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I know there are all ready so many different threads about Kaladin’s 4th oath, and I’ve been reading them and thinking about it, and honestly I have no idea what the oath is, and I’m not too concerned about it. I figure we’ll find out when we find out and knowing Brandon Sanderson, it’s going to be something that we didn’t really expect. What I would like to see in regards to the 4th oath is the way he swears it. The 2nd and 3rd oath he swore in the middle of an intense situation with people’s lives on the line. When Kaladin reached a similar situation at the end of Oathbringer, he couldn’t bring himself to say the words. Because we can presume he knows what the oath is, I would like to see him swear it in a peaceful moment. His entire life he has made decisions in a heated moment (i.e. him joining the army, saving Amaram, choosing to help the bridgemen instead of suicide, etc.) For once I would like to see Kaladin sit down and think about a decision before making it. I’m sorry if this has all ready been discussed, I’ve only been looking at the forums for about a week now and have certainly not seen the vast majority of posts out there.

You, Fifth, and Stick all started the cycle voting on Aman. Based on Aman saying, "Hey, I'm the bad guy, but Rath is too, but a different kind and because he's not me, he's worse" you switched your vote to me. That seems super sketchy to me. If I flipped elim, villagers should see that as distancing. Since I will flip village if lynched, villages should see that as mislynch opportunism. Say there are 3 elims remaining (I'd say that's the most likely situation). Assuming Striker didn't pull a 'hey, I'm going to announce a faction and then not have it exist' trick, then we're sitting at 7-3-1. Here are the likely next few cycles: I'm lynched - 6-3-1 Elim kill - 5-3-1 Kandra lynch - 5-3-0 Elim kill - 4-3-0 Now we're one mislynch away from losing. OK, if there are 2 elims, we're in a bit better shape: I'm lynched - 7-2-1 Elim kill - 6-2-1 Kandra lynch - 6-2-0 Elim kill - 5-2-0 That gives us one cycle of leeway at least. Now, say we lynch, and I'm not sure how much more I can emphasize this, A CONFIRMED BAD GUY. 7-3-0 or 8-2-0 6-3-0 or 7-2-0 And then we proceed on. If you decide to lynch me at that point, OK, fine, maybe I deserve it. But how about this? Say Aman is actually still lying? (you know, because bad guys lie) and Aman is actually a standard elim. Now doesn't lynching him give us a heck of a lot more information and chance to win than lynching me does? Hopefully I actually get a chance to come back this cycle (I should, just not a lot), but there really is no logical situation where it makes sense to lynch me over Aman today. As for why I chose Aman over Sart, it was mostly gut feeling. Sart was reading more neutral to me versus Aman starting to ring some elim bells for me. Mostly regarding tone. But also, the way Aman was targeting me seemed a bit off. And with that, I'm about out of time.

Or it could be the ball pit... They could have Chouta Vendors!

Followed by a quiet day... Okay, so. I did not promise to protect Drake. Fifth asked if I were Village, who would I burn iron to protect (then mentioned Drake specifically), and I gave him an answer similar to "That would be the best call." It was a non-committal answer, and it was non-committal because I'm not actually a Lurcher. I'm sorry about lying about that, but at the time I believed it to make the most sense, because in actuality I'm the kandra. Some people may remember my post on D2 where I speculated on the kandra: As people can see, Fura and I weren't teammates. I didn't post this to try and weasel them out of the lynch. I posted it in case I needed to claim my true role later, and here we are. And while I know everyone's first extinct is "SERIAL KILLER! KILL IT WITH FIRE!", here's the thing. I'm not a Serial Killer. I'm an Agent of Harmony. All I want is peace, and sadly my God has told me to achieve that, I need to get all players on both sides of this conflict killed. For the Good of Elendel. Problem is, my only weapon is the lynch. I have been given the ability to help set people on the right course (see next paragraph), but otherwise I can't do any real harm. Likewise, the only weapon that can hurt me is the lynch, because as you have seen, the first part of my abilities is immunity from night kills. I did legitimately make the mistake of claiming Lurcher over Thug, but the reason I went with that option was in the off chance I was attacked twice. I wouldn't be able to explain surviving two times otherwise, so I dressed it up as me self-protecting. I had not anticipated being attacked N1, and especially not Sart saving Drake's life N2, but once that happened, I knew that the jig was practically up. So I prayed to Harmony that Sart was actually an elim that pulled a Reverse!WGG with hopes of riding on the credit of killing him until the endgame. Remember how I said I was given the ability to set people on the right course? While the night kill immunity is a passive ability, I also have the active ability to scan people's alignments. I shared my results from the first two nights with the Coinshot last night, the first of which is an eliminator. I was kinda hoping the Coinshot would kill him last night to help me prove my claim, but alas, they decided to hold back, presumably to wait for more information or proof. And before anyone asks, I feel the reason why I didn't come forward about this player's alignment should be obvious. I couldn't reveal this information without making my true nature known, so I needed to find legitimate proof first. Not to mention I wanted to see how that player would interact with others / vote with hopes of determining their allies. I don't know why I'm beating around the bush about it. That eliminator is Rath. After the events of D1, I pretty much chose him on a whim. I had a Village read of Drake so I found it odd how there were three players present at turnover who didn't act. I didn't suspect Fura at the time (see my posts around then, where I mentioned the possibility of TWTBW), and Devotary was just as much an unknown as Rath, so in the end it actually just came down to a coin flip. Heads Rath, Tails Devotary. I got heads. So naturally, when Rath ended up voting for Fura, I wholeheartedly believed she was innocent. I started to message PM contacts with hopes of getting them off the lynch, and even requested a Soother who claimed to me to take a vote off of Fura. Sadly it wasn't enough, and Rath got what he wanted. After that, I figured Devotary was a teammate that he saved and scanned her. She came back Village, which is why I started defending her D3. Since I trusted Drake + Ventyl and Fura had been lynched, I convinced myself that Sart's tunnel on Devotary was fabricated. When I started to put the pieces together and figured out he was the Lurcher who claimed to Drake, I became convinced of the reverse!WGG angle and decided my best shot at victory was going all in on him to prove myself. I was wrong, and here we are. I was also wrong about Fifth. Sorry Fifth. I scanned him last night, and he came back village too. I told this to the Coinshot when I claimed kandra last night, but historically when I'm a neutral or serial killer type role, I always side with the village when I realize I can no longer win the game. The best example of this is MR15, a game when I was a part of a third serial killer faction, the Jeskeri Mysteries Cultists. I was on a team with four other players, the first of which got lynched very early, the second went completely inactive, and the third was Meta who got killed by the eliminators on N2. When it was discovered in thread that I was a part of the SK team I begged them to let me help, and I did. I was considered an honorary villager that game for my part in the game going forward, and I would really appreciate the chance to do that again in this game. I understand if people are skeptical or wary. And I'd be lying if I said I don't still hope I can get a win out of this game. I'm going to be honest here because so far lies have gotten me nowhere, and at this point, I think the Village deserves to know. If you lynch me, I will die. But I also will get to choose any current living player and turn them into the new kandra. The new kandra does not have the same abilities as me - in fact, they will retain their original power, which is a big part of the reason why I've been trying to find out everyone's roles (so I can make the best, most informed decision). And if / when you do find and lynch them (or if the elims / Coinshot kill them), then they're dead for good. No more kandra. No more chances for me to win. So I guess it's up to you guys where things go from here. I would like to continue helping the village, and I would like to prove that by lynching an eliminator (Rath) today instead. ED1T: (3) Amandra: Fifth Scholar, Araris Valerian, _Stick_, (1) Rebelmaskal: Amandra,

