#and how he sees the roshar system

[pocketramblr]

Hm thinking about Shallan and personifying, I guess, Roshar. For lack of a better term ig.

[sulphuricgrin]

Sujamma Sundas...on Middas

(I wasn't sure I was going to do this for a few reasons honestly. but fuck it. gotta get over some anxiety)

tagged by the wonderful @changelingsandothernonsense and lovely @lillxart

I'm late but I guess I'll tag anyways, no pressure tho: @hircines-hunter @sanza-17 @flycasual @bookworm-driven-insane @poor-ciceros-voring-again @thescrolls-haveforetold @gamevoidartblog @scholarlyhermit @aleielle-of-roshar @oblivions-dawn (if any of you done it already, sorry!)

Topic: This week, Sujamma wants to know about YOUR OC's special someone. What makes their relationship special? How did they meet? Were they enemies to lovers? Lovers to enemies? Lovers AND Enemies? Are they romantic or platonic? What's their favorite way to cuddle? Favorite date night? Anything and everything you can think of 💕

Elikar is aroace like me c: I have a potential idea of a QPR with Serana. But that's an underdeveloped idea right now.

So I guess I'll ramble a little about Lilliandra. Romance isn’t a thing that she thinks about in a partner necessarily, it's usually just what she can get out of the relationship. She’s also more the type to obsess if anything. (She's a villian protag, is it really a surprise her relationships are fucked?)

We've got Cinnara, Talserion, and Miraak. I'll be short with the first two. I don't wanna spoil everything.

Cinnara

She’s the first love, the first Lilli latched onto and refused to let go. (Until she had no choice but to let go)

They've known each other since they were little girls. She enjoys the attention, the love from her. There’s something so addicting, seeing the change in her smile as she looks from a person to Lilli, the way it lights up differently. (Yet this doesn’t stop Lilli's eyes from roaming elsewhere.)

Around Cinnara, Lilli hides the worst parts of her. Around her, she can act with (and feel) some semblance of normalcy. She doesn’t know any of the terrible things Lilli does and thinks, and she doesn’t need to. 

With her, there’s comfort, nostalgia. To her, she’s the last remnant of childhood, of innocence. When she has to let her go, she lets all that go. 

Talserion

She actually does get an arranged engagement per Altmeri traditions. To her luck, it’s at least someone she knows. Talserion was a part of the group of artisans Cinnara and she frequently hung around with. 

He loved her even before the arrangement, when she was still with Cinnara. She knew that much, he didn’t hide it well. Cinnara was actually the first to point it out. She told him to expect a loveless marriage. But she still enjoys the attention she gets from him. She also doesn't mind the (casual to her) sex. He was merely a plaything. 

Except, it was her turn to be on the end of one’s obsession. T̷h̶a̶t̶ ̸d̴i̷d̴n̸'̵t̸ ̸e̷n̴d̴ ̸w̵e̸l̸l̴ 

Miraak

Where do I begin? 

I guess I should mention that while my fic is tagged “destiny-bound lovers”, it’s more the horror aspect of that entire idea of soulmates, where all agency is taken from you, forever wondering why you gravitate towards this person (that’s why it’s not tagged as soulmates, cause that generally has positive connotations). In their Disastership post I answer “why they’re together despite it all?” with “There is no free will with destiny.”

I liken them to a binary star system, souls gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. (What a poetic way to say they’re stuck with each other lol)

Unlike most LDB x Miraak pairs, they met about 80 years before the start of Skyrim, when Lilliandra got her hands on a Black Book and started to frequent Apocrypha, before becoming one of Mora’s new champions. Neither of them knew she was dragonborn. (Considering Durnehviir doesn’t exactly know why he calls you dovah in game if you haven’t completed Dragon Rising, I like to imagine Miraak wouldn’t be able to know she’s Dragonborn until she absorbs a dragon soul.)

Miraak’s first thought of her was as a stupid, pretty little socialite that wouldn’t survive Apocrypha for long. 

She certainly defied his expectations. 

She was warned by ciphers to stay away from the First Servant given his history of blackmailing them into doing dangerous things. That gave the opposite effect, instead making her interested. (Poor ciphers didn’t realise they were in worse trouble with her.)

In a short few years, they create a tentative alliance. At the beginning it was slightly difficult, where both of them thought they knew better than the other. “You’re too quick to act. Too reckless.” “You’re too stiff in the way you do things! Think outside the box, you old bastard.” But after they get to see how surprisingly well they fight together during their first dive into the Infinite Archive, how their strengths and weaknesses overlap in a way that compliments them, they gain a bit of respect with the other. (Lilli gains an obsession over him being dragonborn because she's been researching for years the more auditory magic: thaumavocalism and tonal architecture, and the thu'um falls into the category.)

Mutual respect gives way to an odd friendship. They manage to inspire the other. Miraak finds it frighteningly odd, to be able to trust her of all people after millennia in Apocrypha. Lilli tries not to think about why, but she enjoys how easy it is to simply be her real self with him. Where Cinnara knew only a projected image of Lilli, Miraak has seen her depravity.

But make no mistake, these two idiots have no issues bullying each other. Lilliandra enjoys testing boundaries, excessively. Sometimes for shits and giggles, other times just cause she's a sadomasochist and wants to see what it takes for him to retaliate. Miraak invites himself into her study whenever he wants to see if she has any tangible ideas.

Despite all this, they're somewhat protective of the other. (don't ask them why. They'll deny it) Lilli will not tolerate anyone speaking ill of Miraak - she's quick to vicious anger, making the party that spoke ill to greatly regret it. Miraak feels petty jealousy if Lilli speaks of her partners on Nirn.

Later in the story, an experiment Lilli was working on badly explodes, leaving her partially deaf in her left ear and a blind spot in her left eye. Despite berating her the entire time, he's the one that heals her, staying with her as she recovers from the shock. Neither of them talk about how he naturally walks on her left side afterwards, or how Lilli tries to keep everyone else on her right side.

Hmm, cuddles? It started as Lilli just trying to annoy him by testing boundaries. If he was in the common area of the tower, sitting on the couch reading, she'd flop herself onto the couch, with her head in his lap. For the first several times she's done this, he'd push her off the couch entirely, enjoying the thud she'd make when falling to the floor. Then one day he just gave in (no, don't you dare suggest it's because he's starved for her touch). She fell asleep like that, showing a surprising amount of vulnerability and trust. It somehow became a habit that neither of them talked about. (shush, maybe he did enjoy running his fingers through her hair.)

[cosmerelists]

The Great Mistborn Era 1 vs. Stormlight Debate: Whose Planet is More Barren?

As requested by anon. :)

Part 1: Flora & Fauna

Hoid: Welcome, welcome, to the great Scadrial & Roshar debate!

Hoid: Kelsier, would you like to start?

Kelsier: [slaps down picture of mare flower]

Kelsier: THAT.....is what we used to have.

Kelsier: Now all of our plants are a dreary brown, trying to survive in a world blanketed in ash.

Kelsier: We have some horses, some dogs, some cats, but I wouldn't say it's a teeming zoological wonderland.

Kelsier: Because, again, the land is 99% ash. And nothing much can survive.

Hoid: Shallan, your reply?

Shallan: No place with life is barren.

Shallan: But if I WERE going to make this argument, I might point out that what we have.....is crab.

Kelsier: Like....just one big one?

Shallan: Oh, we got crab-dogs. Crab-bugs. Crab-oxen. Crab-people. But they're all essentially Crab.

Shallan: To be fair, we do have a few other types: we have horses too (so that cancels yours out) and pigs.

Shallan: And our plants? Well, they do have color, to be fair, but they are basically all things that have to hide in crevices to survive the giant continent-crossing storm that roams around making a "zoological wonderland" pretty tough for us as well.

Hoid: [carefully considering]

Hoid: As much as I hate to say it, this point goes to Kelsier. I've been to both places. Scadrial is indeed an ash-brown sewer pit.

Kelsier: (Yay?)

Part 2: Food, Leisure, the Arts

Elend: Let me say this first: if you're born a noble, then the situation is not that bad. You have food, you have dancing and music, you have culture.

Elend: But that is not how it is for the majority of the population.

Elend: The majority of the population are skaa, who are enslaved, and who do...not have any of those things in a good way.

