Claincy

17 hours ago, CoderDrag0n8 said:

I was on the shard 2 times before I actually started posting.

One for @Claincy's blogs

Oh wow really? I'd almost forgotten about them.  How did you come across them?

I thought I'd leave them on the list for the sake of historical curiosity. But I'm just as happy to remove them if that's mod preference.

On 5/19/2021 at 8:14 AM, AonEne said:

@Doomstick it'd definitely be potentially useful, but I don't think it'll happen.

I just noticed the list spells tarachin as taracin though and I'm fixing that because it bothers me lol

So you're telling me that's been spelt wrong for 7 years.  Oops.

Thanks for fixing it.

On 11/12/2020 at 1:14 AM, Koloss17 said:

Now I love this. I think there is definitely things that are not addressed that should be addressed. Another thing is LGBT inclusion. Now, I think dawnshard did this right. Both in LGBT matters and in disabilities. 
 
spoilers!

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Rysn gets to try to live with a disability of not being able to use her legs. She is frustrated by it and wants to change that. She seeks the fabrial devices for that assistance. It makes sense for her character and the issue you are addressing.

there was also mention of a trans king gaining the body of  a man after he bonded a Radiant spren, which I thought was just wonderful.

Now @Claincy, I will say that you did not say anything that would be doing things right, or at least not many. It would be useful if you listed some of the things you should do in addition to what you shouldn’t do. That would help people not just know what to blacklist, but also know what to whitelist for their writing.

Hey, I’m sorry it’s taken me such a long time to respond. I had another health issue crop up and that ended up making my RSIs worse and it was all a bit of a mess that sapped most of my spare capacity for a while. I’m getting things a bit more under control now and I’ve got some good voice typing software so hopefully this is better late than never. (Sorry for reviving an older topic mods.)

1. Include disabled characters, preferably multiple. There are a lot of disabled people in the real world, probably more than you think. I don’t recall the exact statistic but it’s something like one in five people are disabled. So if you have a cast of a dozen or more characters, having a couple of disabled characters in the mix is actually quite realistic and it makes it much easier to avoid token representation and some negative tropes. They don’t all need to be main characters by any means, though it helps if they’re not *all* extremely minor characters.
2. Avoid bad tropes. Pretty simple, but it is worth noting that many tropes are mostly bad because of being overused/predominant. For example: if the only disabled character in your story is a villain that’s bad. But if you have a number of disabled characters and one of them is a villain (and they aren’t a villain *because of* their disability) that’s fine. Just try to avoid connecting physical abnormality to villainy. We should have disabled villains on occasion, the issue is in linking disability to villainy and in using it as a shorthand for villainy.
3. Following on from that thought; disabled characters should appear in all sorts of different roles and positions, as we do in real life. There are, of a certainty, some occupations/roles/actions that certain disabilities make extremely hard. But just as often the reason a disabled person can’t do something is more down to a lack of accessibility and accommodations (or people just assuming that a disabled person couldn't do it and not giving them the opportunity). A very simple example relevant to the current times: right up through early 2020 many disabled people were refused jobs or positions studying because they would need to work/study from home much of the time and many employers and universities/colleges/schools said that wasn’t possible. I.e. they weren’t willing to bother dealing with it. (There are legal rights about accessibility in many places but they are often ignored. And fighting for them often takes money and energy that many disabled people don't have.) Then the pandemic starts and suddenly these “impossible” accommodations are commonplace because nondisabled people needed them. And you can be certain many of these places will go right back to considering such accommodations impossible as the pandemic wanes. (There’s an extensive rabbit hole here about how disabled people have been ignored, left behind, and otherwise severely impacted by the pandemic (including being refused treatment based on “quality of life”/perceived value and such). But that is a whole other topic and I've already gone on enough of a tangent.)
4. Read about disability representation and the experiences of disabled people. There are a bunch of resources out there that go into a lot more depth than I have about representation. And if you’re writing about a character with a specific disability there are plenty of people who have written about their experiences with that disability. Even as a disabled person I have a lot to learn if I want to write characters with other disabilities well.
5. Get feedback/get disabled people involved. If you’re writing a book, having disabled alpha/beta readers is extremely helpful, as can be disability consultants. For a film or TV show you really want to have disabled people involved in the production and, crucially, to listen to what they have to say. So disabled writers/consultants/actors/etc. I don’t remember the exact numbers but the proportion of characters in American film and TV who are disabled is a fraction of the ~20%+ proportion of people who are disabled in real life. And of the characters who are disabled somewhere in the region of 5% are actually played by disabled actors. Seriously. That number might have improved a little bit now but it’s still ridiculously low. Also “fun” is seeing how many nondisabled actors win awards for playing disabled characters. Just because they won an award for it doesn’t necessarily mean their portrayal was accurate or positive. It means they did a great job of portraying how the critics and a lot of the general audience like to see disabled people in film/tv. Which means even if the performance was good, often the surrounding story and themes were quite problematic.

