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Quality vs Quantity, as I understand it if you used an equal amount of Lerasium alloyed to a single metal, you get a misting that is stronger in that metal than the full Mistborn would be (though I would doubt that it is a linear 16x). The ol' Jack of all Trades, Master of None, and all that.

Nah, that would be Era 4. Sooo: Kaladin is fighting in the sky and gets shot by an aluminum-shot blunderbuss.

Oh right...genetics are a thing. Is there Red Hair on Scadrial? Per this WOB Red Hair on Roshar indicates distant Singer heritage, specifically in Shallan.

Theoretically: First hand experience, and Time. It wouldnt be about just believing you have power, it would be about actually having and using the power so much for so long that your Platonic Identity had fully incorporated the ability into its core definition. To be clear, even I think this would be an extreme long-shot, Im really just trying to poke at the boundary to see where it is and why. More likely, if you were as committed as this to a self-identity that it was a core part of your Self-Image and had been incorporated into your Platonic Ideal, removing it would be More damaging than usual and more difficult to heal, rather than making it easier. For that matter, if it /did/ work, I kinda think you'd have to literally regrow a metal spike as part of the physical realm rewrite, given that the spike was an integral aspect of how your spiritweb had learned it. And for that to work, theoretically it should equally work with long-term use of things like a Medallion, and as @SwordNimiForPresident pointed out that is a hell of a literary can of worms.

That was what I was saying, he has bronze and is better at using Investiture than just about anyone, if anyone can use it to detect subtle, less than kinetic Investiture it would be him.

I doubt it for a lot of reasons, but it's not technically impossible since we have WOB that there are Kandra on Roshar. But Bronze can be used to detect all kinds of thing including Surges (and even tell the difference between them) and Hoid is supposed to be ungodly good at manipulating Investiture, so if anyone could detect it he could.

Hehe, then he'd wake up like a drunk baby wondering what happened. He's entirely willing to destroy his wielder, even Vasher. He's only friendly after they pass the Test though. I dont think it's a forced mechanic in the sense that He's always friendly to his wielder, rather he's friendly if they impress him by surviving the initial meeting. Although...There's a scene in OB that make me think he might actually be growing up a bit, or at least developing his own sense of right and wrong, during the skybreaker test when he accused Szeth of being cruel for leaving the criminal with a broken back to drown. Granted it sounded like it was mostly Vienna's influence, that she'd treated him like a person, which got him to start thinking of himself in terms of human morality. This feels significant to me, because I think a major Cosmere turning point is going to be when Nightblood determines his own definition of Evil.

No, as far as I know the spikes are Independent of each other (aside from the Inquisitor's central spike which is needed to retain coherence if you have too many). Two inquisitors that received the same ability from the same person (by splitting the charged spike) can both use the original donors metalminds but not each other's. The spike itself doesnt change the recipient's identity, at least not immediately, Im more looking long-term personal changes to the self-image from the actual use. Quick clarification: the conflict would prevent you from healing at all if a spike was removed, or from regenerating the foreign bits of Web? I would think you could heal enough to survive (same as a donor), even if it set you back to mundane status. Barring some Ruin-specific scarring that prevents it I suppose. I think the root of the idea is more about the limits of your Cognitive Self, both its overwrite capabilities and it's capacity to adapt. Can you get so adjusted to being Invested, to having the Connection to a shard and flow of investiture and tangible abilities, and that given enough time the persons self-definition would have entirely forgotten what it was to be without those abilities, to the point where it would try to replicate the spliced pieces it had spent multiple lifetimes connected to and using. Take another example: if you'd had a spiked ability that you had used enough to become a Savant, then had the spiked removed while being Healed...What would come out the other side? Would the savant's actual spiritweb have been warped by the use enough to keep some of the ability? Would it be able to extend itself and replicate the lost foreign pieces functionality? Would they just be left as a poor wretch with some sort of permanent Investiture withdrawal? On the one had I'd think it should be easier for the web to replicate a more neutral feruchemical ability than replicate the actual Preservation Conduit (ie what Lerasium grants), even though Feruchemical Savants are supposed to be in the plan to appear (though Im still unclear if that is a Watsonian/Realmic thing or a Doylistic story-plan statement). Or how about this: What happens if you spike a Baby, so they've never developed an Identity without the spike? Hell, can you spike somebody that is still growing, or will some of the Bind points shift with major growth changes like puberty?

I agree that is could easily be story-breaking if it became common, but the fact is there is no more atium (beyond Marsh's stash) and no atium users now that both atium and full Mistborn have passed into history, so the only people that could reasonably qualify would be either those like Marsh that managed to stick around since era 1, or somebody that Sazed chose to alter manually. That being said, one easy way to get around the mechanic would be to say that the person's Spiritweb would have gotten used to the Spike being there providing the needed bits, so at best it would heal right back to that boundary, but not be able to move further and actually recreate the part of Spiritweb that was stored in the Spike. The Identity bit is also a good point, that could do it on it's own, though if Im not mistaken the Identity in Spikes does change some, or at least the Identity in the metalminds that result from it.

Proof: The only evidence we have is a memory that seems to be from Kelsier's POV, but it came from Hoid, who is very specific about the fact that you cannot trust him. Theory: The Siah Aimian race is descended from a small population of immigrant Returned, hence their ability to change their bodies.

Welcome! What's your favorite Cosmere story so far? PS Dont accept cookies from strangers...

I was thinking that Returned are a type of Cognitive Shadow that's been "stapled" back onto their body, and their Divine breath is permeating their spiritweb whihc might cause interference that even a Spren might not get around, and as I understand it Vasher is simply feeding his Divine Breathe on Stormlight rather than nathian Breaths, which I tend to think is qualitatively different than actually using another form of Investiture. But then, the Heralds are one of the closest things out there to the Returned, and they can still bond a spren, so ya I dont actually see any reason they couldnt do it.

I hadnt seen that one, though I knew there'd been a lot of discussion about Harmony vs Discord being a matter of his own interpretation. That's why it struck me as signficant that Syl was using those terms specifically when trying to articulate the differences between mortals and spren.

Dalinar, much like Kaladin seemed right on the edge of searing the 4th Ideal and getting plate. But the WOB that @equinox posted confirmed that he did not actually do it so he, though Id assume that the questioner had the same thought you (and I) had the first read through. Jasnah might be there, hard to say. Per this WOB, Shallan is up to the 4th, since Kaladin swore his 3rd during WoR, and Im pretty sure we saw hints that her Radiant persona could summon it. Though she's also proven capable of regressing (which may or may not be a thing unique to the Lightweavers, since their Truths are different and more personal/variable than the Ideals of other orders).

I dont see why not, a spren can bond whomever they choose, and Kandra are still just mortals with severely mutilated Spiritwebs (as opposed to some form of Cognitive Shadow). Though I suspect there could be fairly extreme consequences where a Bonded Kandra to have their Blessing Spikes removed. Same Question, different Target: Could a Returned? Might be a tad more likely...

We know is that the Deadeye was the Captain's father, and a Lightspren, so he'd have been bonded to a Willshaper. There are hints that Timbre is the captain's Daughter, so the Deadeye's granddaughter. We dont really know anything about the Orders of the dead sharblades that have appeared on stage other than Adoline's Mayalaran (who was formerly an Edgedancer's blade), though I would guess that most of the ones with Flame themes in their design are going to have been Dustbringers (being that Flame is their associated essence). Also, I supposed it's reasonable to assume that there are no Deadeye Skybreaker Highspren out there. Edit: Also there are no Deadeye Bondsmith Blades, they never made blades even before the Recreance, though I think they still had access to plate.

A question arose recently about removing Hemalurgic spikes safely, and the easiest answer I could come up with is that since Spiritual Healing can save you from being the donor of a spike it should equally be able to save you from the fallout of a spike being removed, since after the spliced spiritweb contained in the spike is ripped back off you'd basically be in the same situation. But that got me thinking: We know Spiritual healing can allow allow you to make changes to your self, centering around your own personal identity, though usually it's very limited in scope, along the lines of whether you have come to accept the damage as part of you or not. So, imagine you were spiked for long enough, and had reached the point where you had 100% accepted them as part of your Self (Im looking at you, Marsh), then had a spike removed while channeling F-Gold. Could you grow back your own spiritweb to replace the spliced piece(s), once you reach the point where the splices piece(s) have become fundamental to your platonic ideal? Generally I would think that you cannot self-hypnosis yourself into new abilities, but in the case where your spiritweb has years of firsthand experience being in that shape, would it be able to replicate it?

Well, if they cannot be awakened because they are already alive, can they hold Breaths like a person and maybe get Heightening-esk enhancements? Especially if they're granted Breathes while in Shadesmar (where hemalurgy will work on them).

As far as I know the sand itself is special and contains microorganism responsible for the Investiture, which can be recharged by exposure to to the Sun or to any form of kinetic Investiture. That could mean that the Sun contains Investiture that the microorganisms use, meaning it's the exact same mechanism as being charged by nearby Investiture. Or it could be that they have a way to metabolize Investiture inside themselves (similar to how many rosharan creatures are creating gemhearts via an internal connection to the Spiritual Realm) and the sun is simply required for their internal process like a plant, which would then imply that exposure to Kinetic Investiture is bypassing their natural Investiture metabolism and skipping straight into the sand-microbes storage part of the process. In either case I think that Color is to Breaths as Water is to Sand Mastery, and also that White Sand has storage capability similar to Gems on Roshar. As I understand it gem would charge if exposed to any perpendicularity, not specifically those of the Shards invested in Roshar and the Highstorm.

I found this recently but honestly hadnt found a relevant conversation to bring it up, so a Harmony necro-thread seems as good as any. No clue what it means, but I feel like it means something: Thoughts?

In addition to that oddity there's a strong indication that the Shades are connecting, creating, or acting as Perpendicularities, which would imply that the process will involve all three realms. Not sure how that relates to Silver, necessarily, but it's another factor. Lacking anything else, Im starting to blame Leras and Ati for it. I strongly believe that the Allomantic and Feruchemcial tables are (somehow) direct reflections of the 16 Shards themselves (there's a good WOB to support this but I cant find it at the moment), and Ive seen it theorized that there might be some connection between those specific metals and the original 16 and/or the process of the Shattering. Separately, I am deeply suspicious of the fact that the Metallic Arts are apparently the only way in the entire Cosmere to Invest Aluminum, which happens to exist on the planet that was Created whole post-shattering. So, while we know that the Doylistic reason for Aluminum over silver is that Aluminum requires a minimum amount of Industrial progression before it can become common, better fitting the multi-Era plan for Scadrial, perhaps the Watsonian explanation is that originally there were 16 Cosmere significant metals that did not include Aluminum (which presumably was always the Investiture sink it is today) but one (or both) of them consciously altered it to include Aluminum after creating a world where Metals were the door to the Spiritual, specifically in an attempt to invent a way to make Invested Aluminum. It's something I tend to think more and more is nearly as big a Chekhov's Gun as Nightblood seems to be.

Exactly my point, Im sure why that is, as in both cases the person/singer has entered into symbiosis with a spren. The only thing I can come up with is that if the Form-bonds are with lesser spren and not with the sapient-tier spren involved in all Nahel Bonds. That would fit with the fact that Plate (strongly hinted to be made of lesser spren) do not cause the same issue.

Ah, cool, that makes sense, thanks. Ya, F-Gold (and by extension spiritual healing methods like Regrowth) lets you survive being spiked, I think it would equally let you survive having the spikes removed. A loan of a medallion or fabrial (or direct treatment by a Radiant with Regrowth) would probably be the easiest way to go about it, since you'd want something temporary. Or you could probably Soulstamp them away, reversing the choice to get them in the first place, but then you'd have to maintain the stamp (is Dor accessible in the Alleyverse?)

We cant be that lucky can we, to have it happen again? If it does happen I want to know who is juicing Chromium, we need to hit up Vegas.

I dont think so, at least not directly. The Word and Void definitely have Champions, and there's every possibility of some sort of empowered avatar manifestation, but I dont really expect to see anything more personally/literally The Word or The Void than the sorts of sliver characters that existed later, characters like the King of the Silver River (aka the avatar/embodiment of "The Light of the Word").