primeideal

Hi! This is a lighthearted/absurd event, feel free to go crazy with whatever delights you about these fandoms/characters, don't take it too seriously. In particular, the "optional tags" are just things I saw in the tagset that struck me as maybe interesting--for Debrief, I think the range of tags pretty much encompasses everything I love about the canon and the potential tones you can go for. For Anathem and the Stormlight Archive, there's a lot more to do with these characters so don't feel limited to that!

DNWs:

-for Anathem: mentions of allswell or other mind-altering drugs. (Something like Jules and Lise drinking Laterran alcohol together is fine.)

-explicit on-screen sex (fade-to-black or innuendo is fine)

-underage characters having sex

-rape/noncon

-moralizing/didactic stories (characters Learning An Important Lesson about the value of tolerance, etc.)

-non-canonical allegories of current events and/or contemporary politics (Alderidge has hot takes about Winston Churchhill, fine; Alderidge has hot takes about a Rishi Sunak stand-in, no thanks.)

-character bashing

Anathem:

Jules Verne Durand/Lise
Barb | Tavener
Erasmas
Jad
Orolo
Worldbuilding

Medium: fanfic, in-universe documents, in-universe social media/internet, in-universe epistolary/journals, interactive fiction, poetry

Optional Tags:
Autistic Characters who are Casually Autistic
In-Universe Scientific Research Paper/Article
Languages and Linguistics
Pre-Canon

Medium-specific ideas:"I wondered what a poem would read like, written by one who saw the Precipice as I did now, knowing what I knew" [about the Three Inviolates].

Jules Verne Durand/Lise

A normal day on the Laterran sector in happier times? Their conflicts with the Pedestal faction? Fix-it where Lise lives and that has ripple effects for Orolo and the others?

Erasmas

What does his life look like in the post-canon era? Is he a mentor to future fids? What changes with the Second Reconstitution? More of his friendships with Sammann or Jules, or his family relationship with Cord?

Jad

What did a "normal" day in the life of a Millenarian look like, pre-canon? Is he bouncing around nearby "alternate universes," or moving farther up the Wick? Jad mentions that if it hadn't been for the Daban Urnud's arrival, Orolo would likely have become a Centenarian and then a Millenarian himself someday--what would their relationship have been like?

Orolo

How did he react when the Ita picked him to secretly spy on the Daban Urnud? What was actually going through his head in the early chapters that he couldn't tell Raz? Or during his death scene?

Barb | Tavener

I saw the tag for "characters who are casually autistic" and was intrigued by how that might (or might not) apply to him. Is he neurodiverse? Is he just twelve and twelve-year-olds are all annoying like that? How does he adjust to growing up in a new world that isn't as sealed off as he expected? What's his relationship with his dad like now?

Worldbuilding:

Here are a few of the topics that most intrigue me, but don't feel limited to these:

What happens in the far future, when the Daban Urnud moves on from Arbre's cosmos? Do they ever find out more about the Lineage's conspiracy, or lack thereof? Is the Karx religion based on something that actually happened? Are there other ways of communicating or moving through cosmi?

Mathic Life Before the Second Reconstitution

I love all the weird math monk stuff. Patterns for bells and sleeping arrangements! Clock towers! Labyrinths between the different tiers! Everything the Ita are doing behind the scenes to make it functional! Anything set in the world of the concents would be great. It sounds like Saunt Edhar's is more ascetic than some of the other concents, so something set elsewhere with different traditions could be a neat contrast.

Matarrhites

Given the themes of the book, the idea of a concent where people believe in god as well as in science is compelling--but we don't get to hear much from the "real' Matarrhites, just the fakeout. What is life like in their concents, besides the masks? Is their food really as bad as the rumors have it? How do they react to the arrival of the Daban Urnud and the polycosmic theory?

