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Empyrus

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  1. Whenever i read something and it doesn't match what i recall, i wonder if Ruin has changed the text.
  2. Difficult question. On one hand, Roshar is probably the most interesting and alien fantasy world i've ever read about, next to the Elder Scrolls series Nirn (especially the more alien provinces, like Morrowind). On the other hand, Allomancy is just frigging cool, Scadrial is attractive due to this. And its almost-but-not-quite-Earth nature makes it oddly attractive too. What if things were a bit different?
  3. Migrated, not created? Oh, that changes things. I assumed the Shards recreated humankind on every planet (based on what i knew about Scadrial).
  4. I guess it could be possible that the Shards have been on their worlds for millions of years. If worldhoppers move forward in time with their hops, this probably isn't an issue for them. I went for what i think absolute reasonable minimum time. I think that if the Shards had started human civilization at relatively advanced state, this would have odd effects on the cultural and technological developement. You know, similar to uplifting a barbaric species, giving them nukes... Sanderson noted in the Alloy of Law annotations that Scadrial is very similar to Earth, so presumably this includes its history too, so perhaps extending the minimum time Scadrial is inhabited to many tens of thousands of years is not unreasonable. Ah, i just skimmed this thread, marked it for later more throughout reading.
  5. Eh, i'm just a casual reader when it comes to that really. I don't even pretend to understand most of that stuff. My recommendation? Read the Wikipedia article, burn your brain, and just think "what-if parallel universes". Explaining that stuff verbally (in Finnish, my native tongue) is hard enough, summarizing it in English is much more difficult. In retrospect i probably should have used "quantum cosmology" in the title.. EDIT and perhaps i meant "many-worlds interpretation"... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-worlds_interpretation
  6. Ah, great, stuff about chronology. How long ago was the Shattering? This does have an effect upon the Cosmere planets, especially the ones that are more technologically advanced, like Scadrial. Does Scadrial have fossil fuels? If it does, do these come from life that went extinct long ago (it takes a long time for these to form, and they do require carbon-life) on Scardrial, or did the Shards create pockets of these for the Scadrians? Or did they arrive so long ago life had enough time to form fossil fuels? Or was there life on Scadrial before the Shards arrived and created stuff there? I calculate that Scadrian humans have been on their planet at least 6800 years: 5500 years from creation to roughly 16th Earth century level tech (assuming similar technological progression rate), 1000 years of the Final Empire, and 300 years for The Alloy of Law era. Let's say 7000 to be on the safe side. EDIT of course, it is possible they were given a boost when they were created, and have advanced far faster, thus possibly cutting the time by thousands of years. Assuming the Shards can travel instantaneously in Cosmere, and they went instantly to their planets and immediately started doing stuff there, the Shattering could have happened as little as 7000 years in the past. Though considering Roshar is oldest colonized planet, and seeing as it has already thousands of years of recorded civilization, and then there was some sort settling and growth period before the Desolations began, the Shattering is probably much older than 7000 years. At least 10000, i'd say, probably more, because the Shards probably don't travel instantly nor can't do things quite instantaneously... It should be noted that Scadrial seems very advanced when it comes to metallurgy, presumably due to Allomancers (collectively) requiring relatively large quantities of very pure metals in very specific alloys.
  7. I'm not absolutely sure if this should be here or in the Mistborn section. And these are no complete theories, more like observations and parallels. Quantum cosmology. Specifically the multiverse theory. It seems to be true in the Cosmere. Consider Allomantic temporal metals. You see possibilities. What may be, what may have been. Gold specifically is interesting in this regard... for the burner (Mistborn: The Final Empire, page 451, Tor pocketbook) knows certain things the gold-shadow knows, feels what it feels, and so on. In other words, they look at possible pasts... and presumably there is some sort quantum superposition going on, for some information is shared. I realized this after reading Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space series, where neural-quantum superposition and information sharing is a plot point. Suddenly the gold-shadow made a lot sense... Also, Hoid's worldhopping ability and Forgery on Sel. Apparently it is hinted (in interviews) that Hoid might be able to travel to past though he hasn't done so. Forgery certainly seems to affect past, change the present, so some sort of time travel might be possible in Cosmere. And this makes me wonder about Atium alloys, which are supposedly various temporal effects. I wonder... could Malatium be some sort Temporal-Cognitive-Atium alloy? And what if there were Temporal-Physical-Atium alloy? Could this change actual physical world by changing it in the past? The final thing i have in my mind doesn't concern temporal mechanics, rather i wonder if there are Feruchemist savants. There are Allomantic savants. There is Compounding, boosting Feruchemy via Allomancy. Opposite system is also hinted at, boosting Allomancy via Feruchemy. Only Feruchemist savant is missing. Miles Dagouter used so much gold healing, due to Compounding, that he didn't feel pain anymore really. I wonder, could that be an effect of Feruchemic savantism? Allomantic savants suffer from both mental and physiological effects, isn't this the case with Miles too? He acts as if he is immortal, he doesn't feel pain, he probably doesn't even have to really think about tapping his metalminds considering the rate he heals at, and how soon the healing begins.
