Satsuoni

Ok... As a kinda programmer myself, I can see the analogy, though once again, I dislike the concept of "pure form", or secondary nature of Cognitive/Physical Realms. However, I am now much too tired and busy to give the theory proper consideration, so instead, I'll just ask a few things. (We really should think of a standard way to test such theories on the basic level of conforming to the existing Cosmere facts ) So, if you don't mind, consider the following "task": Explain magic systems we have so far encountered within constraints of your theory (i.e. without breaking the OOP paradigm). The basic list includes: Allomancy, Feruchemy, Hemalurgy, AonDor, Forging, Dakhor, Awakening/Returning, Surgebinding (infusing, Transformation,etc), formation of spren from concepts and spren actualization upon concept invocation (check if I missed some). See if anything breaks

Well, I have relatively low quality threshold , and once it is saturated - as is the case with all Brandon books so far- , the books don't really get better, but do get longer, so longer books provide more value. Besides, it is easy to cut pieces of book in your mind as you read them, and quite impossible to add something in, so for me, it is better to err on the side of more stuff. Mind you, two half- sized books over the same time frame might be better, since I'll be able to stretch the enjoyment over more than one day if I am forced to stop - or might contribute to frustration, so it is debatable. The above is strictly my opinion of course. I found WoT books to be shortish, myself.

"Hmm. " I rummage absentmindedly in one of my medicine cabinets, before recovering a packet of catnip, the smell of which makes me giggle for a moment. "Why, yes. You can extract a power without immediately killing person. You can then extract another power, but each spike reduces the person, and the next spike gets weaker... Never managed to extract more than three spikes from a person, and the third one was barely worth the metal. You can also try to extract several powers at once by using atium or common metal, but that is... not very effective, and sometimes doesn't work. Also, there is a problem in giving several powers from the same person... In general, doable, though." I open the packet, smell causing me to giggle again. I suppressed the desire to paw at it, and hand it over to Alfie. "Enjoy, nya... Why, my forehead spike is a dual spike, but I just got lucky on that one - it should have killed me. Why do you ask?"

Hmm... Blood golems are fine, I guess... But they are not cool enough. Metal all the way. At first, I wondered how such a construct would move, but then I realized that awakened objects can flex... So the springs should be able to contract. Make a humanlike golem, with springs for muscles, gears, blades and whatnot, and Awaken it with 10000 Breaths and Command "Destroy good," then see what happens As for Hemaengine... I think you need living blood for that. Also, they have very few Allomancers on the South continent. Using up five of them is a waste. I am thinking more along the lines of Mist Engines Or maybe the Allomancy *can* be collected by killing normal people enmasse... Brandon never answered that. For the twin spike idea - just clone yourself Hemalurgy works from conception, after all. Induce division in the zygote, and stab away. As for the Investiture density - maybe Shardblade just isn't full enough yet, while Nightblood is filled to capacity? It does seem much weaker.

Heh. Shadow awakening was literally the first idea I got after reading Warbreaker Though in my case I imagined Shadow ending up much like Nightblood after sinking ten thousand Breaths in it - a bodiless , sentient demon of destruction. I wonder what commands you could give it... Also, to reiterate: Terminator - full metal robot Awakening- seems nice. Also, the way to create sentient Lifeless - after all, they are close to sentience with just one Breath - just sink more with a proper command Death ray fabrials- capture several Deathspren in a gem heart, fill with Stormlight and direct at your enemy for mass effect. Hemalurgy is your friend, phantom. It seems that almost every positioning of the charged spike will leave you alive for a while, though you may grow gills and suffocate, and are likely to go nuts. Hema spiking your own clone embryos seems to be a good way to increase power And I also always wondered what impure metals actually do. Sel: incremental forging- forge by adding a sequence of small, plausible stamps, to forge yourself into a Firebreathing Koloss. Etc...

"Something good. Well, there is cause for small celebration. What do you say about fresh rainbow trout? By the way, what is your reaction to catnip? I am sure I can also find something else tasty." I squeeze through the exit and and head towards the entrance proper, confident that hunger would lead Alfie after me soon enough. Why isn't lead allomantic, anyway?... OK, that wasn't a coherent thought. In the building, I sneaked into my room and changed clothes. Of course, sneaking was probably useless - the clothes would still end up in a laundry, but the principle was important. That done, I have ordered trout, raw and roasted, some more meat and a vegetable stew, to supplement my own diet. The food was soon ready, and delivered to my study. A copy of the forms was prepared and I've sent Finnar to submit it to the authorities. It was also getting late, so I asked Finnar to arrange for a meeting with lord Fenkel, at his house this time, for tomorrow, if convenient. I also plotted revenge. I hoped Alfie had enough strength to go for a stroll tonight. Collected rumors were all well and good, but specific scout reports were better. And the walk would do him good.

