Extesian

I...woah. Am I the only one who thinks it ironic (not just here but generally) when people start putting labels on which kind of discrimination is the worst? In my mind, any active discrimination that is based on factors irrelevant to a person's character is terrible. Doesn't matter if it's racism, sexism, aggressive nationalism. It's all appalling. I'm not diminishing racism of course. But to imply that discrimination based on eye color is any better than discrimination based ion skin color diminishes the effect of prejudice on a person being discriminated against. I think that was Brandon's point in inventing a new type of prejudice. To demonstrate that the source of prejudice is less important than the effect on people.

Tell me about it bruh. That’s why I was reluctant to even post it, it’s all so intertwined and each part hinges on the initial suppositions being correct, which I seriously doubt they are. It’s also why I’m half expecting no replies on it, where do you even start? Yeah my biggest doubt was Cultivation’s role in all this. I started with the idea that Cultivation is imprisoning Odium directly, but it didn’t make sense with the Heralds existence starting a Desolation. I tried working in that Braize was originally inhabited by a different Shard, that Odium splintered, and that the Heralds are actually of that Shard. I tried working in Endowment, due to Taln referring to ‘The Gift’. I tried all sorts of combinations, but they just didn’t work with the WoBs I found. But Cultivation is still the biggest mystery to me, and that Cognitive Realm wall is a desperate attempt to find some role for her in all this. That’s why I feel a bit strange about this “””theory”””, it’s a lowest common denominator version of Rosharan system history, but that also is trying to come up with a non-obvious version – which makes it hard to fit in with the WoBs. In the end, if it even raises any ideas or discussions that do have more grounding in evidence, I’ll be happy. I honestly think that, at best, 5% is true, and that the main ideas are most certainly not true. I don’t like writing theories that I don’t believe in, it makes me feel itchy inside. So feel very free to pick apart. I do hope the WoBs come in handy though. I know I’ll be using them any time there’s questions on Rosharan planets, Shards, the Heralds, Desolations and Oathpact. And maybe someone else will be able to use them to come up with a better theory!

Honor used to be alive to, as Nale put it, regulate the Oaths. I don't think there are ten Bondsmith spren but if there are, that would be the reason there was a limit before I think - Honor regulating the Oaths rather than the spren. (My new ridiculous theory gives a possible realmatic reason why Honor would regulate the Oaths, I won't cite it here)

I got the in with Mr Universe bro, getting an old feed. Imma hook you up.

@Calderis I was 4 days off, not a bad guess (Btw first time I noticed we have the same Shard anniversary. Amazing)

I love this WoB and it's an excuse to post it

There are a couple of separate issues here. Vasher, as a Returned, needs to consume one Breath a week to live, to keep him, as a Cognitive Shadow, stapled to his physical body. It seems that can be any Shard's investiture as long as Vasher can access it. Awakening is a specific use of kinetic investiture and it requires Endowment's investiture (unless some hack is used). However, Breath is actually the easiest magic system to gain access to. Breaths can be transferred to anyone and with those Breaths they can awaken (if they know how). It is not location dependent because it uses investiture from the user, not from an external source (like allomancy does). It's end-neutral. And yes, only Nalthians are born with Breath and that makes them more Invested than the average person in the Cosmere. But if they give away all their Breath and become a drab they're actually less Invested than the average Comerean.

Where in Sweden? I love Scandinavia, I've only spent time in Stockholm but I did catch a train through most of the country Enchanting, in the way only The North can be to an Australian.

