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That moment when you actually keep your oath I wonder how renarin felt when he learned what his name meant Basically Sadeas in TWoK:

Aw come on! Couldn't they have done that before I spend all that time pretending to do analysis

More of this: (Photo credit: amy_simba on Instagram)

There isn't much terminology for what I'm about to discuss, so I'm just talking about it in terms we do know - it might be hard to read because of that fact, but bear with me. If what I write here doesn't make much sense to you right now, come back after a couple of days when this statement is removed. I may have improved the write up significantly. Premise: Elantris is a simple Aonic equation made up of two Aons - Aon Rao (Spirit) and Aon Ela (Focus, Center) Aon Rao, when used in other Aonic Equations acts as a power amplifier. (Why? I suspect that amplification of power is a side effect, and the actual effect involves the spiritual realm somehow - it adds a sort of spiritual weight to any equation, making an imprint of the idea back into the spiritual - thereby increasing efficiency and thus output. A similar principle seems to be at play on Roshar with Lightweaver Illusions) The effect of the Aonic Equation of Elantris is to focus the Dor and to increase the power/efficiency of all other Aons drawn in it's vicinity. This effect is strongest within Elantris, and weakens the farther you go from it. There isn't an Aon Shao anywhere in or around Elantris - making me think that Elantris isn't a direct cause of the Transformation, but rather a side-effect of some other phenomena that Elantris causes. Let's doscuss the nature of Aons in brief. Aons are cognitive structures that allows you to make the right connections. As such, they have to include stuff that would be in the general background cognitive perception of the concept they represent. Thus, the Aon for Water uses the lake and the Aredell river to cognitively conceptualise water. Similarly, the Aon for wood incorporates the location of actual Arelene woods. Aon Reod (Punishment) look like a crown of thorns. The Aon has to conceptually make sense. Let's take a look at Aon Ela and Aon Rao in this sense. All Aons "pull" the Dor, and shape it. Aon Ela pulls the Dor to it's center. I'm asking you to think of this as an increase in pressure in the Dor, focused at it's center. Aon Rao serves one primary purpose - it creates a conceptual channel into the spiritual to the idea of the land of Arelon (as this idea is incorporated into the shape of all Aons), and connects all of the Dor in that land to the Ela drawn. This has an effect of creating a much stronger baseline pull in the Dor towards the center of the drawn Ela, increasing the "pressure" significantly. When any other Aon is drawn in it's vicinity, this existing pressure adds to the pull created by that new Aon, in effect pulling the Dor out much more strongly, thus increasing the power drawn out of that Aon. Keep this in your mind when you read Elantris next and the effects will make more sense. Everything on the Spiritual seems to exist in two forms - as ideas and connections between ideas. So there is an idea of every person, an identity of who they are. And then there will be literally thousands of two-way connections between them and all the different spiritual ideals conceptually connected to them. One such connection of import is their connection to the land of Arelon. This would naturally be strongest in those who are born there, but even people who are simply travelling there will form some level of connection to the spiritual ideal of that land. In other words, we can say that there will be a connection between the spiritweb of the person and the spiritweb of the land of Arelon - a channel of sorts. The Shaod could then be a side effect of this pressure. Kind of like how pressure beneath the Earth's crust will find weak spots and periodically explode outwards to relieve itself (the technical term for these is "Earth Pimples", but in the common tongue they have been called Volcanoes), the cognitive nature of the Dor, it's connection to the land, the Spiritual channel created by Aon Rao, and the massive amounts of pressure created by the Aon Rao enhanced Aon Ela will all combine to periodically push the Dor along the "strongest" spiritual connections that are connected to it and into the spiritwebs of individuals who are on the other end of that connection. This sudden infusion of the Dor will significantly warp their spiritwebs - an effect which cascades out into the physical. This is what they call the Shaod. Just like once a Volcano is formed, it takes much less pressure to push stuff out of it, once you get taken by the Shaod, your connection to Arelon has been immensely expanded. This makes it much easier for the Dor to be channeled through you. Does this make sense to anyone, or is the write-up too confusing? TLDR: Getting "taken" by the Shaod might be equivalent to the formation of a new volcano on the Earth's crust. Elantris the city creates and maintains a constant pressure on the Dor, which makes it easier for the Dor to flow through when the metaphorical tap is opened by drawing an Aon in the air. A side effect of this is that the pressure constantly wants to relieve itself, and sometimes it does so by flowing through someone's connection to the land. The result of this is the Shaod.

During labor, women finally realize what it is like for Wayne to lose his lucky hat.

Tish continued being dead.

The creatures that remained outside the city began dropping into the water one after the other, with barely a moment to react. Some it seemed had flying capabilities that hadn't been utilized yet, but that shouldn't cause too much of an issue. Voidus stood impassively, watching the sudden splashes of mass dropping below the waterline. Of course water in and of itself was unlikely to be effective for long, if they'd had any thought put into their design then they'd have contingencies for simple oxygen deprivation, or they could simply swim to the shoreline and eventually find land again. If they were given the chance to do so. "You remember the days when we still found interest in simple chemistry?" Voidus called over his shoulder towards the Stranger. "I must admit I still have an occasional moment of immaturity where I recreate some simple reactions. Did we ever try rubidium with water?" He lifted his ankle, pulling his foot away from the water and allowing a few droplets to slide from the leather back into the lake that had been created where they sent small ripples throughout the waters surface. "You may want to tap some healing for this." Voidus said as he brought the toe of his shoe back down to the water for a third time. An immense lattice with a silvery sheen suddenly spread across the surface, spider webbing across until it reached the land that formed the boundaries of the sudden water source. The silvery sheen floated silently for a moment, supported by the anchors at the shoreline and briefly reflecting the sunlight that had begun to filter through the final layer of clouds from the storm. And then the surface of the water heaved violently upwards as the rubidium rapidly reacted with the surrounding water and explosively burst into flame.

So do we

I found this on Facebook and thought it worth sharing.

Enderal is a Skyrim mod (yes I know it sounds silly to make a whole topic about a mod, but read on please). It's a free total conversion mod by a group of professionals called SureAI that turns Skyrim into a totally different game with its own world, people, and cultures. It still feels like Skyrim a bit, but it is much, much better. For instance, combat feels much more fun, where you can weave together certain spells for different effects, and learn different combat stances. I play a rogue class, and leveling up one of 3 skill trees unlocks stuff like flash powder, oil that slows down would be attackers, and even the ability to cook your own poison food. And when searching corpses or treasure chests as a rogue you can sometimes find secret stashes if your "Sleight of Hand" skill is decent. The soundtrack is much more oppressive sounding than Skyrim's epic ballads and choruses. It fits the dreary landscapes and cities really well. You can gamble in pubs, craft tons of furniture for houses, invest money with a bank, and even own shareholdings. There are guilds you can join, like the Golden Sickle Merchants Guild, or in the new expansion you can become an assassin. There is a city called Ark, and it is bigger than any Skyrim city. It has 5 whole separate districts, with each one being the size of a town, and another entire city located underneath the main one. It's called the Undercity and I love it. The atmosphere is oppressive and gloomy, the sunken and rotting buildings are so cramped together you have to travel through alleyways and houses just to get to other areas. The poor, sick and destitute wander around begging for scraps, hired thugs shakedown residents for money, shady merchants ply their wares, while prostitutes call out to you in seedy pubs. Never, and I mean, NEVER have I seen a city in a video game with such attention to detail. Regions in Enderal include mountainous tundras, heartlands, coastal tropics, rocky islands, deserts, marshlands, and ravines. There are hundreds of map markers, and I swear I have never seen one location that looks similar to another. Every single place looks unique, and offers hundreds of hours of exploration. The story is much darker than I thought. You, a former citizen of Nehrim (SureAI's prequel to Enderal) start aboard a ship you smuggled yourself into and after being tossed overboard you wake up on the coast of Enderal. And everything starts getting crazy. A disease is rampaging unchecked across the continent called the Red Madness, turning wildlife aggressive, and normal villagers into crazed murderers. And to top it all off the dead are rising from their graves. You of course have to discover the origin of the disease, but you find it's much, MUCH more complicated than you thought. Seriously, check this game out. If you plan to play, you need the original 2011 Skyrim for PC or the Legendary Edition. Special Edition is not compatible unfortunately. Here is SureAI's site if you need more info: https://sureai.net/games/enderal/

INTRODUCTION So, there’re basically thirteen races (or at least thirteen races so far, if you divide those cultures into more parts) on Roshar: the Alethi, the Vedens, the Unkalaki (aka the Horneaters), the Herdazians, the Thaylens, the Natan, the Makabaki, the Selay, the Iriali, the Shin, the Reshi, the Listeners and the Aimians. Note: Here I used one of my old art created by the Chibi Maker to visualize the descriptions, though there’re still some minor inaccuracies. I really wanted to do a complete graphic chart, but it is still far off. Brandon's comment on this: A LIST OF HUMAN RACES 1. The Alethi (People of Alethkar) 1) Common features: tall stature, tan skin, black hair, lighteyes and darkeyes 2) Inspiration from Earth: Asian-Hawaiian people (You can imagine them as east-Indian people.) [source], Asian-Arab people [source] Kaladin is an Asian-Middle Eastern mix. [source] 3) Brandon's choice: Dave Bautista for Dalinar [source], Alex Landi for Adolin [source] How about the Iriali and Alethi mix we have going on with Adolin and Renarin: 2. The Vedens (People of Jah Keved) 1) Common features: fair skin, red hair, lighteyes and darkeyes 2) Inspiration from Earth: Asian-Caucasian people (supposedly more Asian-like) [source], red-haired Uyghur people [source], Shallan is a half-Irish, half-Japanese mix [source] 3. The Unkalaki (People of the Horneater Peaks) 1) Common features: light tan skin (or just fair skin like the Vedens) (supposedly lighter than the Alethi), red hair, strong back molars to break shells and claws (result of Parshendi hybrids) [source] 2) Inspiration from Earth: Asian-Caucasian people, [source] Mongolian people, Polynesian people, Russian people [source] 4. The Herdazians (People of Herdaz) 1) Common features: deep tan skin (supposedly darker than the Alethi), dark crystalline fingernails (result of Parshendi hybrids) 2) Inspiration from Earth: Hispanic people [source], indigenous Bolivian [source] 5. The Thaylens (People of Thaylenah) 1) Common features: long white eyebrows 2) Inspiration from Earth: unknown 6. The Natan (People of the former Natanatan) 1) Common features: pale bluish skin, wide nose, wool-like white hair [WoK Ch.36] (result of Aimian hybrids) [source] 2) Inspiration from Earth: unknown 7. The Makabaki (People of all the Makabak) 1) Common features: dark brown skin (or just dark skin), black hair [WoK Ch.14] 2) Inspiration from Earth: unknown Notable races: the Azish, the Tashikki, the Emuli and the Tukari (People of Azir, Tashikk, Emul and Tukar) 8. The Selay (People of the former Sela Tales) 1) Common features: skin ripples [WoK Ch.52] 2) Inspiration from Earth: unknown Notable race: the Purelaker (People of the Purelake) 1) Common features: leathery skin, dark hair, long limbs [WoR I-3] 2) Inspiration from Earth: unknown Notable race: the Babath (People of Babatharnam) 1) Common features: [women] patterns of veins beneath the skin [WoK Ch. 46] (result of Aimian hybrids) [source] 2) Inspiration from Earth: unknown 9. The Iriali (People of Iri and perhaps Rira) 1) Common features: yellow eyes, golden skin often painted various colors and patterns, golden hair with metallic sheen [WoK Ch.18, WoR I-2] 2) Inspiration from Earth: unknown Note: There are small differences between the Iriali and the Riran. [source] 10. The Shin (People of Shinovar) - The only race without epicanthic folds 1) Common features: short stature, pale skin, large round eyes, men tending to be bald, no epicanthic folds (but still hardly resemble the Caucasians on Earth) 2) Inspiration from Earth: unknown 11. The Reshi (People of the Reshi Isles) 1) Common features: tan skin, straight black hair, rounded features [WoR I-9] 2) Inspiration from Earth: Hispanic people (or at least for Lift) [source], indigenous Bolivian [source] About the Kharbranthians: The city-state is culturally diverse, so you can find different races there. Last update: Jun 3rd, 2019 (by Botanica) Original post: [x]

Sign me up as Senator Mike Onde, known throughout the Senate for that one time he was caught napping during a vote his diligence and care. Mike is out for the week and will be represented by his beleaguered aid, Annie Botaneaux.

I reckon he's a lovely chap, would really love to sit down and have a chat with him. Was I meant to PM you that?

YKYASW your teacher gets mad at you for talking in class, you don't stop, and when she tries to send you out you stand and shout "I am the one thing you cannot kill. I am hope." My school thinks I'm insane.

Its a bird, its a plane, wait no thats Kaladin falling the wrong way.

Who would win a KR civil war? Probably Odium.

We have some exciting news to announce. So far in order to obtain some unpublished works of Brandon's, you'd have to email him through his site, and his assistants would distribute them. Well now you won't need to wait for that, because we will be in charge of distributing Aether of Night! All you have to do is post in this topic (you'll need a 17th Shard account, but that's it), and our staff will PM you the document. You do not need to post an email address here; we will send it to you through this website. Once we do this, we'll remove your post here. We'll be using this topic as a to-do list for requests. Ideally since we have lots of staff members, we will get this out to you soon, within a week or two. We hope you're excited about this, so many of you will be able to get this text in a much more obvious way now! You will receive a .docx file, and if you need to convert it into a .pdf or .epub, there are many converters to do that for you. (We are not distributing the old prose version of White Sand; that is distributed in Brandon's newsletters.) Thank you Dragonsteel for letting 17S do this! Edit as of 2024: This is still going! We've gone through over 300 pages of replies distributing. It's just that we remove posts here once we send them out.

Happy to join the Cosmere. Long time fan of Sandersons’ work. Been happily cranking out 300-500 words a day for the last few years trying to get my own ideas out of my head and on to the page. Hopefully one of these days I’ll be happy enough with it to attend one of Brandons Workshops. Until then I’m excited to snoop around and see what cool Rosharan artifacts I can find around here. See you in the comment section!

Don't think that! The writer of the piece is almost always too close to the project to see small stuff like spelling errors, dropped words, typos. Brandon has said multiple times that his books sometimes make it all the way to the publication stage with spelling errors. I mean, spell check IS your friend, but at this stage, you definitely shouldn't be putting any extra effort into catching these issues because it'll bog you down. It'll become a chore. (At least it would if it was me.) Spelling errors and typos are such easy fixes and can be done at the very end. A simple solution would be to ask us in your OP not to worry about spotting these things for you?

Mmm delicious necros

So the other day something occurred to me. Don't you guys think they could make a really cool movie with Skyward? I hope that they don't unless it's under the right circumstances, because chances are whoever tries will just mess up the story and it won't be good: We don't need a repeat of Ender's Game. But still. I think it has so much potential. And honestly, that would be awesome.

Unfortunately, Elantrians pre-dated Elantris. No word on what they would have been called, though. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/133-elantris-annotations/#e2173

The more I reread the Lord Ruler's death, the more I can't wait for 'Bands of Mourning'. Because it doesn't add up. It's as if the Lord Ruler lost all his powers when he lost his bracers. His push against Vin stops as soon as the bracers come off, as if he can no longer burn Steel, and he goes for the bracers the the way a mortal would. Even assuming he hadn't stored anything in his other jewelry, explaining why he didn't tap Steel and run to the bracers, and even assuming the bracers were too invested for him to pull them to himself (but not for Vin to push them), he could still have used Pewter to move more quickly and steadily than he is described in his last moments. Keep in mind that his body was only Middle Aged by the time Vin pushes the bracers off the edge, so his advancing age wasn't necessarily to blame. But for a guy who's been using his powers for 1000 years he basically acts like a muggle at the end. I don't think I can claim credit for thinking of this though. We've been discussing things over at Steel Ministry, and I have a feeling someone else suggested this first. I'm also not sure if it hasn't already been floated here. Nevertheless, this is something I can't get out of my mind. Thoughts? Link to a preexisting thread talking about this?

