skaa

I'm turning 30 next year and I kind of miss my college days. I only got a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from a small college (not a full university), but it was still quite fun. The school was in the middle of a business district full of tall buildings. For me this was a better learning environment than the isolated gardens of some Philippine universities. (That's one of my quirks: loving the city more than "nature"). Anyway, I miss being able to just learn and experiment with stuff without having to deal with the business repercussions of my actions. I miss not having to think about business at all, to be honest. A few years ago I tried getting a Master's degree through an "open university" where most of the classes are online, mainly so I can study and work at the same time. I had to give up on it because the multiplied strain of simultaneous deadlines (from both my boss and my professors) almost broke my soul. Nowadays I dream of saving enough money and/or getting a nice scholarship so I can be a full-time student once again for a few years. Meanwhile I try to learn as much as I can about stuff I'm interested in via the Internet (Wikipedia and Coursera, mostly).

@Kurk & Mitch: I think it's important to remember Shai's Realmatic lessons on this matter: How something sees itself and how others see it are both important. The Returned might each have individual standards of beauty, but their conception of beauty would still more or less be a reaction to their environment, including the currently popular standard of beauty in Hallandren. Even in real life, social beings don't form aesthetic models in isolation, even the most "original" ones. So I don't think Kurk's belief in a general template of Returned appearance based on Hallandren standards necessarily contradicts Mitch's more individualist theory. Society influences individuals and vice-versa. As for the Spiritual Realm being the only Realm not tied to location, this fits quite nicely in my Realmatic String Theory. You can picture the Spiritual node of a string staying put as the Physical node moves around, while of course the Cognitive oscillating part in between is pulled along.

So, are you now a Hemalurgic fish? A Hemalurgic Snoopy Pandafish? Anyway, welcome back, SnoopyKipper!

Have fun reading Elantris! Maybe you could try Warbreaker after that (it's free to read on Brandon's site).

Yeah, the Demoux cameo was not obvious at all. I don't think he has any speech patterns or quirks that could serve as a clue (unlike Galladon, kolo?). Or maybe he does, but I forgot. I should reread the Mistborn trilogy.Welcome to the 17th Shard, Jondesu! (Um, you wouldn't happen to know Japanese, would you? Anyway...) Enjoy the roleplaying, the bad puns, the Hemalurgic cookies (or not; I try to avoid those), and the discussions on all things Sandersonian. I hope to see you around!

I saw the private message you sent, and I am fine with abandoning the inverse square law theory, at least for now, if that will move the discussion forward. The important thing is that there is an inverse proportionality between power and range that you yourself noted in the original post ("Soulcasting at range requires more power", etc.). When a Feruchemist stores Connection in a Duraluminmind to decrease his "friendship", does he not store the "friendship" Connections to everyone around him in the area simultaneously, as if in a "blast"? I think a similar thing happens in Emotional Allomancy when it's being "blasted" in an area. The Allomancer uses "emotion" Connections (which may or may not be the same as the "friendship" Connections of Feruchemical duralumin) on a subconscious level, such that even when he thinks he's doing something undirected, Investiture is actually being directed through every "emotion" Connection attached to him. This is similar to the "bubble" of Steelpushing that Wax does. He sends a Push towards all the Ironlines attached to him (is it still called Ironline if you're using Steel?), giving an appearance of a pseudo-bubble. In both cases, Connections are still used. This is pretty cool, Moogle! I've spent the past hour reading up on related topics like the threshold potential and action potentials in living cells, and I think developing your line of thought might lead to some pretty interesting theories. Since you're much more aware of the physics concepts than I am, I think it would be a great idea for you to explore this further. *thumbs up*

