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Ah, but then we'd never learn calculus because calculus is a seven-book prequel series that won't get published for another few decades. And you can't ask the teacher questions 'cuz he'll just tell you RAFO.

I am a grad student. As such, I do a lot of reading. The books I read are….shall we say, less than interesting. I do my best to read them. I do my best to pay attention. Yet every time I get more than a few pages in, I find myself drawn, as if by a magnet, to more interesting works. Let's face it: Brandon Sanderson's works are addictive. Once they get going, it's nearly impossible to put one of his books down. And this is a problem for a student who just wants to finish her reading and pass her summer class. So. I have an idea. It's brilliant. It's crazy. And it's totally going to work. We get Brandon Sanderson to write our textbooks. I don't know how we'd do it. It'd involve a lot of fan letters, a lot of asking nicely, and probably a good deal of whining. But once he buckled down and did it—well, we'd have the perfect solution to grad school! A textbook that is nigh-impossible to put down—and a host of classes that are nigh-impossible to fail. There is no possible way this can't work, guys. It's foolproof.

Night 5: Celebrations The holiday of Bel Tine usually brought with it joy and festivities, when children could laugh and play in the Town Greens, young women would dance around the ribbon pole, and peddlers would bring tales of glee and fireworks to be launched into the night sky, amazing and dazzling the villagers with their magnificent displays. But the village of Drell's Crossing was in no state for celebrations, and the town square lay empty and silent, filled with the wreckage and debris that had built up in the town, the silence occasionally broken by the caws of crows as they gorged on the dead that lay in the streets. No. There was no happiness or celebrations in the village. Instead, there was the grim determination that the villagers had settled into, hoping beyond hope, trying to rid their town of the infestation of evil that had plagued them recently. The citizens of Drell's Crossing didn't know why the Shadow had chosen them to torment, but they would show they would not lie down meekly and let the Dark One win without a fight. Mayor Waes strode up through the village green, a solemn expression on his face as he visibly tried to ignore the taint of madness he was suffering from as a result of his work with Saidin. The fact that a male channeler was their leader was a sign of how desperate the villagers were seek out and destroy the shadow with. At first Waes thought it had just been his madness when the other villagers began speaking to him in strange tongues, making weird, guttural noises that sounded like long strings of numbers when they opened to mouths to talk, but he realized with horror that he could understand what was being said and respond in kind as well! Once the villagers realized what was going on, they were visibly shaken, but undeterred in their mission to hunt down a servant of evil, and with the setting sun, Bunnt was called up to the front of the crowd. Despite a quiet persistence that they had gotten the wrong man, the quiet farmer resigned to his fate and without a struggle let his neck be fitted for the noose. He lowered his head and quiet sobbing sounds could be heard. Waes had tightened the noose and was getting ready to pull the lever when Bunnt suddenly tossed his head back and everybody realized with horror that he wasn't sobbing, but laughing! "You fools! You think this is a victory, but I have watched as you have torn yourselves apart in your feeble attempts to find me! This noose, and all of you, have more blood on your hands than I do! Now watch! I may die, and you may feel a small, fleeting feeling of pride swelling up within you, but know that it is a hollow victory! Now go! Hide back in your homes and cower in fear, waiting for the Darkness to strike." He raised his hands up into the air and let out an insane, maniacal laugh. "And then, shall the Lord of the Evening come. And He shall take our eyes, for our souls shall bow before Him, and He shall take our skin, for our flesh shall serve Him, and He shall take our lips, for only Him will we praise. And the Lord of the Evening shall face the Broken Champion, and shall spill his blood and bring us the Darkness so beautiful. Let the screams begin, O followers of the Shadow. Beg for your destruction!" With a yank of the lever, the floor dropped out beneath Bunnt and with a grunt he fell through the hole and his neck snapped with a sudden, final crunch. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bunnt was a Regular Darkfriend! Lynch Tally: Bunnt (5) - Nath, Leas Fel, Erik, Witless(+1) Nath (1) - Khamsi Night 5 will last 48 hours and will end at 1:30PM EST Sunday, July 6th! Unable to get an exact count-up or player list over at the moment, I'll try and get it updated in later if I get a chance.

A month or two ago I saw an advert for Skittles on TV which had two distinct effects on me. You've probably seen it, the Midas themed one where the guy is depressed that he can't touch anything without turning them into skittles. He tries to answer the phone and it turns into a pile of skittles, he gets frustrated and touches his desk; it collapses into a cascade of coloured candy. First and most obviously it reminded me how much I love skittles, they're yummy. Normally I skip or mute all adverts but this one actually got to me. I've tasted many a rainbow in recent weeks (you know, the skittley type, not the other type... not that there's anything wrong with... you know what, never mind). Secondly though I was thinking 'So that's what its like to fall into Shadesmar'. Everything around you losing it's form as it collapses into a sea of tiny beads. Except of course a wee bit more colourful. So now I challenge you all to read the parts of WoR & WoK where Shallan or Jasnah find themselves in Shadesmar without thinking of magical skittles, cause I can't anymore. I can't say I'd mind drowning in Skittle Shadesmar all that much. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go to the corner shop for something.

With regards the Master... I have a story I would love to see happen. I doubt it ever will, of course... but I've been thinking that it would be a very cool situation if the Doctor restores Gallifrey, goes to meet his people, the High Council assures him they locked away/whatever Rassillion, and he is taken to mee the new leader. And sitting in the chair is the new High Lord President of Gallifrey: The Master.

"Few people have seen a High Epic in their glory. Fewer still have seen the glory of an Epic who is high."

Shardplate is a Radiant’s Spiritweb Introduction There’s been a lot of speculation about what Shardplate actually is made up of. I had posted parts of this in another thread, but I decided to take those parts and expand them out here. As noted in the thread title, I believe that Shardplate is actually composed of the Radiant’s spirtweb, made manifest in the Physical Realm. Logic We already know that a Shardblade is actually a spren in the Physical realm. When the Recreance happened, the spren “died” and were left as the Shardblades that are currently used in most of Roshar. These Shardblades act a bit different than the spren version we see Kaladin wield (they can’t change shape, need ten heartbeats to be summoned, etc). Shardplate acted differently in the times before the Recreance. They glowed with Stormlight and Radiants were able to manipulate the Plate at will, adding and removing their helmet in the blink of an eye, for instance. The Plate changed shape similar to how a live Shardblade could change shape. This changed during the Recreance as the Plate no longer could appear or disappear at will and no longer glowed with glyphs. In essence, the Plate died in much the same way that Shardblades died. So why do I think that the Plate was/is the spiritweb? First, take a look at how the Radiants acted directly after disposing of their Plate. The Radiant that Dalinar caught up with simply ignored him, not speaking to him. This is very similar to how a Lifeless acts. Vivenna notes that Clod had an “emotionless face”. The Lifeless have a bit of their spiritweb left[1]. The Radiants giving up their Shardplate would likely be in the exact same situation. The Shardplate has certain points on it that, in modern times, contain gemstones to power it with Stormlight. I believe that these points are the exact same points that would be the Hemalurgic points in the spiritweb. They are focal points for Investiture. Szeth noted that Shardplate would have interfered with his lashings[2], but we see a Windrunner in Dalinar’s vision that could clearly lash. Why? Because the Windrunner had his soul as his plate. Shardplate for Szeth would be another person’s spiritweb and would not work for him. When the Plate is cracked, the cracks show up as a web. This is circumstantial evidence, but I believe it serves to back up everything else. There is a reason it’s called a “spiritweb” after all. Additionally, Plate can be regrown from using Stormlight. This is very similar to what we see with Kaladin, healing his Shardblade severed limb with Stormlight, essentially reconnecting the Spiritual with the Physical. The breastplate, as well, mirrors this. A strike to the chest (or spine) with a Shardblade is a killing blow. Shardplate ceases to function when the breastplate is destroyed[3]. Each Radiant’s soul was unique. This would manifest itself in the different shapes and patterns of the Shardplate. The sets of Plate were unique enough that Dalinar could recognize Adolin’s set in the vision of the battle where the Dustbringer fought[4]. Finally, every order of the Radiants had access to Shardplate, even if they did not use it[5]. This, quite simply, is because each Radiant had a soul (spiritweb). I think this makes for a very nice situation where the a Radiant would fight using aspects of all three Realms. Physical with his body. Cognitive with his spren Shardblade. Spiritual with his spiritweb Shardplate. References Edit: Fixed typos