Excuse me! Mac is not a member of HR. Cam is the HR member. He doesn't have a mustache

Learned to walk on his head and now teaches how to live life upside down in Silverlight.

The Stranger's head emerged from a nearby garbage can, a banana peel on it. "Is the coast clear? I just burned every chair I owned." He waited a moment to be safe, then stepped out of the trash, dusting himself off. He looked to his two compatriots, shaking his head. "HR showed up without so much as a warning. We've never been able to determine their place of origin or how they even got here. One thing is for sure though, they fear nothing. Not death nor pain can stop them, they are immovable in their pursuit of efficacy." He turned towards the building and assessed the investiture signatures within, identifying those present. He listened to the conversation for a moment, then said, "Doesn't sound like anything important is being discussed, should we head in or wait a moment? Also, should we all enter at once, or stagger our arrivals? We don't want to cause any heart attacks at the moment."

"They were just there one day." Voidus replied with a resigned sigh, though his eyes did seem to shift subtly at the mention of the topic. There was a small chance that he'd accidentally approved the HR department back in the departmental rush when the DA had still been new. Department creation requests were flying all around the place, plenty of overlapping departments were inadvertently created and then they fought over which department was responsible for what. It'd been a tiresome process and at one point he'd been approving requests without reading them. He'd lived in fear since that day that he'd accidentally approved HR. "So this is where the field agents are?" He asked, shifting topics suddenly. "Meeting with TUBA?" Even as he asked he turned his head towards the nearby building, confirming what Mac had already told him. They were out of the barrier now, he'd have to be a little more circumspect about the matter in the event that there were eavesdroppers about. And he'd have to ensure that he didn't show any open favouritism or others might grow suspicious as Mac had. "They've done good work recently." He said offhandedly. "Perhaps a promotion is in order." Or a department head? No that might be too soon. But a pay rise is well deserved surely? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not giving away much are you. Laurelai thought, still smiling as she regarded the man from TUBA. Well she had something to work with at least, he'd been nearby when she'd collapsed that building onto the creature that was attacking them. If he'd simply been standing somewhere a little differently then he could have been caught up in it. But it might be a stretch, if he could sense danger in some way then that would have been a very unrealistic history, it wouldn't last long enough for the death to be permanent. She received a message from Lita, confirming that he seemed to be holding something back. Having a tineye around was certainly going to be useful, confirming someone's personality without needing to stamp them would certainly be helpful. Laurelai put the problem to one side for now, choosing to simply watch him and gather what information she could without agenda. Sometimes watching without bias could reveal more information than watching for something specific.

Mac carefully walked out of the alleys next to Voidus, looking left and right to ensure that no one followed him. He breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't see anyone except for Voidus. "Storm it Voidus. Why do we have HR? I didn't know it was possible for something to have less soul than a lawyer." He shook his head sadly. "Well, at least we are here now, all safe and HR free." He reached up and rubbed his mustache, as if checking to make sure it was on right. "I poked my head by HR, to ask for clarification on recent safety policies, I know, I know, it was a necessary evil. They are trying to remove all the chairs from the alleys, and have somehow gained the ability to sense the location of chairs, so I would be careful. I know that I am switching all of my chairs to short benches with arm and back rests. Hopefully that technicality throws them off." He shook his head again, feeling his heartrate slowly lower after his near seminar experience.

