The One Who Connects

I'd like to talk to you about the Lanceryn. Not a Yolish Dragon, but it could be a Dragon-Like creature(or not, we don't know). Regardless of what type of fantasy creature it resembles, it is a type of Greatshell, meaning they are native to Roshar.

Her palace? Nothing really. Most of the Returned have tunnels under their palaces. Mercystar herself was special though, since she had one of the Lifeless Codes. Brandon needed to get the tunnels involved in the narrative early on, and Blushweaver/Lightsong needed to get the Lifeless codes. Vasher attacked to investigate the tunnels, and Blushweaver used Vasher's attack as an excuse to visit Mercystar and persuade her to give over her codes. It's a case of Vasher's "random" choice really being made by Brandon so other parts of the story could advance. To justify it a bit more, we got Lightsong's scene counting priests with pebbles. That scene made it clear that Mercystar's priests using the tunnels would be deducible by anyone who watched and knew they existed. Vasher sneaks around quite a bit, so he could easily observe the same details Lightsong did. He wanted to investigate the tunnels, so he clearly knew they existed. This way, it's believable that Vasher chose her palace because her palace definitely had tunnels, while the others might have them.

I'm not sure those would be feasible, mostly because fire and light don't particularly care who they touch. The sword itself might not touch you with the fire, but fire jumps with wind, which could be bad. And light is light, which should be pretty self explanatory. Unless your "light" command is on an object that can direct the light someway(difference between a flashlight and a lantern) There's also the viability of creating fire, light, shadow, or electricity. I'm not solidly versed on Awakening, but I'm not sure you can just convert things into those. If you had the sword coated in a flammable material though... hrmm.. (Anyone else want to put in their 2 cents on this?)

See, Aura Recognition is an.. interesting name to give the power because the Biochromatic Auras of the Returned, and especially Susebron, are visible for anyone to see. Near the end of the book, Susebron's aura starts to affect the room before he's even entered it(the door's still shut too). Even a color-blind fellow should be able to see that. What the Heightening grants is the ability to judge about how much breath the bearer has based on their aura. So.. in essence, you are correct. Anyone with a good eye and enough practice can learn to recognize auras, and the 1st Height lets you bypass the "practice" requirement. What do you think? 3. Yata is correct. It has to do with his high levels of Investiture. Also, Susebron is neither the first nor last person to see across multiple realms in Brandon's works. Several have even had screen-time while they were doing this(not that all of them know what they were doing). 4. I'm not sure you could do this with Breath, but this is the concepts most of the Perpendicularities(Shardpools) work under.

Horneaters are part Parshendi.

This is a woman who was the queen, and then queen mother(dowager queen). That's part of why her outward appearance is like you describe it. But people are not the same person around the general public, their friends, their job, or their hobbies. Each area brings out a fragment of their overall personality, and 1stBondsmith offered themself as a good example of this. Fabrial-Tech is very much "doing things," and exploring. Fabrials involve capturing Spren in gemstones, which seems like something that would qualify as "doing things," not to mention exploration(of a sort) to find new types of Spren for new Fabrials. Exploration/Adventure of another sort is the entire concept of discovery and research. Fabrials are like Aons, which are much more involved in the real world. This isn't some science experiment you do in a lab, some of these things are only really useful in the real world. Case in point, the Attractor Fabrial Navani "unveils" near the end of WoR to deal with the rain. Testing out her inventions certainly feels like she's "doing something," not to mention the adventurous side of testing and success/failure. You'd be surprised what hobbies people have in their free time. Her take charge personality is still there, since she's the Head Artifabrian. Her physically adventurous side may have been clipped by her Queenly duties, the same way Eshonai's was clipped by her military duties. Inquisitive/Adventurous minds always find something to explore, and Navani found Fabrials. (I could draw comparisons to some fantasy authors too, creating worlds for them to explore when they couldn't explore the real one.) Quoth Vocabulary.com: "Introverts sometimes avoid large groups of people, feeling more energized by time alone. The opposite of an introvert is an extrovert, who finds energy in interactions with others." Interactions with others is entirely possible within any variant of a community, be it local, professional, scientific, or otherwise. That one student or co-worker who's always up for group projects? They'd be an extrovert, regardless of what the subject of those projects may be(or how "geeky" that subject may be). I don't see anything preventing Navani from being interesting in Fabrial-Tech because she's extroverted. I simply do not see it.

Maybe, maybe not. From a discussion me and Yata had: There would be a lot of potential mixed signals coming in on Roshar. And regarding Bronze:

Derp. I focused too much on "An aluminum spike would have no effect on a Soother’s ability" without seeing what quantified it.

Age: Healing is healing is healing in the Cosmere. And our other example of overpowered healing(Mistborn Spoilers) does not prevent aging. Eyes: Holding Stormlight also seems to lighten the eyes, as we see several Radiants with pale and/or glowing eyes in Dalinar's Visions, even when they aren't holding their blade. Injuries: Yep. It's essentially the same reason Kaladin still has his brands, while [Spoilers] was able to start healing their arm in WoR. Transgender: It.. seems reasonable enough, but this depends on if the Spiritual Realm has Templates for "Male" & "Female," or simply a Template for "Human." If it's the former, then like with aging, you can't do it. Deliberately Warping: ooh boy. Parshendi Fellow: I highly doubt this would work. There should be a separate Spiritual Template per Species, since Humans, Chulls, and Aviar are vastly distinct species. (Why would they heal from the same primary template?) Horns & a Tail: This, on the other hand, has potential. But it depends on their level of belief. (And the level of believability. Body Hair instead being Fur seems like a small stretch, whereas stuff like suddenly Wings seem way farther from the Spiritual Template) Regarding said Templates:

Yep, but Aluminum only seems to break a bubble when you are starting it. Otherwise, they act like normal bullets:

It prevents Feruchemical Healing, so its immune to something. I've also replied in the other thread, as it's more relevant there. Either way, I'm still right about Awakening it.

There's also the subject of specific wording. Storing Investiture in the Aluminum isn't trying to change it, per se. It's just putting Investiture into it, which contradicts nothing, as it's an Investiture Sink. Changing it: Lashing it Doesn't Work. Awakening it(or Forging it) Doesn't Work. Soulcasting it Doesn't Work. Allomantically Burning it Works. (Ooh, here's an interesting question. Since Aluminum is an Investiture Sink, it stands to reason that Investiture shoved at it merely resides inside it. Can an Allomancer just not push on it, or would it absorb your push and not move?) Affecting something it blocks: Can't push on something inside an aluminum box. (Flashlight, Gun, Box). Can't draw on something inside it either(Stormlight, Larkin). Soothing someone. (Can't, Can) Brandon is being contradictory without being contradictory, and I'm unhappy. Nearby Aluminum might block your own Allomancy too. (Soothing, Seeking, Atium) Healing around it is only semi-effective. (Feruchemy, Returned) Storing Investiture in it. Feruchemy Works. Hemalurgy Works. We know that Aluminum was weird before the Metallic Arts existed, but said Metallic Arts seem to be where the interesting exceptions happen, which is curious. There was gonna be a concrete point to the bullet points, but after finding more of the WoB's, I'm less sure of my reasoning.

Here.

The Investment level was irrelevant for both our purposes. I mean the physical effort of pulling something like a bangle or ring is much less than the effort needed to pull something that pierces the skin. A ring will slide right off a finger, but piercings don't just "slide." That was my point. You'd have to rip them out faster than TLR can heal himself, which simply isn't feasible. They pierce both sides of his arm, so you can't just pull it out like a splinter. The awakened ropes(or whatever) will need to physically bend the Atiumminds enough so that the ends are no longer piercing his skin so the band can slide/fall off. Bending metal isn't exactly the easiest thing to do. You forget that Aluminum is immune to all the magic systems, including Awakening. You can have a mundane aluminum shield, or you can have an awakened shield of some other material, but not both. And as Yata mentioned, whatever the shield is made off, if TLR pushes a moderately heavy object into it, it'll be shoved back too. You don't expect an Aluminum/Awakened Shield to stop a car, do you? TLR casually throws a push in Vin's direction, and it also pushed upon the trace metal in the coloring of the stained glass window fragments. Susebron might not be carrying metal, but he can't prevent the environment from having metal, not to that extent. That doesn't seem likely. Oh no? An aluminum hat can interfere with Soothing as well as being Soothed, so logically the same holds true for Awakening, making it.. risky. It also blocks in a bubble, so too many Aluminum shields can interfere with Susebron just as easily. No, he can't. Semi Warbreaker Spoilers: While I agree with you, his(MutantSpicy) plan didn't actually involve awakening anything TLR had on him, making it semi-moot. Given him mentioning Lifeless, it's more than likely that Susebron would come pre-prepared, making any prep TLR does to make the arena awakener-proof moot too. Otherwise, you make a valid point about fairness.

The same thanks goes to you and @Extesian, since I'm good with obscure and forget the obvious ones. Congrats to your year, even if it feels like it's been so much more. Thank you for tagging me, or else I'd have missed this. Also thanks(to all of you) for the discussions over the year, they've been fun.

@StrikerEZ I hope you clear up the problems and make it back here. The discussions have been fun. And don't sell yourself short about the WoBs. Without you asking those questions, I wouldn't have known about a lot of them either.

Stunned/Frail TLR was because his Atiumminds were removed. Unlike Miles, I doubt TLR was burning gold all the time, so I doubt it would stun him. It might unnerve him because his Metalminds were stolen, but it wouldn't stun him the way it happened in the book. Without his gold he may be more cautious, but as mentioned by Cole, his Allomancy still exists. Additionally, given that his Atiumminds were piercing his skin, I'm not sure they could be pulled off as easily as you think. His rings and bangles, sure, but not his Atium.

In terms of the main storyline, Roshar will only hold SA related stories for the foreseeable future. Brandon might do some small novels afterwards showing off the advancements of the worlds(like he's done with Mistborn Eras 2&3), but that's gonna be after the end of the main Cosmere Storyline. He could also do short stories to show off applications of powers that he hadn't come up with while writing the main books, but he could also just include those in a Compendium or finalized Ars Arcanum.

So... about that: This is from near the end of HoA, two entire books after Marsh mentions having 11 spikes in TFE. His eleven appears to be the exception to the rule.

Most of these things are secondary to the actual story, and become background elements in the books. The Shards are a little more involved nowadays than they were, but most of our details are still from outside sources(Brandon/Peter/Isaac). As we get further into the Cosmere story-line, the other elements will become more primary too(worlds becoming more advanced, worldhoppers becoming more common, Dragonsteel, etc..), but there are some things that even Brandon can't fit into the stories. Details from events before/after the books, for example.

Your initial thoughts were correct.

For completeness(and discussion value), I assume you mean this WoB?

I have to agree with this. Fabrials can duplicate Voidbinding, after all. As for the actual post, you raise some very interesting points. I like it, even if I'm not sure how it will play out in the future.

There also exist stanzas of the Diagram calling for the assassination of Dalinar Kholin and/or the destruction of the new KR if need be. Spoiler tag for size. Cultivation is only on "our side" when our goals match hers. If the KR and the Diagram end up at cross-purposes on how to save the world, and the KR end up inhibiting Cultivation's plans with the Diagram, she's not gonna seem very friendly to the KR. To her, her goal is of the utmost importance, and anything that gets in her way is a distraction and will be removed. Assume she wrote the Diagram for a moment, and you'll see she says just this in her own words:

How should I know? I'm not the one who's read the book. Ah, so that's what you're getting at. That's what I get for responding to someone and not rereading what they were responding to. Your thoughts make some sense, although I'm a tad hesitant on the Dalinar case. (Mostly because of our new perspective on the concept of Unmade Bonding courtesy of Yelig-Nar) Not this again...