Leaderboard

I'm going on this premise: Odium always asks from people to commit to him alone. Odium converted some Singers to join his cause against Honor and Cultivation, by convincing them to fight against the Humans. He makes these Singers Cognitive Shadows, and they become the Fused. The Fused can Voidbind, or atleast use a version of Surgebinding. One approach to becoming a Cognitive Shadow is to get an infusion of investiture in between the time when your physical body dies and when you pass on into the Beyond. Knight Radiants get an infusion of Honor's investiture when they first speak any of their Oaths. This could also possibly true in Voidbinding, in which case the infusion is of Odium's investiture. I was looking through the Death Rattles, and I came across this one: And I can't help but wonder if this is the initiation oath for a Singer to become a cognitive shadow upon death, and become one of the Fused. The death is my life. The Singer only speaks this upon death, and accepts investiture from Odium to become a Cognitive Shadow. In doing so, they accept that they will never again be truly alive. They accept their death, and it will be the only life they know going forward. The strength becomes my weakness. The old source of their strength, their belief in denying Odium and trust in the wisdom of other, ancient Singers/Honor/Cultivation is now their weakness. Following those old paths will only lead them further from their conviction in Odium. The journey has ended. They have given themselves over to Odium, and absolve themselves of any responsibility going forward. Their journey has ended, they have arrived in a place in their life from where what they want will actually be achieved. Or maybe their Journey has ended, they no longer fight to get somewhere in life, now they fight for a prize they personally will never get. They fight for their descendents. This imo would be genius manipulation by Odium. He literally makes people fight for something they will never get. And the ones they believe they are fighting for don't even know if they want it anymore. The modern singers don't even remeber how this fight started and would be willing to stay with the Humans in peace. But the Fused say "No, we are doing this because you want this, even though you don't know you want this, so come here, listen to our preachers tell you what you should want so that we can fight for it and you can join us. Trust us, we know better." The other possible interpretation is that this from the perspective of a Radiant who has utterly given up - and to me it seems extremely unlikely, as the whole journey of a Radiant is to utterly and truly believe that they will not give up despite their pain and will keep going inspite of it. Edit: In tackling @Scion of the Mists's post recently, I had the idea that maybe the Fused progression could actually end with this Oath (or Commitment?) rather than start with it. This could fit better with the theme of Symmetry that so pervades Rosharan culture. So each of Odium's orders could have a "commitment" based progression which is individualized for each order, but could end with (possibly ritualistic) death as the last commitment. In symmetry to this, Honor's Oath-based progression starts with a mirror of the end of Odium's Commitment-based progression. Commitment here being a stand-in for whatever Odium uses in place of Oaths.

I have foregone the way of stick, in exchange for the leadership of The Furrets. All hail.

She was trying to imagine what the Enemy cared about most, they seemed to want her to leave the city, but then they had called her here as well. Did they even know that she would feel it? No, they had known. They had been waiting for her, tried to manipulate her when she arrived. But they had tried to direct her towards a part of the city, the Enemy of stone. So they wanted that destroyed and used her to do it? But they did care about the rest of the city. That was good. She imagined the city in flames, the other stone buildings melting beneath the inferno she would unleash upon them. Storms. The Voice resounded again. She wanted to burn that voice. Wanted her silence back. What was it even saying? She knew of storms but it felt different, like that Pretender who had worn the shape of other things, but had not been other things. Perhaps crawling on the ground made it harder for them to think. Perhaps the air was dirtier down there and that was why they all came up with such strange ideas. She felt another rush of pressure against her, wordless this time but an order nonetheless. She felt it seize the body, not her body any longer, and stop it now, retracting the earlier order. I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry. She felt an urge to cock her head at that. Confusion briefly tamping down the fires of her hatred at the Voice that continued to speak. Understanding transcended language here, but she still felt that she didn't understand what the Voice was saying. Was it pitying her? That made her angrier still. But it felt like it was pitying her for what it had done to her. That didn't make sense, if it didn't like a thing then why had it done it? I’m so sorry. The Voice echoed again. If it didn't want this done then it should undo it. How could the Voice not understand such simple things? She had assumed that she was an Enemy to the Enemy as well, it hadn't run when she had first met it after all, it had tried to fight back. The Enemy then had made sense, it knew she was an Enemy as well and knew that it could not flee her so it fought. But now the Enemy seemed different. It didn't understand anything, didn't understand the joys of Living. It had fled from her at that other city, tried to flee from her here. The first time I Rioted you, it was by accident. She remembered the first time she had felt the Enemy. It had been calling all her Kindred towards it, stoking their hatred and rage. She thought she might have even liked the Enemy if it hadn't made her so angry. She still would have had to hunt them, but they had been a good hunt, a good fight. But it had definitely been trying to get the Kindred to attack it, trying to draw them away from the rest of the city, just as it was asking her to do now. Was it trying to lie? I-I was angry. And I Rioted everyone. It hadn't seemed angry, it had seemed purposeful, determined. Only the second time she'd met the Enemy had it seemed Angry at something, that time it didn't even seem to intend to call her, it had seemed an accident. Something began to dawn on her at that moment, it seemed somehow easier to think here, in this place where she had nothing else. Where she couldn't live properly without recalling the past. The Enemy she'd met that first time, she definitely believed that she'd killed it. She had destroyed them until nothing was left to return from, enough that even she wouldn't be able to come back from it. How then was the Enemy still alive? And why did they seem so different the next time she met them? And the second time, it was blackmail. She felt the intention of the Voices words. When it said the second time it meant this time. But this was the third time the Enemy had called to her. Could this Enemy be different to the one she had first fought? This was my fault, though, this control, I’m sorry. Do you even understand me? I know you can think, but... It still wasn't making sense. It kept wishing that it didn't do a thing that it did, but then why did it do it? Was someone controlling the Enemy like it was controlling her? She wanted to tell it that she didn't understand it in the least, but she also felt that wasn't quite what it meant. It wanted to know if she could hear it. And I don’t want to let you go now, because I know you want to kill me. But, believe me, I really don’t want to do this. Why would her wanting to kill it stop it from letting her go? And if it didn't want to do it then why was it doing it? Did it not want to Live? Did it not wish to enjoy the thrill of a chase or the invigoration of battle? So many questions, and the Voice wasn't answering any. Why did it talk to her if it wasn't going to explain anything? It didn't give her commands, didn't tell her what to do or what to think. So why speak? She reached back towards the voice, the same way she had reached out to her Kindred when she had been connected to them. It was harder now, harder to do unless she was told to do it. That rankled, but she never backed down before a challenge. She forced her voice back towards it until she felt it reach a presence. Why do you say lies as though they were true? You say you want something but do a different thing. You... you are not the one who called me first? The one who stood here and fought? That one understood. You don't understand. @I think I am here.

