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Do they use the genitalia of the organisms that they've consumed? Do they just divide asexually like cells? Do they have genders? Kandra seem to but I don't know how that might correspond to actual reproductive capacity since they're shapeshifters and creating new Kandra requires Hemalurgic spikes and a Mistwraith not a Kandra mommy and Kandra daddy or Kandra and a clinic. Kandra gender is probably a matter of self-identification rather than reproduction.

On the Hemalurgy page of the Coppermind, it says that you can use it on animals (but not plants). Does this mean that you could make a koloss out of a chicken instead of a human?!

I have been thinking a lot recently about the future of the Cosmere, 20-30 or so real-life years from now when we are deep into Era 4 Mistborn, Space Age Cosmere type stuff. The most interesting thing to me being, what are some of the future implications of the magic that we see right now, and how will the magic / tech we see right now evolve in the future? Allow me to explain. - The Ones Above from Sixth of the Dusk as an example of an obscured technology/application of magic. In Sixth, the Ones Above traveled to the planet through interstellar space - this is already unusual for the Cosmere as we know it, as far as worldhopping goes. We then see this unidentified civilization or group use technology to achieve magic-centric results (In this case, a translation device that can also search for Aviar.) -This is it could be a variety of planets - For example, this could be fabrial technology from Roshar, or an evolution of the medallion tech from Scadrial, or it could be a pure technology invention from somewhere like Taldain. ([1] [2]) What we do know, is that the Ones Above are in fact a group we have met before. ([1] [2] [3]) - Breaths from Nalthis can be used to give objects sentience, even objects that were never alive in the first place (the classic example of Nightblood, a Type IV Awakened entity.) This could, as others have postulated, lead to the creation of a computer that is truly alive. How would an Awakened computer differ from an AI construct, physically, spiritually, and in the cognitive realm? - Stormlight Archive occurs relatively early in the timeline of the Cosmere, and we know from this wob that "It's technically possible to make [shardblades] from other magic systems). We have demonstrable evidence of this in the case of the shardblades of Nalthian origin, but this is a good indication of other things as well. Could a Seon, perhaps, become a shardblade? (Hint: the answer appears to be yes (wob)). - We haven't even started on the Sleepless, who are "not confined to Roshar" ([1] [2]) and "will have a major role in Era 4" (3). My theory for them is that the Sleepless will be used as some sort of instantaneous communication network in the physical realm, for spaceships and such. If that theory holds true, I think it lends support that the Ones Above are, in fact, Rosharan. So, I want to hear your theories on what seemingly innocuous thing in the Cosmere will have bigger implications in the Space Age Era. Put on your aluminum foil hat and just start typing. Thanks for reading!

Well hello all. Around December I got a dog and her name is MeLaan, which is why I thought this would be the correct place to put this. She is floofy, borfs lots, and digs holes everywhere, EVERYWHERE. She also likes the pussycats, like mine Simba. So while y'all are stuck inside or considered an essential worker. Please enjoy and relax with a cute MeLaan. Stay safe everyone! P.s. bonus MeLaan and her bestie Argo, the kangaroo doggo.

Why didn't Harmony turn the Koloss back to human? Preservation and Ruin could create humans wholesale so its not like that's beyond a Shard's power. I didn't realize while thinking about him changing the Koloss into a true breeding race that he was a Shard and shouldn't require to resort to Hemalurgy as the only option, before remembering what he said to Kelsier about regaining his body and what Kelsier apparently looked like in era 2. On top of that Koloss are complicated. They're an amalgamation of (parts of) multiple souls stitched on the "main" soul, whose body transforms. Do these secondary souls manifest on the Cognitive when a Koloss is killed? I seem to remember them doing so in SH. Which is rather confusing since the... donors should've been dead already and their Cognitive self should've faded into the Beyond. I may be misremembering and those other souls may have been of the Koloss' victims or other unrelated people since Ruin was rampaging at that point so a lot of people were dying. Are there restrictions on what Shards can do when it comes to living beings? Is creating a different body from scratch and putting someone's soul into it not possible somehow? Is this why Kelsier couldn't just create a new body for himself as Preservation nor could Sazed as Harmony? In Warbreaker In The Stormlight Archive Or is it something imposed by Investiture systems, perhaps it is easier to make Investiture follow pre-made paths Altering the Spiritweb to alter one's race seems to be possible so why not turn the Koloss back to human? Preservation's power has been used to alter humans before, to create the Skaa, Did it require consent or a Cognitive sense of self of being human that the Koloss wouldn't have been capable of? Human the Koloss would've wanted to turn human at least. Also what about Mistwraiths? They are technically humans even though they have never experienced being human (except the First Generation)? Is becoming Kandra through Hemalurgy their only option? Can't they be turned into regular humans or given regular human bodies? Did this decision have something to do with his Intent? Possibly also why he let the Southern Scadrians suffer during the Catacendre (which they called the Ice Death)? After all, he is Preservation and Ruin. He can preserve a species by making them capable of reproduction. He can ruin people into becoming brutal savages or mindless formless globs of meat. But can he restore them?

I'm rusting rich, boys and girls:

How large a share of its continent's surface area is the Elendel Basin?

I’ll type out a better theory later but this is the summary: The Set or the group Waxilliums uncle was apart of is actually the IRE or the elantrians from mistborn secret history. The shard Trell is actually Autonomy or the hosts of Autonomy and they were convinced by the elantrians to separate the shard Harmony back into ruin and preservation. The elantrians want Preservations shard so they can revive their own Shards. They used the original agreement between shards to not live on the same world and mix powers, to convince the shard Autonomy or the majority of its splintered power to separate ruin and preservation. Sorry for the messy bad grammar. Please pick this theory apart and maybe read between the lines to find out inbook reasons why what I said could be right.

Nerin looked out the window and down the winding length of street that led past Sethwick’s Soothing Parlor and Lounge. It was late afternoon, but night had already fallen here in the 7th Octant neighborhood of the Hollows, shadowed by tenements. It wasn’t quite a bad part of town, but neither was it good - at least, that’s what old Jeb said. As far as Nerin was concerned, the Hollows were just fine. The people here were rich enough to pay her but miserable enough to come looking. That’s all she needed. She’d once asked Jeb who Sethwick was, to which the old Soother had replied “some fine dandy git.” Nerin took that to mean that Jeb had made him up, and she didn’t blame him really. “Jeb’s Soothing Parlor and Lounge” rolled off the tongue with all the grace of two horse shoes jangling in a sack. It was so much easier to lie about such things. It was expected, really. No one ever really trusted a Soother anyhow, so you might as well spin a pretty fiction. The clock on the wall hit five and Nerin got up from her seat by the window to light the little gaslamp outside the door. She pulled her coat tighter at the autumn chill, cupping her match as she reached inside the blue glass lantern and lit the wick. It caught with a stuttering flare of yellow, then shrunk to its usual steady glow as she closed the little hinged glass door. The lamp cast a calm haze of blue around the poch, a luring kind halo of light. Come forget, it beckoned. For just a moment, all your troubles will melt away. Nerin looked out at the street one more time, then went back inside. Jeb was wiping down glasses at the bar, setting them behind the polished wooden countertop and counting out the money in the till. “It’s a chill evening,” Nerin said, tapping one finger on the bar and nodding toward the wall of liquor bottles. “I imagine it’ll be the hard and dark stuff tonight.” Jeb nodded, not looking up from his counting. He was a good-looking man for his age, somewhere north of forty and south of sixty, with coal-black hair shot through with silver and tied at the nape of his neck. He had keen eyes, flinty and sharp, which matched his proud nose and angled chin. His skin was paler than most, likely from years cooped up inside parlors like this one, though he’d kept up his physique through the years -- Nerin cocked her head. What am I thinking? She cast a withering glance at Jeb, whose mouth had started to quirk up ever-so slightly. “Stop trying to Soothe me into your bed, old man,” she said dryly. “I’ll have a glass of red, and none of that Callingfale dreg you buy cheap. I want the real stuff. It’s going to be a long night, I can feel it.” Jeb reached behind the bar and drew out a bottle, pouring her a generous glass. He slid it across the bartop and winked at her. “I can’t make you feel nothin’ you don’t already have cookin’ up there, love,” he said, smirking. Nerin rolled her eyes. “I’m a Soother, not a grave robber.” Jeb chuckled and she walked towards the back room, wine glass in hand, savoring the last moments of quiet dusky evening before her shift began. It was time to begin the business of forgetting.

I posted a few months ago about meeting a lovely young lady who asked me to read to her from Mistborn. Well now we have read era one and Alloy of Law together. Over the weekend she was playing some guitar and making up songs. At some point she asked for a topic. I said "A Kandra who's bones just don't fit very well". The attached video is the result. Small language warning. kandra.mp4

Is there a WoB out there that says that non-Scadrians can burn Lerasium? I know that Hoid was able to burn it, but he could possibly manipulate connection or the something similar (as he attempted to do on Sel) in order to burn it.

So, I like electronopop, and as I was listening to my favorite artist (Owl City) there was this song that reminded me of mistborn, specifically Spook. It's called Embers by Owl City, Album name: The Midsummer Station here are the lyrics: There were days when each hour was a war I fought to survive There were nights full of nightmares and I dreaded closing my eyes There were skies that burst open with a downpour to drown me alive But the world took a spark like a match in the dark and the fire brought me to life So I'm fanning the flames to climb so high 'cause there's no other way we can stay alive 'Cause we're burning bright as we all unite And when it's all said and done we'll shine like the sun so don't let the fire die And we'll watch the sky as it fills with light And though the embers are new, whatever you do just don't let the fire die And you'll find, there'll be mornings when the ashes and embers are cold But you'll fight with a passion and you'll never stop 'cause you know Yeah you know it gets better and your story is yet to be told Every push, every shove, every war, every love Yeah the coals are beginning to glow So I'm fanning the flames to climb so high 'cause there's no other way we can stay alive 'Cause we're burning bright as we all unite And when it's all said and done we'll shine like the sun so don't let the fire die And we'll watch the sky as it fills with light And though the embers are new, whatever you do just don't let the fire die Don't let the fire die It gets better Just don't let the fire die, no 'Cause we're burning bright as we all unite And when it's all said and done we'll shine like the sun so don't let the fire die And we'll watch the sky as it fills with light And though the embers are new, whatever you do just don't let the fire die And though the embers are new, whatever you do just don't let the fire die Don't let the fire die Let me know your thoughts! I have more Mistborn songs.

From my understanding, White Sand from Taldain gets recharged by some combo of investiture and light interacting with a microorganism of some kind on the sand. The Mists on Scadrial are a form of investiture, in a vaporous form similar to water based mist. We have seen the mists power allomancy, although in extreme circumstances, and Brandon has mentioned it could be used to power Feruchemy as well. Since the Mists are similar to water, they might have a strange interaction with Sand Mastery, which consumes water from the user. It could also be possible that the microorganism itself could start to consume the investiture/water to recharge. Is something like this possible?

We know after OB that Iri decided to side with Odium despite the fact that it used to be one of the Silver Kingdoms and a staunch part of the anti-Odium alliance in the past. However, in Odium's negotiations with Taravangian it became obvious that he is very reluctant to promise safety to human countries in return for their cooperation. My guess is that this is because of the pre-existing deal between Odium and the Fused, which promised them Roshar (but not specified the condition it is going to be in). So, what could he have promised to the Iriali leaders? IMHO, help with moving to their next "Land" and escaping the Final Desolation. After all, that's what we learned about the Iriali from Ym's Interlude back in WoR: The Iriali have been stuck on Roshar for thousands of years and it would make sense that they made the same calculation as Taravangian - that this latest conflict with Odium couldn't be won, and decided that it was finally time for their people to head for the Fifth Land. Why Scadrial? Scadrial is convenient because it has a perpendicularity, yet is mostly empty just 3 or so centuries after the Catacendre - and even before that, most of it was uninhibitable. Now it is largely suited to human habitation, but it would take the Scadrians a long time to build up numbers and spred to fill it. It is also clearly to Odium's advantage to help the Iriali move there. This gambit already worked for him on Roshar, after all. What is more and what makes Scadrians such a threat to whoever is behind the red-eyed "faceless immortals" and to Odium, unless they are one and the same, is that the planet and the people are special because they were created by only the 2 Shards now being combined in Harmony. Other Shards have no purchase there, no beachhead, and Scadrians are extensions of Harmony to the degree not shared by the people and planets created by Adonalsium and later taken over by the Shards, which still have the investiture of all of the 16 in them. By introducing Iriali people to Scadrial, Odium would disrupt this situation and get a foot in the door, so to speak. This snippet from the State of Sanderson may or may not be connected: "I consider Wax and Wayne’s final book to be imperative to finish before I start Stormlight Five." given that it would make sense for the Iriali to leave during a Willshaper book and for W&W folks to possibly run into them either a few years after or in the process of their arrival on-world (in case of time dilation during interstellar travel through the Cognitive), in "The Last Metal".

So do we know anything else about shins and possible scadrial relations? or is this just a rabbit hole?

So khriss mentions in AU that in 300 yrs , Scadrial has made immense progress . We have seen it first hand in BoM. She also posits that without Tlr , the technology would already be space age or post scarcity. But on Roshar , it has been 4500 yrs since the last desolation and it's still in the middle age. Now I understand that Roshar and Scadrial are quite different. Scadrial doesn't have to deal with Highstorms destroying railways and other such inventions. The shardblades also serve to deincentivize guns and explosives. But even considering those factors, Roshar is extremely backward in scientific progress and technology. On Scadrial we have seen the magic system used in novel ways to fuel technology. Yet , Roshar which has Fabriel-istics, an entire magic/science system which requires only scientific research to perfect it is still so backward !!!! Anyone could do it at any time and yet , Even among spanreeds and heating fabriels ,it's only in the past 5-6 yrs that any great progress has been made in them. This progress, however , has been extremely rapid. Spanreeds, halfshards, painriels, heating fabriels , Greatbows , alarmers , emotion sensors , stormclocks ,attractors have all been devised or perfected only in the last half decade. The information based economy of Tashikk also seems recent. Then you have the hints at other Fabriels such as Navani's drawings of an inverse ship and the floating platforms which imply heavier than air flight or maybe even spacecraft. The discovery about the flamespren obeying an Heisenberg uncertainty principle analog by the ardents in the isles in WoK is also extremely recent and a breakthrough as well. Isn't it strange that these the requirements for these discoveries/improvements have been in place for millenia and yet it is only now that the potential is crystallizing ? The Vorin kingdoms have had extremely literate women and ardents studying natural sciences for millenia. The Spren have been there even longer. The Soulcasters and Regrowth fabriels were present and endured even during the desolations. The knights radiant have been gone for 2 millenia or so , allowing for fabriels to fill in the gaps. Indeed Roshar seems to have gone through technological regression since the last desolation losing every Regrowth fabriel. And now all of a sudden , just a few years before the Resurgent desolation, large strides have been made in technology . There is another curiosity , this growth has occured only in Alethkar and Jah keved . The other regions have simply imbibed them without making any original contributions. Why has real growth not occured in the Makabaki region which seems just as suitable for creativity and innovation to flourish ? It's more suitable actually , since they don't have gender or eye colour barriers to literacy , they generally have experienced greater peace than alethkar and instead have had to face a greater range of difficulties like famines for example ( Baxil's friend mentions one in living memory ), all of which foster innovation I think the answer is that there is an Unmade whose power is analogous to Nergaoul who caused the Thrill While Nergaoul enrages one's emotions , , I believe this Unmade smothers one's intellect or more likely , perhaps the positive emotions scientific curiosity arouses . Making them incapable or atleast less likely to exhibit innovation. This is similar to how soothing and rioting form a pair in allomancy. . This would explain why Roshar has been so backward in technology , even tho it had lots of time and potential. It's possible Odium used futuresight to see that technological growth would severely harm his cause Or perhaps he saw how much stronger humans became once Soulcasters and Regrowth fabriels were granted to them. So perhaps when Odium went hibernating , he realized the peacetime would allow technology to flourish and hence , he tasked one of the Unmade with strangling innovation. I think this Unmade would not have been mindless like Nergaoul , since it's task required much more precision. Also note that Soothing generally requires greater precision than Rioting. This seems to be true on Roshar as well. I also believe that this Unmade had a greater geographic range than Nergaoul or Moelech. Nergaoul settled in Alethkar until the thrill became an important part of Alethi culture and war drive , whereas Moelach moved adopted a more nomadic lifestyle , moving from one region to another dragging death rattles along with it. Our Unmade however had to cover all of Roshar. Technology has a way of spreading from one region to another , leave one small region and any tech they invent would soon spread across the continent, hence this was an absolute requirement. No region could be spared. It makes sense. Odium left Nergaoul loose to prevent political unity in roshar and Nergaoul has succeded. The 10 highly interconnected Silver kingdoms have all gotten smaller or fragmented or gone extinct and got more isolated as well. Many regions in central roshar are either unpopulated or at tribal levels of political organization. I think Nergaoul is atleast partially responsible for this situation. The Alethi unification was a freak occurrence , a deviation. Indeed , it would have been short lived too if not for the events that occured , mainly Gavilar's assassination, as we know Sadeas was planning on seizing power , Elkohar was weak ,Dalinar would have remained a drunk. Alethkar would have broken down again as it did after Sadees the Sunmaker died. So Nergaoul inhibited political unity , whereas our Unmade inhibited technological growth. As for why this smothering effects have ceased , atleast in Eastern Roshar , I believe the Sons of Honor were responsible. We know about the blacklighted gems Gavilar had and Navani says that gavilar thought he had created them. Could it be that Gavilar and the SoH , had imprisoned the part of the Unmade over Eastern Roshar ? Maybe they thought this would lead to technological growth ( a proven assumption ) which would force Odium into coming back soon , which in turn would force the heralds to return. Maybe this was one of the reasons Odium manipulated Gavilar's assassination, except Rayse didn't plan on Szeth fulfilling Gavilar's dying wish and hiding the gemstone. I think it's imprisonment is somewhat akin to Ruin's imprisonment. Like Ruin's mind was imprisoned. Similarly maybe the Unmade's mind along with part of it's body is imprisoned. The rest of it is now covering most of Roshar and smothering growth by instinct. And I admit , this following point is really teneous, but jasnah and I believe Navani too , saw a marked shift in Gavilar's personality towards the end right . Could that also be linked to the Unmade ? Maybe Gavilar was always smart , but the Unmade had suppressed that aspect of him ? Navani too seemingly went through a similar if less striking change in personality. It is only in recent years that she has immersed herself in fabriel science and while Gavilar's death and her exclusion from her usual social circles could be most of the reason. I don't think that's all. After all she could contributed more as an artifabrian even when Gavilar was alive . From what I know she was active in the community before but only later ,after becoming a widow does she show great creativity and innovation. Similarly , Maybe it was also a factor in turning Dalinar from a simpleminded brute to a philosopher. Of course , Cultivation and Honor's visions and Gavilar's death all effected him but still him going all philosophical to such an extent is a marked difference from his earlier personality in such a short term. So what do y'all think ?

This is obviously purely philosophical, but I was just wondering, if not for her relationship with Honor, would Cultivation have been drawn to Scadrial either instead of or in addition to Preservation? People often say that Preservation and Ruin were both drawn to Scadrial because of their opposing intents, kind of like two poles of a magnet. But strictly speaking Ruin and Preservation are NOT opposites. Ruin is essentially regression and Preservation is essentially stasis. The true opposite of Ruin is actually Cultivation, at least if we assume that her overall intent is growth/progression, which appears to be the case from what little we’ve seen of her. Preservation is effectively smack in between Ruin and Cultivation in terms of intent. And indeed, I would think that if someone were to simultaneously hold the Shards of Ruin and Cultivation, the result very well might effectively be a second more powerful Shard of Preservation, since the net effect of their two intents would cancel each other out. Anyone have any thoughts?

So I have just backed the 'Mistborn Metal Dice' project on Kickstarter by Crafty Games - they ahve created the Mistborn RPGs and the Mistborn: House War tabletop game in the past... Therefore, anything which they produce, usually has high involvement from Brandon. In the description of the dice, the 20 of which all are based around a different Allomantic metal, it describes Harmonium as the following: (God, Internal, Pushing) - Unknown in the Classis Era, Harmonium replicates the effects of nearby Allomantic or Feruchemical metals DISCUSS!

Okay, I know that this topic has been brought up before, but I have new rules. Scadrial Era 1, versus Roshar after the last desolation but before the Recreance. They are fighting on a neutral planet, with no affect from differing gravity's or diseases. the different factions of Roshar have combined together to defeat Scadrial, the knights radiant are at full capacity, with three bondsmiths, about 200 Radiants of the fourth or fifth ideals per order, (based off of Dalinar's vision of the Windrunners and Stonewards) and then an unknown but probably larger number of second and third ideal Radiants, and an even larger number of squires. Scadrial has the kolloss, the steel inquisitors, an uncertain amount of Mistborn, somwere from 30-60, kandra who are bound by the first contract, The Lord Ruler, and mistings, of which there is an uncertain amount. Both sides have whatever armies they can muster in one year, Roshar has access to refiling stormlight, not unliminted, but what they would get from storms normally, but no Heralds. who would win?

Okay here's the premise. All 4 of the big Shardworlds participate in a planetary battle Royale for Cosmere supremacy. The catch is that God Level users are excluded. So TLR is out for Scadrial, Roshar cannot have the Heralds, Susebron and the Returned cannot fight for Nalthis. Sel keeps Elantrians because they have no other comparative God users (Dead Shards). Any magic system native to their world can be used on the planet in conflict along with the fuel in the amounts that they'd normally get. Each has a home city on the planet in conflict, 500,000 people a piece, but with their magic users being proportional to their numbers on the home planet, at least initially. More magic users created from the total population is permitted. No reinforcements from home. 90 days to organize their forces. So who wins?

So in her essay about Sel I arcanum unbounded, Khriss says : I read Emperor's soul after this and was very awed by the fact that the wall , etc were alive. But then I read secret history and stormlight trilogy and well the walls , sticks , etc are all alive there too. Not only are they alive they seemingly have some sapience and will as well as made clear by Shallan's attempt to turn Stick into fire and it's reply in the negative and it's adamant refusal. Indeed one could argue Roshar is more alive than Sel. Afterall Stick was able to beat shallan in a war of wills , whereas on Sel you can interforge anything as long as it has a plausible alternate history. And I can't remember any startling examples but I think the fire that kelsier used in the cognitive during his journey to the Ire was also sentiant. So what's so special about Sel ?

So we have 2 clear first person points of view from the Cognitive realm. One from Secret History on Scadrial and one from Oathbringer on Roshar. Shouldn't the realm follow the same general rules in both places? For example: - there's some inversion between water-land on Scadrial but not all the time; as far as I remember in the first part Kelsier "runs" to the Well of Ascension to try and grab the power, but later when he goes to the Ire the big ocean is actually properly inverted as a landmass; - Kelsier is able to see into the physical realm. In Shadesmar Kaladin and co. are in a totally separate place thhan the Physical realm. Yes the beads are there to represent objects from it but they can't track action in real time like Kelsier seems to be able to. Furthermore at the end of Bands of Mourning when Wax taps the metalmind the view from Kelsier's eyes is this exact thing again, half regular vision and half in the cognitive realm but with the outline of the real world; - souls of the dead passing through the Cognitive realm on Scadrial and being able to interact with people in it. On Roshar I don't remember us seeing any souls appearing neither in Kholinar nor in Thaylena despite the numerous deaths happening at the time because of the battles; What am I missing? I thought it might be because Kelsier was "dead" at first and then a Cognitive Shadow so he experienced things differently than people that just hopped from one realm to the other but he's able to interact with physical objects and people at will (Hoid, Khriss, Nazh, the Ire etc.) who are in the Cognitive realm too.

Hi everyone, I was wondering if any of you have come up with some cool twinborn ideas, or if you have favourite twinborn combo? One of my favourite combos is Feruchemical bendalloy and Allomantic pewter for longer and stronger pewter drags. Another one is something I saw somewhere named a "Catcher"- basically a twinborn with Feruchemical steel and Allomantic tin, essentially making a Daredevil on steroids or something like that. Anyways what are your ideas? Cheers!

Brandon seems to really enjoy giving things names that start with the letter "s". Planets, People, Books, and Things. So I thought it'd be fun to make a thread that lists All The Things that start with S. Some of the ones I remember are Sel, Scadrial, seons, skaize, spren, Stormlight, Shalash, Stormfather, Silence Divine, Shadows for Silence, Shadows Beneath, Shadows of Self, Secret History, Stormlight Archive, Suri, Susebron, Shard, Splinter(ing), Sliver, Shattering, (Cognitive) Shadows, Shades, Shadesmar. Oh, and of course, SANDERSON. What are some of the ones everyone can remember? (Note, this isn't a criticism. Brandon puts a lot of work into linguistics and names. It's just a funny thing that I noticed.)