#or at least humans on roshar

[pocketramblr]

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

[sesamenom]

browsing stormlight art on tumblr and ran into a post about how different dalinars life would have been with a somewhat healthier childhood and i think someone tagged it 'kaladin adopts young dalinar au' or something

anyways i propose a Make Everybody Worse au. teenage dalinar and gavilar get dropped directly into formenos and unofficially adopted by feanor a few years before the flight of the noldor. they both participate in the First Kinslaying/Oath/Losgar and then feanor dies. maedhros adopts them and then thangorodrim happens. maglor adopts them for a few years until mae gets rescued. they participate in the first few decades of the wars of beleriand, after which they get dropped back into the middle of alethkar.

on the noldorin side of things, m&m assume the random children they sort-of adopted (300some years before Secondborn were awakened) got killed somewhere in the battle. the kidnap fam situation now has the additional context of m&m having known even more pairs of children who died because of the Oath - one pair killed in the Second Kinslaying, one pair who presumably died in battle because they swore the Oath

on the alethi side of things, dalinar & gavilar are now Oathbound kinslayers who just lost five-to-ten parental figures and all their friends, and spent most of their lives being actively encouraged in war and military strategy. they also skipped the entirety of the navani-related conflict and are probably somewhat closer because of that. violence ensues.

[cosmerelists]

Hallmark Christmas Movies: But Make It Cosmere

Merry Christmas! I wasn't planning on doing a bunch of Christmas lists this year, but, well, the ideas kept coming! From now until Christmas Eve, I hope you'll enjoy a series of Cosmere Christmas Specials, starting with this one.

If you love a cheesy Hallmark (or Netflix or whatever) Christmas movies, then you'd probably enjoy these Cosmere-themed knockoffs too!

1. A Chouta Christmas

A high-powered Thaylen merchant woman goes to a small Herdazian town on business over the holidays. There, she meets a small-town chouta salesman who may help her find her Christmas spirit--and a Christmas romance.

2. Love, Really

In a series of love stories from all over Nalthis, various couples find love or heartbreak over the holiday season: a man who has reached the Third Heightening falls in love with a drab woman; one of the Returned Gods falls for a handsome petitioner; an Idrian widower cautiously begins dating again; and even the God-King himself might start dating his wife.

3. The Prime Aqasix Switch

When the Prime Aqasix of Azir meets a humble accountant who looks just like him, the two of them hatch a holiday plan to switch lives just for a couple of days, right before Christmas.

4. The Mistborn Before Christmas

A Mistborn man is magically transported to modern-day Scadrial by a witch, who tells him that he must complete a mysterious quest by Christmas day. In modern-day Scadrial, the Mistborn meets a young woman who has given up on romance--at least until she meets this dashing and powerful stranger from the past.

5 The Vacation

Two women--one from Elantris and one from Arelon--decide to switch homes in order to take a much-needed Christmas vacation. While living in each other's houses, they might just find themselves discovering new love along the way.

6. A Christmas Duke

On Lumar, a Duke's son is due to ascend to his father's position--only there are rumors that he plans to abdicate. He also has a reputation of being an irrepressible ladies' man. A journalist, determined to get the real story, sneaks into the Duke's mansion by posing as a gardener...but upon meting the Duke's son, she might just find love instead.

7. Cowboy Gentlemen

A woman in Elendel is determined to save her father's cowboy-themed bar, which is threatening to close: right before Christmas! Her plan is to bring in a troupe of sexy cowboys to perform...unaware that she also might be bringing in the cowboy of her dreams.

8. Hot Stick

In the cold Frostlands of Roshar, a woman places a magical scarf on a snowman...unknowingly bringing one of its arms to life. This newly human (and super hot) former stick may just be the flame she's been looking for...only there won't be any actual flames involved. This hot stick HATES fire.

[sankta-wraith]

HUMANS ARE THE REAL VOIDBRINGERS???????

Ok I’m shocked but honestly it makes so much sense in hindsight. Humans are so drastically different from literally any other organism on Roshar. Almost every other organism has some kind of shell or other defense mechanism against storms. There are a few that don’t (chickens and horses) but other than that most animals are reminiscent of crabs in some way. All larger organisms (chasmfiends, chulls, ect) seem to posses some kind of shell or carapace and I’m pretty sure they all have gemhearts of some kind to. It is possible that humans could have evolved in Shinovar, then migrated across the rest of Roshar, but when you factor in the existence of Parshendi this just doesn’t make sense. With their carapace and ability to seeming withstand Highstorms, Parshendi should have outcompeted the fledgling human race long before they had a chance to properly spread across Roshar. Even discounting all of that, Parshendi just seem to fit with the rest of Roshar so much more than humans. They’ve got gemhearts, carapace, and are connected to the Highstorms. The fact that we know of species with similar anatomical traits (gemhearts in particular) suggests that Parshendi share a common ancestor with them; definitive proof that that they evolved in Roshar itself. Humans on the other hand seem to be completely unique. If you’re thinking that real humans also seem to be completely unique, remember that we have chimpanzees and other apes who bear at least a little resemblance to us, as well as all mammals. Roshar doesn’t even have monkeys, and the only other mammals seem to be horses. Not to mention that it’s incredibly unlikely that humans would have been able to advance technologically in a world where everything they build gets battered by Highstorms every few days, unless that arrived with a small measure of knowledge about building and what not.

Anyway that’s my weird little science rant. Absolutely brilliant twist by Brandon Sanderson.

[shayberri789]

Way of Kings Reread

I just finished Sunlit Man in prep for Wind and Truth, and Nomad had described 'roshar's own Damnation' as being cold, yet coppermind says that (in vorinism at least, maybe Azish religion says otherwise?) Damnation was firey, and even Kalak references fire on Braize?

My friends and I think maybe the memory of Ashyn and lingering understanding of the Spiritual Realm inspired Tranquiline Halls, and the memory of Ashyn as humans fled (ie: destroyed and on fire) (is it still firey?) got conflated with the idea of Odium and 'voidbringers' being sealed away on Braize, making Damnation Braize But On Fire

And in actuality Braize is cold but the Fused like using fire as torture devices. Who knows!

Prologue:

I forgot musicspren were a thing???

Okay I remembered that Gavilar met with Kalak and Nale. I did NOT remember Elhoker talking to them, Szeth encountering Jezrien, or the implication that Shalash was ALSO present (to steal her own statue ofc). That's like just under half of all the rosharian-side heralds present???

Wonder what the others felt to see Jez old and senile, while they were virtually unchanged appearance-wise and considered themselves sane....

"For if you were going to assassinate a man, he was entitled to see you coming" remains a great line

Do we know why Shardblades form from mist? Is it like Leras's investiture being Mist, or something to do with the pure form of investiture in general/the spiritual realm?

Why does using a lot of investiture/stormlight cause frost to form of Szeth's clothes?

*assassination attempt happens* "is this kelsier's doing?"

My dude's reputation stretches far and wide (to think, the last time I read this prologue was before mistborn, when I didnt know who Kelsier was, nvm thaidakar)

Gavilar: "okay so not thaidakar. Reatares? Why?" Me: Gav, kalak was literally at your party you just had a meeting with him

Branderson was right: the Cenn pov WAS necessary. Kaladin man that you are, man that you were—

How did I forget that kaladin is EXTREMELY skilled and accurate with both knife fighting AND throwing the buggers. Hello?! Like even BEFORE he fought Helaran

(It may be a minute before I update since I am busy + reading several books at once. Once the reblog gets big enough I'll post it lol)

[queen-kassiopeia-the-5th]

The Sunlit man takes time I'd say about 100 years after the Stoemlight Archives. Sigzil said he's older than the Greater Good, and that space exploration had developed in the last century. So, here's what we know about will happen in Wind and Truth:

1. Kaladin lives, or at least didn't die tragically. Sig clearly misses him, and Wit uses this to force him to talk. But Wit wouldn't have pretended to be Kaldin (even if just from the back, wearimg a uniform and making the air smell of Horneater stew) is Kal was dead. It's desecration of his memory. Sig would alsp have lashed out at him if he baited him with an image of Kaladin if he was dead. Also, in chapter 32 of Sunlit Man, Sigzil says: "Same can be said of the storm on my homeland [...] But I know someome who survived it, then inspired the whole host of us to do the same." Bradon is particular with language, so I don't think it's a slip up. Know is present tense.

2. Some people from bridge four are alive and probably well. Sigzil says he's avoiding Roshar to protect the people "that love him". It can be that this is so far in the future that those is a completely different generation of people, considering that years would move differently on different planets (and if we assume the existance of time space relativity, that tome moves more slowely around heavier objects). but as per point 1, I think this can mean bridge four/Urithru gang did survive and are old, or that Radiants can live longer than regular humans.

3. The Highstorm still exists on Roshar. This can mean a whole variety of things. That Dalinar won, that he became Odium's champion without dying, that Dalinar died without breakin his oaths so the Stormfather lives, that the Stormfather did die but the storm got somehow restarted. But it still exists! So the ecosystem on Roshar can still thrive.

4. Something bad is going to haplen to the Windrunners. Sig is referencing several times that he doesn't want to be in possitions of command because of what happened, and at one point, Auxillary comforts that whatever happened wasn't his fault. It can be that it happened during Stormlight Era 2, which is 15 years after era 1, but as things are shaping up in ROW...

He'd lost his honorspren, maybe even by breaking the oaths, though Aux keeps repeating that it wasn't his fault, so maybe not? He bound a highspren in Shadesmar later, and doesn't seem to have acess to a Shardblade of his deas honorspren, suggesting it was desteoyed. Was there a mass attack of Fused armed with anti-Stormlight? Was it Ishar drawing Spren into the Physical Realm where they died or were killed?

5. There is some sort of inner cosmere conflict going on. Sigzil invokes a code of Conduct when seeking access from the Sacdrians, meaning there is some Geneva convention equvalent in place. He also says there is an arms race between all developed planets. This might be a cold war senario or a suspended war between planets. Both Roshar and Scadriel still have their powers meaning some form of Honor/Stormlight and Harmony still exist. Is it just the natural progresaion of discovering the cosmere? Is it a resault of Autonomy and Odium trying to mess with other shards?

