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Update on my music going on Spotify: I found a service that will put my music on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Youtube, and like 15 other smaller music streaming services, for the small fee of 15% of the royalties. I submitted the track last night, it's going through the moderation process right now. It's titled Cross Stitching In The Morning, the cover art is a 45% lit sky with 2 power line poles in the foreground (the picture taken by me a couple months ago), and my artist name is North Star. Will update when it's officially released, and ready for listening. Thanks for everyone's interest

Help help help help help help I don't know what a panic attack feels like but I might have one. What do I do?

I am currently drawing Kaladin. Here are the things I am unashamedly 110% procrastinating drawing: His hair His scars. Because they're going to be on a wrinkled forehead... It's gonna be so hard...

In the Lait page of Shallan's sketchbook, at the top there's faded women's script. Images: Has this already been decoded? I can't find anything on the coppermind. If not I'm ready to do so myself

According to the general rules of the English language, shouldn't "were" be said "weer?" And if you spell "long" with two "g's" it sounds basically the same? The English language is broken. Whoooo Also, Duolingo is taking over my life. I'm onto a 342 day streak. Do I need help? Have a wonderful day, night, evening or morning! ~ Telrao :3

Apologies to the Fellowship people for being a lazy bum.

Okay. Here I’m going to put the best lines from the three songs I’m listening to right now, plus links because they’re great. We Intertwined by The Hush Sound Blue Like Jazz by Weezer Wild Child by Enya Those are my three. But also! • My drama class is doing a one act. We haven’t finished blocking yet, and… we compete February 3rd. Eek… • This week, I tried to type ‘emo’ and autocorrect changed it to ‘EoM’!!! I’m so happy!!! • Had an idea for ANOTHER storyline I’m working on. Haha. • Celtic Variations by Janice Kapp Perry is THE BEST cd we own. Unfortunately, it and the stereo are monopolized. By me. • I’m playing volleyball in a stake tournament tomorrow! • Also, I’m just happy for no reason. • Also, music is the best inspiration. You can quote me on that.

Brandon sanderson pop quiz thats right kiddos, you thought being a sanderfan was consequence-free? no quiz time no looking it up, and spoiler your answers How many pages is rhythm of war?

hshsbbshpbglitstpspspspptptpdhudorhgigxmjmhfaisukjzv xnbx i hate today so much it's my least favorite day of the year sijdusbfixhxdkjcopsjBZkjfckfvbnoxkj ofohzsbxfzkz xkszbodk fiK ikFI K izkzj xozhlb sobkjdxbckbfcvkhnjgvhnb kjgvbn. I coped by drawing my favorite Magnus Archives character! ANyway here's my boi Michael Shelly He wants you to go through his door! He says it will be fun! (it will not.) My Magnus Archives hyper-obsession is back cause my dad said something homophobic like three weeks ago, and my mind, in an unconscious act of rebellion, suddenly and immediately became hopelessly hyper-fixated on it again. and i am shriveling up on the inside because i have no one to talk to about it ;-; if ANY of you have listened to it please hmu because i will probably explode if i don't gush about it with someone soon. i have so many memes i promise

You forget the Zahel friendship bond - gets the owner access to a bunch color-related phrases they do understand and a pillow fight with Adolin's laundry.

You know those days when you leave the house at 5 am and don't get back until 7:30 pm? If that time was spent at a library, on a hike, or doing things that generally don't involve huge crowds of people, it'd probably be fine. Going from overcrowded classrooms to overcrowded orchestra rooms to overcrowded assembly halls is draining, though. Is there a way for me to just not do this anymore? There's a point where I just want to wash my hands and walk away. In other words, these little blue fairy penguins say hi. (they may or may not be plotting to eat you)

IT'S COMPETITION DAY!!!! I really hope we win. I'll update y'all as soon as I get home (which will probably be around 1-2 AM lmbo) Anyway, I should pay attention to class so I don't get in trouble : ) Bye!

Not exactly. The reputation thing is this upwards arrow at the side of evry post, called upvotes. If you see a post you like - you can upvote it. With every upvote you gain a reputation point, which rotates you through a series of ranks - when you reach a certain amount, you get the next rank. For example, I have 420 rep, and am an Envisager. At some point, I'll get a little more reputation (at least in theory) and get to the next rank - which, quite frankly, I don't know what it is. Before I was an Envisager, when I had less than 400 reputation points (I think) I was an Artifabrian. All those ranks are named after things from Brandon's books - most are from the Cosmere, like both ranks I mentioned and your current rank - all from the Stormlight Archives. Some are a bit weirder - like Tarachin Superstar (a reference to Warbreaker), Scadrian Waffle Cook (a reference to a WoB about the world of Mistborn, I think), or So 1337 Hoid Can't Compete (don't ask, I won't have to answer. It's a reference to the recurring Cosmere character - just in case you don't know for some reason). Hope it helped, have a good day. |)0|\|7 (_)53 1337 5p34k, \/\/3 (4|\|7 |234|) |7. Translation to something I could never have written without Wikipedia's help:

It bugs the crap out of me when I'm trying to write something, and I have the perfect word/phrase to use, but as soon as I try to write it, it leaves my brain completely.

