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Ok I just have to say, when I read the thread title I first envisioned something like this but with the allomantic symbols.

I should warn you, I'm sleep deprived and I've had a few drinks, but I think this is a sound theory. Credits go to my friend Thorin for helping to develop it. Brandon Sanderson is a Twinborn, with DOUBLE SODIUM! He has hidden this from the readers, did not include it in Mistborn, but Sodium is Allomantic! This is the truth behind his salt addiction! Burning sodium pushes creativity, and Feruchemical sodium stores IDEAS! He's been storing ideas in Sodium, then COMPOUNDING IT, burning the ideas to create a GIANT EXPLOSION OF AWESOME IDEAS! That is how he creates such brilliant stories! You cannot dispute my logic. Still skeptical? Consider this: He lives near the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere. An endless supply of sodium. I rest my case. Edit: Yes, yes, I know it's sodium chloride. Shut up.

This is my random crackpot theory. I have no opinion on whether or not it is likely: What if the Aons aren't based on geography? What if the geography is based on the Aons? The land being shaped by the AonDor into a massive, complex Aon? The Reod was a shift in the patterns of the Aons, adding a line, and this put stress on the land in the location of the new line, which triggered the earthquake and caused the Chasm to open. But the drawn Aons aren't animate the same way the land was, so they had no way of adding a line, so they stopped functioning properly. There is no particular reason to think this theory is correct, or even likely, but I thought it was an interesting idea. Discuss.

If Order Ten's vital Body Focus and Essence is Sinew or Flesh, perhaps it could be an ability that detects only living organisms (with flesh?), such as 'life sense' in Warbreaker. Life sense sounds like a fundamental force, and would explain why things like breeze (which trigger sound waves) didn't set it off, while a human approaching did. However, I am skeptical about it encompassing all living things, as the grass growing in the field around the Heliodor in tWoK didn't set it off (however, it might be the Movement of Life that sets it off, not the Presence, especially because that girl was stood next to it the whole time but because she didn't move it didn't trigger?).

I chose to interpret that pronoun (this) as meaning the whole business of being Shardic in general. Somehow I feel like giving a character the ability to resurrect people is a storytelling trap that will make death seem inconsequential. A lot of urgency is removed from life-threatening situations when the reader knows it can be fixed.

I don't know about being the most well known but it was certainly known.

The augmentations are interesting. What sort of use could the Gems possibly have in influencing this? Soulcasting new human lifeforms? That sort of understanding of Soulcasting would be like modern day scientists on Earth understanding how to create 'life'. It would be incredible, with that as perhaps understatement. Perhaps the 'armour' stage is a segment of their lifecycle? Brandon mentioned on his Writing Excuses that he likes to factor in elements of 'lifestages'. Perhaps the Parshendi have a 'warrior' lifestage, in which armour grows from their very body, in a similar way that the chasmfiend 'pupate' to create a large, hard shell. I am scientifically able enough to understand that those two processes are separate, but perhaps Parshendi form pupae? They all seem to have reached maturity by the point they are warriors, and all have a 'partner', so maybe the forming of armour is part of their mating cycle? When they mate, they form armour and become warrior mates. They then fight and die, leaving a new generation of Parshendi. Perhaps, then, the reason there are gems in their beard is part of the cycle (they emerge from the pupae with them) or are shattered from the strange, property-defying (?) gemhearts the Parshendi retrieve and threaded into their beards to mark them as 'warriors' (if the armour didn't do it?). Or perhaps there is a more base reason for the gems in the beards (which seem to be Stormlight infused, hence Kaladin's inhalation of their energies). Maybe they act like the gems in Shardplate: they fuel the weird adaptations? However, we didn't see any defunct behavior in any of the individuals whose beard-Stormlight Kaladin stole. There might be a very interesting reason behind all of this indeed- and I hope their is. Brandon has a habit of delivering with these sorts of things.

ANd thats my point if your read my post. I understand your correction and I admitted that I made the mistake before.

Well, I base the theory that symbolheads are Shallan-only on the following statements by Jasnah: (emphasis mine)and: So, in the first statement Jasnah says that they share an ability (soulcasting). In the second, however, she says "you", not "we", implying that only Shallan uses these particular spren. Besides, only two KR orders could soulcast, not just anybody who sees/ talks to them. Also, going on the wild tangent [warning : stupid joke-like sentences ahead] : as the relationship between Shallan and spren progresses, and spren no longer has to ask her explicitly: [shallan] (after a hard day's work) (to herself) Boy, I am hungry. [spen] This is true (sucks Shallan into Shadesmar) [shallan] Oops. Note to self - always carry infused spheres. *Glurgh* (drowning in the Bead Sea)

He especially liked the ones that had shiny (sparkling = lucentia) bits in them. He treasured those ones most of all.

something I just thought of for use of copper ferrings, they would make good spies/infiltrators not just because they could store any conversations they overheard, but also because before going on a mission they could store any sensitive information they knew about the group that they were working for that they didn't need to accomplish the immediate mission and leave the metalmind someplace secure, so if they were captured they wouldn't be able to give up very much information.

Well then, as my first post into this community I pray that I am constructive. All of the ideas below this are to address the combinations that were brought up by None70 for his iron posting: Here are some quick thoughts that I had on the subject of Tin Ferrings. The five senses that we have are Sight, Smell, Taste, Hearing, and Touch. However, where does our sense of balance stem from? It is hearing, because our sense of balance comes from our ears, or is it touch? Either way, if a sense of balance could be stored through Ferumancy that would be a good potential ability to combine with Lurchers or at least while they are flying through the air they may be able to change posture to change their center mass potentially; kinda like how when a gymnast does a flip they manipulate their center mass to change the arc of their jump except how I visualize it for a lurcher is that by changing center mass they are able to create slight angles to their pulls. Whether or not this is feasible I have no clue, but it is an idle thought that occurred to me. Something that occurred to me about Zinc Ferrings. Does the increased thinking and reasoning allow for increased processing of information? Perhaps I should word this better, would tapping into a zinc metalmind allow for the Sparker ferring to think about multiple thoughts at the same time? If so then the user could think about how to pull on all the different pieces of metal around themselves to spin through pulls and for non-linear movement. I envision that this mind processing might become something like how Kvothe from The Name of the Wind partitions his mind to better handle what goes on around him. Onto the subject of Bronze Ferrings. Storing Wakefulness is indeed an odd ferumancy ability to combine with a fairly combat oriented ability such as that of a Lurcher (although a Lurcher does have non-combat utility as shown through Ranette). For combat, being able to enhance alertness would be good as it ties your ability to notice details (not in the sense of how a tineye notices details, but rather how actions catch your attention) this could potentially allow the lurcher to engage multiple opponents being more aware of the actions but still with the limitation of the mind only being able to process so many actions at once, at which point that person would be fighting on a more instinctual level responding off of reflex rather than conscious action (at least that is the way that I interpret it). Either way the Lurcher/Sentry setup would be good for a craftsman potentially, where they can work for extended periods of time continuously on one project allowing for continuity. The downside would be the amount of time that they need to store wakefulness. For Copper Ferrings or Archivist Ferrings. This is an interesting idea the more that I think about it. For combat potential there is quite a few uses to the storing memories and having no recall of them while they are stored. Storing the memories preceding a fight is useful in that suddenly your mind is freed from thinking about previous thoughts and allows your mind to focus entirely on the fight. It also makes me curious if you can store the memories leading up to mental fatigue to lessen said fatigue (the fatigue would still be there but not in the forefront), which would accomplish a diminutive skill as a Bronze ferring or Sentry Ferring. Also, you can pull your memories of past fights and have all your actions from past fights brought to the forefront of your mind, allowing you to fight at top form as you perfectly recall how you manage to accomplish fantastic feats of combat. For Cadmium Ferrings or Gasper Ferrings. Much how a sniper needs to control their breathing when they make their shot a Gasper Ferring could potentially increase their focus by tapping their metalmind as it takes part of our focus to breathe. Also by highly oxygenating their blood they allow their cells to undergo through anaerobic processes allowing for fast-twitch muscle reactions to be utilized with greater potential (they can sprint for a longer period of time) as well as supplying their slow-twitch muscles with a constant oxygen source (they have ridiculous endurance). This is much like a lesser version of a Steel Ferring (as they are not increasing their speed, but rather their bodies ability to go at faster speeds). And more on highly oxygenated blood, it allows increased cell activity meaning that they are able to think faster and react faster. For Bendalloy Ferrings, well they are weird. Ars Arcanum says: "Subsumer Ferrings can store nutrition and calories in a bendalloy metalmind; they can eat large amounts of food during active storage without feeling full or gaining weight, and then can go without the need to eat while tapping the metalmind. A separate bendalloy metalmind can be used to similarly regulate fluids intake." This ability is useful in terms of survival and health. By having a large store of energy (through vitamins and nutrition and fluids) and constantly feeding that to your body, your body becomes used to that constant flow. This idea of constant flow is similar to the idea of having an IV bananna bag hooked up to your body, your body only gets what it needs without flooding it creating fluctuations in blood sugar and the like. Another thought that just occurred to me is whether or not the Subsumer Ferrings can store stimulants (like amphetamines), and by tapping into the stimulants at a lower rate, they allow themselves to go into a stimulated state at will with mitigated side effects. For Electrum Ferrings and their storage of determination, I would consider it a soft counter to a Rioter or Soother, as they would have to be able to detect that there is something that they need to be determined to do against something. In terms of what determination does to our bodies it is mainly hormonal manipulation and heightened brain activity in a centralized region of the brain (least that is my understanding from the little psychology that I have taken). So when you store determination I feel that your mind goes into a depressed state as Brandon says and then later on flooding the brain with hormones and activity to create that determination, which I would say is similar to the Bronze and Zinc Ferrings storing Wakefulness and Mental Speed. The differences between the three are slight but major, and all three seem to accomplish the same thing through different means as I see it. Electrum functions through hormones and intent, Bronze through different hormones and our ability to recognize our surroundings, and Zinc through synapse speed. For Chromium Ferrings or Spinner Ferrings the way that I envision the mechanics behind it is that they are storing their ability to manipulate the quantum mechanics of their environment. Like when you roll a dice 1000 times with the intent to roll a certain number, that number appears more often than the others, this occurs because of how we perveive our surroundings (it has a lot to do with the physics that go on around us and how an objects state changes when it is observed, like the nature of light). Either way, in combat I envision a Lurcher constantly filling his metalmind rather than tapping into it. If the Lurcher is used to having to respond to the unfortunate events that occur to him then by dragging that 'area of unluckyness' towards their target you force the enemy to have to function with increased chance of disaster as well potentially. Of course if the mechanics of filling the metalmind allows for the environment to be more easily manipulated by other people (making them more lucky) then there would be problems with constantly filling the metalmind during combat. We need more information about Nicrosil Ferrings, and what Brandon exactly means by Investiture, but seeing as the people of Teris don't know exactly what they are doing I have this bad feeling that we will never truly understand what occurs. Aluminum Ferrings store Identity. So I imagine that while they are storing their Identity they become less aware of their spiritual selves and thus lower inhibitions? That's a weird thought to follow, as I'm not entirely sure what is meant by Identity. If it refers to a persons sense of self worth and purpose, then I'd guess that it would be similar to an Electrum Ferring...perhaps someone will respond and throw in an idea for how this would work exactly... Hope that these musings of mine become helpful in coming up with combinations, and I know that I stop throwing in the implications of how these feruchemical powers might combine with a Lurcher. Also, none of this information that I'm throwing out there is confirmed in terms of their mechanics, they are how I rationalize Ferumancy.

My apologies for the three new threads. I had some questions pop up after finishing Elantris, and I thought it might be best to keep them in their own threads rather than lumping them together in a way that could make things complicated later (if the discussions became long). Why did the Seons continue to work after the Reod? They had outdated aons in them, just like the ones that Raoden drew, (and just like the aons all around Elantris), but the Seons continued to function normally (unless the one they were bound to went through the Shaod, in which case they were made incomplete). And is there any indication that post-"reconstruction" Seons have the Chasm Line in their aons?

Your chemistry knowledge is abysmal. Strontium point: why does the flame color make it lame? Calcium point: you ingest the METAL form, which is not in milk. NaCl is a compound, not an alloy. You need to mix it with a substance to create an alloy, not chemically bond it with one. Same for Sodium valproate.