ZenBossanova

I hope Brandon at least, puts a little something in Oathbringer about it, then.

I have seen the revised scene online, but are they going to offer a little insert we could put in our books? Something a little nicer than I could print out, anyway.

While the Althei are perfectly happy to kill on the battlefield, I expect they will make up for that by being extra prim and proper off the battlefield. Adolin will face the law. There is a WoB that while some orders of Radiants would be opposed to this, others would be just fine with it. This is part of why I wonder if Adolin's long term arc will be finally ending up with the Dustbringers.

One essential aspect of modern electronics is amplifiers. While Roshar may not have electronics, they do have spanreeds. It is straightforward to turn a spanreed into a telephone. Of course, it would only be connected to a single caller, but the greater problem, is the volume. The volume would be low, using just rubies, I don't see a way to amplify it. So, I introduce to you, the mechanical fabrial amplifier, or fab-amp. The transmitter will have a membrane that they talk into with some kind of ring around the edges, just for stability - imagine what a current speaker looks like, if you have ever opened one up. There are 3 or more levers equidistant around the paper membrane that are fixed on the outer edges. This way, the paper membrane will vibrate evenly. The inner end is fixed to the paper but free to vibrate. A ruby & amethyst are attached to the inside of the lever, so they vibrate along with the paper membrane. The receiver has a similar, but different set-up. The levers are fixed at the outer edge of the paper, but the inside has a ruby that is correlated with the ruby in the transmitter. For the receiver, the lever extends past the edge of the paper. The amethyst is attached to the outer end. If the distance between the amethyst and pivot is adjusted, you can get as much volume as you want - the greater the distance between amethyst and pivot, the greater the sound. If the amethyst is on the pivot, you get no amplification and if the amethyst is adjusted to be on the inside side of the pivot, then the sound will be damped or completely silenced. The closer to the ruby, the more it is damped. This works because correlated rubies move in identical directions, while correlated amethyst move in exactly opposite directions. Strictly speaking, energy is not conserved here, but that happens with magic. Edit: depending on exactly how the physics works, you might need multiple correlated amethyst gems, to get sufficient amplification.

It is related to a shard. We simply don't know which, or even how long ago it was formed. It is not currently associated with a shard on the planet. But, if we are wrong about that, then this really is major.

Pardon, Connects, I didn't see that until I posted. OK, so glass will not work, but smokestone and amethyst are both kinds of quartz, and that is very similar to glass. They might be able to manufacture that.

With regards to computers, it seems to me that the question is, can they use grain sized gems to make you basic logic gates? What about just transistors? Miniaturization might be a challenge as well. Another thing I have wondered about, can cut glass hold stormlight? Even poorly? If so, you could make huge glass blocks (much cheaper than gems, even on Roshar) to store stormlight. This will be important the more fabrials, and especially oathgates, that they use.

My personal theory, is that Odium shatters shards by turning the shard against itself. For instance, I theorize he fought against Honor, until Honor was finally considering un-Honorable ways to win. But once he thinks that, then the shard can't fight against itself, without breaking into separate pieces. So, it shatters. Perhaps he pressed on Ambition, until he was just trying to survive (but therefore wasn't being ambitious). But while that is just a theory, it is worth remembering, that Odium is basically God's hatred, and probably much of his destructive power. It makes sense that he is the best at destroying, above and beyond the cunning of Rayse.

Or, they have to have an example to work from. If (and only if) Jasnah brought some with her, then they can use that as a starting point. Then you adjust the chemical composition of the gunpowder, by adding some filler. This isn't a dealbreaker. This would be much cheaper than fabrials, I expect. This isn't a dealbreaker on Earth. I think Roshar could work that out.

Most people are inside, safe and dry, during a highstorm. I really don't see why this is an issue. Besides, if it is being used in war, then I expect it to be soulcast. You could even soulcast a large quantity into a battlefield, so that when you are attacked by Voidbringers, you can go Guye Fawks on them.

I see the biggest difference happening in introducing gunpowder, rifles, and cannon into Roshar. A few cannons could take a thunderclast down as well as a Herald could. You don't even need to be a surgebinder to do that. But I don't initially see a tremendous reason for Shardguns, except when you don't happen to have a gun on you, but you do have ammo. It would be a nice bit of versatility when needed.

That is probably good, because Tachyons (particles with imaginary mass) have a number of other properties that make them... unusual. For instance, they like to speed up infinitely fast. So warp 5 isn't an issue. Doing anything less than warp 20000 is. Astronomically speaking, the Cosmere isn't all that big, so that would be grossly overpowered.

For FTL, negative mass will not work. You need pure imaginary mass. This is an elementary consequence of Special Relativity. It really depends how creative you are allowed to get in storing your mass.

Brandon's latest FAQ Friday addressed if a shardblade could be a gun, ie a shardgun. Brandon eloquently and succinctly answered that with RAFO. Call me susceptible to misdirection, this makes me suspicious they do exist. I will not rehash the debate over Jasnah's bandolier, but it does seem like new ground to tread, and a big way to make this Desolation very different and more survivable. And I will be honest, I like the image of Jasnah tossing a bullet into the air, forming a shardgun, and immediately shooting. My only real concern is, how would a trigger & firing pin work if a shardgun is one single piece of metal. Firemagic? Fabrials?

Good question, but I think the answer is partly, because they can. There are a great number of people living their entire lives in the Cognitive Realm, and there is at least one great city there, Silverlight. But this is a topic no knows much about. That is not a complete answer, but it is a start.

Can't argue with that.

The device that the Herald Nin/Nale uses at the end of WoR

On the basis of that word count, and the word count and pages in Way of Kings, I estimate Oathbringer will be about 1164 pages.

There is an option that is a perfectly valid solution to Special Relativity. As long as a character can increase or decrease by a Real number, we are stuck at sub-luminal speeds. But if we can make the mass become Imaginary, then that person will never travel slower than the speed of light. Particles that do this are called Tachyons. They are theoretical and have a number of interesting properties. So, this method really depends on how creative our feruchemists can get.

I would agree, except that I still think the Skybreakers were the ones doing the dirty work. (No, I can't prove my case. We will just have to see how things shake out) In any case, yes, Odium-inspired. If one the the Heralds is a traitor, it might have been direct orders.

That is, of course, entirely correct. But often it is an popularly overlooked property of mass, in spite of the fact it is practically how mass is defined.

My own guess is, that if you held all the powers long enough, and practiced sufficiently, you would eventually get all the resonances, but the amount of time it takes to get that is huge. It is only doable if you have a very small number of powers to use and practice with. I thought I remembered a WoB about the Lord Ruler getting a little access to the resonances. On Earth, we have geniuses who are really good at one things. A few are really good at two things and can build on their mutual strengths. It is highly unusual to be genius level on more than that. My two cents.

It might increase/decrease their inertia (resistance to change in movement)

The only way for there to be accurate stories about what happened, is if there were survivors. And if there is a huge disaster, do you believe the guy who says he saw warriors from myth, or the guy who says it was a natural disaster of some kind? All we know is that mankind knows there was a disaster, and they have some stories about what happened. Not history, just stories and legends. If it had been a multi-national war, there would be solid history. Humans have a hard time getting to Aimia at all. But Radiants who can fly, and have the power of Division (which could be the most useful against an Aimian) could get there, and would have the ability to fight them. I suggest it was a covert operation, and it was covered up as much as possible. The Skybreakers have been keeping hidden for a long time, and killing proto-Radiants for a long time. I suspect, that at some time in the last 1500-800 years, they decided that they really should add Aimian Fabrial-smiths (and anyone who could make them) to the list of people to kill. I used 1500-800 years as a rough guess based on how long it takes legends to develop. That is the amount of time ago that King Arthur (late 5th century) and Robin Hood (late 12th century) happened.

Ok, on closer inspection, I can't argue this one. And just what are those legends, precisely? Axies just mentions legends and stories among mankind, but never says what they are. It is mankind that has the stories and legends. And if 99.9% of the Aimians died, who would be around to tell those stories? They are the only ones able, and with a plausible motive. If proto-Radiants are a danger, then wouldn't fabrial making Aimians also be a danger? The only argument against this, is that the Aimians are not currently being hunted. But then, they are not currently making Aimian-Fabrials either. Notice just how merciless the Aimian in Edgedancer was to the Skybreakers. Why? He treated Lift kindly and fondly remembered the Radiants. But he killed both of them with barely a hesitation or otherwise motivation.