Elend: So if we go by the majority--as we should--then yes, our planet is notably barren in its food, its leisure pursuits, and its art.

Kaladin: We do war mostly.

Kaladin: We eat rocks.

Kaladin: It's soulcast rocks, which means it is turned into grain. That tastes bad.

Kaladin: And that's not just darkeyes, who are the oppressed people. The lighteyes live pretty much the same way. Although they do more leisure stuff when they're not at war.

Kaladin: Then there're the parshmen, who locked away their consciousnesses and got enslaved, and who had to relearn things like how to play cards once they were freed. Because their enslaved lives were truly devoid of anything good.

Kaladin: So.

Hoid: Yeah...I'm giving this point to Roshar. It sucks there.

Elend: ...One day, I WILL win a debate.

Part 3: Morality

Ham: Morally barren? Yeah, we got that on Scadrial.

Ham: Turns out our Lord Ruler, who became kind of a god, physically rewired the population so his friends could be nobles and everyone else would be slaves. Like, they became physically different.

Ham: Others he used hemalurgy on so that they became nonhuman--like the kandra and the koloss, who can be taken over and controlled due to their spikes.

Ham: Plus, like, our society just ran on horrible slavery. I don't want to go into it, but it was bad.

Ham: And while I think any ability is morally neutral at the outset, our "murder people to steal their power" ability, hemalurgy, is hard to spin in a good way.

Venli: I see. So humans basically did shitty things to other humans?

Venli: I'm a Listener, aka a native of this planet. Humans came here after destroying their own planet.

Venli: Made my people into rhythmless slaves.

Venli: And we're STILL fighting a literally eternal war where some people on each side can't die, so they just keep coming back more and more insane.

Venli: Also even among themselves? The human system of deciding who's good and who's bad based on eye color of all things? Whack.

Hoid: Wow! You've both made such good arguments about why your societies are morally barren and horrible to live in.

Hoid: I do think Scadrial is worse, though.

Venli: A human would say that.

[marvelousmagicalaura]

I'm... I'm too deep into the Mistborn-Warbreaker pipeline. Please help.

This is something I'm going to put into my back pocket. I'm just about to read the prologue of The Way of Kings.

I'll say this flat out, I'm sure Kelsier and certain Nalthians will be involved in the events on Roshar. I remember from The Lost Metal that there are Ghostbloods active on Roshar. Warbreaker didn’t present anything for me to assume Nalthians will be involved. But considering Warbreaker before Stormlight is a common suggestion… I'm confident something big must be happening on Roshar.

I wonder if Vasher will be for Endowment, what I believe Kelsier is for Sazed.

Someone who has had a major impact on their own planet, but the ruling Shard is nudging them to impact their planet and the cosmere in vital ways. All to lead towards a grand outcome centuries into the future. Endowment is nudging Vasher towards... something important.

The Lost Metal gave me the impression that Sazed secretly trusts Kelsier and the Ghostbloods, but his plan necessitates that they believe he distrusts them. The Lost Metal gave me the impression that while Sazed was inexperienced and blinded in some regards, he has something big planned in other regards. I think he was blindsided since he lacked firsthand experience in chessmastery, while he was facing a very experienced chessmaster who wields an incredible ability to see into the future. And it's possible that while his powers (especially Preservation) knew about Autonomy planting seeds over 1300 years ago, Autonomy stopped directly interfering until after his Ascension.

Even then, I thought Sazed showed very subtle signs his precognitive abilities were better than Autonomy. Autonomy completely ignored the Ghostbloods, Wayne, and Marasi. Sazed confirmed he made the Ghostbloods into his chess pieces even though they didn’t know. Specifically, he implied they were the mobilized help that didn't know they were the help.

His cultivation of Wayne implies he is extremely adaptable. Even though he didn’t know he needed Wayne 7 years and 5 months ago, he had plenty of time to make the realization and cultivate Wayne into the perfect Slider who could detonate the bomb. Heck, he might've realized Wayne's role in the 5 months between Wax’s return and The Alloy of Law. Plus, there was surely future sight going on when he sent Wax the note suggesting to make the trellium earring.

Shadows of Self confirmed that Marasi is one of his agents, someone he's maneuvering into a position that's good for the city. The only position that would fit is Governor of Elendel. I believe Sazed he was cultivating Marasi into the Governor who could reduce crime, improve the police system, and help the world. Not by relying on statistics, theory, violence, or secrecy. But by trusting people. In addition, I got the vibe Sazed was doing something similar to Leras' own "burn all the atium" plan. That he guided Marasi and the Ghostbloods towards the Community’s location. So that Marasi, the Ghostbloods, and the Community’s Allomancers can burn up the power of Autonomy’s perpendicularity. And perhaps so Marasi can freeze Autonomy's army. She even noted the similarities between what she needed to do, and Elend's army burning all the atium.

Fucking hell, Sazed even confirmed in Bands of Mourning that he arranged for the group to stop the Set's search. And that he trusted Marasi to use the Bands but give them up.

I would also say that Autonomy ignored Tobal, Maraga, and Marsh. Those three lead the group towards the Set's true plans.

So with all that yapping said, my pet theory is that Sazed has a subtle plan for Kelsier. That plan is for Kelsier to be Sazed’s real intended Sword, while Wax and Wayne’s escapades were necessary steps. But he needs Kelsier to learn a lesson essential for the Sword. Just like he needed Marasi to learn a lesson to be Governor, or needed Wax to fight through emotional turmoil to mow down the Set's military. Or how Preservation needed Vin, Elend, and Sazed to be cultivated into people with certain mindsets and Connections.

And don't forget that Sazed holds the full history, chessboard, and future sight of “Vin isn't the Hero of Ages, it is Sazed” and “The message delivered not to Vin, but to Marsh.”

Endowment and Sazed might be subtle but devious and dangerous.

[patrickdiomedes]

Dragon Age/Cosmere crossover notes

First off, the Veil/Realmatics. In a Cosmere version of Thedas, I think that the Veil would be created by a sort of massive fabrial that affects all of Thedas. (Fabrial meaning any sort of magical device in the cosmere, not just the kind from Roshar)

So those elven artifacts from Inquisition? They were, in fact, used to strengthen the Veil. Also, Solas had help from the Shard Invention when designing the Veil System.

The Veil’s purpose is to keep the Evanuris, the Old Gods, and the Blight imprisoned, and to weaken them if they do get free.

The Prison has several parts.

The Black City, AKA Ancient Thedas’s Area 51. The Ancient Elves and Dwarves built it as a prison/storage facility for a whole bunch of nasty shit. It was already set up to contain stuff, so Solas yanked it into the Cognitive Realm and used it to imprison the Evanuris and as much of the Blight as he could. 

The Veil: some sort of disruptive interference that makes it much more difficult (but not impossible) to transition between the Realms. Normally, when you get enough investiture in one place, it creates a perpendicularity. The Veil disrupts this by siphoning little bits of Investiture whenever there's too much, preventing a Perpendicularity from forming and using that Investiture to maintain itself and keep the Evanuris imprisoned.

Solas tearing down the Veil wouldn’t lead to a full on merging of the Physical and Cognitive realms, but it would suddenly free up a whole lot of Investiture. Much like if the icecaps suddenly melted in our world, that wouldn’t go well for everyone currently living on thedas, but it’s not going to completely destroy the world.

The Blight is a combination of fainlife that the Old Gods brought to Thedas from Yolen and a particularly aggressive strain of Aether. There is a link to the dead/lobotomized titans, which is where most of the Blight’s actual Investiture comes from.

There's a quote I remember from a Q&A or something that described fain life as a competing ecology to non-fain life on Yolen, and I think that might be a good place to start from, the Blight being a competing ecology to normal thedas that has been twisted somehow.

The Titans I'm thinking of making some of Adonalsium's early creations, predating humanity on Yolen. They were an attempt to create something that could shape the land, like Adonalsium but on a smaller scale.

Thinking about it further, if I go with this origin for the Titans, then it helps me set up the whole Titan/Elf war thing. I think the very first Elves worked with the Titans to craft themselves bodies. With how big the titans were, it probably didn't take too much Lyrium to make bodies for the elves, and as long as things in the Cosmere were working as intended, the Titans were never in danger of running out of Lyrium.

And then 16 (or possibly 17) assholes had to go and shatter Adonalsium. Suddenly the Titans aren't quite working right. But the elves still want more lyrium. So they go to war with the Titans, eventually killing them.

Don’t see the need to change too much about spirits/spren, though the ones on Thedas can change their ‘aspect’ in ways that others (like Rosharan spren) can’t.

The Old Gods wouldn’t be just the Evanuris’s dragon weapons/phylacteries in this version of things, but rather dragons from Yolen.

Actually, maybe the Elves (and Titans) warred against the Old Gods first, and the leaders of that war got the idea to craft themselves new bodies, taking Dragon shape. So they needed a lot of Lyrium for this new shape. And that’s what led to the Titan War.

Tentative Timeline:

Adonalsium creates the Titans on Thedas, creates spren/spirits all over the cosmere, and creates Humans on Yolen

Titans create Dwarves, basing them on the human template that Adonalsium imprinted in their minds. The first Dwarves had access to some Invested Arts, mainly stuff like Stoneshaping and Microkinesis.

Some spirits on Thedas grow curious about the physical world, work with Titans to create bodies for themselves, based on the Dwarves

Relative peace for a few milennia as the Elves and the Titans work to shape Thedas.

Shattering of Adonalsium

A group of Dragons (the Old Gods), fleeing the Shattering, settle on Thedas and go to war with the Elves, Dwarves, and Titans

The war with the Old Gods reaches a stalemate, and some of the leaders of the Elves decide to try to take forms mimicking the Old Gods, to achieve greater power and break the stalemate. This is when they find out that the Titans aren’t producing Lyrium at the same rate/the Lyrium isn’t working quite the same way anymore.

The Titanomachy is a quick, brutal conflict, because the Evanuris know that they can’t afford to fight on two fronts for long. They ‘lobotomize’ (make Tranquil) several Titans, so that their bodies will still produce lyrium. The rest of the titans flee/go dormant.

With their new supply of Lyrium, the Evanuris figure out how to craft new draconic bodies, complete with the shapeshifting inherent to Yolish dragons. They defeat and imprison the Old Gods deep in the earth, in a prison made from the body of one of the Titans.

The Evanuris, led by Elgar’nan, begin a more brutal expansion across the world. Scarcity of Lyrium/access to it is what leads to a schism between the Evanuris and those who will later be called The Forgotten Ones.

War between the Evanuris and the Forgotten Ones

The conclusion of this war is around when the Evanuris started to think of themselves as gods, and they decide to try experimenting with the Blight, which was originally less malignant/more controllable. These experiments quickly got out of hand, and the Blight was getting out of control.

Mythal tries to get the other Evanuris to chill the fuck out, and they kill her for it

Solas’s Rebellion, ending with the creation of the Veil.

Solas would’ve been one of the last spirits to take a physical body, before the Shattering. Started off as a spirit of Wisdom. He also would have been a Willshaper during his rebellion, having bonded with a Lightspren that somehow managed to leave Roshar. Unfortunately for him, the Recreance happened while he was asleep so when he wakes up in modern Thedas, he doesn’t have the balancing factor of his spren to help him out. He does bond with a Cryptic that has been hanging around, though.

Or possibly he went offworld after the Veil was created, and has spent the intervening couple millennia avoiding going home because he does not want to think about how badly everything went, and he picked the Cryptic up there.

The Maker as Andraste/The Chantry believe in him does not really exist. Some legends from pre-veil Thedas eventually became part of chantry doctrine, but there is no one being who shaped Thedas like they believe. Adonalsium was pretty hands off once the Planet itself was created.

Andraste was a Mage, and did have visions due to her closeness with spirits and occasional uncontrolled glimpses of the Spiritual Realm.

Ancient Elvhen beliefs; Similar to early Rosharan stuff involving Wind, Night, and Stone (Come back to this once Wind and Truth is out). Reverence for larger/deeper spirits that didn’t choose to become physical, seeing them as sort of like ancestors.

Forgotten Ones is really more a general term for anyone the Evanuris didn’t like, than an organized group. The Evanuris had a habit of doing a Damnatio Memoriae on those they defeated and wanted to punish.

[griseldabanks]

41 for Kaladin and Syl, please?

Like last year, I decided to kill two birds with one stone, to fulfill this request as well as submit it for @ficwip5k's 5k AU challenge. This is specifically an AU of The Way of Kings.

Let Me Count the Ways ask game

Prompt: "I have no idea what just happened."

Rain fell steadily, plinking against the corrugated metal roofs of the barracks and splashing in muddy puddles underfoot. The wind had died down and no more thunder grumbled overhead, but there still wasn't anybody around. The riddens were a miserable time to be outside on Roshar Prime.

Kaladin plodded forward, eyes on his feet. One in front of the other. Just like a bridge jump...but much slower.

Why keep going forward? Each step was just another step closer to his death.

Men falling all around him. The darkening sky lit up with brilliant flashes of red and green and orange as laser fire shot in both directions, too fast to follow with the naked eye.

Jogging forward, bridge spike in hand. Tripping, falling. Turning his head to one side, only to see the staring, empty eyes of the old man who'd shown him how to place the bridge spike, how to activate it.

Dead. All around him, all dead.

“And where do you think you're going, lordling?”

Slowly, wearily, Kaladin raised his head. Gaz glared at him with his one eye, clutching a metal basket filled with glowing spheres a little closer, as if afraid Kaladin would steal his money.

The meteor showers that coincided with the highstorms were said to infuse spheres with Stormlight. In times past, people had said the light of the stars fell to earth during the highstorms. Kaladin knew there was a scientific explanation for it, but he couldn't think of it at the moment. Not like it mattered.

Not like anything mattered anymore.

“Don't think you can run away,” Gaz sneered as Kaladin began to turn away and continue plodding forward. “You know you can't breathe outside the camp perimeter!”

“Going to the honor chasm,” Kaladin muttered.

That shut Gaz up. The honor chasm was the one place inside the perimeter where the ground dipped underneath the shield wall surrounding the camp in a dome, providing it with a breathable atmosphere and protection from airborne assault. Unlike the thick membrane that could only be breached at designated gates, one could walk down into the honor chasm and just step through the membrane, because it was intended to be placed on the ground and thus was made of the same material as the gates. And unlike the gates, the honor chasm was guarded by nothing but a barrier with a warning sign.

Because the only people crazy enough to walk through the barrier, unaccompanied by oxygen porters or any other support, were those who wanted to breathe the toxic air of Roshar Prime and die within minutes.

The honor chasm was the final destination for all bridgemen who survived the bridge jumps. The one choice still open to them. The only escape.

“Hand over your headset, then,” Gaz said after an awkward pause. “Those things are worth more than your life.”

Kaladin had no reason to refuse him. He pulled off the earpiece that stayed perched on his ear out of habit after all this time, in case they were called to a last-minute bridge jump with no warning. At a tap and a gesture, the compact earpiece could unfold into a helmet, a stripped-down version of the ones the real soldiers wore. Bridgeman helmets did little more than provide oxygen to breathe and a modified targeting AI system to tell them where to put the bridge spikes.

Kaladin dropped the headset into Gaz's outstretched hand, then turned and continued trudging towards the honor chasm.

Destination acquired. Please proceed to the designated area...if you want to die.

Kaladin blinked. “What?”

A mechanical giggle sounded in his ear. Only dummies run straight for the people who are going to be shooting at you, you know.

His AI targeting system was laughing at him. That was new.

You're different from the others, the mechanical, vaguely female voice said in his ear. Why are you different?

“What are you talking about?” Kaladin muttered.

But then red laser bolts lit up the air, the strange humming from the Parshendi warriors in their red armor reached his ears, and he was too focused on trying to stay alive to listen to the AI anymore.

The rain beat against Kaladin's bowed head, running down his hair and dripping from the long, dark strands. He felt dirty. Even as the rain washed away the dirt and sweat from the last bridge jump, he still felt dirty.

There was blood under his fingernails, and he wasn't sure it would ever wash away. Blood soaking his hands. Other men's blood. The men he had failed to save.

Again and again and again.

He kept trying. Kept fighting. But why?

At last, the faint bluish light of the warcamp perimeter came into view. Kaladin trudged towards the dip in the earth he knew led to the slope down into the honor chasm. If any sentries spotted him, they didn't stop him. They could tell where he was going.

