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Schaaschaa

If Dalinar were to deadeye the Stormfather, would highstorms stop or change? Related, were there highstorms on Roshar before the Splintering of Honor?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO, I'll have to think about that.

Questioner

Were there highstorms on Roshar before Adonalsium Shattered?

Brandon Sanderson

Were there highstorms on Roshar before Adonalsium Shattered? I'm gonna RAFO that. I'm not gonna answer you, because I'm mean. Maybe someday you shall have your answer to this important question.

leinton

Does Roshar experience storms outside of the highstorms and the Weepings? And if so, how often would Shinovar get them?

Brandon Sanderson

So, the weather patterns are dominated by the highstorms. Non-highstorm storms are rare but do occur. The further to the west you get, the harder it is to tell the difference between a highstorm and a regular storm. Like, in Shinovar, a highstorm is just kind of like-- it feels like what a storm you might get here, or even weaker. But they do happen. They're gonna happen, most often you're going to notice them in the quote-unquote "summers," when the highstorms are further apart.

coltonx9

Do the singers predate the highstorms?

Brandon Sanderson

The singers and the highstorms are-- The highstorms-- Let's say no. Trying to decide which one came first. They were created, right? But the highstorms were created as part of Roshar, as well. The highstorms predate humans arriving. Highstorms predate the Shattering of Adonalsium.

EHyde

What information do Stormwardens use to predict Highstorms?

Brandon Sanderson

Many things, some of which is necessary to the process and some of which is not. But previous Highstorm arrival is a very big part of it, and Highstorms from previous years, most recent Highstorms, and if they can get when the Highstorm left the other side [of the continent], that's a calculation that will help them, and things like this.

Higgy Baby

Do the highstorms and Everstorm orbit Roshar like rings?

Brandon Sanderson

Rings is the wrong term. There's not another highstorm on the other side of the world. There is one highstorm blowing around. They were sort of mini-based on the Spot of Jupiter. But they move around; it's a massive hurricane that moves around the planet.

It goes around the planet, but if what you're asking is: "Is there a ring of highstorm? And so when it's on one side, it's on the other side?" That is not the case. There is a highstorm that's going around, an Everstorm that's going the other direction around the planet; and they are very wide, enormous storms. But imagine a storm of Jupiter moving around the planet, rather than staying where it is.

Questioner

Pre-Shattering magic in books?

Brandon Sanderson

Let's see. I would count the highstorms as that. Highstorm predates the Shattering. Now, the highstorm has been changed dramatically by certain events, but the highstorm does predate the Shattering.

Snote85

Have the Highstorms always existed on Roshar? The excerpt that talks about how one of the Bondsmiths had resigned himself to fight the Voidbringers but woke up and had a new idea, one that had to do with the nature of the Heralds themselves. Then, inside the Oathgate, we see "mythical creatures" like lions and such. It would make sense that the world might have been different when the KR were last around. So much so, that if the Highstorms "Opposite" is the Everstorm and it was made by followers of Odium, then the Highstorm would have been made by followers of Honor.

Brandon Sanderson

Highstorms did predate the arrival of Honor and Cultivation on Roshar, but it has evolved much during the thousands of years since that event. It was not created by followers of Honor, but there is more to this story that you'll find out as the series progresses.

OrangeJedi

In several instances of the highstorms, several characters mention seeing large creatures walking in the highstorms; they don't seem to be super fazed by this. Do they know these creatures exist, is it part of their lore?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. But you've got to also remember that people who are out in highstorms, they expect it to be... they expect to see odd things. When you're out in a highstorm, it does not faze you in the same way that if you go to a horror movie, you expect something horrific to happen.

OrangeJedi

Do they have a name for said creatures?

Brandon Sanderson

There are names in various parts of the lore, but there is no one name.

OrangeJedi

Could you give us one of them?

Brandon Sanderson

No.

Questioner

You mentioned the ecology on Roshar, and also you mentioned that mostly the non-sentient spren predate the Shattering of Adonalsium. So my question is about the evolution of life on Roshar, and how essential the highstorms are to life on Roshar, how the plants evolved, so can we assume that life that is dependent on the highstorms predates the Shattering of Adonalsium?

Brandon Sanderson

Um… You--

Questioner

Can we correctly assume?

Brandon Sanderson

--yeah, *laughter* I'll tell you this. The highstorms predate, and there was a lot of natural evolution on Roshar, resulting in a lot of what we have there.

