Quantus

This is certainly true. I guess my point is that the Lighteyes/Darkeyes split is not a simple Nobility Vs Serf sort of model, there's a more gradual distribution than that, and in the middle there is a lot of overlap. That's not to say being a Lighteyes certainly is a leg up and bypasses an awful lot of potential caste system hardship, but being Lighteyes alone doesnt guarantee an easy or even comfortable life (despite what Kaladin originally thought).

Awesome, thanks! That was the specific distinction I was getting stuck on, that a "Gift" implied Choice and Intent, while "from Preservation" could still be an accidental development.

I would contend that "Came from Preservation long ago" does not confirm that it was a conscious gift to the Terris people from Leras. It could simply mean that it's a magic that;s sources in Preservation, which we knew already.

Im not sure what you were trying to reference, the WOB you linked doesnt mention the origins of Feruchemy at all, adn to my knowledge we still dont have any confirmed details about how it came to be.

The last sentence of this really long one where he's comparing relative levels of Investiture: That's not the side of things I was looking at, though it's another fair consideration. My point was more on the Investiture/energy Conservation side, saying that she had not /created/ a new Soulweb from whole cloth (which would take significantly more Investiture than Forgery alone usually uses), she took something existing and reconfigured it. By comparison there is a strong philosophic argument to be made that Nightblood's creation represents a truly original Spritiweb's creations, since they took raw Investiture and Created a sentient Physical Realm entity. The Star Trek mention was just in reference to the fact that Star Trek Transporters have managed to duplicate a single person into two fully-functioning and independent people, with equally provable possession of their own Souls. It has become a go-to example in philosophic circles when questioning what the Self is by exploring what processes would Destroy it vs preserve it; from a physical perspective the "original" is being destroyed entirely and a completely new one is being rebuilt on the other side. Memories by contrast tend to fall short as the Seat of the Self because we dont like the idea that people with amnesia, brain trauma, or things like Alzheimer's are somehow no longer the same People we remember.

That would be getting pretty deep into philosophy territory "What Is The Self" is one of the big ones. There is, for example, a strong argument that Star Trek teleporters are an exercise in mass murder, because what pops out the other side "isnt really you". I personally think that we can be certain with a fair degree of Confidence that she is not creating a new Spiritweb whole. That simply would represent and thus require more Investiture than Forgery is credited for using (WOB has it at the low end of the spectrum). So at the very least she is using the target's original as the Raw materials. The question of whether her design can be called a true Original or a Repair with Tweak is more the Philosophic question Brandon said he wasnt going to answer, but I dont see it as all that important, myself. For me, the pertinent thing in the Original Vs Fake question is the fact that the Soul will resist the Stamp for a long time, but eventually will stop. This sounds to me like the Spiritweb starts out straining against the changes (like Age in Feruchemy) but eventually get's used to the new Self though mechanisms similar to Savantism. That answers the question for me, because the reapplication of the stamp is either needed fundamentally (like a Spike in Hemalurgy) and no amount of Time should lessen that, or there is still enough of the Original still in there to be straining against the imposed Changes.

If Im understanding your question, then the option on the table are A) it's because of Shadesmar Shenanigans or B) it's because of Inkspren Bond Shenanigans, is that correct? If so, then I think the WOB @Weltall goes pretty far to confirming that it is Option A. Unless we learn that there is some specific connection between the Saih Amian's and the Inkspren that would be shared by a Randiant bonding to one, then by process of elimination it's most likely related to the fact that both are somehow Closer to Shadesmar, at least under the right circumstances.

Hmm, he'd be entirely capable but I dont think I like it personally. I see Steelheart as being a bit more flippantly evil than I want to see Super-Witcher do. I also see Steelheart as somebody with a more swollen/impractical "beach muscle" build and literal Fabio hair. You know, I think I want Dwayne Stevenson from the hilariously awful Gabriel film: http://www.sonymoviechannel.com/movies/old-gringo

Kelsier's a bad example. Since he held Preservation he would have had the same opportunity to grant himself Fullborn status that the Lord Ruler used to get the full spectrum of powers. That being said, Returned maintain their abilities, at least regarding their ability to Awaken, so they would likely retain any preexisting Metallic Arts. But it's important to note that there is a huge difference between a Returned-style Cognitive Shadows and Lifeless which are more along the lines of partially reanimated Zombies, so they will behave differently in a lot of ways.

