Google Hangout w/ Brian McClellan & Brandon Sanderson

[Argent]

Brian McClellan, author of Promise of Blood (The Powder Mage #1), is going to be joining (hosting?) a Google Hangout with our Glorious and Beloved Leader, Brandon Sanderson, on May 1, 2014, 2 PM CDT. I myself will most likely be unable to watch or attend the livestream (*grumble* work *grumble*), but the event description says that they will "talk about our new books, writing as a career, genre fiction, and take questions from the audience," so maybe somebody from the 17S can attend and sneak in a cosmere question somehow. My advice is to mask it as a double question - one you can ask to both authors. I haven't read Promise of Blood (yet!), so I can't be more specific, but if (for example) McClellan has developed a writing system of his own, you could get information on the SA glyphs by asking both authors to talk about ways their readers could go by deciphering those imaginary languages.

 

You can read McClellan's post on his website and bookmark the Google+ event page (or +1 it, or confirm your attendance, or whatever). 

[Gamma Fiend]

Awesome! I was actually going to go and meet Brian McClellan when he's in Mentor, OH a few days after this Google Hangout, so that will be cool to get any follow-up questions to him.

(I know this is a Sanderson site, and so I haven't really seen or heard any Powder Mage theories on here, but if anybody wants me to ask Brian McClellan any questions just let me know and I'll get to them when I get to meet him)

[cosmosofclay]

Awesome! I was actually going to go and meet Brian McClellan when he's in Mentor, OH a few days after this Google Hangout, so that will be cool to get any follow-up questions to him.

(I know this is a Sanderson site, and so I haven't really seen or heard any Powder Mage theories on here, but if anybody wants me to ask Brian McClellan any questions just let me know and I'll get to them when I get to meet him)

 

I live right south of there and will probably be at that signing as well!

[Gamma Fiend]

Awesome! We'll come out and represent the 17Shard Fandom for him!

So... anybody have any questions? I should probably hurry up my reread to get ready for the event....

[Ketek]

I do, Gamma. 

 

1. Can you pinpoint when the kandra worldhopper started... well, worldhopping? Was it before Sazed took up both Shards, or after?

 

2. What is the kandra worldhopper you mentioned recently trying to do? Is he/she gathering information for Harmony, and is that how he knows of some of the events going on in Roshar?

 

3. Is there only one kandra worldhopper, or several?

 

4. Can Splinters be created artificially, instead of by a Shard?

 

5. Are the Honorblades consuming Investiture because they are inefficient compared to a Nahel bond, or is it because the Investiture is being used for something else?

 

6. Is Nalan'Elin based on Bao Zheng from Chinese history? If so, are all the Heralds based on historical figures?

[Delightful]

We always have questions!

Is Iyatil a worldhopper from a Shardworld we've seen?

Is in-world Book of Endless Pages still going to be significant?

Can we please have a Tien short story, chapter, something?

and just a silly one, can Nightblood be used as a hemalugic spike?

Thanks!

Edited April 24, 2014 by Delightful

[Kobold King]

Awesome! We'll come out and represent the 17Shard Fandom for him!

So... anybody have any questions? I should probably hurry up my reread to get ready for the event....

It would be awesome if people at the signing could answer questions for the 17th Shard. You would be my heroes. My Heroes of Ages.

A good question would be "Is Iyatil from Scadrial". That could help with two major theories, namely, "Iyatil is Vin" and "Iyatil is a kandra".

Also, what about asking whether highspren are connected to the concept of higher law? That could give us valuable insights into how Skybreakers interpret their Ideal.

[Tempus]

 

4. Can Splinters be created artificially, instead of by a Shard?

 

 

4 is probably a yes. I had discussion about this with Kurk somewhere else. Anyway, about 50 WoBs and in-world quotes later, it was pretty definitive that any large enough amount of investiture left on its own qualifies as a splinter and will develop sentience. It's not directly confirmed, but it's pretty much deductively proven.

Edited April 24, 2014 by Tempus

[WeiryWriter]

and just a silly one, can Nightblood be used as a hemalugic spike?

 

Already been asked.  It's a theoretical yes, but Nightblood is already close to being "full" of investiture.

 

4 is a yes. I had discussion about this with Kurk somewhere else. Anyway, about 50 WoBs and in-world quotes later, it was pretty definitive that any large enough amount of investiture left on its own qualifies as a splinter and will develop sentience. It's not directly confirmed, but it's pretty much deductively proven.

 

Deduction is all well and good, but without WoB we can't say anything is definitively proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.  So I'd say ask the question.

[Tempus]

Fair enough.

