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  1. A noble hero of reddit, ManceRaider, recorded and transcribed this excerpt for people. http://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight_Archive/comments/1ed373/went_to_rithmatist_launch_tonight_brandon_read_a/
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  2. I was at this event. It was pretty fun and relaxed. He was numbering books, but since there were only like 40 people there, most of the numbered ones are still on the shelf. If people are interested in that kind of thing, they should call Books of Wonder in NYC. ALSO One thing from the reading that the post leaves out is that Brandon mentioned that the IQ flux was Teravangian's boon and and his curse all in one. I don't remember if that had been confirmed before. I think had been speculated that sometimes the boon and the curse were the same thing. If that's not news, my apologies.
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  3. What can I say? It was an attempt, but I'm not really a poet... kolo? Anyways, hey there 17th shard! I wanted a place to express my love for the plethora of awesomeness that is Brandon Sanderson's collection of novels. My name's Ammar and I live in the United States... I'm 18 and will be graduating from high school in a few weeks! My first experience with the Cosmere began last June, when I asked my mother for reading suggestions and she gave me a copy of Mistborn. Yeah, I know, my mom's awesome. Now, between several sleepless nights and neglected English assignments (The Sound and the Fury or Warbreaker? Hmm... tough choice *sarcasm*) I have finished all eight books of the Cosmere. All joking aside, Brandon Sanderson has quickly become my favorite fantasy author, and to be perfectly honest, I have no idea why it took me so long to find my way to this site. I'm sure I will very much enjoy it here. Hope to meet all of you very soon!
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  4. That is awesome news. Not that I'll be getting the Tor version of the book... but still awesome. I love the Way of Kings artwork I've even contemplated buying the book again to get the Tor cover. But alas I am a student and money must be carefully spent... on computer games... what can I say, I'm hopeless =)
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  5. Look guys, if you guys Keep Venture-ing to make these puns then no one is going to Vin, can't we just take a rest for a few Knights? Then we can all Surge back in with the puns, although I don't know why you'd Invest so much of your time.
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  6. Some awesomeness/craziness from Brandon on reddit (pure gold, really): So Amaram is "my friending" Dalinar. Was Kaladin off-duty that day, or is the next line "Amaram said, just before he took a spear in the knee"?
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  7. You know, I think we kind of take it for granted how much we know about the cosmere. I remember not so long ago that Sel and Elantris was a complete mystery. We all argued over what Aona's Shard was, mostly to no avail. We had no idea about how the Shaod happened, and virtually no clue to how the Dor worked. These two mysteries have made theorizing about Sel pretty hard, to say the least. With the knowledge of Aona's Shard being Devotion, the theory that people who are particularly devoted to something get taken by the Shaod makes perfect sense, and matches with the Principle of Intent. Though a new mystery arose with Forgery and Bloodsealing: why are Selish magics so region locked, and what's so important about the land? Well, Kerry has pretty much answered this here: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/3363-devotion-dominion-and-magic-on-sel/ So really, the prime theoretical difficulty with Sel is the Dor. That's what this theory will hope to explain. Sel is very unique in its magic. Scadrial makes sense having three distinct magic systems, but Sel is way different, despite having just two powers. Even discounting the fact that there are way more than three magics on Sel, they are odd: they all channel the Dor, not Devotion or Dominion independently. They all focus the same power. And that's very bizarre, considering Scadrial's magics. Why does the Dor appear to act some homogenous thing? Any way you slice and dice it, it's odd. Is the Dor Devotion's power? No, because the Dakhor magic isn't really accessed in a way in line with Devotion--it really feels a lot more Dominion-like. Dakhor channels the Dor just as AonDor and Forgery do. So, clearly the Dor is some bizarre combination of Devotion and Dominion, for some reason. And no one has (to my knowledge) really given a complete treatise on why that might be. Any reasoning on the Dor's nature would need to explain how it is related to both Devotion and Dominion, and why it is this homogenous entity. It's certainly homogenous enough that Brandon has no qualms saying that virtually every Selish magic channels the Dor. First of all, I'm kind