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Hi all, As many of you already know, we are a community that has a propensity towards nitpickiness and pedantry. This behavior is to be expected when talking canonicity and mechanics and we generally encourage it in these types of conversations. However, one place it's not as welcome is when it comes to fan art. Comments about a piece of fan arts canonicity or accuracy are generally unhelpful, inconsiderate and unwelcome, as all fan art is an intepretation of the text. Pointing out where your interpretation and the artists interpretation differs is, at best, unneeded and, at worst, callous and dismissive. A regular complaint we hear from artists who have been turned off by the 17th Shard community is that we are overly critical in regards to lore complaints and unwelcoming to interpretation or more abstract artstyles. This obviously does not apply to artists who request critique, but due to the above, this is now our policy: Please keep in mind that fanart criticism is unwelcome when unsolicited. When commenting on a piece, please keep the artists feelings in mind as we would like to keep this welcoming space for all artists. Comments contrary to this policy will be deleted. We want the Fan Works area to be safe area for any artist.

*gasp* @Condensation, guess what! I'm Witty now! Guess what I heard? Sheep!

This is beautiful:

I think you'd all be surprised how often my notifications look like this:

I was looking through my Google Drive and found a document called "Moash." Curious, I opened it, and was not disappointed. “Moash travelled to the Shattered Plains with the longshot hope that he might win shards and in doing so be elevated in social rank such that he could demand a death duel against the king that ordered the casual death by exposure of Moash’s grandparents. Instead the Alethi “legal system” allowed Sadeas to press him into slavery carrying a bridge on death runs against massed archers. What possible reason does Moash have to stand up to continue Alethi society? None. Killing the king was Moash seizing the nearest thing to justice a darkeye can get when a highly ranked lighteye wronged him.” -John D. Moash, while not being a Radiant himself, was trained under Kaladin, a Windrunner of the Third Ideal. Kaladin instilled in him the ideals and beliefs of the Windrunners - Protect those who cannot protect themselves. Moash should have taken these upon him and sworn to help others--instead, he let his own hatred blind him, leading to the death of Alethkar’s ruler. So while many say “Moash did nothing wrong,” in fact he did many things wrong, and deserves to burn in Braize. Moash’s faulty reasoning behind murdering Elokhar was that he had ordered the death of Moash’s grandparents. However, this is not true. It was in fact Roshone who had sentenced them to prison--Elokhar was not associated with them at all. Moash’s justification for killing Alethkar’s king and potential Lightweaver was completely unfounded, making his slaughter one of cold blood. I think it was something for and AP practice test, just to get used to the format of the website.

Combined with Adolin's comment in Chapter 12 And we've now had a couple very direct comparisons between Kaladin and Dalinar's style of command and personalities. Kaladin also spends a fair amount of time now thinking about how others perceive him, and purposefully projecting an image of control and confidence around others. I don't think he focused much on that before but it's always been a huge priority for Dalinar. Seems like we're setting up the idea that Kaladin is the natural successor to Dalinar as head of the armies.

Sorry to be a buzzkill, but below is a favorite WoB of mine. It details the situation with the deadeyes, and why it is different than Hoed: Jerich Is the Hoed from Elantris similar to the state of [dead] Shardblades? If so is it possible to awaken a Shardblade if the bearer speaks the oaths of the Knights Radiant? Brandon Sanderson The status is... I would say not as similar as you're probably thinking, but it does have a similarity in that two bacteria causing a disease are both caused by a bacteria, so there is a similarity there. I can imagine a sequence where a Shardblade would be reawakened, but I think it would be very difficult. It's not the same that they're in the middle of a transition, like in Elantris. Jerich Oh, okay. So you have to actually... it'd be harder. Brandon Sanderson It'd be harder, yeah. It's not the same, they're not in the middle of a transition. They have had something ripped from them, and it's very painful and it's left them mostly mindless. Jerich So they have to have that something added back? Brandon Sanderson Yeah. So what you've got going on: the spren gain-- the bond lets them have sentience in the physical plane, like they can think and all these things, and when that was ripped away from them-- imagine... (this is a very bad metaphor, it's the first one coming to my head though): imagine you had wetware, you had a head-jack or something like that, and someone just ripped it out of your head. Jerich *stunned/horrified* Oh. Brandon Sanderson Instead of surgically operating it out. Like that's what's happened, a piece of their soul's been ripped off. Words of Radiance Seattle signing (March 8, 2014)

See, I get you to some degree--that I would love to see Adolin's internal POV more. But you assume because you see him through others' eyes on the page, and they see his life as perfect and easy, that it *is* so. I relate to him not because I, too, am perfect. (el oh el) But rather, because I too have had a seemingly charmed life, and have it all together, and people like me, and I am helpful, nice, etc. So when I feel the inevitable insecurities, trauma, pain, anger, etc., it makes me almost guilty (e.g., How dare I feel this way when I have it so relatively good?). He is loyal. He is in pain because his two best friends (his wife and Kal) are in pain and he can't always help them. His world is in disarray. And you think his consistency means a lack of growth. I think it means a different type of growth. One where you realize the importance of maintaining, and of seeing your place in the world. I don't find him boring at all. I find him fascinating as a character study *because* I know how deep still waters can run...or rather, how much "normal" can hide. ETA: I want to be clear that I'm not expecting to convince anyone! Just to explain that I like him for precisely the opposite reasons that you seem to dislike him; because I see the characterization as fascinating, not boring. The COVID quarantine has made me feel this way even more, as I'm the person who always looks like they have it all together, I'm the "strong" one who checks in on everyone and solves all the problems--checks in on her struggling students, always sees the signs before they do, swoops in, gets them resources. Stays productive on research to not let the team down. Stays positive and happy for my kids and partner and nieces and parents. But that doesn't mean that I *feel* like I have it together. And there just aren't that many of us in fantasy (I feel like its' the broken reluctant hero or the confident hero, but rarely the "normal" dudes or dudettes). People who aren't broken, but who are stretched. People who choose to be positive and optimistic and steady, even when it's hard, because we know that we don't have it as hard as some other people do. Our stories involve growth, it's just less obvious. (and I think it makes it even harder to see when we have so few POVs from him.)

ooh i'm a lerasium mistborn now whoo If i can get to unmade, I'll die happy

I'm working on a project for whenever in the future there start being comic cons and whatnot again...

That's a sharp observation! It's fun to see Kaladin's "My Two Dads" thing play out with how they have both influenced him. Interested to see how he and Lirin interact in this book. I'm guessing Kaladin will help Lirin with caring for the wounded. Kaladin doesn't want to train Windrunners and Zahel convinced him not to be an ardent telling him to come back when he "hates fighting". No one hates fighting more than Lirin! It will be fun to see Kaladin interact with his mom dad and lil bro. "Gagadin!" Speaking of Kaladin's "dads". *dons tinfoil hat* He could also be the natural successor to Tanavast after Dalinar. Dalinar repairs it, but Kaladin ends up being the next to Ascend. Kaladin is the only one the Stormfather calls Child of Tanavast he does it in both WoK and WoR. Brandon says it has significance. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/390/#e12688 I don't think he's descended from Tanavast in a biological sense. Tanavast has been dead ~2,000 years. If he had biological children thousands of years ago then like a quarter of Roshar would be distantly related to him. Maybe Stormfather calls him that because Kaladin reminds the Stormfather of Tanavast a lot in term of their personalities or something. But, it's something to keep in mind.

Those are fair points, but you are assuming Silverlight is just a research body rather than a community containing research facilties. Silverlight could well be a city state with a military, trading hub, court of law. Silverlight could just be a place of learning, but that doesn't mean it only is a place of learning. Likewise investiture could be like melange from Dune - the most valuable resource, the most prized, but not the only thing worth trading, nor the only currency. Besides, if Secret History showed anything, it was that other groups have a way to channelling investiture away from its planet of origin, not just the Ghostbloods. Roshar isn't the only potential source of investiture that could be commonly used in Silverlight. Also, again, there are assumptions in that statement about the geography of the cognitive realm. There could only be a few paths one could take, the rest "mountainous" or blocked off, or simply folding in on themselves to form a straight path from one world to another with all paths bending to become one, and that one can be tolled. There isn't enough data to say that Silverlight is only a university or series of universities, or that the cognitive realm allows unlimited paths from one planet to another, or that Rosharan investiture is the only currency.

On page 767 of WoR: So now, on page 966 of WoR:

Aww I didn’t notice I was Truthless until now, and it's close to changing. Oh well Ghanderflaffle daughter daughter [redacted] wore a hoodie on the day she made a mole.

When you have an assignment in English class where you have to choose a picture to analyze and you choose the RoW cover. It stared off good, but then it basically turned into me theorizing about it. Ultimately I just had to choose a different picture haha. But now I have a RoW cover analysis if anyone wants to read it. XD

When you frost cookies with your family and make a spike on your cookie. No one in my family got it.

Ryshadiums are basically horses, a non-native species to Roshar. Per WoB we got the confirmation, that they are the only species, besides humans, who have formed a spren bond, not necessarily a Nahel Bond, and are not native to Roshar. A question about them having gem hearts was RAFOed, but they are invested, to some extent.

Today's prompt is Outpost and I'll be honest this one was kind of a let down for me. For the first time in this challenge this year, the pencil actually looked better than the inked version so... Sorry? There is still a lot to love about this though. Mostly Ralvon's face. I guess for those of you following Eternal this is very mild spoilers? Eh, whatever; little things like this will probably make you more excited for it! Speculation, yay! Sorry we haven't gotten chapter one up yet. Hopefully the prologue and chapter two (and this art) are enough to keep you excited for what's to come. Anyway, context. This works for outpost, 'cause... it's a military thing and... yeah, that's the tenuous reason it works. Ralvon was drafted into the military at age 14 for very spoilery reasons. I like his expression a lot, he looks very... done with everything. Like, "I don't want to be here. But I am. Whatever." This is also the only time Ralvon has short hair so... that was very, very interesting to draw. Hello, Ralvon's ears. It's nice to meet you. And the gesture. So cute.

I'm on mobile literally 99% of the time when I'm on the Shard, so whenever I'm on my laptop I'm like "you guys have member titles? You have signatures??" and it's like a whole new world has been revealed.

Agreed on all counts. Which is why I still stand by the first sign of the process of her healing wasn't her speaking her name, or anything in the Physical. It was when she attacked the Fused to protect him. It as the first time she did something of her own volition.

I was just thinking and felt like I was being called to write this post so here it is. You may be having a hard day, if so this message is to you. I would like to tell you that everything is going to be okay and that you just need to stay determined and have hope. I believe that this will reach someone who will take this message seriously and changes a piece of them. Whoever you are. You are loved! okay. that was it. Hopefully reaches someone who needs it.

I'm not sure why you equate a storyline where Rlain gets an honorspren - which it seems he certainly would like to have, and it would seem like he certainly deserves, except for the honorspren objecting to him being "of the enemy" because of his being a listener - is "that's Equality with a captial E and therefore blech, 2020 message fiction". But you're entitled to whatever goes on in your own head. I think your comments are saying more about yourself than anything about Brandon's writing direction. So, there is a reason the listeners and singers had never bonded spren with Nahel bonds before. We don't know what that is. If it turns out it was purely racial prejudice and now, after thousands upon thousands of years, it was all really just a misunderstanding that will now be easily overcome simply by having Radiant spren - who are inflexible sentient concepts, at core, not living creatures with malleable minds, until they form a bond to a living person - suddenly deciding hey, let's bond some singers/listeners after all, and now all the fighting will stop! - I would agree that is an unsatisfactory storyline. Completely agree. But there being a deeper secret as to why Rlain is shut out from bonding, yet Venli was not, that can be discussed and shown as to Why It's Different This Time (for that matter, one can boil it down to the question of, "not why did, but why could Timbre bond with Venli when this had never happened before?") , that I think is being set up. And yes. Sorry. I am totally rooting for Rlain to get a spren bond, honorspren or otherwise, and would greatly enjoy seeing an honorspren like Yunfah being impressed by the honor on display by Rlain in telling him he doesn't want Yunfah to bond him under such a pretense of "enforced diversity." If you want to get all 2020 about it, Rlain doesn't want to be viewed as an Affirmative Action Token, he wants to be bonded on his own merit. You can't say that's not admirable. And having read what you have of Rlain and how he's acted after what he's put up with from humans, you can't say he isn't worthy of an honorspren.

