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Cycle 1: Say Goodbye to the Day Princess Celestia stood on her balcony, gazing at the sun as she gently lowered it behind the horizon. It was a pretty sunset, if Celestia did say so herself, full of vibrant shades of red and gold, but something felt off somehow. She couldn’t quite put her hoof on what it was, but perhaps discussing it with Luna could shed some light on it. Luna would be there soon to raise the moon and usher in the Night. Even as Celestia had the thought, her sister threw open the doors and rushed out onto the balcony in a gallop. “Celestia!,” Luna called, her voice urgent and frightened. “You must come at once!” “What’s wrong, little sister?” Celestia asked. “The Elements of Harmony! They’ve gone missing!” Luna cried. Celestia’s heart dropped at the words. She wasted no time, leading Luna as they galloped towards the chamber where the Elements were kept. Pony’s gasped in surprise and worry as they dodged out of the way of their galloping princesses. As she raced through the castle, Celestia’s mind raced, too, considering the implications. The magic of the Elements of Harmony had served and protected the land of Equestria for millennia. If they were missing now… what could that mean? Twilight Sparkle and her friends, the current wielders of the Elements, were away on an extended trip to the Crystal Kingdom, visiting Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. They were not due to return for weeks, though could they have somehow summoned the Elements to them over the great distance? Or could somepony have figured out a way to break in and steal them? A lone guardpony stood at the entrance to the Chamber of the Elements, and he started with surprise at their arrival. “Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!” the guardpony- Captain Shard- said, saluting smartly with the weapon strapped to his foreleg. His son had created the weapon- a sword it was called. “Be on the lookout, Captain!” Celestia ordered. “There is mischief a-hoof!” She paused in front of the doors only long enough to activate her magic. A shimmering golden aura surrounded her horn, and a matching aura surrounded the lock on the doors. With a click the lock opened, and the doors swung open. “Behind me, sister!” Celestia called to Luna as they rushed inside. The chamber was large and elongated, with intricate stained glass windows decorating the walls. At the far end of the chamber stood a pedestal, and atop the pedestal sat the pillowed case where the Elements were stored. And in the case rested... … the Elements of Harmony. Celestia blinked in confusion. The Gemstone necklaces that represented the Elements of Harmony- honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty, and magic- each sat in their proper place in the case. “Sister,” she said. “I don’t understand-” The doors slammed shut behind her. Celestia whirled to see Luna there, a malicious glint in her eye and a twisted green aura enveloping her horn. Before Celestia could react, Luna shot a fiery green blast of energy at her, and the blast knocked Celestia back, dazing her. “I must thank you for leading me here, sister,” Luna said, putting a sarcastic emphasis on the last word. “You are not my sister!” Celestia cried, firing a golden blast of energy from her own horn. Luna deflected it easily, but it was just a distraction anyway. When the glowing blasts cleared, Celestia hit her foe with a second wave of magic. The image of Luna melted away, revealing Chrysalis- Queen of the Changeling hordes. Chrysalis scowled, looking down at herself, but then changed her grimace into a laugh. “No matter,” she gloated. “Nopony is here to see me but you, and once I deal you I will become you, and take your place as the object of everypony’s adoration.” “You are a fool, Chrysalis!” Celestia declared, readying another blast of energy. “We defeated you before, and we will do so again.” Crysalis snorted in derision. “Oh? And how do you plan to do that? Cadance and Shining Armor aren’t here this time, and Twilight Sparkle and her irksome friends aren’t here either to use the Elements of Harmony. And as I recall, the last time we fought it was you who was defeated, Celestia. You see, we were careful this time. A handful of my minions have infiltrated your precious kingdom and have been watching for months now, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.” From the other side of the doors they could hear the sounds of fighting, and of Captain Shard calling for backup. There was a crash and Captain Shard cried out. “Ah, see? There they are now.” Chrysalis continued. “Once we deal with you and the Elements of Harmony are safely locked away, there will be no force in Equestria that will be able to stop me.” Celestia let her magic loose, firing a off a beam of golden light. Queen Chrysalis fired her own beam as well, and the two beams exploded as they struck. Celestia staggered back, as did the Changeling Queen, but Chrysalis recovered first. Chrysalis fired another blast and Celestia was thrown back once again. She slammed into something, and glancing up she saw it was the pedestal holding the Elements of Harmony. Celestia turned her gaze back to Queen Chrysalis, and smiled grimly. “You have made one mistake, Chrysalis. Twilight and her friends aren’t the only ones that can use the Elements of Harmony. Anypony with the right characteristics can wield their power.” Princess Celestia activated her magic again, and a golden light surrounded the gemstones above her. She poured everything she had left into the gemstones, causing the Elements to rise into the air, and in a flash they shot to the side, blasting out one of the stained glass windows and streaking out into the open air. They zipped across the sky, heading towards the town of Ponyville, and in moments they had disappeared from view. “NOOO!!!” Queen Chrysalis screamed, “What have you done!?” “I have sent the Elements to ponies that can use them,” Celestia declared. “Use them to stop you!” Chrysalis snarled and blasted Celestia again with her magic, but this time she didn’t let up. Celestia felt the Changeling magic seeping into her, paralyzing her limbs and draining away her power. But it was too late to stop her plan. The ponies she had sent the Elements to would be able to stop the Changelings, if they worked together. Celestia prayed that it would be enough. As her vision started growing dark, Celestia looked through the broken window at the stars glimmering in the night sky. The stars seemed to shimmer and move, and a pale blue light flared alight in the midst of them. The last thing Celestia saw was the blue light striking Queen Chrysalis, throwing the Changeling to the side. Then Celestia slipped into unconsciousness. ***A short time later*** A sizable crowd had gathered in central square in Ponyville. Princess Luna looked over them as she prepared to address them. Ponies of all types, from all walks of life, all wondering what had happened. They had seen flashes of light and had heard explosions coming from the Royal Castle in Canterlot. They were worried. “Citizens of Ponyville!” Luna called, and the crowd quieted. “I bring dire news. Princess Celestia was attacked by Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings, a short time ago, and the Elements of Harmony have gone missing. I arrived in time to stop the attack, but not before Celestia was terribly injured. She sleeps now, her body overcome by Changeling magic. As long as there are Changelings nearby, I am afraid that she will not be able to awaken. Queen Chrysalis fled when I attacked her, which means that there are other Changelings nearby. “It will take nearly all the power I possess to raise the Sun and the Moon, and to protect my sister from further harm, so I must call on you to find out the Changelings in our midst. Be careful, they can take on the guise of anypony, even your closest friends. Be on the lookout for those among you who do not act as they should, who may be working against us. When you have found somepony who you suspect of being a Changeling, bring them to me. “Good luck, my little ponies.” The game has begun! You have about 45 hours for this first cycle. Cycles will end at 9:00 MST (see the timer below) One last thing, a note about contribution. I’ve been saying this at the beginning of all the games I’ve been participating in lately, and as the GM I feel I should also do so here. All of you signed up for this game because something about it appealed to you. You thought it sounded fun. So I invite you to play the game, and have fun! Post when you can, contribute how and where you can. Some people like to do intricate analyses on spreadsheets, or post elaborate roleplays, and some people find they only have enough time to read the thread and post their gut feelings here and there. Wherever you sit, I hope that you will participate and contribute when and where and how often you can. If you do, I guarantee you and everyone else will have a more enjoyable experience because of it. So have fun, and let the game begin! Player List

LG33: Term 8, Month 1 - Chaos I creep through the night. Tonight it doesn’t matter who I kill. It just has to be someone. First, I try the window of a particular hotel room, one I know is always unlocked. There’s a young girl sleeping inside, and I smile. I’m not a particular fan of daggers. I pull out a brilliantly sharp, curved blade, and smile. I prefer swords. I lift my sword - dramatically, since why not? And bring it down - Clang! My sword hits another. Curses. The Bodyguard who had been sitting in the corner has plenty of time to block my swing. Teaches me to be dramatic about things. Fortunately, I'm much faster than the bodyguard. Clang! Clang! Crunch! I grin. I've always liked the sounds of a swordfight. The bodyguard falls to the floor, but the girl's awake and she was or is a student. I don't know what she could do. So I run. Next stop is another inn, one that hasn't been raised by an alarm like the first one probably has by now. I won't repeat it here, beyond brief details: another girl. Another clang. Another bodyguard. Running, again. Seriously? Right, then. Apparently inns are cursed tonight. Time for random death, then! I walk down the streets, irritated, and find the first beggar I can. Not caring that she looks old or whatever, I stick my sword down directly through her heart. She gasps, chokes. "You're not a merc," she mutters under her breath. "How did you..." I kneel beside her, wiping my iron sword on her clothes. "I'm an assassin, lady. An irritated assassin. I can do exactly what I please, thank you." (Orlok's bit will be done later when I'm coherent. ) Steph was attacked by an Assassin, but didn't die! Brightness was attacked by an Assassin, but didn't die! Aman was attacked by an Assassin, and did die! He was a Student. Orlok broke out of the Crockery! A Name was used. Term 8 has begun. You have 42 hours to send in actions. Writeups have been edited in! 2.2 (in which DA dies), 3.2 (in which Orlok goes insane and Varda shows off; and Sart, Steph, and Eol go on the Horns), 4.1 (in which Eol doesn’t die; Burnt, BR, and Aonar go on the Horns (Aonar’s writeup written by him and excellent), 5.1 (in which STINK dies), 5.2 (in which PK is expelled), and 7.1 (in which BR does not die). Enjoy! Player List 1. Queensteph - Vintish Noblewoman 2. Randuir (Telar Pike) - Yllish Commoner Student 3. Hemalurgic Headshot (Noremac Quwester) - Aturan Nobleman Skindancer Master Physicker 4. Aonar (Aodhan Breacadh) - Edema Ruh Skindancer in Naming 5. Wilson (Sloan Walker) - Cealdish Commoner Student 6. Straw (Medicus Novis) - Yllish Commoner 7. Paranoid King (William Opuscule) - Yllish Commoner 8. Ornstein (John Springer) - Aturan Nobleman Student in Physicking 9. Jondesu (Vell) - Yllish Commoner Insane 10. Drake Marshall (Greyson) - Cealdish Commoner Student in Physicking 11. Assassin in Burgundy (Jurdaan Longfell) - Yllish Commoner Student 12. Burnt Spaghetti (Dele Fajro) - Vintish Noblewoman 13. Orlok (Locke Alveron) - Cealdish Commoner 14. Magestar (Magestar) - Vintish Nobleman Insane 15. Alvron (Stryker Nox) - Cealdish Commoner Insane 16. Arinian (Darian) - Aturan Nobleman 17. Stick (Stick) - Aturan NobleStick Student in Archives and Physicking 18. Darkness Ascendant (Balthazar Myrrh) - Yllish Commoner Student 19. Cluny the Scourge (Cluny) - Aturan Nobleman 20. Silverblade (Ryth) - Cealdish Commoner Student 21. Amanuensis (Esuan) - Yllish Commoner Student 22. BrightnessRadiant (Amelia) - Aturan Noblewoman 23. Eolhondras (Eolah) - Yllish Commoner Student 24. STINK - Yllish Commoner Skindancer in Linguistics 25. Hael (Glavion) - Edema Ruh Insane 26. Sart (Titud) - Edema Ruh Insane 27. Joe (Chalks) - Yllish Commoner Insane

