Sirce Luckwielder

Vasher?

Hence the line "an immortal, though dead." I wasn't really sure if that was confirmed 100% so I threw in the other meaning. Where did Brandon talk about that?

Yes. It's Kelsier. Good job. A father without children, He's a father-figure to Vin. A husband without wife. Mare is dead, so he is a widower. I command the hearts of men. He has that special charisma that lets him give people newfound hope. His church also does something similar. Imbued with the power of a god. Allomancy. I sow striff seeds. His attacking of the Keeps to push them towards a civil war. Serving under pretenses of endurance. He serves Preservation. An immortal, though dead. He lives on forever in legend. My heart lay unknown until the end-sleep. People thought he just built himself up for glory until he got himself killed for the cause.

No. Not the Almighty.

Sorry, not the Stormfather.

I loved the boast. Even though he is crazy, I liked Bloody Tan. A father without children, A husband without wife. I command the hearts of men. Imbued with the power of a god. I sow striff seeds. Serving under pretenses of endurance. An immortal, though dead. My heart lay unknown until the end-sleep.

Bloody Tan. One of the best scenes in Alloy of Law.

Vasher? The "road untaken" could be his not showing thst he is a Returned. The "word-hoard, my weapons" could be Awakening, which requires specific words in its Commands. The "in stone" could be talking of the Phantoms. The "distant days unspoken, long fled with the summers" could be talking about how long he has lived. The "beating heart lf an empire" could be talking of the T'Telir kingdom that he gave up the the other God Kings, who could be the "lord(s) of kings."

Yep, it was Spook. I mostly wanted to just get this rolling again. Your boast Topomouse.

I'm just going to do a new one. I speak in riddles, only coherant upon close inspection. I have run the gauntlet of the candle-fuel. I see the thousand eyes as clear as day. I have a friend in the man upstairs, He grants me the unknown power, Making me the last of my kind.

I sent him a PM yesterday afternoon. If he doesn't post something by the end of today anybody can take it.

Arnold Sfeer woke up feeling that his brain had been replaced by a jackhammer. The night before he had been paid. As usual that had meant a few too many at the local bar. He remembered stumbling home and getting into his house after several fumbling attempts to get his key in the lock. After that he hadn't even been able to get to his bed before he had crashed, falling alseep on a living room armchair. As he stumbled up, he wondered where the armchair had gone. He could see the depressions in the floor, but the blasted thing had disappeared. I must have been more loaded than normal last night. He walked to the bathroom at the end of the hall, the last place his armchair had wound up after a night on the town. His smile from remembering that night vanished as he walked by his bedroom, the door just before the bathroom. Where his bed should have been was a blank space. Not only that, but the whole room was empty. Everything had vanished! Frantically he began running around his house. Everything was gone. His sterio from high school, his thirty inch plasma TV, even his refregerator! Looking outside of the window (even the curtains had disappeared) he noticed that his motorcycle was missing as well. "What in Calamity is going on!" he spouted, running into a wall in his fury. He exited the house, running through where a door should have graced his porch. He noticed that his neighbor Jonny's Nissan was missing. He knew Jonny, and the man would be working off a hangover as bad as his own for at least another hour. Running to the door, he looked through the window, seeing a sight similar to his own home. Taking a glance around the neighborhood, at least three other houses seemed to be in similar conditions, one down the street had mysteriously disappeared entirely. He could see the family sitting on the porch, the husband consolling a crying woman who clutched a young child. "Confound it all!" he yelled to the heavens and the red star that presided over them. Lockvault settled into a rolly chair, examining his new computer. From here he could check all of the security cameras that he had "liberated." They surrounded the base, which felt much more like a home now that it had been furbished with some beds and many items that he and the Adventurer had "found." He had grabbed a couple of extra beds and a few other items to keep in Storage. If he had to leave in a hurry he didn't want to relive the aches of the wild without some forms of comfort.

