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Yeah, the forum search isn't great. Here are a couple of threads: And my picks: (Just as a reminder, all Rosharans except the Shin have epicanthic folds, and most are very dark skinned, and black haired. Brandon describes most of them as a mix of Asian/Middle Eastern/Polynesian/Indian. The Shin would be the closest to Caucasian that we would find on Roshar.) For Dalinar Ken Watanabe or Donnie Yen Godfrey Gao for Kaladin Sammo Hung for Sadeas For Shallan Park Hye Min or Mirei Kiritani Nyle DiMarco as Adolin Maggie Q as Jasnah David Bautista as Rock Jimmy Yang as Renarin Michelle Yeoh as Navani

The dwindling party huddled around a small cooking fire, rubbing their hands from the cold in silence. Behind them, the broken fortifications of earth announced the Blight’s presence here, its foul tendrils slowly creeping towards the camp the nine remaining men of the expedition had set up. Cookpots and other items previously carried in bundles on each man’s back were now hanging from the horses’ saddles, their riderless forms an ominous guard against the terrors that came with the setting of the sun. Strange creatures that Moiraine Sedai had testified came from a Forsaken, Aginor, who she believed was among them. Each man shivered at the thought. It was bad enough to contemplate the Forsaken loose to begin with, but the idea that they were within the camp itself was terrifying to the nine that remained—who could face a Forsaken in open combat? Or in any way, for that matter? And there was the matter of the Blight itself. How long before their entire camp—and the Eye with it—was breached? The Green Man’s fortifications were gone, and the Eye itself undefended. A gentle breeze stirred the half-rotted treetops and flared the fire to a sudden brightness. The flash of light clearly illuminated the face of one Brendan Vallerune. The gleeman had come along, ostensibly to be at the center of new stories being woven by the Pattern, but everybody in the camp knew his attachment to the boys from Emond’s Field. Seeing the morose looks they were casting at the ground, he stood up slowly. Procuring a knife from beneath his sleeve, he tossed it up, deftly catching it by the handle as it dropped. A second and third followed, the knives seemingly issuing from thin air, rather than whatever compartments the gleeman had beneath his patched cloak. As the fourth and fifth knives were added to the circle, their juggling motion enrapturing Rand and Mat, Vallerune suddenly pivoted. As quickly as they had entered the circle, all five knives spun out, heading straight for Nikel Fain. And stopped, a hair's breadth from his neck. The knives collided, but none fell to the ground. Or touched Fain, for that matter. Rand’s skin prickled, feeling an unknown power being used, and sudden intakes of breath were audible around the circle, hands flying to sword and dagger hilts. Mat clutched his ruby-hilted dagger from Shadar Logoth, looking ready to jump at any man who moved. For his part, Vallerune’s face was stark white, gazing at Fain in amazement. He forced out words, though. “That man...the sorcerer...whatever he is, he is Padan’s Fain son, and a he’s a Darkfriend just as his father!” Lars stood, facing Nikel. “Do you deny this charge, my fellow warrior?” Fain smiled. Drawing himself up to his full height, his eyes shone in the dull firelight, his hand going to his sword-hilt with a speed that shocked Rand. His voice was thick, slurred, but mocking all the same. “So, it seems one of you ragged lot has the capacity to think,” he sneered. “It is, however, far too late. I have come with the Blight to destroy this place—and all of you who dare defy the Great Lord of the Dark.” The fire blazed up, its flames reaching above the heads of the company. Through them raced five daggers, guided by flows of Air deftly woven. When the flames plummeted to mere glowing coals, plunging the open land into darkness, Brendan Vallerune was dead, five daggers embedded in him before he hit the hard turf. As Lars shouted something, and the sound of a drawn sword was heard, Rand was halfway up the steep hill, heading for the Eye. The last hope against whatever faced them now. The din of clashing swords behind him lent wings to his feet. Lars had no time to think. Upon hearing Fain’s pronouncement, his sword flew out of its sheath, and he jumped at the Darkfriend with the energy of desperation. Fain seemed surprised, and he was slow to react, pivoting towards Lars with the tip of his sword. Lars’ sword slid off the edge of Fain’s, but the Warrior’s momentum sent his bulk crashing into the other man. The two tumbled in a heap, swords useless as the pair rolled across the coals of the fire. Fain yelped, being crushed between Lars and heat, but managed to extricate himself, rising with startled and pained gasps. His coat was burnt from the flames, and his ribs were likely broken from Lars slamming into him, but he would live. Grimly, he set his feet, prepared to take the Warrior on. Why hadn’t “Miumpounder” channelled to interfere yet? He shook his head. He could not afford to let such thoughts distract him. He had defeated too many foes conventionally to begin relying on channellers now. Advancing with sword-tip forward, still coughing up blood—his ribs were definitely broken—Fain launched into a series of attacks, flowing from one form to the next. Unlike others, he had never bothered to set to memory all the stances and attacks the men of the Borderlands used. But he intuited his way through them. A slow, momentum-building series of slashes was met with quick thrusts from Fain, halting the assault bearing down on him. He countered with a sweep under Lars’ legs, which he parried before Fain could take his legs off, then a two-handed overhand blow that swept to the side at the last second, which Fain barely saw in time to block. Driven back in a circle, he quickly stabbed at Lars’ arm, drawing blood. Snarling, the man leapt forward again, a relentless assault that drove Fain back towards the fire, slowly but inexorably. Lars was clearly the superior swordsman, and Fain was bleeding in a dozen places where his sword had grazed him. The Warrior’s sword appeared to his eyes as a circling wheel of light, one he could only counter, not drive away. Thrust, parry, slash, one flowing into the next, and with a mesmerising fluidity Fain managed to ward them off. He could feel his limbs growing tired, though. It was time for a change in tactics. When Lars disengaged for a brief moment, a momentary pause that served only as an opportunity for him to regroup and execute a final attack, Fain flung himself backward, using every remaining scrap of energy to vault himself over the fire. Switching his sword to his right hand only, still exhausted but set with a grim determination to finish Lars, he re-engaged. The warrior’s two-handed stroke easily batted aside Fain’s sword, and rose again for a killing blow. However, Fain had not been idle. With his free left hand, he whipped his sheath out of his belt, connecting it with the side of Lars’ head. Falling, dazed, he never saw Fain’s sword dart, impaling the middle of his chest as his own sword dropped from numb fingers. He never saw anything again. Evelyn faced the shadow across from the fire. She had never imagined that the Aiel, who had sent her across the Dragonwall to seek out He Who Comes With the Dawn, would have placed her in a situation as horrid as this. She had found the Car’a’carn—along with Shadowrunners and Aes Sedai, of course—but she had no way of protecting him. Worse, those others who had been planted in “Emond’s Field,” the absurd name these wetlanders had given their hold in the forests and mountains, were apparently seeking to sabotage the efforts of the Car’a’carn to eliminate Shadowspawn, an offence Evelyn could not countenance. However, her place was not to directly interfere in affairs, having broken her spears and renounced her status as a Maiden years ago. As such, she chose to avoid confrontation. Sticking to the shadows and waiting to see the true countenance of the man across from her, his face cloaked in shadow, seemed a wiser course of action in an excursion in which everything else seemed to have gone wrong when direct action had been taken. Suppressing a wince as the fool gleeman arose, no doubt to perform one of his simple juggling tricks, Evelyn resigned herself to another night of speaking with the Shadowrunner across from her. She was befuddled; why was she not killed by the Shadow’s forces for knowing one of their number? She leaned over the fire, speaking softly to her unknown companion. “Why am I not finished yet?” she muttered, readying flows of Air to immobilise him with saidar. A wolfish grin spread across the man’s mouth, lit by the uneven light of the fire. “Because you posed no threat, even when we needed concealment. But the time for concealment is past. I am trusted, and you…you will be dead.” The fire suddenly roared, and the bulky man’s face was illumined: Miumpounder, the cobbler from Emond’s Field. A man she had suspected, but never thought—well, who ever did think their closest companions were Shadowrunners? As the gleeman’s daggers flew back towards him, guided by the hand of the man facing her, Evelyn no longer looked to see if Vallerune was dead. A male channeler, potentially a Forsaken, faced her. Her flows of Air became Spirit, and she slid a shield between Miumpounder and the One Power. Utter shock registered on his face for one brief, beautiful second. “Aiel wilder channellers?” he stammered, sounding more like a statement than a question, and then Evelyn felt her shield shattered as if a giant hammer had smashed into it. Recoiling from her shock, she screamed, without shame; for who could face the Forsaken alone? The Car’a’carn had wisely fled, but another figure seemed to draw near to her. Keisa—a Borderlander—had changed somehow. Was changing, into an enormous living