Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing most liked content on 01/16/19 in all areas

  1. When you see someone telling you what your characters are doing.
    5 likes
  2. When I think of Adolin and Edgedancers, I always think about when Kaladin was sneaking through the camps and saw Adolin stand up to Sadeas' men to protect the prostitute. To me, that was a great example of 'remembering those who are forgotten.'
    5 likes
  3. Eh I'm not sure there's anything"missing" from the spren itself, they are just really messed up from losing the bond in that manner. I think a new bond is enough. The difficultly is initiating the bonding process with a mostly-unreactive spren. It requires a lot of work from the human partner, and possibly the unusual circumstances of meeting the spren in the CR (which as far as we know has never happened before). Besides I kinda feel like there's been enough bondsmith ex machina.
    5 likes
  4. 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.
    4 likes
  5. Sorry for the wait, everyone! This week has been super busy for me so far, and I got caught up in the rush of things. Congrats to @Paranoid King and @Herowannabe for their victory this round! @Gray to and @Toaster Retribution, you have 24 hours (probably more, depending on when I get on the Shard) to post your Returned names. I'll post the next group of competitors as soon as possible, but I'm on a tight schedule right now and don't have the chance. Sorry again for the inconsistency, everyone. I'm trying my hardest, I promise.
    4 likes
  6. I haven't commented in here in a while, but I think this deserves a mention. First weekend of April, Saturday afternoon, I'll be singing in General Conference! I've known for a while that it was a possibility that my choir could be doing that, but now I've finally had in confirmed and I am THRILLED!
    4 likes
  7. Ron, it looks like we've got a stalemate on our hands. With only four players left, it's tough to get a solid hit on anyone. Don't be so hasty Tom. If you look at Tahrie's circle, you can see that a weak spot has developed. You're right! And if someone takes advantage of that, she's out. Tahrie is trying to draw chalklings, but oh! Just like that, Tahrie goes down. I'm not sure who sent that Line out, but they have got to be feeling good about themselves. And with that, we're down to three. This round ends on Thursday, January 17th at 4:00PM EST. Good luck. Player List:
    4 likes
  8. Granted. Here you go: Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiife. I wish for a chicken nugget.
    4 likes
  9. "The goats are dead, but I'll see what I can do."
    4 likes
  10. That is the correct allomantic ratio, yes. However, there are two reasons the answer to your question is 'no'. First, if you want those metals to mix you're talking about drinking molten metal. That's going to kill you long before you can do anything with it allomantically. For the record, tin melts at 232 Celsius, which is about four times hotter than you'd generally want to drink your morning tea. Lead melts at around 327 Celsius. Second, the metal actually has to mix and alloy in order to stop being tin and lead and start being pewter, both physically and in Realmatic terms. That's not happening on the way down your esophagus into your stomach and even if you had some other power like F-Gold to keep you alive through the process, your body is not a crucible, the metals won't alloy properly in that environment and even if some of the molten tin and lead did stay molten long enough to meet somewhere inside you, they wouldn't be in the right ratios any longer. So basically, what you have is less 'poor man's pewter' and more 'a gruesome way to commit suicide'.
    4 likes
  11. So, me and a couple of friends discussed a Harry Potter-Percy Jackson crossover roleplay, and we’ve been doing it for a little bit, however, some people have left, and there are too few of us left to really carry it on, so we’re opening it to the public. Comment if you want to join and I’ll add you. The Story So Far: It is the year 2020, and there's a new dark force in the world. Under the pseudonym Iris, she begins to wreak havoc on the wizarding world. However, she is not a normal witch: Iris is the daughter of Hecate and a wizard. As things become increasingly dangerous at Hogwarts, Headmistress Professor McGonagall becomes worried, and realizes that Iris could potentially be within the walls of the school. Thus, she reaches out to Chiron, who agrees to help by sending in a team of demigods. What happens as the demigods and wizards meet? Who is Iris, really? And can the world be saved? Only disaster can come when myths and magic collide.
