The Ultimate List of Questions for Brandon

[Kurkistan he/him]

11 minutes ago, Oversleep said:

Why didn't Marsh relocate his eye spikes and healed back his eyes?

Sight is pretty much the most important sense. His metalsight would continue to be as good as it were (we know savants can potentially reach the level of Inquisitor metalsight).

He doesn't loose anything by restoring his sight and there's much to gain.

A theoretical explanation ties into a pseudo-theory I've mentioned offhandedly every once in a while: I'd guess that Hemalurgy forcibly changed Inquisitirs such that having N spikes in places X, Y, and Z, with accompanying physical changes, is what their Spiritual aspects reflect as a simple truth. So in this case Marsh's soul is of the opinion that he doesn't have eyes, and barring removing more of his spikes (possibly all) and/or undoing the Spiritual changes wrought by Hemalurgy (and it's an open question whether just removing the spikes is really enough to do the trick and set you back to v1.0), no amount of Feruchemical gold is going to change that.

So far as removing both spikes, that's rather dangerous given that that's one of the ways Vin kills inquisitors. And Marsh knows this. So he might be a bit leery of experimentation, or even leaving the one out the one for long.

 

Edit: Of course none of this means that this isn't a good question to ask/nail down, so I'll be stealing this for my master list.

Edited September 8, 2017 by Kurkistan

[Oversleep]

1 hour ago, Kurkistan said:

Edit: Of course none of this means that this isn't a good question to ask/nail down, so I'll be stealing this for my master list.

Just remember to ping me if you get an answer

We know that removing one is not fatal, he could take one out, heal it, take another one out, heal it...? But if it's impossible to do, it gives us a clue about how Inquisitors work. All in all a nice rounded question.

[Jude he/him]

I got one question 

how does lift turn food into stormlight?

[Calderis he/him]

7 minutes ago, Jude said:

I got one question 

how does lift turn food into stormlight?

Argent has already asked Brandon this question. I posted the WoB in your thread. 

[Oversleep]

@Kurkistan Also, as @Irregular pointed out to me, Marsh probably no longer sees himself as having eyes. So he wouldn't be able to heal it anyway.

[Kurkistan he/him]

5 minutes ago, Overstorm said:

@Kurkistan Also, as @Irregular pointed out to me, Marsh probably no longer sees himself as having eyes. So he wouldn't be able to heal it anyway.

In the past I'd have agreed with that readily, but Lopen and Renarin both threw me for a loop when it comes to what's possible for chronic/old injuries. 

Edited September 9, 2017 by Kurkistan

[Oversleep]

13 minutes ago, Kurkistan said:

In the past I'd have agreed with that readily, but Lopen and Renarin both threw me for a loop when it comes to what's possible for chronic/old injuries. 

Lopen just did not accept the loss of the arm and viewed himself as having both.

I think it depends whether you see something as natural to you or not. Like, do I perceive bad eyesight as the way I am or as a handicap?

[Kurkistan he/him]

I don't disagree, it just leaves the door wide open for Marsh seeing himself as having real eyeballs.

[Ethan_sedai he/him]

what does the boiling/freezing point of water have to do with the weapon of Adonalsium's opposition?

how did Preservation get the weapon first, before the other Shards?

[The One Who Connects he/him]

11 minutes ago, ethan_sedai said:

how did Preservation get the weapon first, before the other Shards?

From the thread you are bringing these questions from, it seems pretty well agreed that the weapon Preservation was referring to was the Atium cache he had TLR hide. Since he segues from the weapon to needing a sign to show them the weapon, it's pretty much certain. His sign was "sixteen" as he said himself, and that sign helped lead to the Atium Misting discovery, as they were "1/16th of Elend's army."

14 minutes ago, ethan_sedai said:

what does the boiling/freezing point of water have to do with the weapon of Adonalsium's opposition?

Having read what Preservation said in Secret History in the other thread(thank you for posting that, by the way), water has absolutely nothing to do with either weapon. The weapon he refers to is Atium, and Preservation says he "needed a sign, something he[Ruin] can't change." He brings up the boiling/freezing point of water as examples of numbers that wouldn't change.

The fact that he used water as his example is irrelevant. He could just have easily used the boiling/freezing/melting point of something like gold, mercury, petroleum, etc... Water was the choice because it's the most likely to become common knowledge(as the real world shows: who here actually knows the boiling point of mercury or the melting point of gold? But you all know the boiling point of water.)

Also from Preservation's statement, he discarded water as his metric anyway, making it even more irrelevant than it already was. His sign was a set number, and if units changed(see Celsius vs Fahrenheit), then his water boiling number was useless. He then chose the number of Allomantic metals, knowing that it would never change.

