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When you get very sad when you find out your one cousin who reads BS might not be at the family reunion this year. And the next one is in two years. I won’t get to talk to him about OB. I’m so sad. (We need a crying emoji. I would totally use it right now.) Also, my brother learned how to make these origami bookmarks at school, and this is what the one he made yesterday looked like... Then he came home today with this one, and said “I made one to fit The Way of Kings!” Here it is next to the other one for size comparison. When you are taking this personality type quiz, and it says, “I get to spend time in a shared activity...” but you read it as “I get to spend time on the shard...” and your like, oh yeah definitely that one. When you walk into class at school and see “cookie surges” written on the board, and start contemplating what that could mean. It didn’t actually say that, but that’s what it looked like, and I still have no idea what it actually said.

Hey there, (fellow) nerds! I've got some stuff to share with you, hot from the JordanCon oven (well, lukewarm at best by now, 'cause it's been a couple of weeks, but still!). Those of you who have either read my recap of the (the second day of the) event, or listened to my recap of the event in the most recent episode of Shardcast will know that one of the awesomest things that came out of JordanCon was Isaac Stewart's workshop on creating Stormlight glyphs. I, along with a few others (notably, @Pagerunner, @Jofwu, and @yulerule) attended, learned a lot about glyphs, created our own (I made the "argent" glyph look like a banhammer ), and I promised to get all of this sweet sweet knowledge into your brains - pending approval by Isaac and the JordanCon team. And this is where the good news come in! I heard back from both parties (I mean, I contacted them both today, so I guess I could've gotten this done sooner, but I am a procrastinator, get off my case!), and we are in the clear! The slightly less good news is that the audio of the workshop, along with the few short video clips I took will take a little longer yet, but you'll get to see them eventually. But before we talk about glyphs, and pictures, and workshopping, some credit is due. Obviously, to Isaac Stewart, art director at Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC., for creating all of this amazing work. But also to Deana Whitney, Director of Workshop at JordanCon, moderator for Isaac's workshop, creator of awesome cakes, designer of the "Happy birthday" glyphs (seen further down in this post), and a bit of a forum lurker as @DeanaMCW. Without JordanCon, and her specifically, none of this would be happening - not for many many years, at least Now, onto glyph things! You can find all of these in the Creating Stormlight Glyphs gallery album, but I wanted to go over them in greater detail here. First, a doodle Isaac (or, possibly, one of his kids) did in Silk - an artiste sketch, as he calls it. It would eventually turn into the Alethi glyph for "family" - abara, shown further down, but for now it's just a freestyle doodle meant to capture what family feels like. To him, the vertical lines are like "protective tendrils" around an inner "core." And here is the final version of abara, the Alethi glyph for "family": You can see the similarities between the original sketch and the final version. Full disclosure, if Isaac were to put glyphs like this in the canon, he would "straighten them out and clean them up more before they wind up in the books." Interesting trivia about this particular glyph is that, like many other glyphs, it derives inspiration from (ancient) Arabic and Hebrew. For this one, Isaac drew on these languages' words for "family" - 'aylah (Quora told me it might be عائلة, but I have no idea!) and baith is how he pronounced those words respectively, but he also acknowledged that he is probably saying them wrong. A quick check with Peter, and we have abara. Along similar lines, we have the Alethi glyph for "physician" - tafar: Those of you familiar with certain physicians - doctors, you might say - may recognize what inspired this one... But let's move on to the two glyphs here not designed by Isaac. These two come from Deana, but have Isaac's stamp of approval. They read "happy birthday": I'm afraid I don't know what they sound like. And finally, the main handout we used in the workshop - a two-sided printout, Nazh's glyphs page from Oathbringer on one side, and several glyph examples on the other: The first page is nothing new, though it is worth mentioning that both the Oathbringer version of it and this one have one small mistake Isaac mentioned during the workshop - the glyph for "eternal" is actually supposed to be kalak, not kalad (as it appears here). The shape of the glyph remains the same, only the name changes. The second page is a little more interesting, as it does talk about Isaac's glyph creation process, as well as the way the Alethi language qualifies nouns (Bridge Four > Four Bridge). It also includes the Alethi words for the numbers from one to ten, as well as the symbol for zero (though, perhaps, they don't have a name for it?) - a lot, if not all, of which we already knew thanks largely to @Harakeke. What is more interesting about it is that it gives us the translations for all the glyphs from the Ironstance scroll from Words of Radiance! The big glyphs there spell out "Iron Stance", the small ones presumably outline a dueling technique specific to this stance - "stance", "lure", "trap," - culminating with "finish." The red seal/stamp is the symbol of the Calligraphers Guild, as reported by @Jofwu in this post. Technically, it spells Isaac's name (as Izyk), but in-world it wouldn't be that, it would be some Alethi word (presumably) that either stands for or represents the Guild. [There was another image here, but Isaac says it was never meant to be released publicly, so I am taking it down. If you saw it, don't consider anything on it anywhere near canon] Aaand that's it! Man, but have I been itching to share all of this with you guys! So what do you think? Are you thinking about geting all inked up now?

Finale: Shao Elantris glimmered as sunset fell over the land. Alone, above Kae and the other surrounding cities, it defied the night for only the second night in many years. Of course, last night, everyone had been too afraid to watch it. Too afraid of knives in the night, of the wrath of Shu-Dereth, of death. Tonight, on the other hand... Tonight, beggar-children climbed every rooftop they could find to sit together and watch Elantris grow brighter as the sky dimmed. Tonight, the nobles climbed to the towers of their high mansions or rolled out in extravagant carriages to get a better vantage point. Tonight, mothers brought their children out in the streets to see the miracle, and tell them stories of the olden days. Inside the gates of Elantris, the Four Restorers stood in silence. There was work to be done, far more than Kae dreamed - the walls may have been restored, but the scrolls were gone or half-rotted; those Elantrians who hadn’t already discovered the Well and left were few and far between and still coming to their senses. The walls glowed, but their knowledge had been reduced to nearly nothing. They had not even quite cured Aladdin yet, when a decade ago it would’ve taken a few minutes. That didn’t matter to Kae, though, even if they’d known. Elantris’ return ultimately didn’t mean new miracles and perfect health to them - they’d gotten used to living life without that, in the long years since its fall. But they watched the silver gleam of the walls of Elantris as night fell, and for the first night in many they felt true hope. Kainae stood up, stepping down from the wall she had been facing for more time than she cared to admit. She began walking home somberly. Tears still flowed down her cheeks, and she thought of her “meeting” with herself on the wall a day earlier. She was likely mad, hallucinating, seeing visions of her future self that simply didn’t exist. Perhaps she had deserved to step off the wall when she had the opportunity, giving her compromised mind peace in the afterlife, where she could have gone to join Enelan, at his side, where she truly belonged… No, she said to herself emphatically. You know better than that. She may not clearly understand it yet, but Domi had spared her for a purpose, and she would find that purpose and carry it out. Using the same mental techniques she practiced in ChayShan, Kainae stuffed the morose thoughts of her lover self into the back of her mind, concentrating on her motions, which sped up as she paced towards her house. One, two, one, two… she counted in her head as she rounded a corner. The rhythmic thump of her footsteps and the consistent counting cleared Kainae’s mind, dispelling some of the exhaustion she had felt from kneeling on the wall for nearly a full day. At last, Kainae took the final left turn and ended in front of her house. She frowned. Her easel was still knocked down from the second confrontation with the Cultists over the course of the last several days. She propped it up, gazing at the crumpled paper with a critical eye. Tearing off the first few sheets, which were damaged beyond repair, Kainae looked at the remainder of her easel. It was still hopelessly bent, the paper unable to be reflattened and the easel itself broken in some places. This would not do. With a sigh, Kainae went to her desk, popping open the center drawer and taking out one of her precious canvases, rigid and undamaged. Unsure of what she was really doing, Kainae selected colors. The black of mourning and death and evil. A silvery gray, to represent the moonlight under which the Cultists killed. A deep green for nature, which remained in harmony despite human conflict. And finally, white, the color of hope and light. Then, moved by a sudden impulse, she seized the four colors, taking mostly black and grey, and dumped them into the same cup. Letting the mixture settle and mix for just a few seconds, she poured the contents of the cup onto the center of her canvas. The different colors bled outwards, creating patterns and shapes Kainae had no control over. Letting Domi direct the flow of the paint, she stepped back, watching as the colors mixed and spread. Amazingly, not one drop of paint ran off the edge, an occurrence only explainable by Domi. Or Jaddeth. Thoughts of Enelan quickly sprang to mind again, but she smothered them instantly, refocusing on her painting. It was definitely abstract, Kainae decided. However, two things stood out to her. The coloration was the first: the structure of the gray on the bottom of the painting, the gray-green areas, the black at the top with the strange formation that looked like a bird of some sort. These were the lands owned by the farmer Eoni, viewed at nighttime from the mountains to the east. More specifically, it was his fields, with the strange rock called Eagle’s Jaw jutting out in the middle of them. But why would Domi show her this? Kainae then looked at the center of the painting, where the white paint had formed an Aon. Shao. Change. Transformation. A change may be happening in Eoni’s lands today, she mused, but for an Aon to be in the middle of my painting, there must be some other meaning. Perhaps Domi wished to tell her about a major change in the world? Elantris had been restored, a large change that would produce yet more changes in the future, and maybe Domi warned her of this turbulent time. Or perhaps it was more personal. Kainae herself was changing. She certainly was not the person she was two days ago, when Enelan had been by her side. She was not the fearless Jindo that had chased away the Cultists coming for her. Her love of honor in battle had dwindled since then, after she had fled and run into the other Jindo on the night after. And she was not the artist who sat in her room, alone, painting for hours on end, for Kainae would not be that restful again. She was none of those people, and yet, she saw all of them reflected in her. Lover. Warrior. Artist. Broken. She could transform, had been transforming into something better. Domi would continue her renewal past Enelan’s death. And so would she. But first, something was going to happen in those fields of Eoni tonight. Kainae left her paints behind, and rushed to find out what it was. Eoni sat in the fields as the sun began dipping below the horizon. He had finally found the Aon plate, and had decided to destroy it. He walked through the city, carrying the plate, to Elantris’ pool, and dropped the plate in. The Aon itself disappeared, but the plate remained engraved and intact. Well, that would do. Eoni returned to his fields, where a crowd armed with torches and pitchforks had gathered to face him. They had decided to come to his extraordinarily grassy field, and stopped at its edge. Nigel, who appeared to be acting as the leader of the crowd, spoke. “You’ve been behind the killings! You knew that the Elantrians would see your acts, and you hid from them! Stop this horrid act, and die. We’ve got a message to send to "the Ja”—we don’t accept these sacrifices in this city!” With that, the mob moved to surround Eoni, pitchforks held at the ready. “You really shouldn’t have come here.” Eoni said, and flashed a wicked grin. “These fields are mine!” Eoni dropped to one knee and placed his hand in the soil, then began chanting in a strange language... *** In strolled across the wall of Elantris in the faint light of dusk, the meeting with the others concluded. He passed a guard, who stopped and saluted him crisply. The Elantrian Guard no longer policed the Elantrians, they served them. In made his way to the western portion of the wall, and looked out over the fields that stretched between Elantris and Kae. Down there, somewhere, was the secret tunnel leading out of Elantris that they had discovered last week. They still hadn’t had time to do anything about it, but they needed to do something. Board it up, or at least post some guards there. As In looked down, he noticed something strange about one of the fields. It had been plowed in crazy, twisting patterns. It kind of looked like Aon Shao, but different. Twisted. Different somehow. Suddenly, the fields lit up with an ominous, red light, forming a pattern. It was Aon Shao, but interspersed with strange modifiers- not like the modifiers used in Aon-Dor. They were reminiscent of the patterns the Jeskeri cultists had been using. Shao meant “change,” but this aon had been altered. Corrupted. “That can’t be good,” In said, then began running towards the guard he had passed, calling the alarm. *** Down in the fields, the crops began writhing and growing at a furious rate. Their lush green color faded away, replaced with a soft red glow. Within seconds Eoni was completely obscured by the corrupted crops, and villagers began crying out in panic as the plants thrashed about, leaving burning welts where they touched skin. Suddenly Eoni appeared, dashing through their ranks and swinging a twisted dagger. Villagers cried out in panic and dove out of the way, but Eoni didn’t stop to finish them off. “He went this way!” “After him!” *** The plants pulled away from Eoni as he ran, making a beeline for the rock formation known as the Eagle’s Jaw. Within a couple minutes the formation was in sight, and there, at its base, was the pile of shrubs that concealed the smuggler’s tunnel. Eoni just had to reach that tunnel and he would be in the clear. If the mob tried to follow him he could just collapse the tunnel behind him and bury them all alive. But before he could reach it, Sheodan burst out of the wall of glowing plants and cut Eoni off. Sheodan was covered with red welts from the plants, but his training as a soldier in Eondel’s army had allowed him to ignore the pain and catch up to the escaping Cultist. Sheodan swung his sword at Eoni’s head, but Eoni ducked under the blade and lashed out with his dagger, slashing the soldier across his gut. Sheodan grunted and fell back, clutching at the wound. Eoni growled, and moved to finish the soldier off. “SHEODAN! NO!!!” The voice came from behind Eoni and he whirled just in time to catch a glimpse of the Elantrian ANGUS before he barreled into Eoni knocking him aside. *** ANGUS dropped to his knees by Sheodan, tears forming in his eyes. He began drawing Aon Ien in the air- he hadn’t yet mastered the healing Aon, but he had to at least try to save his dear friend. Eoni grabbed his fallen dagger and scrambled back to his feet. He glanced at ANGUS drawing in the air over Sheodan, tempted to rid himself of two foes at once, but he could hear the sounds of the rest of the mob getting closer- they would be here any second. No time. He turned back to the rock just in time to see another Elantrian, Rhomil, emerging from the secret tunnel, looking surprised and scared of the scene before him. This lone, terrified Elantrian was now all that stood between Eoni and escape. Eoni gripped his bloody dagger and charged forward. *** Rhomil’s took in the horrifying scene in front of him. Corrupted, overgrown plants glowing with an evil red light writhed wildly. Sheodan lay on the ground in a spreading pool of blood while ANGUS tried desperately to get the healing Aon to work. And Eoni, who must be the Jeskeri cultist, rushing towards him with a bloody knife in his hand. Rhomil’s mind raced. He had no weapon- other than Aon-Dor, but he didn’t know any dangerous Aons. He didn’t know how to create fire or stop a man dead in his tracks. All he knew how to draw was Aon Nae, magnifcation- useless- and… He began hastily drawing in the air, his fingers leaving glowing trails in their wake drawing an aon and including the most powerful modifiers he knew. Eoni was getting closer. A dozen paces. Eight. Five. Two. Rhomil finished the aon, then closed his eyes and drew the chasm line. *** Aon Ashe burst alight with a brilliant white light- brighter than the sun. Eoni screamed, blinded by the shining Aon. He swung his dagger but missed and tripped over a rock. He fell and the dagger was knocked from his hand. He searched frantically with his fingers, trying to blink away the afterimage of the Aon burned into his vision. The villagers caught up to him first. As mob seized him and began stabbing him with pitchforks, Eoni gave the best inflamed-throat shout he could. “PRAISE THE JA!" I hope nobody minds the long write-up, we had multiple people contributing to it and since it was the finale we wanted to make it special. @Elbereth wrote the section about night falling on Elantris. @Fifth Scholar wrote the part about Kainae painting, and also made the Shao painting. @Walin wrote a death scene, part of which made its way into the write-up (In his version he gave up way too easily, and I couldn't let that happen, so I changed it and expanded on it. I hope that's alright, Walin. ) If you liked the writeup, make sure to give each of them upvotes! Walin has been lynched! He was the last remaining Cultist! The Jeskeri Cultists have been defeated! Arelon has won! @Devotary of Spontaneity and @Jondesu/ @Kynedath were lovers, and have won by surviving until the end of the game! Vote Tally: Eoni (Walin) (4): ANGUS (Jondesu ), Nigel (TheMightyLopen), Rhomil (Cadmium Compounder), Sheodan (Devotary of Spontaneity) Bill (King Cole) (3): Amati (Kidpen), Eoni (Walin) Straw (Straw) (1): Kainae (Little Wilson) Final Player List: Links Master Spreadsheet Spec Doc Jeskeri Doc Shu-Dereth Doc Elantris PM log GM thoughts to follow in a later post.

So, first, I was extremely upset at the start of the game at being made a lover. It felt like an intentional troll to reference my being the lynchpin of a love triangle in LG12, which wasn't something I wanted to be reminded about, because I spent the two months of that game in a constant state of stress because of the target on mine and both of my lovers' backs. We then died on the last turn for no good reason and lost, so I didn't even have a win to point to as meager solace for all that stress. To compound this, stress is very bad, especially when it lasts for such a long period of time. It can do things to the body. Like cause an autoimmune disease. Or severe iron deficiency. Or in my case, both. (It can also do much more than that, but you get my point). So when I think back on LG12, I don't have the best of feelings about it, yet I acknowledge that it could be a really fun game, so when this rerun came around, I surprised myself by being super-interested in playing it, even though I haven't really desperately wanted to play a game since before November. But I wanted to give this another shot. And then I was made a lover and all of those feelings from LG12 came flooding back, and I was furious (which was amusing to Fifth, for various reasons, and it's mildly amusing to me in hindsight but still). Anyway. Hero mentioned right near the start that as a Jindo lover, if my lover dies and I save myself from lover-death, I return to my original alignment and win condition. I debated with myself about this for a while. Should I turn on Len and arrange for him to get lynched? Or should I work with Len? For the first cycle, I decided not to make a decision about it. I'd just play things by ear. Then Steel swore Len as Odiv, and that changed things for me slightly. I couldn't arrange for him to be lynched, since that would hurt the Derethi faction a ton, and I also didn't like the idea of returning to village while knowing the identity of the Gyorn. But I still didn't want to throw all-in with the Derethi since while Len at that point couldn't win with the village, I still could. I just couldn't help the village find the Derethi. But I did what I could about the Jeskeri. See, it's funny you say this, because after you said that you'd scanned Len, I was worried that it was because of something I'd said to you in that PM. Maybe I'd pushed to hard or....I wasn't sure what. But knowing that it was just the lover claim helps, though it's mildly irritating that it caused a false-positive, since the lover claim was true, yet you still caught the Odiv and the Gyorn because of that one scan (with some masterful manipulation, btw. I was seriously impressed). Anyway, after Seonid posted in the thread about Steel and Len, I shot him a PM and spilled everything. The Derethi had both been caught and were screwed. I had no intention of going down with them, fun as it had been to lie to Seonid about having a Derethi pendant while trying to help the Derethi. And then Len tried to convince people there was a secret role and he couldn't possibly be the Odiv, and I'm just sitting here going "Oops. Maybe I shouldn't have told Seonid Len was indeed the Odiv?" Sorry, Len. Which leads me to this: This is interesting because, yes, there absolutely was a plan. Pyro had given me passphrase (though I'd suspected it was fake), and I passed it on to Len when he was up for the lynch. I assume Len passed it on to Devotary and Jon, because I know the plan was for all of us to vote on Lopen and then Jon would use his Derethi pendant on Len to cancel all the votes of the converts, thereby saving Len from the lynch and lynching Lopen in his stead. I had no intention of getting involved. There's a reason I was mostly silent in the thread that day, despite Len saying I could verify his story. Len had passed me that pendant, just as I'd said in the thread a cycle or two before, but I wasn't about to make claims that Len hadn't started with the pendant, or anything else. I was going to passively sit back and watch Len get lynched. I didn't want to vote with Len and aggravate the village into killing me after he died, but I also didn't want to vote on Len and betray him. So I'd decided to do nothing. And then Lopen revealed me as Len's lover (while also making it seem like I would defend Len above all else when I'd already turned my back on him), and put that target back on me, but this time from the village too, because I'm now a lover with the Odiv. I was very much not thrilled about that, and it pushed me to action that turn. There's a reason I worded the end of that post the way I did: "You've just incited my ire. You really shouldn't have done that." See, the passphrase that I'd given Len was a guess based on what I recalled form the Pyro PM. But I went back into that PM after that and checked it, realizing I'd had it a little wrong. I corrected it to Len and then cast a secret vote with it. Had the passphrase not been a fake, pushing me to action would've directly resulted in your death, Lopen. Or at least, it would've if Jon and Devotary hadn't bailed on the sinking Derethi ship (not that I blame them, since I'd basically done the same thing). All-in-all, I enjoyed this game. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Len. Steel thoroughly amused me when he made a comment in the thread about how he'd never seen how good I am with PMs, but that he was really glad I was on [his] side. I about died of laughter when I saw that. It was fun working with Aman for that short period of time, and also Seonid. And thanks for jousting with me in that PM, @Dalinar Kholin. It was quite fun, and I still say you're wrong to assume everyone experiences horrible suffering that only you can relieve them of by killing them. Additionally, it doesn't seem very Jaist to say that you'll suffer for doing this when I'm pretty sure you're supposed to get happiness in return for your devotion to the Ja and suffering isn't happiness last I checked, so.... After talking with Jon, I started to doubt a bit about Drought, actually. Straw was obviously still a suspect, but what I mentioned after rollover was true: last cycle, I'd got this feeling that Walin was voting on himself as a smokescreen, to make people think he couldn't possibly be evil because why would an evil person constantly vote on themselves. Something just felt off to me. And then I thought he'd taken over for Joe, and couldn't possibly be evil, and didn't actually bother verifying that. When I made that post in the thread and was promptly corrected, it took me a little bit to remember that I'd felt off about him beforehand, and then I went back and read his defense and caught his comment about how if he were Jeskeri, there weren't any Jeskeri Elantrians at the time, and I was like "Wait a second. This isn't a hypothetical and doesn't make sense as one. How would you know there were no Jeskeri Elantrians at the time of the scan? Unless you are Jeskeri." And I started writing a post addressing that, with the intention of switching my vote to him, when things got crazy at work and I didn't get another free second until after rollover. Twas sad. But yes, working with you was interesting, even if you spent most of it trying to get me not to trust you, yet asking me if I did. >>

Hi to everyone, i'm a big cosmere fan but unfortunately i have hooked only one of my friends and he is really behind in reading the books so i decided to register on this forum so i can discuss Branderson's works with others

From: The Lord Prelan To: Lord Anton Venture I regret to inform you that despite the value of our contract with you, we cannot assist you in the developing house war. There are too many useless nobles sitting around Luthadel, and a house war will hopefully kill them off, leaving the cream of the crop. So, while we cannot lent assistance, we hope that you make your way out with minimal casualties. Additionally, we wish to let you know that despite the house war, we will continue to expect your shipments of Atium to arrive at the desired times. Sorry about the short writeup, but I've been a bit busy the last few days. The Day will end on Monday at 5:00 PM EST. List of Players: 1. MacThorstenson (Malcolm MacClaimen) 2. ElephantEarwax (Rend) 3. Araris Valerian (Hadrian Penrod) 4. RippleGylf (Claire Lepinceau) 5. Mraize (Rhazien) 6. Elandera (Dera Renault) 7. Eternum (Aiden Ostlin) 8. Steeldancer (Steel) 9. Frozen Mint (Mint) 10. I think I am here (Itiah) 11. Bort (Jynx) 12. Shqueeves (???) 13. Arinian (Faron Elverein) 14. Dalinar Kholin (Kadgar) 15. Mark IV (Mark) 16. Snipexe (Snip Exeutor) 17. Kidpen (Amati) 18. Walin (Torden) 19. Amanuensis (Jeda Renaud) 20. Cadmium Compounder (Seamin) 21. The Young Pyromancer (Limerick) 22. Fifth Scholar (Duilin)

You know when you're in too deep when: (spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War)

This is my first post in a forum. I am not talking about this forum, I'm talking about a forum. But it seems being part of this is really worth it. So much so that after years of lurking in all kinds of forum this one is the one I chose to participate in. But I digress. So I am one book away from finishing all books in the cosmere, so it is with a heavy heart that I say I only have one more book to read (of all the books that have come out thus far) which is The Bands of Mourning and man am I loving the Wax and Wayne series. Anyhow, the page suggested I write something so here it is. PS: I'd love to answer any question since I don't know of anyone who has read the cosmere books and I really look forward to discuss them with someone. And please excuse my English, I am not a native speaker.

It seems I was suspected quite a lot this game. I'm not sure why, really. It was very interesting seeing all of the behind-the-scenes stuff for this game. I was in on some of it, but there really was a lot of cool stuff going on besides the things I knew about. Well played Steel and Len, you guys were so close. And having both Lover pairs working with the Gyorn is something I did not see coming. Wilson had mentioned the fact that as a Lover she could win with the Gyorn, but I guess I didn't really consider the possibility of the Gyorn actually just straight up claiming to someone who wasn't technically part of his faction. Speaking of which, sorry again for revealing you and Len were Lovers Wilson. Thankfully you weren't killed(very kind of you Walin), but I'll still be more careful in the future. Turns out I was correct to be worried about the low amounts of votes on Len, because he was gonna try to get me lynched, but still, I could've pushed the lynch using other reasons. And to the Jeskeri, man, you guys really did have some bad luck this game. Part of it was the excellent scanning by Aman/Seonid, but still, the fact that Aman hit the one Jeskeri who had a Korathi Pendant with his Jeskeri Pendant was just rotten luck. Then the double protection of Wilson. That was pretty strange. Anyways, great game to everyone, and a big thank you to all of the GM's! Great job with the write-ups every Cycle! I really enjoyed playing, and as an added bonus, I actually survived for the first time in a while! Edit: @Cadmium Compounder, looks like we both tried to Inspire Drought to vote for different people, which is why it failed. xD I tried to make him vote on Walin and you tried to make him vote on King Cole.

I’d like to echo Walin’s commendation of @Cadmium Compounder. It was really a shame he started in Elantris, because he skewered the Gyorn, Odiv, and two of the Jeskeri cycles before Seonid scanned them. His analysis was well thought out and accurate, and I think I’ll be keeping an eye on him in any future games I play, especially if I finally get to be an Eliminator As has been stated before, well done to Len and Steel. Your doc was fun to read, and your strategy was great. I especially loved the convoluted way you tried to clear Len with the Jeskeri Pendant. The Cultists actually did a pretty great job, all things considered, but they just had terrible luck. Araris had a Korathi Pendant, making him immune to Seonid and Aman’s regular scans, but Aman tried to use the Jeskeri Pendant on him, the only non-Korathi Pendant that could have revealed him. And then Aman died and told Seonid to scan the two other Cultists. But without those scans, the Elims were doing pretty great. Walin and Dalinar were in strong trust positions, Drake wasn’t exactly trusted but he wasn’t appearing on suspect lists either, and they had a cohesive plan to eliminate the village trust circle. While it’s not as verbose as some, you should definitely take a look in the elim doc. I’m totally not biased because they gave me the blood of two moderators. Nope. Finally, a few miscellaneous thoughts: - Congrats to @Hemalurgic Headshot for naming the three exact locations needed to restore Elantris an hour after he was thrown in there. And congrats to the Elantrians for listening to him and restoring it. - Well done to all the lovers, especially Wilson, who survived with a huge target on her back, having lived through two (and nearly three) attacks, and one suicide attempt. -I was pretty impressed with all our new players. Looking back at my first game (AG4, *shudder*), you three did much better than I did for your first try. You will all be valuable additions to the community, I’m sure, so stick around and sign up for another game if you have the time! LG45 looks promising. - The passphrase was “Sel Mates,” for those curious. I knew I wanted to make the phrase a pun, then remembered that Elbereth and I had been Devotion and Dominion at one point in the Shard game, and we were now co-GMing together in an Elantris setting. So it seemed very fitting. (Of course, I kind of killed Devotion in that game, but...just a minor detail, right?) - Finally, thanks to Elbereth and Hero for making this an easy game to co-GM, and for being supportive and accomadating partners. I mostly didn’t have to worry about writeups thanks to Hero, and El’s well-organized spreadsheet made my part of the job (logging actions and sending notification PMs) very easy. That left me time to focus on extra stuff like art, which I enjoyed a lot. Thanks to everyone for playing!

Alright, here's my megapost: This game was a load of fun. I got to play as an eliminator and conspire with the other ones, and learned how to really hide. I slipped up a lot, such as being too sure in my "reads" and knowing that there were 4 Jeskeri; after Dalinar Kholin died, I thought, "this is where the fun begins." I really think I started to act suspicious, with one slip-up that I reacted to in the doc, on Day 6. I made a lot of “assumptions” about the number of Jeskeri, and kept referring to them as a village kill in the hopes that, if I were found to be Jeskeri, I could work with the village to depose of the Derethi before getting killed the Day phase afterwards. About the time there weren’t any kills—now, this is the funniest part of the whole game. I broke (or bent) so many rules this game; I counted roughly, and I think I got 6 warnings and reminders from the GM’s and IM, Orlok Tsubodai. I had mentioned I’d edit a post, and was reminded that editing, other than for formatting, was forbidden. At the time I thought I would do the edit promptly enough that no meaning could be changed after people had already assumed the original meaning, but I never post in a timely manner. Another time, I said I’d PM someone after the timer was extended, and Orlok said that the rollover extension was only for discussion. Another time, on the last Day phase, I brought the game up in the Sanderson Elimination Discord general channel, and was reminded by Elbereth that this wasn’t allowed. The rest weren’t really rulebreaks, and by this point you may be wondering what all this has to do with the Elantrian scan. Ok, so I had been inactive that Night phase, enough that I forgot to send in a kill. Herowannabe sent me a message asking whether I would send in a kill, and I said something like “Oh! Yeah, ok, here’s my kill.” Then, Orlok mentioned in the PM that this was GM interference, so my kill would not be counted. Then, I was like “Ok, makes sense. I mean, it’s just one more Night phase.” Oh, I had no idea that the Elantrians were scanning me that night. I was incredibly lucky, is all. When I saw your analysis, Cadmium, I was just astounded at how right, and how wrong, the reasons for lynching me were. That was a great accusation, by the way. And that pretty much sums it up! Great game everybody, especially Steel and Elenion. The Derethi faction came extremely close to winning. Great catch on the Elantrian scan, Cadmium. You won this game 1 to 4 cycles early. Great GMing and IMing, Herowannabe, Fifth Scholar, Elbereth, and Orlok Tsubodai. See you guys next game. I'm definitely going to read the rules again, more carefully, and scour the rules for each game I'm participating in. A couple of the mistakes I made weren't because of explicitly-laid-out game rules, but I did forget a lot of rules that I ended up not breaking because of my playing style. Sorry to the GM's for doing so much of that stuff. Thanks for keeping me in the right way to play.

