Rayonn

What if Dawnsingers are the form that results from Parshendi bonding Musicspren?

So, I just read this entire thread (ok, I skimmed some of it), and was generally convinced by Kurkistan's arguments. Then I come to this: Everything I thought I knew is wrong! This theory I've been rooting for is dead in the water just when its triumph seemed complete! It's like the end of Well of Ascension all over again!

A-D-O-N-A-L-S-I-U-M is 10 letters.

First, I think I sympathize much more with Jorah after this chapter, having seen him do exactly the thing Dexter predicted, but knowing that there's an innocent explanation. I also like the way you set up the conflict between Dexter and Jorah--Dexter might be paranoid, but he sincerely thinks Jorah's a threat to people he cares about. He's not merely out to get him because the plot calls for conflict. (The stock accuser/bully who opposes the protagonist for no obvious reason is one YA trope that really make me tired). As for Molly's characterization, at this point I like her, but she doesn't interest me as much as the Dexter-Jorah-Kat dynamic (Did I miss something about Dexter's relationship to Kat? He's awfully protective of her, and I keep wondering why). I think it's Molly's lack of an obvious flaw. She's competent (does complicated exercises, Dexter respects her) and wise (doesn't jump to conclusions about Jorah), and has an intriguing background, but at this point I wouldn't particularly care if she died... I think I like this chapter better after the last one. The focus on the money pouch at the end works better as dramatic irony-the reader knows what's inside it already-than suspense. Without that knowledge I would feel like the author was taunting me.

Here are my picks. These are based on the movie Avengers, and I'm attempting to match each character's personality and theme rather than fighting style. I also tried to stick to one character per series Captain America: Ned Stark --- Honorable (but Neutral Good) leader guy, low-powered compared to the others. Iron Man: Kvothe --- snarky, womanizing, stuck-up genius whose power derives fairly directly from his intelligence. Black Widow: Vin --- Master assassin, easily underestimated, can mess with your mind as an alternative to beating you up with whatever happens to be on hand. Hawkeye: Jared Kincaid --- Marksman, uses an anachronistic ranged weapon, likes trick shots and special ammo. Thor: Anomander Rake --- caster/melee fighter, not a native of this world, called a god, carries an iconic weapon Hulk: Rand al'Thor (from Dragon Reborn-Shadow Rising era) --- rivals Thor for most raw power, struggles with controlling his power, sometimes just as dangerous to his friends as to his enemies Nick Fury: Elrond. Enough said. (Also, there needed to be a character in here from LoTR) Alternatively, Rake and Elrond could be swapped for Earendil and Ganoes Paran, respectively.

I'm currently alternating between Malazan Book of the Fallen and the Dresden Files. I'm on Small Favor and Deadhouse Gates. Malazan: I love the rich worldbuilding, the iconic characters, and the sheer epicness. The ending of Gardens of the Moon felt a little contrived , but it doesn't really bother me. I guess every book does not have to be good in the same way. I can read Sanderson for the -surprising-but-inevitable- plot twists, and Erikson for sheer diversity and scale. (Hmm... either I really like the word 'sheer' right now or MBotF just begs for it.) The Book of the Fallen feels to me now the way that Star Wars did when I was a kid. It makes me wish I were twelve again and could enjoy playing at fighting Hounds of Shadow as Anomander Rake the same way I used to fight stormtroopers as Luke. Basically, I'm only on the second book of this series and I'm already obsessed. Dresden Files: Didn't Sanderson say at some point that he envies Jim Butcher's pacing skills? That seemed incredible (coming from the guy who made a thousand-page book feel too short) when I first heard it, but I can see what he was talking about. The action in the books isn't quite nonstop--it lets you breathe just enough to remember why you care about these characters. They're not just action heroes (in the sense of hypercompetent POV characters who don't get enough characterization to count as actual heroes), many of them are deeply good people. Nor does any of the action feel like filler--the plot is alway moving forward. My favorite things about this series are the moral dilemmas (I don't always agree with Harry's decisions, but I always respect them), the over-the-top-awesome set pieces that somehow make perfect sense in context (death by frozen turkey, zombie Sue), and the stand-up-and-cheer moments (both the action ones and the moral ones). I also like that Butcher _shows_ why breaking the laws of magic (even for good reasons) is so awful--magic requires that the caster not only believe that the thing can happen, but that it _ought_ to happen. So casting a spell specifically to kill someone requires that you convince yourself that their death is fundamentally right. Ugh.

Also, as Sarene (sort-of) points out, Devotion and Dominion have in common that both are types of unity. Devotion is unity-through-giving, Dominion is unity-through-conquest. But both of them are opposed to hatred, disunity, and Odium.

'The most important words a man can say' --- Are they specific words (i.e. a phrase, or a collection of phrases), or does Gavilar mean that someone utters their most important words at a certain stage of life? Like, right before they die? If it is a specific phrase, or phrases, then I agree that it's almost certainly the Ideals. But it might also refer to the death visions.

Read your own mind: Gold allomancy; Copper feruchemy

This is totally what I had in mind. (Actually, I was thinking of either a Survivorist or a Pathian Paladin of Freedom) Alternately, I did find a Greyhawk god that I could go with.

Alright, I've got some idea of how this works, but... I have zero knowledge of the setting, so I have no idea how to choose a deity for my paladin to follow. Since we seem to be doing a crossover-type setting anyway, is there any chance I could import a deity from, I don't know, a fantasy book or something? I would basically assume that said deity has a small group of followers in this world, and grants power to them by the D&D rules, rather than the rules that hold in their own world. Or would that be too much of a fourth-wall break? (Or, alternately, difficult to balance). Alternately I could tell you which deity I'm looking at and someone more familiar with whichever D&D setting we are using might know of a local deity with a similar personality or philosophy. EDIT: Fixed a typo.

Ok, I'm reading over the SRD. What do I want to build for if I'm going to fill the meatshield role? (survivability? control?) How do enemies generally choose their targets?

Which roles does the second party need? I'm thinking of building a meatshield type character - would a paladin work for that?

Is it too late for me to join? I have no experience with D&D, but I do pick things up fast.

I tend to agree with the 'Parshendi are of Honor' theory. As for why they assassinated Gavilar--the resurrection idea could explain it, but I'm withholding my judgement on that theory until we have more evidence. It's a cool idea, though, and there's nothing to rule it out. Zucchini gets an upvote for the pequenino comparison, which I think is probably quite apt. Also, perhaps Jasnah is correct that Parshmen turn into Voidbringers, but Parshendi are something completely different. (Maybe Parshendi ---> Parshmen ---> Voidbringers. Or maybe Parshmen turn into either Voidbringers or Dawnsingers=Parshendi) Or maybe 'the Enemy' (the sender of the Voidbringers) is not Odium, and now that the 'most terrible and dangerous of the Sixteen' has arrived, he's going to unite with Honor's forces to repel the True Desolation. (Ok, that's doubtful.) (EDIT: Added the bit about Dawnsingers and Voidbringers being alternate imago forms of Parshmen)

I agree that it's not possible to change the underlying rules of a magic system but don't forget that the rules the characters tell each other about how magic works are not necessarily the actual underlying rules. Look at Scadrial. The rules Wax knows about the distribution of Feruchemical and Allomantic powers are quite different from the rules in the original trilogy. Of course, we as readers have the perspective to see that the magic system has not changed, the conditions have. (Specifically, the Spiritual population genetics of the Scadrialese are different between the two eras.) What we forget is that the underlying rules of the Metallic Arts, or any of the Shardwords' magic systems, are not _the rules_ either. The real rules involve the interaction between the Spiritual, Cognitive, and Physical realms, and we have only the vaguest of ideas of how that works. All that to say: just because the underlying rules of magic can't change doesn't mean that Nohadon can't have changed the way the Nahel bond works as posited by the OP. (HoA spoilers:)

Shouldn't Sazed be able to just give him Atium feruchemy by fiat? After all, he made Spook into a Mistborn.

Add John Uskglass (the Raven King, from Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell) to the list. Also note that one of the names missing from the list [Midius, Olorin, Emrys, ...] apparently causes the universe to explode on its own (according to the Silence, anyway). EDIT: In other news, somehow I get the feeling that Leras is going to be (even more) awesome when we meet him in person. (Presumably in Dragonsteel?)

Hi, I'm Rayonn, as in Rayonnoceras solidiforme. It's a fossil cephalopod. I actually joined a few months ago but I'm just now getting active. I first start reading Sanderson when I picked up Elantris on Orson Scott Card's recommendation. Very much enjoyed it, but didn't realize what Brandon is capable of until I read the Mistborn trilogy a few months later. (I was reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell in the intervening time.) Since then I've read all the Cosmere books, and Alcatraz and WoT are in my queue. One of the cool things about Brandon's writing is how many layers it has. The Final Empire is almost a different book once you've read Hero of Ages, and all of them are different if you know about the Cosmere story. My reactions to the books escalated as I understood more of what was going on. Elantris--'That was clever.' TFE--'Awesome magic system.' HoA--*catharsis* TWoK--'Ok I have no idea what's going on here.' Found 17th Shard and read about the Cosmere, Shards, and stuff--'Whoaah...' Not that there's anything wrong with The Way of Kings, but you really don't know what to expect in the later books unless you know the background. I'm actually not sure which way I would prefer to experience it. Out-of-book spoilers for TWoK: --Rayonn

Creepily enough, if you removed the word 'black,' the first person I would think of is... Hoid. As it is, though, I think you're right about it referring to one of the Unmade. Do we know that the Ten Fools are the Unmade? It makes sense--perhaps since no-one actually believes in the Unmade anymore, they have entered folklore as the Ten Fools (which sounds mch less threatening).

So you would be the weird psychopathic hermit that the protagonists find hiding in the infected area?

Hoid, the Doctor, and Gandalf walk into a bar...

Does a Lerasium mistborn have an enhanced life-sense relative to a non-allomancer? Comparable to an awakener who has not reached the First Heightening, perhaps?

I had assumed the recurrence of words like this was a coincidence, but this makes a lot of sense. Perhaps Yolen==the Tranquiline Hills? But then why would the Hallandren speak a Yolish language? (Because the Returned talk with Endowment? Was Vo actually the first Returned or just the first in historic times?)

Does anyone have any ideas for how I might tell this story? The learning curve for this setting is very steep, and I can't see a good way to fix that. I already thought I was infodumping too much, then you all asked a lot of questions which I know the answers to but didn't give them in the text. (For example, Gilbert is rich in the 20th century world because he and Charles founded an oil and natural gas company there, not because of anything to do with his holdings in England.) One solution I'm trying in a new draft is using a first-person narrator who is writing a history of these events some time after the fact. The narrator, Lewis, is one of the three main characters (the others being Hugh and Sarah Malloy) but doesn't enter the story as a character until about a third of the way through. He's a scholar, originally from the 20th century, and treats the story as a biography of Hugh--he's talked with as many of the characters as he can, and writes from a semi-omniscient viewpoint, stopping occasionally (as the scene warrants) to comment on the events. I've got a prologue written from this POV (I'll probably submit it later) and I like it so far, but it looks like it's going to be ridiculously difficult to write. I might just set this aside until I have more experience. What do y'all recommend? EDIT: Clarified that the first-person narrator would be a new version of the story. The draft I submitted was always intended to be third-person limited.