Chicago 02/20/2015

[Kurkistan]

Well...
 
Okay I really didn't feel like making the drive down to Chicago, but technically the bookstore's not really in the city...
 
So it's just me and Argent at the moment, or did I miss someone?
 
Also, my current list (some shamelessly stolen from others) at the moment. Anything I missed getting answered?
 

Would an aluminum bullet move through a time bubble unaffected?

Is it possible/practical for an Oracle to get a bit more utility out of Electrum then Vin and Elend did? So does the Allomancy enhance a misting's mind to the point where he could actually glean useful information out of his many future-shadows; if so, is it more in the range of "oh future-me who went left gets shot" versus "reading my future-selves' body language, it looks like talking with Mrs. Peabody might not be a good idea"?
 
You've said that the laws of physics in the cosmere are "ours except where they have been changed by Spiritual influence", but how exactly do they work in the normal case? Is gravity normally just doing its thing entirely in the Physical realm, or is it fundamentally based in the Spiritual even before people start messing with it using magic?
 
What happens with the Royal Locks if the Throne of Idris passed to someone who was not the child of a monarch?  Like if they were the niece or nephew of the previous monarch. Their parent would not have passed on the Royal Locks to them, but if they gained the throne would they spontaneously manifest the Royal Locks?  Would their children if they were born before?
-[stolen from Weiry]
 
:Post post-WoR
 
Could you please explain how light interacts with time bubbles, Realmatically? I know there is handwavium involved to stop redshift/blueshift and microwaving and the like, but what's the in-world workaround?
 
Do time bubbles "distend" around non-included objects? So if you have a big train going by that's not going to be part of a cadmium bubble, will someone on the opposite side of the tracks still be included in the bubble?
-If any living thing touching a time bubble is affected by it, and the occupants of a train that's not affected by a time bubble are also not affected, then are those occupants still "touching" the bubble?
 
:Post-WoR:
 
Is the "jostling" projectiles suffer as they leave speed bubbles mathematically modelable, or entirely arbitrary?
 
You've said that Drabs on Nalthis don't have Innate Investiture: How are they still sentient, then?
 
Is there any difference between the healing that Feruchemical gold and held-Stormlight can accomplish? Can use of Regrowth accomplish more than Feruchemical gold?
 
Why does Awakening need to drain color, and what determines the amount of color needed?
 
What's the significance of "Zahel's" instructions to Adolin on how to command his Blade when he throws it and the way that Awakening works? Is this some Cosmere-fundamental, or just a quirk of Vasher's particular expertise?
 
Can a Feruchemist manipulate Identity in such a way that he can make metalminds that anyone else—even a muggle—can tap?
 
Can a Feruchemist on Nalthis manipulate his Identity such that he can say "Breath return" and steal Breath from someone else's Awakened item?
 
How long does it take before a newly-made chair starts thinking of itself as a singular object, rather than as just individual components?
 
Why did Syl turn into a hammer during Kaladin's fight with Szeth? A hammer might be better against Plate, perhaps, but not against squishy flesh.
 
If a bunch of pieces of wood in the depths of space (without anyone watching) happened to drift into and stick to each other to form a chair, would that object think of itself as a "chair", or even as a singular object?
 
---
 
Can iron/steel affect metal on the others ide of a bendalloy/cadmium bubble; similarly can emotional allomancy affect people on the other side?
 
Does metal have to be in an allomancer's stomach for a leacher to effect it? Or just inside a human? Or just inside a living thing? If Inquisitors could theoretically burn their spikes does that mean a leacher could also affect them?
 
Could Ruin puppeteer any lifeless that had a single hemalurgic spike implanted?
 
What would happen to a Kandra with two sets of Blessing spikes (like TenSoon) who was bisected such that one set ended up in each half?
 
---
 
:RAFO Bait:
What is Lerasium's Feruchemical effect?
 
------
Are there such things as "Feruchemical savants"? Was Miles one, a "savant" in Feruchemical gold?
 
Do Cognitive aspects generally include people's clothing to some extent?
-To what extend to do people's Cognitive selves include their clothing?
 
Why did Jasnah's combat-soulcasting of the alley thugs affect the clothing of some of them but not of others?
 
----
FORMS:
 
Did some "ideal" of what it is to be human act upon TLR such that he still aged, despite the possibility  that he ought to have been able to get away with a Cognitive view as immortal and unaging?
 
Are "ideals" in the Spiritual Realm responsible for why symbols on Sel have magical meaning, like how it's "known" by the Dor that AonAon represents Arelon?
 
Are "ideals" in the Spiritual Realm the reason why "instinctive Awakening" works, or why specific Command phrases are "discovered" rather than Awakeners being capable of formulating new ones out of whole cloth?
 
Do Soulcasters draw upon some kind of "ideals" in the Spiritual Realm when they transform a material, such as an "ideal" (or "Essence", in this case) of blood when soulcasting something into blood?
-Me: Almost certainly, given Brandon's comments on soulcast allomantic alloys.
 
----
 
How, exactly, does Hemalurgic decay work for Feruchemy? Do Inquisitors have a cap on how much they can store at a time, or do they "waste" Health when they store (so they'd be lying around at 80% health but only storing 10%, for instance), or do they draw it out less efficiently than real Feruchemists?
 
Why do new wounds healed by Feruchemical Gold sometimes heal into scars and sometimes not? Like how Kar had facial scars right after Vin arrowed him, versus Miles not having any at all?
http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/4258-questions-for-seattle-signing-1014/page-2#entry67127
 
---
 
So what's up with frame of reference for time bubbles?
-Who's decides what "still" is in regards to how objects are accelerated/slowed? The bubbler? The bubble? The object the bubble is "anchored" to? The objects in the bubble?
 
Are Feruchemical attributes stored in the Physical metal of metalminds, or in their Spiritual aspects?
 
Is there any meaningful difference between the metalminds of a Feruchemists who stores 10% weight for 10 hours in the first metalmind, and then 100% for 1 hour in a second metalmind?
 
Would an embedded Brass metalmind melt at high temperatures? What about one that's completely buried in the skin?
-Me: Probably not: Water in your stomach oughtn't to boil away
 
If Dalinar were a Feruchemist, would he be able to tap a metalmind (in either world) while experiencing one of his visions?
 
Does the Blessing of Presence help a Kandra against takeover by emotional Allomancy, or only against Ruin?
-Me: Probably both.
 
Could you please explain how Feruchemical brass goes about being a "Cognitive" metal? I know you had to retcon it in, and had originally intended it to be a physical metal, but how does it work Realmatically as Cognitive?

Edited February 19, 2015 by Kurkistan

[macros]

I have a few questions I was going to ask at the Philly signing. If anyone could ask a few of these that would be great so I can finish working on 2 theories I have going at the moment.

 

Did cultivation forsee honor’s shattering/death?

 

Can an honor blade activate an oathgate?

 

Did the knights radiant create the shattered plains?

 

 

At any point did tanavast reliquinsh the power of honor to someone else?

 

What happened to Tearim?

 

Is hoid using magic to autotranslate and if so is it a magic system we are familiar with?

 

We know it has been stated that adanalisum could have been shattered into 16 different intents. We also know there is a force out there opposing adanalsium. Did it shatter into those 16 intents because it believed that was the best way to defend against this said force?

 

Is the keyhole to the oathgate a spren? Shallan says it is the same material as a shard blade.

 

Thanks

[Argent]

Re: Drabs lacking innate Investiture.

 

It looks like that, according to this, Drabs do have innate Investiture, just not all of it.

[Blaze1616]

Did the knights radiant create the shattered plains?

 

Words of Radiance Spoilers:

WoR reveals that the plains Shattered due to a highstorm and everstorm colliding. It references the plains as being "re-shattered" when the storms meet in the book.

 

 

Is hoid using magic to autotranslate and if so is it a magic system we are familiar with?

 

More WoR spoilers:

This was confirmed, and there is WoB on it. Essentially the magic Hoid uses translates his words into what they would be in the native language, unless there isn't a word (such as rabbit/bunny/whatever he says in SA). It then translates what he hears in a similar manner. I've presumed this to be a power of his Lightweaving, as Shallan's Surgebinding version of Lightweaving affects soundwaves, so I assumed Hoid's Yolish version of Lightweaving does the same.

[Kurkistan]

@Argent

 

Yup, thanks. I hadn't realized the implications of that WoB.

[TheOneKEA]

I have a basic question Brandon might answer:

Is spiritual DNA shaped like a helix?

[skaa]

Alright, I'll be going tomorrow. Let me address a few questions I find interesting or otherwise notable to me:

• [skaa] "The city of Kae is named after the Aon for "east". Are the Outer Cities around Elantris all named after the Aons for the cardinal directions? And if so, could you tell us their names?"

  I could probably ask this and get a response, seems innocent enough.

 

Thanks!

 

(Edit: I just had a not-important-but-interesting realization. Since Kae became the capital of Arelon after the fall of Elantris, it could be called the "Eastern Capital" due to its name. In Japanese that would be 東京, or Tōkyō. )

 

 

• [...] "How important is metal in fabrial science?"

  I think I know what you mean, but could you elaborate a little?

 

It's in reference to the various stuff that lead me to this SA theory (and eventually to this Cosmere theory). Here are some of them:

• We have never seen a working fabrial that explicitly did not have a metal setting/latticework/framework of some sort.

   

• The metal framework containing Vstim's Alerter fabrial actually has dials that can be used to fine-tune the fabrial's behavior. Obviously metal could affect that particular fabrial in some way.

   

• Navani talks of an issue with the "alignment of the gem housings" as the probable reason why the Davar Soulcaster no longer works. The gem housings of a Soulcaster fabrial is metal.

   

• Shallan doesn't realize that the gemstone lamps in the Oathgate room are fabrials until she noticed the latticework of metal enclosing each one.

 

I thought my phrasing of the question makes it seem innocent enough that Brandon won't instinctively say "RAFO!" upon hearing it unless metal is really important in Fabrial Science. You could, of course, phrase the question any way you want.

Edited February 20, 2015 by skaa

[kari-no-sugata]

• [kari-no-sugata] "When was the Recreance?"

  I would like to ask a broader timeline question, can you dig out some extra information for me?

 

Thanks for asking!

 

Hmm. I think we have solid dates for the Heirocracy (began in earnest 500 years ago and ended 300 years ago).

 

I don't think we have any idea about year 0 in the calendar refers to - it's year 1173 at the start of the story. 1173 years since what? Is this specific to the Alethi? To the Vorim kingdoms in general? To Roshar in general?

 

I suspect that the Recreance was about 1500 years ago and year 0 in the calendar is the official founding of the modern Vorin kingdoms.

 

I can't think of any other timeline questions that wouldn't be RAFO bait.

 

[Moogle]

• [Moogle] "Why can you use Allomancy with the mist if metal's molecular structure is what causes the effect?"

  If I recall correctly, the molecular structure of the Allomantic metals acts as a gate to Preservation's power, it's not the power itself. So the mists can bypass the need for a gate and dump the power directly into your hands.

 

The subtlety on this question relates to the fact that the molecular structure of the metal is what is said to cause the effect. For example, if a metal is charged with a Feruchemical charge, the power is filtered differently, which causes a different power to happen (WoB). The mist is not made of metals, so how does this square with Compounding mechanics?

 

If you'd like to say the mist can just replicate that because it's of Preservation, how are you supposed to power Allomancy with Breath?

 

The theoretical underpinnings to me indicate that the powers themselves are not caused by the metals, but rather there's sections on your Spiritweb which cause the power, and you can just send the mist to those (this view is supportedby AoL's Ars Arcanum, which says "The body then filters it into various forms. (The actual outlet of the power is not chosen by the practitioner, but instead is hardwritten into their Spiritweb.)"). However, Compounding mechanics indicate otherwise.

 

• [...] "If a Herald died while bonded to a dead Shardblade, would they drop it or would they keep it for the next Desolation?"

  I am not sure what you are trying to find out here. Unless you are just being curious, in which case the question is not too interesting to me.

 

The question relates to how Honorblades are kept after death by Heralds. Many people take Kalak's claim that "if the [owner of the Honorblades he sees] had died, the Blades would not be there", and people take this to indicate that because Szeth died and dropped his Honorblade, that Heralds have some sort of special bond. I disagree with this view, and think the only reason Honorblades disappear with the Heralds when they die is because Heralds don't in fact die. If a Herald keeps a dead Shardblade when they die, then that indicates Honorblades have nothing special going on.

 

• [...] "Hemalurgic spikes are supposed to decay rapidly when out of a body, but Vin's earring was supposedly at near-full strength. How does that work?"

  Vin wore her earring a lot, I imagine that helped. Plus, she didn't need much in term of extra bronze power, so even a mostly decayed spike would've been okay, I think.

 

This should be more of a question relating to Hemalurgic decay. Marsh is super concerned and seems to imply that a spike left outside a human body for even a minute is going to lose significant chunks of power. Harmony also says Vin was just-under-two times as strong at bronze, which implies her spike barely decayed. Vin's spike was out of her ear for what I would estimate to be at least a month (if not years) total over her childhood, and this does not square with what Marsh said at all. FIguring out just how fast Hemalurgic decay is is nice.

 

• [...] "Because the Seon bond is similar to a Nahel bond, it seems that Passing a Seon should require a wounded spirit on the part of the person who is going to receive the Seon. Is this true? How are Seons Passed?"

  I think you are making some assumptions here. One possible - even likely - solution to this could have something to do with magical abilities. Forming a Nahel bond does seem to require a fractured sDNA, or soul, or spiritual aspect, but it also results in the bonded entities melding a little bit - the spren gaining a little bit of "humanity" and the human gaining Surgebinding. With a Seon bond, neither side seems to gain anything, so the bond could be much weaker, much less demanding, and ultimately - much easier to form, not requiring a fractured soul.

 

We have a WoB which indicates someone with a Seon bond on Roshar would gain powers (though not Surgebinding). Because of this, I don't think my assumptions are necessarily wrong. WoB:

Q: If an Elantrian bonded to a Seon and traveled to Roshar, would that act as a Nahel bond?

A: It would act very very similarly, yes. But it would be like… it wouldn't necesarily do the exact same things. It would be treated the exact same way, but wouldn't grant the same powers.

(source)

 

 

• [...] "Why are Shallan's eyes not a pale garnet like Kaladin's are a pale blue? Is it because she’s already a lighteyes?"

  Have we actually seen Shallan's eyes, from another character's viewpoint, after she regains her ability to use Pattern as a Shardblade? 

 

Yes. After killing Tyn, Shallan arrives in the warcamps, and Adolin describes her as having light blue eyes. (Chapter 37 of WoR.) Granted, she was probably Lightweaving at least a little at the time... but Adolin never remarks on her eyes being different ever after.

 

Thank you for asking any questions you do!

 

---

 

It probably sounds like RAFO bait becuase it's been RAFO'd in the past. Just a heads up.

 

I don't believe it has been. What has been RAFO'd is "Would Awakening powered by Stormlight create frost or drain color?".

Edited February 20, 2015 by Moogle

[yafeshan]

Spren question

Are sprens completely different entities than people in Roshar, or are they part of peoples spiritual/cognitive existence.

[Blaze1616]

I don't believe it has been. What has been RAFO'd is "Would Awakening powered by Stormlight create frost or drain color?".

 

I distinctly remember reading that Brandon RAFO'd a question along the lines of whether Surgebinding consumed heat. I cannot find it though. Figures

 

So perhaps I was mistaken.

[Argent]

Okay, going through the Ultimate List of Questions, here's what catches my eye:

• Confirm genders for us for the sake of clarity. Aona is a girl, Skai is a boy, and Endowment's Shardholder is a girl?
• Have we seen any end-negative systems besides Hemalurgy? Are there any?
• Out of all the shards, why did Odium go after Devotion and Dominion? Wouldn't Splintering a single Shard (e.g. Endowment) be less risky than the potential of two Shards joining forces against a common enemy?
• Can a Shard and its holder be separated again without dying?
• Could any two Shards be joined together like Ruin and Preservation?
• Could an object on Roshar or Scadrial be somehow invested to the point that becomes sentient, like Nightblood? Or is that an ability unique to Nalthis / Awakening?
• Can a Returned gain a Nahel-bond? (I would probably rephrase this to say "Lightsong" instead of "Returned" so it doesn't look like we are asking about Vasher...)
• Would a weapon like Nightblood pose any sort of threat to a Shard?
• Is the term Spirit-web the word we should be using for "spiritual DNA"? Or are they different things?

I stopped at the Mistborn section, I hadn't realized how big the list has grown. I would like to ask at least one Reckoners question too, since this will be a Firefight signing, but there are only two in the list. This one is not bad, I think: Is the process that determines whether an Epic will become a Gifter completely random, does it depends on the person somehow, or is it something else?

 

Also, a while back I asked a question and Brandon's answer mentioned Honor's "purposes" - I will probably open up with a clarification on that.

 

I'll come back in an hour or two and try to finalize my list.

[Kobold King]

I stopped at the Mistborn section, I hadn't realized how big the list has grown. I would like to ask at least one Reckoners question too, since this will be a Firefight signing, but there are only two in the list. This one is not bad, I think: Is the process that determines whether an Epic will become a Gifter completely random, does it depends on the person somehow, or is it something else?

 

I like your questions, and the Gifter question would definitely be interesting to hear the answer to.

 

Personally though, I'd be more interested in asking him whether there's anything he can tell us about Night's Sorrow or the Coven--both of these are mentioned as major players in the Reckonerverse in Steelheart, yet we know scarcely anything about either. We don't even know Night's Sorrow's gender or powers, despite (s)he being an infamous Epic on the same tier as Obliteration and Steelheart himself.

 

Of course, I'm not going to the signing, so don't take my question as more important than yours. Night's Sorrow and the Coven are just a pair of subjects that are under a lot of speculation on the Reckoners board, so it would be nice if someone at some point could wheedle out some info about them.

 

Have fun at the signing!

[Kurkistan]

• Is the term Spirit-web the word we should be using for "spiritual DNA"? Or are they different things?

 

This type of question interests me as well, but I'd very firmly hesitate to phrase it this way. Myself, I'd ask more like "what's the relationship/distinction between a person's spiritual aspect, their spirit-web, and their spritual DNA? Is there any difference, even, or are they all just terms for the same thing?"

[Argent]

You can have this question then

[Kurkistan]

You can have this question then

 

Argent!?  

 

Do you know how many time bubble/Forms questions I have to get through already? A lot! I can't be bothered to actually ask broadly-applicable and interesting questions; rather I'll just advise others to do so on my behalf.

Edited February 20, 2015 by Kurkistan

[Kobold King]

 

Argent!?  

 

Do you know how many time bubble/Forms questions I have to get through already? A lot! I can't be bothered to actually ask broadly-applicable and interesting questions; rather I'll just advise others to do so on my behalf.

 

Meanwhile the lot of us that can't make it to signings at all fix you with harsh, envious gazes.

[Kurkistan]

Hey, second signing ever.

 

And it seems the man's chasing me across the country after I moved. :/

Edited February 20, 2015 by Kurkistan

[Kobold King]

Hey, second signing ever.

 

And it seems the man's chasing me across the country after I moved. :/

 

Hey, do you know how many of us would kill to have Brandon Sanderson chase us across the country? Do you?

[Argent]

Alright, here's what I plan to bring with me. I've gott a little time to make changes, if need be.

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jP2EajEp7GJetyW1ZLzrF3rWwdgKAZ50rb3duU4i4y0/edit?usp=sharing

[Kobold King]

Alright, here's what I plan to bring with me. I've gott a little time to make changes, if need be.

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jP2EajEp7GJetyW1ZLzrF3rWwdgKAZ50rb3duU4i4y0/edit?usp=sharing

 

On behalf of the Oregon Reckoners RPG, I'd like to go on the record saying that we lap up any and all Reckonerverse tidbits to incorporate into our fanon. I'm just hinting that anyone who asks Reckonerverse questions is likely to be showered with praise and upvotes.

[Argent]

Come up with a question I would like then  Hint: I like figuring how things work. 

Edited February 20, 2015 by Argent

[Kipper]

Come up with a question I would like then Hint: I like figuring how things work.

Naw! Wait, really? Edited February 20, 2015 by Snoopy

[Edgedancer]

On behalf of the Oregon Reckoners RPG, I'd like to go on the record saying that we lap up any and all Reckonerverse tidbits to incorporate into our fanon. I'm just hinting that anyone who asks Reckonerverse questions is likely to be showered with praise and upvotes.

Talking about Reckonerverse questions I would appreciate someone asking if an Epic could mindcontrol another Epic and a clarification of the differences between what a prime Invincibility and being a High Epic entails. (To elaborate in Steelheart David says only a couple of High Epics have a PI but the definition of High Epic we get in Firefight is pretty much identical, both rendering conventional forms of assassination ineffective, with no indication that David changed his definitions.)

All other pressing questions I could think of would probably be RAFO bait.

Edited February 20, 2015 by Edgedancer

[Kobold King]

Come up with a question I would like then  Hint: I like figuring how things work. 

 

• Anything about Night's Sorrow or the Coven;
• Whether or not Atlanta will have an altered name in Calamity;
• Whether or not any Epics successfully faced their fears before the events of Firefight;
• The names or powers of any Epics involved in the destruction of Oregon;
• Whether it's possible for Gifters to gift to animals or not;
• Obliteration's pre-Calamity name;
• Whether the amount of Epic DNA in an Epic-derived device influences the power or effectiveness of said device;

There are other people with far more comprehensive lists of Reckonerverse questions. I'm just pointing out that we know far less about the Reckonerverse than about the Cosmere, and that we love pretty much any new piece of information about the setting.