Quiver

A problem I've been getting a few times, on different computers; I can't seem to up vote people. I click the button, the timer appears, vanishes and nothing changes. It hasn't been happening all the time, but it's often enough I thought I should bring it up.

, confounding Odium with

Urgh. So overdramatic. Come on, Kobold King, no need to be such a Ham about it.

Who would be interested in a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic RPG? Wait, come back! At least let me try to sell it to you before you leave the topic! Okay, for starters, this isn't a sign-up sheet or a deadline; it's just a call to see if anyone would be interested. Since watching MLP, I've gotten kind of curious about the Brony fandom. I've also had a growing interest in table top RPG's for a while now... so the fact that some fans overlap those areas and have made rules for running MLP-based games kind of interests me. I'm still learning the ropes and the rules of the systems (there are a number of them, and I'm kind of jumping between them; more info below), so even if there is a strong cry from you guys for this, I wouldn't be doing it for a while. I just thought I should check if there is any interest or players here, since this is the forum I spend most of my time. So, on to (what I assume will be) FAQ's My Little Pony? Really? Yes! Why? Why not? What is it? The show tends to be a slice-of-life series, with an emphasis on character pieces and development. Every episode ends with the characters (the mane 6) writing a letter to their mentor explaining the lessons they've learned about friendship that week. *gag* Don't knock it until you try it! The characters are surprisingly relatable for a children's show. So the game is more story-driven, like MAG? I think so. The systems I've seen try to replicate the feeling of the show, so there is an emphasis on character creation and development. But what kind of story is it? Like I said, a lot of the systems seem to try and replicate the feeling of the show. So, some suggested missions include your characters being left foalsitting, taking fillies out trick-or-treating on Nightmare Night... *gag* battling the goddess of the moon... Wait, WHAT? Yeah! While the majority of episodes are slice-of-life episodes around an ordinary problem, the setting of Equestria actually has plot hooks (and the games enough leniency) to allow you to do an actual fantasy epic, if that's what you want. Off-hand, there's been references to a war between the sisters who control the Sun and the Moon, a dragon-god of Chaos, an empire of mentally dominated slaveponies, and more. In fact, I've seen variants suggested which would allow you to adapt Equestria for a Steampunk setting, a Cyberpunk setting and a Fallout-inspired nuclear wasteland. Given the attitudes of players, it doesn't seem too hard to make a campaign setting of grimdark political intrigue, or high adventure, or just mundane tasks. Unlike a traditional fantasy RPG, which is pretty solidly defined as "fantasy" and "quest", most of the MLP systems I've seen appear broad enough to accomodate any players creativity, while still remaining true to the good morals proposed in the show. So... that's my pitch. Is anyone here interested in giving a PonyCampaign a try, and if so, what sort of campaign would you be interested in playing? Epic fantasy? Pulpy adventure? Ponies vs Cthullu?

I'm reading the latest chapter you posted now, so I'll edit this with something whenever I'm done. EDIT And it's nitpicking, but I'm commenting on diferent things as I work through it. I'll put the interrogation thoughts here though; these are just random factoids which popped out at me for one reason or another, but that don't warrant a whole paragraph of critique. So, aside from minor word choices, I liked it. For criticism, I'd say that Eanalit appeared a bit wordier than I would have expected at first, given the situation and her role as a warrior, though that is just playing into my own steretypical notions of that sort of character. Maybe try and add a bit more to the emotions to the scene? Until Tavril jumped off the horse, I'd forgotten he was there. You have some of it at the end, with his considering the monster before him, then reversing the opinion... so maybe set some of that up earlier. What does he think of Risim's manner? Does he think it's fair retribution, or does it scare him a bit? Then how is that changed whenever he starts to feel more sympathetic to Eanalit?

Mailliw75 A Game of Shards Thoughts? EDIT I was too busy retyping, color-coding etcetera to check if anyone had posted after me. I'm going to edit them together,so if someone could delete the above post, that would be great.

I think he mentioned that he refered to a book that involved the various magic systems coming together as a Conflux book, but I don't think he said he was, definitely, going to write it. Anyway, I hope 36 doesn't become a hard-rule for Brandon. I'd hate to be denied further Nalthis stories just because he only has, say, three books left and has to get Space Mistborn done. (Besides, if 16 is such an important number, he should really round on up to 48, right? More books, please Brandon!)

That leads to Rosharans declaring "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possible imagine" before they get run through with a Shardblade, won't it?

"Winds of Winter Release date?" *reads* ...Lightflame! You have failed this forum! [/Arrow-voice] I bet Hoid would be confused as all damnation on the Disc though.

May not be relevant but- is the term Desolation is a general, cosmere term for what's happening, or a specific Rosharan one?

Green Arrow and the Question. The League is filling up nicely. (Sorry for the thread derailment though- that'll teach me to respond to something when I can barely read.)

I am far too tired. I just spent five minutes staring at this and trying to work out what it had to do with DC Comics lol.

Random thought. Odium is on Braize. Now, we've always believed Cultivation is on Roshar, but could she just be in the solar system? Could she have invested a star and become the sun? The sun is such a necessary part of life, it seems easy to fulfill the intent of Cultivation by being one...

Journey before Destination, I see. Welcome to the cosmere!

It sounds... unlikely to me. Returning seems to be a reflection of how someone see's themselves, and even that is only within a certain range limit. I can't imagine someone dying and Returning as a Weapon to begin with, and changing themselves into a sword sounds even more of an extreme change than anything we've seen so far. After all, Vasher might see himself as a scrawny, rugged vagabond... but that's still a human form. I can't imagine someone being able to convince themselves "I am a Shardblade" enough to make an actual change.

Zahel is an interesting suggestion. Do we have Word of Brandon that all the Ars Arcanum are written by the same person?

Okay, so... I'm going to be replying to this, like, now. Hopefully. (I may have to stop halfway, but if I do, I'll edit the rest in later). This first point isn't related to the rest of the session, but...again, I'm glad for the short summary at the top of the session. After the WoR-induced hiatus, it provides a pretty handy reminder of events. Scene One While the intro helped, given that this is starting almost literally mid-blow, I maybe should have re-read session #31 first. It's another of those times when reading it once completed will probably help me enjoy it more in the future. It was also a little jarring to go back into this present-tense, head-hopping style, but that's only because I spent the last two weeks in Roshar. Now, saying that, there were certain points of this which did stand out to me; the almost-slip of the tongue in describing Sherman for instance. (And if you guys are at the point where you have to correct yourselves when using the word hostages, you may be getting too many.) I also liked how the tables turned in the fight scene. It's nice to see the heroes on the defence now and again. I'm also curious about what's going on with Miranda- again, it might be the break I took from reading this, but that plot development with the scientists was very surprising to me. Unfortunately, since this is a movie with giant monsters, science can only end poorly. Scene Two Oh Eleanor. Do I need to reiterate how much I enjoy seeing you guys use diplomacy to get out of situations? Because I do. And I like the slight reversal you pulled, with Eleanor convincing them to start shooting, overruling the objections, ready to start shooting... and then recruits them. Well, reversal isn't the right word, but you know what I mean. And I start to feel a little sorry for the scientists. Seiko is usually so calm that hearing him snarl, even at a somewhat-friendly gibe from Sylvie is rather telling. Scene Three Seems to have had it's title typoed to scene four. Unless that's another of these secret scenes we aren't supposed to know yet? Scene Four And here comes the tension. For Miranda... honestly, at first I wasn't sure if the Capacitor thing was a joke to a reference (the only thing I could think of was the flux capacitor from back to the future) but the rest of the scene makes me think otherwise. Same thing goes for Sherman. I had been assuming that he had snuck on board to meet the Marshall in a non-confrontational setting, but the fact that he didn't, and didn't even know she was there, raises a lot of questions. Scene fiVe Oh dear. Yes, more tension. The fact that some scientists ran away from their giant electromagnetic gun tells us pretty early on that this is not going to be pretty.Though it does make me wonder what effect, precisely, a giant electromagnetic field would have on a kaiju... kinda worried that the Scroungers are about to be in the middle of a kaiju homing beacon. And I was wondering what was going on with the billionairess. Scene Six Oh, so what was going on was her out of her mind. damnation. That was... risky. One complaint I have to say, I wish you could have phrased the success of it a little better; for some reason, I just don't like this line: Besides that though, it's a good moment. Again, it's not... diplomacy, per se, but it does end the fight in a way other than fighting. And the reactions of everyone around Katie are kind of funny, which is good levity considering the catharsis of the reunion with Mike. And the Breach. Hehehe... Scene Seven hehehehehe... Okay, so... the Breach. This sounds bad, in the worst possible way. I have to say I'm really, really interested in how this is affecting Miranda, and how it might effect her standing in the Assembly going forward; messing with the Breach equiptment and stopping their gods from getting through sounds like the sort of thing that would cement her as the anti-Christ to them, but... Well, it might be wrong-headed speculation, since I haven't seen the film. But for some reason, I can kind of picture some cultists actually deciding "Hey, she looked into heaven! That's way better than looking a nuke, let's follow her!" An Assembly sized Schism would be fun. Scene Eight Like Mira, I was wondering where fiVe had gotten to and this is... Okay, I've said before, in earlier scenes, how much I enjoy the stream of conciousness, broken pronouns etcetera that happen when fiVe glitches, so from a purely technical standpoint, I like that again here. It's maybe even better here just because so much information is being processed. It comes across as it sounds- completely overwhelming, contradictory and fragmented. So I appreciate the scene, and enjoy it. But it makes me sad. Poor fiVe. Scene Nine And then I feel comedy for Katie's new reputation. And adorable for Katie and Zhu. Sydney Scroungers! A roller coaster of feels with every session! More constructively, I did think it was funny how fast Katie's reputation spreads. It's unlikely, I know, but I hope that this has consequances down the line. It might be a bit absurd for people to connect her with 'that crazy grenade-wielding maniac' a while back, but I hope Eleanor doesn't et her forget because, as she points out, what Katie did was pretty much completely insane. As for Zhu... awww. It's been building to this sort of moment for a while now (yes, even though I think they kissed in an interlude before?); Rachael appearing in a dirty, ripped up dress, and admitting to being terrified of something, again, humanises her, and it helps seal the relationship, and why she would love Katie, more than the knight in leather quip does. The moments before were always flirtatious, or deniable, but I think this seems like a big, crystallising turning point in their relationship, so I'm going to be very curious as to how things proceed from here. If Zhu dies before this act is over, I WILL have my vengeance. Scene Ten This has nothing to do with anything other than the fact they are related scientists, but I don't suppose those two are based on/references to/something else of the Luteces from Bioshock Infinite, are they? Could I get a Word of Gavin on that? Beyond that, I couldn't help but notice the way Liz's smile was described; it sounds a lot like Eleanor's. I don't think it's meant to imply any kind of connection between them, but... it does certainly seem to vndicate all my earlier statements about El's smile making her seem scary. (And Miranda just couldn't go one mission without getting hostages, could she? Lol) Scene Eleven Huh. Well, that was anti-climactic. Which I mean in the best possible way; after all the running and gunning to get to this point, it's oddly satisfying to have Peralta drop the mic and tell the team to not let the door hit them on the way out. It was certainly unexpected; I'll have to re-read these sessions, but Peralta's declaration that he's so anti-kaiju took me a little by surprise, possible because after the Breach I was expecting the Assembly to be involved. It's nice to see some extremism on the other side, too; it means that the Scroungers aren't the good guys because they aren't giant lizard overlords or cult members, they are the good guys because they have some concept of restraint and morality. Scene Twelve And... aside from the romantic roundup, and joking about the fact that this adventure has ended with the characters looting the ship, I don't have too much to say about this section. There's been a lot of questions raised though, and I have looking forward to the next scene (or the next session) to see some answer, like Zhu's reaction to Sherman, what his information is and who, exactly, Peralta was working with.

