Leaderboard

If you feel stupid today, just remember that I forgot to refill my wiper fluid yesterday and found a dirty windshield when I went to go to work. Wanting to be safe, but not having time to refill the fluid, I grabbed a bottle of water from my car and threw it on the glass where it froze instantly.

Yes this has been brought up before, but it's usually glossed over or completely forgotten. This is why, personally, I think Illumination has an inbuilt "farseeing" ability that was much more the Truthwatcher focus than it is with Lightweavers.

12. If Hitler is elected as chancellor, the Fascists win.

A Specially Chosen Limerick Thirteen were the Forsaken of yore Remembering their names is a chore Ishamael was the first He may be the worst For an oath to the Dark One he swore With him was Asmodean, musician He didn’t much care for competition But Rahvin the fair And Sammael there Definitely had more ambition And next we have Demandred the eel Then the two men twisted by the Wheel Balthamel, Aginor Of males there’s one more Be’lal the jealous rounds out the sad reel Then Semirhage is the fallen Healer The equal to Lanfear the manstealer They filled men with dread Until they were dead Graendal followed, who wolves named Heartseeker Two more Chosen would walk in their sleeping Moghedien though she was a weakling In Power alone But in other zones She and Mesaana left others weeping Night 4 has begun! It will end in 23 hours’ time at 21:00 EST, or 2 AM GMT, December the 15th. BrightnessRadiant was lynched! She was Balthamel. BrightnessRadiant (4): randuir, Furamirionind, Cadmium Compounder, Karnatheon, Droughtbringer Amanuensis (1): Sart Furamirionind (1): Rathmaskal The Eliminators have lost access to their faction roleblock. Their kill and Creature Summon remain available. The Eye has 36 health remaining. The current layer of defence has 1 health remaining, and is the Fourth Ring. The Blight is currently attacking for 9. A Creeper of the Blight has appeared: Screwtape! It will Send Runner D6 unless stopped. In addition, Wormwood is still alive, and will Send Runner N5 unless stopped. In addition, Poxx is still alive, and will Send Runner tonight. Randuir IsRand has been attacked, but did not die! It will start attacking people tonight unless stopped. I have run out of immediately available pinch-hitters, except for perhaps one, but that’s no excuse for inactivity on anybody’s part. Therefore, I’d like to encourage everyone to stay active. Any player not posting in-thread today who hasn’t done so in a while will (hopefully) be replaced by my one pinch-hitter beginning tomorrow, though I’d rather not do that. Please remember that PMs are closed. 1. Steeldancer (Ookla the Positive) as Ookla the Positive, an orphan with a cheery outlook on life. 2. randuir as Evelyn, an Aiel Wise Woman and well-wisher 3. Karnatheon (Ookla the Ring) as Brendan Vallerune, a gleeman totally unrelated to Jeordwyn 4. Cadmium Compounder (Ookla the Duck) as Miumpounder, a cobbler with an abiding hatred of Altarans 5. xinoehp512 (Ookla the Phoenix) as Alkoo, a reclusive Ogier tucked away in encyclopaedias Roleless 6. Amanuensis as Nikel Fain, a man hell-bent on killing his father (totally normal) 7. Droughtbringer as Month-Long Drought, a prickly old noblewoman who only eats dried fruit 8. Rathmaskal as Jeordwyn Dormond, an Illianer gleeman who juggles knives through his enemies 9. Devotary of Spontaneity (Ookla the Heretical) as Rhodin, a countercultural Aiel whose views are about to go mainstreamPerrin Aybara, Emond’s Fielder 10. Young Bard (Ookla the Unprepared) as Jancey, a reluctant soldier who signed up to obey his father’s will 11. Mark IV as Lars, an inquisitive young nobleman 12. Snipexe (Ookla the Sceptical) as Exepins, a scribe who will eventually admit to the superiority of British spellings Hardy Fal Dara Warrior 13. Furamirionind as Keisa, a grizzled veteran of the Borderland Wars, with a scar on his forehead to show for it 14. Hemalurgic Headshot (Ookla of the East) as Skern Mundy, a man from the East with many skills 15. Ark1002 (Ookla the Dragon Reborn) as Shifting Shadows, a shifty, shadowy Wolfbrother Emond’s Fielder; Fal Dara Warrior 16. STINK, a formless thread in the pattern with less than 24 hours to identify himself before the Creator does 17. MetaTerminal (Ookla the Cited) as Elak Dehlin, a merchant with severe paranoia about the One Power Moiraine’s Circle 18. BrightnessRadiant as Fifi Balthamel 19. Mr Doctor as Antor Vadenfort, a Illianer Warder without an Aes Sedai 20. Sart as Shirley U. Jest, a Cairhienen noblewoman who takes life far too seriously Good luck to all!

I'm still predicting that Darth will convince you to count yourself as one of them anyway, to give the Precursors legitimacy. Ink probably won't be active enough in the RP to count, and I'm guessing Clyde will go elsewhere. Good to know. Updated Affiliation Predictions: Ghostbloods: Meeker, Itiah, Kaladin78, Sorana, Shardbreaker, TFA TUBA: Silva, Xino, Karn, SD, Clyde GUESS: Gancho, Dwig, Jac, Life&Death, Wild Card. Sentinels: Bit Precursors: Darth, Ark Wild Cards: Nohadon, Kidpen, Ax, Steel Inquisitive, Mac, Kenod, Snipexe, GK, Meta, Fura, Spacefarring, Grumpy Elantrian.

Dude, I already knew this. Check out this picture I got of you: @Arith Matic, what's your new wish?

Sorry this took so long. I'm on mobile, but that's small compared to the fact that I was trying tri write it like a constitution, rather than a simple explanation. Here's the easy one, taken largely from what we've seen here: 1. Each Great Guild (defined as we determine) has one seat in the Senate of Alleyversial Republic. 2. For each Great House seat there is one Minor House seat in the same Senate. These "popular" seats are filled by popular vote, not Senatorial appointment. 3. There is also one "public" seat, to which any citizen can be elected by true majority. Candidacy is reduced by a process of elimination until one candidate had more than half of all votes. Yes, this is important. 4. The Chancellor is appointed from and by the Senate. 5. Laws and decisions are made by majority rule of the Senate. 6. Ties are broken by the Chancellor's intervention, but the Chancellor gets no other vote. 7. The Senate can impeach the Chancellor by a supermajority (⅔)decision, and if convicted of felony or high crime, Chancellor is removed from office and punished by law. 8. Senators may be impeached by the decision of all other senators, and are likewise tried in a court of law. If convicted of a felony or high crime, they are removed from office and punished by law. 9. In the temporary absence of a Chancellor, ties are broken by popular vote. 10. In the temporary absence of a senator, the Chancellor votes in their place. 11. If war has been declared on the Allyversial Republic, the Chancellor and Senate may jointly declare a military state, in which only temporary laws may be enacted and all power is vested in the Chancellor. That's it. The number of seats available to Minor Guilds keeps them from getting trampled out of principle, while the identity of the public senator can force the Senate's hand when selecting a Chancellor, though they aren't necessarily the Chancellor themself. The popular tie-breaking ensures that the Senate will think twice before impeaching the Chancellor. What do you think?

I think while complex governmental ideas are fun, we should really try to decrease the level of complexity - simply having it so each great guild has a representative and all the representatives vote on laws can still provide a lot of interesting opportunities, without drowning out people with complex rule systems. We can have a more complex government be canon to the RP, but have it so that it’s not necessary to understand to get involved in the politics.

Just steps for my new lil painting

Ok so a half mime just needs to be magnif, maje and awe-ins. Alternatively they are magnificent and only half-majestic and not at all awe inspiring.

Feruchemical gold or stormlight could do full sex changes for trans people, we got a WoB about that recently. But it was a bit confusing, giving that you're using non-gendered pronounces, which would indicate the character being genderfluid, non-gendered or hermaphrodite.

Hello! Welcome to the Shard. Working under the assumption that can't overtly use their powers because if the referee sees them do so, they'll get penalized, who would you rather have on your basketball team, a mistborn or a feruchemist?

Source: https://shooty-shooty-whacky-whacky.tumblr.com/post/170634217521/a-friend-of-mine-told-me-once-that-dalinar (Oathbringer spoiler)

Wassup all, new guy here

I graduated university today!

Again I'm assuming you mean an extradition treaty? Or are people so sick of DA exposition that we need a treaty to stop us worldbuilding any further? Yeah that'll need to be an in character thing. And more likely a case by case situation.

*ahem* Merriam-Webster permits the usage of the word democracy in the common sense, to refer to 'a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections'. You right, you right. My bad. Vive la republique!

Granted. A bunch of people stand up and say nice things about you, one after the other... ...because it's your funeral. Whoops. I wish for the ability to be careful what I wish for.

I interrupt this game briefly, as I have been summoned by @hoiditthroughthegrapevine, to say yes... You have found me out. I am a WoBspren. Return to your game secure in your knowledge of my nature.

