ElectrumSavant

(Note: Contains worldbuilding spoilers for all Mistborn novels) Esteemed faculty of the Elendel University Political Science Department, With the variety of world-shaking changes and discoveries that have occurred over the last decade (the widespread adoption of electricity, the discovery of the Malwish Consortium, the Bilming Affair, etc.), many scholars and public figures have asked the question "what is next?". This analysis will attempt to make predictions for future political developments over the next few decades, based on our current knowledge of political science. Colonization The Basin's population has been booming over the last decade in spite of setbacks like the 342 famine. This population growth can be attributed to declining infant mortality rates, innovations in medicine, and improving quality of life as well as the influence of Survivorist tenets. The increase in population can be seen in changing demographic patterns, with most residents of the Basin now living outside of Elendel proper and increasingly developed settlements in the Northern Roughs. The discovery of the Malwish to the south is likely to encourage a race for resources and land claims. Attached is a map of likely settlement locations in Northern Scadrial, as well the most likely dividing line I anticipate will be established between Skaa and Malwish claims. Skaa priorities will include significant historical/religious locations in the former Final Empire (particularly in Old Terris and the Central Dominance), as well as significant resource extraction sites (such as the historical locations of the Lord Ruler's resource caches), and locations relevant for future trade with the Malwish and/or Maskless. I anticipate the Southern Isles and the former Central Dominance will be the first new locations to be settled. Colonization will likely reveal some unexpected surprises--the existence of the Malwish suggests that not all survivors of the Catacendre were gathered by Harmony to Elendel, and several as-now unknown groups might have been inhabiting lands in the former Final Empire continuously since the Catacendre. I consider existing settlements in Farmost, the Northern Crescent, and the Southern Crescent particularly likely, with the Shrouded Isles most likely of all. I would also expect some small communities of Basin settlers in the Roughs or beyond to exist that have been forgotten by the Basin. Domestic Politics Since the Bilming Affair, Basin politicians have been deliberating about major political reforms to enfranchise Skaa outside of Elendel. The most notable proposal to date was sponsored by Lord Waxilium Ladrian and included, among other things, calls for a National Assembly. I anticipate this proposal or one like it to be adopted. I expect that the National Assembly would start off with a system of indirect representation, with each city government responsible for determining who would fill the seats allocated to the city in the Assembly, and over time for this to morph into directly elected Assemblymen. If Nobles have formal influence in the Assembly, as in the Elendel Senate, I expect they would gradually lose power as magnates gain political power, with the seats reserved for Nobles eventually devolving into a regulatory Upper House. Elendel would likely push for a system of apportioning National Assembly seats that favors population, while Outer Cities and the Roughs would initially prefer set numbers of representatives based on geography. As the population outside of Elendel booms, these preferences will switch. Since Elendel is in the bargaining position, I would expect some kind of compromise to be decided on that still is mostly based on population. Elendel and the Skaa in general have a history of indirectly elected chief executives, so I expect a parliamentary system with a Prime Minister would be more likely than a presidential system. It is possible there would be an indirectly elected president at first but that this later becomes a subject of the popular vote. In the past there has been an inchoate or nonexistent party system in Elendel, likely because of a high degree of personalism in Elendel politics. But I would expect the National Assembly to prompt formal parties to organize in order to compete for seats on a national level. Elendel currently uses a single-member district plurality system, which if adopted on a national level would encourage stabilization around a two-party system. The informal Supremacy and Independence factions that exist presently would likely evolve into formal parties, maybe retaining the old symbols (Lions and Tortoises). The names of these parties are very likely to change, as they were based on the now-moot issue of national political reform, but I will refer to them by these current names. One potential map of electoral districts is included below, with likely Supremacist districts in Green and Independents in Red). The Supremacy Party, originating in the industrialized Elendel, would encourage political centralism, industrialization, and urbanization. The outsized influence of urban workers would encourage policies of business regulation, labor unions, tariffs on Malwish imports, and bigger government supported by higher taxes on the rich. Since Elendel is more culturally homogenous than the rest of the Basin and is most directly exposed to Malwish trade, I expect more explicitly Survivorist confessionalism as well as anti-Malwish nationalism. With the Supremacy Party becoming the party of urban workers I would expect it to eventually spread to the Outer Cities as they continue to urbanize. The Independence Party, originating in the more rural Outer Cities, would encourage political federalism, agriculture, mining, and active colonization of the Roughs. With labor less likely to unionize in the Outer Cities I would anticipate policies of laissez-faire economics, smaller government with lower taxes, and lower tariffs. The greater religious diversity outside of Elendel suggests a policy of secularism. As settlers move into land traditionally inhabited by Koloss tribes I might expect a culture of anti-Koloss racism to develop among Independents, with Koloss being widely disenfranchised through literacy tests, poll taxes, or similar methods. (Although not recorded in history books, it seems very likely that Koloss survived the Catacendre within the Elendel Basin and were violently forced out to the Roughs by settlers). Foreign Policy As previously mentioned, I anticipate a rapid race to expand and claim territory between the Skaa and Malwish. An arms and technology race is assured, but I don't anticipate the Malwish to be the aggressors in the first war between our peoples. The Malwish seem very worried about "The Maskless" to the extreme south and are unlikely to initiate a northern war that leaves them vulnerable to the Maskless. Whatever their conflict with the Malwish, it will be vital to our foreign policy to open up a correspondence with the Maskless so that we can play the two nations off each other, a tactic similar to the one used by the Counselor of Gods during the Siege of Luthadel. Malwish possession of the Bands of Mourning will likewise prevent the Basin from initiating war with the Malwish, meaning that until the situation changes a long-term Cold War seems the most likely scenario. I appreciate your consideration and am as ever your obedient servant, Porthos Duhame

