ScadrianTank

If the fabrial tech progressed quickly enough in Era 3, it wouldn't surprise me if all modern military rifles were hypersonic. Maybe something similar to AAI's flechette rifle prototype.

One theory I had was that whatever interstellar megastructure Canticle is a part of would require the creator — presumably Invention — to act in different ways across vast distances, so Canticle would beam the power to different parts of the machine wherever they are without additional conscious work from the creator/operator. If different parts were sitting in separate star systems, Invention either couldn't simultaneously power them all, or if they could it would tie them to their current location — preventing them from moving on to other projects. But if they set up a battery that would function independently without further involvement, all they would have to do is hook up Canticle's core to whatever needs the power.

I wrote an entire post on that, thanks... Identity contamination might be the cause of the problem for the Set. The only time it's explicitly mentioned in the book is by Marsh in relation to why the Set can't Compound. Their main problem was as you mentioned — they expected raw Investiture to grant power without shaping or coding it in some way. Regardless, the Set's method has no relation to what I'm talking about because they are taking the same thing multiple times from different sources in the same spike. I need to have different parts of the spirit web, which are stolen with different metals, into a single spike. Again, Identity is not the issue here. If an origami can walk it can tear itself in half. I assumed that if an entity can grant a power, it can take it away or destroy its contents. Good points, I suck at phrasing.

Scadrians have an Awakened Steelmind in TSM. So we only have to wait a few centuries, I suppose.

The Set's method of creating spikes non-lethally — potentially even completely synthetically — focuses on expanding the pool of conventional Metalborn. The method I propose here attempts to bypass one of the fundamental limitations of Hemalurgy — that a spike can grant only one power. I theorize that it can be achieved by transforming a piece of a soul trapped in a spike into a kind of spren via Awakening. The core of this idea stems from the belief that while a spike can only transplant a single piece of spiritweb, so long as that piece is singular it can grant multiple benefits. For example, if one stole a spren bond, they would still be able to use both Surges that the bond grants. The simplest approach to Awakening a spike would be more like a lock from the Ghostbloods hideout — a spike with a conditional off switch. Awaken a regular spike with a Command ~similar to "I Respect those who protect Scadrial." The idea here is that if the recipient of the spike believes that they are using the power granted to oppose Scadrial or hear its command phrase — Respect in this case — the spike would either go inert or destroy itself. The more interesting approach would be to create a spike of several powers and attributes and Awaken it to be a spren. Since we would be transplanting a whole spren instead of a mishmash of Identities and souls, I theorize that a spike like that can grant multiple benefits. Given that the spike would be at least partially self-aware, you can give it commands and command codes like to a Lifeless, autonomy to revoke some or all of its benefits, and potentially mess with the bearer's soul like Aux does in TSM. It feels intuitive to me that a spike like that would grant either an Allomantic power and a spiritual attribute (like mental fortitude) or one Allomantic and one Feruchemical power. They seem balanced, for lack of a better word. Ruin's body as a spike, Preservation's soul as a power, and an attribute as a mind feel right to me. Just as Ruin's power, Preservation's power, and their combined power seem to fit well together. I would start with a nicrosil or atium spike and a Command ~like: "I live to Protect Scadrial and empower my bearer to do the same" and go from there. Immediate problems and challenges: 1. Figuring out a Command that works 2. Sourcing enough Investiture for Awakening 3. Figuring out the correct metal for a spike 4. Figuring out a correct bind point for a spike 5. Figuring out how to transfer different attributes and powers to a single spike 6. Creating an entity that's closer to Vivena's blade than a full spren, because it seems that a full being without their own, even limited, body can drive the user insane FAST 7. Even if that spike grants benefits, there is a possibility that they would be different from usual, in a regular Surge → Fused Surge type of way, because in a sense we are corrupting Ruin's art with Endowment's Investiture. 8. A Rosharan spren is made of a lot of Investiture, so the result might be limited by the spike's capacity for Investiture. Not that it stopped Nightblood

You assume he doesn't have a copy. The Ghostbloods still think that Kel has powers. And the easiest way to keep up that lie is to use powers. I like to think that Kel made them with help from Spook and some Full Feruchemist. Mostly because I love the idea of a Full Feruchemist being one of the founding members of the Ghostbloods. Someone on the Shardcast also proposed that Kel had powers but was slowly losing them and the Bands were an attempt to mitigate that. IIRC, the reasoning for it was that we now have a precedent for people briefly gaining powers - so might as well account for the possibility. Something I only just realized is that we don't know if the Bands allow for Compounding or even storing attributes. Before TLM, I always assumed that they actually made one a Fullborn. But now they could just as well be a big battery charged with powers. I still think that the Bands either allow for burning metals - and consequently Feruchemical storage - unlike regular medallions, or if you're correct that the powers come pre-keyed if that makes sense. By that I mean not keyed to a specific effect, not purified. Maybe coded would be a better term, like how the Set were trying to code a Metallic art into their new spike. It's strange to me that raw power would automatically convert to specific effects. If the powers - and maybe the attributes - are already keyed to an effect, then the Bands might be charged with purified Dor. In this case, keying/coding it to specific effects would either convert it to Preservation's Investiture or just make it look and act like it.

No, it does rebuild the Spirit Web. It is quite literally what happens after a person heals a cut from a Shardblade. The soul is not the blueprint - it's the "perfected" version of a person in the Spiritual Realm.

Gold is Spiritual Healing. It functions the same way Stormlight healing does. And Stormlight healing can deal with Shardblade wounds, which damage the soul directly. They wouldn't be normal for a number of reasons, the first among which is that Hemalurgy always wounds the soul, even when done "the right way". And again, the loss may or may not be a thing in the present time

Very possible, but the Set's researcher's words left me with a different impression. Not sure how much stock I should put in the opinion of a scientist experimenting on people, especially about their well-being post "science". Even so, putting that spike back in the same person and maybe giving them a sip from a goldmind might do the trick. Maybe.

Very possible. I was about to write that extra Preservation is extra and unnecessary for a normal functioning soul, but Preservation explicitly gave it to grant humans cognition so yeah... Still, the extent of the damage should be adjustable in the procedure. The modernized version of beatings to Snap Allomancers. Now with body horror! Also true. Forgot about it.

Reposting my post here from reddit, just cause. I write these words in steel this post because I've been thinking about it more than is probably healthy and needed to put it up somewhere. The problem is that Allomancy and Feruchemy are rare and genetically derived, which limits Scadrial's growth and security. And, I'm growing increasingly certain that the best way to achieve Kel's goal of democratizing access to powers is with this new way of performing Hemalurgy the Set discovered. What we actually see and know for certain is that the Set made Hemalurgic spikes through a non-lethal, accumulative way that briefly granted the bearer powers. They did so by spiking the extra bit of Preservation from people's souls and, somehow, coding(???) the spike with a power. Shai then speculated that since they can charge spikes with raw Preservation from souls, it should be possible to create them with raw Investiture, pointing towards the jar of purified Dor while saying so. From here, we can speculate that the following might be possible: Creating Kandra Blessings through the same method the Set used. Potentially creating Kandra Blessings entirely from scratch through the method Shai theorized. Recharging decayed spikes with raw (and likely purified) Investiture to maintain the strength of the power they provide. Potentially overcharging Hemalurgic spikes to grant a stronger power than what it stole. A partially charged spike might still be used to grant a weaker power. The Set seemingly used only the spikes charged to 100%* but I don't see any compelling reasons why it would be a requirement. The problem with the existing method is that it's yet to successfully grant a power and Shai was just speculating. But Realmatically we have several issues: Identity contamination. As mentioned by Marsh earlier in the book, this might be a reason why the method fails — the power granted is keyed to a weird Identity mash that a bearer has trouble accessing. Fundamentally, Hemalurgy is about taking something away. While the end-negative/-positive classification became less useful as time passed, I have trouble believing that it can be hacked to an extent that the main Intent behind the magic is completely sidestepped. According to Ars Arcanum, Hemalurgic decay no longer exists, making the recharging idea irrelevant. Note: it is unclear which of the two decays Khriss meant (spikes losing power over time when not in a body/a steak or spikes having a weaker power in a recipient than a donor). While we know of a few man-made items that overshadow traditional Hemalurgy and Feruchemy in terms of Investiture density(Nalthian Blades and maybe Bands), we know nothing that suggests that the extra power would augment the Hemalurgic part of the spike instead of sitting beside it. Creating spikes from scratch seems too simple. And judging how wrong many of us were about the Medallions, there might be more to it than it first appears. What I propose is a mixed method of the perfected technique the Set used and Shai's theoretical one. You take the extra Investiture from a person's soul (what Kel called the "heart of Preservation") in a spike just like we saw in the book. Then, you charge the spike the rest of the way with raw/purified Investiture, code a Metallic Art into it, and give this spike to the same person - completely avoiding Identity contamination. The good (if it works, obviously): Completely democratizes Metallic Arts. Any non-Metalborn can become one. Society, politics, money, scarcity, and other similar problems will obviously prevent everyone from getting powers, but depending on how available the Investiture will become I'm confident that Scadrian society can get to a point where all educated professionals can get a spike after finishing education/graduating from uni/college/academy/etc. Spikes accumulate after their bearers die and can be reused by future generations. Bearing a spike shows one's devotion to Harmony, Death, and Sliver. People finally get to choose what power they get. Completely circumvents the genetic aspect of the Metallic Arts. Can be fully automated with sufficient technological advancement. We don't have surgical robots this good, but we aren't far from making one. Especially, since the procedure isn't that complicated. Note: I assume here that Hemalurgy can be automated similarly to how Brandon said making Soulstamps can. Will publicize Heamlurgy as an Invested Art, which will lead to a deeper understanding of souls in the cosmere. The bad: Still adds to social inequality through corruption, inheritance laws, and economic inequality. Will publicize Heamlurgy as an Invested Art -> people will be killing one another to get their powers or steal their spikes. -> Mistborn serial killer Gives Harmony/Discord a way to your soul. Will popularize piercings. Thoughts and ideas are welcome.

