Kurkistan

2 is patently true, given Odium's tendency to vacation.

Or "they" is the Shadowblaze. I agree that the Shadowblaze have some degree of choice (thus the "undeterminable"), but that doesn't exclude there being several levels of decision making.

Or it depends on the context, which is annoying, but not insurmountable. In certain contexts, he talks about the "soul" as both (afterlife), in certain contexts he talks about it as the Cognitive ("poopspren"), in certain contexts he talks about it as Spiritual (Hemalurgy).

Sorry for ignoring you, Sats. Your thoughts struck me as plausible and I was in the middle of total war with a few people, so I just let them stand. I hesitate to give too much power to the church: puppets, my dear Satsuoni, everyone is a puppet to our Rithmatic overlords!

Though I hate to keep writing this word, the "poopspren" quote really seems to do that particular model in, Aaradel. You have normal Cognitive aspects, which are based on "how it is viewed, and how long it has been viewed that way. Feces would have this, but wouldn't have a very strong cognitive identity because of its transitional nature." Then you have "Other types of spren, the type that characters see and interact with, are cognitive ideals or concepts which have taken on literal personification over time. These are usually related to forces or emotions, and don't relate to this particular topic." This is the second time we've seen this idea of "literal personification over time", after the window quote in TES. To my mind, at least, this is basically solid proof that "Forms" of some form or another exist as quasi-independent entities.

Maybe I'm just being weird here, but I just can't get around seeing the bindagent as someone who is the intended audience of the book. Therefore, the bindagent must be a person, and a person who is already a Rithmatist. What reason is there for this book to council that an eight-year-old "should consider wisely", a directive, when a merely potential Rithmatist will never read it? It's not saying "would be well-served to consider wisely" or "benefits from considering wisely", but advising future action. I read the "vessel" as a potential Rithmatist, myself.

@Voidus I was suggesting that some human agent has some amount of control over who gets picked, on some level. It may just be making favored-options smell better, for all I know, but something intentional and at least mildly controlled. Not entirely controlled, what with the "indeterminable", but not a toss of the die either. My "paring down" might not be entirely accurate, but the passage clearly suggests a human agent as the "bindagent" to me. @Windy That's why I think it is an agent (as in a person) who does the binding. None of this is helped by the fact that Brandon was obviously trying to be as obtuse as possible while (because it's Brandon) also happening to reveal the entire solution to the core mystery of the series to the astute reader.

I would advise you to be careful in the future before phrasing deductions or theories as fact. You know how Shardblades are all stored in the Spiritual Realm? Well, no, actually you don't, because that was just a popular theory that people started bandying about as fact because somewhere down the line posters stopped knowing better and took assertions of "we all know..." at face value. Life lesson for the day. All that aside, I think you're deduction is wrong. As basic evidence: see the fact that I can make buildings into perfectly Compoundable metalminds under your model. Compounding works because the "feruchemical charge overwrites the allomantic charge". Therefore, it stands to reason that, when the Feruchemical charge is gone, so is the Compounding. There are a number of models for how Feruchemy actually stores energy in metalminds (from changing the physical composition of the metal to messing with Spiritual aspects), but most won't include the entire metalmind being inalterably changed forever after a single sip of Feruchemical power. If you store an attribute in a piece of metal, then tap it all out, the metal should be back to the way it was before you even touched it, right? So, it seems, if you store an attribute in a piece of metal, then burn all that attribute out by hot-wiring Allomantic power through it, what remains should be normal metal.

I really don't know how you can read the bindagent as the potential rithmatist, or really as anyone besides a current Rithmatist, given the book it's referenced in. If you strip away all the jargon, I read this: "The binding of a Shadowblaze to a potential Rithmatists is not a definite process. Those in charge of the binding should consider their choice of potential Rithmatists carefully before attempting to bind a Shadowblaze to them."

You got a source for this? Because if you do, I could store a second's worth of Speed in an I-beam and shave pieces off to Compound unto eternity.

I think you're a bit wrong, Lurth. Here's the full excerpt. "The chaining of a Shadowblaze, fourth entity removed, is an often undeterminable process, and the bindagent should consider wisely the situation before making any decisions regarding the vessels to be indentured." I read that as the "bindagent" being a person, seeing as the book was written for humans and thus addresses its advice of "considering wisely" to the reader. This is another of the things which I think suggests a high level of human involvement in the Rithmatist-choosing process: if the "bindagent" is a person, then they intentionally release the Shadowblaze, or at least guide it.

Okay, I'm more excited about this than I thought I'd be. * Feverishly begins concept work on his Thug character*

I doubt it, but, then again, this is why we ask the question, so Phantom wins this particular argument by default.

That is true, but kroen was responding to Phantom's post, which implied that Zane's use of the coin amounted to affecting metals within his own body (which it didn't).

I refer you to the OP:

That's not really how this thread works, Kroen. Yes, it might be very unlikely, but unless we have a fairly direct canon answer to a question, it is still worth being on the list. Now, it might turn out that no one going down the list and picking out a handful to ask will ever choose a question with an obvious--to their mind, at least--answer, but that doesn't mean this question should be taken off the list entirely; at least someone thinks it's worth asking.

I would bet just fabrials: they have other "Radiant" artifacts in the form of Plate/Blade, and the Parshendi that Kaladin goes all glow-man on are cowed more than they should be if they're seeing their own Surgebinders work on a regular basis.

Now now Phantom, don't make me get the big guns out to argue about time-scuttling. You won't like me when I have to get the big guns out. At the very least, how Feruchemy works on a base level is not a settled fact.

It's occurred to me that a prepared Forger is a versatile Forger; namely, it would behoove anyone serious about Forgery to go through a large number of close encounters that could have seriously messed their body. Given these past events, which could have gone either way, an entirely intact forger chained to a wall by her foot, say, could easily craft a very simple soulstamp that says, essentially, "you know that time I almost got my foot cut off? Yeah, I did" and, ta da, you're free of the wall. Pop off the stamp and be about your day, citizen. You could rather easily arrange this by setting aside a single stress-filled day early in your career during which you risk everything that you might want to be disfigured/maimed at a later date. Put your hand under a guillotine that falls at an unknown time only a split second after an easy to miss "click" sound, or your arm, or your foot or leg. Barely miss a poke to the eye or burn to the face through similar circumstances. Later, you could Forge a fairly simple and plausible scenario where you were distracted at a crucial moment and so got hit by whatever nastiness you want to get hit by. So far as actual plausibility goes, this might not cut it (har har), due to how much control the Forger, who most likely very much does not want to be maimed, has over the situation. On a less universally useful note, then, any Forger who has genuinely risked their face or limbs could still quite easily capitalize on that risk on a later date. Such simple circumstances are nice because they allow exceptionally simple soulstamps to "actualize", allowing for Forging in dire circumstances for disguise and/or escape without needing an entire alternate personality like Shai's beggar persona. Thoughts?

I doubt it was the coin, if only because that would be too cheap, for lack of a better word. Not necessarily just on Brandon's part as an author, but on a universe-level with Joel not becoming a Rithmatists, again, because of completely arbitrary circumstances. Also, all the other chalklings we've seen have only freaked out when they see the gears themselves, and the coin was in his pocket. Maybe the "Shadowblaze" could have sensed it or something, but I don't think so. And I'm sure a fair number of the children of the wealthy have walked into the chamber with a coin and come out Rithmatists. I like Morsk's idea, though. EDIT: Conspiracy theory! Aside from any other way in which the powerful may game the system to make their children Rithmatists, one method could be to promote a custom of carrying a watch/dollar into the inception chamber, which all but the exceptionally poor then do, and then those in the know stop their children from doing so. I say that the powerful are gaming the system as if it's a fact because it nearly has to be. Melody's family is an impossibility, flat out: either the statisticians are lying about Rithmatists' children being "chosen" or most Rithmatists don't have the pull/knowledge/desire to get their kids picked, but something is going on with the Muns.

Too many times. A red herring!?!?!?!?

I got you Meg, I just wanted to bring those up for consideration.

I don't have any problems with the "homework". I could ignore them if I want, and a few of the questions gave an interesting insight into Branond's own thoughts/intentions with the book.

You have a full schedule, Windy.

"My father had shot at Deathpoint, but the bullet had passed by Steelheart first— and had grazed him on the way."