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  1. Yesterday, at a signing at JordanCon, Brandon read out something that was very old, which he said we had been waiting for "for a long time". He thought it was about eight or nine years old. It is crazy, and very exciting. It's a piece called The Traveler which is quite cosmere-aware, which Brandon thought he could now reveal. We recommend you just read it with no further introduction, but if you want some analysis, scroll on down. Get hyped. All of this is transcribed on Arcanum, and you can listen to the audio from the man himself at the links below. Here is Brandon's introduction to this piece: And so, here it is. Note, again, this is a very early draft from a long time ago. The Traveler A focused southern breeze made the trees sound like they were chattering. Tiny crisp leaves spreading the news of the Traveler’s return. Pure white leaves, clustered along branches like skeletal limbs. Even the bark clinging to the trees was white. In some lands, white meant purity; in others, it meant death. Here, it didn’t mean a thing. It was simply, normal. The Traveler sat on the mossy white ground, back to the tree, legs crossed idly as he picked at a pomegranate, eating the seeds one by one then spitting out the pits. They fell on the stark moss-covered ground, leaving red juice like blood running across a sterile white floor. To say he wore rags would have be an insult to many a goodwife who kept her washing rags in much better shape than the Traveler's costume. Ragged brown and black canvas, tattered cloak, and scruffy beard, rubbed dark with a black material that might have been soot — or ash. The leaves suddenly fluttered excitedly behind him, and a strange puff of wind blew across the trunks. A moment later, a figure in simple gray robes walked into the clearing. Clean-shaven and silver-haired, he had the look of an aged scribe, not haughty, but tired. “So, you’re back,” the elderly visitor said. “Did I leave? I am the lingering odor you can never quite locate, my friend. Just when you think I've faded you open your cupboard and find, in an overpowering reveal, that I've merely been… ripening.” “Hmph, that’s a new look for you.” The Traveler looked down at his ragged clothing. “I’ve been learning to blend in. Hard to do that in one of my normal costumes.” “I doubt you’ll ever be the type to blend in.” “You’d be surprised!” “Is that soot in your hair?” “Maybe.” The elderly man sighed, walking across the short clearing and settling himself down on a large protruding tree root. “You can’t keep doing this.” The Traveler continued to eat his seeds, though he had started to chew them up rather than spitting out the pits. “You will just make things worse.” “Ati and Leras are dead,” the Traveler said, picking a piece of seed out from between his teeth. The elderly visitor said nothing, and the Traveler eyed him, leaning in closely, studying the man's eyes. The pupils were rimmed with a silver far too metallic to be natural, at least for a human. “You sly old lizard!” the Traveler said, pointing. “You already knew! You were watching! And here you were chastising me.” “I did NOT interfere,” the elderly man said. ”You meddle in things we promised to leave alone. Things that we—” Traveler held up a finger, interrupting him, then slowly he pointed at the older man. ”I. Made. No. Promise.” “You made your choice. Why now seek for things you so eagerly denied? My friend, it’s the dangerous desire, the lust for power best untouched, that created the situation in the first place.” The Traveler did not reply. The two sat for a time, listening to the winds through the garrulous trees. “Did you… find what you were seeking?” the elder man finally asked. The Traveler shrugged, picking at another seed and nibbling on it. “You will not find a way to restore what you have lost, old friend,” the aged man said softly. ”It is impossible.” “You don’t know that. The old rules no longer hold.” The Traveler turned the pomegranate over in his fingers. ”Besides, I’ve heard of a place… It doesn’t matter. I don’t care. This isn’t about the dead… or it’s not JUST about the dead, at least.” He dropped the fruit to the ground, wiping his fingers on his riding coat. “So it’s a simple vendetta, then,” the aged man said, sighing. “How many years have you lived, and you still can’t learn the wisdom of just letting go?” “A simple vendetta?” the Traveler said. He rose, stalking up to the older man, holding out a finger and touching the man's chest. “You saw what Ati nearly did.” The Traveler leaned down, face even with that of his older companion. “I would not think it MY vendetta that should worry you, old friend.” Isn't that crazy? It's obviously set right after Mistborn Era 1, right after Hero of Ages, with Hoid (the Traveler) talking to Frost. Not only that but it really sounds like they are on Yolen as well. Remember in The Way of Kings, the part two epigraphs were a mysterious letter of cosmere significance? That was sent to Hoid, from Frost. Then, in Words of Radiance, Frost sent a reply. This is crazy. What do you think? Also note, there's lots more JordanCon to transcribe in the JordanCon event in Arcanum. Come help out by signing up for an account, going to the Sources page, and hitting Edit. Come into our Discord in the #arcanum channel and we can help you out, or go here for a guide on how to do that.
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  2. Back home safe and (relatively) sound. Had an absolute blast. Like I've said after other events I've been to, it's not that I just saw Brandon and got some questions. It was great to meet other fans, Sharders and WoT fans both, and to geek out in person. And spending a lot of time in the board game hall was an unexpected pleasure; I got to run some House War, but also got to play some games I've wanted to learn for a while and hang out with the great people who taught them to me. So, it really is the rest of you (except maybe Argent) that make it all worth it. Going for a whole weekend to sit in a corner and wait for a chance to ask questions (even a good dozen or so questions) wouldn't make me want to go back. I was especially impressed with the Wheel of Time community there. I knew some names, knew some of the old theories and in-jokes, but I wasn't as in to the WoT fandom as I am in the Cosmere side of it. I went to some of the fandom anniversary panels, learned some stories, got to chat with Theoryland and Dragonmount admins. I think we, as a younger community, have a lot we can learn from them, and I'm so glad they are gracious in sharing their convention with us. And now comes the part of the show where I unpack and reflect upon the new info I got. Glyphs (spoiler'd for length) And second, my questions. They're all working their way into Arcanum (or already have), so I won't drop exact quotes, just some overview and followup thoughts. I did have quite a bit of fun, as you can see from my bar-code of snippets in the Arcanum audio file: Photo rudely taken by @Jofwu during my turn in line. But enough about me, here are the questions. OB Spoilers: Lastly, a reflection on The Traveler (Spoiler'd for The Traveler; make sure you read that cold-turkey): Well... that's all I've got for my report. See you all next time. (Don't know if I'll be able to go next year, but I'm definitely considering it. Maybe that will counter-balance my negative impact. Just a tip for everyone: if you're playing House War and your wife says "don't make a deal with Pagerunner to defeat Vin and end the game, he's going to win if you do," you'd better listen to her. Because she's 100% right.
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  3. Forgoe the foolish errand you now seek Seek the way and renounce all sin Learn the wisdom of Elantris's peak Crush the ancient evil within Praise the Ja in all The wind of truth blows through us all Slippery in blood while wet with tears We pace for time immemorial this dusty hall Wrapped in the echoing silence of our fears Praise the Ja in all Hearts colder than iron's touch Souls brighter than the eternal sun We ask so little but seek so much The sand runs out my time is done All shall end and to all is none Praise the Ja in all So I pass. Praise the Ja!
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  4. Aaand, JordanCon is over! Boy, was it fun. Might be literally the best 3 days of my life, and I do mean this literally. But instead of recapping all three days (which I might still do, as a single review), here are some highlights of this last day (which also happens to be my birthday): After going to bed at nearly 5 AM on the previous day, getting up at 9 for a panel was not fun. Would I do it again? Probably, I had tons of fun last night. Walking to my first panel (Learning from Mistakes, featuring Brandon and four other authors) I happened to walk behind Brandon for a little bit, so I, out of nowhere, said obnoxiously loudly "And this is why I think Vax is a planet!" He turned around quickly, saw me grinning, shook his head, rolled his eyes, and continued walking. I behaved. Between panels I puppy-eyed Brandon into doing something for my birthday. He offered to answer my questions while he was signing stock. Bless his generous soul, this man is going to drive me into the ground with kindness. More on that later. Brandon's reading panel was a pretty standard lecture (I only remember he talked about Apocalypse Guard), followed by a revised reading from Skyward, followed by Q&A (ask an Arcanist to make a snippet out of Brandon's reaction when he realized he had picked me to ask a question), followed by a reading from The Traveler. I... I may have made noises, you guys. Noises commonly attributed to fangirls. Noises whose pitch can appropriately be described as "high af". 14 year old girls envy my squeels. Discord user chickenbites has one such noise, go bother him if you are curious. Signing line went alright. I forgot to get a photo with Brandon (second time this happens to me; though I did get photos with the rest of his team, so that's nice), got a couple of questions answered, and continued making Traveler noises. After the signing Brandon went to sign stock, I tagged along, and got like 20 questions in. Bug your local Arcanist to snip the audio so you can transcribe them. The last one is a fun one. I only mildly regret not having the time visit Atlanta's... less reputable establishments. I spent a ton of time with @Pagerunner (who is just as eager to insult me as you all imagine), @yulerule (who tried to sell me some theory; I don't buy it), @thegatorgirl00 (who, I am pretty sure, almost died like 17 times during this con, when people were either misquoting Coppermind articles, not checking Coppermind articles, or using Coppermind articles that are not fully up to date; give her many hugs, it's been a stressful weekend for her, as I've had to physically restrain her from ripping one poor guy's throat with her bare hands), and, um... a guy whose name I thought was Polonian Fire, but I can't find him. (Editor's note: @PallonianFire) He was an active Sharder some time ago. Good people. There was much late night Cosmere chat. I am beginning to lose my train of thought though, so I'll say that I'll probably get to photos tomorrow. Sleep now.
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  5. I assumed the Unable to Bestow Abilities group
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  6. I'd have said "Greetings, humans," but I suppose there might be various nonhumans around a place like this, too. Anyway, hi, I'm new and I'm terrible at introducing myself. Where do I start in this rather intimidatingly large and sprawling forum?
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  7. So my intro became a "Is shallan bi" shipping war kwl
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  8. When you read Kendra as Kandra in a math problem.
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  9. When you keep on using the majority of your upvotes on this topic
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  10. All right, which one of you has this bumper sticker of the Steel Alphabet for tin on your car and was at the Orem Wal-Mart Saturday afternoon??
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  11. I have three purposes for posting this. One is because Hero told me to. One is because I’d like to urge people not to judge my artistic abilities too harshly from that drawing, which I did on a whim about half an hour before the cycle closed. And one is that all notification PMs should have been sent out, and please PM us if you haven’t received yours. Thanks!
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  12. I just finished transcribing Brandon's short story, "The Traveler". It's basically a conversation between Hoid and Frost upon his return home (Yolen, probably?) after the events of the first Mistborn Trilogy. There's not really anything really revelatory, Cosmere-wise, but it's still a fun read. It's also a first draft, so Hoid is constantly pointing his finger, but it's nice having something completely new to read. Have a read! One section that stood out to me was Hoid's passing thought. Which do you think Hoid lost? Is it a person, place, or thing? Where is this place that he's thinking of going to, and why does he want to go? It has something to do with dead people, perhaps? Nalthis, where people can Return? Threnody, with shades?
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  13. I just started reading Brandon Sanderson's stuff around December/2017, so I'm pretty new... I don't know anything but what I read in the books, so I have a lot of learning to do, hopefully this is the right place. If anyone has any info to start me off, I would be eternally grateful!! so if there's any info I wouldn't be able to possibly live without, that I just need to know to be considered a Brandon fan, then please inform me, thx
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  14. did you just call me silly? That was the most truthful thing I've ever heard
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  15. Sorry...but not sorry. Have an upvote as an apology.
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  16. Having questions of mine spread around the internet before I even have a chance to get home from the con and add atributation is the best kind of "problem" I could have. By all means keep doing what you're doing! I thought these were all pretty intuitive, but I had heard some other opinions so I'm glad we finally have confirmation.
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  17. When your teacher asks historically how many religions have there been, and you immediately think over three-houndred
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  18. Something tells me that by joining the Ghostbloods, I would be falling into yet another trap... So I'm gonna pass for now
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  19. I think it was the interview that @Madness shared where Erikson said the Karsa trilogy will be in the same style as the first three books (Gardens through Memories of Ice). So good news there I believe!
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  20. Yeah, I can forgive Erikson this wankery as long as he contains it to the Kharkanas Trilogy. I don't want this in the Witness Trilogy.
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  21. So it's unlikely anyone remembers but on an old post about possible games based off of the Cosmere Books I mentioned an idea a friend and I had for a Mistborn Era 2 game. So after a few months of trying, unsuccessfully, to work Unity and Unreal Engine 4 I thought I'd come here and try and get explain my concept and see if anyone has any good incite for learning video game coding. ***Disclaimer - This is a concept for my perfect Mistborn game many of the aspects of this game are incredibly unrealistic and a would require way too much work to be feasible.*** The Concept So our premise was for a first-person Mystery/Action game where you assume the role of a young Upperclass man/ woman Solving some sort of inter-house murder mystery which involves gathering clues, attending parties and generally being a fancy young noble. We decided not to go with Wax and Wayne as the lead characters do to a game mechanic we both particularly loved. The Mechanics Metallic Arts So the aforementioned mechanic is that you have the ability to choose the powers you play through the game with. So, you can choose one Allomantic Power and one Feruchemical power or have no powers at all. This gives you 289 possible combinations. Now I gather that a lot of powers are seemingly useless if your not a Mistborn e.g Duralumin or Aluminium, but for completeness, I intend to include them. Here is a link to my all the powers and how they'd work in the game: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1W9TGSrUb7GBE632xkhQbUZfRXY3U9sLri66zuvEaYXI/edit?usp=sharing So part of the reason I like the idea of choosing your powers is that it allows you to play the game in many different ways, for example: You need to get a document hidden inside one of Elendel's waterfront mansions on the night of a large party. Here are some of your options Using your Zinc metal mind you easily talk your way past the guards and into the party where you spend the evening mingling and dazzling people with your impressive wit this leads to you getting to know your host and eventually convincing them to let you see the document. Using your improved strength and balance due to pewter you manage to sneak your way onto a balcony and into the room where the document is kept. After you find it you make mental copies in a metal mind and make your escape without anyone knowing you were there. As this mansion is placed on the waterfront you decide to brave the icy river and swim your way inside using your Cadmium minds for air, allowing you to avoid the prying eyes of any guards on patrol. These are just some of my ideas after only a few minutes of thought but I'm sure there are plenty more I haven't even considered. Conversation So another mechanic I intend to have would be a conversation system allowing for players to talk NPCs and use methods such as emotional Allomancy or Connection to better manipulate conversations to your benefit. As I said in the previous section you could also use a Zinc mind which would open up more dialogue options. Combat After a post I saw a while ago I thought it'd be a good idea to have specific combat styles based off of the types of Allomancy or Feruchemy you have: Allomancy fighting styles Pewter - Fast and blunt, very similar to boxing. Works best with heavy blunt weapons Emotional Allomancy - Works by reducing moral of opponents - Works best in one on one combat Chromium - Aims to get the fighter in close to get skin to skin contact through palm strikes, Works best against Allomancers Nicrosil - Aims to empower Allomancer partners with bursts of power or to overload opponents Allomancy, Works best in pairs or against tin eyes as they become stunned by the explosion of senses Feruchemy fighting styles Pewter - Uses overwhelming force to down opponents Steel - Fast blows before the opponent can attack Iron - Uses fighters weight against the opponent, uses throws and grappling There will also be a basic fighting style for the powerless to use. Problems So the biggest problem I currently have is that I have about as much coding experience as a Roman Centurion! So all these big dreams are useless if I have no idea how to make any of them happen. I'm doing the best I can with online tutorials but the ones I've found are not great. So if anyone knows any good coding guides or tutorials I'd love to hear about them. Next, there are some powers in Allomancy and Feruchemy that I don't have any idea how to implement as a game mechanic e.g. Feruchemical Bendalloy. Some of you have probably noticed that I haven't yet mentioned anything about compounding and at the moment that is because of the simple fact that I haven't got any idea how many of them would work. There are some obvious ones such as Iron and Steel but when it comes to things like copper and Nicrosil I have no idea how it would work. So my intention is to wait for Brandon to reveal more and then make educated guesses about what some of the powers do. A plea for help So finally I want to ask any for help anyone who has any ideas on how to improve or develop the concept I would be delighted to hear them as I clearly haven’t covered everything and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much if you read this far, as I doubt this post is nearly as interesting as I seem to think it is. Merrickz
