Leaderboard

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

Per Wikipedia

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?

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?

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.

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.

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.

To be fair, a steely eyed mercenary muppet would hardly be out of place in this RP

"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?

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

Sorry about that.

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.

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.

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?

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?

Here's an interesting article about how while some corners of the Internet are awful, some like the Shard are amazing.

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.

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...

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.

Exactly.

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

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?

I made a clever signature for myself and I'm proud of it I hope it won't break through the night...

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.

My lipstick is kosher for Passover!! (Yes that's a very niche thing to be excited about. See if I care )

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.

Well, I'll dock his pay for spelling errors.

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?

You sure you want that, Seonid? Seems like he might not be that great at it if he can't spell "color" right.

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.

Hey, all. Brandon here. With the release of this book, there have been some minor updates to continuity that I think some of you will find relevant. The big one has to do with Hoid's visit to Terris in The Well of Ascension. For those unfamiliar with the backstory, this little behind-the-scenes action has been a source of some consistent problems. The outline, and original draft, of Well had Vin and Elend traveling up to Terris, then into the mountains, to find the Well itself. This was a huge momentum killer in the story. Having your cityscape-focused book suddenly turn into a traveling quest fantasy for a few chapters felt very out of place, and required too much strange time-jumping to make it work. In revisions, I set about finding a way to repair this, and to overlap the Well of Ascension discovery with Vin's return to Luthadel. The end result worked much better, but I was forced to cut Hoid's cameo. (In the form of footsteps in the snow and frost leading to the Well, hinting that someone had been there just before her.) I knew where Hoid was, and added in the cameo of him with the Terris people—with the plan still being that he visited the Well sometime during the days after Vin's return to the city. Well, in working on Secret History, I found that this had a problem with it. Hoid had to already know where the Well is, because after the destruction of the Pits, he'd need to use the Well to return to Scadrial after leaving in the middle of book one to attend to certain other events. If you've read the story, you know this is how I proceeded. Official continuity is that Hoid went up to Terris after visiting the Well, as he had things to do there. He did not go looking for the Well. This doesn't change continuity for any of the books, though it does render one of the annotations for Well obsolete. Otherwise, I'm quite pleased about this novella. I wasn't certain how it would go, writing something using threads I'd left dangling ten years ago. (You should thank the beta readers, who are all Sharders I believe, for their continuity help. They made me aware pf several things I needed to make much more clear from the original draft, so that canon would be more crisp.) I know there has been a lot of discussion regarding which times when someone appears to hear Kelsier's voice were actually Kelsier. The story offers the official canon for this as well. It's nice to finally be able to give the answers to some longtime fan questions, such as what spooked Vin during her inspection of Hoid and what was up with Preservation and the Mist Spirit. It's entirely possible that, despite our efforts, we slipped up and made some continuity error here or there. If so, I'm terribly sorry! This one has been particularly challenging to do. Thanks, as always, for reading.

I finished the Wheel of Time (which kind of puts me in a special club) and I'm left emotionally reeling. I can't remember the last time I felt the loss of characters so much or mourned finishing a series. And I'm filled with a deep sense of gratitude for the experience. Brandon really knocked it out of the park with all 3 of his books and especially aMoL. So here is a public show of admiration and appreciation to Brandon Sanderson.

Shardpools 'd be a subset: All shardpools are perpendicularities, but not all perpendicularities are shardpools.

I didn't really get that feel from him, but I can kinda get where you're coming from. About the whole killing old Metalborn, IIRC, Kelsier's a sociopath, and the idea makes sense, from an emotionless point of view. About Kell coming back with Trellish (Trellist? Trellistic?) metals, that's entirely possible. We just don't know how he did it, so it could be. It seems more likely, though, that that's something that's possible with 100% Ruinous and Scadrian Hemalurgy. Hemalurgy, at its core, deals with taking parts of one Spiritweb and transferring it to another Physical entity. I think that it's entirely possible that a combination of spikes could take an entire Spiritweb and put it into another body. That's just my personal theory, however. Basically, I think your post has merit, Kell could be up to anything, but I just don't see Brandon writing him as a villain. Antihero, maybe, but evil motivations just don't seem like something for Kelsier. EDIT: Samaldin, I never thought about the law of Hemalurgic Decay. You're right, that could have some potentially disastrous side effects.