of assuming you've already read the Letter, which says Devotion and Dominion have Splintered. Additionally, much of the power left there is not under anything's control: Why does Brandon say "much" of the power on Sel? Well, the Seons and Skaze are related to Splinters, so those are the things controlling part of the power. But the rest? Presumably the Dor. So what is the Dor? The answer, I believe, comes straight from this quote: This blew me away. But, considering how important I find a Shard's intent, it's not exactly surprising that a way of altering the Shards is really fascinating to me. There's a discussion on this particular quote over here, and Windrunner and Senor Feesh suggested that this may have happened to Devotion and Dominion--that they are intermingled as well. If you'll allow me, I'd like to name this "intermingling" effect as convergence, as something this important--Shards beginning to merge--certainly would warrant an in-world term, I think. It also has a nice parallel with "conflux," which is what Brandon named a book that has to do with multiple worlds in a very direct fashion (instead of in the background, as things are now in the books). So, Ruin and Preservation are currently converging. This is because a common mind is holding them. I propose that Devotion and Dominion are also converging as well. But, the obvious question next is, why the heck would they be converging? Presumably, Sazed holding both Ruin and Preservation--one mind holding two powers--imposes some Cognitive change on the Shards. In the Realmatic terms like Shai, they are like two bricks in a wall, and they begin to think of themselves as a wall, not two separate bricks. This is, I think, the most intuitive way to explain Ruin and Preservation converging: the powers themselves are beginning to think of themselves as part of a greater whole, thus intermingling them to be considered Harmony. I would only assume that the longer Sazed holds these two power, the more Ruin and Preservation will see themselves as Harmony instead, perhaps eventually literally becoming one Shard permanently. As of now, they can still be split, so that indicates to me that this process definitely hasn't finished yet. Though, I suppose you could say that even a Shard isn't permanent, as Odium certainly Splintered Devotion and Dominion. The exact specifics on Ruin and Preservation's convergence to Harmony is certainly worth discussing, but let's switch back to Devotion and Dominion. Obviously whatever happened with Sazed didn't at all happen with Devotion and Dominion; no common mind holds them both. In fact, they are both more broken than ever. But that may be exactly the key. Whereas Ruin and Preservation in the order that Sazed's control of them imposes, Devotion and Dominion and both similar in that they are both without holders and pretty broken. I propose that this also makes Devotion and Dominion converge, and this combined power is exactly what the Dor is. Think of two vases, one white, and one black--Devotion and Dominion. Now throw them on the ground, so hard that they break into tiny pieces. Collect that pile, mix them up, and zoom out. If the pieces are small enough, the pile no longer looks like black or white; it looks grey instead. When two things are broken, they can combine in new ways, like two liquids forming a completely new mixture. Now I imagine this is a little different in Devotion and Dominion's case, as their pieces would be still tied to their respective intent, but I think eventually, this dramatic change from Odium Splintering them would mean that the leftover fragments would see themselves as a part of a new whole. After all, they both aren't being held, and are both broken. I think this makes a lot of sense as for why the Dor is the way that it is. (Now, you may wonder why I didn't use the word "Splinter" to describe these pieces of Devotion and Dominion, considering Odium Splintered them. Well, we know the Aons at the heart of the Seons are Splinters, and to no one's surprise Brandon hinted that Skaze are similar: The Seons and Skaze--presumably Devotion and Dominion's Splinters--are not enough of a release valve. So this means that there is a lot of power that isn't under anything's control. Duh, since there was no indication the Dor acted any other way. In lieu of a cosmere term to call the pieces of Devotion and Dominion's power, that's why I stayed with vague words like "fragments." We just can't really say they are Splinters, or anything about them.) I totally understand if the analogy I made isn't particularly compelling, but it certainly matches with our conception with the Dor being a unified, mindless whole. It fits with those quotes above. But, maybe you want a little more persuading, so let's talk about some consequences of Devotion and Dominion's convergence, especially on magic. Before Devotion and Dominion's Splintering, magic worked differently on Sel (though I can't find that quote right now). It isn't a big leap to say that perhaps the regionalizing of Selish magic happened due to the Splintering of the Shard. Maybe before the Splintering, there were three magics on Sel, like Scadrial. Kerry's theory about Identity, people have an Identity tied their nationality, culture, and heritage. Her theory basically explains in how magic can be tied to the land, and how it lines up with Devotion and Dominion's intents. But why might have Devotion and Dominion's Splintering even had this effect of tying the magic to the land? Well, Allomancy requires a connection to Preservation, and on a less magical level, people that are freaking ruinous would use Hemalurgy. Perhaps, due to Devotion and Dominion's Splintering and this convergence, people can't use magic with a connection to Devotion or Dominion directly, because they don't exist in the same way. Instead, the "largest" thing that people have a connection or Identity to--instead these all-powerful Shards--is their culture and nationality. People with a strong Devotion or Dominion with that, as Kerry's theory suggests, would now be able to use magic. It's all because Devotion and Dominion are Splintered, and their power doesn't have as strong of identity, so it is shaped by the identity of manmade, regional borders. If anything, the Reod and the Chasm teaches us that these magics are actually very fluid. Aons that worked a thousand years ago may need to be refined. Perhaps as regions and countries change, or as ethnicities converge (see what I did there?) entirely different magics can form. Now, I'll admit, I'm not entirely sure if each regional magic is of Devotion or Dominion explicitly. After all, that's been the standing assumption with AonDor: it's of Devotion, not Dominion, and likewise Dakhor is of Dominion, not Devotion. But, it's a lot harder with ChayShan, Forgery, and Bloodsealing to decide. I am leaning to the idea that each magic can be in line with any sort of combination of Devotion and Dominion. Kerry connects all regional magics with both Devotion and Dominion, so I don't find this hard to believe. So, maybe presently on Sel, a magic is a certain percentage Devotion and Dominion. Unlike Scadrial where magics are 100% Preservation, 100% Ruin, or a 50/50 split, on Sel you could have 73%/27%. Who knows. It's entirely possible that we think of AonDor and Dakhor as Devotion and Dominion-heavy magics because the Seons and Skaze, which are related to Splinters of Devotion and Dominion, exist in these two regions, and so tilt the region's balance toward one Shard or the other. In fact, though I totally riffed that just now, it seems to make sense with the Identity idea. A region's Identity would be related to a ton of different factors, and maybe the nature of a given culture tilts the way a region's magic accesses Devotion and Dominion. Here's an interesting quote on that note: So it's the exact nature of the Dor which makes it regionalized. I don't think the Dor has an intent, like Harmony does. The Dor is a product of chaos and brokenness. When something changes in the Physical and Cognitive, this can have a reflection in the Dor, so these distinct cultural Identities have an effect on the Dor. What do you think? Admittedly, while this works really well for Sel, I'm not sure what is different on Roshar, which despite having Honor Splintered, has a non-regionalized magic in Surgebinding. It could just be that the nature of Honor and Cultivation don't result in regionalization. But, it would explain how some spren are of Honor and Cultivation. It's hard to say at this point, and while there can be more to this than I'm catching here, it seems very theoretically solid for Sel.
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  8. Bear with me on this (and cure me of my ignorance if necessary), I am rather new to the Cosmere stuff. I only have a big picture grounding when it comes to Adonalsium. If I am not mistaken the shardholders (less Sazed of course) are from Yolen. Looking back to Mistborn, it has been shown in the books that 'human' life on Scadrial was the result of a joint effort of Preservation (sorry, don't recall off hand his original name) and Ruin (Ati) to create this life. Presumably, all shardworld 'humans' were created in a similar fashion with, again, presumably, Yolen 'humans' being used as the general pattern but with subtle differences from world-to-world. Now, regarding Hoid specifically being able to have multiple magic adeptness (i.e., lightweaving, feruchemy, etc.) in conjunction with the comments above about identity. Hoid is also from Yolen (homeworld) so he embodies the master DNA, if you will, upon which shardworld 'humans' were patterned. Could this be the reason why Hoid is able to use a variety of magic systems from multiple shardworlds? In other words, if the sDNA of a person from Scadrial is required to use Feruchemy, etc. in the same way a key is required to open a lock, then could it be that the sDNA from Yolen is some kind of master key which is able to open the locks from each shardworld? If so, this would go a long way to explaining Hoid's versatility.
