cometaryorbit

Does Harmony have one perpendicularity or two? I think one has to be in the South since they have ettmetal. But one in the Basin also fits since we see Hoid there, and Khriss in BoM.

There are several WoBs that f-Steel doesn't protect you from friction/air resistance - but it does protect from purely internal effects (not really specified, but I think it's things like the G-forces involved not breaking the Feruchemist's legs). One WoB even says that an a-pewter/f-steel twinborn would probably beat a double-steel twinborn in a short race, though he'd have to do the math... so I think the need for other powers (a-Pewter toughness and balance, f-Gold healing and maybe some combination of f-pewter/iron for footing, Stormlight healing and gracefulness, Abrasion, maybe Adhesion to deal with air resistance, or maybe Bleeder's kandra toughness) to get the most out of f-Steel is significant.

So what magic systems do we know exist but haven't seen published yet? Aethers (a bit of aether is in Mraize's collection but we've never seen Aethers used for magical effect) Microkinesis (but might not work post Shattering) Whatever Vax has Kite magic, maybe? Anything else?

Cultivation has a variety of meanings, but I am pretty sure the Shard Intent is "ordered growth" not simply "ordered change". There's a WoB that Cultivation would actually be a better pair for Ruin - ordered growth vs disordered decay (entropy). Odium is more than hate. It's not as broad as Passion, but from Taravangian's scene picking up the Shard, it's fury equally with hatred, and Dalinar and Venli's scenes experiencing the essence of Odium show it also includes desire/lust, adrenaline-rush, probably fear. It's definitely not all emotion, but it seems to include aggressive/conflict-driving emotions (not exactly the same thing as "negative" emotions, IMO - despair is more a Ruin thing). Also, the Sja-anat scene where the power of Odium wants arguments even when the Vessel wants to be obeyed without question... imo that's pretty strong evidence that Odium is pretty fundamentally the Shard of conflict the way Honor is of bonds. Also, this. That does seem oddly positive to me - I'd expect chaos rather than simply freedom- but these things are probably affected by the people involved. Harmony isn't the only combination of Ruin and Preservation possible.

See, though, if your Surges are Illumination/Transformation or Transformation/Transportation (so no pressure or friction control) I don't know if you can actually use more speed than a couple small metalminds can hold. Depends on how much Stormlight healing + gracefulness boost will help you deal with wind resistance/friction. (It'll certainly heal the damage, but will you be able to fight effectively with 500mph wind in your face?) OTOH Marasi can manage, apparently, sonic boom speeds with super boosted f-gold healing... but she might also be using f-iron and/or f-pewter to stay on her feet, it says she "tapped everything".

Yeah, the Stormfather is not very open with Dalinar and may well have been actively misleading. He definitely is more alien before the bond, but I don't think that rules out trying to deceive- especially as he completely misunderstood Gavilar's intentions, so that doesn't show a good understanding of humanity.

I don't think Cultivation is primarily selective pruning though. That entirely excludes the growth aspect, which is pretty core to what Cultivation is - I'd say the Intent is fundamentally "controlled/directed/shaped growth". Pruning is a tool Cultivation uses, but not the intent itself. And Odium is as much fury as hate, and has strong associations of conflict for its own sake ("the power likes disagreement" even when the Vessel just wants to be obeyed). That's why I think you'd get something more like "growth/fostering of conflict" or "transformation (of people/societies) through anger/hate/conflict" with that combination. Though the Intent of the one combining them probably matters too - I could see the conflict aspect of Odium wiping out the control aspect of Cultivation and producing something like "uncontrolled malignant growth". But I think any combination involving Cultivation needs a growth aspect. -- I think Dominion as an Intent is already very close to Tyranny - rule by force vs Devotion's loving service. Odium + Dominion needs a more 'aggressive' / conflict aspect imo. It's not just going to rule over people, it's going to actively go out and find/make up enemies. Dominion is good with people voluntarily joining its empire, Dominion + Odium would want bloody conquest. That's why I suggested that one. Ruin is fundamentally entropy so combined with Dominion you'd get, possibly, rule of entropy? Extinction maybe? Though if the Shards combined a different way you might get entropy of rulership, a Shard of Anarchy perhaps. That actually strikes me as a better Ruin + Dominion combo now that I think of it. Again, any Ruin combo needs an entropy aspect IMO.

I still think it's probably the real Stormfather uninfluenced by Dalinar's bond, but if there were a fake, Cultivation is one of the few plausible options due to speaking into Gavilar's mind. Re "Give it to me. Now. I need it" being almost the Words, the Stormfather says in OB that the Heralds "went to Honor. He gave them this right, this oath". They might have demanded it of Honor. I doubt the Heralds swore the Ideals Radiant-style.

