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We have some exciting news to announce today. So far in order to obtain some unpublished works of Brandon's, you'd have to email him through his sites, and his assistants would distribute them. Well now you won't need to wait for that, because now we will be in charge of distributing Aether of Night! All you have to do is post in this topic (you'll need a 17S account, but that's it), and our staff will PM you the document. Once we do this, we'll remove your post here. We'll be using this topic as a to-do list for requests. Ideally since we have lots of staff members, we will get this out to you soon, within a week or two. We hope you're excited about this, so many of you will be able to get this text in a much more obvious way now! You will receive a .docx file, and if you need to convert it into a .pdf or .epub, there are many converters to do that for you. (We are not distributing the prose version of White Sand, as that will continue to be distributed in Brandon's newsletters.) Thank you Dragonsteel for letting 17S do this! Edit as of January 4th, 2023: This is all still going! We've gone through almost 300 pages of replies distributing. It's just that we remove posts here once we send them out.

I know exactly when I figured it out, when the book outright told me Huck was Charlie, I suck at these kinds of things.

General Brandon stuff: Cosmere spoilers: Mistborn spoilers: Stormlight Archive spoilers:

Spoiler for size I hope this exact joke hasn't been done before

Hee I made another meme I dunno if this interaction actually happens BUT It's funny anyhow

So.. I made a meme Credit to the original creator of the comic strip (I don't know who you are but thank you) I added the names (thought it would suit them so yee) Enjoy!

I was looking at the interactive map and timeline, and I realized something. Urithiru and the Nightwatcher Valley line up almost perfectly North to South. That means that the Highstorm hits both of them at the same time, and at that moment all of the Bondsmith spren are Connected. Do I have the faintest idea what happens, or what this could possibly cause? No, but I refuse to believe that this just happened to be the case. Something big is going to come of this.

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

Something seriously crazy just happened to me I'm off school, so today I've done a couple of different piano improv sessions. It's been feeling really good. A couple of hours ago I sat down at the piano and started playing, but then I just kept going. I closed my eyes to let the music come through me and as I played I started to fall into a trance-like state. But then I literally started dreaming. But I was still playing! I was conscious but not conscious if that makes sense. Like I was aware of my fingers, but pretty much everything else was skimming on the horizon of my imagination. I was interpreting my dream through the playing; the dream and music were working in tandem, weaving in and out of each other. About an hour went by with me dream-playing. I literally had a dream about some weird alien guy being kidnapped on a spaceship and then there was like a telescope that could see through the ocean... anyway (dreams are weird xD)—it was pretty magical. (tho there was this one wacky moment when I started playing really silly music at the birthday party started and things got weird ) Anyway, it was probably one of the coolest things that've ever happened to me. I am the most relaxed I've been in months right now. Music really is therapy, y'all!

Welp… I’m banned from the shard for an indefinite amount of time. Tomorrow’s my last night. It’s something about getting real friends (but the people around me are boring or moral-less) so yeah see y’all when I leave the house. I’ll just go cry now. See you tomorrow.

Well I'm not good at memes, and there is more than 260 pages, so most likely some of them were already posted, but here are some of mine: General Brandon: Mistborn: Stormlight Archive: Warbreaker:

This one is coming to you all the way from September of last year, so apologies for the long wait but we like to give the artists we work with as much time as they need with these commissions - we are under no deadline, and we don't want to impose one either. In this case - and in all other cases - the wait has been worth it, as this illustration turned out beyond great! Those of you who have read The Alloy of Law will recognize the iconic "tea's poisoned" scene from about halfway through the book. What you might not recognize is the artist, Rixt Heerschop, even though you may have seen their art in this illustrations depicting the climaxes of Oathbringer and Rhythm of War respectively. They have a good eye for color and composition, and happened to be available when we needed someone for this - so, good fortune all around!

Important note: This list would be far less complete if not for the efforts of everyone who helped me compile it. Specifically thankyou to: Awesomeness Summoned, Delightful, Argent, PorridgeBrick, Kurkistan, Quiver, Green Hoodie Mistborn, Senor Feesh, Observer, ccstat, Swimmingly, Alvron, Metacognition, The Only Joe, GreyPilgrim, Aether, jasonpenguin, Mailliw73, Moodle, Tempus, Baine, Kobold King, LeftInch, Sir Jerric, Tensoon, Ashiok, Theorymaker, Seonid, Shaggai, TheYoungBard, Curiosity, Snoopy, Voidus, Frosted Flakes, Kasimir, Shallan. (Let me know if I missed you.) Hokay, for those who want to know the ranks, I looked through everyone who had at least 10 posts. Here are my findings. 10000+ God Beyond 9000 9999 Adonalsium 8500 8999 Hero of Ages 8192 8499 The Broken One 7800 8191 Shard 7500 7799 Splintered Shard 7200 7499 Splinter 6800 7199 Dragon 6400 6799 Stormfather 6000 6399 Herald 5700 5999 Sliver 5350 5699 Nightwatcher 5000 5349 Worldhopper 4750 4999 God of Color 4500 4749 Lord Ruler 4250 4499 Unmade 4096 4249 Dawnshard 3761 4095 Prime 3500 3760 Lerasium Mistborn 3250 3499 Bondsmith 3000 3249 Voidbringer 2750 2999 Knight Radiant 2500 2749 Most Ancient 2250 2499 Steel Inquisitor 2048 2249 Mistborn 1900 2047 Tarachin Superstar 1800 1899 Dawnsinger 1700 1799 Rambleman 1600 1699 Savant 1550 1599 Gerontarch 1500 1549 Midnight Essence 1450 1499 Listener 1400 1449 Enefel 1370 1399 Kalad's Phantom 1338 1369 Compounder 1337 So l337 Hoid Can't Compete 1300 1336 Surgebinder 1260 1299 Radiant Squire 1220 1259 Kandra 1180 1219 Twinborn 1145 1179 Returned 1111 1144 Scadrian Waffle Cook 1080 1110 Stone Shaman 1050 1079 Cryptic 1024 1049 Honorspren 1000 1023 Sentient Awakened Object 980 999 Truthless 950 979 Highprince 920 949 Worldbringer 890 919 Full Feruchemist 860 889 Full Shardbearer 830 859 Shardbearer 800 829 Seer 777 799 Spinner 760 776 Wyrn the King 730 759 Elantrian 700 729 Originator 667 699 Svrakiss 666 Torturer of Heralds 650 665 Shade 625 649 Soulcaster 600 624 Forger 575 599 Dakhor Monk 550 574 Lord Prelan 512 549 King's Wit 496 511 Son of Honor 475 495 Vanisher 450 474 King's Tester 425 449 Ghostblood 400 424 Envisager 375 399 Artifabrian 350 374 Ferring 325 349 Stormwarden 300 324 Bloodsealer 278 299 Silent Gatherer 256 277 Misting 225 255 Arbiter 200 224 Gyorn 180 199 High Prelan 160 179 Oldblood 145 159 Cobalt Guard 128 144 Hazekiller 110 127 Forescout 100 109 Houselord 90 99 Babsk 80 89 Prelan 75 79 Arteth 70 74 Idrian Monk 64 69 Obligator 56 63 Lighteyes 50 55 Grand 45 49 Noble 40 44 Crew Leader 32 39 Ardent 25 31 Pahn Kahl 20 24 Awakened Object 16 19 Noble-Blooded 10 15 Bridgeman 7 9 Spearman 5 6 Darkeyes 2 4 Skaa 0 1 Spren --- -1 -2 Negaspren -3 -5 Lifeless -6 -10 Hoed -15 -19 ? Beheaded Inquisitor -20 -24 ? Rotting Chull Carcass -24 -25 Lamespren -26 -100 Zucchini -101 and below Chasmfiend Corpse Note: negative reputation titles are no longer obtainable due to downvotes having been removed. I'll update this as we learn more We now know them all! I like the new levels. Good work Chaos Please don't ask me how long that took. Current lowest Unknown rep: nonexistent. We're so close to getting them all =D Edit: Wooohooo first popular post Later edit: For the record, at the time I added that comment 10 rep was a little more exciting Another edit: The lower rep ranks have changed at some point, I don't know where all of the new boundaries are yet.

Well, today is my Shardiversary. It's hard to believe that it's been a year, but at the same time it's hard to believe it's only been a year. It's been an adventure, for sure! Recently, I've found myself increasingly reflective as I prepare to graduate high school and depart from my home. It's a melancholy time, but it's also filled with hope. And the memories I've made on the Shard, and the friends, connections, stories, jokes, adventures...they've changed me. I'm a different person than I was before. This year has been really tough for me, but having people here to give me advice and guide me through it, and honestly just having an outlet for the pain has really made a difference in my life. This is a special community, one that I'll always remember. I think the people here are what makes this place so unique. @The Wandering Wizard, the wonderful Wiz! You were one of the first people to help me feel like I belonged, and you've been a true friend to me, an amazing source of laughter and fun. Thank you for everything. @Robin Sedai, your sharing of Calvin and Hobbes and other comics when I first joined is one of my favorite memories on the Shard. I admire your voice of reason whenever things get a little unhinged. @CalanoCorvus, you always bring optimism to conversations and give great advice. You and @DoomslugLuna are adorable. @SymphonianBookworm our conversations here will always make me smile. I know you haven't been as active recently (I miss you!), but I know you're going to do great things! #Phantom #Jasnahoid @Telrao, come backkkkkkkk soon! I miss having someone to nerd out about jazz with. Your muffins and cats are iconic here on the shard. And your playlists are fantastic. Thank you for the wonderful art. @The Bookwyrm, your passion for space and astronomy really shines through. You're thoughtful and insightful, and our conversations keep me thinking for a long time after we're done. I'm looking forward to seeing where you'll end up!@Kajsa :), thank you for being a wonderful human being. You care about us, and you're just amazing. Your art is also out of this world! @That1Cellist, you are worth more than you could ever comprehend. You deserve the world. Thank you for sharing your love of cello with the world. @The Halcyon Girl, you are an amazing person. We miss you on the Shard. I'm so glad you commissioned that throne from me. @InfiniteInsanity, you are kind and you have wonderful ideas to cheer people up. Your mission was such a sweet idea. When you're on sugar, now I know to runnnnn @The Aspiring Archivist, I'm glad I know you. Thank you for putting up with me and for being there for anyone who needs it. You have a nice voice, too. @Ranryu, your energy, and sense of humor make the world a better place. Best of luck to you with your piano and compositional career! @TheGreatSnail, aren't filters funny?? In all seriousness, those SU replys were fun. That was where it was at! @Wittles of Shinovar, WITTLESS Skittles, I admire the way you bring a positive attitude towards problems. It's not easy the way that life works out, but you're an amazing helping hand. @The Last Fæ, you often have something very interesting to share. I like the way that you think. @Potato's Wit, you're really funny. The things you share make me laugh a lot @Morningtide, you're always so nice. I still can't believe there's an Idaho Potato Museum! @S. Stormy, diggin' the new branding. I love how you're always up for shenanigans and helping everyone here have a good time. @Cinnamon, you're down-to-earth and friendly, EVEN THOUGH you live life upside-down. That makes it even more special. @Thaidakar the Ghostblood, you're funny! And you always have quality things to share. @Sequence, you're always full of good vibes. It's always so interesting when you share the coolest info on planes and the like. @Cruciatus_heart, Elfffffff! Your interest in a certain type of brooding slightly insane sociopath is very funny to me. You have excellent taste in media. Congrats on everything you've accomplished this year! @TheAlpha929, you're very chill, and just fun to be around. @Eluvianii, you have chill pfps and you have cool answers on the forum games. @Matrim's Dice, thank you for all your help in SE and for putting up with me that one conversion game. No thank you for betraying me, but I know that's how it goes. and :P. for life. @The Known Novel, Thank you for the chaos. It is the way. *fist bump*. Kasimir, Archer, Aman, Stick, Illwei-- you guys are all really cool. I'm happy to have gotten to play with all of you this year. @Channelknight Fadran, you've always been the cool, experienced, cultured guy here. Ever since I joined, I've looked up to you and your RPing and worldbuilding prowess. @dannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnex, I never know what to expect from your SUs! I always know it'll be a fun time when I open that notif up. Man, those nnnnnns really keep growing. @DramaQueen, you really are a queen of drama. I know we haven't talked much but can't we just agree that theatre kids are the coolest! @Trutharchivist, thank you for sharing your culture with the shard. It's been very eye-opening. @Nathrangking, you write beautiful poems, and you have a wonderful perspective on the world. @Cash67 I never can remember if you're young but really wise for your age, or older but still really wise for your age. You are Perry the Platypus incarnate in the best way possible. SPEAKING OF PLATYPI, @Being of Cacophony, you are ALSO a pretty cool platypus. I like checking out TLT and seeing your chaos there. Cacophony is also a really fun word. @Edema Ruh, you'll remain an Aes Sedai in my mind for a very long time. Also, spontaneity is the best! And you're great at that. @Lotus Blossom, I'm so happy Symph got you to join the shard! You're a cool person @The Storming Stormfather, your messages on peoples' profiles are really funny. Thanks for being the storming The Storming Stormfather. @Justice_Magician, your art is incredible! Thank you for sharing it with the shard! @HOID WANTS INSTANT NOODLES, bro we gotta make that board game happen. You had so many great ideas. @Lord Gregorio, you have cool pfps. Also, interesting thoughts to share! @Nameless*, it's truly a shame that Nameless stole your name. Your contributions to TLT are immense, and not to be questioned. @Szeth's Facepalm, your cute froggie dudes make my day. Where they at??? @Shadowed you're always great fun and it's always so cool to find fellow musicians here. Flute rules! @solarcat can we just take a minute to appreciate how awesome your username is?? @2EmLee2, @Enter a username, @PyroPhile, you guys are all super cool. Thanks for being iconic. It's been an amazing year. Here's to many more Thank you everyone <3

It's been Spoiler City up on this Patreon, and that's not changing anytime soon (can you believe Secret Project #2 is less than a month away??). We are all mostly hunkered down here in 17S HQ, cooking up things both secret and not, and honestly, recovering from all the content Brandon is blasting our way with some face masks and spas. But you are not here for our morning routines, you are here to see pretty art, and this month you are in for a treat! Our patrons have known this for about a month now, but we got the exceptional Marie Seeberger, aka Lamaery, aka lamaery_in_the_cosmere to work on this piece, and we probably should've expected that we'd get way more than we asked for. Not only was her primary illustration of the Crow's Song surviving the Crimson Sea beyond amazing... ... she also threw in a bunch of variations of of it: A version without the storm clouds: A version without the Crow's Song, just the Crimson Sea after rain: A version with no Crow's Song or rain - just the Crimson Moon over a calm sea of red spores: And a version resized for desktop wallpaper use, because obviously we are all going to want that: So after all this we are absolutely going to try to get her to do something for us again in the future. But until then let's all enjoy this gorgeous painting that could've absolutely been one of the full color spreads in the book itself!

