Inkthinker

damnation... I hadn't thought about it, but not all stance names are revealed, are they? I can't give it up if it ain't been published, them's the rules. I like playing with these toys too much to break the rules.



They do all have names, he puts thought into this. But he might want to change a name later, so it's better not to to establish it unless it's already been laid out in the book. Sorry, I didn't intend to tease.

I'll find out if I'm at least allowed to confirm guesses as correct (i.e. "that is Ironstance") but honestly, if we both did our jobs proper then you should be able to figure out the named stances through context, with the sketches to give you a visual cue.

-EDIT-

Also, has anyone gotten around to translating the fechtbuch page? Glyphs aren't just for looking pretty, y'know...

Whoooo... I can tell you all the answers, but y'all are having too much fun. Let me know when you guys settle on guesses.

I will say, don't get too hung up on matching the "intended" use of a stance (as described in the book) with the actual, practical uses of a stance (as seen in real-world context). They may not match up well, and Brandon is not an SCA or RMA swordsman.

But I did get all my references for the stances directly from Brandon, so he's using them as he sees fit, and I matched up the sketches as instructed. You should be able to figure out most of them through context.

 

I think some of you might be misreading Szeth's character... here's a man who's allowed himself to be led by the nose in all things, against his own better instincts, because he thought that he was "Truthless", and therefore could not trust himself.

Now he's learned that he was never Truthless, and that he's done horrible things for evil men by allowing himself to believe what others say. I argue that he's going to be incredibly stubborn about obeying anyone in the near future, because look where being obedient got him? He's going to be paranoid about being lied to or misled, and that's going to make him suspicious of everyone and everything.

He'll go from being spineless to being obstinate to the point of fault.

Auburn red hair is correct, as described in the text.

Hey, if James Cameron reads the books and decides he wants in on this, I'm down with it. Don't get me wrong... but it kinda requires that Avatar level of CG to make it happen.

Of course, James Cameron has been known to adapt works that he likes... far stranger things have happened.

 

Seriously, why did Brandon make the Rosharans who look most Asian lack epicanthic folds, and the ones who look Ethiopian, San, Kenyan, or generically Caucasian have the folds?  Makes a very cinematic series extremely hard to adapt perfectly.  

 

Not if you draw it.

The reason I don't want it done as a TV series or film is that it would require quite a lot of abridgement, and a LOT of very expensive VFX. One of the reasons Game of Thrones works on television is that it's a grounded series placed on an Earth-analog world. It's got traditional European trappings and traditionally human-looking peoples.

Roshar does not look like Earth. The cities of Roshar do not look like cities in Morocco, Prague or Ireland. Almost every creature and plant would require special effects. Costumes and peoples rarely have cultural equivalents that the production team can borrow from. Every suit of Shardplate is a unique costume, and requires multiple versions to be made (hero versions for the closeup, stunt versions for the smashy, extras for replacements when damage occurs). Every Parshendi requires full-body makeup and prosthetics. SO EXPENSIVE.

Or draw it. Not a thing in the Archives so far would even slow down a good animation house. We'll still have to abridge the script, but at least we don't have to sacrifice the visuals.

Animated TV series. Action-focused. Solid adaptation, no "tropes" that aren't native to the narrative. Boarded and directed in the US, like ATLA/Korra.

It's the best and only answer.

so I tried to do the bridgedesign again on blender. this Is how I imagined them.  was really fun to make.

The curve gives more stability, place for 40 bridge men, supportbeams, curve landingpoles to compensate for different plateauhights.

 

I really like this! I think you're missing an opportunity for greater structural stability by not making the crossbeams that their shoulders rest upon rise up to meet the long beams and the floor of the bridge, and I feel like the long runners might be a little extreme, but I dig the overall design.

 

When they run towards the shaft at one point with Kaladin at the front, there is a notice about arrows hitting around his head. If there was a ramp such as your artwork have, that would be imposible, his head would be in cover.

 

Is it not possible that there are poles extending in front wich the runners in front(and back) are gripping? Thats how I always imagined them. Poles running along the length of the bridge, and a planked surface ontop, again with poles extending to the sides, front and rear to serve as hand/shoulderholds.

 

the drop in front and rear does not need to be that great a problem. A step close to a foot high, both horses and people can just step up and down that as they get on and off the bridge.

 

The pushing over procedure I´m glad to see is the exactely the same as I thought myself:)

Hence the flaw I mentioned, my bridge offers too much cover.

The thing is that the text also mentions arrows slamming into the wood beside his head... meaning that somewhere in the design, he needs to have wood on his shoulders or near/behind him. One idea that was given to me for mine is that the front rank places the leading edge on their shoulders, rather than the first crossbeam behind the ramp, so the first rank is more exposed and the wood is slamming into the ramp's leading edge.

I don't like the idea of too much break between the ground and the ramp edge, if only because any sort of leap or step up when men and horses are charging is a recipe for someone to trip and create a domino disaster. Maybe a couple inches (I've got the runners lower than the lip myself), but certainly not a foot.

Kaladin does say that the bridge is around 30 feet long, if the ramps made it longer, I think he would have mentioned them...

My excuse is that Kaladin is a surgeon's son, not a carpenter's. He says "around" and "about" not "exactly", so I'm taking advantage of the weasel words.

Whup, there you go, text rules.

 

Troll

Maybe just a little. For nearly a year the only people I could discuss the Shallan pages with were Peter, Isaac and Brandon. In just three short days, it'll be everyone who reads the novels. I like talking about my work, and I'm feeling the anticipation as a near-palpable thing. What can I say, when I saw the thread title I was really hoping they'd shown a new one. There's at least a couple that wouldn't constitute major spoilers, especially now that there's been preview chapters. The Santhid was just the first in the set.

I'd forgotten this thread. I did a bunch of diagrams about a month ago, which are in another thread here somewhere... Isaac and I were more or less in agreement with the latest I did, though it did have the unfortunate design flaw of providing too much cover to the bridgemen.

-EDIT-

There we go: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/5213-bridge-specifications/

Or if you just want the short version:

It ain't flawless, but it'll do for the moment. Suggestions and corrections (based on engineering or the text of the novel) are always appreciated.

Awww, still the Santhid? That's probably the least interesting of the Shallan pages. Why not the [redacted] or the [censored] or the

Barring travel mishaps, I'll be there!

Which makes this one of the rare occasions in which you can find Brandon, Isaac and myself all in one place.

Only so much you can do in terms of anatomical accuracy for a 3d printed model. Too fancy, and it's messy and expensive; too thin, it falls apart. Canon may need to be sacrificed for feasibility.

Aye, and detail is difficult at small scale. Mini design is one of those things I've been known to do when the rent is due. Privateer and Wizkids. It's actually pretty crazy what level of detail they can pull off with professional casting, but with 3D printing I think we're still working our way down. Get there eventually  though, I'm sure.

It's just little details that I didn't bring up earlier because the artist had already put in a lot of excellent work, and expressed that they weren't interested in messing about more with the sculpt. I'm not inclined to be pushy about fan-art being "accurate" (insofar as anything Isaac or I design should be taken as gospel). I want fans to have fun, and I feel like when fans make fan-art, they should be free to revise designs as makes them happy and fits their vision, especially if they're not conflicting with WoB.

If nothing else, It re-emphasizes that I oughtta sit down one evening and do up some more sketches of Axehounds and Chulls and so forth, and then let 'em loose so fans can have better reference than just the one drawing. If that's something folks have an interest in (and I reckon they might), and it don't cross the boss, then it's something I'd like to do.

Pretty flippin' cool.

No selling copies without talking to the boss, and even then I think we'd want to have a serious talk about revising the model... the anatomical inconsistencies for a fan-project are negligible, but when we start talking licensing, I start actually caring.

 

The hardcover is the definitive edition for viewing the artwork, for the most part. But even I must confess, for actually reading the book, I use my NOOK edition.

