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We already know that something was different about Taravangian's day of brilliance. On Adrotagia's chart, his intelligence was completely off the charts, something that could only be expected maybe once every two thousand years--this makes it immediately suspect for the rabid theorizers of the 17th Shard. Furthermore, we've actually seen that when Taravangian is smart normally, he actually gets worse at predicting the actions of other people. After all, he suggested a law that people under a certain IQ should commit suicide, and expected it to actually work. Something doesn't add up here. It's always been my opinion that on Taravangian's day of brilliance, that he was intelligent enough that his mind transcended the Cognitive Realm and saw into the Spiritual Realm in some limited way. This would explain the discrepancy between this day and every other, as well as some of Taravangian's more unlikely deductions. Let's put aside the fact that he apparently knew each and every one of the most powerful people in Roshar well enough to reliably predict how they would react, despite being demonstrably worse in some ways at predicting the actions of others on his more intelligent days. You might even explain his knowledge about Taln (ch. 83), the honorblades (ch. 78), the secret behind the Recrearnce (ch. 84), and the Unmade (ch. 81-82) as piecing together knowledge from old legends and Gavilar's visions. But how, in Chapter 88, could he know exactly when the Everstorm would strike? And, of course, the epigraph from chapter 85. "But who is the wanderer, the wild piece, the one who makes no sense? I glimpse at his implications, and the world opens to me. I shy back. Impossible. Is it?" This gives me the impression that more's going on here than simple guesswork, but that Taravangian was actually seeing something. The evidence doesn't stop here, though. We've seen descriptions of other characters looking into the Spiritual Realm before. Compare the descriptions Taravangian gives to of the day he wrote the Diagram to these descriptions of looking into the Spiritual Realm. ... ... ... ... Now, you might be wondering, "Didn't Taravangian just say in that last quote that he didn't see the future?" Yes, but as shown in the first quote, Taravangian doesn't actually remember any of it. He's just basing that statement on the fact that there are errors every now and then, which is consistent with seeing into the Spiritual Realm. So, between the uniqueness of that one day, the inexplicable accuracy of the Diagram, and the similarity of the description to other instances of peering into the Spiritual Realm, it seems clear to me that that's what Taravangian did on that day. But what does all of this mean? I find it pretty ominous that the guy who looked into the Spiritual Realm figures the measures he's taking are the best chance humanity has for survival. I also find it interesting that both the Diagram and Nale, two of the most knowledgeable factions we know of, both oppose the return of the Radiants. Only time will tell...

Just remember, it's not about the guy, it's about you. No one is entitled to your attention, even civil lunch room conversation. He might not like it, but you will be helping him learn important social cues. Personally, I would also let your best friend know. Particularly in high school, it's good to have allies in these sorts of situations.

Round Seven: The Inevitable Eight The waiting is over Sennti fans. This in Al Vron reporting live and boy do we have a slugfest in store for you. It’s been a good game so far and the combatants on the field are ready to give it their all so sit back and enjoy the action LIVE. I hear one of the combatants down there is Keira’s cousin. She’s been training with her quite a bit which is unusual for Keira. Keira has always had a bit of a bloodthirsty image and a lot of times people go after her for it. But despite her bloodthirstiness, she’s a heck of a player on the field. I wonder if her cousin has picked up some of Keira’s touch. If so, we will probably see a lot more blood spilt today. Looks like some of our fighters are ready to fall. Any moment now and things will really pick up. Dunquaivel is still standing. She’s had one heck of a game. Everytime she get knocked down she just gets back up and is ready for more. She’s a real battler. We could do with more like her. Man, look at them go. This game has some of my favorite things. Knifes, backs and blood. My partner sometimes says the strangest things. “Al” she says, “there’s more to life than Sennti.” I swear it’s like she speaking another language or something. I mean the words make sense individually but put them together and it’s complete nonsense. Ryth. A strange person to be sure. He hasn’t done as much as others but his presence has been felt by all. Anonymity is good for a while but the longer you last the less places there are to hide. Farewell Ryth. Better luck next life. And Dunquaivel is down. There seems to be some zombie prejudice here folks. Why, it almost seems that these contestants know what happened last season. Will she stay down? Will others rise? See it here first in the Arena. Well Keira’s cousin is history now. Personally I think she was pushing too hard and it backfired. Regardless she knows how to play the game. I see a lot of Keira’s arrogance in her cousin but none of her skill. And so dies Jonly. Our latecomer. You know Sennti fans, Jonly almost didn’t make it into these games. Can you imagine what these games would be without Jonly? Well, I guess we will find out. Dunquaivel - Daniyah was lynched. They were from Sel. Ryth - Silverblade has been killed. They were from Sel. Keisha - Little Wilson has been killed. They were from Scadrial. Jonly - The Only Joe has been killed. They were from Sel. Round Seven has begun. 47.75 hours to get your orders in. Vote Tally: Dani(7): Wilson, Len, Con, El, Stick, Stink, Lopen Wilson(4): Silverblade, Ec3, Joe, Nyali

