[OB] the timeskip after OB

[Leyrann]

3 hours ago, maxal said:

Well... Brandon did make Dalinar learn how to read and write within two weeks, so writing a whole book within a year time seems like totally feasible  

I don't know how much difference already knowing a writing system makes, but I needed one evening to be able to kind of write and read Alethi letters, though slowly (and we see Dalinar is going slowly as well).

[galendo]

On 2/4/2018 at 7:13 AM, maxal said:

It is highly possible Lift will say an additional oath during the time gap just as it is highly possible both Jasnah/Renarin will progress. It is also possible denouement, with respect to Renarin's corrupted spren, will happen and we won't get to read it until Renarin's book.

...

A LOT could happen within this one year gap and I trust Brandon planned it because he wanted the story to move forward without having to write every steps along the way. Seeing how slow going Dalinar's political machinations were in OB, I am utterly pleased Brandon seems to want to skip them.

I'm with you on skipping more of Dalinar's political machinations (though I didn't think they were all that bad.  Honestly, Shallan's parts bothered me more, in the first half).  But I absolutely do not want more Radiant oaths spoken off-screen.  I feel that was a huge reason why the first half of Oathbringer felt like it wasn't going anywhere.  See, Oaths provide a meaningful sense of progress.  Once someone says an Oath, they've moved forward.  They can't move back.  (Well, unless they're Shallan, but I think her character is pretty much irretrievably broken, and her lack of Oaths is a huge part of that.  Three books in, including her flashback book, and I still have no idea what would cause Pattern to become a deadblade or what attracted him to her in the first place.)

The fact that we went something like eleven hundred pages without seeing a single Oath in Oathbringer was, in my opinion, a huge mistake.  It didn't have to be much.  Even something like Teft having his first Ideal accepted (er, second?  "I will protect those who cannot protect themselves") would have shown that, yes, progress is being made.  Things are happening.  We've got something like a dozen Radiants now.  Honestly, I think we should have seen at least one Oath and probably two or three by the halfway point.

On 2/4/2018 at 1:22 PM, Vissy said:

Oh god no. That quote makes me kind of afraid now xD I reaally hope it won't be Shallan having a baby or something like that.

I'd be fine if Shallan had a baby during the timeskip.  That's exactly the sort of thing that could reasonably happen, would be boring to actually read about, but might provide some much-needed spice to Shallan's character.  The only real problem I see with it is that family is already very important to her, so giving her more family to be important doesn't really accomplish much.  But a character trying to balance Radiantness and motherhood...well, it'd be something new, at least.  And Shallan needs something.

On 2/4/2018 at 1:40 PM, maxal said:

I personally hope for the Iri/Rira story arc to take form into book 4. Early in OB, we were told Iriali would side with Odium unless Dalinar hands over what Evi has stolen. We never got to the end of this story and I was so intrigued by it, I wanted the narrative to go there. Hence, I am going to hope for my wishes to come true. I find those smaller story arcs more interesting than Unmades and Fuses and Parshendis and the likes.

I too like the personal story arcs a lot more than the supposedly bigger ones.  The Fused and, by extension, the Parshendi, have really fallen flat for me as villains.  (The Unmade are hit-and miss, with Sja-Annat being the big hit and Yelig-nar being the big miss.)  Amaram was a much better villain in my mind, and I'm sad to see that he was more-or-less wasted at the end of Oathbringer.

That being said, is the Iri problem really that difficult to solve?  Dalinar and company have like four sets of Shards or something like that (well, maybe less, since they gave some of them away; but Renarin still has a set of Plate that he's not going to need much longer), so just give back Adolin's Plate.  Heck, throw in a Shardblade along with it (whatever happened to Renarin's deadblade?) just for good measure.  Seems pretty much a no-brainer for someone who's sworn to unite rather than divide.  Simple problem, easy fix.  I'll be kind of disappointed if it's blown all out of proportion.

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I also really want something to happen with regards to Dalinar having murdered, even if not directly, Evi. I want this thread to take form and for Adolin to see the truth about his father: I want this crushing moment where he realizes his life-long hero is not as heroic as he always thought he was. This last bout however is me laying down my wishful list of hopes: based on my experience with OB, I can be nearly guaranteed anything I wish for... won't happen.

Well, I guess we can dream, but I really wanted there to be some consequences for Adolin murdering Sadeas as well, and that really didn't happen.

