Argent

I thought similarly; the Sibling bit is a relatively minor and largely independent part of the overall idea, I just wanted to bring it up. I don't think I am particularly shocked by anything in your write-up though, it seems reasonable and in line with things we either know or things I've long assumed to be true. Melishi somehow crippling the singers, stripping away their ability to change forms and hear the Rhythms, and achieving that by way of trapping Ba-Ado-Mishram has been about as solid of a theory as we get these days, and codifying this process by saying that it has to do the singers' gemhearts sounds like a reasonable way of explaining it all. I am not too hot on the actual physical gemheart being removed, but some kind of magical separation sounds alright. I've been explaining a lot of things with Spiritweb merging recently, and so I am going to slap this mark here too, and say that the whole thing about the singers' Identity being malleable makes sense in this context - the spren responsible for a singer's current form is partially fused with their Spiritweb, and it is the gemheart that facilitates this, similarly to how a Nahel bond works.

I think there is strong evidence that the Stormfather was the only Bondsmith spren bonded during the Recreance (and, by extension, during the False Desolation and the singer genocide). Does that change much in your theory?

I've seen similar ideas in the time since Oathbringer, and my big issue with them is that such complexity just doesn't seem necessary. Progression, like most magical healing in the Cosmere, already uses the patient's Spiritual Aspect to figure out what state to restore them to; adding Illumination, let alone Spiritual Illumination (something we don't really know exists, though I personally think it does) to the mix just seems... unnecessary. But I understand the desire to make Truthwatchers special in a way similar to how the Bondsmiths are, given their place in the Double Eye.

It's always hard to tell, with glyphs. I like your method though - clearly isolating each phoneme, and then trying to match them against Nazh's page using rotation. I think the first one (your T) resembles an N more closely. I am not super sold on the Y, but none of the other vowels match any better, and I think a vowel is very likely after either a T or an N. D seems the most likely for the third one, though it could be a rotated B too, I think. It's hard to argue with the TH, but I really don't like how awkward it makes the word sound... The next one is weird. I don't think it's an O, I think Os are going to have 4 distinct strokes, and this one has at most 3. A rotated E could work. An I with an extra flourish could also work. I actually think the closest match is a P, but that really doesn't work if the previous two are consonants... The M seems solid to me. One thing you can do, actually, is post on Reddit (r/Stormlight_Archive probably) too, but also ping Isaac (u/izykstewart)/ Given that you are not outright saying "what does this say?" and are instead showing some work, he might offer some thoughts (assuming he is not busy, which he often is these days...).

Hello, and welcome! Hope you enjoy your time here, and stay wholesome

Oh, go through the book and keep track of what's where? This is Galadon's library, this is Kiin's house, this kind of stuff?

I wrote that page Those are pretty much the two interpretations that make sense - you either count the 8 definite colors, add smokestone, and drop diamond because it's transparent; or you start with the 8, and then count diamond & smokestone as the same "color."

Correct. Brandon's notes call garnets "deep violet" while rubies are "deep red."

I see everyone here is having fun, which is great, but I feel like I need to come rain a little bit on your parade, if you pardon the turn of phrase. Animated images, especially ones with rapidly changing colors and/or bright lights can be unpleasant or annoying for some people to look at, and when those images are forum avatars, there is little those people can do to avoid that. So maybe you could keep those for a little while longer, say until the end of the week, and then replace them with something less... flashy? As for this thread specifically, it is probably a fine place to continue sharing both pride stories and seizure-inducing rainbowed GIFs :)

My best guess was that diamonds' transparent light just doesn't count as a color, so the other gem types give you a total of nine.

Half the reason Vin's relationships section exists as an objective is so I can have an excuse to put this gorgeous artwork next to her TenSoon subsection, once that becomes a thing.

It's certainly a possibility, but I find Ico's words to be a strong evidence that there is some danger. I find it far more likely that Ishar exaggerated the likelihood of disaster, leading Nale onto a path of extreme prejudice.

I actually considered that too, but it felt like too much. Shards are colossal reservoirs of power, and one argument against my idea is that even something like this Braize prison I propose would be far too much for a bunch of unchecked Radiants to put a dent in. I can kind of accept it because if the prison is created and maintained by just the ten Heralds, then maybe something like a hundred Radiants could wield a comparable amount of power and therefore mess things up; it's hard to come up with reasonable numbers, but I can at least imagine this happening. Upscaling this what surely must be way more Investiture keeping Odium trapped, and I find it even more difficult to believe that any number of Radiants could touch that. I mean, you could probably come up with a number, but I feel like it would be silly.

I am genuinely confused by both what measures Nale is referring to, and how Radiants, regardless of how much power they have access to, might upset whatever balance Nale is thinking about. Some things we do know: Odium being bound is greater than the Oathpact (and, along similar vein, the Oathpact was something between Honor and his Heralds) The Heralds can't stay on Roshar for too long, otherwise another Desolation would start A Returned can't repair the Oathpact, but some amount of Investiture, perhaps with the right Intent, may be able to The Heralds had access to raw levels of power than no Radiant could obtain That last one could throw a bit of a wrench in my "Radiants can Invest directly from Honor" idea, but I'll stick to my guns and say that the idea still holds, only with the caveat that Heralds could Invest... better. At a faster rate, able to hold more. Akin to how both a garden hose and a fire hydrant have access to vast amounts of water, but the former is much more powerful. Captain Ico seems to echo Nale's (and, presumably, Ishar's) sentiment about the dangers of Radiants: I think I agree that Honor somehow regulated how much power was available to the Radiants - either by declining the final Oath of any he personally didn't think deserving (a task that appears to fall on the Stormfather now), or by simply limiting the amount of power Radiants could drain from him. I personally like the second option better because it puts the responsibility directly onto Honor, which makes his absence a problem. The Stormfather could, conceivably, decline Oaths, or quickly learn to do so if it starts becoming a problem; he probably can't regulate how much Investiture the new Radiants pull. I don't like the Divine Attributes idea, however. It feels... not mechanical enough. I've never thought the Divine Attributes to be anything more than a cultural construct, something without a Realmatic meaning that people (and, perhaps, spren) ascribed significance to. Furthermore, I don't see how any Radiant could be... essentially promoted to a Herald, regardless of how much power they have access to. The Oathpact was a formal agreement between Honor and the Heralds, there were actual Realmatic effects to it, as evident by the various connections between the Heralds and the Desolations. For a Radiant to achieve this level, I think you'd need Honor, though it's probably possible for Dalinar and the Stormfather to somehow make changes. After all, if Odium believes that Dalinar has the power to release him, then Dalinar might also have the power to influence other acts of Honor. What I propose instead, is that the danger here is tied directly to the amount of Investiture being actively used on Roshar. I don't have a good model of why a large amount of Investiture could lead to a Desolation, but it is a common link between the Heralds (with their "raw levels of power than no Radiant could obtain") and the modern Radiants without "enough checks" on their power. I do have an idea, however. Why, once a Desolation ends and the Heralds return to Braize, would the Fused and the voidspren be trapped there? It can't be the Oathpact, not directly at least, because it was an agreement that didn't involve Odium's forces; things would be different if they had all agreed to something, since spren (and, perhaps, the Fused, being so suffused with Investiture) very much embody the "swear by my power" fantasy trope, but this is not the case. The only other option that makes sense to me is that they are being forcefully kept on Braize - by the Heralds. And since I doubt even the Heralds can keep the entirety of Odium's army at bay, and especially since new Desolations required a Herald to "break", I think the way this played out was like this: the Oathpact granted the Heralds access to unfathomable amounts of Investiture, under the condition - the oath - that they will use this power to keep Odium's forces at bay. I imagine this as the Heralds essentially erecting a prison around Braize, one made of all this power they had access to. This is probably where the sharing of the pain comes in too - I imagine they were somehow Connected in this, similarly to how a Surgebinder is Connected with their spren, a merging of the souls. But as soon as even one Herald broke their Oath and - with Intent - allowed Odium's forces through, it was enough for the whole barrier to go down; one side of the deal with Honor was no longer being unheld, and so the other one (the access to Honor's power) would become void too. Only the Oathpact wouldn't actually be broken as much as it would be... interrupted. I'd guess this is simply due to the immense binding power of the Oathpact. So the Heralds would return to Roshar, another Desolation would start, Odium's forces would eventually be defeated. Why would the Heralds need to return to Braize? Under this model, it's simply - they need to be there to raise and maintain the prison again. Rinse & repeat. Why is a single Herald enough to keep this show running? Under this model, because they would still have access to the incredible amounts of Investiture granted to each one. It would be much harder for a single Herald to keep this up - not only would they not have access to as much power as usual, but they wouldn't have anyone to share the torture with. But then, this is Taln. So let's go back to Nale's crusade, and Ico's concerns, and the absence of Honor. The way I think this fits is actually surprisingly simple. Without Honor to regulate how much power the Radiants can siphon out of his Investiture pool, they run the risk of tapping into the reserves normally allocated to the Heralds, and therefore weaken the Braize prison. Ishar would've known this (and we can probably agree that this, or something like this, is why "he readily understood the implications of Surges being granted to men") and so would've sent Nale on his quest to find all nascent Surgebinders and ensure they never reach the Fifth Ideal and thus jeopardize Taln's work - either by killing them, or recruiting them and keeping a careful eye on them. Ico, somehow, understands this too - though whether that is because spren have better understanding of how such things work, or because they (or the honorspren specifically) have better record-keeping, or because Ishar has convinced/intimidated them into playing along, I don't know. I think I actually like the overall shape of this. The details are a little hazy but I think it explains a lot of things in a reasonable way. Even if I needed another 1500 words or whatever...

The biggest community of developers in the world is far more likely than this forum. I am not going to lock this or anything, just trying to manage expectations.

You are really going to want to Google the exact error and/or search relevant threads on StackOverflow. Trust me when I say a big part of being a good software developer, professional or not, is being able to search for the problems you are having.

We were referring to this WoB.

If I mess with the intro every time, is it really messing with the intro, or am I just sticking to the script?

Two now I am sorry you (feel like you) have to part with these. I collect most kinds of Brandon swag (was only missing the Firefight-related ones here, for example), so I know - or at least can imagine - how difficult it can be to part with any of it. I hope you sort out this money mess =\ Meanwhile, I see you have other items for sale as well, so I just wanted to let other people know that they can take a look and see if they like anything else. Good luck!

Sesemalex Dar. Yeddaw is apparently similar to (but less impressive, I think) it, but we don't know anything about other than the description; I am almost completely certain there is no art of it.

I'm afraid I haven't seen much more than the B&W drawing from Arcanum Unbounded. There is some Lift fanart out there, but nothing of either nation's environment, as far as I know. Which is a pity, because I think both Azimir and Yeddaw would look great...

Sounds like I definitely need a reread then...

Oh, right. Isn't all this because the flora and fauna native to Patji have evolved natural magical abilities just from being in a place with high levels of ambient Investiture, and the Aviars - strangely - have evolved/developed a bond with one specific species, the worms?

It's been a long time since I last read this story, and I am due for a reread - could you remind me what other flora and fauna has seemingly magical abilities?

All of this is fair - your tastes are your tastes, and there's nothing wrong with disliking any of Brandon's stories. I only take issue with the way you voiced you... expectations. Wishing he would work on something you personally are more interested in is fine; being angry when that doesn't happen is less so. Especially when it's not really this sequel is 1) not really taking from his time on bigger projects, and 2) not even in the writing phase. The Silence Divine has had about as much written, and Brandon hasn't really spent any time on it in years. But I trust you get my point, I don't need to keep making it. That's... definitely interesting Thank you for listening.