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  22. Finale: Free Will Kai hesitated as he looked at the list. It was the final 3 names from the original list his spymaster had sent him days ago. Duke Cane, his loyal Knight. Rayda, his finest Steward. And a third person named Person4.exe. He really needed to figure out a system to name his Machine Born. But then, they were supposed to name themselves. It was just the ones he renamed for clarity that he needed to get a better system for. He could make a better system after he finished cleaning house. He’d checked the coding of Rayda and Cane multiple times. Neither had been hacked. They were clean. Person4.exe was the last one at risk, and with the robot gone, Person4.exe was the last possible holdout for Melhi’s influence. It had only taken him a week to weed them out, better than the last time Melhi invaded. Kai made his way through the palace, snapping for a messenger boy to attend him as he walked. He sent the boy with messages for Rayda and Cane to meet him in his study, and headed downstairs to the Glory Barracks, where the Officers and Honor Guard lived. Person4.exe’s room was out of the way and took some navigating to reach, but when he found it, the door was open, and the room empty. All that was within was a chessboard with 4 pieces. “What is he playing at?” Kai crouched down and examined the board. 3 white pieces, 1 black. “Huh. Checkmated by the Steward, Knight, and King.” He frowned and plucked the Black King from the board. “What symbolism are you showing Person4.exe?” He heard the patter of feet down the hall, and turned back to see the messenger boy return. “My Lord Kai, Lady Rayda and Lord Cane are not in their room.” Kai frowned deeply, and turned to examine the rest of the room. Spartan, only containing the necessary furniture to hold his gear. The room had a window to the outside of the palace, and on the sill were the rest of the chess pieces. He stood and walked to them, examining the pieces closer. Three of the black pieces had small paper labels, naming a pawn ‘Clippy’, a Rook ‘TK421’, and the Queen ‘x/0’. There was a label off to the side, unattached to any piece, labeled ‘Person4.exe’. Kai crumpled the pieces of paper, and stuffed them into his pocket. He turned back to the boy, and pocketed the black King. “Do you know where Person4.exe is boy?” The boy nodded. “The Roof my Lord.” Kai shut the heavy steel door behind him, raising an eyebrow at the scene presented. Rayda and Cane were both looking over their shoulders in surprise at him. Person4.exe stood calm at the edge of the roof, his hips leaning against the parapets. Cane had his massive sword out, only passive lancing allowing him to hold it upright. “Person4.exe, I don’t think you had a choice in betraying me.” Kai walked forward slowly. Clippy and TK421 had both been erratic due to the intrusions in their Concepts. They had not acted entirely predictably, but they had also not tried to kill him so he was probably safe. “If you give me time, I can fix you.” A variety of emotions flashed across the old soldier’s face. Finally, he settled on loathing. “I am whole, lord Kai.” More flashes of emotion, as if his face was at war with its mouth. “You say you are whole? Then you must be saying you choose to fight me on Melhi’s behalf of your own free will?” Kai was now even with Cane and Rayda. Cane moved to stay between Kai and Person4.exe, but Kai held out a hand and continued to approach. “My own free will lord? Do any of us even have that? Are we not all puppets, made by the Wode to entertain you? To push you towards the will of the Wode?” Person4.exe smiled viciously, but the smile dropped, and he winced. “If I did have free will my lord, I would use it to end my own existence. I have no wish to serve Lord Melhi.” “Do you wish to serve me?” Kai stopped, some 15 feet from the man. “I can fix your Concept. It will take me days, but I swear, I can change you. Give you new memories if you wished it, so you would not have to recall this shame.” Person4.exe stood still for a long pause. “A shame. Is that what you call my capture? I am a shame to you?” “Not what I meant, but no. You are not a shame. It is my shame. My shame in being weak enough that Melhi could strike at the heart of my power, and destroy you.” “I see.” Person4.exe turned away from them, looking out over the city, lit red by the Grand Aurora far above them. “I would still prefer to die my lord. I am not a man. I am a weapon. But you can not wield me against your distant foes, only they can wield me. So I would choose to deny them my life.” Person4.exe raised his leg, and stepped up onto the parapet. The wind blew against him, pulling his clothing taut. “Person4.exe.” Kai called as he reached into his pocket. The man turned, still on the parapet, and Kai tossed him the black King. He blinked into Lance Sight, and as Person4.exe caught the Chess Piece with a frown, Kai gathered the Aurora’s energy into a lance and sent it flying forward. It stabbed through the King, and through Person4.exe. The man shuddered in surprise, and looked up at Kai, confusion clear in his eyes. Kai blinked out of Lance sight, and watched as Person4.exe died, his body falling backwards into the wind. “You were my shame, my fault. Your death was my burden to bear Person4.exe.” No. The man shouldn’t have died without a proper name. “Steward Rayda, you know of Old Earth correct?” “Um, yes my lord.” The woman sounded worried. “What did they call the citizens of the planet? The ones who stayed there no matter how many better options there were?” Rayda cocked her head to one side, trying to remember the information, learned long ago. “They were called Terran’s I believe.” Kai nodded. “Very well. Prepare a funeral for the newly named Terran. He deserves to die with a name of Honor. He was not just a man who happened to be the 4th to join. He was a man who fought till the end, a man who knew he would die, but refused to let it happen easily. Let Terran be spoken of with Honor.” Congratulations to the Machineborn for winning! Special congratulations to Randuir and Elandera for surviving with large targets on them the whole game! Here are the links: Elim Doc Spec Doc Action Spreadsheet Don’t expect GM Final thoughts, though if i have time, I will try to post them.
