Satsuoni

The problem being that human sentience on Scadrial is a result of preservation giving part of itself to form (excess) souls, so the same should hold for Sazed. After all, Nightblood Breaths now form his soul, in the similar way the pieces of Preservation and Ruin form human soul. Also, it would seem that Nightblood can hold on to his Breaths (you cannot command them away anymore). But I'd say that is not a very good soul, so my guess is: Nightblood can hold the shard if no other (better) holder is nearby. His hold, however, won't be very good (it could be taken from him more easily than in Human case) Also, since his sentience is a result of command, and focused on that Command, (but it is sentience, and capable of changing and learning), the same thing will happen to it as to a human holder - it will be gradually corrupted by the shards intent, but at first (since he is focused on one thing only) it will corrupt the Shard somewhat. The corruption of Nightblood would probably go by redefining evil (remember, Ruin thought destruction good, and opposing it bad, so...), while the corruption of the shard would be like "I preserve good by destroying every last evil human in that city..."

Well, there might be a few explanations as to why it is not noticed. 1. The breaths do provide a connection. The energy transferred over it is the same as supplied originally to the human, so it is not counted. 2. Recycling for Breath/soul is very fast, the energy flowing into it as it is expended. 3. There is more energy in the breath than you think. There is, for example, enough energy stored in the Feruchemist's goldmind to actually create matter from nothing (regrowing limbs, etc, or, in the case of Miles, "constantly renewing the body", oxygen and nutrition included. Compared to that, a moving cloth takes barely any energy, and as for intelligence, it may borrow some from the Awakener (there is a link between Awakener and an Awakened object, just as there appears a link between a person and Nightblood once Nightblood feeds of him), or, well... there are a lot of breaths needed to awaken Cloth. The girl apparently gave up part of he breath with the memory, somehow, to Vasher. Wonder if Vasher got the memories, too, and now recalls being an abused girl...

Well, you may be right about the rock just being the rock As for the breaking of the word -I'd say that starting to act dishonorably will weaken them until the powers leave them completely. So that'd depend on how dishonorable his act would be.. But I'd say, at least severely weakened.

Well, IMO, Breaths work like souls, or parts thereof. As I have noted above, the Hemalurgic transfer of strength, etc, also does not seem to decay while inside the host, so it works by the same principle. This principle may be one of the 2 : 1. The soul or Breath draws energy from the Shard. This draw is constant, and does not count for classification purposes. 2. The soul and/or Breath are part of the Shard, separated like the Pits were separated from Ruin and human spirits from Preservation. They recycle the limited amount of energy available to them like the shard itself does, and like the Pits recycled atium spent for burning. Then, there is only so much you can do with the Breath, but it will never go out completely, and will soon regenerate. (Also, moving something requires a very small amount of energy compared to, say, mass change, so the fact that the energy is spent before being recycled is not very apparent)

Why duology, then? Isn't that just two book in the same 'verse?

I don't know... The whole third book felt off to me, and in my experience, once the author starts writing books with such flavour, it is a hard habit to break. At the very least, I have yet to read an author whose basic flavour changes over books So maybe she is waiting for the ending to make it weird:) You haven't read the second book yet, have you?

Scan it, lest it be lost forever!

Ok, well. What we know about divine breath is, iirc , the following: 1. It is a single breath. It can't be used partially for acts that require a Breath, ie most of them. 2. It is very strong, 5th heightening . 3. It is a splinter of Endowment. 4. It heals people when given to them, but does not linger. 5. Either it, or the returned himself need to devour one breath per week.(ok, that is actually the returned, but this breath always goes last) , and the returned croaks instantly without it. My theory is that it is unstable, and upon being transferred it decays almost instantly giving a burst of life force (?), like a tap from goldmind to the acceptor. So I doubt it can be easily used for awakening, although not sure. Also, how do you propose convincing the returned to part with their Breaths anyway?

Read it. The ending of Inheritance trilogy has put me off her books for good, I'd say.All in all, meh

Seynir I slowly recover from nausea, and walk a bit further away from the entrance. "Any idea how long have they been gone? It certainly smells fresh enough. I don't think I'll go anywhere near that room for a while. And while I don't know how you are going to get a bath around here, I am very willing to help with anything that might get that stench off!"

Hm. Well, you see, if you judge like that, you can say that hemalurgy is end-positive too, since it is the closest equivalent of giving breaths away, the main difference being that the pieces of spirit web need physical carrier and can't be attached (yet) to non-living objects. For example, a blessing of potency about doubles the strength and endurance of kandra, while leaving energy consumption the same. With enough blessings, the kandra will be able to produce more energy that it consumes, drawing purely on the strength of preservation. There are also issues with Feruchemy and energy conservation (filling/drawing from ironminds at different speeds). That is why the additional connection seems more or less irrelevant for the classification here. Also, I still think Nightblood does the same thing to Breaths as the Returned do, only much faster. Also, he's got plenty of connection (1000 breaths) already, so he shouldn't need to draw more (certainly not at the increasing rate), so well.. Nightblood is strange.

Well, Chaos hit it on the head: in the end, this classification is blurry and essentially useless, since it tells us nothing about Awakening itself, and the terminology is unique to that Ars Arcanum. Sazed, for example, named the same things (Allomancy, Hemalurgy and Feruchemy), for the same reasons (energy gain, loss and net zero) as being of Preservation, Ruin and Balance (human), correspondingly. Makes one wonder if combination of Allomancy and Hemalurgy (burning spikes made out of yourself, it is possible, but weird) would be positive or negative, though..

Ok, let us look at it carefully First, classification. I think it is based on whether more energy goes to or from shard, when all energy paths are taken into account (over time, it seems). Then, in case of Allomancy, energy just goes from Shard into a person (destroying metal in the process) - that the simplest case, pure positive balance. In case of feruchemy, first, some energy goes in, then some energy comes out, which, summed over time, gives exactly zero (even when including "loss" when drawing very fast). In case of Hemalurgy, part of the energy goes somewhere, probably back to the shard. The energy in this case comes from natural end-positive process of birth, when new soul is created with pieces of shard in it. Strangely enough, that makes Hemalurgy an act of preservation, compared to natural death, where the energy just returns, but taken separately, process is end-negative. Now, if we look at Awakening, we see several processes (mentioned above): Birth - energy positive process that gives Breath Return - an even more energy-positive process (the Breath is much more powerful), but with a drawback (next) Breath consumption - energy negative process, apparently discrete (1 breath is consumed, regardless of its size). Extreme example is Nightblood, that devours Breaths by the hundreds, and never gives them back. He even does not really get more powerful from that- just hungrier. Awakening - both lifeless and normal awakening. I think they are energy-neutral. However, the additional energy afterward may be explained in two ways: 1. There is a lot of energy in the Breath. It will run out one day, but may power stuff for centuries. 2. Breaths in object form a connection to the Shard. Awakening itself is energy-neutral, but command execution is energy positive. This is a little like Human Attributes in Hemalurgy -they give you constant increase of attribute, apparently forever, without consuming any fuel to feed it. I think I am leaning towards the second explanation, since simply holding Breaths gives you additional vitality and power. Death - energy-negative. 99% of breath's energy just... dissipates, or returns to the shard (although some seems to be left over in the body, as in case of Arsteel) [EDIT] P.S. If you only look at human-driven process (awakening), it is neutral. All negative and positive aspects are natural, or side effects. [Edit2] Forgot one: Healing by Returned. I'd say it is, by itself, energy-neutral, followed by energy negative process of reabsorbtion of Returned's breath into the Shard, same as if the Returned waited for a week. Or possibly by neutral conversion of unstable Breath into pure life energy.

Thanks!

The story of EHyde, The Lurking One, started in two worlds, in two times. In one world, called Roshar, it is a story of the spren that lost its home and gained a soul. In the other world, called Earth, it is a story of a girl that lived a life that saved a spren. And these stories are one. On Roshar, Honor was dead, and the cataclysm of his dying has splintered what he held into bits and aspects. Most of them has stayed on the word they were bound to, but some were thrown between realms, through the Shadesmar and beyond. One of them was what in Roshar would later come to be called a creativityspren. Born of the storm of destruction, fed by the Stormlight, it flew through the word of thought. But the power of the storm did not last forever, and, far away from the source, the spren started to dissolve. Meanwhile, on Earth,the story of a girl was taking form. The girl liked all things creative. She liked to sew, to knit, and sometimes to draw. And so, in the Shadesmar, her soul shone like a beacon for the lost spren. As it approached the girl's soul, it was drawn into the Physical realm by the ensuing resonance. The resonance has resolved itself into words of creativity ideal, "If you want it, make it yourself." As the girl has embraced these words, she and a creativityspren has bonded into a single being, spren feeding from, and in turn enhancing, girl's creative powers. And that would have been the end of the story, if not for Chaos. Deep inside the lair of 17thShard, he felt the disturbance as the spren crossed into the Physical Realm. As he was collecting all things cosmere, he grabbed several unfortunate victims and a set of spikes, and went to greet his new recruit. Soon thereafter, several members of the 17th shard were dancing as they welcomed another unfortunate in their rank. However, spikes in the eye were hard to conceal, and they made the girl shy. She took on the name EHyde, the Lurking One, and from then on was an existence waiting to pounce on any glimmer of Shard-related crativity.

Well, Vin was not the only one spooked by Hoid: Also, Hoid is EvIl. So, he must be giving off something that sensitive beings can feel, like an aura of wrongness about him.

This day, on the chat, the secret origins of Joe ST (Joe Star Torturer) were disclosed by the robot himself. The story went as follows: Far, far into the future, when the FTL flight was commonplace on Scadrial, and new applications of Hemalurgy were developed, a man named Hoid has appeared in one of the facilities of British Secret Service on the planet Earth. Nobody is sure whether he has infiltrated it or was there originally. Some even claim that Hoid had British origins, but all in all, an air of mystery has surrounded the man. The facility he was in flourished, for he had shared advanced knowledge from the other worlds within it, although always being careful not to share too much. This knowledge included the FTL technology, Hemalurgy and Feruchemy from Scadrial and Awakening commands from Nalthis. Using this technology and the materials necessary for its operation recovered from the Shardworlds (with utmost secrecy), an ambitious project was initiated. For the Earth has suffered much during the centuries preceding the Hoid's arrival, and amongst others, the plant providing tea and the tea-related knowledge was lost, and only the the deep, insatiable yearning has remained, felt especially keenly by the British. For the purpose of recovering the tea, and in general, for information gathering, anew kind of agent was created, based on the ancient design of Kalad's phantoms, known for their durability and flexibility, and the kandra species, used for the flexibility and high Hemalurgic tolerance. The project was given a codename ST. First, a human skeleton was prepared, cleaned and reinforced with metal and durable plastic. Then, a special stone-based containment unit was created around the skeleton, presenting the nigh-impenetrable stone armor to the exterior, and having enough space inside for the next part of the process. The samples of genetic material for the Mistwraiths from Scadrial was used to create a clone of the creature, grown inside the armor, just as 500 BioChromatic breaths were infused into it, mixing and sticking with the bones and the semi-alive biomass inside, becoming its intrinsic part. The result was Awakened bones bonded to the as of yet insentient Mistwraith and the armor itself. For additional flexibility, it was decided to give the Mistwraith sentience, as well as the ability to store large amount of information via Feruchemy. Spikes for emotional and mental stability, as well as allomantic and feruchemical copper were introduced though special spikeports in the armour, and the armour itself was plated and partially filled with pure copper (burnished with anti-corrosive solution). The result was a Breath and Metal-powered, copper-plated cyborg kandroid. The British souls given in the mental spikes infused its mind with British stereotypes, and longing for tea. They also influenced the form Kandra took in the only visible outlet allowed for it, around the robot's mouth. The living sensory tendrils has formed a large mustache and a manly beard, as per English stereotype. Spurred on by the secret, tea-related Commands, it was sent into the present time. Here, it has found the lair of 17th shard, one of the few connections of current day Earth and Cosmere, where (due to the spikes) it was welcomed as one of the fold. Its massive copperminds and the ability to connect to both electronic and spiritual networks allowed it to take over the budding Coppermind Wiki, and directly link into it. Now it bides its time, collecting information and pieces of souls (often freely given, for every entry into a coppermind wiki is a piece of soul, or Breath, given freely or in a bid for power), and enjoying tea. It is in no hurry, for its only way to return to the British Secret Service of the future is to wait until that organization takes form familiar to it, and its masters are born.

Impossible, I'd say. Otherwise the inquisitors would blind themselves by their own spikes like they are with the metal dust to the face. (strictly imo)

Seynir I try to follow Striax, having covered my mouth and nose with a rag, but the stench is too strong (9), so I retreat from the room, nauseous.

Ah.. Right you are. I forgot

Melt it into a body. Also, the spike serves as a lightning rod, increasing the probability of a hit. Ask EeronGal for details. Dunno about the Highstorm, but I'd say the lightning part of it is just the same as an ordinary one.

You were around.. The zombie part at least. Edit - I have a full log

So, yes, the chatroom. Many interesting things can be discovered there. For example, some time ago (yesterday or so), me and Sweetness were talking, when we have observed a strange behavior of Eerongal. He first stopped responding after rejoining, then a copy of her appeared and started pretended to be him, then devoured the unmoving corpse of Eerongal and became him before dying again. So we have discussed this and came out with a theory, that I think deserves to be shared for posterity here. First, it should be noted that strange rumors has surrounded Eerongal before. Many people has independently noted (yes, I have noted it by myself, without reading Peter's mention) that Eero appear to be a girl, whether a girlfriend of Eeron, or a gyaru named Eeron for whatever reason. Then there is his (or her?) Member Title: Admiral Wolverine Lightningbolt, which I now believe refers partially to Eero's life history. So, this is Eero's story, as reconstructed by me and Sweetness. Eeron was and admiral of a small fleet on Scadrial, that by experimenting with a mix of Hemalurgy and Allomancy gained the ability to constantly heal at sporadically accelerated rate without expending gold (although not at the level of the full gold compounder). Somebody (probably Hoid) has called him Wolverine for that ability, and the nickname partially stuck. Once, he was caught out in the sea by a horrible storm. Thoroughly drenched by the salt water, he was hit by the lightning right in the pewter spike, and drowned, half-burned. While his ability and spikes did not allow him to completely die, he did regenerate slowly enough to allow his body to rot, and he did lose consciousness for quite a while. When his half-corpse was washed ashore, a female Mistwraith was attracted to the delightful smell of half-rotten meat, and started to devour him, absorbing the spikes in the process, and gaining sentience. The process of being dissolved awakened Eeron from his slumber. However, the fact that his spikes were shared with a mistwraith has caused partial loss of memory and sanity, as well as merging of their souls, resulting in creation of combined consciousness in, essentially , two joined bodies. The resulting creature remembered that it was an admiral, a wolverine, and something about Lightningbolt, also, that it was a gal, despite appearing male (newborn kandra assumed the form of the corpse), thus taking the name Eerongal. Its original body could still regenerate, and still rot. Also, the kandra part could temporarily exist separately (taking a loan of his other spikes), creating a clone body, but was always drawn back to the delicious, constantly replenishing rotten meat source (and the other half of the soul). So there you have it - EeronGal is a symbiosis of a Hemalurgic zombie and a kandra. (I hope the reconstruction was largely correct. Correct me if I am wrong)

So, does the vinegar soaked rag help with stench?

Hello I am a sporadic member of the community. I'll try to answer your questions. What does a new member need to know in order to really fit in with this community? Well, knowing works of Brandon by heart helps Seriously, having read at least about half and knowing about Cosmere is about sufficient I guess. Has the community helped you through a tough or emotional time? Chaos helped me once, a bit. Is there a specific event/post/moment where you felt like you had transitioned from noob to accepted member? (hopefully spikes weren’t involved…) Umm.. No, I still feel like a noob. That is personal quirk, though. Maybe when the cat inquisitors were discovered? (see the signature) Tell me about your favorite meme or inside joke from the 17th Shard. (For instance… what’s with the waffles?) Hmm.. From well-known memes in the 17th Shard - spikes of course. Second (more or less well known) - cat inquisitors. My personal favorite phrase is "This is true" Is there anything you think I should know about this great community that I haven’t asked about? Nothing I can think of right now.