The One Who Connects

The Spiritual Realm doesn't deal with space constraints. The Cognitive Realm does. Sel's CR is "full to bursting" with a maelstrom of energy from not one, but two Shards. That's a lot of pressure on the system. The opposing Intents just put more pressure on the system. There aren't enough Seons/Skaze , so there's too much power in that confined space. That pressurized power needs a way out, and it doesn't have one. To quote Camila: "Something's gotta give"

Given Khriss' "human pre-history" comment, I'm half-tempted to say Fjordish Culture didn't exist when Odium visited. This is a conversation we've had on here before, but regarding how Shu-Dereth was also a fan of ambition(Thank you for bringing that up @Strifelover, even though I completely disagree with you ). For what it's worth, your claim has a little more going for it Bill, but I'm hesitant to agree with you. Jaddeth is an interesting figure, with interesting lore surrounding him. I personally support a different narrative on Jaddeth: The origin of Jaddeth could be Odium, but given how influential the Skaze are in Derethi culture, I'm more of the opinion that they understand where their "god" is. Jaddeth slumbers in the earth, that very same earth that's gaining sentience because of the Dor, which is partially of Dominion. There are a lot of different trains of thought that are "logical." The Events of Elantris(the book) are around the time period where TLR ascended. The quake(and Reod) are 10 years before the book. Odium has been trapped on Roshar for several millennia by that point. You are trying to say that Ambition took several thousand years to succumb to his "mortal" wounds?

Friendly Reminder to everyone to always clarify what you're talking about, to the point of over-explaining if necessary. There are never "too many" details in a topic like this. Capture the Flag, huh? I don't know enough about Patji for this. The Elantrian would be best at base defense on account of AonDor favoring the prepared, but that base location changing... that'll screw with everyone, unless you always know where your own base is. The fighting will be the main focus and the flag will become an afterthought, since you'd have to take out the other side to get it. Order of Killability(easiest to hardest): Koloss < Elantrian(in the wilds) < Mistborn/Dakhor < Elantrian(home base). Direct 2v2: Koloss dies, Elantrian is 50/50 depending on how quickly they can draw the right Aons, Mistborn/Dakhor is decided based on which side ends up in a 2v1 first. 2v1: The "1" almost always loses, but the Koloss/Elantrian on the 2 side might die with them. 1v1: See Order of Killability. Dakhor are faster, but Mistborn are more mobile. The Dakhor's "powers" don't run out of fuel, so that might seal the deal. You didn't specify that memory is lost upon death, so things learned during fights will add as time goes on. Weakness will be exploited, skills honed, strategies upgraded, etc... Selish Team: Realize Koloss is the weaker enemy and plan accordingly, Elantrian will increase Aon Drawing Speed and find creative uses for their powers, Both members develop strategies for dealing with the Mistborn(the Dakhor will probably have more experience here), etc.. Scadrian Team: Realize Elantrian is the less durable enemy and plan accordingly, Mistborn will find creative uses for their powers, Mistborn develops strategies for dealing with the Dakhor, etc.. In the end, I'd probably give this to the Selish Team. Of the four participants, the Koloss is the biggest liability(no magic powers, less mind for strategy), and 2v1's aren't nice. I could see this taking under an hour, or several months. Best case scenario is that one side kills both of the other side close together, so they have most of two hours unimpeded. The name of the game is last one standing, but with a twist: No direct combat. They have to use their powers and their environment to kill their opponents. Location: We're in the ruins of a fairly large village. It's an.. older-feeling place, like a mix between Chinese/Mongol and Roman architecture, with a bit of modern thrown in. Stone blocks, Wooden beams/slats, Cloth/Thatch roofs, etc.. stuff like that, mixed together so that no one building was one type of material. Buildings are in various stages of falling apart. Various pieces of metal, cloth, rock, glass, rope, pottery shards, etc... is strewn about everywhere. The village and surrounding area is in a state of perpetual nighttime, is always kinda windy, and is stormy quite often. These hinder tracking, vision, and hearing. (But while the storms can get rough, they aren't lethal) The storms also move the smaller things around, but they don't really clump up anywhere. Speaking of the surrounding area, it's just dirt, grass, and rocks. There's a hill or two, but nothing special. There are no maps, physical or mental. The magic of this place prevents people from mental mapping, and there aren't proper writing implements. Our Combatants: An Awakener of the Third Heightening, a Fused with Gravitation, An Iron/Steel Double-Misting, and a skilled Forger. They each have a small knife to cut through ropes/cloth, but may not use it for killing(thrown/lashed/pushed or otherwise). They cannot use other objects to club people either. There's no rule against throwing things though... I'm promoting stealth here: no Life Sense, Voidlight has a dark glow, no Bronze Seeking or Tin Senses, Soulstamps don't glow. They don't run out of their magical resource. They can't use infinite amounts all at once, but I don't want fuel to be a major factor. The Fused can't just fly miles up. No party can go more than 30 feet away from the village in any direction(including up). My only request: Go nuts. I've given you countless objects to be launched at people, there are buildings that "might" have actually collapsed, objects that "might" have not broken, various flotsam to craft awakened objects, etc... Have some fun with it.

Metal will always be the Focus for Allomancy, no matter where they are. So yes, the metal will still be destroyed. But it's targeting Investiture. This question is about Chromium, but it's pretty close. Make of this how you wish: And me, since I was already here.

3) "A Fused strode past, covered in carapace armor as brilliant and wicked as Shardplate. There were nine orders of them. Why not ten?" - Moash ◙ Hessi is not wrong. There are 9 Unmade, and not 10. ◘ Khriss is rather well informed, but she's most likely to be wrong because her sources are more likely to be wrong. Who's around for her to ask about Voidbinding? ◙ Whereas Moash had to have gotten his information from a Fused, or from Odium. I think they'd know what they're talking about. Alternatively, his info is from his powers of observation, but even then I think it's accurate. You're on a good track with wondering why the numbers are different, but I'm not sure I have any answers.

Ooh... this has potential. I'm gonna assume that by 10th level Awakener, you mean Tenth Heightening. Unlike some magic systems, Awakening and AonDor both flourish by having time to be prepared. Because of this, I'm also gonna assume that they start on opposite ends of the city, so that both parties have time to set things up and strategize. The game-changer here is traps. 50,000+ Breath can awaken a lot of stuff, and since the prior poster specified "empty Elantris," our Awakener can just set up bunches of assorted awakened objects around the city, with the commands "Grab people who are not me" & "Find and grab people who are not me." The Elantrian would be constantly hassled wherever he went, which could prove to be a fatal distraction if the Awakener catches up to him. The ones with just "grab" would sit around, preventing the Elantrian from hiding and letting the "find" objects wander past before moving on. But on the other hand, the Awakener has nothing that can break an Aon Edo shield. If he gets trapped, he's done for. Hrmm... I'm very confident in the Elantrian winning this one. A prepared Elantrian on home turf is one of the deadliest things in the Cosmere. The more strategy-oriented the Elantrian is, the better. 1. Make a narrow corridor with two Aon Edo shields, burn any awakened objects coming through with a pillar of fire, and force the Awakener to come at him in a straight line. The definition for Aon Sheo is "death," so assuming it's power is fitting... (Or just use the pillar of fire, since we know how that Aon works. Aon Daa too.) 2. One of Aon Ehe's definitions is "fire," and it's a pillar of fire. One of Aon Ashe's is "light," and it's a light. Since Aon Eno's definition is "water," the logical conclusion for it's power would be... Entrap a building in Edo Shields, open the Eno floodgates, teleport out via one of the preset Aon Tia plates already in Elantris, and let the Awakener drown. (Could also burn the house down, though that's less guaranteed) 3. Aon Shao illusions to distract the awakened objects and possibly the Awakener. The potential is endless, making things look like the Elantrian, disguising himself as something innocuous to sneak around, concealing traps, etc... 4. On that subject, transform the floor of a building into a pitfall trap using Aon Shao(it does something like Soulcasting in The Hope Of Elantris), use an Edo shield as a false floor, attach a Shao illusion of a real floor to the shield. Elantrian gets chased by Awakener, runs into building and across "floor" to safety, then cancels out the shield as the Awakener runs inside. Assuming the Awakener lives the fall, he's a sitting duck down there for Aon Daa, the fire pillar, etc.. 5. A particularly sadistic Elantrian could use Aons Ien and Eto to perform "healing" on the Awakener(I doubt this would work because the Awakener is heavily invested, but I was scrolling through the Aons and had an idea). The Elantrian can also heal after a fight, while the Awakener can't, which is yet another advantage. If the Awakener finds the Elantrian very quickly, they might be able to turn it around, but neither magic system is very conducive towards hand to hand combat, and the normal combat skills of both parties were not included. The Elantrian can also escape via on of the Aon Tia plates scattered around Elantris, not only escaping from the Awakener, but leaving them no trail to follow. If the Awakened objects get lucky and tie down the Elantrians arms, that would be it. You were inadvertently rather clever by making them 10th Heightening, by the way(Mental Command beats out Aon Ate, which can "make a room silent for a short time.") Props to you for that, but I still say the Elantrian wins. Now what do I want to see...? I'm half tempted to say one of Kalad's Phantoms(the stone lifeless) vs a Koloss. You know what, I will. 2 Phantoms, one of which has a Stone Sword vs 5 Koloss, two of which have Steel Swords, on some nondescript Rosharan Plains. I think that's a fair fight.

