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Alternatively and much simpler, consider a Midnight Essence Aetherbound route instead. It seems directly inspired by Venom and the Klyntar Symbiotes.

The Inquisitors could Pierce Copperckouds because (some of them) had double Bronze (often a base Mistborn with an additional spike). Double power in Copper would make it harder to pierce as well, but it would take a different mix of Powers/Spikes.

Side note, but I think that's true for Scadrians and Nalthians but dont think that is the case with Rosharans (or Sel or Taldain, etc), since unlike the other examples the Shards in question didnt not personally create those Human populations with their post-Shattering Power.

Starting thought (and a general pet peeve of mine): Electricity and Magnetism go together, so being able to manipulate one should include some level of manipulating the other. Magneto should be throwing lightning and other plasma attacks a lot more. If you want you system to specialize, consider making Magnetic Field Control, Voltage Differential Control and raw heavy lifting Current Control. If you're open to group casting magic and like the idea of visible science behind the scenes, consider making the magic practitioners used "advanced" spells that amount to acting as individual Circuit elements such that they can do very complex things (up to and including stuff like Radio communication) that is accomplished via complex group ritual magic.

Agreed, it would certainly be VERY expensive compared to a Lifeless. It was a major development to make Lifeless work with less than 50 breaths (I theorize they found a Spiritual Command rather than a Physical "meat-animation" method), and the individual pieces resemble a full human a lot less (which typically makes an awakening more expensive). There's also the issue of Breath-Use. WOB says the reason you didnt see infinitely moving machines is that normal/traditional Awakenings will use up breaths over time if left active for too long (though there is no loss if recovered soon enough).

I think it will be less about literal Bondage and more just about the freedom to Choose for ones self. So I think the 3rd will be something more along the lines of "I will support the Choices of others, even if I disagree with their path" / "Others must be Free to disagree with me". And along the same lines it would make the 4th a little more like "I accept that sometimes I must deny Freedom to Nurture it" with something of a parental theme.

Just spittballing, but it might have manifested in the Cognitive realm fist and needed to develop sufficient Connections to manifest in the Physical realm. Generally comparable to how it's implied that the Everstorm developed in Shadesmar first before being pulled through in OB.

The being that claimed to be the Stormfather in the WoT preview can indeed lie because we saw them do it right in that scene: they insisted to Gavilar that the Heralds he'd were Not heralds. Whether that being is in fact the Stormfather is a matter of lively debate, but Im in the camp that believes all evidence is that it is NOT the real Stormfather. The Personality and Physical manifestations are all wrong. They were also actively pushing Gavilar away from the real Immortal Words and toward something different and more aggressive (that I suspect will be a different set of Words for Voidbinders).

Nah, trying to add War to the conflicted mess that Sazed holds would most likely push him over the edge into Discord, rather than bringing any additional sense of balance to him.

That might actually be a bit of a tightrope to walk. Elsecaller theme leans into the Striving for More side that probably slides toward recklessness a lot of the time, compared to Dustbringers that are very much about self-restraint.

Fixed, and sorry I meant

Wait, so you're saying Objects can get drained to something akin a

When Stormlight leaves a gem (via use or leakage) it will cause vibrations in the Gem; this phenomena was exploited to create patterns in the vibrations to make the Gem Archive. Normal Gem physics would say those repeated stress cycles are what cause the issue, though there's probably also single use stresses that arent purely about cycles. If physical stress cycles and normal crack propagation are the only factor, then Perfect Gems should only see stress from actual use and not passive leakage, so they should last longer but could still be cracked from over-use, Maybe? If there's some other factor involved, or if Realmic shenanigans over-shadow the mundane geology mechanisms, then it could go either way. Perfect Gems can shine forever without loosing Stormlight because the actual Photons are from a leak from the spiritual realm and not the actual Investiture becoming Lightwaves; and if that's the case we cant be sure what other magical weirdness could be involved, up to and including a self-healing ability for Perfect Gems

There is a supernatural element to their Madness and at least one supernatural effect can suppress it, so there's scientific reason for hope. Two of the Heralds will be POV characters so there's meta reason to think they'll become properly Protagonist-y by the end. And "Taln Didnt Break", which is right up there with "Honor Lives in the Hearts of Men" for inspiring the the people, and gives me hope that at least one of the ten is still on their Hero's Path.

I dont think so, at least not in the sense of Mundane Metals that are relevant to the Three Metallic Arts, mostly on the logic that the pattern of 16 for Preservation is pretty complete and has implications in the broader cosmere. That being said, We do know that there is at least one more metal that has Investiture relevant properties in the cosmere but which is not part of the metallic arts: Silver. The doylistic thing is that it was intended to be a part of it but brandon mistook the real alloy of Pewter, so Silver was replaces with Tin but stayed relevant elsewhere. We also know that canonically the behavior of the two Scadrian Godmetals can be modified with alloying, and with the Atium retcon we have two different Alloy ratios that are both viable. So in the case of Godmetals there may prove to be a far more complex metallurgical/chemical language to be found for modifying it's effect, potentially up to the complexity of a [Elantris/ES spoilers?]

