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This thing is short, and more than a week late, but hey, it exists. Kinda. Let's see short list this year, even if you're not mentioned you're still cool. ENE! You are totally epic and I love working and talking with you. @AonEne @Ed Venture You are totally awesome and amazing. Keep being you. Thank you for listening. @Serce Forts you are such an amazing friend. sorry I don't remember to talk to you. I don't really remember for anyone :P @FriarFritz You're cool. Also, wow. just thinking back on the last year. You're cool. @LewsTherinTelescope punny! It's been awesome to get to know you better (also sorry if that's more me lurking than interacting (drat I'm being self conscious AnYwAyS)) and you're pretty cool. Thanks for helping out. Life updates: I have a white build your own lightsaber, three part time jobs (don't worry I only work one consistently), a fancy gold pin award... Let's see. I'm decorating Boop my aloe vera for Christmas and I now have another plant, Anna the amaryllis. We'll see if I manage to not kill that one. Haven't killed my aloe yet not for lack of forgetting to water though. It's basically a cactus, it's fine, riiight. Divorce happened :/ Inktober exists, I'll probably finish it. eventually.

I will soon take the American Mathematics Competition. I hope Andy the Ant makes a reappearance.

Well, massive su dump, here we go. On Saturday I have the most important race of my life, and it will determine whether I go to state or not. Not feeling any pressure at all, especially because I absolutely threw my last race which doesn’t help. I enjoy seminary, but boy is it so much more enjoyable when your crush is there as well. Gonna be at the brando mini-con next week, if anyone else is going lmk! I’ve been rereading the stormlight books and now I’m literally saying storms when I want to curse so that’s fun. Trimester just ended, it was the worst in my life i think. Pretty sure I didn’t get any A’s. It’s ok tho, we’re doing better. Writing was going well at the beginning of november. Then my brain was like nope. So that’s not happening. Just got my car back from the shop after the deer I hit destroyed it. So happy about that. More stuff probably but eh

Something about the physical appearance of the heralds seems off to me, particularly the ages of Ash and Jezrein. Sanderson was askedabout it and he was very evasive about the timeline of the Oathpact and particularly how it related to the ages of the heralds. The only hard comments we have about the timeline is that 1) The Heralds appear the age they were when they became heralds, 2) At least some time passed between escape from Ashlyn and the Oathpact (They left when they were "younger than they were when they became Heralds"), and 3) Shalash is the youngest herald was born right around the time of the escape, possibly right after. The first point is a bit of an issue because Jezrein canonically looks to be in his late 30s. Shalash doesn’t have a canon age description due to the absence of comments on her being a teenager, so probably early twenties at the youngest. This is a bit of an issue because is Jezerin in Ash's father. The simplest explanations - Ash is Jezrin’s biological daughter and he was a teen dad, but Jezerin as a father that young doesn't really make sense to me with his character - Ash is adopted. She’s more ‘western’ looking while Jezrerin is described as more ‘eastern’ looking by Rosharan standards. If so she could be around 10-15 years younger than him which fits the appearances better than the biological limitations. Whatever caused Ashlyn to be destroyed likely created orphans, and adoption is a totally Windrunner thing However, this discrepancy also led me to a fairly tinfoil theory, but one I think there is mounting evidence for. That the Oathpact was founded over many years, and not all of the heralds were created at the same time. Specifically, they joined up in their numerical order. In general, the consistent ordering of the heralds has its roots somewhere, and the surge binding diagram, with its extra connections, implies that there is an innate organization to the Rosharan surges. I also think it's likely that the heralds were specifically selected individually as the best candidate to wield a pair of surges, not that the most awesome-est ten people were chosen and then assigned surges. It's not too much of a stretch to perhaps people had to be added to the Oathpact (or the Honorblades had to be created) in some specific order. This actually works well with the scant evidence we do have about the Herald's early history and synergizes well with some of the numerology and mythology we have about them. Jezerin was the first, which makes sense as the leader. Ishar is technically 10th/last, but since the heralds are portrayed on a circle, Ishar could have initially first (and Jezerin 2nd) which got the perception got shifted over time since Jezerin was seen as the leader. Or Ishar could have been the last officially made a herald (last Honorblade made maybe?) and was using his non-Herald Ashlynite bondsmith powers initially. We see in Nale’s flashback that he is approached by Jezerin who says that “Ishar and I agreed. There is no person we would welcome more eagerly into this pact than you.” To me the grammar implies to 'we' welcoming him into the pact is 'Ishar and Jezerin' which places Nale as the next (2nd) before others were selected. Also the 'welcome into this pact' could be interpreted as the pact already existing, with people added to it over time. Shallash as #6 is much later than Jezerin. This allows time for her to grow into an adult while Jezerin is frozen at the 30s/40s he became a herald in. Taln was supposed to be Herald, and hadn't distinguished himself before being chosen like the others. As 9th, the last except for Ishar, Odium could have time to catch on and eliminate the initial choice, or do something to threaten the plan and force Ishar to make a snap decision (maybe Taln was just the best candidate in the right place/right time). Any other ideas or interpretations? I think the adoption explanation is the simplest to clear up the Ash/Jezerin age discrepancy but I do there's something to the numerology.

Today was wack. Feeling really good, then wanting to curl up and die, and now really good again. A miracle of what food can do to the human body.

Hey guys! Sorry for the long break. @Szeth's Facepalm @The One Ring @King of The Oreo Did u guys miss me? And everyone who is following me, did u guys miss me?

i was teaching when i heard one of my students call another a cretin. "but teacher, he deserved it. he was talking and disturbing" "well, i could never insult one of you students" pause while i realize the implication "did any of you guys ever read the stormlight archive?" [none of them has. not many people know sanderson in italy] "well, it's this fantasy book where there is a king who keeps a wit to insult the other nobles. because the king could not afford to insult the nobles, it would be inappropriate for his role. so he has the wit to do it for him. perhaps you could be my wit"

Hjuttekhhvsjlhgkyumhgfskhgckhtdjtfxkhgckhgcjgfsjgfckhgfjgvcjhgftewkhgflotdigrs I want pointe shoes.

SPOILERS AND ADDED INFORMATION: I had posted other bits of this else where in 2020 before the "Taln never broke" WOB, but consolidated all the ideas here in this post This theory and post came out before Rhythm of War, but updates have been made to include information from ROW SA5 Prologue: This is not discussed to avoid spoilers, but SA5 Prologue has some interesting information --- Weird Questions: 1) TALN BREAKING SEEMS ODD What broke Taln? He is crazy and insensate for 4000 years and then one day he says "No thank you". What could have broke Taln? And, in terms of timelines, Taln returned before the Everstorm crossed into the physical realm, so it can't be that the Everstorm freed Taln. Yes the Everstorm was in the Cognitive, but all the doom and gloom seemed to be about the Everstorm being pulled in the Physical Realm by Eshoni and her team. Since Taln returns at the end of The Way of Kings, then Taln must return in a way that is not related to Eshoni. And as I mentioned before, I don't think it makes sense that Odium suddenly found a way to break Taln after 4000 years of trying. Edit: we later got a WOB that Taln did not break 2) DAVAR FAMILY CONNECTIONS Why was the Davar family so connected to secret societies despite being a Vaden house of little note? They have connections to the Ghostbloods and the Ghostbloods have handed them a confirmed soulcaster AND possibly a Seon box. Why? And it seems Skybreakers may have been visiting as well for "reasons". As well, the Skybreakers are breaking paterns when it comes to the Davars. As far as we know, Shallan's older brother is the only Skybreaker to be using a dead blade. Is this special treatment for a member of the Davar family? And finally, Mraize seems to know the Davar family well enough to recognize the name immediately. The Davars would need to be pretty active for that name recognition to be so apparent. 3) CHILD SHALLAN AND HER IMPORTANCE Why did the cryptic go to Shallan as a child? Lift was chosen due to her strange connection to Cultivation, but why Shallan? And why twice? And what were Shallan's parents fighting about? Shallan remembers her parents having huge fights over Shallan's future starting from a very young age. What was that about? Connected to that, why is an dark influence attacking the Davar family? Why is Heleran given a shardblade and brought into the skybreakers? No other Skybreaker acolyte was given a dead-blade and sent to war (that we know of), so why is Helaran so non-standard? Shallan's parents also fight A LOT about Shallan's future. This seems to be a hint that Chanarach had a major plan for Shallan. 4) MAMA DAVAR IN THE KNOW Why was Shallan's mother so quick to try and kill "one of them". How does she know "them" so clearly? Why would she have such a quick and radical reaction? 5) MORE SECRETS What is Shallan's last secret. There is still something horrible in Shallan's past, and this has something to do with a Seon box and whatever Radiant was created to protect Shallan from. What is worse than killing testament? We also have strange internal thoughts from Shallan from WOR in Chapter 10: "The world ended; and Shallan was to blame". This thought has never been explained. What did Shallan do to end the world? "The world ended, and Shallan was to blame.- Words of Radiance, Chapter 10. Mentioned by @honorblades Another strange but overlooked instance occurs in TWoK when Shallan almost summons her Shardblade: If this is indeed Patters/Testement, then why would that Spren ask "What are you?" Testament should full-well know "what" Shallan is in terms of her being a human or a semi-radiant or anything like that. If this voice is Testament, then asking "What are you?" is very odd in my opinion. Shallan answers "I am terrified", but to me that always seemed ... not what the voice was asking Shallan. I always felt there was more to this that simply speaking truths. 6) THE FAMILY'S SAFE AND THE GLOWING LIGHTS ARE IMPORTANT (main data point for me creating this theory) People are very quick to discount Shallan's recollection of Lin Davar placing a glowing soul into a safe. I have always been very confused as to why Shallan is taken as "lying" to herself in this scene. Shallan has no reason to lie about the item being her mother's soul instead of a Shardblade. Lin Davar acted extremely quickly in that situation and made sure to place the item in that safe before dealing with any other issues. That to me is extremely telling. Why would Lin think the Shadblade wouldn't disappear eventually whenever Shallan dismissed it? Why would Lin think the Shardblade would stay in a safe if he managed to place it there quickly? Why would Lin so quickly run to place the item in the safe in the first place? Why is there an unused safe in that room? And then why do Shallan and Lin seem to continually see light coming from that safe for years and years? None of that vibes with "it is just a blade and Shallan is lying to herself" in any way. I just don't get it. Shallan having a Shardblade is not in anyway covered up by this lie, nor is the lie that Shallan killed her spren hidden by this lie either? There is no mental cover-up being done by Shallan making up a lie here. It seems everyone else dismisses Shallan, including Pattern, in favour of "Lynn put a sword in there". 7) EDIT FOR ROW: Then in ROW we get the timeline, and this does not hold up to scrutiny either. Shallan says her father put the item into the safe. WoR Shallan thinks that was a soul, but Pattern convinces her she is misremembering and that the item was a dead spren-blade. But that can't be a dead spren blade because Shallan has not unbonded Testament yet. Shallan does not think that a spren is trapped in that safe and we know this because Shallan then leaves to go speak with her spren in the garden AFTER the item is placed in the safe. Shallan acts immediately as a child in a way that doesn't even consider that her "blade" is in that safe. It just doesn't make sense to think a blade was placed into that safe based on the reactions of the two witnesses involved (which we learn Pattern is not one of) We take it from Pattern that Shallan is wrong here in her memory. However, In ROW we learn that Pattern is NOT an eyewitness to what went down in that room. Pattern sure has a lot of opinions about what Shallan saw, but Pattern was not actually there in the room and cannot actually know what Shallan saw go into the safe. Pattern assumed Shallan is lying to herself as Pattern sees many other lies around that event. But Pattern has no knowledge about who Mother-Davar was, what the safe was for, or why Skybreaker/Ghostbloods may have been in the home. Pattern is not a credible source of information on the events of that day. Shallan is the only living witness, and the actions of her father are consistent with the understanding Shallan had as a child. Shallan too noticed her father staring at the direction of the safe and the light. Only later in life is Shallan told again and again that her memory of those events are wrong by people who were not there. Both Lin and Shallan believe something is in the safe, and a sword does not match the other data points we have. There is "light" in that safe, and it is leaking out over time. And where di the blood come from? A Shardblade should not have done that. The blood has to be some other injury? The box is something. The light was something. Pattern is making assumptions and is wrong about this history with the safe. And why does Shallan see a glowing light coming from the box? Is it a soul like she believes? We learn in RoW that no herald soul can be trapped completely, and that the light of a herald will slowly leak out (is that what Shallan was seeing her whole childhood come out of the safe?). Is it her mother's soul escaping slowly to Braize? Or maybe could it be a perfect gem with Mishram inside? Who knows? But it is something. We have seen other glowing lights (Dawnshard and Dalinar hearing TwoK), so is she just mad, or did she really see something? Whatever it is, it does not make sense that Shallan thinks Testament is trapped in the safe if Shallan went and yelled at Testament after her mother was killed. Something was put into that safe, and to me the most likely answer is "her mother's soul". And firhermore, there is no reason to believe that Lin Davar would think a safe would ever prevent a Shardblade from reappearing in Shallan's hands. 8) HOID and MIDDLEFEST Hoid is downright shocked to see child-Shallan at the Middlefest celebration. Hoid sees something, but that something is unclear. When we originally read WOR, we assume HOpid is shocked to see a Radiant Child or perhaps a bonded spren. However, Shallan does not have a regular active sprenbond at the time of Middlefest, so Hoid did not see Testament or an active radiant bond There are a few things Hoid may have seen: a. Hoid saw Odium's touch on her family b. a dead-blade living-radiant connection line was still active c. the Cryptic team that watched Shallan. d. Shallan is so obviously a part of Chanarach that Hoid was gobsmacked by the resemblance. e. Shallan is noticeably different than other Rosharans due to her strange parentage. But whatever Hoid saw, it was not an active Spren Bond since we know Testament is a deadeye at that point in the story. ---- It All Put Together - A Timeline 1) JAH KAVED Chararach settled in the Davar estate in rural Jah Kaved. Chanarach is involved in several of the secret societies of Roshar just like most of the other heralds we have seen. Chanarach learns of the theory that a return of surgebinders will bring about a desolation. Chararach is completely terrified of returning to Braize and supports the culling of nascent surgebinding. Chanarach is involved in research and is a part of the search to create a method that prevents a herald from returning to Braize upon death. Kalak is also involved. 2) COMMUNICATION NETWORKS Chanarach commands a fair bit of influence and even has a Seon to communicate off world. It is unclear who knows who Chanarach is, but as she did settle in a rural area it is likely Chana's identity is not common knowledge even within secret societies (similar to Restares and Amaram). Chana exerts some form of influence and stays in-the-know with investiture theory and is able to contact others on Roshar or off-world. 3) CREATING THE SAFE Chana tries to devise a way to never return to Braize. She creates a special kind of safe that her soul could be placed in to. She thinks it will entirely prevent a return or will greatly delay her return to Braize. Chana has no way to test this as there are no herald-souls or returned-souls to experiment with. Possibly, the safe is akin to the Seon box in design or the safe may even actually be the Seon Box Shallan remembers playing with as a child? At some point, Chana tells Lin Davar what to do in case she is ever killed (place her soul into the box). In ROW we learn Kelek has some knowledge on this herald soul-leakage issue, so perhaps he was also involved in the Soul Box experiments in some way. 4) SHALLAN IS BORN Chanarach eventually has a daughter and names that daughter after her friend Shalash (Shallan says she was named after Shalash). Shallan may not be a "typical" offspring. She seems to be different from her brothers in some meaningful way. Perhaps Shallanis a cutting of Chararach or maybe Shallan conceived through some form or parthenogenetic process. Perhaps Shallan was created using breaths, as Tyn notes that Shallan seems to see colours better than most other people. EDIT: In a later WOB we learned that that non-returned Cognitive Shadows have had children Edit: In a later WOB we learned that Heralds can have children but it is complicated and effortful to do. Chana has special plans for Shallan. We know from WoR that Shallan's parents fought A LOT about Shallan's future. This implies to me that Shallan is somehow more intentionally convieved than her male siblings, and that Chana had something planned for Shallan that Lynn Davar had moral misgivings about. We are not sure what this is, but I think a lot of us will assume it has something to do with the Oathapact and/or returning to Braize. 5) SHALLAN IS DETECTED BY SPREN The Cryptics find out that one of the heralds has children or they discover a weird child who stands-out and is similar to the child of a Returned. The Cryptics send a delegation to investigate (WOB confirms heralds can have children though maybe it is difficult). At the same time, an unmade is drawn to the family. Testament begins to bond Shallan similar to what happened with Lift. Shallan eventually discovers what her mother is by playing with a Seon box at the Davar estate. The unmade's influence increases in an attempt to get the Herald to go insane and potentially get herself killed by Lin Devar or Shallan. 6) SHALLAN IS DETECTED BY SKYBREAKERS Shallan is discovered to be a surge binder by her mother. Her mother, fearing a return to Braize, refers to Shallan as "one of them". Note that Chanarach does not seem surprised that surgebinders are real. Chanarach has an absolute PTSD breakdown and attacks her daughter. Lin, who likely knew, steps in and Shallan is able to kill her mother in self defence. Lin Devar takes something and locks it away in the safe. We are told this is the Shardblade and Shallan's mother's soul. Shallan goes to the garden to scream at Testament and break her bond AFTER Testament is supposedly locked away in the safe. This timeline does not make sense even if we believe Testament could escape the safe. Why does Shallan believe her spren was trapped but also then in the garden? And how is Testament-blade = her mother's soul? There isn't a connection there logically. 7) SHALLAN KILLS A HERALD AND THEN TALKS TO TESTAMENT IN THE GARDEN After Shallan kills her mother, Shallan goes to Testament and breaks her bond. It is possible Testament told her more here as well. Shallan then begins to repress everything since Shallan has, in her mind, done the most evil act in history. "The world ended, and Shallan was to blame.- Words of Radiance, Chapter 10. Mentioned by @honorblades 8) CORRUPTION SETS IN Lin Devar begins to be corrupted even more. Lin also has mental guilt and wrestles with killing his herald-wife to save his daughter. He beings to protect Shallan at all costs for reasons that may be more than just guilt. Then Davar family hell ensues. The ghostbloods continue to cultivate the family. The Ghostbloods may not believe a herald could be killed by Lin or may not know she was a Herald. The Cryptics stay with Shallan as they don't blame her for what happened. They are still curious about what Shallan is and are researching what happens to a bonded-deadeye to its original radiant. The dark influence in the house may be more than an unmade as well. One of Chana's divine attributes is "obedient". I think this is significant. Lin is driven to rage every time one of his children will not obey him, and the word obey is emphasized many times. It may be possible the Lin's rage was a dark consequence of something Chana was doing, the safe's magical effects, or something else. It is also possible that Lin thought his children would inherit the divine attribute, and the fact they dont obey him drives him to rage. 9) BRAIZE AND SOUL LEAKAGE Chanarach returns to Braize. It may have taken some time for her to get to Braize. It seems the soul is leaking out of the safe over time (ROW: as we see with Jezrian in the gem). Or maybe it takes 5 years to find Chana on Braize since arrival was unexpected and because in earlier returns the heralds were able to "hide" for some time. Either way, the other heralds do not know that that has happened as they cannot detect the pain-bond while on Roshar. Edit: Ishar created the oathpact so he may be able to sense changes in it. 10) HOID SEES SHALLAN Shallan, with no bond, goes to Middlefest. Wit's magic or memory allow him to detect that there is something very strange about Shallan. Wit somehow knows what Shallan fights "is not truly natural" and encourages her to make a path for the light. It is unclear what Wit saw, but he knew more than the fact she was a surgebinder (even though she's actually a deadeye-binder at the time). 11) CHANA IS CAPTURED ON BRAIZE Chanarach is eventually found on Braize. For some reason, Chana either breaks to the pain or gives in to some deal Odium offers. It may have taken a while or been immediate. What is strange is that Chana has not been seen returning to Roshar, either Chana took some deal meaning she did not have to return or perhaps she intentionally landed somewhere remote. 12) TALN RETURNS WITHOUT BREAKING THE OATH Taln returns to Roshar completely insane and without breaking. What happens to Chanarach is unknown. All assume Taln broke. 13) SHALLAN BEGINS TO REMEMBER THAT HER MOTHER WAS A HERALD Radiant is created from memories of Shallan's mother. Or potentially, Radiant is somehow part of Chanarach. Radiant dresses in the same blue and red warrior outfit as the Herald Chanarach in artworks. Radiant is Shallan's repressed memories of who her mother was. It is also possible that Radiant is in someway Shallan's mother (connection mumbo jumbo and cognitive shadow stuff along with cultivation weirdness possibilities) Here is a description of Radiant: “She [Radiant] had chosen to wear her vakama; the traditional Vaden’s warrior clothing. It was similar to the Alethi takama but the skirt was pleeted instead of straight. She wore a loose matching coat with a tight vest and shirt beneath. The bright clothing features vibrant blues embroidered over reds with gold woven between and it had trim on the skirt” Here is Chanarach: 14) TESTEMENT MEMORIES Shallan is forced to confront what happened with Testament, and Radiant begins to see that she must help Shallan deal with her final truth. [Option 1] Shallan knows she killed a herald and that she sent her mother to damnation - possibly ending the world and starting the final desolation. [Option 2] Shallan does not know her mother was a herald, but will put that together in regards to the "hole" in her memory"

