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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.

Has anybody noticed this passage from the soulcaster interlude? Doesn't this sound like she is drawing a spren capable of granting the surge of transformation to help her? We still don't really know how soulcasters and other surge fabrials work. I think it's unlikely a minor spren could grant a full surge, just as I find it unlikely that a nahel spren would be trapped in a surgebinding fabrial. What I think is that a surgebinding fabrial draws a nahel spren that briefly grants surgebinding through the fabrial instead of a radiant. What seems to contradict this theory is that Kaza is able to see spren in their CR form, like the 'beasts' that are the anticipationspren. So why doesnt she mention seeing any Inkspren or Cryptics? The only answer I can come up with is that the spren grant the surges on a spiritual level and don't actually have to be present in the CR. But that doesn't seem to fit with what we've seen of other spren. So I really don't know, I just thought I'd put this idea out there and maybe someone else has a better idea of what to make of the passage above.

Razor Shard gazed in a slight sense of detachment as his panicked plea was ignored in favor of a painting. Well he was the one that attacked her, so it was only right that her artwork was placed above him in importance. And maybe promising anything in the spur (eh?) of the moment wasn't the best idea. She could still be a changeling after all, and just hiding it really well. Recovering from the sudden blow to his pride, he refocused enough to hear her slightly stumbling explanation. Wait, so she had been following him after all? But it was for a completely different reason. Though not many ponies would try to hunt down a stranger just to ask for their feedback on a painting. Although not many ponies would leave said painting unattended in a public place either. Maybe she was slightly airheaded? He straightened and tried to recall his thoughts when he first saw the painting. "It does look very well painting and I can see that you care deeply about your work. The expressions and proportions were well done, and having Princess Luna at the centerpoint of the picture grabs the viewers attention." He then tilted his head and squinted a bit. "I don't recall it being quite that... dark, when the declaration was given though. Closer to early morning than late dusk. I do suppose the coloration lends itself to a slightly damper view of the scene." He gazed once more at it, thinking about other feedback he could give. He'd knocked this innocent pony over through his own fault, and by gum if she wanted feedback he would give her the best she could get! Out of him. Other ponies could probably do better. Latching onto a few stray thoughts, he mentioned "The two points of advice I would give if you plan to keep this or frame it in some way would be to clear the cutie mark of Frank here," he pointed to the fainting pony. "Nobody wants to have that hanging over them each time somebody sees it, and the other one would be to add a changeling into the scene somewhere barely noticeable. If this is going to be saved, that little detail would help remind what it is about, and make the picture just a bit more sinister, even though we know there weren't any actually there." That we know of, went unsaid. Both of them were thinking it. At least Razor Shard thought so. Was it rude to put thoughts into other people's heads like that? He assumed it was and promptly attempted to erase the memory of ever having done so from his mind. Looking up at the pony in question, he noticed her seriously jotting down notes in a pad of paper he hadn't seen her pull out, an intent expression on her face. Waiting until she was finished and gazing up with a bright smile, he proceeded what probably would have been a show of gratitude by saying "But I still knocked you down due to my own fault, and could have damaged both you and your artwork. So is there anything I can do to make it up somehow?" Just because he wasn't offering to do anything anymore didn't mean he didn't still feel guilty after all. And taking a minute to give his inexpert advice on a painting wasn't enough to make that up. If she didn't have some way for him to make it up to her, he'd just have to owe her one the next time they met.

I just realized that I won't be on tomorrow, so I should probably vote today so I don't make myself into a liar. So I although I don't have a ton of stuff to go off of, I'll vote on Paranoid King. His quick vote on Rand still seems kinda suspicious, even though he did take it off and clarify later. It could just be an attempt to cover his mistake. Or he could just be innocent. In which case, I do apologize, but I do want to vote and you're the person who I think could do it. Razor Shard noticed a flicker of movement from the edge of his eye as he rounded a corner around the foalcare center. Suddenly wary, he kept track of what it was and it soon revealed itself to be a pegasus, soaring down the streets close to head level, head swiveling as though they were looking for something. Or maybe it was a changeling disguised as a pegasus, and it was looking for a someone. Holding his breath, he made his way to the next corner, and timing it properly, leaped out just as the strange pegasus flew by, crashing into them and sending both into a tumble along the ground, resulting in them both fetching up against the wooden edge of a nearby house. After taking a moment to recover, Razor Shard made his way to his hooves and stared down the suspicious character, who looked like a female Pegasus with a cream colored coat and glittering purple hair. "What are you doing, who are you searching for? Do you work for Chrysalis? Talk!" He glowered down, before recognizing the canvas gripped tightly in her hooves, held protectively so it didn't break or rip in the tumble. He immediately deflated. "Oh horsefeathers I'm sorry. Sorrysorrysorry-" Still apologizing, he held grabbed her hoof with his own and yanked her onto her feet before making a quick inspection. She didn't seem too injured, but the very fact that he had attacked a pony who had probably seen him next to her painting made him positively mortified. "-rrysorrysorry." He finally took a deep breath before blurting out what his still partially panicked mind could think of. "I'll make it up to you, just say whatever you need and I'll do it!" He clapped a hoof to his chest and tried to show his commitment. "And while I'm not that bright and have issues, including unprovoked assault with how things are going, Razor Shard does not go back on his word." He tried to make a sort of bow, but wasn't quite sure he'd pulled it off. "Please let me make it up to you, I'll just feel awful until I can!"

