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  1. *The contest is over now! Winners will be contacted via PM, and once we've got replies from all of our winners, we'll put up a full list.* Hey Sharders! It’s been a couple of months since Calamity came out, and I know a lot of you have seen the cool swag that was given out. I’m quite sure that a few of you have also really wished you could get your hands on some, yet weren’t sure how. I mean, I know that feels like your soul is constantly seeking the one thing that will sooth it from a terrible sunburn it’s received, but only finding butter. (Trust me, that’s terrible to put on a sunburn.) Well, 17S has your back! We have gotten 25 Calamity swag packs that we’re giving away. These include all three of the lenticulars, all three of the punch out character stands, a decal, and the Mitosis comic. Entering is as easy as giggling at Wayne’s latest inappropriate comment! Just reply to this post with your most David-esque metaphor. Here in about a week (April 30th to be exact), we’ll close the contest and announce the winners. Technical boring information: One entry per user. Contest open to all users of 17th Shard. You must be a member to enter. So channel your inner David, and good luck!
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  2. Night 7: That Would Be Enough Laurelin found Silas the next day, staring at Kae and Verre’s fallen bodies. Each had a huge hole in the middle of the chest, crusted over by now with death. She stood beside him silently, bowing her head in mourning. “Two more deaths...” Silas said sadly. “All so that these Spiked can achieve their ends.” Laurelin shook her head. “So wasteful...” she murmured, looking at Verre’s hair, glittering in the sunlight. Others came up behind them, those few that were left. Myte, ArSel, Star Thief. She heard Jala choke back a sob. “We must find these Spiked,” Silas declared. “There can’t be many left, or they would have already overpowered and murdered us all.” He looked at Star Thief. “What about you, little one? You’ve been very quiet and cute this whole time, just watching us all talk.” She squealed. “Shiny! Shiny! Shiny, I want a shiny!” He dismissed her and turned to ArSel. “What about you, huh?” He grinned. “I don’t think I’m the person to be worried about here. I’m no Spiked! But do you know who is?” “You.” Laurelin’s eyes turned inexorably back to Silas, along with the others’. She looked at him, really looked, for the first time. He could be Spiked, she thought. What has he done to help anyone? He has at least three deaths on his hands, that I’ve heard of... “Yes, what about you, Silas?” asked Jala angrily. She took a step forward. “Was it you who killed Kae, Verre’s big brother, who always told the truth and never hurt a soul?” Step. “Wasn’t it you who killed Danosaur, who’d never harmed a fly, just because she was staying away from people to store chromium?” Step. “Was it you who killed Verre?” He took a step backwards. “Noo...” he said falteringly. He looked almost... guilty? Jala saw it as such, anyway, and leapt onto him, attacking him with nails and teeth as much as with her little carving knife. “YOU KILLED MY FRIEND!” Silas did nothing to stop her. She jabbed her knife beneath his chin, and he fell to the ground, blood pouring out of him to join the blood of Verre and Kae. She fell atop him, sobbing. “My friend...” She didn’t move until Star Thief darted forward, crying, “Shiny!” She pulled out a spike from Silas’ corpse, waving it triumphantly until ArSel took it away. “Probably best not to play with that particular shiny, little one.” She sulked for a moment, then stomped off. “Fine! I’m going to find my own shinies, then, that don’t get stolen by mean, angry adult people!” Slowly, everyone dispersed, until only Jala was left with the three bodies and the ever-spreading pool of blood. Eventually, Myte came back, and gently led Jala away from where she’d been stroking Verre’s sparkling hair, and then the three bodies were left forever in silence. Later, Mayor Axies was walking by himself, trying to get over the deaths of so many of his friends and acquaintances. If this kept up, he wouldn’t have anyone left to rule. How could so many of them be evil? He’d already helped kill five, and found the spikes in their bodies. “Five…” he whispered to himself. “That should be enough. Maybe we should stop.” But then the memory of the death of his twin brother filled him with determination. He’d taken his name afterwards, to remember him. But the original Axies would never have ceased until his village was clear from evil, and he’d be Ruined if he failed to live up to that standard. “As many as it takes” Axies said clearly. “That would be enough.” Lopen was a Spiked Bendalloy Compounder with Allomantic bronze and a Bead of Lerasium! Vote Count: Lopen: (2); Burnt Spaghetti, TheMightyLopen SilverDragon: (0); Mark IV Night 7 has begun. You have 24 hours to send in actions. Player List
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  3. So I finished Secret History and Bands of Mourning recently and I got a super creepy vibe from post-death Kelsier. Despite the fact that he helped the Southern Scadrians, I got the sense that he may be up to no good, with some seriously inscrutiable ulterior motives. In my opinion, he had kind of a negative influence on Spook, since he encouraged Spook to help him experiment with Hemalurgy and Spook later wrote that it might be a good idea to get old or disabled Metalborn to sacrifice themselves to give their power to others. I thought that was pretty creepy for Kell. Plus, the Set has been experimenting with Hemalurgy and they had to learn it somewhere. I dunno, maybe Kell is being influenced by Trell and his "coming back to the Physical Realm" hack has to do with Trellish unknown metals? Something less than savory is going on, and it has me worried. What do you think?
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  4. The recent Odyssey Con report includes Brandon’s answer to a question about the nature of Perpendicularities (edited to highlight what I deem to be the important parts): Brandon: “[L]arge concentrations of investiture can cause a puncture through the Spiritual Realm straight to the Physical Realm. If you know how to use it, you may transition. That's not the only way but is the primary way….” Q: “[Y]ou said ‘punctured’ almost as if it were a spike.” Brandon: “Yes, yes, that was intentional.” This post speculates about the meaning of these statements. Introduction We’ve known that at least certain people can Worldhop through Shardpools, which is one (and maybe the only) type of Perpendicularity. Perpendicularities are caused by “large concentrations of investiture” that “puncture” the Realms like a “spike.” Elsewhere in the Odyssey Con Report, he implies that Perpendicularities were not created by a hemalurgic spike because of hemalurgy’s limitations: Q: “Is it theoretically possible to hemalurgically spike a Shard into someone else, and if so, what would be the outcome?” Brandon: “A full shard? Hemalurgy could not hold that much of an invested charge. Not without something really weird happening.” This leads to several questions: 1. What causes such “large concentrations of investiture”? 2. Why do such concentrations puncture holes between the Realms? 3. Why are such holes shaped like spikes? Speculation My short answer to these questions is that Shards inject their Investiture into their Shardworlds. Their investment pours in at a specific point and then spreads to the remainder of the Shardworld, like injected vaccines spread throughout our bodies. The Shard remains “hooked” into the Shardworld as a result, limiting the Invested Shard’s ability to migrate from its Shardworld. I do not believe the “puncture” has anything to do with how the Shards became pieces of the Powers of Creation at the Shattering. They were on Yolen at the Shattering. Perpendicularities seem to be a feature of individual Shardworlds. Adonalsium created all Shardworlds, even Scadrial, before the Shattering. When Shards made their way to their own Shardworlds, they shaped them with their own Investiture. Perpendicularities resulted from the injection of their Investiture. In answer to the three questions, then: 1. Shards mostly exist in the Spiritual Realm. They are comprised of the Powers of Creation. They convert their Powers into Investiture in the Spiritual Realm (“true” or “raw” Investiture), concentrating it there. When a Shard is satisfied with the Spiritual Realm form of its desired creations (the creations’ Soul or Essence), it pushes that Investiture downward, through the Cognitive Realm to manifest in the Physical Realm. 2. The weight of the concentrated Investiture “punctures” a hole in the fabric of the intervening Realms. For whatever reason, that hole does not heal. It remains open for Realmatic transitions. Perhaps these holes form the conduits that Connections between Realms pass through – like electrical wiring running through the Realmatic “house.” 3. I think Brandon “intentionally” uses the “spike” metaphor to convey a sense of the both the narrowness of the conduits and how much like a hypodermic needle they are. Your thoughts?
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  5. Kasim picked his way cautiously through the warcamp, feeling thoroughly out of place. Bloody one-eyed man. No, what was it they said here again? Storming. Storming one-eyed man. What right did he have...? "Ah, but it will be the challenge of your career," said the one-eyed man, leaning casually against his spear. Kasim said, flatly, "Going up against a device from hell." The one-eyed man shrugged. "You did say you were the best. Or was that an idle boast?" "I am the best, but you don't seem to understand--I can't work miracles." "Details," said the one-eyed man, cheerfully. "Let me know when you're done, will you?" "I haven't even agreed--" began Kasim, before he was literally half-booted and half-shoved through to...wherever this was. Roshar, he remembered. That was what the one-eyed man had said. He was being sent to some gods-forsaken place by the name of Roshar. "Coming through!" yelled someone, and a man roughly yanked him to the side. Kasim blinked, as a cart being pulled by what he swore was a crab, of all things, skittered through the space where he had been. "Watch yourself," said the man who'd hauled him to safety in time. He wore a long navy coat, with buttons up the sides, and a neat white shirt. A sword was belted at his side. "Last thing we need is another supply cart running over somebody. So, what is your business here?" Did it truly matter, if he was honest to this man, from another world? Kasim squeezed the packet of grave dirt in his jacket pocket, drawing reassurance from the fact it was still there. The prayer beads around his wrist clacked slightly as he withdrew his hand. "I am looking for a lady...Brightlady," he said, belatedly. "I think she's called Kenara?" The man frowned. "I don't know of any Kenara here," he said at last, "Although the warcamp is big, and I'm only serving directly under Brightlord Terneas. Doesn't sound like she's in Highprince Gavilar's warcamp, though. Try somewhere else. And next time, watch out for the chulls." "I will," Kasim said, nodding his thanks. Chulls. So that was what they called their crabs. - It took Kasim an awfully long time to find the elusive Brightlady Kenara. One man he asked looked about him immediately, and leaned in to whisper, "Haven't seen her. Heralds be thanked," and then resumed digging what looked to be fresh latrines. But eventually, he was pointed to an entirely different warcamp, and brought into her tent. "Brightlady Kenara?" he asked. Hesitated. She looked at him, weighing. He was a puzzle, he thought, abruptly. That was it. "What?" He drew a deep breath. "Kaddar sends his regards." Brightlady Kenara's eyes narrowed. "What?" she demanded, in an entirely different tone. Kasim couldn't decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing. He resisted the urge to touch the ironbark amulet he was wearing, just for reassurance. "I understand that you have a...cursed and possibly-possessed...communications device..." he cast about for the word they used on this blasted place, on Roshar. "A spanreed. I understand that you have an immensely evil spanreed. I am to wish you a happy birthday and to attempt to exorcise it. I'm Kasim, a witch doctor of...well, you wouldn't know where I come from." Happy birthday, Wilson! Also, Maili: I'm not playing as Kasim. This was just a one-off thing. This might be early because timezones.