Unfortunately for the foreman, things didn’t quiet down after Elandera’s arrest. Quite the opposite in fact, with the saboteurs stepping up their campaign of destruction the workers had become more paranoid, and it was well before lunch that she got called in to mediate another big dispute before it turned into an all-out brawl. “Foreman, Third of Sunset was a pretty vocal part of the incident of yesterday, some of us think that’s…” “Quill’s odd creatures have been seen ranging through the airship where they don’t belong, he could have easily trained them to…” “Foreman!” “Foreman!” “Ms. Cole, if you’ve got a moment, our investigation so far has brought some interesting facts to life.” The calm voice nevertheless cut easily through the workers’ shouts. Unnoticed by all, a man in a civilian suit had walked up to the group and was now brandishing a badge. “It has come to our attention that mr. Thousantoo has something of a criminal record. We’d like to take him in for questioning.” The foreman nodded at the officer, then turned her attention back to the workers. “Do any of you have anything credible to contribute to his investigation?” “Something that does not have anything to do with mr. Quill’s monkeys, or whatever they are.” She interjected before anyone could speak. The group remained silent. “Allright officer, mr. Thousantoo is all yours.” *** Mika was sitting in the ship’s laboratory, waiting for his coat to be returned. One of the ship’s biologists had asked if they could borrow it, as he’d been pretty close to a saboteur and they hoped to find some clue as to their identities. Mika was fine with that. After the incident with the brig, the guards had been reassigned to keep an eye on the various volatile substances in and around the ship, and guarding the various chemicals in the lab seemed to him to be the safest posting by far. The lab itself was a miracle of modern size, containing in its small space everything an aspiring biologist or chemist would need to do their work. Mika glanced idly over the glass bottles with arcane labels and large warnings, the various machines for heating, diluting and observing the various samples, the panicked albatross flying into the room… Quiet work quickly turned into panicked chaos as more birds filled the room, trashing sensitive equipment and spilling various chemicals everywhere. Shouts of “get them out!” “Open a window” and “AAAAH, my eyes!” filled the room. Mika sighed as he got up to help the researchers. “This was supposed to have been a quiet and dignified posting.” he muttered as he opened the nearest window and started shooing the birds out. *** Vote count Ax's boyfriend(2): Lopen, burnt Drake(2): stick, BrightnessRadiant Burnt(2): Araris, devotary Alvron(1): Drake stick(1): strikerEZ Ax was fired. He was an NITC messenger Brightness radiant was hospitalized. She is a biologist The aviary was sabotaged The laboratory was sabotaged Araris Valerian is visiting the hospital this cycle. A message was left on the notice board in the crew mess: Airship parts: player list This cycle ends Friday 19th of July, 12:00 (noon) Amsterdam time.

I'm fairly certain this is Burnt. Of all the players Burnt is the only one to constantly express something close to fear whenever we play together. In case your wondering Burnt, I haven't forgotten about you attacking me in LG24. Exhilarating isn't it. The heart beating fast, the constant refreshing of the page for rollover, the long, long wait to see if you lived or died. Now you know why I enjoy ties and being tied in the lynch. @_Stick_ Welcome back to the land of the living. I would so love for this to be true. Burnt is one of the very few I really, really want to be evil with but haven't. I've just finished a 16 hour shift and would really like some sleep before I head off to work again tonight. I likely won't be on again until about 12 hours before rollover but until then. I have an idea about the Doctor and how to hide them but in my sleep addled state I'm sure I'm missing something. Several of us should visit the Hospital randomly or semi randomly. The Doctor will then be partly hidden and able to heal. They won't be able to heal every time and the elims will be able to slowly work out who they are but hopefully by then we would've found a couple of them or at least delayed them winning enough to give us a fighting chance. This will hopefully also force the elim Engineer to not sabotage for a couple of cycles to visit the hospital again giving us more time to find them. And with that, I'm going to sleep before my face hits the keyboard.

Sorry to interrupt the raging dog debate, but I have been drawing a lot of zombie squirrels, and I think this is a pretty good design for Fallen Rope, the scourge of the Court of Gods: Soon to appear in the Cosmere spinoff, The Squeaking Dead.

Interesting, I hadn't given this much thought in the past, but this thread made me go back and re-read that part. It is a three key sequence, so VIN or DOX would fit if it was a simple letter cypher. "Apparently these symbols spell out something the Lord Ruler would have understood." Well, The Sovereign, anyway, who we now know was Kelsier. So, what three key sequence would be meaningful to him, that he could also pass down through his priests? We're told the door is made of stone, as the walls were, with circles carved into it, and symbols inlaid in silver inside of the circles. The symbols are not recognized by Wax as any script familiar to him, nor does Allik. We aren't told how many circles there are, or what pattern they're in, or if any of them repeat. The entire place was presumably built by the priests of the Sovereign, and the passcode sequence, as correctly remembered by Edwarn, was passed down from the lips of a dying priest, to a "doomed Hunter", to Allik's ship's captain when drunk, and then to him. Allik and his captain may or may not know the Hunters' language or script, but Edwarn certainly does not. So I doubt it's an alphabetic cypher to spell out a 3-letter name. What three symbol thing would be meaningful to Kelsier, yet communicable not just to his priests but three times removed, passed through a tavern story, forced out by torture, and Connection medallion based translation? The only symbol described is the second one, when Edwarn tells Wax, while pointing, "the one with the triangular shape." The first and third buttons he only indicates by pointing, and we as readers are not privy to even a similarly vague description of the indicated symbols. That simple description suggests that shape was important to the mnemonic description, perhaps the only one. If there were lots of triangles in the door, how easily would that information have been accurately passed "from the lips of a dying priest" to a Hunter with drunkenly loose lips and then to an airship captain forced to reveal it under torture, when she'd probably still try to give as little detail as possible? The description would have to have been something like, "and then the triangle shaped one in the upper right", and that is harder to remember. And yet, they can't be simple geometric shapes - square, circle, triangle, etc. - like they use for testing pre-literate children IRL, or Wax wouldn't think of them as "symbols". He'd call them "shapes". As for the idea that they could be Aons, I looked at the list of them on the Coppermind, and none of them are what I would describe as "the one with the triangular shape." They're all too complex to describe in terms of a simple shape, but none of them are at all triangular in layout (some are as close as being "diamond shaped", but more than one).

I suspect it is mostly an observation that Kaladin places the desire to do the right thing above doing merely what the rules/oaths tell him is the right thing. Tanavast was the human holding the power of Honor. We know that the nature of the shards can warp the perspectives of their holders over time (Ati was a kind person, Ruin made him axecrazy). I suspect early on Tanavast was a more compassionate person who cared deeply for protecting humanity. As time progressed though and he was wounded in his struggle with Odium, I suspect he grew more extreme in his interpretation of Honor (black-and-white thinking, emphasizing the letter of oaths/laws instead of the human impact, not freeing the suffering Heralds from their oaths). As Odium himself accused: Now, everything Odium says should be viewed with a grain of salt, but he might be hinting at the end result of that sort of transformation process: Tanavast's personality being warped over time from viewing honor as a way of trying to do the right thing, and instead focusing on the process itself of Honor (keep oaths above all). The Stormfather himself implies at one point that Honor's personality had changed quite a bit by the end. You could view Szeth and Nale as good examples of that sort of extreme Honor rule following undiluted by compassion. Kaladin rather uniquely of the characters spends a lot of time mulling over what "doing the right thing" actually means. He wants to protect everyone, but how can you do that when two different groups of people you are sympathetic to start killing each other? Other characters are not necessarily evil in what they do, but they don't spend a lot of time digging deep about what really is right/wrong in specific situations. Dalinar follows the codes and the Words of Radiance without really constructing his own beliefs on right/wrong. I think that confusion and extreme focus on "what is right" by Kaladin is what makes him so uniquely Tanavast-like.

I just have to rant here because I have a bit to get off my chest. For the past several weeks I have been involved in communication with a firm that had an interesting job opening. Things seemed to be going fairly well and I thought that I could finally put to rest the anxiety of unsuccessfully job searching for 7 months.I had an interview with the woman who would have been my supervisor. She told me that HR would be in touch and 20 minutes later I discovered that they wanted me to come in for a face to face interview. I went in and actually ended up having not one but two interviews. At the end of the second during which I spoke once again with my potential supervisor and her supervisor I asked about the next step in the process. She said that the next step would be a further interview which they had to arrange and they would be in touch. They gave me every indication that things had gone well. I was made to wait over the weekend for a response and when one finally came it was not an appointment for another interview it was a notice that the firm could not hire me for a position in their firm, but they would keep me in mind if they ever needed someone. I don't know why they think that that would make the situation better. I went in the following day to my college's career center for an appointment that I had made prior to the response and told the adviser that I was dealing with about this. He said that I should put it out of my mind because I will never know why I was rejected and that the very fact that I had a second interview meant that I was doing the right thing. He also said that my rejection most likely is no indication of my having done anything wrong, but was likely a arbitrary decision on their part. Logically I know these things to be the truth, but that does not make the pain or frustration any less. I was so close and then I was slapped away with no indication whatsoever that something like this was going to happen. It's even worse for the fact that I was made to wait a whole weekend and that I had reason to hope that this time things would be different than they had been previously. I can't help, but examine every little thing and wonder if it is the reason why they said no. Its so maddening and frustrating to be stuck in this spiral, but there is so little to be done, but carry on as though I was not made to hope and then tossed aside. It is just so difficult not to lose it with everyone. I want to snap at the world even though I know it does not help. Thank you all for listening!!! This vent helps a little and every little bit helps!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a little sketch of what is, without a doubt, the cutest thing in the Cosmere, Vasher's awakened lifeless squirrel, Fallen Rope (that's the command phrase, so might as well call this little cutie that). Awakened with the command "Run around. Make noise. Bite things which aren't me." I think Zahel would be great at kids' birthday parties.

Think we can call the poll at this point. Results: 1. Would you support the new world plot proposed by Fatebreaker? Yes - 16 No - 0 2. How long should the plot last 1 Era - 1 2 Eras - 15 3+ Eras (If possible please explain) - 0 N/A - 0 3. When should this plot start? Era 4 - 7 Era 5 - 6 Era 6 or later - 2 N/A - 1 Unanimous approval that the plot should happen at some point (Nicely done @Fatebreaker), general consensus on a 2-era long plot. Some contention around whether the plot should start in era 4 or 5, I think we may be able to compromise a bit by having it take a background role in era 4, as @MetaTerminal suggested, with another main plot at the fore acting as something of a distraction. Maybe a small number of characters involved and actually aware of what the DA is planning, some espionage and counterespionage activities going on to try to work out what is actually happening but the main focus of most characters will be on a different main plot. And then Era 5 for when the change actually takes effect and the plot comes to the fore. Thoughts? Anyone strongly opposed to that or has an alternative suggestion?

I got slapped in the face with a horrific bout of insomnia last week and haven't been working on my daily stuff. Tomorrow I want to try to get back into it. Maybe. Here's one I did a few days ago, though.

There are -a lot- of cute things. One of my favorites though is when Vin idly starts petting TenSoon and TenSoon responds "Mistress, I'm not sure how I feel about this." I find it incredibly cute. The budding friendship between an orphan and her immortal puppy.

Soooo I just came home from a signing in Stuttgart, Germany and I got to ask this question! (Paraphrased, I was toooooo nervous to remember the exact wording. I was so silly that when he asked me how I was my answer was "I'm trembling" ) But there you go. Whatever it means, it's not a coincidence. I finally have some peace of mind and I didn't waste time when thinking about this!

Hmm, no, this is definitely interesting. I did a search for the word "soil" in The Way of Kings, and there are only a few places where the word appears - and some of those places are ones where it makes sense (e.g. when Vstim is talking about the actual soil in Shinnovar). So let's go over those. So this is coming from Tukks, Kaladin's... I don't remember, some kind of mentor?, from the army. Perhaps it's worth looking into him a little more? Interlude 4: Rysn has three references to "soil," but all of them are proper - e.g. Vstim telling Rysn that the soft ground under her feet is called soil, Rysn musing about its strangeness, and Vstim instructing her to get plenty of soil for her grass. So we'll skip those. Interlude 6: Szeth has Szeth thinking about his time back in Shinnovar, with buildings "built with clay and soil." He also wonders how the people in the East could avoid walking on stone, since they have no soil here. So nothing odd here. This is the passage @Sand Master was referring to, obviously. The ardent in question is not thoroughly described, so here's what we know about him from the previous couple of pages: He is "short white-robed ardent Dalinar didn't know" He takes offense in Au-nak's (the Natan man Hatham was talking with) comment that "religion is but an excuse. Or perhaps a justification." He has some knowledge of Sesemalex Dar and the Emuli. In his words: “The city’s pattern is central to the Emuli religion,” the ardent said. “They claim it is their ancestral homeland, a gift to them from the Heralds. And the Tukari are led by that god-priest of theirs, Tezim. So the conflict is religious in nature.” He mocks and/or insults Au-Nak, referring to him as an "insufferable bore." Dalinar calls him bold for insulting "a man Hatham wants to do business with." It turns out the ardent belongs to Hatham and was playing a political game when insulting the Natan. And this is where something interesting happens... It is very possible that we are overthinking things here, but I think it's certainly possible that that the ardent here is not referring to the ardentia when he talks about "our goodwill" or that "we will speak with you again"

So I'm going to say hello after I made my first post elsewhere because apparently that topic was more important than joining in. I've been aware of the 17th shard for a long time, but I haven't really dove into the forums or groups because I wasn't ready for the in-depth thought and theory that came behind some of these things, and I found the idea a little intimidating. I probably overthought it in my mind, which is something I'm unfortunately too good at doing. So now, hm, where am I? I'm caught up on main Stormlight books and Edgedancer. I'm partway through era 2 Mistborn. I've read Arcanum unbounded and Elantris, as well as the Emperor's soul. I also (metaphorically) ran into Brandon because of his work finishing the Wheel of Time. I physically ran into him at JordanCon a few years back, and asked him a question in the hall that I can't really add as a Word of Brandon because I'm afraid it would be too paraphrased at this point to do much good. Outside of Sanderson I know my Tolkien, love the Discworld, and have read most of the Star Wars EU (Now Legends) printed before Lucasfilm was bought by the House of Mouse. My wife lets me organize the room with the three bookshelves that we call the library (though I plan on expanding it.) I guess that does it for me. I look forward to diving into the forums more, and hopefully having ideas worth posting and sharing with you all.