Since we didn't get any complications from Adolin murdering Sadeas, we shouldn't expect anything for Dalinar accidentally killing Evi.  I mean, what is there for Adolin to find out?  That Dalinar hasn't always been perfect?  That he sometimes made mistakes?  That he was more of a warmonger in his youth?  That he used to get caught up in the Thrill?  Adolin knows all that already.  If he ever find the truth out about Evi, I wouldn't expect him to blame Dalinar for it any more than Shallan blames Kaladin for killing her brother.

No, the real potential for drama like that was having Dalinar find out about Adolin and Sadeas.  Dalinar finding out his son wasn't as honorable as he thought.  Adolin discovering he'd severely disappointed his father, discovering that by killing Sadeas he'd actually made things worse.  Dalinar shocked that Adolin lied to him, that he hadn't trusted him enough to tell the truth.

That's where the story was.  Since we didn't get that, there's no realy hope for your proposal.  Dalinar, Evi, and Adolin are small peas by comparison, and probably wouldn't be that satisfying anyway.

On 2/4/2018 at 8:49 PM, Calderis said:

In a single year I doubt that. 

I fully expect [the skyships] in the back 5 after the 10-15 year gap though. 

You're probably right, but honestly, I hope not.  I want Roshar wrecked by the time the last five books roll around.  This is supposed to be the True Desolation, but so far this feels like Desolation-lite.  I want the "nine out of ten people dead" that Nohadon mentions, and then I want things to get worse.  I want Dalinar dead, I want the Stormfather splintered.  I've been promised that "So the night will reign, for the choice of Honor is life," and I'm going to be disappointed if the night doesn't get to start reigning sometime soon.  I want things to get worse (so they can eventually get better again, of course).  Alethkar is what I call a good start.

Now I'm fine if not all of this happens right away.  It's been established that splintering can take a while, so I'd be fine if, say, the Stormfather got splintered at the end of book five and then spent a good part of the time-skip dying, so that when book six rolls around the characters have to deal with infrequent, unpredictable, intermittent highstorms and the twin impacts of ever-rarer Stormlight and the corresponding devastation that the lack is having on the Rosharan ecosystems.

But you know what I don't want to come back to?  Happy-go-lucky explorers traveling around in their super-awesome flying ships fueled by massive amounts of Stormlight, clearly the product of massive investment and infrastructure, having somehow survived the Desolation of all Desolations without much difficulty despite Honor being dead, his Heralds being broken, his Knights Radiant being annihilated, and his peoples at each others' throats.  If flying happyships need to happen, make them happen sooner rather than later.  If we've got to have them (and we probably do, unfortunately), I hope they happen by book five at the latest.

[Vissy]

Just now, galendo said:

I'd be fine if Shallan had a baby during the timeskip.  That's exactly the sort of thing that could reasonably happen, would be boring to actually read about, but might provide some much-needed spice to Shallan's character.  The only real problem I see with it is that family is already very important to her, so giving her more family to be important doesn't really accomplish much.  But a character trying to balance Radiantness and motherhood...well, it'd be something new, at least.  And Shallan needs something.

What I'm afraid of is that she gets the baby and then everything is magically fine (which is going to happen out of necessity, unless Sanderson wants to write a seriously disturbing parenthood). But seriously... more spice to her character? Shallan isn't spicy or interesting enough as is, with three separate personas, a ton of secrets and probably some even we the readers haven't learned about yet, and having a baby would... add spice? Personally it would ruin her character. I don't exactly want to read Parenting 101 from the perspective of Shallan, who already has the duties of a Radiant and the burden of suffering from a mental illness. It would not make any sense at all for her to suddenly turn into the perfect little parent with nothing but love and adoration for the little one. It's just... no. Ugh.

[galendo]

@Vissy:  Well, Shallan falls kind of flat for me.  I think she's easily the least-interesting Radiant that we know, other than maybe some fringe Radiant like the Stump from Edgedancer.  So that's what I mean when I say she needs spice.  She needs something to liven her up, to make her not flat anymore.

Her split personalities are more of a gimmick than an actual character trait, and although the conflict did actually grow on me somewhat in the latter half of the book, it's going to wear out its welcome really soon.  Still, that's all presumably going to be resolved when she says her last Truth, and then she's got...what going for her, exactly?  Her conflict with the Ghostbloods?  (Boring!)  Her coterie of Gaz and company?  (Boring!)  Her love triangle with Adolin and Kaladin?  (Oh God please no.)