So there has been a lot of mystery surrounding what the Aimian said at the end of that interlude, most theories ive seen revolving around Unmade. I think i found a piece of evidence that confirms this. In the first Dalinar chapter in WoR he is in a vision set in the purelake. Him and a bunch of other soldiers, including a radiant, are hunting for a spren that has been "touched", or corrupted, by something named Sja-anat. The title of this chapter? Taker of Secrets. It makes a lot of sense to me that something that can take over cognitive entities would be able to extract information from someone after they died and before they passed to the beyond. Let me know what you think.

Moneybags had a headache. Banging your head against a tree tends to do that to you. These...ponies! Argh! He'd talked to a total of 2 by now, and both had left him banging his head in frustration. He needed something to help him calm down. Perhaps running a shell game would help him feel better. --- 1 hour later and 400 bits poorer, Moneybags reflected that perhaps it was a bad idea to try the shell game with a unicorn. --- Since there seems to be some confusion about people thinking I think Randuir is guilty, here are my thoughts, laid out clearly: About Jon: I do not suspect Randuir. If Jon is an elim, I will suspect Randuir. Nobody else has given me any leads Jon has given me a (slight) lead, if he is an elim. Therefore, Jon is the best person for me to vote on right now Jon is probably innocent. So is everyone else. But Jon gives me info if he is not innocent And nobody else does yet About Randuir: Randuir's first post does not prove his innocence It does not prove his guilt. It is simply a post of helpful strategy That makes people think highly of him. (Elims want people to think highly of them) Randuir has experience being an elim. He knows that if elims leave holes in their strategies, they'll get caught Therefore, he didn't leave holes in his strategy. This does not prove that he is an Elim. It just shows that he's not a proven villager Other people seem to think he's innocent. So I'm trying to show the problems with that line of thinking. TLDR: Jon gives me info if he's guilty. This does not mean that he's likely to be guilty. Randuir's helpful post does not prove his innocence. It's just a helpful post.

Double posting because I just saw this: https://twitter.com/SupanovaExpo/status/863253190891847680/photo/1 Brandon Sanderson is coming to Perth. Perth. And in case you didn't realise, that's where I live. I could go meet Sanderson...

Great write-up, Hero! For now, I've got some thoughts on the rules, starting with pony-types: Unicorns should make sure to use their PM's. Remember that you can create group PM's containing multiple ponies as well. This also means that, even if you don't feel like talking to anyone in PM's, you could still set up a small group and let them do whatever talking they wish to do. Pegasi have the ability to vote in secret. This is quite powerful, especially in the late game where being able to surprise someone can be a big boon. However, it is very important to know who voted on whom in the earlier cycles for analysis, so I ask you to restrain from using your powers in the early game. Earth-ponies effectively have one less vote on them, so people should keep this in mind when voting (especially in the case of ties, you should check the pony-types of the intended targets). The other major factor are the elements of harmony. The protection granted by loyalty is a powerful tool, but unlike similar abilities in other games, it comes with a drawback: If you're targeted for the kidnap, the one you sought to protect is kidnapped as well. Therefore, I personally recommend that whoever holds this power exercises good judgement; Do not use it if you expect to get kidnapped on any given cycle (I'm sure that the relevant people with high early-game mortality rates know who they are). The element of Honesty is a fantastic power as well. If it isn't held by a unicorn, I recommend you scan one ASAP so you have someone that can make PM's that you can trust. that way you can create a trust-group of people who share a 'confirmed-good' PM for strategizing and analysis*. However, if someone approaches you, claiming to have scanned you and determined you are good, do exercise some caution, as I can see the elims trying to fake this. Finally, the element holder should remember to always speak the truth, or you lose your power for a cycle. The element of generosity is an interesting factor. it can (and should) be passed around, and should be kept on the elims, if at all possible. However, this means that in the early game any cycle with no lynch will very likely hit a villager anyway (this is guaranteed on this cycle), so we should probably no-lynch cycles. The element of Laughter is another interesting ability. I'd recommend caution when using this, but if you feel like the elims are trying to frame someone, or if you believe that some people have started tunneling on an innocent, it can be used to force discussion away from that person. Don't underestimate this ability, but exercise good judgement in using it, as you don't want to protect an elim at a critical moment. The element of Kindness is pretty useful, as it essentially reveals a confirmed-good pony at the end of the lynch that can still interact with the thread (remember, it doesn't matter if you can't vote, as long as you provide analysis that gets others voting). There isn't much in the way of strategy that I can provide for this element. The owner of the element of magic should avoid dying, if at all possible. You should definitely keep the fact that you hold this element secret to everyone that has not been absolutely confirmed good. Now, a note on role-less role-claiming: Just because you don't hold a power doesn't mean you should be telling the thread. Knowing that someone doesn't hold an element is very useful info for the elims. @Herowannabe, the goal of the elims is to kidnap all ponies holding an element of Harmony. What happens to an element if its owner is lynched? Also, what happens if all elements have been kidnapped, apart from the element of generosity, and the element of generosity is then passed on to a changeling? Now, I'm off to build an excel sheet for note-keeping. *Do note that, just because you've been scanned and have been confirmed good, you don't automatically get better judgement than anyone else. Keep listening to others in the thread, and don't be surprised if others are skeptical when you claim you've been confirmed good. In other words, don't try to become a Mayoral and exclusive group.

Have a well-deserved upvote Hero. That was an amazing RP to start this off with. Unfortunately, I don't have much else to say yet, other than to advise unicorns to actually use their PMs. If they don't, I predict (CR ROLE WARNING!!!) great danger and much hostility coming upon them...

Its pointed out several times, mainly from Dalinar and Adolin in WoR but also some others, that Kaladin behaves like a lighteyes, from how he talks, and looks at people, to how he walks, and those are just the surface things. These are the kind of things which people notice subconsciously when someone acts "outside their rank". And its noticeable through WoK that a big part of why Kaladin drew so much attention from people around him were those characteristics.

Have you guys seen the winning entries to the First Annual Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards? They are, naturally, hilarious, so much so that I've started making memes out of some of them... Spoilered for size.

Ishamael/Demandred Ishamael is allowed to use true power ,so is Demandred Demandred has Sakarnen vs Lord Ruler/Vasher/Kaladin/Szeth/Vin/Kelsier/Marsh Everyone from Scadrial has 30 minutes Atium No one knows Rashek's weakness Marsh at his strongest Kaladin has his shardblade Szeth has Jezrien's honorblade people from Roshar has unlimited stormlight Vasher has nightblood ALL ARE FAMILIAR WITH ENEMIES' POWERS,EVERYONE IS WILLING TO KILL

People on Roshar be like:

I have to agree with you here. The things rand has said so far doesn't point to him as either an elim or townie, so it wouldn't be wise for us to lynch him. However, I think it would be wise if the person who held the mark of Honesty checks him just in case.

Welcome to the game! There's always discussion about whether we need to lynch someone Day 1 and how to go about choosing that, but avoid a townsperson, and the answer is, you can't be sure. But you can't be sure Day 2 either, or Day 3, unless you start with a Day 1 lynch based on whatever gut feelings or suspicions you can come up with. It's okay to bandwagon onto someone else's suspicions sometimes too, but try to at least state the part of their reasoning you agree with, so we can use that in later cycles as we figure out who is innocent and who is not. So look around, and if you see someone acting in a way that you think would indicate they might be a Changling (i.e. an Eliminator), toss a vote on them, and tell us why. If you don't vote, it's ok, but it's preferable if everyone votes if possible. And if your hoof starts hurting, come have the doctor check it out. Your mane is looking a little saggy too, are you getting enough sugar in your diet?

