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Durazno Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#1501: Jun 22nd 2016 at 9:04:23 PM

I think there's room even in a novella for flashbacks to her origin with the story being set in the present. You know how Kelsier's novella was broken into parts? It could be something like that.

RavenWilder Raven Wilder Since: Apr, 2009
Raven Wilder
#1502: Jun 22nd 2016 at 11:04:07 PM

It's hard to tell whether Lift is mentally ill or just really really childish.

"It takes an idiot to do cool things, that's why it's cool" - Haruhara Haruko
SCMof2814 Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: I don't mind being locked in this eternal maze!
#1503: Jun 22nd 2016 at 11:06:12 PM

You say like they're separate things.

3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#1504: Jun 28th 2016 at 2:56:00 PM

White Sand Vol 1 is out due today. Hmm, lets see how hard it will be to get a copy to germany.

"You can reply to this Message!"
Ninety Absolutely no relation to NLK from Land of Quakes and Hills Since: Nov, 2012 Relationship Status: In Spades with myself
Absolutely no relation to NLK
#1505: Jun 28th 2016 at 8:15:48 PM

Kinda sad that a Cosmere-canon story is comic book only.

Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.
Samaldin Since: Oct, 2014 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#1506: Jun 29th 2016 at 12:41:01 AM

Well you can still write Sanderson to get the prose Version

rikalous World's Cutest Direwolf from Upscale Mordor Since: May, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
World's Cutest Direwolf
#1507: Jun 29th 2016 at 11:54:36 AM

[up][up]Come on, you play Kingdom Hearts. You should be used to this sort of thing by now.

Discar Since: Jun, 2009
#1508: Jun 29th 2016 at 3:05:43 PM

So I finished White Sand volume 1. Not bad. A little bit too predictable in parts. Hope the obvious twists get subverted later. Also my Kindle sucks for reading comics, but that's not Sanderson's fault.

Late edit: Oh, and for people worried about excessive bolding, it's not as much of an issue as the preview made it seem. In fact, it's a bit jarring to go from the reasonable bolding, and then you hit the preview section and suddenly two words are bolded each sentence.

edited 29th Jun '16 3:37:01 PM by Discar

Ninety Absolutely no relation to NLK from Land of Quakes and Hills Since: Nov, 2012 Relationship Status: In Spades with myself
Absolutely no relation to NLK
#1509: Jun 30th 2016 at 5:31:52 PM

[up][up] I've been hurt before man. I don't wanna repeat the experience.

Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.
rikalous World's Cutest Direwolf from Upscale Mordor Since: May, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
World's Cutest Direwolf
#1510: Jul 28th 2016 at 3:25:50 AM

So, 3of4's linked me to the amazon page for Arcanum Unbound, which looks cool as shit and is not going to be available until November. I can only conclude that 3of4 hates me and wants me to suffer for months until it comes out. To cope, I decided to make a giant rambling post of musings and speculation about how Cosmere magic systems relate to their associated Shards, because I am exactly that much of a nerd.

Preservation, Ruin, and Harmony I'm gonna get out of the way first, because it's discussed in the text that Allomancy's linked to Preservation by being end-positive, Hemalurgy to Ruin by being end-negative, and Feruchemy to Harmony by being end-neutral. Pretty simple.

Autonomy's connection to sand mastery is mostly based on spoilery stuff, so enjoy some text white as sand. When Kenton gets his powers back, his monologue's talking about how he used to want to sand master to stick it to his dad, but now he's changed and he can feel that the sand's alive. In other words, he was weak in the power when he was defining himself in opposition to his father rather than being autonomous, because the sand has enough autonomy to give a sand master more or less power. Which has all sorts of interesting implications, like sand masters giving their more powerful members higher ranks because they're more self-willed anyway, and Praxton's kids all being ass at sand mastery because their overbearing father quashed their ability to be autonomous.

Endowment's kinda tricky to talk about, since any magic system endows the practitioners with their powers. Still, Awakening fits with it better than most, since it's all about endowing nonliving things with animation and intelligence. Or a crude facsimile thereof, in the case of many Returned. Hey-oh!

