Tazren

Super composure I virtually never lose my temper. I can be annoyed, frustrated, irritated, or even outright furious, but I almost never lose it. Even when things happen that make otherwise calm people put fists through the wall or shout and such, I'm generally the one who remains calm tries to find a rational solution. Insults and jibes bounce off me like water off a duck's back. Incredible Procrastination I am VERY aware of my limits when it comes to doing things, and I generally get things done really fast when I get started. This means that I can procrastinate exactly to the point of almost not being able to finish - but only almost. I know when I have to start studying for an exam; I know when I have to start writing an essay or working on a project, etc. I always feel uneasy about answering questions like "how long did it take you to finish the assignment in that course? How long does it take?" from students who're going to take courses I've already passed, because I know that I'm usually better at getting things done in time, even though I procrastinate like hell, than a lot of people. And I don't plan this rationally - it's more of an intuitive feeling. So, I know exactly when "the last minute" starts. Relating to others I have a very easy time relating to others. Even if I'm arguing with someone who's fundamentally different than I am, or who has really idiotic opinions, I can still easily understand why they do or feel what they do. It doesn't make me any more inclined to agree with them, but it's very useful when trying to mediate between people who're fighting, for instance. I'm like this, too. Especially with Swedish (my native language) and English. And if I'm learning a new language, I very quickly start thinking in that language, too. Especially grammar-wise. Like, when I studied Japanese at the university, I went around thinking in Japanese, even though I didn't know all the words. But I used what I knew, and thought in Japanese, grammar-wise. I end up like that really easily. Think it may be related to my ability to learn languages quite quickly.

I'd probably be a soother, coinshot or a pewterarm. A soother would be great to prevent panic. It seems like zombie survival groups tend to break down into panic at some point, and that's not good. Keep the team calm and reasonable, and the chances to survive will most likely increase. A coinshot for obvious reasons. Firepower, and the ability to fly. I know they can't land as well as a Mistborn could, but Wax seems to pull it off really well in Alloy of Law, so it probably just requires training. A pewterarm, because having those extra reflexes, the endurance and speed would be amazing for pure survival. A slider would be useful, too ... but bendalloy isn't really the most easily accessible metal, is it? Not like steel, peweter or brass, which would probably be relatively easy to find. On the other hand, I might just go for Zinc instead of Brass, since it's a base metal. Should be even easier to find ... If you could be a Ferring, bendalloy would be awesome, if you could stock up beforehand. Lock yourself up somewhere, and live off the stored energy. Just hide and wait for the zombies to die out. Or wakefulness, so you can decide when you want to sleep or not. Luck would probably come in handy, too.

I'll probably end up with system development of some kind. Most likely, programming or software testing. Not sure which I'd prefer. I wrote my beachelor's thesis on software test automation, so I'd be pretty interested in getting involved in that area ^^

Hey all. I'm new. Sort of. I registered sometime in late 2010 (with the username Taura-Tierno, that I just had changed), but I never really got around to posting until now, after I read Alloy of Law. So, I'm always at a loss for how to write presentations like these. I really love Sanderson's books. And I'm an avid Wheel of Time fan since way back. And "way back" means since I was 14, which was 10 years ago. So that makes me 24. I've just graduated from the university, with a degree in Computer Science. So I'll be working with computer stuff. Hopefully I'll get a job for the autumn. Oh, and I live in Sweden. I read lots plenty of books. Mostly fantasy, and some science fiction. Currently reading "Sea of Ghosts" by Alan Campbell. I really love writing fiction as well, but I haven't really had much time for that lately. My time tends to be occupied by video games (RPG's, adventures, strategy games, simulation games of various sorts), tv-series, books, school and Student Union/Student club things. But the last two are sort of over now, I guess (although I haven't really come to terms with that yet). I really love theorising about things. Haven't done much of that with Sanderson's books yet, though, so I'm really looking for to poring over everything here. I also really like debating things. So, I guess I'll see you guys around.

The Coldfire trilogy, first book Black Sun Rising ^^ Awesome books as well.