tree, its leaves and branches enfolding Miumpounder, who was crushed within the viselike grip of the...Green Man? That was the wetlanders’ name for him, and he had somehow been Keisa the entire time? Evelyn shook her head in wonderment, but had little time to waste. The Forsaken—Aginor, judging by the twisted features—was trapped, and she would take advantage while she could. Scrabbling for her belt knife, she drew it, then froze at a snuffling behind her. One of Aginor’s immense, twisted creatures snarled at her with open teeth, and almost seemed to be...sniffing? The Forsaken gurgled, no doubt a command to attack, but the beast was still for the time being, unable to decipher his master’s instructions through the chokehold the Green Man maintained. Backing up slowly, as she would with a wolf or bear, Evelyn set her knife in its sheath in the ground. The Creature seemed to turn, looking away, and Aginor’s face became purple with fury, or perhaps simply lack of breath. His finger squirmed out from the mass of leaves, and pointed directly at Evelyn. A flash of light, and she frowned. Nothing seemed changed about her. She rubbed her hands, and started in surprise. They were...slick...with some sweet-smelling liquid, yellow in colour, that she realised now coated her entire skin. Honey? The Creature turned, its eyes suddenly intrigued, and sniffed the air. Evelyn froze. Slowly, excruciatingly so, the beast turned towards her. And lunged. The Green Man averted his eyes as the Wise Woman was consumed, turning them instead to Aginor, an ancient foe, who finally lay trapped within his arms. Slowly—the man’s entire channelling and physical efforts went towards resistance—he began to choke the Forsaken, his roots and shoots and vines forming an ever-contracting noose about his neck. Aginor squirmed helplessly, unable to halt Nature. The forces that held back the Blight would kill this agent of it. Triumphantly holding up his prisoner, like an offering to the Creator, the squirming of his prey an exhilaration, the Green Man did not notice a tickling sensation touch his ankle. He noticed, but did not take heed, when it enveloped his leg. He would not care about the Blight, which had crept up on his domain, until its Creepers had devoured him, setting Aginor down on a bed of rotted leaves as his throat began to work again, desperately gasping for air. The Green Man’s corpse was quickly devoured by the poisonous flora, a longstanding enemy killed at last, and the Blight swept over the remaining distance to the Eye. A bush in the corner seemed oddly resistant to the Blight, Creepers and tendrils dying as they approached it. Aginor had gone up to the Eye, but Shirley U. Jest, the final Friend of the Dark, went over to investigate it. Primarily responsible for allowing the Blight to overrun the Eye, Jest would not tolerate any outposts enduring the Shadow’s advance. Strolling through a carpet of rotted vegetation, Jest smiled mirthlessly when he saw the bush clearly. Joseph stood there, sandwiched within the bush’s central branches, frantically hacking away at the advancing Blight with his belt knife. Jest strolled up, and delivered a solid kick to Joseph’s hand, knocking the knife clean out. Leaving a terrified man to be torn apart by the poison of the Great Lord’s touch, he strolled away, seeking the Eye. All the Friends of the Dark would see the Dragon destroyed there, and eliminate their final obstacle in seizing the world for the Great Lord. Inside, flashes of light announced al’Thor’s presence, and Jest quickened his step. Nikel Fain did as well, beside him. Neither wished to miss the end of their last enemy. Rand gasped, out of breath, as he stumbled into the cavern of the Eye. Had he not already been winded, the sight would have taken his breath away, but as it was, he stood for a moment in numb admiration, gazing at the reservoir of saidin with wonderment. The crystals, though half-dimmed, still cast an eerie yet beautiful light in the shadowy cavern. Power-wrought, no doubt, yet that was not what drew his eye. The liquid within the well, clear yet seeming to swirl and mingle reflections, was the essence of the male half of the True Source. An immense source of power with the capacity to enable its channeller to achieve greatness—or to overwhelm and consume him. Moiraine had cautioned him that seizing saidin would not be easy, and that she could not teach him to use it. Well, she could not teach him to do anything now, and his friends were endangered, perhaps dead. The sounds of conflict and screaming had died down, leaving a dead silence that seemed to be filled with soft footsteps and rustling, damp leaves. With revulsion, Rand saw a man mount the hill, his face scarred and warped beyond mortal recognition, flanked by Nikel Fain and Shirley Jest. Desperately, unwillingly, gladly, for the first time in months, he formed the Flame and the Void. As his emotions burned away, the light filling the Void seemed to be stronger than usual. Rand hesitated one last time. He had never before consciously seized the Source, never tried to touch the tainted One Power that had driven the Dragon and his Hundred Companions raving mad. But, as he reminded himself, he had no choice in the matter. Reaching into the light, he discovered it was actually two lights; one, the saidin he knew, glory and life besides sickness and midden, and the second a new source, untainted and immense, yet not unending like the first. Yet it was clean. Desperately, he reached for it. And found his way blocked. On the far end of the cavern, Aginor smiled with triumph, his skin seeming to glow as he drew in the saidin, even as he used some to block Rand off from the Source. Secure in the Void, Rand scrabbled for tainted saidin, his mind floundering against the slick barrier which cut him off from the Source. Growling, he seized his sword, whipping it out of its sheath and lunging towards Aginor. Bright white fire, brighter than the sun, sprang from the Forsaken’s hands. Even as they averted their eyes, the purple afterimage still seared into the eyes of Jest and Fain, and the midnight sky became as day. The bar of white fire continued, stretched back through the Pattern even as it groaned with the thread of a ta’veren being burnt out further and further back. Still onwards it burnt, back, back. Gone was al’Thor in Caemlyn, Rand climbing a palace wall. Gone him in Shadar Logoth, Mordeth visited by two ta’veren and not three. Gone Emond’s Field at Bel Tine, gone his years as a sheepherder, all gone, until the saidin at the well was used up and Rand al’Thor was naught but a memory, and the Pattern groaned with the burning of his thread. The designs of the Wheel, of the Creator, were foiled. A new vessel would need to be chosen. Many leagues hence, a boy named Olver had his past rewritten, the ripples across the Pattern destroying even as they attempted to compensate for its central ta’veren being removed. A new vessel for Lews Therin Telamon has been selected. Yet the repercussions were great, and the Shadow triumphed even as the Blight burned away the Eye, ever closer to Shai’tan being unleashed on the world. Without a proper Dragon to face him. Aginor laughed from the Spine of the World, uncaring of his vision burned away by the brightness of his balefire, uncaring of anything save his future status as Nae’blis. Two other Darkfriends stood with him, exulting in their triumph, and only waiting their recognition from the Great Lord. The trio made its way away from the ruined Eye, picking through Creepers to report their triumph to the Pit of Doom in Shayol Ghul. And for once, no spikes would brush their heads descending. MR32 is over! Mark IV was attacked, but survived. However, as the Blight’s triumph was numerically certain, the forces of the Shadow have achieved both primary and secondary win conditions. My thoughts on this game can be found in TL;DR form in the spec doc, which is linked below, but I intend to make a very thorough post covering balance in a few days after the holiday craze at my house has subsided. Speaking of which, that’s why this aftermath took two Ages of the Wheel to get done. Sorry about that. I hope it was worth the wait. I’d like to thank all of you for playing, as I’m incredibly grateful to each of you that volunteered your time to try this crazy experiment of a game out. Docs: Outside of Time Servants of the Great Lord Warriors of Fal Dara Emond’s Fielders Moiraine’s Circle [master spreadsheet to come in a bit] Final Playerlist: 1. Steeldancer (Ookla the Positive) as Ookla the Positive, an orphan with a cheery outlook on life. Rand al’Thor, Moiraine’s Circle 2. randuir as Evelyn, an Aiel Wise Woman and well-wisherEmond’s Fielder 3. Karnatheon (Ookla the Ring) as Brendan Vallerune, a gleeman totally unrelated to Jeordwyn Moiraine’s Circle 4. Cadmium Compounder (Ookla the Duck) as Miumpounder, a cobbler with an abiding hatred of Altarans Aginor, Emond’s Fielder 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)Hardy Fal Dara Warrior 7. Droughtbringer as Month-Long Drought, a prickly old noblewoman who only eats dried fruit Roleless 8. Rathmaskal as Jeordwyn Dormond, an Illianer gleeman who juggles knives through his enemies Lan Moiraine’s Circle 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 Warrior of Fal Dara 11. Mark IV as Lars, an inquisitive young nobleman Hardy Fal Dara Warrior 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 Green Man 14. Hemalurgic Headshot (Ookla of the East) as Skern Mundy, a man from the East with many skills Roleless 15. Ark1002 (Ookla the Dragon Reborn) as Shifting Shadows, a shifty, shadowy Wolfbrother Emond’s Fielder; Fal Dara Warrior 16. A Joe in the Bush as Joseph, a man who has mastered the art of squeezing into very small spaces in bushes Roleless 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 Moiraine 20. Sart as Shirley U. Jest, a Cairhienen noblewoman who takes life far too seriously Agent of the Blight

