Weltall

I suspect the Breath could animate a liquid regardless of its lack of independent motive power since we know it can be done with Kalad's Phantoms. WoB is that the Breath that was left in them was holding them together and acting like 'magical sinews' to let them move, but then another huge influx of Breath was needed to get them to actually do anything. Since liquid doesn't have a fixed shape, the 'Law of BioChromatic Parallelism' would probably mean it requires a ruinous amount of Breath to both Awaken liquid in the first place and get it to 'move', since the Breath would have to not only move it but hold it all in some sort of fixed shape. So while I think it's something that is possible, I don't think it would be easy.or all that practical.

For a feruchemist, they could ensure that's not an issue by swallowing a metalmind (uncomfortable perhaps but we've seen both Sazed and Miles do it) or given that they have FTL by this point and should probably have really good medical technology, implanting one somewhere under the skin where it can't be seen or removed, maybe with some kind of membrane around it that doesn't interfere with feruchemy but does prevent metal poisoning. Burial's a bit trickier. Obviously in this circumstance they could assume the locals would leave the body alone because they'd want to show proof to the other Ones Above that there wasn't any foul play at work, let them examine it for themselves and see it was natural causes etc. Probably a small amount of fear at what the others might do if they thought they'd murdered the person as well. Otherwise yeah, that would present challenges. You're gonna need a bigger metalmind. xD

Yeah, she has access to what seem to be most of the super-knowledgeable people in the Cosmere aside from the Ire and Hoid, so it's not terribly surprising that she should be able to learn something from that. We know of at least one specific individual who could give her that sort of information, in Frost. At the time of writing those essays there's no way the two could have met (because Frost hasn't left Yolen and Khriss hasn't been there) but she could get that information from someone who got it from Frost. Or there could easily be other sources for it. And yeah, as far as Khriss' age goes, White Sand is currently the oldest Cosmere work but she herself wasn't a worldhopper at that point; elsewhere in the essays she makes it clear she was born on Taldain, didn't know other worlds existed and has at this point only heard stories of Yolen. We don't know how she gets from the person we see there to the Khriss we're familiar with but it's obviously going to happen at some point.

That was the quote but there are more. This one for example specifically uses the term 'well' implying liquid reservoirs of some sort.

Yes, but we know Yolen is the original homeworld of humanity in the Cosmere.

We actually got some very interesting information out of one of the signings which helps explain some how this technology works: The short version:

I used the email submission form on the website. Getting a response may take a while but you'll get one eventually. Also, many of those are only available in the form of limited samples but you can find many of them right now without having to ask. I think the following should be a complete list of unpublished works available to us in some way. - Mistborn Prime and Final Empire Prime: Samples can be found on Brandon's website, we're unlikely to ever get more than those. - Mythwalker (Warbreaker Prime): The entirety of this unfinished work along with comments by Peter can be found on the website. - White Sand Prime and Lord Mastrell: Both were heavily reworked and combined into the prose version the graphic novel is based on and aren't available to us but it's highly unlikely we're missing anything there. - White Sand (Prose): Available by asking nicely. - Aether of Night: Available by asking nicely. - Liar of Partinel: Sample chapters are up on the website, we're unlikely to ever see more of the draft as it exists as Brandon wasn't satisfied with it, saying that every chapter was a chore to write and nothing ever came together properly. Basically, he wants the story to be awesome and as it exists, it isn't so we'll have to wait on the eventual complete rewrite to see anything more. - Lightweaver of Rens: I don't think it actually exists as a finished draft, given what Brandon has said about Liar. More likely it exists only as a concept and one we'll only see once Liar is rewritten. - The Silence Divine: I believe it's only 'available' in the sense that he's done readings from it at signings that may have been recorded. Dunno, I've never sought that one out so someone else more knowledgable can fill that gap in. - Way of Kings Prime: Only available to us in the form of some sample chapters focusing on Kaladin (or the character who became Kaladin) which were published as part of the anthology Altered Perceptions, which is well worth supporting in its own right. - Dragonsteel Prime: Available on loan from BYU's library, with a long waiting list.