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  9. Reading The Emperor's Soul in close proximity to my reread of tWoK gave me what I believe are some good insights into the nature of Shardblades--specifically, why they cut seamlessly through nonliving materials such as stone, metal, hair, etc., while they have a very different effect on living beings. There's been a lot of talk about Shai's lecture on the nature of Forgery in TES where she says: That got me thinking about Shardblades. I know a lot of people have theorized that a Shardblade cuts some sort of spiritual link in a person or animal, but that doesn't really answer why Shardblades cut seamlessly and almost effortlessly through inanimate objects. What I've started to think is that a Shardblade severs an object's Cognitive sense of "complete identity," rather than the physical object itself. Thus, if you cut a rock in half with a Blade, you're not cutting the physical rock at all; rather, you're severing the rock's identity in the Cognitive Realm, which in turn causes the rock to split into two distinct and separate parts, each with its own new identity as a half-rock. In much the same way, then, if you slice a person or animal through a vital part (the spine or heart, generally), the Cognitive link that binds that being's spirit to its body is severed. Where before, the spirit and body had been together long enough to view themselves as the same thing, the Shardblade overrides that connection and makes them think that they are separate, much like the two chunks of rock in the previous example. Similarly, if a Shardblade passes through a limb, that limb becomes dead and unresponsive. This is because nothing in the Physical Realm has changed, but the Cognitive identity of the limb is suddenly separate from the identity of the rest of the being--the limb thinks it's nothing but a limb, and the being thinks that it's missing a limb. I'm not sure what the implications of this are, but it makes sense to me. It seems to me, though, that the Blades were created to fight Cognitively rather than Physically, which I take to mean that the way that they kill (eyes blackened and smoking), is more of a Nasty Side Effect than the actual intended purpose. Anyway, feel free to pick holes. If this is true, I still can't quite grasp why Plate and those Half-Shards are able to block a Blade. If someone else has already theorized this, I'm terribly sorry, but I just didn't see it. Feel free to decry me as a plagiarist--after all, what is it that men value most if not innovation and timeliness?
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  10. I just realized that the description of the Trill is that it "sings". We also know that the Parshendi sings when in battle. There seems to be a Connection here. Thrill Parshendi Spoiler for Words of Radiance: It is usually accepted that the Parshendi is heavily influenced by Odium. (at least sometimes) It has also been suggested that the Thrill is coming from odium because of its destructiveness and Dalinars growing aversion to it. So if the Parshendi is influenced by Odium via forms and songs, then it's probably possible for Odium to influence persons affected by the thrill. And if Odium is not involved, then is there probably still a connection between them. What do you think?
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  11. Provided Brandon and Tor agree. Earlier today there was a panel at JordanCon about art in the Stormlight Archive. Michael Whelan was one of the panelists. At the end of the panel, I mentioned him being announced for Words of Radiance and asked if he planned to make the cover art for the entire Stormlight Archive. He answered, if I remember the exact words correctly, "I'm on board for that." I would be quite surprised to see either Brandon or Tor object to this idea, so heres to nine more fantastic covers.
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  12. ^Shame be upon you Voidus, I was trying to be all classy and understated in my meme-age.
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  13. What I really liked about the book was the fact, that Joel, albeit talented, was a normal kid. I mean Vin, Kaladin and all the other main characters of Brandons books always seem so... powerful. I know they, too had it rough, they had their weaknesses, but they also had their incredibly rare superpowers making them very dangerous individuals. Joel on the other hand never gets true magical powers, though I believe he will in sequels, I was really scared when he was attacked by the scribbler and also at the second-to-final battle. He managed to create an atmosphere in which I could really connect with him, he tries to scream but nothing can be heard. When reading Mistborn or Way of Kings, I never felt scared. Don't get me wrong, I was excited, tense, but nothing creeped me out like the scribbler did. I agree however, that the ending was a little to much in-the-face, some thoughts on Joels part combined with a meaningful smile of Nalezar would have driven the point home far better than the dialogue has.
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  14. I always felt, that forgery was a lot like gold-burning. When you burn gold, you see, feel, "experience" a version of yourself with an alternate history and because of this different history the person you feel is different from the person you are at the moment. A valid forgery, one that takes, is a plausible history, depending on the current history of yourself or the object you want to stamp. Basically, the forgery changes some of your life-changing decisions to different ones. I view it very much like taking different branches in a tree-diagram: you take different routes, and as such land at a different leaf (end of the tree, aka present). A forgery that takes, then, would be one that passes nodes that were visited by you throughout your life. An example for such a node: say I attended karate-training and decided to quit. I could then create an essence-mark in which the "me" decided to dig into karate and become a black-belt of high rank. This would take, because I had the chance to take this branch, but decided against it. One that would NOT take, would be where I want to forge myself become japanese (I am not), because I never had the chance to "decide" hey, I want to be japanese. Now, to finally draw the connection between gold and forgery, I belive, that if shai could burn gold to "become" another version of herself, she could create an essence mark that would take, based on what she saw during her gold-vision, since gold shows you an actual alternate history/version. This became very convoluted very quickly, so I hope someone can actually understand it
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  15. http://www.brandonsanderson.com/annotation/289/Mistborn-3-Chapter-Twenty-Six This annotation suggests higher degrees of tin would further augment your mental filter of your enhanced senses. So you feel the cold more acutely but gain a proportionally better ability to tolerate chills.
