AquaRegia

On 11/17/2022 at 0:23 PM, robardin said:

well Era 2 is set around 1900-10 tech levels on Earth, so getting to 1980s tech should not take 200 years.

Era 2 Scadrial has already invented the belt-fed water cooled machine gun (1920s), the multi-shot standalone grenade launcher (1930s) and nuclear weapons (1940s).  On the other hand, they have not yet invented fixed-wing aircraft (1900s) or television (1920s).  There is now some significant political and military tension between the Northern and Southern Continents, which should spur more rapid technological advancement, and Kelsier is pushing Sazed to speed things up even more.

Assuming electronics and computers will be an important feature of Era 3, I'd guess the gap will be at least 50 years, but not more than 100.  It's unlikely that Wax will be alive, and, while his children should be, my bet is that Brandon will want a fresh cast of characters, with only an occasional cameo throwback to earlier Eras.

We don't know Ranette's last name, do we?  Along with Tarcsel Electric and the wildly popular Professional Noseball League, I expect Ranette's weapons manufacturing company to be an obvious player in Era 3's corporate landscape.

2 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

so, harmony decided to tell wax clearly what he needs to know.... but he gives 16 metal vials of extra powers with no explanation for how those works?

i get that the story requires it, but it's a stretch. and it's the epitome of irresponsibility and shooting oneself in the foot.

At first I thought, like many others, "wow - 16 vials, each with a different metal?  Is Wax a Mistborn now???"  But on careful rereading, I think the implication is that 15 of the vials are all the same - steel - but slightly improved somehow.  Perhaps the "perfect" alloy composition of maximum effectiveness, perhaps a level of purity Wax has not yet had easy access to, or perhaps adding something else Wax can now use (thanks to his lax safety practices).  In any case, I'm confident that the first time Wax burns these new metals, he'll figure out exactly how they are different and why.

I agree the last one is likely atium, lerasium, harmonium, or some other god-level upgrade. (CAN'T WAIT)

1 hour ago, StormingTexan said:

Holy Preview Chapter Batman! I was not expecting to find out who Trell was this early. Glad to have confirmation it is who most thought and squish the Odium theory which I always hated. 

My first though on the blue lines was he is now a lurcher as well (or full Mistborn) and he is seeing the blue lines because he is unconsciously burning iron (which trace amounts are pretty prevalent in drinking water) kind of like how Vin was burning pewter before she knew she was a Mistborn. I think it's weird though that he wouldn't know he was burning another metal knowing what it is like to burn a metal unlike Vin. So unlikely. 

The "emergency" vile has to be Atium right? 

Agreed, Trell = Autonomy was always the "obvious" answer, and the Odium connections people tried to make always felt forced.  Happy it wasn't a giant red herring... that would have made me angry.

I agree with others that since Wax has held and used the Bands of Mourning, he would immediately sense the presence of, and know how to make use of, a new reserve of allomantic or feruchemical power.  But hemalurgy?  He's never experienced THAT yet.

The allomantic lines Wax is starting to see remind me of the vision at the end of BoM, when Wax is seeing through Kelsier's spiked "eyes".  Given that he inhaled tiny shavings of highly invested godmetals, I think he may have entered a state of being hemalurgically "minispiked".  Looking forward to seeing how THAT plays out!

1 hour ago, robardin said:

On an unrelated note, I wonder what Ranette's "most deadly design", a large, multi-piece and assembly-required WMA is, that Wax has left behind in a two-foot long gun bag that was "a weapon not for a lawman, but a soldier. Intent on destruction."

Like Chekhov's famous rule says, that gun is gonna get used in this here book.

My guess is that Ranette has produced Scadrial's first assault rifle, and have no doubt we'll see it in action before this novel ends.

Regarding Autonomy's motives, I'll repost the following.  Well over a year ago, I heard a podcast outlining this excellent explanation of how things might be playing out: 

1.  Autonomy is working for maximum freedom in the entire Cosmere, and wants all worlds to meet on roughly equal footing

2.  Technological advancement in ONE place will lead to colonialism, which drastically reduces freedom for those whose planets are under colonial rule

3.  Autonomy has already frozen technical advancement (and outside trade) on Taldain to prevent said interstellar conquest and colonialism

4.  Harmony has created conditions (especially in Southern Scadrial) which favor rapid technological advancement, and is actively encouraging it

5.  Autonomy needs to shut that rust down so that Scadrial doesn't become the center of an interstellar empire, squashing everyone else's freedom

Not my idea, but it makes a lot of sense to me.  If anyone else heard that podcast, please credit the right person.  I see no recent developments which contradict this set of ideas.  Obviously, the decision to "sterilize" Scadrial now would certainly prevent an interstellar Scadrian Empire.  Gaining complete control of the planet would also presumably allow technological advancement to be effectively suspended.  It feels very "Brandon" to me for both parties in the dispute to have excellent reasons for pursuing their goals.  Harmony, for us, has always been the "good guy"... but seen through Autonomy's eyes, he's enabling the development of a Cosmere-wide authoritarian dictatorship which must be opposed in the name of freedom.

I encourage everyone to keep in mind that Brandon is a storyteller, NOT a physicist.  I'm a science nerd too, and I get that it's fun to try to work out the rules; by all means, carry on!  But he has already admitted how his "science people" get headaches trying to work out how Cosmere FTL and time dilation will work. 

In the end I think the rules are going to be whatever works best for the stories, not what satisfies a rigorous mathematical relationship.

I, for one, have no doubt that Stormlight will allow Physical Realm space travel in Roshar's future.

Edgedancer every time I take the quiz (and try to answer honestly), so I'll own it.

Based just on my own self-image, I'd have guessed Truthwatcher or Elsecaller.

39 minutes ago, Jerfier said:

1) Kaladin 2) Kaladin 3) Kaladin 4) Kaladin 5) Kaladin 6) everybody except Kaladin 7) Kaladin 8) Kaladin 9) Kaladin 10) Kaladin 

Not gonna lie, this made me laugh until tears literally came to my eyes.

Thanks, I needed that.  :-D

As has so often been the case, @Ixthos absolutely nailed it.  Well done!  Is it hard being so much smarter than the rest of us?  ;-)

13 hours ago, Shallan Stormblessed said:

I'm a little late to the party. Okay, yeah, the party's over. But I don't care.

Here at the 17th Shard, the party NEVER STOPS!  *cue bumpin' music*

I think maybe Wax might find he doesn't need earrings anymore... his lungs are now spiked with every godmetal he's ever heard of.

As expected, E=mc2, and just like that, Scadrial enters the nuclear age.

3 hours ago, Firesong said:

So, this might be a form of nuclear bomb. But definitely only partial if anywhere near a complete reaction, if we assume the same equation. 89875517873682 Joules per gram, which is basically the Little Boy. 

I've been thinking the same thing.  MB Era 1 was medieval/renaissance fantasy.  AoL was 1880s, SoS 1910s, BoM felt like a WWI-esque spy thriller.  It makes a lot of sense for TLM to introduce WWII-style themes, including, but not limited to, Investiture-based nuclear weapons.

On 10/6/2022 at 9:34 PM, Frustration said:

She's basically immortal at this point and she does have a particular intrest in PoV characters. Such as having Nahz make maps about where Shallan landed after the Winds Pleasure sank, or sketching Bridge four glyphs, interrogating Wax in person.

Alerter fabrials, fortune, any number of other invested methods.

Khriss is described as wearing her hair in braids, while Marasi's mysterious "thief" has straight hair.  I don't think it's Khriss... my #1 suspect is Shai as well.

"The Haunted Man" palling around with Nicki Savage is confirmed to be Nazh, however, so it's not impossible.

Ooooh, cool, you think it might be Shai?  Interesting.  Is there any confirmation she's in TLM?

The Wax and Wayne swag box (on sale now at Dragonsteelbooks.com) includes a sticker pack with the obvious familiar characters... but who is the one with the glasses on the left?

Is this still being discussed?

I thought they were terrific, and enjoyed them immensely.  Agree they are quite different from all his other work.

I'm somewhat bemused by the reluctance of the 17S community to discuss this.

I first posed the question - on 3 June - here.  That topic has over 300 views, and one reply (from Chaos).

I appreciate (and share!) the respect given to Eric and our team of mods; they absolutely deserve it.  They do a fantastic job of keeping this place friendly and welcoming.  I also understand that they continue to discuss this issue amongst themselves, and that some sort of announcement is forthcoming.

That said, I don't see why the rest of us can't at least TALK about it. 

A 10-second search on eBay gives 3000+ results for Brandon Sanderson items, including signed and special edition books... it's not like a market doesn't currently exist.  I have an eBay account, but I'm no longer a big fan - I feel like their fee structure has become very opaque and onerous.  I'd love other options.  Personally, I'd be happy to give away stuff I don't want, as long as the recipient is willing to pay for shipping, but I can't - and wouldn't attempt to - mandate that for everyone.

Perhaps Chaos and the mods eventually decide that we can't even TALK about selling or trading stuff here.  Then this topic gets locked or deleted, no harm done.

Am I missing something?

My son got Mistborn as a gift back when it first came out.  He's got pretty good taste, so when he suggested I might like it, I gave it a try.  "Holy crap," I thought, "this guy is head and shoulders above any other recent fantasy author."  I think we read Warbreaker next.  Here we are 15 years later and nothing has happened to change my mind... in fact, I just keep getting MORE impressed.  I really enjoyed Butcher's Dresden Files novels, but did I make an account on a Butcher fan site?  No, I did not.  'Nuff said.

I've seen some other questions about this, so I'm interested in community thoughts.

In a few months, many of us will begin receiving swag boxes; nobody knows yet exactly what they will contain.  I expect to get some things I don't especially want... but those things may be very valuable to another SanderFan.  How is this situation best addressed?

It looks as if Chaos and the mods will soon be announcing a ban on the use of this site to buy/sell merch, which is fine.  Believe me, the last thing I want is for swag sales to cause any trouble here... and I can certainly envision the possibility of trouble.  But the problem remains.  How do we solve it?  Are there other ways people here have regularly used to buy/sell/trade items?  What options exist?  Please discuss.

I interpreted Raboniel's reaction to the gift as demonstrating that she recognized it as an offworld artifact, thus revealing Mraize as a representative of a Worldhopping organization.

Kudos on your magnificent work.  I see no holes.

When I think back about all the fantasy stories I've enjoyed over the years that ended up not really making much sense in the end, I'm filled with awe at what Brandon is doing here.  To have so many layers of story, history, legend and myth - so seemingly mysterious and scattered at first - remain coherent and consistent over SO MANY novels (and short stories) verges on the superhuman.  Yes, I'm very impressed by this amazing scholarly effort by @Mzuka, collecting and connecting all these ideas.  I never could have done it.  Yet this isn't research into "real" myths or history, which are created randomly by countless people over thousands of years;  everything we cleverly manage to "figure out" was MADE whole cloth from the mind of the BrandoSando.  The way all the myriad disparate details eventually fit together and make sense is what keeps me coming back to the Cosmere.  Well, that, and the amazing, believable, relatable characters.  And the action.  And the humor.  And the astute exploration of current social and philosophical themes.  And...

Ugh.  It's possible Brandon has soured me on all other authors.

My first post here.

Just finished a novel titled The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson - highly recommended!  The author does a terrific job of weaving flawed yet relatable characters in a near-future multiverse story.  It's not "high art" or true hard SF, but it's not intended to be.  It only took me three days to read - a fun three days!

It's complex enough to be really interesting, but not so dense that it gave me a headache.  Some of the plot twists I saw coming, while others really came out of left field... yet they made sense.  At turns funny, tense, horrifying, and heartwarming, it had many of the same features that make Sanderson so enjoyable to read for me.

Nothing anyone says about why they like or dislike a work of art can be refuted; we each like what we like, and we're different.  MB Era 1 was epic fantasy, thus people who prefer that genre prefer those novels.  MB Era 2 was intended to be something different, shorter, funnier, "pulpier".  I love them all, but when I want to read for just an hour and really have fun, I'll always choose Era 2 over Era 1.

I agree that Wax is implausibly good at everything, but despite all his expertise he's still flawed, haunted by his past and fighting his own character defects.  For me, this makes him a relatable character who is a lot of fun to read.

Based on the progression of Scadrial shown in the first three novels (roughly 1880 - 1920), my guesses regarding the style would include 1) WW1-era political/spy thriller, 2) roaring '20s adventure romp, including early Northern Scadrial aircraft, or maybe even 3) WW2 type race for the ultimate Allomantic weapon, a la the Manhattan Project.  I expect inspiration from Sherlock Holmes, Indiana Jones, and possibly a little James Bond.  I also expect it's going to make me laugh out loud a number of times.

On 8/6/2022 at 3:17 PM, Coolmint said:

since no one talked me out of buying a Lamy Aion, it just arrived. 

I apologize profusely for my failure to talk you out of a pen purchase.  ;-)

It's interesting that you bring up the issue of peer-to-peer transactions on 17S, as I posted this a few months ago and it seems to have everyone, including Chaos, stumped.

It's a Hongdian, straight nib fine point... pretty much one of these: https://www.etsy.com/listing/708928628/personalized-hongdian-1850-black-forest

@Slowswift @Coolmint thank you both, and you were doubly right: when I unscrewed the body I found that the true problem was that I was out of ink LOL

A few quick piston twists and everything is right with the world.  Cheers!