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  1. Beyond the incomprehensible depths of the mortal subconscious, there exists a place that is so much like your reality, and yet so very, very different. It is there that a man who's not really a man wades through an ocean that is not really an ocean. In truth, the man is just a mere thought that's manifested existence through purpose. In earnest, the ocean is but an expanse of unyielding silence, freckled with tiny resonances that to you might seem as large as the very stars. In this place, the man has no shape or form, but if you'd like, consider him a undulating wave of gold in an otherwise motionless shadow. In this manner, he weaves between countless glints of white hot luminescence, looking for a spark that may seem indistinguishable from the rest, but if you could only visit this place, you'd realize that no two glimmers shine alike. Here and now, time is meaningless, but if the man desires, he can glimpse into a light and watch as history unfolds. When he finally does find the spark he's looking for, he dives within, and suddenly the man is really a man, though he does not wade in a real ocean. Before him rests a maze of weathered stone with shelves cut so impossibly precise that a million books of disparate sizes can fit into them perfectly. Above him, translucent orbs with jagged scars of color for hearts float in peculiar directions, some even remaining in the air, as if bound there by some unseen force. Even further up, a storm as dark as the night ripples with malevolent energy, though fortunately, it's torrent of hatred is unable to reach the earth. Casually, the man strolls through the winding library. Though he is careful not to trip on the uneven ground, his eyes seldom leave the spines of the books. He does not recognize the odd, symmetric lettering impressed upon them, but the tomes - like the stars - whisper to him, telling him where to go. After an age or so, he hesitates beside a rather large opus, big enough that it could only belong to a king. Curious, the man reaches into his azure coat and retrieves a tiny Crystal Lens, which he then peers through at the name. Nohadon. An interesting person, for sure. A wise philosopher, and brave leader. The sort that the man would love to sit down for a chat. Curious as he was to sift through the King's memories, his was not the story he was searching for, and so he moved on, telling himself he'd return when his job was done. For what could have been a millennia, the man pressed forward until he came upon a series of much smaller books, one of which was so thin it could have passed for a novella. Instantly a pang of sadness thrummed in his heart, for the man knew that most tales as short as these seldom had a happy ending. And yet even without his Crystal Lens, he knew this was the book he was meant to read. To read, and then to retell, for within it existed a lesson worth learning... a life worth remembering. As always, the man started from the beginning. A few words in, and already his eyes had gone wet. But the best storytellers new to never start their tale from the start. And so when he set to do his work, he began, instead, in the middle. Sadly, it wasn't very happy either. With a heavy heart and a shallow stomach, Berilen Valdev - or as she had learned exactly three years to this day, Berilen Leiken - had finally accepted that in many ways, the end was near. On a broad scale, the True Desolation had come. Once upon a time, she would have trusted in the Almighty to deliver them from this evil. Back when she still believed she was the daughter of a wayward priest who had managed to "obtain forgiveness" despite his "multiple indiscretions." Maybe even after she discovered the crimes her true father committed, so terrible that the entire Ardentia insisted on lying to her about it, she would have had faith in humanity. But even that hope had died once she got tangled in this petty war between the Ghostbloods and the Sons of Honor, between the Alethi and the Parshendi. Death. So much death. And it was only the beginning. At the start of her journey, she was but an ignorant little girl, clueless about the world, despite all of her learning. Obsessed with a single goal - to find her father and make him pay - she would have done anything to fulfill it. But of course, alone it was an impossible task. It was as if the man's entire history had been erased once he joined the Diagrammists. But they couldn't possibly kill everyone who met the man. If they did, they would have left her a trail straight to him. Eventually, she did find someone; or rather, that someone found her. Jaral. That bastard. What she wouldn't give to slit his throat for getting her into this mess. Why didn't he warn her of the horrors she would have to witness? Why not tell her of the crimes she would have to commit? Until this Weeping, Berilen had never seen war. Until this Weeping, Berilen had never killed a man. She'd read about war in the history books, but those were just numbers without faces, broken down and processed so that even a child could digest the information. She'd trained how to disable an attacker, or to end his life if there was no other way, but even that was just exercise. Truly no different than running or lifting stones. Or, at least, only until she was truly in danger. Berilen was exhausted. Berilen felt sick. And yet Berilen was here, in Uritheru. The same place her father was. The same place where he had just recently slaughtered so many people indiscriminately. Sure, they might have all been Sons of Honor and Ghostbloods. But what of the others before them? The innocent souls, like her mother and her step-father, or that pregnant Horneater in the Peaks? What of the countless others that he would surely kill to fulfill his precious Diagram? No matter how hard her heart pounded, or how relentlessly her stomach writhed, she had to find him. She had to make him pay. And so she found herself in a market, surrounded by both allies and enemies. Even the allies who didn't secretly work for her father weren't really allies, but she'd have to pretend they were if she wanted to succeed. Once it was over, once she found Agrigar and dealt him justice, she would run. She cared nothing for the Sons of Honor or the Ghostbloods and their idiotic squabbles. And though she knew they'd chase her if she fled - kill her, even - she wouldn't mind. Not so long as she saw the light leave Agrigar's eyes. After that, she too could die in peace. Nothing else mattered. But perhaps that wasn't exactly true... not that the girl would ever admit it. Some part of her conscience thought that if she helped kill enough of these monsters, she might be able to find hope again. She was no Radiant, but since coming to Urithiru, she had seen quite a few, and each found a way to inspire a different sort of hope in different kinds of people, even after the Battle of Narak or the destruction left in the Everstorm's wake. Whether it was Dalinar with his wise guidance, or Kaladin with his unwavering determination, or Shallan with her vast intelligence, they were beginning to change people, affect the world around them in a way that actually meant something. Compared to them, Berilen was small - after all, she was just a child of 15 - but that didn't mean she couldn't be of use to them... to the world. After a while, Berilen realized the others had begun talking, none paying the girl much mind. She had thought her Captain would have attempted to speak with her by now, but alas, she hadn't been passed letters by anyone. Well, she wasn't going to get any closer to finding her father standing here and listening, and thus she deliberated on what she had heard and decided to start a conversation of her own. Already she could tell that this wasn't going to end well. "Seonid," Berilen whispered, the name tasting odd as it passed by her lips. When she realized the man didn't hear her, she tugged on his wrist and repeated it again, this time loud enough that several people could hear her. "Most of what you say makes sense, but I get this feeling that your words are practiced, as if you're just telling us what you think we want to hear. And perhaps this applies to a few others more than you," Berilen looks pointedly that man with the dead eye and the woman who can't seem to stop talking or retracting statements, "but honestly, why discuss the organization of our factions openly? If the leaders do their jobs right, we'll find that out anyway, and bringing it up in public like this is only distracting us from what matters: Finding the Diagrammists. "I may be young, but I learned many years ago how to manipulate an adult when they want you to do something you'd rather not. Just mention something unimportant that interests them, and then sneak off when they're busy with their thoughts. A discussion such as this seems like the perfect way for the Diagrammists to keep our eyes diverted from the knives they're aiming for our backs."
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  2. It began, as all of my problems do, with a woman. It was twenty past five, and I was doing some filing in the back office when there was a knock on the door. Of course it'd wait until I was about to go home. No rest for the wicked, right? I waited a few minutes to see if my partner would get it, before remembering that he was finishing up another case out of the office. I put the files I was looking through on the cabinet and went to open the door. The woman flinched a little when she saw me. I guess I know I have that effect on people, but it still hurts to see it. She was a mousey little thing, looked a little nervous in general. I invited her in as I scrambled to think of where I'd seen her before; the village is small, and everybody knew everybody, to some extent. I'd seen her at something official, always hanging back out of the way. Not important, but important in a way. She introduced herself, and I remembered who she was. Mayor's wife. Well, ex-mayor now, these last few weeks. Widowed so young with a baby on the way. It truly was a tragedy, but the whole world seemed tragic these days. They'd got his killer, strung 'em up a week ago, so at least there was some sense of justice. But I wondered, did that matter to her? It wouldn't make a difference to her kid whether the killer was caught or not. They'd have to grow up without their father either way. “What can I do for you?” I asked, shaking my head of these thoughts and pulling the chair back for her to sit down, and then sitting down in my own chair behind the desk. “How can our agency be of assistance?” She told a dark story, of one of the guardsmen on the walls that had been murdered earlier this day. I didn't see the relevance at first, but as she started to break up and cry, unable to finish a sentence, the pieces all fell into place. Same way the love of her life had been killed. But his killer'd been caught, so that meant there was some kind of criminal group going around. The elders of the village apparently thought it was a smuggling ring. Those idiots wouldn't know the first thing about how to do my job. Sure, I hadn't been a guardsman in Luthadel for several years now, but I could still smell a rat. You get a feel for these things. To me it looked like something much bigger. Those fools couldn't see that the deaths were connected. They thought small, while I was more concerned with the bigger picture here. We're a small town, there's not many murders going on here. Two in a month though? They had to be connected. But if they were, that meant something huge was building up. You don't whack the mayor like that and then do it to a guard just to be able to hock your stuff on the black market. With the mayor dead, the village elders would run around unable to mount any sort of plan, leaving us vulnerable. The guard's death would let them come and go from the village easier. So the question was, what was their plan? I didn't like this one bit. I reassured her that we would look into it. I didn't bring up our fees or anything; with the world how it was these days, and her being like this, it seemed like a pretty pointless thing to do. Cruel, even. I like to think of myself as a good man, when I'm in a good mood at least. I opened the door for her as she left, listening to her trying to hold back tears. Lord Ruler, I hate this job sometimes. But I wouldn't, couldn't, do anything else either. I couldn't look at myself in the mirror if I just let this go. We had to do right by those who had died, and bring this group of murderers to justice. It was important, not just for closure, but for the safety of the people of this village. Justice was not only about punishing the perps, but preventing it from happening again. It might seem strange, considering I'm not one of the guard or militia, but I wouldn't do this job if I didn't care. Old habits, maybe. You could even call me an naive idealist if you like, with this idea of any sort of 'justice' in the world – Hell, I'd even agree with you there – but, I guess it matters to me. Sometimes it's tough, but I'm still here. I returned to my desk and sat down. I leaned back in my chair and pulled out my pouch of dried, crushed