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That death quote is almost certainly referring to Shadesmar. It mentions a dark and cold sun in a black sky, which matches Shadesmar. Scadrial isn't likely; prior to the end of the trilogy the sun was uncomfortably close. The empire was actually in the polar regions but even with the ash Luthandel could go through an entire winter without snow. Also, the associated note is "Collected on the 3rd of Jesnan, 1172, 11 seconds pre-death. Subject was a Reshi chull trainer. Sample is of particular note"(emphasis added). It's highly unusual, since it seems to be the only death quote that refers to the specific circumstances of the dying individual and likely hints at the underlying mechanism in some manner. One possibility is that the quotes come from the cryptics, and for whatever reason this guy saw one and talked about it instead of relaying a message. However, I don't know why it would happen with that guy in particular. I did a quick search for Reshi, and this is the only death quote from one, but as far as I can see from the other mentions, their only notable traits are that they live on an archepalego north of the main contient, raid the Alethi sometimes, had one of their subgroups (not sure if ethnic or political) subjugated by Dalinar once and herd chulls. Actually, that might be significant. Dalinar's chulls are apparently managed by Reshi, so in light of their somewhat strained relationship with Alethkar, their chulls and handlers are probably a major export. I don't think Dalinar would entrust an important component of his army to people from a hostile nation instead of residents of his territory unless there was some convincing reason to do so. It could very well be that chull herding is a highly respectable occupation among the Reshi and the guy in question was able to see into Shadesmar as a result. Or it might be that all Reshi would be able to do so; the city is about as far from their home islands as you can get and the sample size is probably minimal. The other possible interpretation is that this was actually a standard death quote he relayed. Someone else saw into Shadesmar while dying in the hospital and the death quote came from him, which would imply that the death quotes are basically what other people's last words were/would have been if they could talk. Which carries the creepy implication that in order for this to be at all likely to have happened, an exceptionally large number of people must have died in that hospital, at least several thousand. Or it isn't the first one of its type and the method got used in the run-up to prior Desolations.

It'd be more in keeping with Preservation to have it make changes more difficult. There's precedent in the form of the UnForgeable Metal, Ralkast, which is presumably the other Shard's solid physical form.

Yeah, come to think of it, the shield might operate on kinetic energy for activation. Certainly it's somehow selective and doesn't require active thought to engage, and I assume it works on unanticipated attacks since the Reckoners haven't noticed it doesn't. I assume Prof would have told them if it didn't; since it's already supposedly based on analyzing Epic powers it wouldn't strain credibilty to say it only worked on things the user considers a threat and he whipped up a neural interface, which was the cover story for the Tensors already. Of course, it could be a smart defense that triggers on any danger whether he knows about it or not, like Steelheart's invincibility, but snakes are about as likely to bypass it as poison gas. Lasers are probably the most reliable option, since we're pretty confident the Tensors can't destroy light and they could potentially overwhelm the shield with raw force. Alternately, if the Tensor is directional, attacking from every direction at once could do it. It'd be a bit tricky to lure him into the killzone, though, since enough firepower to overcome his shield would be hard to hide. Best bet would be to bait him into a stadium with remote mines in the ground, attack drones overhead, and some ground troops in the stands with antitank rocket launchers. Do a double bluff; he might get suspicious if there doesn't seem to be a trap, so make it look like the trap is just the troops in the stands. He'll Tensor in to flank you, clear out a chunk, and hopefully go to the center. Put some heavy weapons, ideally remotely controlled, in there so he goes to clear them out before sweeping the stands. At this point, have the drones attack and detonate the charges.

I'm pretty sure that it's living matter that is immune, just like Steelheart's transmutation power. And while the shield is of finite power I sincerely doubt breaking through it unarmed is viable.

