Aether

Storming troll!

I didn't find that too problematic. Balefire had been clearly explained, so it was obvious that this was a real (and likely) possibility. Kaladin will cleanse Odium by filtering him through Cultivation. He will then revert back to his original state of Slight Annoyance.

Wait, we could name our own rank? In that case: Aether, Dark Lord of Lists and Odious Waffles.

I wanna compile a List of the different Rosharan (humanoid) races and their physiology. *goes and puts on the "to do" List*

He could easily mean, not that we've seen Rosharan's in earlier works, but that we've (in Stormlight Archive itself) seen several that will show up later. We should look or them in the Mistborn Adventures series (currently only the Alloy of Law), though, as it happens sometime after the events of the first SA arc.

I just want to make waffles. Hateful ones.

Word.

This is basically the opening of Kingdoms of Amalur, which was an amazingly mediocre game, btw, which could have been so much better.

I have also considered this, and while I think there would be a huge back-lash if he did, it really does fit his writing style. Mistborn was originally brain-stormed as a "what if the dark lord won?" scenario, and he has always held that "every villain is the hero of his own story". It would be amazingly interesting if it now turns out that he is trying his hand at writing the story of a hero succumbing to his own demons, showing us his inner thoughts and machinations along the way.

Wow. You've convinced me. Shallan/Kaladin way more interesting than Shallan/Adolin. And other than that pretty empty compliment, you make some amazingly astute observations and a heck of a lot of good points. Kudos, really! I consider it an honour to give you your first up-vote. EDIT: And your second one. I bullied my friend into giving you one.

I laughed hard at some of those And I fully expect us to see some breaking down of the traditional Vorin values in Stones Unhallowed. Maybe not overturn them completely, but I think part of Shallan's arc will be her search for identity within her new role, much as her arc in Words of Radiance was her search for confidence and self-insight.

There is a WoB somewhere that states that planets (=Shardworlds) have souls as well. Surgebinding (or any high Investiture magic system) could be responsible for causing cracks in the planets' souls, allowing foreign Investiture (read: Desolations) to enter. Now, someone will likely now point out this particular WoB: This, together with the fact that Taravangian (IIRC) apparently seems to think that it was Taln's stubbornness that prevented a desolation to happen for the last 4'500 years, makes it seem like it is indeed the Heralds' fortitude that determines when a Desolation occurs. But these are not mutually exclusive: While a Herald's breaking point might trigger the desolations, Surgebinding (=use of Investiture) might be the reason for how they are able to occur in the first place. I feel like there is more to the Recreance than the Radiance just realising that they were powerful and capable of corruption (and I am not entirely sure they are corruptible (in the traditional sense) in the first place). That they realised that their powers might be dangerous to Roshar itself seems like a better candidate, but I am still not convinced. I expect Brandon to make this "wicked thing of eminence" quite spectacular indeed.

Actually, in terms of Cosmere knowledge, I would recommend reading the Emperor's Soul, and I think most people here would agree with me if they think about it. It doesn't give much knowledge about the Cosmere itself and Shards, but it gives perhaps the straightest and most easily understood explanation of the Cosmere's Metaphysics (Realmatics). Plus it is short and in my opinion his best written work yet (followed closely by the Stormlight Archive series). It technically happens after Elantris, but it contains no spoilers for it at all. Other than that, I agree (mostly) with the others. The Way of Kings and the Words of Radiance are to date the most Cosmere and Realmatics heavy books we have, but much of it will only be properly understood after having read a bunch of the other books, and you'll miss the marvellously cool Easter-Eggs if do not read the others first (one or two of them in particular will make you really confused if you haven't read the other books). So summa summarum, recommended reading-list: (the Alloy of Law (I would recommend the next one, but since you just finished Mistborn, you might get the most out of it now)) the Emperor's Soul (seriously, start with this one. It is wonderful) Warbreaker (click here for the free PDF-file from Brandon's web-site) or Elantris Elantris or Warbreaker. The Stormlight Archive. Spice with Shadows for Silence in the Forest of Hell and the Alloy of Law (if you didn't read it already). I started with the Stormlight Archive myself, which is by far the best and greatest of his series, but I would have gotten a lot more out of it if I had read the other books first. The Cosmere heavy elements just made me throw myself at his others books, much as you are doing now. Lastly, if you ever feel frustrated about lack of knowledge or understanding of Cosmeric elements, there is always the Coppermind, our wikia. Fair warning, though, it is through with spoilers.

The cabbage man! EDIT: No, wait. Wrong series.

I have always assumed that to be the case, but since we do not know why the Blades are wet to begin with, I do not think this observation tells us much more than we already know.

For you.

Oh good, our Mistress of Cutlery switches allegiances! I want to sow chaos and discord as much as the next fellow, but I want to be able to do it while making sniggeringly evil Waffles as well.

Good point.

Szeth's Honourblade?

I would posit that Attack on Titan is at or around Helsing's level of violence. Though the latter is a bit more... artsy... about it.

This is not a bad idea. I would not use this as a main argument, though. It might work to counter the Spam bots more efficiently, but I think a tighter account-creation security might do that even better. In my opinion, it would be well to appoint a mod (or two) in Europe (and possibly one in Asia as well) to increase the times moderators are on-line and available. Even though some of you seem to be quite liberal with your sleeping schedule (along with one or two night-owls), there is usually a huge gap in the middle of the day CET where no moderators are on-line.

On a side note, what would an Honour + Odium combination make? Righteousness?

I took the liberty of stealing your wonderful name for the List, and I have now re-baptised the original Thread to "Master List of Origins™: the Ultimate Nationality Thread".

Where can I find the Thread? Provide me with a link, and I'll include it in my OP.

This sounds amazingly cool! I would like to point out, however, that Awakening is somewhat of an odd-ball as opposed to a lot of other of Brandon's magic systems. Jumping around with ropes and Awakened capes sounds cool and all, but ideally, I think you would profit from trying to recreate the flexibility of the it in the game. Give the player the possibility of making Lifeless shock-troopers (if they learn the command), to make little straw men that can create distractions, to make traps for pursuing soldiers by running past Awakened carpets or drapes and whatnot. And I think adding Hemalurgy would be really cool, but you should find a way to balance it out, such as making every new Hemalurgic spike (as long as it is in use) put a strain on the player's ability to Awaken, or to warp him/her physically so that he becomes less healthy, or something. There should also be alternative ways of getting Breath, such as buying it (duh!), beating up/convincing commoners to give them away (though alienating them in the process), doing the same for officials with much more Breath, etc.. Hope that helps!