye and peered into the darkness. There, just beyond the light, he could make out the form of, someone, standing with head bowed as if in prayer. "Who are you?" The figure did not react. Alaraon pulled the dagger out carefully, holding it behind him, and eased out from behind his desk. "Sir? Or ma'am? I can't tell from here. But my store is closed now." He inched forward, never taking his eyes off the barely seen figure. "If you don't leave now, I'll be forced to call one of Lord Eondel's Legionnaries. We're old friends you know." He was now standing in the middle of the moonbeam, the figure just beyond arm's reach. Was this figure even alive? Or was it a statue, some child's idea of a joke? He reached out with one hand to tap the figure in the chest, and was surprised when the formerly motionless figure's arm shot out, grasped him by the wrist, and whirled, throwing him through the air into his heavy wooden door. He gasped as the air was forced from his lungs, and before he could even identify where all the pain was coming from, he was in the air again. This time he landed against a wooden shelf, full of vases he had had specially imported from the Rose Empire. The pain hit him like a wall, crushing every thought. His vision went black, and his hearing registered nothing but his own screams. He completely missed whatever it was that finally finished him off. All he knew was that the pain was gone. A Player was attacked by the Jeskeri Practitioner, but was saved! Magestar was killed by the Jeskeri Practitioner! He was a Citizen Legionnaire! Wilson was killed by the Jeskeri Practitioner! She was a Citizen Bodyguard! Jaime was killed by the Jeskeri Practitioner! She was a Citizen Bodyguard! Elodin was killed by the Jeskeri Practitioner! He was a Citizen ChayShan Practitioner! Araris was killed! He was a Citizen Merchant! Elbereth was killed! She was a Citizen Dula! The Secret Faction The Jeskeri Cult has been revealed. They are eliminators. They have a Doc. They do not have a group or nightly kill. Their goal is to outnumber the Citizenry and kill all other Eliminators. The Secret Role Jeskeri Practitioner has been revealed. Jeskeri Practitioners may target one player every 3rd night. That player is killed, as is Every player that player targets, and every player that targets that player. If the Practitioner dies, a Jeskeri Acolyte ascends to become a Practitioner. Living Player List:

So the last two days, I've been distracted due to my girlfriend's birthday. I only got on to deal with the Orlok situation because I thought it was a bad rap. I'm sorry I didn't get on all last cycle, but I decided to bring the typical Spa Treatment to her and I was the only Attendant. I even did the whole manicure thing and I have no idea how that's supposed to be done. Everything said and done, I don't think I did too bad*. Anyways, I want to say that I agree with this move to remove inactives. This really does help Team Dinosaur though, as it gets us not to focus on them. I believe they're the biggest voting block right now and, as what happened with the first group, I highly doubt that if one of their members were voted on, that they would just let it happen. Nyali can talk a big game about how it was supposed to be just a non-aggression pact, but I'll bet you that they'll team together to protect one of their own. It's already happened once this game and I was saved by the altruism of Alv. Don't be fooled into thinking that this will be any different when push comes to shove. But I also don't like the idea of someone lurking their way to victory in a FFA. Just look what has happened already! Ripplegylf actually came on to post because of this. Who knows how many other people are trying to wait for us to weed each other out? I still think we should get rid of the voting blocks. They are still a big threat to allowing for a fair FFA game. That said, I'd much rather lose to a voting block than a lurker. At least the voting block put in the time and effort to beat all of us. Emerald101. *Yes, it's a bit of a humble brag, but come on. That's a pretty storming good job for a guy!

Does anyone know who drew this Shallan

Every time I see in a book that someone is swearing colorfully, I think they are from Hallandren. As in "oh, colors!"

Well, I can now cross one more item off my bucket list.

When you see a book at the library called "The Stick", and you think... "Oh My Gosh! Someone wrote a book about Stick!"

I think "seems" is the operative word there. Yes, the Dor is effectively infinite, because it is incredibly unlikely that it could ever be "used up" at any one moment, but in reality there is still a finite amount of energy there (it's just an unimaginably large amount). Nalthis and Roshar also both have artificial limitations that just aren't a factor on Sel. Yes Breaths are limited by the number of people, but people are also continually being born and they are each getting a Breath from Endowment (and consequently if somebody dies with Breath, that Breath returns to Endowment). And yes the amount/size of gems is a limiting factor to the amount of Stormlight that can be used/stored (unless you are flying around in the middle of a highstorm) but there are ways of getting more gems. Basically let's view things this way (and I fully admit there are some... oddities with the following metaphor) : Invesiture is money, Shards are bank accounts. On Nalthis, when a person is born they get a single dollar which can be exchanged freely between people. People can use this money power stuff, and when they are done they get the money back. When a person dies any money they are holding returns to the Endowment-bank-account. On Roshar, periodically a bank teller goes around tossing money all over the place and people can get as much of it as their wallets can hold. Over time the money in their wallets decreases and returns to the Honor-and/or-Cultivation-bank account. People can also use this money to do stuff but when they do the money also returns to the bank account. On Sel people have debit cards linked directly to the Dor-bank-account. They get as much money as they need whenever they need it and it immediately returns to the bank account. Why are these planets different? They just are.

