WAG from Left Field!

[Phariah]

ok... i can totally see myself getting ripped for this, but i have to say it cause this feels so right. 

(click to show/hide)

this is a new era in the Wheel of Time. i see too many nods/ similarities. like this is after ours, after we screwed up the planet and before that of the Dragon's.

the Spires are the ancient "Topless Towers" that Cairhanein was modeled after.
spire stone. no one could work it like the Builders. much like the Ogier. who were also called the Builders. they mysteriously disappeared, much like Ogiers that left this reality.
the statement. "Death is light as a feather. duty as heavy as a Spire." word for word the ancient saying in WoT except Spire replaces mountain.
warrior born. trolloc were human hybrids. Fades were their offspring. genetic experimentation to have someone fight on/ explore the surface. possibly before the Spires were built or as they were built. no longer needed so they were discontinued yet genetic traits still appear hundreds of years later. they could have been the model that brought about the idea of making the Trollocs.
the ether. it eats holes in the mind of the etheralists. very much how it is described the men (asha'man) that channeled while their half of the Power had been tainted.
crystal gauntlets / long guns = precursor to a shock lance.
Monks of the Way= remnants of the Aiel and Tinkers pre Child of the Dragon.

yeah yeah yeah......come rip me up. i just feel it is so correct in guessing this lol. until there is a WoJ i will hope.

[Agravaine]

I had a similar thought, I must admit.  However, it's probably just a homage to WOT, not an actual story within its world.  GRRM did something similar by naming a noble house the Jordayne's of the Tor (Jordan and his publishing house Tom Doherty)

Eferous discusses what we would call the "classics" -- i.e. Greek mythology -- when making a joke at the bar.  If Spireworld were another WoT phase, that history would be long, long, long forgotten.  In WoT the "Age of Legends" was/is the age directly following our Age, so Spireworld would have to be several ages after Randland, so 20 thousand years later? or more

[NutJobismyJob]

Wouldn't it be some pretty blatant copyright infringement if this turned out to be canon? 

[raidem]

the spires are built from black obsidian stone

[Snark Knight]

That phrase about death being lighter than duty caught my attention too, but I think it's a homage rather than a subtext that the Spires are supposed to be an age in Jordan's mythos.  The eccentricities of the etherialists pale in comparison to WoT's madmen going on city-buster scale killing sprees until they're brought down or rot to death from the taint. Even Cavendish was at least metastable compared to that.

Plus, a male having a female apprentice wouldn't have worked in Jordan's universe, where each uses different power sources.

[crusher_bob]

Kids, lawn, etc:

Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors

[...]
The Rescript was issued by Emperor Meiji of Japan on 4 January 1882.
[...]
A famous precept in the Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors states that "duty is heavier than a mountain; death is lighter than a feather."