It will hinge entirely on the words and actions of the remaining Heralds, I think. If they become actively and widely known as the Crazy people they currently are, it'll shake the foundations of Vorinism more than anything. If, by contrast, Ishar is cured he hopes can happen, and/or the others step up to some level of their former responsibility, it could revive Vorinism in a new wave of devotion.

The fact that they Chose this makes me think Maya and the other Deadeyes aren't looking to be what they were before, one way or another I think they were looking to come out the other side Changed. But I agree anything Sja Anat did would still be wildly transformative like Unmaking, not anything I'd call Healing.

Excellent Point on Breath=sustained exertion! That side of it hadnt occurred to me, but it should translate to Endurance juicing a lot mor directly than I was giving it credit for. I think this one is still an outstanding question, depending on where in the physical/biological processes it actually plugs in. You're correct if it oxygenates the tissues directly, but if it's adding/removing Oxygenation at the blood level then you'd still needs blood flow and pressure and heart function, etc to maintain O2 distribution to the brain and tissues. There's a similar question with Bendalloy for food and whether it stores calories specifically or is capable of storing complex and/or Specific nutritional elements (to the point of being able to store like Glucose or Salt or VitaminC, etc). Or even if it's storing/tapping the Need for food more directly, implying it cant be used to Store more specific things beyond Food/Hydration, but also that it bypasses a lot more of limits of natural processes of metabolism and H2O absorption, etc.

WOB says there should be 30 surges or Three Sets of Ten. I think the Deadeyes wanted to Invert the Nahel Bond to put the power of Surges in the hands of the Spren instead of the (theoretically more fallible) Humans, with the Humans instead metabolizing Lifelight to fuel the Spren's new LifeSurges. During the Trial Adolin Offered her his Strength and then she dramatically Inhaled and suddenly got stronger; I think he gave her Lifelight. But as to whether Enlightening (which has been done by Sja-Anat but not yet by BAM that we know of) would do Something but it might not be what you'd call Healing:

We dont know for sure but Probably, Maybe? Cognitive Shadows have some qualitative differences from actual Spren & Seons, but WOB implies it could be possible for them to form a Nahel Bond. The might need help from a Bondsmith or something rather than being able to form it on their Own like the Spren can, and it might cause some odd effects compared to the 10-ish races of Spren that bond currently.

We dont know what happened to Deadeyes. We do know that it did not happen before the Recreance, even when the Radiant broke their Oaths, so Something Changed but we dont know what it was yet. There are theories that that the same BAM imprisonment that damaged the Singer Connections to make Parshendi also affected the Spren/Radiant Bond enough to cause Deadeyes to form. Other theories (mostly following the Trial events) suspect that there where some more specific and intentional steps taken by the Radiant Spren back then to make Deadeyes form for a specific Purpose (such as creating a 3rd set of Surges based on Cultivation and Lifelight).

Wildly differently, I assume, since the main cast would suddenly have access to a full Mistborn in a world where they no longer exist.

