Zmann966

Quote

What you needed to, another part of her thought. You have adapted. You have Remade yourself.
It was then that she grasped, in the smallest way, the nature of the Command inside her. The will of a god to remake things, to demand they be better.
The power to change.

Sounds to me like Rysn just got "soul-casted."
At least, that's how the target of a soulcast must feel right? You have this entity pushing itself into your perception, asking you to change. Convincing you that you've already done it, that you're capable of doing it. Do it again. One more time.

The cosmere functions on Investiture, Command, Intent, and Connection.
The Dawnshard just used three of those on Rysn. 
And if it can 'bond any creature mortal or voidish' maybe it doesn't have a problem with connecting either.
"Change" is just another surge, just another manifestation of investiture—a force of magic that gained classification from people's perspective. No better than Gravitation or Division.




Big-A was shattered and its power split up among the first wielders of the Shards right? God's power of Preservation, Ruin, etc.
Investiture imprints and interacts with sapience, so the Shards of Hatred, Honor, Ambition probably got their intent from Ado right? After all Investiture will form Sapience if given the chance as well. The power sits in the Spiritual and is classified and keyed by cognitive thought: even the big capital-S Shards are bound by the intent keyed to their investiture. 
And in some cases we see unbound investiture pursue its intent and grow sapience. But sapience also shapes investiture—intent is hard-coded into the cosmere and it came from some intellect with these concepts.

But we've seen Ado's investiture!
It's the Shards. There's sixteen of them, they can be splintered or merged further, but we're familiar. Almost intimately with some of them.
Why call these Dawnshards? Why are they different?
Seems silly that only just now Brando would introduce us to some "Super Shards" that are somewhere between a Shard and Adonalsium itself? 


What happened to Adonalsium's mind?

After all, what is a Command except a manifestation of someone's will.
 

5 hours ago, Argent said:

Didn't know you had a Vive. Yeah, I think I'll need to find some time and check it out.

In the meantime, I think it is important to remember that this VR experience is:

• not a game
• not for us 
• still VR, which is an incredibly new technology, and there are no good products out there

@Overlord Jebus is probably better equipped to comment on the overall experience, as he did try the thing out at ECCC - maybe give is a blog, britboy?

 

• Definitely not. Shouldn't have released it on Steam,
• Or charged for it.
• And no. I can put my Rift on you and show you a dozen games (and even some non-game demo experiences like this was supposed to be) that will blow you away more than any Hollywood movie or flatspace game you've ever played. Even gen1 VR tech is mind-blowing, especially if you haven't tried it. This was not.
  
  
  It may be a decent "intro to the vibe of Roshar" as it's intended to be, but I can't make a good decision on that due to my position as an original fan. The VR aspect fell short to me as a VR addict; the Stormlight world-building aspect fell short to me as a Sanderfan. 
  
  Doing my best to contrast those feelings to give a stand-alone opinion is tough, but even then its plain to see they lacked a lot of polish you expect (read: need) in VR, simply because a poorly-done experience has multiplied negative effects: nausea, first-impression bias establishment, notions that the platform as a whole is to blame, etc.
  And as a Stormlight experience the liberties taken aren't the worst I've seen in an adaptation, but they cause the whole demo to stumble a bit in its purpose of introducing people to Roshar—especially with the overall cheesiness as @Vissy mentioned making it feel cheap and flimsy, instead of fantastic and epic as Stormlight is supposed to portray.
  
  I've gotten free VR experiences that lacked the four-thousand pages of backstory this thing had and did better in every aspect.
  
  Hate to sound critical on what is technically the first Brandon-based videogame/visual media/vr experience... But it's just not very good. 
  
   

6 hours ago, Vissy said:

"Look at all the glory spren Kaladin, I knew you were the one"

See, I would be totally okay with a line like that. If it were justified.
It's something you see a lot in video games these days, where they don't take their time to build the anticipation and make your accomplishments feel epic. 
Build the atmosphere, start out weak and lend weight to any achievements, THEN hit me with a "wow" line after you really make me feel like a badass... Such is not the case here.