Next installment is up! In it, Canil's plotline still doesn't start, while fun things happen to El'nar! Edit: @The Bookwyrm @Witless of Shinovar @Gregorio @Channelknight Fadran @xinoehp512 @Cash67

>>> LG92: Process of Elimination SE is a simple game. Well, if it’s an LG anyway. Twenty-plus players chase a bunch of red herrings for two weeks or so, and at the end, the Eliminators always win. All good fun. ‘Course, it becomes a lot less funny when SE players themselves are getting replaced, and not by pinch-hitters. Call them ‘Eliminators’, I guess. That’s close enough, yeah? Maybe they’re just bots. Maybe they’re some sort of eldritch drek. Hell if I know. SE is a simple game. But sometimes, the game plays you. >>> General Rules: >>> Win Conditions: >>> Quick Links: >>> Sign-ups are open now and will close on Friday, 27th January 2022, at 1100hrs SGT (GMT +8) / 10PM EST. Rollovers will take place at the same time. My co-GM is @Fifth Scholar, while the IM for the game is @Elandera. Players are reminded that this game is a blackout, flipless game. Whilst we have done our best to ensure a balanced and fun experience, it is possible you may also find the game intensely frustrating. Please seriously consider if you can handle such a game format before signing up, in order to avoid disappointment. Please also be reminded to desist from posting in the thread until we can reserve the next post. We will always do so in order to collect both the current player list and the most recent set of rule clarifications for easy access.

Don't make fun of me. I'm drawing while listening to scary stuff currently. I literally don't have plans for any of these doodles. They are completely random (As in I'm incapable of drawing something good on purpose. All my drawings are random). Enjoy my childish drawings.

Hello fellow Airsick Lowlanders, and Storming Fools! BEHOLD THE LOPEN!!!

I think you meant to say "Don't flatter Elhokar's wife", since apparently I called Elhokar what he was - useless - but called his wife something better than what she is. SA2, interlude 14: Wow, Taravangian has a weird definition of intelligence. I understand that part of his curse is to lose his compassion on days when he's smarter, but talking the dumb half of the city into committing suicide is dumb any way you look at it. On the one hand it's dumb to think it can be pulled off; on the other hand it's dumb to think it's a good idea when your main goal is world domination (or whatever he's going for) via making everyone like you. Killing half the city would put a dent in the plan to make people like him, so why would he think it's a good idea on a day when he's supposedly smart? All this said, I absolutely loved the Diagram idea. It's a super cool villain backstory, and also just super cool in general. So, um, in what book do we meet this horrid Nightwatcher? I hate her; don't know why so many characters seek her. And yes, I understand a little more about Szeth now. As soon as he confirms Kaladin (or someone else!) has bonded with a spren, he will stop obeying orders... (at which point madness might claim him. Either way, I can't wait to read about it!) Part 5 let's gooooooooooooo What chapter would you say is the start of the Sanderlanche?

So. . . Maybe I shouldn't allowed into bookstores unsupervised anymore. After class I went across the street to the Half-Price Books in my town and waited for my ride. For an hour. During that hour, I perused the shelves. They carried Rhythm of War, which I already have; Knife of Dreams and Crossroads of Twilight, which I haven't gotten to yet in my WoT read through; the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn, which I decided I didn't need; and a ton of Pathfinder 1e supplements. I purchased none of those. Slowly walking through, my earbuds blaring the Interstellar soundtrack, I made my way to the history section of the store. Stopping first in the military history corner, I inspected the shelved tomes, seeking one to buy. None I saw interested me, save for a $500 dollar one hundred thirty volume series covering the American Revolution. Leaving that area, I strolled to the world history section. There, fellow Sharders and Sanderfans, I took my haul. Seeing that there were many books on the ancient empires, I inspected the titles. These are the seven I took from the shelves; Adrian Goldsworthy's biographies of Julius Caeser and Octavian Augustus, Mortal Republic by Edward J. Watts, Rome: Republic into Empire by Paul Chrystal, Rome by Robert Hughes, The Provinces of the Roman Empire by Theodor Mommsen, and History of the Peloponnesian War by the contemporary Greek historian Thucydides. My total? Almost one hundred dollars. Moral of the story; never have me wait an hour inside a bookstore. I'd hate to see how much money I'd have spent at Barnes & Noble.

I really love Dalinar, his character is really interesting and also he gets some pretty epic moments. Then of course there is Lift. No one is better than Lift. Do you often have multiple tabs of the Shard open?

I think they're forming a bond, but not identical to a normal Radiant bond, so I don't think Adolin will become an Edgedancer - at least not a conventional one. His personality fits, but I think the bond is doing something different. A regular Radiant bond gives the spren fuller access to the Physical and gives the Radiant Surgebinding and the ability to take in Stormlight. Maya is (when a Blade) already in the Physical; what she needs is her Cognitive sapience back. I'd think the original part of Maya that was torn out when her bond broke would be gone (it would have died with the original Radiant). That hole would have to be filled with something. BAM may be relevant, but Maya has already regained the ability to speak (some), so something else is happening. I'm thinking Adolin's spiritweb/soul/mind is somehow filling the hole in Maya, in the way a Radiant bond fills a human's "cracked soul" with Investiture. I think what comes out won't be identical to the Mayalaran that existed before. With her memories, but with some of Adolin included.

Well, to be fair, heavy weapons will break Shardplate and outrange Shardblades. Scadrial as of TLM probably isn't quite there (for personal scale weapons- I think they have a Maxim/Gatling type gun) but they're not that far away from building something like a bazooka. Even though Telsin couldn't get her rockets to the range needed, what she did have is probably beyond the rocket technology of our 1910s. Before the 1930s/WW2 rockets were strictly very short range. However, there had been basically no interest in rockets until it started up again in the 20s, and that was basically on the hobby/lone maverick level (Goddard, Oberth etc) with no real resources behind it until the immediate run up to WW2. So the technology might have been capable of more. Anyway, unless all Telsin's plans and so on were completely destroyed, I'd imagine Scadrial would be ahead on rocket tech - especially as Kelsier hints in the epilogue that he'll be pushing Physical space travel.

Awesome find! I was able to translate a small section but it looks like it is a repetition of the same thing over and over. Putting it in a spoiler tag because it is pretty major.

I CAN FINALLY COMPOUND ziNC!

The Dawnchant is the language of the ancient Singers and is "the root of the Dawnate language family, consisting of the Shin, Parshendi, and Horneater languages. While the vocabulary of these languages varies greatly, they share similar grammar.[2]" I think the language of the immigrants just became the basis for some/most of the other languages still floating around (potential world-hopping alien influences notwithstanding). But Language overall wouldnt have been an insurmountable barrier for them, they'd have been using a lot of Connection shenanigans to understand each other. The Immigration and the first War and Fused and whatnot all happened within a single generation, so culturally things were moving very quickly.

Yeah I think they are *not* maintaining their population. Pretty sure the listeners were losing out during their war with the Alethi. I don't think parshmen death rates were likely that high (they seem to have been generally not used for the more dangerous jobs - like running bridges - because they were considered more valuable than potentially rebellious/escape prone human slaves), and their year and some since being awakened has been spent mostly at war and with many of them in forms that don't reproduce, so I imagine the death rate is far higher *and* the birth rate lower. I think the Fused are hoping to win before it matters (plus they have humans on their side too). Its not a worldbuilding hole because in the more general situation- outside the current Desolation - @Treamayneis right. The much faster growth will more than make up for it. They grow up at close to double the human rate; that faster generation time makes a huge difference over long time spans. In the earlier era when there were centuries or decades between Desolations their population probably recovered much better than humans (and doubly so because very low tech singers are better off on most of Roshar than very low tech humans).

don't insult poor elokhar. he is useless. his wife is plain malicious.

Ohhhh i'm gonna write something so diabolically powerful and sad and cruel >:) oh and before i begin; @InfiniteInsanity are you sure you're not just a double of my girlfriend? this is just- that is something she has probably done. anyways. 1/20/23 Insanity

It's not the Thrill attacking him, it's Odium. Ch. 100 Clue: Nergaoul is nearly mindless. He's attracted to violence and inflames those emotions. He certainly doesn't talk to the people he influences in any other scene where we see the Thrill acting upon the viewpoint character. Dalinar takes these thoughts as being his own and/or from his memories; but this "give me your pain" shows the whole thing was an attack by Odium pushing Dalinar to a point where he will become Odium's champion. The thrill is attracted to violence; as Dalinar remembered what happened at Rathalas - he opened his old connection to Nergaoul and Odium used that as a conduit to attack. While Nergaoul is a distinct entity, his effect covers huge regions (during the Civil War, he was effecting every soldier for miles around the entire city), just as everybody in Kholinar felt Ashertmarn - but the effects were only noticeable once a Connection was formed (joining the revel) and grew stronger as that Connection strengthened. As far as the Gateway is concerned - Urithuru is certainly closer to Vedenar than the Shattered Plains - and Nergaoul was still affecting those with a Strong Connection on the Shattered Plains while it was in Jah Kaved (as seen in Dalinar's Viewpoint in TWoK). . . It was not a Shardblade - it was a piece of Honor's investiture (likely similar to that which makes Honorblades), but not formed into anything specific (or even manifested as a metal). Grabbing for it strained their bond and injured the Stormfather. Ch 100:

To all you who would desuade me from walking the dark path, this path without light either red or green, this path without roles to guide me, or a rules post to show my goal, I say, turn aside nay sayer! For I am TKN (The Totally Kool Novel)! I will not be turned away from this path, you underestimate my power, my vigor, my strength of mind! You underestimate my sheer ability to act cool while the world burns around me. I, The Known (and Totally Kool) Novel, who has a penchant for long and dramatic speeches, do sign up for this game, thusly titled Long Game 92: Process of Elimination. By signing the above, I acknowledge the warnings that have been administered upon me, and do hereby waive my right and the right of my lawful heir to prosue litigation against Kasimir, Fifth Scholar, their lawful heirs, or anyone affiliated with them or the Sanderson Elimination Llc for any of the pursuant reasons: Death, Maiming, Serious Injury, Severe Pain Due to Hair Pulling, Eye Gouging, Disembowelment, Irrational Urges to Scream, Mental Damage Due to Brain Explosion, Acts of GM, including but not limted to: Lightning Smite, Random Blackhole Apparition, Eternal Punishment, Banishment from the Mortal Plain, Destruction of All That I Hold Dear, Etcetera.

Another day, yet a new concept!

Alright, this is interesting so I'll give my take. Normal Soldiers: Overview First off the non-magic soldiers. Everyone except Taldain is entirely irrelevant. We have WOG that Taldain has modern earth tech, and is the most advanced current cosmere world, but we don't know how their militaries are structured and what equipment they have (good organization and leadership is as important as technology) so it's hard to asses how strong they are. They could have NATO level equipment and doctrine, large budgets, and experienced commanders, and thus be above any military on Earth bar the US, or they could be running around with corrupt and kleptocratic post-soviet style militaries which would struggle even against lower tech enemies. That comment about organization being as important as tech now leads to the greatest irony of the cosmere worlds we have the most information on. Rosharan Military Roshar actually has spectacular military organization, doctrine, and leadership. They are currently fighting a global war with hundreds of thousands of active high quality troops across a multitude of fronts. There could be many hundreds of thousands fighting just in Alethkar, a country whose military organization, recruitment system, and professionalism resembles the peak of the 19th century. However all these troops are running around with pre-gunpowder technology. I don't want to call it medieval or late renaissance, because the armies and organization and metallurgy and standardized equipment really doesn't resemble history until the 1500s, but by then military doctrine increasingly revolved around gunpowder - the best doctrine of that time was the Tercio, which was composed of roughly 1/3rd cavalry, 1/3rd melee infantry, 1/3rd musket men. No amount of good organization or leadership can make sword and bow armed soldiers relevant on the modern battlefield. Casualties in anything but pure guerrilla warfare will probably be in the 1:100 range. Seriously though, the soldiers of Roshar are disciplined, professional, and intelligent. It says a lot for an army to be able to coherently march through rough terrain for a week, then fight a battle outnumbered and tired in harsh conditions against an enemy which they have never seen before and can shoot lightning out of their fingers. A real medieval or even most renaissance armies would have fallen apart in the march, or shattered when faced with those circumstances, but the Alethkari fought and would have probably won. North Scadrian 'Military' Meanwhile Scadrial has decent enough tech even by modern standards, WW1 level stuff, though they can probably push a bit further due to metallurgy being the most advanced field in Scadrial for cultural reasons. Troops armed with grenades, rifles, and eventually the machine gun, along with primitive vehicles and rail-road supply lines could fight in the current world, most conflicts today look more like that than the current fighting in Ukraine which is relatively high tech. The problem is that .... there is no army! There's no military structure *at all*, there's not a single person who has spent time thinking about what a fight involving more than 50 participants looks like, of how to manage supply lines and tactics for an army of a million, which is what the Elendel basin could reasonably assemble based on WW1 mobilizations, and a population of 15 million (though I'd argue that their population should realistically be closer to 40-50). The final empire at least had some military understanding, and the wars that went down in era 1 were relatively sophisticated, but era 2 just doesn't compare. Without a shard's help or outside influence, it will take decades or even a century or two to build up a decent military doctrine. Seriously, they are worse off than the militia centric army of the United States in the war of 1812, while the Alethkari have organization that is closer to the Napoleonic. Nalthis Nalthis meanwhile ... they seem to be an actual normal late medieval society, around the 1300s I'd argue. So lacking in both technology and state organization to create and use a modern military. Without COPIOUS outside influence, it would take centuries to get them up to a level that can even tickle modern militaries. I'll quickly mention lifeless here, in that in their current form, they are not really more useful against modern soldiers, as a few bullet holes will drain them of ichor-alcohol quickly enough for them to prove only slightly more resilient than a normal human (which is the squishiest thing by far on the modern battlefield). They make a lot more sense when in the context of melee weapons and armor where major wounds are hard to create and thus they can fight endlessly, and have logistical advantages Sel I don't know enough about regular soldiers in Sel for me to really talk about them. Potential for improvement Fundamentally that means, I think that once Roshar gets their hands on guns and the theory behind them, they'll be able to integrate them into the military and bring themselves up to an 1870s level quite rapidly, within years I'd say. Scadrial meanwhile will need a while to build up a military worthy of the name in order to begin gathering enough experience to actually improve themselves and get to a decent level. That's a decades long process to get good at using the tech they have, but once they organize an actually military they'll at least be relatively useful and increasingly so as they professionalize, so assuming military buildup is needed starting from the point of The Alloy of Law, their doctrine and tech should advance apace for 20 years until they have a decent interwar level of tech and organization.So in terms of mundane soldiers, we have large sophisticated armies that lack the technology to be effective in any way, and a society with the technology to at least be relevant but with 0 military organization or thinking, and is thus incapable of using what they do have. So I'd give the final conclusion: mundane soldiers of the cosmere are entirely ineffective compared to a modern semi-professional military. They would only be relevant at extremely backwards battlefields, such as civil war in the Congo or something along those lines. Magical Soldiers: Now unto the magical soldiers where things get FAR more interesting. Awakening Awakening in it's current form has not been explored in a military context, probably because it would take tens of thousands of breaths, and is thus hard to evaluate. I see awakened constructs such as more sophisticated Kalad's phantoms as a good start for being able to match modern vehicles, though they would still be relatively vulnerable to squad sized weaponry and direct fire. Nalthis is just relatively backwards, and we haven't seen large scale combat with awakening, so at the current state of development, while there might be interesting tricks, I don't see it as militarily relevant. Elantris and Era 2 Scadrial I need to re-read Elantris to talk about it. And I haven't read TLM yet (busy with classes) so I won't speak about the metallic arts until reading that. Radiants Radiants are the only people who can be a credible threat on the modern battlefield. Their healing factor, and the strengths granted by stormlight, make them relatively difficult for artillery (which relies on shrapnel and concussive force rather than direct hits) to deal with, and the more mobile orders should be able to move faster than the normal infantryman could credibly hit, and their maneuverability and small size (compared to a tank) means squad sized weapons would struggle to ever get a lock on and hit. Shardplate would greatly exacerbate this. More advanced aiming systems such as those on modern tanks have a better chance, though they could never hit something like a flying radiant or most probably an edgedancer either. Fundamentally most aiming systems use infrared to detect the heat released by vehicles (engines are extremely hot) and lock on to that, while radiants don't stand out as much, and if the frost from stormlight is actually cold this becomes even more difficult. The best way to get hits would be at long distance when the enemy can't see you (stormlight doesn't not grant telescopic vision) and you can fire a round that moves so fast that there's really no time to get out of the way unless you have transcendent instincts like Kaladin. Overall, I'd give tanks the advantage of they detect the radiant first (which drones will help greatly with), and the advantage to the radiant once both are aware of each other. The real difficult thing for radiants to deal with would be aircraft. Those engage at such long ranges, precision guiding can be so precise , laser guided bombs can hit what infrared can't find, and there's no good way for them to be dealt with. They fly so fast and high generally, and there's no credible anti air to force low speed near ground flying either. Those would be the real killer. Once aluminum becomes standardized as an outer shell of armor for vehicles (not really worth it on infantrymen), things get even harder. They become harder to detect with magically, unless their absence is more glaring than their presence?, and it would take more clever and, critically, investiture intense methods to deal with them. Logistically the armors of Roshar seem to have good supply lines for forces via teleportation and soul casters, but the most critical element here is stormlight. We haven't really seen what a long term combat deployment looks like for a radiant. They seem to operate on a more mission based model where they only engage the enemy for a few hours and can then return to Urithiru. Modern warfare is insanely fuel and supply hungry, and it would force the same immense rates of expenditure from the radiants in terms of investiture. Could they keep up? Conclusion: Overall, a few hundred radiants with abundant stormlight could be a threat to a smaller national military, like Albania or something. A few thousand with abundant stormlight could put up a fight with a decent military like that of Germany or maybe Poland. To tangle with the stronger military powers would take tens of thousands of well trained, well organized radiants, several thousands hopefully in shardplate, with near infinite stormlight. I think there's only a few tens of thousands of radiant spren in total, so I don't think that's even possible from what we know. It would also be a force incapable of really fighting a traditional war. They would be able to destroy enemy assets, but would struggle immensely holding their own ground, and would be woefully incapable of conducting offensive operations that intend to occupy enemy territory. As of the current state of ROW, the forces of the Coalition of Roshar are about capable of taking on a modern country as strong as ... Austria maybe? For reference that's a nation with 23k soldiers in total, though officially there's 120k reservists, which hasn't fought in a war in 70 years, has 15 fighter jets and about 100 transport helicopters, 56 tanks, and has military spending under 1% of GDP (that is very low for reference, NATO standard is 2%, and US is 3.5%). Total population of the country 8 million, which is probably less than 10% of the that of the area which is controlled by the Coalition. That should be about a fair fight. Edit: Final Note If the cosmere really wanted to fight Earth, they'd be far far better off doing it via subterfuge and infiltration at the moment than a straight up fight. As Brandon seems to like the heist and espionage plot lines, there's really quite a few powers that would be very useful in these roles. Cosmere super spies and super assassins would be a major menace. Sure, somebody like Wax or Vasher probably would struggle to get anything done on a modern battlefield, but lock them in a room with 5 security officers that only have pistols on them? It would be a massacre. The situation kinda reminds me of the old Harry Potter question of Wizards vs Muggles, where yeah wizards could get killed by a single bullet. However the logical thing wouldn't be fight the armies, it would be to teleport into the President's bed room and mind control him, or prominent politicians, or generals, etc. In that sort of 'warfare' the cosmere could really do a number on earth even with the current tech gap.

You know that moment when you're inspired by the duck ringtone so you start making a piece based on it with the duck in the background.

SA2, interlude 12, Lhan: Of course Elhokar's wife is as useless as he is... Interlude 13, Eshonai: Things are heating up!

Ah, thanks everyone for explaining. Yes, understanding that it's the spren makes it a lot better. My issue was mostly that the source of the rules wasn't clear to me. People's morals tend to vary based on personal opinions, and having a power that worked or didn't work depending on something that's an opinion begged the question whose opinion it was and why did that entity have a say, and what if they weren't right? But I guess I should think about it like a contract, a partnership. If Kaladin starts behaving in ways that Syl doesn't get along with, she's going to drift away and so will his powers. Hm, there are several directions from which I could answer this question. One of them (and let me know if this answers your question sufficiently) is that I didn't want an outside force - even Syl - to barge in and punish Kaladin for conspiring with Moash. I wanted Kaladin himself to realize it was wrong. I mean, I wanted Kaladin to not do it in the first place. He could have given the Shards to Teft. I understand Kaladin was pissed at being in jail, but that just isn't going to change the fact that now I like him less. Ironically, I respect Moash more than Kaladin. At least Moash is doing it for revenge. Kaladin is trying to play God, deciding who to kill "for the good of the kingdom". Aw, thank you! You made my day! SA2, chapter 75: Lovely scene of Dalinar finding out that Kaladin lived. We never found out if Kaladin and Shallan talked about Surgebinding on their way back (Kaladin hinted that he might confront her about it), so I'm going to assume they didn't. And now... what do you mean it's the end of part 4? Didn't I just start part 4? Wow, I must have read that really fast. In book 1, the climax was in part 4 while part 5 was more like a set of epilogues. This time the climax is going to happen in part 5. The whole sequence of Kaladin and Shallan in the chasms was a lot of fun, even though I hate Kaladin losing his powers. Confession time. I probably wouldn't have finished WoK if I hadn't decided to "blog" about it here, so I have you all to thank. So much of WoR so far has been great!

Oh and a pretty bad art of Aoliecei from Randby’s thing

Sure but he says this to the audience mentioning a very FoS sounding name (so much so the Coppermind is already attributing it to FoS). So someone from another planet would rather hear a story about someone that tried sail across the world without an Aviar? I think we need to realize some of these phrases are the typical "Hoid does not care if the audience knows what they mean". This is different than when he says the thing about the Aviar or the ship landing on the planet in my opinion. I am not 100% sold on the audience being from FoS but I think it is one of the strongest contenders. It is going to be somewhere we have seen since Brandon said we may be able to puzzle it out so not a random planet we have not seen that uses Aviar. I also like the idea that it could be a group of worldhoppers as has been proposed but my problem with that is he seemed to think they wouldn't understand some of the tech mentioned (like when he says laptop but then changes it to magic screen or whatever). I would think a group of worldhoppers would know just as much about the existence of the advanced tech as he does at this future time.

