Date: 2016-04-08
Location: Madison, WI
How exactly, Realmatically, is it tracked- like [for example] Aon Aon with these swirls and lines means “Arelon”?
I’m not gonna’ explain that yet; I can explain how the shape is, but the whole relationship between the Aons and the magic and the landscape-
What exactly was Harmony’s original plan for Lessie if she’d gone along with it?
Well the original plan was to turn Wax into what he kind of ended up being.
And Lessie would still be alive, then?
Yes, and kind of as his minder slash, ya know…
Wax ,
Lessie ,
Harmony ,
hypotheticals
What exactly- When an object enters a time bubble, how exactly does it determine- how does it know how fast and which direction it’s “really” going?
It gets deflected a little bit when it enters, but then it adapts to the momentum that it would have going in.
Like Spiritual bonds to something or other?
Riiight it’s- so… I can’t explain that because it has relevance in the future. But in that moment when it passes [into the bubble], something is happening with conservation of momentum. The trick we have to do with it in order to keep from irradiating people.
time bubbles
Do Surgebinders have Gemhearts?
*laughs* I was about to ask that.
No, good question.
surgebinders ,
gemhearts
Overheard
I distinctly heard Brandon talking with the other table about space travel as relates to Roshar. He was talking about how the magic can already control gravity/pressure and the like, but the thing that stood out clearly was that he was saying that they already had an ansible. The only candidate for that is spanreeds/conjoiner fabrials, so that’s a nice confirmation there that they communicate faster than light.
Ok, first one. Was Sadeas ever affected directly by Odium or an Unmade, not counting the Thrill?
Not counting the Thrill, ok uhhhhm. There are affects of other unmade around, and Odium’s direct effect? I’m going to say, no, maybe some indirect effects.
What about Roshone?
Uhhhm, no. The Thrill is the main thing that is getting the Alethi, I mean, there are others around, but it’s not as obvious with that as with other things.
Sadeas ,
Roshone ,
Thrill ,
Odium ,
Unmade
Can Odium change written word on Roshar like Ruin could on Scadrial? (I was wondering this because it would make it easy for him to manipulate Mr.T that way.
*apprehensive* This is not really a thing that Odium does. Um, yea.
Are sandlings from white sand an early concept for crustaceans on Roshar, with greatshells being a parallel to deep sandlings.
No, um, the idea for white sand came first, and it was more that I was exploring divergent ecology, but I’ve been doing that in Dragonsteel and in White Sand and in here with Roshar. I would say that the fact that white sand hadn’t been published meant that I could do something’s that were similar without worrying about repeating myself, but it’s not like I used them specifically as models.
*jokingly* So does this mean we are going to get to see little dragons running around in Dragonsteel?
Uh, well, in Dragonsteel the dragons are sapient, so when I write Dragonsteel I will put dragons in there, but the dragons are intelligent and uh, can take human form, but there are actual little dragons.
Wait, they can take human form?
Yes, yes, yup.
White Sand ,
Roshar ,
sandlings ,
crustaceans ,
Dragonsteel ,
Dragons
Is Yolen named after Jane Yolen?
Yes.
Yes, ok. I’ve always wondered.
One of the early fantasy books I read was Dragon’s Blood, and so I named it after her.
Yolen ,
Brandon on naming
Last year I asked you if shadows turn the wrong way in the cognitive realm for a reason, you said to basically think of it like important flavor text. Is this happening because people are being drawn towards the Beyond?
Um, yea that part of it. Definitely.
What is Proving Day in Vorin mythology?
Uhhhm, equivalent of Bar Mitzvah.
Can you give us any information on Ral Elorum?
Uhhhm, no other than its called city of shadows for a reason.
In the end, how many bridge runs did Kaladin go on?
I didn’t count them, uhhm, dozens. Probably not hundreds.
Is it theoretically possible to hemalurgically spike a shard into someone else, and if so, what would be the outcome?
A full shard? Hemalurgy could not hold that much of an invested charge. Not without something really weird happening.
With reversals fabrials, if one fell and sat on the ground will the other one continue to rise due to the gravity affecting the one on the ground?
No, good question.
What would Rock’s name mean translated directly to English?
You want the poem? I’ve got the poem somewhere, I can’t quote the poem at you, I’m sorry. Maybe I’ll release it someday. I do have the poem, it’s not that long.
Can forgery change eye or hair color?
It could theoretically.
How well would Jasnah and Khriss get along?
Uhhhm, I would say that they would get along well, like scholars from different disciplines, meaning with respect for the other’s discipline.
Would a savant look different in the spiritual realm than a regular human?
Yes, yes.
Would Hoid’s spirit web seem more similar to that of a savant or a regular human?
Oh, neither one, but it would be weirder than a savant. Are you just getting these question’s of the 17th Shard?
No, these are mine, I write questions in my notes when I read through books.
These are actually yours? Ok, I’ll keep going then. If these are actually yours you can have as many as you want. Some people just go to the list of all the questions to ask Brandon and they come and just “Oh I’m just gonna ask Brandon all of these”, and I’m like “no you can have three or four”. But, if they’re your questions you can have as many as you want.
Hoid ,
spirit web
Is Aon Omi a kind of God Aon?
It’s what they use it for, so, it would be kind of, equivalent to the god symbols, but it’s also partially adopted if that makes sense.
Is anything magical going on with the screams Szeth hears?
Uhhh, Szeth’s screams. Uhhm, I’m trying to decide how to answer this. It is not, see here’s the thing. What we would call magical may not be considered magical in the Cosmere, but it depends on your definition of magic. Would Szeth if he were on our planet and have done those things would he hear those screams, probably not, but would someone else in the Cosmere who had gone through what he had gone through hear those screams, yes.
So it has to do with the spiritual realm?
Yea, mhmm, yea.
Szeth ,
screams
Does Baon’s name sound Selish for a reason?
No, that just a coincidence. That was before I had written Elantris, so.
Is it possible for a Knight Radiant to become a kind of Drab if they use too much investiture?
No, you can’t really burn yourself out that way, no. I mean, it’s possible for drabbery to be mimicked on other planets, but not through that method.
Were the oaths of the Knights radiant consciously chosen, or did they happen naturally.
*apprehension*. This is one of those vague ones in that yes and no. They are a natural outgrowth of the spren, but the spren are a natural outgrowth of human’s perception of natural forces, but the spren are sentient, so I would say it’s a little more by instinct than not. For example to Knights Radiant in the same order might speak the words differently, but the concept is the same. You will see this happen in a future book, where a Windrunner will speak the oaths. It’s a slightly different take on the same concept. Some are moreso, like Shallan’s oaths are very individualized truths, so.
Would it be harder to soulcast a Knight Radiant?
Yes.
Would it be harder for her to soulcast a mistborn?
Yes, investiture disrupts investiture. It’s harder for her to even soulcast a regular person than, say, a rock.
Is a Mistborn invested?
The Mistborn, how their burning the metal, you’re right. They are not specifically invested when they are not burning. When the investiture becomes active, the yes. Before, no, you’re right on that.
Knights Radiant ,
soulcasting ,
Mistborn ,
investiture
So Kelsier, he stayed around longer, not because he was invested, but because he had the ability to become invested?
Over time using the magic will invest you, on Scadrial. Most of the power is not coming from, on Roshar the power isn’t coming from the person either (He cut himself off, so I assume this is how it works on Scadrial even though he didn’t finish his thought) so I’m going to have to back up on that one and say, yes, the mistborn are as invested as a Knight Radiant, because in both cases the majority of the power is coming from somewhere else, but there is the spirit web. Investing the wrong term, but you have all these connections in the spiritual realm, so yanking you away from them, or rewriting them (like soulcasting or forgery) is harder.
Would they be harder (kek) with more Stormlight or Metals burning?
Yes, yes. That would increase the difficulty ratio. For instance, wearing shard plate is gonna be a great barrier, right, and things like that so yea. The problem is like, invested is the wrong term for that, their spirit web is connected in different ways. (I deem this “Spirit Web Magical Connectivity Diversity, or SWMCD”.
Kelsier ,
investiture ,
Spiritual Realm
How much did Super Mind Taravangian know about the Cosmere as a whole, roughly, rough estimate.
He had a little bit of knowledge. Not as much as… not as much conscious knowledge.
Did he guess about the three realms?
Yes, he knew about the three realms. He didn’t have to guess on that, he had read philosophy and things, that knowledge is there on Roshar.
Taravangian ,
realmatics ,
Roshar
Does magic happen on Sel because areas have a stronger cognitive presence, like, more sentient life in that area?
Uhhh, no, good question, good question. That is not the answer. I am going to give it in the Cosmere collection (Arcanum Unbound?) if people don’t guess it by then. So I’m going to leave off, I could tell you right now but, I can’t remember if anyone has guessed it or not.
Is it related to tectonics?
No, it’s all kinda going in the wrong direction. I haven’t really given you the clues to figure it out, I don’t think. Once I say it, it will make a lot of sense.
Sel ,
regional magic
Was Hoid trying to become an Elantrian kind of in a way how Kelsier was able to connect to preservation to take up the shard?
Yes, the thing about it is your getting Hoid before he knew as much as he did in Scadrial era, so what he was trying to do was completely ineffective and it couldn’t have worked.
Doesn’t it get weaker the farther away you are, so it wouldn’t help at all.
mhmm.
Well we have an example of an Elantrian on Roshar, so.
Yes we have an Elantrian on Roshar, but we don’t see him use any powers, and his skin is dark on Roshar rather than glowing. That is something to be aware of. While I keep doing this, who is here for the magic draft? *Talks about the magic draft and his writing process for a bit*.
Hoid ,
Elantris ,
Scadrial ,
Roshar ,
Galladon
Can Honor spren, or any other type of Knight Radiant spren, be evil?
Yes, because I don’t call the shards good and evil. There are no good and evil shards in my opinion, like and so, what evil and what’s not evil can totally have spren of honor that you would consider evil. They have free will, but they are much more limited. It is very hard, or impossible, for them to lie but they can be cruel.
Can you shed some light on why ruin’s last words were “Vax”.
No, I can’t, I mean I can but I’m not going to.
How does corrupted investiture work, like Nightblood?
Oh, Nightblood. Again, this is a definition of what somebody feels is a corruption. For instance, there are spren people would feel are corrupted. But that is corruption where the mixing of different shards has changed things, and I think a lot of times when people say corruption, people are meaning the mixing of shards powers.
So is there a mixing of shards power with Nightblood?
*smirks* RAFO. That’s the natural question, I’m glad you asked it.
Ok, uhhh, so something similar is happening with Gavilar’s sphere, right?
*contemplative silence*, RAFO.
Uhhh, if anyone else has questions, speak up (I started running out of questions at this point).
Question over here!
Shards ,
spren ,
Nightblood ,
corruption ,
black sphere ,
Gavilar
I was wondering if we were very going to see Dragons in the Cosmere?
Yes, Dragonsteel. One of the first books I ever wrote in the Cosmere has dragons. It’s also just one of the weaker books, so I can’t publish it as is, but yea. Being a big fan of dragons, I did write them into the Cosmere. They are the one standard fantasy race in there.
Are they ever going to infiltrate the other worlds kind of?
*Talks about the letter and Frost, Flashback order, and the girls costume*
Dragons ,
Dragonsteel ,
The Letter ,
Frost
Are we ever going to learn what threat Taravangian is referring to?
Uhhh, yes (So is there a different threat than Odium?)
It will be big, I assume so.
Taravangian ,
Odium
Have larger land going greatshells existed above a chasm fiend?
Larger than a chasmfiend, the ones out near Reshi can go on land. So yea, it is possible that there are larger ones. They do better in the water, because of how big they are, the high oxygen, low gravity, and symbiotic relationship with the spren allow for mega fauna that is just unrealistically large and just could exist on earth, so yea.
What is the purpose of the gigantic four armed spren that looks at the origin of the Surgestorms (Highstorms?)?
Good question, haha, RAFO.
So we know how people can enter Shadesmar, or the cognitive realm, how do other places, like, we haven’t seen anything for the Mistborn series. Do we know how they can enter?
Read Secret History.
I did read that, but it didn’t really say anything besides that one special case.
Right, Hoid talks about Perpendicularities on Scadrial, if you go look at that there are certain places he talks about that. ,eyes just say that large concentrations of investiture can cause a puncture through the spiritual realm straight to the physical realm. If you know how to use it, you may transition. That’s not the only way but is the primary way.
And of of Course you can soulcast (Elsecall?) to get there.
Yes.
Now that’s a very interesting analogy you just made, you said “punctured” almost as if it were a spike.
Yes, yes, that was intentional. Anyone who wants to ask questions after the Magic draft, you guys can come back in maybe 45 minutes. I’ll just be hanging out and playing magic. If you’re just here to hang out and ask question, I’ll be free to do that in about 45 minutes to an hour.
Cognitive realm ,
realmhopping ,
Mistborn: Secret History ,
investiture ,
perpendicularities ,
Elsecalling
Is it normal for people to become connected to an area after being there for a bit, like with Kel and wherever he was when he found the Ire, or is something special going on?
It is normal for a cognitive shadow to get stuck to places, because they exist through investiture it is normal for them to get tied to an area. Kelsier was still in Scadrial when he found the Ire. This happened with Odium and the two shards on Roshar, Preservation to Ruin, and the Heralds (To Roshar? Braize?). (I think this is basically what happens with shards when they invest on a planet, so this same thing happens at smaller levels than shards.)
(After about an hour and a half he started answering more questions, so I sat nearby and wrote the gist of the questions and answers he was getting. Thsi next part is going to be paraphrased, but fairly accurate. It wasn’t as rapid fire as it had been, as I and other people didn’t want to keep interruption him while he was playing magic.)
Can a Parshendi with the right mind set transform with an Unmade?
RAFO.
In Elantris it talks about how to wood and stone in the city is rotten and crumbling. Why does this happen?
This is because when objects become Invested for long periods of time their spirit web changes to accommodate the investiture. When the investiture was pulled up of the stuff in Elantris its spirit web was severely damaged so it showed that in the physical realm. This happened with the Lord Ruler when the Bands of Mourning were ripped out of him.
Do Rhyshadium exist because of a spren bond, like greatshells?
Yea, they evolved symbiotically with spren, unlike other horses. They can still mate will other horses, but the are genetically distinct.
Why is going into the Spiritual realm like Kelsier did damaging, as Leras seemed to suggest?
The thing is, Leras didn’t know that Kelsier had a broken brain, that is how Kelsier wasn’t damaged by doing what he did. You can break your brain by doing that though, worse than how broken Kelsier is.
Is Adolin’s inability to form meaningful relationships important to his overall character arch? (Shoutouts to Maxal)
Yes, it is.
My friend wants to know how fast steel compounders could possibly go, can they run up walls or over water like the Flash?
*jokingly* Can they run through time?
Steelrunners and resist a lot things due to the power, like they can withstand the Gs they are out through, but they can’t ignore wind resistance and friction. They will burn up if they start running too quickly.
steelrunners ,
feruchemy
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