WoB Summary The Heralds and the Oathpact The Heralds 'go back' when they die, without choice, but are supposed to 'go back' voluntarily if they don't. Taln mentions fire. Ishar provided the reason for breaking the Oathpact, that one Herald still being bound may be enough to end the cycle of desolations, and that it is justified because the Heralds chose the Oathpact willingly. Kalak believes Odium will find a way around this and avoid being bound by it. Taln remembers (and currently feels) heat and fire and torture. He speaks the same words without thinking them and refers to the words not being his. He also refers to the Gift. He also says that he thinks he's too late, this time. Rosharan mythology has the Heralds coming down from the Tranquiline Halls Rosharan mythology refers to the Heralds' Proving Day (presumably some sort of tests to determine who could become a Herald. Cognitive Shadows, because they exist through investiture, are generally tied to an 'area', which has happened to the Heralds, and to Odium, and Honor/Cultivaiton. The Honorblades, which were pieces of Honor's soul, gave the Heralds direct access to his essence. A Desolation ending involves the departure of the Heralds. Heralds must consume Stormlight just as inefficiently as others when using Honorblades, but they have 'other advantages'. The Heralds are reborn when killed. The Heralds are technically a variety of Cognitive Shadow; Cognitive Shadows are bits of sapient magic, endless and eternal, but which can have their personalities destroyed in certain ways. At least some of the Oathpact is still functioning,. Honor's splintering was at best tangentially-related to the 'breaking' of the Oathpact (but if pinned Brandon would say it's not), A Desolation starts because the Heralds can no longer be in existence after a certain period of time. A new Desolation starts if they are there too long, and a Desolation will not end until they have left. But as long as one of them remains, a Desolation will not restart. The Oathpact is also not broken. The parties to the Oathpact were the Heralds, and Honor. Taln is 'Rosharan' bu RAFO to whether he is native to Roshar - but all the Heralds are from the same place. The place that all the Heralds come from is not Nalthis. http://theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1152 The Heralds have spoken to Tanavast. The Heralds feel it is partially Tanavast's fault, what has been done to them. The Heralds cannot surgebind without Honorblades, but that doesn't mean there's nothing else they're capable of. The Desolations and the Final Desolation The new (Final) Desolation is happening differently to all previous ones. In this Desolation the Everstorm causes the transformation of parshmen. It is implied that the previous ones had the parshmen transform before a storm came. Jasnah indicates there are records she is seeking, but that this means ancient writings can't be relied on, and indicates that the highspren told her something about this. Honor leaves Dalinar with a vision, of Honor's fear of the True Desolation, which shows the literal destruction of Roshar, the rock disintegrating into dust. Honor believes Odium's tactic is to let Roshar get weak by in-fighting, and that Roshar is losing. Honor raises the possibility of a Champion, noting Odium (and all Shards) are bound by some rules. Honor expresses dismay that the Dawnshards are not available/there/an option. Ishar convinced Nale that renewal of Nahel Bonds will let men discover 'the greater power of the Oaths. Honor is no longer there to regulate the Oaths. There is a small chance that what comes next would allow Voidbringers to again jump between worlds, causing a Desolation and the end of the world. Melishi, a Bondsmith, defeated the Voidbringers (presumably, changing them into Parshmen) with something related to the unique attributes of his Order, related to the 'very nature of the Heralds and their Divine duties. The Rosharan System's Shards and Planets About "half-ish" of the Shards have been 'killed'. Cultivation is alive, was close enough when Honor was splintered to know how to fight back, learned from the experiences of others. Odium went after Ambition first, couldn't find him/her, killed Devotion and Dominion instead, then found Ambition - then got trapped in the Rosharan system. Odium being trapped in 'Roshar' is not a direct result of the Oathpact. But the Oathpact is a part of it. Rosharan mythology is that mankind lived in heaven until Voidbringers captured it and cast out God and men. Actual knowledge of the other planets in the Rosharan system influenced Rosharan mythology. The Cosmere's religious versions of heaven are different to the actual afterlife, and the Tranquiline Halls are different again. Odium can influence all three inhabited planets in the Rosharan system. The other planets in the Rosharan system have a great deal of influence on Roshar. Biggest RAFO whether Hoid has been to Braize. Damnation exists on all three realms. RAFO on whether Cognitive Shadows on Braize are KR shades. Only Odiumspren are welcome on Braize. Odiumspren are different to anything we've seen so far. RAFO on whether the smoky place in Dalinar's vision, with dark sky and an endless jagged and rough field of dull, bone-white rock, is Damnation/Braize. At least one Shard has a shardpool that is not on the planet which it currently inhabits. Cultivation is a fully-living, fully-aware and very powerful Shard.

