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"These were TimeTellers, one faction among the many Scadrian political movements. Theoretically they were neutral in the current conflicts. A group of scientists, seeking to “understand the various mysteries of the cosmere.” And they were absolutely not, of course, an arm of the military working in secret to develop tech that would let Scadrial stay ahead in the increasingly dangerous arms race that currently consumed most of the developed planets." Sound like a certain star fleet? Meanwhile on Roshar the orders of knight Radiant still exist “Rosharan, have you said the oaths?” So we have super powered space knights with swords that can cut through any thing. Did someone say Jedi or I'm a crazy?

I was giving thought to the logistical difficulties involved in space travel/worldhopping, and one thing that came to mind is that that Rosharans might be adversely affected by something as simple as a lack of highstorms on long voyages. Here we have a planet where everything's evolved in a fairly investiture-rich environment, which we see reflected in things like gemhearts and how plants grow better when given highstorm water. So what happens when we remove native Rosharans from this environment for long periods of time? Well, I'm guessing that at least for rookie spacers/worldhoppers, they'd begin feeling slightly ill and lethargic from the lack of Light after enough time, even if their actual health isn't in serious danger. I can imagine this being called something like "stormless sickness" or "a case of the dims" or something like that. I don't think this is a hugely important detail, and I've got no clue if I'm actually onto something or not, but it's fun to think about how the little biological quirks of the various Cosmere peoples would affect their lives outside their native worlds.

Spaceships in Shadesmar! I asked Brandon at FanX about how FTL could be achieved on minor shardworlds, without the help of major investiture systems. And he actually gave me a straightforward answer, talking about using spaceships through shadesmar. In that way, they can go faster than light, because the cognitive realm is more compressed than the physical realm. I am still fairly certain allomantic and fabrial FTL will involve primarily interacting with the physical realm, but this opens up a whole new world of FTL that I had never thought about before. To those who might seem a bit confused by this idea, all we have to do is look at Star Wars and Star Trek, which utilize the idea of hyperspace and warpspace, a version of space that is much more compressed than normal, physical space. So, basically Shadesmar. I honestly am shocked I never thought about this before. It’s even possible allomantic drives and gravitational drives will simply be means of propulsion, and the primary route will be through Shadesmar. So now we have a much clearer idea of what Space Cosmere will look like. So, that brings me to the point of my discussion, and the other thing Brandon brought up in relation to this. That the main issue with achieving this is getting easy access to the Cognitive Realm. So let’s go ahead and dive into some Realmatics, and some ways that I can forsee the future of the cosmere going based on this wonderful WoB. In the current era of the cosmere, there are only 4 ways into the cognitive realm that we are aware of. Dying, Elsecalling, Oathgates, and the perpendicularities of the Shards, (plus some other weird perpendicularities we don’t really know all the details about, like on Threnody). Death is (usually) permanent, Elsecalling seems to struggle with returning to the physical realm for reasons we don’t fully understand, and perpendicularities aren’t exactly placed conveniently, and most of them aren’t even safe, and are under the watch of fickle shards. Oathgates are honestly the most convenient method, but as of RoW last we heard not all of the Oathgate spren were even willing to allow travel into the Cognitive Realm. So in other words, travel between realms is not convenient at the moment. So putting aside methods of propulsion, I think solving the problem of easy travel to the cognitive realm is probably the most relevant issue to figuring out the future of the Cosmere, and that’s pretty much what Brandon said as well. So, how do we get easy access to and from the cognitive realm? Probably the best comparisons to make would be to Elsecalling. As I mentioned earlier, the only Radiant we’ve actually seen is Jasnah, and Brandon has stated that while she should be able to get back to the physical realm without finding a perpendicularity, she hasn’t figured out how to do it yet. He also says that it’s more difficult to do than getting in, even if you do have Stormlight. On the other hand we have the Oathgates, but those are fabrials likely directly created by spren (although I have to wonder what kind of spren the oathgate spren are). The oathgates seem to be fairly easy to operate, but it requires willing spren, it stays in one place, and it can require quite a bit of stormlight. Oh, and it requires you to have a Knight Radiant. Pretty inconvenient. Additionally, spren are connected to Roshar, so that could be an issue as well. Another relevant point is the shardpools, or perpendicularities of the shards. When a shard invests in a planet, they (usually) create a perpendicularity. Some are stable, and some are not. Even dead and shattered shards retain their perpendicularities. But shards are fickle and die sometimes, and sometimes they are placed REALLY inconveniently. Like on First of the Sun. And sometimes shards say nope to having one, like Autonomy (or Bavadin?) on Taldain, cutting it off from the rest of the cosmere. The reason they form is due to a large amount of investiture pooling in one place. I’m going to call this a brute force method, because no matter what, if you pool enough investiture into one place, you can make a perpendicularity to cross realms. But that amount of investiture is highly unusual to have access to, and I doubt every spaceship will be able to do that. So we need a more efficient method. Therefore, Oathgates and Elsecalling are a better example of efficient travel between realms. Oathgates, we honestly don’t know as much about they work, but I’d assume they function on the surge of Transportation, like Elsecalling. I feel like there’s