Truthwatcher is definitely the one I fit best, and then ... hmmm. Lightweaver seems easier to make work with another Order since they don't really have oaths that can conflict, but those two Orders' approaches to truth might not work together well. The Orders we know the most about the Oaths for (Windrunner and Skybreaker) don't fit me well at all. I mean, I can see the "rule of law" aspect of Skybreakers, but not the whole 'going out and enforcing it yourself' part, even aside from all the crazy stuff Nale's doing with the Order. Edgedancer maybe? I do like their ideals but don't know that I'd do a good job at them. Truthwatcher + Elsecaller would be more interesting to me for the powers (healing/plant growth, transformation, transportation) but we don't know enough about Elsecaller oaths to know if those are compatible. Jasnah's scholarly mindset makes it seem plausible though. So until we learn more about the Oaths that's probably what I'd go with.

yeah, steel compounding + Abrasion is probably the best speed power-set in the cosmere, at least on a planet (Gravitation would be more useful for late-cosmere space Radiants... and Radiants with shardplate spacesuits is such a cool concept!) I don't think amount of metal is really a practical issue for metalborn using common metals like steel, Allomancy doesn't actually use very much metal. We only see people concerned about it if duralumin is in use, or for metals that are both expensive and fast-burning (atium in Era 1, bendalloy in Era 2). Spook doesn't worry about having enough tin, Wax doesn't worry about having enough steel.

I don't think it's deceptive, but I think it's influenced by the person involved. I think Navani's mindset is part of why she got "science" rather than say "civilization" from Cultivation + Honor, in the same way that Harmony isn't the only possible combination of Ruin + Preservation.

Yeah I think he could figure it out eventually, but the copperminds were needed to do it in time.

I think that applies to spren and Cognitive Shadows but not Invested living people. And (WB)

I think the voidspren were all imprisoned then. I don't know if enlightened spren are valid for Regal forms.

I don't really think Odium + Cultivation would go that way. I think it would either want to foster the growth of conflict and cause it to spill over into other conflicts, or would want to use continuous conflict as a tool to shape people's and societies' growth. In either case, that won't work if the other side is all killed off. Dominion + Odium or Dominion + Ruin would be more genocidal I think.

I always figured Szeth was talking about fabrial research; before the Radiants returned people thought Blades and Plate were ancient, forgotten fabrial technology. Navani discovered during the series that the gems weren't originally part of the Blade; before that they were assumed to be just really awesome fabrials.

I don't think any of those characters have the problem on Roshar (though now that Hoid has a spren bond he will have to deal with it upon leaving Roshar). Hoid, Vivenna, and Galladon are living people, not spren or Shadows, and Vasher and Nightblood won't have the same problem as their Investiture's Intent is "without strings", since it's (Warbreaker)

I can't remember who said this first, but part of Lirin's problem is that his pacifism is a very moral response to typical Alethi pointless conflict but doesn't work so well in the True Desolation. I agree with @Returnedthat his nonviolence is a thought-out, honest, deep commitment. And up until a year and a few months ago it was a 100% correct one. The Alethi were first killing each other & their neighbors in pointless skirmishes, then fighting a bloody war supposedly for vengeance but in reality for wealth and glory. The Alethi version of Vorinism sees war as the highest calling so they need to seek out excuses for war. That's *very* twisted and Lirin is absolutely right to reject it. But once the Fused show up, not so much. As long as Odium is directing forces conflict is unavoidable, I think. Even if humans unconditionally surrendered and became the lowest class in the Singer hierarchy, Odium would find a way to spur more conflict. It's kind of what he does.

I don't think we know yet whether there was peace between humans and singers for the whole time between Aharietiam and the False Desolation, or whether there were conflicts on and off. Pretty sure there were no Regals until the False Desolation.

It's also possible that Navani could do it in the future, but previous Bondsmiths (Honor-alive era) couldn't. IE it's an unchained thing not a Stormfather thing. It seems though that some less powerful version of Light-granting is "specifically a Bondsmith power".

I'm kind of skeptical that kandra merging is a real thing rather than an in-world tall tale.

I always liked the Dor theory too, but Autonomy being specifically not mentioned in the RoW epigraphs letter converted me to the Trell-Autonomy theory.

This is an awesome idea, and Kelsier might totally try something like this, but I don't think it would quite work as described.

"Corrupted" in this sense doesn't necessarily mean evil, it means that the Investiture has been co-opted or externally altered: soulstamps on a living person emit red smoke because they're using an external influence to alter the person's spiritweb. An Odium connection strikes me as unlikely because currently Odium's forces are trapped in the Rosharan System, and I don't think TLM will spoil Stormlight 5.

Yeah, Dalinar and Kaladin had a proto-bond with a specific spren before First Ideal. Skybreakers have a weird organizational structure where you join the organization first (First Ideal), then become squires to a particular Radiant (2nd), finally bond a particular highspren (3rd). Kaladin's squires are attached to him first, they don't have to join the Order as an organization beforehand the way Skybreakers do. I am not sure First Ideal Skybreakers have any powers at all.