Giving 2000 breaths would take them to the 5th heightening, so in the case of illness it would heal them. For injury though it wouldn't. The fifth heightening makes you functionally immortal, so age and illness won't happen, but death by wounds is still possible. Something else happens with divine breath, because when it heals someone it is consumed, and the recipient is not elevated through the heightenings and gains no Breath of their own. If there is a command that functions in the same way, which seems like it should be possible by Endowments intent, it hasn't been found. Until it is, it appears to be a function unique to the Divine Breath. Like so much else.

The ponies seemed to be distraught. Yes, shape-shifting beings with evil intents have infiltrated their populace and have injured their ruler, but it is all just the work of entropy, the embodiment of his Master. Ironpies watched with a cold steely stare, saying nothing. He had nothing to say. He just wondered what it was like to be one of those rather foolish ponies. What went on in their minds? His had been offered to Ruin, so he knew none of those things. In all honesty, he thought this all ridiculous. If there were rogue kandra about, with enough emotional Allomancy he could sway them from their cause. Unfortunately, as he had stated earlier, there was no easy supply of metal to burn. He only had cookies. And he would use them... somehow.

I'm glad to see that you gave this its own separate theory. Most of my concerns got dealt with during the conversation over here, so I don't have too much to say. You would not actually need a 2:1 Cadmium:Bendalloy bubble ratio. You need a 1:1 to have the crew quarters reach normal time, but most extra should be phased out as you increase the number of Bendalloy Bubbles. If you get enough bubbles that the "real-travel-time" is say.. 10 seconds from Scadrial to Roshar, then you don't really need the people inside the ship to be slowed down any, since 10 seconds is quite literally nothing. Disclaimer: I will admit that that would be a lot of bubbles to make the trip that quick, so the ratio will probably be more like 9:13 than 1:2, but the point stands. I don't think both bubbles affect time at the same factor of change, but have no proof to back that up. (it just doesn't feel right to me for some reason) I think the biggest issue with this entire theory is the fact that Cadmium Bubbles are normally the bigger of the two, and for this idea to work we need massive Bendalloy Bubbles. Here's some extra information: (that anyone who deals with these should have bookmarked) If you are on mobile, be prepared to have the page loading for a few minutes. It's a big post

Not quite. Your idea with a Cadmium Bubble completely inside a Bendalloy Bubble would cancel out the effect of both bubbles in an area the size of the cadmium bubble. You, and anything outside both bubbles would experience normal time, while the rest of the ship would be faster relative to standard time. However, now that I'm thinking about it, having the Bendalloy Bubble be the big one is still clever if you could tie it to the ship. Following the math on the wiki page, you would compress 2 minutes of the ship moving at full speed into 15 seconds of actual travel time. You'd still need the 2 minutes worth of fuel, but we're never bypassing fuel of some sort. Your idea would actually work if you used a big Bendalloy bubble around the whole ship, a Cadmium bubble to cancel out the crew quarters into real-time, and then another Cadmium bubble to actually slow that area so you don't need as much in the way of food supplies.

Mila grumbled to herself, as she helped to gather dinner for the guards. More guards meant more work for her. She didn't think it was fair that she had to keep up the pretense of being a maid. She was just as skilled, if not more so, than a lot of these men. At least she was on the guard payroll. Not that anyone but Lord Conrad was aware of that. Her skills made her quite valuable, and Conrad wanted them kept secret. A woman guard would stand out. She understood. She just didn't like having to put up with maid duties. She got along well enough with all of the guards she knew, but there were so many new recruits she would have to be more careful from now on. Men were not to be trusted easily. She wasn't afraid of them. She could take them down easily enough if she had too, but the whole point of her being a maid was to keep that a secret. All the same, she'd rather avoid any situations that would get her fired. Beating or killing a guard just because he got a little fresh would definitely get her in trouble. Even if it would send a good message to the others. She smiled at that last thought, and reminded herself that she could always feel better by spitting in the food of the guards she disliked. Besides, being a maid did come with the perks of hearing all of the house gossip. Maids had a knack for that. You'd think they were all burning tin the way they learned information. She chuckled to herself. Maybe they were? After all, she was a secret guard posing as a maid. Perhaps she should be more careful around the other maids as well. _____________________________________________________ I thought I'd get some RP in before the game started to establish how a girl could be a guard lol