David invents it, but during the Conflux jailbreak once things go wrong he steps in, rants about incompetent minions, and declares to everyone that he is Limelight, at least implicitly. His Tensor powers might or might not work on water and gas. I don't think we ever see it affect a material that isn't solid, but by the same token it's never called for. There's also the question of the composition of the dust left behind. Does it transform the material into a harmless compound, or does it break it into tiny particles of the original material? Also, is mass conserved? If it doesn't perform elemental transmutation, it would be pretty ineffective against poison gases. Even if it breaks molecular bonds, elemental chlorine would work. I would guess most of the mass vanishes, since steel is really, really dense. Also, the gifted Tensor powers seem to be directional, so flooding a room with gas would make it difficult to effectively employ them. But that restriction might not apply to the original power. With the way the gifted powers work, I feel fairly confident in stating there is a finite upper limit on all of his powers. The jackets can be overwhelmed, the harmsway does not work instantly, the tensors destroy matter within a limited area. If the base powers were infinite, then I'd expect the gifted powers to have sharply confined limits but work to an unlimited extent, like the jackets only block supersonic rounds but cannot be overwhelmed. Furthermore, note that Steelheart did win the fight, so the shield is not totally invincible. I would thus infer that he can't regenerate from sufficient damage, such as total destruction of the entire nervous system. The Tensor power is another matter; even if it can only destroy a finite amount of matter in a period of time, it eats through solid steel fast enough that overwhelming it with mass is a pretty questionable plan with normal materials. Either find something dangerous that it cannot work on or attack him from an unexpected angle so he doesn't activate it. For bypassing it: There is no indication that it destroys the atmosphere in the affected area. It might not work on gases period, and even if it can selectively destroy them it might require actively choosing to, so colorless gases could work. The average lethal dose on nerve gases is pretty low, so using a bunch could overwhelm the healing or at least incapacitate him. It does not seem to obliterate incoming light, so lasers should pass through fine. No obvious thermal effects from use, so intense heat should work. Normal fires do take a while to actually kill people, so use thermite. Even if it can destroy poison gases, it does not appear to create oxygen. Remove it from the area with a giant fuel-air bomb and he should suffocate. Alternatively, get yourself a space station, put some form of bait on it, and lure him into coming. Then blow it it up.

You, uh, shoot him. A lot. His Tensor powers do make it pretty difficult to inflict damage with direct impact, so I would recommend lasers. Incendiaries might work too. He doesn't seem to have much if any defense against poison gas. Unlike Steelheart, he's probably susceptible to a nuclear blast. See, Prof doesn't really have a Prime Invincibility. His shields are tough and he can regenerate rapidly, yes, but there's no infinity symbol in there. While it's pretty difficult to take him out, all it really requires is more power. Unlike Nightwielder, Steelheart, or Firefight, dropping the moon on him would probably guarantee a kill.

We lack a proper controlled test, but I doubt it's based on when people decide to do things. Depending on how many steps that goes down the chain, either it'd be of extremely questionable use against explosives or it'd likely have foiled the assassination attempt. If it only works on a decision that directly causes an event as opposed to decisions setting up the event, it wouldn't warn of explosives until the user decided to detonate them once he saw Fortuity in the "hard kill" radius. If it traces decision sequences, I'd expect it to warn him of the assassination plot because Prof decided to set it up.

Feruchemy by default gives a 1:1 ratio of stored to tapped power and is explicitly end-neutral, so it seems unlikely it also causes changes. Hemalurgy is end-negative, but there's a bunch of unaccounted-for stuff that could handle the changes. Specifically, in the case of the constructs they seem to lose attributes of the original in the process. Obviously, Koloss lose intelligence and self-control, but Inquisitors tire out easily. I originally put that down to expending a lot of energy maintaining their blatantly non-viable physical state and charging Feruchemical gold to compensate for damage from moving around, but the scene where Penrod gets spiked and some later ones imply that all the spikes inherently stabilize the physical damage resulting from their presence, so there may be another cause. However, the extra lost when altering the ratio to overtap might potentially partially go to spiritweb alterations, and it certainly could be a side effect of compounding.

Numerous and complicated reasons that no one actually understands, or publishers would be much, much richer. In the specific case of Brandon as opposed to most of the other writers, you need to realize that SciFi/Fantasy is apparently not a very large market if bookstore shelves are anything to go by. A lot more shelf space is dedicated to romance, modern thrillers, and mystery. So it generally doesn't get as much attention. Eragon was Fantasy, but the writer's parents owned a publishing company. Also, controversy gets attention, which sells books. So if there's a bunch of people vocally complaining about a book, especially if it is part of a moral panic, people who would otherwise never have noticed it might buy it. Any book that somehow manages to make the news outside of a review section is going to sell well. Lastly, blind luck is a significant part. A vast majority of hugely successful and quality books gathered numerous rejection letters because the publishers did not see potential in them and they get a lot of submissions. Once they do get published, they sit on the shelves besides a bunch of other books, and people simply do not have the time or money to buy everything with an interesting cover and plot summary. My house contains an outlandish number of books, but I've passed up many more SF/F books than I've actually purchased and read.

