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  1. Something I can't not think about is one line from the eight parable of The Way of Kings (in-world). Regardless, I made the trip and—as the astute reader has already concluded—survived it. "The astute reader," just think about that. We already know there's a relationship between the parables of the Way of Kings (in-world) and the Oaths of the Knights Radiant. Forty-one parables on kingship written by Nohadon; forty-one oaths, the Immortal Words and the four individual oaths of the ten orders. Whether the Radiants came before Nohadon and inspired the forty-one parables with their actions and beliefs, or the first Radiant spren were attracted to the general concepts of the parables and used themas the basis of their Nahel bonds is still murky to me. (We know from Oathbringer (novel) that Nohadon was a Surgebinder, so I lean towards the former.) Nevertheless, I think there is a hidden message or code in the Way of Kings (in-world). We know the Vanrial protected the Way of Kings (in-world) for centuries. Centuries. We know that civilization started over after each Desolation. At the end of Way of Kings (novel), Talenel, or the man presented to be Talenel, states "You will have forgotten much, following the destruction of the times past." Jasnah and others also mention that the abrupt loss of knowledge after each Desolation: medical science, engineering, metallurgy, etc. But the Vanrial chose to save Nohadon's treatise on government, over technical, medical, or scientific texts. The real question: What could so important that following an apocalyptic destruction and worldwide devastation you chose to retreat from civilization with some classical texts? A possible question: the texts are the key to preventing the next and final apocalyptic destruction and worldwide devastation. There is a very good reason that Brandon hasn't let Shallan read a copy of the Way of Kings (in-world). Why? Because she'll see something in it. Something that Dalinar can't see because he's just started to learn to read, something the Kholin female scribes can't see because the book is considered heretical Alethi society, something the ardents can't see because they're not Radiants. A pattern. Shallan already leads a merry band of misfits, eventually, she will get cocky and get some killed because of overconfidence, arrogance, neglect, etc. Dalinar, the changed man, will not reprimand her, he'll give her something to read to help her understand the right way to lead others. The most important words a man can read. Dalinar will give her a copy of the Way of Kings (in-world) as a sort of independent reading assignment and ask her to report on what she's learned every few days. Shallan will start reading and unconsciously use Lightweaving to bring the words to life. To see Nohadon walk to Urithiru, to watch the spindly man carry the boulder, etc. The Lightweaving, plus Shallan's Memory plus Stormlight plus a radiant spren will unlock something. The obvious answer is the true history of the Last Desolation, but I don't think it's that. I think it will be the true history of the Heralds. I believe that Nohadon based the parables of the Way of Kings (in-world) on the actions, beliefs, and ideals of the Heralds. The first protectors of Roshar. This makes more sense to me than anything. All of the Heralds are too damaged or reluctant to speak about themselves, so I think Nohadon's memories of them are encoded in the Way of Kings (in-world), essentially like a Cognitive Fabrial. This also solves the chicken and egg problem of the parables of Way of Kings and the oaths of the Knights Radiant. The parables are based on the Heralds, and the parables attracted the first Radiant spren who bonded individuals who acted in alignment with the parables. Plus, this would fill in the blanks of why the first Radiants begged the Heralds to be the Patrons of their respective orders. The Heralds were more than immortals with abilities like them, they were their idols, their idealized versions of themselves. To recap, or TLDR: there's a secret in Nohadon's Way of Kings, the secret is the history of the Heralds, and the parables of the Way of Kings are based on the Heralds, not Nohadon's musings on kingship.
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  2. If you can't curium, and you can't helium, then you have to barium. Then they argon. Why are girls in lab coats so attractive? Because you have chemistry together.
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  3. I am new to the Cosmere and fantasy genre in general and finished reading the original Mistborn trilogy and the part where they die seems very sad to me. I have read through Harry Potter, Inheritance Cycle, and Percy Jackson series and none of the endings hit me like a sack of bricks like this one did. In my opinion, at least one of them should have lived. I was expecting Elend to die since the second book but never thought the protagonist herself would die too. The only happy aspect of that ending was Sazed says they are happy wherever they are but we don't actually get to see this conversation which is a bummer. Are all of Brandon's books like this where the main character has no plot armor?
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  4. In the beginning, there were the universes. Every possible one existed separate and apart form the others. Nothing connected them except for the primordial vacuum that they floated in. This vacuum is known as the Void. It is impossible for mortals to understand the Void in its true essence. To attempt a description, I will use the metaphor that I was told once. The Void is like the alleyway between buildings, but on a inter-cosmic scale. The universes are like different buildings in a city, and the Void is like the Alleyway in between the two buildings. There was a being who resided inside of the Void. His name is Voidus. similarly to the Void, it is impossible to understand his true form, but to try to understand him, I will use a quote from a very helpful member of the reptilian royalty. He stated that "A Voidus is pages upon pages of Epic profiles, It is a spike in the back in a dark alley. It is a slowpoke with a horriffic crab monster parasitically attached to its tail. It is, to put it simply... the void that is in all of us." Voidus wanted one thing, to be able to push the bounds of knowledge, and sell cookies while he was at it. So he used his ability to maneuver around universes to found an organization that would accomplish these goals. They would push the bounds of the most complicated and elegant of sciences, Hemalugy, and sell the spikes in cookies. The trick was actually getting people to buy their products. The members of this organization were the People you wouldn't want to meet in a Dark Alley. The people who would stab you in the back with a spike. Those who were connected with Voidus. Who shared his purpose, his drive. They played to their advantages, selling cookies in the backs of dark alleys. This was the foundation of the organization modernly known as the Dark Alley, known as the DA for short. To accomplish their second goal, Voidus realized that they would need a base of operations. To do this, he set up labs on the various worlds, because communication was impossible between the universes for anyone that wasn't a cosmic being. Unfortunately, these labs kept on rediscovering the wheel. They would make the same discoveries, once one on Earth discovered something, one on Nalthis would discover the same thing a week later. He realized that they needed a way to communicate, to share ideas for the progression of science. To accomplish this he founded the allies. He took some of the essence of every single universe, and wrapped around a single spike that he had stabbed through a random universe, to spike out its cosmic stability. He inserted the spike into the void, and stabbed it into it. This new found place, where bits of all the universe were connected, became the alleys. They became the shortcuts between buildings in the cosmic city. This was to be the Head Quarters of the Dark Alley. The World Spike was ahemalurgic spike that literally holds the alleyverse together. It was placed by Voidus in the beginning. To help prevent accidents, <REDACTED FOR SECURITY REASONS*>. Visually, the Alleys looked like an endless plane of alleys cutting through a city of empty buildings. Truly infinite, they followed no logical order, shifting and moving themselves to create the shortest path to what ever place a person needed. Its important to note, that the alleys are not under our control. As members of the DA, Voidus lets us manipulate the alleys to better achieve our mission. People who aren't members of the alleys don't have access to their spacial warping abilities. They aren't able to move the alleys like we can. The allies were connected to the different universes through their allies. Anything that was perceived to be a Dark Alley in the multiverse, could be used to teleport into any part of the allies by a denizen of the dark allies. To cover his creation from the rest of the multiverse, Voidus created a more physical representation of the alleys. If the Alleys were the cognitive realm, subject to the perception of Voidus, or whoever needed to use them and was granted power by voidus, this was the physical realm. Subject to the physical laws of earth and the cosmere and randland (these were the universes closest to the alleyverse) it was what most would consider the normal part of the alleyverse. It was built using the alleys as a base, a foundation, which were built using the world spike. People eventually found out about the allies. This physical plane was where they could safely reside. (for non denizens, the allies posed a danger. without cognitive manipulation it was nearly impossible to avoid the hordes of eldritch horrors that populated this plane.) On this physical plane, people gathered into guilds, each one with a goal. Many guilds rose to oppose the DA, but they eventually fell as they weren't strong enough. Other guilds survived for many years. Then, the plague struck. This was known as the plague of inactivity. It destroyed many guilds, most of their members left, either to join the infected, or to escape its horrible effects. The DA was able to survive, because of the Allies, and the fact that it could always retreat to its original labs on various worlds. It was the only guild left in the wreckage. Eventually, activity returned to the Alleyverse. With new guilds such as the Canton of Combat, TUBA, the Ghostbloods, the Liebrary, among others. you can see this modern history of the Alleys by reading various records. *Please note that the defenses of the world spike have been written and recorded, and when the RP reaches a point where they are necessary to reveal, the DA will provide a description with timestamps to show when they were finalized.
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  5. I'm new here to the forums so sorry if this is something that has been brought up before but I haven't heard anyone talk about. So this insmy thought on how the spren choose people and how the nahel bond connects humans to spren. So my theory started recently in my millionth reread of WoR when Kaladin says tonSyk that he is no knight, that he is broken. Syl replies to them that all of the knights radiants are broken, much like Kaladin and shallan and even Yv from the interlides was in his youth. The next part that grew my theory was when Szeth is sitting in top on Urithiru and mentions how the town's people leave out spheres for him to use and mentions he burns through them to fast since he has" to I'm perfect a body". The last part that goes into this invloves Mistbirn Secret History and Keliser and crazy people. He can only interact with crazy people and syas that they have cracks in their spirit. So my theory is after I've already made this way to long a post is this, the Soren watch people who are " broken" or have "cracks" in their spirits, they watch them.closley because these are the people they can not only see more clearly in the coginitve real but also because it is easier for them to bond with them the same was as it's easier for Keliser to talk to crazy people. I think that this also has to do with why they can burn storm light more effectively since the nahel bond fills in the cracks in the spirit web in the cognitive real bringing making them partially begin to bind spiritually with a Soren that is made of and lives if investiture. Sorry for rambiling that out and not really getting my points across it's late here in the east coast, it's much clearer in my head. Still I would love to hear what you think, looking forward to being part of the forums.