Granted, unfortunately, the only way the Nightwatcher could accomplish this was by grafting your head onto @Calderis's body, right next to his head (because he freakin' knows all the WOBs, even the ones that have come out yet. I think he secretly has already made a pact with the Nightwatcher, so maybe this really is his retroactively applied boon as well). So now you know all the wobs (by extension) and you and Cal will never be lonely (and conversely you will never be alone either). I wish it would snow in Eugene Oregon.

Hey I wasn't sure were to put this. It's a parody of the Heat Miser song by my brother. I'm mister Storm master. I'm mister cloud. I'm mister wind runner. I'm mister honor abound. Some call me "Storm Father" whatever I touch, starts to glow in my clutch. I'm too much. He's mister Storm Master. He's mister cloud. He's mister Wind-runner. He's mister Honor abound. They call me "Storm Father" what ever I touch, starts to glow in my clutch. I'm too much. I never want to see a day where Odium is free. I'd rather have him locked up for eternity. He's mister Storm Master. He's mister cloud. He's mister Wind-runner. He's mister Honor abound. They call me "Storm Father" whatever I touch, starts to glow in my clutch. Too much, too much.

I am not sure if this has come up somewhere before but I couldn't find it and thought I would post it. So currently doing a re read of WoR and just noticed something for the first time even though this is like the 6th time through. It is where Shallan does the scetch of Gaz as well as all the other random Flora and fauna in the lait a day or so out of the war camps. During this scene she spaces off and just lets her hands draw and mind wander. After doing this she looks at the drawings and sees the one of people coming ashore and thinks one is Yalb, I always get distracted here thinking I wish this was true as she makes a similar comment. Then she turns the page and sees a picture of a lady leaning over another lady with a chisel aimed at the face of the bottom lady and then recognizes the bottom one as stiff maybe stone.... So we all know that Ash (Shallash the herald) goes around defacing art of herself and that second picture is clearly a scene of that, does that imply that the other picture/vision is real as well? Do Lightweavers have remote viewing ability that can see current or more likely events from a recent past? Kalladin does a remote viewing thing on the highstorm winds in his dream in tWoK could it be something similar with light photons for Shallan? What do you think?

Here's a series of sketches by Ben McSweeney kind of illustrating how they work (Ben one of the SA illustrators)

I'm really hoping (though I'll doubt we'll get it in Book 4) we'll get to see some breath-powered surgebinding from Hoid soon, since he's the only character that has both a spren bond and breaths.

Not eating cookies is a terrible way to survive in the Alleyverse! Even if you managed to somehow avoid dying, did you really survive if you've deprived yourself of cookies?

Four friends going to a Christmas costume party decide to dress as their favorite composers. The first friend arrives dressed as Beethoven. The second arrives dressed as Mozart, but the third and fourth both show up as Chopin. Seeing this, the fourth friend dejectedly leaves the party. "Hey," says the first friend. "Where are you going?" "I'm going to change my costume," the fourth friend replies. "Don't worry, I'll be Bach soon."

Ooh! Bad jokes! I'll be sure to come back to this post and edit in new jokes when I think of them. Kaladin: Shallan, you can't control me any more than you can control the storm. Shallan: What starts with b and rhymes with shoots? Kaladin: No offense, Dalinar, but you can't control these lighteyes any more than you could a storm. Dalinar: *Bonds to the Stormfather* Patient: I'm feeling depressed. I feel like life is Misreable, Opposing, And Super Hating. Doctor: *leans in* We call that the Moash feeling.

My first game was White, so the Oshawott line and I will always have a special connection. Thanks! I didn't make this one, but hey, if the boot fits, then No Apologize! Boots!

The command must be accompanied by a mental visual of what is desired, so the awakener will decide how the object will try and destroy itself. Barring Nightblood and the Returned, I'm not recalling any commands that did not perform physical actions. So unless you have a couple thousand breaths to spare, imploding or exploding is unlikely. A more likely method is that the object would attempt to tear itself into pieces, or jumping might work too.

Kelsier hasn't left Scadrial at all.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR ALL MISTBORN AND STORMLIGHT PUBLICATIONS TO DATE. Friends of the 17th Shard, a situation has occured. According to Weiry Writer, Brandon Sanderson has made it known to us through the Waygate livestream that there is another worldhopper whom we have all missed. A worldhopper who, quite apart from the likes of Hoid and Nazh, goes by no known alias and does not have an easily recognizable description. Apparently, a kandra has been travelling through the Cosmere. I scarcely need remind anyone what a kandra is, or why picking one out from the crowd of Cosmere characters will be so difficult. Kandra can mold their bodies around any skeletal system, perfectly impersonating animals and even individual humans. At least one kandra impersonated another kandra. It may prove to be impossible to find a worldhopping specimen, especially when given so little information to work from. But, let us not be daunted by the difficulty. As long as there are worldhoppers, there will be 17th Sharders to find them. In fact, I cannot imagine a world in which 17th Sharders didn't speculate ceaselessly about worldhopper identities. Finding a kandra isn't a hardship: it's a privilege. Allow me to begin. Be warned, spoilers and tenuous logical connections follow. First, we should specify what we're looking for in a kandra worldhopper. Obvious signs would be noticeably out-of-character thoughts or actions, death and apparent resurrection, or mentions of missing bones or bodies. If we knew our target's motivations, we would have an easier time of things. But for now, we must sadly stick to what we know. The most obvious motivation I can think of would be as an agent of Harmony. We know from the recent batch of AoL annotations that Sazed is very concerned with Cosmere-wide events, and wishes to learn more. Sending a kandra to other worlds could work wonders towards revealing the secrets of Adonalsium. Unfortunately this idea gives us little indication of where we might find the kandra. Possibly Yolen, where it all began, or Roshar, a place of major Shardic interactions? Sel could also be a potential kandra destination. I put some thought into several deaths and resurrections. In Words of Radiance, both Szeth and Jasnah are presumed dead but are found later, very much alive. However, I do not believe either to be a kandra. We see Szeth's PoV in his chapter, and no indicators of kandrafication can be seen. In addition, Jasnah is seen Surgebinding in the WoR epilogue, which would suggest that she is who she says she is. It also seems likely that Hoid would have noticed a swap. While Szeth and Jasnah were probably not kandra-spottings, I believe that other cases of "deaths" should be investigated. So there we have it--or rather, there we don't have it. There is a needle sitting in quite a big stormin' haystack right in front of us. Let's try to find it. WalDo, the 17th Shard will find you. If you have appeared on screen, you will be found. Now, 17th Shard... let's get to work.