LG25: Day Five - Rabbits Galore Two rabbits hopped through the village that night. One was an innocent-looking tiny white bunny, hopping along the road. It turned up a garden path, jumping from stone to stone like the grass between was untouchable. It made its way to the house, up the front porch steps, flinching a little at the shadow of a hanging pot. Then it jumped up to a chair seat, then a table, then a window sill. The window was cracked slightly open, so it just pushed it open further and hopped to the floor. The bunny made its way through the house, weaving around chair legs and scattered books, to where Varg was sleeping. It sniffed the air cautiously, hopping a little closer to the bed. Then in a single motion, the Rabbit of Caerbannog ripped out Varg’s throat, letting his lifeblood flow out everywhere. A few minutes later, a little rabbit was hopping back out along the garden path, still spotless white. Little Bunny Foo Foo, Hopping through the village Picking up Lorien And bopping him on the head! Conquestor died! He was a Hallandren Villager with Awakened Rope! Dalinar has died! He was a Hallandren Villager with 2 pieces of Awakened Clothing! Breath was stolen! Day 5 has begun. You have 48 hours to decide who to lynch. Quicklinks Player List PMs will take a few minutes to send out, sorry.

Of course. Oh, you meant if I could give you one? That's a different matter entirely. In that case, no. This is Al Vron bringing you all the latest action. Looks like we got ourselves a brawl brewing down there Sennti fans. Dunquaivel, our newly return participant, is surrounded as is Keisha, the so called ringleader of the Anti Sel Alliance. Both parties have equal numbers both for and against them. All it will take is one little voice to tip the scales. Who lives and who dies? Stay tuned to find out live in the Arena.

Cosmere characters doing song covers! Or rather, it's me, singing from the point of view of various Cosmere characters. I've definitely stolen the format "Broadway So-and-so" from the Homestuck fandom, who used to have a whole slew of singers rewriting lyrics and singing them in-character. No, they're not all Broadway songs. Actually... I don't think I've actually covered any actual Broadway songs, but that could be fun... Anyway, I realized I'd never really posted my covers here all in one place and thought I should probably try to fix that. The newer ones are more polished as I've gotten better recording software and equipment, as well as just figuring out how to edit songs better with practice, but I figured I'd post even the rougher ones. Relistening to some of these is making me want to redo some. The Cosmere lyrics for each song are in spoiler tags to keep this from cluttering. If there's no credit given for the cover track, then it's one that was either an official version provided by the artist themselves, or it's one that I pulled the vocal track out myself. From most recent to oldest: It's Over, Isn't It? Character: Paalm, Shadows of Self Original: "It's Over, Isn't It?" by Rebecca Sugar and Deedee Magno-Hall (Steven Universe) Piano Cover: ThePandaTooth Lyrics: Light Runs Out Character: Shallan, Words of Radiance Original: "Love Runs Out" by OneRepublic Karaoke Cover: Cyberwave Karaoke Lyrics: Let It Go Character: Vin, Well of Ascension Original: "Let It Go" by Idina Menzel (Frozen) Lyrics: (Inspired by those written by @Lightflame) Additionally, I've done a few songs that are Cosmere-focused but aren't actually from any specific characters. Those are always fun too. Fandom Monster's Beautiful Darkside Description: Written in honor of the annual "Cosmere Fandom is Still the Worst Fandom" writing challenge, which is always a good, fun time to make everyone you know distressed and crying. Also, I love sad fanfics. Fandom monster's gotta earn her title somehow. Though technically the lyrics could work for any fandom, it was specifically written for the Cosmere. Original: "The Beautiful Darkside" by The Classic Crime Lyrics: Cosmere's Happening Description: Meant as a "fandom anthem," this one cheers out references to events and places all over the cosmere, because heck yeah, why not? Original: "Something Big" by Shawn Mendes Karaoke Cover: YOU SING Lyrics: In the Final Empire Description: A Survivorist hymn, meant to be from a later era, looking back on the time of the Originators before. (Also the first song I ever covered like this!) Original: "In the Bleak Midwinter," Traditional Hymn Instrumental: Sarah Brightman Lyrics: (written by @EHyde) So, that's what I've got for now. My SoundCloud has a few other covers, but for other fandoms. I'm willing to take requests, though of course, it depends on how well I know the song, if I can adapt the lyrics, and if I can find or make an instrumental track to sing over. Someone on tumblr asked me if I'd do a cover of "Colors" by Halsey for Warbreaker, so I might end up doing a Vivenna and Siri duet for that one. Let me know what you think!

I'm at work. Taking a break. Panic attacking. I made some mistakes and really stormed up, and I'm panicking, and.. Sorry. The 17th Shard is my happy place.

I prefer to keep my options open so far as toppings go, though I am in a longstanding relationship with peanut butter.

Sorry--just saw the posts! Thanks for putting it up, Vreeah! Here's one of my favorite Christmas cards: Pride and Prejudice and Pet hair.

