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So, we know that Brandon's next Non-Cosmere series is going to be Apocalypse Guard, a series exploring the "Quantum Multiverse" (that's what Brandon calls it) first introduced in the Reckoners series. Do you guys think this series might not only tie in to the Reckoners but also other of his Non-Cosmere stories.

At first I was skeptical myself, fearing that those worlds might all feature some kind of Calamity and have Epics in one form or another, but after reading the synopsis of the series, especially this sentence I have changed my mind: " These real, alternate versions of Earth are sometimes very, very different from the one we know. "

So could this be Brandon's master-plan to include some of his non-cosmere worlds into the Apocalypse Guard Multiverse? As far as I know every one of his other stories (Legion, Rithmatist, Alcatraz, Perfect State, Firstborn, Defending Elysium, Dreamer, HARRE) features Earth to some degree, so it's certainly possible. I hope we get maybe a cameo of one of his earlier worlds.

What do you think, could this be a perfect chance to connect some of his Non-Cosmere stories?

I loved this book and I loved all of the explanations it gives about the magic system.

So I'll try and answer some of your questions:

So it's important to understand that there were two distinct processes that "made" the Smedry Line. First making them energy sources for glass and a bit later giving them the Smedry powers to absorb the excess energy, that was destroying their city, in a ritual involving the dark powers.
I think the ritual at the end of the book was neither of those (who would he bestow those powers upon?) but Biblioden seems to want to redo the first process for the whole world!

Yup, the talent circle (Incarna Wheel?) hasn't been expanded upon in this book.

And yup, we don't know what the Dark Talent was. Probably the biggest mystery still standing, with the mysterious shadow in the mirror, etc. Attica seems to think there's not a lot special about it, but I suspect that's just misdirection. Perhaps the Breaking Talent has something to do with those Dark powers.

That's also why I didn't think this would really be the last book: there's still a lot left unexplained (Dark powers, Breaking Talent, Worldspire, ...)

PS: Can we put spoilers here without them being hidden?

One of the signing reports mentions Brandon commenting that Mizzy is the likely PoV.

 

From what I've read from the various signings this isn't really the case.

The next series, Apocalypse Guard, will take place in one of the alternate universes (the Reckoners Quantum Multiverse is what Brandon calls it). It will give us more insight in Calamity's species and interdimensional travel, Core Possibilities and all such things...

Mizzy would be the protagonist of a possible Second Reckoners Trilogy. Brandon isn't even sure he will do it but it could contain things like Abraham's backstory and background on other cities, as both are things he has recently RAFO'd because he only wants to canonize them when he actually writes it.

 

So nope Mizzy isn't really the protagonist of Apocalypse Guard and I really doubt the ties to the Reckoners Universe will be that strong, except for the obvious Calamity tie-in.

I'm still waiting for the day he really breaks Gravity to save himself (as was hinted in the third book). Now that I'm thinking about it, I love how much foreshadowing for later books there is in this series.

Nice lists of questions, here are some I have:

Why couldn't Larcener take Megan's powers? I don't think it's ever mentioned again in the book, but it was such a strange occurence..

 

Also why was Megan still troubled by the Darkness, even though she faced her fears to save David. I mean a few times in this book she nearly succumbs to it, but shoulnd't she be cured?

Besides that I'm just dying to learn more about the Reckoners world both before the Calamity Collapse (what happened on the other continents, are there Epic Empires somewhere), and after it (how much Epics are 'good' now with Calamity being gone, what will happen to those who still are twisted and why do the powers work with Calamity being gone).

And I guess most of the Calamity-related questions (where did he go to, what are the other realms he speaks of, Core possibilities, his own people, Non-Interference, his powers) will be answered in the Apocalypse Guard series, which I think has been confirmed to take place in the Reckoners Multiverse, and is about a team stopping world-ending events (sounds very much like Calamity, waiting for humanity to end itself, doesn't it).

So today the new Alcatraz Editions were released and I have to say that they are fantastic. The drawings are beautiful and completely in the spirit of the book (some of them even have handwritten comments by Alcatraz or Bastille) and the world map is awesome with possible hints of places to come in the next book?? They even corrected some small details (like changing Melerand to Nalhalla). And finally the covers are absolutely stunning! I can't wait to reread them.

It seems everyone has kind of forgotten this guy from the prologue, so what do you think? Could he be the earliest example of influence from Trell or was something else going on?

So I guess the boost Wax experiences when decreasing his weight during a steelpush is the effect of his twinborn powers.

