Knight Oblivion

I decided to do a search as well since you mentioned one exists and all I could find was a mention of it paraphrased from a Q&A on Tumblr.1 Not to doubt the author, but it would be amazing to know what exactly Mr. Sanderson said on the matter. The paraphrased WoB says essentially says that the Rosharans are generally healthy due to their inherent investiture but it says nothing about the amount of strength they would gain from what you and I would assume is Stormlight. Due to the lack of glowing I'm inclined to think it's not a noticeable amount compared to baseline humanity in the same gravity environment. However, the lower gravity could potentially cause more problems relating to disease. The Purelake already has a "plague of the sniffles" brought to the area by worldhoppers, Scadrians probably have many worse diseases that would cause a whole load of problems since, at least for zero-g, bacteria grows faster, stranger, and potentially more infectious/dangerous ways.2,3,4 I'd imagine that a 30% decrease in gravity would have a similar, if lessened, effect. 1. http://stormfather.tumblr.com/post/108812172073 2.* http://phys.org/news/2013-11-bacteria-zero-gravity-nutrient-environment.html 3. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/2013/bacteria-sent-into-space.html 4.* http://www.space.com/4388-space-bacteria-dangerous.html *Note: I'm aware that these two references are not exactly high quality sources. There's only so much time in a day.

Scadrial is an Earth analogue, there's even a WoB about it.1 Therefore, it would not be that large of an assumption to make that it has comparable gravity to Earth which is higher than Roshar's has been stated to be. However, if we assume that both Rosharans and Scadrians are both roughly similar with regards to general strength relative to their home planet's gravity, then the advantage will go to the Scadrians regardless of the battle ground planet since their muscles have developed to deal with higher overall gravity. This is a temporary advantage if the battles are on Roshar since extended periods in a low gravity environment would cause muscular atrophy, skeletal atrophy, and lower blood volume.2 It would be a stretch beyond plausibility for the Scadrians to have this knowledge before such a war occurred though so it would likely happen in any prolonged conflict. Anyways, where are you getting this information that all Rosharans are taller than Scadrians? It's my understanding that the Alethi of Roshar are generally taller than most other people on that planet and that Scadrians have a more variable height. I've never seen a definitive comparison through the books or WoB that Rosharans, on average, are taller than the average Scadrian. Also, is there a WoB about all Rosharans having a small amount of Stormlight in their bodies? I cannot recall ever reading it in Mr. Sanderson's novels (outside of Surgebinders and the Knights Radiant squires) nor have I seen any WoB about it. 1. http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1088#52 2. http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast02aug_1/

The thing to remember with Kandra is that they are still living beings that take in material and excrete it. In Hero of Ages, we see TenSoon imprisoned and fairly emaciated. A kandra can increase their mass by eating a person or living being and decrease it by expelling the matter. Is there a WoB detailing the exact degree of control the Stormfather has over Highstorms that I'm unaware of? To my knowledge, his ability to control the Highstorms extends to sending them out. That's all we have evidence for his control over them as far as I'm aware. Not to mention that Highstorms by definition are unidirectional storms filled with investiture that lose their intensity the further west they go, presumably due to losing momentum and such by passing all the mountains on Roshar. Now, before I go off to look for WoB's to create a decent argument for this thread, I have some questions regarding the situation we're discussing as the answers could be vastly change the match-up. So, what time are we discussing, Right around The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance or something properly in Era 2 Scadrial? By my understanding, trying to match Roshar's capabilities anywhere near the Wax and Wayne novels is an exercise of pure speculation while we have some knowledge of what Scadrial was like roughly around the current Stormlight Archive novels. Secondly, what planet would this war take place on? This is, of course, ignoring any issues with worldhopping armies/scouts/supplies/etc. since neither planet has the capability to do any mass worldhopping by their respective latest books. Thirdly, who are the actual combatants? Scadrial most likely has 6 distinct polities (the Elendel Basin counting as one and counting the 5 peoples in South Scadrial as 5 separate polities) while Roshar has many but we only know a good deal about the military of, by a generous estimate, one to three (Jah Keved doesn't have much fight left after its civil war or during it and Kharbranth is a small city-state which most likely has more surgeons/healers than soldiers). Sorry for the large block of text. I just feel like the discussion could be better served if we all agree on the actual situation the hypothetical war would take place, something that I've seen has been a problem in the last 11 pages.

I've been a long time lurker to these forums and joined mostly because this is blatantly wrong. Feruchemy gives one immunity to the effects of the ability being tapped. It's why Wax and other Skimmers don't crush themselves (and can actually move while tapping their ironminds) and why Firesouls don't get brain damage when tapping their brassminds. There's even a WoB about it. http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/2383-qa-with-brandon-sanderson/?p=42125 Seriously, Steelrunners are terrifying.