So, yeah, Shallan is boring.  I kind of feel like the author's just throwing stuff at her to see if anything will stick.  Is a baby going to be the answer?  Probably not, but who knows?  And at least, when it doesn't work, then maybe she could start spending more time off-screen, taking care of her little one, and leave the limelight to characters who better deserve it.

[+Wax]

1 hour ago, galendo said:

@Vissy:  Well, Shallan falls kind of flat for me.  I think she's easily the least-interesting Radiant that we know, other than maybe some fringe Radiant like the Stump from Edgedancer.  So that's what I mean when I say she needs spice.  She needs something to liven her up, to make her not flat anymore.

Her split personalities are more of a gimmick than an actual character trait, and although the conflict did actually grow on me somewhat in the latter half of the book, it's going to wear out its welcome really soon.  Still, that's all presumably going to be resolved when she says her last Truth, and then she's got...what going for her, exactly?  Her conflict with the Ghostbloods?  (Boring!)  Her coterie of Gaz and company?  (Boring!)  Her love triangle with Adolin and Kaladin?  (Oh God please no.)

So, yeah, Shallan is boring.  I kind of feel like the author's just throwing stuff at her to see if anything will stick.  Is a baby going to be the answer?  Probably not, but who knows?  And at least, when it doesn't work, then maybe she could start spending more time off-screen, taking care of her little one, and leave the limelight to characters who better deserve it.

Shallan is my favourite character.  I want to see more of her (but less of her Radiant persona).

The more flawed it is, the more interesting it becomes.

 

[hypatia]

As I see it a pregnancy is the only reason for the need to skip one year, every other possibilities can really be sped up, but this needs 9 to 10 month.

Without skipping this, the next book would have just a pregnant Shallan.

But I don't feel this will end in all sunshine and roses - there is one great question left in the Shallan-plot - why had her MOTHER tried to kill her?

At the moment I can't see a way to answer this question, because - except perhaps Pattern - no one can know the reason.

With Shallan as a mother herself this can be shown.

The little bit rushed marriage at the end of OB, all the "No mating" without proper papers, leads to a future child, but on the other side Patterns strong believe, that Shallan will kill him, doesn't make me feel this will have a sugersweet outcome.

[Leyrann]

Wasn't Shallan's mother in league with the Skybreakers?

[hypatia]

We don't know. I would say "no" , because if so, there would have been more attempts to kill Shallan.

We will need this from the PoV of the mother, but this is impossible. This isn't so much a truth of Shallan, it is a truth of her mother. Even if she had told someone, we couldn't be sure that this was the real reason.

Perhaps there is a problem between Radiancy and motherhood, perhaps a Nahelbond won't allow the splitting of loyality.

I really have a bad feeling.....

[Guest]

32 minutes ago, hypatia said:

We don't know. I would say "no" , because if so, there would have been more attempts to kill Shallan.

From the letter Mraize sent to Shallan explaining things about Helaran and his ties to the Skybreakers.

Quote

Your mother had intimate contact with a Skybreaker acolyte, and you know the result of that relationship. Your brother was recruited because Nale was impressed with him. Nale may also have learned, through means we do not understand, that a member of your house was close to bonding a spren. If this is true, they came to believe that Helaran was the one they wanted. They recruited him with displays of great power and Shards.

I'm pretty sure, that her mother and her lover, the Skybreaker acolyte, have seen what was happening with Shallan and as such tried to kill her. Her mother definitely knew about the Skybreakers and what they were trying to do.

After that attempt, both the acolyte and Shallan's mother were dead, so the only two, who might have known something about her Nahel bond died that day. Shallan repressed any memories of Pattern and didn't show any more signs of Surgebinding powers. So, no reason for her to be a target for Nale, no reason for more attempts on her life.

Edited February 6, 2018 by SLNC

[The One Who Connects]

14 hours ago, lu-tze said:

Though, presumably, the target object could only travel as far as the source object can fall.

