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Yes. That is a fundamental aspect of the cosmere, and is independent of the Identity based effects that get a pass for Self-target effects. You still cannot Steel-push on your own metalminds as if they were unInvested, for example.

WOB says they are different metals for all practical purposes, so it is certainly possible that they'd burn at rates independent from their Non-charged versions. In fact, I think we can assume they would always burn slower purely on the principle of it taking more to affect Invested things than non-Invested ones; theya re confirmed to take longer to burn off in the case of Chromium.

Honestly he probably could, since he can harm cognitive entities. He punched a Cognitve shadow in the face once, and seemed a bit surprised that he could do it. But I dont think it will be as big of a danger since he swears personal Truths instead of Ideals. Lightweavers can do just about anything so long as they remain self-aware and honest about themselves and their motivations, and dont go into denial and/or regress in some fashion. So long as Hoid keeps to his current path and remains true to his Convictions, Design is probably safe. He might piss her off enough for her to simply end the Bond, but he's had millennia to settle into his current Self, it would take a pretty dtramatic event to shake him out of it now. Unless Ive missed something new, being a Dawnshard (and especially a former one like Hoid) does not prevent you from bonding a radiant spren (though it might make you distasteful to most of them), rather the Dysians Feared that combination enough to extract that oath from a more recently made Dawnshard.

Unless something has been revealed recently (I'm not up to date on all the Secret project reveals) Frost is not a Shard. Frost is a Dragon that is also affiliated with an Organization called the 17th Shard (which is also not an actual Shard of Adonalsium).

Broadly speaking, Lerasium is a way to make permanent revisions to a spiritweb, and Im assuming will become relevant in the sci-fi era 4 if not before. Depending on how complex those changes be manipulated via scientific alloying, it might be possible to do quite a bit of targeted manipulation, with something comparable to forgery being the upper limit I can imagine (essentially just housed in chemistry instead of symbols, and also permanent). We know there are effects if alloyed with the 16 metals of the metallic arts, as well as any of the godmetals. I suspect there would be an effect with Silver, which is the only known example of a metal that is cosmere relevant without being part of the metallic arts. I also suspect you could change the effects by alloying it with charged metals (such as metalminds or awakened objects) the same way allomancy treats feruchemically charged metals as essentially a new viable metal. As a limit, ultimately the effect happens when a person Burns the alloy, so I dont think it would easily interface with gems or other non-metals in a fabrial arrangement. I have no idea if or how it might interface with Ettmetal, in a Primer cube or as an alloy.

Spren are pure Investiture. Generally speaking Investiture can either Invest into a pre-existing object/person, or it can manifest directly as a form of matter itself. When it does that it takes tons of Investiture (along the lines of manifesting a cheeseburger using electricity and and E=MC^2). For mostly thematic reasons solid Investiture tends toward metals. Liquids are the most "powerful" because they are dense but not settled into a specific form and function. Spren can manifest their Investiture as a full physical object only when they have enough Connection to something in the Physical realm to act as an anchor, which the Radiant Bond provides. Cognitive Shadows are also Pure Investiture and are functionally very similar to Spren, but they are distinct in a few ways. The biggest Ive seen is that Cogntive Shadows were once mortal (with their own physical form) and unless they were restored nice and quick (like Szeth) they need some external Investiture to support them (weekly Breaths, Oathpacts and other massive infusion of Investiture by a Shard, etc). I suspect that Spren dont require the same sustaining external Investiture because they arent being Pulled to the Beyond; but Beyond questions get no answer as a matter of policy. Burning a Rosharan Godmetal may or may not work out of the box (without a Connection to those Shards), but it would be viable, not inert. The most recent answer is "it would do something". We do know of that one Allomancer that has a tie to Rosharan magics now, so he might be able to do it. I assume it would be harmful to the spren, though Plate might be able to heal with Stormlight. I'll be curious to see if different Plate that comes from different species would have different effects (windspren vs glory or logic or creationspren, etc).

Spren-sized, yes. Actual fraction of Infinity as with the 16, nope it wouldnt fit. There are physical limits to how much investiture can be crammed into a given chunk of metal, and Shards are too big.

Agreed. At the very least the WOB @Frustration posted does confirm the existence of a melting point, if not what it actually is (since he just didnt have the numbers handy). But where Electric heating of that kind works differently than convective and conductive heating which friction is dealing with, in that the temperature just keeps rising until the material is overloaded and electric flow stops(one of the reasons electric stoves burn things easier), friction will top out with the balance between friction and heat dissipation from the wind, etc. For scale, it looks like the space shuttle's (higher temp) reentry tiles can withstand up to 2300°F, compared to the melting point of mundane Iron that is 2800°F. Plate would be a Godmetal that is specifically intended for Defense, so I think it's reasonable to think it's going to be better than Iron or other common/mundane armor materials on any individual stat.

Interesting pattern, I like it Ill break out the yarn & thumbtacks. Looking at their Oath themes and their WOB described philosophies Internal: Elsecallers - "The order is more open to all types of people, as long as they want to improve themselves." Lightweavers - Personal Truths Dustrbinger - All About restraining great power and "self-mastery" Truthwatchers - Seem about finding Truths of the Universe and Declaring it more than any specific Society Relationship or Role External: Willshapers - About Freeing Others from Bondage. Edgedancers - About remembering Others (downtrodden & Forgotten) Windrunner - About Protecting Others SKybreaker - Enforce Order on Everyone through Law Undecided (Balanced?) Bondsmith - One Ideal about Uniting People, another about the Personal Journey Stoneward - Very much about personal resilience, but also with strong "Sacrifice For The People" vibe

Awakening and it's Commands seem capable of similar things to Feruchemy (ie Storing Memories, as a known example) so I suspect it is possible to willfully store Breaths in an object in a way that leave them UnKeyed, and that there are cultures on Nalthis where that is more common, perhaps if the culture views them as a public resource rather than horded wealth. But in a nation where it serves as the primary currency, why leave your riches vulnerable when they have such a built-in and theoretically unbreakable security feature?

It's also a pressure issue. At vacuum pressures that extreme, things that might not do so otherwise start outgassing through evaporation and other mechanism, which in many cases will either lowers the temp to compensate or mimic similar problems from the pressure directly.

Strict segregation of Genders during meal times. Chull burgers. There are some recipes around here, I had reasonable luck with tuna/Beef patties (get the high-fat beef to make up for the relatively dry tuna). Spheres for decoration: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Q5GVDQC

Excellent point, I assume not (unless they find something bioluminescent to digest and repurpose or some such). A Kandra Lightweaver would be several kinds of cool, though it might take an Enlightened Spren to go for it. Or a desperate one like with Hoid. EDIT: Chasing a tangent idea, What would be the challenges on a Dysian to impersonate a Singer? Carapace might make it easier to hide the cremling seams, and with enough time they can evolve some investiture effects (at least some psuedo-larkin drainers) so investiture glow in the eyes might be on the table. EDIT #2: If Kandra are placing each hair individually and consciously from a digested corpse, could they fill their eyes with enough Garnet dust to glow red when infused? With tiny gems it limit the glow to the actual duration of a Highstorm, but with good timing perhaps could sell the effect.

On the up-side they should be able to freely manipulate their patterning, so they'd be able to fake a Fused take-over of their initial Singer cover identity (so long as they dont have to demonstrate the fused surges).

That sums it up nicely. And those failings probably have more to do with being a top dahn celebrity that her mental state. Elkhart had all the same problems with buying into his own hype at bad times. (My phone autocorrected his name and I choose to let it stand for the deer-fop mental image )

None of those arguments pertain to Genius or a lack of it; Genius doesn't mean Paragon. Jasnah Kholin is objectively a Genius: Genius means you mental capabilities that are significantly above average (and in some usages are specifically natural born talents), she made herself one of the foremost Scholars of her entire world by her mid-20's. But genius wont make you Moral, Humble, or Infallible. She is a cold, calculating, Machiavellian ruler that has a sense of morality that is certainly atypical among protagonists, she can be arrogant and she is a mortal person that is capable of mistakes. Truth is most of those failings are pretty traditional for people that receive the "Genius" label.

1. Agreed, though he's limited by a lot of personal philosophic restraint as much as some specific realmic bounds. And I suspect he (uniquely) cannot leave Roshar without significant ecological fallout, so he's likely trapped forever to some extent. There are some UnMade that could challenge his place; BAM acted as a primary shard's Investiture conduit just like the Stormfather, for example, and Im convinced he has a literal counterpart in an Everstorm voidspren. I also think we should not underestimate the power of the Nightwatcher's ability to permanently manipulate Spiritwebs; such a thing could tip Power balances like few things we've seen. 2. Agreed. Super Speed of mind and body, literal Temporal Manipulation, and full Precognition are together a difficult combination to overcome. 3. Id argue it's not Ishar persay, it's just any knowledgeable wielder of the Bondsmith Honorblade. Ishar himself and the other heralds are (currently) safer by virtue of being trapped on roshar, but imagine the Honorbloade in the hands of an amoral version of Khriss that just wants to see the Cosmerre burn. And frankly, the Nightwatcher herself is probably capable of most and maybe all of the Bondsmith's Spiriweb tricks, and we know her modifications are permanent, which a Bondsmith may or may not be able to manage. 4. Wulfden the 1st is a contender by that scale too, I think. If Jaddeth is a real being, Id say they win hands down over both by virtue of ruling a whole Religion via a series of militant Theocrats. Early generation Ishar is probably on the podium entirely independent of his Investiture, as the leader during the Ashyn Migration and the nominal founder of the Knights Radiant as an organization.

It didnt, I was wildly mis-recalling the details of the Shadows of Self Climax. That scene was just about getting a spike into the Kandra to restore Harmony's control/influence, but wasnt Aluminum and didnt impact the Kandra's powers. That's my impression of the realmics of Aluminum, that it sort of Grounds out the investiture like an electrical circuit, negating powers by virtue of blanking the Investiture involved, removing the differential that makes any Kinetic motion (energy or otherwise) possible. Hmmm, I wonder if a Returned can survive an Aluminum Spike?

Per WOB that statistical gender trend is just about the relative compatibility of the individuals and more how gender informs on personalities. Given that I assume the Spren chose their bond based on who the radiant actually is as a person and not physical traits that (by the nature of Spiritual Healing) were simply incorrect for that person and needed to be Healed. There are a couple separate questions buried in there. Spren dont usually get injured but I assume they get similar Healing durability as their Radiant, but I could be wrong. If not then they might have no mechanism to Change their "innate" form. As Cognitive Beings, Spren dont reproduce sexually so there shouldnt be any DNA part of the equation to get misaligned with their own Gender Identity. It may be that their Cognitive "body" is always in alignment with their Identity. No clue at all if there are any that are actively Gender Fluid in the sense of idenfiying differently at different times (or live stages), but some of the overarching statement about Honor and the Oathpact claim that Spren are expressions of Fundamental Truths and dont Change the way Humans/Mortals do.

It also varies by spren sub-race. Some statistically lean toward male or female, others (like the Cryptics presumably) represent things that are more abstract and removed from the human experience for it to be relevant. I wonder if Cryptics have some mathematical sense of Gender (Odd vs Even, perhaps).

Possible I suppose but I doubt it. The charts says All powers and it differentiates Any vs All in other instances. Plus it worked to shut down a kandra's hemalurgy powers on the first try. And they can move their spikes to different bind points at will so it would need to be perfect on that first try if it's one for one.

Are we assuming (or has it been confirmed) that he's achieved Fullborn Status? Even relying on something like the Bands would be a significant tactical reduction over a true Fullborn like The Lord Ruler. To the OP, if the definition of the most powerful is Wins the Fight, anyone that achieves Fullborn is going to be up there since Speedsters are always OP. The question becomes what are the absolute limits of Speed, but WOB sets a lower limit than what we saw the Bands provide so we cant be sure. Best challenge is a Soulcaster with the element of Surprise. If the question is who has the most versatility in lasting Power, a Bondsmith or elder Irian/Elantrian is pretty high up there, and unlike a full-born they can do Permanent effects and a lot more than personal Augmentation. If the question is who can break the Cosmere most, I think Hoid is the crossroad of Willing and Able, though any of the surviving Five Scholar's can tip those scales too with siblings to Nightblood. Based on actual known Characters with confirmed resources, Marsh is the only one left with a supply of Atium, and even WOB admits it's hard to counter that sort of precognition.

The Bind point you rip it from and the one you implant it are not always the same, and in those cases the Spiritweb has been moved to the physical metal Spike when it gained a charge, so I think it would start acting like a spike placed in that (possibly incorrect) Bind Point. The experimentation part of Hemalurgy is that Intent is needed to cross into the Spiritual, but you can get the bind point wrong and get new/unforeseen effects. If the removal Bind point and the implantation Bind Point happen to be the same for the effect you want (ie the same Heart BP for Both), then it might just settle back in place and do what it "naturally" did, only the spirutal circuit now routes through a spike in the Physcial Realm. You'd still be more vulnerable Shards or Rioters and all that by virtue of Being Spiked, and you'd probably die as soon as it comes out.

What do you all think about Frost? We dont know much at all, but between being one of the oldest beings in the cosmere, and being a "Dragon" in the "Dragonsteel" setting, he's at least a sleeper contender that's worth keeping an eye on.

He is almost certainly subject to Hemalurgy. That being said, if his healing makes him as resistant to lasting Spiritual damage as was implied by his statements on Shardblades hurting him, then he might be able to recover from the damage. Anything that could bridge the gap enough to heal his Spiritweb and repair Hemalurgic Damage should get him going again, so you'd need to shut all those things down. Offhand you'd probably need to neutralize Stormlight/Radiant healing, Feruchemical Gold Healing (from a Medallion if not innate), and for safe measure you probably need to steal his Breaths too. Sounds bad but one aluminum spike should be able to do most of that... It becomes another question if his "original' immortality is something that could be removed by any single Spike (Mundane or Atium), and possibly whatever other benefits he may have gotten from being a Dawnshard (which still may or may not be his "original" immortality, iirc?). Given enough time with him imprisoned (and a lack of moral restraint), you could probably pincushion him enough to make it happen, and get some valuable spikes out of the deal. Alternatively, if you haphazardly Implant enough spikes in him and no Lynchpin Spike, his spiritweb should unravel all on its own. That should do it regardless of whatever else he has going on.