Spoolofwhool

My opinion is that savantism is a result of investiture changing the vessel it is in so that the vessel can hold it more effectively. Since the properties investiture gives to an allomancer is not natural to the allomancer, there is an imperfect fit so the investiture, in high amounts, change the body. On the other hand, as Yata said, the attributes the feruchemical charge add to the body are natural aspects of the body, there is no strain. Therefore, no savantism occurs. This is the same reason why people holding large amounts of breath, at least Nalthians, aren't changed despite holding that much investiture, because the investiture and the vessel are suited for each other, so no changes need to be made.

I doubt placing stormlight in shardplate would allow for the permanent storage of stormlight since we have a WoB that effectively says that nothing can due to the nature of stormlight. However, if shardplate is directly created from the physical manifestation of stormlight then it could be possible, but I don't think this is the case.

Yes. This was what I was referring to. We have so much evidence in the books which is just screaming "atium is the lost metal" that I feel like it would be a very good twist if the lost metal isn't atium, and would be kind of dull if it isnt.

I believe the extra spikes were observed by Vin to be in his chest. I'd have to recheck that fight scene.

I think the first solution is better. The second feels a bit too much like an asspull and would undermine the strength Elend would exhibit in HoA because of the lerasium, if they try to make that come across, even in undertones.

Chromium misting you mean? In any case, do leechers affect metalmind charges though?

Compounding is a hack of one system using another. I don't think that's his resonance, as it is usually unrelated to the magic systems which cause it.

The way I see it is that there were the natural cymatic patterns in the rock, then the cities were built in them, along with the oathgates. This fits with Kabsal's reasoning that the touch of the Almighty was everywhere, else if the city had been constructed to fit the cymatic pattern, then the argument would've been completely invalid. At the same time, it seems really unlikely that the oathgates could've caused the patterns in the already built city, as that would've been hugely disruptive. Overall, this indicates to me that the oathgates don't cause earthquake problems.

No one. SA is a happy little tale where no one dies.

Spren aren't surges. Surges are human interpretations of underlying Cosmere mechanics. The spren just change people so that they can surgebinding in my opinion, rewriting the spiritweb. Therefore, you should be able to steal the changes using hemalurgy.

If the man called Taln is Taln and is holding his Honorblade, then I'd say he is stronger than Nale currently. If the man called Taln isn't Taln or doesn't have his Honorblade, then I'd say Nale is stronger.

A lot of good ideas which I'm agreeing with. Overall there's really only one element I hope they keep: Vin's homicidal hat trick. (RIP Elend's fiancee, god, siblings and father)

Tapping weight increases your body's strength only enough so that your body doesn't crush itself, and no more. You will exceed the strength needed to move eventually.

@Jondesu It's possible that Vasher was thinking about the Cosmere long-term when he killed her. They had already been to other worlds and he could've potentially seen how strong a trump weapon such as Nightblood could've been, especially if Shashara had managed to refine the process and eliminate some of the more critical flaws.

Yes. As @Yata says, the physical augmentation granted by Nightblood passively shouldn't be taken that lightly. We've seen that it essentially not only gives regular people the strength needed to wield a sword in scale for a Returned effectively, but also the additional strength needed to hold the sword and ram it through your own chest. I could be wrong, but I think that would be extremely hard even with a regular sword, so for a larger sword, you would need a fairly high amount of strength. Overall, it is true that Nightblood has some glaring flaws. However, let's not forget that it was a prototype, just a test to prove that the existence of Type IV Awakened Objects was possible. Perhaps it's not exactly the power of Nightblood which Vasher feared and killed Shashara for, but rather what could've been produced had she taken time to improve upon Nightblood's design. In any case, I think Nightblood is dangerously powerful. However, it's power isn't seen in mundane combat as people seem to be thinking, but rather that it is a trump to practically every other invested weapon. Unlike what Oversleep said, I think it is more scary in a world with shardblades, as the holder possesses the power to potentially permanently destroy other shardblades. The army the holder is with would potentially safe from shareholder opposition, as the opposition may be unwilling to field their shardblades in fear that they would be destroyed, while the holder's allies could still field shardblades of their own.

Yeah, Ars Arcanum isn't that clear. Just goes to show, that if Khriss doesn't really know what's up, then no one really knows.

@jofwu got the main meat of it, except left out one detail and added an inaccuracy. Nicrosil metalminds normally cannot be tapped by anyone. Like all other unkeyed metalminds, they can still only be tapped by those who have the power to tap and store nicrosil, soulbearer ferrings. However, the Southerners and the Sovereign who created the Bands of Mourning know a process which makes it possible for a non-soulbearer to tap a nicrosilmind, therefore gaining access to the powers it stores and granting the user the ability to tap the other metalminds of the Bands as well as burn any of the sixteen base metals. This is the same way that a medallion is formed.

Interesting thought. The timeline would be interesting because the Unmade are suspected to have been around during the Desolations, so the Dawnshards being lost happened well before Honor's splintering. Hopefully Oathbringer brings some new info.

Yes. That's my opinion as well. He has his Honorblade, but he doesn't have access to the same level of power he possessed previously, so it doesn't have the same meaning.

A lot of technical information isn't known from the books.

My opinion is that you can't burn metabolized metals as that would hurt you. It's a safe guard which preserves the allomancer. Also, as @randuir has said, iron in the blood is not elemental iron, but an ionic variant (Fe 2+) bound into heme groups. Edit: @HoidvsVoid You can burn that steel pin if it's allomantic steel. WoB is that you can also burn a copper IUD.

Nowhere because they don't need to be.

It's probably cognitive to some degree. I don't think "I'm your mouth" is considered to be in your body by most people. Also, in the mouth to prevent allomancy due to spiritual interference is not the same as in the body for allomancy.

They do have to either swallow the metalmind, though preferably by grinding it down first, or they can burn their piercings directly, if those are their metalminds.

I feel like I read a WoB on the matter. In any case, another explanation is that while Elend was the last Venture, it was only of the main branch on the family. It's possible that there was a side branch of Ventures somewhere else in the Final Empire which persisted through the Catacendre.