Karen Ahlstrom (paraphrased)

1. Just as highstorms come less frequently around the Weeping, they are more frequent around Midpeace.

2. Following the advent of the Everstorm, the normal highstorm calculations/schedule was found to be thrown off by about four (Rosharan) months.

3. Highstorms move at about 370 miles per hour. The Everstorm moves at about 120 miles per hour. Those are variable of course, and shouldn't be taken as official, definitive numbers.

4. For approximate Everstorm timing calculations we used a cycle of 9.1 (Rosharan) days.

5. Roshar's circumference is about 22110 miles. Again, this shouldn't be taken as an official, definitive number.

Narkac

Where does the Stormlight in highstorms come from? Is there like a "rain cycle", but for the Stormlight?

Brandon Sanderson

The Stormlight in the highstorm is transferred from the Spiritual realm through the Stormfather into the highstorm.

Nethseäar

So weather in Shadesmar, do highstorms manifest there?

Brandon Sanderson

Do highstorms manifest? There is some representation of highstorms.

Nethseäar

Would they be glass beads that just--

Brandon Sanderson

You'll see.

gpmushu (paraphrased)

Do highstorms get weaker as they move west because of normal meteorological reasons the same way a hurricane gets weaker over land or is it because they slowly drain investiture as they infuse spheres over the whole continent?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Both. He said that anything like that will be affected by both normal science as well as the magic, but then he added that the highstorms are a natural occurring phenomenon that were on the planet before stuff started going down.

Questioner

Do rainbows come after a highstorm?

Brandon Sanderson

Rainbows occasionally will come after a highstorm but not always.

Questioner

Are there rainbowspren?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. There are rainbowspren.

Argent

Both times when Kaladin has had to survive a Highstorm outside, he finds himself in an area of unnatural calm. Is the eye of the Highstorm not entirely in the physical realm? I've had this feeling that the calm area pulls people into Shadesmar, at least a little...

Brandon Sanderson

This is not 100% physical realm.

Questioner

If the highstorms existed prior to the Shards' arrival, what's the relationship between the highstorms and the Stormfather?

Brandon Sanderson

Oh good question. I was wondering if someone was going to ask that… So, I'll tr-- Let me see… *sighs*

You know, I'm actually going to RAFO this one. *laughter* And let me tell you why, because I mean, I want to give you some reasons to be interested in the things that Dalinar will be talking about with the Stormfather. So this is a RAFO with an explicit promise that book 3-- These are things that are covered now that we have bonded the Stormfather to a person who can now ask some of these questions. I could totally just tell you now, but where's the fun in that? Read book three.

ElephantEarwax

If Dalinar summoned his perpendicularity during a highstorm, while the perpendicularity was open, would the areas that the highstorm was over not have spheres become Invested/full of Stormlight?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO!

ZenBossanova (paraphrased)

I asked if knowing the positions/orbits of the moons would be enough to predict the [highstorms].

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

He said not enough. You need the historical records of storms as well because there is a pattern. You need that pattern and the tides, to correctly predict the timing of the storms. He said it was more than a simple beat.

ZenBossanova (paraphrased)

I then turned back and asked, "Are you saying the highstorms are music?"

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

He replied, "I didn't say they were music. You said that."

Questioner

Can you sleep through a highstorm?

Brandon Sanderson

Some people can. I probably wouldn't be able to.

Questioner

So it's not impossible.

Brandon Sanderson

It's not impossible... The guys in Bridge Four? They can sleep through anything. 

Ted Herman (paraphrased)

How much area do highstorms cover?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Ask Isaac.

Leiyan

Do the moons relate to the Highstorms at all?

Brandon Sanderson

The moons...at all? Sure!

unknown

How often is a "weeping" in Way of Kings?

Brandon Sanderson

Once a year. Opposite it in the year is an extremely powerful highstorm.

eri_pl

When, relatively to the events in Way of Kings is/will be the nearest Weeping? (I ask, because I started wondering, if this powerful storm was, coincidentally, the one, during which... you know... the face in the clouds and all that.)

Brandon Sanderson

Well, there are ten months in year. If I haven't mentioned dates in the last book (I may or may not have) I am planning to in the next. So a timeline should be possible for fans to figure out...

leinton (paraphrased)

Do highstorms have a rotation? The way they're described, they do not sound like storms on Earth.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

They do not, and that they are unlike Earth storms in their structure. They do not have an eye, unless you count going to see the Stormfather in them.