Some speculation I have. On the stunt, let's say that you're discovering how to kill people. You take a rock and bash someone's head in. Then you learn that bigger rocks or sharp rocks work better. Then you figure that you can sharpen rocks against each other. Then you make daggers, then swords, then all manner of weapons. Then you figure out that you can hear them up for better effects. Then, while heating, you figure out how to mold metal into a shape, you use that to create a better sword. Then you figure out that steel or bronze works better than the ofher metal you were using, then . . . what? Assuming that you have no knowledge of gunpowder or any other way to make weapons, you are stuck with swords. If a group of five super intelligent people, with dreams that lead them and guide them, found out all of the basic things that they could about Awakening, and then hit a roadblock, that would make a lot of sense why the next years are hard. They discovered a ton of the "melee weapon-level" Commands. Then they hit a block where it would be very hard to discover the rest. I don't believe the books said there was NO new advances, just that they weren't easy to figure out. If people discover most of this stage of Awakening Commands, then the last few will be harder to figure out since they have all but the last few. As an wxample, let's say you have a large box full of marbles and you throw them over a playground and then tell kids to pick up every last one. They'll find a ton of the noticable ones in the first few minutes. However, as time goes on, it will be harder to find more since they will be the well hidden ones and they will be few and far between. They'll still be found, it will just take longer. Because of that reason, having no reward for all of the work, many Awakeners would perhaps give up the attempt. It would be hard to work day in and day out with no or very little progress and not get discouraged. I think this is the case since Vasher remarks that Yesteel has been working on a new form of ichor-alcohol. Over this whole time he has only barely begun to find something to replace the last discovery since it was so good. Just like how today we still make advances in certain areas, but things like publishing books is basically at it's peak. It had a lot of advancement to get where it is now, but only minor changes are happening, not major ones. So even when Vasher says that they have only barely scratched the surface of what Awakening can do, I think that refers to that level of Awakening. To go back to my earlier analogy, the melee-level stuff. There are still the projectile-, gun-, energy-, magnetic-, and beyond levels that they will still go to. Second Remark: On how the Five Scholars digured out that they could do the whole Awakening thing. They are all Returned. The Returned have visions to guide them to the reason they Returned. Perhaps the Five Scholars all came together, all Returned at the same time to further the cause of Awakening. The visions would guide them and let them know the right places to probe at first. They would have had a purpose to coming together all at that time. How likely is it that a brother and a sister and two brothers would all Return at the same time if they weren't all needed for a purpose? I generally agree with this:

My friend asked this at a signing and you may be interested to see it.

When you get on an airplane and ask the person next to you if they have read Sanderson. I mean, you got several hours, you can either geek out with them the entire time or finally explain enough in one sitting to fully convert them.

Lightsong is correct.

Not Elend.

By the powers invested in me by natc:Changing with power, I hold death in one hand and life in another. I consume the souls of men, ever hungry. I see fire, death, and war. I defy society and they revel in my debauchery. I live on high while workers toil beneath a fiery sun. I die to raise an empire, Leading to peace brought by gruesome battle.

Quellion?

When the first thing you do when getting into the SLC airport is check for signed books. I don't even need to buy one, I just wanted to see if they were here at all since he put some of the shelves a couple weeks back.

Thanks LabRat! I appreciate it. Where did we find out these things? I'm guessing that the second point is how he looks bigger and scarier when he helps rescue Nanrovah's daughter. A lot of this makes a ton of sense. I couldn't really tell how this was all working exactly, so I really appreciate the information.

This has been stewing in me for a while, so I have been rereading Warbreaker to look for evidence. Correct me if I have missed something and this is already something confirmed or denied. I believe that the way a Returned dies is by consuming their Divine Breath. You look at that and say "well duh," but I'm not finished. I think that for a Returned to be a Returned, with the dreams, the perfect body, etc, they need the Divine Breath. We know that they can Awaken if they have more Breaths than they need to survive, just as the God King did. So what if they stored their Divine Breath somewhere and moved on? They aren't consuming it, but they still don't hold it. Would they turn back into a normal person again? We know that Peacegiver/Vasher was Returned. The book said it a few times, such as when Siri is asking where the God King's wealth of Breath came from or on Page 99 of the hardcover when Vivenna comments on the D'Denir statues. We also know that he doesn't hold his Divine Breath, as he needs Vahr's Breath when he comes back to Hallandren. Speaking of that scene (page 22 of the hardcover), Vasher comments as such: From the Ars Arcanum, we learn that the Fifth Heightening comes at 2000 Breaths, or one Divine Breath. If Vasher can draw forth that Divine Breath again as implied by the quote, he stored it at some point. Now he is mortal and can die, but he still has lived for a very long time, perhaps due to having other Breath, perhaps something different. My questions are thus: -What happens to a Returned when their Divine Breath is stored away? -Do they still gain any powers from having a Divine Breath? -What "sacrifices" would need to be made for Vasher to take back his Divine Breath? -Did Vasher use his Divine Breath to create Nightblood? -Vivenna notices that Vasher's beard never seems to grow more but he never is seen trimming it. Is this just Vasher being secretive or does it connect to him being a Returned? This may be a bit disjointed, but I hope that my point is seen. If anybody has insight or evidence to contradict or support these questions I would love to hear them.

I learned a cool thing from my seminary teacher that I am sure Brandon knows. Going back to how we, LDS members, believe in a three part Godhead, we also believe that Christ created the earth with God the Father's power. The bestowal of this power on Christ was called the Divine Investiture of Authority. That is how Christ could create the world and survive the excruciating pain of the Garden of Gethsemane. I am pretty confident that this is where Brandon got the name for his Investiture system.

Winterspell exited the blood portal to find himself on the Astorian docks. As he stepped off the wharf, he formed an ice disk to land on. With a grunt of exertion after the trying day, he sent himself off towards the Keep, hurtling at speeds that would kill a normal man. Since it’s so late in the night, finding Blindsight is going to be difficult, he thought. For a man with a routine, he could be hard to keep track of. As he neared the palace, inspiration struck him. Who better to find one of my personal than Tag? He almost always keeps to the Minor Epic quarter, so he will be much easier to locate than Blindsight. He veered towards one of the walls, peeled it back, and reformed it behind him as he slid into the room. He looked at the occupants of the room, two of his Epics playing poker sat in the corner: Nightstand and Labyrinth. Before they could get over their surprise, he looked at Nightstand. “Where’s Tag? I need him.” Before Nightstand could answer, Tag rushed into the room. “Right here boss. I saw you a’comin’ towards the Keep all fast-like and got myself here quicker than a sailor gets to a bar on shore leave. What can I do ya’ for?” Winterspell grimaced, but teaching Tag how to speak properly could come later. “I need you to locate Blindsight immediately.” “He’s over yonder way boss.” Tag pointed vaguely off towards the ceiling and the middle of the Keep. “Accompany me immediately. Time is short.” Winterspell gave Tag a glare, sending a crystal clear message. Finally seeing that his commander was in full temper, Tag didn’t say another word, just immediately ran off towards a stairwell, leading Winterspell to his target. After a short sprint through the palace, Tag gaining speed after a short glance back, they reached a sitting room where several Epics lounged. Blindsight was playing chess with Empath and two other Epics, Steel and Magnify sat by watching and betting. With anybody else, Blindsight would soundly destroy his opponent, but Empath had a decent chance when seeing his motives for performing moves. Normally it would be an interesting game to watch, but Winterspell had more important things to take care of. He gave the rundown to the Epics as they stood up from their game to meet him. “Dustdevil and Kinesis have both been hit, and possibly Disruption as well. I want you to come with me to Lucentia’s palace to make sure that everything that can possibly done for them is happening.” Turning from Blindsight, Winterspell gave Empath a look and pointed towards the direction of his personal section of the Keep. With her powers, she didn’t need more than that simple movement to understand his request. She gave a quick nod and immediately sprinted off. She would tell Lightwrought that Winterspell had returned and that she could stop extending the day. She would also inform her that he would be going to Lucentia’s palace for as long as it took to see to his men. Without waiting for a reply from Blindsight, Winterspell tapped the blood on his shirt and called to Mary. Blood extended outward, creating a portal for the Epics. Winterspell stepped in, telling Steel and Magnify to watch the blood. He did not need that spreading around his estate while he was gone. Even being allies with Mary, he still took precautions. Winterspell stepped out of the portal and into a hospital room. Nursing assistants in white dresses, their faces and their hair hidden, walked around the room, attending the injured. Winterspell looked back at where the portal was. Blindsight stepped through holding his breath, obviously perturbed by the blood. Then, to Winterspell’s surprise, Tag stepped through as well. Before he could usher him away, the Epic held up a hand towards him with an intent look on his face, meeting his eyes. He motioned towards the beds. “I can feel that Dustdevil is growing weak, sir.” Winterspell gave the man a glance, but decided that he would need to wait until later before he talked to him. Blindsight looked at the monitors, then touched a nurse standing beside one of them. He looked at them through her eyes, understanding each piece of them. Looking back at Dustdevil, he gave him a small salute, then turned towards Winterspell. “Nothing can be done for him. Even a quick death by injection would only save him a few minutes. Let’s see to Kinesis.” Some men would call him callous, but they didn’t understand him. It wasn’t that he didn’t mourn for the man, Dustdevil had been a good commander and treated those in the Keep with respect. However, there were things that were of greater priority at the moment, and grieving now would only make other things worse for the patients that could still be saved. He walked to the table that held Kinesis. Where his legs should have been were only bloody bandages. They looked hastily placed, it appeared that he hadn’t yet been operated on. Interestingly he had been tied down and sedated. Again, Blindsight placed his arm on the skin of a nearby nurse, looking at Kinesis’ screen. Most would think that the nurse seeing the screen could tell exactly what was being displayed, but mere mortals often missed things, even if they could see them. Looking at the screen, he was able to tell just what had been damaged and by the slight irregularities in the heartbeat he could see that a minor artery had not been plugged effectively by the bandaging. He quickly yelled at another nurse to find a surgeon. Within a few minutes one was provided. Blindsight quickly explained his Red Vision to the man. He didn’t look comfortable having an Epic so close to “controlling” him, but he nodded his assent. Nobody understands! Blindsight thought in frustration. They have complete control over their own bodies. I only provide suggestions that they can follow, they do the rest. The surgeon got to work on Kinesis. Cutting the bandages away, he began to operate on the Epic before him. Touching the surgeon’s back and the nurse that assisted the man, Blindsight navigated them through the surgery. As they went along, they grew more confident with his presence. They performed better than they ever could alone. The nurse knew just what implements the surgeon needed and he didn’t even need to look up from his work to grab the tools that she held out. Within just a few minutes, the operation was over, and Kinesis was in the best possible condition he could be in, all things considered. Not only would he live, but he would be recovered enough to be mobile in only a few short hours. The surgeon took off his gloves, and moved to shake hands with Blindsight. After a performance like that one, no wonder his eyes showed awe at his powers. From what he had seen from Lucentia’s palace, the servants didn’t talk more than what was strictly needed. That meant even gratitude or praise was quenched. Even though the man hadn’t washed after the operation, Blindsight took the man’s hand. There was no harm in building connections with people and he could wash as soon as they were done. He quickly washed up beside the surgeon, then turned around. He addressed the surgeon. “Did another Epic named Disruption have wounds? If so, I had best see to him.” With a direct question, the surgeon had every right to answer, whatever the rules of the palace. The surgeon stifled a chuckle. “He came in all right, complaining more than he ought. He doesn’t seem to have anything other than a small scrape on his knee. As soon as we moved him, he healed from one of the lights. Didn’t even dim it for more than a couple seconds.” “Thank you friend,” Blindsight said, placing his hand on the man’s shoulder. He positively melted at the touch. Blindsight turned towards Winterspell, who was standing above Dustdevil’s bed, expression unreadable. That grieving time that he had put off before was coming out now. Winterspell never cried. He never felt the need to. Whether from pain or emotion, tears didn’t come for him. That did not mean that he didn’t feel emotion. He gazed on the body of his former Guard Captain. The man had served loyally for several years. If there was anything that Winterspell valued in a person, it was loyalty and commitment. Dustdevil had been unwavering in both. With him gone, the most logical person to replace him would be Kinesis, but he was now handicapped. Finding someone, anyone, to replace Dustdevil would be hard at any time. He hoped that Kinesis would be up to the task with Blindsight looking over him. Blindsight walked over to him, startling him out of his thoughts. “The operation is over. Kinesis will be up and well in a short time. If we can find a healing Epic somewhere, that will be even better for him.” Winterspell hadn’t really even noticed that Kinesis had been operated on. He gave Blindsight a slight bow, thankful for his efforts. Getting back into his normal mindset, he squared his raw and pushed any emotions he had down. It was time to talk to Disruption. According to what he had seen, the Epic needed a thorough talking to. “What of Disruption, how has he fared?” “I was just about to attend to any needs he has. I believe he is over here.” Blindsight walked towards a sectioned off portion of the room, Winterspell following. Walking in, he immediately noticed that Disruption had no injuries. The second thing