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  6. [Writeup to be edited in later.] Araris is dead! He was a Romantic/Rioter in House Elariel. Araris (7): Mark IV, Cadmium Compounder, ElephantEarwax, Shqueeves, RippleGylf, Elandera, Bort Dalinar Kholin (2): Araris, Mraize The Night will end on May 20, at 5:00 PM EST. List of Players: 1. MacThorstenson (Malcolm MacClaimen) 2. ElephantEarwax (Rend) 3. Araris Valerian (Hadrian Penrod) Elariel Romantic/Rioter 4. RippleGylf (Claire Lepinceau) 5. Mraize (Rhazien) 6. Elandera (Dera Renault) 7. Eternum (Aiden Ostlin) Venture Secretive 8. Steeldancer (Steel) 9. Frozen Mint (Mint) Lekal Shy/Lurcher 10. I think I am here (Itiah) Hasting Romantic/Tineye 11. Bort (Jynx) 12. Shqueeves (???) 13. Arinian (Faron Elverein) Elariel Orator 14. Dalinar Kholin (Kadgar) 15. Mark IV (Mark) 16. Snipexe (Snip Exeutor) Hasting Underground Contacts/Soother 17. Kidpen (Amati) Lekal Gossip/Mistborn 18. Walin (Torden) Lekal Informant 19. Amanuensis (Jeda Renaud) Tekiel Romantic/Mistborn 20. Cadmium Compounder (Seamin) 21. The Young Pyromancer (Limerick) Venture Informant 22. Fifth Scholar (Duilin) Tekiel Informant/Smoker
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  7. 1 What does a pepper do when it's angry? 2 I waited and stayed up all night and tried to figure out where the sun was. 3 Why do chicken coups always have two doors? And finally, a classic once told to me by my dad:
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  8. Step One: Get an admin to manually adjust your rep count. They can do that allegedly. (I think it happened to Voidus once). That's it. Works every time. I actually have no idea what the psychology behind people's upvoting is. I turned off the option to get notifications whenever someone upvotes me. I'm still not sure if it was the right call or not, since I have no idea what my popular posts are anymore. I do get less notifications now, but sometimes I'll log in and be greeted by a new rep title and no obvious reason why. It's flattering and confusing all at the same time. That said, I'm told being funny is a good strategy. Especially self-deprecating humour (I've yet to get the hang of that one) and clever pop-culture references (remember half the people on here are from Utah. So joke about BYU, hoodoos, county fairs, rectangles etc. They'll love it).
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  9. Archer looked up from his bed, where he'd been lying near death, being slapped by gophers. It was a pain to store health and luck, but he had nothing better to do. He was tempted to say something, but he thought the better of it.
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  10. Memory Rhazien peeked out of one of TUBA's secret tunnels that lead into the Underground. He checked behind him to see if he was being followed by any of his friends and associates. He was alone, or not in human company, his spren sat on the palm of his hand. "Are you sure?" He asked Atha. "Hmmmm. Yes, he is here." She said. There was a suspicious character hanging around the Alleyverse the past few months. He was relatively confident that it wasn't anyone, he knew using the surge of illumination. No, this was someone else. Someone that he could receive information from, at the very least. That was if Rhazien could catch him. The shifty figure, had a way of getting the better of him. He would lead Rhazien on a chase where the figure would attack him on the occasions where Rhazien would nearly get the better of him. Even then the figure would refuse to speak, despite Rhazien trying insults, questions, and remarks. Rhazien stepped into the alleyway. The brick doorway slid shut, returning the wall to its normal smooth flat surface. He checked his weapons, securing them. He pulled a cloth across his mouth and nose, concealing much of his identity. He teleported to the top of the Bakery, to get a better vantage point. The figure stood on another rooftop, his cloak flapped in the wind. The cloak seemed to be split into several ribbons or strips, each whipping the air wildly. Rhazien took a few steps backward before running and leaping in the air. While in the air he phased to the nearest roof. The mistborn, or Rhazien assumed so, hopped into the alley below. Rhazien phased from rooftop to rooftop following the figure as he navigated the complexity of the Alleyvillage with its winding alleyways. The alleyvillage didn't contain streets like others did. It was compact. The figure led him to the edge of the town. At the wall surrounding the town, the figure hesitated. He turned to see if Rhazien still tailed him. That is when he struck. As he phased into the cognitive realm and back to the physical realm, he summoned Atha as a naginata, swinging at the figure's face. The man brought up a pair of obsidian axes. Rhazien smirked as he thought of the man's expression, and what emotion would show when he sheared through the black rock as if it were playdoh. He had sworn the Third Oath of the Elsecallers a few days before. The man didn't make any response when his axes fell into four pieces. Rhazien deliberately dismisses his blade before any damage could be done to the figure. There was the sound of plinking as coins hit the ground. The man shot out into the air. "Perhaps you are ready." Came the first words Rhazien had heard. Shocked, Rhazien nearly let the man disappear into the mists beyond the city. He teleported after him. The man led him to a place that would overlook the city if the mists had not been out. They, the mists, swirled around the man beckoning playfully as if a child begging his father to spend time with him. "Who are you?" A question Rhazien asked the most. "I am nobody of import." was the reply. "It takes somebody skilled in their investiture to slip out of my grasp." "The only thing you need to know is contained in here." The figure said tossing Rhazien a bag. Inside was a small metal ring. "A metalmind?" "Yes, one that contains fortune." The man answered. "It bears a warning and a message. Perhaps you can defeat it where others have failed. Gather them, the investitures, they will be needed!" The man disappeared into the mists, leaving Rhazien alone. Curious, Rhazien slipped the ring on his finger. Knowing it was a metalmind, helped him sense the power inside. He could see it, feel it. He did not have the ability to store fortune, Rhazien was certain of that but he did feel that he could access the power stored inside. He tapped it. What he saw frightened him. A power so great that one like himself was insignificant. He stood on the outskirts of a town that was not only on fire but being torn apart by earthen tendrils. The tremors in the ground testified of earthquakes that happened below. Lightning struck the highest buildings, and a part of the city seemed to have sunk into the earth and was covered by water. Several tornadoes raged through the large city, flinging debris, people, and other objects into the air. All of this seemed to be directed by a single pulsating grey cloud at the center. Power from the metal pillars, at the edge of the city, seemed to be flowing into the creature. Somehow Rhazien was able to identify the power as different types of investiture. The spires seemed similar to spikes, in his opinion. It seemed this thing fed of investiture stored in end negative arts. It was pure chaos. Chaos. Yes, that was a good name for what was happening. Chaos. He knew this thing, whatever it was, needed to be stopped. He needed to follow what the man had said if he was to stop the destruction that was coming. *** "That is what happened." Rhazien told Yzabet. "Here is the coppermind that hold that memory if you would like to see for yourself." He passed the coppermind to her. "I just need to collect Forgery, Bloodsealing, Chayshan, Sand Mastery, and maybe one or two more that have slipped my mind. I don't know how to use all my investiture accurately or precisely just yet. As of right now, I have collected both Surgebinding and Voidbinding, I have metalminds, I can access the Dor in two different ways, as a Dakhor, and as an Elantrian, or I think at least, I have Allomancy, I snapped at a young age when I was drowning in Shadesmar, though I could only burn Duralumin which was useless, since I could not have any other Allomantic ability. My parents were Scadrian refugees on Roshar. When I received Hemalugry, that all changed as I could use Duralumin to enhance my Rioting and Soothing. Although I haven't tried it yet. I betrayed TUBA by getting these cursed spikes, yet I had to get them, to save everyone. Septimus assumes I betrayed my oaths as well but they are based on perception." Rhazien's voice dropped to a whisper at this point, tears streamed down his face. "That is why I left. Archer and I thought it would be better to be safe than sorry, so I left TUBA, I couldn't hurt anyone, especially you. I couldn't bear the thought of destroying TUBA with my own hands but being controlled by another. The decision was made before I received the spike, of course. It was better this way." Rhazien's gaze had fallen to the floor, in shame, and guilt.
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  12. Only a week away and still no thread! Surely there are a few more Montanans lurking here?
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  13. ...Me. Now you know I exist. My life is complete. Thank you
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  14. Heya writerly types! I had an idea recently for a thread for us writers who are working on the first lines and early hooks in our novels. Basically I think it would be cool to have this thread be a place where we can get real reader feedback on the beginnings of our novels. In this day and age I think it is important to hook a reader early and keep them hooked so hopefully this will be helpful. The way I envision this working is that a writer posts the first line of their novel, followed by the first paragraph and first scene in spoiler tags. If a reader likes the first line and wants to keep reading they can open the spoiler tag for the next paragraph and so on, then they can give some overall feedback to the writer. It would be good to get honest feedback about whether our first lines/paragraphs are hooking readers so even if you don't like it, try to give honest and polite feedback to help us improve. It can be nerve-wracking for us writerly types to put our work on the line for potentially harsh feedback, so please be gentle. I'll go first. This is from my current work in progress, tentatively titled "The Whistler", my attempt at a fantasy/crime thriller: Dorian mopped up his brothers’ blood in silence. There you go. Thanks for reading, if you did. I look forward to some feedback. All you other writerly types, don't be shy about contributing! I hope this thread will be a helpful tool to all of us.
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  15. Okay so just a few questions about these two and their visit to the Nightwatcher. In world the assumption is you ask the Nightwatcher for a boon and you get that for the price of receiving a curse as well. Now we know that Dalinar's visit was slightly abnormal given that Cultivation intervened and pruned his memories. And it ended up not really being a boon/curse situation. But Dalinar didn't remember that. So what did he think he asked for? It seems he assumed his curse was losing his memories. But never mentioned what he thought he gained. Now my question on Lift is do we know when she went to the Nightwatcher? I think it is implied that she asked to not change and that effected how she aged right? Or did I totally misunderstand that. For some reason I have it in my head that she doesn't age normally. And also has the food to investiture thing going on. And I think people have speculated that Cultivation intervened with Lift too. But we also know that Cultivation told Dalinar she hadn't stepped in for a long time. So is it possible the Lift is actually really old? But stayed really young for a long time? And now started aging because Cultivation was ready for her to just like she planned for Dalinar's memories to return. (I apologize if I am super off base in thinking Lift ages weird. I can't remember why I think that and am suddenly second guessing myself.)
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  16. Just a pretty small idea I had about the mechanics of Voidbinding which I thought I'd share. We know that the way investiture works is determined by the planet, on Roshar it works through manipulating the surges. However, the way that Investiture is accessed is dependant on the Shards for which it is aligned. For example, to form and progress a Nahel Bond, the radiant has to experience personal growth (Cultivation) through swearing oaths (Honour). I was thinking about this and wondering how it related to Voidbinding and I recalled this quote from WoR. There does seem to be a link between the Thaylen Passions and Odium. Venli's speeches to the singers, particuarly the Thaylen ones, about needing to have passion made me wonder if that might be the key to Voidbinding. Someone, Human or Singer, with a connection to Odium and a strong enough intent could probably obtain Voidbinding powers just by really wanting them. Just an idea, feel free to nitpick it to death if you want and quote all the WoBs.
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  17. That's tough, so much to draw from each well written character. If I had to choose one of the main characters, it'd be Kaladin. As far as the supporting cast, I enjoyed Syl a ton. That isnt to take away from Shallan, Dalinar, or Adolin of course. Even some characters, such as Moash, just have a small part but I appreciate them. Now as far as the assassin goes (Szeth) . . . he is a great read, but I am definitely either A] rooting against him or B] hoping he somehow is freed of his binds (I find the latter unlikely).
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  18. I actually still have screenshots of both when it was still Zucchini and when it was changed to Chasmfiend corpse
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  19. I'd tell you a chemistry pun but I don't think I would get a reaction. So here's some Mistborn ones instead: I was wondering why the coin kept getting closer and closer. And then it hit me. I tried to stab the Lord Ruler with a blunt spear, but it was pointless. And did you hear about the kidnapping at the party? It's okay now. She woke up.
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  21. @Bort It cancels both votes.
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  22. I'm just worried that Hoidless will kill Shooter of Arrows for forgetting the day they married. While we're at it, yoooooooooooooooooooot.
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  23. Mac stands up, having drunk half of the infinite rootbeer. He walks over to the reset of the reset button and presses it. resetting it to what it was like before the reset button was pressed.
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  24. Hey Jorville, Many thanks for looking over the outline. Hey, interesting suggestion. I think maybe I dug a whole for myself using the term neutral-good, which has a lot of connotations of course! Your suggestion is interesting, but might be a bit more involved than I'm looking for in this story. I completely agree with your comment about the monarch, and that's a potential source of conflict in later stories, if it goes that far. Hmm, this is very interesting. I totally see your point, and like the style of you're thinking!! (You're not an engineer, are you, by any chance?) Today's task for me on DH is to flesh out the magic system (excuse the pun ), so I'll be giving these things some serious consideration. The way I have it now, there would be a fair bit of faffing about. I need the magic system to have a cost, because it's industry best practice ( ), but if that cost is time, it could be detrimental to the story. I'll mull on this: thank you! Yeah, I haven't been back through the outline to tidy it up, so some things evolved as I went, including G* (see footnote). Also, I've been a bit free-and-easy with terminology again, I suspect. I was sort of imagining him as a 'straight man' (oh, the irony...) to J's more morally ambivalent character. But then as the outline shows, G's motivations turn out to be different from expected anyway. So, it's more of a set up than anything else, and good spot that it doesn't hang together. My readers in general will suspect him of something more. Excellent!! This is exactly the sort of thing I always hope for on the forum. Great spot, and I do agree. It is something of a stereotype, isn't it? I'll need to work on that. Thanks for the suggestions too. Thank you for this, and good point. Never heard of the gentleman, but sounds like and interesting story. Difficult if the coincidence is between two things that could be contemporaneous, different, potentially, if there was 10 years between them, maybe. Anyway, I'll need to think about this I'm 99% I'll change mine. Very grateful to you for point this point before I got any distance into it. Cheers! Thank you again for reading, and for your very helpful comments. Again, big welcome to Reading Excuses. Looking forward to reading some of you stuff soon. <R> * I should have added to the welcome message--and try to remember, but don't always--to ask that people don't use character names in critiquing my stuff. You will see that several other submitters on here ask that too. It's related to publishing, and the possibility that, if your work does get published, people might find these forums by searching for character names, and that see all this material which, clearly, would not be good! So, can I ask you, if you wouldn't mind, to edit your post here and abbreviate the names of the characters, places, etc? I should have asked in my original post, sorry. You'll see that same thing on other threads, certainly with both Kais and Mandamon (who are published). It's a good habit to get into, and I think it is now our default. (Hey, @Silk, do you think you might consider amending the guidelines to highlight the desire to have character and any other unique author 'created' names abbreviate?)
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  25. If the Fakeless Immortal used an Ettmetal bomb, It's possible they tried to turn him into a CS by overexpositure to Investiture. If It works he would serve in another Realm. In the other case...bye Suit
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  26. Hemalurgy open yourself to every kind of Influences both from Shards and other magic users. Simply Ruin has some extra benefit as the source of the magic itself
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  27. Hah just a reference to the movie National Treasure. The family lore, that is passed down, is the the first clue to the Templer treasure is, "The secret lies with Charlotte." I was just being funny.
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  28. Some items of interest from the Shadesmar(t) mail order catalog: Always misplacing your glasses? Have another item of importance that you are always misplacing (dentures, wallet, etc)? Let our genuine Nalthian Awakener solve your problem with a simple command "Come When I Call". Never again will you struggle to find the unfindable, your precious item will always be just a call away. *Note, the item to be so awakened must needs be sent to our dispatch center in Silverlight, please allow 3 to 6 months for return delivery of awakened item. Scadrian reusable handwarmer medallions. Perfect for the gentleman adventurer heading up to the Northern frozen expanses. Using a patented system combining feruchemical brass, nicrosil, aluminum and harmonium, these amazing handwarmers can be used by anyone and are rechargeable. To recharge them, simply submerge them into piping hot water while holding them in your hand. Guaranteed to not explode 90% of the time. The Rosharan dream projector fabrial, the Dreaminator 1200. Truly a marvel of the modern age, using a patented combination of the surges of Illumination and Spiritual Adhesion this little beauty can project a fully realized visualization of the wearer's dream. Here are some testimonials from some satisfied customers: "I am now a free and liberated woman, thanks to my Dreaminator 1200. When I saw that my ex-husband dreamed of me as a chull's backside wearing a wig and lipstick, I knew that I had to set a different course in my life. I am now happily married to a merchant of the 9th dahn, and am now completely content and happy with my lot in life. Little Bobbybbob and Susieisus now have a chance for a better life, and I am comforted by the dreams of my new hubby nightly, as he dreams mostly of abstractions like continents burning with a yellow gold flame, stripe faced servants rising up and wearing the heads of their former masters in a kabuki style pantomime of destruction, while I stand atop a mountain of charred and blackened skulls, looking ravashing in a gown the color of blood. Much better than that Chull nonsense". -Tara "My most trusted associate can now sift through the subconsciously submerged yet pertinent details of my variably intelligent mind each day, and for this, I am truly grateful as it helps immensely with my drawings, particularly my diagrams." -Mr. T The Pen is mightier than the sword pen. These little beauties are made from genuine splinters of Dakhor monk bone making them impervious to any physical blunt force trauma. Truly this imperishable pen is an heirloom quality article that can be passed down for generations to come. Also, one special feature of these little gems is that in a pinch they can be used to transport their owner to a different location, but use this feature sparingly as the pen will have to be stabbed through the beating heart of another person for this effect to be so engaged. If you happen to be on Scadrial, look for our weekly ads featuring new and exciting products in your local broadsheets.
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  29. So this is is a Scifi/fantasy that I have sitting on a back burner for the moment. It is called The Gate of the Horde. The iron gray clouds pour forth with an icy deluge that is keeping the city of Chicago indoors.
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  30. Agreed, I favor the others, but Emperor's Soul is a fantastic read, and considering the size, I've probably reread it more times than any other book.
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  31. I feel you on the part about things not being tall enough. I work in a home that was designed to be handicap accessible. In translation, it means that if you aren't in a wheel chair or under 5'6" that you have to stoop over the sink and kitchen counters. And cooking meals is part of my job... I guess I don't understand why tall people are expected to stoop, but it's beyond the pale to suggest that short people use stools. One is being forced to malform their body, while the other requires use of a tool... I use the same argument when it's too hot and someone else is complaining of being too cold. It's easier to fix cold than hot, so the person who is cold should just shut up and put on a sweater. Because the person that is too hot can only remove so much clothing in polite company... While the person who is too cold has almost limitless options to fix their discomfort.
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  32. If you're not a part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate. How do you tell the difference between a chemist and a plumber? Ask them to pronounce "unionized".
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  33. [Writeup to be edited in later.] Eternum is dead! He was a Secretive in House Venture. Walin is dead! He was an Informant in House Lekal. Araris (2): Anonymous Eternum (4): Anonymous, Anonymous, Anonymous, Anonymous Walin (4): Anonymous, Anonymous, Anonymous, Anonymous The Day will end on May 19, 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) Venture Secretive 8. Steeldancer (Steel) 9. Frozen Mint (Mint) Lekal Shy/Lurcher 10. I think I am here (Itiah) Hasting Romantic/Tineye 11. Bort (Jynx) 12. Shqueeves (???) 13. Arinian (Faron Elverein) Elariel Orator 14. Dalinar Kholin (Kadgar) 15. Mark IV (Mark) 16. Snipexe (Snip Exeutor) Hasting Underground Contacts/Soother 17. Kidpen (Amati) Lekal Gossip/Mistborn 18. Walin (Torden) Lekal Informant 19. Amanuensis (Jeda Renaud) Tekiel Romantic/Mistborn 20. Cadmium Compounder (Seamin) 21. The Young Pyromancer (Limerick) Venture Informant 22. Fifth Scholar (Duilin) Tekiel Informant/Smoker
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  34. I really dislike most of Sandersons comic relief characters and also moments. Not that he writes bad, I've just come to a sad conclusion that he and I must have different comedic tastes. He's very blunt with his humour, whereas I grew up reading WoT and kind of learning to love RJ's very subtle almost anti-comedy. I found Lightsong irritating for most of Warbreaker (ironically, though, I identify with Lightsong probably the most of BS' characters). I cannot stand Lift at all (hopefully he gives her more characterization later) and anytime Wayne is being 'eccentric' I want to just skip past it (Wayne, however, has moments that make me love him so I won't actually include him on the list) SO, I'd say Lift is easily my least favourite. Lightsong a very close second.
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  35. I think that any worldhopper worth their badge would have been able to escape or avoid being put on a bridge crew.
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  36. I just did some weird combination of a laugh and a cringe. A photon checks into a hotel and is asked if he needs any help with his luggage. He says, "No, I'm travelling light." I'd make a chemistry pun, but it'd be easily miscible...
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  37. Here are a few more I just thought of revolving around Kaladin in WoR
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  38. Brief progress update: I've finished divvying up the map into each of the nations, and have split Jah Keved, Alethkar, Herdaz, and the Horneater peaks into individual counties. (For a sense of scale, Jah Keved got 70) Todo: Finish splitting the map into counties Rewrite the Cultures, Religions, Titles, and History Files Add artifacts for Shardblades, Shardplate, and Soulcasters Touch up the Terrain map Touch up the Heightmaps Some changes and additions to Traits Add event chains for becoming Radiant Add story-based event chains Find some way to simulate highstorms? Add secret societies: Sons of Honor, Ghostbloods, Diagram, Stormwardens, Envisagers, etc Add portraits for Parshendi Add portraits for the Natan people Add portraits for Aimians Add portraits for the Iri Add portraits for Thaylens Set up portraits for Lighteyes/Darkeyes of all ethnicities Add Crests, Flags, and other graphhics Add Urithiru as an off-map power More stuff probably
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  39. Well I meant to get back here to post some closing thoughts sooner, but life has been busy. Oh well, that’s how it goes sometimes. Anyway, I’m going to try to keep it brief. All in all I’m really happy with how this game turned out. Yes, it was a resounding win for Arelon, but that was due to some incredibly luck and skillful plays, not to imbalance issues like LG12 had. Speaking of incredible luck- just, wow. The strokes of luck this game were pretty wild. @Amanuensis and @Seonid practically couldn’t miss with their scans, and the Elantrians restored Elantris in record time- literally. In LG12 Elantris was restored at the end of Night 8, and this game it was restored after cycle 6. There were 4 areas (out of 19) that they needed to explore in order to restore the city, which means that they only had two misses before restoring Elantris. And both of their “misses” were the discovery of Aons that they were able to use once the city was restored. They never ran into any of the harmful areas, or even any of the “fun” ones I added in. You can read all the possible areas in the master spreadsheet, but to highlight a few interesting ones: One area would have turned two of the Elantrians into lovers with each other. One area would have converted all the Elantrians to Shu-Dereth. One area (the one they were debating exploring when the game ended) would have been an encounter with Hoid, who would have let the Elantrians as a group perform any action possible in the game one time only- even faction specific actions like the cultist kill or swearing a second Odiv- which could have been interesting. Anyway, moving on. It was really fun to watch all the scheming and stuff going on behind the scenes. Shu-Dereth in particular. @Steeldancer managed to recruit both pairs of lovers to his side, and he and @Elenion we’re doing a great job of avoiding suspicion up until Seonid managed to scan El. If they had been able to last one or two more cycles before being caught it probably would have been too late to stop them. With 5 players on their team (one of them a prince) and a Shu-Dereth pendant under their control they could have effectively hammered one or two votes and coasted to victory. In closing, I just want to thank everyone again for playing. I had fun and hope you all did, too. And an extra big thanks to my co-GMs, @Elbereth and @Fifth Scholar- I couldn’t have run this game without you. Your aid with the spreadsheets, tallies, writeups, and everything else was invaluable- and also to @Orlok Tsubodai as our Impartial mod. Until next time, Herowannabe
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  40. When you have a pedantic debate with other sharders about semantics and how they affect the viability of non-canon shard names and combinations.
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  41. I think Passion is a lot different than love. Honor and Odium doen't seem like a loving combination. It seems like a terrifying judgmental god. You break a law. Suddenly you have the wraith of your god upon you. Good reason for it? This combination doesn't care. Stole food because you were starving? You should have died with Honor.
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  42. If you take as a given that geekery = introversion, then I see why you feel the way you do. However, those two traits are not necessarily married to each other. It is very possible to be extremely geeky and extremely extroverted - these traits are not mutually exclusive by any means. I have friends who take pedantic nerdery to levels previously unseen by mortal beings who are also exhaustingly extroverted people. They do exist. Navani is not at all unusual, and definitely not impossible.
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  43. This is slightly tangential to Writing Excuses, but certainly in the same family. I've collected all of Brandon's creative writing lectures into one place on YouTube, and together they make quite the resource/crash course for aspiring writers. He covers topics from prose to worldbuilding to the business of writing. I also did my best to add some value by applying basic color correction, some audio enhancement (for 2014 in particular), wrote out some notes, transcribed the whiteboard (for the 2106 series), and combined videos that were previously chopped into parts. ( ...and I didn't monetize anything, of course...) Check them all out here: Or, you can navigate to my channel and I have playlists of each series separated out. It is really amazing that Brandon shares all this stuff... it is pure gold. He is as good a teacher as he is a writer, and that is saying something. Anyway, I hope this resource helps someone as much as it has helped me!
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  44. As I suspected, someone's been adding dirt to my garden. The plot thickens...
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  45. Sup. Good to see another person on the shard. And I approve of you jumping right in with a theory. Have an upvote. I'm not sure we can surely conclude that Lerasium (Fuzz's real name is Leras, by the way) has temporal effects like atium does. Might be particular to atium. But, that said, its entirely possible Lerasium shares some temporal characteristics, particularly since preservation is supposed to be the shard of eternity. In regard to harmonium's feruchemical traits... I notice a pattern. Lerasium is preservation's metal, and when used with preservation's magic (allomancy) it acts sort of like a wild card, making you a full mistborn (although potentially also doing other things). Atium is ruin's metal, and when used with ruin's magic (hemalurgy) it also acts like a wild card, able to steal any attribute and do so more effectively. It might be that harmonium, harmony's metal, will act like a wildcard when used with feruchemy, harmony's magic. Meaning it could store any feruchemical attribute, more efficiently then a conventional metalmind. Just a thought. There's always another Kelsier The cookies are indeed amazing. Help yourself. Just don't eat too many or you turn into a koloss and fall under Ruin's influence get a stomach ache.
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  46. It's pretty clear that Kaladin suffers from chronic, severe depression, and also from SAD (which is the best acronym for a medical condition I have ever heard of). Kaladin doesn't appear to be manic, except when he is using stormlight to fuel/induce a manic state, which it very clearly does. Note, I say Kaladin is using stormlight, because I want to draw your attention to it as a drug - he can sometimes treat stormlight as a self-medicating narcotic. Muhc of his moodiness in WOR and his fall into further depression could ALSO be considered him suffering from withdrawal, as he has been using stormlight as a crutch to survive his depression without taking steps to properly deal with his circumstances/etc. that inspire and worsen his depression (note how in the first sections of WOR he alternates between being engaged and focused with Stormlight to being depressed and moody without it).
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