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So. For those of you who aren’t aware, I suffer from chronic neck and back pain. Recently I had an MRI to see what the problem was because my dad was worried I had a herniated disc. Normally they would not check a 16-year-old for a problem like this, but my dad had a herniated disc, my grandpa had a herniated disc, and my aunts and uncles had herniated discs. Well, the results of the MRI are in and not only do I have a herniated disc, but I have bone that is growing weirdly, very inflamed muscles, and my other disc is about to herniate. This might not sound like good news, but I am elated. I’ve suffered from these issues for long enough and now that we finally know what the problem is, we can work on fixing it. It’ll be a long road, but I’m willing to take it to finally get better. We won’t do a surgery immediately because the surgery puts strain on the neck and they’d rather not have me live the rest of my life like that. They’re going to try a lot of different things like a (painful) steroid injection in my spine first. I will have to also go through weird acupuncture electricity tests to see just how bad it is. So… Wish me luck I guess.

I finally love track again. Still not fully in shape but finally had a really good race and am starting to enjoy running once more. That's all.

A specific turn of phrase in SP4 caught my eye. Could just be a coincidence, but I think this very specific turn of phrase could be a clue. I've often thought that Nohadon in visions sometimes seems very similar to Hoid. He wrote a whole book of parable type stories that Hoid loves so much. His mannerisms in the Oathbringer dream/vision were also lighthearted in a Hoid-like way. The whole Nohadon dream/vision in Oathbringer felt just like the typical therapeutic pep-talk we've seen Hoid give to Kaladin or Shallan before. Was Nohadon an apprentice to Hoid?

Day #8 My Chinese quiz is going to be open notes ;alkjd;k fhalkjhafkljsda;lkjf YES Also I came out to my friend as akoiromantic asexual and she was so chill I love alllllll of you

Y'all ever realize something that just makes sense? Like, 'how did I not understand this, things make so much more sense now!' kind of realization? Yeah, today I figured out that the reason I always feel like no one likes or cares about me is because quality time is one of my love languages and I haven't spent one-on-one time with anyone in months. Dude. How did I not figure this out when I figured out that I need lots of hugs?

Professor Esserethel was not what one would call a cautious man, certainly working in a laboratory meant he was aware of and adhered to numerous safety standards, but he had always had a habit of getting a little carried away with research. Sometimes that meant forgetting that the beaker next to him had been filled with a pewter solution for testing Allomancy and not, as he had thought, his coffee. Other times that had meant leaning in too close to an Aonic rune as it activated. It was with this same sense of wildly driven curiosity and lack of attention to safety that he had inadvertently seized control of the method of transportation that the young person accompanying him had been using. But even he felt a twinge of caution as he looked around his surroundings and noticed a pool of water that seemed to be beckoning him with a silent siren's song. He wasn't entirely sure what it was about the pool that looked so alluring, only that it seemed somehow to promise calm contemplation of all the world around it. Here was a place that answers could be found. Not Allomancy. He noted curiously as he began to circle the pool at a distance. More specific than a Soother can manage, and even with the intensity of the emotions it feels oddly natural. Emotional Allomancy tended to be less effective the more obvious it was, but even being fully aware that there was an unnatural influence on his mind, the Professor found his gaze drifting back to the pool time and again. "What do you make of it?" He asked, quiet voice echoing in the stone cavern. With some effort he pulled his attention away from the pool and towards his companion who stood staring at it with just as much rapt attention as he had. As he watched their figure distorted slightly, from a young boy to a girl, then a woman before finally settling again. An illusionist then? One of the Lightweavers unless he was much mistaken. And one who was now struggling to keep their attention on what they had already woven. "Perhaps we should leave?" He suggested in a slightly worried tone. "Ordinarily I'm all for exploring curiosity, but this seems..." "Yes." The hoarse voice spoke again, seeming to emanate from the stonework around them. "Perhaps we should." But rather than retreat the figure stepped forwards, towards the pool. Like iron to a lodestone they moved steadily and inexorably towards it until they were almost close enough to catch the falling droplets. The Professor felt a momentary terror at that, he was not sure what would happen to someone standing underneath that water but he doubted it was pleasant, usually pleasant things did not need to mentally manipulate people into interacting with them. "I think that's close enough." The Professor said, moving suspiciously in her wake and placing an arm on her shoulder to prevent her taking that final step. ------------------------------------------------- Whisper could feel something from that pool, a voice not dissimilar from the whispers but thousands of times clearer. A voice that promised her answers, the solution to all her problems and the revelation of all that she wished to know. She would finally be able to not just hear but to understand. She could hear the words of her gods and know their will at last. "I think that's close enough." A voice said, it felt distant even as her mind recognised the speaker as standing only a foot behind her. No. Another voice whispered to her. Not close enough. So close, so very close. But not close enough. One more step and she could bathe in those calming waters and hear what they had to tell her. Could hear everything they had to tell her. "Not close enough." She muttered in agreement. She tried to step forwards only to be stopped by a steady pressure on her shoulder. She spared it the briefest of glances to identify the hand before looking back to the pool and the waters. "Let go." She said calmly, using her own voice this time. The hoarse whisper still audible in this place of silence. "I'm not sure that that's the best idea." The man said, hand tightening on her shoulder. "I think that we should-" In a smooth motion she ducked under his grip, grabbed his hand with hers and bent the wrist back on itself, forcing the man back a step as he yelled in surprise. And that moment was all she needed to take that final step into the waters and feel the rain washing over her.