The Dictionary

I love the in-universe definitions, especially the ones that manage to pun on more than one word at once! (Anathem = anthem + anathema, concent = convent + concentric, etc.) More about the dictionary as it exists in the canon timeframe? The convoxes where Millennials have to summarize a thousand years' worth of language drift? Post-canon dictionaries as people react to new jargon from the Daban Arnud?

Debrief:

Alderidge / or & Russell
Worldbuilding

Medium: fanfic, in-universe documents, in-universe epistolary/journals, interactive fiction

Optional Tags:

Aftermath Of One Character Finding Out Other Character Wouldn't Sacrifice Them For The Greater Good

Character A gets hurt/punished for Character B's actions

Character(s) are totally done with this ghost bullshit

Characters have never dated but act like bitter exes

Characters with complicated pasts struggling with guilt and grief and forgiveness

complicated feelings of love and loss and hurt and resentment

Fix-It of Sorts

Ghosts - Ghosts And Hauntings As Metaphor For Love

Happy reunion in the afterlife

Miscommunication - Talking about everything except the one thing we need to

(I'm requesting both the & and / versions, I'm fine with any level of shippiness or lack thereof. "not romantic not platonic but some weird third thing" also great.)

So on the one hand, RPGs can be kind of difficult to prompt for, in that everyone's playthroughs are different and will result in slightly different characterizations; on the other hand, I have so many feelings about these guys and would absolutely love any version. A retelling of your playthrough, what happened next, more backstory, fix-it, "fix-it" that makes it worse...

-I love the dramatic irony of seeing the same incidents from different POVs in the character sheets, and then trying to talk about it just makes it worse. (The Catholic Underground in Spain, Courtenay's investigation.) Anything expanding on those or another memory that they technically share but actually remember differently.

-From Alderidge's sheet: "Bykov has the distinction of being the only human on Earth, apart from George Russell, who has ever known you in any meaningful sense." What's going on with these two? How much does Bykov know about the OUC? Is there hatesex?

-Does any of this ever get declassified? How much do Dora or Jean, or the kids, ever figure out, correctly or incorrectly?

-Worldbuilding! What kind of research is the OUC (or the Soviets) doing into ghost technology? What are spirit mediums doing in other parts of the world? At rates of ~one in ten thousand, it's unlikely you'd ever run across another unless there was some effort--but there are also more people who acknowledge ghosts and auras even if they can't directly witness them.

For me, the disruptor was an important focal point of the playthrough--my version of Russell is increasingly horrified at the thought of using it on Alderidge, meanwhile, Alderidge is insisting that it's this great tool of mercy and it's not clear whether he's talking about himself. Then once my Russell admits to himself that getting Alderidge to cross over and get closure is more important to him than anything else, he gets his act together in kind of a ruthless Pascal's Wager-y way. The sense they both have of "okay well here's when I draw the line, it's different when it's you at risk" is part of what I love about this dynamic, so anything touching on that (or the disruptor in general) would be great, but obviously everyone's characterization will be different!

Feel free to lean into the shippy aspects, or not, as you prefer; I don't really want anything too anachronistic or setting-changey, but Alderidge's level of candor (or Russell's level of having-a-clue) can be anywhere on the scale, it's all good.

Note: some of the DNWs I've listed for other exchanges do not apply to this request. For instance, I think the use of second-person POV works very well in the character sheets, so I enthusiastically opt in to second-person POV fic here! (As well as first or third.) Also, go as dark as you want in terms of "possible outcomes include ghosts being destroyed forever with the disruptor, or haunting the world until they decay and lose all coherence."

Stormlight Archive:

Adolin & Maya
Queen Fen
Gawx | Yanagawn
Rock | Lunamor
Rysn & Vstim
Taravangian
Venli & Timbre
Any Radiant Spren
Worldbuilding

Mediums: fanfiction, in-universe documents, in-universe epistolary/journals, interactive fiction, art, art: character item: weapon (250)

Optional tags:
Biosphere on Other Planets
fandom-appropriate sci-fi/magic leads to sharing memories and learning new things about each other
In-Universe Mythology
In-Universe Scientific Research Paper/Article
Worldbuilding

Note: I haven't actually finished "Wind and Truth" yet, so I don't have prompts based on all of it, but I definitely will have by reveals time and I'm fine with anything you want to incorporate!

