cem

I've always thought that Radiant spren are naturespren (was that the name Shallan used?) that transformed into emotionspren. Like honorspren are basically windspren, but they got a bunch of Honor's Investiture and over time they became to be associated with keeping promises and protecting people. Or maybe windspren got associated with protecting so they became Invested with Honor, which doesn't really make sense but whatever. The point I'm trying to make is all Radiant spren are emotion spren and they are associated with one Surge. Their "cousins" are whatever spren that represents that Surge. My thinking is something like this: honorspren - Adhesion (air pressure) - windspren Skybreaker spren - Gravitation - gravityspren Releaser spren - Division - decayspren Edgedancer spren - Abrasion - lifespren (okay, this doesn't make sense but Wyndle seems lifespren-y) Truthwatcher spren - Progression - lightspren (same as above; Ym's spren looks lightspren-y) Cryptics - Illumination - patternspren? symmetryspren? something like that. remember when Pattern said dead Cryptics become patterns in nature? that's my thinking Elsecaller spren - Transformation - shadowspren maybe Willshaper spren - Transportation - uhh, no idea really Stoneward spren - Cohesion - again, no idea Bondsmith spren - special case, they bond with Godspren for lack of a better term like Stormfather, Nightwatcher, and whatever else there is Admittedly, it's not a perfect pattern. It breaks down with Edgedancers, so maybe it's not the Surges but Essences or maybe a mix of both? I don't know. But I still feel fairly confident with the whole "cousins" are always naturespren thing.

No, Autonomy is Bavadin. Survival Shard, IIRC, isn't on a planet.

It's inspiring to see there are noble warriors in cosmere that are fighting to protect college students from starvation or, God forbid, cooking.

I was more talking about the institution factor actually. For women, sexual assault and childhood abuse are probably the primary sources of trauma. They are isolated incidents. Women choose to go to support groups and therapy or not, rely on their friends and family or, again, not. War veterans, which I would imagine make up a big chunk of PTSD victims among men, on the other hand are conditioned to feel like a cog in the machine. When they return home, they have counselors to transition them to civil life and free psychological support. It might make a difference. I'm just speculating on the spot here, though. Mental disorders fascinate me, too. But yeah, let's shut up. PM me if you want to chat.

Well, for gender, about 60% of men and 50% of women go through a major trauma in their life time in the US. But 10% of women and 4% of men develop PTSD. I'm not really sure why this is. It could be because women are physically weaker so feel more threatened by the trauma, or it could be women get less support from their community, which is apparently important in both prevention and treatment. I couldn't find a source for these, so I'm typing from memory. Take it with a pinch of salt. Wikipedia may have something. For other stuff, you can take a look at this. Edit: Just checked. NIMH article mentions gender too. Edit 2: Found a source for those stats.

Fair enough. There's a host of factors that determine the likelihood whether a given person will develop PTSD, like genetics, social circumstances, alcohol usage, gender, et cetera. The thing is, PTSD is a really common illness. Over ten percent of war veterans develop it. Even outside military, most people go through at least one trauma in their lives. I think about seven or eight percent of US population can be diagnosed with PTSD at some point in their lives. Considering bridgemen assault contested plateaus pretty much weekly (those plateau assaults are like the quintessential PTSD trigger) and they have no community support whatsoever, I'd expect it to be much more common among them than soldiers. Then again, maybe they just don't live long enough for it to be a problem. Or maybe the Alethi are magically immune to PTSD. Who knows? Anyways, I know I'm getting really off-topic. It's the thing in WoR where bridgemen find comfort back running bridges. That really rubbed me the wrong way. I though that was an unrealistic response for people like them.

For what it's worth, I highly doubt Kaladin has PTSD. PTSD has these really vivid flashbacks and a tendency to avoid situations that remind its victims the original trauma. I read about this woman who went through a really tough labor and would unconsciously avoid taking care of her child because it reminded her of the birth. Kaladin doesn't have anything like that. The only symptom he shows is hyperarousal, which isn't particularly surprising given the life he's had. In fact, I don't think any of the bridgemen we've seen has PTSD, which I find weird. Shallan probably has it though. What Kaladin has is clinical depression and seasonal affective disorder, and bunch of other emotional problems besides. But yeah, he's my favorite character, too.

Huh. That's interesting. I'll bet they get trace amounts of Stormlight from drinking highstorm water.

Dude, I apologize for being condescending in advance. Your profile says you're 13 years old. If that's your true age, take this as a well-meaning, if arrogant, advice from someone who's a little older than you. This kind of passive-aggressive behavior is not going to take you far in your relationships. If something's bothering you, just say so. And you're being unfair. The whole point of this community is sharing your thoughts with others. No one is going to give you crap for doing so. But other people are also entitled to their opinions, which they are also here to share. Try to see things from their perspectives a little. If you still don't agree with them, don't let it affect you this much. We're all just random strangers on the Internet. You should stick around. You are definitely welcome here.

It's probably the most secure building in Roshar because of the altitude. Besides, if the structure stood against thousands of years of highstorms, it'll probably be fine against the everstorm too even if it's blowing from the opposite direction. So they can take shelter inside as long as they stay away from the windows. And it's the mythological center of power for the Knights Radiant. Even the psychological effect of that should be enough to discourage your average dissident. Never mind that almost everyone will be dependent on Shallan if they want to get out of there. It makes sense politically, too.

He is a spren of Honor, probably the strongest piece of Honor on Roshar left after his Splintering, and his cognitive shadow. He didn't bestow stormform, that wasn't in his power to bestow or deny. He is bound by certain rules, like he had to send the visions to Dalinar whether he wanted to or not. Eshonai chose of her own will to bond with a stormspren (a Voidspren, i.e. Odium's spren), and Stormfather claimed that he couldn't stop it. I guess this is another one of the rules he's bound by. He is also a guy who watched hundreds of his children (the spren that were bound to the Radiants) die in the Recreance, and he's very human-like in his reaction to that. So he's a little screwed up to say the least.

That's good to know. I hope we get it soon.

Yeah, is the Q&A off-limits too? We don't get a reading at every signing, but there are questions asked practically every time. Are we going to have to wait for the end of tours for them in the future? That seems like a problem.

Sounds like the only sensible thing to do. Anyone who has access to Brandon willing to beg him for the good of everyone?