Or perhaps other things. Their sense of "humanity" their culture and their previously held beliefs. The things "normal" singers do is now painful for them. I also doubt their is any other ideal in Voidbinding. The journey is ended. I don't think you can move on to grow and change after that.

Blackbane stared at the Shadowblaze in disbelief. "Is that what I think it is?" "Yes." replied Elysian in a bored tone. "Would you like to see it up close?" "What do you..." Without warning, the Shadowblaze flew into Blackbane. He coughed, sputtered, and then, his eyes glowed white. "Forgotten!" cried Jerm Apple. From behind him, a low voice monotoned. "Took you long enough to figure it out." Jeeves stepped out of the shadows, and started strangling Jerm. Hordes of chalklings began pouring into the camp. The remaining three soldiers made a break for it. Unfortunately, Lumgol wasn't fast enough, and was quickly devoured. "What do you want us to do with the other two?" asked the Forgotten inhabiting Blackbane's body. "They're of no consequence to us. We have all the Dynamite, so there's not threat to the Tower." declared Elysian."The Circle has been shattered. We have won." The camp was Overrun! Lumgol was killed in the chaos. They were a Rithmatist Ventyl was killed. They were a Rithmatist Someone was turned into a Forgotten! The Forgotten outnumber the Rithmatists. There is no way for the remaining Rithmatists to win, so the game is over. Player List:

The Goatstorm comes.

@AonEne

I interpret Dalinar's interaction with Cultivation as evidence that she is actively involved. Maybe directly confronting Odium is a terrible idea (and certainly it hasn't gone well for any of the other shards), but she is clearly still paying attention and altering things. If her goal were to simply hide and wait for Odium to give up looking for her, should she just withdraw as much of her investiture as she can, or maybe even leave Roshar? Instead she is meddling with the very human Odium intends to be his champion.

Why do you say lies as though they were true? You say you want something but do a different thing. You... you are not the one who called me first? The one who stood here and fought? That one understood. You don't understand. The voice caught Max off guard and he flinched at the response. It sounded... vast. And vaguely female, though of course Max knew this wasn’t Althea. Althea. She moved closer to him and Max squeezed her hand gently. The Phoenix, he realised. It was talking to him. Or was it a hallucination brought on by all the stress? Harmony knows it wouldn’t be the first one of those. The one who fought? I never fought, not you at least. Mac thought, wondered who the Phoenix could be referring to, though it didn’t take much detective work. There were only three times the Phoenix had been summoned into the public, and two of them had been Max. The third, and first one of the summonings was all the way in the Seven Day War. Rashan. Even while doing one of the seemingly impossible things of the Alleyverse Max still somehow remained in his shadow. I know who you’re thinking about. No, I’m not him. Unfortunately, Max almost let slide. And I’m sorry if I don’t understand you. I’m just confused. And I’m not lying. I don’t want to do this. I didn’t. But I did because they took my wife. Did the Phoenix even know what that was? They took someone I loved, and said they’d kill them if I didn’t summon you. And now, I just want to live, but I think you’re going to try and kill me as soon as I let you go, so I don’t let you go. It’s comlicated. It was complicated. And Max hoped the Phoenix could understand, because once the AlleyStorm dwindled the Phoenix would be out of his control anyway, and whether he wanted it to or not it would probably hunt him down. @Voidus —-— Wes took the shirt with reverence. “Thanks, sir.” He said and paused, looked at it for a second. Very quickly he ripped the tattered remains of cloak he had on and slid on the shirt, very briefly exposing the massive scar that ran across his back, thicker than a plank of wood and running down its length. Seom had seen the scar before. And Wes hoped that was all who’d seen it, though he knew, Mike had probably seen it as well now. —-— “We did succeed,” Shez/Alask said. “And that is ‘we’ as in all of us, not ‘we’ as in Shez and Alask. Although in our own way we’ve succeeded as well.” They looked around. “We should go back to the Forge. Our work is done.” @Sorana

He may call himself "Passion" and walk around with a golden scepter, but when One Who Ought To Know like Frost calls him "God's divine hatred", I always picture him like this:

So I recently finished re-reading Way of Kings for the third time. While reading it, I remember placing a note (ebook version, so I have highlighted and noted a lot of passages) about what at the time seemed a relatively unimportant scene. Then, browsing the forums just now, I read this question to Brandon: The reason I find this so interesting is because the passage I noted (in chapter 54: Gibletish) contains Highprince Hatham, Dalinar, and an ardent talking to a Natan man. The ardent says this: "One wonders if you are equally devout when not standing on our soil." I found this a bit strange, since the only place on Roshar where soil exists is in Shinovar, and we've seen that practically nobody knows what it is. It's also not an idiomatic phrase, since Rysn's babsk has to explain to her the meaning of the word. Yet here is an Alethi ardent on the Shattered Plains, about as far away from Shinovar as you can get, using the word soil. Even if we consider that this ardent somehow traveled to Shinovar at one point, and that he grew comfortable enough with their phrases to use soil metaphorically like this, why would he do so when surrounded by people who won't know what he's talking about? At first I had considered this to simply be a slip-up in the writing, since to us on Earth that sort of phrase is relatively commonplace. But after seeing this mention that you could discover worldhoppers by examining their speech, and then a very similar example being used to demonstrate, I am suddenly less sure. Thoughts?

“Then I offer you a Choice. Would you have Power, or Subtlety?” Lita felt the Coin slip through her fingers and twine around the Stranger's instead. Then he flicked it into the air, where it remained, spinning faster and faster until it looked like a tiny star in truth - golden and bright in the dark fury of the Storm. The whole of her life pushed her toward Subtlety. She was the Tineye, the secret-keeper, the girl in the shadows. The one to send in first, quiet and quick as lying. The Stranger continued. “Would you steal the secrets of the world with cunning and guile? Would you wear a thousand faces and have none of your own?" 'My little Tineye,' Forian murmured into her ear, wrapping her in a mink shawl. 'My beautiful little secret...' He had passed her around like a party favor, and she had been his little knife. A sharp tool in the hands of dull men, again and again. Restraint, caution, listening, waiting. Obedience. "Or would you tear secrets out with your bare hands from those who would keep them from you? Would you rip the truth from the hearts of your enemies?” 'What do you think would happen once she realized she was a mistake?' She saw Forian's eyes in the lamplight, glassy and wide through the haze of her cigarette smoke. Handsome even in death - though death had not come gentle. She had chosen the subtle way, cyanide in a snifter of brandy. Poison - a woman's weapon, they called it. The way out for someone with meager power. I should have carved your heart out, Forian, Lita thought. She had been weak then, weak her whole life. Unwanted, unknown, a tool. A toy. Before her, the Stranger pulled two long spikes from within his coat, dripping red. Ghostly shapes bloomed around him, twisted, moving, screaming in the hardened darkness of the Storm. All was sound and rain and agony, but still she heard him. “This choice I offer you, but know that you will never be who you once were. Are you seeking to build upon a weakness, or are you someone seeking to hide the fact that you are weak?” All her life she had been subtle, trailing in the wake of powerful people. Forian, her employers in the Alleycity, and now the Dark Alley. A knife in the dark. Knowledge was power, but she had never kept enough of that power for herself. She couldn't hold onto it. Lita had danced around the truth of the world, waiting for someone to lift the curtain so she could see backstage. Cunning. Guile. Weakness. But not anymore. Now, she would hold her own knife. The price was irrelevant - she had been paying it already. Always under another's heel - until now. "The time for weakness is over," she whispered, watching blood drip from the tips of both spikes. Her heart was a malestrom in her ears, rivaling even the Storm. "I seek to build." @Fatebreaker

For 1 and 2, neither of those. In my head they've always been Shall-an and Sa-day-chull (with the second and third run together). For 3, I always immediatley think of Humuhumunukunukuapua'a when I see his full name. No doubt because I'm an airsick lowlander. EDIT: Oh wow, the board's auto-correct feature decided it didn't like the syllable I use for the end of Sadeas' name so it replaced it with another one that's perfectly appropriate for him.

Best quote. Unless... ”Spellcheck is the goat of us all.” Add a goat, ruin a quote!

Almost anything is possible. Characters could remain mostly unchanged, or they could have completely new lives. I’d say to keep the changes focused mostly on CD, as everyone trying to get new characters approved would be exhausting for the Mods, so maybe don’t add powers or abilities, but rather swap them with powers of the same level or remove powers. The idea for this arc is that most of the character changes would be up to the individual rather than plot requirements. Indeed. The idea is that the guilds would have their power greatly reduced in terms of resources and manpower. They might still have some muscle, but no one is gonna have an army.

I wholesale refuse to accept this.

Gemhearts coalesce inside Rosharan species in the same general way as Atium did on Scadrial. If such a species (say a Singer or a Greatshell) where born and raised on Scadrial, would their Gemheart still be a gem, or would Scadrial make it crystallize as a metal?

Max controlled the Phoenix, and he could feel the instructions being yielded through amber eyes that didn’t belong to him. Just make her fly away. If you can. Althea’s voice sounded in his head quietly, and Max had a sudden pang of remembrance. Flashbacks of the Atticus/Ambrosia duel, the duel where he lost Mara, flashed in the dark place when Max closed his eyes. He’d gone crazy in the duel, he’d controlled Atticus, broken both of their minds, and Atticus had gone in a duel to the death in pretty much a suicide. And what was Max doing now? A repeat? The thought that he could handle it crossed his mind, that the AlleyStorm would enhance him, but it was overruled by the memory in the Sewers, where one of Frob’s friends had Rioted Max, made him feel all the pain and failures of his life. Is that really how it feels? He’d asked Althea. She’d said yes. Storms, he said to the Phoenix and he took back his command to hurt the Dark Phoenix, just simply said to stop. I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry. Could the Phoenix understand him? It definitely could think, that much was evident that Max’s could feel the hate it emanated through their link. But, it was a monster! An abomination, and what was more efficient than to use an abomination to destroy another? He was so confused, he felt like a kid again for a moment, Rioting Mara and then feeling guilty about it later. The thought crossed his mind of when Max had Rioted Mara too much, Rioted fear so much that she ran away. I’m so sorry. He was abusing the power. Was that what it was? He hadn’t thought he was. But the Phoenix hated him, that much was clear. Would letting it free cause more issues. The first time I Rioted you, it was by accident, I-I was angry. And I Rioted everyone. And the second time, it was blackmail. This was my fault, though, this control, I’m sorry. Do you even understand me? I know you can think, but... He shook his head. He wished so badly he could just make this all go away. He wished the Phoenix could just leave without Max feeling like he was the real villain. And I don’t want to let you go now, because I know you want to kill me. But, believe me, I really don’t want to do this. @Voidus —-— “Thanks,” Wes said, and walked next to Mike. “I’ve got plenty of food in my bendalloyminds,” he said. “But unfortunately I don’t know how to, you know, make it so anyone can tap it. So all this food’s for me, sadly.” —-— She moved to touch them and Shez/Alask moved away from her hand. “Can’t control that,” they said. “Withering happens anyway. But we only try to do it to people, when they break the Rules.” @Sorana

