The Ultimate List of Questions for Brandon

[Dunkum]

7 hours ago, Fatikis said:

If one were to store all of their connection in a duralumin mind would aging be slowed?

If you were to tap an atium mind to reduce your age while your connection was reduced would the age reduction hold more effectively than The Lord Ruler method?

Why would storing connection cause aging to be slowed?

[Fatikis]

Just now, Dunkum said:

Why would storing connection cause aging to be slowed?

Quote

Brandon Sanderson

All right, so there are a few things you have to understand about cosmere magics to grok all of this.

First, is that magics can be hacked together. You'll see more of this in the future of the cosmere, but an early one is the hack here--where you're essentially powering Feruchemy with Allomancy. (A little more complex than that, but it seems like you get the idea.)

The piece you're missing is the nature of a person's Spiritual aspect. This is similar to a Platonic idea--the idea that there's a perfect version of everyone somewhere. It's a mix of their connections to places, people, and times with raw investiture. The soul, you might say.

(Note that over time, a person's perception of themselves shapes their cognitive aspect as well, and the cognitive aspect can interfere with the spiritual aspect trying to make the physical aspect repair itself.) Healing in the cosmere often works by aligning your physical self with your spiritual self--making the physical regrow. More powerful forms of investiture can repair the soul as well.

However, your age is part of your Connection to places, people, and times. Your soul "knows" things, like where you were born, what investiture you are aligned with, and--yes--how old you are. When you're healing yourself, you're restoring yourself to a perfect state--when you're done, everything is good. When you're changing your age, however, you are transforming yourself to something unnatural. Against what your soul understands to be true.

So the spiritual aspect will push for a restoration to the way you should be. With this compounding hack, you're not changing connection; it's a purely Physical Realm change.

This dichotomy cannot remain for long. And the greater the disparity, the more pressure the spirit will exert. Ten or twenty years won't matter much. A thousand will matter a lot. So the only way to use compounding to change your age is to store up all this extra youth in a metalmind, then be constantly tapping it to counteract the soul's attempt to restore you to how you should be.

Yes, all of this means there are FAR more efficient means of counteracting aging than the one used by the Lord Ruler. It's a hack, and not meant to be terribly efficient. Eventually, he wouldn't have been able to maintain himself this way at all. Changing connection (or even involving ones Cognitive Aspect a little more) would have been far more efficient, though actively more difficult.

Though this is the point where I ping [Peter Ahlstrom] and get him to double-check all this. Once in a while, my fingers still type the wrong term in places. (See silvereye vs tineye.)

 

[Dunkum]

huh, was not aware of that

[Sariel]

Like Sanderson said, changing your connection is difficult, so it's probably not just storing connection. More like iterating between storing specific types of connection and tapping other types, with minor changes between iterations, so that after a thousand times your connection is 20 years younger. It's complicated and requires a lot of skill, and if you mess up you forget the last 20 years of your life in addition to reverting your body. 

That is how I understand it. 

[Fatikis]

2 hours ago, Sariel said:

Like Sanderson said, changing your connection is difficult, so it's probably not just storing connection. More like iterating between storing specific types of connection and tapping other types, with minor changes between iterations, so that after a thousand times your connection is 20 years younger. It's complicated and requires a lot of skill, and if you mess up you forget the last 20 years of your life in addition to reverting your body. 

That is how I understand it. 

I agree it is probably very complicated. It also seems to be a key to long life. I think manipulating this might be how the 17shard is surviving so long.

[ScarletSabre]

8 hours ago, Fatikis said:

I agree it is probably very complicated. It also seems to be a key to long life. I think manipulating this might be how the 17shard is surviving so long.

There's probably also a good chance they have the Fifth (I think it was) Heightenng, which grants immortality and immunity to disease. That seems like the simplest method that we know of to achieve agelessness and immortality.

WoR spoilers

Spoiler

It might also explain how the members hunting Hoid brought the cold/flu to the Purelake, they're immune to the effects of it, and weren't aware they were carriers to active bacteria etc....

 

Edited May 11, 2018 by ScarletSabre

[Fatikis]

4 hours ago, ScarletSabre said:

There's probably also a good chance they have the Fifth (I think it was) Heightenng, which grants immortality and immunity to disease. That seems like the simplest method that we know of to achieve agelessness and immortality.

WoR spoilers

  Hide contents

It might also explain how the members hunting Hoid brought the cold/flu to the Purelake, they're immune to the effects of it, and weren't aware they were carriers to active bacteria etc....

 

Could be, but we haven't seen any other benefit of BioChromatic breath from 17th shard members. I also would suspect Endowment would be upset if a group is taking a lot of breath off world. It is definitely a possibility though. It would be the easiest way.

[Sariel]

Vasher survives on stormlight, so it's possible to turn other types of investiture into breaths.

In another subject, when Szeth hears the people he killed, is it a mental illness of something supernatural?

Does everything supernatural in the cosmere involves investiture?

[Dunkum]

2 minutes ago, Sariel said:

Vasher survives on stormlight, so it's possible to turn other types of investiture into breaths.

there is no reason to believe that the stormlight is being converted into breaths.  it is more likely that the returned need investiture to survive, and the only source available to them on Nalthis is Breath.  once they are off planet, they have access to other types as well, and are perfectly capable of using those to survive as long as they know how to pull them in.

[Sariel]

OB spoiler

Spoiler

When Szeth draws Nightblood, he is experiencing the effects of at least the first heightening, if not more. His stormlight turned into breaths, or maybe only effectively acted as breaths. 

 

[Shqueeves]

3 minutes ago, Sariel said:

OB spoiler

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When Szeth draws Nightblood, he is experiencing the effects of at least the first heightening, if not more. His stormlight turned into breaths, or maybe only effectively acted as breaths. 

 

OB spoiler

Spoiler

No, that was him noticing Nightblood's aura when drawn. Nightblood can eat any investiture. 

 

[Sariel]

OB spoiler

Spoiler

From chapter 92: 

"Colors changed around him. They deepened, growing darker and more vibrant."

In other words, the effect of having a lot of breaths. Nightblood uses stormlight as breaths, and so Szeth received the effects of a heightening, as long as Nightblood is drawn (so, not for very long). 

 

[Shqueeves]

16 minutes ago, Sariel said:

OB spoiler

  Reveal hidden contents

From chapter 92: 

"Colors changed around him. They deepened, growing darker and more vibrant."

In other words, the effect of having a lot of breaths. Nightblood uses stormlight as breaths, and so Szeth received the effects of a heightening, as long as Nightblood is drawn (so, not for very long). 

 

Spoiler

The same thing happens when NB is drawn in any situation. NB's effects are the only color aura that is said to deepen color in Warbreaker.

 

[Fatikis]

1 hour ago, Sariel said:

OB spoiler

  Hide contents

From chapter 92: 

"Colors changed around him. They deepened, growing darker and more vibrant."

In other words, the effect of having a lot of breaths. Nightblood uses stormlight as breaths, and so Szeth received the effects of a heightening, as long as Nightblood is drawn (so, not for very long). 

 

This does't mean that Nightblood is converting anything into breath. If someone wants to find the WoB on it Nightblood converts everything into raw investiture.

Edited May 11, 2018 by Fatikis

[Nerd3.14159265358979]

If a bird from another world ate some of the fruit of the Patji's finger (and therefore the parasite inside of it) would it be possible for said bird to gain powers?

Edited May 14, 2018 by Nerd3.14159265358979

[ScarletSabre]

If you made a Lifeless out of an Allomancer/Feruchemist, would they still have access to their abilities?

Following on that, would a Feruchemist be able to tap Duralimin/Copper to regain his memories and personality and connections?

And could a Lifeless become a Surgebinder?

[Fatikis]

1 hour ago, ScarletSabre said:

If you made a Lifeless out of an Allomancer/Feruchemist, would they still have access to their abilities?

Following on that, would a Feruchemist be able to tap Duralimin/Copper to regain his memories and personality and connections?

Aluminum stores identity. You might have to throw that into the mix.

Could they tap gold to restore themself to life?
Would they still be bound by commands?

[ScarletSabre]

18 minutes ago, Fatikis said:

Aluminum stores identity. You might have to throw that into the mix.

Could they tap gold to restore themself to life?
Would they still be bound by commands?

Ah, that was it, I was getting confused with Duralimin...

What would happen if you then tried to spike a Lifeless for Hemalurgy?

Could you spike a Lifeless with Allomantic/Feruchemical powers through the heart without killing them?

[Stark]

So a potentially sensitive question.  Stormlight healing is in large part due to the person's sense of self, to their Identity.  Given enough light, the healing process will bring the person back to health in accordance with their Identity.  This is why it does not heal Kaladin's scars, he has not yet fully divested himself of the slave who deserves to be punished for failing his squad.  Or [OB]

Spoiler

Why Renarin cannot heal Rysn.  She was too long in her current state and it became part of her Identity.  She views the permanence of the injury as part of her, and therefore there is nothing for the Stormlight to heal.

But what about someone whose Identity has never matched their physical self?  I ask from a position of ignorance on the majority of the subject, and I do not aim to offend.  If I do, I apologize, it is not my intent.  But what I have been led to believe is that in some, if not many people who do not identify with the either of the binary gender options, or who identify as the other binary gender, have self identity concerns that are not easy to resolve.

 

In Cosmere terms, if someone Identifies themselves as a certain gender, either one of the non-binary genders, or as the gender they were denied at birth, would Stormlight healing help their body align with their Identity?  Would Stormlight be able to help someone born as a genetic man or woman and transition them fully to the gender of their Identity?

[ScarletSabre]

2 hours ago, Stark said:

So a potentially sensitive question.  Stormlight healing is in large part due to the person's sense of self, to their Identity.  Given enough light, the healing process will bring the person back to health in accordance with their Identity.  This is why it does not heal Kaladin's scars, he has not yet fully divested himself of the slave who deserves to be punished for failing his squad.  Or [OB]

  Hide contents

Why Renarin cannot heal Rysn.  She was too long in her current state and it became part of her Identity.  She views the permanence of the injury as part of her, and therefore there is nothing for the Stormlight to heal.

But what about someone whose Identity has never matched their physical self?  I ask from a position of ignorance on the majority of the subject, and I do not aim to offend.  If I do, I apologize, it is not my intent.  But what I have been led to believe is that in some, if not many people who do not identify with the either of the binary gender options, or who identify as the other binary gender, have self identity concerns that are not easy to resolve.

 

In Cosmere terms, if someone Identifies themselves as a certain gender, either one of the non-binary genders, or as the gender they were denied at birth, would Stormlight healing help their body align with their Identity?  Would Stormlight be able to help someone born as a genetic man or woman and transition them fully to the gender of their Identity?

This is actually something I've wondered about in the back of my mind (Along with what someone who's identity doesn't match their physical body would look like in the Cognitive Realm), and I think it probably could, and with the use of unkeyed Goldminds we may see something similar on Scadrial in Era 3, or if not certainly by the time we get to the Space Opera...

Building on your spoiled point;

Spoiler

If Rysn used an unkeyed Coppermind or Aluminium-mind to store her memories of everything prior to the accident, would the Stormlight then be able to heal her since she won't see it as part of herself?

Or would storing Identity be part of it, or something else entirely?

 

Edited May 15, 2018 by ScarletSabre

[Fatikis]

1 hour ago, Stark said:

So a potentially sensitive question.  Stormlight healing is in large part due to the person's sense of self, to their Identity.  Given enough light, the healing process will bring the person back to health in accordance with their Identity.  This is why it does not heal Kaladin's scars, he has not yet fully divested himself of the slave who deserves to be punished for failing his squad.  Or [OB]

  Reveal hidden contents

Why Renarin cannot heal Rysn.  She was too long in her current state and it became part of her Identity.  She views the permanence of the injury as part of her, and therefore there is nothing for the Stormlight to heal.

But what about someone whose Identity has never matched their physical self?  I ask from a position of ignorance on the majority of the subject, and I do not aim to offend.  If I do, I apologize, it is not my intent.  But what I have been led to believe is that in some, if not many people who do not identify with the either of the binary gender options, or who identify as the other binary gender, have self identity concerns that are not easy to resolve.

 

In Cosmere terms, if someone Identifies themselves as a certain gender, either one of the non-binary genders, or as the gender they were denied at birth, would Stormlight healing help their body align with their Identity?  Would Stormlight be able to help someone born as a genetic man or woman and transition them fully to the gender of their Identity?

Without getting to far into risky territory. I think it depends on the kind of healing. If I remember some healing is based on cognitive aspect. Some is based on the spiritual aspect. I suspect that a cognitive aspect over time could slowly help you align to your preferred gender.

Spiritual healing however is going to align you with your ideal self. I suspect that would be the self which you were born. I think this would maintain the sex you were born. I'm not saying trans individuals are wrong about their sex. I'm saying that maybe the ideal spiritual self was is born a genetic sex but identifies as the other.

Do we know how Stormlight heals? Based on the remaining scars I would assume it is cognitive based healing.

[The One Who Connects]

26 minutes ago, Fatikis said:

If I remember some healing is based on cognitive aspect. Some is based on the spiritual aspect.
Do we know how Stormlight heals? Based on the remaining scars I would assume it is cognitive based healing.

Healing in the Cosmere transcends that narrow definition. Healing tries to match you to the Spiritual Realm Template, and what actually gets fixed is filtered through how you view yourself(Cognitive Realm), in order to effect a change in the Physical Realm. This is how every form of magical healing in the Cosmere works.

This is how Magic in the Cosmere works. The Power comes from the Spiritual, gets filtered in the Cognitive(why Intent matters), and effects a change in the Physical. There is no "based on the Cog" or "based on the Spi" or anything like that. Usage of Magic crosses all 3 Realms.

2 hours ago, Stark said:

In Cosmere terms, if someone Identifies themselves as a certain gender, either one of the non-binary genders, or as the gender they were denied at birth, would Stormlight healing help their body align with their Identity?  Would Stormlight be able to help someone born as a genetic man or woman and transition them fully to the gender of their Identity?

A similar question has come up before, and I'll stand by what I said then:

On 1/3/2018 at 1:31 PM, The One Who Connects said:

Injuries: Yep. It's essentially the same reason Kaladin still has his brands, while [Spoilers] was able to start healing their arm in WoR.
Transgender: It.. seems reasonable enough, but this depends on if the Spiritual Realm has Templates for "Male" & "Female," or simply a Template for "Human." If it's the former, then like with aging, you can't do it.
Deliberately Warping: ooh boy.

• Parshendi Fellow: I highly doubt this would work. There should be a separate Spiritual Template per Species, since Humans, Chulls, and Aviar are vastly distinct species. (Why would they heal from the same primary template?)

Asking Brandon in terms of Spiritual Templates could get around the "sensitive topic" issue. It could also be a starting point, with your question as a logical follow-up.

22 hours ago, ScarletSabre said:

Could you spike a Lifeless with Allomantic/Feruchemical powers through the heart without killing them?

Spiking powers in isn't what kills you. Spiking something out is where lethality comes into play.

[ScarletSabre]

4 minutes ago, The One Who Connects said:

Healing in the Cosmere transcends that narrow definition. Healing tries to match you to the Spiritual Realm Template, and what actually gets fixed is filtered through how you view yourself(Cognitive Realm), in order to effect a change in the Physical Realm. This is how every form of magical healing in the Cosmere works.

This is how Magic in the Cosmere works. The Power comes from the Spiritual, gets filtered in the Cognitive(why Intent matters), and effects a change in the Physical. There is no "based on the Cog" or "based on the Spi" or anything like that. Usage of Magic crosses all 3 Realms.

Didn't Brandon once say that healing was done by making your Physical form match up with the Spiritual, perfect version of it, filtered through the Cognitive self? Or was that in reference to something like aging? Or am I completely derping and making this up somehow?

5 minutes ago, The One Who Connects said:

Spiking powers in isn't what kills you. Spiking something out is where lethality comes into play.

Oh no, I mean could you spike a Lifeless who has Allomancy/Feruchemy through the heart to take it, without killing them.

[The One Who Connects]

Just now, ScarletSabre said:

Didn't Brandon once say that healing was done by making your Physical form match up with the Spiritual, perfect version of it, filtered through the Cognitive self? Or was that in reference to something like aging? Or am I completely derping and making this up somehow?

He did. That "perfect version" that you mention is the "Spiritual Ideal" that I mention.

6 minutes ago, ScarletSabre said:

Oh no, I mean could you spike a Lifeless who has Allomancy/Feruchemy through the heart to take it, without killing them.

I figured you did, but on the off-chance you didn't mistype, I answered the question you wrote.

As for this one, "have an answer"

Quote

Brandon Sanderson
That's a RAFO, but-- Let's just say this it's a RAFO with the star of "Nobody knows how to spike someone without killing them right now."

[ScarletSabre]

6 minutes ago, The One Who Connects said:

As for this one, "have an answer"

Quote

Brandon Sanderson
That's a RAFO, but-- Let's just say this it's a RAFO with the star of "Nobody knows how to spike someone without killing them right now."

 

Ah yeah, I vaguely half remembered that answer, that's why I was curious about Lifeless, since IIRC, a stab through the heart wouldn't kill a Lifeless, would it?