As far as I can tell, the Shard isn't, in fact omniscient. (Well, I can only guess from Vin's POV, and some of Sazed's). A Shard can have general idea of what is happening, like "this planet is tilted wrong", can probably sense certain events related to it directly, but Ruin, for example, had no idea where a large chink of his body was. And to follow a human, I am relatively certain that Rayse'd have to concentrate on that spot, at least. So, he might be aware, or might be distracted, or might even organize those events for all we know. That said, in the book, the large face guy said "Odium reigns." So, IMO, that is what he does. Without spending his power directly, investing in spren or whatnot, he influences minds all over Roshar, making hate-related aspects stronger, like xenophobia, racism. Instigating wars, undermining society. Without much effort, mostly just letting human nature take its course, mostly. It is possible that he was the cause of surgebinding being so rare until now, and now he got distracted by the Last Desolation (possible, not probable); As for servants.. probably not knowingly. Tarvangian, most certainly influenced by Odium. Others... maybe. But I doubt there are many followers in the know.

"The terris woman, huh. I don't think she acted on orders from her master. I have just finished a productive meeting with him, and so far he seems to think you are well-trained common cats. We probably shouldn't disabuse him by killing her, though she won't rest until she gets you. The revenge would have to wait - we will have to discredit her first. Perhaps if I were to catch her in one of my properties, I could arrange for her arrest or disgrace... When she does, oh yesss" - I hiss maliciously, imagining some of the more... disturbing.. hemalurgic techniques - "But for now, better stay our distance. I have reached an alliance with lord Sindred, tentative though it may be. I'll have more Feruchemic knowledge. However, you'll have to stay away from his holdings for now, and I'll warn the other cats. In the meanwhile, you'll need some time to recover, though the spike should have taken care of the heavy damage. Then, perhaps, you would like to continue what the attack on you have interrupted? I mean tracking down the rumours and scouting. And I'll have to arrange meetings and start delivering on my part of the contract... But first.." I stand up and go to the exit. I'll need to change, I have dirt and blood on me. "What do you say about supper, Alfie?"

Ooh, new info Kaladin has braids now

I know, i know.... Still, I would like to see WoR as a 1650 page book... One can dream, right?

@CN She doesn't even seem to be aloof, per se. Just... logical. I mean, if you have autobiography, what better way to tell about yourself? I don't have one, and have to suppress the desire to tell everything every time I am asked that stupid question, recognizing it as social faux pas (the desire, that is). If you went to the trouble of getting one, however, referring to it is only right and proper on the occasion. Neither is she "dere", at any moment I can think of. Her personality seems, in fact, remarkably stable even in highly stressful situations (yes, I remember the aroused part).

1650 pages? A book with 1650 pages would be nice... But probably not feasible. Now to convince Brandon to release cut scenes/draft as a free ebook...

Well, Steris *is* nice, and one of the easier to understand people in the series Smart, too. Reminds me of myself, when I was younger, only better. I protest her being classified as tsundere, though. So far she didn't demonstrate any hostility and traits associated with "tsun" whatsoever.

"Her?!" I was shaking. I couldn't help it. I was tired, I was in pain, and my lung was showing. I was also angry. I wanted to hiss, to claw. I was not sure at whom. Anywbody would... nya... Resstraint. "It was female that did thiss to you? I ssshall sssstrangle her withh her fallopian tubess. Ssspike... I would like it backthh." I breathed deeply. Very unwise, as my damaged rib reminded me sharply. "Keep healing assth I pull it. It iss not going to be pleassant." I start pulling, barely controlling myself. I needed. rest - today was intense, but not now. I pulled the spike out, hoping that Alfie had a presence of mind to keep tapping. Therrre - it was out. I pushed it back, more or less into place, and almost fainted from sudden pain. The power was there, though depleted severely. Enough. I tapped it out, and watched my bones reknit. Ahh... better. "I apologize for suddenness. Now tell me more about "her", and what happened to you. Wel'll see if the revenge can be reaped now or shall be postponed."

Note that "more efficient" is a misnomer - as per quote above. The less the level of your tap, the more damage you can heal over the same health charge. You can tap 1 unit over one second, and only cover the stump with new skin, or tap it over a few hours and regrow part of limb. There are limits, of course, and you would probably need more Health to re-heal something healed naturally (a stump). As for Inquisitors, maybe he was just on the way, or didn't want to bother and only healed to the point of "not bleeding all over place". Also, I was always sure that it was Sazed's fist scars, not Vin's (she pulled the spike out)

@Kurkistan Ah. Well, Sazed probably never seen a human live to a thousand before, so everything he said was speculation... And I have no doubt that TLR would have died - see above about Healing not keeping up for long. Now, a few thousand Breath might have been able to stabilize him

Ah, I see. I still think that is a comorbid disease, rather than aging itself, since the loss of flexibility varies greatly amongst olde people I know. But common, sure. And Breath is well known to stave off diseases, boost immune system and recovery rates. As an aside, sparkling glowing, pretty vampires. I seem to have heard something like this before...

Hm. Could you pull a quote, Kurk? He seemed fine for his age, and I am pretty sure he stopped aging by that point. Sure, he would have died without help, and the expenditure of health to keep his bones from snapping was probably enough to overload even Compounding - which is why he died from spear and being thrown from a large height, probably. But where does Sazed say that he was going to die from old age? And, Phantom, what flexibility do you mean? I agree with the point that Breath gives more energy and whatnot, and that enough Breath may be enough to revert aging. But I doubt it would be instantaneous.