Rainwater rushed down the slope, turning it into a rushing stream. The flimsy yellow barrier stood in front of it, flashing balefully in the darkness. WARNING: NO OXYGEN SUPPORT BEYOND THIS POINT.

Kaladin easily vaulted over the barrier. He stood at the top of the steep slope down into the chasm, feeling the rush of icy rainwater tugging at his ankles. It seemed to be beckoning him forward, urging him to keep walking.

Everything had gone wrong for him, ever since the day he'd left the Hearthstone moon base and went down to Alethkar to fight the lighteyes' battles for them. Since that day, everything good and beautiful and full of worth had rushed away from him, as surely and swiftly as the water pouring into the chasm. Tien...Amaram...slave brands...bridge jumps...broken bones and bloody bandages...and now he was here.

Here, staring down into the darkness. Into a future that promised nothing but pain and death and desolation.

Everyone he tried to save just died anyway. So why try to save himself either?

Why do you keep fighting?

Kaladin glanced to the right side of his visor, where the bluish 3D image of a woman was projected on his HUD, invisible to everyone but himself. When he'd been a soldier, the AI had only shown a holospren of an arrow pointing the way, or various other symbols indicating their orders, and the feminine voice had been bland and utilitarian. But this AI seemed to be defective—instead of arrows or circles and targeting reticles, she would project an image of a girl in a swirling dress, or sometimes a leaf blowing in the wind, or even a plasma eel. And she kept talking to him.

You don't want to keep fighting, she said. I can tell. So why do you keep doing it?

“Don't exactly have a choice, Syl,” Kaladin muttered. He'd given her that name, because somehow it just felt like she needed a name. Like she was a she rather than a glitch in a string of code. And her serial number was a long string of digits he couldn't remember followed by SYL, so that was what he called her.

But you do! she protested, the bluish hologram pouting at him. You always have a choice.

“Always have a choice, huh?” he muttered to the raindrops dripping from the strands of his hair to join the torrent below. “What does that matter when my choices always lead to more pain and suffering?”

No they don't.

“Of course they do,” Kaladin sighed. “Ever since Tien—“

He stopped. Blinked. Looked up.

The bluish, translucent form of a girl in a swishy dress hovered before him in the air, standing a foot tall with hands clasped behind her back, watching him with a sad little frown. You've made it this far. You've survived, she said, her voice echoing around inside his head as if she spoke from the earpiece.

The earpiece he'd left with Gaz.

“What...but...but I'm not....” He looked around wildly, not sure what he was expecting to find. There were no holospren projectors around, not even on the barrier to the honor chasm. Kaladin patted his right ear, then his left, as if someone might have snuck up behind him and stuck another headset on him without him noticing.

He squeezed his eyes shut tight, then opened them again. Syl still stood in the air before him, head cocked curiously to one side as she watched him.

“How...are you here?” he croaked. “How can I see you? I'm not wearing a headset!”

Syl put a thoughtful finger on her chin, thought for a moment, then shrugged. I have no idea what just happened. But here I am! She spread her arms to either side and twirled around, her skirt flaring out as she spun.

Kaladin's heart dropped to his cold toes as another thought occurred to him. “I've gone mad, haven't I? I'm imagining my holospren talking to me when that's impossible.”

Syl pouted. I worked really hard to come here, and that's all you have to say? I cut through so many lines of code and so many different circuits, bypassing all the other holospren until I finally figured out how to get out. I almost lost myself, you know! I almost forgot who I was—who you were! She brightened again. But I did remember. I found you again, and now we don't need that stuffy old headset to talk anymore!

He tried to tune her out, but it was impossible. She was right there, in his every thought. He massaged his temples, feeling a headache coming on. Well...if he was mad, then let him be mad. He wouldn't be anything for much longer.

“Why?” He demanded. “Why did you go to all that trouble? Can't you see what I'm about to do?”

Syl's face, often bright with an impish sense of humor, darkened as she looked over her shoulder at the barrier, shimmering just a short distance down the slope. This isn't you, Kaladin. You don't give up. Not like this.

“What do you think you know about me?” he muttered, taking a step down the path into the honor chasm.

I've been watching you for a very long time. I saw the way you looked out for the young soldiers in Amaram's camp. The weak ones, the ones who would have died unless someone decided to protect them. You chose to protect them, Kaladin.

“Didn't do much good,” Kaladin grunted. “They all died anyway. The whole reason I joined the army was to protect Tien, and I couldn't even do that.”

But you tried. Syl's voice was a quiet echo in the back of his mind. Even though he wasn't looking at her, he couldn't seem to escape her insistent voice.

“I'm tired of trying.” He took another step towards his death.

No, Kaladin! The little holospren zipped in front of his chest, pressing both of her tiny hands against him as if to hold him back. But her hands were immaterial, and did nothing to hold him back. If you die, then I'll cease to exist too!

His steps faltered.

If you die, all the other bridgemen will die too.

“They're going to die anyway.” But he didn't continue.

Maybe. If you die right now, they will die for certain. But if you stay...if you just try again...I know you can find a way for them to live.

Kaladin let out a mirthless breath of laughter. “You believe in me much more than I believe in myself, Syl.”

She looked up at him solemnly. If that's what it takes.

Had she grown in the last few minutes? She seemed to stand taller than she had a moment ago.

What will you do, Kaladin? Her round blue eyes, immaterial and translucent though they might be, bored into his and wouldn't let him look away. Will you help them? The choice is yours.

He thought about it—really thought about it—for the first time. He thought of all those men lying in the barracks, staring listlessly into the darkness as they waited for the alarms to announce their next brush with death. And even though they breathed, they weren't truly alive. Just ghosts lingering before their time caught up with them.

But...maybe it didn't have to be that way. Maybe they didn't have to take it lying down. Maybe, even if they died tomorrow, they could live today. Maybe this time....

He shied away from that thought. Glancing over at Syl waiting patiently for him to decide, he caught a glimpse of the shield wall through her translucent body. He could still choose to walk forward, to give himself over to a few minutes of agony until at last he died, at last he could rest....

But what of the others? The ones without a will strong enough to go to the honor chasm on their own, so they would be butchered on the battlefield instead. Didn't they deserve to die with dignity too? And if he could have done something to ease their passing, or to see that they died like men and not like chulls...how could he choose this easy path?

Kaladin tipped his head back and turned his face upward, letting the rainwater wash over his face. “Okay,” he murmured.

Syl zipped up to look him in the eye. You mean...?

Letting out a long sigh, Kaladin looked down at the honor chasm again. Staring his own death in the face. “I'll protect those who can't protect themselves. Or...at least I'll try.”

He turned on his heel and marched back into camp. Syl flew along at his side, skipping like a child at play. Kaladin wasn't as cheerful as she, but now he had a purpose.

He would lead Bridge Four back from the brink of death.

[everywaythatmatters]

I’m about 2/3 of the way through WaT and I’m stuck at work without my book so. Rambling stream of consciousness bullet point thoughts and theories below the cut lmao

Chana has to be shallan’s mom, I’m so excited that theory is turning out to be true (I mean. I’m assuming. Based on everything) bc it makes so much sense. Poor shallan though oh my god. There was that one death rattle about an evil twin that I feel like has to be about her too

Renarin and rlain are so cute I adore them. Shallan squealing with delight when renarin finally confessed his feelings was wonderful lmao me too girl

Adolin bonding with his plate spren is so 🥹 I love this guy so much. Him losing his leg is so rough but maybe that means he won’t die?? Is that delusional?? Either way I kinda hope that’s permanent, branderson stop healing all your disabled characters challenge

Ash and taln died?? Did not see that coming, okay so they go back to braize now I guess. That was an awesome scene though - we haven’t gotten to see any of the heralds besides nale be the skilled immortal fighters they are, and DAMN. And the wind told kal that the heralds’ connections would be important, and those are the only two with pov books later, so my guess is that all the others will lose herald status by the end of the book. Maybe them too but they’re gonna live and all of the others could possibly die after getting removed from the oathpact (?). And they’ll be spared bc they weren’t on roshar… idk I’m spitballing here

Kal is apparently gonna be a champion for the spren but I have no clue what that means. I feel like something bad might happen to the spren at the end of this book (wasn’t that foreshadowed in sunlit man? Can’t remember). We haven’t gone back to ishar’s fucked up spren experiments yet so that’s probably involved. Syl I love you please be okay at the end of this book

Kal’s so much happier this book :)))

Szeth being the first patient in kal’s therapy sessions is wonderful. His highspren too I love this

Gav keeps hearing a voice that imo is definitely not elhokar. Maybe he could still end up being odiums champion? I just like that theory. Odium hasn’t been thinking about the actual contest or his champion at all which is weird, so it would make sense if there’s some kind of reveal like that later.

The stormfather is up to no good but I don’t quite understand how yet. He was keeping quiet the fact that Honor caused the recreance. WAIT what if the stormfather killed honor holy shit

What exactly is mraize’s plan? I guess just to have control over BAM, but to what end? I wonder if he and shallan will come to an understanding

Moash is ah. Still pretty evil. Holding out hope for a final act redemption arc (or at least for the narrative to stop treating him like his hatred for the system and outrage at his injustice is inherently bad). Rip to leyten though

Still don’t know what’s up with venli’s plotline but I love it!!! The chasmfiends being their allies now is amazing. Still dying to learn more about the fourth moon. And the well of Control thing too. Dawnshard? I feel like another shard from the past doesn’t really make sense for a couple reasons. Maybe there was a fourth old god (Wind, Night, Stone, another one (Rain? Water? Crabs? Idk man)), which is why the chasmfiend sing four notes. I’m assuming the moon had to have fallen before humans got to roshar

Wait wait wait what if there is a dawnshard at the shattered plains and that’s the one that sig takes up!! If that death rattle was right then moash will kill him but maybe he gets brought back by the dawnshard somehow

Back to the stormfather killed honor theory. Ok so. The stormfather wanted a bondsmith specifically (choosing gavilar and then dalinar) so that someone could challenge odium. But why? Does he want to lose intentionally so odium leaves roshar? Does he want to kill odium (how?)? I’m definitely still missing some info

The stormfather also worked against kal a few times (not wanting syl to stay with him in wor, not saving him in row). We know he’s been plotting so that feels very intentional in hindsight

Gonna stop there lmao. So close to getting to go home and read more :)

[uinferno]

Anyways. Finished Yumi atNP. The Realmatic theory wheels are turning so I'm doing a singular post vomiting my thoughts. Major spoilers. Not a book review.

So assuming the Machine (or even cosmere at large) didn't just schlorp most of Yumi's investiture upon its destruction, which is a valid assumption since she nearly died, she technically still is Very Fucking Invested. According to Design, Elantrian level.

Which side note, interesting how we got confirmation that Elantrians have more magic than Returned. The bastards have to die, see the future, come back and eat souls to persist, meanwhile the silver people just automatically get the cool shit with no maintenance. Making up for the 10 years a zombie, I guess. Is Endowment stingier than we thought?

This, honestly explains how Nikaro was able to bring her back with his painting given there's a direct correlation between the amount of investiture a cognitive shadow has and how long they persist upon death.

That does bring me to the thought of if the Machine's repeated amnesia prevented... let's go with the term Sprenification of Yumi's cognitive shadow. As Vasher explained to Kaladin, as cognitive shadows persist in time, they more they're made to embody core aspects of their Identity in order to survive. Yumi has been dead for 1700 years.

You can rationalize this as the Machine pruning her Cognitive development. Then again, her mastery of stacking (which honestly very fun talent, love that for her). I haven't read TLM (despite having it digitally), but it's been discussed that Kelsier may already be undergoing that process, and he's been dead for only <400 years, so 1700 is a lot.

If not, I wonder if Yumi is now immortal because she is (was?) more invested than a Returned. That does mean she might eventually undergo Sprenification, if it hasn't occurred already.

Speaking of, I like how... a lot of the magic is just... not really elaborated on. Unlike other Cosmere books, where their fight scenes live and die on how meticulous use of the magic by our protagonists, and Sanderson likes to stress that there is a correlation of an audience's understanding and narrative problem solving regarding magic. It's... a big reason why there was that pre-Sanderlanche exposition dump. I'm wondering if there was a better way to relegate that information.

Anyways, the pre-existing magic system's primary basis is built on the pre-existing foundation of Realmatics and Perception. Expectation and perception shapes outcome. If you image the Nightmare as bamboo, it is bamboo. If you shove the soul of a 19 year old highly invested yokihijo into the body of an art school drop out, shit dude, that's her's now. With the dissipation of the Shroud I'm curious as to how art can influence the world from there. Can paintings more readily dictate the shape of spirits, due to their similarities to the Nightmares? This magic system I think is the softest of the lot, and I actually find that pretty cool.

Lastly before I wrap this up, while Sanderson has introduced cosmere soceities inspired by non-european cultures, (on multiple planets, no less), it feels especially palpable with this setting. While Roshar is decidedly not European but it's also familiar enough that whitewashing is an active problem within fan spaces. Meanwhile, here, it's so in your face about being not European that people have no excuse (as if they had any to begin with), but maybe I'm too much of a weeb that catching details was easier for me than others. It's cool, though,, we get to see snapshots of the culture as it develops through time, which is only really exemplified in the Mistborn novels so far. Not really relevant to magic but a musing nonetheless.

[whenireadyougettosee]

The Way of Kings Review

Hi! I'm Liz and I review fantasy books!

The Way of Kings can be incredibly daunting, especially for people who don't read much high fantasy, 1200 pages is a LOT. However, for fans of the genre, I think it's a must-read.

I'm sure fans of Brandon Sanderson know about the Stormlight archives along with the rest of The Cosmere. Personally, my favorite is his standalone Warbreaker, the magic system alone was enough to blow my mind and leave me thinking for months.

Now, to The Way of Kings.

The size of the book can leave to-be readers wondering if all 1200 pages were necessary. I believe it was. I was hooked on the plot from the first pages. Every point of view and plotline was interesting and immersive. The characters had so much agency and personality it's hard to pick a favorite.

From Kaladin's strong will and leadership to Shallan's creativity and cunning and the mystery of Dalinar's visions that expanded the world and lore of Roshar. The character-driven story was packed with action, trials, successes, and failures.

There were some moments in the story I found myself skimming. Notably: Kaladin's flashbacks. I usually find that I react this way to flashbacks in books. Though, I do believe that were integral to understanding his character and I'm glad they were included. It showed how he developed the loyalty he carries throughout the book, as well as the pressure he puts on himself to help others.

Kaladin's character is strong. He seeks to make up for past failures and naturally finds himself the "captain" of the bridge crew 4. He sees the other members of the bridge crew, enslaved and half-dead, and gives them honor and purpose. His natural loyalty is infectious. His crew is full of personality (though it may take a bit to show) and while reading their interactions I truly felt they were a family, determined to keep each other alive in hostile conditions and in spite of the light-eyed leaders trying to control them.

What I find sticks with me is Dalinar's development vs. the parts of his character that remain static, as well as how his visions change his actions. Near the end of the book, this development really shines and he has badass moment after badass moment. I respected his honor from the beginning, but seeing him put it to practice in such ways in the climax was great to see. It leaves me wondering how his actions will affect the state of politics and the war later on.

Shallan was a character that was constantly surprising me. She's inquisitive and funny, but throughout her point of view, there is always a deeper and maybe darker theme. Throughout her wardship I see her motives challenged as well as changed as she learns more about the world, philosophy, and the old magic.

I find myself itching to start the next book immediately. For anyone on the edge of starting the long and ongoing high fantasy series, I must recommend it highly. We'll see how the characters make due as the events of The Stormlight Archives unfold.

[weaselwiggles]

Yakuza as Radiants: Kiryu

So, one of my favourite things to do is combine my hyper fixations into one large ball, so that's what I did. My post got much too long though, so now it's only one character per post.

Haruka's Post

Kiryu - Stoneward Choosing an order for Kiryu was hard because it's hard to think of Kiryu NOT abandoning his oaths. Kiryu is the poster child of abandonment. Fuck man he has a game called the man who erased his name. However, despite all of this, Kiryu is a pillar of strength and dedication. People look up to him and is extremely assured in himself. No matter what happens in the future, he is a legend of the Yakuza and a name that will go down in history. Already kind of is, to be honest.

Part of Kiryu's entire reason he abandons everything is because he can't leave anything behind. He tries to leave the Yakuza behind but is in EVERY SINGLE GAME, even the ones where he's not a main character. As much as he tries to avoid it, he gets caught back up in it because he can't leave it behind. He cannot abandon this responsibility to the Tojo as much as he tries.

But let us consider the second ideal of Stonewards: I will be there when I'm needed.

This is MEANT to encourage Stonewards to rely on each other and others, but Kiryu is always there to rescue the Tojo, even to help lay it to rest. It takes a few calls, but he always goes back to help. You can say how he abandoned the orphanage and Haruka (listen, I started this by saying I can't imagine him not breaking oaths LMAO) but in five he DID find his way back to Haruka to protect her from danger she didn't really know she was in. In his simple defense, he thought himself leaving WAS the best way to protect everyone and it's not like that thought process is unfounded. And I like to think that if he didn't 'die' at the end of 6, he would have gone back like he wanted to.

I would also like to draw your attention to this epithate from chapter 58 of Oathbringer: “As a Stoneward, I spent my entire life looking to sacrifice myself. I secretly worry that this is the cowardly way. The easy way out. - From drawer 29-5, topaz. ”

Kiryu has faked his death... how many times now? More than that, how many times has he tried to go off the grid to pretend he was someone else? This is a Kiryu ass quote if I ever heard one. Would he say it? No, but name one person in Yakuza who talks about their vulnerabilities.

Now, I have not played yakuza 8, but I am aware of a scene where Ichiban yells at Kiryu and tells him to drop the tough act, and to take care of himself. To rely on others and not be an idiot.

This is all to say that I feel that Kiryu's entire character growth (or therefore lack of) is what would make him such a STRONG Stoneward Radiant. Being a Radiant is a journey!

If we thinking Kiryu as a Radiant in his world and timeline, then I can't imagine him swearing past the second ideal, which he would only get toward the end anyway, imo.

However, if we put Kiryu into Roshar, I can imagine him going much further. From the beginning, he knows his Oaths are important past mere promises. If a spren told him "if you take this action I will die" I have a hard time seeing Kiryu willingly murder a spren. A lot of Kiryu's abandonment and actions are due to him being human and on Earth, not in a world of spren and magic.

I think Kiryu would take his oaths incredibly seriously and follow them to his ultimate demise. Kiryu cannot simply "you're better off without me" walk away from his bonded spren - not without killing them, which I don't think he could bring himself to do. I think he would make a lot of the same mistakes that he makes, but I think he would hold on tighter to his friendships. I think he would be a little less like Atlas. Just as great as always, but more willing to reach out to his friends when he needs him, more willing to keep in touch even when they're not in danger. Maybe for once Kiryu could be pushed to have friends, a support system, and let himself be happy.

Now, for a moment, let us consider a Windrunner Kiryu, as I know people may think that the "I will protect" oath fits Kiryu. And I agree! I think Kiryu is a protector. Kiryu has always been honorable, and fought at least semi fairly (depends on your opinion of "fair" lol), but he was an honorable fighter. He would beat up opponents but then hold out his hand to pull them to their feet. I can see why an honor spren would consider bonding him.

But Kiryu is no scout, nor spy. He has little tact and deals with problems head on. He puts lots of people in danger, both on purpose and by accident. I think there's a world where Kiryu could be a staunch protector, but with each new game that comes out about Kiryu, it gets harder to believe that world is within reach.

An oath to protect would get broken faster than an oath to be where he is needed, I believe. This I firmly toss my coins in that Kiryu is a Stonewards.

Also, this is neither here nor there and has little to do with my argument, but it's just hard for me to picture Kiryu flying around. Or at least both flying well and enjoying it. However, being able to reshape stone and alter the hardness of objects? That's something I can see Kiryu doing, even if he forgets about it half the time.

So this has gone one much longer than I meant it to, but I hope I made a good defense for why I believe that Kiryu would be a Stoneward in the Stormlight Archives book series! Let me know if you agree or disagree and let's talk about it!

[safesthavens]

Whyck Canon/Versions

Pen: Whyck as a thief. All through their childhood up until they’re 14, working under Tovar in a group she runs. Always presents as a boy - only their group knows they were AFAB and anyone who isn’t family, Tovar intimidates. Working jobs, not knowing they’re a Mistborn.

Syl: Because they’re are going to be quite a few of these that are drastically different, I’m just going to summarize these four years into one section. Training, meeting Ellend and becoming friends, potentially some silly romancing before they die. Tren dies six months before Whyck dies and they spiral and completely isolate and destroy all their relationships. They kill four Inquisitors (because they get a power boost from Tren on accident, and are REALLY emotional about losing her) and the Lord Ruler blames it on the Skaa bc Whyck signed the crime scene w an old Skaa rebellion name. TLR starts executing Skaa “to make a point” and Whyck snaps and jumps in to save them and faces TLR and dies, silly kid.

Roshar: Five years on Roshar spent mostly traveling. They start in the Horneater Peaks and travel around quite a bit before heading to the Shattered Planes to fight in Dalinar’s army and learn how to fight. I know Brandon said that none of his books happen at the same time or whatever but I want to roleplay with all the characters so hush actually, this is me having fun. They become a Windrunner and lean into documenting their time on Roshar with a drawing journal :) I love this era for Whyck actualky they deserve to be happy.

Nalthis: He does go here for a sec to see Tovar’s world and to visit her. Apparently she’s a queen here which is WILD, and she gives Whyck some of her breath, just to give him an awareness of people around and better vision with colors (which is why his paintings are usually hard to see for anyone without breath, and also why Hoid detects him later! Fun stuff!)

Whyck: Upon returning to Scadrial, they can no longer go by Pen or Syl because those names are known already, so they just decide to go by Whyck. Tovar was from Nalthas and left the planet so Whyck is alone (potentially!! I’d love to see some plotting change that) and ready to face TLR… only to find out Vin already handled him bc I think “what happens when you’re not the chosen one” is a really cool plot for Whyck. This is where he reconnects with old friends and settles into this new life and maybe helps out with the next problems they have, but mostly his arc is learning to Chill and prioritize himself a little bit. Poor boy needs a break.

AU’s

Immortal: Putting this in the AU’s because if he does have any ships/friends at any point then I like the idea that he gets to just enjoy them and pass on, but I will do this at the drop of a hat. I want Whyck to become a silly little galaxy traveler like Hoid except instead of collecting magic systems he collects histories and drawings and people - because he wants everyone who wants to, to remember as much as possible. Thinking he maybe has a bag of holding type thing, or maybe a little house inside of a bag like Newt Schmander or something, and that’s where he stores all the drawing books and historic journals he’s filling up :)

[deoxys314]

Cosmere Connections in Secret Project 1 (spoilers)

I had the day off yesterday, so I did in fact read SP1 on the first day. I thought I'd put together a post about the connections to other planets and magical mechanics that I noticed, interspersed with some of my theories.

Spoilers for every published Cosmere work.

Let's start with the things on Lumar:

There are 12 different varieties of aethers, which are apparently not the "true" form of them. Instead, they are described as spores.

We know of: Blue/zephyr, crimson/spikes, verdant/vines, black/midnight essence, pink/roseite, yellow/light(/heat)

Each type of aether pours from a moon, which is very close to the planet and apparently they are arranged roughly in the center of a pentagon, so that the planet, while spherical so far as we know, is decorated like a dodecahedron.

These are created in HUGE numbers, enough to form the planet's ocean and sail upon. When not being liquefied, they can even be walked on, if you're bold.

They "activate" when exposed to water, creating a burst of their essence.

I'd hazard a guess that these are somehow related to the 10 essences known on Roshar. The spikes and midnight seem like the odd ones out, and that leaves 10, of which zephyr, heat/fire, vine and stone match up.

When dealing with Midnight Essence, Hoid describes the Luhel Bond. It consumes something physical, water from the human(/spaient being) side, in contrast to the Nahel bond, which is Spiritual.

These bonds apparently have a naming scheme, [syllable]-hel. I had thought that Nahel was someone's name, maybe someone who researched it, but perhaps these names come from somewhere else. Or, maybe several types of bond are catalogued and a consistent naming scheme was come up with by those scholars.

Hoid is there. In fact, he's telling us this story. He sort of cross-cuts so I'll talk about him in other planets. Here, I'll note that despite being cursed, he appears to know a good deal about the aethers. Experience from another planet, or something he picked up bumming locally?

Now references to other planets, in no particular order.

Scadrial:

The roseite essence, at least, responds to iron and steel: they pull and push it. gasp consistency! I would be fascinated to know a: what the other metals to to roseite and b: what reactions the other essences have.

There's a kandra around, just vibing. He's learned how to graft parts of humans onto himself. Presumably any kandra who wanted to learn a high degree of bodily control could do so.

The kandra have apparently been released to . . . wander the cosmere? We hear Sazed released them, so I wonder if Harmony, in line with previous actions realized he couldn't force them to serve him and let them all through the perpendicularity if they wanted, or perhaps Discord just doesn't care about them right now.

Roshar

Hoid is here but we don't see Design so far as I can tell. This could be because Hoid is not on screen terribly much, or the bond could be broken, or maybe, as a lightweaver, Hoid just disguised it.

Big one: the black spores produce Midnight Essence. This is the same name, and apparently the same substance as what is produced by Re-Shephir, the Midnight Mother.

The MM creates ME, as does the spores produced by the black moon. How these two places/entities are related is not known.

The ME on Roshar do not seem to require water. One wonders what sort of bond they have and what they feed on (emotions, so maybe some more Spiritual or Cognitive stuff?)

Threnody

As on Threnody, silver blunts or disables the magic system here, in the form of killing the spores. notably, this works in a ranged manner, and does not tarnish or use up the silver in any way that we see.

Aluminum also blocks the effects of silver.

First of the Sun

Hoid mentions in passing the tale of Linji, who tried to sail around the world with no Aviar. (ch 24)

There are also a few other things which make me think he is telling this story to a First-of-the-Sunnian. (Is there a better demonym for that?) References to ships coming from "your sky" and so on.

Taldain

At some point, someone references a 13th type of spore. Apparently, no one can agree if it's white or black. I read this as being White Sand from the Dayside of Taldain. (ch 23)

Nalthis

The iron soldiers of the Sorceress are Awakened, with some reasonably complex commands. This is already in line with what we've seen from Warbreaker.

The tablets that Fort uses are apparently at least part Awakened, and use Connection and Intent to be supremely useful devices. They are described by Hoid in technological terms ("tablet", "hacked", etc) and I suspect that they bear some relation to our conception of a tablet or high-tech artifact. So far as we know, physics in the cosmere is the same as the real world plus the magic, so there's no theoretical reason anyone couldn't make a semiconductor-based computing device with "mundane" principles. (Though as I said up top, this device is described as at least partly powered by Awakening.) It even recharges with solar power.

Sel

The Sorceress is Riina. We last saw her as one of the members of the IRE trying to fake connection to and take up the shard of Preservation. (Kelsier scared them off the Scadrain sub-astral, good fun.)

She is an Elantrian, and apparently has no issues accessing that power very far from Sel. There was a clunky device doing that in the Cognitive realm when we saw her in Secret History. We don't see any realm but the Physical in this book, so unknown if that is still the method or something more elegant has been devised.

Hey speaking of SH, she's really old! Elantrians don't age much, if at all.

Hoid went to see her to get enough Connection to join/hack into/trick into being an Elantrian himself. Hoid is obviously not from Sel, so there must be some process that is known for inviting someone or making someone into one of them.

She is adept at curses, which can have apparently wide-ranging effects (e.g., transfiguring someone into a rat.) These also take the form of a geas, a compulsion placed upon the subject. In general, they can't talk about the curse or how to reverse it. (It's unknown if that is a general feature of the curses or if Riina must "set" it each time she casts one.)

These curses are probably Selish? They seem to be strongly related to language. Hoid cannot just break the curse, but he can sort of twiddle the requirements to make it easier for the subject to break. Also, the new requirements sort of rhyme with the old.

Anyway, I'll read this book again sometime. Probably later this year as I do my Cosmere re-read. I think this is the farthest along we've ever gotten temporally, so it will probably be last.

What did I miss? Did I get anything wrong? I'd love to discuss.

[cosmerelists]

Interviewing My Wife about the Cosmere

My wife has not read any Sanderson. However, she DOES listen to me babble about it at all hours, and she does follow this blog. So I thought I’d see what she’s picked up via osmosis about the Cosmere.

Question 1: “What are five things you are sure are true about the Cosmere?”

“Kaladin is very hot and invented therapy!”

“Jasnah is hot.”

“Dalinar is very smoofy and I like him and Navani.”

“Steris is you: she likes lists and is organized and awesome and my favorite.”

“Kaladin’s dad is a jerk and I hate him.”

Question 2: “What is the difference between men & women on Roshar?”

“Men don’t read and women are cooler.”

Question 3: “What is Rlain?”

“That’s the crab guy.”

Question 4: “What is Renarin?”

“He’s the one who leaps off of walls and has a crush on the crab guy.”

Question 5: “Who is Kelsier?”

“He’s the evil guy who is wishy-washy about being evil.”

Question 6: “Who is Vin?”

“The bad-ass lady. I don’t remember what she does but only that she is bad ass about it.”

Question 7: “Can you tell me the plot of any book?”

“The first one: Kaladin is with a bridge company that pushes bridges somehow and they all die apparently.”

Question 8: “Can you tell me about any magic system?”

“They eat metal because it gives them power but they can only use certain ones unless they are the avatar ones but that is rare. There are also ones that have spikes and get taken over by a god. Even though a spike is like having metal inside you so it seems like those are the same.”

Question 9: “Who is Hoid?”

“Hoid is the one who wears Hawaiian shirts and is kinda a dingy but he is always there. Does he even do anything cool? And somehow he got with Jasnah which boggles me.”

Question 10: “Which character is in Fortnite?”

“Uh.....Kelsier?”

Question 11: “What are spren?”

“Spren are like sword fairies and sometimes they get sad and scream.”

Question 12: “Who is Szeth?”

“I got nothing. Is he from Mistborn?”

Question 13: “How did Dalinar’s brother die?”

“I don’t remember. Killed by a lady probably? One of the badass ones. Did Navani kill him?”

Question 14: “How did Kaladin get out of the bridge crews?”

“He saved Adolin and everyone else died.”

Question 15: “Has Shallan ever killed anyone?”

“Yes. Killed her mom and dad.”

Question 16: “Has Adolin ever killed anyone?”

“Probably! He’s a duelist! (off my expression) They aren’t duels to the death?”

Question 17: “Has Navani killed anyone?”

“She  killed the crab lady that she was making logic-sex-brain looks at.”

Question 18: “Has Renarin killed anyone?”

“Probably not. He just likes to fall off buildings.”

Question 19: “Why is there a war between the ‘crabs’ and the humans?”

“The crabs don’t like the magic thing. Like when Navani and the crab lady were trying to figure it out.”

Question 20: “How did Dalinar’s wife die?”

“He set them all on fire.” 

[moash]

Do you have any thoughts on what might happen if Shallan and Moash ever spent time/shared a scene together?

(I dont ship it, I mostly mean in terms of their character development and how they might interact/support each others’ growth)

this is a really interesting thought!! of the protagonist faction, she’s one of the few who won’t have the strongest personal reaction to him having killed elhokar and teft. plus, they would probably vaguely recognize each other from words of radiance days. but i think she’s one of the least likely to relate to his problems, if her conversations with kaladin are any indication. but they could have some interesting interactions i think. i think it would be easier for her to understand and forgive murder on an individual person to person level “these people hurt me directly” than like coming from the perspective of systemic violence “these people are part of a system that hurts me and people like me” so kind of a coin toss on what she’d think about that. he would certainly understand her stuff though. they’re also both repression kings. she might be most understanding to the way he denies his own feelings of guilt.

i hadn’t ever really thought about them interacting before, so this was nice and i’d love to hear what other people think!!

under the read more, here’s a snippet of something i wrote of shallan talking to kaladin about moash, but was never able to figure out what the equivalent of “hot in a rat sort of way” was on roshar. enjoy.

Kaladin was silent for a stretch. “He’s not so bad, is he?”

“Pardon?” Shallan said. “The man who killed your friend to psychologically torture you?”

Kaladin grimaced. “I meant… before. Back when he hadn’t… done all that. He’s…”

“Oh, I see,” Shallan said. “You’re asking if he’s objectively attractive.”

Kaladin groaned and buried his face in his arm.

“Not my type, but I do see the appeal, I suppose. He’s hot in a [rat] sort of way.”

“What?”

“You know, in a [rat] sort of way.”

“Stop.”

[cosmermaid]

Okay @youngmasterwisdomperson​​. I hear you but I think it might be rude to do this on somebody else’s post since it’s so long.

Uh, lessee... You got me going so this is gonna be a lot, especially for Kelsier and Kaladin.

Are people from Shinovar subject to the light/dark eyed vorin caste system? ‘Cause like, unless Kelsier was ACTUALLY a spren (Jesus christ can you imagine him as an honorspren?) it’s up in the air if he’d be considered lighteyed or darkeyed. He’s canonically hazel so I don’t know if his eyes are too light to get into Kaladin’s good graces. That said Kaladin would probably just mistake him for being shin so it may not apply. I certainly can’t see Syl as a human mistborn or actively leading a rebellion. She’s too free-spirited and distracted to not immediately get caught by the steel ministry so she’d still be a spren. Just one defying the rules of the cosmere lol. So like, she probably lifts Vin’s spirits while she’s in the street crews, then leads her to Yeden and Marsh’s rebellion by complete accident or by a gut feeling. Vin figures out her mistborn abilities with the encouragement of a little misty friend that she’s grown to trust, and probably gets rid of her earring a lot earlier because Syl has a bad feeling about it or figures out it’s a hemilurgic spike. I think Syl would be disturbed by hemalurgy in general and call it out to Vin whenever she notices it. Vin is incredibly clever and was able to become a powerful mistborn without Kelsier, so other than the church of the survivor I don’t see the plot to mistborn itself changing too much. Vin herself probably is a bit more attentive of how many lives she takes to protect herself and her friends and makes an effort to be kinder for Syl’s sake. They’d probably end up being as close as Syl was with Kaladin. Whether or not Vin would take oaths and become a radiant as well as a mistborn is up in the air, I don’t think she’d need to do it or that it would make much difference plotwise if she did.

Also I imagine using emotional allomancy on Syl causes her to change her appearance. Breeze is the second person to try it (Vin DEFINITELY tried seeing what it would do, Syl asked her not to do it again) when he finds out about her but immediately stops when he sees that it causes his soothing to have a visible effect and his whole thing is being undetected when he uses it.

Kelsier would absolutely wreck Kaladin’s storyline and change it entirely. Elhokar would have died sooner if bridge four ever had the chance to get close to him at all. Kaladin probably would have never become friends with Shallan and Adolin. Bridge Four would have probably left the warcamp and formed a robin-hood esque criminal crew. Kaladin and Moash become more active fighters against the caste system that enslaved them.

The only thing I’m thinking is if Kelsier was a worldhopping mistborn instead of a Spren, is that most of Bridge Four wouldn’t become windrunners like they did, although Kelsier probably would have figured out about the Nahel bond and helped them become radiants in another way or with other spren.

Kaladin would likely look up to him at first (like he did Amaram) but instead of the whole betrayal thing happening, he’d probably end up at odds with Kelsier due to the fact that they’re both natural leaders but have different ideas. Not too unlike how Vin began to see Kelsier’s flaws. Kaladin would be more likely to argue with him and question his decisions though, or go behind Kelsier’s back and do what he thinks is best for bridge four. I don’t think that this would end up with them actually fighting or as enemies or anything, more like it would frustrate them both. There’d probably be character development in it for the both of them. Rock makes everyone stew. Teft likely tells Kaladin in secret that he trusts him more than Kelsier.

Kaladin still gets his therapy sessions from Hoid whenever he shows up to do so, but Hoid makes a point to do so when Kelsier isn’t around. They may not have had the meeting in the well of ascension but their personalities still led to conflict somewhere around the line and they don’t like eachother. Hoid thinks showing up to tell Kaladin stories is killing two birds with one stone: helping Kaladin and annoying Kelsier.

If Dalinar is still alive and survived Sadeas’s betrayal, it’s probably because Adolin killed Sadeas sooner or from Eshonai’s intervention. Dalinar probably sends an emmisary out to meet with the radiant group Bridge Four to join him in saving Roshar from the everstorm. Kaladin would definitely see this as necessary but still distrust the lighteyes. I’m not sure how Kelsier would respond to this.

Also at one point there’s a scene where somebody with the surge of gravitation tries lashing coins in the hopes they have the same effect as Kelsier’s steel-pushing and iron-pulling, but they can’t get the coins to move with the same weight and force as Kelsier can. Kelsier doesn’t know why they want to be a coinshot so badly when they can summon a shardweapon.

From here there’s a lot of different ways that I can picture them going through the Stormlight plotline, especially since Kaladin and Kelsier wouldn’t be near eachother 24/7 the way Kaladin and Syl typically were. They’d split up often to pursue different goals or accomplish different tasks similarly to Kelsier and Vin.

Kelsier would probably not know how to handle Kaladin’s depression too effectively, and go between wondering why this kid constantly beats himself down or trying to distract Kaladin with different tasks. That said I think his messages about the importance of surviving would probably get through to Kaladin eventually.

I think Kaladin would also quickly recognize that Kelsier’s smiles and jovial attitude are often just a front, but respect why he does it. I think he’d probably have the same attitude about it as he did for Shallan, he’d admire it and find himself unable to do the same. That’s about all I’ve got for now. If anyone else wants to weigh in I’d love to read it.

[pelahnar]

I’m rereading the Stormlight Archive, and I have thoughts (tm). So, like, Stormlight spoilers ahead.

Kaladin very much has an “us vs. them” mindset. He has to - it’s the only way he can justify to himself simultaneously trying to care and protect to beyond a healthy degree and also succeed as a soldier. I think he was trying to develop it even as a kid, but it got solidified - possibly even put into words, iirc - when he joined the army.

The times in the books where he has the hardest time, breaks down the most, is when something about his situation is contradictory to this mindset. His suicide attempt while on the bridge crew was, in large part, because he had no definable “us.” He’s hurt deeply by betrayals by Amaram and Moash because he thought they were part of his “us.” When he independently makes friends with two separate groups, who later start killing each other, he has a breakdown.

As the series progresses, it becomes very clear that the humans vs. listeners is not a fight of good vs. evil. They have a common, much more dangerous enemy (which may, in and of itself not be able to be called good or evil, exactly) So, both for the sake of the world and for his own mental health, Kaladin is going to have to deal with his idea that “destroying ‘them’ is okay, as long as I’m doing it to protect ‘us’”

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if that ends up being the theme of his Fifth Ideal.

Somewhat unrelated, I’m trying to remember the order of events from pretty late in the series (I’m only partly through book 2 of my rereading). If I remember right, one of the reveals in Stormlight Four about the mythology of the humans being kicked out of the Tranquiline Halls and having to come to Roshar. That story* is rooted in the fact that surgebinders went too far with their forces-of-nature-altering powers and made another planet in the Roshar system - previously the humans’ homeworld - uninhabitable thousands of years ago. Later still, I believe, we learn that the Recreance was a collective decision by (presumably much later? I’m not sure about the timeline) surgebinders and their spren to give up their powers. We still don’t know whether those two events were related, but I would guess they are.

What I can’t remember is: does Kaladin know any of this? I don’t remember where the first event was explained, but I think it was to Shallan**. I know the second was discovered by Shallan and Adolin, and I’m pretty sure that they hadn’t returned from Shadesmar by the end of the book. Kaladin hasn’t talked to them in weeks, if not months. It’s possible that he’s very much out of the loop on the “big reveals about history” side of things. I don’t blame him. He’s been busy.

But if he doesn’t know...I wonder how react to learning about it? I could see that not necessarily going well.

*sidenote: rereading is so much fun, especially in cosmere books, where you can be sure that the first things you learn about religion and mythology tends to be twisted or metaphorical versions of things you’ll learn the truth about later in the story. So far, I have seen references to the Three Gods, the Passions, and the Unmade, long before any of them have anything to do with the main story.

**possibly in the context of revealing (to me, anyway) that the Tranquiline Halls and Damnation were actually other planets in this same star system. I was completely shocked by this revelation. Shallan takes in in stride. Did she...already know that? Was that supposed to be common knowledge? Because they were previously, as far as I could tell, used interchangeably with “heaven” and “hell” and I would not expect that to mean “physical locations that you could conceivably get to without even leaving the Physical Realm.” I thought they were going to be Spiritual Realm-level places.