Landis963

This is mainly it, I'd say. We knew there were even odds of Hoid being less than squeaky clean, morally. We knew that ever since he warned Dalinar not to entirely trust him. Heck, as natc points out, we knew that back in TES when he helped Shai steal the Moon Scepter, and then left her holding the bag. But that's an astoundingly different context than kicking a man when he's down just because he can.

Because if you want to compound them at all, you'd need to burn them.

If he didn't (which I doubt) he definitely got very, very close. There's a line in the Diagram where he describes something which almost perfectly describes the "it's full of stars" moment that Kelsier had.

The wording is a little strange, but maybe Hoid faked his death while going by Topaz?

That line is referring to previous aliases of Hoid's: "Topaz" (which Hoid alludes to when talking with Dalinar once) and "Hoid" (which the draft of Liar of Partinel established was his old mentor's name).

Wouldn't the healing push the metalmind out?

Who exactly in the Final Empire would you trust with that particular operation? Certainly not the Inquisitors. The obligators fall into two categories; devout priests of the Steel Ministry whose faith would be shaken by seeing their god at their mercy, and former nobles looking to get ahead. Outside the Steel Ministry, there are the nobles, for whom scheming and plotting are a day job, and there are the skaa, who hate and fear the Lord Ruler, when they aren't being Soothed into complacency.

The link in Oversleep's post is perhaps the best guide, if a touch out-of-date (e.g. WoB has stated that Bavadin's Intent is Autonomy). Also, there's a fairly good "Cosmere for Dummies" summation in SH, but if you haven't read any Mistborn, that'll spoil... basically everything about the first trilogy, and the answer to one of the crucial questions of book 6.

It'd make it easier to Awaken than something that started as metal, but it would still be exorbitantly expensive because you're still trying to Awaken metal. At least, that's my understanding of it.

I didn't say it was a valid assumption. (Besides, Harmony is trying to be on the side of good, and Honor definitely was.)

They appear as Kandra, I believe. When Paalm died she was coherent enough to tell Harmony to look after Wax for her.

The spikes still have a hemalurgic charge, (otherwise the kigs in question couldn't graduate to full koloss in the first place) but they don't require multiple deaths to create anymore. And when they die they'd just show up in the Cognitive Realm like before they took the spikes.

I thought silver just didn't have any allomantic powers to begin with, placing it in good company with cobalt, nickel, and a host of other metals without Investiture-related powers, and that's what is meant by "Allomantically inert."

I was thinking that the rigidity of carapace would make it less able to follow Commands, despite the parallels to Awakening bones.

Maybe it's all of them in sequence, thinking that Amity and/or Hope would be easy pickings, but being repulsed due to the efforts of the protagonists. Which just makes it funny.

For this answer alone, you have earned my upvote. Now of course the next question is whether or not he was confusing "planetary system" with "solar system." Because the former is unprecedented while the latter has Ashyn as a model.

Presumably something along the lines of "Fight for me, as if you were me" in both cases (or if you wanted to cut down on word count, you'd use "Protect me" or something). Awakening the suit of armor would require the... Tenth Heightening? IIRC? the one that unlocks metal and stone Awakening. The carapace on the other hand would be much simpler, although not nearly as simple as cloth. What I'd like to know is how much Breath would it take for the armor.

Also, the Oathgates are Elsecalling fabrials. They don't appear to use the Cognitive Realm at all.

That doesn't seem right. The only reason Scadrial dipped so closely to destruction was because Ruin was essentially unchallenged. Roshar might have difficulties if Cultivation were to leave and take Honor's Investiture with her, but it appears to be the exception because of how integral the spren are to ...everything.

Breaths are essentially a piece of someone's Innate Investiture that Nalthian SDNA allows them to take off like a coat. Innate Investiture returns to the cosmere when a person dies, and coalesces around a soul when a person is born.

Shardpools don't work that way. The investiture involved in a Shardpool is dense enough to be able to transport people bodily from the Cognitive Realm and back. In that vein, they are essentially unique, and the use of them demands a whole lot of Investiture from the user to not sink into the depths of the Cognitive Realm never to return (see also Shallan's disastrous visit to Shadesmar). If we're assuming 1) that the villains were catspaws of another Shard and 2) that said Shard has been driven off by the Shard(s) currently present on Equestria, then said Shard would not have a perpendicularity on Equestria, for the same reason that Odium does not have a perpendicularity on Roshar. (You mentioned 3, where there would be one or two, depending on the number of Shards present) Am I correct in assuming that the portal to Earth and the jumpgate to griffin-land are not considered dangerous in and of themselves? Furthermore, do any of your listed candidates have more than one exit point, or are they portable? That's a rather big giveaway, as perpendicularities open onto one specific point, and are patently non-portable except by applications of Shardic power (which tends to manifest as "moving everything except the Shardpool"). Also, as mentioned, Earth is not Cosmere. With regard to the cutie marks: Spiritweb quirks don't appear to work that way from the evidence. Non-Nalthians don't automatically gain a detachable Breath upon arrival, for example. Non-Scadrians can't Snap into allomantic powers, Non-Selish are ineligible to access the Dor in any manner. (It's why Hoid is considered to be such a major player - he's gotten access to several powers from multiple worlds, all of which we know conflict with each other) Cutie marks could be like bonding a spren and the only prerequisite would be soul damage (or, arguably, the spiritual template being designed that way a la the detachable Breath example), but that doesn't sound like Equestria.

Point of order: We don't know that the Expanse of Broken Sky is Sel. It's a reasonable inference, but I don't believe anything more (unless there's a WoB I missed).

"Spare some coin for a poor blind beggar, Lord Waxillium?" "Seize the Forger, she stole the Moon Scepter!" "I learned this method of storytelling from someone else, Queen Siri." Yeah, he can lie and mislead all he pleases. He often doesn't please, though, because it's much more fun to be brutally honest. (See also, his stint as the King's Wit)

My point there is that it's not entirely "randomness." There's a method to Discord's madness, albeit one along the lines of "it amused me." Whatever Discord's mental magic is, it allowed him to completely alter 4 of the Mane 6 with just a few lines of dialogue. The exceptions are Twilight, whom he never touched, and Fluttershy, who went along with what Discord said without allowing it to change her - until Discord snapped his fingers. I'm starting to like your idea of a Shard of Corruption, it seems to make more sense for Discord's, Sombra's, and G4 Tirek's actions than simply Deceit. EDIT: Also, Discord's mental magic clearly does something drastic and deleterious to the soul of its victim - the color drain makes no sense otherwise. There'd be 3 magic systems on Celestia if there were 2 Shards - but, now I think of it, there are. There's the unicorn grab-bag of powers, there's whatever power allows pegasi to fly and walk on clouds, there's earth pony durability and their affinity for natural things. Which leads me to think that maybe Equestria was specifically created by the Shards, like you suggest - collectively, ponies have root access to everything everywhere except the Everfree Forest, much like a cross between Mistings and spren. We know Shards can do those things on their lonesome (see also the battle between Preservation!Vin and Ruin, where among other things she spun the planet to prevent things from catching on fire). The problem then becomes "how does the Investiture needed to do that go from Shard-level to Initiate-level?" Re: Earth: So is the Earth of the Rithmatist, and yet, Rithmatist is not Cosmere. There's a WoB on it and everything. I hesitate to use the term "sacrosanct," (it's rather hyperbolic for the situation) but well, there it is. I'll cede the point on the ages, although it seems dubious that if Pinky would have a cutie mark if she's not native to Equestria (it seems the sort of distinguishing feature that would be hard-coded into a Spiritweb). Also, where's the Shardpool? Where's the nexus of power that they'd use to access the Cognitive Realm?

Ah, but much of Discord's arsenal in his debut was centered around lies. Lying to the Mane Six, and using those lies to break their personalities, making them propagate the lies he told them. Lying to the world, and having it believe that (for instance) a chocolate milk of glass is perfectly drinkable, and is explosive when thrown. Yes, he used those lies to project chaos, but looked at from a certain angle they appear more like pranks than just randomness. I don't think Celestia is the Vessel of Amity (or Hope, if you prefer), mainly because she's still physically walking around and such. Also, if she was the Vessel, she wouldn't be present as Celestia in the Physical Realm, much like Sazed is no longer "present" on Scadrial. This is not to say that she doesn't possess a massive amount of Investiture, because clearly she does. The problem with classifying them is that so too does Luna, and Cadance, and now Twilight Sparkle. I like the Mistborn comparison, though. Why would Amity "need" another Shard to balance it out? Endowment didn't. Autonomy didn't (although perhaps that one's a no-brainer). Who said Amity created Equestria? I'm working off the "Friendship is Magic" version of MLP (Generation 4, is it not?), ignoring the movies, and my admittedly meager research places the Rainbows as 1) Invested artifacts not unlike Roshar-style infused spheres and 2) Generation 1. Pinky Pie has a family in Ponyville, and doesn't appear to be older than Twilight Sparkle (who is a preteen at best), leaving her worldhopping time limited. Also, I can think of nothing that might double as a perpendicularity, which Pinky would use to leave Equestria in the first place. Last but not least, Earth is not and never will be Cosmere, so Sunset Shimmer can not have visited Earth.