Kasimir

The long answer is that I don't know, for many reasons. The short answer is that I always think of the world as being three separate pieces and these pieces may conflict or jar each other depending on the context in which I'm thinking about 'all the people in the world.' These three pieces are: (1) Asia, narrowly defined as Southeast Asia + South Asia + East Asia, (2) The United States of America, (3) Europe. Maybe let me explicate this: it seems difficult, when thinking about 'all the people in the world', not to immediately think of my own narrow region in Asia, excluding central Asia, and to use that as my baseline template for 'the vague set of people about whom I'm thinking.' At the same time, when making these generalisations, I'm always aware of categories (2) and (3) and how they're this disjoint set of people--can't ignore them, but sometimes, you don't really know if you can include them either. The best way I can put it is that I consider these subconscious and gut because for me it feels like no matter how I look, I can't ignore the fact that many of the lenses, both in terms of education, mass culture, etc etc. are centred on the Anglo-American world. Not really 'us'. So there's always this awareness, even at this unthinking level, that there's more than just (1) in the set of 'all people'. So I think the short answer kind of morphed into the long answer: maybe I just don't have much clarity with regard to my own thought processes, but for those reasons, I feel like it's hard to be sure about.

Sorry, man, I feel your pain This thing seems to happen a lot with tonal languages, (*cough* Mandarin *cough*--one anecdote I've been told involves someone trying to ask if another person had ever been on a plane but due to a tonal mistake, ended up asking if she'd ever ridden a flying-bit-of-the-male-anatomy. Ouch!) although I'm told there are other complications that also give rise to this in non-tonal languages >>

When you start coming up with riddles based on the Cosmere, because riddle games are fun, but really, Cosmere-based ones are even better

He was supposed to be dead. That he was not, in fact, dead disturbed Khas greatly. People who were killed were supposed to stay dead, he thought. That was the way of things. What, if not that, could a soldier and an assassin rely on? Next thing he knew, he'd find Naladar wandering around. The idea...was not an unpleasant one. He'd never been fond of being tasked to kill the former king of Alethkar. He held out his hand, considering. Ten heartbeats, before the Shardblade coalesced in his hand, dripping. It wasn't supposed to work this way, Khas thought. Dead was dead, and done with. The Blade should've gone to someone else, and he didn't want it, either. So break the bond, you chullhead, said a voice in his head. He let go, willing the Blade to dissolve back into strands of vapour, and pinched the bridge of his nose. Storming chull, he thought, wearily. Of course, there were other disturbing things, if he thought about them. The men in Kholinar had spoken of King Elhokar Kholin and Dalinar Kholin the Blackthorn. There was no Naladar, they had said, looking at him warily as though he was touched in the head. There had never been. "You know what you have to do," the stranger had said, when he opened his eyes. His were a pale grey, like smoke. "You are no longer a Ghostblood." He knew. He clenched his fingers, forming a fist with his hand. What did you do, without purpose? Every string to his past life had been cut; he wasn't sure if the feeling curling in his stomach was nausea or anticipation, or both. Freedom wasn't so much thrilling as the dizzying fear of standing atop a tall mountain, gazing down into the depths. Did he choose to jump, or to run away? Death had been his choice. He'd gone to it proudly, knowing it could not be helped and he'd chosen that end, and that meant something. To have that choice so suddenly undone and taken back: what did that say of him? Khas went hunting. There was killing, at least. He was good at that. Not playing, but wishing everyone else in the game good luck from the people gathered in the spec doc, and much fun!

My new hero! Thanks, Seonid!

I'll have to add to the chorus of people who think that's really cool. I had a friend doing Biblical Hebrew, and I'm not sure about the differences to modern Hebrew but the grammar seemed just beautiful. And also, yes about the sentiment about having enough basic languages to be at least somewhat understood worldwide. The sad thing is that people used to do it, although of course, we can question if they had spoken fluency or just written, and whether they were really at C2-type fluency (for European languages) for all of those languages, but really, at the bottom of it, I do find it a pretty amazing feat. And it'd be brilliant to get there. (I'm thinking of Copernicus who knew five languages, for one.)

Wooohoo! I'm pleasantly surprised to see the number of people who speak German so far, ignoring proficiency levels. I was under the impression it was less popular a language than stuff like Spanish or French, so consider me pleasantly surprised! In answer to the question: for German, I did end up practising with native speakers, so that doesn't count. But I'd supplement my uni classes and chats with my penpals with stuff like listening to podcasts (Deutsche Welle is useful on that front, and it's actually got a decent, if somewhat spotty 'Learn German' series of podcasts that could theoretically help without classes, but I'm not too happy about those because I find them unsystematic. Pinch of salt though--I'm the sort of person who wants all the grammar to be laid out systematically when learning.) Duolinguo is decent too, but it's no good replacement, IMO. I'd normally prefer to start with a mixture of these podcast lessons and by checking out a decent grammar book from the library and making my own notes. I've also heard people sometimes use software like Rosetta Stone, but I haven't really tried those and don't know if I'd swear by them. But when I learned French and Korean, what I did was I mostly just studied using Internet resources, so just looking for decent sites which laid out basics like grammar and vocab and in the case of Korean, the strokes and sounds--and really, there's always the Korean wave stuff on television, so I could at least hear how the sounds are voiced and attempt to mimic them. Of course, I really have infinitesimally small French and Korean skills, so that probably says something about how limited my learning them might've been. Still, I did that mostly for fun and wasn't treating it as seriously/with the motivation I approached German, so I don't know if those are effective ways of substituting for native speaker engagement.

Just ran a quick search and I notice that there hasn't been anything much said on this, so: languages. How many do you speak and which are you interested in learning? I'm a native English speaker who grew up learning Mandarin Chinese (I'm way less than fluent in it, unfortunately, but at least I don't regard tones as alien, although I'm told my accent is less than plausible for someone who purportedly grew up with it.) About three years ago, I took up German, mostly because I got tired of finding German-language papers everytime I was doing research for a term paper, and because I fell in love with just how structured German grammar is. This business of cases and all is pretty new to me, and I have to say I find it really cool There are many languages I would like to learn, and of course I don't have enough time to do so. I did a short stint learning Korean, but had to focus on my German, so there's that. If we leave aside issues of whether it's possible for a single person to learn to speak so many languages, then I'd be interested in languages like: Hindi, Turkish, Greek, Polish, Finnish, Welsh, among others. But of course, that's too many to be possible, so I'm going to have to pick and choose. In any case, I've always figured I should focus on German to get the level of proficiency I want to achieve before casting my sights elsewhere. What about the rest of you?

Because I remind Wyrmhero of all his rules in Elimination games, even if I can't enforce them (Well, that was true of Game 7 anyway). Hence I am the Keeper of King's Laws.

I would like one, please, yes Sorry about things!

I loved it; the setting (the Eastern European motif is pretty awesome, as is the Indian motif applied to Saypur), the idea of 'what do we do in the shadow of really ugly pasts', on the level of nations. And of course, the death of gods. I especially enjoyed the scene where Olvos talks to Shara about the Kaj, because it was just so sad and chilling at the same time. And of course, there's the scene where Vohannes Votrov tries to distract Kolkan, and his confession...it was amazing, and really grabbed me because of how pertinent it was. And no discussion of City of Stairs can be complete without the mention of the badchullness of Sigrud. Oh, Sigrud, the book wouldn't have been the same without him

"I told you so." Drax made a heroic effort not to throw up. As it was, he failed. Simir scowled at the mess left on his boots. "Sorry," Drax gasped, "I seem to have a great difficulty holding it in when people tell me they knew I was going to end up..." he heaved again. "It's Kasir," Simir said, still scowling. "You know he thrives on cheating people. And you thought that metal was safe enough to burn?" "Not..." Drax managed, "My nursemaid." His head pounded and the room spun dizzying arcs around him. He wished he could get some rest, if only to escape his current misery. Unfortunately, sleep seemed determined to elude him. "I'm the only one with a lick of sense in this area," Simir muttered. "And you're buying me new boots." Whenever you're finished, he thought. Metal poisoning took a while to work its way out of the system, he knew, and it looked like Drax wasn't going to be done for a while. Storming Drax and his storming chull-ridden ideas. Why, by the Stormfather's sassy beard, had he decided to drop by Roshar, of all places? - Joe: Sorry--I don't like to do this too often but due to issues with my health and studies, I really will have to withdraw, after all, and I shouldn't have signed up in the first place, but I let my excitement with the game override my good sense. Fell sick again and I don't think I can play after all.

Sam turned Scheherazade into a Sanderson fan! This is just brilliant!

Reasons why Kas shouldn't join this: 1. 2 papers due next week. 2. Exams soon after. 3. Thesis proposal due by two weeks. 4. Still recuperating from shoulder issues. [RSI] 5. ...NaNoWriMo. Oh, sod it. I'm in, if only for the amusement of being able to sign Drax Erikell (you may remember him: Mistborn, unwilling kinslayer, with a somewhat reduced sense of humour) up But expect sporadic activity/inactivity >> - "Back again, I see," Kasir said. Drax was sifting curiously through the contents of the cart. "Don't suppose you've got some decent metals, do you?" he asked, wistfully. He hadn't filled up on those the last time he'd been on Scadrial, and his own supplies were starting to dwindle at an astonishing rate. "Oh, what's this?" He picked up a series of brightly-coloured feathers and frowned down at them. "What did you do, pluck a bird?" "Only for you, my friend," Kasir declared. "These are the feathers from astonishingly rare birds that confer powers to their owners! Look at the wonderful plummage--see!" He deftly plucked a feather from Drax's fingers and stuck it behind his ear. "That one protects you from people tampering with your emotions." "Really," Drax said, flatly. "Couldn't have told that." He wished he had some brass or zinc, enough to actually try. "And this?" He set down the feathers and unrolled the scroll lying next to a bag of glass knives. He could get some, he thought. Just for old times' sake. It was a painting, he realised, a beautiful depiction of a forest with a splashing waterfall; birds fluttering off into the sky. He couldn't read the fine words scribbled on it, but noticed the unobstrusive red seal on the painting and rolled it back up again. "A work by the great artist, Han ShuXen, in his youth!" Kasir exclaimed. "Truly a marvellous work of art, wouldn't you agree? Said to bring luck to its owner as well--" Drax folded his arms across his chest. "Metals," he repeated, slowly. "Naturally, I expect them to be Allomancer's metals." "But of course," Kasir said, with that slippery grin that Drax had never quite trusted; the eager-to-please merchant vanishing in an eyeblink. It was the thing about Kasir, Drax thought, he peddled faces just as much as he did his goods. It was a strange sort of game to him. He pulled out his knife and managed to work open a concealed compartment in his cart to reveal a few metal vials, tucked away carefully and padded with straw to prevent breakage. "Would I try to cheat you, my friend?" "Kasir," Drax drawled, "I'm pretty sure you'd cheat your own mother. Pull another one." He picked up the vials, examining them. No brass or zinc, he thought; just steel and--he gripped the second vial tightly, recognising the metal. Would it never stop creeping up on him? The bitter taste of an orange slice in his mouth; the dessicated whisper of the pages of an old book. When did it ever end, he wondered, guilt at killing, guilt at surviving, guilt at having been so terribly used... "I'll take them all," he said, roughly. "How much?" Steel, iron, and pewter. All combat metals, but then again, those were the ones he'd hate to run low on. Kasir scratched his head. "I'd usually ask for five sapphire broams, but from you, two." "You're going to Roshar?" Drax was in the middle of pocketing the vials. "And no, that is far too much for metals, and you know it. Three ruby broams, and for anything better, I'd expect the metals to be atium." "You're not going to Roshar, are you? You won't need those broams." "Five," Drax said. "My final offer." "Fine." Kasir pocketed the broams, shaking his head as he closed up the secret compartment. "Stop trying to rob an honest merchant of his gains--you'll beggar me before I even reach Roshar to sell off some of my goods." "Keep an eye out for some metals the next time you're on Scadrial." Drax heard Kasir whistling as the cart trundled away.

...I'm enjoying how Meta is the example here for the Renegade's kill All in all, this looks pretty interesting but I'll do some thinking before signing up (if I do!)

When you (Alv) say, "There is no excuse for not reading a Sanderson book the day it comes out."

Just posting to note that I've really been enjoying this story so far, and I think your worldbuilding for the heroes and how magic works and all is just fantastic in here. Don't listen to that voice! You've got this!

When you watch one of those late-night Chinese martial arts movies, see this bloke doing cool wushu with a spear and think, nevertheless, Kaladin could totally take him with a hand tied behind his back.

When the medications your doctor gives you are actual beads, and you swallow them and pretend you're burning pewter (I wish >>)

Glad to be of service, Great Lord. Though I do want to say, before I get a rep for distracting and misleading with numbers as an Eliminator--the maths expression was basically legit, unless I accidentally missed a variable or two, which is possible. So there's nothing misleading or distracting about it: I just put it in mathematical form because it's easier to understand and harder to misunderstand (or so I thought). Messing with figures is rather silly because people can easily tell and call you on the underlying logic.

Well, maybe one last comment. I'd like to nominate Jain for some sort of MVP-type honorary award, because it's really heartening to see him actually trying to rally the village, contributing far more that he used to, (and you did that for both LG8 and in here) and in general, promoting discussion. Think we should recognise/encourage the fact he's trying and doing his darndest And he survived! And so did I (for the first time!) Seriously, Jain, here, have my respect I know it won't save me from the bamboo stakes, but I really do think it should be acknowledged, anyhow.

Fair enough, then: since there's no numbers issues, I'll stay out of it. Best to make a full recovery. Good luck to everyone playing, and have fun! (I'll probably just ask for the spec doc link later.)

Long walls of text in an Eliminator doc. What's new? >> If it helps, I spent most of the game terrified of you and thinking we should take you down soon because of LG5.