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Day 14: Not Again Senn felt that looming sense of deja vu that he’d been feeling ever since that first man had died with a warning on his lips. He watched as the entire town fell into chaos and couldn’t help thinking that it was all too familiar. Now, he was staring at pages upon pages of reports about what was happening in the village; all of it dismal. There was a lack of food and supplies. No preparations were being made to stop the coming horde. Buildings were being looted and burned. And it all felt like he had been through it all before. He could almost tell what the next page was going to say before even looking at it. Senn rubbed at his temples, trying to massage away this portending feeling he had. He felt so helpless at the moment. He knew that he should be down in the village trying to add some sense of stability and try to steer things away from this course, but it seemed as if this was fated to happen. If it wasn’t, his feelings of deja vu wouldn’t still be there, right? Eventually, he couldn’t take just sitting there anymore and so he began pacing. This triggered another episode of deja vu in him and it just made him more antsy. What were they to do? Was there anything they could do? Were they meant to just die here, again and again; never learning from the error in their ways? He paused in his pacing. Again? Where had that idea come from? He’d never been through something like this before…. Had he? Suddenly, he just knew that he’d find his inkwell would be dry. He didn’t know how he knew, but it would be true nonetheless. He had what seemed like a vision of him going to collect a new one and then returning to his study, only to be ambushed and killed. He shook himself back to reality. The vision had seemed so clear and so detailed, but it couldn’t possibly be true. He had noticed that it had been snowing out in the vision and there wasn’t even the hint of frost in the air yet in the season. Even so, it was with a shaky hand that he finally built up the resolve to reach out and check the inkwell. *slosh* Senn let out a breath that he didn’t ever realize he’d been holding. The inkwell was still easily half full. His sense of deja vu had been wrong. He mulled over that last bit in his mind for a moment. His sense of deja vu had been wrong. If it had been wrong here, then that meant it could be wrong in other areas too! Perhaps the town wasn’t fated to fall! Perhaps there was still hope! For the first time in weeks, Senn turned to look out the huge window that dominated one wall of his study and looked out at the town of Tyrian Falls with something bordering on optimistic resolve. He smiled. He didn’t notice the figure standing behind him in the reflection of the glass until he felt something tug at his throat and soon after the world went dark. The only thought that Senn could muster before dying was, Not again… Night 14 is over and Day 14 begins! You have 48 hours. Seonid was attacked! They were a Regular Villager! Good Luck! Player List

I was there for about half an hour but I did manage to get one question in. Wish I had gotten there earlier. My general remembering of my question: Q: In the Stormlight Archive, there's a relationship of some sort between the Chasmfiends and the thunderclasts (Brandon generally agrees here). Is there a similar sort of relationship between white spines and the Midnight Essences? A: Yes, but it's a more tenuous one. The Midnight Essences imitate whatever's around them. I interpret this to mean that the Midnight Essences were imitating whitespines during Dalinar's vision, but that there isn't necessarily a deeper relationship there.

Don't worry. The con staff picked up the recording device. I'll get it from them tomorrow. Preliminary report from Day 1: Brandon started his signing almost an hour early, which was perfect for me because I had to leave shortly after getting my books signed. Hopefully I'll get more chances to interact with him tomorrow. I had fun talking to other fans in line and handed out about 150 business cards directing people to the 17th Shard. Probably 10% of those acted like they might join, so I'm hopeful that we'll get some new members and maybe induce some of the lurkers (I met quite a few) to make accounts. I also got to present Brandon with a copy of my Seusslight Archive fanfic. I'll post images over here later tonight. The signing line was recorded, and @yulerule was standing by the table to listen to all the questions being asked. If the recording is unclear, she may be able to clarify or add context. I got several questions answered. Wording is from memory, but should be pretty close. (book photo in spoiler) Q. What Radiant order would accept Allomancer Jak? A. [written] It would depend on the spren, but possibly. There are a few that would have liked him once... A. [verbal] There is some portent in that answer. Note: There are several ways you could interpret that, but I took it to mean that the spren who would be attracted to Jak were killed or estranged during the Recreance and would be unlikely (or unable) to bond with him now. (book photo in spoiler) Q. Do oathgates obey physical realm speed-of-light constraints? A. [written] Nope! Good question. A. [verbal] We are playing fast and loose with causality Q. Nalthis has 5-centric numerology. A. Okay... Q. Do regular humans count as the fifth type of biochromatic entity? A. I'm going to RAFO that for no good reason, but for lots of good reasons. Q. We know that recording things can lock spren and cognitive elements into certain states. Does the existence of the written Diagram have a Realmatic effect? A. [cautiously]The written Diagram does have a Realmatic effect. Q. Did Taravangian know that when he wrote it? A. Define "know." In the sense that a table knows it is a table, yes. Note: This response didn't make a ton of sense to me. Maybe the transcript will clarify things, but his hesitancy and body language made me think that my theory in this vein is mostly not correct, even if some pieces of it are.

I currently own card decks featuring characters/art from the Song of Ice and Fire universe and Name of the Wind universe, and I was thinking about how awesome it would be to own a Cosmere card deck! I haven't seen them anywhere so I'm assuming this hasn't been done, but I hope they do this eventually. In the meantime, here's some cool ideas (I think) for who would be on what card: Hearts (Elantris) Ace - Hoid (As the beggar) King - Raoden Queen - Sarene Jack - Hrathen Diamonds (Warbreaker) Ace - Hoid (As the story teller) King - The God King Queen - Siri and Vivenna Jack - Lightsong Spades (Stormlight) Ace - Hoid (As Wit) King - Dalinar Queen - Shallan Jack - Kaladin Clubs (Mistborn) Ace - Hoid (As Informant) King - Elend Queen - Vin Jack - Sazed Obviously Mistborn and Stormlight will be bigger series and could have their own decks eventually to account for all the characters, but for now I thought this was the best combination. Let me know what you think!

Mistborn spoilers:

"It's offensive." --SpongeBob!Coworker, on a picture of a shark with horse legs and tail

Erahon wasn't my first fantasy - I remember reading world travel magic unicorns books when I was 7-8 which were probably among my first, and I had read and watched a fair bunch of oh, Star Wars and Harry Potter and Enid Blyton by then - but I really liked eragon at the time. Wait back up, confession: I saw the eragon movie first and thought it seemed cool so I read the book. Then rewatched the movie and thought what the heck did they do to it. The first book was great fun, adventuring, dragons, fun side characters, great. Eldest I like too. Brisingr was a lot of describing trees. Paolini could have saved it in my eyes if he nailed the ending, but there were a few things that really didn't work for me. That being said: as an early teen dying to be a writer, his writing Eragon at 15 was a massive inspiration to me. I may not love the end product but the experience of reading the books and watching interview with Paolini do have an important place in my ......psyche? #todayfromthetherapistschair

Question: What qualities would attract an inkspren? Answer: Inkspren don't like how variable humans are, it's a thing out of Honor, so a person who is willing to think about their life rather than reacting by instinct would work for them. The scholar is the perfect example but for instance a soldier who is very thoughtful and doesn't just rush into battle would work for them too.

Night 14: Highly Unfortunate Miscommunication “Hasing the wasing of being! Hasing the wasing of innocent!” Sart shouted the words back to the mob of people who were chasing him; not that it seemed to deter them. It was as if they couldn’t understand him at all! This entire situation was all due to some miscommunication. He had tried to speak up at the latest meeting between the remaining villagers and claim that he thought Herwynbe was trying to lure them all into a false sense of security. Somehow, him saying, “Ising of the believing wasing the Spiked. Ising of the trying to be of the deceiving. Ising of the wasing Herwynbe.” had made the rest of the villagers think that he was one of the Spiked! They took it as if he was gloating to them and from there, it didn’t take long for the chase to begin. “Hasing the wasing of innocent! Being of the idiots, you having the being of!” It was no use. Evidently, no one in this town could speak proper High Imperial. Sart would just have to escape and let them cool their heads for awhile. Surely after a little time and clear thinking, they’d realize their mistake… right? As he ran, he couldn’t help but notice how run down the village had become. It seemed as if every other house was either boarded up or burned or broken into. Where once there had been happy families living in peace, there were now the skeletal remains of homes. And it didn’t stop there. The shops were in just as bad of disrepair. The blacksmith’s forges were cold when they should have been burning brightly to make weapons and armor for the coming battle. The food stands were bare after someone had destroyed all of their crops and orchards. The late Rin’s metal shop had been looted days ago and there would be no new salves from El’s Apothecary. It suddenly hit him during his mad dash through the town just how much destruction had been done in only two weeks time. It was horribly depressing and Sart began to seriously doubt whether or not they’d even make it even if he could lose the mob hounding him. He went to dash around the corner of a building, hoping to shake his pursuers by constantly changing direction. He hadn’t even made it around the corner when a gnarly looking staff seemed to come out of nowhere from around the corner and knocked him upside his head. He stumbled and fell in a daze. He barely had time to recognize Aralis and his thumping staff walk around the corner before the rest of the villagers caught up to him. After that, he didn’t have to worry about the state of the village anymore. In fact, he didn’t have to worry about anything at all…. Day 13 is over and Night 14 begins! Sart was lynched! They were a Regular Villager! PM are OPEN again! I repeat, you can PM again! Votes: Sart (5)- Jondesu, I am Stick, Herowannabe, Araris, Wilson Herowannabe (2)- Seonid, Sart Stink (1)- Wyrmhero Conquestor (1)- Joe in the Bush I am Stick (1)- Stink No Vote (2)- Wonko, Conquestor Player List