Ross Newberry (paraphrased)

I asked Peter about the pattern of highstorms and Weepings, and whether the pattern they followed was possibly palindromic.

Peter Ahlstrom (paraphrased)

He replied that it seemed to be. Left some wiggle room in the answer, but there you go.

Questioner

Are there highstorms in Aimia?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes there are.

Trae

On Roshar, because of there's no tectonic activity, it would suggest that it's possible that the magnetic dynamo inside doesn't create enough of a magnetosphere to protect life from solar radiation, so my question is, do the highstorms function as a form of protection against solar radiation?

Brandon Sanderson

That's an excellent question.

Bystander

That's a RAFO. *laughter*

Brandon Sanderson

That's a really cool question.

Questioner

So the highstorms, they're just one storm that goes around the world or--

Brandon Sanderson

Well there are different philosophies in the world about that but-- The scientifically-minded believe their is only one storm that goes around the world. The lore says that there is a place the storms blow out of called the Origin. But the scientists don't believe that that is true.

swamp-spirit

Does it take longer for spheres to charge on the western side of the continent?

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, because of the… No it doesn't, but that's an excellent question. The highstorms are a little weaker, but that's more of a… Of it's been blunted from the-- It's not an-- Like if the continent, the mountains weren't there, they wouldn’t be weaker.

StarburstWrapperTie

What is it like at the poles of Roshar, where the highstorms are circling around?

Brandon Sanderson

We've thought about this a lot, and I'm going to RAFO this for now. Because I need some meteorological help on some of these things. And so I'm not gonna speak until I'm sure that I know... Like, the meteorology of Roshar is bizarre anyway, the storms are magical, they're dropping crem. So it doesn't mean we have to keep to it exactly. But this is one that I don't quite want to answer yet.

Questioner

Is the crem--is it natural--are the highstorms magically created and that's why--

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah the crem is there to keep the continent from washing away. So I had to add a magical element that, if it were not in the cosmere with magic, this would not work.

Questioner

Is that why the Weepings don't have crem, is that's a natural storm?

Brandon Sanderson

That is because I didn't want there to be too much crem at that point. These are all story structure things, instead. World-wise, I would say a little more natural, sort of blow off steam, there.

Iridium Savant

Does the highstorm/no highstorm rotation of the Weeping have to do with Ashyn's relative location to Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson

No! But great question!

Steeldancer

Would it be correct to say that the highstorms on Roshar have left the realms closer together than on other worlds? 

Brandon Sanderson

You could say [that] is true. I'd be comfortable with that idea. Though there are worlds where this goes even further than on Roshar.

Snote85

I did have a question about the story if you're willing/allowed to answer it for me. In the TWoK and WoR when the Highstorm and Everstorm meet, we're told that they will feed each other and that their strength is increased. What I wonder is that if that increased power is sustained after they pass, so that they get bigger each time they meet. Because if that's the case, it will basically turn into a Fibonacci Spiral of planetary destruction. (at least if my terrible understanding of both that sequence and math itself is right.)

So, if you could just say if I was supposed to understand that "They will feed each other" means only during their interaction or gives a more permanent upgrade.

Peter Ahlstrom

That's a good question. The answer is that they feed each other only while they're interacting. Once they pass they return to normal.

Brandon Sanderson

Karen's the one who runs into all the trouble now. Because she has to make the timeline work with the highstorms. She wrote that whole blog post.  You guys read that. She had lots of fun with that.

FieryXJoe

Would empty perfect gemstones left in Shinovar and New Natanatan during a highstorm have different amounts of Stormlight?

Brandon Sanderson

Excellent question.

No, they would not. Strength of the storm is not tied directly to the amount of Stormlight invested. (Though there are in-world easterners who would insist otherwise.)

learhpa

Given that Stormlight healing matches to mental self-image (as shown by both the Lopen and by the Reshi monarch), could a really powerful hypnotist change someone's self-image in a way that would affect Stormlight healing? Could a powerful hypnotist use Stormlight healing to change a human into a listener?

Brandon Sanderson

Theoretically possible...to an extent. There is a limit to this, but the limitation is the amount of Investiture you have and access to Stormlight—or you know, Voidlight—can evidence this. Transformations that are happening in the storm to the listener forms are involved in this. That could theoretically happen to a human as well. But you would basically—what most likely would happen is it would have to involve a specific set of circumstances and then entering the storm, and then exiting as a listener—that could happen. You guys ask some farfetched things—that one's not so farfetched. It does require some specificity, but it could happen.

Jason

How does Roshar keep its rocky terrains? Wouldn't corrosion and vegetation break down the rocks outside of [Shinovar]?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes! Good question. This is why I built the crem from the beginning. That was my first question to myself, and you will actually find that on a geological timescale, that Roshar has drifted! Meaning been worn off on one end and is shrinking a little bit, and then different pieces are growing that way off of different parts. Very slow-scale. The existence of Roshar is not so long that you'd be able to tell much, but you know there've been inches if not feet lost from the eastern portion of Roshar but the dumping of the crem is my perhaps-fantastical science answer to "what happens to erosion". Plants grow, they do crack the stone, they do start to break it down, even Rosharan plants whose roots aren't meant to go deep or things like this, and then crem gets in those cracks, fills it in, sticks the broken pieces back together, and you end up with stone, still. That was my devised answer to having a world that is hit by storms but is also stony. 

This is the same reason coral reefs continue to exist. There's got to be a growth mechanism after things are being weathered a way to make sure that they continue to perpetuate. An above-water coral reef was one of my touchstones for Roshar.

Questioner

*inaudible*

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, they can't help but be.  I remember sitting out on my porch as a kid, the storms blowing the other direction so it didn't get me, and just swinging on the porch swing watching the storm.  Those are the storms I know, so I would say when I'm describing them I'm thinking that.  But the original inspiration was the storm of Jupiter, the constant storm, and granted as a gas giant it is very different.

Questioner

How does a world that is wracked by Storms supply food for an entire population?

Brandon Sanderson

Well, you um... The thing to keep in mind is, it's not a barren planet. There are lots of plants on this planet. When-- I mean, it's no more barren than a corral reef that deals with the tide rushing in and rushing out. Now, the life has to adapt to it, but it's a really lush planet. You-- I mean, if you go and you look at the Shattered Plains there's grass everywhere and plants growing all over the place. It's just, right before a Storm, it becomes barren and then becomes lush again.

*long pause* 

Yeah, that was, um... One of the things I kind of have to overcome with this books is, though it is very rocky and stony, it's also very lush, and it's hard sometimes for people to imagine that. But even if it is a little bit barren, Utah is barren, and it supported people.

Questioner

Is Stormlight an infinite resource or a finite one?

Brandon Sanderson

Stormlight is a renewing resource.

talonnolan

How do the Shin get Stomlight, if the storms are broken up by the mountains before reaching Shinovar?

Brandon Sanderson

An excellent question that you should be asking. (So…RAFO.) Note that they don’t use it as extensively as outlanders do.

Also note that though the storms aren’t as strong there, they do still reach Shin lands, to an extent.

Questioner

Has stormwater tasted metallic always?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

Even pre-Shattering?

Brandon Sanderson

Even pre-Shattering it would get a metallic taste, that's the crem. So. That is an indication of Investiture and things. But it was there-- it was in place first, before.

Questioner

Yesterday you said that crem was actually like Shard poop.

Brandon Sanderson

No, I was saying that it was more like that than what they were saying.

Questioner

It's not really poop?

Brandon Sanderson

No, its not.

Questioner

Dang it, I like poop jokes! Can you make it poop so i can have a poop joke.

Brandon Sanderson

Ok, for the next thirty seconds it is.

Questioner

Did a lot of the life on land from Roshar come from the sea? Because they all have shells. Or is that just the highstorm?

Brandon Sanderson

That’s just the highstorms. Good question actually.  I mean I would say that evolutionary, certain traits that vanished on Earth did not vanish on Roshar because of the highstorms. But also things evolved independently similar attributes because of the storms. So it's a yes and a no.

Questioner

In Way of Kings, the Death Rattles, it say that the person who said it reported seeing strange dreams during the highstorms for the past two years. What do you have to say about that, I guess?

Brandon Sanderson

Highstorms. You often see strange things during the highstorms.

Bystander

That's not a real answer.

Brandon Sanderson

It totally is a real answer! That person saw some weird stuff. Weird stuff happens. Dalinar sees weird things walking along throwing rocks at people, so. Who knows.

Questioner

Will we ever see the Origin of Storms be explored?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO. It’s a RAFO with an “I intend to.” But whether I get to it or not is a question.

