Quiver

Well, this is an idea that I;ve had for a bit, but never really posted. I've told a few people about it though, so... why not? So, the setting is a planet that I haven't actually named yet, with a vaguely Celtic feeling to it. There's two aspects to it; the real (human) world, and the fae (Elf) world, which can be best described as being like Tir Na Nog (or the usual urban fantasy "tworlds existing side by side" cliche). The "real" world is home to two main races; humanity, and the dwarves. Humans are tribalistic, existing mostly in clans and owing fealty to different lords. Dwarves live underground- at least according to humanity. According to dwarves, however, they live inside a dragon-god. Their religion and culture is based around the idea that the world is the body of a dragon, and they are it's children. This means that they view humanity, living on the surface and digging into the earth to extract minerals or plant crops, basically as parasites, like flies or carrion. This ends up resulting in them declaring war- a war which they are winning (for rasons detailed below). In desperation, humanity turns to the elves for help. They respond by coming into the human world, and winning the war for humanity.. which is where the problems start. The war was ignited by the awakening of the dwarven dragon god's spirit, and the first thing it did upon waking up was declare war of it's own; it ended up roasting the human gods and destroying all of them. This left something of a problem. When the god of the harvest dies, crops stop growing. When the god of fertility dies, you don't have any new livestock - or new people, for that matter. Humanity may have won the war, but their facing a slow, grinding march to extinction, so they turn to the elves for help. The elves respond by laughing, telling them where they can stick it, and hightailing it back to their paradise world with the dwarves (and a sizeable selection of huamnity) as slaves. As they flee, however, one human tribe manages to seize of the Elves magical artifacts- a cauldron, which never runs out of food, intended to be used for armies on the march. When the story begins, that tribe of humanity has effectively become the de facto rulers thanks to that trinket... but it's not a glamorous rule. No new children means the population is aging, and it becomes more and more difficult to get supplies or even just adapt to this new status quo. Basically, picture Battlestar Galatica as a fantasy story, and you get the idea I'm going with for this storyline. On the other side of the worlds, however, the elves are living it up. Standard fae time-dilation stuff means that far longer is passing on their side than does in the real world; enough so that the humans they brought over have lived, bred, and died enough times that the current generation regards them as Gods. I haven't figure out exactly what I want to do there- a "murder" investigation, maybe, mixed with a slave revolt-, but... yeah, that's what I have so far as loose ideas go.

Can I just go on record as saying I really, really want to see Koloss characters in the second trilogy, if not in the rest of the Wax and Wayne set? Because I really want to see a Koloss character. Until now they've been villains or henchmen; it'd be interesting to see how they've changed since then. I remember the Koloss being a huge threat in the original series, whereas the Wax adventures didn't seem to suggest they were as terrifying as they once were, so... Yeah, I want to see more Koloss.

Isn't that pretty much what Christopher Tolkien has been doing for years?

Random question for those who know more than me about realmantics. Would it be possible for someone (like Hoid) to awaken or Soulcast the godmetals (like, say, a lerasium bead)? Would the cognitive aspect of a lerasoum bead see itself as lerasium? Would it view itself as a part of Leras? Or would it be too heavily invested (being a part of a shard and all) so other investiture wouldn't work on it?

So, despite my...frustrations at the Health service, I do have some good news. Thefirst of which is that I am now a paid member of society, with my own job and everything! The other story I just read about Bob Kane which is very satisfying, and kind of shows there is some justice in the world. Let me tell you about Bob Kane. He's the guy who created Batman. He was also kind of a terrible person. See, during the superhero craze, he had an idea, to ape Supermans success. He had a name, and an image and a costume: the Bat-Man. A blonde haired dude in a red cape with superpowers. An artist and co-creator of Kane's named Bill Finger threw that out and started over, creating a more Gothic character; an ordinary man, who dressed in black, driven the tragedy of having lost his parents as a child, a man who would adopt an orphan and fight mad clowns. Bill Finger basically created Batman, and his name isn't on any of it. Thats because Kane was...a good businessman. To put it politely. He snagged a contracts with DC which established him as sole creator of Batman and spent decades downplaying Fingers contributions- by which I mean claiming he invented all of it. From what I read, he eventually Finger had a role to play and deserved to be on the creator tag. He just waited until Finger died in obscurity before he said it. When Kane died, his headstone acknowledged GOD as co-creator of Batman, for providing him with divine inspiration. Finger is still not on creator tags. Why is this a good story, you ask? Because the article detailing it linked to an interview with Jim Steranko. He recalled meeting Kane at a convention, where he detailed his being responsible for Batman and said goodbye by tapping Steranko in the face. The next morning, Steranko hunted Kane down, and slapped him in return. Kane didn't respond. After reading how much of a jerk he was, hearing a story Luke that made me laugh.

