Extesian

Yeah @Calderis I'd thought for a long time that it's impossible to fight am Intent forever, but then I saw this So I believe Bavadin is still fighting after 6000 years. She may succumb eventually but that WoB changed a few things in my mind.

Hehe ironically Kered, the thing that inspired that post was a necro of a seven year old topic the other day which wasn't by you, but you did the following comment

This? I've wondered if it would have to be in the Cognitive Realm but as Nightblood cuts on all three realms I've assumed the same thing.

I always thought this was the logical explanation but surprisingly it's not, unless @PeterAhlstrom is wrong. It sounds like it's effectively a cultural bridge, that the Diagram requires the humans and Parshendi to remain separate. It could be some confusing wording and that there's a danger of a 'bridge' to Braize being formed by a Parshendi with a Nahel Bond, but the WoP doesn't sound like that.

It's not a bad thought. I personally believe that Bavadin has circumvented Autonomy's Intent and uses it as a means of increasing her power, is not enslaved by it. I suspect the apparently sudden interest in Scadrial is to stop Harmony becoming and remaining too powerful while he's still learning his way, and that the idea of autonomy is being leveraged to get a religious foothold into Scadrial. So yeah I think what you've said is very possible but for me it's an excuse for Bavadin to move against a dangerous adversary rather than the situation compelling Autonomy to act.

That's an interesting point I hadn't considered. If someone is holding it and doesn't have access to a flow of kinetic investiture Nightblood will eat their soul, but if noone is holding it and it's sheathless, could it eat investiture around it in gaseous form. I don't believe so, I think it needs to access investiture through a conduit, only for plot purposes. Otherwise you could drop Nightblood into a Highstorm, the mists or, most terrifyingly, a Shardpool. I can't imagine brandon designing it in a way that it could eat investiture directly from a Shard, it's too overpowered.

Yeah absolutely, but I figure Endowment basically interfered with humans on Nalthis to have a crack in their spiritweb genetically (or, as you say, lowered the threshold Harmony-style). I actually thought Nalthis may not have that need at all until I found that WoB. It may have to do with the nature of Endowment and how Breath is 'sticky'. But either way no 'snapping' seems to be required, there must be a different way those cracks are made and them filled. I suspect it's purely genetics on a world where every person is invested.

Just a correction @The Flash, lightweaving manipulates wavelengths of light and sound, not subatomic particles. And @Stormlightning you're right about cracks being needed. I haven't seen the question raised of whether that is somehow due to the Shattering. Interesting thought. I feel it's natural to the Cosmere but I haven't seen anything proving it one way or another.

Hmm a few WoBs for perspective Basically nothing we've seen that isn't a Shard is as invested as Nightblood, I think. Even an Honorblade. But I think it's even more about what he can do when 'fully' invested, ie having access to huge amounts of Investiture. He's just a dangerous sword normally but the allusions to the Manywar, and the little we saw it do unsheathed in Warbreaker, says a lot. So already one of the most invested things but feed it and I'm not sure much can stop it til it runs out of investiture. Oh and it's sapient because of its investiture (and I guess command), not the other way.

But...how will I earn my internet points by quickly finding obscure WoBs for other people's posts? No, this is, sadly, one of the happiest pieces of news I've heard in a very long time! I love you guys!!! And I can't wait until contributions are opened up, make use of my love of researching WoBs. In terms of name - how about The Words of Founding? You know, coz that was a collection of statements with implications for the Cosmere and Realmatics, handed down by a god to his faithful subjects to make the world a better place, and that people spend hours deciphering to determine their true meaning

Nothing yet but it's me excuse for when I do

There's quite a few but, for example,

WoK spoilers

Just wait WoK is my favourite but the awesomeness-to-the-power-of-rad continues! But not many scenes in all of fiction are as beautiful as "THE WORDS" scene

Yeah there's been a few confirmations (example below) and we've been told explicitly that we'll read about it in Oathbringer (though I can find immediately).

I've always thought atium was a decent possibility, with House Venture mining atium and the possibility that someone in House Venture is involved in inter-planetary trade My money would be on Felt (Venture spy master) as a confirmed worldhopper. But my problem with this is, as had been said above, knowledge of atium's true nature was pretty limited. But we are talking about worldhoppers here, if anyone would know atium's nature ie suspect it, even if they weren't allomancers they'd consider it valuable. Kandra is the other one that springs to mind specifically. I'm assuming they still kept to the Contract even if sent offworld.

you necro a seven-year old thread without noticing coz you've run out of WoBs to speculate on and are reading literally every post you can find.

What is your favorite prime number and when?

To quote the man So I don't think an actual love triangle but maybe some suspense and tension around who she chooses.

It was a recent one. I could see a Bond changing the spiritweb enough that a hordeling disconnects, but I guess a question is whether they have a centralised consciousness that controls the Hordelings or a collective one - perhaps if it's centralized, that central 'being' could bond.

Seems sensible to me, and I feel this WoB works with it Spiking is primarily affecting the Spiritual Realm (magically at least), so separating it from a group mind that us based in the Spiritual Realm would make sense. Also reminds me of the Parshendi at least tapping into the Spiritual Realms through the Rhythms.

Yeah they're getting that investiture but I'm just assuming it's nowhere near enough to restore themselves. I don't think they need investiture regularly to maintain their form though, like Returned, where they're dead but investiture is needed regularly to keep their soul stapled to their old body. Whereas Elantrians don't die, their body just can't get enough investiture to keep their alive body matching their new improved soul. I think they stay intact but need a bit of investiture for very basic healing and so on. Just what they get from the pipeline is nowhere near as much as you get from being in the operating vicinity of a fully functioning Elantris. But yeah whether they're pre- or post-Reod Elantrians, they would react the same to being far from Elantris. If we see a full glowing Elantrian on another world, without a big source of investiture, that would prove that wrong though.

The relevant WoB for this, for reference

So a couple of WoBs, hopefully i haven't missed anyone citing them as I haven't been following this thread closely either. You can bond an Honorblade, to summon in back to you and so on, the difference is that if you drop it it won't disappear. But otherwise you're bonded to it like a bond with a Shardblade (not a bond with a live Spren that turns into a blade). You can also bond more than one spren, it's just difficult because of the spren, I imagine either because of conflicting oaths or maybe just possessiveness So in response to the OP there's really no way you could do it with Nahel bonds. Maybe two but for the rest you need Honorblades. But that should be possible, he didn't imply am upper limit on the number, and you could just summon one blade. I'm assuming you can still surgebind with all of them while they're unsummoned.

Thanks guys. @Yata I've changed Shaod to Shaodic Elantrian, which I hate, but you're right that Shaod is confusing. @Djarskublar you're totally right, I forgot about existing Elantrians changing with the Reod. I had thought about Cognitive Shadows but as was rightly acknowledged we've been told they're not. However this doesn't bother me too much. It firms up one of the questions I had, about whether the faulty Elantrian equation changes the spiritweb fully or partially. I think Elantris, both post- and pre-Reod, changes the spiritweb fully, but the error prevents enough investiture flowing through. Elantrians defy existing definitions; they're almost a Cognitive Shadow but they never died, the equation is designed to hold their physical selves (and possibly cognitive and spiritual selves, to an extent) together with the accompanying investiture. They're also like a savant, with widened channels, but again because of the perfectly calibrated equation, investiture stops them from breaking down physically like a Soulcasting savant does. When the equation breaks, it doesn't so enough to stop Elantris altering spiritwebs of the initiated, it simply prevents enough investiture coming through to maintain the balance. So yeah I think in the operating vicinity of Elantris, that change will be forced on anyone initiated, and alter their spiritual, cognitive and physical aspects in a way that requires constant access to large amounts of Investiture. Whether pre- or post-Reod Elantrian, if that access to Investiture is stopped, the Shaod takes effect because there's no investiture to anchor their physical (and possibly cognitive) aspects to their enhanced spiritweb. The difference with a Returned, or cognitive shadows generally, is that the Physical self was never severed from the other Realms, their bodies never died. The lack of investiture isn't enough to kill an Elantrian, only enough to have their physical body just hang on. It would also settle the question of why the IRE must far pre-date the Reod, but when we see them they're Shaodic Elantrians after the tone Elantris was restored. Any Elantrian no longer accessing sufficient investiture will have their physical bodies break down like that. If they went back to Elantris they'd be restored.