Cool ideas for Cohesion

[JustQuestin2004]

Out of all the Surges, I'd have to say that I find the Surge of Cohesion to be the one I'm most interested in. Because it almost feels like a strange yet alluring combination of Waterbending and Earthbending from Avatar, except even more broad somehow.

So let's come up with some cool applications for it. Just for fun.

I'll start with one that's been stuck in my head for a while: Stone 'Power' Armor.

The concept is a bit weird but also fairly simple, the Surgebinder uses Cohesion to mold stone/metal/etc around their body, hardening the exterior by 'letting go of it' while keeping the insides moldable and movable via Cohesion. Thus letting them have a 'liquid' armor that they could reshape on the fly for swords, hammers, shields, etc. 

It wouldn't be as tough or efficient as Shardplate, but it would be accessible to any Willshaper or Stoneward before they swear the 4th oath. A decent substitute in most scenarios that don't include defending oneself from Shardblades.

Any other cool ideas?

[Quantus]

• Half-Shards (in various shapes)
• Ground Liquefaction (ie. mud trap)
• Molecular Object creation (ie. FullMetal Radiant)
• Alchemy/Chemistry through molecular manipulation (might want Division to compliment).
• Crystalline structure manipulation (ie correct flaws to Create a Perfect Gem)

 

 

[Eternal Khol]

"The most versatile substance on the planet, and they use it to make a frisbee" -Ultron

[Velvet]

52 minutes ago, Quantus said:

• Half-Shards (in various shapes)
• Ground Liquefaction (ie. mud trap)
• Molecular Object creation (ie. FullMetal Radiant)
• Alchemy/Chemistry through molecular manipulation (might want Division to compliment).
• Crystalline structure manipulation (ie correct flaws to Create a Perfect Gem)

 

 

This is something I feel like we might see in the future of Roshar, A perfect gemstone would be very uesful, especially travelling long distances through Shadesmar. an event I would not be surprised seeing again. 

[JustQuestin2004]

9 hours ago, Quantus said:

Half-Shards (in various shapes)

Aren't those just Fabrials? Care to expand on this because I'm not quite following.

9 hours ago, Quantus said:

Ground Liquefaction (ie. mud trap)

Pretty much the most basic use of Cohesion, but it's still stupidly effective on pretty much anyone who can't break rocks or fly.

9 hours ago, Quantus said:

Molecular Object creation (ie. FullMetal Radiant)

Now this is clever, you'd be able to create whatever weapon or tool you want with just whatever is around you. Make a hammer made out of stone, make a sword out of a car or make a shield out of a door. The possibilities are endless.

9 hours ago, Quantus said:

• Alchemy/Chemistry through molecular manipulation (might want Division to compliment).
• Crystalline structure manipulation (ie correct flaws to Create a Perfect Gem)

Using Cohesion the affect the Molecular Structure of objects? Hard to say if that's possible but if it is it'd make Cohesion even more OP than it is.

9 hours ago, Eternal Khol said:

"The most versatile substance on the planet, and they use it to make a frisbee" -Ultron

True, I hope we'll be seeing more of Cohesion with Venli and the Listeners in Book 5.

 

Here's another potential trick; Spike creation.

Molding the ground into spikes to directly stab people with, you'd mold part of the ground into a spike, then 'let go' of the tip to let it harden, while keeping the rest liquidy and controllable, allowing you to stab people from afar and control the battlefield even more.

 

Not to mention it's use over long periods such as in a siege? Allowing you to make exceptional defenses such as huge sturdy walls, pits filled with spikes, bunkers for people, etc.

[Quantus]

29 minutes ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

Aren't those just Fabrials? Care to expand on this because I'm not quite following.

The Spren in Half-shards is currently unknown, but if you take Taravangian at his word it's a Radiant Spren, implying that it's a Surge Fabrial. If it takes a Radiant Spren like a soulcaster, that tracks to make a Cohesion Fabrial.  And if it's a lesser spren, then I strongly suspect the Cohesion Surge granted to Radiants could do the same thing to reinforce a given object.  

29 minutes ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

Pretty much the most basic use of Cohesion, but it's still stupidly effective on pretty much anyone who can't break rocks or fly.