Introduction Thus far, we've gotten pretty good glimpses of seven of the ten Surges, by at least one of the Orders that uses them. There are some Order-specific applications (like Dalinar's Spiritual Adhesion), but for the most part we've seen a lot of similarities across orders – Jasnah and Shallan both Soulcast, Szeth's Gravitation looks much the same as it did when he had an Honorblade, and Dalinar and Kaladin can both stick things together using Adhesion. Illumination has been a little funky, but that's part of the ongoing mystery surrounding Renarin. But there are three Surges that we have only seen, at most, glimpses of: Division, Cohesion, and Tension. There are legends of them in the books, we've seen the effects of their application, and Brandon has been a little forthcoming in WoBs, so we do have enough to piece together what these three Surges do. But the collective knowledge of the community is a little lax, so in this thread I’m going to collect all the information we have on these Surges, and then do some exploration and theorizing on them. Here’s my gameplan: · I’ll start off with a survey of sources about the Surge, both book references and WoBs. Then I’ll explain how I see the ‘real-life science’ would work to accomplish that. One section each for Division, Cohesion, and Tension. · The fourth section will explain a Tension/Cohesion continuity error. I’m having a chicken-or-the-egg problem trying to write this whole thing up, so you may get very confused with one of my Cohesion examples. I don’t want to break the flow of the explanation; you can jump down to the section called “Stormfather’s Error,” after the OB chapter 38 example, if it really bothers you. · In the fifth section, I’ll give a potential in-universe Rosharan explanation for these Surges, and why they’re guided by perception to behave the way they do. · In the last section, I’ll talk about Dalinar’s Unity abilities, and why I can’t figure out if they’re a Surge or not. Division Of the three, this is the one we’ve seen in action the most, although it can be a little hard to understand because it is never completely explained. The high-level overview: Division burns things. The first hint is in the very first scene in WoK: No other references in the first book. But we do get some more in the second. Jasnah references Division in WoR chapter 1: Kaladin thinks of it in WoR chapter 41. A WoB from March 14, 2017. We actually get it on-screen from a Dustbringer in OB chapter 107. “ And again, from Yelig-Nar-powered Amaram in OB chapter 120. This Surge works by breaking molecular bonds. A quick chemistry rundown: you’ve got atoms, which are the fundamental building blocks of chemistry. Carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, all those good suckers. (You can divide atoms into with protons and electrons and neutrons, and divide those in turn to smaller particles, but that’s gonna be more the realm of physicists. And because Division doesn’t split atoms, it is a purely chemical Surge.) Atoms will form bonds with one another, attaching in arrangements simple or complex to form molecules. (Think of sticking balls of clay together with toothpicks.) The oxygen molecules we breathe are made of two oxygen atoms stuck together (or bonded); nitrogen molecules are similarly two nitrogen atoms. A water molecule is an oxygen molecule bonded to two hydrogen molecules (H2O). Pure carbon doesn’t form molecules; it forms a big lattice of carbon atoms, each atom bonded to multiple other atoms. Why do atoms form bonds? Because doing so releases energy. An atom on its own is like a ball, balanced on the top of a hill. (This is called a radical.) Rolling down the hill releases energy; the ball moves faster. That’s the same principle as creating bonds; two or more radicals combining into a molecule releases energy. And then it would take energy to remove the bonds; that’s like doing work to carry the ball back up the hill. When you burn something, you break some weak bonds and create stronger bonds (with oxygen atoms). It takes a little energy to break a weak bond (called the activation energy), and a lot of energy is released over what you put in when you form a strong bond (called the heat of reaction). You carry a ball up a small hill, so you can roll it down the other side which has a much deeper valley. You release energy by burning things, even though it takes energy to get it started. So, what Dustbringers do, is they break the bonds between atoms. They can burn things without making them hot first; which is how Malata caused the table to burn. To go back to the ball-and-hill analogy, using Division bores a tunnel through the hill, letting the ball roll straight from one spot to the other without having to be carried up the intermediary height. If something crumbles to dust (one of the other stated applications of Division), it’s stuff that wouldn’t really burn well. You rearrange the atoms, it breaks up so you get a bunch of tiny pieces instead of a large whole. But the new bonds are the same energy as the old bonds, so no energy is released. It just crumbles. But what about burning stone? I’ll just take the chemical composition of granite, for example, from Wikipedia: SiO2 72.04% (silica) Al2O3 14.42% (alumina) K2O 4.12% Na2O 3.69% CaO 1.82% FeO 1.68% Fe2O3 1.22% MgO 0.71% TiO2 0.30% P2O5 0.12% MnO 0.05% That’s already all got oxygen in it. So, if you break those bonds up, and then they reform, where’s the energy come from? Using Division doesn’t just bypass the activation energy; it can add the activation energy to the system. The reverse for something “degrading.” Metal rusting releases energy; it just does it so slowly that there’s nothing noticeable. If you rust metal quickly, that’s called “oxidizing,” and my buddies used to call that “Thermite Thursdays.” So, if you’re going to make metal rust in an instant, Division needs to absorb the heat of reaction. At the end of the day, using Division appears to encompass two sub-abilities, from a chemistry perspective. It breaks chemical bonds (changing the chemical composition of the target substance). And it also can add or remove energy from the system, depending on the intent of the Surgebinder; if they want it hot, they get it hot. If they want it room-temperature, the Surge balances out the heat that would be released. I don’t see an issue with these two abilities working in tandem; unlike some of the issues I had with steelpushing in another thread (where a single variable was needed to constrain many different scenarios), a Division user isn’t inherently limited to only a single kind of application. I think they could have metal rust or burn, depending on what they felt like at that moment. Cohesion Cohesion