If a pony holding an Eliminated- whether by kidnap or lynch- it counts towards the Changelings win condition. As long as the Element of Generosity is still in play the Eliminators haven't won, no matter who holds it. Rand has the right of it. The Pony with Kindness can survive a lynch, but will not survive a kidnapping. Note that if the Pony with Kindness is lynched and survives, they have not been eliminated. the Changelings will still need to kidnap them in order to meet their win condition.

Hoofs up if you listened to the MLP theme song while reading that excellent writeup! Razor Shard stood there in the square, ignoring the ponies milling about and panicking, of all the things to do. He was thinking about what the Princess had said. Changelings have been infiltrating our society, we don't know for how long. But having a weapon capable of threatening ponies would be invaluable for their army. Could they be the ones that took my father? He looked around at the crowd, twitching his eyes to look from person to person without moving his head. Any one of them could be an infiltrator. But there was no way to tell for now. He backed out of the square and slowly headed back to his humble shop, nodding and smiling to ponies he passed, but seething in outrage inwardly that any one of them could be planning to kidnap him or someone else in the town. He didn't really have friends, but that doesn't mean he would be willing to let an innocent pony suffer. Arriving at his destination, Razor Shard used his teeth to pick up a pair of pliers and place a glowing hot chunk of metal onto the anvil. It was dripping slightly, as he'd left it for a little too long to hear the Princess' announcement, but he ignored the small splatters of overheated metal as he began to pound on the ingot with a hammer inserted into a specialized harness on his right hoof. A swing that may have been too enthusiastic flattened a disk in the center of the ingot down about half an inch. Sighing, Razor Shard prepared to place the ingot back into the fire and try and buff the mistake out. Blacksmithing was no place for misplaced aggression. But he couldn't restrain a thin smile at the thought of another pony, the ones who kidnapped his father, underneath the heavy blow. If the changelings had been a part of it, or even if it was merely a possibility, there was still only one solution. He'd just have to hunt them all down and find out. Rules Clarification!: If a changeling kidnaps a pony, do they know if they've kidnapped an element of Harmony or not? Or do they just have to keep on kidnapping ponies until you say the game ends. Just curious.

I'm working on sending out all the PMs, but ran out of time and I have to go pick up some family members from the airport. I will get all the role PMs sent out before I go to bed tonight. Feel free to post, and to use your role abilities (particularly you Unicorns, feel free to create a PM for the cycle), but I encourage you not to say anything that may give away whether or not you've received your Role PM yet. EDIT: I was able to send out the rest of the PMs via mobile, so everybody should have received them by now. If you haven't, please PM me and let me know. Also, just a reminder about your Cosmetic Roles! Have fun with them, and I'll be watching for those ponies that do the best job at living up to them!

okay now this gives me another idea. When miles hundredlives achieves a goal, you could say he reached a MILEstone Why is miles very productive? Cuz his MILEage is very good. What is best exercise for miles? Miles running miles to work on mills, setting a new milestone every day, increasing his mileage with a sMILE on his face :') (PS: Even I can see this is dumb, but hell this is the only place I can post this )

Update: I have received the green light to post the audio. I'm working on the transcription and audio editing (to remove the long bits of silence at the beggining). Most of the audio is ok, although apparently the first few minutes didn't record audio available here Personal thoughts: Kinetic investiture: thats a new term that I haven't yet seen. I will need to look into it, but it sounds like potential vs. kinetic investiture meaning that due to position (in the cognitive/spiritual realms?) you can store investiture. It would also seem that kinetic investiture would be more like storm light, and potential investiture is more like breath. I previously was unsure if all souls were made of investiture. does this mean everything in the spirit realm is just investiture?

It's a reference to the extra epilogue in 10th anniversary Elantris edition, where Hoid (spoiler)

We have these over in the Dark Alley. Some of the cookies will absolutely take your breath away!

I hope this isn't too obscure

hahah, someone pointed that out. There's an explanation for that! People who read Latin letters read left to right, so when I drew the "good side" I arranged them in the most natural way that most people take in a picture. I made the "bad side" go the opposite way so it feels more unnatural, and you see their weapons first. I had originally intended for Shallan to be summoning an illusion, but it's not really a weapon like a Blade or spear, and then I went "hang on, she has a sword, doesn't she?". But then I realised you can't hold a sword while in a safesleeve, so I drew her summoning the sword rather than using it, since you can summon a sword with either hand. So it is Shallan, but me taking artistic license for the sake of coolness value. Let's have some more art here!!!! Character design sketches: Jasnah costume design Dalinar and Renarin in Shardplate (yeah I don't know what Dalinar's Plate looks like either so I made it up.) Szeth and Honorblade. (just messing around here. I draw Szeth as kind of cute and innocent looking, like the Discworld History Monks. They are bald and harmless beggars who can kick your chull!) Adolin costume design (pretty much blatant fanservice here.) Modern Earth AU design (yes I know but I am shameless) (dat official Bridge Four t-shirt ) Detail of the skateboard deck I like to draw characters in a hyperstylised cartoon version because I think it gets across main features of character detail and expression very effectively. And you can look at it without wondering to yourself "what race is she/he supposed to be?" which ruins the immersion for fantasy stories in other worlds. This is why I think SA is better in 2D than live action, but probably not a hardcore moe anime style . A painted style is better for backgrounds and showing texture and depth in an image, but it takes way, way, way longer and I sometimes I am lazy.

We need a place where we can put excerpts and readings from the upcoming book. This is not exhaustive... Not yet anyway. This is every revealed bit I have been able to find. If you know of any others, please post below! Kaladin Chapter (Returning Home) Source: http://www.tor.com/2014/09/30/brandon-sanderson-stormlight-archive-book-3-first-chapter/ Video/Audio: none? Kaladin (and Tarah) Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlDHUCemF9U&ab_channel=MichaelMiller Dalinar Flashback #1 (Battle) Source: http://www.tor.com/2015/10/23/brandon-sanderson-reveals-a-dalinar-chapter-from-stormlight-archive-book-3/ Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNJiQROElck Dalinar Flashback #2 (Dinner Party) Video #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMFx9hFkDzs Video #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4o-dWiwgqI Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TgW20NgNsPnMe1nxCxMu7jib2Bf9dZGMjaYgZJfKnM8/edit Note: Two more Dalinar flashbacks in "The Thrill" for those who have purchased "Unfettered 2" http://www.17thshard.com/news/brandon-news/dalinar-flashbacks-in-unfettered-ii-and-stormlight-fan-film-r309/ Prologue: Eshonai Audio (older, early draft): http://www.17thshard.com/forum/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=14217 Video (newer revision, but incomplete): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNHscNkg2Ws Transcript (based on older audio): http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/57932-oathbringer-prologue-spoilers/?do=findComment&comment=533740 Eshonai #1.5 (attached to the end of the previous reading) https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight_Archive/comments/5saeg6/oathbringer_prologue_read_by_brandon_at_signing/dde6khz/ Eshonai #2 (Chasm) Source: no source to reference. Read at your own risk. Jasnah - this scene is legitimate, but may not be included in Oathbringer. Source: http://www.tor.com/2014/08/06/stormlight-archive-scene-after-words-of-radiance/ Interlude #1: Ardent Alista Source: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/56954-2017-02-17-boskone-54-boston-ma/#comment-511614 Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9fo0ba8ynPxLWpJYjQxVlZVRFk/view Transcript: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/56954-2017-02-17-boskone-54-boston-ma/?page=4#comment-538486 Interlude #2: Soulcaster Kaza Source: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/58578-ad-astra/?page=4#comment-561711 Audio: https://soundcloud.com/user-254460900/ad-astra-reading-and-qa Transcript: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/58578-ad-astra/?page=5#comment-563497 Adolin Flashback (Ryshadium) This is an unverified third-hand account courtesy of @She Who Cannot Be Named , with additional concerns voiced by @maxal Other Stuff: Brandon's last update on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight_Archive/comments/5zidxz/oathbringer_spoilers_stormlight_three_update_7/ Brandon's Latest update on Reddit: http://www.tor.com/2017/03/16/revealing-the-cover-to-oathbringer-the-third-book-in-brandon-sandersons-stormlight-archive/ Cover reveal: http://www.tor.com/2017/03/16/revealing-the-cover-to-oathbringer-the-third-book-in-brandon-sandersons-stormlight-archive/ Amazon Blurb: If there is anything else, please post here and let us know!

Ok, before I get to my Outrageous Theory I'm going to talk about some things that got me there.. I'm going to point towards some WoB that I've read, sorry in advance as I find it difficult to cycle through all the WoB to find the exact quotes: WoB that suggested that there's more to the creation of Nightblood than a bucket load of breaths and a command WoB that suggests the five scholars were World Hoppers WoB that suggests Nightblood was modeled after a Shardblade Outrageous theory in the form of a humble question: I may be way ahead of myself here, so I'm going to ask some questions that may point us in the right direction or void said theory: In relation to the Cosmere timeline - where is SA compared to Warbreaker? keeping in mind that Nightblood was created at least 3 centuries ago (That was when Vasher ended the war he started wasn't it?) In relation to the Cosmere timeline - when was The Recreance? Is a Shardblade like Aluminum and immune to awakening.? if so, can enough breaths (investiture) overcome this? Is there possibly a Connection issue? (crossing over Shardic Magic) if so, can enough breaths (investiture) overcome this? Thoughts..? !~ HIF ~!