"Mmm." Laurelai hummed with agreement. "Things have been a little chaotic out there. Have you seen anything particularly interesting? Or were you busy with the evacuation? May as well swap information while we wait." The information might be useful, but more importantly she needed to know where he'd been, what sort of situations he'd been exposed to. Any danger that his choices might have put him in. He didn't seem to be a particularly strong combative force himself, otherwise he wouldn't have suggested running away when that creature had attacked. But it was always better to be safe. She gave him a mildly interested smile as she took a sip from her cup. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Voidus arrived in an Alley a short distance away, brushing some ash from one shoulder. He'd taken a more dangerous route than usual, through a couple of the burning Alleys. Hopefully any HR tails would either be dead or too distracted cataloguing the various OH&S risks that the burning Alleys presented to pursue. Should be safe now. He let out a long, relieved breath, taking a brief moment to relax as he waited for the others to arrive. Hopefully none of them got dragged into another seminar about safe handling of spikes.

The Stranger immediately froze, panicked, and half shouted, “It’s for a project! I filled out the paperwork! The meeting was at a time that wasn’t conducive to my schedule! I’m already certified! No comment at this time!” His go to whenever anyone from HR spoke to him was to rattle off a list of potential responses in hopes that one of them was the right one. He then clapped loudly for no particular reason and turned himself into a lark which flew away hurriedly.

"Yes, I think I'll join." Aylitha said, "Great, Now I thin-" Mac suddenly stiffened as he felt the alleys shift. Moved by a force of evilness so great that even the DA tried to avoid them. HR. "Run!" He whispered, "They're coming! Meet at Didgeridoo!" With that he stepped back and disappeared into the alleys. Having discovered that his latest mission was a red herring, Cam walked out of the alleys near the worldspike determined to do his job properly. "Hello Voidus, Stranger, Aylitha! Haven't seen you guys in a while!" He grinned while coming closer, "Sorry to bother you, but after you jumped over that chair earlier, I realized that chairs are a safety hazard. So now I need to remove the chairs from this alley, its a safety hazard you see. So if I could just slide on by here," He tried to edge closer to them, reaching for the chairs they were using. @Voidus @Fatebreaker @kenod

We're here in an official capacity this time. Laurelai agreed. Truth would seem appropriate. We're not disguised after all, too easy for them to look into our identities anyway. It was one of the reasons she regretted travelling so widely before she joined the DA, she'd left a long trail for people to follow if they were curious about her. And her joining the DA hadn't exactly been clandestine either, if you knew the right people to ask then you could probably find out about it. So she wore that information like a disguise in itself, created a persona around it and wore it out just as she did with any other disguise. Laurelai of the Dark Alleys was useful sometimes, sometimes to intimidate or discourage, sometimes when she simply didn't want to deal with people. But it did bring up the question, if her real self was simply a disguise then who was she underneath? She started, realising she'd lost herself in thought again, and mentally chastised herself for ignoring her surroundings. She needed preparation just in case things went south, she couldn't waste time in idle musings. "So." She said aloud, addressing the man from TUBA. "How has your night been? Busy?" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Voidus smiled as Aylitha joined them, he hadn't expected anyone else to arrive so soon. As Mac had noted, the various department heads didn't tend to be too active outside of their own experiments and departments. Many, like the Stranger had been, were thought lost, or deliberately secluded from the world, somewhere deep within the ever changing maze of Alleys. It wasn't far from the truth in some cases, spending long lengths of time in an Alley without connecting it with any others tended to disconnect it somewhat, leave it inside a giant tangle of other lost Alleys. But he'd had to untangle one such knot earlier when he called a meeting at Alley 0, it may have caused other Alleys to be somewhat more connected as well. This might not be the last lost department head they saw today. "Good to see you again." He said to Aylitha. "It's been a while I believe." He frowned for a moment as he thought. How long had it been? Voidus shared Aylitha's problems with keeping track of time, it was such an elusive construct, malleable but also somewhat unyielding. And when you lived long enough it was hard to share the same perspective of it as others tended to have. But then again, none of those present were exactly typical by normal standards. He caught himself a moment later, realizing he'd been drifting in thought again. "Well regardless, it would be good for all of us to get out again." He said with a small smile. "Perhaps we could have a meeting after the business at hand is dealt with? Foster a little inter-departmental collaboration?"

I agree, Lita signed back, resisting the urge to nod. There was little point in a secret communique if she gave away the game with physical reaction. She continued sipping her coffee, feeling her Tin reserve grow. Lita scaled back a bit on the level of her burn, and as she did so her anxiety rushed in to take the place formerly occupied by sound and light and temperature. She heard her heartbeat quicken, adrenaline and caffeine racing through her body, setting it on edge. Lita considered pulling the Coin out of her boot, nearly overcome by the urge to flip it, to just look at it. Pull yourself together, she told herself, stuffing her free hand in her pocket to avoid fidgeting. Her fixation with the Coin troubled her - she'd only had it a few days, and already it occupied much of her thought. She knew herself well enough to know she was latching onto something that seemed real and powerful, something that represented a kind of polestar in her life. A direction. She had done much the same with Forian when she'd first met him, drawn to his power like metal to a Lurcher. He had claimed her, used her to give himself even more power, and she had loved him for it. These people would use her too, in their own way. It was the price demanded - a price she would pay, sure enough. Still, she wondered. How much of her would be left on the threshing floor when all was said and done? Would she even know herself, or would the woman in the mirror become someone else entirely, a bent reflection? And would it be such a pity? The little voice whispered. How much of Lita is worth keeping? All that fear. All that weakness. Mac's earlier words about limits, about preserving one's humanity, replayed in her mind, and she chewed her lip in pensive irritation. He wanted to keep his soul as intact as one could, in his position. Wanted to hold out for his place in paradise - for that elusive shine. Well, he could have it. Lita had already been turned away from one paradise. There was no point in polishing ones metal, forever staving off the rust. Lita fingered the point of the spike in her pocket, mouth drawing unconsciously into a tiny, cold smile. No, there was no point in polishing. She would keep her metal in blood.

Speak of the devil, more department heads have shown up. Its almost like voidus knew it was going to happen. He grinned, "I have actually been promoted to the head of the Counterintelligence department. We were recently just discussing something that popped up concerning a new group in town, and were going to go stretch our legs and figure out what was going on with that. In fact, Voidus just mentioned asking the other department heads if they wanted to join us. So, would you? I imagine that despite your love for science it can get boring cooped up in a lab for all these years." @kenod

Mac felt the alleys shift behind him, and turned away from the Stranger and Voidus as a large black fox appeared next to the World Spike. Who... Wait. In the back of his mind, an early memory from his days in a research assistant resurfaced. Was that Aylitha? "Aylitha? Is that you? My gosh it's been forever! I'm Mac, we worked together on the early stages of [REDCTED]. What have you been up to in the Bioscience department for all these centuries?" Now that he could put a name to their face, he began to remember more about this Eldritch fox, how they had both came to the alleys around the same time, and while he focused far more on the external application of the DA's various technologies, they had delved deeper and deeper into the lifesciences. @kenod

“Good idea. This syrup, we cannot lose him to that filthy café!” Luna magically summoned some labels out of nowhere and slapped them on the bottles. “WHY THE STORMS WOULD WE HAVE THAT?! LIKE ANY SENSIBLE ESTABLISHMENT, WE ONLY SELL WAFFLES IN THE SHAPES OF THE HERALDS! AND THOSE ARE ONLY MEANT FOR THE LITTLE CHILDREN!!!”

