Musicspren

Purer evil than Phyra? Perhaps it's possible from an Inquisitor... But characters are going to have to stop thinking female Inquisitors are unexpected, given that the only male to have active posts so far is Valkyn.

Thanks for clarifying...slightly. From the first page:

Ah, I see. Although with Camille after her, I doubt she will last long. (Not to mention that there's a thread subtitled "The Death of Phyra Venture," which is rather...unambiguous.) @KChan the RAFOer: This post by Comatose is suspicious...Luci and Kardin? Sanna and Lucien??? @Chaos and somewhat Comatose: I believe I found Riordan.

You have Phyra? I thought someone else did. She strikes me as perhaps the most evil of all characters (even pre-going rogue). (To all:) By the way, I already love this thread.

Well, you did well, and congratulations on having one of the best (if not the best) character images.

Inquisitors are difficult? You mean there isn't a multitude of pictures on the internet of people with spikes in their eyes? (Then my question is how does Vizar have a picture that looks perfect - including earrings?) Also, because I forgot to respond in my last post: I know why (that scene was entertaining), It just reminded me of and (pp. 159 and 201)

This. Also, I have a way of putting my characters into horrifying traumatic experiences, even if they themselves aren't evil. Ah, completely forgot about her. I did read her app, but forgot she was yours. And Colette is also unpleasant (if not "downright evil"), but those feel more balanced by people like Lucille and Aldwin. It's not a matter of good or bad characters; yours just felt more friendly on average. I've enjoyed reading it! Sometimes Riordan is a good character to dislike (not that he is bad as a character, but he is easy to dislike), but he - and his trumpet - were amazing. Plus making Daerra listen to that was entertaining. I would not have guessed that the ball was nearly that long...wow. It was long on the page, but that has a bit to do with the profusion of character portraits (where do those come from, by the way?). And don't get hopes up for a character very soon; it will be at least until winter break before I will devote the time to crafting one.

Only a few? Given the ball, I should think she has enough nasty things to fill both sleeves and still have a few left over to wear as earrings. Not that I dislike her as a character, but she has enough plots and subplots to make an Aes Sedai sniff and shift her shawl. Downright evil? You probably have a friendlier set of characters than most...but not lacking some capable of downright evil. Is Nessa any relative to Vin? She looks to be giving a Vin stare.

Evil things? I hope not all at Marisha; she's suffered quite a lot in the Casuana ball. And, empathetically, so has Nerid. Thanks for the welcome; I will think about it. Perhaps during a break I'll create a character. What is your longest application? I was under the impression that the oldest person other than Rashek had that honor (I haven't been tracking, but that one was really long). Edit: Nevermind, hadn't seen your post about Willem. That's definitely longer. Are you planning to draw your own characters? I love your drawing of Lucille (and the one of Kelsier). A thought I had... Nerid would have liked my Keyboard Harmony teacher - she likes polka (a lot) and expected us to know a little about it. And she plays the accordion.

I wondered, as most characters don't seem to make a habit of discussing fountains. Then again, there are some things that only Aldwin could come up with. And I'm not planning to join as a character for now...but perhaps at some point (Thanks for hinting with the subtlety of Delissia). I would have to feel like I had enough time to do him/her justice (and at the moment, I don't trust that). But I plan to keep reading, so if I decide to make a character, I'll know what's been happening. Edit because KChan has now posted: I started with the Casuana ball and finished reading it while it was static, so Aldwin's...dampness was fresh in my mind. And it was an easy thing to read a little bit at a time of. If I started reading the trilogy, I would have a very difficult time stopping (and consequently wouldn't have done anything I actually needed to). But I could read just a page or few of MBI on occasion (or more before the semester started). I've been reading little by little for months. It was very strange to read of Kardin because, although I knew of him from the character app, I always think of her as Sanna. And I shall AFO when something is there to R.

(Sorry about the delay, semester is busy) I like this idea quite well as it could explain basically everything we've seen. The one thing I don't like is how the amount of physical strength gained lost is not proportional, and so feels a little arbitrary. However, this being Scadrial, it may be something simply like 1/4 (I try to assume things related to exponents of 2 on that world in particular), which would certainly make your arms feel heavier, but, with enough innate strength, could still allow you to lift them. You could still super-punch, which we haven't seen used to its full potential yet. I think your most recent version fits best of all of ours so far with the facts from the books. Now we just have to wait for Alloy of Law to come out so we can change all our opinions. Here's your subscription, sir.

The resuming of progress inspired me to do what I've been slowly working through for a long time: finish reading the Luthadel section (basically all the plot, but not all the out of character and Ars Arcanum things). I have read many of the character apps, basically any that were characters that played a large part. I started with reading the Casuana Ball because I always liked the ball scenes in the trilogy. It's still my favorite part of the RP, but once I'd read that, I had to read the rest, so I started from the bottom (except for the silly boards, which I saved for last) and worked my way up. A few comments/questions: @KChan: Was this forshadowing intentional? (If so, it was epic, given that those were posted nearly a year apart.) Marisha is probably my favorite character. Viridian and Nerid are probably my favorite couple (although if Lucille/Kardin ever became canon outside the musical, the sheer absurdity while retaining a kernel of logic might win me over). Everything with groups of Delissia/Efram/Aldwin/Lucille/Sanna together was great. Particularly when it involved a fountain. I didn't know posts this short were allowed . Riordan's Pity Parade was inspired. You all are great (and crazy, but I suspect most of us at 17th Shard have a bit of insanity).

My timing, completely unbeknownst to me when I posted, was somewhat uncanny. Rest in peace.

I would like to announce that Apple also imitates Brandon Sanderson, it seems. My question is, "Where's Vivenna?"

Death by Inquisitor's waffles.

Death by Pity Parade. (Thank you, Chaos; the potential of that thread is epic, even with only one post at the moment I am posting this.)

Thanks for bringing in Nash Equilibrium; I don't know a great deal of game theory, but that's good to think about. It's true that cooperation could lead problems like was seen with Dalinar and Sadaes, where they work together until one sees an attack is hopeless. It should not hurt innovation, however, as they would still want to make themselves fastest. An argument could be that they would hold back to avoid making others faster in the process. However, I can't think of anything that they wouldn't help the inventor more than others who would use it. For example, Soulcast stone bridges, if placed out far enough, might help other warcamps, but if they are placed in front of one Highprince's camp, they will help him far more than they help any other highprince, because any others would have to go out of their way to use the bridge. That's true, and it will limit the amount of cooperation they will do, and that will decrease their efficiency. I disagree that it would completely stop it; gemhearts are so valuable, I believe the Highprinces would accept sharing the prestige somewhat to acquire them. WoK p.114: That gives an idea how valuable they are. If a highprince could acquire even 10% more gemhearts by cooperating, he could gain the value of paying and feeding hundreds of troops for months, enough to offset some sharing of the glory. The danger with Dalinar's idea is that if they are forced to work together, they may expend more resources than are efficient to retrieve gemhearts. (Apologies for lumping soldiers into resources; doing so is wrongheaded, but I fear that will be the Alethi approach, even if Dalinar is fairer to slaves). Dalinar will have difficulty determining what is the most efficient approach for each assault, even with good intentions. I have assumed the gemhearts are most important to almost everyone there, given what we saw in the books. They fight the Parshendi because they are in the way and because they have the Thrill, but we don't see people trying to find where all the Parshendi are and launch even small attacks on them. To most, I believe the Parshendi are an obstacle, just like the chasms. It's true that no single hIghprince would be willing to launch a large-scale attack on the Parshendi core alone, but if they felt they would be better off (they could defeat the Parshendi decisively), I believe they would agree to attack together for once. As it is, they don't even seem to be attempting small guerrilla assaults. That may be an excellent thought, but I see two potential flaws. One is that we really don't know how many Parshendi there are, or what tactical advantages they might have at their core. There are estimates, of course, but no one is quite sure what they would really be up against, or how great their costs would be. The other problem is that if the Alethi did succeed in defeating them, I see a strong possibility that they would fight among themselves for the gemhearts. They would still race to plateaus, and probably still be dying, just at their own hands, rather than those of the Parshendi. This might be mitigated somewhat by granting each highprince "ownership" of a portion of the plains, but there would probably still be border squabbles. Thus, although defeating the Parshendi seems like the best plan (again, ignoring any regard for Parshendi lives because I believe most Alethi unfortunately will), I worry about the consequences afterwards. I suspect the Thrill comes from killing another Highprince's soldiers just like it does from killing Parshendi. The only objection I can think of there is that they might not have enough soulcasters to manage that. But I'm not very convinced by my own arguments on the Soulcast bridges/fortress, just trying to figure out why they wouldn't have already done it.

I'm guessing that what can be soulcast with a gem (or at least what can be soulcast easily), is its "Soulcasting Properties", as outlined in the Ars Arcanum. Emeralds are for "Wood, Plants, Moss", which is what most food (at least as we know it) is made of. (We do know they have chickens, but meat would require cooking, unless they can Soulcast pre-cooked meat - Alethi Fried Chicken, if you will.) I think it is a reasonable possibility that all gemhearts are emeralds, in which case they are increasing the supply of the very thing they've increased demand of. There are some things to think of with inflation and deflation that are different from situations we are accustomed to: Thing I: The gems have intrinsic value; they are not strictly fiat money (although exchange rates among them might be). Thus, even if total quantity in the market doubled in a few years, their market price would not likely be cut in half, although it would decrease. Thing II: Growing out of the previous point, people would be genuinely better off if there were more gems. If there are twice as many dollars in the form of Federal Reserve Notes, we are no better off (unless we decide we like them as wallpaper). If there are twice as many emerald broams, those could be used to soulcast food, making an overall improvement for people. If the ratios among gems is fixed by fiat, Gresham's Law will take effect, as people start only exchanging their most undervalued currencies. As we don't see people doing that, there's a good chance they aren't fixed (or at least not very strictly) by fiat. The most efficient approach is to let each Highprince (or anyone else) compete for the gems independently, reaping whatever rewards they gain. The competition will encourage efficiency and innovation. I am not condoning what they do to slaves or Parshendi, simply saying that the way they work now will lead them to find the most efficient method. If at any point a Highprince finds that the costs of keeping up his army exceed the benefits from selling (or using) the gemhearts, he will leave the war. Dalinar's idea of making them all distribute their spoils is dangerous - if he intends to end the war by rendering it impractical, he may be successful, but he will disrupt incentives and may just make them inefficient. Concerning soulcasting bridges, I believe it should be completely possible. As for why they haven't done it yet...it's hard to say. Perhaps they are afraid of having bridges they couldn't take down in an emergency. As for the fortress in the plains, perhaps they find the logistics of moving supplies there unfeasible? Or they don't want to split their forces that way lest they become more vulnerable? I agree, both seem like brilliantly good ideas, which is why I have to think that there's some reason no one has adopted them after several years.

That's very true. If only a natural Soulcaster could make Soulcasting fabrials, they would stay very rare. If that is the case (or even if it isn't), I wonder who made the Soulcasting fabrials. For that matter, even if all Soulcasting fabrials are a ruse, as Aashyma proposes, who came up with that ruse and how did it become so widely accepted?

Happy International Talk Like a Pirate With Punctuality Problems Day to Syn and KChan! (Arrr!)

I like that idea. You would have to show that Kabsal is one, but that isn't unreasonable. It would explain why even when Shallan's father's fabrial was "fixed", it didn't work for Shallan. It may well be that we have never seen a real Soulcasting fabrial (although I suspect they exist). I am not convinced that the Ghostbloods have managed to find all natural Soulcasters and either kill them or convince them to pretend to use a fabrial soon enough that no one ever figured out the truth, however. We know that the angle-headed things Shallan draws are a type of spren; what if "normal" Soulcasting fabrials trap them somehow?

Responses to each point (none of these are direct contradictions, just challenges). 1 and 2. Just because anyone could use them doesn't mean anyone has the skills to. It may require training to use soulcasting fabrials. For example, almost anyone on Earth could play an oboe, but most people have not trained to be able to use that ability. Soulcasting fabrials may also be difficult (and/or expensive) to make, so there may not be many in existence. And, as Zas has mentioned, there are the cultural issues. 3. There is job security in preventing the instruction manual from being widely distributed. 4. If the ancients didn't have fabrials, why would the moderns have them if they weren't actually doing something? If Dalinar is correct, they aren't doing it to imitate the ancients. Although it is possible that someone invented them simply to cover what they were actually doing, that assumes everyone who begins soulcasting is found by the White Tower another Soulcaster and told to act like she is using a fabrial. And obeys. Edit: Fixed grammar.

Death by atier.

Think of what the Shard on Nalthis is called. Endowment. It is on Nalthis that people can endow objects (or other people) with Breath. The terms generally used may be "invest" or "give" for objects and people respectively, but they are forms of endowing, just as Endowment can endow people with a large Breath so they Return. Thus on Nalthis, humans' Breath is something that can be separated from them. On Roshar, it is the opposite is true; humans' "Breath" is inseparable, but other objects' Breaths are. Only we call them "spren" on Roshar. They have a lot of similarities: Both are universal - every person has a Breath naturally, every object has a spren naturally. Both can be separated from what they are attached/attracted to without that losing its identity altogether - a drab is still a human, and fabrials seem to work by "capturing" spren, presumably separating them from their original source. Both are basically homogeneous in their type - Syl says that (TWoK, p. 262), and every normal Breath is basically the same and every Returned Breath is basically the same (although the two are not the same, but neither are windspren and flamespren truly the same).Both seem to be strongly Cognitive, but have Physical and presumably Spiritual connections - People with more Breath add visible color to themselves and their surroundings, and have healthier bodies (Physical), but abilities of life sense, perfect pitch, color recognition, instinctive awakening, etc. seem very Cognitive. Spren are also visible (Physical), but seem to be most influenced in Shadesmar (Cognitive). Although it's hard to say exactly what are Spiritual connections, I suspect both have those. So I believe that there is Breath on Roshar, but, due to the nature of the Shards present, they are not separable from people, just as in Shinovar no one sees (or does much with) spren, presumably because something about the nature of Highstorms awakens them, and Highstorms are too weak by the time the reach Shinovar.