Edited April 24, 2014 by Tempus

[Robot Aztec]

 

Already been asked.  It's a theoretical yes, but Nightblood is already close to being "full" of investiture.

what about backwarsd?? Steal nightblood Breath by stickning a atium spike into hsi hilt!?

[Asperity]

If you could ask about the existence of a possible 'Perception' Shard, that would be awesome. Or if he were to create a Shard of that type, what would he call it?

[PorridgeBrick]

Since Shard have Shardpools, did Adonalsium have an Adonpool? Could a Splinter have a Splinterpool?

Are there other galaxies with their own Adonalsiums, Shards, splinters, magic systems, etc?

And this one is for Mclellan. When new technology is eventually discovered, will new magics be discovered to fit them as happened with the Powder Mages? Could there be Quantum Wizards, Electronic Mages, Rubbermancers, etc?

[Kobold King]

Since Shard have Shardpools, did Adonalsium have an Adonpool? Could a Splinter have a Splinterpool?

Are there other galaxies with their own Adonalsiums, Shards, splinters, magic systems, etc?

And this one is for Mclellan. When new technology is eventually discovered, will new magics be discovered to fit them as happened with the Powder Mages? Could there be Quantum Wizards, Electronic Mages, Rubbermancers, etc?

 

I think the plural of "Adonalsium" is "Adonalsia". Somebody should ask for a confirmation on that.

[Gamma Fiend]

Oops, I didn't clarify in my post, I was asking for questions specifically for Brian McClellan.
I'm not entirely sure if I can watch the Google Hangout live or not, but I should be for sure meeting McClellan when he visits. But that question of Future Technology magic systems is a good one, I definitely want to ask more questions along those lines.

[Ketek]

There goes my dreams

[Moogle]

This starts in about an hour, for anyone who forgot about it. I'll look into taking notes, but I doubt I'll manage anything concrete.

 

Edit: no Cosmere questions were asked, so I didn't copy anything down. There were some interesting writing questions asked, but very little that Brandon hasn't answered previously.

Edited May 1, 2014 by Moogle

[WeiryWriter]

Like Moogle has said, nothing really interesting was asked, that we hadn't already heard before.  Which is kind of unavoidable with these "moderated by a third-party" events.

 

Here is the video, I probably won't do a transcription though:

 

[Gamma Fiend]

My favorite part was when Brandon and Brian just started talking about Civilization games. That was hilarious.

Also, at the end, when Brandon mentioned he's been reading a lot about Aztec cultures, does that mean we should expect some Aztec-influenced group of people in Sanderson's books soon?
(Oh, duh, just answered my own question. Rithmatist 2, probably.)

[Tempus]

I came in halfway through the stream, so I missed a few things. There was a little tidbit that helped confirm my estimates for my cosmere chronology in a very vague way, which is neat.

 

Gamma - what time is the Civ talk at? I missed it, and I'm a big Civ fan. Can't find it through skimming.

[Gamma Fiend]

Around 20 minutes or so in, I believe. It went on for at least a few minutes too, actually. It definitely looked like the moderator was a little exasperated they ended up so far off topic, lol. But hey, that's what you get when you get two bona-fide nerds together via web chat.

I was definitely more interested in McClellan's answers that he gave to the questions, because it's cool to get his view on things from a relatively newer author. Can't wait to meet him, though. He seems like a super nice guy.

[Argent]

Also, at the end, when Brandon mentioned he's been reading a lot about Aztec cultures, does that mean we should expect some Aztec-influenced group of people in Sanderson's books soon?

(Oh, duh, just answered my own question. Rithmatist 2, probably.)

 

Rithmatist #2 explores South America (which was mostly Mayan civilization, not so much Aztec - the latter were really in south North America), but if you read the transcript from The Silence Divine readings, you will notice that there are some Aztec elements there too.

[Windrunner]

Pretty sure the nation to the south of the United Isles is called the Aztec Federation, so perhaps history went a bit differently there.

[Tempus]

It was called the Aztec Federation, Windy is correct there. However, the Mayans weren't South American - they were pretty much confined to the Yucatan Peninsula and surrounding environs. That's well up in Central America. The Aztec were even less South American - they were mostly central and lower Mexico. The other big one in the MesoAmerica region was the Olmecs, iirc.

 

The South Americans were the various Andean civilizations, the most notable of which was the Incan Empire (which was formed of four really big Andean civs, if I recall). They occupied South America on the west side, from Columbia all the down to Chile. No big civs ever got around to the central or western parts of South America, which are now Brazil and Argentina. Well, not until post-columbian days.

 

 

Edit: I really like Civilization, and have read all the Civilopedia entries for each game, if you're wondering >.>

Edited May 3, 2014 by Tempus