Apparently mildly impure metals just don't work quite as well, so they don't need absolutely pure elemental metals, which is good because getting something 100% pure is basically impossible. The university I'm at is presently running a xenon purifying operation so radioactive krypton won't throw off the readings from the dark matter detector, because even noble gases have impurities in commercial use. Probably wrought iron is on the outer bounds of safe for iron burning, since people often gather metals by scraping objects but suppliers of high-purity metals stay in business. Alloys might be a bit looser, since Vin got sickened by numerous incorrect aluminum alloys that apparently did not contain noticeable levels of copper. Or it could be that being able to attempt to burn a metal is based more on physical properties than on exact composition.

According to Vin's aluminum alloy experiments, bad alloys mostly result in migraines. Though some might have other effects.

They do both alter their own bodies for superior power in battle. That said, the mechanisms are very different, so I wouldn't read too much into that.

It's almost certain that they weren't always holding the Honorblades when they died, though. Now, if someone ended up with a Honorblade without being bound to the Oathpact, then it might not disappear on their death, but in the case where this matters the guy is bound to the Oathpact.

Well, the advantage of superior weaponry over superior soldiers is that the weaponry can keep getting better until it's good enough to trump the soldiers. However, it's a lot easier to improve your weaponry than to improve your soldiers. Also, making weapons that trump Allomancy is a bit of a tricky proposition. The best materials for nearly everything you need from a weapon are non-aluminum metals, and using those against coinshots is a good way to die. Time bubbles are also pretty hard to handle, and if the Pits are back in operation and Seers can be obtained, they'd be a real problem. The big advantage the Southerners would have is that everyone can use a gun, while Allomancers with useful combat powers are in rather limited supply. I wouldn't expect Harmony to intervene, not his style. Marsh, on the other hand, might very well take a more proactive approach and is basically invincible.

The specific alloy for a given metal seems to be more-or-less random, aside from having the element as the primary component. A number of them contain other Allomantic metals, but not all of them, and the ones that do don't seem to have any specific relation.

I second Fire Emblem. Also, if you haven't already, I recommend trying the old Xcom.

I also got the expansion recently. I think I like the enhancement part more than the new enemy. EXALT is pretty irritating to track down and bring to battle, and I fought them six times total before wiping them out. Still, the mirror match is pretty interesting. I'm also not too fond of the Meld mechanic to get enhancements. You've got to track down cannisters within a time limit, which is kinda interesting but gets repetative, and really doesn't pay out fast enough in the late game. Love the mechs and genetic enhancements when I can actually afford them, though. The mechs are fairly inflexible, but make excellent hammers. They've got considerable firepower, various available add-ons, and their own skill tree. They're particularly good at reaction fire and are really tough. Also fond of the flamethrower and punching. The genetic enhancements go in various slots and give special bonuses. One of the early ones is health regen, which is very handy early on. There's also jumping, a bonus to shooting from above, innate cloak, an enemy detector, some psi defenses, and a couple others. Oh, I've got the PC version. I think my username there is the same as here, or a slightly altered version to fit naming rules.

Feruchemical gold apparently works off the Cognative aspect and restores people to what they "should" be. So I expect it would repair DNA damaged by radiation but not the parts that got damaged by aging, or at least not the parts inherently damaged by aging. It probably does cure cancer, since it fixes most things. However, gold compounders would still die of old age; one of the factors in aging is that DNA replication is not very good. Each division hacks a chunk off the end of the DNA sequence, and since this is part of natural aging Feruchemical gold probably doesn't revert it. For a while, the stuff that gets cut is basically meaningless because it exists to get cut, but at some point the buffer is empty and other parts get cut. Eventually you'd run out.