He could be running the prison for all we know. He had some strong opinions about how prisons should be run in OB and Skybreakers are probably a good choice to run a prison. Being told to go somewhere is not the same as being sentenced. Keeping Szeth away from the frontlines is not a bad idea. How many times has he freaked out in battle? He ran away from Kaladin in their first fight, he gave up and tried to die in his second fight with Kaladin. He refused to go into the Thrill to help Dalinar in OB and made LIft do it instead. He's kind of unreliable.

Clue! The Cosmere Mystery Game! Here are the rules: Game 1: The Death of Hoid Hoid has been found dead, and you have been hired to find out who is responsible! Player List: Player Order:

Yes, I highly recommend them! I think that they are really interesting to watch, if you're into Brandon talking about random topics for a few hours. I know!!!

Here’s my make up for day 12, betrayal. I drew Vyre's knife and a spilled bottle. And here's for yesterday, radiant. It is the Willshaper glyph. I am going to skip today's as I couldn’t find something that I wanted to draw.

I just had the scariest thought. My parents met when they were in high school, and they were dating by the time they were juniors. Im a junior. Im the same age as my parents were when they met. And I’ve never even gone on a date. I’m gonna die alone ;-;

I feel that, in my early 40s. Im hoping i can last til the end. I got my father into stormlight a couple months ago and he is almost done with OB. Very excited to read the new one book club style with him. We are hoping we get to read the 5th together...it would be an ending...not the ending but an ending.

Yes, Silverlight could be Athens, or Rome. If you prefer a more modern example, maybe Singapore. But I don't think there's any reason to think they're a bunch of scholars sedately exploring the universe. Yes, they study, and yes, they explore, but I would also expect them to expand, extract, and exploit, just like any other interested party. We know Adonalsium can be split in half, four times in a row. Why not a fifth time and make it 32 shards? Why not a sixth and make 64? Why not recreate the original conspiracy, with the same payout: a shard of divinity, all to yourself. All you have to do is shatter a shard and be ready when you do. I don't think they have any authority other than action, force, and will. Maybe they're from Silverlight, or another city in Shadesmar. Maybe they're a rogue group of Returned trying to stop living like vampires on the people of Nalthis. Maybe they're just people who can recognize a fulcrum when they see it, and are rushing to get to the long end of the lever before anyone else knows what's happened. If the Ghostbloods aren't the East India Company, then the Ones Above (Sixth of the Dusk) probably are.

"Oh, no, it is a weird place. Makes the Iconar Collective look tame!"

So I'm making this post right after I found out someone on a random youtube channel I follow is a cosmere fan. If you've never heard of them, Corridor Digital is a special effects studio that creates CGI heavy short stories they post as videos. They've got over 8 million subscribers, so it's a pretty big channel. Anyways, I just watched a video where one of the team members is wearing a Bridge 4 shirt, and once I realized it, my jaw dropped. I did a little more research, and I found this video where the same guy (Wren) made a Stormlight reference out of nowhere (2:33 mark in case you want to check). It's always so cool when you discover someone you follow with no connection to Brandon Sanderson is actually a fan. If you know any other Youtubers who're secret cosmere fans, please let me know so I can immediately follow them and reward them for their exquisite taste in fiction.

