Sunlit Man Full Book Reactions (Cosmere Edition)

[Chaos]

Post your full book reactions for The Sunlit Man here. Full cosmere spoilers are allowed untagged in this board!

[therunner]

Interesting information on Dawnshards at least.
And Night Brigade sounds terrifying, mercenary force capable of wiping out planets? Even if they are non-Shardworld or just minor-Shardworlds, that is some serious capability.

And most importanly, Auxiliary was Highspren? What the hell happened to Nomad back on Roshar?

Sigzil was Windrunner, he bonded Honorspren. But at some point he must have broken that Bond, became a Dawnshard, bonded Highspren and used that Dawnshard consuming his Highspren.

If all that happens in SA5...holy expletive.

Edit: And fragments of Shardplate? So he must have reached 4th Oath with Highspren. Seriously, what happened to him? And not just one Shardplate, he reached Windrunner Shardaplate too! If one person can reach 4th Oath in two Orders, it cannot be as unusual as some argue.

Edit2: Zellion...huh. Did not expect that.

Edit 3: Awakened Steelminds used as control systems, possibly even ship AI!

That confirms that Metalminds can be Awakened, interesting.

Edit 4: And Aux claims he was Knight Radiant and swore Oaths once. And at the same time he was Highspren also per his words. Could it really be that 5th Oath Radiant after dying can become Radiant Spren? That is basically the only explanation I can think of.

Edit 5: Shardplate confirmed to maintain life support and temperature. And it also easily survived heat that melts metal and rocks with ease.
Shardplate is more than durable enough to be relevant into Era 4.

Interestingly, it seems that it was somehow modified by his Connection to the planet, as it is now black and trailing cinder. And glows orange-red, not the blues of Windrunners and Skybreakers.  And is formed not from a single species of spren, but two.

Edit 6: F-Iron Medallions seem to make user heavier, but don't make them stronger to compensate, like with Wax. Or Scadrians learned how to make Feruchemy grant only the attribute itself, and not the 'secondary' powers to compensate.

Edit7: Wow what a ride. This might be among the most 'action-packed' Cosmere books. I look forward to future Cosmere, because it looks seriously fun, less 'cross-overy' like TLM and just like fully realized world.

The short view of Night Brigade suggests a terryfying power. Hints at Scadrial-Roshar conflict as expected. There also seem to be some accords organized by Silverlight codifying inter-planetary law.

Sidenote: Scadrians don't come off very well in this book (and in the SoTD), they are quite callous. I mean, working with Cinder King, and helping him actually create Charred? Come on, Vin, Elend, Wax and Wayne would not approve.

Edited October 1, 2023 by therunner

[EnderW420]

Dang if that scene of Nomad becoming Zellion didn't choke me up. Also, interesting that while this book has the mandatory Hoid moment, it's the first one I can remember where it's not based in his usual shows-up-wherever-he-needs-to-be chicanery, but because he got Cosmere-Video-Called.

[Saxsoon]

I loved the call out to visiting a floating city on a planet near his homeworld. Hello Ashyn!

Also fascinating that the dawnshard allows him to consume any investiture with some help and that they are using Breaths as the standard of the cosmere.

Edited October 1, 2023 by Saxsoon
spelling

[NameIess]

Well, this book certainly was a thing. Actually it was about what I expected, going in. It's a book that has a ton of implications for the wider Cosmere and a good story to go along with it.

Anyways, now that I've read all the Secret Projects, here's my final* ranking of them:

1. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

2. Tress of the Emerald Sea

3. The Sunlit Man

4. The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England.

*This list is subject to change if listening to the audiobook of TSM changes my opinion of it.

[Forts Board]

There's some major questions I still have with this book.

1.) Cultures seem afraid of Rosharan Radiants, but they also seem like a rare legend or myth. Why?

2.) Who hired the Night Brigade, and who put that price on Sigzil's head?

3.) When did the Threnodites learn to control shades and develop inter-cosmere travel?

Also my favorite disproven theory as I read the book was that auxiliary was actually Moash, hence the lack of emotion in his voice and the regrets. Actually I was not that sad to be proven wrong.

Edit: Who has the dawnshard now?

Edited October 2, 2023 by Forts Board

[Pagerunner]

Sundays aren't great for book releases, but I managed to make it through it without staying up too late. The thrust of the main story itself seems pretty straightforward, but a few thoughts to get out of my head real quick:

• I was able to pick up Sigzil's Skybreaker past pretty early in the book. (He described Auxiliary as "gravitation and interaxial force," and I was like, "that sounds like Division.") Definitely some interesting things going on on Roshar. My impression was that he didn't bond his highspren until after he took up his Dawnshard (something about "choosing to bond" Auxiliary had consequences), but I'd need to take a closer look at the text to try and confirm that.
• After getting some info on Sigzil's Torment, I'm still leaning towards his Dawnshard being the one from Rysn. She describes it as "The will of a god to remake things, to demand they be better. The power to change." And Sig says that his is diametrically opposed to violence, i.e. unmaking and causing things to become worse.
• Zellion's new Connection situation is something very interesting. I'm wondering if he will leave behind a Threnodite Shade now, if his Oath to the Canticlites (or whatever that particular band of Threnodites goes by) was able to draw a small piece from their unreleased Shades to make one of his own.
• The cosmology of Canticle is still a bit of an open mystery. It seems like the Threnodites chose this planet because of its sunlight-racing situation... but why is it like that in the first place?
  • The obvious question is: which Shard is the Investiture cycle from? I think we can get a clue from the compelled behavior of the Charred to fight each other; it reminds me of some of the descriptions of Autonomy from The Lost Metal. The stars in the Taldain system both give off Investiture through light, so I'm guessing this is a similar setup. (If I really want to go out on a limb, I'd call this avatar the "Sunlight Man.")
  • Why mountains form in the same place every rotation also bugs me. It makes me think there's a terraforming process going on, very slowly and inefficiently (perhaps broken?), and every iteration the world is getting closer to a final version. Either that, or it's attempting to remake the original version of the world. (More on that later.)
  • There's also the rings. They don't really do anything for the plot of this story, other than reflect sunlight so there's some light, but I don't think that's really necessary since just regular starlight during nighttime would probably serve well enough. So why did Brandon add them in? I think they're mass that belongs to the planet, I just can't decide which direction it's going. Is the terraforming drawing from the mass of the rings, and they're going to decline as the planet continues to be formed? Or is the planet ejecting mass (as was described in the mountain during the final sequence) and that's forming the ring? I'm leaning towards the latter, that the rings are splattered from the violent reaction at the surface of the planet.
  • So, what's in the core, then? I'm worried the description of Threnody's Evil as "mountain-sized manifestations" hints at some Lovecraftian monstrosities running around the cosmere, one of which might be underneath Canticle. Hopefully we don't have an Eldrazi in there. But the Selish system essay also comes to mind, of how the land itself was developing sentience. I feel confident we haven't seen the last of Canticle.
• Zellion's last Skip. A watery world with Sho Del? Did he skip to UTol?
• We finally get introduced to the Night Brigade. They want a Dawnshard... but why? In the postscript, Brandon mentions an "ongoing conflict of a nature that might be too spoilerific to mention here." That has me very intrigued. This book mentions an arms race on all the major planets, and the Dawnshards are sought as superweapons... but what's the goal? I'm hoping we only have to wait a year to find out some of this stuff... maybe Stormlight Five kicks the door open.

That's all that sticks in my mind for now. Maybe I'll have some more after sleeping on it, or if I can find some time for a quick reread once the physical book gets here.

[Harkain]

Collection of my thoughts a little bit after finishing the book.

