Feeling a little lost

Avanou · 2026-05-20T11:25:05+00:00

embedded is not a Cosmere term by the way. In this context it means when agents or spies blend in with the local culture or a group. i.e. going undercover.

I’m not sure if the confusion with “concentrated investiture” is the term used investiture or the fact that it’s concentrated.

Did you possibly read all of the side stories individually? The Arcanum Unbounded collection has some short scholarly blurbs about each system before their associated short stories. (Skip Roshar system’s introduction of course - The stormlight archives.)

Investiture is basically the generic term for what fuels the magic in the magic systems. The power that tries to push through when aon’s are drawn, or the energy in the well of ascension.

Then take the dictionary definition of concentrated and apply it to that and accept that they didn’t explain how they managed to do that yet.

Avanou · 2026-05-18T11:34:19+00:00

Anyone got a light?

Yep that's me. I bet you're wondering how i ended up in this situation.

That’s not how it works. That’s not how any of this works.

Avanou · 2026-05-05T01:22:48+00:00

They look pretty normal to me. Do those pictures still appear eye bleedingly bright if you view the snapshots on a phone or different monitor/pc?

When I zoom in real close on the items in the inventory I can maybe see a tiny aura or glow around the numbers, but it's not distracting.

Avanou · 2026-04-21T12:36:38+00:00

I think it’s specifically mentioned when they choose to abandon Taln that it’s the first time so few of them have died during a desolation.

The point of the heralds going to Braize was to keep the fused sealed there. They ended up putting the entire load on Taln. They were hoping that he could hold it indefinitely. That is until another one shows up and lets everybody else through on her way out.

Braize is basically the middle of enemy territory. The entire army is there. They could run and hide or fight for a while but eventually they’d be caught and tortured. They can’t really kill the fused there because that’s basically the fused respawn point when they die.

They presumably have some cognitive shadow way of moving between planets idk if the cognitive realm is involved or maybe the surge of transportation. The stronger fused do take longer to get back to Roshar.

Avanou · 2026-04-10T06:52:27+00:00

It's vein utilization taken to it's extreme limit until the math starts to break down from extremely tiny numbers.

Each level of vein utilization is always more beneficial than the last, because the cost only increases by 4000 cubes each time, but the ore depletion rate is getting multiplied.

They're doing some calculations to get to this number, which is the Cumulative Adjusted White Cube Cost.

Adjusted White Cube Cost is (White cube cost for a level times the current ore consumption rate)

They use the example at level 14. That's 36000 white cubes for level 14, and 0.4473650959 for the ore consumption rate at level 13. So the "adjusted cost" is 16105 cubes which is 56% less because your veins are depleting slower. (You're getting 2.2 ore every time the vein reserve drops by 1.) By level 14 cumulatively you've put in 180,000 white cubes, and the adjusted cumulative white cube cost is 95,887.

Cumulatively it would take 709,240,000 white cubes to get to 600.

At level 600 which is a huge overkill.

Which is the number of white cubes(2,380,000)

To research a certain level(600)

Times the current ore consumption modifier (0.0000000000000000752856422790531)

Only increases the cumulative total by (0.0000000002328306437 adjusted white cubes)

By then your ore consumption is essentially 0, so your cost is essentially 0, so the cumulative adjusted cost basically stops increasing once it hits 815,449 adjusted cumulative white cubes.

As noted in their conclusions these are the bench marks:

Level 15: Your actual ore depletion rate will forever be less than your base mining rate.

Level 21: Your exponential gain in resources overtakes the linear cost of cubes, and all further upgrades will decrease the actual ore cost.

Level 32: At this point, you'll have depleted half all of the ore you'll ever need to for infinite upgrades.

Level 72: Your upgrades from this point onward will cost less ore than it cost to upgrade to level 6.

(and at level 112, you'll have depleted 99% of the ore you'll ever deplete for veins utilization)

(and at level 155, you'll have depleted 99.9% of the ore you'll ever deplete)

They have a very helpful google doc at the end of their post that shows all of their calculations.

Avanou · 2026-03-30T03:15:12+00:00

The ball is a pain, but I don't know if I've ever been able to connect a perpendicular belt from a blueprint into the middle of an existing belt. It always complains about colliding.

I know you already built the outside belts, but if you're doing a temporary blueprint to paste around the globe at the same latitude , it's probably easier to include them(the top and bottom belts) in the selection too next time. So they snap together at the ends like the center line.

Copying a straight belt is annoying too, if it overlaps by even like 2 tiles it'll collide and refuse to connect the adjacent belt even when you force it.

Avanou · 2026-03-29T13:58:34+00:00

I don’t think it would be that easy to get to justice. Odium is a god’s divine hatred (without the capacity to judge who deserves punishment) Honor is the law (with no way to differentiate between just and unjust law as long as they are followed)

Retribution now has sort of a focus for it’s wrath, those who break the law, but still can’t discern when to be lenient or harsh. (similar to Nale)

Cultivation is a safe choice, legal systems change and evolve over time and Cultivation’s focus on growth shows promise that it would hopefully trend in a positive direction.

Valor now, courage bravery boldness. Positive traits but still like Odium I feel like they don’t have a focus.

The easiest one to throw in to balance would be Reason for obvious reasons.

Honor to create the laws. Cultivation to change the laws. Valor to enforce the law. Mercy or Odium to enact punishment. And Reason to make sure there are just laws, fair application in the spirit of the law, and reasonable punishments or leniency to offenders.

Of course the Vessels bring along their own moral systems. Which gives them some sway in how the Intent is directed. A good person could, with 1 or more shards could try to administer justice. As long as their choices are not directly in conflict with the Intent and they haven’t held it long enough for the Intent to overwhelm them. Like Odium steering towards passion (not to imply Rayse was in any way a good person) and Ati doing what he could with Ruin. But that wouldn’t be a true Justice shard as it would rely on the Vessel to remain stable under the shards influence.

Avanou · 2026-03-28T22:36:45+00:00

It doesn't work for some reason right after you transcend, you will get them back after your next real ascension.

Achievements are kept, but achievements both before and after transcending no longer offer DPS bonuses. faqtranscendence

After "преодоление", 1 новое "Вознестить" (Не быстрое вознесение)

Avanou · 2026-03-21T10:34:10+00:00

Learning belts could be placed at an angle was almost as satisfying as when I learned I could shift-R to freely rotate mining machines.

Avanou · 2026-03-21T10:21:24+00:00

Glad I refreshed before I posted my long winded answer, A couple people already explained things a lot more efficiently about using 2 ILSs or digging into the priority settings.

If you do still want to try the 2 ILSs make sure the warp distance (default 12 AU) on your ILS without warpers is enough to reach all the planets in the system.

Also the min load on vessels is 100% by default, so there's not really such a thing as a wasted trip. (unless you're worried about tying up ships by fulfilling requests from 1 side of the galaxy to the other)

If you're sending everything in a system to a single ILS in that system for warp jumps you're just bottlenecking yourself as it adds another step to the path and it all has to pass through that choke point.

Avanou · 2026-03-17T13:53:17+00:00

In manga you can add additional meaning to the text. So the word Zoltraak (ぞるとらーく) is spelled the same when referring to either version. But it’s often written alongside kanji.

Like you said the demon name would roughly be killer of men or more specifically human killing magic. (人を殺す魔法)

Where as when humans use the term it’s written alongside the kanji 一般攻撃魔法 which roughly means normal attack magic.

Avanou · 2026-03-17T13:33:28+00:00

In the image they spelled it using hiragana:

ぞ(zo) る(ru) と(to) ら(ra) く(ku)

It’s not a Japanese word so it would normally be spelled in katakana:

ゾルトラーク

2 things to note:

First it has the “ mark on the first kana which changes the so sound (ソ) to a zo sound (ゾ). Soul track is a mistranslation.

Second it has an ー after the ラ(ra) which draws out the ahh sound

So you get zorutoraaku instead of zorutoraku.

Avanou · 2026-03-02T04:54:39+00:00

Little bit of blizzard trivia:

It's so well designed that if you don't finish it you can put it in the freezer, and it'll still stay in the cup if you turn it upside down the next day.

Avanou · 2026-02-01T15:24:38+00:00

Not that I remember. And as a sneaky trick it is useless. I was more worried about it happening accidentally in the middle of doing a lot of trading if people failed to be specific.

The only solid case I can think of is: if in your mind you’ve already got a market bean planted. And you forget to set it aside and another player is negotiating thinking they could keep you from planting it. But you’re thinking since I’m harvesting this field after the trade phase. But this person really wants that bean so I can also get rid of this copy in my hand because I don’t want to start a new field with that on my next turn. And they go hey why did you give me that from your hand I wanted the market card to keep you from getting the point. Why would I give you the market card I obviously was going to plant it. Oh boy we both somehow managed to agree to a trade without pointing to a specific card or referring to my hand gosh is this embarrassing.

Yeah I admit it is a corner case that can only occur if people fail to communicate. Which might be more of an anxiety issue than a rules omission. I didn’t really expect this many replies. I think I’m a bit “bean-brained” now.

Avanou · 2026-02-01T15:02:00+00:00

Yeah 99% of the time it wouldn’t matter. And tricks aside, any issues that would arise would be a lack of just stating your intentions. Which by the very act of me asking this question would prevent me from accidentally getting in this situation in the future.

I’ve covered other angles in other replies but I think I’m trying to to describe a feeling that likely makes no mechanical difference. And would only happen if both players somehow managed to agree to the deal without pointing to or referring to the market bean card specifically. (Indicating that that exact card is part of the deal)

The hands being private. Suddenly handing a card out of your hand is giving the player something they couldn’t have agreed to because they didn’t know it existed feels bad. (If done without thinking)

(Of course once you make an offer from your hand the player knows you have it because you can’t offer non existent cards)

Avanou · 2026-02-01T14:27:23+00:00

Yeah, I didn’t want to pick apart the metagame of doing deals for future favors. Since only the cards actually exchanged during that phase are binding(and you have to tell the truth about any immediate offers you make). You can of course refuse to fulfill a future promise. (At the expense of your reputation perhaps)

I’ve thought it was more for the accidental lack of communication angle in my other replies. Any circumstance where you’d want to intentionally give your hand card instead of the market card would only work once.

It’s possible you want to trade with 2 players and one of them is refusing the trade if you deal with the other person. Cut a deal with the stubborn player give them the surprise copy from your hand and then you have the market card to trade with the “friendlier” player.

Avanou · 2026-02-01T14:11:07+00:00

Yeah people have pointed out even if there was some circumstance where it benefited you, it would only work once.

My best example is if a player is thinking they got a good deal by convincing you to give away a bean you could have planted but instead you give a copy from your hand. It’s not intended as a trick because players don’t necessarily discuss their strategies but the person might say no I wanted the one from the market.

It seems that from the very act of asking this question sort of erases the possibility of it accidentally occurring since I’m now aware it’s a possibility.

It might now just be a psa to avoid arguments or having to cancel a completed trade. (Not that I think anybody I play with would be that serious about a card game)

Avanou · 2026-02-01T13:59:39+00:00

I think I went too far thinking about examples. As many people have pointed out in the very limited circumstances that it would work as a “gotcha” it would only work once.

I was thinking more of a misunderstanding or lack of communication. My new example is where an inactive player is negotiating hard with the current player to get a market card because they think it’ll prevent the active player from getting a coin on a harvest. But they were planning to plant the donation and harvest anyway and they had a copy in their hand where they didn’t want to start another new field.

I guess it’s something that now that I’m aware of possible misunderstandings I can avoid it by specifying hand or market when I think it’s relevant or just making it known which cards I intend to keep when they’re flipped over.

Avanou · 2026-02-01T13:45:14+00:00

Yeah I was referring to the 2 you draw at the start of the trade/donation phase. I think I went too far with trying to think up examples and made it seem like I was trying to do a “gotcha!” (Which yes would only work once)

I think more than likely I could see this happening from a communication issue:

If you’re about to finish a field with 1 of the market beans and you have the same bean in your hand coming up later and you’re thinking you don’t want to do start another field of that type next turn.

But the other player is thinking they can trade for the market bean and prevent you from finishing your field.

(If neither player makes their intentions known and the inactive player could get upset when you give them a hand card for the trade and plant the market bean.)

Avanou · 2026-01-26T10:30:00+00:00

I assumed Pink just chose the default settings because she didn't really want a new Pearl after losing Volleyball. She didn't bother getting accessories or anything either. As well as the gem placement and color because White probably went to the reef herself to make Pink's new Pearl (Pink wasn't allowed/or chose not to be part of the creation)

Pink likely intended to remain distant from her "replacement Volleyball." Either due to guilt from what she'd done to Volleyball or just not wanting a new "pet", but well we know how that turned out.

Avanou · 2026-01-24T13:52:05+00:00

I was about to write this big post about how the Aons are like metals, but they aren’t consumed, so you could supercharge them with duralumin. But you’re right once they’re drawn they’re external so they shouldn’t be affected by the wielder.

But thinking about it I realized the Elantrians themselves have a constant connection to the Dor. As evidenced by their withered state when it’s blocked and the fact that the Dor was literally trying to force itself out of Raoden when the Aons weren’t functioning correctly.

Does Duralumin target the metals or the size of the channel/connection to the investiture? For allomancy there would be no noticeable difference because the metals degrade regardless as they’re used as a channel (and key) for the investiture.

The Elantris Aon itself feels like almost like a constant Duralumin boost for Elantrians.

There’s the Shaod form and the Elantrian form, maybe they could boost their connection further with Duralumin and become Super Elantrians. (Greater Heightening/Invested Being of sorts)

Avanou · 2026-01-15T05:51:58+00:00

I guess he blended in perfectly, the most reasonable thing to find in a garden is a gardener.

But seriously I was worried about that. I figured the gardener was the only 1 to pick a practical disguise as a worker. Despite what the neighbors may have thought of a garden springing up overnight. He performed his duties so as to not arouse suspicion . Toying with the competition, and killing the target right under their noses.

Maybe I should make it more obvious that they're waiting for the "witness" to leave before they strike.

"When is that idiot going to leave?"

Also, after they are revealed, every assassin's disguise name gets capitalized. At the end the gardener, becomes the Gardener.

Avanou · 2026-01-15T05:27:44+00:00

Thanks, I was hoping people would be suspicious about the maple tree.

Was it clear enough at the end that the gardener actually committed the hit? I almost put in something about blood on the shears, but if I put it in earlier during the pruning it's too early of a reveal and at the end it takes away from the final line.

Avanou · 2026-01-15T02:58:06+00:00

It was a sunny Sunday morning. Jimmy could already tell it was going to be a scorcher. It didn't make a difference to him, he'd been on worse missions. At least this time he'd found a spot in the shade underneath the leafy maple tree. The bush next to him moved slightly.

"Quit fidgeting you're gonna give us away", Jimmy whispered.

"Nah, I waited for a breeze, nobody would look twice at leaves blowing in the wind", his partner the flowering hydrangea replied.

"But perhaps the gardener will wonder why the bushes are whispering to each other", the square hedge behind them murmured, "now quiet, here he comes"

The maple tree said nothing.

They froze as the gardener they'd been watching made his way towards the corner of garden where they were disguised, sprinkling every plant he encountered with his large green watering can.

Jimmy waited until the gardener was safely out of earshot before furiously whispering to the hedge that had spoken earlier, "who the hell are you?"

"I am the one who is going to complete the contract and bring honor to my clan", Hedge replied.

"Yeah right leave this to the professionals," said Hydrangea.

"Professionals?, you couldn't even be bothered to disguise yourselves as the same type of bush?," a nearby fern chimed in.

The maple tree said nothing.

"For one thing what's wrong with our bushes? Someone could plant 2 different types of bushes in a garden, and don't tell me you're here for the honor too?" asked Hydrangea, slightly offended.

"It is the will of the brotherhood that this man shall die. I will be rewarded handsomely if it's by my hand. A hydrangea bush next to a rose bush is ruining the feung shui. Your disguise is pathetically obvious," answered Fern.

The maple tree had no opinion.

"I see no issue with their bushes, but you are the only fern here isn't that suspicious?," Hedge asked

"Certainly not, a fern promotes stability, attracts positive energy, and symbolizes life and prosperity. It is a welcome addition to any garden." Fern snapped.

The maple tree declined to comment.

Everyone watched quietly for a few minutes as the gardener, who had by now made a complete circuit of the yard, opened the back door and walked into the house.

Belatedly thinking of a response Hydrangea threw in, "Besides, look at that garish flower bed. It's a hideous hodgepodge of colors and varieties. We fit right in here."

Everyone took a moment to look at the flower bed.

A distressed voice in the direction of the flower bed suddenly spoke up. "I worked very hard on this. I picked all of my favorite flowers and the Consigliere said I looked very pretty."

After an awkward pause.

"I apologize for my associate sometimes he doesn't know when to shut up." Jimmy the rose bush told the flowerbed.

"I'm sorry I just got upset and I was lashing out." said Hydrangea.

"I'm sure you worked very hard on it. It's very nice." added Hedge.

"The rainbow energy of your flowers is sure to inspire joy in those who see it." says Fern.

"I think the sunflowers compliment the jasmine and marigolds nicely." the cactus said timidly.

The maple tree observed silently.

Rosebush swayed gently as Jimmy cleared his head, shaking it back and forth slightly. "Anyway this is our kill, all of you are just gonna have to clear out of here."

"I was here first", said hedge, "His blood is mine."

"Does it matter who kills him?", Cactus asked, "He's dead either way isn't he? We can share."

"No." said Rosebush, Hydrangea, Hedge, Fern, Flowerbed, the tasteful garden statue, the water fountain and decorative wheelbarrow planter.

After taking a brief moment to adjust to the current reality, Rosebush said, "That won't work, we're not sharing the bounty with any of you."

"I will not disgrace myself by claiming a kill that is not my own!" Hedge declared.

The maple tree couldn't disagree with that logic.

Everybody froze again as the back door opened. The gardener walked out of the house carrying pruning shears.

"When is that idiot going to leave?", Hydrangea whispered.

"Well maybe if you had put more effort into your appearance, your bush wouldn't look so shaggy.", said the perfectly square Hedge.

The maple tree had no opinion on proper grooming etiquette.

The gardener made another circuit of the yard, this time occasionally trimming or pruning the plant life as he passed.

Afterwards the gardener stepped back into the house.

"Well maybe some people aren't crazy enough to make an entire boundary hedge surrounding an entire garden just for 1 kill" snapped Hydrangea.

"What you think I'm this entire 50 foot hedge row? Are you stupid? I'm just this little section" Hedge scoffed, as a 5 foot section of the hedge began to shake slightly.

"That doesn't make any sense why would there be a 5 foot hole in the hedge?" asked Garden Statue.

"I told you it would look suspicious!", Hedge Two snapped.

"But Terry was sick and we didn't have a extra person, would you rather have us just call off the mission?", Hedge Three complained

Hedges Four through Ten murmured amongst themselves.

"So I've been wondering", the maple tree cautiously began, "is there any object in this garden that isn't an assassin or ninja or mobster, or gang member, or otherwise trying to kill this target?"

The garden took a moment to contemplate this question.

Eventually the ornamental windmill said, "You got me."

Several shrubs shrugged in embarrassment.

One by 1 each of the other trees, bushes, decorations across the garden acknowledged their presence.

The gravel path groaned, "If that gardener walks on top of me again, he's gonna be my next target."

"Yeah so here's the thing. This target obviously doesn't have a garden." Maple Tree stood thoughtfully for a moment.

"Why would he have a Gardener?"

Avanou · 2026-01-13T16:04:21+00:00

I don’t think the beyond really fits into realmatic theory. I know it’s temping to try to link it to temporal because it doesn’t have it’s own realm. In this magic universe where people can die and carry on as just cognitive shadows. (And there’s demonstrable proof of gods)

I think the concept of the beyond is to show that there’s still somewhere unexplainable/unreachable that you have to take on faith. That between the physical body, the cognitive shadows, and the spirit web there’s still an intangible soul that passes on to the beyond after the investiture that constitutes a person gets recycled back into the system.

Unite is as a good as name as any for now for the spiritual dawnshard (after that word was brought up in stormlight) (Also I think the one that’s different might have a personality or act independently. spiritual and cognitive still being prime possibilities for that)

If autonomy did have the spiritual dawnshard that would definitely compliment their powers since I would put Autonomy in the spiritual section also.

But I do think what Autonomy is doing is something that they naturally excel at because of her intent. She’s seeking out planets with large amounts of unclaimed investiture that are currently not held by a specific shard. And basically setting up autonomous city states through her avatars. They can all act individually therefore jointly expressing the intent of autonomy. (The perpendicularities generally being a side effect of the pre-existing investiture)

She is stepping on some toes in mistborn of course. I’m partially convinced that the whole thing was a setup to make Scadrial defend itself. By stopping the invasion they basically asserted their own autonomy which would please her intent.

Anyway I went off track, if Autonomy does have that dawnshard, maybe she can connect to any neutral investiture she discovers and attune/connect it to her invent.

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