Good sir or madam! While I do not doubt the authenticity of your sources, I must reaffirm the significance of Alendi's world-concept. Alendi understood Classical Scadrial to be centered on Khlennium, with Terris in the extreme North and the Southern Islands in the extreme South. Legally obtained Malwish maps demonstrate that no other islands of significance exist further south than our modern Southern Islands, implying that the modern Southern Islands must be the very same Islands known to Alendi and so have marked the southernmost limits of civilization in Classical times. Harmony is said to have restored Scadrial to its classical state (not accounting for modern features like the Elendel Basin) and so an educated gentleman is left to conclude that Classical Scadrial included Northern Scadrial at its current latitude. We would not expect Sazed nor the Keepers to have accumulated knowledge of Southern Scadrian cultures (as they were impossible to access during the Final Empire), therefore we must conclude that all cultures contained in Harmony's copperminds reflect Northern Scadrial. Ergo, we must conclude that the civilizations recorded in the Words of Founding existed in Northern Scadrial. I remain your most obedient servant, Porthos Duhame

(Note: Contains worldbuilding spoilers for Mistborn Era 1 and the Alloy of Law) Esteemed faculty of the Elendel University Ancient History Department, It is an understood fact that Classical Scadrians enjoyed a technologically advanced society prior to Rashek's Ascension and the beginning of the Final Empire. However, very little is known about the geography of this period due to the Lord Ruler's efforts to obfuscate the past, 1300 years of time, as well as the chaos involved in the Catacendre. Exploratory missions into the Northern Roughs, while useful, have yet to go further than the ancient Central Dominance. What little we know about Classical Scadrial comes mostly from references contained in the Words of Founding. To aid further scholarship in the field of Classical Scadrial, I have prepared a textually reconstructed map of the era based on what little geographic information exists in the Words of Founding. Note that this remains highly speculative, and that many names of states on this map are derived from the names of peoples and religions. I note that: We may expect that Classical Scadrial's physical geography was basically the same as Post-Catacendre Scadrial (except for the Elendel Basin), as Post-Catacendre Scadrial so far appears to line up to Final Empire Scadrial in terms of physical geography. We can be completely confident in the location of Bennet, as they are said to have inhabited the Southern Islands. The Nelazan likewise were said to have lived far to the north, even farther than Terris. Alendi's conception of the world had Khlennium in the center, Terris in the extreme North, the Southern Islands in the extreme South, the empire of the West in the extreme West, and various "great nations" in the extreme east The Empire of the West can be assumed to have inhabited the lands that became the Western Dominance, as those administrative boundaries may have plausibly been based on convenient political and geographic boundaries. In my most controversial decision, I suggest that Classical Terris did not exist in Imperial Luthadel, as some have claimed. While Harmony made reference to Rashek putting "mountains in what became the North, and nam[ing] that location Terris" then flattening "his true homeland" and building "his capital [Luthadel] there" (WoF 1:25), I think that this is unlikely to be literal. Just a few verses earlier, Harmony describes Rashek as moving the Well of Ascension specifically (v. 23). It would have taken an unnecessary amount of effort to physically move all of the Terris people further north when the Well of Ascension itself could have moved to centrally-located Khlennium. Mount Derytatith itself could have been flattened and moved to the Central Dominance, while a new Mount Derytatith could have been made in its place. This interpretation seems necessary, as otherwise all of known Classical Scadrial must be conceptualized as existing between Imperial Luthadel and the Southern Islands. The Dadradah and Astalsi, as related religions, would be nearby. Darrelnai and Valla were a considerable distance from Luthadel, as they were among the last peoples to be subjugated by the Final Empire. Larsta had been exiled from a land with harsh rules, which fits the description of the Cazzi slavers. Kordel is said to have been somewhat centrally located. Urtan was not conquered immediately by the Final Empire, and has an etymological link to the Northern Dominance city of Urteau. I appreciate your consideration, and hope that this may draw more attention and funding to my proposed expedition to the ruins of ancient Luthadel. Yours respectfully, Porthos Duhame