• I'm almost certainly going to need to go back over this book. 
• Glad we finally get to know who Zellion from the miniatures kickstarter is. Though oh boy does it make me fear for whatever is gonna happen through the Stormlight books. 
• The Scadrian Scientists defaulting to Malwish as a civilised language makes me think the Southern Scadrian's are at the very least gonna be leading the charge into the greater cosmere. 
• I have a sneaking suspicion based on this and sixth of the dusk snippet we saw ages ago that there's gonna be something specific about Skybreakers and going into the greater cosmere. Maybe something about their oaths or maybe something relating to their current status in Stormlight idk.
• Based on this and Sixth of the Dusk, progressively releasing small bits of technology + building a dependence on them seems to the Scadrian modus operandi.
• I might've missed it but also I'm pretty sure we leave the book without knowing why this planet is setup the way it is? I have a sneaking suspicion (if that is the case) it might become important in a later cosmere tale and by extension Zellion's link to it. 
• Hoid is probably going to be incredibly interested with what Zellion figured out in regards to dealing with his torment. 
• This book really puts into perspective just how abundant investiture is on Roshar.

 

[The Unknown Ajah]

This was a very good story. Definitely beat out Tress and FWHB, though not quite YatNP. YatNP is simply too different of a story to truly compare, but I think I still prefer Sunlit Man because it's simply more my kind of book.

This is probably the best character arc I've seen in any single book, like, ever, and rivals most series long character arcs. The only one I can think of that comes close is Cal's in the Licanius Trilogy, and Sunlit's other elements are far better.

Also, I've calculated that Zellion/Sigzil can skip with the equivalent of just under 20,000 Breaths. Which makes me think that Susebron, with 50,000, should be able to do the same thing. Even if the Dawnshard is helping, he should be able to brute force it with more than double the amount. Just find that interesting. Kinda a relatively small amount when you think about it.

Definitely interested in what the future of the Cosmere and especially Stormlight 5 has to hold. Unless it gets confirmed otherwise, I'm guessing Sig is going to get into the upper oaths with his honorspren in SA5, then bond the Dawnshard either at the end or during the back half, but either way I think bonding Aux is going to happen in the back half. Anyone disagree?

Other notes, the Night Brigade felt pretty suitably terrifying and bastardly. The Scadrians (Southern, I think it's going to matter a lot going into space age cosmere) felt arrogant and cold with just a touch of evil.

[Gavtyven]

Quote

Also, I've calculated that Zellion/Sigzil can skip with the equivalent of just under 20,000 Breaths. Which makes me think that Susebron, with 50,000, should be able to do the same thing. Even if the Dawnshard is helping, he should be able to brute force it with more than double the amount. Just find that interesting. Kinda a relatively small amount when you think about it.

I think it was mentioned that Skipping as an ability is a side-effect of being a holder/ex-holder of a Dawnshard, just like his Torment. Nomad mentions that he doesn't want to risk losing skipping by lessening his Torment too much.

[The Unknown Ajah]

4 hours ago, Gavtyven said:

I think it was mentioned that Skipping as an ability is a side-effect of being a holder/ex-holder of a Dawnshard, just like his Torment. Nomad mentions that he doesn't want to risk losing skipping by lessening his Torment too much.

It is, but like I said, twice the amount of power feels like it should be able to brute force the same effect.

[Gavtyven]

I saw on the Coppermind (don't remember it in the book) that it's because the Dawnshard Connects you to the entire cosmere, which allows it. That shouldn't be brute-forcable, as it requires a mechanic that's notoriously difficult to get around, at least before space age cosmere standards (the ghostbloods and heralds both haven't figured it out, and at least the heralds have had quite a while)

[The Unknown Ajah]

Just now, Gavtyven said:

I saw on the Coppermind (don't remember it in the book) that it's because the Dawnshard Connects you to the entire cosmere, which allows it. That shouldn't be brute-forcable, as it requires a mechanic that's notoriously difficult to get around, at least before space age cosmere standards (the ghostbloods and heralds both haven't figured it out, and at least the heralds have had quite a while)

Don't know where the Coppermind is getting that from, but still, an extra 20,000 Breaths should still be able to bruteforce connection to at least one place, if not the whole Cosmere.

[+robardin]

On 10/1/2023 at 7:17 AM, therunner said:

Interesting information on Dawnshards at least.
And Night Brigade sounds terrifying, mercenary force capable of wiping out planets? Even if they are non-Shardworld or just minor-Shardworlds, that is some serious capability.

And most importanly, Auxiliary was Highspren? What the hell happened to Nomad back on Roshar?

Sigzil was Windrunner, he bonded Honorspren. But at some point he must have broken that Bond, became a Dawnshard, bonded Highspren and used that Dawnshard consuming his Highspren.

If all that happens in SA5...holy expletive.

Edit: And fragments of Shardplate? So he must have reached 4th Oath with Highspren. Seriously, what happened to him? And not just one Shardplate, he reached Windrunner Shardaplate too! If one person can reach 4th Oath in two Orders, it cannot be as unusual as some argue.

Edit2: Zellion...huh. Did not expect that.

Edit 3: Awakened Steelminds used as control systems, possibly even ship AI!

That confirms that Metalminds can be Awakened, interesting.

Edit 4: And Aux claims he was Knight Radiant and swore Oaths once. And at the same time he was Highspren also per his words. Could it really be that 5th Oath Radiant after dying can become Radiant Spren? That is basically the only explanation I can think of.

Edit 5: Shardplate confirmed to maintain life support and temperature. And it also easily survived heat that melts metal and rocks with ease.
Shardplate is more than durable enough to be relevant into Era 4.

Interestingly, it seems that it was somehow modified by his Connection to the planet, as it is now black and trailing cinder. And glows orange-red, not the blues of Windrunners and Skybreakers.  And is formed not from a single species of spren, but two.

Edit 6: F-Iron Medallions seem to make user heavier, but don't make them stronger to compensate, like with Wax. Or Scadrians learned how to make Feruchemy grant only the attribute itself, and not the 'secondary' powers to compensate.

Edit7: Wow what a ride. This might be among the most 'action-packed' Cosmere books. I look forward to future Cosmere, because it looks seriously fun, less 'cross-overy' like TLM and just like fully realized world.

The short view of Night Brigade suggests a terryfying power. Hints at Scadrial-Roshar conflict as expected. There also seem to be some accords organized by Silverlight codifying inter-planetary law.

Sidenote: Scadrians don't come off very well in this book (and in the SoTD), they are quite callous. I mean, working with Cinder King, and helping him actually create Charred? Come on, Vin, Elend, Wax and Wayne would not approve.

 Oh yeah, I wanted to bring up all these points too, so I'll just respond to your post then!

The Night Brigade - they're Threnodites who have "tamed" or somehow "recruited" Shades. So that's how they destroy entire planets, if need be. They "Hellify" until they get what they want. Though they're a mix of living people and Shades.

So, how many of them are there? Are they all on that one spaceship, or is that ship just one of some Armada of the Night?

Sigzil having a past as a Windrunner AND as a Skybreaker - By his own reckoning, he gave up his Windrunner oaths while or before taking up the Dawnshard.

We don't know if that's related, like if he could only take in the Dawnshard if unbonded, but he retained enough of the Windrunner nature for him to reflect on them as oaths with meaning to him still (to protect), and when ghostly remnants of his armor start appearing towards the end of TSM, it seems to be that of BOTH orders.

He "almost totally killed" Aux by bonding a highspren AFTER taking up the Dawnshard, which had given him the ability to use Investiture of any source to fuel some kind of innate Dawnpowers (healing and agelessness among them, as well as Skipping, and hopefully he can do the Connnection-forming without Aux overseeing the mechanics, because he's not got that any more).

And then one time he invoked some Dawnpower without enough Investiture and it "ate" his spren, 

The question is, how long had he had his Skybreaker bond? Had he reached the Fourth Ideal as a Skybreaker (achieving a Crusade)? Or is the nature of becoming a Dual Radiant that your level transfers (i.e., he'd been a 4+ Ideal Windrunner, so when bonding a highspren, he's now a Skybreaker of the same Ideal, even if he'd given up his honorspren bonds)?