It's finished! Or, as finished as it will get for a while. I printed a physical copy to give to Brandon at Boskone, and he seemed to enjoy it a lot. I wish that I had been able to put more illustrations in it, but there simply wasn't time. I am inordinately fond of my Thaylen eyebrows illustration, though. I feel like it really captures the spirit of the mashup. I'm also quite pleased with the Unkalaki tongue twisters. If only I had figured out a way to stick "Airsick lowlanders!" in somewhere. Anyway, here is the book! (Spoilered for size) I hope you like it! I also had some partial drafts for Stormlight versions of other Seuss books that I didn't make the cut for inclusion. So there may eventually be a sequel or improved draft that includes The Bitter Battle Book (about the war on the shattered plains) and a version of Green Eggs and Ham ("Amaram, Lord Amaram, I do not like the Diagram").

TL;DR: I hypothesize that the Southern Scadrians' medallions introduced in The Bands of Mourning avoid of the problem if their users being unable to tap the medallions' nicrosilmind by (temporarily) granting their users the ability to tap nicrosil, similarly to how the primer cubes can "replay" Allomantic powers. --- So, I've been chatting with @Spoolofwhool and a couple of other guys in Discord - about Cosmere things, but most often about the nature of necrosil as an Allomantic and Feruchemical metal. We did a lot of going around in circles and went on a lot of tangents, but one thing that came out of a few hours worth of chat is that I now have an idea about how Allik's medallions can be created. But first, let's talk about why they don't make sense. Here's how the medallions are described in The Bands of Mourning: So we have an unkeyed nicrosilmind filled with the powers of an iron Ferring. Already there are several powers in play - nicrosil Feruchemy, aluminum Feruchemy, and iron Feruchemy. Reading the entire passage, there is also copper Feruchemy, but I think that the mechanics involved in creating a medallion with one power are different from the mechanics involved in adding a second or third, so we'll ignore that for now. So how do three (or more) Ferrings (whether they are natural or Hemalurgic - we'll get to that later) create a medallion that allows anyone to fill/tap Feruchemical iron? Let me list a few requirements before we try to assemble them together in a hypothesis: If a necrosil Ferrings (a Soulbearer) simply fills their nicrosilmind, this metalmind is only available to them (it is keyed to their Identity) Aluminum Ferrings (Trueselves) can fill an aluminummind with their Identity, allowing them - if they had access to other Feruchemical powers - to create unkeyed metalminds of those powers. Given an unkeyed metalmind, only a person who can tap the given power should be able to tap it. For example, the unkeyed goldmind Wayne got in The Bands of Mourning was useless to Wax, as Wax cannot fill/tap gold. So we seem to have a lot of the ingredients we need for those medallions. If a Soulbearer got their hands on an a piece of aluminum and the power to fill/tap it, they could create an unkeyed nicrosilmind by dumping their Identity while filling the nicrosilmind. From here, they can hand the proto-medallion to an iron Ferring, who will then be able to drop their Identity in an aluminummind (assuming they too could do what a Trueself does), fill themselves with the ability to fill/tap investiture, and then fill a nicrosilmind with their own ability to use Feruchemical iron. Voala, a medallion! There are some variations to these steps, but all of them boil down to creating an unkeyed nicrosilmind. For example, you can start with the Soulbearer, have them create a (keyed) nicrosilmind, give that to a Trueself, have them drop their Identity - which VenDell speculates is possible: From here, it's the same. We have a person with both the nicrosil and aluminum Feruchemical powers, so they can create that proto-medallion that is the unkeyed nicrosilmind. There is a problem with all of this, however, and I've been intentionally ignoring it. The problem is that even if you could create a medallion (and obviously they can be created), regardless of the mechanics behind it, how is Marasi (or almost anyone) able to tap the nicrosilmind in it in the first place? Once she gains the ability to use Feruchemical nicrosil, everything else is fine - she can fill herself with the investiture stored in the medallion's nicrosilmind, which in turn grants her the power to use iron Feruchemy. But that first step, the ability to tap nicrosil, that seems problematic... Fortunately, there is hope in this WoB: So, not much new in this WoB - we already knew you could hack yourself and gain access to powers you are not supposed to have. But the medallions don't appear to be spiking anyone who puts them on, so it's pretty safe to assume that it is not the way they grant their bearer the ability to tap nicrosil. But I include it here because it is directly relevant to the medallions we are investigating. With this in mind, if we accept that what the medallions are doing is similar to Hemalurgy in the sense that they graft a special bit to their bearers' Spiritweb, one that allows them to use Feruchemical nicrosil (akin to being spiked with the same ability), then we need to turn our efforts to figuring how an item could grant Feruchemical powers without much stabbing. Fortunately, we've almost seen one! The primer cubes seem to be doing almost exactly what we need them to do - they get charged with a specific power (admittedly it's an Allomantic power, but it's not unreasonable to assume that they can work with a Feruchemical one as well), and then they "pulse" that power around them. Now, Allomantic powers work differently from Feruchemical ones - it's a net-positive system, after all. For Allomancy, the primer cube seems to work by "memorizing" the power being used nearby, and then replaying it a little later - either by "pretending" to be a metal being burned (letting the power of Preservation in), or by using its own power source to replicate the effects of the original power; not important which one. It's possible that the cubes work similarly for Feruchemy, but because of the much lower energy investiture requirements of Feruchemy, the effects would last much longer. In other words, I suspect that the medallions really contain an additional bit of metal in them, a little bit of harmonium, that "records" a nicrosil Ferring tapping their metalmind; maybe even the Ferring who created each individual medallion (to avoid Identity shenanigans), and then continuously grant that power to whoever is touching the medallion. Once that's taken care of, whoever is wearing the medallion can finally tap the nicrosilmind in the medallion and grant themselves whatever additional power the medallion is supposed to give (e.g. the Feruchemical ability to store/tap weight). So that's it. I think the secret to the medallions is harmonium. It, similarly to how it functions in the primer cubes, grants whoever is holding the medallion the ability to tap nicrosil by "replaying" a pre-programmed nicrosil tap - which they do, filling themselves with whatever ability was stored in that nicrosilmind. I am, of course, aware that what I am doing is making the existing evidence kind of fit an idea I had, but I also think a lot of the pieces fit nicely. Harmonium is a large unknown quantity, of course, but what I am assuming about it is similar enough to what we have already seen it do so I think that's safe enough. I am also aware that there are some problems with the theory (which I won't mention), and I am looking forward to getting those hammered out sometime prior to the release of Oathbringer, so I can chat with Brandon about it all I know I also hinted at we'll look into the Ferrings involved in the creation of the medallions might be created via Hemalurgy instead - but the theory is already longer than I intended it, so we'll leave that for another day. Maybe when we discuss what the Excisors are, as they sound vaguely Hemalurgic in nature, and are required for the creation of the medallions.

That's terrible. Hydra's image color is green, not red. Whoever made that cup has clearly never read the comics.

<Currently at a party, so writeup to be edited in later.> <At party, so really only telling seekers their results> Jondesu was lynched! He was a Citizen with no items Arinian was killed! Ecthelion was attacked, but survived! Votes: Jondesu (3): Bugsy, Arinian Doc (0): Ecthelion Alvron (1): Doc, Darkness ascendant Magestar (2): Alvron, bartimaeus Drought (1): Elenion Bugsy (1): Jondesu Darkness Ascendant (2): Silverblade, Conquestor

Boskone Day 2 Preliminary Report Not a ton of questions answered, but a few juicy ones. Perhaps the biggest: VOIDBINDING CHART IS CONFIRMED! As he answered another question, Brandon mentioned in passing that yes, the rear endsheet of WoK is about voidbinding. That has been RAFO'd and argued a bunch over the past several years, so I was shocked to hear him share that info. (at ~46 min in the Rithmatist Q&A) In general, Brandon tended to expound on his answers this time around, rather than going for the short Yes/No/RAFO. The events of the day: A demo of Mistborn: House War, which @DAdam got to play. He can give a report on that. Brandon arrived near the end and gave us about 20 minutes of impromptu Q&A. A panel with Joshua Bilmes (agent), Moshe Feder (editor), Michael Whelan (artist), and Emily Sanderson (wife) talking about the making of his career. It was fun to hear their stories of how they met each other, and hear them compliment (and poke fun at) one another. No book related questions. Rithmatist Q&A. Fans met to discuss the book, and Brandon joined us part way through to answer questions. Tons of background info on the world, magic, and writing process of the Rithmatist. After the allotted time, he moved out into the hall and transitioned into a general Q&A. (Unrelated to Brandon: I also got to have a great conversation with Max Gladstone, and later with Jane Yolen, both of whom were super awesome.) These recordings are available for you to listen or transcribe: (links will take you to Google Drive) Friday Signing Line (2 h 18 min, 260 MB) House War Q&A (22 min, 42 MB) Rithmatist Q&A (55 min, 103 MB) Career Panel (56 min, 105 MB) Note: no book-related questions Questions I asked (paraphrased): Q. Could a Soother prevent a listener from attuning a given rhythm? A. No. A coppercloud could, but I hadn't thought about emotional allomancy interacting. See, the rhythm isn't your emotion and doesn't determine your mood. It is a direct connection to the spiritual realm. So I guess soothing could make it harder just like it makes anything harder, in the same way that driving a car would be harder. It is possible that a coppercloud could play with it. Not a normal power of a coppercloud, but you've seen them do stuff similar. Q. From the Great Circle in Nebrask we know that defenses can be scaled up immensely. Could you also scale up and make a Godzilla sized chalkling? A. This is theoretically possible. Q. If you draw a line of Forbiddance on a chalkboard on the ground and hit the line, will the chalkboard move? A. (heavily paraphrased) No. I get asked this a lot. Rithmatist started out in the Cosmere, so many of the Cosmere rules of perception apply. If you try to draw a line of Forbiddance on something that doesn't cognitively seem stable enough to provide support, the magic won't take. Once the line is in place, moving it is extremely difficult. If you did manage to move the line or the thing it was drawn on, the magic would dissolve. Unless the canon versions of books 2 & 3 contradict this, assume that the same rules apply to Rithmatic lines as to speed bubbles. Other important Rithmatist tidbits: Book 3 is to be called The Nebraskan. The Rithmatist was originally set in the cosmere and was designed to showcase some spiritual realm entities (including both the shadowblaze and the forgotten), to demonstrate how they work. They are different from cognitive entities in important ways, including that they find linear time (and any sort of structure, really) to be a foreign concept.