This is the prevailing theory about Adonalsium, that he attained sentience due to the sheer mass of Investiture. I don't know what you're on about with this "kill the sentience" business though. Mind clarifying? I don't see why not. The Shard limits it's vessel to acting within that "Core Intent" region, so nothing should change just because the shard created a "vessel" for itself. I don't see why not, since everything is probably limited by the perception of concepts. That said, I don't see your idea happening in practice. You'd have to alter the meaning of a word on a galactic scale, and the individual planets are as separate as they'll ever be. Maybe once FTL is an established thing and there's more of a sense of connectivity, but until then, it's just not practical. Depends on how quickly the Shard regains sentience. Shifting the perception of a term on a Cosmere-wide scale would.. take time, and I think it'll take too long.

So... initial thoughts. In my opinion, it's too early for us to have a good scene to use like the Malazan cover. You could do the Double Eye, similar to the WoT cover. I feel like WoT had to be a symbol because there was just too storming many events/characters/etc.. to find a good focal one. And I feel like SA is following this pattern too. With just the 3 we've got so far, I'm not sure whether Kaladin or Dalinar would fit better on an overall cover. And we've got seven more books. When you put it that way, I've got to give it to Rebecca. (So.. how does one "insert image from URL" ? Tried multiple times, failed miserably, ended up saving the image to my desktop and inserting it that way.)

All the Terris Feruchemists were already Mistwraiths, so the remaining Terris men/women were "regular people," technically. The fact that they had Feruchemical potential was irrelevant to TLR, since they'd die if they were spiked to make a Kandra.

Did I say something that contradicted that?

Facts & WoBs: Well, Pattern does mention(in.. WoR?) that she shouldn't be limited to using a reference picture. In Pattern's understanding, that her limitations are ones that a normal Lightweaver shouldn't have. Several of the things she does near the end are things she should have already been able to do, and she seems so far advanced in comparison because she's basically taking two steps up. Her suddenly Lightweaving without pictures and Lightweaving with sound were extra bonuses on top of the stuff that actually was new. They are separate characters. Brandon has explicitly confirmed that. (Also, it's Timbre) Kaladin and Dalinar have a military background. Jasnah likes when people have their affairs in order. The KR, barring Lift's Edgedancers, are in good hands when it comes to being organized. Opinions on the Book: I don't know how the political stuff changed as the book went further on, but what was contained within Part 1(Dalinar & Taravangian's political/moral discussions, the Iri talks during Dalinar's duel with Kadash, etc..) was pretty enjoyable for me to read through. Were there any spots in particular that felt tedious to you or was it just politics in general? It might be that you just aren't a fan of that sub-genre, rather than anything to do with the writing. While I can certainly understand this type of reaction, the main reason Evi's death was a specific mystery rather than "one in a sea" like you said after losing the memories is because she was a part of his life. The sea of unnamed victims affected him when he remembered, but without that memory, he'd have to fill in the gaps. He realized there was a gap involving the events at Rathalas when Kadash reminded him of that event, whereas Dalinar was almost certainly reminded of his missing wife much earlier. That quirk to Brandon's writing of Dalinar was reflected in our theorizing about his missing memories. We knew about the wife(and only that) for a long while, so our theories were centered around that and nothing else. We made a big deal about the loss of his wife because we, and Dalinar, weren't aware there was more to that story. Had we known about this mysterious "Rathalas event" around the time we'd learned that Dalinar couldn't remember his wife, we'd have been theorizing about that event instead of about her(which is pretty much exactly what happened when we got the preview chapter hinting at Rathalas). In the end, Evi's death was a big deal because we made it a big deal. And we made it a big deal because Brandon decided to withhold information from Dalinar, which in turn withheld information from us. The big deal got hidden from a character, so the readers decided to make a big deal of their own. This depends on the character in question. Nightblood and Zahel, for instance, were Stormight Characters first, with Warbreaker created to be their backstory. Hoid is Hoid, and is to be expected. Don't know about the others as of yet.

That was because TLR was still alive. There's an example of this with Zane as well, but we've considered it as a case of unreliable narrator. Courtesy of Hwiles: This won't be the answer for every occurrence of this, but she's been spiked since she was a child. After that long with Ruin's voice, I'd say her being a little off-kilter is justified. We see that scene again in Secret History, but from a different perspective that might hold some answers. No guarantees, since I read it a while ago, but it should prove somewhat illuminating.

About that... I've got a few ideas, but no definitive proof. This existed in the prophecy when Preservation created it, due to his future-sight. (Unlikely, but...) Ruin's Tinkering(A bit more likely, since he can speak to spiked people) The base prophecy just says "save us all" and they've decided to include the names of that "all" for unknown reasons. (I like Rshara's reasoning) Paragraph 1) I agree with Isilel about using the rest of Alendi's party for the spikes. He rebuilt the land, so he may have trapped them for this purpose. (Also, the Terris people still exist, so he'd have people to use when he returned to Terris to make the Mistwraith Elders into Kandra.) Paragraph 2) The Well was in the Terris Mountains. The Terris People probably weren't that far away, so there shouldn't be much memory degradation in the interim. Paragraph 3) He'd have to wait a few generations for enough Allomancers to have been born to make 16 Inquisitors. At that point, he could probably have made them all at once with the help of his Obligators. (Or this is just religious dogma for the symmetry of 16)

Spoilers for size. Q34.

It's not confirmed(iirc), but it's the prevailing theory.

Anyone can awaken if they get the Breath. We've even seen it happen in [Redacted].

Not exactly. When storing your innate investiture, you become more like a Drab. Depends on the effect/power in question. Storing the Investiture in a Lashing that someone does to you might work. The Investiture is actually on you, so that could make it feasible. However, trying to store the Investiture in Emotional Allomancy being used on you will not work, ever. With a Lashing, you are invested by the Stormlight, and then it begins to effect you. The same with Awakening. The breaths enter the object(or person), and then the object starts to move(or you feel that euphoric shock). The time-gap between "invest target" and "begin effect" is minuscule, but it really seems like it exists(the big examples being awakening and throwing a full lashing onto a surface). With Emotional Allomancy(and similar powers), it feels like the power is converted into another form before it effects you. When facing a Rioter, you don't get hit with Investiture that converts into sadness, you just get hit with sadness. That conversion happens before it hits you, because you aren't any more invested when you're being soothed/rioted than when you aren't(IIRC). I am almost certain that this will not work. Atium doesn't affect you in any way, so you can't absorb that Investiture. Drabs would still have an Atium Shadow, and I don't see how this would be any different. This power would also be useless, as your weaponry would still have Atium Shadows(Your Metalminds too).

I really don't have an easy answer for this one(because you weren't specific enough at times). Unless the Chasmfiend's stomach acid is extra deadly, all it has are crushing blows, which aren't exactly fatal to Kandra. I suppose it could split a Kandra in two with it's pincers and/or teeth, which would be an.. unpleasant experience. Perhaps if it separated the spikes as it split the Kandra... On the flipside, what would Kandra have that could pierce the Carapace? Era 1 weaponry isn't all that effective, as demonstrated during the Chasmfiend hunt in WoK. Era 2 weaponry might work, but this fight would revert to Era 1 after a Highstorm waters down the gunpowder. Pistol rounds aren't exactly the biggest things, so a Chasmfiend could probably survive till the next Highstorm. Blood loss might get it before it crushes all the Kandra, but that's up in the air. Speaking of which, if the Chasmfiend shatters the bones of all the Kandra, I think that'd be a victory, since they wouldn't be able to fight without limbs. In the end, I'm giving the edge to the Kandra through sheer weight of numbers. A regiment, be it Imperial, American, French, 17th Century, etc.. is just too many troops. Had you done a company(maybe even a battalion), this would've gone to the Chasmfiend. Next Scenario: A Dakhor Monk vs a Steel Inquisitor, on Sel(specifically Teod). The Dakhor Monk's Stats: Enhanced Strength and Speed, Resistance to attack from the Dor, 1 Steel Sword & Dagger. The Steel Inquisitor's Stats: The base 8 A-Powers(10 minutes each, split between 3 vials), F-Pewter & F-Gold(10 minutes each too, stored in small vambraces), 1 Obsidian Hatchet, and 20 boxings(split between 2 coin pouches). Other Notes: ◘ Both parties are skilled in their respective abilities, but neither know anything about the other's abilities. ◙ Neither party has been to Teod before, and were willingly teleported there earlier. No shock/surprise at their new location. ◘ Resistance to the Dor might interfere with Emotional Allomancy, feel free to work this angle if you want. ◙ Despite the picture I ended up using, the Vambraces are designed like most Metalminds, and won't break when the user grows via F-Pewter. Don't try pulling that.

True, although the original [Redacted] didn't know what the hoops were either. The Heralds have also had 4,500+ years to try things out, which is monumentally more time than the others had. It's still not that likely, but I think it's possible that it could have happened.

:facepalm: Right. Edit: oh right, my point. It's not impossible in our other example, so it stands to reason that the Heralds could manage it too. That's a quote bubble, not a spoiler tag.

They have bodies to walk around Roshar with. I'd consider a CS that's in a human body to be a human. Case in point, our friend from Scadrial. Use Rashek if you want, since he'd be able to stick around long enough to make this a fairer comparison. At that time, they should have been normal humans, which would make them capable of reproduction. Is this from OB, or am I just forgetting something from his other Books?

I'm not sure if there's really anything that would prevent the Heralds from having children. Shalash is Jezrien's daughter. I know that she was almost certainly born before they became Heralds, but it shows that they were beings that could reproduce. The reproductive system should be included in the spiritual templates for humans, and Stormlight heals passively, so that should still be functional. Szeth didn't seem to have adverse effects from wielding an Honorblade(though I suppose he hadn't experimented to find out). I'm pretty sure TLR and Vin weren't rendered sterile in the process of becoming Slivers(or from TLR's multi-Savanthood), so I doubt the Heralds would be prevented from having children due to high levels of Investiture exposure. (Something I'm forgetting) may edit in later What else could be preventing them from having children beyond their personal choice?

I agree, but without actual confirmation, it can go either way. I was more being informative, rather than outright dismissing anything.

Half-Shards are made using a type of Fabrial(in this case, an Augmenter Fabrial). This automatically bars them from being Aluminum, because you can't infuse Aluminum, so the Fabrial wouldn't do anything.

So I can see a few reasons why Brandon is using "he" without it meaning anything. 1) Nightblood and(probably) Adonalsium both have a consciousness, but do not necessarily have a gender. People don't like referring to beings that can think as "it," so they use something else. (This leads into 2 and 3) 2) People use gendered terms for both genders all the time, one example being "dude." Eventually, these terms lose their sense of implied meaning. 3) The preconceived notions of "He" and "She" dig rather deeply into people's vocab, and this (combined with 2) reflects in their speech. I use "they" as a singular gender neutral term all the time, but I'm in the minority.