I think she Had a stated goal and Endgame, she simply accomplished it by arranging the murder of Rayse, thus avenging her mate. I think her next Goal is going to be to arrange a successor so that she can let herself Retire. TOdium will probably prefer dealing with a young and inexperienced Shard so I expect he'll want to lay low until after the transition of power. My money's currently on Lift.

Is it bad that I missed my Shardiversary by like 2 months? Is it even worth it to do a whole thing about it now?

Peru Lima North Spanish Speaking!!!!!

Cultivation doesn't have a goal or an endgame. She wants to guide everyone and everything to be the best version of themselves. What does "best" mean here? Whatever the subject thinks it does. The alethi (as a group) think the best version of themselves have to be the best warriors. Taravangian thinks his best version is to have the capacity to stop what is coming. His stated goal is not to stop it....just to have the capacity to do so. Seems to me that the vessel of Odium has the capacity to stop what odium is doing. He's new, and the shardic intent won't begin to consume him for centuries, maybe millenia. And yet. Will he stop it? Taravangian's arc is over. Taravangian got what he wanted. TOdium's arc has just begun and we have no idea what He will do next.

Marie arrived at the meeting point and was greeted by the now familiar sight of Darien's unusual soul, it looked like a secondary soul was orbiting his. She noticed the wounded woman and spoke in the most sarcastic she could muster. "Darien, please tell me you didn't murder someone before I even got there." Marie. What? She's already being tended to. Obviously this isn't a problem it we could help with, nor is it one he caused. She observed the other person in the group, still peering in the cognitive realm. One of them had a soul warped in a subtle way that reminded her of her brother, probably a savant of some kind then. More interestingly, the soul of the man who was giving order to the people carrying the wounded woman had the exact same weirdness as Darien's. @Thaidakar the Ghostblood@Emery the Steelrunner

Ok but can we agree that resetting the original Oathpact may not be the greatest idea? Yes it worked the way it was intended, but eventually it broke all the Heralds and the only reason humans survived for so long was because Taln's resistance to pain and suffering was so high. So what I'm saying is that perhaps a "new" Oathpact is needed, one that does not require returning to Braize after each Desolation, but rather unites singer and human against Odium.

Not punched yet. William Muns.

I recently updated my notification settings, and it deleted who I am following. I think that I got almost everyone, but if I missed you, please contact me.

Short list of known effects: Chromium acts just like aluminum inside the body, causing any Allomancers touched by a Leecher to lose their metal reserves.[1] When burning away a person's metals, it feels like pulling power from the metal and returning it to an external source.[2] This power is similar to Nightblood and larkin.[3] When burning away a person's metals, non-Invested metals go before the Invested ones.[4] Only Allomantically relevant metals can be burned away.[5] The ability to burn the metal can be drained while leaving the metal.[2] A Leecher can also drain other forms of Investiture. They would be fairly effective at draining a person's Breath or Stormlight.[6] They could also Leech a Feruchemist who was tapping their metalmind.[7] They would be able to Leech from a Lifeless.[8] A Leecher could prevent a Shardbearer from summoning their blade,[9] and can prevent a weapon using Investiture from working.[2] If a Leecher touched Nightblood, they would die.[10] Metallic arts in opposition tip toward the stronger effect, and that appears to hold true instances where the form of Investiture doesnt give some specific situational advantage. Leeching feels like pulling power away and returning it to an external source, which implies to me that it gets channeled through the person like any other allomancy, leaving them open to Savantism dangers when used with Flairing, Duralumin, etc. All that to say they seem capable of the same general type of things as a Larkin and the Investiture-feeding part of Nightblood (but not his destroying in 3 realms side). Larkin will drain a fabrial but will not destroy the Spren, and since a Leecher only prevents a Shardbearer from summoning a blade rather than anything more permanent, I think a Leecher could not destroy a Spren/seon/cognitive shadow, though they might be able to destroy a spren's physical realm body (like a shardblade, Plate, or manifested fabrial). Leeching does not destroy Connections that we've seen. Given those two things I dont think they'd be able to actually destroy a Returned outright, but they could probably deplete the Returned's reserves and short-cut them to the end of the week feeding, which without a ready source (like a storm or maybe Mist) would amount to the same thing with extra steps. For a nicely Vague confirmation of the existence of limits:

Where do we learn this? My understanding was that BAM on her own subbed in for the spren in basically all the gemhearts of the species as there were no voidspren before the Everstorm. I thought that's why trapping BAM put all the parsh into slave form as it stripped their gemhearts of spren all at once.

General fandom:

Great catch. It even seems possible that the Nohadon we see in the OB vision could actually be Wit in disguise. The mannerisms and playful nature feel spot on. And it reminds me a bit of the Dog and the Dragon - providing a safe space and delivering a message the character needs to hear, while the character is assaulted by something. For Kal it’s the hateful winds, for Dalinar it’s the painful memories returning.

Thats where I got a lot of this. I bet that shades start out in the CR but almost immediately after, get pulled into the PR and become what we know as shades. Maybe Silence has some form of bond with the shade of her grandmother and that's why she's a little more aware/cognizant than the rest

Fi strode across the wooden floors towards the front desk, inhaling a trickle of Stormlight as she moved and causing her already bright eyes to glow with luminescent fire. She relished the sensation of energy filling her, even when she didn't put it to use. Even a quiet and relatively plain room like this seemed to burst alight with colours and what felt almost like a counterpoint of music, something to dance to or scream in joy with. "Hello." She said with a smile, gliding forward to the proprietor. "I was told that you would have rooms available?" She wondered idly if she could hire an orchestra while she stayed here, some louder music would really liven the place up a little more than a phonograph would. And thrilling as the storm inside her was it was best enjoyed when the atmosphere around her matched, the raucous laughter of a festival or the frenzied screams of a battlefield. Both pleasant enough in their own ways, but she'd learned through experience that festivals were generally objected to less by those around her and lasted longer.

Aln stepped under the boardinghouse's awning and knocked on the door. They'd been caught by the rain as they'd walked over, so her clothes were now torn, covered with rock dust, stained with eldritch ooze - and soaking wet. She probably looked like she'd just climbed out of a cement mixer. Ah well, she thought. It's the Alleyverse. They've seen worse. @ZincAboutIt @mathiau @EmulatonStromenkiin

Who isn't down for a witch? 9.5/10

Nice to meet you! Welcome to the Shard!

"We wrote out roughly seventy-eight pages on Roshar versus Scadrial, but I'm okay leaving this discussion at that."

