Recently on Reddit (Oct 2016)

[ccstat]

Recently Brandon has been very generous with his responses on Reddit, primarily in the comments on his most recent Stormlight 4 Update. Some of the answers may have been reported in the relevant forums, but I thought it would be good to compile all of the Cosmere-relevant ones. I have edited spelling in places and broken up most of the multi-part questions so that each answer follows directly, but otherwise these are as they appeared on Reddit.

I have attributed questions if I recognized the reddit username as a 17^th Sharder. If I missed yours and you want credit for your question, I’ll fix that.

Also, I haven’t quoted it here, but there was a very good exchange about Brandon’s willingness to answer when you are asking questions you care about, not just ones that are sitting on the Ultimate List. You can see that conversation here, featuring good comments from Brandon, Argent, and Weiry

Spoilers are intended for space/organization purposes.

Stormlight

Spoiler

 

Q Botanica

We know that the Passions are a religion or a set of superstitions from Thaylenah. But what are the "Passions" exactly? Are they a group of Gods who represent various kinds of "Passion" worshipped by the Thaylen people? If not, are those "Passions" simply a set of ideals believed by the Thaylen people? Are there any connections between Thaylen Passions and Alethi Thrill?

A Brandon

The Passions could be called a religion, but there are those among the Thaylens (and to a lesser extent, other peoples) who would argue that it's more a philosophy. Or a companion religion. Much like Shinto and/or Confucianism co-exist in some places with Buddhism.

However, there is not formalized theology, despite various thinkers and gurus expressing their thoughts on the matter. The central idea is that Passion equates to Action, and the cosmic belief that wanting something draws it to you. This idea is reinforced by the spren, obviously.

Q Botanica

Ah, so basically some people treat it as a fundamental way of life, and some people just treat it as The Secret?

A Brandon

Yes, you can see it as a Rosharan version of the Law of Attraction, though some people have taken it further into a more religious fundamental.

Q Botanica

 Mraize is said to come from Thaylenah. If it is true, then what about his eyebrows? 'Cause we didn't see any related descriptions from Shallan's PoVs. Did he cut/shave/dye his eyebrows?

A Brandon

 Mraize...well, let's just say that much about him is mysterious. But no, you would not place him as Thaylen by his eyebrows.

Q

Over a long enough timeline would Roshar's "random" seasonal pattern show an actual predictable pattern, or is it truly random? I hope i've stayed vague enough to dodge a RAFO.

A Brandon

I think I know what you're getting at, and if so, you're right. But just to answer the question: temperature variation on Roshar doesn't follow much of a pattern, and is relatively small in variance. It's caused by the blowing of the storms, so over the long term, looking VERY hard, you could probably find some patterns. They'd be related to the frequency and strength of storms during that time of year.

Q Yata

In Oathbringer will we discover how the type of a Gemheart is decided ?(what Polestone you will find once the Gemheart is gathered) I have this doubt for months and probably is a relly not relevant think but I have the constant feel of "I am missing something"

A Brandon

You're asking why certain species have emerald gemhearts, while others have a different type of gemstone?

Q

In the end yes. Actually, I was even unsure if a specific species had a Specific Polestone as Gemheart. In the books is never explicitly stated but (in-world) nobody ever asked what kind of Polestone is retrieved after the death of a Chasmfield (as if it was obvious fact) but I had not actually confirmations until now 

A Brandon

Note that there are some species that vary. But many do not, which is what made Chasmfiends so valuable

Q Argent

Recently, somebody came up with a very clever theory about the meaning of The Way of Kings endsheet, and I liked it very much. I suspect you want to keep most of that a secret, but maybe you can answer this also vague question - is there another chart, in-world, similar to the ones on frontsheet and endsheet, that we haven't seen?

A Brandon

I'm afraid that is RAFO territory. Let me point out that most charts in Cosmere books are human attempts at understanding the world. There are fundamental principles to them, but also human groupings and perspectives worked in.

Q Argent

There is a very specific passage from The Way of Kings I would love to get some closure on:

In The Way of Kings, Chapter 54: Gibletish, Dalinar has a brief conversation with Brightlord Hatham, one of his ardents, and a few other people. During the conversation the ardent uses the word “soil” in a way most Rosharans wouldn’t. After the conversation he tells Dalinar of “our goodwill toward you” and that “we will speak with you again.” The odd use of the word “soil” combined with what could be a vague reference to the ardent’s associated with a group other than the ardentia has led some of us to believe he might be a worldhopper. Plus, we know Nazh is around in the area, or will arrive soon. Is there truth to this idea, or are we overthinking this?

A Brandon

 Alethi use the word "soil" on occasion in their language to mean "dirtied" or similar. It's a holdover from an earlier time. But they don't associate it with the ground, and if you see it used instead of stone like in this quote, it should indeed raise an eyebrow.

Q Argent

Wait, hold up. How can "soil" be a holdover from an earlier time if Roshar was always a rocky place? Or did you mean that it's one of those words that carried over from Yolish, or whatever other language people spoke before they migrated to Roshar (like "hound")?

A Brandon

It is similar to hound, which is one of the ones that Hoid pointed out as an oddity. But people did not migrate from Yolen to Roshar. Roshar was inhabited before the shattering of Adonalsium.

Q Argent

 Hmm. I am rusty on my Roshar history, I'll have to review what we know the topic. I know Roshar existed before the Shattering, and it was presumably populated, but I didn't think there had been humans there. They don't feel native. I've been working under the assumption that the Parshendi were native (maybe), but the humans came from somewhere - the Tranquiline Halls myths also kind of support that.

Or have I missed something? The only downside to the unbelievable level of information you pump out into the community is that it's sometimes difficult to remember everything... 

A Brandon

Technically, what I said doesn't actually contradict anything you just said. But just to be extra safe: RAFO. I have to keep a FEW secrets safe from you people to come out in the books. 

Q

You have stated that each Knights Radiant order gets their own unique ability, for lack of a better word, due to the combination of their surges. For instance, you have stated this ability for the Windrunners is strength of squires. My question - is this due to the Nahel bond, or just inherent in the surges combining. Would a non-Radiant get these abilities from the Honorblades, or would they be out of luck due to no Nahel bond?

A Brandon

 Good question! The unique abilities have more to do with the powers interacting, same as how twinborn will often manifest some odd side effects of the powers interacting. But there are limitations. For example, Jezrien didn't actually have any squires, as none of the Heralds did.

 

Mistborn

Spoiler

 

Q Yata

There is something that recently was debated by some fans and I hope you may give some clue about the "side effect of interaction between magic" as was pointed in the Twinborn and Surgebinder Cases: Are those "perks" stackable ? To say if I am a Fullborn like Rashek, will I have all the possible Twinborn's perks or a specific "Fullborn's perk" ? And about the same topic, a Mistborn or Full Feruchemist has his own perk/perks ?

A Brandon

I've worked under the premise that if you hold too many of the powers, like a Mistborn, the result is a loss of these little quirks. The mechanics of it are interesting, but I'll leave you to theorize on that sort of thing.

Q

When coming up with twinborns, do you actively avoid the incredibly overpowered combinations? Something like pure steel twinborns seem extremely overpowered.

Also, can we get an idea for how many twinborns exist? Is it dozens? Hundreds? Thousands?

A Brandon

I'm going to have to talk about them eventually, but yes, I made some deliberate choices for the Alloy era heroes.

My intent is that they're very rare, but there's this problem in fiction. You can say something is very rare, but if your two main characters are that thing, readers won't FEEL it. So I avoid making too big a deal out of it either way. Either way, I don't have the numbers handy right now.

Q Argent

You've dropped a few tidbits about the plot of the next Mistborn series over the years. Putting all those things together, we have a necrosil Ferring Terriswoman hacker recruited for fieldwork in an "Allomancer SWAT team" to chase a Mistborn serial killer. Could you give us a more recent and concise pitch/blurb if the above is no longer accurate?

A Brandon

Ha. That's not far off, as all of those things still exist in the series, though the weight I'll give them is relative. With the Alloy series covering some of the police procedural aspect of storytelling, I'm inching the outlines slowly away from the SWAT idea and toward more spy thriller--but the SWAT team isn't gone completely. (Of course, who knows what will happen in the intervening years between now and when I write it.)

Q

Did the length of a year (as measured by the people on the planet) change when Scadrial was moved by The Lord Ruler/Harmony?

I've assumed that lengths of time given in the books use that world's time lengths. For example, the Reod happens ten Selish years before Elantris (which may not correspond exactly to Scadrian years or Earth years), or that the 4500 years between the prelude and the prologue of Way of Kings is in Rosharan years. Is this an accurate assumption?

I've assumed in the past that all the major shardworld planets we've seen have roughly earth similar years. Can you confirm/deny this for any of them specifically? I'm especially interested in Sel and Nalthis. (Specific numbers would be ideal, but even a yes/no for any of the planets would be super super awesome!)

A Brandon

I mentioned in another post that I'll wait a bit to give you exact numbers, because I want to make sure Peter has run all the right calculations. But yes, changing the orbit had an effect on things--though official calendars didn't need to change, as they'd been used since before the original shift happened anyway. When we talk about 'Years' in the Final Empire, it's original (pre LR) orbit anyway. I knew I was going to go back to them later in the series, and when characters were actually aware of things like the calendar, it would be close to earth standard.

Though, since you mention it, all numbers mentioned in their respective series are in-world numbers. This makes things tricky, as Rosharan years (with the five hundred days) are blatant enough to start the average reader wondering about these things.

Mostly, Roshar is the big one (not in actual deviation--I think a Roshar year is only 1.1 Earth years--but in how the scope and terminology of the novel will make people start to notice and ask questions.) Other planets have deviations from Earth, but it's not as noticeable. We'll give specific numbers eventually. I promise.

 

 

Other Cosmere

Spoiler

 

Q Argent

In the White Sand graphic novel, quite a few of the elements of the environment (e.g. rocks, clouds) look like faces (link). I find it hard to believe this is just a quirk of the artist, so can you tell us anything about why Taldain seems positively riddled with faces?

A Brandon

The faces are intentional. (Though they turned out more blatant in places than I'd have liked.)

Q ccstat

In Warbreaker we see Nightblood's consciousness shift dramatically when he is actively consuming investiture. Does the Shardic flavor of that investiture (Breath vs Stormlight or Preservation Mist vs Ruin Mist) influence how his mind functions in that state?

A Brandon

RAFO, actually. Good question.

Q

You've said before that if a sentient computer were developed, it would call a soul into itself. Could it be hemalurgically spiked?

A Brandon

Theoretically, yes, but I have no idea yet how the logistics of that would work.

Q

Would a kandra be able to imitate a chasmfiend, given enough time?

A Brandon

It's not about time, it's about mass. A little one, sure. A full grown one? They'd crush themselves. They'd need to be able to make use of symbiotic spren bonds from Roshar, which isn't just a matter of digesting a body.

Q

If a kandra's limb was cut by a Shardblade, would it be able to heal/regrow?

A Brandon

Yes.

Q Argent

You've said that Investiture tends to develop sapience on its own. Is this a function of the amount of Investiture alone (i.e. any pile of Investiture large enough will develop sapience eventually), or does the process require extra effort (e.g. a Command from an Awakener, an action by a Shard, etc.)?

A Brandon

Under the right circumstances, a pile of investiture will eventually become self-aware. But there is no specific timing. The more investiture clumped together, the more likely--and the closer to human-level intelligence it is likely to obtain.

Of course, if you leave matter alone long enough (on a galactic scale) it will eventually end up becoming sapient too. So this isn't that different. (Well, okay, it is.)

Q

does being filled with Stormlight make your skin glow, or are they just leaking mist which is glowing and not glowing themselves?

A Brandon

The glowing is from the Stormlight, which leaks from the skin. Even any glowing you think is coming from the skin is actually from the Stormlight leaking out.

Q

So if a kandra Radiant were to go transparent, but had little bubbles of skin under their surface, would the bubbles of skin inside them leak Stormlight and light up, or does Stormlight only leak from outside surfaces?

A Brandon

Honestly, while what you say is plausible, I'm not sure I want to start down this path and the directions it might end up leading...

Q

could someone feruchemically storing connection in an aonic nation become an elantrian?

A Brandon

It's a little tougher than that, but it would be a start. And for some people, it would be enough.

Q

are all cosmere languages derived from yolish (like french and spanish are to latin) or did the shards create them on their own?

A Brandon

Some peoples other than those on Yolen predate the shattering of Adonalsium, remember. So no. But many others do share a common root.

Q

was hoid's role as the royal jester in the emperor's soul influenced by robin hobb's character the fool?

A Brandon

Yes.

Q

Are the stars in the red rip naturally red, were they turned red, or does someone (and i feel like if i mentioned his name this loses all chance of not being RAFO'd) use lightweaving to make them appear so?

A Brandon

RAFO! 

 

EDIT: Spoilers were oddly nested, but they have been fixed now.

Edited October 17, 2016 by ccstat
Formatting issues

[Argent]

Thanks for getting those here. I've been meaning to do exactly the same thing (and I've got like 10 Reddit tabs open between my work and home PCs), but I haven't been able to find the time to get this done.

Regarding the formatting of nested spoilers, I don't see much you can do outside of manually copying all the text, and then pasting it without formatting (Ctrl-Shift-V). Which, now when I think about it, isn't that difficult. 

[Glamdring804]

I think the problem is the current GUI doesn't let you switch into raw bbcode editing mode. I've found that being able to directly edit bbcode in a post is far more useful and versatile than any amount of fancy buttons.

[ccstat]

Thanks for the help. I got it fixed by using the spoiler button rather than trying to type my own tags. For some reason it insisted on misinterpreting my spoiler placement. I haven't been on here much since the site upgrade, and hadn't even noticed that button yet. I guess I'll use it now if the manual entry isn't reliable.

Also, I want to say that Argent is amazing asking interesting questions worded in a way to get worthwhile answers. Way to go!

[Argent]

29 minutes ago, ccstat said:

Also, I want to say that Argent is amazing asking interesting questions worded in a way to get worthwhile answers. Way to go!

Which I find terribly ironic because I feel most of my questions are crem, and I barely get any interesting answers. Which is why I try to make up with volume...

[Eki]

12 hours ago, Glamdring804 said:

I think the problem is the current GUI doesn't let you switch into raw bbcode editing mode. I've found that being able to directly edit bbcode in a post is far more useful and versatile than any amount of fancy buttons.

BBCode is still useable! You just have to enter it manually.

Anyway, thanks for compiling this! Sad to see my Yolen refugee theory disproven though.

[Yata]

@ccstat I have to apologize with you.

I didn't remember you as a Sharder and I posted your WoB (about Investiture Flavour for Nightblood) here on the forum 

[ccstat]

No apology needed.  I'm glad someone else found it interesting. I was surprised by the answers you got about emerald gem hearts and twin born perks. Thanks for asking those.

[Glamdring804]

15 hours ago, Eki said:

BBCode is still useable! You just have to enter it manually.

True, but once the bbcode is compiled, there's no way to go in and manually edit the code itself - which is why ccstat was having trouble sorting out his spoiler situation. I'm all for user accessibility, but sometimes just switching to raw bbcode is just better. Perhaps I'll post this as a suggestion for the website.

[Eki]

Just now, Glamdring804 said:

True, but once the bbcode is compiled, there's no way to go in and manually edit the code itself - which is why ccstat was having trouble sorting out his spoiler situation. I'm all for user accessibility, but sometimes just switching to raw bbcode is just better. Perhaps I'll post this as a suggestion for the website.

Unfortunately, I don't think the system actually saves posts as bbcode, so I think that might be difficult. I recall people asking about it after the website update a few months back. I might misremember though.

[Argent]

There has been a new burst of activity, and I think the easiest way to report it so to just dump everything here. I would very much like to categorize everything, but time is scarce.

First, we have a conversation (with a few lines removed because they are either not relevant, or questions not addressed at all) on early projects, including The Way of Kings Prime.

Quote

Q: Here's a question, Brandon. As you (probably) know/remember, I'm really interested in the early parts of your creation process. The ideas basically. What was the first idea that created Zahel in WoK prime? What came first, Zahel or nightblood and what were they like originally? Was it through them that you came up with the idea of worldhoppers or did you just want another worldhopper to appear to show that hoid wasnt the only one?

A: The idea was actually writing Kaladin's swordmaster in TWOK Prime. By then, worldhoppers were already quite well established. (I'd written Elantris in 99, along with Dragonstee to be a prequel to the entire cyclel. That was followed by White Sand and Aether of Night in 2000 or so--and Aether has the first on-screen appearance of a Shard.)
Kings Prime was 2002-2003, and I wanted Kaladin's swordmaster Vasher to have an interesting backstory. That was the origin of the idea for a worldhopper who was very interested in Shardblades. From there, wanting to do a sympathetic magic, and (years later) my editor suggesting a world more "colorful" drove me to try out Warbreaker itself.
Here is his first appearance in TWOK Prime. Note, none of the names are changed in this, so you get Kaladin and Adolin's original names, among others.

Quote

After a few moments, one of the monks noticed him watching. The man paused, regarding Merin with the eyes of a warrior. “Shouldn’t you be practicing with the other lords, traveler?”
Merin shrugged. “I don’t really fit in with them, holy one.”
“Your clothing says that you should,” the monk said, nodding to Merin’s fine seasilk outfit.
Merin grimaced.
The monk raised an eyebrow questioningly. He was an older man, perhaps the same age as Merin’s father, and had a strong build beneath his monk’s clothing. He was almost completely bald, save for a bit of hair on the sides of his head, and even that was beginning to gray.
“It’s nothing, holy one,” Merin said. “I’m just a little bit tired of hearing about clothing.”
“Maybe this will take your mind off of it,” the monk said, tossing him a practice sword. “And don’t call me ‘holy one.’”
Merin caught the sword, looking down at it blankly. Then he yelped in surprise, dropping his Shardblade and raising the practice sword awkwardly as the monk stepped forward in a dueling stance. Merin wasn’t certain how to respond--all of his training in the army had focused on working within his squad, using his shield to protect his companions and his spear to harry the opponent. He’d rarely been forced to fight solitarily.
The monk came in with a few testing swings, and Merin tried his best to mimic the man’s stance. He knew enough not to engage the first few blows--they were meant to throw Merin off-balance and leave him open for a strike. He retreated across the cool sand, shuffling backward and trying not to fall for the monk’s feints. Even still, the man’s first serious strike took Merin completely by surprise. The blow took Merin on the shoulder--it was delivered lightly, but it stung anyway.
“Your instincts are good,” the monk said, returning to his stance. “But your swordsmanship is atrocious.”
“That’s kind of why I’m here,” Merin said, trying another stance. This time he managed to dodge the first blow, though the backhand caught him on the thigh. He grunted in pain.
“Your Blade is unbonded,” the monk said. “And you resist moving to the sides, as if you expect there to be someone standing beside you. You were a spearman?”
“Yes,” Merin said.
The monk stepped back, lowering his blade and resting the tip in the sand. “You must have done something incredibly brave to earn yourself a Blade, little spearman.”
“Either that, or I was just lucky,” Merin replied.
The monk smiled, then nodded toward the center of the courtyard. “Your friend is looking for you.”
Merin turned to see Aredor waving for him. Merin nodded thankfully to the monk and returned the practice sword, then picked up his Shardblade and jogged across the sands toward Aredor. Standing with Dalenar’s son was a group of elderly, important-looking monks.
“Merin,” Aredor began, “these are the monastery masters. Each of them is an expert at several dueling forms, and they’ll be able to train you in the one that fits you best. Masters Bendahkha and Lhanan are currently accepting new students. You can train with either one of them, though you’ll need to pay the standard hundred-ishmark tribute to the monastery out of your monthly stipend.”
Merin regarded the two monks Aredor had indicated. Both looked very distinguished, almost uncomfortably so. They regarded Merin with the lofty expressions of men who had spent their entire lives practicing their art, and who had risen to the highest of their talents. They stood like kings in their monasteries--not condescending, but daunting nonetheless.
Merin glanced to the side, a sudden impression taking him. “Holy ones, I am honored by your offer, but I feel a little overwhelmed. Could you tell me, is the monk I just sparred with accepting students at the moment?”
The masters frowned. “You mean Vasher?” one of them asked. “Why do you wish to train with him?”
“I. . .I’m not certain,” Merin confessed.

Q: Are you saying that Elantris has other worldhoppers in? I just finished the prose version of White Sand as well (i've never been a fan of graphic novels but didnt want to miss anything from the Cosmere) and didnt even notice Hoid in it, let alone other worldhoppers there.
So you created Vasher and then made them a worldhopper, and the magic system and Nalthis stemmed from there? I actually have another question related to that. Have you ever thought about something you wanted to add to the Cosmere - say, an idea or an ability or something - and then built from there, or do you always write a cool story because its a cool story and the Cosmere stuff comes after?
EDIT: For example, did you write Mistborn E1 to introduce the idea of shards or did you write the plot and then realise you can wiggle the shards in there?

A: Hoid's part in White Sand was very minimal. I believe he's only referenced, and doesn't even appear on screen. Though Elantris has the famous mural depicting worldhopping.
You have it right. I was designing Vasher, decided he was a worldhopper, and then filed away "I'll tell his backstory some day" in the back of my brain. The magic for Nalthis grew more out of the idea for a sympathetic magic than it did for him, but the book was always intended to be his backstory world, so knowledge that Shardblades (or a version of them) being involved was part of my core creation of that setting.
Every story happens differently. Shadows for Silence happened from a writing prompt, for example. But at the same time, I'd been imagining for years a world to delve more into Cognitive Shadows. These things just kind of fit together as you work on them in your brain. But I've started with story first, and I've started with world first. Mostly, though, it's a mixture of both.
By Era One of Mistborn I was already very certain what I was doing with Shards, and so they were there from the get go. I'd say in the cosmere canon right now, White Sand is the most oddball, since it was the only world I designed and wrote a book in (the 1997 version, which is different from the 2000 version) before I had settled on the mechanics of the cosmere. I then placed it in the cosmere when writing the new version.
All of the published novels were written with the cosmere mechanics fully locked in, however, and the interactions of the shards set forth.

Q: I dont really understand what you mean by sympathetic magic. All that comes to mind is Kvothe, which certainly isnt part of your work.

A: Sympathetic magic is the classical science idea that "Like influences Like." Voodoo dolls are a more contemporary example, though even spontaneous generation and the humors connect to the idea slightly. It was the basis for Awakening, and (I believe) Rothfuss's sympathetic magic. It's a common theme in fantasy magics, though, much like alchemy and astrology.
I don't send out the 97 version. It's just too bad. (Sorry.) Maybe some day, but not right now. It's the first book I ever wrote.

Q: Is the payment to a devotary while training under an ardent still canonical? And given that Vasher had a reputation for being a bad duelist in Warbreaker, exactly how good is he with a blade? Is it just a case of Nalthian swordmasters being better or did Vasher learn from his experiences?

A: It's been a while.
And Vasher isn't as bad as the text implies.

Source

A conversation on Soulcasting and fabrials, which spirals down to Soulcast food and a namedrop of Silverlight, a city we'll see mentioned in Arcanum Unbounded.

Quote

Q: Any sort of influence from the Soulcasting-to-Stone burial customs?
(If Vasher were a little more sneaky I'd think he had created the custom in case he needed a ready supply of Phantom material)

A: Let's say that yes, soulcasting was very interesting to Vasher.

Q: Regarding soulcasting, I have a question - why do people continue to use it post-Recreance? Would it not have been seen as a betrayal, given that the Radiants abandoned them? Why this Surge but not others? Was it simply the only Surge available and people would have kept using the others anyway? I guess it's a matter of practicality but given how devout Vorinism can be it does seem odd.

A: Good question. You'll notice that soulcasters aren't the only fabrial that access a surge, however. They're just the one most commonly used.
There are plenty of rationalizations. But it comes down to this: they are too useful to give up.

Q: Ah yes, now that I think of it Navani's conjoined-gem fabrials seem to utilize Gravitation and perhaps the heating one uses Abrasion(?) to produce heat. Or are there others I did miss?
Very interesting though, and off on a tangent - how would food production be like without soulcasters? Has Alethkar, for example, grown far beyond what it could (population-wise) without them?

A: I was referencing a regrowth fabrial, actually, which I believe has appeared several times.
The food question is a great one. As far as the Alethi go, it's more a matter of concentration than raw food production. Shipping is SLOW in Alethkar. It's long, which makes getting between north and south difficult, and the rivers aren't as useful as they are on (say) Earth.
The warcamps, for example, would starve themselves out short order without soulcasters. Supply lines are just not an Alethi strength. Kholinar, while not as big as Scadrian population centers, is also large enough that it depends on soulcasters for some of its food. It could survive without them, though, with northern Alethi food production.
Really, warfare is where they've learned to extend themselves, and depend on the soulcasters. Remember, gemstones in them DO break, so you do still need a ready supply of emeralds. The larger, the better.

Q: Isn't the regrowth fabrial incredibly rare? I was under the impression it disappeared with the Recreance and only Nin's reappearance brought it back. AFAIK, only a Radiant in Dalinar's vision and a Herald have actually used it so far.
Very interesting on the food logistics of Alethkar - I never did quite imagine Kholinar was smaller than say, Elendel, but the technological progress there explains it.
Given how slow food transportation is, I would presume fresh food is a no-go. Are spices and preserved food selling well in Roshar, then? As for population centers, is Kholinar the largest around, or are other places a lot larger?

A: Their rarity depends on the time period in question. But yes, I'd list them as incredibly rare.
There's a reason that Herdazian food (which makes soulcast meat taste good) is popular these days.
Azimir is larger in population than Kholinar. Kholinar is big by Rosharan standards, but far smaller than an Earth population center (like London) at a comparable time. The warcamps had it beat by a lot--depending on how you view the warcamps. (As one city, or ten small ones.)

Q: Does that just mean Herdazian food is incredibly spice-heavy, then? Also, why is Soulcast food bland? Is it due to the nature of the object (changing food to food makes it tastier than stone to food), or just because the Soulcaster lacks practice, like Jasnah did with strawberry jam?
Ah, so Azir has a larger population density, at least. Cosmere-wise, is Elendel the largest, or could say, T'Telir match it?

A: Flavorful, rather than spicy. Most western food is already spicy. The Herdazians offer something a little different, and are pretty good with soulcast meat. The portability is also a bit of a revolution.
Soulcasting anything other than the basic Essence requires some innate knowledge and practice. People could learn to soulcast better food, but it would have to be a Radiant with control over the process. The soulcaster fabrials are far more rigid in what they can create.
Azir has a large population density. Cosmere-wise, though, Eldendel is by far the largest. Though I don't have strict population numbers on places like Silverlight. (Which, for years, I assumed I'd have to rename--but I think the program Silverlight is dead, so I can go back to calling the city that.)

Q: What/where is Silverlight? I don't recognize the name from any of the books.

A: Silverlight is mentioned in the Cosmere collection, I believe, in one of the essays. It's a city somewhere in the comsere, with some relevance you will discover eventually.
A soulcaster is built to do a certain thing, and can do that certain thing well, but without as much flexibility. It is the difference between having a computer output a picture of a circle--following some inputs such as size and some changes to shape--and having an artist who can draw what you want.

And a tangential discussion on Soulcasters and their ability to wreck nuclear horror:

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Q: Well, I know what would catch my interest: At the risk of getting too technical, is there anything besides lack of knowledge preventing a soulcaster from turning some rocks into a bunch of plutonium and exploding?
I know you've got some rules attached to time bubbles to avoid those going nuclear so I wouldn't be surprised if there was something or another.

A: Well, Soulcasting isn't fission or fusion. It's a spiritual transformation process, not a physical one, and so you don't have to worry about some of these issues. There IS historical precedent of accidentally setting off fission reactions in the cosmere using the magic, but that was a different process. Soulcasting is actually pretty safe. (Well, on a grand scale.)
You could end up irradiating yourself, though, which wouldn't be very fun.
If you know what you were doing, making plutonium or uranium on Roshar wouldn't be difficult. The problem is more a matter of knowledge, and room for scientific exploration. They're unlikely to make atom bombs for the same reason they haven't made gunpowder. Once they figure out that some substances are important, they can learn to make them with Soulcasting (assuming they have Radiants) but some substances just don't occur naturally--so discovering them in the first place is difficult, and would require more modern scientific process.

Q: Okay, just to clarify here (since I'm not sure how up you are on early nuke designs)
A big enough chunk of uranium or plutonium will explode regardless of whether it's in a bomb or not. Early bomb designs just slammed two smaller chunks together so they'd be one big chunk.
For plutonium 'big enough' is about 35 pounds in one place - a chunk somewhere between the size of baseball and volleyball.
If I understand properly, people can soulcast from the cognitive realm into the physical, which implies once we get into a more modern stormlight setting soulcasters will make nuclear submarines look like small potatoes.

A: Slamming two chunks together so they became one big chunk seems an understatement, from what I remember. I'm under the impression that you had to use a great deal of explosive force to ram them together in order to set off a viable fission reaction. Doesn't it have to be compressed somewhat in order to react with itself?
I'll admit, it's been a long time since I've looked at this, but I remember glancing it over, and deciding that you'd need more than just soulcasting to get it to happen. Though it's not outside of reason that a soulcaster could learn to create super-dense plutonium. The problem is one of understanding, however.
Just like it's totally possible that we, with our current technology, could figure out some huge breakthrough in science allowing FTL or other incredible discoveries. But we don't have the understanding to pull it off yet.
In a modern setting, however, a lot of these complaints go out the window. Let's just say that this isn't the only reason a modern society that can instantly transmute one substance to another is potentially a very interesting place.

Q: You're totally right that everyone currently uses an 'implosion' style compression design. It's a lot more bang for your buck, and you need less radioactive material to work with. They're also a lot safer, because just sitting around they're well below critical mass - without the power-boosting tricks they basically can't go off.
The old "nobody uses these anymore" designs were 'Gun-Type'. Very simple - shoot a uranium bullet into the center of a uranium ring (or vice versa). Inefficient as heck (the Hiroshima bomb only fissioned 1.4% of its uranium), but also super simple to put together.
Despite being simple to build, gun-types were also super unsafe relative to modern implosion devices (among other worries, dropping a gun-type device into the ocean could potentially set it off because of how neutrons react with water). Also, getting the timing perfect on the fissile 'bullet' was a problem, so practically speaking it could only be done with uranium.
After WWII, the only use the US ever had for gun-types was in bunker busters and nuclear artillery (because of course that was a good idea).
Darn, that post turned out longer than I expected it to.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to see you make something really cool out of a post-scarcity transmutropolis setting (especially since the liespren would be in charge of nuclear treaties), and also my roommate just pointed out all the laying out of nuclear bomb details is pointless if they could just make antimatter instead. D'oh.

A: This is useful information for me, but my gut says that Rosharans couldn't get this working with their current tech level. That said, the REAL issue (as you mentioned in your original question) is knowledge, not feasibility. They'd have to know how to make the right kind of Uranium or Plutonium--and would need to be able to get this across to a soulcaster in a way that works, then THEY would need to get this across to spren. Cross that hurdle, and I suppose it's not at all implausible to imagine Alethi during Dalinar's era with nukes. I suspect the right kind of fabrial could make a trigger device to match ring and bullet at the right time. Depends on how quickly it needs to be going, though.

A: One of the first magic systems I designed for the cosmere was based on the manipulation of sub-atomic particles, and involved the ability to look directly at atoms and interact with them. I decided to back off on this, as it was a whopper of a magic system to get right with my limited (at the time) writing experience. It was fun, though, and is still a canonical Cosmere magic.

Q: Not to be too obvious about being a geology dork, but if you can make clear quartz easily with soulcasting as we've seen, and you can also make radioactive materials, wouldn't it be trivial to make smokestone since defects from irradiation are what make quartz black?
edit: Just for the fun factor, here's a cool picture of a quartz crystal which crystallized around a few radioactive mineral grains. The radiation has blackened all the quartz around them in a sphere: http://gem-sphalerite.com/external/forum_go/quartz_radiation_halos1.jpg 

A: Making unstable plutonium or the like is theoretically possible, but not something that Rosharans are aware they could do.
Emerald and Heliodor are basically the same thing, chemically, but are very different substances on Roshar--with different soulcasting properties. Same goes for quartz and smokestone.

Q: Is there any significance to some of the gems being forms of aluminum oxide?

A: Not really, I'm afraid. I tried to work it in, and decided I was stretching.

An attempt at clarifying Shallan's vision of Shalash destroying a statue of herself:

Quote

Q: In Words of Radiance, Shallan draws a picture of someone destroying a statue. If attentive, could that person have been aware of being "observed" at the time?

A: I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. I need more detail of what you're trying to get at here.

Q: I think he's asking if Shalash(???) could have (or did) felt Shallan observing her.

A: Looking at it again, I realize I'm asking for more clarity than they'd be able to provide. I do understand the question, but at the same time, my answers can can confirm or deny things that are (sometimes false) assumptions underpinning questions. So when we get into something like this, that has to do with mechanics I haven't explained very well yet, I get very hesitant about answering.
So...I'll probably just RAFO this one. For now. Though look for a scene involving Syl where something similar happens, as they are related.

Q: Thank you for the response! That does partially answer my question.
I was being more vague than necessary, specifically to avoid a "you're making assumptions" RAFO. I'll go ahead and detail my thinking then and let you respond as much or as little as you like. I recognize that I'm poking at mechanisms we don't understand yet, so RAFO is pretty likely.
I am working under the belief that Shallan's depiction of Ash is accurate and (likely) immediate. She could have visualized the scene in several ways: by having some portion of her aspect or of Pattern's travel there, by some connection-at-a-distance mechanism, or by "word-of-mouth" relay via (e.g.) spren.
As we've seen elsewhere, savvy and/or powerful people (like I assume the heralds to be) are able to notice when an aspect of someone pops up looking at them. Similarly, they could possibly notice a remote observer through the connection. In both cases, I presume that the degree to which the observer is present determines how noticable the event is. In contrast, the passive reporting through intermediaries in the third option would probably not trigger the sense of being watched. So my question boils down to whether Shallan is projecting part of herself, part of Pattern, or doing something else entirely. And in the back of my mind I'm wondering how much manipulation (or aggression) could take place at the other end of the connection.
If I understand correctly which scene you are referring to, where Kal was noticed, then you are saying that the two events share a mechanism which answers the original question, but still leaves me wondering about what is being projected across Roshar. (That you reference Syl is interesting.)
Here is a follow-up question, hoping that I haven't already talked myself into a corner or out of an answer: The clairvoyant drawings occur at a particularly verdant lait, with plenty of growth/death/circle-of-life happening. In a mechanistic sense, did this location help enable the clairvoyance?

A: I'll have to RAFO this, as I don't want to get into the mechanics right now.

Some updates on upcoming projects:

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Q: Do you have a rough idea of when we will be hearing more about "dark one"?

A: Well, I decided to do Apocalypse Guard as my next YA project, so we won't see Dark One AT LEAST until that trilogy is done, Alcatraz 6 is done, and Rithmatist has another book in it. (Sorry.)

And a WoB on Awakening living things:

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Q: Also what would happen if I had a LOT of breath and tried to awaken something that was still alive...?

A: RAFO on the second question. You could say that investing someone with your Breath, however, IS Awakening them.

On kandra and photosynthesis:

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Q: Can Kandra learn to photosynthesize or imitate plants? I'm thinking no, due to the biological differences between animal and plants cells, but I gotta know.

A: They've toyed with this, and it hasn't worked so far. There are kandra who believe they can figure it out, however.

A note on how the Moon Scepter looks like:

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Q: We know that the "Moon Scepter" (functions like Rosetta Stone) stolen by Hoid is an actual scepter that people can hold and use, not a painting depicting a specific scepter. Some of us talked about it and its translation again, and a question appeared.
How does the Moon Scepter actually look like? In what shape is it?
Now we have two understandings of the word "scepter" based on different ways of translation:
1) 杖: It shapes like a common wand/staff/rod/cane/stick, usually seen in Western countries. [Mainland translation]
2) 笏: It's kind of a flat scepter of Chinese origin, shaped like a tablet, usually held before the breast by officials when received in audience by the emperor. (Very rarely, the emperor himself holds it.) The officials can take notes on it. [Taiwan translation (I believe the translator once showed you around the Taipei Palace Museum.)] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaku_(ritual_baton) 
Could you tell us which one is closer to the original design? Thanks!

Q: It's not a Shaku, it's a Ruyi, actually. That's an excellent question, though. It does actually come from my visit to the museum, and while I'm aware of shakus, I hadn't heard them called scepters. But I guess they are!
Either way, I imagined it as the wavy shape of a Ruyi. (如意)

A medium-level spoiler for Secret History:

Spoiler

Q: Based on the current state of the Cosmere, known and unknown, could Kelsier theoretically find enough power/skill/knowledge to have a fair and equally matched fight with Hoid? Assuming they meet again and have a rematch.

A: I'd say that what you posit is indeed theoretically possible.

 

[Rasarr]

Interesting! I wonder, could Silverlight be the "Restaurant at the End of the Cosmere", AKA the worldhopper colony?

Edited October 20, 2016 by Rasarr

[Pagerunner]

I've been watching the Amazon page for Arcanum Unbounded; I think they'll be putting up preview pages in a couple days. (30 days before release date, right? That means Saturday.) The only thing I haven't read in there is Edgedancer (for obvious reasons), and I'm not terribly worried about spoilers for it, so my first priority was gonna be to scour preview pages for any mention of Vax. Now, with Silverlight in the mix... who am I kidding, Vax is still top priority, but I'll keep an eye open for Silverlight as well.

[Chaos]

On 10/17/2016 at 11:48 AM, Glamdring804 said:

I think the problem is the current GUI doesn't let you switch into raw bbcode editing mode. I've found that being able to directly edit bbcode in a post is far more useful and versatile than any amount of fancy buttons.

 

On 10/17/2016 at 0:39 PM, ccstat said:

Thanks for the help. I got it fixed by using the spoiler button rather than trying to type my own tags. For some reason it insisted on misinterpreting my spoiler placement. I haven't been on here much since the site upgrade, and hadn't even noticed that button yet. I guess I'll use it now if the manual entry isn't reliable.

Also, I want to say that Argent is amazing asking interesting questions worded in a way to get worthwhile answers. Way to go!

 

On 10/18/2016 at 3:40 PM, Glamdring804 said:

True, but once the bbcode is compiled, there's no way to go in and manually edit the code itself - which is why ccstat was having trouble sorting out his spoiler situation. I'm all for user accessibility, but sometimes just switching to raw bbcode is just better. Perhaps I'll post this as a suggestion for the website.

Yes, the lack of BBCode editing is very sad. It would be essentially impossible to have a raw BBCode editor anymore. This does make me sad. 

Should I need, I code my posts in BBCode and if there's an error I copy+paste from my BBCode text file again to fix it. 

[Argent]

A few more recent posts:

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Q: The name Bleeder - does it come from (the incorrect) idea that bleeding a patient can make them feel better? And so Paalm sees herself as the one who needs to bleed Elendel to make it healthy?

A: The idea of "bleeding" as we had on earth as a custom of medicine did not exist on scadrial. But the idea in your post isn't too far off.

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Q: When, in Stormlight, Shardblade victims are described as having burned out eyes, do the eyes physically burn out leaving empty eyesockets, or is it closer to a surface burn, maybe just looking like they had burned?

A: Eyes actually burn. It is an oddity that I might some day explain.

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Q: How can Szeth apply multiple Basic Lashings to an object - wouldn't the first one send the object immediately beyond his grasp?

A: Hold something in your hand. There is a "basic lashing" pulling it downward. How hard is it to keep holding on to?
Often, though, then I have him Lash multiple times, he either does it all at once or in very quick succession.

Q: I was mostly interested in cases where Szeth lashes really heavy objects - stone blocks or tables - to the side. They are not things he can hold (usually), and my understanding of physics suggests that a second after the first Lashing the object would be 9.81* (well, less for Roshar) meters away.

A: Yes, please. It's entirely likely I've made a mistake somewhere.
With the blocks, the ones I remember are where he has to overcome friction.

Q: But while we are on the topic - we know that you can't Lash people in Shardplate, but can you Lash the person inside the Plate? If they had their helm off, for example. At that point Plate should be just dead weight, right?

A: There's a bit of an interference envelope. Wearing plate, the person has this big ball of investiture around them, and so pushing any through it--even by touching a person without a helm--is going to be tough. Easier than with the helm on though, I suppose.
Investiture acts (roughly) like a saturated solution in these cases. Sticking more power into something like a Feruchemical storage or a hyper-invested object like Plate is increasingly hard. The other part is that Investiture tends to interfere with other Investiture, unless there's a familiar resonance. (This is part of what philosophers call Identity.) Slapping your hand through a sand master's stream of sand will cause interference, and make them start to drop. It's not that the sand is supporting them, it's that the investiture holding them up gets scrambled for a moment because of your own investiture.
Investiture pushed toward someone inside a hyper-invested (supersaturated) system like a person in Shardplate is going to get hard push-back.
This is similar to the reason that it's harder to Push on invested coins. Depends on how invested they are, in that case. It's generally not as hard as doing something like Lashing a person in plate. (This is more about the interference than the saturation of investiture.) But the two principles are what I use to guide the physics in these areas.

Q: It's generally not as hard as doing something like Lashing a person in plate. (This is more about the interference than the saturation of investiture.)
Can we take that as a hint that the Investiture in the Plates and the Investiture that the Surge of Adherence uses come from different Shards? Or do they interfere because they "belong" to different sprens?

A: You know, I should have realized this one would bring out the follow up questions. Let's leave it at what I posted for now. This is a deep, deep rabbit hole, and I do need to try to get some more writing done tonight. So...RAFO. (Sorry.)

 * It was brought to my attention that my understanding of physics is, in fact, garbage and this number should be 4.9 meters.

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Q: Also what would happen if I had a LOT of breath and tried to awaken something that was still alive...?

A: RAFO on the second question. You could say that investing someone with your Breath, however, IS Awakening them.

Q: Are Commands unique to Endowment and those with Breath, or do other shards have an equivalent or similar power / ability? The girl Vasher rescues, his statements to Denth, and your quote above seem to point that Commands can be used on living entities for some purposes... I've always wondered if there was more to Dalinar referring to "unite them" as a 'phantom command'. If other shards use commands or something similar it could also explain the mechanism of the Nightwatcher's boon/curse related to Dalinar's memory loss.

A: Intent is one of the components of the Magic, as you'll see frequently. These things are related.

Quote

Q: I was going through the compiled WoB and came across two interesting pieces of information. So I guess a lead in question, you said that Hoid isn't quite human, so I was wondering if he wasn't quite human in the same way that inquisitors aren't quite human (i.e. alterations to spiritual DNA etc.)? And if so does he get his many investiture based powers in a similar way?

A: You are asking the right questions, and are thinking along correct lines.

Quote

Q: I was wondering whether any of the Vessels are blood related?
Aside from the romantic relationship between Honour and Cultivation I'm not sure that we know anything about the relationships that others have with each other within the group of 16, and it would be interesting to know.

A: I'm saving most of this for Dragonsteel, I'm afraid. So RAFO.

 

Edited November 4, 2016 by Argent

[Kingsdaughter613]

Interesting. It just occurred to me that the eyes burning out when cut by a Shard blade sounds very similar to what happens if someone Overmasters too much. If I actually get to a signing I'm going to ask this.

[Eki]

I think the formatting broke down a bit. The question about burned out eyes is in there twice, for example, but with an answer to a different question the second time.

[Blightsong]

2 hours ago, Kingsdaughter613 said:

Interesting. It just occurred to me that the eyes burning out when cut by a Shard blade sounds very similar to what happens if someone Overmasters too much. If I actually get to a signing I'm going to ask this.

The over mastery dehydrates the body, leaving the eyes to shrivel up and turn to dust. The same thing happens to the sand masters skin and other parts of the body, so I don't think it has to do with anything spiritual.

[Argent]

2 hours ago, Eki said:

I think the formatting broke down a bit. The question about burned out eyes is in there twice, for example, but with an answer to a different question the second time.

@Joe ST also reported issues with the formatting, but I am not seeing it. I don't know if there is anything I can do...

4 hours ago, Kingsdaughter613 said:

Interesting. It just occurred to me that the eyes burning out when cut by a Shard blade sounds very similar to what happens if someone Overmasters too much. If I actually get to a signing I'm going to ask this.

Somebody a while back remarked, quite astutely, that the burnings eyes (or, rather, the smoke that comes out of them) sounds similar to how entities cut by Nightblood turn into smoke. A similarity only enhanced by the knowledge that Nightblood was designed after Shardblades (or was it Honorblades?), but is a lot more powerful than them, as well as the fact that Nightblood is technically a Stormlight "character" (recall that Brandon wrote Warbreaker as a prequel to Vasher's - and by extension, Nightblood's - story from Stormlight).

[Kingsdaughter613]

But that isn't what happens during dehydration. I dissected an eye; even after removing the water there is a lot of material left over. And removing moisture does not turn skin to dust; that's actually how we make leather and parchment. Bodies in a desert actually end up preserved. (Like curing meat.) It always struck me as odd that the bodies were basically consumed from within. 

That really belongs in Cosmere theories though. Mostly it's just something I want to ask Brandon, especially since this theory is based more on descriptions from the prose, not the comic.

[Argent]

Never mind, team, the first question in the third quote was, in fact, wrong. It is now fixed.

[maxal]

I have a question about the lashing a person wearing Shardplate WoB... I have to admit right here I don't typically spend a great deal lot of time thinking or analyzing theories with respect to investiture and/or use of surgebinding so I might have missed great pans of it, but didn't Szeth actually lash Plated Adolin during their last encounter on the Plains? Brandon says right here it would be practically impossible, but didn't it happen during this scene? Can anyone shed some light on it: I am lost 

[Yata]

44 minutes ago, maxal said:

I have a question about the lashing a person wearing Shardplate WoB... I have to admit right here I don't typically spend a great deal lot of time thinking or analyzing theories with respect to investiture and/or use of surgebinding so I might have missed great pans of it, but didn't Szeth actually lash Plated Adolin during their last encounter on the Plains? Brandon says right here it would be practically impossible, but didn't it happen during this scene? Can anyone shed some light on it: I am lost 

I have to re-check it but are you sure Szeth didn't lashed "something" that then hitted Adonlin and made him fly ?

Edited November 6, 2016 by Yata

[maxal]

5 minutes ago, Yata said:

I have to re-check it but are you sure Szeth didn't lashed "something" that then hitted Adonlin and made him fly ?

The scene happens behind closed curtains. All we get to read is Adolin crashing through Dalinar's tent as if he were thrown from the sky. I do believe Adolin mentions having been thrown to the ground, which is how he hit his head. I always thought Szeth had lashed Adolin here, so if he didn't, I wonder how the heck did the scene play out.

Maybe we should ask Brandon unless someone has an answer.

[BlackYeti]

48 minutes ago, maxal said:

I have a question about the lashing a person wearing Shardplate WoB... I have to admit right here I don't typically spend a great deal lot of time thinking or analyzing theories with respect to investiture and/or use of surgebinding so I might have missed great pans of it, but didn't Szeth actually lash Plated Adolin during their last encounter on the Plains? Brandon says right here it would be practically impossible, but didn't it happen during this scene? Can anyone shed some light on it: I am lost 

I've re-read the passage, and  I don't see anything to suggest that Szeth lashed Adolin at any point on the plains. I'm guessing that you're thinking of the part that said "Adolin crashed through the tent's fabric and skidded along the stones on his back", but that does sounds more like he was thrown to me.