cometaryorbit

Huh! "We get evolution on a faster scale in most of the cosmere"... ok that makes this make way more sense! Thank you.

The AU Khriss essay calls it "the burning planet", which is curious because the disaster was like 8000 years ago - why would it still be burning? Something that created massive volcanoes - but what Surge would do that? Some kind of fire version of a highstorm?

I think live plate might be able to protect against that sort of thing, possibly... but who knows. -- A bit less than double speed with Stormlight plus a quarter lashing upward (half weight) suggests the Stormlight isn't doing that much for speed, since the halved weight should help a lot. So pewter is likely better on speed and strength- though Stormlight is ridiculously better at healing.

I thought blunt force (eg warform Parshendi two-handed slings flinging rocks) was better vs plate, not bladed weapons (except through the eye slit of course). Good point on concentrated force/pressure though. So a heavy rifle would probably be better than a grenade.

Yes exactly. The Paalm case disproves kandra memories being in the spikes. The spikes remove a blockage between Physical and Cognitive allowing the kandra to think properly (likely altering the brain too - kandra probably aren't biologically identical to mistwraiths given their vastly longer lifespan- but that's unconfirmed).

There's a reference to "the embrace of limitless pewter" making her basically invulnerable. @Frustration is right: pewter does increase healing. Sazed talks about this in book 1, saying they have to keep feeding Vin pewter after she's axed by an Inquisitor at Kredik Shaw. Normally it's slow; enough to make some normally fatal wounds survivable (Vin then, Elend at the Well) but still requiring convalescence (Vin takes ages to get back to full form after the Inquisitor axe incident), not fast healing like Gold Feruchemy. But with it amped up to near-Shardic levels in the process of Ascension, somewhat-increased healing speed becomes massively-increased healing speed.

TLDR: The Southern Scadrians weren't completely shielded from ash during the Final Empire era; wearing masks was originally protection against ash and became purely cultural after the Catacendre/Ice Death. Sazed didn't know they weren't default human at the time of his Ascension since their changes were natural not due to TLR at the Well. So we know that TLR didn't genetically alter the Southerners to survive the Ashworld. But at the end of HOA we see that the sun intensity without ash is far too much for any conventional life to survive - trees are bursting into flame. The solar system chart in Arcanum Unbounded also shows a huge difference in orbit, maybe something like the TLR-era orbit being half the distance of the original/Harmony-era orbit. So solar intensity is probably at least 3x Earth's (1/2 distance would mean 4x intensity). So the Southern Scadrians were originally unaltered. Yet they now freeze to death in conditions that others would consider "only mildly cold". And they have higher than human normal body temperatures. So why did they change, if it wasn't Rashek's work? Evolution perhaps... but for evolution to work the conditions have to be survivable for at least some of the population. Trees-bursting-into-flame conditions would just kill everyone, no evolution possible. So maybe the South pole was more reasonable. Still very hot... but polar latitude plus high elevation plus some ash cover... Sure the ash concentrated at the north magnetic pole (Luthadel) but that doesn't mean zero ash elsewhere. But the Southerners weren't modified to breathe ash... thus the masks. Probably they were simply cloth masks during the ash era - diverging into various cultural forms (Allik says the different Southern nations have different customs in regards to masks) and becoming more permanent and ornate things after their practical use was gone. Sazed probably restored the South to a mild climate... but since their high temperature adaptations were natural, not done by Preservation's power, he didn't see them with the "memory of the power " and thus didn't know to reverse them. (In RL, I don't think you could get major changes to something as fundamental as body temperature in a mere thousand years- 30 or 40 generations. But it's not unthinkable- there is individual variation in human body temperature, not everyone is exactly 98.6 F, so evolution could act on it. I just don't think it would be this dramatic- especially since the human brain has trouble with higher temperatures).

I thought TLR at the Well was depicted in some art in book 1? I know Yomen and Elend argue citations about it in book 3, which at least shows it was known to literary nobles.

The old TWG forum archive seems to not be working now. Do other people get a "maintenance mode" message?

Huh, that is not at all what I thought a Marewill flower would look like...