Then you get temporarily hurt, learn about yourself, and grow.

I agree with both of these points. I think it's important to note that the typical view of a god ( at least most Christian views) are of a perfect, omniscient being who is not bound by Intents. Comparatively, Sazed is just a mortal who took the shards and while he did have his copperminds, he was far from omniscient. He did what he thought was best, and it didn't turn out perfect, but can you blame him? He doesn't instinctively know what he should do. Couple that with the fact that the opposing nature of the two shards make it hard for him to act, and you can see why things turned out the way they did. Also this piece from BoM, I think this is important beacuse maybe Sazed does interfere more than the people realize. The only viewpoint characters we have are regular mortals, none from Sazed's view, so I think its a very real possibility. Overall, I think he has done a pretty decent job.

oh Elodin the master namer .... what can i say that has not already been said. such an vivid and surprising character .... so surprising in fact that he seems to have dethroned Elend and maried Vin. rly good idea if cards like these are made i would buy them intantly

This is a super cool idea! I like most of the choices, though I feel like four Hoids would be better as the Joker cards (some decks have 4 Jokers, I believe, plus that's Hoid in a nutshell). For Aces, I'd go with Shards - Aona, Edgli, Tanavast and Leras or Sazed.

Continuing on with my Highprince translation attempts, I've found two possibilities for this glyph: My interpretations on this glyph are spoilered below for length. *Apologies for the crappy mouse-writing* What do you think? Does the glyph work better as Ruthar or Thanadal? Did I miss anything? Just for fun, I'll attempt to narrow this one down by using the last "Unknown highprince glyph": Next, I went to a new glyph to interpret, and came upon this one: Interpretations below. Just for fun, I'm attempting the translation of the last "Unknown" Highprince glyph, in order to narrow down the Thanadal/Ruthar above. Here's what I have so far:

It is a Core Possibility, and Rithmatist is not officially one (but Peter has an argument that it, and Alcatraz, should be).

I think you meant:

Warbreaker spoilers below, but I freaked out and quite literally jumped out of my chair during my first readthrough of WoR when I realized that

Perhaps Cusicesh is one of the unmade, and some hero long ago measured and recorded Cusicesh coming out of the water and performing its routine at 7:46 am a long time ago, and now it's stuck in this cycle; forever condemned to just the briefest glimpse of what it used to be. Locking an unmade into a relatively harmless moment. What a champ. I'd hate to see what happens when the recording is destroyed...

