J. Magi

@Scars of Hathsin

"Sure . . . I haven't got much else to do, really." He followed Larry, mildly curious and more then a little eager to distract himself from his own predicament. He glanced at them warily. He'd grown up in the country side, and knew that they wouldn't normally act that way. "Somethings off . . ."

PFFFT- this is amazing, (lol that would never happen btw, I'm waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too shy to be a performer). In five years @Wierdo will have defeated every Lynel 50 times each in the latest Zelda game

Going even further with that, you could play with how someone's perception of a plant affects how they use it. Can someone of one culture use the meaning of another? How does the different meanings affect how mages from different places see each other and interact? There's lots of cool places you could go with it!

Welcome to the Shard!! Do you like Bagels? If so what kind? Niiiiiiiice, same lol **whispers**: I've heard in the past that you shouldn't accept the cookie . . . for whatever reason.

No I don't get it . . . I'm sorry I'm not very smart Tell really bad puns until the Chicken realizes I'm not a threat, then I will employ it's services to befriend the other two people. After we're all besties, I'll use my shoelace and ball point pen to do that . . . string stick thing that people do to make a fire. After the the building burns down, I'll take my new buddies to Wendy's for lunch because I really like Wendy's.

"Well, now I'm extra with you! Let's go!!"

I agree that his character arc is very unique and interesting, I just felt like it wasn't written very well. There wasn't enough buildup to his change, and so when he did change it felt out of character imo. I definitely think if Brandon where to rewrite the book (which he'd never do) and smoothed out some of it's messy spots, I would really like Hrathen. To me, it feels like a redemption arc that focused too much on the before and after, but not enough on the in-between. I also felt like the whole 'he actually has Dakhor powers' also made his character feel weird to me. It wasn't explained enough, and wasn't hinted at enough before the reveal, so it felt out of pocket there at the end. I know Brandon has hinted at at book focusing on them, or at least explaining it, but it doesn't really work well with Elantris's current status as a stand-alone. You do have a point about his armor turning out to be real--I thought that was a cool addition to his character, but it just wasn't enough if you know what I mean. Most of his chapters were just boring political fluff of him dealing with one person or another--Brandon could have used this to his advantage and built on all of the reveals at the end . . . but he just . . . didn't. As for his crush on Sarene, he mentions it in his death scene: When I went back to find it, I realized that this could be interpreted as admiration or platonic feelings, and not romantic ones. That being said, I still feel like it wasn't expanded upon enough, and on it's own it can be interpreted in a way that's a little weird. I really don't think I'd mind him having romantic feelings for her if more time had been spent on it.

"Hi!!" "Oooo a party?! Can I join too?"

Ari was there, a little confused and lost on the current discussion, but ready to help however she could.

Ah man . . . I miss debating in this thread . . . Alright, here's some opinions to hopefully revive things: -Hrathen is annoying at worst, and just okay at best. His chapters were boring to read, and I had a hard time caring about his character. The reveal that he had fallen in love with Sarene at the end felt . . . weird to me. -Susebron is extremely underrated, I love him lol. -I liked Steris in Alloy of Law . . . so . . . -Adolin is my favorite Cosmere character (Honestly don't know if that one is unpopular or not lol)

Ooo this could be fun! For me, when I'm developing a magic system I like to consider the thematics behind powers, as well as their functions. The great thing about plants, and flowers specifically, is that they hold a lot of traditional and mythological meaning. It could be really fun to consider, and would add a level of depth to the world building alongside being a cool magic system. Some thoughts along that vein: -Healers having powers based around herbs that are well known as medicinal. Maybe, they ingest their herb, magically amplify it within themselves, and then transfer the amplified affects to a patient. An example from off the top of my head would be a lavender mage. Lavender is known to help people sleep, and give them good dreams. Maybe our lavender mage uses the plant as a magical medium for putting people to sleep (this could be for medicinal purposes, or could be used on enemies as well!). Or, going further, they could access the 'dreamscape' and interfere with people's dreams using lavender. -Several different kinds of flowers mean love. Maybe, love potions from different flower mages could have different affects. A rose mage's love potion would give the 'victim' romantic love, a forget me not mage's potion would focus on devotion, a baby's breath mage's love potion would be more innocent, etc. -A poppy mage being feared as the grim reaper because of their association with death. (whether or not they really have power over that could be up to you) -The flower Amaranth symbolizes immortality. Does the flower really grant people immortality? Do mages who use the flower gain immortality? Maybe the flower is rare, and people search for it because they believe it will give them long life. -Himalayan blue poppy's are associated with psychic skills, which could obviously be used for telepathy and empathy type powers. This wiki page has a lot of good meanings for flowers, but is lacking for other plants. Research for this sort of thing isn't hard, and generally you can find good stuff with just a quick google. Obviously, this is just one way of taking things--and the way I personally would do things. I focused more on the 'separate plants' side of things, but you could also do different biomes, animals, natural phenomena, weather, etc. Nature is a really good topic because you can do so much with it!

"No . . . I'm also unfamiliar with this place." He glanced at Larry's blaster--it looked like a gun, but Aki didn't recognize the type.

Aki walks up to Larry, unsure what the strange device he's holding is. "Hello, do you have any idea where we are?"

To the north and east, large mountains border the horizon. Everything in sight is covered in the jungle. Only the tiniest sliver of blue in the south revealed the ocean they were heading toward. The jungle itself blankets the land evenly, though one area about a mile southward--a large snarl of vines and trees--seems to be taller then the rest. Up here, without the muffling of the vines, you can hear the echo of bird calls. Most are harmless songs, but every now and then you can hear an awful screech.

Kurtis reconsidered. "That's true . . . it may have spread past our field of view, but it might be worth a shot anyway." He lowered his sword, studying the vines. "I'm sure how tangled they are would make them easier to climb too!"

"Maybe, but you would just see more trees right?" Kurtis replied, huffing from exertion. "How's that supposed to help?"

Oh goodness, that's a relief. Sorry I'm late!!

Kurtis sighed, staring at the wall of vines. "So . . . Connecting to forest didn't work, we might just have to slash our way through. I don't think burning it would end well . . ." He drew his sword and went back to hacking at the vines, but it was slow business.