Jke

I actually found the interaction between Hoid and Kelsier slightly off. It was great, don't get me wrong. Still, in my mind, they are very much alike. They are both survivors when they have no real right to be. They are both cunning and intelligent planners. I know Hoid has his backstory and plot pushing him forward, but I thought Kelsier and Hoid would make a great team. I haven't read the unpublished work, however, it would be interesting to see if Hoid was a real person who his master made a representation of and the representation then gained sentience. Or if he was an idea first and then gave life. Either way, you could almost say he and Kelsier are opposites at their meeting. Hoid was an idea given form; Kelsier was a body that became an idea. Interesting. As an aside, I don't know why Hoid didn't recruit Kelsier (or anybody else for that matter). Hoid seems to go-it-alone quite a bit. That might be necessary for his plans and for hiding. Kinda bumming me out though. I'd like a Hoid story sooner than later.

Also, though there seems to be rules for the cognitive realm, it seems as it is mutatable based on the belief of the thinker. It is a representation of the physical world. I don't know if flattening is the right way to think about it. Kelsier ran for days and days, but even so, it is unlikely that would have been made it as far as he had if he didn't somehow move through the recognitive realm faster (al la wolf dream?)

Thanks! Suppose, then, that ettmetal used by SoScads is a alloy of harmonium?

We need to generate polls for some of these theories. For instance, take the options presented by Witty above and have 17th Sharders vote on options. For me, I think the lost metal is atium. The new metal used by SoScads is Harmony's new metal. And since we haven't seen anybody "snap" into a new mistborn-equivalent since Harmony has ascended, I suspect that his metal, harmonium, is a version of the ettmetal. But what it would do in the original(?) solid metal form I couldn't guess.

Have we seen anyone become invested by Harmony yet? In other words, has there been a character who reflects the unified powers of preservation and ruin that would be equivalent to a mistborn or feruchemists but for Harmony? If not, why do you think that's the case? Or do you think that is what being twin born is?

There's a WoB about some of your question. I don't have it at the moment, but (paraphrasing) he said the Cognitive Realm is a reflection of sentience. Where there is no cognition, there is no reflection. This shortens the distance between worlds greatly. Yolen is hidden/non-accessible due to some unknown (cosmere-related) cause. Some theorize that it's hidden because all sentient life on Yolen was destroyed, which would mean Hoid is one of a few survivors.

It could be the aftermath of the shattering, just now reaching distant planets. Or, if it's Taln's Scar, it could be something visible that happened during the last desolation and now those on Scadrial can now see it since the ash is gone.