This is a very, very long read as it involves reframing the entire Stormlight Archive and trying to figure out the ending to Stormlight. Thanks to all my friends who read it and provided feedback! Spoilers for everything, including the Prologue to Stormlight 5! “The end of the world. Was it a lie?” (Prologue to Stormlight five) There is misdirection regarding Taravangian's learning of the desolation and his pursuit of the Old Magic. Taravangian tells Dalinar that Dova, who he thinks is the herald Battah, told him about a desolation approaching, which leads us to infer that this is how Taravangian learned about "the Desolation" (OB 121). In the prologue to Stormlight 5, Taravangian tells Gavilar the death rattle he heard from his mother's death bed which occurred 10 years prior to Gavilar's assassination. The conversation with Gavilar most likely confirmed, to Taravangian, that a desolation was coming. That means Taravangian went to Cultivation before the herald told him about the desolation. When Dalinar questioned Taravangian about his assertions that Odium would inevitably win, Taravangian said that Cultivation gave him one day of brilliance to show him that Odium would triumph (ROW 66). Cultivation’s motivations were entirely different from what Taravangian thought. It was about learning the importance of intelligence and emotions so that Taravangian could replace Rayse and be able to "bare the power with Honor” (RoW 114). Taravangian makes a lot of assumptions about the future. The Diagram itself might be true but the information divulged from it is based on interpretations. While some of the events came true, others didn’t. It’s like Renarin’s visions. One of his visions said Jasnah would kill him but it didn’t account for her heart. When you look into the future you do not know the hearts of those who act. When Taravangian ascended to Odium, his final line in chapter 114 was “And now, Taravangian was going to save them all.” Save them from who? If Taravangian is Odium and he wants to save Roshar, who is supposed to destroy Roshar? Wasn't Dalinar led to believe that Rayse was going to destroy Roshar? Taravangian saw that Kharbranth was safe so did his “agreement” with Odium work? In OB 121, Dumb Taravangian asked Rayse if they should write a contract, which Rayse replies “Our word is the contract. I am not some spren of Honor, who seeks to obey only the strictest letter of a promise. If you have an agreement from me, I will keep it in spirit, not merely in word.” In ROW 112, Rayse says that if he breaks his word then the contract is void, which would create a hole in his soul. Odium needs to be bound by contracts to keep his word so this means that Odium wasn't serious about saving Kharbranth because Kharbranth was never at risk of being destroyed. Rayse's actions and motivations did not align with destroying humanity. He wanted Dalinar to be under his control to serve his greater interests in the Cosmere. Since Taravangian is Odium, his motivations to prevent the oncoming destruction of Roshar means Odium was not the cause of it. Dalinar learned about the Desolation from the visions, but the most important vision was the Kholinar one - which occurred 3 times to Dalinar. It was presumed that only a god was powerful enough to cause that amount of destruction. There was a recurring sense that someone was coming and wanted to destroy Roshar. There is no vision of other cities being destroyed. Why do we only see Kholinar being destroyed? The third source of the Desolation was Jasnah's notes. In The Way of Kings, Jasnah and Shallan conclude that the Singers, who had their forms taken away, were the Voidbringers. At the end of Words of Radiance, Jasnah returns and concludes that the ancient writings wouldn’t help them because they were living through a much different time. Wit confirms this statement. But what is different? It could be that they’re living through multiple desolations at once and the fruition of the acts of the Knights Radiant are being uncovered. In Oathbringer, it was revealed that humans were the real voidbringers, which leads us to reframe Jasnah’s voidbringer notes to mean that these are translations of sources that originally meant that humans were the real voidbringers. However, Rhythm of War went to great lengths to show that humans are a part of Roshar and have been for a very long time. So who the hell is destroying Roshar? What the hell are we supposed to be afraid of? What are the visions and the death rattles warning about? The definition of voidbringer changes because a voidbringer is whatever is scariest at any moment - the same goes for desolations. The return of the fused didn’t turn apocalyptic. These characters make assumptions based on their interpretations. That doesn’t mean they are right. It remains that nothing has matched the fear that was in Jasnah’s original voidbringer notes and that lore was warning about something. Jasnah has been wrong before so we shouldn’t discount ancient writings. Every Stormlight book reframes all the books that came before it because Stormlight is about perception. It’s reflected in how the ideals are shaped by perception. The story has an ability to reframe itself given more context. Stormlight 5 has to do the same - maybe even in bigger ways so I should change my perspective. “...the Sons of Honor explicitly worked for the return of the Desolations. They believed that only the Voidbringers would cause the Heralds to show themselves-and they believed that a Desolation would restore both the Knights Radiant and the classical strength of the Vorin church...Nale believed that men speaking the Words of other orders would hasten the return of the Voidbringers.” (OB ch. 40) Pattern tells Shallan that there are lies in this message from Mraize. He says Nale kills other radiants & that he has records of killing someone who bonded a spren in Amaram’s army but we don’t see it. If the implication here is Tien, it’s false. Tien is in Kaladin’s vision and he says it was his choice to stand with those boys (RoW ch.108). Also, these are two contradictory concepts of desolations. How is speaking the words going to return a desolation? Why are the Skybreakers exempt? Nale isn’t the only herald who went after radiants. If Shallan's mother is the herald Chanarach, then Chanarach was so terrified of something that the knights radiant could do that she would attempt to kill her own daughter. What about the knights radiant would be associated with a desolation? There’s one more group that is conflated with Voidbringers and the herald to die and return the Fused is the Herald of the Dustbringers. They are said to have the most destructive powers of the Knights Radiants. So what’s up with the Dustbringers? “Curious,” the woman said, “that we have only the word of a few stuffy Alethi about this entire ‘Desolation’ business, eh sister?”(OB ch. 27) Coincidentally, the only Dustbringer radiant (Malata) that is shown questions the nature of this desolation. The other instance where a non-Alethi culture's definition of desolation is brought up is with the Azish talking about Szeth: “...Storms . . . I almost think it’s another Desolation come upon us.” “A Desolation in the form of a single man…” (WoR I-9) The Dustbringers In the prologue to Stormlight 5, Gavilar fixates on the perplexing design of Chanarach’s Honorblade. Its most engrossing detail was seen as a “symbol” to Gavilar as “unnatural,” “impossible,” and “highly impractical.” The bifurcated blade reflects the composition of The Dustbringers and encapsulates a pattern of duality that exists within the order. Rubies, their associated gemstone, are used in conjoining fabrials where an infused ruby splits in half. Rubies soulcast to fire, which has a dual nature. Fire symbolizes an uncontrollable nature that consumes anything in its path. On the other side, controlled fire symbolizes light, energy, and rebirth. Reflected in their title: Named Dustbringers, by the common people, because they say there is little difference between them and voidbringers. This pattern is most likely a result of Odium’s influence on the order. If combining Honor and Odium creates “war” and if the Dustbringers have access to Odium, that would explain why their order has a pattern of duality and why their oaths center around control and responsibility. The herald iconographies of Oathbringer ch1 titled “Broken and Divided” is Chanarach, 4 times, which could indicate that the order itself is split. When Taravangian ascended, he observed that the shard comprised two sides - knowledge and fury (RoW ch.114). In addition, the herald iconographies of the chapters when Odium appears suggest a connection between Dustbringers and Odium. The Oathbringer chapter, where Rayse is introduced, is titled “Passions” and it features the herald iconographies of Chanarach & Vedel, who share the surge of abrasion. Lift appears in this chapter. Ishar (the bondsmith) is not present in the herald iconographies for this chapter, which is peculiar because this is where Dalinar converses with Odium for the first time. The Rhythm of War chapter, where Taravangian ascends to Odium, is called “Emotions” and it features the herald iconographies of Chanarach and Nale, who share the surge of division. Szeth appears in this chapter. The Surge of Division: “Marks spread out from the point of contact, little swirls of blackness etching themselves into the wood. The scent of burning filled the air, but the flames didn’t persist if she didn’t will them to. The swirls and lines extended across the tabletop, a masterwork of engraving accomplished in moments. Malata blew off the ash. The Surge she used, Division, caused objects to degrade, burn, or turn to dust.” (OB 107) Take the visuals of Malata’s use of division and amplify it – how does it change the context of Jasnah’s notes on the Voidbringers? Voidbringer Epigraphs “The ones of ash and fire, who killed like a swarm, relentless before the Heralds …” Division can cause anything a Dustbringer touches to turn to ash. “Who kill like a swarm” indicates they killed as if they were one, but the Dustbringers are a naturally divided group - maybe this isn't a warning about the order but someone within the order. “They take away the light, wherever they lurk. Skin that is burned.” What type of voidbringer takes away the light? This is not talking about the Everstorm - that’s a new phenomenon. If you take the word "Dustbringer" as someone who "brings the dust" because their powers can destroy swaths of lands then it's possible a dustbringer can create a massive dust storm which would block out the sky. The surge of division can cause skin to burn. “Like a highstorm, regular in their coming, yet always unexpected.” The word Desolation is used twice in reference to their appearances. The only other thing that is described as a high storm but isn’t was the vision at the end of the Way of Kings. This epigraph is about the past so it can’t be about the Everstorm. “They changed, even as we fought them. Like shadows they were, that can transform as the flame dances. Never underestimate them because of what you first see.” Purports to be a scrap collected from Talatin, a Radiant of the Order of Stonewards. A Stoneward is a foot soldier. Why would a soldier underestimate their enemy? Furthermore, the inclusion that the source of this information was a Stoneward may be relevant. In the vision where the Windrunners and Stonewards abandon their shardblades, Dalinar points out that there were 8 other orders that weren’t accounted for in this vision. There are 3 militarized knights radiant orders – Windrunners, Stonewards, and Dustbringers - the ones who are always missing. “Transform as the flame dances” fire imagery - associated with the Dustbringers “Born from the darkness, they bear its taint still, marked upon their bodies much as the fire marks their souls.” "taint" could be a reference to how the Dustbringers are partially of Odium. “darkness that marks their bodies” is the ash created from their powers. “Fire makes their souls” fire and soul are both associated with the dustbringers. “Death upon the lips. Sound upon the air. Char upon the skin.” “Sound upon the air” - Dalinar's vision referenced a grinding sound and “...a terrible roar of dying rocks.” “Char upon the skin” - the aftermath of a dustbringer using their powers “Flame and char. Skin so terrible. Eyes like pits of blackness.” Fire imagery “Skin so terrible” - Division can be used on the skin. It could also reference the ash produced. “Eyes like pits of blackness” -> there’s only one human who is described as having eyes like this. I’ll come back to this later. Additional notes The Everstorm is sky based destruction, while the one described in the epigraphs and at the end of The Way of Kings is land based. This could be a 3rd storm, which would fit into the motif of threes. Also, the destruction the Everstorm carried was just secondary. The primary purpose was for the Fused to gain power. There’s no mention of carapace – just skin. The reason Shallan and Jasnah assumed that the Singers were Voidbringers was because of the black and red skin patterns on the Singers that they know and see. A lot of Singers, like Venli, have a white and red skin pattern. Similar things are happening in the death rattles. Death Rattles “They are aflame. They burn. They bring the darkness when they come, and so all you can see is that their skin is aflame. Burn, burn, burn….” – Subject was a baker’s apprentice Fire imagery “Skin is aflame” - the surge of division “They bring the darkness when they come” - creating so much ash or dust that it blocks out the sky “I have seen the end and have heard it named. The Night of Sorrows, the True Desolation. The Everstorm.” – Subject was a darkeyed youth of unknown origin. The Everstorm is in a different sentence than the Night of Sorrows & the true desolation What makes the true desolation different from the other desolations? The night of sorrows hasn’t happened so the true desolation hasn't happened “A man stood on a cliffside and watched his homeland fall into dust. The waters surged beneath, so far beneath. And he heard a child crying. They were his own tears.” – Subject was a cobbler of some renown. This can not be a Skybreaker because they can not destroy swaths of land. The surge of abrasion combined with division allow for a radiant to move around and destroy land. These are Dustbringer powers. This matches with this part of the Kholinar vision: “...staring out at that oncoming wall of dust. The land was trembling. The wall of dust was being caused by something. Something approaching . The ground was falling away. Dalinar gasped. The very rocks ahead were shattering, breaking apart, becoming dust.’ “Light grows so distant. The storm never stops. I am broken, and all around me have died. I weep for the end of all things. He has won. Oh, he has beaten us.” – Subject: Thaylen sailor. Reminds me of the epigraph: “Like a highstorm, regular in their coming, yet always unexpected.” Who is he? Odium? As stated before, this can’t be Taravangian because he wants to stop this destruction. The rest of the death rattles and epigraphs use "they" as reference to a group which was inferred as the Fused. The Fused nor Odium cause this amount of destruction. Is it possible that these powers are of a single Dustbringer? “They break the land itself!” he hissed, eyes wild. “They want it, but in their rage they will destroy it. Like the jealous man burns his rich things rather than let them be taken by his enemies! They come!” —Subject was Gadol, a member of Bridge Four. If there are “sky breakers” then those who break the land are the Dustbringers. The Fused can’t cause that much destruction because they only have access to one surge. “But in their rage” - Odium is the God of anger. Dustbringers are the order where radiants have access to Odium. This could be a Dustbringer channeling their rage. “And all the world was shattered! The rocks trembled with their steps, and the stones reached toward the heavens. We die! We die! —Subject was Maps, a member of Bridge Four. Another death rattle of the same event This is the 2nd death rattle from a Bridge four member The victims of the death rattles are unaware of what they are witnessing. If they witnessed this level of power, they would presume that the world was ending and that a certain party was to blame, but Dalinar was led to believe that this power was Odium from his visions. The magnitude of destruction from the epigraphs and death rattles appears to be from a single Dustbringer. It can’t be a group because the order is divided and it’s challenging to gain this much power. Skybreakers already have a tough time progressing to the 3rd ideal, so it stands to reason that the order with access to the most devastating powers would be more difficult to advance. The radiant has to be at the last ideal, and they have to be channeling Odium's fury side. Aren’t Dustbringers supposed to fight for humanity? What is the context that would allow for Honor to accept this? Also, why is Chanarach considered "Herald of the Common Man" if Dustbringer powers are similar to voidbringers which terrify the common people? Justice “You’d let it go, then?” “Storms , no.” Kaladin said. “I’d find my own justice.” “Oh … ” Syl settled on his shoulder…” You’re not a Skybreaker, Kaladin.” Syl finally said.” (WoR ch. 22) Finding your own justice is not justice to the Skybreakers. A Skybreaker must put their personal convictions aside. They uphold moral codes (spirit of the law) and protect societies. They exist, in the world and in the story, to make sure people believe there is only one form of justice. Chapter 44 of Words of Radiance titled “One form of Justice” features the Herald iconographies of Chanarach and Nale, who share the surge of division. Is there another form of justice? A Dustbringer kind? If Skybreaker justice calls for protection of civilizations that means Dustbringer justice would call for the destruction of one. “Justice is what you brought to those people. “That was not justice. That was a massacre.” The Stormfather rumbled. I have burned and broken cities myself. I can see … yes, I see a difference now. I see pain now. I did not see it before the bond.” (OB ch.86) The Stormfather says this casually, but it highlights that destroying a city can be regarded as justice to Honor. “If you could see the result of Honor’s influence, you would not be so quick to name me a god of anger.” (OB ch. 57) The Voidbringer notes sounded biblical, so I searched for the attribute of God associated with Sodom and Gomorrah - it's called divine retribution, an aspect of God's wrath. How would this fit into the world? “Retribution” is a punishment inflicted on someone as vengeance. As a collective form of vengeance, retributive justice punishes crimes according to severity. The purpose of it is to restore balance in society as it aims to rebuild it. This is the honor that seeks destruction because their society is corrupt to the core. This is the justice of one's heart. Since they are destroying a society, they must break it down, find the right reasons, and understand why everything went wrong so this could be avoided in the future. In his rage, Dalinar set fire to Rathalas, declaring that he did so no one could rebuild it. Dalinar can’t be this type of Dustbringer because his anger is not the same and he already has a vast amount of power as a warlord. This power is meant to be an equalizer which would explain why Chanarach is called the herald of the common man - only a commoner would be allowed to feel so wronged. Why hasn't this occurred more frequently? It has to be a rarity. A society has to be so corrupt that it’s better destroyed than fixed internally. Since justice is about balance, it serves no purpose to wipe out a whole country if its religious institution (ie. Stone Shamans) is the problem, such injustices committed can be resolved by a powerful Skybreaker. In other words, Shinovar is not a highly militarized, politically unstable, and enslavement-dependent civilization - like Alethkar. In Alethkar, not only were the religious institutions corrupt and in service to the indulgences of the Queen, but thousands of impoverished people lived on the streets. Information about Shinovar is purposefully hidden while the injustices of Kholinar and lighteyes atrocities are detailed. The common people of Alethkar are powerless while their ruling family is gaining more and more power - 2 bondsmiths, an elsecaller, an enlightened Truthwatcher, and a lightweaver. Things are vastly unequal. Because Dalinar is the bondsmith and everyone must cooperate with him, the larger crime, the burning of Rathalas, has gone unpunished. Anyone who might have been outraged enough to fight was burned. Revisiting Taravangian’s observations of holding the shard of Odium, he stated that the shard had 2 sides - knowledge and fury. The knowledge side possessed millions of potentials and the fury was nearly uncontrollable. Controlling the force of Odium - its rage element - is a significant obstacle to reaching the goal. The nature of Odium is warped in the hands of a Dustbringer seeking retribution, yet the magnitude of rage needed is enormous, and a radiant needs complete self-control. This Dustbringer radiant has to be the outlier of outliers - represented by the “impossibility” in Chanarach’s Honorblade. Remarkably, Taravangian and Adrotagia dispute the nature of the impossible. Taravangian questioned when he'd have another day exactly like the one he spent creating the Diagram: “If you were to live another two thousand years, Vargo,” she said, “you’d maybe have one single day like this among them." (WoR I-14) The Recreance occurred ~2,000 years ago so it’s likely that a Dustbringer radiant destroyed a city and that’s what started the Recreance. The Recreance “You said I was wrong about what caused the Radiants to abandon their oaths. What was it really?” Odium smiled. “Passion, son. Glorious, wondrous passion. Emotion. It is what defines men—though ironically you are poor vessels for it. It fills you up and breaks you, unless you find someone to share the burden.” (OB ch.57) To fit into the pattern of threes, something during the Recreance had to be taken away from the humans to break them. Spren broke because of the abandonment. The Singers broke because of the imprisonment of Mishram. The regular humans broke because a form of justice, that could change their societies, was taken away from them. Even though an aspect of god