Actually, the very creation of Scadrial inherently implied its eventual near-destruction. Preservation put in more power in the original creation, so Ruin would inevitably be able to overpower and destroy him. Preservation managed to somehow rip away the Atium and then apparently turn most of his Cognitive aspect into a prison for Ruin's, but the situation was still inherently unstable because the prison cyclically weakened, so Ruin could act and Preservation could still barely think. The overall gambit was set up a very long time before the events of the trilogy, when Leras would have been less affected. And I think it's telling that it was an indirect gambit; it could be that Shards have less difficulty arranging for their Intent to be violated than directly violating it. Also, the Mist Spirit stabbed Elend in an apparent attempt to get Vin to use the power of the Well and keep the stalemate, so Leras might have succumbed over the long wait. All the pieces were in place, so there was no reason to delay to the next cycle. As for creating Scadrial in the first place, I expect Preservation's Intent doesn't necessarily oppose creating. Ruin creates stuff in order to have things to destroy, so Preservation might create stuff in order to have things to keep in existence.

Salt stays behind when water evaporates. Actually, it's strange crem doesn't. Since it seems to be pretty stable as a solid once it comes back down, I doubt it's soluble in gasses, so it must be drawn up into the highstorms somehow or form from other materials inside the storm. It could be that there's a bunch of Ashmount-style volcanoes at the Origin, and the highstorms trap the ash and gasses and make crem. There is apparently also more normal weather, mentioned when Dalinar attends the feast. But I expect that the highstorms tend to absorb or scatter local weather and happen often enough major normal storms are rare.

Well, I checked the prologue reading; no mention of Soulcasting but her shadow was apparently moving wrong for at least a few days. I suspect that means she had recently acquired a Nahel bond with a shadow-like spren. So after meeting the Parshendi, before the assassination.

Shards must follow their Intent under all circumstances, yes. They have, however, shown the capacity to be intelligent about it and to arrange for others to work against their Intent. So I could easily see Honor being forced to protect Odium but forcing him to agree to terms in exchange or rigging up a mechanism where if Odium betrayed him someone else would kill him. Odium probably wouldn't betray Honor until he felt safe, but it's pretty plausible he'd have Honor overextend himself and backstab Honor at the very instant their mutual foe was defeated. Then again, Ruin set up a lengthy ploy and sat in the Well of Ascension for thousands of years, but once he was out he got sloppy and impatient, so it's possible that the more aggressive Shards are pretty short-sighted, unless Ati's original personality was still intact enough to deliberately mess up his own plans. So Odium might plan to do that and get over-eager and make his move too soon.

I don't expect Shallan will blame Kaladin, and I seriously doubt Amaram would tell her Kaladin killed him anyway. Also, I don't expect anyone will be particularly suspicious of Shallan; she did already tell Jasnah her father was with the Ghostbloods, and I don't think Dalinar and Kaladin even know they exist. As far as they're concerned, this was just a case of a Shardbearer coming along to one of the innumerable border skirmishes. It's public knowledge that she's from a semi-hostile nation, so learning that her brother was in one of the fights would be unsurprising.

While Soulcasting does seem to obey Equivalent Exchange, it seems to be a bit fuzzy about what gets conserved. The initial Soulcasting with the stone block seemed to conserve mass, although it feels like the smoke explosion should maybe have been more dramatic. Then again, it's not gaseous, so I guess it might not expand so rapidly. But Jasnah later Soulcast a human into a crystal statue of equal volume, and there's a number of instances of things that were Soulcast from other things and retained some pretty fine details (e.g. Soulcast stone preserving wood grain) which seems to indicate it's the same exact shape as the original. Also, the metal lumps being traded were Soulcast from some form of presumably non-metallic garbage, and metal is pretty dense, so one would expect the results to be very small. It could be that solid-solid conserves volume. Though, alternately, it could be that the crystal is roughly as dense as a human possibly on account of containing hollows, and the other instances cheat in the grand tradition of everything dodging conservation laws by stealing mass from somewhere else. Or maybe there's a fudge factor in the exchange and the result mass must be within one order of magnitude of the original mass, which would allow solid-solid transformations to retain the original volume in most cases but trans-phase transformations would not. Now, Shallan apparently does believe mass is conserved, but there's a bunch of secrecy surrounding Soulcasters, so she might just be wrong. Oh, and before anyone suggests it, mass-energy equivalence is not the answer. The coefficent for kg-joule conversions is 8.99e16 J/kg; for reference the estimated total electrical use for the entire earth in 2008 was 5.18e20 joules, which would be several hundred kilograms. Nuclear weapons convert a couple grams to energy. If mass is being created or destroyed the source must be the Shard powering the system, not locally available energy. No Highstorms in Shinovar, no Stormlight unless they get it from the border.

Problem: there are apparently no highstorms in Shinovar. They do not have any apparent way to get Stormlight.