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Today I presented my research project that I've been working on since September at a regional science fair. They had us set up our posters, two to a table, in a sort of gymnasium or conference or something room in a building at the big college in my city. I had been kind of nervous, but not that nervous. I was fairly confident in my presentation, though I'd never actually written it down. The first judges came for the first round, and my confidence waned just slightly as I presented. My presentation itself felt solid, and I felt I was able to answer their questions well. The first judge complimented my poster, saying it stood out and looked good. But both the first and second ones pointed out a lot of ways I could have improved the research, or at least continued it. They grilled me a little bit, which resulted in the minor confidence loss. We had a small break, then onto round two. At this point I should mention that all of the students in the high school division (probably about 30-40 of them) were all juniors and seniors from my science focus program that I attend except for two of them. So I was around a bunch of fellow juniors, and in spaces where judges weren't around we discussed and tried to figure out who the judges were visiting the most. I had three more judges come listen to me present for a total of five. They each had good things to say, and only one of them asked as many questions as the first two had. Afterwards they gave us lunch and some tours of the college campus. Then results. They gave six awards in the high school division, though in no particular order. And I was one of them! It seemed as though I had impressed the judges. Five of the six winners were from my school (which makes sense), and I was the only junior amongst those five. The rest were seniors. As we were cleaning up, one of the judges that had interviewed me came to congratulate me afterwards. She got a little quiet and said to me that some of the other judges had said things about my project along the lines of: "If I had been told this was a college sophomore or junior undergrad project at a conference, I would have believed it." So yeah. I can apparently do science.

There's a lot.

Hey guys! I'm back! I was in Houston, Texas for a week over spring break and was not faithful to my postings on the Shard. Hopefully I'll be more active now. Let's see...you probably want an update... Monday was driving. For 15 hours. In a van with five younger siblings. It was surprisingly tolerable. Tuesday, we visited a local state park that had alligators. It was interesting to see them in the wild. There were also cool trees with hanging moss that made the place look like something out of a fantasy novel. Wednesday, we went to the ocean. I've only been to the ocean...what, four times in my life now? It was neat. We saw some Portuguese Man-o-wars (Men-o-war?) washed up on the beach. The Gulf of Mexico is cold this time of year. It's salty. And isn't it nice that we live on a planet with water? Thursday we went to a nearby island called Galveston island. There was a bunch of cool stuff there. We temporarily rented a sort of tandem-bike-car-thing that we all pedalled around together for about an hour. We visited some neat shops. And we rode a ferry, which was fun, and saw some dolphins. Friday was my favorite, because we went to the Johnson Space Center there at Houston. I like space, and so I enjoyed this. We did a bunch of stuff, including visit the astronaut training facility there, see a Saturn V rocket laid out on it's side (never figured out whether that was a replica or not), looked at a Space Shuttle that never flew but was still built as if it could have, listened to an astronaut talk about being an astronaut (he'd visited the Mir space station, so that was interesting), saw some other historic things, touched a moon rock, and spent a lot of money. I have a NASA shirt now. It's a problem that I didn't have one until now. Also on Friday we ate at a Korean barbecue restaurant, which was interesting because they would bring you the meats you ordered raw, and you got to cook them yourself on a grill that was in the middle of your table. It was very tasty. Saturday was basically the same as Monday. I also procrastinated a research paper the entire time. Luckily that's basically all done now, I just have to tweak a few things. I'm presenting my research at a science fair on Wednesday, so I hope that goes well. And that's about it. So yeah!

Prompted by the Aracle, the SPF eventually concluded that AraRaash was guilty of killing the Ja, with Attic heading up the accusation. When the time came for AraRash's trial, however, Attic, who was the only claimed witness to the murder, was nowhere to be found. In the absence of his testimony and lacking further aid from the Aracle, who had gone strangely silent, AraRaash was released and the investigation was deemed inconclusive. As he left the SPF headquarters for the day, Aurel Kourrakis continued to turn some thoughts in his head that refused to be ignored. Nobody had heard of this "Aracle" until around the time of the Ja's death. It was rather convenient that a being capable of replacing the Ja would appear in the exact moment when the Ja was killed, and that this position would grant it unquestioned authority in the forthcoming investigation. Had ArarRaash been convicted, chances were that nobody would have thought twice about whether their source was questionable. As it was, Aurel intended to pursue his doubts until they were laid to rest. I want to thank everyone for playing! I had a lot of fun this game, and hope you all did as well. Congrats to @Ashbringer, @The Known Novel, @Fifth Scholar, @Telrao, and @xinoehp512 for winning round 2! Also a big thanks to @Devotary of Spontaneity for IMing for us. And though he's not around, another big thanks to @Herowannabe for creating the rules and the spreadsheet for us to use . Player List: Doc Links:

