18th Shard

I love the parallelism between Lita and the Stranger in this one, it says so much with the title. Beautiful job!

The scene I had with Xanas planned has him as the Stranger with a black mask with a silver eye patch, so that sounds great. I think @kenod could probably chip in on how Aylitha (the Mother of Monsters) might be depicted. I don't know that anyone would dress as the Counter of Time, but just in case, @Voidus how would one make a Metronome mask? (I know it is impossible to get anything quite so powerful as the Almighty Metronome, but...)

Of course!

I will agree that they look majority white, but there are a couple who don't look white to me - they look more Indian.

https://www.brandonsanderson.com/way-of-kings-kickstarter-bridge-four-poster-reveal/ What does everyone think?

Kandra are simply mistwraiths that have been given Spikes, which remove a Cognitive and Spiritual blockage that prevents them from being sentient. Physically, the only difference is a pair of spikes.

I think it is evident from the above annotation that both koloss and kandra are human, Spiritually and Cognitively (albeit with some disabilities/blockage). Physically, of course, they are their own thing. That being said, I would suspect from that fact, in addition to the fact he uses the word 'breed', that mistwraiths and koloss, at least post-Catacendre, mate sexually. The exact mechanics of how that mating occurs physically are neither revealed (or interesting or necessary to me). Kandra/mistwraiths do have genders, though that is subject to their own manipulation (at least by kandra).

The Shannara series also has some of this going on in it, but a lot of the technology is framed as magical to most characters. I would look at the Jerle Shannara series in particular.

I wouldn't say that means he was human. I read that as more of a RAFO.

Maybe just go with Denizens?

I think you could have it as originally the masks started as a representation of characters in creation myth, which expanded to a Halloween-like masks/costumes of literally everything in the cosmere - but the original mythological masks are the classic symbols of the holiday, and so they are more common overall. Probably an adapted version of this mythos:

I like the idea that in the original timeline, it was at a different time of year or wasn't celebrated the same way, and the Stranger tweaked it for his own poetic irony (and of course for ours).

I think there has to be The Storyteller (Hoid reference) in there too.

I like the idea of a Carnival-like holiday with people wearing masks/disguises - that might help with getting some interactions going. Perhaps more like the Roman Saturnalia, which might fit the theme of all the changes in this era (in Saturnalia, there was a lot of reversals in role and customs, with servants being served by masters, employees and servants being given free speech to criticize the actions of their leaders without repercussion, and some illegal activities, such as gambling, were allowed. They would also elect a King of Fools.)

I think it would be good to have events going that allow the different guilds to interact (whether that be competitively or unified). Maybe something like the Into the Dark plotline this era, where guilds are trying to get access to a resource, but without the stabilizing that happened this era because the DA is no longer so overly dominant. Then you would have guilds trying to get access to it, guilds trying to bargain for or steal resources, with alliances forming and shifting based on needs.

I think here in the US, it is generally recognized that there isn't really anything you can do to avoid all potential contamination. Go to the grocery store - someone had to stock the shelves, and other people have to go to the same store. Fast food drive-through? Someone has to prepare the food. Get mail? There is a delivery man or woman involved. Any door to a public place is a potential hazard, so unless someone has over a month's supply of all the food and toiletries they need, they are going to risk exposure to the virus. But if you quarantine yourself as much as possible, you minimize that risk. If Brandon knows neither he nor his staff have gone anywhere else, they do increase chances of exposure, but only among each other - and from what I have been told, if they have completely quarantined for two weeks without symptoms, then you can assume generally that you are not contagious. I'd be less worried about Team Sanderson getting sick from each other and more worried about them getting sick from their grocerer.

Just for some context for less intense WoT fans, that 37 means she would just barely make it to being as Aes Sedai, but would be one of the weakest in the Tower.

@SingingMosaic I will edit this in a second once I have made sure it works, but I believe to spoiler text, you can use the following code: open square bracket spoiler close square bracket ( like this without the period [.spoiler] ) at the beginning. Then put the text you want hidden in the spoiler box, then the same code at the end with a slash in front of the word spoiler (like this without the period [./spoiler] ). Nesting the open spoiler and close spoiler code will create layered spoiler boxes - one inside the other. Test text below:

I am going to put the smaller changes to his skills in red above. With those changes, he is still about 50 high in Investiture. Because of the weakness, his Elsecaller abilities will be severely restricted since he can't use his Surges hardly at all without blacking out for an hour. Because of this, with the exception of him having a Blade, his power output is probably between a 2nd and 3rd Ideal Radiant - to compare him with Jasnah, who is probably 3rd or 4th ideal, he could only Soulcast one person, Soulcast enough to take out one Fused, or make a few stairs, before blacking out, compared to Jasnah's easy dealing with a whole gang of thugs in Kharbranth, Soulcasting oil, stone, or fire to take out the Fused, or repair an entire wall (with a lot of Stormlight). If we rated his Radiant-ness and the weakness together to average halfway between a 2nd Ideal and a 3rd Ideal Radiant (110 and 160 respectively), then his rating would be around this: Total: 135 (I) + 60 (S) -45 (W) = 150 (Weaknesses being the anti-sociality, combat ineptitude, and his oaths) I'd prefer to have him be a 4th Ideal Radiant for character reasons (I've shown his blade before and he's several millennia old - so it would seem a little weird for him to have not eventually sworn more oaths), but I think the above weakness would counteract any power increase between ideals. I think it would be interesting to watch him, used to throwing around far more power than he now has getting used to his new limitations.

I was thinking the vision/power drains occurring for no reason would become increasingly common, but maybe starting at once or twice a day. Maybe to make it more effective, it's also correlated with power usage, so a major Soulcasting/Elsecalling (a human-sized mass/farther than a mile) or use of more than one medallion/spike than his normal two for more than 15 or so minutes will trigger an 'episode'. If he's using a medallion or spike, etc. at the time, they are drained of Investiture and turn grey. Could I get a rating on Xanas (the Era 5 one) to see where he is lining up? Here's his info again.

Here are updated character sheets (yes, plural) for Xanas for next era. If one of the mods could take a look at the new timeline Xanas and approve him - he is a little over the normal power level, but it is what I would expect if the discussed changes to the timeline apply. Name: Xanas Khaevarin (alias Sanax) – Era 4/5 Character – Exists as an aberration in the new timeline and will therefore go by his alias Name: Xanas Khaevarin – Era 5 Character – This is the Xanas native to the new timeline. He will go by Xanas during Era 5.

While this discussion may be pertinent later on, it really has no bearing on the original topic as discussed above, and maybe should just get its own topic or Q&A question. In the future, please use the edit function instead of double- or triple-posting. Thanks!

Well, technically, Atium is an external metal, so it has nothing to do with your own future self (you never see your own shadow). And aluminum does not purge you of unwanted investiture - it purges you of most active and even some passive investitures, regardless of whether you want them or not.