[magenta-somethings]

how navaniel could have won

or, a 1700 word fic in which Navani is slightly more gay, Raboniel slightly less dead, and I play hard-and-fast with worldbuilding note: picks up right near the start of chapter 113 of RoW, which is where the first line is taken from

-

“My soul…is burned… almost all away…”

In another universe Navani’s mind—drenched in agony, overwhelmed with a piece of god—wouldn’t have focused on the semantics. She would have accepted the words and heard the rest of Raboniel’s dying request and retrieved the dagger and driven it into her heart. And after she would have left a note on Raboniel’s corpse naming her hero and commanding that it not be disposed of without consulting the queen. She would have seen to the funeral herself, and snapped at the Brightlord who questioned why an enemy deserved this honour, and later found comfort in her husband’s arms, even as she couldn’t think of how to explain the wound in her chest. For years, the memory of a hand and a voice, joined to her by song, would have haunted her. And it would have been a sweet haunting. One grief she would have cherished, even as she struggled to name it grief, unlike all the others of her life. 

But in this one, her mind tripped on soul. It picked it up and examined it. And the scholar in her found it inaccurate. 

“Not your soul,” she corrected. “Your Voidlight.”

“Is there… a difference?” asked Raboniel. It was intended to be rhetorical. The intended answer an obvious no. She was Fused, and so she could not exist without Voidlight. She hadn’t been able to exist without it for the last seven thousand years. She was bound for Braize, changed by the touch of Odium. And this time there would not be enough of her left to return to Roshar sane. Yet Navani was a scholar and, perhaps more importantly, a believer of the Almighty, even after everything, and so for her the answer was yes. There was a difference. 

The gears of Navani’s mind were beginning to turn, their teeth slotting together. “A human can be filled with Voidlight,” she said. Moash had proved that—at least there was one thing the bastard was good for. “And a singer can be filled with Stormlight.”

“I don’t… follow,” Raboniel said. But even through her agony, Navani could see a glint of interest in her eyes. She was a scholar too. Even to the end. 

Sibling, Navani thought, what if we were to fill Raboniel with Stormlight? Would it allow her to live? To keep her mind?

I—I do not know, the Sibling thought back. The Fused are not merely singers. Odium has changed them. And even then, she would likely need to be constantly infused. The Stormlight filling the hole left by Voidlight. 

A hypothesis formed and, despite everything, with it excitement. Navani would not feel guilty about that. Not now, at least. Guilt did not drive scholarship. What if she were a Radiant?

She could feel the Sibling’s bewilderment. Their connection still raw and sensitive. Less an exposed nerve and more a nerve that had never been covered in the first place. No spren would bond her.

Which was true. But that was not what Navani had in mind. That would give her too much power. She did not trust Raboniel enough for that. Yet she wanted her to live. It was a selfish desire, unworthy of a queen. But wasn’t that why? Raboniel had given her the gift of being a scholar. Of letting the world fall away, until it was just the two of them and science and a rhythm. The gift of being selfish. And now in front of her was a theory that begged testing. 

What about a squire? she asked.

Again, bewilderment. Worse. Insult. This was a dangerous game, when the Sibling had only barely accepted her. But she could not convince herself Raboniel wasn’t worth it.

Her? As our squire? She tried to unmake me. She would unmake all that remains of Honor.

She did. And she would. But did she not also join with me? Did she not sing the Rhythm of War with me? I’m your Bondsmith now. And our duty is to unite. Yes, she did you a great injustice. But if we can get her to join us, think of what it could mean.

The Sibling fell silent and in that silence she read begrudging acceptance. This would cost their bond, already so frayed in its first hour of existence, but she could make it up to them. The spren of this tower. Her spren, in the way she was their Knight Radiant. She could make this work.

“Are… going to share… your thoughts?” Raboniel forced out. “A theory… of yours would be… a good parting gift.” Pain soaked her every word, but still she spoke. “Or… a final punishment? It… would not work. Kindess… or cruelty… from you, I would accept both.”

Navani kneeled. Took Raboniel’s hand in hers, like she had when they uncovered the Rhythm of War together. “Raboniel, become my squire.”

Raboniel stared at her. A bark of laughter tried to make its way up her throat, but all that managed to escape was coughs. “Oh, Navani… my Voice of Lights. Even now, you… surprise me. But it will… not work. Pick up the dagger. I made more anti… anti… I made more. There.” A tilt of her head, just enough to gesture to her desk. “Please. End it. My suffering. Me.”

My Voice of Lights. What about that caused her heart to sing? Likely it was just the intensity of the day. “You said you appreciated anything that can still surprise you. Show your appreciation. Help me test one last theory.” Raboniel shook her head, but Navani could not let her refuse. Not yet. She needed to entice her. Get her to see the possibility of it. The potential. She tightened her grip on her hand. “You say it won’t work, but what kind of scholar would we be if we didn’t try? If we Infuse you with Stormlight, and then use the anti-Voidlight, your connection to Odium should be severed. If you are right, and your soul and Voidlight are one, then you will die. If you are wrong, you get to live one final life. One that could see the end of this war.” One that could be spent with me. The desire was unexpected, but not unexplainable. Her collaboration with Raboniel had been unlike any other. The things they could discover together, with just a little more time… 

Raboniel eyes were slits, barely open. But they were open. She had not closed them yet. Navani could still see the crimson intensity of them, more beautiful than any ruby. “An end…”

“If you still wish to die after our experiment,” said Navani, even as it pained her to say, “then any dagger will do the job. And if this fails and you are sent back to Braize without your mind�� then I swear to find you, in whatever body you are reborn in, and fill you with enough anti-Voidlight that there will be nothing left for Odium to use.”

One of Raboniel’s thumb, slender and so weak, traced the edge of Navani’s hand. “Such sweetness… I have not tasted for centuries. Yet… I… we are still enemies… how could I… be your squire?”

How barren Raboniel’s life must have become, that this was sweet. Suddenly, Navani wished to see her drink wine of every colour. To see her filled with the taste of berry and honey and fruit. Raboniel would see most of the world dead, and yet Navani wanted only sweet things for her. 

It must be the intensity of the day. That, and the dying light of her eyes.

Becoming a squire normally takes time, shared the Sibling. But you have a Connection. If she says the words, then maybe…

“You want an end,” she began. She had tried to be logical in her arguments, a scholar presenting a theory, but the edges of desperation were creeping in. “Let’s find it. A better one, where human and Singer are united. Where we both win.” She grabbed her other hand as well, clinging to both like she could keep Raboniel’s soul anchored. “Please. Lady of Wishes. We are both of Odium. But we are also both of Honor. Place your trust me.”

“We are… equals.”

Navani stared into her eyes. Into the thin red line. All that was left. “Raboniel, please.”

Raboniel closed her eyes. And then her lips began to move. Somehow, she knew. “Life… before… death.”

She glowed. Not red, but white. The white of a sun directly overhead. The white of Honor’s lightning. The white of Stormlight. It was beautiful, and Navani wanted nothing more than to stare—to watch as Light traced her marbling and knitted together her flesh and mended dead limbs—but she couldn’t. She let go of her hands and scrambled to her feet. Grabbing the dagger on the way. The black sack and its terrible diamond was easy enough to find, and easier to slot into the dagger.

By the time she returned there was strength again to Raboniel. But now, no longer blinded by Light, Navani could see something dull about her eyes. A wound Stormlight could not touch. “The Lady of Wishes… a squire,”Raboniel said, and this time the pause was not from pain but from astonishment. “This will shock the others. So much of what we have achieved together will.” There was an amusement to her voice, and a grief, and what Navani thought might have been a hope.

“There is one final part to our experiment,” said Navani. 

“Of course,” said Raboniel. She stood, and how had Navani nearly forgotten how she towered? She would only just be able to reach the center of her chest. “Seven thousand years, and you are the first I have permitted to pierce my heart.” A humming. “If you are right… one more life. One that will be full of negotiations.” She tilted her head, as if listening to something. The rhythms. “If I am right… this is as tender a death as possible.” 

Navani, in that moment, wondered if she should be cradling Raboniel, like she did her daughter. In case this was a killing, one of mercy. But no. They were equals. 

Navani took a breath, and plunged the dagger deep. 

[peachdoxie]

Wind and Truth chapters 3 & 4 thoughts!

The Wind told me, before she vanished, that it was the change in Odium’s vessel that restored her voice. I wonder. Perhaps it is the new storm, making people begin to reconsider that the wind is not their enemy.

Hmm. This seems to imply that the in-world Knights of Wind and Truth was written after the events of Wind and Truth, or at least after Words of Radiance.

Strength could be a matter of perception sometimes. And today Shallan found she could choose strength.

Jasnah's words still echoing within Shallan, nice.

Maya was obviously paying attention. She wasn’t completely healed—her eyes were scratched out and her coloring was a wan brown instead of vibrant green like others of her kind—but she was getting better. She no longer wandered off or just stared blankly during conversations. She was also starting to talk more and more.

Yay!

“Some of us learned you could capture spren in gemstones,” he explained. “And Mishram—for all her power—is a spren. The Radiants prepared a flawless heliodor the color of sunlight, and they trapped her inside, then hid her prison. Not in the Physical Realm, and not in Shadesmar.” He bit his lip, then forced out another part. “In the Spiritual Realm. Melishi hid it there.”

Well, that probably explains Dalinar and Navani's adventure into the Spiritual Realm as mentioned in the blurb.

His pattern slowed, then finally he laced his fingers together. “Very well. Though, you know when I said I was sure you wouldn’t get me killed?” “Yes?” “I should like,” he declared, “to make a retraction.”

I fucking love Pattern.

I have read that in the ancient days, the Wind often spoke to both human and singer. It would then mean that the Wind stopped talking not because of Odium, but because of people who began to fear her… Or to worship the Storm instead.

Fascinating ancient Roshar lore

“Ah, Wema,” Wit mumbled, turning the page. “You’ve finally noticed what a catch Vadam is? Let’s see how you screw it up.”

LMAO Wit is reading An Accountability of Virtue from Oathbringer? Also looking up the title of the book makes the context of Wit's rant about virtue even more interesting. Also: fuck you Sanderson for apparently setting this moment up some one million words ago.

“Give it a try. It has the same fingerings as the one you lost and recovered, though not the same… capacity.”

Wit suggesting that the flute is abnormal in some way

“Long ago,” Wit said softly, “that rhythm guided humans across the void from one planet to the other. They followed it to reach your world.”

Interesting....

“The wind,” Kaladin guessed. “The wind was listening.” ... “When this world was created,” Wit said, “long before Honor, Cultivation, or Odium arrived, Adonalsium left something behind on it. Sometimes it’s called the Old Magic. Sometimes that term is applied to the Nightwatcher, who came—with Cultivation’s efforts—from one of those ancient spren. Listen to the Wind when it speaks, Kaladin. It’s weaker than it once was, but it has seen so very much.”

FASCINATING ancient Roshar lore

“Because this is the journey, Kaladin,” Wit said softly. “The last part of it. Listen to me: I want you to practice with that flute until you make the sound return to you. Because that will mean Roshar is listening.”

This feels very ominous to me and I'm scared

He raised his finger at that last word, and angerspren burst around his feet, like pools of boiling blood, as if on cue.

Has Wit ever drawn spren before? I can't remember.

He glanced at Syl. “This is where Jasnah is wrong about hope, smart though she is in so many ways. If hope doesn’t mean anything to you when you lose, then it wasn’t ever a virtue in the first place. It took me a long time to learn that, and I finally did so from the writings of a man who lost every belief he thought he had, then started over new.” “Sounds like someone wise,” Syl said. “Oh, Sazed is among the best. Hope I get to meet him someday.”

SAZED NAME DROP!!!!!!!

“That’s it, eh?” Wit said. “Just you becoming your world’s first therapist.” Kaladin glanced at Syl, who shook her head. “We have no idea what that is, Wit.”

Lmao

Kaladin felt a chill. “I’m… never going to see you again, am I, Wit?”

I REALLY do not like this. It's so ominous. What's gonna happen to Kaladin?

[isdalinarhot]

copypasting my extensive wine headcanons here in case anyone out in the world wants to adopt them

Pink: this is just juice of a plant. Like some soft drinks, there is a small amount of caffeine, but for the most part, it’s basically the same as apple or grape juice. Feminine drink.

Orange: structurally this is identical to kombucha, in that it is a nonalcoholic (or at least so negligibly alcoholic that it doesn’t count) beverage that is made via fermentation. But its cultural place is akin to ginger ale in that it is just a soft drink people drink when not drinking alcohol and that it has a reputation of soothing stomachs. This is the go-to beverage of people of any gender looking to have a sober drink.

Yellow: the default masculine drink. Made from lavis grains, it’s beer. It’s essentially beer. About the same strength as beer, drank from pint glasses, steins, and once Roshar invents cans it will be drank from those as well. Customary beverage to enjoy during duels. Unlike beer from Earth, people very rarely drink this to get any more drunk than a pleasant buzz.

Auburn: traditionally made from fermented simberries, but can be made from any fruit that when fermented ends up with between 10% to 15% abv, this is the default feminine drink. It really functions almost identically to wine on Earth. It is drunk from glasses analogous to Earth wine glasses. There is a large culture of auburn wine snobbery. Though it is concretely a feminine drink, it is not unheard of for men who are a touch effeminate to sneak a glass or two of it.

Red: you’d have to be insane to drink red wine on its own. It is used near exclusively in mixed drinks as the alcohol base to a fun fruity beverage. Mixed often with pink wine, fruit juices of all kinds, and occasionally wild card picks like sow’s milk or Shin creations such as “coffee”, it is there to provide alcohol to women who cannot stand the taste of alcohol.

Sapphire: wines of red strength or stronger are considered liquors, and sapphire wine is the unequivocal Man’s Wine. It is quite strong, but there is still a veneer of drinking it for the flavor. It is made of the same grains as yellow wine, but distilled instead of fermented. Traditionally drunk on the rocks out of what an Earthling might call a whiskey tumbler.

Blue: this stuff is not as strong as violet wine, but still quite strong. Its closest Earth analogue is a strong rum, made out of a sugarcane-like plant that naturally carries fruity undertones. This is the usual alcohol base drunk in mixed drinks by men; a popular drink will have two types of blue wine mixed with a couple flavors of fruit juice for a Vorin-friendly Mai Tai. It can also be drunk out of shot glasses as a party beverage, but this is less common.

Violet: violet wine is a gender neutral beverage, allowed to be drunk by both men and women. This is because the creators of Vorinism understood the necessity of all humans to have a surefire way of getting drunk quickly. It is roughly analogous to 100 proof vodka in both taste and creation, although in rare cases some violets can reach the 130 proof heights of absinthe. It is made from blackthorn berries, which on Roshar can get distilled to death like potatoes can on earth but like i dunno how that's possible i dont know jack shit about plants. sorry. This makes them perfect for creating the strongest liquors out of. “Glasses” of violet wine, drunk at feasts as a power move, are a mixture of violet wine, blackthorn juice, and lots of water. It is traditionally drunk hot, and nobody likes it like that but everybody pretends to. Nine times out of ten, violet wine is drunk out of a shot glass. It is known for tasting bad. Occasionally, it can be found in mixed drinks in the place of red or blue wine.

[sadlynotsappho]

mistborn (eras 1 and 2) spoilers under the cut, also a tiny bit of stormlight archive, and a mention of yumi and the nightmare painter

how did Harmony make Spook into a mistborn? did he create some lerasium and somehow force Spook to burn it? can Harmony create lerasium and atium, and if so, why does he not? how did Harmony make the metals that Wayne burned at the end of era 2 to become a mistborn?

if there was such a thing as an atium misting, and it wasn't a hemalurgic spike, how does that work? atium was retconned to be an alloy of atium and electrum (i believe), so does that mean that that one obligator could also burn electrum? could a coinshot burn an atium/steel (it might be iron but I'm pretty sure it's steel) alloy? or are there mistings for each individual god metal alloy? i haven't done the math, but that's A Lot of alloys, and that's not even considering what mixing two god metals together would do. and that's not even getting into harmonium.

why could ruin and preservation mentally speak to people and read people's minds, respectively? why could they only do that if they had a hemalurgic spike? kelsier found out that that had something to do with mental illness, is that how the spren bonds work? (speaking of those, and i am not qualified in the slightest to talk about this, how does DID work in the cosmere, where everyone (everything???) has a distinct soul?) why can't shards on roshar, like odium, do this? or can they? how does hemalurgy manage to literally transform people from, well, people, into kandra or inquisitors or koloss?

if the mistwraiths can be turned into kandra with hemalurgic spikes, can humans be turned into kandra also? we know they can be, but how? rashek gained that knowledge during his short time at the well of ascension, which has its own set of questions

why does the power there replenish every 1024 years? why does preservation tell kelsier that 16 is such an important number, when roshar only has 10 surges, and some other planets have other numbers of magic things? why does shadesmar around roshar look different than shadesmar around scadrial? (at least i think it does, roshar is described as having seas of spheres, while scadrial is described as just being squishy, if i remember correctly)

i will admit to not having read everything in the cosmere. i vaguely remember Yumi and the Nightmare Painter explaining a lot about shadesmar, but i skimmed over that at the time. i haven't read warbreaker, the sunlit man, or the white sand comics. they could have some answers to some of my questions. there may be more that I'm not thinking of right now.

[gal-palanaeum]

Thinking, Overthinking, and a Pile of Letters by bridgeboy

Rated General, 6000 words, Khriss/Design and Cord/Rysn A philosophical treatise on the nature of love, masquerading as a fanfiction about two dorky scholars meeting for the first time. Design has questions, Khriss has answers... maybe. Beware spoilers across the cosmere!

Despite having her own office, Khriss preferred doing her research in the university's enormous library. Proximity to massive amount of information played into it, of course, but the bigger reason was that it was easier to get away from people and actually focus on her research. Her office was known to everyone at the university—why, it was known to practically everyone in Silverlight itself—and as a result, she had frequent visitors. The library, meanwhile, may as well have been a maze. It was easy to find a quiet corner far from distractions, and Khriss made a point to never hole up in the same study nook twice in a row; that helped make it much harder for people to find her on purpose. Of course, she'd still see other people as they wandered by, but they were just other users of the library; they never actually disrupted her.

Usually, at least.

Khriss looked up in surprise when she heard the scrape of someone pulling out the chair across from her. She'd been poring over maps of Western Roshar, and she'd been so absorbed in her thoughts she hadn't heard the newcomer approach.

They appeared to be a human woman, although Khriss knew that didn't necessarily mean much. Her long white hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun, and a tight, dark green dress showed off her frankly stunning curves. She seemed to be looking over the piles of assorted notes that were spread across the table.

"What are you working on?" the stranger asked.

Khriss ignored the question. "Who are you?" She was happy to talk about her work, but she wouldn't tell just anybody about it.

"My name is Design," the stranger said cheerily. She picked up one of the maps and started scanning it over.

Khriss wrinkled her brow, searching her memory for how she knew that name… Hoid's spren. Of course. She relaxed; Hoid was a pain in the ass, but he could be trusted—well, he could be trusted with knowledge of Khriss's current project, at least.

"I'm Khriss," she said. "I'm currently trying to get to the bottom of how a simple merchant on Roshar got a hold of one of the Dawnshards."

"Oh, Hoid told me about you. The famous scholar!" Design grinned. "Have you tried lifting up all your notes and checking underneath? Or… wait… that was a figure of speech, wasn't it?"

Khriss raised an eyebrow, then nodded slowly. She'd never actually met a Cryptic in person, but she'd read about their tendency to take things far too literally. "So Hoid is in town, then? What's he working on?"

"I'm honestly not sure!" Design let the map drop back to the table, eyeing a stack of letters. "Something about Aons, probably. Or Awakening. Something with an A. He said he didn't need my help but now I'm bored. Can I look through those?" She pointed at the letters.

"Uh, sure." With her concentration broken and distraction-free environment disrupted, there wasn't really any point in trying to get much work done at this point. Khriss decided she'd indulge a few questions from Design, then send the spren on her way.

