Pathfinder

Have you seen rats in NY? lol

Personally, and keep in mind this is my own opinion without any concrete facts in the book to back it up, I think it just comes down to skill and difficulty. That the more "alien" the form, the harder it is to take the shape, but does not mean it is impossible. That with enough practice it would be accomplished. The reason for this, is we see Tensoon become a dog so at least we do know outside human is possible (though I do concede as pointed out it was mammalian). I feel the reason for the difficulty, is if kandra could take the forms of animals easily, then what is to stop a kandra from becoming a bird and scouting a compound? Or a rat and infiltrating a building? Any animal would become suspect and would break the system. Why become a human when there are so many more options in the animal kingdom that are better suited for spying?

Ash is hardly cryogenically preserved. Just because the bones are still around, does not mean the bonemarrow inside is still viable for what you are suggesting. edit: so it took rereading this thread to realize you weren't arguing that point lol. Sorry RShara!

Ironically i do not care for sports, and only watch football during the superbowl to bet on it, but this got me thinking. Pewter thugs could be the linemen, coinshots the quarterbacks, and lurchers the wide receivers.

Yeah, I believe there was a WoB that said bloodmakers could hear a shardblade wound, just it would take an obscene amount of health.

Just chiming in on this not to argue one way or the other but just to add additional information to further the conversation. I do not feel the highstorms and laits are as limiting to human population growth as is let on. This is just from my understanding from the information I have, if there is more technical sources that refute or say otherwise, I concede to better informed sources. At least in regard to the book, highstorms lose power as they travel across roshar. A person in purelake just has to chill in his or her boat vs a person in the shattered plain having to seek shelter in a stone bunker. A person in shinovar doesn't have to hide at all vs the person in purelake. So the entire population of Roshar need not be so limited in expansion due to highstorms. Now the next natural response is that we are discussing Alethkar in particular considering they are the ones running the war. That leads to my next two observations. First, any large cities built into laits that we have seen so far, has been commented on as them not being natural. Hinted that the dawnsingers created them. So although every desolation the population is significantly reduced, and the level of tech becomes non existent, it is clear however that the structures left behind last for the most part. The only exception seen for the most part so far are the ones on the shattered plains because one, it was shattered and abandoned, and two it is the closest to the origin so receives the brunt of the highstorms with crem. So going on the premise (that admittedly is loosely based in fact), that there are ancient areas whose size were for large populations and made artificially are still livable (just about all the main cities we have seen), the population can grow into them with space to spare. Imagine how many years it took the cities we see "today"(in book), to reach such population densities? With the introduction of fabrials, technology is advancing, and if it wasn't for the events in Words of Radiance, those fabrials might have facilitated an industrial revolution level advancement in their society. But I noticed in this point i got carried away because there is a second one to get to. The second is, past the shattered plains, the highstorms seem to have reduced enough that survival away from the laits are not that difficult. The prime example is caravans. Holing up in a carriage with wooden sides seems effective, though it bares a certain risk. Villages such as hearthstone is one step above this. Kaladin's village survives fine during highstorms with only a steep hillside and a break wall to protect it. Due to the build up of crem and deposits, such locations would occur naturally and frequently throughout the country side. So,at least the impression I am given, the population of Alethkar are not as lait bound as highstorms would lead us to believe.

Ironically my first thought when I started the first book was that the title made no sense. It says mistborn, but they burn metals. They do not use the mists, nor have any mist related powers. Thankfully the book was awesome so I kept reading, and eventually learned the meaning regarding the mists and why they are connected.

So bunch of comments. First, just because they mishandled other aspects, does not take away from the point that the value of a trained soldier, be it pilot, horseman, or otherwise, is higher than one untrained. Second, that is incorrect. One highprince may use heavy cavalry more than the others, but they are still employed. Please refer to: Way of Kings page 103 kindle edition "Kaladin glanced over his shoulder. The army was two thousand men in forest green and pure white. Twelve hundred darkeyed spearmen, several hundred cavalry atop rare, precious horses. Behind them, a large group of heavy foot, lighteyed men in thick armor and carrying large maces and square shields. and Way of Kings page 103 kindle edition "when the bridge thumped into place on the other side of the chasm, the bridgge crew drew back to let the cavalry trot across." That example was Sadeas. So he does use cavalry and they do cross first. The sustained losses were impractical on the Parshendi side most definitely due to the fact that their people were almost wiped out, but the highprinces have a whole nation built on the premise that fighting is the highest calling to draw upon for troops. Ultimately yes it will deplete, but not for a long long time. The gem hearts is what got them to remain there and made it far more sustainable than it could be otherwise. Ok what is with being called stupid? I disagree with you. I am entitled to voice my opinion, and site references to back it up. Where did it ever come into play me accusing you of being stupid?

From the original trilogy we see Tensoon needing to create lungs in order to push air through his throat and past his tongue in order to speak. So the organs do function. I would imagine if you are trying to perfectly imitate someone, if you never went to the bathroom or ate and drank, people would notice, so those organs would be necessary too. Also as per bands of mourning: So we have seen kandra with organs, and with said organs being functional.

Just remembered a specific real world example to help illustrate. During WW2, there was a trading air battle near/over Britain. Both sides lost planes but this ended up costing Hitler far more and made it a losing scenario for him. Why? Because the British RAF could jettison out of a damaged plane that was going to crash, and parachute to the ground or the water. Both locations that the British forces patrolled and could reclaim the pilot. The plane could easily be rebuilt. The pilot on the other hand was months of training and investment. They could take that pilot that survived, and pop him in a new plane and send him right back up. The German Luftwaffe on the other hand, if they jettisoned, they would be captured by the British forces and locked up. The Germans would then be down a pilot, and have a plane no one can fly for months till they were trained enough to pilot it. I think the training for a pilot actually takes longer than months, but its been some time since I researched this. So now take into account cavalry. You now have an individual trained to fight via horseback, and a horse that is trained to remain steady during combat, be able to trample the enemy infantry, and not bolt at loud noises. Losing either of those is massively costly. Especially given how rare horses are on Roshar when compared to earth.

That is not entirely accurate. They eat the corpse to also get an idea of how the body and musculature is to look and work with the skeleton to act as the frame. now yes in shadows of self:

When the bridge is put down, typically the heavy cavalry charges over to make a beach head for the soldiers and then retreats. In terms of medieval warfare, do you have any idea how much a single cavalry officer with horse costs to train and maintain? A single officer, no exaggeration is practically worth an entire bridge crew on his own. So a "small" loss is still extravagant when compared to the bridgemen. That is clearly stated in the book, and is standard medieval warfare. Check any history book and it will tell you the same

Cadmium when waiting for my train to arrive/food to cook/friend to arrive. Elsecalling to teleport to work or the city to hang out, skipping the cold weather (assuming there is a perpendicularity and it works that way) Feruchemical pewter or Allomantic pewter to use to help when moving stuff from old place to new place Illumination to make little cartoons act out a story to entertain niece and nephew Copper to remember where I leave my keys Bendalloy to have more time during lunch Iron to pull the remote to me from across the room Steel to close the door behind me, or push open certain doors Tin to keep the TV really low when my fiance goes to sleep early, but still be able to hear the TV fine Abrasion to wash dishes so the food and stains can't stick

The nobility that we see eat, are eating food shipped in. Soulcast food is for the soldiers. I agree that I feel it is more like Tofu, as by itself it can be tasteless but it takes on the flavor of whatever it is with, much like chouta which is soulcast food with gravy and such to make it taste good.

But wasn't the comment about naming them regarding in world books a semi recent WoB? And that is besides the point. you wanted to know why I brought up that information regarding your post. I explained it, and showed that it was valid reasoning for me to deduce that. Turns out you know it already. Congrats.

The slaves do not to be physical fit. It is stated in the book that they have more slaves per bridge than they need to carry to account for losses. If the slaves were physically fit, then Kal wouldn't have needed to do calisthetics with his crew, and those running the bridges wouldn't collapse after every run. Finally if the slaves needed to be physically fit, there would be the issue of different ages of the bridge runner's as well as physical builds (dreyh vs rock for instance). The slaves are literally the bottom of the barrel, because they are seen as expendable. All they need to do is lift the bridge, move the bridge, drop the bridge, and maybe die at some point in between. I was acting on the premise of armoring the individuals themselves but to respond to your point, armoring the bridge weighs it down, requiring a greater staff to lug it. Armored or not, you are still going to lose people, but now although you lose less on an armored bridge, the amount you lose is more important because you need more to move it. Armor is expensive not only to make it, but fit it, repair it, and maintain it. Armor is a "person" all of its own. It takes resources to keep it in fighting condition. The blacksmith you are using to maintain the armor for your bridgemen, could be focused on the armor of your heavy cavalry which are very expensive to maintain, and losing even one is a big loss. As I said I used dollars and small numbers because I do not recall the monetary system in the book, and was using it just to illustrate a point without getting overly bogged down in the math of it. Regarding food, as I said, you do not need to maintain the health of the bridgemen. They do not need a diet that will produce healthy strapping soldiers that can fight. They just need to give the bridgemen fuel enough to get from point A to point B, which means bottom of the barrel gruel. That allows Sadeus to cut costs on feeding them. That is why yes although regardless whether the bridgeman is old or new, they eat the same, since they are expendable, you can cut corners on food, and still get the desired result. So the slaves I would be replacing would still be cheaper than your trained ones based on the quality of food and how often id have to feed them. in the terms we are using, Soldiers are a resource. Each requires a certain amount of investment based on the service they provide. Sadeus found a way to streamline the bridgemen as most as possible. He would probably make an excellent CEO in our modern day world with the way he can just use people to increase his own holdings. Bridgemen make barely any money at all, when compared to soldiers so Sadeus is also saving there. Apparently slavery is prevalent at the shattered plains enough that of slaves brought, a portion of the less desirable are sent to the bridge crews. So I would liken it to buying a bushel of applies, using some to make and sell apple pie, some to make apple juice and instead of throwing them away taking the ones that are starting to go bad, ground em up and make cider. In fact if you know what you are looking at and can haggle, you could probably get a decent discount because of the apples that are going bad, and make a decent profit because of it. If I recall correctly, the purchase Kaladin and the other slaves that got sold to the bridge crew went exactly like that. Finally the other big reason for the bridge crews being unarmored, and not having an armored bridge is speed. Sadeus gets there before most highprinces and in some cases even before the parshendi. This causes him to get more gem hearts, that are so valuable, it would account for the money spent on the slaves and then some. I liken it to the gold rush. Is it a sustaining practice? Storms no. Once gem hearts become rarer and rarer, the influx will eventually not counter the outgoing. But given the implied difference in value, it can certain last quite some time. Meanwhile Sebarial thinking in the long term has created a sustainable economy.

