Pagerunner

If you like reading exciting scenes where a lot of stuff happens, read the books for the last 100 pages. No matter how slow the books get in the beginning and middle, I found there to be a fantastic payoff at the end of each and every one of them. You hear a lot of complaints If you like experiencing an expansive world with a ton of characters, then this is the series for you. A lot of people are in a hurry to get to the end of a series. But this one is rewarding if you take your time through it. One thing I struggled with was the Aes Sedai politics, telling apart a bunch of different characters from different Ajahs as they do a ton of talking; I just didn't care much for it. But that was my brother's favorite part, and I think he knew every single one of them by name and Ajah. I liked the different countries and how the [spoilers redacted] showed how they all interact with each other, and how [spoilers redacted] goes from dealing with individuals to dealing with nations. I wish that Stormlight's different countries were as well-developed as they are in Wheel of Time (plenty of time for that to happen, I know). There's a ton of detail to enjoy if you take your time, take notes, and read through the glossaries.

I've come down with a cold. Is there any way I can blame it on the site crash?

You might want to check out this WoB.

Not surges, but there are fabrials (I think they're called Alerters) that light up when someone approaches that could fit the bill. There's also the Awakener's life sense, if they can find a mechanical way to harness Breath. And, there is a method for Elantrians to inscribe Aons to equipment (metal plates in Elantris, maybe Nazh's gun), so they probably have a way to create such a device.

It was damaged in the Threnody system, but it is not in the Threnody system now. The essay states that its final Splintering occurred elsewhere.

Huh. It must have been a late addition, 'cause I don't remember seeing that. This must mean training with all the Honorblades with the Shin, right? Does this mean that more Shin are out there using Honorblades? If they do train people on Surges using the Blades, then it's interesting they sent Szeth out with Jezrien's blade, considering it's the only one they have that can grant Gravitation.

Uncomfortable with the conclusions? The potential future ramifications? Or just the detail of the science?

Just throwing this out there: what if Nohadon is Ishar? The Herald of the Bondsmiths, and the man behind the Orders of Radiants in the first place. (This WoB has bothered me for quite some time...) I don't think Connection to the Shard is the mechanism; for all orders, you need to act a certain way to attract and bond a spren, even before you've said any Oaths. I can believe that Way of Kings teaches Bondsmiths how to act, and leads to attracting the Stormfather, one of the Bondsmith spren (maybe you need other books to attract the other two Bonsmith spren). As the spren bonds, it makes its way into your soul through the cracks that have been developed, so there's the connection (lowercase-c) by which the visions can be transmitted.

What, exactly, is a Shard? The Shard of Odium is described as "God's own divine hatred, separated from the virtues that gave it context." Replace 'hatred' with 'the desire for people to have free will' (which probably has a theological term for it out there somewhere, but I can't come up with it), and that's how I'm viewing Autonomy. Driven to the extreme of no Shardic influence at all in the cosmere, polish off the rest of the Shards, then disappear (or Descend, even). There is magic, but a major religion on the planet views it as an abomination. Why would Autonomy have Invested in the first place, to cause a magic system? Maybe the Shards get something out of Investing in a system. If she Invested in the sun, as some people think, then maybe she wasn't expecting a magic system to manifest on Taldain at all.

We know there are at least two Shards that aren't on planets, Ambition and one other one. Silverlight, also, isn't on a planet, so it might tie everything nicely in a bow for the Survival Shard to be the Shard that isn't on a planet and to somehow be sustaining Silverlight. It knows enough about the cosmere because of the Silverlight researchers, and it stays away from planets so Odium can't find it. (I, personally, speculate that Frost is the Shard who's hiding and surviving on Yolen, but I'll admit it's not the only plausible scenario.)