Thanks for the responses so far guys; this is a topic I find really interesting, and I do hope gets explored in a Word of Brandon if not in-book. I meant the first one. Suppose I was born a man, but always identified as female; would that cognitive aspect be enough to, with the help of magic, turn me into a woman. One thing that has occurred to me that might make this difficult is how sex and gender are divided into the various realms. I would have thought of someone's sex as being a physical attribute, whereas gender identity would be cognitive or spiritual. Would the fact that humans (like sticks) exist mostly in the physical realm make it more difficult to 'persuade' the body to change? As for how relevant this is... Spren exist from the cognitive realm, correct? How does that relate the gender? Most of the spren of Roshar are just grouoped together as Windspren, Rainspren, etc with no gender pronoun applied to them. But then we have others such as Syl, Pattern or Wyndle who are described with gender pronouns... and the fact that the Stormfather calls Syl his daughter as opposed to just a child might be significant to the disucssion somehow?

Do we have confirmation that the dragon is directing the 17th Shard? Yes, Hoid refers to them as 'your friends' in his letter, but I always thought that that was a tad sarcastic; that the Dragon is a neutral party in the conflict, rather than actively supporting one side or the other.

It's a letter from a dragon! Okay so... We don't know what sort of a dragon it is, or even what the word dragon translates out to in the cosmere- and I wonder if it's significant that no Shardworld we've seen has examples of the Shards trying to create dragons the way they did humans- but still! A giant dragon, writing a giant letter with a giant pen at a giant desk! Oh, and I was calling it the Second Letter, but the Response is probably better.

Now that I see the quote, Darknesses line about returning desolations to this world sounds significant. We know that he is aware of at least one other Shardworld (Nalthis). The only other location where Odium has shattered Shards is Sel, and there we had the Reod. Maybe the Everstorm is the form the Desolation takes on Roshar, while other worlds have different equivalents? The Deepness wasn't caused by Odium, but it might be an example of a Desolation-level event on Scadrial.

I wouldn't worry about it Khyrindor. At least you Returned here eventually.

Disclaimer: First of all, I don't expect trouble- you guys have always struck me as measured and mature when it comes to debates- but I thought I'd best mention this as a re-enforcement: This is a sensitive topic, dealing with a real-world issue. As such, personal opinions, views etcetera aside, be respectful, and keep on topic. (And, as a bit of self-interested motives, if anyone has any information related to the issue of transgender, I would love if you could PM me a link- it's an issue I'm interested in, but am woefully ignorant of) Now, on to the topic: would it be possible for someone using soul-stamps to change their sex? Shai is able to change the windows because she says they remember what they used to look like; similarly, Shallan found it difficult to persuade the stick or boat to change because of their cognitive aspects. Shai's essence marks are described as changing her physical and mental states; Shaizan doesn't know how to create soul stamps, the scholar has information which Shai doesn't, and the beggar form causes Shai to become emaciated and lose her hair. Would it be possible for Shai to apply an essence mark to turn herself into a man? On the opposite side of things, suppose there is a man who wants to be a woman and who identifies as a woman. Would that attitude make it easier for their body to be persuaded to change to match her cognitive state? We have examples in Way of Kings of bodies being turned into inanimate substances, but would the precision required to change a person's physical sex be far too complex for a soulcaster or a soulstamp?

There's a comment on the Coppermind relating the Worldbr/singers to Hoid, but it doesn't have any citations. I think I also remember a WoB saying that there was some sort of a connection between Ati(the aon) and Ati(the shard). I think the most obvious answer is that these are Yolenese languages- a similarity between them would explain why worldhoppers like Hoid and Zahel don't seem to have any trouble communicating across worlds. I kind of like the idea of Shards unconciously influencing the planets, since that might affect how languages would develop on those worlds, and if all the Shards come from a common homeworld, it would be reasonable to expect the words to be similar. But it still makes me wonder how atium came to be named after Ati. Atium and Lerasium are both the physical components of their respective Shards, and I believe the tears of Edgil are connected to Endowment some way, but I can't see how they (or the other focuses) would be named after the Shardholders, unless it was by concious design.

One point- do we know if the survival Shard has the Intent on Survival? I always assumed that it's a shard which wants to survive AS A GOAL, but which has a different Intent. Actually, one of my theories about Bavadin is that he's the survival Shard; Hoid's letter seems to suggest Bavadin and Rayse are working (or at least have worked) together, and extracting a promise that he won't be Splintered by Odium might be a good way to getting a Shardic henchman.