That is true, I suppose. Yours is an example of a really horrible situation ... This one over here is definitely from a lack of interest. There have been attempts (from the Student Union Board) to get people involved in the LGBT-group over the years, but people just aren't interested enough. Imo, probably because they're accepted in the various other social activities on campus and such. People generally don't care, or if they do, they mostly keep quiet about it. So if there's a world where homosexuality has been accepted for a long time (perhaps forever), I could definitely see it as plausible that there wouldn't be any "gay culture" ... since people would just be gay, and nobody would care one way or another. This is sort of a big tangent, but when you mention transsexuality ... It reminds of a science fiction novel I read, by C.S. Friedman (In Conquest Born, I think), where there's one cultural that has a lot of telepaths. And among them, it's really common for people to "inhabit" the body of someone on the opposite sex. I know there was a scene where this was explained to someone from an enemy to this civilisation, and the person was horrified by thought of having his consciousness in a woman's body, which the man explaining it found perfectly natural. I don't think it was mentioned explicitly, but I always got the feeling that in such a society, people wouldn't really care about gay, when switching bodies with people isn't much of an issue. And that they definitely shouldn't have huge issues with transsexuality ...

Interesting topic. Like others, I also got the feeling that Hallandran would be at least a bit tolerant. I'm sure there are plenty of people there who would find it "icky", like there are even in pretty tolerant countries in the real world. The whole promiscuity of the Returned made it seem like they, at least, wouldn't care all that much. That's interesting, too. There wouldn't have to be a huge gay community, though. I mean, the way I see it, the reason that there's such a strong gay community in our world, is because gays haven't been tolerated for long. If gays were tolerated, there would be no need for gays to band together. There used to be a LGBT-group on the campus of the uni I go to. It's been completely dead and inactive for years now, though. People believe the reason is that there's no need for it, because the university is a pretty tolerant place, as are all other social groups that exist. I agree with this. It gets more difficult, since you can be alright with people being gay, but be opposed to gay culture and the stereotypical gay behaviour. And depending on what the stereotypical gay behaviour is, that may well affect how people view gays in general. I've met people who've been hardcore homophobes until they actually met real gay people and realised that, hey, gay people aren't that scary.

This is so much tougher to choose from than what I'd have as a misting. Everything could be really useful. But if I have to pick my favourites ... Zinc, Copper, Bronze, Bendalloy, Gold, Chromium. 1st choice: Bronze I think this would be my first choice, because it would actually be useful, always. A lot of other things would be awesomely cool,t but ... how often do you really need to be immortal? I mean, sure. It'd basically guarantee you a long, healthy life, barring some extreme circumstances. But first: it'd be freakishly expensive compounding gold. And second: you've got a decent chance of a long, healthy life anyway. And you don't get much else from gold, aside from not getting sick. I suppose if I were terminally ill, this would be my choice, of course. But now that I'm young ... no. As for the rest ... a lot are so situational. How often do you need to hold your breath for long? Or have superhuman strength? Or run at the speed of light? Or get warmer? But wakefullness ... There are so many occasions where being drowzy wouldn't matter. If you're watching movies/tv-series, while travelling somewhere by train/bus/passenger seat of a car ... while waiting. While just being out walking, while exercising (so long as it's not too intense) ... you could store A LOT of it. And then use it whenever you want. Not a morning person? Just tap a bit of your bronzeminds and feel less tired. Have a boring meeting/lecture, that still has a lot of essential information in it? Be really sharp, don't doze off. Doing something in the evening that you want to finish? Just burn through some of that massive amount of wakefulness you've got stored. You don't even need to tap so much that you're 100% awake; just enough that you are moderately attentive, if you just want to be able to stay up reading, writing, programming, watching movies ... And think how useful this would be. You could get so much more done. So much more studying. A lot more time for cramming before exams. Or you could get the time to start on that hobby you've always wanted to try ... you'd have a constant advantage compared to everybody else. It's not situational - you can use wakefulness daily, completely optimize your hours of effectiveness, spread out over months. And I totally convinced myself after having writing all of this ... 2nd choice: Bendalloy Situationally, this would be awesome, since you'd be able to last for a long time in a disaster. If you continuously store food and liquids, you could have a huge storage of that after a few years. If you've got a steady income, there's nothing preventing you from just eating more and more ... and water's free. For everyday life, this would mean eating unhealthy without ever gaining weight. You could binge on potatoe chips and ice cream shamelessly. That'd be pretty sweet. Not, perhaps, "useful", but it'd be one thing less to worry about, plus it'd be easier to stay in shape. And that'd probably make you happier, as well. 3rd choice: Chromium This does depend on how it works ... but if it only affects good luck (meaning that when you store it, you'd be without good luck, but no increased chances of bad luck), and depending on the average amount of luck ... if wouldn't be too difficult to store significant amounts of luck, it would be pretty sweet. Aside from tapping it when selecting lottery numbers, you could use it when meeting important people (like job interviews) to manage to say the right things. Hopefully, you'd just happen to mention that thing you're soon-to-be boss and you have in common, so that you make a good impression. And if you're in a dangerous situation, some luck is always great. The rest ... Copper would be cool. But in today's society, with the Internet ... it's not quite as useful. Sure, it would be incredible to be able to recall details on demand, and to be able to literally remove unpleasant memories. But it's not quite as usefull. Would be a lot more impressive if it acted as a constant memory enhancement, giving you eidetic memory. And those I havne't already mentioned ... most are situational. Increased senses might be a great idea, sure. But it's not that often that you have to see or hear better than you already do. And while storing warmth might be great during winter (especially if you live someplace cold) it doesn't really have much everyday usage. Not in the same way as wakefulness or luck. I suppose Duralumin would be great for the Connection ... but it's a very specific thing. It depends on what kind of person you are. If you are the kind of person that people trust easily, this isn't quite as useful. Especially if you already happen to have an easy time blending away in the background. And it only works with people. Doesn't help you with anything else. Well, they're all amazing. But Bronze, Chromium and Bendalloy definitely seem like the ones you could get the most use out of over the course of your life, the two former could be useful in plenty of different situations, whether it involves people or just enhancing your own capacity for greatness.