That was what I felt was the problem too. You make a valid(and clever) point about orientation of the two pieces, but now we're back where we started: the other piece has to move too. Although.... maybe there's a way around this. Looking at the archer tower page of Navani's Journal, I realized something
(spoiler tag since it isn't exactly relevant to the topic of this thread)

Spoiler

Imagine the left(down arrow) platform as a ceiling, and imagine the right platform as connected to the tethers on the ground. The Fabrial(with the tethers) replicates the standard pulley system: Pull one end down, and other end goes up. What's the glorious power of pulleys? You can chain them together and accomplish more.

I'll admit I have no idea how this would work, but if something similar could be done with Fabrials... well, they have a big advantage in that they need no ceiling or floor to hook things too.

If anyone's got ideas, I could make this it's own thread.

---

3 hours ago, hypatia said:

As I see it a pregnancy is the only reason for the need to skip one year, every other possibilities can really be sped up, but this needs 9 to 10 month.

6-7 months. Courtesy of Calderis:

Quote

365 * 24 = 8760 hours * 1.1 = 9636.
So a Rosharan year is the equivalent of 9636 earth hours...
20 * 500 = 10000 Roshar hours in a year. Makes for easy math. A Rosharan hour is 0.9636 hours. 

I can't find an actual hour length for average pregnancy. But if we take the 38 week model 38 * 7 * 24 = 6384 hours.
6384 / 0.9636 = 6625 (rounded down the 0.155)
6625 Rosharan hours / 20 = 331 1/4 Rosharan days. 

So a Rosharan Pregnancy should last 331 days, or roughly 6 and a half months.

[Mage of Lirigon]

9 hours ago, galendo said:

Well, unless they're Shallan, but I think her character is pretty much irretrievably broken, and her lack of Oaths is a huge part of that. 

I think Truths are just as interesting as Oaths, if you want character progression.

 

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The fact that we went something like eleven hundred pages without seeing a single Oath in Oathbringer was, in my opinion, a huge mistake.  It didn't have to be much.  Even something like Teft having his first Ideal accepted (er, second?  "I will protect those who cannot protect themselves") would have shown that, yes, progress is being made.  Things are happening.  We've got something like a dozen Radiants now.  Honestly, I think we should have seen at least one Oath and probably two or three by the halfway point.

Eh, too many Oaths and they lose their impact though.

 

Quote

I'd be fine if Shallan had a baby during the timeskip.  That's exactly the sort of thing that could reasonably happen, would be boring to actually read about, but might provide some much-needed spice to Shallan's character.  The only real problem I see with it is that family is already very important to her, so giving her more family to be important doesn't really accomplish much.  But a character trying to balance Radiantness and motherhood...well, it'd be something new, at least.  And Shallan needs something.

Doesn't Shallan already have plenty to deal with, though?

 

Quote

Well, I guess we can dream, but I really wanted there to be some consequences for Adolin murdering Sadeas as well, and that really didn't happen.

Consequences would have rung a bit false, considering what happened to House Sadeas at the end. 

 

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Since we didn't get any complications from Adolin murdering Sadeas, we shouldn't expect anything for Dalinar accidentally killing Evi.  I mean, what is there for Adolin to find out?  That Dalinar hasn't always been perfect?  That he sometimes made mistakes?  That he was more of a warmonger in his youth?  That he used to get caught up in the Thrill?  Adolin knows all that already. 

The interesting thing about Adolin is that he already knows all of these, yet he still worships Dalinar as basically a god. He basically justifies all of these things about Dalinar in his head. Considering that Dalinar lied to him and Renarin about it, I don't think Adolin can just justify what happened with Evi away.

 

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No, the real potential for drama like that was having Dalinar find out about Adolin and Sadeas.  Dalinar finding out his son wasn't as honorable as he thought.  Adolin discovering he'd severely disappointed his father, discovering that by killing Sadeas he'd actually made things worse.  Dalinar shocked that Adolin lied to him, that he hadn't trusted him enough to tell the truth.

That's where the story was.  Since we didn't get that,

We got the beginnings of that. It's pretty clear that Adolin and Dalinar's relationship has been shook by what happened with Sadeas. I wouldn't be surprised if we see their relationship change after the timeskip.

 

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If he ever find the truth out about Evi, I wouldn't expect him to blame Dalinar for it any more than Shallan blames Kaladin for killing her brother.

The two aren't remotely comparable though. Kaladin was defending his highprice from a Shardbearer on a battlefield. Dalinar was murdering civilians in their beds, plus he lied about it after. Not to mention the fact that Shallan didn't know Kaladin at the time. No way the reaction would be the same.