Yup, I'm still repping your theory The discussion's linked in Bort's signature, but I'll give the quick version. Each unmade is formed from a Herald's soul when they break. Because of this, the theory states that each Herald's madness corresponds to an unmade, as that unmade has what they lack. For example, Ashertmarn was likely formed from Nale, as it is the heart of the revel, and Nale lacks emotion. Similarly, Ba-Ado-Mishram was likely formed from Ishar due to the leadership roles they both possess. In addition, an extension of the theory is that when a herald broke multiple times, this added to the unmade that was already created, which is why some unmade have dashes in their name. The number of dashes corresponds to how many times that Herald broke (no dashes being once, one dash twice, and two dashes three times). So looking at the two unmade given before, the theory would say that Nale only broke once, as Ashertmarn has no dashes in its name. However, Ishar would have broken three times. Interestingly, if we assume this theory, add all of the unmade together, and look at how many dashes each name has, that would peg our current desolation (the one with the everstorm happening right now) as being the 16th Desolation. And we all know how significant the number 16 is in the Cosmere. We also know from a WoB that the 99 desolations story is wrong, and the actual number was far less than that, which 15/16 definitely fits.

Some of you have anticipated this post for a long while, well I am pleased to finally post this. What is the Alleyverse? The Alleyverse is an alternate universe in which all Brandon’s magic systems exist together. The official term for a denizen of the Alleyverse is a Homeless. How it came about is a mystery. Philosophers have suggested that its creation could have been by the hand of an Epic, a shard, or some other powerful being. The planet that the characters interact on resembles Earth. It has similar gravity, plate tectonics, and climate. The Alleyvillage is located in the Alleyverse. It is an urbanized area wherein the guilds of the Alleyverse are headquartered and their members spend their time in. It is an inexplicable city, as it is filled with a wealth of natural resources, a concentration of magic, and a lack of central governance. The city is reminiscent of Elendel in Mistborn Era 2, although remarkably modern buildings can be seen interspersed among the castles and warehouses. There are plenty of homes, filled with NPCs who live ordinary lives. The climate is similar to that of North America, hot in the summer and cold in the winter. The main area is similar to the national mall in Washington DC. Factions: There are numerous guilds operating in the Alleyverse. In alphabetical order, they are: The Canton of Combat The Canton of Combat (CoC) is *To be inserted* (Nohadon needs to finish this) The Canton The Dark Alley The Dark Alley is the best. Have a cookie on us. The Alley The Liebrary The Leibrary is a group devoted to ending the lies of The Hated One, Alcatraz Smedry. He claims we seek to keep knowledge from the world, when in fact it is him who provides misinformation. This is only one part of what we do, however. We are also the official scribes of the Alleyverse. We record every major event, so if you have a question about the past, you should bring it to us. The Liebrary TUBA The Underground Baker’s Association is a group of members dedicated to creating and distributing safe, non-hemalurgic baked goods. It was founded to oppose the Dark Alley and their hemalurgic ambitions and was behind the group known as the Light Alley. The group aims to create, share and find great recipes for baking, but it will defend itself if provoked. Join TUBA for the safe cookies, stay for the fun. TUBA headquarters The Ghostbloods The Ghostbloods are an organization committed to the domination and control of the 17th Shard. This group has a focus on stealth, unobtrusiveness, and reconnaissance. The group is dedicated to compiling information on other guilds, baking recipes, and investiture. They are interested in the origins of the Alleyverse and have some plans for it. This group can be hired to assassinate members in the Alleyverse and the Alleyvillage, they occasionally will attack other members if one maims their members or because one group set themselves above the Ghostbloods. The Ghostbloods are a neutral guild but will fight back until a group is wiped out or is inducted. Ghostblood headquarters Sticknaughts This is a peaceful, neutral branch of the Church of the Stick that will interact with the other guilds. Being a member of this branch does not change any of the member's ties to other Guilds. The Church Hall of the Surges: The Hall of the Surges is a guild of Surgebinders on a smaller scale than the Knights Radiant, though bound by the same Oaths. Where the Knights Radiant are divided into ten Orders serving Honor, the Hall of the Surges only has two factions, and all Orders (even other Orders than the ten from the Knights Radiant) are welcome in either faction. One faction serves Honor, while the other faction serves the Void (Odium). The factions, through interacting with one another a lot, may take separate decisions, like one faction allying up one with guild and another faction allying up with another. The Mediators are less of a guild and more of police. During duels, they will be the ones to decide how much health is taken off of each fighter. There are 3 houses within the mediators. The biased, the unbiased, and the representatives. The biased are those who can make judgments for those duels that don’t involve the guilds they are in. The unbiased can step in and make judgments whenever they want. The representatives each are there as specific members of a guild. These are the people who will convene on rule changes or other major decisions. If you recently joined, you may have noticed some Homeless in your introduction thread asking you to say a specific phrase or giving you a cookie. These are specific things from the Cosmere. Saying the phrase “My life to yours, my breath become yours” with intent will cause you to give up your Breath, basically your soul. The cookies that are given have a Hemalurgic spike in them. Explaining this contains slight Mistborn spoilers. For more information, look at the Coppermind articles below. Biochromatic Breath & Hemalurgy Warfare and Stuff: Rules of Warfare The Homeless can challenge one another to duels. If agreed upon, the above rules will be followed, with any changes that might want to be made, and the members will fight in a seperate thread in the roleplaying section. Fights are very simple. Each person starts with 100 HP and whatever their character has. A mediator is decided on beforehand to make judgements on how much is taken off or any other effects. Players can fight in any way they would like, although it might not necessarily be allowed by the mediator. The only other rule is to be reasonable in what you do. Here is a list of mediators. Mediators: @Mraize @Archer *Needs to be updated*

Hallo! I'm 1st of Lunch. Initially snookered by The Rithmatist, then The Reckoners...... ...and then I found the Cosmere.

I actually was doing that so the Priest would scan me. Then you could finally tell me who they were! Apparently I am really transparent. The game when I was neutral I was guessed very quickly. The game when I was village I don't think I ever got a single vote, not even one that was later retracted. I was trusted by everyone for almost no reason. Also, I was roleclaimed to by 3 people, all of which confessed their role to the thread

I want to say, I support this thread and such. I don't have any mental health challenges, but my older brother has depression, and has had it for the last two or three years. During this time, I learned a few things about mental illness, and I realized how similar it is to physical health--in that there can be small and huge problems that can persist for a while. This is a good thread; I want this to stay up near the top of the Recent threads.

The point that I'm trying to make is that the reasoning is still fake. Sure, Radiants had light eyes, and that was the basis for the lighteyed thing. But that was Radiants, and they were powerful, sure. But their descendants having light eyes as well doesn't mean much, and isn't really what I would call "real reasoning." It's like saying, men are bigger and stronger, so the sexism that women have experienced in history had a basis in real reasoning. Just because A tended to be true (men physically bigger and stronger, Radiants having magic) doesn't mean that B had realistic reasoning behind it.

I guess I just don't agree.