Sadeas has lusted over owning a Shardblade of his own for decades, and he's salty that Adolin in his first appearance in WoK had a Blade and he didn't. So the fact that Sadeas managed to get a blade, and the blade he got was Dalinar's legendary Oathbringer, which makes it double priceless. It's enough that he will sell the Bridgemen to Dalinar, which was a sore point to him, because he wanted to make honourable Dalinar look bad in front of his men. Just imagine that in private he summons the Blade over and over in his bedroom, and whispers "MY PRECIOUS" to it. Wit is like thousands of years old. I, and other Shard artists (I think it's better to use the portmanteau "Shardists" over "Shartists") interpret the description of him to be ambiguously 30-something, in the way that Wayne is a generically faced 30-something. He may look on the skinny end of normal when you talk to him, but when you look him in the eye, there's some indication that he's seen some things. I think that's where unintentional (or not) creepy face comes from, when people try to draw that. No author expects to make you like every single one of his or her characters. It's just a fact of life that you will end up being ambivalent toward some of them, just like you can't be friends with every single person you meet. I am doing this character design series of minor characters because they are like the acquaintances of the literary world, where the hero protagonists are the best friends 4 lyfe. They are the kind of characters who are equivalent to people you pass on the street and don't think much about when they're gone. And I think it's a bit more of a challenge when you only have a very vague idea of what they're like. But still there is enough for me to be able to form an opinion on them and their personality, so Brandon has that going for him. My favourite minor characters are probably Tyn and Jakamav. I am aware that they are both not very nice people that I wouldn't want to have anything to do with if they were real people, but that makes them interesting. It's the difference between characters in the soap opera genre versus slice of life. I don't watch them because I see myself in them. I just want to eat popcorn and laugh because Tyn is the SA version of a "bad role model big sister" and Jakamav is the head cheerleader. Terrible people, but engaging drama - picturing them doing things and interacting with others is easy, so drawing them becomes easy. People like Renarin are the boring ones. I got the impression that if you bribed the judge very very generously, you could get a retraction on the witness statement and cancel a duel that way - without an official witness, a challenge would just be a matter of "he said, she said". Of course, the judge would have a bad reputation forever after, and it's pretty dishonourable by Alethi standards, but it would prevent someone wholly unprepared from being crippled in the duelling arena. Being branded a coward is better when you're a Shardbearing coward. Dalinar makes Shardbearer duelling out to be way more dangerous than it actually is. Is he just being very inflexible or very overprotective, in his regular Dalinar way? The way arena duels are fought is very civilised and no one fights to cripple unless they agree on the terms beforehand. And since the way Shardbearing is taught emphasises control and knowing one's strength from day one, there would be little chance of a Shardbearer accidentally crippling another. If it happens, it would be on purpose. To me, it seems like a spectator would be more likely to be hurt in a duel than a Shardbearer, since shattering Shardplate looks like an explosion of ripping metal. Dalinar could have just banned duelling for Shards the way it was banned for Jakamav, and also bans on duels where the winning condition isn't breaking X amount of Plate sections. Duelling until forfeit (the way the 4-on-1 duel was fought) is serious. Everything else is pretty tame. But Dalinar. "Unreasonable" is his middle name. According to the Codes, duels should be avoided in times of war. When Adolin was 16, Dalinar was still Blackthorn, and he didn't care about the Codes, and they weren't at war. So he wouldn't have had the moral dilemma about duelling back then, and he doesn't dote on Adolin (as of WoK/WoR) like he worries over Renarin's wellbeing, so any qualms (if he had any) about Adolin duelling as a kid would be based on the risk of losing Shards more than anything else. Harsh, right? Without Shardplate, a Shardbearer instantly gets demoted to an infantryman. And since standard Alethi infantry wields spears because most of them are darkeyes and can't use swords, that's a pretty big demotion. I would have thought that anyone who loses their Shards would retire from battle, or at least change their tactical approach so that they don't actually have to unlearn anything. Cavalry and archery is open to lighteyed men, or they could just be a behind-the-lines commander rather than in the front line. Unlearning anything is difficult, especially if you're a 30 year old seasoned veteran, and having Shardbearer training drilled into you when you have no Shards is more of a liability than a benefit. I could see Adolin without Shards assigned to being a tactical commander than a front-liner, just as he could be a good Highprince or King if it came down to it. Perhaps it makes for a boring plot, but they are worthy positions that suit his abilities more than an Ardent or a citylord suit Renarin. Adolin is one of Navani's baby chickens too, for longer than Shallan. She has been motherly to him and Renarin since WoK, when Dalinar was still giving her the cold shoulder. I think you are seeing too much on the negative side than what is likely to happen. Sure, going in with low or negative expectations means you tend to come out with less disappointments, but it really is a depressing way to look at things. For instance, Shallan with her involvement with Mraize and the whole Ghostbloods sideplot is going to be keeping secrets, and off doing things on her own wihtout supervision or wanting people looking over her shoulders - not even her brothers, when they reunite for the first time in almost a year. Navani, though she's probably not the one with the greatest relationship advice, has more experience in these things than anyone else that Adolin is comfortable talking to. With Kaladin out of the picture, and Renarin busy exploring his Radiant powers, Bridge Four might be more of a support system to Adolin than to anyone else. They are Kaladin's men, but Kaladin went away to Hearthstone/Kholinar, and Kaladin always kept himself distant from most of the bridgement apart from the named lieutenants like Rock, Sigzil, Teft and Moash. Adolin since the beginning of WoR has shown some relationship progression with them. I could see it developing further. Adolin was annoyed by them and their eavesdropping on his dates but he ended up appreciating and valuing them by the end. He probably wouldn't bond with them like a chasm scene would do, but they are people who understand what it's like to be the sidekick to the hero, without superpowers but still doing the best they can. I actually went back to Anne of Green Gables (and you can read it online for free because the copyright has expired, btw) and after reading it, I have come to the conclusion that if Anne was an SA character, she would be a Lightweaver. She brings so much happiness to Avonlea with the power of imagination. The Radiant order is so perfectly fitting for her. Regarding the age gap, my most recent cringe was reading a romance novel where the main character, when she was 8 years old, loudly declared that she would marry a boy whom she was crushing on (he was 17) when she was grown up. And they get engaged when she is 18 and he is 27. I love childhood crushes becoming romance, don't get me wrong, but this was a bit much for me. Honestly, anyone I liked when I was under 15 years old I now realise would be horribly unsuited to my preferences today. And that is why YA romances appeal to me less and less as the years go by. Most of them would appeal to 15-year-old me, but now they make me roll my eyes. (Gosh I really love this smiley) Jamie's rank was uncertain with his uncles being leaders of the Clan Mackenzie. It was more convenient for him to not do anything which might produce an heir and put the succession into question. Whereas for Adolin, it would be very useful if he were to produce an heir as soon as possible when people don't think Dalinar will live past book 5. Kaladin makes a good squadleader when there are few enough men for him to know each one personally, enough to know their strengths and weaknesses and tailor the squad's tactics to fit that. He would make for a terrible commander or general, because he wants to protect people so much. That is what makes him different from Ender Wiggin (though no one who is not Mazer Rackham can be anything like Ender). Ender's lesson that he learned is that sometimes you have to make sacrifices to fulfill the winning conditions, and that goes against the whole "journey before destination" thing - which is idealistic, but sometimes not realistic. Good thing not everyone becomes a Radiant, right? Protecting people and saving lives is what Kaladin does, and that is enough to make him disobey the orders, which throws the whole big-picture plan down the toilet. It's well-meaning, but nearsighted, and he is just too pure and morally white for a world where things are fifty shades of grey. And that is why people love Kaladin, because you know he's unambiguously good, but I personally like the more pragmatic characters. Their internal conflicts, if they question their morality, is so much more interesting. Ugh, Kaladin and his "suffering is a contest and don't bother competing because I win" attitude is as off-putting in the same way that you don't like Renarin's moping about. If Kaladin meets Laral in Hearthstone in SA3, and he is mean to her because she's a lighteyes and lighteyes do not know the meaning of adversity, I will be extremely disappointed. For someone who is more of a character reader than a world-building or magic system reader, I am strangely neutral to the main characters than most. I don't really like most of them, nor do I hate them, I just think of them as tools in the plot and they have to be very interesting to catch my attention. None of the main "flashback" characters of the first 5 books make me super immersed; for me it is the character interactions rather than the character personalities that make me want to keep reading. I'm probably weird that way. I just care more about what they do than who they are. Character development is great and all, but how does that affect the action and the overall plot arc? Malta Vestrit's becoming less self-centred led to dragons returning to the world. I want to see what cool things other characters are capable of. I think we feel similar things about Renarin. I don't dislike him, but like you, I just don't feel empathy with him or his situation. I don't go out of my way to force myself to feel empathy for him, nor do I feel regret or disappointment that I do not like him as much as some other people do. Sure, it sucks to be disabled in a family where no one else has the same disability, and be in a society where it's stigmatised in terms of social interaction and relgious dogma to be anything other than perfectly fit and ready to defend Heaven from Voidbringer demons. But I find Renarin ... boring. To me, he is one of the hardest characters to picture and draw because in my head, I can't easily frame an image in my mind of him doing things. Because he doesn't do many things. He is a passive character, instead of active. He fades into the background. He is mentioned in one or two lines to establish his presence in a scene by a PoV character, and then completely forgotten. That might be some magical Illumination surgebinding going on, or it could be that Renarin is just so boring that people's eyes glaze over and they stop noticing him. He has few hobbies, and they are informed instead of shown on-screen (the difference between show and tell, pretty much). He has very little physical description other than slender and speaking slowly, and being "proper". It's just hard to understand him unless you keep up to date with all the WoB's and personally empathise with his disabilities because you are aware of what exactly they are. At this point I think that Renarin is one of those characters who is on his journey to character development, and hasn't gotten to the end yet, and that is why his characterisation feels so ... incomplete. He wants to be a soldier, becomes a soldier for the first time in his life, and the next part of the plot would be realising that he doesn't actually like soldiering, and realising it wasn't as good as he thought it would be. But his story so far ended at WoR and so we haven't seen the end, and what we have now is unsatisfying. But that is okay, it's only a matter of time for now. In the meantime, we can relieve our frustration by reading stories that have complete character arcs. Since you finished Eagle of the Ninth, Marcus had similar problems. He couldn't be a soldier, when he had wished to be a career legionnaire his entire life, and after his injury, he found something else to do. He became an oculist and saved lives that way, even though it wasn't super exciting. That is why I enjoyed the book so much. When people find a simple life satisfying and fulfilling, that is what I call a good ending. Not everyone has to save the world to be a good person. Just don't be boring and passive. That is all I want. The difference between Laral and Shallan is that Shallan had so many more opportunities and advantages, including having more family wealth, and more of a support system in the form of her brothers. Because she had brothers, Shallan was more willing to take risks to save them, to leave the known comforts of an estate she rarely left and endanger her own life. She had people to protect. Laral was alone in the world after her father died, and she didn't have Shallan's inquistive scholar's mind, or artistic skill, which are incredibly advantageous because they are the perfect Vorin womanly virtues that make a woman attractive as a wife. She had no agency, I agree, and no choice, and no opportunities, which makes her the anti-Shallan, who had these things for narrative convenience. Shallan's life sucked, I don't deny that, but Shallan had the chance to get out of it. Laral didn't, and she had no Jasnah Kholin as a childhood dream to chase, to become a teacher or mentor. Shallan got Jasnah, Tyn, Palona, Iyatil, and then Navani as female mentors. Laral's only alternative to marrying Roshone was running away and becoming a tenner in the city, equivalent to Gaz's desertion from Sadeas's army. If Gaz didn't have a patroness or benefactor in the form of Shallan, he would be a nameless mercenary/bandit languishing in obscurity and mediocrity just like city tenners would. And that is sad. If you ever watch animated cartoons (especially the classic Disney ones from the 1990's) in slow motion, you will be able to see how expressive they are. If you pause anywhere when a character is talking, you can see what they feel, beyond the dialogue. That is the level of emotiveness that I aspire to recreate, the kind of expressions where the audience can understand what emotion I want to represent just with a quick glance. Of course, there is only so much I can do with a static image, but I try. And when people notice, that is always a good thing - it means that all my practice and obsessiveness in trying to capture a moment and shove it into a 2D sketch made of flat lines on a flat screen was effective. It's the same thing that a lot of graphic novels and webcomics try to do, but they have panels and panels of context to set the scene and the mood. If my visual "message" in the form of one random sketch got across so that a non-artist can appreciate it, then I feel extremely flattered. Thank you. It makes me feel that what I am doing is "working". Art time Character design - Helaran Davar What do Veden noblemen wear? Helaran is the oldest brother, and described as a man where Balat and Jushu and Wikim were boys. But he still died pretty young, early 20's I think, with a young man's temper and hotheadedness, so I wanted to keep some of that. His colouring (hair and skin) is slightly darker than Shallan's because she stayed indoors most of the time due to her clingy father, but I kept the same colour palette. I don't know exactly how Horneater-blooded Vedens differ from Vedens closer to the Alethi genetics, I coloured him close to how Earth gingers look when they get some sun. The top picture is Helaran giving Shallan a sketchbook, and the bottom one is Helaran confronting Lin Davar and summoning his Shardblade, which is the same design I used in older Amaram drawings. Because they're the same Blade!! As a note about Rosharan fashion, military-style coats and jackets are considered fashionable for modern Vorin men. I draw this as structured, tailored-looking jackets. The buttons are frog buttons, or toggle and loop buttons. The frumpy, traditional older men wear robes and manskirts (takama or ulatu), and some mix and match to make a fashion statement, as Aladar does. While every character has a different costume design based on where I think they fall on the fashionable-and-frumpy spectrum, I try to keep the basic design elements consistent. If you noticed, have a thumbs up from me. Character design - Moash Moash is a hard one. He's almost universally disliked, because he's like a Kaladin-lite, without the redeeming qualities, and he only appears in a handful of chapters. Well, I used what I was given, and so I drew him as someone in his early 20's, not far from Kaladin's age, which is why Kaladin tried so hard to be friends with him. Scruffy hair as a bridgeman that only got slightly neater after becoming a bodyguard, no tattoos, and no smiling. Isn't it interesting that the first time Kaladin talked to Moash, he punched him, and Moash's farewell was a punch? (And Kaladin's hair - the plot demands that it blows dramatically in the wind every time he says something cool and oathy, even if he is indoors or in jail.) I don't know what one of Sadeas's portable bridges looks like, but I think it is has been discussed in past threads. I drew it as curved with supports running along the bottom for reinforcement, because arches are way stronger than flat surfaces, and cavalry horses cross these things two at a time. In my head, when the bridgemen carry their bridges, it sort of looks like a bunch of men walking a giant canoe. When it is properly carried (which is not depicted in my sketch), the men have their heads underneath, with the edge resting on the outer shoulder vest padding, so only the bridge captain at the front centre can see where they're going. And that is why my version of the bridgeman's uniform vest looks the way it does. Character design - Sebarial Sebarial makes a likeable impression in most readers' eyes. To me, he was the "friendly wizard" type, or "the good grandpa" even though he might be mean on the outside and yell at kids to get off his lawn. His house is a fancy mansion when other people like Dalinar live in practical but ugly highstorm bunkers, so I designed him as someone who likes good living. His robe is traditional and old-fashioned, but it gets lots of elaborate embroidery, and if you ever tried doing this by hand, you would know how much labour goes into that. The curly design on the edges of his robe are supposed to evoke the House Sebarial glyphpair of the the swirly sky eel, and his house colours are black and yellow. The top picture is Shallan lightweaving the first time she meets Sebarial, and he thinks she's 25. The bottom is Palona and Sebarial during the Battle of Narak. As a Herdazian, I drew Palona darker, and she has those sparkflicker rock-like fingernails. She also wears a safe glove instead of a safe sleeve. Adolin and Jakamav I drew two versions of this, a black-and-white to match the other sketchy pics I posted earlier, and a coloured one. I kinda like the b&w one better, but what do you guys think? Black and white Colour This is that scene after Jakamav and Adolin have a plateau battle on a rock formation that looks like a tiered wedding cake, but by the time they get to the top, Eshonai has already taken the gemheart. Jakamav changes into his street clothes, and drinks wine in his tent. Adolin has to sit on the floor because Shardplate is too heavy for chairs. In my mind, Shardplate makes its wearer look bulky and imposing, so I wanted to show the size difference between a Shardbearer and a normal person. I think that's something that fan artists have difficulty showing - to me, other people's drawings of Shardplate make it either look too small and thin, like it's skintight (think Power Ranger suits or Cybermen from Doctor Who). It's not, since Shardbearers wear other clothes underneath. Or they make it look too big, like it's a giant robot exoskeleton and not like there's a regular person underneath the magic shell. Finding that perfect sweet spot right in the middle is hard. I have trouble with it all the damnation time. I decided that Jakamav's favourite colour is green because you can paint Shardplate any colour you like, and his is green. So that is why he wears green a lot. Since emeralds are the most valuable Soulcasting gem, green is probably associated with wealth in Roshar, so it makes it more fitting. Something silly now. Yeah I know, it's really stupid. Adolin and Jakamav part 2 What would Adolin's Facebook page be like? He and Shallan would share cute pictures of baby animals that make Kaladin block them on his newsfeed. They both have couples photos as their profile picture. Adolin posts pictures of his duelling trophies in his status updates and uses them as his cover photo. When he wins too many, he gets unfriended, and the only people who like his statuses after that are Dalinar, Renarin and Shallan. Adolin pretends not to care. btw the "1173" refers to the year. They use Vorin years, not Earth years. Thanks for reading my wall of text. And sorry I am taking a while to update this thread, to everyone who stalks follows this. Normally I draw things before bed as a way to relax before going to sleep (it's very calming for me to slowly turn my brain off thinking mode while I sketch), but this week I've been so tired that I just went straight to bed.