Uggggggggggggggg I was going to preform at a music festival today with my choir but i woke up with a very unpleasant case of what seems to be tonsillitis This is the worst ;-; i wanna sing so bad but i probably can't ;-; this literally happened with my last choir performance as well but i was able to make it to that one. Anyway i'm gonna see if i can temporarily recover in the next fourty minutes via tea and hot shower and cough drops so i can make it. Wish me luck guys (Also that Sanderson article in wired was absolutely atrocious and Sanderson's extremely mature response made me respect him more than i already did.)

idk what came over me to do this but here you go:

ah i miss rain oh to sit by the window with a mesmerizing novel, some good music and a steaming cup of tea while rain pounds the windowpanes and the sky is all grey I recently got a few books by Shirley Jackson but I'm gonna wait till the monsoon season begins (june or july) to start reading them its for the aesthetic :sparkles:

Hey guys So i um I don't write very much, but when i do, i have been informed that i write good. (yes, i know the proper grammar is "write well", and thus i am not demonstrating my writing abilities. it's for personality.) Anyway i kind of wanna share some writing with you guys and also see if a couple story ideas i have sound interesting... specially because A. i need to choose one to work on and B. i need to write more to keep my skillz sharp, and it'd be easier to be consistent if there were people waiting on me to write something. I work mildly better under pressure. Mildly. So... this is sort of gauging interest for a Facepalm Writes thread :D Anyone interested?

*ahem* an update: the show last night went soooo well. we all did a brilliant job and the audience loved it :] i know owe @DoomslugLuna ice cream for bringing up trauma using the song Party in the USA 3 times throughout the show. sorry, my love. anyways; i did it. the show is over. im sad, but it was fun

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I already posted this in the Bad Day thread, but: My cat, Ivan, passed away today. It was extremely sudden. I got home from school and he was yowling. He's old(16)... and I knew it was coming at some point. Just... sometime later. Tomorrow. Not today. Sorry, I got distracted, not making sense. He was old, and he didn't do much but poop in the wrong places and puke on the carpet. But... he was snuggly. We got him to the vet, and they said he had either a stroke or a mass in his brain. He was disoriented, and he couldn't walk. So they said the kind thing to do was put him down. So... he's gone now. I'll be okay. It was just so sudden, and... I don't know. I'll be okay, but it's sad now.

Hello all!! And welcome to my latest project :)) This is a short story I got the idea for out of nowhere while I was sick. The premise is; "What happens when a ghost has to watch his still alive lover fall in love again?" Now, the very observant (and slightly soul crushing) @DoomslugLuna noted that this has most likely been done before. But she suggested doing it in the fashion of the 21st century, instead of the more traditional 1700s-1800s time period. And so, I did that. I'll be posting three chapters in this OP, with more as I finish them. This project was also mentioned in my Report, which you can view through that link; it's an analytical report on all my writing projects, past, present, and future. Pretty cool There's also this spotify playlist if you'd like to listen to what I listen to when I write this. Anyways; Please enjoy the first three chapters of How To Love Again Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

So we know from RoW that even a spren as powerful as the Sibling can be corrupted given enough voidlight, essentially making it an Unmade. Following that, I belive there should be a way to Remade an Unmade with stormlight (or lifelight, I'm not picky). And I think it's quite obvius that's what Sja-anat will do, to free herself from Odium's influence. Or maybe not, 'cause the Sibling also said that being Unmade is the same as death. Aanyway, my own haedcannon until next book release is that Sja-anat will become a warlight Bondsmith spren (same as the Sibling is a towerlight spren), and I have two perfectly good and circunstancial proofs: Rlain said he could hear the Rythm of War from Tumi. Sja-anat's name is derived from a Semitic war goddess (according to coppermind wiki). So war goddess -> warlight spren. Irrefutable evidence. Thank you for listening my madman speech. Have a good day.

Analysis of Mistborn Era 2 I wanted to spend a little time dissecting the political and religious ideas of the series. While this essay is somewhat critical, I hope it isn't taken as a condemnation. I thoroughly enjoyed the suspense, magic, mystery, and emotional drama of the series. However, I didn't feel like I had anything particularly insightful to say about those elements. Scadrial and American History The elevator pitch for Mistborn as a meta-series is that it takes a fantasy world and shows how it progresses through history. So what does Era 2 tell us about Sanderson's concept of progress? My argument is that his view of history is informed by his perspective as a white American author. Revolution In Era 1, we see the medieval feudal setting common to most fantasy books. The land is ruled by a despot; the heroes are a band of criminals who bring about his overthrow. Then, after averting the apocalypse, God rebuilds the world, and the next Era is inaugurated by the Words of Founding. The heroes of Era 1 are the founding fathers; names and statues of characters from Kelsier's crew adorn the landscape. The government is rebuilt as a constitutional democracy. The parallels with the American Revolution and founding of the United States are straightforward. Capitalism By Era 2, the Elendel Basin is coded to resemble 19th-century America. We have industrial capitalism, and inequality of wealth seems to be more important than inequality of title in this society. We have railroad-driven expansion into a barren desert populated with sheriffs and outlaws, which resembles the American West and the Western genre. However, unlike real American history, there is no enslavement of Africans or genocide of Indigenous peoples. In real life, these two elements provided the material wealth to kickstart American capitalism. In Mistborn Era 2, the original accumulation of wealth that got the Basin started was literally a gift from God. Unfortunately, this resembles how some people talk about America, downplaying the role of slavery and genocide and instead talking about America being "blessed." So we see Sanderson inadvertently creating a world that resembles a whitewashed version of American history in his effort to imagine how another world would change over time. This is interesting because, like many fantasy writers, he seems to want to reject Tolkien's Eurocentrism, as illustrated by his much more diverse characters and settings. However, as an author he is still writing from his own perspective, informed by his own life, and thus can't fully escape Americentrism. Political Reform In addition to the above portrayal of material progress, Mistborn Era 2 also illuminates Sanderson's concept of political progress. In the original series, the heroes were all criminals, and they (successfully) sought to overthrow the monarchist system. However, in Era 2, all the characters are instead ruling class and integrated with the liberal capitalist government. Wax, Wayne, Marasi, and Steris are all police officers, wealthy capitalists, aristocrats, and/or political representatives. The kandra also align with the status quo, as they serve the god that created this system. Therefore, in Era 2, progress is no longer revolutionary. Instead, the heroes' activities consist of defending the status quo and making incremental reforms from the top down, as we see with Wax and Steris' political careers. All reforms, such as the enfranchisement of the Outer Cities, workers' rights, and limitations on police powers, come from within the liberal democratic system. Characters who offer a more radical critique, such as The Marksman or Paalm, are villains. Even Kelsier is ultimately rejected by the main characters. Marasi decides that his method of working from the shadows is no longer valid and that she will instead seek political appointment and election within the Basin government. It seems that Sanderson's view of progress runs from monarchy to liberal democracy, but there's nowhere to go after that. Liberal democracy is the end of history. It will be interesting to see whether this reading is challenged by anything that happens in Era 3. Given the unresolved conflict with the Southern Scadrians, as well as the presence of aerial bombers, missiles, and weapons of mass destruction, it's possible that Era 3 will continue to follow an American perspective of history into a 20th-century, Cold War setting. Harmony and the Problem of Evil The other aspect I thought was interesting was Mistborn Era 2's theology. The portrayal of Harmony seems to elucidate the problem of evil; i.e., that it doesn't make sense for God to be both all-powerful and morally good, and for evil to still exist in the world. In fictional works where God is canonically real, this problem might be restated as: If God is all-powerful and morally good, how can the author preserve the conflict necessary for the plot? Sanderson resolves this problem by making Harmony less than all-powerful and less than perfect. Indeed, his power seems to vary inversely with his morality. In the early books, Harmony is kind of a dick; he manipulates the characters, withholds emotionally devastating secrets, drives Paalm to suicide, and traumatizes Wax. He justifies this with lines about free will, but that doesn't seem to be a satisfying solution for Wax. By contrast, in The Lost Metal, God has grown as a person. He says things like "I'm trying to be better," keeps fewer secrets from the characters, and even apologizes to Wax. However, this moral improvment coincides with a sharp reduction in his powers. Autonomy's influence blinds and restricts Harmony's ability to act, thereby preserving the conflict. It's interesting that Sanderson as a writer seems to acknowledge that in order for conflict to exist, God must be either morally flawed or restricted in his powers, despite the fact that Sanderson is not an atheist in real life.

A new contingent of the SPF, the "Accusers", had been formed in response to the death of the Ja. From their new contact, the Aracle, they knew the killer and several of their accomplices had infiltrated the Accusers, and that the murder had been accomplished with some of the massive stockpile of deadly animals, poisons, and other nasty trinkets the SPF kept on hand. After roughly a day's wait, the Aracle's second communication was received and the Investigators began working to decipher the clues. Round 2 has fully begun! My clues are listed below, and you can also see them in the spreadsheet. Begin discussion, and anyone is now allowed to make an Accusation. Also make sure to post once each cycle! Cycle 2 will be posted 5PM Eastern time on Wednesday. Link to Spreadsheet Oracle Clues: Player List:

GUYS I THINK THE SPAMBOTS INFUSED ME WITH THEIR BLACK MAGIC YESTERDAY I WISHED FOR RAIN AND TODAY ITS RAINING THOUGH ITS MARCH

Up until now, Kaladin has fought to protect people, and there's been someone he knows and loves well on one side, and people he can't relate to(or if he can, he doesn't know them personally) on the other side. This time, he relates to: The singers(Sah, Khen, Vai, he knows what it's like to be a runaway slave, living in fear daily of being caught) The Wall Guard(similarity of their community to Bridge Four) The Queen's Guard(same reason as the Wall Guard) And he loves all of them. It's not just that he doesn't know what to do. His trauma is starting to catch up with him: his PTSD causes him to freeze up. I don't think it's indecision, I think it's trauma.

Introduction Well, this is one of the most incoherent theories I've ever cobbled together. But I think I have something, at the very least. Regardless, here we go. I will first state the theory, for the sake of retaining reader attention, then explain the evidence I have to prove it. Whatever the case, I believe I have found the nature of whatever resonance the Truthwatchers possess, or at the very least an ability they somehow employ. I will delay no further; I believe the Truthwatchers had the ability glimpse the future. Please understand, I have not taken temporary leave of my sanity. I know Renarin is not a true Truthwatcher, and I understand the Surges as well as any Cosmerenaut. Allow me to present my evidence, such as it is. Evidence 1: The Urithiru Gem Archive I think everyone who's closely read the epigraphs has flirted with this theory at one time or another. I quote below an entry made by an unknown Truthwatcher, detailing their plan to deny Voidlight to the parsh armies. See below: It has already been established that the gem type corresponds with the Order of Knight who recorded the message. I invite all to look at the final message, recorded in "a particularly small emerald." Obviously, whoever recorded it must have felt a need to record their foresight. Now, this can be taken two ways. The Truthwatcher had an uncannily acute sense of foresight, and very accurately judged the eventual findings and conclusions of a group of scholars, tacticians, and warriors. The word "foresaw" was used in a more literal sense. I'm inclined to believe the latter, for the fact that the gem was "particularly small" as well as the Truthwatcher's evident need for secrecy. Evidence 2: The Surgebinding Chart It is interesting to note how specifically the Truthwatchers are placed. Directly below the Bondsmiths. Not only this, but a strange line connects the two, completely unrelated to the surrounding art. I am not the first to note this; indeed, another user asked a question concerning it. Brandon admits that there is some significance to this placement, and that Truthwatchers are different from other Orders in much the same way a Bondsmith is. How interesting, especially in light of Evidence 1. Evidence 3: The Nature of Resonances We have some details concerning the nature of resonances. Kaladin and Shallan---and to a certain extent, Jasnah and Lift---have all demonstrated abilities that occur from their two Surges interacting. Kaladin can adopt far more squires, and those of far more power, than any other order. Shallan has uncanny mnemonic abilities that Brandon attributes to her order. The same goes for Kaladin. Jasnah is noted by Wit as having an uncanny sense of direction, leading to some speculation among the fanbase. Then Lift, who displayed a very keen sense of comprehension in the face of street slang worse than that of Spook's. What's interesting is how all these resonances seem have certain common characteristics. These are the ones I have noted. The resonances we do have, and some suspected ones, are at least tangentially related to the Surges that produce them. The resonances, at least in the case of Knights Radiant, seem to follow their order's underlying themes. There seems to be an almost thematic connection between the Surges and the resonance. Evidence 4: Renarin Fear not, intrepid readers, for I yet retain my sanity. I bring up Renarin only to point out the connection between this theory and one of Renarin's main abilities. As a Cosmerenaut, I do not believe much in coincidences, and find it very convenient that a Truthwatcher of old "foresaw" something, and Renarin, a corrupted Truthwatcher, sees the future in intermittent fits. Putting It All Together From all these pieces of evidence, I believe enough data has been gathered to draw conclusions. So, diving right in, we start with the very high likelihood that a Truthwatcher past somehow saw the future. This was something he fear, or was ashamed of, but regardless felt necessary to maintain secrecy over. Evidence 2 introduces the thought that Truthwatchers have some abilities that almost resemble those of a Bondsmith. At the very least, they have something Cognitively and Spiritually related. We know that seeing the future involves the Spiritual Realm, where time has no meaning. The conclusions drawn from Evidence 3 are the shakiest I have to offer, but I'll do my best to be clear. Truthwatchers of Ideals surrounding the nature of truth, and seeking it out. Thus, they are commonly scholars and scientists. They seek to banish lies and understand the world better. More than that, the Surges exclusive to Truthwatchers are those of Progression and Illumination. What an interesting combination. Looking at these purely thematically, a combination of the two might illuminate a future path, a way of progressing forwards. Finally, Renarin. Again, I find it far too coincidental how he can see the future. And perhaps this provides some insight as to the nature of Sja-anat's Enlightening. Maybe Enlightened spren almost lean into the resonance, and that is the pattern of affected Orders. Conclusion None of these pieces of evidence alone serve to help prove this theory. When taken together, however, the connections drawn follow some common paths. If you have any thoughts over this, please comment so. Any and all criticism are welcome. Many thanks for reading, Longshot97

I'm upset, flabbergasted, and quite annoyed. So, if you guys didn't know, WIRED did a profile on Brandon Sanderson. Last year, Brandon invited the reporter into his home, showed him the company, his lifestyle, and how he writes, and was extremely open with him. The article is ruthless and in my opinion unnecessarily cruel to Sanderson. It mocks his religion, his community, the way he dresses, his family, his writing, people at conventions, and even the way his son eats...like storming what! It makes me pretty upset. Anyway DONT look up the article cause it gives the article more clicks/revenue—if you want a good summary check out Daniel Greene's Video I mean, I get it if you don't like a person or their writing, but writing a condescending and elitist 4000 word essay about it seems unnecessary.

Journey before destination, right? So you know something may or may not happen. So what? You don't know for sure how it happens, or why, or what leads up to it. Like you said, it's quite odd for Taravangian to become a Shard. It's not exactly easy to kill a Vessel and take their power, particularly for a dynamic of a man willing to do the things Taravangian can and has done without anyone being the wiser until he lets them be. Read on, discover the truth, and enjoy the path along the way. That's where the fun is.

GUYS IM DOING IT MY LAST EXAM IS ON MONDAY BUT I CAN'T HOLD OUT ANY LONGER IM WATCHING SHADOW AND BONE SEASON 2

Show choir season is over but since it's a class we still occasionally get to do performances. Like on Monday. And my director wants to do a show choir olympics. So that will be fun... But since the season is over we are now a part of the treble choir. Which I'm in normally so two treble choir classes a day. Back to back. It's a bit boring. But my director decided to make it a bit more interesting. I'm a soprano 1. But in the regular treble choir they aren't having any of them sing soprano 1 or alto 2. So all sopranos sing soprano 2 and all alto sing alto 1. But in show choir we sing all the parts and I sing soprano 1. So I get to learn both soprano 1 and soprano 2 but actually remember and sing soprano 1 at the concert. Yay. And I made the audition only concert choir and the varsity show choir!!!! EXPRESS!!!!! None of my treble voiced friends made it though so I'll be with all my guy friends. I get to go more insane!!! I wrote a thingy some people have already read it but I really like it so y'all can read it. And if you read it, no I'm not really okay but I'm working on it and starting therapy stuff so it'll be fine. But yeah stuff has been fun. A little stressful as normal but you know it's fine.

I'm not anxious today! At least not yet. My ankle pain is really high today, but I'll deal with it because I'm just like that ;P (I'm just kidding xD) We're learning about reproduction in Health (AKA watching Life's Greatest Miracle. There's a fine line between interesting and disgusting, and this movie keeps zig-zagging it). We're also doing blackout poetry in YAL, and of course I got a book page with the perfect words on it to be a dark poem... xD. Slavery in History, Holocaust in English, and parabolas in Algebra, which are kind of fun. Science, though, is kind of the holy grail of actually fun schoolwork. We're making up "superhero" babies (gene mutations)! I think we're starting the project today and it's gonna be a ton of fun. I don't have anything for the musical after school today, but I do have to stay after to retake a test. Idk why you guys would want to know any of this, but I felt like word vomiting. Anyway, that's life right now. Mom's in Europe, and I actually kind of miss her. Just a little bit. (Only a small portion of you actually know about my mommy drama right now, but all you other people need to know is that I have a little bit of mommy drama.) Have a good day peoples!

I wrote a poem! (wow totally unexpected whoo ) This one's a bit... deeper? Darker? Than the other ones so uh... yee. Hope y'all enjoy! [Spoilered for length] Have a wonderful day/night/ time! Y'all are awesome! ~Telrao PS: I almost signed off using my actual name oops

Dudes, I was gone for less than two days and when I return I have 61 notifs. There wasn’t even a crazy SU! I shudder to imagine the number when I get back from camp.

Thank you Here's chapter 4 Chapter 4

AFTER THE MUSICAL ANNIE YESTERDAY SOMEONE I DON'T KNOW TOLD ME HER SON HAD BEEN DYING FOR AN AUTOGRAPH!! And then two more kids(these ones were siblings) wanted an autograph! Then I signed their posters, and one said to me, "we even have a dog at home"(Oh, I play Sandy the dog in Annie since the directors didn't want to deal with training a real dog) and I didn't know what to say because I don't have a dog, so I just kind of nodded and smiled, then she said, "huggie?" and I hugged her and she was about half my height and she was SO CUTE!!! This is SO WEIRD!! I LOVE IT!! (I'm very humble.) This is a wonderful experience.

As soon as the accusation had been voiced, Jatrim made himself scarce. It was clear that someone had witnessed his murder, and now his only hope lay in killing that person to cover his tracks. After some quick deliberation, Jatrim began stalking Jello, waiting for an opportune moment to strike. Just as he was slitting the Investigator's throat, a voice called out from the shadows, and the SPF rushed in, disarming Jatrim and healing Jello. As Jatrim was bound and led away, he saw the piercing gaze of Jounger Gerri following him, and knew that he'd missed the witness. The game is over, and congratulations to the Investigators for winning! My thoughts on my choices: I'm still very shocked that TKN got things correct, and was somewhat concerned that Mat would pick him out as the Witness. Hopefully everyone enjoyed this round, and let me know if you have any feedback that you think should impact how the second round is run. The next round will start at rollover time on Monday, and I'll put up signups in a bit. Elim Doc Spec Doc Player List:

There once was a ship that faced the gale The name of the ship was the Wandersail The Sleepless came, their chances slipped O go, my Herdaz boys, go Long Game 93: Soon May the Islands Come ~ ~ ~ Welcome aboard, to LG93! I'll be your Captain, and @StrikerEZ will be my First Mate, who we all know is the person who does all the real enforcing. I'm just here to make sure you lot don't get each other killed. Or at the very least, sing a sea shanty when you do. At any rate, I've caught wind of a Sleepless infiltrating this vessel. Flicked a cremling off my bedpost this morning-- and my cabin doesn't get cremlings. I know an imposter when I see one. Instead of solving the problem myself, I'll turn it over to you, like any responsible Captain would. I wish you the best of luck, my sailors. Still, I expect before long you'll all be longing for the days when the islands of Aimia finally appear on the horizon, promising this journey's end... (I'm not copying Kas' GMing format, I promise) ...Anyway, signups are open! They will run until Monday, March 27th, at 8am PDT, after which the game will promptly begin. This will also be the normal rollover time. In case it wasn't clear, Striker is my IM, so feel free to go to him before or during the game with any concerns you may have. Any rules clarification questions can go to me. The rules can be found in doc form here, as well as in the spoiler directly below: Rules: Participants: Quicklinks:

SA2½ chapter 9: Darkness is a herald?! Not sure why you thought I should know this before this chapter where it was revealed. I had no idea, so if there were hints, I completely missed them. Yay Szeth!!!! I like that Szeth argued with Darkness. I continue to like him. I hope we hear lots more about him. By the way, I finished Tress! So now I've read 3 complete cosmere books.

awh i cant choose, they're all so good! i have a few favorites, though. although, i cant really explain why i like some of them so much, because i honestly dont really know lol the first song that i heard by them that i immediately fell in love with was House of Gold My current favorites by them are: Not Today, Migraine, Screen, Car Radio, Goner, Message Man, and Smithereens. Edit: Guys, she ("she" is me, i just say that as a joke sometimes, idk why) made art! sorry, the lighting is bad > <

FINALLY! :D. (The sticker is already on my computer :P) Guess I won’t sleep tonight! :D.

Yaaaaaay 200 posts!! (well almost) lol I guess its not thaaaat big of a number, but still its kinda cool

Hello! I’m excited to be your IM for this game! If you are ever involved in a conflict between players, see one potentially arising, or just need to vent feel free to reach out to me! As a reminder, SE is just a game! Having fun and enjoying ourselves is the main goal of playing! Good luck to everyone playing! I am very eager to watch this game unfold and experience my first game as an IM. Also you guys have no idea how many times I’ve almost tried to sign up for this game, forgetting I’m the IM….

minecraft server has a new IP because many many many many many many technical issues (i am going to pull out my eyeballs) sharders.minehut.gg if any of you haven't checked it out yet you should its pretty cool.

The Ja was dead. Of course, his followers on Scadrial had believed him dead for many centuries by now, but this time he had truly been slain. The SPF rallied forth to solve the mystery of his death, aided by a mystical being known as the Aracle. Cycle 0 has begun, and will end at 5PM EST on Tuesday the 20th! PMs are closed (and will never be open in this game). I'll also note that I added an extra Co-conspirator this game, since all previous iterations of the game have resulted in village wins. Don't think that should sway the balance too much. Right now the player list has been set and everyone has been randomly assigned their Methods and Evidences. The starting tiles have not been chosen yet, so you can disregard those for now. You can view all of this in the game's spreadsheet, or click on the spoiler tag below: Feel free to chat and RP as you like while the Assassin makes their selections! All roles are present in the game, and everyone should have received a PM from me with your alignment and role. Player List:

Good somewhat glorious morning. Why glorious? No idea. Maybe because it's just a nice word. I could barely sleep at all last night, and I wonder if it's because my anxiety levels have been really high lately. Anyway, I'm chilling in health class currently because it's just a chill environment--which is good for a health class (that was extremely redundant but you get the point xD). Musical rehearsal yesterday was good--my alto 2 voice has to learn how to hit soprano 1 notes though... oh well! I'll be fine as long as I start drinking more water. And getting more sleep. And all that. Also... we're learning about slavery and they were showing us some pictures from the mind 1800s and there was one of a slave's back after having been whipped that just made my stomach turn. It was horrific. Anywho, on THAT note, I should skedaddle. Kajsa --> out

Hullo, wonderful people. I woke up to a faceful of existential dread and was very anxious all day--though I didn't cry in choir this time. Anyway, I like the nighttime, when I'm relaxed and have nothing to do... Can I be nocturnal please? THANK YOU! I almost forgot it was one of my best friends' birthday today. Saved it, though. ALSO I GOT A DRESS FOR SHOW CHOIR PROM! IT'S GREEN AND PRETTY AND LONG AND I LOVE IT AND IT HAS STORMING POCKETS. *bursts from excitement* Anyway. Thanks for being the epic people you are! Love y'all!! Sleep good, okay :) (*cough cough* silh... wiz... *cough*)

It was his 3rd ideal vs Moash to save Elokhar, but I digress I also agree it was more than just "us v. them" in all situations, though I could argue that Moash very much made himself a "them" in that moment. Kaladin (and the Windrunners in general) are driven more than any other characters by the combination of both what is "right" and what is "honorable". Kal's trauma and his empathy with all sides in that specific fight, mean he was paralyzed with indecision for what the right+honorable action was in this instance. usually he can see with clarity what the right/honorable actions are. When he can't... he tends to not act. Here, but also as he just sits there in WoR while Moash is going about his plan. He is conflicted and it takes Kal time to reach the decision for what is right+honorable, which he comes to in the hallway. Here... he doesn't have the luxury of time to mull his thoughts and consult others, etc. He has to act immediately... and so he can't act. If he'd never spent time with the group of listeners they wouldn't even have made it to that place anyway likely, so he's feeling guilt as they die on top of everything else To me it's entirely consistent with where Kal is at that point. I still hate it because it means Elokhar dies, but.. it didn't seem out of character to me .... it also leads directly into his entire character arc in RoW. So it's relevant beyond Oathbringer

Actually, it wasn't that Kaladin was willing to kill Moash, it was that Kaladin was willing to force Moash to kill him to get to Elhokar. Here's the scene (CHs 83, 84): He knew that his condition, and only wielding a knife against two Shardbearers wasn't a situation he could win. Also, he did freeze in the battle where Tien died (WoK Ch 67): Sure, seeing Tien fall "woke" Kaladin up again so he moved to his brother. But he froze as he watched Tien die. ANd he froze again over Tien's body - ignoring all sides of the battle and was just lucky that nobody attacked him while he gave in to his grief. Also, remember that the scene you are referencing in Oathbringer isn't just PTSD - Kaladin also has conflicting Oaths to Protect both sides. He couldn't reconcile non-lethal attacks as a method of "protection" in the heat of the moment. He might have with enough time to process. . . but time is one thing you don't have in battle.

Sure, your welcome to use my drawings as references! I would also remember to look at real photographs for references, because my drawings and artistic knowledge is nowhere near perfect. That being said it can be beneficial to use art as a reference, so if you think it will help, go ahead I read this as "violently throws up" and I was very concerned until I remembered that English is my first language and, despite my own belief, I can actually read Thanks for the compliment your really nice ^^ once again I'm back with a bit more art, I decided it would be cool to throw some of my unfinished Cosmere fanarts here, because otherwise they'll remain in the dark void of my computer hard drive until the end of time! Disclaimer: this art is of course unfinished, so its not my best. I found a way to fix the my-image-size-is-huge-on-the-shard-for-some-reason problem, but the image quality isn't the best, which is something I'm stilling working on fixing. And I ramble a lot [Also, medium blood warning on the 3rd piece down, I honestly don't do gore a lot, but you know how fantasy adventure books can be]

wanna know some fun math that makes me terrified of everything imagine taking every single atom in your body, and expanding that atom into a clone of yourself. the new total number of atoms is about the same as the total number of atoms in the planet earth. now do it again. take every single atom in the planet earth, and expand it into a copy of the whole. that’s roughly how many atoms are in the observable universe. in other words You^2^2 = Universe.

I lost a pet yesterday, I have seen a few photos of them and broke down each time. I also can't stop seeing their corpse. I wish life could slow down enough for me to mourn.

Do you ever feel like you're just... alone? I don't really mean like emotionally, but like you just feel literally alone. You could look out the window of your house and see cars driving along the road, people out taking walks and playing at the park, and you just feel alone. Like you might as well be looking out at an empty nuclear wasteland. When you're sitting with a friend or two, you feel like the sole survivors on Earth. When you're with your family, you feel like it's just you guys on an empty planet. You could be walking through a crowded mall or waiting in line at a busy store and it just feels like you're the only one there. Do any of you know what I'm talking about? It's kind of surreal, right?

