The One Who Connects

Edgedancer was a (novella?) that was part of Arcanum Unbounded, along with Mistborn Secret History, Emperor's Soul, and others. It's a pretty short story, but it's extra worldbuilding/backstory And Calderis just replied.. serves me right for trying to make sure novella was the right word

Ene: Emits a light that enhances mental capacities, Linking Aon to control the timing of activating Aon Chains Ien: Healing (as Agent34 mentioned) Nae: functionally a magnifying glass None of these are actually that helpful for what you are thinking of. Ien is healing, which is irrelevant. Nae is a magnifying glass, and doesn't appear to target or specify anything. In it's base form, it requires an Elantrian to move it around(granted, you'd have to move it if you put it in a scope too, so..) Ene is the only one that has potential, but that'd be in the timing department, where it would probably end up anyway. Targeting a specific location was never out of the question. Aon Daa is essentially a dumb fire grenade/rocket that doesn't fall to gravity. If the target doesn't move, then as long as you aim it correctly, it will hit the target. The problem with dumb fire is that as you aim further away, there is more opportunities for something to cross it's path and end it early. That's why the missile emplacement runs under the assumption that you can enhance it with speed modifiers, and why the RPG idea was short-range. The problem with tracking a moving target is that it's still dumb fire at the end of the day. We don't presently know of any Aons that could change that, it if is even changeable. And that doesn't even delve into how it would target this object. First, you'd need an Aon that detects things(it stands to reason that there is one), and then you'd have to do... extensive coding(and/or have an Elantrian constantly on standby). You can't just have the code detect and target "anything that moves" for obvious reasons, so you'd need to add specificity. Aon Ien needs modifiers(probably Aon Eto) to target specific parts of the body to maximize it's effectiveness, and I'm pretty sure our detector Aon would need to do the same. The code to do so can be done one of two ways: target anything that is part of the list, or target anything that is not part of the list. The first option requires you to know/remember everything the enemy has at their disposal, and falls apart the moment the enemy creates something new, which would require rewriting the code to include it. The second option avoids this issue entirely, but runs the risk of not being specific enough, and needing someone on hand to manually specify on a case by case basis. If we were running a missile turret, then that'd probably be fine. But this is an RPG, and you're in the field. As for the Aon Tia idea, that was never gonna work. It's a fixed point that you teleport to: This distance in that direction. It's no different from leading your shot the normal way, just with a shorter lead time. But you'd have to specify the exact location that the target will be at when you fire, which requires much more effort on your part than manually leading your shot.

To boil this down, you're "solving" the problem of the weights leveling(balancing) out by adding more weights? I suppose that would work, since you would have another pair ready to go immediately once one pair levels out, and it'd give you time to manually reset the leveled out ones while keeping the ships going. It'd take work to maintain, but it's doable. Like above, the manual effort would be an exertion, but it's doable. I'm glad this has been explained better now, so we can move on to what's still bothering me about your set-up. Also, you quoted the same part of my post twice, and I'm not 100% on if that was intentional. Just thought I'd mention it. You appear to have misread me(or I wasn't clear enough before). The jolt to the system I mentioned in my previous post would be felt at Urithiru's end, not the ship. The ship is falling. Since it's a Reverser, the downwards momentum of the ship would translate into an upwards bump to the counterweight when you reengage the Fabrial. Given that you want the weight to drop in order to push the ship up, the weight would be at the top of it's apparatus already when it gets that bump. That bump will shove it upwards into it's holding apparatus, which is gonna cause extra wear/tear as well as set up a potential structural issue in the future. Depending on the force(and on the size of the weight), it could even break free of your apparatus. The "disputed axis," as you call it, has always been the horizontal movement of the ship. I still do not believe your rotational idea will work. It just.. clashes with how I feel like I understand the workings of Conjoined Fabrials. Pairing Fabrials don't operate on momentum though. They duplicate the motions of the other piece, either in concert with or in reverse of. The Pieces of the Reverser Fabrial are mounted to the ship and attached to the counterweights at Urithiru, correct? If the ship moves up, the weight moves down. If the ship moves forwards, the weight moves backwards. If the ship moves left... and so on. The problem, as I have come to realize, is that your definition of "backwards" is not the same as mine. The Fabrial sets frame of reference in all 3 axes upon activation. No matter where the Fabrial is, up will always be above it's starting location, left will always be to the left of start.. and so on. The direction of "forwards" relative to the Fabrial on the ship does not change, so the direction of "backwards" relative to the Fabrial on the counterweight will not change either. If that "backwards" happens to be west, the counterweight will be pushed west of where it started, and only west. So long as the ship maintains the same trajectory, it is physically impossible for the Fabrial counterweight to go in circles around your carousel. The direction of the force being applied to the Fabrial doesn't allow it. Unless the ship changes the direction it's flying, the direction of the force being applied will not change, and the only "circles" your counterweight would be capable of doing are latitude/longitude lines.