Edit: Changed topic title from Stormgiants to Stormstriders, as per Argent's excellent suggestion. And I'm back! I'm still trying to decide which oversized theory to post next on the 17th Shard. For now, let's me just do another round of "theory gathering" wherein I present a currently-unsolved Cosmere mystery and you guys try to convince all of us here about your theory (or your favorite theory from someone else) on the matter. Today let's look at a mystery we encountered in Words of Radiance, Chapter 74: So there were some huge, glowing things (let's call them "Stormstriders" for now) walking on the Shattered Plains during that particular highstorm. I don't think we've seen anything like this back in Way of Kings (there were mysterious flashes of light during Kaladin's storm dream, but those didn't have distinct creature-like forms). Other Sharders noticed these Stormstriders pretty early on and a few have posted about them within a month of the book's release. Some (including hoser) think these are the larval stage of chasmfiends. Flatline thinks they are voidspren, and some (like WEZ313 and Patrick Star) even think they are Unmade. None of these theories have convinced me so far. Here are some facts that may or may not help you in your theorycrafting: The glowing Stormstriders appeared before the highstorm started infusing things on the Shattered Plains with Stormlight. We know this because Shallan's dun sphere did not "recharge" until after Kaladin's talk with the Stormfather later on in the chapter. This gives us three possibilities: (A) the Stormstriders don't require Stormlight to glow, perhaps because they are spren, (B ) the Stormstriders have been traveling in the highstorm even before it reached the Shattered Plains, or (C ) both (A) and (B ) are true (e.g. the Stormstriders are some sort of spren that exist inside highstorms). Soon after Kaladin sees the Stormstriders, this happens: What was that chanting, and is it connected to the Stormstriders? How about the appearance of voidish Stormspren? Both seem to point to Stormform Parshendi. Were the Parshendi trying to control those Stormstriders somehow? Or are they doing something completely unrelated? Way back before the Stormstrider scene, in Chapter 49, Shallan seems to detect something inside an oncoming highstorm: Are those "shadows of life" the same as the Stormstriders that Kaladin would later see? They don't seem to glow by themselves as the Stormstriders did. Are they some other type of creature? Happy theorycrafting, everyone!

That's a nice cover.

Oh my stars and bars, I'm alive! I've had a very busy day and didn't get a chance to check the thread or PMs until right before rollover, and when I saw that Joe had revealed my role I thought for sure the eliminators were going to take me out. I wonder why. Though I suppose if they had killed me it would have confirmed my scans and, and with 4 confirmed villagers (all active, I might add) it would have given the village almost full control over the vote, and a very narrow suspect list. Huh, that actually would have been better for us. Anyway, I'm rambling and thinking out loud through typing. Yes, I am a village mistborn. No point in trying to deny it or hide now I guess. I've been trying to stay on the down low with my power so that I didnt get targeted by the eliminators (or the village, for that matter. For a while there were a lot of people convinced that the Spiked were Mistborn, so it didn't seem prudent to let on that I was one, too). Lets see here. Seonid (I think it was) asked about my scans. Yes, I have drawn Bronze 3 times now and yes, all of those scans went through. I didn't ever hit a coppercloud. Wilson is a smoker, Stick is a regular, and Seonid is- or well, was- a regular, all villagers. Also, it's important to note that I am the (or at least, one of the) mistborn that drew Tin on the first cycle and on this cycle, but NOT the one that drew Tin a few cycles ago, so there's still one more mistborn out there, very likely an Eliminator. My guess is either Orlok or Jondesu. Obviously, I don't support the idea of lynching me in order to confirm my scans. For one, I am a villager, though outside of dying I don't have any way of proving it 100%. For another, as Seonid pointed out, with 9 active players left if we mislynch today and there are 4 Eliminators out there then without any soothers or rioters left we lose (although at this point in I'm thinking/hoping that with 2- possibly 3- mistborn on their team that maybe there are only 2 or 3 eliminators left. 3 mistborn and 1 smoker? I could see Meta doing that. 3 mistborn, a smoker, and a thug or maybe a lurcher? I could see that. Anything more than that would be unbalanced I think). Anyway, I have to do some more analysis and pondering and respond to a few PMs still, so I'll pause here for now and do a little RP. As dawn broke over the town of Tyrian Falls, it found Herwynbe perched atop the roof of Tekiel Manor- the tallest building in the village. The steward stood there, gazing into the distance, and flared his Tin. As always, he was flooded with an abundance of sensations. His nose burned with the scents of the refuse piled in the streets, ash on the wind from mount Tyrian, smoke from the buildings had been burned, and even the faint smell of blood and death mingled in- the scents of a dying town. He swallowed hard at the thought. He had forgone dinner yesterday to help ration what little remained of their supplies, and the bread and cheese he had eaten for the midday meal had been moldy and stale. He could still make out the sour taste of the slightly spoiled food in his mouth, and his hunger pains were sharpened by the burning Tin. The scholars always seemed to overlook that fact- that Tin also increased your sensitivity to sensations like hunger and thirst. And fatigue. He could feel acutely the roof tiles beneath his feet, the brisk chill of the morning air biting the skin of his exposed hands and face. The smoke and ash stung his eyes, causing them to water. Tears began tricking down his cheeks, one at a time, and not all of them caused by his oversensitive eyes. He sighed, listening to the hushed conversations of the nursemaids and physicians in the Manor below. Lord Locke Tekiel had slipped into a coma a few days before, and there was no indication that he would wake anytime soon. An elderly doctor was saying that she thought Lord Tekiel might awaken in a few days, and could even recover fully if he were given plenty of food and water and a few weeks to rest and regain his strength. Weeks he would likely never get. He probably wouldn't even get days. All these sensations washed over Herwynbe and passed almost unnoticed. His gaze was fixed on the horizon, on a dark shape massed in the distance. Several plumes of smoke rose out of that dark shape, coming from bonfires. It was the Koloss army, in the beginning stages of a rampage, and it was headed this way. At its current pace it would be here in a few days. A few days. The doom of Tyrian Falls would be here in a few days. But it wasn't here yet. There was still time- a scarce little bit of time to prepare, to rally the villagers, and to enact his master's plans. They could still save themselves. It was a long shot, but there was still a chance. There was still hope.

We used to have similar awards for achievements in the games, I think (though that was before me). I think the idea of doing that for CRs is excellent. The Acropolis is kind of a place for that? More specifically, I'm reminded of the SEncyclopedia that Bard and I really need to get to working on... A similar place, like a doc or series of docs to give an outline of each character and discuss them, perhaps? Ditto Joe. I like the game idea in general and see no problems with it - the bolded part is to note that we've had that, in MR9. Perspective of prospective Inquisitors with skaa infiltrators. (Caused problems when someone said 'skaa' referring to the village instead of the eliminators, a term now known as the Ripple Effect.)

I was a little creeped out when I didn't see the first "the" in that hashtag.

Yes they are, the poor unfortunate spiked mistborn that pulled that. "I just can't believe that Ruin would have his servants collect that very useless power!" Mr. Hoid said.

That was also my first thought, but why would that justify the "portentous" verbal comment? It seemed like he was hinting at something more important. I may have misinterpreted though. If it is something to do with Jak himself, my best guess would be hemalurgy, since we have WoB that being spiked makes you repulsive to (most) spren. Pits of Eltania suggest that Jak is a Survivorist not a Pathian, so it is unlikely he would use an earring or something similarly "benign" on purpose. Why would Jak getting spiked be a big deal? I'm probably reading way too much into it, but I immediately start guessing at Secret History sorts of implications.

"Snyder, were you supposed to leave us?" Quiver asked Snyder didn't reply "SNYDER!! After you directed Watchmen, were you supposed to leave?" "Why would I remain in this terrible place longer than I had to?" He said dismissively "In Twi's parallel world," Quiver whispered, "There you did leave, and your horrible screenwriting never claimed DC. Here, you remained, and you infected the DCU somehow. Your screenwriting, your lack of vision, You turned each movie into a copy of you, Zack"

They have a similar feel, but Davis feels less rigid. He's definitely Wax-ish, but he seems a little more corrupted, a little more willing to use a Snapshot for his own ends.

All the Allomantic Powers work to a certain extent into all three realms, but they are mainly focused to manipulate one of it. For example (and this is aganist @The One Who Connects said): Emotional Allomancy may propagate into the Spiritual Realm (also if the distance seems to affect it so it's weird) but edits the subject's cognitive and forces the brain and the body to accomodate to this change (physical change)...But it's mainly Cognitive in its working. The same thing with Steelpush/Ironpull, the Steelines are Spiritual in nature but they allow you to influence the target's physical...so the metal is mainly Physical in his working.

I know that, objectively, it's not that great and most of the enjoyment I get from it is nostalgia. But it was probably my first introduction to epic fantasy as a kid. Without it, I probably wouldn't be here. Also, I'm a little biased because one of my favorite aspects of a book (especially fantasy) is the immersive world, and, say what you will about the plot and characters, Alagaesia is an interesting and immersive world. Also the magic system is pretty interesting. I guess, bottom line, it's not that great of a story, but it has a good world and atmosphere and has a lot of nostalgic clout for me and many others as well.

Um, so... I pitched this thing to some people in PMs. Was wondering what people thought in general, if that's okay?

Adolin's Law: As an online discussion about Stormlight Archive grows longer, the probability of Adolin's character arc being disputed approaches 1.

"Nothing wrong with being a woman Gon"

My favorite part of the series is when everyone's favorite one armed herdazian grew fingers out of his shoulder. ALL HAIL THE TWO ARMED HERDAZIAN

Have you read Secret History yet? We get a clue there. Secret History spoilers

Here is one I made today, not specific but still I think it gets the feeling of being a Sanderson reader.

Until someone provides a transcript (or until an admin wants it removed), here's a very basic summary: @Oversleep

That's interesting, since that seems to contradict, if only by implication, this more recent WoB:

Is it possible that he only used part of the lerasium? Would using only a bit of his bead turn him into a weak mistborn? Hoid isn't the type to duralumin-push people off their horses or control armies of koloss. He seems more the type to nudge people gently into a certain direction, so even watered down emotional allomancy is sufficient for his methods. You dont have to be a crazy powerful allomacer to profit from steelsight or a minor tin boost. I think he still has an ace up his sleeve and some lerasium left over.

