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Necarion

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    Realmatic Engineer
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    San Francisco Bay Area
  • Interests
    Physics, 3D Printing, Singing Opera, Ballroom Dancing, hacking magical systems

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  1. The Vorrin women covering their left hand is incredibly arbitrary. There are some weird taboos surrounding it that don't seem to make sense for the society, especially given the difficulties it adds to the life of the scholars/musicians. More, it's hard on lefties (WoB here), meaning it's the left hand, and not the non-dominant hand. So why would the Heralds pass on that particular tidbit of wisdom and gender roles to society, compared to stuff like "bathe regularly" and "wash wounds"? I think it might be sort of silly: one of the Herald women had a malformed, damaged, or mangled left hand, and always kept it covered (malformed is my main choice, since other damage would likely get healed). This mutated into a tradition of "women cover their left hands" in much the same way that "Radiants' eyes turn pale" mutated into "Lighteyes should be the elite ruling class". Obviously this is sort of a crack theory, but I feel it makes as much sense as anything else?
  2. What does a Radiant get from swearing her Fifth Ideal? First and Second were important power boosts. Third was the Shardblade (which was left behind at the Recreance) and Fourth was the Shardplate (also left behind at the Recreance). But there are no artifacts left behind that could plausibly be from the Fifth Ideal. Obviously, it's some important power boost that is centered on the Radiant and those around them. There are probably the spiritual boosts (people are more likely to respect the leadership of a Windrunner, the judgment of a Skybreaker, etc) and probably some boosts to the squires and lesser Radiants. But none of these are really story-changing or spectacular enough. On the other hand, there is one thing that would fit a KR reaching their highest power: They can Surgebind without having to carry or directly draw upon Stormlight. The only 5th Idealer we've seen is Nalan, who can burst alight at any time, and Lift never once mentions him needing to breathe in Stormlight. Now, this might be from his Honorblade, which WOB says allowed the Heralds to directly connect to Honor's power. But the Spren copied the power of the Honorblades in crafting the Nahel Bond, meaning that, at least to some extent, the most invested KR are going to have similar powers to the Heralds. Because they're tied directly into Honor, I think this power would not allow them to serve as a source of Stormlight for other Radiants or for spheres (as that would be OP). Further, Lift herself never has to draw on Stormlight, but can turn it on and off in herself. This is partly from her weird powers, and comes directly out of her food supply. But she can choose when she wants to be Awesome or not. (Weaker option: a Fifth Ideal KR can store Stormlight indefinitely, without loss, until they use it. This allows storing power pre-battle.)
  3. Brandon once said that we have already seen how the Stormlight Archive ends, which clearly is in one of the death rattles. I strongly believe it to be the the Ketek at the end of The Way of Kings The final shot of the Stormlight Archive will be an empty, silent Roshar as the Highstorm and the Everstorm clash and wither out, with silence both below and above. More detailed thoughts: (I am not going to be able to find citations, but if anyone can help, I'll add them to the post). 1. Erosion: the geologic process in the formation of Roshar has been the steady deposition of crem during Highstorms. The entire continent is largely crem upon crem, which is why the entire thing is so insanely metal poor. And while the Highstorm has incredible erosive effects, it deposits more material on net than it takes away. The arrival of the Everstorm changes the calculus. We saw in the final fight of Words of Radiance that when the two storms clashed, the forces were enough to send entire plateaus hundreds of feet into the air. The erosion from this (and even from just the Everstorm, which wears away without bringing back) will start to wash Roshar into the sea. Brandon spoke of this animation of the Julia Set as the inspiration for the shape of Roshar. I think there's more than just the shape; the growth and decay of the shape seem appropriate to the crem-building and eventual erosive weathering of Roshar. 2. The story will not end with everybody on Roshar dead, simply with the entire sapient population evacuated through the Perpendicularity. I don't believe Brandon wants to end this series on a true tragedy (i.e., the complete failure of the anti-Odium forces). And yet the Roshar system is the focus for so much of the conflict within the Cosmere. It seems silly (on a Doylist writer-based level) to have the series end with "Odium is still trapped in Roshar" since we still need some conflict involving the reassembly of Adonalsium. And since Odium has no intention of becoming not-Odium, there needs to be a way for him to get out somehow. Plus, it lets us have our Favorite Rosharan Characters showing up on different worlds. (I desperately want Lift and Wayne to be friends. Wayne is the second most Edgedancer character we have met this entire series, and both Lift and Wayne are weird in part because of a trauma in their past, and are also actively trying to be weird, for better or worse. I think they will understand each other, be really good friends at a totally normal level, and help each other move past some of their other problems.) I also cannot see Wax or Nalan having any patience for each other, and it would be glorious. This is also going to be where the Checkov's gun of "something something Horneater Peaks, outsiders, something something" actually goes off with a bang. 3. Thematic parallels This leaves open the possibility of a "The Real Asgard is the People" ending, where there is a massive loss (the entire planet is uninhabitable, Odium is loose), but still a victory from the perspective of everyone we care about (Life placed before Death). The Stormlight Archive is the Journey, not the Destination. Roshar slowly wearing away into the sea (a process we will discover has become noticed and studied after our 5/6 timeskip) will be thematically paralleled with the Radiants slowly losing ground to the forces of Odium, at least on Roshar. The Storms are central to the story of Roshar (Stormlight Archive). The proscribe the actions of all the characters, where they can go, how they can move, what gives them power. I believe that there will be a thematic arc of the Storms themselves that parallels that of the characters, with the relative balance of the Highstorm and Everstorm being an in-universe metaphor for the progress of the war. I have a couple of additional thoughts, but they are specifically referencing things learned in Rhythm of War. I'm hiding them under spoilers, because I think this theory holds regardless (I've held it since the end of Words of Radiance, but there are new points that reinforce it). Mods, if you'd like me to move the post, I'd be happy to. Point 1: Point 2:
  4. In an in-book question (asked as a gift for a relative who's a midwife), I asked: "Would a Mistborn have to worry about accidentally burning her copper IUD?" and Brandon smiled, and wrote "Yes!" So I think that burning metal outside of the stomach is still relatively natural to Allomancers.
  5. Oh, that sounds like an entirely reasonable commute, I don't know what your problem is
  6. Hi everyone! I've been working on a project to set the poetry and songs of the Wheel of Time to music. I have a number of pieces written and I can sing some of the parts, but I don't have anybody to play with. I've attached the only setting I have recorded: Mat's "Color of Trust" (from Lord of Chaos) which is sung by me, with my father on guitar. Are there any musically inclined fans (especially in the Seattle area) who are interested in getting together to play them together? Let me know if you're interested and what you sing/play, and we can plan from there :-) P.S. I know this might be better in the Wheel of Time forum, but I'm not restricting myself to Wheel of Time fans. Color of Trust - Voice/Guitar Wind that Shakes the Willow - Voice/Piano Forward the Lion - Voice/Piano As Long as the Wheel Turns - Voice/Piano Tia mi aven - 6 voice round Wash the Spears - 4 voice round Life is a Dream - 3 voices Soft the Winds - 3 voices Color of Trust.mp3
  7. If you ever pull a group together to sing it, shoot me a video! I'm making a project of Wheel of Time music, "The Cycle of the Wheel" perhaps? So there is more to come
  8. If anybody decides last minute they're interested (and we will go over all the parts!) I'll be wearing a dark mistcloak and carrying a pair of "glass" daggers, and will have the sheet music with me!
  9. I have a somewhat unusual ask, though I realize these Fandoms are not completely orthogonal: I recently composed a 5-7-voice setting of the "The Grave is No Bar to My Call" from Book 1 of the Wheel of Time, but because I am but a single humble Gleeman, I haven't heard it outside of MIDI. I was hoping that if there was sufficient interest, we could try it at some point during/after Brandon's signing in Seattle this Saturday. The music isn't terribly complicated, we'll go over all the parts, and I don't care about voice ranges on individual parts (except! the person singing "Moridin, Moridin" probably needs to be a bass). Please let me know if you have any interest! Also, if anyone wants to bring a harp, silver-chased flute (or perhaps merely a guitar), I've included the chord symbols. Thanks! "I will find the song, or another will find the song, but the song will be sung this year or in a year to come. As it once was, so shall it be again, world without end." Tia mi aven - Chords.pdf Tia mi aven - round.mid
  10. ello! Thanks for your Q/A reports! This one is very intriguing to me, do you mind giving me the recording for this one so I can hear Brandon's tone and stuff? (or just the entire recording if you don't want to go to the trouble of isolating that one question)

     

    Quote

    Necarion: The compounding trick that the Lord Ruler performed. When you’re storing investiture, are you storing your ‘mistborn-ness’ or all the powers individually?
    Brandon: All of the powers individually
    Necarion: [Surprised, because this dashed a favorite theory of mine] Oh okay!
    Brandon: Yeah, the compounding trick. Really what’s happening is you’re fueling feruchemy with the power of allomancy, but you’re filtering it through you, and then you’re storing it.
    Necarion: So it’s not that you’re a more powerful mistborn when you’ve tapped [investiture]
    Brandon: No, good question.

     

  11. There is another simpler option for how they measure a year: a year is 12 "months" of a complete lunar orbit, which would be terms inherited from Yolan (or whatnot). I think your term 'precess' works well for an alternate explation. While a moon would be able to maintain a polar orbit in this situation, the orbit would not be 'closed' (i.e., return to the same location in its orbit every time). Instead, a polar orbit would precess around the planet, where it could start by being parallel with the terminator and half a 'year' later be perpendicular to the terminator. I don't know whether this is Canon or not, but the terminator should have some crazy storms as well.
  12. I feel like this might be the most significant question for non-ascended magic uses in the Cosmere. For example, having a large number of Breaths enables some impressive uses of investiture (see: Nightblood) but Breath is fundamentally a limited resources. But if you can put a Breath into a nicrosil mind and then burn that nicrosil mind to get 2 or more Breaths out, suddenly the entire economic calculus of Nalthis changes. Preservation is a much stronger source of raw energy than Endowment, and even so, compounded Allomancy and Feruchemy is orders of magnitude more spectacular than raw Allomancy or Feruchemy.
  13. Hey! Thanks for calling them awesome! They were fun to make (laser cut acrylic, then beveled, polished, and leather-wrapped). This is vaguely related to one of the silly questions I haven't had a chance to ask: "What other Vessels have bought Hoid Drinks" I got about 25 minutes of recording of the signing, but other than a couple minor questions (posted below) and my exchange, the questions were more focused on writing. I will try to transcribe the discussions later, but for now I wanted to post the Cosmere-specific Q&A now. Questions from others in line (Timestamps on my audio recording) 11:08: Q: I really appreciate the fact that Steris is a character who is there. Brandon: Steris is my favorite character of the new generation of mistborn. She is a delight to write about. 11:45: Q: Is Lift going to be in the next book? Brandon: Yes Q: Yay! Q: What happened to Vivenna? B: This will be answered very soon Questions from my party: [These were a series of questions in signed books (we bought a lot of books tonight!) as well as oral questions. I have transcribed the book questions as well] Friend: As context, we’re physicists and love playing around with [the mechanics] of this universe. Necarion: Do Vessels have any flexibility in expressing the intent of a Shard, particularly if the Intent is open to many interpretations? Brandon: Yes they do. So, the Vessel’s mind and how they perceive is going to have a large influence on how things are expressed and I think all of them have some wiggle room. But there are some deterministic things that are also going to push them. You know, holding Ruin, Harmony may not go down the same path that happened to Ati. Necarion: So Saddeas would express Honor differently than Tanavast? Brandon: Yes he would. Necarion: Would a soulstamp carved from a gemstone and infused with Stormlight be more likely to Take? Brandon: No it would not Necarion: Would a Mistborn have to worry about accidentally burning her copper IUD? Brandon: Yes she would, absolutely (Laughs) [Necarion's note: this confirms that metal does not have to be in the stomach to be burned] Friend: So my quick question: Can you use Identity (I love the speed bubbles!) to anchor speed bubbles to yourself? Brandon: Uh, this is possible. That’s less a matter of Identity. What’s gonna happen there, like, the more someone uses the powers, the more familiar and intermingled with