Leyrann

This was indeed something I had been considering as well, though of course it's up to TUBA as a whole. I had some ideas for that which I will discuss with them.

Recently, there has been quite a bit of activity around here. The Canton of Combat, the Liebrary, TUBA, the Sticknaughts, the Sons of War and the Ghostbloods were all founded at most a few months ago, and a number of rules were put in place to allow more regular interaction between guilds, as well as Mediators to enforce these rules. Additionally, the Dark Alley removed themselves from the RP, claiming they were too powerful due to the use of Hemalurgy (which, I will say, I consider a fair reason). But that’s only the visible things. Because under the surface, much is happening that is not easily apparent. First of all, the Canton of Combat and the Liebrary. The Canton is more or less openly affiliated with the Dark Alley. It’s leader, Nohadon, is a member of the Dark Alley, and as the thread of the Canton of Combat shows, Hemalurgy sees frequent use. The Liebrary is said to be independent. However, it’s leader Kidpen is a member of the Dark Alley, and so is one of their most active members, The Forgetful Archivist. This alone already lends the Dark Alley a lot of power despite not participating in the RP. But it doesn’t stop here. I Think I am Here (who will henceforth be referred to as “Itiah”) has created the Sons of War, who have the explicit goal of sparking a guild war. A few days after founding the SoW, he contacted me in a personal message. From this conversation, I gained the knowledge that MacThorstenson might still be affiliated to the Dark Alley. Of course, this is not the most trustworthy source, which is why I did not act on this. I did discuss this with other people, however, and we noticed that The Forgetful Archivist and Kidpen (as well as MacThorstenson himself) had recently viewed Itiah’s profile, which could be an indication one of them, or even more of them, could be related to the Sons of War, either by being contacted or even by initiating this activity. The MacThorstenson story does not stop here, however. On top of his suspicious activities in intro threads, where he still advocated the Dark Alley despite supposedly being unbiased, he has been found to be active in PM conversations between members of the Dark Alley (screenshot below), which suspiciously also include Kidpen. Lastly, consider the mediators. The ones wo signed up are Nohadon (DA affiliated), MacThorstenson (supposedly neutral but secretly DA affiliated), Kidpen, Grey Knight (aka Potato, who claimed he was affiliated only with the Canton of Combat, but is shown to be affiliated with the Dark Alley through the same PM that incriminates MacThorstenson), ElephantEarwax (DA affiliated), Tineyed Navigator, Mraize, Gancho Libre and Snipexe. First of all, notice how these are either DA affiliated or part of the Ghostbloods or Sticks (who are neutral by default). It could not mean much, the Dark Alley is big, of course. But consider this. There are three conceivable ways that a roleplaying guild disappears. The first is though going inactive. The second is through joining another guild (typically the Dark Alley). The last one is through all members dying in roleplaying, either directly or through causing one of the first two. With TUBA being so directly opposed to the Dark Alley and having such a close-knit and active core, the first two options are unlikely to happen. The third? The Dark Alley may control the forces that stimulate a guild war. Even if they do not, they will support it. They control two of the four guilds that would fight in the guild war – the Liebrary and the Canton of Combat. And then we get to the scary part. Because who leads the combat if we get a guild war? Exactly. The mediators, who in large number (including their “Unbiased” leader MacThorstenson) are affiliated with the Dark Alley. This war, obviously, would lead with TUBA – and, depending on their affiliation, the Ghostbloods – losing, perhaps even being exterminated. And the Dark Alley is once again in full control. Now, even if this is simply a coincidence, and not intentional on the DA’s part (which, I have to say, I doubt), I think it clearly shows how the Dark Alley has far too much comparative power, and therefore TUBA will not participate in a possible war, as we cannot reasonably be expected to trust the neutrality of the Dark Alley and the members who are affiliated with it, and we would like to exist for longer than a few months, thank you very much. On behalf of TUBA, Leyrann (note that more proof can be provided if needed) --- Also some out of universe comments. I am a long time member (7 years this summer) of a social group on Dragonmount (the largest Wheel of Time fansite). There are a total of eight social groups on that site, even five years after the release of the last book. Each of these social groups has their own subforum, with again several subforums of themselves – my own social group, for example, has a total of 10 subforums, though several of them are restricted to certain ranks only. Though activity is, obviously, dwindling with the lack of new content, several of these subforums are still active, and in my first few years, when there was a steady influx of new members, all of them were active. I hope for the 17thshard to someday arrive at this point as well, with a sizable, healthy social group community that can become a “home” on the internet like Dragonmount became my home. Right now, however, this is not possible, because any guild that forms is immediately gobbled up by the DA one way or another. I hope for TUBA to be the first guild to remain active without ties to the DA, and I hope for more guilds to spawn eventually (perhaps, depending on their alignment, the Ghostbloods can be another one), from which such a community can grow, but this does require the DA to take a step back, as right now their presence is so overwhelming it’s suffocating.

He's forgotten about it.

Well, if Brandon disappoints I'm also working on something. Not quite evil, more of an exploration of "what if the Chosen One just doesn't care about saving the world and instead uses their powers just for their own enjoyment, doing good when good is more fun and doing evil when doing evil is more fun?" Less heroic than Kelsier, I would say.

So, let me be clear that this is a personal opinion/expectation, but I think the majority of TUBA members would rather not have you as mediator in their battles considering... past events.

He's also mentioned that Kelsier could very well have been the villain in another situation.

What Ati nearly did, he said. I tihnk that the only possible "vendetta" is against Rayse, though I do also think Frost could be mistaken here.

Wouldn't the white imply that they're in the Cognitive Realm?

That's a theory. I don't know what it was called exactly, but it's a theory here from a few months ago.

I think Tam put it very well in TGS. She's a bully. She bullies people into doing what she wants them to do. That's always worked for her, also because everyone looks up to her, but with Rand, it didn't work. And at once she had no idea what to do.

Huh. I just realized. People only found out how to summon and dismiss Shardblades several decades after the Recreance, so until then there were no deadeyes.

I think that might be all. Not sure about the Knights of the Cosmere, but I think they're not connected. I second this as TUBA. We will not push a war foward, but if it happens we will stand strong. (that said I'd rather get some RP experience before the war starts, and I think that's true for a lot of people)

I'm pretty sure there's a WoB saying that aluminium doesn't burn itself away, but I don't know how to search for it efficiently so I can't quote anything.

I know from a chapter in OB where they're mentioned that they all have beards (at least, that was used as general characteristic). Also, I think they're all men, but I'm not certain of that.

I did join the Shard before Oathbringer came out, but only by about a month, and I could transition from Words of Radiance straight into the early chapters. The Girl Who Looked Up (and subsequent forum discussion) did convince me of the humans invading Roshar originally, however. And to be fair, once you start having a look at Roshar's ecology, should we really be surprised humans aren't native while singers are?

It doesn't explain why aluminium also blocks investiture though (can't be Forged, can't be pushed, etc)

Then why is Maya in Shadesmar while Adolin can summon her?

I agree with... I think it was @MacThorstenson who said that some more RP experience before the war starts wouldn't hurt. Then again, the force holding back the war is probably still in effect.

Implying they're not weak.

I'm pretty sure Ashyn should be Braize.

Then don't pick them.

Let's be real, the DA and TUBA are diametrically opposed. This is really the only thing you could realistically expect. And a full-blown war, maybe, if the DA thinks poorly thought-out lawsuits aren't enough.

Raoden. No, sorry. I'd say Kaladin is the best one; he inspires something in his men that no other character in Stormlight Archive has shown to be able to do.

It's by far the largest scale balefire that we see used in the series. Just remember at the end of A Memory of Light, it is strongly implied that Egwene's stitching is the only thing that stops the Pattern from disintegrating entirely in the area. Rand's blast was probably close to as powerful as anything Demandred and M'Hael used together, considering Rand was using the Choedan Kal. As for Cadsuane reacting like that, she's always been obsessed with controlling Rand and getting him to do what she wants him to do, which is part of it. Additionally, I'm not sure if she bought the "balefire is required" story. It's been a while since I read it though. Oh, and for the "whole cities being destroyed", I am again not sure what the source was, but I think it's Aes Sedai sources, so it may be exaggerated. Additionally, 20k people is also considered a city, if that happens three times then entire cities are getting wiped off the face of the planet occassionally, but you're nowhere near millions. Plus I think the bigger problem is the strength of the balefire, not the casualties it makes. And again, Rand was using the Choedan Kal...

Because you're the one they're taking powers from. Don't trust the DA. You'll regret it. As for the question of the thread, I think it has to do with, indeed, intent and perception. Just like Kaladin's scars won't heal from Stormlight because he considers it a part of him. People don't expect the sword to fall through the planet, so it doesn't. It may also be a subcionscious command from people, though that does not explain why Sadeas' blade did not fall through, as it was unbonded. But yeah, we know perception is often important in the Cosmere, so it's probably best to just shove it on that. (oh and by the way, try to edit your posts instead of posting multiple times in a row)