I'm tickled pink to be playing a mlp based game! I will try to be as active as possible, and remember to keep up my cosmetic role! @Herowannabe I loved the writeup!! @randuir great thoughts! Thankyou Jeeves! For now I don't have much to say except I agree that the unicorn's should take advantage of their pms, and add us non unicorns lol. I mostly just really want pms haha. I almost signed up as a unicorn just for that, but I couldn't pass up wings! Also, I was gonna try to urge everypony towards a no vote first cycle so I could be sneaky and use my cool pegasi ability, but I agree with Randuir that the element of generosity would most likely end up hurting a villager this cycle if we did that. Plus, now that this is my fourth game to play, I'm starting to realize that a first cycle lynch is usually a good way to go. Especially in a shorter game. Also warning! If you have the element of loyalty please be careful about protecting the pony with the element of magic because it could really backfire on them. I think it would be safe unless you were under a lot of suspicion, or you thought the elims might attack you. I'd just thought I'd say something about that because we don't want to lose our magic pony, but especially not early in the game, because no magic pony means no more powers! The element of kindness is awesome! You can't die! (Or be kidnapped whatever lol) wait....can the pony with that element still be kidnapped, but not lynched? Laughter is cool because if you use it correctly, it could be a great protection for ponies you believe are confirmed village! Well I said I didn't have much to say, but then I thought of some things lol.

Thank you. It's a good thing there's no grammer componant to my english exam.

While I agree with your point, they were buying soulcast metal. They didn't want metal that had been mined. It was probably just a typo on your part, since most of the post has it right except that one word. Just a standard nitpick. Your point about thunderclasts is interesting though. I wouldn't be surprised. It depends on how exactly Transformation works, I think. If the new stuff remembers that it wasn't originally stone, it may not be usable by them.

Without some reason to hate Kaladin, some very personal reason, I feel like most people would see someone who reminds them of home, even someone they disliked, and feel protective of them. They would become a symbol of life back home. The lack of recognition on Kaladin's part, and the circumstances that Gaz called him "Lordling" in... I just don't see this as anything beyond a horribly callus and jaded man, taking out his aggression on men he thinks are already dead anyway.

Person: I know you're trying to relearn piano, but can you stop badly playing so much Nintendo soundtrack? Me:

There's been two games set in SotD, I believe, although one was a vanilla game, so the setting was little more than flavor. MR11 had roles, however, so if you want give it a look and see if you'd like to reuse anything in it. I'd also recommend you read the game because it was a pretty good one. I had a lot of fun, at least. If you do, I recommend you don't spoil yourself and read it from beginning to end. That being said, I'm personally not a fan of unintended death as a mechanic. I would probably just use the islands being dangerous as flavor for people dying of inactivity. I'd also say that using percentages at all unnecessarily complicates things. As a player and a GM I prefer things like not being able to use an ability two turns in a row, as an alternative way to balance it.

I was going to suggest that you name it after that cone-shaped library in Kharbranth that Shallan and Jasnah studied in, but I googled it and found out that it's called... "the palanaeum." so never mind, just ignore me.

Most of this is totally up to you, honestly. 1. Color/size of star just depends on how long you want the day/year to be. Here's a nice little chart for comparison. Size increases from bottom left to top right. Consider the extreme case of the recent TRAPPIST-1 announcement. It's a star all the way down near DX Cancri on that chart. It has seven planets crammed around it, three of the m the habitable zone. The whole system is well within the orbit of Mercury. The planet orbits are each just a few days long and the habitable planets are fairly close in size to Earth. Note that, in order to cram this many sizeable planets into a small place the orbits have to be somewhat resonant. So that's the extreme case of a red dwarf with Earth-sized planets. You probably want something bigger than that. For a sunset on Earth, the Sun moves roughly 20 degrees across the sky to go from day to night. Assuming that's about the same for your star/planet, and you want the sunset/sunrise to take 168 hours (7 Earth-days) then you need a 3024 hour solar day (126 Earth-days). Decide how long you want the year to be and then you can calculate the length of the sidereal day. (i.e. how fast the planet needs to spin) Of course you can achieve a long day no matter how long your year is. Year length and rotation speed both play into the length of a solar day (and thus how long a sunset/sunrise takes). As long as the rotational speed is reasonable (say 1 rotation per 6 hours max speed) you can take a year length and reach the solar day you want. 2. Planet size is pretty flexible. Like I said, there's evidence of Earth-sized planets around very small stars. A planet doesn't fly away or fall into the star because of it's size. That doesn't really come into play unless the planet is comparable in size to the star, which it won't be. Density is pretty flexible. 3. A thick atmosphere would certainly help with keeping temperatures uniform, but you don't want to go the direction of Venus because then you get ridiculously high air pressures at the surface. A bit thicker than Earth should be fine. Go as high as you can on greenhouse gasses without getting unrealistic for life. 4. Moons is up to you, but more moons means stability is complicated. You don't have lots of moons on terrestrial plans. The Moon makes the possibility of other moons around Earth difficult. A second moon would have to be very small and very close to Earth or small and much further out. Mars has two moons that are both very small. Roshar has three small moons in close elliptical orbits, but they're also technically unstable. 5. As you can see with TRAPPIST-1, other planets are totally possible. They might need to be in resonant orbits though. 6. A formula for what exactly? There's no catch-all formula for planetary science.