Do we have any theories on how strong Vasher is on Roshar? We know that he's still suppressing his Divine Breath, and that he's at least hacked the magic systems enough to survive on Stormlight/raw Investiture rather than Breaths. My thoughts are as follows; What effect would the red lightning (Voidlight? o3o) have on him with regards to living? How does his body differentiate between using up his Stormlight stockpile and his Breath stockpile? I assume he still has a stockpile of Breath for the Weeping, or some stored in clothes etc like emergency rations. When he absorbs Stormlight, does he glow like Kaladin would, or can he suppress it like Shallan does with her Lightweaving? Since we have WOB that he's been on Roshar before the events of WOK, has he met any of the Heralds? He certainly knows the stances of swordsmanship well... did he have a hand in creating them? And finally... how strong is Vasher? We know it's possible to fuel a Returned with Stormlight, so it stands to reason it can fuel Awakening too... but would the Stormlight run out of the Awakened object at the natural rate of disappation of a Lashing or being infused in a sphere? What about a Stormlight fuelled Lifeless? Would it be able to function for more than a few minutes? I'm just wondering if during a Highstorm, after seeing a Thunderclast and figuring out the visualisation, Vasher could make one of his own with Stormlight-fueled Awakening. Or an army of Stormlight Lifeless that would be able to fight on for the duration of the storm. Of course the Thunderclast would require the Heightening that allows for bringing rock and metal to life... but we don't yet know the rate of conversion for Breath and Stormlight. Does one Broam equal one Nathalian Breath? Does one Highstorm equal enough Breath to reach the Fourth Heightening? We don't see in the narrative anyone notice pockets of bright colour or changes in it around Zahel, so he doesn't have much Breath on him when he meets Kaladin, enough to notice at least. Though Kaladin would have other things on his mind, and unless the effect was striking enough to make a Darkeyes' eyes seem bright while being close to Zahel I doubt the Alethi would notice anyway. I wonder if Stormlight Heightenings would have the same kind of effect as Biochroma with the hack? Anyways, what do you all think? Thoughts? ^-^ Condemnations for stuff that's already been discussed/answered in another thread?

Greeting to all the Cosmere Elite! I have lurked for years now, as I don't have much time for social media. But there is enough going on in the Cosmere, and enough theorizing and random conjecture, I have been lured from my position as a reader and watcher, and will occasionally join in with tidbits of my own. I have a pleasingly complete memory (not quite photographic, but I can remember almost everything I read), even though I am a bit older than Brandon (Sanderson). I will reference where necessary, but like I mentioned, this will only be an occasional jump into the conversation. and probably not a lot of back and forth to look up references. I am very pleased with the congeniality and depth of many of the members here. and hope to increase my sociality with you. I am a director of engineering and have children ranging from 26 to 4, so I apologize for not being as constant as many good threads require. That said, I shall begin posting. Forgive a novices style and technical faux pas, but know I hold you in the highest regards. 1stBondsmith

You mean something like this?

When I was younger, I'd get rash (I have atopic dermatitis. I checked google and I'm issuing an average warning on googling) but it wasn't so bad I couldn't eat things. Well, there was a time I couldn't, but it was when I was even younger. I had a harsh reaction to dairy, so I couldn't even eat butter. Now I have no reaction from eating food and that's very good, since there is a cremton of foods I'm allergic to. That leaves me with dust and pollens. A story to cheer things up: two or three years ago, early spring, I had a random allergy attack. When I was riding a bus to school my eyes started to tear up really bad (strange as there was no other reaction like sneezing or anything). I went with it. In English class I was called to board for a check-up of vocabulary... all the time red-eyed and tearing. My teacher asked me, full of concern in her voice, if everything is okay and "are you going to burst into tears? Because lately one younger girl did". The funny thing is, I was acing through this and remembering all the words while wiping my eyes once in a moment and then she asks me that xD I laughed and explained "Allergy!". That relief on her face, priceless. EDIT: That depends how strong the allergy is. Some can ignore it... but I know of a girl who cannot eat almost nothing normal. IIRC the only meat she can eat is shark. Cannot eat bread. Those things. She is allergic to some stuff in the clothes and wears primarily silk. I may be misremembering details, but you get the picture.

I think that one of the best parts of the Coldplay concert on Wednesday was in Every Teardrop is a Waterfall, when they got to the line "But still I'll raise the flag" and Chris Martin brought out the Utah state flag. He then proceeded to wear it on his head for another few measures or so before continuing on as normal. Basically, if you ever get a chance to see these guys live, take it.

You know you're a Sanderfan when you draw Aons with condiments. I've had an Aon Rao burger and an Aon Mai bowl of ramen already.

Instead of killing you, how about I just advise you go and get a dust mask?

First, my username has finally found a home. I don't know... if your host is Aggrajag, your security team needs to be constantly on watch for an Arthur Dent-incursion. Drake Marshall has the right of it. The Question is not "What do you get when you multiply six by nine?", and it never was. That is the broken, Golgafrincham-descended answer -- their crash-landing in prehistoric Earth disrupted the program and completely invalidated the results. We aren't actually allowed to know the Question, because we already know the Answer. It was stated by Prak, who knew everything that was true, that if any being ever knew both the Question and the Answer at the same time, the Universe would spontaneously vanish and be replaced by something infinitely more complex. There is, of course, the possibility that this has already happened, but we needn't get into that just now.

If we manage to live long enough that is

I first heard of Brandon when he was selected to complete WoT. My initial thoughts were "oh no!!!" But he wrote Jordan as good as Jordan did, so I picked up WoK and WoR and was totally in awe. Then I read Mistborn and came across the odd name of Hoid...and then discovered the Cosmere. (INSERT SNOOPY DANCE) My wife (who is also a big fan) makes fun of me fangirling. Looking forward to the rest

This quote supports either theory. For example, in Chess, what your opponent can do next turn is very limited, and thus easy to remember and easier to predict which move your opponent will make. The more turns out you go the harder it becomes, to the point where you surpass your ability to memorize and predict. For example, one of my favorite Chess quotes (bold+underline emphasis added): I can definitively believe he touched the SR, but the problem is that given enough intelligence and enough information, he could also memorize and predict much, much better, and when he reached the limitations of his new abilities, could have still use intuition to determine the most likely outcome. Another problem is T stayed present enough to write everything down and write a way to translate the anew language he created. But in the SH quote: But maybe T touched the SR and then wrote down what he saw afterwards? The other problem I see is that e.g. Cultivation or Odium could have been influencing him, and I'm not sure if we can tell the difference. One thing I like about your theory is that there's no direct influence on T, so every decision made based on it is all on him. That's a lot of blood on his hands, with no one to shift blame to. Anyway, have an upvote for such an interesting theory.

"The fish rots from the head. So I say, cut off the head!" "Of the human race." -- Billy aka Doctor Horrible and Penny

That almost makes it sound like Nightblood is the Cosmere's equivalence to the Second Law of Thermodynamics. That Investiture has to go somewhere, but it's not like other forms of Investiture, where it still remains usable after being absorbed by Nightblood. Good job, Shashara, you kicked off the Investiture Death of the Cosmere.

That makes a disturbing amount of sense, actually. I should make some radish earrings. I drew a thing.

Soon(tm), it's okay if you blame me. It will be a thing. I just did another thing which affected that thing so I need to fix that.

Tell us the truth: you're secretly Luna Lovegood, aren't you?

Some of my friends aren't readers...

Here in the wilds of the 17th shard we have a excellent example of the spoiler tag conversation!

The other night I got into a philosophical debate with my fiancé regarding the definition of opposites. In summation we were debating the following topic: Ruin and preservation being opposites. I made up these terms so my fiancé could understand what I was talking about (she has only read Sixth of Dusk). Shard Description of Action Higher Level Description Ruin Entropy, intelligent decay, take away Change Preservation To preserve, keep things the same No Change Cultivation To grow, intelligent growth, to add Change If you focus on the “Description of Action”, then you can see that Ruin and Cultivation are opposites (from one perspective). Or you could call them compatible, but those could also mean the same thing; opposites attract y'know. If you focus on the “Higher Level Description”, you can see that Preservation is opposite of both Ruin & Cultivation. Regardless, that is not what this theory is about. The non-sober debate that I had sparked an idea regarding: the three shards, Harmony’s role in the Cosmere, and where this Mistborn/Stormlight Archive plotline is heading. I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty details of how this is all going to play out, I’m merely commenting on the larger moves. Here we go… Something is going to happen in the final installment of the Mistborn Era 2 or 3 events that causes Sazed/Harmony to head for Roshar. (Not sure how the timelines match up so not sure if it will be after Mistborn Era 2 or 3 or somewhere in between) · Maybe Sazed can’t beat whatever enemy is attacking Scadrial and so searches how to resolve his problem with acting (finding cultivation to balance him out) · Maybe he beat the enemy attacking Scadrial, learns some info from the enemy and its possible relations to Roshar/Odium, travels to Roshar and discovers the existence of Cultivation In any case, in this theory Harmony will end up on Roshar and play a role in the climax of the first half of the Stormlight Archive. I have a feeling that Harmony will interact with Cultivation, maybe fall in love with Cultivation, then Cultivation dies and Harmony picks up a third shard (Sad stuff often happens to Sazed). Or maybe Harmony shows up just when Odium kills Cultivation’s vessel, and conveniently picks it up (sound familiar?) Oh and probably some of the characters we like will die sadly but also badassly in this climaz. Anyways, Harmony will pick up Cultivation and become…Ouroboros? Balance? Nature…idk. So this new shard will trounce Odium, but Odium is actually a coward and leaves Roshar to go into hiding, greatly diminished (like Sauron or Voldemort). Boom, end of book 5. Then maybe the second half of the Cosmere will be Odium slowly regaining power, maybe he realized he needs to pick up some more shards to challenge the New Harmony Shard so he searches for some of the more sinister ones. Maybe the New Harmony shard will figure out how get the Dor on his side and it will be like Harmony + 6 shards vs Bodium (Badass Odium) + 7 shards…or something like that I have no evidence, didn’t do much research, I just thought it was a cool/possible idea. TLDR; Harmony goes to Roshar, picks up Cultivation, beats up Odium, Odium flees

So, yesterday night, during a particularly interesting moment of clarity brought on by a lack of sleep and energy drinks, I finally stumbled on what I consider to be my biggest theory related to the Cosmere as a whole. That is, I have a pretty solid idea on how Honorblades function. So, let's get down to business, and take a look at the facts that we know. We know that spren (but only certain types) are able to imitate what the Honorblades are capable of. We know that most of the spren are made from either Honor, Cultivation, or both (I'm not including Voidspren here). There are even some pre-Shattering ones hanging about. We know that some spren, like the honorspren, are actually Splinters of Honor (Syl is a "little piece," I believe the term is). Similarly, there are other spren who either Splinters of Honor, Splinters of Cultivation, or quite possibly both. Splinters are primarily things of the Spiritual and Cognitive Realms, and not so much Physical. (Source) We know, from Warbreaker, that Splinters can be made from living Shards of their own free will. Odium just likes Splintering Shards so that he doesn't absorb them, and so it's immensely difficult for others to seize that power. So, with these facts assembled, I'd like to make the following proposition: Honorblades are Splinters of Honor. Simply put, the honorspren (as an example) were able to mimic what the Honorblades did in the form of the Nahel bond. If that is the case, then there must be some similarity between them (ie, Jezrien's blade and an honorspren would both bond to someone's Spiritweb in the same place). However, there are some key differences, and that's where things get interesting. From what I can gather, the Honorblades lack any form of Intent, or their Intent is not particularly relevant. This is presumably designed by Tanavast, as the Honorblades are capable of bonding to any individual and granting them access to Surgebinding. The spren, on the other hand, can use their bonded individual's alignment with their Intent (ie, adherence to their Words) in order to greatly increase the efficiency with which Investiture is processed and controlled. So, in exchange for being available for virtually anyone to use, the Honorblades lack the ability to process Stormlight as effectively as a Radiant who is fully attuned with their spren's Intent. I've got some further speculations, but these are mostly rough ideas, and heavily rely upon further understanding of the Spiritweb and the Spiritual Realm. Since these aren't subjects we fully understand yet, it's something I'll reserve for a later date.

Drove a car for my first time today! It was a nerve wracking experience. . . . We were driving in a parking lot at sunset, and there was one guy parked in the back corner. Right when we were about to leave, he pulled up ridiculously close to the car and started yelling at us for shining our headlights at him while he was sitting there. ಠ_ಠ What do you want me to do? It's getting dark. We kind of need those headlights to see? But yay for driving!

Adulting Realization #317: That strange and somewhat disconcerting moment when you realize that one of your coworkers is SpongeBob SquarePants....and you are Squidward.

No.

From the Roshar Theatre Players, CHICAGO "...and he ran into my Shardblade. He ran into my Shardblade 10 times."

I actually don't like peanut butter. Never have. Also, has this thread temporarily become "the official thread of relationships... With various spreads"?

I don't mind it, but too much and I feel sick. I hate sweets in large doses, but give me sour any day

That was a very interesting couple of pages.

Okay, I tend to go by page because that seems to strike a happy medium for me between literally spending hours going over it and h and giving what I hope will be useful. Just before going into it, yeah, I am not a huge fan of prologues either-- either they're information that really doesn't need to be conveyed in order to understand the story or it's just a first chapter in a funny hat. If you don't need to know it you don't need to include it, and swapping in a more normal hat for the chapter just makes things a bit more palatable overall. It's a bit of a shame if only because I always like things that reward second or closer reads but especially on an opener, you want to open off with things that are both pertinent and will attract readers. This So yeah. P.1 There's not a lot grabbing me from the outset; I'm reading and rereading the first paragraph and I keep sliding off. The prose just feels out in general here; a lot more distant than it should be for wanting to be immediate and blowing snow and all that. Some odd redundancy with 'mind still imagined'; not much else does any imagining after all. So many questions that are effectively rhetorical right off... definitely not loving those. It's a clickbait headline technique and it's a truism that the answer there is always 'no', rendering the question effectively pointless. The same holds true with how you're using them; it's not meaningfully adding tension. The overall impression I'm getting from the first page here is that it doesn't really mean a while lot as-is; without familiarity I'm not sure why what's going on uniquely matters. The attempts to build tension toward the end of the page that don't use rhetorical questions don't really do their job without the narrative having previously sold us a reason to care. P.2 So I see you've killed some women without ever showing their faces, for the sole narrative purpose of raising stakes for the viewpoint character and to make the reader feel bad for him. On the second page. Please do consider the message this sends about the role and value of women in your narrative, and realize that this is a hard dealbreaker for many readers. Such as myself; I won't be continuing past this point with this submission.

He's very nice. He lets me talk to him for too long about random historical figures, at least. STEP ONE HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED UNFORTUNATELY, STEP 2 TURNED OUT TO BE MORE TO THE EFFECT OF SCREAMING AND RUNNING AWAY I WOULD BE OKAY WITH THE SPY THING THOUGH I'm not really sure I want to go to the homecoming dance. I've had bad experiences with school dances, and I'm not going to date until I'm 16, but he's really nice and I don't want to be mean. I don't know how to say no while still conveying that it's not because I don't like him. It's certainly flattering to be asked, though. I still have no idea why. I'm a complete weirdo. I wore a spoon in my hair today, for heavens' sakes. ...Oh yeah, I wore a spoon in my hair today. Long story.

Since its name is Paragraph, does that mean you just copy and pasted?

I have quite the week ahead of me! First, tonight, I get to see Coldplay! Then there's SLCC. Not the best lineup this year, but you can't really argue with Luke Skywalker, the Green Arrow, and Pippin.

Generation 11 Turn 1 The skaa thief crept along the corridor as silently as he could manage. It was a fairly futile effort at times, as he doubted even he could be quiet enough to sneak past Tineyes, but he was quiet enough to go unnoticed by everyone else. He knew that from experience. But that was why this thieving party was a crew, and not him alone. He had no Allomancy of his own, but unlike many other skaa with no Allomancy, he didn't shirk their benefits out of some strange sense of pride. No, he surrounded himself with people who would make up for this fault – With him right now were three Mistings, a Tineye, a Smoker and a Coinshot. The first two were a necessity for any kind of skulduggery, and the latter was merely to provide some protection in need of a retreat. Not that they were expecting a huge fight. They had chosen this target because it provided the most gain for the least risk. They were financially wealthy, and Allomantically weak. They were politically connected enough that they hadn't become a target for the other Lesser Houses yet, but it was surely only a matter of time. Weakness was not tolerated in any sense by the other Houses. However, until that point, they were a target for thievery. He came to the end of the tunnel, and slowly pushed aside the stone covering. Stepping into the darkness of the cellar, and motioning forward their Smoker, who had a torch, he turned to the Tineye. “What do you see?” “No guards,” she said, shaking her head a little out of habit despite the fact that she was the only one who could see clearly. “Just a load of wine racks and bottles. I can't hear anything nearby either.” “Hmm,” he said, stepping over to one and taking it out of the rack. He read it by the faint glow of the torch, straining his eyes. “Hell, for a destitute Lesser House, they've got a pretty good taste. Maybe I should take a bottle back for us?” he said, grinning at the Tineye. She rolled her eyes and didn't answer. Ah well. She was warming to him. He waved them on and through the cellar, opening the wooden door at the other end of the stairs up. They had entered the small Keep from underground, using secret tunnels built over many years by the Skaa Rebellion. The leader of the Rebellion would be annoyed by them using it and compromising its existence, but it was wishful thinking that it would ever really be used. The Skaa Rebellion was useless and impotent, so they might as well be used for something. They might not achieve any lofty aims, but living in luxury for a while was just as good. It was the dead of night, and there were no guards down here. Why would there be? Any attack would come from above, in the form of one of the gods of the night – a Mistborn. Anything else was a futile attempt at sowing chaos, and would probably cost more to defend against a nonexistent threat than replacing what was stolen. Though not all Lesser Houses had their own Mistborn, of course, so sometimes there was very little that could be done to defend one's House. Regardless, it worked out well for them tonight. They walked through the lowest floor of the Keep with purpose. There were only a few others wandering past them as they went; a few cleaners kept up at the small hours to sweep floors seldom trod. They did not try and stop them, either because they didn't want any trouble, or because they believed they were affiliated with the House. Certainly his team didn't look like your average thieves. They stopped before the turning the corner, and he looked at the Coinshot. The man nodded and produced a few metallic needles. He raised his fingers and counted down. When the third second had passed, he swung round the corner and threw them at the guards' exposed necks, flaring steel to give them extra force. The first went down as it caught him in the throat, clutching at the bleeding wound. The other needle missed the second guard, who started to draw his sword. But while their leader might not have bee an Allomancer, he was fast, strong and quick-witted. His dagger was already drawn as he charged forward. His hand covered the guard's mouth, and he cut the man's throat while the guard tried to bring his sword round to bear. “That was reckless, Kelsier,” Mare sighed. “It worked, didn't it?” He said with a smile as he leant down to pick up the keys from one of the guards' belts. Their whole lives were dangerous anyway. What was the point in being safe and boring? He stood up and unlocked the vault door. He then turned back to the Coinshot of the group, who started to push the heavy door open with his Allomancy. They slipped in to the vault, dragging the bodies with them. No need to immediately alert people if they happened to come down the corridor, after all. Quickly they stuffed gold and gemstones into a pouch. While they might not be stealing much, what they were taking had high value density. On a shelf on its own, a silvery bead of metal. Kelsier reached over and picked it up between his index and middle finger. “Atium?” Mare asked, frowning. “We'd never manage to fence that. And just think what'd happen if they caught us with it?” “What would happen that wouldn't normally happen?” Kelsier shrugged. “We'd be killed on sight anyway, and that's if we're lucky. We might as well. I'm sure there must be a Mistborn somewhere in the Skaa Rebellion that could buy it from us. Pretty decent markup on that.” “I'm not sure the Skaa Rebellion could afford it,” their Smoker said. “They'll pay for it,” Kelsier reassured him, as he stowed it away in his pocket. “Let's go.” Their escape from the Keep was almost as uneventful as their arrival. They couldn't shut the vault without an Ironpuller, but that wasn't too important. Kelsier stopped as they went back to the wine cellar, selecting a bottle from the rack before heading down the tunnel. They would now have to abandon this tunnel and the safehouse it came up near, but they had made a nice little haul with no real risk. But as they left the tunnels and entered the slums of Luthadel, Kelsier wasn't really happy. It was a win, but it wasn't particularly important in the grand scheme of things. A month or two of luxury, then they'd be back at this. Though that wasn't the only consideration here. He was happy that it had gone off, but it didn't feel like enough. “What's wrong?” The Coinshot asked. “I'm not sure,” Kelsier replied with a sigh. “But I think we should set our sights a little higher.” “What are you thinking?” “Hmm...” Kelsier looked up into the skyline. In the distance, a dozen Keeps littered the horizon, surrounding the horrendous sight of Kredik Shaw. “I'll let you know when I've thought of it,” he said. Generation 11 Turn 1 has begun! The turn will end on Friday 2th September at 6PM BST. The game will finish at the end of this Generation. Players may find their riches stolen from them this Generation by the master skaa thief, Kelsier! Generation 11 Player List

New hypotesis... Probably Paalm knowed that Harmony may interctept almost every deadman. And we know that the time of someone remain in the Cognitive (the time useful to Sazed) is longer if the guy is high invested. Therefore it's possible that Paalm killed the guys with Hemalurgy (not because she need some new Spike) to remove a big chunk of Victim's soul. This mean that his transition from the Cognitive to the Beyond may be faster than usual and in a time where Sazed is "busy/distracted" those kill may be unseen by Harmony himself. PS: this give to Paalm also some Spikes if she need them.

With style. jW

You guys can upvote me for that here, if you want. You know, or not.

(Note: an updated version can be found here.) Dr. Seuss One spren, two spren, Lie spren, truth spren. Are the blue spren truly glue spren? This one makes a skyeel fly, That one shows up when you die. Oh what a lot of spren I spy! You have light in your spheres, You have shards in your hand, You have surges to help you to fly and to land! So where will you go? Somewhere high? Somewhere low? To the great Reshi Isles, or somewhere with snow? Perhaps you will dine on some Horneater Stew, Delivered directly through Urithiru. Or maybe the Shin will sell you a chicken (eating it helps Thaylen eyebrows to thicken). There’s so many places and people and spren, It’s easy to wonder just where your path ends. But please, don’t forget, it’s the way that you walk that matters much more than the place that you stop. Yes, the road that you take, whether straight, curved, or bendy always matters the most—just ask the Parshendi.

There was no good company left in the museum. Not that Ray and Voidgaze cared much; after all they had the worst company of all, Nighthound made sure of that. Not wanting to deal with the current occupants of the museum, he fell back on the oldest and most proven form of cruelty, having a conversation. Nothing short of the most violent torture can hold a candle to a good conversation. The three of them ultimately sat down on a patch of earth that wasn´t to overgrown. Voidgaze somehow managed to force one of the dinosaurs to rest its head in her lap and was now petting it. Sadly, while Voidgaze did let some interesting tidbits spill, she seemed rather nonchalant about the topic of death. “Then Corpsemaker destroyed my brain… at least I think that is what happened, always hard to tell when you immediately blank out but I´m fairly confident that my skull didn´t explode, I didn´t get a single drop of blood on my clothes after all and it was painless to boot.” One of lifes more interesting facets was that even from the most disjointed and rambling narratives it was still possible to gain information. Naturally, it wasn´t one of the amusing facets and while the talking about imploding brains properly disturbed Ray the flow of the conversation still needed to be fixed. “Interesting, from my own experience I would say that brain damage is quite painful, in case you survive it. But enough of mundane deaths,” Nighthound turned towards Ray bringing together the fingertips of both his hands, “I´m sure both of us want it to be far far away but kitten let´s be honest, one day I´m going to get bored and will kill you.” Nighthound leaned over to Ray and put a hand on her stomach, half pinning her to the ground. Next to them the white fluff-ball was back to giving death stares, she was disturbingly good at switching between these and brainlessly cheerful. Kind of a shame, she would look pretty good if she ever made a scared face. Not now though, he already had a perfect meal served. Under his grip Ray went rigid, there was still fire in her eyes but the topic of her being murdered seemed to hamper her guts a bit, a pity. Nighthound started to tenderly stroke her stomach, “I have my own tendencies but given that it will be your last moments I might as well give some respect to your wishes.” Further pressing his attack he blew on her scarred ear. Ray hit him right into his jaw, effectively blowing it away. From the corner of his eyes he could see white stirring up.

"There does seem to be some misunderstanding on your part," Lucentia said gravely. "While I am here to collect my brother and I doubt that he´ll leave this place until matters are settled, I do not intend to claim a place in your empire. It is yours and we may collaborate as equals but do not presume that I´ll serve under you, understood?” Oh, Lucentia, Lightwards thought, setting his jaw. I'm going to have to kill you. He didn't say it aloud, of course. He merely met her stone-cold gaze, and put his hands behind his back just as she did. "Of course," he told her with a forced smile. "You hardly seem like one to take orders. Though it's quite a shame--you could be a great asset to this cause. Perhaps someday you will see things... my way." He certainly hoped so. In due time he'd be forced to bring down those distant threats on the horizon; not only CorpseMaker, but Altermind, Funtimes, and now Lucentia. The list of the Empire's enemies was longer than the list of its loyalists. Pushing the thought of finding Lucentia's weakness to the back of his mind, he instead smiled more widely and snapped his fingers. "Tailor," he called to the shop's back room. "Bring Queen Lucentia the finest dresses you have on stock." The sound of shuffling feet confirmed the tailor understood his orders, so Lightwards turned back to the diamond queen. "As for Nighthound," he explained firmly, "I get the impression that he is a man whose loyalty must be bought, not earned. And while your diamonds are certainly exquisite, I suspect that my saurian Warriors are more to his taste." His smile grew a little more sincere, flashing teeth. "I believe I could outbid you for Nighthound any day, Lucentia." The attempt at decent conversation didn't go over very well. Ray flinched at the question, turning her head with a sharp glare. Sam felt a sudden queasy feeling in the bottom of her stomach--Ray's ear. It had been savaged. Now properly in view, she could see the way it had been torn; her earlobe was completely missing, replaced with a mass of scabby tissue. Her ear was red; it was revolting; it would quite probably be scarred. Nighthound was the slontziest slontze to plague Portland for a great many years. “How do you think it treated me?" Ray demanded bitterly, her fists clenched and her eyes flashing. "It didn't wrap me in a nice and fuzzy blanket that much is sparking sure and don´t call me Rachel.” Sam winced slightly at the response. "Sorry," she muttered grudgingly. "I didn't mean--" For the first time, it occurred to her that she may have been a touch insensitive. Pushing down her misgivings, she tried to imagine that she wasn't talking to an Epic; she tried to imagine herself speaking to any decent person who'd run afoul of Nighthound. She tried to think of something to say that would be in the slightest comforting. Yeah, real sorry you're a psychotic Epic's personal pet. Hope he doesn't put you in a sleazy dress or start breaking off fingers or something. She kept her mouth shut to avoid making things worse; the small jungle clearing started to become quite awkward before Revolution stepped forward. "We're sorry," Revolution said softly. She stepped close to Ray, looking at her with very large and sad eyes. "We really are. There's nothing we can do to help you... but I swear I will pray for you every time I see you. And if you need to talk to anyone... if he gets too bad... well, you can talk to us." Sam looked from Ray to Revolution awkwardly. The last thing she wanted to do was have heart-to-heart therapy sessions with an Epic, but... She caught another glimpse of Ray's ear, and nodded with a gulp. "Yeah. What she said." Elizabeth Trattner baked cupcakes. It helped--the working. Helped keep her mind busy. Helped keep her from worrying too much. She cracked eggs into a bowl and took a glance at her recipe. Bakeries in Portland were largely a relic of another world. A world with flour-laden supermarkets and thousands of hungry bread lovers. But with Calamity came a whole new environment for small businesses. Elizabeth poured another cup of sugar into the bowl, frowning over the recipe. She was running low on sugar--she'd have to restock soon. It was no longer a simple matter of running to the nearest Walmart and grabbing a bag, but there were still ways of getting the right ingredients--if you knew where to look. Epics could squash out a great many things, but they'd never quite done away with entrepreneurial spirit. Goods were still made in rural areas across the States, and a lot of those goods made their way into more developed territories. She had a friend who smuggled groceries out of Thoughttown and into the pantries of downtown Portlanders. She poured the last of her sugar into the bowl and began mixing. No... restocking would be easy. She could barter for new ingredients. And, as she rather morbidly found herself thinking, there wouldn't be a starving teenager with a sweet tooth in the house to diminish the finished batch. Sniffing slightly, Elizabeth began putting the batter into the molds, throwing herself into her work. She tried not to think about how Samantha would usually help with this part--she certainly didn't think about what was likely happening to her now. A friend of hers had seen the new Epics' speech in the old playground. Dinosaurs had risen. Trees had become pancakes. People had died. And a girl who fit Sam's description had been taken from the crowd, whisked away by a cannibalistic new Epic. Elizabeth slid the cupcakes into the oven, doing her best to focus on the baking. Her last surviving daughter had likely been slaughtered already. Or she'd been tortured and maimed by the madman who rode dinosaurs. Or she was an undead servant to the man who called himself Emperor. She didn't need to think about such things. Not yet. She turned the oven's dial and leaned against a wall, letting out a tired sigh. There was a knocking on the door. Elizabeth found herself racing to the door with her heart racing, only to stop short just outside of it. Sam wouldn't knock. She'd barge in complaining about the weather, or with a new update on how drunk Chicago Joe had gotten himself. "Who is it?" she called cautiously. Her hands went to a drawer in the hallway, pulling out a small pistol. "It's me," a voice said from the other side of the door. "It's Pamela." Elizabeth hurriedly stashed away the pistol and opened the door, greeting her friend. Pamela Tithers was a tall, moderately wrinkled woman with a determinedly plain appearance. She gave Elizabeth a deeply sympathetic glance, then held up a bag of sugar. "My husband just got this from Thoughttown," she explained cautiously. "Figured you could always use sugar." "That's right," Elizabeth said with a forced smile. "Always." Pamela gave a smile of her own, before dropping her voice. "Are you alright?" she asked softly. "Have you seen...?" Elizabeth shook her head. "Want to talk about it?" "No," Elizabeth replied, her voice cracking a little. "But... but you'd best come inside anyway." The other woman nodded in understanding and stepped inside. Elizabeth glanced out the door, at the empty streets of downtown Portland. "I'm not expecting anyone else today," she whispered to herself. With a ragged sigh, she closed the door and retreated into the house.