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Context: So in Krakow we gave Brandon apple pie because in Warsaw he said he likes apple pie and us being us we made it happen.

AG3 Cosmetic Role Winners! It is my pleasure and honor to present our first ever winners of the AG Cosmetic Role Contest! Let us engrave their names into the SEAcropolis for the rest of eternity, so that their vigilance and effort will inspire throughout the ages! First up is Madagascar in the guise of Matilda, the crazy cat lady with a drinking problem. Not only was she incredibly entertaining and added a touch of levity to the village, but she also took it upon herself to try to use every other CR in the game throughout her posts! Next is Wyrmhero, with his private detective, Wyl Sharpe. While his intentions towards the town turned out to be sinister, his constant Noir style was anything but. It's difficult enough to continue to stay within a single genre like that, let alone do so while manipulating the village into killing each other. Finally, we have Sart, who played a trickster of the same name with, what I believe, is one of the harder CRs to do well. It is difficult to write almost exclusively in High Imperial and make sure that everyone is still capable of understanding you, but Sart pulled this off with panache. It was incredibly difficult to just narrow it down to just three people. There were a lot of great characters and some amazing roleplay. Some Honorable Mentions had to be Herowannabe, for somehow keeping his Mysterious Master a secret for the entire game, only for it to be revealed at the end that it had been Ruin all along. Arraenae for creating such a well developed character, with a full backstory, that made it so easy to connect with her character that it felt more like I was revealing her story than writing it. Hemalurgic Headshot for creating such a fun character that you looked forward to seeing what he'd do next; and every time it was worth it. And finally, Assassin in Burgundy for taking an incredibly simple CR and turning it into a full character by the time it was done. There were plenty of others as well, but it would take forever to list them all! So give up for our champions for the first ever CR contest! Those three will be able to choose a Non-Sanderson game of their choice for us to be able to play sometime this year. So if you have an idea for what you think is a really fun Non-Sanderson game, these are the people you'll want to talk to. And while we're at it, things will be different in the future. This year, there are still a lot of games that people had already created and signed up to run that were Non-Sanderson games and it would be difficult to force those GMs to change their games at the last moment. This increases the number of Non-Sanderson games that we'll have this year quite a lot in proportion to future years. With that in mind, we have another, secret, challenge already going. This challenge will continue throughout the year and the winners will be announced next year, along with the winners of next year's CR contest. There will be three additional people next year who will be able to pick out a Non-Sanderson game of their choosing and while we won't tell you the exact conditions of the challenge, I can tell you this, it has something to do with activity. Best of luck!

So I'll break it all down as I was everywhere on both events. Friday: Polish fansite interview. It's currently being handled by my colleagues from the site. Saturday/Warsaw: Q&A which was recorded by a lot of people. I think it has been put up on youtube already. I'm working on transcript with @Kanrei. I'm working with @Rasarr's recording. Signing line: I sent my notes from it to @Kanrei and he did have recorded it but the quality is not great (we were too far away). I put up a post on Polish FB group for people to send in their questions but so far it's ineffective. Tuesday/Krakow: Q&A was definitely filmed but I haven't really got time to check anything so right now I don't know what's happening with the Q&A. Although we have audio in @swieczq's record. Signing line was recorded by @swieczq and a person from Polish fandom (but only @swieczq got everything). @Extesian is working on transcript or has already finished. BTW, I got Brandon's pen which he signed books with! He ran out and then his Polish guide turns to me (I was sitting by waiting for the line to end) cause he knew me from Warsaw, hands me the money and asks to buy more markers for Brandon. So I did. And then Brandon gave me cosmere pin for my trouble

Ugh, stressful day with annoying people doing annoying things. Makes me want to follow the battle cry of the Daleks and....

Night 3: Antipathy Khas whistled. "I'd hate to be that Harvey guy. If I didn't know better, I'd have to assume that everyone was just waiting for the change to get him offed." "I would have hoped that our people would have enough professionalism not to endanger our mission like that," Wurum shrugged. "But ultimately, it doesn't matter. As before, I did what was necessary. At the very least, it was a relatively painless death. He went to sleep and simply... never wake up. Compared to how most people in this business end up, it's a relatively kind death. More than they could have expected." "Heh. So you expecting that sort of courtesy when your time comes?" Khas asked. "You're assuming that I will be killed?" Wurum raised an eyebrow. "Have you no faith?" "In you surviving? Damnation, I don't even expect myself to survive in this line of work. Why do you think I have such an irreverent view on life? I'm sure someone will kill me some day." He pushed his glass forward. "Is there any more of that wine?" "I suppose so," Wurum sighed as he got up and took another bottle out of the wine rack. "I'm glad it's not my wine you're guzzling down like water." "It's not?" Khas asked. "damnation, then why am I even bothering?" He chuckled. "Is the only reason you're here to try and drink as much alcohol as possible?" "No, no. Remember, I want to hear your story," Khas pointed out as he poured himself another glass. "So why not continue?" "Well, before I do... There is one thing you could at least tell me. Why have you appeared here? This story isn't that important to you, is it?" "No, but I have my reasons," Khas shrugged. "And you're not going to tell me what those reasons are?" Wurum asked. "I was bored," Khas said. At Wurum's disbelieving gaze, he threw his hands up in the air in defeat. "Okay, fine. I was concerned." "Concerned? You?" "Yeah. Without me, you've got no-one to keep you sane. Damnation, I know I'd go mad if I only had a few spren for company. So, decided to keep you company for a bit." "I suppose the thought is appreciated," Wurum nodded. "And I also thought I was drinking out your wine," Khas said. "Let's not forget that." "Fine. I won't, I promise you. So, do you even want to hear the rest of the story?" "Of course," Khas smiled as he raised his glass in a half-toast. "Can't just leave the story there, can we? I want to hear the rest of it." "Very well... Then let's move on to the following night..." Harvey (Hemalurgic Headshot) was a Ghostblood! Harvey/Hemalurgic Headshot (6): Arvian/Arinian, Groot/Droughtbringer, Thorot/Jondesu, Brandir Sebarial/Elenion, Stick, Revali/TheMightyLopen Elenion/Brandir Sebarial (1): Harvey/Hemalurgic Headshot Night 3 has begun! It will end at 9 PM on Thursday, GMT. Day players may not post in the thread. Night players may now PM each other and post in the thread.. Notemos Town Hall Clock Player List

