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The red eyes is apparently an indication of a comsere magic being coopted by another Shard, so I dont think it would be a standard feature of Dragons. That being said, we know that Nalthis has both World-hoppers and real knowledge/myths of Dragons, so that would be my first guess. Also there's at least one bloodline that has natural shapeshifting capabilities, if (currently) attributed to an entirely different oddity

He should, and he likely does. Flipside is that if the rest of the Heralds didnt wear Armor he may choose not to for various reasons. If nothing else it IS a give-away that he's bonded a Spren, so he might be wanting to hide that fact for tactical reasons.

First thought for Kaladin was Luke Evans, though I did really enjoy Luke Pasqualino in that Three Musketeers BBC show of his. How old is Shallan? Everyone here seems to be casting her a decent bit older than Id have expected; I had her as notably younger than your Kaladins and Jasnahs in my head, maybe early 20's to their early 30's. I was going to suggest Molly Quinn for shallanas my "natural Redhead" suggestion.

Two separate things: 1) I dont actually think Honor (the Shardic Intent) is innately "The Shard of Oaths", rather I think that had more to do with Tanavast's interpretation of that Intent. There's a strong case to be made that Unity is an alternate interpretation. But, 2) I dont think individual and/or mundane action that can be done on the scale of mortals is going to actually impact the Shards themselves; much like the WOB that says worrying that granting Breaths is going to reduce Endowment is like worrying that Earth will run out of Carbon because people keep being born. For that matter, IF (big if, to my mind) any of the 16 are directly empowered by major acts in line with their Intent, Id argue that the shattering of a full quarter of those 16 would likely be the most impactful of such events, and would likely end up Juicing Ruin over the rest. Unless Odium's Ambition to be the "Biggest Dog" would somehow juice the remnants of Ambition?

I tend to think that Ambition would have made for a...volatile cultural influence on their shardworld, with the magi cplaying into it. Though to be honest it would have a core Ladder-Climber accumulation bent to it in my mind, which starts getting similar to Breaths. I think Odium likes to mimic and/or corrupt others, so Im not sure we'll ever see a truly original from him (though that might be worth asking if I ever have an opportunity). Ambition Autonomy I think will have a bunch of different ones, individually closer to minor shardworlds in actual power (due to the avatar Influence) though if Autonomy=Trell then there's some mimicry there too. Lately Im having more fun thinking about how other nations Might use Awakening on Nalthis (which we'll get to see more of in Nightblood). I want to see complex machines with individually awakened components, like huge industrial mills and factories with Drive Gears/Shafts that are awakened to Turn forever. If Nightblood exists because Nalthis Scholars worldhopped over to Roshar, what might happen if some Scadrial industrial influence made it over there? Past that, my current guesses for the Unknown shards are: -Conviction (whose Intent and Magic would Involve Hardening/reinforcing one's realmic Aspects to be highly resistant to Change/Influence), -Enlightenment (who is too aware of what is going on to get involved and currently has no Planet to Invest in and make a magic system), -the Demiurge/World-smith (a Creator shard whose magic would involve actual original Creation of new Realmic objects from Investiture, as compared to Forgery that ReWrites it or Hemalurgy that Splices it; this would be a Sanderson example of the classic Conjurer that whips up things from thin air), -The Paragon/Survivor (whose magic would be a very Internalized sort of physical Augmentation, and Im really hoping against all hope that it will prove to already be, or once have been, active on Scadrial since Feruchemy fits it sooo very well), not to mention there's that Guy... -The Ascetic, who I picture as a sort of detached hermit Monk sort of thing, and whose magic will be realmic power via internalized mediation and conscious understanding of your own Spirit-web.

True, though Rayse's goals may have been for non-specific Ascension. Both in that conversation are talking from the POV that holding a shard isnt a great thing for the Host, long term. Im not that sure Frost would have phrased it much differently for any other shard. If Hoid turned one down, presumably all the others would have had (and declined) the same opportunity.

Different from Humans? Almost certainly. Different in the sense of multi-note vocal capabilities? Not so far, and I could easily see it varying from Form to Form.

Well, per This WOB we know that Hoid was "offered" one of the shards (a shard we've not yet seen per another WOB) which he turned down. We also know separately that Hoid would have been most tempted by Endowment, which was not the one offered. From that it sounds like they did have a certain amount of choice and/or Informed Consent durign the process, but it doesnt actually confirm that he knew which one, specifically, he was turning down at the time.

Im betting it is part of a musical adaptation that lets them better express and interact with The Rhythms. I once read book series (Blue Adept by Piers Anthony) that had a similar idea for their Unicorns: they were naturally musical cr4eatures with flute-like horns capable of multi-note chords, which they combined with different rhythmic gaits to create music.

Realmic theory is still around within scholarly circles, especially since it's right at the center of Fabrial tech, and I think we can safely assume that the historic Radiants and Ashyn folk were all fairly aware of what was in Shadesmar. That being said, I think there's a big difference than being aware of some aspects of Realmic Theory and being aware of Worldhopping, Adonalsium, or the Cosmere as a whole. Though it is worth noting that we do know that Hoid is aware of some group of Cosmere-aware folk on Roshar, on the logic that he Name-dropped Adonalsium to Dalinar as a test to see if he was part of that cabal.

So far it's just the will of Brandon, though I have a theory that those 16 specific metals will prove to have been significant in the Shattering of Adonalsium somehow. At least, that holds true for the 16 base allomantic metals. Godmetals are a whole other can of worms, sitting over a pit-trap rabbit-hole with a sign marked "Trell This Way" that looks like it was painted by a coyote.

Well, preface everything I say with the disclaimer that I think that "Need" is too strong of a word for any of these (I tend to think mixing any subset of shards is going to be...problematic in the long run), so I may be off the mark on the idea from the get-go. Im also going to be skewing my theories a bit on the vector that I tend to consider Ambition, Cultivation and Preservation all related by virtue of innately Temporal Intents, so that's going to be a pre-exisiting prejudice of mine. That being said It was it came from the idea that you were building that trinity based on a continuous Creation/Destruction Cycle, and were adding Cultivation to the mix to widen the polar opposition into more of a cycle. I see how Cultivation helps quite a bit because that one is all about focused, conscious Change in a way that Preservation is not and would be too Creative for Ruin. Here's the thing about Cultivation: It's Conscious Change, but it doesnt do much for actually choosing the path to take. Cultivation seems to me to be more of a "Throw against the wall and see what sticks" interpretation, sparking a Change that could result in one of several wildly divergent outcomes. Now, Ambition, that's far more centrally about choosing the Destination than Cultivation which is more about charting the course. Plus when you are talking about assembling shards that are by definition 1/16th, I tend to think base-two sets (2, 4, 8, 16) will be more stable than any trinity. For a Trinity to be the overriding model, Id be looking for a more Three Realms grouping, and I dont personally see any compelling 3-realm models where Preservation and Ruin are 2/3rds of it.

I like it and Ive been mulling similar things recently. The key for this is, I think, going to be the perception of the Allomancer in question. There is one WOB that he made Speed bubbles immobile for story/power-balance reasons, but that does really get into the details of canon function. But we've seen that they operate reasonably relative to their casters' planetary reference frame. I have to assume ti would work equally well in instances of space-flight or artificial, centrifugal gravity in a space station scenario, where the perception is an enclosed system and more or less standing in for planetary conditions like gravity (which are/can be a function of Spiritual Connection in the Cosmere, just to complicate things). But what about on a boat? What about a really BIG Boat with no windows and little-to-no perceptible swaying? What about on a Train with constant speed and no windows? Does being able to see the outside motion make a difference? And most likely to happen what happens if a Pulser falls off something really tall and pops a bubble in pure fear reaction? How about a Slider?

Oh, I definitely think holding that many shards (1/4 adonalsuim) is probably going to be a bad idea for just about anyone, but frankly Two probably is too. But I dont understand what you mean about "Other Shards" needing or having problems enacting their shards, as far as I know nobody does or has, Ruin and Preservation included. I thought your whole theory was just that there was a specific subgroup of Intent that were all part of an Intention Cycle and might better Balance each other if all held by one Host?

I see what you're getting at. On one hand, as others have posted there's WOB that the distinction has more to do with overall (narrative) power than anything specific with the method of accessing Investiture, to the point where some equivalent of the spren bond could be the method on either. On the other hand, the minor shard-worlds still are, with an exception or two, examples of Magics that have developed entire absent a Shard's influence. So flipping the cause/effect of the scenario, I could get behind a theory that Major Shardworlds (we're a bulk of Investiture is held by a Sentient Consciousness) have a tendency to effect sapient beings directly, while minor shardworlds with no Shard-Host influence permeate the ecosystem and seep into whatever various physical and cognitive aspect may be there naturally. Because that sounds about right for a pre-shardic Stormlight ecosystem. General Question: Any WOB on whether Roshar would have been considered a Major or Minor Shardworld pre-Honor/Cultivation immigration?

That brings up an interesting question: under normal worldhopper Dor rules, any Dor-fueled magics wouldnt/couldnt work offworld without prohibitively complex shenanigans. Buuuuut, does that same restriction apply if you were talking about one Shard actively mimicking a Dor magic? Red Eyes of that being would indicate one Shard coopting another; Id assumed it was indicating a Kandra-equivalent that had been made by another shard (or at least made via Trellium), but what if the red glow was because it was a Selish entity being fueled by FauxDor.

For what it's worth there's also this:

There's also a certain amount of Intent involved, methinks (because there usually is). Nightblood is a sword, so by general definition/perception the dangerous parts are the edge and point (and the Choice to wield it); but as far as I recall it doesnt pull in matter like a black whole (even if it compresses Investiture like one). I strongly suspect you could be whacked by the flat of the blade without harm.

I tend to think he'd need Ambition as well, as another Temporal/Change focused Intent. In the Cycle of Change you describe, Ambition would come before Cultivation as the Motivation/Goal for the next step of that Change.

Im pretty sure "Cultivating a Shardic Heir/Champion" is precisely what she did with Dalinar, and it was simply a role of the dice on whether he'd grow up to be Odium's Champion or Honor's. I could easily see her doing something similar for herself, though I REALLY dont expect it to be as mundane as a Human; at the very least the Singers are more adapted to her intent (Talk about a Form of Power!). For a Human I fully expect there to be a Nightmother Bondsmith (and Navani is as good a guess as any) but I dont really think her "Heir" will be just some chosen mortal, especially if that's already what's happening with Dalinar and Honor/Unity, if she's Cultivating a new host for the currently Unclaimed Shard (first priority anyway). Are we assuming she'd not also taking steps to "Cultivate" Hoid?

I dont think that's a firm distinction, at least insofar as Investiture seems to always respond to life and/or Sentience even on major shardworlds (unless there has been shardic manipulation otherwise); stormlight to gemheart creatures, spren bonds, needing sentient Commands. even arguably the sDNA that makes 2/3 of the metallic arts possible. Ashyn is definitely cannon, it's in the greater Roshar system. As far as having a resident shard...Im not really sure on that either, though Stormlight might tell us eventually.

That's correct, or at least that's how Im reading this WOB, though there's another more general WOB that says he any "destroyed" Investiture goes back to the spiritual (end negative style like hemalurgy, I think). so that could be what's happening with Nightblood. Or it could be some combination, where he's getting his own spiritual realm store of associated Investiture like a Shard does

haha, ya. Though with Scadrial going full Space-fairing, Death Starts arent out of the realm of possibility, and it could technically be called conventional in the sense of a purely physical attack, rather than some sort of Realmic Investiture magic black whole weapon. Which we totally havent seen on stage and heard snark from...

Secret Project? Fun times! Do we know if it's a novel, or could this be one of the adaptations we've all secretly longed for?

It's also worth noting that Scadrial is a bit of a special case in that those two shards actually Created the planet and people whole, so where more directly involved from the ground up, which is likely why they sounded like they had more choice in the matter. On Roshar, by contrast, the Shards arrived and co-opted a pre-existing magical ecosystem (aka Stormlight).