I'd originally been trying to shape it so that the letters formed a santhid shell as seen as above, since that's the part sailors would see, but in the end I accidentally wound up making it look like the shell above water with a big eye and tentacles trailing below, which I thought was a pretty cool coincidence. Comments and critique welcome.

Sorry, sorry! Different timezones, y'all! Good guesses all around! Yes, Zane is the correct answer! Next clue would've been: this character was involved in a love triangle

I find myself largely in agreement with @Vin(Diesel)'s well-reasoned post above. A romantic relationship between a mortal and an immortal would be loaded with both emotional and ethical issues; exploration of this theme is at least as old as Greek mythology (where, if I recall, it NEVER ended well for the mortal) and has been covered in modern speculative fiction many times. I'm reminded of Heinlein's Time Enough for Love - his best work, IMO - in which Lazarus Long and his near-immortal kin refer to the rest of us as "mayflies" with whom serious relationships are strongly discouraged. An immortal can be "friends" with a mayfly in the same way we are friends with dogs or cats... but romance is unwise and ultimately unfair to both parties. My guess is that, while Hoid and Jasnah may indeed both be sincere in their appreciation and affection for each other, their different agendas and worldviews (and possibly the knowledge of their differing lifetimes) will ultimately result in this fling being a short one. Brandon may just be laying the groundwork for a deliciously acrimonious and adversarial relationship between two powerful people who used to love one another, e.g. Obi-Wan and Anakin.

I like this...Rock's arc does seem to lead to him taking power in his own community, and he certainly has the personality for it acting as the heart of Bridge 4. Honestly, I'm hoping it will be more of an outside character than him or Lirin though. Currently, the Bondsmith power is insanely concentrated in the Kholins, and I would like to see someone who can, not oppose them necessarily, but provide more balance. Navani and Dalinar are good people, but they still have major faults and their history as the paragon of Alethi supremacy can't be ignored. From a narrative perspective, since Navani and Dalinar are so connected I'd expect the last Bondsmith to be an outsider. I think there are some really interesting wild card candidates, especially considering we may not see the Nighwatcher bond until the back half. I looked for minor characters, but ones who have had enough presence or hints of an arc that it wouldn't be odd to see them come to greater prominence. Also ones with either leadership potential or placed into a leadership role, since that seems to be a foundation of Bondsmith-ness. Finally, I tried to see who seemed to be 'Cultivation-y' for lack of a better word, with an arc focused on growth and change. The best wild card candidates in rough order of likelihood imo: Jaxlim (Venli's mother) --> Had a leadership role in her community but has deteriorated and has a major need for growth. I think the Listerner's fit well in Cultivation's vibe in general, Jaxlim is just the most obvious candidate since the other named character's in Venli and Leshwi's group have a likely order (Willshaper/Windrunner). Also, more Singers with Nahal bonds seems to be the direction we're heading and what more obvious way to herald the formation of a new Roshar than with a Singer Bondsmith. Yanagawn/Gawx (Lift's friend the leader of Azir) --> So far arc is already about learning to be a good leader. Young, but should be an ideal age after timeskip. In the sweet spot of character relevance. Already had some impactful conversations about leadership/power. Redin (the heterochromatic Veden dude) --> Even more of a background character, but has shown up twice in noticeable ways with no real payoff yet and has a 'major character' sort of backstory. Had a claim to the Veden throne at one point and a personal hatred of Taravangian. Could fit in the narrative space for a leader of the anti-Odium/anti-Taravangian Veden's who have been pushed out of power. Can also see him becoming more prominent initially as part of the reveals about what the hell was going on in the Davar household. Savrahalidem (Taravangians daughter, Karbaranth's Queen). Has leadership position. Only just mentioned by name, but the drama of Odium's daughter would be interesting. Cultivation also seems to be very personality invested in the Nighwatcher, and I can see her hand-picking Savri to bond with them as part of the larger plot to manipulate Tar-Odium's actions. Dieno enne Calah/The Mink (the Herdazian general) --> Major minor character in a leadership position. Has a quirky vibe that reads as sort of 'cultivation-y' to me. Herdazian's in general seem to vibe well with the Cultivation, similar to the Listeners. This far down because he doesn't have the 'potential for growth' vibes as much, and is already a central part of Dalinar and Navani's hierarchy (and is specifically Dalinar's subordinate) which I wanted to avoid. Some Shin character we'll meet in Book 5 --> Shinovar is a black hole right now but clearly will become more important. Also, Szeth is unlikely to be the only person to doubt the Shamanate, and there is potential for an interesting narrative foil if you have Shin Bondsmith learning how to be a military leader vs Dalinar (Alethi Warlord) learning how to promote peace.

I don’t like it. I can sort of see why Jasnah would go for Hoid, since in so many ways almost no one is her equal; for most men, she would either have to pretend to be less intimidating than she is or turn him into an appendage. Hoid is perhaps the only exception on Roshar other than Heralds and Unmade (who are insane), Dalinar, and Taravangian. And Hoid is surely fascinating to her. But I don’t see why Hoid would go for Jasnah. He is ancient. Jasnah is a formidable woman, but that does nothing to change the fact that her perspective is wildly different from Hoid’s. And Hoid doesn’t take himself (or most things) seriously. Jasnah does. Granting that Hoid is secure enough not to let that make him feel like a mere clown, it doesn’t exactly make them simpatico. Unless Jasnah becomes immortal, the relationship is just one moment in Hoid’s worldhopping life, and his near-eternal goals either have nothing to do with her or include her only as a small part. For Hoid, a relationship with Jasnah is a bit like a relationship with a child, or a relationship with a cashier that can only last while she’s checking out your purchases. Hoid is very good about not treating people as expendable even though their lives are so brief. Children and cashiers are not expendable to Hoid. That doesn’t mean he should date them. Perhaps Hoid simply got so lonely over the centuries that he gave in and took up with the first woman he met who could sort of hold her own with him. But I don’t think this relationship has a bright future. Maybe it will last for the brief moment that is Jasnah’s lifespan. But it still wouldn’t be fair to her, or to Hoid, really, who would be psychologically better off as an eternal celibate than with a long string of women to whom he was all while they, to him, were… something.

So, as you can see, today is my birthday according to the Christian Calendar, but not according to the Hebrew one. So, I decided to take this as a chance to explain at length about the difference between those two calendars. It's going to be a somewhat long rant, so you may prefer to skip it and just congratulate me for my birthday. You may well do so. Some others may already know everything I'm about to write here. You may skip it too - not that any of you needed permission for that. Anyway, I'll start at the very beginning. What humans started measuring time in a large scale, they needed a big unit of time - what we now call a year. They built it to align with natural circles, which revolved around seasons. Those seasons meant a lot for crops - you had to plant in one season, and you had to take care of the crops until you harvest it. This circle was based on the Earth's circumference around the sun, though they didn't know that. But after having the year as a unit, they needed (for some reason) to divide it to smaller parts. The way they did this was by watching the moon waxing and waning, creating the month (which, of course, derives from moon). The problem was that in one solar year there is just a little over twelve months - about ten and a half more days. And that's where different calendars start. I have no idea how, say, the Aztec calendar or the Chinese one works. I do know a thing or two about the Muslim, Jewish and Christian calendars, so I'll talk about them. As I understand it, the ancient Romans just saw that there were roughly twelve months a year, and gave up on aligning with the moon - changing the length of months to vary from 29 to 31 (the 28 days month was a little late change, though it was still during the Roman empire days). Since the solar year is still quarter a day longer than what they've got - because no one wants a day to be partially in one year, partially in another - they added a day to the year once each four years. As most of you know, Pope Gregory XIII changed a few things with that, and after a few more fixes the leap days occur a little differently nowadays, though it's still generally once each ten years. The reason that those fixes were needed was - surprise, surprise - because the length of a solar year is a little less than 365.25 days. Now, let's get to the Muslim calendar. I admit that I don't know much about it, but for some reason, the Arabs gave up on the solar calendar - perhaps because generally they weren't farmers; on the desert, it's somewhat easier to be a shepherd. So they had their year built around twelve lunar months. They start each month when the moon starts waxing, and end it when it finished waning. They (I think) have calculations on which day it's supposed to happen, and they have people watching for it (again, I think). Because of that, their whole year shifts in seasons regularly. I'm sure that they're glad when the Ramadan occurs this time of the year, when the days are shorter and the nights are longer. And now, for the Jewish calendar. In my opinion it's more complicated than both calendars, but you may judge for yourself. It works with twelve lunar months, but since according to the bible Passover has to be during the spring, it also tries to align with the solar year. Now, since the solar year is almost eleven days more than twelve lunar months, to stay aligned with the solar year the Jewish calendar has every three years or so an additional month - this very year (well, the Jewish year) we have one. Though, to actually have the two kinds of years aligned completely, the Jewish calendar works in nineteen years cycles, since nineteen solar years equals almost exactly to 235 lunar months, which is nineteen times a lunar year with seven of them getting an additional month. About two thousand of years ago (actually a little less, more about 1700 or so, but I'm not completely sure about that), after years of having the judges of the main court in Israel decide on when months started based on testimonies about the renewal of the moon, and on when to add months according to some variables, there was a Jewish sage that calculated the years to come and built the Jewish calendar as we know it today. The reason he had for doing so was that the learning centers in Israel were dwindling at the time, and just a couple of generations afterwards there weren't Jewish sages in Israel anymore. A couple of centuries later, one of if not the most important Jewish Rabbis, Maimonides (aka Rambam or Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon) wrote down in a book all the calculations of the length of a lunar month, a solar year, the differences between them and basically how to calculate when the next renewal of the moon is supposed to be. I'm not sure how much it changed the Jewish calendar, but it's sometimes fun to use it, if you have the willpower to learn it all. Seriously, it's very complicated. Besides the fact that it's not completely accurate, since it's based on a Geocentric model of the universe. This is why the last time my Jewish calendar birthday and my Christian Calendar one aligned was two years ago - when I was nineteen - right before I joined the Shard. And that is why there are still a couple of years before it'll happen again. Though next year my Christian Calendar birthday (CCB, because acronyms) will occur before my Jewish calendar one (JCB, because... You know), so your greetings will come early! Thank you for reading, and have a good night/day/afternoon/evening/whatever portion of the day you're at when reading this!

As cool as that would have been, Nightblood's Ruinous Investiture (because there is some of that happening, per a WOB that appears to have been literally back-to-back with the one above) comes from somewhere else. For what it's worth, it would have been pretty cool for Nightblood to be atium.

I really did think that what Navani heard were baseless rumours. I don't really ship them together and yeah it's a bit weird to think of Jasnah and Hoid. Together. But it could work. They're not head over heels with one another, no love at first sight, struck by lightning, I would die for you nonsense over here. They're just two people working on having a relationship and I do like that idea. I'll be happy to see this ship sail on into the sunset. I'll also probably enjoy reading the drama if it goes up in flames, tbh. But this could be a chance to see something rare in fiction, a relationship that people are building from the ground up instead of the usual romance chulldung.

My money is on sink it, just because I want the reveal of Jasnah using him for cosmere information to see how he'd react. Also it just generally feels a little weird.

Yeah...

Secret History

Not the hero we deserve, but the hero we need.