So, I'm going to pretend a lot of people are going to read this. In truth, there's a slight chance this'll be another swing-and-miss where no one reads (or reacts) to it. It could be that some of my followers read and reply. I would bet on a "people read but don't reply, just drop upvotes", considering this is the reaction to any status update that is longer than three paragraphs. So maybe I should just keep it short or something... Anyway, this time I'm going to do a "don't judge a book by it's movie" rant. You'd think it'd be wasted on the avid book readers who make up most of the Shard; that's what I think, at least, but why not ignore that too? I mean, if nearly no one reads this, nearly no one is going to protest and say they never judge a book by it's movie. They'll probably tell the truth. But today, I actually want to talk about average to good movies, that people don't know are adaptations. Fine, I'll admit it. Even though my list of books I've read is huge, I can't really say I've read many books which got this treatment. There's apparently a Jurassic Park book, and I've never read it or watched the movie. There are far more than a handful of others that got actually such good films as adaptations that the original was forgotten. Did you know the Prestige was based on a book? An example I can sadly note I've watched but not read. And that's a pity. I really should read this book. I'm not sure what's the situation with World War Z - maybe with that the book is just as famous, maybe not. But here, I want to lay down some films that're based on books that I have read, and that went to be better known than the source material: Howl's Moving Castle, the Secret World of Arrietty (the original book is called the Borrowers), How to Train Your Dragon and perhaps Home (originally the True Meaning of Smekday, too). With Arrietty and HtTYD I'm afraid I've found the books because of the movies, too. I'm not here to say those movies aren't good; but I'd defenitely say they strayed from the source material, far enough that I'll consider every one of them an independant work of art from the books that happens to share names and a small amount of charcterization from the books. So don't get me wrong - I loved most of those movies (Home being an exception here, but I'm not getting into that). But... When I read a book, and then I learn that it has been adapted, what I want is not a different story with similarly named characters and some plot points from the books. I want to see, as much as possible, the same story, translated to another medium. And it's true that at least three of those gave us amazing stories and the world will be lacking without them, but... I kind of wish those adaptations never existed, at least sometimes. Now that they're there, no one is going to make an actual adaptation of the book. Take the Jungle Book, for example. Or Peter Pan. Or heck, Alice in Wonderland is only out of place here because it's hard to say it has any plot in the first place. All three of those bring to your heads, almost immediately, the Disney animated movies. And if there's one thing I don't trust Disney with it's loyalty to the source material (though I hope this trend will change with Percy Jackson) - just look at the Black Cauldron, or Artemis Fowl, or heck - every single fairy tale these guys put their hands on. And the live action remakes just make sure that the image in your head is going to be that same image they placed there. So right, the exmples I brought were actually Studio Ghibli and DreamWorks. But that's because I don't want to start thinking over Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland or the Jungle Book to make sure the differences were significant, and considering the Black Cauldron thankful relative failure (I wouldn't want to see too much defiling of one of my favorite book series) it's hard to say the movie is better known than the book. And I didn't mention Shrek because I've never read the book. Pause while you gasp at the realization Shrek is loosely based on a book. Actually, I'm starting to sense a pattern. Maybe DreamWorks in general are great at expanding on existent ideas and making them work even though they changed the source material beyond recognition. Studio Ghibli seemed decent at it on two occasions so far at least, too! Anyway, there's the "there's never going to be a loyal adaptation" angle, which is sad in and of itself, but also... How many people have seen those movies and never even bothered thinking about the fact they're based on books? How many of my imaginarily large audience even knew all those movies were based on books? My eldest brother said he watched Howl's Moving Castle and so doesn't want to read the book. Maybe it's because he has a lot on his reading schedule and it really didn't catch his eye (and it probably says something about how much he trusts me when it comes to book recommendations), but in any case - he lost a story that, in my opinion, is great. And I'm sure I did too by not reading the Prestige, Shrek, and many other books I didn't even know existed. I just... really wish more people would know about the books, because they're awesome. Especially the True Meaning of Smekday, which I'm not sure could ever really be translated to the big screen. Anyway, that has just been your latest rant from a slightly depressed Trutharchivist. Hope you liked it. Maybe I should've tried making YouTube videos about it or something. Anyway, have a good day. Honestly, at this point, I should probably just go to sleep.

This is a cool idea, I like it. For Symmetry if nothing else, it makes sense for there to be three more Bondsmiths now that Odium's invested enough for his Pure Tone. One to be the Voidlight rep (BAM most likely) and one each for hybrid Lights, "Warlight" and what may or may not eventually be called "Freedomlight" (which has textual support but still sounds like it belongs on a line of Red,White&Blue 'Merica-theme fireworks or some such non-sense).