"Something they would immediately recognize. Sixteen." Another quote from Preservation implies that this sixteen is a direct reference to the metals, not the Shards. He even discusses this with Kelsier.

[Archer he/him]

Do Steel Inquisitors have eyebrows?

[The One Who Connects he/him]

39 minutes ago, Archer said:

Do Steel Inquisitors have eyebrows?

Unless the spike is a lot larger than I think it is and takes the brow with it, they should have eyebrows. Marsh shaved his head, Hemalurgy didn't magically turn him bald.

If you are asking whether they shave their eyebrows along with their heads... can't answer that one.

[Silverblade5 he/him]

Why do Nazh and Khriss care about where Shallan made landfall after being shipwrecked?

Why are they concerned about Alethi dueling stances? Worldhopper invasion? Setting up Felt?

Can a shader mess around with the contrast on the WoR ebook so we can read the smudged parts on the Pattern sketch?

What did Nazh go through recovering the Pattern sketch?

Nazh is researching Alethi fashion. Was this to help set up Felt?

There seems to be a worldhopper with the cover of an Azish public servant. Suggestions?

Why do Nazh and Khriss need a map of the chasms?

 

Edited September 12, 2017 by Silverblade5

[Emerald101 he/him]

At quantum levels, does investiture exhibit wave-particle duality? "Resonance" is the term we use to describe the interaction between different magic systems/surges/what have you. Would it be correct to describe it as constructive interference?

[flying_shadow she/her]

Was the code from WOR(the chain of numbers in an epigraph) decoded in-universe?

Will Hoid meet Szeth?

What happened to Noorden? He just stopped being mentioned at one point in HOA.

Has anyone ever killed themselves due to being stalked by the Cryptics? It seems absolutely terrifying and the kind of thing that makes you doubt your sanity and suffer breakdowns.

Will there be a Belarusian translation of the books?

Does hockey exist in the Cosmere?

[The One Who Connects he/him]

On 9/11/2017 at 8:46 PM, Silverblade5 said:

Why do Nazh and Khriss need a map of the chasms?

This one seems pretty simple to me. Shallan's revelation that they were symmetrical is vastly important in retrospect with Kasbal's cymatics lesson. Dawncities and all that..

(Brandon signed someone's book with "powerful magic unleashed here" and an arrow pointing to the Shattered Plains) We know something happened, and that's enough justification for our avid researchers/Arcanum writers.

[Master_Moridin he/him]

If stuff in the Physical Realm is made of mass-energy, what is stuff in the Cognitive Realm made of?

[Calderis he/him]

17 minutes ago, Master_Moridin said:

If stuff in the Physical Realm is made of mass-energy, what is stuff in the Cognitive Realm made of?

Per this kind of long WoB from Boskone, it all investiture. 

Quote

Bromo_Sapien

When somebody travels into the cognitive realm, what happens to their physical self? To their body? Like Elsecalling or through a Shardpool?

Brandon Sanderson

Um, well it depends on the way they’re doing it. The two ways you’ve mentioned transport the physical body. It’s actually creating a rift and slipping them through. But there are other ways that you kind of peek in, where you’re body’s saying it’s a little more astral projection-y in those cases.

Bromo_Sapien

So their physical self would also be in the cognitive realm?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Bromo_Sapien

Okay.

Brandon Sanderson

Which is weird.

Bromo_Sapien

Yeah.

Brandon Sanderson

But yes, um...

Bromo_Sapien

As opposed to somebody like Kelsier who died and no longer has a physical self.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, right. Or when Shallan is soulcasting and peeking in, and things like this. Like… Um… It can still be dangerous, because what’s happening is that little soul bubble there that’s manifesting into a version of your soul and then things can get at it in different ways and stuff. So... But yes, going in physically means you just pop between realms, and yeah, yeah…

Bromo_Sapien

And when they leave the cognitive realm their physical self just leaves the cognitive realm the same...

Brandon Sanderson

Yep, mhm, yep.

Bromo_Sapien

Perfect.

Brandon Sanderson

Basically you’re transferring into investiture and popping out of investiture, so...

 

[Master_Moridin he/him]

Just now, Calderis said:

Per this kind of long WoB from Boskone, it all investiture. 

 

Well, to be technical it just says that physical things become Investiture when they travel to the cognitive.

[Straw he/him]

Time for speed bubble questions! I suppose I should @mention @Kurkistan.

1. How do speed bubbles appear in the cognitive realm?

2. You've said that speed bubbles edges mess with investiture. How does this affect spren?

3. If you stood inside a speed bubble and tried to soulcast a object outside the speed bubble, what would happen?

4. How exactly is emotional Allomancy messed with by speed bubble edges?

5. If you have one Parshendi inside a speed bubble, and another outside the speed bubble, how are the rhythms changed by the speed bubble?

6. If you put one half of a conjoiner fabrial inside a speed bubble, and the other half outside the speed bubble, then if you lift one, will the other rise at the same rate?

7. How is connection changed by speed bubbles?

8. If you shoot an aluminum bullet through a speed bubble edge, what happens?

9. If you make a reverse lashing inside a speed bubble, how would outside objects be affected?

10. What would happen if Nightblood was swung through the edge of a speed bubble?

[Kurkistan he/him]

1 hour ago, Straw said:

Time for speed bubble questions! I suppose I should @mention @Kurkistan.

Thanks for the @.

1 hour ago, Straw said:

3. If you stood inside a speed bubble and tried to soulcast a object outside the speed bubble, what would happen?

4. How exactly is emotional Allomancy messed with by speed bubble edges?

[...]

6. If you put one half of a conjoiner fabrial inside a speed bubble, and the other half outside the speed bubble, then if you lift one, will the other rise at the same rate?

[...]

8. If you shoot an aluminum bullet through a speed bubble edge, what happens?

You'll want to look to x7 in the mondo-thread about these.

1 hour ago, Straw said:

5. If you have one Parshendi inside a speed bubble, and another outside the speed bubble, how are the rhythms changed by the speed bubble?

The Rhythms are a more universal/constant thing, by my understanding, not some kind of multi-party bond between individual Parshendi. So here you're probably better off asking if the one inside the bubble perceives the Rhythm differently than the one outside, and how (maybe just a frequency change?).

1 hour ago, Straw said:

7. How is connection changed by speed bubbles?

Here you'll probably want to be more specific about exactly what kind of "connection" you mean. Bubble anchoring probably uses connection, at the very least, and I doubt that's what you mean to talk about it.

[Straw he/him]

1. Can thunderclasts form from Soulcast rock?

2. Does Surgebinding cause a form of Savantism?

3. Is Savantism only present in end-positive magic systems?

4. If you went into a speed bubble and tapped Duralumin, what would happen?

[ccstat he/him]

Inspired by @Yata in a discord conversation:

1. A person has their arm cut by a shardblade, making it a dead limb. Eventually they die and an awakener tries to make a Lifeless from their body. Will the Lifeless have a functional arm, or will it remain cognitively/spiritually separate?
2. If the awakener met the person while they were still alive, would they be able to awaken the limb, making a partial Lifeless? Would the arm be able to obey instructions (from someone with the command phrase) like a regular lifeless would?

 

[Brightlord M. Alhstrom he/him]

3 hours ago, ccstat said:

Inspired by @Yata in a discord conversation:

1. A person has their arm cut by a shardblade, making it a dead limb. Eventually they die and an awakener tries to make a Lifeless from their body. Will the Lifeless have a functional arm, or will it remain cognitively/spiritually separate?
2. If the awakener met the person while they were still alive, would they be able to awaken the limb, making a partial Lifeless? Would the arm be able to obey instructions (from someone with the command phrase) like a regular lifeless would?

 

For question 1: I'm fairly sure that it would be separate.

As for question 2, I don't think you could awaken a limb like that. At least, not if you are using the ichor-alcohol, single breath version of awakening. You might be able to awaken it the old fashion way, like you would a cloak or a rope.

My reasoning behind that: The squirrel that Vasher releases proves that a lifeless doesn't have to come from a human corpse. Now, if you can turn an arm into a lifeless, wouldn't you be able to turn say a finger, or some hair, or a toenail into a lifeless? Wouldn't that then extend to say, wool? Then why would Vasher need to use more than 1 breath on his cloak? You get the idea? I am taking it too far, and I agree there is a difference between a hair and an arm, but then, there is also a difference between a corpse and a dead arm. The hair thing only demonstrates that there IS a line somewhere between what you can awaken, and what you can't. And I think that it would come quite a bit before you get to the size of an arm.

I actually suspect that if a corpse was missing an arm, it either wouldn't work as a lifeless, or would require more than one breath.

Edited September 25, 2017 by Lord Maelstrom

[Yata he/him]

3 hours ago, ccstat said:

Inspired by @Yata in a discord conversation:

1. A person has their arm cut by a shardblade, making it a dead limb. Eventually they die and an awakener tries to make a Lifeless from their body. Will the Lifeless have a functional arm, or will it remain cognitively/spiritually separate?
2. If the awakener met the person while they were still alive, would they be able to awaken the limb, making a partial Lifeless? Would the arm be able to obey instructions (from someone with the command phrase) like a regular lifeless would?

 

By the way, yesterday I misunderstood you. I believed you talk of a limb spiritual and physical cutted from the owner (two Shardblade's cuts)...I don't believe this change the result but sadly no Adams' Hand