a lot more to this surge than what we’ve been told, because right now it feels really underpowered, compared to how the Pursuer uses it. I was hoping we would learn more about it in the Willshapers book… but it looks like we might need to wait until Jasnah’s book to learn about it. And last time I heard about when Jasnah’s book was placed, it was 9 or 10. *sigh* Point of the matter is, elsecalling is in essence puncturing through the realms, making a very small perpendicularity that you can pass through. This, compared to the Brute Force method, utilizes a magic system in order to be a lot more efficient with investiture. Incidentally, I’d like to briefly point out that Dalinar uses the brute force method, I’m pretty sure. Being connected to the broken pieces of Honor has its benefits. After all this discussion of surgebinding, it is time to tear ourselves away from what we know from the books, into the realm of speculation and theories. The essence of my question was to address the fact that most shardworlds do not have magic systems that seem inclined towards FTL tech, or easy transportation between realms. Obviously all investiture draws the realms closer together, but using just pure investiture to accomplish it is a brute force method, and is not efficient enough. Additionally, only Roshar features the surge of Transportation, so minor shardworlds need to be able to develop a technology similar to it, without actually utilizing rosharian (or allomantic) tech. Honestly I’m not sure how allomancy will allow for travel between realms, but that’s beside the point at the moment. So our requirements for this technology are as such: 1. It is efficient in terms of investiture 2. It is possible even on minor shardworlds, without a need for allomantic or rosharian tech. 3. It is mechanizable. 4. It needs to be capable of both entering and exiting the cognitive realm. 5. It needs to be able to store investiture, so as to be able to make it portable and useful over long periods of time. Let’s get to it. The last one is easiest to understand if we look at Taldain. Despite their lack of high-investiture system, they do have one wonderful substance: the white sand. It stores investiture. (or at least the stuff that grows on it does). This, properly utilized, could probably act as an investiture battery. I’d assume many worlds have flora or fauna that absorb investiture, but the sand is really easy to transport. Because, well, it’s sand, and there’s a lot of it. The problem then, lies in where would they get their investiture? I think that answer will come from when they solve the “how do we get stormlight off of Roshar” issue. Stormlight is by far the easiest to access free investiture in the cosmere. It is not at all hard to imagine it being used to refuel ships. Another battery method would be nicrosil. I’m pretty sure Nicrosil investiture batteries are really easy to make. Now as you are reading this, you may be thinking, but all of these technologies are inherent to their own shardworld. How would it be possible for a minor shardworld to independently develop this kind of technology? Somehow, this kind of technology has to become universal. And so, it’s time for my crazy speculation of the day. A speculation that takes into account how Taldain could still achieve FTL, and how they would definitely develop it faster if they were connected to the rest of the cosmere. Something that loops all my crazy spiritual realm speculation together. What if a world could design their own investiture keys? Context. The reason magic systems exist is due to certain applications of investiture, usually set up by the resident Shard. In regards to allomancy and feruchemy, and probably surgebinding too, there is a key in the spirit web, that once you fulfill certain conditions and run investiture through it, you get an effect. It’s a bit more complicated than just that, but my point is, particular spirit web “genes,” or “shapes” allow you to purpose investiture to do particular things. Now, usually that would be achieved through inheritance on Scadrial, or through spren bonds on Roshar. But what if you could alter, or even design an independent spirit web to have these keys without said inheritance or spren bond? If the shape of the web is what determines it, it should work no matter what form it takes in the physical realm. This would be distinctly a mechanical use of investiture. This makes sense in a couple ways; with enough cosmere knowledge to know about the various applications of investiture, and the associated spirit web types that produce the investiture effects, as long as you have a viable way to construct or alter spirit webs, you should then be able to make technology that can do the exact same thing. (Actually, if you think about it, once this… I’m going to call it “Spiritual CRISPR” exists, it would probably be able to alter living people’s spirit webs as well. I bet that would create a massive ethical debate, but as a scientist type, I’m not as concerned about that). Now, it could still be developed without access to the cosmere, as I’m assuming these shapes are totally universal, but it would be a LOT more difficult. It would require independent discovery of “Spiritual CRISPR” and then a lot of trial and error. And intent. So based on that… I’m going to take a leap and say that Taldain will not be the first to figure this out. I’d place my money on Scadrial, but who knows. Roshar and Nalthis are also viable options as well. Scadrial, because they already have some identity and universal metalmind shenangians going on, which seem to point towards that sort of eventual end. All this to say, you then design a machine that can Elsecall, stick it in a super slick spaceship, run some investiture through it, and pop into the cognitive realm. Whee. Well, that’s all the speculation I have on that subject. I have no idea what this Spiritual CRISPR could be (maybe breath?), and it’s very likely brandon just won’t tell us about how this could be accomplished until at least Era 3 Mistborn, more likely Era 4. I could also be totally wrong. But the fundamental principle remains: the key to universal FTL is figuring out a way to easily slip in between realms. I just came up with one way it might possibly occur. Feel free to provide any further insights that I might not have thought about as to how this could be achieved.

