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  1. Rhythm of War is fast approaching! If you’re like me, you’ve been obsessing over every tidbit of information that Brandon has released about the book. If you’re not as crazy as I am, you’re in luck because I’m going to share with you everything we currently know about Rhythm of War. The book is going to open with a Navani prologue. Brandon has shared the beginning of that prologue with us. It cuts off right when we start getting to the juicy stuff, but it looks like we will see more of Gavilar’s secrets from that night. It’s not shown in the chapter, but we can also assume that (spoiler alert) Gavilar will die at the end of the prologue. Before we get into the nitty gritty details, here’s a quick overview of the structure. This book will have three arcs that take place in three different locations. Arc one will contain five point of view characters, two of which will have fewer chapters. Arcs two and three will both have two point of view characters. Arc two’s characters will be in a narrowly focused but very involved plot while arc three just touches on what the two]characters are doing. The structure is going to be more similar to The Way of Kings than Words of Radiance or Oathbringer. Each arc will have it’s own climax that will be spread out throughout the book, so the ending won’t be quite as compact as Oathbringer’s was. The main plot of the book is going to begin one year after the end of Oathbringer. We’ll get to see the benefits of our heroes having a year of training in the time jump. The characters are going to all begin in the same location before splitting off to three different locations. With the implication that Kaladin and Jasnah will share a scene, this is a likely location for it to happen. Szeth is going to start the book in jail at Dalinar’s orders. Based on Brandon’s outline, arcs one and two will have point of views in this part. We have a part of a Lirin chapter and part of a Venli chapter released. The Lirin chapter takes place in Hearthstone and the Venli chapter takes place in Kholinar. With those locations both in Alethkar, could they be part of the same arc of the book? I think it’s very likely. The man Lirin is searching for in his chapter is the Herdazian General from the Sheler interlude in Oathbringer. Brandon has confirmed that he will have an important role in the book. Fans who got Brandon’s November 2019 newsletter will have received the full version of the chapter. The flashbacks in Rhythm of War are going to be a combination of Venli and Eshonai perspectives. Venli’s flashbacks will have more of the behind-the-scenes details and cosmere mysteries, while Eshonai will likely be the character more people enjoy reading. We have a prototype Eshonai flashback that you can read. The content is not necessarily canonical; Brandon wrote in to get Eshonai’s voice down. As the outline shows, the flashbacks will not begin until part three of the novel. Why is unclear but is certainly an interesting question to consider. Along with Venli and Eshonai, there is going to be another character that has a major role in the main narrative. This character is not one of the ones with flashbacks, which only narrows down the possibilities slightly. Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, and Szeth will all still feature prominently, though Dalinar will not have as large a role in this book as in Oathbringer or Stormlight 5. Brandon has given us a few details about what Hoid will be up to in this book. He and Jasnah will have some interaction. Brandon’s favorite scene in the book takes place in part 4, when Hoid tells a story to someone. The point of view character for this scene has only one chapter in the book. Hoid is going to have an extra special soliloquy in the epilogue, and it’s something Brandon has been planning for a long time. While we don’t yet have the in-world back cover for the book, we do have a description from the Amazon page. This description indicates that we will learn more about fabrial technology and the Sibling. Brandon himself has confirmed that we’ll be learning more about how fabrials work. Fans who received the newsletter exclusive chapter mentioned earlier will know that the part 1 epigraphs will be Navani’s notes on fabrials. We also know that Brandon plans to answer what spren look like in Shadesmar when trapped in a fabrial in this book. Of course we also have some odds and ends when it comes to what’s been said about Rhythm of War. We're going to see a new Dustbringer appear. We’ll also see Maya at some point, though whether that’s just her Shardblade form or something more is unknown. Rhythm of War is, of course, an in-world text. Lift is going to have an interlude, the beginning of which is available to read. And of course we can’t forget to mention the infamous shameful ribbon that appears somewhere. The text isn’t the only thing that makes a Stormlight book awesome. We’ve also got some incredible art to look forward to. We’re going to get more Herald art like the endpages in Oathbringer. We don’t know which Heralds yet, but a Taln image in that style has been revealed and it’s incredible. We’re going to get two more of the lovely fashion folio pages. We’re also going to get illustrations of every Order spren except the Bondsmiths'. Could this be the best batch of art in a Stormlight book so far? If you read all this and thought “Wow, that’s a lot”, then I have some exciting, or maybe terrifying, news for you. What we know only barely scratches the surface of what’s in store for us in November. THere are characters and arcs that we know nothing about yet. So hold onto your gemstones and get ready for another epic story. Special thanks to @Pagerunner, whose Stormlight 4 Readings and Info post made this a lot easier to research and write.
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  2. I've started a reread of Oathbringer in anticipation for Rhythm of War, and just thought I'd spend way too long dissecting like one line that Pattern says. So, at the beginning of Chapter 40 of Oathbringer we have a letter sent to Shallan by the Ghostbloods explaining stuff about the Sons of Honor and the Skybreakers. After we get to read the letter, (on page 422 of the hardcover) Pattern drops this: Now, I know Pattern likes to drop the word "lies" in a crap ton of places that most of us wouldn't, and I don't believe that he's some sort of lie detector who will 100% always know when a lie is there. However, I do believe that the Branderson pays very, very deep attention to his writing and that he may have dropped this line as a flag to this reader, like "Hey, this thing is written by the Ghostbloods, and they have no reason to tell the whole truth to Shallan: just enough of the truth to keep her hooked and convinced that they have information she doesn't. Take the cue." Well, do I think there is any hard, textual evidence that this letter is a bit cremmy? Yes, but let's work it all out. Yes, I'm going to call it "crem" instead of "BS," just live with it. Here's the outline of the points that the letter made: Besides the Ghostbloods, there are (at least) two other secret societies: the Sons of Honor and the Skybreakers. Gavilar and Amaram were members of the Sons of Honor. The Sons of Honor sought to return the Desolation in order to strengthen the Vorin church, and this lead to Gavilar's assassination (although others also wanted him dead). The Skybreakers, lead by Nale, did not betray their oaths and have persisted since the Recreance. Nale kills those who are on the verge of becoming Radiants, or sends his Skybreakers/acolytes to do so because he fears new Radiants will lead to a new Desolation. (Alternatively, he turns them into Skybreakers if they are properly aligned) Shallan's mother was associated with the Skybreakers, who may have detected a budding Radiant in her household. This lead to her attempt to murder Shallan. However, the Skybreakers ended up believing this Helaran was the one bonding a spren. Helaran was sent to kill Amaram because of his affiliation with the Sons of Honor. The Skybreakers knew about a member of Amaram's army about to bond a spren, and this person was "eliminated." Kaladin was unknown to them, because otherwise he'd be dead. Now, let's sift through these 5 points and see if we find any crem. Point 1: No crem detected. This pretty much confirms what we see from Amaram's chapter in Words of Radiance about the Sons of Honor, and what Szeth sees later on in Oathbringer. The reference to others wanting Gavilar dead makes sense when you remember his last words about Sadeas and Thaidakar. I might modify the "vorin" bit just because Gavilar seems very cosmere-aware and less religious than just plain power hungry but otherwise this seems accurate. Point 2: No crem detected. We've seen this happen multiple times, and heard Nale's monologue. Point 3: Probably some crem. Some stuff isn't adding up here. Shallan's mom clearly knew that Shallan was the Radiant, so why would the Skybreakers suddenly decide that it's Helaran? They do not explain how Shallan's mother knows about Shallan's bond while the rest of the Skybreakers do not, and this looks like a major hole in the Ghostblood's story. At the very least, they are leaving out some details about either Shallan's mother or Helaran's affiliation. (warning: very minor spoiler for the Rhythm of War Prologue, which Brandon has read online.) Point 4: This is where my crem alarm went off. Let's think this one through. At first glance, the Skybreakers and the Sons of Honor have obvious opposing ideals and it's easy to buy that the Skybreakers would assassinate one of the Sons of Honor. But let's take a closer inspection and see if we've read any hard evidence of these two groups fighting. No. In fact, we've seen the opposite. Let's also look, again, at what Gavilar says as he's dying. He thinks he's been assassinated by either Sadeas or Thaidakar, not by the Skybreakers. Despite the fact that his assassin can STORMING FLY. Throughout his entire battle with Gavilar, Szeth only uses his surge of Gravitation. (okay tbh I'm not rereading to check but I'm pretty darn sure Szeth doesn't try to stick stuff to Gavilar with Adhesion, and also Decay probably wouldn't work against Shardplate so Gavilar has no reason not to believe he's using Skybreaker surges). The fact that Gavilar doesn't think his FLYING, GLOWING assassin is a Skybreaker would be simply ridiculous if he knew that they opposed him. (I'm also assuming Gavilar knows about the Skybreakers from his conversation with Nale). Well, you might say that we're now talking about Gavilar when we should really be talking about Amaram. That's a fair point, so let's look a the timing and execution here. First of all, why now? The Sons of Honor don't seem to have had much of a plan following Gavilar's assassination, besides the extensive mapping of the Shattered Plains which Amaram is caught conducting by Shallan. But at this point in time, Amaram isn't in the Shattered Plains at all: he's fighting some random skirmishes in the middle of Alethkar. Why would they Skybreakers kill him now, when they left him alone when the Sons of Honor were on the verge of success during the night of Gavilar's death, and when he actually decided to go to the Plains later? The execution is also, like, really weird. The Ghostbloods claim that Helaran was sent to kill Amaram as a test, but it's hardly a test of skill for a full Shardbearer to take down a plain warrior. If this is a test, it's a wimpy one. And after Helaran's failure, why not send another assassin? Yes, Amaram is a bit beefier as a full shardbearer now but we clearly see Szeth, who is weaker than a 3rd oath Windrunner, best multiple full shardbearers (using mostly gravitation, I might add) and we know there are 3rd and 4th ideal Skybreakers along with 5th ideal Nale. Any of these guys could easily wallop Amaram's not-so-sorry chull straight to Braize. The only argument you might make is that it would attract a ton of attention, but guess who's flying around murdering full shardbearers at the time? Szeth would be the perfect cover story: if the Skybreakers assassinated Amaram at any point during the first two books, it would have been pinned on Szeth, no questions asked. What an unfathomably stupid opportunity to ignore. Also, much like Gavilar, Amaram thinks Thaidakar is to blame (although Amaram may not know of the Skybreakers). I simply cannot buy that the Skybreakers want Amaram dead. But wait, how does this make any sense? These two groups are blatantly opposed in intention. My best guess is that Nale would kinda like being revered as who he is and be able to enforce the law, and that he's fine with Radiants and a Desolation as long as he's in charge of directing the events—hence his collaboration with Gavilar. Point 5: Possible crem. The proto-radiant mentioned here seems to be Tien, and he does die. So why am I calling out some crem? Because of all the crem in point 4. If Helaran wasn't sent to kill Amaram, why was he there? How could they have noticed Tien, but not Kaladin? I think that Helaran WAS sent to kill Kaladin, and that his attack on Amaram was a tactic to draw Kaladin out. They're on a massive battlefield, and it's not really easy to pin down where one random soldier might be. But if you know they've got the ideals of a Windrunner, you know that they're sure as hell going to run to protect their commanding officer. Kaladin hasn't committed any crimes (even petty ones) that they could pin on him, so they had to kill him in a battle since that's not really illegal I guess? Meanwhile, the Ghostbloods don't tell Shallan about this so they can claim that the Skybreakers want to kill the Sons of Honor. As for why Kaladin wasn't killed by the Skybreakers while he was a slave, I think Amaram's cover-up may have actually worked. The Skybreakers assumed that Helaran's mission was accomplished (and that Amaram killed him) after they were unable to detect any further radiant activity from the area. At the very least, I think this is easier to explain than all the problems with Point 4. So, what's the point? If my analysis is correct, it seems like the Ghostbloods are trying to frame the Skybreakers for actions against the Sons of Honor. Conspicuously missing from the letter is any mention of where the Ghostbloods themselves stand on this conflict. We know that both Gavilar and Amaram think Thaidakar wants to murder them, and that Thaidakar is connected to the Ghostbloods. Why not tell Shallan that the Ghostbloods are in conflict with the Sons of Honor? Shallan is ideologically opposed to the Sons so it would even make sense for the Ghostbloods to make the case that they don't like each other. This seems like a glaring detail to omit. Personally, I think that the reason the Ghostbloods and Sons of Honor are in conflict is something pretty nefarious that they aren't willing to reveal, and that they thus want to paint as much antagonism as possible on both the Skybreakers and the Sons so that Shallan doesn't hate the Ghostbloods even more. So, that's been my absurdly long analysis stemming from a single sentence uttered by Pattern. Yup. There ya go. I'd like to hear everybody's thoughts, and feel free to murder me with words if you disagree with my breakdown. Edit: forgot to include this mini-theory originally Mraize's phrasing about Tien's death is interesting. The exact quote is "From our spying upon the Skybreakers, we have records showing the only member of Amaram's army to have bonded a spren was long since eliminated." Eliminated. Maybe I'm being a bit paranoid, but should we just believe the Skybreakers knew of Tien, yet did nothing? Tien's completely innocent of any crimes, so it protects him from their direct assassination but I wouldn't put it against the Skybreakers to pull a few strings and make sure a messenger boy winds up on the front lines of combat. If this mini-theory is true, then it has pretty big implications about how Kaladin might react towards the Skybreakers if he ever find this out.
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  3. Following the example of @Rosharan A.C., who created a place for official Edgedancers based on the Official Knights Radiant Quiz, I decided to create a kind of place for Truthwatchers, so we can make Truthdancers and Edgewatchers parties and eat pancakes all together while asking us the big questions. Just kidding in this one, we all know that the answer to everything is 42, but sssssh, don't reveal it to anyone, is a Truthwatcher's secret -Crew rules: 1. You should be a Truthwatcher, an Edgedancer or a Windrunner. If you're not, you can join, too, but you will have to prepare food for the Edgedancers. (Just kidding ) 2. All members must respect each other as well as any other crew with Knights Radiant in them. 3. Any new rules can be made if we find truth in them. If they are lies, they won't be accepted. 4. The cake is a lie, so please, don't bring the cake here. 5. Remember our Order's secret: And that would be all at this moment. Have fun ^^
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  4. Man, when I discovered this website and found that I was not the only one who had weird questions that --for the life of me, I could not find the answers to. I was overjoyed! I can not wait to find some answers. Also, finding all the WoB's will change my life.
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  5. YKYASFW your sister is making a bracelet from colored thread, and she says. “It’s finally ombre. That’s when the colors fade together when you look at it.” and you say back. “I’m sorry, I’m holding too many breaths. I can distinctly make out the different colors.” then she pauses for a moment and says, “Wait, what’s wrong with my colors?”
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  6. Another day, another body. Varen’s dead, impaled by a spike through the gut. Still, at least they haven't gotten all of us yet. Maybe this change in leadership has been good for you lot, eh? Mint, looks like you're the new suspicion of today, huh. And a more credible one too! They say they found a metal spike in your bag, like the ones the murderers are using. Still, we've got to do this the civilized way. Off to the basement with you! Here's a bucket, so you and Caliex can, uh, do your necessary business a little more cleanly. Maybe I should have figured that out yesterday, but oh well. Better dirty than dead. I'm thinking that maybe we should rob House Orielle again. Seemed like an easy enough mark last time. Or maybe we should go for the Hastings? Everybody, if you want to have a say, write it down in plain purple which House you want to rob. Mint was lynched and was an Obligator! Striker was killed and was a Skaa! Vote Count: Mint (5): Vapor, Eternum, Mystic, Fifth, Striker Mystic (3): Ashbringer, Truthwatcher, Mint Player list
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  7. Why does the CR appear different on Roshar then on Scadrial? Kelsier was able to walk around which was a big difference form Roshar where you had to sail. What made them so different?
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  8. I think it could be argued that Navani's floating platforms, the heating fabrial, or the painrial could all qualify as sufficiently advanced technology to have kicked off the Rosharan Industrial Revolution. However, I'd say that Alethkar and Jah Keved are still in medieval times (or whatever the Rosharan equivalent is), because one of the hallmarks of said revolutions was advancement in technology outside of warfare. Inventions such as the steam engine, the spinning jenny, and the assembly line all were geared toward economic advancement, wheras all the inventions before then (gunpowder, seafaring technology, etc.) were made for exploration and conquest. When fabriologists start making gem-powered plows, and engineers start designing with iron and steel rather than wood and shalebark, I'd consider their industrial revolution underway. (Spanreeds were a huge step toward this, but could not constitute an entire movement alone.) You could estimate that Azir, even though they have a republic rather than a monarch, is also still medieval based on the chapters in Oathbringer where Dalinar visits and the Viziers mention that their craftsmen were angry about having to till the fields. This gives us two very important pieces of information: the first is that their economy is still very dependent on merchants and artisans, which means that they have not yet moved to assembly line manufacturing; the second is that their farming methods are still very labor-intensive, which means they don't have things like plows or crop rotation systems. Both are highly indicative of a medieval society. I would guess that Azir's sister countries (Emul, Yezier, etc) are similar in this way, seeing as they're described as being puppet kingdoms of Azir, and any technology they could have come up with would certainly diffuse to Azir rapidly. It could be argued that Thaylenah is industrializing: they have a very capitalist economy and a elective monarchy, both indicative of a more developed society (I used developed only in the economic sense; what is the average income, etc. There's a lot of baggage surrounding the term, but I use it here because it's the most descriptive.). They don't have the assembly line yet, but that did come later in Europe and America's industrial revolutions, so it could be not far off in the horizon. We can deduce similar conclusions about Kharbranth knowing that it's an eastern, if not world, capital for scholarship and medicine. Shinovar is hard; we don't know too much about it. We do know, however, that farming is central to their society (see first Rysn interlude where they meet a farmer and Rysn learns that farmers are considered the most important members of Shin society.). Again, this indicates that farming is still a very labor-intensive endeavor, which means that, like Azir, they do not have any farming technology such as plows or crop rotation systems. We also know that the Shin religion is very important to their culture, and generally, as a country develops further economically, we begin to see more secularist and/or atheist movements (the why of this particular fact is a very long-winded explanation; I won't get into it right now). Both of these signify that Shinovar is almost definitely medieval. The Reshi Isles and the Purelake are obviously not industrial. That's self-explanatory. Liafor is interesting, because we know most fashion comes from there (see folio pages in OB). The fact that their society is not agriculture-focused could indicate that mechanization of farming and urbanization are underway. However, we know so little about Liafor that we can't reach such a conclusion with confidence. The same can be said of Tashikk and its information centers. We have almost no information about any of the other Rosharan countries/regions, so I'll decline to analyze them at this moment. The problem with Roshar is that since the Era of Solitude, everything's been so disconnected, so every country is at a different stage in their economic development. We also can't measure development by the same metrics as we would on Earth just because their planet is so storming different from ours, so it's entirely possible that the goals of Shinovar's religion align with those of economic development, so they'll be the first post-industrial country on Roshar. It's unlikely, because their religion discourages use of metal or stone, but my point is that we just have no idea, and no way of knowing.
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  9. So first and foremost, my responses are not meant in a sarcastic or snarky way. I know I am beating a dead horse by saying context, but again that is the reason for the responses. In many countries in the real world, as well as many countries in Roshar, it does. The fact that they were career killers and the crimes were recent/close together shows a high likelihood that if they attempt similar practices, the intent can be inferred as to what their desired result will be. The implements they were holding are important because whereas a bat, or pipe could be seen as having other functions, and have been used in a lethal manner at the spur of the moment or the intent be misconstrued, having the career killers brandishing swords and daggers whose only purpose is to kill confirms the intent clearly. Lethal weapons means lethal intent. Finally initiating the attack also confirms the intent which is supported by the implement used, supported by the criminal history. All of these confirm and validate the intent of lethal harm. Which by numerous real world countries and countries in Roshar, means lethal defense is allowable. I respect that you believe that. Personally I disagree. I believe based on the context of the situation, and the specific information we are privileged to know, the crimes would not have ended, nor would the killers be punished if she tried any other way. There are always unknowns. 1% chance of something is still a chance, but it does not mean it is reasonable to base decisions on it. There are a whole host of possibilities that could be. But I believe based on the context and the information we are privileged to know, those possibilities are remote, and not ones that are actionable. The information we have however, I believe is actionable. True. But it is a way to stop a criminal enterprise in a city where Jasnah is unable to stop it within the city's legal system. It is a way that she did supplementary to the main way she builds a better world which is through advocating the change in the laws across the globe. Using her money and influence to inspire people of all ages, races, and creeds to be treated equally and have equal opportunity to pursue their passions. Because it was never originally intended as a lesson. It would have occured with or without Shallan as she said: those men are off the street. The people of this city are that much safer. The issue that Taravangian has been so worried about has been solved, and no more theatergoers will fall to those thugs. How many lives did I just save? understand that I was trying to do good. I sometimes wonder if I should accomplish more with my Soulcaster Her actions with Aesudean and Amaram dispute this. Both instances she had plenty of opportunity and cause to kill them both due to "deep pains in her past". Yet in both instances she waited, and investigated further. Turns out in both instances, it would have actually been better had she gone through with killing them. Shallan when seeing Amaram first at Urithiru becomes enraged, but then thinks to herself that Jasnah would have advised and cautioned her to wait, take a step back, and find out more information. I too sympathize with her history and eagerly look forward to learning more about Jasnah in the back five. But I do not see anywhere in the information provided where Jasnah or I used her history as license and validity for her actions with the four murderers. She already listed rather extensively the circumstances that caused her to come to her conclusion. I wish it for her too, and given how far she progressed as an Elsecaller whose entire schtick is self improvement/betterment, I believe she has and will continue to grow.
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  10. @AonEne Thanks. Yeah I'm hopeful. I really think the main reason he hasn't done better so far is that he didn't realise he wasn't hitting the same mark he was with other groups. @thegatorgirl00 I have read Defending Elysium. But I forgot about it when I was writing the letter. Which is silly, because I reread it relatively recently. :/ Ah well. Defending Elysium is a more complicated and interesting one. I think there'd be more varied opinions from different disabled people on it. I reread it again today to try and sort out what I thought of it. I can't speak for the presentation of blindness with the 'fear of the darkness' thing with any conviction. I really don't know how well that would or wouldn't resonate with someone who'd lost their sight. I'm not very knowledgeable in that regard. Though it's worth noting that the majority of people who are legally blind still have some vision. I'm not sure what someone with partial vision might think of it relative to someone with no vision. Or someone born blind vs someone who became blind. So basically that was a lot of words to say "I really don't know" about the specific case. I can talk a little more generally though. Disabled people with super powers? More please! Disabled people with super powers that directly replace/remove the limitations of their disability? Ehh, it depends. It mostly depends on the limitations and what the author does with it. In this case, replacing sight with what is essentially a better sight isn't as interesting to me. His Sense doesn't have a lot of downsides and has fewer limitations than regular sight. It can be suppressed, sure. But you can suppress someone's sight with darkness or a blindfold (or overly bright light for that matter), suppressing Cytonics is much harder by comparison. I still like Defending Elysium and I don't dislike Jason being blind or anything, but it doesn't stand out to me personally as an especially praiseworthy representation of disability. Jason's experience just seems too separate from normal blindness. I think generally I prefer if a character's super powers don't directly replace their disability, or if there are more significant limitations around its use. It makes for more interesting story telling for one thing. But it's also a lot closer to reality, and you aren't going to end up with a character who is technically disabled but it doesn't really effect them much. I don't have a strong idea what most disabled people think along these lines, so I'm just speaking for myself here. I think a solid real-world example is actually a wheelchair. I know a lot of people who don't need a wheelchair see them as something scary, afraid of being 'confined to a wheelchair'. But that's not the reality at all. To someone who needs one, whether they can walk a little or not at all, a wheelchair is great. It's a mobility aid that can really make a big difference in their life and allow them to be a lot more independent. It does have it's own limitations, of course. A lot of places aren't properly accessible for wheelchairs, plenty of terrain isn't easy to traverse in one, (some strangers like to 'help' push you around even when you tell them not to), etc. You're still better off thinking of them as super-powers for some disabled people than as a bad thing to be 'stuck' having to use.
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  11. I have made some brownies! (Oops, wrong picture, I meant to show you the domestic fairies I made. Oh well.) Thanks to Snakenaps for the recipe. Four eggs? Who'da thought.
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  12. So, I think there's in interesting quote in the recent information. It says, "They tend to attract those who believe in the importance of legal code, those who have strong moral codes of their own, and those who think the best defense against anarchy are things like patriotism, moral fiber, and rules to govern behavior. " Having taken the quiz several times and always gotten Skybreaker I very much and work this statement. The thing I find most interesting is the part about them having a strong moral code, outside of the legal code. Let me explain how, in a free society, you can have both a strong moral code and fight to uphold the rule of law. The way I see law, how I think it should be, is best described by Wax with his sphere analogy. Basically the law is there to make sure that people aren't hurt by the other people around them. Anything outside of that should, in my opinion, not be part of law. With this viewpoint it is easy to have your own strong moral code and also enforce the law. For example, I believe smoking is bad (I don't want to argue this, I'm just using it as an example). But even though I believe smoking is bad, I don't think that I should be forcing them to stop. People have the right to choose if they smoke or not, and until it starts negatively affecting others it's not my place to interfere. Now, if they are smoking a lot with children around or smoking in such a way they could start a fire then there's the line where they've crossed over into being a danger to others and perhaps a punishment should be in order. I know this turned into a very moralistic rambling session, but I'm not trying to make anyone believe my morals. I'm simply showing a perspective from which someone can hold very strong personal morals and still uphold a law or code of conduct.
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  13. I've always thought of the Skybreakers swearing to follow a code as more of a way to remove themselves from their own selfish desires than to remove their responsibility for their actions. They see humans as fallible and so they strive to follow a code so that they can be better people. I think the fact that the current Skybreakers blindly follow the law is the result of Nale's influence more so than being what the Skybreakers are actually supposed to stand for.
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  14. It peeves me that we have some fully-colored images of Pocos and M-Bot, but no Krell ships. So, using the design given in Skyward, I made a fully-colored image of a Krell ship, viewed from the top.
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  15. On dear ol' mother Earth, the invention of the steam engine kicked off the industrial revolution. So I had two questions. Does the existence of modern fabrials and the exploration thereof constitute the beginning of the Rosharan industrial revolution in and of itself or do they need to create a motor/engine? If they need to create a motor/engine what form would it take? Would it be entirely some form of fabrial? OR would it be a hybrid of physics and investiture (say a steam engine with the water heated by a heating fabrial) or something else entirely? If you were the fabrial engineer how would YOU do it?
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  16. Well first off I dont think it's at all a stretch to day proto-vornism was founded by Radients it's obvious from the emphasis on 10, the Heralds, and the Almighty/Honor/Tanavast. But why specifically Elsecallers? Because the fundamental tenat of Vorinism is self improvement. This is practically identical to the theme of Elsecaller oaths "I will reach my potential." I find it very ironic that Jasnah rejected Vornism on grounds of Atheism, but when you boil down Vorin ideals and her ideals (as demonstrated by her position in the Elsecallers) they are the same. As a final note I'd like to emphasis that proto-vornism was founded by an Elsecaller. Its obvious its been through drastic changes.
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  17. So, here's a thing for the convenience of everyone involved because I can already tell this is going to be a pain: It's also here, if you prefer a spreadsheet format. I don't know about anyone else but I certainly expect to use this ~every 3 minutes for most of this game so I figured I might as well share.
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  18. I made the assumption based off descriptions of radiants and their Shardplate in Dalinar's visions, and extrapolated from the polestones. In WoK, Chapter 19, where Dalinar faces the midnight essence, the Windrunner has blue eyes, and his Shardplate glows blue at the edges. His companion has tan eyes and Plate that glows amber. In WoR, Chapter 4, fighting the thunderclast in the Purelake, the radiant's armor glows "a deep red", and she uses the surge of abrasion to move through the water more easily, though her eye color isn't mentioned. She could be either a Dustbringer or an Edgedancer, but if the polestone association is correct, red [ruby] is associated with the Dustbringers. The polestone for the Willshapers is amethyst, so I guessed that would mean their armor, and maybe their eyes, would glow purple.
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  19. 2 likes
  20. Ugh, I’m just going to blame Arcanum for not tagging things properly since that’s what I mainly relied on to find things that didn’t mention Rhythm off War in the WoB.
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  21. First, by my understanding, spren and seons [and skaze] are all Splinters. So they are technically the same thing. Second, the main difference is that on Roshar, the Shards had more influence over their Splinters, and some of the Splinters/spren [or maybe all of them] are a combination of the two Shards. There are so many combinations that the spren evolved their own ecosystem. The form the spren manifests in either the cognitive realm or the physical realm doesn't so much relate to how they are perceived or what they are attracted to, it's how the power that became the spren evolved according to whatever weird natural laws govern them. Some combinations are more drawn to certain emotions/things, and other combinations have evolved/been created to be sentient. As for the other ways that human/sentient perception shapes Shadesmar and the spren, Sylphrena says that some of the older spren even have 4 genders, "because humans didn't think of those." So it may also depend on what species was predominant at the time a given type of spren evolved. Doubling back for a moment to Shardic involvement, the Splinters/spren on Roshar were [mostly, though not all] created deliberately. Honor and Cultivation allowed some of their power to dribble off to make the spren. On Sel, the Splinters [Seons and Skaze] came about only after Odium Splintered Aona [Devotion] and Skai [Dominion]. It's been theorized and hinted that some artificial force or mechanism, as yet unknown to us, then helped to bring the Splinters to self-awareness. Also, I think some of the types of spren predate the Shattering of Adonalsium, whom I believe Brandon has said specifically created Roshar, unlike some of the worlds that already existed but were altered by its power or the power of the Shards, and that is why on Roshar we get those visible manifestations of the spren in the physical realm, because there is some kind of bleed-through from the cognitive realm.
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  22. It will be a celebration to remember! I know another Willshaper who is quite the party man... Also, I feel like we need some kind of inter-crew-department now. Or, in Mistborn, crews have a twixt when they work together, so we could appoint a person to do that. This is a random idea I just had, so it by no means needs to be carried out. I’m just happy sharing it.
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  23. Everything we know about RoW... Here are a few things you didn't mention: Navani was the most enjoyable for him to write recently (Nov. 26) There is a scene where Dalinar is being flown to a different part of the world by non-Kaladin Windrunners Jasnah has a couple viewpoints - (transcribed below) Rysn will not be a main character, but will have an interlude Group 2 climax is in Part 4, Group 3 climax is near the epilogue, and Group 1 climax is in the normal spot Scientist that was in Warbreaker will be in RoW, talking about some things he got wrong There wasn't room for Rock's narrative that would have been in his novella in RoW Brandon chose Bulgarian cover art that depicts Shallan and Adolin in Shadesmar The author of in-world Rhythm of War is not human There is a character moment in RoW that Brandon had planned from from the beginning as one of the two or three pillar scenes of the entire series, a moment like which we will not get again until SA 7 or 8
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  24. Actually the way I read Szeth's chapter of Oathbringer where they are hunting the escaped criminals at the pure lake is that they DID want them to think through everything for themselves. The other proto/squire Skybreakers just looked at the task on the surface, and went off to kill the escaped criminals. Szeth "passed"/"won" the challenge because he thought about it enough to realize that the lord in charge of the jailer was the true criminal here. Yes, that's still following the law/code, but it is thinking for himself the implications of the situation and drawing his own conclusions about who is at fault, rather than just assuming the escaped criminals should be punished by death and that's the end of it.
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  25. I looked at the source code of the Radiant Quiz and extracted the way an archetypal KR of each order would answer the questions. (e.g.Obedient - Rebellious 90 means that a KR of a given order would put Obedient - Rebellious slider on 90% rebellious) And same data sorted by prompt:
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  26. Kelsier was a ghost. Hoid had to use a 'boat'. The differences cannot be fully explained with the different planets.
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  27. I did a long line by line analysis of this letter for someone else during an argument. I came to some different conclusions but I still find your own interesting.
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  28. Always, not at all. This situation is an obvious example. If you want a real world example, you could logically apply that same statement to the U.S. military taking out terrorists. I dont have any problem with that either. Their intent to murder, rape, and rob countless victims if they are not stopped (and without Jasnah they wouldn't have been) does add up to a death sentence. An immediate death sentence, given the circumstance. I just disagree. All of those had a role to play, but as I said earlier she is not one to lie about her motivations. She said the main motivation was to help King T/ deliver justice. I am inclined to believe her.
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  29. Right, but I'm just saying that what somebody says to do will hardly ever contradict a universal truth, and if it did, it would be impossible to follow. An instruction that would require you to go against a universal truth would have to be something like, "Decrease the total amount of matter, energy, and Investiture in the universe." Something like that can't be followed. It doesn't matter if you're a Truthwatcher or not. Universal truths are, well, universal.
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  30. Hello, Moses here, also known as Moisés or the one who discovered that Cephandrius was not taken as a nickname in both Coppermind and Arcanum. Now they are taken, you have lost your chance, guys . Jokes apart, is a pleasure to be here, I have been for a while in the Discord, despite I'm not so active (I'm more active in the spanish community for obvious reasons) and I decided to hop in here to post some theories and see what do you have here. Sorry if my english is not so good, it's not my first language, so I may have errors. I hope we all get along well ^^
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  31. Kaladin Lashed himself to the side, narrowly avoiding the Parshendi spear that would’ve hit his gut. He jabbed with his Sylspear, and watched the parshendi’s eyes burn out as he began falling towards a larger group of parshendi. He landed on the side of one of them, then Lashed himself down, landing on top of the parshendi and crushing the skull. The other parshendi moved in, chanting a hostile, war-like rhythm. Kaladin danced in between the spears. Weapons could not hit him. He was the wind. He was- A searing pain shot up Kaladin’s leg. He cried out in pain as something sharp was ripped from his calf. Not a spear. Something longer... Kaladin turned around to see a Fused floating above, it’s wicked blade gleaming on the end of a long pole. Storms! Where had it come from? The last of Kaladin’s stormlight healed the wound, muscle and sinew knitting together to make the leg whole again. He breathed in prepared to feel the storm ignite inside of him again. Except... nothing happened. Storms, he was out of stormlight! Surrounded by parshendi and a Fused, Kaladin fought with everything he had. His Sylspear rose in silvery flashes, frantically trying to slap away the spearheads. A cut on his leg. A nick on his side. Kaladin began to breathe heavily, sweat running down the side of his head. Kaladin stumbled, watching one of the Parshendi swing his spear- Suddenly, something slammed into the group of the Parshendi. A glowing, almost divine figure in glowing shardplate. Adolin? No, his shardplate wasn’t this bright of a blue. And besides, he was off fighting one of the Unmade heading this assault. The figure swung its magnificent-looking shardblade, cutting through the parshendi, leaving a row of them with their eyes burned out. Oddly, the figure dropped a bit of rounded metal and soared through the air towards the Fused. It seemed to be as surprised as Kaladin was, and it’s reflexes weren’t quick enough to stop the gauntleted fist from smashing into the Fused face. The Fused dropped to the ground, motionless. The figure in the shardplate turned around. It seemed to be laughing... where had Kaladin heard that laugh before? The figure reached up and slammed open its visor. Kaladin gasped. “You!” “Me!” Hoid said, a big grin plastered to his face. “You seem to say that a lot. I suppose being dropped on your head as a small child certainly doesn’t help your intelligence.” Kaladin was too stunned to even react to the insult. “But... how? Hoid, you’re a storming Radiant! And you’ve already got plate!” “Yes, yes, I know. Everyone seems to be surprised by how fast I got that. Especially ole’ Swirly right here.” Hoid’s sword disappeared in a puff of mist, and a spren similar to Shallan’s crawled up to Hoid’s shoulder. “So... many... Truths...” it said, sounding not unlike someone who had eaten about two more chickens than they should have at Middlefest. “Anyways, I’ve got to fly. You know, songs to sing, people to confuse, Dalinar to insult.” Hoid raised a small vial to his lips, chugged it’s contents, then threw the small bottle to the side. Odd man Hoid was. He dropped another bit of metal on the ground, and then soared away with the wind. As he was flying away, Hoid yelled out to Kaladin, “Don’t forget to play my flute, everything you think you know about the Nahel bond is a lie, the Dawnshards...” Hoid’s voice trailed of to the point where Kaladin couldn’t hear him anymore. Shaking his head, Kaladin jogged off to find Dalinar. He would need another perpendicularity to charge up his spheres.
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  32. Welcome to the Writer's Guild! We are, simply, people who like writing and also enjoy sharing their work. Any sort of genre is good, and if you want beta readers, you're at the right place. If you would like to join, please PM me, and I'll add you to the official PM. Other guild affiliations are perfectly fine. If another guild of this kind exists on this website, then please inform me.
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  33. First off, welcome to the Shard! Second, each Order has an associated eye color, corresponding to the gemstone linked to that Order. Every Radiant we've seen who wasn't a lighteyes to begin with exhibits an eye color change matching their Order's linked gemstone and the ones seen in visions of the past follow the same pattern. It's something that we've known for quite some time.
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  34. https://repl.it/@ChickenLiberty/KRQuiz This is just my own attempt at making a quiz like this. Since it's just a python program, I can easily edit it if new books change our understanding of the Orders. If you don't think you're result is accurate, tell me, and I'll alter the quiz if it appears certain Orders are consistently inaccurate. The "certainty" thing is somewhat arbitrary; I just fit the results to some curve that represents the other data to an extent. My descriptions of the orders aren't very good, but oh well.
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  35. Transparent Slowly, I wake from sleep. I move to get ready, but the knob to the bathroom wont turn. I try harder, but it wont budge. Then my hand suddenly goes through the door, then the rest of me. I look in the mirror. Nothing is there. Am I a ghost?
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  36. I think a far more likely explanation for last cycle is Devotary contacting Lotus through PM, convincing them that she’s a villager, and going for the last-minute hammer onto Mint to save Devotary. Due to timing, this was obviously largely ineffective, but I don’t think it’s profitable to suspect Lotus at this point on the basis of that alone. If last-minute voting indicated eliminator behaviour, Devotary would have flipped evil. Maybe it’s an impermissible inflexibility in my reads, but I still can’t see Striker as evil. Lotus I’m inclined to trust, as she seems naturally set up for a mislynch, which means I’ve left room for two villagers in [Eternum, Vapor, Ashbringer, Mint, Straw, Truthwatcher]. Currently I’m leaning Eternum and one of Truthwatcher or Vapor, which is bad because that means in the world I’ve constructed (Elims Straw/Ash/Mint, which...makes a surprising amount of sense), we already have three votes placed on people who are, in my estimation, probably village, and one by a misguided villager who may not rejoin us. The only question is therefore which of the people in that pool I’d like lynched. I’m loath to divide the votes again, and am quite tired of unintentionally saving Mint, especially if she’s just going to use her survival to keep pushing my mislynch, so I’m keeping my vote where it is unless there’s a hitherto unforeseen pool of support for a Straw or Ash lynch and literally everybody currently on Mint or Lotus switches off. It also helps that she’s the person I feel by far the most discomfort towards. Whatever happens, we need to get the pool of votes down to two people or fewer, as if there’s a three-way contest, we’re handing the Eliminators a victory on a silver platter. Ultimately, that’s why I think Mint needs to finally die, as she appeared to be trying to do just that with her vote on me.
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  37. A group? A gang? A gaggle? A bunch? A clan? A pack- wait no, we're lone wolves, hmmm... How about a parliament of Truthwatchers? Or a congregation? Those sound nice
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  38. Hmm, I'd imagine they have plans for their passes. Time to check for the next AG. Yeah I can't decide on the factions. That's why I asked if there were any similar previous games. I was thinking about all against each other, with Straff Venture and Cett factions being semi-elim in nature. They don't get docs but they get to know the identity of one of their teammates. Either - A knows B. B knows C.... so on till Z knows A (but without PMs) OR A knows B. B knows A. C knows D. D knows C, and so on. Thoughts on this arrangement? Main reason is I want to have around equal number on players in each teams. So I'm a bit worried whether knowing even one of their teammates would give them an unfair advantage over Elend Venture (let's call them village). If it does, how to sort them? Give the village the same thing as well? If it is balanced, then I have to worry about kill roles. I can't have all the 3 factions with night (or cycle) kills. That's 4 kills per cycle which is too much. I'm thinking of having something like an automatic transfer steel flakes vial which shifts to another team after current use (it will also shift if they don't use it). So one faction will have a kill once in 3 cycles, but there will be 2 kills per cycle (including the lynch). Could this be a problem in the endgame where the team holding the vial would have an advantage? What do you think?
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  39. I'm a Windrunner, officially. I am though, a HUGE nerd. But it's almost comical how unappealing being a Truthwatcher is to me. I didn't see that coming. No offense to any and all Truthwatchers out there, but I'm okay with not joining you Where's all the pancakes?
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  40. Are you upset Dragonsteel isn't making as much money out of numbered copies as they could be? I've always liked the fact that Brandon doesn't bump the price just because a given book has a number written on it, that's always seemed like an artificial way to create scarcity and drive people to buy stuff at a higher price, when said stuff doesn't actually cost more to produce.
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  41. Lurker here but this gave me a heartattack. Goodness no! Don't EVER, EVER look anything up about future Trails games! Spoilers in trailers! Spoilers on box art! Spoilers in Steam store descriptions! Spoilers in Youtube thumbnails!
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  42. Me: *posts a bunch of memes in this format* Sharders: *respond positively* Me: Okay, fine, I'll give you more. This is just spoilered for length, nothing spoilery. Stormlight Spoilers:
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  43. OC Secret history spoilers :
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  44. Seeing as she isn’t part of the Cosmere to begin with, it seems improbable. Edit: A bit belated, but welcome to the Shard!
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  45. I think Navani is most likely the surprise main character. There are a lot of things she could be involved with. She's been studying the trapped Thrill for a year. She has the prologue in which she sees Gavilar talking to heralds and possessing the black spheres. That could lead to discoveries / advances. The last thing Odium does in book 3 is ask Mr. T to find out what the Alethi know about Urithiru. Navani has been studying Urithiru which, according to Renarin, is a giant fabrial. Fabrial's are Navani's are of expertise. I'm thinking Odium's forces take Urithiru and Navani helps take it back by figuring things out about it. Navani is also still working on getting airships to work. She's discussing how to keep them from flipping over with a scholar in OB. That will pay off at some point in the front 5.
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  46. This is just too fun to not join in! Has anyone starting working on a "This is Hoid"? If not I'll take a crack at a first draft.
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  47. Well I dunno about soulcasting meat, but we do have limited access to cultured meat, which is pretty much grown in a petri dish from cells. Supposedly tastes ok too. It is the opposite of cheap and mass produced though. As for cremling claws, there's always the delicious lobster. Or scorpions, which are eaten in plenty places across the world. Lavis, not sure. Rice? Quinoa? Wheat? Barley? Thinking we could make fried lobster meatballs or maybe meaty arrancini. But the dark gravy throws me off, because I then I want tomato sauces. I got unexpectedly sucked into this topic XD
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  48. Probably more cheerful than people were thinking, but I thought it could be amusing. The Lord Ruler's "You're Welcome"
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  49. He gets the inquisitors making a choir for him, and they all sing wonderfully and he sings with a rather bored voice.
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