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  6. Our house is old. Thus, our doors are old. I was sitting in my room, watching Avatar and minding my own business when suddenly: I realized that I forgot to do my Storming laundry! So I gather up the basket, then go to leave my room. I grab the handle of my bedroom door and give it a twist. Nothing happens. I shake it and twist it again, this time harder. Zilch. Well, maybe just my half of the door handle is broken? That's happened to us before..... I bang on the door and cry out for help, waking up the entire house in the process. Oh, didn't I tell you that this occurred at 1 a.m.? Well, it did. After succeeding in ruining the sleep of the rest of my family, my brother attempted, and failed, to open the door from the other side. We ended up just popping it off of the hinges. Now its just laying against the wall, mocking me. Stupid door.
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  7. As his ship began the burn to high orbit, Faolin glimpsed a small blip on his ship's radar. It seemed to have come from Coruscant's surface, near the ancient Jedi Temple. The display hologram wavered in a few small areas behind the ship, indicating a distortion of electromatic radiation in that area. That could only mean one thing; someone was using a cloaking device. The ship's computer began tracking the distortions as soon as he thought about them. Faolin had modified his wrist communicator so that it fit behind his left ear; from there, he could send mental commands to it, and by extension, the ship. Its hologram projector had also been heavily modified so that the display was projected directly in front of his eyes. This made it much easier to look at, and he could use it for augmented reality as well as just a screen. There were 6 distortions following the mysterious ship. One seemed significantly larger than the other; it was be 3 or 4 times the size of his own ship. He set the nav computer to intercept the fleeing ship, as he wanted some answers. Could whoever was flying that ship have something to do with the purpose of his brief visit to Coruscant? It was a long shot, but someone gathering information in the Jedi Temple might have been looking for the same thing that he was. The Jedi Temple had been looted uncounted times, which was why Faolin had skipped visiting there. The underground bunker he had landed at had seemed a better prospect for the information he seeked. Well, it wouldn't hurt to check the leaving ship out. When a planet had a possibility of being vaporized, you couldn't take any chances.
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  8. To be fair, a steely eyed mercenary muppet would hardly be out of place in this RP
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  9. "The American way is an abomination that shouldn't exist" You're clearly being reformed and embracing your true British roots - for "if you were a true American, you'd spell all the words the American way, wouldn't you? " You never did give a definitive answer though - fake American, or only semi-American, Wilson?
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  10. More of a multiliner, but anyway: “How do you fight someone smarter than yourself? The answer is simple. You make her think that you are sitting down across the table from her, ready to play her game. Then you punch her in the face as hard as you can.” - Rand al'Thor
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  11. Below has Mistborn spoilers. But really, if you're playing this game and you haven't read Mistborn, you've already spoiled quite a bit for yourself. My survival record of games that have lasted beyond D1 is still at 0%. Who cares, you have to stop Alendi from releasing the power at the Well, right? They spent a day digging in the hills. Tindome oversaw the work, but eventually had to admit defeat when the sun crossed the highest point in the sky, for they had no more time to waste. Alendi still had to reach the Well. They laid her to rest in a shallow grave with no marker, then left with teary eyes. The world moved on. Alendi died at the last moment, killed by the packman his guards had rejected. Rashek took his place and saved the world, but left it a bleak place where ash fell from the sky, mists filled the nights, and the sun glowed a bloody red. The Terris were hunted down and killed, or enslaved as the ideal servant, or simply turned into an inhuman mass of flesh granted sentience with a pair of metal spikes. Had Asmode lived, she would not have recognized the world she had fought so hard to save. The years stretched into decades, which stretched into centuries. Old powers died and new ones were born. Powerful Mistborn and Mistings appeared within the nobility, and Feruchemists vanished. Inquisitors experimented with Hemalurgy, koloss rampaged through towns, and kandra moved among the unsuspecting populace. Deep down in the kandra Homeland, a generation of newly-made kandra awaited skeletons to use for themselves. One of them was named NeLaar, though they had no tongue to voice that name, nor a hand to write it. The kandra were taught the First Contract, the obligation kandra had to the Father, what they should do if they ever found their bodies controlled by another. And finally, they were granted skeletons, so they could practice pretending to be human. NeLaar was given a skeleton that the kandra had recently dug up. It was old, almost falling apart -- perfect for a baby kandra to practice with. With it, NeLaar learned how create a body, the use of a voicebox, what the human body looked like. They learned that their skeleton had to belong to a middle-aged female, because the pelvis was wider than a male's. They learned that their skeleton had interesting stresses on it, ones that could only have been made with varying gravity. They learned that their skeleton was similar to a Terriswoman's, and had been dug up near a road that lead to Luthadel. NeLaar trained with other skeletons, even had a few Contracts within the Final Empire, but they kept the bones as a keepsake. Sometimes, they would even wear the bones out into the mists and wonder whose skeleton it had been. The Lord Ruler died, brought down by a gang of criminals. NeLaar kept on serving their contract, through the sieges and the riots and the ever-encroaching mists. The ash piled up higher and higher. The sky grew hazier and hazier. NeLaar ended their Contract and returned to the Homeland, for the world was ending. So when a Terrisman came to the kandra to ask about the Terris religion, NeLaar was in the Homeland, waiting for the end. Something tried to seize control of NeLaar. They pulled out their spikes and lost their sentience, as the Resolution had stipulated. When NeLaar gained awareness again, they found that a new power had risen, a combination of Ruin and Preservation that had set the world to rights again. They also discovered themselves wearing a jumble of skeletons, including the bones of the ancient Terriswoman. The true Hero of Ages had finally saved the world.
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  12. I think the Robert Jordan was able to finish the series as he wanted it. He had it already written. Most big scenes he already had planned and written. That and all the notes are what Brandon had to work off of. But the ending and major points would've all been the same, it just would've taken a tad longer to get there using Jordan time. And I don't believe for a second RJ was planning on Taim being Demandred. It would have been too easy and obvious. We have tons of books of rumours and whispers of Shara. Just enough to let us know it's there. That was the best surprise for me in AMoL.
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  13. I woke up this morning with a weird theory floating in my head, which coalesced into thoughts about the purpose of the Dakhor Monk sacrifices and how that connects to the Dor. I have three main bases for my theory. 1. In the Cognitive Realm on Sel, the Dor acts like a storm of extreme Investiture, tearing apart anything that goes there. 2. The Dakhor Monk sacrifices vanish completely when they are used. It's described as the man simply vanishing with the monks, but not reappearing. 3. Investiture can be used to physically pull someone into the Cognitive Realm, i.e. Elsecallers. So the theory is thus: When the Dakhor Monks disappear, they send the one man physically into the Cognitive Realm, and as he is torn apart by the Dor, the monks use him as a conduit, channeling the Dor in greater strength to gain the nessecary power to teleport to wherever they are going. I know that there's not much evidence for this so far, but it seems like it could work. Thoughts?
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  14. We know that a suit of Shardplate will mold to it's wearer over time, evidenced by Eshonai's plate fitting over her Warform carapace. (I believe it is stated as well, but I need a quote on that) So the all-important question is, would it be possible to mold a suit of plate to fit over another suit of plate, thereby gaining twice the benefits and becoming NIGH-UNSTOPPABLE?
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  15. Here's an interesting article about how while some corners of the Internet are awful, some like the Shard are amazing.
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  16. Life could be lonely out on Stars End. Kel'let had been assigned to check the status of the prison and pick up a new technological advancement that was supposed to revolutionize the war against the Sith. Kel'let was a Jedi Knight not some cargo vessel, but he had to obey the Jedi Counsel. He was already despised by most of the Jedi for leaving the order almost twenty years ago. Kel'let thought that the Jedi would be happy that he returned instead of staying in the Outer Rim or worse joining the Sith. But Kel'let was not angry he saw why they resented him and he understood it. One great thing about this mission was that he was one of the first to see the new tech that had been created by an organization beyond the Unknown Region. Apparently the Jedi Order was able to contact these allusive tech producers and convince them to trade them their advanced tech. That is where Kel'let got his SB-183, a high powerful static blaster. The blaster was unlike anything else Kel'let had ever seen. He took one of the blasters apart to see how it worked and he was barely able to put it back together and he was supposed be a Sluissi the greatest engineers in the galaxy. He had managed to link the blaster to his star ship, Swift. Kel'let almost destroyed his ships hyper drive doing it, but it had jumped him to speeds that were unimaginable. That's how he was able to get to Stars End in the time that he did. Kel'let cut the travel time in half. The new tech that he was picking up today was supposed to link the hyper drive to the blasters on a ship. The Sluissi had been thinking about how to do this for years and some company beyond the galaxy figures it out. Anyways the tech was supposed to decrease the hyper drive energy and transfer it to the blaster canons. Kel'let walked down the corridor doing his final check of floor number twelve and noticed that one of the incubation chambers was empty. He pulled out his wrist communicator and opened the link to Captain Telrin. "Uh Captain Telrin chamber number 3043 is empty. I was not aware that there was an empty coffin on this floor." "Jedi Kel'let there should not be any empty coffins on floor twelve. Are you sure that the coffin is empty?" "Yes Captain I am quite sure. There also seems to be a body on the floor. She looks like she is a Falleen, a dead Falleen." "I will put the prison on alert and check for any signs of escape" with that the Captain signed off of his communicator. The communicators had come a long way since the fall of the Death Star. The newer ones like the one Kel'let was currently using were in color and the graphics were not shaky at all. Kel'let saw some guards that were lying on the ground. "Well I better check to see what happened to these guys. What ever it is it is probably what got that poor woman." He check the guards for any sign of life or wounds. The guards looked to be taken out with some sort of blaster pistol. "That's odd how would a prisoner get a pistol? Unless the prisoner was broken out by somebody on the outside." Kel'let pulled out his communicator again, "Captain I think a break in was able to escape this prisoner." "That can't be" said the Captain, "We would have been notified if somebody came close to this sector" "Well there are new ways of getting past the radars" Kel'let said into his communicator, "Down in the New Jedi Temple there are cloaking devices that turn anything invisible, so something like that could have been used to disguise the ship." "Even so we have heat sensors the ship and the person would have been detected" The Captain from his bio had been described as one that was never ready to admit to weakness. That is one of the reasons why the Jedi Order wanted Kel'let to come here. They wanted to make sure that the Stars End was still the top notch prison that it always bragged about being. "I do not know how the prison breakers got in, but I do know that they got in and we should follow the protocol for escaped prisoners Captain." "Oh of course Jedi Kel'let. I will alert the rest of Stars End and start search parties. Can you contact the Jedi Council and inform them of this incident?" The Captain was also described as being incredibly fearful of the Jedi. He did not hate them he just felt extremely uncomfortable. Poor Telrin looked like he would need a change of clothes before soon. Who knows what would happen to him if he was forced to contact the Jedi Council and tell them about his slip up. Kel'let started up his communicator to link to the Council. "Jedi Kel'let how is the check up of Stars End going?" said Jedi Master Wlynx. "The check up was going just fine until I found an empty cell..." Kel'let's mind roamed off as he was informing the Council about what he had seen. "Kel'let!" Master Wlynx shouted over the communicator, "are you even listening to what I said? I said that you have been reassigned to find 3043 and his partner and bring them both to the Jedi Council for a trial. "Yes Master Wlynx. I will track down these two and bring them to you" Kel'let did not know how to feel. This was his first actual mission, but he had know idea what he was dealing with. The two escapees could be for all he knew working for the Sith. Kel'let turned off his communicator and proceed to walk to the ship yard. Kel'let loaded Swift with the new tech and started his ascend into the wilderness of Wild Space.
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  17. I could not agree more with you, have an upvote. Actually the more i read Secret history the more he seemed like a villian. The whole thing with cheating/ not accepting death and trying to find a way back to life...i´ve often read things with these tropes but it were always the villians doing it, just felt wrong to me on a fundamental level. Right now i have a theory that Kelsier stored his entire being in a spike. Hemalurgy normaly rips out part of the soul, so it could be possible to rip out more or even the whole thing. Since there is no more Atium around for immortality (at least i think so) this could be the next best wayfor immortality. Find someone you trust, store your being in a spike, let someone be spiked and take over their body. After they/you grow too old find someone else you trust and let him use your spike to spike someone else and steal a new body. Since Hemalurgy degrades the power if not inside a body, the person in the spike could get more and more warped and become someone truly monstrous...
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  18. Just to quickly chime in on the super-intelligence thing, the problem with writing any character with super intelligence is that it's impossible to do accurately unless you yourself are just as if not more intelligent, and I don't think I'm insulting anyone by saying I don't think any of us are on the level that's being described here where it's leagues beyond some of the brightest minds to ever exist. Even Taravangian, who is the one character of Brandons that actually does have super intelligence, is only ever written about when he's of relatively normal intelligence, we only see the effects of that intelligence, we don't get an actual viewpoint or know what his real plans were. Because of course if one of his readers could find a flaw in that plan or his reasoning it instantly breaks the character. I'm happy on things like faster processing speed, so they can bullet time or whatnot, or even better computational abilities so they can do maths in their head quickly or something but just general enhanced 'intelligence' is going to be pretty impossible, even moreso than a full on precog would be.
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  19. Hush, you'll ruin the magic Yup, that's what I do. I get the page address, then download it and read it looking for title and page number. I'm gonna teach my signature to recognize users and maybe even tell them where they live... that would be fun
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  20. Your theory makes sense in a lot of cases, except for one thing. If that is the case, then why doesn't sand being mastered burn sandlings like acid? And add to that, why then does the terken shell negate it instead of melting?
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  21. I made a clever signature for myself and I'm proud of it I hope it won't break through the night...
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  22. Going back to the original question... Shardplate as we know it now vs. bullets I think the advantage goes to the bullets. However, the primary theory regarding Shardplate is that it is made of spren. This means that Shardplate will probably adapt as the technology on Roshar progresses. If Roshar ever develops guns or projectile fabrial weapons, I see Shardplate evolving to handle the new styles of combat and warfare. And if we're talking Shardplate vs Scadrian guns, we're still a way from FTL. So Roshar still has some time to catch up technologically. Also, regarding the atium rabit trail this thread took earlier... I think Brandon was aware of Atium's potential to be way OP in the cosmere. Remember that investiture resists influence by other investiture. So I think shardplate and other forms of investiture can block atium shadows.
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  23. My lipstick is kosher for Passover!! (Yes that's a very niche thing to be excited about. See if I care )
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  24. Cycle Two: Think of Me Tindomë barely looked up when Talion ducked into her tent, absorbed as she was in studying the next day's route. He coughed to get her attention. "Ah, Talion. Welcome." "You said we should talk?" "Right." She put away the map she was using very deliberately, considering her next words. "This trip may not be as uneventful as I thought," she began slowly. He laughed. "What, you mean landslides and blizzards aren't eventful enough for you?" She shook her head. "Beyond that, though. I think-" she cut off abruptly. There was a look in his eyes she couldn't quite place. What if... What if he's one of Rashek's friends? I haven't seen him in years... Deepness. I really wanted to have someone I can trust on this trip. If I can't even trust my family, who can I trust? They stared at each other for a long moment in the darkness of the tent, faces lit only by a solitary lamp. Then she rose, beckoning him abruptly. "This should be told to the group." Outside, everyone looked up from the campfire at Tindomë's abrupt exit, even Alfred. "As many of you may have heard rumors of," she began, "We may have traitors among us." That got a reaction, to be sure. "Traitors?" Zinjuli asked with concern. "Are you completely sure?" "I saw the plan myself. They aim to never let Alendi reach the Well. We must make sure that he does. To that end, I want you all to keep an eye out for suspicious activity, and tell me immediately if you see any. Suspected traitors will be left behind as soon as they are discovered." She looked around. "If I die... If these traitors kill me... Michek is not a traitor. Of that we can be certain, for Alendi vouched for him personally. You may trust him." She looked at Michek. "Do not tell Alendi of this. Let him never know of these traitors. We are in charge of his protection. It is our duty to keep him safe. Let him keep writing in his journal, and we will get rid of them ourselves." Michek nodded. "He wouldn't take well to the news, that's for sure. Probably best not to tell him in any case. You don't want to see him angry, let me tell you." She nodded, and looked around the circle of firetlit faces for others she could trust. She passed over Zin, Misan, and the Germinating Mushroom. She still wasn't sure how it managed to get around, but she thought it was weird enough that Rashek wouldn't even have tried to send it along. But even of that she wasn't sure. Dyfwyl, Malcen, and Naurvessa were sitting together. Dyfwyl she'd been an aquaintance of for years. But even he wasn't clear from suspicion. Next to them, and eating out of Malcen's bowl, was Alfred the alpaca. She shook his head at him. Even if he could be trusted not to be a traitor (which seemed likely), he certainly couldn't be trusted to lead the group, or even bring Alendi to the Well. She wasn't sure what his motivations were, but it probably wasn't a wholehearted, generous desire to protect Alendi. Her eyes settled on Asmode. "Asmode. Asmode I can trust. I will vouch for her." She nodded. "Trust her as you would me." She continued looking around the circle, discarding faces... And there was Talion. He stared at her expectantly, waiting to be recognized as cleared... She closed her eyes for a moment. I've known him since he was a toddler... "Trust no one else. Get some sleep, and I'll see you in the morning." She didn't wait to see Talion's face fall with disappointment. She turned and went back into her tent, and tried to study the map again. But she couldn't focus, so she simply lay in bed for a long time, staring at the dark inside of the tent and worrying. Asmode looked around warily. Had she heard something? She couldn't tell. She glanced behind her, but Alendi was long since asleep. Then a hand gripped her mouth, and she felt a prick at her neck. She struggled, but her opponent was much stronger than her. "What makes you so worthy of being trusted, hmm?" she heard. "Why does Tindomë trust you so much?" The knife pierced a little farther into her skin. She held still for a moment. So this was to be her death, was it? Well, then. The least she could do was die helping her friends. She just hoped that Tindomë would think of her, when she was gone. Remember her fondly, on some warm summer night a hundred miles from here... She struggled, hard, one final time, getting the hand just far enough off her mouth that she could cry out, a harsh, guttural shriek. That was all she could manage. She heard a curse as she was dropped, and then a sharp pain, and then nothing. Tindomë woke with a start. She'd heard something in the night. She got up quickly, checking Alendi's tent first. And there was someone lying prone outside. Please don't tell me that's Alendi... But when she got closer, she saw that it was even worse. It was Asmode. Her nearest and dearest friend. Tindomë knelt near the body for a moment, and reverently closed Asmode's eyes for the last time. Then she forced herself to rise up and organize a burial detail and more sentries. No one dared to comment on the fact that she was crying silently all the while. Zinjuli woke the next morning to unfamiliar surroundings. Somehow, he'd been moved during the night, and was no longer with the group. He sat up, looking around. His pack was still with him, but only a tiny bit of food was left in it. Maybe enough to get him back to the city. He couldn't tell if it was enough to catch up to the rest of the group, who were surely very distant by now. Seems someone didn't want me along on this trip, he thought. Well, I'll just have to catch back up to them, won't I? Can’t very well not witness the greatest historical event of the millenium, now can I? He sighed. This was not how he had imagined this trip going. But he heaved himself to his feet anyway and began to prepare for the day. Tindomë walked along the road with Kajundi. “Maybe he went back to the city,” Kajundi suggested. “Gave up, or got scared off, or something.” She shook her head. “I doubt it. From what I saw of him, he wouldn't miss the chance to see history in action for the world, and would at least have said something about where he was going. But where could he have gone?” Kajundi shook his head sympathetically. “I’m sure I don’t knoo-” He suddenly fell off the trail, and only catching his hand on a rock saved him. Tindomë hauled him back onto the path. “Are you okay?” she asked in concern. “Oowww... Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just give me a couple of days to recover." She shook her head, then continued walking. He'd be fine. Kynedath was left behind! Arrenae was killed! She was a Companion! Vote Count Kynedath (2): Lopen, Paranoid King Lopen (1): ThatTinyStrawMan Paranoid King (1): Phattemer Cycle 2 has begun! It will end in 48 hours. Player List Quicklinks All PMs should be sent.
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  25. Well, I'll dock his pay for spelling errors.
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  26. Was in the mood for some thriller/suspense anime, and I what commonly was listed as a good one was Paranoia Agent. I just finished the opening. What have I gotten myself into?
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  27. You sure you want that, Seonid? Seems like he might not be that great at it if he can't spell "color" right.
