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It is not the only thing, but it is part of it:

That's the thing, all we know for sure is that Honor has Used humanity in his own fight against Odium, with the apparent goal of trapping Odium in the Greater Roshar system. Everything we've seen can be explained that specific goal alone, absent any benevolence toward Humanity (or even the Singers, for that matter).

...I wish for a Wish to corrupt?

Ah, gotcha. Ok, assuming that their isnt some giant Oathpact Gem on Braize doing exactly that, it could work, though I see two possible issues: 1) quantitatively, we know per WOB that any given piece of physical matter can only hold so much investiture, which is why you cannot spike a full Shard out of it's host. 2) The Hexadieties are slightly different from Spren in that they do still retain their Native Physical Forms/Aspect (though it's almost entirely overshadowed by the massive ball of Investiture that they also are) which may prevent them from being subject to gem traps that (I think) work because Spren are pure Investiture that has gained Sentience, rather than the multi-realmic beings that sentient people are. Assuming #2 is not really an Issue, you are still talking about a huge gem, likely an astronomically huge gem, and it has to be molecularity perfect. Which is to say it's likely not going to exist in Nature. Another Shard could maybe make one? But since they cant just blink one into existence without tying up their own investiture in the physical form, I think they'd have to go out and make a "Gem Factory" planet that was designed specifically to grow/fabricate such things. I personally think there a Creator/Builder Shard out there, so this is as good a project as any for them to be investing in.

Short version of my theory on Squires is that Squires become such through nothing more than strong spiritual Connection to any given Radiant, and if that Radiant's order provides such, then that Connection gets manifested in the ability to channel the Radiant's surges, etc. I dont really think it would mechanically cause issues with a Nahel Bond any more than a radiant wielding an Honorblade would cause issues, since I think they all use different channels/mechanisms. The only watsonian reason Id see a Squire of one order being incapable of also being a Squire is if (either) bonded Spren objected to the arrangement. And given the rather complex interracial relations there, who's to say.

WoB is that Odium sort of followed the Humans and so the Singers sort of assumed he was with them, but that he didnt specifically come with them. It was that " The humans gave him more of an ear". And Honor used 10 humans to build a trap for Odium to hold him in this system, Id argue that does not necessarily qualify as "Honor Backing humanity", especially given that part of the deal was for those Ten to get repeatedly sent back to Odium for infinite torture.

Nope, as far as I know we know nothing of their actual motives and very little else. We know they have a more complete history than most, that they have a weird Truthless system, train for the eventual possibility of obtaining and/or combating surges, and that they've gots' them some honorblades.

Well, we know that one shard can trap another with a giant wad of Investiture, so I dont see why that investiture couldnt take the form of a God-Gem rather than a God-metal or Shardpool. But I dont know that the Gem Structure would be adding much (aside from purely physical/practical effects like being arguably more mobile than a shardpool).

Agreed, it would most likely default to Preservation/Ruin still. The two arent fully integrated/Mixed, so there's still a pre-existing fault line there. As I understand it though, the blending is something of an ongoing process, so it might someday reach a point where the two halves redefine into the new whole. Well, less likely when one of those halves is Preservation, I have to think that bit wouldnt let go of the old forms easily.

So the long and short is you are trying for a naming convention of The Nine, and you want them to reference RL locations/events of major loss of Life and/or evil acts, yes? First thoughts: 1) Make it three sets of three (unless that runs afoul of your larger Mathematical themes), 2) Make the Honorifics match the nature of the tragedy, and 3) spread them out culturally (helps them seem equal but distinct rather than subordinate to each other). So for example "Cardinal" would pair with a Christian Religious atrocity (something from the Crusades maybe), and then you'd have two others that were religious atrocities from the East and maybe Africa, with corresponding titles (a Lama or something maybe?). As for the Three sets of Three, you already have Religious atrocity, I think Id go with military ranks paired with non-religious warfar, and Dr/Lord titles paired with your more innovative examples of mass death (Dr Hiroshima/Nagasaki would fit nicely here). I took a stab at a few for kicks Cardinal Gzerot Tatenu General Normandy Dr Auschwitz Dr Hiroshima/Nagasaki (how would you feel about one of the Nine being a represented by a pair of Twins?) Lord Diyarbakır Ambassador Pitt ...

Hmm, possibly describing the Unmade?

Not far off, two things: 1) Technically Fullborn can use all 16 base metals PLUS any godmetals and/or godmetal alloys, so for what it's worth there are a few more options out there. 2) You're more or less describing the process of creating UnSealed Medallions, but those also require an "excisor" which we know nothing about (other than that Wax's assumptions were wrong), which are the biggest catch/unknown of the process. Medallions, even Unsealed ones, do not permanently alter the Spiriweb, rather they are basically batteries that hold a certain amount stored and "preconfigured" Investiture. You'd need to keep re-filling them, and (assuming you start as just a Soulbearer) you'd still need to collect Unsealed metalminds of all the metals to get teh cycle started. After that though, it might work depending on what the Excisor is actually doing. Current thought is that there's got to be SOMETHING that makes it less easy than what you describe, because logically it should work, and that would be all kinds of unbalanced in terms of cosmere power.

Does Wax have a decent supply of his Aluminum Bullets? That would go a very long way to ensuring his victory, as it would level the playing field back to more normal situations where firearms tend to trounce sword & armor.