I think any system of discrimination is also going to invent the fake reasoning for "why should this system exist" alongside of the system. For anyone who lives within the system, it needs to feel obvious and "right". That happened and happens in our world, historically and currently, and it happens in the worlds that Brandon writes. The oppressors will always be able to come up with a reason why they should be on top. The lighteyed/darkeyed reasoning is no different than things that have happened/happen on Earth. Coming up with a "justification" for it is part of the oppression.

Woke up this morning and found my cat in the basement, huddled under a chair, unable to walk with his two front paws bent inwards. He couldn't straighten them, just inch-worm himself forward using his back legs. There were puffs of cat hair all over the floor, and the litter box was messed up, as if he'd had a major shock. He was also breathing heavily, even while lying down. We took him to the vet and they did x-rays. An area of concern was two vertebra in his upper back and something about his lungs. They're going to refer the x-rays to a radiologist and keep him at the vet in the meantime. I'm extremely worried for him. He's my buddy, and I have no idea what's happened to him. Last night he was fine, this morning he isn't. I really hope whatever it is will be treatable.

Wouldn’t that just be the SR version of Adolin? I think Renarins powers made Adolin able to see his spiritual self.

Go read my doc. anyway, now that you’ve read my doc, you understand that in the middle of the game, I had Elenion, Wilson, Devotary, and Jondesu on my side. I felt unstoppable. If only I had had a Korathi pendant and I would have been! fun fact- I was the one who used the pendant on Araris. Elenion had his from the start. so, yeah. I think that was my single best played game. I didn’t do anything wrong, other than being manipulated by a scanner, and what was I supposed to do about that? devotary and jondesu and Wilson, I’m glad you guys won. I didn’t want you guys to go down on the sinking ship. Still, it was awesome working with you. Elenion, you were a great Odiv. I don’t think I would have changed anything, I’m just not sure how I could have played better, and if I had started with a Korathi pendant, I think I would have stood a really good chance of winning.

That was an amazing writeup. I’ve got lots to say about this game. My summary—it was loads of fun. I’m on mobile, with little battery, so I’ll post again after the next few people. Thanks for an amazing game, Hero! I interpreted “grandiose” to mean proud of personality, rather than language itself. First time as an elim, too. That was exciting, though I think I’ll still say I have a full villager record since it was Honey Badger who got the role. Thanks to them, too. This required a lot of activity, so I’m glad this elim team could give its best.

Granted but you now can never eat tacos I wish to meet the drunk monkey who names all of the returned gods in hallandrin

@Queen Elsa Steelheart if you go to account settings, then change the drop down to signature you should be able to do change it.

Hey guys, I now ship Hoidonalsium. And yes, thank for reminding me I'm supposed to be making that.

I really like the totally unintended, accidental implication you guys made that Adonalsium was Hoid's loved one.

RAFOnium that's Brandon's godmetal right?

Yes, I caught it!

When you see this and immediately think, "That's the Bridge Four salute!" (Credit goes to Avengergram for creating this comic/meme.)

Yes!!!! Once, I looked up “gold ability to burn,” and the first thing that popped up was Mistborn. I had no Sanderfriends with me at the time, and my “normal” friends watched me freak out on my own... (Doesn’t look at the page either) Yes, I believe that was correct. Stick was seen on Sel as the stick that Raoden used to draw an Aon on the ground, right? WE LOVE YOU, STICK. YOU DO YOU. YOU BE A STICK LIKE THE STICK YOU ARE.

Gibletish = 9 letters. Gibberish = 9 letters. Unique letters used: G, I, B, L, E, T, S, H, R = 9 letters. Odium's shard number = 9. Hoid is Rayse confirmed.

Basics: •Cycles are ~47 (day)/24 (night) hours long. Night turns will start a bit after the Day turn ends, and will end at 5:00 PM. Day turns will start as soon as I am finished processing the Night turn actions. Day turns will end at 5:00 PM. •There will be five factions in the game. Every faction has a doc to communicate in. Every faction’s goal is to eliminate all other factions. •There are no secret roles. •During the Day turn, there will be a normal lynch. •During the Night turn, there will be an anonymous lynch (all votes are put in via GM PM). •PMs are not allowed. •This game is role madness. •If you do not post for two cycles in a row, you will die. If a player dies from inactivity, a random player in their faction will gain an allomantic ability. •Each cycle you have one allomantic action, and one social action. •Every other cycle, a random player from the faction with the least players will gain an allomantic power. •To allow rollover to occur faster, I’ll edit in the writeup when I have time. Hopefully, this will minimize the gap between turns. •Every player has a social role and some players also get an allomantic role. Social Roles: •Gossip: You discover the alignment of a player of your choice. You can only use this ability during the Night. You can use this ability three times per game. This is an active ability. •Informant: You discover the role of a player of your choice. You can only use this ability during the Night. You can use this ability three times per game. This is an active ability. •Well Connected: You have one vote taken off you. This is a passive ability. •Orator: Your vote counts as two votes. This is a passive ability. •Secretive: You put in your vote during the Day via GM PM. Your vote in the thread does not count as a vote. This is a passive ability. •Shy: Each cycle, you can send an anonymous note to a player of your choice. You can only use this ability at Night. This is an active ability. •Romantic: You start the game with a PM with another Romantic. Neither of you can put in any actions that target the other romantic. Neither of you can vote for each other. This is a passive ability. •Underground Contacts: You can roleblock a player of your choice. This ability can only be used at Night, and lasts for one cycle. You can use this ability three times per game. Allomantic Roles: •Mistborn: You can use every allomantic power once. You will have all of the passive metals (Pewter, Tin, and Copper) for the entire game. •Coinshot: Once per game, you can kill a player of your choice. You can only use this ability on a Night cycle.This is an active ability. •Lurcher: Each Night cycle, you can protect a player of your choice. You cannot self protect. This is an active ability. •Thug: You can survive one kill attempt. This is a passive ability. •Tineye: You can create PMs with other players (group PMs are not allowed) (GM must be included in all PMs). This is an passive ability. •Rioter: Each cycle, you can change a player’s vote to a player of your choice (using this ability cancels your own vote). This is an active ability. •Soother: Each cycle, you can cancel one vote. This is an active ability. •Seeker: Each Night cycle, you can discover the role and alignment of a player of your choice. This is an active ability. •Smoker: You are immune to seeking, soothing, and rioting. If you want to, you can use an action to turn off your ability. You can then use another action to turn it off again. This is a passive ability. Balls: Balls happen every night. During the ball, players can talk in group PMs. Players will be randomly placed in a group PM. As the number of players decreases, so does the number of group PMs. During a ball there will be up to six group PMs: •Entrance: (25+ players alive) •Dining Hall: (20+ players alive) •Dance Floor: (15+ players alive) •Balconies: (10+ players alive) •Great Hall: (5+ players alive) •Side Hall: (5+ players alive) Clarifications: •The Tineye must be in all PMs they make. •Vote counts during the Day will show the number of votes each player got, and will show the people who voted for them in the thread. Vote counts during the Night will only show the number of votes each player got. •Rioters can move a vote to a no vote and a no vote to a vote. •You cannot get the same ability twice. The game with start on May 5, at 5:00 PM EST. List of Players: 1. MacThorstenson (Malcolm MacClaimen) 2. ElephantEarwax (Rend) 3. Araris Valerian (Hadrian Penrod) 4. RippleGlyf (Claire Lepinceau) 5. Mraize (Rhazien) 6. Elandera (Dera Renault) 7. Eternum (Aiden Ostlin) 8. Steeldancer (Steel) 9. Frozen Mint (Mint) 10. I think I am here (Itiah) 11. Bort (Jynx) 12. Shqueeves (???) 13. Arinian (Faron Elverein) 14. Dalinar Kholin (Kadgar)15. Mark IV (Mark) 16. Snipexe (Snip Exeutor)17. Kidpen (Amati)18. Walin (Torden) 19. Amanuensis (Jeda Renaud)20. Cadmium Compounder (Seamin)21. The Young Pyromancer (Limerick)22. Fifth Scholar (Duilin) Spec List:: 1. Elenion 2. Randuir 3. Sart 4. Droughtbringer 5. xinoehp512 6. Devotary of Spontaneity Quick Links:

A constant problem on the Shard for me has been seeing someone's profile picture or signature and thinking, "Rusts. I need to give that all the upvotes." But then the actual post they made didn't really warrant an upvote to you, so you move on and forget about it. Now, if I'm being stupid and there is already a thread that has this basic functionality or you can do this directly in someone's profile, tell me. Otherwise I thought we could start here! EDIT: I figure we can also upvote for awesome ranks or usernames!

About half a year ago, I posted up a thread in Cosmere Theories called Narrowing Down the Last Shards (below) in which we as a forum posited many excellent ideas. It's long but worth the read as much of what I say in this post I derived from there. I have since changed my opinion with some ideas I'm sure you all will appreciate and tear up as you please. Having said that, in this thread I will go a step further. Not only will we try to discern the remaining six Shards, but we will ask what we can do with that information, and theorize what kind of magic, worlds, and people those Shards may have created. Thus, I present to you The Rest of the Shards and Where to Find Them. So as before, here are some things we think we know, and some suppositions, before I get to the List: Shards are all godly attributes, possibly based on the Judeo/Christian god, Adonai (for which Adonalsium was named). Shards do not have perfect pairs or opposites Shards may also be considered to have many opposites There is a Shard (besides Ambition) that has not Invested in a planet. Aforementioned Shard wants to hide and survive because it is a wise decision. Survival is not the capitalized intent, and is only tangentially related to the capitalized Intent. Shards' Intents, by the definition of the word, are active. They have a goal. Odium is the most dangerous of the Shards. Ambition was #1 on Odium's hit list, which means that there are no other Shards which he would find more dangerous than Ambition. Hoid and Frost know what they're talking about. I know I missed a few things that I wanted to say. Feel free (as before) to correct me, or add to the things we know. Most of that is from WoB, and some supposition, and was derived from previous responses. Part 1: The Rest of the Shards: Disclaimer #1: Not all of the ideas for Shard names were mine, and I am not claiming that they are original. I appreciate all the thought you wonderful people have put into this, and thank you for broadening my mind on this subject. I will ping some of the contributors of the original thread in the references in Part 3. Disclaimer #2: As I mentioned above, Adonalsium is likely based off of the Judeo/Christian God. I am a believer, and some of the Intents are based on my views of God. They may not match your own, and that's okay. Please do not take my posited Intents or arguments thereof as me trying to convert you. The Intents are speculation based on my beliefs, Brandon's beliefs, and are just as valid in this discussion as your own. I hope that we can discuss this subjectively. Disclaimer #3: This will be a lengthy post, and I don't think I will hide anything in spoilers to shorten it. If it looks too long too read, fret not. I won't be insulted if you just want to skim through the list at first, and simply read the parts that interest you. If you do wish to respond to something, however, please take the time to read my opinion on it, otherwise, I may just quote stuff I already said back at you. I don't mean to be insulting if I do so, so don't take it as snark. Disclaimer #4: I recognize the possibility that Brandon may not have finalized all of the Shards Intents as of yet, which would render all of this rather useless. But of course, this is the Shard where we can discuss any theories no matter how baseless they are! Brandon, if you're reading this and I'm right about everything, I promise I didn't break into your personal wiki, and if I correctly guess future magic systems or worlds, I promise not to say that they're my ideas. I'll just be glad that I called it. As before, Shards we know are in Green, and Shards we don't know are in Red. This does not mean that they are in the correct groupings, however. This is all speculation. The four quadrants that I believe make up the being Adonalsium are as follows: Creation, Personality/Authority, Action, and Divinity. I believe we can put all sixteen Shards into groups of four, as opposed to pairs as I originally thought. Group 1: Creation Many have spoken (in-universe and out) that Preservation and Ruin are the forces of creation. This is not wrong, but I don't think that's the be-all and end-all of the Creation force that is Adonalsium. Some of these Intents refer not only to the physical creation of nature, but actions and mindsets about people. (Cultivation or Sanctification of followers for example) Cultivation: Growth, Creation, Sanctification Cultivation embodies positive change with the intent of creating something better. It can destroy things if necessary in order to make something better out of it, or in its place. Preservation: Guarding, Stasis, Immutability Preservation cannot create anything new on its own; it can only act to preserve what is already in place. Preservation also points to the god attribute of immutability, the unchanging nature of God. Ruin: Destruction, Decay, Entropy Ruin's end goal is to break everything down to its most basic parts. Historically, Ruin was able to help create things, only if it let him destroy more things afterward. Brandon has remarked that this would make Ruin compatible with Cultivation, which supports this theory. Chaos: Neutrality, Quiescence, Abeyance, "Letting the chips fall where they may" As I mentioned in the "Things we think we know" section, Shards need to have an active goal in order to fulfill the logical requirements of the word "Intent". For this reason, I am not totally sold on any of the above-selected words, but more the overarching goal of them collectively. The obvious hole in the quadrant is the art of negative neutrality, in the same way as Preservation is a positive neutrality. However, as Intent denotes activity, it cannot truly be neutral. Thus, I settled on the word "Chaos". Group 2: Personality/Authority Adonalsium was seen as God in the cosmere (source: Hoid & Frost). We need the personality of God (based on the Judeo/Christian God as above) as well as his right to rule if we want to fulfill all of the necessary components that make up who they are. Dominion: Controlling, Ruling, Conquering This is the type of power Adonalsium would have by divine right, similar to a king or a god. Charisma: Leadership, Magnetism This is the type of power that would make Adonalsium worthy of being served. What good is the authority of a god if they are not worthy? It is a hole that needs filling, and it contrasts the other names in this quadrant. I know many people aren't sold on the name; neither am I. But it is the best word I've found to communicate the broadness of the overarching Intent of the hole in this quadrant. Devotion: Servitude, Care, Love, Mercy I feel the need to point out that Devotion is a fairly broad definition, which includes many other Intents many people have posited for names of Shards (including Love). Brandon himself called it Love before he changed it to Devotion. This is the reason why I do not have "Love" in any of the quadrants, as it is included in Devotion. I used to have this Shard paired with Odium as I had asked Brandon if they were opposites. His reply was that they "could be considered as such", however, Odium does not fit with this quadrant, so I abandoned that line of thought. I may have just left too much wiggle room in what we consider as opposites, as people have pointed out before. Autonomy: Independence, Freedom This Shard point's to the godly attribute of independence, god's self-sufficiency in that they do not require anything. Autonomy is a weird Shard with a highly...debatable Intent, which has led to some confusion in the past on how we can define a Shard's Intent. The consensus is that the Vessel is able to act on their interpretation of the Intent, and that the Intent may change slightly as a result, depending on the Vessel. This may be what Brandon meant when he said that Adonalsium could have been split in different ways. Group 3: Action Going again back to the nature of Shardic Intent, Adonalsium is a god of action. He was a creation-force that had a goal in mind, and this should be true for the Shards as well. The four below Intents cover most, if not all, of the main actions the Judeo/Christian god. Endowment: Giving, Mercy With love and care, god would be one who gives to his followers in order that they use their gifts for his glory (see: Spiritual gifts). Separated from the context of other Shards and their respective Intents, Endowment becomes what we see in Warbreaker. In conjunction with the other Shards in this grouping and the others, I believe that Endowment includes mercy and forgiveness, though there is an argument that they may be a Shard on their own. Retribution: Punishment, Justice, Vengeance A favourite of many on this thread, and one I used to oppose, I have come to see that this Shard would contrast Endowment (including mercy), and Honor, rather than being part of Honor (though that argument is still intact), Retribution is an action the Judeo/Christian god does quite a lot of, separated by his promises (Honor). Ambition: Taking, Improving, Acting If there is a Shard that is tenuously...off...in this grouping, Ambition would be the one (In which case I would replace it with Mercy). The only reason I say that is because Ambition (though involving action) is more of a mindset, like Odium (which would put it in the "Divinity" section below). However, it does make a good contrast with Endowment as well, and somewhat fills in the hole of a god demanding something from his followers. This works if we say Ambition involves sanctification of followers more than an improvement on God's behalf (which wouldn't be a godly attribute). Honor: Promising, Covenant We see both Honor and the Judeo/Christian god bind themselves to their promises, as well as expect it of their subjects. Group 4: Divinity The final grouping is the overarching theme of what makes god or Adonalsium divine (see: Hoid & Frost). It is, in fact, the most undisputed necessity of godhood. I will explain my choices below. Bear in mind that this is the one with the most unknowns, as there are still three Shards unaccounted for in my pattern. Therefore, this includes my suppositions on there needing to be a Shard of Wisdom/Enlightenment, and a Shard including Mystery, which are both heavily needed in a god figure like the Judeo/Christian god. Enlightenment: Wisdom, Knowledge, Omnipotence, Ingenuity Though all Shards have some measure of Omnipotence, we would be amiss to not include a Shard of Wisdom. It is my belief that this Shard is the Survival Shard that wants to hide, not Investing in a planet for fear of Odium, acknowledging that it is the wisest action for self-preservation. I included the possibility above of Ingenuity, as Brandon may have slipped and confirmed it accidentally, though that is a measure of semantics and debatable. Odium: "Divine Hatred", Wrath, Envy And we come to the villain of the Cosmere... I put Odium in this grouping because of Hoid's words: "He bears God's own divine hatred, separated from the virtues which gave it context". Notice his use of the word "divine". In this grouping, if he was still part of Adonalsium, Divine Hatred is undoubtedly a big part of God's divinity and holiness. Enigma: Mystery, Paradox As I mentioned above, Mystery is a big part of what separates God from mortals. I chose Enigma because it sounds cooler it's more encompassing than Mystery. It definitely plays a role in Divinity and makes a good pairing with Enlightenment. I say "Paradox" because I know people will bring it up based on the obscure "Alcatraz Shard WoB" and it somewhat fits. Purity: Holiness, Chastity Admittedly, this is the Shard I am less sure on. I include it because Holiness is perhaps the largest part of divinity, and it gives Odium the context Hoid talks about. Also, there is a mysterious planet called Purity in the Threnodite system that doesn't follow the pattern of funeral songs. As I mentioned in the write-up for Ambition, it's possible that it belongs in this slot in Divinity, leaving Mercy in its place in Action. However, doing so would leave Odium without those virtues to give it context in the subject of Divinity, and would leave both groupings somewhat unbalanced. Edit 1: Added Part 2 in spoiler below (hopefully):

Welcome! Who is your favourite character is the cosmere and why?

Yeah I hadn’t realized how useful the pendant would have been that first cycle. And yeah, Seonid we’re even. For now. Until next time I’m a SK of some kind. I think SK is my favorite role to play. Elim, i play too suspicious, villager I have to put in analysis effort. SK, I just convert or kill or whatever. So much fun. Its fun, because I am quite coming up on my year of SE playing. I feel like it’s been so much longer, and I’ve learned a lot. I’m really looking forward to another year of playing. I hope all the people who played for the first time stick around!

Welcome to the shard.

So awesome! This was an amazing game to jump into. I might should have just joined from the beginning, but honestly it might have been better this way, since we didn't have to just watch Kynedath either be inactive or drop out completely. Steel, you were great to work with, and @little wilson, sorry for interjecting my paranoia without cause at the end (not really sorry, but hey, it didn't make sense). I just can't help it.

Welcome! Enjoy the forums!

Yay! I personally think this should be pinned for the people who are crazy confused about this whole thing.

Why would they have? Spren are a natural part of life on Roshar. Why would anyone try to kill one? Let alone experiment to find ways to kill them. That and the spren would have to be in the physical realm for it to work. Oh and we have constant desolations. Even if it was discovered multiple times that knowledge would have been lost.

It's the one I gave to Brandon!

I just appreciate the little porg there.

Well, I don't want to open a huge can of worms here, but there does seem to be some evidence that some languages are...I don't know if better is the right word, but certainly better for certain purposes. I'm not a linguist expert or even an aspiring one, but I did once read a couple papers that, taken in tandem, showed that there are very real differences between languages. Here's an example from one of the papers. The researchers did an experiment, where the researchers showed people a bunch of colored papers one by one and asked the people what color they were. Then, later, they showed people two similar colors side-by-side and asked them which one they'd seen earlier. The results were interesting. They found that the more color words there were in that person's native vocabulary, the more likely that person was to be able to correctly identify the color they'd seen earlier. Japanese, for instance, has one word, aoi, which means both blue and green (well, they also have midori, and you can basically add -iro to the end of anything and make a color, like saying coffee-colored or somesuch in English, but that's neither here nor there). For the Japanese people who had seen aoi earlier, they remembered they had seen aoi, but couldn't tell which version of aoi they had seen. English-speaking people, on the other hand, were able to correctly identify whether they had seen the blue or the green. But the English speakers struggled when asked about which two different shades of pink they had seen earlier, while the Russians were able to pass this one with flying colors, apparently because Russian has two different words for pink, let's say pink and rose. I don't really remember this part as well, since I don't speak a word of Russian (it might have been two different shades of red), but I remember the gist. If you want to remember and/or communicate colors accurately, the best choices were...I want to say Russian was first, followed by some African language I'd never heard of. English was third, if I remember correctly. The authors had looked at...forty different languages? I forget the number, but there were several I wasn't even familiar with by name. The other article talked about defining the utility of a language in terms of what you could say and what you had to say, with I suppose the implicit assumption that the more things you could say and the fewer things you had to say, the better your language was. Could say is basically just a proxy for vocabulary -- the larger your language's (functional) vocabulary, the better. So let's look at things you have to say. Let's take a look at Spanish. In Spanish, it's impossible to mention your neighbor without mentioning his/her gender. You can say mi vecino, my (male) neighbor, or you can say mi vecina, my (female) neighbor. Same thing for your children: mi hijo is my son and mi hija is my daughter, but you can't really just say my child without telling the listener your kid's sex. A lot of gendered languages have this problem. English actually scores really well on the "not having very many things you have to say" scale. The only thing you really have to say in English is when something occurred. You can say "I went to the store" or "I will go to the store" or "I am going to the store", but you can't really just say "I go store" without implying something about when the event happens. In some languages, this time-specification is not a necessity. Now, there are some strikes against English. Primarily, it's a fiendishly difficult language to learn. The spelling is atrocious, and we have way more irregular verbs than many other languages. And that really big vocabulary we mentioned earlier? Sucks when you're trying to learn all those new words and their fine shades of meaning. But there is some evidence that once you have learned English, it's definitely one of the best languages to know. This is entirely apart from its status as a lingua franca, though that is a very real advantage in today's world as well. English (by one quite plausible metric at least) is simply one of the most powerful, most flexible languages in existence.

Is this too meta? Edit: Came up with another one.

I love the idea of cognitive shadow people getting bonded as spren.... "H-Hey guys, I think I bonded a spren, but he's kind of weird....He keeps saying he has a plan and I'm in his crew now."