Part 2 Summary so far So to summarise so far (noting the extraordinary number of assumptions/questionable evidence that leads to each step): H&C are on Braize with humans; Odium invades; H&C escape to Roshar with humanity but H leaves an investiture prison in place, while C walls off the Rosharan Cognitive Realm from Braize; H creates the Oathpact to have the Heralds use his power to keep Odium trapped; when a Herald breaks and returns to Roshar the Oathpact’s effects on Braize dissolve and H returns to Braize to take its place; Voidbringers use this chance to jump to Roshar before C seals the hole; Heralds and surgebinders use up so much investiture on Roshar (a closed system) that, if the Heralds don’t return to Braize in time, H must remain on Braize, open up the pathway again and send more investiture to Roshar and the loop starts again. Tenuous, but let’s check against other things we know. Knights Radiant and the Recreance Hold up. What about the elephant in the room? The Knights Radiant and the Recreance. And why does everyone hate on surgeebinders? Ishar wants them dead to avoid a Desolation. The Diagram talks about destroying them, but knows the Desolation is unavoidable. And they all broke their storming Oaths for some reason important enough (in their minds at least). By this theory, that's simply that the more investiture is drawn upon from Honor, the more is drawn from Braize, the more easily such a pathway opens up. And I think it may be imortant that the spren are being pulled more into the physical realm, blurring the lines between the Realms. Roshar already has weaker boundaries between the Realms than other planets, and I think the mass bonding of spren and pulling them big time into the Physical Realm weakens the Cultivation's wall, blocking off the Braize Cognitive Realm from teh Rosharan Cognitive Realm. The Knights Radiant found at that if they kept drawing upon that power, kept weakening the separation between the Realms, it would let Voidbringers jump en mass, and perhaps even release Odium's full potential. I don't want to believe the Recreance was selfish, about avoiding a fate as an actual shade fighting Odiumspren on Braize. For every Radiant, except those from one order, to break their bonds over that feels unlikely. I think it was for a selfless reason. This one may not be likely, but I prefer it! What about Honor's splintering and the Final Desolation The Final Desolation then is different to the others. Previous ones were a window of time when Voidbringers could cross, before the walls were put up again in the Cogntiive Realm. Odium had to try to win through total victory with limited troops and a lack of ability to bring his Shardic power to bear. Honor said that Odium is winning, letting Roshar weaken itself slowly. If any of that theorizing is correct, he had 4000 years to weaken Taln, requiring more of Honor's investiture (and perhaps even presence) to hold Odium in place, weakening both the prison and Honor, and perhaps Cultivation if enough investiture was being pulled from Braize as to make a pathway. This continues for thousands of years until Honor is weak enough that Odium kills him and splinters the Shard. And of course Odium wouldn't stuff the Shard into the Cogntivie Realm, like on Sel, because that's how his spren get from Braize to Roshar. I suspect that wouldn't stop Honor's investiture in Braize continuing to do what it was doing (a la the mists) but the lack of mind controlling it would still make a difference, weaken the prison, weaken the lines between the Realms perhaps, perhaps force Cultivation to work harder. Until a millenium (big give or take) later, the whole system is weak enough for him to act more forcefully, doing things like (pure speculation here) Scouring Aimia, and unleashing the Unmade and controlling them carefully. Things get destabilized enough that the spren know the crem is about to hit the fan, and some start to make plans to renew the Nahel bonds. Once the spren begin this, multiple people have been bonded and are starting to surgebind, pulling investiture from the splintered Honor Shard, Odium...breaks Taln. Which he could have probably done at any time in the last 1000 years, but he's a patient Shard. Taln returns, the prison breaks, the pathway is open, but it's still limited. But what else has Odium been doing? He's been corrupting the Listeners of course. So the pathway that was opened by Taln's return suddenly becomes a huge, permanent link between Braize and Roshar, when the Odiumspren, who can now make the jump and control the Listener's bodies unleash the Everstorm (which I won't speculate on the realmatics of). And now Roshar needs to deal with all the Odiumspren coming, all of them, bonding with every Parshman, leaving a hole in the spiritweb for Odium to control. Conclusion I know, I can't believe it either. This post is concluding! I haven't dealt with the Dawnshards. I haven't dealt with Cultivation properly because I just don't know. I haven't dealt with a big one - Feather's idea of Odium intercepting Rosharan's Cogntiive aspect after they die and before they get to the Beyond. (When I started this, that was one of the big things I wanted to address. And I feel this rambling theory may even help support that idea, with it's connections between Braize and Roshar, weaknesses in the Realms, Rosharans being invested by Shards that were originally on Braize...But it's too much. I hope, if you read this, that you enjoyed this piece of alternative Rosharan Secret History fan-fic I will be delighted if any of it turns out to be right, I'll be very happy if some is intriguing enough to spark some good conversations. On to the part of this post that think will be far more useful, the collection of Wos I used WoB list to follow

nb: Theorizing will follow, but the thing I hope will be useful is the list and summaries of several dozen WoBs and canon sources on the Rosharan system, the Oathpact, the Heralds, the Rosharan system Shards and planets, and the Desolations. Scroll to the end if you need them. WHAT'S UP WITH ROSHAR?!? Introduction So I started this endless post to test the idea that the Heralds are from Braize, and I ended up looking at the Desolations, the Oathpact, the Heralds and Odium’s Braize habitation. I ended up with quite a collection of canon and WoB material on the Heralds, Braize, Odium, the Oathpact and the Desolations which are probably worth sharing. I want to say first of all, this has become far more, and far less than a theory. I think a lot of what I suggest is so tenuous that it's probably at best a collection of unusal ideas of the history of th eRosharan system and the realmatic aspects of the Oathpact and desolations. Not a theory. It's pretty unpolished because, well, I've spent enough time on this! I actually thought about not posting anything, because I don't like wild speculation, but it would seem a waste to not do anything with the WoBs. So think of this as...a story. Rather than the expected expectations for Rosharan history, future and realms, it's my piece of fan worldbuilding that I've tried to keep realistic, against what we know. Not likely, but realistic. An important thing to note here is I created the WoB catalog first, then wrote the theory. So if I've made any clear claims casually in the theory, they should be based on the WoBs I've summarised below. If not, call me out on it. But don't call me out on it until you've checked the WoBs I am also spoilering every WoB for length reasons, and I am doing the same with some tangents in the theory. There are no Oathbringer spoilers here. But there are of course vast spoilers for Stormlight Archive. There actually aren't too many spoilers for the other books though, more the Cosmere in general. So, here goes, with quite literally an explanation of my thought processes and structured as such. What causes a Desolation All I wanted to do was answer why the Heralds go to Braize to be tortured, and why a Desolation starts when they break? So what causes a Desolation, I asked mysef? The Heralds (all 10) being ‘in existence’, presumably on Roshar or at least in the Physical Realm. Then who has abandoned Roshar? Who is so important that the time where 10 angelic beings of power come to help you out is regarded as the time of abandonment? God. Surely? But why and how? So what causes a Desolation? And at this stage, I’m only dealing with normal Desolations, not the Final Desolation, which is happening differently to the previous ones. 1) All 10 Heralds being on Roshar? 9 were around for 4000 years and no Desolation. But previous Desolations happened so often that it seems likely they started as soon as one Herald ‘broke’. So I believe a Desolation is caused when no members of the Oathpact remain in Damnation (assuming that is where the Heralds go for their torture). I believe the Oathpact is realmatically powerful enough to enable just a single Herald in Damnation to hold back a Desolation. 2) Even at the end of a Desolation, if the Heralds do not go back, if they remain too long, ‘another’ Desolation starts. Again, this must mean the Heralds who are still part of the Oathpact. So the Heralds have a time limit for being on Roshar. 3) We have been told something else that could cause a Desolation (though it’s from the mouth of a mad Herald, via another mad Herald) – If humans discover the ‘greater power of the Oaths’ without Honor their to regulate the Oaths, there is a smallchance that what comes next would allow Voidbringers to again jump between worlds, causing a Desolation. Obviously Nale is wrong about the Desolation, it has in fact begun, but even through madness he must be realmatically aware for this theory to make sense. So, whatever a Desolation truly is, we know it involves Voidbringers jumping between worlds, either before or concurrently. And we know it’s caused (traditionally) by any member of the Oathpact being on Roshar/no member of the Oathpact being in Damnation. How do Voidbringers get to Roshar? First thought would be that the Oathpact involves the Heralds staying on Braize to trap Odium there, that Taln has been maintaining Odium’s prison for 4000 years. But two problems with that – why would the breaking of just one Herald in the past change this when there are nine left to maintain the prison, and we know from WoB that Odium being trapped is ‘not a direct result of the Oathpact, but the Oathpact was part of it’. But the Oathpact could be an all or nothing deal, and that WoB leaves room to move. But how does that actually let Voidbringers jump to Roshar? One option