Ruminations on Lightweavers and Cryptics

[City of Sauronicon]

Omg that would be amazing. There's no telling what radiants could do with their powers and creativity. A spy ring is obvious if it's during war, but think of all the things! I bet Shallan would have an entire illusionary zoo so that no creature was kept in a cage. It reminds me of how Dalinar wonders why shard blades aren't used for anything other than swords. If there wasn't perpetual war, there would be so many applications. 

Spoiler

I cannot wait to see what BS does with space age investiture!

 

[Halyo_Alex he/him]

Also, Soulcasting for food could be so much more broadly useful than just "air into grain". I imagine it wouldn't be too difficult (given that the Lightweaver in question knows about the end result and what they're aiming for) to Soulcast, say, raw meat into a marinaded form and then cook it normally, saving costs on herbs/spices and saving time.

[TheWanderer he/him]

On 5/27/2021 at 5:45 AM, City of Sauronicon said:

Hi, I'm new, this is my first post. But I really love cryptics. I hope my take on them is cool enough to post with you cool kids. 

I've always considered cryptics to basically be fractals in nature. If you're unfamiliar with a fractal, it's a mathematical formula, or a pattern, that repeats over and over, getting smaller and smaller but staying the same ratio. We see this in a lot of natural structures.  

Just do a Google image search "fractals in nature" to see what I mean. Pattern even looks like a fractal in the PR.

Next google "fractal tree" and check out the majority of those images. You'll notice that they're all very symmetrical, very formulaic. It's got an artificial quality to it. While it does represent the branching structure of trees, is not a natural shape. The difference? Deviations. 

I think that there's the crux of it. What would entice the cognizant manifestation of patterns in nature more than deviations from it? 

Shallan has the eye of an artist. As an artist myself, I have used math to balance my work before but usually I can just eyeball it and it turns out better. Sometimes, if you rely on math too much, something is...off. You have to add something over here, and balance it with something over there. There's movement and flow, or it doesn't work. Too much math isn't natural (or it's too boring!), and you have to just have an eye for it to represent it correctly/interestingly. It's fundamentally deviant, and that's what gives it beauty. 

IMO Lightweavers can see beyond the patterns/rules(/oaths?) of nature and see how things can deviate. I think they embody an interesting relationship between Honor and Cultivation. When you consider the natural world and how deviations drive everything from structure of form (like trees) to evolution itself, it's no surprise our example character's calling isn't art itself, but natural history. 

There's also Shallan's striking but subtle ability to look beyond the patterns of people and see *more,* like with Bluth. Self portraits are really hard btw, and I imagine what Shallan is doing with her oaths is essentially that. 

As a final note, I'm personally a firm believer that EVERYONE is an artist in some way and it's a part of human nature (which is maybe why cryptics are less "discerning"). Most people just never recognize their medium as art, or even find it to begin with. Or they chicken out, they never practice and get better at it, and that creative muscle atrophies in a way where it's expression is less obvious. But that's why you have such a wide berth of different Lightweaver characters who are tapped into it a bit more and why you have answers above about there not being a "quintessential" Lightweaver. We all see the world a little differently, and best part is that it's unique. So, aspiring Lightweavers, go find your medium and your own artist's eye! Plant a bonsai, cook a meal, run a d&d campaign! Be brave and be deviant! 

Just wanted to say I particularly enjoy that end note. I cannot draw, paint, sculpt, or carve to save my life...so I write. Used to perform plays, speeches, and monologues a little but I have not in a few years. Working on a running a wildemount game now with some friends. Still miffed I could not get them into mistborn.
Also apologies for my delayed response I can be a bit of an airhead on checking the 17th shard sometimes. 

Edited May 31, 2021 by TheWanderer

[City of Sauronicon]

On 5/29/2021 at 0:37 PM, Halyo_Alex said:

Also, Soulcasting for food could be so much more broadly useful than just "air into grain". I imagine it wouldn't be too difficult (given that the Lightweaver in question knows about the end result and what they're aiming for) to Soulcast, say, raw meat into a marinaded form and then cook it normally, saving costs on herbs/spices and saving time.

I played a wizard in dnd that was a chef and used prestidigitation for exactly that.

On 5/31/2021 at 6:38 PM, TheWanderer said:

Still miffed I could not get them into mistborn.

Do like, a lot of people on this site play dnd? I think my husband and I could be talked into a short game/single session if you have any interest in running a mistborn one. We're just about to start a new campaign but feel free to PM me if that ever becomes something people would want to do (can I get PMs as a new member with like 3 posts?) Are mistborn RP games a thing? That's (exciting) news to me. But Brandon Sanderson and my dnd group don't really overlap either. 

https://i.imgur.com/2SVqRTe_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium 

Also I found this picture that made me think about what I said in my initial post. 

Also also I'm glad you recognize the artist in yourself. That makes me really happy! 

Edited June 5, 2021 by City of Sauronicon

[TheWanderer he/him]

On 6/5/2021 at 3:48 PM, City of Sauronicon said:

I played a wizard in dnd that was a chef and used prestidigitation for exactly that.

Do like, a lot of people on this site play dnd? I think my husband and I could be talked into a short game/single session if you have any interest in running a mistborn one. We're just about to start a new campaign but feel free to PM me if that ever becomes something people would want to do (can I get PMs as a new member with like 3 posts?) Are mistborn RP games a thing? That's (exciting) news to me. But Brandon Sanderson and my dnd group don't really overlap either. 

https://i.imgur.com/2SVqRTe_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium 

Also I found this picture that made me think about what I said in my initial post. 

Also also I'm glad you recognize the artist in yourself. That makes me really happy! 

Well my sincerest apologies again. I was out of town on vacation and only just returned. I will ponder it, and appreciate the offer to let me try out the system. Thanks again for your engagement with the topics (and the subsequent tangents). Also yes there is a mistborn ttrpg with books for both eras.

Edited June 9, 2021 by TheWanderer