That's what stuck out to me as well. It seems like the Soulcaster Savants are slowly being pulled into the cognitive realm. Taking it a step further though, the Soulcasters seem to be slowly soulcasting themselves. From spending so much time in partially in the cognitive realm convincing objects to be something else their bodies seem to become increasingly convinced that they are the material they are changing things into. They mannerisms even begin to match the perceived qualities of the object. The Stone Soulcasters become emotionless, stoic and rocky. The Smoke Soulcasters take on a more independent nature so they can become 'free' like smoke. What interests me is whether or not this happens with Radiant Soulcasters and why it would or would not.

Prism was dumbfounded. Had somepony just tackled her! She was about to yell out because she thought it was a changling, but when she opened her eyes it was just the pony she had been following. She stared at him with a puzzled expression as he started rambling off apologies. It would seem she had startled him just as much as he had startled her. He helped her up while still trailing apologies. "Oh dear! Oh my! I'm alright! It's my painting I'm worried about!" She leaned it against a tree and began to examine it for tears or any other damage. She sighed in relief as she found no damage to her newest piece of artwork. She glanced over, and saw the other pony looking quite forlorn. She hadn't meant to brush off his apologies like that. She had just been so worried about...well enough of that. She needed to make amends, and ask him about the painting like she had come to do. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. I was merely afraid for my piece." She angled it towards him so he could see it again. "I was following you because I saw you looking at it, and I was wondering if you had noticed anything odd about anypony's behavior. I tried to recreate the scene as accurately as possible. Do you happen to have any thoughts?" She smiled, hoping to reassure him that she was fine. Although she might be a little black and blue later on.

Hmmm... I suppose then we'd need to know if your original Breath is always the first used. I love the way this magic system presents, but I hate how much of the mechanics of it we have no clue about.

*eye twitch*

I was actually talking about fueling the ship, not the bubbles, but fair point either way.

A sound strategy is a sound strategy. No matter what you think, nothing Rand has said points to any kind of suspicious behaviour. You're basing things off of previous games... seems to me like you want to lynch someone, Paranoid King

Just keep reading... He used to localize and edit manga translations. She must have heard stories. She doesn't actually talk about fain life - she compares Scadrial to the non-fain Yolish ecosystem.

Hey everyone, the countdown timer will wind down in 7 minutes, but I'm not quite ready with the intro writeup yet. I'm working on it now, and once it is ready I will post again and officially close sign ups (So if there are any latecomers you have one last chance to get in). Once sign ups are closed, I'll post the intro and send out role PMs. Good luck everyone, and I hope you have fun!

Ironically enough, I can't access So Spake Martin. It looks like westeros.org is down. Theoryland is a pretty useful tool, although it does have its limitations. There are two ways to access the information within: you can look at a particular signing report, which will have have all the information from an event, blog post, reddit AMA, etc... with each distinct question having its own header on the page and any important tag words beneath the quote. (That actually lets you link to an individual WoB, which is quite an essential thing to do for those of us making and breaking theories.) Or, you could do a search for all tidbits on all pages that have a certain word either in the quote itself or as one of the tags, if you're looking at a broad topic. At the very least, I'm sure the new implementation will not lose any of this functionality. The three big problems that Theoryland has that will be corrected are: slow to update (because it's a Wheel of Time fansite, not a Brandon fansite) and lots of quotes from Robert Jordan (because... it's a Wheel of Time fansite, not a Brandon fansite!), and an inconsistent tagging system (it works fine for characters and places, but Realmatic topics and magic systems are a little hard to follow). Even if they were just copying the Theoryland platform onto our site and repopulating everything, it would still satisfy a good chunk of what you're looking for (although you can't combine a date search and a tag search, like "everything about Kaladin before 2014"). So, I don't think you'll have anything to worry about, even though neither of us can compare TL and SSM. But the great part is, since the new thing is in-house, we'll be able to bug them to fix stuff if it doesn't work! (I've been toying around on my own personal WoB database for a while, and once I get a look at the new system I expect I'll have some suggestions to pass along, as well.) As long as we ask nicely and are patient, if anything comes up, I'm sure Weiry and Mestiv will be happy to listen.

"Amaze Tongues" Best command ever.

You guys are all forgetting the key piece of information. Kaladin is only strong because of Syl. Eragon is only what he is because of Saphria. I'm taking Syl. This is no bias, obviously. Syl is both intelligent and articulate.