    3 likes
  12. The ghanderflaffles were angry when Butt forgot the 10th waffle, which only existed in his heart.
    3 likes
  13. Less Waffles was an evil über driver.
    3 likes
  14. Guys, i'm finished and quite frankly i think Raoden is a perfect fit for this song, so without further ado A million dreams as sung by prince Raoden
    3 likes
  15. Submit small tips on how to make people happy! When someone is excited about some news and asks you to guess just how good it is, always give a low estimate, so that they are happy to tell you it was much better. Example: Hey, how many upvotes do you think my post in cosmere musical got? Mmm i don't know, about 4? Dude it got 9!!! No way! Way! *Excited sounds*
    2 likes
  16. Granted, and your bane is.... you, yes you, get to be the Baby Momma! You can watch it back when you grow up, but for now, enjoy a complimentary age and mind reduction! I wish for a perfectly trained pet dragon.
    2 likes
  17. Super Bowl LIII is coming up! Chiefs vs Saints... who are you rooting for?
    2 likes
  18. Giving Rashek Endowment seems like a bad idea. It would likely work on the opposite as on Nalthis. Everyone's a drab except for like 10 nobles.
    2 likes
  19. A busy alleyway. One hour ago. Mace watched his son amble along the path on his bright red tricycle. The boy hit a bump and briefly wobbled before correcting his course. For reasons he did not fully understand, Mace felt a rush of emotions. His eyes were transfixed on the scene, which was good. If he had decided to focus too hard on the background of the vignette he would have found the supporting details were fuzzy. The child turned back towards Mace, giving him a better look at his face. He almost laughed as he searched the boy’s features, looking for some resemblance to latch onto. There was none. The memory laid bare the lie in excruciating detail, remarkably so. Mace had not been expecting to receive such a clear vision. With a growing sense of dread, Mace watched the youngster begin to move his lips. He knew what was coming. “Dad! Hey Dad! Can-” Mace stopped tapping the coppermind. He blinked, and his vision re-focused to show him the elderly man standing in front of him. A table of polished brown bands sat between them. “Did you get what you came for?” the man asked politely. Mace nodded distractedly. He was never sure what he wanted when he visited the man’s stall in the marketplace, so he always left with mixed feelings about the experience. He had friends who swore by Soothing parlors, but those seemed even more artificial to him. At least when he rented copperminds his emotions were genuine. He placed some coins on the table and thanked the gentlemen for his time. Then he reached behind his left ear and unclipped one of his own copperminds. “It’s got a couple of musicals in it. Mostly from bad dates I went on. I think there’s an Earth movie on there too. The tenth sequel to that one about angry people speeding." He passed it over and the man palmed it quickly. He would send it away to be unsealed or keep it to sell to any copper ferrings that came by. Mace did not care. The sounds of battle had been steadily increasing in volume and intensity during the time he had been reminiscing. The fight those sounds advertised was the reason he had come to the Alleycity. Without another word, Mace stepped confidently into a side-passageway he knew would take him where he wanted to go. It was time for him to kill again. ***** Near the worldspike. Seconds before the barrier is due to drop. Inexplicably, Mace fell upwards, propelled out of a circular sewer entrance. He could tell some sort of teleportation had been involved since his stomach felt queasy. As he tried to re-orient himself, a trio of energy blasts smashed into his torso. He heard his ribs snap, followed by his spine. He tasted blood, which was never a good sign. Fortunately, almost immediately, he felt his body repair itself. He’d been ready for this kind of thing to happen when he stepped into the battlefield. As his goldminds quickly began draining, he switched to compounding the one he had swallowed earlier. That made him feel even better. He realized that he had slid across the ground at some point, leaving a lengthy skid mark in the ground. He could see the back of Fred, who was standing close to where he had been hit. Nearby, some people were fighting each other. There also seemed to be a concerning amount of dead bodies without obvious signs of injury. As he began struggling to breathe, he realized why. Guess I’ll be burning cadmium too then, he thought, popping his only metalmind of that kind he had into his mouth. As he sat there, an aggrieve looking warrior charged in his direction. Mace instinctively tapped speed, getting to his feet and off to the side of the woman in a second. He stuck out his foot, tripping her, then slammed his hand down on her skull. He was about to follow the hit up with a flurry of punches when he felt his reserve dry up. Cursing, he ran her through with a hastily grown aether spike instead. In the time it took him to do that, another three assailants, also female, had approached him. They were armed with knives, short glass ones, the kind used by hazekillers on a budget. “Can’t we talk about this first?” Mace asked, stalling for time. But he only got as far as making an aether gauntlet when the ladies began advancing. He had to admit that they did a good job of it. They made a quickly shrinking equilateral triangle, keeping him surrounded. Unfortunately for them, Mace was not planning on running away. He lashed out at the tallest one. They had obviously trained for that scenario because she raised her weapons defensively while the others lashed out with theirs. As their blades sliced the back of his legs, Mace grabbed the hand of his target and squeezed. Increasing his weight and strength, he then swung her by the arm off her feet and into the person on his left. The two of them tumbled at an awkward angle to the street and did not get back up again. Mace’s eyes teared up as he felt something cut into the small of his back and twist. “Ma’am,” Mace said, clenching his teeth, “Kindly remove-” He jammed his elbow backwards, catching her off-guard. He then spun to face her. She punched him in the nose. He blocked the next punch with his armored hand, using the opportunity to simultaneously pull the knife out of his back. With interest, he noted that the one he held was not glass like the others. It appeared to be made of crystal. Confirming his suspicions, the woman used the momentary lull to pull a large sword from the bag on her back. It too was made of crystal. “You better not have killed them,” she growled, then sliced downward with the blade, aiming to cleave him down the middle. Mace jerked his head to the side, catching it on his shoulder. It cut deeper than he had thought it would. “No,” he said as he pinched the blade with his hands, holding it still despite her attempts to out-muscle him and wrest it from his grasp. “No. They’re not dead.” He suddenly pushed the blade forward, knocking the woman off-balance. He flicked his hands, moving the sword so the hilt caught her in the jaw. He lumbered towards his attacker, grabbing her by the neck and raising her into the air, with the dramatic flair of a classical evil villain. “I hate killing when I don’t know why I’m doing it. So they will live. But you... you I have a reason to harm.” He probed the back of her neck until he found what he was looking for. The woman’s struggles became increasingly frantic as she realized what he was about to do. For the first time, Mace saw fear in her eyes as she squirmed, scratching at his arm and flailing her legs. With resolve, he met her gaze. Slowly, he began to tap his index finger on her fleshstone. His beats fell harder and harder each time. Fueled by magical strength and natural adrenaline, it only took a moment for the crystal to begin to yield. Just a hairline crack at first, but after another hit the break doubled in size. Then Mace drew a Tia card from his pocket and slammed it into her chest. The woman disappeared. When he turned around, he noted with satisfaction that the assailants he had dropped earlier had wisely decided to run away. “Anyone else?” he shouted, startling an assassin who had been trying to sneak up on him. “And is there anyone here from TUBA? I’m having trouble deciding who to punch.”
    2 likes
  20. The Nightwatcher gets a very peculiar smile on her face and snickers a bit to herself before she says "Granted". With much anticipation, you go back to your domicile and discover that you have indeed been given a "Chicken Nugget". You soon discover that this is in fact no ordinary chicken nugget. You have been given an Awakened Chicken Nugget, that was awakened with 10,000 breaths and given the command "Rule well". Seeing as this chicken nugget bears an uncanny resemblance to the first president of the United States, George Washington, you decide to set up a presidential campaign office for your awakened sentient Nugget. Here's one of the more popular presendential campaign poster for your canidate, George McNugget: Needless to say, when your awakened chicken nugget makes the most brilliant political move since Karl Rove used micro-targeting for political ads and picks BBQ sauce as his running mate, George McNugget wins in a landslide victory. And because he is a candidate that comes from the heartland of America and is a composite of many different animals and many different parts of those animals, he governs as a true consensus builder. And since he is technically your Chicken Nugget, you get to move into the White House with him. The campaign had a bunch of memorable buttons too, but I'll let you fill those slogans in for yourself. I wish that my canidate for the 2020 presidential Election won instead of George McNugget, Barack Toastbama:
    2 likes
  21. When you misread 'kudos' as 'koloss'. (It was on here, too, so I had good reason...) When you're drinking fizzy lemonade and think of Steris with a grin.
    2 likes
  22. When you're taking geometry and biology and have a double-take any time perpendicularity or mitosis are mentioned.
    2 likes
  23. Numuhukumakiaki'aialunamor. Nitrogen.
    2 likes
  24. How a Radiant robs a bank:
    2 likes
  25. I would need to pull up the WoBs associated with each but we do know for a fact that: 1. the heralds bodies are "grown"/created 2. their cognitive shadow is inhabiting the body, as Moash's dagger took it away to prevent it from being reborn edit: found the WoB for the second one, but it is not exactly how I recall. please give me a few moments to dig further to be sure edit 2: i slightly tweaked my response. relevant WoBs shown below Questioner [PENDING REVIEW] Moash killed a god? One of the Heralds? Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] He did. One of the Heralds. And trapped his soul so he couldn't be reborn. Questioner [PENDING REVIEW] That's what it is. Trapped his soul, didn't actually kill him? Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] It's killed him...It was like, extra killed. The Heralds are bound to a cycle of rebirth that happens...that they wanted to make sure didn't happen that time. Questioner [PENDING REVIEW] How do the Heralds come back? How do they a physical body? Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] That system will be explained in the coming books, so that is a RAFO. I'm gonna dig into it pretty deeply. It's relevant for multiple reasons. In the original version, Taln ended up in someone else, like they would get a body from someone else, which was part of fueling the "Is he crazy, is he not," because people were like, "I recognize this guy!" I don't use that system anymore. Questioner [PENDING REVIEW] That's what I was wondering, because the Fused... Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] They use something kind of more like the Fused in the original draft, it's not that process anymore. Questioner [PENDING REVIEW] Is that gonna give us lead-ins to how it worked with Kelsier? Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] Maybe. Maybe. You shall see. Questioner [PENDING REVIEW] Can a Returned be made from Stormlight? Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] How would you count the Heralds? Questioner [PENDING REVIEW] I haven't read much, so I don't really know what you're talking about. Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] In the Stormlight books, there is a set of people who are constantly reborn, into full sized grown bodies that are being created for them. Would you count that as being Returned? Or do you count Returned...What's your definition, right? You can create something that is Returned-like. But your definition of what is Returned and what is not, is going to be involved in that.
    2 likes
  26. You are perfectly entitled to that opinion. For myself, when there is a WoB that describes breaking the bond as having a wetware jack forcefully yanked out of the skull, chunky and all, I feel that means something is now missing. To extend the example, if I have a lamp that I plug into the wall, and I yank out the plug with the entire socket, I am left with a hole in the wall. If I later take another lamp, and try to plug it into the gaping hole, nothing happens. I can then take the hanging electrical wires from the gaping hole and wrap them directly around the plug's prongs to power the lamp, but I am going to lose a lot of the power transfer and also risk setting the house on fire. I can then wrap electrical tape around the wires to reduce the chance of fire, and maybe lose less electrical power, but still it isn't going to work the same way as if there was a socket installed. So for me, until a new socket is installed, no matter how you jury rig that connection, you are not going to get the same connection as you would with a socket. I do not feel the bond between Adolin and Maya by itself is enough to reform the "socket". If that was in fact the case, then I do not see why it has not already been accomplished by any number of past shardbearers due to 1. the number of shardbearers we have had over the years, and 2. the number of years in which people experimented with said shardblades. So for me by the law of averages, multiple people would have had to have figured that out long before Adolin. Bondsmiths's entire schitck is about bonds, reuniting, and bringing people together, so that would by definition not be a deus ex machina. It would be well documented over the course of the books, and be plausible. But as I said, that is my own reading of the information we have at hand.
    2 likes
  27. @Arash.F Here's my wish for the Nightwatcher. I wish that everyone in the world would be unable to swear for one full day, and further if anyone tried to swears during this 24 hour period the foul language that would normally be coming out of their mouth would be replaced by a butterfly or a fragrant breeze redolent of roses or some other such substitution. I would be very interested to see what effect this would have.
    2 likes
  28. I can see where you're coming from, but I think Yelig-nar bonded to humans in the old days as well, given that in Hessi's Mythica, there was a segment about Yelig-nar and bonding him, with something along the lines of "Curiously, some sources mention swallowing a gemstone to engage in this process," so I believe that combining that with the information that humans would fight on the side of Odium's forces in multiple Desolations, per the Stormfather and the visions Dalinar has.
    2 likes
  29. Swordnimi already made the excellent point that Jasnah soulcasted Shallan's blood. If Jasnah can exclude the rest of Shallan's body and only soulcast the blood (keeping in mind that is a circulatory system throughout the body) , then there should be no reason why other parts of the body could not be soulcasted excluding the rest of the body. My theory is the limitation is skill and stormlight. You would need more stormlight to convince a part of a person is separate, and you would have to be skilled enough at soulcasting to manipulate it as such. As to an awakener using stormlight to awaken, we know is possible. Just no one has figured it out yet. All systems can be hacked to power others, just some are easier to do than others.
    2 likes
  30. Yeah you're going to die from that, plus the cognitive aspect is that they are still two separate metals of a different type, so that stops it right then and there.
    2 likes
  31. I thought it was a subtle indication of his pre-Ascension profession as a pimp.
    2 likes
  32. Devotion without restraint or Context gives you Stalkers. Odium (ie Divine Wrath) with restraint and context give you, well, Passion. Ruin accepted as Entropy and a natural part of a Temporal world gives you any number of your classic benevolent Death figures. Ambition if it maintains a healthy dose of Empathy could be a great force for self-betterment without needing to do so at the cost of others. Honor done wrong gives you the classic self-righteous Paladin trope or the darker parts of the Samurai era's. Cultivation done wrong gives you any number of horror genre mad scientists. Preservation done wrong gives you the worst helicopter parent imaginable, or maybe just a frozen/glass planet. The Shards are Primal Intent without Context, it's the Vessel's that can (but sometimes dont) provide that context, because they at least start off as whole beings, rather than the shattered Whatever that Adonalsium was reduced to.
    2 likes
  33. On my phone, I can't see the drop-down button, but it is right there on the top. A click on Spensa's forehead does the trick. (Though it was just a bug on my phone specifically. Otherwise I would have explained it right away.)
    2 likes
  34. I think the 'big picture' reason why there isn't a Radiant Order with any special affinity towards water is because the Surges are based on the Rosharan conception of fundamental forces and none of those have any special place set aside for water as a 'force' any more than we do in the real world where we see four fundamental forces (strong and weak nuclear interaction, gravitation and electomagnetism). There are some forces that can interact with water in more obvious ways but that doesn't mean there's a water-centric power and there's no reason for there to be one. Incidentally Brandon avoids magic system based around the classic elements because he feels those are overdone. Therefore we're unlikely to ever see any explicit 'water magic' or 'fire magic' or what have you in the series, though we'll occasionally get stuff that looks more elemental when the specific combinations of powers interact just so, as with Windrunning and the Stonewards. As a bonus, the same WoB where Brandon talks about elemental magic is also one where he explains Roshar, so have a two-for-one WoB:
    2 likes
  35. 2 likes
  36. So, I forgot that I was saving my 2,000th post for something special, so this is now my 2,001st post. Yay!! I just want to say thank you so much to this community. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have discovered the amazing world of the Cosmere. I wouldn’t have befriended so many people through the discord. I wouldn’t have been able to play the amazing game that is Sanderson Elimination, and I wouldn’t have gotten to meet one of my best online friends through that, either. Plus, all the theorizing on this forum is absolutely amazing. Not only has my knowledge about Sanderson’s books been greatly expanded, my ability to argue eloquently and disagree gracefully has improved drastically as well. Anyway, I could ramble on for a lot longer, but I’m gonna keep this short. Thank you so much for an amazing two years, and I’m so looking forward to the many years to come!
    2 likes
  37. I would have to dig for the WoB, but the moon scepter looks more like the chinese scepter, where it has a flat founded bulb on one hand, with a flat long piece, and then another bump on the other end. I think it was Jofwu who asked about it, but I could be messing up who the questioner was. Give me like 10 minutes and I will pull it up with coinciding picture edit: It was Botanica. WoB below Botanica How does the Moon Scepter actually look like? In what shape is it? Now we have two understandings of the word "scepter" based on different ways of translation: 1) 杖: It shapes like a common wand/staff/rod/cane/stick, usually seen in Western countries. [Mainland translation] 2) 笏: It's kind of a flat scepter of Chinese origin, shaped like a tablet, usually held before the breast by officials when received in audience by the emperor. (Very rarely, the emperor himself holds it.) The officials can take notes on it. [Taiwan translation (I believe the translator once showed you around the Taipei Palace Museum.)] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaku_(ritual_baton) Could you tell us which one is closer to the original design? Thanks! Brandon Sanderson It's not a Shaku, it's a Ruyi, actually. That's an excellent question, though. It does actually come from my visit to the museam, and while I'm aware of shakus, I hadn't heard them called scepters. But I guess they are! Either way, I imagined it as the wavy shape of a Ruyi. (如意) Botanica Whoa what an amazing answer! Thanks so much for the explanation! I once thought of Ruyi when flipping through some reference materials and now it becomes canon! Hooray! Another question if you don't mind: (Someone just asked this a moment ago.) Why is it called Moon Scepter? Does (perhaps) one side/end of it resemble moon? [Full moon or crescent?] Or is it colored like moon? Or does it contain some moon pattern? (Also a fan art question, sorry ;P) Brandon Sanderson It has to do with the differences in religion between Shai's people and the Rose Empire. It is colored like the moon, but there's a little more to it than that. Botanica Ah, I see. Thank you! So what color is Selish moon when we look at it? (I suppose there's only one moon?) Didn't find any specific descriptions about its color in books. Can we assume it is similar to our moon? Brandon Sanderson I didn't say it was the color of Sel's moon... Just kidding. It is, and there is only one. It's a pale white blue, a little more blue than ours, but similar.
    2 likes
  38. Ooh, putting them in order! I will gladly do so! Keep in mind that this is only the songs I've made so far, not a full list. This will eventually need to be updated as I make more. I'll even leave a few names of songs I made that I haven't recorded yet just to hype you up! Also keep in mind this is only the chronological order. Final Empire: 1. Mistborn Suite (Maybe just 'cause it's an overall main theme and the like) Edit: 1.5: First Waltz (it's from HoA, but it's the second one I ever made and is the root song for Vin and Elend's theme, so it would work to listen to it early on.) 2. Sazed 3. Noble Life 4. Vin and Elend Meet 5. Sneaking In And Breaking Out (yet to be released on here) 6. Cornered 7. Saved by Sazed 8. Confrontation in the Square 9. The Lord Ruler Arrives 10. Lament for Kelsier 11. Shattered Glass (yet to be released on here) 12. Lord Ruler's Fall (yet to be released on here) 13. You Read Too Much 13.5: Mistborn Suite (it could also be placed here on the list to serve as end credits music of sorts) Well of Ascension 14. Meet Zane 15. Mist Spirit (yet to be released on here) 16. Trust 17. Koloss Breach 18. Frozen in the Ash and Snow Hero of Ages 19. First Waltz (my personal favorite) 20. They Shall Fear Us (full song not yet released) 21. Ruin's Downfall; Vin's Sacrifice 22. Catacendre (yet to be released on here) 23. Epilogue (yet to be released on here) Alloy of Law 24. Alloy Suite (unfinished, yet to be released on here) 25. Wayne Shadows of Self NOTHING YET Bands of Mourning 26. Wax/Steris Wedding (needs a better name) 27. The Last Breath (both versions)
    2 likes
  39. I was bored, so I memefied a couple more quotes.
    2 likes
  40. My headcanon on this has been that Tanavast had a different... oath, let's say, he saw as being more important. Maritalrital vows, for example.
    2 likes
  41. I think people saying that "Unity is not a surge" are missing Page's point. The "Unity" moment, and what Dalinar did, seem like they could be a product of his surges used in the extreme. It seemed fairly clear to me.
    2 likes
  42. I think since we do not have a verified metric on what makes a successful host for Yelig-nar, it is hard to judge what was done at all in the past vs now, so this is entirely my own opinion. Yes Odium is trying new things, but Yelig-nar is definitely an "old" thing. I do not see why Odium would not have already used Yelig-nar to try to bond his existing troops (singers and fused) in the ages past. They are the most readily available. If anything I think offering him up to humans is the new experimentation.
    1 like
  43. 1 like
  44. Everyone is the goat of their own story.
    1 like
  45. While you’re at it, can you make the powers of every smell in flatulemy, hemalufarty, every heightening in afartening, all the orders of the Butts Radiant, and all types of Fartiar? Plus maybe as a bonus, all the symbols in ButtDor, and some original Fart stamps?
    1 like
  46. Rock called Odium an airsick lowlander, and Odium ran off, passionately crying.
    1 like
  47. When you sign your friend's year book like this. EDIT: Also when you see the song "Speak for me" and thought it said "Spike For Me"
    1 like
This leaderboard is set to Los Angeles/GMT-07:00
×
×
  • Create New...