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  28. We also know that there are weaknesses composed of links to a fear rather than the fear itself, Newton for example feared disappointing her parents but her weakness wasn't literally for her parents to be disappointed. It was being complimented, so simply reminding someone with a death fear that Epics still age and eventually die might be enough to trigger a weakness, or failing to believe that the Epic is truly immortal, etc. It's closer to: An Epics weakness cannot completely prevent them from using their power. For instance you couldn't be an Epic with the ability to breathe underwater and have water as your weakness.
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  29. The spren likely have some knowledge of him, and Jasnah did know him from when he was the King's Wit in Alethkar. Hoid is also most likely a lightweaver based on his interactions with Shallan, and how he refers to some of his messages as "Truths". Jasnah's spren would have been able to see his spren.
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  30. But, smart people—humanly smart people, not superhumanly smart people—know that just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should. If destroying an entire city would help them meet their goals, yes, they'd do it. However, if destroying an entire city would bring the wrath of that city's rulers down on them, leading to imprisonment or—more likely—death, they wouldn't do it. They're smart enough to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em, to quote an old song. If the consequences of destroying a city would outweigh the benefits, smart people would avoid that action and choose a different course. And we're not even talking about superhuman intelligence here. We're talking about ordinary human intelligence that exists in our world today. If you make that character a genius beyond human comprehension, his plan for that city would have to be simple, elegant, and above all else, subtle.
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  31. The writing has been fine. Since you really seem to be fishing for honest feedback, though, I'll tell you that the name sort of bugs me. I'm not sure why, but most of the vanilla names that we come up with never seem exactly right to me, especially Epics' real names. Maybe they're just too arbitrary. "Adelmo," anyway, is a bit unwieldy. Keep it, change it, it doesn't matter to me. My new crack theory on this phenomenon is that in the RP, most of our names really mean something. You can get a lot of information from "Arsenal", "Backtrack", and "Nighthound". "Mason", "Max", or "Jack" feel as if they just got slapped on after someone looked up "random name generator" online. Perhaps when we make vanillas from now on, we should focus on unusual-ish names that communicate something about the person, like "Hope", or "Summer".
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  32. Voidus is tired. I keep forgetting that having mod priveleges at work is not the same thing as having them on the 17th Shard, if I leave a snarky edit on something at work it's not going to be taken anywhere nearly as well as the amusing edit conversations I've had in the past.
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  33. You know, this brings up a couple of interesting questions: 1) Why are the Ten Essences easier to soulcast? The idea that the spren just naturally have an understanding exactly those ten things seems kind of strange. Like, did the Shards just say "Hear ye, hear ye, all ye spren! Ye shall have an innate understanding of these ten things! For everything else...eh, do what you can, I guess?" 2) Why are the Ten Essences those particular things? Why foil, say, and not metal? Why spark and not heat or flame? If you're going for the foundation -- the essence, if you will -- it seems like more fundamental, the better. Foil, for instance, is simply a metal, beaten flat. But the basic material is metal; foil is merely one thing you can make from it. One would think the essence of the idea would be the metal, not the product derived from it.
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  34. Oh, right, I was supposed to go donate blood today. Thanks for reminding me!
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  35. Ahhh, see and this was even one I wasn't too thrilled about. I felt like the "plainly shattered" was too obvious as a flip for "Shattered Plains" and it gets a little nonsensey in the middle where I'm trying to make grammatical flips that end up not necessarily terribly meaningful. But, for me, keteks are like grammar puzzles. And as a linguistics grammar person, I adore twisting grammar about and making it do what I want. There's some reversals that seem obvious to me. "Spearman became slave" and "Slave becomes spearman" are easy enough reversals that work well (with an added twist on verb tense to differentiate them just a smidge.) Other times, though, I think up a phrase I kind of want to use, and have to fiddle with it in order to make its reversal work. "If I add a verb here, can I use that as a noun in the flip?" "I have to take that article out, it won't reverse correctly at all, but does the phrase still work without it?" (A word to the keteking wise: articles are the worst and you should avoid them whenever possible. Those little "a" "an" and "the" will murder you when you try to turn them about.) So yeah, it's all about fiddling with the phrases and seeing if there's ways to make things work. When you figure out something really fun and clever, it all just starts to fit. Finishing keteks is the best feeling, honestly.
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  36. Your chair's armrest is no longer broken thanks to the use of copious amounts of duct tape. I also sprayed lots of WD-40 on it to finish the job. Bane: Wayne will "trade" for the items in your house. I wish to learn ketek-writing/ ketek-writing learn to wish I.. Wait that doesn't work.
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  37. Darth Ventrus marched down the corridor, Stormtroopers stood aside and at attention as he advanced, mouse droids swerved to avoid him and even his Sith warriors bowed their heads as he walked by. He turned a corner down the dark corridor and a door opened as he approached. He went into the room, white diodes blinked across the workstation of the communications room. “Lord Ventrus,” An officer in a crisp black uniform said to him, a bit of uncertainty in his voice. “We weren’t expecting—“ “I need a transmission sent.” Ventrus growled. “Across the elite bounty hunter channels.” “Yes, my lord.” He waved his hand, and a floating holoscreen appeared. “computer. Access frequencies KR-43 through KU-76.” The computer flashed green. “The frequencies you requested are ready.” The officer said. “What would you like to-“ “Leave.” The officer hesitated. “Sir?” Ventrus’ lightsaber flew into his hand and the officer fled. The communications crew went shortly after. Ventrus placed his lightsaber on the console in front of him with a clank. He turned to lean against it. Reaching out he took the microphone from off the work station. “If you are receiving this message, consider it a token of my respect.” He began. “Reports indicate that the Sith empire consider you to have considerable skill, and so I give you the following target. “Valran Solo. He is extremely dangerous and valuable to our cause. “I do not give this mission lightly. Details and reward information are enclosed in the data packet sent with this transmission.” He plugged in the mobile drive, sending the package. “You are to bring in the target alive, any others with him are not of value to us. I will arrange for a meeting site once he is recovered. “I don’t expect to be disappointed.”
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  38. We have no proof about the mith of overmastered as true. In the end is possible that no Sand Master have never lose permanently his ability through Overmastery... They just fear it like hell, because the Mastrels created this story to prevent other Sand Masters to discover the truth
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  39. I've been reading through WOR again and a question crossed my mind. We know spren die when their knight betrays their oath, but what happens to the spren when their knight dies? I thought that maybe they just went back to the cognitive realm. However Helaran's/Amaram's blade suggests this is not the case. Taravangian's chapter states that Helaran was a surgebinder. If this is so, clearly he kept his oaths until he died. His blade is still around and bound to someone else so it is a dead spren. Was it dead before Kaladin killed Helaran? No wonder Pattern says Shallan will kill him. It appears joining a surgerbinder is a death sentence. When Kaladin and Shallan die will Sil and Pattern be lifeless blades? Did Kaladin kill Helaran's spren? What do you think?
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  40. I'm hoping the game is not inaccessible to those who aren't Cosmere fans. From the older previews, they're name-dropping specific terms from the books - Vin as a major event who signals the end of the game, atium as a resource that only House Venture can produce. I'm concerned that I'll have a hard time explaining it to my gaming group, if the rules of the game are too tied up in the story and setting. (No one I play board games with has read Mistborn.) Which is a shame, because we've had a lot of fun playing Diplomacy, a WWI war game where seven players form "alliances" (mine rarely lasted until the end of the turn they were made), where players are simultaneously working together and at cross-purposes. But in a case like that, you never have to explain what "atium" is, why it's rare, and why only one House can get it. There was another game I recently played that used somewhat similar concepts in a zombie apocalypse, where each player controlled small teams of survivors. You needed to work together to achieve a common goal, but each player had a secret goal as well. (One player's secret goal was sometimes to sabotage the common goal.) It was interesting in concept, but I think it suffered from a couple major flaws. (Lots of cardboard pieces - a long set-up time. Also, anytime one of your survivors did anything, they had a 1/12 chance of being instantly eaten by zombies. My team, of course, lost 6 people in 9 rolls. Dice are not my friends.)
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  41. Heleran didn't borrow the blade. Shallan saw it appear in his hand. That could only happen if he was bonded to it.
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  42. "He came like the wind, like the wind touched everything, and like the wind was gone."
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  43. True. However there is no way to know for sure. We shall see.
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  44. I acquiesce to most of what you say, but we have no evidence that Syl ever bonded with another human. We know Pattern did not from his conversations with Shallan. It is possible Kaladan is the only person Syl has ever bonded with. Thanks everyone for answering my question.
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  45. I got downvoted for pointing out that opinions do not require a source. Interesting. On Bloodsealing, there is a good chance that it is completely separate from forgery and people just don't know better, considering how drastically different they are. Your point itself is true though. I'd forgotten about that one.
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  46. Here are the ones I thought were relevant in WoR. Quotes from Words of Radiance, by Brandon Sanderson. Chapter # – Location in Chapter (i.e. 1/50 beginning, 25/50 halfway, 50/50 end) – Quote. Ch 4 – 35/42 – “...And the meaning is vague. Death follows? Or is it 'follow death'? Or Sixty-Two Days of Death and Following? Glyphs are imprecise.” Ch 40 – 4/22 – Through the carriage window Shallan saw that they were finally approaching a warcamp flying Sebarial’s banner. It bore the glyphs sebes and laial stylized into a skyeel, deep gold on a black field. Ch 52 – 34/77 – She tried to work out the use of glyphs – there was no grammar to them that she could see. Glyphs weren’t meant to be used that way. They conveyed a single idea, not a string of thoughts. She read a few in a row. Origin…direction…uncertainty…The place of the center is uncertain? That was probably what it meant. Ch 52 – 35/77 – Parshendi! She realized. That’s what those glyphs mean. Parap-shenesh-idi. Three glyphs individually meant three separate things – but together their sounds made the word “Parshendi.” …Amaram was using some glyphs phonetically. Ch 55 – 60/61 – Amaram. He wore a strange cloak. Bright yellow-gold, with a black glyph on the back. Oath? Kaladin didn’t recognize the shape. It looked familiar though. The double eye, he realized. Symbol of… To get all these quotes, I searched the ebooks of WoK and WoR for "glyph" and read the passage around the location it was found in the book. Than I quoted what I thought was helpful to our cause. There is a lot more information in the books that I missed, like the thing about H's making stuff symmetrical, but this is what my quick search has found. Hope it helps someone And wanted to point out that Kaladin thought the glyph double eye symbol on Amaram's cloak read as "oath". Thought that was interesting.
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