SirWolfe

You get a picture of French firefighters setting themselves on fire (wearing special clothes that protect the wearer from the flames) and then winning a fight with riot police during a protest for better working conditions. (The French are scary...) Image of firefighters setting themselves on fire (I was incorrect, and they didn't fight the police while they were on fire. Goes to show why fact checking is important. ) Video of one of the cases where firefighters fought the police (I was also incorrect here, they didn't exactly win, but they managed to push the police back quite a bit initially): *Inserts a pinecone*

This was the first thing I got. I'm scared.

I'll take the application but leave the wrappers behind, and in return, I'll give you a 16 boxing gift certificate for the bakery in the Elendel History Museum. I happen to have an aluminum thermos filled with Investiture from Devotion's Shardpool.

Ah, it appears we had the same idea at the same time. Anyways, the machine spits out a piece of paper that reads: I forgive you. *Inserts a spanreed*

The machine spits it back out, but now it's charred and slightly on fire, as if it was struck by lightning. Turns out, Odium is still inside of the machine. *Inserts a spanreed*

The machine spits out the Dor. *Inserts Patji*

The white background of the profile blends in well with the website colors, which makes your avatar stand out all the more. 10/10

There is a roar, and out from the machine emerges a whirling black cloud of smoke and red lightning: The Everstorm. *Inserts a Nightwatcher, kicking and hissing*

Magic manifests when projectiles strike an object, such as enchanting a bullet so that when it hits, it lets out a deafening roar (for distraction purposes, I guess). The power will only happen if the user knew what the spell was meant to do and intended for the magic to happen, otherwise the projectile will act as one normally would. The intensity and strength of a spell is directly correlated with how close to the intended target the projectile was when it hit and the amount of kinetic energy at the moment of impact. Cutting down trees

The vending machine rumbles in a manner that is distinctly one of joy. A glowing orb of light floats from the opening. At the center of the Seon is a brilliant golden symbol: Aon Ido. *Inserts a small earring, made of bronze with small spots of grey where silver once plated the metal.*

The machine remains motionless, waiting for a trade that didn't come. Perhaps it wonders if it has been forsaken, for why else would the chain of trades have halted? It waits... and waits... and waits. An hour passes, and the machine decides that maybe it is being traded 'nothing'. Deep within itself, the machine knows that this is flimsy reasoning, that the more likely explanation is that the unspoken agreement for each transaction to be followed up with another has been forgotten. Still, it is a hope, and hope is a tempting thing. There is a tentative rumbling, as if the machine is worried that it's efforts would be in vain and it's hopes would be crushed. Through the opening, something drifts into the open air. A single feather, shades of red and green, taken from a bird on a world where the very land is hostile to life. The delicate object rests on the ground, and the machine is silent once more, waiting for someone to come by and take the offering, waiting for someone to complete the trade. ----- *Walks by, notices the feather and picks it up. Inserts a slip of paper reading I will remember those who have been forgotten.*

I was reading the Reckoners, and was wondering if the author had written anything else. So I picked up the only other book by Brandon Sanderson in the library at the moment. That book was Arcanum Unbounded. Funny thing is, I didn't have a clue about what I was reading, but I thought that the systems were so cool and I liked the stories, so after I finished reading it, I went to another library to find more. The only book that library had available was Oathbringer, and I didn't realize that it was the third book in a series (it says a lot about Sanderson's skill at storytelling when you can pick up the third book in a series and still walk away with an understanding of the storyline), but still enjoyed it immensely, especially with the scenes about Lift (who I had been hoping to see more of after reading Arcanum Unbounded). After that, I read Elantris (the 10th anniversary edition), and read the Hoid epilogue. That was when I realized that this was not an Asimov style connected worlds, where you get little easter eggs every once in a while that don't mean much for the story, but rather a wholly interconnected and interwoven series of narratives that subtly interact with one another. From that point on, I made it a mission of mine to read every single book in the Cosmere, a mission that was completed about 5 months after I had first picked up Arcanum Unbounded (I may or may not have had a minor Cosmere addiction at the time...)

That one might actually be impossible, unless deep frying can be extended to mean that just the breading is fried. Fish can "live" for a short period of time after their bodies are fried because their brains don't consume all that much oxygen and stuff relative to mammals. But I could totally see this being the weakness of an Epic who had been exposed to a horrifying case of animal abuse at one point in their lives.

The Chrestomanci Series by Dianna Wynne Jones (author of the Howl's Moving Castle series, which is also a fantastically crafted universe) is pretty good. It's officially a children's series, but it's a children's series in the way that Zootopia is a children's movie, or how Mistborn is technically rated for Grade Levels 8-12. Though the magic system isn't as hard and fast as Sanderson's, it's always intuitive and makes sense within the setting, and it's made clear that even the most powerful characters aren't gods or overpowered. Read the books in order of publish date (which isn't in order of in-universe chronology, but it's better this way). The series takes place in a number of parallel universes that are connected (like how the various Shardworlds are stated to have interplanetary trade and interactions), and focuses on the Chrestomanci, the title for singular, incredibly powerful magician who is responsible for solving and investigating major magic related problems and dilemmas throughout the Related Worlds (twelve series of parallel universes that branch off at different major historical events, with each series being made up of a handful of worlds that are relatively similar), sort of like Doctor Who. I think what stands out about this series is that it has a very interesting take on the idea of how varying levels magic would be integrated into different societies, the ways that each of these worlds interact, the way that characters feel human, and the lack of unfinished plot threads and interwoven details that branch across the books in the series. I want a fantasy book/series that covers a particularly slow burn romance that develops gradually and consistently, even after the two get together, rather than a "I just confessed that love you and we shall begin planning our marriage" situation. If possible, the fantasy system shouldn't rely on introducing new powers whenever the plot demands in order to solve problems. Edit:If it's not possible to have both details, then a book with just one would be fine.

"Consume the wearer at nighttime" Then I gift it to very bad warlords and stuff.

The problem is that even though the Emperors body was fixed, his soul had already passed away, leaving an empty shell. In the Cosmere, the soul and the body are like two separate things that happen to work together, and Soulstamps alter what is already present. It's like having a bowl of water. The bowl and the water are separate entities but work together to be a bowl of water. Imagine you smash the bowl with a hammer so that all the water spills out. Soulstamping would allows you to change the history of the bowl so that it was never smashed, but it doesn't affect the water because the water is not part of the bowl. In order to make the water go back into the bowl, you'd need to stamp the water so that it never spilled. However, if the water evaporates before you can stamp it, then there's nothing left to stamp and you can't rewrite the water to have remained in the bowl. When the Crossbow killed the emperor, his body survived enough for healers to fix it, but his soul had already left to the "Beyond," a realm that is out of reach for even the most powerful beings in the Cosmere. The only thing that remained now a fixed bowl (his body) with all the water (his soul) having disappeared. So Shai's job was to fill the bowl with new water, because the old water was gone and wasn't even there to be stamped anymore. If there had remained any of the Emperor's soul, then Shai could have repaired it along with the body, but because none of his soul remained, Shai had to start from scratch. I hope that made some sense, and feel free to ask if you have any other questions.

Major and Complete Spoilers for every book in Mistborn Era 1 (Including Secret History). In the form of: Title: Badly explained plot -Explaining the badly explained plot in detail and in a way that makes sense. TL;DR: To sum it all up, God

Nation-state

The machine begins to violently tremble, as if every bolt and wire and steel beam wanted nothing more than to reject to what it had just been given as payment but couldn't. After a minute of shaking, the machine gives a mighty shudder, then goes still. A second later, a metal stick is thrown from the opening at the bottom, landing at your feet with a loud clatter, looking for all the world like a tree branch crafted of silver. Though it is difficult to tell for sure, you have a feeling that the faint glimmering on the surface of the stick isn't light reflected from the sun, but instead originates from the metal itself. Apprehensive, but curious, you reach down to pick up the strange stick. The second your fingers make contact with it, you hear, no, you sense a voice screaming within your mind, hollering insults and verbal abuse, roaring as it draws forth the memories that you wish you had forgotten, moments of great embarrassment and shame. The voice reminds you of the time you accidentally called your professor "mom" in the middle of a busy lecture, it mercilessly recites the terrible poem that you had written in middle school, and replays the deeply personal and private rant you accidentally gave to a complete stranger when you had mistaken them for an old friend. You scream at the voice to stop, to cease with this torment, but it gives no indication that it cares, and launches into a story about the time you had managed to get lost in an office building, only finding your way out when a janitor heard you sobbing in the boiler room that you had inexplicably managed to lock yourself inside of. You raise your hands to your ears, and the voice stops mid-sentence. You look down and realize that the stick has fallen from your hand. You use a napkin to pick it up, being careful not to make direct contact, and think about what to do next. A thought crosses your mind and you smile. There were people out there who needed to be knocked off of their high horses. And now, you had a way to do just that. ----- *Inserts a 300th Anniversary edition of the Words of Founding from a Scadrian bookstore*

Spells are essentially recipes for foods, with the way the different ingredients interact influencing the overall result of the magic. For example, foods that are sharply spicy, such as those containing wasabi or horseradish, allow for quick outputs of heat energy, while those with a duller, longer lasting spiciness act as warming spells, and adding honey increases healing rate. When one eats food that has been prepared with the intent of being a spell by a practitioner, the consumer can utilize the spell. The number of readily available calories affects the strength of the spell, with higher calorie foods being able to do more powerful actions. This makes deep frying one of the most efficient and popular ways to prepare a spell, as it maximizes the calories without affecting the overall taste too much. Being nice to others

I feel like the third Empire would probably have some similarities to African Nations, as the way that African nations/kingdoms were once structured (before the whole "why are there white people dividing up our land" thing) were very culturally distinct and localized. Though there were regional similarities among cultures and nations, each local group had their own beliefs that were shaped by where they were. This localization of culture would be perfect for Sel, as Investiture on the planet is localized and dependent on the nearby environment. Egypt would be a good contender as has been noted by others in this thread, and it makes sense, considering that the Egyptians were pretty much self-sufficient because of the Nile river giving their agricultural capacities a huge boost, which would explain why the third empire could generally ignore the others, as they didn't really need anything vital from anyone else. I don't see the new empire being based on real life cultures that were tied to the seas more than the land, such as the Polynesians. (Yes, I know that the Vikings are known for their seafaring nature, but they were also known for settling large swathes of land and they were formidable overland warriors as well.) Sel's magic is tied to how the geography and location shows up in the Cognitive Realm, and geo-policial boundaries would be more difficult to define in bodies of water than on land. Furthermore, a water based society/empire on Sel would likely not be able to access the Dor properly, making for a pretty uninteresting story. The Purelake on Roshar is stated to manifest in the Cognitive as a mountain range, and it might not be too far off to believe that a similar water-based society on Sel wouldn't show up the same way. The Dor is stated to be like a massive storm of plasma-Investiture stuff, so a giant mountain range would probably make it very difficult for the Dor to actually remain in the area, like how the Highstorms are deadened upon reaching the Misted Mountains, which protects Shinovar. There are probably a lot of holes in this idea, and I'd be happy to hear your thoughts.

AonDor would actually be super cool, especially if the developer made it so that the Aons acted as code, so that the game would execute the Aons. So attaching an Aon Rao to an Aon Ashe would prompt the game to increase the amount of light that Aon Ashe produced. It would also necessitate the precision that AonDor is stated in the books to require, as the computer won't be able to read the Aons if they aren't clearly drawn.

I'd say Scadrial could be destroyed without lasting repercussions, for the sole reason that the particular combination of Shards makes them very resilient and gives the Scadrians quite a bit of potential to rebuild. Ruin and Preservation complement each other so well that they are implied to have created the planet out of nothing, and I have a feeling that they (well, Harmony now) might be able to do it again. And considering the fact that there are at least two well known and reasonably accessible Shardpools, combined with the pre-existing transportation systems (the airships of the Southern Scadrians and the trains of the Northern Scadrians), a quick evacuation to the Cognitive Realm is a reasonable possibility. Harmony has shown himself to get directly involved with the Scadrians when he needs to, and most of the people know that he is real, so he could just mobilize the Pathians or the Kandra to organize a mass evacuation. Afterwards, Harmony could just fix the planet, then let the people back in. I think Roshar should be saved, because if Roshar is destroyed, Odium will be able to escape, and then he will probably go on to destroy whatever Shardworld we'd chosen to save.

If Prudence was a Shard, and did have a magic system, I'd imagine it would be very much based off of planning ahead or knowing the right time to act. Here are a couple of different ideas: -The strength of an action is directly proportional to time. The longer you wait after initiating an action to use it (like drawing an Aon Tia for teleportation but not grabbing hold of it immediately), the more Investiture you can draw upon. So being able to predict how you will need to use the Investiture in the future is important. The most powerful practitioners of this system would be the ones who are best at thinking ahead for what they might need, while also being able to resist the temptation of activating a "spell" too early. This would make for some very interesting fight scenes, with much of the battle either using pre-made spells (or however the magic would manifest), or combatants spending most of the time trying to goad their opponent into using their magic early. There would be a market for unused, incredibly old spells, as those would be stronger. However, one cannot wait for too long. After all, you don't want to send the neighborhood up in flames when you try to light a candle with magic. -The use of Investiture is prediction based. Drawing upon Prudence's Investiture allows one to gain some knowledge of danger and fortune. Perhaps it would manifest as seeing dangerous things as being a different color, telling people to avoid going near it. This is a weaker idea, and probably won't be the case. -The magic manifests like how the Returned are believed to have been revived in order to do one particularly vital or important thing, such as how (Warbreaker Spoilers): with each individual being able to use magic exactly one time similar to a Divine Breath. However, once they use it, they're pretty much the exact same as before, just without the ability to use Investiture anymore. This would require each person to be prudent with what they decide to use their one bit of Investiture for. Some people have more Investiture than others, and they are believed to have been born to do great things, while those who were born with less are thought to be less worthy. However, I don't think that this system is likely, as it is too similar to the concept of Divine BioChromatic Breath in terms of world-building and societal implications. -The ability to use Investiture is limited by capacity and is periodically renewed. In this concept, each person has a certain amount of Investiture that they can hold, like how spheres can hold differing amounts of Stormlight depending on the size of the gems within the glass. At the start of every year (by which I mean, society sets the beginning of the year using this event), everyone's stores of Investiture is replenished. In this way, users of Investiture must make sure that they don't use their powers too often, or else they'll be left powerless until the next year. The most powerful are those that have both great capacity for Investiture and skill in wielding Investiture efficiently. -People are born with a relatively great amount of Investiture that can be used for magic, but it is not renewed. This would, in my opinion, make for a very interesting social dynamic involving power, as those with high amounts of Investiture are powerful and can probably force their way into positions of power, but the act of using Investiture makes them weaker, and so highly Invested individuals have to find a balance between using Investiture to accomplish some tasks, while finding alternative methods for others. Perhaps rulers would be temporary, with the position belonging to the most powerful/Invested citizen, and changing hands to the next most powerful once the current Ruler has used up their Investiture. Residents of Prudence's Shardworld would have to be careful with what they use their Investiture for, and not waste their power. Sorry if this whole thing sounds like the ramblings of an insane person.

-Hearing a puppy yelp while getting their nails cut because the person accidently cut a millimeter too close to the quick. -Being on the thirteenth floor of the thirteenth building on a street that finished construction on the thirteenth of a month.