Just doing 1 and 2, including disabled characters and avoiding the negative tropes, is sadly enough to be well above average. But it isn’t hard to do a lot better if you put some effort into doing so.
I hope that’s of some use, late as it is.
 

@Kingsdaughter613 Sorry for the slow reply.

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Gotta ask: how mad were you when Oracle went back to being Batgirl?

I haven't actually read those comics so I don't have a strong opinion on that specifically. But I suspect if I was reading it now I wouldn't exactly be delighted.

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As an aside, regarding chronic pain: Both Kell and Marsh have this, although it’s quite subtle for the former. Kell’s scars do bother him, and he experiences phantom pains. It’s VERY easy to miss though, since the character naturally tends to ignore it. (Which is completely in character for him.) Marsh is in quite a bit of pain from the moment he becomes an Inquisitor. Saze may have helped this, via a literal act of god.

Oh right, yeah I forgot about that. With Kel I think it's more emotional trauma + a desire to itch them than outright pain, the physical pain doesn't seem to really have much of an effect/impact. But still.

Marsh I definitely should have thought of. Reflecting on it now; we don't get to see much of his perspective (or much of him at all really) after being inquisified until HoA when Ruin's complete control takes centre stage. That's not really a complaint, just noting that we don't really get to see him living with his pain or how it might effect him when not being directly controlled by a much more powerful entity.

On 10/21/2020 at 1:22 PM, Kingsdaughter613 said:

Regarding Spook: I don’t see him as a disabled character at all, actually. Maybe it’s because I’m in the psych field, but I always saw him as more like a drug addict. It was like he was addicted to Tin, always needing to burn it. Even his reasoning fits with many addicts. So Saze didn’t cure his disability so much as he healed the damage from Spook’s Tin addiction, if that makes sense.

Spook is more a "has parallels to disability" than "is a disabled character" I think. I don't think hypersensitivity comes up much in media, but it certainly can be a major difficulty. Here it's taken more as a part of a super power, or turned into one. I thought it was worth mentioning the connection, but yeah, I'd hesitate to firmly call him a disabled character.

On 10/21/2020 at 1:22 PM, Kingsdaughter613 said:

However, Harmony did heal all the disabled Scadrians upon his Ascension. I’d probably have been annoyed if it wasn’t so obviously intended to parallel the Revelation at Sinai, where God is said to have done the same. Brandon was clearly trying to go for that resonance, what with the hill covered in flowers and the people’s leader receiving a holy book. So in that particular case it made sense, since those things do all go together in a way that’s supposed to feel familiar to us.

I had completely forgotten about that. That's..hrm. I see *why* and I can see Sazed doing that. But any time you get a setting or situation where you remove all disability, whether through technology or magic, that's...yeah. Not a huge fan. On a more practical consideration, if you have a group of people rebuilding society from the ground up following an apocalypse and none of them are at all disabled that would likely lead to a society even less accessible and more ableist than our own. Not intentionally of course. But if the foundation & default assumption is of a complete lack of disability, I think that's highly unlikely to turn out well for future disabled people.

Exciting update time: I finally gathered the nerve and energy to share the letter on the Brandon subreddit as well. There's a bunch of thoughtful discussion in the thread. And Brandon responded! It's probably best to read the posts with the context of what he was directly replying to, but I'll drop the text here as well for anyone who doesn't want to visit reddit.

1st response

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Hey, thanks for the tag. And also /u/LatteCat234. This is the perfect post I needed to be tagged on. You two are great.

/u/Claincy I've read this, and will keep it pinned. This is exactly the kind of feedback that is useful for writers to hear. I try to do the best I can, but I can always do better. I particularly like how you outlined some of the traps/tropes authors fall into, because those are exactly the things that are super helpful for me to read. (And similar lists have helped me a lot with my writing in other areas.)

I don't want to say much more than that, because I don't want to imply your perspective is invalid. (It most certainly is.) But I do want to mention that I pay a lot of attention this kind of issue, and there is a fine line to walk. Many things having to do with disability have a bit controversy surrounding them similar to the cochlear implant one--where the community itself can be very divided at what they want to happen, and what they want to see happen in fiction.

I consider it my job to listen, particularly to well-reasoned and passionate arguments like yours. But I do need to note that there are arguments on the other side that I do also listen to. And I personally--from all the many things I've read and the time I've spent pondering it--do not currently consider curing of physical aliments with magic to be inherently problematic. I DO consider it to be a difficult issue, and recognize your feelings, which are completely valid. If healing people of disability in the real world is difficult and full of touchy subjects, with a variety of opinions, then it certainly is valid to consider it so in fantasy!

My goal is always to try to depict the varieties of different human experience and opinions. And, indeed, one of my goals with Rysn is to specifically have a character to contrast someone like Lopen--who falls (as you have noted) on a different side of the argument.

But, to be honest, I don't even consider the healing of mental disabilities with magic to be inherently problematic. (Speed of Dark, an excellent science fiction novel, is about a cure for autism--and is done brilliantly.) I do run into a lot of people who really like that I don't let Stormlight heal most mental illness--but I'd say I've run into an equal number of people with depression who wish that I would let it do so, and have told me they'd take a cure for depression without hesitation if one gets invented. (Indeed, there are many who do a great deal to medically to try just this.)

What I would say is that I need to be careful not to present one idea as the only valid response to these sorts of things. You're absolutely right that there is a perspective I need to be careful not to invalidate, and tropes I can be harmful in perpetuating if I don't watch myself. (My sister in law has chronic fatigue, and yeah--the number of people who told her if she was just stronger-willed, she'd get past it, is huge.)

I will be very careful with the Rysn novella. (And we do these days try very hard to have specific readers who have disabilities like the ones I depict. It is my plan to do this here.) And I'll keep your post handy as I revise, as I think it will be helpful.

Thanks for putting yourself out there, and doing all this work, just to help me do better. It's really a great thing for you to have done.

2nd post (I asked him if we would see assistive technology using fabrials, and commented on a poor choice of wording when Hobber is healed that I noticed in my Oathbringer reread.)

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Dawnshard actually has Rysn looking at fabrials and wondering if those could be of use in the way you're indicating here. I think you'll be pleased with the result.

As for the rest of your post, this is a really useful distinction to point out to me. I can see it's all about HOW one approaches it.

I think you'd be a really helpful beta reader, if you happen to be interested. Drop me a DM if you are. Either way, thank you very much for these posts.

3rd post (In response to a post talking about autism and Renarin)

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I have no intention of "curing" Renarin, as I agree with your points here--but I really appreciate you mentioning them. We are aligned on this idea. I used Speed of Dark as an example of how a theoretical cure could be used in a story in a non-problematic way. (In that story, a cure is invented, and the story is entirely about the ramifications of it--and the dangers. It is a highlight of why I think Science Fiction is important. Asking the question, "What if?" before something happens in real life gives us a lot of questions, ideas, and concerns to work on as a society in preparation for such events.)

That said, that is a book that specifically deals with this idea. My intention for the Stormlight Archive, and Renarin specifically, is to explore him as a character. Not to change him into someone else.

In summary, Brandon is great. (Not exactly news, I know.)

11 hours ago, Koloss17 said:

Thanks! That really clears things up!

No worries, I think koloss control was something I was thinking about on my last reread as well.  

They can feel the connection, though mostly just when they think about it. It doesn't seem to require any effort to maintain control as Vin maintains control without issue while unconscious and heavily drugged.

The exception we see is when the koloss start to frenzy and Elend briefly loses control of them (when the surprise attack with the siege weapons drives them into a frenzy outside Fadrex city). It didn't break the connection, but they did stop following his orders for a short period.

On 7/19/2020 at 6:28 AM, Kain said:

Brandon needs a stamp of approval given by "disabled community" represented through COF - Committee of Disability. Of course the structure of zie Committee is highly branched and operating under strict tenets of Intersectionality and Critical theory. As result it can avoid devastating injustices such as non-mute disabled person making decisions in case of mute character written by non-disabled author.

Claincy can you offer your insight on the Immortal Words and how do they impact a mute reader?

I'm not sure I'm understanding you properly sorry. Are you asking if a mute or nonspeaking person would be able to swear radiant oaths? If so, I'm reasonably sure that they can. It seems that the acceptance of the oath is more important than actually speaking it. Saying the words without embracing the meaning doesn't accomplish anything.

Oathbringer:

Edgedancer:

It is quite possible that to seal the oath properly requires communicating the oath in some way. But if so I expect that could be accomplished through written language, sign language or other means.

@Scriptorian That sounds pretty cool to me. So long as the author writing it was taking care to handle the topics seriously/get sensitivity reading. Which it sounds like you are.

1 hour ago, KandraAllomancer said:

We know that a Dawshards was hidden in Aimia for some time and that there's one Dawnshard different from the others - which I think makes it hard for it to be a Dawnsinger. Also, leaving Roshar with a bonded spren is rather hard to pull off.

I agree however, that the Singers' ability to link their power to a devastating effect (the Everstorm) seems very similar to what a Dawnshard could do. I wonder if Singers could technically count as the "different" Dawnshard

Yeah I had both of those WoBs in there. They are potentially problematic but not definitive. The different one is too vague to tell us much of use. I mean, Renarin is a different radiant right? With his 'corrupted' spren. Venli, as presumably the only Listener on that path and perhaps the only proto-highspren-bonded-singer currently could easily be considered different to the others, and that's only scraping the surface of possible differences.

I think the time in Aimia is a larger concern for the theory. Brandon didn't give any indication of the actual time spent there though I would lean toward guessing a longer time than a shorter one. If it was years or decades it's not an issue. If it's centuries? That'd certainly make it less likely. There are ways around that of course. We've seen age manipulation/non-aging, a form of spren-based reincarnation with the fused, and time dilation before. Or it could, in theory, be a singular spren and a lineage of singers. Are any of those likely? Eh, perhaps not.  But there are possibilities.

I think the set number of dawnshards is another possible issue. Though it's not entirely clear if that's because there only ever could be a set number, or if there are just a specific number that exist currently. If there is a set limit, it could be due to the particular spren required, as with bondsmiths, or due to cultural or religious reasons, or a secondary requirement for the bonding, etc. But in general a set number does imply something more definite/lasting.

The announcement of Dawnshard's title got me thinking about the nature of the dawnshards (like everyone else here I imagine  ) and I think there's a possibility we may not have considered. (I didn't find any older threads talking about this idea, but I apologise if there is one.)

We may have made some assumptions about the nature of dawnshards that we shouldn't have. Of the little information we have about dawnshards most of it is 2nd hand and of dubious veracity. In particular I'm not wholly convinced that dawnshards are actually objects. I'm wondering if they're simply dawnsingers who've bonded with highspren. Or a specific order/group thereof. (If that is the case, Venli would be a proto-dawnshard.)

Let's review what information on the Dawnshards we actually have.

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"Taking the Dawnshard, known to bind any creature voidish or mortal, he crawled up the steps crafted for Heralds, ten strides tall apiece, toward the grand temple above."
“From the Poem of Ista. I have found no modern explanation of what these "Dawnshards" are. They seem ignored by scholars, though talk of them was obviously prevalent among those recording the early mythologies”

-WoK Epigraph 36

The poem of Ista is probably based on real events, but to a very limited extent. I'd assume there's an element of truth in there or Brandon wouldn't have put it in the book. However, I doubt the in-world author has any idea what dawnshards actually are. Even taken as written it only very loosely implies that the dawnshard is an object and not a person or creature. He could easily be accompanied by or carrying a person. I would guess that it is accurate that dawnshards could bind things, but that's all I'd say with any confidence.

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"A mythological treasure, Brightness, much like the Dawnshards or the Honorblades. Certainly worth seeking, but only with great caution."
Shallan, Wok chapter 29

It does seem that they are commonly thought of as objects in mythology. But without any actual knowledge it's only natural that people would think of something named x-shards as objects of power.

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'I wish I could do more,' repeated the figure in gold. 'You might be able to get him to choose a champion. He is bound by some rules. All of us are. A champion could work well for you, but it is not certain. And...without the Dawnshards...Well, I have done what I can. It is a terrible, terrible thing to leave you alone.'

Honor, WoK chapter 75

I don't think this quote does much to help or hinder the theory. It tells us the dawnshards seem to be gone or unavailable in some manner and that they would be very helpful in defeating Odium. But that makes sense whether they are objects or singers. Singers bonded with spren of honor & cultivation instead of voidspren or lesser spren are more likely to oppose Odium I would think.

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"The Almighty kept this from his Radiants," Dalinar said. "When they discovered it, they abandoned their vows."

It is more than that. My memory of all this is ... strange. First, I was not fully awake; I was but the spren of a storm. Then I was like a child. Changed shaped during the frantic last days of a dying god.

But I do remember. It was not only the truth of humankind's origin that caused the Recreance. It was the distinct, powerful fear that they would destroy this world, as men like them had destroyed the one before. The Radiants abandoned their vows for that reason, as will you.

...

In the past, Honor was able to guard against this, the Stormfather told him He convinced the Radiants they were righteous, even if this land hadn't originally been theirs. Who cares what your ancestors did, when the enemy is trying to kill you right now?

But in the days leading to the Recreance, Honor was dying. When that generation of knights learned the truth, Honor did not support them. He raved, speaking of the Dawnshards, ancient weapons used to destroy the Tranquiline Halls. Honor ... promised that surgebinders would do the same to Roshar.

"Odium claimed the same thing."

Dalinar & the Stormfather, Oathrbinger chapter 113

This is far and away the most useful quote we have. But even this one could be a little misleading. The Stormfather is relating something Honor said while dying and "raving". And the Stormfather was still coming to full consciousness and says his memories of it were "strange". I don't doubt the direct truth of what the quote says, but it could be misleading beyond that. Firstly, it is unusual but not unheard of to refer to dangerous/powerful people as weapons. So even taking it at face value I don't think this confirms the dawnshards are objects.

More interesting is "used to destroy the Tranquiline Halls." and the promise that surgebinders would do the same to Roshar. If my theory is right (which it may not be) that would mean that some Dawnshards had traveled to Ashyn prior to it's destruction, and were involved in that destruction. Which seems a bit of a leap at first, but thinking further it seems likely that some humans or singers had traveled between the worlds before the destruction of Ashyn. I'm not saying the dawnsingers were responsible for Ashyn's destruction; I do think Odium influenced humans were responsible. But these dawnsingers could have been used/participants in what happened. And/or the humans could have attempted to reproduce their powers. If this was the case, that would help explain why Honor and Odium both thought human surgebinders might destroy Roshar.

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Shardbound

Were the Surges used by humans, the ones that destroyed their previous home, the same as the ones that the Radiants are using.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, same basic principles. Magic system slightly different. Same basic principles.

Oathbringer London signing (Nov. 28, 2017)

 

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"They came from another world, using powers that we have been forbidden to touch. Dangerous powers, of spren and Surges. They destroyed their lands and have come to us begging. We took them in, as commanded by the gods. What else could we do? They were a people forlorn, without a home. Our pity destroyed us. For their betrayal extended even to our gods: to spren, stone, and wind. Beware the otherworlders. The traitors. Those with tongues of sweetness, but with minds that lust for blood. Do not take them in. Do not give them succor. Well were they named Voidbringers, for they brought the void. The empty pit that sucks in emotion. A new god. Their god. These Voidbringers know no songs. They cannot hear Roshar, and where they go, they bring silence. They look soft, with no shell, but they are hard. They have but one heart, and it cannot ever live."

-The Elia Stele, Oathbringer epitaphs 115-118

This might be the strongest point against this theory. Though we don't know how biased the account may be. The singers were forbidden to touch those powers, presumably by Honour and/or Cultivation. But we don't know when they were forbidden, they may have been forbidden because of the destruction of Ashyn and have used them before then. We also don't know how long after Ashyn's destruction/the human arrival on Roshar this was written. Though from the little we know it was probably many years. I have to guess that the powers being forbidden happened before the wars and the oathpact. There isn't as much need to forbid it when the spren have already joined the humans, using Odium's power/voidspren is presumably worse. And I doubt the singers cared much what Honor/Cultivation might forbid them from doing after they felt they'd been betrayed by them and started serving Odium.

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"’Tis said it was warm in the land far away / When Voidbringers entered our songs. / We brought them home to stay / And then those homes became their own, / It happened gradually. / And years ahead ’twil still be said ’tis how it has to be."

Song of Histories, 12th Stanza

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"The betrayal of spren has brought us here. / They gave their Surges to human heirs, / But not to those who know them most dear, before us. / ’Tis no surprise we turned away / Unto the gods we spent our days / And to become their molding clay, they changed us."

-Song of Secrets, 40th Stanza

"The spren betrayed us, it’s often felt. / Our minds are too close to their realm / That gives us our forms, but more is then / Demanded by the smartest spren, / We can’t provide what the humans lend, / Though broth are we, their meat is men."

"But it is not impossible to blend / Their Surges to ours in the end. / It has been promised and it can come. / Or do we understand the sum? / We questioned not if they can have us then, / But if we dare to have them again."

-Song of Spren, 9th-10th stanza

The last line in particular strongly suggests that the higher spren had bonded with singers in the past.

I'm not supremely confident in this theory, but I do think it's possible. It also just feels to me like something Brandon might do.   Do you think the theory has merit? Or am I way off base.

Some other relevant wobs

@Rushu42 I don't mean to discourage you from writing disabled characters by any means. I'd much rather authors included disabled characters and did well sometimes and poorly others, than not write them at all.  Even just keeping in mind the major points I mentioned would set you above average.

I can't give you any specific advise on writing a deaf character (or most other disabilities for that matter). My own knowledge is fairly limited past my own experience and I don't want to speak for others' experiences outside of some common tropes/issues. I would say that, speaking generally, a superpower that cancels out some of the difficulties of being deaf isn't necessarily bad. I think it could be good, bad or neutral all depending on the details of how it works, limitations, character and story. But you'd really need to talk with some deaf/hard of hearing folks to get a real idea of what is and isn't helpful.

There are people who specifically do consulting/sensitivity reading for disability in media (and for other minorities). If you are able to, consulting with them might really help. They ought to have a much broader and deeper understanding and be better practiced at providing useful insight. You could also probably learn a lot from blogs/articles/social media written by disabled people, or through conversations with disabled people you know or meet.

@AonEne Thanks. Yeah I'm hopeful. I really think the main reason he hasn't done better so far is that he didn't realise he wasn't hitting the same mark he was with other groups.

@thegatorgirl00 I have read Defending Elysium. But I forgot about it when I was writing the letter. Which is silly, because I reread it relatively recently. :/ Ah well. Defending Elysium is a more complicated and interesting one. I think there'd be more varied opinions from different disabled people on it. I reread it again today to try and sort out what I thought of it.

I can't speak for the presentation of blindness with the 'fear of the darkness' thing with any conviction. I really don't know how well that would or wouldn't resonate with someone who'd lost their sight. I'm not very knowledgeable in that regard. Though it's worth noting that the majority of people who are legally blind still have some vision. I'm not sure what someone with partial vision might think of it relative to someone with no vision. Or someone born blind vs someone who became blind. So basically that was a lot of words to say "I really don't know" about the specific case.

I can talk a little more generally though. Disabled people with super powers? More please! Disabled people with super powers that directly replace/remove the limitations of their disability? Ehh, it depends. It mostly depends on the limitations and what the author does with it. In this case, replacing sight with what is essentially a better sight isn't as interesting to me. His Sense doesn't have a lot of downsides and has fewer limitations than regular sight. It can be suppressed, sure. But you can suppress someone's sight with darkness or a blindfold (or overly bright light for that matter), suppressing Cytonics is much harder by comparison. I still like Defending Elysium and I don't dislike Jason being blind or anything, but it doesn't stand out to me personally as an especially praiseworthy representation of disability. Jason's experience just seems too separate from normal blindness.

I think generally I prefer if a character's super powers don't directly replace their disability, or if there are more significant limitations around its use. It makes for more interesting story telling for one thing. But it's also a lot closer to reality, and you aren't going to end up with a character who is technically disabled but it doesn't really effect them much. I don't have a strong idea what most disabled people think along these lines, so I'm just speaking for myself here.

I think a solid real-world example is actually a wheelchair. I know a lot of people who don't need a wheelchair see them as something scary, afraid of being 'confined to a wheelchair'. But that's not the reality at all. To someone who needs one, whether they can walk a little or not at all, a wheelchair is great. It's a mobility aid that can really make a big difference in their life and allow them to be a lot more independent. It does have it's own limitations, of course. A lot of places aren't properly accessible for wheelchairs, plenty of terrain isn't easy to traverse in one, (some strangers like to 'help' push you around even when you tell them not to), etc. You're still better off thinking of them as super-powers for some disabled people than as a bad thing to be 'stuck' having to use.

@Lunamor Thanks. Sorry you have to deal with that. (I have no idea where you could reasonably draw a boundary on what counts as disabled, nor would I care to try. It's definitely a very broad spectrum. Just from what you said I reckon it could apply to you if you wanted.)

@ConfusedCow Thanks. I'd like less magical healing, mostly

S: stormlight/mistborn

@NattyBo Hope your going ok. Depression and anxiety are nasty. 

@Karger If you're right and I'm wrong, I'll be happy.

S: stormlight

@datalaughing Yeah there isn't a clear cut answer, just case by case. Some would, some wouldn't. And I'd be happy with that. I'd forgotten about Kaladin's brand. That is an excellent example.

For the first point: I'm reasonably certain standard inquisitors have 2 spikes each for steel and iron. They have 11 spikes total so they would then be missing a power or 2. Presumably allomantic gold and perhaps one of zinc/brass/copper. (It's possible they also have double pewter in place of another of those metals, but that's pure speculation.)

For the second: I can only guess Elend was able to burn unconsciously because of the purity/strength of his allomancy, coming directly from lerasium. There are a number of mistakes and inconsistencies with the magic across the trilogy and this may be one of them. (Edit: I'm actually partway through a reread currently and I've been noticing a lot more of them. Still love the books though.)

6 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

A bit late (alright, really late) but thoughts on the season as a whole? I personally enjoyed it a lot, especially the episode about Tesla, that quote at the end was brilliant.

Regarding the end of the season (spoiled because, just in case someone else was lazy like me)

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Boy, was that something. I think it's a risky move but it could lead to insteresting stuff, and explain one or two things. Like when Eleven was about to die and the Time Lords gave him another set of regenerations, guess they didn't have to actually do a lot. This will also probably open a lot of holes but this is a story where I believe consistency was never really a thing.