I wonder if it will just be focused on Scadrians, or if members of the main cast will be from off world. Like members of the main cast will be from different worlds and have the various different magic systems and they're running around doing stuff. It also ties into a question of if it'll have only.one primary POV like the other Mistborn series or if it'll have a lot of different perspectives a la Stormlight

With the RoW chapters hinting at the capabilities of Logicspren Fabrials, and the knowledge that Hoid wants Instant Noodles to be a thing, I wanted to ask your opinions about the following: By the time of larger crossovers, whether that will happen in the Space Age or earlier, what do you think will be the planets main strengths and weaknesses? Not purely magical, but also technological. Scientific. What do you think might different planets have developed earlier than others, and why? What would say Sel bring to the table that Roshar doesn't have? A few thoughts from me, correct me on whatever I'm wrong with. What are the most technologically advanced societies we know of so far? - Scadrial, especially Southern Scadrial. They've already got flying vehicles, and Feruchemical devices can open up a lot of possibilities, and guns are a thing too. However, one of the real gamebreakers that Scadrian society has, is Canned Food. A huge gamechanger for feeding people. It probably won't be long until they have refrigeration, whether by conventional means or using feruchemical heat saving. - Taldain, or rather, Darkside. They also have guns, and as far as I know White Sand is one of the earliest stories, so by the time of Era 3 and 4 who knows what they have developed? Seeing how Magic is not a thing on Darkside during White Sand, I think they might get the closest to technological development how we know it on Earth. And even if we take Sand Mastery into account, I can't imagine nearly as many applications for it as with Feruchemy or Fabrials. - The Ones Above. Who are they? Nalthis, Scadrial, Taldain? They're definitely advanced. Was that a Fabrial they were using? And what about the others? - What might Nalthis come up with? Nightblood is 99% going to be a major component of the crossover stories, so there might be more coming from where he is from. Shardblade 3.0 might be the first of more... somethings. If you can create a sentient sword that is that destructive, lets pick up Dalinars thought of "why are there no Shardhammers? or tools? why just swords?" Or will Endowments Endgame focus more on certain Returned giving up their Divine Breath in key moments to do specific things? Also possible. Or maybe the existance of Breath will push Nalthian society somewhere totally else that I'm not thinking of. - Roshar. Fabrials. Computers? Flying ships? Long range communication. Easiest access to Shadesmar we've seen so far. Soulcasters (see what I said about Canned Food.). - Sel. Cosmere aware people will probably be interested in developing spacetravel, much more so than people from Roshar with their easy access to the cognitive realm. We already saw the Ire, but afaik we have very little knowledge of any exceptional scientific progress there. - Threnody. The Ire considered it a possibility that "the forces of Threnody" would join the game. Were they thinking of the people there, the shades... or the Evil? Nazh used a Shadegun... weaponised shades maybe? Or maybe my wild theory that Kelsier will try (and succeed?) to reforge Ambition, and that's Threnodies largest contribution to the Cosmere Endgame? - First (and second and third and fourth) of the Sun, Ashyn, Braize? I'm very exited to hear thoughts from others on what you think all of these planets might come up with by the time crossovers happen more and more, and where you think scientific development might go on planets that arent Scadrial or Roshar.

In era two there are no mistborn and full feruchemists and much less powerful mistings/ferrings. I am guessing in era 3 and 4 even mistings/ferrings will be rare and twinborn might even be nonexistent. Does anyone have any ideas about how Brandon Sanderson will be able to keep the powers going?

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!

Deveraux Dufor casually stabbed backwards with his sword, a nice steel long-sword, to kill an eldritch abomination. He had heard it coming towards him for the past ten minutes at least, stalking closer and closer, sniffing him out with, with what he now saw as he turned towards it, an unnatural 37 nostrilled nose. Seriously, it was like an over-sized trunk or shaft of flesh, with 37 holes in it. But enough of that. Deveraux, or Storm, as more people knew him, continued to stride purposely through the shifting Alleyways. He'd spent a lot of time here in the past twenty-odd years, and he was quite used to it's rules by now. Though, that didn't diminish the danger. Even now, his compounded tin hearing let him know that there were a multitude of other creatures all around him. Now, he was sure he'd come far enough, any moment now... abruptly his surroundings changed, and he was standing somewhere outside the walls of Alleycity. Yes, he was where he wanted to be. Rusts he thought, looking up at the walls, This place has changed so much. He’d sworn he wouldn’t come back here. Sworn to never return to this place of Memories. Somewhere in those walls, was where he’d had himself stripped away. Swing had thought he was ready, but.. Harmony, Swing. He fell to his knees. Not Here, damnation it. He was shaking, by Preservation’s wings, he was shaking. This is why I swore to never come back here. But he’d had too. Once he’d heard of the state of TUBA. The memories passed, and he picked himself up. He sheathed his sword, and walked along the walls for a time, until he was approaching the gates. He pulled his cloak tighter around him, and pulled on his hood. As he made his way into Alleycity proper, he looked around at the buildings. Many of them seemed.. alien. He’d seen the beginnings pf skyscrapers in Elendel, sure. But the buildings here were sleeker, and reflective; like towers of glass. So much had changed. Despite the changes, the streets themselves were still familiar enough, even after all this time. Deveraux made his way to the TUBA headquarters, which, while still in the same location, was several stories taller. Offhandedly, he wondered if the old Terminals were still in use. He opened the door, walking up to the reception desk to find an aging man sitting leafing through a magazine. He thought he recognized the man, hadn’t he been involved with the creatin of the Terminals, actually? What was his name though, Gared maybe? Yes, his nametag confirmed. Gared looked up from his reading. “Can I help you?” He asked evenly, in a somewhat gravelly tone. “Yes,” Deveraux replied. “I need to speak with Deteca, immediately.” Gared looked surprised. “Oh, well.. er.. you’ll have to fill out some paperwork before you can--” he cut off. He seemed to finally be taking in the man standing in front of him. Deveraux lowered his hood. “St-Storm!?” Gared stammered. “I’d prefer if you called me Deveraux, but yes. It’s me.” He replied flatly. “I, uh—right. Of course. I’ll get a message to Deteca right away!” Gared pulled a small mobile from his pocket, and tapped the screen in a manner that made Deveraux dizzy. He’d of course heard of and seen mobiles before. They were like complex and advanced spanreeds. They had existed for a good number of years now, but had not been prevalent in Alleycity until the “towers” that powered them had been erected. Regardless, He would probably need to take advantage of them. His plans.. well, he’d get to that when he came to it. Shortly, an assistant came and lead him to an elevator, which shot downwards. They disembarked, and made their way through several winding hallways, to a smaller meeting room. Now he would just have to wait until Deteca arrived.

OP credit goes to @Ookla the Very Handsome (Ark1002), @Ookla the Aleatory (Silva), @Ookla the Wine Shelf (Darth Woodrack) A A figure knelt on the top of a rooftop, a hulking mass covered in a hoodie made out of five wolf pelts. In each of its hands rested a massive knife, with ridges, serrated edges, indents, anything to make the stab as painful as possible. A small (comparatively) backpack adorned its back. Crow looked up, smiling grimly. The Acute's were too well protected to kill or take- for now. So she would do something the Marines and the Acute's wouldn't expect. She was going to take their cousins, and do to them what she had done to the Acute's. Well, what Lord Hellbent had started. She was going to take them, enslave them, torture them. And while she was at it... she would kill the parents for the hell of it. She stalked to the edge of the roof, preparing to lower herself to the window. ~-~-~-~-~ S Silk Wered Pushed off a coin and onto the roof. She landed with just the slightest thump. It was a place she liked to go to think. The solitude was a nice contrast to the bustling sounds of inside the house. She loved her siblings, but sometimes she just needed a little silence. The sight of another person on the roof was not a pleasant one. For a moment, Silk wondered if one of the younger ones had gotten their hands on a ladder. That thought was quickly dismissed when she noticed the size of the person. And their attire. Weapons weren't allowed to lay around the house. There were specific places for them--the roof wasn't one of them. Silk still carried some with her. Her parents were fine with most things the older Wereds did, so long as it wasn't at the expense of the younger ones. She stayed silent, watching the person. If it came to it, Silk knew she could Push off and away. Something told her that leaving right then and there was a bad idea. --- On the back of the shade of the window Crow was preparing to enter there was a taped on note. The handwriting was crude and childish, printing the single word: Predictable. None of the Wereds even knew it was there. None of them had put it up. If asked, they would honestly say that they didn't know who had. Only one Acute knew about it and she had been hoping that it would never be read. ~-~-~-~-~ A Crow growled at the sight of it heartbeat, and leaned against the window heartbeat. She leaned back, thinking heartbeat. A bubbling rage filled her at the thought heartbeat of who might have done this heartbeat. Light heartbeat? Freedom heartbeat? Pri heartbeat?The storming space marines heartbeat? She let her hand fall into position heartbeat. A glimmering blade, flamelike, with a skull on each side of the hilt, and a glittering amythest on the bottom. She cleaved the window in half, and slipped into the room silently. It was the bedroom of the Wered parents. These two would die. She turned to the window, and pulled out her fabrial. It was a soulcaster, with only one gem remaining. She soulcast aluminum, transforming the window and the area around it into aluminum. Nobody would escape that way. She grinned, bloodlust filling her, and walked to the parents bed, silent steps. She stood over the bed, the image of death, a blade in hand, her face hooded and dark, and prepared to kill them. ~-~-~-~-~ S Rusts. Silk froze, watching the figure climb down and out of view. She burned steel, trying to track them. Four of her weaker lines vanished suddenly. What on Scadrial? How? It wasn't Allomancy meaning the intruder wasn't from nearby. But who would sneak over in the middle of the night? Who held a grudge? Oh. Of all the rusting ruin out there, this was one she knew they couldn't counter, if she was right. She sighed and pulled out her phone. --- Bened Wered woke to the sound of his phone buzzing. Not much could get through his "Do Not Disturb". He quickly opened it up, read it, then froze for just a moment. Then he jumped out of bed, not even bothering to put on slippers, downed a couple bottles of zinc, and ran up the stairs to the fourth floor, flaring his Rioting throughout the house. It was as fast a silent alarm clock he could manage. --- Sliding down to the lower rooftops, Silk saw the soulcast shut window. She swallowed, then slipped down through the window of Fog's bedroom. Bened's Rioting hit her immediately, alivening all her senses. The risk was real. The little one was fast asleep. She scooped her up and hurried across the hall to the twins. They too were asleep. Silk shook the two awake. The moment Horizon came to, slightly frightened from the Rioting, she motioned for her to burn bendalloy. "Stay quiet," she told them. "Mommy and Daddy might be in danger. I want you to get Branch then go with Bened down the stairs. Pick up the others on the way down. I'm going up." She sent another quick message on a family group chat, telling them the little she knew and was doing. --- Down on the first and second floors, the others were waking up. The Rioting had helped with that. On the upper most floor, a phone buzzed receiving Silk's message. It was locked and as such not readable, but it was a sign beyond the Rioting that people were awake. Chen Wered stirred at the sound. Hina woke abruptly from the sound, Bened's Rioting keeping her from falling back asleep. "What in Ruin's name do you want?" she asked as she sat up. She shook Chen then downed a vial of bronze. She began to burn it, knowing it wouldn't do much good. "Please don't say you want to kill us to pay for something someone did to you because that would be such an overused line and I at least don't want my death to be cliche. I mean, the whole sneaking in the night thing is already pretty predictable for villains, so I hope you're cleverer than you're looking. "Also don't say our worst nightmare. Or death. Or redeemer. Even if it's true. Give us that much respect. We obviously are connected to an important something that hurt you or you wouldn't have gone through all this bother to destroy a perfectly good window." At that point, Chen was also sitting up. "Good window," he said. "Did you know that it might have been around during the Final Empire? Hina, here, doubts it, but I believe so. The frame was held together with four iron nails. Iron. He uncapped a vial of bronze. "But seriously, if you're going to kill us, don't be predictable and do it in front of the kids. That's trite. Be your own person. Don't try to be like those over-the-top serial killers. You do you." Chen smiled. "Or just don't kill us. The blade seems to tell me you won't listen to reason, but it's worth a shot. "Killing doesn't accomplish anything. It'll just get more people mad at you and trying to kill you. If you don't kill us, everybody walks out of