sees this as justice doesn't mean the other orders are going to see it that way. Some might think that no one should be allowed to have enough power to destroy a city. Others might think that this takes away a check and balance for the powerful. Honorspren died the most because Windrunner oaths are about protecting people and who they perceive as worth protecting. “They killed their spren. They betrayed their oaths! They may not be villains, as history paints them, but in this moment they failed to do what was right and just. They failed Roshar.” (OB ch. 56) The irony of this line is that the Knights Radiant ultimately protected someone like Dalinar. Look at the death rattles. Taravangian killed the sick, dying, and the forgotten to understand an apocalypse. He was never marred by the amount of destruction the civil war in Vedenar produced (WoR I-14). Common People The first scene in Stormlight is the leader of the heralds abandoning the one Herald that was a regular person to endure Damnation, a job they were supposed to share, making Taln the first person who was abandoned. After that, the Knights Radiants abandoned humanity, the Singers, and the spren. This leads to why modern day Roshar is the way it is. Remember what Lift said about the nature of Nale’s murders – when he kills regular people nobody cares, but when Szeth kills kings it’s a big deal. Nale encourages detachment from emotions from his Skybreakers. His letter-of-the-law interpretation protects the powerful. He said to Lift “Others may be detestable, but they do not dabble in arts that could return Desolation to this world.” Gavilar said to Nale’s face that he wanted to return the Desolation yet Nale didn’t stop him. It makes sense why we don’t see Nale try to kill Malata because she’s a highborn lady. Is it a coincidence that the only radiant order we see Nale go after is the one centered around compassion for the common person? Edgedancer honor is about being compassionate, refusing to look away from other’s pain, and healing those who need it the most. The art that could return Desolation Nale was referring to was the surge of abrasion - the one Dustbringers and Edgedancers share. The compassion of our main radiants is constantly attacked by those more powerful than them. When Kaladin voices against war or for the listeners, the Kholins talk down to him. The same thing happened when Venli voiced compassion for regular humans to Leshwi. When Nale was empathetic, he created laws that protected the lower classes (RoW ch.47). In the chapter “Emotions,” Szeth convinces himself that he lost his honor, but he dropped the type of honor that was holding him back and gained the confidence to make his own choice to kill Taravangian. This led to vessels being changed – that is a good thing. The underlying philosophy here is that emotions are important, but they need context. The fear wasn’t the surges itself returning, it was that common people who are driven by morals, emotions and compassion, would get power which might lead to societies changing. If the Knights Radiants returned, then there was a possibility of the Dustbringer outlier returning. What happens if you learn that ancient knights' radiants stopped you from seeking the honorable path? Even Odium didn’t want this type of destruction because he wanted to control you. What happens if the person who has the right to be angry at their society and has no path of honor available for them? They’ll feel hopeless and turn to nihilism. Righteous anger was withheld from Roshar. Moash is like that because he doesn’t have another path available. Currently, he is the truest example of a Voidbringer. He attempted to bring the void to Kaladin. The world prevented him from channeling his rage and made him a worse person. We see the Kholins care about each other and make exceptions for their family members but Moash isn’t allowed to get mad. This is who the Knights Radiant protected and who they disenfranchised. The irony of a lot of Moash’s lines about reaching his potential when he couldn’t feel anything is that if he felt his emotions and controlled them, he would have so much more. Voidbringer Returning to the epigraph that stated “Eyes like pits of blackness.” “Moash. He stood on the edge of the chasm near Kaladin. The man turned, and Kaladin saw his eyes - black pits.” (ROW 46) “The ones of ash and fire…” Ash and Fire rhymes with Moash and Vyre. "Something about that man unnerved her to the point of panic. He wasn’t human. He was a Voidbringer. If that word had ever applied to any, it was Moash." (ROW 104) “...Well were they named Voidbringers, for they brought the void. The empty pit that sucks in emotion. A new god. Their god. These Voidbringers know no songs. They cannot hear Roshar, and where they go, they bring silence.” (The Eila Stele) “At the mention of Kaladin, Moash felt a hint of old, painful emotions - though Odium quickly sucked them away.” (RoW 1-4) “You are a monster,” Teft whispered. Moash took Teft calmly by the front of his burned shift and hoisted him up. “I am no monster. I am merely silence. The quiet that eventually takes all men.” (ROW 104) Dustbringer Moash Before he met Kaladin, Moash genuinely believed in the myth of the honorable lighteyes. Moash came to the war to win a Shardblade (a false promise to get men to join war) believing that he’d be made a spearman but he was sent to Bridge 4. It’s also the only way regular men can gain power in their society. It was Kaladin that changed him. He’s the one who turned him against the lighteyes. Despite knowing in his heart that something was wrong and someone needed to be punished, Moash wasn’t satisfied with killing Elhokar because he recognized, earlier in the story, that Alethi society was broken. Whether subconscious or not, Moash has been searching for power and his journey could potentially fit into the pattern of 3’s. Shardblade - Given to him by Kaladin. Honorblade - Given to him by the Fused after killing Jezrien. He gave his negative emotions away to Odium which turned Moash into a worse person who attacked his friends and lost control of himself. An order where he earns massive power in exchange for vows of control and responsibility. Moash’s journey and his blindness would make him the Dustbringer outlier. His blindness would help him regain control of his body. There is truth to myths the common people say. Kaladin is the embodiment of the myth of the darkeyed man who ascended society. His name reflects that. When Kaladin was younger he wanted to be called Kal because Kaladin sounded like a lighteyes name. It was specifically stated that the “common people '' spoke of the similarities between Dustbringers and Voidbringers so Moash, his narrative foil, is the Dustbringer mistaken for a Voidbringer. Just like Kaladin, Moash’s name reflects the myth he embodies. Moash is an ancient Singers’ name and the Singers were misunderstood as Voidbringers. One story is seen as heroic. The other is demonized. Moash doesn't just compare and contrast with Kaladin. Moash's journey parallels Szeth's journey. I wrote an essay last year on this topic but came to a different conclusion and I didn’t fully understand a lot of the parallels. Now, I conclude their similarities have more to do with the surge of division shared between Dustbringers and Skybreakers as well as representing the two forms of justice available in the Knights Radiant. In addition, Lift & Moash spent their lives moving from place to place - Lift roamed around Roshar and Moash worked on caravans. The surge of abrasion shared between Edgedancers and Dustbringers is the surge where you move around a lot. The crossover between a Skybreaker and an Edgedancer is a Dustbringer. It started with Gavilar “But the dying see something. It began seven years ago, about the time when King Gavilar was investigating the Shattered Plains for the first time.” His eyes grew distant. “It is coming, and these people see it. On that bridge between life and the endless ocean of death, they view something. Their words might save us.” (TWOK ch.71 ) Gavilar's expedition to the Shattered Plains in pursuit of immortality and a return of the desolation is where this all began. Elhokar was put in charge after his departure. This is when Moash's grandparents were sent to prison and died. When Dalinar returned, he exiled Roshone to a place where "he couldn't do any harm" rather than punishing him, which resulted in Kaladin and Tien being drafted into the army and Tien's death. “… although your figure raises a sword high, it’s facing the wrong direction. You’re fighting and you’re fighting, but not him. I think I understand the meaning: you want a deal, you want a contest of champions, but you’re going to keep fighting, and fighting, and fighting distractions. Because why would the enemy agree to a contest that he can theoretically lose?” - Renarin’s visions (RoW ch.54) This is not the true Desolation! Dalinar is fighting all the wrong things. All of the visions observe what various kinds of people experienced throughout Roshar's history. Jasnah, Dalinar, and Navani talk about time periods and the destruction of culture and society but never on preventing the amount of death that these wars caused. Dalinar experienced the terrors of an Unmade from the point of view of a regular person without access to a Shardblade. That leads us to believe that Dalinar is brave, but he only protects what’s in front of him. The Unmade were in Kholinar, but he didn’t go back and protect those people. They were abandoned. “…Heads will roll in Kholinar when Odium hears about this.” “I doubt he cares much about one town,” Kaladin said. (ROW ch.12) The vision at the end of The Way of Kings and in the beginning of Oathbringer (called “Divided and Broken” featuring Chanarach - 4 times) is not done by Odium because Odium doesn’t care about one city. “No, that wall in the air wasn’t a highstorm. It wasn’t rain making that enormous shadow, but blowing dust. He remembered this vision in full, now. It had ended here, with him confused, staring out at that oncoming wall of dust. The land was trembling. The wall of dust was being caused by something. Something approaching . The ground was falling away. Dalinar gasped. The very rocks ahead were shattering, breaking apart, becoming dust . He backed away as everything began to shake, a massive earthquake accompanied by a terrible roar of dying rocks. He fell to the ground. There was an awful, grinding, terrifying moment of nightmare. The shaking, the destruction, the sounds of the land itself seeming to die.” Stormlight is about perception. At first, we see this from Dalinar’s perspective and he wants to prevent this from happening. He went to Odium and wagered his eternal soul to protect his legacy from this destruction, but the surge of division is destruction with context. Just like not all anger is the same -not all destruction is the same. The context matters. If you realized this destruction was caused by Moash the Dustbringer, then the entire story changes. tl;dr: there is a dustbringer form of justice and that’s what the epigraphs are warning about. there’s a lot of misdirections about the “end of the world.” It’s not the end of the world! It’s just a ultra powerful dustbringer!! you can guess who it is

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 have some great news guys! I won the senior level for a composition contest I entered last month! The song I entered is an edited version of one of the songs I posted on here. That means my music will be printed in a book, and I get to perform it later this month. Yay!

Won the "Most likely to win a Nobel Prize" and "Best to bring home to your parents" Senior Superlatives for the yearbook. I'm feeling pretty good

I'll come back to this post and edit things in as I get time to actually comprehensively lay my thoughts on these. Edit complete. We've known for a while that Brandon tends to look for linguistic inspirations in the real world. The most obvious of these is the names of the Unmade tying to various mesopotamian deities, but Roshar is rife with this. "Narak," the Listener name for the central plateau of the Shattered Plains (which is their home) literally translates to "hell" in Sanskrit/Hindi, which is very apt in a series that deals with themes of damnation and such. It's also kind of thematic, in various ways, one of which is - just as an example - that creatures that look like demons (once the listeners take up the regal stormform) and follow a god of hatred come from Narak (a.k.a hell) in Words of Radiance. Another very easy one is Amaram, where "Amar" in Sanskrit/Hindi literally translates to "undying" (in the "immortal" sense). Kaladin's whole "born unto eternity" thing could also be another one of these influences because "Kal" can mean time/tomorrowness/era depending on how you look at it, in Sanskrit/Hindi. All of this is to say that when we got the very obviously Indian-subcontinent inspired look at Aethers, in the form of Twinsoul... well. There's lots of linguistic inspiration happening too. I'll go find sources later, I gotta get up early tomorrow, but here's some thought vomit regardless. Twinsoul, codename for "Shri Sanvith Prasanva Mahik va Sila," refers to three of the twelve Primal Aethers by name. These are, Silajana (the core aether Prasanva is directly bonded to), Suna, and Vishwadhar. That's... a lot of words. I'm going to be looking at this from a Sanskrit/Hindi perspective, as those are the languages I'm personally most familiar with, though there's a million and one different dialects and languages in the general family of languages in the Indian Subcontinent. Let's start with the easiest, "Vishwadhar." "Vishwa" basically means "the world," as in, the world which we live in. "-dhar" as a suffix translates to "holder/bearer." Thus, "Vishwadhar," as a word, translates to "worldbearer," perhaps "one who bears the world" or "one who bears worlds." An alternative reading here would be to read it as Viswhadhaar, in which case you could potentially get "worldblade," but in such a way that the world is a quality of the blade itself. Another potential bastardization, "Vishwadhaara," gets us something more akin to "worldstream" or "worldchannel," in the sense of rivers and mountain streams. I personally think the first one is the most likely, even if the actual canon reading turns out to be something slightly different. "Silajana" gave me a lot of trouble, but according to @Jofwu over on the discord, Kalyani confirmed this as "origin of the stone." If so, then they break down as "Sila" (stone) and "Jana" (birth? one who births?). I had other ideas for this, but since Kalyani confirmed this, there's really no point in digging deeper. "Suna" can go so many different ways, I don't know where to start. I'll come back to this later when I have more time to think about how to write this down. I have now come back, and... yeah, this one is so vague and weird, I need more time, because it really goes many places. Then there's Twinsoul's name itself. "Shri" is an honorific, generally used when recognizing someone as being respectable in their own right "Sanvith" is weird. Acc. to Jofwu, Kalyani says this means "Son of the Mountain," but I cannot find where this is pulled from. "Prasanva" is weird. As others have pointed out down below, one of the most straightforward ways to approach this is to take the "pra" as a prefix, and then deal with the rest of the word, "sanva" as one thing. This doesn't quite work, because while there's lots of similar words I can use for inspiration, nothing fits things completely. That, unfortunately, is also the problem if you don't go the whole "pra+sanva" route, so... yeah. There's... a possibility, that the break down is somehow "Pra + san/sam + va," with elements coming together such that you get "forward mountain and" but... I dislike that immensely, because we don't have "maahikva" after, we have "maahik va". So... these are closest to what I can find: What I'm pulling from aren't exactly "Prasanva," but instead "Prasham" and "Prasaha," where the words are similar enough that I can kind of see a form of them being Prasanva. "Maahik" is generally referring to earthly qualities. Acc. to Kalyani, this means "earth," too, so I'm happy. "va," is generally used as a conjunctive "and also" sound, so you might say, "something something something v something" which ends up being meant as "something something something and something." Think of it as adding a delimiter between two items of a list, though it's more combining those two items into being taken as one group, almost. "Sila" probably refers to "stone," though "Sila" also tends to be used to refer to (virtuous) quality, with words like "sushil" translating to "having good virtue." "Raj of the Coriander Court" most likely means Twinsoul is the king, or atleast someone in the royal Coriander Court. Putting everything together, there's a possibility that Twinsoul's full name translates to "Lord Mountain-son, Conqueror of Earth and Stone, King of the Coriander Court." I'm technically on vacation right now, and I'm away from my regular workspace from where I could get you direct sources for some of this, but I will eventually edit this post and get it more organized.

Problem: Sazed is losing control of his Shard because he's out of balance from trying to be more Preservation-y than Ruin-y. Fact: Ruin's signature trick was altering the written word. Solution: Make words appear. Lots of words. Lots and lots of words. Every time someone throws out a scrap of paper, Harmony can write "Saze wuz here" up and down both sides. Every time someone scribbles something rude on a restroom stall, Harmony can change it to a Pathian proverb. Alleyway graffiti can migrate from wall to wall, correcting its spelling and grammar in the process. Sazed can continue the Words of Founding-- The Further Thoughts of God on Everything, Volume LXIII-- in any discarded book. He can write the Great Scadrialian Novel. He can write the Terrible Scadrialian Novel, if that appeases his inner Ruin more. He can write fanfic for A Hero for All Ages. He can (again, if he needs to use up some extra Ruin) write disturbing, badly-spelled TenSoon-centric smutfic for A Hero for All Ages. I cannot see any flaws in this logic and I expect Harmony to start on his writing career immediately. You're welcome, Sazed.

Alright, hopefully you've had enough time to relax after all these commissions of Kelsier's crew, because today we have a big one for you! This last August was the first time we got to spend our newly-expanded art budget on a single piece - you might recall that we had access to this level of funding back in April, when we commissioned a couple of pieces from Nozomi Matsuoka, but that was a couple of pieces and from an artist we had already worked with; and July was obviously a series of relatively simple illustrations. So we were all excited to see what kind of doors our larger budget could open for us. The first such door was Hugh Hammons whose name - and work - you might recognize from the #arting channel of our Discord. We've long loved his environment concepts, so when we knew we could pay him something close to what his work is worth, we immediately contacted him and worked out a list of subjects he liked. Our patrons chose Urithiru as it appears in Shadesmar, we all got to work, and the rest is history. The commission turned out way better than anyone had imagined it, and Hugh was gracious enough to scrap a few early designs that weren't quite working out - feel free to ask him for them. This final version achieves a perfect balance between the sheer sense of scale, with how big the Tower and the Oathgate pillars are, and the beautiful spectacle that is Urithiru in Shadesmar (or is it the Sibling? Who knows). 10/10 would admire the view.

At the moment the limit for the number of reputation points — also known as ‘likes’ or ‘upvotes’— is 20 per day. However, I (and other Sharders) find this restricting. We know that there is a limit for a reason, but, we think it would be great if our limit was moved up to something higher. Perhaps 30? I understand that many users never reach this limit but a good number of us do. I know that whenever I stumble onto an art thread or the gallery my points are slurped up like a bowl of stir fried spaghetti. We find that reputation is a great way to give thanks to our fellows or agree with somebody on a point without having to make an entirely new post explaining so, the thing is, we just don’t have enough of it. Before I continue I would like to make it clear that this is in no way a demand, it is just a suggestion that some members of our not so little online community have come together to produce. We totally understand that this may just be a hassle to do or be completely impossible. Regardless of what comes of this, it has been extremely fun putting together this campaign of sorts and I have certainly made stronger connections with Sharders that I previously had very little contact with . That being said we are not just seeing this as some sort of fun thing. If it wasn’t a legitimate concern our community had brought up, I would not have bothered posting this. But, regardless of how many people want this, the number of reputation being 20 does not impede on users enjoyment of the site too much. I don’t think it should be considered an extremely urgent issue as we will still function fine without this change. Without further ado, our case. If the limit does end up being extended, we think that 30 would be a great number to move it up to. Originally 40 was proposed but we do not want to have so many reputation points that we spend them without care, compromising the integrity of the entire system. Realistically no one should spend all their rep every day. The extended limit would accommodate those days when you find such exuberant amounts of amazing content that you just need more reputation. For example; you wind up on the theory crafting section of The Shard and find so many theories you espouse along with some great responses. Upvote! Later on your playing forum games with some buddies and someone makes some incredibly witty jokes that just make you crack up. Upvote! Later in SE there is an exceptionally crafted piece of roleplay that you need to recognise. Upvote! Then later, you see on the home page that there are all new images on the gallery. You must check it out. Upvote! Upvote! Upvote! Ohhoho but we’re not done! Argent has posted something new in news, and as always his exceptionally sharp humour () combined with the fact that there is a new art commission that is absolutely stunning means you must click the orange arrow of glory! But what’s this? Noooo the dreaded grey box informing you that you have reached your limit for the day?! What to do? Do I take an upvote away from one of the deserving artists, or theory crafters, or role players, or comedians? Woe! Disclaimer: this was a work of fiction heavily influenced by real life events, not a retelling of an actual event in time. Of course I will reiterate that the above predicament should not be an every day occurrence. Hitting the reputation limit shouldn’t be something that happens too often, yet, it does. The above predicament could have been avoided if the rep limit was higher. Now, I know what you’re thinking — I probably don’t but just pretend — “But Cinnamon, this scenario is not completely unavoidable, the rep limit will still occasionally be hit to early, even with the limit extended. Yes, but by that point ten more deserving reputation would have been given away. Perhaps the person will even see the notification and be shocked at the amount of rep they have given out and try to reign themselves in for the future. Some Sharders, I have found, rarely hit the reputation limit. So it is plain to see that this is not an problem that prevails for every single user. You can see, however, that there is certainly a few who see this as an issue. There are actually more than are listed but these people preferred to remain anonymous as to not ‘draw upon the wrath of the mods’ (paraphrased). I myself would rather not draw their wrath so please know this; if anything here comes off as disrespectful, presumptuous, snarky, or rude I most certainly do not mean it in that way, as I’m sure you all know, tone is quite difficult to convey through text. I have tried to combat this with the interspersion of relevant emotions and emojis, but this is not always enough. One of our very own Members of the community — Mr. Misting —said this. I think the opinion of someone with a different point of view is very valuable. Mr. Misting did a wonderful job explaining his case and I feel no need to expand upon it too greatly however, I would like to focus on his last sentence. This is most certainly not the first time I have seen things along these lines. I could link hundreds of posts iterating the community’s general fear of the moderators and admin, I’ll admit, a few of those posts were mine. If this request is granted — or at least considered, read, and treated this a real proposal — I feel it will reduce the general population of the Shards’ feelings of fear towards our staff, and show that they really are people. …unless they’re not people and are totally fine with being feared, if so just ignore that last paragraph. Even though I have been here less than a year, I have grown to love the community that The 17th Shard provides and I care about the people on here and their experience with the site. I honestly feel that changing the rep limit will improve the enjoyment of users. I am very sorry for the lengthy post. If you would like to express support for our cause feel free to PM me or respond to the thread and I will add your name to the signature. Thank you for listening to my ramblings, and mods: please don’t kill me. Signed Cinnamon (me), @Thaidakar the Ghostblood, @Aes Sedai, @The Halcyon Girl, @Robin Sedai, @Ookla the Inverted (The Aspiring Archivist) @Sequence, @Mr. Misting, @The Wandering Wizard *executes a dramatic exit splendiferous enough to make Hoid jealous* My information comes from responses to these two SUs, https://www.17thshard.com/forum/profile/42635-calanocorvus/?status=22972&type=status https://www.17thshard.com/forum/profile/51662-cinnamon/?status=23098&type=status this thread, and various PMs.

Hey y'all! So... you may have been wondering why I've disappeared for a few days... Yeah the Shard's blocked at home and I have been banned. Wheee Therefore, this is the last post I'm gonna make on here for a while. So I would like to say thank you! Thank you all for your support in my art and my writing - it has really meant a lot, and has helped me grow and improve! Thank you for being such an awesome community! It has been a joy to hang out with y'all and cause cHaOs. I apologize to y'all in the RP's and Sanderson Elim games - @The Wandering Wizard, you have full permission to do whatever you like with Telrao. She is yours now. It has truly been a delight and an honor to be with y'all! Until we next meet: May the sun shine upon your face The wind be at your back The path lead you to whatever place That brings you the joy you lack I LOVE you all, and hope our paths shall meet again! Blessings - Telrao *throws infinite muffins*

So. Today is my Shardiversary. It has been one year since, after quite a while lurking, I decided to join this community. Little did I know that the choice would mark a turning point in my life. As I slowly got involved in the activities on the Shard, I made friends. Connections. One of the first friends I made was The Wandering Wizard, who, though I didn't realize it at the time, lived in the same city as me. After some social deduction (and some off handed mentions of penguin...excrement...) I realized where he lived, and managed to meet up with him. A month or two later I met Cellist and Ranryu, and we got them to join too. During this era a bunch of other Sharders, many that I knew in real life and even more that I didn't, joined, and I somehow became popular. I fit in this community now. I have a place. I have friends that I can confide in, friends that know how to help me when I need help. Joining this site has given me friendships in real life and made them stronger, but it's also let me connect with so many amazing people, people who think like me, people who I'd been looking for for a long time. My time here has helped me realize who I am, I think. I've been able to greater understand my interests and goals and values in the last year, and while there were a great number of factors in that, this site, and the people here, have been a huge part in it. I'm glad all of you became Sanderfans and decided to come here at one point or another. Because you being here has been a huge blessing in my life. Thank you all, and here's to many more years!

