Jondesu

I agree. My impression is that Autonomy found the system interesting, but it wasn't in that configuration at the time, so she moved things around to make the unusual alignment of the system the way it is for a particular purpose (it may have been nothing more than an experiment or something artistic, instead of being directly connected to her Intent, especially if she did it soon after the Shattering). The fact that she's obviously putting effort into maintaining it after all this time is interesting, too. Mistborn, Elantris, and Stormlight spoilers: I'd be curious as to how many systems in the Cosmere have active, ongoing efforts by their residing Shards to keep things working, vs them being set up by the Shards but then being stable on their own.

Just checked that out from my eLibrary, I keep seeing it recommended.

I could see the chasmfiend as partially either animatronic or even just someone in a costume using some perspective techniques, and then of course CGI to make the limbs and facial features work properly. There's no way the movement that's described could be done entirely with animatronics, even in miniature, but there would have to be something real for the actors to interact with (especially for something like Dalinar catching the claw, which should be done entirely with real props, perhaps enhanced slightly with CGI) to make it believable.

I agree, @TheMightyLopen, that Drake is likely Honorable, and while I was considering going ahead and executing him this round so we could confirm and make more progress, I would love to have someone remain in the game that I'm mostly certain of. I think I trust you too, btw, from a lot of the things I've seen. I'm going to join you in trying to pardon Drake again, though I suspect it'll end up being a futile effort once more. As for Arinian, I hate to see people go after someone just because they escaped once, which I feel is largely what's happening, but at the same time, that bit me in the rear with Dalinar in AG3, and we did get a good bit of input about Arin from other players, so I agree that knowing his alignment will be very helpful. Know, please, this isn't a bandwagon vote, not entirely. I don't have a lot of other suspicions, and I'm hoping that my gut instinct to at least identify Arin's alignment will pay out.

Yeah, I was thinking this over, and it looks to me like the Willshaper is likely village based on the moves with Drake. The first we saw of the Willshaper was them moving Quiver's vote onto himself, right? Making sure he was imprisoned. Next, they moved a vote to imprison Drake (saving Alv in the process, but hang on for the conclusion). The following round, they then moved a vote to pardon Drake, bringing it close but not quite reaching the goal of the 14 votes needed to pardon him. That tells me that the Willshaper genuinely suspected Drake, then switched their vote once they were convinced of his innocence. I can't see much of a reason for that other than that they genuinely changed their mind, and thus didn't have any hard knowledge of Drake's alignment. An Elim would have had clear knowledge of Drake's alignment, of course, and certainly wouldn't have wanted to see him free if he is indeed an Honorable Dustbringer like many of us believe (though he won't be a Dustbringer after this cycle, sadly), and so that vote move wouldn't have made much sense. It could have been a move to gain trust with PM contacts, but even so, there was a risk there since just a couple votes near the end of the cycle would have saved Drake. I'm convinced that the Willshaper is village, the Elsecaller is Elim, and everyone else is currently debatable. We haven't seen anything to specifically call out other bonded players, but I think I'm counting correctly that 7 spren are bonded now, right? That leaves only one free, which is interesting, and I'm not currently sure which one it is. I've had confirmation that we do have a Truthwatcher, who I really hope is village, and that they were bonded a few cycles back. We had a Lightweaver, and that spren probably was one of the bonds formed since Rae was killed, if I had to guess, so I'll have to analyze the other likely candidates, but it is hard to imagine that any spren takes more Honor than has currently been earned to bond, so there's probably one that hasn't had anyone putting enough Honor into the bond it. I find that curious, so I need to see which one people have likely figured is the least important or the least desirable. EDIT: Just updated my Honor tracking for the last cycle. Myself, Randuir, and Magestar are the only ones with 12 Honor now, the max possible, and we know Mage said he was going for Dustbringer, so he likely isn't bonded to a spren right now (he should, in theory, get the Dustbringer spren when it's available, but that actually will be two rounds from now if I understand correctly). Randuir is likely bonded to a spren now, but I don't have any knowledge of which one it would be. Ecth is the only player with 11 Honor, Doc and Drake have 10 (Drake hasn't earned any since being imprisoned of course), and there's a bunch of players with 8-9, but two of those are now dead. My best guess is that the 7 spren that are bonded are among the 12 players with 8+ Honor that are still alive, and I know a couple of those (assuming I believe my PM contacts). I hope to be able to conclusively identify most or all of our bonded players soon so I can use that to help us figure out which ones are likely Elims.

Some of this is spoiler territory since we're in the Stormlight forum, so here's my thoughts on a few of those (spoilers for Mistborn, Warbreaker, and Elantris): Basically, while there's a bit of a theme there, I don't think it's one of a natural property of Shards to manifest as something related to weather, climate, or geography, but there is a trend of them choosing to use a natural phenomenon as a way to influence the world. Cultivation choosing to change the crem and use it to affect the world is very likely, almost confirmed, but it's obviously not "of" Cultivation in the sense that she didn't create it. She likely had a lot to do with the extra growth it grants to plants that get it from the highstorms, though.

Maxal already said it, but there's basically no way an anime show or movie could get a mainstream adult following in the Western world. In Japan and other Asian countries, sure, but that limits the market, and there, they're already saturated with huge numbers of anime shows of all varieties. If Brandon wants to make any headway in the US, Canada, anywhere in Europe, it needs to be live-action, basically. I would love to see someone with the same philosophies that contributed to the latest Star Wars films take the helm here. Practical effects mixed with the right amount of CGI. Rockbuds, the actual ground, all of that stuff, should be props, really there on the set with the actors. Spren need to be CGI and added in, with ones like Syl that the characters are interacting with filled in with a prop on the set while they're acting, so that it seems natural. If a studio is willing to put in even a slightly higher-than-average budget, with the right director, producer, and props team, I think it could be really amazing. I suspect they would stick decently well to the source material for the appearance of that kind of stuff, simply because it really does make their job easier.

I'd imagine there's two reasons. First, he'd need to have brass swallowed and ready to burn all the time, which isn't exactly convenient, hence him adding some to his cup in the flashback with Shallan and her father. Second, it's entirely possible that it would interfere with one or more of the other magics he has access to. We've never seen a mixing yet of multiple magic systems from different planets, only from different Shards on a world made by both of them (with Feruchemy, Twinborns, etc), so we don't know what that would do. Hoid has magic from several different worlds as well as from Yolen, and I imagine some of those wouldn't cooperate nicely together. He's managed to work around it, no doubt, but that doesn't mean he'd always want to have brass ready if it would interfere with his Lightweaving, for instance (something I could find logical), or his method of figuring out where he needs to be (a form of Feruchemy, though we don't know if it's Scadrian Feruchemy or something equivalent that existed prior to that).

Didn't Shallan's brother spend time pulling legs off of cremlings? I imagine there might be a Sleepless out there who's very annoyed with him.

I pretty much have no limits when it comes to an epic movie. They could be 5-6 hours and I'd probably see them in the theater.

Just began rewatching The Lord of the Rings, all three Extended Editions. Not going to watch it all in one sitting I'm sure, but I don't know exactly how much I will watch.

You're a Seer... either you moved up again really fast or dropped?

Poppies! Like from Wizard of Oz.

Just talked to Drake, he has no Honor left this cycle so the bond is doomed, whereas if we'd pardoned him last round he could have earned the Honor this round he would need to keep it. I just misunderstood exactly when it would break (I even thought about that in the discussion about freeing him and how if we pardoned him last cycle but he was out of unspent Honor it wouldn't matter, but didn't fully process that apparently). I still believe him and would go for a pardon again, but I'd like to see what others are thinking. It seems like an insurmountable task considering the inactives. On that note, I'd like to put up JUQ for imprisonment, as a true inactive this game. @JUQ, I'd prefer to see you return and be active instead, though. Any chance of that?

Kintas was far from his element. He belonged in a study, or maybe a laboratory, making observations and soaking in knowledge. He longed for a chance to spend time discussing fabrial science with Shallan, or the calculations of the Stormwardens with Ranatar, or even just getting a chance to study some of the spren or the local fauna and flora. Instead, he whirled about again, bringing down a Voidbringer while allowing one to pass behind him. Kintas wasn't even entirely sure how he was still alive, but the Stormlight surging through him certainly kept him energized beyond what he was used to. There might be a price to pay, but he no longer needed to sit by and let others play hero. He tossed one of his prepared ropes at another Parshendi, satisfied by the way it bound the creature's hand to its side, and moved on. He didn't need to kill them necessarily, just move them away from Shallan's path. Right now, he was achieving that mostly through the terrifying and unintended task of drawing their attention to himself, and spending a lot of effort just trying not to get skewered. A few Parshendi had gemstones woven into their beards that were still invested; he drew on those occasionally, but most of the Parshendi didn't wear them or had only dun gems in their beards. They must have been aware of the danger. It wasn't enough to keep Kintas alive permanently, but it let him heal some wounds that would have been potentially crippling otherwise. Spinning again, he stumbled and landed hard on one knee. He steadied himself on a rock and prepared to move again, but then he noticed what he'd stumbled over. Sareth lay on the ground, pale and unmoving, a dagger buried in his eye and deep into his brain. Kintas didn't even have to check his pulse or breathing to know that even with Stormlight, the Shin man was dead. He filed away mentally a note that the dagger was unlike anything he'd seen the Voidbringers wielding, and the dead Voidbringer still hanging onto Sareth's feet had been killed by a sword, which Sareth had not been carrying. There was more here than just a battle wound, but Kintas didn't have time to think it over right then. He scrambled back to his feet and hauled Sareth's body onto his shoulder, running back and dumping it somewhat unceremoniously on the plateau where Dalinar's troops protected him from the Voidbringers that otherwise might have tried to bring down the Blackthorn, then began to run back into the battle. Suddenly, everything flashed red and white, and the ground crashed into Kintas' head. His last conscious thought was that the shalebark he landed on was a strange shade of brownish gray he hadn't see often.

Hah, that's awesome.

Wait, Drake maintains his bond? I thought he said he was going to lose it... I'm also very confused about the teleportation in and out of jail. Not so much the how, since I assume it's the Elsecaller's power, but why they apparently wanted Quiver to remain alive, and to imprison Jonly (Joe). My best guess is that our Elsecaller is an Unjust, trying to make our job harder by keeping an inactive out of prison, though that makes Sheep's killing even weirder. Perhaps they just hadn't decided on the right approach yet.

I thought I already had, oops. Yep, let's get rid of inactives. Quiver

Btw, I'm tempted to sign up as The Operative, referencing the movie Serenity and what you were obviously playing on, "a world without sin".

Alright, I said I would change my vote if it made sense, but at this point I'm confident not nearly enough people will log on and switch to execute, so if we don't get more pardon votes, we're stuck. Nothing much we can do about that now. Crossing my fingers, and hoping Aman has a good RP prompt that I can jump on tomorrow (I'll come up with something either way, hopefully).

Just felt our third baby kick through my wife's belly for the first time! Always an amazing feeling.

Remart will tromp back into another game with hopefully a more upbeat attitude than the end of the last one (not that he'll remember Tyrian Falls anyways).

Still four more votes to go to pardon Drake if I'm counting correctly. Where are the people who haven't voted? Edit:@Assassin in Burgundy, @TheSilverDragon, @JUQ, @Shqueeves, @The lazy anarchist, @DroughtBringer, @Elbereth, ya'll still have yet to vote, and this seems to be an important round for it.

I'm figuring I'll check back in about 6-8 hours, which will be late evening here, and about 6 hours before rollover. I'll change it then if necessary.

Foghorn Leghorn