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I Highly doubt that the Stormfather or the Sibling could ever Manifest a blade without significant fallout. The blades are the Physical Form of the spren pulled into the physical world, but the Stormfather already has that in the Highstorm and the Sibling has it in the Tower so to force them to manifest a Blade could very much threated the Highstorm or the Tower's existence. WOb says it's Possible but Highly implausible, especially for the Sibling. The Stormfather might be more capable now compared to before he was Tanavast's ghost. That being said, I think the only reason that there were previously 3 Bondsmiths was because there were only 2 shards creating 3 Lights and 3 Pure Tones of Roshar. Now that there is another Shard that created 3 more Tones and corresponding lights, I think we'll more Bondsmiths, most likely Bonded to three of the Intelligent Unmade (My bets are on BAM, Sja-Anat, and the Everstorm Spren that Im convinced exists.

I fully expect the revival of Radiants (including two soulcasting Orders), not to mention the revival of hte sibling and the nations' sharing of fabrial knowledge, that we'll see a major shift in the economy of spheres AND Stormlight itself. The whole trading dun gems two-for-one for infused ones is not sustainable, regardless. If relations with Shadesmar and spren keep progressing we could see a shift from the sphere based economy to one that uses Stormlight/Investiture directly like the Spren. I strongly suspect they'll get there by the space age regardless, since Investiture is easily the most valuable commodity in the cosmere once they can transport it off-world.

I like it! Im guessing it has a lot of realmic similarities to Forgery, as a temporary overwriting of the Spiritweb. I would allow size/mass changes, at least within some categorical tiers. Or else you'd really need to be able to scale larger creatures down to match human mass. Otherwise the available forms will be extremely limited. Realmically each transformation is tied to a very specific Form and Identity of the sacrificed form, so perhaps the Sacrificial ritual converts their mass to Investiture stored within the Mask itself, to be tapped for the temporary mass. It would mean that masks for larger forms are quantitatively more Invested, but otherwise Size/Mass changes via investiture are pretty common in the cosmere, so it's not as problematic as harder science settings. Realmically it would also makes sense for it to take more Investiture to mimic a sapient species compared to an animal; Singer, Sho Dal, etc. but Kandra are probably not viable since they have no native Bones to provide the skull focus. As far as useful forms: The normal druidic things like wolf or lions and tigers and bears for combat. Horse for speed. Various birds for specific purposes, if species can be found with compatible mass ranges. Ditto marine mammals like dolphins. Platypus for novel sensory capabilities (might combine with F-Tin to use in human form). Giant spiders for silk production. Sho Dal for extra limbs, Singer for Gemhearts & rhythms. EDIT: So I was thinking about this more, and if the Sacrifice ritual actually absorbs the rest of body into the mask itself, it would be easy to say that the final transformation looks just like the sacrifice. If that's the case, a morally compromised Shifter could literally steal faces from people, and use masks to impersonate them at least as fully as Kandra, while arguably being MORE like Hemalurgy than the way they do it now since it takes a spiritweb Donor for the mask creation).

For the Food topic, you can get complete (if bland) nutrition from Emeralds and the Pulp Essence since it can give you Protein, carbs, and complex vitamins and minerals. The Meat essence cannot create natural seeming meat products because it can only create lean Meat tissue. To get a decent Sausage you'd need to Soulcast with the Blood, Tallow, and Sinew essences to get the right mix of fat, lean, and fluids; and to get a decent Steak you'd need to find a Soulcaster with all Three essences in one caster. And Zephyr is the counterpart to both of them for feeding a populace since they use soulcasters to turn the poop into either Air (preferred) or Smoke (functional but hazardous). TLDR: Meat might be superior by taste (arguable by our vegetarian friends) but not by objective nutritional practicality, especially when you're just trying to keep slaves, soldiers, and bridgemen alive. For the rest of the gems, their modern value is also in what Fabrials they are useful in, not just Soulcasters. Ruby isn't much use for food (edit: other than cooking it) but it's the best for telecommunications (ie spanreeds and other conjoiner fabrials). But at the end of the day these are economic currency conventions that are as much as tradition and history as actual practicality.

Bondsmith squires didnt get surges or stormlight, historically. It was a purely honorary thing. It's definitely not just a conscious choice in the case of the Windrunners, or else Bridge Four would have all gotten powers together instead of it taking time with a few of them. But as far as actually knowing the Words vs just understanding and accepting the meaning behind them, it's definitely the latter (or at least can be). Kaladin got didnt learn about the actual Immortal Words until later on after he'd already started showing Powers. I think he Felt the Words went he chose not to Jump that time and that was good enough for the Bond, even if he didnt learn the Words until later.

Soo much in those...WOW. Ok random thoughts: Kalak described the curtains as being "cut into strange shapes". That combined with the casual relationship with the Seon make wonder if he's using Aondor or some other selish magic instead of Awakening for that. Awakening wouldnt need strange shapes at all, there's not much tactical advantage to cutting them into anything more complex than strips. Any possibility that Todium calling Adonalsium Cultivation's Father is Literal? Could Adonalsium have just been some sort of Supreme Dragon? Felt put some odd air quotes on "in Prison" when referring to the Heralds on Braize. I wonder if there's a hidden twist there, maybe they arent being Tortured in the ways we assumed? Cultivation assumed Todium would try to make One God the same way Rayse did, by Shattering them without taking any more Shards up. I dont think Todium will do that, I think he'll try to recombine Adonalsium. A recent WOB says combining the right combo's of 4 might be prove far more stable than Harmony, so there might be a path to that. And a fight between 2-4 super-shards in the final era could be particularly epic.

I love the idea that Bondsmiths will have platespren as different as the Godspren, I hope that proves out.

Maybe, maybe not. Intent needs to be there, but it may not need to be all that specific; just being incredibly Ambitious might Connect you to it enough in the right realmic circumstances.

If not immune to the typical hemalurgic control, then at least as resistent as the Kandra Blessing of Presence grants. Probably a similar suit of benefits too: "the ability to focus despite physical discomfort or distraction, exceptionally sharp memory, resistance to madness, and the inability to lapse into unconsciousness due to shock."

Koloss balance the extra Strength with decreased Intelligence and emotional Control. Realmically I think this is because they have a lot more spiritweb machinery trying to be run on the same total allotment of Investiture (Feruchemically speaking). So an intelligence equivalent should have a similar trade-off. For a mirrored approach, Id think they'd be smaller than an average human, much weaker physically, and maybe a bit thin and stretched out and similarly grey and hairless like normal Koloss... Soooo, Roswell Greys with a heightened intelligence, memory, and processing but reduced Emotional intelligence and empathy, more or less like [vague Stormlight Spoiler]. And just for some extra flavor (like the skin ripping thing with Koloss), give them all racial speech impediment that makes them sound vaguely reptilian. I Dub them the Ssolok!

Here's a breakdown I was able to find based on our somewhat limited information, does that help?

I suspect crem buildup at the coasts would accumulate right at the tidal water marks and create natural berms against a lot of that storm surge (and settlements certainly could grow them intentionally). A big part of what makes Hurricane Storm surge so damaging is that it comes rarely and unexpectedly, but a storm that comes every few days would be able to find a better balance with the coastal environment (with a little magic Crem help). To say nothing for the inexplicable fact that the coastal shape itself is maintained magically and against the normal natural pressures of wind and sea that would carve it harshly and in that single direction. There's a bigger process standing in the way of major/sustained flooding, or anything that would actually change the shape of the coastline.

They now have a Shadesmar compass that points to "Something the Sibling called ‘the Grand Knell, source of the Current, the death of a god.’ Sooo, what's that? What's 'the Current'? The actual death point of Honor? Something relating to Ambition and the Threnodite System, given the death theme? Something else?

That sounds like a really complicated way around to creating a Connection that you can track. "Connection Tricks" are how they refer to a lot of different methods for manipulating Connection enough to speak a local language, so it sounds like low power Connections are not necessarily difficult to create. Tag a person with the right kind of Connection you should be able to find some ways to track that (depending on what magics are available to you).

I suspect the Division Brand is like the Illumonaton Brand in that it's nearly identical to the normal surge, if perhaps more limited. Im guessing Division Brands get the Decay ability of the Division Surge as a Touch attack, letting them cause a Decay, crumbling, or ignition of a target they can touch. For Tension, it might be cool if they can do similar things to Sand Mastery, but using their own Blood. This would pair them with the Progression Brand that manipulates their own flesh/Carapace into tools, the Tension folks do it with Blood. Im envisioning them using their own blood primarily but them being able to mix in other blood with theirs to gain larger volumes to use.

We know from WOB that each Selish magic is essentially a programming language for reality itself, just with a different focus and specialty. So we can be confident that ChayShan will be pattern-based and able to be built up and modified in very complex ways for very specific and complex effects, and be able to theorecally mimic almost any cosmere effect within it's broad categorical application. In the same way Forgery excels at Spiritweb manipulation but cant make Fireballs that easily, I think you are right that it's going to excel at personal effects. Im guessing it'll have be more capable of overt external effects than Feruchemy (something like allomancy, or elemental Bending styles, maybe speed bubbles etc.), and not quite as good at internal manipulation as the briefly mentioned Selish Potion magic. Something like the Gravitation and Abrasion Surges would make sense to me, possible the stone-walking thing the Fused can do, and self-targeted Elsecalling would not surprise me. I would laugh if it can Create Connections but requires a powerful strike to Connect it: Slap somebody hard enough to Connect to them and impart language, etc.

Agreed. There should be a few things available to help them with the stamp design though. ES showed that objective testing is possible, at least enough to verify the design. It's still wandering in the dark for the most part. But there are sources of information that could help. There were some surviving spren: the young, the Highspren, the Godspren, and possibly some of the other Orderspren (we know all the Honorspren participated but I dont think we know for sure on the rest of the subraces). The Heralds could be helpful if they happened to know that particular spren. Shallan's vaguely supernatural Drawings might help (they've always seemed to be slightly different/better versions of people). Possibly that weird Void-lightweaving effect that Renarin hit Moash with in ROW, which seemed to be an alternate version Fortune effect.

Partially? It's really more like Tin, Id say. Most metalminds just store a single bulk, scalable type of Investiture, with tapping and storing being a matter of Filling and Tapping Rates. F-Nicrosil (Per WOB) and Copperminds move an individual something whole into the Metalmind and back again, with a more permanent storage/loss/recovery mechanism. Bendalloy, Tin, and probably Duralumin, are a little of both: they store a Bulk, Scalable type of Investiture that uses the normal Storing/Tapping, but they have several options to select from which require separate Metalminds for each. WOB says Wakefulness, for example, could store "real" rest or just a Caffiene Boost, but they'd feel different when tapped. Going a little tinfoil, I suspect that most if not all Fermchemcy has some amount of the Options and more specific targets than the current Scadrians realize, and once they learn and can provide the right Intents, they'll be able to store more specific things than just generic bulk Strength or Speed or Health. For example, I saw a really interesting theory that Electrum is actually storing Intent, but without them realizing that and being specific when they Store, it comes out as a slider between generic Depression (lowering of all Intents) and a Manic state (over-abundance of unDirected Intent).

I tend to consider Hostile Soulcasting as an example of forced, lethal Savantism. Investiture is provided to the Spiritweb that can drive Change. Perhaps it's aimed or perhaps it just leaks on it's way through to other effects (like waste heat, etc in electronics), and it Infuses the Spiritweb. A "pure" investiture without any other specific Intent might act like f-Gold and restore to the platonic ideal, or just generically augment the body's functions the way Heighenings or ambient Stormlight might (generically more resistant to disease, etc). But if the Investiture has other Intents, other Purposes tuned into the Investiture, it might start trying to "Heal+MakeStone" instead of just Heal, or just Make Stone or PushAway, etc. like a cognitive contamination. That in turn moves the definitions of the Spiritweb just a tiny bit, relative to the tiny amount of Investiture that is being leaked/lost.

Well, the Passions are almost certainly based on Odium teachings in some distant past. But beyond that I agree that he's "preparing" them by forcing them through generational warfare (and the Thrill), while Vorinism grew from the Heralds who are themselves a Direct Reaction/Response to Odium.

I was wondering that too, is there a minimum size and does deadplate have different size limits than living plate? Living Windrunner plate can shape itself to a target for Protection, so Id expect that to be able to armor up a baby on Command. I could see it taking longer to dress up each piece of Deadplate on a baby, and I could see it draining a lot more Stormlight when it has to shift that far, and I could see an upper size limit (no Thundercast with DeadPlate), but Im not sure I can think of a reason for a lower size limit on plate if the resizing mechanism is still operating.

The primary diet they get from Soulcasters is the pseudo-grain using emeralds and the Pulp essence. That makes sense from a utilitarian nutrition standpoint, you can get complex vitamins and minerals from pure plant products, on top of protein and carbohydrates. It's bland description does sound a lot like the "complete" nutrition-in-a-shake product Soylent that was a fad for a while, and the equivalent that earth science can pull off. To get a decent steak you'd need the Sinew, Tallow, and Blood essences, maybe Talus as well if you cant get enough Salt from the Blood essence (but blood should be able to make seawater for that). That's a lot more Castings and uses of Gems, but that's probably also what was feeding the Highprinces. The average person probably just doesnt warrant that sort of effort, in the minds of most Alethi leadership. EDIT: I said a decent steak, but unless they had a fabrial that could do all three of those essences at the same time, it's likely the best they could actually do is a decent sausage or ground beef with the lean meat and fat soulcast separately and then mechanically recombined in the kitchen. But all of this is a limitation of Fabrial Soulcasting, not Radiant. I just cant wait to meet the inevitable Lightweaver who's chosen Art is Culinary.

Agreed. Or really just a sack on a rope tied to a rock or log of equal weight (or the rest of their luggage). Yeah, hypothetical methods aside, that mission didnt need Plate. Unless they'd planned to leave somebody outside the City for Extraction and/or Distraction, maybe, and wanted a big ol' shock troop to knock on a Gate, but that would likely be a sacrificial move without an army to back up the shardbearer. Or if they wanted to immediately put it on their Escort Mission Target (ie Gavinor). How long does it take dead plate to reshape itself to a new user?

At least, Outside specific Magic Effects. Ishar was able to convince the bodies of some radiant that the Ground was Part of them for Stormlight purposes, so I think a Bondsmith could Bond a Prosthetic limb to you similarly. It may or may not animate or anything similarly useful, and it may or may not last without continuous Storm/Towerlight supplies, but if it were Bonded enough for the stormlight to flow into it I think it might be able to gain enough Platonic Ideal to be affected by the Healing. Way easier with a pre-existing but amputated limb, though, so I dont think you could add extra limbs or wings or anything the way awakeners can with cloth.

Id have to find the passage to check, but off the top of my head: Elantris was supposed to be a massive funnel of Dor power into the Physical Realm, but with it non-functional and plugged for so long it (by the "incorrect" Aon) had built up a lot of pressure on the other side. The much smaller and flimsier channel might have been overloaded by the backpressure.