Excellent! As you say, lets focus on the Etheria (Etherea?). Correct me if I have anything wrong; Ill try to explore the idea assuming no unmentioned Limitations, so if anything feels like it's running off the rails of what you envision, it might be a good spot to add an in-world limitation. In summary, Power flows from the Ethereal (Etherial?) realm. It gathers in places of Importance to the mortal Sentient population (Only Humans?). This means the magic overall will be dependent on what the current living Generations believe, Value, and Fear. The Ley Line mechanic will promote a culture of large scale Organization (religion, government, guilds etc) to control and focus and manipulate the necessary weight of Chronis Belief. On the flip side it Secret Societies wont really have a lot of power unless they gain Power from being Mysterious. Ley Lines will also heavily incentivize the building of physical Monuments at locations of importance to preserve their a stories and keep them remembered and relevant in the eyes of the living population, so they can predict and tap those Places of Power along thematic lines. Battlefields for War Runes, Courthouses for The Weighing of Truth, Libraries for Science&Learning, etc. It also means different People will be able to tap different levels of Power from a given location based on how much they personally value and/or Align with the energies of that Ley Line. So an academic can tap more power in a Library, a priest/Believer in their own Church, a King on his own Throne, pretty much Anyone in their own Home, etc. It also could mean that current events will cause Temporary Ley Lines to emerge as theya re happening, if they are dramatic enough. This lets your characters get Power Surges through key events or surges of emotion, since the random spot on the road becomes VERY important to the people being ambushed on it and suddenly find themselves fighting for their lives. It wont stay important for very long or to anyone else, but it allows for situational Flair-ups of Power. Idea: Consider the addition of Regalia items, objects of Power that represent and focus the Chronis of a Respected Office of Power so much that they act as a mobile Ley Line for the people Empowered to Wear/Use them: A King's Crown, a Champion's Sword, a Pope's Vestments, etc Ok, I phrased it as a choice but there's no big reason to limit the whole magic system to a type of expression (Enhance vs Move, etc). These are things that can be All of the Above and just accessed by difference schools of magic and/or cultures, or even just tiers of skills and mastery that allow for more difficult/dangerous things. For the Sword-To-Door instance, there are two basic ways you can take it. Either Rune shifts that dont really make sense simply fail, or else the target goes through more overt changes to make it happen. So trying to make a Door Shark might just Fail, or it might grow sword-like Spikes. Adding the same Sharp-Rune to a staff could make a Spear or Mace, and adding it to fists could make natural-ish claws or (the more gross) bone spike knuckle protrusions. Sounds interesting! Is this bird a denizen of Etheria or the physical world? Is there a culturally relevant Volcano east of them where it lives, or maybe a Sun theme if it's not a physical resident most of the time? Does it have a Duskbird persona or counterpart? For how Runes actually work and are applied, etc, we're touched on a few different paths. Im just going to spitt-ball some ideas that Ive seen done before, any or all of them could be present in your world: Object Trait Stamping: Stamp or Carve a Rune shape into an object to get a magical Effect. Ex: Stamp a Sword with Sharpness to make it super-sharp, a Shield with Durability to make it harder to break, etc. Is it possible to Stamp Liquids or Gasses? Is it purely a matter of Shape or is there a special Inlay material, etc that is needed and/or consumed from use? Can you make water flow in a rune pattern to affect it with the magic, or does the surface need to be physically staped/carved somehow? Would a projected light Rune work (since Dawn and Sunlight are themes)? Do runes last forever once made or are they erased with enough use or over-use? Object Trait transfer: "Harvest" Sharpness from a Sword and stamp it on a staff to get a Sharp Staff or a Spear, or on another Sword to get a Double-Sharp sword. Harvest "Entryway" from a Doorway and stamp it onto a Wall to make a Doorway Form. Does Harvest mean stamp one object to charge the stamp and then the 2nd object to impart the trait? Is the donor sword destroyed in the process, or does destroying it end the augmentation effect? Self Augment Tattoo/Brands: Carve Runes into yourself and then activate them to turn on Power, risk Fire damage from over-use. Probably nice visuals to distinguish active/inactive state. There are two fiction series that you might consider reading, both because they are awesome and because they explore similar mechanics. One is the Runelords series, set in a high fantasy kingdom where peoples traits can be transferred to others and thus stockpiled in the wealthy, but the donors much be kept alive in special assisted living temples. So the average royal gets at least double intelligence and health, extra strength and speed, etc., some transfer animal traits to humans (like Dog Scent abilities, etc) but it's not well regarded. Their whole society is based around the ruling classes being literally Empowered by their followers to be better than a normal person, but explores how that can also go very wrong. The other is the Cold Fire Trilogy, which is an extreme example of a setting with Ley Line based power that all reacts to and scales with what people Value, so much that Nightmares come alive at night and there are some powers only massive organized Religion can touch.

Fun! My first piece of advice would be to not get discouraged and not get too caught up on being 100% original or unique, everything has influence. The way to make it feel different is to play with it's strengths and limitations. For a Cosmere example, Forgery is pretty close to Soulcasting but requires Stamps, is Temporary, and has a Likelihood requirement that is used to reign in it's application. But it also allows for far more intricate and detailed control compared to Soulcasting that needs to be modified by pure Intent from the base Essences. So lets talk your system. For conversation let say the technical term for the magic is Animancy but Runeweaving (and Runeweavers) is the more common name folks actually use because the Runes are the most visible aspect of it. For some starter questions: If not Stormlight, what is the Power driving (and limiting) the scale of what they can do? Ley Lines? Natural-born internal Magic reserve (and rest to recharge)? Special Rune reagents (inks, metal inlay, special stamp stone, etc) that have quality-based limits? What are some examples of easy vs difficult Transmutations? Are you Altering the Identity of a single object or are you Combining them from collected sources? If altering, How and How much? If combining, how do you go about it? For the Door example, would you be changing the Door from an Entry to a Barrier to make it impassible? Might you take the Entry from it with a rune and add it to a wall to grow a doorway, almost like object Hemalurgy (or alchemy as Ive seen it in a few other series)? Where do the Runes come in, are they custom each time like Forgery or do they represent categories more like essences?

Atomic weapons were invented in the early 1940's. Compound Bows were invented in the late 1960's. Not a really pertintent to anything specific but I always come back to this fact whenever we try to anticipate technological progressions on fantasy worlds.