Thought the Parshendi and the Chasmfiend modeling were pretty cool though. As was the Chull. (And some of the cremlings... Did anyone else bend down and punch them and enjoy the fact that they actually flicked away and then scuttled off? That was a small pleasure.)
 

Woof.

Yeah it's rough.
Both from a fan standpoint and from a standard VR/gamer standpoint.

I absolutely don't know why they thought they could charge $11 for this, especially if it's really "just a demo" as it's claimed to be. But yeah it's rough guys.
 

Okay sure, it's an adaptation, and to a fairly new medium. I'll cut them some slack. But this is pretty dang bad. Do not recommend. Between the VR implementation having issues and it not really being a game... The little things that are off will also irritate your inner fan as well. It's a bad combo that results in a fairly poor (and short, Played 6mins and explored everything) $11 experience for all gamers and Sanderfans.

That said, @Argent if you wanna come by and try it some time, I guess I could resist getting a refund.

 

1 hour ago, Volratho said:

So here is a link to my copy of the audio from the event. I did my best of separating the audio into sections, but I have not done any cleaning up of the audio. I have uploaded the relevant parts to Arcanum already.

Be warned, there are Oathbringer Spoilers in some of the audio files. You have been warned.

11-21-2017 Oathbringer Audio

Awesome.

I'm going through the signing line audio right now (and yes, mine did find a way to screw up again, but not a total loss) but I think yours and others' probably is a better bet, I'll see if I can clean it at all, but anything is probably better than what I got.

It's probably not something needed immensely but I'd like to see an ability for a source-uploader to add a note to their content that Arcanists can see and reference.
Something like when they upload a picture of an answer written in the book they can say "question was: X" or an audio-uploader can relate some info about it, like "5m-7m audio bad due to fire alarm. Mono-track disregard Left Channel" or "Recorder placed on speaker at left-side of stage" or some such.
The communication currently takes a different route through the forums, but having just a quick note/description when uploading sources could see some use.

 

Chapter 39: Notes

All the main cast is sharing information and chatting about the next steps when:

 

Quote

“Navani has been researching them,” Dalinar said.
“We need to go even farther, Uncle,” Jasnah said. “We need to watch the movements of the Voidbringers. Our only hope is to defeat their armies so soundly that even if their leaders are constantly reborn, they lack the manpower to overwhelm us.”

(Emphasis mine)

Should be "further."
Normally I wouldn't be such a pedant, but this is Jasnah we're talking about. If anyone knows the correct usage of farther and further, it'd be her.

Takes a small break from Oathbringer to surface for air

I will be bringing not only my audio equipment but also some additional kits from work (since mine has been proven time and time again to be flaky for WoB purposes.) So long as Anderson's doesn't try and step in and prevent us from recording (again) I can conceivably have a shotgun on Brandon AND one pointed at the front of the table where questioners will be during the signing itself—tempted to add another for noise-cancelling purposes.
Brandon has resisted my attempts to lav him in the past, so a grip of shotguns and an omni-ambient is probably the best we're gonna get—again, assuming Anderson's doesn't try and screw us again—and I can find a place down the table or nearby to set up. Worse comes to worst and I can man it manually and stand with Argent (as he does) near the table the whole time gleaning what I can and pointing it back and forth while monitoring the audio...


That said, the more the merrier! @Argent doesn't like my post-processing methods of reducing background noise and increasing punch, but I've been successful in the past merging @Volratho and I's recordings for best quality before posting it to the WoBinator9000.
Any additional equipment at the event will be welcome (by us, if not Anderson's,) and can only help in pursuing clearer WoBs.

Neither in support or attack of the Aviar theory:

I'd like to point out that there's a few cosmere powers have some form of investiture-sense, and showing up on First of the Sun with such could be enough to instantly realize the value of Aviar—no need to venture further or go find information the old-fashioned way.

21 hours ago, Argent said:

Both are hard, though Isaac didn't have that information (or didn't get it from me). 

So is it common thought that such things with both hard and soft pronunciations ("g", "ch", "c") are written as read or as pronounced?
i.e. "Gene" would have the same "g" as Evgeni or would it use the J glyph?

Or did Isaac just assume your pronunciation? (Or google it) 
 

That's Lit fam

Get it? Cause it's a flame?

The real questions is: How early will Argent be getting in line this time? lol

4 hours ago, thegatorgirl00 said:

I think this sounds more like someone entering the beyond than it does someone worldhopping. Secret History quotes below. 

 

Or perhaps, dying and, instead of the beyond, going to Hell? Going to... Damnation?

 

2 hours ago, Blightsong said:

Question:

Shallan seems to have a unique ability to transform those around her into better people, such as Bluth. Is this effect natural or is it a function of her being a Lightweaver? (If yes) Was her drawing of Bluth relevant to this power?

 

Don't forget to try to record the signing line you attend, and have fun! A smartphone does the job well.

This piggybacks off of the manifestation of surges outside of the "powers" themselves theory I touched into yesterday during our discord conversation, @Blightsong
I have this question on my list as well so +1 vote for it!
But I also expand upon it with a "Kaladin draws people to him and, in the case of Bridge 4 and his spear squads especially, seems to form them together into strong groups. Does this play into the fact that windrunner squire groups are so large and is it an effect of their interaction with gravitation and adhesion: the the forces of nature relating to bringing things together and binding them?"

It's all pointed at pinning down Radiant Resonances and the cross-effect of their surges both with Stormlight-fueled powers and how the surges and personalities interact. I'll be bringing it up on the OB tour as well, so if we don't get an in-depth answer here, no worries, @Lurcher, the Shallan question alone is a strong one with lots of potential.

I think the secondary factor of our conversation—the one that explored the reasons WHY the Heralds are insane—is almost as important as to the manifestations of their insanity, @Argent.

I'll let you expand upon it in public forum if you'd like to here, but if the Heralds' cognitive selves have similar "presence" across the Realms that spren do (as we were discussing the intelligence/sapience leaking into the Physical vs the Cognitive.) then the lack of the bond and their continued existence on the Physical well beyond their "allotted time" could deteriorate their minds further and further the longer they "stay."
If their "selves" are/were as bonded to their attributes (mini-intents, as I say) as we assume in the foundation of this obsession theory, then it would make sense that their insanity towards or away from those attributes is related.

As a mind is diminished (or deteriorates) in the Physical, only they strong links remain—as we see in the Nahel Bond spren who manifest as "dumbspren" but latch onto their attributes and then grow along that bond to bring more of their mind to bear. The Heralds are the exact opposite—they are losing their mind and devolving towards less and less sane minds with only their Divine Attributes strong enough to continue to leak through... In this case as imprinted "broad strokes" on their deteriorating minds, manifesting in obsessions either for or against.

7 minutes ago, Steeldancer said:

I've looked everywhere in the way of kings. It's anything but blatant. Everything about renarin is hidden. 

EVERYWHERE?

 

Since this got resurrected, I'll chime in with a new view on the locomotion:

@GoodM You've probably seen or actually played Lone Echo/Echo Arena and experienced their locomotion systems. I think something could be used inside Mistborn to great effect and align with the lore of Steel/Iron while avoiding nausea. If you use their mechanic of push/pull and have Steel/Iron take the place of the thrusters, you could mimic their movement and justify it by "throwing coins" when a player pushes a direction. Similarly, being able to "grab" a blue line and pull yourself along with with Iron gives you more utilization and movement options.
Their locomotion is an excellent system, and gives a lot of insight as to what causes nausea and how to avoid it. The fact that Mistborn has in-canon justifications for midair pushing and pulling gives you some options to explore in implementation.

Good luck with real life and work! Looking forward to seeing any and all progress you're willing to commit to this! 


Sidenote: If it's built in Unity it can be run as a standalone on either Oculus or Vive, it just depends if the dev implements control schemes for both setups or if you have to run it through a middle-man like reVive or FakeVive.

Quote

    “Now, we understand that the Ardentia draws many sorts to its ranks, and we certainly don’t care where you came from—so long as you profess faith in the Almighty’s teachings…” The rotund little man turned to Sambion, letting his words hang in the air with the implied question. When the tall Obligator made no response, he pushed his spectacles up his nose and continued walking, prattling on.
    Sambion tuned out his words and kept his eyes forward, doing his best to ignore the ardent. Roshar was… Alive. It was a thunderous echo in his mind, and even with thick walls of stone between him and the highstorm, he could feel it.
    The investiture on this planet was immense, and the way it raged across the land freely… Sambion shook his head, amazed and stunned at what he felt. This was the power of a Shard. One of the most powerful entities in existence. Responsible for creating entire planets and peoples. His people, no less. That had come as quite a shock to him, early on. That Preservation and Ruin had created humanity on Scadrial. They had copied from an original species, of course, but that didn’t diminish the fact that he was the result of two ordinary men wielding god-like powers. It was humbling, in a way. And yet…
    And yet, even with the highstorm raging across this world, just a dozen feet from where he stood, he knew that this was the power of a dead god. Even a being as powerful as Honor could be killed. Could be shattered. 

    “—You’ll have to give up any property, of course. You’ll be property yourself, should you pass the training and be accepted into one of the devotaries…” 
“What?” Sambion asked, snapping out of his musings and focusing on the ardent.
“Property. All ardents are, essentially, slaves to their masters.” He said. “It’s a simple matter, and mirrors a greater metaphor of all men serving the Almighty. It also gives the people peace of mind, knowing that something like the Heirocracy can’t happen again—”
    “The Heirocracy? Priests don’t hold governorship here?”
“Of course not!” The little man looked abashed. “After the Sunmaker crushed the corrupt priests of the Hierocracy, Vorinism has… Adapted in order to be able to remain here for the people. And we’re not priests, thank you, we’re Ardents.”
     
    It was an oddity. An abstraction from how Sambion understood culture to function. From his own experience on Scadrial under the Sliver of Infinity, he knew the kind of stability religion granted when allowed to rule. It was something he had come to assume was a universal truth. Religion was designed to unite people, and the best way to do that was to rule. Hallandren not only worshiped their gods, they formed their entire governmental system around them. Shu-Dereth granted Wyrn and his empire a divine right to rule, and even Korathi priests had influence over the politics of Arelon. To hear that not only had Roshar thrown off it’s religious leaders, but owned them as property…

    “You look shocked, Child Sambion. I guess that you are new to Vorinism and its histories. Most come to us after many years of study and contemplation. May I ask what drew you to the Almighty in the first place?”
    Hunger. Power. Hatred. “Curiosity.”
    “Ahh. Yes that’s a common cause to seek faith.” The squat ardent said. “Questions. Questions about your place in the universe, questions about your calling and what the Almighty has in store for you. A common desire…”
    Sambion let the man continue to ramble, but his mind was aflame with the implications. Here, in Alethkar, gods didn’t rule. The leading caste didn’t vie for power with the priests, nor did they feel threatened by a church with too much power. At any time they could cast their ardents out, or even sentence them to die.
    It was ridiculous. It was horrifying. It was brilliant.

    For a man who grew up in a strict religion, he never had questioned that his god was all-powerful. The Lord Ruler was immortal, unquestionable, the Sliver of Infinity. 
    For the last few decades, ever since he had left Scadrial, he had been unable to silence the massive voices of the gods, calling to his bronze from across the cosmere. He had found no exemption, no refuge from them. Their altar was creation itself. To exist was to be under their thumb.
    And yet, here on Roshar it was different. Odium may have killed their god in eras past… But these people had done more than just kill the Almighty. They enslaved it.

    The gears inside Sambion’s mind began to turn, and out of the tumultuous chaos of his revelation a plan began to form.
    He turned to the ardent next to him, a grim smile forming on his gaunt face. “Thank you, Brother. I accept your tutelage. I would be honored to join the Ardentia.”
 

I grow bored at times, and occasionally random lulzy-conversations spark some interest into that boredom.

 

Quote

We always feared a new Desolation.
Even victorious, we knew the enemy wouldn’t sleep forever.
So we trained, and we fought. Preparing.
The Everstorm. The Final Desolation.
But nothing could prepare us for this.
 
 
     “What is going on out there?! Damnation, where are our scouts?!” Dalinar was sweating. The heat in the bunker was almost unbearable with the shutters closed and the close press of bodies. The confusion and stench of fear wasn’t helping. It made people want to run, to flee, to move. They were all trapped, squeezed together while their souls screamed “Run!”
 
    “None have reported back, Brightlord!” An attendant snapped a salute as he rushed up to Dalinar’s war table. Maps and reports were scattered across the surface, but they were few and told little. “We have sent more, with extra guard detail, but…”
    “But what man? Speak!” Dalinar winced as he saw the attendant recoil. He wasn’t usually prone to outbursts or shouting, but the last few days had set him on edge. They were all feeling the strain.
    “We don’t expect much, Brightlord. It’s an absolute mess out there, some men don’t make it more than a few steps before being snatched, others simply disappear into the mists and never return. We have no idea what we’re facing.”
    “What of Adolin? Captain Kaladin?”
    “No news yet sir, we haven’t—”
    “Father!” Renarin’s shout cut through the press of frightened whispers. “Father, err… Brightlord sir! Kaladin has been spotted.” The boy was wearing his Bridge Four uniform, but had abandoned his spectacles. I’ll have to get used to that…
    “Report! What did you see?” Dalinar asked.
    “Glowing in the sky, Fa- Brightlord. There’s not much visibility out there, not with the fog. But he’s up there.”
    “And Adolin?”
    “Coordinating the troops down here, last report has him on one of the adjacent plateaus. Said he had found an old barracks and was using it as a staging area”
    Good, that was good. Dalinar hadn’t been surprised when further exploration of the Shattered Plains—what were once the ruins of Natanatan—had turned up buildings and structures other than the Oathgate buried beneath layers of hardened crem. The old buildings weren’t much to look at, but anything was better than being stuck out in this oppressing heat.
    It was unusually hot. Beyond simply unseasonal for the Frostlands. The fog outside was more like steam than mist, heavy and suffocating.
    “Thank you, Renarin. Keep me posted.” The youth saluted and stepped back, hovering close enough to guard Dalinar, but not enough to get in the way. He knew his place. 
    Dalinar had always wanted his son groomed for battle and leadership, but with the revelation of Renarin’s powers as a Radiant, many things had clicked into place. Both for Dalinar and for his son. Despite his lack of skill with the sword or capability at commanding men, the boy was quickly becoming a man to be respected. A man Dalinar could respect. Training and working with Bridge Four under Captain Kaladin had been a blessing.
    A blessing from a dead god, Dalinar thought. And a useless one if we don’t survive the day. “I need more information. Someone try and catch Kaladin’s attention!”
 
 
 
 
    Kaladin flew above the clouds. True, it wasn’t actually flying. More like falling with style, but it was close enough to flying to feel the same. The wind rushed past him, pulling at his hair and his uniform, a freedom he would never let go of again.
    Syl flew along beside him, little more than a ribbon of light zipping against the blue of the sky. 
    He felt at peace. Now that he was a Windrunner in earnest, he felt like he could be free. Free from the struggles of the earth. Responsibility seemed so much less of a burden now that he was able to leap into the sky and cast off the shackles of gravity.
    But peace was not why he was up here.
    He was searching for the enemy. Searching for the source of the stifling heat and the thick fog that covered the Shattered Plains. He was searching for what had snatched men from the ground and plucked them into the sky. Something was up here, in his sky. And whatever it was it would have to answer to him.