Well first, I do like your theory so anything I state contrary to it is not in an effort to disprove it, but to work it through what we know to lend it more credibility. Two more things I noticed in my word searches that may add or not matter are this: 1. regardless how long you use the sand or how much sand you use, it turns black. So the water or power would be evenly distributed through the entire stream of sand used. There is no portion that is lighter or darker than the rest. Any sand used turns black 2. with the first scene of the book, we see how bright the sand glows and how dark of black it is turned indicates the level of power of the initiate. Drile was so bright that it could be seen from far away and turned the sand black. Kenton on the other hand was a little glimmer, barely seen unless shaded, and his sand turned a light shade of gray.

My theory on the pipe and on Nakomi is that Nakomi was the last "creator" before Rand, from the last revolution of the Wheel of Time. She's checking in on the most important event in a Wheel revolution and seeing how the next person does it. She appears in Aiel Wise One garb because she's been watching the world all this time and she's developed a fondness for the Aiel and how they do things. Maybe it reminds her of her strongest followers back when she was in Rand's position? After all, if Rand had been born a woman, instead of becoming an Aiel Clan Chief, he(/she) would have become an Aiel Wise One. (Sure, the story doesn't work with just that genderswap, but if you change a bunch of other things too, it could, and we know each Revolution of the Wheel is slightly different because of free will.) So, my theory is that Rand has special powers now because he IS the Creator. Each Revolution of the Wheel, one human gains full control of the Pattern, sees the entirety of history by reading it, decides not to destroy the Dark One because taking the most fundamental choice away from humanity takes all choice away from humanity and ends the concept of free will, and reforges the Dark One's prison. Then, because he or she had touched the Pattern and shaped it, he or she can continue to reshape it however he or she wishes. Pattern weaving, so to speak. The other really cool theory is that Rand, by touching the Pattern, realizes that the world really is just a dream of the Creator, like the Aiel keep saying. The world exists within a meta-tel'aran'rhiod, so he can shape it as if he's in tel'aran'rhiod. In other words, he's "seen the matrix." As for the future, we actually know quite a lot about it from prophecies, visions, and viewings. We know that the Aiel are destroyed, leaving only a remnant of a remnant. In other words, the Aiel become something different (the enforcers of the Dragon's Peace), making them no longer Aiel, and the only remaining Aiel (the Shaido, who are a remnant (the relatively few who survived the massacre at Dumai's Wells and the Battle of Malden) of a remnant (the one remaining clan when once there were twelve)) are hunted to extinction the way Aviendha sees in her dream. The rest of the Aiel are spared by being "destroyed" and made into something new at her insistence. Nikola's foretelling ("The lion sword, the dedicated spear, she who sees beyond. Three on the boat, and he who is dead yet lives. The great battle done, but the world not done with battle. The land divided by the Return, and the Guardians balance the Servants. The future teeters on the edge of a blade.") tells us that Rand does wind up getting a boat and sailing around like he mused about doing, and his lovers visit him there. We can infer that the Asha'man rise to power to rival the Aes Sedai, and the Seanchan continue to be a point of consternation for everyone. However, we also know from Aviendha's vision that the Seanchan do hold to the Dragon's Peace, and without the Aiel to provoke war, we can assume that the Peace continues to hold instead of being broken by Aviendha's granddaughter's lies. We can trust some of Rand's projection of what the future might be like since he was weaving fairly accurate projections of the future using the entirety of the Pattern as a pattern. So, it's very likely that the Two Rivers is eventually ruled by Perrin and Faile's daughter, though we do know that they become the rulers of Saldea. It can be inferred that Tam al'Thor acts as steward at first, but since he doesn't have any heirs, one of Perrin and Faile's children becomes "next in line" for the throne, so to speak. We know that, eventually, there are male Aes Sedai again, but only very far into the future, possibly after the Asha'man collapse for whatever reason. We know that the Asha'man do cease to exist eventually because there was nothing similar at the end of the last Age of Legends (and I think there's a WoB stating this too, along with the fact that they are not male Aes Sedai, but male Aes Sedai do become a thing again at some point in the distant future). We know that the Sea Folk eventually appoint that one Sailmistress as the Mistress of the Ships. We know that Cadsuane becomes the new Amrylin. We can guess that, eventually, someone manages to convince Rodel Ituralde to become King of Arad Doman. We know that Birgitte is reborn and is the right age to fall in love with Gaidal Cain again. We know that Min becomes Fortuona's Truthspeaker and therefore joins the Mat and Tuon adventures in Seanchan (along with, one can assume Furyk Karede as her captain of the guard). We know that Perrin and Faile rule Saldea. We know that Gregorin goes back to ruling Illian. We know that Loial finishes and publishes his book, "The Dragon Reborn" (we get a quote from it at the start of aMoL). We know that fighting continues in Shara. We know that Lan and Nyneave recreate Malkier. We know that technology continues to advance toward the next Age of Legends. We can take some things from Aviendha's vision that are likely unchanged by the Aiel's change in purpose. The "Pact of the Griffin" and the "Court of the Sun" are two different alliances and Andor is a member of both. From the names, we can try to figure out what these alliances are. A "griffin" is a creature that's part eagle, part lion, so the "Pact of the Griffin" has to be Andor, the Two Rivers, and the nations tied to the Two Rivers - Ghealdan, Saldea, and maybe Mayene. The "Court of the Sun" must include Cairhien of course, showing that Cairhien and Andor remain very close into the foreseeable future. I honestly have no idea what other nations are in the Court of the Sun - Aviendha's vision implies more than just Cairhien, but it might have just been Cairhien. However, King Darlin of Tear marries Caraline Damodred, giving Tear a tie to Cairhien, so maybe the Court of the Sun is Andor, Cairhien, and Tear. The Dragon's Peace prevents nations from merging together, so the nations that become extremely close by the start of Tarmon Gaidon have to use alliances like these to formalize their closeness. We know that the Seanchan do not stop using the damane, and when Artur Hawkwing spoke with Fortuona, he was like, "Captive Aes Sedai? Awesome! I wish I thought of that!" With Egwene dead, it's unlikely there's anyone strong enough to change that (Cadsuane wishes she was as strong as Egwene <.<), and Aviendha's vision showed that they were still a thing, but one can assume the rules Rand wrote into the Dragon's Peace stand (no damane taken from any land except Seanchan). The Seanchan do not topple the White Tower like they did in Aviendha's vision because that only happened because Aviendha's granddaughter broke the Dragon's Peace. We know that the Aes Sedai, the Wise Ones (of the former Aiel enforcers, not the Shaido Aiel), and the Windfinders cross-train their apprentices, tying the three organizations together and making the future generations of each have the cunning and knowledge of the Aes Sedai, the strength and discipline of the Windfinders, and the determination and honor of the Wise Ones. We know that all channelers of any skill will be accepted into their collective ranks (the Windfinders and Wise Ones already took everyone of all skill levels, and Egwene changes the Aes Sedai to do so as well). We know that Aes Sedai will start retiring into the Kin where precedence is determined by age rather than strength. When they retire, they will remove the Three Oaths, which will remove the Binder's adverse affects on their longevity and double their natural lifespans. We know that the Red Ajah becomes the Ajah that works closely with the Asha'man, and we can guess that the new Red Sitters include Pevara and Rubinda. Pevara, obviously, will be marrying Androl and help tie the Asha'man and the Red Ajah together. I have a theory that the Warders become the next Cycle's "Da'shain Aiel" once the world progresses to the point of the Age of Legends where there is no war and nearly no crime, but there's no proof of that. But, with the Warder "glass ceiling" broken by Birgitte, and with all those "Maidens of the Sword" from Cairhien and Tear, I think it's safe to assume that women start becoming Warders in the near future. So, at first, I really found the ending unsatisfying with how little it said about the future of the world. I wanted Tarmon Gaidon to end early in Book 14, making the rest of the book into a story of what comes after the Dark One is dealt with and showing us how the future will unfold for all the characters. When that didn't happen, it made me really sad (almost as sad as I was that Bela died and did not get called back by the Horn of Valere. Hey, wolves can be Heroes of the Horn, why can't the best horse ever?? What makes the original Jeade'en so special that he comes back with Jain Farstrider, but Bela doesn't come back to kick Trolloc butt with her ghostly hooves and become Olver's steed as long as the Heroes are around? But I digress). But, then I thought about all the information we've been given about the future from the various visions and such, and realized that we know nearly everything about how things will unfold. There are a bunch of specifics we don't know that I would love to have known, true, but we do get a ton of it, as shown above. I'd love soooo much though to have seen even just a single scene with the former Aiel in their new role as enforcers of the Dragon's Peace, with some cool new Old Tongue name to describe them in their new capacity. But, really, I feel like the ending is pretty solid as is. Not the best ending of a story ever, but after thinking about it for a while, there aren't THAT many unanswered questions that you can't at least think up a plausible theory for. From what I recall of what Brandon Sanderson said about Robert Jordan's notes, Jordan didn't want to tell his fans exactly what the future held. He wanted his fans to decide for themselves how they feel the future would go, as far as details are concerned. He wanted to leave things fairly open post-Tarmon Gaidon. I don't like that at all. I feel like it's a cop-out to say "and then the audience can decide the rest of the story for themselves." But, it's what he wanted, and that's what Brandon wrote from his notes. His notes, by the way, specifically said not to explain anything at all about Nakomi or the lighting of the pipe, just include those scenes verbatim as he had already written them. He didn't want people to know for sure what the "true" answer was to either of those mysteries. So, we can theorize and guess, but the actual, true answer is that those things happened because Robert Jordan wanted his story to end with at least some specific unanswered questions that can never be answered.

one day, use F. steel to run too work... on the highway in rush hour.