I do intend to. We will see. Ask me this question again in a couple years.

Questioner

Would it be possible for the Fourth Bridge to do the exploring if Windrunners and maybe Dalinar used Adhesion and Dalinar’s Bondsmith powers to hold the ship together to brave the highstorms?

Brandon Sanderson

That’s real dangerous. Way smarter to just use Windrunner pressure manipulation to go up over the highstorms. But yes, that would be a better way to use the Fourth Bridge to accomplish that.

Questioner

What happens if you put Shardplate in a highstorm? If you are in Shardplate and you go out into a highstorm...

Brandon Sanderson

You're pretty well protected, but a boulder flying through the air can still do some major damage to a person in Shardplate.

Questioner

What will happen to the gems in the Shardplate?

Brandon Sanderson

They will be recharged.

Wetlander

Please explain what you will about Shards and Splintering and Slivers.

Brandon Sanderson

An event happened long ago which destroyed something called Adonalsium into 16 pieces. And 16 people took up that power.

Questioner

People?

Brandon Sanderson

I call all intelligent species people. If someone takes up the power and lets go of it, it has the effect much like a balloon that's been stretched and then the air is let out. I call that a Sliver; based off of the Lord Ruler calling himself the "Sliver of Infinity". The Lord Ruler is someone who held the power and then released it. And so, current Slivers are the Lord Ruler, Kelsier, and there may be others around who at one point held the power and let go of it. A Splinter is a term used by certain people in the cosmere for power of Adonalsium which has no person caring for it, no... no person holding it, which has attained self-awareness.

Wetlander

So is that like the mists and the Well? Are they...

Brandon Sanderson

They are not, because they have not attained self-awareness. But, the Seons are self-aware. So, any piece, for instance there were some spren on Roshar before Honor and Cultivation got there. Those were already Splinters of Adonalsium where he had left power which attained sentience on its own. So, it can be intentional is what I am saying, does that make sense? You have seen other Splinters.

Wetlander

Are the highstorms related to the Splintering of Honor?

Brandon Sanderson

The highstorms are more related to the mist from Mistborn which terminology we have not discussed yet. You have seen Splinters quite a bit on various planets.

Questioner

How do you do it? (after saying he likes the characters and societies that Brandon writes)

Brandon Sanderson

Lots of practice. Lots of reading in the genre and loving the genre. A little bit of talent, a lot of loving the genre, and a lot of practice for a long time.

Questioner

I haven’t read Mistborn, but I’ve read this one [Stormlight]. How do you come up with the culture, the society?

Brandon Sanderson

It depends on the book. Stormlight is my best series. If you haven’t tried Emperor’s Soul, it’s the other thing that I think is on Stormlight’s level, but it’s a short. What I’m looking to do with something like Stormlight is to say that the fantasy genre should be the most magical genre, right? Classically, science fiction has done a better job with the worldbuilding, and fantasy has tended to do a better job with things like characters and story. Not that there’s not science fiction that has great, you know, but usually science fiction’s been about the ideas and the interesting settings, but in fantasy we play it safe with the settings and try to do interesting characters. Which I’ve always thought, “Why do we do that? Why do we play it safe with our settings? Why don’t we have really bizarre, fantastical settings?”. So for years, even before I became a published author, I was searching for ones that would have one foot in science fiction. I want to do something magical as an origin, like the highstorm, you know, the physics of the highstorm don’t actually work, but we take it for assumed and then we try to extrapolate a realistic extrapolation of the world from that. That’s just what I’m doing, I’m trying to set up some sort fantastical setting or environment and then let science fiction take over and try and build how it would grow. On the cultures, usually I’m taking things I’ve learned about our culture and I am just trying to [...] a fantastical version. Sometimes when you do that you can say something interesting about human society, removed from the baggage of human society. There was a brief time in the pre-Victorian era where, for women, showing your ankle was more taboo than showing your chest. In fact, they would have pictures painted of them, noblewomen, in a state of what you’d call topless. Not a problem; a little risque, like what wearing a low-cut shirt is now, but no big deal. That’s bizarre to us, because, our society that’s not how it is. But if I put that in, in a fantasy book as a safehand, I can say, look, human beings do bizarre things as far as gender roles, socialization of gender, and what we find attractive. This should be very bizarre to you, but the reactions are normal. That disconnect is what helps build a fantastical society and lets me say a few things about our society, I hope in interesting ways.