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When you realise the old adage "health is wealth" should be inverted to "wealth is health" for Radiants.

Hi guys. Sorry I wasn't active yesterday. I went online because I was at the signing and I was posting in the thread about that, but I don't think I managed to make it over here and post. Are you saying that I am suspicious because Macen and I would be a good Spy Team? I'm not sure what you're saying. Or why you're saying it. Have Macen and I been voting for the same people? I should probably go check for myself, but you're one accusing here. Yeah, I have been acting kind of like that. It's not because I'm guilty. It's because both times I was having trouble finding the time to read everyone's analysis deeply. I feel my senses a'tingling, though. There's definitely a tingle back there. Is that how I came to be? That's confusing. And now for my vote. Guys. There are five spies. That's not good. Some of the more intense players are really into complicated analysis of really small details, and that's good. We need that. But we also need somebody who can state the obvious sometimes. Sherlock needs his Watson, ya know? Meta wasn't really that suspicious. And I'm not really that suspicious. But Odysa is really flipping suspicious. Who agrees with me? Well, according to the posts in this cycle, Mailliw, Wilson, Renegade, Aonar, and Mack all agree that Odysa has been acting suspicious. So why is Mack the only one who has voted against her? Yes, there are going to be some really sneaky spies. But with five of them, total, there are going to be some who are less discrete. We shouldn't kill off our most experienced players based off of evidence as circumstantial as "He thought that a person was bad when the other players thought he could be bad or good." I think it will take that kind of deduction to kill the last couple of spies, but we don't need to stoop that low yet. So, I am proposing that we kill Odysa instead of role blocking her, and then we use the results of the lynch to try and narrow down on whether Wilson has a cold, evil heart hidden beneath all that kindness. (We all saw you lev your vote. That was gorram suspicious). PS. I also worry that two of the teams of eliminators might already be in contact. After the battle where nobody was killed, it was probably because at least one eliminator targeted another eliminator, right? And Kasimir thinks that at least one messenger is a spy. I'm not saying it's likely. I'm just saying that it's a possibility. Edit: color

AAAAAHHHH that was amazing. He got a picture of me in my shirt! Here are my questions and his answers: mail-mi: So I have a lot of questions. Brandon: Okay. M: Could you spike Elantrian-ness? Like, could you Hemalurgically spike Elantrian-ness? B: Theoretically, yes. M: Could you out of a Reod Elantrian? The zombie ones? B: Um, yes you could. M: You could? B: So what you would be spiking there is their connection to...to the planet, first. That's gonna be the big important thing. So you're going to overwrite your connection. Um, and then you're going to....it's going to be a complicated process because you're going to have to spike the actual ability to have been transformed, that's gonna be harder. M: Okay. B: Does that make sense? M: Yeah, so it's gonna take two spikes. B: It's gonna take two spikes. M: Alright. B: And you gonna have to get the right connection to the right place. Let's say you spike somebody from MaiPon, and then you spike an Elantrian, you're not going to be able to use it, you're not connected to the right area. M: Okay. Most of my questions are actually about the Reod Elantrians. B: Okay. M: So, could they be felt by Lifesense? B: They would, um...they are in the middle of a transformation. I would say that yes they could be, but you're going to get like a stutter is what I'd guess you would get, it's like you would get a...a flashing. M: Because they're kind of alive, and kind of not alive. B: Yeah. And so, yeah, you'd just get a flashing sort of....something. M: Okay. What would a Shardblade do to them? B: Um, a Shardblade would...oh boy. A Shardblade...a Shardblade would still be dangerous to them, um, the trick is, um, the Shardblade's gonna treat them half alive, half dead. So, it probably would be kind of a flicker, so it depends on when you hit them. It might cut the arm off. M: It might cut the arm off... B: And it might just leave it dead. M: So can you affect them with Emotional Allomancy? B: Yes. M: How easy would it be to pull metal through them? B: Pull metal out of them.... Easier, M: Easier than a regular human? B: Yes. M: Okay, I have a couple more. Is Nightblood's sheath made out of aluminum? B: That is an excellent question that nobody has asked me yet! Um...I will RAFO that. M: Oooh, I get a card. I got the card. B: That is an excellent question. M: Okay, and um, I have one more. Acutally, two more. Does a more Investiture-poor world make it so its magics are easier to use off-world? Because, you said that Scadrial is really Investiture-poor, and it can be used easily off-world, but Roshar is very Investiture-rich, and how can you get stormlight off of Roshar? B: Yeah. Um, I would say that there is a correlation. M: There is a correlation? B: Mhm. M: Okay, cool. And then, just one more, shouldn't the rest of Roshar be more Earth-like, more Shinovar-like, kind of, with Cultivation on Roshar? B: Um, you are mistakenly assuming that Cultivation means Earth-like flora and fauna. Roshar is very bountiful, and, um, like it's not a barren land. Um, Roshar is very, um.... zas678: Thriving? B: It's thriving. Yeah, it just has a different ecology. Um, you're mistakenly assuming that our ecology is the only sort that can be bountiful. And then I got a picture! Ah, I'm so happy!

Hello. I'm probably way too into this stuff. My friends all curse me for introducing me to this series. Well, let's see then. I like long walks in the forest at night, my favorite type of invertebrate is the kraken, the most recent book I have finished was Good Omens, I am about to start reading American Gods, and if I could have any form of investiture I would be a Feruchemist, because it seems like one of the few you could use on Earth, and the name closely resembles what I might go to university for. How bout you people?

