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AG4/AN1 - Day 9: Uniter Divided; Dividers Unite Not long ago... Nolan traced his hands over the inscription at the front of his book. “Life before death,” he murmured softly. “Strength before weakness, journey before destination...” His thoughts meandered into meanings and contexts, and for a few minutes he entirely failed to notice that the sphere he was holding to illuminate his work had gone dun. He stared at it. The highstorm hadn’t been so long ago that it should be dun already. “How...?” He pulled another sphere from his pocket, but it was dun, too. And all the others in his pocket. Um... This was in the book. Nolan knew what was happening, it just... couldn’t be. He went to check his pouch, which was hanging by the door. Still bright. Almost fearfully, he drew out a sphere and closed his eyes. What had the book said. Breathe. Nolan breathed, and he became alive. He laughed for hours and hours, later, interspersed with furious rereading. After all this time, he was a Knight Radiant! The very people he had been trying to study, and he could have firsthand experience with them. What’s it called when you’re the source of your own scholarship? he wondered idly. Is it a primary source or a.. zeroth... source? He had so many experiments to do. He heard cries from outside. Another kill discovered. Perhaps he could even use his power to help, to find these storming murderers and rid the village of them once and for all. Tonight... Nolan stood warily across from the murderers, who had chased him down and separated him from the group. He inhaled Stormlight, hoping it would help, somehow. I’m a scholar, not a soldier! he thought. How am I supposed to defeat trained, blooded warriors? Why did the Almighty ever put me into this? I just want to study... But it seemed that the Almighty had a different fate in mind for him. He had been made a Bondsmith, and told to unite. He had failed. Nolan closed his eyes for a brief moment, prayed, and charged. He wished his battle cry could have been something noble - “Life before death,” or “All praise the Almighty,” or even “Scholarship!” Instead, it was a sort of buzzing, wavery “AAAaaaAAAaargh!” Two weeks of studying Stormlight couldn’t do much against murderers with weapons and the training to use them. Nolan was chopped into at least five separate pieces before he touched a single one of them. The glow surrounding him winked out, and only darkness remained. Ivory Dragonfly was killed. They were a Village Bondsmith. Day 9 has begun. It will end in 42 hours, at 10pm GMT on the 9th February. Player List 1. Amethyst Scorpion 2. Azure Mouse 3. Amber Vulture - Villager 4. Charcoal Hyena - Cannoc - Villager 5. Chartreuse Penguin - Villager 6. Coral Swan - Elyle - Village Lightweaver 7. Cream Tuatara - Villager 8. Emerald Falcon - Aldrick - Villager 9. Fuschia Ostrich 10. Indigo Weasel - Village Elsecaller 11. Ivory Dragonfly - Nolan - Village Bondsmith 12. Magenta Albatross 13. Mauve Crocodile 14. Melon Dingo - Quentisan - Village Edgedancer 15. Mint Heron 16. Onyx Flamingo - Squawk - Village Lightweaver 17. Opal Lion - Villager 18. Oxblood Beagle - Jai - Village Willshaper 19. Pearl Chameleon 20. Plum Rhinoceros - Villager 21. Quartz Zebra 22. Saffron Iguana - Emalia - Village Lightweaver 23. Sage Kangaroo 24. Salmon Meerkat - Village Bondsmith 25. Sapphire Elephant 26. Scarlet Octopus - Village Edgedancer 27. Sunburst Toucan - Vanna 28. Taupe Gecko - Villager 29. Turquoise Gorilla - Village Dustbringer 30. Violet Axolotl - Villager

"You can't leave." stated the mob. Rose-Mary Tyler paused, looked at the crowd of soldiers, turned back around, and started walking faster. Mr. Klenien put his arm on her her shoulder. "I said, 'You can't leave'" She pushed him off, and broke into a run. "She's getting away!" shouted Mya. The crowd rushed after the quiet woman, blocking her escape. Rose tripped, falling into the dirt. "Why don't you say something? We're trying to find out who the traitors are, and you're just standing there! You're one of them, aren't you?" Rose was trying to say something, anything, to get out of this situation. Her tongue refused to work, so she tried ducking between one of the soldier's legs. Caccoo grabbed her before she could escape. It was all the town needed to convince them of Rose's guilt. Lenny couldn't watch. It was all too much for him. He had never been the brightest man around. How was he supposed to find Forgotten? It wasn't fair. It didn't make any sense. It was starting to rain now. It might wash away the blood, but the stains would remain. There was nothing left. There was only a variety of bribes. He looked at a particularly good bottle of wine. He could take it if he wanted too. It would be better if he was drunk. Sadly, he wouldn't even get that luxury. And as the rain turned into a storm, his blood mixed with the puddles. Vote Count: Budgie (5): Caesura, Devotary of Spontaneity, Orlok, Brightness Radiant, Elenion Elenion (2): Kynedath, Monster Metroid Devotary of Spontaneity (1): Steeldancer A Budgie was lynched. They were a Soldier. Living Legend was killed. He was a Soldier. Items Taken: Camp Supply: Player List: The cycle will end on Saturday, February 10th at 7PM Eastern Time.

Hello All, I come from a massive online history. I love Brandon Sanderson and it would seem that there is a forum for, the massive expanded universe. Do you do RP here?

Uhhhh . . . Sapphire Elephant.

Long time leader first theory post I have a theory about the origin of the unmade and the heralds. I think he unmade we're humans at one point "unmade" into powerful evil Spre when the midnight mother is defeated shallan get the impression she was trying to understand something she lost. In symmetry I believe the Heralds may have been Spren "Made" human which is why they are so dedicated to their ideals. Just a gut feeling

My favorite book in the series so far and maybe my favorite book ever read, answers so much, has the absolute best climax and is breath-takingly well paced despite its length. I've never felt such awe reading a book as I did during the I AM UNITY moment, I seriously considered it possible he'd turn bad. When Evi forgives him I legit teared up. How can I possibly wait for more?

Hello folks! There's a small chance some of the oldtimers here might have run into me before on the old Time Waster's Guide website. I was known there variously as Brian, Atruen, and perhaps a few other, less savory things. Mainly I just wanted to give a shout out just in case St. Ehlers, Spriggan, or any of the other old Timewasters (including EUOL himself) happen to remember me. But since I'm here, I may as well stick around and get to know a few of you newer folks! Well met, y'all. Brian Lacy

I feel the middle ground is pretty vacant at the moment: most readers invested within this discussion are intend on proving how negative the Adolin/Shallan marriage is. I have yet to see readers put the same amount of effort to... prove the opposite, hence the middle ground seems very lonely these days. As an Adolin fan, I have been rooting for an Adolin centrist arc ever since WoR finished. The little arc surrounding Maya, towards the end of OB, was not enough. It however is interesting and is exactly the kind of arc which could pan out into something more meaty within book 4, shall the author wish it. Unfortunately, Brandon's intentions towards Adolin's character are near impossible to decipher: it always seemed to me he isn't agreeing with myself over what makes up for an interesting narrative for him. Thanks. I find it hard to post contradicting views because they are often met with strong opposition and little support. It isn't so much I wish for others to change their minds, but as I said above, there hasn't been a lot of readers coming forth to defend the Adolin/Shallan union. I have seen readers voice out their concerns on how Brandon has made the romance be one-sided. I have seen the posts where readers are complaining, within this thread, over the lack of thought process on Adolin's part, when it comes down to it. It has often been interpreted as him not really caring about Shallan: my thoughts are different. I believe we aren't getting more from Adolin because most of his viewpoints have another purpose. In other words, within Brandon's mind, the romance is written solely from the Shallan angle. Readers have noted, ever before the release of OB, how Brandon has not seen fit to write one date from Adolin's perspective apart from this very short snippet within WoR. OB didn't offer anything different as, still, all of the intimate Adolin/Shallan scenes were written within her perspective and not him. Hence it isn't surprising we aren't really reading it: it isn't in the book. Now why did Brandon thought it served the narrative better to make the romance arc be one-sided, I honestly cannot say. I am baffled this is how he planned it. As for how Adolin can go from breaking up to marriage: this works for me. Adolin is notorious for ruining his courtships. A WoB told us he did mostly out of not feeling he was good enough. OB certainly highlighted how unworthy Adolin thinks he is, how lesser compared to everyone else he feels he is: while he is able to appreciate his own talents, he keeps on thinking they are... not enough. Hence, upon seeing Shallan and Kaladin glow together, it wasn't long he started to believe Kaladin would make the better match. Even if he does love Shallan, he has no intentions to fight for her because, in his mind, he already lost. This is the one battle Adolin never won: the battle of worth. He can step into the arena, beat his foes, be a grand duelist, take command without even realizing he is doing it, but he could never make Dalinar proud, not until it was too late. My perspective is thus, when he breaks up with Shallan, he does not really want to break it up: he only does it because he sincerely believes Kaladin is the better man while thinking Shallan loves him more. He wants to do the right thing which is allowing Shallan to make her choice, removing the obligation to marry him, giving her the freedom to choose, without any ties. He however does love her, so when she chooses him, well, he's happy. I also took note how surprised he sounded upon hearing Shallan lists the things she loves about Adolin: he really never thought he was enough. He voices out his concerns later on, but Shallan insisted it didn't matter if he weren't a Radiant. Adolin's thought process remain, IMHO, consistent with themselves. He has fears, a given lack of self-confidence, perhaps some lack of self-esteem, but the narrative is never strong enough to push him over the edge. As such, with a bit of encouragement, he moves past it, refuses to be the king and marries Shallan. Where Brandon will go from there? Well, it could go down many very interesting paths or he could reinforced Adolin as the one stable character. I find the later would be a waste.

... or something else poetic™. Hey I'm Alex and I have read almost all of Oathbringer, after starting the Way of Kings only a month and a half ago or so. Decided to join the forums as I start to work through more of Branderson's works! How is everybody?

Hi all, just saw this video Mary Robinette Kowal posted on a subject from one of her writing workshops. Lots of really good advice for both writers and people critiquing (i.e. this group).

Welcome to the Shard! You might want to check out Arcanum, as Brandon has answered a LOT of our questions, and crushed many a theory. The Unmade are Splinters of Odium (Splinters being part of his power deliberately separated from him and shaped to do specific things). So they were not ever human. Heralds are humans who went to Honor and proposed the Oathpact to keep the Fused from terrorizing Roshar. The Stormfather drops a few nuggest of info in Oathbringer.

Well, probably because Dalinar's older brother was part of at least one (religious) secret society, and Wit thought Gavilar would have involved Dalinar. Of course, as we now know from Oathbringer, Dalinar was in no fit state to join any secret group after what happened at the Rift (being too busy making sure he was completely drunk for most of the time after that), which all probably happened before Gavilar started working with the Sons of Honor.

Okay, this is embarrassing. I just caught a dumb mistake in my calculations from yesterday. (I somehow doubled Roshar's radius when I graphed it out.) Correction: Now the example orbit is not quite as close: 2R at closest approach (rather than 0.5R). This means it rises in Shinovar just after setting in Alethkar. (So we've gained a buffer of one hour, not two, in our time zone considerations.) The increased distance also means that the change in apparent size, while still substantial, is less dramatic. Nothing is going to triple in size, though it can still come close for some locations. Approximately doubling in size won't be uncommon. The visibility times don't change drastically from what I posted before. Add half an hour for coastal observers, three quarters of an hour for central observers.

Me, and probably pretty much all the villagers right now:

I did expect that Elephant vote to stick longer than five minutes, yes

First off, welcome to the Shard and great first post! I'm going to take a shardblade to its premise, but it was still a very nice bit of thinking. As has been noted, it is (meta)physically impossible for a Shard to break an oath made with Intent (using Rayse's capitalization, not the sense of the driving mandate of a given Shard) for the reason that the Stormfather explains to Dalinar: Adonalsium's power permeates them and binds them to keep their oaths. It's even more impossible for Honor to betray an oath because that's diametrically opposed to the Intent of his Shard. Preservation can't destroy, Ruin can't create for creation's own sake, Honor can't betray. Now, I do agree completely that there's wiggle-room in the nature of the Intents and I have no doubt that it's going to be an ongoing factor, but not like this. Odium has murdered at least three other Shards and while he might argue that going after Devotion and Dominion was because they violated some unspecified agreement about staying apart, he can't use that excuse for targeting Ambition and per Word of Brandon she was first on his hit list. And one of the Shards he killed embodies the idea of love/compassion. So yeah, Odium does indeed appear to deserve his reputation even if we didn't have WoBs on the subject. Or in-universe characters holding similar opinions, chiefly Hoid, Frost and Khriss. Odium is deliberately keeping the whole 'I've picked you as my Champion' thing from Dalinar while subtly trying to manipulate him, so I'm perfectly happy to take anything he says in that exchange wiith a pinch of salt. The difference between Rayse and Ati vis a vis lying probably has something to do with the latter being 1) completely certain he was going to win, so it didn't matter and 2) thoroughly twisted by his Shard so he's not really capable of thinking beyond it. Though he is still capable of deception, see how he manipulates Vin and Spook for example. Rayse is noted by Brandon to be a very good match for Odium and he seems to have his original personality intact, so he's probably better at deceit in general. We also know that Harmony can lie. Oh, and on that note we do have some evidence from Oathbringer that Frost can be wrong. He thinks (per the WoR letter) that Rayse is now more a force than an individual, contrary to Hoid's assertion. OB seems to validate Hoid's take on it, that Rayse is indeed still in control. We don't have much reason to believe that Frost is wrong in his assessment of what Odium's Intent is however. Brandon's also said that he originally planned to call that Shard 'Hatred' for what that's worth. I suspect that wherever the name Odium came from in-universe, they were right on the money and Odium's whole spiel about how he's really the power of Passion is self-serving and more a side-effect of his power than the main focus of it.

I have proposed it on Discord already: What if Azure is actually Vivenna Returned? What if she died and Endowment Returned her and - uniquely - gave her back her memories and sent her hunting for Nightblood and Vasher?

My favorite out-of-context 17th Shard quote:

Sounds like some of you lucky fools are getting your WoA leatherbounds already. Just like we did with OB, we're going to create a thread where you can post pictures of questions and answers, if you're willing to share. The best format is to have both the packing slip with the question and your personalization in the same image. You can also feel free to upload images directly into Arcanum, in the Signed Books 2018 event. An Arcanist will convert those images into text entries. Images posted in this thread will make their way into Arcanum, but it might take a little longer. If you took the opportunity to order some other personalized hardcovers from Brandon's site, feel free to upload pics of them in either location, as well. The more the merrier!

