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Found 20 results

  1. Hello, I have written this story as a gift for my husband's birthday, he enjoyed it and said I should post it here. I thought it would be great to get some less-biased feedback (there is no telling how much of his enthusiasm is about the story and how much about me writing it for him, haha), and agreed. So here we go. A few notes on the fanfic (here is the Link). First, it takes place between the second and the third books of the Stormlight Archive. It assumes that you are familiar with Roshar and doesn't spend page space describing either the magic system or the world. Second, even though I had a very specific target audience and most of the characters are reminiscent of people in our lives, it is fiction enough to be read by any Stormlight fan. I hope you enjoy it! Third, it is 39,000 words, half detective story, half romace. P.S. it is the first piece of fiction I have ever written, so constructive criticism is very welcome. I intend to keep improving on this
  2. Hello all, I had a thought while reviewing how Jasnah does soulcasting in WoK, and couldn't find any references to this specifically, so thought I'd share it. When Jasnah pretends to use her soulcaster to hide her use of Transformation, the level of dedication to the subterfuge is impressive. First, she ensures that the gemstones crack, though there isn't any reference that I'm aware of that indicates that drawing stormlight from a gemstone can crack it. That likely means simultaneous Transformation...? Also, the visual effect might be something she's doing, as well. Second, she asks for the correct gemstone to use on blood, though Transormation does not seem to be limited by the gemstone/essence affinity. I don't think anyone could have figured out her trickery if she hadn't slipped and soulcast the bread and jam.
  3. An interesting connection that occurred to me, that I haven't seen discussion about in the wake of Dawnshard: I think we might now have all the puzzle pieces to put together the origins of Soulcasters (the fabrial-like devices). They are ancient tools that modern artifabrians have been unable to replicate. We know based on Jasnah's hypothesizing that the ancient humans did not have long lost knowledge: Shardblades, Shardplate, Soulcasters were not created by humans but received via some other, magical means. We've known there is some tenuous connection between Soulcasters and Akinah based on the Kaza interlude from Oathbringer: the Liaforan Soulcaster thinks about a rumor amongst Soulcasters that links them to the abandoned city. She believes there might be some knowledge or power there to cure her of the effects that prolonged use of a Soulcaster has on an individual. In Dawnshard, Nikli tells Rysn that the Soulcasters are kept “out of reverence, as they were offerings to the Ancient Guardians long ago.” So, again we have a connection between Soulcasters and Akinah (via the larkin, which are linked to the island as evidenced by their needing to return and bond the specific mandra variant that exists there). Now, this might be the source of the rumor that drives Kaza to seek out Akinah (I don't think it is, but can't be sure)--but either way, it opens up another question: why do the Sleepless view Soulcasters as offerings to the larkin (I don't imagine the larkin can use them, except for maybe eating the stormlight within the gemstones). I don't have a good answer to this, but it further strengthens the link between Soulcasters and Akinah/the Ancient Guardians. And this is central to my theory: because now we know that the secret hidden on Akinah, the thing the Ancient Guardians were protecting, is one of the Dawnshards; specifically, the one that encapuslated “The will of a god to remake things, to demand they be better.” And what is it that Soulcasters do? Well--pretty much that, if only at a smaller scale! So here's my theory: this Dawnshard of Change was used to create the Soulcasters. Someone (or some divinity) wielded the Dawnshard to imbue the power of Change into these devices, enabling individuals to use the power of transformation without requiring the Nahel bond or Honorblade. Tinfoil hat theory extension: I'm thinking Honor was the one who used the Dawnshard to create the Soulcasters. Based on a comment from Brandon on the Dawnshard megathread: "Soulcasting via a fabrial is way, way less dangerous than Radiant soulcasting--which is in turn far less dangerous than unbound soulcasting (meaning without oaths.)" It seems like the degree of "oaths" or perhaps bonds on the usage of Soulcasting makes it less dangerous. The Honorblades that grant the Soulcasting ability require no oaths to use, and so have great power; Radiant Soulcasters are bound by their oaths, rendering their ability safer; but the Soulcasters are much more limited in their application, often only able to perform one type of Soulcasting. So, it makes sense to me that Honor had some role in creating the Soulcasters, making them safer to use.
  4. Can you Soulcast gemstones? Crystal is one of the Ten Essences... Edit: I asked this over on Discord, Dr Rockso showed me this page: from Ch 33 of Way of Kings "said to be impossible"
  5. During the six year war of the shattered plains the parshendi and Alethi fought to the death for gemhearts . Everyone , myself included just assumes they had soulcasters. “The gemheart is ours. We will continue to eat.” “That is well,” Venli said. “And your human?” Excerpt From Words of Radiance Brandon Sanderson https://books.apple.com/us/book/words-of-radiance/id717847678 This material may be protected by copyright. this was never confirmed on screen. The more i thought about it , the more I began to wonder was this true . The parshendi lived for a long time in dullform could they utilize a soulcaster in that form? Fabrials are a human invention and it takes skill and deteriates the body of the human using it . Everything we have seen about the Dawnsingers suggest thier bodies were made to survive on Roshar . They can Survive highstorms to transform. If in the right form they can jump chasms. They are more connected to the natural way the planets ecosystems works. They leave thier dead alone so there corpses can fertilize the soil because they possess gemhearts and we know Stormlight causes plants to grow . A body left out in a highstorm will be infused with stormlight , the body retains the stormlight , gets covered by crem and boom plants grow. All seems natural . So why do they need a Gemheart ? I think they have a natural way to soulcast . Perhaps thier body acts as a fabrial , allowing them to change something into food . The Fabrials we have seen are limited to one essence . Some can change stuff into gas , others into stone , some into grain . So if the parshendi have soulcasters then they must have several to satisfy the needs of an army . And several different kinds of soulcasters. Doesn’t it seem that they have a better way of doing it . One that is not limited to just one essence . If I am wrong and they do have soulcasters . Does it effect them like humans? Does it cause thier body to change into vines or gas like we have seen . If it does can they repair the damage by changing forms . It’s a lot of unanswered questions , all of which make me think they utilize the gemhearts differently than we do . If they do have soulcasters why have they never attacked and tried to steal any more soulcasters to replace ones that have been damaged?
  6. When Kaza is about to soulcast the rock "spears" around the island she says “I can make a hole in them, Captain. It is easier to Soulcast an entire object, but I am no ordinary Soulcaster. I have begun to see the dark sky and the second sun, the creatures that lurk, hidden, around the cities of men.” So my question is, "HOW?" Presumably the rock was a single sphere in the cognitive realm. So how did she transform a hole in one
  7. In Way of Kings Szeth stealthily enters a building to assasinate a thief guild-master on behalf of his current master. When he arrived a man in a mask was there and had already dispatched his mark. He possessed Szeth Oathstone so Szeth Bowed to him. What I find intriguing is when the man left he waved his hand and turned the wall to mist and stepped thru . Szeth assumed it was Soulcaster. I’m not convinced . What is further intriguing to me is the knowledge the man had and the way he and his companions dispatched Szeth current master and beat him to his target. I’m wondering is this guy a worldhopper? His mask makes me think of southern scadrians for some reason . Also he got into that room way faster than Szeth . So let’s say his mask is just. a mask ; Could he perhaps be a elsecaller ? He only had one gem on a chain , there was no mention. Of a soulcaster on his hand! Also if he could elsecall that might explain how he got past all the guards and to the target . Elsecallers have no prohibition with killing or assasinating people . Jasnah does it all the time. We know Teravangion has at least one radiant in his employ , who is to say he doesn’t have another?
  8. From the album: Soulcaster

    This is a Soulcaster I recently made out of salvaged jewelry and loose gems. It's entirely made out of silver and gold, with a ruby (man-made), topaz, and amethyst set as the focal stones. The finger rings have clips on them to allow it to be taken off easily. Enjoy!
  9. From the album: Soulcaster

    This is a Soulcaster I recently made out of salvaged jewelry and loose gems. It's entirely made out of silver and gold, with a ruby (man-made), topaz, and amethyst set as the focal stones. The finger rings have clips on them to allow it to be taken off easily. Enjoy!
  10. Hello everyone. In this topic, I'd like to talk about the engineering principles behind Soulcasters, and to a lesser extent Regrowth fabrials and Honorblades. With Oathbringer, we finally have a PoV of someone using an actual Soulcaster, plus some interesting information in the Ars Arcanum and some further knowledge on the Honorblades. So with all that in mind, let's get to it. First, I'd like to talk about the actual composition of the Soulcasters. From Way of Kings, here is our first actual description of a Soulcaster. Soulcasting fabrials have some limitations that actual Knights Radiants Soulcasting don't seem to have. Not all Soulcasters are able to Soulcast every essence, as stated by Shallan here. In addition, Soulcasters are only able to Soulcast things into an essence that has a corresponding gemstone on the fabrial. Emeralds for food, smokestones for smoke, garnets for blood, etc. This is directly different from how Radiant Soulcasting seems to function, as Jasnah uses multiple essences in the battle for Thaylen city without any particular types of gemstones being noted as being drained. So what are Soulcasting fabrials doing? It appears they are giving limited access to the Transformation surge. It appears that, unlike Shardblades, they have no inherent primary user. It also appears that the process to Soulcast is something people get better with as time passes, but it has devastating side effects on those who use them. We have seen Soulcasters with granite casts to their skin, with vines growing from their eyes, and even those who are turning into smoke. All of these incidences have led me to the follow conclusion Conclusion: Soulcasting Fabrials create a weak approximation of a Nahel bond The only ways we have seen on Roshar to access the Surges are various bonds with the sentient Investiture that Rosharans call spren, by being directly Invested by a Shard (Fused), or by holding an Honorblade. We can cross being directly Invested off the list of potential ways Soulcasting fabrials allow access, as the people using them still require contact with the Soulcaster to use it. Likewise I believe we can cross off a bond with a spren, as while the Soulcasting savant feels a presence when she Soulcasts, she does not see anything, and she is far enough into Shadesmar that in my opinion spren should not be able to hide from her. That leaves the Honorblades. The Honorblades grant a link to two Surges to whomever touches them. We see this with Bridge 4 using Jezrien's Honorblade. In addition we see another similarity between the Honorblades and the Soulcasters: the color of the metal. I will concede that this is a tenuous connection, however: Honorblades appear to be physical manifestations of Honor's power, much like lerasium, atium, or ettmetal. The color of the metal could be an indication of a shared origin. Both seem to require large amounts of Stormlight to function. Both create a weak bond on touch, and require some time to learn how to use. Honorblades can be dismissed, while Soulcasters cannot, but that could be a property of Soulcasters not being intended as weapons. The link between the two is reinforced in the Ars Arcanum, where Khriss seems to think that Soulcasting fabrials, medallions on Scadrial, and Honorblades all work by similar principles. What I believe occurs in each case is that the possession of a medallion, Soulcaster, or Honorblade temporarily overwrites the person who is using it's Spiritweb to make them a temporary Metalborn or Surgebinder. In the case of medallions, we are shown that knowledge of what the medallion can do is necessary to unlock it's power. We see this with the weight medallions used in the airships and by the coin Wax acquired from Hoid. Soulcasters do not have this problem as most of Roshar knows what they are on sight, and Honorblades have been sequestered in Shinovar and seem to have been used for training Surgebinders for unknown purpose. Clearly the Shin know what the Honorblades do, and so the Intent is not a problem there either. This temporary overwrite causes problems for the recipients down the road, however, I think. In the case of Soulcasters and Honorblades, they are required to draw dangerous amounts of Investiture into their Spiritwebs, probably exacerbating any cracks already there and probably giving them an increased likelihood of savantism. Medallions likely don't have this problem as much because of the relatively limited amounts of Investiture in their use. Anyway, that's my current theory. What do you guys think?
  11. I'm sure a lot of you have read the Oathbringer interlude set right outside of Aimia (find it here if you havent) and i have a theory on one of the questions posed in it. What is on the island that can possibly cure Soulcaster savantism? My theory proposes that the Larkin/Lanceryn or their gemhearts (which are rumored to be on Aimian islands), used in fabrials, have the ability to rid the soul of the affects of savantism. This fits with what we already have seen them do (suck stormlight out of Lift). Expanding on this, I could see how these powers could greatly help Odium and his forces conquer Roshar. Not only could the Lanceryn be uused to easily combat Shardbearers and Surgebinders, but I could see how their powers could possibly be used in many other ways. As always, let me know what you guys think. edit: FIRST!11!!one!11
  12. I have a theory that may might need some scrutiny. The Soulcaster Shallan has in The Way of Kings was cut, and it stopped working. What if the soul casting fabrials are just prisons that hold a Spren capable of soul casting? Maybe I am overthinking, but it seems to me that all Soul Casters would need to contain some form of intelligence that could exchange Stormlight in Shadesmar to effect an object's change into one of the ten essences. Shallan is an intelligent human that could not convince a stick that it wanted to be fire, so we know that the objects can be willful, if not stubborn. Either there exists some trick to force a soulcasting, or an intelligence must present an argument to convince the object to change. If this is true, a Lightweaver's Cryptic could potentially be bound into a soulcaster for others to use, without needing to have a bond. Soulcaster Fabrials are a delicate pattern of chains and gemstones. I imagine them as a web of delicate lines with gemstones interspersed. What if they function as a web and hold a spren in between the cognitive and physical realm? Shardblades are the remnants of a broken bond and a formerly bound spren in some form of agony, which is why those sensitive to a bond can't touch blades without hearing the screams. It does not seem unlikely that Soulcasters are similarly remains of Spren, but in a more active capacity. If this is true, then cutting the soul caster might free an imprisoned spren. We are told that Shallan did not attempt to summon Pattern as a blade after the death of her mother, due primarily to that trauma. She Imagines that the blade is imprisoned in the safe in her father's study. But this does not explain fully why the Cryptic was never visible to her until the events in The Way of Kings. (Assuming that the pattern she is looking at on the ceiling of her quarters before she first heard the "What are you?" question was actually the Cryptic.) Why did Pattern seemingly not appear to a young Shallan after the death of her mother as she was growing up? It's possible she just wished him to leave her alone, but then why dld he come back later? Could there be a procedure that would have allowed her father to bind Pattern and create a Soulcaster fabrial? If the Ghostbloods knew of an ancient secret like this, and found that the Davar daughter had a bonded spren, possibly because her mother talked about her child's supernatural nature while looking for a "cure", it does not seem impossible that they might offer Brightlord Davar the method, and use of the resulting fabrial, in exchange for his allegiance. Perhaps a young Shallan would rationalize an event like removing her bonded spren as her father taking her blade, and putting it away in a safe. It always seemed incongruous to me that Lin Davar, portrayed as an ambitious man who would do almost anything to get a stronger position, did not attempt to gain anything from his daughter having a shard blade. I realize that the Radiants were looked at with scorn, and that it is possible he did not want his House tainted by their memory, but would he have not looked into how the shard blades of the past were separated from their owners originally? It would have solved multiple problems at once. Would questions along these lines eventually lead him to the Ghostbloods? If he somehow took advantage of his daughter after finding out she was bonding a Cryptic, and manipulated events so that he could get a soul caster made from the Spren, that would seem to me to be more in keeping with his character. Pattern lost his memories at the time of Brightness Davar's death, possibly because his bond with Shallan was weakened by her wanting nothing to do with him, and, at the same time, Shallan went mute and became antisocial, presumably due to guilt. I propose that Brightlord Davar somehow took Shallan's spren after the death of his wife, and used knowledge gained from the Ghostbloods to imprison Pattern and create a fabrial for exploitation. I also think that the forced breaking of the bond was what damaged Shallan's young mind and fractured Pattern's memories. Are there any holes in this theory that I am overlooking?
  13. Jasnah Kholin illustrated poster with Shardblade and Soulcaster. Full image: Detail: Process: Alternate posters:
  14. Question the first: Is Shardplate alive (or perhaps more accurately, undead)? I was struck by the similarity in description between shardplate and the skin of Nan Balat's axehound, which got me thinking. Shardplate seems to have many of the characteristics of Roshar's native fauna. Shardplate requires gemhearts to move and function, just like the greatshells. Shardplate will regenerate if broken. Earth crustaceans can regenerate -- I'm not sure if we've heard specifically that Rosharan ones can, but it seems likely. Its natural color is "slate gray" -- perhaps a reference to the geologic physiology of Rosharan wildlife? We know that chasmfiends and the like have symbiotic relationship with spren that allow them to defy the usual laws of biology.The strength and speed shardplate lends the wearer could be the effect of this relationship. Unlike most matter, shardplate can't be cut by shardblades. Shardblades cut the physical aspect of inanimate matter and the (cognitive/spiritual? I forget which) aspect of living matter. If shardplate were neither alive nor dead, but some sort of stormlight-animated husk, then it stands to reason it would interact strangely with shardblades. There has to be some sort of logical reason for this, since artifabrians are able to partially replicate the effect in half-shards. When a surgebinder has breathed in stormlight, they don't have to breathe air (and they can also heal faster, I think?) -- which suggests that stormlight has life-sustaining properties. Back in the days of the Heralds/original radiants, armor didn't need gems to function, right? Maybe back in those days, the plate was still alive in its own right. In modern Roshar, you have to power up your plate with infused gemstones (trapped spren). Wasn't there some scene where Syl reacted uncomfortably to shardplate? I could see why she would be upset with humans cramming random spren into an empty husk with no regard for the natural order. Has this theory been explored? Question the second: Did Lin Davar's secret soulcaster ever really work, or was he actually a radiant? He was in deep with the Ghostbloods or something, right? Maybe like Jasnah, his soulcaster was just for show as well. (Oh, the irony!) Sure, the steward claimed to have been trained to use it -- but did he ever actually accompany lord Davar and the surveyor? Maybe his "training" was just for show. The whole thing just seems fishy.
