Harakeke Posted July 7, 2016 Posted July 7, 2016 (edited) Question the first: Is Shardplate alive (or perhaps more accurately, undead)? I was struck by the similarity in description between shardplate and the skin of Nan Balat's axehound, which got me thinking. Shardplate seems to have many of the characteristics of Roshar's native fauna. Shardplate requires gemhearts to move and function, just like the greatshells. Shardplate will regenerate if broken. Earth crustaceans can regenerate -- I'm not sure if we've heard specifically that Rosharan ones can, but it seems likely. Its natural color is "slate gray" -- perhaps a reference to the geologic physiology of Rosharan wildlife? We know that chasmfiends and the like have symbiotic relationship with spren that allow them to defy the usual laws of biology.The strength and speed shardplate lends the wearer could be the effect of this relationship. Unlike most matter, shardplate can't be cut by shardblades. Shardblades cut the physical aspect of inanimate matter and the (cognitive/spiritual? I forget which) aspect of living matter. If shardplate were neither alive nor dead, but some sort of stormlight-animated husk, then it stands to reason it would interact strangely with shardblades. There has to be some sort of logical reason for this, since artifabrians are able to partially replicate the effect in half-shards. When a surgebinder has breathed in stormlight, they don't have to breathe air (and they can also heal faster, I think?) -- which suggests that stormlight has life-sustaining properties. Back in the days of the Heralds/original radiants, armor didn't need gems to function, right? Maybe back in those days, the plate was still alive in its own right. In modern Roshar, you have to power up your plate with infused gemstones (trapped spren). Wasn't there some scene where Syl reacted uncomfortably to shardplate? I could see why she would be upset with humans cramming random spren into an empty husk with no regard for the natural order. Has this theory been explored? Question the second: Did Lin Davar's secret soulcaster ever really work, or was he actually a radiant? He was in deep with the Ghostbloods or something, right? Maybe like Jasnah, his soulcaster was just for show as well. (Oh, the irony!) Sure, the steward claimed to have been trained to use it -- but did he ever actually accompany lord Davar and the surveyor? Maybe his "training" was just for show. The whole thing just seems fishy. Edited July 8, 2016 by Harakeke 3
Oversleep Posted July 7, 2016 Posted July 7, 2016 32 minutes ago, Harakeke said: In modern Roshar, you have to power up your plate with infused gemstones (trapped spren). Infused gemstones =/= trapped spren. Important difference. Back in the pre-Recreance times, the Shardplate was (probably) powered by the Stormlight breathed in by the Radiant.
Eki Posted July 7, 2016 Posted July 7, 2016 6 minutes ago, Oversleep said: Back in the pre-Recreance times, the Shardplate was (probably) powered by the Stormlight breathed in by the Radiant. Probably why Kaladin could wear that one helmet as a glove without that part having gemstones. I don't remember if there's any clue to that in the actual text though. There are theories that shardplate is made out of non-sentient spren, specifically the kind that corresponds to an Order's sentient spren. So in Kaladin's case, his Plate would be made out of windspren, since Honorspren seem to be some kind of sentient windspren.
Harakeke Posted July 7, 2016 Author Posted July 7, 2016 (edited) 22 minutes ago, Oversleep said: Infused gemstones =/= trapped spren. Important difference. Interesting. I assumed that the gems used in shardplate are the same general type as those used for fabrials. Are they different? I always figured that what "stores" the stormlight in gems are the living spren stuck inside, and that when gems go dun, it's because the spren either die or escape. Or perhaps they're still in there, but they've "metabolized" all the stormlight. 10 minutes ago, Eki said: Probably why Kaladin could wear that one helmet as a glove without that part having gemstones. I don't remember if there's any clue to that in the actual text though. There are theories that shardplate is made out of non-sentient spren, specifically the kind that corresponds to an Order's sentient spren. So in Kaladin's case, his Plate would be made out of windspren, since Honorspren seem to be some kind of sentient windspren. Alternately, if shardplate is some sort of spren parasite/symbiote, then Kaladin could have been feeding it directly from the stormlight inside himself. Perhaps something to do with with his Nahel bond with Syl? Edited July 7, 2016 by Harakeke
soulcastJam he/him Posted July 7, 2016 Posted July 7, 2016 Shard plate is really just shale bark cultivated by spren. 1
Yata he/him Posted July 8, 2016 Posted July 8, 2016 (edited) 9 hours ago, Harakeke said: Question the second: Did Lin Davar's secret soulcaster ever really work, or was he actually a radiant? He was in deep with the Ghostbloods or something, right? Maybe like Jasnah, his soulcaster was just for show as well. (Oh, the irony!) Sure, the steward claimed to have been trained to use it -- but did he ever actually accompany lord Davar and the surveyor? Maybe his "training" was just for show. The whole thing just seems fishy. If He was a Radiant (and to be honest I really doubt it because Pattern have to know it) with control of his Surges. He would have know how important Stormlight (and his Healing) is to a Surgebinder. He would never let something slow as poison to kill him. And if I don't remember wrong, the Soulcaster was used by another man, the Davar's Butler Edited July 8, 2016 by Yata
Pathfinder Posted July 8, 2016 Posted July 8, 2016 18 hours ago, Harakeke said: Interesting. I assumed that the gems used in shardplate are the same general type as those used for fabrials. Are they different? I always figured that what "stores" the stormlight in gems are the living spren stuck inside, and that when gems go dun, it's because the spren either die or escape. Or perhaps they're still in there, but they've "metabolized" all the stormlight. Alternately, if shardplate is some sort of spren parasite/symbiote, then Kaladin could have been feeding it directly from the stormlight inside himself. Perhaps something to do with with his Nahel bond with Syl? There are gem stones cut a certain way to capture a spren, that are then used in a fabrial to make it function a certain way, but there still needs to be gemstones with stormlight to run it. Gemstones holding stormlight are a different matter. The better the cut of stone, the better the stone holds the stormlight. That is what Eki was saying. That since the shardplate is not made of sentient spren, it would not scream when held by a radiant, but could still feed off stormlight like a spren. Kaladin, if the theory holds true, will eventually when he gets further into his oaths, his own shardplate grown from windspren. 9 hours ago, Yata said: If He was a Radiant (and to be honest I really doubt it because Pattern have to know it) with control of his Surges. He would have know how important Stormlight (and his Healing) is to a Surgebinder. He would never let something slow as poison to kill him. And if I don't remember wrong, the Soulcaster was used by another man, the Davar's Butler Also consider that Shallan's mother would have tried to kill him too. So yeah I totally agree Lin Davar was never a radiant.
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