A single word, especially a vague one like Autonomy, can be interpreted in many different ways. I haven't yet heard a definition of Autonomy's Intent that I like, so when you ask what would fit best with Autonomy, I think we need to go a step back and actually elaborate on what Autonomy means in this context. Best we can tell, Intents describe how Shards interact with the world and with others. Ruin wants to bring things to an end, Preservation wants to keep things going, Honor makes and keeps promises, Endowment gives Breath to the people of her world. It doesn't look to me like the Shard of Autonomy is primarily concerned with how other people are autonomous, but she herself is autonomous. We've seen a lot of what Odium has done (killed other Shards), Honor (Oathpact), Ruin/Preservation, so they provide a lot of context to the meaning behind their Intent. For Autonomy, not so much. What have we seen of Bavadin's actions? Started a bunch of religions on a bunch of different worlds Sand Lord in Kerztian theology wants the destruction of the Sand Masters (Possibly combine the previous two points, Austrism may be one of her religions, and it calls Awakening blasphemy) Helped in some way to the Shattering of Dominion/Devotion (the questioner emphasized "in any way" when asking Brandon, so this may be a very indirect form of help) So, you can make a case that Autonomy's intent primarily has to do with freeing people from the influence of Shards: making up new religions to take them away from their Shards, Shattering Shards, and promoting the abandonment of magic. This is similar, but not identical, to Odium's goal, where he wants to be the only Shard left in the cosmere. Autonomy wants to go a step farther, and have there be no Shards, so they could be working together to kill every other Shard first, and then see who survives the last battle between the two of them. Another name for this interpretation of Autonomy's intent might be 'Free Will,' which could be opposed to a possible interpretation of Dominion where the Shard is in charge of everything. Another possibility which I've been toying with comes from the Chronicles of Narnia: 'He's not a tame lion.' Autonomy might be an internal mandate, to do what the Shard wants, and don't let anyone stop her. Whenever she thinks of something new, she manifests it as a new religion. Whenever someone crosses her, they're on the list for destruction. The Vessel herself is granted a great deal of autonomy, not shaped and molded by the Intent of the Shard as some others we've seen. This doesn't inform her apparent actions against Harmony quite as well as the first possibility, but I think it's still a reasonable line of thinking. So, at the end of the day, I think I agree with you, but I'll emphasize that destroying other Shards may be Autonomy's primary goal, to have no overt Shardic influence on any planets (including her own). (As a side not, next time I'm at a signing, this topic of Intents is probably going to be the only thing I ask about, to try to understand more of the Intents we've had named but not seen anything of, like Autonomy, Ambition, and Dominion.)

I always say publication order. Elantris/Mistborn/Warbreaker, there's not too much harm in switching around, but Way of Kings was a step change in cosmere connectivity. Reading about Ruin and Preservation is probably the best way for someone to learn about Shards, so there's a case to be made for doing it first. Recently, I found it pretty hard to go back and reread Well of Ascension after the Wax&Wayne books.

Yeah, I'd been saying all those points as well, since WoR was released. But Brandon has recently confirmed that Ym was a Truthwatcher.

What's a 'Lightbringer?' Did you mean Lightweaver, like Shallan? We learned during the Arcanum Unbounded tour that Ym, from a WoR interlude, was a Truthwatcher. Since Stump's spren matches the description of Ym's spren, she must also be a Truthwatcher.

An interesting idea, and it would be a fun twist. However, Dragonsteel isn't being saved 'til (almost) last because of secrets - in another life, we might have finished Dragonsteel already.

Quick answer: looks okay.

There are a lot of assumptions going into your writeup, but most of them aren't an issue for laying out the big picture. But I think for an intro to the cosmere, it's focusing a little too much on the story of the Shattering, which is what Dragonsteel will be, and less on how the stories we actually have now are connected. Here's the concerns that I found about the history: "...in a universe not unlike our own..." I'd actually say the cosmere is very much unlike our own. You don't mention the Three Realms, or Investiture, which are essential to how magic functions in the cosmere. I understand you don't want to go too in-depth on what the books will cover (Emperor's Soul,, especially, has a lot on Realmatics), but one big tangible connection between the books of the cosmere is how the magic systems operate on the same underlying principles, and I'd lay a couple of hints regarding that. "...Adonalsium was divine in every possible sense of the word you can imagine..." I don't think we know this, and considering Hoid seems to believe in a God Beyond, I think there are definitely some scenarios where Adonalsium is a super-Shard, but not the capital-G-God. It doesn't change much for laying the groundwork of the cosmere, but don't be surprised if this statement is contradicted. The key phrase for describing Adonalisum, to me, comes from "The Power of Creation." (And I think I recall a recent WoB, maybe from a signed book, that Adonalsium had an intent of creating life, but I can't seem to find it. Any help?) "...made up of equal portions of every divine intent from Odium to Endowment." I don't think the sixteen specific Intents existed prior to the Shattering. Adonalsium could have Shattered in different ways. Adonalsium just was, and then he was broken into 16 parts; I don't think he was 16 parts together, balanced, that were separated. "...kill god and divide his power between themselves..." On the recent AU tour, I believe someone asked if the Vessels taking up power was part of the original plan, and they were RAFOd. Khriss thinks they were trying to kill Adonalsium, but maybe that was just the end goal, to destroy Adonalsium, but they found they had to take up the Shards. Again, it's an assumption of Dragonsteel plot points. "...they forced Adonalsium to do something that destroyed the perfect balance between his intents..." I haven't heard this theory before, and, like I said above in #3, I don't think it jives that Adonalsium had 16 separate Intents before the Shattering. I like the idea, that they needed to turn Adonalsium against himself. But, once again, it's a Dragonsteel plot point. "...taken up by the Yolens..." You haven't defined what Yolen is in your explanation, so you should probably not refer to it. Also, the adjective form of Yolen is 'Yolish.' "...Barely in control of their Intents..." That's true for some Intents, like Preservation and Ruin. It might not be so for others. Autonomy, especially, might grant its Vessel quite a bit of... autonomy. "...took some of the people of Yolen as a base for new life..." In Arcanum Unbounded, we learned that only two systems (Scadrian, and one other) were colonized after the Shattering; the others all had humans created on it by Adonalsium (and, I think, is what Frost refers to in the second letter as the 'touch of Adonalsium' on the worlds Hoid visits). Most worlds were populated before the Shattering, including ones that don't have a Shard on them. "...puppets..." See #7. I think they've all been twisted, but not all of them to the degree of Leras and Ati. "...broken, crumbling, modern day worlds..." I wouldn't characterize them all this way. Original Trilogy Scadrial, sure. Roshar appears to have thrived without magic, Nalthis isn't broken, Elantris is crumbling but the rest of Sel is flourishing, Taldain is different but hasn't crumbled. So, to stay away from Dragonsteel and the history of the Shards, I'd structure an intro more like this (pretty much backwards of the way you approached it): A universe of magic, with many planets (description of a planet or two, like Roshar or Final-Empire-era Scadrial) Different magic systems (describe a few in non-spoiler ways), but all tied together through Realms, Shards, Investiture [Lay out that there are fundamentals to the magic to look for] Most people on these worlds live their lives without knowing the others exist, but... talk about worldhoppers [Lay out that there are connecting characters to look for] Where did the Shards come from? And what are they trying to accomplish? [Lay out that there is an overarching story behind the other stories] That takes the focus off of the mostly-unknown history of the Shards (which is laid out as relevant to any given story in the book it's needed for), off of what Dragonsteel will be about, and onto how Brandon's books are actually connected (pantheon of gods, similar magic fundamentals, and worldhopping characters). I hope I'm not making you feel bad with all this text - my goal is quite the opposite! It's a challenging task, trying to introduce someone to the concept of the cosmere... at some point, it's almost easier to say "Trust me, read all these books, and then you'll understand why I wanted you to read them." I'm trying to share some thoughts on what, exactly, is needed for such an introduction. I don't think giving the history is the best approach, but instead, maybe you want to find a couple non-spoiler connections (like Felt the spy appearing in Mistborn and Stormlight, or how Sand Mastery and Surgebinding need something to provide the Investiture) that are tangible examples of how the books are connected.

'2nd trilogy' is going to be a 1980s analogue. At one point, it was going to follow a Terriswoman Nicrosil-Misting computer programmer working with a Misting SWAT team to catch a Mistborn serial killer. Not sure how much plans may have changed over the years, though. Alloy was originally written as a standalone, and supposedly laid some groundwork for the modern trilogy. Brandon later decided that he wanted to do more with the characters, so he shuffled around his timeline to do a full trilogy (Shadows of Self, Bands of Mourning, and the unwritten last one, The Lost Metal). This might have involved moving the Set's plans chronologically earlier, maybe some stuff with the Southerners (Brandon has talked about wanting to do a 1940s-analogue story, a Scadrian World War), we don't know exactly. But one common theory I recall from when Alloy came out was that the kidnappings would result in the birth of the Mistborn serial killer, which would imply the Set would have been a major player hundreds of years later. In Brandon's most recent State of the Sanderson, he officially rescinded the 'Era 1.5' terminology, which he tried out to avoid this exact instance, where people conflate W&W and the Modern trilogy. But for now, he's calling W&W 'Era 2,' 1980s 'Era 3,' and SciFi 'Era 4.' I think we need more descriptive titles, since it wouldn't be unreasonable for him to slip another Era in between 3 and 4, which would further gunk up the naming.

Waffles are a baked good, commonly eaten for breakfast and often topped with syrup, butter, or pieces of fruit. They do, in fact, have them on Scadrial.

Three thoughts for now: There was a line that Sazed said to Wax as he was dying that gave me pause. I can't recall the exact wording, but it was about how his body would return to the earth, his mind to the cosmere, and his soul would go Beyond. It makes me wonder if the Cognitive aspect isn't what gets pulled beyond, but if it's the Spiritual aspect. The first 'stage' of death is the separation of the Physical aspect, and the second stage is the separation of the Cognitive and Spiritual. Sovereign's spike gives nothing special. If there's Investiture tying Kelsier's soul to his new body, it must be something else. The Heralds were recently referred to as Cognitive Shadows, and they don't appear to have any memory issues. (Taln's a little loopy, but he remembers who he is and who the other Heralds are, and Kalak in the opening to WoK remembers going back for torment time and time again.)

First post of this thread has the link, second post has a screenshot of the tweet in question.

Hey, @Argent, did you ever hear back from Isaac? He tweeted that he turned in his 'last project of the year' on the 30th, so it might be a good time for some follow-up.

I think Peter is the in-house physicist; I know he's done some astrophysics calculations for Roshar's moons' orbits (which aren't stable, but won't degrade for millions of years or so) and Taldain's orbit (which is stable). So, Brandon might have run this past Peter, and they could have looked at least consider whether such forces would destabilize the atom.

I find that to be a really weak WoB. When there's wiggle room in a question, Brandon has admitted he will sometimes take advantage of it. This might be one of his Aes Sedai non-answers, where we could make a case for any number of scenarios. The questioner asked "in any way," which gives a ton of flexibility in the interpretation.

Like I said before, no apologies needed - the onus is on me to validate my assumptions, and I did brush over a couple of them. By all means, keep on ragging on me until I've answered to your satisfaction. (Although, if I had known how far down the rabbit hole we would have gone, I'd probably have taken my time and posted a more rigorous explanation in the first place! I'm rushing a little bit, since I've got family over and don't have a ton of time to spend drafting and revising a forum post, however much fun it is.) You've taken the conversation to another level, which is good, because it highlighted an assumption that I had made for thematic reasons (each electron pair has a Ruin and a Preservation) and showed why it is necessary (we don't want to fundamentally change the Schroedinger equation). As long as the they're paired up like that, we can broadly assume (since we're both just rusty enough at the math to not be 100% confident) that the additional Investiture force will effectively 'alter' the electromagnetic constant, but won't change how the electrons order themselves. So, yeah, it's been a great conversation, and I think I would have enjoyed having you as a TA. Please feel free to continue asking about details about this specific theory (although it might not always sound like it, I am having fun), and I hope to see you around in some other threads. @The One Who Connects, good summary, a few minor points: I wasn't quite clear on the way you presented the various attractions/repulsions, if those are all the interactions are just the Investiture-related ones or includes the normal electromagnetic attractions. For example, I don't think there's any additional attraction between P+ and P- than a normal proton and electron (which is why I think that lerasium and atium can behave exactly like real metals, since there are no extra forces). Also, R+ might not actually repel P-; the Investiture-related force and electromagnetic force are opposing, but the Investiture force might not be greater than the electromagnetic force, so there might still be a net attraction. So, a definitive assertion might need to be a little more... squishy. Because god metals aren't naturally occurring, they won't have decimal points in their atomic masses; that's due to the percentages of isotopes occurring in nature. God metals would be based on a particular stable isotope of real metals, so it would be a whole number. Can you explain what benefit there is of bringing Xe-136 into the conversation? Harmonium isn't naturally occurring; it's something that is manifested by a Shard in a specific way (like the geodes at the Pits of Hathsin). I wouldn't say that every atom of cesium is harmonium; it's more like a solid-gold Gameboy, which is the same as a regular Gameboy but made out of gold. But the gold one wasn't made at the factory like the rest, it was made out of something different, somewhere different, for a special purpose. This analogy is getting really weird, so I'm going to stop. But, are you suggesting that Harmony manifests as a vapor form as Xenon, which can undergo radioactive decay to 'condense' into Harmonium?