In part, but I was also referring to a specific incident from LG32. At least one of the two tin-eyes seems to have claimed to someone. As long as their tin-eye messages keep coming, that person will know they're still good. The moment they stop, that person will know that they've gone evil, and the lynch will follow shortly. The other tin-eye could very well have set up a similar situation, which means that the tin-eyes are essentially 'mines' in the field of conversion that the elims will want to avoid hitting at all cost, because they're duds as far as conversions go. This happened in LG32 where Rae got converted and promptly lynched because she had been a tin-eye. Keeping these 'mines' in means that the elims will ahve to be a lot more careful about who they convert. Anyway, if the lurcher that protected Fifth was in fact asked by someone else to protect him, I'd prefer it if that information made its way to the thread in some way. Fifth is a pretty decent, though maybe slightly too obvious, candidate for conversion, and if at all possible I'd like to rule out the possibility that it was a wgg. Anyway, I do have time for some analysis today, so working down from the top of the player list: Haelbarde Hael feels like he's been playing things relatively safe so far. That's not to say that their contributions haven't been useful, it's just that it's been mostly informative stuff regarding previous games, and exhortations towards activity, with the occasional comment on reads made by other people. I don't find this incredibly suspicious, but I do hope to see more original content from Hael. The one thing that does strike me as somewhat suspicious is their apology for their vote on Lumgol. Pre-emptive apologies for votes always feel wrong to me. As a villager, you should be voting on a suspicion, and therefore there is no reason to apologize, while an elim would know that they where voting on someone innocent, which might prompt the urge to apologize. Overall conclusion: very slight inquisitor lean Burnt Spaghetti Burnt has posted very little so far, though if the PM I got from her is anything to go by, she's probably rather active in PM's. I haven't seen nearly enough from her to form any sort of read, however. Snipexe I've seen very little from Snip-exe so far. he engaged somewhat in the lynch discussion of D1, but only popped up for a quick drive-by vote D2. That vote and its reasons itself are rather interesting though. If snipexe is an elim, then even with little time I'd have expected him to have been informed about the current state of the vote, and because of that he could have sued a somewhat similar argument to end up voting on me for a potentially far easier lynch. Overall a Neutral read. Araris Valerian Araris posts are interesting and sensible for the most parts, but there are two posts that stood out to me: Araris mentions how he'd expect himself to act if he wast the inquisitor a number of times. The first time it is to highlight that inquisitor!araris and village!Araris would do the same thing in that particular situation, and the second time is as part of an accusation of bard, while also neatly showing a contrast between what inquisitor!araris would do and what this-game!araris was doing (namely going after a hard target over a soft target). Maybe I'm reading a bit too much into it, but to me the second mention in particular feels like Araris is trying to highlight how he's currently playing like villager!araris and not like inquisitor!araris. slight inquisitor lean overall Lumgol I mentioned before that Lumgol's vote on Aman stood out to me in a bad way, because she basically stated 'the village probably has more vote manip, so losing Aman wouldn't hurt too much'. The rest of her posts are rather NAI sounding, though her defense of bard for voting on her probably means that they are not both elims. rayofsunshine(formerly known as Ax's Boyfriend) He has posted very little, but based on him catching my cunningly laid trap and the question regarding whether an unsnapped counted as a misting suggest that he's following along with the game. There's nowhere near enough content for me to form a sold opinion, and more importantly, it doesn't look like that's going to change anytime soon, which is worrisome. @RayOfSunshine, who do you think is the most suspicious player right now? And who would be the least? shanerockes Shanerockes is in pretty much the same boat as rayofsunshine read-wise, though their posts suggest a bit more of a defensive attitude. @shanerockes, could you answer the question I asked of ray too? Who do you think is the most and the least suspicious right now? Doc12 Doc12 hasn't posted too much yet either, but there's some votes and the like to look at at least. As I highlighted with hael, the apologies accompanying Doc's votes look odd to me. I'd have to check back whether that's a normal pattern for doc or not. Overall I'm not leaning particularly hard one way or another on Doc right now, but I have little doubt that as the game continues Doc will post more and their alignment will eventually become clear. Devotary of Spontaneity I'm still getting the same vibe of Devotary being somewhat distant to the game that I got before, with her more commenting on things that are going on, than proving her own analysis. Therefore, I'm about as suspicious of her as I am of Hael right now. @Devotary of Spontaneity, who would you say you think is the most likely to be an elim, and who do you reckon is the most likely to be village right now? *more coming in a bit* Rathmaskal Rathmaksal was complaining about my lack of long content. i reckon this should appease them somewhat Anyway, Rath has been quite active, but I haven't seen much that makes me lean one way or another right now. This post: contains pretty much the same behavior as I highlighted as potentially suspicious with Araris, with the added bonus of rathmaskal calling it out themselves. I'm not sure what to think of that. On the one hand, if elim!rath recognized the way that post could be interpreted, they might have decided not to word it that way at all. On the other hand, it seems Rath is somewhat self-conscious about how their posts are viewed, which i'd see as more of an elim-trait. Overall, I'm fairly Neutral on Rath as things stand right now. Young Bard I mentioned before that the speed with which they where ruling people out from being the inquisitor seemed to be a bit recklessly quick for village!bard, while it could be a pocketing attempt by elim!bard. On the whole though, Bard doesn't seem afraid to put his cards on the table and share his reads, rather than keeping things close to his chest. I'm leaning very slightly vilalge on him for that. Sart Sart has been fairly inactive too, and there isn't anything I'd consider strongly alignment indicative in his posts. @Sart, why did you vote on Araris? STINK STINK is acting like STINK. last edit, I promise: I skipped over fifth because I didn't want to read all his posts again I firmly believe he isn't the inquisitor, and will re-evaluate his posts for signs of being converted in a cycle or two if I'ms till alive. I also skipped over BR/Elandera. I'll get to them as soon as Elandera has posted a bit more.

Turn back time, 300 baud modem... paying 15 dollars a month to do daily polls of message boards . Crazy. Ahhh, to pay 50 cents to transfer 3k of data, or buy 16 bit-o-honeys or 50 jolly ranchers. Here is the soundtrack of nostalgia:

Finally, after 3 amazing days of reading, I’ve finally finished the Reckoners!! I’ve delayed for a while now, but now I’ll get all of the obscure and random references to the books!!

Hi everyone. Kind of quiet in here. Hope everyone has fun plans for the weekend. I miss Aman. Btw, welcome Elandera. Was confused for a second...haha

Things I thought were good: Things I thought could be improved: (I am a naturally critical person, so I notice bad more than I notice good) On a different note, I am very curious as to where you plan to go with this story, and what the purpose of this piece in particular was, since it felt too detached to be part of the main story (more like a prologue used to introduce pieces of the plot). Thanks for mentioning me, and I am looking forward to more.

For the longest time, I thought Teft's spren was the "aunt" that Syl saw, Phendorana. I still want that to be true.

Just plastering this all over the internet. When the Stormlight Archive facebook group hits 10k members there is going to be a giveaway and this little piece will be one of the prizes. Blackthorn

YKYASW someone says "I think" in the middle of a sentence and you immediately think of Sazed.

TWG 100%: Brandon 100% (116/116), Peter 100% (116/116), Isaac 100% (75/75), Ben 100% (38/38) 17S 100%: Brandon 100% (102/102), Peter 100% (108/108), Isaac 100% (108/108), Ben 100% (97/97) Reddit 79%: Brandon 100% (131/131), Peter 100% (104/104), Isaac 100% (22/22), Ben 11% (9/85), Adam 100% (13/13), Store 100% (3/3) Twitter 42%: Brandon 100% (124/124), Peter 15% (19/124), Isaac 15% (19/131), Adam 35% (19/55) Blog 100%: Brandon 100% (211/211) Social Media Total: 81% (1431/1760) Theoryland Review: 10% (121/1183) Events and Signings Review: 0% (0/397) And just like that, we're back on target. Back to slogging through Ben's Reddit posts. This guy sure loves video games. I've only added one post so far: And, ironically enough, I also recently added this from Brandon This is what it's all about, boys and girls. All this stuff, these little bits, that have been lost and have to get asked again. Gives me the motivation to keep cranking. Because even the minutia is still relevant six and a half years later.

@JWerner I just put it in Google Docs and that seemed to focus more on the types of errors I make than word did. Next week's submission should be cleaner. I didn't realize how much Google Docs had improved its spell check.

I have spell check on in Word. It doesn't catch missing words or pick up on when I said "too" instead of "to" or "loose" instead of "lose." Is it supposed to? Maybe something is wrong with mine? It only seems to catch actual misspellings, not incorrect forms. The grammar function is good at catching fragments and some wrong sentence constructions, but it also sometimes labels things as fragments when that is not the case. It would be nice if it actually caught that stuff, because I could read the piece ten times and not see a missing word or an extra "o". I really don't want to pay for something like Grammarly. I looked this over twice, one time was out loud, but reading out loud is almost useless for me. If I spend hours editing something and post it here only to find out I need to do a major rewrite, I fell like I wasted a ridiculous amount of time. It's funny, because I can handle rejections and major rewrites, but it's my inability to see errors that sometimes makes me doubt whether I have any business writing. I can work on the pacing and put more emotion into the piece. If my Microsoft Word's spell check isn't doing what its supposed to, I can try a different word processor. I can't change the way my brain, eyes, and ears communicate (or fail to communicate) with each other. I'm sorry this was such a mess. Thank you very much for reading in spite of my malfunctioning brain and malfunctioning spell check, and for pointing out all the things I missed. I truely appreciate it. I'll try putting my next submission in Google docs and Pages next time and see if either of those catch more than Word did.

I want to see more from the perspective of ardents, personally. Their concept intrigues me, and (as you can likely tell) ardents like Rushu are some of my favorite characters. The breakthroughs that we see them make, what with spren measurements and translating the dawnchant, could be vitally important to our main characters. I'd also like to see how an ardent would handle becoming a Radiant. Would they stay as ardents, or would they leave the devotaries and become lighteyes? It would be fascinating.

I... don't know. I'm leaning towards there being a misinterpretation of that WoB. It seems a little bit of a stretch that only the Shaod allows you to draw Aons, when Soulstamping - on a different continent - can be done by anyone, even though technically it's the exact same magic, just one where people discovered patterns for the soul, rather than the physical. There is also a bit of a chicken and egg problem - if the Shaod is not dependent on the Aonic Equation of Elantris the city, why was adding the chasm line to it needed to fix the Shoad and allow it to complete? If the Shaod is required to draw Aons - period - then how did people discover the first Aons before the city of Elantris? It's like, one can't exist before the other. If the Shoad is independent of the city Aon, then nothing you do to the city would fix it. On the otherhand, if the fixing the city Aon fixed the Shaod, then there can't be a Shaod before the city came into play. The other thing is, Aons work the way they do because the Dor is in the Cognitive - ergo Aons should not predate the Splintering of Aona and Skai, when the Dor didn't exist at all. Hopefully we'll see.

YKYASW you throw a coin at the substitute teacher, then tell the principal "we Mistborn need not make sense" And yes, this happened.

We seem to remember those times differently. MacThorstenson IRL,circa spring of 2018, trying to discover the existence of TUBA.

Why did Elend cross the road? He wanted to Venture to the other side

Why did the Lord Ruler cross the road? EXECUTIONS!

Wayne reportedly got a copy of Alloy of Law. After finishing the novel, Wayne examined his life and concluded he acted like an idiot way too much, so he tried making sense. And that is how Adonalsium shattered. Because Wayne.

We're giving this post all the jokes we can throw atium!

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

And now for the actual game I was intending to post today. Mistrun: In Search of Ruin (LG) Sixty-seven years ago, Wyran Heron was born, and The Third World of Scadrial died. Nine others were born later that same year. Whether planned by Harmony or not, or perhaps even lingering elements of The Set, ten children were born with great and terrible strengths, each both Allomantically and Feruchemically complete. With powers bordering on the divine, they carved the world up between them through feats of manipulation and cunning and strength. Ten Lord Rulers, with ten Final empires to rule; the Megacorporations of Scadrial. Now the Megacorporations control almost everything. To keep the peace between them and maintain control, each holds a monopoly on some vital aspect of life - food, metals, and so on. Their power is so great that they are even considered to be sovereign countries in their own rights, with none willing to oppose them for fear of their lives being destroyed by the vindictive companies. Those who work for a Megacorp are guaranteed a safe and comfortable life within the family, 'from cradle to grave'. Those that do not, however, are cast to the wayside. They are the Skaa of the Fourth World. But with great power comes great paranoia. Compounding is no longer a secret for the common people, and even Hemalurgy is known of in both the darkest and the brightest parts of the world. There is one thing they fear more than each other - That more of their kind would grow to oppose them, or worse, all the people of the world become gods like them. From this fear grew the Hemalurgically Identified Spirit System. The HISS was designed to track everyone unique via small computerised chips embedded in the skin, acting as spikes to observe and ensure that people did not engage in Hemalurgy. This was not the reason they gave, of course; HISSes are used for every aspect of daily life, including employment, banking and even accessing The Cognitive Matrix. For one reason or another, you despise the Megacorporations enough to be HISSless, one of the forgotten people of the world. What is there for you to do but live in the underworld? But you have less savoury talents than most. You are employed as a Mistrunner, a person employed by the wealthy elite, other Mistrunners, or even sometimes other Megacorporations, for seedy purposes. In your time, you might have been a part of bodyguarding duties, 'retrieving' valuable goods, or even the dangerous task of breaking into and hacking Megacorporation assets. But like the Skaa Rebellion in the tales, you know that it is futile. There are whispers of change on the wind, however. You have a new benefactor, Feis Yolen, a man whom it is rumoured belongs to the most secretive and powerful Mistrunner group in the world - The Seventeenth Shard. And he thinks big. By bringing together representatives from a large number of Mistrunner crews, he hopes to emulate the Survivor himself - Destabilise the establishment, and create a war between the Megacorporations. Then, while they're distracted, he wants to steal the atium that keeps them young and ensures their dominance over the world for many years to come. To that end, they must break into their secure facilities and steal data until they find the location they keep it and the location of the source. But with so many teams in one place, it is inevitable that some will be compromised. The job cannot wait though. The longer it takes, the more likely that the Megacorporations will tighten their hold on the world and kill more Mistrunner crews. The risks are high, but the rewards are greater still. You signed your crew onto this mission because you have a dream of a world without the tyranny of the Megacorporations, and you will go to any lengths to realise it. No matter the cost, you will be free - in this life, or the next. Setting This game builds on my previous game idea, also titled 'Mistrun'. These take place in the same universe, and can be considered to be sequels/prequels to each other, depending on which gets run first. This game is also based on the Shadowrun universe, story-wise, but the mechanics are derived from Resistance. General Rules While the game for the most part runs as a standard Long Game, there is one important addition: Between the Day and Night Turns, there is also a Planning Turn, based on the Resistance game. The Day Turn is the same as normal and lasts 48 hours. A vote will be taken and a player lynched. During the Planning Turn, one player chosen at random and publicly known must assemble a team from the living players and inform the GM of their choice in private via their game PM. The Planning Turn lasts 24 hours. If no team is chosen, then the planner is lynched for indecision. The planner does not have to go on the mission. While I will accept Night Actions during the Planning Turn, note that it could be invalidated by the choice of players on the mission. The Night Turn also lasts 24 hours, and for most people is the same as normal. At the start of the mission, the players on the mission will be publicly stated. Players who are on the mission cannot post in the thread, or use or be affected by actions. They must each message the GM via their game PM, informing them of whether they want the mission to succeed or not. If at least one player votes 'no', then the mission fails, and a random loyal crewmember on the mission dies. The players will be informed that the mission failed, but not how many 'no' votes there were, or how people voted. A Loyalist who does not inform the GM will be treated as a failure vote, but they will be the one to die rather than one chosen at random. A Traitor who doesn't inform the GM is treated as a success vote. Eliminators Traitorous crewmembers know the identity of their allies automatically. Each Night, one of them may inform the GM of a player that they wish to kill. If multiple players are chosen, then the first player who sent the PM will carry out the kill. The Eliminators win if they either outnumber the crew, or the crew do not have enough players left to carry out a mission. The Eliminators lose if they all die. Specialisations Unlike previous games, your Roles are not based on your character's abilities - Your character may be completely disparate from the specialisation of their crew, so feel free to pick whatever Allomantic/Feruchemical power(s) you want. Communications - Your crew is one of the best when it comes to making connections between people in the field. While there is still one Communications Specialist still alive, players may send PMs to each other during the Day and Planning Turns. No PMs may be sent during the Night. As a Night Action, you may also either send an anonymous message to another player through the GM, or send a message to the GM to post in the write-up. Medical - Your crew has an extensive knowledge of healing and surgery, and combined with the advancements 'procured' from Megacorp installations, you can patch anyone up almost instantly. As a Night Action, you may target yourself or another player and save them from death if they would die that Night. Fast Talking - Your crew works best with people, manipulating and misdirecting them into thinking that they want to give you what you want without them ever realising. As a Night Action, you may target a player and... persuade them to see things your way the next day. That player's vote will change to be on another player of your choice. This choice is made during the Day. This change will be reflected in the number of votes in the writeup, but the player will still appear to have voted for their original choice. Temporal Displacement - Your crew consists of many, many Pulsers and Sliders, able to subtly change the flow of time in miniscule ways around people here and there. You may target two players at once each Night Turn. The first will have his action copied onto the second in addition to any other targets it may have. They will be informed of this and the results of both their actions. If a kill is copied in this way, they will be written as separate events in the writeup. Assassinations - You're the best at what you do, and what you do isn't very nice. Death is a form of art for you, and you take it very seriously. Each Night, you may target any number of players and take out the key players in their Crew, killing that player. However, if you happen to target an innocent with these attacks, not only will your action be negated, but you will lose this ability and become a non-specialist Crew. Hacking - Your crew is good at sniffing out hidden information, no matter where it may be. Each Night, you may invade Heron IndustriesTM' computers and discover target player's Alignment. Data Gathering - Your people have so much information at your fingertips. The problem is just finding it, which will take quite some time. Each Night, you may discover target player's Specialisation. False Trails - Your crew is extremely good at covering tracks - both its own, and those of others. Each Night Cycle, you may target yourself and another player, hiding your Alignment and Role during the next Cycle. Non-Specialist - You provide the brute force (or brute intelligence, as it may be) for the job. While you may not provide a specific strength, your versatility allows you to contribute particularly well to missions. I wouldn't mind possibly a few more Roles with this, but otherwise I'm happy. A friend mentioned Temporal Displacement and Assassinations' mechanics being used in one of his games a few days ago, and I was rather excited to add them to one of mine when I could.

So I came in to sit next to Brandon Sanderson, and as I sat down and pulled out my phone to record- I saw the dreaded "Battery Low". So instead of recording and transcribing, I took notes physically. I quite enjoyed it. Brandon really is a pleasant person, and he tried sincerely to make sure that every person felt appreciated as he signed, and signed, and signed (He says he's learned that his signings are almost always at least 4 hours). So here's my report on the things that he said and questions he answered. So I’m going to organize this into sections- STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE- Zas678: Can Odium influence people the same way that Ruin can? Brandon: (misunderstanding my question as a question about kandra/koloss/parhsendi) Well, you see, the kandra and the koloss have a “hole” in them that allows Ruin to come in and take over. The Parshendi naturally are protected from this, but when they expose themselves to the storms, and the spren come in, many of these spren have that kind of “hole” in them, and that’s what allows Odium to take control of them. Zas678: No, I’m talking about how Ruin was able to push people, place things in their minds, stuff like that. Can Odium do the same thing? Brandon: Well, Odium wasn’t around when those people were created [Here it sounded like the mankind that’s on that planet, not the specific generation], so it’s a little different for him than Ruin. So if he influences people in that way, it’s through the Unmade. Zas678: And my other question is about Taravangian. It becomes clear that when he’s smart, he’s less compassionate, and when he’s dumb, he’s more compassionate. Brandon: Yeah, he mentions that in his interlude. Zas678: Is that intentional, or is that just how you believe inteligence works? Brandon: No, that’s intentional. There’s plenty of really smart people who are also compassionate, and dumb people who aren’t. Zas678: So when Taravangian is smart, his Cognitive aspect is stronger. So when he’s dumb, is his Spiritual aspect stronger? Brandon: [With a sly grin, pulls out a RAFO] Shalash is the Mistress (which we’ve known forever, but it’s nice to have confirmation). Can Parshendi receive a Boon and a Curse? Yes they can. Are we ever going to see a spren viewpoint? Yes it’s likely. A book where the flashbacks are spren? Probably not. Or it’s not planned right now. Here's some facts that didn't have specific questions to them that I remember: Odium is able to influence all 3 moving planets in the Rosharian system. There’s also going to be about a 15 year gap in-world between SA arc 1 and SA arc 2. MISTBORN- So what does the term Koloss blooded mean? Well, Sazed changed how the koloss reproduced, so now they reproduce naturally, and when the kids come to a coming-of-age, they decide if they’re going to accept the spikes and become a koloss, or if they’re going to stay normal. (Which seems to mean that koloss couples have human babies). Did Kelsier move on after his death? RAFO! (He actually did give a RAFO, but also with some explanation). The thing is, Kaladin’s wife Maer had certainly moved on, and that would be motivating him to go on to the next life. (Then I butted in talking about how there had been appearances of the Survivor, and how it’s just like Kaladin to be meddling in things he shouldn’t.) But he didn’t actually answer if he did or didn’t. But to me it seemed implied that he did stay around. But it is a RAFO. How did TenSoon overpower OreSeur if TenSoon had the Blessing of Potency? “Tensoon is wily!” There are also some drugs that affect kandra bodies. Would Inqusitors’s kids have allomancy? Not usually. It happens sometimes, but not usually. He then mentioned a little about sDNA, but that it’s not inherited as much as it is when it’s natural. COSMERE/WORLD-HOPPERS- Another thing he talked about was some common themes that appear in fantasy. One of them is that Rennassaince air of the Rise of the Common man. You see that in Mistborn for example. The great writing question of the Cosmere, the underlying theme is, What do men do when given the Power of the Gods? How do they act? What do they do? How do spren choose what human they’ll bond with? Well, it depends on the spren type. There’s some spren that choose on their own, while there’s other spren where it’s done by committee. Wyndle, Lift’s spren was placed with Lift by a committee. It’s a culture difference. Some are free spirited, others more organized. The way that Hoid and Defending Elysium do FTL travel is very different. Could Shay soulcast herself into becoming an Elantrian? That would be really hard. First of all, she’d have to change where she’s born, then soulcast the fact that she became an Elantrian. Even then, she’d probably look like an Elantrian, but not have any powers. There would probably need to be some kind of bridge, or she would need some kind of super push from the AonDor to make it work. When Hoid is playing for Kaladin, has he awakened some part of himself to help him play? No, he’s not awakened anything to help him play. Did he use Allomancy? RAFO. Odium didn’t start in Roshar. And Stormlight Archive is before AoL. We have met the people “up above” in Sixth of Dust. Here’s an interesting one about Mraize. (I wrote Mraize here, but I’m not entirely sure ) Is he a world hopper? Yes, he’s been to a few planets, highly supervised by his babsk. Q: So what planet is she from? (After looking up things, I’m assuming Iyatil.) Well, that’s kind of a hard thing to say. She has 3 planets she’s “from”. For example, she’s living now on Roshar, but then she’s from a different planet, but that’s not a planet that her people are from. Q: So there was a mass exodus to that planet? A: Not exactly. If you were to find a Japanese American, where would they say that they are from? Her people did not have a mass exodus. Q: Have we seen mass exodus’s before? A: Yes, there are some in the cosmere. There’s a mass exodus that is mentioned in one of the interludes in Way of Kings. [Note: The person who asked the question, Arthur Dent, says that Brandon said Words of Radiance, not Way of Kings.] And a different one about the WalDo, the female world hopping kandra- So is the worldhopping kandra MeLaan? No it isn’t. But you’ll get to see more kandra in Shadows of Self, so that should give you some more options. Well, the person who she’s imitating is it a human? (Don’t remember). Is it always a female? No. Has she had any lines on screen? You know, I’m not really sure. She may have, but I’m not sure. (So highly unlikely she’s a main character, and if she’s a minor one, it’s one that’ll have a line or two). So what happens when Shards die? Well, it depends on how long the Shardholders have held the Shard. After it dies, the shard is often able to continue acting, a kind of “cognitive shadow” of sorts. For example, the mists were able to continue doing what Preservation wished in helping out Vin and snapping people. With the Stormfather, he is that cognitive shadow, and he’s semi sentient. It’s that power, but no one is actually holding it. We also see this on Threnity. Here's the big lead-in we got. The secret (or at least one of them) to worldhopping. Shadesmar- you can WALK to the other planets. It’s a pretty far ways away (at least days, if not more), but you can go to Shadesmar, walk in the directions where it says "The Realm of the Vapors" and it runs into Scadrial (which is confirmed). In Shadesmar all of that empty space doesn’t really have any human interaction, so it doesn’t really have an aspect in the cognitive realm, so all of that place gets shortened immensly. Whenever a planet has enough thinking life on it that’s it’s considering it a planet, it drops into Shadesmar. Eventually, he’ll come out with a Shadesmar map of the Cosmere, and a Starmap as well. PUBLICATIONS- Then about publications. He’s actually still unsure about which book the next SA is going to be about. He said it might be about Szeth, but then again it might be about Dalinar or Eshonai. He said he was going to have to plot it out a little more and see. He said that the determining factor will be what information are we going to need in order to progress. It might be that he needs to do Dalinar’s book because that’s the only way to get in some of that information, but Szeth can kind of talk about some of his on screen. He said he’ll do a little more plotting and see. Brandon also has some more writing laws that he’s going to write about, including Sanderson’s 0th law- “Always err on the side of awesome.” Fireflight is next month, Elantris has a 10th anniversery edition coming out! It’s going to have pretty maps and new illustrations, and maybe a couple new line edits. Alcatraz- Tor has bought the rights, and will rerelease Alcatraz 1 2 3 4, then release book 5 sometime next year or early 2016. Shadows of Self- There is a likely date of Oct 2015 for that book. Calamity (Steelheart 3)- That book has a likely early 2016 layout. Rithmatist 2- He said that he wanted to write this book, but because it’s based in this world slightly, he has to use a lot more research. He said he’s doing a lot of research of Aztec ancient culture, that it will be held in South America. Next week, I’ll post the tour dates for the firefight release. I’ll also likely post some other news and updates. Who’s your favorite side character? That’s a hard one, but I might have to say Syl. Or Wayne! He’s just so much fun to right. Oh, and about him, look out for intentional misspellings in Shadows of Self. My alpha readers skipped completely over them! EDIT- To help clarify things from below. The Stormfather IS a cognitive shadow. As to Cognitive Shadow as Kelsier.... I'm not sure. It's possible that Kelsier just kindof held it, but the mists were acting by themselves, because Kelsier didn't have full control. Yes, when I said the mistress, I meant Baxil's mistress. He didn't say it directly- the actual question was Have we seen all of the Heralds? I'm pretty sure I've mentioned all of them, and you've seen a number of them, such as Shalash running around (I'm pretty sure he mentioned something that made it clear that it was the Mistress, or the person cutting off the faces) On Odium being able to affect the planets is about , the three important planets- Roshar, Braize, and Ashyn.

I chose skybreakers because not only do the have the gravity control that make's sezth and kalladin so dangerous. AS well as a yet fully defined surge called division that sounds pretty epic.

What if the Dakhor can use the deaths to empower themselves: for example, after a certain number of deaths, they can grant one of their members an extra life, or give one of their own the ability to kill a person each night? Even better, what if they have the option to sacrifice their own to add to this total, with no limit on how many at a time. Of course, there has to be a majority vote within the Dakhor as to who dies. Other roles: ReSealer: can save one person per night Bloodsealer(s): can target a certain number of people each night, depending on game size; if that person dies during the night and is not used by the Dakhor, they can use that person's role for the next cycle. Forgers: Can forge people to appear to be something they aren't when the Gradget/Seons target them; the target does not know they have been Forged. Elantrian: With so little power, all they can manage is an Aon Ehe per night. Of course, that's still enough to boil some unfortunate's brain into charred ruin... Seon: Small and capable, you can find the truth. Find a person's role each night.