I've heard some different takes on the best Cosmere reading order in the past and wondered what the worst Cosmere reading order would be. (Of course, the real worst way to read the Cosmere would be to read White Sand Volume 1 30 times and nothing else, but I'm assuming that you want to read every Cosmere book and short story). I mapped out which books and novellas spoil other ones, then used that to create this Optimally Bad Reading Order: The Sunlit Man Rhythm of War Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell Dawnshard The Lost Metal The Emperor’s Soul Tress of the Emerald Sea The Hope of Elantris Yumi and the Nightmare Painter Elantris The Bands of Mourning Oathbringer Shadows of Self Edgedancer The Alloy of Law Words of Radiance Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania Warbreaker Mistborn: Secret History The Way of Kings The Hero of Ages White Sand The Well of Ascension Sixth of the Dusk The Final Empire The Eleventh Metal This reading order has two guiding principles: first, every potential plot and worldbuilding twist that can be spoiled, should be spoiled. Second, series should be broken up whenever possible. The goal is that readers should be as confused and frustrated as possible, forgetting characters' names and motivations while being unable to forget relevant future plot twists that completely drain the narrative tension of the spoiled books.

So, there were several shards revealed in RoW that we know nothing about besides their names. To my knowledge, that includes: Whimsy Mercy Valor Invention Make your completely unfounded predictions now, before anything conclusive is revealed about them! Here are mine. WHIMSY- This shard has never actually settled down on a world, and instead just hops from world to world making havok of the local conditions and creating ridiculous magic systems (this is based on a WoB). In addition, the vessel is constantly giving up the shard to random passerby, so the Shard Whimsy has changed hands some fifty different times since the Shattering. Its current holder? Doug, the pancake-like being that communicates with flatulence that Hoid mentioned in a tangent in Tress of the Emerald Sea. MERCY- We've seen a lot of different healing-based magic systems across the Cosmere. Bloodmaking, Regrowth, Aons, and so on. But Mercy takes things to another level. On Mercy's homeworld, nothing ever dies. No one gets sick, no one gets injured, no one even feels pain. And no one has for centuries. But the complete lack of consequences has had horrible results on the mental state of the people on Mercy's planet. Worldhoppers visit Mercy's world often to get access to her Investiture and stave off the effects of aging, but have to get out quickly to avoid getting attacked by madmen. Mercy's vessel, a human, is the same as it was at the Shattering. VALOR- On Valor's homeworld, Investiture is given for a brief time to living people while they are struggling against great odds like a super-adrenaline. Entering the Valor-state allows access to enormous strength and endurance, but the longer someone stays in the Valor-state the greater the risk that they will be burnt out and left crippled when they eventually leave it. Valor's vessel, a human, is the same as it was at the Shattering. INVENTION- Invention moves from world to world and adopts avatars, often without the avatar even knowing that they are connected to the Shard. Avatars get an enhanced ability to access Fortune, giving them a limited future sight and the ability to make connections between ideas no one has made before. Her most important avatar is in charge of Silverlight. Valor's vessel is a dragon, and is the same as it was at the Shattering.

