Navani's Notebook Translation *MAJOR SPOILERS*

[firstRainbowRose she/her]

Harakeke over on TWG was able to crack the code on the pictures in TWoK (much to my dismay.  I spent how long looking over them?!).  So far they've got the first page, and part of the second.  Here's what they've gotten so far:

The cut and type of the gem determines what kind of spren are attracted to it and can be imprisoned in it. There must be thousands of possible combinations.

Once a spren is captured and the gem infused with Stormlight the fabrial can be used in machines.

Pain Knife

The pain knife is used as a means of protection. Sharp blades pierce an attacker

[mycoltbug]

I stand amazed and awed at how someone deciphered these. 

[Silus - Shard of Flame he/him]

My first question is, of course, how the heck did someone crack that code?!  That thing was ridiculous!  It doesn't even LOOK like letters!

Wow, I didn't know that's how fabrials worked, awesome.  I really hope to see a lot more fabrials in future.  I find the blending of magic and science to be fascinating, and these machines are really a superb thing Brandon's created.

I'm surprised we haven't seen a Pain Knife yet.  Seems like a nifty thing to have.  Who else thinks that important, not magick-wielding people, such as King Taravangian, carry these around?

I find it surprising that they keep flamespren in emeralds, didn't expect that.  I should probably take another look at the Table of Essences to see how that matches up.

EDIT:  It doesn't match up!  The soulcasting essence for fire is a ruby!  This suggests an "opposites attract" philosophy when it comes to what gems spren are attracted to.

[Ryan he/him]

Well, he's yet to explain himself, so we don't know for sure, but based on what he said in his first post, it seems it was an alternate English script. Except, instead of simply replacing letters (which would have been an easier nut to crack), it created new letters for the English phonemes.

So, a decoding process would go something like this: guess phonemes for letters that have some visual context hinting at their meaning. Apply guessed meaning to other instances of the symbol, and infer the meaning of the missing symbols from context (like playing Wheel of Fortune). Repeat until you've decoded the entire alphabet.

I wish I'd thought to try this myself. I assumed the invented script was paired with an equally invented language, and would therefore be completely indecipherable. Guess I was wrong.

[Chaos he/him]

Here's the link: http://www.timewastersguide.com/forum/index.php?topic=7882.0

This is really fascinating, and incredible that he broke the code.

Also: spren and fabrials? Squee. Squee. So awesome.

[Andrew the Great he/him]

*Immediately saves image of translated character set*

Though admittedly, Peter says part of the character set is wrong. But the translation itself is good, which therefore means it's possible to figure out even with the slightly erroneous character set. I will have a printed copy of this with me while I'm reading book 2. Which actually won't be for like three years. Sad day for books coming out while I'm on my mission.

[Zas678 he/him]

Me too! Maybe we'll be on the same mission and sigh together in 2013.

[lordofsoup]

computer program?

[Silus - Shard of Flame he/him]

computer program?

What program?  And in reference to what?  These require context!

I'll be on my mission too!  Small world!