Date: 2015-10-14
Location: Brookline, MA
Is the Fleet story indicative of future events/ending of SA?
Yes. Hoid is telling Kaladin things he needs to know. But Hoid’s knowledge of the future doesn’t extend that far…(or something like that).
WSB: surprised at such an open answer
Are the scholars influencing the behavior of the spren with their beliefs?
Yes. Belief and expectations influence all the magic systems…
Are the spren’s behavior (in the scholar scene) related to how subatomic particles behave when separated over long distances?
Yes.
How much of Nightblood’s personality and effects come from the Command he was given?
A moderate amount.
When someone is inside a time bubble where time is going faster, do they age more quickly than they would outside?
Yes.
So there’s a sort of relativistic effect going on there?
Yes, I tried to keep it as close as possible to the actual effects. The only thing I didn’t include, I think, is the red-shift of light when it leaves the bubble, because that would irradiate everything around it.
time bubbles
Yes. I have a question about the way that the brass symbol changed. It looks like brass no longer has a dot. Can you talk about that?
That is just Issac deciding how he wants the symbols to look. It is nothing of Cosmerilogical import.
Is there anything of cosmerilogical import about the way that the symbols have changed over time?
Yes, slight import. I mean, it’s just the idea that as things have evolved, and we are moving toward typesetting; we’ve moved into typesetting in the modern era, you’re going to see the symbols change to kind of match different eras.
Metallic arts ,
symbols
So Wax, in the prologue of Alloy of Law thinks of himself as Wax, and then as Waxillium for the rest of the book, and then that’s reversed in the second one. Is that a thing of Cosmeric import, or is it just a -
It kind of indicated how he feels about himself.
Could it have any impact on his ability to use investiture?
Not really. The investiture on Scadrial is not going to care how you’re feeling about yourself. On other worlds, that’s important, but not on Scadrial.
Wax ,
investiture
Is being a little bit crazy a prerequisite to becoming a Knight Radiant?
Um, well, so, for many of the Cosmere magics to work, you have to, um, it has to get into the soul somehow. Right? Sometimes you ram it in by spiking someone else’s soul and ripping off a piece and sticking it into yours. Ah, sometimes, it just seeps in the cracks. Um, sometimes the bond allows it to kind of bypass some of this, but it’s usually traumatic experience. So crazy is not required, but there’s got to be a place for the magic to go, to get in.
Are there any other Davars that are invested?
That is TOTALLY a RAFO.
I mean, I knew it, when I asked..
“Are there any?” is an odd question. Depends on what time you’re talking about. But let’s just say there are few people in all of Roshar who’ve gotten as far as Shallan.
Shallan ,
Davars ,
investiture
(Obscured)
So Roshar’s also high-oxygen, which does some weird things. That’s how we justify the crustaceans. Which does weird things to people as well, so.
[another obscured question]
For some of the planets you definitely need to have some kind of magical adjustment happen, otherwise it’s very difficult. Others are easier to get between.
How does the density of Roshar compare to the density of Earth?
Roshar’s density? So, Roshar is less dense than Earth. As well as being a bit smaller. I mean, we’re at .7 gravity, so you can run the numbers. I’m sure the people on here (nods at my smartphone) will. And they’ll figure that out.
I’ve been listening to the audiobooks of Stormlight. There are some really great character voices. Have you told him how to do the characters?
I have not told him how to do characters. I leave that to him. I give him pronunciations.
So the Australian Lopen is all him.
Yeah, the Australian is all him. Which is weird, because they’re, they’re based off of Hispanic cultures, so, hearing the Australian - but at the same time, they’re not Hispanic, because there are no Hispanics on Roshar, so an Australian’s probably just as accurate as anything else. But yes, I intended the Herdazians to have a Hispanic flair to them.
Lopen ,
Stormlight Archive ,
Brandon on audiobooks ,
Michael Kramer
[another obscured question]
For some of the planets you definitely need to have some kind of magical adjustment happen, otherwise it’s very difficult. Others are easier to get between.
Does double copper give you perfect memory?
Good question. I haven’t answered that one yet.
Who is your favorite living author?
Favorites right now, writing. Probably my favorite right now is Guy Gabriel Kay. It was Terry Pratchet until he passed away. And it was Robert Jordan until HE passed away. So I hope Guy stays safe. Because getting picked as my favorite author is apparently a death sentence.
Has anyone figured out what the secret in the map was, in Words of Radiance?
Yeah, they have. That it’s modeled after the Julia Set. Which is meant to indicate that Roshar was designed specifically.
Did it happen through crem buildup?
No.
Roshar ,
crem ,
Julia Set
Is it possible for a kandra to use invested material to form a true body?
Yes, that’s a possibility.
Could they use shardplate?
They absolutely could.
kandra ,
true bodies ,
investiture ,
shardplate
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