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  16. Hm? Did someone invoke my name in vain? ... Ah, I see, not in vain. Carry on Anyway, to topic: Your theory is ok, but it does not seem to address the issue at hand: why does Shardblade work differently on living and dead things? If the Identity is cut off, shouldn't the limb also fall off, like a rock cut in half? What is the difference? In both cases, Identity (not realmatically) would be cut, which should reflect as separation in the physical realm. Soulcasting, for example, doesn't seem to be affected by the small fact that the target happens to be human - a rock is a rock, organics soulcast into rock is still rock. Now, I have a theory about that (and I do believe in Shardblade being Spiritual weapon). I'll try to be brief. First, Cosmere gravity is Spiritual. It is quite possible that electromagnetic, etc forces are too. They are, to an extent, what forms Spiritual component of a common rock. They are also, compared to human Spiritual presence, relatively weak. So the Shardblade, which has a strong, blade-like presence in Spiritual realm, would shear through those connections, cleaving rock in half. Something like Shardplate, however, is too dense. It will rebuff Shardblade and shatter after several hits. Living things, however, have additional Spiritual layer which corresponds to the same physical location as the body. The Shardblade damages that, and, in Spiritual, gets stuck/rebounds without reaching physical connections. This looks like a blade "fuzzing", as its Physical/spiritual components dissociate for a moment. A few more hits would probably shear the limb off.
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  17. *I have not read dragonsteel or more than the 3 chapters of LoP, and this really doesn't need that knowledge* I was reading an interview from The Book Smugglers when I came upon this quote: DragonSteel has dragons on it right? The planet is called Yolen right? I think its awesome if this is a nod to an inspirational author. That's pretty much it, nothing to add about the cosmere outside of that for the moment. *Edit* Maybe everyone else already realized this and I'm just behind the curve.
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  18. Hi there, sorry for the delay in commenting on this chapter (busy weeks around these parts...) Here's my general impression of this chapter: We have what seems to be a "sequel-scene" sequence: Ori is moping about, mulling over what to do about the Drains, wondering about what Rilan's whole deal is, and rueing the day he took on an apprentice. Not a lot of action going on, which is OK, but I feel that it lacks structure. A quick suggestion: we start with Origon's thought process described in the abstract >>Origon spent much of the night and the next day feeling frustrated...The sheer bureaucracy of the place was starting to get to him again." Then in the second paragraph, we find that he's walking up the stairs after "a tasteless lunch" (I'm not sure 'tasteless' is what you want, it BTW, to me it suggests something like a cheap, offensive joke--maybe 'bland'? 'insipid'?) of bog grubs. I'd feel more comfortable as a reader if you give me the scene first and then his reflections. LIke "Ori sat chewing the last of his bog grubs, unable to overcome his feelings of frustration." Or something--I guess I just need a solid visual of what the character is doing before I can properly process any info about his thought process. Does that make sense? In the second part, the more 'scene-y' portion, I found myself a bit at a loss in terms of the scenery of the Nether. Maybe because I read the earlier chapters so long ago but I don't have a very good picture in my mind of what Sam sees and what everything looks like? I'd like the descriptions to be more descriptive. You pay a lot of attention to character and exposition in this scene, introducing Inas and Rey and all of that, but the lack of concrete detail in the setting always feels like a missed opportunity to me, and actually throws me out of the story. More vivid images would hold me in more I think. Speaking of which, is this money system going to be plot-significant at some point in the story? If not, I feel like there's a lot of space devoted to describing it that might not be necessary. Last thing I'll comment on, I feel like there's a bit of conflict missing in this scene--like, there should be some obstacle that they're trying to overcome? We see that maybe towards the end of the scene when the crowd appears. Maybe you could try tightening up that whole scene to bring that in earlier. Maybe I'm seeing something similar to what you pointed out in my last chapter--the dreaded slog through the middle section? (Although I feel like your story has a lot farther to go than mine...) Anyway, good luck with it, hope my comments are as helpful as yours have been... ~NMW