That might indicate a need for a sea change in Shardbearer tactics. Up until now, a sword/shield form has not been traditionally a focus of Shardbearers.

Even though they're light and can cut through near anything, most Blades are larger than claymores. They're often six feet long or more, and come in a variety of widths and shapes. Two-handed forms make sense, you don't need both hands to pick it up so much as you need both hands to control it well.

BUT, half-shards are a recent invention, and there might be a need to change tactics. After all, we're still right at the beginning of the story.
 

I have been thinking that With the invention of the Half-Shards that Shardbearers might start carrying Shields now, which does prevent pretty much anything from working. Anyone got ideas for that?

Well, it doesn't prevent anything from working, it just provides additional protection against Shardblades that a normal shield would not. They'll still shatter, with enough damage done to them.

Didn't we see Shardbearers using half-shard shields during one of Szeth's assassinations? It's mostly only useful if you're going up against a Shardblade, otherwise I think most of the fighters in Shardplate would prefer to have a free hand, and trust their armor to soak up the hits from normal weapons.

And since only impact weapons are likely to have any real effect, if you're not facing hammers and maces and crossbows and such, then I think you can probably consider yourself fairly safe (presuming you don't encounter any nascent spear-wielding windrunners).

I'm actually thinking more that you don't want to set it on fire, that would keep it liquid and the Plate might be immune to transferring heat.

Whereas if it's just barely liquid and you pour it on, then it starts to thicken almost immediately, and it's just gummy tar gunk that gets into all the plates and jams it up horribly. Even if you can't suffocate them, you limit their mobility and make them vulnerable to ground troops.

OOH! If you have guys wearing Plate, have 'em throw something full of gunk that smashes open upon impact. Big eggs full of gluey goo, to muck up the enemy and slow them down, if not put them down.

I would think (just guessing) that being on fire itself would probably not be much of a problem, unless the flames were near the faceplate or it was really smoky and got inside the helm... and even then, I wouldn't be surprised if shardplate could filter out gases.

I suggest you coat their heads (if not the whole suit) in molten pitch. Set it on fire if you like, but the point is actually to cut off the air supply. If the suit can breathe through its skin (it might), coating it from head-to-toe ought to put a stop to that.

I suggest pitch, but all you really want is something horribly gooey, possibly something that hardens quickly as it cools. You don't want to make it easy for them to wipe it away, and if you can lower their mobility then so much the better. Theoretically, if the gunk is thick and sticky/gooey enough, they won't even be able to pop the armor's seals and escape voluntarily, they're just glued inside to die slowly of suffocation.

Inwing's store is Isaac Stewart, the other regular artist on Stormlight. He and I had put some designs together with Brandon's blessing. But since Brandon revised his site, the Inkwing store was folded in with the proper company, Isaac and Kara work for Brandon officially, and all that stock has shifted over.

It was never "my" store, I've just done a couple of the designs, it's Isaac and Kara that do all the hard work.

The Horneater Soup shirt was one mine, the Szeth shirt is another, and there was the Bridge 4 - I'm Wearing Your Mom design but that one was too... edgy, and got voted down by the fans. We're working on some new stuff, but there's not much I can say about it.

I survived Bridge 4 and all I got was this Horneater soup.

I think it's being retired for a while, but there's new stuff on the horizon.

I agree, permanent bridges would make sense, IF anyone was interested in long-term benefits or mutual assistance. But they're not, and if Dalinar is the only one who acts selflessly, he'll weaken himself against all those willing to act selfishly.

I can't believe I have to explain that, it's like a major plot point from the latter part of the book. The Wars on the Shattered Plains is not being fought like a war, it's being played like a game. Elkohar is too weak a king to force the highprinces to act in the best interests of the whole at a cost to themselves. Instead everyone's just trying to gain power and profit for themselves, and if they can topple the king in their own favor they might (his paranoia about this is also a major plot point). It's a huge character moment for Dalinar when he finally forces Elkohar to appoint him Highprince of War so that he can be the strong leader needed to make the others act like leaders of men, not players.

In Words of Radiance we'll see the results of that.