*sticks head through doorway* *whispers* *sulks back to the shadows I came from*

SUMMARY BUSINESS PLAN (As Founder Brandon Sanderson Predicts Endowment Wants) Presented to the Nalthis Breath Council by the Confused Consulting Group Introduction Thank you, Nalthis Breath Council (NBC), for this opportunity to present to you CCG’s ideas on how best to monetize Breaths. Nalthians are wise to have created this elected council to unify their interests in an organized Breath Market. The Breath market now is highly fragmented and dis-integrated. CCG believes all Nalthians will benefit from the enhanced value an organized market will bring them. Our proposed Business Plan focuses on the cosmere-wide sale of Breaths. We think now is the time to implement this plan while most Breaths remain on Nalthis. Our advice is to make NBC the sole cosmere source for buying and selling Breaths – a real-world monopolistic cartel like “earth’s OPEC.” (“OPEC” is a group mentioned in the famous fantasy novel Twentieth Century Earth). This Business Plan shows how NBC can accomplish that goal. Breath Benefits That Affect Value Breaths may be the cosmere’s most valuable freely-transferable asset – same-sized quanta of Endowment’s Investiture. Each Breath enhances its holder’s lifeforce. Breaths come only from Nalthis but can be transferred to anyone anywhere. New supply is limited to Nalthian births. Nalthians must give their Breaths willingly. That lessens the risk of Breath theft. Breaths enable their holder to animate (Awaken) objects. 2,000 Breaths make their holder functionally immortal. 50,000 Breaths make their holder the equivalent of a Hallendren God King. NBC Breath Exchange We recommend you form the NBC Breath Exchange to let the market price Breaths rather than set an arbitrary price. The Exchange should be the sole cosmere market for Breaths. The NBC should require buyers and sellers to conduct all Breath transfers through the Exchange. The NBC may choose to exempt intra-family transfers, inheritances, and at-the-moment-of-death transfers. NBC should ban all private Breath sales that fall outside these exemptions. The Breath Black Market To ensure the Exchange works as intended, the NBC must take steps to eliminate smuggling and the black market in Breaths. Currently, the Tears of Edgli are the only way to enter Nalthis, but future technologies may change that. We recommend for now NBC monitor visitor traffic through the Tears. Each person must leave Nalthis with the same number of Breaths they held on entry or account for the discrepancy with NBC-certified papers. We recommend you station strong Awakeners at the Tears to count the Breaths and enforce anti-smuggling laws. We urge the NBC to capture the bandit and murderer Vasher and his cohort the former Princess Vivenna of Idris. This notorious pair has eluded all previous efforts to find and restrain them. Together they hold many thousands of Breaths. They are criminals, but our concern is the potential market disruption if they choose to dump their Breaths onto the market. NBC Revenue Streams CCG foresees NBC generating revenue from commissions and other fees on each Breath transfer. CCG anticipates NBC’s efforts will have increased Breath value enough that buyers and sellers won’t mind paying these commissions and fees. Spinoff Business Revenues CCG recommends NBC expand its business model to augment its Breath marketing business and generate substantial additional revenues. Some examples: Breath storage devices. CCG anticipates NBC will hold very large Breath reserves. It may be unfeasible for NBC officials to hold and carry these Breaths personally. These Breaths don’t belong to them in any event. If something unexpectedly happens to an NBC Breath holder, NBC could lose those Breaths. Developing Breath storage technology mitigates this risk. Such technology should allow for multiple NBC officials to retrieve these Breaths, perhaps through an Awakening password created and shared by the person who stores the Breaths. Awakening Training. NBC should sell Awakening training services to Breath purchasers. Breath Financing. As Breaths increase in value, individuals may lack sufficient capital to purchase them. We recommend NBC form the NBC Investment Bank to develop financing options for individual purchases. These options may include purchases on margin, installment contracts, and other payment plans. Security Consulting. NBC has unique expertise it could package and market to Breath holders to ensure Breath safety and security. Exclusive Transportation Rights. NBC should retain the right to transport Breaths to the buyer. While this is a sensible security feature, NBC’s transportation monopoly provides it an additional, independent revenue stream. Other Issues Private Equity Breath Purchases We anticipate promoters will form business entities to consolidate Breath investor capital. These private equity firms could accumulate huge numbers of Breaths. These firms’ buy/sell strategies could adversely affect market efficiencies or otherwise compete with NBC’s financing business. To avoid this, we recommend NBC bar corporate ownership of Breaths or limit the number of Breaths such entities can own. Ethical Issues Some may question the propriety of establishing an organized market in human souls. They may see Breath transfers as immoral, taking part of a human life, or even soul slavery. CCG recommends NBC develop strategies to combat these perceptions including in-school education programs and massive advertising campaigns. The latter might highlight the enormous financial benefits that enhanced Breath values yield to Nalthian society. Legal Issues As the price for Breaths increases, Nalthians may choose to have more children and harvest their Breaths. This will lead to more drabs in society. From their Breath sale, each drab should have enough wealth not to burden society, but the NBC should monitor this situation closely. If necessary, the NBC should enact laws that prescribe the minimum age a person may sell their Breaths; ensure payment benefits the child and not the parent; and otherwise preclude child abuse through Breath deprivation. Effect of Mass Murder, War, and Other Catastrophes Some unscrupulous investors may try to inflate Breath values through the mass murder of Nalthians. The villains Vasher and Vivenna use this tactic with the Awakened sword Nightblood. Terrorist attacks can occur too swiftly to collect the Breaths of the murdered Nalthians. Nightblood reportedly destroys every part of those it kills including their Breaths. War, disease, and natural disasters can also materially reduce the Breath supply. We recommend the NBC maintain a large Breath reserve at all times. If any of these events occur, the NBC can stabilize pricing by putting part of the reserved Breaths back on the market. (In the fantasy novel Twentieth Century Earth, a fictional country called the U.S.A. kept a strategic carbon-based fuel reserve to guard against OPEC disruption of the fuel supply.) Conclusion NBC contacted us when founder Brandon Sanderson concluded Endowment wishes to encourage the growth of the Nalthian Breath market. We believe this NBC Business Plan offers the best means of accomplishing that goal with the least friction to the existing Breath market. CCG designed the NBC Business Plan to maximize NBC revenues. We did so on the assumption NBC will re-distribute the bulk of its operating profits to native Nalthians. Getting buy-in from native Nalthians through this unity of interest is essential for the Plan’s ultimate success.

Something dangerous out there, and close, too. I'm surprised my whole rusting shoe isn't on fire. Laurelai's smile faltered as she received the message, but she managed to replace it quickly enough. Smiling politely over the rim of her glass she cast her gaze to the door, trying to catch any hint of what danger Lita might be sensing. Had TUBA decided to ambush them here? Or was it something from Plasmacore? Be ready to run. She signed back. Though she suspected they needed no warning for that. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Voidus' expression calmed as he saw someone approaching them, he recognized her from the meeting earlier. The one who'd been with Sudiov. His expression darkened for a moment as she had a small exchange with a still-shaken Mac but he managed to replace it soon enough. "Good morning." He said briefly in greeting. "As mentioned, we're here somewhat incidentally to speak with some of ours after the meeting is done. But as we're here we may sit in as well." They may as well keep TUBA up to date while they were here, if things ended up poorly at the Plasmacore building then they'd probably want to evacuate it or some such.

Maybe he finally took up his calling as a Spice Girl and now has reunited the group as the new lead singer, changing his name to Basil.

Deteca turned a corner, relieved to see Didgeridoo right where it should be. The relief quickly disappeared when she saw a few very recognizable figures [and possibly one who's not, depending on whether or not scary-black-fox-lady came along] standing in front of the doors. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that TUBA and the DA had a truce, and besides that, several Denizens were already inside - none of them would risk Voidmaking or Alleymatics or anything on that level of destruction so close to their own. Glad that she had Tena behind her and wasn't alone, Deteca stopped in front of the [three or four, undetermined] department heads with a wry turn of her lips. "Hello, gentlemen, didn't expect you to be joining this meeting - if indeed that's what you're doing?"

Lita was about to request another cup of coffee when she felt an odd sensation against her right ankle, almost an...itching? I wonder... she thought, halting her brass storage to check the Coin. She nearly bit her tongue in half as a bright circle of fire lanced against her anklebone, and she immediately began storing some heat again, swallowing a whimper. Something dangerous out there, Lita sent to Laurelai and KanMien. And close, too. I'm surprised my whole rusting shoe isn't on fire. Lita raised her right leg as casually as she could, pretending to adjust her sock as she slipped the Coin into her palm. That'll leave a scar, she thought, then blinked, mind whirring. She smiled a bit, tapping a small sip of gold, and felt the pain in her ankle vanish. I could get used to that, she thought, keeping the Coin in the hollow of her palm, facing away from the TUBA member. The less he knew about that, the better. @Voidus

Mac glanced at voidus. "Maybe," He started carefully, "I could handle that. Most of them work for me anyway, and it would be unusual for you to handle individual promotions that far down on the ladder. I can give them bonuses for these recent jobs, does that sound good?"

The level of marvel intellect on this thread is beautiful.

The silence was eerie. Almost worst than the actual communicating earlier. He felt like they must have been discussing something, but how, he had no clue. He pulled out the tray of cookies he'd put in the mini-oven. The chocolate was just about to melt and the scent of baked goodness traveled up his nostrils. Heaven on the Alleyverse. Besides, no one ever liked to have serious conversations without warm cookies. Hopefully Deteca and whoever was planning on coming there with her would get there soon enough. Otherwise he'd have to stick the cookies back in the oven, which would shift them even farther away from prime moistness. "So. How has your night been? Busy?" one of them asked. Eiran jumped slightly at the sudden noise. "Y-yeah. Just been one thing after another." And one horrific vision after another since the first one of the empty spot on the ceiling. He still wondered what that had been supposed to show. An image of Joe's mangled body materialized in his mind's eye. He knew Joe was skilled and wouldn't let that future happen, but he winced instinctively at it anyways.

Voidus' eyes widened with realization and a touch of what may have been fear. There were very few things that would prompt Voidus to take action on something, the imminent destruction of the world might do it if he was feeling motivated. But one thing always worked, there was one situation that would never fail to cause him to expend any of his not inconsiderable resources in order to avoid. A meeting with HR. "Yep. Chairs." Voidus began to say, mind whirling to try to find a way out. "You know, while you're hear, I heard something about a large blood spill-" He cut himself off mid excuse, remembering that he'd already used that one. "Sorry, what I meant to say was that I think there's a lab somewhere in Alley 249 that hasn't yet been set up to be ergonomically for its researchers. Could you look into that? It would be a terrible shame if someone had a repetitive strain injury due to an incorrectly set up workstation." His speech continued to speed up as he spoke, eyes constantly wandering and looking for a chance to escape. "Thanks for that, got to go." He quickly muttered as he purposefully strode past, Alleytravelling after Mac. The Guardian paused in its circuit, the only break in its regular rhythmic steps since they'd all entered. There was a faint whine of confusion as it regarded the happenings below it, but then it began to tread out its careful loop around once more. This time moving away from Cam from HR.

I see* you future! *r

Ascended. On Vax.

It is kinda subjective. But I think that Eshonai was basically just honor, and caring for her people, thrust in a role she didnt want. A good character, but we have similar ones already. Venli is hungry for power, sided with Odium, realizes that she is doing the wrong thing, and has to try to become like Eshonai, while fighting the feeling that she can’t and isnt worthy. I think that Venli is more unique to SA. And to me personally, she is defenitely more appealing.

Aylitha smiled at him. "Congratulations," she said. She thought about what he had said, about the trouble in town. It had been a long time since she had left the alleys, ignoring Karin, and she found herself reminded of the old days, back when she was young, back when her body wasn't hers yet. She had almost forgotten what it had been like. Unconsciously small tentacles started forming on her arms, lashing out in anticipation. "That does sounds... interesting," she finally said. "Yes, I think I'll join."

Aylitha tilted her head, sifting through her memories. "Ah, right," she said when she found him. "That has been a while. I think so, at least. Linear time is confusing me nowadays." She smiled. "I'm actually the department head currently." Her face clouded as she thought about what he had said though. "It has been centuries, you said? That's long right? Sorry I haven't been in touch, I've been have a ... hard time focusing on things nowadays. I only got the message about the Alley 0 meeting a few minutes ago. Or was it a year ago?" She shook her head, then smiled again. "Still, it's nice to see you again. What are you up to nowadays?"

Alright, let’s take it up a notch *whips into the woah, which turns into a dab*

Presumably, any indirect Shard-to-mortal communication (or whatever Hoid qualifies as - though Endowment dismisses him as "merely a man", that's not exactly true...) would be replied to in the same way as it was received. So Frost's reply, plus the three Shardic replies, may offer some insight into the medium of delivery. Endowment: "I received your communication, of course. I noticed its arrival immediately, just as I noticed your many intrusions into my land." Autonomy: "... You have spoken to one who cannot respond. We, instead, will take your communication to us - though we know not how you located us upon this world." Harmony: "Your letter is most intriguing, even revalatory. .. I can be surprised. I can perhaps even be naive, I think. ... If you would speak to me further, I request open honesty. Return to my lands, approach my servants, and I will see what I can do for your quest." And Frost's reply includes: "I'll address this letter to my "old friend," ... Now, look what you've made me say." (While Frost is not a Shard, it seems reasonable that Hoid may have used a similar means of cross-world communication with him.) What might this tell us? Frost and Harmony refer to sending or receiving a "letter", while Endowment and Autonomy refer to a "communication", and Autonomy specifies it as a "spoken" one (the reply could easily have been, "you have written to one who cannot respond"). "Letter" technically implies a written communication, but it doesn't have to be, and Hoid's own letter to Frost called itself a "missive". Harmony replies, "if you would speak to me further", not "if you would write to me further", or "if we were to continue our correspondence". Frost uses a very colloquial offhand remark after insulting Hoid, "Now, look what you've made me say", which seems very oral to me, being a little bit too stream-of-consciousness to be something one would write on a piece of paper. Not entirely impossible, but it is suggestive. Suggestive of what? Of some kind of dictation or recording based communication, rather than an actual written-on-a-page type of letter. There is a formal composition and preparation of thoughts, to put into a single transmission (it's not like an "instant text message" type of back-and-forth reply), but still has room for ad-hoc or last minute interjections and musings, like Harmony's very Sazed-style "humble-hedging" comment, "I can be surprised. I can perhaps even be naive, I think." Someone writing a letter and editing it before sending it would almost certainly not put the redundantly hedging type words "perhaps" and "I think" there, it's a kind of verbal tic. Furthermore, Endowment implies noticing the agent's "arrival" in the same way that she notices Hoid "intruding" into Nalthis - meaning it worldhopped in via the same path that Hoid himself has been using, and Harmony demands "open honesty" in a direct discussion with Hoid, implying this first communication was via a go-between. So my wild, wild theory: the letters are a kind of Lightweaving type magic that can be tied to a living or maybe Cognitive Realm based agent, which upon receipt can do a "help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're our only hope" type of playback, and perhaps includes a of mechanism for taking back a reply in the same way (like a SASE of old).

Came back from break with some new songs, so I'll dump them here on you all. Bad, Bad Amaram, to the tune of Bad, Bad Leroy Brown. WoR spoilers. With a very wrong rhyme scheme (Mraize is a pain in the neck to rhyme with), here's You Don't Mess Around With Mraize, to the tune of You Don't Mess Around With Jim. Some WoR spoilers, but nothing bad. Probably the most half-baked one on here. Sorry. Dirty Paws by Of Monsters and Men can be interpreted as about WWII. So, I thought it might also work about a Desolation. Golden Crown, with major Oathbringer spoilers and some WoR spoilers. My favorite of these four. Honestly, read Oathbringer first. This song references secrets. And last, a tribute to all those who ever wished to go to the places we read about. Fiction, to the tune of Trampoline by SHAED.

Now that the truth is out, I wanted to say that I've been very impressed by you this game. Even though we've been on opposing sides this whole time, it was a lot of fun working (and panicking) with you. Your instincts on me since D1 were pretty much right. I hope some day in the future we can be villagers together, or better yet, eliminators Insanely crazy, right!? And fun too. Even though circumstances seem to have conspired against me, it's still been a hoot. Honestly choosing the Coinshot as my successor is a bit too obvious. There's no way I'd do it. But if anyone is interested, feel free to PM me and make your case. Together we can make Elendel great again! ED1T: In retrospect, referencing Trump probably wasn't the best idea... ED2T: Oh right, vote tally. (2) Amandra: Araris Valerian, _Stick_, (3) Rebelmaskal: Amandra, Fifth Scholar, Devotary of Spontaneity,

Attayl left and Brillin was left wallowing in his own misery and drunkenness. He heard some sort of scuffle upstairs but he didn’t dare investigate further. Cowardly. But Attayl had tried to make it sound nice, that he knew when to pick his fights, when not to, that the “brave” just messed things up. Sinking further in his chair he remembered an experience back in the early days of his travels... <^> “Impossible!” Brillin exclaimed and the old man simply chortled. “How do you do it?” The old man smiled, moving the simple wooden pieces of the board game back to their starting positions. He’d won again, for the fourth time in a row. He was apparently the unbeaten champion of the board game in the little suburban community, knowing all the tricks and strategies. “I’m telling you,” the old man said, chuckling. “You’ve got to use the coinshot. Move it forward quick.” “But then you’ll just use your soother to exploit the gap!” The old man chuckled and shrugged. “Maybe I will. Maybe I won’t just to see your reaction. Rematch?” “You’re on.” The next game, Brillin lost again. But he got to know the old man’s tactics, how he advanced his Allomancers. The next game, Brillin lost again, but he managed to figure out how the old man used the Cadmium Allomancer for defence. Brillin had never considered the tactic before, using the Rioter and Pulser in tandem to make the Zinc last longer. Brillin nodded to himself, and on the next game he smiled and put up a challenge. To the old man’s surprise, Brillin hadn’t perished in the first 20 moves. He knew the counters, how using a Slider would make him vulnerable to to the Tineye, how the combination of a Coppercloud and Nicroburst disrupted his offence. The old man raised an eyebrow, and suddenly, the game became much more interesting. People began to crowd around Brillin and the old man, making bets on who would win. Lots of the support rested with the old man, however, as Brillin began using his knowledge of the old man’s techniques against him, the tides almost began to turn. Partly the game was fun competition, but Brillin knew that if he win, he’d get the people’s respect. Maybe another Koloss-blooded traveller after him wouldn’t be faced with the stereotypes he would. But those were just pipe dreams. At the last move of the game the man moved a single wooden piece to take Brillin’s last one, smiling. It had been a very close match. “Good game,” the old man said as the crowd clapped. “Care for a drink? On me. And don’t give me that “recovering alcoholic” excuse like you did last time, you deserve this for putting up such a fight!” People laughed and Brillin began packing the pieces up. It was approaching noon, and — “Yeah, of course he bloody lost, look at ‘im.” The crowd silenced somewhat as a young man with a red bandana pushed past them, approaching the front row and staring at Brillin. Brillin kept his head low, packing up the pieces. The old man looked to the youth. “Exc—” “Shut it, old man. Not exactly a rusting fair contest you have here, do ya?” He gestured to Brillin. “Going ‘gainst a rusting keg, no wonder.” Brillin sighed as more people looked to him, to see if he would do anything, but he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t risk affiliating with any gang-types, even it meant they could mock him. But diplomacy, maybe diplomacy would work. He finished packing up the pieces to the game and looked up to the youth. The teenager had skinny arms, maybe not used to fighting, but he had a long dagger strapped to his hip. “I was just playing a game,” Brillin said. “With this lovely old man, wouldn’t —” “Preservation’s wings, he even rusting sounds like us too!” The youth said in mock amazement. “Or tries to. Sorry mate, you still sound like rusting savage to me.” Brillin stood up and some people backed away, young man included. Brillin sighed. Of course they moved back. “I just want to sort this out normally, like how normal people do,” he said. The youth frowned, but nodded. Brillin continued. “We can talk about this. Hell, it’s not like every Koloss-blood is a monster.” “Yeah, but,” the youth stammered. “But you’re Koloss! You lot rusting ate people! Still do!” “Not all,” Brillin said and the youth seemed genuinely confused. Brillin scratched his forehead. Of course, no one was flat out against Koloss-bloods, it was just education. Of course, education, or maybe the lack of education, and caused people to believe crazy, unwarranted stories about Brillin, about where he came from. Brillin smiled. “Lots of us just eat... normal things.” “Huh,” The youth said, he’d eased down a bit. “But, you, you, you’re not a savage?” “Do I look like one?” The suit and trousers agreed with Brillin, and the crowd had calmed as well. Diplomacy. Brillin might not have won the board game, but he’d won another battle. He smiled. Maybe, when more people started learning the truths and unlearning the myths —” A fist slammed into the youth’s face, sending him flying to the ground in a splash of blood and a scream of agony. The crowd yelled, quickly dispersing, keeping there distance, but what was happening was in clear view. Brillin stepped back, eyes wide in shock. The old man quickly kept his distance as well. The youth cried in pain on the ground, and a hand grabbed him by the collar, picking him up effortlessly. The hand was a greyish blue colour. “Rusting savages, eh?” The large Koloss-blooded man said. His skin was almost exactly like Brillin’s, though it had more grey in it. The youth whispered something but his bloody teeth disagreed to share it. The Koloss-blooded man continued. “Well, how’s this for savage!” He yelled, spitting in the youth’s face and slamming him into the ground. Brillin could hear something crack and the youth whimpered. “Sir!” Brillin called out to the Koloss-blooded man but the man turned his head and looked Brillin straight in the eyes. “Don’t you tell me anything,” he said. “You’re just too rusting cowardly to actually do anything! These rusting hooligans think they can scare us?! Then let’s show them!” He kicked the youth in the ribs and the youth screamed. Brillin covered his mouth with his hands as another Koloss-blooded man came out of the alleys and began beating on the youth too. Together, the two men raged on the kid, tearing him apart, reducing him to a red stain on the side walk and walls, the screams bloodcurdling until they come to a sudden stop. Brillin looked to the old man but the old man looked back at him with terror. No! Brillin had tried to use diplomacy! Brillin had tried to do the right thing! But it didn’t matter. As Brillin fled that town, he was given all sorts of dirty looks. Because it didn’t matter what Brillin did, he was grouped together, everyone saw him as just another Koloss-blood savage. And no matter how hard he tried, no matter how hard he pushed the boulder up the hill, someone, always, rolled it back down. Just one violent action, that was all it took for people to reaffirm their beliefs, that Koloss-blooded were evil, that Brillin was evil! And as Brillin booked the ticket for the next train to take him out of that rusted town, he found himself ordering a large alcoholic drink on the side.

I've been into the cosmere for many years now. I've read everything(SA, mistborn, elantris, warbreaker, Arcanum) except the white Sands comics I have sitting in my dresser. So any day now on those. I chanced upon The Way of Kings after rereading kingkiller chronicles for the millionth time and searching for something new. It's been everything I hoped for. So I finally made an account here to brush up on what I dont know and see what others have uncovered. Thanks for having me.

This is a bit off-topic, but I just realized I recognize the people in that meme now! That's Captain America and Iron Man! *is proud of self* *should probably not be proud of that*

It's clearly a service offered at Shadesmar(t), the Greatest Shopping Center in the Cosmere!

AJ began to cry. "I am sorry I couldn't get to you in time. I am so sorry."

I'm signing up as Subaru, the man who suffered, a lot.

Is there anything special happening with the magic when two allomancers are pushing on the same object against each other?Or are we talking about simply the natural effect of two people applying a force to the same object, with one person being stronger than the other? Here's what I think you're trying to say: when two Allomancers (one stronger than the other) Push on an object, the force that the stronger one exerts on the object is transferred to the weaker one. Is that right? Also, by weight do you mean mass or how well anchored you are to the ground? Just to see if it helps with the discussion, what do you think of this simulation of two allomancers pushing on an object between them? Does it describe what you think should happen when two allomancers with different strengths/masses push on the same object?

Irony Pulled me into this thread. So. Why Ati wasn't invited to parties? Because his Intent always was to Ruin them.