Also Harmony saying: "Yet others, who were nearly destroyed..." When talking about technological process. Does he mean the Southern people here?

I get what you're saying but each Surge seems to be more of its own magical system than each metal. I mean, Brandon has said several times that there are up to 30 different magic systems on Roshar, so he counted every Surge as a separate one.

And for the rest it seems weird to me that you could just mix two different magic systems without at least getting some kind of consequence.

But of course it's all just speculation on my part.

Now that I'm thinking of it, this could explain why Wax seemed to be the first to use a 'steel bubble'.

 

My own question. Miles is a Compounder; his two traits directly interact. Wax is... we don't really have a word for it I don't think. He has two distinct metallic traits which do not directly interact, but provide him with complementary abilities that make either power greater than the sum of its parts.

 

Would Lift be considered a Compounder like Miles, someone like Wax, or a third category all her own? Assume it's in-universe scholars doing the considering, e.g. the Ars Arcanist (Artist Arcana?).

Interesting question. I think she fits in the same category as Wax. Both of them have a mixing of two powers (Lift having control over 2 surges and Wax being a Twinborn). Technically Miles would also fit in here but he has the luck that his abilities directly enhance each other.

This reminds me of something I thought about recently. If Lift and all other KRs get a unique power by mixing two surges and thus two kinds of Investiture, why wouldn't twinborn get some similar unique power by mixing an Allomantic and a Feruchemical power?

'What made him choose this girl? Was it because she was a Mistborn? Was it because she had Snapped so early in life, coming to her powers even as she went through the pains of the unusually difficult labor her mother went through to bear her?'

 

Here's the exact quote, that indeed says she Snapped at her birth. (It's also in the epigraph of the epilogue, ironically)

Well thank you very much.

One last bit: do you think the smart velcro is what's controlling the movements of the spheres, forming the patterns and changing shape to let missiles pass through?

Book 5 actually has been written last year (Brandon mentioned that in his latest State of the Sanderson post).

Starting February next year, Tor will begin rereleasing the Alcatraz books with new cover art, interior art and world maps. After rereleasing the first four books, they will publish the fifth one, so it's expected to be released sometime in the summer of 2016.

They're something Nicolette's ship uses.

 

Two relevant quotes:

"That would be the second-stage inflation scoops. Outside, hundreds more of the little spheres were lining up to get inflated with superheated air and then roll away on smart velcro into the thick braking ribbons trailing behind Nicolette."

 

"Nicolette peeled away and shot to the south, her lift spheres held in a streamlined bullet shape by their smart velcro. Her cockpit and lasers were inside the mass of spheres somewhere. As she rose back into the railgun’s target zone, she took a glancing hit. The spheres rippled, parted to let the missile pass, and then reformed again. A hundred meters beyond her the round exploded. She clawed for height, changing shape for more lift. She shrank smaller until he couldn’t pick her out anymore."

 

It's probably because English isn't my first language, but I'm really unable to understand what they do.

So I searched for a thread about this short but didn't find any. I really liked it, especially the concept of the boilers, resembling zerg-like machines, and their constantly changing and adapting behaviors.

However, there was one thing I didn't understand in this short: the concept of inflation scoops. I just don't get what they do, so if someone could explain them to me it would be greatly appreciated.

Brandon confirmed that we'll be getting world maps in the re-releases! yay

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/2ytg2h/im_novelist_brandon_sanderson_ama/cttx1te

I bet that speaking the words has to do with the language section of the brain/intelligence. An odd example is that in our world, when this section of the brain goes down, people can make noises, but they can't talk. Mute or deaf people have troubles "speaking" sign language. That means that this section is in charge of "speech", even when it's not spoken. 

 

I'd imagine that it'd be the same with the Ideals. Although it seems different for Awakeners. You can jump over the voice requirement with enough breath, but Suseborn couldn't just write the Commands and have them work. Hmm.

So, to add a bit more explanation of speech and language being linked. They are linked but they are both centered in two brain areas: Broca's and Wernicke's Area. It seems odd but damage in the different areas can cause different things.

For example damage in Wernicke's Area causes one to be unable to understand language (written and spoken), and in a lot of cases other sounds as well like the noise of a car. These people are able to say gramatically correct sentences but these sentences have no meaning at all.

Damage in the other area is very different. Those people are able to understand language but would be unable to respond. Their responses usually contain the right words but they are unable to construct sentences with them that make any sense to others.

Yeah, you're probably right, I always imagined them in the three different oceans, but that's written nowhere. So we have the largest continent as Nalhalla, one Australia-sized one as Mokia and the other one yet unnamed. I guess we will find out more about the third one in Alcatraz vs The Dark Talent, as it seems we're going to the Worldspire in that book.