he noticed was that Disruption, a twenty-eight year old man, was laying on his bed, occupied by a child’s toy. I suppose if I had to deal with him in a sick ward I would do the same thing. It seems to be working in any event. Upon seeing Winterspell, Disruption quickly placed the toy, a small car, into his pocket, sheepishly hiding it from view. “Report,” Winterspell clipped off, keeping himself terse and collected. “Sir, you’d be right proud of my accomplishments. I got two of their Epics and took a wound for the team.” Seeing a shake of his head from Blindsight, Winterspell chose to ignore the Epic’s mistruths blatantly and continue on. “How did you take out two of their Epics?” “Well, I fired one of my blightning bolts sure and true and hit the flying Epic at two hundred yards. Set him on fire and everything.” Winterspell spoke up. “Would that be the Epic that regenerates? The one that flew away from the scene after returning to life?” Seeing the other Epic’s crestfallen look, he figured that to be the case. “But sir,” he piped up, “I also hit the Epic controlling the vehicles. Scared him off right quick. He didn’t die either, but he retreated thanks to me.” Winterspell snatched onto this last bit. “He retreated?” He received an enthusiastic nodding reply. “In a vehicle?” Another nod. “Did that vehicle happen to have an electric engine.” This time Disruption nodded, but much less enthusiastically, a confused look on his face. “Remind me of Disruption’s powers Blindsight, if you would be so kind.” Blindsight smiled. He humor could be good for the soul, and he could see where Winterspell was going with this. Disruption was so inefficient, so plain stupid, that he deserved a bit of a mocking. “Well, he seems to have an extremely accurate lightning power, a healing factor tied to energy, and he can create bubbles of increased time. I believe that is it." He said the last sentence with a smile and a subtle piece of sarcasm. Disruption put his finger in the air. "Wait! I also have my snazzy disruption field!" "Oh yes, he has that as well. A field that warps light and sound, stops electric energy and disrupts radio waves." "Ah," Winterspell said. "A disruption field. You say that this puts a stop to all electrical activity in your area of effect?" Disruption nodded again, the confused look replaced by enthusiasm. "Then why under Calamity's bright glory did the Destructors get away?!?" Winterspell yelled at Disruption. For his part, he no longer looked enthusiastic. "If their cars are electric, and you can stop electric machines, doesn't it logically follow that you can stop them?!? You were attacking their machine master for Calamity's sakes!" "I forgot. I had too much to keep track of," the Epic cried, cowering away from Winterspell's onslaught. “You forgot. Of course. That’s obviously reasonable. After all, it isn’t like anybody got hurt.” Winterspell had cooled his anger, replacing it with an icy calmness. Disruption had started to take that as a good thing. He shouldn’t have. “Don’t worry about a thing. It isn’t as if my Guard Captain, a magnate in his field is dead and Kinesis, another stoic, is handicapped. I’m sure that having you use your powers wouldn’t have changed a thing. Not. One. Thing.” With that, he turned from Disruption. “I require your services no longer.” Disruption seemed speechless. Even Blindsight seemed surprised at the outburst. “But, but, but, what?” Disruption stammered, on the verge of tears. “Oh shut your mouth you worthless maggot.” With that, Blindsight came over to Winterspell and began speaking to him quietly. “Sir, I know he messed up, but we still need all the men we can get. From our sources, Blackwave arrived this very night. He will undoubtedly talk to Dragoon in the morning and soon move on Astoria. Things are coming to a head. We can put him in a disciplinary position, the front lines even.” Winterspell paused, collecting his thoughts. He probably couldn’t have saved either of the casualties, even if he had tried. There’s no way to know for certain. If Blindsight thought that he could be of use, then that was that. I’ve had never found him to be wrong. His advice is sound, and if he, one who dislikes the man, will speak up for him, then I’ll listen. Besides, perhaps Disruption will take this to heart and work to make himself better. Winterspell nodded, still showing a slice of regret. He turned to the weeping Epic. “Disruption,” he boomed, “do you feel suitably guilty?” The Epic looked up at him. “Yes. I have no idea what to do now. Is there any way to be reinstated?” Winterspell smiled. Perhaps he had underestimated the man. Even if he was clumsy and childish, he still was a man. He lowered his voice, changing his tone to match that of a forgiving father. “There is. I want you to train and work on your abilities. Hone them. Very soon things will change in Astoria. You can be a part of them, but I want you to show that you are worthy of fighting off the hordes to come. If you can do that, than I will welcome you back with full forgiveness.” As he spoke the last words, he glanced at Blindsight and met his approval. He looked down on Disruption, seeing the hope in his eyes. Yes, this was the right thing to do. Emotion overrode my sense of logic. His loyalty is sound. “I will do everything you ask and more.” Disruption stood, took the toy car out of his pocket, and threw it into a small trash bin by his bed. With a resolute look, he raised his head, then proceeded to walk out into the main hospital. Winterspell looked to Blindsight. “Thank you friend. You saved me from doing something rash and stupid.” Blindsight inclined his head, deference on his face. He respected a leader who could recognize his mistakes, fix them, and give credit where it was due. He had never found a man like Winterspell, and he had already resolved he would serve him to the death. “You’re welcome,” he said simply, walking into the hall. “Thank you for taking my advice to heart. Now let’s get home if we can move Kinesis without too much effort. He looked again at the monitors, not needing to touch a nurse this time to read what they said. He was sedated enough that he could make the trip easily with Mary’s blood teleportation. He gave a nod to Winterspell, showing that Kinesis could move if and when Winterspell was ready to leave. He looked at Tag, getting an inclination of the head from him. The man had stayed out of trouble, followed instructions, and kept mostly quiet. Based on what Blindsight gleaned from him as he brushed his arm, the man had only moved from the room to go to the bathroom. He had gotten lost on the way back, but otherwise there was nothing he had done ostensibly to displease their hosts. He was surprised as a hand touched his arm. He turned, seeing the surgeon from before. In his hands was a cloth bag. He handed it to Blindsight, taking a few moments to speak to him. "This holds medicine and instructions on how to take care of your wounded friend over there. A few things need to happen or he will start having infections and that could be disastrous. Thank you for your help today. My name is Davidge Blesken if you ever need me again and my mistress wills it." "Thank you Davidge. Your services will not be forgotten. " He shook hands with the man once more. He then proceeded to oversee the moving of Dustdevil's body towards the portal. Once that was complete he got Kinesis' still unconscious body onto a stretcher, holding it between him and a quiet Disruption. Winterspell looked around the room, spotting Mary. "Thank you for your facilities. My men would not have been as well off without your help. Blindsight says that we are fine to leave without causing unnecessary injury, so we will be getting off your hands.” "Don't worry, we don't waste resources, as long as they are of use to us,” Mary replied. “Just be so kind and don't let it become a habit, yes?" “Of course,” Winterspell said, grinding his teeth behind his lips-only smile. With that he walked away, gave simple hand gesture for the Icesteel Epics to proceed through the portal. He walked up to it, then paused to look behind him. “Don’t forget that you owe me a new shirt.” Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked through the portal into the Keep. Things seemed to be the same as they had when he had left. Only Steel and Empath waited, having obediently watched the blood portal. It appeared that Kinesis had already been moved before he had left Lucentia’s palace. "Thank you for staying to watch the portal," Winterspell said as it receded on itself. "I commend you for your vigilance." With a bow, the two Epics left. Winterspell double checked to be sure the portal was really gone, then made his way to his section of the Keep. As he went, he found himself trudging along slowly. It had been an exhausting day, and pushing himself until now he had staved off those feelings. Now they hit with full force. He quickly made some power-assisting armor out of water and moved himself up the stairs. He could afford to be lazy after the day he had just had. He entered the bedroom, finding Lightwrought still up waiting for him. From her drooping posture he could tell that she was as ready as he was for bed. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek, then moved to change into his night clothes. Even with all of the blood moving around, Mary had left some on his shirt. Taking it, he cast it out of the palace, using the water walls to melt and carry it far off, sending it towards the shore and city. Turning, he slipped into bed. Lightwrought turned stopped emanating light, plunging the room into darkness. Turning to his wife, Winterspell recounted the day's events before they both drifted off to sleep.