FeatherWriter

Actually, I'm almost positive they do not. I don't have a reference here, but ardents are completely outside the gender role spectrum. Women don't cover their safehands at all.

You can force left-handers to learn right handedly. It happens here on earth quite a bit. I'd imagine this happens to women on Roshar as well. I'm more curious about the ardents though. Can a female ardent write with her left hand? Can a male ardent learn to write with his left hand? Those are the questions I want answered!

A warning to this topic: Many of the things that have been discussed here are not okay and I am going to politely ask them to stop. Discussions of politics, including stances on issues such as affirmative action and women in the military are not appropriate in this setting. Jokes about rape, especially prison rape, are even less so. I had hoped that these things would be obvious to everyone, but it seems they are not, so I am stepping in. Now, to steer this topic back onto a more appropriate and on-topic heading, Roshar's gender roles really are interesting. They're fantastic. Brandon has done such a great job showing Vorin gender roles, which are so restrictive, in a way that is refreshingly unsexist. The Vorins say that "women are meant for these things and men are meant for these," yet... we have characters on both sides who don't fit their bill. I really think Brandon's showing that everyone's got different strengths and weakness that may or may not fall along this kind of strict binary. It's an absolutely wonderful way of treating gender roles and is one of my favorite aspects of this book! In fact, one of the things I love most about them is the potential for subversion. While the Vorins obviously believe that women are suited to some tasks and men to others, the narrative already seems to be showing that this is untrue. We have a female shardbearer in Shallan. We have a female surgebinder who uses her abilities aggressively in a combat situation in Jasnah. We have a male character in a position of power who finds himself unable to participate in most of the masculine arts... and drawn towards the feminine arts of engineering and scholarship in Renarin. I'm hoping more than anything that breaking apart these Vorin gender roles is going to be a main focus of the series, and from what I'm seeing of the character's thus far, I think there's a good chance of that coming to be!

Eh, the websites each serve their own purpose. There's a few of us fandom amphibians who are on both, but most tend to find whatever fits them best and stick with it. The Sharders stick with Sharders and the tumblr fandom stays over there. It's whatever everyone's most comfortable with and whatever side of the fandom suits them best!

Ah, so I shall. I'm withholding judgment until I read, but I'll consider myself warned against hasty conclusions. I suppose she does seem to be alone, so perhaps it's not quite as big of a deal when she's up high where no one can see her.

Yeah, the "Sharder" term tends to be used for "Members of 17thShard". Outside of this area, the term "Sanderfan" or just the more gnereal "Cosmere fan" tend to be more popular, though "Shardling" also gets used, such as the "Shardling Secret Santa" event that has happened the past two years. So, over on tumblr (yes, I know I'm talking about tumblr again) we've got quite a few Sanderfans, though the good majority of them are not Sharders.

Yeah... that's been commented on. I'm wondering if it was a deliberate thing, because Ben's mock-up of that scene definitely had a full sleeve. Why the glove instead? I hope it's not a mistake, though I'm a bit worried it might be. All of Ben's sketches show Shallan with a sleeve, while Whelan's do not. Even the last Whelan picture before the final draft shows not only Shallan with both hands fully exposed, but also her drawing left-handedly. I don't know why he might have decided to go with a glove instead of a sleeve, but I've got a sinking feeling that it might be an inaccuracy thing. :c Perhaps not. Perhaps I'm wrong. I certainly hope so.

Pfft, Joe. Also, I'm still rather proud of that fiVe joke. It was too perfect not to put in, after Heather so wonderfully set it up. Oh fiVe, laughing of your pain using Sanderson.

I think Jasnah's speaking in general. "The powers are called Surgebinding by everyone." She's telling what the proper name is. It's a general we, I'd say, meaning "we who have studied this" or "we as human beings." As Quantum said, if certainly is possible to turn down a duel. Otherwise, if you couldn't refuse, you'd have anyone who thought they could cut it going around and challenging Shardbearers for their Shards and the Shardbearer would be forced to accept and fight every single one. Talk about a nervewracking way to carry Plate and Blade. You'd have to win every single match in order to keep them. It'd never work. I could certainly see someone challenging Renarin, like you said -- trying to hit at the weak link -- but Dalinar and Adolin would never allow it to go through. I'd say the more interesting point would be that Adolin would be outraged that someone would go after Renarin like that, and would go into major protective mode. We've seen it in WoK but people picking on Renarin is one of Adolin's major berserk buttons and one of the quickest ways to start a fight with Adolin. Talking bad about Dalinar will get him angry, but mess with Renarin and you can expect a response from Adolin in about 10 heartbeats. (Unless Renarin's also there to keep Adolin in check and stop him from doing stupid things like going after people with his Shardblade. UGH KHOLIN BROTHERS, STOP BEING SO WONDERFUL.) This scenario could have lots of interesting implications. I mean, Renarin is already dreadfully insecure about his status as the weaker brother and seeing Dalinar and Adolin rush to protect him because he wouldn't be able to hold his own in a duel could certainly be upsetting to him. Especially since he seems to put so much stock in the Shardplate. He has this idea that if he gets Shardplate, his blood weakness won't matter and he'll be able to hold his own... but when push comes to shove, he's still not the warrior his brother is and his family still thinks he's someone who needs to be sheltered and shielded. (It's for this reason that I'm almost positive that Renarin's Shardplate will not solve his problems. It'd be a cop out, and there's character development he needs to go through. As long as he's got the hope of Shardplate, he's not going to get past this. The solution? The Shardplate isn't actually an answer to his problems; that, he'll have to find for himself.) And, I would say that people probably very rarely get hurt in the duels seriously. They mention that Shard duels that go for more than one plate are more dangerous, but certainly striking at your opponent's weak point would be a seriously major crime. Not that I don't think the other Highprinces are above taking cheap shots in the middle of a duel... but I've got a feeling that's somehting even they couldn't get away with. Not to mention: Adolin's Blade entering your face 10 heartbeats after it happens. Quickly followed by Kaladin's spear.

I highly doubt Renarin would accept a duel against someone. Adolin might just go after whoever tried. Not to mention, I have a feeling that it wouldn't really be a decisive blow against the Kholins to say "Oh well, I can't fight the good one, so I'm going to go after the younger, untrained brother who everyone knows has a blood weakness. That'll show them not to mess me."

I'm kinda typing this as you go, but I'll wait to post until you've finished. Ought to be interesting. Aaaand, if you've gotten to the end, you'll probably like the little hint towards strip poker there. I hadn't noticed the reversal of roles in this Zhu meeting versus the one at the end of Act 1. I like that parallel! It works rather well. I will... probably go ahead and RAFO most of the stuff about fiVe's Miranda and Seiko Drifts, because you will see those for yourself. (When I get around to getting them edited). I will give you the time frame though. Miranda Drifted with V2/fiVe right after she found her. So fiVe's been broken almost the entire time that she's been with Miranda. (Seiko Drifted with her a few months after that if I recall correctly.) fiVe has been at her current level of damage for about a year. I don't think Eleanor's sociopathic at all. I think she gets annoyed when her emotions get in the way of her actions, but who doesn't really? We'll see some good stuff from her backstory here soon as soon as I get it reblogged! Drift things to RAFO. I will go ahead and confirm that Act 3 is not planned to be the last arc. There aren't plans to stop anytime soon, and if I recall correctly, Gavin's got about 8 of the Acts planned out? There's at least one for every member of the crew. (This Act was meant to be Sylvie's act.) *blinks at those ships* Welp. That's... certainly a selection you've got there. WELP. As I'm sure you've now figured out, Katie and Zhu like each other mutually. Miranda accidentally sent a flirty text to Zhu and they both got flustered, but nothing was meant to come of it. SYLVIE/SEIKO OH GOD NO. I just... It would be wonderful to see them start to get along better in the future, but I don't think they'll ever get together romantically! BackCompat is an EXCELLENT SHIP, but I say that because I hold the reins and can use it to cause pain in others, hehehe. For reference, Gavin has... two NPC possible romantic interests for each of the main five? One of Sylvie's is Mike, for instance. I'd guess that Zhu is one of Katie's. Yep, poor Sylvie has fallen quite out of favor with her crew by this point, and the worst part to her is that... it mostly happened while she was away. Sylvie goes into the cult without having even met fiVe and comes out with the whole team arrayed against her saying "YOU CAN'T TALK TO fiVe, YOU CAN'T TOUCH HER, GET BACK, MANSEN." She's very distressed, confused, and hurt by the whole situation, really. (And that comes out later.) I'll skip to Sylvie. Yeah... she gets very low here, but... I don't think she's quite at her low point yet. She's still got some fight in her here. If this kind of ostracisation and scolding over fiVe continues, she's just going to pull farther and farther into herself though, and that could get VERY bad very quickly. There is a little bit of optimism there, but Sylvie's kinda burning bridges behind her at this point, oops. I really like Seiko cooking for Miranda and Eleanor and those three being friends. We gotta make some good connections on this team, dang it! And they're really being kind to each other, yaaay. Also STRIP POKER CARDS YES. AHAHA, making people be sad about fiVe is basically my favorite, and Heather was so accommadating in making Katie sad here as well, wooooo. And yes, first name basis for Katie. Yay Katie and Zhu ship!