Your accent is just so amazing. The voice of RippleGylf.

One could also speculate that the Lifeless could be imprinted with a security phrase that might be unbreakable due to the the strength of a 10th Heightening Awakener. Perhaps even the Lifeless would be able to respond to commands faster, or be able to follow more complex commands, more powerful in general?

Soulcasting doesn't create matter, though, it changes matter from one substance to another. On the other hand, the energy you'd need to achieve that using mundane means is probably off the charts as well; does anyone have access to the Large Hadron Collider's electricity bill?

I just spent a while crying on the couch with my wife because I'm terrified about the possibilities with my health issues. I have absolutely no interest in trying to sleep now, and in my bad mood, I typed up a blog post and posted it without checking if I should dial it back. Oh well. If anyone's interested, it's at http://hairynerdchin.wordpress.com jW

Lightsong of Warbreaker used some wordplay I believe, and so does Wayne (though his sounds more accidental, really). I think this is just a 'translation' thing. We have very witty characters who would have used puns in their own language. The only way to represent that in an English book is to make the puns in English, then either waving your arms and saying the pun works in both languages, or say that it was really a slightly different pun in the original language, but it was changed in the 'translation' to English, so that the story works. In short, it's a nice observation, but I think it has more to do with a higher concentration of witty characters than something about the Rosharan languages.

I guess we'll see. I cracked up when I read that line at the beginning where she says that she hates traveling.

Already own it XD, my family and I love it dearly. A co-operative aspect is a little uncommon to board games so any that might follow that path I am even more so interested in.

I'm actually really interested to see this come out. I am an avid board game player myself and absolutely adore games with lots of depth. Games like Settlers of Catan, Monopoly, and Risk if you will. I am also liking the fact that the players are playing almost against the protagonists of the books. The "House War" side of the original trilogy had a fairly sizable part, so getting to delve into that aspect will be cool. I think it will be a great addition to the ever-growing chest of Brandon Sanderson.

Faolin stood on the charred surface of what had once been a vibrant planet. Coruscant, now called the Graveyard. He lingered for a few minutes, contemplating the fragility of even the most powerful empires. He turned, briskly walking towards his Sentar-class fighter. He had always wondered why Relias, the shipyard owner who had sold him the ship, had called it a fighter. It was far to large to be considered any sort of fighter, and its capabilities far outclassed one. It more resembled a small Corvette, although it only required a crew of one to operate. He had not named this vessel; he had run out of good names several ships ago, and none of them seemed to last long enough for naming to be important. As he walked through the Airscreen, an energy barrier between the ship's atmosphere and whatever was outside, a sudden whistling sound made him flinch. A narrow, silvery dart shot past his face, missing by a matter of millimeters. He spun, only to see nothing. Breathing rapidly, he tried to carefully observe the area, as he had learned at the New Jedi Temple. Unbidden, memories of his brief career as a Padawan resurfaced, and he recalled the painful memories of how terrible a Jedi he had been. When he had finally been dismissed from the order, he had felt a mixture of disappointment, and strangely, relief. He was not terribly powerful with the Force, in fact, quite the opposite. He had not mastered the art of large displays of power, pushing enemies back with a mere thought, and this put him at a disadvantage. He had instead focused on the delicate uses of the Force. It surprised him that no one had thought to use the Force to dissolve molecular bonds, but the practice had turned out to be extremely useful. No one but him had thought to use the Force to pinch off the nerves in an enemy's brain, but it was just as effective as a lightsaber to the head. His masters had cited various reasons for his dismissal; at the foremost, he had apparently been "too emotional." Well, how could they expect him to rid himself of all emotion? Emotions were what made him, and everyone else, human. Well, a more proper term would be "sentient beings," but he had never cared to get social definitions right. But the point was, if you were supposed to feel no emotion, then how could you care for others enough to protect them? He dispelled such dark and gloomy thoughts and returned to the task at hand. Someone was trying to kill him. Right. He jumped the remaining distance through the Airscreen and sprinted through the doorway that led to the bridge. He flicked a hand at a control screen, bringing it to life, and the ship began to rise. Before long, he was speeding through the ashy remnants of Coruscant's atmosphere, on an optimal trajectory to reach orbit.