Hey there guys! Glomper here! I exist for those of you who care.

My first thought for Alloy of Law would be something involving Miles but anything I'm imagining would probably be too gory for a poster! You could also be artsy and have one in the style of the old Wild West movies and get that aspect of it down. I imagine the world slightly steampunk, too, so you might be able to do something cool with that. And then I took my own suggestion. How about this?: it's a really rough and not very good sketch but I'm pretty happy with it so far. Big title, lots of little words. Glittering high society bottom right, cities at night plus some mists bottom left. Up top, an realistic (but not too much) painting that might look like an advertisement for a Wax and Wayne story if they had those, part of it burned away (so charred looking diagonal split) to reveal less saturated but alluring paintings below, make sure to balance the colors so it's not top or bottom heavy. Lots of little Easter eggs you could stick into this one: giraffes, railroad car or tracks, metal symbols, bullets firing, Steris in the crowd looking lost or something... I could go on. It was fun to draw and hopefully fun to imagine

When every time you use hyperbole your brother says "lies... mmmmm"

When you read most of his books before you found out about the cosmere, and then you go back and reread them all to find every. Single. Reference.

I was doing a crossword. "At for chemists". Five letters. I almost wrote in "atium" before I remembered it cannot be the answer (It was "astatine" which is five letters long in Polish)

Turn Five will end in 24 hours. Please stand by for your GM PMs. The Surviving Master Elodin as Bulbasaur Ecthelion III as IDK The Only Joe as RippleGylf Alvron as Poke Ranger Joe TheYoungBard as The Bard OrlokTsubodai as Locke Bugsy6912 as Blanche Magestar as Tebeh Dee The Defeated Eolhondras as Eol - Bulbasaur Elbereth as Elthena - Charmander zas678 as Nobody - Squirtle Straw as Straw - Bulbasaur AliasSheep as Ash - Charmander TheSilverDragon as Somebody - Bulbasaur cloudjumper as Cole - Charmander Elenion as Nonel - Arbok TheMightyLopen as Scott - Squirtle Kipper as Kipper - Charmander Sart as Footsteps - Squirtle Nyali as Nya - Kadabra jaimeleecee as Jaime - Bulbasaur Metacognition as TBD - Fearow RippleGylf as Myself - Bulbasaur Conquestor as Lorien - Charmander Emerald101 as Red - Dragonair Turn Four Tally (5) Emerald101: Nyali, jaimeleecee, Metacognition, RippleGylf, Conquestor, (1) Magestar: Ecthelion III,

Alright. Before you guys go rushing off on this chain of logic. I'll say some stuff for you, just to like keep in mind ya know? Cause I'm Neutral, and it's funny to see how you're being played. 1. That slip-up? Most likely on purpose. It's one of those things where you have someone you wanna keep secret so you pretend to accidentally say their gender, but it's really the wrong one on purpose. Happens all the time. 2. We know that Elodin is trying to speak for these mysterious convert roles. They might not even exist. He might be an elim, making it alright for you guys to die. Oh, and Elenion might be an elim and in on it as well. 3. If these convert roles exist, why is no-one wondering if Elenion, the guy who has already said is fine with being converted and killing everyone, has already been converted? 4. And I'll bring this up again 'cause it's fun to think about based on the last 2 points. Elenion's chain of information where he is giving out orders? Jeez, totally not someone converting others. Totally not a charismatic cult leader who can influence votes either. 5. These are all like really basic thoughts, honestly all three of you are more suspicious now just for taking everything on the surface. What did Kelsier say in that one book? 6. For crying out loud Elenion, why would the Jeskeri (if they even exist) act with the town all the time because we supposedly know one of their members who might die? It's not like the Jeskeri can add to their ranks, can they? 7. I'm excited to see what happens when PMs start. I'll probably get like none again. #justneutralthings 8. That is all.

I protest. Isn't he usually wearing a batman shirt? jokes, sanderplant is adorable. Maybe cuter that Brandon Sandwhich. .....he has a great name to make fun of.

A bunch of my friends have this sort of thing going on. Then again, we live in the very heart of LDS Utah so... Lots of kids are the norm here Also this is a teeny bit old but I still want to say... You're beautiful I guess I gotta put me in here too now...

except from Stormlight Archive maybe, we really do get relatively more Hoid scenes than others XD

Brandon Sanderson is the Good Guy Greg of geekdom, though. In the "I'll write an amazing story that I could charge top dollar for and give it to you for free because I'm just that great" way.

Oh how I wish this was real:

This goes out to everyone. Especially any teenagers on this thread.

Noticed this one on the cover of a copy I borrowed from the library. Ugh. UGH.

Hello! New to the 17th Shard forums, but not new to the cosmere (and others). I've read Mistborn, Stormlight Archive, Warbreaker, Elantris, and The Reckoners. I've managed to spot Hoid, just like spotting the Observers in Fringe. Id like to be a Mistborn and Full Feruchemist. (come on, who wouldn't?) If i couldn't be a Mistborn, I'd be a Coinshot. If i couldnt be a Full Feruchemist, I'd be a Steel Runner. I'd like to be a Twinborn compounder with those two, but i'd take one or the other, or a different combo instead, probably Thug/Skimmer. I'm English, so it annoys me every time i see Aluminum. Spell and say it right Americans! It's Aluminium. I have many questions, but I'm gonna look them up, aybe someone has already asked them, before burdening you with them all, hopefully that will eliminate most of them. Thank you, and I'm looking forward to helping out and debating with the lot of yer.

Well, "Bohemian Rhapsody" does have the most widely misheard lyrics, like, ever. I get really happy when I hear it alone in my car because I can sing along with it (or attempt to) without anyone judging my breaking voice on that one ridiculously high note. (You know the one I mean--"for MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!")

Kinda like that April Fools joke Brandon played on everybody! My dad actually didn't get it when he saw it because he hadn't read it yet, but the rest of us just cracked up.

Or when you're in a conversation, and someone asks you a question, and you think for a second, and then they say something like, "You don't have to answer", or "We'll come back to you", and you get skipped! Also... When someone berates you, or belittles you for something they just did!!! When someone prefaces a statement with "No offense", and then say something totally offensive. i.e. "No offense, but your shirt is kind of ugly" Ok, I know, this is going to get me some complaints, but here I go. I really don't like the "Much doge, so wow, very awesome" memes. That is horrible grammar, ok? Its just wrong. On that subject, I don't like when people use bad grammar while talking. Its pretty easy to say "He and I", rather than "Me and him". (Maybe this isn't a pet peeve, but still) I get teased a lot for using whom while talking. Whom isn't just a word that people in the 1700s used. It is, in fact, used to replace him or her, so you would say "To whom should I give it?" "You should give it to him", or "Who should get it?" "He should get it". Like that. (And I'm sorry if that stopped being a pet peeve, and turned into a grammar lesson).

If Adolin really wanted to fight while at equal strength, he wouldn't have used Shardplate and a Shardplate against the Parshendi.

Careful. I know the WoB you're refering to and it caused a lot of debate whether it really means what we think it may mean. Anyway, a natural interaction of magic would be Twinborns. For example Crashers could be a nice example of how magics interact. Compounding however is something that was not "meant" to be - it's like a short circuit. Can it achieve a desirable effect under specific circumstances? Yes, of course. Is it meant to work like that? Not really.

Dueling as a calling isn't meant to be to the death when against your own allies, but it's excellent training for swordsmanship, and therefore increases your abilities as a warrior. It's a form of war, makes perfect sense to me how it relates to taking back the Halls.

Thanks, and uh... No way am I getting involved in a DC v Marvel thing, so: here, have a variant

My big mutt is limping on his bum leg. I hate when the big fella is hurting from it.

The thing to remember is that the Dor is actually the Splintered remains of Devotion and Dominion, two Shards of Adonalsium. So your question is a little like asking why a river is so much better at turning a waterwheel than a cup of water is, it's because there's a lot more raw power involved. The Returned can heal people by expending their divine Breath, which is a Splinter of Endowment. While the divine Breaths are magnitudes more powerful than individual Breaths, they are still only a drop in the bucket when compared to Endowment herself. The Dor is roughly twice that. Awakening is an end-neutral magic system, the Investiture involved comes from the person using it in the form of Breath. AonDor is an end-positive magic system, so Investiture is coming from an outside source (the Dor). AonDor is more powerful than Awakening for the same reason that an electric mixer is more powerful than a person using a whisk. With Stormlight, there's a bit of a middle-man, in the form of the highstorms, which release a finite amount of Stormlight. But Stormlight, once used, will return to the Spiritual Realm where it will eventually be kicked out in another hightstorm. AonDor skips that middle-man, it taps directly into the Dor (which is located in the Cognitive Realm, a fact which may or may not be relevant to this discussion). And when that Investiture is expended it returns to the Dor. Why are all these things different? There really isn't a reason.

