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I'M CONVERTING SOMEONE. IT'S FINALLY WORKING. Starting with Skyward because I have a hard copy, but she's interested in Mistborn and the rest.

One theme of the Cosmere is that Shards, while holding enough power to put planets together, are bound by rules in such a way that lesser feats are forbidden. A Shard cannot simply speak into a person's mind. Ruin, a Shard that embodies decay, cannot simply make Scadrial wilt in a blink, even with no mind controlling Preservation. Preservation cannot simply stop fueling an allomancer. No Shard can stop gravity. The list goes on. They can do these things if they follow the appropiate constraints, however. Ruin can introduce thoughts into someone, but only if there is an opening through an hemalurgic spike or a broken mind. He could have destroyed Scadrial if part of its power had not been sequestered into atium. Preservation can't prevent an allomancer from drawing power from metal, but it can stop the mists from fueling someone tainted by Ruin. Gravity, as other natural laws, cannot be removed even by a Shard, but they can actively expend power in order to work against gravity so that the net effect is zero. While I can't come up with better examples for this premise, we have book references and wobs relating to the rules Shards must follow. From the Almighty in Way of Kings: From the Stormfather in Oathbringer: And this Wob clarifying that Shards are still bound by the natural laws: With this in mind, my question is: can Shards project themselves in the Physical Realm on demand, or do certain constraints need to be met? I tried to think about the moments when a Shard has shown themselves in the PR, and that I can recall they have always followed these rules: The location they project themselves into has to be particularly Invested/Connected with their own power. When they are projecting themselves, every individual has the same view of the projection. That is, they can't show a different view of themselves to different individuals at the same time. If both A and B can see C, they both see the same thing. IF they choose not to be seen by everyone, they can be seen only by individuals they have a Connection to, but they can't selectively not show themselves to a subset of those. The third rule is not a hard one. If it is followed, I believe the projection is less tangible than otherwise - it becomes just a vision, with no direct power over the PR at all. All of this is perhaps biased because the examples I draw are from Stormlight and Mistborn, in which all Shards are in different states of being bound/restrained, but it seems to me this would be a rational limitation on the way Shards can expose themselves in the PR. From Era 1, the projections we have seen are of Ruin and Preservation. Because of the nature of the planet, both P&R immediately comply with (1). Ruin has only shown himself to people with hemalurgic spikes in them (3). As seen in Chapter 58 of HoA, both Quellion and Spook see Ruin as Kelsier, and both have the same experience of him (2): Similarly, when Leras shows himself as the mistspirit, both Elend and Vin see the same thing as it slashes Elend. I think Leras' apparitions are a case of a general projection not satisfying (3): anyone at all could have seen it, that is why the mistspirit itself can affect the PR directly (draw in the ash, stab Elend), like a (lowercase) avatar. From Era 2, in Chapter 7 of Shadows of Self, Harmony can only be seen by Wax once he puts his hemalurgic earring in (3), not before, not after. No other observer so I can't say anything about (2). In Stormlight, we see a Shard in the Physical when Dalinar visits the Old Magic. I think Cultivation's body in the Valley is much like the mistspirit, fully physical not satisfying rule (3). It still happens in the Valley of all places, Cultivation's domain so to speak, satisfying (1), and with no other observer besides the Nightwatcher so I can't say anything about (2). In any case, no rules are explicitly broken. Then, we have Odium projecting himself at Thaylenah. He only shows himself under the Everstorm, because of rule (1). Venli, Amaram, Dalinar and the Fused all see the Odium say/do the same things (2). But not everyone sees Odium here, only those with some Connection to him (3), as neither Szeth nor Navani can see him. The Fused see him because they are of him, Dalinar because Odium has been influencing him through the Thrill for decades, Amaram because he made a pact with him. Finally, the other appareance of a Shard that I can think of is the Sand God in WS3, which happens over sand invested by Autonomy (1), and nothing else can be said about the rest of the rules. I would like to see additional thoughts to this idea, because I have not looked much into the particular examples and am wondering if there is an instance where these rules are not met. Particularly because I assume Avatars would be bound by them as well, so this could potentially help rule out certain people being Avatars if they don't meet this criterion.

