Question and Answer

[Amanuensis he/him]

So, I am about to order the Elantris leather bound and have been thinking of what I want to ask. @Yata: do you want me to ask "Is the Dor the residual investiture from a shattered Dominion and Devotion coalesced into a single force (I.E. Harmony without a Shardholder)?" or something similar, or would you rather you or someone else ask yourself?

[Yata he/him]

So, I am about to order the Elantris leather bound and have been thinking of what I want to ask. @Yata: do you want me to ask "Is the Dor the residual investiture from a shattered Dominion and Devotion coalesced into a single force (I.E. Harmony without a Shardholder)?" or something similar, or would you rather you or someone else ask yourself?

it would be wonderfull.

But you have to choose carefull the words, for example not "shattered" but "splintered" and I don't know if there is something else to watch before submit the question.

[Landis963 he/him]

So, I am about to order the Elantris leather bound and have been thinking of what I want to ask. @Yata: do you want me to ask "Is the Dor the residual investiture from a shattered Dominion and Devotion coalesced into a single force (I.E. Harmony without a Shardholder)?" or something similar, or would you rather you or someone else ask yourself?

 

I think the "Shattered/Splintered" distinction is the only thing that needs to be altered.  Otherwise it looks good.  ("Shattering" is reserved for the Shattering of Adonalsium, "Splintering" is the process by which a shard becomes a bunch of spren, or seons, or skaze)  

[Amanuensis he/him]

Due to character restraints, I fixed / reduced the question to: "Is the Dor a Splintered Dominion and Devotion coalesced into a single Shard?"

Edited December 8, 2015 by Adavantos

[Curiosity he/him]

Perhaps "Does the Dor consider itself a single entity instead of Devotion and Dominion's Investiture?"

[Topaz]

Two questions

What is mechanical allomancey

If you did like a lashing (I forgot the name, the one that Kaladin did to his shield, the one that pulls objects toward an object) a couple billion times, could you mess with the planet's orbit.

[Landis963 he/him]

Two questions

What is mechanical allomancey

If you did like a lashing (I forgot the name, the one that Kaladin did to his shield, the one that pulls objects toward an object) a couple billion times, could you mess with the planet's orbit.

 

Question one has been repeatedly RAFO'd, and is being reserved for Mistborn Era 3 at the latest.  Apart from it being machines that somehow work allomancy (in just the same way as a human that works allomancy), we don't know anything about it.  Oh yeah, and it's apparently the Southern Scadrian speciality.  

 

The lashings that Kaladin uses to divert the arrows are Gravitation, and thus "Basic" Lashings.  Adhesion would be between two objects that are already in contact, and would be "Full" Lashings.  And it might be theoretically possible, but that would require a lot of Investiture, for a result that would be highly destructive to Roshar (or indeed any planet you wanted to try it on).  If you know the details behind the Lord Ruler's Ascension and defeat of the Deepness (all of which are spoilers for Mistborn Era 1), you should know exactly why planetary orbits are not something to be messed with lightly.  

[natc]

The "pull projectiles towards object" thing has a specific name of Reverse Lashing.

The windrunners from way back when who invented all the names probably weren't thinking too hard about surge/scientific accuracy. They're not really an academically inclined order I guess.

[Topaz]

Larkins remove investure, right? So like what would happen if a Larkin got a lil bit to close to an inquisitor, or other hemerologic creation.

What about a shard, shardblade, or even the mists in mistborn.

[Moogle]

Larkins remove investure, right? So like what would happen if a Larkin got a lil bit to close to an inquisitor, or other hemerologic creation.

 

Well, there's a difference between something like Stormlight and an Invested object. I wouldn't expect larkins to eat Shardblades for example, so I think Inquisitors are okay. I'm not totally sure on that, but I don't see that it would make much sense for larkin to be able to suck up a Hemalurgic spike's power.

 

Maybe Allomancers burning metals might have a hard time with them though? And the mists are basically like highstorms, so someone like Vin who had taken in the mists very well might be able to have that taken by a larkin.

 

That said, we've seen problems previously on this front: if you're not from a planet, you can't usually take in its Investiture. A Mistborn can't just breathe in Stormlight, so maybe a larkin can't just eat the mists. But Nightblood/Vasher show that it might be possible.

[galendo]

Does anyone know why Zahel refers to the King's Wit as "Dust"?  Thanks in advance.

 

(Note: The quote occurs on page 976 in Words of Radiance:

Kaladin stood in the rain.  "Do you know where the King's Wit is?"

"That fool, Dust?  Not here, blessedly.  Why?")

[Topaz]

Oh, I guess I should be more clear, I didn't expect there to be something that eats shardblades, I assumed it would turn them into like regular metal, or interfere with there ability to be summoned. Also, do you think it would kill like a kolos, as I assume they are only kept alive via investure

[Moogle]

Does anyone know why Zahel refers to the King's Wit as "Dust"?  Thanks in advance.

 

(Note: The quote occurs on page 976 in Words of Radiance:

Kaladin stood in the rain.  "Do you know where the King's Wit is?"

"That fool, Dust?  Not here, blessedly.  Why?")

 

In Warbreaker, Hoid uses a strange storytelling technique of letting dust fall from his hands. I would guess that "Dust" is the name he uses on Nalthis (or one of the names, anyways) because of this, and Zahel met him there originally. It's just a guess, though. There's no WoB on it specifically to my knowledge.

 

---

 

Oh, I guess I should be more clear, I didn't expect there to be something that eats shardblades, I assumed it would turn them into like regular metal, or interfere with there ability to be summoned. Also, do you think it would kill like a kolos, as I assume they are only kept alive via investure

 

Sorry, I didn't mean specifically eat Shardblades, I meant that I didn't think larkin could suck in the Investiture from them.

 

Stormlight is a gas, basically - Surgebinders breathe it in from gems, so it makes sense that larkin have evolved specifically to be able to "supersuck" it from things. But the Investiture in spikes and in Shardblades isn't gaseous, so I would think they can't suck it in.

 

So I would think they can't harm koloss or interrupt Shardblade summoning because their abilities are not anti-Investiture, their abilities are specifically tied to gaseous Investiture. (And with that, we know only certain people can take in the mists, so it's not clear if the larkins can or cannot.)

 

This is all just guesses though, we don't have any firm WoBs on it beyond the fact that they're explicitly tied to Stormlight:

hoser

Can you tell me something about the larkin and their abilities?

Brandon Sanderson

You will see something about them in the second book. Their abilities are tied to stormlight.

(source)

Edited December 15, 2015 by Moogle

[WeiryWriter he/him]

Does anyone know why Zahel refers to the King's Wit as "Dust"?  Thanks in advance.

 

(Note: The quote occurs on page 976 in Words of Radiance:

Kaladin stood in the rain.  "Do you know where the King's Wit is?"

"That fool, Dust?  Not here, blessedly.  Why?")

 

It's one of Hoid's pseudonyms.  If you actually go and look at some of the early drafts of Warbreaker on Brandon's site he uses that instead of Hoid, but Brandon eventually decided to just use Hoid.

[ccstat he/him]

Is it possible (not specifying mechanism) to change your spiritweb to the extent that you are no longer connected to the Shard(s) of your home planet?

For example, could someone from Sel end up with a fully Nalthian identity? Or could you remove Ruin's investment in a (Final Empire era) Scadrian so that they no longer had a realmatic connection to Ruin at all?

[Stormgate he/him]

I am so sorry, I don't think we know that.

[Yata he/him]

Is it possible (not specifying mechanism) to change your spiritweb to the extent that you are no longer connected to the Shard(s) of your home planet?

For example, could someone from Sel end up with a fully Nalthian identity? Or could you remove Ruin's investment in a (Final Empire era) Scadrian so that they no longer had a realmatic connection to Ruin at all?

I don't know about the Nalthian Identity but the second it's probably Impossible.

Ruin & Preservation Investiture mades the Scadrial's Soul if you remove that part you will obtain something like a Drab (if you are luckly) or probably you will finish to take from that guy the senticence

Edited December 15, 2015 by Yata

[clyguy]

1. So when it comes to Shards, Splinters and Self awareness - Is is possible (or even probable) that some shards which have been bonded for a great deal of time will opt to become self aware instead of seeking another intelligent being with whom to bond? We know that bits of investiture, both before and after the shattering, have become self aware - both by design and by accident. If possible, would the then still be "killable". So far, when we have seen shards "die" it has only meant the severing of the power from the bonder. If it effectively renders the shard immune to death, would that put the cosmere at a standoff since Odium would no longer be able to kill other shards? Or, would he be able to beat the sentience out of them. OR would they require a bond in order to over come odium?

 

2. Is is possible or probable for a shard to go around and pick up other splinters (others, there own, or innate investiture "pools"). In the story Sixth of Dusk, there is the splinter pool that doesn't seem to be self aware but, is granting power to creatures (so far only avian) via the grubs that feed on the fruit that grows from the pool. Could an shard go and scoop up the power there and add it to themselves to increase their own power? Does it have to be aligned with the shard? What if the splinter is sentient - how would that affect the process. With so many variables it could go many directions

 

COMPLICATIONS: A shard's "power" isn't really defined or even exemplified. Does having more power simply mean a larger pool of investiture? The closest thing I've seen is when Vin (preservation) clashes with Ruin. She throws herself (a vauge force) against him and they end up killing each other. Does collecting stray investiture increase one's "mass" or "power" and therefore make them more formidable? If so, would doing something like that make one shard become able to stand up to Odium?  

 

If not - are the splinters more like the individual rings of Captain Planet with their various strengths, weaknesses, traits and usefulness? That each one has certain abilities that make them more or less formidable? In this scenario - Odium is just a more potent peice of the whole. And in this analogy it would explain why more shards do not simply combine in order to protect themselves from odium. If two or three shards clumped together (or an opportunistic one that isn't bound to a planet and is simply hiding on worlds that odium isn't interested in right now swooped in and collected the fallen shards) haven't done this. It is an all or nothing kind of process (exceptions like Harmony not explained). 

[Moogle]

1. So when it comes to Shards, Splinters and Self awareness - Is is possible (or even probable) that some shards which have been bonded for a great deal of time will opt to become self aware instead of seeking another intelligent being with whom to bond? We know that bits of investiture, both before and after the shattering, have become self aware - both by design and by accident. If possible, would the then still be "killable". So far, when we have seen shards "die" it has only meant the severing of the power from the bonder. If it effectively renders the shard immune to death, would that put the cosmere at a standoff since Odium would no longer be able to kill other shards? Or, would he be able to beat the sentience out of them. OR would they require a bond in order to over come odium?

 

I'm not sure I follow you here. If a Shard doesn't gain sentience on its own, it can't really "decide" to gain sentience, can it? Preservation/Ruin didn't "decide" to bond Sazed, he decided to take up the powers.

 

As to the last half, Splintering is different than what happened to Ruin and Preservation. In Splintering, the power itself is shattered and separated into little chunks. Preservation/Ruin just killed each other's holders. If all the other Shardholders gave up their Shards, their Shards could presumably still be Splintered by Odium.

 

2. Is is possible or probable for a shard to go around and pick up other splinters (others, there own, or innate investiture "pools"). In the story Sixth of Dusk, there is the splinter pool that doesn't seem to be self aware but, is granting power to creatures (so far only avian) via the grubs that feed on the fruit that grows from the pool. Could an shard go and scoop up the power there and add it to themselves to increase their own power? Does it have to be aligned with the shard? What if the splinter is sentient - how would that affect the process. With so many variables it could go many directions

 

As far as we know, it is possible for a Shard to pick up the power of others. Odium, for example, could take up the Shards of those he kills, but by WoB does not because he does not want their Intent to change him.

 

So... probably another Shard could go and pick up the Shardpool (Splinterpool?) on the planet of Sixth of the Dusk.

 

The Shard's alignment with the Investiture could indeed be a problem. For example, Sazed ejected the extra Ruin he had in order to balance his two Shards (though we don't know why). If, say, Preservation pre-Sazed picked up a Splinter of Ruin's worth of power, that might have caused problems. We don't know for sure on this one.

 

COMPLICATIONS: A shard's "power" isn't really defined or even exemplified. Does having more power simply mean a larger pool of investiture? The closest thing I've seen is when Vin (preservation) clashes with Ruin. She throws herself (a vauge force) against him and they end up killing each other. Does collecting stray investiture increase one's "mass" or "power" and therefore make them more formidable? If so, would doing something like that make one shard become able to stand up to Odium?  

 

If not - are the splinters more like the individual rings of Captain Planet with their various strengths, weaknesses, traits and usefulness? That each one has certain abilities that make them more or less formidable? In this scenario - Odium is just a more potent peice of the whole. And in this analogy it would explain why more shards do not simply combine in order to protect themselves from odium. If two or three shards clumped together (or an opportunistic one that isn't bound to a planet and is simply hiding on worlds that odium isn't interested in right now swooped in and collected the fallen shards) haven't done this. It is an all or nothing kind of process (exceptions like Harmony not explained).

 

As far as we know, more power = more Investiture. All the Shards originally had the same amount of power, and Preservation had to give up Investiture in order to give humanity sentience on Scadrial. This made him weaker than Ruin.

 

So, I suppose picking up more Investiture would make them more formidable in some sense.

 

Clumping together is not necessarily a valid strategy against Odium, as far as we know. He killed both Devotion and Dominion, despite them having more power. So power isn't the end-all be-all for Shards:

ericth

What is Odium's edge. Vin and Ati killed each other but Rayse has downed 3 shards and survived. Was it skill, ability, numbers or possibly un-dispersed power?

Brandon Sanderson

Some combination of the above.

(source)

 

I'm not sure why other Shards have not attempted to collect the power of Splintered Shards. I'm of the opinion that it's simply not worth it in eg. the case of Sixth of the Dusk, or they have moral issues with doing that, or they're not willing to try (there's one Shard who is, paraphrased, just trying to run away and survive), or something else (like once the power gains sentience, it can't be taken without killing that sentience - making it hard).

 

And on a planet like Sel, it's entirely possible the Splintered Shards have gained sentience and could fight Odium or another Shard off if he tried to come back and take their power.

 

We do know that Investing a planet means you have to "rip" your Investiture from the planet if you want to leave, so it might not be as easy as just sucking up available power like a straw.

 

Either way, you have some interesting questions, and I regret that I can't give you anything more than a few bits of information and some speculation. We'll have to wait for future books for answers, I suppose. (Or WoBs. Keep an eye out for AMAs!)

[Stormgate he/him]

On a totally unrelated note, if a Soulcaster (either Surgebinder or fabrial-user) were to turn something into ice, would they use a diamond (for crystal, quartz, etc) or a garnet (for blood and non-oil liquids)?

[Corax]

Hey, lovely people. Perhaps I've missed something obvious, but do we know how Feruchemists come into their power? Do we have even hints if it's similar to how Allomancers Snap, or entirely different, or something Brandon's being intentionally silent about?

[Moogle]

Hey, lovely people. Perhaps I've missed something obvious, but do we know how Feruchemists come into their power? Do we have even hints if it's similar to how Allomancers Snap, or entirely different, or something Brandon's being intentionally silent about?

 

Feruchemists don't need to Snap! They are born with access to their powers. I'll find a WoB and edit it in.

 

Edit: Best I could find was this:

Josh

How does one detect a new Feruchemist?

Brandon Sanderson

Feruchemists, when they touch metals, have an empathy for the metal that they can use.

(source)

 

I believe the information about them being Feruchemists from birth can be found in the Wrought of Copper MAG book, but I don't have it so I can't tell you for sure.

 

Edit2: Yeah, I think the information is found only in the MAG books. But logically, we should expect that they don't need to Snap... with Allomancy, you need to have the bit of Preservation in you overcome the Ruin in you, which requires a highly emotional event. Feruchemy is the balance between the two Shards, so we wouldn't expect to need that. (Just like you don't need to Snap to Awaken.)

Edited December 16, 2015 by Moogle

[Corax]

 

Feruchemists don't need to Snap! They are born with access to their powers. I'll find a WoB and edit it in.

 

 

Thank you, O Mighty Moogle! I'm a bit surprised there isn't more mentioned on the subject. Maybe we'll see some in Bands, etc.

[Yata he/him]

@Moogle

To be honest I don't think that a Shard may "consume/eat/take" other Splinters and Add to his own powers.

To me you have to take the Shard's "Core" (I don't know how call it) to have the Mastery over Investiture with a Specific Intent.

Maybe the Pre-Shattering Investiture are more compatible with a Shard but the simply fact that Rayse dind't gatherer extra power (as far as we know) may indicate that he can't do it.

 

I thought the same things about Nightblood, when he drains Investiture then he releases it with an overwrite Intent and any Shard may claim that Investiture anymore.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Yata

[Stormgate he/him]

I think Rayse could, he just doesn't because that would change his intent.