Turn Four will end in 24 hours. Please stand by for your GM PMs. The Surviving Master Elodin as Bulbasaur Metacognition as TBD Conquestor as Lorien Ecthelion III as IDK RippleGylf as Myself The Only Joe as RippleGyl Alvron as Poke Ranger Joe TheYoungBard as The Bard Nyali as Nya jaimeleecee as Jaime OrlokTsubodai as Locke Bugsy6912 as Blanche Magestar as Tebeh Dee Emerald101 as Red The Defeated Eolhondras as Eol - Bulbasaur Elbereth as Elthena - Charmander zas678 as Nobody - Squirtle Straw as Straw - Bulbasaur AliasSheep as Ash - Charmander TheSilverDragon as Somebody - Bulbasaur cloudjumper as Cole - Charmander Elenion as Nonel - Arbok TheMightyLopen as Scott - Squirtle Kipper as Kipper - Charmander Sart as Footsteps - Squirtle Turn Three Tally (4) Sart: Nyali, Magestar, jaimeleecee, TheMightyLopen, (2) Magestar: Ecthelion III, The Young Bard, (1) Nyali: Kipper, (1) Alvron: Conquestor

Scott was getting a bit tired of the death. Death death death death death death death death death death death. That was all that was happening. He was absolutely fed up of it. The most annoying thing was death. Pain in the butt, it was. In fact, he was so annoyed that he was thinking of trying to convince the others that maybe they should leave and not kill each other! ‘Head’ looked at the death report again. It said that Scott had been stabbed multiple times in the butt. Shame that, he looked promising. Kipper never really said much. Every time he tried to say something, his mouth moved but no sound came out, until a random time later when suddenly what he tried to say would be heard. Sometimes he waited an hour, and sometimes he waited 12 hours. It was getting pretty annoying. So he tried to die to bubbles, or to digging a hole, but that never worked. So he drank loads and loads and loads and loads of water. Surprisingly, he didn’t die. Then he got stabbed. Footsteps was a very smart guy. He knew his times tables. He knew that if you died, then you were not alive. Simple stuff, but important stuff. He also knew that the people trying to kill him right now were probably going to succeed. So he gave up. It was simple. It was smart. TheMightyLopen has blacked out! He had a Squirtle. Kipper has blacked out! He had a Charmander. Sart has blacked out! He had a Squirtle. AN: Everyone get's a pie! You can use your pie to do anything you want with it, so PM the GMs about your pie if you want.

But a premeditated murder is always judged more harshly than a crime of passion. What Jasnah did was unquestionably more dark than what Adolin did. Sadeas was a self-admitted threat to the safety of the world. That threat needed to be removed. Did Adolin go about it the wrong way? Sure. But that is waaaaaaaaaaaaay different from coldly luring some petty thugs into a situation where you can execute them, simply as an illustration for an ethics lesson. Adolin may have lost control, but it wasn't just hotheaded nonsense. Sadeas had been conspiring against him and his family for months. He was a traitor and a selfish manipulator. And after being treated honorably over and over and over again, all while apparently doing everything he could to prove that he was not worthy of such treatment, he vows that he will kill Adolin's father right to face--that he will undermine their efforts to save the world, even as he stands in a mythic city after escaping an apocalyptic storm (both strong evidence that saving the world is exactly what his opponents are doing). So, yes, maybe Adolin could snap again. You know, if someone once again spends months attempting to wipe out his family with impunity, then happily affirms to Adolin, in person, that he's not going to stop trying to murder them. Anyone might be expected to snap under that kind of pressure. The same cannot be said of deliberately plotting to entice someone into an alley so that you can kill them in cold blood. I don't see either Jasnah or Adolin's actions as unforgivable--or even all that criminal, honestly--in the context of this fantasy world, but realistically, it's just insane to look at Adolin as the bigger offender.

Oathbringer goal: finish the webpage I'm currently working on and develop ABS I don't really like the idea of forcing myself to read anything specific in a given amount of time. I'm reading for fun, not for a challenge

'Shut up and take my money!' Except my images aren't copying. But seriously, this could be AWESOME. Especially since Nauvoo is a much more established company than Crafty. I could see this being like XCOM, an awesome board game, or even as a rethemed Pandemic. Even if it was just tic tac toe but with blue lines, if it has a reckoners logo on it, I'll buy it.* *Okay, maybe not. But seriously, this is going to be awesome.

I have found Hoid at all this pictures. Coincidence? I don't think.

@The Honor Spren I would say your assessment is entirely accurate. @Pestis the Spider For the first guy, dealing with him would be similar to dealing with Twi's problem: consistent rejection. In your case, letting him know that walking you home makes you uncomfortable would be the sort of thing to do. Be unapologetically honest (I.e. Don't use the form "I'm sorry, but..."). This will be key if he asks "but what about that one time..." you can say "the conversation was interesting." Or nothing. You don't owe him an explanation. The second guy sounds fairly extroverted, so he might be simpler. Let him know you feel uncomfortable with being touched by people you barely know. He'll either apologize or say something corny like, "we should get to no each other, then!" A simple, direct "No" with no laugh would be a proper response in the second case. Or an "eww". In either case, if this continues to be a problem, let the appropriate supervisor know.

When someone makes cookies and you start hissing.

I am with @Argel on this one. Simply a disguise imo. Kelsier attacked Hoid. Hoid defended himself and did what he needed to do to get out of the Well. Also, as @Yata mentioned, Hoid could have done serious harm to Kelsier but did not. The role of Wit gives Hoid unparalleled access to the most powerful people in Alethkar and also gives him complete freedom of movement. It is a great job to have if you need to keep an eye on what is happening on Roshar but you also need the ability to disappear at times. It was a good idea Figberts but I think the more obvious answers are, in this case, the right ones.

Daerra smiled as she looked around the ballroom from above on the balcony. Below her, dancers twisted and turned to the sound of the orchestra, a wonderful display of nobility and choreographed perfection within her Keep. They were, all of them, Lesser houses, of course. The Greater Houses wouldn't try anywhere near as hard to attempt to display effortless beauty. It was simply something inherent to them. It came naturally to people such as Daerra, no practice needed. In a way, it was actually amusing to see. They worked so hard to get themselves noticed, to accrue those all-important contracts that were the lifeblood of the Lesser Nobility. A Lesser House was almost dependant on them to survive. Without them, they could not hope to increase their own finances, and would stagnate. In the world of the nobility, that was practically as good as them dying off, being left behind their peers, and ending up as skaa with better breeding. And yet the Greater Houses couldn't care any less about them. If one died off, another ambitious Lesser House would appear from the edges of the world to replace them, just as eager to rise up but still no more important than the last. And endless cycle of useful yet useless hopefuls, scrambling over each other to reach the top of their low rung on the ladder. But even though they were replaceable and interchangeable, it wouldn't do to treat them with complete contempt. That was why they were invited to events such as this in the capital, to make them feel important. It was how the game was played by them all. “A marvellous party, Lady Elariel,” an older man said, smiling at her. She resisted the urge to grimace outwardly, and instead settled for smiling at him and leaving the displeasure bottled up. “I have not been to one as splendid as this for some time.” 'Of course not, old fool', she thought. 'You aren't normally invited to parties such as this'. What was his name, anyway? He was some noble from out of town, one of the longer-lasting ones but ultimately more tragic Lesser Houses. Erikell? Erikeller? One of the two, it was some House that had fallen from grace and had to leave Luthadel. The name escaped her at the moment. But for now, she simply gave a small curtsey. “My thanks,” she said. “It is good to know my most meagre of parties meets your high standards.” She couldn't help but lift the corners of her mouth slightly as she suppressed a smile at his attempt to figure out whether he was insulted or not. Lord Erikell, that was it. The man always looked confused when in the company of his betters. “It pleases me to have your presence here. I must admit, I would have thought Luthadel too far from Seran for you to grace us with your presence.” “Ah, well...” The man scratched his scraggly, unkempt beginnings of a beard. “As a matter of fact, the Fortress was turned over to the Steel Ministry, and we no longer have our own base of operations there. We have since moved closer to Luthadel in the hope of being nearer opportunity, you understand.” he looked around in a conspiratorial manner, though it was obvious he was hoping that they were being watched. “It would be good if we could have some discussions on that, later.” “You are hoping to return to Luthadel?” Lady Elariel asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement and disbelief. “I would have thought that you would find it too dangerous to return to the city in a position such as yours.” “What do you mean?” Lord Erikell asked, an edge starting to enter his tone of voice. “Are you suggesting my House cannot keep control of a few lowly skaa, or finance our defences? Forgive me for saying so, but even an event such as this does not appear to be heavily guarded. Indeed, the only members of your staff present here appear to be the Terrismen serving us and the band members.” “Then you are a fool,” Daerra snapped. “It is not a question of having guardsmen. Have you not heard what has happened as of late? I cannot see how it has passed you by, considering Tekiel practically shouted it from the roof of his Keep.” “You mean the murder of the family of House Jormungand?” Lord Erikell asked slowly, his face paling slightly. “I fail to see how that changes anything, Certainly Lord Tekiel will be punished for it, and then that will be the end of it. I see no reason to be concerned by something so unlikely to repeat itself. Besides, I will not be lax with security. I will not skimp on guards to keep my family safe.” “And I'm sure they'd do a lot against the full forces of Tekiel. Tell me, how many Mistborn do you have? I'm sorry, was that too hard a question? How many Mistings? Do you even have any?” She smiled at him cruelly. “A single Mistborn without any atium could probably sneak his way in and kill you without any difficulty. How well do you fancy your chances if they have it?” “...The question still does not arise,” Lord Erikell muttered. Oh dear, was he sulking? “The lord Ruler would not allow it to happen.” “He already has,” Daerra replied. “Lord Jormungand's death has gone unpunished. We must only assume therefore that The Lord Ruler does not intend to rake him over the coals for it, in that case. The last time he interfered was... I forget how long ago it was, I'm not a Penrod who lives in the past. But regardless, he seems happy to let us fight amongst ourselves for the time being.” “I... I suppose it would be a bit rash to move in without considering all angles beforehand,” Lord Erikell said slowly. “Particularly the Allomantic ones...” “Yes,” Daerra smiled. “I think it would be best if you remained where you are for now. Build up your base over another few decades, and see where that gets you. Moving into Luthadel should never be done rashly, right?” There was a sigh. “Yes, I suppose you are right. Make some more deals first, then try.” “Good,” Daerra took his arm, smiling. The man was beginning to remember his place. “Now, speaking of deals, I did have a few ideas you might be interested in...” she suggested as she led him away. Yes. This was far he would be far more suited to. Better that he didn't entertain these delusions of grandeur, and remembered his place at the feet of the Great Houses. It was where they all belonged. Generation 10: Blood and Allomancy Turn 1 Generation 10 Turn 1 has begun! The turn will end on Friday 5th August at 6PM BST. Generation 10 Player List

Huh. I didn't know that. Sunbird has gained +1 American flag knowledge!

I get a little wet eyed at some scenes, but honestly the only book I have genuinely cried for is the Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulaine.

I mentioned this elsewhere, but I hate not being able to cry when I want to.