Solomon Grundy is the avatar, Ian is the real name. Became a fan of Brandon's writing through the Wheel of Time series, which I felt he finished splendidly and, though I'll probably be banished to one of the Nine Hells for this, I felt he was better with the material than the original author... In any event, I'm mostly here to get information on Stormlight glyphs and writing for a tattoo design I'm working on for myself, but if I don't alienate myself too quickly, perhaps I'll stick around and irritate you all for a time...

It's a holiday. There's a beach. There's socializing. All I'm thinking is "can I get back to my book?!" Introverted Sanderson fan. 4th of July freedom is turning the fireworks off and being quiet so I can read. Ha!

The blackbane leaf, which Syl gave to Kaladin at the chasm

I would take a class on surgebinding physics, cosmere biology(the section on kandra would be interesting), and the economics of allomancy.

"...And so the 2 used the power of the division Surge on the 4, by doing so it managed to split it´s very existenc in half, bringing them down to equal footing..." This might just work.

Since we're talking about dr who, and some people here are newer doctor who fans, i will assume that some people have not seen this. Thus, i present to you a comedy bit with rowan atkinson (mr bean) from the mid 90's or so, "Dr who and curse of fatal death"

This touches on the biggest problem with textbooks - they are infodumps, not stories. Stories are interesting; infodumps are not.

Gallifrey is mine, its sweets will obey me.

LOL...hilariously enough, I just looked it up and I was, in fact, born on a Monday...

I upvoted that. It was quite funny.

Just ride the winds of rep, Mat. Do not seek to understand or control them.

I recognize that! The Gunslinger, Jake Chambers Oh, and good duel you guys. Ought to say something remotely on topic, even if it is... out-of-character.

No. Source:

This is going to be pretty spoilery (but I guess we are in the Cosmere Theories section anyways… and the books were published ages ago…) 1. Um… I think there's a WoB that says that Vin was special so that she could take the mists in*, but I can't find it. Though the Preservation "approval" is a good idea. 2. Based on our current understanding, I think that a Misting would just be able to super-power his one skill. A Misting is someone who has Spiritual DNA written in such a way as to allow Preservation's power to take a certain, pre-determined effect when taken into himself. When the Misting Snaps, the cracks in his Spritweb allow Preservation's power in. Ingesting the Mists gives a LOT more power than a metal will usually give. This will give a lot of power to say, Steelpushing, if the Misting is a Coinshot. However, he wouldn't be able to use the power to change his sDNA to give himself different powers. That's one of the differences between the Mists (gaseous Investiture) and Lerasium (solid Investiture). Lerasium somehow affects the Spiritual Realm, while the Mists don't. They just amp up the Physical effects of the Investiture. While I'm writing this… I was doing some editing on the Coppermind when I noticed this, and I don't want to start correcting stuff that doesn't need to be corrected. I've noticed that some people talk about a "Surge of Growth", even though technically, that's part of the "Surge of Progression". Are both of them considered Surges (one being a sub-Surge of the other), or is only Progression a Surge? There isn't a Surge of "Basic Lashing", or "Full Lashing", only Surges of Gravitation and Pressure, right?

Listen to a song you've never heard before, preferably one without words, and write as fast as you can for the duration of the song. Expand on your ideas afterwards.

Nononono, he requisitions songwriters to put Steelheart propaganda to all the tunes, then plays the revised versions over loudspeakers so nobody can hear them without thinking of the Steelheart version first.

When you complain of stomach pains and your doctor finds coins in your gut. (Yeah! First popular post!)

The President solemnly dons an aluminum foil hat before every speech, polished to a gleam, to prove that he speaks for himself.

Draft 1: Forging The Spiritweb Forgive me for length, it is long, and hopefully complete. Disclaimer Let's begin by describing... The Nature of Investiture: Next, what is the spirit web? According to Cannon, lacking a better defenition than this, I have provided my own. (there is another descriptive quote under the topic of Hemelurgy, below) The Spirt-Web, is the sum total of all physical, emotional, cognitive, spiritual, and other ties a person object or thing have to other people objects or things. The comparison to a physical web might be useful for many purposes. For a person, This Web defines who they are. To start our analogy, there will be several strands beginning at the center (the person in question) and extending outward, linking to past events, future hopes, current desires, descriptive attributes, and other details that accurately depict the SOUL of the person to whome this spirit web happens to belong. In addition to these, there will be many additional strands. Some of these additional strands will link to people, or ideas to which this person is familiar. There will be strands that connect one attirbute this person has attained, with others. Memories will form, Etcetera, etcetera. So far, this explains (sort-of) why the Spirit Web is approximately equal to the SOUL, as far as practical discussion is concerned. But what about mystical abilities? Yes, every mystical ability described in the Cosmere uses the spiritweb. Every mystical ability a given person has will either have it's own section of the spiritweb describing its function, or will utilize some pre-existing part of the web that they individually, or that all people possess. A Note on sDNA

The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter have many similarities - They are both widely popular, were turned into films, and are absolute doorstoppers, putting many people off reading them because the films exist. I also enjoyed them both when I was younger, and they brought me into the fantasy genre in full (though HP is more of an fantastic Earth than a straight fantasy) There's also another important similarity, and one which I absolutely despise: Science is verboten. Science in The Lord of the Rings is the province of Saruman, the White Wizard, the leader (such as they have one) of the Five Wizards in Middle-Earth. Famously, he betrays Gandalf the Grey and goes around allying with Sauron due to his lust for power and the One Ring. He develops gunpowder, a huge benefit to the world even if you ignore its military power. It can be used to study ballistics, or in the mining industry, for instance. Unfortunately, Sauron is evil, and therefore his science is a devilry which the main characters consider some kind of fell sorcery because they don't understand it. Tolkein designed Saruman and his war machine to mimic the pace of industrialisation, destroying nature in the name of progress. In Harry Potter, we see impressive technologies, such as the developments of flying broomsticks, a 'living' and changing castle in Hogwarts, and so on. However, all of this is done by magic. Not one whiff of science there, apparently because it doesn't work there due to ambient magical energies or whatever. They even had to steal the Hogwart's Express from the pathetic and worthless muggles (remember kids, stealing is fine if you do it from normals!). The magically inclined are so backwards that it's laughable. They don't understand - and can't even pronounce - electricity, or figure out muggle money: they find it easier to count in a combination of base 29 and 17 than in base 10, for goodness' sake. They even have to be told that 'A gun is kind of like a metal wand' - after 400 years of them existing! Even Arthur Weasley, their Misuse of Muggle Artefacts guy, has no idea what electricity is, which even in the mid-1990s you'd think would be pretty crucial to most Muggle Artefacts. This is all in despite of the fact that a good number of the characters have a non-magical lineage. About half a year ago on his blog, the head of Research and Development at the Magic: The Gathering branch of Wizards of the Coast said that they'd never do a sci-fi themed set because it wouldn't appeal to people because it wasn't fantasy. He even mentioned that they'd considered doing a Western/gunslingers-style set, but of course we'd have spellslingers instead of gunslingers. To this date, the only gunpowder-based weapons in MtG have been with fantasy-okay cannons (mostly on ships) and the Portal set, which had a very small print-run and is non-canon due to the fact that it is based on the Chinese Three Kingdoms period. Even the Dresden Files has this. Dresden works with technology daily, even going so far as to put his name in the telephone directory (now also an anachronism, thanks to the internet). In this alone, it's by far better than how Harry Potter deals with it. However, he also has to use old technology, because anything new is too vulnerable to magic. Now I can kind of justify this, due to new tech being more precise and therefore easier to wreck with small changes, but even so it seems a little excessive. These are just examples of series in which magic and science are felt to be opposing forces, or perhaps downright wrong to the main characters. The only time the two are allowed combine are in the areas of magic Steampunk (because electricity is apparently too good for some people) and Magitek (in which magic is a power source rather than electricity). The only real fantasy series I can think of which avoids this completely is The Discworld novels, particularly in later novels, with films, semaphore, High Energy Magic, steam power and so on. That may be however because they're much less based on combat, and are more about characters than epic fights for the sake of the world. The Amber Chronicles also slightly gets around this as well; Gunpowder is somehow inert on the titular land, so the character gets a different explosive compound instead. A rather clever solution, in my opinion. However, after this, it progresses rather similarly onwards and employs magitech. We can kind of make sense of why this is - People get cut by swords and hit by arrows, but a gunshot is a definite kill, after all. Older weaponry requires skill to use proficiently, whereas guns have a simple point 'n' click interface. Now obviously this is an exaggeration, but it seems to be the reason in fantasy for enforcing this technological stasis (something I will forever love Mistborn for justifying and then subverting). Overall, it's the idea of technological stability over large periods of time that I think is most abhorrent to me here. I can get that gunpowder takes a lot of the romance out of it, but it wasn't the be-all and end-all of scientific achievement. It didn't help us discover how to use electricity, for instance. It's rather annoying when they don't even justify it either. There's Willing Suspension of Disbelief, I know, but after several thousand years... Even worse is when even magic isn't studied. 'Any sufficiently studied magic is indistinguishable from technology', the corollary to Clarke's Third Law states, which might give the reason for magic being mysterious and unknown. The idea that no-one in that period of time was born who went 'Hey, you know that thing we rely on? Anyone know how it works at all? Or even if there's an alternative that doesn't put our lives in the hands of people born with all that power who we can't control?'. Scientists of any flavour are severely lacking in fantasy. So... After that long rant discussion, what are your thoughts about the use (or absence) of science in fantasy? What have you seen which does it really well or really poorly? Do you think that fantasy has to mean the medieval era? In your opinion, are urban fantasies are true examples of the fantasy genre? Or for that matter, what about the development and study of magic itself? Finally, do you think that the idea that science does not belong is at all damaging for the advancement of the fantasy genre?

Sure. Posted here.

I think Nightblood will probably cause some problems. Wonderfull, hilarious, destructive problems.

For another strange upvote see my last post.

"You're the Master of candies and sugar now, is that it? Is that what you've spent centuries of corruption and murder working towards?" "Yes!" "Oh. Well. Well, then, I hope you're happy!"

I'd type up an RP for this, but it's been a busy week for me. RP post coming soon, though, for anyone who enjoys the wacky antics of Khamsi Zareef, Domani Gleewoman! So, let's throw a lynch vote at Nath! And for funsies, Khamsi for mayor! I promise, my second administration will NOT be plagued by the problems of the first!

Since you obviously are failing to lynch the Forsaken. I have lost faith in the one who is supposed to lead to victory. I move for a vote of no confidence on Weas leadership! And I put my vote on Douza.

For a villain episode, I think that a one-shot/minor recurring villain would be best. All the very big villains such as Dalek and Cyberman are not diverse enough. Maybe something alike the Calvierris from "The Vampires of Venice." If the Master is still alive, now that Gallifrey isn´t destroyed anymore, it might be fun to get an episode from his perspective. Granted, he wouldn´t be afraid of the Doctor, so that kind of defeats the point.

But I was promised cake! I can't believe you did that to me! I feel so... so... betrayed! ...So that's what that feels like.

I have no idea what you are referencing. Aperture Science has always maintained a strict policy of promising only 100% valid bakery options.

The Azish Primacy, going from the presumably old assassinated leader to Lift's young friend and theiving partner?

It's hard being ordinary, Korb thought. The pair of thugs - one tall and muscled, and incidentally blessed with claws, scales, and a tail; one thick as a slab of marbled meat - blocked the entrance to the alley. Muggings were not uncommon, of course, but Korb had managed to avoid this particular misfortune until today. Korb carefully lifted his satchel over his head, trying not to look threatening. In his estimation, it wasn't difficult. Thin, short, Korb was a better runner than most and a worse fighter than many. While some seemed to take every day as a personal challenge to beat more noses flat than the previous one, Korb stayed unseen. It wasn't that he was stealthy, or even quiet. You just didn't notice him. Of course, these two muggers had. Korb finished with his satchel, moving slowly and deliberately. He turned his pockets inside out, spilling coins and jangling nicknacks onto the cobbles, and removed his fine leather jacket, dropping it over the satchel regretfully. "Want anything else?" he asked the thugs. The lizard looked him over. "Boots," he growled. Korb sighed, but did as asked. He pulled out the dull knife in the side of the boot by the blade and tossed it onto the coat, startling the two thugs, who seemed to be getting more and more nervous as Korb dragged out the mugging. Though they held long, nasty-looking brass knives and pockets bulging with a variety of small weapons, they flinched with every movement Korb made, as if they expected him to leap up and beat them senseless. Korb sat down and began unlacing his boots. "What's the matter with you two, anyway? I walked through the Docks - I probably deserve this for being so stupid. You know there aren't any guards about." This is a bad time to be flippant, something inside him said. Korb ignored it. The lizard glanced at the thick man, who grunted. He looked back at Korb. "Well, friend, you see, usually, after shoving a weak-looking man into an alley and demanding all his possessions, we've got, oh, twenty seconds of witty banter before they pull out a knife, potion, sommon something, turn their skin to stone, blast us with lightning, call a blazing rock to smite us from the sky or something worse." "You've got a good vocabulary for a criminal." "It's all the witty repartee, friend. I got tired of never understanding their terrible puns, so I robbed a linguist and read his dictionary." Korb shook his head, laying the boots down on his coat and stepping back. "How'd a smart fellow like you end up robbing dishonest men in alleys, anyway?" The thick thug grumbled, but Lizard waved his free hand in a dismissive gesture. "Jarlen, it's all right. This man's kindly provided us with meals for a month, if I'm any judge of quality. I owe him a conversation, at least." Jarlen scowled, raising the knife towards Korb, but Lizard held his throatcutter with a relaxed gesture. "Upbringing," Lizard said, turning back to Korb, "and the damnable speciesism in this city. I couldn't apply for a single school in the place just because I've got fangs and and a green tail. Terrible thing, it is. Jarlen here," he said, slapping the big man on the back, "seems to have been born for this, though. We work well together." Jarlen smiled for the first time since the mugging had started, teeth, strangely, all white and clean. "It's a good life," he rumbled. "Pays for a roof and a meal." Korb nodded, sitting down again and crossing his legs. Lizard followed suit, though Jarlen remained standing, moving into place behind him. "Still, the speciesism really is something awful here," he noted. "I had a friend who knew a lizardman that worked in one of those specialty bars. Turned out the business was a front for some dark cultist blood sacrifice operation - not that he knew anything about that. Anyway, some musclebound idiot pranced in last month, killed everyone in the place, and smashed through the back wall until he found the secret passage. And do you think he got arrested?" Lizard shuddered, flicking his tail. "I heard about that. The Bastard's Promise, right?" Korb nodded. "Terrible, terrible thing." He leaned forward, flipping open the pocketwatch on his pile of former possessions. "I'm afraid, friends," he said regretfully, "that I'll be late for an appointment should I tarry any longer. If you wouldn't mind?" He gestured at the mouth of the alleyway. Lizard nodded, standing up, and shook Korb's hand with his left claw awkwardly, the main one still gripping the knife. "Glad to meet you, friend, very glad indeed. Best of luck in recouping your losses." Korb smiled. "To you too, friend. May the marks be rich and the heroes unlucky." Lizard chuckled, and, suprisingly, so did Jarlen. The thug nodded respectfully as Korb left the alleyway. And Korb von Shwartmeyer, Duke of the city, walked down the street. It appeared that he would need to visit a tailor soon - he had very much liked that coat. So, as you may have guessed, my character is the plain, human Korb von Shwartmeyer. He's no good in a fight, though he can run surprisingly fast when it's required. His strength, rather, is in connections, politicking, persuasion, and general manipulation. He's a slight bit eccentric and arrogant, too - he really should NOT have gone for a walk through the Docks. Still, he's athletic, and his lack of fighting skill is more a matter of never having learned. He has a good head for most things, though his grasp of languages beyond his native one is almost nonexistent. Being a rather sheltered aristocrat, he has never been more than a day's travel outside the city limits.

The musicale was going along swimmingly. The directors only problem was that Fortunity's a actor liked method acting, and the show quickly ran out of chorus girls.

But Nalan said he kills surgebinding criminals because they cause Desalation, he never mentioned anything about spren prohibition.

That director knew he shouldn't have cast Justin Bieber as Nightweilder, no matter how well his shrill girly voice complimented Faultline's gravelly man voice.

Don't worry, I can still give you a guest pass.

"The stakes are high, Prof." "I know. So is Steelheart." "Yeah, I—wait, what?" RECKONERS: DENVER

Unless Brandon veers off from his usual speed, maybe a late 2015/early 2016 - no Wheel of Time to eat up his attention this time around. The man is a machine. If a headline came out tomorrow that read, Police bust writing sweatshop full of prolific author clones, a lot of people would probably just nod and say, "Well, that explains a lot."

This is a satisfying explanation, and makes perfect sense. I'd like a WoB on it, but for now it makes a good amount of sense. I'd give you an upvote, but the forums seem broken. I clicked the button anyways. He actually does predict Kaladin's actions in a way - the Diagram specifically warns that people should not be put in situations of high stress, lest things like Kaladin happen. It's not his fault that his followers failed to understand this particular bit, and in any case another part of the Diagram says that the Surgebinders returning is inevitable. Humans do not suddenly become different creatures when politics are involved. As much fun as it is to claim that politicians are all greedy blood sucking parasites without any empathy, emotions are still involved. Taravangian played to the emotions of the various leaders of the factions of Jah Keved, forcing them to not unite and instead fight each other to the death. I cannot believe that someone with "sociopathic megalomania" (I'm not sure how this applies to Taravangian when he clearly would prefer not to have to be world leader) is incapable of recognizing that most people will not commit suicide via persuasive argument, particularly when you want the less-intelligent people to be swayed by said argument (and they're less likely to listen to it thanks to being of lower intelligence). I'm not even sure how the heck Taravangian planned on testing people's intelligence, given that intelligence isn't really a measurable thing.

Inquisitors? Freaky? It's like metal objects aren't supposed to go there and it's freaky when they are! No way!

The blood being in motion is part of it. Because the power, once used, returns to him--much as water, after passing over a turbine, continues on in its system. If they tried to actualize their Aon, it would have an undesirable result. In addition, the chasm broke their bond to the humans they were tied to, and you can see the result of that. So they were affected.

He couldn't get rid of this entirely. I don't want to spoil things, but Snapping was built into Allomancy primarily because of larger-scale magical issues. This is getting deep into the issue, but it has to do with a person's spiritual makeup and a 'wounded' spirit being easier to fill with something else, kind of like a cut would let something into the bloodstream. Sazed made this threshold on Scadrial much easier to obtain. Yes. In theory. Getting to Sel is really tough... I'd say that the spren on Roshar have been my favorite so far--they are so different, but also so RIGHT. They have a mythological fae-feel to them, but also fit into the cosmere arcanum just perfectly. I also like writing them.