their soul the powers become, and they are able to accomplish things that others can’t. This would be like a mistborn learning to hover a coin, right, which they can do, but most think you can’t. That’s the sort of level we’re going with. Necarion: So a savant could? Brandon: A savant could totally do that. The problem is, things moving in and out of a speed bubble, there’s a transference of energy. This is how we keep speed bubbles from irradiating people when light moves through them, right, red shift. And so there’s a transfer of energy directly from the spiritual realm, which means that moving with a speed bubble, you’re gonna run into that, and it’s gonna be, it’s gonna cause all kinds of problems, but it would be possible. [Necarion’s note: This might be a very interesting method of harnessing energy, much more efficient than my earlier Terris Wheel idea] Friend: Now, do things actually move unpredictable at the edge [of a speed bubble] or do they refract out? Is it just that geometry is hard? Brandon: No, I have a level of unpredictability, I mean we’re Chaos Theory. The idea being, you could predict if you had a perfect closed system and things like this, but it’s unfeasible for most technology and minds to be able to predict. Friend: Thank you Necarion: One other speed bubble question. Is the speed of light the same inside and outside a speed bubble? Brandon: Um, yes. The speed of light is the same. Good question, you’re trying to figure out the FTL. Necarion: Also, it would eliminate the redshift if the speed of light… Brandon: If the speed of light were similar [Necarion’s note: there would be no redshift if the speed of light were directly proportional to the ‘speed of time’. Alas this theory doesn’t seem to be valid]. That’s one thing we considered, but it felt too unintuitive, plus it’s just not how I imagined things working. So, no it is not, but that’s a good question. It is something we considered. Friend: I just want to setup a lab in a speed bubble and do fun things. Necarion: Could a double-nicrosil Twinborn compound Breath or Stormlight? Brandon: Uh, you’re getting a RAFO card on _that_. You’re getting SUCH a RAFO card on that! Necarion: Is Taldain orbiting at a Lagrangian point? Brandon: [Laughs] Necarion: It would make the orbits work Brandon: [Long pause] I’m not sure the implications, I have to think through implications before answering questions Necarion: The situation I’m thinking of, it would orbit the big star but at the same period as the smaller star. Brandon: Yeah, well, I’ll just say ‘yes’, but I want to make sure I’m not saying ‘yes’, without...well, yes that’s how it has to work Necarion: Right Brandon: Because [Taldain] I want to be not like Roshar where we have unstable orbits and things. Uh, but I… I’m saying yes, but I hope that doesn’t get me into trouble scientifically. [Necarion’s note 1: While the L1 Lagrange point is an equilibrium point in the three-body problem, it is technically an unstable one. However, this seems a system that could be corrected with a small input of Shardic intervention, far less than would be required by any other astronomical arrangement I can think of] [Necarion’s note 2: Note the comment about ‘unstable orbits’ in the Rosharan system. This might account for the rapid variation in seasons on the planet] Necarion: The compounding trick that the Lord Ruler performed. When you’re storing investiture, are you storing your ‘mistborn-ness’ or all the powers individually? Brandon: All of the powers individually Necarion: [Surprised, because this dashed a favorite theory of mine] Oh okay! Brandon: Yeah, the compounding trick. Really what’s happening is you’re fueling feruchemy with the power of allomancy, but you’re filtering it through you, and then you’re storing it. Necarion: So it’s not that you’re a more powerful mistborn when you’ve tapped [investiture] Brandon: No, good question.
  14. Be my guest! I'd love to see what you come up with! (My notifications ended up turning off, so I am months late replying to this, my apologies)
  15. Broken Sky seems like it points to Sel for a couple reasons: Brandon has noted that the cognitive realm over Sel is a never-ending storm of investiture due to Odium's splintering of Dominion and Devotion and (AU Spoiler):
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