Odyssey Con was a blast! Smaller conventions are a lot more fun IMO than larger ones, like Comic Con. At one point Brandon was just hanging out before a magic draft, so i got a bunch of my own questions in before that started. Below is my transcription of the recording I took (with his permission of course) of me, other people, and Brandon talking Cosmere. There are some spoilers for SH and BoM, but they are marked appropriately, so skip over the parts underlined to avoid spoilers if you havent read those. Enjoy! Maddison, Odyssey Con Transcription. (Anything in parenthesis are my comments and thought or reasoning behind the questions or answers.) *Anything in stars are tone of voice or facial expression* Anything underlined contains spoilers for BoM or SH Me: Ok, first one. Was Sadeas ever affected directly by Odium or an Unmade, not counting the Thrill? Brandon: NOT countin the Thrill, ok uhhhhm. There are affects of other unmade around, and Odium's direct effect? I'm going to say, no, maybe some indirect effects. Me: What about Roshone? Brandon: Uhhhm, no. The Thrill is the main thing that is getting the Alethi, I mean, there are others around, but it's not as obvious with that as with other things. Me: Can Odium change written word on Roshar like Ruin could on Scadrial? (I was wondering this because it would make it easy for him to manipulate Mr.T that way. Brandon: *apprehensive* This is not really a thing that Odium does. Um, yea. Me: Are sandlings from white sand an early concept for crustaceans on Roshar, with greatshells being a parallel to deep sandlings. Brandon: No, um, the idea for white sand came first, and it was more that I was exploring divergent ecology, but I've been doing that in Dragonsteel and in White Sand and in here with Roshar. I would say that the fact that white sand hadn't been published meant that I could do something's that were similar without worrying about repeating myself, but it's not like I used them specifically as models. Me: *jokingly* So does this mean we are going to get to see little dragons running around in Dragonsteel? Brandon: Uh, well, in Dragonsteel the dragons are sapient, so when I write Dragonsteel I will put dragons in there, but the dragons are intelligent and uh, can take human form, but there are actual little dragons. Me: Wait, they can take human form? Brandon: Yes, yes, yup. Guy next to me: Is Yolen named after Jane Yolen? Brandon: Yes Guy: Yes, ok. I've always wondered. Brandon: One of the early fantasy books I read was Dragon's Blood, and so I named it after her. Guy: Ok, *gestures to me* keep going. Me: Last year I asked you if shadows turn the wrong way in the cognitive realm for a reason, you said to basicly think of it like important flavor text. Is this happening because people are being drawn towards the Beyond? Brandon: Um, yea that part of it. Definitely. Me: What is Proving Day in Vorin mythology? Brandon: Uhhhm, equivalent of Bahmitzva. Me: One sec *looks through notes for more of the interesting questions*. Can you give us any information on Ral Elorum? Brandon: Uhhhm, no other than its called city of shadows for a reason. Me: In the end, how many bridge runs did Kaladin go on? Brandon: I didn't count them, uhhm, dozens. Probably not hundreds. Me: Is it theoretically possible to hemallurgically spike a shard into someone else, and if so, what would be the outcome? Brandon: A full shard? Hemallurgy could not hold that much of an invested charge. Not without something really weird happening. Me: With reversals fabrials, if one fell and sat on the ground will the other one continue to rise due to the gravity affecting the one on the ground? Brandon: No, good question. Me: What would Rock's name mean translated directly to English? Brandon: You want the poem? I've got the poem somewhere, I can't quote the poem at you, I'm sorry. Maybe I'll release it someday. I do have the poem, it's not that long. Me: Can forgery change eye or hair color? Brandon: It could theoretically. Me: How well would Jasnah and Khriss get along? Brandon: Uhhhm, I would say that they would get along well, like scholars from different disciplines, meaning with respect for the other's discipline. Me: Would a savant look different in the spiritual realm than a regular human? Brandon: Yes, yes. Me: Would Hoid's spirit web seem more similar to that of a savant or a regular human? Brandon: Oh, neither one, but it would be weirder than a savant. Brandon: Are you just getting these question's of the 17th Shard? Me: No, these are mine, I write questions in my notes when I read through books. Brandon: These are actually yours? Ok, I'll keep going then. If these are actually yours you can have as many as you want. Some people just go to the list of all the questions to ask Brandon and they come and just "Oh I'm just gonna ask Brandon all of these", and I'm like "no you can have three or four". But, if they're your questions you can have as many as you want. Is Aon Omi a kind of God Aon? Brandon: It's what they use it for, so, it would be kind of, equivalent to the god symbols, but it's also partially adopted if that makes sense. Me: Is anything magical going on with the screams Szeth hears? Brandon: Uhhh, Szeth's screams. Uhhm, I'm trying to decide how to answer this. It is not, see here's the thing. What we would call magical may not be considered magical in the Cosmere, but it depends on your definition of magic. Would Szeth if he were on our planet and have done those things would he hear those screams, probably not, but would someone else in the Cosmere who had gone through what he had gone through hear those screams, yes. Me: So it has to do with the spiritual realm? Brandon: Yea, mhmm, yea. Me: Does Baon's name sound Selish for a reason? Brandon: No, that just a coincidence. That was before I had written Elantria, so. Me: Is it possible for a Knight Radiant to become a kind of Drab if they use too much investiture? Brandon: No, you can't really burn yourself out that way, no. I mean, it's possible for drabbery to be mimicked on other planets, but not through that method. Me: Were the oaths of the Knights radiant consciously chosen, or did they happen naturally. Brandon: *apprehension*. This is one of those vague ones in that yes and no. They are a natural outgrowth of the spren, but the spren are a natural outgrowth of human's perception of natural forces, but the spren are sentient, so I would say it's a little more by instinct than not. For example to Knights Radiant in the same order might speak the words differently, but the concept is the same. You will see this happen in a future book, where a Windrunner will speak the oaths. It's a slightly different take on the same concept. Some are moreso, like Shallan's oaths are very individualized truths, so. Me: Would it be harder to soulcast a Knight Radiant? Brandon: Yes Other guy: Would it be harder for her to soulcast a mistborn? Brandon: Yes, investiture disrupts investiture. It's harder for her to even soulcast a regular person than, say, a rock. Other guy: Is a Mistborn invested? Brandon: The Mistborn, how their burning the metal, you're right. They are not specifically invested when they are not burning. When the investiture becomes active, the yes. Before, no, you're right on that. SPOILERS FOR SH OR BOM Me: So Kelsier, he stayed around longer, not because he was invested, but because he had the ability to become invested? END OF SPOILERS Brandon: Over time using the magic will invest you, on Scadrial. Most of the power is not coming from, on Roshar the power isn't coming from the person either (He cut himself off, so I assume this is how it works on Scadrial even though he didn't finish his thought) so I'm going to have to back up on that one and say, yes, the mistborn are as invested as a Knight Radiant, because in both cases the majority of the power is coming from somewhere else, but there is the spirit web. Investing the wrong term, but you have all these connections in the spiritual realm, so yanking you away from them, or rewriting them (like soulcasting or forgery) is harder. Guy: Would they be harder (kek) with more Stormlight or Metals burning. Brandon: Yes, yes. That would increase the difficulty ratio. For instance, wearing shard plate is gonna be a great barrier, right, and things like that so yea. The problem is like, invested is the wrong term for that, their spirit web is connected in different ways. (I deem this "Spirit Web Magical Connectivity Diversity, or SWMCD". Me: How much did Super Mind Taravangian know about the Cosmere as a whole, roughly, rough estimate. Brandon: He had a little bit of knowledge. Not as much as... not as much conscious knowledge. Me: Did he guess about the three realms? Brandon: Yes, he knew about the three realms. He didn't have to guess on that, he had read philosophy and things, that knowledge is there on Roshar Me: Does magic happen on Sel because areas have a stronger cognitive prescence, like, more sentient life in that area. Brandon: Uhhh, no, good question, good question. That is not the answer. I am going to give it in the Cosmere collection (Arcanum Unbound?) if people don't guess it by then. So I'm going to leave off, I could tell you right now but, I can't remeber if anyone has guessed it or not. Guy: Is it related to tectonics? Brandon: No, it's all kinda going in the wrong direction. I haven't really given you the clues to figure it out, I don't think. Once I say it, it will make a lot of sense. SPOILERS FOR SH OR BOM Me: Was Hoid trying to become an Elantrian kind of in a way how Kelsier was able to connect to preservation to take up the shard? Brandon: Yes, the thing about it is your getting Hoid before he knew as much as he did in Scadrial era, so what he was trying to do was completely ineffective and it couldn't have worked. END OF SPOILERS Guy: Doesn't it get weaker the farther away you are, so it wouldn't help at all. Brandon: mhmm. Guy 2: Well we have an example of an Elantrian on Roshar, so. Brandon: Yes we have an Elantrian on Roshar, but we don't see him use any powers, and his skin is dark on Roshar rather than glowing. That is something to be aware of. While I keep doing this, who is here for the magic draft? *Talks about the magic draft and his writing process for a bit*. Me: Can Honor spren, or any other type of Knight Radiant spren, be evil? Brandon: Yes, because I don't call the shards good and evil. There are no good and evil shards in my opinion, like and so, what evil and what's not evil can totally have spren of honor that you would consider evil. They have free will, but they are much more limited. It is very hard, or impossible, for them to lie but they can be cruel. SPOILERS FOR SH OR BOM \Me: Can you shed some light on why ruin's last words were "Vax". Brandon: No, I can't, I mean I can but I'm not going to. END OF SPOILERS Me: How does corrupted investiture work, like Nightblood. Brandon: Oh, Nightblood. Again, this is a definition of what somebody feels is a corruption. For instance, there are spren people would feel are corrupted. But that is corruption where the mixing of different shards has changed things, and I think a lot of times when people say corruption, people are meaning the mixing of shards powers. Me: So is there a mixing of shards power with Nightblood? Brandon: *smirks* RAFO. That's the natural question, I'm glad you asked it. Me: Ok, uhhh, so something similar is happening with Gavilar's sphere, right? Brandon: *contemplative silence*, RAFO. Me: Uhhh, if anyone else has questions, speak up (I started running out of questions at this point). Brandon: Question over here! Mistborn cosplay girl: I was wondering if we were very going to see Dragons in the Cosmere? Brandon: Yes, Dragonsteel. One of the first books I ever wrote in the Cosmere has dragons. It's also just one of the weaker books, so I can't publish it as is, but yea. Being a big fan of dragons, I did write them into the Cosmere. They are the one standard fantasy race in there. Girl: Are they ever going to infiltrate the other worlds kind of? Brandon: *Talks about the letter and Frost, Flashback order, and the girls costume* New guy: Are we ever going to learn what threat Taravangian is referring to? Brandon: Uhhh, yes (So is there a different threat than Odium?) Guy: It will be big, I assume so Me: Have larger land going greatshells existed above a chasm fiend? Brandon: Larger than a chasmfiend, the ones out near Reshi can go on land. So yea, it is possible that there are larger ones. They do better in the water, because of how big they are, the high oxygen, low gravity, and symbiotic relationship with the spren allow for mega fauna that is just unrealy large and just could exist on earth, so yea. Kurk: Do Surgebinders have Gemhearts? Me: *laughs* I was about to ask that. Brandon: No, good question. Guy: What is the purpose of the gigantic four armed spren that looks at the origin of the Surgestorms (Highstorms?). Brandon: Good question, haha, RAFO. New guy: So we know how people can enter Shadesmar, or the cognitive realm, how do other places, like, we haven't seen anything for the Mistborn series. Do we know how they can enter. Brandon: Read Secret History. Guy: I did read that, but it didn't really say anything besides that one special case. Brandon: Right, Hoid talks about Perpendicularities on Scadrial, if you go look at that there are certain places he talks about that. ,eyes just say that large 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. Guy: And of of Course you can soulcast (Elsecall?) to get there. Brandon: Yes. Guy who asked about the four armed spren: Now that's a very interesting analogy you just made, you said "punctured" almost as if it were a spike. Brandon: Yes, yes, that was intentional. Anyone who wants to ask questions after the Magic draft, you guys can come back in maybe 45 minutes. I'll just be hanging out and playing magic. If you’re just here to hang out and ask question, I'll be free to do that in about 45 minutes to an hour. (After about an hour and a half he started answering more questions, so I sat nearby and wrote the gist of the questions and answers he was getting. Thsi next part is going to be paraphrased, but fairly accurate. It wasn't as rapid fire as it had been, as I and other people didn't want to keep interruption him while he was playing magic.) Me: Is it normal for people to become connected to an area after being there for a bit, like with Kel and wherever he was when he found the Ire, or is something special going on. Brandon: It is normal for a cognitive shadow to get stuck to places, because they exist through investiture it is normal for them to get tied to an area. Kelsier was still in Scadrial when he found the Ire. This happened with Odium and the two shards on Roshar, Preservation to Ruin, and the Heralds (To Roshar? Braize?). (I think this is basically what happens with shards when they invest on a planet, so this same thing happens at smaller levels than shards.) Me: Can a Parshendi with the right mind set transform with an Unmade? Brandon: RAFO Random lady: In Elantris it talks about how to wood and stone in the city is rotten and crumbling. Why does this happen? Brandon: This is because when objects become Invested for long periods of time their spirit web changes to accomodate the investiture. When the investiture was pulled up of the stuff in Elantris it's spirit web was severely damaged so it showed that in the physical realm. This happened with the Lord Ruler when the Bands of Mourning were ripped out of him. Mistborn Lady: Do Rhyshadium exist because of a spren bond, like greatshells? Brandon: Yea, they evolved symbiotically with spren, unlike other horses. They can still mate will other horses, but the are genetically distinct. Me: Why is going into the Spiritual realm like Kelsier did damaging, as Leras seemed to suggest. Brandon: The thing is, Leras didn't know that Kelsier had a broken brain, that is how Kelsier wasn't damaged by doing what he did. You can break your brain by doing that though, worse than how broken Kelsier is. Me: Is Adolin's inability to form meaningful relationships important to his overall character arch? (Shoutouts to Maxal) Brandon: Yes, it is. Random Lady: My friend wants to know how fast steel compounders could possibly go, can they run up walls or over water like the Flash? Me: *jokingly* Can they run through time? Brandon: Steelrunners and resist a lot things due to the power, like they can withstand the Gs they are out through, but they can't ignore wind resistance and friction. They will burn up if they start running too quickly.

IX39-B piloted his ship down through the atmosphere of Coruscant. Its guidance systems began scanning the area, looking for the distinctive shape of the old Jedi temple. It had been sent on a contract to recover an ancient item from somewhere deep within the building. The droid brought its ship into a slow descent, touching down just outside the abandoned structure. IX39-B exited the ship, metallic feet hitting the ground with a click. The droid slowly scanned the temple, mapping out possible entrances and exits. IX39-B began to purposefully walk towards the grand entrance, keeping its scanners wide open for signs of life. Suddenly, a warning began to beep in its vision. It appeared that a ship, class cendar-15, blasted out away from the temple. The droid hurriedly increased its pace. Unidentified spacecraft fleeing the temple. It is possible that the target item is on board. But the ship was pulling away very quickly, to far to pursue or plant a tracker. Since no present action could be taken against the ship, IX39-B focused back onto the Jedi temple. It pushed through the grand doors, and entered the temple proper. The structure was vast, but IX39-B had received a general area to search along with the contract. It quickly accessed a 3-dimensional layout of the temple, and set a route to the library area. As it passed through the hallways, it detected heat signatures up ahead. Long-range scanners revealed what appeared to be human shapes. Body heat scans lower than human average. Subjects are either dead or of non-human origin. IX39-B hastened forward, warnings going off in its mind. Could someone else have acquired its target? Why would someone else be sent after the strange cube that IX39-B's employer had requested? The droid shook off the tangential thought, and hurried further into the temple, seeking the heat signatures that remained within.

You guys have derailed this thread so bad. It doesn't matter that I'm crying with laughter; you need to stop.

Personally, I think Demandred and Shara were introduced perfectly. Granted, I actually saw it coming, probably in part because I bought the guide, which has a section on Shara (that's rather uninformative, there's a conversation between some Forsaken that hits the hightlights) and thus noticed that there were rather a lot of channelers over there, and so paid rather a lot of attention when Sharan merchants began making minor appearances. By Towers of Midnight, we knew that the Sharans possessed a lot of channelers, had recently experienced a sudden vacancy at the supposed top via Forsaken kidnapping, and had made a rather major policy change regarding foreign trade. We also knew that Demandred had secured control over an area with substantial military forces, and everywhere else was either in chaos or their leadership was accounted for. Yes, they did show up rather suddenly, but that rather fit. Demandred was the finest military mind of his Age; we've always known that. A sudden, overwhelming surprise attack on an engaged army using gateways is entirely appropriate. Likewise, Taim was frankly not competent enough to be Demandred. I guess it comes down to how much you bought into Demandred's buildup. He hardly ever appeared and didn't do much, but for me that actually made him more intimidating. We kept getting told he was a military genius, yet we had no idea what he was doing. The other Forsaken were plotting, feuding, and getting into fights with Rand, while Demandred occasionally showed up at team meetings to remind us he existed. He was the Shadow's finest general, and his actions were a complete mystery. Whatever he was doing, it couldn't possibly be good. So I didn't see him as a new supervillian introduced at the last minute; he'd been ominously present in the background for six books and finally took to the field personally, revealing his secret master plan in grand form. Frankly, I would have been disappointed if he hadn't been so wildly effective. However, I can see how you'd feel it was cheap if you did not have such a high opinion of Demandred; we certainly heard about his credentials a lot but his only prior onscreen battle was during the cleansing, where he demonstrated he was competent but didn't accomplish anything of particular note due to being badly outmatched by the linked circle.