Pagerunner

I recall seeing a couple missing spaces, so it's possible there are some typos in the post. I had interpreted axehinds as being more like a Roshar rabbit (more powerful hind legs), where axehounds were Roshar dogs.

Two relevant topics from the summer: here and here. There was a lot of thought that Hauka might be a proto-Radiant, possibly a Skybreaker. I didn't like it at the time, but it's grown on me; she's not getting infused spheres to intentionally Surgebind, but it could be a breadcrumb that she might later do it on accident. The black dust at the end was also intriguing, since White Sand wasn't out when this passage was previewed in the newsletter. I wonder if there's any connection, if there are microorganisms in Lift's that convert food to Stormlight like the lichen on Taldain do with sunlight and water. Or it could just be residue left by Wyndle, which I think was the conclusion we reached last time.

Don't forget today's Edgedancer preview! It's the opening three chapters, the same passage that was available over the summer to newsletter subscribers.

It's from Salt Lake ComicCon this summer.

Many topics on the board, sure, I'll give you that. But if Reddit quotes don't make it into Theoryland in a timely manner, I doubt it's because they're hard to find using Reddit; I don't have an account on there, and have only been on there to follow Brandon, and I have no problem keeping up-to-date on his replies to his update posts and such. Maybe I'm a weirdo, but I check Brandon's Reddit and Twitter accounts on a daily basis (they're in my routine with news sites and webcomics). To get that information into the Signings forum in a manner useable for searches (i.e. full text copied over, not just links to the post) so that it can get put into Theoryland by only referencing the Signings forum... it would be a work-intensive system, with a lot of potential for gaps. Better to ensure that those who are updating Theoryland are able to use the existing platforms, and simply aggregate directly to Theoryland. That's predicated, however, on us continuing to use Theoryland as our main WoB database. I agree with I think Argent is saying, that there's the potential for a new system that could better suit our needs. I don't have any problem pulling information from Theoryland, but since it's on another website there are extra steps to populating it in the first place, and I think having something in-house could give us something more up-to-date. Even the current Events and Signings subforum has some areas of improvement; I'll search for a term, and have to wade through several pages of suggested signing questions and follow-up discussion before I find the actual quote. Is there potential to use the Coppermind? (It would certainly be thematically appropriate.) Wiki software accommodates sources and direct-linking to subheaders, which are two things that Theoryland currently does well. As long as there's sufficient oversight, opening it up to users would allow for anyone to submit new quotes. Searching would be a little trickier, but I've seen some other wikis create additional spaces (like a Help space or even a Forum space) that can be limited in the Advanced Search options, so there are definitely some potentials.

I wonder what Fain life looks like in Shadesmar...

A pinned Book Personalization thread would make sense. I'm not sure we need to aggregate info from Reddit or Twitter, since those platforms already have the means to do so.

Actually, Liar of Partinel sample chapters are fair game.

Taldain is currently inaccessible in the Cosmere. That's all we 'officially' know. If you've gotten a hold of a copy of AU already, then any non-previewed information isn't legal tender on the board for another 5 days (street date for the book is Nov 22nd, and some of us will be picking it up to read over our lunch breaks). So, if you're referring to the Taldain essay, we might need to take a rain check on this convo until next week.

That's semantics; they can't not post in the event signing. The rule isn't prohibiting an activity, it's proscribing an action. If you're going to post a [WoB] topic based on something you got at a signing (example), you need to mention it in the signing thread as well (same example). I agree, though, that a clarification on 'strictly enforced' would be useful. The only method of punishment available on the forum is banning, correct? And I can't imagine anyone would get banned for posting too many WoBs in the wrong places. (First world WoBlems!) Would the enforcement be, if you don't put it in the thread in a day, Chaos is going to do it for you and take all the sweet, sweet upvotes from the signing thread?

This thread from a few years back is required reading for this topic, and I think it covers everything you mentioned in your post except the Connection possibility, since we hadn't seen the Bands. I'd recommend reading Sixth of the Dusk; it's easily my favorite of Brandon's novellas, and if you twisted my arm I might say it was my second-favorite story of his (after Way of Kings). Brandon is a sci-fi writer playing in a fantasy universe, so his sci-fi stories I've read have been great. (Firstborn, a non-Cosmere sci-fi story, is available for free.)

