Extesian

I like this. We do have confirmation that Honor's perpendicularity moves but the strong indication is that the pool in the Horneater peaks that Hoid presumably comes through its Cultivation's Shardpool.

I have a theory on this. White skin is to increase UV light absorption to give enough vitamin d. Black skin is when you get too much UV and you need to absorb less. The blue-white supergiant gives off massive amounts of UV light. So yeah it makes no sense for daysiders to have skin that would increase absorption. We know from AU that investiture is absorbed by microflora coating the sand, but not exactly how that happens. I suspect this relates to the atmosphere on Taldain filtering the light and converting it into investiture. I also suspect that Autonomy either put the planet in the system (coz boy is it bizarre) or at least picked the system to populate with humans, because it is so bizarre and could be seen as something of an experiment. So my theory is that the atmosphere, by design, actually traps the UV light from the supergiant, to turn it into investiture, and the dayside therefore doesn't actually get much UV light despite getting so much visible light. That's why daysiders have white skin, they actually need to reflect as much UV as possible because it's all being used up by the conversion. It's not a theory with evidence behind it, and to be honest it's more a thought/wondering than a theory. I'd love to hear where it falls over. But at least it could explain the weirdness of white skin in a theoretically UV rich place.

It was an earlier one As for the question of flora and crem..

Brilliant. We should do a charity kickstarter to morally compel Brandon to record this.

Hiphop edition Wayne and Melaan - 2 of Americaz most wanted TLR - Run the Jewels Kaladin - King Kunta Sazed - Picture me Rollin' Hoid - Changes

I love this because it was one of my recent theories and having a theory disproven is as satisfying as having it proven

There is a thread on it here. It's about why Ruin chose Vin but they're interrelated. Sazed does say in HoA it's because Vin is mistborn with a Seeker sister and a mum crazy enough to kill her other daughter with a hemalurgiv spike and make Vin a SuperSeeker, to enable her to hear the allomantic pulses of the well. That opened her up to Ruin's influence but that was required to have a Alert of sufficient strength (although a savant Seeker presumably would have worked). But you probably know this! I don't believe there's been any WoB more than that, and Sazed does say there were reasons beyond that. And welcome! Great first post.

I feel like wet haven't heard much, it was Thaylen, I think Rysn referred to them? There's a WoB though saying the religion (or philosophy perhaps) is not related to magic. I get the feeling it's just some worldbuilding detail rather than anything of Cosmere consequence.

I've been in two minds about this. At first I regarded it as general confirmation (if not clear or precise) of @Pagerunner's theory, which is one of my recent faves. Having looked more closely I feel Brandon is saying not that there are particles with Spiritual connection to Ruin and particles with Spiritual connection to Preservation, but that there is an element, comprised of course of sub-atomic particles, that is Spiritually connected to the merged Shard of Harmony. It's just that the merged Shard has its own internal conflict (disHarmony) and the particles connected to it are inherently unstable. It's not a satisfactory answer from a proper particle physics point of view and more detailed questions would be needed. But I think he was saying that "you could call it a sub-atomic particle sure" because he's saying there's no spiritual difference between the element and the particles within - they are all of Harmony and Harmony is unstable. Just speculation but I feel it solves the strange problem of why a guy with plenty of scientific knowledge and a team that beds down that scientific knowledge would sound like he's not distinguishing between an element (an atom) and the particles that comprise it.

As spool has said it's just the way Rosharans name splinters. However there are many spren on Roshar that do not bond, and many that bond but do not bond to Knights Radiant. The ones that do don't use the KR as a vessel though, they are already self-aware splinters that choose to bond (through a mechanism of Honor, based on that which He used to create Heralds with the Shardblades). Shardic power can take a Vessel but if it doesn't it will tend towards sentience. So KR spren have no Vessel they are just self-aware Splinters that in bonding Ruth certain people allow those people to access Honor's power in the form of specific surges (manipulation of basic forces).

It was great questioning. I'll repost what I put on the event signing page, I meant to put it here. No real useful theories just my thoughts on it. This transcript is very interesting to me. It sounds like the reaction is basically what we think of as nuclear but with different terminology. 'Nuclear' reactions are basically matter being converted to energy and as a tiny amount of matter us equivalent to a massive amount of energy, it's a big reaction compare to chemical reactions. The other way of course it takes massive amounts of energy to 'make' matter. The ettmetal reaction is analogous to a nuclear reaction (presumably fission more than fusion). The difference in the Cosmere is that there's a third state, investiture. With fissile material the element has an unstable nucleus. With ettmetal it is the investiture that is unstable. So my question is, if energy:matter=huge:tiny, what is the ratio of investiture:matter? I imagine even bigger but that's pure speculation. And how much investiture does it take to 'create' normal energy or matter? Have we seen any potential examples of the matter/energy/investiture conversion elsewhere? (And correct me if I'm wrong with anything, I'm not a physicist)

This transcript is very interesting to me. It sounds like the reaction is basically what we think of as nuclear but with different terminology. 'Nuclear' reactions are basically matter being converted to energy and as a tiny amount of matter us equivalent to a massive amount of energy, it's a big reaction compare to chemical reactions. The other way of course it takes massive amounts of energy to 'make' matter. The ettmetal reaction is analogous to a nuclear reaction (presumably fission more than fusion). The difference in the Cosmere is that there's a third state, investiture. With fissile material the element has an unstable nucleus. With ettmetal it is the investiture that is unstable. So my question is, if energy:matter=huge:tiny, what is the ratio of investiture:matter? I imagine even bigger but that's pure speculation. And how much investiture does it take to 'create' normal energy or matter? Have we seen any potential examples of the matter/energy/investiture conversion elsewhere? (And correct me if I'm wrong with anything, I'm not a physicist)

As far as I know we have an exact definition of Vessel (with a capital V). That said I certainly don't think @skaa deserved a downvote for an honest (if slightly terse) contribution to a debate that is almost entirely opinion/speculation about a matter of terminology rather than real content. Tough crowd.

Yeah it's a fractal related to the Julia Set, which the Rosharn continent is based on. Plus it's pretty (Compliment Headshot btw)

Prologue. Beginning. Middle. End. Ars Arcanum.

Unless you live in Canberra or Perth, probably not. But if Brandon comes to Canberra or Sydney maybe you'll get the questionable privelege!

Any Aussie is a champ by my standards

Yeah that was always my impression until I noticed the WoB unequivocally saying he uses feruchemy. It doesn't mean he only uses it, and to be fair the WoB is from 2013 so it could have changed or it could be unreliable. But it certainly makes it sound clear he uses feruchemy. I'd like to see any WoBs that undermine it though as I always thought it would be a different magic system with a similar effect.

I don't think he necessarily had it during Era 1, he wasn't the only worldhopper there who knew big things were going down. That said, we know that Hoid 'now' uses feruchemy (but not necessarily chromium to know where to be: So firstly I wonder if he's using a lerasium-chromium alloy or something similar in feruchemy rather than just chromium. But secondly, the timing is suspicious - there's a pretty strong argument he was using something magical to know to turn up in Elantris and the Emperor's Soul, and probably Warbreaker, which I think pre-date Era 1? Correct me if I'm wrong. To me that either means he got it from Scadrial way pre-Era 1, or he always had his Hoidsense from a different magical system but now he uses feruchemy instead/in addition. I favor the second option but don't see a good reason it can't be the first. They were all full feruchemists back then and with worldhoppers around, even if chromium or nicrosil were very hard to get back then, a worldhopper like Hoid could have brought it or showed them where to get it. We know Hoid visited the Terris back then.

Great work! I can't wait to hear more juicy bits from the signing, each signing is like archeologists finding a new Rosetta Stone! And this I love. Question is which metals

Firstly I have a jofwu quote box I can't get rid of, sorry Secondly, unfortunately we know why Vasher is on Roshar, and it's for a reason that doesn't apply to her. Mauve vivenna is there for other reasons, or just to make use of Stormlight somehow. But it's not for the reason a Returned goes there, which is to avoid having to take someone's Breath each week or 'waste' his own.

My understanding is the temporal ones operate on the spiritual realm because they look at connections - the perception of yourself if things had been or were different is based on analyzing connections in the spiritual realm and interpreting them backwards or forwards in time. The way Shards (at least some) can see the future. Cognitive doesn't need to come into it. Btw great WoB @The One Who Connects. My mind is buzzing with theories to look up/propose. Not sure how I missed that one

Except Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell I think. I seem to remember Brandon saying he didn't include him because it would have purely been for the sake of it without having any point. Otherwise @Kaladin180 he is in every book by usually not by name, it's extremely hard to find him sometimes though this site has identitied all the examples. White hair is the first thing to look for but he does change his appearance. There is no Hoid book yet but there is an unpublished partial story called Liar of Partinel, which starts his backstory, that you can find on Brandon's site. Beware though its not canon (ie the details will change and the things it brings up are not part of the official Cosmere story). Edit: oh and Sixth of the Dusk? I doubt he's in that though I think there was an actual WoB mentioning the lack in SFSITFOH

The WoB was a while back, October 2015, I suspect the question was asked as a result of speculation at the time. Easy one to miss at was a very long transcript.

Yeah that's been my discomfort Ruth this demarcation. On scadrial innate investiture comes from heredity and kinetic is from metal. On Roshar innate comes from nahel bond and kinetic from Stormlight. But on Nalthis innate comes from Breath and kinetic is Breath. If you're Nalthian and not a drab, you can awaken (provided you know how and have the right intent). You use the same breath that gives you innate investiture to power the awakening. And yes we know that a non-Nalthian who gets Breath, because it's keyed to their identity, can then awaken. So i think i accept the line between innate and kinetic for nicrosil (I'm not 100% sure but accept it for now) but I don't believe it necessarily applies to Breath. I guess the limit could be that you can store Breath, but not Breaths (ie only the basic one not say 1000 breaths).