Alright! It is TIME! Let's DO THIS! Oh, wait, you have no idea what I'm talking about. Last year, I came up with a cool idea for a book. and I decided to write it. And never got started. But then I decided to really apply myself and actually write it. Aaaaaand I never got past the prologue. But now, on my third attempt, I finished the prologue, and the first two chapters, and I'm still going strong. So I decided to share it with the amazing and supportive Shard community. I'm very bad at writing, so I'd appreciate feedback. I hope that you enjoy my crummy novel skills! Chapters will hopefully be posted on Thursdays. My goal is to write two chapters a week, but I might only post one due to revision and stuff. We're starting out with the (very bad) prologue, so tune in this Thursday to see the (revised) chapters One and Two. So yes! Welcome to... Heroes of Home Peak By NerdyAarakocra That blurb on the back of the book that explains stuff Prologue Chapter One Canil Chapter Two El'nar Chapter Three Canil Chapter Four El'nar What will happen to El'nar? Will Canil's plotline actually start? What about the magic system? Find out next time in NERDY WRITES BAD FANTASY! *Outro music*

When they pause a song in the middle. It breaks my brain and makes me want to throw something. Unrelated, the first two posts on both pages of this topic are from the same two people, so when you switch pages it looks weird.

No surges. Kaladin with pewter vs Kaladin with stormlight. With shardblades. Without shardblades. With plate. Without plate. With all shards. Without any shards. I assume shardplate removes most of the strength benefits of pewter but pewter would maintain the speed advantage and they both offer near perfect balance.

Just found this.... THE NUMBERS EXIST... we just can't have them.

"Belief?" "Yes," Sazed said. "Tell me, Mistress. What is it that you believe?" Vin frowned. "What kind of question is that?" "The most important kind, I think." And Vin liked solitude. When you're alone, no one can betray you. Kelsier smiled. 'It means that you, Vin, are a very special person. You have a power that most high noblemen envy. It is a power that, had you been born an aristocrat, would have made you one of the most deadly and influential people in all of the final empire.' Kelsier leaned forward again. 'But, you weren't born an aristocrat. You're not noble, Vin. You don't have to play by their rules and that makes you even more powerful.

Just so I'm clear on the parameters of the question, we are assuming two highly skilled spear fighters with the exact same experience/skill, and the only variables are Alomantic Pewter vs Passive Stormlight (healing, speed, etc, but no lashings). No Shards - Would depend on how much stormlight/pewter is allowed, but I would probably side on stormlight. Pewter seems to grant more physical strength than stormlight, but passive stormlight seems to provide similar agility boosts, and similar if not better stamina improvements while they are holding stormlight. If the pewter user can damage them enough while not taking too much damage they could win, but with the skill/agility/stamina being even I see it as mostly a wash in terms of number of strikes getting through on each side, and while pewter does allow them to push through the pain, it does not completely negate the damage the way stormlight does. Shardblade (I'm going to assume this is in spear form since Kaladin is by no means skilled with a sword) but no plate: Stormlight wins, as stormlight can heal a shardblade wound, pewter cannot. Plate but no shardblade: Giving this to stormlight as well. The plate negates most if not all of the benefits of pewter over stormlight, and the stormlight user would have more stormlight to power their plate, so would win in a battle of attrition. With all shards - similar to the With Plate only fight above, the benefits of pewter are largely negated by the plate, and the stormlight user wins through attrition. Plus they would have the ability to heal from shardblade wounds if they still had stormlight at that point. Largely this boils down to the healing provided by passive stormlight allowing them to shrug off blows better than the pewter user and winning through attrition. That being said, there is always a chance in any of these fights that a lucky blow could happen, especially in fights with shardspears, so it is not a 100% to either side, but by and large stormlight healing is too large a gap to overcome.

I think Vasher can use Stormlight as a substitute for breath to keep himself alive because he went to the Valley and was granted the ability and he had to leave Nightblood behind as the Bane. Either Cultivation or the Nightwatcher did it. In WoR Vasher thinks he lost Noghtblood by mistake going to the Valley asking for a way to stay alive and having to give up nightblood fits with that. The Nightwatcher offers Dalinar a blade that bleeds black smoke in OB.

This bit about Axindweth is intriguing: This seems a very different explanation of her departure than we got from Ulim in RoW 77: From this it sounds like Gavilar wanted to continue working with her. The inference is that she had somehow helped him to bring Voidspren through to Roshar and that, without her help, he’d need fabrials to do it. Which begs two questions: 1. Why did Axindweth actually stop helping Gavilar? 2. Why did she lie to Ulim about her reasons for leaving?

I’m sure that he rather a) was lying and was trying to do fool gavilar into becoming a bondsmith. or B.) was trying to replace the Heralds that broke their oaths. Possibly to “mend or fix” the oathpack. So that odium didn’t have a chance to escape. By the “loophole” that everyone kept talking about. Edit: also why would the stormfather choose a king to replace a herald? Simply because that’s what the original members were kings, scholars.

The way I see it, both Odium and Thaidakar & Gavilar have been working on this - Chana's death threw a wrench into the works, starting it earlier than expected

Here are my predictions. Can't wait to come back three years later to laugh on our assumptions: Kaladin I think he has lot of loose threads that remain untied and we need to have an explanation which would possibly not be explained in a single book because that's too much. I do have a lot of possibilities for him and dying or degrading isn't one of them. He will SURVIVE. Becomes a Herald, taking over patron of Windrunners. It isn't a coincidence that they have specifically killed Jezrien and left Windrunners patroness. Also, the way people have been revering Kaladin does direct towards that path. While it would be thematically beautiful, but it wouldn't be actually accurate according to Kal's arc. Takes temporary retirement from war and starts a therapy center for all soldiers. Trains his father and mother (if they are alive) along with Dabbid and other members of Bridge Four. Starts a medical revolution by allowing men (at least surgeons) to read. Maybe assist Jasnah (assuming she survives as well) in her goal to abolish slavery from Vorin countries. Becomes Worldhopper. I think he has maximum chance of leaving Roshar with Syl (assuming they make a breakthrough in expanding Connection) and travel to different worlds with Hoid (FLUTE!) or maybe join Azure. Some WoBs indicate a potential meeting between our Kal and K from misty world. Speaks 5th Ideal of course. Most Plausible theory- Ascends as Honor- I think Kaladin has more chances of becoming Honor than Dalinar does. His powers especially are very close to Honor and are much different from other Windrunners. Even his typical Radiant attributes are way different from other Radiants in general with Stormfather calling him Child/Son of Tanavast for a specific reason and Hesina's connection to Cultivation. There are a thousand other reasons and Kaladin has always been referred as a 'storm' which are of Honor. Shallan Survives as well. I don't think killing her after she managed to overcome her trauma would do justice to her character. We can see her moving to Kholinar with Adolin and rebuilding their princedom. Absorbs Radiant by end of book, maybe 'awaken' Testament as well. Can be a worldhopper too. Dalinar- Dies/Becomes Fused. Swears 4th Ideal. Adolin - Survives. Doesn't becomes a Radiant but has a special 'bond' with Maya who starts to regain better cognitive functions. Starts life with Shallan. Worldhopper maybe. Navani- Survives. Swears at least to third Ideal (can open perpendicularity?) Designs weapons of mass destruction which can be dropped from airships. Shardgun maybe. Possible Worldhopper after hearing her interest in visiting other worlds but probably won't due to her bond to Sibling. Szeth- Dies. Completes 5th Ideal but dies. Venli- Survives. Nothing much to say. Swears upto 3rd Ideal. Jasnah- Survives, starts to make commentary on Oathbringer in loving memory of her uncle. Can become Worldhopper. Breaks up with Wit knowing his real intention. Starts to reform new world with her laws. Renarin- 50/50 chance of living/dying. I will assume Todium knows that Renarin is black spot he can't predict and would surely target him first and foremost. Also, we see that Renarin has accepted his hybrid powers and after hearing his conversation with Glys that they need more of their kind, I am scared to ponder upon worse. Leshwi- Dies a valiant death. Talks with Syl about Riah and accepts her fate. Vyre- Dies. Killed by Kaladin. Taravangian/Odium- 50/50 chance of living/dying. If survives, is free from Roshar. Hurls across space to meet Autonomy and then move towards Scadrial. If gets splintered then maybe becomes dishard or trishard. Cultivation- 50/50 chance of living/dying Honor- Gets reforged. Hoid- Survives, odiously. Others who can possibly die: One of Heralds, Nale or Ishar maybe, Kalak. Some Bridge Four members. Kadash or Rushu Queen Fen Malata A Highprince (not Sebarial) One of Shallan's brothers An Unamde (Those two remaining ones maybe) Some Unseen Court members. Many Skybreaks A lot of Shin folks obviously A lot of spren. Characters who will/might survive: Rlain. Dabbid. Lift. Ash. Taln. Thude. Oroden. Gavinor. Kalak. The Unmades. Remaining Bridge Four and Unseen Court. Rysn, Chiri-Chiri. Possible Radiants by end of book 5 (assuming they survive): Dabbid. Thude. Ash. Yanagawn. Cord. Rushu. Possible Worldhoppers: Kaladin ( Scadrial/Nalthis/Threnody/Yolen). Shallan (Scadrial/Sel), Adolin (Scadrial/Sel) and agents of Unseen Court. Jasnah (Drominiad/Threnody/Obrodai/Sel). Dalinar (If becomes a Fused) (Possibly one of Shardworlds which Mercy, Valor and Invention occupy, or another unnamed Shard.) Navani (Ashyn) Vashar/Zahel, Azure/Vivenna and her sword, Hoid, Nightblood (reunited with Vashar). Hoid of course.