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  19. As far as I can tell, they are identical. If anything just typos were fixed. Gee, I wonder where you got that? So, I think I'll just admit that I had read Rithmatist a while ago. You've probably already figured this out, considering how effusive I've been on the News section about Rithmatist. But I had read it back when it was called Scribbler, so my perspective is a bit different. Long story short: I've really really loved this book for a while. I'm with you, WeiryWriter. The world is simply fantastic. You can tell Brandon had a ton of fun doing the worldbuilding in this. It's just so compelling. The chalk, the wild chalkings, and the mysterious connection with the steampunk aspects? Holy crap I'm in love. It had been so long since I had read Scribbler that I totally forgot like three things about the ending. I knew Nalizar was bad, but man, that ending is twisty and awesome. The ending didn't bother me with its sequel bait as much as Alloy bothered me. It could be that I've known this would be another series of Brandon's for a long time, so when I read the final product, I had the right expectations (Alloy, on the other hand, annoyed me so much more, because I had been sold that this was a standalone, not a series. That ending still bums me out in some respects). But, on another token, the worldbuilding is so excellent that I simply must get a sequel. That's probably why I'm okay with this ending. Rithmatist ends resolving the mystery of the Scribbler and the killings, and the end with the Melee was so excellent. I had totally forgotten the last battle with Joel and Melody, so that ending was supremely satisfying for me. I think of it like, this book solved the problems it promised in the beginning, both plot and character wise, and the setup of Nalizar is the setup for the rest of the trilogy (I am pretty sure it is a trilogy, but I don't know if that's set in stone). (Also, I personally think The Rithmatist is a weaker title than Scribbler, which is what this book's plot centers on) Though I'm not worried Brandon getting burned out on series. This novel is one of his books he'd write in between big epics anyway. We are really, really lucky this year that with A Memory of Light, we still get such books. I'm sure he can crank this stuff out in like a month The Rithmatist is a fun vacation for him
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  20. There is no restriction on new content on the wiki; you simply need to add a Spoiler tag. Though honestly, if you are going to the wiki for Rithmatist stuff, you probably should expect that the stuff you are finding would have some spoilers I typically feel the spoiler warning is more useful for cosmere stuff, because one click can lead you to spoilers in new content. But for a new series like this, I'm less concerned. After all, Windy has already written an excellent article on the Tai-na, which takes information from the Rysn interlude in Words of Radiance. Long story short, if the content is publicly available, it is fair game to be on the wiki. What is not fair game would be say, things like White Sand, if someone has been lucky enough to read that. Anyway, back to Rithmatist. I've compiled some Rithmatist topics that should get articles: http://coppermind.net/wiki/Coppermind:Articles_to_be_written#The_Rithmatist I probably missed minor characters and a few names of the United Isles. I last read it for pleasure, instead of taking careful notes I personally think we don't need articles for each Isle, so we should list any information on particular islands on the United Isles of America page. But countries, like JoSeun, should get their own articles. There is a lot of terminology with Rithmatics, so I'm not sure how you all want to do things. But I kind of feel that for now, let's put magic information in the Rithmatics article, rather than making individual articles on, say, Lines of Vigor. I'd rather have one really, really awesome article on Rithmatics, instead of distributing the information. However, in later Rithmatist books this could change. What do you think? (Also, you could make an argument that "Inception" could be in the Rithmatics article, but I think discussing the inception ceremony is culturally significant and as a cultural element can be a separate article from Rithmatics, which would focus more on the mechanics of it all.) I'll try to construct a Rithmatist series navbox tomorrow or the next day, I think. Did I miss any topics that I should add to the Articles to be written thing? It's a protected page, so only staff can edit it, but just let me know and I'll add stuff I need to read the book again...
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  21. I agree that people not from Nalthis would not have 'Breath', but as you pointed out, Hoid probably has at least one Breath, given his penchant for acquiring skills. I don't read Brandon's response as necessarily being absolutely limiting. I read it as more like someone from <insert name of shardworld> would not be able to awaken if they acquired Breath (other than Nalthis, of course). Hoid has been shown to be a special case in a variety of ways. While he has Lerasium and could have, or could yet, have therefore acquired allomancy, how did he get his Feruchemy? Unless he is spiked or has been changed by Harmony, such was the case with Spook, he acquired it given his existing sDNA. It is hard to say for sure, since, to my knowledge, Hoid is the only Yolan(ian?, ite?) that we've met other than the Shardholders. But I think, given the extremely limited number of mortal Yolanites, that they could be a reasonable exception to Brandon's response. Also, I may be misinterpreting what you said, if you read Brandon's response carefully, he says that people from Nalthis do not inherently have 'Breath'. He leaves the door open for a person not from Nalthis to acquire the awakening ability and to receive 'Breaths' in order to use that ability. In other words, inherent 'Breath' is a feature exclusive to Nalthis (i.e., a result of Endowment's particular variant of 'humanity'). Other than that, the field is wide open.
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  22. Soul is a fairly loose term in many real world religions, and I bet the same could hold true here. I use it interchangeably to mean either just the spiritual aspect, or the combination of spirit, cognitive and physical aspects.
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  23. I was thinking of that for an epic scholar also... you see, in the MAG ("Oh shut up already Kadrok, you're always harping on about the MAG!") there's a Stunt you can get for Tin which lets you form perfect sense memories for a particular sense. So you could in theory form a perfect memory for each page of a book, storing them one by one in the coppermind without corruption... it makes being an Archivist way easier... and you'd be a living library!
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  24. Actually, wait a second. *10 seasons... 214 episodes... 45 minutes each... 9630, 160.5, 6.69...* Wait. A WEEK! NOOOOO! Peter, whatever you do, don't introduce Brandon to SG-1!!!! All the writing he won't do; all the writing... ( )
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  25. I have no good evidence to support this theory, but I think it would be fun for a Prophet to be Atheistic. I came up with it because I think Dalinar will become a Skybreaker (Ishi) and Jasnah is a SpiritWalker (Palah) the two of them would form the two pupils of the dual-eye. Dalinar sees Honor, so Jasnah should see Cultivation. This may explain why she became so interested in researching the Voidbringers. The Spirit Head in between the Greatshells in the knights radiant table is a beautiful representation of two physical objects linking together to create a single spiritual union. Ishi is associated with guidance and piety, and resides in the third eye focus of the spiritual union of Honor and Cultivation. This represents future sight and can warn us of dangers in the future and help us find the most beneficial paths. Palah represents past-sight, growth, spirit and nourishment as it resides in the mouth focus of the spiritual union of Honor and Cultivation. By learning of the past we gain the spiritual nourishment we need to grow and attain wisdom. This, combined with the guidance of Ishi, is the origin of the double-eye symbols so prevalent in the book, and show us the way to enlightenment.
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  26. I think it is only confusing if your working with the premise that Honor and Cultivation actually merged at some point. I guess I just don't see what merging would be able to do that simple cooperation could not. Especially since it is well established that even diametrically opposed shards are perfectly capable of working together without merging. e.g. Ferochemy is a complete magic system combining traits of both Preservation and Ruin. My take on it from an "Occam's Razor" perspective.
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  27. I just wanted to call attention to that little bit of awesome.
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  28. I believe. That said this interface is a little clumsy.
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  29. The theory seems plausible enough, if it were not for one thing in the prologue: The way Kalak speaks of the place, If it were a battle of minds and weilding the powers of shards, it would be "simply" a battle of cognitive aspects much the same as when Vin and Ati fought, albeit very draining and/or painfull. However Kalaks description seems oddly specififc for such to be true, leading me to believe they inhibit actual bodies, though I do not know the exact process to how those bodies do not simply disintigrate under such treatment.
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  30. I am in my 4th semester in university studying computer science and I have a problem with staying alert during any lecture, now matter how much i like the subject or how interesting it is, I cannot for the life of mine stay frigging awake. It has gotten better recently, when I try to do things that entertain me mildly without actually hampering my abiity to think and follow the professor like spinning a pen between my fingers or drawing.