I don't remember him saying "that I ruled," but it's been a while, and it's not an unreasonable assumption to think he was lamenting the people he ruled, given he was speaking to his advisor(sorta). Fair enough. If the Desolation gets wrapped up, that means dealing with the Everstorm Respawn Point too. But with both of those dealt with, what's left to be Brandon's through-line?

Elantris(AonDor) Spoilers

So... two details about Nohadon's numbers. He doesn't specify whether or not that 9 out of 10 casualty count is worldwide, just his lands, or an estimate from the lands he can still contact. He may have been in an area that was hit harder, for all we know. His Desolation also lasted eleven years. By the start of Book 4, we'll have only been in Desolation for about 10% of that time. As you said, "Alethkar is a good start." But it's just that: the start. Give it time. Both options sound rather interesting to me, and I can't say for sure which I'd prefer. I suspect we'll see some of both before this is all said and done.

Yes, but No. The best you could do(without imitating really fancy technology) is cloaking yourself. Google defines invisible as "unable to be seen." This could be accomplished by making yourself appear as an object(like a rock, or a wall). But that's not what you meant, nor does it allow you to move(unless it's nighttime and your disguise is akin to a cloud of black&grays) without being seen. You could theoretically craft an illusory pillar around you that looks like air, but in order to make sure you can't be seen, an observer couldn't see through it, and someone fading out when walking behind you would ruin your hiding spot real quick. There is only one way to properly be invisible, and that's to make whatever is behind you be visible even when you are blocking it. And Tech Wise, we are still ways off from doing this. (Spoiler tag b/c text-wall) Shallan isn't advanced enough to make an interactive illusion(in the vein of "bending light" above). It'd probably take quite a bit of Stormlight too. And a Lightweaving Fabrial(in the vein of "camo-cloak" above) isn't gonna happen because they aren't scientifically advanced enough to understand/exploit the concept.

For those curious, I responded to him in the Flying Ships thread. I figured an active conversation that's actually on topic would be grounds for necroing the thread, and keeps this one from getting any more hijacked than it already was.

Original for Posterity Ok, I'm lost on the purpose of the angular momentum. What am I missing? Nvm, you explained it below. (It still wont work, by the way) Reversers duplicate the motion of the other in all 3 axes, so when the Fabrial on your mounted gimble spins, you'd be forcing the ship to spin too, would you not? So, I have a few things to say about this: "weight B would plummet causing weight A to rise" [...] "counterweight A to descend while causing weight B to ascend" So.. Schrödinger's Weights? Disengaging the brakes implies that the weights move via gravity. If this is true, then they would have to be both lighter & heavier than the other in order for your two statements to function. Rotation addressed above. You're still gonna have a jolt when you reactivate the Fabrials. The Spanreed pen effectively weighs double since you are lifting both pens at once. As such, those counterweights are going to be lifting the weight of the other counterweight, the weight of the ship, and the extra "weight" from the downward momentum of the ship. You're gonna have a heck of a time stress-testing the apparatus. See Point 1 above. I see two ways to make your "equal but not" weights move. One of these is certainly Gravitation, the other probably is(in my opinion, at least). Lashings to drop the required counterweight. Augmenter to increase the weight of the dropping counterweight, Diminisher to decrease the weight of the rising counterweight. You can do a lot more with a surge than the singular things we've seen so far. It is really new Fabrial tech if it's the same type of Fabrial, but utilizing a different Surge? Ooh.. Using a Fabrial on another Fabrial. I like it already, even though I'm not sure you could do it. (If you built it as one Fabrial, maybe.. hrmm) You can direct the heat the easy way. Put the Fabrial at the bottom of a pipe and let the heat rise on it's own. "High Tea Time" .... really earning your upvotes today, huh?

It's not that I don't follow(but I kinda don't.) So in reality, the skyship itself is essentially a glorified glider. If the Reverser Fabrial giving the ship it's altitude is disengaged, you are turning off your source of lift(functionally anti-grav) in order to utilize a source of forward motion(wind). Without lift, your ship would begin to take a dive, even with Diminishers reducing it's weight. Additionally, unless you have something that could forcibly (and quickly) yank the pulley Fabrial down when you turn them back on, the ship's downward momentum is gonna be the thing moving the pulley, rather than the other way around. The ship is gonna continue sinking when you turn the Reverser back on, which is not conducive to flight. There is no vertical boost to be given to the sinking ship in your scenario. I haven't even delved into how the ship would have to completely stop moving in order to raise it again, as the ships forwards momentum would translate into a backwards motion on the Fabrial(which your idea doesn't appear to be designed to cope with)

The Shattering will occur in Dragonsteel, which has yet to be properly written. About half-ish. But these entries are.. a little vague. Not Shardblade, but "Shard." Brandon considered calling Devotion "Love," but changed it to a synonym.

And was promptly backhanded by Nalan. Ah, that was a good scene. My nostalgia notwithstanding, you still make a valid point. Must've missed it. I did blitz through what had occurred during my absence, so I'm not surprised. (Or the thread is just.. old, as it appears) As for your solution, I don't see how that deals with the fact that Reversers should copy all movement of the other piece. If the ship flies west, your Fabrial Pulleys would fly east(and away from their housings on Urithiru). If the mounted half of the Fabrial doesn't move horizontally, then the ship doesn't either.

Indeed it does. Although how relevant those other details may be is up for debate, his status as worldhopper makes him a person of interest. Presumably. 1. He may have had a specific reason, but I think general curiosity would have drawn him to her eventually. 2. Unknown, but Dalinar is an important figure in world events, and House Kholin, like House Venture, is an influential banner to be flying under. You could ask the same question of Vasher.. speaking of which: 3. Unknown, but as Weltall just said, he's got a head start. Here:

There's a theory that the Everstorm is a Perpendicularity, and that crossing over through one of those as opposed to "the normal way" lets them keep their minds more intact. Could also be the type of Spren, since Sapient vs Subspren is a thing

Gold: I really don't know. Atium: maybe see a minor amount further into the future. Not really necessary. Copper: You make a valid supposition, but I'm not sure. Cadmium/Bendalloy bubbles don't really change size when flared(I think). Hrmm...

I'm curious what you're thinking, because all I'm coming up with doesn't solve the lift issue. That said, Diminishers will be of great import as our Radiants learn more. We have a surge affecting gravity, so diminishing gravity... Making ships lighter is gonna be vastly useful, as you'll need less power to propel them, and they'd go faster. However, that's once they are in the air/water. It doesn't get them off the ground.

That was what I felt was the problem too. You make a valid(and clever) point about orientation of the two pieces, but now we're back where we started: the other piece has to move too. Although.... maybe there's a way around this. Looking at the archer tower page of Navani's Journal, I realized something (spoiler tag since it isn't exactly relevant to the topic of this thread) If anyone's got ideas, I could make this it's own thread. 6-7 months. Courtesy of Calderis:

This has been asked. The way I read this WoB: It's their location when you turn them on that sets their frame of reference. Let me try an example to clear up my thoughts... Teachers have(or used to have) these cups with spare pencils in them on their desks. Presumably, Spanreeds come with a pen-holder of a similar nature. If both pens(quills?) are within their respective holders when you activate them, there is no problem, even if one holder is flat on a table and the other is slanted on a painter's easel. The reason this works is because they set their frame of reference when they activate. So if they are in their cup, then the direction that the bottom of that cup is pointing becomes "down," irrespective of what gravity decides is actually down. Meaning that this would even work in space.

If she can safely direct that sound away from herself, I'd agree with you. If she can't, that'd be kinda problematic. The pit illusion runs the risk of something being tossed into it, and people seeing the item disappear. Then again, so does the rock/wall/etc.. so that's always gonna be a risk. It appears that I play the wrong shooting games, since I'm used to calling them "flash grenades," and only having the burst of light. Elantris Related Musings The problem with that is tech level and scientific knowledge needed to understand the concept of microwaves, but that's radiation in general, to be fair.

Spikes can be burned. We don't know what it'd do, but it can be done.

I'd think a knife sized blade would be considered as a "knife," rather than a sword. And as such, it would probably have a similar weight to a knife, or at worst a machete(assuming they have something like that). Maybe there's something to do with cognitive perception(with a live blade, at least). The weight balance for a rapier is different than a broadsword, so if you have a Shard-Rapier, it would be balanced/weighted like a rapier, while a Shard-Broadsword of similar length would be heavier, like a proper broadsword. I thought so too, but it's best to be sure rather than just assume, so I figured I'd ask. That was part of why I said I'd have to reread. I knew Kaladin was always by the head, but I wasn't certain if Shallan was directly behind the tail, or just near the other end/off to the side. Or if the Chasmfiend was straightened out or turning around side passages(which I thought I remembered) as Kaladin distracted/avoided it, since that'd change the distance too. Either way, your estimation skills aren't half bad(It's a link b/c image size).

1. Technically they.. kinda do, since the Archery Tower Setup prevents the other platform from going any higher because it can't go any lower. If they change the starting piece to only be a foot off the ground, then it can only lower a foot, so the other can only rise a foot. 2. It'd still be one foot above the ground, we just didn't specify which ground. Jokes aside, I see what you're getting at, and it makes me curious about the safety of these ships, since the world's physical terrain is not level. You'd crash into a hill if you went far enough because it's "x" height above a specific ground, and the hill is higher. 3. I imagine this has to do with Cognitive Perception. The World would be flat in the CR, so the ground would always theoretically be "x" distance beneath it no matter where on the planet it was. Actually, thinking about the Archery Tower Setup, wouldn't the other platform have to move backwards if the ship moved forwards? Spanreeds copy every movement, so shouldn't a Reverser do the same?

The Rhythms are from the Spiritual Realm. (Ninja'd by Calderis b/c I wanted to elaborate below) Look at it this way. Do you think Shallan could imitate Bronze Pulses that a Seeker "hears" when burning Bronze? Those aren't that different from the Rhythms, so if she can do one, she should be able to do them all.