So. Let me get this straight, UK government. You were given a report a year ago, stressing the urgent need for meningitis B vaccines for children. In that time, at least one baby has caught meningitis, and had her life placed in such jepordy that doctors had to amputate all of her limbs and her nose. You still have not got the vaccines, or have plans to introduce them, because the company you negotiate with "needs to be reasonable". About money. You are not buying life-savibg vacinations- for babies- because you can't agree on a price tag. If I've misread the situation someone, please, tell me. Because right now, I see two options: Either the government is too tight fisted to pay for life-saving medicine for babies. Or companies are jacking up the prices on life-saving medicines for babies. I mean...for storms sake. I get there is a budget- I get that, in spite of everything, the health services is stressed and finds it hard to cope. But not buying medicine for babies? In the same time frame that bankers and politicians get bonuses and pay rises? I am incoherent with rage right now. I thought hearing that the US government couldn't pass a bill to protect victims of human trafficking would be the lowpoint of my political knowledge this week. How do we live in a world where that's not the case?

I don't have the words to sum up my feelings on this- if a figure like Terry Pratchett can be "summed up" to any justice. So I'm going to use his words instead.

I prefer the old ending. As others have said, I didn't get the diea that Kaladin killed Szeth in anger; it's been a while since I read WoR, I'll admit, but after his confrontation with Moash and reuniting with Syl, I actually thought Kaladin was more at peace in that moment than we'd seen him before, and I actually thought it was a pretty big twist that he killed Szeth. True, he came back... but so far as anyone in-world knows, Kaladin killed the Assassin in White. That's a pretty big deal. Granted... it's more-or-less the same here. There isn't any reasonable reason for Dalinar and company to think an un-powered Szeth survived the Highstorm, so his reappearance can still be shocking... but it changes the tone of it a little. There's a maxim in comics, that if you don't see the body the character isn't dead, and Brandon already has a "There was no body" death in Eshonai. Furthermore... I don't like the reasoning that Kaladin spared him. The idea that it was pity; following his notes about how Tolkien changed LotR, that part reads- to me- as being far too much Bilbo/Gollum. Since Szeth is going to be a Skybreaker- or at least Nale's version of one- it's pretty safe to say he'll have a role in how the series ends up. Having him live for the exact same reason Billbo let Gollum live is a bit too heavy-handed for my liking.

Except that then Kaladin changed his mind on that, and defended Elhokar from Moash, at great personal cost, and was rewarded for it. This might just be a personal hang-up of mine, and I'm being too hard on the character... but so far, Kaladin has always, in the end, done the "right" thing, where right means "by the morality and logic of the book". Added to some of his feats, like pulling off the Last Clap in a combat situation against someone who is at least a competent fighter... As I say, I like some things about Kaladin, but there is a part of me that worries he's a bit too good at stuff. But this isn't really the thread for that discussion, so... sorry for the derailing!

Welcome! So... quick question. Is your name pronounced A-May-Zon, or Amazon? As in the Greek myth, Wonder Woman type. Welcome either way, of course, just wondering because it will bother me otherwise.

Hey, welcome! Do you want a po- ...Wait. Your name is what? (But yes, welcome!)

This is Brandon's story; if he feels the need to change it, or thinks something needs tinkering to line up better with future events, then he's free to do so. He mentioned the Hobbit, but (unlike Tolkien), Brandon doesn't have a "convenient" place in Stormlight to reveal that the events we saw were wrong, so going back and re-correcting and republishing the book to amend that is the only way he could do it. I guess there is a little bit of a concern that this could become a "thing" with future releases, but (as has been mentioned in this thread by someone who I cna't remember), this is the first time Brandon has made such a change in all of the books he's done. If it does become "a thing", and he starts changing endings of multiple books... Well, at that point it becomes problematic. But not really before, though I do totally understand people's concerns about it. I'm on this site- obviously- so I don't feel any need to rush out and buy replacement copies or anything... but I can understand how it might bug people. ...On the other hand... I'm not very fond of the changed ending. I've said elsewhere that sometimes Kaladin can really rub the wrong way as a character. His killing Szeth was something I was fine with, because... well, it was an action that made sense to me. I didn't expect him to be grappling in future books with the fact he killed a man; he was a soldier in Amaram's army. He knows what it is to fight and kill people. Having his big on-panel killing retcon'd out though... hat bothers me. In some ways, I find Kaladin a bit too... perfect. Which I realize is a strange comment to make, considering he's bad-tempered and somewhat racist. I need to get around to making a Kaladin post/commentary, but my point is that... As with Amaram being revealed to, in fact. be evil, Kaladin now hasn't killed a main character. It's still early in the Archive, true, but I want Kaladin to be wrong at some point. As is, I kind of get the feeling that Brandon wants everything he does to be the "right" decision, which I find kind of annoying. EDIT For the record, I'm not commenting, either way, or whether or not Kaladin killing Szeth was good, evil, in keeping with the windruners, or whatever. But, given his background as a soldier, we can assume he's killed people who were trying to kill his people- we even saw that with Heleran. The idea that he would kill Szeth (because Szeth is a threat to "his" people, like Dalinar) isn't particularly far-fetched to me.

I need to do a Sandereread, I think. Anyway, it might not exactly be an answer, but I think I remember getting the impression that Stormlight could become addictive. Kaladin usually has a steady supply of charged gems on him, but whenever he lost his connection with Syl, he became sluggish and unable to really do things the way he did before. It might not be what Syl means by "dangerous amounts" of Stormlight, but Kal does seem to like holding a little bit in as much as possible. We'll probably see any potential side-effects of it in Szeth next book, though.

Yeah, Storm light. I hoped the pony reference might distract but oh well. Kobold got it.

A reclusive loner and their familiar must endure a series of humiliating trials before confronting an evil that has returned after thousands of years, while the loners companions discover the magic that come from friendship. At the same time, a butcher decides to put his band back together for a mission from God, and the sidekick of a superhero/vigilante turns to theft.

Return of the Jedi?

Peons! The talented and creative Quiver has produced amazing fan fiction! More seriously... yeah, leaving it here because it's pony-related, ad I figured if anyone was interested in it, they'd probably check this thread eventually lol. It also -hopefully- covers the debt I owe to Kobold for him bringing this thread back from the dead before. So... um... yes. Hope you guys don't object to my self-promotion. If your interested in reading things, let me know and I'll PM you a link or something.

Question about the EU, if you don't mind: Are pre-Original trilogy books still canon? I admit, I didn't keep up with the series; there were too many released by the time I started reading, and I never got them in order, so I just never bothered. But... I find th Clone War period fascinating. I'd pick up books on that era of histoy, if I knew it wasn't just going to be wiped out in a year or so. (Any recommendations on Clone War novels, by the way?)

Not yet. Also, consider his another vote for King of the Kobolds as the highest rank. And my own amusement that my computer thinks thats mispelled and wants to replace it with "King of the Cuckolds".

The Sword of Truth?

I'm working on something at the moment, which doesn't quite fit with this theme unfortunately. On the plus side,I should finish it this week, so I might find time to work on this one. Kind of have a story in mind that suits this theme... It involves unicorns. And knights.

Wierd thing, dunno if it's just my computer or some strange forum settings. I tried posting a topic with an acronym as part of the topic title- MMOIPWAR- but for some reason, when I post it, it's automatically changed to normal Capital M small case everything else. Is it just me, or... what? EDIT Er.. ignore the title I had. I was testing the caps lock thing by using HUH and seeing what happened.

I see White and Gold. The link Moogle has changes it to blue/black, but considering that's messing with the color settings and stuff, I don't know how much to believe it. I have seen pictures of it as Blue/Black though. Either way, that dress is weird. My new head canon is that the Parshendi murdered Gavilar because they disagreed on the color this thing was.

Ashiok is handling this months prompt; I'll edit it in as soon as possible... but I might not be about for a couple of days. I trust you guys can redirect people to March's comment if you need ot. best of luck everyone!

If you wroe anything for February- or stumbled across this thread and have an awesomely appropriate topic for it- post them hear! Otherwise, if you want to talk, discuss and critique, check out the usual place. Prompt provided by TwilyghtSansSparkles "Happy Valentine's Day! To take your mind off the flowers and candy, write about a character navigating a non-romantic relationship."