So my younger brother came up with this one today: "Here is something to believe in' should be Sazed's catchphrase"

So for the endgame, edgli is planning something. We dunno what, but she has a master plan. Autonomy is also plotting and interfering with other shards. Odium I feel like might not be a endgame villain. I think he’d be dealt with by then. Harmony will probably be an endgame shard, being the first known dual shard. as for people, Hoid is a definately yes. Heck, he will probably spur the endgame into action! Then I think nightblood will also be there. He is POWERFUL. He (they?) is also probably part of endowment’s master plan. I think (mistborn spoilers) Will be there kicking butt. I like the idea of Scadrial being the good guys, but given that it is the cosmere’s earth, they will probably go all imperialist and invade everything, like you said. Roshar might be a force of good, though! also you might want to spoiler the identity of harmony.

The Ghostbloods fit several of the poll categories at the same time. I'd say it's a blend of three of your choices. A "secret society" that "openly recruits from other Cosmere aware groups" - check! We have a WOB to that exact effect. Mafia / Organised crime? They do use brutal means to control people and information, have a reputation and recognized symbol in the underworld of the Alethi warcamps, and speak of wanting to control means of travel and trade between worlds. A cult that is serving the will of a Shard or Leader, or seeking to reconstitute or construct a Shard for themselves? Mraize does say they have "a higher purpose" that is centered around "accumulating power" and that transporting Stormlight out of Roshar to somewhere else is critical to this, so maybe? But only one hand at a time can wear the One Ring, as well you know, Saruman! -- I mean, only one Ghostblood could actually Ascend! And we don't hear mention of even "Thaidakar" as a Cult Leader type of figure so much as an organizational leader. If that were the case, I have the feeling Mraize would have said that "HE has" (not "we have") "a higher purpose" in recruiting Shallan in Urithiru. Typically cults recruit by trying to get an inductee to fully trust The Leader, a fixed figurehead, rather than a larger organization with fluid membership. So overall I went with "Secret Society", but with strong overtones or elements of those two.

I forgot that Experience was a mechanic and I got really confused as to why you started referring to yourself in the third person part way through.

My quarantine contribution: Peeps Before Death: I will protect peeps who cannot protect themselves.

The epigraph of chapter 15 mentions alternating of dimming and brightening in regular patterns, and we saw that the “organic” Gabriel’s use rhythms to attract spren. What I’m thinking is that logicspren may be able to emulate the rhythms in how they pattern their brightening and darkening. This could maybe help people in world devise more complex fabrials that incorporate aspects of these organic fabrials and the tradition inorganic ones. Even without that, just being able to tune a logicspren’s light controlling cycle to the tune of rhythm could be useful in replacing the people who have to stand around beating drums. It would be really cool if they could function as sort of light jukeboxes that can be set to different rhythms to attract different spren. For normal spren, it would make it easier to capture them for inorganic fabrials. If it worked in radiant spren (which is, admittedly, quite doubtful) it could help attract them for bonds. Finally, if they were able to attract some of the more mindless unmade in a ways that similar to how the life spren were attracted, perhaps a large number of them could be set up as a trap. I may be completely off base here in thinking that regulated brightening and darkening patterns could be paralleled to rhythms, I’d love to see what other people think!

This is an impressive understatement. Yeah, they delivered tea to America. Why them? Because they were the only ones allowed to do so. How is that? Because they had the monopoly on imports from the East Indes (India). Who gave them this monopoly? The British Crown. Why did they do so? How much time do you have? The EIC was basically God Almighty for India. They were the colonizing force, and their job was to run the country smoothly so that trade could flourish. Their job was not to play nice with the locals, it was to make money, and they exploited their role as sole British envoy to the East to become one of the most powerful corporations to ever exist. There are two board games, both by the same guy, looking into this. One is about the opium trade into China, specifically, and is called An Infamous Traffic. The other is about the EIC in India, and is called John Company, as this was a nickname for the company. One of the unique things about these games is that the wealth and money you acquire through trade is not how you win the game, you are competing for prestige back in London, and must convert your money into status in order to win. If the Ghostbloods are the equivalent to the East India Company, then they'd have the imprimatur of some ruling body on their own world, and would be given the monopoly on inter-Cosmere trade, as well as given the task of making the Cosmere safe for (their) trading. Presumably that's what they're doing on Roshar: laying the foundation for a lasting occupation, such that they can rely on exports of Investiture from Roshar.

Kaladin not speaking to Teft was a noticeable omission to me and I assume its because there will be separate conversation between Teft and Kaladin in a later chapter that covers Kaladin's change in role. Given Sigzil and Skar received promotions to cover Kaladin's duties, I'm guessing that Teft will be asked to do the same.

I think that comment says it all, and I think it higlights the biggest reason we seem to be disagreeing. Nobody is saying that Roshar will become a "happy multicultural multiracial one-world nation" over the course of this series. What we are dealing with right now is extremely small scale. Having Rlain become a Windrunner or having Kaladin/Rlain/Leshwi learn to respect each other is a realistic approach to breaking down past prejudices. It is far from preachy if Sanderson writes some relationships between singer and human as more dimensional than "human’s bad, singers good" or vise versa. It would be annoying if this story ended with all the main characters defeating Odium with the power of friendship, but the Stormlight Archive is far from that point. There are a lot of reasons given in this story's universe why two sides would want to seek reconciliation that doesn't involve modern-day politics. Mainly, the two sides might want to stop killing each other. It is not message fiction to have characters seek alternative solutions to a several millennia-long conflict. Sanderson has presented a world where rifts between groups of people are everywhere. It makes sense if the characters seek to overcome such obstacles without resorting to the sword. I wonder if you also think that it is message fiction when, in Oathbringer, Dalinar chose to bring nations together through diplomacy rather than by attempting to conquer half of the world. If seeking peace makes sense in-universe, then the story is not automatically delegitimized if the characters don't resort to simply killing each other.

Regarding the first part: I get where you're coming from, but I also think there is far more epic a feeling to a good story beyond a video game like "unlock powers, level up to max, defeat boss baddie, game over and get some more Cheetos" progression; if there is a theme of "...and the X we were doing all along was never the real deal!" Because a good story is always really about the internal story of the characters, not just what they do, or become able to do. In particular, I think you are really, REALLY stretching it to call Stormlight Archive "message fiction"... Especially an accusation triggered by a scene where Rlain, after many, many months of seeing every other Bridge Four member (except Hobbid?) first draw Stormlight as a squire, then gain a Nahel bond of their own, and constantly being initially or unconsciously interacted with as either an enemy (warform) or a slave - is turned off by the idea that he'd "gain" an honorspren bond because Kaladin forced an honorspren to do it. I would have thought much LESS of Rlain had he reacted, "Really? I'm gonna get an honorspren and a Nahel bond and powers? Say no more! Best present ever!" As for "I hope Brandon isn't writing that story..." What "story" is it you hope he's not writing? That the humans under Team Dalinar will end up finding allies among the listeners (Venli) and possibly Fused (Leshwi) who will decide that the future of Roshar is not based on a war of extinction but coexistence? Do you read much simpler and darker fantasy than I do? Because a fantasy series that presented a terrible A vs. B war spanning eons, then presented an out for that war by setting up two groups of people (Kaladin, Rlain, Lewshi, Venli, etc.) who are starting to think "man this eternal war sucks, isn't there another way?" and then the ending was "nah, let's just have this side we POV'ed first, and are human instead of non-human, just power up and crush the other side"... ...Over TEN volumes each of which are a trilogy unto themselves, and will tie into a mega-storyline across an epic Cosmere backdrop... That would SUCK.and would be my choice of describing as the Story I Hope He's Not Writing. Now, whether or not that is where SA is actually going to end up, I will not say is for certain. I will agree it's a bit "obvious" as a direction where it could end up. I fully expect Brandon to surprise me. If SA4 ends with Leshwi renouncing Odium and teaming up with Dalinar or something in an unbelievable fashion that reads like Kumbaya Fanfic, I'd be quite upset. But you seem to assume any storyline trending in that direction is a Kumbaya Fanfic, which just has me shaking my head. Regarding the second part, about Zahel: Yeah, I was going to post something similar about how he's an ardent exactly because he's there to stay in the background. Not to "get involved". So questions like "why hasn't he told Dalinar or Navani or Jasnah about that Nightblood sword that Szeth is carrying and what it can do to the Fused", well, an obvious answer is, why should he? For one, just leaking information about Nightblood being able to do what it can do at all, and that he knows about how/why it exists, would immediately put pressure on Powers That Be on both sides to try to force him to make more. Exactly what he doesn't want. He'd rather nobody know about Nightblood's Special Nature at all.

Here's day 13! For clever, I made Wit's stool from the feast in WoK. I added a Cosmere symbol too. (I’ll catch up on day 12 tomorrow or Thursday)

Did you just call Szeth a wuss? 'Cause that's definitely the vibe I'm getting. Szeth. Szeth son-Neturo... Son-son-Vallano... Who wore white on the day he went to kill a king. And another king. And all their guards. In nation after nation. Who now carries Nightblood, and fell from the sky to cleave a Thunderclast into oblivion. A wuss. Just so's we're clear.

I don't think Zahel is "hiding" so much as... Retired. Or trying to stay in retirement. He certainly doesn't seem too bothered by the idea that Azure/Vivenna had chased him to Roshar earlier, and even if she was last seen somewhere in Shadesmar, basically knows exactly where he is now unless he left. "Yeah, let's see her get through Cultivation's Perpendicularity now. And even if she does, so WHAT?" For all we know he's joined the 17th Shard, as in the Frost Faction, except that he appears to admit he has an Intent that he's meant to (and perhaps cannot help but) follow. And he doesn't regret "giving up the sword", which has two meanings: giving up fighting for a living, and of course, THE SWORD that Szeth's got. Even as he calls it a "mistake", it's "the best mistake I ever made". As for him suddenly expounding on Things Cosmere, specifically in the context of Invested Entities and Cognitive Shadows and spren and stapling shadows of souls to a become spren-like "dead man walking", remember, he's OLD and KNOWS A LOT and is, at heart, an academic. So when Kaladin innocently asked him "Are you like Wit?", basically meaning "a mysterious guy who knows a lot of secrets", that kind of triggered him to do a half-lecture, half "I've wanted to say this out loud to SOMEBODY for so long even if they don't know what I'm saying" type of speech. "Me? Like Wit? ME? You don't even know who or what Wit, or Hoid, is, puppy! Or me, for that matter! Let me tell you just how like, and yet very unlike Wit, I am! See, what I am, is..." Think about it. He's learned and figured out all this stuff about the True Nature of Returned, spren, Fused/Heralds, etc., all since the end of the events of Warbreaker, and could well have had that all in his head only this whole time, without even Vivenna to tell it to. If you're geeky in the right way, that is like a pressure cooker. I know I personally am prone to that kind of "more than you asked for" info rant, so I can totally see that kind of reaction from Vasher/Zahel! Come to think of it, the same thing happened when Vivenna innocently asked him about Awakening for the first time. She got a 300 level lecture.

We don't know you can't scale it up. They are still in the experimental phase.

We have no idea how many rockbuds can be grown from the light of a single emerald. We have no idea how efficient this process would be in a place other than Urithiru. The Singers apparently thought it worthwhile to use on the Shattered Plains. This is also a way to use stormlight without a soulcaster. Soulcasters are rare and destructive to their users. Developing tech that doesn't need them would be immensely valuable as they are unlikely to be mass producing soulcasters. Imagine how much the Vedens or Makabaki kingdoms could use this since they likely don't have grain soulcasters. If it is inefficient, which we don't know, developing the tech is still a fantastically valuable endeavor.