*Drops Session 21 and dashes off to class*

I mean, it's not as great as I'd like on the "not-white" front, but it's better than I was expecting, to be honest. I could almost see him as being from the Middle East and tell myself that it's a light trick and that his skin is properly Alethi tan. And I could... maybe see epicanthic folds on his eyes? Maybe? *sigh* I headcanon Kaladin looking a lot like Exmakina's portrayal or Botanica Xu's. Both of them are fantastic artists and so dedicated to being accurate and it really shows. At this point, I'm almost just glad that he actually looks like a 19 year old. EDIT: SPEAKING OF BOTANICA, THERE SHE IS, NINJAING HER WAY IN ABOVE ME!

*makes the I'm watching you motion* ... *gives an upvote anyway*

*blinks* What did you just say about people who ship Shallarin? (And Shadolin?)

True, but little throwing knives that can be strapped to the shaft of a spear are rather different than that dagger thing that he's got strapped there. That's a blade with a hilt and haft meant to be held in hand and used to slash or strike. Which... is very sword-like. It almost looks like a short sword. I wonder if there's a length requirement for something to be considered a "sword". Anything under such-and-such length is okay for darkeyes to use, anything longer is forbidden? Words of Radiance Chapter Spoilers:

Picture comparison under the cut! This is a marked improvement, and I'm very glad for it. The pose is the strongest yet, without all the strange anatomy issues that plagued that second cover. Kaladin finally looks his age and his features look closer to non-white than we've seen thus far. (Are those epicanthic folds I see? Thank.) Goodbye, generic FPS video game protagonist!Kaladin. I'm not sorry to say that you and your wierd 30-year-old gruff whiteness will not be missed! The addition of rising Stormlight and the cracked earth make for a much more dynamic and interesting composition than the somewhat confusing gemheart, as well. The only thing that a little bit concerns me is the weapon at his waist, which... I suppose might be small enough to not be considered a sword, though it's rather sword-esque. I can give it a pass on grounds of possibly being a dagger or a knife, which... might not be off-limits for darkeyes, I'm not sure. Anyway, I'm a fan. Thank Harmony for this revision!

Lilyfield is a suburb in Sydney. Darwin is... on the other side of the continent. Here's how I understand it: Katia lives with her adoptive father, Daniel Amantje in Lilyfield (probably). The Assembly attacks Darwin with a bioterror bomb so that Daniel will be called away to the scene. He leaves Katia with a nanny, who... turns out to be the female Prophet. So, as soon as he's gone they do something to put Katia in a coma (Possibly trying to get the code from her. Her memories that Sylvie got from Vee showed that she knew some of what was going on and what they wanted from her) Then, they set her up in a fake house with her actual birth mother, Leah, who is a cultist but can't remember it, and call in the crew. After Sylvie gets kidnapped, she meets Sister Amantje who, from her appearance and name, I'm going to guess is Daniel's sister (Katia's aunt via adoption). And yeah... the Prophets. We still don't have names for them. Ages btw are 15 for Brother and 18 for Sister. I'm pretty sure the blood and eyes are science, though the Prophets would claim otherwise to their followers. (Or perhaps they truly believe their powers are divine as well, I'm not sure.) They've got a RATHER squicky dynamic. Incest + abuse? Lovely. I'm hoping Karl shows up on the Scroungers' doorstep one of these days, begging them to help him escape the cult. That would be a fun convo. EDIT: WHOA, Gav got an account! *salutes* Aaaand it looks like I was pretty close on my understanding of the situation... but I did't get that the house belonged to Katia and Daniel. I suppose it was Leah that we got the "not my house" vibes from, wasn't it!