1st choice: Brass I'm a pretty diplomatic guy. I like resolving conflicts. It would be amazing to be able to soothe away people's anger, hatred or frustration. It would make it so much easier when you're trying to solve problems between friends or people you work with. Think about the wonders it'd make for getting people to talk to each other. I would also use it to help people overcome anxiety or nervousness. Think about a friend going up to speak in front of lots of people for the first time. Just soothe away some of the stage fright. Or do the same to someone who's terrified during a meeting. Of course, you could use it for much more personal gain, too ... push away doubt when you're proposing an idea to make people like it would be amazing, for instance. If somebody else is presenting an idea that you dislike, you could dampen everybody else's positive impressions. I would just totally love that. And I know I'd abuse it for such things. I'm such a terribly public speaker, I can make a good, reasonable argument, but I'm terrible at actually inspiring people with speeches. And people generally respond better to emotive arguments than reasonable ones. It would really even the playing field ... 2nd Choice: Zinc For the same reasons as Brass, really. It would be a bit trickier to be diplomatic with it, but I think you could make it work. 3rd Choice: Pewter For pure personal safety. Knowing that I could defend myself, and having the ability to heal quicker, would be really sweet.

So when storing luck ... you wouldn't just accidentally stumble, and avoid getting hit by a car, when you're crossing a street and not paying attention (you'd get hit, but it'd be your own fault, not bad luck). And you wouldn't happen to bump into the person you're just looking for, and you wouldn't spot that $100 bill on the ground ... But you wouldn't be stumbling around everywhere and nearly dying every other minute. I'd use bendalloy to store energy when binging on chips, ice cream and sweets to avoid gaining weight. A I'd store warmth while in the sauna/steam room at the swimming pool.

Do we know at what times the different stories take place? Does Elantris happen before or after TWoK and Mistborn? I just thought about Sazed when reading this thread. And how his name is quite similar to Skaze (and via that, Skai) ... You think there could be a correlation between those, or is it just a coincidence?

Weren't the glyphs in TWoK unrelated to the language? I mean, men could read glyphs, although it was frowned upon. So it wouldn't be impossible for one glyph to cross over into another world, if it was brought by someone who world-hopped. Seems like there should be some correlation; I don't think Sanderson just happened to introduce the word "shash" in both books by accident.