Meanwhile, Design helped her self to the letters and began reading through them. Khriss couldn't help but notice how quickly she moved from one letter to the next—much faster than the average human could read. Fascinating. Would Design be interested in letting herself be timed?

Barely a moment passed before Design looked up. "The note on top is right, I don't see anything in here about Dawnshards." She wrinkled her nose and frowned. "Why are the letters written in two different languages? Also, does my facial expression look sufficiently confused? I still have a hard time getting confusion right. It doesn't come up much."

"You look kind of confused but mostly annoyed."

"Damnation, I'll have to practice that some more. Anyways, the languages? It would be more logical for them both to pick one to have their conversation in."

Khriss nodded. "It's because they were in love," she explained. "From what I can tell, they were practicing each other's native tongues."

Design quirked an eyebrow. "What does learning a new language have to do with love? They seem to like each other from all the 'I miss you' stuff but what does language factor in?"

Khriss sat back in her chair. How was she supposed to explain this? "Doing nice things for someone is a way to show you love them, through your actions instead of your words. Learning someone's native language so that they can understand you better is a really big action, and a really kind thing to do for another person."

Design hummed thoughtfully. "Would solving a complex math problem for someone show that you loved them?"

"Um. I guess so? If the person on the receiving end was really struggling and needed help."

"Does that mean all teachers are in love with their students?"

"No, definitely not."

"Why?"

"You don't have to be in love with someone to care about them."

"What's the difference between loving and caring?"

Khriss opened her mouth to reply, then stopped. There was a difference, of course, but Design's questions had her all turned around. "I… I need to think about that. It's hard to explain."

"Okay!" Design said, surprisingly chipper given that her question hadn't actually been answered. She put down the stack of letters and stood. "Thanks for the chat!"

And then she walked away, leaving Khriss sitting alone in stunned silence.

Keep reading

[toxictrannyfreak]

TWoK chapter 8 death rattle:

“Victory! We stand stop the mount! We scatter them before us! Their homes become our dens, their lands are now our farms! And they shall burn, as we once did, in a place that is hollow and forlorn.”

—Collected on Ishashan, 1172, 18 seconds pre-death. Subject was a light-eyed spinster of the eighth dahn.

This sounds to me like the human conquest of Roshar. Specifically “And they shall burn, as we once did” makes me think they’re comparing sending the Singers to Braize/Damnation to humanity burning Ashyn. That might mean that this is a description of the first (or at least an early) Desolation, when Fused would indeed be sent to Braize.

[cosmerelists]

Kaladin asks: “Would you still love me if I was a cremling?”

“Would you still love me if I was a worm”  is a meme. But on Roshar, of course, they’d ask the question using cremlings, not worms. So let’s say that Kaladin asked his friends this very important question. How would they reply?

1. Adolin

Adolin: Sure, I don’t see why not!

Adolin: Can I give you a tiny, cremling-sized sword?

Adolin: It’d be pretty cute!

2. Renarin

Renarin: [considering]

Renarin: Yes, I believe so.

Renarin: So long as I knew it was you, I don’t see why my view of you would change.

Adolin: ...now I feel a little bad about my flippant cremling-sword answer.

Renarin: Nah, that would be cute.

3. Shallan

Shallan: Oooh, so you’d be a cremling with human intelligence?

Shallan: I could make you a shalebark habitat, and then have you describe the symbiotic relationship from the cremling perspective!

Shallan: Plus, you could tell me about what tastes good, whether you feel artistic...

Kaladin: I’m not sure I like the glint in your eye...

Shallan: I might love you more.

4. Moash

Moash: “Just a cremling” they’d say. “We can definitely kill him now.”

Moash: But no.

Moash: I know you’d still be unkillable.

Moash: You’d be the most overpowered radiant cremling ever.

Kaladin: Is that a yes, or...?

5. Teft

Teft: Of course, lad. 

Teft: Shouldn’t be too hard to find some way for me to become a cremling too.

Kaladin: Uh...you don’t need to be a cremling in this thought experiment.

Teft: I’m your lieutenant, aren’t I? 

6. Zahel

Zahel: No.

Zahel: Toss you out. Let nature take its course.

Kaladin: You, uh, know it’s still me, right? Just in cremling-shape?

Zahel: I’m sure you’ll figure it out.

7. Rlain

Rlain: Hmmm....yes.

Rlain: In fact, I think I would love you more.

Rlain: You’d finally have a shell!

8. Navani & Dalinar

Navani: Of course we would. I’ll even make you a little glyph board to crawl over to tell me all of your cremling thoughts.

Navani: Perhaps you could write the first book from the cremling perspective.

Navani: Men write now, so all bets are off.

Dalinar: But you are not allowed to call your book The Way of Cremlings. I will not allow it.

Navani: Dalinar, please! The man’s a cremling!

Kaladin: ...I feel like you guys might be making fun of me.

9. Lirin & Hesina

Hesina: You know I would, Kaladin.

Hesina: I’d give you a nice cremling habitat with a nice high rock for you to sit on.

Kaladin: Thanks, mom.

Lirin: At the very least, you’d take care of wounded cremlings, right?

Kaladin: D-Dad?!

Lirin: Gotta do something with your cremling life.

10. Lewshi

Lewshi: I would continue to respect you as a warrior.

Lewshi: However, I do not think we could duel anymore.

Kaladin: You don’t think?

Lewshi: Well, I know not to make assumptions when it comes to you.

11. Rock

Rock: ...

Rock: Tell me this. Are you the delicious type of cremling?

Kaladin: Y-You’d eat me?!

Rock: ...

Rock: Think of the fine stew!

Kaladin: NO

12. Syl

Syl: ...

Syl: ...

Syl: ...

Kaladin: Uh, are you okay, Syl?

Syl: (whispering) Tiny, glowing cremling with a sword!

Syl: S-So cute!

Adolin: That’s what I was saying!

Kaladin: ...

Kaladin: Why did I think this was a good idea?

[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 :)

[journaldetruthwatcher]

Throughout my journeys, I've seen many wonderful things, and I have obviously developed certain dark curiosities, a few of which are now related to my homeland I would say.

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Me and Shimmer were given many strange looks traveling through Shadesmar, which I suppose makes sense. She's changed drastically along our travels. Her porcelain mask is now made of shifting metal, marbled with different metals...perhaps due to the changes I induced in myself, her eyes glowing a soft red. Her uniform hasn't changed much I feel, the symbols may have muddied and fuzzed, but it is still recognizably a uniform a Mistspren would wear during a desolation. Her mist doesn't seem to have changed much...maybe it greyed a little bit? She, unfortunately, stands out too much here. Luckily I wasn't planning on staying...unluckily, she seems to make me stand out more by comparison. That and apparently the changes I made to myself are 'disgusting' to the others, though because I was already bonded to Shimmer, she thinks I may be able to convince a few Mistspren to join my experiments, they would be curious enough to at least hear me out before rejecting the ideas.

She could've sugar-coated it at least a little bit, but that's not her style.

------------------------------------------------

After talking with several spren...or rather...letting Shimmer do that for me...her appearance apparently made that more difficult than she would've liked...we've learned that there haven't been any new oaths in quite some time. Luckily, we didn't lose, Humans are still on Roshar, but Honor is dead...well...desolations simply haven't been happening. Curious.

Unfortunately, Honor's perpendicularity is no longer accessible, so I have to use Cultivation's. Which is close enough to where I am, as is all things it seems in Shadesmar are.

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Back in Roshar's physical realm, well, no one seems to know what happened and everything has...changed. The Fused, the Singers, Odium, the Heralds, everything is different, nothing is the same as it was...I was gone for too long...I miss my home...

------------------------------------------------

I have become an Ardent, it grants me some measure of freedom and privacy, allows me to learn, and most importantly, allows me to continue reading and writing. This culture is so different to what I remember, so different to where I've been living, but I want to know more before I leave.

[lalapineblanche]

so I don’t know if anyone has suggested this before, but i have a pet theory that the ones above from sixth of the dusk are either people who are bonded to honorspren (or highspren) or people descended from skybreakers or windrunners. the second one is more likely considering that Brandon has said in a WoB that it would be difficult to take spren off-world due to connection issues with their investiture, but it may still be possible.

according to the timeline we have right now, 6th takes place at least ~2500 years after era 1 stormlight. this means that if spren/human relations continue as they are now, rosharan society will change significantly due to increased spren influence. highspren and honorspren, in particular are likely to exert influence on general rosharan society due to their strict codes of behavior. they’ll obviously require the people that they bond with to be honorable & just in their everyday lives, but having radiants from their orders in positions of power will probably mean that they’ll push their knights to enact changes in line with their belief systems.

even on a smaller scale, if knights radiant continue to exist in a more public manner, it isn’t hard to believe that smaller societies will be built up around them (considering that knights can delegate pages and all, it’s easy to imagine that eventually the orders will have a larger system of non-bonded people following them around and assisting/cohabitating with them).

so if in 2500+ years roshar advances technologically to the level of space travel (very probable, not only due to the artifabrians and scholars already making huge leaps on roshar but also due to scadrian influences among others), it’s probable that people traveling off-world will be from a more ethically-limited society. thus, the ones above not wanting to trade with a society until it’s advanced enough easily fits in with highspren & honorspren’s particular ethical codes - we know that they don’t necessarily care about the moral of actions take place as much as they care about actions not breaking their codes of conduct. the northern trading company’s underhanded way of ‘helpfully’ introducing technology to people on first of the sun is exactly the sort of thing a highspren would do in order to justify being able to trade with ‘less advanced’ people.

plus, the technology that is used by the ones above fits pretty well with general rosharan tech styles, even if it’s likely that space travel tech will be somewhat standardized across the Cosmere at this point in time.

also, we have a WoB stating that sixth has tried herdazian food and hates it. might scadrians(or others) have picked up some recipes while visiting roshar and taken them off-world? maybe, but if rosharans are the ones above it makes more sense for herdazian food to make it to first of the sun.

there’s also something to be said about their interest in aviars, but I’m tired and I can’t make that connection right now