STRESS-IS-AN-ENEMY-OF-THE-DAAAAAAAALEKS

I've done much of the transcribing for the krakow event, work is rudely interrupting but most of the rest is wading through the signing lines to find the few questions that were asked. I should finish it tonight but I'm putting the link up for anyone who wants to have a go. Please let me know if there are any issues with accessing it. And for people who were there it would be great if you check my transcription for your questions at least. Note I have mostly only done Cosmere ones so far. Transcript Highlights so far (spoilered for size) Thanks to @swieczq for the recording and @Oversleep for being @Oversleep I'll update the OP once it's all done.

I did. In turn he told me to say that the end of cosmere... "It's good". Not trolling this time. Things I overheard: None. But we have recorded the signing and it's almost four hours. Things I asked during signing: Tapping Connection to strengthen the steelsight and storing Connection to the time of your birth. Both were answered with something like "not quite right terminology". After the signing I asked whether it's possible to store gravity as Connection - my fourth RAFO. We asked about Hoid using lerasium to rewrite himself in a way other than granting Allomancy and Brandon said lerasium couldn't give other powers BUT he once again danced around the "Had Hoid burned lerasium to become Mistborn" thing. Even after I asked for clarification on that since it creates confusion he stood firmly by "you have seen him use Allomancy and that's your answer". There was a juicy discussion of Hemalurgy and spren. Got my fifth RAFO there. Snippet: Brandon said it's possible to use Investiture from Taldain's sun if the light particles are reaching you. So that would confirm that sunlight is Invested. A Feruchemist storing Investiture could hide from Lifesense. And he almost confirmed that Coppercloud would block Lifesense but the wording could be ambiguous so I'll leave it to the transcript. Also Lifesense does not work on Connection since you could go off-Nalthis and still sense things you're not Connected to.

When Bruce wants to play a game, he hints by going into the other room and staying there.

Here ya go:

So I remembered that Prof and Tia's daughter (from one of the alternate universes) was named Tavi. I remember Tavi being a character in a Jim Butcher series as well so I was curious if maybe it was a shout-out to Butcher by naming her that. I decided to Google: "Tavi name" Instead I was hit with the feels train. Tavi, it turns out, is commonly a nickname for David. So it appears they named a child after him.

Hey, everyone. I'm pretty new to the forums so I figured that I might as well post something here. Gotta put myself out there somehow, right? I'm thinking about magic systems for a book that I eventually plan to write. A magic system that I'm thinking about revolves around two mechanics that are quite broad, so broad that I'm a little worried. I have a specific direction that I want to take with these mechanics, but I want to see what impressions people have when I mention concepts that I have. These two concepts are: -Mages function as spirits after death and can possess other people (including other mages). Once the spirit of a mage possessed a body, it cannot leave until the body dies. -Mages can manipulate crystal structures of solids and can absorb magical energy found in special fantasy glow crystals. -The general setting of this story is a fantasy land similar to America or Britain in WWII (nationalism, struggle against fascism, fate of the world on the line, all that stuff) If you saw a book that revolved around this type of magic, would you be excited? Skeptical? What would you expect to see from these mechanics? What would you want to see? What would you want not to see? How do you think that the magic would interact with a culture similar to WWII America or Britain? In the spoiler below, I lay out my thoughts in more detail, but I'm hoping to get first impressions on broad concepts to see what direction people would expect me to head in and see I'm missing something that people would want covered. If you do look at the spoiler, perhaps you could form impressions of your own first and then see if you are satisfied by what I came up with? Thank you for reading through my post!

Hypothesis: The Shin worship Odium in the same way that much of Roshar worships Honor through the auspices of Vorinism. Looking at things through this lens allows for some very intriguing and entertaining possibilities. There is very little evidence to directly support or refute the idea, and so it remains mere speculation. But the more I think about it, the more sure I am that something very, very odd is going on there. With Stones Unhallowed likely to explore that a lot more, guessing what may come is a fun game for me. I started this thread in a sleep-deprived frenzy, and am slowly getting it cleaned. Also, this is a ridiculously massive wall of text, and so I'm using spoiler tags to hide it. There are also several sub-theories that I'm developing based off of this thought that are included, which contribute to the size. Edit: Heavy edits to introduction and point 1. Supporting reasons! Problems with the idea! Thoughts? Comments? Responses? I have edited some points, in order to rectify mistakes and confusions! Thank you all who have posted so far! Keep posting. I know this is a bit ridiculous, but I find myself enjoying this idea more and more as time goes by, even if I don't think it's actually true. Adding spoiler tags just to hide some of the post and make it less likely to accidentally give someone a coma when they run into it.

I have seen a few threads about the Diagram, but I think I have a different take on it. Apologizes if this has been discussed before! My theory is that the on the day the Diagram was written, Taravangian was NOT actually as smart as he thinks he was. Instead, something ELSE was influencing/affecting his mind on that day. Evidence: 1. The level of intelligence needed was statistically very unlikely Brandon gives us several pages where Taravangian and an advisor are discussing the probability distribution of Taravangian's intelligence, and the conclusion is that the "Day of Brilliance" was VERY unlikely: This interlude makes it clear that the "Day of Brilliance" was significantly outside Taravangian's normal intelligence range. I believe that this whole section is a hint from Brandon that maybe we should treat that day with suspicion, because Taravangian's supposed super-intelligence doesn't fit his usual curve. 2. The Day of Brilliance was different from other smart days On the day he created the Diagram, Taravangian's behavior was described as "babbling the whole time", "lucid insanity", and "madness". He also has no memory of that day: On his second most brilliant day, there is no evidence of insanity or madness, and he remembers it clearly: Taravangian's theory seems to be that both the madness and forgetfulness were byproducts of being off-the-charts brilliant, but I don't think we necessarily need to accept that explanation. I don't see why becoming smarter would lead to insanity or forgetfulness. In fact, I believe that the passages above, providing a direct contrast between remembering one bout of intelligence and not remembering the other, might be another hint that the Day of Brilliance wasn't what it seemed - it's another way in which it doesn't fit his usual pattern. Another discrepancy that I have seen others mention: Typically on Taravangian's smart days, he is correspondingly stupid about predicting human behavior. Yet, that doesn't seem to be the case on the Day of Brilliance. In fact, MOST of his predictions are about human behavior. Some have theorized that he could get smart enough to make up for his lack of empathy with sheer deduction ability, but that explanation is unsatisfying to me. 3. Raw intelligence could not have predicted the future so accurately In my opinion, creating the Diagram should have been impossible with ANY level of raw intelligence. Taravangian would only be able to extrapolate from what he already knew, and some of his knowledge seems like it couldn't just be rationally deduced (e.g. "the secret that broke the Knights Radiant" or "the nature of the bond", specific concepts like "Nahel bond" and "Investiture"). Also, extrapolating human behavior years into the future, even with infinitely high intelligence, just seems implausible to me. It seems like you would just have too much error and uncertainty adding up. Words of Brandon I asked Brandon about this on Reddit, and his answer was not conclusive, but he also didn't outright deny my suspicion: Conclusion? Whatever The Diagram is, it's not just rational deduction To me, Taravangian's theory that he predicted the future through sheer deduction seems far-fetched. A much better explanation is that this is exactly what it seems: - Madness - Scribbling on walls - Predicting the future - Not remembering ...Sounds like prophecy, right? My guess is that some other power was able to influence his mind on that day and give him knowledge of the future. Whether that "other power" is helpful or harmful is up for debate! Other misc thoughts 1. Cultivation has been associated with prophecy, and also has a link to the Nightmother... maybe there is some connection there. 2. If this theory is correct, it means that Dalinar and Taravangian both visited the Nightmother, and were both mentally influenced by prophetic visions... maybe receiving a "gift" from the Nightmother makes you open/vulnerable to something? (I'm thinking, similar to Ruin with Hemalurgy?) 3. Taravangian thinks that he invented the script that he used to write the Diagram, but since he doesn't remember that day, how can he be sure? Maybe during that day, he simply had knowledge of some other preexisting script? Might set up an interesting reveal later when somebody recognizes that script somewhere else! Thank you for reading!!

i did my first mid yearly today! It went really well!

I will be out of town next weekend, so I probably won't be around at that time, but as I told Orlok when he asked about rerunning LG2, I build games that I think I, myself, would enjoy and that I hope everyone else would as well. As such, there's no way I'm missing the opportunity to get a chance to actually play in a game based off of one of my own! I've yet to come up with a character, but I'll have one soon.

Thanks, I didn't remember that. PD: I had read TES like The Elder Scroll instead of The Emperor Soul.

I would use the term "Perpendicularity" here. We know (?) that animals can be spiked, so strictly speaking - yes. Do we know that at least one of them is a dragon? We know Frost is, but he is also not a Vessel. And I think we got RAFO'd on whether all Vessels were humans. I think you misspelled "Can I please have a RAFO" here.

I had a chance to ask two questions: 1. Can the sprens, like seons, be pierced by hemalurgy spike and will it give some effect? Generally answer is: Yes if you know how to do it. @Extesian transcript the whole answer. It is in 3.48 Second question i asked in polish but Mrs. Studniarek translated it wrong. I mean: Ire wanted to get a shard for themselves. What did they want to get with him on Sel? Precisely if the shard can split another fragment, can it alsbo be used to put other shard together? She translated: Is it possible to bring Adonalsium together again and is that the reason why ire wanted to get a shard for themselves Answer: RAFO

This is not what I understood from this stanza at all, though it is vague enough to be possible. I read this as describing the overall origin of the Voidbringers (as Listeners bonded to Voidspren), rather than a description of how Voidbringers emerge in each Desolation. My main reason is that the stanza talks about a single (if prolonged) incident: Tis said it was warm in the land far away / When Voidbringers entered our songs. If it were describing a recurring pattern I would expect something more along the lines of: Tis said it begins in a land far away / Whene'er Voidbringers enter our songs. I like your thinking re: Braize, but isn't there a WoB that Braize is actually frigid in the physical realm? Also, I believe that the Listeners have been confirmed as being native to Roshar, hence the Spren symbiosis being their default state. On the other hand, the pre-Desolations Listener culture may have been advanced enough to equal the arriving humans in terms of worldhopping; as such, they may have frequented Braize' Cognitive Realm (which is hot) in the past, and so encountered Odium where he settled rather than being approached on Roshar. In fact, in typing this I have come to really like that idea! :-P In this interpretation, the Voidbringers may be the Voidspren themselves, encountered in the Cognitive Realm of Braize and brought "home" to Roshar, thereby giving Odium a presence on Roshar that he gradually strengthened. However the fact that the second reference to "home" is plural, does suggest that this is talking more about their bodies, yes. The last line technically says that it "will be said" that it is necessary, which is very much not the same as it being necessary. Also, it isn't that it will be said that it was necessary, rather that it will be said that it is necessary: not that "this series of events was unavoidable," but that "this situation is now inescapable/necessary"? This second interpretation actually foreshadows the decision to adopt Stormform in WoR, which is stated to be something they must risk to avoid total destruction by the humans. It is easy to see how, because of the original occurrence of Voidbringers, conflict with humans is inescapable and that the Listeners will therefore always, eventually, reach this conclusion.

For the next signing we'll have to do the recording by Direct Metal Mastering, with trusty copper.

Good work making me laugh.