It actually meant unite Adolin and Shallan. Honor really doesn't like Kaladin. Dalinar can retire now.

@StrikerEZ A girl from Ashyn, her name was Shalash; She was quiet beautiful, and had some Sass; Her world was crumbling, so with a dash, They fled to Roshar in quiet a flash; Now she wanders around, and treats art like trash; If she sees her statue, its face she will crash; Now she'll soon be a radiant, and kicked some Ash, especially that of her dad's killer, a guy called Moash.

Hello. I'm one of the world's many aspiring authors. I find myself in need of expert consulting and it occurred to me that I could find a few interested experts on this site. I hope I can work with a few of you.

Congrats on hitting a thousand, Ashspren! I've been looking forward to this tournament. I'd love to participate. (I wont be back on the Shard until the 27th though, so if you plan on starting before then, please put me in a later slot.) I'd like my character to be Taan/Aanden, the booking eating ruler of a third of Elantris.

Just want to say again, good job everyone. Villagers and eliminators alike played very well. I wish I could have been more active in the beginning so people would have had a better chance of figuring out my alignment and killing me. For that, I'm sorry. Also thank you Fifth Scholar and Elandera for running this game! You two both deserve a round of applause.

I just got my leather bound copy of Mistborn that I won in a giveaway! It’s beautiful and I love it!!

Excellent post i totally agree with. Taking out Sanderson's intentions we know nothing about, id say that would be an essential way to develop Jasnah and Kaladin relationships. I may turn out to be completely wrong when Book 4 will come out, but right now im pretty sure that Kaladin will see Gavinor as a chance to redeem himself after he couldnt protect Elhokar. He also witnessed Elhokar's flaws, and as a smart guy and good mentor, would try to teach Gavinor what his father didnt learn originally. And Book 4 will definitely contain some Kaladin/Gavinor scenes, even if there wont be a huge timeskip. As for Jasnah, well, Elhokar was her brother, and Gavinor is her nephew. It would be essential for her to have some interactions with him, and thus, probably, with Kaladin. I can even imagine how Navani or/and Dalinar tell her "Well, dear, we totally believe you will take care of your nephew. Good luck" at some point of the story. There are so much possibilities actually. I can imagine Jasnah being indifferent towards Gavinor, while Kaladin spend some good time with him, training or telling fairy tails, and then Dalinar and Navani tell Jasnah to care about Gavinor and she fails, and then she decide to ask Kaladin for help and this kind of potential situations would create some really good humorous moments.

Yay the Tournament is up again. I'm excited to see what you come up with now. also congrats on your 1000th post =)

Eat them.

Kaladin Shallan Dalinar Adolin Renarin If Doug Jones was younger I'd say him but he's a bit too old for the role. Having a tough time with this one so I'll just say... Odium So many choices, too many so I'm going to give three of them as I can't decide. Jasnah Amaram One of my fav actors and someone I think could do him immense justice. (And would even be likely to accept the role IMO, I honestly think it's right up his alley.) Szeth Okay, this one might surprise you, you might not agree, but I actually think it could work. I get why it's a kind of "out there" take on the character though. Elhokar Not entirely sure but this is what I gots... /bigoleshrug Lirin, Kaladin's father. Wit/Hoid Nother tough one for me... Numuhukumakiaki'aialunamor, AKA, Rock. *** I'll leave it there for now. Although I might add a few since the idea is stewing around now. Couple extras, Tom Hardy feels like he'd match something. I dunno what, but he should be something dangnabbit! Not sure about Moash as I have trouble picturing him. He doesn't really have a look to me yet.

