[AU Spoilers] General Essay Stuffs

[Glamdring804]

30 minutes ago, cometaryorbit said:

Our system is very stable (4.6 billion years old and extremely likely to be stable for billions more). We know Shards can move and create planets; stability over the ~10,000 year timespan of the Cosmere is much more forgiving.

Or maybe the system is just very big. Those gas giants could be as far apart as ours, but having the outer one at 100 AU instead of 30 like Neptune.

It probably is artificial, but what about a pre-existing white dwarf (possibly with planet) being captured into an orbit around the supergiant?

The L1 point between the stars isn't entirely stable, however, so Taldain's position would require some effort to maintain.

 

At that point, I'm nitpicking. The presence of shards, and the relatively short time spans we are looking at give us a lot of leeway. It's more than within the realm of possibility that there are stars with 10 gas giants somewhere. However, such a system would have been extremely unstable during its formation. Our own system was a violent, chaotic place for the first billion years. A system with 10 giants would be many times worse. Of course, Honor and Cultivation probably spent a long time looking for the perfect system, like Ruin and Preservation did. 

As for Autonomy regulating the system, that's almost a given at this point. If a planet were actually close enough to a blue-white supergiant to be tidal locked, then its dayside would be a burning wasteland that would set your lungs on fire if you ever tried to set foot there. Also, depending on how old Scadrial is, it's probably had its rotation stabilized by Preservation, since it doesn't have a moon. 

[BlackYeti he/him]

1 minute ago, Oversleep said:

Probability in cosmere is probably not something to worry about when you have gods messing with stuff. For all we know Autonomy could just like stars and so he/she/it put a star around a star of the system Autonomy Invested in.

Oh absolutely. I'm simply arguing that it couldn't have formed naturally, i.e. without Shardic intervention.

Or in other words: Autonomy made the system.

[ZenBossanova]

48 minutes ago, skaa said:

Cool! I bet it's something incredibly embarrassing like Job-rakt-out-of-the-asshes or Flee-fornication.

I had the same conclusion as cometaryorbit above, but that is one awesome scenario you've got there!

A black hole does fit the data much better. For most stars, if they are putting off a significant amount of UV, then they are large, but that makes them easier to see. 

[natc]

(wow, haven't posted in months. Real life is busy this year . . .)

 

If it turns out that way, it's somehow poetic that there is a giant light source facing Dayside and a black hole on the other . . .

[Kingsdaughter613 she/her]

Oops. I thought it said Blue giant. I must have skipped the word super. Rusted baby brain...

I wonder if Khriss is wrong about the designation of the larger star though. Blue Supergiants are pretty unstable, as opposed to their smaller cousins. Unless Autonomy is stabilizing it somehow.

Btw, if the system is artificial I think Adonalsium might be the responsible party considering how fascinating Khriss finds the creation of Scadrial. She'd probably mention it if the same applied to Taldain.

[Oversleep]

I'm not really knowleadgeable about astrophysics but would a black hole give off not only UV radiation but also actual light? It's not dark on Darkside; they have "just after twilight" light.

[iceblade44 he/him]

2 hours ago, Glamdring804 said:

At that point, I'm nitpicking. The presence of shards, and the relatively short time spans we are looking at give us a lot of leeway. It's more than within the realm of possibility that there are stars with 10 gas giants somewhere. However, such a system would have been extremely unstable during its formation. Our own system was a violent, chaotic place for the first billion years. A system with 10 giants would be many times worse. Of course, Honor and Cultivation probably spent a long time looking for the perfect system, like Ruin and Preservation did. 

If i remember right wasn't Roshar designed by Adonalsium? Im pretty sure we have some WoBs of that and it was implied by the second Letter. Its most likely that the Roshar System was also likely set by him (or whatever it actually is.) 

 

Also Taladin circumstances needn't be caused by Autonomy. As stated above there's good.chance that it that it was set up by Adonalsium before the Shattering. This should be how its supposed to be according to Khriss and to her knowledge there is only two planets that should be different.(Scardrial and one other)

Edited November 23, 2016 by iceblade44

[natc]

38 minutes ago, Oversleep said:

I'm not really knowleadgeable about astrophysics but would a black hole give off not only UV radiation but also actual light? It's not dark on Darkside; they have "just after twilight" light.

Aside from starlight itself (the more obvious light source), indirect sunlight scattering can also illuminate to some extent just after twilight, and ignoring all of that you still have airglow (though not too much).

[Stark he/him]

What really caught my eye on the Rosharan essay may be a minor thing, but after SH and BoM, the offhand mention that Roshar is the name of the main continent on the planet is what has me most inquisitive.

 

Can't give the exact quote right away, but to me it certainly implied that there is another continent somewhere on Roshar that we know nothing about other than it is there.

[Mason Wheeler]

11 minutes ago, Stark said:

What really caught my eye on the Rosharan essay may be a minor thing, but after SH and BoM, the offhand mention that Roshar is the name of the main continent on the planet is what has me most inquisitive.

 

Can't give the exact quote right away, but to me it certainly implied that there is another continent somewhere on Roshar that we know nothing about other than it is there.

It may or may not be where those crazy perfectionists from Hoid's story live, if they're real.

I do seem to recall a WoB saying that Roshar only has one continent, though.  Can anyone verify that?

Edited November 24, 2016 by Mason Wheeler

[Stark he/him]

@Mason Wheeler Very true, that could be.  If they are real, and if they are actually from Roshar (though I do believe there was mention of Highstorms in that story).  I only hesitate to agree completely because we know that Hoid is a liar.

 

It may more likely be the fabled Origin of Storms that is mentioned every now and then, but never seen as all expeditions to find it never return, and are assumed to have died by Highstorm.

[Mason Wheeler]

3 hours ago, Stark said:

@Mason Wheeler Very true, that could be.  If they are real, and if they are actually from Roshar (though I do believe there was mention of Highstorms in that story).  I only hesitate to agree completely because we know that Hoid is a liar.

 

It may more likely be the fabled Origin of Storms that is mentioned every now and then, but never seen as all expeditions to find it never return, and are assumed to have died by Highstorm.

I don't think there actually is an Origin of Storms.  We know that the Everstorm can travel all the way across the continent and then back around the world for more; who's to say the highstorm (singular) doesn't do exactly the same thing?  I may be wrong, but I don't believe there's ever been more than one highstorm, sweeping over the world again and again...

[Asperity he/him]

What do y'all mean by endsheet and constellations? Is there some extra map page that I'm missing somehow?

[Stark he/him]

37 minutes ago, Mason Wheeler said:

I don't think there actually is an Origin of Storms.  We know that the Everstorm can travel all the way across the continent and then back around the world for more; who's to say the highstorm (singular) doesn't do exactly the same thing?  I may be wrong, but I don't believe there's ever been more than one highstorm, sweeping over the world again and again...

I think you are wrong about the singular Highstorm, if it was a single storm sweeping over the world at a steady pace, or even an unsteady pace, the intervals would be more regular.  It would be far more predictable, and the Weeping would not happen - there would be some form of Highstorm interrupting it.  We also have the Stormfather that created a Highstorm mid-weeping to try to cleanse the planet of humanity, which almost destroyed the shattered plains when it clashed with the Everstorm going in the opposite direction.

 

I am pretty sure it is only the everstorm that continues without end, over and over and over.  Its in the name.  The Highstorms may have originally been a naturally occurring phenomena, but are know invested, and I think, unnatural.  But there are more of them than one, and they brew (for lack of a better term) somewhere off the main continent.  So maybe the referenced lesser landmass is the Origin?

 

@Kythis The Constellations are printed inside the cover.  If you remove the dust jacket and open just the cover, without turning any pages, you'll see a star map of the Cosmere.  I do not know if this exists on kindle, if that is how you are reading.  The star map includes a bunch of constellations made using the star systems containing shard worlds.

[PallonianFire he/him]

4 hours ago, Stark said:

@Kythis The Constellations are printed inside the cover.  If you remove the dust jacket and open just the cover, without turning any pages, you'll see a star map of the Cosmere.  I do not know if this exists on kindle, if that is how you are reading.  The star map includes a bunch of constellations made using the star systems containing shard worlds.

I also believe the UK hardcover version doesn't have the starmap, for some reason. I saw some people posting on Brandon's page on Facebook about it.

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

Its definitely not in the UK e-book version 

[Shlee]

12 hours ago, Stark said:

What really caught my eye on the Rosharan essay may be a minor thing, but after SH and BoM, the offhand mention that Roshar is the name of the main continent on the planet is what has me most inquisitive.

 

Can't give the exact quote right away, but to me it certainly implied that there is another continent somewhere on Roshar that we know nothing about other than it is there.

 

12 hours ago, Mason Wheeler said:

It may or may not be where those crazy perfectionists from Hoid's story live, if they're real.

I do seem to recall a WoB saying that Roshar only has one continent, though.  Can anyone verify that?

 

Well....define "continent":

 

Relevant WOB: 

Quote

FIREARCADIA
Does the world map in the Way of Kings show all of the landmasses of Roshar? Does that make the continent on Roshar a Pangaea-like supercontinent? And as I think about it, are there tectonic plates on Roshar?
BRANDON SANDERSON
It is a supercontinent. I won't say there is NOTHING out there, but (unlike Scadrial) there is not another full continent. Plate tectonics are not a factor on the supercontinent.

Quote

MACEN
Are there any other continents on Roshar?
BRANDON SANDERSON
I haven't said if there's anything else out there, but I have said that it's a pangaea. Meaning if there's anything else out there, they are small. They are not of a similar scope in size. Now on Scadrial, there's other stuff going on. And I've told people that for years and years and years. So you may find some other stuff going on there. So the southern continent was populated on Scadrial, during the Final Empire era even. It was just impossible to reach because of the heat. The poles were the only habitable places on the planet. So anything in between just cooked. Final Empire was on the North Pole.