Maybe I'm missing something, but the policy isn't telling people what they can't do, (individual topics on WoBs are still allowed, and there's nothing enforcing that you have to immediately share anything you get during signings), only that if you're going to share it, make sure it makes it into the signing thread as well so it gets documented. There is a ton of tribal knowledge on this board when it comes to WoB's (and incorrect tribal knowledge, too, which is even more dangerous), so taking a simple step to catalogue direct information like this is a big step to ensuring accurate information is readily available. I can't envision a situation where someone would want to publicize a WoB or a book signing they received, but not want it available in Theoryland, which is the end goal of the policy. (Side question, is the plan to use Theoryland as a repository indefinitely? Or is this a first step towards a WoB database of our own?)

So, there's an assertion in there that The Broken One can't be a Shard, so it must be the remnants of Honor, and that Cultivation and Odium are also gone. That can't be the case; as I said above, Cultivation hasn't been Shattered. It also doesn't explain how Odium can reign, since reigning seems to be defined as being active in the system.

But what does it mean to 'reign'? It can't be to just exist on the planet or in the solar system - Cultivation hasn't been Shattered, so why does only Odium reign? Odium isn't even on Roshar, he's on Braize.

It's a pretty loose idea; we haven't seen any real WoBs about it, other than one that says spren were on Roshar before the Shattering. Mistborn: Secret History Spoilers As to the original post, the Stormfather clearly tells Kaladin that "Odium reigns," which is why Odium is the clear frontrunner for The Broken One. Connecting this to the actual death rattle: If I understand your theory correctly, you're suggesting that, even though Odium reigns right now, the Remnant of Adonalsium will take over as the bad guy in the back half of the series? I guess the big question is, what does it mean to reign? That was actually the subject of my very first theory here, as well, since I had a hard time reconciling Odium as being both one of the 'three,' and the Broken One. (It's a little dated, since I held to the since-debunked theory that there was a fourth Shard on Roshar, and before we learned in WoR that Odium had been trapped in the Roshar system, so don't hold me to everything in it.) But I could use a little more explanation on your part of what exactly you think it means to 'reign' in this context? It's also worth mentioning that not all the Death Rattles refer to future events. There are some that are concurrent, but happening elsewhere (Shalash scratching out eyes on her statues, Taln taking the burdens of nine), so they aren't all necessarily visions of the future. But, still, a good thought, and it's always good to look outside the box! We'll see what new info comes our way next year when Oathbringer is released; if it's anything like Words of Radiance, it will totally change our paradigms on what we think we know about Roshar.

Rub it in, why don't ya! Chaos said above that Edgedancer will get a subforum like Secret History, but it hasn't been created yet. I'd suggest waiting until street date, which is Tuesday the 22nd; whoever you purchased your copy from gave it out a little early, since the book hasn't officially been released yet.

So, if, hypothetically, [redacted]? EDIT: If it's a no-go on this site, I probably shouldn't leave any hints.

Here's the section that I was specifically referring to: If it were just TLR and Vin, I would find that phrasing to be somewhat awkward. "Periodically," to me, necessitates at least three events. Any two points in time can define a period, but a third shows periodicity. The phrase 'a man or woman' also doesn't seem to jive; I would expect to say "a man and a woman gained access," since it was just the two of them. But, you make a good point, it's not incontrovertible from the text, it's more that I would expect the wording to be different if it weren't the case. It's not as clear as my first impression. So, I'd be willing to walk my statement back.

I've been thinking about the second place that humans didn't exist before the Shards. Could this be the slight reference to Nalthis that Peter said we'd get? Humans there are different than humans elsewhere - without their Breath, they are less, they are Drabs. Did Endowment take an existing human civilization and change them? Or did she create a new one? (Or, somehow, did they always have Breath?)

And there's a White Sand preview as well. No essay, though.

I'm assuming Stormlight prologue was relatively soon after the Shattering; 4500 years, back off 300 years from Alloy of Law, gives 4200 years. 4 cycles, with a few extra years for Preservation and Ruin's original deal to play out. I think the whole cycle is 10,000, with Mistborn about halfway. I can look for specifics quotes later.

Yeah, it definitely sounds like Silverlight isn't a planet. I don't know if we're discussing the rest of the Scadrian essay in this topic, but here are a couple of other things I found interesting: There have been worse disasters in the cosmere than TLR and Sazed basically firebombing the planet. Yikes. Humankind predates the arrival of the Shards on all but two planets. This one, and... what's the other one? Roshar, maybe? That means there's not a rogue Shard running around creating minor Shardworlds; what could it have been? Adonalsium? Or something else? There are non-human Vessels (since Khriss points out that both those Shards were human before their Ascension) Yolen is an earth analogue, and the cosmere standard (except for the 'fain life,' which won't mean much for those who haven't read the Liar of Partinel excerpts) There had been more users of the Well of Ascension (I think Vin would have been the 4th cycle, assuming that Preservation betrayed Ruin soon after the Shattering, which means there would have been 2 before Rashek) Khriss calls herself an 'Arcanist.' I like that term, and think it would make a great term for us hardcore fans. Someone named 'Guyn' has provided star charts. He appears to be Khriss's astronomer contact. Probably from Silverlight? I can't decide if the interactions of Scadrial's magic with 'natural physics' refers to Realmatics (which Khriss would view as natural), or a sneaky remark about time bubbles and all the analysis that has been done by certain forum members. A lot of cool stuff...

Has there been an official falling-out between Team Sanderson and Amazon? It's 8 days until Arcanum Unbounded comes out, and they still haven't posted any preview pages, so I can't get my prerelease fix from them. For Bands of Mourning, they posted previews a month before the book came out, but it was an atrocious selection of pages that included the very end of the novel. That "Look Inside" option has since been taken down; it's still there for Brandon's other books (like Shadows of Self), but not for either Bands of Mourning or Arcanum Unbounded. (Side note, White Sand graphic novel had previews, and it was published after Bands; however, it is from a different publisher, obviously.) So, is Brandon not letting Amazon give a "Look Inside" preview for his books anymore, since their handling of Bands released some pretty heavy spoilers for a very secretive project? Does anyone have inside info? (I'll tag @PeterAhlstrom just in case.)

Brandon himself has referred to compounding as a hack, as powering one using another, which is why I chose that word. There is a 'normal' interaction possible, like burning pewter and then storing the extra strength in a pewter metalmind. It's possible, but what's the point? Compounding is more powerful; however, it's still a way to get a big Feruchemical boost from your Allomantic powers. Compounding has to do with the 'how,' while this proposed method of compounding is literally the only thing a Nicrosil Ferring could do.

Hey, hopefully some less divisive election news: DC voted to become the 51st state! We might see the flag change for the first time in almost 70 years. But I thought Puerto Rico already had a (carefully worded) referendum that could start them on the path to statehood, as well. Does anyone remember how that turned out? Due to pure partisanship, both will have a hard time going straight through Congress, since either would add a guaranteed 2 Democratic Senators. They'd need to cut a deal to probably add an extra state that would pretty confidently swing Republican, to maintain the balance of the Senate, to get buy-in. It's kind of like the slave state/free state compromise (uh oh, this comparison is going downhill fast) that split Maine into its own state when Missouri was added. I've heard that maybe splitting New York state from New York City could be a balancing act. Same with Chicago and the rest of Illinois. East/West Texas would probably be more reliably Republican, but I think Texans like their state right where it is. Not sure how Michigan's Upper Peninsula would vote as its own state, but I think its population is lower than Wyoming, so I don't think it would be a good candidate. There's also the possibility of ceding the land back to... Maryland, I think it is? (There was originally land from both Maryland and Virginia, but one of the states took it back already.) That would give them representation, but in states that already lean Democratic, like the district, so that's why they like statehood proposals better. But if DC and Puerto Rico push through as states, and maybe 2 new red states to balance them out, that could leave us with anywhere between 51 and 54 stars on our flag! I like our current design of 4x5 inlaid with 5x6; it's simple and elegant. 54 could be a nice 6x9, but I'm having a hard time visualizing anything for the other ones. (53 is prime, but it could be 5x5 and 4x7?)