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Well, the test came back positive, so I need to quarantine for another week, even though I feel fine.

I second this...

YES!!! Icona would've cheered, had he been there. As it was, Fadran's mind wasn't exactly thinking any differently. When he had pictured this happening in his mind (don't be startled; all men do it), he had pictured it happening against the sunset, the breeze blowing through both their hair while they stared into each others' eyes until the moment finally happened. One of them would lean in, and the other would let it happen. He had imagined it being a short and sweet experience; a quick peck, nothing more. One of them would give off a relieved sigh; the other a relieved laugh. It was nothing like what he had imagined. He found himself kissing back, incapable of doing anything else; physically or emotionally. In the back of his mind somewhere, he wondered if anyone was watching. He almost laughed at the thought of Kindness spinning around the two of them, simultaneously giggling and sighing in delight, before realizing that laughing during a kiss probably wouldn't be the most comfortable thing to do. Fadran and Queen. It sounded right. When he finally broke out of it, he thought he was going to say something really elegant, like 'I would miss infinite more experiences just to have this one with you.' Instead, he only leaned foward, lost his balance, and fell right out of the tree.

Queen was in a particularly thoughtful mood, so her response was rather deep. "We're always missing something. No matter how much we want to experience everything, there will always be infinite experiences we'll miss out on." She opened her eyes, hopped down so that she was standing on a branch below the one Fadran was sitting on, so that she was at about eye level with him. "But I'm not about to miss out on this one." With that, she leaned forward and kissed him.

Status: ... I just had cereal soup. It sucks. Yes, I warmed up cereal and milk on the stove.

Just because.

Queen burst out laughing, then felt bad for laughing. She carefully climbed down, hopping out at the last branch. She stood over Fadran, folding her arms and still trying to hold back her giggles. "Guess you really..." She let out another peal of laughter. "fell for me!"

I'd like to say that all of my Shardbuddies are amazing. @Channelknight Fadran, @DramaQueen, @Vapor, @revelryintheart, @Scarletfox, @Mist, @Nathrangking, @Matrim's Dice, @The_Truthwatcher, @AonEne, @Ark1002, @Spren of Kindness, @turtle, @Emi, @Experience, @Chasmgoat, @Doomstick, @Shard of Reading, @FriarFritz, @Lunamor, @MusicalReader, @Scout_Fox, @Ghanderflaffle, @Truthless of Shinovar, @Hentient, @Somebody from Sel, @Aspiring Writer I don't feel like actually summoning them all, plus my Pi isn't letting me.

"Thank you." As she walked into the encampment, Herate looked around fondly. The camp had grown while she was gone, though not by much. A smaller crowd of soldiers than she had expected began to gather around them, whispering. "She's back," "-thought she was dead," "She's returned," "-back from the dead-" "-captured-" "The Lady General--" She heard the last one the most, and her heart began to pound. "Will one of you go get the general?" she asked, voice beginning to shake. Several soldiers turned around and ran back through the crowd. Herate turned and paced anxiously. _______________________________________________________________________________ Daolan ran his hands through his hair again, looking away from the report he was reading. Whoever knew that running an army took so much paper? he pondered. It was a stupid question, of course. People had been thinking that since there had been armies to run and paper to run them with. His thoughts drifted yet again, and he tried to force himself to continue reading. It didn't work. It wasn't that he was usually like this, in fact it was usually the opposite, but Herate had been on his mind a lot lately. He had been getting this weird feeling, like he could feel her getting closer. That was silly, though. If Herate were here, she would scold him for 'letting his imagination run wild again'. He could almost see her now, frowning playfully as she went on about whatever was on her mind right then. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of these thoughts, and turned back to his report reluctantly. Footsteps pounded outside his tent, and he stood, fearing the worst. What else could bring a messenger so quickly? Three soldiers burst into the command tent, panting. "General!" said one. "What is it?" asked Daolan, off-put by the knowing, excited look on the soldiers' faces. "Sir, there's someone here to see you. It's urgent!" said the second soldier. "Who? How urgent?" asked Daolan, rounding his desk to stand before the soldiers. "Very urgent, sir. You need to come now," replied the first soldier. "They're on the west side of camp, sir, they're waiting for you there!" added the third. Daolan motioned to the doorway. "Well? Show me!" Then he followed the soldiers as they went back through the door and began running toward the west path into the camp. _________________________________________________________________________ The crowd parted, and Herate saw a familiar face. One she had never dared to hope she would see again. He looked worn, his hair and uniform out of place and messy. "Daolan..." she breathed, mouth curving upward. They stood there for a split second, Daolan's mouth opening wide with surprise, then broke and rushed to each other, Daolan enfolding her in his arms. He pulled back and held her for a moment at arms length, examining her and grinning openly, then drew her closer, kissing her squarely on the mouth. She sighed and melted into him, remembering how good it felt to be with him. After a long moment, Herate took a small step backward, reluctantly breaking the kiss. "Herate," said Daolan, his eyes roving her face. His deep voice gave her chills, just like the first time they met. "Herate." Herate smiled, tears welling in her eyes. "It's so good to be back," she said.

