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So I just need something clarified about Soulcasters (The Fabrials) A typical Soulcaster can turn anything into any one Essence, though some can have up to three Essences? So if a Soulcaster is attuned to, say, the Essence of Metal, can they Soulcast things into any metal or just a particular type of metal? Like Soulcasting one piece of wood into iron, another into steel and another into aluminum?

Am re-reading Oathbringer and can't help but want a Total war game based off the Kholin conquest of Alethkar. They'd need to add new mechanics for the regeneration of shardplate, and for equipment and customization for more than just the army's general so you could have multiple shards in a single army (and ideally make the unit pathing less stupid but let's be honest that's just how Total War works). Extreme High Storm attrition would make places other than cities important to hold, and of course, capturing enemy shards and enhancing your own shardbearers would be a central mechanic. The Thrill would prevent armies from breaking when they fight near it and it would move to battles with high casualties, berserking units that are winning. Potential problems: The Blackthorn in full shards at max rank and accompanied by the Thrill could singlehandedly destroy the standard 2000 men most total war games allow armies to max out at. solution? smaller maps, but larger max army sizes with a 'reserve' mechanic that allows troops to be held back off the map until sent in. It would also be the first total war game to have a reasonable explanation for why your armies don't need supply lines because of soulcasters

Kandra can hide themselves from most things by changing their appearance. However, it may be possible for a Soulcaster to find a Kandra hidden amongst the people of society by peering into the cognitive realm; it works on the Masked Ones, so why not a Kandra disguise? In addition, a Soulcaster could likely kill a Kandra by Soulcasting their body into an inanimate substance. Or, if they're feeling particularly evil, a Soulcaster could change the metal type of the Kandra's spikes, which would likely render them unusable by the Kandra, dooming them to insanity.

One of the things that has perplexed many of us for some time is the so-called "missing Shardblades:" the absence of the many Shardblades we see in Dalinar's flashbacks of the Recreance. In Rhythm of War, we learn that the "ancient fabrials" such as Soulcasters are actually the physical representation of spren- specifically Radiant spren. Kind of like Shardblades. I think it's possible that after seeing the destruction wrought by their weapons at Feverstone Keep, many of the other Radiants decided not to drop their spren as Blades, but as something else- this could explain both the lack of Shardblades and the strange observation Navani makes that the Soulcaster spren appear like a Radiant spren. The physical appearance and function of these devices would vary, but we do know that some Soulcasters only deal with certain materials- and we don't know what other devices could have been ignored in the post-Recreance destruction. This is a very hot take that I got while listening to the newest Shardcast episode. Let me know your thoughts!

An interesting connection that occurred to me, that I haven't seen discussion about in the wake of Dawnshard: I think we might now have all the puzzle pieces to put together the origins of Soulcasters (the fabrial-like devices). They are ancient tools that modern artifabrians have been unable to replicate. We know based on Jasnah's hypothesizing that the ancient humans did not have long lost knowledge: Shardblades, Shardplate, Soulcasters were not created by humans but received via some other, magical means. We've known there is some tenuous connection between Soulcasters and Akinah based on the Kaza interlude from Oathbringer: the Liaforan Soulcaster thinks about a rumor amongst Soulcasters that links them to the abandoned city. She believes there might be some knowledge or power there to cure her of the effects that prolonged use of a Soulcaster has on an individual. In Dawnshard, Nikli tells Rysn that the Soulcasters are kept “out of reverence, as they were offerings to the Ancient Guardians long ago.” So, again we have a connection between Soulcasters and Akinah (via the larkin, which are linked to the island as evidenced by their needing to return and bond the specific mandra variant that exists there). Now, this might be the source of the rumor that drives Kaza to seek out Akinah (I don't think it is, but can't be sure)--but either way, it opens up another question: why do the Sleepless view Soulcasters as offerings to the larkin (I don't imagine the larkin can use them, except for maybe eating the stormlight within the gemstones). I don't have a good answer to this, but it further strengthens the link between Soulcasters and Akinah/the Ancient Guardians. And this is central to my theory: because now we know that the secret hidden on Akinah, the thing the Ancient Guardians were protecting, is one of the Dawnshards; specifically, the one that encapuslated “The will of a god to remake things, to demand they be better.” And what is it that Soulcasters do? Well--pretty much that, if only at a smaller scale! So here's my theory: this Dawnshard of Change was used to create the Soulcasters. Someone (or some divinity) wielded the Dawnshard to imbue the power of Change into these devices, enabling individuals to use the power of transformation without requiring the Nahel bond or Honorblade. Tinfoil hat theory extension: I'm thinking Honor was the one who used the Dawnshard to create the Soulcasters. Based on a comment from Brandon on the Dawnshard megathread: "Soulcasting via a fabrial is way, way less dangerous than Radiant soulcasting--which is in turn far less dangerous than unbound soulcasting (meaning without oaths.)" It seems like the degree of "oaths" or perhaps bonds on the usage of Soulcasting makes it less dangerous. The Honorblades that grant the Soulcasting ability require no oaths to use, and so have great power; Radiant Soulcasters are bound by their oaths, rendering their ability safer; but the Soulcasters are much more limited in their application, often only able to perform one type of Soulcasting. So, it makes sense to me that Honor had some role in creating the Soulcasters, making them safer to use.

