Clowd

I didn't mean to imply that Roshar WAS Earth, I was trying to show that the progression of the geography and relative locations of a few places was similar to the US's. The locations were merely where these similarities would be at. However, I posted that without reading Peterwinkle's comment. If it's math related, then the hidden thing probably isn't what I was thinking.

Completely baseless, but serious, theory here. I think one of the hidden things is that Roshar is a distorted map of the US with many liberties used in various areas. At the very least, the progression of its geography from east to west on the mainland is extremely similar. For example, the unclaimed hills appear to be analogous to the Appalachians, then we have a massive set of plains (broken up by some mountains, the Horneater Peaks are apparently unique). To the south of these mountains, we have a large set of plains, and a sea separating the Frostlands from several other locations. Perhaps the Tarat Sea is supposed to be analogous to the Gulf of Mexico. Next, we hit the largest set of Mountains in Roshar, right about where the Rocky Mountains would have started. Azir and surrounding lands are analogous to Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona. The northern Rockies, then, were broken up into the Reshi Sea, however this could be the only area that's out of the ordinary. If true, then maybe the PureLake is supposed to be analogous to Utah's Great Salt Lake? If so, then I'm going to guess that Fu Namir is basically Salt Lake City. That puts Shinovar in California's Great Valley. Thoughts?

With my method, I seem to have managed to get the word "shatter" to appear. I have no clue if this route leads anywhere though... For those that missed it, I'm assuming that the entire thing is actually two phrases, either alternating or separated at some point. Assuming the alternating letters creates two phrases idea, I have managed to decrypt the following by using every other letter starting with the first: .at.r.e.ete..e...a....atshatter.e.e..h Line: ['18', '10', '12', '24', '51', '01', '11', '02', '11', '12', '11', '17', '44', '11', '71', '42', '14', '10', '61', '14', '41', '22', '10', '12', '27', '15', '10', '12', '12', '11', '51', '57', '11', '34', '11', '91', '21', '15'] Substitution rule (Python Dictionary): decrypt1 = {'01':'.', '02':'.', '10':'a', '11':'e', '12':'t', '14':'.', '15':'h', '17':'.', '18':'.', '21':'.', '22':'.', '24':'.', '27':'s', '34':'.', '41':'.', '42':'.', '44':'.', '51':'r', '57':'.', '61':'.', '71':'.', '91':'.'} Python Code: http://pastebin.com/GLvKu6R1

I'm starting to think that it might be a simple substitution cipher with two interleaved messages. If you take each pair of numbers as a letter, then you wind up with the following: '11', '18', '25', '10', '11', '12', '71', '24', '91', '51', '21', '01', '01', '11', '41', '02', '15', '11', '71', '12', '10', '11', '12', '17', '13', '44', '83', '11', '10', '71', '51', '42', '54', '14', '34', '10', '91', '61', '49', '14', '93', '41', '21', '22', '54', '10', '10', '12', '51', '27', '10', '15', '19', '10', '11', '12', '34', '12', '55', '11', '52', '51', '21', '57', '55', '11', '12', '34', '10', '11', '12', '91', '51', '21', '06', '15', '34' Now, there are 32 unique numbers in there, with the following frequencies: '11': 10 '10': 9 '12': 8 '51': 5 '21': 4 '34': 4 '71': 3 '91': 3 '15': 3 '01': 2 '41': 2 '14': 2 '55': 2 '54': 2 '61': 1 '83': 1 '52': 1 '02': 1 '25': 1 '06': 1 '22': 1 '49': 1 '44': 1 '42': 1 '24': 1 '27': 1 '93': 1 '13': 1 '17': 1 '19': 1 '18': 1 '57': 1 now let's take every other number, leaving us with two groups: Group 1: '18', '10', '12', '24', '51', '01', '11', '02', '11', '12', '11', '17', '44', '11', '71', '42', '14', '10', '61', '14', '41', '22', '10', '12', '27', '15', '10', '12', '12', '11', '51', '57', '11', '34', '11', '91', '21', '15' Group 2: '11', '25', '11', '71', '91', '21', '01', '41', '15', '71', '10', '12', '13', '83', '10', '51', '54', '34', '91', '49', '93', '21', '54', '10', '51', '10', '19', '11', '34', '55', '52', '21', '55', '12', '10', '12', '51', '06', '34' Now, Group 1 has a total of 22 unique numbers, while Group 2 has a total of 21 unique numbers. This is much close to sounding like a simple substitution cipher! Group 1's number frequency: '11': 7 '12': 5 '10': 4 '15': 2 '14': 2 '51': 2 '61': 1 '24': 1 '27': 1 '21': 1 '22': 1 '44': 1 '42': 1 '41': 1 '02': 1 '01': 1 '71': 1 '91': 1 '17': 1 '18': 1 '57': 1 '34': 1 Group 2's number frequency: '10': 5 '11': 3 '21': 3 '51': 3 '12': 3 '34': 3 '54': 2 '55': 2 '71': 2 '91': 2 '25': 1 '13': 1 '01': 1 '15': 1 '19': 1 '49': 1 '41': 1 '52': 1 '83': 1 '93': 1 '06': 1 Might be useful to refer to a frequency chart to help figure this out better - http://www.richkni.co.uk/php/crypta/freq.php Python script here: http://pastebin.com/wC4m8DmL (NOTE: this is by no means my best python script ever! just something I put together in a few minutes while pondering over this)

Well then I'm quite confused about the nature of the mist sickness. I thought it could only create mistings of one of the 16 base metals, and that Atium was an anomaly. Maybe TLR kept info from the inquisitors so they didn't fully understand the nature of Atium? It just seems to be a discrepancy to me, hence why I'm thinking that there's something more to Atium Mistings than is initially implied despite what Brandon has said so far.

So I do not know if this has been discussed at all, but here's a theory I have about Atium. This is my first time trying to come up with a theory, and I'm finding it difficult to type out something that feels slightly intuitive. Theory: "Any Misting can burn Atium. There is no such thing as an Atium Misting" I came to this conclusion because the events at the end of HoA do not make sense to me in light of the full Table of Allomantic Metals. At the end of HoA, they give as many allomantic metals as possible to each member of Elend's army that fell to the mist sickness, which was 16% of his army. It was also determined that each approximately 1% was a Misting of a different metal. They didn't know about Chromium or Bendalloy, but they knew about Atium and Malatium, which they erroneously thought were one of the 16 metals. So if Atium is not one of the base 16 metals, and the mist sickness only created Mistings of the base 16 metals, then Atium could not possibly be one of those metals. Therefore, there could not be such a thing as an Atium Misting. However, Demoux, Yomen, and about 280 other soldiers in Elend's Army, were shown to be able to burn Atium in HoA. They had all suffered from Mist Sickness (I forget about Yomen though, I think it was beat out of him). Given this, it seems that any Misting can burn Atium. Thoughts? I hope I wrote this through clearly, it's my first time trying to put things like this into words. If this has already been discussed, please feel free to point me to that thread and close this one.

Just a reminder from the Table of Allomantic metals, Atium alloys do generate expanded Mental and Temporal powers, while Lerasium alloys generate expanded physical and enhancement effects. reference:

I got started on Sanderson with Mistborn, a chance to get something like this would be amazing!

Found the passage. Chapter 17, pages 321-322 in the paperback edition.

True, but also recall that during his first run as bridge leader, the arrows specifically went straight into the bridge around his hands, causing the Parshendi bowmen to look on dumbfounded. The event reminded me of when Szeth used a Reverse Lashing on the doorway so the arrows would hit the doorway instead of Szeth. When I get home I'll try and find the page and exact passage again, but that's how I remember it.

(Disclaimer: I'm halfway through my first read of "The Way of Kings" and have yet to read "Warbringer", but I've read through "Elantris" and the Mistborn Trilogy. I do not mind spoilers, obviously) I'd like to disagree. I read that and my interpretation is that the Shard's intent relates to how the magic is powered, rather than how the person acquires the ability to use the magic. I would like to give a different theory on the topic of acquisition: An individual acquires the ability to use magic by going through a process similar to snapping. For example: In order to use Allomancy, one must "Snap", be it due to some sort of stress, trauma, etc. or directly from Preservation itself. It seems implied in HoA that anyone could become a Misting. In order to use AonDor, one must be taken by the Shaod (which sounds equivalent to snapping) Before he started exhibiting signs that he could use Surgebinding, Kaladin almost committed suicide by jumping into the chasm, but decided against it, and with newfound resolve made himself Bridge Leader of Bridge Four. It wasn't until after this that Kaladin started to absorb Stormlight from his money and unconsciously used what is obviously a Reverse Lashing on his first run as bridge leader. Now for Feruchemy, we don't know anything about how someone learns to use it, so I'm not sure how well this theory holds for that. As for Hemalurgy, from what I can recall the only people who were given power from it that didn't turn them into Koloss were already Allomancers, so Hemalurgy might only work on someone who already has snapped. I dunno, we haven't seen anyone who is a Misting or Mistborn be turned into a Koloss, for all we know it might not be possible? I haven't read Warbreaker yet, and I'm not sure how the magic there works. Please correct me if I'm wrong on any of this, this is the pattern I'm currently seeing with the magic system.