Good idea. Yeah pretty much. Well we know from WoB that plate would protect well against bullets, but Wax using Vindication could break Plate with two shots, arguably maybe one shot in absolutely ideal conditions (which probably includes Steelpushing the bullet for extra force). Combined I think those WoBs actually give fairly strict limits- it's very effective against normal personal scale Era 2 firearms fired by normal users (a normal person would have real trouble hitting the exact cracked spot again, though Wax could do it) but once you boost that force to Vindication + steelpush levels it becomes potentially vulnerable. So a .22 would be useless but a grenade or any significant explosive would break right through, and a high powered sniper rifle (maybe not with Era 2 tech but once we get to mid-late 20th century*) might do it with one shot. * Era 2 firearms might actually be a bit behind their usual ~1910 equivalent level since Northern Scadrial hasn't had any regular wars since the Catacendre (being a single nation the whole time), though I think they had fights with koloss tribes .

I know from the reading at an event... but I meant actually publishing several chapters on the Tor website as has happened before.

Is there a text version/transcription of the weekly updates, or just the youtube videos?

I think Rayse-Odium wanted him as a superpowered warlord for his expected "greater war of the Cosmere". He can't leave Roshar personally, but he can send agents. Dalinar with the martial skills of his Blackthorn days (+restored youth) plus Surgebinding plus immortality would be a really terrifying being. Probably less powerful, strictly, than his current Bondsmith abilities - but more destructive. Especially since if he's intended to be a champion/warlord he'd probably get one of the best battle Surges - maybe Gravitation or Division. T-Odium though... who knows what he'd do with Dalinar, we don't know his goals. We see him struggling between his own plot-and-plan-for-control, calculated tendencies vs the raw rage of the Shard. EDIT: I don't think T-Odium would simply free Dalinar though, or that he now cares if anyone on Roshar sees him as good. His calculated, planning side (vs the raw Shard rage) still sees his goals as genuinely better for the cosmere overall (he thinks that it is ruled over by "broken gods" and that he could do better) but I think he's now powerful enough he doesn't need political allies.

Hmm, good point. Paalm was crazy, and perhaps that wasn't good for her psychologically, but being able to switch spikes like that and retain as much as she did does show that the spikes can't be *that* core to the kandra mind.

I believe there were preview/sample chapters for Bands of Mourning... any idea if there will be any for The Lost Metal?

Hmm! I figured it was the Ire (Elantris was found abandoned because the Ire moved into the Cognitive Realm) but the names are so similar, maybe the Iriali are connected to the Ire? Maybe they're non-Elantrian descendants of the Ire (away from Arelon the Shaod won't transform them), or descended from non-Elantrian servants or followers who the Ire took into the Cognitive? This could easily be promoted to a valid theory. EDIT: also my crazy theory where Kaladin becomes a Bondsmith in book 5:

I think you're probably right, but we know so little about the mechanics here - medallions apparently do become part of the user's spiritweb in some sense, which is why people can use them without being a nicrosil Ferring. There probably is some rule keeping an actual nicrosil Misting from compounding medallions, but it's not clear how/why. That's why I don't think there's any point in adding medallions to the debate... we don't know their limits and rules well enough. There might even be something keeping a natural Allomancer from compounding with a medallion - I don't think we saw that done in BoM. (It's referenced that the Bands could probably be refilled by Compounding, but that could be either natural Twinborn Compounders or the Bands' own powers - not one natural power + one medallion power). And if medallions are ruled out due to insufficient knowledge we should probably rule out Surge Fabrials too and stick to the regular Surge pairs.

That's why I think its better to stick to Radiants as we've actually seen them vs Mistborn as we've actually seen them- which means no guns or medallions for the Mistborn, but they do get atium; but no hypothetical Surge uses or adding Surge Fabrials on top of Radiant abilities. We don't really know what will keep Mistborn, once they reappear in Era 3 (?), from all being basically full compounders* through Medallions, but I think something will. We just don't know enough about the limits and rules of Medallions. *even if the 3 powers limit holds (and the Bands strongly suggest it isn't impossible to get around) a Mistborn with compounded Steel, Gold, and Pewter is almost as powerful in combat as a full compounder. I agree the later Windrunner squires learned faster than Kaladin, but while Vin trained for months she was able to jump off the city wall on her first day - and I believe Kelsier said his teacher did that to him, so that's not just Vin being awesome/intuitive. Vin's also a special case since she actually Snapped at birth, but we know exactly when Kelsier Snapped. Mistborn aren't super skilled at the beginning, sure - we see Kelsier during his training in "The Eleventh Metal" and he's definitely not the bar-spinning expert in Iron/Steel we see in Book 1 - but I think they gain basic competence for steel jumping significantly faster than Windrunners gain basic competence for flying using Lashings. Although Gravitation flight is better once you do develop it (except maybe Vin's horseshoe flight, but that's unique to her). I think part of the issue is that Radiants' Surges develop as the bond develops whereas Mistborn have full access to all metals upon Snapping, they just have to learn skill.