make things moldable, remove lattices and makes something more of a liquid. The first legend is in WoK chapter 59. The second legend is from Shallan, in WoR chapter 63. (I'm going to say Cohesion, because of the "command." Division is always touch; Cohesion can be at range.) Another legend in WoR chapter 77. “ After WoR, there was a single Cohesion WoB. March 8, 2014. In the third book, we actually begin to see it in action. OB chapter 38. (If you are not satisfied that this is an application of Cohesion, feel free to jump down to Section 4, and then come back here.) And again, this time another Surge from Amaram. OB chapter 120. This Surge is partially a step above the bonds within atoms. Molecules will also form bonds; weaker bonds, but bonds nonetheless, that can hold groups of molecules together. In the liquid state, water molecules are attracted enough to one another that they stick together loosely. When you cool them down, they’ll arrange themselves into a lattice structure, and you get solid ice. The bonds between hydrogen and oxygen within the molecule are unchanged; but the molecules are interacting differently. But this Surge also overlaps a lot with Division, because not all substances have distinct molecules. It’s like I said with carbon up above; you have atoms bonded to atoms bonded to more atoms. So if you melt a diamond, you’re breaking atom-to-atom bonds. You have to be; otherwise it would remain solid. Cohesion, therefore, is a little fuzzier in what it does from a nitty-gritty analysis point of view. · It will negate electromagnetic chemical bonding (sometimes intermolecular, sometimes molecular, depending on the substance). · It will absorb energy released by breaking those bonds. · It will apply a brand new attractive force between each and every molecule or atom affected. This is weaker than what was overcome, so the substance now behaves as a liquid. · It will apply a brand new set of forces to various molecules to move them around as desired. · When it is time to resolidify, the first three effects will all be simultaneously done in reverse, reverting the substance back to its original state with no release of energy. It can’t just melt the stone, because that would require the molecules to be at a high temperature. There’s no temperature change; so it has to be a fundamental change in the nature of the chemical bonding, with associated energy balancing measures that I laid out in Division. There’s no way for Cohesion users to release energy, though, so they are more constrained in that particular sub-power. Tension The last Surge, and one that is much harder to find in the books. There are no mythological references, and no instances it is used (at least that I am confident in). But this has been a popular concept in WoBs, even with one before WoK came out. July 24, 2010. October 14, 2013. March 13, 2014. March 24, 2017. So Tension makes things rigid. This cloth example is going to make us take another step up in chemistry; large molecules, with hundreds or thousands of atoms, that form huge chains. That’s what you get with organic molecules; and these molecules can move around. Think back to our clay-ball-and-toothpick model. The balls can rotate on the toothpicks; so if you build something big enough and unsupported enough, you can move it around like an action figure. That’s what cloth does; none of its chemical bonds are breaking when it moves, but there are rotations happening within the molecules. Surface tension is a concept in fluids. Take water as an example. In the liquid state, water molecules like to be surrounded by other water molecules; they form those weak intermolecular bonds, which release a small amount of energy and are entropically favorited. So the fluid as a whole will minimize surface area, where water molecules are touching something that’s not water. But that’s not quite what happens here. This is more like armor plating; additional tension on the surface of an object. Imagine a knee brace or a cast for every molecular and intermolecular bond along the surface of an object. Using the outer layer of molecules to form a shell, the inner layers are then forced in place, and you have yourself a solid object. So that’s why I think tension is called surface tension – it acts on the surface of an object, applying an additional force to hold each atom or molecule stable in relation to the rest of the object. Unlike the other two Surges, there is nothing removed here, so there is no need for funky energy conservation loopholes. Now, I said there were no confirmed instances of Tension in the books. I know that this is a Surge Dalinar has, and he does indeed use quite a bit of magic in Oathbringer. But I’m pretty confused on which Surge it is (if it even is a Surge), so I gave that its own section at the end of the thread to discuss in-depth. But do I suspect we’ve seen this Surge applied by a modern fabrial in the half-Shard shields. They’re already solid, but the additional force applied to their surface makes them even stronger against normal attacks, and being Invested helps them out against Shardblades. OB 100. Some people believe that the spren they trapped was a spren the Radiant would bond, like a Stoneward spren. I hold to the idea of Surgespren; spren associated with each of the individual Surges. There are a couple of passages in Way of Kings that lead me down this path. The first is in WoK chapter 49. And the second is in WoK chapter 57. Bindspren for Adhesion, groundspren for Gravitation. And substancespren for tension. Whether they cause it, or are attracted to it, doesn’t much matter for the purpose of this argument; flamespren are used to produce heat, regardless of whether they cause it or not. So I think substancespren are used by this fabrial to apply Tension to the shields, making half-Shards. Stormfather’s Error I’m just presenting this as-is. I think it speaks for itself. From the OB signing tour: Fundamental Forces Now, you may find the chemistry explanations for these abilities a little underwhelming. They’re super fuzzy, tacking together a whole bunch of steps to get something that functions. To get what Brandon is shooting for, it's important to understand the distinction between real-life fundamental forces and Rosharan fundamental forces (what they call the Surges). Go back to the elemental inspiration of Surges and Essences. Essences aren't distinct elements – Tallow, Pulp, and Sinew are all organic compounds, Spark is energy (since fire is just hot air, and air is otherwise covered under Zephyr), and Talus and Lucentia are going to be structural differences, not compositional differences. But when I put it like that, you inherently know that I’m just thinking too