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  1. Status: WAY BETTER if a little tired I went to sleep at 8:30 and woke up feeling great. Thanks for everyone's support yesterday! I do feel a touch tired, but that's probably because I woke up at 5:00 for some stuff and not because of the vaccination.
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  3. Can't wait for this in the back 5...
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  4. Let me make up an extremely short story: "You stand accused of murdering your wife" "I did not kill her" A Willshaper recreates a cognitive memory. "Your floor says otherwise. String him up. Next case" OK, I hope Rosharan judicial procedures were a bit more evolved, but after what the Honorspren did, I have my doubts. Now seriously, after wat we have seen Stoneshaping, we must wonder how they could even have difficulties reconstructing the past. Is the development of history as a scholarly discipline of post Recreance thing. In fact, during a trial can your spren be used against you? I mean if your are showing creation spren while telling the court what you did on that fatefull night, the judges may not be quite so inclined to believe you.
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  6. After the mysterious disappearance of Lafay, Illwei had taken up the mantle of experimenting with hemalurgy. She'd found the ancient lore about it fascinating as a child, and had spent most of her adult life secretly wishing she could learn more about hemalurgy and its secrets. And that's when she found Lafay's notes. Ignoring the fact that Lafay appeared to have traveled to other worlds, whatever that means, what Illwei was really interested in was all of the research Lafay had about hemalurgy. The fact that it requires Intent, the different attributes that certain metals steal. The possibility of stealing something from someone and keeping them alive. Granted, Lafay hadn't figure that one out, but Illwei figured it had to be possible. With all of this knowledge at her disposal, Illwei began to carefully get the materials she needed to start making a spike collection. Getting the bronze wasn't that hard; she was a Seeker already, and she could ask her provider for just a solid piece that she'd shave herself. Not a big deal. Getting all the other spikes was the problem, especially with this rusting lockdown on the city. But, well, after a few days of digging around town and inconspicuously asking for bits of old metal, Illwei finally had a solid collection of spikes gathered together. Now she just had to find out- There was a loud bang from her window. Illwei jumped, grabbing one of the spikes from the table and spinning around, eyes wide with fear. She glanced at the window to her apartment and found a man there, hiding in the shadows. He charged at her, brandishing a knife, and Illwei went to try stab him with the spike. The man dodged out of the way, cutting his knife towards Illwei's side, cutting a deep gash there. Illwei gasped, shocked as she tried to turn and reach for more spikes, anything to use against her attacker. As she turned towards the table though, the spikes flew off the table, towards her. Several of them stabbed her, and she realized that the man had managed to grab one out of the air as it had flown past him. I should've known he was a lurcher, Illwei thought to herself, her breathing ragged and the pain sharp in her side. I should've burned bronze, I should've...should've.... Illwei's life faded away. ~ Illwei has been killed! They were a Loyalist Seeker Misting and Hemalurgist! PMs are still closed, so please avoid PMing still. In addition, there will be a removal this turn. As a reminder, there is no vote minimum, and a tied vote will result in one of the tied players being removed. This turn will end at 9 am CDT on Wednesday, June 9th. Also, again, the writeups aren't always accurate to what happens with the game, just thought this would be a fun idea. Player List: PMs will be sent out as soon as possible, if they haven't been already.
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  7. I may have stumbled into the beginnings of something much bigger than I anticipated. It was an easy enough matter to get started; I posed a set of statements and a question to myself. "It's becoming increasingly clear that color and metal are important fundamentals of the Cosmere because of Fabrials, Awakening, and the Metallic Arts. Color is important because it's a property of specific wavelengths of light, particular "tones" of light. So how is Metal going to relate to that?" From there, I hit upon a couple possibilities. But I think the one most worth going into detail about connects Investiture to my favorite weird physics, that's right everyone, quantum mechanics. It's my current hypothesis that metallic atoms have the proper frequency of quantum wavefunction to "filter" different frequencies of Investiture. This results in the strange supernatural "theming" of the metals across the metallic arts and even extending into the cages of Fabrials, where color and tone have already been proven abundantly needed. Picture "background investiture" as white noise. Now picture, say... Tin atoms in a pure, undisturbed lattice. Now recall that according to quantum mechanics, all particles also behave like waves (this has even been observed with molecules made of tens of carbon atoms still producing an interference pattern (even when released 1 at a time) in the famous double-slit experiment). The frequency of Tin's quantum wavefunction will interfere constructively with some frequencies of background investiture, and destructively interfere with others, filtering the output of the investiture into a new set of frequencies that don't look like background noise, the frequencies become a stream of investiture that "enhances senses", or something thereabouts. Now picture using a specific Shard's Investiture as the "background investiture". Tin will filter out everything of that shard that doesn't relate to senses, causing the amplification. Stormlight becomes a booster of the spren's sensitivity, making them output less for the same subjective feeling, while Tineyes get to see through the Mists because the frequencies overlap due to the Investiture originating with Preservation. And of course, with alloys, what's important is the "holes" in the atomic lattice (and indeed, metallic atoms' ability to arrange in a regular structure is key in general). It lets other frequencies of investiture leak through, which correspond to different effects. Tin's senses becomes Pewter's physical enhancement. The one thing I'm not certain on is where in Allomancy the push/pull difference originates from precisely. Is it just a rule that Bronze seeking hears pure metal tones as "pulling" while alloyed tones become "pushing"? Or is it a fundemental, even a Singer would hear tin as pulling, while pewter pushes? I'd love to hear feedback on all of this in general. I'm super curious to know if my "quantum wavefunctions filter Investiture frequencies" hypothesis makes any sense.
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  8. This is a clever theory. And I tend to agree that, if the contract is broken by one side or the other, it will be the provision stating that the champions must be allowed to meet atop Urithiru “otherwise unharmed by either side’s forces” that will be violated. I’m not sold yet on a particular theory of who the champions will be and how they might be harmed, but I like how @nimvin is thinking creatively about what it might be. One thought that recently occurred to me is what if Taravangian names Moash as his champion but then has him surrender himself to Dalinar’s forces in advance of the contest. He would essentially be daring Dalinar to try to keep that storming’ cremhole safe from the myriad people who’d like to see him dead. (This could even allow a role for little Gavinor to sate all the people who think he’s going to factor into the book 5 endgame).
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  9. *manic laughter* So, I guess I'll add "exciting and cool announcements" to the list of phrases Brandon uses and does not understand. It's a short list, the other item on my list is "standalone novel".
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  10. me being a shard? no, Dawnshard.
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  11. It's news roundup time again, friends! Last we met, we talked about Fortnite Kelsier (who is out of the store now, actually), Cytonic's title reveal, and some Cytoverse novellas. Today's news haul is no less exciting: Tara Spruit's amazing Stormlight tarot deck is back in stock Brandon is launching a new podcast with his friend Dan Wells No announcements were made about future Dragonsteel products, especially not one about a Doomslug plushie Let's go over some details. Tara Spruit's Stormlight Archive® Tarot Card Deck went on sale and was instantly sold out back in March of 2020, and fans who didn't manage to grab a copy on time have been asking for a reprint. Well, some dreams do come true - the deck is back in stock for preorders. Get yours in before the end of June. The card art is absolutely gorgeous, the cards themselves are solid enough, and even the box is neat. Second in our list is a bit of news coming from Brandon's weekly update video from June 7. He and his friend (and partner in shenanigans) Dan Wells are launching a new podcast this Wednesday. The podcast will be much less structured than something like Writing Excuses, and will feature mostly the two of them talking about random, usually pop culture-y, stuff. The podcast is still unnamed, but we should expect to hear about it soon. And finally, from the same weekly update video, comes... well, not an announcement. Nothing was announced. Especially not about the Doomslug plushie precariously balanced on Brandon's shoulder for most of the video. But an announcement is coming in the future, and if one were to guess, something to do with the plushie seems like a safe bet. I personally believe that the cageyness around all of this is because the plushie design is not quite final, so Brandon doesn't want to promise until he is ready to announce something more concrete. And that's the end of our news recap! Join is in the comments or our Discord server and tell us what you think of all of this.
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  12. She wandered about the room calmly, hands behind her back (ignoring her husband’s shouts). The room was as spartan as she’d expected; everything in it had a function or didn't exist, which was a real shame since the room was massive. The lack of decor made it feel empty. How did Caden stand it in here? But no matter. She'd be changing things up very soon. The small inventory done, Riva began searching. No corner of the room was exempt; she threw open every drawer, looked under the desk and the nightstand, opened every cabinet and searched for false backs in case of secret compartments. What are you hiding, Caden Praetorium? Clothes were tossed out of the closet, the sheets of the bed thoroughly patted down for anything out of the ordinary. She'd be throwing most of these things out anyway. As she searched she made a list of things to buy or bring over from her old room. Paintings, a bigger mirror, a better bed-spread, some flowers, more inviting curtains. Yes, that should brighten the place up quite a bit. Yet an hour later, Riva had nothing to show for her efforts; not one piece of odd or incriminating evidence to hold over his head. The Raveness slumped beside the bookshelf, arms folded sourly, thoroughly annoyed. If she was going to continue being Caden’s superior, she’d have to have something over him. Eventually she’d use a tongue-loosening serum on him to try and find out what she could from his own lips, but the unique opportunity to search a subject’s living place had been too good to resist. Too good to resist, perhaps, but apparently not worth it. He didn’t even have anything worth reading! Just old but untouched tomes on strategy and war-making. Stars, this was going to be a long marriage. The moment Ivian was assassinated and replaced - for every Mendaharian monarch eventually found their end, that much she was fully certain of - she’d waste no time in slipping something deadly in the man’s tea. She rolled her eyes, resisting a shudder at the day’s earlier events. It was Ivian whose death should be at the top of her list. She hated him, she hated him more than anything. What was he playing at? So willing to throw her life away, yet insistent upon using her as a pawn in his political games by marrying her off. He didn’t respect her and that was dangerous for both of them. Revenge would come eventually and when it did, oh it would be sweet. Every time she recalled being dragged out of her seat and forced down, she wanted to scream, to strap Ivian to her table in the dungeons and watch him beg for mercy. A growl built in her throat and she only realized she was clenching her fists when her nails drew blood. But being so angry was tiring. Her eyelids were already growing heavy, although the hour was not yet very late, particularly not for her and her nocturnal habits. Well, whatever. There was no time like the present to try out Caden’s massive bed. But, figuring she may as well look for notations in his books, she selected a tome on the end of the shelf to look through before dressing down to her chemise and sitting herself down on the surprisingly-soft mattress. It didn’t take very long for her to get comfortable. The whole room was miles better than Riva’s old surroundings and she found she quite liked it. If Caden wanted his room back, he’d have a devil of a time trying to get her out of here. She settled into the fluffy pillows, a thick blanket wrapped around her, and began reading the title-less text. The first sentence was particularly eye-catching: My name is Acalia Praetorium. Riva shut the book, grinning at her luck. So, our good General had a previous wife. Utterly fascinating. The Raveness flipped through the pages with her thumb eagerly. Just as she’d worried, the end of the book - or rather, it appeared, journal - was splattered with blood. Killed her, didn’t you, Praetorium? Riva sighed. She’d make sure she didn’t meet the same fate; one couldn’t stay in her position and live as long as she had without facing a handful of skilled assassins. But perhaps she could learn a thing or two from reading her predecessor’s words….
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  13. We just have to remember that when he says "exciting and cool announcements" he means for him. Sigh...
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  14. So I have been thinking about what it is that Taravangian saw in his deal that he thought could be a loophole he could take advantage of. I have heard several people talk about the "child champion" as a possibility among others and I think we're not thinking deep enough. I keep going back to the bargaining scene between Dalinar and Odium and how breaking the contract would put Odium within Dalinar's power and vice versa. Then I go back to Taravangian's deal with Odium at the end of Oathbringer and how he specifies the spirit of the deal is what is binding not the wording (although I am sure it plays a role). Then I think about Brandon's promise at the end of the book, how Kal and Szeth are to fly to Shinovar and Kal is to bring Ishar back to help Dalinar with his bondsmith powers and Ishar says he can repair the Oathpact. I think if they succeed at such a task (repairing the Oathpact) that would be Dalinar reneging on his end of the bargain to have a contest of champions in 10 days time because it would prevent Odium from being able to send a champion to fight on his behalf. Therefore his champion was not unmolested on his journey to Urithiru. This would result in Odium being freed, because Dalinar would be within Odium's power. What do you guys think? Am I crazy or does this argument hold water?
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  15. Have discovered an appreciation of metal. Specifically, covers of songs that weren't originally metal. Oh yeah, and Wellerman in different languages.
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  16. Brandon has said that Kaladin is the sticking point there; Shallan and Adolin would be all for it but Kaladin wouldn’t be.
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  17. Status: Miserable. I got my second Covid shot yesterday and have been feverish, dizzy, exhausted, and weak to the point of not being able to walk up the stairs since last night. So.... whooooooo
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  18. I think this checks out. Metal acts as a key for Allomancers to access Preservation's Investiture. Without Allomancy in your Spiritweb, you can't access that Investiture but you should still be able to use the metal to filter other Investiture that you do have access to. An element's atomic structure absorbs and reflects different wavelengths of light, the light can be used to identify those atoms & molecules. With metals whose structures are used as filters for Investiture, maybe they could do the same with Light, and Investiture in general. This is interesting because this suggests reactivity between matter, energy & Investiture. Which might mean that other chemically mundane substances that may not be Allomantically viable might react to Investiture in certain ways.
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  19. What is this? A third status update in a row from Chinkoln? Yes, but unless something dramatic happens, it should be the last for a while. My ankle is a little complicated. There was massive swelling, and though it subsided over night, it was still very swollen in the morning. I went and got my 2nd vaccine, then went to the doctor. 95% of the reason it hurts and is swollen is because I sprained/twisted (same thing) it REALLY bad. My ligaments are in TERRIBLE condition. That leads into the other 5%. The ligaments are so stretched, that one of them actually pulled a chip of bone off of my ankle. That is called an avulsion fracture. 95% of my ankle pain is sprained, and 5% is from a fracture. I’m going back next week for someone from ortho to take a look at it. Until then, I have to wear a huge leg brace, everyday. I can’t do gymnastics for at least a month, probably more. I should write a biography one day, I could probably make it pretty interesting.
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  20. I know I have done a lot of status updates recently, but too bad! 1. I have 2,500 rep! I am Most Ancient! I average about 2.74 rep per post. That’s pretty good. 2. There was a church campout. My dad and some siblings arrived there, and we helped some people set up tents(we didn’t set up ours because we weren’t planning to stay the night). Multiple people had brought frisbees (all the youth love frisbees). We started playing a game, Moss. I went to catch it, and I tripped. I fell, heard a loud pop/crack, and I couldn’t walk anymore. I am getting it X-rayed tomorrow, but the swelling made my ankle more than twice the size it normally is, so that isn’t good. Based on the swelling alone (the majority of people there were either Eagle Scouts or very advanced Boy Scouts) it is either broken, twisted, or sprained. 3. I’m going to do another status update tomorrow about the official, medical conclusion on my ankle!
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  21. Is that what happened to Kelsier? A cat went and scratched him up, so they made up that (w)hole story about the Survivor?
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  22. Please no, oh that image is painful to see.
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  23. My Spanish teacher sent us an email marked "IMPORTANT!!! END OF YEAR ADVICE!!! PLEASE READ!!" This link was there https://www.thisworldthesedays.com/last-day-of-spanish-class-important-1.html I really liked what was here, and I suggest you click the link to gain the same wisdom that I did. Here is my take on this, please don't open until you have read the original for yourself
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  24. A small theory that I think got some solid support with RoW. So we saw in Rhythm of War that the Allomantic/Feruchemical/Hemalurgic metals have functions outside of the Metallic Arts and are one of three key components in fabrials alongside spren & gemstones. It makes sense, metal acts as a key for Allomancers to access Preservation's Investiture. Without Allomancy in your Spiritweb, you can't access that Investiture but you should still be able to use the metal to filter other Investiture that you do have access to. That is kind of similar to how the Polestones themselves function, why they can hold Lights Their small differences in chemical structure & colour is all that is needed for Investiture to distinguish them. An element's atomic structure absorbs and reflects different wavelengths of light (or Light), the light can be used to identify those atoms & molecules. A metal's structure is used as a filter for Investiture, the same probably goes for a gemstone. Colour is more important magically for gemstones but this is what the colour of an object means in physics & chemistry, their molecular structure would be a bit different. A metal acts as a filter and lets Investiture through and a gem both filters it (what gem you use does matter for Soulcasters and Artifabrians) and holds it. So, gemstones should, like metals, work across the Cosmere, and be able to hold other types of Investiture than just the Rosharan Lights. Idea came from here: Edit: we have confirmation that the Mists can be trapped in gemstones Edit: in the Brandon spoiler livestream at 33:20, Brandon confirms that Autonomy's Investiture can be stored in the Polestones but he isn't sure if that is something that could happen naturally (but it could definitely capture the Dor) and even if it does, it would be very ineffective, maybe it would store very little bit of charge that would only be perceptible to someone with the right instruments and it would soon dissipate. I've noted previously in discussions that White Sand requires surprisingly little Investiture to recharge. I think the oldest instance of this theory is here: While it takes four hours for black sand to recharge back to white sand on Taldain's Dayside, just proximity to Shallan's Lightweaving was enough to charge Hoid's white sand in OB, this happened when Kal, Shallan, Adolin and Elhokar went to Kholinar. In the very same section and following section that took place in Shadesmar, it is noted that Shallan's Lightweaving used far less Stormlight than Kaladin's Lashings. Keep this in mind. I do have an idea on why White Sand could apparently recharge from Taldain's sunlight or apparently even from very far from its starlight as per a prev WoB, but would be difficult to store in a gemstone. In RoW, we see Navani use a prism to separate the light emitted by Towerlight back into the bands of Stormlight and Lifelight, she notes that she didn't separate the Lights or the Investiture, just the "Investiture radiation". I think that's what Taldain's sun outputs: not gaseous Investiture but Investiture radiation. And that's why it outputs so little Investiture that it takes black sand exposure to direct sunlight for four hours in order to recharge and turn white again but Stormlight, even sheer proximity to a Lightweaving, which in itself is noted to use much less Stormlight compared to Surge of Gravitation.
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  25. I know the similarities between El and the name of the Almighty that only ardents can say, Elithanathile, have been brought up before. But I’ve been wondering if the character El is named as more of a nickname. Elithanathile means He Who Transforms. El had his title stripped and given to Moash, which was He Who Quiets. Maybe El is short for another title that’s similar in name to Elithanathile but not the same? The comparison also makes me wonder what’s up with Elithanathile and the He Who Transforms title. The ardents associate this with the Almighty, but it’s just too similar to how El is named and has a similar title beginning with “He Who…” Did one of the two, humans or singers, co-opt the other one’s title system? Or is this because the name Elithanathile was the singer’s original title for Tanavast before humans arrived to Roshar with Odium?
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  26. From the rules document: Make of that what you will. In a manner of speaking, yes. We executed a village Lurcher. Specifically TJ, with the D2 vote. You even voted for them Not gonna lie but not checking the role/alignment flip of the people you voted for isn't a great look. That's, like, the one point of feedback I have as a villager. I might not care about anything else but I want to know if the person I voted for was evil or not. If you want to claim go ahead, I can't stop you I don't plan on asking it of you, though. This tbh. In order for Araris to be an eliminator, these are all the things that would need to happen: The eliminators were given double the number of nightly kills as normal, while the village received no obvious buff to compensate. Instead of using the fact that they had double the number of nightly kills to win normally, they decided to use an elim kill on an elim during N1, for some reason. Then they roleblocked one of their own kills on N3, for some reason. Whatever scheme they came up with to justify all this, which would have to be a very complicated scheme indeed, they came up with right out of the gates, and all agreed on, by N1. Idk sorry if this is coming across as sorta heavy-handed, but I'm seeing multiple peeps posting elim!Araris conspiracy theories across multiple cycles, and, like, I don't lightly say a thing is legit impossible, but elim!Araris is impossible. Smh I likes me a good tinfoil but there is such a thing as too much.
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  27. As I read: p1 - I like that we are connecting Al's emotional reaction to his personal history straight away. I think you could improve it by being less vague - dropping hints about his mysterious backstory would be intriguing, and the specificity would help us connect more to his character. p3 - I like the description of Al's panic here, and the way you introduce the oaths to the king. p5 - Al's reasoning for going to talk to the tournament officials seems a bit weak. I get that he's keeping himself busy to stave off the emotional turmoil, but it would feel less contrived if he had a stronger justification - maybe he could rationalise that smoothing things over might mitigate political fallout and help T-bor? p5 - For similar reasons, I think Al needs a stronger reason to trust and approach Lord D. Or, you could find some other way to get them talking. p11 - The healer's explanation for why she was trying to put Al to sleep makes more sense than it did in the previous version. His presence and knowledge of the assassination attempt is inconvenient for them, so they're trying to disappear him, right? p12 - The fact that the king et al are now apparently okay with Al being there clashes with a minute ago when they were trying to get rid of him. p12 - 'He liked to think all would be well.' - This seems off. I think it should be more along the lines of Al trying to convince himself that it will be okay. As is, it reads as 'I'm sure everything will be fine', which does not match up with Al's mental state in the rest of the chapter up until now. p13 - The reveal that the healer was trying to save everyone from social awkwardness deflates the tension, I think. It seemed like there was intrigue and danger, but then it turns out that actually there was nothing there. p14 - I like that Al is now the one who figures out the mage situation. It makes him feel more involved. p15-16 - Al standing up to the king isn't as engaging as I think it should be. I think the problem is that the king appears to be of the same opinion as Al - mages are illegal and the king can't break the law - and that makes it feel like nothing is going on here. There's no conflict between their stated opinions, and we don't have a reason to believe that the king is being duplicitous. p19 - I like this chapter ending. It gives us a direction to expect the story to go in. 1) Yes, I think this does a much better job than the last version with Al's motivations and mental state. Putting his main concerns up front and having his panic issues be a through line works to characterise him much better, and he comes across as a stronger character as a result. 2) As I noted above, the part where Al works out the mage situation works, but I don't think the moment where he pushes back against the king works. In general, though, I didn't have an issue with Al's level of agency in the back half of the chapter. It's okay for a POV character to spend a few pages just observing. 3) I have no issues with the pacing in this chapter. 4) As well as the good bits I pointed out above, I like the queen better in this version. We have enough context to understand what she's talking about, and she makes a strong argument for calling in the mage. That makes her more memorable. Also: I know we have ragged on about the sequence with the healer trying to trick Al with the sleep stone, but I still have issues with the logic behind it. It just seems like the healer could solve the problem in a much quicker and easier way than trying this trick - she could just tell Al that the family need space, or she could point out his ongoing presence to the queen. It's a cool sequence that explains some basic magic mechanics to the reader, so I get why you want to have it play out. But then it falls apart and deflates some of the tension, which is a real problem for the chapter as a whole. You can take this idea or leave it: one possible fix is to move the sleep stone sequence later in the chapter, and imply that Al narrowly avoided something bad happening by not falling for it. So, order of events: Al arrives back in his rooms, gets update from T, king comes in, queen comes in and gives away the info about the mage, everyone realises that Al just accidentally heard a very sensitive secret, Al expresses his opinion to the king and creates drama, then the healer pulls him aside to 'check his wounds' and tries to pull the sleeping trick on him, Al figures out that this would be a convenient way to throw him in a cell without causing a diplomatic incident, then Al and T relocate before the royal family can think of a better way to arrest him. I think doing things in that order would ratchet up the tension and danger over the course of the chapter and also provide a better justification for the healer's trick.
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  28. As I read: p2 - So what I'm getting here is that Dr Y wants Ori to go through the weird place and use this tech to log data, and this needs to be sneaky. I'm not sure why this needs to be sneaky. p3 - I can't tell if Dr Y is intentionally withholding important information or if he's just bad at communicating. If we're supposed to be unclear on what his deal is, it's working. p4 - Okay, so this was a spy mission all along. That makes sense. p5 - If you're looking to trim, I think a lot of page 5 can go. We don't need this much description of her walking through the space station, and we don't need the rehash of her plans. p5-6 - Ori's tourist impression felt a bit off to me. So far, she hasn't struck me as the sort of person who can easily slip into a role like that. And it feels weird, given that this is supposed to be sneaky, that she's pretending to be the most annoying and attention-grabbing kind of tourist rather than a boring, unmemorable tourist. p8 - Ori wrangling with unhelpful AI goes on a bit long, especially after the much more interesting unhelpful AI from last chapter. p8 - I'm unclear on why Ori just decided to throw her lot in with B and deal with her issues. p14 - This back-and-forth between the two people Ori is spying on telepathically feels like it goes on too long for the amount of information being conveyed. Also, I think tightening it will make it clearer what they're arguing about - I think they're debating destroying Ard? p15 - Mirror universe Ata and Ori are a couple, aren't they. This should make things interesting! p17 - This is juicy stuff! p22 - Engagement dropping a bit here. It feels like the climax of the chapter is over, and her getting through the tourist trap back to Dr Y's office and B reads like busy work. Generally - good chapter. I liked the meeting with alternate Ata.
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  29. And we know that microflora responds to other forms of Investiture, so is the reverse also true, and you can store Sunlight inside polestones?
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  30. Holy cow that's a long win. On another note, @Thaidakar the Ghostblood Pineapples are really good on pizza, if you have the right type of pizza.
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  31. I think the start was a little slow, with GM trying to figure out what to do. It might be because I've forgotten stuff, but some of the info at the confrontation and onwards had me confused. I was surprised at GM's reveal, and I'm not quite sure why she did that. Also, why are they trying to get rid of C? Just because she's asking questions and the other youth are uncomfortable? Seems a bit drastic lol. Also, wouldn't it have made more sense to just tell C stuff (or enough stuff, if not everything) to have her not "dredge up such unpleasantness"? I did like seeing them interact before getting caught by the adults, though! Their dynamic is kinda fun. Yeah, I like that we're getting new info, but like I said I'm a little confused. I agree that the ending could be a bit more impactful with the reveal! pg 1 - "making her blink..." this bit at the start felt a bit weird to me, because it's not really happening lol pg 2 - just realized GM's name is from her parents LOL pg 3 - all this emphasis on the 'before' is really making me wonder how long ago 'before' is? At some points it seems like it was a long time ago, and others it seems a lot more recent pg 4 - no comment from C about V being from the WS? I forgot C fed feathers lol but I thought in V's introduction, he said he was from outside of the town (and that C to some degree believed him). What does she mean by "Is he another [of V]?" I guess in general I'm still confused about what V is. pg 6 - I liked C remarking on how she knew all these people. Also, might be forgetting things again, but the "burning ideas" seems new to me lol pg 7 - "incandescent rage" lol nice I liked this In general C-tine seems very mysterious, and I'm interested to see how he fits into everything.
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  32. Overall: I really like this chapter. I am definitely intrigued by the new things we’ve learned and can’t wait to see what the AH holds. 1) Any boring or confusing bits? I think the town meeting goes on a little longer than it needs to. I like the things we learn there, but I think Mr. S’s explanation, especially, could be trimmed back to more basic details. 2) Do the characters’ thoughts and actions make sense? For the most part. I’m having a bit of a disconnect about why C getting the new information about the woodstove is as big a deal as they’re making it. I mention that below. 3) Thoughts about GM and C? I like their interactions here and the background we get on GM. I like both possibilities being presented for GM. That she’s realizing she’s been horrible and trying to be better or that she’s faking it to continue to try to put herself at the center of attention (I could see her thinking that if she takes the blame for trying to start the fire, they might send her to see C-ine instead of C). 4) Is the reveal of new info satisfying? Other than Mr. S’s explanation being a little long, I really liked the new information we got. I did have the thought that it was odd that GM went out of her way to notice the two-story building there, only to just leave it (when the kids have already broken into other buildings in the past. The barn, anyway). I almost think we need to see something about the AH earlier in the story, especially if it’s such a notable thing and the kids have explored pretty much everywhere else. We know C likes poking around in old buildings, so I would have expected it to be mentioned before now as the one old building she hasn’t gotten to explore. There were a few new things that were touched on that were sort of just dropped and left that I don’t know how to feel about (“the late Claim-s”, the way the mayor refers to C, etc.) I don’t know if I’m supposed to pick up on them as significant and file them away until it’s relevant or assume it’s something I’m supposed to understand already or that I’m reading into too much. Pg 1: I don’t remember rain in the previous chapter. Though it does provide a good ominous start. “from which an occasional drip splashes…” I think there should be a comma before this? “which will presumably be set out…” same here. Pg 2: “Coats or snacks or something…” Snack storage is vitally important for any community gathering place. Pg 4: The mayor has a pretty excellent name. But also, “trails of slime”. Ew. He’s E’s father, right? Seems like it would be fitting for MD to follow him around. Also, I’m expecting some sign of why each of the adults has morphed into the strange creatures they are now based on some personality flaw or tendency. I don’t think we’ve seen enough of the adults’ personalities to get a solid hint that that’s how things work, but since we first saw C’s dad rolling in, my brain has been looking for some answer to “why bowling ball? Why skeleton?” At the moment, that’s just a random thought, but depending on what else we find out about that, I might suggest hanging a lantern on some aspect of that closer to the front. “…fire tenders’ … daughter…” well, that’s an ominous ellipsis if I’ve ever seen one. “C is intrigued.” I am also intrigued. Pg 5: I think it would be helpful for C to have some thought about being overheard earlier in her altercation with GM. Maybe noting a contrast between C’s urgent hiss at the end of pg 4 and the volume of GM’s response. Or some change in the noise overhead. Otherwise, it’s not clear until “GM screams” that they’re likely being overheard and about to be discovered, which misses a chance for extra tension here. Pg 6: “all the parents with the exception of the B, and Mayor S.” While the commas are all in the right place, the way the list here is organized, it sort of seems like the mayor is part of the group of parents who are not present. Also, is he not E’s dad, then? if he’s not being referred to as part of the group of parents? I’d thought E had been introduced as the mayor’s son. But it has also been a while since then. “with unnatural appeal…” hmmm… “a little disappointed that the…meeting isn’t more exciting.” Sorry, C. If you wanted exciting, you should have let GM burn the place down. I like C acknowledging that these are the people she lives with, though it’s a pretty quick dismissal of the image she’s been building up over the previous chapters of them keeping things from her. Pg 7: I really like what we find out about GM here. Especially the “plain is entirely the wrong word…” paragraph. I like the image of the diamond earrings contrasted with GM’s rage. I am also glad you go straight to C demanding to know why they made GM do it. Because it would have bothered me for things to go too long without an answer for that. Pg 8: Mr. S providing an explanation is good, but I think there’s more of it here than we need, which is distracting from the tension of the meeting. “late Claim-” I’m forgetting who they are. Wasn’t that T’s family? If that's tied into what she's doing at the woodstove, we definitely need C to have some reaction to that. But I am honestly forgetting who they are, so feel free to ignore this concern. “I hope it was worth it…” So she got them to acknowledge a part of life in town that they all had to deal with on a day-to-day basis anyway? I’m not sure why that’s as big of a deal as it’s being presented as here. Or why C thinks running away is a reasonable response. I think we need a clearer indication of what makes the stakes as high as the characters think they are. At the moment, I’m not sure if it’s something I’m missing or if they’re making a big deal about things. Pg 9: “wants to know what’s going to happen next” seems really detached if she thinks there’s actual danger involved. Maybe stressing what it is she wants to know more about? Con-tine? The house? Pg 10: I like the balance depicted while she’s standing here on the doorstep, but I think for the lines about going in against her nonexistent better judgment to work, there needs to be more of a sense of the fear vs. curiosity conflict. The “neither pushed nor pulled” implies that she would just stand there until prompted to do something unless she decided to do otherwise, not that the pull of curiosity is balanced by the fear of what might be waiting. I like the line about her not having any better judgment, and really like the end line, but I think the build up to it in the last page or so could be a little stronger.
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  33. Why? Think of the benefits, should you ever get into an accident! The irate owner of the other car sees your logo, pales, gulps, admits being 100% at fault and pays for everything.
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  34. no 3: This Character has been influenced by an Unmade
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  35. Hi. That's a long first post. It's good though. I'm new too. That's it for today folks!
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  36. In response to your Weird Thing #2, I don't think that all Shards exist in everything, at least not always. Once they invest in a planet, their Investiture is physically there. Ruin and Preservation however, permeate all of Scadrial, because it was their essence that created it in the first place. But I like your visualization about the focus and radius.
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  37. I would like everyone to go and pick up a copy of an Absolutely Remarkable Thing right now. (unless swearing bothers you)
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  38. Welcome! Both of you! I hope you enjoy your time on the Shard!
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  39. Hey, Eric here with an update. Yesterday, we told you that something was going on with Mistborn in Fortnite. Well it actually came out that same day, and it is indeed Kelsier in Fortnite. The Kelsier skin comes in two versions: the default, which shows off his face and his scarred arms, and the Undecover variant, which has a face mask and long sleeves. There are also Hemalurgic Spikes Back bling, Volcanic Glass Daggers Pickaxe, and a Kelsier themed loading screen. It is just a skin, with no Mistborn mechanics. Also, it might go away in a few hours, but I am not totally sure on that. More on that below. The loading screen is pretty cute, and has the text “A New Shardworld?” below it on the press release. That's pretty great. In game, Kelsier floats, and it looks really well-done. Brandon spoke on Reddit on how he thought it'd be cool, and I agree! It seems like a net positive overall for the fandom. Get some additional exposure on Mistborn? Great! In fact, we're already getting more exposure: you can already find many a story from a Fortnite player who discovered the books through the crossover. (If you're one of those, hello! Welcome to the Brandon Sanderson community!) In light of this, I thought it'd be fun to maybe buy the Kelsier skin and show it off our YouTube channel. I haven't ever played Fortnite or any battle royales, so that sounded like it'd be a hilarious, terrible trainwreck. Kelsier loading screen. It does look slick, I'll admit. As someone who has never played Fortnite, I'd like to talk about my experiences going into the Fortnite store, so you're aware of what's up, if you were interested in getting this skin. I was doing this on PC, and it was easy enough to download the Epic Games Store and install Fortnite. I entered the game and there's three modes, two of which, the Battle Royale and Creative mode, are free, and the single player Save the World mode isn't. On a first load in, there isn't a way to check the store immediately, and when I pressed Battle Royale, I'm immediately put into a fairly intricate cutscene of characters I had no idea about, which leads into some gameplay. Once in the gameplay, I can leave the match, fortunately. Then, to get to the store, you hit Battle Royale again, and Item Shop is listed at the top. In the store itself, as of right now, Kelsier is at the top, and he (as well as the accessories and his loading screen, which are bundled in) costs 1600 of Fortnite's premium currency, V-Bucks. Now, the annoying part--fairly commonplace these days, unfortunately--is that I can't buy exactly 1600 of them directly. Instead, you buy specific amounts that don't quite give me the amount you want. Here, it's 1000 V-Bucks for $7.99 USD or 2800 V-Bucks for $19.99 USD. This means I have to spend more than $10 to get the bundle: I could either spend $16 for 2000 V-Bucks, or I could pony up for the 2800 V-Bucks, which Epic says on the store is a better deal. They aren't wrong, but if we're simply after this skin, it way overshoots what I'd like. Again, this is pretty common in free-to-play games, but that doesn't make it less annoying. Then I noticed on the Fortnite store page a pretty ominous timer on everything. Not ominous in the slightest. This countdown is on everything (except, hilariously, the "Limited Release" section). I've heard they refresh skins every day, and so by the time this article is out, it'll be less than three hours until it resets at 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern. Does this mean Kelsier is gone after 5pm? Maybe! Joshua (jofwu) was told skins are only in there for 24 hours, then they bring it back a few times. It's apparently a bit hit or miss, and they might keep it in again tonight. [Update: The bundle is available for at least one more day, in case you want to get it. It moved from the Featured to the Daily category, however!] Personally, I'm really not a fan of this setup. It feels like the skin being available for a single day is there to really make people feel that FOMO, and to keep people playing Fortnite constantly. Maybe I'm used to the book market where you can get books forever, but this seems especially short. Brandon said on Reddit that Epic worked on this for five months, so it's kind of mindblowing that would only last in the store for a day. I'm used to microtransactions--I play Guild Wars 2, and they all seem to do the same stuff--but this seems way too fast. This week is finals week at the college I teach at, and I've been more than a little busy. I understand the point is to get people to play all the time, but 24 hours, really? All I can say is: oof. If I was a regular fan and wasn't thinking about YouTube content, I'd never buy this. Anyway, I'll update this at their reset to see if it stays the next day. Now you know what's up with the Kelsier skin. Did any of you buy it? Do you think it'll stay in the store for another day? Let us know in the comments below. No promises on Fortnite content on the 17th Shard YouTube channel though, especially if this skin is so temporary.
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  40. Fortnite usually cycles their skins so if I had to guess it’ll be back in a week Earlier if they make enough money All I know is that I’m definitely not spending 20 bucks on it
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  41. It is an interesting thought, but I doubt it. I can't really see many other similarities between Paul and Moash than the blindness. And furthermore, I doubt book 5 will have space for a "Moash-being-apostle"-arc. I think he is too far gone now to be more than a puppet for Odium, or, maybe in the long run, a more self-driven villain.
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  42. I find this one funny.
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  43. I think you are on the right track. This seems like a hint at the nature of the big picture conflict in the Cosmere. "To be human is to seek beauty Shallan. Do not despair, do not end the hunt because thorns grow in your way. Tell me what is the most beautiful thing you can imagine?" Shallan then describes a loving family. What is beauty in this context? It is not just art, it is the embodiment of mankind's greatest ideals. Love, selflessness, life before death, strength before weakness, and journey before destination. "What if all that remained to you was pain? You could not know beauty then. It can be taken from a man." - Second blind man on the cliff Love and selflessness were taken from him. “Does the pain change day by day?” “Let us say it does,” the messenger said. “Then beauty, to that person, would be the times when the pain lessens." So if you have beauty taken from you, all that is left is pain, and what you look forward to is lessening the pain, how would you do it? In the Wheel of Time Moridin had a very drastic way to lessen the pain by ending existence. So we have Blind Man 1 trying to convince Blind Man 2 you can still find beauty, love, happiness, and great ideals even if there are thorns in the way. So how would Blind Man 1 (who may be Wit) lessen pain? The answer may in this next quote. "Expectation. That is the true soul of art. If you can give a man more than he expects, then he will laud you his entire life...Conversely, if you gain a reputation for being too good, too skilled . . . beware. The better art will be in their heads, and if you give them an ounce less than they imagined, suddenly you have failed. Suddenly you are useless. A man will find a single coin in the mud and talk about it for days, but when his inheritance comes and is accounted one percent less than he expected, then he will declare himself cheated.Wit shook his head, standing up and dusting off his coat. 'Give me an audience who have come to be entertained, but who expect nothing special. To them, I will be a god. That is the best truth I know.'" So beauty in art, in idealized human nature gives us what? I'm going to say happiness or peace. People who do not get what they want are unhappy, even people who get exactly what they want still suffer. The journey, not the destination, is what brings us happiness. "How you lived will be far more important to the Almighty than what you accomplished".People must learn how to live, before they die. In Wits musings the greatest truth he knows is about expectation. This is tied closely to happiness. If a man gets more or less than he expected in an inheritance will that make him happy? Will an inheritance at all make him happy? Now apply this concept to all human interaction. So does lowering expectations or standards the key to happiness? I think it's more on finding the truth in reality and aligning one's expectations with it. If Kaladin is looking for the perfect leader without flaws and does not find one he will be unhappy, closer to hateful. However if he realizes a great leader is less than perfect his perspective will change, he will follow the Ideals more closely, and his entire world will change. That is from Hoid's greatest truth. We have Blind Man 2 who can only experience pain and he wishes to end it. Blind Man 1 is trying change his perspective or expectations so he can find beauty. So if the blind men were metaphors for the Cosmere shaking forces we have a very odious blind man (perhaps not Odium who knows) hellbent on bad things and someone who is trying to stop these bad things by helping him find beauty again. Since Sanderson is the type to not have pure good and evil I find it appropriate that to destroy your enemy you make him your friend. Or I could be full of rust. You decide. Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 281018368 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 444201264 bytes) in Unknown on line 0
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