Honorless

It is set in the same world but you can read it without needing to read Elantris. It's good, really good. It's my favourite!

We do get some Names. Go to the part where Elodin takes Kvothe to Haven. The constructed languages are very pleasing sounding.

I don't mind the perfection really. I mind the lost chance of a truly haunting prose: There was mystique in the settings there, a fallen city of gods! Not that the perfection wasn't grating: I just don't like how calculated his actions were. Instead of exploring the mysterious city and failed magic, he was joining the gangs of the Elantrians for the greater good. I mean, I understand, priorities and going after the problems he actually had any idea how to solve, but still! Magical city! Plus, Raoden was literally thrown to a fate of undeath, he should've been in considerably more emotional turmoil! We got nothing of his strained relationship with his his parents! I do not like Hrathen. He's too dogmatic. Even the leader of his own religion had to spend years to get him to be less so and use "heathen magic" (Seons). And how he treated his Seon! The fact that he wasn't completely "my god is the true god" and chose his religion consciously for its "logic" makes me feel even more disgruntled with him [White Sand spoilers] And then he's responsible for the fall of Duladel, though apparently he didn't expect a violent insurrection. I didn't see his actions at the end coming and he gets some cool points from that, I guess.

I do love the idea of true names and sympathetic magic. It's an old idea for magic really, dating back all the way to Ancient Egypt (and remember what they say: Cleopatra is closer to our times than to the building of the great pyramids!) The way Rothfuss refurbished and presented them were quite good!

Ah yes, her charity to Spirit. That scene made me dislike her the most, it was so petty of her! I liked the other parts with the court, with Hrathen, with her fellow co-conspirators. With the way people talked about Raoden, I was expecting him to lose rather than Sarene. This is rather surprising.

at the back of the envelope: This missive is intended to only be opened by @Knight of Iron If the seal is broken that means this communication has been read by another, Iron Knight at the front of the envelope To:The Knight of Iron CEO of the Cosmere Mercantile Business Industries Association

Wow, so few people like Sarene...

Yeah, I do know. I didn't frame my response as cohesively as I thought I did. Thanks for this! To clarify for anyone who gets confused here. It's very simple: 1) You need to be a Sand Master to be able to Master the White Sand 2) The White Sand can be recharged via any kinetic Investiture. 3) Just having charged Sand wouldn't make you a Master (such a simple thing that I made seem so overcomplicated, sorry)

Chapter 4 Rayas fell back on the ground, having forgotten his... condition in his eagerness to jump over the fence. The good doctor's... "continued lack of presence" was the talk of the underdogs all over T'Telir. The man was well-loved, it would be hard to keep him hidden. If he was still alive. Even if he were dead, his body would surely be found, for in T'Telir all the gutters have eyes. And those eyes looked at doctor Elias as one of their own. Rayas was just hoping that none of the others had yet had the idea of shacking up in the missing do-gooder's property. Or even better, were not even considering doing that an option out of respect for the man. Rayas kept trying before finally successfully managing to hold on to the top of the fence long enough to drag himself up on the ledge. How am I supposed to get down?! He sighed. Nothing for it, he'd have to jump and roll. He jumped and was surprised to land on his leg, bending his knee with the force instead of needing to use his hands to stop himself from breaking his nose. He looked around the small garden. What were those called again? Aren't they supposed to "keep doctors away"? he thought with amusement as he regarded the small tree with bright red fruits. They didn't have those by the river, so close to the delta but were supposedly quite common near the capital. He had tasted a piece of pie made from that before, very expensive, he remembered. He plucked one and practically drilled through it. He started crunching down a second one and putting a few more in his perpetually empty bowl (and cover/plate!). He remembered stealing that, well, more importantly what was in it, had finally fed him after what had seemed like an eternity, but also scared him off actual thievery. That could have gone wrong far too easily. It had also stoked down his ego and anger, for a while at any rate. What do those other beggars have that I don't? They always get coins Well, whatever, he thought determinedly, I'll have shelter, actual shelter. Seems like the good doctor would be helping the downtrodden even from beyond the grave. or at least one downtrodden. If his body is ever found and given the dignity of a grave. If he's dead. Now then, how to get in? He looked around the house, looking at all the windows before coming full circle and sighing in frustration at all of them being closed. He looked up, oh, the balcony on the first floor looked significantly easier to break through. He looked back at the tree consideringly. Well, you might keep away doctors but you don't keep away urchins, he smiled.

Kharbranth? @DoomStick Edit 1: If the silence is a "no", then Fadrex City? Edit 2: Kholinar?

If your body was composed of fully sentient, autonomous beings (kind of like Cells at Work!) whom you'd known since birth and one of them committed high treason against you, would you be capable of killing them?

Wait, you haven't read Emperor's Soul yet?

Or rather we do not know the properties of its strange small sun

Granted! You can kill people in a certain range and then tie their life to yourself to summon them (within that same range). They have a low level mental compulsion to follow your orders, more akin to as though they are susceptible to your suggestions. It builds up over time till following you is an automatic reaction for them. They retain all their skills and are autonomous, requiring no extra effort or attention on your part to maintain them. They are essentially people. You can also tie the recently dead whom you did not kill yourself or even those who died long ago, as long as you have records of their behaviour and some biological matter from them. Wherever any of your thralls' bodies are missing biological matter, your power supplies them & restores them. Whether these are really the same people or if your power is cloning them is up for debate. Your summons' experiences and emotions touch your mind too, you become capable of seeing through their point-of-view, you sort of learn things from them via mental osmosis, skills like fighting: barehanded or knives & guns, wilderness survival, chemistry, cooking, mechanics, discipline, analyzing body language, alertness, pickpocketing, criminal underground, persuasion, seduction... you change, slowly, irrevocably, inexorably. It's gradual, hard to notice. Your body is kind of in a stasis, so killing you is very difficult, even with total incineration, a new you would emerge. Whether this new you is really the same old you or a copy is up for debate. People come to you from all over the world. People pray to you. To bring back their loved ones. And you listen. You bring back those taken too early, lost to disease or accident, you allow people to solve their own murder, you bring back lost soldiers. You bring back those who were wrongly convicted. You are careful about choosing whom to bring back, a fact that causes many people to be resentful of you. Many faiths have declared you as the Enemy. Many have declared you their God. You prefer to think of yourself as a hero. You always ask someone after bringing them back to life if they want to go back to their old lives. Many are overjoyed and so very thankful. Many are hesitant. Many choose to explore the world and have a second chance at life. Some even choose to stay with you, having no one to go back to. Some you choose for their skill rather than the morality of their deeds, these you don't let go, you make them more obedient and learn their skills. Slowly you become skilled in everything even as nations rise & fall. Slowly you accumulate the knowledge of ten thousand lifetimes and slowly you are consumed. The death of personality. Your voice is gone, instead what remains is a stapled mess of a thousand souls. Your body is still there, still doing hero work, an empty husk or a prison? People pray to you and people curse you. You choose who gets another life. People rebel and die and become yours. You choose who gets to come back. If you can even be called 'you' at this point. I wish for the power to give people Midas' touch as well as take it away

Looks good

source?

That's cool

Ah, there's an underlying question of whether the Mists are truly a gaseous manifestation of Preservation's Investiture or not. Steam is water in its gaseous state, while mist is composed of small droplets of water in the condensed phase. The Mists might be like the latter. The same can be asked of Stormlight which literally arrives with a massive rainstorm. But gaseous is how Sanderson describes them. Either way, it shouldn't matter. The Mists aren't composed of water but Investiture so they should be able to turn the Sand white just like Stormlight, which we see an example of in-book. Unless there's very high humidity (which isn't necessary for the Mists to form), Mastery should be possible. In case the above WoB is confusing, it means that just White Sand and Investiture does not a Sand Master make. You need to have the necessary component in your Spiritweb. But if you are already a Sand Master then you can recharge your Sand with any kinetic Investiture.

Because of perception leading to their size and physical well-being, yes, but few of them utilize their new physicality for martial purposes. I don't remember any instance of mild healing factor, if it's that low it may have some survival advantages but little combat advantages.

I would say it's worse since metals are their access points to Investiture not just carriers of Investiture. It's more like saying a Surgebinder without access to Stormlight, or worse without spren. Yes, it's a finite resource but metals are easier to find and carry than Stormlight or spren (specifically off-world). Sheer battle strength isn't everything, resources are just as, if not more important logistically.

The OB Battle at Thaylenah gives that impression. I think that had more to do with Dalinar's... Unification and Jasnah's own skill.

Hmm, I don't get the reference?

Saw what you did there, @erude1, so no clear favourites?

Strangely enough (in retrospect), it does. Here's a WoB on the phenomenon: