Through the Living Heir

I’d been thinking closer to programming languages, where different syntax of runes causes the combined runes to do different things. Maybe one carver uses a “to” rune to combine effects, while another nests and overlaps runes. If the carver doesn’t know what they’re trying to do, it would be difficult to copy someone else’s program without understanding it. Like programming languages, different rune syntax allows different capabilities to be easier or harder, for instance a flowchart-like instruction system would have difficulty expressing concepts that would force arrows to overlap. Yeah, trying and editing is the best way to fix narrative problems. I’d be willing to read your drafts and give feedback, if you want. I’d definitely recommend finding someone to read them, even if it’s not me. I’d put a plot idea, or at least a plot element, in the middle of a bunch of parentheses. If the rune writing difficulties were suddenly resolved, how would that affect the runecarvers and society? Perhaps the villain did this and is hoarding the technique, or maybe they oppose it and try to bury the knowledge again. It could be either. If you make a list of all the runes, what they do, how long they take to create, and how they interact, it’s hard magic. If you don’t know or explain those things, only narrating the results, it’s a softer magic system. Hard and soft magic isn’t a binary, there can be magic systems in the middle.

A limitation other than materials could be that you must discover runes for yourself, limiting the utility. This could be caused by a cultural reason (perhaps runecarvers refuse to tell others about their process, similar to real-life alchemists) or a magical reason (maybe you cannot write a rune down without it activating, which causes a potentially dangerous effect and cause it to run out of power and deactivate, or maybe each person’s runes and syntax is different, or at least non-standardized, so in order to learn multi-rune constructions or more advanced single runes, you need to find someone who does them the same as you. Apprentices typically match their masters, but as they get better and begin to experiment, their style tends to change to the point that even other apprentices of the same master cannot understand it.) If this is the case, perhaps a method to get around this has been recently discovered, drastically altering runecarver culture and capabilities. The system acts like programming; are there syntax errors that could bring the rune’s effect wildly off course? Other than that, I don’t have much to add. I think this can be executed either very well or very poorly, depending on what sort of story you’re writing. Any magic, especially an open ended one, can cause confusion and deus ex machina scenarios, so be careful of that. Good luck!

A couple thoughts: Hoid is currently dating Jasnah, which might be extrapolated to find the qualities he’s attracted to. Unfortunately, the shardic influences on the vessels’ personalities make it difficult to guess what they were like before ascension. If the shard intent matches the vessel in both cases, someone like prudence (if the shard is close to the real intent) or cultivation has a similar philosophy to Jasnah. (Just a thought. I’m probably wrong) Speaking of cultivation; we know Hoid dated a dragon, and we know of two dragons he’s friends with: Frost and Cultivation’s vessel. If Hoid dated Cultivation, that would fulfill both dragon and vessel. So yeah, my very uninformed guess is on Cultivation.

Tondon leaves Marewell’s knife, because he’d rather know where she is than disarm her.

Ok. I need something to separate the magic stone fountain things the world is built on. Weird magic fog that kills you and breaks things down fits the bill. (Although I’ll probably change it a lot. So somebody else can have the actual world. [how is anyone not by green even still alive?]) Oh! I have an idea for blue fog! It pulls towards the fastest moving thing near it, which typically crushes the subject, but can be used for railgun-ish propulsion systems if released from just one direction. The water does something similar, but possibly in reverse; it covers stationary objects but pulls away from things that move fast. (This was inspired by lightning, but you said there’s no electricity, so I made it different)

Tondon catches it one handed and calls after him, too late. “You stabbed my friend! So I’m taking this! Maybe I’ll give it back later!”

Tondon Pulls, hard, threatening to yank it from your grasp. (This is iron allomancy)

A charter school is a cross between a public school and a private school. They’re funded through taxes, but smaller and managed like a private school (AKA, more logically, with a specific purpose). They can’t take all students, so there is usually a random drawing to determine who goes there.

Nice! That is much better prose than I usually write. I can’t wait to see and help with your ideas. (I may steal some of them. (Hey look, I can nest a bunch of brackets too!(Take that!))) How will we bid on the magic systems? Maybe you can write a shorter version of the story. (You are not the only one who never finishes writing projects. (Maybe I’ll make a writing thread too, so I can get some feedback.(Haha! More bracket nesting))) You have to make sure that people don’t actually put down the book, though.

You forgot about charter schools, lightringer. I’m going into my sophomore year this fall. I could probably think of something else to say here, but I don’t know what.

“Oh, do I still have that? Sorry.” He stores Connection to prevent Jaksyn from being noticed, the tosses the axe over, which is not the safest decision.

Tondon isn’t sure what to pay attention to. One person swoops in and takes the body, and Tondon starts to yell at him to stop when somebody else dashes into the casino. “Aahwhatshouldwedo?!”

@LightRinger is there too.

