Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Topics - Argent

Pages: [1]
1
Brandon Sanderson / The Next Annotations
« on: August 09, 2011, 07:17:08 PM »
Should be The Way of Kings, right? I don't think there is anything else left. So if that's the case, when should we expect to see them come up? I think by the time I got to Brandon's annotations, all of Elantris' and Mistborn's ones have been out, and Warbreaker's ones were just coming out, so I have no idea how long it takes for a new book's commentary to come out after the old one's have been all published.

2
Brandon Sanderson / Way of Kings Annotations
« on: February 23, 2011, 08:08:12 AM »
I guess this should be directed to Brandon's circle of trusted ones. Will we get WoK (and SA) annotations on the website like we did for Elantris, Mistborn, and (currently) Warbreaker? My gut feeling is to go with "yes," but the Stormlight Archive is a much bigger project, and for some reason it may differ.

And on that note, what about the last three Wheel of Time books? While not entirely Brandon's, I am certain he has some thoughts about them. More than what we see on Twitter/Facebook that is.

3
Brandon Sanderson / Unpublished Books
« on: January 18, 2011, 06:28:57 AM »
I was reading the transcript of the 17th Shard's interview with Brandon and noticed that whoever was asking the questions knew a terrible lot about books not yet written/published. There were several mentions of the Dragonsteel epic, and I am almost sure there was another book (maybe Scribbler?) that received a brief mention. There was a lot about Optimus The Way of Kings Prime. Can everybody access drafts and alpha versions of Brandon's books, or are those things reserved for only the selected few alpha readers? And if it's the latter, can anyone become an alpha reader, or does Brandon give early versions of his work only to friends?

4
Brandon Sanderson / [TWoK] [Spoilers] Chapter Heading Images
« on: January 16, 2011, 07:28:22 AM »
EDIT: Turns out most of this is old news. Can disregard.

As I was reading some other The Way of Kings-related topics here, I noticed that the chapter images I had assumed to be pseudo-random may actually convey meaningful messages about the story. So I sat down and spent a few hours going through the book, making some tables. Let me present my findings first, and then I'll go into some speculating on what those things might mean. If I am out of date on some things, bear with me.

  • Many people agree that the faces around the map on the back of the front cover, which also appear on the header images above almost every chapter (excluding Prologue, Epilogue, Kaladin's past, and Interludes), are the Ten Heralds. This image was linked in another thread, and while I don't know how those labels came to be, I used them for convenience.
  • The Way of Kings has three major viewpoint characters - Kaladin, Dalinar, and Shallan. One could include Szeth as well, but he has about 5 chapters, and despite his interesting and well-developed story, is hardly a main character. I went through all of the chapters and recorded their viewpoint character(s), the two Heralds featured in the header image, as well as any major themes or events in those chapters. Here's the breakdown, by character:
  • Kaladin
      Vev & Taln/Talenelat: 21. This would make him Loving/Healing & Dependable/Resourceful.
      Jezrien & Nalan: 14 and 13 respectively. This would make him Protecting/Leading & Learned/Giving
      Everyone else: 5 or fewer.
  • Dalinar
      Jezrien: 16. This would make him Protecting/Leading.
      Nalan & Chach: 5 and 6 respectively. This would make him Learned/Giving & Brave/Obedient.
      Everyone else: 4 or fewer.
  • Shallan
      Palah: 12. This would make her Just/Confident.
      Shalash & Ishar: 8 and 7 respectively. This would make her Creative/Honest & Pious/Guiding.
      Everyone else: 2 or fewer.
  • So every viewpoint character has one primary Herald (except for Kaladin, but his two are tied, and it could be because of the end, where he and Dalinar share chapters), as well as two secondary ones. The attributes, taken from the Ars Arcanum, seem to fit nicely too.
  • Some of these results were surprising. I expected to see stronger connection between Kaladin and Jezrien, as well as between Shallan and Shalash.

I am actually not sure where to take this now =\ I think I expected some grand secret hidden in those headers. I'll post this regardless, just as a bit of information out there. Maybe I can decide on what kind of analysis to do with later - or maybe somebody else will.