Hallowed come the Featherblades. All hail Lady Feather, long may she see our fall. *does the Blessing of Quills*

Things I like in keteks: When the meaning is different in the later sections, usually a fun form of reversal. Keteks are a fabulous form to do stuff like this. When five sections are just something that means the same thing when you flip it around... eh. Boring. So, Kaladin sacrificing himself to protect Tien turns into Tien becoming a sacrifice. Taking up the spear becomes the spear taking life away. This one I struggled with for a while, trying to make those phrases work. For some reason my Stormlight keteks just don't quite work the way I need them too. Unlike the Assembly ketek, which remains my favorite ketek ever. (Ugh, it just worked so well.) LET'S BREAK THIS UP BY REASONS. (Which by the way are all terrible and mean and you should be ashamed.) Reason 1: Yep, keeping things subtle tends to be the group's MO. We take hostages instead of shooting the mooks. We sneak in and cut straight to the source instead of busting in with gunfire and flashy demands. There is some dice rolling stuff, "Stealth" is a skill check that gets rolled, and I'm pretty sure Eleanor ends up rolling "Rapport" at least once to get past some people, but it's not quite as cut and dry as fight rolls. And fiVe doesn't want Sylvie to die... here. Right now, Sylvie's a risk to Seiko and Miranda and it would be best to get her out and make sure she didn't do anything to damage them. She's committed to the Sylvie rescue... but she hates that she's helping her out, and is kind of sulking and doesn't want to talk to Vee during it. She's a very reluctant team member for this little mission. Reason 2: Yep, there were two guards in Session 10. Mike's the guard who overheard the convo with Sylvie and Seiko, and then dragged Sylvie up to the Zhu meeting by her arm. I... really like Mike. Not my fault, Gavin said Mike would probably be played by Chris Evans but with an Australian accent and I JUST... Eleanor and Sylvie are actually fairly close friends... or they used to be. They had one kinda nice friend-scene in Session 5, Scene 7, when Sylvie's feeling very overwhelmed by her first real mission after they take Greg. Fun fact, in that scene, Eleanor talks about knowing what "a lack of a soul" looks like in a person and that it isn't what Seiko is. She's talking about Yegorov there. BACKSTORY TIME: So, Sylvie and Eleanor were kinda friends back in the PPDC, Eleanor ended up leaving over the Dmitri Yegorov incident (which made Sylvie LIVID because she already hated that guy). I think that was about a year before Sylvie ended up leaving. Right after Sylvie does her thing in Vulcan Specter and then realizes OH NO I JUST DID THAT, she calls Eleanor... knowing that Eleanor now has some contacts in the underworld that might be able to hide her from the authorities. Eleanor puts her in contact with Katie, who helps Sylvie go to ground and keeps her hidden while she's wanted. For... about a year and a half, Sylvie doesn't really have much contact with the outside world aside from Katie, who is keeping her under wraps, and Eleanor who is her one friend that still knows where she is. Eventually Katie starts using Eleanor and Sylvie for jobs (small things at first, then larger projects) until we finally get to Session 1, which is the first time Katie's been able to get Sylvie out of her apartment for a real full-time job. AAAAND that's Eleanor and Sylvie's history. Reason #3 Drifts actually can be three at a time. One of the four main Jaegers in the film, Crimson Typhoon, is piloted by a group of triplets and has three arms. Pretty cool. Note, that this is NOT the cult's tech, btw. It's all Sylvie's so there's no scary brainwash stuff in here. The Prophet is SUPER interesting though, I totally agree. I'm really glad Miranda didn't kill him because I'm hoping he stays around. (And she's been calling him by his title since Karl said it earlier.) Let's talk a little about Veena (and fiVe) and what exactly is happening here. So, the AiVees are programmed to accept any memories they encounter in the Drift as theirs and automatically integrate them into their personality frame. This is because they're not supposed to Drift with anyone other than Sylvie, and when they Drift with her, they are supposed to "sync" with her and become her again.This causes problems if anyone but Sylvie Drifts with them, because their memories will be overwritten by what they get in the Drift. Suddenly they have two (or more) conflicting sets of memories that are both theirs. We can see this with fiVe, when she tries to remember specific events, she gets a horrible jumble of Seiko, Miranda, Sylvie, and herself and she's unable to sort through all of this. Now, there is a way to fix this: Drifting with Sylvie. She can sort through which memories are hers and which are not. Once the AiVee knows that, they can remember things without getting the mental wires crossed. Sylvie's brain works as a "template" and things that match are "kept" while things that do not are marked as coming from a partner. They don't disappear, so Vee (and Sylvie) will always remember what Katia's memories were, but she won't think that she actually is Katia anymore. It will be like Katia was just a Drift partner for her. The AiVees just can't do this on their own because of the way they're designed. fiVe does not want to do this because fixing her would put Sylvie's memories back in her personality core (all the time that she's missed in the last year and a half) and would therefore make her back into Sylvie. Sylvie and fiVe would become a person who remembers living and Drifting with Seiko and Miranda for a year and a half, as well as remembering what happened with Sylvie and Vee hiding on their own. If she and Sylvie were able to Drift long enough to sync back up (which I really don't think is possible, I think they're too different and Sylvie's Drift incompatibility would make it fail even without fiVe actively trying to sabotage her while it's happening), but if they could, they would come into agreement on everything in their life, become the same person... though one who is very possibly not Sylvie or fiVe, but something altogether new. Reason #4 Not much to say here other than to let you know that Seiko is also apparently a fabulous cook and does all the cooking in the Advanced Hydrophobia apartment. Miranda is not allowed in the kitchen. Reason #5 fiVe's and Veena's damage are similar, but there's difference there as well. For one, Veena's damage is more estensive. She was more completely overwritten because she wasn't fighting her drift and stayed in it to its conclusion. fiVe has had two non-Sylvie drifts but neither were complete. She was able to fight her way out and get it to stop before she was damaged to the point where she forgot who she was both times. You are also right in that she has learned to live with it. So long as she doesn't try to remember specific memories, the pain isn't so bad. This will get explained here in some of the epilogue stuff. If she's in the present, she can function. This is a bit of foreshadowing, actually! It's what Sylvie wants to do with fiVe, to fix her memory damage and bring her back into sync, but fiVe has been away for so long that it's probably not even possible anymore. Sylvie was imagining multiple Drift sessions if she ever got ahold of fiVe, fighting through the strange memories until she couldn't take anymore and then stopping to recover before starting again. She would be "willing to push through the pain" for fiVe's sake to get her fixed. She is... somewhat naive about how difficult it woud actually be. As for Veena, I will say this: Vee knew this would happen to her if she went into the Drift. She's well aware of this programming flaw in her system and she knew that she would be overwritten if she went into the Drift. She chose to do so. That's a part of why Sylvie's so proud of her, that Vee endured this and went through it to protect the girl. And a part of the reason why Vee agreed to it was because she knew that Sylvie would Drift with her on the other side and would fix her. She was willing to be broken because she knew it was temporary. Suffice it to say that Vee and Sylvie now both have a very good idea of what fiVe feels like at the moment and what she's gone through. And... they're possibly more determined than ever to fix it because they realize how painful it is. Reason #6 Emma (Miranda's player) is amused by your assessment of the situation. She's a fan of the phrase 'semi-naked cyborg lady has the pope at knifepoint'. Also, I think this sums up Eleanor vs. that Cultist pretty well. Veena is just Vee again, Sylvie fixed her with the drift. However, doing so took a lot out of Sylvie, which is why she's bleeding. She does not have the cult virus, because neither she nor Vee ever came in contact with it. (Although I guess Vee could have picked something up from Sister Amantje, but I don't think that happened.) Sylvie's just not good at Drifting and bad Drifts = nosebleeds when they're traumatic enough. Reason #7 I'm... I'm gonna quote our off-topic chat's response to this real quick: (Also yes I have everyone in Skype named with their character name in parentheses. Hush. It helps me when I'm doing transcripts.) Aaaah, I wanna know more about the Prophets they're so interesting and the eyes and the creepiness and aaaaaaaaaaah. Yeah, this is the moment that Miranda becomes the False Prophet. And yes, she's channeling a bit of Kelsier there at the end, as Seiko so wonderfully points out. The snowflake thing was wonderful as well, I loved it. (Also there is totally a ship tease there between Sylvie and Mike there at the end and it is WONDERFUL.) Reason #8 Heh, we'll see more of why Miranda's so insistent to find Leah in the debriefs, but basically, because Leah Drifted with her, she's got Miranda's secrets and a BUNCH of Shatterdome info in her head... and Leah is a cultist. She's a major security threat to Miranda, Seiko's family, fiVe, and the PPDC. Finding her is going to be very important. Also, exoskeletons are not an established part of the universe, that's something that was brought in. I think it's just that the exoskeleton has been a secret for so long, and now everyone knows. It could be used against Miranda as a weakness, and the two of them very much don't want that. -- Wow. That was a much longer response than I was expecting to write. Aaaanyway, today's update didn't take any work on my part, just me reblogging things that Gavin wrote months ago, so if you head to the tag, you can see two short asides: Daniel Amantje and The Prophets

Heh, but if I misuse my new spiky powers... they'll take their spikes back. :c So I will have to continue my reign of terror using more... subtle methods. Such as demanding that all forum members ship Shallarin or else I will post sad keteks about Tien.

Welp I have a problem and that problem is writing lots of long keteks. I've got two that are based on Stormlight Archive characters, so I'll post those. I have a few others kicking about that are a little better written, but they're based on characters from a different story, so most people wouldn't understand them unfortunately. I could post those here, but for now I'll just do these two. Tien Screaming, I sacrifice for Tien -- my brother -- my life from youth, He takes that spear, this weapon with eager hands, I need him, he needs me Hands eager with weapon, this spear that takes his youth from life, My brother, my Tien, for sacrifice, I scream Jasnah (Slight WoR Spoilers) Unseen nights of strangeness to worry and late returned demands Her form’s darkness cast to light, storms spent surge anew, Discovering glass among falling worlds, falling among glass, discovering new surges, Spending storm’s light to cast darkness, forming her demands Returning late and worried to strangeness of nights unseen As for classification, the first has only pronoun (he/him, he/his, I/me) and two verb-form swaps (screaming/scream) (need/needs). Depending on how pronouns would be counted, I'd say possibly a K1? K2, if pronoun change would not be allowed. The second one is probably K2, with multiple verb form changes (worry/worried) (spent/spending), a few part of speech changes (form's/forming) (surge[v]/surges[pl. n]), and that one pesky cheat with (new/anew) that I tried so hard to get rid of but couldn't quite pull off.

Ruuuuuude, siding with hir against me! This is what I get for being so monstrous all the time, isn't it? Oh well, I hold the reins on Backwards Compatibility and I will hold onto that power and use it for all it's worth. The way I see it is BuenaKai as a whole isn't really hatred-inducing the way the Assembly is, they're creepy and offputting to most people, but not dangerous. The Assembly of True Judgment itself is the terrorist offshoot with horrifying brainwashing capabilities. That's what Katie and Eleanor are so against, (Eleanor's backstory is tied to the Assembly itself) while Corazon just thinks that her partner is a member of the BuenaKai church, not the terrorist Assembly. And I do hope Corazon shows up again. I've got a feeling that Katie knows how to mark up her note-writing checks so they can't be cashed. She's been doing this a while.

Yep. I'm... not sure if I'm allowed to divulge what exactly I'm now capable of, so I'll err on the side of caution and keep hush. It's nothing spectacular. Just basic stuff to keep the boards flowing smoothly.

Hmm, I don't know actually. We may hear from Corazon in the future, but we've got so many other recurring NPCs!