I just failed a math test. After turning the paper in, I realized I used the wrong formula for EVERY SINGLE PROBLEM. Failing in the most stupid way possible is definitely my thing. It’s not like I don’t know the material. *facepalm infinity* Well, at least I can retake it.

So I just found out I'm going to be able to go on a music internship in NYC in a couple of months!! I'll be shadowing a professional jazz pianist/arranger and working in a recording and sound-mixing studio! I should be able to go watch some sessions (and I'm hoping to play too) which I'm really looking forward to My internship mentor just confirmed this morning that it's all set up and I'm just so excited!!!

WAHOOOOOOOOOO

Hey, thank you for bringing this to our attention! It's clear you put thought into it. I'll mention it to the other mods and see if we can get a response in about whether or not we want a rep change. For now, please know that you're not bothering us by asking; there may or may not be a change to the limit, but regardless, it is just fine for you to suggest things and express what you as members of the community think. You're being respectful. You don't need to be scared of us either, as we are indeed just regular people none of us are kandra in disguise. not a single one. certainly not all of us in a grand conspiracy, and we want this community to be a fun and safe place for everyone. We're here to make sure it stays that way.

Obscure OB reference:

May I now present to you the Lord Ruler! I think that my art is getting better.

soooo after procrastinating for literal weeks I'm finally putting my foot down and making an art thread. Why? idk because no guarantees that I'll add to this regularly or be consistent at all, but I think it could be fun so here we are aaaaaanyway some recent doodles: ^ this one is a sketch of Leshwi I did a while ago that looks okay (in hindsight her neck is probably way too long but whatever) ^ These are just some random drawings I did at school of some OC's of mine that I thought looked pretty good also I would like to apologize for how big the pictures are, I'm working on a solution for that

yes luna and i broke up it was on good terms, and we’re still friends, but we’re not romantically together anymore thanks y’all for asking if i’m okay. i am okay. a little hurt, pretty sad, but.. i’m okay. and i’ll be okay. life’s different now, but i’ll get through it. and.. yeah. just wanted to let y’all know in case you hadn’t seen yet. im not mad at her. she gave incredibly logical reasons that i also agreed with, so it was a mutual parting of ways. please don’t bash on her or on our relationship or anything. thanks.

I don't like YA fantasy anymore (Exceptions: Rick Riordan's stuff, Skyward saga, Hunger Games) And I get that the whole thing about having a bunch of twelve-year-olds save the multiverse is there so a bunch of twelve-year-olds can get into reading. As a kid I sustained myself entirely on Brandon Mull - Five Kingdoms was my first real foray into high fantasy. But now that I'm an adult? It just... hurts to read. There're always these grown adults sending these children into battle and making stupid decisions to make the kids seem smart and epic. And then some god-level monstrosity finally reawakens from his slumber and is defeated by the power of friendship. Why am I thinking about this? Maybe because I'm watching Rebels? I really like the series, but the fact that they keep sending Sabine and Ezra into these tough-nut situations on their own usually breaks the immersion a bit for me. Some episodes less so than others - like the one where Ezra infiltrates a squad of Imperial Cadets, because Kanan is all "this is the dumbest idea I've ever had we need to pull him out of there" - but a lot of the time it's like "our plan is to have the mandalorian child run down a whole platoon of stormtroopers as a distraction" and I'm like ??? Child soldiers??? (I do really like Rebels though; not crapping on it or anything) Maybe I'm thinking about this because I was thinking about some fantasy pet peeves I have - all of which tend to show up in YA fiction at some point or another: "We've got company!" "I'm not leaving here without [][][]" [Two sword fighters glaring at each other while their swords are crossed... like I can't hold eye contact with anyone for the life of me and you're telling me that these people hate each other so much that they can't bear to look away for one second?] "Believe in yourself. BELIEVE" (somehow they passed this off in The Lego Movie. I guess Morgan Freeman just has that effect) [Wisecracks amid the final battle between the protag and antag, including "oh yeah? well -"] Objectively the worst thing to ever come out of any of these stories are when the twelve-year-old children form lifelong romantic bonds with each other. No, Harrison the sword boy and Verdi the tank top girl are not in love. No, they did not find their other half at the ripe old age of thirteen. If it's written by a christian then neither of these kids know how babies are made, and you're telling me that they're going to kiss at the end of the story and get married in time for the Era 2 sequel? If your prepubescent tweens are going to be kissing then you need to get an appointment with a psychologist. Meeting your future spouse at that age is called arranged marriage, not true love. (I have some opinions about the very end of AtLA, in case you cannot tell) And then these children are beating up the bad guy's soldiers left and right? "It's because they use their wits to fight, not just their muscle" man shut up. No tyrant-king of this fantasy world is going to maintain control over his empire with a bunch of brainless monkey guards. No army consists of a billion muscle machines and three characterized elite warriors. It's like in the Kenobi show how the good guys will whack a stormtrooper in the face and they'll just drop their blaster because reasons. You want to show the protagonists being capable and thinking on their feet? Give them fewer guards to worry about. Instead of twelve on two make it four on three with tight individual v individual combat. You'll never establish the least bit of tension if the sword child can take out two dozen bad guys on his own. I know, I know... it's YA. It's written for children. No one's forcing me to read any of it. It just bothers me that there are grown adults who are making the decision to send children into battle because they're their "last hope" or some crap like that. Like maybe if the child has some super powerful magical abilities and is practically incapable of dying (Mob Psycho 100 my beloved), but giving them a slim chance of success on some elite mission? It's not worth endangering these kids over, and it's probably even less worth endangering the mission by leaving it up to a bunch of kids. Basically, I'm being very conscientious about what happens with my younger characters in the Iconar Collective.

My bookshelves have been updated This is why you can't give a Sanderfan a job

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE IT CAME

There was an annual gift exchange tradition in the fandom that went on for several years, and it strangely coincided with our own holiday season. It was known as Secret Sazed, and while this art commission is not involved with this tradition in any way, it is a Sazed piece, and we are revealing it right around the holidays. So it was a secret Sazed, in the sense that... you didn't know it was coming? Look, overabundance of (Christmas) food is the enemy of wit, this as good of an intro you are going to get. Let's talk about the illustration itself. Those of you who remember the November art poll, or are familiar enough with the various prominent artists in the fandom, might identify the artist as Petar Penev. Sazed is one of his favorite characters, and he was excited to try different ways of representing the two Shards involved in his Ascension to Harmony. The version you see here is the one we eventually settled on (though feel free to keep an eye on his socials, he often posts early drafts of his illustrations, and there were some neat ideas we explored) - focused on Sazed, while representing the powers in a more abstract way. We hope the holiday season is treating all of you well, but if not - we've got more commissions moving through the pipeline (though not at this very moment, as we are encouraging our artists to also take a break), and we should be able to show them to you before too long. Happy (belated) Harmontide!

This isn't a normal Silhouette/Debonair update. I've been doing a lot of thinking this last week, and I think I need to step away from the shard for a little while. I absolutely love being a part of this wonderful, amazing community, and it's changed my life for the better in more than just a couple ways—don't get me wrong. The issue is I love hanging out with you all too much. I've had an issue with procrastination for much of my life, but this year it's been very difficult to reconcile the multiple daily meanders to the shard with all the pressure I've placed on myself recently. I've found myself slipping behind on some of the most important priorities in my life, which hasn't been especially beneficial to my mental health. If, in an instant, I could immediately rectify my issues and return to the shard, believe me, I would. I know that I'll struggle in restraining myself for the time that I'm away, but that's part of the reason I'm writing this SU—I trust you all enough to hold me accountable. I'll miss you guys a lot. I really will. I'll miss the random adventuring, the IKYK and paranoia of SE, the exciting wordplay and verbal spars, the philosophical discussions, the spontaneous RPing in random threads that shouldn't be there, and the posts that spiral into threads that spiral into crusades that spiral into clubs―all of it. I plan to step away for at least a week. Maybe I've been overly dramatic, but this is important to me, and I wanted to share my feelings as to not leave you all in the dark. This won't be a permanent thing; I know I'll have much more free time after the next few months and be able to rejoin the craziness once more. This is just something I feel I must do for myself, my wellbeing, and my future. Goodbye for now! —Shining Silhouette