here happy." And sixteen people don't walk out of here orphans, he wanted to add. Hina shrugged. "Murder is bad. Bad is evil. Evil is death. Not death on your enemies, but your early death. No one is invincible, not even the strongest armor can protect a murderer." They knew anything they said wouldn't make a difference in what would happen. They said it nonetheless, though, hoping at least some words would haunt the figure in the future. ~-~-~-~-~ A Crow grinned. She liked it when they tried to talk their way out of it. It was even better than begging. And they had asked that she wasn't to say any of those things... so she wouldn't. Crow wouldn't say anything. Crow walked forward, her shardblade carving a line through the floor. Then her blade flashed up inhumanly fast, going through the parents. She chuckled darkly as their corpses fell, and turned. She would deal with them later, to make the message good. But for now... she had to get the kids. One of them had to have seen her on that roof. That's how they'd known she was there. Crow knew a little bit about the layout of the house. There was twins, and they were on the fourth floor. She walked above their room, and instead of taking the predictable route, cut a hole through the floor, falling through it silently, rolling and grabbing the ceiling before it could hit. She looked up, her eyes glowing darkly at the twins, at Silk, at Fog. "If you scream, I will slaughter the rest of your family." ~-~-~-~-~ S Honeed was flaring bronze, searching for active Allomancy in the house, her siblings watching her. "It's gone," she said, frowning. "They aren't burning anymore. There's no sign at all." Semb and Terra looked at each other. They all knew what it meant. Their parents were dead. ~-~-~-~-~ W The tattered one walked into the doorway, cackling. He shot a spike through the home phone as well as any other phones in the house, then sent spikes from his back to block the door. He then bellowed at the children, “Why hello there! Your parents are dead? Are you next? I certainly hope so!” ~-~-~-~-~ S The figure dropped down from the ceiling. Everything was shaping up pretty poorly. Now, Silk knew, the best case scenario was keeping all of them alive. "We weren't planning on it," Silk said, calmly holding Fog against her chest. The twins were hugging each other, showing all the terror she wished she could show. "Screaming would accomplish nothing. Instead, I'll just ask you some questions. First, what in Ruin's name do you want? And second, how do you plan on paying for structural damage repairs? It gets quite costly pretty fast." --- Bened dropped his flare to a more sustainable burn when he reached the fourth floor. He hurried over to Branch's room and picked up the two year old. The sound of Silk's voice told him that the threat was in the twins' room. Good. She'd hopefully be able to keep it preoccupied. He quickly descended the stairwell to the third floor. Fauna, Fild, Clove, and Laurel were all standing there waiting for him. From her stance, Bened could tell Laurel was burning pewter. He shook his head at her. No. Her face fell, but it didn't matter. His six year old sister was not getting involved. Quietly, he herded them down to the second floor. The triplets were there, pain apparent on their faces. They gave him a look that removed any doubt he had left. They were orphans. In silence they went to the first floor. It felt like retreat, leaving Silk, Fog, and the twins up there by themselves, but there was nothing else to do. Viness, Tanel, and Golda stood right by the stairs. Viness took Branch from him. "Fog, Horizon, and Moss?" Golda asked softly. Bened shook his head. "Silk's with them." She opened her mouth to respond as an unfamiliar voice rang throughout the house, following the sounds of destruction. "Why, hello there! Your parents are dead? Are you next? I certainly hope so!" Golda sighed. "Ground floor. And without Silk we've got no other way out but the front door." She pulled out a couple bottles of brass, then downed them. "Come with me, Fild. Let's try to stop this one through reason." Fild nodded and followed her after replenishing his own internal stores of Nicrosil. --- He was pretty hard to miss spotting--all out freaky ghost mode. Golda kept Fild behind her, out of sight. "Hello, there," she said in polite a voice as she could muster. "Would you like a cup of tea?" She flared brass as she spoke. The amount of Soothing was more than she'd ever attempted before, even against Bened's Rioting. She also knew that if Fild burnt nicrosil it would be even more for a moment. It would also rid her of all brass, but it would be a small price to pay. They just needed to clear a way out. And hopefully get Silk, Horizon, Moss, and Fog out too. One step at a time though. ~-~-~-~-~ W The Tattered One screamed and backed away bellowing, “GET OUT OF MY HEAD YOU FILTHY CHILDREN!”! Before shooting a cloud of spikes at their legs. ~-~-~-~-~ A Crow grinned, and chuckled, her voice reverberating throughout the room. "If I need money, I could always sell one of your siblings into slavery. I bet a pair of twins would fetch a nice price..." Her shardblade begane carving the floor, scratching Aon Sheo into the floor. She stepped forward, leaving a line in the floor from the previous Aon Sheo, and began carving it again. She leaned down, and her huge hands shot out, grabbing Silk in one hand, one of the twins in the other. She pulled Silk and Fog toward her, and shoved the twin under her arm. She grabbed the other one. She shoved Silk under her arm, and ripped Fog from her. Crow grinned, and held Fog in one hand. Then she walked out of the room, to go downstairs. That was when she heard the scream. Dammit. She rushed down the stairs, squeezing Fog and the twins, hard enough it would bruise, and landed with a massive thump on the first floor. Crow growled deeply, her voice echoing down to the ground floor. "I warn you, child, that if you do not stop with the mind games, you will soon be cleaved in half." ~-~-~-~-~ S Golda and Fild ran up the stairs to avoid the spikes. "We need a new plan," she gasped out to the others. ~-~-~-~-~ W “Come here little children! I’m not going to hurt you! I just want to play,” He said, stalking towards the stairs. The last word was punctuated by him ramming spikes through the bottom of the stairs, destroying the stairs and the central support structure. ~-~-~-~-~ A Crow Blackice grinned in her hoodie, but it faded fast. She set them down, and straightened, her face dark. "Tattered One, block the door and don't hurt anything but legs and feet." She set down Silk and the twins, still holding Fog. She smirked, letting her hood fall. "That's twelve now. The