Hi there, I'm not normally on the site so I wasn't sure where to put this. I have a Spanish class where we get to give a presentation on any topic for an assignment. I'm planning on doing a short introduction to the Cosmere (basic world building and where to start if you haven't read before) but as someone who read the books in English I don't know any of the more technical Spanish Cosmere terms. Could any Spanish-speakers help me out with some words? Thanks a bunch! Stuff like: The Shattering, Shard, Investiture, Worldhopper, the names of the different shards, splintering, physical/cognitive/spiritual realm, etc.

There's a bug I noticed (or at least, it seems like a bug). Consider multiple-choice polls. In these kinds of polls, a person can vote for multiple options at once. So, let's say that the options were: Fish Beef Broccoli Chocolate If I select "Fish", "Beef", and "Broccoli", and I am the only person who has voted, then shouldn't the poll mark Fish, Beef, and Broccoli as all having 100% of the cast votes? After all, 100% of the people who voted cast their vote for those options. But that isn't how the 17S polls work. Instead, it shows the cast vote as a percentage of all of the votes cast, even by the same person. So currently, "Fish", "Beef", and "Broccoli" would all be marked as "33%". It's possible that this isn't actually a bug, and that there are times that you would want the results displayed in this way (as a percentage of the total votes). But I can't think of such a time. In contrast, I could easily think of when you would want votes graphed in the way I suggested (as a percentage of the total voters). For example, say you are trying to run a poll to see how many people like some of your favorite authors. You put a list of your favorite authors up, and people vote on which of them they like. Wouldn't it make more sense from a viewing perspective that if 100% of the people who vote like Brandon Sanderson, that he should be shown on the poll as 100%? Does this make sense? Is there a reason that I am missing (besides it being simpler from a coding perspective) for why we would want multiple-choice votes tracked as a percentage of the total amount of votes instead of the total amount of voters?

@Somebody from Sel @Doomstick @Illwei @Experience @AonEne @Kings_way @Danex @Mist @xinoehp512 and whoever else is interested in joining the next game: The poll is now up for the theme of the next game. Feel free to vote for as many potential themes as you want. Experience, it seems to be the consensus that you are running the next game, so feel free to start that up when you feel that enough people have voted and be sure to post a link in this thread.

Alright, here are some more ideas: Lossand's Profession Heads on Taldain Alien species under the Superiority (Starsight) Honestly, I can't think of any more besides those that have not already been said. So here is a list of what we have said so far, I'll put up a poll and tag everyone later today: Scadrial (Era 2 Elendel) Nalthis (Hallendren Court of Gods) Roshar (Alethi Highprincedoms) Roshar (Azish Bureaucracy) Sel (Nobility in Post-Reod Arelon) Sel (Factions in the Rose Empire) Taldain (Lossandin Profession Heads) Scadrial (Well of Ascension time period) Scadrial (Immediate Post-Catacendre) Cytoverse (Alien cultures in the Superiority) Alcatraz (Free Kingdoms)

I think that one of the major reasons that this Nomic thread succeeded (in the sense that the game reached a successful conclusion) where the others did not is because it was an Imperial Nomic, with a leader to keep things moving along quickly and to make the final decision on an issue when two people disagreed. So I think that we should definitely make an Imperial Nomic sequel. But, we do have two winners. If enough people want, you could make two Nomic threads, one Democratic and one Imperial, and people would be free to play in one or both of them. To be clear, I'm not advocating that, but I am giving it as an option if there are enough people who want a Democratic game. If someone makes a Democratic Nomic, though, I think it would be a good idea for there to be starting rules that established a neutral player (probably whoever started the thread) who had the job of making sure that the game ran smoothly- updating the rules, making Judgments, and counting votes. The rules need to be easily accessible, which is part of why I think it works best for the person who started the thread to also be the person who updates the rules. I also think that the position of Census Taker (someone who regularly posts which players are active and how much money they have, originally Obligator and later High Prelan in this game) is essential to make sure everyone knows what is going on. I also want to note what a difference having a time limit had on this game. I started the thread in August, and after a lot of consistent participation for about a month(?) the thread went quiet for a long time. Establishing a time limit, though, really boosted participation and also made the thread seem more like a game. So yeah, there are my suggestions. I think that Imperial works better than Democratic, that some kind of leader is needed either way, that Census Takers are essential, and that a time limit isn't necessarily required but also is something to consider. Also, whoever starts the next thread, put some serious thought into your starting rules! You don't want a ton of them, but you do want a basic framework to make the game run smoothly without obvious loopholes. Unfortunately, I don't have the text of my original post for this thread, or else I would post the rules that I started with here. But feel free to examine the existing rules that I have in the first post for ideas. EDIT: Oh! One more thing I just remembered as I was reading the original rules (thanks, AonEne): have some kind of built-in rule for what to do if the leader stops playing. We never actually used that rule in our game, but what if I had gotten bored and left? It's good to be prepared for if that happens. And if it does happen, again let me emphasize the importance of an easily accessible list of Rules. I would actually suggest that if the original leader stops playing before a Nomic game ends, the new leader should start a new thread, provide a link, and just copy the existing Rules over.

Sure! Everyone, post whatever theme ideas you have, and I'll set up a multiple-choice poll on, say, Monday afternoon with all of the suggestions that people posted. Here are the ideas I posted a while ago for the theme: Imperial Nomic: The Well of Ascension (with a King as the leader) Imperial Nomic: The Alloy of Law (with a Governor) Imperial Nomic: The Catacendre (with a Lord Mistborn) Imperial Nomic: Makabak (with a Prime Aquasix) Imperial Nomic: Alethkar (with a King)

Yeah, sorry about that. I overlooked an earlier post. I would welcome someone else creating a new thread for the next game. I've put a few suggestions earlier in the thread, but if you come up with something better then go with that! I don't really mind who runs that thread, although maybe @Illwei and @Experience should get first dibs? Whoever makes that thread, please post a link in this thread so there can be continuity.

THE END IMPERIAL NOMIC: THE FINAL EMPIRE Created by ElectrumSavant Winner: Illwei and Experience of House Relidan-Drab 2nd Place: Doomstick, Danex, and Mist of House Wafreightejyw-Mist 3rd Place: Somebody from Sel of House Somebody @Channelknight Fadran @The_Truthwatcher @Doomstick @Matrim's Dice @Negative_Null @Illwei @Chinkoln @Danex @Furamirionind @Mist @Kings_way @SirWolfe @AonEne @Experience @Somebody from Sel @Condensation Sorry Doomstick, Danex, Mist, and Condensation! The game actually ended on page 19; I just didn't realize it until now. Thank you to everyone for playing! I really enjoyed it (although this last bit was really stressful, I must say). Congratulations to the winners; I certainly did not expect Illwei to come back and win from the Mistborn attack!

Oh, I guess you're right. That puts @Illwei and @Experience's total score at 1,147 Atium for me, meaning the game is over! Give me a second, I have a "game over" post ready

First thing: You and @Experience haven't officially joined Houses yet. You withdrew before Experience accepted your invitation. As for the actual House-by-house scores, I'm willing to just accept your numbers based on your prior performance. If you are looking for where I got the numbers I did, here you go (bolded numbers are current totals, italicized numbers are starting score, yellow cells are the last information processed when I put out a census): Accepted Accepted Accepted Accepted Accepted Accepted (To be clear, that is just one acceptance and so is scored as such) Accepted I appoint @Illwei High Prelan.