But will it have a release trailer?

The end of WoR was quite incredible. So many favorites to choose from for me come from this part of the book, but first that comes to mind is the scene where... Two books worth of character development coming together to create what is for me one of the most powerful chapters of fiction in recent (perhaps longer) memory.

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.

Hmm, that didn't seem to get anyone fired up, so let me add some theory crafting. Shallan can read minds. Those cremlings were actually a Dysian Aimian or whatever Arclo is, and just by being in their presence, she can piece together memories of where that Aimian has been. And that same Aimian happened to witness his events in those interludes. What do you think? How else could she have known about these events?

Maybe they're the side of Scadrial that's closer to developing instant noodles.

Well, first I want to point out that ettmetal can, from what little we've seen, apparently be utilized to store and use allomancy like a mistborn. With the caveat that it can be regulated via as yet unrevealed mechanical or electro-mechanical devices. This opens up the possibility of allomancy being used in automated functions through logic, circuitry, and eventually, full blown computing. This would enable the creation of integrated circuits for detecting/reacting to specific types of investiture, hyper efficient alternating steel pushing and iron pulling drive motors, duralumin over clocked super processors, peweter enhanced cranes and industrial equipment, overlapping mechanically driven time bubble array nuclear reactors...the limits are as endless as they are absurd. Jewelry that makes you feel happy and motivated, towers that provided identityless compounded healing feruchemy to aid stations throughout a city, driverless cabs that speed up or slow down time so you can get where you need to go instantly, or have extra time to work along the way as needed. Ettmetal opens up the ability to essentially have an arbitrarily large team of mistings at the disposal of any task. And it probably has some use for feruchemy as well. Another thing to keep in mind is that while we've only seen hemalurgy used with living beings, it appears to be mechanical in nature. Bind points between human physical manifestations and their spirit webs can be accessed and manipulated using hemalurgy. Lower life forms can be similarly affected. What about a sentient android? What about a toaster? What about a stick? The possibilities dear readers, in my opinion, are endless. The only thing we truly know about hemalurgy is that it's potential has only just barely begun to be recognized and explored...

Storm Trek: The Next Desolation

Thanks! I've always wanted to be solid. It's heaps better than liquid, and gas blows. I should clarify that what I meant was that I preferred the original ending to WoR where Kaladin kills Szeth with a hit to the spine to the new edited ending where Szeth is hit in a less vital point and "dies" when he hits the ground. The original ending felt more in character, and the new one felt more OOC, especially as you pointed out, Szeth was a legitimate danger and an actual murderer compared to the unintentional murderer by negligence that Elhokar is. There are many moments through the whole book where Kaladin says he wants to kill Szeth. All of these were building up and foreshadowing Szeth getting killed by Kaladin. I won't say that Shallan doesn't have moments of plot convenience, and how everyone who didn't like her ends up respecting her by the end because she's clever, funny, unexpectedly honest, good at getting what she wants through personal charm or magic, or a combination of the above. But Kaladin's sudden ability to learn how to change the direction of gravity was accelerated beyond disbelief to me. When I first read it, I didn't know about all the whole Cosmere-verse stuff with the three realms, and I didn't recognise that Kaladin saw into the Cognitive Realm until much later. But it was never explained in-story, and Kaladin didn't think about it again, so I felt unsatisfied by it. It is likely that Kaladin will go to the Cognitive Realm again in the future books and my response will retroactively shift as a result, but as of now, his accelerated learning is a moment in the book when my reaction is like "Really? Is that it???". Your mileage may vary, of course. I don't get the hate for Kaladin's headband. Brandon Sanderson didn't like it, which is why Michael Whelan changed it for the cover of WoR, but I think it's pretty cool. It reminds me of Rambo and also martial arts movies full of angsty young men trying to prove themselves to the world, so it fits Kaladin. Is it too goofy looking or something? Urithiru also had glass windows. Everything is built on giant scale and flat glass windows are pretty difficult to make without industrial processes - in the old days they were made with lots of little panes set into a lead frame instead of big sheets of plate glass that modern skyscrapers have, so it must have been Soulcast. If the Cosmere didn't have magic to explain things, I would have said ANCIENT ALIENS. Kaladin's (and most characters') appeal differs from person to person. I would have liked him more if I read his story when I was younger, but preferences change over time with life experience. When I read about Kaladin being hotheaded and shooting himself in the foot because he acted without thinking, a part of me cringes. It overshadows awesome moments he might have later on. I think I just focus on the insignificant details too much. Yeah, it's a photo that I put some blurring filters on because I didn't want to draw all the gym equipment. It gets tedious after three or four treadmills. I blurred and used some pixel noise in the background, and painted the foreground and dumbbells to blend it with the cartoon character art. The grunge filter is some layered textures. I used a parchment and a concrete texture set at low opacity, but you can find a lot of different ones that give a similar effect on google. Sites that sell flooring tiles often have good high res photos of their products that you can layer on in Photoshop. Like this one, for example. A pet peeve is something (usually small and insignificant) that annoys you personally. I think you mean "head canon" there. Lirin and Renarin have glasses, which means Alethkar has optometrists or some basic oculists who are qualified to test eyesight and fit glasses to customers, if only in the big cities to rich people who can afford the service. Which Adolin can. So it is likely that Adolin doesn't have bad eyesight, or least not bad enough that he requires glasses to be able to function normally in his daily activities. He might have mild hyperopia/farsightedness where things that are far away look normal, but close up is blurred. But we will never know, because slice-of-life moments where Adolin goes to the optometrist, or Kaladin and Rock go grocery shopping at the commissary for the evening's dinner stew are charming and humanising but add nothing to the plot. A lot of WoB's that happen at conventions and signings only become fandom knowledge if someone records it or posts the answer here or on the Coppermind wiki or another site. Not everyone is a Sharder, involved with the fan community, or bothers to copy down spoken answers into text to post online. Finding WoB's is difficult because it only works if you know what you are looking for. Many of them can be found in a Google search, if you know the keywords in the question, so if you've read it before, you can find it again. It is the new or obscure information that is almost impossible to find. I don't judge or dismisspeople who don't know information that isn't published in a book, but for the better known information that answers many repeatedly asked questions (Dalinar's Shardblade switch, was X character really Hoid, why doesn't Kaladin fix his forehead scar, does the Stick have magical powers) it would be good to have a place where this information can be read and sorted through. Does it all come down to a difference in personality and attitudes? I have no issues talking to people, or new people I have never met before. It's kind of fun, but I know that 95% of these people aren't people I could maintain a long-term friendship with, and of the few that I can, long-term doesn't mean forever. People change, and trying to maintain a relationship with someone you have less in common with than when you first met them is not that enjoyable when all you have to talk about is stuff you did a long time ago, when you liked one another more. Sometimes you just have to let things go and downgrade a friendship to an acquaintanceship and make new friends. Perhaps I am more blasé about relationships, but while it is disappointing when it happens, I don't consider it a rejection on the level of having my feelings stomped on and shredded. I am more easy-going in nature, and you are more... intense. If people have rejected you for some unknown reason, it might be because you can get emotionally invested in things and way more passionate than other people, so a casual conversation that started out as friendly turns into an unexpected heated discussion. Not everyone wants their conversation to derail into a debate, and if you have very strong opinions, it may come off as aggressive or as if you are ignoring opposing opinions that might be equally valid. The solution to that is to chill and not to take things personally, but then again it is the same sort of advice like "Just go outside and talk to people" that natural introverts get that doesn't help them much at all. So another solution is to be more judicious with what you say and remember your audience. A friendship involves one or more other people! I don't know if that helped. But if you can detach yourself from the negative emotions of rejection and try to figure out why people might like or dislike you, you could understand why things happened. Even extroverted characters can be introspective and self-aware. And now I think I am beginning to understand why people don't' see as much into Adolin's character as you. True, hardcore extroverts are rare, because most people, including me, have a mix of both traits, and anyone who strays too close to either end is in the narrow bit of the bell curve, statistically. Adolin's personality is taken at face value - he has friends, he likes hanging out with them, it's sad when they don't want to hang out with him. And it isn't developed further unless it is to set him up as BFF's with Kaladin and Shallan. I myself cannot even imagine being so extroverted that my whole identity is defined by what other people think of me. Sure, I understand what crowd hype is, and to feel pleased when you have made a good impression on a large group of people who think of you as lively and interesting. But I cannot comprehend a person who so deeply needs interaction with others that their life becomes meaningless without it, and I would not be the only person. It is such an extreme that it would be like someone who is agoraphobic to the point where going outside gives them anxiety, and making eye contact with a late night supermarket cashier sends them into a paranoid panic. And if I am being honest here, it is something that few people relate to, like they don't relate to extreme extroversion. That is why such characters are the side character of a cast ensemble in a TV show, like Joey from Friends or Barney from How I Met Your Mother. It is a personality trait that could be explored, but in a supporting character, it doesn't take the overall narrative forward. I totally understand the "book hangover" feeling when you finish a big series with a well-developed character cast and world and when you start a new one, you cannot help but compare and feel like it isn't as good as the last one, until you get fully immersed in the story (which may or may not happen). If I only read the same few books, I would not have discovered other books as good or better than the old ones. And I think it's better to return to an old favourite after a break where I read other books. I get a fresh enjoyment upon my return, and it stops me from being tired of the same character or character archetype. You criticise underdog farmboys with magical swords for being repetitive plot device characters, but you prefer to read only extroverted protagonists. It is not so different. I disliked the dragons and thought they were all selfish, manipulative lizards. Which is cool, since many other fantasy stories portray them as majestic creatures you can't argue with, like beautiful vegetarian elves. The dragons were useful in fighting off the invaders who did the Forging in the first trilogy, and it turned out that the Skill came from Elderling descendents, which is useful. But I would rather live in a world with no magic if it meant there were no selfish dragons who do more harm than good. So many stories are about magic returning to a mundane world (Westeros, for example), and it is rare that characters decide that magic is more trouble than it's worth and get rid of it. Renarin would not have thought that Shallan is funny or witty. In the Boots chapter in WoR, Shallan makes a joke about "vesture" and "virtue". Renarin would have been silent for a minute to analyse (the habit of his that makes girls think he is awkward and unsettling) and then commented on how the two words are pronounced similarly but mean different things, and killed the moment. I don't know if you read WoR in French or English, but it was not really funny to me because they're not that close when you say it aloud compared to how it looks on the page. Renarin would not have responded to Shallan's teasing and baiting, and he has the patience and composure that Kaladin lacks. I still think he and Shallan could have made a better long-term couple than Shallan and Kaladin, but it would take more work to set it up and sell it. Obviously it won't go there since there's Adolin, but if Adolin carks it before SA5 , Shallan could be the Navani since Vorinism has a love of symmetry. I loved the HP universe as a kid, but now I can see all the little holes in the world building. This is where the trend of a more scientific approach to worldbuilding in fantasy has stepped into the niche for all those readers who want something more solid for their backstory - authors like Brandon who have so much extra detail that he spends hours at signings answering questions about it. When I think about Harry Potter, it's kind of ridiculous that their economy runs off gold coins, and there is a rule of magic that says you can't create food from thin air, but you can take a tiny sliver of carrot and enlarge it until you have a carrot the size of a house. But somehow the Weasleys are so poor that Ron only has a sad corned beef sandwich on the train, while Harry buys everything on the snack trolley. I like to rant on Kaladin because I like to rant. I can take the rant to any and every character if I wanted, like Renarin or Navani or Shallan, and characters from other books and series and other authors. I love ranting and I like rant reviews on Goodreads, because they're the most entertaining ones to read compared to the boring "This book was great, 5/5". As long as it is done in a tongue-in-cheek and self-aware humourously sarcastic manner, it doesn't devolve into tiresome complaining where you have to point out, "If you hated it so much, why did you keep reading?". It's a fine line to walk, and I like to keep practicing at it. I dislike Kaladin's narrative more than Kaladin the character. Sure, his depression can be painful to read, but what I really am not fond of is all the bad things that happen to him to make him bounce from plot point to plot point like the pinball on the flippers of fate. This is mostly a personal preference thing. I did not like Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events" for the same reason, because each book left me wondering what sort of bad things the author would force onto the poor orphans in this episode, and made me incredibly frustrated because their lawyer and guardian was made intentionally stupid so bad people could keep trying to steal their inheritance. Sure it keeps the plot moving forward and characters going in a new direction, but it is only because the author keeps introducing freak accidents and sudden deaths of the one foster parent they actually liked. And if it is only good things that the author gives instead, then you get Mary Sue characters common in wish fulfillment-heavy Asian light novel and web serial novels. Gosh, I now realise I am probably very picky. At least I have read widely enough to realise what I like or dislike about novels and can now pick the ones I know I will enjoy instead of attempting to slog through. The longer the narrative buildup is, the more people expect in the eventual payoff. And if the payoff is falls short, it colours the whole book and readers are disappointed, even if the rest of the story is well-written with compelling characters. Brandon is pretty good at managing buildup and momentum to payoff, which makes reading his 1000 page doorstoppers easy to fly through, but sadly not every author is as good at this. I have been disappointed a number of times in other series, but no matter how much I rant, I still think Brandon is one that guarantees satisfaction. Except with the Reckoners trilogy, but let's just ignore that. I thought you would have disliked Lirael since she is an obvious introvert who even tried to Honor Chasm herself. She gets better, obviously, and is not so annoying once her dog tells her to stop whining and get over it, but it's pretty clear she's not a happy neurotypical standard protagonist. That is why I enjoy Garth Nix books. You get presented with what seems like a straightforward growing up story, then your expectations don't pan out, but the ending is still satisfying and bittersweet. Sabriel never really rescued her father, after all. Also the character from "Bloody Jack" wasn't a caricature as much as she was a victim of fate and circumstance. The story would end after Book 2 if she got away with her crimes and settled down into obscurity. But it became a cat and mouse situation where the author kept milking the series and making the protagonist go on the run like Valjean to Javert. It wasn't just her extroversion and big mouth that was getting her into trouble, but rather eavesdroppers at the wrong place and wrong time that reported her, and other contrived situations like an accidental distinctive tattoo reveal. You know, (in)convenient bad luck. Johnny Rico's actor has a rectangle head and he looks like Ken doll. There, I said it. Art time Elhokar and the Symbolheads This is based off the Elhokar character design I did a few pages ago. The crown is the same one on the House Kholin glyphpair. Elhokar wears a different glyphpair (I'm assuming it's his personal glyphpair) of a crown and a sword, which is what I put on the shoulder patch. I wonder what they use signet rings for when it's the women who read and write all the messages. In the old days of Earth history, people used wax and signet stamps so they knew if other people were tampering with their mail when the letters arrived with the seals broken, but in Roshar, they have spanreeds linked to one other fabrial pen, and personal code passwords to authenticate users. Detail If you watch scary movies, they always have a jump scare when someone has a bathroom cabinet over the sink with a mirror that opens and closes. This drawing was inspired by that. Process Elhokar's Garden I'm taking artistic liberties with the timeline, but this is the time in between the 4:1 duel and Kaladin getting released from prison, where Elhokar sulks about how cool Kaladin is and how it made him look bad. I imagine that Elhokar likes to go to his fancy feast islands to drink alone and whinge about his first dahn privilege and how much his life sucks. And then Dalinar comes to talk to him and Elhokar gets mad because "You're not my dad, you can't tell me what to do!". Full image The Feast Rough concept sketch based on book description. I drew the dining platforms as Asian style pagodas. But I think they're too small because it should be able to fit a dining table and a quartet of musicians. Still, I am happy with the overall aesthetic, which is supposed to be ostentatious and a obvious waste of a rich man's money. Kind of like the old Victorian folly which is supposed to look cool rather than have some practical purpose. Szeth the Assassin This was me just messing around and experimenting with the aesthetic of Alethi interior design. Soulcast buildings are made of solid pieces of stone and decorations have to be carved out of them, and because of highstorms, windows are weak points in the structure. I've mostly drawn interiors to have big arches and columns because it is symmetrical and looks regal for the inside of a palace. Detail Costume design by Ben McSweeney. I follow canon descriptions and illustrations where they exist, and Szeth had a chapter header picture in his interude PoV chapters. The only time I disregard official description is when it is nothing like how I imagined it (Dalinar on the cover of WoK. Actually I don't think Michael Whelan's covers are offical canon after all) or it would not be practical or time efficient or sanity retaining to do so, such as the Kholin glyphpair on the front and back of Kholin army uniforms. In a painted piece, it looks really weird to copy-paste the vector file. Drawing it manually looks much, much better, but it is not something you want to draw over and over unless you don't mind going Taln crazy. Obligatory silly stuff Kaladin Stormblessed and the Power of Rock So Kaladin on the flute was sad and pathetic. You know what, let's throw away all attempts at realism and just crank the awesome up to 11 because why not. Why bother to make sense if you could be awesome instead? That's Kaladin. KALADIN THE ROCKSTAR. Oh, and he wears leather pants.

This thread has not been abandoned yet! And I am kind of annoyed by this new site layout. It logged me out in the middle writing a long post because I was taking too long, so I had to start again. Anyways, this update will be mostly character designs because that's what I like doing, and if there's no point in doing stuff you don't like in your own free time. Words of Radiance Cast Since I don't think you can click to open images to full size, CLICK HERE to open up to its full screen stretching size. Some notes about this: I drew Sadeas to have a punchable face, and Amaram to be less punchable because he's supposed to be a smarmy smug wannabe-Radiant who looks like a normal dude from the outside. I imagined him to be late 30's or almost or about 40, because Jasnah was 34 as of WoK and he was her almost-husband. Taravangian is supposed to be like a wise sage kungfu master grandpa, who looks harmless. Taln wears yellow because topazes are the gemstone of the Stonewards, but later I looked it up and found out that topazes can come in other colours than orangey-yellow, but it was too late for that. Wit has a medieval pageboy haircut because his job is to something like a King's minstrel and his blue eyes are somewhere in between light and dark. Tyn I wanted to include her, but she died 1/3 of the way through WoR, so she's hardly a major character. I actually liked her. The coat, as I have mentioned before, is similar to a cowboy's duster and Mongolian traditional dress. It's also inspired by the leather buff coats worn by musketeers in the 1600's, which are weatherproof and warm while being useful for hand-to-hand fighting. These things are pretty good at being knife proof. You can look them up! Veil Veil is something like what Tyn's little sister would be, since Shallan keeps her own voice when she Lightweaves. But Veil is tougher and slightly older. And she wears all of Tyn's clothes. Someone mentioned it before, and I thought it would be amusing. Shallan gets Adolin, but Veil gets Kaladin. I think Kaladin would really like Veil, but we all know that's never going to happen. But hey, Brandon said that there would never get a traditional love triangle, so maybe this will happen in Oathbringer. Kaladin and Veil Shallan and Veil And something different... Eshonai's Victory Eshonai's only canon picture is the chapter header icon in her PoVs. She looked like a tank!!! And because I was inspired by the Predator movie series, I draw her as huge and physically imposing relative to the other characters. But she still has a human-like face that isn't fully monster, even in Stormform. I tried to make it expressive, but clear that she's not human, hence the creepy glowing eyes. This is my impression of a chrysalis and gemheart. In my imagination, they were giant glowing, roughly faceted chunks of crystal that had mysterious flickering lights coming from the inside. And the "violet ichor" of chasmfiend blood was like a goopy slime that dripped out when you pulled the gem out of the chrysalis. Who knows, maybe it's really the texture of purple ketchup. Costume designs now! For Adolin, Shallan, and Kaladin. ALTERNATE COSTUMES Adolin - Summer uniform, with half cape. Shallan - Fancy feast dress. Her motif is flowers because "blossoms and cake", so this was inspired by lotuses. Kaladin - Amaram's squadleader. What does a takama/warrior manskirt look like? Whatever I tried looked silly, so I threw in a slit for mobility and called it a day. HALF DRESSED Adolin - Unlike Kaladin, his socks don't have holes. Shallan - What do lighteyed women wear under their havahs? Kaladin - Bridgeman uniform. The vest was inspired by boating life vests. MODERN AU - CASUAL Adolin - Fashionable, but not edgy or statement clothing. Pretty much like a magazine page or store mannequin clothing. Shallan - Shops at the thrift store, because that's what artsy people do. She dresses modestly, but comfortable. Kaladin - Doesn't care about his appearance. URITHIRU KNIGHTS logo closeup Because it would look pretty cool on a t-shirt. MODERN AU - HOBBIES Adolin - Kendo practice. It's almost like duelling... Shallan - Safari naturalist, from the thrift store. It's called vintage, you know. Kaladin - Leather race suit. When you're on your bike at the track going 300km/hr, it's almost like flying when you don't have magic. I always thought Kaladin was a bit of an adrenaline addict. And if the modern AU had an animated series Sitcom Edition, it would be something like this: Date Interrupted Shallan and Adolin go to the local malt shop or greasy spoon diner, and Kaladin is there. Rock's Diner has pictures of the Horneater Peaks, Rock with his friends Lopen and Teft, and the Bridge Four freedom forehead tattoo design. And if the the duelling preparation room had lockers, Shallan would draw something for Adolin to stick to the inside of his locker. Other girls would write glyph prayers for their suitors before a duel, but since Shallan is not like the other girls, she would do something more creative. Because Vedens are not as stuffy as those silly Alethis! First Base Yeah, I know it's naughty. Avert your eyes!!!! And now, obligatory silly stuff! MULTIVERSE CROSSOVER! Would these two like each other if they met? Who cares, it would be awesome!!!!! If this really was a buddy cop movie, there would be walking away from explosions, one-liners, Horatio Caine sunglasses moments, saving the girl, and creative interpretations of the legal code.

Are you not meaning the drunk-monkey?