other two must be the ones who caused the tattered one to scream. A nicrosil, and the soother or the rioter. I still can't remember which." She shook her head, and grinned darkly, her eyes glinting with barely restrained bloodlust. "We're going to go downstairs, and if any of you resist, I kill one of the twins." She turned as the stairs crashed. "Now you'll have to jump. Too bad." Crow reached forward, grabbing Branch from Vinness. "Don't worry, I'll take the littlest ones." Her muscles rippled as she leaned down, and breathed in Bened's face. "Now, all of you... JUMP." ~-~-~-~-~ W “Soother! And fine!” The Tattered one said before returning to the door frame, and spinning back around with spikes emerging from his shoulders and the rest of his body, “And of course I aimed for the legs! The should be on the first floor!” ~-~-~-~-~ S Horizon burnt bendalloy, speeding up time for just the Wereds. "Can you include the sofa in this?" Silk asked her. The little girl nodded. While she couldn't tell any difference from sight, Silk knew it had been done. She dropped a coin then jumped off the ledge, Pushing at it in intervals to slow her fall. Silk dragged the couch over as quickly as she could. Then she Pushed off the coin back up to the others. Silk nodded at Horizon, signalling to drop the bubble. She did so, and Crow, Fog, and Branch began to visibly move once more. Then they started to jump down as though they'd just heard Crow's threat. Silk jumped last, this time not slowing her fall. ~-~-~-~-~ S An ant started doing laps around the house. ~-~-~-~-~ S The ant stopped running and began doing jumping jacks. How did that work with six legs? No idea. Go ask the ant yourself. ~-~-~-~-~ A Crow strode to the edge, moving Branch to the hand with Fog, gripped it, and swung down, landing with a thump. Crow grinned, but her eyes remained cold. She left Branch and Fog in one hand, letting her Shardblade appear from the air. "Now, children, if you don't be good, some of you will stop losing limbs." "You be good little boys and girls, and you'll survive. At least for now." ~-~-~-~-~ S Viness, Tanel, and Silk shared a look. They knew what each other was thinking and they knew it wasn't good. They all shook their heads slightly. No one was going to do something dumb. Golda, however, wasn't watching them. Her eyes were glued on Crow. "Understood," she said, sweetness disguising the hatred she felt. "How do you define good, though? Morally or cooperatively? I'm assuming cooperatively, but it never hurts to be absolutely certain." Her voice hardened. "Especially when the only crime we've ever done is exist." Silk put a warning hand on her shoulder. "Excuse my sister, please. We aren't at our best when woken abruptly in the middle of the night." She didn't mention the fact that she hadn't even gone to sleep in the first place, having chosen rather to get out and enjoy the night. She supposed that may have ended up for the better. They'd at least gotten some warning. "Now, would you like a cup of tea, or would you rather get on with whatever it is you want?" ~-~-~-~-~ W The Tattered one looked Crow incredulously and said, “Are they serious?” Before walking over and grabbing each of their wrists in turn and making a sort of spike handcuffs around them. He then returned to the door. ~-~-~-~-~ A Crow smiled tightly. "Unfortunately, we have places to be, you and I." She pushed the hilt of the shardblade into the small of Silk's back. "Now, everyone, out of the door, one by one. Tattered One, out front, I'll take up the back." She grinned. "We go to the transport point now." ~-~-~-~-~ S The ant watched them leave, as disappointed as the Wereds that neither offer of tea had been accepted. A Criminals had been hired. Lots of them. It had taken multiple gangs to fill up all the jobs that had been required. But when Raven Underdark asked you to do something... you did whatever she goddam asked. If you didn't, you were never seen again, and as likely as not, your family disappeared as well. There was two tasks for the criminals. One was a violent, bloody job, but it would be easier then the other. In the other, they were to be simple messengers- to a house guarded by godlike figures, who didn't show their faces. And they couldn't be seen. At the first house, only three were needed. Sadists, murderers, the scum of the earth. They took two corpses, and mutilated them, skinning portions, breaking bones, making their blood coalesce in puddles upon the floor. They moved the bodies around, so their was puddles of blood on all of the floors. It was incredible how much blood there was in two bodies. They had left the faces untouched, by order, except the eyes, which they gouged out. Then they hung the corpses, using their own intestines, over the front porch, where they stayed, dripping on the porch, covering it in blood, until the neighbors discovered it the next morning. At the second house, a message had been left for each of the children. A message on their pillows. The criminals didn't understand what the messages meant, but they did what they were told. Each message deposited exactly where they were told to put them. They snuck past the armored figures, past the people who were in the house. They entered through windows, through the attic, but all of the messages were placed where they were told. All ten messages. They read:

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," Said Dusk, who can do these if anyone forgot. Walker smiled. He was finally married. He smiled, and kissed Melody, his wife. @Blessing of Potency

>> Welcome to the A.C.E. Records Database. Please enter qualifications. --------- Deb Stancel closed her laptop and rubbed at her temples, squinting into the bottom of her cup and wrinkling her nose at the light dusting of coffee grinds sitting there. She glanced at her watch - a real watch, none of those absurd fabrial devices some Rosharans swore by - and sighed. Half-past nine. With one final glance at her watch, Deb rose from her desk and tugged at the end of her uniform jacket. It was a deep olive green with orange trim, and it matched her pants. Indeed, it matched nearly everything in her cramped little office, as was fitting. This was Alleycity Excavation, and those were Alleycity Excavation's colors. If she was lucky, she'd find a few more competent souls to pad ACE's ranks today, and a few more orange and green coveralls would get churned out for them. No such thing as luck, she reminded herself, smoothing her hair as she rounded the desk and headed for the door. She needn't have bothered; her hair was already as smooth as a sheet of ice, her bun a perfect ring of blonde. A place for everything, and everything in its place. That was how things got done - that was efficiency. And if Deborah Stancel was one thing, she was efficient. She slid a clipboard and pencil off the end of her desk before turning the knob on her door and walking out into the hallway. People scurried this way and that, accountants, engineers, pencil-pushers. They bobbed their heads to her as she passed them, and she returned each nod with one of her own. Smaller, of course, but still. Decorum was to be rewarded. Everything in its place. As she neared the large meeting room at the end of the hall, she spied Farren, one of her assistants. He gave her a deep nod, then straightened up to look her in the eyes. "Ma'am," he said briskly, awaiting her reply. The corner of her mouth quirked up just a bit. "Good morning Farren. Has anyone arrived yet?" "Not yet, Ma'am," Farren said. "Though, it is only nine thirty. The recruitment ad specified a ten o'clock start time." "Nine thirty-six, to be precise," Deb corrected. "It is always important to be precise, Farren. Still," she said, catching him before he could apologize, "you are right. Arriving too early is inefficient. Let us wait then, and see who has answered our call." Farren looked at her, a question in his eyes, though he did not voice it aloud. Deb sniffed a little. "Speak, then. I can practically hear you thinking." Her assistant blushed a bit, but did as he was told. "Waiting, well, it just seems a bit... dramatic for you, Ma'am." Deb raised an eyebrow at Farren, almost cracking a true smile at the young man. "Contrary to popular opinion, Farren, I am human. Allow me this one failing." Farren blushed deeper and cleared his throat. "Perhaps I should go in and, um, wait for you then, Ma'am. Let the applicants know what to expect. If... if, um, that's alright with you, of course." Deb jerked her chin at the door. "Best not to keep them waiting then," she said, and watched as the young man slipped gratefully into the meeting room. She would have laughed, but then, it was not the time for laughter. Not here, not now. Not with what was at stake. Whatever is down there, we'll need all our wits about us. All the wits we can get. Laughter was for later. For now, she waited.

As we know, Hoid will be the protagonist of Mistborn era 4, but he is ridiculously overpowered right know. List of Hoid's powers: - lightweaving(old Yolen magic & being bonded to a Cryptic) - Healing(stormlight, possibly Yolen magic) - Agelessness(Yolen magic?) - Lerasium Misborn - Fortune(more old Yolen magic?) - Surgebinder(he will probably have sworn at least 4 oaths by era 4) - Worldhopping(by technology or unknown magic?) - Extensive knowledge about the basically everything(not really a power but hey, knowledge is power right?) - Ability to speak multiple languages(unless he wastes his time learning a new language everytime he worldhops to a new planet, he probably have some access to Connection) - Some form of defence against people in other realms(Kelsier got hurt when he tried to touch him in the Cognitive realm) - Probably have some form of knowledge on Forgery and probably have a bunch of Breaths and unkeyed metalminds stored away somewhere Brando Sando(yes that what I call him in every circumstance, regards from r/cremposting) probably needs to do something to Hoid or the rest of the Cosmere to actually provide challenges to Hoid Possible solution 1: Hoid get a major power downgrade before era 4, possibly by the hands of those 17th Shard people who are trying to find him in SA(forgot which book). Or everyone in the Cosmere gets a major power downgrade(maybe due to something major happening with the Shards?) Possible solution 2: Either all of the main characters encountered in era 4 will be just as overpowered(fighting against people just as old as Hoid or maybe even a Shard) as Hoid or technology has advanced to the point where it can substitute magic(Fabrials, unkeyed Metalminds, maybe even some Elantrian made stuff)

So today I was at work and was thinking about allomancy and FTL technology when I realized that speed bubbles compress space. I can't believe no one has mentioned this before, so I'll act as if this has been proposed before and try and add as much detail as possible. Since I had many hours to work this out, here's what I have: I am basing this on the idea that the cosmere still has einsteinian physics, because I don't think Brandon is just throwing out all that stuff. He's relying on that. And here, there was an idea for a FTL drive called the alcubierre drive. The basic idea is that while no THING can move faster than light, space-time can. So, like surfing a wave, you compress space in front of you, and expand space behind you, and end up going faster than light. So, what I realized is that a speed bubble can't be dilating time without dilating space to some degree or another. Obviously it's not a huge amount, because it's not affecting the people inside enough for anyone to go "huh, this is weird." But, if you're compressing time, you should also to some degree be compressing space as well, based on the whole idea of space-time. And that means with 2 bubbles, you could potentially achieve FTL travel. This idea has several things going for it, but obviously there's a bit more to this process than just a slider and a pulser in a rocket ship. First, this is a relatively viable method of FTL travel, given that unlike many other methods in stories, it doesn't break hard physics. The main issue in the real world is that we don't have a great way to compress space and expand space in the way that an alcubierre drive would require. But huh, look at that! Coincidentally, Bendalloy and Cadmium EXACTLY fit the bill for what you would need! It's almost as if Brandon read about the alcubierre drive at some point, and decided to create speed bubbles to fit the bill, so that they could be around as a power but then later on be realized for their greater potential! Even recently, he's mentioned that there's more to speed bubbles in relation to FTL travel that we haven't figured out yet, and we've gone on and on about the ability for cadmium to enable a "cryosleep" of sorts. This would exactly fit the bill for something reasonable for them to discover in the future once they have a better understanding of realmatics and physics. Speaking of which, real quick, I'll list off what Scadrial needs to get to to have this be a viable technology. First, they need to get an understanding of Einsteinian physics, specifically space-time. Furthermore, they need to understand that speed bubbles are locked on in location to things like the planet, or a moving train. This would allow them to extrapolate that a bubble would stay in place on a spaceship as well. Finally, they need to have completely mechanized the metallic arts in order to get the ship off the ground so that this drive will even work, because it won't work on a planet. Furthermore, I expect them to have figured out how to create spirit webs with allomantic powers that can draw more investiture than even lerasium mistborn would be able to, much less any allomancer born to their powers in that era. So, here's what I'm imagining Era 4 to look like. A long, thin ship stands up on the ground, surrounded by a large, ringed tower. The tower activates, each ring activating a constant upward steelpush on the ship, sending it up and up, faster and faster, like an allomantic rail gun. Once in space, the ship stores its weight as it determines its course by going through similar, larger rings in space. Then, in the back, a large, powerful cadmium bubble activates, and in the front, a similar bendalloy bubble activates. Space time is compressed in the front, and expanded in the back, sending the ship to speeds that are faster than light. In the middle of the long ship, between the large bubbles, smaller, nested cadmium bubbles multiplicatively slow down time for the people waiting through the voyage. It probably also has another form of propulsion, perhaps a solar sail or ionic engines or something. It could land something on a new planet by simply finding a large enough metal deposit to push against as it descends. Now, my hope is that either I will get the chance to ask him about space compression next time I see him, or that someone else will get around to asking it. Given that he worked with Peter closely on the physics of speed bubbles, and that an understanding of space time is fairly universal, I can't imagine that he would create a power like speed bubbles where they manipulate time in such a way, and NOT have it affect space as well, especially as it affecting space leads into exactly the sorts of discoveries we expect from scadrial at some point. Frankly, I'm more surprised that I can't seem to remember this being mentioned before. edit: oh, and I figured I should mention this thought about Era 4 here. Brandon has always made it clear Era 4 isn't going to be the Avengers. My thought is that instead, it's going to be more akin to Star Trek. With a more focused plot line.

Just after the destruction of the AlleyCity Solace attempted to causally walk through the Aonic gate but instead was forced to stumble backwards to avoid falling. That was right. Even though he bore the Ghostblood crest, little Aurell did not. The gates allowed those who bore the Ghostblood symbol entrance to the city. Those who did not were forbidden entrance. "Exception! Aurell Faine." Solace stated firmly. "Exception made." The voice stated from a small box. "It's good to be home." Solace said. He turned to look and the desert that surrounded the city and where it led up meeting the grass. Yes. It was indeed good to be home. Visitors are welcome! One must check in to visit inside the city and be accompanied by a squad of both Mistborn and Feruchemists. A person who is not a Ghostblood can stay one day. Exceptions are allowed but one must visit the council buildings to petition for a extra day or settle grievances. The Inner sanctum is off limits to all but Council members. Visitors in the present day FangBlade- @AxeliustheGreat Ghostblood residency is available to all Ghostbloods. please state that you are living her to have residency. Current residents @Mraize-Solace and Aurell City Statistics

So we all know that Mistborn Era 4 Scadrial has become a space faring civilisation, and that in Sixth of the Dusk, there is at least one civilisation that has reached this status. Given the sheer versatility of the investiture systems, it is pretty likely that the aliens are in fact Scadrians. That opens up so many questions, but I would like to focus on one specifically: how did they do it? As mentioned before, it is Scadrials magic systems which probably made them the first space civilisation. I believe that it is a combination of Cadmium, Bendalloy, Ettmetal, and Medallions which have allowed them to enter the space frontier. Bendalloy makes speed bubbles, so if you attach one to a spaceship, the math on the wiki page says you would compress 2 minutes of the ship moving at full speed into 15 seconds of actual travel time. The problem with this is that people inside the spaceship will still age, as it is time which is being manipulated. That means that while the spaceship would travel FTL relative to the cosmere, inside the bubble, people would age normally. Essentially, it unpractical space travel and very limited. BUT, if you also create a smaller cadmium bubble around the structure of the ship ( a C.bubble within a B.bubble), we know from this WoB that the effects will cancel out: This means that the crew wouldn't be trapped inside the speed speed bubble, and so will experience time normally. However, to make this technology even more efficient, the Scadrians would put up ANOTHER cadmium bubble within the first cadmium bubble (C.bubble within C.bubble within B.bubble). This would allow them to travel FTL and not feel the time effects at all! Essentially, they would be able to get anywhere in no time. I do believe that Ettmetal will be used in the propulsion of the spacecraft, probably through some nuclear propulsion technology. This is what would take the spacecraft to such high speeds. I don't really know how to explain all the other uses, so here's @hwiles comment pulled from here: As for the medallions their benefits are endless: from breath, to healing, to warmth, to weight (which will probably be useful combined with pushing and pulling in space) and the various other technological impacts. NOTE: I just found out from the coppermind that time bubbles in fact compound if used together. This is crazy, and makes FTL travel much, much easier. A normal speed bubble speeds up time by a factor of 8. Compound this with 10 bubbles and you would be travelling insanely fast. WoB is unclear to me, not sure if will double (8x2) or multiply (8x8). We have no information on Cadmiums factor of change, but we can assume that it will be the same as they cancel, and that it'll also compound. Basically, you can use primer cubes each powered by Bendalloy and Cadmium, structured in specific layers. All the Bendalloy bubbles would need to be outside, and you would need about double the amount of Cadmium bubbles to counteract the Bendalloy bubbles and still create their own time-slowing bubbles. What do you guys think? Any other technology which would make FTL travel feasible or easier for Scadrians? (This is my first theory, so there might be gaps in knowledge. Feel free to point them out).