Devotion and Dominion have a whole bunch of magic systems between them, for some reason, and as far as I'm aware we don't know how much influence each has over most of them. AonDor is evidently Devotion, which makes sense because it's a very patriotic magic. It only works if you're in your homeland and you know the shape of the land. Dakhor is apparently Dominion, which fits with all the human sacrifice. Hard to have more dominion over someone than the ability to demand their death to save you a fifteen-minute walk. Forgery strikes me as a mix of both, a la feruchemy, since it lets you control something provided you truly understand it. Bloodsealing I'm guessing leans toward Dominion, since its demonstrated capabilities are all about using pieces of people to control them even beyond death. (Which amuses me, since that would link the creepy necromancy power to the evil god despite the bloodsealer we met being about as villainous as Inspector Zenigata.) ChayShan we know roughly fuckall about, but as long as I'm speculating anyway I'm gonna suggest that having to practice magic tai chi forms to do magic seems pretty Devotiony.

And now we come to Honor and Cultivation. Surgebinding seems to have strong elements from both. The way they have to swear – and keep – noble oaths is the most obviously Honor bit, but the requirement to accept more and more advanced Ideals is very Cultivation. In the other magic systems, once you've unlocked your powers you've got access to everything. You might be pants at it at first, but the learning curve isn't built into the magic the way it is with Surgebinding. Also Cultivationy is the content of the First Ideal. You protect life, you foster strength, and you focus on the process rather than just jumping to the goal. Speaking of the Ideals, I find it interesting that after the first one they go off in ten different directions. Honor, it seems, isn't a one-size-fits-all concept. Leaders have one kind of honor, guardians another, and artists a third. Valjean acts with honor, and so does Javert when he opposes him. I quite like that. Sets up more interesting conflicts.

3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#1511: Jul 28th 2016 at 4:34:50 AM

Evil Laughter!!

"You can reply to this Message!"
Samaldin Since: Oct, 2014 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#1512: Jul 28th 2016 at 4:42:50 AM

About your White Sands text The problem is Kenton doesn´t act autonomous, he acts for a group. He also later says (when he confronts Drile in the Diem) that he got his new ribbons from his father, which would also not be autonomous at all.

Also you have Endowments magic system wrong, it isn´t Awakening but Bio Chroma (I see the relationship between Awakening and Bio Chroma like the one between Lashing and Surgebinding).

rikalous World's Cutest Direwolf from Upscale Mordor Since: May, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
World's Cutest Direwolf
#1513: Jul 28th 2016 at 8:40:21 PM

Mm. While Kenton is acting to protect a group, he's acting to change it as well. He's making the sand masters into something new, with more ladders and less aloof dickery. He shapes the group to reflect himself, rather than the other way around.

The bit about getting the ribbons from his father is a fair point, though. Curious to see what becomes of that.

On the Awakening/BioChroma distinction, eh, details. tongue

Samaldin Since: Oct, 2014 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#1514: Jul 29th 2016 at 12:27:26 AM

By that point he doesn´t. When he first comes to the the taishin he just wants to prevent Drile from becoming Lord Mastrell and not change the Diem, he just wants to protect it from a traitor

Just something random by the way: did you guys notice the cloud faces? They were pointed out to me in another forum you can see one when Kenton gets the sixth sphere or when they arrive in Kenzare, there are more buti´m to lazy to look them all up

edited 29th Jul '16 12:33:39 AM by Samaldin

RenegadeShroom Since: May, 2014
#1515: Jul 29th 2016 at 4:20:38 AM

re: Selish investitures: AFAIK, the leading theory is that every Selish magic system is of both Devotion and Dominion. I forget the specifics of textual evidence, but from these two WoBs taken together, it seems a pretty safe guess. The idea is that Dominion's influence is why all Selish magic is region locked; it's all based on specific domains. It's the more obvious part that can be sussed out, but with our limited knowledge about the other Selish investitures, figuring out how Devotion factors into each one is a lot tougher once you move past AonDor.

rikalous World's Cutest Direwolf from Upscale Mordor Since: May, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
World's Cutest Direwolf
#1516: Jul 29th 2016 at 1:47:49 PM

Interesting and good to know.

Although they're not all region-locked. ChayShan, Dakhor, and bloodsealing were all used by people far from home. Might be ethnicity-locked, but shit so was feruchemy.

[up][up]Fair. Though I still think that Kenton's bit about the sand abandoning him because he was using it for the wrong reasons has to be important. Pages will tell.

I didn't notice the sky faces until I saw the trope page point it out.

3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#1517: Jul 30th 2016 at 4:46:41 AM

I had a idea how Compounding might work for Feruchemically boosting Allomancy.