Will definitely make sure it happens in threads not PMs, the general goings on should be transparent to players, just not necessarily to all characters. The 'only a few' is mostly just an expectation that most players will want to be involved in the main thread and that this is probably going to be very light in action and combat and so it may not appeal to many people to participate in directly, not an attempt to try to create an exclusive group or anything. As for the difficulties on spying on the DA, that's actually one of the parts I'm kind of interested in exploring. Infiltrating into the Alleys and eavesdropping on a planning session between the Department heads would probably be impossible, but tailing a Denizen who's heading out from the Alleys to collect information or materials wouldn't be. And the DA would also probably try to keep an eye on the other guilds to make sure they didn't learn anything so there could be a 'spying on the spies' type of thing going on, not sure how it'll pan out, but I think if we start RPing it we can see where it goes.

Soft eyelids slowly lifted back up, exposing the large amber eyes underneath. The eyes blinked, focusing in on the broken rubble that surrounded them, rotating around in their sockets to fully take in their surroundings. Talons relaxed, opening back up into a wide spread from the tight curl that they had been in. They scrabbled at the ground beneath them, curving slightly until they found purchase enough to pull back up, righting the body that rested atop them into a standing position. Wings spread out, catching the warm air beneath them again and began a steady downbeat, lifting the body back into the sky. Flames flickered along the edges of those wings, heating the air to provide more lift, curling over the body to coat it once again in fiery armour. The head twisted about as it rose into the air, twisting until it pointed in the direction of the large, dark-purple flames in the distance. The head stretched forward, leading the rest of the body that followed as it slowly picked up speed, flying towards the dark Phoenix. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- She tried to screech but there was no sound, tried to burn but there was no light, tried to fly but there was no air. There was nothing but darkness in all directions, even the piercing pain that she had been fighting against was gone now. Okay, Phoenix The voice resounded around her. She tried to turn to find the source but even that proved impossible, she had no neck to twist, no head to search with, no eyes to see with. We don’t have the best of relationships, I’m sure. I don’t think you like me very much. She had not heard this voice before, but it was accompanied by a presence she knew all too well. The Enemy was responsible for this, for locking her away and stealing her wind and fire. She tried to screech back, but once again found herself unable to. But that doesn’t matter. She disagreed with the voice. It mattered very much, it was the only thing that mattered. She would hunt them, they would fight or run. That was all there was, that was life. The Enemy sought to deprive her of even that. You need to kill the Dark Phoenix. Kill the Dark Phoenix, and kill it far away from here. She recognized the image it was speaking of, her Rival in the skies. She had no particular wish to hunt it right now, but as soon as the words spoke she felt that pressure again. The words slammed against her mind with the weight of a mountain, pushing their way in. She felt the lie become truth. She didn't want to kill the Rival. She needed to. An imperative as absolute as the need to breathe. More so even, given that she could heal any damage caused by suffocation. She needed it, but she was still not in control. Dimly she felt eyes open, flames burst and wings beginning to soar. But they were not her eyes, not her flames and not her wings. They belonged to someone else now. The lie had become truth, but the rest had not been lies, they had been orders. And orders were carried out, regardless of what she thought of them. Those are your instructions. She seethed at the voice, felt her hatred of it rise to levels that dwarfed what she had felt before. It was no longer simply an Enemy to be hunted down and fought. She needed more than that. She would take their world from them like they took hers. They wanted her to leave this city? She would return. They wanted her to stop destroying? She would leave it all in cinders. They wanted to protect? She would destroy. She would burn the world around them, take every last thing until they were all that was left. And then she would leave them, alone in a world without sound or light.

SON I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU'RE DEAD AMBROSIA WILL KILL YOU, Tena texted Silas when he didn't reply. @bees?

I have to say, this is my favorite by far. Excellent art, good uses of my favorite colors (purple and black)

"Okay," said Caden. "I know I may have been stealing from the camp supply, but is that really such a big deal. I mean, we're all against the Forgotten, right?" The remaining soldiers stared at him in dead silence. "Okay, why don't I offer you these Bribes to change your mind." Again, there was silence. "Uh... well... crud. I'll just be going then?" Unfortunately for the Thief, Caden would not be going anywhere anymore. Vote Count: Cadmium Compounder (4): Araris Valerian, Ventyl, Shqueeves, Snipexe Snipexe (1): Alvron Cadmium Compounder was lynched. He was a Thief. Known Roles: Camp Supply: Items Taken: The Strength of the Wild Chalklings is still at 3. This night will end on Wednesday July 17th at 7:00 PM CDT.