No wider implications like the rest of the stuff on here, but I'm like 90% sure that this bit from the first chapter is referencing Lift getting her first period, which I hadn't noticed before. Not really sure what else that could be referencing, and it's immediately followed by Lift being upset that she's changing, so....

This is a fantastic thread, and thank you for creating it! My ideas range from serious to whimsical, in no particular order. (Erm... no pun intended.) 1) The Releasers are the only Order who can unmake a dead Shardblade. They can honorably release men or spren from their oaths. They can also "release" spren from Parshendi, which is how humanity got so many parshmen (formless, rather than Dullform.) Additionally, they are KRs who turned down their first bond or otherwise started out as another Order. 2) Listeners don't touch their dead because they desperately avoid rotspren for fear of decayform. This death taboo contributes to the potential for thunderclasts. 3) Jasnah has had the literary equivalent of Shallan's experience drawing current events (i.e. Wind's Pleasure survivors, Ash's vandalism.) The "visions" involved Tien's gifts for Kal: shiny rocks and a carved horse. 4) Odium has been keeping all the dead KRs for himself on Braize because they were unwittingly loopholed into the Oathpact by their own oaths. He's doing this with a similar to trick to the one he used on Sel, messing with how dense the liminality between Realms is. This was the wicked thing of eminence. - (I'll add more later, and update with strike-throughs, etc, like the cool kids are doing.)

Odium's younger sibling, Tedium, will be featured in the novel Mistbored.

I noticed the Aon thing, too! And got so excited that I told my friends, which got the responses of "Huh? What's an Aon?" (3 people) and "But none of the Eastern countries are shaped in the pattern of the base symbol..." (1 person).

Reminds me of an episode of an old TV show called Psych where, because of a rather long story, the main character, Shawn Spencer (a notorious goofball) must run for mayor. Before his first televised interview with a reporter, his campaign manager tells him that if he is asked a question he doesn't know the answer to, he should answer the question he wishes he'd been asked instead. So…. Interviewer: Mr. Spencer, if elected, how would you balance the city of Santa Barbara's budget? Shawn: (after a long pause) You know, people think I like red jellybeans the best, but I'm actually very fond of the blue ones. It's not half as funny when Trump does it.

Hey all, this is gonna be my first theory. I hope it hasn't been brought forward in this way. I have been musing about the origins of Shardplate. I got this idea on my current reread of WoR, in one of Dalinars visions. So i went back to WoK: From the arrival of the KR, falling from the sky, it seems a good assumtion, that this is either a Windrunner or Skybreaker. Same chapter, the KR that heals Dalinars vision character: The next quotes are from Dalinar's vision at Feverstonekeep. Dalinar looking out at the charging KR: With these quote, it's a good assumtion, that the Orders had Plate glowing with specific colors. What really got me into this theory, is the fact, that both Kaladin and Shallan attract huge amounts of Wind-/Creationspren. From Kaladins first flight in WoR: Syl was first described as a Windspren, though this is obviously wrong. But she shares some basic personality traits with them, i.e. playing pranks, flying around in highstorms. At multiple points in the story she calls the Stormfather her father, which seems like a good indication, that she is somewhat related to Windspren. Now 2 quotes about Shallan, boath aboard the Winds Pleasure: Here she is drawing Pattern, notice the amount of creationspren: So with all this in mind, I went to check the WoB for any hints Brandon might have dropped there. So with this quote I think it's save to assume, that Shardplate, much like Shardblades, were originally spren. Lesser spren, related to the bonded spren, that would form Shardplate. A very likely spren coupling is Honor- and Windspren for Windrunners. I presume something like this will come light for the other Orders as well. (Cryptics and Creationspren, maybe?) TL;DR: Original Shardplate was formed by lesser spren. edit: typos

What do you make of a character whose name is an anagram for "Base Liar"? It's been speculated elsewhere that Sebarial is not what he seems. My theory is that he's Chach (or whatever the actual name for the Dustbringer herald is). In WoR Chapter 38 (Hardcover, p. 446), he tells Shallan that "Everyone knows I like to set things on fire and watch them burn." Chach's (and Dustbringer's) surges are Division and Abrasion. In the WoK Prelude, Dustrbingers are the ones who leave "still-smoldering" piles on the battlefield. Control over friction/fire may be how Sebarial and Palona keep warm and dry under their canopy during the Highstorm in WoR's climactic scene. Even if I'm wrong about who Sebarial really is, I still love the anagram...