Do Perfect Gems Still Crack in Soulcasters?

[Quantus]

That's really it, all in the title.  Gems crack when over-used, which is sort of a cornerstone of the rosharan gem economy.  But Perfect Gems lack any imperfection which in turn gives them perfect efficiency to the point that they dont leak stormlight at all, despite leaking being a fundamental trait of Stormlight itself.  Ive always considered the cracking effect to be a natural seeming function similar to lasers/optics, where the imperfections in the lens or cable medium cause energy leakage that leads to heat/physical stress, and ultimately cracks.  If they are so perfect that they can prevent all leakage, would they not also be so perfect that they would not face the same energy overload?

Edited November 30, 2018 by Quantus

[+Invocation]

I'd imagine it would at least take a significantly larger strain to break a perfect gem, if it were possible at all. I agree that it probably isn't based on the lack of imperfections, though.

[Calderis]

Honestly... Why you'd put a perfect gemstone in a Soulcaster is beyond me. They should be either long term storage or a prison. 

"speed" of withdrawal can't be the issue, otherwise every time a radiant drain a sphere they'd be cracking them. We don't know what factor of drain creates the strain that causes fractures, but we've seen it happen with Soulcasting (of both varieties) which is a fast withdrawal... And we've been told it happens from Shardplate restoration, which isn't fast. 

So my opinion is, that whatever causes strain, perfect gemstones should probably be far more resilient... And you'd still be stupid to risk it. 

Edited November 30, 2018 by Calderis

[Weltall]

Yeah, I'm with @Calderis on this. A perfect gemstone would probably be much better at resisting cracking but I certainly wouldn't want to be the one putting Honor's Drop into a fabrial to test the theory. If you crack a perfect gemstone you can't just pop down to the store for a replacement and you've ruined a potential Unmade prison or emergency stormlight battery.

[Quantus]

2 hours ago, Calderis said:

Honestly... Why you'd put a perfect gemstone in a Soulcaster is beyond me. They should be either long term storage or a prison. 

Or unending use of a particular type of soulcasting, entirely circumventing the economic cost of using one.  That seems more tactically valuable than long-term storage in most (but not all) circumstances, and Roshar will hopefully only ever need nine gem Prisons

2 hours ago, Calderis said:

"speed" of withdrawal can't be the issue, otherwise every time a radiant drain a sphere they'd be cracking them. We don't know what factor of drain creates the strain that causes fractures, but we've seen it happen with Soulcasting (of both varieties) which is a fast withdrawal... And we've been told it happens from Shardplate restoration, which isn't fast. 

I dont imagine it's a speed of withdrawl issue, as you say, otherwise the Oathgates would burn through them at an accelerated rate. I figure it would be more of an accumulated stress issue, and in most crystalline materials those stresses accumulate around the occlusion and crystalline imperfections that a truly perfect gem would lack, potentially giving those stresses no foothold to start accumulating in the first place.   

2 hours ago, Calderis said:

So my opinion is, that whatever causes strain, perfect gemstones should probably be far more resilient...

I definitely agree on that, I guess the crux of the question is whether the actual, literal Perfection of the crystalline structure is able to push 'Resilient' into 'Immune', the same way it pushed stormlight storage from Longer to literal Permanent storage. 

2 hours ago, Calderis said:

And you'd still be stupid to risk it. 

Dont get me wrong, Id never have the guts to risk one for an Experiment, and there is no better use than as an Unmade Prison, period.  But given one good peak into the Spiritual Realm to make sure it would work first (Atium, Renarin, misc. Fortune Effect, etc), and there are strong arguments to be made (especially back before the apocalyptic book events and the Radiant return).  A Perfect Emerald, for example, would give an army (or possibly even a small nation) an Infinite Food Supply: you soulcast food for the the entire duration of each highstorm, and your only limits become how fast you can cycle material in and out of your Soulcaster's presence, and how long they can last in the job before they become a walking statue of tasteless Gruel.