I think I am here.

Lusk saw the Mace headed towards his wrist, and realised quickly that he wouldn’t be able to correct course. He was not a Mistborn, who had pewter and the other metals to assist him. He had only Atium, and even then, that for a short time. But Atium was all he needed. Swapping the knife to the other hand, Lusk tapped age into the one Walker was targeting, until was a small baby arm on the side of his torso. Of course this sudden size change meant the space where Walker’s attack would have been, was now empty. He got a little scorch on the side, though, but not nearly as dangerous as t could have been. The place where Lusk was attacking, however, was not empty. And he wasn’t going to settle for a little injury.

Max paused, looking nowhere in particular. She hadn’t heard him use a last name. There was a good reason for that, unfortunately. “I...” He stopped. Then continued, quieter. “I don’t have a last name, Althea,” he said. “I used to, probably. But, with the death of my parents in the War, it’s... gone.” Just another victim of the Seven Day War. He could still remember it. The horror, the fear, being saved. Of course, somethings never survived. Like his family name. “If you wanted to change your last name, there’s nothing really to change it to.” He sighed, looking down. His family name. Something that had probably been carried for generations, fought for. Passed on from child to child. And now that was gone. Unremembered. Forgotten. And all that was left was one option. To take another last name. “So, if you want us to have the same last name,” he said, saying the words slowly, mainly for himself. “Then that’ll mean I’ll have to change to Tenira.” It isn’t change, he told himself. You never had a last name to begin with! The thought didn’t make him feel better though.

Thanks, he’s got more weaknesses in the fact he can’t break any of the three Rules himself otherwise incredible pain, but it’s nice having an outline.

Or everyone would tie for last place, if you want to be a downer about it.

Lusk is okay. Max is ok originally, but with everything that he’s gotten over the Era (Shardblades, armour) he’s grown quite powerful. As for Alask, I really have no idea how to calculate points for him. Help?

“No, not at all.” Max extended an arm around them and onto Althea’s opposite shoulder. Responsibilities. As much as they could want to go places, they would need to make sure not to abandon other things. Max had responsibilities of his own. Silph, at the Canton. He needed him. “A place outside of AlleyCity sounds great,” He said quietly. Feeling Althea lean against him, Max found himself leaning over and kissing her on the top of her head affectionately. “So,” he said. “Now that that’s somewhat done, I heard something about last names?” He knew what the problem was, he just needed it explained to him one more time.

Yeah, I was like Xavier. In book one he just seemed so much like an armchair philosopher who thinks he can change the world, and I didn’t really like him that much. Then, when he started being trained and actually becoming a king I really liked it. How he was beginning to take responsibility and sort out the city. I was really expecting him to die at the end of WoA. At the end where it turned out he was a Mistborn felt too much like “he’s a mistborn now too!” I always felt like one of Elend’s greatest strengths was the fact he didn’t have any powers. He was like Dox, both were extremely capable without powers, and I think having Elend and Dox were a great reminder that non-powered people were awesome too (especially Elend, who was a king). The sudden fact that he became not only a mistborn, but a super Lerasium Mistborn seemed too abrupt. But in HoA, seeing that first scene made me like him again, so in the end I really liked him as a character, and I liked his growth.

Probably right. I deleted any mildly spoilerly parts. But you quoted it, so that’s still there.

“Oh, I mean, of course,” Max said, smiling, then thought back. He didn’t want to appear demanding. “I mean, if you want.” He thought about the question. Where to live? “We could settle in a bunch of places. Depends on what you like. We could settle in a nice little house a little outside the AlleyCity, if you want. Or we could go far out to the other cities. There’s Coatra, a Sentinel city that’s entirely in Shadesmar, which is awesome. “Or, we could even go to another planet.” he smiled and leaned back. “I hear the Purelake is quite good at this time of year.” He looked to her. “What do you think?”

Max listened to Althea, who sat up, and then brushed her hair out of the way and then smiled at him. She’s beautiful. He sat up himself, and opened his eyes, stretching just briefly. He listened to what she said, and all of them we’re good points. He hadn’t even considered the last name thing. She finished by assuring him it didn’t have to be now. He pressed his tongue against the inside of his cheek in thought, rolling it around in thought. “You’re right,” he said, smiling at her. His wife. He loved her. He was almsot hypnotised for a second again before remembering what he was going to say. “I think these things are important, like you do. So... let’s disucss them now,” he said. Shuffling closer to her, he asked. “Any particular thing you wanted to talk about first?”

Max felt the kiss and smiled, returning it. He felt so good. Like he was on top of the world. With Althea. “That’s great,” he said. “I slept well too. Certainly better than any sleep before. Maybe marrying my love had something to do with that.” He grinned. He paused for a second, appreciated the whole moment. “Do you want to talk about anything?” He asked.

There’s talk about this in another thread, though that one speculated that it could be the Truthwatcher version of Illumination: https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/83014-truthwatcher-offensives/

Max woke up slowly, but he didn’t open his eyes. He felt Althea’s head on his shoulder, and smiled. Gently he tilted his head to hers and took in the moment. Love was such an odd feeling to describe, because you couldn’t truly describe it. You had to experience it. And now Max knew what all those people meant when they said they couldn’t say how live felt, because it was impossible to convey in words. But Max, he felt it. And it was the best thing ever. “How are you?” He said gently to Althea. “Sleep well?”

I wonder what the points would be for someone who has aspects, in a similar way to Stephen Leeds.

It's a good theory, especially about the author of the letter. Many people think that the author is actually Patji, the avatar on First of the Sun. This also fits the 'these waters' since the entire planet is a collection of islands, and the series of challenges that they speak of could mean how everything wants to kill you on Patji. But, we should also address this point on the letter. Now, though they might be talking about how Hoid found them specifically on Roshar, the next part they say implies they were talking about the planet ("insignificant among our many realms"). They seem to be talking about the world when they see "we thought it well hidden" and they say it was insignificant. This doesn't seem to match Roshar, which is more or less a major player in the Cosmere. It does match FotS, though, which is an extremely minor planet, with no Shards, that Autonomy was probably right in assuming would not be found because it was insignificant. I'm also curious: why did you think the letter was intercepted?

I’ll be a nightmare even to the other nightmares. Double nightmare!

Well, if we’re all just aspects in Ark’s head, I want to be the one that inevitably turns into a Nightmare

Now, what is The Lord Ruler then? He was incredibly intelligent with his plan, probably far smarter than any non-Shard at the time. The whole Atium plan was amazing. It could be Ravenclaw. He, in the end, did everything for a greater cause, to prevent Ruin from taking over, to banish the Deepness, that whole Atium plan that ended up killing Ruin. It could be Gryffindor. But then again, he did enslave a world of people, so he could be Slytherin. What do you guys think?

Odium went after Ambition first, but after he couldn’t find them, he went after Devotion and Dominion.

Max saw how Althea accepted the gifts and gave a tailisman to him. It had an enchanting pattern on it, but as KanMien said, it wasn’t complete without its partner. A perfect gift for a newlywed couple. He saw how Althea lightly tapped a glass with a knife, effortlessly getting everyone’s attention. She said goodbye, and she looked over to Max and blushed, which made him go a little red as well. Finally, she finished and asked him if he had everything. “Wait a second,” he said, reaching down and grabbing the two Shardblades, which he’d leaned against his chair. “Yup, got everything now!” He said enthusiastically.

I can see that.

Doesn't Harmony disapprove of Hemalurgy though?

OB was awesome, but I really liked WoR’s ending as well. It was so epic. The Singers with their lightning, Shallan finding the Oathgate, the Assassin in White, not to mention Kaladin supermans in to save Dalinar (and the first time Dalinar realises Kal is a Radiant). And then the clashing of the two storms and Kal and Szeth’s fight in the middle of it was just so awesome, like they were both fighting in midair. That was what made the ending so good for me, and each of them have their shardweapons, though Szeth has an Honourblade. It also has one of the coolest lines: