Oathbringer Speculation: Soulcasters

 All hearts that are gems do not glitter,      Not all those with blackbane are lost; Slaves that are old do not wither,      Rockbuds by the storm are not crushed. From the crem a fire shall be woken,      From the chasms a new hope shall spring; Renewed shall be Oaths that were broken,      Tanavast again shall be King.

Last night, taisharnumenore, Leinton and I reworked this J.R.R.Tolkien poem for the Stormlight Archive.  taisharnumenore posted it with the Bridge 4 patch, but this is the scene we really wanted to illustrate it with :-) (I also tweaked it slightly so the 4th line doesn't completely break the rhyme scheme..)

Kickstarter

Spacefunk!

Space is the place! A collection of science fiction stories and poems by authors of African/African Diaspora Descent.

Hey tumblr, I stumbled across this kickstarter for a sci-fi anthology featuring stories and poems by authors of African and African Diaspora Descent. It sounds cool and when I tried to dig up a tumblr post to reblog about it I couldn't find one, so I'm making it myself.

The kickstarter is running through noon eastern on July 19th, 2024. The pledge level for the ebook with over 40 stories and poems is just $10. For $30 there's an ebook bundle with this new anthology and their previous anthologies (Steamfunk!, Dieselfunk!, Cyberfunk! ,and Spyfunk!). There are also options to get a physical copy of the anthology, cool posters, and more.

If you are interested in sci-fi from voices that are currently underrepresented in the community, go check it out!

brightlord-kholin replied to your post: Hello and welcome to Cooking with Kaly...

I’ve gotta find a way to substitute the meat with a vegetarian fake meat thing because this looks delicious and I need to try it.

Hmmm... I would probably start by playing with a falafel recipe, but  I could also see tempeh working well. Fake meat is also a decent interpretation of “soulcast meat,” so you can even claim you are sticking to canon :D.  If you decide to try it, I would love to hear how it goes!

V is for Vinebud

Sisters

After some thought, she decided that the concept of loving siblings was a little like the Allomantic pulse lengths she was supposed to be looking for - they were just too unfamiliar for her to understand at the moment.

Oh, Vin. Your brother may have helped you survive, but he was a horrible, horrible brother. And she HAD a baby sister that their mom killed.  I can't even...

Vin still needs to have Lift as a little sister.  Then, one night when Shallan is out on a mission as Veil she needs to come across them and bring them in off the streets and eventually be accepted into their little group as the big sister. She would try to tame them somewhat and teach them things like writing, but they would spend just as much time corrupting Shallan.  They would create an alter-ego for Lift so that the Ladies Davar, Valette and [I'm still trying to come up with a good name] could go out together, but they would also create a third alter-ego for Shallan (beacuse they wouldn't want the ghostbloods to recognize Veil) so that they could sneak out in the streets together.

Now I really want to know if burning copper affects lightweaving at all... Can Vin see through lightweaving if she is burning copper? or maybe if she is burning tin? hmmm.... Also, if Shallan weaves a disguise for another Radiant, can they maintain it with their stormlight even if they aren't a light weaver?

Rithmatics digression

We've talked about 9-point circles.  Here is a further exploration of 9-point conics in case you are curious:

Inspired by a conversation with Ashiok in the chat :-)

I just finished Brandon Sanderson's The Rithmatist. Now, any time I read a fantasy novel with an interesting magic system, I imagine what it would be like to have said magic (don't we all?).  This magic system seems particularly well suited to me - it calls out to both my math and artistic sides.  I think I could make a rather good rithmatist.  The freaking 9 point circle is an important part of the magic system.  I can't even.  

I bet that the 6 point defenses don't actually require that the 6 points be equally spaced.  I bet they could actually be anywhere as long as you build the rest of the defense properly.  The Mystic Hexagon theorem has got to be relevant to this magic system.  I bet you can even use the Mystic Hexagon theorem to build 8 point defenses where the extra two points come from the line dictated by the Mystic Hexagon.  And when that line doesn't intersect the circle, it would be a natural (possibly required) place to put a Line of Forbiddance. There will probably be rithmatic drawings showing up here...

Also, my math notes often have non-math doodles in them.  <3 chalklings

Melody and Joel are fantastic. I like them a lot. There are things I need to process before you get more about them though.

Hey Cosmere fandom, it’s book rec time.

The book series in question is the Imperial Radch Trilogy by Ann Leckie. In order, the books are Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, and Ancillary Mercy.

It’s a space opera with significant focus on character and relationships. The POV character is Breq, an aro-ace space warship AI in a human body who sets out on an impossible journey to kill the Lord of the Radch (the local 3000 year old space emperor) to revenge her beloved Lieutenant. Along the way she (unintentionally and reluctantly) collects people (humans, ships, aliens,…) in a gloriously messy found family.

* It’s super queer 

* Characters actively struggle with depression, anxiety, addiction, etc.

* Almost everyone is a PoC

* For the sake of Propriety everyone wears gloves and bare hands are super scandalous. 

These books are amazing and you should strongly consider reading them. The audio book versions are also fabulous.

If you’ve already read them, I’ve been Radch posting on my other blog (RithmatistKalyna) and I would love to talk with people both about the books/characters/tea sets/etc and all of the Cosmere crossover potential.

Oathbringer Speculation: Timbre

The descriptions of Timbre would fit with the name “lightspren”. We know that she communicates with Venli by pulsing to different rhythms. During the first shadesmar boat trip, Shallan speculates that the Reachers/lightspresn are using vibrations (ie pulses) to communicate.

This suggests that Timbre is a Reacher, but I suspect that she’s not just any Reacher. We meet Ico in Shadesmar and learn that his father is a deadeye and his daughter “ran off chasing stupid dreams”. Then Timbre tells Venli that her own grandfather was lost to human betrayal. Putting all of this together, I strongly suspect that Timbre is Ico’s daughter. I’m not sure what implications this will have for the future. But it’s a thing.

Citations: (Note: Page numbers come from the Kindle edition.)

What was that small spren that had crept out from beneath Eshonai’s corpse? It looked like a small ball of white fire; it gave off little rings of light and trailed a streak behind it. Like a comet. (pg 340) 

“The copper vibrates,” Shallan said. “And they keep touching it. I think they might be using it to communicate somehow.” (pg 931)

 “Wait!” Adolin said. “Ico, I saw something moving back there.” Ico locked the door and hung the keys on his belt. “My father.” “Your father?” Adolin said. “You keep your father locked up?” “Can’t stand the thought of him wandering around somewhere,” Ico said, eyes forward. (Pg 946)

Ico speaking:  “My daughter used to work there, before she ran off chasing stupid dreams.”  (Pg 948)

Timbre pulsed to Irritation, then the Lost. “That many? I had no idea the human betrayal had cost so many of your people’s lives. And your own grandfather?” (pg 1196)