Leaderboard

Perhaps at this point in the discussion, we can all read Wit's epilogue in Oathbringer. "All great art is hated ... It is obscenely difficult - if not impossible - to make something that nobody hates. ...The only way to create something nobody hates is to ensure that it can't be loved either. ...The question becomes, how many people need to love a piece of art to make it worthwhile? ... I think it only takes one." Someone loves the Shallan portions of all the books; someone loves the Kaladin parts; someone loves Dalinar's. There is someone out there who identifies with Kaladin's depression, Shallan's abuse, and Dalinar's past. I personally enjoy the entire book with every POV we get. And that is what makes it great art.

When anytime you see mists you wonder why they are not as thick as they are supposed to be When the only reason it takes you so long to do your school work is you are camping on this site.

LG 65: Term 4 Month 2 - Fae Refuted In this turn, three students expelled! For so few votes surely doom spelled Cadici set fires, Rath made vulgar flyers And Ugfal the Three-Handed smelled. Maern had a scare just last night - The assailant gave him a fright But he did not die, For the man was quite spry And the attacker had to take flight There once was a man named Lin Wa, Who followed each letter and law, But being a Master Could not make him faster Than the blizzard of iron he saw. There once was a metallic storm Which ripped over Lin Wa’s true form And as for the answer Was he a skindancer? You’ll find it beneath iron’s swarm. (There once was a GM named El Who thought this turn turned out quite well The limericks fine The spreadsheet in line And now I will bid you farewell) * * * Limericks. Sloan hated limericks. They never seemed to work with the music that always filled her mind. And yet, there was a limerick there, fighting with the song she was humming. It was even one of her favorites - the song, not the limerick - which made the limerick annoy her all the more. Where was this sound coming from. If she found the source, she’d kill it. Even if it was one of her people. Anyone muttering in limerick form didn’t deserve her protection. She tried to dance down the street, humming louder to block out the limerick. But no, the limerick got louder. She couldn’t even make out any words but it was increasing in a syllabic volume that made her forget how cold it was. (Maybe if she wasn’t so frustrated, she’d be thrilled about something causing her to forget the chill, but no). A shadow in the alley caught her eye, and she spun toward it. She’d lost her beat. That had never happened to her before. Whipping out one of her daggers - a jagged little work of art she loved to slice through skin with - she stepped toward the alley. And the words became clear. “For students, there’s three things to know - The first is that school makes much woe And even if worked on Till you see light of dawn You might still have nothing to show!” Sloan grinned. It wasn’t one of her people. She would’ve delighted in killing the student without any encouragement whatsoever, but this one. This one had made her lose her beat. The blood ran dark out of the alley and Sloan danced away. The beat was back, the limerick silenced. The night suddenly seemed so much brighter. Lin Wa (Walin) was killed! He was a Skindancer! Amila Tays (Zillah) was killed! She was a Student! Maern (Xino) was attacked and protected! Ugfal the Three-Handed (Stink), Cadici (CadCom), and Rath were all brought on the Horns and the Masters, in a stroke of viciousness, expelled all three of them! The following students were elevated: Seoras (Haelbarde), Athdara (Elandera), Straw (Straw Altiora), Lasko Veitch (Karnage), Vol (Devotary), Rath, Ugfal the Three Handed (Stink), and Leo (Lopen). Term 4 Month 2 has begun! It will end 15 May at 4:00 PM PDT.

The crew had surrounded Cain. They hadn't seen him save anyone from death with his fancy medical kit, so he must have been a Mutineer! Right!? Nope. The strange man, I In Rad Uniform, had also been killed. He had some silver powder on him. Elkanah was lynched. They were a Loyal Crewmember with a Medical Kit! Furamirionind was killed. He was a Loyal Crewmember with Silver Powder! Vote Count: Elkanah (6): CadCom, Joe, Kidpen, Sart, The_Archivist, The_God_King Megasif (2): Elkanah, Zillah Karnage (1): Furamirionind Kidpen (1): Elbereth Silberfarben (1): Karnage Zillah (1): Megasif GM Notes: -The cycle will end on May 15th at 13:00 EST. -Inactivity warnings for: no one! Good job with activity! -If there are any inaccuracies with the vote or inactivity count, please let me know. -"I In Rad Uniform" is an anagram of "Furamirionind". Player List: xinoehp512 - Hades Loyal Crewmember Karnage - Shroud StrikerEZ - Reverie Loyal Crewmember Elkanah - Cain Loyal Crewmember with a Medical Kit The_God_King - Mavet Elandera - Thankful Loyal Crewmember with a Knife Lord_Silberfarben - Silber BrightnessRadiant - Calypso Loyal Crewmember Kynedath - Maledict Loyal Crewmember Kidpen - Aradia A Joe in the Bush - Joseph Elbereth - Crepuscula The_Archivist - Archer Mist - Rona Loyal Crewmember Sart - Sam Trudite Zillah - TBD CadCom - Patience DrakeMarshall - Verity Amanuensis - Nok the Bard Arraenae - Resourceful Smythe Mutineer Megasif - Mega Furamirionind - TBD Loyal Crewmember with Silver Powder

SA

Today LGBTQ Reads hosted the cover reveal for my next book, Power Inversion! It's set in the same world as the Book of Mel, about four years later, written from Mel's cousin, Erin's POV. But Mel is in the book as one of the more prominent side characters. https://bit.ly/3fMlWL7

187 days until Rhythm of War!!! We're getting there...

I'm not sure this is explicitly saying that Jezrien is only 30. Kalak is saying that Jezrien looks young, like a man barely in his thirtieth year. It is quite possible he is in his forties but just looks younger.

Friendly reminder that all opinions are valid. There is no singular “this was awesome, and this sucked”. You can be both whiny and depressed at the same time. Goodness knows I’ve managed it before. And...yeah, I do think that? That is a bigoted view, if Google’s not wrong about the definition of that word. It’s a completely understandable one and I don’t begrudge them it, I’d probably think the same in that position, but the view itself is intolerant by definition. I’m on their side, but that doesn’t change what bigotry is. In the same way, it makes sense why Kaladin had the opinion he does, but that doesn’t make it not bigoted, or not wrong.

Shallan's struggles are real struggles people have. I work with those people. I help those people. Not many people are out there waging war. That's a far less human problem and it distances people from its effects. War may be dark, but domestic violence is a much bigger and closer to home problem for most of the planet. Fighting for you life is understandable. Beating your helpless family is not. That said, Dalinar's arc in Oathbringer is also fantastic. But they take trauma from very different angles and that's important because trauma hits everyone different. As for Kaladin's arc... Sorry but no. Kaladin is whiny, petulent, and bigoted through most of that book. He's being an idiot. Him realizing that and finally being a good person is a relief, not epic. And Shallan leads him straight to those realizations in the chasm.

Sorry man but no. The best written most poignant parts of the book are about Shallan. You don't have to like her but the amazing way it details how she became who she is is a masterclass in keeping hope amidst dark dark subject matter.

Alright, so here's an updated player list, elevations list, and the final complaint tally from end of last cycle. Player List1. @Haelbarde - Seòras (Edema Ruh) 2. @Elandera - Athdara, alchemist (Noble) 3. @Burnt Spaghetti - Bryn Aria (Commoner) 4. @DeTess - Evelyn Bryen (Commoner) Insane 5. @Elkanah (Edema Ruh) 6. @Straw - Straw (Commoner) 7. @xinoehp512 - Maern (Commoner) 8. @Lord_Silberfarben - Lord Silberfarben (Commoner) 9. @Coda - Catalan, namer (Noble) Insane 10. @Karnage - Lasko Veitch (Noble) 11. @Hemalurgic Headshot - Onur Setyn (Noble) Insane 12. @StrikerEZ - Ryykal Ladzo (Edema Ruh) Insane 13. @Lumgol - Caia Irèn (Noble) Insane 14. @Experience - Shard (Commoner) 15. @Devotary of Spontaneity - Vol, paranoid alchemist (Noble) 16. @CadCom - Cadaci (Edema Ruh) Expelled 17. @Sart - Sagaer Murtoy, accompanied by a child (Commoner) Insane 18. @Furamirionind (Edema Ruh)19. @Zillah - Amila Tays (Commoner) Student20. @Araris Valerian - Arael Solon (Noble)21. @Rathmaskal - Rath (Commoner) Expelled22. @STINK - Ugfal the Three-Handed, with only two hands (Commoner) Expelled 23. @Kynedath - Traelynn Weeks, likes beets (Edema Ruh) 24. @Walin - Lin Wa (Commoner) Skindancer 25. @GreenRover - Knighter Nune (Noble) 26. @Young Bard - Nethwyl Nox, pyromaniac (Commoner) Expelled 27. @TheMightyLopen - Leo (Noble) Rank 0 - Unelevated - 5 Hemalurgic Headshot, Ryykal Ladzo (StrikerEZ), Caia Irèn (Lumgol), Sagaer Murtoy (Sart) Rank 1 - E'lir - 4 Traelynn Weeks (Kynedath), Knighter Nune (Rover), Cadici (CadCom), Lyoan (Fura), Ethdara (Elendera) Rank 2 - Re'lar - 3 Bryn Aria (Burnt Spaghetti), Arael Solon (Araris), Vol (Devotary), Evelyn Bryen (DeTess), Ugfal the Three-Handed (Stink), Catalan (Coda) Rank 3 - El'the - 8 Shard (Experience), Maern (Xino), Kendel (Elkanah), Lord Silberfarben, Seòras (Haelbarde), Straw Altiora (Straw), Lasko Veitch (Karnage), Leo (Lopen), Rath, Nethwyl Nox (Bard), Amila Tays (Zillah) Rank 4 - Master - 0 Lin Wa (Walin) Vote Tally Zillah(16): Hael{1}, CadCom{1}, CadCom{2}, Hael{2}, Elkanah{1}, Elkanah{2}, Exp{1}, Exp{2}, Elkanah{5}, Elkanah{6}, Karnage{1}, Karnage{2}, Araris{1}, Araris{2}, Devotary{1}, Devotary{2}, Walin{1}, Walin{2} Stink(2): Xino{1}, Xino{2} CadCom(2): Lopen{1}, Lopen{2} Rath(3): Straw{1}, Straw{2}, Stink{1} Coda(0): Elkanah{3}, Elkanah{4} Straw(0): Stink{2} Zillah(16): Hael(x2), CadCom(x2), Exp(x2), Elkanah(x2), Karnage(x2), Araris(x2), Devotary(x2), Walin(x2) Rath(3): Straw(x2), Stink Stink(2): Xino(x2) CadCom(2): Lopen(x2) Alright, well that was quite an eventful round... Can we please actually discuss the lynch sooner than the last 8 hours of the cycle? Those are the eight hours in which I'm meant to be sleeping... It seems that Zillah, rather than being sneaky and quietly working their way to the top, must have just put in EP earlier in the game, and just gotten lucky (or otherwise had no competition). Also must have gotten either had more than 6 talents coin, or got fairly unluckly with the merc death roll. It's a pity Exp hadn't pointed out that Zillah was in danger of dying to inactivity earlier, because that would have been a good point - not a lot of use in wasting what ended up being 16 complaints on a dead person. @CadCom You've expressed twice now that you're suspicious of me, saying both times that you don't currently have any particular reasons for being suspicious. Any progress on that? @Araris Valerian I think you've been the same, although I think you at least had the accusation along the lines of my reads not ultimately being all that useful if I'm not expression suspicions of anyone in particular. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt, which isn't exactly a great strategy for finding people to be suspicious of in a game. Had that been the main thing? Also, you were suspicious of Devotary 3.2 - is that still the case? That's an interesting idea. We couldn't really know for sure if their claims were true, but I don't see why Masters couldn't share that if they wanted. I know exactly how you feel about the discussion happening when asleep... I think most people just saw my vote, thought "eh, it seems safe to be suspicious of an inactive, I'll throw down a vote to not have to think hard about alternatives," or something to that effect... I see you had some suspicions here in 3.2. Have you progressed your thoughts on them at all? You looked at Exp, Burnt, and Xino during 4.1 I suppose, but what about Straw? You mentioned a sligh elim read on them, pending more evidence at the time. @Elkanah was there a particular reason why you put a vote on Devotary during 3.2? Alright, I'm finally redoing my reads. Focusing only on the players who are currently able to participate in the lynch: I have to go for the moment, and I want to have this posted, so I'll finish the other reads after I get back. To do:

We’ve done it Cosmerenauts! We have finished The Adventures of Slaveboi! What a wild ride it’s been… we’ve had a whole lot of fun and the journey really has been more enjoyable than the destination. There’s been a whole lot of stuff that went on with us around the end of the book, so buckle up: So the first bit of news is: I’ve been fired as narrator. Just to give you some background, in the wake of COVID-19, the South African government was proactive and decided to go onto a full lockdown on 1 April – meaning only the most essential trips out of your home were justified: no going for runs, no going to a bookstore… everything was closed except for like pharmacies and grocery stores. Anyways, on 1 May, the lockdown started lifting in phases, so Tay and I decided that we would start to talk morning walks around our neighbourhood again. Since we’re in the homestretch of The Way of Kings, Tay asked if there was an audiobook of it so that she could listen to it as she walked. I said there was, and downloaded Graphic Audio’s version of it. One minute into the first chapter she listened to and I was fired. A voice cast? Sound effects? Musical accompaniment? Damnation, it is something else. So long story short, we just listened to the ending on graphic audio and had a lot of fun doing so. HOT TAKES ON THE ENDING: When she realizes Sadeas is abandoning Dalinar at the Tower, as opposed to her intense reaction to Amaram taking Kaladin’s Shards, the only reaction she gave was a little: “Huh. What a dick.” She was absolutely blindsided by Taravangian being Szeth’s master. I’ll admit that this was a great twist that I definitely take for granted now ten years after having read it for the first time. Fantastic writing. She came up with her own theory! So admittedly, this was a theory she gave right before the chapter where Jasnah tells Shallan her theory about the Voidbringers, but it’s a pretty decent theory anyways: She knows that from how the Parshendi reacted to Kaladin being “Super Saiyan” at the Tower, they obviously have knowledge of the Knights Radiant or are tied to them somehow. She thinks that they are behind the war and killed Gavilar in order to make chaos on a grand scale so that the Radiants are forced to return due to the chaotic nature of the world. She knows that Odium is involved somehow, but can’t place it. However, she doesn’t think the Parshendi have anything to do with Odium. I think this is a really good theory – she’s obviously got the details right but the conclusions wrong as And then… we got to the end. She loves the idea of the Parshmen being the Voidbringers ("I told you Odium had something to do with it!") and that Princess Jasmine is out to save the world, and likes the idea of Slaveboi being Guardboi to Dalinar. Tay gave it a solid 3 out of 5 but said she wasn’t entirely sure she’d read the second book. Fair enough, I thought... I'd been hounding her for years to read it and now she'd given it a good ol' fashioned shot and liked it, but wasn't sure she was going to commit to nine more books. So (time for the second bit of big news) I then summarized the entire second book for her the day after we finished book 1. By the time I had finished and explained Wit’s epilogue with Jasnah, two hours had passed, my throat was completely dry and I was trying to figure out how to explain what Nightblood was to her without needing to explain the entire magic system of Warbreaker to her (she was getting frustrated with how convoluted Surgebinding was… I wasn’t about to explain Awakening). What was her reaction after I had finished narrating the entirety of Words of Radiance? “Well if I had known it was going to be that exciting, I would have listened to the audiobook!” Derp. Anyways, she’s decided that she’s still interested in where the books go, except now that she knows the entire plot of the second book she’s not about to go through 60 hours of narration (even if it’s top quality) – so she wants to listen to some of the key scenes that are like the ‘greatest hits’ of Words of Radiance… the scenes that she found most exciting when I described them to her. Here’s what I was thinking: - The attack on the Wind’s Pleasure - Szeth attacking the Pinnacle after the Highstorm - Adolin & Kaladin vs Four Shardbearers - Lift’s interlude - Kaladin & Shallan’s banter in the chasms where Kaladin low-key falls in love with her - Kaladin & Shallan fight off the Rock Lobster - Kaladin speaking the Third Ideal - The Sanderlanche in general from where Dalinar and co get to Narak to being transported to Urithiru - Adolin giving Sadeas the ol’ stabby-stab - Wit & Jasnah’s epilogue What about you guys? What are your ‘can’t miss scenes’ from Words of Radiance?

A few things to understand: 1) we have no idea what precautions Dragonsteel are taking at this time. It would be pretty silly of us to make generalizations based on the 2 hour stream when we don't see what they're doing with the other 100s of hours. It could be that none of them interact with anyone outside that room. We don't know and we can't and should not judge based on our tiny peak into someone else's life. 2) COVID has not spread uniformally across the world in the same way at the same time. Different places are experiencing different levels of infection and different population ages and density...there is a lot going on. The part of the world in which Brandon lives is currently not overwhelmed with cases and has not put in place very strict lockdowns. 3) Let's all admit that we aren't epidemiologist, we aren't public health experts, we are caring fans who want the best for our favorite author and each other and we all have very different ideas of what "best" means and we are all experiencing a global catastrophe in very different ways. Let's be kind, and understanding, and try not to assume too much. I know you all have the best of intentions with your concerns, Cosmere fans are good people. Much love and I hope for the best for every one of you fantastic fans and your families!!!

Hey everyone! So I, like many of you I'm sure, have been trying to successfully convert my wife to the Cosmere. Literally since I met her I've been trying to get her to read The Way of Kings but there never seemed to be a good time for her to jump into it - either she was reading something else, had too much work, or just couldn't commit to a 1000-page book whose series wasn't finished yet. However, we've recently figured out that she really enjoys being read aloud to - she likes the sound of my voice and it helps her relax after a long day (she's a high school English teacher dealing with teenage angst all day - please show her some sympathy here). So naturally, I finally sold her on tWoK and I've been reading it to her for the last few months, a bit at a time. At the moment, we're in part 2 and just read the scene where Dalinar experiences the first vision we see 'on-screen' where the Midnight Essence shows up and he fights it off with a fire poker. So here's another thing: my wife is absolutely hilarious and also has trouble remembering names (to be fair, Alethi names have a lot of -lin, -as, -nar suffixes), so I recently asked her to give me a breakdown of what she remembers each character as. Here's what she's got: Kaladin - Slaveboi - "He used to be soldierboi, now he's slaveboi, but I'm pretty sure by the end of all this he'll be shardboi" Shallan - Sneak - "She's so mean! She's just becoming friends with her to steal her magic jewellery. I don't like her." Dalinar - Jeffrey Dean Morgan - "He looks like JDM." Adolin - The Hot Brother - "He's kind of a slut right?" Renarin - The Awkward Brother Sylphrena - Manic Pixie Dream Girl Sadeas - B****boi - "He's the idiot with the bridges right? Yeah, he's a b****boi." Jasnah - Princess Jasmine - "She's a princess right? No? Yes - she's the daughter of Dead Kingy Boi." Gavilar - Dead Kingy Boi Szeth - The Michelin Man - "Because he's big and all in white!" "Tay, he's average size. Just his eyes are described as big." "Are you kidding me?" Elhokar - Boi King - "You're making sure to write these all as 'b-o-i', right?" Gaz - C***! - I know this board doesn't allow swearing - but she just straight-up shouted the c-word when I mentioned Gaz. The Stormfather - The Stormdaddy - "Make sure they know it's being said in an uncomfortably sexual way." Chasmfiends - Rock Lobsters Some early hot takes from Tay: - Dalinar killed Gavilar so that he could become king because he's in love with Gavilar's wife. - The shardbearer who Kaladin fights in the first chapter killed all of his men and enslaved Kaladin. - Sadeas is behind the cut saddle. - Kaladin and Syl are going to fall in love. - Kaladin is going to get a shardblade ("He's obviously going to get a shardblade Chris... don't mess with me here.") - Shallan already has a shardblade (!) - Shallan is going to feel too guilty to steal Jasnah's soul-caster OR "Princess Jasmine is going to catch her sneaking around and say 'Hey Sneak. Let's have a DMC about why you want to steal my magic jewellery.'" I also thought I'd pop back in on this thread every once in a while to update you with any fun observations she makes in the future, and thought this could be a nice place to share our experiences with introducing the series to the people in our lives and their reactions to us being insufferable and incorrigible nerds!

The city was alive. The thought crossed her mind while she walked through the streets, all around her laughing, celebrating people. The streets seemed to glow in the light of the lampions hanging everywhere, their shapes and sizes varying with the people that had hung them up. She knew there would be fires in the larger and smaller places, carefully watched by a few who had offered to keep an eye on the flames. A tiny smile touched her lips as she allowed herself to be swept along by the crowd moving towards one of the larger places nearby. They all had spent the day inside, had considered the last year, had pondered over mistakes had decided on things they wanted to do in the future. But now, now the time for silence, for quiet thoughtfullness was over. Now it was time to celebrate, to forget about the past for a moment, about the wars and the destruction that had happened so regularly for the past years. She could feel it, could see it in the faces, in the eyes of those around her. Tonight was dedicated tp the present. Tonight they were alive. She stopped in front of a stall and bought herself a drink that smelled like a mixture of lemon and kiwi and then continued, walked along the street, her face carefully hidden behind a green mask depicting a spren. Nearly everybody wore them, some faces easy to recognize despite their unusual adornment, others completely anonymus behind larger, more complicated ones. She saw the old figures of myth, the old gods of this world, new heros of the movies, creatures from all the worlds that came together in this place, some so weird she had no idea what or who they were supposed to represent. Despite the pleasant, festivious mood she kept her eyes open, couldn't quite suppress her instinct to look for a threat, to make sure nobody was trying to use the situation for their benefit. She couldn't see anybody, saw no sign of anything that tipped her off, but she allowed herself her awareness, didn't try to stop her eyes from covertly roaming over the crowd now and then. It had saved her live more often than not and she saw no reason to stop. When she stepped onto the place, she could see the fire burning in the middle, hear the music of some that had brought their instruments and played a quick dance. The city was alive, she was alive. And tonight, tonight she would celebrate, she would maybe meet new people, tonight her white hair would be part of a costume and not mark her as a freak. For once her red eyes, changed to crystals by years spend soulcasting, could be mistaken for a special set of contact lenses. Althea took a sip of her drink and looked around, the tiny smile still touching her lips. Tonight was a good night. One she had looked forward to for months.

Hello! I am glad to be able to announce the start of ERA 5! As of now, Era 4 is officially finished. That means: All location threads move to E5. Please feel free to continue to use them, but should you be the first one to post there, add a quote stating that this thread moved to E5 at the beginning of your post. If you haven't done so, please finish all E4 plots as soon as possible. We try to avoid having two eras going at the same time. Please use only characters that were approved for E5! You can always submit more sheets, if you want to move other characters over to this era (up to our official limit of 5 characters per person active at the same time). Please keep the changes to our canon in mind! I copied them into a spoiler tag below for quick and easy reference. And most importantly: Have fun in the new Era! Sorana

Lita watched the steam curl off the surface of her tea, her eyes barely focused, gaze shifted inwards. She slid the Coin, her Coin, out of her sock and began to walk its cool, heavy face across the back of her knuckles. Forward, then backward. Forward, then backward. "When I came to this city, all I wanted was a fresh start," she said softly, still watching the steam. "I was so tired of being a piece in the games of lesser men. A sharp tool in dull hands. An apostate of a weak god." Lita flipped the Coin and caught it, opening her palm to reveal the gleaming rictus grin of the spiked skull. "And now? Now I'm a piece on a different kind of board. But there is no escaping it, Laurelai. There is no other option. There are only the pieces on the board, and the hand that moves them. Everyone is trying to be the Queen, but even the Queen is a piece." She looked up at her friend, green eyes cold, pupils widening as she felt herself start to burn Tin. Too much Tin, Lita. Far too much. She shook away the doubt, her mind racing through the fragments of her memories. "I touched him, you know," she whispered softly. "I was so sure I was going to die down there, I could feel it like the breath in my own lungs. I felt the world narrow and stop. I felt it turn in that moment. I was supposed to die, and so I thought, 'What the hell?'" Lita began to walk the Coin along the back of her hand again, twirling it between her fingers this time, burning a little Pewter to help with the dexterity. "So cold." Lita flexed her left hand with the memory of it. "But he was real, Laurelai. He was real. There was a time when he was just like us - just another piece. That is how you win, Laurelai. It's the only way. You let yourself be played. Over, and over, and over. As long as it takes until you learn the rules. Until you can see the pattern. And then, you make your own board. You design the game. You decide who stands on which square. Who plays black and white. That is when you can keep the power that you find. When there is no one left above you to take it." "There is no other way across the board but to be played, and to watch. Watch how the hand moves you. However many times is required. However much of you is required. No matter what you have to do, or who you have to forget." Lita stopped spinning the gold Coin and slid it back into her sock, then picked up the grey one from where she'd placed it on the table. She cocked her head at it, studying its surface, before closing her fist around its face and shutting her eyes. I think you already know my greatest desire, she thought into the coin. I think you knew it that first moment you sat at my kitchen table and offered me all the secrets I could find. And I have made good on your offer. I've paid prices and reaped rewards that I could never have imagined. I have held the power I've always sought - but never for very long. Always, I've been in the service of someone else. Doing someone else's bidding. Finding someone else's answers. I want to be my own Tineye. I want to move the pieces on the board. I want to keep what I find. I'm tired of being the knife. I want to be the hand. She opened her eyes and let the grey coin fall from her palm, meeting Laurelai's blue gaze across the table. "We should get to work, I think," Lita said softly, feeling all the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. The world felt tense, as if it were holding its breath. "Something tells me we're about to get moved across the board." @Voidus @Fatebreaker

Staring back at the Stranger, the Sudiov kept an outwardly calm expression but couldn't entirely prevent a small flinch as the Stranger finished speaking, draining all light from the room and drawing the void towards them. "You had the potential." Sudiov replied after a moments pause. "I wondered why he never chose you, never told you about it." With a sigh he leaned back in the chair, perfect posture slumping as defeat weighed his shoulders down and distaste warped his expression. There were few people who could evoke much of any emotion from Sudiov but the Stranger had now consistently proven that he was one such. "But it seems that for all your talk of sacrifices there are some lines that the two of you won't cross. Perhaps he was simply unwilling to do to you what was once done to him, though I'm not sure that even he remembers that anymore. To my knowledge, outside of Voidus himself there are only two people who could possibly give you the answers that you seek. And Voidus' child was probably too young to realise much of what was happening." Sudiov watched the Strangers expression carefully as he spoke, looking for any tell as to what information he might already know. But beyond the outbursts of rage, loss and disgust that the Stranger so violently showed, Sudiov could glean little else. "Very well, your offer holds little drawback for me. You would need someone to look after his connection to the Void while Voidus lives out your little story, and there are very few who would be able to do so, none others who are completely ready yet. So, we separate ourselves from this facade you drape over the world and desperately hope that the two of us can hold the world together? The spike will be crucial to that, and if you want to bring the spike into your web then you'll need to understand where Voidus took it from." Sudiov spread a slow smile of his own, draining the light from around them much as the Stranger had done, sealing their space from any awareness that may seek to eavesdrop on them. The air seemed to creak as the pressure they both emitted came to a head, breaking and rebuilding the world around them. "I don't have his memories, only that of his power. But fortunately for you, the power existed even at the beginning. So let me tell you a tale that not even Voidus can truly recall. Let me tell you the full story of what he's sacrificed, and what you will need to sacrifice if you ever want this goal of yours to truly succeed. The story of a professor, and the monster known as Voidus."

Harmony changed the Koloss to make them true breeding when he ascended. Before they could not breed. Now (from coppermind) Inquisitors could always reproduce and Brandon has gone back and forth on weather Kandra can breed with humans(they can't make more kandra with each other).

That's what we're all doing on this thread, Emi This is a writing / critique group. @kais and @Mandamon are also published, and the rest of us are aiming in that direction. @shatteredsmooth, I also love the cover.

So I actually recommend you read all the interludes as basically short stories(that is kind of what they are). Additionally read Edgedancer(you have not told her the plot and it is not nearly as much of a commitment). My favorite scenes that have not been mentioned. Kaladin and Adolin becoming friends after getting out of prision. All of Hoid. I am a stick! Recruiting the deserters Tyn and Shallan's scenes(am I the only one that sees the two of them as a thing? Tyn is defo Shallan's type). Skim at least a few of Kaladin's struggles and then read his how he decides to help Elhokar. Honestly though maybe just tell her what the chapter is about and then either summarize it for her or read it depending on what she wants? Coppermind has descriptions for all of them.

