teknopathetic

I guess my point is that The Royal Locks can't be a genetic inheritance, though they function very like genetics. I think that THE DISTINCTION of being born from a religious figure is endowing the Royal Family with abilities. The culture believes Royal Children can change appearance, therefor the Royal Family is Endowed with grace and ability in some way or another. I don't know if the people choose (unconciously) who is Endowned with the ability, or if the ability chooses who should be endowed among heirs, but something VERY WEIRD is happening with the Royal Locks. The First Returned may have made this Endowment possible, and i have no idea if other Returned-progeny would be able to manipulate locks as well. The idea that Siri is 'connected' to the First King (who happens to be a returned of prominence) seems to grant her the ability to change her hair. Classic genetics can't be involved here. Why do i think this: Only children of the crown express the Royal Locks. Siri says her children (if begot from some random noble) wouldn't have the Royal Locks. This sentiment seems to mean that the non-royal kids wouldn't be able to change their hair. If half-princes were expressing Royal Locks, you'd think it would be a less valuable physical trait. There is no evidence that other people can have the Royal Locks. Only direct children of the King or Queen. Also, all of the Royal Children have the Royal Locks. This is odd. If the trait was genetic, then you'd think some potential direct heirs wouldn't be able to express the lock. Yet, all of the children of the previous Kings have the ability to manipulate their appearance. Think of Allomancy - it is genetic, but you can't assume a child will have the ability just because the parents did. For the Royal Family, YOU CAN ASSUME and child of the King will manifest the ability. Yet, we know that isn't how genetics work in the Cosmere. So, if the Royal Locks aren't strictly genetic, then what are they? I see two options. 1) The Royal Lock's Function like Forgery. Siri is more plausibly related to Vo (a famed King and Returned) and therefor it is more plausible that she have traits likes Vo's. Having a kingdom propping up this belief may be beneficial as well to plausibility. 2) The Royal Locks are a sentient Endowment. They function much like a Charitable Endowment in the real world. The Endowment seeks out candidates set out by some sort of mandate. Vo Endowed his heirs in some way, and the Endowment is following Vo's (or someone's) instructions.

The Royal Locks currently need a connection to the First Returned, as the Royal Line was started by him. It is likely that a child born of Lightsong would have similar skills, but The First Returned is our only confirmation of this trait being passed down. We don't know why the first returned was brought back, or how unique that person may have been

I think crystal is better because it is virtually unbreakable. Now, what would be interesting would be to see hom Gem-Hearts react. Shai says 'Organic inks are better than inorganic inks". I wonder if Organic Gemhearts (if they are technically organic) would give a certain advantage. Would an Infused Gemheart Stamp be more powerful?

Hmmm, i read it the exact opposite way. I read it as one needs a connection to the First Returned. I'll need to go looking for that quote in the book soon. I wish i had a PDF copy ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Well, it is all very strange. Apparently children of non-heirs do not gain the royal locks. Only those directly in line will receive the royal locks. It seems the plausibility of of becoming Queen/King directly grants the Investiture Bonuses. So, is it that all Returned Children can use the royal locks, but they stop maintaining the connection to the ability, or is it that direct potential heirs gain an ability to manipulate investiture? Then, what would happen to the children of The God King and Siri? Would both Royal Families in both nations now have the locks, or would one Kingdom wrestle away the ability inheritance? We really have no idea how this is working.

It would be interesting if Vo was of mixed heritage. If Vo was heavily invested, it may have made it easier for him to become the First Returned. Vo being a herald ( or something like that) could mean he had longer in the cognitive realm post-death. I have always wondered why Endownment would have changed her magic system so abruptly. If Vo returned because his Cognitive Soul was was expanded from other magics, that would explain this sudden appearance of the Returned. It would be interesting if the first Returned was an accident or mistake from Endownment's perspective.

I now have a reddit message WOB on this. I asked "could gemhearts store investiture from Taldainic Sunlight or other versions of investiture? His answer: "This is an excellent question. I haven't planned to talk about this yet, because it leads to all kinds of cans of worms, but you're asking the right questions. So I guess this is a very polite RAFO, but hopefully an encouraging one. "

Oh, my bad. Thank's for clearing that up. He is an Allomancer but never received Feruchemy (or he has some weird form of feruchemy that isn't exactly the same).

Honor and Cultivation were lovers according to The Letter. Can shards have babies? Or Cognative Shadow Babies? There also was magic before the arrival of the storm. It is possible that you can bond with the pre-shattering mega-spren. (like that giant ocean one that comes every 24 Hours that Axis meets). Massive Greatshells might also be a good candidate for something heavily invested that would be bondable.

Well, we know Quantum (or something) communication is possible from what we saw on Roshar (the reed communicators). There are probably some asible-like devices connecting the worlds in some way.

I assumed it was the Well, with all the "Taln isn't Taln" speculation, I didn't want to assume. It would be interesting if Hoid freed someone else entirely. As for the element, I assumed that was the Lerasium from Mistborn.

My guess is that Wit got a certain someone out of Prison. Wit disappeared before a certain man reappeared, and Wit did not appear at all surprised to be seeing this man. I know Wit can tap luck, but even when tapping luck Wit is often surprised at what he finds. Wit knew where, when, and WHO would land on Roshar. That makes it seem like Wit was involved.

I wonder if Cultivation could be an End-Negative system? Farmers raise crops, and then those crops are cultivated to raise cattle. A lot of energy is lost when feeding higher order organisms like cattle. In order to cultivate something of worth, you really need to expend a lot of wasted energy. Because of this, I could see Cultivation having something with an end-negative result. Cultivation implies accepting loss in order to achieve a gain somewhere else.

Well the Gems can hold investiture inside them. If all investiture is sort of the same, it makes sense that gems could hold certain forms. Taldain Sand and Breath can be powered by Stormlight. The powers are cross compatible in certain instances.

I really want to know if Gemhearts can hold other investiture? Taldain Sunlight? Mist? Bits of the Dor?

The Desolation always struck me as perfect for Cultivation. The world grows, populates, an epic battle ensues, and the souls and cultures are reaped and cultivated: rise and repeat after every desolation. The cultivations sound just like a farmer tilling his field and reaping the rewards. Combine this with the Devotaries (personal cultivation), and you see A LOT of cultivation's influence. The Crem is even mobile-fertilizer! This cultivation obviously would be devastating on the Physical Realm, but would it maybe strengthen the Cognitive realm? We have hints of battles occurring elsewhere when a certain character in a certain book is told "You will continue to serve us in the next realm". Maybe Cultivation is stockpiling Cognitive Warriors something akin to a grain silo? The Radiants certainly could be more her doing than honors with this perspective in-mind. And their religion hints at Cultivated Individuals being given a chance at an afterlife (Much like in Norse Mythology).

1) Jasnah seeks Cultivation after learning about Honor. 2) Jasnah finds out that Cultivation let Honour die (or even killed him herself) for the greater good. Cultivation didn't tell Honour about her intention because she loved him, and this is why Cultivation is so depressed. Cultivation believes she had to break honour in order to reap a benefit. 3) The Oaths for this new group will function differently, and NEW TYPES of orders will emerge (you may need to destroy them). Cultivation wants the orders tweaked. THis causes strife between honour-based spren and cultivation-based spren. 4) Endowment has sent some of her investiture to help slay Odium. Endowment hadn't invested her magic until she sensed Honour had died and that her people might be the next planet in line for attack. 5) Nightblood will be thrown into the Everstorm and consume it. Nightblood will gain more power. 6) Roshar will still be destroyed, and the people of Roshar will become refugees. Odium will be defeated but something else will grab his shard - likely an angry Autonomy or something from Aether of Night.

I'll try to find you the WoB on Preservation and Ruin being able to communicate BECAUSE they created life on Scadrial and thusly they had a higher level of Connection with the inhabitents. I can't recall where I read that, but I'll look today. While i do believe Odium or Trell could influence someone, I doubt they could form specific words in the victim's head. Endowment didn't seem able to speak with Lightsong (until, well - spoilers) even though Lightsong had a considerable amount of her investiture. It seems like Odium is capable of Rioting in some fashion, but speech seems to be a very difficult skill for a Shard to pull off. Sentient minds seem to have some sort of mental protection from Shardic influence. You would think Ruin could just speak with anyone at anytime, yet he cant. And even with many spikes in a victim, his knowledge is not complete.

Remember how Ruin could only talk to a person while Preservation could hear their thoughts? This was the case because Ruin and Preservation each had a hand on creating life on Scadrial. Since humanity was a piece of the two shards, the shards had a stronger connection and bond to the sentient life. Those two shards had a specific influence over their creations. So while anything is possible, a shard being able to communicate with a spiked Scadrialite seems a tad inconsistent.

Another shard shouldnt be able to speak to a Spiked person. The reason Ruin and Preservation could speak to Scadrialites is because Ruin and Preservation had Created sentient life there. There was more connection involved between Ruin and Preservation and their creations. Another shard shouldnt share this ability as far as we've seen.

It would be interesting if Trell or Autonomy were involved; Trell (or some other god version deity) shows up and teaches people how to appropriate breath, thus sending the entire magical, environmental, and political system into chaos by creating The Many War. Then Endowment needs to go on the offensive as her people spiral into chaos and certain individuals obtain unbelievable amounts of power (perhaps weakening her?). On the positive side, the world is now able to move towards industrialization and the global (as it were) stage (at the cost of a few genocides). I wonder if slivers take power and strength directly from the shard, making one easier to splinter?

I don't know if it is just me, or do others think there is something fishy going on with Honour and Cultivation. My idea: Cultivation Killed Honour Let's Recap: ALL SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ALL BOOKS 1. Honour got himself killed. 2. Cultivation is implied to be weeping (pun!) off in some corner. 3. Odium Reigns or is at least beginning his coronation procession . I, personally, don't believe for an instant that Cultivation is moping in some cognitive bathroom because her man died; or that Honour was snuffed out for no good reason. Cultivation is a "forward thinking" shard. Her intent would literally drive her to murder Honor if that meant attaining some greater goal, Cultivation could have been Preservation Level's of annoying with her foresight, but we are to believe she let her fellow die, couldn't stop it, and has resigned herself to die? I don't believe it. Sure, she can be sad her man died, and she can cultivate the sense of depression, but she IS cultivation - she can reap hope from the hands of death. My Theory: Odium Didn't Kill Honour - Cultivation did. She made it look like Odium (to some people/shards) for some reason, and now Odium is a bit confused.

You might not be totally wrong. As far as anyone knows, Awakening didn't start happening until the invaders from afar found the the jungle. It is entirely likely that something ecologically has changed and the flowers are effecting the world in a different way. The stone could have been once painted by tears and the blood could have specks of tear-essence in it, I admit we need to build a lot of scaffolding, but SOMETHING happened to the magic system in the recent past, and it is heavily implied this change was environmental. If only we knew why Awakening didn't work before (or if the indigenous cultures kept the art a secret). My home is that Endowment is taking a stand against Odium and hoping to send Endowed Agents against him.

I wonder if color return to an item over time (either through some sort of diffusion or cognitive-realm regrowth) - Will the castle be grey forever? Will a painted stone only have a thin layer of color or will the identity of colorfulness return to it?

Or, it could be that Nazh or Khriss lost their Awoken hammer, lol Ummm - they have an awoken hammer?