Fine. I’ll just put it with the other one. (For those wondering: There’s a Silmaril (lit. Radiant Gem) at the bottom of the sea in LOTR. Ulmo is the Vala of the seas.)

Jasnah and Stick Jasnah opens her eyes to find herself in a room with nothing but a small stick. She stands up and attempts to soul cast the wall; it resists her (It's aluminum.) She picks up the stick and attempts to turn it into metal and chisel her way out. "You're steel", she tells the stick. The stick replies with, "I am a stick." "You're steel." "I am a-" "You're steel," she repeats again. "I-" the stick hesitates, and Jasnah waits for the stick to turn into metal. "I am a stick," it says finally. Jasnah stares wide-eyed at the stick. She attempts to make it turn again. failing that, she tries to persuade it, and finally ending with her getting frustrated and yelling at the stick. The stick does not bend. Jasnah is in awe of the power of the stick. She keeps the stick, and tries to find another way out. Once she returns to her family, she speaks to her ward and Daliner in private. "Uncle, I have made an amazing discovery." "What is it?" he asks. Jasnah brings out the stick. Shallan recognizes the stick and blushes furiously, still unaware of the power she had faced then. "It is a stick. And we must make it a tree."

TL;DR: Leshwi states the other Heralds shifted the Oathpact "lock" to depend only on Taln. What did they change? Process of elimination suggests it involves surgebinding. No one could surgebind on Roshar before the Oathpact. These powers were of only the Heralds. Per Stormfather they were the Heralds. The Nahel bond was inspired by it, Singers were forbidden to use them by H&C and the Fused could not use them at first. To the Oathpact lock "Surgebinding = Heralds". It locks when all the powers are present. The Heralds changed the Oathpact to associate all surgebinding with Taln instead of spread out amongst the 10 Heralds. It's somehow detecting all the powers are present and accounted for on Braize despite only Taln being there. If REALLY powerful surgebinding is done on Roshar the Oathpact locking mechanism on Braize might detect that and interpret it as a Herald being on Roshar. It would then "unlock" so the Herald can come in. Support Assuming Leshwi is correct and the Heralds did something to "shift" the Oathpact to rely on Taln, what could it have been? Whatever they did, it was done without Kalak being there and it wouldn't have mattered if he was back on Braize or not. They knew Taln was dead and did what they did to make Taln specifically enough to engage the lock because he had never broken. The only thing Jezrien tells Kalak to do is leave his Honorblade and that none of them are to seek each other out. The Heralds violate both these instructions and it does not seem to matter. We see a bunch of them in Kholinar in the prologue. Both Nale and Ash mention talking to Ishar and how super duper sane he is. Nale took his Honorblade back. As we know the Heralds are all insane and completely unreliable. Still, at least Nale has some twisted internally consistent logic in what he does. Nale who is the most active Herald that's been on the page. He has that dumb "The Fused are the true rulers of the land, so I have to follow them" which seems to me is truly an excuse to switch sides in order to get out of being tortured again. But, he really does have this internal logic that involves his ideals as Knight Radiant. Let's pretend for a moment he is operating under twisted, consistent internal logic for other things. Why Leave The Blades; Why Is Nale OK W/ His It's not clear when Nale took his blade back. I get the impression it was relatively recently, Taravangian tries to convince Szeth that another of the Honorblades went missing and that's why Kaladin could surgebind. So, the Shin had Nale's Honorblade recently enough for Szeth and Taravangian to know they once had it and they don't anymore. That doesn't mean it happened in their lifetimes, but it happened within modern memory. Like the last 1,000 years or so. The "Shadowdays" a period during which is lost to current historians, started after the Last Desolation and before the radiants fell. I wouldn't think Szeth and Taravangian would know about the Shin once having Nale's blade if he took it back 3,000 years ago. Regardless, Nale has his blade when he is on his proto-surgebinder killing spree. Nale says this is to prevent a new Desolation. He must think a Herald holding their Honorblade in modern day won't trigger Desolation. He tells Szeth: The Heralds once thought they all nine needed to leave their blades for what they did to work. Nale takes his back and uses it in modern day to try to prevent a desolation. What changed? Honor died. The Heralds could not surgebind without their blades. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/161/#e6898 When Honor was alive the blades drew investiture directly from Honor, they didn't need to rely on Stormlight in gems. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/117/#e1572 With Honor dead they can't draw from him. Someone holding the blade is not capable of the using the same amount of raw power while surgebinding. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/353/#e10331 What's Wrong With Surgebinding? The surges did destroy most of Ashyn's surface. Honor raved about how the radiants would do it to Roshar while he was dying. Ishar forced organization and ideals upon the Knights Radiant during the Desolations because he was worried about them gaining access to too much power. This was long before they shifted the Oathpact. The surges are dangerous in general at high levels but what does that have to do with the Oathpact? Surgebinding as we know it did not happen on Roshar until The Oathpact. The Nahel bond that most surgebinders now get their power from was directly inspired by the Oathpact. The Fused could not surgebind early on and were still a huge problem that led to The Oathpact being formed (OB CH. 38). Singers were forbidden from using surgebinding by Honor and Cultivation according to the Eila Stele excerpt in the OB ch. 115 epigraph. https://coppermind.net/wiki/Oathbringer/Epigraphs#Eila_Stele_and_The_Way_of_Kings_Postscript The humans on Ashyn used the surges to ruin the planet and some used them to escape Ashyn for Roshar. However they used surges on Ashyn was likely different from how they are accessed on Roshar since there are two Shards on the planet and that would effect how the magic system is accessed. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/117/#e1640 Fabrials were not developed until after surgebinding began to happen on Roshar. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/402/#e13333 Post-Ashyn pre-Oathpact Roshar humans had no way to use the surges. The Oathpact gave the Heralds access to surgebinding through the Honorblades. The surgebinding on Roshar was theirs, it was of them. The Stormfather says it was them. The Lock No one on Roshar could use these powers that became known as surgebinding before the Oathpact. Stormfather states the Fused could not use the surges early on, but "men could not fight them" (OB Ch. 38). This directly motivated the creation of the Oathpact and its lock which was meant to lock both Heralds and Fused away off-world forever. Why does it even have an unlock state? Because the Fused were still on Roshar when the Oathpact was created. The Heralds had to kill them all in a timely enough manner to get them all trapped on Braize at once, then and only then should it engage the lock. At the time of the creation of the Oathpact Heralds and surgebinding were indistinguishable in Honor and the Heralds minds. This is built into the lock. One of many things they did not foresee is surgebinding developing on its own. Ishar saw it as a problem immediately and forced the KR to be organized and swear ideals. This capped their power. The KR of old could not be mistaken for a Herald. In modern day Nale and Ishar see proto-surgebinders as a danger. The KR don't exist outside of Skybreakers, which Nale keeps an eye on, so they think the proto-surgebinders might find a way to attain uncapped levels of surgebinding power and confuse the Oathpact lock. Lastly, Honor really does not like surges and surgebinding. He and Cultivation forbid the Singers from accessing it. He ranted at the KR about it towards the end. He only gave 10 people Honorblades, presumably he could have made more. Why did he make any? He was desperate and he thought they'd be out of his life forever once the lock engaged. "Make sure this CREM (no offense Cultivation dear) is off my planet before you lock up!" is a sentiment that went into designing the lock.

I used imgflip.com, and I should be doing homework, so it was a fast job.

"I'll let you win for now; I'll save mine for a really overdramatic moment. That sound good?" He brushed one of her curls behind her ear. "Though 2-1 is does mean that you're still winning." He pulled her close and kissed her.

Condensation: Now kiss!

Hmmm . It's a bit strange to explain. Well I guess I kinda have 2 memes. Rosharan new age religion era 3. Plan to resurrect Adonalsium Also thanks frustration.

@Frustration @I Am A Fish I did it! I finished it! Now give me Rep, my arms hurt you rusting fools!

Hello there! This piece is simply an arrangement of what I see in Szeth's turmoil in being labelled 'Truthless'. It is currently in progress. Please criticize and describe what story it tells you... My goal is to tell a small part of Szeth's story through the piece... Enjoy!

Everyone gets a Syl! You get a Syl! And you get a Syl!

I'm 106 posts away from 2,000 posts...better start thinking about what I'm going to do when I get there. Maybe I'll post my Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction then? If it's finished... Maybe I'll start an advice thread? Maybe I'll do something that someone suggests on this status update? The possibilities are endless!

Oh gotcha, thanks. Welll I can't see a list so it could just be the restriction you mentioned or something else. But thanks for letting me know.

Here's the wording.

Lol I saw Matrim viewing the thread and almost voted on him XD. To be fair, that's how this game went the first time it was run

One ship, 24 crewmembers, some traitors, one Hemalurgic Intelligence. What could possibly go wrong? GM Notes: -The day will end on October 24th, at 5:00 PM EST. -Remember that there is no vote minimum, and that ties are random. -If you need a vote count, just @mention me and I'll give you one ASAP! -little wilson is the impartial moderator for this game. -If you did not receive a GM PM, let me know ASAP! -Remember that PMs are closed during the day. -Sorry for the slightly late start, I was far busier than expected today and didn't have enough time to set up PMs and stuff beforehand. Player List:

Yeah, that timeline seems accurate. It's crazy, steps for 2 - 11 happen during the natural lifetime of the people who would go on to become Heralds. All except maybe one were alive on Ashyn when the human exodus happened. I'm assuming the surface being wrecked and people escaping to Roshar happened close together. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/402/#e13442 The Honorblades were given to the Heralds so the Heralds could use surgebinding and kill the Fused who did not yet have it. This WoB states that no previous example existed to base the Honorblades on, but the person who made them (Honor) was aware of certain things (Surges & that they were used by humans on Ashyn). https://wob.coppermind.net/events/373/#e12036 The Fused are cognitive shadows that can take new body, from another Singer ejecting the body's original soul (or whatever it is). The Heralds are also cognitive shadows, but they regrow or "rebirth" their own body. It's a power they have even when they don't have the Honorblades. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/353/#e10331 I think the reason for the difference is the Fused were Singers killed by humans who Odium then turned into cognitive shadows. The Heralds were alive in their original bodies when they were transformed, the Fused were not causing them to need to get new ones. I once made a joke about them being called the Fused because they refused to stay dead, but the Stormfather basically says that here: Ooof

Amaram made sense to me. He was always a mustache-twirling villain who used a cloak of teary-eyed gray morality to justify his cartoonishly evil villainy. I don't think the Unmade was the reason for him giving up the act.

So, the Oathpact was intended to give humans the powers of surges, such that they could fight off the Fused, who did not have surges but did have reincarnation? Am I understanding that correctly? Here's the timeline I'm working with. Humans on Ashyn, singers on Roshar. Humans with surges on Ashyn destroy the planet, somehow Humans from Ashyn are resettled onto Roshar, in Shinovar. Humans invade rest of Roshar, conquer it Honor does little about this Singers despair, turn from Honor to Odium, as Honor won't help them Odium creates the Fused, immortal spren-singers who are reborn into bodies of other singers Humans get their ass kicked by Fused Humans make Oathpact with Honor (and Odium?) Honor creates Honorblades, gives them to humans (Heralds) This is the first surgebinding on Roshar Oathpact allows humans to use surges, but comes with this Braize/lock/reincarnation cycle similar to Fused Spren mimic Honorblades, become mini-shards of their own Ishar binds the spren and Radiants to oaths, limiting their power Heralds do something that allows one Herald to act as ten, nine abandon Oathpact I think this is more or less the events that I'm imagining, but I'm still having trouble keeping the timeline straight, and understanding who did what, when, and why. There are a few things I hadn't picked up on yet, mainly the fact that surgebinding was only gradually introduced to Roshar, and it came in bits and pieces, not all at once.

Knightblood

Status: wearing footie pajamas with little snowmen on them. Don't judge.

Spoilers through The Gathering Storm

Where as, me, who has been on longer, is still an unpopular wretch.

Wayne and a skeleton: Come back in three days and they've somehow started a halloween dance party

The Lopen and The Lord Ruler (no physical harm possible) For about the first hour, TLR would just be absolutely pummeling Lopen, using everything he has in super-steel-speed. He doesn’t know who put him in this room, but he ain’t happy about it. Lopen would take this silently, and finally, after TLR realizes he can’t hurt Lopen, falls to his knees and is like “are you some sort of god?” and Lopen will be like “sure, gancho, now let’s go get some chouta. You like you need some life help.” After a friendly lunch together and a deep conversation, TLR realizes that he’s been an awful ruler, and decides to change and become benevolent. Lopen adopts him into the family and he is officially a cousin. When TLR finally returns to Scadrial, everyone is super confused because out of nowhere TLR is storming down to the skaa hovels in Luthadel all angry-like, and he gets to the Skaa and he says “SKAA. DO YOU KNOW WHY I’M HERE?” and the skaa will be weeping because they’re thinking that this is the end and then TLR says “Why couldn’t the coinshot hit his target? Because he mist!” and all the skaa are super confused and still scared outta their minds, but hey, they’re alive, so they’re not complaining. TLDR: The Lopen will be the savior of Scadrial, making it a land full of puns and hilarity.