is that when a Herald breaks and returns to Roshar from Braize, this creates some kind of realmic 'pathway' from Braize to Roshar, either for the Herald to be transported there or for the Herald/Honorblade to be powered with investiture, but through which Voidbringers can follow, probably in the cognitive realm. But does it add up? If this pathway enables Voidbringers to come to Roshar, why would the Heralds not just all kill themselves immediately, shutting the pathway? Firstly, their Oaths I assume. But they broke their Oaths to break the cycle of Desolations, so I don’t think that can be it. I think once the pathway is opened by a Herald Returning, it stays open for a certain amount of time, before naturally closing unlessthe Heralds fail to go back to Braize in time – in which case the pathway forms again. Or it closes quite quickly but not before a whole army of voidbringers come. But then what makes it reopen if the Heralds stay too long? The Heralds that broke the Oathpact remained on Roshar, but this did not cause a Desolation to start again. This means that only members of the Oathpact are relevant, only someone still bound to the Oathpact being on Roshar can form this pathway. We’re assuming Taln has prevented this pathway from forming for 4000 years by holding strong, but that any time he finally broke (and I’m assuming this means his will was broken) he would have been sent to Roshar and the pathway would have formed. Does it fit with the idea that the greater power of the Oaths could lead to something that enables the Voidbringers to jump? Each Oath brings the spren more into the Physical Realm, and seems to give the surgebinder greater access to kinetic investiture. I think this is basically because the person and spren intertwine their spiritwebs more and more, which gives the surgebinder greater innate investiture, stronger Connection to Honor/Cultivation/Both. If Nale is right (and assuming I’m not missing steps in between – a big assumption) this indicates that either the increased Connection to the Shards, or the increased use of kinetic investiture (or both), creates a pathway, a means for the Voidbringers to jump. But how does the use of investiture on Roshar form such a pathway?I think it must be in the Cognitive Realm. Spren seem to be desperate for it there, I think that by having thousands of people bonded to spren, blurring the lines between the Realms, pulling in so much investitiure and giving it to the spren, it's dramatically weakening the walls between the Realms, and that's where the Odiumspren break through to Roshar. So, a pathway through the Cognitive Realm. But...why from Braize? Possible Realmatics of a pathway from Braize to Roshar So (deep breath), what is the common link between the Heralds (who are parties to the Oathpact with Honor, who are a type of Cognitive Shadow, who have a piece of Honor’s soul in the form of Honorblades) returning to Roshar, and Nahel-bonded surgebinders gaining greater and greater access to the investiture of Honor/Cultivation/both? I believe it’s a flow of investiture from Braize to Roshar to fuel the Heralds’ existence in the Physical Realm (much like a Nalthis Returned needs to consume investiture to keep their body stapled to their Cognitive Shadow), or more likely to fuel the surgebinding performed by surgebinders with the ‘greater power of the Oaths’ unregulated by Honor. I think Honor used to restrict the system to fewer Oaths than is possible, but later Oaths open up incredible access to investiture (and this is also the reason Ishar forced the original surgebinders to have organization thrust upon them and become orders of Radiant). Basically I see the later Oaths as spren enabling Radiants to become like Heralds, mimicking the system by which Honor made the Oathpact But why, why would greater use of investiture in Roshar cause investiture to flow from Braize?If not from Braize, basically, why would open up the possibility of Voidbringers going from Braiaze to Roshar? Because (and you’ll all shout at me now, coz here’s where the theorizing becomes speculation), maybe, Honor is still invested in Braize. Not exclusively, but there is still a significant portion of the Shard's investiture there. We know there are Shards whose shardpools are not on a planet they currently inhabit. Vorin mythology involves the Voidbringers invading the Tranquiline Halls, kicking out God and men. Is Braize the Tranquiline Halls, Damnation and Odium's Prison? What of the Oathpact? I think Honor and Cultivation originally set up on Braize – that Braize is both the Tranquiline Halls and Damnation. When Odium invaded, I think they both bolted for Roshar but they left a trap first. They forced Odium to invest in Braize and then did something additional to prevent him from divesting. I don’t like the idea, because it feels derivative from Mistborn, but I think that Honor splintered off part of his investiture and left it on Braize to counteract Odium (similar to Preservation’s trap). Of course that wouldn’t be enough to trap Odium, the entire power of Preservation couldn’t do that, and Honor needed to be intact to setup a new world on Roshar. So he coopted 10 people to shore up things, to reinforce the prison. He made the Oathpact with the Heralds. The condition for the Heralds was that they last as long as possible in Damnation, binding Odium there using the binding power of Honor’s investiture (using, perhaps, the Dawnshards?). Odium tortures them in an attempt to make them return to Roshar. When one does, perhaps the link between the Heralds and Honor’s investiture on Braize creates this pathway which, once open, allows Voidbringers through (at which point the other Heralds leave for Roshar immediately). The Heralds’ proving day then was to prove they could not be broken like an ordinary person. In exchange, Honor gave them immortality by infusing their spiritweb with investiture via the Honorblades, making them Cognitive Shadows – but they would automatically be rebirthed on Braize to keep their end of the bargain - to keep Odium contained while they can, to fight Voidbringers when they can't, until Braize can be retaken. But when they return to Roshar, how is Odium kept imprisoned? Honor takes the place of the Heralds. Honor returns to Braize to keep Odium trapped, or pulls a lot of his investiture away to Braize. Either way, this is why it’s called a Desolation. Desolate is latin for ‘abandoned’. Since Honor leaves during this time, or at least withdraws enough of his investiture, Roshar has been abandoned or feels like it has been. And this is why there is a flow of investiture from Braize, because Honor actually moves there (yes I know Shards can’t move around easily but I’m assuming things are different within a solar system, for the same reason Odium can affect Roshar and Ashyn, even though he’s on Braize). But Roshar has an investiture cycle, an ecosystem that rapidly recycles investiture. So perhaps, when Honor is on Braize, the investiture cycle returns investiture to him on Braize. To keep Roshar operating properly (as it is so dependent on this system), and to enable the Heralds and surgebinders to do their thing, there needs to be enough investiture. Because all expended investiture is returned to Honor on Braize during this time, after a certain number of years, after a certain amount of investiture has been withdrawn from Roshar, Honor is forced to open up the pathway again, send investiture back to Roshar, unless he is relieved by the Heralds. Cultivation? Part of the trap? But what about Cultivation, you ask. What’s her role? Why does Hoid call her ‘Slammer’? Why does Brandon say that Odium has a full-intact, fully-alive, very powerful Shard opposing him? I think Cultivation has basically walled-off Roshar from Braize in the Cognitive Realm. Not completely, Odium can still affect it. But mostly. I think Cultivation is called Slammer not because she keeps Odium trapped on Braize, but because she keeps Odium out of Roshar – she’s built a prison that keeps the bad things out, rather than the bad things in. When a Herald breaks and goes back to Roshar, she must make a hole in that wall to allow the Heralds to return and to allow Honor to take their places. The Voidbringers force this open and follow, but before too long Cultivation seals the hole. The Desolation consists of humanity fighting the Voidbringers who managed to get through in time. If the Heralds then stay too long, because (theorizing) they’re like Returned and need investiture to stay in their bodies, and to fuel their surgebinding, this forces Honor to remain on Braize, feeding investiture to Roshar, and if it happens for long enough it weakens Honor enough that Odium can force out of his prison a bit and restart the pathway, despite Cultivation’s efforts. It’s basically a finely balanced system of keeping Odium trapped through a combination of Honor, the Heralds (wielding Honor’s bonding power) and Cultivation shielding the Cognitive Realm. This is why the normal Desolations were time-limited. The Heralds together would bind Odium. One would crack from the torture, return to Roshar and break the cumulative bond, weakening the prison. The others return because it’s all or none. Honor takes their place to keep Odium trapped. He can’t do so entirely, but Cultivation shores up things from the Rosharan end. If the Heralds stay too long, too much investiture is drained, Honor must open up the pathway to send more back, and the Voidbringers again follow this – new Desolation. Edit - I've decided to split this into three posts because it's super long!

