Random questions about Stormlight world (minor spoilers)

[Jemaclus]

Note: I'm not sure whether the spoiler period is over or whatever, but I'm gonna go ahead and say there are some spoilers below. If you haven't read or finished Way of Kings, please stop now and come back when you finish. Thanks.

Got some random questions here that maybe you guys can answer.

1) The nobility in Alethkar is known as "Brightness" or "Brightlord". Is "Brightness" the feminine version of "Brightlord"? I can't recall if any men are referred to as "Brightness". Can anyone clarify?

2) Anyone know how the epochs are set up? For instance, in our culture we have B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini), and some refer to C.E. (Common Era) and B.C.E (Before Common Era). Peter suggested that there are multiple epochs like that in the Stormlight Archives.

My question is specifically in regards to the Prelude, as it says that Kelek and Jezrian's conversation is "3000 years ago". The current year is 1174. Keeping in mind the BC-AD/CE-BCE notations, what would the current year be and what would the date be in the Prelude?

3) Jasnah and Shallan can apparently Soulcast without fabrials. Are there different terms for people who require fabrials and those who don't?

4) Several of the characters swear by various gods. Many of these gods are obviously bastardizations of the original Heralds' names. With that in mind, would you consider these beings to be gods or are they simply Heralds?

5) Is there a name for what Dalinar has become (with regards to his visions)? (e.g. Prophet? Seer?)

Thanks in advance for your help, guys.

[Link Von Kelsier Harvey he/him]

Let's see...

1)  I'm pretty sure you're right about this one.  As far as I know, only women are ever called Brightness.

2)  Somebody asked this on Tor's Q&A session.  He RAFO'd it.  Whatever the distinction between the epochs is, it must be important to the story.

3&5)  If there are different names, they don't appear in the book.  Somebody should try asking Brandon (though that sounds like something he'd RAFO.)

4)  Presumably, the only Gods hanging around Roshar are The Almighty(Honor), Cultivation, and Odium.  The only one who seems to be commonly known is The Almighty.  The Heralds apparently served The Almighty before breaking the Oathpact and going their separate ways.  Whatever powers they had came from The Almighty.  So, no, they are not gods themselves, but they may have enough power to convince others that they are.

[Jemaclus]

Thanks for your help.

Follow up question:  are you immediately a noble if you have blue eyes? Or is there a difference between a blue-eyed person and a Brightness/Brightlord?

[happyman he/him]

Thanks for your help.

Follow up question:  are you immediately a noble if you have blue eyes? Or is there a difference between a blue-eyed person and a Brightness/Brightlord?

As far as we can tell, eye color determines social status.

I know it sounds weird, but Brandon manages to make the point (through Hoid, I believe) that this is hardly the weirdest way of choosing leaders that humans have come up with.

[Jemaclus]

I guess the question is... is there a distinction between a blue-eyed person and a Brightlord?

To put in terms of a corporate world, a dark-eyed person would be the "blue-collar" worker. Is a blue-eyed person automatically "white-collar", whereas a Brightlord would be considered "management"? 

Or is light-eyes equivalent to Brightlord no matter what?

[SOM1else he/him]

I think that is all it takes to be a Brightlord, if your eyes our blue you automatically become a Brightlord, I think that it also gives some prestige to the family of the blue eyed person but they have a certain limit of how far they can go in the government with their dark eyed status

[Morderkaine he/him]

Brightlord/Brightlady/Brightness are Alethkar titles/formalities for addressing a noble.

All Lighteyes are automatically nobles and outrank all Darkeyes. High ranking Darkeyes are permitted to marry low ranking Lighteyes but do not become nobles when they do.

There are a total of 22 known classes in Vorin society (10 noble, 10 non-noble, and 2 slave classes). In order, from highest to lowest ranking, they are: First through Tenth Dahn (Lighteyes), First through Tenth Nahn (Darkeyes), Parshmen, and Sas Nahn. It is possible for individuals and families to move up down within their respective grouping (Nahn/Dahn). Those who are declared to be Sas Nahn have glyphs branded on there foreheads permanently marking them as Sas Nahn. It is unknown whether a Lighteyes can become Sas Nahn or if there is a Sas Dahn equivalent for them.

[DariusJenai]

It's a rather interesting system.  From the way Kaladin makes it sound, it sounds almost like light-eyes (Szeth notices that Gavilar's eyes are "striking pale green", so it's not just the color blue) are the sole qualification.  He thinks at one point when he's realizing his parents are trying to set him up with the local lords daughter that his kids could outrank him.  "How would he feel, marrying someone like Laral? He

[Silus - Shard of Flame he/him]

Well, remember how the Knights Radiant's skin and eyes would glow while wielding a Shardblade?  That's probably where the idea of light colored eyes=nobility comes from.  Which, as Hoid points out, isn't as crazy as other things.

[CrazyRioter she/her]

They do have a separate word for leader, as they talk about Kaladin being their leader and such but their idea of noble blood is tied intemperately to eye colour, as discussed several times in the book.

We also have Jasnah and Navani with violet eyes, and Amaram with very light brown (tan) eyes. It seems  there are lots of different pale eye colours about. A lot of which you don't normally see in real life.

[DariusJenai]

Possible.  Sigzil makes some comments about the Alethi language.

Thanks for adding Jasnah and Amaram's eye colors.  I missed those when I was scanning through.

[happyman he/him]

Possible.  Sigzil makes some comments about the Alethi language.

Thanks for adding Jasnah and Amaram's eye colors.  I missed those when I was scanning through.

,

I think there is a word for "Leader" which says nothing about eye color, but there is no word for "Lord" that does not also imply eye color.

[Zas678 he/him]

I have a random thought, and I didn't want to make a new thread.

You all remember the part where Syl says that she hates Dalinar's shardblade, and she's glad that he got rid of it? I finally figured out why. It is because she, as a Honorspren, binds things together. What do Shardblades do? They seperate things. They either break the bond between molecules, making a lifeless item fall off, or it seperates the soul from an object. What could be more horrendous to a spren who is all about connecting?

(On a side note to support this, didn't Syl call herself a Bindspren in the ARC? I may be misremembering.)

[FeatherWriter she/her]

I'm fairly certain that the lighteyes thing is related to Stormlight and the Radiants like Silus said. Szeth mentions that his eyes change color when he's wielding his shardblade. It's said that receiving a shardblade will physically change your eye color, as young Kaladin talks of winning a shardblade so that he can be a lighteyes and marry Laral.

Also, when Teft gives Kaladin stormlight while he's unconcious after the highstorm, we see that:

Kaladin's eyes snapped open, and they leaked light too, faintly colored amber.

--Pg. 556 WoK Hardcover

And yet, in the next Kaladin chapter, when Sigzil is talking about the crew thinking Kaladin is secretly noble, he uses the word "lighteyes," to which, Kaladin informs us:

"But my eyes are dark brown!"

--Pg. 576 WoK Hardcover