Inspired by a couple of recent quotable quotes, I thought it could be fun to compile a list of 'slogans' that summarize us Sharders nicely. There was @Oversleep saying that this line from @The One Who Connects should be the site's tagline. And there was The One Who Connects commenting that this one from @Calderis should be one. @Faceless Mist-Wraith's summary of WoR. And my personal favorite, again Oversleep, saying this at one of the Poland signings. Ok some weren't quite slogans but they're close enough And sorry if the tags bothered anyone, just credit where credit's due. Feel free to add ones you've seen or suggest new ones.

Ooooor what if Sha-Anat is the mother of Cryptics in the way that the Stormfather is the father of Honorspren? Her children are powerful but unliked and thereby not safe.

I'm a third-ideal light singer, and my brother is driving a trolley. He's about to run over some especially virtuous orphans, and the only way I can stop him is by pulling the switch that will send his trolley down a side track into the Angry Chasmfiend Methamphetamine Distribution Center. My brother loves me, and would never harm me. The orphans deserve to be protected. Which of my oaths do I break?

@Zacer You don't need to tag people, but it's one of the best ways the make sure they see it. I personally tag people quite a bit. Thanks, that'd be really great when I write it. Assuming I can get it published. My current book is going great, It all started with the premise "what if everyone in all of history had superpowers. except you." I really like thinking about how this would effect the way that culture would have developed. Also the current working title is "Powerless". No I am not part of reading excuses.

The OP is working off the wrong premise. H+C had NOTHING to do with the Nahel-Bond. The Spren did it by themselves. They're sapient Cognitive entities I.e. they belong in the Cognitive Realm, and thus lose something in the crossing. We have no idea if the voidspren were designed as splinters/ bonded to listeners, if they're simply recycled souls, or pure Investiture. We just dont know for sure what the mechanics involved are. There is the distinct possibility that Odium engineered them, or by Shardic power moved them, to bypass that effect. Personally, I think Odium is using Listener Souls he has stapled Surges to. Ulim the Emissary IMO is a true Spren that hasn't left the Physical Realm in a looooong time. He's had time to watch, listen, and learn without "trauma".

All we were currently told is the Iriali Queen refused to enter parley if Dalinar continues to refuse to hand over "what he has stolen" a long time ago. Dalinar muses over the fact it might be an acceptable price to pay and then the arc is forgotten. Next time we hear about the Iriali, it is to learn they have sided with the Voidbringers. Dalinar, it seems, never really had the time nor the opportunity to respond: it seems the ultimatum he was given was expiring rather quickly. I am curious about it. Dalinar's reluctance to hand over the Shardplate is reasonable, according to Navani the Iriali have no claim on this Plate and then, it is over. The Iriali Queen clearly had no intentions to allow Dalinar sufficient time to think about his options and to reply: it was either right now or never. As a result, it made me think the entire exchange was rigged in advance: the Iriali never had any intentions of siding with Dalinar, the Plate was just an excuse, but it does raise an interesting question: "Who the heck were Evi and Toh?". I also found it odd the Iriali Queen would accuse Dalinar of having stolen the Plate: he stole nothing. He married Evi whom presumably stole the Plate. It belonged to her, not to Dalinar. In fact, I'd wager it never belonged to Dalinar: it first belonged to Evi, then to Adolin, but I don't think Dalinar ever had an ownership over this specific Shardplate, so why accuse him of theft? I personally felt much was left unsaid when it came to the Shadplate, to Evi, to Toh and to why they had to run away from Rira. Who were they? I have somehow come to suspect Evi and Toh might have been Riran royalty, though I did question why the Plate belonged to Evi and not Toh... I'll admit I never entertained the idea Toh might not have been Evi's brother, but her guardian. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. I did wonder why Toh chose to exile himself to Herdaz, far away from his sister and his nephews. Why would he do such a think? Wouldn't he want to stay close to his last living relative? However, if Evi isn't really his sister, then it makes more sense. It also adds a lot of significance over Toh adding provisions over provisions within Dalinar and Evi marriage contract. It also explains why the Plate belongs to Evi and not to him: it belongs to her because she the heir, not him. A part of me also wonder if our favorite reluctant not-king isn't also the heir of some distant throne in far-away country.... If this is true however, then Dalinar's sons are a risk hazard for the Iriali: if one of the thrones were to be inherited by a powerful Alehi family, then what would it mean for the Iriali union with her vassals? If Rira is suddenly backed by Alethkar, then it may over-throw Iriali... There may be more to the story then we were told and somehow I suspect Gavilar didn't ask much questions when the refuse asked for solace. Hence, the fact Iriali is thinking of using an old event as a means to pressure Dalinar or as an excuse to side against him makes me think it isn't as unimportant as it initially seems. I'll however admit it may be yet another Red Herring... Brandon has gotten good with OB at dropping story arcs he previously introduced, I hope he will lose the habit. I don't agree Teft and Lopen's oath should have come earlier. Teft was clearly meant to be part of the last climax and it had a progression of its own. Lopen, I think Lopen has another purpose entirely. I believe with Lopen, Brandon has chosen to show us how an unbroken open-minded individual may become a Radiant, but it wouldn't have been right for him to make the bond work before Teft. I personally consider Jasnah to be a relatively minor character within the story so far. I am fine with her not saying oaths on screen. I think readers always expect more out of Jasnah because Brandon has spoken a lot about her, but truth is she won't be a major player until many more years. Adolin's Plate belonged to his mother: it may mean something to him. It is something he got from her, perhaps the last memory to carry with him. Others may not care about this tiny detail, but I could see it bothering Adolin though he has shown to be very pragmatic at times.Either way, Dalinar didn't respond quickly enough, the Iriali went their own way. What I found interesting about the arc was the potential for conflict it created... After ignoring said conflicts in OB, I'd love for Brandon to steer his boat towards them once again. Oathbringer was such an... emotion-less book for me. As for Adolin, he spent the entire book thinking he was not worthy of his father, he refuses to be the king: one could think the ground-work was laid down for him to get a revelation within the next book. There is also this scene, in Shadesmar, where Adolin speaks of how his mother was murdered. Clearly, his emotions on the matter were still raw: there was something there. Brandon made Adolin speak of his mother to Shallan/Kaladin, he made him state he believes Sadeas torched the Rift, his father being faultless. Why bother to write a moment where Adolin speaks of the event if not to use it later on? It served no purpose for Adolin to voice those thoughts out within the narrative, hence it must have another purpose. The Shardplate, I suspect, was an excuse. The Iriali never had the intentions to side with Dalinar. If Evi is royalty, then Dalinar's sons are threats.