This is the best. The. Best. Timely as well since I'm in the closing days of writing up a ridiculous megatheory that is definitely wrong but seems well researched. Well, it's very well researched, it will come with a collection and summary of dozens out WoBs. But the theory itself is ridiculous. One could almost call it...misinformation Anyway, this post was wonderfully ridiculous enough to get me out of my theory hovel temporarily. So thank you and don't worry, you'll think less of me soon

@Calderis I can't remember if we discussed it but what of Returned? When they give away their Divine Breath do you think they stick around in the Cognitive Realm? Or that the Divine Breath constitutes part of their Cognitive Shadow and giving it away means they're voluntarily giving away what holds them together? Actually I think we have discussed this and I thought the latter, and I'm assuming you agreed I'm just playing Odium's advocate

Yeah this place makes you realize there is way more going on than is apparent from the books at first. You wanna see the rabbit hole though, enjoy the hunt for the hidden thing in the map of Roshar, someone actually deciphering script and and the actual deciphering of the numerical code in the Diagram :)

It's been suggested that Harmony will manifest not just Hamonium, but Atium and Lerasium as well. I'm not sure I buy this (unless there's a WoB) but if it is, there would be three metals all coming from him and naming the combined one after the combined Shard would make sense. And since he could have been Discord if he wasn't so zen at holding two opposing Shards, the reminder of his hamoniousness is nice. I don't think any of that's true, but why not

You know you're a Sanderfan when you talk about having been so busy Sanderfanning that you've barely posted in two days, and it turns out you've posted 40 times. Perhaps we should change this thread to "You know you've got a Sanderproblem when..."

All the evidence of personality is that the Strormfather absorbed Tanavasts CS. And Calderis I think out was because of the visions But also potentially just to power-up the Stormfather. Add Honorvestiture to hi s Adonalstiture. I personally don't Helene he wa ever in danger from the Recreance for the reason I said elsewhere - he was too Connected to Roshar and all its inhabitants to ever be pulled properly into the Physical Realm (hence no Shardblade) therefore he was never trapped between the Realms.

Oh I will The vast collection of WoBs I found are still saved elsewhere, I'll just have to go through the quoting/ linking process again and then type my commentary up again. Hopefully tonight... Oh and don't expect too much, the theory is tenuous, but it's a topic that hasn't been debated in some time I think, and the WoB collection I was forced to make should be pretty useful for anyone interested.

You know you're a Sanderfan when you barely post for two days coz you're working on a theory and associated WoB collection and you sound hours linking and quoting WoBs, only to have your computer crash and it turns out there's no auto-save for new theories, and your soul breaks enough to bond a spren. Then you find out the spren doesn't give you access to Balefire so you break your oaths and stab your computer with your shiny new Shardblade.

@Oversleep can you explain exactly what you're looking for? I would've thought those WoBs establish that one can store and tap are different rates. Are you looking for something that explicitly says that for a particular metalmind, the speed at which you filled it doesn't affect the speed at which you can tap it?

My take is this. Chromium disintegrates the metal without attempting to burn it. Whereas nicrosil is actually burning it in one instant. Since feruchemical storages are much harder to burn then non-invested ones, I think he’s saying that it’s easier for chromium to do so because it’s not trying to ‘burn’ the metal ie access power through it, it’s just…converting it to a non-investiture state. Hmm that doesn’t feel too helpful now I’ve put it in words. Best I got.

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Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays this Calderis from the swift completion of his appointed rounds

Arthur Schopenhauer — 'Intellect is invisible to the man who has none.'

Brandon has posted this on Reddit. He will do Apocalypse Guard over the next year, with a novella between each book. This delays The Lost Metal a bit but raises the potential of a Cosmere novella. Could be Adamant or Silverlight (which he's said would be novellas), or a shorter-than-planned Threnody, or a Sel (if he's getting impatient before a proper sequel), or of course anything non-Cosmere. Oversleep didn't get much out of him, but if he needs it for a break from a non-Cosmere book, I like the potential of a Cosmere one. Then it's Lost Metal, Rithmatist 2 and Legion over the following year. Good news for Legion fans, that's been brought forward. And of course for the many Rithmatist lovers. After that, Stormlight Stormlight Stormlight! Below is the WoB, and below that the prior State of the Sanderson. Any word on what these novellas will be? Are they Cosmere? Reckonersverse or greater universe of Apocalypse Guard? Something else entirely? mistborn • 11h The way my process works, I'll probably need to see what I'm excited most about when I write them--something that gives me a break from what I'm writing. I've got outlines for a couple of novellas I want to do, but I can't say which I'd end up doing. Source Any hopes for potential novellas? Thoughts? Hopes? Dreams?