*Turns it green*

Well done! It is William Muns from the Rithmatist. I figure he isn't likely to be punched by Kelsier. My 5th clue was going to be "This character has most likely eaten chalk."

Pink is better

I say this on the assumption it affected the Nahel Bond as well, as Deadeyes didn't exist before the Recreance, which happened shortly after to the capture of BAM. However thinking about it now, the Listeners also have spren in their gemhearts and weren't affected, nor were any of the fauna with gemhearts... so there's something not right about the logic there. Maybe BAM does connect directly with the Singers, and the Deadeyes were a separate phenomenon (but IMO it's related based on Melishi's actions described in my post earlier). I always interpreted the quote below as hinting that there was more at stake than just denying the Singers forms of Power...

You just triggered every shred of exasperation in my tiny body. 'I plead the fifth' is one of my favorites, though I haven't implemented it in a class yet, at least, not to a teacher. 'Hmmmmm?' is also great.

Overall: I enjoyed this section a lot. I’m not sure if my noticing more grammar/flow sorts of issues was because I wasn’t jumping onto other things to whine about or if it just needed a little more proofreading than some of the others. Pg 1: “gripped…hand” this is making the first sentence a little clunky. Especially if it’s not hugely important which hand he’s using. Something feels off in the second sentence as well. Maybe the assumed subject in the first half, then the “it” in the second? Might flow better to keep the structure the same between the two spots. Might be worth specifying that they’re at the 1-year celebration. I had a moment of confusion about what N was celebrating. Not sure if that’s more due to WRS or being used to bigger time jumps between scenes than we had this time. “that had followed before” they had followed? There’s some extra wordiness in here that I don’t usually notice reading through your submissions, but it may just be being on high alert so close to the front. “…hoping it was too busy…” Ah. We get the party detail here. Might be worth moving it right to the front, though. “Nothing was nearly as tall” ? “highest” feels unclear to me here. I know it’s not referring to floating buildings, but at least to me, it implies “farthest removed from the ground”. Especially when combined with “soared” Pg 2: “now that the sun had set” “a proposition” This came across to me as N reading A’s comment as a proposition and not exactly turning it down. Might want to reword slightly if you want it to come across as A’s idea. Pg 3: “Sitrep” took me a couple seconds to figure out. I don’t think it’s a common enough abbreviation to go without explanation here. If it was introduced somewhere else, maybe, but it’s hard to refer to context when what’s going on around them is uncertain/changing. I might suggest cutting the “in a stray beam from the Admin building” phrase here. Or rework without “he saw” since were in A’s pov anyway. As written, I wasn’t connecting the “stray beam” with “he saw”, but with some description of how the HUD was flaring to life. “against the people” against feels off to me here, though I get not wanting to use toward twice in the same sentence. Maybe against the tide of people? Jigged also sticks out against the urgency around it. It definitely cuts tension a bit to be thinking of someone dancing a jig away from mysterious dangerous falling objects. Pg 5: “fingers had been going loose” Maybe something with a little less implication that the fingers were about to fall off… “regular use had been loosening up the joints over the past week” or mentioning that one of the joints had been jamming during training or something. Though I approve of the maintenance detail Pg 6: “Get it back u—" is this supposed to be “up” cut off mid-word? Might be better to go with a multi-syllable option. Or even just “Get it back—” It would be really hard to get cut off in the middle of saying up. At least in a way that’s perceivable in a chaotic, noisy environment. Pg 8: “Five meters across” Dang. Are all of the “trees” this size? Twenty-meter (need hyphen) “fifty mortar” fifty what? I think using “fifties” and such in their quick back and forth above is fine, but adding in the description here would be helpful to those of us unfamiliar with mortars. (It’s me. I’m unfamiliar with them) Pg 9: “trotting” seems less urgent than the situation would demand. Oh boy. I bet this wasn’t the post-celebration cleanup J was expecting last chapter….You know what? I’m sure it will be fine. Spores? Fine. Fungus-tree fallen into the city? Fine. All of it. Fine, fine, fine. Nice job on the action scene here. Even while distracting myself by nit-picking at little details, the tension held through. Pg 11: “a few” months felt vague, and made me pause enough to then wonder how they’re even defining months. This doesn’t really matter for the text, but I’m curious. I don’t remember anything being mentioned about moons or how long the year actually is or anything along those lines. “The V said they’d cleaned up…” nice try, though… Pg 12: Enjoying our bee study. Pg 13: Intestinal tract Pg 14: He rifled Baby’s progress ? I'm enjoying the whole "What? You think I care about the baby? I don't care about the baby. Nope. Not at all. It's J's baby." here Pg 17: But these were amber Where they had landed meant Even if he knows he’s probably been contaminated by the honey already, he seems too cautious to just eat some. At least without making some sort of formal study out of it.

The parallels are definitely interesting. I have no idea how such a thing would occur, but... well... this is Brandon lmao. He can probably make it work, if so. SteveMcQwark on the Discord had an interesting observation about this, though I don't know enough myself to add much to it.

I got my mission call!!! I'm going to be opening it tonight, feel free to pm me for a link to the facebook live if you want to watch!!! I'm so excited ahhhhhh

Chapter 11, last chapter of part 1. That was a beautiful chapter. I wasn't surprised that Syl saved him and restored his fighting spirit, but nonetheless it was very satisfying to read Kaladin deciding to fight again. Kinda weird how he feels completely helpless until he decides he's not, and then he finds there's actually stuff he can do (like threaten and bribe Gaz). I remember something similar happening in Name of the Wind, haha. Looking forward to Kaladin starting to be more active and seeing what his plan is, but now we have three interludes, and one of the names listed was Szeth, and I am very much looking forward to reading about him again. Had a really crappy week, didn't get to read, just when it's getting interesting, ah well. I really liked the first interlude. Some guys are looking for Hoid, so of course I'm interested. Worldbuilding was really cool, I like the Purelakers. Hope we hear more about why these people are looking for Hoid. Also, I pretty much know nothing about Hoid except that he has white hair and seems to show up in lots of different books?

I'm quite aware of what the word means and how to use it. It can mean "unable to be thought of" as well as "being contrary to what is reasonable, desirable, or probable." I chose "desirable." Subbing it out in the sentence, "...just in case the 'undesirable' happens..." or "just in case 'what is contrary to is desirable' happens..." makes sense, but it's far more...indelicate. It gives the sentence a potential selfishness as an undertone, and doesn't fully grasp the gravity of the situation, at least to me it doesn't. "Unthinkable" and "unimaginable" aren't always used in the most literal of senses, but also when talking about something that can be and has been seen as in poor taste to talk about. Yes, I've thought about Brandon's death and what that means for the Cosmere, but I'm still going to try and be respectful about how to address it when I can be. But if you want to really call me out for what seems to be a pretty silly thing when you clearly understood the point of my message, go ahead.

It's official. I need Stormlight 5 NOW. What the heck, Brandon. It's not fair when you taunt us with previews. Other authors, filmmakers, etc., okay. They can make previews. But this stuff is driving me nuts. He's too good for previews. Someone needs to make a law.

Interesting insight. I suppose that lines up with the theory some others have floated -- that Shallan knew (to some extent) that her mother was a herald, and she suppressed that understanding because it meant she killed a religious figure (in addition to killing her own mother). It would be a little repetitive (since the Veil impetus and resolution was somewhat similar), but her Radiant persona could have that knowledge tucked up inside (she was the persona who killed Ialai for the greater good -- just as her mother decided to kill Shallan for the greater good). So reviving Testament could involve admitting that her mother was a Herald. Here's how I could see the timeline of events working out: -Shallan first bonds testament, speaks some simple truth based on her experience as a child of a fraught household (e.g., "my parents do not love each other anymore"). She gains the ability to speak with testament and lightweave. -Some time later, Shallan spies on her mother speaking with the skybreaker acolyte, who calls her by her heraldic name/title. Despite her youth, she recognizes and whispers the truth (e.g., "I am a daughter of a Herald of the almighty.") This causes her to burst alight with stormlight, which forces her out of hiding. -Shallan's mother, influenced by a newly spoken radiant "oath," is at first overjoyed by discovering that her daughter is on the radiant path. As moments pass, however, her heraldic madness returns, and she decides she must sacrifice Shallan for the greater good (likely also spurred on by the skybreaker acolyte). Witnessing her mother's fluctuating personality and her decision to kill Shallan causes Shallan deep emotional trauma (and likely plants the seeds for her own multiple personality disorder later on). -Shallan's father bursts into the room just before his wife kills Shallan, and he tries to intervene. The skybreaker acolyte pins him to the ground, and Chanarach moves in to kill Shallan. Frightened, Shallan summons the Testament blade straight into her mother's heart, killing her instantly. Chanarach slumps to the ground. -The Skybreaker acolyte leaps toward the fallen herald, then attacks Shallan after confirming Chanarach's death. Despite Shallan's inexperience, the man is no match for her shardblade. -Lin Davar recovers, places his wife's glowing "soul" in an aluminum safe per Chanarach's prior request (provided that theory is correct) alongside his daughter's shardblade. He sings her a lullaby and carries her to her bedchamber, then disposes of the bodies. -Shallan later goes to the garden, screams at Testament, and seeks to break her radiant bond. Either Shallan discovers it herself by chance, or perhaps Testament realizes the pain that Shallan's bond is causing her, and willingly reveals the way Shallan can end her bond and seal her guilt: by abandoning her personal truth (e.g., she tells Shallan "Your pain will go away if you keep saying this over and over until you believe it: 'My mother was a normal person. Neither she nor I was ever special.'"). At any rate, Shallan abandons the truth that her mother was a herald, thus breaking the majority of her bond with Testament and transforming her into a deadeye.

Sooo, not much meme making experience but I was talking to a friend who is currently reading RoW, this came to my mind and I had to share it. RoW spoilers

“Give it to me now. I need it” is fairly close to what Dalinar ended up saying when the Stormfather initially refused to accept his words, though.. -WoR, ch 89

Cobbling together a "herald-ish" quote from the passages we have: My quest can never truly end. I travel not to avoid duty, but to seek it. All save the heralds dine with the nightwatcher; I take up the stone -- I assume the burden -- and I am repaid in pain. If my stone is removed, the entire formation collapses. Control is my true strength. ...which isn't remotely close to "Give it to me. Now. I need it," but it does sound like something Gavilar might have said with his random guesses. Honest intent probably is the key ("no good can be achieved of false means").

DRAGOOON! 9/10

Me: *hears the title of chapter one* *frowns* “Alcatraz, what are you doing in medieval England?”

RoW

Interesting. But Elebet hasn’t worn a glove or sleeve in over a year, so by now that would probably not be something she’d notice anymore.

A Memory of Stormlight Doors of Shadesmar The Return of the Heralds The Crippled Odium

The best!

Here is the map of Shadesmar with the Oathbringer and Rhythm of War maps added:

I just came up with a random theory. What if the first shades on Threnody were caused by an experiment gone drastically wrong? Nazh talks of rituals for becoming a “shadow”, which likely means cognitive shadow. The shades are twisted forms of cognitive shadows. What if the first shades were caused by a ritual to become a shadow going very wrong? Ambition’s splintering and some of its power ending up on Threndoy could still be a cause- either it caused the people in charge of the experiment to try and improve/do something that was too far out of their reach, or some Investiture got mixed up in the ritual messing things up. Another possibility is that Ambition corrupted the people who were already cognitive shadows, turning them into shades. The Deepest Ones could be those in charge of the experiment or process of turning people into shadows. Sorry if this theory has already been said! *prepares for theory to be ripped to shreds like all of the others*

That does match with other Cognitive entities we know: the spren

Kingdoms of the West: A Travel Guide for Elsecallers and Willshapers, by Jasnah Kholin Killing Wit, an incomplete tragicomic manuscript found in the private drawers of, idk, Elhokar? The Killer in White: An Unauthorized Biography of the Killer in White, by, like, Navani or something. Knights, Wettened: A Beach Adventure. By Lift.