I’ve come up with a solution! Air conditioning! The effect of buildings over weather conditioning could help solve our “blizzards are really rare” problem. Depending on how artificially induced temperatures and other weather conditions affect the magic (maybe they activate the power, but not very strongly), they could allow a mage to stack the deck in their favor, by changing the conditions of the battlefield. Perhaps the weather outside the building also has a weakened effect, allowing two different magic powers to be used against each other. Alternatively, we could make a very changeable weather condition (temperate, windy, and overcast, a common precursor to rain, for instance) grant the power to slowly change the weather, dropping in strength as the changes are made, as the weather conditions have changed. This would mean that extreme weather would be hard to experience, but minor, everyday weather would be easy to cause. Thus, the powers that are hard to produce could be more powerful, for balance. One issue with this system is that unless it is explained well, changes in weather conditions can cause a “deus ex machina” problem, as people’s powers could be deactivating or changing left and right, which may break suspension of disbelief. I’ll continue thinking about this today, and see if I can think of more ideas.

Based on this, perhaps each person, (or each magic user, but not everyone) has only one or two weather patterns they draw power from. Maybe the better the weather matches the weather the magic is was born in, or became a mage during, the stronger the effect. Rarer weather would logically cause stronger effects. Maybe there are three weather categories; temperature, precipitation, and atmosphere (wind and clouds). Each causes a different effect, which are multiplied together to form a more powerful combination power when several conditions match. For instance, a mage was born on a whiteout blizzard: crazy strong winds (which might be movement themed), tons of snow (perhaps relating to confusion or misdirection, or maybe simply volume), very cold (which may relate to creation of things, such as snow and ice, which couldn’t exist otherwise). This confers an example power, perhaps misdirecting teleportation. If no condition matches, the weather mage can do nothing, or perhaps can do very little. If one condition matches, for instance it’s cold but clear and still, they can perform a small effect, maybe summoning an illusory duplicate for a second. In a warm but windy and rainy day, where two conditions match, the effects would combine and be more powerful. Maybe our weather mage can teleport ten feet or so, disappearing for around 15 seconds after doing so. If all three conditions match, in a very windy blizzard, the weather mage could teleport 200 feet, leaving behind a duplicate that does what the mage wants and can interact with objects, but dissolves when damaged, while the mage stays invisible until they no longer want to be, the blizzard ends, or the duplicate is killed. Some unanswered questions I’ll leave to other people or tomorrow me: What effects do different weather conditions have? Is there a theme for each category? How much of a gradient is there for the weather types? Are different things on the same category (light breeze to heavy gust, for example) steps on the gradient, or not really matching adjacent conditions? What actually causes the weather magic to become possible? How do you become a mage? What legends and beliefs are there, both about the magic, and about other things related to the magic? How is weather seen? How are the mages treated? What status do they hold? How are you actually using this in the story? What sorts of powers need to exist for the plot to work? Is there a chosen one, who could be the main character, or perhaps the villain? (For example, one who is born under the clouds of ash from a volcano will inherit great power over the people, and is destined to rule.) Ok, that’s all I have right now. I can’t wait to see what everyone else has thought of!

“No! Ah! Stop! I meant we can’t tie him up cause he’s got a magic sword. He’s literally surrendering!” Tondon is waving his arms in the air slightly. @LightRinger can probably hear. Tondon’s half talking to Jaksyn here, after all. “That makes sense. Why did you sign up, anyway?” He almost motions for Roy to sit down near him, but then remembers the magic sword. He turns to Astra and Mark (@The Stormfather. Haven’t pinged you yet this post.) “Is there any way to stop him from immediately stabbing us with his unblockable sword? Cause I feel like he might do that, if he’s lying.” @BlueWildRye

Tondon very slowly Pulls it from his grip, making it drop to the ground.

Tondon calls out to @RoyalBeeMage, “you won’t attack us, right? Or Jaksyn?” @The Stormfather @Lotus Blossom

As stated above, hemalurgy can only steal one ability per spike. That being said, it may be possible to pack more than one person’s worth of power into a spike. Example: Joe is a seeker. Bill is also a seeker. Bob is too. Bill, who wants stronger seeking, kills Joe with a spike, giving him + .75 ish seeking strength. Bob, who also wants more seeking power, kills Bill with a spike, which then may grant +1.5 more seeking strength. The spike from killing Joe probably loses its power if this is done (otherwise you can manufacture infinite spikes with just one allomancer). A similar thing can probably be accomplished with koloss spikes, with the growing effect providing extra power. @people who know more about hemalurgy than me: is this possible?

Tondon sees Jaksyn, and almost calls to him, but thinks better of it. He slightly tugs a chromium vial instead. “Ok, I guess. You didn’t actually fight us… what do you two think?” He turns to Astra and Mark. “Maybe we should tie- oh yeah, magic sword. Hmmm.” @The Stormfather @Lotus Blossom

Huh. In five years I think I still won’t have gotten around to writing most of my ideas down. But maybe? *almost checks the Brandon writing calendar. Decides not to.* In five years there’ll be around 30 secret projects, but still no Nightblood book.

@Edema Rue

Tondon stops storing Connection. “Um. Yeah, there’s three of us. We’re very scary. Grrrr.” He then turns to Mark and Astra, “Radiants are the glow people, right? Can somebody explain that to me once this is over?” @Lotus Blossom @The Stormfather @RoyalBeeMage