5
Brandon Sanderson / [WIP] The Cosmere
« on: January 15, 2011, 10:07:39 PM »
_-* SPOILERS *-_

It's been a while since I have posted in these forums. One thing surprised me when I first joined, and it surprised me again today, as I decided to start visiting again - there isn't a single place where all of the non-books information is compiled. I often see threads refer to Adonalsium, Shards, Hoid's nature, and a number of other things that one couldn't have found in the books.

Well, I would like to make a compilation. I know quite a bit about Brandon's universe, but the majority  of my knowledge is restricted to what he has written in his books. I know very little about interviews & Q&As, so I'll need the more knowledgeable forumers to help me out on this one. Simply... post whatever you know. It doesn't have to be organized, it doesn't have to be much, and it doesn't have to relate to any other posts. It may be easier to pick a world, and just summarize what you know about it - not about its geography, or nations, or peoples. Origination, magic system, religion & deities, interaction with other worlds, those are the kinds of things I am interested in.

I am going to try to make an encyclopedia-like entry, formatted and organized nicely, so new forum users can quickly get to knowledge level of everyone else in here and be able to join the discussions with fresh ideas.

I shall update this thread as we go. Hopefully enough people will participate, and over (a short period of) time I'll be able to transfer everything to a new thread and petition it for a sticky.



General Lore
Cosmere, Adonalsium, Shards, Shardworlds, Shardholders.



Shardholders

#Name (host)ShardWorldSeriesStatus (Living?)
1AtiRuinScadrialMistbornDead
2LerasPreservationScadrialMistbornDead
2VinPreservationScadrialMistbornDead
1&2SazedRuin/PreservationScadrialMistbornLiving
3Aona??SelElantrisDead
4Skai??SelElantrisDead
5RayseOdiumRosharStormlightLiving
6Bavadin????????
7??CultivationRosharStormlight??
8TenevastHonorRosharStormlightDead
9??EndowmentNalthisWarbreakerAlive
10??????????
11??????????
12??????????
13??????????
14??????????
15??????????
16??????????

World-Specific Lore


Elantris
  • Name: Sel
  • Magic:
      AonDor:
    [/li]
    [li]Theology:
      Domi: Benevolent and loving, Domi is the unseen god of many Aonic people.
      Aon Dor: Although technically not a real religion, many people of Aonic heritage choose to worship the Elantrians as their gods.
      The Jesker: The Jesker is the dead religion of the Duladen Republic.
      The Mysteries: An offspring of the Jesker, the Mysteries are more of a cult than a real religion. Key elements of the Mysteries include worship of the (full) moon, as well as animal and human sacrifices.
      Jadeth: Worshiped in the Fjordell Empire, Jadeth is the one and only good of its people. The Wyrn, ruler and head priest of Fjorden, is his prophet, a mortal manifestation of his will.
      [/list][/li]
      [/list]

      Mistborn
      • Name: Scadrial
      • Magic:
          Allomancy: Allomancy uses 16 specific metals to fuel various Allomantic abilities. The metals are divided into several overlapping groups based on their effects - Pushing/Pulling, Internal/External, and Physical/Mental/Enhancing/Temporal. Atium and larasium are the only two that don't follow any of those categories, for they are known as the god metals.
          Feruchemy: Feruchemy is the art of using one of the 16 metals in order to store various attributes for later use. Unlike Allomancy, Feruchemy is a balanced magic system - in order to store up strength, one must spend time being weak; in order to store up mental speed, one must spend time being slow-minded.
          Hemalurgy: While Allomancy uses the 16 metals to fuel magic, and Feruchemy uses them simply for storage, Hemalurgy can use those metals to steal Allomantic and Feruchemical abilities. This bloody art requires the recipient to kill the Allomancer or Feruchemist from whom he wishes to steal an ability. The murder must be done with a metal spike, which then stores exactly one Allomantic or Feruchemical attribute, depending on the metal used. The recipient must then drive the metal spike through his own body and remain in contact with it - no spike means no attribute.
        [/li]
        [li]Theology:
          Lord Ruler: The Final Empire worshiped the demigod Lord Ruler for a period of a thousand years, up until his death. The vast majority of his followers now count themselves members of the Church of the Survivor.
          Church of the Survivor: Founded by skaa workers after the death of Kelsier, the Church of the Survivor is a young religion with still vague dogmas.
          Ruin & Preservation: Known only to the extinct kandra, the former Terris religion accurately defined the gods of Scadrial. After the events of the trilogy, both Ruin and Preservation are dead, their power and godhood obtained by Sazed.
          [/list][/li]
          [/list]

          Warbreaker
          • Name: Nalthis
          • Magic:
              BioChroma
            [/li]
            [li]Theology:
              Austre: As the unseen god of Idris, Austre's teachings are ones of avoidance of colors and ostentation.
              The Iridescent Tones: The vague religion of Hallandren seems to require little of its followers. Their gods - the Returned - require very little of their followers; a Breath a week per god, to keep them alive. In many ways, it is the exact opposite of Austre - vivid, colorful, and full of life.
              [/list][/li]
              [/list]

              The Stormlight Archive
              • Name: Roshar
              • Magic:
                  Surgebinding
                  Voidbringing
                  Old Magic
                [/li]
                [li]Theology:
                  The Almighty
                  [/list][/li]
                  [/list]

                  Other Worlds
                  There are Shardworlds other than the four described above. Below you will find the names of not-yet-written books/series taking place in those other Shardworlds.
                  • The Silence Divine (standalone novel)
                  • White Sand (trilogy)
                  • The Liar of Partinel (the first novel in a series of two). Magic: Lightweaving
                  • Dragonsteel (epic). World name: Yolen

                  6
                  Brandon Sanderson / WoK: Bridge Crews & Bridges
                  « on: September 08, 2010, 06:29:35 PM »
                  Can someone explain, simply, how Kaladin an Bridge Four carry their bridges, before and after the change? Somehow I am having hard time visualizing this...

                  7
                  Brandon Sanderson / Magic Systems
                  « on: November 05, 2009, 09:00:57 AM »
                  Brandon Sanderson is, I think by popular opinion, well-known for his unique and real magic systems.  Feel free to refer to his Sanderson's First Law essay about his opinion on what makes a magic system believable and interesting. I won't summarize it, as I suspect many of us have already read the article. I will, however, quote the Law:
                  Quote from: Sanderson's First Law of Magics
                  : An author's ability to solve conflict with magic is DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to how well the reader understands said magic.

                  With all this in mind, and the fact that some of the users in this forum are probably young and aspiring authors, I thought I'd create a game of some sort. Well, not exactly a "game", but a fun and productive activity, which also happens to be a helpful mind exercise, I think. A place to create magic.

                  Before I go any further, I want to explicitly state that I have no intentions to ask anyone to reveal their writing secrets. If you think you have a magic system so good it will get your novel/short story published, and you don't want to share it - that's great! But if you want to just practice and write some interesting stuff subject to critique from other readers and possibly writers, I think this will be a very interesting place for you to be in.

                  So here is the deal. You will create a model for a magic system and post it here. It doesn't matter of it's a rough draft, or a system finished to its smallest of details. Post something. Or if you have nothing (like me at the moment, although I am working on an idea), take a look at what others have posted and discuss it with them. Provide feedback, help the rest of the users improve. Let's see if we can start a decent creative process going.

                  Now, as I said, I have nothing to offer. For now. So I will leave the topic as it is, and see where things are going. Hopefully I will be able to supply my own sample, and we can start from there if things are not getting anywhere. Only time will tell what will happen.

                  Let magic reign!

                  8
                  Suggestions Box / Avatar Requirements
                  « on: November 03, 2009, 07:59:18 PM »
                  As I was registering just a few days ago, I tried uploading an avatar for myself.  You can find the image here. However the forums consistently refuse to acknowledge that I have an avatar!

                  Now, I assume there is something wrong with it, and I am just not getting an error message. Perhaps the dimensions are off? Or its size is too big, kb-wise? Would it be possible to either note somewhere, or make sure an error message appears, when somebody tries to use an avatar that doesn't fit the requirements?

                  And while we are on it - what are the requirements?

                  Pages: [1]