Qianweilian

Aradan Liese, Underground, Meeting Place “Agh!” Stumbling backwards, Aradan tapped gold to heal the wounds to his face and chest. He then dropped the pistol and delivered a swift blow to Cuvel’s forehead, knocking him to the floor and into unconsiousness. Hopefully that’ll last until the end of the fight. Pop. Pop. Two bullets tore through his leg. Previously, the audience was shocked, apprehensive. Now they panicked, the cave filled with echoing screams. Limping as health flowed through his veins, Aradan Pulled on the gun of the guard that had shot him. Pushing through the crowd, he flared pewter and dashed towards the guard, shattering his skull with his staff. Quickly surveying the crowd, he saw another dark haired man fighting someone? Whatever. There are four more obvious guards, though I wouldn’t be suprised to see more hidden in the audience, plus the man Thav is fighting. I can’t afford to get stuck in a cadmium bubble, so he’ll have to handle him. Bashing fleeing audience members as he ran, Aradan Pulled weapons out of their hands. Thump. A guard who had tried to jump Aradan from behind got his ribs broken. Two more, one of them wielding a glass knife, cautiously approached. Turning to the side, Aradan swept one’s feet out from under them. Aghhh! Aradan’s pewter and iron vanished; more importantly, a dagger pierced through his gut. Spinning around, he conked the Leecher in the head, causing him to pass out. Downing another vial, Aradan pulled the dagger out and healed the wound. Oh no, not much healing left. I knew I should have stored more. Looking up, he saw the last guard pull out a shotgun, when burning Iron, no lines pointed to it. Aluminum. Desparate, Aradan hurled his staff at the man, causing him to slump to the ground. Incapacitated or dead, Aradan couldn’t tell right now. Rolling over, Aradan reclaimed his staff and grabbed the shotgun. Loading it with a round, Aradan looked around to see what enemies remained. A man and a woman emerged from the panicked audience, most of whom had fled by now anyway, both wielding dueling canes. Bracing himself, Aradan crouched behind a chair. @Steel Speedster@Mistfallen Soldier

It's a real shame we never got those outrigger novels. It's hard to portray advancement when the entire series is only like a year.

Yeah, history sucks. A religion is made up of the people in it. This can be good or bad. runner here is right. I agree with therunner here. There’s a reason why Dalinar had to go to the rift. I'll agree with Aliroz here, it often is traumatic and violent. We have been thrown into modernity by revolutions, wars, battles, etc. Even the quiet march of industrialization leaves those who relied on the old world aside. Many of the technological advances we have come from the world wars. The modern concept of democracy came from the French and American Revolutions. While not as violent, many modern day fixtures only came about as a result of the Cold War. Even the internet—the foundation of modern economy, society, politics, and more—was originally a military project to address communication vulnerabilities. Transition to modernity is a good thing, but it often is “traumatic and violent." I agree with therunner here, but I still think wizards are really cool. (even though they never existed) We will see. (see my previous comment for more comments) I also think he got a some of this idea from WoT. Wheel of Time Spoilers

Great job @Doc12. Great job.

Like any societal structure in history. Things are rarely only good or only bad. But, yes. Religion can be both. Point taken, but much of that was due to religious differences. And yeah, communists did this all the time as well. Of course, power and support shift quickly. That's why it's important to maintain support and military power, something these ancient civilizations were very good at. (Until they weren't) Also, just because someone's rule is stable, doesn't mean it's good in the long term. Many leaders and their supporters are fine to feast on the country while leaving only scraps to their successors. It's true that you don't necessarily need a big stick to rule. You just need to keep support among those that matter. If the bureaucrats are loyal to you, the tax revenue flows your way, and the army doesn't oppose you openly, your regime is safe. Of course, but generally things are better. Instead of widespread poverty and strife, we have significantly less widespread poverty and strife. (But still an awful lot) Honestly yeah. Despite being entirely fictional, fantasy has a magic to it that sucks you in. I hope the transition to sci-fi will be good, but I can't guarantee it and neither can Brandon. But change, whether traumatic and violent (as it must be sometimes), is inevitable. A world cannot stand still and repeat the same battles over and over again. Change happens, and sometimes it's sad, but I hope that Brandon will use that change to make something better, just as our characters learn from their mistaken, prejudiced, and cruel ways to become something better. Right now, they swear oaths, fight immortal dictators, create civilization in an abandoned city, save their planet, and become hypocrites. For a hypocrite is just a man in the process of changing.

It's better than I could do.

I was confused and thought this was from the last round where we exed Jo. Did anyone else?

@Steel Speedster

I’ll remind you of one of my previous pfps. It was a picture of me dressed in an awesome steel inquisitor costume. Unfortunately, it’s a bit dark, so too hard to tell what it is without significant editing. Ati was, by all accounts, an extremely kind and generous man.

Aradan Liese, Underground, Meeting Place Knocked to the side by the Brute, Aradan was dazed for a second. Quickly tapping gold to heal his bruise, he jumped up and pulled out a quarterstaff. It’s been a while since I’ve had to use this. Burning pewter and iron, he pulled on Cuvel’s belt buckle, causing him to stumble and pulling Cuvel towards Aradan. As a guard jumped on Aradan, he flared pewter and struck him, hard. Ribs cracked and dazed, the guard slammed into the wall. He then jumped while pulling on a light fixture in the ceiling. Landing right in front of Cuvel, he pointed a pistol at him.

The order of actions implies elim kills take place before the vote, as the vote manipulation works after kills, but murdered are still counted as votes. So it would probably be something like the following: Elim kills other Vote ties and (assuming that votes for the dead man aren’t invalid) 50% elim exed. The win cons are as follows: This implies that village and Shardbearer win simultaneously and Regals lose So if factions can win with all dead and if (both votes for dead are invalid and dead votes still count) or (50% goes in our favor) then we win. kinda. The general rules imply that the only goal for the village is to kill all elims and that mutual victories (with shardbearer) are possible. However I can’t find anything that mentions if all are dead. It really depends on the GM interpretation. However, this mostly likely doesn’t matter, as penguin is probably elim. Some of this may be already mentioned, as people added relevant stuff when I was composing this. Edit: Twin, Hoid, even if penguin is elim and we exe him to win, I actually really want to know the answer to this.

Aradan Liese, Underground, Meeting Place Clasping his hands behind his back, Aradan scanned the room. Then someone walked onto a wooden platform—almost a stage, instantly drawing his attention. The man, wearing a shabby, brown suit, had a black goatee and thick eyebrows. Thinking for a second, Aradan stood still for a second, not noticing everyone moving to sit down. For a second, he met eyes with the man, who frowned for an instant—so rapid that Aradan wasn’t even sure that it had occured. Blinking, he noticed everyone sitting in the rows of chairs; he then went to sit in a chair next to Thav. Have I seen him before? This man reminds me of—after saying something, probably irrelevant, the man gazed around the room, and stared at Aradan for a half-second. Who is this man? Either he recognizes me, or he knows I don’t belong here. I might just be acting paranoid, but… “But I imagine, you all would like to know why you were invited here.” I would. I still don’t know anything about this group. I’ve trusted Thav so far, but I need more information. “…call me Cuvel,” the man continued, “You may not feel it yet, but I can see that there is great kinship between all of us in this room. I may not know you, but I know why you came. ou were drawn by the rumors you've heard whispered about us. About what we are doing. All of us are here because of weakness.” Aradan sat up in his seat. Something else is happening. Either Thav, this man, or both, I’m not being told something. This time, Aradan didn’t notice Cuvel’s gaze. “We are all weak to begin with. Some of you may think you have power: perhaps you are an Allomancer, or a noble lord. Some of you know you have nothing. In our own ways, we are weak. We are here because we need more.” I…failed. I do need more power for justice. This group…perhaps I can take it over. “We need more to protect our friends; to provide for our families; to stand up for our own dignity. We need more!” Something is very wrong. Perhaps…I do need power. Maybe he is right. My parents, possibly criminals, died. Surely they couldn’t have been the worst kind. Or that person was lying. I should have protected them. Attention wandering for a second, he noticed two people whispering to each other near the entrance. One of them pointed at him. Aradan frowned, then realized he had been subconsciously lightly burning pewter. Aradan’s blood went cold. There could easily be a Seeker in the audience, or anywhere in the cavern. He quickly extinquished his pewter, but if anyone was watching, it may be too late. @Steel Speedster

Brandon has explicitly said there will be an “end” to the Cosmere. Whether that means a radical change after which he doesn’t write further, destruction, or something else, I doubt that it will be cyclical as WoT. Dalinar is dead, unfortunately. While the Blackthornspren leaves some possibility, I doubt it will just replace him. Possible, but half of the original vessels are dead. I don’t get the “monster” part of this? Also, the resultant shard with a somewhat subsumed vessel will still have issues from friction. Wheel of Time Spoilers Doubt it. See #1. Also he appears to be less interested in “multiverse” type stuff (not exactly the same thing, but same vibes). This WoB suggests that Hoid is at least cordial with the idea of reforming Adonalsium. Although it’s still not a lot. . (I don’t actually know what this is supposed to mean.) I agree with Frustration here. (It can sometimes be frustrating when he discredits your theory.) All in all, I think a lot of this evidence isn’t as clear cut as you think, and it feels like a more unlikely outcome. Although, the general concept is still fully possible (maybe not the stuff with Dalinar).

Don’t the elims have to outnumber the singers? Not be even? Sorry, I’m still new.

Not necessarily. Even if we're all wrong, then it's a tie and it's a 50/50 chance. (Because regal would kill and it would be 1-1)

Okay then, it's almost assuredly penguin.

See the investiture controversy. (Although that’s a bit different for a lot of reasons).

If a sneaky listener is roleblocked, are they told that? If an action fails, are they informed? Or is it a false result? @Hoid Slayer@Araris Valerian

Penguin, for all the reasons listed above and in previous threads.

I mean, it arguably existed, but only because of power dynamics and less of a matter of outranking or religion. The Roman Emperor was even the Pontifex Maximus. Afaik, Jasnah is confirmed to be the flashback character for one of the books in the back half of Stormlight. No, that's fundamentally how all governments work. Julius Caesar lost power because he lost the support of the Senate. The Roman Emperors lost the West because they didn't have the power to keep hold of it from the Germanic tribes. Every dynastic change in China, the Emperor lost support from his crucial supporters. The supporters or even the ruler as a result of this may not always be the most pragmatic, they may care about religion and legitimacy, but power is always pragmatic, ruthless, and unforgiving. If you have enough supporters to enforce your decrees, then they are followed. If you don't, then they are not.

Source:

I'm vanilla.

I actually did vote c4, but the GMs missed it for whatever reason.

The nobles in WoA have far more power than the Vorin church, of which the entire structure (slave ardents) is designed to minimize political power and their theology is suspect. While they have been astonishingly patient, they aren't in a position to do anything. Jasnah detractions aside, this is very much a good thing. Except Moash. And I would argue it's not a complete override, but yes. No, I wouldn't say it's presented as terrifying (breeze isn't a terrifying character), but more complex. Second point yes. Tbf, it is a story about Roshar and Rosharans. We'll see in Ghostbloods. First of all, Rayse is not from Roshar, while Taravangian is. And yes, it was done very well, but not without reason. Rayse was very solidly defeated in both O and RoW, he ceased to be threatening. Taravangian is a far more terrifying foe who reintroduces tension. That's how all governments work. Even democracies don't just ask you before they enforce their laws on you, regardless of whether you do or even can vote. It just turns out that the crucial supporters in democracies happen to be the general population as a whole. No, yes, no, yes, yes, yes. Jasnah has (had) all she needs to stay in power. The Radiants, army, and what administration there is support her wholeheartedly. The opinion of highprinces, Vorinism, the common people, etc. doesn't actually matter as long as she keeps her crucial supporters. This isn't literary convience, but reality. Edit: look up "Rules for Rulers" by CGP gray. It gets the concept across. If you want to read a book, then "The Dictator's Handbook" by Bruce Bueno De Mesquita & Alastair Smith covers it well. Hopefully her book actually makes her a likeable character.

Looking through WoBs, probably Reason. Other than, of course, a potential godmetal for Adonalsium. (Obviously not confirmed) Honestly, I wonder if we should rename Cosmere Q/A or rewrite the description given how common this seems to be.