Well, IIRC, TLR didn't die from old age to begin with - he died from acute spearinchestitis. That goes nicely with my idea that a Gold compounder could live to a thousand... Provided enough gold and no self-respect. As for Breaths - I think that he'll stay at his thousand, surviving, and possibly, with additional Breaths, revert a bit over time, to look younger, though not actually becoming younger (This reflects my confusion about age vs health, since I always considered growing up and, in particular, aging to be a common genetic disease...). How that would interact with Feruchemical atium is debatable, though.

Alfie squirmed. That was well, considering. I needed him to be at least marginally awake for the next stage. Or I could just leave him be and avoid wasting a charge... I checked his wounds. They were many. They were severe. Without intervention, they would take a while to heal. Even with Pewter, they would leave scars. I was not happy. Whoever did this... I hoped I could make them pay the price. High, high price. I punched the floor, hissing. No real way around it. I needed Alfie in better form, soon. Still, a waste, and a painful one at that... I removed my jacket and slashed my claw over the rib, where a goldmind/spike combination was positioned. It didn't take at first, and I had to concentrate to keep myself from healing. There it was. I sighed. Each transfer between bodies made a spike lose some of the charge. Not so much if I was fast, and my Investiture consumption adjusted to compensate for loss, but still. Also, nya! I had to use my claws to get the spike out of bone groove. Alfie definitely needed one of those. Or maybe I needed to stop screwing them down like that. I had to boost Pewter to keep the pain bearable. Additional strength made me break off a bit of the rib. There. Full of Heath, too. I found the spot on Alfie's body, and drove the tip into it, none too gently, hoping that the shock would wake him and he'll tap.

I am pretty sure spren are both, in a way. As was mentioned, no Highstorms seems to mean no spren, and spren were mentioned to serve as vents for splintered power. They are also influenced, and apparently formed, of concepts. I sometimes think that Stormlight is carried over all three Realms, in an explosion called Highstorm, and the "pressure" pushes it into gems like Investiture is pushed through metals. There would be residual Stormlight all over Roshar, bleeding over through spren manifestation. Then, this residual stormlight density would limit amount of spren that can appear in one place, and those would manifest when their concepts come into play. Those are "attracted", but give them more power, more Stormlight, through fabrial or in other way, and they will start to affect what made them in the first place - see the pain knife fabrial, where a painspen is used to cause intense pain. Also, I am sleepy and incoherent. Sorry about that.

Can anyone with better listening comprehension than me make out the (name)? For some reason, I keep hearing it as something like "Shalig-nar"

I usually go by the total change of Shard-separated Investiture integrated over ability duration ( not the best formulation , but close enough) For Allomancy, this is positive, ability is powered by Shard. For Feruchemy, the amount is preserved, though usage rate can vary. In Hemalurgy, total Investiture in system decreases. Awakening is end- neutral in this regard, and Nightblood seemingly negative, unless he gets stronger by eating those breaths or something. Surgebinding would be positive. I am not sure, mind, just IMO for the moment.

I sigh with a measure of relief as Sindred leaves the house. I thank Finnar and retreat to my study. My scars itch, indicating trouble. Or over-excitement, but probably trouble. Alfie has problems. The lack of the direction is highly annoying. I nya, and for a few moments allow myself to relax, even chuckle. The sound is strange in my ears. All in all, the meeting with Finnar went well. He probably thought he got the best of me. With reason, but on the other hand, he knew nothing important. Yet. And with access to his technology, I could ramp up Aluminium production to more that cover decreased profits from Nicrosil deal, before the prices plunged. I wondered if his information on mechanistic Metallic Arts would allow creation of machines running on Investiture, further decreasing costs. And then... Suddenly overcome by mixture of rage and excitement, I ripped through the skin on my palm with my claws on the other hand, grasped a chunk of Nicrosil I used for a sample, filled it with Investiture and burned it, feeling my hand warp and twist. Somewhat calmed down, I managed to absorb some of the released Investiture, and healed the cuts. The itching, if anything, intensified after my stunt. Waste of resources. Where could he be? Nervous, I decided to check hiding places around the house, hoping that Alfie had enough strength - and common sense! - to get back here. Also hoping that he didn't lead a tail of angry Terris people after him. The first round of search produced no results. Alfie wasn't in the house proper. Made sense, in a way. I went out of the house and into a small garden. There were several semi-secret entrances there, cat-sized. I checked those. Blood. It smelled of fresh blood near a small entrance. I could feel my hair puff out, a ridge raising on the back of the head and seemingly along spine. Alfie? Yes. I could see him, lying in the dark, barely moving. There was another entrance, barely large enough for human. I squeeze through it and head to the prone cat.

Well, yes, though it may be that she was talking to other Radiants. Still, it is a new order with confirmed Shardplate - we have only seen two in the first book. Though I must admit I forgot about talking to spen thunderclasts are awesome, though. And I don't think anybody could claim them to be Chasmfiends anymore