Hello, I've been working on this piece for a while and wanted to post it here. The song is called "Tien", and is based off the character from the Stormlight Archive series. EDIT: Thanks for the help, @Ookla the Paragon with the link EDIT: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1pb8wPIcSqxYjip3D8erQ5IIAvhbH4IQ0 or watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/lrvtjZcOtYE I hope you like it. Edit: Youtube Video --> https://youtu.be/cyT7EZRkvxc (Wow, so many edits...)

The idea of sacrificing a few, to save the many, is characteristic of utilitarianism. Now utilitarianism is a teleological ethical theory, in which the end justifies the means in the sense that the "end" is an axiom from which the means are rationally inferred. However, the Ideals of the Windrunners are deontological in character. Actually, "Journey before destination," is already deontological in character.* Therefore, there is no way that the 4th Windrunner Ideal is about sacrificing some to save the many. There's no utilitarian calculus in play. *Consider the difference between, "Go to the tower," and, "Go north, east, east, north, east, north, west, north, north, east, north, west." The first is a prescription of destination, whereas the second is a prescription of orientation. Teleological ethics amounts to the claim that prescriptions of the first kind are the only axiomatic ones, so that the only rational justification for accepting orientation is as a means of reaching a destination. However, things like "the greatest good of the greatest number" or the sum total of all future consequences for happiness, which are "destinations," are not computable by limited human minds. Accordingly, utilitarian teleology's axioms of destination are not actually rationally defensible in their own right, at least not as naively expressed as such. Kaladin's journey with Sylphrena is about trying, if perhaps eventually failing, to determine the actual rational, objective basis of moral judgment. Because naive utilitarianism is an intuitively attractive position (when one begins serious ethical analysis), it is conceivable that Kaladin might naturally entertain its propositions, but given his own temperament, he would probably end up rejecting them, maybe even "out of hand." Of course, deontological axioms are generally just as suspect, it would seem, so I'm not saying that Kaladin will immediately gravitate towards e.g. some Rosharan statement of the Golden Rule (or the "categorical imperative"), say. What I suspect is that Kaladin will appreciate that, especially in the Cosmere as he knows it, the subjective is so intertwined with the objective, that dismissing the problem of rational moral judgment on the ground that, "It's all subjective," is a serious intellectual mistake. We might not yet quite know what is objectively good or evil, right or wrong. We might notice that a lot of our beliefs about these things are unnecessarily tied up with prejudices we have inherited from our parents or traumatic incidents or whatever. We might mistake, "It's ethical," for, "It's commanded by God." And so on and on. But Kaladin and Sylphrena will recognize that the problem of morality is objectively real in itself, regardless of the subjectivity of our occurrent answers thereto. And they will recognize that utilitarian teleology is too simplistic an approach to ultimately solve the problem.

In Southern Scaridial, The Sovern flies around in a big shiny red airship and gives new masks and hot chocolate to all the chilren who are good. The bad children get ettmetal bombs and have their heatminds taken away. (I am a very cruel person, aren't I?)

When you're excited about the future because then you can have sandershelves… When you really want to sort your family into orders of Knights Radiant but you're afraid to due to the lack of details so far (but my dad is a Skybreaker, full stop).

It is kinda weird to be gay, I spend every day wondering why I'm a mutant without superpowers

Give them to a library, sell them to a used bookstore or thrift shop, but don't just trash them. That's a waste.

So, this is my first attempt a writing a SA fic. Please excuse bad language, English is not my native tongue. Also, this (and following chapters, there will be at least one more) is mostly me having fun with the characters and not to be taken all too seriously. It involves Adolin doing for Maya what we all want him to do, Adolin meeting Kaladin's family, some fun and maybe some vague Kaladin/Adolin undertones even though I don't actually ship them. You can also read it on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17042888/chapters/40070771?view_adult=true (There's currently a not-so-revised version online, will update it later) Well, uh, have fun. And, of course, this contains Oathbringer spoilers. (With spoiler tags to not use too much space.)

The Barman quietly poured himself a drink at the bar, mumbling. Storming couples. Always ruining everything. Well, that was the easiest explanation. Pouring a alcoholic combination for himself that mixed the strongest beverages from each planet, he smiled at his own creation. The only reason he'd even become a Barman was so he could have drinks like these and not pay for them. Taking a sip, the Barman sighed. Still not alcoholic enough, not to forget.

SIDE NOTE: I just imagined that all the Epics were Pokemon. What would your Epic's Pokemon description be? NUKES AND COCKROACHES: I think several characters are underutilizing their powers. For example, if it wasn't for the fact that Edmonton contains two Epics with extreme range capabilities, Red would be the de-facto biggest threat in the city. I mean, even Funtimes straight up loses to blowing out all the blood vessels in someone's brain. And it's not like you can snipe her. She'll hear your heartbeat, and then kill you instantly. Heck, Red has a chance of taking down sparking Steelheart! We don't know if Steelheart is indestructible or just has impenetrable skin, and if the latter is true, he's dead near-instantly. The only PIs that survive Red are (ironically) probably regeneration and reincarnation, and perhaps time shenanigans and luck, though luck only helps the person not be there! The only way to kill Red, if she went all-out, killing everyone instantly who comes into her AoE, is remote detonation, or IN HER SLEEP. Red functionally has a PI. And that PI is killing everyone first. True, she still needs a tenth of a second to react, due to brain lag, but that's one heck of a quick draw. The only reason that everyone isn't wrecked if Red goes on a murder spree is Epoch (and Blank too, but to a lesser degree.) Oh, Epoch. The other OHKO Epic. Yet another Epic that could kill (or at least neutralize) Steelheart. True, he doesn't have a good PI, but that's one heck of an auto-win. Freezing someone in time, then boxing them up and forgetting about them is actually very effective. And the kicker is he can do it AT RANGE. If you have a power, and you want to make it really good, combine it with scrying/gifting. I mean, Blank is just a light illusionist, a supercharged refractionary, but add in those two powers, and well... I'll discuss Blank later. The reason Epoch and Red are not taking over the game is that they are glass cannons. Both can one-shot pretty much everybody, and with Epoch you can't even run away. However, Red can be killed anytime she isn't autokilling everyone in range, if you can get her before she can react, or in her sleep, and Epoch is even more fragile, as you are more likely to succeed in one hit. Red is also kept in check by Epoch, who is in turn kept in check by the fact that he needs an organization to not trigger his weakness. Not everyone is a glass cannon though. Take Blank and Viktor. Blank, though easily defeated by sound-based verification, is practically impossible to kill! They could be anyone, and through gifting and scrying, they don't even have to be on-site! And gifting scrying can help decrease the chance of simply missing something, like Regalia was oft to do. True, they can't hear sounds, but that's hardly an issue with Viktor around. Speaking of Viktor. He's basically the Winter Soldier. Except he's good at other things too! He's like a ninja cockroach. No, hear me out. Everyone knows that you can't nuke a cockroach, you have to step on it. Well, Viktor is a cockroach that's really, really good at hiding. Hence the ninja part. So, I say that while we don't have the number of medium power Epics accurate (in my opinion), there are definitely some heavy-hitters. And I didn't even get into MV, Quietus, Impact, Funtimes, Kokichi, Nicroburst, ect! I'll probably analyze them all later. Sorry that this isn't formatted very well, but these are my thoughts on some of the Epics who are being underestimated currently. PS: I am very excited for Jacklyn to actually get in a chance to meet someone face-to-face. The time distortion, her not knowing Epoch could see her, and the distance prevented her power from really getting its hooks into Epoch, so I am eager for her power to start working on someone's mind. Depending on the person, that could either be good for them, or really, really bad. Hehehe.