  15. sheep

    The Lesson

    An illustrated scene from WoK in the style of an animated TV series. Some of these chapters more easy to imagine in my mind than others - and this is one of them that is memorable and leaves a lasting impact. Chapter 36, "The Lesson", WoK I really like Jasnah's design. There's something very expressive about her, even if she tries to be cold all the time. I guess it's all that outward arrogance and confidence. Process pic:
  16. What ability from The Stormlight Archive would you choose? Windrunning? Soulcasting? Shardblade? Shardplate?
  17. Strong & beautiful Princess Jasnah Kholin - statuesque, always dressed immaculately, discriminating violet eyes. Love this woman!

    © Johanna Rupprecht / Lyraina

  18. First off, forgive me for vagueness/inaccuracy/laughable forgetfulness. It's been near-on two years, as far as I can recall, since I read WoK (I'm waiting to get a fresh read just before SA2 comes out). So I may be off-base on how I remember soulcasters being shown to work. I may also simply be wrong, since we haven't yet learned much about real soulcasters. All that aside: Theory Time. In short, I believe that the "basic" soulcasters that only produce a single essence in an uninspired way are, in fact, the only soulcasters that are actually fabrials. Soulcasting "fabrials" which can transform multiple essences in an unlimited variety of ways, then, are all fakes used by Ardents who have gained Soulcasting powers similar to Shallan and Jasnah's. This would mean that Voidus' "the soulcaster was a fake" theory would be accurate, and that Shallan's soulcaster never worked. It may also mean that the Ghostbloods wanted to assassinate Jasnah as an end in itself, because they knew that she could soulcast on her own, rather than as a means of separating her from her fake soulcaster. We know from Shallan's introduction that "multi-use" soulcasters are very rare, and from Kabsal that most soulcasters work by just pushing a button, essentially. This button-pushing doesn't leave much room for any kind of imaginative process to determine the form of the soulcast-target, and would seem redundant if soulcasting fabrials interacted properly with the minds of their users. The secrecy with which Ardent's carry out soulcasting could also be a clue, although, to be fair, it could just be standard religious ceremony instead of evil plots. One--non-my-theory, but still evil plots related--explanation could be that the Ardents don't want laymen getting any bright ideas about exactly who keep the soulcasters once they see that all you have to do is point and click. If you go along with me to super-crazy-land, though, this explanation stacks on-top of another, deeper level of deceit in that Soulcasting!Ardents don't want someone to steal a batch of soulcasters including at least one of the (fake) uber-soulcasters, only then to not be able to get it the uber-soulcaster to work while the non-fake real fabrials did. On a level of deception which is approximately as deep as the previous, but laterally differentiated, the Soulcasting!Ardents could want to hide the nature of their "fabrials" from junior members of the Ardentia, which would be hard to do if just anyone could wander by and observe, but is quite easy if they could restrict attendance to high-level ceremonies involving fake soulcasters to only high-level Ardents. Since junior Ardents would never see an uber-soulcaster used, they'd have no reason to be suspicious of it not working the same way as their (real) low-level fabrials do. Then again, the above two-paragraphs could be nonsense and senior Ardents could get along fine and dandy, whether or not my theory is right, by just pushing buttons on their soulcasters, either as how they actually work or as a very effective ruse. As I said, we don't have much info on soulcasters at this juncture, and I haven't read the book in awhile, so I would appreciate any thoughts you guys (and gals) might have on the subject.
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