Arkangel

1 hour ago, Stormtide_Leviathan said:

This isn't the point of this thread so I'm hoping this doesn't derail it into moash discourse, but if he gets a redemption arc I could see becoming a dustbringer being one of the ways that arc goes.

I was thinking he could go the way of the Skybreakers but I think it would be a repeat of Szeth's arc. Now that you mention Dustbringers, though, I could agree with that. They have a focus on self-mastery which Moash definitely exhibits, early on, when learning from Kaladin. All that to say Brandon gives him a redemption arc (which I am personally hoping for) instead of giving in to the majority of the fandom's cries for blood.

23 hours ago, Knight of Eternal Books said:

Dustbringers are 1 of the 3 radiant types not seen within the Archive yet.

I gotta ask...who are the other two that you're thinking of? I'm pretty sure we've seen at least one member of each type, granted some are only minor characters.

How far have you read?

In Oathbringer:

And Dawnshard:

On 4/9/2024 at 12:12 PM, teknopathetic said:

I would love a secret history about the guy they through into the shardpool in Elantris that eventually ends up in Rosharan Shadesmaar Lighthouse

That would be fun. It felt so random having the same random background character show up in Stormlight. It would be cool seeing more of his history with the Ire too.

On 4/9/2024 at 12:34 PM, Isilel said:

Beyond "The Secret History 2" and Darkside/Khriss leaving Taldain, as well as other already planned projects:

I always wanted to read an "age of exploration" story in era 2 Scadrial or anywhere in the cosmere, really, where adventures happen during or around an expedition into unknown. Without "our country/world is in danger and we are looking for something to save us" trope.

Slice of life story in Era 2 Southern Scadrial before the contact with the North. My biggest disappointment with TLM was that we didn't learn anything new about the Mawlish. Sure, we'll see plenty of them in Era 3, I presume, but it won't be the same.

- I love many of the Interludes of Stormlight because they often give glimpses into the lives of seemingly normal people around Roshar, experiencing small parts of the big events of the main story. Similar short stories around Scadrial would be a lot of fun.

Story in the Final Empire's past that Sanderson intended to put into a video game. - I, too, mourn the loss of the Mistborn game. Hoping for bigger and better things! A story based on it doesn't seem like it would be too difficult since most of the worldbuilding has already been done.

Something with balloons, blimps, bicycles and muscle-powered flight in conjunction with magi-tech. - Like the oft-mentioned kite magic world?

9 hours ago, Brgst13 said:

Stories I would like to see:

-first trapper visits Patji

Have you read the Isles of the Emberdark sample chapters?

-Vasher and Shashara research and create Nightblood  - I imagine this sort of thing would be saved for flashbacks in a Warbreaker sequel.

-The founding of the Iriali - The Iriali are such a mystery and they keep popping up in the backgrounds of stories. It would be cool to get some concrete history there!

-Khriss leaving Taldain for Silverlight - Any full story with Khriss would be amazing. She is such an integral part of the Cosmere. 

-Ceration and activation of the Father Machine - I get the feeling that this story will be left in the shadows (shroud?) of the past. I can imagine similar constructs being created in the future, however.

3 hours ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

They've even set up rules of conduct based on stuff brought up in The Sunlit Man, with the Scadrian Scientists needing to follow the rule of not being obligated to interfere with events on Canticle. It was said to be part of the Silverlight Accords or something like that.

The Silverlight Codes of Interplanetary Conduct. Nomad uses The Refugee and Lost Expatriate Bill to request asylum. I believe the TimeTellers just told Nomad that they were neutral but he didn't really believe them, thinking they were probably part of the Scadrian military. I don't think it states whether or not their non-interference is related to the Codes.

Back on topic...

Everyone seems to agree on wanting a Mistborn: Secret History 2. What would you want it to cover?

13 minutes ago, alder24 said:

Brandon now is doing what you are proposing but on a much smaller scale - he can now see questions people ask him in the chat during live streams and answer those he finds interesting. This is manageable, but 100,000 questions, 1 million words or more, that's simply not gonna happen even with his team engaged.