When you decide to reorganize your room so you can have a sandershelf

Got some more bird photos to share! From a local cemetery that lots of birds love (4 photos): From BYU campus, where I participated in a "Christmas Bird Count," a fun bit of citizen science that helps keep track of long-term trends in bird populations (4 photos):

When you need a sandershelf but don't have time to make one because you're too busy reading the books that would live on the sandershelf.

A bright lady, a thief, and a Knight Radiant walk into a bar. And then Shallan orders a drink.

Welcome! This topic is intended for new players or people who are thinking about joining the Alleyverse, or possibly just people who are curious as to what the deal is with these cookies. If that sounds like you then prepare yourself for the insanity that is the Alleyverse, if that doesn't sound like you then maybe just keep reading anyway and see if the madness convinces you to join. What is the Alleyverse? The Alleyverse is a Free Form Role Playing Game (FFRPG) played on the forum. It takes place in the Alleyverse, a universe where all of Brandons worlds and magic systems coexist. Hemalurgic monsters exist, as do Elantrians, Mistborn, Chasmfiends, Knights Radiant, Awakeners and a few poor saps trying to rebuild a city that we destroyed. Worldhoppers from all over the cosmere and beyond journey to the Alleyverse to interact with each other and the local guilds (More on them later). Players create characters within this universe and interact with each other in a group Role Play and collaborative story. How do I get started? Well if you have any specific questions feel free to ask them here and one of our moderators will try to answer them for you. But if you want to dive right into the deep end then you can try creating a character profile for yourself in the character creation thread and some of us will give feedback and help to workshop the character so that it can fit within the greater world of the Alleyverse. We also have a chat thread where a bunch of random discussions take place so it's a good idea to introduce yourself there so all the other players can know that you exist and say hi (Most of us don't bite). If you're curious about the world of the Alleyverse and want to learn more about it we have a 'Guide to the Alleyverse' thread here that has some more detailed information about the world, or we also have a wiki! And... That's more or less it. I'll have some frequently asked questions here that will hopefully grow over time, if you have any further questions feel free to ask us below. I hope you enjoy the rabbit hole of chaos and madness that we affectionately call the Alleyverse. FAQ Q. What is the deal with these cookies? A. Well this one is sort of on me, way back in the dark ages there was a poll on the forum for what your favourite magic system was, I replied that my favourite was Hemalurgy (Because it clearly is) and someone jokingly replied that I should be added to a list of 'people to avoid in Dark Alleys'. This was the unofficial birth of the guild known as the DA (Dark Alley). Now at the same point in time I also had a habit of sending people pictures of cookies when I was making theories, to bribe them into agreeing with me. Someone joined these two ideas and suggested that I was secretly putting Hemalurgic spikes into the cookies I was handing out and I played along until it eventually became associated with the DA. So now we occasionally hand out 'cookies' to people in introduction threads as our way of welcoming them to the forums and possibly gaining new test subjects recruits. Q. Someone told me not to eat the cookie. A. Well that's not a question but even so: don't listen to that person. Cookies are amazing and anyone who suggests otherwise is wrong by default. (Though there is a small chance that you'll lose your soul if you eat the cookie, but trust me it's worth it) Q. What are these guilds? A. Well that's a long and complex subject but basically most players and characters in the Alleyverse belong to a guild, these guilds each have different motives, resources and levels of affection for cookies. If you want to hear more about the guilds you could look in the Guilds section in the wiki for more details, or ask in the chat thread if anyone is recruiting. More to come when I'm a little less tired and when we have more questions being asked. *Note: Can our more senior players please avoid posting here unless a new players question has gone unaddressed for a while, in order to keep this simple and short I'd prefer if responses here were limited to new players and AV moderators.

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.

So, Edgedancer and I were talking about Reckoners, and he brought up the idea of Fortuity fancying himself a filmmaker, which evolved into a full-blown headcanon, which evolved into something else when I imagined Steelheart doing the look-directly-into-the-camera thing perfected by Jim Halpert on the US version of The Office. Enjoy. Oh, and if you wish, get into the mood by imagining a montage of Newcago Epics set to the ever-classic Office theme music. Spoilered for length. Mentions alcohol and drinking.

Thank you Fifth for running the game and allowing me to be your (over-eager) co-GM! Also, thanks to everyone who participated. It was a great game! A big congratulations to the Darkfriends. CadCom and Aman, in particular, for doing so well at not only staying hidden but becoming fairly trusted among the village. I was increasingly amazed at how CadCom's vote on BR made such a difference in how he was viewed for the remainder of the game. Thanks to our pinch-hitters, who helped keep the activity up a bit. Personally, I don't think inactivity was a major problem, though a lack of defense actions contributed to the Blight's quick advance. Again, thanks to the elims for taking activity into consideration while choosing your targets. This was my first time co-GMing, so it was fun to view the game from a different aspect than before. I think it will actually help me in future games. (edit: Amazing ending write-up, by the way.)

Anthony felt her lips touch his. And panicked slightly. He froze up a little, then melted into the kiss, closing his eyes and leaning into her. Love. I remember love... @AxeliustheGreat

I am in the process of convincing myself that the 10hr overnight drive is worth it, but in case I don't make it, I have a question I would love to have answered! A few months ago when Brandon did the Read for Pixels charity event, I asked the question about Cultivationlight that seemed to get him excited; I actually had a part 2 for that question, but we were limited and they weren't able to get to it. When Dalinar goes to meet the Nightwatcher and sees her along with Cultivation, he also sees green mist surrounding them. Is that mist this "cultivationlight," in the same way that Preservation has the mists on Scadrial, or at least related? If not, have we seen this "cultivationlight" on-screen in whatever form it takes?

I never picked up on the alternating genders for the books (I can be slightly dense at times ) That's interesting.

Put me in as Sebarial This is gonna be fun

@Dalakaar (awesome username by the way) @Kon-Tiki Here’s the current plan for the flashbacks in the back 5 (plus WoB confirmation of books 4 and 5): This has been the schedule he’s said the most often recently (this WoB is from the start of last month and is the most recent I’ve found), though the order could always change by the time he writes these books.

Checkmate

Definitely Sesemalex Dar because of Ishar. I think we'll see a fair amount of Shinovar as well. Regardless of whether or not Szeth begins his self-assigned mission in Book 4 as opposed to his book, Book 4 takes place one year after OB. There's no way Shinovar, holder of an Oathgate and 8 Honorblades, is ignored by the main cast.

And Rosharan children build Crem-men!

I have read Oathbringer, but it has been a while and my mind is still recovering from being blown multiple times... I will definitely read that again! Meanwhile, I thought I might reach out to the forums during my composition process for "Shallan's theme". I recorded it with my phone, so it is not the best audio, but what do you guys think of the pattern I have so far? https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K6080rjTTWgu1EFbohWQgqSM3VhTZH3-/view?usp=drivesdk Shallan's Theme (draft 0)

Silas-Ambrosia, Tena-Hellbent... Oh god...

I'm a huge fan of Sebarial. And Palona of course. During his first introduction in WoR I found him rather annoying too, but when Shallan moved into his warcamp I quickly realized he's not half as useless as he seemed. He's actually an incredibly smart guy. My favourite scene is during the battle at Narak, when he casually takes over Roion's troops, while feasting and having a great time despite the battle going on. The picture of Palona reading while the Everstorm broods up is one of my favourite things ever. I do believe he is on Dalinar's side (which would make sense, as being on Dalinar's side pretty much is equivalent to being on humankind's side by now) and that he still has some surprises waiting for the crew. BTW, he does have an army, just not a very big one as far as I can remember. And I believe Dalinar even noted at Narak that Sebarial's troops did hold up surprisingly well.

Announcement Regarding my Retirement from the Alleyverse RP: This is the third variation of this post that I have written so far. Alas, I have not gotten any better at it. I was not sure where to post this. There was a chance that it would get buried in the Homeless PM if I put it there, so I decided putting it on my profile would be better. Besides, this really is a status update. I love the Alleyverse. The community has been kind to me. It has been both my pleasure and my honour to RP with all of you. However, it takes a lot of my time and energy to do everything that I do in the Alleyverse. I have come to realize that my lifestyle, the amount of time I spend reading, writing, and thinking about Alleyverse related stuff, is unsustainable. So, I have decided to retire. After Era Two ends, I will be severely limiting my involvement in the Alleyverse RP. As part of this, I will be stepping down from my position as RP leader, and forfeiting all titles and roles associated to my involvement in any Alleyverse guilds (namely TUBA). To make it easier on everyone, I have decided to do this process gradually. I am committed to helping the transition process into the next era go smoothly, so up until about a week after the era begins, I will maintain my regular presence in the Alleyverse, assisting with the compilation of the list, RPing with characters (of which I will have none in E3), and providing input and ideas on planning threads. Up until that point, it’s business as normal. It would be unfair of me to abandon you during what will surely be a busy time. But once everything is up and running, I will quietly slip out the back door. My biggest worry about following through with this plan was what would happen to the list. Thankfully, Ookla the Meeker (formerly known as Mraize) has volunteered to take on the job. In future, you can expect to see him responding to posts on the Character Thread. I am not leaving forever (so save your goodbyes!). In future, I intend to visit the Shard once a week, probably on weekends. You may still see me on the forums, participating in the longest thread or roast battles. Anything that I enjoy but does not require long-term commitment. To a limited extent, I will still participate in social PMs. TUBA’s rarely gets used for anything on-topic anyways. But once again, my presence will be sporadic. Alleyverse PMs I will likely mute and/or put on read. If you would like to contact me, the best way will be to DM me through discord. I have not decided how active I will be on there yet. Or, you could send me a PM and wait until the next time I am on. There is no need to make this into a big deal. But if anyone has any questions, requests, or comments, you are welcome to post them. I would be happy to clarify anything that I need to. Thank you for your time.

