Young Bard

I thought I'd better post some Mistborn theories before Shadows of Self/ Bands of Mourning came out, in case they were confirmed or debunked. The first of these: MECHANICAL HEMALURGY. These are some separate facts in my head which caused me to believe that Hemalurgy can somehow be transferred to machines. While I haven't exactly worked out how, I am fairly confident it can be done. Here are some of the things that caused me to start thinking about this. Exhibit A: The machine built by the Ones Above in Sixth of the Dusk. Sharders seem increasingly certain that the Ones Above in Sixth of the Dusk are the Scadrians, who have gained access to space travel. We do know that it is set shortly prior to the sci-fi Mistborn Trilogy. One of the only things we know about them is that they built a machine that detects Avian (or the Investiture inside the Avian). This sounds almost like the capabilities of bronze, being able to detect the metals inside someones bodies. We have WoB that bronze can detect non-Scadrian magic in it's radar as well. So, I believe that this is one such machine that can convert Hemalurgy from a human into a mechanical operation. Exhibit B: The Southern Continent of Scadrial. We have WoB that they have magic there, but he has said it is used 'quite differently'. I believe that this is due to the presence of mechanical objects. They would have discovered it long before the northern continent, because they didn't have a stagnant 1000 years when the Lord Ruler took over. This means they would have had 1000 extra years to tinker around with this, and see how it works, as I believe they have done. Why Hemalurgy? Well, we know that inanimate objects don't have Investiture by natural means (Brandon has stressed quite strongly that metals don't contain Investiture, they merely 'unlock' the ability to access the Investiture inside yourself). Therefore, it must be 'given' to the machine somehow. So... Hemalurgy. What do you guys (and girls) think? Have I finally gone stark-raving mad? Or is there something salvageable to this theory? I'll get sources for the WoB's mentioned as soon as I can be bothered.

Link to what Weiry mentioned. I don't think the name appears in the book (or Hope of Elantris). Either he threw it in as an extra, but unimportant tidbit, or it's a future plot point/ important thing. Personally, I think it could go either way.

Sorry, what's this??? I haven't heard anything about this. Are you sure you're thinking of the Ten Essences?

Just saying... You do realize, that out of 100, you chose 52?

I remembered the other Mistborn (mainly because I reread the book recently in preperation for SoS), but I thought the other Mistborn died before Shan... Didn't he fall from the top of Venture Mansion without any metal to pull/push on?

While I haven't read White Sand, (I was going to e-mail for it, but then the graphic novel announcement came out and I decided to wait for that instead) I think it would be easier just to have a hidden thread that only the people who are on the list can see. A bit like the Shardhunt thread, but only for specific people who are on the list. Is this possible, without a complete overhaul of the site?

Don't worry. Brandon got his brainwave for the Cosmere from Discworld by Terry Pratchett, who was in turn inspired by Asimov's I Robot/Foundation universe, who probably was inspired by Greek mythology. I don't know what else you think might be like Sanderson's work, but a joint universe idea is hardly unique in fantasy. Anyway, about these spirits. Are they Rumpelstiltskin like people? Will they trick the people their making deals with? Do they have a leader controlling them? Is he/she malevolent? Can anybody talk to them, or just a select few? How is this decided? What do these spirits want? What are they trying to achieve/earn/collect in this deal? Just some food for thought?

Charden seems to be the only character not in a prison cell right now. (At the very least, it would take a miracle for Lorn not to end up in one.) So, Charden definetely needs to do something.

You have no idea how much I want to be in the UK this October...

Those people who said Renarin, run now before Feather catches you. She'll either stalk you for the rest of your days or give you a lecture on how no-one could possibly match Renarin's sheer awesomeness. Anyway, I'm a hybrid of Elend of Jasnah. More comfortable with a book than with one of those squishy pink things that call themselves 'humans'. Questioning and prone to ask philosophical questions which has long since driven several of my colleagues mad. A logical thinker, that doesn't like to deal with those gooey emotions.

Sorry. Never mind. Though I could have sworn that Chaos said earlier in the thread that if anyone had a good suggestion they should mention it...

This is mine. It combines steampunk and music, so...

I found this flow chart with 100 of the top selling sff books. I was curious what all of you would get. When I did it, I ended up with the Way of Kings, which I wasn't expecting, seeing as there were so many other options out there. Here's the link. What did you get? EDIT: Preferably, tell us the path of how you got there, but I won't force you if you're pressed for time. WAY OF KINGS PATH: (Spoilered for length)

You'd think, but no. Even if you were to try and purchase a song from iTunes (regardless of the country of origin of the song), and factoring in very lenient currency exchange, to buy the same product in Australia costs on average 15-20% more for no good reason (mind you, the simple way around it is simply to get an 'American' account, give a dud American address, and go from there, but you get the point. This is a massive problem with FedEx. I've had a friend who had lots of trouble with this before. A few big companies all think that they can earn a few extra pennies by ripping off the people who don't really have many other options available to them if they want the product. I'm sorry if I sound overly bitter about this, but it annoys me to no end. Mind you, even for that company, 100 dollars does seem a bit excessive. I'm glad it's gone down.

Had a suggestion for a new moderator. Never mind.

Bondforger? Truthseer? I am offend.

This seems as good a time to ask as any... What exactly is the difference between an administrator, a global moderator, and a moderator? As in, what can administrators do that moderators can't?

@18th Shard: Maybe if you look at a different meaning of the word 'nails'...

Bethod, from the Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie. Can't be bothered finding quotes now, but he does some nasty stuff. (Or, more precisely, he orders other people to do nasty stuff.) Who is Bethod? In three words: Power Hungry Dictator.

Is it allowed, if you mention it's non canon? Specifically, I'm thinking of this. Source

Please note: If any of you have a problem with what I say, post or send an IM and I'll try to rephrase what I'm saying. Well, it's arguable that 'good' and 'evil' are abstract concepts in any case. They are merely labels that humans have given to things that they find to be for or against their own views, which have in turn been invented by themselves and their predecessors. Therefore, nothing is truly good or evil, simply because those terms don't exist. That being said, Odium is made out to be the antithesis. We are made to sympathise with the main characters from Chapter 1, and it is fairly clear that Odium is working against the goals of the main characters. Whether or not he seeks to actually destroy the world is irrelevant in whether or not he is an antithesis. As such, for the purpose of the story, he is as close to what could be considered evil as possible.

They featured quite prominently in the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud, but that's about it that I can think of. Also, only now do I realize how scary hive mind controlled golems could be...

I agree with Voidus. To change the title, just click Edit in the lower right hand corner of your post, use full Editor, and change the title. I would suggest something like "Prof theory". It might sound vague, but it will prevent unwanted spoilers for people who haven't read Firefight.

When the first thing you think of to get back at your arch nemesis is to put chull dung in their food.