Do we have WoB on this? Remember, aside from Susebron (Tenth Heightening), we don't actually see anyone of significant Heightening even attempt to Awaken objects at a distance. For all we know, someone at the Fifth Heightening could Awaken something within a very small distance from him without physical contact, though it might take much more Breath than usual. At any rate, Audible Commands at Ninth Heightening follow the inverse square law by definition since sound follows the inverse square law. The "resistance" theory could work for Forgery and Hemalurgy (and I've in fact discussed Investiture resistance in other threads), but it doesn't explain Awakening, Lashings, External Enhancement Allomancy, and Feruchemy since those work at a mere touch and so don't seem to require any "barrier-piercing". Okay, how about this: Perhaps the secret of Investiture range lies in Identity and Connection. Just as a Surgebinder can easily move Stormlight to any part of his own body, certain forms of Investiture are easy to manipulate within the host Identity and gets really difficult to manipulate outside of the Identity unless some sort of Connection is used. This Connection acts as the path through which Investiture can be directed outside of the host Identity. Without a Connection, the Investiture "particles" move in their own paths, leading to dissipation (which follows the inverse square law). When you're Pulling on a metal, you're using the Ironline between you and the metal as the Connection through which Investiture can be directed. Similarly, Mental Allomancy uses some sort of Mental Connection between the Allomancer and the target. (I guess this theory can be tested by determining the effects of Feruchemical duralumin storage on long-range Emotional Allomancy). On the other hand, in Nicrosil Allomancy (and Feruchemy, Awakening, Lashings, etc.) there is no convenient long range Connection already in place, so the user must form his own Connection. The easiest way is to simply touch the target, instantly creating a Physical Connection. If physical contact is not available, then the only options left are 1) expend some power to create a temporary long-range Connection between yourself and the target (e.g. Jasnah's magic lightning), or 2) gain so much power that the inverse square law is not enough to dissipate the Investiture before it reaches the target (e.g. Audible Command). Obviously, Hemalurgy and Forgery can be described via this Connection model as well. It's just that Hemalurgic or Forged Investiture is naturally repulsed by a targets' Identity for some reason and so requires some sort of "barrier" piercing to create a viable Connection. I wonder if there is such a thing as "positive charge" and "negative charge" in Investiture. That might explain the resistance of some things to some kinds of Investiture.

I guess there are two different meanings for the word "Aviar". The first meaning, a species of bird native to the Pantheon, refers to any bird of that species whether or not it bestows a talent. An Aviar raised outside of the Pantheon wouldn't have any Invested parasites, so it wouldn't bestow any talent. This would be the common definition for most people on the First of the Sun. The second meaning refers to any bird that bestows a talent, whichever species it belongs to. Under this definition, Sak is an Aviar, even if her species is not Aviar. Then again, even the word "species" is ambiguous. There is the definition used in biology (what we've been using so far) as well as the more broad definition synonymous to "type" or "sort". If we follow the second definition, then Sak's "species" being Aviar in the her Coppermind page shouldn't be a problem.

A few thoughts: I agree that in Cosmere magic systems ranged magic seems to require more power as you say. But then, it would be a bit weird if a ranged effect required the same or less power than an equivalent point-blank effect. Or maybe I'm just thinking that way because I've come to believe that Cosmere magic follows physical laws (as Brandon recently implied in the recent Q&A in Chicago), and the inverse square law applies in a lot of real world physics. Another example of ranged magic is AonDor. Unlike Forgers, Elantrians can affect targets that aren't in physical contact with their symbols, though the effect weakens with distance (as expected if Investiture follows something like the inverse square law). Unsurprisingly, the Elantrian manifestation of Selish Investiture appears to use up a lot more power compared to the MaiPon variant; at least that's what it looks like from all the glowing involved in AonDor. I wonder what it would take to augment MaiPon Investiture enough to enable ranged Forgery. They'd probably have to create a city-sized Forgery changing the history of MaiPon to somehow give Soulstamps a lot more power than they currently have. Such augmentation might also make targets more amenable to Forgery (i.e. less probability of rejection). Not sure how one would use a stamp for ranged Forgery, though. Stamping the air in front of the target? Reverse Lashing consumes very little Stormlight. If more Stormlight is all it takes to use long-range Lashings, then it would be best to experiment on long-ranged Reverse Lashing first to save on Stormlight. Hopefully the resulting "multiplied strain of simultaneous infusion" won't be enough to harm Kaladin's Spiritual aspect (Syl probably won't let that happen). Speaking of multiplied strain of simultaneous infusion, it's possible that trying to make some short-ranged abilities long-ranged is just too dangerous for normal humans. They might need to Ascend in order to survive such feats. I think you misunderstand Moogle's point. I think he's saying that magical power (how much a target is affected by magic) is inversely proportional to range, so if you increase your range you will experience a decrease in magical power unless you compensate somehow (e.g. via a proportional increase in Investiture).The fact that External Physical and Mental Allomancy are long range only means that their effects aren't as strong as they would be if they were short range given the same level of Investiture. The fact that Enhancement Allomancy is short-range actually helps it because the target is affected directly with minimal power loss.

Feruchemical Pewter is more conspicuous than Allomantic Pewter. Feruchemical Gold can also be pretty conspicuous.If I can't have "Fullborn" powers or at least one of the useful Compounding Twinborn powers, then I'd choose to be Mistborn. The Internal Physical, External Mental, and Bendalloy Allomantic powers will be useful to me in my everyday life. Also, more reasons to drink alcohol! The reason I won't choose Feruchemy is because I just don't like the hassle of regularly having to store attributes, leaving me in a vulnerable, useless state for significant periods of time, just so I can use magic. (I admit that storing Memory, Weight, Warmth, and Calories might be beneficial in some cases.) I'm a reasonably busy person, so the ability to Compound Feruchemical charges is the only way to make most of Feruchemy practical for me. Edit: Come to think of it, the benefits of storing Memory, Weight, Warmth, and Calories might make Feruchemy useful enough for me.

Oh, I see. No need to apologize; I hadn't been fully awake when I read your post earlier. It might be that Feruchemical nicrosil is just special that way, though like Moogle I also do not fully trust the MAG's interpretation of Feruchemy. I guess it might also be possible to Invest so much of a charge that other charges get "pushed off" somehow.

Not sure what your point is. It is the alloying of metals that erases the charges, not reuse. The Koloss don't melt their spikes down, do they? I know they just reuse the spikes as is.That reminds me. I wonder what happens if you melt two charged metal pieces of the same composition together (e.g. two iron spikes). Is that enough to erase the charges? Or do you have to melt different types of metals together (e.g. an iron spike and a copper spike) as is implied by the term "alloy"?

According to a recent Q&A in Chicago, the unpublished White Sand novel is not canon but the graphic novels will be. A sub-forum for White Sand might be created once the first White Sand graphic novel comes out. We'll just have to see what the Admins do.

Braised Heralds, anyone? (Sorry, bad joke. *walks away*)

Yeah it's probably relatively close to the sun. The increased solar energy input might be fueling the strange weather conditions. The highstorm and the rest of Roshar's cloud system probably supply enough cooling effects to keep the land habitable even with a hotter sun. As for the atmospheric density, we know that Roshar has far more oxygen than Earth, and with a combination of a higher concentration of high-density non-greenhouse non-toxic gases (e.g. argon), this might lead to enough atmospheric density to make the tidal-torque theory work. (Somewhat unrelated, but I imagine that unlike Venus, Roshar should have a relatively strong internally-generated magnetic field to prevent the harmful effects of solar wind on living things.) Honestly, I have no idea if any of this really works. I am not a physicist, just someone who enjoys playing with the ideas that other more intelligent people come up with. And I don't really mind if Brandon's fantasy worlds aren't 100% scientifically accurate. (Hint: They aren't.) It's just fun to pretend sometimes. To all the Sharder physicists out there: Given the facts that we know, does the theory that Roshar has a similar motion to Venus contain any major flaw that requires Shardic shenanigans to correct? If so, are those Shardic shenanigans more complex or less complex than the shenanigans needed to make three irregular moons move the way Roshar's moons do?

Thanks! Yes, please do re-read it some time. I caught some typos and inaccuracies earlier that you might have noticed, and I'm still looking for ways to improve the post. I'm not LDS. I saw that Book of Mormon quote while reading the Wikipedia article for the East Wind as part of my research for this post. Since Brandon is LDS, I thought that was an awesome way to strengthen my theory.

Before I describe my theory, allow me to quote a short conversation that happened in the 27th page of the legendary "Hidden Things in Map of Roshar?" thread: It's really hard to interpret that any way except as the sun setting in the West, like on Earth. To add to Weiry's proof that the Roshar sun sets in the west, here is a quote from Way of Kings: So, if Roshar's sun rises from the east and sets in the west, just like Earth, that should conclusively disprove the belief that Roshar rotates in the opposite direction from Earth, right? Not quite. You see, the etymologies of the words "east" and "west" aren't based on Earth's rotation (obviously, since Earth's rotation wasn't widely accepted as fact until about two hundred years ago). The word "east" comes from the Proto-Indo-European word for "dawn", while the word "west" comes from the Proto-Indo-European word for "evening". So in a cultural sense, "East" is wherever the sun rises, and "West" is wherever it sets. The rotation shouldn't matter other than in a relative astronomical sense (i.e. if there are astronomical observations suggesting the rotation is different from the majority of the neighboring heavenly bodies, then "East" and "West" might be switched depending on context). We'll get back to the East-West issue later. But now let's talk about the highstorm and its relationship with Roshar's planetary rotation. Basically, Roshar's rotation should influence the rotation of the highstorm via Coriolis effect. Since the highstorm deposits crem, which forms the Roshar continent, the shape of the continent should be based on the rotation of the highstorm. So, since the Roshar continent appears to have a shape of a counter-clockwise spiral, then the highstorm must rotate in a counter-clockwise manner. (Yes, I'm aware of the Julia set-derived pattern that matches the Roshar continent. I took part in that hunt.) Now, the Roshar continent is in the "southern" hemisphere of the planet (where "south" is defined by the Rosharian maps we've seen). If a storm rotates in a counter-clockwise direction in the southern hemisphere of the planet Roshar, and if the sun rises in the direction of the Unclaimed Hills and sets towards Aimia, then one of three things is true: The "southern" hemisphere is actually the northern hemisphere, with the Frostlands near the equator and the Steamwater Ocean near the north pole, and the planet is rotating counter-clockwise. (Problematic.) The storm is a high-pressure anticyclonic storm in the southern hemisphere of a counter-clockwise rotating planet. The Frostlands is near the south pole and the Steamwater Ocean near the equator as implied by the Isasik's Shulin's map. (Possible and non-controversial.) The "southern" hemisphere is actually the northern hemisphere, with the Frostlands near the north pole and the Steamwater Ocean near the equator. The storm is an anticyclonic storm in the northern hemisphere. The planet is rotating clockwise. (Possible, but weird.) The first option is problematic because the equator of Roshar should be the warmest part of the planet since it doesn't have an axial tilt, so the Steamwater Ocean should be nearer to the equator and the Frostlands should be nearer to one of the poles. The second option fits the data. An anticyclonic storm is a storm that rotates contrary to the planet's rotation and forms around a high-pressure system. This could be why the great Rosharian storm is called a "highstorm". Another anticyclonic storm you may have heard about is Jupiter's Great Red Spot, which is incidentally the inspiration behind the Rosharian highstorm. The possibility of the highstorm being anticyclonic solves our problem because it allows the highstorm to move in a counter-clockwise direction, creating a continent with a counter-clockwise shape that we are looking for, while still being in the southern hemisphere. But you should know by now that a Skaa Theory won't stop at the reasonable, neat, and boring explanation, right? In another excellent science-related thread, Leiyan was able to deduce (with the help of Peter) that the three moons of Roshar--Salas, Nomon, and Mishim-- revolve once a day around Roshar in highly elliptical retrograde orbits, whose apogees are always oriented towards the sun. Now think about that a bit. Usually moons that have retrograde orbits are irregular moons that were captured by the planet instead of being formed with the planet. What are the chances that all three Roshar moons are irregular, that they all have the same orbital period, and that they all have similarly oriented retrograde orbits around Roshar? Peter suspects that Roshar's three moons were placed there artificially (i.e. by design), because even he is weirded out by their orbits. But there is uncertainty in the way he said it, so I won't consider that a definitive WoP. Besides, I feel there's a better explanation: What if Roshar originally rotated in the same direction as its three moons' orbit, but at some point reversed and started rotating in the opposite direction? This does sound weird, yes. But believe it or not, I got this idea from a planet in our very own solar system. Astronomers believe that Venus' strange clockwise rotation had not always been the case. Instead, Venus started its existence rotating counter-clockwise just like almost everything else in the solar system, but this motion was reversed over billions of years because of the sun's tidal effects on Venus' thick atmosphere. If this was also true for Roshar (or if Roshar's rotation was reversed by some other cause), then it would explain why it rotates in the opposite direction of its moons' orbit (because it changed its rotation in the past), and it would mean that the third option I listed above is correct: Roshar is currently rotating in a clockwise direction, so the Roshar continent and the highstorm are actually in the northern hemisphere, with the continent "flipped" and highstorm coming from the west ("west" from the point of view of a pre-reversal Rosharian). The solar gravitational forces that caused the rotation reversal could have affected the moons as well, which may be why all three have their apogees towards the sun. Now, if the planet Yolen (where the original Shards were from) rotates just like Earth in a counter-clockwise direction, then the Shards would've had the notion of "North" as being the direction to the left of someone on the equator facing the rising sun. So the Shards who moved to Roshar (and any Yolish Worldhopper migrating there) would orient themselves so that "North" is where they expect it to be given the movement of the sun, putting the continent on the "southern hemisphere". They wouldn't realize that the planet is rotating clockwise and that their orientation is therefore upside down. Just as RShara said. As a matter of fact, there is another clue that the rotation of Roshar is different from Earth's, but it's pretty subtle and will only be noticed by people who are familiar with Greek mythology, or people like me who enjoy looking up the origin of words. And it is in fact what lead to the title of this post. If you look at the table of Essences (as I've done so many times, inspiring numerous crackpot theories along the way), you'll notice that Zephyr is associated with the Herald Jezerezeh, who in turn is (mistakenly) associated by many Rosharians with the Stormfather, the bringer of the highstorm. The highstorm is symbolically important to the Order of Windrunners, the Knights Radiant of Jezerezeh, the Herald of Zephyr. Have you seen it yet? "Zephyr" is the Greek personification of the West Wind. The highstorm comes from the same direction where the sun rises, what the Rosharians call East. Why, then, are they associated with each other?! What a mess! For more than a year now I've been looking for a good reason to turn the Roshar map upside down and reverse its directions, as I knew a Zephyr storm ought to be coming from the West. It was almost driving me nuts, to be honest. Good thing I rediscovered Leiyan's moon thread the other day and remembered Venus' strange rotation. "He bears the weight of God's own divine hatred, separated from the virtues that gave it context." -Chapter 71 epigraph, Words of Radiance There's one last thing I'd like to show just in case you're still skeptical. Here's a tiny quote from the Book of Mormon (which Brandon presumably has read ): We know that the Shard Odium is supposed the represent the wrath of God, the aspect of Adonalsium that gives punishment. We also know that the events of WoR led to the creation of a second storm, a storm that promised destruction, summoned by the Stormform Parshendi to punish the humans. A storm of Odium. Which direction did that new storm come from? West, as a modern-day Rosharian would think? East, as a hypothetical pre-reversal Rosharian would have thought? Based on the symbolism of the east wind, an east-originating storm would fit the ominous nature of the Everstorm better, I think. But whatever the direction of the Everstorm may be, something was wrong. "We must wait. The storm will blow the wrong way, after all. Or is it all other storms that have blown the wrong way, and this one will be the first to blow the right way?" -Venli, Interlude 13, Words of Radiance