I know, I mentioned that issue earlier as well in the context of weapons with multiple parts. But it doesn't mean the idea of a Shardtrombone isn't inherently awesome. xD

Word of Brandon is that there was a pool there.

I spotted that one too, nice to have a reminder that he's planning something for Aether. I imagine he'll say something again with the upcoming State of the Sanderson as well. My current speculation is that the Vax that Ati mentions in Secret History and Khriss writes about in the Elantris 10th AA is Vaeria renamed and the story will either take place before Mistborn when Preservation and Ruin were doing something on another planet prior to creating Scadrial or (perhaps more likely) it will be more contemporary and deal with the repricussions of something those two did, only now they aren't around to fix it. I also wonder if his stated interest in rewriting Aether means that he's going to remove them from Liar of Partinel when the time comes to revise that story, or whether they'll remain a pre-Shattering thing that carries over. I could see that one going either way. And yeah, the ending felt rushed and the 'clash between gods/end of the world' plotline has since been done much better in Mistborn but there's definitely material for a good story in there. Lots of plot elements that were never really explored, hints at other cultures and I think another sentient race that never showed up, the Shentis... and of course whatever Brandon has planned for Aethers as a magic system will probably really knock our socks off now that he's improved so much as a writer. I doubt we'll see this for a long time but it's going to be one more thing to look forward to in the years ahead.

Yeah, he explained it both in real-world terms (he wanted to make Twinborn more special, for example) and in-universe (too many powers override the resonance you might otherwise get) so someone who has multiple magic systems like Hoid probably isn't going to get any such effects. Though having access to multiple magic systems is pretty much a superpower in and of itself.

I'm pretty sure that trying to Push on an entire planet or even a city-sized chunk of it wouldn't produce enough energy to hurt the planet that much, but in the absence of an anchor behind them it would potentially give the Allomancer who tried it a lesson in orbital mechanics. Hope they don't need to, y'know, breathe. And they might want to bring some heavy sunblock. That aside, using Allomancy to Push a planet would be monstrously redundant, since the only way you could have anywhere near that kind of power would be if you Ascended, at which point you wouldn't need specific applications of Allomancy (or Surgebinding) to move a planet, you'd just will it to be done.

Wyndle makes an implicit connection between the Nigthwatcher and Cultivation (he's cultivationspren and refers to the Nightwatcher as 'mother', honorspren like Syl call Stormfather 'father') so while we can't rule out Autonomy meddling in Roshar in some way, this doesn't seem to be one of them. And the way Lift Invests is different from how Sand Masters do it. Lift is able to process food (specifically glucose, based on how Brandon has described it) into Stormlight which then fuels her Surgebinding. Sand Masters give up some of their water to create a temporary connection to the already-Invested white sand which lets them control it. Different resource and different process, only the effect on the user's health is vaguely similar. Oh, and welcome to the Shard!

Yeah, speculation has been that if the Ones Above are from Scadrial (by far the most obvious candidates for the role) then the one who 'died' was likely a kandra and/or a feruchemist. But that's not the only possibility, merely the most likely. And welcome to the Shard!

I suspect the latter. I asked him about Fortune as a followup and he did imply that was going to be different and not what we might expect. Also, he mentioned at one of the earlier signings that the underlying mechanism Hoid uses to plan his calendar is the same as Feruchemical chromium but that he might not necessarily be using Feruchemy itself, clarifying that earlier WoB. All of which of course leaves me wanting more Mistborn books so we can learn just how Fortune does work, though at this rate I'm willing to bet we won't learn about it until Era 3.