hard about it. These things seem different – and to the Rosharan understanding, that is enough to make it significant in the Realmatic sense. It is driven by perception, not by physics. The same thing is going to be true for these final three Surges. They all operate using the electromagnetic force (just like Abrasion does) and the way molecules interact with one another or the way the components of a molecule interact. In real-life physics, there is a force that holds the atom together – the electromagnetic force that pulls protons and electrons together. That's the same force, generated by the same charges from the same subatomic particles, that is responsible for friction and for the lattice structures that many solids are composed out of. But, just like with the Essences, to line that up with strict physics is looking too closely. Rosharans aren't physicists, and their perceptions will not align with that interpretation. Here's the way they look at it: they think there is a force on the surface of an object that makes a thing rigid like a solid (Tension), a force on all an object’s components that pulls them together and makes it flow like liquid (Cohesion), and a force that spreads things apart like a gas (Division). Whichever of those forces is strongest will determine how a substance behaves, and Surgebinders increase one of those 'forces' to override the natural behavior of a substance. The magic of Surgebinding, in turn, provides specific alterations to the electromagnetic force in order to match the common perception of Roshar. This fuzzy chemistry happens with Soulcasting, too, as evidenced when Jasnah Soulcasts at Thaylen Field in OB chapter 120. We can attempt to interpret “axi” as a local word for “atom” or “molecule,” but that doesn’t pass rigor. There’s no such thing as a molecule of air; air is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor, carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of a bunch of other things that I know because my company builds and operates air separation plants. Instead, an axi must a perception-driven way to interact with atoms and molecules, to conceptualize moving individual molecules even though the scale is unimaginably vast (one liter of air contains roughly 30,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 molecules). Surges are also a perception-based way of performing complex interactions without needing to specifically consider all the steps required to accomplish a particular effect. Unity So, Dalinar has an ability. He Unites things. I see this power occur in three specific places: OB 59. Especially coming after the vision with the Stoneward, I understand why many people think this is Cohesion. That was my initial impression, too, before asking at that signing. But looking at it now, the stone isn’t melting. This is a Spiritual transformation; Dalinar’s not guiding the reliefs, but they are repaired nonetheless. OB 109. Here, he’s holding together the very substance of the Stormfather’s vision as Odium attempts to destroy it. These aren’t real things, but Surges have functioned before in visions, so I guess it’s real enough that Dalinar can use his powers. And lastly, in OB 119. Here’s the kicker, the climax of his abilities. This is not used on something physical; he’s grabbing the Realms. One thing I note about all three of these passages is that Dalinar has to touch things. This is another point against Cohesion being intended; that Surge has been referred to in legends as operating with a “command” or a “look.” Adhesion, on the other hand, always spreads out from physical contact with the Radiant. Most of the time, the hands, although Kaladin has done it with his feet before. One other thing I notice is that the warmth is present while he repairs the temple. This concept first appeared in the ending of Words of Radiance, a mysterious warmth and light that Dalinar felt, something the Stormfather knew nothing about. (Tying in with his mysterious Nohadon vision in Oathbringer, possibly.) Dalinar mentions this warmth several times in OB, and it stirs in him right before he says his third Oath and unites the Realms. And his last scene, when he is working on his book, he feels the warmth again. That makes me think his Unity power doesn’t come from his bond with the Stormfather at all, and has to do with Dalinar Ascending to the remnants of Honor. (I’m suspecting his mysterious Blade that he used to operate the Veden Oathgate was like an Honorblade; not a manifestation of a spren, but the raw essence of Honor’s power. As a refresher, OB chapter 16, the Stormfather confirms that Honorblades can operate Oathgates.) Lastly, his power feels like a direct opposite of a pre-Shattering magic that was revealed in the Dragonsteel chapters on Brandon’s website as SA deleted scenes: The Tzai warriors break the Spiritual, which has cascading effects on the Physical. Dalinar repairs the Spiritual, which has cascading effects on the Physical. This pre-Shattering magic appears end-neutral; the Tzai are doing direct Realmatic manipulations (which is also ascribed to the Sho Del and to the [REDACTED] magic of Jerick). At least to me, this feels very reminiscient of the sorts of things done by Shards or beings who are Ascending: the creation of the mistwraiths in Mistborn, the Returned of Warbreaker, or even the boons/curses of Nightwatcher or Cultivation. The interpretation that I’m growing fond of is that Dalinar was not Surgebinding in these scenes, he was tapping in to the greater power of Honor and using it to Unite things. That all being said, I can’t help but notice the similarities to Adhesion listed above, and Tension’s metaphysical relationship to rebuilding the whole (seeing as it acts on the surface of an object.) And when Dalinar repairs the temple, he does think that it’s because he’s a Bondsmith, which would imply that Dalinar is not the first to have these sorts of powers. The extent he uses them is greater (like summoning the perpendicularity), but that other Bondsmiths may have been able to accomplish his feats in the Thaylen temple without Ascending. I can see an Adhesion/Tension interplay going on; take two things, use Adhesion to stick them together, use Tension to redefine the boundaries as a single object. So, I’m not necessarily convinced either way. Putting the passages down on paper, his first two Unity scenes do seem much more like mundane Surgebinding than I had previously remembered. But the mysterious light, Dalinar’s Ascension, and “WE KILLED YOU” all make me think there’s something greater about Dalinar, something beyond what the Bondsmiths of the past were able to do. We’ll see if I can settle on something by the time Stormlight Four rolls around.

Again, the issue comes down to amount of ingested metal. Duralumin doesn't actual make the powers stronger, just come faster. So you'd need to have enough metal ingested that duralumin couldn't instantly consume it all anyway. They should absolutely stack, but your going to need a lot of metal. Before that accomplishes anything noticeable.

Congratulations! Your daughters now like NPR. In fact, they love it so much they aspire to become part of NPR, run away to fulfill their dream of becoming a radio talk show host, and they are never seen again. Well, only heard, that is.

The Vax and Weird Things episode! Ian guessed my character pretty quickly though.

To add more to this, I need to put another point in Oathbringer's favor; The Dalinar flashbacks are the best of the three books.

I still have no idea what those cookies are but i think you should not take them so many people had warned me. Welcome!! my question is if you have read multiple books of Sanderson who is your fav character and why?

I sure hope so. Chances aren't bad as he seems to growing into a full Radiant by the end of OB. We at least might see more of him. He has a special place in my heart as he is the reason why I found my way back to Stormlight and Sanderson. I'm bisexual, and in early 2017 I stumbled over this really ancient post from Brandon from I believe 2007 regarding his views of homosexuality and let's say I didn't take it well. I swore to myself to never touch a book of his again, I even gave away my copies of Mistborn, Elantris and Warbreaker. I couldn't give away Stormlight though, and for the following 1,5 years I felt devastated, looking at my bookshelf, thinking about how I was never going to read the rest of the series. Than, not even four weeks back, I learned about Drehy being gay (practically by sheer coincidence) and that Brandon's views seemed to have changed quite a lot. I broke down crying, ordered Oathbringer and started a reread of books one and two as I had forgotten too much. Now I'm here, and all because of Drehy. So as far as I'm concerned, he can have his own book.

That's actually a common side-effect of healing abilities in fictional stories. In Captain America: First Avengers, after his treatment, Steve Rodgers can't get drunk. In Heroes, Claire Bennet drinks 20 shots without feeling the effects and pretends to be drunk to hide her ability. But having the conversion rate set would be great! Maybe 1 breath could sustain 60 minutes of surgebinding....

I wouldn't be suprised if Cultivation combined chasmfiend with larkin. Larkenfiend! There be dragons. | | \ ∆ / [(°)∆(°)] vvvvvv ^^^^^^^ |___| ||| (yeah, that's dragon, gancho)

Rock meme

Killing the Stormfather kind of means killing everything else. No Stormfather means no stormlight. No stormlight means no powers, so a fairly immediate death for our heroes... And then there's the whole ecological collapse issue. Let's not do that.

if we kill any spren lets kill Malata's

Can I vote "it doesn't matter"? Everyone who actually started the war is long since dead, as are their immmediate descendants. even their cultures are either dead or radically changed.

Episode Two: Dumpster Diving

Kaladin is my favorite main character and one of my favorite characters all around, so I promise I am not writing this biased because I dislike him. I was personally quite satisfied with Kaladin this book. Do I wish he had had a win? Absolutely. But the truth is he needs to learn: 1. That he can't save everyone 2. That he will sometimes fail, its part of life and he needs to accept it 3. That he doesn't have to do everything himself. He has friends, he has squires, he has people willing to pick up the slack if he stumbles, and he needs to know that while a lot rests on his shoulders, the world will not end if he falls briefly. In a way I almost found it comforting that he started seing that just because he doesn't do something himself doesn't mean it will be left undone. As I worried that feeling that he needed to do all by himself was putting a huge pressure on a 19 year old. As the leader of the Windrunners he will have a lot of pressure, the sooner he learns to rely on others and his pressure lightens the better he will be and the better he will lead. I saw the part you mentioned where he was blind to what was going on in Bridge 4 as that. He was stretching himself so thin that he was missing the little things he wouldn't be missing if he was leaning more on others and accepting his limitations. The bad of Kaladin in OB is he failed a lot. The good is that when he failed others were there to help, and he is starting to accept it (Amaram fight illustrates this). Also, considering stronger and more squires is the Windrunner resonance you could technically see Amaram as a win. He won through his resonance . I do however admit I'm peeved he seems to be the only KR to run out of stormlight at the worst times.

So I just got my brand new copy of Words of Radiance, and I was leaning against my bookcase to read it. I guess I jostled it a little too much, because another book fell down and hit the one on my lap. My poor copy of Words of Radiance was split right down the middle; the spine was totally cracked. In my abject dismay, I picked up the book that had plummeted from above and regarded it in simmering hatred. Do you know what book it was? Why, WoRbreaker of course.