Kurkistan

I meant more along the line of this, with open edit privileges (feel free to use this doc, btw). It's something Terez pushed for awhile back.

If you start, why don't you throw up a Google Doc and post it here so that people can collaborate?

A) Hoid has defining characteristics beyond inscrutability? B.) I wouldn't say that that Q&A tells us that that is Hoid's "defining characteristic." It's restricted to one short story, while this new information lets us know that, in fact, magic-investigation is Hoid's thing, as opposed to a hobby he does every once in a while between instigating regime changes.

As I mention here, there's a theory that Odium needed to Invest himself in Roshar in order to defeat Honor.

I'm not quite so sure about a simple "intent to Preserve" being enough. Leras couldn't "kill to protect" because he was too corrupted by Preservation's Intent, while Vin could. I guess it's a bit of a scale: a fresh Shardholder could probably justify Preservation-intended destruction, while Leras couldn't.

I had considered that too, shardbearer (hence my suggestion on the exact size of spheres), but the fact that gemhearts are useful before they're broken suggests otherwise.

Ah, thank you Isomere. I suppose you have to "cheat" a bit to destroy stuff when holding Preservation. Setting up others to act (Leras), technically benign actions with negative side-effects (Vin, Rashek), etc.

I do not recall such a quote, and it runs contrary to even what we saw in the books. Rashek toasted the world and then proceeded to "fix it" in the most damaging way possible, while Vin also did a fair job of burning everything, as well as causing a few tsunami's for good measure.

That's... actually a rather interesting idea. Wrong, though, if the MAG is anything to go by, because it describes Aluminum as burning away/consuming all of an Allomancer's metals, not even being so ambiguous as "rendering inert".

Thanks a lot for that list, Joe. I found Steris planning for calamity to be mildly hilarious, and it seems that Marsh might be tilting a bit towards the "ends justify the means" side of the scale if he's saying that Hemalurgy is good now. We've discussed various "humane" uses for Hemalurgy, and perhaps he employs them, but still... EDIT: I'm still in the process of listening, so forgive me for multiple edits here. Odium semi-settled on Roshar now; he's invested his powers there and would either have to leave it behind or rip it away in order to leave. Interesting. This lends credence to the somewhat off-the-cuff "kill them all so I can get their innate Investiture back" theory that was proposed in the Shardkeeper's podcast (around 0:39:00). EDIT 2: The part about Hoid (probably) as someone who makes it his business to investigate magic systems seriously suggests that he's the AAA.

Nice find.

Thanks! That Ruin point is good to know. People have been a bit confused as to how he meant to get at the Atium (Brandon said he'd just metabolize it), so that about settles it.

Oh yeah! How does it feel, champion of Auotpwail, to be baffled by mere economic terminology?

? ?

But the Shards are starting to merge to the point where they would "take effort to split apart", to the point where Sazed would drop Harmony if he died. The "subjectivity" can come in in that, with effort, you can still separate the two halves, and either way you can recognize them as distinct entities, but that doesn't stop them from having been super-glued together.

You're right, I did not think that through properly. And so I am shamed...

Yes, the power in Atium is used up and dispersed because it was not of the proper type of power for Allomancy. Essentially, Ruin was forced (second hand) to fuel Allomancy directly. I think you're putting a bit too much into the metaphor when you start talking about the water losing potential energy. In the context of the question, Moridin asked why Preservation fueling Allomancy did not weaken him and Brandon's answer implicitely accepts the hidden premise--that Preservation is not weakened by fueling Allomancy--as true. So Preservation is not weakened at all by the normal use of Allomancy.

Sorry, Isomere, but no. We already have an explanation for why Preservation can fuel Allomancy for free: Link

Two thoughts that have occurred to me: 1) Spheres may be a somewhat semi-fiat currency, as opposed to deriving their value entirely from their composition. Yes, spheres with the most "valuable" gems in them are more valuable, much like dimes--with their dab of silver--are more valuable than nickels, but by and large their value is largely independent of their individual compositions, in any real sense. 2) Spheres can still be used for soulcasting, leading to a real equivalent value (though I still think their value is largely determined by custom more than anything else). This one is highly likley, given that the entire point of gemhearts is that they are large, hard-to-break gemstones. They wouldn't do us much good if they had to be cut down to soulcaster-sized bites before use, now would they? This suggests that gemstones don't have to be "equipped" to fabrial soulcasters in order to be used. I would suggest, then, that an emerald broam might not have the juice to feed an army, but it can probably do for a smaller number of people for a few weeks or months before giving out. The smallest denominations probably shatter within the sphere to such an extent that they are powder, and thus functionally worthless for soulcasting. As an aside, a rather interesting thought has occurred to me: How big, exactly, are the gems that are normally equipped to soulcasters? Shallan says Jasnah's are "enormous, some of the largest that Shallan had ever seen, worth many spheres each" (ch 5), but, in terms of gemstones, might "enormous" be about the size of a thumbnail? In that case, wouldn't it be convenient if all the currency was exactly the same size and that size happened to be the appropriate size to slot into a soulcaster?

We'd essentially nailed down that first one by now (we knew that the Aons in Seons were Splinters, we knew that Seons didn't exist when Odium visited, we knew that Odium Splintered Aona and Skai), but it's nice to get a 100% confirmation, none the less.

According to Wiktionary, "-ium" is appended to either metals or "settings where a given activity is carried out." P.S. Or when people are trying to sound fancy.

My point is that you don't need Shardic conflict and/or interaction to be able to tell a good and/or long story. The Dor being comprised to two Shards had little to do with the story in Elantris or TES; Harmony is functionally one Shard at this point, in terms of both consistency of behavior and singularity of Intent. Nalthis is doing perfectly fine, dramatically, with Endowment sitting pretty by his/her self. I don't have a problem with multiple Shards sticking around on Yolen, but the length and/or importance of any planned series set there has nothing to do with it. It's not a question of "getting" Shards like you're trying to win a game: Brandon will give each Shardworld the Shard(s) that best contribute to its story; Yolen could be best served with just a Splinter, for all we know.

Not necessarily. Even discounting the Wax & Wayne books, we're going to have 6 books on Scadrial with only one (technically) Shard.

It changes the amplitude a tad, actually, but you are right that the frequency changes a lot more. There's another illustration (before Ch 14) that says a Line of Vigor comes alive after "at least two waveforms" have been completed, so that leaves it up in the air a bit as to whether doing more is preferable, or even possible.

The book says "based on how large the curve of their wave is", so I think it's amplitude.