Kurkistan

Sell. It takes some big mojo to affect chronic ailments in the Cosmere. Hoid will openly (or at least semi-openly) use an Awakened blade in the first five SA books.

Thanks again for offering this opportunity. Two things to note: -I agree with others that Szeth's grandfather is likely a dead-end, simply a way to avoid shaming his father. So that one doesn't seem the best shot to me. -We have from Warbreaker that the Tears only grow in Hallandren. The question is whether their distribution as an export is what causes Returning.

You might want to change your sale, Mailliw. Dalinar said outright at the end of WoK that he'd be giving his own plate to Renarin.

Thanks for explaining that so well, Morsk. I must apologize, Meg, for any confusion you may be feeling. This is almost certainly my fault, since I'm the main crazy guy who talks about "Forms" all the time. It's my own terminology, and Brandon will probably start calling them "ideals" or "archetypes" or something else altogether when he gets around to discussing it. -Though you might have run across the word in Isomere's post, come to think of it... So that one wouldn't be my fault! In Cosmere terms, I have a set of theories discussing the (possible, though I think nigh necessary) existence and nature of these "Forms"—Spiritual and perhaps even Cognitive ideals—as well as how they interact with the magic systems. This one is the most simple/comprehensive, if you'd care for a closer look.

Sweet, can't wait. Any tidbits you want to share right off the bat?

Well I have to say that this is the first time I've been tagged by name. Interesting theory. I've been kicking around something similar for a bit now, but I'm liking the articulation we're getting here. I must say that I like Alatar's suggestion that there were no "new" spren formed when Honor shattered, but instead existing spren attracted the spare Investiture and were changed by it. @Meg Nice quoteage. ---- One thing to note is that I've begun considering the possibility that my discussions of Investiture as purely Spiritual up to this point might be too narrow. It may well have a significant Cognitive component in and of itself. After all, we have confirmation that Splinters are a blend of Cog/Spirit, the "Investiture" of Allomancy always changing the mind, and Leras somehow being able to "spend" the power of his mind in order to trap Ruin. Just something I thought I'd mention, going forward. --- P.S. I missed this thread when it first came up, then clicked the "forms" tag to find one of my old posts and saw that someone else had actually used it. Imagine my surprise.

Forms, my dear friend. Forms. Also of note (as you note) is TLR aging; this despite not having any reason to think Atium-compounding couldn't keep him going forever, thinking of himself as a literal god, and having most of a planet's population going along with him. That's an even stronger "what now?" if there's nothing besides "perceptions" to govern healing. Also, people not living past 40 in the good old days is a common misconception. You were usually good if you managed to live past childhood: it's just that that was a big if. So the average life expectancy was crazy low, despite the median being closer to "normal". EDIT: Oops, I forgot just how much of a rabbit hole my framework is. Here's the passage that would most interest you:

Wasn't me. I don't have mod-powers, and I wouldn't have removed a transcription from a reading even if I did.

Thanks for the partial transcription, Argent. Two things to note, though: 1. Not everyone has a Steelhunt code, so it might be a bit harsh to remind them us of that sad truth about their lives. 2: You missed an "A:" for 4th to last question.

Thanks for the report.

*incredibly nervous* "Ha hahahahaha" on Endowment/Hallandran question. And finally a place to link to for confirmation of Bloodsealing as different from Forging, though closely related. EDIT: And Spren as fundamental to Realmatics... *cough cough*

Great minds think alike, I suppose. Reddit?

Sorry Aztec, could you separate that out a bit? Who said what, exactly?

I suspect that we'll be getting a bit of an explosion of info in WoR. The systems are so massive that even spelling literally everything out right now would still leave 20 books worth of exploration, exploitation, and development of the existing rule set.

The one they posted is fairly hi-res: just zoom your browser and you should be good. EDIT: Chart has some STEELHUNT information (just a tad, but still some).

STEELHUNT SPOILERS

It was theorized that Epigraph 55 referred to Shallash, which was what started all of this and why the kinship question was even asked.

@Meg Forgive me, I had not meant to imply that bonding with spren was the only factor in chasmfiends' sizes. Just a necessary one.

Ahem. Hem. Hem.

It's no problem, Regent Argent. Better for you to come back into the fold and take some time to readjust than just disappearing forever. We need more active voices around these parts.

I'm actually at 414 at the moment. Also, this link might help you out in the future.

Yeah, the only "decodable" thing we've decoded was the notebook, so let's just call that a mistake. So our conclusion is: The black stone contains an "evil spren" like the one we saw in the Purelake interlude with Dalinar. Good to know. Thank you Josh.

Ah, thank you for clarifying. I still get the sense that all this surgebinding is relatively new, though. All of these abilities showed up around the same time as the death rattles and End of Times and all, so far as we can tell. Also, it seems that everyone is starting to catch on to their abilities pretty fast, not just using them unconsciously for all or most of their lives. They're recognizing cause and effect and trying to "game the system." There's really no need to hide things behind the curtains, that I can see: religion isn't vehemently anti-surgebinding and isn't very powerful in Rosharian society, and surgebinding grants obvious military and ancillary benefits. That's the kind of stuff that gets used, if not even flaunted. The more I think about it, actually, the more sure I become that surgebinding has not been "accidentally" discovered on any scale before the series. There are simply too many reasons to use it, not least the seeming constant military conflict that the whole continent experiences. Even if feudal European landowners didn't particularly like the de-knightifying impacts of the longbow and gunpowder, pressure from other nations necessitated their use: so too with surgebinding. It's too powerful to intentionally leave to the side out of fear of mild social censure, and the odds of it not being properly understood and developed in any nation (thus necessitating the development of surgebinding in other nations. Hello arms race!) are quite low, in my estimation. It's akin to why disruptive technologies like the crossbows would likely be impossible to suppress, really.

It's heavily implied. No one really seems to know about surgebinding, Brandon has talked about how the SA is all about the magic coming back (suggesting it's been gone awhile), all the talk of surgebinders so far has been in reference to the Radiants... It's a fair assumption.

Well yes, that is how it normally works. Feruchemical gold, however, has a history of leaving scars at odd times: like with Sazed after his surgery or the Inquisitor after Vin arrow-faced him. The "why" is a bit nebulous at the moment, though we have had discussions about this. First of all, it seems that Surgebinders haven't been that prevalent for the last millennium or two. They're just-now making a comeback. So it would be understandable not to have run across one or his/her gemheart in living memory. Second, here is my warrant for asking this question: We know that greatshells on Roshar are capable of growing to their absurd size because they bond with spren. We also have this quote from Brandon: Source: From this, I surmise that gemhearts arise spontaneously in spren-bonding animals. Therefore, a human with a bond to a spren (read: a Surgebinder [Well, normally *Szeth*]) might very well experience a similar phenomenon. Gemheart doesn't necessarily mean that they have a gem in place of a heart, btw.