I'm imaging Brandon browsing this site (with popcorn) when he can't find a movie and laughing at our theories so hard he's crying.

Tinfoil theory: Dragons have pupils rimmed in a silvery metallic substance (presumably "dragonsteel"). Metals glow in the Scadrian Cognitive Realm. Ergo: Hoid is a Dragon.

All of them

Not an exact date, but this may help Questioner When did Shallan take the First Oath? Brandon Sanderson That's been quite a while. She's been on this path longer than almost anybody. Jasnah's been going for a while. If you look at the timeline, I think Jasnah beats her. But she's been on this path for years. Questioner Do we get to find out when she took that First Oath? Brandon Sanderson Yes, I'm planning to delve into that. It's supposed to be a "Wait, What?" I'd have to look exactly at the timeline, Jasnah beats her. Jasnah definitely beats her. Questioner 2 <Are you sure?> Brandon Sanderson Maybe not. I'd have to look at the timelines. This is why I have Karen, to keep my timelines for me! FanX 2018 (Sept. 6, 2018)

I'm back, Cosmere spolers

When you think of this: Me: I have a headache. Mom: Take some ibuprofen. Me: You cannot have my pain.

*is responsible for that index update together with Mac* Just wait till you see the version I'm working on right now

I have two characters I'd like to add to this Era (as my first time on the Shard!!). One's a little more powerful than normal, but he's got a lot of weaknesses. The other is more of a side character I may bring in. I also have one more character, but I'd like advice from the discussion thread before I bring it here. Tyrian: Cassie: Sorry if Tyrian's too OP, but I feel like he could be a good gray antagonist. He could progress as a Radiant and heal his brokenness... or he could go on a Hemalurgic rampage. Who knows? Not him. Or me. On to the Alleys!

Dawnshard is a Rosharan/Ashynite thing. What gives Hoid his immortality is the remnant of an anti-Adonalsium weapon from Yolen.

Brandon has gone back and forth a bunch. So we don't really know. WoBs on the subject tend to get a bit wishy washy and contradictory.

It doesn't necessarily mean that either. It's just saying that people died and they have items. If you people keep on trying to get game info from tags I'm just going to start putting blatantly untrue things in the tags.

Requiescat In Pace. Anyways the way I see it the village is officially losing the game at this point so lets that around yeah? Three Assumptions I am pretty sure a game with 22 players would have 5 eliminators. That means there are 4 eliminators left. There are a handful of people that I trust: God King - His response to Elbereth's accusation seemed genuine. Kidpen - Thought that the eliminator faction was shades, which I really don't think a mutineer would do. Archivist - Was active at the end of the first cycle but made no attempt to either save or bus Rae. Sart - Flipped the vote against Rae during the last hour of the first cycle. Megasif - Placed the second vote against Rae that made her a serious lynch candidate for the first time. DrakeMarshall - I get to see this guy's role PM. There are a handful of people I don't think could both be eliminators: CadCom has been going after Karnage for several cycles. Joe attempted to lead a lynch on Zillah. Aman tried to break the tied vote against CadCom at the last second. It has occurred to me that this could have been posted too late on purpose, but given the rushed nature of the post I'm inclined to give the benefit of the doubt. Silberfarben arguing with Elbereth about whether El's vote was a poke vote or not doesn't seem like an interaction between teammates. Implications I can do a bit of math to narrow down the suspects. I've calculated every possible eliminator team configuration that has 4 living players, does not include any of the players that I trust, and does not include pairs of players that I don't think could be on an eliminator team together. The possible eliminator teams are: Karnage, Silberfarben, Joe, Aman Karnage, Silberfarben, Zillah, Aman Karnage, Joe, Elbereth, Aman Karnage, Elbereth, Zillah, Aman So, wow. I was hoping this little exercise would let me shrink the pool of suspects but I didn't expect it would confirm both Karnage and Aman to be elims. Karnage I already suspected, but Aman not really. But I'm pretty confident about those 3 assumptions I made, and this conclusion necessarily follows from those assumptions.

Not really. It's likely that the amounts people have been able to push are immediately drained by some kind of mechanism.

First off, big props to this well-put together theory! It was a delight to read and very interesting and -mostly- cohesive. Now there are some parts that I kinda want to weigh in on with some skeptic comments and questions, mostly in regards to pathways to power. There are several things I'd like to address here. Let's start with those that regard Hemalurgy. You theorize metal is Hemalurgy's pathway to power - however, I think this is conflating your own pathway concept with the focus. Clearly, what metal the spike is made of influences what can be stolen or transferred - but so does the hemalurgic bind point. Furthermore, you postulate that pathways are consumed in performing the magic. Hemalurgy, however, does NOT follow this if metal is truly its pathway. Spikes are not burnt like metals in Allomancy. They are not consumed by spiking to splice off sDNA or transplant it. I would argue that metal, just like in Allomancy, is Hemalurgy's focus (or at least part thereof - remember bind points). The pathway should be something different however. Perhaps blood? There is the reference that Hemalurgy owes its very name to requiring the flow of blood past the spikes - and perhaps this is where the pathway to power is actually hidden. A similar argument can be made for Surgebinding and its proposed pathway of bonds. Where are these bonds consumed? Also the proposed pathway here is not what provides the Investiture necessary to perform Surgebinding. The Investiture is already available from Stormlight and needs only be breathed in. Now, perhaps the "pathway" is somewhere in that breathing in moment or perhaps just in gems and spheres being able to store stormlight. These are some options I could see. I also am skeptical of the implications when you say "metal may be Ruin's pathway everywhere and not just on Scadrial". I may have missed it but I think a magic user's actual position in the cosmere is relatively unimportant for how their magic works. The effects and focus are decided by the planet the magic originated on - but the pathway, as I understood it, is defined by the correlating Shard and its Spin. Except for Selish magics (and perhaps Surgebinding cause you can't really get Spren off-world as far as we know), this, to me, does not imply that a magic user shouldn't be able to access and work their abilities off-world, so long as they can get Investiture as fuel. Allomancy and Awakening were shown to work just fine off-Scadrial/Nalthis. Curious to hear your thoughts on these discrepancies I noted!

I doubt this is a real scene within the timeline Just Bridge 4 looking cool.

When you can't listen to skaa music without wondering how they managed to have the time to perform when being beaten down by the lord ruler.

Maybe two entities, going through five Oaths together, equals ten something?

4 weeks and counting! Then I'll have time to start working on mine! I'm a little bit excited, in case it was unclear!

They would probably try to kill everything. And they would be able to beat you in an arm wrestle.

Why is getting a diagnosis so unofficial? Talked to my doctor about it today and she agreed that it sounds like I’m dealing with OCD, like professionals have in the past, and it has gotten worse - enough to count as the disorder, I think, and I take the checklists online and they agree, so do I call myself officially diagnosed now? She approved me for treatment, said it would be a good idea to look into. There was no paper or anything saying “Ene has this”, no one looking me in the eyes and going Yes-capital-Y. Does it count? Argh. I’m going to work under the assumption that professional agreement is what matters and I’m “diagnosed” now. No one has said anything about any other unmet requirements for being diagnosed. So that’s what I’m going with, that all the medical and mental health professionals agreeing means it’s official now. I don’t remember it being any different for being diagnosed with depression or anxiety. Yaaaay

I suspect they'll be some kind of Horneater royal symbol. Now that Rock is technically King of the Horneaters.

Quick update! So I told my wife about how excited everyone was getting on this board. This is generally how it went down: ME: "I got so many points! I went from Prelan to Babsk to Houselord and now I'm a Forescout!" TAY: "None of those mean a single thing to me." ME: "So how about I read to you again tonight? You can help me with my burgeoning career as a Cosmere comedian. Wait - does that make me Wit?" TAY: "No, Chris. It makes me Wit. You're just the vessel I use to share my genius with the masses." Either way, I read a good five chapters last night. Here are some of the zingers: ME READING: "'I can save her,' Kal said." TAY: *snorts* "Ha! No you can't. Why? Because character development, Slaveboi, that's why." Tay tries to convince me by way of a five minute conversation that the White Stripes predicted the plot of the book - "Think about it, Chris! 'I'm talking to myself at night because I can't forget'! Like the Stormdaddy is talking to JDM during the storms! I'm right." She has also predicted that Kaladin secretly killed Brightlord Wisitow when he was 13 - "Because... abuse? Or something. Slaveboi doesn't like Lighteyes anyways." She also came up with the following character names: Rock - Dwayne Johnston Wit - The Court Jester Brightlord Wisitow - Brightlord Wichita (this was the starting off point for her hot take on the White Stripes) Laral - Rosalind - "Rosamund. Because he's got unrequited love with her like Romeo and Rosamund. Wait - no. Rosalind. Rosamund is playing Moiraine." Lirin - Pop-Pop And last but not least, she came up with her title for The Way of Kings. I present to you: The Adventures of Slaveboi and Jeffrey Dean Morgan - Book One of the Stormlight Archive. That's all I've got for now! But if we're stuck at home with COVID-19 any time soon, I'm sure there will be more!

This is completely inaccurate! He only gives Lita the cool presents! She got a spike and a Coin and ALL DETECA GOT WAS A LECTURE. MOOOOOOOOM UNCLE FATE'S BEING MEEEAN AGAAIIINNN

I sort of miss being a spren... Please don't downvote this just because I said that!