TL;DR Dawnshards "bind" things to powers, sorta. They were used to make the Surge fabrials, and before that, were used on Ashyn to create the disease magic, a pandemic of which is what led to the Exodus. I can't actually take full credit for the theory; I saw the theory they were used to make Soulcasters elsewhere, but I can't remember where to give credit, unfortunately. So far as I know, however, the latter theory is my own. First, what do we know about these things? Now, for wild speculation connecting these things! Here's the ones I'm at least semi-confident in: But what about the parts you aren't confident in? Alright then, he's some much more stretch-y parts of the theory/smaller separate theories. I'm here for crazy theories, these at least have some evidence or logic! I want my money back! Closing thoughts [insert my usual disclaimer about typos and odd ways of phrasing things, because I'm too lazy for more than a cursory scan of what I wrote] I'm not convinced of this theory, but I prefer it to just Surge enhancers. So yeah. And I like it more and more as I think about it. And as usual, this theory is somewhat rushed and not super thought through. So may have some glaring issues I didn't notice, idk. Edit: Ah, I first heard the idea on this Shardcast episode. Turns out the base theory is... embarrassingly close to identical to one of the ideas they speculated on. I did expand on it a lot, and speculate about more details, but the basic idea I apparently subconsciously took nearly unchanged. Oops References

This theory is bit streched, bu I think its interesting. Maybe some others have it, but I didnt see anything similar. We know, that Roshar Planet and Roshar System number is 10. Everything on Roshar is revolving around this number - ten Surges, ten Essences, ten Radiant Orders and so on. But is one incosistency. We have only 9 types of Inteligent Spren, Radiants Spren. Bondsmith Godspren are not "type" every one of them is unique. So should be one more type of inteligent spren. So where they are? Answer - bonded in Surge Fabrials. Soulcasters, Regrowth Fabrials, Oathgates etc. This type of Spren can be called Servespren - they like to help Humans. They can form Nahel Bond, but they dont like possibility to serve just one human/few humans, so they dont want to. In exchange, they chose to have artificiall bodies - Fabrials - and grant their powers to anyone. And is one more Spren who did the same thing - Godspren Sibling. They have artificiall body - Urithiru - and serve everybody. I think Sibling is related to those Spren in the same way Stormfather is related to Honorspren - can be literaly "parrent" for them, can create them, and also can "grow" bodies for them. Yes, I think Soulcasters were not made, they grew in Urithiru. They can be made, of course, as normal fabrials, but first soulcasters probably grew. Servespren can grant any Surge, but only one, and it is limited by his body - Fabrial. You can ask - witch surges can Servespren grant, if he is Bonded by proper Nahel Bond? Its simple - Adhesion and Tension (in physical aspects).

So... two sort of mini theories, which should maybe be separate topics, but oh well. First, considering that Yalb is alive and Shallan drew a picture of him almost like she was having a vision, and the similar drawing she does of Shalash, I’m wondering if the spiritual side of the illumination surge is something like limited Clairvoyance. This is also somewhat based on how Renarin’s future sight works, he only really sees the future of people he has Connection with so far right? This is of course corrupted because of Sja-anat’s influence, but I’m thinking that in a more normal Truthwatcher bond, something similar might manifest, only it would be about seeing things in the past or present rather than in the future. Clairvoyance instead of precognition. This is probably a stretch and would definitely need a lot more evidence to make it really creditable. My second, mostly unrelated, mini-theory sort of tangentially relates to Lightweaver powers as well, in this case Soulcasting, but the fabrials. Knowing from recent pre-release chapters that they found a big stock of Soulcasters in Aimia, that Soulcaster stones don’t have the normal spren in them, and that Brandon’s said we’ve technically seen evidence of Dawnshards on-screen, what if the Soulcasters are somehow technology directly derived from the Dawnshard in Aimia. Either created through researching the Dawnshard, or somehow made from pieces of that Dawnshard. I’m leaning toward the first, perhaps through a mix of the Dawnshard research and knowledge of the Soulcasting surge. I’m also now wondering if the Dawnshards are like “stone tablets” of information that come from Yolen about the nature of investiture and Adonalsium and such. Rather than a literal weapon that caused the Shattering, it’s the knowledge and blueprints of how it was done. That whole splitting up dangerous knowledge or tech and spreading it throughout the universe trope... although I’m sure Brandon would find a fun way to turn it upside-down or subvert it somehow. Thoughts? And have these ideas already been discussed somewhere?

In the interlude with the smoke Soulcaster (Kaza), the approach to the ancient Amian island and its city -that was previously known to Radiants (Akinah)- was protected by a large storm. It was there more than once, as the Captain had told the crew about it, and that it would end. It had a definite end when they approached the barriers. My thoughts include these: 1. There is no way the Stormfather does not know about this storm protecting Akinah. He may be more than silent about it, he may be very complicit in the mission. I suspect he could give Dalinar in incredible amount of information if asked directly. Not that he would...How was the old history of the Knights and Amians interconnected, (as the visiones showed they fought together), and how is the danger to "Worlds" not just Roshar? 2. Why would the storm stop in stead of driving ships into the barrier? Was this too good a writing dramatic moment for the soulcaster, or are you supposed to be able to pass into it when you passed the storm. 3. Amains must be in many ports and places to catch all the ships headed that direction. Are the specialized cremlings from this one trapped on the island? How do they ever get off again? 4. What the heck are they hiding? Old soulcasters came from here, and they work differently than the new ones. Some only do one element instead of all of them. Huge gemhearts abound, but the real secrets seem to lie in the city (referenced in the Urithiru archives and containing partially explored caverns UNDERNEATH them. Is that under water and a hint about Windrunner pressure bubbles?

I don't know if this has been theorized on before, but to cut the preamble short, my idea is the effects of prolonged use of soulcasters are caused because the soulcasters are draining investiture from your soul (i.e. your innate investiture). To start, for those who don't remember, prolonged use of soulcasting fabrials comes at at a cost to one's body (what I term Prolonged Soulcasting Sydrome (PSS)): WOR Ch. 35 The question is why? (I believe) we know that using investiture has a degenerative effect on oneself, and this was my first thoery, but I think PSS seems to be far too dramatic an effect for this to be the cause. Moreover, surgebinding doesn't seem to cause PSS, and, as far as we know, the fabrials try to mimic the surgebindings, so why one and not the other? The only thing I can think of elsewhere in the cosmere similar to PSS is when one uses Nightblood without breath, which had the effect of draining colour from one's body (before death). So, my idea is that soulcasters (and perhaps other old fabrials, like the regrowth fabrial seen by Nale and nameless Stoneward #1) are meant to be used by surgebinders, and as such, try to draw stormlight from their user. However, for the non-radiant ardents that use them (and thus can't draw in stormlight to fuel the fabrials), it slowly drains the investure from their innate investiture. This is exactly as the case with Nightblood, which normally drains one's breath when used, but if one doesn't have breath, it drains their innate investiture, killing them (if not stopped quickly enough). The difference here is that the soulcasters do this at a much slower rate, hence we only get a physical transformation, and not immediate death (although perhaps after enough use, death will occur). Of course, the obvious problems with this is that the Nightblood effect was only draining one's colour (which makes sense on Nalthis, as colour is drained in awakening), whereas PSS is significantly different, with no Roshar-specific reason that I can think of to explain it. Moreover, shard-severed limbs can be thought of as a damaged innate investiture, and they, like with Nightblood, drain the colour of the limb, not turn it to stone. But perhaps there are different manifestations of losing innate investiture. Or perhaps that is what happens when you drain a lot of investiture from one part of the body, whereas soulcaster-use drains a small amount of investiture from the whole body (PSS seems to effect the whole body at once, whereas Nightblood affects seems to affect your arm first). This idea actually just came to me, so I may add to it more later. So, Plausible? Obvious? clearly wrong? discussed before?

(If this has been discussed please post a link for me). What exactly is going on here? It seems like if one is not bound to a spren, soulcasting exacts a toll on the user. Is the fabrial (or spren inside) feeding on their life force? Feeding on personal storm light investiture (in as much as people on roshar have innate investiture)? Something else? Could this physical change eventually kill the ardent or will it transform them into something else completely? Because the spren in a soul caster is, according to the are arcanum, an unwilling slave- could the spren be enacting this change intentionally? Or is it just necessary to fuel the soul casting desired by the ardent using the fabrial?

Anyone else from VA, anyone? Anyway, does Shallan have a Shardblade?? I just came across this little quote while rereading the book that I must have inexplicably skipped first time through because I did not remember it at all: Obviously, that sounds like a Shardblade. And this seems to imply, with "the fruit of her sin," that she obtained it from Does anyone have any theories on who he might be and who he was involved with? How did he come across both a Shardblade and a Soulcaster, and still be of such low ranking? It was mentioned that the men he was apparently involved with had strange diamond tattoos on their hands. Could they be related to those creatures Shallan (and supposedly Jasnah) sees? I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas.