Pathfinder

Thanks! Reason I asked is the same as ginger below: My thoughts exactly! We can now theorize as to the other dead shardblades we have seen, what orders they potentially belong to!

Pretty much everything Quantus said. For the fundamentals behind that, here is a WoB about the "ship of theseus" and how it applies to the Cosmere. Oversleep I have a philosophy question that could actually be answered in cosmere: Ship of Theseus in cosmere. If I went and replaced every part of the ship, would it still - Cognitively - be the same thing? What if I replaced everything and made a second ship out of the parts from the first one? What could somebody watching all of that from Shadesmar tell me? Brandon Sanderson You're right, part of the design of the cosmere (which has some deep roots in classical philosophy) was an attempt to answer the Ship of Theseus question. In the cosmere, part of the Cognitive--and even spiritual--aspect of a thing (particularly if it isn't sentient) is delineated by the way that thinking beings define it. Per the old joke about the axe, if you replace your axe head and think of the new axe as "Your Axe," then the cognitive and spiritual aspects of that thing will grow to reflect that. If you replaced every part of your ship, and gave the sailors time to sail it, thinking of it as the same ship--it would become the same ship. Stormlight Three Update #6 (Feb. 9, 2017)

Personally I never had much use for it, and later there is a quartz that personally I think is better, but it is part of a plot point, so I won't elaborate further. Regarding purchasing quartz, sometimes it carries over, and sometimes they are available for a limited time. The guide specifies but its been a long time since I've played so I couldn't tell you off the top of my head. Also some of the better/best quartz are hidden or require specific actions (choosing a specific dialogue choice at a specific time for instance) so if you don't want to miss them, I would recommend the guide. But do whatever is most fun for you.

Do we know if the artwork of the honorblades counts as canon at all?

If we are talking builds, then I just gotta represent my team one more time lol. I don't remember a lot of the quartz's names, but Gaius with his starting quartz increasing his evasion, coupled with the auto cast evasion boost at the start of every battle coupled with the quartz that draws aggro and increases counter damage results in everyone in the first round attacking him, missing him, and dying by his counter attack. Any that live, then die from his attack that hits a whole bunch of enemies, coupled with the quartz that massively increases the damage on your first attack in an encounter. He was KOing everything in the final chapter on my way to the final boss. If I wanted to let Gauis chill for a bit, Emma with the quartz that gives a 90 percent chance of her magic critting, coupled with her massive magic damage, and spells that take up the entire field means everything dies in one round. Those two killed things so fast and often, that my build for Fie where every attack she does puts a 90 percent chance of a random status effect using smoke bomb to hit all enemies redundant since they are all dead already.

So instead of quoting and tagging a whole bunch of people and trying to organize it all, I will just hit the main points I want to. First, regarding the theory of using awakening to revive Maya. Sorry to be a buzz kill but it has been asked and answered. I think unless there is a way to make the breaths have Connection, or considered "Maya investiture", it will not work. Hence my theory regarding Bondsmith Dalinar using connection to get through the interference. WoB below Questioner If you were to try and Awaken a dead Shardblade with Awakening, like you can with a metal sword, would that be possible, or what would happen? Brandon Sanderson That would probably not work. Not probably. That would just not work. Orem signing (Dec. 21, 2017) Questioner Can you awaken a Shardblade? Brandon Sanderson Can you Awaken a Shardblade? A Shardblade would already be defined as Awakened, by the magic systems. Questioner And what about the Plate? Brandon Sanderson Plate would already be defined as probably too heavily Invested to Awaken because it already is. Oathbringer release party (Nov. 13, 2017) Questioner So is it possible to Awaken a Shardblade? That's the question-- that's my question for you. Brandon Sanderson Um... With the magic system of Awakening, you mean? Questioner Yeah. Brandon Sanderson So, all forms of Investiture strongly resist other forms of Investiture. Questioner Makes sense. Brandon Sanderson *brief interruption* Nightblood is essentially an Awakened... Trying to do that. Questioner 'Cause he shows up in Words of Radiance, right? Brandon Sanderson Yes. So, it-- let's just say it'd be very, very hard. Because it's like saying, "Can-- I want to turn on a lightbulb that's been turned on." Yes, you can... maybe... I don't know what that even means. It's already Invested. It's already Awakened. Calamity release party (Feb. 16, 2016) Now as to Jasnah. Jasnah in Oathbringer makes it pretty clear why she wants nothing to do with Amaram, and it has nothing to do with a list of accomplishments. He doesn't respect nor understand her beliefs (atheism), he is attempting to manipulate Dalinar, and he presents a false face that she has seen under and wants nothing to do with (false face confirmed via WoB that I can pull up if requested). Regarding Jasnah and Kaladin. I have spoke about this before with Falchion before. Not writing this to go back and forth about it again (not that there was anything wrong with doing so prior). We have already said all we are going to say on the topic to each other, and would just be rehashing all our old reasoning. The only reason I am saying this, is someone mentioned wondering if there is anyone else out there that does not support that ship, so I am responding yes there is, and why. Falchion totally respect your beliefs and why, so I am not writing this to say you are wrong, or not entitled to think that way. I personally do not see a benefit to the coupling on an economical, societal, familial, nor personal level. economical/ruling Jasnah has been named Queen. She was chosen because Adolin, Dalinar, Shallan, Navani, Renarin and etc all agree that Jasnah is capable of ruling. Capable of keeping the highprinces in line. And keeping the country together in a time of war and exile. She has years of experience as a ruler. Kaladin does not. Not saying he couldn't learn such skills, but the idea he would become king and thereby rule in her stead I feel would be counterproductive. If Kaladin acted as consort, again I personally do not see in what way Kaladin in particular holds any credentials that would be beneficial in governance of a country at war and exile. He is a surgeon and a soldier. Much of administrative duties regarding leading his men he completely forgot about till Sigzil brought it to his attention, and Sigzil largely took charge of. So could Kaladin learn these skills? Sure. But I do not see Kaladin having such skills to aid Jasnah in her ruling duties. Additionally Kaladin being a knight radiant would not add any legitimacy to her rule as she is a knight radiant herself, so does not need the additional clout. This will be further elaborated on: societal A marriage between Jasnah and Kaladin does not seem to me to be one that would aid her with the church, or the general poor masses. If the church takes issue with Jasnah due to being a radiant, they would also take issue with kaladin for the same reason. If the church takes issue with Jasnah's atheism, they would also take issue with Kaladin's agnosticism (Kaladin being agnostic is confirmed via WoB). So Kaladin, to me does not look any more appealing to the church than Jasnah, so would not be beneficial in that regard. Kaladin, to me, is not a "man of the people". He protects those who need protecting, but fighting for people's rights and caring for them is an egdedancer deal. Dalinar assigned Kaladin land and people to rule, and Kaladin's first thought is what is he going to do with that. If the land he rules gets attacked, then he is perfect to fly in and defend, but speak to him about feeding the poor, working on societal changes, and giving voice to the disenfranchised, and I feel Kaladin would be lost in translation. To me it takes a different skill set. A skill set I feel he lacks, and thereby wouldn't be advantageous. familial This somewhat overlaps with the first two, but the basics of this one are this. Kaladin is already tied to Kholin via swearing fealty to Elhokar (prior to death) due to being a lord of lands in alethkar and thereby a vassal of Elhokar. Now that Jasnah is queen, that would extend to her. Marriage wouldn't be needed to accomplish that. Further marriage for an heir is not needed as Gavinor exists. He is heir apparent already. Finally Gavinor bringing Jasnah and Kaladin together doesn't make sense to me as Kaladin (to me) never expressed unique interest in the child during the entire Kholinar arc, as well as after. Skar and Drehy are the ones that saved the child, "protecting those that cannot protect themselves". He didn't even know Gavinor survived till he saw him with Skar and Drehy. Kaladin focusing on his little brother? Totally! But Elhokar's kid? I just don't see it. personal Finally going beyond practical expectations and reasons, there is the whole wanting to be in a relationship because you actually care for the person, or can grow together. I just don't personally see it for them. Jasnah has a very deep character, with strong emotions and attachments to her family. She largely keeps that hidden as a defense mechanism, and it also is not brought to the fore because her main arc won't be till the back five of the series. The smile she gave Kaladin, was the same exact smile (description, timing and all) that she gave Amaram when she summoned her shardblade ready to duel him to the death. It did not sound like a smile of interest to me, but a smile of triumph when out maneuvering an opponent. Every time Shallan has spoken to Jasnah in a reasoned, and thoughtful way, Jasnah has expressed being impressed and care for Shallan. That moment with Kaladin was the opposite. He did not provide alternatives. He did not have a cogent argument in response. He just said "can we not?". When asked for reasonable actionable alternatives, Kaladin had none except to again say "can we not?". Now I did not write that to criticize Kaladin, nor say he was wrong to object. My intention was to show Jasnah's reaction was one of frustration with what she perceived as a proverbial brick wall. Not interest piqued from intellectual discourse. I do think they will learn to work together, but I do not see romantic feelings forming from that. Sure it can be said opposites attract, but there is a point where conflict does not breed attraction. At least to me. So again, not saying this to say anyone is wrong or right. Just responding to the query as to if there are others out there that disagree with the Kaladin Jasnah pairing and why. I wish everyone luck with their ships, and theories and I cannot wait to read Rhythm of War regardless where it takes us!

Lol yeah that is what I was referring to. Lets just say I realized the strength of that quartz near the end of CS 1 when my heals were taking too long to fire off, but since I had not built for moebius in advance, I hadn't cooked enough items to make real use of it. So now in CS 2, I want to build for it lol

One heads up regarding something that annoyed me (really minor but still). Countering depends on the weapon. So guns, and spears are good for counters. The problem is every other weapon sucks at it. When you get attacked, even if you dodge, the animation moves either the character or the monster out of range, so the counter does not happen. Only characters with ranged weapons only, or spear can reliably proc counters. I wanted to do a counter build for Fie, but since her "basic attack" is slashing with her dagger guns, the counter wouldn't proc. This annoyed me because it wasn't exactly explained, so it just wouldn't happen. Wasn't till I looked it up that I found out why. On the plus side, this was changed in CS 2. So you could do a Rean or Fie counter build and it work. My favorite builds which I finished the game with were Gaius evasion tank/counter build, Emma magic crit build, Fie debuff build, and if I remember correctly Elliot as the heal bot that he is. Haven't gotten too far through CS 2 (still at the beginning when Fire Emblem came out, so I hopped on that), but I intend to do a "chemist" build as an alternative to healer, in other words focusing on item usage.

I don't feel this is a spoiler but just in case So although you have the same number of slots, you'll be able to do more.

Depends on the state you are in and the friends you keep. Ignorant individuals are a danger everywhere. (to clarify ignorant individuals as in those individuals who would harm someone over such subject matter)

I know as you said you want to avoid spoilers, and it is totally up to you, but this is the guide I used to help in harder locations, and in my experience they are pretty good at avoiding spoilers. They usually say things like "go here and there will be a scene. After the scene then do this". So you won't be spoiled by what happened in the scene. The only exception is if you have to do something specific in the scene that can affect the outcome. They also sometimes white out text so if you have not reached that point yet, you won't see it till you highlight it. There are some pictures that depending on the instance you might feel are spoilers, so you could watch out also for that. The link is to the beginning of the guide. Considering you got through the beginning already, why not read the first few pages of the guide to see if it is too spoilerly for you. Since you already played those portions, you will then know if it spoils too much while reading, and not have anything in the future spoiled. If you decide it is too spoilerly, then you can stop reading, no harm no foul. If you find that the guide helps, then there is a table of contents you can use on the first page, to just jump to where ever you are having difficulty without having to go through the whole guide. Link shown below: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/vita/694912-the-legend-of-heroes-trails-of-cold-steel/faqs/72747

Changing trivia to stormlight archive practicality, it is mentioned I believe that gold is used in the creation and function of fabrials.

Don't think it even matters that he came from the Sadeas princedom. I think it would be within the purview of the Queen. That is how they got support during the unification of Alethkar. If someone was a highprince they didn't like, they would outmaneuver them (through outright war, or Sadeas getting the kings boon to challenge to a duel), and then appoint someone more amendable to their cause. Now having said that, I don't believe that will happen, but I believe it is certainly mechanically possible.

I guess the point I was trying to make, is if they cannot digest the bone, nails, and hair, how will they know how to replicate those particular aspects of that particular person correctly? She had to eat a bit of Marasi to replicate the skin, and even then wasn't sure it would take because it could still turn necrotic. Here is the scene: "Oh. I caught a hole in the intestines, as you'd guessed. Sewed that up tight, using some catgut I made from some spare intestines I had brewing. I patched it with some of my flesh grafted on." "She'll reject the flesh" "Nah. I took a bite and replicated her skin. Her body will think it's hers" .....(few sentences down)...... "Is tht the part of me you.... um.... ate?" Marasi asked "No, just what was leaking" Melaan said "That grafted patch over the wound should hold until you heal on your own - I melded it to your veins and capillaries. It's going to get itchy, but don't scratch it, and let me know if it starts to go necrotic"

I thought the idea is because they cannot digest hair (keratin), nails (keratin) and bone (partially calcium) to replicate it, but they can digest muscle, tissue, and fat. Given that hormones are not produced by the skeletal structure, I would imagine they would be able to mimic the organs, and glands that produce and secrete the hormones. An interesting question would be as technology advances, could it be possible to detect a kandra based on a specific type of white blood cell content being low or non-existent due to the bones not producing it. edit: doing a little further digging, this may not be a problem for a Kandra either. They are essentially all stem cells that they can differentiate at any time. So there should be no reason that they couldn't without the aid of bone barrow, produce more red and white cells. So I think it really just comes down to the skeletal structure, the hair, and nails are unable to be digested and replicated, but every other process seems to be capable.

I put good because I enjoy the character for who and what he is. I have nothing against him. He is not my favorite, and there are other characters I find more interesting, but that doesn't mean I think anything negatively regarding him.

So the Koloss are a true breeding race, but what results of the breeding is not a koloss. It is a koloss blooded human. In order to become a full koloss, the child has to chose when they reach maturity to join up and receive their spikes, which is passed down from prior deceased koloss. I think there is a reason for this that I will go into below. I think or at least theorize, the differences is this: Spook - human, that expanded the cracks in his spirit web with investiture. Shard should be able to fix that Koloss - other people's spirit webs are stapled and fused like a frankenstein monster (Brandon's words), to function as one spirit web. I don't think that can be changed and the person survive with shardic intervention. I think also since a society had arose among the koloss, perhaps Sazed felt it would be wrong to tear that away from them. He essentially gave a new species the ability to continue if they so wished. Kandra - can already breed true themselves. The result are mistwraiths. In order to attain sapience, the spikes are required. Given their immortal nature, allowing them to breed further would be problematic I believe. As to changing them back, the originals are already dead. All Kandra we see are born mistwraiths and brought to sapience via spikes, so not sure they could be turned back when they are now a full species. side note: as to what happens when they die, the koloss's spirit pops up in the cognitive realm, but not the chunks of spirit web that was stapled to them. So many popped up in that scene, because so many koloss were being killed by the siege engines and they didn't know how to react, so were killed whole sale.

I don't really see Sadeas as lawful as he uses society and law when it suits him, but then disregards it when it doesn't.

Short answer, yes. WoB below: Questioner If a kandra and a human were to have a baby, what would that baby be like? Brandon Sanderson I would say that right now… It would depend... The kandra would have to remain in human form, keep the same body, and then would give birth to a human. If it was a woman [human] with a man [kandra], it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, with a kandra. Does that make sense? Because when the kandra is in human form, they can identically recreate the bodily functions and things if they want to. Calamity Chicago signing (Feb. 22, 2016)

Ah! Idris! I think in that case Alexander the Great would win because I do not recall anything unique regarding Idris that would make them more combat effective.

With the honorblades, I do not think horses would need to go near elephants. Ah, been awhile since I have read it, so I do not recall that nation at this time.

I think this would still favor Taldain. Its their home turf, and a sandmaster's entire power system is dependent on being on their home turf lol. Don't know what the Rose Empire's military looks like, and what magics if any that they employ. If we knew they included blood sealers, then the use of skeletals could help, but the Rose Empire seems to be disdainful of the magic. So I wouldn't imagine them including skeletals in their primary military. Assuming modern military with fighter planes, tanks and so on, I agree. Coinshots can push on metal, but unless they are a twinborn like Wax, or a fullborn, they aren't moving tanks an inch. Not sure about this one. Shinovar still has most of the honorblades. That alone I could see turning the battle in their favor. You mean the Iriali? I would say same deal as the Rose Empire and Rome. Don't know the Iri military might, and what if any magic they would employ. I am assuming you are mentioning them as they currently are, and not including radiants?

I may have phrased what I wrote incorrectly. To clarify, when I said shorten Vin's introduction, I meant more the waiting portion. So basically include Camon duping the obligator. Remove the necessity of them coming back a second time to confirm Vin's soothing. Have Kelsier and Dockson present to observe, and see the inquisitor. Then cut straight to back at the hide out. Show Vin getting beaten, then Kelsier arriving. Cut the time where she waits. Cut the time where she speaks to the other crew mate. Have the scene where Kelsier kicks out the rest of the crew come right after, with Breeze and the rest arrive. Then have then discover Camon being dead, tortured by the inquisitors after Vin joins up. Basically I am saying keep the big moments, but stream line it a bit. Hmmm, true. It would certainly stream line it. Though I feel it would result in missing out, as you said, on character introduction and development. Hmmm.

Sooooo the response to Kaladin being unable to stop two groups he pledged to protect from killing each other is "hey it was their own choice?" Something tells me people would be hesitant to vote for the political platform of "hey if you die, it was your own choice" lol.

No problem. Sorry about your theory. If it helps, it has been confirmed the further you progress, the greater your stormlight efficiency is: Zykai (paraphrased) Squires and people wielding Honorblades use more Stormlight than a regular Radiant. Who uses more? Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased) The further you progress, the more efficient you become at consuming Stormlight. They're never as efficient as the Voidbringers, since humans leak too much. Stuttgart signing (May 17, 2019)