Here's a humorous story I wrote a while back. It's pretty fun. The Uses of an Epiphany It has become clear to me that life can’t get much worse when you’re an Language Arts schoolteacher. Children always have questions. They have terrible grammar. Parents are always calling. My boss comes in to watch. “Mr. Moffat, please explain to me what a gerund is for the billionth time.” “Mr. Moffat, I’ve brung the presentation!” “Mr. Moffat, my kid came home crying! What the hell are you teaching in there??” “Mr. Moffat, I think that you could be doing a little more of this certain subject to help your students in the learning environment.” Everyone should just shut up. I mean it. I am sick and tired of all these kids asking me how subordinate clauses are used. They are in the eighth grade!! They should know already! *Sigh* Forgive me. I’ve had a hard time. Every teacher does, but for a subject like Language Arts, they expect you to know everything about it or none at all. Unfortunately for me, people have chosen the latter. And let me tell you, my financial situation right now is the only thing that is stopping me from walking. But that changed. Let me tell you how. My name is Eric Moffat. I’m a middle-aged, thirty-two year old man. I’m a bachelor living in a five room apartment with only my cat, Douglas Adams, to keep me company. Please do not judge me. I would like the idea of getting married. Really, I would. But something just stops me. I don’t know what. Don’t get me wrong. The perfect person lives right across the hall. Her name is Charity Freeman, and she’s twenty-nine. She’s dated a lot of weirdos over the two years I’ve been here, but she appreciates literature just as much as I do. She has a goldfish named Mark Twain, for Pete’s sake. Mrs. Duncan, the landlady, doesn’t help. She’s always trying to set us up. Every time I’m invited for dinner, I just say I have a hangover or something, because I know it’s just a plot. Have I gone on a date with Charity? Yeah. Once. We showed up at a decent restaurant and it so happens that one of my students was there. It happened to be the one who thought they knew everything about Language Arts. She saw me and immediately started pestering me. Did the parents bother doing anything? No. It was almost as if they wanted to see me suffer. Goodness. If parents like to watch teachers suffer, then you should see the damnation kids. Kids are always drawing pictures of their teacher on the noose, or getting run over or something messed up. Those are the kids who usually get sent to the local penitentiary. Which means most of them. Anyway, I ended up leaving early, making an excuse that my aunt was giving birth. (She was due but not at that moment. That ended up being in the middle of the same night.) And the next day, I gave that student an F on their quiz. She had failed, and I just relish the fact of writing “FAIL” in large letters on the paper of a student I despise. But today started out like any normal day. I woke up, took a shower, and gave Douglas some breakfast. I cut myself shaving, which didn’t help my sour mood, and I was out of milk. Now I had to go to the store. I exited my apartment, only to run into Charity. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “Hi, Eric!” “Hullo.” I replied. “Did you have a nice sleep?” she asked. “Yeah.” I lied. “You excited to teach today?” “Yeah.” Another lie. “Ready to face new challenges?” she asked. She is really good at rapid-fire questions. “Yeah.” Not only was I good at lying, I was a master at one word answers. “Well, have a great day!” I didn’t even answer. I grunted noncommittally. Smooth. I trudged down the stairs. Charity was so lucky. She had a job that let her work at home. She didn’t have to tolerate the little swine that walked through school. Oh, did I say swine? I meant communists. I left the building, careful to avoid Mrs. Duncan. The last thing I needed was an invitation to teatime. I approached my car. I climbed in, started it, and drove over to the market. ***** After getting my milk, I had a slightly rushed breakfast. Then I combed my hair, grabbed a tie, and drove to the school. The school where I teach is not a public one, it’s a private one, which makes it worse. That means I have to teach the spoiled brats whose only future is Parliament or the inside of a prison cell. Probably both. I parked in the faculty area, then entered the building. I checked in, and went to the lounge. I’m usually one of the first ones there, but since I had to get milk, I was late. David MacBrewer, the Algebra teacher, came over. “Eric! You’re late!” He smiled, patting me on the shoulder. I couldn't help but smile back. Dave is just one of those optimists who are great at cheering up despondent companions. “I ran out of milk,” I replied. “Had to grab some.” I walked over to the coffee maker and poured some in. I took a swig, and immediately choked. “Whose ******* idea was it to put decaf in here!?” I spluttered. David laughed. “Language, my friend,” he said happily. “You work at a children’s school, you know.” I scowled at him, then threw the cup of coffee in the trash. If there’s something worse than annoying students, it’s decaffeinated coffee. To make things worse, the headmaster, Ms. Brown came over. That woman is a viper. It is no wonder she’s single. “Mr. Moffat,” she said. “It’s come to my attention that you have been harsh to your students.” I raised an eyebrow. “In what way?” I inquired. “A parent complained that you were yelling at his son for-” “Sticking a pen in the pencil sharpener?” I finished. “He had it coming. The boy’s been taunting me for days, sticking the pen in there like it’s some big joke.” “I don’t think that is a good reason to yell at a student.” Ms. Brown interjected indignantly. “Yeah, well, yesterday he actually started cranking the handle! Those sharpeners don’t come cheap and sticking a pen down the gullet is definitely going to do something.” As I spoke, an edge of sarcasm creeped into my voice. Unfortunately, Brown picked up on it. “Be serious about this, Eric,” she snapped. “Do you want to lose your job?” I raised both eyebrows at this. “That was uncalled for,” I said calmly. “I will reprimand my students the way I see fit.” David, who was standing behind Brown now, shook his head violently. He pointed at Brown, mouthing the words, “She’s mad today.” Brown’s nostrils flared. “Mr. Moffat, if an incident like this happens again, I cannot stand by.” “You won’t have to,” I replied. “If my students continue to treat me with disrespect, I will leave.” I turned away and exited the lounge, heading toward my classroom. The clatter of footsteps followed me, and David was at my side. “What in the name of George are you thinking?” he cried. “You should’ve seen her face! She’s furious!” I continued to stride down the hall. I was angry. I was tired. I was sick of everything. I was-. I stopped in the middle of the hall. It had hit me. “Eric?” David asked. “What’s wrong?” “Dave,” I said. “I’ve had an epiphany.” David’s eyebrows knit together. “A what??” “An epiphany,” I repeated. “A moment of sudden revelation.” I faced the wall, which had one of those stupid anti-bullying posters on the wall. “I’m going to get out of here.” ***** If there is one class of students I like, it is my second hour. Most of the kids in there take reading and writing seriously. The minority who don’t just don’t. They’re not troublemakers. I have five hours straight full of students. The first hour and lunch are my only preparations. But today, I decided to do something different in my classes. And that started with my second hour. “Class,” I announced. “We are having an oral quiz!” A large groan went through the class. I expected this. No student likes a surprise quiz. Everyone began to put away their things. I stood in front of the classroom. I smiled. I would miss this class. ***** Now the class I was waiting for was fourth hour. It was perfectly obvious to me that this was the worst class. It was chock full to the brim with future criminals. For example, Terry Harcourt. He was suspended for two weeks for having cigarettes in his locker. Eleanor was a shoplifter. Jennifer, it was rumored, had set fire to the chemistry lab. And Joseph. That little sh-. Nope. Sorry. I almost forgot that other people will read this. But a message to Joseph, if he ever comes across this. If you ever figure out your life, I’ll be very surprised. Were all the students in my fourth hour bad? No. There were three girls and a boy that I was quite impressed with. Other than that, the students were actual demons of hell. Anyway, the reaction I received for the quiz was exactly as I expected. A large chorus of yells of outrage and protest. “Oh, come on!” yelled Terry. “We had one two weeks ago!” I cocked my head. “Yes, you did,” I noted, sounding slightly amused. “But that was two weeks ago.” I held Terry’s vicious stare, counterattacking with my own. Students began to grumble and put away their books. Well, almost all of them. Lisa, who sat in the back, did not put away her book. She thought that if she left it on her desk, covered by a jacket, I wouldn’t see it. She was wrong. I came over. “Well,” I said, lifting the jacket. “I never saw you as one to cheat. But then again, you missed no questions last quiz.” I picked up the book and set it on my desk. “You may retrieve this when we are done.” I brought the book over to my desk, and dropped it unceremoniously onto the surface. It made a loud sound, and everyone jumped. I walked up to the front of the classroom. “This quiz is oral,” I proclaimed. “Each student is required to answer two questions each, and if you fail to do so, I will deduct your grade.” Another large protest ensued, until I smacked the wall so hard, my meter stick broke in half. The room fell silent. I looked at the half I still held and smiled widely. “That hasn’t worked before,” I noted. “Let’s get this quiz started.” But then Joseph unwisely opened his big mouth. “Well, stop blabbing, Mr. Moffat,” he drawled. “Let’s get on with this stupid quiz.” I raised an eyebrow. It was time to set the second phase of my epiphany into motion. “Another comment like that, Joey,” I said. “And you’ll be seeing Ms. Brown.” That was it. I was at the point of no return. Either Joseph took the bait, or I’d have to get someone else to snatch up. But luckily for me, that wasn’t the case. Joseph hated being called Joey. I had seen three kids beat up because of the dreadful mistake of calling him Joey. Joseph tilted his head, facing me. His cheeks were the slightest tinge of red. “What did you call me?” “It’s not a concern of what I call you, Joey,” I said, allowing contempt to creep into my voice. “Your concern should be how well you do in this class.” Joseph looked even more angry, most likely because I called him Joey. It was like how that Marty McFly kid got triggered because some dork called him chicken. Then, Joseph made the worst decision ever. He stood up, walked to me, and laid both hands on my collar. “Don’t call me Joey,” he growled. “Mr. Moffat.” he added with a sneer. I stared right into his eyes. Then I tore his grip from my collar. I walked over to my desk and pulled out a detention slip. “Manhandling a teacher, Joey,” I noted. “I doubt that’s a first, but everyone’s gotta start somewhere.” I handed him the slip. “Go see Ms. Brown. Right now.” I opened the door with a flourish, like that smarmy doorman in front of a Hilton. I gestured down the hall. “Right this way.” Joseph left, glaring at me as he did. I beamed and waved at him. But he wasn’t the only one that class. In my third hour, I had sent a total of two to Ms. Brown. For fourth, well, let’s see, I have thirty-four in that class, so……..take the number of Doctors and double that. I am not even joshing this time. I sent almost everyone in that class to Ms. Brown. All except the four good students. Fifth hour was also productive. I sent eighteen of that class to her. It would do Ms. Brown a lot of work to do, instead of drinking decaf and looking up photos of Rupert Grint. (Seriously, that’s what she does. Don’t ask.) At the end of the day, Patricia the secretary called me. “Eric,” she said, almost a whisper. “Is there anything wrong? You’ve sent almost every student of yours to the office!” “Oh, no, everything’s fine, Patricia,” I chuckled. “I expect Brown wants to see me?” Patricia confirmed this, and I practically skipped out the door and down the hall. I got many looks from fellow colleagues, but at this point, I didn’t care. Wasn’t like I’d see them again. Except David. I entered Brown’s office with a grin from ear to ear. “Hello there!” I said. “You wanted to see me?” Brown looked in no mood to play, which she rarely does. (Except for the time Rupert Grint visited the school.) Tight-lipped, she gestured to the seat in front of her. “Please take a seat, Eric.” she said. I did so, bouncing on the cushions. She leaned forward, and began to berate me in a fierce undertone. “What the hell is wrong with you, Eric?” she hissed. “You’ve sent every damned student to me and I don’t appreciate it. Do you realize how many calls I’ll get?” I had vaguely contemplated the fact that Brown would take the beating, but I honestly didn’t care much. What was that quote from that one movie? Oh, yeah. “Better her than me!” -Han Solo I shrugged nonchalantly, and tried to look neutral. “My students are very rebellious.” I said, as it should’ve been obvious. (Which it is.) Brown slammed a fist on the table. “I don’t care about the students,” she scowled. “I care about your performance as a teacher in the learning environment. You’ve been slacking off for the past few months. I could have you fired.” I pursed my lips. “You won’t need to,” I replied. “I quit. I’m getting out of this hellhole.” I stood up and left, not even waiting for a response. It was then that I entered the zone. Any external sounds were extinguished. I could hear faint yelling, probably Brown, but I took no heed. I exited the building for the last time. I started the car and began to drive home. I turned on the radio. It was playing Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now”. How fitting. My epiphany had consisted of basically two parts. One: get fired and/or quit. Two: Well, I was doing that right now. The half hour it usually takes to get to my apartment felt like seconds. Like the Flash, I was out of my car and entering the complex. I ran into Mrs. Duncan. “Why, hello, Eric,” she greeted. “Could I interest you in-” “No thank you, Mrs. Duncan,” I interrupted. “I’m already on that.” I squeezed past her and took the stairs three at a time. I found myself in front of the door of Charity Freeman. I paused momentarily to catch my breath, then knocked. Charity, beautiful as ever, opened the door. She looked genuinely surprised. “Eric?” she asked. “What are you doing back early?” “I was just wondering,” I blurted. “If you’d like to come to dinner with me tonight.” To my great disbelief and pleasure, she blushed a deep red. “I’d love to,” she said. “But Eric, why so….abrupt?” I slowly grinned and smiled. “Well, let’s just call it the uses of an epiphany.”

FortC is drawing a distinction between magical power and political power. Hoid is very definitely interested in the former but shows absolutely none in the latter. Setting aside the general reasons others have provided why Hoid doesn't ever take political power, there's also massive social hurdles that would prevent him from doing so in Alethi society. He's not descended from the Sunmaker so he can't claim any legitimacy that way and the other way the Alethi decide who's fit to rule is nixed because that would conflict with his 'no causing harm' deal. All very good questions. Needless to say, we have no definite answers. Brandon's danced around this by mentioning that it looks like Hoid is trying to reassemble Adonalsium but that seems far too obvious. Brandon was asked at one point where he fits on a D&D alignment chart and (caveats aside) he put him literally all over the map depending on who in-universe you asked. From that, we know that Hoid's motivations could be considered selfish rather than selfless, or at least some of what's motivating him is selfish. We know he's got a grudge of some kind with both Rayse and Bavadin but while the former has standing 'try to kill on sight, massive collateral damage is totally fine' orders regarding Hoid, the latter is willing to work with Hoid under certain conditions and at least some of her avatars are more favorably disposed towards him. So... whatever this grudge is about, it seems more one-sided on Hoid's part with Bavadin. If you assume that The Traveler is completely canonical then we get the implication that at least part of his motivation has to do with someone (or multiple people) who died and Hoid is trying to bring them back. He thinks that for some reason 'the old rules no longer hold' and brushes off Frost's clam that what he seeks is impossible. He also mentions that he's heard of 'a place' which seems connected to this, but we haven't a clue what that's referring to. He does however deny that his motivations are just about the dead, so he's got multiple things driving him. One possibility that would be very Brandon is that while Hoid is sort of being presented as the Cosmere's hidden protagonist, he could wind up playing more of an antagonist's role in the final stories. We know he's going to be a major character in the final Mistborn trilogy (ie the Big Crossover Climax) and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he winds up at cross-purposes to some of the other protagonists of that time period in the pursuit of whatever his ultimate goal is.

I appreciate your comment! Here is the line art for my Jasnah Painting that can be found here: And in the comments of that painting, I have a breakdown of steps!

"One Jump Ahead" From Aladin sung by Lift!!! This would be amazing!!! Would fit fairly well unedited, but I made some minor adjustments One Jump Ahead Lift: Gotta keep One jump ahead of the breadline Ahead without shoes on my feet I steal only what I can eat (That's Everything!) One jump ahead of the Azish That's all, and to put it bluntly These guys don't 'preciate I'm hungry Azish: Riffraff! Street rat! Soundrel! Take that! Lift: Just a little snack, guys Skybreakers: Rip her open, take it back, guys Lift: I can take a hint, gotta face the facts You're my only friend, Voidbringer! Wyndle: But! Azish: Oh it's sad Lift has hit the bottom Lift: Cept I was never at the top Azish: I'd blame parents except she hasn't got 'em Lift: Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat Tell you all about it when I got the time! One jump ahead of the slowpokes One skip ahead of Darkness Next time should use my Awesomeness One jump ahead of the Skybreakers One meal ahead of the rest I think…

"Atium," from "A Mistborn on the Roof" (a Brandon Sanderson production)

I made this and this thread seemed to be the best place to put it, so here we are: "Do You Want to Forge the Emperor?" *Disclaimer: I used the pronunciation of Shai that rhymed with "bye" because I thought it sounded better.

The fourth one has so many goodies in the chapter numbers. For instance, Chapter NCC-1701 (the registry of the USS Enterprise).

The Author's Forward from Evil Librarians & the prologue epitaph from Final Empire both contain doubts/denial of being a hero, including these near identical lines: "...I'm not the hero everyone thinks I am." - Alendi's logbook "...I am not the hero that everyone says I am." -Alcatraz