I really dont think they will be able to get actual physical Forms unless we get conformation that they have a nascent Gemheart. And if that is the case, there would be every reason to expect it from the Herdazian's as well. Arguably more so since their Singer blood is already manifesting as Gem/mineral body parts

Nope, it's just an option that can be added to the Command. And since they can be changed at will by whomever knows the old one, it's really just more of a standing Order than anything integral to Lifeless Command itself. Probably not, based on THIS WOB that says an awakener that became a Lifeless would probably not be able to reclaim Breaths because "Lifeless have someone else's investiture replacing their own. (As opposed to Returned, who are augmented.)" Though it then goes on to say there are differences if they are made a Lifeless with their Own original Breath, so maybe it would work then? Id say it would depend: If you are the Returned, you'd probably die (though it might take a week to happen) because it's responsible for keeping your soul attached to your body. On the other hand, if you are just some schmuck who got his Hands on an unSealed Metalminds with a Divine Breath stored inside, you should be able to basically activate and remove that divine breath at will, though you'd probably still have to feed it every 7 days worth of active use. (Note that in medallions it is confirmed by WOB that the Investiture is stores and retrieved as a whole thing like Memories in Copper, not as a drain-able quantity like say Health or Age. So you could become a normal persona at need, but have the ability to become a temporary God of the Iridescent Tones, get all super-sized and Powerful, then go back to being a person after. That could even be a really interesting cult-religion, where they have an Artifact of Godhood that is passed down and only rarely used. Just like buying anything else. In Hallandren it's a commodity that you buy and sell like any other, with and for money like anything else. IN Shadesmar is sounds liek they are also available, but they have a Stormlight economy. And I wouldnt be surprised to find them available is Silverlight and such, being bought and sold using whatever the local economy uses. Yes, No, and Probably. Yes in that: Unlike what the characters were originally told, you do not have to transfer all your breaths at once. The normal way to go about this is to perform an Awakening that uses some percentage of your breaths, doing so will transfer as many breaths as the Awakening calls for and no more. Then you can transfer what's left into another object, reclaim the first, and rinse and repeat until you have subdivided up your stash as you see fit. No in that: There is not currently a known command that lets you just Dump a chosen amount and no more into a object, the awakeners we've seen had to jump through the hoops described above to make it happen. Probably in that: Awakening is a developing art, so things are only impossible until they are not. It was impossible to revive a Lifeless with a single breath until it was Suddenly possible. We dont know what subtlety of Command and Mental Image made that possible, but there is every possibility that some Command exists out there that would indeed let an awakened deposit arbitrary amounts of breaths in one go without added hassle

For what it's worth, we went around this particular block recently. The ambiguity is that they need to be inside the body, but while they may or may not require blood-contact to be charged initially, a charged spike can theoretically be implanted as a tooth filling (per WOB) or an earring as we've seen on stage. In the case of piercings, the issue becomes entirely a practical one with keeping it dry and free of significant skin fluids (sweat, something called "sebum", etc). Charging it in the place is still a critical hurdle, though.

Radiant's can use their own surges through their own Plate, so they could still use the Surge over it the same way they do with normal clothing. And separately, plate does adjust to the wielder (it rehapses to fit and flexes some amount for movement) but just like blades I think it's safe to assume that "living" plate would do so faster and with more extreme changes to keep the armor from inhibiting their movement, the same way the lving shardbaldes can reshape a whole lot more than dead ones, though both do some adjusting.

I dont think so. He can see spren that are pulled partially into this realm (which is how most Spren manifest) but when the become the blade they are get 100% manifested here in that actual physical form, so there wouldnt be any other form for him to see. He's also sooo very polite to spren, I dont think he would have agreed to the quest to get a shardblade if he knew they were spren-corpses.

No confirmation, but based on this WOB it would most likely let a non-Nalthian Awaken (they'd still need to get their own store of Breaths)

Noticed something Id missed in the opening of OB: Eshonai mentions that Klade "a voice speaking to the Rhythms" had led him to Szeth, who revealed what he was when pressed. She then mentioned off-hand that Venli had apparently been there but Eshonai hadnt seen her sister since before that. In retrospect that's seems pretty clear that Odium was manipulating things to make that happen. So he was working both sides, with Gavilar and the Sons of Honor meddling in Voidlight, heralds, and Returning Odium, but also arranging for the Singers to assassinate said Son of Honor. So, do we think Odium simply wanted to spark the Shattered Plains war of retribution, or is there some longer game he was playing there by bringing Szeth into the mix and creating the Assassin in White, when he'd previously just been a very creepy slave?

I didnt remember the Sword thing at all, but I thought that the Half-pay rule was for Slaves vs Freemen, not for Light vs Darkeyes. Coppermind has no mention either way, Ill see what I can find.

Ah, you are indeed correct. I could have sworn we had confirmation that he'd killed a Shard prior to D&D on Sel. The WOB I quoted actually addresses that question, which is to say that shoving the Investiture into the Physical Realm would generally force it to manifest as one of the phases of Matter (ie Mist, God-metals, Shardpools, etc) but that doing it to an entire Shard would have "Disastrous effects". He then specifically states that it was not what happened with Threnody, so I think that shoots the theory firmly in the face.

Aha, but without an established family lineage you'd default to a Tenner, which is basically the same quality of life as the average Darkeyes.

It's worth noting that Odium ran into Ambition first, then went after D&D on Sel, at which point he tried to shove their Investiture into the Cognitive to prevent it from Gaining sentience (or something like that, cant find the WOB at the moment). This implies that he did something else the first time, learned from a Mistake, and tried somethign new with D7D on Sel. Also, here's a relevant WOB:

I didnt mean to make that sound like a threat or a strong-arm move, just the reality of the situation for the Cryptic, assuming Hoid didnt have some other way to save it.

As @Elegy's wob proves, it's not an unusually powerful cryptic in any particular way. There are tons of reasons that Hoid would want to bond a Cryptic (Lightweaving, Soulcasting, Truths rather than Oaths, etc.) but that doesnt answer why Hoid went to the effort to reach that one, and not some random one hanging around the Palanaeum. I think the reason he needed That particular Cyrpic is that he needed one that was desperate enough to say "Yes" to bonding with something as decidedly warped and no longer Human as he is (which is probably as distasteful to the average Spren as hemalurgy would be). That cryptic made it to the Physical Realm but then lost the Anchor that called him (Elokhar), leaving him with barely any mind and stuck where the Fused could kill (or worse, Corrupt) him. Hoid was offering a Deal: "Bond with Me and Ill save you from all this, say No and you are likely to Die."

Ive think Ive landed on John Leguizamo for Lopen. Not sure exactly how old Lopen is supposed to be though?

This is something of a shower thought. The question came to be while reading another round of theories on Lerasium's "true" function, and it made me curious if we are even guaranteed that Lerasium has a Feruchemical function. By precedent I think it's very likely, since it has a confirmed function in Allomancy and Hemalurgy, and since Atium has a confirmed function in all three. My question is more whether there is a Realmic reason that a given metal HAS to function in all three? Does the fact that Metal is the Focus of the planet force the issue? On the other hand, Leras apparently was able to manipulate metals and their function to some degree, since he apparently inserted Atium and Malatium consciously, so can one be excluded? EDIT: To be clear my question is more generic than just the Lersium or God-metal cases. The question is really just whether it is possible for one of the three Arts to have more or less metals that work with it than the rest, or if all three come as a package deal. So as a hypothetical, can Harmony add a 17th base metal? Could he choose to give say Silver a Hemalurgic function without Silver automatically gaining some Feruchemcial and Allomantic function at the same time?

Im still really unsure about how Aon Ien is working, but I strongly suspect it's not the same direct Spiritual Restoration that Stormlight or F-Gold provide. For one thing those shouldnt need modifiers to maximize it's potential or need to be targeted to individual parts of the body, and those also dont have the same potential for catastrophic failure if interrupted. I strongly suspect it's more of a physical body/cell manipulation type of healing more along the lines of ReSealing or the theoretical Soulcasting Healer, which explains both differences.