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“Sorry about that,” said Alum. “I may have used unnecessary force.” He grabbed Jonas and phased them both back into the Physical Realm. “Good duel, although you need to work on your offensive skills. You use tin?”

As Jonas came towards him, Alum Transported away, standing in the circular Training Ground. He gripped Pyrus with both hands, stepped a few paces away, then started to swing his sword as hard as he could to were he thought Jonas was, phasing back into Shadesmar.

There were chickens. Lots of chickens.

Alum might have been faster and stronger, but he didn’t know how to dodge. The slap connected as a glowing light formed around them, and they were standing in Shadesmar. He pushed his opponent away and let the Stormlight focus him, bringing his Shardblade up and pointed directly at Jonas.

Alum grinned slightly as Jonas ran full force into the Line of Forbiddance. But the man stepped around it, and Alum couldn’t dodge away from the punch aimed at his stomach. He stumbled away, lights dancing in his eyes for a moment before the Stormlight healed him. He instead grabbed at Jonas, aiming to Transport them both.

He was in Shadesmar, briefly, the tiny sun hanging in the sky above, his shadows distorted. Pyrus was here, a dark figure stepping beside him. The alien light had a prismatic sheen on her, even in this Realm. He raised his hand, pulling out a second piece of chalk with the other. He only had three, and this one was pink. In the Physical Realm, a glowing portal of light formed on the opposite side of the wall, a few meters away from Jonas. Alum stepped through, and with the flat of his chalk swiped a thick Line of Forbiddance in front of him, parallel to the rock wall.

“Use Stormlight.” Pyrus’ voice came to his mind as Alum saw Jonas raise his axe. He breathed in deeply, feeling the raging tempest power flow within him. He raised his hand, feeling the movement of the air in front of him, the little voice of the object. Air wanted to be free, but he convinced it to change, to harden, to set. As the axe swung towards him, the air between them solidified into a thick wall of rock. Alum wondered if they would mind that he was adding extra walls. A bit late now.

He was about to draw when he realised his hand was empty. Alum looked up to see Jonas holding the chalk. Storm it. He grasped the Blade in both hands and swung it towards Jonas.

Alum raised Pyrus up to block the blow and tried to sweep the axe out of his hands in one fluid movement. He then reached for his guns, then hesitated. He didn’t have rubber bullets, so a shot would be lethal without some sort of healing. Instead he stepped away, holding Pyrus in one hand and a piece of chalk in the other. Time to see what Rithmatics could do.

Alum took off his copperminds, putting them aside where they hopefully wouldn’t be disturbed. Then he summoned Pyrus, holding the blade in front of him. They had one of the Blade guards hanging on the wall, so he pulled it off and covered it. It didn’t fit perfectly, since Pyrus had changed slightly in shape and size to suit him, but it would do. ”Alright,” he said. “I’m ready.”

Is there a reason Reconstruction isn’t a Pastrememberer surge? Other than that, this is a great list.

“I... sure,” he said. “Can I step outside for a few moments? I’ll be right back.” He quickly darted out of the gate with his bags. Once out of sight, he unwrapped his sleeves and began sorting through his vials. Selecting an Allomantic Pewter spike, he yanked out the F-Copper, feeling blood beginning to spill around his arm, and dropped it immediately into a vial. Then, grasping the thin edge of the A-Pewter spike, he stabbed it firmly through his arm. Alum decided to keep the Rithmatic spike, though. He wanted to see how it could be used in combat. Attaching some pewter vials to his belt next to his guns, he washed the blood and chalk off his arms with some water, dried them and wrapped them, and stepped back inside. “Okay. I’ll spar.”

For Alum, it would be the excellent song ‘Every Major’s Terrible’.

Alum considered fleeing before the man in an even larger Shardplate and the aged Terrisman began to battle. Pyrus was walking about him, concerned. Surely the Shardbearer would win? “Looks can be deceiving.” There was a strength to the Terrisman - Devaan - and he didn’t seem fazed by his opponent. Alum decided to stay. He did, however, draw a thick Line of Forbiddance in front of him. Just in case.

I'm about two weeks late on this, but as the proverb goes... Heya. Some of you will recognize me from the Alleyverse, and I've poked around in the Discord a few times. I figured I should make one of these; it was either that or wait until 1000 posts. And although that would have been a great joke, I'm not sure I have enough patience. I've read all of the Cosmere and most of the non-Cosmere texts. I've already been absorbed into the black hole of RPing; there's no hope for me now. Looking forward to a Sanderson Elimination game when one opens up. See ya round! (Also, I'd love a cookie!)

One of my favorite lines in the whole book (I'm studying Mathematics currently). Welcome to the Cosmere rabbit-hole! Have you read much of Sanderson?