My theory about the translation tablet was that it's a regular computer as we understand it, but it has an Awakened chip inside that manages Connection stuff. Like a magical GPU, but instead of graphics and rendering in manages Investiture stuff. (Hoid called the things awakened circuits, I think.) So the computer is powered by electricity, that's what the solar panel is for, and so is the Awakened part since Awakened objects don't need to be refueled once created.

Kaladin because he's more of a duelist, and Shardplate is better in this scenario, especially against an explosive weapon. Wax has a better chance if the surroundings are more urban -- more metal to manipulate and cover to utilize. It's also worth pointing out that Wax is naturally a better killer. I might be wrong, but TLM gave me the impression that, only in his climb through the tower, Wax killed more people than Kal in his entire military carrier. It's also difficult to account for his Mistborn powers since we don't know how good he'll get with the rest of the metals. So if we take them as they are by the end of their books - I say Kaladin. But if Wax has info and time to prepare and visit Ranette - Kal will be absolutely deleted. Also interesting that at this point, in a broader sense, Wax and Kal fulfill a similar function on the battlefield. They fly in, draw attention, use their skills to deflect/block blows, and kill anything in their way.

Missiles are smart; they seek and steer toward a target either on their own (like cruise missiles, for example) or are guided remotely. Rockets are dumb; they're aimed before launch and will not correct for the target's movements. If you're familiar with modern military shooters and/or weaponry it's the difference between an RPG(dumb rocket) and something like a Javelin(smart target-seeking missile).

I don't see the point of this section, personally. Any Invested army won't be deterred by geology and mortal armies won't be able to cross Shadesmar. They're technically rockets - missiles can steer Long-range non-Invested comms in radio and telegraphs

Solving people's problems directly is a subpar outcome to making them figure things out on their own. Harmony or Sazed's approach since Ascension seems to be pushing people into developing solutions. After stumping the North's tech growth by solving people's problems for them, it makes sense to me that he'd lead his people to a way to have atium again and explore it in more depth instead of directly solving Marsh's aging. I'd even say that this action actually give a little credence to Saze claiming that "he had it in hand". This one interests me the most, though a simple answer would be that Marsh just refused, for whatever reason. I don't see any scenario where Kel would deliberatly refuse to help his brother attain longevity.

If you haven't seen this same discussion in the old topic, don't look at it now, but it's pretty mild in comparison, honestly

It's more about the general drive to overcome nature than the constant struggle against anything specific like war, natural disasters, or alien invasions. I don't want to search for actual quotes, but Saze says so himself in Shadows (I think )when talking about how Basin's perfect climate stunted North's growth. WW2 is the most extreme example in this case because the need to produce a lot of... everything really, drove people to develop techniques, processes, and alternative solutions. But in general, a people with a reason to see what's on the other side of the ocean will get there faster than those who do it out of curiosity.

The book didn't add much to what we had before. All new tech North gained is still in the early stages, if effective against an opponent that (presumably) still uses spears and swords. I'm waiting for era 3 to see what the South is all about, but my preliminary judgment is that if the technological age Kelsier wishes for comes to fruition, Scadrial as a planet/civilization will be more dangerous than Roshar. However, Rosharan magic users will always be stronger than Metalborn, especially with the new restrictions on Compounding, Dawnshards, Bondsmiths, and two(?) active Shards. On Compounding specifically, it looks like a steady supply of purified Investiture might eliminate the need for it. All Compounding really does is fuel the Feruchemical attribute/effect with Preservation's Investiture, but now we know that you can supply it externally.

They were in the middle of stopping the world from getting nuked and invaded by an alien army. Caring about stray prisoners at that moment is plot armor and protagonist privilege

Did we see any indication that Bondsmiths can manipulate Connection at a distance? Because if not, they just have the power of an atomic bomb at a range of a cocktail straw.

That malatium is made from another alloy instead of base godmetal.

The malatium thing still irks me, even with the WoB. (WoP?) We're at the point where fixing these oddities means that it breaks other things around it. If this is the case, we'll end up in a situation where the fundamental part of the worldbuilding of the series is referred to incorrectly for more than three books straight,

I wanted to write a long response because this topic confused me for a long time. But after RoW - specifically reading the Sibling and other spren throw around contradictory information - I'd rather just wait for book 5. Too much happened in a space of a few days, possibly even a single day, and yet it feels like we're still missing critical information. Did the Radiants break their oaths or did their spren just end the bond as the Sibling did? If all orders broke their oaths, whatever form it took, on the same day and Windrunners were among the first, how did the rest of the Orders get the communication? Were there no Radiants in seclusion or in Shadesmar who just didn't get the memo? It seems too convenient but, knowing Brandon, it all makes sense, somehow.

This makes sense but I have no idea why it can also manipulate pressure. If the Windrunners didn't get more squires, I'd say that pressure manipulation is a resonance.