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If you want to go really old school I think there is a third option in the old Zuvranism: Good and Evil were the twin sons of Time (Zuvran), and the short version is that Evil was given control of the Universe, and Good was a bit more like an Insurgent force who had been promised by Zuvran that he'd eventually (someday) get a chance to Rule too. Distinct in that 1) the barrier was not Good or Evil's doing but rather a neutral third, and 2) Evil is closer to the world that Good

I always picture nightblood as a curved sword, more of a katana with a cross guard than the straight blade they describe in Warbreaker. It probably has two edges too. Kolos are basically big trolls in my head, pot belly and very knobby. Im pretty sure I have none of the Rosharan ethnicities correct in my head, as a blanket statement.

Lets chase this a second: Cryptics are a bit more tangible than other spren, they are more constantly manifest in the Physical Realm. If the continent and/or fractal cities are giant Cryptics, it would a ton of sense that the Shin (culturally aware of that fact, if maybe lost on all the details) would view the stone itself as sacred and not to be walked on or especially worked masonry: that would be literally mutilating their gods. It wouldnt be about a general association with stone, they'd see it as the literal body of their spren deities.

Hmm, Eru Illuvatar = Adonalsium (obscured in myth) Shards/Vessels = 15 Ainur (obscured in myth) Odium = Melkor (obscured in myth) Cant decide if elves are Spren or just more of a hereditary Elantrian style augmentation package. Unfortunately Dragons cant be Dragons, as they cannot shapeshift that I recall. Very sad about that. Silmarils/silma = Splinters/godmetal Eagles=Spren? I think Tom isnt active enough to be Hoid, he's kinda camped on his home. More like Frost, perhaps? Nah, Smeagul/Gollum is more of a Moash analog. Certainly not a full vessel, though Id describe him as a savant warped by the overuse of a Splinter artifact's realmic capabilities like those soulcasters.

There's definitely some correlation, but it's not exact. Far less likely that any will be a Bondsmith specifically, though:

Ah, a true follower of Austre, nice! I prefer to assume that all breaths I get would have been willingly, lovingly passed on by peaceful old folk at the time of their natural deaths (mostly because the sensory upgrades are just too cool).

Nice! He is in the center of a lot of interesting relationships, no denying. If you could have any cosmere ability, what would you choose?

Id say the spren would be attracted to them regardless of their aspirations, we have multiple examples of nascent radiants that did not want their spren at all. As long as they speak the Ideals, actually mean them, and dont violate them, the bond would form and continue to grow. They can Change as a person in all kinds of ways after that so long as it doesnt violate their Ideals.

The shards themselves do not have numbers associated with them, though some systems do. The whole Greater Roshar solar system is 10 (with Braize as the exception being 9 for some presumably nefarious reason), Nalthis is 5. Preservation had a thing for 16 but it doesnt manifest outside of his direct influence, and I tend to think it's more him echoing the 16 Shards directly.

Also relevant:

Welcome! Definitely dont accept cookies from strangers, whatever you do... Whats you're favorite Sanderson character so far (Cosmere or otherwise)?

The different Surges use the stormlight at different rates the same way different metals burn at different rates. As far as comparing Stormlight to Breaths to Allomancy, he's said he hopes to quantify the exchange rates for the Warbreaker 10th Anniversary. It's his intention that they have real, quantifiable exchange rates like any other physical energy, it's just that he previously didnt have the resources to sit down and actually work out the math of all the various magic effects he's shown on page. For what it's worth, Roshar in general has way more Investiture in play than Scadrial, which he described as much lower on the Investiture scale in general than Roshar.

Probably not, though there is no definitive answer yet to how Plate is created, so we cant really say anything for sure. We have in text statements that are all but proof that it comes to a Radiant with the 4th Ideal. We know that Plate doesnt/didnt have a sentient Mind like the shardblades do, which is why they do not seem to scream when a radiant touches them. Theories for how it actually forms range from solidified Stormlight to lesser animalistic spren (windspren for Windrunners) that are like Squires for the radiant's spren and get solidified into plate. However it is performed, we know it has enough of the Radiant's Identity in it to let only their own surges penetrate it.

Ingenuity

I think a leecher would have been able to do most of it, though they would have had to hold on for a while to force the target to burn through all their base metal stores and then the metalminds. Rashek could still be able to go grab new Goldminds and I think only metalminds that actually pierced the skin would get Leeched. It's ironically only as devastating as it is because Rashek was able to compound all the metals, ordinary feruchemists' metalminds would be unaffected..

It's different, but for the vaguely philosophic and entirely unquantifired reasons that a Spren (ie sentient Investirure) is qualitatively different from a sentient native of the Physical Realm. Curious though, I wonder if you could "Awaken" an eyeless Spren while actually in Shadesmar, or rather Gift an Eyeless dead-spren some breaths, and what would it do? You can apparently Spike a spren if you are actually IN Shadesmar but not in the Physical Realm, I wonder if that would be enough for them to Hold a Breath like a living person and if that would grant them anything (healing, heightenings, etc).

Probably would require some marriage of the two, the mandras trapped in Gems providing the bulk lift, and then some of the others as part of a larger maneuvering mechanism. Assuming they dont figure out how to mimic Basic Lashings directly.

That's another good point. I trying to remember if they talked much about the relative metal economy in the Basin. I know Aluminum is "artificially" inflated because of it's tactical value neutralizing allomancy, but Im curious if what we consider precious metals like Gold and Silver follow the Earth norms or if they are as common as Iron. Agreed, I believe they had something. I dont recall if they got into the specifics, but the invention of Canning technology in Era1 was a major geopolitical development, and from I understand how it was done in the early days here, they would have needed some form of wax-sealing equivalent.

Because I totally didnt chew tin foil like gum as a child, that would never have occurred to me (#thisismelying). I was actually thinking more like gummy bears or some other edible binding agent that would coat the sharp edges. They have chewable Rolades now for the elderly, seemed like it might be preferred in combat over dry pills. Something akin to a sort of beeswax paste, wouldnt be too horrific to swallow methinks. Ya, I was about to say, Ive done some work in plants that produce florine based chemicals, and some of those (and their intermediates and byproducts) are some of the more horrifically toxic stuff Ive come across. The end product is phenonimal, but Im not sure Id want to get near a 19th century equivalent plant.

Per these, he cannot, though there is an old one that indicates he might someday learn how:

That was part what I was getting at, there will always be some amount of adhesion to the vial walls, and a thinner suspension should minimize that loss. I tend to agree that the practical difference would likely be negligible, but 1) depending on the metal even small traces may be horrible costly, and 2) to battling Mistborn of Era1 those tiny traces could mean the difference between life & death, at least at a battlefield superstition level, which would be likely motivation enough. The other part was pure dosing speed and efficiency perspective, in that you dont want an oil that would get too thick, especially if you are venturing outside the basin where temperatures can start getting colder. Sooooo, what does the group think the best next gen suspension medium would be? We're looking for chemically inert, easy flow even at low temps, smooth on the pallet and non-intoxicating, and minimal losses to the container. Ideally readily available without modern Industrial levels of processing. Alternatively, do you think Era2 has what it takes to make safe and effective swallowed pills, or even chewables? Or split the difference and encase metal pellets in some organic coating (pickering emulsion style) to protect it from the suspension fluid and float larger flakes comfortably?

Random thought: Can a Subsumer store ingested Metals? As in swallow a bunch of metal, store that in a metalmind, then tap that metalmind and retrieve an instant store of (otherwise mundane) allomantic metals ready to be burned? That would let them have a secondary store at the ready that would not be used up by the Enhancement Allomancies.

From a mechanical standpoint (only) the Alcohol would be a superior liquid suspension to oil or even water by virtue of being less viscous and thus less prone to leaving behind noticeable volumes in the vial, and metal with it. Tactically you'd want to be as sure as possible that you were going to shoot the whole vial as quickly as possible and get every last lifesaving speck. That being said, since they are chemically problematic, I cant think of options; Era1 was just on the brink of canning technology so I think they were still a bit shy of the manufactured medicinal pills that I fully expect to see in Era3. Does allomancy require the metals in your digestive tract, or just within the body in general? I wonder if you can snort dry metals for Allomancy? PS Not a chemist, you are all wizards and alchemists to me, and I bow before your mastery of the arcane lore.

I still havent finished all the original content (that island shrine was kicking my butt) or any of the DLC questlines, so there's still lots of exploration thrill to be had Im hoping. My biggest issue last time I tried to pick it up casually is that all my hard-won controller skills and timing were GONE. I was worse than a gimped noob, and in front of witnesses no less. It was a sad day, and we immediately switched to Mario Odyssey for the remainder of the vacation weekend.

Winding down on ARK, thinking about picking up Breath of the Wild again (I was so busy wandering around I never actually finished the final Dungeon, but Ill be way too rusty by now)