Zath

Gr@|\|+3d. ¥0~r vv!$|-| !$ c0rr~|o+3d, @|\|d $0 |$ ¥0~r 8@|\|3. 7|-|3 |\|!G|-|+vv@+c|-|3r vv@^3$ |-|3r |-|@|\|d, @|\|d +|-|3 vv0r1d d!$@|o|o3@r$ !|\|+0 @ |\/|3$$ 0|= |\/|3@|\|!|\|G13$$ d!G!+$, 13++3r$, @|\|d $¥|\/|801$. (Granted, Your wish is corrupted, and so is your bane. The Nighwatcher waves her hand, and the world disappears into a mess of meaningless digits, letters, and symbols.) This cracks me up. Definitely laughterspren-worthy. - - - - - I wish for the ability to safely fly any kite as if it were a hang glider.

Granted. You are given an old pair of moon boots, a la Napoleon Dynamite. True to your request, when you walk forward, you go forward in time. If you moon-walk, you go backwards. Stepping right or left shifts you into alternate timelines. There's a few rules to this boon: if you run forward, time speeds ahead so fast that you can't keep track of it and you have no idea where you'll end up. Skipping, jumping, sliding-- if it's something other than a walk, then getting to a specific time in the future is impossible. To move backwards in time, you have to do a legit moonwalk, one that even Michael Jackson would be proud of. Anything else takes you back to the point immediately before you tried to go backwards in time. Sidestepping to other timelines is pretty easy, but you have to be in your original timeline to do it. So you can go from the original to an alternate, and from the alternate back to the original, but you can't go from an alternate to an alternate. And getting back to your original timeline is fairly difficult. Each alternate timeline has a specific kind of sidestep that must be performed in order to return. Fortunately for you, in each alternate timeline there will always be one person who knows what this sidestep is and can teach it to you. These people tend to live in remote, hard-to-reach areas of the world, though, so it can take you years to find them. And the sidesteps can be fairly complex-- sometimes they're like an entire dance unto themselves. Your bane is, well... Shifting to other timelines is pretty sketchy. There was one timeline where everyone you could see looked exactly like you, even down to the time moon boots (also the sky was on fire, but that didn't seem very important at the time). They all looked at you simultaneously and said, "You are the one," and then proceeded to pull out knives and started walking inexorably towards you. It was freaky, man. You lucked out on the sidestep: a panicked jump to the side took you back to your original timeline. From then on, a you-clone has shown up about once a month and tried to kill you, no matter where or when or which timeline you're at. Your nerves are really getting frayed, but look on the bright side: a bunch of film producers from various timelines have contacted you to ask if they can make a movie about your life. Another side effect of your time moon boots is that eventually you become a world-class dancer. You've got some sick moves on the dance floor, yo. - - - - - I wish for a reasonable amount of reason, tempered with just a touch of nonsense.

Granted. You are a Twinborn with steel Allomancy and Nicrosil Feruchemy. You even get a nicrosilmind and a bunch of steel vials, too! Storms, that Nightwatcher is such a generous gal! Your bane is that whenever you make skin-to-skin contact with someone, you lose your powers for a year. And if it wasn't already, your "love language" becomes physical touch. Storms, that Nightwatcher is such a cruel spren! - - - - - I wish for a placard in my yard of a Shard's bard's Shardblade, in exchange for this charred, avant garde trading card that I made.

Looks like it's time for this meme again... You have come to the Nightwatcher, and she shall give you what she thinks you deserve, both boon and bane! So, you get some chouta. It's great. Simply scrumptious. Rosharan fast-food at its finest. Yum. Your bane is that once a day for the rest of your life, a random person will come up to you and present you with a logical paradox. For example: "You are granted a boon and a bane simultaneously. Your boon is that you don't get a bane. Your bane is that you don't get a boon." "This sentence is a lie." "Your mission is to not accept this mission. Do you accept this mission?" "Does a set of all sets contain itself?" "The square root of -1 is imaginary. We use it all the time in math. ...Just think about that for a minute." "A time traveler buys a copy of Hamlet from a bookstore, goes back in time to Elizabethan London, and gives it to Shakespeare. Shakespeare copies it out and claims it as his own work. Over the centuries it is reprinted and republished across the world. Eventually a copy of it ends up in the original bookstore, where the time traveler buys it and takes it back in time to Shakespeare. Who, then, wrote Hamlet in the first place?" "I know one thing: I know nothing." "To go anywhere, you must go halfway first, and then you must go half of the remaining distance, and half of the remaining distance after that, and so forth to infinity. Thus, it is impossible to reach any destination." ("Stop giving me mathematical paradoxes, storm it!") "If you restored a ship by replacing each of its wooden parts, would it be the same ship?" ("No, it'd be Alcatraz Smedry.") "A heterological word is a word that does not describe itself. Does the word 'heterological' describe itself?" "A pilot can get out of combat duty if he is psychologically unfit, but any pilot who tries to get out of combat duty proves he is sane." "Schrodinger sent you this box with a cat inside. Unfortunately, the cat died on the way over. The good news is, it's still alive! How can it be both dead and alive, you ask? Because I haven't looked in the box yet, silly." After you are presented with a paradox, you are forced to obsess over it for a period of no less than 2 hours. However, if you obsess over it for 3 hours, then you do not have to obsess over it for the original 2 hours, but to obsess over it for 3 hours, you have to spend the first 2 hours obsessing over it, but you didn't have to spend the first 2 hours obsessing over it if you spent 3 hours obsessing over it, so... - - - - - I wish to be able to resolve paradoxes.

Firstly, I agree with Weltall and Yata; I don't think a third Shard was involved, and Kelsier was a special case with regards to Snapping. Secondly, I've been going through the Hero of Ages chapter annotations, and I came across some info which may help to further explain why Kelsier didn't Snap earlier in life: From Mistborn: Secret History we know that Kelsier was more aligned with Ruin than the average person, which was why he couldn't really access the power of Preservation's Shard. According to the above, that alignment with Ruin could have made it harder for him to Snap. Extreme emotional trauma was needed (in addition to the usual physical trauma) to weaken Ruin's hold on Kelsier's soul/spiritweb/whatever before he could Snap into a Mistborn. And of course there's this, which Yata almost certainly had in mind in the above post: There's also this: If Kelsier only had 20% to 30% potential to become an Allomancer, that could explain why he didn't Snap until later in life. I personally don't think so, however, because this annotation is talking specifically about the mistsickness, and that wasn't around at the time Kelsier was imprisoned at the Pits of Hathsin. I suppose Leras might have been able to bend the rules and increase Kelsier's potential without using the mistsickness; Leras has shown a certain disregard for playing by the rules in the past. In any case, all of this makes me disagree with you about a Shard of Hope having something to do with Kelsier Snapping. That said, it certainly doesn't disprove the existence of the Shard Hope somewhere in the Cosmere. Hmm... I wonder if the Shard Ambition could have been Hope, if it had had an appropriate Vessel... Haha, wouldn't Kelsier be the perfect Vessel for Ambition? (Sorry, I'm straying off-topic. )

Here's a couple relevant WoB's, with the most relevant one at the end: And in Chapter 23 of The Bands of Mourning, it says that the statue in front of the Sovereign's Temple is a statue of the Sovereign. The statue is of Kelsier. The statue is of the Sovereign. Thus, Kelsier is the Sovereign. We know it's not Spook's body, and we know there are numerous scars on the forearms, similar to Kelsier's original body. Beyond that, it's pretty much guesswork. We probably won't know for sure what's going on there until we get a Secret History 2. Edit: Ninja'd!

Yeeaaaah that's a fair point, haha. If they had been completely unaltered, then they should have been just fine after Sazed restored Scadrial, and obviously they're not. Though I suspect they could find some live-able geographical areas where they wouldn't freeze to death. ...But then that begs the question of why didn't Sazed just transport them to such an area, or transform the land near them into such an area... Hmm... Just found this WoB (relevant part near the end): That throws my claim of no changes whatsoever out the window. That WoB's last clarification of, "Or changes happened to them, shall I say." suggests to me that Rashek did whatever to allow them to survive, and then afterwards they were altered even more (by, uh, evolution / natural selection or something? ...Autonomy! ...When in doubt, blame Autonomy... ), which IMO would make it more likely that Sazed was unable to provide them with a quick fix, since it wasn't simply a matter of undoing something Rashek did with the Well of Ascension's power. I still say that there's no way Sazed wouldn't have been aware of them, however. He was either unwilling or unable to solve their freezing-to-death problems through direct intervention, and I'm leaning towards "unwilling". That's based mostly on his philosophy as we see it in The Bands of Mourning, which admittedly is quite some time after the Southern Scadrians' plight. Though with the power of two Shards available to him, and as much time to figure out that power as Kelsier had to figure out a way to return to the Physical Realm, "unable" seems like too big of a stretch to me.

I don't think Rashek altered the Southern Scadrians' Spiritual selves (hereafter referred to by the abbreviation: SSSS ) in this way. Or, if he did, well... Anything Rashek did with the power of the Well of Ascension, Sazed would have known about almost immediately and could have fixed quickly and with relative ease, and that's pretty much exactly what he did at the end of HoA (with possible exceptions, most notably the Southern Scadrians. Being aware of a problem and knowing how to fix it are two different things). The Hero of Ages epigraphs are my basis for this: Given that Sazed had access to the entirety of Ruin and Preservation, with none of the time/quantity limits of the Well of Ascension, I deem it highly unlikely that Rashek could have done anything that Sazed would be unable to fix. Sazed: "Anything you can do, I can do betterrrrr..." Rashek: Plus, altering the SSSS seems to contradict the idea of a 'control' group mentioned in the WoB you referenced. I think it's more likely that Rashek altered the geography, or atmosphere/weather, or plant/animal life, or anything except the Southern Scadrians themselves, to help them survive the higher temperatures of the planet beyond the protection of the ashmounts. That's the whole point of a control group: don't change them in any way, even just their spiritweb (especially their spiritweb, if you ask me). ... I'm certain Sazed knew about them soon after his Ascension, but as for why he didn't help the Southern Scadrians... Perhaps they were getting along just fine in the restored Scadrial for a while, and the whole freezing-to-death thing only started later, very gradually, as an unforeseen side-effect of all the changes Sazed made to the planet. By the time it became a true crisis, Kelsier could have found a way to spike himself a new body, and Sazed just sent Kelsier to help rather than fixing it himself, for whatever minimal-intervention philosophy that Sazed had adopted by then. Meh, I dunno, I'm not too attached to that theory. If you can even call it a theory; it's more like, "There's nothing in canon that directly disproves the possibility of this sequence of events, as far as I know." *shrugs*

That is the Imperial Canal, according to the Terris: Wrought of Copper supplement for the Mistborn Adventure Game. So take that as "not necessarily canon but probably good enough for your purposes here." I don't know the names of any of those other locations you're looking for. If they do have canonical names, then I'd think you could find them either by a close reading of the Mistborn Era 1 books or the chapter annotations for each book: https://brandonsanderson.com/category/annotations/ And I'm sure you've already done this, but a quick search in the Arcanum might turn something up, and also a look through the Coppermind wiki: https://coppermind.net/wiki/Category:Final_Empire Good luck!

This keeps happening to you, doesn't it? (They're talking about a different Cal, don't worry about it. ...Though if you look around you and see a bunch of binary code and programming language floating in midair and various other computery-sci-fi-esque surroundings, it probably means that you are indeed a Shadow in the Digital Realm, so feel free to worry about that instead.) Roshar and Scadrial. Check the ardentia or the Alethi royal family for the former, and the king of Luthadel or The Assembly for the latter (or The Roughs, if you prefer lawyers with a more punchy-punchy, stabby-stabby approach to law). You know you're a Sanderfan when the best lawyers you know of are from the Cosmere. And they're not even lawyers in canon, really.

Alright, Spook for the win! Thank you everyone for the compliments/congratulations, and for participating, and for voting, and for making this tournament loads of fun, and (someone stop me, I'm rambling) for taking the time to decipher all that Eastern Street Slang, and for chouta, and for reading Sanderson's books, and for... *drones on and on until everyone gets fed up and leaves* ...and for listening to me drone on and on until -- Oh. Everyone left. This is true! Hero is obviously of Odium, predicting the future and all that. Heads up, everybody. Looking forward to the next tournament, the roster's already got a lot of fun characters! (Stick?! How do you even... What... ) @Ashspren, I will sign up as a pinch hitter, if that's okay? (Like, a lowest-priority, last resort pinch hitter: if none of the other pinch hitters can fill in for a drop-out, I'll do it)

Rebecca is totally right. There are a ton of spam albums and no "Report" button or anything for the albums themselves. Community Photos is absolutely the worst of the lot, as Rebecca pointed out, but most of the other galleries have at least one spam album in there as well, usually near the bottom. No worries, I got this. (...yes, I admit it, I started making this list and couldn't stop. Please send help. ) Administrators/Moderators, in an effort to help clean up the 17th Shard, here is a list of all the spam albums I could find (spoilered for length, and to decrease the visibility that these spammers get on this site.)

Thanks for moving the thread, Voidus! Fair enough. That is how voting works, generally speaking. Anyways, thanks for the vote of confidence, Julio! - - - - - Alright, here we go. Spook's throwing down the gauntlet in this championship round! Minor Mistborn Era 1 spoilers, and minor-to-moderate Oathbringer/Stormlight Archive spoilers (and spoilered for length): *drops mic* *drops self and falls asleep almost instantly 'cause storms I'm exhausted*

Nictorious, that was an awesome rap, you did a great job writing that in Wayne's voice! Well done. 'Twas a close contest. Spook vs Odium, starting in just under 24 hours from now. Alright, haha! This'll be great. Good luck to you, too, AonEne.

Storms, these have all been great! Everybody give yourselves a pat on the back! And then brace yourselves, 'cause Spook's about to drop the beat. (Major spoilers for Mistborn Era 1 and minor spoilers for Mistborn Era 2):

YAY! *happy dance* Ahem. *dignified samurai bow to Matias, Nathrangking, and Bitbito* You were worthy opponents. I respect your skill and fortitude at insults. *ceremonial gong sounds in the background* So, anyone can sign up as any character, but previous contestants can't reserve a spot in advance, which gives newcomers priority. And no one can reserve a character in advance. Sounds fair to me. Meanwhile... *cue old-timey announcer voice* "Round 2 of the Cosmere Character Roast Battle Tournament is underway! Vin (represented by none other than the great Gray to) starts out with a blistering barrage of rap battle boasts! Soon after, Vivenna (championed by the superlative Sorana) responds rapidly with a roasting retort! What will the God King Susebron (the cool as a cucumber @Kramerfarve) and the Assassin in White Szeth (the willful wonder @Wyndlerunner), come up with to counteract these caustic calls of Cosmere contempt?! Stay tuned, folks, for this round will end and the voting will begin in just over 24 hours from now! Who will stand victorious in the end?!"

Oh! Well, in that case... *shamelessly votes for self* Spook's the best! Who's the best? Spook's the best! You know it!

Thanks! And great roasts, Nathrangking, Bitbitio, and Matias! @Ashspren, I'm assuming that the four of us are NOT allowed to vote this round, correct? (Edit: Incorrect, see below)

Going to put this in a spoiler tag just to be safe, because we're in the General Brandon Discussion topic. Spook's entry for the Cosmere Character Roast Battle - Round One! (spoilers for Mistborn Era 1 and Stormlight Archive):

You know what? Yes. I'm in. This'll be fun. Being the choosing of Spook. Wasing the surviving of burns. Ising the fitting of rapping of battles.

Not a character, per se, but when I first read the Mistborn Era 1 books, I imagined the mist on Scadrial to have a pink/purple hue. Only in certain scenes, though. In other scenes it was a normal white color. So weird. I think it was the cover art on the first book that threw me off.

Here it is:

Mistborn: The Final Empire

Granted. You receive an icy beverage that is vibrant yellow-orange in color, like frozen flames of tropical perfection. The chilled, tangy sweetness trickles down your throat as you enjoy the best mango smoothie ever created in the history of ever. Tears spring to your eyes at the exquisite flavor, and you think to yourself that this -- this -- is worth any bane. You savor every last drop, and then look at the Nightwatcher expectantly. "Are you ready for your bane, mortal?" the powerful spren asks. You nod, perfectly at peace with the world around you. After a smoothie like that, you're ready for anything. The Nightwatcher snaps her fingers, and your vision blurs for a moment. When it clears, nothing has changed. You feel perfectly normal. You stretch a bit, look to see if your skin has turned vivid green or something, and hop up and down a few times. Everything's fine. You frown at the Nightwatcher in mild puzzlement, but she just waves an insubstantial hand at you, shooing you away. You shrug and, whistling a merry tune to yourself, head off for home. Exactly two weeks later, you slip on a banana peel. That peel goes flying into the air and smacks a pelican square in the eyes. Squawking up a storm, the pelican blunders into traffic, where it only avoids death by semi-truck because the truck driver swerves to avoid it. The swerve is so sudden that the large container on the back of the truck detaches from the cab and goes flying off of the bridge (did I mention this was happening on a bridge?). Passersby gasp in horrified anticipation, because the container is clearly marked with a large bio-hazard symbol. CRUNCH! BOOM! The container smashes against the ground and erupts in a burst of flames. Everybody runs away, screaming, and a few minutes later, emergency responders in hazmat suits arrive and cordon off the area around the container. The next day, on the news, you learn that there was a dangerous toxin within the container that was released into the air. Fortunately, much to everyone's consternation, it is completely harmless. ...Almost. The next next day, you learn that the toxin is indeed deadly to something: mangoes. Worldwide, mango trees are dying at an alarming rate, and nobody can do anything to stop it. Soon, there is not a single mango to be found anywhere on Earth. Everyone cries, even the people who are allergic to mangoes, because this is a tragic, tragic event. Also, you scraped your knee when you slipped on that banana peel. You should put a band-aid on that. I wish for a safe and easy way to dispose of dangerous chemicals and nuclear waste.

Haha, way to go! I love that you actually sang it, thumbs up! If you haven't seen it already, there's a bunch of song parodies in the Cosmere! The Musical thread that are also pretty great.