So two things regarding your current post. First, because you said you did not like Skybreaker, and that is for an order, and to my knowledge not a in world book, I was meaning you would not have to worry about that title. Same stands for Highprince of War, which you said you would like to be the title. Regardless what order Dalinar holds to, I doubt there is a book in world named Highprince of War. So based on the information you provided in your last post, it is understandable to reason you did not know that piece of info, so thought to share it. Second, I was not the one that downvoted you and shall balance it out for you.

Edwarn also seems very pragmatic to me. When your body is destroyed, and there is no way to go back to the way things were, you accept what is, and move forward. Secret History Spoiler: I think if this was a "promotion" he would roll with the punch, and focus more on the fact that he is gaining greater power. As to the destroying the world, he was willing to watch the entire city he lived in go up in flames of revolution to further the Set's goals. As long as he isn't getting nuked with it, I couldn't see him have overly too much trouble with it

BoM spoilers:

So I have no where near the knowledge to take part in this discussion on a mathmatical/scientific level. However, I did recall/think of two things that may help. First, in the original trilogy, Sazed was never weightless enough to float up. He just reduced it so much that when he leapt off the tree, his fall was significantly slowed/gentler. Second, if I was testing to see if this was possible, I would stand naked, having fasted for a day or so and recently have voided my bladder. I would have a compatriot standing by on a lift, ladder, or some contraption that can raise him up from ground level up into the air. I would then have said compatriot hold my metal mind so my only contact with it is my finger. I would them store into this metal mind. That would enable me to have a large metal mind to store a significant portion of my weight, without the metal mind itself weighing me down. If by storing I do actually rise into the air, my compatriot could climb the ladder, or use the lift to rise into the air with me to observe how much hang time I gain. The reason why i go into detail with that, is it has been mentioned the metal mind being a limiting factor. I was merely offering an alternative.

The impression i was given was gem hearts are ludicrously lucrative first of all. Second, we are talking about slaves who are untrained. All that matters is carrying a huge chunk of wood from point A to point B. So when purchasing slaves they do not need to be skilled, they just need to be able to move something, so they can buy the slaves at a premium. Add to the fact that they get the bare essentials (gruel, one towel either for warmth or pillow, and leather jerkin), and high mortality rate resulting in not having to actively maintain the population would be cost effective. It is the difference of taking 10 men, paying them ten bucks a day, paying ten bucks a day to provide them with food, and 20 bucks a day for armor and training (2,800 per week earth time, and using 10 for a random small and easy to manage number) vs, taking 10 men, paying them 2 bucks a day, paying 2 bucks a day for gruel, and then 5 bucks for a new slave anytime one dies. Now assuming 8 men out of 10 die every run, it still comes to 870 bucks, which is 2000 dollars cheaper than the first option, and you get the added bonus of getting a huge pay day to balance it. Now I know I way over simplified things, and there is probably a lot I am not accounting for. I never was a big math guy, I oversimplified it for my own benefit and to help illustrate my point. The main thing is these individuals are untrained, unskilled, barely have to be maintained, and can be purchased for a pittance, especially when compared with the amount of money gained from winning most of the gem hearts.

I read elsewhere on the forum that all the names of the books so far, reference real books in the world. So Oathbringer is an actual book on Roshar

I agree, but there are those who have argued that he removed one eye spike and used feruchemy to heal it. Why just the one eye, or why do it at all, do not ask me lol.

That's my thoughts exactly