And it would theoretically let them mimic the Fused AND bring other folks along with them on a Stonewalk jaunt.  It would be fun they could only take Squires with them for random attunement reasons.

29 minutes ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

Now this is clever, you'd be able to create whatever weapon or tool you want with just whatever is around you. Make a hammer made out of stone, make a sword out of a car or make a shield out of a door. The possibilities are endless.

Using Cohesion the affect the Molecular Structure of objects? Hard to say if that's possible but if it is it'd make Cohesion even more OP than it is.

Cohesion considered is a cousin of Yolish Microkinesis which can directly manipulate both SUB-atomic particles and even the Spiritweb directly.  Supposedly Honor placed strict limitations on Cohesion to make it less dangerous (presumably taking fission/fusion and Nukes off the table).  But I think just moving atoms in a crystal and smoothing out misalignment should be within the theoretical capabilities of the Surge itself (if not the perceptive abilities of a mortal Radiant).  So this might be outside the reach of a normal Radiant (maybe a Stoneward/Bondsmtih/Nightwatcher team-up?) but could be possible with Era4 Fabrial Tech.

[ThatRedHead717]

5 hours ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

Now this is clever, you'd be able to create whatever weapon or tool you want with just whatever is around you. Make a hammer made out of stone, make a sword out of a car or make a shield out of a door. The possibilities are endless.

When Venli first used her radiant power of cohesion in the Tower in RoW (i don't have specific pages or chapters) she has a conversation of sorts with the stones that make up the portion of the Tower she was in. They tell her that past Singers were able to dip sticks into the stone and pull up weapons and tools. They were mostly talking about how powerful the radiant spren and Singers were together and gave a few specific examples like that one. Willshapers and Stonewards are super powerful because of cohesion. I can't wait to learn more about it in SA5

[JustQuestin2004]

4 hours ago, ThatRedHead717 said:

When Venli first used her radiant power of cohesion in the Tower in RoW (i don't have specific pages or chapters) she has a conversation of sorts with the stones that make up the portion of the Tower she was in. They tell her that past Singers were able to dip sticks into the stone and pull up weapons and tools. They were mostly talking about how powerful the radiant spren and Singers were together and gave a few specific examples like that one. Willshapers and Stonewards are super powerful because of cohesion. I can't wait to learn more about it in SA5

I feel like the 'talking to stone' thing is exclusive to Singers with access to Cohesion. But maybe the Shin's weird obsession with stones maybe might lend some credence to the opposite.

9 hours ago, Quantus said:

The Spren in Half-shards is currently unknown, but if you take Taravangian at his word it's a Radiant Spren, implying that it's a Surge Fabrial. If it takes a Radiant Spren like a soulcaster, that tracks to make a Cohesion Fabrial.  And if it's a lesser spren, then I strongly suspect the Cohesion Surge granted to Radiants could do the same thing to reinforce a given object.  

I'd think that increasing something's durability would fall under Tension's purview rather than Cohesion. Interesting conclusion though.

9 hours ago, Quantus said:

And it would theoretically let them mimic the Fused AND bring other folks along with them on a Stonewalk jaunt.  It would be fun they could only take Squires with them for random attunement reasons.

Oh yeah, unless you surround them with aluminum, drain them of Investiture or invest the ground somehow then you really can't stop someone with Cohesion from going wherever they please. It'd be really useful for escaping unwinnable fights, exploring dangerous places and sneaking around where you aren't wanted.

[Quantus]

On 11/19/2022 at 6:42 AM, JustQuestin2004 said:

I feel like the 'talking to stone' thing is exclusive to Singers with access to Cohesion. But maybe the Shin's weird obsession with stones maybe might lend some credence to the opposite.

I'd think that increasing something's durability would fall under Tension's purview rather than Cohesion. Interesting conclusion though.

 

Nope, you are absolutely right, thats definitely going to be on the Tension side of this coin.  Don't know what I was thinking.

[JustQuestin2004]

9 hours ago, Quantus said:

Nope, you are absolutely right, thats definitely going to be on the Tension side of this coin.  Don't know what I was thinking.

It's alright, people tend to mix up Tension with Cohesion, whether you're a poster on a forum or an ancient remnant of a very powerful and very dead deity. Cough*Stormfather*Cough.

Edited November 21, 2022 by JustQuestin2004