    It had been hours since the fog descended upon the Shattered Plains, rolling in like a stormwall from the Origin. The scouting parties still helping with the move from the warcamps to Urithiru had reported it alongside a scalding heatwave, and Dalinar has sent a battalion to investigate. That battalion has included the Highprince himself and a detachment of his guard.
    Kaladin was irritated at the command, he had meant to leave for Hearthstone that morning, trying to warn his family before the Evertstorm hit them. But he obeyed, and not just because Syl showed deference to the Bondsmith.
    “I don’t see anything up here, whatever it is must be hiding in the fog.”
    “It’s not that deep Kaladin. The shadow we saw…” Syl said.
    The shadow. Whatever had taken those men had been enormous. All Kaladin has seen was a shape silhouetted in the mists before the shouts and screams began.
    “I’m not sure what we saw, Syl. That’s why we’re up here, if we can find—”
    Something breached the fog-layer beneath him, a massive shape rising from the mist with a sudden burst of speed.
    Kaladin lashed himself backwards, stopping in the air to prevent himself from crashing into the thing. “What in Damnation is that?! It looks like…”
    Carapace. It was the carapace of a giant greatshell. Judging by the curve of the ridges and the size of the armored plates it was easily ten or twenty times larger than a chasmfiend.
    Kaladin watched it rise from the fog, stunned. It trailed threads of mist as it emerged, and it kept coming. By the time the spiked ridges of the creature’s arrow-shaped head broke through the mist, the bulk of its revealed body was already seven hundred feet long. Massive claws trailed behind it in the air, and it’s long, sinuous body was studded with hundreds of tiny legs.
    Too small to support the mass of something that large, vestigial? Kaladin’s thoughts came unbidden, shock at the sight of this mind-numbing foe forcing aside rational thought and letting his inner surgeon ramble.

    The creature rose to Kaladin’s level, and he could see the dull, milky-white eyes set into the head. Blind as well? No. A third eyelid pulled back, revealing the deep-green pupil as it focused on him.
    A deep rumble echoed in Kaladin’s chest, a thrumming that seemed to resonate in his mind rather than through his ears.
    YOU HAVE TRANSGRESSED, CHILD OF HONOR.
    The words pressed upon his mind, like how Syl’s did when she spoke to him as a shardblade. It reminded him of the Stormfather’s voice, but even when he had killed Syl it had paled compared to the scorn he felt now.
    “I don’t like this Kaladin. There’s something… wrong with that greatshell.” Syl said.
    “You mean other than the fact that it’s enormous, flying, and can talk?!” Kaladin felt the panic rising in his voice. He took a deep swallow, trying to calm his nerves.
    “Yes aside from that. It’s spren are all… odd…”
    YOUR PRIDE AND YOUR GREED HAVE OFFENDED THE BALANCE. YOU HAVE WRITTEN YOUR OWN DOWNFALL.
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Kaladin shouted, mentally preparing for Syl to become a spear. Just in case. “What are you? Why are you attacking us?”
    The deep rumble paused. WE ARE WHAT YOU STRIVE TO BE. WE ARE THE PINNACLE. WE ARE THE CHOSEN OF THE SKY. YOU HELD SUCH PROMISE. BUT NOW YOU WILL NEVER KNOW THE STARS.
    “What have we done? I’ve never even heard of your kind until you attacked us!”
    YOU CALL US FIENDS. BUT YOU ARE THE MONSTERS. YOU SLAUGHTER US WITHOUT PAUSE. YOU KILL US IN OUR BEDS.
    Kaladin hesitated. Fiends? Were these… Were these the mature chasmfiends?! He couldn’t comprehend it. Not only could chasmfiends grow even larger, but they could fly? How had he never heard of this? Surely some scholar—if any of them were as annoyingly determined as Shallan—would have made this discovery. It just reinforced the fact that there was so much they didn’t know about the Shattered Plains.
    And what was that it said about killing them in their beds? The gemhearts. The Alethi had been watching for chasmfiend chrysalises for almost six years, ruthlessly carving into them to extract the valuable gemhearts.
    “We needed the gemhearts to survive! We use them for food, for shelter from the highstorms!” Even as he spoke Kaladin could feel the emptiness of his words. The Alethi didn’t need the gemhearts. They sought them for profit, for glory, for petty competition.
    THE LISTENERS USED US FOR SURVIVAL. EVEN OF THE VOID THEIR HONOR ECLIPSES YOUR OWN. YOUR KIND HAVE STRAYED FROM THEIR INTENT. 
 
