Secret Project 4 reactions

[Honorless]

Live reactions

 

Uh... I don't remember any character named Nomad. Let's hope he doesn't go the way of most fantasy prologue PoVs who're not main characters and get himself killed! Hmm, seems he's Rosharan and on Roshar?

The Night Brigade! I wonder, the finalized name for the Dust Brigade (the group), perhaps?

Skipping sounds like teleporting

"I have insufficient Investiture to establish a local Connection." Bruh, he has a combat AI. How much in the future is this?

Hmm not on Roshar but similar flora.

"Torment"? Hmm... might be payment of some kind for his abilities? But more likely it sounds like a plain old curse, guess we'll see

"Squire"? My, my. Stormlight adjacent indeed. Clearly they've made quite a lot of progress

Ooh a... Briarheart style undead - or Emberheart in this case, I suppose

He was hoping his Oaths would override some parts of his Torment. Not that it didn't work but he apparently didn't make any Oaths (so... not a Skybreaker Squire then)

Hmm large sun, Ashyn is closer to the Rosharan system's sun. Could this really be set on Ashyn?

Torment is also stopping physical fights - reminds me of Hoid. And Nomad could indeed be a Herald - with that attitude and that healing factor. Also the Knight who's Squire he is seems to be able to perceive him via their Connection

Wow the plants are dying from the sunrise? Well they're probably gonna rise like a phoenix or some such given that life is a thing that persists on this planet and such a cyclical pattern of rebirth is actually kind of a classic. Perhaps they only have a life-cycle of a day?

Also, wow, what a barbaric culture

Uh... Aux, who I assumed was the Knight, is already dead? This man has gone Szeth. Oh or his spren. Duh. Oh, a "dead" spren. But, that can't be right. That would've been dealt with after RoW, right?

A planetary ring, aren't those rare on terrestrial planets? I suppose there are impossible-er planets in the Cosmere (looks at Taldain). Would be pretty though!

Flying cities but this is not Ashyn, according to our intrepid hero (believe it or not "depressed hero" was a typo, lol). And they have a Predator Cities / Mortal Engines aesthetic here, I kinda like that. Except that these cities aren't running from bigger cities but the sunrise...

Skipping takes external fuel, okay, but why is he talking about it like it takes actual fuel? Does he actually mean actual fuel rather than Investiture? Oh, Invested material...

And why don't they live underground? Religion? Were the sacrifices that too? Just who's the Shard running this place? Oh, is the last Shard literally Sacrifice? Or perhaps something on similar lines as Dominion judging by these Emberhearts' bad attitude

Heh, is this perchance, Hoid's inspiration for Fleet

Starship comparisons, for a sec got pulled into a different Sanderverse. A caravanserai city, huh. Running from the sun. The sun being the source of life, death, light and Investiture. I'm liking Brandon's aesthetics in these Secret Project locales

You know, reading about about freezing up just while going to punch some really punchable ppl suddenly makes me pity Hoid a whole lot more

Cinderheart. Eh, I like both names, Cinderheart or Emberheart. "ability to metabolize nearly any kind of Investiture" is part of his "Torment", hmm, now what does this remind me of? Hmm, so this Hoid like non-violence thing is possibly his Nightwatcher Bane?

Heh, his mechanism for controlling the Cinderhearts got hacked by some rebels, it seems. Ooh, is our intrepid hero going to become their Girl On Fire? "Like Awakened Corpses", so he's been to Nalthis apparently. Flying reminds him of better times - seems more and more likely he's a former Windrunner. "Airsick". Not Alethi. Who are you?

This planet smol. Oh hey, the rings are important to the settings and not just for show, that's sweet! Night brings rain, Ring light & Investiture brings growth, sunrise brings both Investiture and death. "An after-effect of the burden he’d once carried, the thing that had given him his Torment." Very Hoid like. Did he literally carry that Dawnshard then? Afraid of bringing the Night Brigade to Roshar, they must be formidable indeed, then, but who are they? I'm assuming they hunt Dawnshards?

Oh these people are Threnodites. Do they just have really bad luck? Or are they just suckers for pain who only colonize hellworlds? Or is this Monody, Elegy or Coronach? So these Cinderhearts might be the... original magic system of Threnodites? This is what they turned into rather than Shades maybe? Would track with darkness and fire, can't think any parallels for sound or movement tho.

"Adonalsium-Will-Remember-Our-Plight-Eventually" Oof. Scadrian medallions have been making a name in the Cosmere, eh. Oh they created an underground bunker, well they do have a history with underground bunkers. Hmm what do they mean by "column", where were they from before they hid in the darkness?

Oh, curly hair, not Alethi, Windrunner... you're Sigzil! Oh former master was referring to Hoid, of course!

Connection conversations are great, they have VR calls, basically. Ah, Hoid did this to him, okay then. Is this a different Dawnshard than Rysn's? Three apprentices - something to keep an eye out for in the future. Huh, and this would happen to Sig in SA 5, okay then.

Edited March 24, 2022 by Honorless

[basement_boi]

 

Spoiler

Dude, my mind was literally short-circuiting while I was reading this. I’m still not sure if this is Silence Divine or not, but Sigzil as Nomad? Some kind of dead spren? Potential references to Kaladin being dead? There needs to be an explanation for this.

 

[Frustration]

OH MY GOSH!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

@Chaos you were right I totally get why this is your favorite.

I just AHHHHH!

When I realised that Sigil had Hoid's Dawnshard I litterally screamed.

I am so hyped right now I just can't.

Apparently Shardblades can become Invisible so that's cool.

[Elsecaller_17.5]

37 minutes ago, Frustration said:

OH MY GOSH!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

@Chaos you were right I totally get why this is your favorite.

I just AHHHHH!

When I realised that Sigil had Hoid's Dawnshard I litterally screamed.

I am so hyped right now I just can't.

Apparently Shardblades can become Invisible so that's cool.

Right about what? And are y'all as confused as I am? Sigzil a full world hopper, better traveled than STORMING HOID, seems to have held and lost a Dawnshard, something happened to his spren, is Aux his spren or the remnants of the Dawnshard, how is the Spren still around if he broke his oaths, what combination of the "Torment," broken oaths, ans a pseudo-nahel bond are we dealing with!

[Ciridae]

It's really interesting that Sigzil apparently gets the Dawnshard in SA5, after we learned in Dawnshard that Rysn isnt allowed to bond a spren because she would become something really dangerous. 

It's also interesting that Sigzil's reaction to trying to be violent is different from Hoid's, iirc Hoid gets nauseous instead of locking up. 

I'm really curious who Hoid's other two apprentices are now. 

And what is up with Aux being the knight and Sigzil being the squire? That's pretty odd.

[+mdross81]

7 minutes ago, Ciridae said:

I'm really curious who Hoid's other two apprentices are now. 

YES. I'm wracking my brain on this one. Note that Brandon says " There are three of them, of which Sigzil is the one you know the best." This suggests we may know one or both of the others, just not as well as we know Sigzil. That doesn't really seem to apply to many characters that I can think of though.

9 minutes ago, Ciridae said:

And what is up with Aux being the knight and Sigzil being the squire? That's pretty odd.

I'm wondering if this is an extension of what we saw with Adolin and Maya, where the relationship seemed sort of inverted from the usual.

[Honorless]

If Night Brigade is the canon name for Dust Brigade, and we were going to meet them in the Threnody novel, what the hell had Brandon planned for that novel?

Stormlight 5 is going to have a big ending. Maybe I should start seeing it almost more like Mistborn original trilogy and Wax & Wayne rather than just sequels with a longer break time in between. But what would necessitate this? Perhaps just the Night Brigade's arrival? That'd make them quite intimidating.

[Mat]

43 minutes ago, Elsecaller_17.5 said:

is Aux his spren or the remnants of the Dawnshard

This made me look up the definition of 'auxiliary', wondering if it perhaps could be the literal name of a Dawnshard. The definition is

Quote

Providing supplementary or additional help and support.

