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The Cloud God? Gods? Faces? Spies?


teknopathetic

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 7/07/2016 at 6:55 AM, Yata said:

The actual definition of Focus is nowhere so far as I know.

The thing that come closer to the "Focus"'s definition, it's what Mister Sanderson said about Metals on Scadrial "On Scadrial the Metals aren't Invested themself but they are gateway to Investiture" with a little loss of precision I think I may generalize a bit and say "A Focus is a gateway to Investiture" and with another (but more elengant) definition I think it better to say:

"A Shardworld's focus is a way to the Magic Systems native of that Shardworld to express themself" (of course this is a definition made by myself and has nothing of Canon)

Returning to the specific, whatever the Taldain's Focus is (light/ plant/water/poweroflove/ecc...) it will be a common element in every Magic Systems native of Taldain.

PS: I hope nobody resented if I explain the Focus's concept in those terms.

Well, that and in magic systems where there are multiple types of power or effects to choose from, the focus is always the thing you vary to vary the effect. (eg. you vary the metal to store different attributes in Feruchemy, you vary the Command to Awaken things differently, you vary the shape/form in AonDor to choose between healing or traveling or whatever, etc...)

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1 hour ago, Argent said:

Have we asked Brandon about this? I think there is a reasonable chance he will stop by Chicago for the Arcanum Unbounded tour, and could ask him then.

I have a chance to meet him this November...If this happens I will ask him (I have more important questions, but I think it's better to have clear definitions)

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On 2016. 8. 24. at 11:41 PM, Argent said:

Have we asked Brandon about this? I think there is a reasonable chance he will stop by Chicago for the Arcanum Unbounded tour, and could ask him then.

I asked if Dark Siders were watching events with this magic. I got a nice reddit RAFO.

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On August 24, 2016 at 9:17 AM, Ari said:

Well, that and in magic systems where there are multiple types of power or effects to choose from, the focus is always the thing you vary to vary the effect. (eg. you vary the metal to store different attributes in Feruchemy, you vary the Command to Awaken things differently, you vary the shape/form in AonDor to choose between healing or traveling or whatever, etc...)

If the focus is sunlight (which is debatable), then maybe dayside has visible spectrum light and dark side has UV light.

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11 minutes ago, Blightsong said:

If the focus is sunlight (which is debatable), then maybe dayside has visible spectrum light and dark side has UV light.

If it were the sunlight, it'd be rather odd that Sand Masters couldn't directly use the sunlight itself to Master. I'm pretty sure it's the lichen mentioned in the newsletter, and that the sunlight just recharges it with investiture. (either through some odd photosynthesis, or simply because the sun is somehow Taldain's perpendicularity) Sand mastery doesn't seem to have a varying focus anyway, rather, everything seems to be achieved through the same reservoir of power.

Edited by Ari
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9 minutes ago, Ari said:

If it were the sunlight, it'd be rather odd that Sand Masters couldn't directly use the sunlight itself to Master. I'm pretty sure it's the lichen mentioned in the newsletter, and that the sunlight just recharges it with investiture. (either through some odd photosynthesis, or simply because the sun is somehow Taldain's perpendicularity) Sand mastery doesn't seem to have a varying focus anyway, rather, everything seems to be achieved through the same reservoir of power.

Agreed, I'm just spitballing.

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And here I was getting used to analyzing text. Now, I have a whole new medium to be confused about.

On a more topical note, do we know whether or not Taldain was made by Bavadin, or if it was around pre-Shattering?

I ask because Scadrial is post-Shattering, and its focus is pretty obvious, whereas Roshar is much vaguer, and was created by Adolnalsium. An answer to that question could help a bit I might think.

Edited by KnightGradient
accidentally posted before I was ready
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On 7/6/2016 at 11:31 AM, teknopathetic said:

Someone else mentioned this, but i thought Id go hunting. 

 

Option 1) Clouds can be used to spy on events. The Darksiders on Dayside a VERY up to date. The crime lord says "information has a way if finding us". Could cloud mastery be another form of magic? These faces look different to me. They dont appear to be the same person. The nose looks different. I also don't think Brandon would have a singular Cloud Mother (one of the faces looks very female) in his books after placing one in Roshar. 

 

Option 2) The sky is invested. It can filter the sunlight and refract healthy light to the people of dayside. The light is changed and invested so the sand can use it. The light is also made weaker so that the Daysiders do not burn and do not need to evolve protections against UV light.  Something similar might be happening in Darkside that strengthens the light. This face could be akin to the stormfather. 

Option 3) The water is invested. The water of the body is used to fuel sand mastery. The critters die from water exposure. Sand masters can manipulate water. And the clouds seem to have a magical use. 

 

 

A32EE9E1-4E35-461B-8F91-CF29EF90807B.JPG

2D07EDA4-6C62-42B5-BFB6-07F7716F549B.JPG

3F9437BF-AF02-4B13-AAF3-A694894977B8.JPG

A155E5FA-FD41-47F5-A506-455401DA63E2.JPG

AE2E42F5-E96F-49CA-AF34-4CE727244197.JPG

It's a terrific theory.

I may have sat in Books-A-Million for half an hour yesterday reading White Sand Volume 1 so I wouldn't have to buy it...

And the cloud magic you mentioned seems really intuitive.

Upvote from me!

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  • 2 weeks later...

There is another face in the clouds that hasn't been mentioned yet.  It's in the scene of the big convocation of the Diem when advancements are being awarded.  In the upper left corner, hidden mostly by the lettering box, is a face.  How do I know this? Because the concept art pages in the back of the book has the uncolored unlettered version of this page and the face is clear there.

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On 8/30/2016 at 4:58 AM, Yata said:

Someone remember if in the prose version are there some references to "faces" spread in the natural envirorment ? If it's a relevant element of worldbuilding I am surprised to not notice also in the prose.

I am pretty sure someone would've noticed and remarked on this, had it been the case.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/29/2016 at 0:27 PM, RenegadeShroom said:

Since no one else mentioned it here, thought I'd also point out the face in a rock formation on page 65, after Kenton joins Khriss' party. It's on the upper right of the page, noticed it on my first readthrough about two months back:

white sand rock face.png

Thunderclast! Oh wait. No red eyes, it's OK.

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Does this look like a face to you? It's a little to the left of the three sand masters (roughly in the middle of the picture). It's made of stone rather than clouds (sorry for forgetting to say that in the first place).

WIN_20160930_15_59_00_Pro.jpg

Edited by Turbonator
I'm an airsick lowlander
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On 9/30/2016 at 2:05 PM, Turbonator said:

Does this look like a face to you? It's a little to the left of the three sand masters (roughly in the middle of the picture).

I don't see it. Based on the blatant-ness (or whatever the adjective is) of the other faces, I don't think that's meant to be one.

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@Elenion, did you look only at the sky, or also at the rocks? As I mention in my edit, I forgot to state that it was in the rocks. I'm going to crop a pic to show the face better.

I just find it odd that, so far, there's only two stone faces that we know of, while there are numerous cloud faces.

Also, @Argent, if this is the subtlety Sanderson wanted, then one must wonder how many faces there still are...

I've had a look at the book again, and I can't find any more faces, but I never was that good at hidden object games. Still, at least I found this one.

WIN_20161003_09_35_28_Pro.jpg

Edited by Turbonator
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ws1.PNG

In the same scene where we see the face in the image above, I think there is a second face.

ws2.PNG

I rotated the book/page 90 degrees clockwise so you can see it better. To me it looks like a young child's face, or maybe a female character.

If there are 2 faces in the same image, they can't both be Bavadin / Autonomy, can they?

I'm finding more in the rocks too, now that I'm looking.

 

Edited by old aggie
[trying again to get images to upload]
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On 10/3/2016 at 7:40 AM, Turbonator said:

did you look only at the sky, or also at the rocks? As I mention in my edit, I forgot to state that it was in the rocks. I'm going to crop a pic to show the face better.

I noted that formation, but it doesn't look much like a face to me, except for maybe the 'nose'. The other faces I've seen are pretty clear-cut.

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20 hours ago, old aggie said:

ws1.PNG

In the same scene where we see the face in the image above, I think there is a second face.

ws2.PNG

I rotated the book/page 90 degrees clockwise so you can see it better. To me it looks like a young child's face, or maybe a female character.

If there are 2 faces in the same image, they can't both be Bavadin / Autonomy, can they?

I'm finding more in the rocks too, now that I'm looking.

 

Now it's my turn to say that I don't see it. I'll need to look through the book yet again. Maybe with a magnifying glass.

Also, @Elenion, I don't know how else to show the face to you. I'll zoom in even more!

Edit: let it be known that fingers are not good at precision drawing when using a phone.

 

IMG_0517.PNG

IMG_0517.PNG

Edited by Turbonator
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6 hours ago, Turbonator said:

Also, @Elenion, I don't know how else to show the face to you. I'll zoom in even more!

Edit: let it be known that fingers are not good at precision drawing when using a phone.

That sketch though! :lol:

Okay, I was missing the mouth. That made it all clearer. Thanks, and have an upvote for your time.

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