 

Quote

You're probably right, but honestly, I hope not.  I want Roshar wrecked by the time the last five books roll around.  This is supposed to be the True Desolation, but so far this feels like Desolation-lite.  I want the "nine out of ten people dead" that Nohadon mentions, and then I want things to get worse.  I want Dalinar dead, I want the Stormfather splintered.  I've been promised that "So the night will reign, for the choice of Honor is life," and I'm going to be disappointed if the night doesn't get to start reigning sometime soon.  I want things to get worse (so they can eventually get better again, of course).  Alethkar is what I call a good start.

Wow, you're bloodthirsty. 

Worse than 9 in 10 people dead? At the point, don't you think it'll become too hard to justify even continuing the fight anymore?

 

14 hours ago, maxal said:

House Sadeas may not have neither the political nor the military power for a massive coup, it still has enough resources to attempt retribution for the murder their Highprince. Ialai may no longer have the means to form a strong coalition nor to even think of overthrowing the Kholins, but she still retains her network of assassins. She is not exactly resource-less. Hence, if revenge is what she wants, she has the means to get it. It wouldn't be hard to find a way to get Highprince Adolin away from Renarin and anyone with healing powers then to strike against him.

As I said, if it were real-life, then even in the scope of a Desolation, someone like Ialai (or has she has been described to us, we didn't really read it) would still think of avenging her dear Torol's death. However, since it isn't real-life but fiction, Brandon may not go there and leave the plot arc open.

I guess assassination is still a possibility, though I think the Desolation might make getting assassins more difficult. If I were Jasnah, I would use House Sadeas' betrayal as an excuse for some civil asset forfeiture, Heralds know Fen could use the money...

 

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Well... Brandon did make Dalinar learn how to read and write within two weeks, so writing a whole book within a year time seems like totally feasible  This being said, the one year gap does allow for Dalinar to have move forward enough within his book to have his sons learn the truth about their mother.

I think running a war may get in the way though...

Edited February 6, 2018 by Mage of Lirigon

[Isilel]

I am all for suitably apocalyptic devastation, but too much too early would only leave a "plucky group of heroes sneak into the Dark Lord's stronghold and destroy the McGuffin tied into his life-force" as a path to victory - and that's not what am interested in seeing (yet again). Anti-Odium side is already very much on the ropes because so much is against them - that's where new discoveries in fabrial technology are necessary to even give them half a chance. They should be dealing with a famine shortly and the Fused would need to start their human-extermination programs soon. It has been mentioned in OB, that humans heavily outnumber singers even in conquered Alethkar, and they will probably try to mount resistance when the shock passes. Add acute food shortages to that and yea. I really hope that Sanderson doesn't chose to gloss over these issues.

So, yes, I do think that there is going to be a fleet of fabrial ships at the beginning of book 6, but also hope that eventual victory will be hard-won and that losses will be appropriately high. The first Mistborn trilogy handled this aspect pretty well, though, so I am not particularly worried on that score.

Can the ships really be built based on the Reverser fabrial technology as we know it? IIRC it is mentioned somewhere that the archer platform couldn't be moved too far away from it's "twin". Not to mention that the ships would need to be able to alter altitude in order to catch wind, manouevre, etc. I just don't see it. With a barge floating a foot over the ground and being towed by men, they could drag it's (unladen) twin along - this would still be a massive improvement over a loaded sled/cart dragged by a chull or people. Could the Diminisher fabrials be somehow involved in Navani's ship design instead?

[The One Who Connects]

21 minutes ago, Isilel said:

Could the Diminisher fabrials be somehow involved in Navani's ship design instead?

I'm curious what you're thinking, because all I'm coming up with doesn't solve the lift issue.

That said, Diminishers will be of great import as our Radiants learn more. We have a surge affecting gravity, so diminishing gravity... Making ships lighter is gonna be vastly useful, as you'll need less power to propel them, and they'd go faster. However, that's once they are in the air/water. It doesn't get them off the ground.

[Varenus]

8 hours ago, SLNC said:

I'm pretty sure, that her mother and her lover, the Skybreaker acolyte, have seen what was happening with Shallan and as such tried to kill her. Her mother definitely knew about the Skybreakers and what they were trying to do.

And what crime did this acolyte pin on child Shallan that gave him the excuse to try and kill her? As far was we know surgebinding/being a radiant has not been outlawed in Shallan's country. Pretty sure killing her would still be illegal even with parental consent. It is not like they could find something incriminating in her past, she was like what? 10?  Why would the acolyte break the skybreaker's one precept to kill Shallan, when Nale himself let Lift go right when he cornered her, and potentially provoke Nale's wrath and/or break his spren bond? Even if Shallan's mother was the one doing the murdering, the acolyte would still be a willing accomplice and thus guilty. Maybe the acolyte decided to quit the skybreakers to be with Shallan's mother, but then why bother killing her in the first place?

I think there is more than enough inconstancy there to warrant more explanation. 

 

[hypatia]

If we believe Mraize, then this Skybreaker was the lover of her mother.

Was it because he was a Skybreaker, did this just happen or was she unaware of his status?

Was he tricking her mother to get into the family or was she part of the order?

And really - even if a lover would tell me as a mother to kill my only daughter because of a Desolation when everyone thought it over - what kind of mother would be like "oh, ok I just kill her..."?

Is it possible that she tried to hinder him to kill Shallan and the child was misinterpreting the situation?

Yes, Nale is also a problem. His organisation is rather strict and all the reasons above are logic conclusions.

Perhaps all of this had had nothing to do with Skybreaker and Radiant, but with a daughter catching her mother with a lover.

Edit:

Can't quiet remember - what happened with the lover?

Did Lin kill him, was he wounded, was he able to heal himself?

Edited February 6, 2018 by hypatia

[Calderis]

@Varenus the Skybreaker isn't the one who tried to kill Shallan her mother was. Additionally, he was just an acolyte, so no spren. Meaning he'd likely have never achieved one because of his willingness to incite others to break the law, by the things you mentioned.

He obviously knew enough about Skybreakers though, to realize that a Surgebinder is a problem by their beliefs. 

[Varenus]

2 minutes ago, Calderis said:

@Varenus the Skybreaker isn't the one who tried to kill Shallan her mother was. Additionally, he was just an acolyte, so no spren. Meaning he'd likely have never achieved one because of his willingness to incite others to break the law, by the things you mentioned.

He obviously knew enough about Skybreakers though, to realize that a Surgebinder is a problem by their beliefs.

I suppose that makes sense. To clarify, the acolyte didn't just tell Shallan's mother to kill her, he actively participated by holding back Lin. Though that doesn't really change anything.

I'm still confused about one thing however. The acolyte's motivation. There are only two things that make sense to me and neither of them are consistent with what we know:

1) Ambition: The acolytes we see in Edgedancer are practically falling over themselves trying to impress Nale and earn their blades. Perhaps this acolyte was similarly inclined and decided that killing a protoradiant would increase his standing in the eyes of Nale, the other skybreakers, and the highspren. If that is the case, he was pretty incompetent/ignorant. Because (1)he didn't tell anyone where he was or that there was a radiant(so no one can confirm or deny that he actually did it), and (2)it would have broken the law and ruined his chance at gaining a spren/Nale's approval. So ambition probably wasn't his motivation, or he was one of the ten fools. 

2) Devotion: So this acolyte must staunchly believe what the Skyberakers are telling him. He must be so loyal to their cause that he is willing to ruthlessly murder a small child and believes that he must do it quickly because he doesn't bother telling the higher ups(which is weird if he was moderately new/a low standing member). This is strange because he has completely internalized part of the skybreaker's doctrine(killing radiants) while ignoring the other half(following the law). I guess that is not entirely unheard of, but this acolyte didn't seem like the particularly dedicated type considering that he was having an affair while on the job(and I say that in the least judgmental way possible, no judgment here). So even if he was fanatical in his devotion to the skybreakers, there are still things about him that don't make sense. 

Perhaps the answer is simply that the skybreakers are evil/insane, but I would have expected them to be a little more professional about it. 

[RShara]

Well the acolytes are acolytes for a reason.  Remember the one that almost killed Gawx, because he had to follow up on his threat?