Which doesn't... really fit, but it kind of does? I feel like it only kind of fits because I want it to, though xD

But no, the talk about oaths and things definitely implies Aux is a Radiant spren of some kind, probably an Honorspren but maybe an Inkspren or Reacher, because of the Skipping. I think Auxiliary as a name is interesting anyway since it literally means what Aux does (or is supposed to do) which isn't a spren naming convention I'm aware of.

But yeah I share the general "what the storms" reaction to this in all the best ways, the Dawnshard implications and the fact that Sigzil became this worldhopping buff warrior is amazing to me, yet I can't help but feeling a bit bad for him... makes me want SA 5 even more >> And of course I love any bit of Hoid backstory, however small. The Connection mechanics drop was unexpected and welcome and I eagerly await the hour-long Shardcast discussion on the topic  

Edited March 24, 2022 by Matrim's Dice

[Eternal Khol]

8 minutes ago, Honorless said:

If Night Brigade is the canon name for Dust Brigade, and we were going to meet them in the Threnody novel, what the hell had Brandon planned for that novel?

Thats what i was assuming. Figured he probably didn't see himself having the time to write that book any time soon and so introduced us to them where he could? even just in tidbit form

if we dont actually learn all that much about them now, it could still be good to formally introduce them in the Dust Brigade(novel)

i mean, the novel will have happened thousands of years prior to this story, so who knows who much they couldve changed from what we do get shown

Edited March 24, 2022 by Eternal Khol

[AerionBFII]

I feel like Aux is a dead spren revamped by the Dawnshard.

The Kaladin reference almost killed me btw. 

[Honorless]

16 minutes ago, Eternal Khol said:

Thats what i was assuming. Figured he probably didn't see himself having the time to write that book any time soon and so introduced us to them where he could? even just in tidbit form

if we dont actually learn all that much about them now, it could still be good to formally introduce them in the Dust Brigade(novel)

i mean, the novel will have happened thousands of years prior to this story, so who knows who much they couldve changed from what we do get shown

Just had an idea: Are they the group that opposed Adonalsium that still exists?

Also, gah, Hoid dropping pre Shattering hints again. Damn, things were really going to hell around the Shattering.

I'm really curious about those Yolish gods. There was so little info on their nature in the unpublished works.

[Elsecaller_17.5]

22 minutes ago, Matrim's Dice said:

But no, the talk about oaths and things definitely implies Aux is a Radiant spren of some kind, probably an Honorspren but maybe an Inkspren or Reacher, because of the Skipping. I think Auxiliary as a name is interesting anyway since it literally means what Aux does (or is supposed to do) which isn't a spren naming convention I'm aware of.

What kills that for me is that Auxiliary is not an Honorspren name. It doesn't follow the same sort of pattern.

[+mdross81]

With the Night Brigade chasing Sigzil because of his connection to one of the Dawnshards, I'm now wondering if it's the Night Brigade that Nikli was talking about in Dawnshard Ch. 18:

Quote

"Rysn, there are forces in the cosmere that we can barely identify, let alone track. Evil forces, who would end worlds if they could. They are hunting this place. Now that the Ancient Guardians of Akinah are all but extinct, we Sleepless must protect it. For if our enemies locate it, they could cause the deaths of billions." He waved toward the mural. "The Dawnshard is ..."

And he leaves off there because that's right when he notices the change to the mural.

Then in Ch. 19:

Quote

"People will hear of the Oathgate. You cannot hide that. Everyone will come to this island."

"Exactly!" Rysn said. "That's what we want. Let the Oathgate be opened, and allow scholars to swarm this place! The enemies you fear? They will drive themselves mad searching the island for the secret that's not here!"

"Because it is in your mind," Nikli said. "Something they'd never believe that we would allow. We, who protect planets, letting this power enter a mortal... An imperfect solution, yet perhaps ..." He met her eyes. "There is a flaw. Your people might believe that we just let you go, but our enemies? They will push to find out the truth."

We gotta ask Brandon if the Night Brigade has been active on Roshar.

[Eternal Khol]

13 minutes ago, Honorless said:

I'm really curious about those Yolish gods. There was so little info on their nature in the unpublished works.

The Yolish gods are one of the things that captivate me most about the Cosmere.

From the bits of Dragonsteel prime i could find, im pretty sure the "gods" of that version were just the demigod vessels(as brandon originally planned the vessel as such) that had faded into myth after... stepping out of the light and away from mankind, and something they did thousands of years prior created Fain.

this is all highly controversial and just my opinion though.

who knows what they could be now.

 

8 minutes ago, mdross81 said:

With the Night Brigade chasing Sigzil because of his connection to one of the Dawnshards, I'm now wondering if it's the Night Brigade that Nikli was talking about in Dawnshard Ch. 18:

Quote

"Rysn, there are forces in the cosmere that we can barely identify, let alone track. Evil forces, who would end worlds if they could. They are hunting this place. Now that the Ancient Guardians of Akinah are all but extinct, we Sleepless must protect it. For if our enemies locate it, they could cause the deaths of billions." He waved toward the mural. "The Dawnshard is ..."

that one paragraph has been on my mind all day. I imagine the sleepless would know about them. theyre certainly aware enough

Edited March 24, 2022 by Eternal Khol

[StormingTexan]

8 minutes ago, mdross81 said:

With the Night Brigade chasing Sigzil because of his connection to one of the Dawnshards, I'm now wondering if it's the Night Brigade that Nikli was talking about in Dawnshard Ch. 18:

Quote

"Rysn, there are forces in the cosmere that we can barely identify, let alone track. Evil forces, who would end worlds if they could. They are hunting this place. Now that the Ancient Guardians of Akinah are all but extinct, we Sleepless must protect it. For if our enemies locate it, they could cause the deaths of billions." He waved toward the mural. "The Dawnshard is ..."

 

I literally just went back and read this. Yes I think this is the Night Brigade. 

[Wyndlerunner]

In response to these chapters, I will now be starting a GoFundMe to pay to get Sigzil some therapy.

[Nathrangking]

5 minutes ago, Wyndlerunner said:

In response to these chapters, I will now be starting a GoFundMe to pay to get Sigzil some therapy.

He needs Kal for that.

[+Czernobog]

Adonalsium-Will-Remember-Our-Plight-Eventually is a most curious name. Do Threnodites share the Iriali notion that the One chose to become Many in order to experience the Cosmere, and will eventually coalesce back into One?

[Josi]

I don’t think it means Kaladin is dead. I just see it as how could Kaladin not be on Roshar? 

[melaan enjoyer]

On 25/03/2022 at 0:43 AM, Honorless said:

Oh these people are Threnodites. Do they just have really bad luck? Or are they just suckers for pain who only colonize hellworlds?

Threnodites: the cosmere's (or maybe just brandons's) favourite punching bag

[+Oltux72]

On 24.3.2022 at 5:43 PM, Honorless said:

Oh these people are Threnodites. Do they just have really bad luck? Or are they just suckers for pain who only colonize hellworlds? Or is this Monody, Elegy or Coronach? So these Cinderhearts might be the... original magic system of Threnodites? This is what they turned into rather than Shades maybe? Would track with darkness and fire, can't think any parallels for sound or movement tho.

I think Sigzil already gave the answer and Brandon hinted at it in the last spoiler session. There are no Shades. Why? The Sun is highly Invested. It allows them to turn into proper Cognitive Shadows.

[Dreamwa1ker]

Anyone else get like a very Mad Max vibe from this world? What with the inhospitable planet, the Ember people and gladiator fighting and the hacked together ramshackle floating city/vehicles that's constantly moving/running? In any case this is like the most metal Cosmere work so far.

Edited April 18, 2022 by Dreamwa1ker
Pic

[StormingTexan]

18 minutes ago, Dreamwa1ker said:

Anyone else get like a very Mad Max vibe from this world? What with the inhospitable planet, the Ember people and gladiator fighting and the hacked together ramshackle floating city/vehicles that's constantly moving/running? In any case this is like the most metal Cosmere work so far.

 

Yes! That and kind of a Mortal Engines vibe.