Awakened Steelmind / Metalminds: I assume this was done by first Awakening steel, and THEN filling it with unkeyed speed? Would this mean the Steelmind could tap and fill itself?

Also, as we saw with the Father Machine in Y&NP, Awakening is a generic Cosmere magical term for "Investing an object with enough power and Intent as to function independently", not that it had to have been done with Breath.

The Scadrian Deadweight Manacle: Nomad acts like he's seen this exact type of thing before - for people to wear on low-gravity planets to move more naturally, but here turned up to the point his body was working under 3-4 times standard gravity.

So it's some kind of involuntary metalmind that pushes unwelcome (and unkeyed) weight into the wearer, without the wearer's Intent! That's... Terrifying technology?

(As for the manacle being "one-sided" in Feruchemical effect, that's not true: tapping an ironmind always did slow a person down, but the person would be made physically stronger to be able to stand upright and whatnot. Which Zellion does.)

As for the "callousness" on display by the Scadrians: seems very much in line with the ethos of the Ghostbloods, doesn't it? Non-interference, or "not taking sides in a local conflict", as an excuse for sitting back and taking up the bits of power and knowledge that are of service to Scadrial, while telling themselves they retain a kind of moral high ground.

As Kelsier continues to prolong his existence, after all, he becomes more and more like a spren. Of Surviving.

[Nesh]

On 10/1/2023 at 5:17 AM, therunner said:

Sidenote: Scadrians don't come off very well in this book (and in the SoTD), they are quite callous. I mean, working with Cinder King, and helping him actually create Charred?

I'm not entirely convinced the Scadrians are necessarily as bad as they look.  I mean we're seeing them from the outside here.  Yes, their actions aren't what I'd call good, but we don't have the context for them.  We got a couple hints that the Rosharans aren't exactly nice.  The travel book describing them as warlike, the implications from the Scadrians about the Radiants.  It's entirely possible that they are on the back foot against an aggressive Roshar.  I mean for all we know Taravodium is leading the charge.  You're right, they're actions don't paint them well, but I hesitate to jump to conclusions.

[+robardin]

1 minute ago, Nesh said:

I'm not entirely convinced the Scadrians are necessarily as bad as they look.  I mean we're seeing them from the outside here.  Yes, their actions aren't what I'd call good, but we don't have the context for them.  We got a couple hints that the Rosharans aren't exactly nice.  The travel book describing them as warlike, the implications from the Scadrians about the Radiants.  It's entirely possible that they are on the back foot against an aggressive Roshar.  I mean for all we know Taravodium is leading the charge.  You're right, they're actions don't paint them well, but I hesitate to jump to conclusions.

They're not actively "evil" but they're certainly very Ghostblood-like in attitude, especially with regards to "lesser" people on other planets.

Which sadly fits in with how human history generally progresses in similar situations. Advanced tech group arrives to new location, hooks up with local strongman as proxy to maximize resource and knowledge acquisition, hey it's not our fault this strongman's a cruel tyrant, we're just here for the resources.

[therunner]

19 minutes ago, robardin said:

So it's some kind of involuntary metalmind that pushes unwelcome (and unkeyed) weight into the wearer, without the wearer's Intent! That's... Terrifying technology?

(As for the manacle being "one-sided" in Feruchemical effect, that's not true: tapping an ironmind always did slow a person down, but the person would be made physically stronger to be able to stand upright and whatnot. Which Zellion does.

Ironminds slowed down in Era 1 (where you even needed to tap F-Pewter to just move), but Wax taps occasionally and does not have any trouble moving. In fact it is described that F-Iron strengthens the body so that you can still move (but you do not hit harder for magic reasons).

So the fact that Sigzil is weighted down without any enhancements is significant.

Quote

As for the "callousness" on display by the Scadrians: seems very much in line with the ethos of the Ghostbloods, doesn't it? Non-interference, or "not taking sides in a local conflict", as an excuse for sitting back and taking up the bits of power and knowledge that are of service to Scadrial, while telling themselves they retain a kind of moral high ground.