leaves. Herbs gown from the isles in the south. Expensive, but every time I took a sniff of the stuff it reminded me why I bought them. I took a pipe out and reached into the pouch for a pinch of the stuff. I frowned as I felt almost nothing left. I'd only bought the stuff a few days ago, and merchants were few and far between in this Lord Ruler-forsaken town. Still, I struck a spark with some flint, sat back and took a drag on the sweet-smelling herbs. After a while, I decided it'd be best to get out there and have a look. It might be late, but I was used to working the late-shift. Not like anyone ever asked me if I wanted to go home and kip when they brought their problems to me. I finished my break and emptied the ashes into a clay pot. Then, I got up and went to the door. I took my coat and hat from the rack, and picked up my dueling cane. I patted myself down to check I had no metal on me before I left. You could never be too careful these days. So, dreading the long night ahead and wishing for a stiff drink to see me through it, I went to snoop around the murdered corpse. It was pretty obvious where it was, 'cause there was already a crowd of gawkers there for the free show. I don't know if the guard was married, but his family wouldn't appreciate their neighbours using him like this. But that wasn't my problem. When I got eventually squeezed my way through the crowd, and convinced the other guards to let me take a look, I found my partner was already on the scene. Funny guy. We met several years ago and tried to kill each other. Now we're firm friends. Go figure. “Poor bastard,” I shook my head as I examined the body. Now, I had no medical training, but I'd guess from the hole in his throat and the bloody knife next to him that he died from a knife in the throat. At least he won't have hung around long after that. Not really quick, but could be worse. Not that it would be any consolation to the guy. I looked up to my partner. He was worried, he saw the writing on the wall just as much as I did. Neither of us liked what it said. But then, weren't we all worried these days? When the world starts to end, you get a bit like that. Stuff starts unravelling at the seams, stuff like people. But thoughts like that didn't help us solve this case. I took my pipe out. If anything called for something to settle my nerves, it was this. I filled it up again while I asked my partner to bring me up to speed. As I light up and listened, I sighed a little. It was going to be a long night. Signing up as Wyl Sharpe, who will be taking the Cosmetic Role of Guardsman, despite not having been an actual guard for many years.
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  3. ... I. What. It's like that time tweezers were banned from airplanes, and somebody said "if you can hijack a plane with a pair of tweezers, then you almost deserve the plane."
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  4. Oh my good golly gosh, I just got the most ridiculous birthday card in the history of birthday cards.
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  5. It’s a fairly simple question. If the world was to end because of carnivorous herbivores, which would you choose? Man-eating Rabbits are genetically engineered creatures that crave human flesh, though they can eat other animals. They hunt in packs, have incredible hearing, and breed quickly. Zombie Cows are the result of an offshoot of mad cow disease. Humans can be infected by a cow’s bite, but the resulting zombie will decompose fairly quickly. Zombie cows move at a trot unless they see food. They tend to travel in herds, and with zombie cows come zombie bulls, which move faster. So which would you choose: The Hare-bringers of Doom or The Undead Herd?
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  6. The 17th Shard Mistborn Stormlight (Includes spoilers for WoR) Warbreaker
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  7. Rabbits, because they can be slain by a holy hand grenade.
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  8. Night 10: ...But Nobody Came Locke (OrlokTsubodai) was an Explorer. Locke/OrlokTsubodai (2): Sheon Idris (Seonid), Aralis (Arais Valerian) Character List Kasther's Pocketwatch
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  9. Last night, Utah gave me the middle finger. I am from Idaho, and I flew to my parents' for Christmas. Since my work was closed on the Friday and Monday around Christmas and New Year's, I noticed that I could use 3 of my PTO days to get 11 days off, which is more time off work than I've had in over 4 years. I decided to do this. Those days off were great. Especially the last 6 days of it. Relaxing, sleeping 9 hours a night, not waking up until 9-10am. It was beautiful. But all good things come to an end, and I had to get ready for my flight back to Utah. It's only a 30 minute flight from my hometown to the Salt Lake International Airport. They allot an hour for it though, for preparation and stuff. So my flight was supposed to take off at 6:20 pm and land at 7:20. Boarding at 5:55. The plane didn't even land until about 6:00, and then there was a plan from LA that landed, and they unloaded that before they let us board the one to SLC (it's a very small airport), so we didn't even end up boarding the plane until 6:30. The LA flight that was taking off after us had overbooked, and they wanted some passengers to move to the SLC flight, so then they had that paperwork to do, with the comp stuff there and everything and that delayed us more. And then they decided to do a roll call of the passengers. Twice. Yes, I said a roll call on a plane. They went down the rows one by one and marked everyone off. And then they did it again. Note: these planes hold a max of 50 passengers. Yeah, we didn't take off until about 7:15. And didn't land until just before 8. Since so many other passengers had connecting flights that were either boarding right then or just about to board and I'd already "missed" my train to Provo (more on that in a bit), I waited until almost everyone else had left the plane. Provo is about 40 minutes to an hour south of Salt Lake City, in good driving conditions with moderate traffic. There is a mediocre public transit system in the Salt Lake area; the street level system is called TRAX and the north-south train running from Ogden to Provo is Frontrunner. Both are operated by the Utah Transit Authority. I checked the UTA site prior to even leaving Provo before Christmas to make sure that it would be running on January 2nd, and there were no notices about limited services. I checked the site again when I was arranging a ride from the Frontrunner station in Provo to my place. Again, no notices. I get to the TRAX station at the airport (you have to take TRAX to Frontrunner, since Frontrunner doesn't go to the airport), and check the app on my phone. It's showing no Frontrunner services. I call my dad and have him check the site again, and he doesn't see any notices about it, though he ended up finding a notice on a back page that no one who is looking at schedules is ever going to look at. I confirm with a UTA guy on the platform when the TRAX train shows up that yes, Frontrunner is indeed not running. I called my sister who lives in the Salt Lake area. She usually works Monday nights, but miraculously, she was not working when I called. She said she'd come pick me up. It was snowing, and the roads were pretty bad. Over the next hour while I waited for her, I learned that there were no shuttles from the airport to Provo for the rest of the night, and I was mildly worried that I would have to stay at my sister's for the night, and find a way to Provo early in the morning, when it was unlikely that the roads would be any better then (surprise: they weren't). My sister finally got to the airport at about 9:40 pm. The roads were terrible. Some areas weren't too bad--in fact, they were almost completely clear--but other areas were packed with snow and there was no traction at all (this was mostly just one highway that is notoriously bad. Once we got off that road, even the snow-packed roads had at least a bit of traction). We avoided the freeways, staying on city roads because those were generally better (and the other people on the road generally weren't tailgating and driving too fast). I did not get home until 11:45. She did not get back to her place until 1:30. She is an angel and I love her. But anyway. I could feel the stress in my body, so I decided to sacrifice some of my sleep to take a long, hot shower to wash out some of the stress. And the hot water ran out not even 8 minutes in to my shower. So I went to bed. And I woke up multiple times to snow plows making a racket out on the main road (which is right outside my window), police sirens heading to accidents, and my roommate's dog's high-pitched whine and barking at the sirens and everything else. And a train's horn (because now the trains are running. Of course...) And then this morning, my car got stuck while trying to get out of my driveway, because of the snow that had already been on the ground and the about 4-6 inches that were dropped after I got back last night (I could barely see the indentations of my footprints from the night before). I got to work 20 minutes late (which was fine because my boss knew what was going on, but still). This year is off to a grand start.
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  10. Herwynbe meticulously dusted the ash off of his steward's robes, then carefully donned them. He had work to be about, and his Master had been quite specific in Herwynbe's instructions. Herwynbe didn't question those instructions- that was not his place. His place was to attend to his Master's affairs, promptly and neatly, and that is what he would do. The steward stepped out into the streets and glanced to the west- the sun was low in the sky- not quite to the edge of the horizon. The mists would be out soon. He walked to edge of the crowd that had formed- another murder, it seemed, and called out to the milling throng. His voice was not particularly loud and was far from forceful, but it held an air of calm assurance that caused it to carry through the crowd anyway. "My friends and fellow citizens, my master bids you a good evening. Darkness will be upon us soon, I am afraid, but my Master has offered all of you sanctuary in the manor until the night has passed. If you will follow me, you will find the accommodations both more comfortable and secure than those you would find at an inn or tavern, I think." It seems like in all of these games our meeting place is the local bar or tavern- I thought we'd mix it up a bit and hang out in a slightly different setting- Herwynbe's anonymous Master's manor house. Of course if people would rather not go there, that's fine, too. Its been a while, but I'm excited to be back for AG3!
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  11. My ACT scores are in and I got a 29! (I'm in 10th grade)
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  12. Sorry to change the subject, but here's an observation about some of the glyphs. It's a possible insight that you can't get from the Thaylen script. On the Frostlands map, the word "Alethkar" just starts with L, so obviously the Thaylens don't indicate an initial vowel. But maybe the old proto-Vorin language did. (Most Earth abjads do.)
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  13. I recently found a WoB about Roshar's Homosexuality as far as it says...On Roshar is not so problematic for the Vorin:
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  14. The Curse of the Koloss The Villagers watched in horror as it had done a thousand times before, the village of Tyrian Falls coalesced from the Mist around them. The buildings would change. The seasons would change. Even the people would change. What never changed was the fact that they were trapped in an endless cycle of bloodshed and destruction. As the sun crested the horizon, burning away the last wisps of mist and causing the village to finish solidifying, they could tell that, this time, it was late Fall. The ash falling from the sky was swirled about by the slightly crisp winds. Slowly, the memories of all the deaths and betrayals faded from the villagers’ minds. The only time that they remember that they had slaughtered each other hundreds of times over was when things would reset as they just had. Then, it would all come rushing back to assault them anew. But ignorance is bliss and they never remembered for long. Never long enough to realize what was happening. Never long enough to remember that there were Koloss coming for them. Never long enough to prevent it. Each time, they had to rediscover these things anew, including the fact that there were Spiked amongst them; plotting everyone’s destruction…. Wow. Three years. You guys are insatiable! How many people must you all kill before you’re satisfied? While the rest of the world was lamenting about 2016, I’d say that we all had a pretty awesome year with some amazing games. And it’s all thanks to all of you, our players. Thank you so much for signing up and playing and making these games the best around! Before we get into the rules for the AG this year (and even if you’ve read them from a previous game, you’re going to want to go over them again this time), an announcement of just one of the things that we’ll be changing for the upcoming year*. One thing that we noticed over this last year is that we’ve had a lot of Non-Sanderson related games this past year. We’ve traveled to Westeros, Temerant, Japan, Alera, Kanto, Mars, and Cyrodiil; though there might be others that I missed. This isn’t exactly a bad thing. We like being able to introduce people to new settings and this a great way to do it. But we’d like to focus this upcoming year to getting back to our roots. Games have gotten increasingly complex as well as the number of Non-Sanderson related works. So we’re limiting the number of Non-Sanderson games for the upcoming year to 3-4. This way, we’ll still be able to explore new series and new settings, but we’ll be able to really build the SE lore as well. And we’ve come up with a pretty fun way of deciding which Non-Sanderson games will be run during the next year, if I do say so myself! For those of you who either played LG2 or have read it, you’ll know that there was an addition in that game called Cosmetic Roles. These roles didn’t affect the game, but provided some fun ideas for people to play around with. We’ve expanded on the ones in that game and added them to this AG. Every player will not only need to sign up with a character, but they also either have to pick a cosmetic role from the list below or, pending GM approval, create one of their own. The players that followed their Cosmetic Role the best (chosen by the Mods) will be able to choose which Non-Sanderson related games will be ran in the upcoming year. They don’t have to use it right away. They could hold onto it for a fun game that they see in the Art of Game Creation thread or even run one of their own choosing. And that’s it! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. On to AG 3! The Curse of the Koloss. *Keep an eye on the Q&A thread for more. We have some ideas we’ll be running by you guys that we think will greatly increase everyone’s enjoyment of these games. Oh no! Koloss have begun advancing on your little town, Tyrian Falls! Since The Lord Ruler died, they seem to be acting with a mind of their own. Unfortunately for you, your town is a way point between Fadrex City and Luthadel. This means you have a stockpile of metals. Perhaps that's why they targeted you in the first place. On the other hand, you have a large collection of metals. So you might be able to hold them off. ….Unless there’s someone (or a conspiracy of someones) out to undermine your defenses. Somehow, before the Koloss arrive, you have to rid your town of these dissenters; those that are Spiked. Until then, you won't be able to mount an effective defense for your town. If you fail, everyone dies, so you better not fail! Factions: Some people within the town have been hiding a few secrets; some of them are Mistings, so you have help in your battle versus the forces of Ruin. Although some of them may be Spiked instead. Why can't anything be easy? Roles: A new addition to the AG, this year everyone will also choose a Cosmetic Role when they create a character for the game. A Cosmetic Role does not affect the mechanics of the game in any way. They are there mainly for RP and entertainment purposes. If you’re not a big roleplaying person, that’s okay. There are ways to do a Cosmetic Role without a lot of RP or even just a couple sentences, so I don’t expect this to be too much of a burden for anyone. You can either choose one from the list we have below or you can create your own, pending GM approval of your Cosmetic Role. Have fun! Cosmetic Roles: We'll be starting on a Night round. This is due to the fact that that was how it was before and I think it will give people a chance to establish some RP before the game actually starts (which always helps make the write ups better, IMO). Also, this should avoid a lot of the typical Day 1 issues of people feeling like they have nothing to go off of on the first day. Order of Actions for the Night will be: -Smoker -Seeker -Lurcher -Coinshot/Kills Days will be 48 hours long and Nights will be 24 hours long. Rollover should be close to 11PM-12AM EST. No hints will be given in the write ups. Allegiance and Roles will be reveal upon death. And we're ready to begin! Sign ups will last a week, so we'll be starting on Jan 9th. Will this be the time that the curse is finally broken? Let's find out! Good luck! Quick Links:
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  15. Hey, I'm SirLight and I've been a fan of Brandon for years since I read Alloy of Law. I've also read, in order, The Ways of King, Words Radiance, The Emperor's Soul, Warbreaker, and The Rithmatist. I'm hoping to get Arcanum Something-something. xD
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  16. Quick preface, I wrote this quickly one night as a way of introducing my dad to the cosmere, a way of explaining what to look for while reading with out giving any real spoilers. It pretty much sums up what happened to create all the shards we see running around the cosmere. let me know what you guys think, and if you have suggestions be sure to let me know. Its in spoilers because of length. Please let me know any suggestions you guys have.
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  17. I have decided to make an account here because Way of Kings is the best book I've ever read. My friend pushed me to read it and I have to admit, I was a bit reluctant at first. However after reading the first couple of Kaladin chapters/his struggles with bridge 4, I blew the the rest of the book very quickly. Since then I've read Words of Radiance, Elantris, and The Final Empire/Well of Ascension. I am currently reading The Hero of Ages, and am beyond hyped for the release of Oathbringer. Stormlight is king, but Mistborn is proving to be quite extraordinary as well
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  18. @Kaymyth Yep, totally missed that. Incredible. @bleeder, you have nice ears.
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  19. I was on Reddit and I found a specific post on the matter:
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  20. Credit for this meme idea goes to @bleeder. Possible minor spoilers for... the Cosmere in general, I guess? I also have two more Joseph Ducreux memes with Sanderson quotes.
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  21. I wondered who was in charge of TLR's hemalurgy department. And then it hit me.
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  22. As has been the case with most threads I've started lately, this one is not a complete theory, but more of a dump of my thoughts on a topic in the interest of finding out where the conversation will take us. I've been thinking about cognitive shadows - in part because they are fascinating, but also in part because we now have a couple of examples of cognitive shadows that have managed to come back to life, so to speak, which means we can start theorizing about how those things work. Specifically, we know that the Returned are cognitive shadows shoved back in their bodies and kept there by virtue of a Divine Breath. There have been a few WoBs about this recently, and so I am pretty confident in this interpretation. Someone dies, their Realmatic aspects separate, Endowment shows up before their cognitive aspect (a cognitive shadow) and offers them a chance to Return; some do, at which point Endowment uses a bunch of her investiture (or creates a Splinter on the spot) to re-knit the separated aspects and put the mind (the cognitive shadow) back into its body. The soul, presumably, follows by default since it is the one aspect that gets a chance to look into the future. If I am correct in this, it is possible that some Realmatic shenanigans can ensue (stuff related to Identity, for example); more on that another time though. Kelsier almost definitely engineered his own resurrection by way of Hemalurgy. It is not unreasonable to believe that the Sovereign's eye spike carries Kelsier's cognitive shadow (or was at least instrumental in putting his mind back into a body). It also looks like the body he is using currently (or was using a decade after the Catacendre) has the same scars as his original body did; which, given that his original body was eaten by a kandra, means that he either manually modified his new body to have the scars, or the new body underwent a process similar to what the Returned's bodies experience - a physical change. So what are the interesting takeaways here? The thing I am most interested in is that it takes investiture - a Splinter-level amount of it - to put a cognitive shadow back in a body. This is obviously not a problem for the Returned, as Endowment herself is doing the Returning, but it's a barrier Kelsier would've had to overcome. Furthermore, I am reminded of Wax's death, and how it took the Bands (and maybe Harmony) to bring him back to life and heal his body. Considering that Kelsier himself probably wouldn't have been able to do much, it would've had to have been Spook who secured the investiture needed for Kelsier's resurrection - which makes me wonder if it wasn't Spook who created the Bands in the first place. There is also the topic of memory loss. I don't know the proper terminology here, but Returned seem to lose all memory of events, places, and people, while retaining their... muscle memory, but it's more than just muscle memory. I don't know if Kelsier suffers from a similar problem. We see very little from his perspective, and it could be interpreted either way - Wax notes that an image tickles Kel's memory from a long ago (which could suggest that he has these memories, or that he is trying to recall something and fails to). The "Survive" command he speaks fits him thematically, but it could've been something Spook told him (i.e. "Look, here's this religion that people made for you, it's all about surviving"). I am reminded of how kandra lose memories without their spikes too, and so I have to wonder if we are looking at different manifestations of the same cause. I think that's enough rambling for now though. Let's see if someone can take it from here
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  23. We all know Sanderson hides secrets but you knew he hid them in front of your very eyes. This text reveals it all Josh has many books. On his shelves he has nine copies of The Way of Kings, 13 different Mistborn novels, 5 posters Eric is jealous of, and two hardbacks of Elantris. How many books does Josh have? What is the point of having the word different, is this the key to it all. And because era 3 is in the future could josh be a character from the 3rd trilogy. by the way I did not write the bolder text as you may remember it from registration. REQUIRED
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  24. "Did I tell you? Did you listen to me? Oh no, no, you knew better didn't you? No, it's just an ordinary rabbit, isn't it. The names you called me. Well, don't say I didn't tell you." -Tim the Enchanter
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  25. She isn't. Not by far. That's a good point. However, I'd add that they have the following disadvantages: 1) Their horrific appetites and taste for human flesh would make them a highly visible threat from the beginning. If a handful of cute little rabbits stripped a farmer to the bone in seconds flat, that crem would be on the news instantly. It would go viral. Everyone would know about the fluffy little piranha making their way across America's breadbasket (or wherever they happened to start out) by the end of their first day out, and they would prepare quickly. Knowledge of these fearsome critters would spread rapidly, and their rapid multiplication rates would give local and national governments a sense of urgency in stopping this invasive species. 2) As rabbits, they are highly vulnerable to lots of things. I've already covered their weaknesses to bullets, poison, and rocks thrown at high speeds; but they can also be trapped. Their appetites could prove to be their undoing, as, deprived of their choice prey, they resorted to chowing down on some lovely little meat cubes left out and—whoops. There they go. Trapped, dead, or dead and trapped. 3) With their high visibility and behavior being common knowledge, if an eccentric who kept a few man-eating rabbits as pets tried to take them overseas, it's likely they would be stopped and perhaps arrested at customs. Say what you will about the TSA, but if they won't let you keep your 4.5 ounce bottle of hand sanitizer, there is no way you're getting on that plane with a man-eating rabbit. And, if by some miracle you do get those hares on a plane, Samuel L. Jackson will be nearby and ready to film an unexpected sequel to one of his films. None of this is to say that these rabbits could be kept from causing damage, because they would definitely cause damage. Potentially a lot of it. Some of that damage might be beyond immediate repair. However, these critters would be enough of a visible threat that governments and citizens would mobilize quickly and decisively, keeping them from doing their absolute worst.
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  26. Mage, you can think you're better-looking than me all you want, but you're not. Ask your wife: she spent enough time looking at me yesterday to know.
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  27. Rabbits. Man-eating or not, they can be taken down with a much smaller caliber of bullet (or a rock from the slingshot of a practiced sportsperson) than a zombie cow. Not BB gun-small or airsoft gun-small (unless you're talking the really powerful ones). They could perhaps even be baited with poisoned meat (non-human meat, I'm not a sicko) because, man-eating or not, rabbits usually aren't that bright. Point is, there are more things capable of killing a man-eating rabbit, and those things are more widely available. As has been pointed out before, zombie cows would make for bigger and slower targets, but who knows how much of their meat would wind up in stores before world governments realized that—hey, wait a second, these cows are storming zombies?
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  28. I'm signing up as Nicki, a noblewoman looking for a way to de-inquisitize her father. She's in Tyrian Falls looking for metals related to Inquisitors, which is her 57th lead in six years. I'd like to have the CR of theorist, where every few posts I come up with an incredibly wrong theory about Inquisitors, how they are made, and how they relate to the Spiked.
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  29. Well, this is gonna be the third game I'm playing at once! Ha! My mind is going to die. I'm going to be some kind of Narcissist/Compulsive Gambler Combo, and don't worry, I'll be able to mention just how much better than you I am at everything, in every post. In fact, I'm willing to bet that I can beat you, in any contest, of your choice. @Metacognition, doesn't the Narcissist think he's better looking than the Casanova? Actual RP to come when I have time.
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  30. Allomantic gold lets the user see an alternate past version of themselves. Feruchemical aluminum stores a person's spiritual identity. If there was a Twinborn with both powers, would they be able to store the spiritual identity of their gold shadow? If so, you could possibly manipulate this in order to quickly learn/store skills, similar to how Shai spent time in other cultures and learning to Forge her identity in specific ways. An example could be spend some time in a circus, leave, and then use this process to temporarily have the skills of an acrobat. Store enough of your shadow's identity, and then repeat the process with another way of life. Would this method work for a gold-aluminum twinborn?
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  31. All right I am back with an update (I'm almost finished with the front legs.) the spoiler tag is for size
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  32. So, this thing sorta popped into my head tonight. I'll warn you, it's dark - definitely several shades darker than the source material. But hey, it's something to read while I polish up my big work. Might be there's more story to this, if people want me to write it. This didn't take terribly long to pop out.
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  33. via Imgflip Meme Generator
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  34. Depending on how many troops stayed behind with Taln, Ishar could have killed them as well. But if Taln is like to get himself killed anyway, Ishar could have been more subtle. If he has any influence on battlefield communications, deploying reinforcements, or so forth, then he could do a lot to ensure that Taln's forces were overwhelmed. (And Guiding is one of his attributes; presumably this is within his wheelhouse.) There's no reason why he should have do anything big and splashy like kill another Herald when a Desolation should offer so many other possibilities for mischief. And if I can go from speculation to wacky conspiracy theories... maybe it's no miracle that only Taln died. If Ishar and Odium are working together, couldn't he direct his forces knowing that the only Herald he really wants to kill is the one too stubborn to quit no matter what? He could in essence be throwing this Desolation in order to bag a more lasting victory.
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  35. Oh... I already playing 2 games, but atleast for month I'm absolutely free so I think I can play one more . So I signing up. Can I take two Cosmetic roles? If I can then I take Forgetful and Past life, if I can't then I choose only Past life. That was evening or that was just morning I'm was not sure about that cause ash unstoppably fall from the sky, yeah ash falling from the sky was usual for this part of year,for every part of year... ohh colours. But today there was even more ash falling from the sky. I slowly approached to the small town... what reason was for that? Why I go to this town? Who knows, not me. Only reason that I've seen for that that I was mercenary, how long ago I choose this work or better to say this way in life... honestly I can't remember. I even don't remember all my own story. Once I just wake up in old dirty inn, that was my first memory. How long ago that was? Twenty years ago I think or that was just yesterday, but I can't be sure in it. Why? Hmm... because I've not aged even little bit for that twenty years. Sometimes I see the dreams about colorful land with green grass and those colorful things... flowers, i remember them, never seen but remember. Only thing that I know that mercenaries life is hard... you should always gamble, never sure in next day. Not sure how long you gonna survive, in some periods of life you can have pockets full of shiny coins or starve for weeks. You can live long life with enough luck or with lack of that and be betrayed and killed by peoples whom you believed more than anyone else or you should not believe in luck and betray them first. But even if you lucky enough you always should gamble cause no one likes mercenaries. That's why I'm here where I'm. I walked through the arc of gates (gates and wall around town was wooden and not very high to provide good defense if absolute chaos that consumed all world gonna reach this place). Group of guards that stayed in gates looked really pathetic: dirty uniform that does not fit their size, old rusty weapons, and eyes their eyes spoke of the situation better than everything else. I've seen that eyes earlier and not once... eyes full of fear and doom. One of them stepped forward: "Your name and reasons for visiting our town" he asked cautiously. I grinned " Arinian. It's not reason why I'm here but my name. And reason why I'm here is obvious. Do you know other towns between Fadrex City and Luthadel that still was not destroyed. I don't know." Guards eyes widely open in horror "But there atleast was three more towns between..." "Oh you don't know they all destroyed by army of Koloss." I said. He turned and looked in town "I... I must report to the mayor." "Hey, wait. So I can go in town?" I asked. "Yes, yes," his eyes lingered on the sword on my belt. "Just don't kill someone." And here I'm in this beautiful town. Also I will just write how my character looks and what he wears because I did not mention this in my RP: Long dark hair, dark green eyes, high but not too high, pale skin, well-knit, have scar that runs from the corner of right eye to the chin. Wears: dirty brown leather jacket (two knives in pockets in it), long straight sword, dark trousers, black leather boots, gray shirt that once been white. (And I hope that atleast part of what I'm wrote is understandable )
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  36. I'm signing up as Nyah, an orphan living on the streets. My parents left my brother and I one day, and I never knew why. Maybe they couldn't afford to feed my brother and I anymore, or maybe they just went for a short trip. All I know is that whenever I asked him, my brother always said that Mistwraiths ate my parents. Who knows, maybe they did? At the least, I know Mistwraiths are behind the recent troubles. Perhaps the Lord Ruler was eaten by one too? At the very least, they must be stopped, whatever the cost.
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  37. I missed my delivery over Christmas and finally got mine too! Had not seen the notice in all the running around. Because it's so small, my question was "Do powerful magnets affect metalminds or metal reserves in a metalborn?" I had wanted to ask "Do powerful electro magnets, like an nMRI, affect metalborn reserves or metalminds, and if so, will we see them having security applications in future Mistborn eras?" But I had to pare it down due to character limit. His answer was "Yes. But.... That has a "*" on it." So yes, but no idea if they will be involved in anti-Allomancer security systems. And the star seems to hint that the investiture might hack physics a bit, as it has been known to do.
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  38. Oops, yeah, I was in a hurry, sorry :-P Im joining as Stick, a Forgetful, who forgot to put in a role when signing up
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  39. I kept using the look and finally got my way! Yay for me!
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  40. Just popping in to say happy anniversary (And to wish the spiked good luck in continuing the tradition of killing everyone in anniversary games )
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  41. INFP, the personality trait that is so often depicted as happy-go-lucky, endlessly distracted daydreamers... but, I take your stereotypes, and I raise to you...Tolkien Also, can I just say, I find the image on the 16personalities website for INFP really amusing. I did this with my friends, and they all got characters that looked like successful scientists, fun singers and heroic fantasy protagonists. And then there was me, barefoot and surrounded by butterflies. BUT, we have Tolkien (and butterflies apparently)
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  42. I've always liked Shallan. In WoK I liked how her story was a nice tonal break from the Shattered Plains, and made the world seem a bit larger. As a character she always wanted to know more about what I want to know more about, so that helps a lot too. WoR only made me love her more: her backstory was great and her rise in confidence/power/influence was compelling. I tend to agree that there's a little part of her that hasn't 100% decided where her real loyalties lie, and to me that's what makes her such a great character. I think it's much easier to imagine where Dalinar will be at the end of Oathbringer than Shallan. I 100% agree with this. Kaladin can be petty and self-destructive in WoR, and it makes his story great. I love when he interrupts Adolin's big move against Sadeas to call out Amaram and it completely falls flat on its face. I don't want a character who is always going to make wise decisions, because that's hard to care about. To me it's more interesting to watch the heroes be unsure what they should be doing or what they want to be doing.
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  43. Cycle 1: The Hunt Begins 21 people had all found themselves in the same stall at the market. And if you were wondering, the stall sold everything. If you can think of it, it sells it. Weapons, fish, bread, books, stories about 20 people all murdering each other as they try to win an online game. All kinds of things. But I digress, let’s not focus on the stall, or the market, or the bustling city of Urithiru slowly expanding as life carries on for every single indescribable human moving there. Let’s instead talk about the murderers so called politicians. After all, some of them do have to work with others to get rid of the undesirables. Who are the undesirables? The mathematicians Diagrammists of course. It was up to the Sons of Honour to take them down! But actually, it was up to the Ghostbloods to take them down! But actually actually, it was up to the Sons of Honour to take them down! And so on and on and on and on and on and on and off. Anyway I’ve digressed again, so let’s start again. 21 people had all found themselves in the same stall the the market. None of them knew who was who, or if they really were even a person. The level of paranoia was indeed that high. Each was silent, almost as if they were waiting for an order from someone else. The owner of the stall was busy ordering his stock. The 20 people still had not moved, still looking like they wanted an order. The owner of the stall failed to see the hint he had just been given. Someone walked by the stall, commenting “Now would one of you go get the owner of that stall and tell him to do something?”, which was very convenient for the story and totally accidental. And it was Stick who got the owner, and it was Stick that got pinched and fainted from the pain, but at least the owner got the memo. “Alright everybody, you can either stay in my stall or you can finally get to the fun bit of this whole thing!” And so all the remaining 20 players started shouting over each other. ---- And so MR19 begins! All PMs are sent. This cycle will end at 12:30 PM MST on Wednesday. I'll edit in a countdown in a few minutes. The player list is up-to-date, with 20 players and 1 pinch-hitter. If you have any questions, ask in the thread or in your GM PM. Remember that this is a limited PMs game, so do not send PMs this cycle unless you are Restares/Thaidakar, a Commander or a Captain. Each of these positions can send one PM each cycle to someone reporting to them in the chain of command. Thank you and good luck!
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  44. Are you sure you aren't Renarin?
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  45. 2 likes
  46. I definitely will, thank you . Also, as I understand it, not everyone can create PMs, only those who have the power to can (Bondsmiths, Runners, Leaders, Commanders and Captains). It is stated in the rules that the ones created Runners and Bondsmiths will last until one of the players in the PM is dead (basically the remainder of the game), so I'm guessing it's the same for the ones created by those in command? Edit- Oh, I just saw this answered above.
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  47. Not according to both Wikipedia and urbandictionary, which seem to be the only two main sources with a definition. Both of those say it just has to be the same gender.
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