I have a somewhat complicated theory on that. I havent posted it on the shard yet, but the write-up is on Reddit (HERE). That's the details of the "Why", but as far as the theoretical Missing Shards: Conviction Enlightenment (the one that wants to be left alone because it knows too much of what's going on) Solitude Survival (Darwinian) Ascetic Creation (Demiurge/Worldsmith)

Ive long suspected that the secret to Splintering a Hexadiety is going to be that it requires two shards to yank it apart, pulling it opposite directions (whatever form that may take across multiple realms). Thinking about it, the confrontation on Sel must have been Epic. Either a two-on-two shard-fight, or else Rayse has a bigger shardic coalition than I thought.

Im guessing she will have gotten to the 6th heightening at least, the Instinctive Awakening seems like it would be all kinds of necessary for the sort of experimentation she was likely up to.

Can we chase this for a second? In a context of using one form of Investiture to drive another, would that be the case? Forgery is not a permanent change, it requires refreshing and physical proximity to the Dor, right, since per the Op's first WOB the part that the spike is stealing is the Spiritweb overlayed by the forger (hence taking less actual damage). So that particular sort of Investiture should retain it's own traits (the same way Stormlight always wants to leak, breaths is sticky, etc), Id think, unless you managed to perform the initial Forgery with non-Dor investiture (which cold be what he meant in the WOB about "needing the right kind of Investiture"). OR, is the Dor investiture of the Forgery just warping/rearranging the Spiritweb, stretching into a new shape and only necessary to maintain that stretching on the target). This could also make sense, but would not explain why the forged soul takes less damage.

So, at the beginning it made sense, I swear. When the same dude come by to answer the question, explain (and/or torpedo) the theory, and generally seems to be one of the more knowledgeable sources around, it seems like a good idea to play fly on the wall and just watch for a bit. Then you realize they tend to go full Dina when find you find yourself in line at universal studios trying to find your e-ticket, but are stuck scrolling though pages and pages of 17th Shard notifications... Fear not, I eventually got in, and will turn off notifications soon enough, though right now Im busy trying to get this Harry Potter "interactive" wand to control something in my house.

Definitely not actually hinted at as far as I know, since we know almost nothing about Bavadin's avatars or what makes them warrant a new term. But it would sort of fit with how I imagine Autonomy working (again, with almost no actual evidence). We know that a Shard has the ability to become aware of their own Intent's energy/investiture on other planets if they (more or less) ponder it enough, but they are still finite and so cannot themselves harness and/or hold the knowledge of all those worlds. However, Im thinking that instead of trying to claim and incorporate those new pockets of Investiture, Autonomy find the new worlds and then takes steps to make a local ascend to become the Invested Host of Autonomy (at a local level). In this way autonomy is awakening all the Investiture of themself across the cosmere, without actually adding it to the central store that was broken off Adonalsium during the shattering. It would explain why they are not at odds with Rayse; Rayse is trying to become the "Top Dog" by getting rid of rivals, but Autonomy seems to be voluntarily reducing amd shattering itself, scattering it's essence and Investiture across different shardworlds.

Ah, of course. I was thinking something bigger, more along the lines of an unwilling avatar

There's also the implication that the Unmade werent originally Spren at all, but were turned into that sort of pure Investiture existence via whatever "Unmaking" process they were subjected to. That leaves the possibilities open pretty wide. Also, just stumbled across this, which implies that there is a qualitative difference between the Stormfather (and presumably the other two godspren) and the Unmade, though they are on similar "levels" ...Almost all of the other shards? What would an non-voluntary Splinter of a Shard look like?

The main downside being that there's a good chance the stolen Investiture, which was still formed via Forgery, would begin to fail as you moved further away from Sel. I also suspect that you'd need to get the Moon Scepter to be able to translate the correct symbols for "Allomancer" to be able to forge it in the first place. Probably be "easier" to create some sort of really horrible breeding program to regain full Mistborn and Feruchemists for spike materials. Im curious if the flip-side is true: If you'd already convinced a spren you were worthy, is that all that would be needed or would the two of you need Connection shenanigans to allow the Bond to form.

I think that's part of it, but that a lot of it stems from the fact that that Investiture resides in the Spiritual Realm where Space and Time arent restrictions. The variation between shards comes from their different Intents and how much it conceptually involves Time and/or progression, which would make Preservation, Cultivation, and Ambition (rip) my picks for the bests at it (of the Intents we know so far).

Im betting the "Excisor" part of the process is going to be hemalurgic, so the actual Soul-bearer population will limit to some extent. Sounds gruesome to think they'd be spiking people for such a commodity, but well, Breaths. Hmm, if there's to be a Soulbearer character in era 3, I wonder if there'd be some kind of black market bounty on that sort of rare ferring.

One man's "problem" is another's opportunity. This was intended to be more a discussion of possible combinations rather than the morality or personal damage, so for arguments sake consider the subject to be the Chosen Champion of Discord being built to go forth and sow chaos across the lands, with no real fear of becoming whatever pops out the other side of the process. Yes, I was assuming either Atium or something like Trellium that seems to let you steal even more. What "Metal Composition Issue" are you talking about, having the right metal for the right attribute? That would be required to even attempt these, the person would need to KNOW the correct Bindpoints and metals to have the proper Intent whern harvesting. I tend to think that knowledge is something only shard themselves (Ruin, Harmony, others?) would have. Though who knows, a Fortune Compounder might be able to do anything (depending on how it ends up working). You cant Spike normal Breaths any more than you can spike the Stormlight out of a person. You can spike the Divine Breathe, however, but it a little unclear how it would behave if you hadnt literally Died first and been Returned to get it, Im after the Returned ability to so consciously control and dictate their Physical Aspect.