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  31. I only read the first 2 points as not to spoil it for me but your list is a wonderful example. I've read up to ch.4, but noticed that you summarized it in one point. This shows that the pacing for these chapters were slow and weighty with not enough things going on to wait till the 5th chapter to introduce Sam. You're telling me a lot of background info that I don't need, while not giving me any emotional descriptions of this very foreign world to get a feel for it. This messes up the rhythm of reading the story. for example, here's the 1st paragraph: Origon stepped onto the portal grounds near Kashidur City on Methiem. 3 foreign nouns and ambiguos description (what do you mean by portal grounds? I don't figure this out till ch4 as a portal hub to different locations) in the 1st sentence doesn't really draw me in. In fact, you can just cut this out and just start on the next sentence. Excitement tinged the air. He could feel it coursing through the crowd around him. After this, I would give a visual example of 'excitement' that would match the tone of the story. Someone doing something. what I mean is, an excited crowd would be different depending on types of people, location and reason for gathering. This seems to be a gathering of scientists, socialites and business people which would be different from a gathering at a beach concert. So, what do you mean by 'excitement' ? By the Great Winged One, he could even see it—tinges of crystal yellow of the House of Communication rode the rumors and gestures circulating through the crowds of people. This is an awkward sentence because its an info drop. One that is too early for me to have a frame of reference to care. The first part notes that he has some sort of a religious background so thats fine. The 'tinge of crystal yellow of the House of communication ...' at first I though it was colored garments for representation but then 'rode the rumors and gestures...' and now I'm lost to what this means. I sorta figure this out as a sense of 'aura' by end of ch.3, so I think its too early to introduce. Also, both 'crystal' and 'circulating' can be taken out because what is 'crystal yellow'? Is it like citrine? then best to say that. Make your adjective work more. 'Circulating' is repetitive since you typed 'rode' in the same sentence describing the same thing. Most of them were of the robust Methiemum, of course, but glancing around, he could see a few of each of the other ten species. By the end of ch.4 I still don't know what a Methiemum looks like so I how can I know what 'robust' mean? You're comparing size from the point of view of a species I can't relate to about another sepcies I can't relate too. Size is relative, and not the best thing to use when describing something (example, a 'little side table' vs 'a night stand' , or a 'huge man' vs 'an elephant of a man'). Also, this is the 1st time you mention the number of species. You mention it again in dialog in ch.4 in dialog which is the better spot to mention it. This sentence is also another info drop that isn't needed since you introduce the species as you go. You can cut this out. He was sure not all were here with admirable aims. This latest proof of the Methiemum’s ingenuity grated on some of the slower or more cautious species. After this sentence is when I would suggest some description of the Methiemum. ____ This is how most all of the first 4 chapters read, a lot of info drops with no description of what I do need to know. In one paragraph I'm given 3 names and 1 organization with no description You have more names of things, I cant put an image to, pop up like Rilan. All I know is that she's female (how does a female of this species look like? why the very human reference to a corset? are they all humanoid? with one head, two arms, two legs, ect?). Whats a kelhiw? is it an extension of self? like a soul thing? or mental will power? I don't mind not knowing for the 1st chapter but by the 4th, I should have a working understanding of how Origon and the Maji works. Are the house separated by genetic ability? Do they really look that different or are they like us, just different races but more similar then different? Also, if the farther distance to travel by portal is easier, and I assume thats how these species got together in the first place, then why is Origon excited? If they can travel to the other side of the universe and he's part of the house of communication, then i don't see why they don't spend their energy in communication devices where they can just send probes through the portal to see its ok for people to travel through instead of rocket ships (that still need magic to function). it would be like us making air plains if we had the ability to fly. By the rules of your story, I'd see them work on having better local car transportation then space ships. Right now I feel that its all unevenly yoked. I don't have a sense of what the story is about. I love space scifis and am glad one of the readings has one (convinced by my wall of text yet?). I'd say all of what happend (minus the who did what talk between Origon and Rilan) should happen in the 1st chapter so a lot of pruning and tightening. I'll comment on the rest of the story soon.
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  32. I'm pretending it's an ocarina, because ocarinas are cool.
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  33. I first thought of something like a wilderness guide. I assumed a "trailman's" flute would be made more rugged, to survive in harsher conditions.
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  34. Considering that it hasn't advanced over the thousands of years engineering, science, and literature has, then no. I'm not saying it's a bad thing to have, but human imagination - being what faith is - has been put to more practical uses. Without language there could be no organised religion and no civilization to speak of. Ideally, to consider what the greatest invention is you could contemplate its reliance on other inventions. Civilization was a great invention, but it didn't come without language and engineering (particularly agriculture and metal working). Everything is invented by human imagination so that practicality becomes important. We could live without religion, but we'd not be the civilized society we are today without many other things, particularly the ability to communicate in an articulate and clear manner. KChan: If you're looking at the Industrial era then I have to throw in the steam engine as the greatest invention of its time, bar the printing press. And perhaps the electric motor/generator. In the era before that, Galileo's telescope.
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  35. Ye gods do these not even remotely fit with the other metals... Which are supposed to internal, which are supposed to be external? Which Push, which Pull? I'm all for fangasming a fifth group of metals in, but these break so many established Allomancy rules...
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  36. I've tried to be more GLBT aware in recent years, but I want to be careful. Doing it poorly could be more insulting than doing it not at all. Having Ryan, the real world Drehy from Bridge Four, as a friend does at least give me access to someone who can give early feedback and tell me where I might be going wrong. So let's just say maybe. I will keep the books, in this series at least, long. It's what the story demands. As for title...it does have a certain charm, but I worry that it just feels wrong to too many people. Three out of four laugh when I mention it. That doesn't bode well...
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