Argent

I think at least part of the reasoning behind this form of the Steelhunt is that not all readers are as dedicated to having an online presence. In other words, something like the Great Hunt was tailored for people who had an interest in participating in an online project. The Steelhunt, on the other hand, is much more... immediately. You find a code, you enter it, there is your reward. No commitment or involvement necessary. This being said, the very fact that I am active here means I would prefer the Great Hunt over the Steelhunt. But I think I understand the reasoning behind the latter too.

So it's settled then? It's the core of a fabrial - it probably already holds a spren in it, but we don't know for a fact.

I don't remember, is it just her, her order, is it a shortcoming of Soulcasting in general? Because either one makes sense to me: If it's just Jasnah, then then it could be an issue of practice. If it's her order, then it might be just that - her order is better at Soulcasting non-organic material. Which plays nicely with how she and Shallan are (probably) from different orders, considering that Shallan's first Soulcast involved an organic material (admittedly, blood was her target, not her source, but I think the logic still holds). So Jasnah's order is better with non-organics, and Shallan's is better with organics. If the problem is with Soulcasting in general, it tells us nothing.

Speaking of which, a sword (replica of Andruril) is what I gave as a wedding gift to one of my best friends' wedding last year. And he did cut the cake with it. His daughter is getting the Sting next time I visit them overseas

The thing about Jasnah's shadow is that we suspect it was roughly around the time of Gavilar's assassination that her powers were starting to manifest. Much like how Syl was messing around with Kaladin, making objects stick together, and so on. So by the time Shallan met her, she would have the entire thing under control - it took Kaladin, what, a year to solidify his relationship with Syl? And keep in mind, Jasnah is a scholar, should would probably approach this much more... academically.

I think you mean... melatium?

Fixed the links... I think. They are the same as the ones in Chaos' post.

Added the stuff from the second recording. Not a whole lot or very interesting. I skipped the last reading, partially because I didn't feel like transcribing such a long text, and partially because I've missed the last couple of seasons of Writing Excuses and have no idea what this story is about. The interlude is also back!

Brandon hates his pre-release readers? Really, he probably ignores the deeper implication that come with owning a Shardblade and just goes with "Here is something cool, guys!"

Programming-based sounds plausible, I put that instead. @Joe ST, also as a programmer, I think what Brandon means by this is that Elantrians (and other users of magic on Sel) build their "spells" similarly to how we build programs - you start with some core functionality (the Aon in the heart of your "spell") and you add logic, conditionals, and specifiers (the Aon's modifiers) on top of it to make it more precise. @Kurkistan, fixing right away! But why did you - or someone else - remove my transcription of Lift's interlude? The entire thing is available as a Steelhunt goodie, but I only copied the part that he read, effectively transcribing his reading without doing any actual typing.

I like the spren theory a lot - the shadow misbehaving sounds very similar to Syl's first interactions with Kaladin.

Hello, and welcome, dear (ex-)lurker! To me, this is the best way to introduce yourself - with a Cosmere question. Assuming that you meant "amount of power depended on the size of the Shard spike," we get an interesting byproduct, or side effect, or confirmation of something we kind of knew. Brandon said a while back (in the Mistborn annotations, I think) that a Shard's body and its power are synonymous. For example, the mists of Preservation are really Preservation's body, which is also Preservation's power. In other words, a Shard's manifestation in the Physical Realm is essentially its power taking physical, tangible form; makes sense - you destroy the Shard's body (which you can do to physical objects), you destroy its power. So, if you are squeezing Shardic power into a physical object (say, Preservation's power into a metal spike), it makes sense that the physical properties of the object - size in particular - will determine how much power you can shove in there. I am not explaining myself very well here, but I think I got the point across. Good question though, we might be able to use it on the other shardworlds!

I decided to do a written transcript, because well... it's easier to search, copy, and look for quick references. Or if you can't listen for some reason (say, you are at work, but there is absolutely nothing to work on...). I don't guarantee 100% accuracy, and I've paraphrased and cut some things I find non-important (in relevance to the question). Also, I am ignoring common questions, such as "Did you plan the whole shared universe thing?" --- Lift's Interlude and Q&A --- Note: The entire interlude is available on the Steelhunt page of Brandon's site. This is only the excerpt that was read during the signing (about 10% of the entire). Note that this contains some minor Words of Radiance spoilers (as it is a reading from Words of Radiance), but it's all worldbuilding, no plot, as far as I can tell. Q: Regarding the Lines of Protection in The Rithmatist - is the protective field generated by them as the lines are completed, or...? A: As with most things in The Rithmatist, the lines' effect starts when the person who draws them imagines the effect taking place. There is a mental connection here. As you are drawing, until you are finished, there is nothing there - unless, sometimes, there might be if you imagine it to be there. The Rithmatist is (mostly) consistent with the Cosmere rules. Q: You recently announced that you will be writing a new Cosmere short story called Skyward. Could you talk a little bit about that? A: Skyward is the working title. It will be a teen novel in the Cosmere. It's a science fiction era. --- Multiple Readings and Q&A --- Q: How many Shards have ever been on Roshar? A: At one point, all of them were on Roshar. Which is technically true. Q: What are you willing to reveal about the Seventeenth Shard? A: They are a group of people who aren't convinced that Hoid should be doing what he is doing. Q: Do the Parshendi have gemhearts? A: Excellent question, and one I will RAFO! --- Cosmere Q&A --- Q: Are Selish magics their own distinct systems, or are they different manifestations of one system? A: Different manifestations of one system, which is in turn a manifestation of the common laws between the worlds. Q: Is all magic on Sel influenced by both Dominion and Devotion? A: Technically, yes. But they definitely have their themes and focuses. Influence is a tricky word, I'll warn you. Q: Before Sel's Shards were Splintered, were the Investitures there still form-based? A: Umm... yes. Q: Is "form-based" the right word we should use? A: No. It's not really. The are all programming-based. But of course, with true programming, the form doesn't matter, it's the numbers. And in this case the form does Q: Are gemstones the focus of Surgebinding? A: Defined how you mean focus for this conversation. Q: The definition you gave me a few years ago was that the Commands were the focus for Awakening, and Aons were the focus for AonDor, and metals are the focus for the Metallic Arts... and you haven't given us a proper definition. A: RAFO Q: Is there a similar relationship between Endowment and Hallandren's jungle as there is between Harmony and Elendel Basin ? A: Yes and no. The flowers are being fed by something that's very similar to what you might find on other planets. So the ground is saturated with something that producing a similar effect as Elendel Basin. But it's not the same thing. Elendel Basin was just crafted really really well, and then it was endowed with a little bit of extra help. Here [in Hallandre's jungle] we have this extra seeping into the ground from the pool, which is saturated around and causing the flowers and causing what's going on around there. We'll wait until you've read Words of Radiance. Q: What defines the early, middle, and late eras on Sel? A: My instinct is (and I could be wrong) that... If you were to ask me to define the early era right now, it probably has to do with some ancient thing, pre-Splintering. And then the middle era is during Elantris' sort of reign, and the late era is after [its fall]. Q: Is Forgery completely distinct from Bloodsealing? A: No. Q: Are they distinct magic systems? A: Depends on your definition of systems. For instance, do you call Windrunning your own magic system, or would Surgebinding be the magic system? Windrunning is further composed of two separate systems... So yes, they are more closely related than some others. Q: How many Shards have Invested their power on Roshar? A: Technically, all of them did. Q: Was the city beneath the Shattered Plains inhabited when the Plains were broken? A: Oh, good question, nicely done! Yes. Words of Radiance deals a lot with that. Q: And is Eshonai kind of like Szeth there (I assume you meant whether she will be a secondary / interlude character that shows up more often than the others, or something along those lines) A: Yes. Q: Were the Shattered Plains broken before Natanatan fell? A: RAFO EDIT: I removed the 'transcription' of the reading, since its a Steelhunt thing, Thank you for transcribing the questions tho -- Joe

It's a win/win situation.

Because of WeiryWriter's topic about the Beaverton Steelheart Signing, and Robot Aztec's suggestion that we stop being idiots and check out the entire Tumblr (I may have changed the wording a little...), I found a little over 20 Cosmere-inspired (and Brandon-approved) Valentine cards. And while we still have another couple of seasons to go through before we get to that point, I thought I'd share them - because they are pretty awesome! Part 1: Mistborn Part 2: The Way of Kings My favorite's gotta be Hoid's, although Shallan's (which I thought was Syl's at first!), the Shardblade's, and Marsh's are pretty damnation spectacular too! Oh, fine, Elend's too.

This is the summary in question. EDIT: Thank you, Aztec, to me at least this is new info. Back to Kaladin's depression. Here are the relevant bullet points: Kaladin is canonically written as depressed & Kaladin’s depression is affected by seasons Seasons on Roshar are based around the storms (i.e. long lighter storms in the winter, short stronger storms in the summer) rather than time or temperature Temperature stays fairly constant because of the lack of an axial tilt So that's interesting. While I still think it is possible that it's how the environment looks and feels that's making Kaladin depressed (it's called the Weeping, for Heralds' sake!), I am definitely much more open to the idea that as a Surgebinder (or a potential Surgebinder, if we look at his flashback chapters), he is somehow attuned to the highstorms. Maybe not each highstorm individually (though that's also a possibility), but the general concentration, frequency, and intensity during a given season. Feel free to replace "highstorms" with "stormlight" in the aforementioned argument, it should convey similar meaning.

Of course, this all hangs on the assumption that Ash is Shallash. Which, while plausible, is not one I'd give more than... maybe 70% confidence. If Ash is not Shallash, then she and the two men getting worse still puts them in the same... group or category... but that category doesn't have to be the Heralds. They could be members of some cult, or even two cults - maybe the Radiants are not as erased from the world as were led to believe (though I am not suggesting those two are Radiants; they could be groupies). This still allows for some support of the idea that Szeth wields Jezrien's Honorblade, if you like that one. EDIT: Of course they could be Kalak and Nalan. Brandon did say that we have seen far more Heralds (in TWoK) than we know about.

From what I understand, somebody asked whether Kaladin was depressed / has depression (because of how sad, lethargic, and morose the Weeping makes him). The answer was that yes, he does / did suffer from seasonal depression. But since the seasons on Roshar depend on the highstorms, not on the inclined of the planetary rotational axis*, Aztec suggests that Kaladin's mood depends on how saturated the stormlight around him is. Presumably because during the Weeping there is very little. It's an interesting thought, but I don't agree with it (assuming I've interpreted it correctly). Seasonal depression is not a very well understood topic, but I believe it has to do not with the seasons themselves, but with how the the immediate environment looks and feels during them. In essence, I think Kaladin feels like crap during the Weeping because the world looks like it feels like crap. Plus, while we know that the seasons on Roshar are different from Earth's (shorter and more unpredictable), I don't know that they depend on the highstorms - we only know that there are no highstorms during the Weeping. EDIT: Regarding the signing itself... Did he accidentally give away that Hemalurgy stop being used in the future?

Do Graphic Audio. They have samples on the respective books' pages. It's an entirely new experience.

YOU MUST FIND MORE, I AM NOW INSATIABLE!

I imagine - I was never an audio book guy. You should look into Graphic Audio (if you haven't already), they have Elantris and Warbreaker out, with Mistborn coming this December.

Hmm. I am bothered by how the Alethi-looking man refers to Jezrien as his lord. We know that Jezrien was once king, but given how long the Heralds have been, well, Heralds... I guess they would refer to each other by first names, not titles. It feels weird for them to have hierarchical structure, given that they were all champions of Honor; Jezrien feels more like "first among equals" than like an actual lord or official leader. Of course, we don't have any official confirmation. Other than that, the rest seems to fit. Which makes me terribly suspicious in Brandon's books. Stuff that fits is usually a false trail =\

I think you'll have to Soulcast the ingredients separately... Which takes a lot of the fun away.

Figured it would be either an audio book or one in different language. I've seen some translations, and they can be horrid.

It's one of those situations when an audio recording would've been priceless "Decode" suggest Navani's notebook very strongly, but nothing else matches - so either Josh is misremembering three things (Shallan instead of Navani, letter instead of notebook, and beginning of TWoK) - which, while possible is not a very high likelihood, I think, - or Brandon is referring to some letter by Shallan. Anything in the one she (wants to?) write to her brothers? Either way, good news is that one of us (probably not I) can ask for a clarification on a future signing, since we won't be asking for new information, just rewording of old one.