Would you look at that. I guess an Era 1 reread might be in order. Possible So Hoid could not have... wait... That would work as a plausible explanation for that. And today on "things about Allomancy I never noticed." Rusts! What the heck is up with that? Bronze might also be the same way, a "bubble" around you where you can "hear." Also, copper and bronze are backwards. It feels like the elemental metal should let you sense, as with tin. The entire classification system seems flawed (even if the categories are true, going off the Hemalurgy chart.) The physical and emotional external metals let you do things, the only metals with active effects, btw, but the temporal and enhancement metals are a binary burn/not burn. I didn't expect to find even more cracks in Allomancy. And I'm not sure if this is the right place to start rambling about Investiture fields and what the heck copperclouds and bronze pulses actually are and why burning copper prevents emotional Allomancy but copperclouds do not. ¤_¤

I just realized this. A vessel’s Connection to the shard they control is what allows them use possess it. So, since a bondsmith can steal Connections from people, could they, if Odium met them in one of his visions, take his Connection to his shard, allowing them to ascend and become Odium themselves? Just makes you wonder a bit about how powerful a bondsmith might be when they use their powers correctly.

So far only Reachers and enlightened spren have been willing to bond singers. Blended entertained the possibility, but it seemed more of a "devil's advocate" type thing. I think the only singer Radiants we're going to see for a while are going to be Willshapers with Rlain being an exception. It'd be great for more spren to bond singers, but unfortunately, they are very racist. That being said, Khen and Thude are two of my choices for Nightwatcher Bondsmtih, even if I feel like it's very slim odds that they would actually happen.

Also, Sibling was explicitly going to bond Rlain. Navani was an 'otherwise we'll both die' choice.

I was thinking of Greek mythology while writing my initial post. There’s a really weird dynamic there—a power differential where Jasnah relies on Hoid more than the reverse, or some variation in how much the relationship means to each person. Hoid gives me the vibes of a trickster god of some sort—like Norse mythology’s Loki. I think the Norse pantheon is actually a pretty good comparison for Hoid in general—powerful and immortal in terms of age, but they can still die (like Baldr). Either way, I’m going off-topic. Moral of the story: differences in mortality or lack thereof aren’t great for a relationship. Oh, I really like this idea. Have we ever seen either of them genuinely upset and angry? I think that could bring some sort of passion out of both characters. Regardless, I would be very excited to see this as a scene in an upcoming book.

Expanding on that, it's similar to how AonDor works. The Elantrian makes an Aon shaped in a particular way and the Investiture is pushed out of the Cognitive realm through that shape and produces an effect based on various specific aspects of the shape(size, modifiers, ect.). In Allomancy, the metal is the Aon, the act of burning it is equivalent to the Elantrian drawing the Aon, and the Investiture comes from the Spiritual realm instead because it didn't get stuffed into the Cognitive realm like it did on Sel.

Could they actually? Would having the divine Breath actually allow them to do the whole body manipulation thing? If they were a person of normal stature and not like an image of a god, people might start having questions. It would also be a bit weird, I think, that nobody seems to have been around for the supposed Return of this person. I can also believe that something would be... weird... about their aura because of the Hemalurgy. Maybe distorting colours in a similar way to Nightblood. The divine Breath might also feel... off... to people with aura recognition, due to the Hemalurgic decay The decay might also mean that you wouldn't get the whole Heightening package, probably only reaching Fourth, close to Fifth. I don't think we know how many weeks are in a Nalthian year, nor the length of a Nalthian year, but the week is eight days long, so we're not working with earth units here. We actually don't know that a divine Breath would't eat a Breath each week if it was spiked into someone. If that is an inherent function of the Breath, rather than a function of keeping this corpse moving, then you should still need to feed it. It might even need "food" more often, on account of the Hemalurgic decay. People might also notice that the extra Breath just accumulates if it's not consumed, which would be very suspicious. I'm not sure the Returned have a budget, they are just given what they want. It would also be suspicious if one asked for money, as they'd have nowhere to spend it. I also imagine that what enters and leaves the Court of Gods would be kept track of, to prevent unscrupulous priests from making a pretty penny fencing goods their god was done with. With all the intriguing at the Court, it also wouldn't be that strange if a "Returned" getting extra Breath was found out pretty quickly. And this whole scheme requires that their entire priesthood either be decieved or sworn to secrecy, beyond the ones in on the scheme. The political power would be dependent on their deific domain, they don't hold blanket influence. There's also the question of: why does our (probable) worldhopper care about Hallandren politics? They would have luxury, as long as they weren't found out, but it's also a gilded cage. No matter the outcome of this scheme, something's gonna happen. And the longer they stay in the Court of Gods, the more discontent people will be with them not giving up their Breath. And the longer they keep up their Breath accumulation scheme, the more likely they are to be found out. There's also the possible issue of what exactly the divine Breath is. If the divine Breath is the Cognotive Shadow, then you have the problem of stapling another person to yourself, whatever that'd entail. One that probably isn't terribly happy with you, I might add. Also what Honorless said. Edit: also, the Court of Gods is the likeliest place to find a Returned to spike, so you'd need to get in there just to make the spike. After that everyone'd probably be on high alert because a Returned has either died (if you left the body) or gone missing (if you disposed of the body) and that's the situation you'd be entering the Court of Gods in. ¤_¤

I tend to think of it like pushing the investiture through a mold. the metal shapes the investiture as it enters the physical realm. this is why burning a metalmind works differently - the ferruchemical charge changes the shape of the mold

Oh, I was too late 1) This character was not well-received by most fans

Am also late, but you can send it to me as well!

Oh ho ho. You want Studio Ghibli?

So after watching Dune and a couple Star Wars films, I've gotten into the vibe of hard-science space operas, and I think I might try to write one. Would anyone be interested in updates? Joining in? Or maybe I could just make an RP to sate my weirdly specific creative urge. What do y'all think?

Alright! Post-game GM thoughts time. First, while I didn't the activity was terrible, it wasn't as good as it could have been. Vote participation did get better as the game went on but in some cases it was the only post the voter made. I kinda want to make a general wake-up call for the entire subforum as far as activity goes (maybe this doesn't need to be said, idk) but games in general are more fun and go better if everyone engages in it. There was one cycle where 2/3 of the elim team received inactivity warnings, and I think that this helped the elims just sort of slide under the radar for the most part. The solution for this is simply to just sign up for games only if you know you can participate. I don't want to bash on anyone, and I hope this isn't taken that way. Especially now, when player counts are pretty low, every player is appreciated. I'm glad the Soul Forger was included, that was what made me want to rerun this ruleset to begin with. But the Soul Forger went inactive D2. (And I mean, they were NK'd, but because of the low-info prospect). With that out of the way, I do want to sincerely thank everyone for playing. I like GMing a lot, and this game was no exception. The elims got lucky with their kills, and I'm pretty disappointed that Ash was killed so early (especially since it appeared that he would make scepters at any given opportunity.) Funny moments during the game boil down to action interactions. Devo was redirected and RBd consecutively, including the cycle TUO was exed. His final action was to block Devo's action, which would have saved his life and killed Steel instead. That might have resulted in a different game And then of course the final cycle where Tani killed her arbiter alongside the elims. There's probably something else I'm forgetting, but those are the main things. Thanks to Elan again for the ruleset, and for IMing!

Yeah, especially if we won’t get another bondsmith until back 5, we’ll have plenty of time to introduce new listener options.

(now that Rlain is out of the running...) Rock. Fits the character nicely I think, and the Horneaters as the Guardians of Cultivation's Shardpool gives him a relatively direct connection to her side of things. I dont think it will happen until the back 5 though, because Bondsmiths swearing Ideals will be the only time that Ishar will be sane enough to explain his plan, and I expect resetting the Oathpact to be something that we wont delve into until during the Herald Flashback books.

A fun, light-hearted parody of the children's song Sandwiches by Fred Penner...only now it's about how much Hoid loves Investiture! Mild spoilers for Mistborn, Warbreaker, and Stormlight Archive.Hoid's Magic Song - based on Fred Penner's Sandwiches song.mp3 Lyrics: [Chorus] Investiture is beautiful, Investiture is fine. I like investiture, I use it all the time; Magic is my supper and magic is my lunch; If there’s a hundred kinds of magic then I’d use them all at once. [Verse 1] I'm a roaming and a rambling And a wandering all along, And if you care to listen, I will sing a happy song. I will not ask a favour And I will not ask a fee, But if you have yourself some magic Won't you give a bit to me? [Chorus] Investiture is beautiful, Allomancy's fine. I like lerasium, I eat it all the time; I eat it for my supper and I eat it for my lunch; If I had a hundred beads of it, I'd eat them all at once. [Verse 2] Once I went to Nalthis, Summoned to the God Queen, I swear she was the brightest lady That I'd ever seen. I told her she was colourful And could not ask for more, I told her a story Then she threw me out the door. [Chorus] Investiture is beautiful, Biochroma's fine. I like Heightening, I breathe it all the time; I take Breaths for my supper and I take Breaths for my lunch; If I found a hundred Breaths, oh well I'd breathe them all at once. [Verse 3] Well, once I met a brilliant girl, the fairest in the land, The Brightlords of the country, they were asking for her hand. They’d offer her alliances, Emeralds to appease; I offered her some magic And she said that she was pleased! [Chorus] Investiture is beautiful, Bonding spren is fine. I like lightweaving, I use it all the time; Stormlight is my supper and Stormlight is my lunch; If I had a hundred broams of it, I'd breathe them all at once. [Verse 4] Well magic could be colour, breath, or light, or metal platters, But they are all so good to me, It really doesn’t matter Lights or kites or being right, Any kind will do. I like the Cosmere’s magic, How about you? [Chorus] Investiture is beautiful, Investiture is fine. I like investiture, I use it all the time; Magic is my supper and magic is my lunch; If there’s a hundred kinds of magic then I’d use them all at once.

Woah, this is awesome!

I mean, when Gandalf was "beaten", he took the Balrog with him and came back stronger than before.. Dumbledore mostly dumbled about his door and caused most of the problems in his series, soooo....

judging by the WoB, probably not These WoBs also seem to support the idea:

I got a job! It's not a job I can live on long-term, but it pays decently and it seems like a very positive environment. So thank you to anyone who sent out prayers or good vibes. They definitely worked.

Anyone got the Doctor's number? I need to go back in time and warn myself to learn a trade or work my way up the management ladder instead of getting that Master's degree.

Stormfather is on my list of Most Likely To Die. Since the power to kill spren now exists, I expect to see it used to spectacular effect.

“Oh I just tried to throttle Santa” - Venture

I've put it in our Links section and we will have a sidebar widget. We'll definitely consider doing a pinned topic of it! Good suggestion. Also, really, jofwu and Paleo and Ben did a great job. It was so nice that I could outsource this to extremely capable people and do basically nothing on this! You all rock. The kind words are extremely humbling.

Being left alone Like just not associating with anyone It's great, no one would ever know, and as soon as someone was near them, or interacting with them in any way, their weakness would deactivate

Did you know that in French yogurt can be a verb?

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/waffle