Bob

I really like that even though Dalinar has taken responsibility for his actions, the lives he tore apart are still addressed, through people like Lirin and the Mink. It's pretty easy to ignore everything that he's done, especially since almost all the characters that we care about have been either not really affected, or positively affected by him. (Of course, another major factor was the fact that Dalinar's bloody history was introduced in book three).

I don't think the idea of the Mink betraying the Radiants makes sense with his character. He's known as the general who fought on beyond all hope, continuing a guerilla war at huge costs to himself and his people. That kind of person is not going to give up and give in to the enemy, unless he's had his mind influence by Odium or the Unmade. It seems to me like the Mink has a personal dislike of Dalinar who led the wars that killed his family. But he also understands that the Radiants are really fighting a guerilla war in a lot of ways. The Mink will serve as a good counterpoint to Dalinar and even possibly a lesson to Kaladin. He will show them what an honorable leader can do if he wasn't born to inherit the most powerful army in the world. Dalinar doesn't know because he's been successful at everything he's ever done. Kaladin struggles because he has always been the underdog and it's getting to the point where he feels like giving up hope. I think you're right - Dalinar does still have things to learn. If you think about it Dalinar has never once in his life been the underdog (I guess unless you count his failed romance of Navani when he was young). He's never had to hold out in desperation, knowing he has no allies and no powerful help coming his way. I think the Mink is going to teach him that, in the wake of the Fused invasion of Urithiru - what to do and how to keep going when it seems completely hopeless and no one is coming to your rescue.

I do not think he trusts Dalinar. Does he care about the broader fight with Odium? Is he more Taravangian-esque in his focus on "his" people, other Rosharans be damned? I think that he's a risk, and he might have a plan in mind, but I think he'll be won over, and he's a reminder to the Radiant forces that there are real people, doing real things, suffering real damage that they have to account for. And maybe for Dalinar that his growth is not yet finished. On Reddit, Brandon said this: Dalinar may have stood up to Odium, and may have decided to lay himself bare as defiance, but he did not have the courage to look his sons in the eye and tell them what he did to their mother. So there is still growth there. And I doubt he is spending much time feeling the weight of the burden that folks like the Mink--and even Lirin!--still bear every day. Maybe generals can't afford to think like that in the midst of war. But those stories are still critical. And they can create rifts and cracks that need addressing.

At the planning meeting

No, just correct.

Yay, Szeth is back! He seems to be really good at being a prisoner. Also, am I the only one who gets wierd vibes from the Mink wandering around learning about the security and everything? Could he be a spy for Odium (or the Ghostbloods, or someone else?) Furthermore, tossing Nergaul into the ocean is dumber than the time the Sons of Honor decided to revitalize religion by ending the world. Odium is just gonna call Dai-Gonarthis, aka the Black Fisher, and Nergaul will be free again.

Well, it's "functionally immortal" meaning that they can still be killed, they just won't die of natural causes.

Okay so I saw a few of the Explain a Film Plot badly things earlier and thought they were funny, so I decided to do them for the cosmere books. I think some of them are funny, so I decided to share them. Hopefully it'll at least get a few laughs. If anyone has any more or any different ones, please post them. Spoilers for the cosmere, obviously. I'll label each one just in case though. The Final Empire: Well of Ascension: Hero of Ages: Alloy of Law: Shadows of Self: Bands of Morning: Warbreaker: Elantris: I couldn't think of any for Stormlight, hopefully someone else can [EDIT by Moderator: This topic originally was solely cosmere but has moved beyond that, so I moved this to Entertainment Discussion.]

Students in my district are returning to school (I....guess that's good news in some ways and not in others? ). Some are choosing to remain virtual and teachers are being given the dreaded shoulder tap of "Hey it's you, you're going to be the all virtual teacher for your grade. Sorry." Virtual teaching has been trying to trip me into a dark angry depression. I was really, really worried I was going to get tapped. But I WASN'T and I am SO relieved.

Adolin mentions to Shallan they have been spotted.