I think at the time of the first book Kelsier was 'on the side of good' but not really a very good person himself. I think that by that point he wanted to be though. My understanding is that before he & Mare were caught he wasn't that interested in helping others, he wanted wealth but even more so he wanted to be the person who accomplished stuff nobody else did. After Mare's death & his escape he became committed to overthrowing the Final Empire, & had learned about the power of hope in helping people to survive the worst times, but he was still in significant part driven by the desire to be 'the best', he wanted to overthrow the Empire not just because it was cruel but also because it was thought to be impossible. I think that his sparing Elend was another big step, mentoring Vin changed him some more. And then I think Leras/Preservation's 'Do better, the souls of men are not your toys' speech and Vin's final words about love are going to have had an impact, going forwards. Kelsier will probably always have a weakness for grand gestures, but I think in Era 2 (and on?) he'll be more careful about his actions' impact on ordinary people's lives. And he sees the larger picture now. I think he's likely to end up being somewhat of a maverick/rogue agent of Harmony, doing things behind the scenes to protect / strengthen Scadrial in the face of other Cosmere forces, but maybe things that Harmony can't do and maybe can't even want to do or ask other people (eg Wax, kandra) to do due to his 'Shardic Mandate limitations'.

Someone in another thread mentioned a Lift and Wit teaming up after Lift attempts to stab Wit with a Shardfork. I said I'd read a 10 book series solely about their exploits. Give me Worldhopper Wayne and MeLaan gallivanting about the Cosmere 'trading' for important peoples things and stealing accents? I'd read a 36 book series. Assuming they crossed paths with Wit and Lift at some point. (Slightly more serious, [because that was very, very serious] Wayne actually does make sense as a Worldhopper. He and MeLaan even have a relationship developing, and I think there was even a 'wish you were a kandra' type line. I can see Wayne 'dying' only to find his way back somehow to cruise the Cosmere, maybe even as a kandra.)

My uncle introduced me to the Cosmere. Me, after mentioning Adonalsium to my uncle (who's read every Cosmere book), and him asking "Who's Adonalsium?"

But will it have a release trailer?

WoK spoilers

I'm planning on doing an oil painting of thousands of arrows being sucked straight toward Kaladin's shield. I will use vivid colors and the "invisible lines" of the arrows will make Kal the exact focus of the artwork. It'll be a long project, but that's my favorite "image" in WoK.

A great insightful post maxal! I can suggest one extra reason why this "minor character romance" option would be a poor idea: readers would be less likely to care whether or not Adolin solves his relationship problems if it's with some minor unimportant character. You sort-of alluded to this already but I figured it was worth mentioning specifically. Basically, the stakes would be a lot lower meaning that the sense of satisfaction of him resolving this problem would be significantly reduced. The higher the stakes, the greater the impact on the plot and other major characters, the more meaningful it would be. It's a major part of his character so it would feel cheap if resolving it was pretty much inconsequential.

I'd forgotten about this completely. But I was thinking of taking it a step further, rather than just using an inert framework. Having a Kandra use a fully, or partially mechanized frame that they could control internally. They could give themselves all kinds of neat boosts, hydraulically assisted musculature for one. On top of all the neat weapons they could hide. I have this vision of the Kandra becoming an amalgamation of our contemporary cyborgs: The terminators, the borg, the augmented from Ghost in the Shell, Except with the distinct advantage of being able to shed their skeleton's at need. Especially if Allomancy cannot touch metal within them, Kandra could become quite terrifying in the Sci-Fi era.

The universe of the cosmere is different from real-life, even without the influence of Adonalsium. On these planets, there is still the Cognitive Realm and the Spiritual Realm, and there are phenomena relating to these realms that don't come from Shards, but from ambient Investiture. On Threnody, there's a phenomenon in the Cognitive realm, which results souls not moving Beyond and staying as Shades. On First of the Sun, the birds have natural interactions with the other realms (like hiding someone in the Cognitive realm, or seeing the future using the Spiritual realm). Souls are made of Investiture, so that might be the source of this ambient Investiture. The planets also appear to have unique elements to them in how they interact with Shards and magic. In other words, if Harmony went and Invested in a different shardworld, it would manifest a new magic system, which would be distinct from what was seen on Scadrial. So, that's how different minor Shardworlds can have different manifestations. So, it's kind of like how RL earth has different ecosystems, even at the same latitudes/longitudes. Life in the Sahara desert is very different than in Central America, even without human interference and civilization to build cities and all that stuff. The South Pole got penguins, and the North Pole got polar bears. The different environments on different Shardworlds can result in different kinds of life and different ways to interact with native Investiture.

Although this is a great alternate scene, I'm going to be that guy and tell you that what you've quoted is not Vader's line... To contribute to the topic at hand though, Changing the "fabrial" to "Surgebinding" makes the scene more confusing if Nalan still used a Regrowth fabrial.