So, everyone knows that the lamest metal of the main eight is copper, Right? It basically only has one purpose, and that's to counteract bronze (Well, I suppose it does have another use, and that's to counteract emotional allomancy.) But anyway, let's think back to Surgebinding. Szeth comments during the assassination of the king of Jah Keved that he can't Lash a man in Shardplate. Shardplate, and presumably the Nahel Bond, prevents Surges from manipulating the subject's body (like Jasnah soulcasting the thugs into fire, crystal, and smoke). So what I'm thinking is that copper isn't simply a counter to bronze, Since copper also has the side-effect of protecting one's emotions being manipulated, it's reasonable to presume that its true purpose is to protect the user's cognitive aspect from outside manipulation. It's an ability that could be useful on many shardworlds. A smoker couldn't be soulcast or lashed so long as he was burning copper.

These reasons? Because I don't agree with these reasons. Different people have different playstyles, and it's ok to try out a new one. Charting my suspicious: didn't work for me. Trying to become a center of communication during a conversion game: also didn't work out. So I am still posting my suspicions and answering questions, just like I have always done, but give me a break from the attitude where if somebody doesn't play like Meta/Kasimir/Renegade/Aonar/Wilson, they must be hiding something. Because that is the only thing that I have done "wrong" in this game. I appreciate those who like doing complex analysis, but it doesn't work for everyone. To kill or block me would be a waste of an action. I've got no powers and have had very little interaction with others. It wouldn't stop the bad guys, and it wouldn't prove anything either. In a game with multiple teams of eliminators, you can't even say "he argued with this person, that means they aren't aligned similarly". So what should you do about me? Well, I'd say that you should trust me for now. Hopefully my hunch will be correct, and Odysa will turn out to be an eliminator. Then you will be a little bit closer to being able to trust me.

I posted to hopefully clear the air on the highstorm/actions conflict I saw happening. At the time I was on the local golf course and didn't have access to my notes and didn't want to place a vote without checking my notes which were at home. My sister and her partner also arrived to stay for a couple of days without informing me so I have had less time to keep up with the thread as I do the obligatory family activities. Something that I try to avoid almost religiously. However I have had some thoughts on the missing Officer problem. I am placing my vote on Ace. My logic is as follows. Meta claimed to be roleblocked and Wilson denies doing it. Meta has been proven innocent so it is likely that he was telling the truth. Wilson has claimed to be an Officer. And has been basically proven by Twei backing up Wilsons claim of roleblocking. (Could be a lie. Wilson and Twei could both be spies and are pulling our strings.) Kas has almost been proven as Wit. Something which doesn't surprise me given how much trolling he has been doing. Luckat is proven to be good by winning a Shardblade. I am the Heterochromic and am not the officer. That leaves Joe or Ace as the remaining officer. Joe voted for Jain, a known spy. (Might be a spy that got one of his own killed. Wouldn't be the first time he has pulled that trick.) So that leaves Ace. Nothing really points to him being a spy but nothing says he isn't either. Even if we kill a loyal then we should still have control of the lighteyed vote unless there is a third spy among the lighteyes and Wilson is the second spy which I don't really see happening.

Hmm... This is interesting, because I enjoyed the Story of Elantris very much. The themes on Religion, Romance, Politics, Social injustice, all fairly typical themes that appear in many books, but pulled off so well it wasn't an glorified pamphlet. However, Its not his best written book. Equally, White Sand was a very good read, mainly because it was so self contained, and was a nice change of pace from he universe shattering (Forgive the pun) of the events elsewhere in the Cosmere... My all time favorite though, has to go to "The Well Of Ascension". Its the classic second act of the trilogy. Earthshaking things are revealed, it ends on a dismal note, with friends lost the success of the good guys far from certain. A wonderfully portrayed siege, a marvelous villain in the form of Elend's father, the character of Zane, and the individual character arcs of Elend, Vin and Sazed were marvelous. A triumph.

It's not legal. The problem here stems from Wikia articles having a blanket license that allows publication, and a Wikia had some of Brandon's blog posts on it. That Wikia corrected this a while ago by putting a different license on those blog post pages, but apparently that company didn't get the memo.

For the purposes of this game, no, there will never be a combat against a Highprince with no Spies (unless all his Spies are dead, of course).

Wayne "And here we see the wild Koloss in it's natural habitat crikey isn't she a beauty. look at those swords the're sharp and sturdy enough to bisect a man in two with one swing... lets get in for a closer look." From now on I will read Wayne as being Australian.

Before I say anything else, I think you're absolutely right to make a story about a compounder. We know they happen, so they're officially, canonically likely enough that you should absolutely have one in your story if you so wish. Something being somewhat unlikely is sorta what makes for an amazing story. A few thoughts: This one gets confused a lot. The actual quote is that historical and societal information in the books is canon until disproven; things like this, the mechanics of the metallic arts, are an even lower level of canon. Not that they are non-canon, but at this point you're out on a bit of a speculative bridge. It's a good number to go forward with, but be aware that the numbers aren't as rigorous as they might be. Hrm... I'm going to mention here again that the numbers prolly don't work out that easily. I, unfortunately, have not the first idea how to calculate how it will work out.Recall that powers still travel in genetic lines. 1/50 people might be mistings, but that's skewed heavily towards the lines that are strong with allomantic power. Meaning average joe-shmoe has a much, much reduced chance. Also recall, in order to be twinborn, you first by default must have mixed-Terris blood. Terrismen were 1/5 of the Originators, though at least their reproductive health was restored to them. (If these two facts are disputed I will get of my lazy duff and provide the quotes. The first was from the text, the second is a WoB.) We also know the Terris as a general rule try to interbreed. Just to get a rough idea of how many people have some, but not pure, Terris blood, we'd have to find a way to reasonably guess what percentage of the Terris population each successive generation elected to intermarry, and find some sort of dispersal algorithm across three centuries. At that point, we'd need to find a way to get some data on what reasonable assumptions we can make about which Terrispeople married into lines with strong, weak, or no allomantic potential. At this point we could begin your process of taking this moiety of the general population, and applying your math to determine the probability of feruchemy, and allomancy, to derive twinborn and thereby compounders. Additionally, there's a comment Wax makes at one point about "the more common types of mistings," and it's unclear if he means simply that coinshots are more likely to take on a profession which takes advantage of their power, of if he's saying that they truly do crop up more than their share of times. I, unfortunately, have not the first idea how we'd start getting any of this information. I suspect it would end up proving that twinborn, and by extension compounders, are less common than your estimate, but even if they're 1/10th as common, that's still more than six just in Elendel, so prolly something like 20 at a time across the planet. I'd like to address one more issue I've seen brought up, which is the idea that people would choose to breed selectively for the metallic arts. I disagree on a few levels. First, the people in the stories don't see themselves as characters, or as cattle, or as playing pieces in need of leveling up. There's no reason to assume women are choosing who they will give their bodies to on the hopes that their offspring will be a powergamer's dream come true. The vast majority of people simply marry for love. Even in the case of Wax, where his one and only play to save his family is to marry someone rich, basically selling off his own name and place in society for an infusion of cash to keep his house afloat, I don't recall anyone mentioning that he'd be a prize stud for his capacity to have twinborn children. Even when his potential match was Steris, a dispassionate woman of such good breeding she was apparently chosen to be kidnapped and forcibly impregnated in a sociopathic attempt to breed powerful allomancers, no one mentioned that they were combining two allomantically powerful bloodlines. I think the balance of evidence shows that it's simply not something most people in this world consider a reason to breed, so it should be left out of equations. I can't find it though I'm sure there's a WoB somewhere saying that Sazed did something to make Mistborn impossible, but Mistings more common. Even if most Metalborn were killed off at the end of the world, Direct Shardic Intervention should nevertheless make them more common. I could be remembering the WoB wrong, however, since I can't seem to find it... Just making sure you're aware, the reason "mostly skaa" got snapped is because the Nobles had already tested themselves, and the Terris couldn't be allomancers. I assume you knew that, but just wanted to state it for completeness in case someone is reading this thread and wondering why you said that.I don't know that he wiped out the genetic difference? Had there been a difference to begin with? Rashek remade the world, changing people to survive it, but didn't give out the lerasium and decide who was noble and who was skaa until sometime thereafter. We know he left the terris as terris, and he didn't conquer the world until afterwards. Even the Hero, in his epigraphs, spoke of not being sure if the Balance was really a thing? We know he changed everyone back to "you can breath normal air" but besides that I think people were basically who they had been anyway. I think the "1 in 10,000" number is inaccurate, if I recall. That's something Kelsier says in the book, yes? I recall a WoB where someone asks him about that, pointing out that it would make allomancers actually ludicrously common, and I think Mr. Sanderson admitted that he made a mistake, and was essentially retconning it to "Kelsier was mistaken, they were actually a lot less common." It was specifically allomancers within the skaa population anyway, yes?

I will not plot to kill annoying people I will spend only a reasonable amount of time reading or watching T.V. I will act like an adult and not watch Disney movies I will not become so enthralled in reading a certain that when I am interrupted I try to lash that person to the ceiling I will not spend hours imagining how awesome it would be traveling around a place like new York with Mistborn powers I will respect other peoples (stupid) opinions I will not squeal whenever I see a book I rely like at barnes and Noble I will not throw books in frustration when my favorite( Pairing, character, object) is destroyed or killed

Okay, so it's pretty simple, we'll all write a Sanderson faction together - but you're only allowed to write one sentence at a time. It'll be set in Roshar, after the end of WoR, so there might be a few spoilers. As for rules, just please steer clear of sex and too much gore. Other than that, have fun! Please note that this story is not to be taken seriously at all. Do what you want, people. Shallan stepped out of the carriage into the evening air and glanced around.

So I am getting married in January, and we are having a book themed wedding. We are using quotes from some of our favorite books and I chose Mistborn as one of mine. But I am having trouble finding any good quotes. Anyone here list some of there favorites?

I'm working on it- but there's some good stuff. The only trouble is that my phone died, so it's from notes and memory. Gak.

For me, it's mostly that the lighteyes are the narrowest group of suspects. I know there are more spies in the darkeyes, but while I have some suspicions, it's nothing conclusive for anyone. With this, we know that there's an Officer among the spies. It's not you, and it's not me. That leaves 3 people, one of whom I'm inclined to think it's not (Alvron), and one whom I don't think would lie about the role he claimed (Macen). If it's not Joe, I'll turn my attention to the darkeyes, since I don't want to decimate the lighteyes. But for now, Joe's the best idea I've got. Plus, I don't like them having a roleblocking ability, even if it's limited to darkeyes. That's my territory. They need to back off. These darkeyes are in my army (or at least, Dalinar's), and therefore subject to my command. They are not to be commanded by filthy spies loyal to a traitorous highprince.

Whoa there, Newan. If you think I'm suspicious of you just because you don't play the game the same as few of the other players, then I'm really sorry I came across like that, and that's not what I was going for at all. I get that you're a little behind on everything that's going on, and taking this game a little less seriously (although that appears to be changing). It's largely that at the time, I really had nothing to go off of, and I knew that you were liable to respond to accusations relatively quickly. That's not to say I trust you, but at the moment, I really don't trust anyone (except for Tal and [sort of] Kas, of course). Fixed. I saw what you did in QF4. No way I'm trusting you if I can help it. : P I'm not sure who I want my vote to be on, at the moment. I don't know whether or not you're lying about being the Surgeon, Macen, but I'm not sure I want to kill you either. Then again, no that you've outed yourself, you're probably going to be dead in a couple cycles even if you are telling the truth... Eh. I don't know, and I'm too tired to spend much time trying to figure it out. I'd like to see Joe/Vron's responses, but I'm not going to be back on and capable of posting again until after rollover. I guess I'll leave things where they are. I'm trusting you guys not to screw up.

This setting is also home to the Sky-State of the Grinners, the Hive Mountains of the Skordyr, and the Hailang Ghouls of Shanshen. How does that work, exactly? What constitutes a future that doesn't involve him? The butterfly effect would suggest that all futures are tied to him in some way or another. What degree of personal involvement is necessary for him to view a potential future? He definitely sounds like an interesting character. I very much look forward to seeing him in action. Does he have a physical description as of yet?

Boy, I'd hate being the embodiment of hate myself.

If there's an interest in sapient alien gazelles that I haven't fully fleshed out yet, then maybe I'll see about incorporating them somehow. Ooh, I like the name Stombaugh. I originally read it as "Stormbaugh," which is pretty badchull too. Any details about this Dragon you can share with us?

No...no Nyssan Gazelle-People? Still working on a name for my Dragon. I was toying with the surnames Vassiliou and Stombaugh, but I have no idea what I'd give him for a first name.

Maybe the state of the sanderson will clear some that up. As much as I really want Nightblood to come out asap, barring Stormlight it was what most excited about (even before that thing in WoR), I don't think it will be out for a while, at least after the second main mistborn is started, definitely before Elantris 2. Other predictions, I think the Rithmatist series will be two books. Also, at least one thing he mentions is going to come completely out of the blue, but will probably be a low priority. Is it bad that I'm get really excited anticipating his blog post?

It was way too hot in that library. Anyway, I asked if we would ever read from a Spren viewpoint. He said "it is likely that you someday will." Better than a RAFO, even if it essentially amounts to the same thing .

I've gone back and gone over the Two-Officer Problem, or the Meta-Wilson-Odysa-Torwel problem, if you prefer a more lengthy way of talking about it. So at this point, we can count Vamah (1), Aladar (2), and Roion (3) as Spies, indicating that there are three Sabotage actions in operation at any given point in time. Once again, we need to assess how this measures up against the Scouts and the Lighteyes who chose to skip battle, and the the possibility of role-blocks and having hit Aladar Spies. The upshot of this post, though, will be several things: -Once again, I would urge/recommend all available Messengers to contact Luckat this Week. Getting coordinated is highly important, and more importantly, we need to start sieving through the Messengers to discover which of them are Spies. I find it hard to believe that in three Spy Teams, there are absolutely no Messengers at all.. If a Messenger refuses to contact Luckat, it'd seem somewhat suspicious. More relevantly, in the case of a dispute (say, if the Messenger claims to have been role-blocked), I think it would be useful to confirm with our current Officer about whether that charge is true. -We find ourselves with more than one Officer in most of the cases. That the other Officer is unwilling to come forward is strange. -In most of the scenarios I've tested out on the truth-table, the lynchpin is mostly with regard to whether Wilson has or hasn't been truthful. If Wilson is truthful, that pretty much necessitates that Odysa and Torwel are truthful (despite the skewed temporal order). The only possible scenario where Wilson is truthful and someone is lying is the one where Wilson is telling the truth and Torwel is lying. However, in those scenarios, there would be a possibly-good reason for Torwel to be lying without Torwel's being a Spy. -So, a truth-table mapping out the possibilities where Wilson is lying consists in four rows. (This is a necessary fact, because the only variables we are assigning different truth-values would basically be Odysa and Torwel. However: consider that Wilson’s claim is essentially a conjunction: that she role-blocked Odysa on Week 1 [W1] and that she role-blocked Torwel on Week 2 [W2]. This essentially results in three possible ways Wilson’s claim could be false, inflating the scenarios we’re looking at to 10. (See: ¬ [W1] & [W2], [W1] & ¬ [W2], and ¬ [W1] & ¬ [W2].) By right, there should be 12 of them, but 2 of them are incoherent, as they are scenarios in which Wilson role-blocks Odysa but Odysa lies about being role-blocked. -The upshot from these scenarios: 1. Torwel could be lying, but it could be for other valid reasons besides her being a Spy. However, of course, the possibility that Torwel is a Spy cannot be readily dismissed, strictly on the basis of the scenarios. 2. Communication is required in some of these scenarios; however, it is not necessitated, because of 1. and because Odysa posted first. 3. There are anywhere between 1-3 Officers, and if Wilson isn’t an Officer, she must be in contact with one, pointing towards a Lighteye-Heterochromic team, or a connection between two separate Spy teams (Wilson would not be likely to be on Team Vamah, as two Lighteyed Spies on the same team could easily sway the vote in catastrophic ways.) I’ve appended the table to this post in case my reasoning has been deficient. I've chosen to append them in the form of images so as to deflect worries about my tampering with them: for me to alter the images would be to alter the post's contents. I did not spend overmuch time analysing the results; this is more a blow-by-blow of 'what it would take' for Wilson to be lying, and for Odysa and Torwel to be lying/telling the truth. As previously mentioned, I reiterate that the table where Wilson tells the truth is uninteresting because in most cases, Wilson's telling the truth necessitates that Odysa and Torwel are telling the truth, hence rendering the other scenarios incoherent, save the ones in which Torwel lies. And truthfulness and lying may be caused by being Spies or Loyal, but could easily be due to other reasons. Hence my primarily being interested in conditions, rather than whether it tells us these are Spies. Perhaps this might seem over-cautious to some. I do not deny this charge.