As Kelsier continues to prolong his existence, after all, he becomes more and more like a spren. Of Surviving.

Good point, it is very 'Ghostblood' kind of approach. The fact that Kelsier's philosophy became so usual for them is not good.

4 minutes ago, Nesh said:

I'm not entirely convinced the Scadrians are necessarily as bad as they look.  I mean we're seeing them from the outside here.  Yes, their actions aren't what I'd call good, but we don't have the context for them.  We got a couple hints that the Rosharans aren't exactly nice.  The travel book describing them as warlike, the implications from the Scadrians about the Radiants.  It's entirely possible that they are on the back foot against an aggressive Roshar.  I mean for all we know Taravodium is leading the charge.  You're right, they're actions don't paint them well, but I hesitate to jump to conclusions.

There is not much context needed, they empowered local tyrant so that he can kill thousands of people, enslave (and destroy minds) of dozens more, while the entire culture has to sacrifice some of their population just to survive. And they could have saved all of those people for who know how long.

They could have allied with someone else, or stopped supporting Cinder King. Hell, near the end that is exactly what was offered to them, they simply did not care.

Scadrial as a whole might be fighting against something worse, but that does not in any way excuse their actions here, especially since they could have helped with basically no impact to their own research.

 

[Nesh]

1 minute ago, robardin said:

They're not actively "evil" but they're certainly very Ghostblood-like in attitude, especially with regards to "lesser" people on other planets.

Which sadly fits in with how human history generally progresses in similar situations. Advanced tech group arrives to new location, hooks up with local strongman as proxy to maximize resource and knowledge acquisition, hey it's not our fault this strongman's a cruel tyrant, we're just here for the resources.

All a fair assessment.  Plus, this is just one Scadrian faction from what Sig's inner monologue was saying, so it's likely that there are many others who wouldn't approve.

[Jeffo]

I’ve been away from the books for a while and not anywhere near as clued up as some but was it ever revealed what/where the shard that wants to hide is?
 

Could this be it hanging out on some large meteor that has effectivively planetised with its influence?

[+Oltux72]

On 1.10.2023 at 1:17 PM, therunner said:

Edit 3: Awakened Steelminds used as control systems, possibly even ship AI!

That confirms that Metalminds can be Awakened, interesting.

And an interesting choice of metals. If I wanted to construct an awakened AI from a metalmind, the first I'd consider would be copper or zinc. Is this because a steelmind is a necessary part of the FTL drive and they need to awaken it anyway, so why not use it also as an AI?

[therunner]

Just now, Oltux72 said:

And an interesting choice of metals. If I wanted to construct an awakened AI from a metalmind, the first I'd consider would be copper or zinc. Is this because a steelmind is a necessary part of the FTL drive and they need to awaken it anyway, so why not use it also as an AI?

Yeah, that also tripped me up, but I forgot about it, thanks for the reminder.

Why Steelmind? Exactly as you say, Zinc or Copper would be more obvious choices.

The explanation with FTL sounds reasonable.

[+robardin]

So in order to use his Torment-linked, Dawnshard-derived ability to "Skip" (apparently to teleport at random to some other habited world in the Cosmere), Nomad needs a LOT of Investiture: if a "BEU" is a Breath Equivalent Unit (where one Breath = 1 BEU), and 1500 BEU is about 8% of the necessary level to use the ability, then Skipping would require the equivalent of at least 18,500 (if not 19,000) Breaths - nearly to the NINTH Heightening (20,000 Breaths), the level needed to Awaken something like Nightblood.

He needs to acquire this much Investiture each time he Skips, in order to Skip away again, before the Night Brigade arrives to his new location - however it is that they track him, or how they physically travel between places in the Cosmere so quickly (via some kind of spaceship).

And yet he's never gone back to Roshar? Nor (as he reflected) has he ever been to Nalthis, as "too easy for the Night Brigade to reach"?

Is Skipping truly random? He certainly can't seem to control where it is he goes, and as we see, he is capable of arriving somewhere he's never been before - but does he ONLY Skip to new places?

Because if it's really random, eventually he'd land somewhere on one of those two worlds, right? Maybe not in an area he's familiar with, though (like maybe he pops onto Roshar in Natanan or something).

[+Oltux72]

On 1.10.2023 at 1:17 PM, therunner said:

Interesting information on Dawnshards at least.
And Night Brigade sounds terrifying, mercenary force capable of wiping out planets? Even if they are non-Shardworld or just minor-Shardworlds, that is some serious capability.

Why is that remarkable? We can do it, unless you mean physically obliterating the celestial body. Sigzil most likely meant it in the sense of rendering the world uninhabitable and killing most people. A few large asteroids or a few thousand big nuclear warheads will do that. What we have seen in The Lost Metal makes the development of weapons of mass destruction inevitable.

The Cosmere inevitably contains individuals of extreme power. Consider what a prepared army of Elantrians who have broken the region lock could do. It would probably be inappropriate to quote Mao here, but the Cosmere is just not set up in the way that nation states become the sole interstellar actors.

[therunner]

35 minutes ago, Oltux72 said:

Why is that remarkable? We can do it, unless you mean physically obliterating the celestial body. Sigzil most likely meant it in the sense of rendering the world uninhabitable and killing most people. A few large asteroids or a few thousand big nuclear warheads will do that. What we have seen in The Lost Metal makes the development of weapons of mass destruction inevitable.

Actually we cannot do it, even using peak nuclear stockpiles later models suggest that parts of the world would remain habitable, and extinction is unlikely. Hell, models of full nuclear exchange suggest that between 40-60% of US and USSR population would survive. So even tens of thousands of large nuclear warheads are insufficient to wipe out a planet.

Threat of extinction was intentionally exaggerated to spur nations to actions, which succeeded.

So yeah, it is remarkable. Simple mercenary force in Cosmere where spaceflight is still relatively recent invention is more powerful than entire IRL Earth. Imagine what Rosharan or Scadrian forces must be capable of.

Edit: To add some numbers. The total estimated yield of peak nuclear arsenal was 13 000 megatons of TNT.

1815 eruption of Tambora volcano was equivalent to 30 000 megatons of TNT.

Toba eruption circa ~75 000 years ago is estimated to be equivalent to 20 000 000 megatons of TNT. And humans survived that.

Edited October 3, 2023 by therunner

[+Oltux72]

2 minutes ago, therunner said:

Actually we cannot do it, even using peak nuclear stockpiles later models suggest that parts of the world would remain habitable, and extinction is unlikely. Hell, models of full nuclear exchange suggest that between 40-60% of US and USSR population would survive. So even tens of thousands of large nuclear warheads are insufficient to wipe out a planet.

I need to point out that we never aimed for that goal. If we did, we could ramp up our warhead production to increase stockpiles into the millions and go back to the big monster bombs of the late 50es and 60es and fit them with cobalt jackets. We do have the potential capability to render a planet uninhabitable.

6 minutes ago, therunner said:

So yeah, it is remarkable. Simple mercenary force in Cosmere where spaceflight is still relatively recent invention is more powerful than entire IRL Earth. Imagine what Rosharan or Scadrian forces must be capable of.

Yes. The Cosmere seems to be in a kind of Cold War coupled with age of sail imperialism in the future.

13 hours ago, robardin said:

Is Skipping truly random? He certainly can't seem to control where it is he goes, and as we see, he is capable of arriving somewhere he's never been before - but does he ONLY Skip to new places?

Because if it's really random, eventually he'd land somewhere on one of those two worlds, right? Maybe not in an area he's familiar with, though (like maybe he pops onto Roshar in Natanan or something).

No, it is not random. If it were he'd long since drowned or frozen to death in some planet's equivalent of Antarctica.

However it is not controllable either. If it were, we wouldn't have seen Hoid actually travel through the Cognitive Realm.