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I thought about this question for The Longest Time when I ran QF30 with basically the same activity filter. Don't Ask Me Why, but I feel strongly about what my particular brand of activity filter is supposed to do. While allowing this kind of vote would be very entertaining, it undermines the expectation that players share their thoughts in a way that measurably impacts the game (even if they don't necessarily feel confident in their thought process, or their ability to argue it to other people). I encourage you to share your thoughts, Just the Way They Are, because You May be Right.

My favorite was when Wax, Wayne, Marasi, and Steris break through the Four Walls of Doom and steal Peter Ahlstrom's iPad so they can watch RWBY. And that bit where Brandon actually put Butt Venture into the giant pun battle between Vin and Elend that time the Spren-Haters Club went to the SR? Priceless! Of course, nothing can beat that Easter egg where he literally had the good guys play a tuba. Really worked out great.

I think Odium and the Desolations are collectively a metaphor for the way that history and cultural baggage wind up prolonging, or even restoring to life, pointless destructive conflicts that began before anyone in the world was even alive. The Fused are literally the angry dead, taking over the lives of the young so they can prosecute their ancient grudge. So much of what we become seems to be determined by things that happened, and actions that were taken, before we even existed. We drop into reality and we find that we're responsible for atrocities somehow, because our ancestors did them but only we are alive to stand in for them because we resemble them. People are born innocent but the cultures and societies that form the basis of their identity can label them as oppressors, or victims. If there is a single cohesive theme to the Stormlight Archive so far, it seems to be the theme of atoning with the past. It seems almost impossible to just drop it, but that makes it really hard to move forward.

Phase 3: Blood and Ink "Every Fae child knows this, but you mortals never seem to see. We understand how dangerous a mask can be. We all become what we pretend to be." Squick swam happily in a forest stream, playing his squid-flute to keep the troupers entertained in these trying times. Dimly, he recalled that things had been different, once. Once, he was not a prized showpiece of the troupe, a squid which played the flute. Perhaps once, he wasn't even a real squid at all... It was hard to remember, these days. He didn't mind very much; being a squid was nice. No fires underwater, usually, unless the troupe firestarters were taking it a little bit far. No nasty Chandrian to come bother him, or any of the other fae for that matter. . . . The troupe stood around a bonfire of ash and rowan. The flames, thankfully, were the normal shade. Atop the fire was an iron pot, and within this pot was a small demon that had tried to gouge out a trouper's eyes earlier that day. "We need to find these Fae," one of the troupers said. For some reason, it was becoming hard to keep track of who was whom... "Yes, we must find the Fae," another spoke up. "But how I cannot say; they may appear in any way." "That so..." another pondered, but was interrupted by the lilting melodies of a flute player. This was not just any flute player, it was Squick the squid, one of the troupe's major attractions... And a decidedly unnatural one. How could a squid play the flute...? Unless it were really one of the Fae, of coarse... . . . Squick burbled an upbeat tune, swimming lazily along the stream, when a large crowd of troupers and pretend-troupers began to wade into his stream. Odd. They appeared aggravated. No, even more, they appeared angry at Squick. Maybe they didn't like his music? He launched into a new song, a flutist's rendition of the well-loved song Tinker, Tanner. He played his part skillfully, using all of his many arms to play the flute better than any human could. Beautiful harmonies echoed across the forest, hanging for a moment in the air. The mob seemed unimpressed. Seriously, how could they not like Tinker, Tanner? What was wrong with them? Squick attempted to shake his head, only to remember he had no neck worth speaking of. Instead, he settled for a burst of ink, staining the waters around him black and letting him make a graceful exit after his performance. The mob surged after him, some of them wielding weapons. Squick lead them on a merry chase. One of them lunged forward, only to miss Squick spectacularly and land face-first in the ink-laden waters, ruining a lovely cloak in the process. Another tried to block his path by standing in the way of the stream, but Squick simply slipped between the human's legs. Squick did his best to approximate a trill of laughter on his flute. Another staggered through the water after him, but it was too slow. He was escaping... And then some manner of weapon struck him from above. Squick let out a plaintive toot on his flute as he passed... The waters ran red and black. Blood and ink. . . . Steeldancer has been lynched! They were a Flutist! Vote Count Steeldancer (3)- Walin, Xinoehp, Rae, Cadmium Wonko (2)- Eternum, Orlok Fifth (2)- Drought, Snipexe Devotary (2)- Fifth, Wonko Snipexe (2)- Steel Eternum (1)- Alvron Arinian (1)- Arinian I think (1)- Bort Drought (1)- Bard Cast 1. Elandera as Ahnya Cyphus2. Eternum as Enerin3. Droughtbringer as Pyra Mainiak4. Aonar Faileas as Aorais Kipthorn5. Devotary of Spontaneity as Gaskana6. Walin as Nelden Dastardly7. Fifth Scholar as Marne8. Snipexe as Snip9. Alvron as Laon10. Steeldancer as Squick Flutist11. Megasif as Mega12. Xinoehp512 as Reyalp Nwoknu13. Arinian as Ray Fox14. Orlok as Locke15. I think I am here as Itiah II16. Arraenae as Alev17. Bort as Master Ash18. Wonko the Sane as Fifth Daughter Resterford19. Cadmium Compounder as Deric Watar20. Young Bard as Neris Countdown

Hello. I wish I knew more about the dynamics of the Cosmere. I'm not good at things.

Hello! Years ago I introduced my best friend to these books. Now she’s paying back the favor by introducing me to the 17th Shard. Thanks, my witty, witless friend. I’m a devoted wordnerd who has a hankering for reading and writing fantasy. More often than actually getting to do either of these activities, I just enjoy weaving/admiring plots and well made cultures, philosophizing, and rolling intriguing words around my head all day until I finally look up the definition. Does anyone else get this?

I found the picture I wanted, pulled it up on my laptop, and made it the size I wanted on the laptop by coming in or out. Then I talked a piece of paper on, and traced it in pencil. For some of them, I had to scroll to get the bottom of the picture, so that is a pain, just to warn you. But then I traced them with different permanent markers, with different tips, then colored them in. In the case of the Radiant glyphs, I used colored pencils for the glyphs, and black permanent marker for the surges. For all the other ones, though, all I used was permanent marker. When your dad walks into your room in the morning saying, rise and shine, and you think, I'd only be able to do that if I was a Windrunner or Skybreaker.

On his quest he visited his cousin, Addie. She went by Ad, and loved exploring. If anyone could help him find his middle name, he figured, it would be Ad Venture. I’m not sorry.

@Tesh sometimes refers to me as King picky . I deserve that name

Man, I love these books way too much. In the middle of the Night Angel trilogy and all I can think is "ugh Malazan is so much better than this". Definitely postponing finishing it until after Dust of Dreams.

Perfect State: Rithmatist:

When you fantasize about how cool it would be to meet other Sharders at a signing or Comic Con or something to that effect.

You forgot that Lift was with them too.

Yeah I keep having to ask him if my plans are violating any laws of plausibility. Hats off to him. Also, UtDF? That was simultaneously amazing and awful. Honestly, I can’t believe you missed the part where the Lopen, Hoid, and Wayne teamed up to steal the secrets of the Cosmere from Brandon and used them to break reality and become Adonalsium.

It occurs to me that this form would be especially effective in Semitic languages where nearly everything is a form of a verb, and the poetry already relies on wordplay through parallelism (at least in Hebrew). Here's one: Once Tanavast was God and Almighty, sang Honor to creation growing. Now grows creation, to Honor sings. And Almighty God was Tanavast once.

A link to what? Edit: Never drink Odium, kids.

Eh, I rather liked that cookie banquet, I feel like the tuba music offset the scene. I mean, when Marsh spent hours making those cookies in his favorite heart apron only to have his pastry pieces of art ignored thanks to the spikes of blaring tuba music. P.S. They were sousaphones...

Ah yes! My favorite part! And remember that dance-off between Hoid and Mizzy to decide what color chalk to use? Brilliant work on Brandon’s part!

@Apollyon, SPOILERS! Only people who've read UtDF know that! At least you didn't spoil the end of chapter three, where Taravangian kills Sing.

@King Cole, then you must know that Reckoner’s is Cosmere and that Alcatraz is Adonalsium?

Welcome to the Shard! We embrace all manner of outcasts, refugees, and introverts! Have a Penny and an upvote!

Hey, Witless's friend! Welcome to the Shard. The title of this intro thread intrigues me. Have you by any chance watched RWBY?

Also looking at you, @Quickbronze I am inspired. I want to hang these on my walls. How did you do them?

Hi! I'm TruthlessofShinovar. I really thought that name would have been taken. I remember last year looking at some Best Fantasy Books lists, and I found Way of Kings as number 1 or 2. The cover and description instantly hooked me. I looked it up on Goodreads, and it became even more interesting. I remember buying the Kindle version that evening because I needed to read it. I think my 16-year-old mind blown with every chapter. (About 500 pages later I bought the physical copy - and the sequel.) A few months after reading WOK I read Elantris, and I loved it. Then Words of Radiance, which I think is even better than Way of Kings. Now, 8 months and three Sanderson books later, I'm currently reading Mistborn: The Final Empire. I love Brandon's writing style in the Stormlight books, but for some reason I'm finding Mistborn's style a bit clunky and exposition-heavy. From reading some earlier and later Sanderson books, I think he really improved on his writing - and especially his dialogue.

Nothing in Odium's Intent prevents him from telling the truth, no? To me, it's far more interesting when there isn't a deception. When the hero-turned-villain character turns because they were tricked, a lot of times it ends up making them look foolish in the reader/viewer's eyes(I know Brandon is a better writer than that, but you still kinda feel it...) It's just so much more powerful and tragic when a hero gets turned by something genuine, because authors can explore the interplay of that.

First game for me. Expect rookie mistakes. Sign me up as the Dead Private Hobbert. A military man who never rose high in the ranks, Hobbert was slain when he fell off his horse during parade and fell into the ranks of pikemen who were marching on either side of the cavalry. He's now returned from death after being summoned by the impending war. Now to go and research by rewatching the movie...

Yay--a new story! I think this is a good start, though the beginning could be sharpened up a little. The end of the section is solid. My main complaint is the magic,and worldbuilding that goes along with it. It's still pretty undefined, and depending on who can use it, might have some larger changes that aren't in evidence yet. Notes while reading: Ooo! A map! Pg 3: The first sentence goes on a bit. Could be shorter for more impact. Pg 3: "timeously" --that's a real word, evidently... pg 4: "No, there was nothing I could use. A butcher’s bin with no bones" --I'd rather see him find something, if only to show off the magic. Right now, we don't know what bones have to do with anything. --And also, how many people have magic? If it's everyone, or even a lot, I would expect the butcher to lock up his bones. Being a butcher might even be a more lucrative profession, because of the extra money from magic users... pg 4: "chancing his arm" --what does this mean? pg 5: "spent half of my remaining clout" --Is this the term for using magic? Had to read it a few times to figure out he enhanced his hearing. --ah, you explain some the next paragraph. I'd still like it a little clearer. pg 5: "I heard—unaided" --Does this mean the magic ran out? pg 6: "remaining store of heat" --So is it heat, or clout, or magic, or what? pg 6: "casting’s not like story magic after all, unfortunately." --which begs the question, what is story magic like, here?

The sky breaks YOU!

When reading the book to my daughter, I got in the mood and made this snippet. It's a working clock which is also a ever-changing Rithmatic diagram. I wish I knew how to do Android apps, it would make a cool clock app. Any suggestions welcome.

I haven't read the other comments yet, but here are my thoughts. Generally, I when I'm a in a group, I make my comments before reading what other's said so it doesn't color my opinion of the piece. After, I go back and read the others. You are definitely good at using multiple senses in description. Through most of this, the setting was alive in in my head. I could see it, smell it, and feel it. However, for something that ends with outwitting attackers, it opened with a lot of walking and thinking. I got a little lost in the description sprinkled with thoughts and didn’t engage until the protagonist started looked in the butcher bin then went in the shop. The mention of canine bones made me squirm a little. I hate stories where dogs die, and kept telling myself that they didn’t eat dogs, that it just got old or hit by a cart. There was one line about how the narrator’s magic wasn’t like story magic. That pulled me out of the story a little because I didn’t know or care what story magic was in this world and only cared what actual magic was. It almost seemed like a fourth wall break reminding the reader they were elsewhere. I love how you ended the scene. It is suspenseful and makes me want to find out what happens and learn more about the world’s magic system. I’m looking forward to reading more.

@officiumdefunctorum Have you read the Lightbringer series by the same author? It is much better in my opinion and it is narrated by the great Simon Vance.

So, to prove his point, Butt turned into his chosen avatar to express his dominance. The omnipotent orange creamsicle of endless doom. Edit: @Aurora the Rioter Just noticed we have the same reputation and same number of posts!

I had a weird dream last night. It involved my dad remodelling our house, therefore my room, but it rained during the storming Everstorm, and ruined my floor, and almost got to my books. But then I went to piano lessons. But when I got back, they was this tree, where if you took a blossom and blew on it, you'd get a gift. When I blew on one of mine, these yellow blossoms blew out, and then I was Ta'Veren, or however you spell that. I dud it again, and these white flowers came out, and they were the assassin in white. Then my friend got one, and turned into a giant inflatable seal manatee thing with red eyes. That could fly. So he joined two other of the deal manatees. Oh, and they were charged by the Everstorm's lightning. And we're, of course, of Odium. But before that incident with the flowers... I keep having recurring dreams of these really creepy rides, all basically the same.You go through these doors,and there's this really long room, with a track running down the middle, and a tunnel at the far end. The room is full of giant children's toys. But in the ride, you get in a cart, and go through the tunnel. In there, there are even more of them off both sides. Like Jack in the box, or dolls. But I had heard that a darkness had overtaken one of these rides, and went to investigate. The first one I went to was normal. The second one had this green neon glue coming from it. When I went in, there was a darkness there. Just like one of the Unmade. 'cause I was listening to that part of OB when I was getting ready for bed. I think they're were some tunnels in the walls that a crawled through, and have been seeing in my dreams for years, and maybe a dinosaur, and a Mistborn coin thrown at my head. Oh, and I did these yesterday.

With regret, I must announce that the shard is going to have to take a back seat. I have several projects I am undertaking in this summer, and on top of work and college, I will be on the 17th Shard sporadically throughout the summer. I will still be able to participate in The Alleyverse RP, the Ghostbloods and few other things, such as my SE game I am doing when whenever that is. My projects are as follows if any of you want to keep up to date with what I am doing. Balance Upended (A book) Artwork for said book Cosmere Bot for Discord. (I am programming this)

I put it in. Feel free to check that I got it all, or critique my paragraph placement. The Full Text section needs some wording changed. The epigraphs don't technically contain the full text, as some portions are not revealed in the epigraph. The re-read at the end has some things that aren't in the epigraphs just as the epigraphs had some things that aren't in Sazed's re-read.

Don't Forget being called a chull.

Yeah, it is just to watch.

@King Cole @Roadwalker @Caesura @Kynedath @StrikerEZ I have seen all of you in recent days, if any of you want to join, even if it is spec doc, this will be a fun game. If this game makes me laugh half as much as just the signups have so far, this game is going to be great.

*Doesn't understand the puns *

Just for fun, I started plugging names in and seeeing what I got. Apparently, our favorite Windrunner and his spren are now part of a buddy comedy called Paladin and Sly, their adventure takes place on the planet Rosary and the Shattered Plains sequence is about avenging the death of King Gavel at the hands of the Parched, who killed him with extreme thirst and the terrifying assassin known as... Set.

The flaw in hemalurgy is designed to give anyone with power a means with which to enact control. It doesn't even have to be a Shard. Allomancers could control hemalurgic constructs with emotional Allomancy, and that is purely using Preservation's power. The Voidspren that enable stormform have a similar hole inbuilt. So while Ruin may indeed have an upper hand when it comes to hemalurgy, anyone with a means to direct that power into a spiked individual should be able to take control.

The soldier rushed back, painting in his hand. My Death, painted by Sarcoline Lepinceau:

When the NSA tries to spy on Sanderson, all they find is RAFO cards. Brandon Sanderson secretly holds the Shard of Devotion. His books are tests of strength to find worthy 17th Sharders to invest. Brandon only dictates his books in High Imperial. Brandon once got cut off in traffic and wrote an instant bestseller. In his yearbook, people didn't look at pictures, they just read the spreads that he wrote. The seventh seal talked about in the Book of Revelation is Dragonsteel. Brandon can't wear a Mistcloak because if he turns too fast the billow causes a highstorm. If/when he sleeps, his snores play out Requiem for a Tower. Brandon's real job is solving world hunger and finding s renewable energy source. He just writes novels in his spare time as one of his "minor hobbies." The atomic bombs weren't actually made with Plutonium and Uranium, they were just some books that Brandon decided the world wasn't ready for. Brandon once sent a worldbuilding outline back into time. We know of it today as the U.S. Constitution. Brandon is not allowed within 25 miles of kings, presidents, and ministers because they get mad from the attention he draws.

what is written about him in the cover of alcatraz is true; brandon doesn't write his books, he has his potted plant writing them for him. All he did was take his perfectly normal potted plant and teach it to write. hardly an achievement worth noting, don't you think?

Once Brandon decided to write a story about chairs. However, it didn't meet his standards, so he gave it to his friend George to play with. And thus the Game of Thrones was born.

Brandon Sanderson creates diamonds for his wife by placing a piece of coal under one of his manuscripts. The coal is crushed almost immediately. Brandon Sanderson Dropped one of his manuscripts once. The United States Geological Survey made him promise never to do that ever again. Brandon Sanderson wrote a novel so quickly one time that the resulting friction melted his keyboard. Brandon Sanderson knows why the answer is 42.

Brandon Sanderson once made a thunderstorm change direction by threatening to write a novella that disclaimed its existence. The thunderstorm was diverted so hard that it rained out in one minute and dissipated immediately. The resulting water irrigated the entire state of Utah for a week. Brandon Sanderson had writers block once. It was the worst ten seconds of his life. Brandon Sanderson created a magic system that solved P=NP.