In about thirty minutes I'll have to run errands, but then I'll be back to writing. Today's my deadline for the Portland post--I have Sam's introduction to zombie!Pamela in the bag, but I'll have to work hard if I want to work in a flashback sequence. If not, then Sam's first flashback will be posted before Ms. Trattner drifts off to sleep this night.

Retracting and replacing a vote would 'reset' your place in the vote order, as you have technically removed your vote and made a new one, even if they happened simultaneously.

You're welcome. I'm pretty sure there is one, but once again, I can't for the life of me remember where to find it. I've read a LOT of WoBs over the last several weeks. I'll probably have to change the scene if I can't nail this down a little more firmly. The statistics route made the most sense, though, given that the talk was coming from a maths genius. It flowed quite nicely. Eva's double steel, and I threw her the curveball of being a late Snapper. I thought it would be more interesting to have her go through having to learn how to handle the Allomancy and Compounding on-screen, as it were. Plus this gave me the opportunity to have her really get her butt kicked fairly early on.

Thanks for that. A lot of my self-consciousness about it stems from a general terror of accidentally inflicting a Mary Sue upon an unsuspecting world. I'm pretty sure that I've managed to purge the worst of those tendencies out of her personality and backstory by now, but still, there's that lurking monster in the shadows waiting to devour my soul. Or just stand there and mock. Six of one, half a dozen of the other. This whole question actually came about by the standard existential crisis one would expect from a young woman who's dealing with having way more power than most people. The way I dealt with the "why me" question in this first draft actually involved a friend of hers taking her through the math and showing her that she really wasn't all that much of a freak. But I figure if I'm going to have that kind of conversation happening in-universe, then I'd better darned well make sure the theories hold water. Better to let folks have a go at poking holes in it now. So, poke those holes! Aaa! Aaaah! I found it! The MAG supplement actually DOES state the 1 in 2500 figure. Good grief. All that math, and I just now go back and see it in black and white. I searched high and low before, and had completely missed it. There's still, of course, the question as to whether that number is actually canon or not. I do know that there's a sidebar in the book where Brandon says that not all of the mechanics will be canon, but I was looking at the 1 in 50 figure to more of a societal/demographic piece than a mechanics piece. I could very well be wrong, but that's how it read to me. The MAG supplement also does flat-out state that the majority of people have at least enough trace Terris ancestry to have some potential at Feruchemy. Again, whether that falls under canonical demographics or speculative mechanics is something that only Brandon or someone who knows his mind could answer. I figure it'll wind up falling one of two ways. He might look at the math sometime later down the line and go, "Whoa, that's way too common! Nope!" Or he might take they Syndrome from "The Incredibles" approach (albeit a slightly gentler version) and say, "Well, common people getting powers is the point. Superpowered people don't get put up on such a high pedestal if a reasonable percentage of people have access to those powers." We do, at least, know that there was enough intermarriage early on to remove full Feruchemists from the Terris pool. There's a WOB that states that it was the introduction of Allomantic genes into the Terris bloodlines that caused the split into Ferrings in the first place. So we know that it did happen, just not the details of the full extent. But if it worked one way, then it's reasonable to expect that at least some ebbed out the other. I think that "common types" has a lot more to do with which Mistings have an easier time of keeping their powers under wraps. It's kind of hard to use one's Coinshot abilities without other people noticing them. A Seeker or an Augur is going to be a lot less obvious when using one's powers. I probably overestimated the amount that it would factor in. But people being people, I'm sure that there *are* plenty out there mercenary enough to consider it a factor. People are weird. Or I've just been watching too many public television nature shows lately. Now I have a mental image in my head of Wayne doing a nature show narrator impression. Ow, my brain. Wiping out the genetic differences is from a WOB that I read sometime recently. I can't remember for the life of me exactly where it is, as I've been all over the site for several weeks now. But I know that it's out there. And I also remember that generally, if a skaa developed Allomancy on their own, they were almost always the product of a noble's dalliances. The skaa were pretty much locked out of Allomancy without that sort of bloodline sneaking in, which was why the mists Snapping them was such a surprise at first. And I will admit, it's been a couple of years since I read the original trilogy. I'm wanting to re-read them again, but I'm not allowing myself until I've finished the first draft of my story. I'm using that as a sort of carrot reward to motivate myself now that NaNoWriMo is over.

When you say the word "sparking" in a completely electrical context and then wonder if you might have offended someone.

Jasnah posted in the last Cycle, therefore she is not dead.

This line is so slooooooooow! I'm near the back, wearing a black hat.

You say that now, but just wait until you have read all four Mistborn, both Stormlight Archive, Elantris, Warbreaker, Emperor's Soul, Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell, Sixth of the Dusk, The Eleventh Metal, The Hope of Elantris, and all the deleted scenes and annotations on Brandon's website. The hunger doesn't stop. Rithmatist is going to start looking pretty good. Sometimes I wonder how many more members we would have on this forum if we didn't have our terrifying Dark Alley.

Shallan can create sound with Lightweaving, so I imagine Hoid just did that. No point to bother with a second instrument when you have a bit of dust. If he Awakened an instrument, he'd need a pretty big source of color and I can't recall seeing anything drained.

Does anyone know anything about medically induced comas? I think I'd like to be put in one until November 2015....

Brandon is God, and god cares nothing for publishing schedules.

I wish my name were Harold, 'cuz then I would be Harold the Herald.

I saw Observer advocating the creation of a thread entirely devoted to Member Titles, so here it is. But what are these mysterious lines of text that appear above profile pictures? Where do they come from? Who uses them, and who reads them? This, ladies and gentlemen, is where you point out the brilliance of your member titles. If you've been waiting for someone to comment on how apt your title is... here is the place! Don't be shy, we'd love to hear all about it. I'll start. My title is and probably always will be "Barking Mad." I heard the phrase on a behind-the-scenes featurette for Doctor Who, in which the head writer of the show characterized the star Matt Smith as "barking mad" in real life. It made me laugh, and it stuck out in my head. Nowadays, I feel it sums up my general personality as well as the average content of my posts here. Now it's your turn. Yes, you.

I am similarly not an astronomer--or anyone with a particularly well-informed opinion, for that matter. I'd recommend using Google to verify anything I state before, since I have been known to be incorrect on speculative planetological matters. I have been proven wrong quite often, in fact. That said, here are my thoughts on the United Moons of Khyrindoria. Our own Earth would suffer from the same burning and freezing as the Moon were it not for the quality of our atmosphere. Earth's atmosphere is sufficient to insulate the planet, keeping the global temperature at a relative constant. At night the atmosphere keeps heat from dissipating into space, while during the day sunlight is blocked from irradiating the planet's surface. Earth's atmosphere is ideally suited for our 24-hour day cycle. In the case of your moons, a thicker atmosphere might be required to keep the global temperatures at a habitable constant. What consequences would the thicker atmospheres have on your little moons? On this, I am not quite certain. This is not my area of expertise. Certainly there would be substantial effects on the weather--for instance, denser air takes greater amounts of force to move, which means that strong winds would be less common but more powerful than on Earth. One interesting quirk of dense atmospheres is the effect they would have on life during the early stages of evolution. On our own Earth, insects and other small invertebrates are prevented from growing beyond a certain size due to their limited respiratory systems. The way insects breathe is inefficient; they are incapable of drawing as much oxygen from the air as vertebrates. In Earth's thin atmosphere, this means that invertebrates have never been able to support bodies much larger than a small bird. However, insects that evolved submersed in a thick cloud of easily accessible oxygen would not face such a severe limit. These invertebrates would most likely have outcompeted vertebrates during the early stages of evolution, leading to biospheres dominated by what we would call arthropods. Better yet, these arthropods would be able to take to the skies much more readily than our own feeble dragonflies. In a thicker atmosphere, it would be easier for flying animals to generate lift. I'd expect to see these cloudy skies ruled by an assortment of large gliding animals. If the atmospheres are thick and rich enough, the skies of Khyrindoria could be just as biologically diverse as Earth's oceans.

What? Like it's hard? I still can't quite get my style right.

"Kaladin" said Shallan, surprised to see him. "What are you doing here ?"

There is a conundrum: how would you write a parable that would address Shallan's "truths," which seem so personal and unique? It's particularly hard when we don't have enough of them to generalize and of the two or three we have, one or two are to recover levels that she had previously achieved. However, it doesn't seem impossible to me. Here is just one possibility, but a writer of Brandon's skill and creativity could easily find others (I am not saying this is right, but just showing that it is possible to solve the puzzle). "I am terrified": a parable about the importance of knowing one's feelings and the impact of those feelings. "I am a murderer": a parable about the importance of admitting what one is capable of. "I killed my mother": a parable about how understanding our past and learning from it. Or Brandon could just not explain how to address Lightweavers' "truths" using parables. Or some orders could have more than four unique "words," and multiple Lightweaver "truths" could be addressed be addressed by a single parable. There are many possible solutions. Kaladin is supposed to struggle. If Brandon had wanted the book to be more about something else, he could have made Kaladin struggle less or have the resolution come more easily. Just as Szeth could have easily seen the Voidbringers all around, noticed one of the two storms that he was in the middle of during a weeping or seen through Mr. T's obvious and self-serving lies and not attacked during the climax. Kaladin not using a parable from the Way of Kings to more easily level up does not seem like evidence supporting anything. In the vision, Nohadon was dealing with Surgebinders who were not Knights and the destruction they caused because they were not principled enough. Exactly the problem the Radiant's ideals solves. The Heralds are already gone. Urithiru is created during his lifetime, because he writes about walking there. Desolations must be more widely spaced (because 90% population loss and surprising) and the Heralds don't come back until a few years before the next one. There is evidence that Ishi may have been involved in the Radiant Ideals, but that does not prove that Nohadon didn't also describe them. There is significant evidence suggesting that he did describe them.