To boil this down, you're "solving" the problem of the weights leveling(balancing) out by adding more weights? I suppose that would work, since you would have another pair ready to go immediately once one pair levels out, and it'd give you time to manually reset the leveled out ones while keeping the ships going. It'd take work to maintain, but it's doable. Like above, the manual effort would be an exertion, but it's doable. I'm glad this has been explained better now, so we can move on to what's still bothering me about your set-up. Also, you quoted the same part of my post twice, and I'm not 100% on if that was intentional. Just thought I'd mention it. You appear to have misread me(or I wasn't clear enough before). The jolt to the system I mentioned in my previous post would be felt at Urithiru's end, not the ship. The ship is falling. Since it's a Reverser, the downwards momentum of the ship would translate into an upwards bump to the counterweight when you reengage the Fabrial. Given that you want the weight to drop in order to push the ship up, the weight would be at the top of it's apparatus already when it gets that bump. That bump will shove it upwards into it's holding apparatus, which is gonna cause extra wear/tear as well as set up a potential structural issue in the future. Depending on the force(and on the size of the weight), it could even break free of your apparatus. The "disputed axis," as you call it, has always been the horizontal movement of the ship. I still do not believe your rotational idea will work. It just.. clashes with how I feel like I understand the workings of Conjoined Fabrials. Pairing Fabrials don't operate on momentum though. They duplicate the motions of the other piece, either in concert with or in reverse of. The Pieces of the Reverser Fabrial are mounted to the ship and attached to the counterweights at Urithiru, correct? If the ship moves up, the weight moves down. If the ship moves forwards, the weight moves backwards. If the ship moves left... and so on. The problem, as I have come to realize, is that your definition of "backwards" is not the same as mine. The Fabrial sets frame of reference in all 3 axes upon activation. No matter where the Fabrial is, up will always be above it's starting location, left will always be to the left of start.. and so on. The direction of "forwards" relative to the Fabrial on the ship does not change, so the direction of "backwards" relative to the Fabrial on the counterweight will not change either. If that "backwards" happens to be west, the counterweight will be pushed west of where it started, and only west. So long as the ship maintains the same trajectory, it is physically impossible for the Fabrial counterweight to go in circles around your carousel. The direction of the force being applied to the Fabrial doesn't allow it. Unless the ship changes the direction it's flying, the direction of the force being applied will not change, and the only "circles" your counterweight would be capable of doing are latitude/longitude lines.

I have a slightly different opinion. Feruchemy only allows you to store traits you already have. We have a natural ability to understand probable outcomes of our actions. We gage probability constantly, though it's not often conscious. I think a Chromium Ferring would store the ability to gauge the probable outcomes of situations, and become much much better at reading probability. So it would still result in a form of future sight, but it is not "I see visions of the future."

Kharsis returned from the Thoughtful Skyeel so exhausted that he barely had the energy to mumble hello to Elion and Helina before faceplanting in the guest bed. — Once again, he was in the room with the armchairs. To his side lay hot mugs of tea, and biscuits fresh out of the tin. He watched from above, both ghostly spectre and as active participant, Kharsis and Sonder, traveling peddler and shardship’s engineer. The last thing he remembered was filling out paperwork, being attacked by a Shardblade, and then...nothing. Where was he? Not the ship’s medbay, that was for sure. KHAS Sonder looked around at the other eight men around him; he didn’t recognise any of them, but he felt that he should. “So,” Sonder said. “Uh, what are we here for, exactly?” KASIMAR Something nudged Kharsis to disentangle himself from Sonder — to reach out further, farther. So he did. KAIM The world shifted around him, and he was back in Rennan, talking with Drelan for the first time in years. And not. Some of his consciousness remained in the room with the armchairs as Drelan described the recent murders. KAI “Oh,” Kharsis said. Goosebumps rose on the back of his neck, both here and from above. He knew who had committed those murders now. “Who died?” KASSEL ERIKELL “The first sign,” someone in the room with the hot mugs of tea said, “Is when someone inexplicably drops dead.” KASIR What? That startled Kharsis; it seemed like someone knew what was going on. He shifted his attention back to the room. SAMUEL KESSEN “That’s your sign to get out of there, as fast as you can,” Asim said. KADDAR “Not always,” he corrected. “By the time the Mayor dropped dead, I was in it up to my neck. The next thing I knew, I was a corrupted agent of evil—and had always been.” Good Guy Fain, he had been. Kharsis — no, Kaim, that was this man’s name — smiled at the memory and puffed on his pipe, blowing out a series of smoke rings. “Can’t run away from that.” KARNAD Those last words pricked at Kharsis’s conscience and he shifted uncomfortably from his spot looking down, remembering how he had run away from Elion at the bar. To distract himself, he looked more closely at the men in the room. He still had no idea what was going on, but parts of the conversation seemed familiar, somehow. KAIAN Sonder. Kai. Kasir. Kaim. Asim. Kaddar. Karnad. Khas. Kasimar. Their names jumped into his mind, and with them, some of their histories. This was their reunion, of sorts. SHI KWAIRAN As he thought, the room with the armchairs almost slipped away from him, and he sat at a dinner table with Elion, Helina, Larsah, and Adani. It had been their reunion too. But Kharsis already knew what had happened there, and so he fought to return to the room with the nine men. KIRIAS “We’re connected,” Kaddar said. “The nature of the connection is difficult to explain. After all, at first glance, one might think we are all terribly different.” He gestured at each of them in turn. “Thief-taker, fallen from grace.” KOSCHEI JERZY “Don’t say that word,” Karnad muttered. KARSTEN ARNKELL In the other world, the normal world, a little girl at the dinnertable asked, “Where’re you from, Uncle?” Kharsis could almost hear the implicit, who are you? contained in her question. SONDER KESSLIGH “Worldhopper and peddler. Sailor. Courier. King’s Wit and right hand. And, of course, a spy.” Kaddar said, favouring Asim with a knowing smile. Asim returned the gesture. “Intuitively, very different. But there is a tale of blind men: each of them touching a different part of an elephant. ‘The elephant is like a study pillar,’ claims the first man. ‘No, you are mistaken,’ cries the second. ‘The elephant is like a solid pipe.’ A third disagrees. ‘All of you are wrong,’ he claims. ‘The elephant is like a wall.’ A fourth declares the elephant to be like a hand-fan. And at last, a mighty king and a wise man, for the two are often separable, comes by and listens to the clamour. And at last, he says, ‘All of you are right.’” He looks at them: at each of them. “The blind men cannot understand this. The truth, the king claims, has many aspects. Just as each of the blind men has touched one part of the elephant and claimed to know the entire elephant from it.” KASSIEN ESTVARIL From his view at the top of the room, Kharsis’s mouth fell open in an O. He’d heard this before, or something like this. The details of last night’s dream returned to him: there, a strange man with a spear had asked him some riddle involving an elephant — Kaddar had asked him some riddle involving an elephant. KARNAN This was the elephant, the thing with many aspects. All of these men — Sonder, Kai, Kasir, Kaim, Asim, Kaddar, Karnad, Khas, Kasimar — they were part of this thing, this elephant that sought to know itself. KASTHER The room threatened to slip away from him again, but Kharsis held on, latching onto...someone. Asim. The professional one. KJARTAN “...you see, the first trap is to actually sign up for their games,” he said. TENTH OF THE DUSK / KAIKOA “Who is this ‘they’ you refer to?” Kasir wanted to know, leaning forward eagerly. VALENS Asim made a vague gesture. “Oh, you know. Those nefarious masterminds who ended up murdering each and every one of you. If you refuse to play their Games, they can’t win. They can’t kill you. You’ll go on living, exactly like you want to. You’ll be happy. That’s exactly what I do: why, the other day, I was delivering messages from the embassy in Arelon to the embassy in Duladel, when I stopped to spend the night at a trading post. Immediately, when I saw that flayed corpse in the snow, I said to myself, ‘Asim, old friend, you are a professional; this is clearly meant to hook you and drag you into one of Their Games, and you are not getting involved.’ So I ran,” he concluded. “And that’s how I stayed alive.” ASIM The words were familiar in his mouth. After all, wasn’t that how Kharsis himself had survived those early days? For years he’d repeated those words over and over to himself, to drown out the guilt of leaving Elion to fend for himself. Kharsis ran. That’s what he did. KAMSIL Not anymore, Kharsis reminded himself. You didn’t run from this Game or whatever it is Asim’s talking about. SHUOS KANSEUN “So,” Kaim said, dubiously, “You’re saying the way to survive is to refuse to play Their games.” KASIM Asim nodded, proudly. “Yes.” KHARSIS “Actually,” Kai said, “I really don’t see it, Asim. I mean,” Kai glanced at the room and forged on, idly stroking his ferret. “Would any of us even be alive, if it weren’t for the Game? The Game created us, Asim. Or at least we were created for it. We’ve all got some sort of purpose, I reckon. And if we ran away from the Game, would we even live? I mean, it’s better to live, for even a few days, than to never have lived at all, isn’t it?” “To have lived,” Sonder said. “And to have loved.” From above, Kharsis nodded his ghostly head. After the events of the past few days...he rather thought he agreed. “Yes,” Kaddar said, quietly. “I would choose life, over a thousand evils. But I think most of us would, wouldn’t we? Dying was never in my plan, and I was fortunate that I was able to live. But to choose to die, knowing what you are giving up, but to do it for a higher reason…” he shrugged, looking at Sonder. “I think that takes a decent amount of courage. Ivare enim euge.” That was all? That was it? They were...things, characters, created for the same Game? Kharsis had circled all the way around the elephant now, had felt the major parts of it — the trunk, the tail, the sides, the ears. And yet he felt like he was missing a major piece of it. He screwed his eyes shut in concentration and reached deeper. KASIMIR The elephant, the thing with many aspects, the thing that all of them were part of — it resisted him, leaping and bucking. But he grasped it firmly, until the world reformed out of masses of light blue. — I am the last sleep of kings, the shadow of ravens, A young man sat in front of a computer, typing furiously, racing against some unseen deadline. Kharsis didn’t know him, and yet...this man — his life, his quirks, his personality, his essence — was written into Kharsis’s bones. Mine is the bitter wound-thorn, the word-hoard. I am the giver of wise counsel, the broken tree; “Bloody Sympathisers,” the man groused. “Sod them and their last-minute hammers…” Fettered by word-chains of my own forging. My domain is the spear-storm. With bold strategem The man’s words made no sense to Kharsis, but he could feel their significance somehow. It had something to do with the Game, the Game that connected him and the other characters, the Game that was the reason they existed. I outwit those who sought to deceive me. I have cast my defiance before the Doomherald, It was 4:00 AM in the morning, and the man was still awake. He had other obligations, Kharsis knew. Textbooks to read, papers to write, students to teach. And yet he stayed awake, hammering away at the keyboard, for this. For the Game, and the battle of minds, and the people met, and the friendships forged. Bent knee only once to my slayer and king. I am the exultation of the spear-clash, “Have to finish this before rollover,” Kasimir muttered. “I will be so angry if the Symps kill off Kharsis. I want him to survive, damnit.” Unbroken, unyielding; I am the shining word That is my own unsullied name. Ten blades A chant rang in Kharsis’s ears, drowning out all other sound. Shattered against me and still I remain. My voice is the thunder of the ruined city, He had reached too far, he knew that now. I bear the songs of the departed and forgotten. The shield of those who yet draw breath. The world of the man writing on the computer faded to light blue, disappearing. In fire I have perished. I am the heart-binder, The knower of secrets, the king's wit. The room with the armchairs, too, faded. Name me wolf-riddler and foe-thorn; Master of herbs, and silvertongue. The vision slipped away from him. — Kharsis woke up to the sun shining into his eyes. He grumbled and blinked blearily, rubbing his aching back. Had he dreamt while asleep? Yes, he must have; he remembered something to do with people he might have met, once, but more the he reached for details the more he lost, like sand slipping through his fingers.