Nitpick: Nahel bonds were pre-existing on Roshar, even before humans arrived: the term isn't specific to the Radiant bond. The Radiant type bond weren't invented by Ishar either - Syl says spren did it by imitating the Honorblades- but Ishar did force the Orders into organization (its in the WOR epigraphs, where Ishar apparently threatened to destroy them all if they didn't accept order). - As for the Oathpact, the Stormfather says "the Heralds went to Honor, and he gave them this right, this oath". So it was definitely initiated by the Heralds and probably Ishar specifically, but it's not clear how much guidance Honor gave them or how much of implementing the idea Honor handled.

I've read mistborn era 1 out loud but Stormlight, now that's long...

Yeah, pretty much. But that does seem a bit similar to Connection since the metalmind or object holding Breath is separate from the Feruchemist or Awakener... ...But maybe not separate in the Spiritual? Like a Shard/Avatar kind of thing?

Eh... technically maybe, but access to Atium is standard for Mistborn in the Era when Mistborn are actually a thing. The vast majority of Mistborn are noble and hooked into the atium economy, and even outlaw skaa Mistborn like Kelsier could get it just fine until after the Collapse. If we stick to same-era the Mistborn gets atium or bendalloy/Leeching but not both. Depends on the type of Radiant. I'm not sure if that would protect against Jasnah's ranged Soulcasting. We've seen very little Division, but I'd expect at high ideals it could burn down someone moving at 10x speed. ( Gravitation flight under a double Lashing is likely at least that fast though we don't know Roshar's air density.)

Soulcasting is crazy powerful, certainly, but it's not the only Surge that is. Look at what Bondsmiths can do... Due to Soulcaster fabrials, Soulcasting is well-understood in a way that other Surges aren't. I imagine other Surges have potential crazy applications when fully understood (Hoid talks to Jasnah about blowing up whole armies in ROW: Division?) Progression can literally bring back the dead (recently dead only, sure, but still...) Surgebinding as a magic system was specifically limited by Honor because it was so potentially powerful. That means something. --- As for the logistics implications of Soulcasters: Yeah its pretty crazy. But that's the only way Alethkar can maintain such huge armies in terrain as barren as the Shattered Plains. I bet thats a big part of how they survived the Desolations too.

Definitely - if the Radiant is in Shardblade range the Mistborn is probably doomed (barring atium, and even then 30 seconds or so won't be enough to wear through their defenses at higher Ideals). Though tin (which is very slow burning and probably on most of the time) means ambushing a Mistborn will be really, really hard for anyone except a Lightweaver. Though l guess when they're asleep... I wonder if bronze detects Surgebinding by default (since it's loud/high-power) or if that is a really advanced skill (since it's an alien magic system)? I do think this is a key point. A lot of the Allomancy abilities are pretty intuitive- pewter makes you stronger/faster/tougher/more agile, tin improves your senses: abilities you already know how to use, just better. Bronze/copper detect/hide: sure there's subtlety with bronze, but the basic "magic here!" function doesn't really have to be learned. Atium basically does the work for you. We see atium users dodge attacks coming from behind even when they didn't consciously see the shadow before dodging. The external mental/physical metals are the ones where skill really matters, and even they seem to be easier to learn than a lot of Radiant abilities. Shooting coins at people is pretty easy, and if you have pewter to absorb hard landings learning to jump isn't that bad either. (Doesn't Kelsier claim his teacher pushed him off a wall his first day, or something? Sure Vin is exceptionally intuitive with Allomancy, but I think it really is learned fast.) Pretty much. I would say 3rd ideal is pretty binary - either the Mistborn can stay out of range long enough to wear through Stormlight healing with coins (and win), or they can't (and lose). A 3rd ideal Windrunner/Skybreaker, or maybe Dustbringer/Elsecaller depending on the ranged ability those Orders have at 3rd, would probably win.