Negative, Ghostrider, you have your timeline mixed up. WoR hardback edition, Chapter 75 "True Glory". In this chapter, Dalinar's forces are already preparing for the march. In p884-886: Dalinar is sprinting to where Shallan and Kaladin are after having been informed of their survival. After this scene ends on p886, Shallan's perspective takes over, and the very first sentence is "One hour later, Shallan snuggled into a nest of warm blankets." So an hour time, and Shallan is bathed and recovering. during the next few pages, she has Pattern spy on Dalinar and Navani, reuinites with Adolin, and convinces Dalinar to take her along.886-891. At the end of p891, Dalinar declares "Gather your things and send word to your uncle Sebarial, Brightness. We're leaving within the hour. Without parshmen." This concludes part 4. So, we have at maximum, a 2 hour separation between the time that Kaladin and Shallan leave each other's company, to the departure of the army for the plains, of which Kaladin is of course not participating. An hour of that time was involved with her recovering, bathing, and securing her position on the expedition. She also has the expected reunion with Adolin. So there is not a major gap of time here in which a failure to check on Kaladin's "health" would be an indicator of a lack of caring or concern. I mean, she just left a tent full of surgeons swarming all over him, and he was being bundled off by bridge 4 back to their barracks. I think she was right in assuming he was going to be okay long enough for her to get some of the other priorities taken care of. I don't think your argument here holds water, but let's continue... Part 5 begins with Chapter 76 viewpoint Kaladin on page 921, on it we see "After showering him with praise and enthusiasm, the men of Bridge Four had gone to join the army for its expedition...". Again, we have more confirmation on the short amount of time that passed between Shal and Kal arriving and the army departing. Chapter 76 is, of course, an oft quoted chapter by Shalladin shippers, as it contains the little nuggets of glimpses into Shallan's updated feelings on Kaladin, as well as his new feelings for her. p928 "Kaladin found himself standing up amid the bridgemen, despite the pain of his leg, as he noticed Adolin and Shallan riding past." p929: "She looked gorgeous. Kaladin was willing to admit it, if only to himself." Now Shallan doesn't see Kaladin before leaving like he sees her, but she does think about him in the next chapter on p936, i'll spare you the quote, as I'm sure you're tired of reading it. So, very short timespan, likely less than 2 hours between their arrival back at the warcamps and the army's departure. Shallan does not go out of her way to track Kaladin down to check on him, but then again...why would she need to? She just saw him, he was safe, mostly whole, and on his way to bed rest, while she had just succeeded on planting herself on mission with a clear goal she needed to accomplish. Despite all that, she does spare some time thinking about him, and that to me is significant from a story development perspective. So let's talk Urithuru: Again, let's start with the timelines. Chapter 87 "The Riddens", p 1048, Kaladin ends his perspective with teleporting to Urithiru, and we pick up with Shallan. During Kaladin's fight, the survivors of the battle have already started to explore the tower, spearheaded by Adolin. How long did it take Kaladin to dispose of Szeth and travel back to the gate after the army teleported away? An hour? Two, let's say two and be generous. Same chapter p1050, Kaladin returns, and shows off his mastery of Gravity, and everyone sees that he is not only fine, he is fully healed from his stormlight. So again, no reason for her to worry about his health or any issues like that. Next Chapter, 88 "The Man Who Owned The Winds", starts off with "They soon began to move into the tower. There was nothing else they could do...Night was approaching, and the temperature was dropping outside." So same day as their arrival, and in this chapter, they have had a couple hours of exploration after their arrival, followed by Shallan's encounter with Mraize, and her and Adolin prior to her entering her bedchamber for the night. Again, not a significant amount of time in my mind that would make me question her caring levels for Kaladin. She has several things going on, and rightly so, she ensures a visit with Adolin first. I mean, they are betrothed and all. After Chapter 89 "The Four" takes place a week after 88. p1066 "A week had passed since they had arrived at this place, and the people of the warcamps had finally started to arrive..." So a whole week, and I will admit that that is a significant amount of time for interactions between characters to happen. Unfortunately, since there is nothing written describing those events, we can only guess as to what the characters may have been up to and who had been talking to whom (is that usage right? summon the grammar nazis). Maybe Kaladin and Shallan did have a couple of chats, maybe they didn't. Maybe Kaladin and Adolin sat down for a nice game of cards. Maybe Rock was caught dancing naked and drunk out on a terrace singing about the virtues of Horneater lager. So yes, you are right that we have no written evidence as to a follow up interaction between Kaladin and Shallan at Urithiru, but that doesn't mean it couldn't have happened, and in fact I believe it was very likely they interacted. Brandon either didn't have the time/space in the novel to show it, or he didn't feel it was important at this time. So now we get to the part of your argument that I think has some merit.

No one understands what I’ve lost. The worst to me are the ones who think they do. I see them judge me. I hear them whisper that I’m arrogant, that I lament losing something that made me better than them, that I’m complaining because now I’m just a normal person, now I’m not special. This cannot be what normal feels like. I don’t care about the allomancy. I loved it, and it was a part of me, and I would never have given it up for the world… but I never thought it made me better than anyone. It was like being left-handed, or good with numbers. Just one part of me. Still, even without it, I could find a way to go on. It’s not even my eye. The pain is always there, but without my tin, even that feels dull most of the time. Even the flat world my one good eye gives me isn’t that bad. If that were my only problem… well, yeah, I’d still be very sad. But no one seems to understand. People see these things, and they add them up, and they think they know what it’s like to be me. I’m angry all the time. But… it doesn’t feel like how I remember anger. It feels… hollow. It’s the shape of anger, but it doesn’t have the fire. I remember being angry, beforehand, and it felt passionate and strong. Now it feels like my mind is trying to act angry but can’t remember how. I don’t understand what happened. It was over in a moment. I didn’t see whoever did this to me, I just heard some sound behind me, turned around, and suddenly I was in a world of pain. My eye hurt a lot but it wasn’t just there, all over my body like a rash on the inside of my skin. Eventually passing out was a blessing. When I woke up, one of my first thoughts was that I had lost my tin. I don’t know how I knew, I’d never felt it inside of me before when I didn’t have a reserve, and I certainly can’t recall what it felt like before I ever Snapped, but among the other things wrong with me, I could just feel this part of me missing, and I somehow knew it was tin. I think I realized that before I realized I was only seeing out of one eye. I don’t talk to my friends anymore. They irritate me now. I mean my real friends, the ones who’ve stuck by me. Maybe they’re the worst. Every last one of them is convinced she just needs to drag me out to a party, take me for a walk in the sunshine, show me that life goes on, that it’s not as bad as I think. I don’t need tin to hear what they’re really saying. This is your fault. Just get over it. Just want to be normal again, and you will be. Fun is like anger to me, now. Even when I’m genuinely enjoying something, it’s just the shape of happiness. It’s only skin deep; it can’t reach my heart. No one understands what I’ve lost. No one understands what was taken from me.

I will not look at 17shard until My Homework is Done. Broke that one by writing it. . .

I will protect those who cannot protect themselves. I will protect even those I hate, so long as it is right.

I'm assuming you think the distinction here is between the Parshendi and the Parshendi gods. My reading is somewhat different - first, in the other stanzas, it seems to be implied that the Parshendi are effectively puppeted by the Unmade/Odium when in odiumforms; if the odiumforms were responsible for shattering the plains, I'd think they'd say their gods were in fact the ones that did it. Second, the first two lines are 'They blame our people / for the loss of that land'. I'm not sure why it would specifically call out that 'they blame our people' if the Parshendi were actually responsible. This seems to me implying that the truth is different from the perception (which is reinforced by the last line with the first point). What the stanza seems to be saying is that something other than the 'voidbringers' shattered the plains. The obvious implication then is that it was human surgebinders (maybe KR) that shattered the plains.

The pause before Jezrien could mean that he is Jezrien, or that there is something related going on. I am not going to explore this for now. What I am growing more and more interested in is his language and/or accent. He seems to speak perfect Alethi when he arrives in Kholinar, then reverts to a barely understandable northern accent, but goes back to perfect Alethi when Shallan goes to visit him. Another interesting point. He says that "Ishar keeps talking about a way to keep information from being lost following Desolations." Epigraphs and some thinking lead me to believe that this way manifested itself in the Knights Radiant - so at this point he has no memory of the Knights. But when Shallan draws some Stormlight in, he seems to break through the madness and recognizes her as "“One of Ishar’s Knights ... I remember . . . He founded them? Yes. Several Desolations ago. No longer just talk. It hasn’t been talk for thousands of years." Now he does remember the Knights. Is this Talenelat'Elin, Herald of the Almighty, but with mind jumping between the different Desolations? This is the best theory I can come up with. When he arrives before the gates of Kholinar he is himself, as sane as we will ever see him in Words of Radiance. He speaks perfect Alethi, because for one reasons or another, he can. Not important right now. Then he falls unconscious, some stuff happens, Bordin gets a hold of him and decides to drive him to the Shattered Plains. During the journey he continues speaking good Alethi, presumably, because when Bordin takes Amaram to see him (while Shallan hides behind an illusion), he tells Amaram that the ramble is what he has been repeating during the entire journey from Kholinar. When Shallan talks to him, his Alethi is perfect, and the only two times he seems to break from his madness is when she asks him about his identity and when she draws Stormlight. So far everything is pretty consistent - this is really the Herald Talenelat'Elin, his mind broken and wandering from the millenia of torture in Damnation, capable of forcing its way to the present only when prompted the right way - apparently his identity and Stormlight are two ways to maybe do this. The big exception to the rule is when Dalinar and Elhokar are first introduced to him, when Bordin arrives in the Planes. I need to look into this interlude and see if something about it seems off...

Permanently fill steel and zync, live in slow-motion Fill Atium all your live, more in the beginning, going less and less with every year. Around forty instead start tapping it, more every year: You are now Benjamin Button Fill away your sense of identity then compound determination, you are determined to be nobody

Or Forge your teacher into someone who already read your essay, taking several months/years to do so.