A lot of great discussion once more today. It might take time to answer to everyone in full details. @king of nowhere: Yes, I have considered this point and whether or not to add it to the list. I feel it is too strongly linked to Adolin's current status, his starting point which is to be powerless. His future status might be entirely else and I am among those who firmly believe his most interesting character arc would be to unlock his dead-Blade which would make him a Radiant. I would however point out this is a long-term story arc and not a short-term. In other words, Adolin's denouement should be him being powerless, him trying to figure where he fits and it is only when he finds it, he gets resolution. I certainly believe "finding it" is likely to be linked to "him reviving his Blade" or maybe this will be tossed into another character arc, but Adolin seems to be going onto a slow going long term arc as opposed to several quick ones such as Kaladin. @SLNC: Yes, this analysis is based on Adolin's current status,his starting point. I put the emphasis over this fact to expose how having readers think he is unimportant and/or boring is merely linked to Adolin not having gone through his development yet. It is also why I mentioned how probably equally unimportant and/or uninteresting Kaladin/Shallan probably were prior to their breaking point. We find it interesting because we know where they end, but without this knowledge, Shallan's story arc would have read very... differently. To answer your questions: 1) Renarin has never been anything but very supportive of this older brother, protective even. It is Renarin who stands still next to Adolin trying to calm him down when the anger rises, it is Renarin who jumps into the arena because Adolin is being hit on and it too disoriented to fend for himself, it is Renarin who is always reassuring with Adolin, always trying to quell down his emotions, so yes while Renarin might not see it nor even admit it, he is being just as protective towards Adolin as Adolin is towards him. I thus do not buy one second he would purposefully throw his brother under the bus, so to speak. He would never betray Adolin, of this I am convinced. It would be terribly out of character for him to do so, but what would be consistent with the Renarin we have so far seen is to quiz his brother, to ask him and to demand he does not lie. It might very well be the first individual Adolin will confess to is Renarin. 2) Yes, Dalinar will pursue Sadeas's murder. Radiant business might be important, but the unification of Alethkar is more crucial. He also cannot allow the murder of a Highprince to go unpunished if he is to built a better world. Also, we must not under-play the fact Dalinar does have an emotional link with Sadeas and while he might have been ready to see him die, I doubt he is ready to face him being murdered. I would point out here murder and assassination aren't within the Alethi ways. Dalinar not "thinking about hiring assassins" is not a flaw, it is considered dishonorable to rely on assassins. Alethi will confront their foes, they will duel them, they will not send in assassins. Thus, Dalinar is certainly not going to approve even more so once he finds out Adolin did it. Murdering an opponent carries a negative stigma within the Alethi society: this was confirmed by a WoB. 3) Ialai will want revenge and once the word is out Adolin did it, we can expect retaliation. Ideas I have had imply Ialai perhaps marrying Amaram, thus forming the new power couple at the head of the Amaram's princedom and/or sending assassins for Adolin which could lead to interesting scenes as he fights for his life. 4) I have previously said Adolin was very resilient when it comes to several issues within his young life, but he does have a weakness. Perception. Image. Perfection. How others view him is crucial to him and he seems to always try to please, to be whichever individual he feels other wishes to see. We see it when he courts, how he adjusts himself to be the man he believes the young woman wants him to be, we see it in his obedient nature, in his desire to always follow his father's orders and, more importantly, we see it when he wonders about who he is. What happens when everything which Adolin has used to define himself is removed from him? He loses himself mostly because he relies on others for his sense of self-worth to be strong: as long as others see him as worthy, he feels worthy. Hence, when Adolin directly goes against his father's orders/rules, when he does an action which Alethi society would frown upon, when he breaks the law, I do think he will feel guilty. Guilty also is one of Adolin's primary reaction after murdering Sadeas. What has he done? There will be guilt, there will be a loss of self-worth and Adolin will fight to figure out where he now stands. 5) I doubt the king's writ will ever come into play as I doubt Adolin would ever use it. Back in WoK, even when he was convinced his father was senile and delusional, he refused to consider the possibility his father might abduct in his favor. It thus seems incredibly unlikely Adolin would think or even allow himself to be manipulated into using it. To which end? How would he ever rationalized it? Dalinar isn't the one who killed a Highprince, Dalinar isn't the one who broke the law, Dalinar isn't in the wrong: Adolin is. He would never think his father being a Radiant is a strong enough reason to use it, especially not to put him in his place, him, the one who murdered a rival. I thus think it highly unlikely Adolin would ever use the writ. Someone else might though, but not Adolin. @DSC01: Nice speculation, but it isn't one I can support as it goes directly against my claim Adolin's presence is required within the main narrative. I firmly believe the story is stronger with him in it. His voice is unique, refreshing, he fulfills a roles no one else can overtake, he enters in relation with the other characters, hence his presence is not only valuable, but desirable. In your speculation, you suggest to remove Adolin from the main narrative, to put him into the interlude, even if it means losing him for a book or two. You thus suggest to leave the main narrative within the sole hands of Kaladin/Dalinar/Shallan/Jasnah and potentially Renarin. I disagree this is a good idea and here is why. What you suggest sounds exactly like WoK Prime, the first draft Brandon wrote which didn't work out. Brandon has often commented on why he felt he had to adjust the story. To make it short, there were too many main protagonists (those five I mentioned above) and each one had a very internal progression, with little interaction with other characters. Taken individually, each had an interesting story to tell, but grouped together, it was tedious, it was inactive, passive and downright boring (words of the author not mine). The story suffered from relying exclusively on five deeply introspective non-sharing characters. In order to fix the problem, Brandon removed Jasnah and Renarin, to avoid the back and forth in between too many separate story arcs. It wasn't enough. He had to add Adolin to make it work. He needed Adolin in order to turn an over abundance of internal dilemmas into external ones. He needed him to voice it out, to speak up, to steer it and, later on in WoR, to create the much needed connection in between all characters. Try to imagine how WoR would have gone down without Adolin. It is easy to argue his actions aren't required: someone else could have championed for Dalinar, someone else could have won the Plateau fight, but the fact it was Adolin made the story better. It raised the stakes, it increased readers emotional attachment to the story (Adolin's story arc in WoR has been very well received within the readers), it increased the pressure felt (didn't we all think Adolin would actually die) and, perhaps even more importantly, he allowed for characters to talk to each other. Without Adolin, nobody is talking with nobody. Without Adolin, nobody is standing up to Dalinar because he will oppose himself, if he is utterly convinced he is right (which doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it does). Without Adolin, nobody is calling Elhokar out for his crap, nobody is bold enough to ignore his idiotic decree. Without Adolin, we loose all of that and, I may only speak for myself, but I firmly believe the character adds a lot more to the story than he requires which is exactly what Brandon once said about him. There is also the fact Brandon chose a narrative structure, for his main protagonists, which relies on them having hidden secrets within their part. I understand what he is trying to accomplish, but to make it work, he had to choose ten introspective, secretive to various degrees and with a strong tendencies towards internal monologues characters. They might be distinctive characters with distinctive personalities and distinctive progression, they remain characters which aren't prone to share, to dialogue and to expose the truths above themselves. Having a few characters such as those is interesting, it adds to the mystery, it activates the curiosity of readers, but have only such characters and the story, once again, clogs down or feels heavy to read, slow going. This makes Adolin ever more precious within this narrative because he is exactly the opposite. He isn't secretive so whatever happens to him, we can be sure it won't be about him dwindling endlessly about what to do or refusing to talk long enough for readers to want to throw the book onto the wall. This isn't Adolin and we can't lose him within this story. He might not have a "function" (yet), but he has a purpose and a role to play. @Kanrei: Here are my comments on your suggestions. 