The Alleystorm was at its full height now, and Lita's mind and body strained against its own limits. She was sensation, every nerve strung taut and plucked at once. From behind her, Lita could hear the Phoenix shrieking in agony, the wind rushing against its fiery form as it plummeted towards the ground. She was grateful for the deep shadow of this alleyway, though to her it was bright as full noon - brighter, even. Her eyes watered, the sting compounded and layered over the rest of her senses, just another note in the symphony echoing through her. The city was burning, screaming, dying. Lita could hear the blood running through her own body, the pulse of her heart, the microscopic contractions of her facial muscles when she blinked. Tin was a bonfire within her, a white-hot forge fire flooding her body, her mind, her soul, commanding her to burn. The smallest whisper of caution tickled her mind, the fear of flaring too high for too long. Everyone knew the dangers of too much tin, the price that would be paid if she pushed her body too far. But this...how could she give up this? With this much perception, there was no secret that could hide from her. She was sight, was hearing, was touch. The woman before her, this Deteca, was merely a distraction, a small piece of the larger whole. Rusts, this entire city was but a scratch on the surface. There was so much more to discover, to learn, to uncover. Lita turned her head a fraction to look at Mac, then the Stranger. The limit, and the limitless. Both had moved through this world of their own accord, but so differently. Mac would advise caution, restraint. And the Stranger? Did he not also warn her against recklessness? Lita was balanced on the knife-point, a dancer in the storm around her, that liminal space of the doorway, the endless chasm that echoed between heartbeats. She remembered the golden script that had crawled and burned along the floor, the walls, the ceiling of her quarters back in the Alleys. The language of reality, the truth that she had only ever glimpsed before in fleeting whispers. I still have one vial left, she thought, fingers tracing the bottle with a fevered hunger. Here, in the storm, who knew what a true flare would let her see and hear? And the cost... did it matter? In her pocket, the Coin pulsed with a low heat. A warning, or an encouragement? Both? What are you hungry for? Her voice was softer than a whisper, the word a phantom shadow, a thought who's soul had dripped down the back of Lita's throat and onto her tongue. "Everything," she breathed, and flared tin.

Hai! I was the first one there to get his sign, so I could ask him a question. I asked "Would Leras recognize Vax?" and he answered thar yeah, he would. What do you think? It is the only WoB we have on Vax for now, so it could be important. Vax is not just some random memory from Ati, it is know by more Vessels, so maybe it has to do something with the Shattering? (I tried to link a pic, but the page doesnt allow me to since I'm very new)

It’s possible that it is more of a post recreance in hiding tradition than an actual need in Skybreaker bonds. There are lots of things on Roshar and in real life where rules or practices are just a part of the times/culture versus actually being an actual necessity.

I have a theory regarding how truespren make it back into roshar the first time. This theory came about as a result of the scene where Shallan had to draw Pattern before he could manifest. That seemed odd to me that she had to do that when none of the other new Knights have had to do something similar. I think it has to do less with her drawing him, and more with the amount of creationspren she attracted doing so (the quote says hundreds of creationspren were drawn to her at that time.) My theory comes from an assumption that each true spren type has their own "squires" so to speak. Cryptics have creationspren, Honorspren have windspren, Cultivationspren have lifespren, the Bondsmith spren have gloryspren. ( I posit that there has to be a sufficiently large amount of these "squire" spren in an area to punch a whole between the Cognitive and Physical realm "big" enough for these true spren to come through. For Syl, that mean there needed to be enough windspren, say in a windy area like barren plains or when fighting with a spear, which has been stated to generate windspren. For Pattern, Shallan had to actually be creative enough to draw enough creationspren to allow pattern to fully manifest, rather than poking through like most spren do. Idk, what do you think. I think this theory has holes, but its going somewhere.

I CAN’T HANDLE IT ALJEGQOKANBTBWPAKFNNFJRJEB “He’s a goat from work!!!”

I AM LAUGHING SO HARD “We... are... goat.” (I’m sorry)

Drawing glyphs is hard on a phone, but here goes:

Lita flared her tin, and all was pain. Pain, and glory. She felt her mouth open, and the small gasp that escaped her lips sounded like a scream to her own ears. Her heart was thunder, her blood was a waterfall, her breath was a hurricane. And the Storm! Cold bit into her skin like needles, her body starting to tremble, rain blowing in from the street to pepper her cheeks in a wet tet-tet-tet. The alley bled color, the stone beneath her feet a hundred shades of grey and brown, each drop of rain changing the hue. Something moved out of the corner of her eye, a bright sliver of shine. Laurelai's spike. The Alleycant message came a moment later. Is everything okay? The question struck Lita as impossibly absurd. Okay? She grinned, the smile wild and hard; Lita felt the cold wind cut into her gums as she turned toward Laurelai. Her reflection gazed back in the shine of Laurelai's eye, and Lita saw herself as she was then: hair a windblown tangle, half-soaked in rain, shaking with each new gust of the Storm. And her eyes, wide and gleeful and terrible, green swallowed in the black of her pupils. Lita laughed a string of high, strange notes that were quickly torn away in the wind. In a back room of her mind, Lita was terrified. She knew she should be afraid, but there was simply no room. No room in her mind with all the world pressing in around her, oozing through her skin, climbing down her throat, ringing in her ears. She could taste Laurelai's own fear on her tongue, watched as a row of hairs on the back of the woman's neck rose in a synchronized wave like a field of autumn wheat. Lita spun the pen in her fingers, the narrow cylinder carving a perfect ellipse as it danced over the edge of her thumb. Never better. @Voidus

I gotta say the cutest thing in the cosmere would be Chiri-Chiri, because tiny Investiture-eating flying thing is adorable.

I very strongly disagree with that interpretation of what Ishar did.

AJ looked up, expression distant and softer. "I had a life, just, it's gone now. I can't return so well... I guess."

"Skybreaker! Let us go you goody-goody law holding storming radiant! We want nothing to do with you here!"