Basically, how about the Feruchemically being able to store the Allomancy effect like a normal attribute. You burn metal, but instead of using the effect you store it in a Metal mind of the same metal. You can then draw upon it like any normal Feruchemically or boost-use it.

My main idea was a Chromium Composer (Leech/Spinner, aka "Thief") being able to store Leeching and be able to tripple-use the stored power to create a Leech Bubble for self Defense.

"You can reply to this Message!"
RenegadeShroom Since: May, 2014
#1518: Jul 30th 2016 at 5:47:41 AM

[up][up] Ah, yeah, of course ethnicity locking is also part of that! Feruchemy is a very different case though, I imagine that if it were a Selish power far fewer Wax and Wayne era Scadrians could use it. It'd probably require a deeper personal connection to Terris culture rather than just having the genes. Wax and Wayne themselves probably wouldn't be Feruchemists in that case.

3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#1519: Jul 30th 2016 at 11:21:08 AM

Question
Which world does Hoid enjoy visiting the most?
Brandon Sanderson
Scadrial almost has instant noodles. So he's very interested in Scadrial.
Question
Is he doing anything to push that along?
Brandon Sanderson
He is not as involved in that as certain other forces are.
Question
There are forces involved in the developing instant noodles?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, oh yes.

Felt the need to share this, from a Q&A it seems.

edited 30th Jul '16 11:21:54 AM by 3of4

"You can reply to this Message!"
Discar Since: Jun, 2009
#1520: Jul 30th 2016 at 12:58:09 PM

I love that last line. It just implies so much seriousness to the situation. Like there are entire wars among worldhoppers about Scadrial getting instant noodles.

Maybe that's why the worldhoppers didn't notice how close the Set was to getting a dangerous level of power. They were too busy with their instant noodles to look closely.

rikalous World's Cutest Direwolf from Upscale Mordor Since: May, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
World's Cutest Direwolf
#1521: Jul 30th 2016 at 1:28:50 PM

Odium's probably got forces working to prevent instant noodles because fuck you if you think you get convenient food, and Sazed's sending out Faceless Immortals to help so he doesn't have to feel bad about fucking up their technological development.

3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#1522: Jul 30th 2016 at 1:36:00 PM

Odium once burned himself eating Instant Noodles and WHAT ABOUT HIS NAME MAKES YOU THINK HE LETS THAT GO?!

"You can reply to this Message!"
SCMof2814 Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: I don't mind being locked in this eternal maze!
#1523: Jul 31st 2016 at 5:13:01 PM

On Selish investiture: the Investure seems to have developed at the same time as langua, with the notable exception of the martials art-movement-based one. The Dahkor explicitly have known writing on heir bones, if in an ancient language (suggesting that the reason their magic isn't as common as the others is because of a language shift), and while Aondor is strangely geography-based (which is a cool idea that was explicitly handwaved in the book, as it's stated the characters don't understand why certain geographical features are used to denoted certain aons), it's using symbols in a still-living language. Seemingly the same for bloodsealing and Forgery.

Aon Dor and Forgery, in fact, both act like computer programing, with forgery being a virus-like reprogramming. Forgery doesn't seem to have the same proximity limitations as Aon Dor, which seems to stem from them using Elantris and the surronding cities as a magic amplifier. I suspect that, if they create a network of relatively smaller but still gigantic Elantris amplifiers in embassies or places far from Elantris, they could be able to use stronger Aon dor in those localities.

NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#1524: Jul 31st 2016 at 8:32:13 PM

It's worth noting that Forgery also has a geographic component — there's a line where Shai mentions that the binding seal (the one that actually makes the magic of Forgery work) reminds her of a stylized map of her homeland. It's likely (but not confirmed) that some aspect of the bone-writing thing contains a similar geology reference.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
Discar Since: Jun, 2009
#1525: Aug 1st 2016 at 10:34:13 AM

I think SCM's point was that none of the other magic systems are bound to a homeland. The Dahkor monks worked fine outside of Fjordell, and Shai didn't mention anything about Forgery getting weaker the farther away you are from MaiPon, its origin.

I'm guessing the difference is raw power. Elantrians are godlike beings powered by Investiture, so they need an amplifier (their city) or some other source (the potions seen in Secret History) in order to operate at full capacity. The other magic systems are much weaker, and thus work fine using the general background Investiture.

In fact, I'm wondering if Elantrians are sort of magical transhumans. Maybe they originally had the same power level we see them use at the end—weak but still noticeable. Then they constructed their amplifier to become immortal.


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