1) I personally do not assume Adolin will be caught. I assume he might be, but I believe he will confess before the investigation goes far enough to either accuse someone else and/or find evidence it might be him. One of Adolin most prominent personality traits is his bluntness and his honesty: he isn't secretive, he does't keep secret, worst he can. Adolin is an open-book of raw emotions, he doesn't even need to say a word for someone like Renarin to instinctively know something is wrong with his brother. The kid doesn't even need Radiant powers to see it: he knows Adolin, he knows when he is lying and when he isn't. I thus do not think the murder will kept a secret nor do I think we will read Adolin having his dirty secret. This would be in direct contradiction of how his character has been played so far. Besides, we already have a full cast of secretive characters: there is no need to add Adolin to the need. We need him as the straight-forward heart on the sleeve protagonist. 2) I disagree with your statement. The evidence within the books points directly towards Adolin feeling guilty. A lot of readers are focusing over the fact Adolin's immediate reaction, after murdering Sadeas, was to hide the evidence, not enough are focusing on his mental thought process. Was he pleased with himself? Was he gloating? Was he happy? No. He was terrified, horrified and stunned. Completely stunned which by itself is enough to explain why he would carelessly go through the process of hiding the evidence. He wasn't owning the murder: he was this kid who broke down mommy's favorite vase and proceeds to hide the broken piece because he doesn't want to face the guilt of the done deed. He is trying to make it disappear which is perfectly consistent with the human typical behavior when faced with emotionally compromising hardships. What are those step? I) Shock. This is Adolin stunned. Have I killed a Highprince? II) Denial. This is the phase where the individual will try to deny the event ever happens. This is illustrated with Adolin hiding the evidence. II)I Anger. This is the phase where the individual turns angry. Angry at the world for having thrown this hardship at him, angry at himself for his behavior, just plain anger. IV) Sadness. This is the phase where the individual finally feels sadness over how things have turned out. V) Resignation/Acceptation. This is the phase where the individual accepts the event has happened. He stops fighting. VI) Reconstruction. This is when the individual starts to built, again. Right now, Adolin is in phase II, but we can expect him to go through all phases: anger, sadness, resignation and reconstruction which should be how his character ends within the next book, unless Brandon goes with a longer term cycle with him. 3) Dalinar is hardly going to celebrate his son having gone against not only his own rules, but the Alethi law. Also, Brandon has stated assassination wasn't the Alethi way: they consider it dishonorable and weak, thus Dalinar would never resort to such actions nor would he approve. The emotional cocktail which is likely to brew within Dalinar is hard to predict, but I doubt he will be pleased, happy and/or not care about it. On character relationships, I have comments on the Dalinar/Adolin one. There is evidence Dalinar has not been a fair father, not a bad one, but unfair nonetheless. This is supported by WoB where it has been explained Dalinar was harder on Adolin than he was on others and while he does have a reason, it remains a flaw within his character. The author has also stated Renarin got most of the attention when they were growing up which does give credence to my claims wanting Dalinar to demand much more from Adolin than he is willing to give. The examples I have given were moments where Dalinar asks, but never gives back and there lies, IMHO, the problem. Feeling left out within his family, feeling he doesn't matter, feeling he isn't good enough for attention, feeling he doesn't deserve it if he fails at being perfect, these are among Adolin's triggers. This is the source of his former jealousy and Dalinar stands at the center of it. I have no comments to make onto the other character relationship as this post is getting quite long, but I would say my impression are you are assuming nobody would care much about the murder nor will it matter in any significant manner. It is a position, you aren't alone with it, but I feel it is very anti-climatic. I understand you would perhaps prefer if the story focused on other aspects, but I think it would be a mistake not to explore this one. Still, you might be please by what will follow. Obviously, you perhaps are wondering what do I suggest in terms of story arc or what do I predict. Well, I have tried to use up all available clues in order to figure out what seemed to me as the most likely path. What are the clues? 1) Adolin doesn't have viewpoints until the end of the book and while the author has stated his story arc was about as big as in other books, I have had serious doubts. Let's assume for now I am fretting over nothing and Adolin roughly have the same page time as within WoR which implies a very condensed story. 2) Adolin intentionally ditches his Kholin uniform. 3) Adolin's action aren't immoral and he might get a defense for them. My thoughts are thus Adolin will confess and/or he will be find out very early within the next book. It won't linger. We won't spend endless pages having our characters wonder who murdered Sadeas nor will there be a lengthy (and potentially boring) investigation. Oathbringer will kick in right into the deep of it and regardless of Dalinar's reaction, the worst consequences will be those Adolin will impose on himself. What might those be? When faced with the reality for his family now being Radiants while knowing he has broken Dalinar's trust, Adolin will take it hard. As I said previously, what are his trigger buttons? Is it envy, desire to increase his power level? Of course not, Adolin never expressed such ambitions. What is it then? Regard. Perception. Attention. Love. He wants others to like him, he wants to feel worthy of his father's attentions. Can he be jealous? Of course he can, but not of super-powers, of attention, because Brandon said so. Hence, what will grate Adolin is seeing his father move closer to his brother, to see them develop a new kinship, to see Dalinar devotes most of his attention on Renarin just as when they were little... This, this, this will get to him. He'd feel unworthy. Unworthy of his name, Kholin and thus, he will remove his uniform because "As long as you are of my house, you will wear my colors". It might go as far as having Adolin forsake every one of his father's rules, rules about drinking. He will sink. And this story might be the only story I can think of which will actually work better if seen from Dalinar's eyes. In WoK, we had Adolin wonder what he needed to do, as a son, when his father was going mad. In Oathbringer, we might get to read what a father might do when a son sinks into darkness. What to say/do to stop the spiraling? This would be quite an interesting read and something older readers might relate to as some of us do have children. In the end, I doubt there will be exile for all of the reasons I mentioned, but I do think Adolin will go through a rebellious phase (the anger), followed by sadness. Then, I suspect there might be another trigger, something which will have Adolin pick up his uniform again, join the group again and find himself again, ready for new beginnings.

Now that it's been revealed I was Commanded to "troll people as if you were me" I can say that Brandon is developing a new skill. Trolling by proxy! I told Brandon how the Shard reacted. He laughed. He told me to tell you something about the end of cosmere - in his own words: "It's good". So, that's it. No troll here this time.

Here's the image directly.

So, as some of you know, I said that Brandon accidentially revealed the end of Stormlight and cosmere to me and the rest of the Polish fansite crew when we were interviewing him. That's not true. I repeat, no such thing happened. Neither end of Stormlight nor end of cosmere is known. Why did I do this? See, when we finished interview and were getting out our books to be signed, I asked whether we could record the signing line the next day. I mentioned that 17thShard would love to have it (the recording). At that point Brandon lightened up and said "Oh, those guys? Tell them I told you how Stormlight ends... no, how the whole cosmere ends!" *devilish grin* I'd been more than happy to oblige. But as one Sharder pointed out to me, this can go too out of hand. I was already PMing Sharders who got too hooked on that thing to calm things down but I decided I will debunk the whole thing now instead of next week. If anyone is mad at me for this, I'm sorry. But when Brandon Sanderson asks you to troll people, how could you refuse? tl;dr: I was trolling at Brandon's request. Here is the original trolling post:

Oh yeah? Haha. Interesting - then you should know that Jonathan is Hebrew for "God has given", that Tia is Greek for "Goddess", and that David is Hebrew for "good." So you could actually read that as "the God and Goddess has given good." That is SO NOT coincidental.

(Sorry for the double post) I have watched from the shadows for quite some time. After all, the shadows are my domain. There are certain advantages and disadvantages for this life. The foolish put themselves forward in front of everyone to be judged. More often than not, this has ended up with them killed by the hands of Brandir and Thorot. This is a cruel democracy. That isn't to say that those who lurk in the night aren't stalked by a more dangerous threat. Killers lurk in the shadows, and they will murder on merely a whim without giving opportunity to explain oneself. To those of you who I know are listening--for you are always listening--know that my motives are backed with purpose. My logic is founded. I ask you to look at our own Ghostbloods who have been brutally murdered at the hands of some, and ask yourselves the question: who has done this? Do not be deceived by their clear and blatant lies. Even the murderer found standing over a body will try to shift the blame by any means possible. I cannot make my will known in the foreign day lest I be murdered like the others. Still, the shadows speak to you. Watch. Listen. The evidence is before you. Now act. AMNAR THE WATCHER

So....you're saying I should go out and get an emergency significant other...?

OK, we are officially a month out from JordanCon. No Brandon this year, but other members of Team Sanderson will be in attendance. I am now in costume planning mode! What to wear, what to wear? I'm going with one new costume this year, two already-existing. Friday: Mistborn costume. This will be my new one; I have some ideas on how to assemble my mistcloak. Saturday: Victorian Twilight Sparkle (I never did get the hat done last year; I think I can have it ready for this.) Sunday: Zelda: Warrior Princess (Since my hair is short now, I will be adding a wig to this ensemble. And a friend is going to be 3D-printing me a new set of Zelda hair baubles, cause the ones I made out of Sculpey are just too heavy and hard to attach.)

There is a trend in media that idealism is weak, and cynism is a sign of strength and wisdom. That is a philosophy that I reject wholeheartedly, and I'm glad that you(r username) seems to suggest that you too!

Mhm yes, Ghost in the Shell looked a liittle eh. @TwiLyghtSansSparklesWhy'd you go ahead and post a bruce video just when I was about to post a meme of it XD https://imgflip.com/i/1lsnaj

Oh hey, I forgot this existed! I promise I'll update the map sometime today. @ccstat I would love to add you as a mod, but I'm not sure I have the ability. I'll figure it out as soon as I can get off of mobile.

@maxal That's a good point about the story not coming together without Adolin because of all of the secretiveness on the parts of the other protagonists, but the end of WoR really changed the status quo on that. The reasons for the primary characters to avoid talking to each other are beginning to evaporate, while Adolin now has a major secret of his own (which will be a huge reversal for the until-now very open and honest character). Sure, Shallan still has the Ghostbloods to keep secret (and we don't know yet that she will, even if it seems likely), but she can now be open about her powers. Dalinar can confidently explain his visions as not being insanity, and with Sadeas gone, it will be easier for him to be blunt and open--which is his actual personality, remember--without worrying about being maneuvered into compromising positions. Kaladin's reticence was in large part based on an irrational worry that the lighteyes would find a way to take away his Radiancy. He is certainly on the road to getting over that. Renarin obviously has a lot going on that he's keeping from others, but he now has a reason to open up a little. Jasnah's conclusions about the Parshendi, previously considered laughable, is mainstream now. Most of the secrets that she uncovered are no longer bizarre notions that no one is interested in listening to. Whatever secrets she chooses to maintain, she going to be a lot more open to freely dispensing her knowledge now that red-eyed monsters are tearing the continent apart and she knows things that might help. It looks like Adolin has carried us to the point in the overall narrative where he is no longer necessary to keep the story from being all about separate parties who won't talk to each other. And developments in his personal arc mean that he is no longer quite as well suited to that role. Until we read Oathbringer, we won't know exactly what that means, but the possibility remains that he is approaching a place where he will get in the way of the other moving parts in the story. I maintain that, if this is the case, he has become too important to just kill off. Exile is a great way to handle that. It can take him out of the story for a little while, and things can be engineered to allow him to return eventually without the stigma of him getting away with killing a Highprince without any punishment.

Well hey, so far as hints goes, it beats appearing on a monitor with a tiny puppet and inviting his owner to play a game of "Saw your leg off". So.

My brain decided to film its own MCR music videos last night.

I do not mind to hijack the post, by I felt this could really fit in this discussion. My theory is that this discussion, whether or not someone is doing well as a God, is one of the key arguments in the Cosmere designed by Brandon. As an author, he is very good at given the reader a controversial situation in which there is no obvious correct answer an make un powder in what would we do and what is correct... Now, some Cosmere musing , spoilers for Cosmere related events (specially Way of Kings)

I should say that my theory has been debunked in two ways now. 1. We know that skin tone is basically luck. 2. We now know for certain that it is the sun itself that gives the investiture, not my idea about the atmosphere absorbing the sunlight and converting it. So thanks to @strumienpola and @swieczq for having the wisdom to ask questions that knocked that off

We have a small flock of seagulls that hang out nearby. I live in Kansas. Those seagulls are very, very lost.

Could it not be alloyed with other God metals, such as tanavastium to obtain an effect similar to alloying it with viable allomantic metals?

I'm wary of engaging in discussion of the sexualisation of women on something like a book cover but I'm say two things. 1. A female member of the most powerful house of a powerful nation will often be more beautiful than average, that's natural selection sadly. Powerful people get to marry beautiful people (of both genders). 2. Any woman single-handedly battling a monster is going to be beautiful because she's single-handedly battling a monster I didn't even notice her specs I just noticed her being TOTALLY AWESOME.

Ouch spool. I mean, ya we've seen it before, but garlick is new so he may not have. He also didn't know how to use spoilers and said so in his post, then went back and fixed it even. He's been pleasant, so let's be nice.

Yeah, it's by no means the only possible explanation but it's the most common theory and for all intents and purposes the most plausible given what we know.

That is just...beautiful.

Lilo and Stitch is better.

You have been abducted by the Beast and now live in his castle to serve as his Belle. Homework is sent from your school to you via carrier pigeon and the living, breathing furniture and cleaning implements answer your papers and do your math homework for you. Voila! You now have less homework to do! (P.S. You might want to tell off the bottle of gin who insists on answering your math questions for you because he can't count for the love of crap. (Because he's drunk - no duh.)) Oh, and also, your toes have been Awakened and they have nightly dalliances with the teapot and her son when you're sleeping. (I'm high, thank you.) I wish for the stupidest thing a man could possibly wish for.

I asked a ton. I can barely remember what I did ask. I was very excited so my memory is hazy. I got RAFO'd when I asked about the Shard which didn't Invest, the one floating in the space, the one that just wants to hide+survive (I'm not really sure that we know all these things apply to the same Shard). hm... I asked about technological progress on other worlds than Scadrial: Taldain was progressing technologically... but then Autonomy did the isolation thing and it stopped. Roshar is headed towards magicpunk since they've got a ton of Investiture flying around. I asked about AI/sentient machines in cosmere... but without the recording on hand I don't want to feed you mistruths. I asked a lot about AonDor - turns out you could write a higher-level programming language with that. I think he said there is a way to make functions (so object oriented programming). I asked about going deeper to access the assembler and he said that there are things we don't know about Sel yet and why magic works that way but my impression was he said he'll dig into it eventually. I took a shot at the Terriswoman in Warbreaker, he asked what do we think and I said one of the nurses. He didn't confirm but said something like that I shouldn't be able to make that guess and was surprised I did. I think he said that we will eventually figure this out/we'll get to know her. We asked about films, Brandon said that he'd want to do cameos where he dies every time. Like ultimate Redshirt. Oh, and he said my shirt was awesome. I agreed. ... And I may have left my printed list of questions in his room.

I got this problem on a work sheet. I think it pretty much speaks for itself. Edit: Apparently, Chaos is my Calculus 3 instructor. Small world...

Granted, but you lose the ability to read. I ask for the boon of insight to know the secret contents of all of Brandon Sanderson's unpublished notes on the Cosmere.