This is definitely a minor character appreciation request; as much as I love the POV characters, I find it really fascinating how the minor characters evolve between their appearances, the cultural worldbuilding of the different monarchs in the coalition, all the singers and spren etc!

Medium-specific notes: as far as art goes, I would love to see Maya as a Blade, or what form Timbre or Rock's spren take! Nightblood as wielded by Taravangian? Really any of the nonhuman characters would be fantastic!

Taravangian:

When I finished book three I was like "this guy's out here playing 4D chess, he wants to save the world, why isn't he the main character already." Well did that ever age well! Taravangian goes to Damnation for 1000 years and has a great time because he definitely deserves it? The early days of creating the Diagram and figuring out the limitations of his boon and curse? How did he realize the calamity was coming, anyway? Trying not to blow his cover with Fen and Gawx? He meets Sazed from Mistborn (or another Cosmere crossover character) and tries to unite more Shards?

Fen and/or Gawx

I love all the characterization in the "Not Sleeping" chapter--Fen and her consort are on a ship, scandalizing the crew; Gawx is being ogled by the lucky Azish people and doing the duties of an emperor. Anything about their backstories and how they are (or aren't) representative of their homelands. Fen sending Rysn on a mission? Gawx bringing Lift along to important meetings? Both of them being really tired of whatever stupid plan Dalinar just came up with?

Rysn & Vstim

Vstim trying (and failing) to teach Rysn lessons about merchant-ing pre-canon? More souvenirs of their adventures, like the grass and Chiri-Chiri? Rysn coming to terms with being disabled, and her spanreed network of people who have been there and can give her advice? Working through whatever the heck is going on with the Dawnshard?

Rock | Lunamor

I know he has to do the honorable thing and face justice but I need more Horneater narrative in my dialogue. Anything about the Peaks and their relationship to spren, the Perpendicularities, etc? His relationship with his wife and kids pre-canon? What was the hell of Bridge Four like before Kaladin got there? Does he ever meet any of his friends again in another context?

Adolin & Maya

I love Adolin's trying to do the right thing even when it's awkward or blustery (waiting in prison until Kaladin is released, putting himself on trial at Lasting Integrity), and the way his basic decency helps Maya find her voice is so sweet. What was going on for Maya when Adolin was still just a kid talking to his sword? Offscreen moments between books? The tag "fandom-appropriate sci-fi/magic leads to sharing memories and learning new things about each other" feels intriguing for these two.

Venli & Timbre

Timbre doesn't seem to be very directly verbal--are all of the Reachers like that, or is that just how she is? What does she think about Venli's relationships with her mother, or Eshonai, or Rlain? How do the surviving singers rebuild their world? Again, "sharing memories and learning new things about each other" would be great in this context!

Any Radiant Spren

Really just...anything about the spren and their outsider POVs on humans! Syl discovering what it means to grow and change? Pattern comparing everything to math? The irony in Ivory's name and the importance of free will? Glys' relationship to Sja-anat and the free will issues there? The "sharing memories/learning new stuff about each other" works here too. All the spren!

Worldbuilding

I mean, literally any aspects of the worldbuilding, and there's a lot. The weird Schrodinger's cat stuff going on with the spren? What happened in the "Tranquiline Halls"--did they invent nuclear weapons before the wheel, or what? What are the Aimians doing after "Dawnshard"? All of the weird culture clashes or settings we only see a little of in canon? I love how the Heralds' names have evolved into so many different place names or religious jargon--more of that kind of thing! Other spren cities/societies in Shadesmar? Ghostblood interactions with the rest of the Cosmere? Raboniel or Navani's experimentations with different ways to combine powers?

As usual, all of this is optional, anything about these fandoms/characters will be great. Thanks for creating for me and/or contemplating crimes!