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  23. Wanted to put this out there while it's fresh on my mind... Isaac did a workshop on glyphs at JordanCon this weekend. There are some mundane things to be shared eventually. Most of the workshop revolved around his process of creating glyphs. The general idea being: (1) Find/make a cool shape that "feels right" for the word, (2) Work the right phonemes into that sketch, (3) Make adjustments, as if it has been changed and warped over time. And of course, rule zero: "Cool trumps readability." Anyways... He revealed that this glyph, found on the "Ironstance Scroll" in WoR... ...is the symbol of the secretive Calligrapher's Guild. Technically, it "spells" Isaac's name. That is, "IZAK" I believe. Though it's not meant to represent those sounds in world of course. It's merely the glyph of the Calligrapher's Guild. After the workshop I asked him about this glyph: It's been quite a mystery that we never solved. It shows up in MANY places in TWoK. It also shows up in the Frostlands map in WoR and the Kholinar map in OB. Maybe other places? Peter confirmed (in that last link) that it's not the symbol of Isasik Shulin (famous Alethi cartographer). That's about all we really know. So I asked about it. Isaac said that he doesn't know what it means. I'm a little skeptical of this, because it seems that he generally has to know the meaning and word to create a glyph. He doesn't just draw nice shapes or pick random phonemes. Anyways, he claims that he doesn't know what it means, but that Brandon has asked him to put it in several places. He has mentioned before that it's supposed to be an Easter egg of some kind. So that's itself isn't news. One interesting thing that he added was that I should "compare it to the Calligrapher's Guild glyph." He actually held up one of the buttons he had with that glyph on it and said (something along the lines of), "Compare it to this one. That's all I will say." @Pagerunner and I took the time to compare them this afternoon and it seems to be pretty straightforward. They both clearly seem to share the same phonemes. But what does that mean? Peter seems to have shot down the obvious answer. To analyze things a bit further... It's interesting to me that the symbol appears in both obvious and subtle ways. It shows up prominently in the compass rose of Isasik's map of Roshar, for example. But then in the map of Shadesmar it's more like somebody added it later. Like they stamped an existing document. This suggests to me that the person/people using it are some kind of secret society. This idea of a common symbol being used in suspicious ways gives me a major Freemason vibe. My next thought was to compare the documents that it's used in. Maybe that would give a clue as to who this secret society could be? I started thinking that it might be related to the Sons of Honor because MOST of the items it appears on are maps related in some way to the Alethi monarchy. Maps for Gavilar, maps of the Shattered Plains... The Silver Kingdoms and Shadesmar maps are easy enough to explain along those lines. The view of Kharbranth is more of a stretch, but we have reason to think Taravangian was related to them in some way. The biggest hole with this of course is the (multiple) appearances on the Frostlands map. It's possible the explanation is more mundane of course... Just something related to cartography or a group of cartographers? But then... Why would it show up stamped in random places, some of which can barely be called maps? I'm curious if you guys have any thoughts on this. Putting this here for now as it all ties back to this relationship between these two glyphs. If we go down too much of a rabbit hole we can move to another thread so as not to get in the way of actual glyph/language work.
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  24. When you're assigned to read a novel for humanities, and part of the way through the main character starts having hallucinations, and you start wondering how Investiture is affecting her mind....
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  25. When your brother starts singing “Cause baby I’m gonna spike you!” to the tune of Firework, and you get very afraid. He does not understand what he speaks.
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  26. Alright so first off i’m new here so hi! I’ll get right into it: Brandon is pretty much a genius, he is so talented and one of the things that has always impressed me is the way he incorporates physics into his systems of magic, and not even just physics, but a detailed explanation and a set of logical rules that are paired with any magic system. It’s so refreshing. There are of course a few things that I am confused by every once in a while though. Why, when Wax increases his weight, does he not become super strong? And before you get confused since it is apparent that he does absolutely become strong anough to be essentially immune to the effects of his increased mass, here is what I mean. When Wax taps his weightmind his body becomes more sturday and strong enough to support all this new weight. When he makes himself heavier he can still walk around fine, and if he is strong enough to lift a 50 lb weight when he is at normal weight, he can do it just as easily when he is twice his weight. however If Wax can do let’s say 100 push-ups normally, he is able to push around bad guys using that strength that he gets from doing push-ups. That is pretty straight forward. Because of the properties of storing weight even if Wax was 5x heavier than usual, he could still do 100 push-ups because his strength is increased proportionally to his increase in weight. This is where I get confused. At 5x times his weight his arms(or pecs and triceps or whatever) are compensated by being 5x as strong. So...why when Wax punches somebody when he is tapping weight does he not hit THAT much harder?? PLUS! If he has more mass, due to the conservation of momentum, an arm that weighs 5x as much as a normal arm would obviously do a lot more damage when punching somebody than a regular arm. Let me me know what you guys think. I tried emailing Brandon about this a month or so back using his contact page from his website but never got a response (but I know he’s busy)
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  28. So, I was rereading Edgedancer when I spotted several references to Lift's mother I missed the first time. I don't know if there's already another thread on this, but I couldn't find one. Anyway, here we go. I think the loss of her mother and the subsequent things she went through as a result might be how Lift was "broken", allowing her to have the potential to form a Nahel bond. There's this WoB that says that there was loss involved in her visit to the Nightwatcher. From Chapter 5: From Chapter 15: From Chapter 17, where Lift is in a group of urchins: From Chapters 10 and 17, where Wyndle asks why she acts the way she does, and Lift later responds: And finally, the interlude in Words of Radiance: I think that originally, Lift lived with her mother, who she describes as a kindly, loving person, and that Lift was happy during those early years. Then, her mother got sick, and Lift, for some reason, didn't take care of her properly (or at least she perceived it that way). Eventually, Lift's mother died, and she became a street urchin. At first, she struggled with surviving, but eventually got better at it. During this time, Lift started trying to distance herself from other people in an effort not to get attached, so that she wasn't responsible for their welfare and therefore couldn't be hurt if she let them down. Sometime during this period, she couldn't take doing the whole "being cold and uncaring and emotionless" thing full-scale anymore and visited the Nightwatcher, asking to have her aging stopped. I guess this was an excuse for her to continue to run around flippantly without caring too deeply for anybody (since theoretically, she could say that since she's eventually going to see them die or something, there's no point in developing a relationship). I think her progression as a Radiant is supposed to help her learn to care again, kind of like how Kaladin's is about giving protecting another try. If I missed anything, please let me know. Thanks!
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  29. While this doesn't add much to the Cosmere, my goodness does it feel good to read something in the Cosmere that I hadn't before.
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  30. Well, thanks for the quick survival guide, Archer! Now, what if I happen to enjoy performing questionable hemalurgic experiments in dark alleys?
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  31. 101. Never leave the main party to go on an adventure, explore, or commune with Athena. They'll either get themselves killed or eat Apollo's cows. And then bad things will happen.
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  32. *Head flops on the ground after having exploded.*
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  33. When you can’t even keep track of all the things you want to put on here.
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  34. I just skimmed through all of this and I don't think I saw what is, in my opinion, the most obvious answer. I think the voice is Oroden's. The connection Syl is referring to is Spiritual. Time has little meaning in the conversation. That's kind of the point really--that Syl knows these people even though she's never actually met them. When she smiles and zips away it's because she goes looking for him.
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  35. I suppose once Medallions become a common household item, that'll be valid. Until Era 3 do we wait.
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  36. Some stuff that I got on the signing line talking to Isaac that you can hear snippets of on @Argent's recording. Sadly it is paraphrased. Isaac says that Nazh is an embodiment of his adventurous spirit, that he expresses through the books. Nazh is also much grumpier than he is and gets visibly angry when Isaac himself wouldn't. He doesn't remember Nazh had a mistcloak Nazh is basically a young Peter Capaldi and is very prone to swearing when he is off screen. He clarified that Nazh was caught spren fishing because he was trying to attract a spren to be his stooge and do some work for him. He got in trouble for it because he didn't know that was illegal. We have audio for his relationship with Khriss. I also was able to ask Brandon a question offhandedly but it wasn't recorded. @Bridge_Ojisan Wanted to know how old Gaz was. Brandon said he is early to mid 30s, so around Jasnah's age.
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  37. Alright, I wrote a few more. They're not particularly connected with the books or anything, just my random creations. This one with a nice meaning: Steel of shields broken. Will our defeat truly never be endured? Is victory yet possible? Yet victory is endurance - is never truly defeated. Our will breaks shields of steel. This philosophical one: Truly, we are but men. Enduring, actually, but weak. Seemingly fragile, seemingly weak, but actually enduring men. But are we, truly? And this one about a beautiful, amazing thing that happened today, because I forgot my keys and had to walk about 2km to borrow another set: Beautiful was that sky, clear. So then wind blew. There, it brought darkness, down came rain for purging earth. Storm, raging storm. Earth purged, for rain came down - darkness brought it. There blew wind then, so clear. Sky! That was beautiful.
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  38. I never said that we would stab you with a Hemalurgic spike. I only said that we would stab you, and again, only if you betray'attack us. We do not attack without provocation.
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  39. When you're playing Scrabble, and you almost have the letters to do Leras, and no one else understands why. and they look at you, like you're crazy (which you are)
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  40. I think you guys are over thinking it personally. No where in Oathbringer does it really imply that those spheres might hold Voidspren. The heavy implication throughout the book is that it holds an Unmade, Brandon would not have said what he said in this latest WoB (in my opinion) if what was in the sphere was something less heavily implied. Any thoughts we have about what Gavilar could or couldn't have done or had access to are really too uninformed to sway me away from taking all the hints that the spheres hold Unmade.
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  41. Just from that preview, I'm going to love FoD! Starting on the last 50 pages of Midnight Tides right now. I flipped a coin tonight to see if I was going to move on to Bonehunters or FoD. The Lady's pull has put me back in Seven Cities!
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  42. Brandon read a small Cosmere story he's been sitting on for 8 years, called "The Traveller." You can find the audio on Arcanum: go to the Sources tab on the JordanCon event page, and find the recording for it. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/332-jordancon-2018/ I recommend just listening to the audio cold turkey. If you need to know: EDIT: And it has now been transcribed.
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  43. I wrote a lot of these once. Then I accidentally deleted them all, and forgot what I said. They were really good too. Hate it when that happens. 92. Always take your prized possessions with you. Your place of residence might get destroyed in one of x ways: A. You're the main character, and 1. The baddies got your house 2. You wrecked your house, or some other good person did by accident 3. Natural disaster/government got your house before the plot begins so that you can be homeless B. You're a bad guy, and your base/lair/office building will get obliterated by the protags. C. You're an innocent bystander and your house will get utterly Atied by the climactic fight. 93. If you happen to be in a place where a guide is required, get a guide. If you don't know the area, you'll probably die. 94. See 72, but with men and heroines. Same thing applies.
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  44. I don't know exactly where to start. Oathbringer, like the two SA books before it, put me into a reading frenzy and I finished it in a couple days. I really enjoyed it, very few books keep me enraptured like Sanderson's do. I've occasionally lurked here and on the SA subreddit but I have some complicated feelings regarding this book that I need to write down and share. I don't know how to feel exactly because, on the surface, OB is far and away one of my favorite fantasy books. It's a personal 5-star for me, same as the other two in the series, because it's rare that any form of media puts me in a state where I can't bear to put it down for longer than it takes to make food. But I have this vague feeling that I can't really explain fully, that somehow the book left me unsatisfied compared to the other two. Again, that isn't to say I thought the book was bad or that I didn't enjoy it immensely, which is why the book seems undeserving(?) of dissatisfaction. But I want to convey my positive feelings as well, so here's a list of pros: HOLY CRAP I really enjoyed Dalinar's character arc throughout the three books. He honestly may have slid into first place in front of Kaladin for my favorite, most well-developed character. The amount of pain he went through coming to terms with the man he used to be was heartbreaking, especially when he tried his best yet everything seemed to slip out of his grasp anyway when the Coalition fell apart. It was especially sad on the reader's end because the reader knows the entire time that Dalinar's actions and persona were largely influenced by Nergaoul, but Dalinar had to deal with it as if the Thrill was all caused by his own monstrosity. And when he truly comes to terms with everything about himself, defying Odium right after Renarin has you convinced that Dalinar will end up becoming Odium's champion in a 180 twist...that was a roller coaster ride. I got those weird chills up my spine at that moment, the ones you get when seeing something really epic. I'm actually pretty glad Kaladin had some severe mental hang-ups and failed to protect Elhokar. I've always thought that the whole "protect everyone" idealism he had was sadly unrealistic in war, and I'm really glad Sanderson chose to shove that truth right into Kaladin's face. Hopefully we see the result of that next book. Personally I want to see Kaladin become a bit "harder," kind of like Kelsier, although I have a feeling that I'll enjoy wherever Sanderson takes the character. Learning more about the Cognitive Realm, the Warbreaker characters, and the other Shards was a real treat, and I'm sure there are a whole host of easter eggs I missed and will see when I inevitably reread the book. I really hope we get a Warbreaker 2 that bridges the gap between the first book and the characters entering Roshar. The Unmade were a treat to finally see in the flesh, and I can't wait for more to appear. The effects of the Heart of the Revel were particularly disturbing to see manifested, and I like that the Unmade aren't necessarily bad because they choose to be. They simply are what they are. They remind me a lot of Lovecraft, from their names to the way they're described, and in my book more Lovecraftian horrors is always a good thing. The Bridge 4 POVs were largely enjoyable, especially Rock's. I just fricking love Rock, and I really hope Sanderson delves into the mental consequences of him killing Amaram in the next book seeing how opposed Rock was to fighting. I really liked Rlain's POV too. Looking into his inner thoughts about how he's casually ignored by others was pretty eye-opening, because I realized that I myself had developed the tendency to forget Rlain was even a character. You really have to feel for the guy, his people are gone, the other Parshmen are being conscripted into the forces of insane gods, and the only people he can truly call friends unintentionally leave him out all the time. Adolin grows on me the more I read him. I didn't like him that much for most of WoK, he grew on me throughout WoR, and at this point I can confidently say I just plain like him. He's been thrust into a world where everyone around him is now basically a living god out of legend. His father, his brother (who he had always been more important than, let's be honest), his girlfriend, and his friend/friendly rival who his girlfriend may or may not have the hots for. And does he succumb to jealousy or resentment like most people in his situation would do? No, in fact he does the opposite and remains cool, confident, friendly, and all-around likable. And I REALLY liked how Sanderson gave us a glimpse into Adolin's mindset regarding all this. Of course he has insecurities regarding the whole situation, who wouldn't? But the fact that he never let those insecurities control him really solidified my appreciation for his character. Jasnah was, as she always is, a badass. We REALLY need to see her journey throughout WoR. Our first glimpse of Odium was amazing. "No, Dalinar. I'm the other one." CHILLS went down my spine. Sanderson really did a great job conveying to the read just how massive and otherworldly Odium's true self is. Also, I know this is another planet and all, but with most races on Roshar being visually similar to some sort of Asian/Indian/Middle Eastern and the Shin being noticeably "white," am I the only one who thought of Odium as evil Dumbledore or Gandalf the White when Sanderson described his appearance in Dalinar's vision? To be honest, I can keep going on and on about what I liked, so now I'll go into what I feel were the cons, and the reasons I have a vague unsatisfied feeling: I feel like several seemingly important plot threads were sort of brushed over, if that's the right phrase. Jasnah's return didn't really elicit much reaction from Navani and the others, despite Navani's feelings about Shallan being repeatedly emphasized in the last book. It felt kind of like Jasnah's entire journey never happened, like all the characters just sort of went "alright she's back, moving on." I know it's the end of the world and all that, but I feel like more character thoughts about Jasnah's "death" would have drastically improved my sense of immersion in the book. Another one, possibly the most important, was Szeth joining the team. You're telling me no one, especially Dalinar could spare a few paragraphs thinking about whether letting in the storming Assassin in White was a good idea? Sure, he helped out in the battle, but that could have just been a convenient way to fool them into letting him in. Why wasn't he tossed in jail and interrogated? Next thing we see, Dalinar's just letting him guard him as if it's the most normal thing in the world. I didn't notice it as I was reading because the events engrossed me so much, but Taln and Ash appearing as if they were going to help Dalinar's side in the final battle and then just being offscreened for the entire thing was really disappointing. It felt like the entire sequence including them was pointless, just a way for Dalinar to check off two more boxes on his Radiants checklist before being sidelined. The same goes for Jezrien being killed. I had such high hopes Renarin or somebody would find a way to slowly alleviate his madness and he would become a much more important character in the future. His entire presence in the books seems so pointless. I feel like Shallan's entire love triangle thing was solved too quickly and painlessly. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't a fan of a love triangle developing in the first place, but at this point it kind of seems like Sanderson intended for her and Kaladin to get together and then quickly changed his mind halfway through writing the story. Even Shallan and Adolin's wedding was completely offscreened. In addition, upon looking back after finishing the book I feel like OB was sorely lacking in meaningful interactions between the POV characters. We got a lot of individual thoughts and actions of everyone, but I was really looking forward to all the potential dialogue between Kaladin and Jasnah, Kaladin and Shallan/Adolin (which we got a little of), Lift and the other Radiants, etc. I especially wanted to see Wit follow up on his interactions with Jasnah from the end of WoR, since it seemed like he was treating Jasnah as a bit more of an "adult" on the Cosmere playing field if that makes sense. The dialogue between characters that we did get was great, I have no complaints. I loved Lift's first impression of Dalinar's tight butt. But I kind of feel like I was expecting more dialogue, like one combined story rather than multiple separate stories that lightly brush up against each other and then converge in the last part. I'll end my thoughts with that, honestly I could probably write a thesis on these books and I have a feeling that what I wrote is already way too long. If you bothered reading great, but regardless, I'm curious if anyone else felt a little "conflicted" about OB - how great it is VS the void of expectation it doesn't quite fill compared to books 1 and 2.
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  45. 90. Ignore Rule 89 if you are not Awesome. There is a very high chance of being executed for stealing food, and association with nobility increases overall death chance by 36%.
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  46. Important note: This list would be far less complete if not for the efforts of everyone who helped me compile it. Specifically thankyou to: Awesomeness Summoned, Delightful, Argent, PorridgeBrick, Kurkistan, Quiver, Green Hoodie Mistborn, Senor Feesh, Observer, ccstat, Swimmingly, Alvron, Metacognition, The Only Joe, GreyPilgrim, Aether, jasonpenguin, Mailliw73, Moodle, Tempus, Baine, Kobold King, LeftInch, Sir Jerric, Tensoon, Ashiok, Theorymaker, Seonid, Shaggai, TheYoungBard, Curiosity, Snoopy, Voidus, Frosted Flakes, Kasimir, Shallan. (Let me know if I missed you.) Hokay, for those who want to know the ranks, I looked through everyone who had at least 10 posts. Here are my findings. 10000+ God Beyond 9000 9999 Adonalsium 8500 8999 Hero of Ages 8192 8499 The Broken One 7800 8191 Shard 7500 7799 Splintered Shard 7200 7499 Splinter 6800 7199 Dragon 6400 6799 Stormfather 6000 6399 Herald 5700 5999 Sliver 5350 5699 Nightwatcher 5000 5349 Worldhopper 4750 4999 God of Color 4500 4749 Lord Ruler 4250 4499 Unmade 4096 4249 Dawnshard 3761 4095 Prime 3500 3760 Lerasium Mistborn 3250 3499 Bondsmith 3000 3249 Voidbringer 2750 2999 Knight Radiant 2500 2749 Most Ancient 2250 2499 Steel Inquisitor 2048 2249 Mistborn 1900 2047 Tarachin Superstar 1800 1899 Dawnsinger 1700 1799 Rambleman 1600 1699 Savant 1550 1599 Gerontarch 1500 1549 Midnight Essence 1450 1499 Listener 1400 1449 Enefel 1370 1399 Kalad's Phantom 1338 1369 Compounder 1337 So l337 Hoid Can't Compete 1300 1336 Surgebinder 1260 1299 Radiant Squire 1220 1259 Kandra 1180 1219 Twinborn 1145 1179 Returned 1111 1144 Scadrian Waffle Cook 1080 1110 Stone Shaman 1050 1079 Cryptic 1024 1049 Honorspren 1000 1023 Sentient Awakened Object 980 999 Truthless 950 979 Highprince 920 949 Worldbringer 890 919 Full Feruchemist 860 889 Full Shardbearer 830 859 Shardbearer 800 829 Seer 777 799 Spinner 760 776 Wyrn the King 730 759 Elantrian 700 729 Originator 667 699 Svrakiss 666 Torturer of Heralds 650 665 Shade 625 649 Soulcaster 600 624 Forger 575 599 Dakhor Monk 550 574 Lord Prelan 512 549 King's Wit 496 511 Son of Honor 475 495 Vanisher 450 474 King's Tester 425 449 Ghostblood 400 424 Envisager 375 399 Artifabrian 350 374 Ferring 325 349 Stormwarden 300 324 Bloodsealer 278 299 Silent Gatherer 256 277 Misting 225 255 Arbiter 200 224 Gyorn 180 199 High Prelan 160 179 Oldblood 145 159 Cobalt Guard 128 144 Hazekiller 110 127 Forescout 100 109 Houselord 90 99 Babsk 80 89 Prelan 75 79 Arteth 70 74 Idrian Monk 64 69 Obligator 56 63 Lighteyes 50 55 Grand 45 49 Noble 40 44 Crew Leader 32 39 Ardent 25 31 Pahn Kahl 20 24 Awakened Object 16 19 Noble-Blooded 10 15 Bridgeman 7 9 Spearman 5 6 Darkeyes 2 4 Skaa 0 1 Spren --- -1 -2 Negaspren -3 -5 Lifeless -6 -10 Hoed -15 -19 ? Beheaded Inquisitor -20 -24 ? Rotting Chull Carcass -24 -25 Lamespren -26 -100 Zucchini -101 and below Chasmfiend Corpse Note: negative reputation titles are no longer obtainable due to downvotes having been removed. I'll update this as we learn more We now know them all! I like the new levels. Good work Chaos Please don't ask me how long that took. Current lowest Unknown rep: nonexistent. We're so close to getting them all =D Edit: Wooohooo first popular post Later edit: For the record, at the time I added that comment 10 rep was a little more exciting Another edit: The lower rep ranks have changed at some point, I don't know where all of the new boundaries are yet.
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