Elithanathile

I took the test as well. First truthwatcher post! They're not the order I sympathize with the most, but it seems to be the one that I'm closest to, at least from the description. Great job making this!

I haven't seen another topic on this theory, but it is one that me and my brother support. We theorize that Marasi might either use this method or Duralumin-ing Cadmium to end up in Mistborn era 3.

This game looks short and pretty fun. Just what I needed! Note: I'm on vacation while working for the next few weeks, so my free time might be a little iffy. I should be able to get on for at least 10 minutes every day but Sunday though. Unless this lasts into next weekend, when I'm dead for three days. So kill me fast. I'll sign up as Squirrelmort, the squirrelliest wizard of all the coast. He also has glasses. Edit: just realized this game is starting virtually 16 hours before aforementioned dead spot. So I guess I'll be somewhat dead at the beginning, but should warm up more afterwards.

Okay, sorry to get a tad defensive then. On the note of similarities though, an additional event would be the war in heaven, which there might also be evidence for a parallel in the books or books-to-be. Adonalsium got shattered somehow after all. Edit: Just remembered where I'd heard something about Adonalsium being resurrected. It was a theory that Hoid was trying to collect different pieces of investiture to revive Adonalsium, or become the new one. Not a whole lot of evidence for it, but it does give a reason why he's collecting so many bits of power.

Yeah, flight has always been a dream of mine, so I would totally go for WIndrunner. And that's ignoring the fact that I could use it to annoy people who get on my nerves by binding them to the ground. Just to make it a bit harder to walk for a few minutes. Of course, that's also ignoring the fact that I am horribly scared of heights, and can't look up at a chapel ceiling without getting vertigo. I blame being dropped on my head too much as a baby. And one thing about it, do we still need stormlight to use the abilities? Because if so, then we can't use any of them, but if not, then I could pull the moon into the earth if I wanted. So is there any kind of limit there?

I know this might seem like getting religious, but as a Mormon myself, I can say that the main thing we focus on is Christ. Plenty of the other things are definitely up there, like the Atonement, the Fall, the Creation, etc, but the original focus is Jesus Christ. Not trying to step on any toes or get all opinionated, but I just wanted to clarify slightly, as it's something that's important to me. I do agree that Adonalsium seems to have the powers of creation, since it's kinda a WoB in Arcanum Unbounded that Adonalsium made the original humans, although it's also possible that it could just be the world of Dragonsteel, which weren't created, and the shards knew them from that. It also helps that it has been confirmed that Adonalsium was taken from the Hebrew word Adonai, meaning God. Breaking in some way is definitely a part of the books, but I don't know if it's as much a overarching theme as it is just really good writing. We do kinda have a break the cutie in Warbreaker, and the breaking thing in SA is very apparent, so I do agree with you on that. And I do think there is a plan out currently for the resurrection of Adonalsium, although I can't remember where I've heard it. So I agree with all your points, just not sure if the original premise is exactly correct.

I read your excerpt and the wordbuilding looks really cool! Haven't seen too much of the magic system yet, so can't comment too much on that, but your characters seem different and have their own quirks, and your writing is clear besides a few editing issues. Just keep it up, and it seems it could turn into a good novel. 4 out of 5 stars. If saw in library, would get. So if you're using the Arc of fire, you can only control a specific fire? That makes it more limited, which I think is a pretty good idea. As for how they would look, I kinda see the Riftplane as being fundamentally different from the physical plane. So if you did visit there, it would kinda be like a landscape, but with blank bubbles of where things don't exist. So the concept of a specific fire in a specific fireplace would show up as a mass of heat and warmth, but without any kind of form or shape. And the more people think about it or focus on it, the clearer it is. Humans are unique in how they are the ones who give things the concept and clarity. So things in the Riftplane are like bubbles around the riftselves of humans, while the areas where they can't see/reach are blank space. A chair gives off the idea of stability, and a family picture might give off the idea of love or nostalgia. So things don't really have a form that you can see, it's mostly vague blurs and feelings. While humans riftselves give off the feelings they feel about themselves. So a confident human would give off that feeling, while a veteran soldier might give off a feeling of regret or self-hate. You said that riftselves gain sentience when they are moved into the physical plane. (This means you probably have plans for this in the future, which sounds exciting.) Doesn't this mean that by reversing that process in some way, you could pull your physical self into the Riftplane? So that should be relatively simple to implement. Contracts tend to be immediate or long-term actions for immediate, future immediate, or long-term costs. So if you promised them your soul for bringing your cat back to life, depending on the contract, it could either be immediate --your life for your cat's-- or future, so when you die, they claim your soul, or long-term, so you work for them for a while. The two sides don't have to be equal, but both sides have to agree. Gods can't seek out humans in any way, but humans can come to them. So if you want ol' fluffy (the cat) back, you'd better go seek them out. Each god has a different personality and could give you a better or worse deal, depending on if they like you. One god wanted to be justice, so blinded themselves and muffled their ears so they wouldn't be affected by their looks or eloquent speech. There are others who attempt to ensnare innocent Oathseekers, (name considerably less WIP) saying "you do this for me, then I do this for you," without a contract, so they get something, then don't have to do anything. There are also factions of gods, as well as different pantheons. One of the things I'm still figuring out is how I plan to have thousands of different gods without involving different dimensions, secret bases, or massive conspiracies, but not having characters bump into a god every 10 minutes. Every god wants souls though, possibly as a form of almost-currency to use their abilities out of contract. Maybe a mythical tale of being able to "ascend" once they gather enough souls and leave the physical plane for a different place where they can use their abilities without limits. (Or maybe it's all a plan by an Elder God (Cachoolu?) for them to gain the souls, before he devours them whole, gaining both their powers and their souls, as a means for him to survive.) Since gods can't interfere directly, one of their greatest desires in a contract is to gain the Oathseeker as a vassal, which means they bestow a slight amount of their power upon them, (So they are denoted as a vassal. They don't get any abilities.) and then the vassal goes and and either does their bidding (assassination) or to wrangle up more Oathseekers for them. (Proselytization) The vassals, as they are part of the god's power, are also part of the Ascending. (Or they get dragged along for the consuming as well.) There isn't a limit on how many contracts one person can have, either one from 100 gods, or 100 from one god, but gods tend to see humans as pawns or tools, not as equals. So people only seek them out if they feel they have to, and would prefer not to again. So they tend to be incredibly cautious. (Or each contract takes some of their soul/humanity to upkeep, enforcing the contract with their own power, allowing them to break it if they desire, but they don't get it back. So if someone goes power-crazed, and does get too many contracts, they become an insane husk, living on their whims, with barely any humanity left.) To break the contract, they have to get hold of the physical contract and destroy it. So yeah, that often means sneaking into a god's vault. You can only break your own contracts, nobody else's. Even if the physical contract is broken, the god still has to go through with their side of it, but the backlash curses them as an Oathbreaker. (name still WIP. I feel like I'm ripping off SA 3 as it is.) (Or, since part of their soul is in the contract, them breaking the contract means cutting off that part of their soul, losing it forever. Kinda like destroying a Horcrux, but it has actual consequences.) The idea of the MC getting a contract, then breaking it, then finding out there was a backup clause, so he still has to go through with it, actually sounds pretty intriguing. So now this tortured guy's trying to infiltrate the king's court, while having literal chains on him, and not being able to taste. (He gets appointed the food taster, naturally.) I feel that I could go one of two routes with the plot, either having the gods being a large part of the story, or just kinda being there in the background. Either showing up and doing things, or we never really see them except in the lore. (Or I could go with the other idea I had, which involves him ending up fused with a god, meaning he can interfere, can make contracts, but with less power, etc. It also means he has the threat of an Elder God hanging over his head when he dies.) For clarification, the "(Or...)" sections are for a semi-alternate idea where things are more serious, but it adds more on, so I feel I'm kinda leaning towards it. My main things right now are figuring out more of the gods, the actual world, (modern or fantasy) the plot, the characters, and not making it cliche. Which actually sounds like a lot, now that I write it out. Way to depress myself. Thanks for your comments, and I'll check out the laws. I'm pretty familiar with them, but having directly used them while inventing the system, so I'll try that.

So my main question on this is that with your Riftplane, (sweet name, btw.) you say that there are Riftselfs, which are "the manifestation of a physical object or person on the Physical Plane." What kind of manifestation is this? In Brandon's system, he has the cognitive realm, which is how things are perceived and how they see themselves. Is this how your plane works as well? Or is it more of a twisted form, shaped in some way by the plane itself? That would be more of my guess, since you referred to them as "things" earlier. And with the Arcs, since the Riftplane shows a manifestation of them, does that mean that there's one fire Arc, and people are using it, and they're all linking to the same Riftself of the fire Arc? So kinda like a contract system, where they make a deal with it? That leads into my next question, which is whether the riftselves have a choice on whether to be part of the Fettering, or if their powers are being used without their permission. Is there any way to access the Riftplane with a physical form, or perhaps merge with your riftself to go there? Is there a riftself of the Riftplane? These are just the questions I had while reading your system. It looks really cool, and I can't wait to see where it goes. Kinda on the topic, I've also been working on a magic system, although it's nowhere as put together as yours. In it, humans can make contracts with higher beings (Gods/Demons/Sorcerers/etc.) for boons, in exchange for something of their own, whether their soul, their emotions, a memory, etc. It is possible to break a contract though, in exchange for being known as an Oathbreaker. (Name is WIP) This basically means you can't sleep, all food and water tastes like ash, animals and other humans hate you, all higher beings will scorn you for reneging on a contract, and as soon as you die, they get your soul and the contract goes through anyway. There's usually a reason why nobody breaks the contract, but if they do, the higher being can't really do anything against them due to a non-interference clause. Basically, they can't directly interfere without contracts. The idea is having a character (MC, MC SIbling, Friend, Stranger, Side character that pops up in one scene. Not sure what their role is yet.) that has broken a contract for some reason, and is going around trying to find some way to break the Oathbreaker status, since when he/she dies, the contract will go through, which is what they didn't want to happen in the first place. That's basically all I've got, no plot, basically no characters. Just some basic worldbuilding. Please ask any questions you have, as that forces me to answer them, which is how I figure these things out best.