  8. What about Sanderson's hints at there being a "technological" way of using Allomancy? "Technological" methods of using other magics in the Cosmere is possible, Fabrials are an example of this. I very much doubt that Scadrian FTL-drive involves a Misting team or a Mistborn sitting in the engineroom burning metals. Though of course that is kind of cool, a bit like Dune Navigators.
  9. Sanderson has noted that iron does not increase one's resistance to penetration. So it doesn't make one more resistant to damage. He has also noted that it does increase mass, and pretty much breaks the laws of physics. http://coppermind.net/wiki/Iron#Feruchemical_Use However, i reckon there is a relatively simple explanation: One's apparent mass is changed, specifically by changing one's mass in either the Spiritual or Cognitive Realm. It is, after all, implied that changes there affect the physical world. Alternatively it could affect the Higgs-field or something like that... Interestingly, if i'm right, this would mean Iron is not actually a physical Feruchemical metal... but then the thing doesn't follow the same rules as Allomancy, as evident by Brass storing warmth, yet being listed with otherwise "Cognitive" metals, originally this was a mistake but Sanderson didn't want to retcon this* so it was canonized. http://coppermind.net/wiki/Brass#Trivia I reckon the groupings have to do with their realms and effects, something that has actual physical effect (like pewter and strength) is classified differently from something that is purely cognitive (copper and memories). *And it was a good change really. Had he swapped brass for electrum as originally meant, this would have had the side effect of electrum being much more commonplace, especially with the Terris. And most Keepers would likely know that Allomantic and Feruchemical metals are the same, thus figuring out electrum has Allomantic use... the RPG suggests highest levels of the Empire knew of this and thus suppressed the fact, as it would have devastated the Atium-economy. Even if the RPG is not correct there, skaa-Mistings or perhaps skaa-Mistborn could have gained access to that knowledge, with serious consequences. Obviously electrum isn't unknown in the Final Empire, but it being one of the metals for the Metallic Arts is unknown. Was.
  10. I was speculating that atium is the only metal that can steal atium, or atium alloys, ie god metals. It is not a mere temporal metal strictly speaking, rather it is a temporal god-metal. A normal metal being capable of stealing god-metals is silly, IMO. Presumably atium Feruchemy is also stolen by atium spike, if i'm correct in that only god-metals can steal god-metals. Just speculation though. If heart is universal stealing location, spikes made from Mistborn should be very useful, since one can move them around as long as they're not vital (like being the linchpin spike). Though naturally they'd have only certain powers (like steel stealing physical Allomancy: tin, pewter, iron, steel). Moving spikes being unpleasant is very flimsy reason not to do this: It is clearly stated in one Steel Inquisitor POV that the eye-spikes throb, cause constant pain. If unpleasantness were an issue... Hell, the whole process is unpleasant, though of course the Inquisitors do it mostly by themselves, and they sure do like it... Killing a Steel Inquisitor requires separating lower spikes from the upper spikes (ie either pull all torso spikes or head spikes, or the linchpin spike which binds them together). (I presume large enough trauma (complete blood-loss for example) would also kill an Inquisitor but in practice this is unlikely to happen.) But otherwise, you could theoretically move their spikes around. Unless, of course, being a Steel Inquisitor requires for all the mandatory spikes to be in exact places for the being to be an Inquisitor.* Killing location mattering is much simpler explanation than the non-used Investitures leaking out, or that mental command is required for Hemalurgy to work. Of course, most powers in the books are stolen via hearth which complicates things. Though as i said, this is only an issue when we talk about Mistborn or full Feruchemists. It could be that in full Feruchemists and Mistborn heart is used only for one ability. The only case where we see this happening doesn't state what power they were stealing, and even though Marsh has duralumin (stolen from a Mistborn, of course, since detecting Duralumin Gnat is practically impossible), we don't see how he got that one. Hearth being the stealing location for Mistings has no issues whatsoever, since they have only one power. *Steel Inquisitor notes: Normal Inquisitors have 11 spikes if i recall correcty, 8 through chest, one in back (the linchpin) and 2 through eyes/brain. In The Hero Of Ages, some if not all Inquisitors have more spikes and are still Inquisitors. Pulling one eye-spike doesn't kill an Inquisitor, so i assume the minimum amount is at least 3, 1 chest spike, one head spike, and the linchpin to bind them together. Or perhaps "Steel Inquisitor" is just what people call a Hemalurgist with that spike configuration, not because they're their own race like the kandra are, despite being physiologically and mentally different from normal humans (since they can still reproduce with humans, it means they're biologically humans, ignoring fantasy definitions of different species), they're just advanced Hemalurgists. But as BS's annotations says, a spike's creation method matters (ie taking location) so i don't really need alternative explanations. Perhaps future Mistborn books explain the process more accurately. Hemalurgist protagonist would be interest, one who makes and uses many spikes (since technically Vin is a Hemalurgist, so we kinda have Hemalurgist protagonist already).
  11. Sanderson does indirectly state there that only the placement on the recipient matters. But not directly, which is why i'm wondering how this actually works. (I've read the annotations like thrice each by the way. Too much really o.O) Isomere's suggestion that there is a mental component, ie one must think about what is being stolen for it to work and would tie neatly to the idea that all magic in Cosmere has a mental element. But... wouldn't that mean that accidental Hemalurgy is not possible? We know it is possible from The Hero of Ages so mental requirement is a bit questionable. No comments about lerasium Hemalurgy but i think that only atium can steal abilities related to atium, ie Allomantic atium (and malatium etc). I mean god metal, so what else is powerful enough to steal it than another god metal? EDIT Wait, wait wait! http://www.brandonsanderson.com/annotation/305/mistborn-3-Chapter-Thirty-Nine Right. Looks like the killing method does matter. So... case closed. How the hell did i miss that 3 or more times... EDIT anyway, so presumably the spike is driven through one of the victim's vital organ (depending what one wants to steal).
  12. Does the spike placement on the... "donor" matter in Hemalurgy? In the recipient, it does matter for sure, this much has been confirmed. The main trilogy implies that most powers are take through the hearth. Sure, that works for Mistings (and Ferrings), since they have only one power. But what about a full Feruchemist or Mistborn? If i want to take Duralumin from a Mistborn, do i drive the spike through the Mistborn's hearth and just plant it the correct location on the recipient, or do i need to take it from the correct place as well? BS says that Hemalurgy steals a piece of the victim's soul (Spirit Web) (and also says that the victim doesn't have to die actually*). A piece. Now it could mean the whole "power" part of ones Spirit Web, and jury-rig only one part of the stolen piece of soul to work on the recipient, but that would mean one could remove the spike and place it elsewhere to change his or her powers, if the spike is created from a Mistborn or Feruchemist. This would mean that spikes created from Mistborn or Feruchemists would be strictly speaking much better due to their flexibility, though not necessarily more powerful. The RPG doesn't directly state either way but implies that what is stolen from the victim is chosen during the creation of the spike, the only way this choice can work, as far as i can see, is for the stealing location to matter. For example, pewter, which steals all 8 physical (a bit of a retcon, there's a thread about this here) Feruchemical powers. (This requires for the Steel Inquisitors to carry goldminds with them by the way.) *Not sure where i read this, probably some QA EDIT Answer http://www.brandonsanderson.com/annotation/305/mistborn-3-Chapter-Thirty-Nine Right. Looks like the killing method does matter. So... case closed.
  13. Well, 3rd then, if Dustbringgers are not an Order. Not really that important. We know two names for sure at least. As for the latter thing: 1) There is always a possibility of a typo on Sanderson's part. Not likely though. 2) One could swear by a singular Knight or the Order, no? But you're right, if it is truly meant to be singular, then Brightcaller could be something else, Herald most likely. But if it is a Herald, then it still has a connection to commanding the sunlight. Jezrien was Windrunners' leader, and called Stormfather... So, Brightcaller could be the leader of the Order who command sunlight, the name would fit well.
  14. Search didn't come up with results indicating this connection has been noticed before (but my luck with searches is less than stellar) though the term has been: We know of two orders for sure: Windrunners and Stonewards, and possibly a third: Dustbringers. We know each one has different powers. I think i just found another order's name: Brightcallers. On page 918, someone says "By the Brightcaller's rays." Why is this significant? Well, on page 830 it is said: "You've told me that the Radiants could fly and walk on walls." "They sure could. And make stone melt by looking at it. And move great distances in a single hearthbeat. And command the sunglight. And-". Brightcaller's rays. Command the sunlight. Pretty obvious, isn't it?
  15. I noted that we don't know the timing of the letter. When it was written, the element clearly was safe. I did wonder if the writer had eaten the thing... but then i thought that protecting one's stomach's contents is not quite same as protecting their own skin. What you say, that he (or she, if the writer isn't Hoid?) may have absorbed the element, it makes sense. But that raises more questions. Like, can it be, um, extracted from the writer? Oh, and burning lerasium would count as keeping it quite safe, i think...
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