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine]

23 hours ago, lu-tze said:

Which makes sense why 'Reverser' would be the obvious next step: it's just the normal spanread tech, but setting one of the reference frames so "down" is "up". So you could do more than just use the archery tower setup, you could use it for propulsion (orient at a 90-degree shift rather than 180). Though, presumably, the target object could only travel as far as the source object can fall. 

and

8 hours ago, The One Who Connects said:

That was what I felt was the problem too. You make a valid(and clever) point about orientation of the two pieces, but now we're back where we started: the other piece has to move too. Although.... maybe there's a way around this. Looking at the archer tower page of Navani's Journal, I realized something
(spoiler tag since it isn't exactly relevant to the topic of this thread)

  Hide contents

Imagine the left(down arrow) platform as a ceiling, and imagine the right platform as connected to the tethers on the ground. The Fabrial(with the tethers) replicates the standard pulley system: Pull one end down, and other end goes up. What's the glorious power of pulleys? You can chain them together and accomplish more.

I'll admit I have no idea how this would work, but if something similar could be done with Fabrials... well, they have a big advantage in that they need no ceiling or floor to hook things too.

If anyone's got ideas, I could make this it's own thread.

 

There was thread awhile back about the flying airships, and I think I figured out how they could make flying airships work with current fabrial technology:

I think the solution linked to would work, it would just be a matter of testing the material science limit of the strain that conjoined fabrials can withstand and building in safety thresholds.

[The One Who Connects]

14 minutes ago, RShara said:

Well the acolytes are acolytes for a reason.  Remember the one that almost killed Gawx, because he had to follow up on his threat?

And was promptly backhanded by Nalan. Ah, that was a good scene.

My nostalgia notwithstanding, you still make a valid point.

1 minute ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

There was thread awhile back about the flying airships,

Must've missed it. I did blitz through what had occurred during my absence, so I'm not surprised. (Or the thread is just.. old, as it appears)

As for your solution, I don't see how that deals with the fact that Reversers should copy all movement of the other piece. If the ship flies west, your Fabrial Pulleys would fly east(and away from their housings on Urithiru). If the mounted half of the Fabrial doesn't move horizontally, then the ship doesn't either.

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine]

1 minute ago, The One Who Connects said:

As for your solution, I don't see how that deals with the fact that Reversers should copy all movement of the other piece. If the ship flies west, your Fabrial Pulleys would fly east(and away from their housings on Urithiru). If the mounted half of the Fabrial doesn't move horizontally, then the ship doesn't either.

They can be engaged and disengaged. They would essentially be used as vertical inertial thrusters. They could be engaged for a boost (angular momentum's adjust). Engaged again, for an additional boost then disengaged (angular momentums again adjusting) and the Conjoined weights could be falling, building up speed when they are not engaged as well giving a larger vertical boost to the ship when engaged.

[RShara]

9 minutes ago, The One Who Connects said:

And was promptly backhanded by Nalan. Ah, that was a good scene.

My nostalgia notwithstanding, you still make a valid point.

Yep.  He actually slit Gawx's throat, and Gawx was a kid.  So a misguided acolyte could've easily decided he needed to kill Shallan, despite having no lawful approval to do so.

[Varenus]

4 minutes ago, RShara said:

Yep.  He actually slit Gawx's throat, and Gawx was a kid.  So a misguided acolyte could've easily decided he needed to kill Shallan, despite having no lawful approval to do so.

Gawx was a thief. Nale's issue was not that he had been killed, but that the proper paperwork had not been filled out and approved yet. I Imagine that this acolyte probably wouldn't have survived Nale's punishment if Gawx was an innocent.  

[RShara]

3 minutes ago, Varenus said:

Gawx was a thief. Nale's issue was not that he had been killed, but that the proper paperwork had not been filled out and approved yet. I Imagine that this acolyte probably wouldn't have survived Nale's punishment if Gawx was an innocent.  

...Yes?  I don't see how that disproves my point?  I'm sure they could have dug up something on Shallan, or gotten the highprince to do something, like happened with Stump.

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, Varenus said:

Gawx was a thief. Nale's issue was not that he had been killed, but that the proper paperwork had not been filled out and approved yet. I Imagine that this acolyte probably wouldn't have survived Nale's punishment if Gawx was an innocent.  

I get the point you're trying to make, but acolytes are acolytes and eager to impress their master. Some get over-eager in that.

4 minutes ago, RShara said:

I'm sure they could have dug up something on Shallan, or gotten the highprince to do something, like happened with Stump.

Also, this. The crimes they were accused of were basically just pretense for killing them. They were always targeted for their Surgebinding.

Edited February 7, 2018 by SLNC