From The Scrivener's Bones chapter 1:

"Nalhalla, one of the Free Kingdoms. A place that the Hushlanders didn't even know existed, though it was a large continent that sat in the Pacific Ocean between North America and Asia."

So my guess it that both Nalhalla and Mokia are located on the same continent. To my knowledge Mokia was never described as a continent only as one of the kingdoms, while it was explicitly stated that the outer Mokian isles were Hawaii, Samoa and Tonga. So my guess would be that Mokia is the more southern part of the continent while the kingdom of Nalhalla lies more to the north.

The Kalmarian Wilds could be another continent, though there are some other names of possible kingdoms/continents menioned in passing as well.

Hmm so I have 10 questions now, which is probably way too much, all of them Non-cosmere, as other can probably ask better Cosmere questions than I. Choosing between them, that will be hard though... Opinions always welcome!

 

1) Dreamer question: We know what happens to one of those ‘bodyjumpers’ when they die: their souls will lash upon another body, but what happens to the souls of normal people? Does it just disappears, goes to some Heaven, Hell or something entirely else?

 

2) Legion question: If Stephen’s aspects are just heaps of knowledge in his mind, then how can Arnaud be working on figuring out the secret of the camera, if Stephen doesn’t summon him and the knowledge he holds constantly?

 

3) Another legion question and probably a RAFO: Why is it so important for Stephen that the illusion of his aspects being real needs to be kept?

 

4) Alcatraz Question 1: Are the Twelve Kingdoms (mentioned in book 1) and the Free Kingdoms the same, and if they are do you have names for them all?

 

5) Alcatraz Question 2: Why doesn’t Alcatraz’s Talent activate in Book 2 when Kilimanjaro shoots his lens, while Alcatraz is thinking he was shooting him, as we’ve seen in Book 4 that Talents, like Grandpa’s, largely function on perception (Grandpa thinks he’s late though in fact he isn’t).

 

6) Alcatraz Question 3: What are Oculatory Distortions, as Grandpa seems to mention them quite some times.

 

7) Alcatraz Question 4: Is there something that gives the Sands their innate power, expressed in the different sorts of glasses and lenses? And could that have something to do with the Worldspire?

 

8) Alcatraz Question 5: Is the Sentinel Glass of Ryshadium just a joke or does it have a real function in the world?

 

9) Alcatraz Question 6: Do some sorts of Glass store energy gained by Brightsand different than others. As it seems very impractical if something like Expander’s Glass or Defender’s Glass needs to be reloaded?

 

10) Final Alcatraz Question: When do you call something Silimatics and when just Glass? I mean why is it called Transporter’s Glass and not Silimatic Transporter, is there an in-world difference in naming or not?

Dramatus' list is nearly complete.

There are a pair of unnamed lenses that Blackburn uses in Book 1, these cause a screeching beam of sound (maybe these are Harrier's Lenses?)

 

Transcriber's Lenses are real, they are what Grandpa used in Book 2 to send a note to Australia. They seem to behave like Courier's Lenses but with written instead of spoken messages.

 

Finally there are Warrior's Lenses, though it could be argued these are much less like the other lenses and more like the magical types of Glass.

If you would like to ask a non-cosmere question, here are some I would like to know

 

'What are Oculatory Distortions precisely?'

 

'What's the difference between Prime Talents and normal Talents'

 

'Do you know where each of the main Epic's powers lie on David's scale?'

I recently reread the Alcatraz series and I think I stumbled upon an error. In the first book Alcatraz VII is mentioned and it's said that he lived sixteen generations before Alcatraz. A bit later it is revealed that Alcatraz is the twenty-third with that name. So, is this an error, as it seems very inconvenient that in some thousands years there were only seven with the name Alcatraz and then in 500 years there are sixteen of them?

I think you are mistaken as David's flashback in the first book was ten years before Steelheart itself. And his flashback took place two years after Calamity, so it adds up.

Have to say I liked this book very much. It contained a wealth of information on the aspects and raises a lot more questions. Rahul's sudden appearance was one of the scenes I loved the most, together with the white room scene. Also the gap in Stephen's knowledge where Ignacio used to be was very interesting.

 

I hope however that Brandon will use the 'loose ends' he created in the past 2 Legion books. The camera, for instance, is still there but it doesn't seem like it will play a large role in the rest of the series. The same with the ending of Skin Deep, with the data on Panos' thumb drive still unknown. I really hope he has some plan for those two.