Is crimson aether just coral?

[DoctaDajman]

If crimson aether is just creating coral then can the aetherbound choose if they want to make a soft crimson aether or a hard one? 

Is crimson just a worse version of roseite? What advantages can you see with using crimson over roseite for armor and weapons? 

What other uses do you see crimson aether offering that may make it a legit choice when compared to roseite? 

[Treamayne]

14 minutes ago, DoctaDajman said:

If crimson aether is just creating coral then can the aetherbound choose if they want to make a soft crimson aether or a hard one?

It's entirely possible that there is another Aether for a "soft" coral. We know they do not map as 1:1, but both the Ten essences and the 12 Aethers have related roots in realmatic properties - so if Crimson is the rough equivalent of Heliodor (Flesh), then it is possible that another yet-unknown aether may be similar to Garnet (blood) and create a soft coral rather than a hard one. 

17 minutes ago, DoctaDajman said:

Is crimson just a worse version of roseite? What advantages can you see with using crimson over roseite for armor and weapons? 

What other uses do you see crimson aether offering that may make it a legit choice when compared to roseite? 

Well, look at the Magnified Ones and how they use an organic armor to be a self-healing armor and weapon. Depending on the requirements, you may not always want the hard/sharper option that is more prone to breaking under stress - a medium that is more prone to deformation, but can return to shape and still function has many roles in many ways. 

WoB:

Spoiler

MoriWillow

Is there any significant relationship between the twelve types of aethers and the ten essences on Roshar, even just in a sense of recurring cosmere-wide patterns?

Brandon Sanderson

I would say yes, but it's tenuous.

Secret Project #1 Reveal and Livestream (March 8, 2022)

Hope that helps

[DoctaDajman]

4 hours ago, Treamayne said:

It's entirely possible that there is another Aether for a "soft" coral. We know they do not map as 1:1, but both the Ten essences and the 12 Aethers have related roots in realmatic properties - so if Crimson is the rough equivalent of Heliodor (Flesh), then it is possible that another yet-unknown aether may be similar to Garnet (blood) and create a soft coral rather than a hard one. 

Well, look at the Magnified Ones and how they use an organic armor to be a self-healing armor and weapon. Depending on the requirements, you may not always want the hard/sharper option that is more prone to breaking under stress - a medium that is more prone to deformation, but can return to shape and still function has many roles in many ways. 

WoB:

  Reveal hidden contents

MoriWillow

Is there any significant relationship between the twelve types of aethers and the ten essences on Roshar, even just in a sense of recurring cosmere-wide patterns?

Brandon Sanderson

I would say yes, but it's tenuous.

Secret Project #1 Reveal and Livestream (March 8, 2022)

Hope that helps

I think you make a good point about something with a bit of maliability is a good thing. 

If a roseite aetherbound gets hit and a big old chunk of their roseite gets chipped off its gone. They need to use more water to grow the patch job. (Do you think that broken roseite will grow new crystal directly from what was there and fill in the gap? Or would you need to grow new roseite altogether?) And I imagine roseite would be more brittle and prone to cracks and getting chucked off than a more coral like structure. 

Perhaps it takes less water and energy to simply reshape and reform crimson than it does to regrow new roseite?

Thinking of it more in terms of a medium hardness thing is nice for a lot of applications although I do wonder how well it will retain an edge or anything. Looking at pictures people have drawn of Magnified Ones growing large spiked weighted balls over their fists or broad axes or cleavers down their arm... I think spikes of a medium hardness material would be pretty effective against all but the most armored opponents. 

[Treamayne]

20 minutes ago, DoctaDajman said:

Or would you need to grow new roseite altogether?) And I imagine roseite would be more brittle and prone to cracks and getting chucked off than a more coral like structure.

Probably depends on if you are talking about Roseite Spores from Lumar, or a Rosite Aetherbound to Silajan. In the latter, if the Rosite breaks off, it disintigrates - that's why Prasanva's creations have to all be one connected piece/structure. We don't have enough information on Roseite Spores to know for certain how those would work - but Verdant clippings indicate that a piece should be able to separate, and even continue to grow up to the max mass for the amount of spore in the remaining portion. 

[DoctaDajman]

4 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Probably depends on if you are talking about Roseite Spores from Lumar, or a Rosite Aetherbound to Silajan. In the latter, if the Rosite breaks off, it disintigrates - that's why Prasanva's creations have to all be one connected piece/structure. We don't have enough information on Roseite Spores to know for certain how those would work - but Verdant clippings indicate that a piece should be able to separate, and even continue to grow up to the max mass for the amount of spore in the remaining portion. 

This makes sense too. Yeah I am absolutely thinking more along the lines of aetherbound for these questions. I have been operating largely on the thought and idea that aether is invested and would resist other investiture. However the carapace on the Fused is not invested correct? So while looking towards the magnified ones as a potential example of crimson aether like structures, would the crimson aether be invested itself offering more protection a shardblade than the progression fueled carapace? 

[Treamayne]

44 minutes ago, DoctaDajman said:

This makes sense too. Yeah I am absolutely thinking more along the lines of aetherbound for these questions. I have been operating largely on the thought and idea that aether is invested and would resist other investiture. However the carapace on the Fused is not invested correct? So while looking towards the magnified ones as a potential example of crimson aether like structures, would the crimson aether be invested itself offering more protection a shardblade than the progression fueled carapace? 

Well, the Prime Aethers claim to be independant of Adonalsium, and pre-date the Shattering - so we don't know how investiture differs in this instance. WoBs:

Spoiler

Quote

Bumtown1

Is Adonalsium a unique being or are—were—there others?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO! The aethers would say that there were lots. That there's like a bunch of aethers and Adonalsium. That they were co-equals. The aethers would say there were lots of them.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 5 (Dec. 2, 2022)

Quote

Pagerunner

If a well-studied singer were to become an aetherbound, how would they (with their innate understanding of tones) evaluate the core aethers' claim to be independent of Adonalsium and the Shards?

Brandon Sanderson

They would not have enough experience with the cosmere in general to be able to say yes or no.

How about this. If they went to all the different tones and compared them, they would find something different happening with the aethers, I think is what the question is getting at. So there is some evidence cosmereologically for the aethers' claims to be independent of Adonalsium. There are also evidences that arcanists could put forward that say otherwise.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 5 (Dec. 2, 2022)

 

That said, the only other data for comparison is Sand Mastery, which also uses a Luhel Bond (implied, unconfirmed by WoB yet) - and we know that Mastered Sand is actually very-low Investiture. So much so, in fact, that the innate investiture of the human body is strong enough to disrupt the investiture of Mastered Sand (Ch 10). How or if that applies to Aethers is still unknown, though.