The one thing I'm worried about is that we may never get to see Time Lords or the Master again, but this wouldn't be the first time we're told a species is dead for good. Or the Master for that matter (who was brilliant, I wish this incarnation had lasted a bit longer, so far if I had to call one of the Masters truly evil, it would be this one. All the previous ones had something that redeemed them a bit or at least made them easy to empathize with, but this one was a madman all the way).

Also, that scene at the end, it looks a lot like the opening for a Christmas Special, but if new year-new season becomes the standard, I don't think we will be getting those anymore. Thought on that?

 

I really enjoyed the season too.

On 2/2/2020 at 4:51 AM, Slowswift said:

Just caught up last night, and, well, that... happened.  

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I got spoiled on Captain Jack being back (yay!) but I was not prepared for where the episode went after that. Good Gallifrey I'm so confused and intrigued at the same time. I was wondering if the chameleon arch was involved, but I was expecting Lee/Ruth to be some non-humanoid lizard alien things, not Time Lords! (I mean, it makes sense in hindsight -- that foreshadowing was there -- but I'd forgotten about the CA mechanics, honestly. My other thought was that if the Time Lord couldn't decrypt it, then it couldn't be Time Lord tech, but that was later explained as well.)

So far I've loved eps. 1 & 2, vaguely disliked ep. 3 for terrible pacing and a complete lack of subtlety, quite enjoyed ep. 4, and loved ep. 5. Can't wait to see where this season goes!

13 minutes ago, Eluvianii said:

Stuck in 2, but I plan on catching up during the weekend.

I suggest avoiding anything online about Doctor Who until you've seen 5, unless you don't care about significant spoilers.

So uh. Anyone here seen episode 5 yet?

11 hours ago, Pagerunner said:

The goal has already been met, and the first stretch goal is unlocked. Mistborn Feruchemy dice.

I'm not great with my Feruchemy symbols, but I definitely see the new harmonium one (which was shown on Twitter a little while back), and I think I see three other new ones (which would be our atium/lerasium/malatium), but I could be wrong, since some of these dice are rotated. I also think I see two duralumin dice in the mockup, so I'm not quite sure what's up with that.

Someone asked about that in the update #1 comments (might have been you for all I know :P).

Quote

We clearly shot this photo with dice from 2 different sets. Sorry about that.

There will be 20 unique dice in each of the acrylic sets.

20 hours ago, Kualo said:

Thanks for this! It will be useful for the Brandon small fansites I am making  

14 hours ago, Artemos said:

This is really cool! Do you mind if I use this in my Mistborn game (Invested)?

I don't mind at all! Invested is very cool by the way.

8 hours ago, Halyo_Alex said:

Oh this is going to make some of my diagrams a lot easier to draw... Thanks a ton, dude!

 

Edit: Every time i hit the spacebar, it reverts to Calibri... I'm using normal microsoft office word to test this. Also it puts an empty square character in front of whatever I type, and when i hit space, it goes away (presumably due to the revert to calibri). What's going on here, and how do I fix it

Hrm, I haven't encountered that. Do you get the same behaviour if you go through the same actions but with a different font to steel alphabet? Have you tried writing out whatever you want in Calibri then selecting the whole lot and converting it to steel alphabet when you're done?

I've updated my old font for the Steel Alphabet (Final Empire era symbols). The new version improves the details on some of the symbols and improves the scale and alignment of the symbols which makes it look cleaner and easier to read.

You can download it from google drive if you want to try it.

Here's the same passage in both to show the difference.

Old font

New font

(The old topic was nearly 6 years ago now so it's locked. Starting a new one seemed the way to go. If the mods think it'd be better to reopen that and merge this topic in that's fine.  )

On 3/7/2019 at 0:33 AM, beantheboy12 said:

You have missed many many many MEMES!!! 

Heh, no doubt.

Hi! It's been a while. (*checks post history*..a year. Wow.) Anyway, I'm (somewhat) back!  What've I missed?

And today was better than I have been in quite some time. Still in a lot of pain, still got fatigue troubles etc. But I'm finally off the medication that's been making things so much worse (and it wasn't really hot today). So today I was actually able to do a (little) bit and still cope ok through most of the day. 

Unnecessary additional health details in the spoiler.