I think we do, but I admit it's a matter of inferences. We know that the fight between Odium and Ambition happened very soon after the Shattering and we have WoB that Shadows for Silence is a 'later' work, so 'the Evil' forcing everyone out of Homeland is a recent thing (relatively speaking) and from Khriss' description of how quickly everyone fled, it's likely that it wasn't a major concern (or apparent at all) for a long time and then suddenly, there it was. Nazh knows something about it according to the essay, suggesting he was on Threnody close to when it happened. Nazh also talks about 'deciding to become a Shade' in the present tense, as if it's something true within living memory, so I think he's talking about something that was possible after Ambition's power messed things up but maybe before 'the Evil' completely forced his people from Homeland and they might have forgotten things about the shades that they once knew. I don't think he would use the sort of emphatic language he did if he was remembering something that used to be the case hundreds or thousands of years ago. Either way, I'm pretty sure he was born long after Ambition's power did weird things to Threnody so it's hard to untangle what might have been there pre-Shattering. But on that point as well, pre-Shardic Investiture has generally been described as part of the natural environment rather than something humans directly control (it affects the Aviar on First of the Sun, it's in the bacteria on Ashyn apparently) so it would be kind of funny for Threnody to break the pattern by having directly Invested humans pre-Shattering. So yeah, I think that everything to do with the shades can be traced back to Ambition's power corrupting things but not before then.

Threnody is a prime example of 'Shardic weirdness', it just wasn't intentional.

Handerwym is male, Jak talks about 'him' on at least one occasion. Anyhow, while there's definitely some merit to the idea that Kelsier is using Spook's body I don't think that's what's happening here. I think it's more likely that Kelsier is actually using his own bones since we have WoB that they survived the Catacendre.

Actually he's said that the easiest way to revive a dead spren would be for the original Radiant to reswear the Oaths, not that it's the only way. I think the only difference between 'dead person', 'dead forsworn Radiant' and 'dead Radiant' as far as their cognitive shadow goes would be how long they could persist after death before being called Beyond. I imagine there's a sliding scale depending on how far along you are in swearing the Ideals but it probably wouldn't be a huge effect. From what we've seen, you need to be a Sliver or have some Shardic weirdness going on for your cognitive shadow to last more than a few minutes. The spren wouldn't die in the process because we know that they aren't 'killed' if their Radiant dies, just if they break their oaths. So they'd lose their connection to the Physical and have to form a new Nahel Bond to regain it (and I'm pretty sure it's been described as traumatic for them, somewhere) but they wouldn't suffer any long-term effects.

Yeah, so far there's no indication that Rock has seen Hoid-as-Wit, not that he would have had many opportunities anyways. The pool in Elantris and the one in the Horneater Peaks are both what are officially known as Perpendicularities, locations where there's such a huge concentration of Investiture that the lines between the three realms blur and one can pass between the Physical and the Cognitive with ease. These are usually (but not always) associated with the presence of a Shard on the world and all the ones we've seen so far take the form of pools though it's implied others exist. So yes, the two pools are very much related but they aren't gateways leading directly from the one to the other.

The moving parts might be a problem but I'll bet a Shardtrombone would produce the most incredible music. And now, Adolin and the Radiants, with Swingin' Shallan on guitar, Lift the Awesome on the trombone and Cool Kaladin on the drums!

Contradiction? Argument? xD

Wax mentions Jak and how he's a git but at least he actually does go out into the Roughs unlike some gentlemen who talk a big game, so we can assume the vague outline of the plot is accurate. And it provided some nice info on what Harmony did to the koloss and the implications of being koloss-blooded. And boy was it entertaining, especially with the snarky annotations. My guess: Jak hears about a treasure, goes to find it, runs into some koloss and (being the enormous windbag that he is) was able to hold his breath long enough to retrieve the treasure from underwater. Probably the box was considerably lighter than he claimed or he was able to force it open underwater, then embellished the story with things like the flood to make himself sound more awesome. As for some of the details around the treasure: Secret History spoiler

Fair point

Sadly, since he already did something like this with Harmony's 'seriously, don't waste time worshipping me' routine I doubt he's going to do it again but it would be hilarious if something like this did happen. And I could totally see Jasnah saying that. "Pray to me and I will smite you. But with science, definitely not divine wrrath. Maybe I'll drop a textbook on your head from ten thousand feet up, explaining exactly how I accomplished it so nobody thinks it's a miracle..."