 

So as usual, room for interpretation. 

[Asperity he/him]

On 11/24/2016 at 2:38 PM, Stark said:

 

@Kythis The Constellations are printed inside the cover.  If you remove the dust jacket and open just the cover, without turning any pages, you'll see a star map of the Cosmere.  I do not know if this exists on kindle, if that is how you are reading.  The star map includes a bunch of constellations made using the star systems containing shard worlds.

Definitely nothing like that on my Kindle. I'd love if one of you could scan the pages, if at all possible.

[Stark he/him]

15 hours ago, Shlee said:

Well....define "continent":

 

So as usual, room for interpretation. 

Fair point.  Though Brandon has been known to Aes Sedai his way through some answers, Khriss doesn't lie to us.  I am going to stick by my belief that by her saying Roshar is the main continent, that means something else is out there.  I'm not saying that the planet has an Americas hidden accross the Ocean, but there is something smaller than the main continent out there.  Maybe several somethings, currently undiscovered.

 

@Kythis That is terrible.  My scanner is crap, but I will see if I can get a decent photo on my phone to post once I get home from work.  Hopefully someone will be able to follow up with a higher quality scan.  If I get there first, I will most likely use the topic "Stargazing [AU Spoilers]" or something similar.  Give me two hours?

[Civis]

@KythisThe E-book, too, has a starchart of the Cosmere. If for some reason yours doesn't, you can check tor.com: they've published a review of Arcanum Unbounded and have put up the chart. Or at least part of it. http://www.tor.com/2016/11/25/arcanum-unbounded-the-cosmere-collection-spoiler-review/

PS I've just had a look at my Kindle: the starchart is on page 14, right before the beginning of the Selish section.

Edited November 25, 2016 by Civis

[thegatorgirl00 she/her]

@Kythis and @Stark there is a really good image of the map in this topic.

 

[Mason Wheeler]

On 11/24/2016 at 0:38 PM, Stark said:

I think you are wrong about the singular Highstorm, if it was a single storm sweeping over the world at a steady pace, or even an unsteady pace, the intervals would be more regular.  It would be far more predictable, and the Weeping would not happen - there would be some form of Highstorm interrupting it.  We also have the Stormfather that created a Highstorm mid-weeping to try to cleanse the planet of humanity, which almost destroyed the shattered plains when it clashed with the Everstorm going in the opposite direction.

I interpret that very differently.

First, highstorms are essentially hurricanes.  Magic-powered hurricanes that keeps them going for a lot longer over land, sure, but they still blow in strong off of the ocean and (gradually but noticeably) peter out over land.  Water is very important to them.

In a world with three moons, the tidal forces and interactions between them have got to be absolutely crazy--including their influence on Roshar's oceans.  (How crazy?  In physics, it's possible to compute the interactions between two bodies very easily with pure math.  But a "three-body problem" is exponentially harder, generally considered to be impossible to calculate without running a step-by-step simulation.  Roshar + 3 moons makes it a four-body problem!  No wonder the Stormwardens' art is an imprecise one!  What do you want to be that the Weeping happens every year at a time when all three moons are in a specific alignment relative to one another?)

As for the Stormfather "creat[ing] a Highstorm mid-weeping to try to cleanse the planet of humanity," I read that as "the Stormform Parshendi summoned up a highstorm (and the Everstorm too!) mid-Weeping, and the Stormfather allowed it because he was all depressed and resigned to the terrible fate that was to come."  I'd have to read the relevant chapters again, but that's the impression I have from having read it.

[Nebelskind]

On 11/22/2016 at 11:33 AM, Pagerunner said:

 

• Endsheet
  • Someone else said that constellations only make sense when viewed from a planet. I like the idea that they're Yolen's constellations.

I've been assuming that Yolen was in that red dragon constellation, since all the other significant planets seem to have constellations that relate to them and Yolen has dragons. Plus a lot ignore different places can see the red constellation (Taln's Scar/the Red Rip) which would make sense if it's the "original" homeworld of Yolen.

[Yata he/him]

I noticed something that may be really relevant in the Therenody essay:

Odium was uncapable of killing efficiently Ambition as he did with Devotion, Dominion and Honor...this may be a clue about the fact that Odium just after the Shattering didn't know how to properly Splinters a Shard.

If this is true we may argue that the method is different from the one used by the 16 to Shatter Adonalsium and Rayse just later discover/developed his method to take down Shards.

Edited November 26, 2016 by Yata

[Paleo he/him]

Regarding the topic of Taldain's stars and Autonomy artificially creating the system: Maybe the constellation has ramifications in the Cognitive Realm which are part of Autonomy's efforts to make traveling to and from the planet rather difficult?

An obvious counter to this would be that the Cognitive seems to directly depend on thoughts, but my theory still would hold true, I think, if Autonomy really is Invested in the sun(s), like Khriss' essay seems to imply.