    “We…” Kaladin tried to come up with an argument, a reason why this creature shouldn’t wipe them out with impunity. “We didn’t know…”
    IGNORANCE IS NOT AN EXCUSE FOR GENOCIDE.
    The silence stretched between them, yawning like a great gulf between the massive greatshell and diminutive Windrunner as they hung in the sky.
    “I can’t let you destroy us. I cannot let you tear down everything we have built.” Syl formed as a long spear in his hand, glyphs glowing along the sharpened edges of the spearhead.     He whipped her to the side by the handle, spraying the drops of condensation into the fog below.
    The voice pressed down on him, rumbling almost as if… It was laughing at him!
    YOU ARE AN EYEBLINK. YOUR CULTURE IS A SHORT GASP. EVEN IF THE DESOLATIONS HAD NOT INTERRUPTED YOUR HEARTBEAT, YOU WOULD STILL BE NOTHING.
    “Even if that’s true… I will not let you take it from us.”
    THEN DIE, CHILD OF HONOR. KNOW THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR ACTIONS.
    Kaladin… Syl’s voice came to his mind, sounding worried.
    He gripped the spear in his hand and took a sharp breath, drawing in more Stormlight from the spheres in the pouch on his belt. He burst alight, glowing with power as his body urged him forward.
    Kaladin!
    He leveled the point of his spear at the creature’s arrow-shaped face, trying to ignore the fact that the thing’s mouth was the size of a building.
    Kaladin! Syl’s shout finally drew his attention.
    “What?”
    Look…
    Only then did he finally notice the streaks of light in the sky. Not the cool blue of stormlight wielded by Windrunners, but jets of red and orange, like fire. They were descending from the sky above, dozens of them piercing through the air, tiny at first but growing larger. Too large. There were more. They pushed aside clouds as they descended, coming from… From somewhere above.
    YOU EXIST BECAUSE WE ALLOW IT. AND YOU WILL END BECAUSE WE DEMAND IT. 
    The creatures fell toward him, legs and claws unfurling from cavities in their carapace as the compression waves beneath them faded. These weren’t chasmfiends at all, they were skyfiends.
    No Kaladin. Syl said quietly. They are from out there. Beyond even where you can fly. They are Stellarfiends. With the tiny cry of her voice, the spear in his hands disappeared. He looked towards her, stunned, as she formed into a young woman beside him. The fear on her face sent a cold shiver down his spine.
    And then she fled.
    Watching her ribbon of light streak away, running from the stellarfiends, Kaladin knew that this was a foe unlike any he had faced. Unlike any humanity had ever faced. This was an enemy that caused even an Honorspren—a splinter of a god who has fought Voidbringers and their gods for epochs upon epochs—to flee in terror.
    Kaladin’s eyes grew wide at the realization. This was bigger than Parshendi. Bigger than the Voidbringers. This was bigger than the desolations.
    He took a deep breath of stormlight, and ran. 
    The deep rumble of the stellarfiend’s voice followed him as he streaked away. RUN, CHILD OF HONOR. BUT THERE WILL BE NO QUARTER. WE ARE OF CULTIVATION, BUT YOUR KIND HAS TAUGHT US HATE. 
 

On 6/7/2017 at 6:22 PM, Oversleep said:

Nope, he's not.

WELL FINE THEN!

Lol, I wish I had an eidetic copy of the WoBs... Would make posting so much easier.
Even if false, some of the references were misleading. And we DO know that Isasik is named after Isaac, even if Nazh is Isaac's actual character.

I'm thinking Isasik, Dalinar's Ardent cartographer is also Nazh. There's little behind it except that Nazh's map in the book is a copy of the one Shallan makes on the Shattered Plains, and that Nazh is Isaac's character and Isasik is named after himas well.

Just based on the tone used in the map commentary, it feels right.

It's nowhere near perfect, true. But it's also just a theory of mine, only based on currently-available info.

The fact that the epigraph kinda says that Ishi/Bondsmiths created and "enforce" the Oaths lends credence I didn't even initially think about. 
Sure the Parshendi don't have a nahel bond, but there is some kind of bond between them and spren. The theory relies on, naturally, the currently unexpounded-upon Bondsmith powers and that they can affect spren and the cognitive and bonds overall in some way.


But it *makes sense* otherwise. Most theories are based on logically-researched evidence, but I'll admit this initially cropped up for me based on literary and character evidence, the rational was built backwards from that (I know! Finding evidence to fit an argument! Scientific faux-pas!) 
You realize/find out that there is no such thing as peace by force. If your army exists, the other will always come back. The only way to stop the mutually-cyclical apocalyptic battles is to get rid of both sides? That sounds exactly like the type of play an honorable man would make.
Much better to live in a de-militarized peace than in constant combat.

X-post from my comment on your reddit post:

 

I see the Melishi epigraph as a whole, where all of it is required to understand it.

"Solve the voidbringer problem" we know was solved by creating parshmen.
"Related to the herald's divine duties" of which we know they must leave Roshar and go to Damnation to stop the Desolation (stop Odium+Voidbringers from being around on Roshar). It's speculated that the heralds have some kind of link to the enemy, and that they appear on Roshar together. This is mirrored in:
And we know that the parshendi/shin/ghostbloods/Sons'o'Honor were all focused on the Voidbringers returning, and that the return of the spren and Radiants is linked to it.

Bondsmiths abilities (I'm speculating) have to do with the nahel bond itself. Supporting evidence being in that we know the Stormfather is the figurative "father" of honorspren, and that it does have some influence over Syl's bonding of Kal. But also, we know the Radiants broke their bonds, "killed" their spren, and abandoned humanity.
This is what I see that epigraph pointing towards. The Heralds keep Odium away by locking all of them in Damnation (Braize) together. The Bondsmiths killed the nahel-bonds of the Knights (the Recreance) so that the Voidbringers would ALSO lose their spren-bond, thus becoming the "songless" parshmen.

The quote @duladen posted above supports this as well, as it could be argued that it's meaning is that the Bondsmiths created/maintain the *Oaths of the Immortal Words* for all ten orders.


The bondsmiths broke the bonds of Spren on Roshar. And killed off the Knights—and the Voidbringers.


 

The Hoid passage has always given me pause, it's obvious that there's reference to the Shattering, and the long-held theory that Hoid is attempting to "recombine" the pieces (shards) [though this hints at him trying to recombine Adonalsium into something different than the original]—I keep circling around the literal meaning hidden in plain sight: "Adonalsium" being a word composed of pieces of other words. So far this has gotten me nowhere though, as there is far too many references it could be. But I don't see it being connected here.

@GoodM
Yeah, so you know better than anyone how devs across the board at all stills trying to find the best locomotion methods to prevent nausea. The fact that you have the ability to push/pull as a Mistborn MIGHT give you the option to look into some weird movement-methods that would be "weird" in a game without those powers. 
Keeping it small so you're only push/pulling on objects lighter than a person still gives you a ton of gameplay opportunities though. I can already picture the puzzles you could do with steel/iron and their blue lines.

Good luck!