Eerongal is right. This is what makes it difficult to choose who the most well-known Sharder is, because there are some people who've been popular for years but are no longer very active or have disappeared completely. So new people wouldn't know about them unless they read old threads (or read other people talking about them, like in this thread). Aside from admins, mods (like Moogle and Weiry), and Peter, I think the currently active members who've been consistently making an impact in the forums for longer than I've been a member here are Kurkistan and Voidus. But then I tend to be very picky with the threads I read so I might be missing some other active veterans.

Cosmere (thanks for the idea, Windy!) - Awesome magic systems and worldbuilding. Sanderson avalanche. Interesting characters. Great banter. Discworld - Hilarious and deeply insightful at the same time. Satirical in nature, but also offers great fantasy ideas. Chronicles of Chaos - Intensely intellectual at times, and at times a bit crude. Perfect for lovers of spell magic, science fiction, math, Ancient myth, geek humor, dirty jokes, and pretty girls. Harry Potter - Very imaginative. Lots of cool settings. Books 2, 3, and 6 were amazing. Middle Earth (the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Silmarillion) - A must-read if you're a fan of high fantasy, even if you only read the books once. Having seen the movies is not an excuse. Many of your favorite fantasy authors dreamed of reaching Tolkien's level of craftsmanship when they were starting off, and I'm pretty sure none of them have reached that goal yet.

Ah! A Cosmere theorist in the making! Have an upvote, Wildbuc! I hope you're having fun so far. Don't be put off by overly-wild theories like those made by me; there's plenty of well-researched, well-written speculative gems from other Sharders out there. I hope to read your contributions soon!

There are 7,107 islands in the Philippines, many of which are tourist destinations. Naturally, lots of Filipinos travel for fun every year even without leaving the country. But not me. There are three main island groups in the Philippines: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The largest island, which is in the Luzon island group, is also called Luzon. It is where you'll find Metro Manila, the capital region of the Philippines and, incidentally, where I live. The first and only time I left the island of Luzon was during a family trip to the island of Palawan, also in the Luzon island group, when I was 25. That was also the first and only time I've ever been on a plane. I have never been outside of the Luzon island group. Yeah, I am an embarrassment to the Filipino people. Not that I don't travel, mind you. There are lots of beaches in the island of Luzon. I've even been to a few of them. There's also Tagaytay (located near Manila, to the south) and Baguio (far up north), cities that are situated atop high mountains and are great summer destinations for people who need a break from the tropical heat. The Taal volcano near Tagaytay is always a sight to behold, and being among the pine trees and fog of Baguio makes one feel he's in a different country altogether. I prefer the mountain cities over the beaches, to be honest. In fact, I prefer cities in general. If I ever get the motivation to finally travel outside of the country, I'd rather go to New York or Tokyo than to some ancient ruins, or some rural village of historical significance, or some beach.

From the evidence found here, we believe the author of those Ars Arcanum notes is a woman named Khriss who, incidentally, also knows things Hoid doesn't know. She's a character from one of Brandon's unpublished novels (a graphic novel version of which is already in the works).

I used to think Atium Allomancy was External Temporal (as was implied in the Hero of Ages Ars Arcanum). Now I believe it's Internal Temporal just like Electrum (except Atium Allomancy targets other people, like Internal Mental Allomancy). For the longest time I didn't believe that Shardplate was made of spren, but just this year I've started espousing the theory that Shardplate is made of multiple non-sentient spren that combined and turned into solid form after a Radiant has spoken a certain number of Ideals. I was already a bit of a Science geek before joining the Sanderson fandom. But there were some scientific fields that I just wasn't into, that I felt were boring, that I had no urge to study in the slightest. Yeah, I was a bit close-minded back then. After joining this fandom, though, I found myself strangely interested in more areas of knowledge. I never imagined I'd voluntarily spend hours on the Internet researching about metallurgy, mineralogy, and microbiology all because I wanted to formulate cool theories about some fantasy stories. Also, I've started looking deeper into topics that had only been of mild interest to me before like optics, quantum field theory, and (recently) string theory, for the same reason. I think this is awesome. Not that my Cosmere-related research has been completely about scientific topics; I've spent more time reading about alchemy, astrology, heraldry, kabbalah, alternative medicine, and comparative religion than I'd care to confess. But hey, it's good to be aware of other cultures, right? So I don't mind it much. Anyway, I love it when works of fiction lead me to appreciate real life things. This is what speculative fiction (fantasy and sci-fi) ought to be about. It ought to expand our minds. Brandon's works have succeeded in this beautifully, in my opinion. And for that I will always be grateful.

I'm BACK! Oh, and here's my gift for the two people who missed my crazy theorycrafting.

Here is a page containing what is supposed to be Snow's own account of how he came up with that phrase: I have included the phrase in the original post as you suggested. Thanks! It was pretty fun to write. I wouldn't have thought of trying to unify Investiture in such a crazy pseudo-scientific way without all the cool quantum physics-related discussions in the forums, such as in Isomere's waveform thread. Strangely enough, the post that triggered me into exploring a Realmatic string theory didn't even mention strings at all. Moogle's waveform model for Allomancy made me think about how the Spiritweb can be interpreted in terms of waveforms, and the image of the Spiritweb as a network of oscillating threads just screamed "string theory" to me. Speaking of which, I forgot to incorporate the Spiritweb in L-theory. D'oh! *fixes oversight*