When you put it that way, it makes a lot of sense. Another option (and I hate to suggest it) is have the question be a part of the top crowdfunding tier. I wouldn't suggest charging more just to have a question but make it another limited level at the same price (for example, $650 from the WoR campaign). Say the first 100 backers have the chance to send in a question.

Another idea is to just have a straight lottery. They open a contest period, everyone enters, RNG selects 100 winners, a team filters the questions, Brandon answers.

20 hours ago, Treamayne said:

In my "magical happy christmas dream-land" Team Sanderson would add a Q&A Blog  to the "Kickstarter" projects. Each backer gets to submit 1 question after the window closes (as part of the backer survey) and as part of the rewards he publishes a Blog entry answering, say, 50 non-RAFO questions from the collected submissions. It would allow him and the team time to find the questions he wants to answer and craft the answers exactly how he chooses; while offing hope to those of us that don't have much chance to ever ask a question directly. . . 

That would be a brilliant idea. I have two little kids whose bed time is during every livestream so my chances at having a question asked is also very small.

All good ideas so far!

13 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Yeah, I didn't bother mentioning any of the things we are already expecting to be part of future novels - and Brandon's already indicated we won't get much (or anything) from Radiants Pre-Aharietiam/Recreance until we get Herald Flashback scenes in the back five.

We'll save those for AU3 then. 

1 hour ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

I would definitely like to see a small story set on Lumar, on one of the other spore oceans so we can see what life is like there. Like the Zephyr Spore Sea, that'd be pretty interesting.

Agreed! I know Brandon said he's not going to do another Tress story, and I agree with him, but it would be nice to have a different viewpoint somewhere else on the planet. Perhaps with an offhand mention of certain renowned flaxen-haired ship captain.

Undoubtedly, Brandon has been Brandoning since the last UA. What is Brandoning, you ask? Why, that's his habit of uncontrollably writing stories. The Secret Projects being the most overt evidence of this condition. He's got the big books now but who's to say he doesn't have a collection of short stories stashed away for a rainy day (or upcoming Cosmere content drought)?

My question for you is this: What story would you love to see in Arcanum Unbounded 2: Electrum Boogaloo?

For me, I would like to see a slice of life story about the customs agents at the Nathian perpendicularity. Kind of like an episode of one of those Border Security shows that were big several years ago.

I'd also love a story about an organization of specialists and Radiants (pre-Recreance) whose job is to hunt down and neutralize/capture dangerous Surgebinders, spren, or other magical entities on Roshar.

I am slowly listening my way through the latest Emberdark reactions Shardcast (a side effect of parenting two chaosspren small children). I just reached the part where the 'cast talked about if larger ships, like the Dynamic, could pass through "pool-sized" perpendicularities.

My first thought was to Puddle Jumpers from Stargate Atlantis. These space shuttles were designed specifically to pass perfectly through the circular Stargates, which were 6-7m in diameter.

On 4/1/2024 at 5:22 PM, Dreamwa1ker said:

I just finished the book this week and one thing that really stuck out to me about the TimeTellers was a particular phrasing they used in conversation with Nomad about recharging sunhearts: 

The mention of secrets always sets off Kelsier alarm bells in my head. I don't think Kelsier would personally approve of installing a tyrant like this (look at The Lord Ruler) but I do wonder if his mindset in terms of holding back info to only be slowly and strategically revealed could have influenced through the broader Scadrian culture in some pretty bad ways. I mean we have already seen similar with the Ghostbloods on Roshar and the way Mraize only slow drips Cosmere info to Shallan to keep control of her.

Could TimeTellers also be influenced by Ghostbloods or otherwise contact/influenced by Kelsier? Or has he had this influence more generally e.g. on Malwish culture? (since they called that a "civilized" language I'm assuming there is a Southern influence in this group)

We know that Cognitive beings take on the qualities perceived of them by the masses in the Physical. It could be that, over time, Kelsier's "There's always another secret" has pervaded the Scadrian mythos, surrounding The Survivor, in such a way that Kelsier can't help but keep secrets and runs his organizations as such.

5 hours ago, Forts Board said:

I like where everyone is theorizing here. How will that affect stormlight 5 though? Thats what is really important haha. 

  Hide contents

I have a feeling BAM is somewhere in Shinovar and its going to be a race to get to her first. 

 

I think so too since there seems to be an emphasis on that area.

SA5 theory with a little TSM sprinkled in:

4 hours ago, ScadrianTank said:

One theory I had was that whatever interstellar megastructure Canticle is a part of would require the creator — presumably Invention — to act in different ways across vast distances, so Canticle would beam the power to different parts of the machine wherever they are without additional conscious work from the creator/operator. If different parts were sitting in separate star systems, Invention either couldn't simultaneously power them all, or if they could it would tie them to their current location — preventing them from moving on to other projects. But if they set up a battery that would function independently without further involvement, all they would have to do is hook up Canticle's core to whatever needs the power.

I thought about this concept as well. Like a wireless charging station that beams Investiture through...the Spiritual Realm, I guess? OR maybe it has giant cables in the Cognitive like the Ire fortress in SH.

On 3/30/2024 at 7:57 PM, Aredor said:

 

Re-Shephir, Yelig-Nar, Sja-Anat, and Dai-Gontharnis all seem like they were created by a single Shard, then after their "improvements" they were given two syllables. 

I don't think that Nergaoul, Moelach, Chemoarish, or Ashertmarn were made by other Shards. I think that Odium made them himself, and because they are all... non-sapient that shows that Odium is bad at making stuff on his own.

I like this idea. If we look at the single-name Unmade, at least the three we have seen, we can see that their powers are pretty Odium-centric. Nergaoul creates battle-rage, an all-encompassing passion for killing. Ashertmarn drives people to debauchery and excess, inflaming passion to mindless excess. Moelach is different in that he creates Death Rattles, manifesting Odium's future sight. 

9 hours ago, AltonicKeys said:

How does the planet store this energy? The core is probably invested, cuz the planet is way to small for normal physics to apply. The sunlight is invested to some amount, or even the air, but I can't find any evidence that the ground absorbs the investiture and keeps it.

Brandon said that "Canticle was built for a very specific purpose". It was created. Could any naturally formed planetoid work as a battery? Did Canticle exist prior to this and was upgraded somehow? Adonalsium only knows. My theory is that the core was designed to absorb and store the Investiture energy from the sun. The atmosphere and crust of the planet are resistors along the path between sun and core, hence the joule heating. This much was posited in the book.

10 hours ago, AltonicKeys said:

The air is resistant to the sun's investiture, so a lot of investiture is lost as heat, doing the whole melty thing. It probably doesn't leave a lot of investiture to reach the ground, and make it to the core.

It could be a lot. It appears to be a lot. It may just be relative. 99% of the Investiture could be lost as heat or it could be 1%. There's really no way of knowing as we don't have hard numbers...that's why it's just a theory.

10 hours ago, AltonicKeys said:

Also, why would a shard, a being made of investiture, need a store of it? I guess it could make sense if the energy was meant for something/someone else, or maybe a backup plan or something? The battery planets would be really long term investments, since it probably takes a lot of investiture to make them, and it would take a while to break even. 

That's what I was thinking. If it was created by Invention, their Intent to invent may be preventing them from using their Investiture directly. I will concede that I'm not entirely convinced on this particular point myself but it feels like it should fit the theory.

20 hours ago, Forts Board said:

Also, just noticed this. Dusk has birds plural again?

He may be borrowing Vathi's Aviar, Mirris, for navigation.

25 minutes ago, LewsTherinTelescope said:

Based on this WoB I think they can probably help traverse the emberdark:

So basically spice from Dune.

1 hour ago, Argenti said:

You would not.

Curses. Foiled again.

5 hours ago, BinarySecond said:

Why is everyone in the Cosmere obsessed with chickens though?

They're so versatile and go well in a lot of different types of dishes. Pound them flat, crumb/batter and fry them for a crispy sandwich, toss them in a spicy curry sauce over rice, grill and slice them up over a salad, throw them into a creamy, cheesy pasta....

Edit: If one ate an Aviar, would one gain a measure of its power? Has Brandon been asked this before?

TSM spoilers

8 hours ago, Argenti said:

Oh, I like that idea. Maybe it's like investiture fallout? Like the red trees in Chernobyl. 

I was thinking more along the lines of Hoid sharing his "special Investiture" (to reference Sunlit Man) around the Cosmere. Brandon did say he dated a dragon once.

1 hour ago, LewsTherinTelescope said:

Fun side note: When Hoid makes an illusion of a dragon to show Kaladin what they look like, it's a pearlescent one

Hoid's "default" appearance (if Hoid even has a default) has white hair. Do we think there might be some meaningful connection between Hoid and the "white" dragons?

1 hour ago, Child of Hodor said:

I think the one that has another origin is Re-Shephir because she has/is made of midnight essence which is an Aether. Aether's aren't native to Roshar, but whatever Re-Shephir was Unmade from she was probably on Roshar before she got was changed.

Brandon addressed this last July at TBCC and in his interview with Shardcast.

Quote

Red the Windrunner (paraphrased)

We have now seen Midnight Essence on Lumar and as part of the Unmade on Roshar, should we assume that all the other Unmade have connections to Odium’s other conquests like maybe Sja-anat and Ambition?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Midnight Essence is more like Lightweaving in that multiple magic systems will reach the same conclusion. When something is done to the magic to corrupt it, it becomes like Midnight Essence. So while there are similarities between the two and they work the same they may not have the same point of origin.

Red the Windrunner (paraphrased)

So there is no meaningful connection between Sja-anat and Ambition?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

You weren’t going to let me off the hook. You are theorizing in a very interesting direction. RAFO!

Tampa Bay Comic Convention 2023 (July 28, 2023)

Quote

Comatose

Kind of a similar question about the Midnight Essence, now that we have seen that crop up in Tress as well as in Stormlight Archive. Is something similar happening with the Midnight Essence? We have also the nightmares, in Yumi, that appear similar, they're also mimicking things.

Brandon Sanderson

So, there's a couple of things getting interwoven here. The actual idea of Midnight Essence is a concept like Lightweaving that predates the Shattering of Adonalsium, that various magic systems are basically "borrowing" a law of the cosmere and creating a parallel effect from the same basis, if that makes any sense.

Yumi is a little distinct from that. It's feeling similar; I would not call it true Midnight Essence. It's an awful lot more like a Lightweaving that has--because Lightweavings can have mass to them, because investiture can have mass to it--so you're looking a little bit more like... imagine a bunch of Stormlight becoming tangible, you can touch it, because of a powerful Lightweaving or something like that. Of course, these things all bleed together because I'm using the same fundamental principles to make them. But, for me, Midnight Essence has this personality that comes prefixed. What the Midnight Mother is making, what you're seeing in the Midnight Sea and things like this, you're gonna get some similar personalities to these things, and not necessarily the same with the nightmares.

Shardcast Interview (July 30, 2023)

At first glance, Brandon appears to be giving answers that ride the line of confirmation one way or another on the off-world Unmade question. Midnight Essence, either by midnight spores or Re-Shephir, or the Shroud are all manifestations of corrupted Investiture. Re-Shephir might not necessarily be aether-related (I still think she is) but just a similar-looking corruption.

Brandon's reaction, in the first WoB, to the meaningful connection between Sja-anat and Ambition makes me think we can have our cake and eat it too. That Odium somehow corrupted native Rosharan spren with the Splintered Investiture of his conquests. 

TSM spoilers: