Eki

1 hour ago, Spoolofwhool said:

Also density doesn't change.

I think we've discussed this before

I would still argue that it's more correct to say that "the effects of density don't change" (though I'm not sure if that's always true) or something, since density isn't a fundamental property, it's just defined as mass divided by volume. The universe never "uses" density, it's pretty much just mass and how it is pushed. Density is a shorthand that's easy to plug into equations sometimes.

But eh, I guess it doesn't really matter (!) how you say it, in the end. Magic messes with everything anyway.

19 minutes ago, robardin said:

And other posters seemed to take it as something of a given. But If TLR was concerned about a stacked/compounded person being naturally born with both Allomancy and Feruchemy during the Final Empire era, and we also see naturally occurring Twinborns - including same-metal Compounding Twinborns - in the post-Catacendre era, how is that true? Where is this idea coming from?

The WoB about Allomancy and Feruchemy interfering is earlier in this thread. I think it was page 2 or something.

The Terris people kept themselves mostly separate before the world of ash, which is why Feruchemy was kept fairly "pure", and never spread to other peoples.

After Rashek's Ascension, the Allomancy potential of the population increased significantly, as the lerasium beads were distributed to Rashek's early allies. We can't know for sure what Rashek saw during his Ascension, but he did view Feruchemy as the threat to be contained. That is why he made all Feruchemists into mistwraiths, and then tried to exterminate his own people. Later, he instead began the breeding program. This kept Allomancy and Feruchemy separate still, even if Allomancy was much stronger in the general population than it used to be.

After Sazed Ascended, the Terris people were suddenly free to have children with whoever they wished, and also lived in the relatively small area of the Basin, together with people of higher Allomantic potential. And so, pretty much for the first time ever, people with high Allomantic potential had children with people with high Feruchemical potential. This interbreeding (interference between Allomancy and Feruchemy), together with the massive weakening of Feruchemy caused by the extermination of all Keepers just before the Final Ascension, led to more and more Ferrings appearing, along with the Twinborn.

Thanks, @Kaymyth! I think you are most likely right. For 2a), the detail about metals not disappearing is important for the story, since the gun isn't destroyed, just... discharged. Or something. I thought that detail was mentioned in the story as an actual showcase of metal not disappearing, but it could just be her made-up excuse to make the story seem more plausible, and her powers more useful for an adventurer. (Although, I guess being able to destroy metals would be even more useful, but...) Still, the gun probably does exist.

Feruchemical iron is weird, and one of the more hand-wavy parts of the physics-based magics in the Cosmere. You can increase your mass in order to break through a floor using gravity, but apparently your punches don't have more mass behind them... From a physics perspective, the two are the same. So it's kind of a mix between "real" mass and magical mass, somehow.

tl;dr it's weird.

45 minutes ago, robardin said:

Also, if this is something Spiritweb related, would it not be something Rashek would have understood while holding the power of Preservation? He saw enough to realize creating beads of lerasium would create full Mistborns. If he knew it would be impossible for Feruchemists to breed with Mistborn to produce a "natural" Fullborn, he wouldn't have had to resort to transforming his friends (along with all living Feruchemists) into mistwraiths/kandra, nor to institute the repressive and abusive "breeding programs" on his own Terris people, "out of fear that someday [a Fullborn] could be born to challenge him".

A Mistborn Bloodmaker would have been enough to be dangerous for TLR, as would (probably) a Mistborn Steelrunner. Or an Augur Feruchemist. Not just because they would be able to challenge his power (somewhat), but also just because they would be able to figure out that Compounding is an actual thing. TLR didn't want that kind of knowledge out there, especially not if his Inquisitors got hold of it.

49 minutes ago, robardin said:

Unless this is all an as-yet-unknown-to-me WoB somewhere that mentions Sazed fiddling with things upon Ascension, along with restoring chromium or nicrosil to the Allomantic Misting pool in lieu of atium, changing the mechanism of Snapping, and possibly, enabling the theretofore-unseen phenomenon of Ferrings?

Chromium and Nicrosil were never gone from the Misting pool, there was just no way to know if those Mistings had any powers. Preservation did exchange one of them for atium in his force snapping though, since he actually needed atium Mistings for the plan to work. Ferrings exist because of the interference between Allomancy and Feruchemy (the WoB about that is earlier in the thread). They existed before Rashek's Ascension too, but were very rare.

On 12/13/2016 at 2:23 PM, Demiandre said:

What is particularly interesting is the Talent granted by most of the Aviar : Hiding the cognitive self.

There isn't necessarily anything special about this, it could just be a survival strategy. If they couldn't hide, they would be dead, because the predators would have found them. As it is, most predators don't even bother going up into the trees, because they wouldn't be able to find anything. And presumably, the predators' ability to feel minds also has origins in the same magic.

I'm thinking it's either a shard that Invested and then ripped free (because all the magic seems to be concentrated around the perpendicularity, which would have been the biggest concentration of Investiture when a shard was there), or that this is one of the worlds Adonalsium visited. Not sure which one is more likely.

On 11/17/2016 at 9:15 PM, tobar14 said:

Perhaps it might be like how Wayne was able to use a shotgun to shoot Telsin. He only could do it because he knew that Telsin couldn't die. Just like Hoid could only hurt Kelsier, because he was already dead?

I don't think so. Wayne's limitations seem to be pure PTSD, no magic involved. I think Hoid's limitations have more mystical origins.

18 hours ago, Kanrei said:

Interesting is specific timing and fact that there are no wisps of Stormlight coming out of Lift.

There are, but only when she converts a lot of food into Stormlight. (Which would be equivalent to any other Radiant breathing in Stormlight.) Edgedancer contains many references to people seeing her glow (when dropping the grain down into the city, and when showing the scribes what they should be looking for, for example).

And I'm pretty sure there's at least one time when she activates her Stormlight just to get extra strength and speed. If she was using Stormlight constantly, she would feel like that all the time, except when she's completely out.

Lift just doesn't know the difference between nutrition and Stormlight. It's all just awesomeness to her.

On 2016-12-10 at 1:14 PM, axcellence said:

• wyndle mentioned that he got chosen by the ring... now I don't know ehat this ring business is??

The Ring is a council of spren. I think they are Cultivationspren in particular, and they might be the leaders of whatever society or civilization the Culturespren have in the Cognitive Realm. Wyndle mentions it in the WoR interlude too.

On 2016-12-12 at 10:30 AM, Kanrei said:

- that Lift after eating can store Stormlight for half day before it vanishes

Actually, I'm pretty sure she's not storing Stormlight - just normal energy from the food. And just like for non-awesome people, that energy is used up over the course of the day. I think the energy (or food in general, I'm not sure which) is only converted into Stormlight when she actually becomes awesome.

Wow, I did NOT catch that I need to hone my Hoid-finding skills!

But WHY would he get himself eaten? There is the "Hoid sense" people mentioned earlier, but...

I mean, it's a pretty mean thing to do. Lift was evidently pretty emotionally scarred by the event, thinking he died...

16 minutes ago, Eerongal said:

Are you talking about cosplay pikachu from ORAS? Because if so, that's one pikachu that you're given as a gift, and change the costume on manually to several different ones. You also can't trade/transfer it.

No, Shuffle. There's Sleeping Pikachu, Happy Pikachu, Angry Pikachu, Spooky Pikachu, Winking Pikachu, Holiday Pikachu... Probably others.

11 hours ago, Kaymyth said:

The spawning percentages and nests seem to change up every so often.  It's a constant cycling of things.  The area that was a Pinsir nest a couple of weeks ago is probably producing something else now.

Yeah, but other nests don't seem to have changed, yet. At least from what I can tell. I think they just upped the Pikachu spawns for this event, and kept the other stuff mostly the same.

I thought they would drop the whole new generation all at once, but I guess not! Nice way to introduce gen two though. That generation focused on eggs and breeding, and baby Pokémon were basically created just to show off that mechanic. Since eggs already existed in GO, starting off with baby Pokémon was a good idea, I think.

And I found a Pikachu just outside, and they've never spawned around here before. So presumably they spawn more often now?

Edit: Although, the costumed Pikachu make me slightly worried... Another Pokémon game has like ten different Pikachu costumes to catch, and it's getting kind of out of hand... Hopefully that won't happen in GO

18 minutes ago, Demiandre said:

@Eki

  Reveal hidden contents

Yes, but as the Lost Metal, I figured it concerned a known Metal which isn't found or known anymore. Harmonium is used by the southerner, and exist only since the Final Ascension, so it hasn't been Lost yet.

 

Yeah, that's a good point. My last comment was mostly to the topic in general, not specifically to you.

5 minutes ago, robardin said:

So Why would Vasher return to Nathis at all? He's spent "years" on Roshar, it seems, or at least, spent years without Nightblood, which its being with Nalan and now Szeth I'd assume means he gave it to him more or less directly, unless it was stolen from him on Nalthis and he came to Roshar to retrieve it.

We don't know what happened between Vasher and Nightblood, but I think I read somewhere that they had some kind of "falling out". I think Vasher is planning on staying on Roshar indefinitely, but there could be reasons why he'd want to go back, I'd assume.

7 minutes ago, robardin said:

Did all five of them travel to Roshar, stockpile on Stormlight to avoid having to consume a Breath a week, and partition it so their "lifeline Investiture" was separate from their Breath repository on Nalthis?

It's very hard to stockpile Stormlight, since it leaks out quickly. And remember, during their Scholar years, they were revered as Gods by the Cult of the Returned. That is how they could collect such hordes of Breath. They never had to worry about Breaths back then. I mean, Vasher wouldn't have to either, if he revealed himself to the Court, but he's a much different person to who he used to be, presumably.

10 minutes ago, robardin said:

(Since Vasher definitely becomes "drab" a few times, and the first time we see him in the very beginning of Warbreaker, he has "barely enough Breath for the First Heightening".)

A Returned can become a drab, as long as they are careful to not include their Divine Breath when they get rid of all the other Breath. As long as they have a Breath to consume at the end of the week, they are fine. And barely enough Breath for the first Heightening still means he could stay alive close to an Earthen year. (And the reason he has so few Breaths is because he used all of them to kill Arsteel.)

1 hour ago, Argent said:

Allomancy is getting weaker - and it has been since the days of Rashek's Ascension. Harmony might be able to do something about this though, if he finds his world in peril.

Isn't there a WoB on Allomancy basically being about as diluted as it will be, reaching some kind of equilibrium?

18 minutes ago, Demiandre said:

The Lost Metal is either Lerasium, which disappeared with Hoid, or Atium, which is kept by Ironeye. Without it, he would die, no ? (I think Brandon said he had the last of it, and used it to stay alive so far).

Yeah, but Harmony could create more if he wanted to. Probably.

Also, remember that there is a recent WoB that

7 minutes ago, robardin said:

Vivenna would still be mortal, though in very good health (immune to sickness) with all that Breath/Investiture in her.

The Fifth Heightening grants agelessness, so she could have an indefinite lifespan too, in theory.

9 minutes ago, robardin said:

Vivenna, though, would be an Awakener. If Stormlight = Breath in terms of Investiture needed to survive as a Returned, does that also mean Stormlight-powered Awakening works for a native of Nalthis on Roshar?

Quote

Interview: Jan 21st, 2015

Changing Hands, AZ

ZenBossanova

Can Vasher use Stormlight to Awaken things?

Brandon Sanderson

No, all it does is keep him alive. But he has tried and has not figured out how to awaken things.

So short answer: Maybe, but one of the most experienced Awakeners in the Cosmere has not managed to figure out how to accomplish it.

1 hour ago, Talanelat'Elin Stonesinew said:

Never mind what I said. I think I saw a stick-like figure in my cell like a month ago

Are you sure it wasn't actually the Stick, then?

3 hours ago, Jondesu said:

Brandon has said it would burn away piercings that were Feruchemical metalminds (perhaps even ones that weren't), and that it "would look really weird", so I think it's safe to say the metal itself is destroyed, not just rendered inert.

As the thread shows, different sources claim different things. And the "would look really weird" was Kaymyth's comment on it, not part of what Brandon said (also explained in the thread).

As evidenced by this thread, there is some confusion about whether or not Leeching destroys the metals of the victim, or just renders them Allomantically inert (but leaves them still existing). Which one is true? (And would Aluminium work the same?)

24 minutes ago, Demiandre said:

I don't think Hoid knows more about the Rosharan Cognitive Realms. He isn't a Surgebinder and not a soulcaster either. Could he get as much information from Sprens as Jasnah did ? Hoid is very knowledgeable with regards to the realmatic theory and probably magic systems and general Cosmere stuff, but he is not all-knowing.

Worldhopping is generally done through the Cognitive Realm, so Hoid has spent quite a lot of time there. I do think the spren would be more friendly towards an Elsecaller though (despite the Recreance), so Jasnah probably has an easier time with them. Not to mention her information from them is more recent.

7 minutes ago, robardin said:

But Hoid couldn't just grab Taln's sword and run, Taln could just dismiss and resummon it at any time, unless Taln unbonded it, right? The way Szeth does at the end of WoR (the reworked ending), or the other Heralds appear to have done that in the prologue to WoK (though Nalan appears to have reclaimed an Honorblade).

 

That would assume that Honorblade bonding works the same as for other shardblades, and also that Taln would have the presence of mind to actually think about doing something like that. I can't think of any time where someone with an Honorblade dismisses it while not holding it, but I might be wrong about that.

3 minutes ago, Jame Starmade said:

That's true. I hadn't really thought about that. I had just assumed that taln wasn't bonded with it because it didn't disappear when he dropped it. It still leaves the question of where the other shardblade came from. Unless Taln was bonded to them both and gave up the normal shardblade so people wouldn't kill him for it. Though he does seem very capable of defending himself.

Honorblades work differently from other shardblades: you actually have to will it to disappear, instead of will it to remain. How bonding with Honorblade works is still a bit of a mystery. But he was (most likely) unconscious or at least unresponsive when his Blade was taken, so I doubt he had much say in the matter.

My theory is that Nale swapped the two blades.

In Lift's interlude, Wyndle points out that there is something wrong with the blades Nale and his underling have. Lift also sees Nale being awesome, which probably means that the blade Nale uses at that moment really is an Honorblade (most likely his own). However, Wyndle says that both weapons are wrong - and I don't think that would say that if one of them was a dead sprenblade and the other an Honorblade. He would expect a normal shardblade, after all. So I think it's likely that Nale's underling is using Taln's Honorblade.

The main argument against it I can see would be that taking the Blade could be seen as theft, which Nale probably wouldn't want to do. But there could be a lot of explanations for that.

5 minutes ago, Spoolofwhool said:

It's weird though because looking at the dates of the release of BoM and this WoB, BoM was January 2016, and this was said May 2015, which means that BoM probably would've been basically done first draft, or already into revisions for release.

True. That's why I'm thinking Brandon may have been thinking about Nicrosil.

6 hours ago, BrightVoid said:

North South East and West definitely have a connection, but past that I think it simply comes down to how many 3 letter words with 2 vowels you can come up with.  If there IS a code someone can figure out that would be great, but I don't see a way for it to help that much.  Maybe you could get more done looking at the irregularities, Eshe, Sheo, and Shao.

I wouldn't say those are irregular. "Sh" is just one sound.

1 hour ago, Kaymyth said:

If someone can find this broadsheet passage, I'd like to take a second look at it.  (It would almost certainly be in Shadows of Self or Bands of Mourning.  I've been over Alloy of Law with a fine-toothed comb.)

A lot of folks take the broadsheets with a grain of salt, as a lot of them come via unreliable narrators; I'd like to dig through and look at the circumstances and wording.  Like...how do you know if the metals themselves are really gone, unless you're burning off a piercing?  Was this written in the context of being an in-world theory, or through actual experimentation?

It's from a story in BoM, but the author (and main character) is an actual Chromium Misting. Also, there's probably more truth to the story than the average newspaper reader in-universe would think.

Quote

When I drain a Misting of metal reserves, I feel something I can only describe as pulling power from the metal and returning this power to some external source. The metal remains, but the power is gone.

I imagined that same intent as I touched the pistol. I pulled power from the device and returned it... elsewhere.

After which the gun holder does something that recharges the gun (which shoots ghosts (probably Shades) (I have not yet read SfSitFoH)) and makes it work again. Though it reads like a fantasy story, the narrator's opponent is likely Nazh, so it's probably less imagined than it's supposed to look.

However, Allomantic metals aren't actually Invested, so it can't be Investiture in particular that Chromium drains. It seems to just change the metal so it doesn't work as a key anymore. Probably only temporarily, as well.

Obviously this is contradicting the WoB @Spoolofwhool posted. Either BoM overrides it, being published later, or the narrator of the broadsheet story is just wrong, or Brandon thought the question was about Nicrosil.

I don't think the narrator is wrong, just because her power does work on the gun. Of course, she's only telling a story, so she could have just made that up.