Alright, I've been working on my old ward idea, and here's what I've come up with. Basically, I proposed that the nuke do different levels of damage to different parts of the city, leading to those different sections being referred to 'wards' (ala Thaylen City). Thus, my goal was to outline the different Ward sections. I aimed to have the Canton of Combat and the Worldspike within the crater, in order to make a cool 'island' within the destruction. I also wanted parts of the city to be semi-spared to make an 'Old Ward'. So I placed the epicenter of the nuke like so. Everything within the first circle is a crater. Everything within the second circle is flattened and stripped away, and everything outside the second circle is damaged but still recoverable, with half-standing walls and the like. Using this info, I made a second map containing the actual wards: The idea is that the yellow and brown wards are like hills, rising out of the cratered green, blue and pink wards, with the red ward at original surface level and having original authentic buildings (or replicas of originals). What do you think? My main concern is that I'm underestimating the damage of the thermonuke (although we can always handwave with Aons and such) and that the West and North Wards are too small. I've considered combining them into one (divided) Slope Ward, with the Worldspike Ward taking up more northwestern space.

The facts begin to assemble in his mind, piecing together. This was some sort of training ground, outside of the main city, for worldhoppers to practice their combat skills. As the others began to perform some sort of dance - Selish, he guessed - he stepped away, head turning to Pyrus. ”What do you think?” “Combat. Warlike people. Welcoming.” “Not sure how they’d react to Hemalurgy, though. We’ll keep that quiet. Shall we do some Rithmatics?” His spren gave an affirmative, and Alum knelt against the stone floor, getting out some chalk. He quickly sorted through his copperminds, pulling the information and experiments that he had cut short. “First item: chalking aesthetics,” Alum said. He glanced up at the others. “I’m here if you need me.” And he began to draw.

I don’t have time to analyse it too in-depth, but it looks great! I liked the action, especially between Justice and the Optids, although I think there’s definitely more room for exploring how they work and what they can be used for. It’s a good idea, one definitely inspired by the Reckoners, so you’ll have to be careful not to mimic it too closely. You’ve got enough unique ideas to make something of your own, though. In terms of things that need to be improved, I think the setting could’ve been outlined a bit better. They’re in some alleys, but what are these alleys like? Can they hear the scampering of rats, the slight drip of water, a rustle of wind? The smell of mould, brick, Optid arms, decomposing corpses? A few evocative sentences can do a lot to set the scene in the audience’s mind. Also, Laron seems to be omniescient during the battle, predicting the Optid’s feint. If Justice, with undoubtably much more battle experience than Laron, didn’t see it coming, Laron shouldn’t have, even if Justice is past his prime. Laron’s reactions should also be outlined a bit more. When Jared dies, you might want to describe what he feels, short of ‘he feels sad’. When they are trapped by the Optids, how does he feel about that? Laron almost seems aware that he’s going to be rescued, when he probably shouldn’t be. If the Optids are as dangerous as you describe them, the appearance of one should be a distaster, and the appearance of two should be a calamity (pun somewhat intended). There’s definitely room for improvement, but you’ve got an excellent start.

*pulls out knife* Wait. *puts away knife* *pulls out rocket launcher*

Alum scanned the map. There were names he recognised: Scadrial and Roshar, the United Isles. Some sort of Terrisman colony to the south. Others he didn't. The Free Kingdoms? Bassopolis? He had heard distant rumors of the Reckonerverse, but had never found it after years of searching. He supposed the arrows pointing off indicated ways to perpendicularities - either that, or the realm stretched and knitted together like Shadesmar. He was going to have to investigate. Alum stored the map as best he could on one of his minds under the heading Alleyverse, and said, "This city, for starters. It's the capital? And what's with the big spike at the center? It's obviously important."

"Alleyverse?" Alum thought of the straight, crisscrossing alleys of the city, and wondered how the design of a single population center could influence the name of an entire universe. Best guess was this was a sort of Silverlight for this realm. What had he gotten himself into? He noticed a man enter the room, one with similar features to the woman on the chair. Mara, her name was. A cousin or brother, probably. There was something strangely disarming about him, something that made him want to trust the man. He smiled at him. "I've just arrived. I'm a scholar, from Roshar. Name's Alum. I'm new to the Alleyverse. Is this some sort of worldhopper city?"

Alum hears her mention of Hemalurgy and mentally thanks Pyrus for the idea of covering his spikes. He turns back to the young woman in the chair - he still doesn't know her name. "What planet is this?" he asks. "Yolen, maybe?" He's simultaneously adding information to his copperminds, storing a description of the strange ship and Plate, as well as descriptions of the people around him. He needed some more minds - he was close to running out of space.

His hand is just outstretching when he hears the rattle and roar of something outside. It's still hanging there when the gates are opened, and a man in full Shardplate walks in. Behind him, a large metal creature has touched down. It alone makes his pulse stop, and he begins describing them in his copperminds, annotating the names. It's like a ship from Southern Scadrial, but made of metal. The man in Plate nods at them, apparently unfazed by his appearance, and greets someone. Probably a Feruchemist, judging from the features. "A Plate is not. It is... wrong." It was shaped differently, to be sure. So they had some form of Shardbearer, and a Feruchemist. And they didn't seem bothered by newcomers, so it was probably a place used to worldhoppers too. But it wasn't part of any of his records, despite being seemingly well populated. And that ship... "I'm sorry," Alum says. "What in Almighty's tenth name is going on here?"

“There’s a gate?” Alum glared at Pyrus, who was usually onto this sort of thing, and extended a hand. For a second he forgot what name he was using, but he caught up. “I’m Alum, from Alethkar. A scholar of sorts. Arrived this morning. What exactly is this place?”