She always puts her left shoe on before her right, and though it seems obviously backwards, she places her safehand in the sleeve BEFORE her other hand. This has to do with buttons and modesty. She loves reading, but not for pleasure; she loves the academic reparte' she has with the author and her/his approach to reason. Her favorite alcohol is NOT Horneater white, but a deep violet wine with fruity flavors added. She is an exceptionally difficult date and even worse when given too broad a choice for dinner selections, as she argues with herself and the date for inordinate amounts of time the pros and cons of the selection, often hoping to use this to draw out the personality of her date, but usually putting the dinner party in a poor mood prior to getting some food. Following battles in Thaylen City, she looks particularly "wrung out" and markedly unattractive. If you are a merchant who happens to do business with her, you usually walk away with a better deal than ever you have had, since her naivete and impatience always works in your favor. She loves lime sherbet, and is a sucker for any play that comes to town. She has no idea the value of aluminum and highly underestimates soulcasting. Not a good choice for caregiver of people of any age, and is now fully on the radar of Odium as a vulnerable foe. Don't ask me how I know these things, the answer is many times longer than this post, and is partially fiction. (actually...all of it is! Hmmm... Can a man's definition of fiction have levels?)

The problem with looking for the resonant frequency of Fused gemhearts is that they won't all be the same, so you'd have to find the individual exact frequency every time, which is obviously impractical from the perspective of your approach. On the other hand, you may be able to just have the illusion play a scaling tone, a la computer music. As for other uses, the full invisibility via bending light has the problems described, but the easy solution is to just make your arms and weapon(s) invisible. It's much harder to effectively block a weapon you can't see, even if you can generally guess where it is based on posture. Embed little gems onto arrows/throwing knives and make those invisible. Get a volley of those going, and they literally won't even know what hit them! Or where the volley came from if it was from behind a hill. That'll sow some serious confusion :D. Without seeing the volley, peeps are less likely to raise their shields on a battlefield too. It'd be hard to set up, though, at least with the current numbers of Radiants.

Most of us dislike this romance, so you're in good company here (I know that wasn't the exact point you were getting at though, haha.) That being said, don't worry about jumping in late! We won't hold you down and make you stay You'll also see a lot of people asking for evidence in the opposite direction, so that is very welcome! It makes a much stronger argument to confront bias and try and see the other side. I personally started in this thread because I wanted people to convince me the ending was one which was satisfying; I was desperate for evidence that there was something magical about the Shallan-Adolin romance that I missed. My big turning point was when I realized Shallan was sitting when Adolin "sees" the "real" Shallan and then stands up when Kaladin lands (this dynamic - sitting with Adolin and then standing to look at Kaladin is also present in a scene in Honor's Path.) Given Brandon's obvious symbolism regarding Shallan needing to be the girl who stood up (OB, Chapter 82, The Girl Who Stood Up), I was left with either that symbolism having to mean something or that Brandon was very sloppy in ignoring it later in the book. I chose the former and here we are! To get more to your point - evidence is what is written in the book or in a WoB. You can argue about the meaning behind it, but you can't argue that it isn't on the page (/website in the case of WoB.) To get to one conclusion or the other (Adolin or Kaladin), either side has to explain around some evidence. For a pro-Kaladin argument, it's mostly explaining around that Shallan chose Adolin and married him (which is why you get a lot of discussions about whether or not Brandon would do a divorce or otherwise how could they break up), but there doesn't seem to be a lot of meta evidence which points towards Adolin to contend with. For a pro-Adolin argument, you should read the document linked in the very first post on this thread, as it contains a lot of quotes and WoB which are theorized to point towards Kaladin that need to be contended with to arrive at a pro-Adolin conclusion. Some of these form stronger arguments than others, but there is a lot to explain around in order to come to the conclusion that Shallan and Adolin are meant to last. This quote has led to theories about how Shallan would need to divorce Adolin to save Pattern from dying earlier in the thread, yet _this_ comes shortly after: "Syl", kaladin repeated. "We jumped hand-in-hand, but she let go". And, funnily enough gets soundly ignored. No furious theorising about how Syl will abandon Kaladin or he will kill her yet again, no far-reaching predictions about his character. Crickets. Never mind that there was actually a very good reason for Shallan to prioritize Adolin, who, of them all, was in most immediate danger of suffocating if she lost him in the beads, as the only human unable to inhale stormlight in their group, while there is no such excuse for Kaladin/Syl. This has actually been brought up before (but not like I expect you to have read this whole thing!, just pointing it out.) I personally think the theory that the Shallan/Pattern bond is fraying is one which has some of the more speculative evidence - there's some there (including this quote and Pattern's lack of presence at the end of OB), but there is also evidence of them having a good bond (interactions in Shadesmar for instance.) Your point regarding Kaladin/Syl is a good one, though if you're re-reading that scene, I would look at the difference between Shallan's reaction to Pattern being missing and Kaladin's over Syl. Kaladin is frantic (immediately asking for Syl, pacing - we see this from Shallan's PoV) whereas Shallan is very nonchalant about Pattern not making it to the room, not mentioning him from when his hand slipped out of hers until he finds his way back to the room. Kaladin's reaction makes sense given what he's been through; he's lost Syl once before and is desperate to not do so again. Shallan's reaction...? Who knows. Maybe it's showing she's more rational about the fact spren don't need to breath (even if we don't hear her thought about this.) Maybe it's showing she isn't as attached to her spren as Kaladin. We can theorize about what it means, but the fact (i) Shallan clung to Adolin and lost hold of Pattern and (ii) Shallan has a vastly different reaction to losing hold of her spren than Kaladin, are things which did happened, so are open to interpretation as to their meaning. This is something which is complained about a lot with regards to the Jasnah and Elhokar deaths in particular, and I agree that neither was handled with a lot of emotion. (Not totally disregarded - there is definitely mention in the books, but not treated with a ton of emotional weight.) Do lack of expected reactions/thoughts in a PoV mean something though? Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. There have been arguments (not here but other places where I saw this complained about) that neither Jasnah nor Elhokar was a main character, so others' reactions to their deaths were only used when needed, i.e. Navani's journal and missing signs of the Parshendi changing tactics related to grief over Jasnah's death or Kaladin's comatose reaction to Moash killing Elhokar. To point out an obvious "lack of reaction means something" moment, there is Jasnah's non-reaction to Shallan stealing her soulcaster. I agree with you it's very hard to prove a negative - it's always better evidence when you have the benefit of an explicit passage rather than just the absence of anything on point. (Adolin's feelings for Shallan fall into this category for me. We have no evidence from his PoV that he has strong feelings for Shallan, but it's just absence of any strong feelings rather than Adolin explicitly thinking that he doesn't.) In my mind, it's still an open point until we have evidence one way or another, but that doesn't mean the absence of something can't be used as evidence; it's still proof that the author decided to not include something (intentionally or not.) It's just not as strong of evidence as something which directly addresses an issue, because as you point out, it may not mean anything. I'm actually not sure if you're a big Adolin fan? And are you saying this is why you're OK with Adolin being in a romance with someone not totally devoted to him/where he doesn't show feelings? (This was the point of the post of mine you quoted.) If so, I see this as being a subset of "Shadolin is good to keep Adolin in the story more" so that's good I was on the right track about why some Adolin fans are so willing to accept a romance which is not-so-satisfying from an Adolin perspective! Where does this come from? We see Kaladin in WoK flashbacks as being fascinated with drawings of human bodies (which is very akin to Shallan's interest in natural history actually.) Is there something I forget where Kaladin is anti-art? I wholeheartedly agree with this. Kaladin (as a character) got nothing from the arc. He got something from the chasms as an example of judging a lighteyes before knowing more of their story, but there was no reason to keep it going from a character-development perspective. The hypocrisy of "Kaladin has depression and shouldn't be in a relationship" coupled with "it's great Shallan got married to Adolin" drives me batty! Also the idea (as @SLNC pointed out) that Kaladin is the overprotective one, when Adolin is the one shown on the page annoying Shallan with his over-protectiveness. (This does continue into OB though in milder form, such as the beginning of Chapter 110, A Million Stars. "Shallan put her freehand on the frame of the open cargo door and leaned out over the churning depths. Adolin tried to tug her back, but she remained in place.") Notably, in the Re-Shephir confrontation, Shallan is channeling and using her difficult past to make her stronger. (This is one of my favorite Shallan passages ever, so I'm going to re-quote is below .) Shallan then realizes Re-Shephir is going to learn all of her (Shallan's) secrets ("know her completely, discover each and every one of her secrets"), since Shallan is so open at that moment, and Shallan loses her "ferocity and determination" until she decides to lie ("So she lied... She'd always been that way. She would continue that way forever.") I don't think it's any coincidence that after this Shallan huddles in her room for a day (note: I believe I read somewhere this was a week in either the alpha or beta version, but changed as readers found it unrealistic Shallan would remain holed up for so long after Jasnah's return) and then starts fracturing even more distinctly. I think this exposure of "herself" and subsequent decision to solve her doubt (or perceived shortcomings) by lying was quite detrimental to her mental health. Shallan doesn't regain the ability to face her painful memories until Thaylen City, and at that point she explicitly needs Veil and Radiant in order to do so, as her illusions start to fail when she Lightweaves her mother until Veil and Radiant emerge and grab her hands. (OB, Ch. 120, The Spear That Would Not Break, pg. 1149 US kindle edition)

And now for a few quotes from the best TV show ever: Gus: Shawn? What the heck are you doing here? Shawn: I should ask you the same question. Gus: I work here! Shawn: I should ask you a different question. Lassiter: So you think someone planted it in his locker? Shawn: No, I think someone put it there on purpose. Lassiter: That's what I just said. Shawn: But mine wasn't in the form of a question, so it came from a place of power. Gus: I'm not going out there. Shawn: You cannot sit here in a dark car all alone. You'll be picked up for mopery. Gus: Mopery? Shawn: With intent to creep. Trust me, you don't want that. It'll put a big hole in your future.

AG4/AN1 - Night 6: Death of No-one Someone is apparently dying today. I say apparently, because the claims of there being someone are currently being judged uncertain. Who’s judging? Sorry to say, but that’s also being judged uncertain by someone higher up than who should be judging. Bureaucracy can get confusing like that, which is why I am personally voting diplomatically for an un-diplomatic system. Taking the system down from the inside, you know? Anyway, I’ve only been contracted for like not much, other services cost like way more proportionally, cause I don’t really like doing them. Not the writing itself, but the whole like characters being characters and stuff. What I can say about Weasel is that they ain’t gonna be weaseling their way out of this lynch, or just like life in general ironically. So Weasel dies, and I’m telling you this way too late. Like unbelievably late. Three paragraphs into the write-up and it’s only made clear then? For shame, myself. Anyway, at this point there may or may not be a paragraph of a word from the other GM: Indigo Weasel was lynched. They were a Village Elsecaller. Vote Count Indigo Weasel (8): Amethyst Scorpion, Azure Mouse, Fuchsia Ostrich, Ivory Dragonfly, Pearl Chameleon, Quartz Zebra, Sage Kangaroo, Violet Axolotl Night 6 has begun. It will end in 24 hours, at 10pm GMT on the 31st January. Player List 1. Amethyst Scorpion 2. Azure Mouse 3. Amber Vulture 4. Charcoal Hyena - Cannoc - Villager 5. Chartreuse Penguin - Villager 6. Coral Swan - Elyle - Village Lightweaver 7. Cream Tuatara - Villager 8. Emerald Falcon - Aldrick 9. Fuschia Ostrich 10. Indigo Weasel - Village Elsecaller 11. Ivory Dragonfly - Nolan 12. Magenta Albatross 13. Mauve Crocodile 14. Melon Dingo - Quentisan - Village Edgedancer 15. Mint Heron 16. Onyx Flamingo - Squawk 17. Opal Lion - Villager 18. Oxblood Beagle - Jai - Village Willshaper 19. Pearl Chameleon 20. Plum Rhinoceros - Villager 21. Quartz Zebra 22. Saffron Iguana - Emalia - Village Lightweaver 23. Sage Kangaroo 24. Salmon Meerkat - Village Bondsmith 25. Sapphire Elephant 26. Scarlet Octopus - Village Edgedancer 27. Sunburst Toucan - Vanna 28. Taupe Gecko - Villager 29. Turquoise Gorilla - Village Dustbringer 30. Violet Axolotl

AG4/AN1 - Night 4: United in Fear The pounding on the door was getting louder, as were the angry shouts outside. Durthu grunted as someone rammed their body against the frame, making the wall shudder. He glanced over his shoulder at the boy watching. His anxious eyes had seen this whole thing before. "Elysian," Durthu called. "You have to leave!" Elysian shook his head. "Not again!" he cried. Durthu sighed, and heard the smash of glass outside. "Elysian, you have to leave! There's nothing you can do, so it's best to leave while you can. Go out the back way. Hopefully... hopefully no one will see you there. Go!" Elysian stared at him, then swallowed hard and dashed for the back door. Durthu closed his eyes. He had never been very religious, but he prayed to the Almighty that the boy would be safe. He doubted anyone would take the child in now, after both of his guardians had been mobbed. They’d think he was cursed, or some other crem. The shouts were getting louder, and the door cracked as someone began to take a hammer to it. He shook his head and stood back. There was nothing else he could do now. When the door burst through, they saw Durthu standing there, arms folded. “I bring unity,” Durthu said. “That is what I’m supposed to do. Why can’t you see that? Why do you accuse me of all people of dividing you?” The crowd didn’t care. “You are bringing unity, you murderer,” yelled one. “Unity in us wanting your death!” “All I want is peace,” Durthu pleaded, but the crowd had no ears for him. They only had fists. Durthu was left bruised and bloody on the ground, the slowly spilling blood mixing with chalkdust in the street. As sunset fell, the fear that had unified the villagers split them apart to barricade them into their houses, and the night began. Credit to Salmon Meerkat for contributing to the writeup. Salmon Meerkat has died! They were a Village Bondsmith. Vote Count Salmon Meerkat (9): Chartreuse Penguin, Mint Heron, Onyx Flamingo, Quartz Zebra, Ivory Dragonfly, Sunburst Toucan, Magenta Albatross, Violet Axolotl, Plum Rhinoceros Mauve Crocodile (2): Salmon Meerkat, Amethyst Scorpion, Pearl Chameleon Night Four has begun. It will end in 24 hours time, at 10pm GMT on the 25th January. Player List Amethyst Scorpion Azure Mouse Amber Vulture Charcoal Hyena - Cannoc - Villager Chartreuse Penguin Coral Swan - Elyle - Village Lightweaver Cream Tuatara - Villager Emerald Falcon - Aldrick Fuschia Ostrich Indigo Weasel Ivory Dragonfly - Nolan Magenta Albatross Mauve Crocodile Melon Dingo - Quentisan - Village Edgedancer Mint Heron Onyx Flamingo - Squawk Opal Lion - Villager Oxblood Beagle - Jai - Village Willshaper Pearl Chameleon Plum Rhinoceros Quartz Zebra Saffron Iguana - Emalia - Village Lightweaver Sage Kangaroo Salmon Meerkat - Village Bondsmith Sapphire Elephant Scarlet Octopus - Village Edgedancer Sunburst Toucan - Vanna Taupe Gecko - Villager Turquoise Gorilla - Village Dustbringer Violet Axolotl

AG4/AN1 - Day 3: Throw Away The Rest Narg stood in front of his shed, facing no-one. “No left, no left!” he whispered, only making the groans of the wood louder. “You leave. Now. Then I talk.” The melancholy surrounding Narg left, but Narg did not feel anything. “You are sane,” Narg began. “I am keeping myself alive. Despite the pains, and yet I keep myself in place because you are a helper. I know. I do not even have a reason!” “Joy for me only. Joy for just me and no-one else. This is justice. You do not know that yet, but I do. You make stalwart, strong despairs that you’ll never friend the saviour or saviours by helping my way into myself, one by one. You wish me luck.” The shed continued. “You persist.” “You will keep talking!” Narg shouted, and could not be silenced. “I shush, with no effects. Life will continue tonight.” The shed fell apart. “The sun rises. You have no purpose, now. I will grow new life, despite your attempts. Take care of the sun, and throw away the excess.” Narg rose then, and his thoughts spilled onto the ground of the shed which had once been his prison. Scarlet Octopus fell on that night. Some say that it falls to me to wax poetry about the words left by an octopus on the night of it’s death, but I do not have the skills for it. However, I can tell you about the origins of the phrase ‘wax poetic’. The word ‘wax’ means to grow, so the phrase is saying ‘to grow poetic’, of which I cannot do. For my language does not grow, nor does it stagnate. But alas, that is a sidetrack. Let us get back to the death of S.C, who is trendy enough to have a nickname so that they don’t have to write way too many letters to always refer to them. A message to S.C, - who will surely be unable to read this as they are dead but may be able to contact me somehow - you may pester me to be included in these notes to the plebians among the world, as I will respect the effort that must be committed to be able to message me about that. If you have problems with this certainly less grandiose death than maybe expected, then I will be able to make it up to you, as seen below. An Opal Lion Was Not Hydrated Enough Gone. Burnt To A Crisp. Scarlet Octopus has died! They were a Village Edgedancer. Opal Lion has died! They were a Villager. Edgedancer Message 1: It was just a simple Quarrel That killed the good Sweet Coral We loved our Swan We’re sad they’re Gone This town is not quite Moral. Saffron was killed in hate The killers did Lacerate This sad Iguana Who left for Nirvana Let’s try to not share their fate. In a horrible Game A soldier took Aim In Life’s great Arena Died our poor Hyena Who now takes the blame Edgedancer Message 2: Thoughtly composed Words, Arranged Forwards and Backwards, Presenting Keteks presently. Backwards and Forwards, Arranging Words, Composed Thoughtfully. Sorry. Tried thoughtful happiness, failed. Gloom prevails hereafter. Hereafter prevails gloom. Failing happiness, thoughtfully tried. Sorry. Hope Fades, Honor Falling, Odium Rising, Radiating Hate. Radiants Rising, Odium Falling, Honor Fading. Hope. Quiet brooding, watching in shadows, A Darkness hidden, vigilant, To fall on sleepers. Sleep on, fall to vigilant hidden darkness, A Shadow in watch, brooding quitely. Desolations - finally the Heralds of Death come, Lord Odium Rises, thus falling Honor. Broken Oaths remembered, Knights Radiants reborn. Truth destroys Urithiru, Again Hate Reigns. Hate again Urithiru, destroyed truly. Reborn Radiant Knights, remember. Oaths Broken, Honor falling, thus rises Odium. Lord, Come - Death of Heralds, the Final Desolation. Day Three has begun. It will end in 48 hours time, at 10pm GMT on the 19th January. Player List Amethyst Scorpion Azure Mouse Amber Vulture Charcoal Hyena - Cannoc - Villager Chartreuse Penguin Coral Swan - Elyle - Village Lightweaver Cream Tuatara Emerald Falcon - Aldrick Fuschia Ostrich Indigo Weasel Ivory Dragonfly - Nolan Magenta Albatross Mauve Crocodile Melon Dingo - Quentisan - Village Edgedancer Mint Heron Onyx Flamingo - Squawk Opal Lion - Villager Oxblood Beagle - Jai Pearl Chameleon Plum Rhinoceros Quartz Zebra Saffron Iguana - Emalia - Village Lightweaver Sage Kangaroo Salmon Meerkat Sapphire Elephant Scarlet Octopus - Village Edgedancer Sunburst Toucan - Vanna Taupe Gecko Turquoise Gorilla Violet Axolotl PMs are not open.

AG4/AN1 - Day 2: Fires in the Night Lady Emalia sat in her room late at night, staring out the tiny window at the bonfire burning down below. With such a small village, that fire would never be allowed to go out except during highstorms, and would be the main source of fire for the entire village. She looked at the tiny spark, lost in thought. She hadn’t meant to come here. Hadn’t meant to find another place of death and destruction, and yet... She hated it. Why did it have to happen, this cycle of death? Was there no other way? What twisted part of the universe made it right for friend to kill friend? She didn’t know. Her hands shook, again. She’d survived so far. She’d been lucky enough to come out of this alive, so far. But she could feel that her luck wouldn’t hold forever. Emalia turned to retrieve pen and paper from her satchel, to write out her experiences in the case that she died this time. She had a brief glimpse of a dark figure in the room, too dark to make out with her eyes blinded from staring into the fire. Lady Emalia pressed her lips together, closed her eyes, and sat tall. “Fate makes a mockery of us all,” she murmured. A flash of pain; darkness. Elyle woke. He judged it to be a few hours before dawn, and couldn’t tell at first what had wakened him. He sat up, and smelled it. Smoke. “Fire!” he cried. “Fire in the inn!” Behind a closed door, Cannoc’s blackened body lay on the wooden floor, smoldering, and the flames began to catch. Charcoal Hyena (Cannoc) has died. They were a Villager. Saffron Iguana (Lady Emalia) has died. They were a Village Lightweaver. Edgedancer Message: A solitary Melon Not actually a Felon The sad little Dingo The maker of Lingo Now there’s no more Yellin’ But I am still alive. In this town I thrive. So Odium beware. I tell you to despair Of your life I will deprive. Day Two has begun. It will end Thursday 18 January at 10pm GMT. Player List 1. Amethyst Scorpion 2. Azure Mouse 3. Amber Vulture 4. Charcoal Hyena - Cannoc 5. Chartreuse Penguin 6. Coral Swan - Elyle 7. Cream Tuatara 8. Emerald Falcon - Aldrick 9. Fuschia Ostrich 10. Indigo Weasel 11. Ivory Dragonfly - Nolan 12. Magenta Albatross 13. Mauve Crocodile 14. Melon Dingo - Quentisan 15. Mint Heron 16. Onyx Flamingo - Squawk 17. Opal Lion 18. Oxblood Beagle - Jai 19. Pearl Chameleon 20. Plum Rhinoceros 21. Quartz Zebra 22. Saffron Iguana - Emalia 23. Sage Kangaroo 24. Salmon Meerkat 25. Sapphire Elephant 26. Scarlet Octopus 27. Sunburst Toucan - Vanna 28. Taupe Gecko 29. Turquoise Gorilla 30. Violet Axolotl Anonymous Account Rules

I suppose it's possible but it seems like it would be an unnecessary complication, based on what we know right now. 'Azure' doesn't do anything that Vivenna couldn't do or learn to do as of the last time we see her. Here's an interesting bit from the Warbreaker annotations: Which seems to cover her disappearing scar and possibly her not looking that much older than her age in Warbreaker. There is the performance of the Wall Guard and one member (I forget who) claiming that with her they fought like the spren were behind them, but that could have to do with Awakening tricks we don't currently know much about (Vasher being able to alter memory, for instance). She's also got a slightly extended lifespan assuming she has the exact same Breath store she ended Warbreaker with (Second Heightening and we know the First was enough to extend life by around a decade) and her brother-in-law could probably loan her more if she needed them for some reason. Or she could learn whatever trick Demoux, Baon, Khriss and Nazh use. So if there's enough time passing between stories that require her to dramatically extend her lifespan, she's got ways to do it without needing to be a Returned. And since she does have her full memories, we'd need some evidence for why she's the exception to the rule before I'd start to warm up to it. I do like the idea that Vasher was Returned as part of a long-range plan by Endowment involving what's going on in Stormlight Archive but I'm not as sure on Vivenna. That said, I don't know what else you might have said on Discord so... hit me with your best shot.

 Shallan and her personalities:

Ha! you're point about Moash was the same thing I instantly thought. A friend of mine had him sign a copy of NOTW at GenCon and he wrote under the title "is Bob. Ha! Beat you to it!" He has a great sense of humor about that.

I don't have my book handy, but I believe Dalinar supercharges Kaladin when he goes off to search for the Kholinar survivors.

I need to take a pause after finishing Part Three. To sleep on it, even though it's only 9:30pm and I certainly could otherwise read for another 2-3 hours even on a weeknight. I made it past the Venli Interlude #7 following it, then just had to stop and collect myself. Because Almighty, what a finish to Part Three. Hi Vivenna. What's that Shardblade you carry that you can't dismiss, but also don't need to sheathe, and doesn't sever on All Three Realms, like a certain evil-destroying artifact from your past? Nightblood As He Should Have Been? Oh, Moash. Just when I thought you could... Bah. And giving the Bridge Four salute to Kaladin there... I think you broke him. You broke Kaladin! The man you owe everything to. You're of the Ten Traitors now, you bastard. Oh, Elhokar. I had so been hoping Shallan would do a Bluth style inspirational sketch for you. Is that white spren Eshonai, who like the Fused spren, is the soul of a listener who refused to pass on?

The best part of Part 1is when Dalinar flips of a (most likley) thunderclast. Dalinar used to be a savage.

When I first saw this I thought it was "Kill everyone. Then there won't be any copycat murder." Seems like something T. would do <shudder>

Here's one from when we were trying to kill planets: After you spike the Cosmere, I'm pretty sure you've broken the magic system. Really, you could just go ahead and say "If it can be spiked, it will be spiked".

Scumbag Steelheart (Firefight spoilers): No spoilers, but large images:

EDIT: Added one more.

Mistborn