Yeah, I burst out laughing when I read that. I didn't know he'd said that previously, but it does make it hilarious. I've heard from the stabby AMA that they may have to adjust page margins and such to actually get it printed, since current printers printing presses mints publishing machines can't make books that big.

I don't agree with the core of this, that the Shards are shaping the events of the books like that, directing them like a play, even unconsciously. I see humans as having free nature and agency, and while they are created originally, past that, their choices are their own. One thing that I can kinda confirm though is why the humans are the same. I believe there's a quote from either Mistborn: Secret History or the Arcanum Unbounded Essays about how the shards made humans after what they had seen before. And we also know that there's Dragonsteel, a book that's going to show what happened before the shattering of Adonalsium, and Hoid was there. He's human, (or at least close-ish) so the shards probably based humans off of what Adonalsium or somebody/something had created previously.

Spoilers for the end of WoK

Mistborn: Hero of Ages Spoiler

Yeah, just thinking that the distinction in time-frames could potentially give you more characters that people know. Not too sure about other people, but I've never heard of No. 60-62, so not entirely sure how well people would be able to vote or whatever on characters they don't know. Note: I'm not saying that I'm the definitive on which characters are well known or not, just giving an example, and I've read the majority of the Cosmere books. (I'm working on Arcanum Unbounded, and still waiting on Bands of Mourning.) I did notice though that you don't have characters from Shadows of Silence or Sixth of the Dusk, so I'm guessing that you are still accounting for less-known characters. I'm honestly just writing down my thoughts as I get them.

A possibility for the tournament would be to have 2 or 3 people write how they feel a fight between the two (or more) characters would go, then post those and have people vote on them. (by upvotes?) Also, I saw you have Sazed, but do you have Sazed(Post-HoA)? As separate from Sazed(Pre-HoA)? They're two very different characters and I think it might be a good idea to split up some other characters like that. Quite a few characters go through some pretty distinct changes over the course of a book or series. For example, Kaladin(Pre-WoK) and Kaladin(Post-WoR). But this does look like a great idea, and looks like it would awesome! Edit: Also, what about Renarin? He's a character too, you know!

I certainly hope this isn't from personal experience...

Also the fact that it is about 150 pages long maximum, so it's not like a big time sink. (There's an action scene or two at the end as well, if that interests you.)

"Have you heard what Lift did?" "Yeah, talk about a slippery slope." Lopen on the wall: "Well, this is a sticky situation." "Wow Adonalsium, you look great!" "Really? I'm shattered." (supposed to be like flattered. Not sure it came out right.)

Well I don't know too much about jokes, but the end of Warbreaker really took my breath away.

Honestly, I'm absolutely useless at this kind of stuff, I just wanted to say that it looks amazing, and I do hope that you can get it completed, as that would be crazy awesome.

Something else I would add is that if you enjoyed a LN or anime series, there tends to be a lot of fanfiction out there for good series. Not saying that all of it is good, but there is some seriously impressive stuff out there. Just something else if you have some series you enjoy, and are looking for something to read.

My reaction to that. via Imgflip Meme Generator

I believe there is a Tokyo Ravens anime that can be found, but I don't know if that's further ahead or behind the translation. Might be worth giving it a check though.

I certainly can't argue with that. But in it's defense, it is a very small book.

Yeah, I've seen the blogpost, but didn't he mention that he was considering rebranding the series as "Leeds" (MC last name) and possibly getting a show that way? *Looks for 30 minutes* Nope, couldn't find it. I guess the skeleton makes more sense now.

But... I liked Legion. See, look at this! via Imgflip Meme Generator See! Legions cool! I did not beg my parents to get legion for years, and finally read it, just to have someone deny me of how good it was! Still waiting for the TV show though. via Imgflip Meme Generator