I noticed something that probably means nothing, but was interesting nonetheless. The humans first gathered together on Roshar in Shinovar. Afterwards they dispersed throughout the planet. If you look at the bible account at Genesis chapter 11 verses 1,2, and 8 it talks about the Tower of Babel, and how the work on the tower was stopped. Consequently the people dispersed out into the entire earth. Anyways the point is the tower is located in the valley of Shinar. Probably not where he originated the name but I thought it was interesting enough to mention.

I... don't think there's a super in-depth reason for this, to be honest. It's about as many as Brandon can reasonably make work; 40 full Oaths, each having philosophical and emotional weight behind them is already a lot.

LG64: Night 2 - An International Incident The God King was a Librarian Curator! Vote Count God King (6): God King, Joe, Kynedath, Straw, Striker, Xino Experience (1): Sart Striker (1): Experience Night 2 has begun and will end in 24 hours. Get your actions in! Player List Experience - Shard Straw - Straw Kidpen - Arthur Smedry A Joe in the Bush - Porona Candemic Coda - ? Striker - ? Kynedath - Bartholomew Prescot Elandera - Rainier Zillah - ? xinoehp512 - ? Ironfire - Liability Sart - ? Elkanah - Karen Crystal Knight Silimatic Engineer Fifth Scholar - Sergey Karjakin, Russian ambassador and secret adviser to the Secretary of Defense Librarian Transporter The God King - Frank Librarian Curator Shqueeves - ?

Hello, it’s necro time. The unofficial release date is May, right? Read the thread and I agree with the theory that I was shocked when they let Ezran lead without a regent. Like, he’s ten! You’re letting a 10yo on the throne?! What are you doing? Can’t wait to see how Aaravos is reborn. Also I keep saying it Aavaros. Edit: Sarai’s death was harrowing. (I am not sorry.)

*Shifts eyes toward Rashek*

395. If you want to hire a guide, make sure you know for a fact that the people he guides actually arrive safe and sound. Guides are treacherous and should be trusted as little as possible.

Fine with me! Also, having discussed with the mods, I'm going to take two spots this week as a special circumstance. I'll be submitting two chapters, the first of which is pretty short. Both together are about 8500 words. This book will be coming out in a few months and I want to make sure I can pass the whole thing through this forum in time to publish it. Hope everyone is okay with that!

The link exists in the Spirit realm. Time doesn't matter their, all times are happening at once. I see no problem with the Mistborn/Allomancer being inside the speed bubble and the spren outside both experiencing different times because their souls experience the same time.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I would love a radiant Adolin. Everything about him screams Edgedancer. At the very least I think we'll get a Pseudo-Radient building further on his bond to Maya.

Uno.

One of the many long-awaited reveals that we expect to see in Rythyms of War is the consistency of living Shardplate. Just as a little context info, Shardplate's most straightforward use is that of deflecting blows from Shardblades. This is not the only use of Shardplate, however; the incredibly heavy armor grants the user increased strength and increased dexterity. Shardplate users are notable for their ability to hold Shardhammers--incredibly heavy hammers that no normal person could lift--and Shardbows-- which have an incredibly heavy drawback weight. This, as well as the fact that they can leap the chasms between plateaus on the Shattered Plains, and scale incredibly sheer cliffsides. Most shardbearers would agree that they would choose Shardplate over Shardblade every time (except possibly Adolin because he's awesome, but whatever). This seems to coincide with the fact that Radiants get their living Shardblades before they get their living Shardplates. This leads to the million-broam question: What is living Shardplate made of? I might have an answer. It's out of the question that it might be made of a spren, as you'll only hear the screaming of the dead spren when you wield a Shardblade, not wearing a Shardplate. This makes sense, because most Radiants will only bond one spren (there are exceptions, but not many). So what else could the Plates be made of? There are a few possibilities, but in my opinion, the most likely consistency of Shardplate is that of pure stormlight. It makes so much sense! Stormlight grants Radiants increased strength and dexterity when they breath it in. What else grants people strength and dexterity? Shardplate. If that seems like more of a coincidence than proof, then get this: Stormlight is required to make Shardplates regrow. In order to mend the Plates, they must be fed the same energy that powers the Radiants. Without stormlight, the Plates will also lose their power, becoming dead weight and ridding the Plate wearer of their increased power and speed. If this is true, then not only would the power of a bondsmith uniting the realms be a kind of turning-point for living shardplates, but we might also have a guess at what living Shardplate can do: Heal the wearer. Radiants can heal themselves by breathing in stormlight. If the Shardplates are made of stormlight, then would they even have to consciously heal themselves, or would it just happen automatically? But hey that's just a theory: A COSMERE theory. Thanks for reading!

Even compared to bride crews? The Parshendi at least have a sense of camaraderie and the value of each soldier and unlike most actually have a decent idea of what is going on.

Badass normals are overrated.

It very well could be! The names of the Unmade come from ancient Mesopotamian dieties, the Knights Radiant chart comes from the Sephiroth in the Kabbalah. Brandon clearly likes picking stuff up from mythologies

"I am a goat" "The goat is a lie" "Those who do not know the goat are doomed to repeat it" "I can do with one goat what others do with dosens"

Ugh, please not Navani. I like her best in small doses. Here's keeping my fingers crossed for Rlain.

I look forward to it. I feel he embodies the Edgedancer ideal

I do some buildings, a few people, some landscapes. It really depends.

Seconding going to the library. I also want to try to start volunteering at a shelter or something.

I'm going to be as vague as possible here, but still spoiler it just in case. Not much of a spoiler, honestly, just a small tidbit.

Ember looked around the room as she waited, taping her fingers on her knee. She was not bored in the traditional sense, no. She was not capable of boredom. But… waiting was becoming rather tedious, though she was glad Heather was asleep. Heather had not been very nice lately. She’d complained about being in pain. That was probably why. Ember sighed. She felt bad that Heather felt the way she did and she felt even worse about her inability to help her feel better. “I am sorry, Heather,” she said. She knew her friend couldn’t hear her, but she didn’t care. It was nice to speak aloud. Ember began picking at her nails again, humming a single sustained note. Since she didn’t need to breathe, she could technically hold it indefinitely. She felt the note vibrating within her. It was rather comforting and it reminded her of a few days ago, when she had heard Heather singing. Heather had a pretty voice. It would be nice to hear her sing again. Ember stopped humming, suddenly feeling oddly self-conscious. What if Heather woke up all of a sudden and heard her? That would be scary… Her voice was wrong sounding anyway. Ember adjusted her position, pulling her legs into her chest and resting her head on her knees. She looked down at Heather for a few minutes, unblinking as she watched her back rise and fall with breath. Such an odd existence, so different from her own. Suddenly, Ember began to think about something she’d never wondered before. Why did nobody else look like her? Why were they all so fleshy and needy? Wouldn’t it be easier to be indestructible, without the need for sleep or food? It just didn’t make sense. Still, there was a kind of beauty in humanity, she supposed. The imperfect normal. Once again, Ember shifted her position slightly, putting one leg out straight in front of her. She kept her right arm on her knee, but reached out with her left hand to finger Heather’s hair for a moment. Then, she lifted her fingers to her own hair. Heather’s was much softer, lighter. Which made sense. Hers was made of organic material while Ember’s was made of tiny metal strands. It had to be, otherwise it’d burn up. Ember wondered for a moment why she even had to have a stand-in for hair anyway. She supposed it was there to make her look more like the creatures she was modeled after. That was fine. She didn’t really care all that much. But she still liked Heather’s hair better.

@RobinskiI'm happy to read Book 1! I didn't realize TCC was a sequel, or maybe I forgot in the last few weeks? I'll happily read anything you toss my way. If it is about the same length as what I read for Mandamon, it takes me about two weeks to critique a book. I don't go for line by line edits, but rather for general impressions, what I am enjoying, what I am confused about, reader promises, that kind of jazz. I like Google Doc versions, so I can read it on my phone and add comments. And in return, I'll happily have you tear apart my book when I'm ready. I foolishly thought that I would have the second draft ready by the first of April, but I've never seriously revised before, and I didn't realize how long it would take. I chopped out an entire subplot, emphasized another, and have been trying to turn a lump of coal into a shinier lump of coal. Maybe it will turn into a diamond at some point. I am really good at killing my darlings (I do have a lot of practice at that), but I never knew that revising a book would actually be harder than writing it. Shows what I know. If you have any resources, tips, or tricks on revising, I'll happily take them. Seriously, though, when I start posting, I want you to tear my book apart. I really do want to try to get it published, and that means destroying any weaknesses and boosting up my strengths. So I need some outside, unbiased eyes who are willing to tell me the hard truth. Let me know what you think. If you want me to critique the ending chapters of TCC this weekend, I'm happy to give you my impressions and I'll do my best to get an idea of the plot.

No such thing as a "wrong" way to enjoy fiction

This is my spoiled, lovable excuse for a canine, Jack, eating feta cheese I gave him to stay still.

And now my Stick memes Has this one been done?

Hey guys, I've been lurking this forum for almost 3 years but this is my first post about something that I've never quite figured out and it's been bugging me for years: How does Hoid communicate with Shards, specially the ones that don't know/don't like him? Does he send a letter to one of the underlings that can communicate with them (Kandras)? How does he get the answer back? Is there a post office where he writes "Harmony - Scadrial" in the Cognitive Realm and off it goes?

393: if someone tells you a rule that doesn't make much sense (always have a fire going in the woods, don't tell x creature your name, don't look it in the eyes, etc ) follow it. There's probably a good reason.

It is their weight that propels the coin, however that weight is applied constantly and into a very small surface area. A bullet that ricochets at a small angle still delivers most of its energy to the target. In something like plate, which shatters, you are better off delivering all of your force to a small surface area. That’s why the distinction between arrows and bullets matters. Arrow snap or twist or collapse on a hit where they can’t penetrate or deflect. This dissipates their energy over a large surface area and time frame (relative to other projectiles). If you would argue that bullets aren’t enough to crack plate, you are wrong. As another poster linked earlier, Brandon has explicitly said that bullets can crack plate. Hammers and war picks are explicitly designed to damage armor. Putting a large amount of kinetic force into a small surface area and a hard material gives the weapon exceptional ability to penetrate or dent metal armor. It’s really the same principal as a bullet applied to a hand weapon. Maces can also be designed for this purpose if they are of the winged variety.

I’m not sure how the draw weight of a bow and arrow apples to the ballistics of coins, but I can say with a fair amount of certainty that a piece of metal that is being constantly accelerated along its entire flight path is carrying more force than an arrow. I’m also not sure why the average weight of a person factors into this. A low angle impact will result in a ricochet rather than a deflection. The reason deflecting an arrow works is that arrows are bladed weapons that kill through cutting a large wound channel. Bullets create a wound channel by delivering a large amount of kinetic force on a small surface area. This is why we stopped using plate armor at the advent of fire arms. Comparing coins or any other random metal projectile to arrows is apples to oranges IMO. As I said before, agree to disagree about plate. It is durable, not invincible. If I remember correctly the Parshendi used regular soldiers with stone hammers to break armor worn by the Alethi, but I don’t have a book handy to check. Coinshot > stone hammer > Shardplate. edit: just to drive it home, you are basically arguing that a Mistborn could not kill a Radiant if they were lying unconscious on the ground in their plate.

Yes, I know. My question is, why should that have happened? It seems odd to me for the reasons stated. Yes, but I read that WoB to refer specifically to the mists pulling away. Nightblood is filled with Ruin. Just like the mists pulled away from Vin when she wore Ruin’s earring, they'll pull away from any Ruin manifestation including Nightblood. Diametrical opposites. When and where was this discussion? I know some of these questions have come up before, but I didn’t see this one. I’ll quote Khriss’ language and then give my reading: First, I distinguish between Autonomy and their (likely) Avatar the Sand Lord. The Sand Lord will have their own perpendicularity on Taldain. My guess is that’s the blocked perpendicularity. But if Autonomy themselves “resides” anywhere, it is in the Dayside sun or someplace in a direct line with the sun. Khriss is definitive in saying the Investiture comes from the sky. When Khriss says, “it is not as simple as this,” I think she means Autonomy Invests more than Dayside. I believe Autonomy’s Investiture falls into its oceans. Taldain’s water cycle causes that Investiture to circulate throughout Taldain, including Darkside. If you’ve read my Autonomy theories, you’ll know how important I think water is to Autonomy’s magic. Darkside may look lit by blacklight, but IMO its magic comes from Autonomy’s Investiture. “The mechanism is best explained under those assumptions” because sunlight does carry the Investiture. Khriss’ initial mistake was not seeing how Investiture beating from the sky hits water as well as land. Having said all this, I agree it’s still conjecture. Also, @Dreamer, why do you believe light carries Autonomy’s Investiture? I think heat carries it, not light. I think light carries Endowment’s Investiture to Nalthis. And to anyone who may read this, my purpose in writing the OP was to spark discussion, not assert conclusions. Perpendicularities are very puzzling to me. I still hope you might find something new in my observations to comment on or lead you to your own ideas. If not, I’ll keep looking for other stuff to excite and entertain you! Stay safe and healthy, everyone.

For those interested (and to aid the discussion/theorizing) I re-listened and wrote up a quick quick transcription from around 6:40 minute of the video: This is the Venli/Eshonai book, right? But really it’s the Venli/Eshonai flashbacks, and the main book is focusing a lot more on another character. This just naturally happened during the writing process. There’s another character that ended up taking a lot of the time. It’s not a person who has a flashback sequence in the books. So, you can theorize on who that would be. It’s somebody who does not have a flashback sequence. So it’s not Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, Szeth, Eshonai. But really it’s this character’s book mixed with flashbacks for Venli/Eshonai. … It really turned into this character’s book, a lot more than I was expecting. It was one of those happy accidents where I really liked how it turned out. But fans who go into this expecting something that’s as much Veni’s or Eshonai’s book as the last book was Dalinar’s book are probably going to be disappointed because it’s more of a split between these two characters. These three really. Venli and Eshonai in the flashbacks and then someone else in the present. … Hardcore fans, expect another character to really be the focus of this book.

Reading through this thread, that's exactly what I started thinking as well. Their human appearance with some malleable features. They don't seem to have full shapeshifting like the kandra. They definitely have that cognitive connection, with their shadows pointing towards light. There are wobs that imply that romantic relationships happened between Knights Radiant of old and their spren. It's not a stretch to think that humans and spren living in the cognitive realm would have fallen in love. But it wouldn't be all that common. Though it happened perhaps enough to establish a small group of quasi-immortal group that lived in Aimia... Basically, I'm onboard with this theory on the origins of the Siah Aimians. Still think that the Dysian Aimians are not from Roshar.

No not really, crap I was really interested.

Really? You should read it. Perfect time to as well, what with Corona keeping us all stuck inside.

It’s...still poop? Being in soup doesn’t make it any different at all, except that it’s probably mushier? Well, maybe, since we don’t know the consistency of chull dung iirc. But I’m pretty sure it would taste exactly the same, just with spices. Being in a broth and possibly with other ingredients doesn’t make it not poop.

No you roll your eyes when they ask what the Cosmere is.

Someone call the Alethi army and tell them that their bridge crew technology has been rendered obsolete.

Also, am I the only one who pictures Adolin as looking exactly like Soren?

Was anyone else reminded of Elantrians when Callum and Claudia started drawing glowing lines with their fingers?

Preservation's power can't be used to destroy so getting rid of the mists would not have been possible using it. In fact I don't think we have seen preservation's power do anything other then give or create. Finally the LR was a pack man not a scholar or philosopher he was probably not used to thinking about the consequences of world changing actions.

Shai is from Emperor's Soul. I highly recommend it. It's a shorter, more intimate tale, where Brandon's usual intense action scenes are replaced with a slow but real tension. The magic is really cool, as one might expect, plus there's a Hoid "sighting". It takes place in the same world as Elantris but the stories don't interconnect.

51. Is an Alethi woman's Safe Hand physically different than her Free Hand? Yes it is an isomer, with reversed chirality