Direform vs. Koloss

[BinarySecond]

I doubt they'd be crushed, rocks is rocks. bones are porous Plus magic

[The White Drake]

My understanding is the hollow spaces in the bones is what would make them be crushed.

[Frustration]

Thinking about this more I decided to do a case by case analysis based on who/where I'm fighting

1. Roshar: Go with the Direforms. There are simply too many ways to deal with stone, and Koloss are probably too stupid to figure out how to catch grass to eat, and I doubt stone would be nutritious for them.
2. Scadrial: The presence of guns makes Koloss next to useless in my mind as they have no defenses. Direforms would require more foraging to get adequate food, but there's also a lot of water which would make travel difficult for Phantoms. I'd go with either direforms or phantoms, I don't think Koloss offer enough advantages.
3. Sel: Don't fight these guys, they are just way too powerful.
4. Nalthis: Direforms would probably show up in lifesense increadibly easily. Koloss can also quite easily be outmaneuvered by awakeners, which is a big problem. I'd go with Phantoms here as they can hide from lifesense, however there is also the possibility that they are forced into a situation they aren't programed to deal with, so Direforms are a close second.
5. Threnody: Phantoms aren't living beings, and might be able to violate the basic rules without punishment, the others would not be so lucky. Koloss in particular would not be able to adapt to not shedding blood or running at night, and should not be taken here under any circumstances. Easy win for Phantoms
6. First of the Sun: Phantoms are immune to venom, and get another easy win
7. Lumar: Koloss can much more easily eat spores than other people could. However they would make terrible sailors, and wouldn't be able to adapt to the spores. The Sorceress' army was taken out by uncontrollable situations and they were far more advanced than phantoms were. Easy win for direforms.
8. Komashi: Honestly I can't say. Not too much going on here.
9. Canticle: Phantoms honestly might be able to run fast enough to outpace the sun. The others I don't think so. Easy Phantoms win
10. Taldain: The difficulty to find food and water on dayside makes Phantoms an easy pick. Direforms might be able to discover plants, however I doubt Koloss will, and they won't be able to survive on sand. Getting to darkside however requires ships, so I say direforms are probably the best here, but it's a very open question.

[The White Drake]

1 hour ago, Frustration said:

First of the Sun: Phantoms are immune to venom, and get another easy win

Only the pantheon islands have the hyperlethal environment. By and large the planet is called out as seafaring.

1 hour ago, Frustration said:

Roshar: Go with the Direforms. There are simply too many ways to deal with stone, and Koloss are probably too stupid to figure out how to catch grass to eat, and I doubt stone would be nutritious for them.

I didn't think of koloss failing to catch Rosharan grass, but it is amusing.

1 hour ago, Frustration said:

Canticle: Phantoms honestly might be able to run fast enough to outpace the sun. The others I don't think so. Easy Phantoms win

A Phantom should be able to make around 700 miles in a day (discounting terrain). With an estimated radius of 100 miles (though I can't find a citation for that figure), circumference should be a little over 600. The math checks out. Terrain will slow them but they can also just not go the longest way around the planet.

1 hour ago, Frustration said:

Scadrial: The presence of guns makes Koloss next to useless in my mind as they have no defenses.

Wasn't there a mention that at one point a koloss warlord invaded the Basin? When Marasi is seeing the weapons the constables have prepared in Shadows of Self.

On 6/24/2026 at 4:57 PM, The White Drake said:

My understanding is the hollow spaces in the bones is what would make them be crushed.

Regardless of this, the deep sea has unknown terrain, zero visibility, easy to get lost, no ability to send commanders in with them, and so forth. Lots of unknowns. I wouldn't want to send my near-invulnerable crazy expensive Invested units down there.

[Frustration]

1 hour ago, The White Drake said:

Only the pantheon islands have the hyperlethal environment. By and large the planet is called out as seafaring.

True, but that's where the perpendicularity is.

I also forget that Brandon retconned the homeland to be the home isles. Probably should go with direforms

[BinarySecond]

The more this goes on the more I think of how much Odium lucked out with Singers. A species built to be able to fulfil specialised roles.

It leads me to wonder if if there is any limit on the forms given forms of power come from just voidspren.

 

[alder24]

22 hours ago, Frustration said:

I doubt stone would be nutritious for them.

22 hours ago, Frustration said:

I doubt Koloss will, and they won't be able to survive on sand.

Coppermind:

Quote

Koloss can subsist off of nearly any substance and can eat almost anything, including dirt and ash.

If they can sustain themselves on ash, they can survive on sand or stone just fine. 

[Frustration]

17 minutes ago, alder24 said:

Coppermind:

If they can sustain themselves on ash, they can survive on sand or stone just fine. 

Dirt at least contains high amounts of carbonates and other organic compounds. Ash, depending on its exact composition does as well.

Sand on the other hand is largely silicon dioxide, with unless Koloss can make cells that are silicon based instead of carbon based won't help them.

Edited 2 hours ago by Frustration

[Returned he/him]

I think there's some magic involved in Koloss metabolism and sustenance. It's hard to think of a human-scale animal body being sustained by grass and ash, never mind a super high-performance body like a Koloss. If they can cheat the other realistic constraints for nourishment such that ash and dirt are enough, it doesn't seem plausible that they couldn't cheat enough for sand also be enough. Not that I'd be surprised to see that limitation, I just don't think that "it's not realistic because of the chemistry" is a standard we can rely on for this.

[NameIess]

26 minutes ago, Frustration said:

Dirt at least contains high amounts of carbonates and other organic compounds. Ash, depending on its exact composition does as well.

Sand on the other hand is largely silicon dioxide, with unless Koloss can make cells that are silicon based instead of carbon based won't help them.

There are microscopic organisms living on the sand that the Koloss might be able to metabolize.

[Frustration]

38 minutes ago, NameIess said:

There are microscopic organisms living on the sand that the Koloss might be able to metabolize.

That's true, I forgot about the lichen. That should be just fine for them.

[The White Drake]

2 hours ago, alder24 said:

Quote

 

If they can sustain themselves on ash, they can survive on sand or stone just fine

Hard to get a swallowable handful of stone, and I doubt there’s enough sand to support an army. Trees though…