alder24

Earth spin - 0.5 km/s, orbital speed of Earth - 30 km/s, orbital speed of the Solar System around the center of Milky Way - 220 km/s, speed of Milky Way across the Universe - 580 km/s relative to CBR. You are guaranteed to teleport either into the middle of Earth, or far away into space. IF you're lucky, you teleport somewhere high in the air and you will not only drop to the ground and get killed, but also get smashed by the air, because you landed on a different latitude and your rotational speed is different that the air's rotational speed (at equator it's 1600 km/h, while at London it's 1000 km/h). Either way you're dead.

@Koloss17 I've just found this WoB that you might find interesting in your theorizing about A-gold possibilities, SA spoilers: What I've taken from it is that you might be able to use A-gold to influence your spiritual Ideal and heal yourself to that new ideal, becoming that person form a gold shadow.

That was a change Leras did - he switched 2 based metals for Atium and Malatium to make people into Mistings of those but preserving the number 16, so the people can recognise that something unnatural is happening.

For Kaladin the fight isn't about life or death, winning or losing, but about protecting people - in this field Kaladin was constantly failing. He failed Tien, Cenn, Dallet and his original squad, he failed so many in Bridge Four like Dunny, Maps, Jaks and others, slaves he tried to escape with, Singers he trained, Kholinar’s Wall Guard squad he was a part of - there is a whole list of people with which Kaladin constantly torture himself, especially when getting close to a new Ideal. And that's the struggle and battle Kaladin is facing - psychological one, not physical. In this battle Kaladin kept failing (in his own mind). And that is a perfect contrast to his unbelievable fighting skills - despite all of his powers, he can’t defeat his demons in his mind, he keeps failing where it is the most important to succeed. What does it matter what opponents will he defeat when there are more and more people close to him that died? That in his mind, he failed to protect, and descend further and further into the Darkness, that cannot be defeated with a Shardblade, nor Stormlight? I understand what you are saying, for you fights lack tension, because you know Kaladin will always win. I'm not worried about Kaladin being killed by random Fused #123, but him finally surrendering in his mind. I know he won't die until the battle in his mind will be over, until he either surrenders to his demons and breaks, or finally defeats them fully. When this will happen, then I will fear for his life in every combat, but now I'm held in far greater tension, worrying about his mental state, tension that can't be delivered by even the best written fight sequence ever. And every physical fight where he loses another person close to him, might be the last one for Kaladin. SA is far more focused on psychological impacts on every individual character, with Oaths being literally their progression and therapy, rather than physical struggle with opponents on the battleground. Yes, having a fearsome opponent that actually poses a real threat to the character is cool, there are few in SA that Kaladin faced here and there, but even those fights are written from an internal perspective (more related to the psychological aspect of the fight) rather than physical. When Kaladin in WoK decided to go back and save Dalinar, it wasn't about Kaladin overcoming Parshendi and Eshonai in a fight, but Kaladin overcoming his own mental blockage, his fear that he will fail Bridge Four again, like he had failed the others. This battle was far more satisfying to see Kaladin win, than reading about him killing Parshendi #321. Kaladin in the arena fight in WoR was a very cool, epic fight, but that again came mostly because he jumped in to protect Adolin, a noble, spoiled boy he almost hated and despised. Kaladin fighting Szeth wasn't just about him defeating Szeth, from the very beginning it was clear this would happen, it was so satisfying to read because Kaladin made the right decision, saved Elhokar and embraced the third Ideal - winning another battle against the Darkness. But in Kholinar in OB Kaladin failed, which hurt me immensely. Despite all his powers, Shardblade and Stormlight, he wasn't able to protect himself. But in his mind he failed to protect his Singer friends, his new Wall Guard squad, the king and his son and even Moash. That scene was a beautifully crafted failure. And he falled again, unable to say the 4th Ideal in OB finale. And he failed again, in the fight against Amaram and Yelig-Nar. He was saved no by his skill, but by his friend, Rock, who broke rules of his people. Did Kaladin win against Amaram? Is that the win in your mind? I got a bit overboard, I didn't have to write a whole essay at midnight, but it somehow happened. In conclusion, it's not during physical fights you should be worried, it's in physiological fights tension is rising. You could have both, it would be fantastic to have both, in some cases this is happening in SA, but SA works perfectly heavily relying on psychological struggle, not physical fights. A different kind of tension and suspense. But of course, you're free to have your own, different opinion - we all love Brandon's books for different reasons and all reasons are perfectly valid.

Yes, I can see Windrunners as the whole Order flying around the world and killing dictators, tyrants, slave owners and warmongers, just to make sure people won't suffer, to protect those who cannot protect themself. Even more, in the capitalistic world I can see them putting pressure on business owners and governments to force them to increase working and living standards for the people - going beyond Rosharan current way of interpretations of Oaths, evolving into modern era, there are different ways of protecting people after all. Times change, interpretation of Oaths change as well, to fit into society, evolve with society. Skybreakers, Willshapers and Dustbringers are the proof of this on Roshar. Every order would evolve beyond what we see on Roshar. Or even more, Orders would more or less split into different factions, like Skybreakers on Roshar, here they might be divided into individual countries, ideas etc, each believing that their way of interpretation is the correct one. And I've already said what their roles would be in my first post here. Just to go back to it to make a quick point, spren interpretation of Oath is as important or even more important than yours. Even if you believe with all your heart that assassination is the best way to fulfill your Oaths but your spren disagrees, you won't be able to do that - but sprens can be radical, you just need to find a fitting pair.

Invisibility but only when nobody can see you. Bulletproof skin but every 10th bullet. Turning gold into lead. Breathing under lava. Time travel but only 1 second into the future. Teleportation but it doesn't take into account Earth's rotation nor its movement around the Sun, nor the Solar System movement around the center of Milky Way, nor Milky Way's movement in the Local Group, nor its movement in any other bigger structure in the Universe. Laser eyes that will burn out your own eyes. Super hearing but you can't hear in normal human frequency range anymore. Shapeshifting but it works only once and you don't know that.

"Oh no, this bad guy started a brutal war and is threatening to use nukes - I will protect those who cannot protect themself - I need to assassinate him to end this war and make sure he won't use those nukes and kill even more innocent people."

Yes

Booo boring!

That's precisely what Odium was doing! He argued that they've broken the pact and he is the "executioner" bringing justice, not intervening against the argument made. Even if in your idea all 15 Shards won't be immediately vulnerable to each other, any one of them can now argue that others have broken the rules exposing them to attacks. Perception very likely matters here. I don't necessarily agree that Autonomy is a stable and constructive intent. In its most extreme form it forces total isolation. Taldain is a very divided world, encompassing the idea of Autonomy, with harsh environments, very limited traveling infrastructure and with conflicts everywhere, yet it's still balanced and it's the most technologically advanced world. I'm pretty sure both Ruin and Preservation could invest in the already existing world separately and create something unique, harsh yet sustainable. While Preservation's world would embrace the idea of pacifism and self-control (like a Tibetan monks, Swiss neutrality or Japanese isolationism), Ruin would drive wars and conflicts around his world (not to ultimate destruction of the planet, that was because of the deal he made with Leras) - more similar to Viking, Mongol or Hun (or pre-isolationist Japan) society or even sacrificial society of pre-colonial Central America, like Aztecs or Mayans. Balanced and sustainable but not in the same way as our modern society. I bet Ruin's world might even host a resource greedy society, where inventions and changes can happen quite fast - Ruin might create a world worthy of Autonomy rivalry. Harmony? No. But True Passion? YES! Venli noted that while Odium calls himself Passion, he lacks and doesn't encourage emotions like love, caring, trust etc. Devotion is all about those emotions. Together they could be a real Passion, including all emotions. That's a good combination, hard to find a Vessel like that however. And if the Vessel was not able enough, they might end up in a similar situation as Sazed.

But you want to compound via Hemalurgy, that's an issue. Plus Feruchemy is both from Ruin and Preservation - Ruin's subservient status might matter in case of compounding. And as Preservation in Era 1 proved, rules can be changed.

Well in an utopian society: Skybreakers - police Windrunners - UN peacekeeping force, protecting innocent civilians during war time Truthwatchers - medical clinics and scientists Edgedancers - fast emergency responders Lightweavers - mostly artists (they already are artists), but also production of humanitarian aid, production of materials, waste management, construction Elsecallers - scientists, transportation sector and production of humanitarian aid, production of materials, waste management, construction Stonewards - construction of buildings and infrastructure (with the assistance of soulcasters). Dustbringers - no idea, disaster emergency responders? Waste management? Willshapers - no specific idea as well, transportation and construction Bondsmiths - politicians But we're far from utopian society. All Surge usage would be capitalized or owned by a government. They would be used primarily as soldiers or methods to gain money. Transformation Surge realistically would be used for profit, a company or a government owning all Soulcasters and just gaining ridiculous amounts of money, while all mining and processing industries would collapse, plunging society into deep poverty. In case of war they might become a WMD and all rival states would now have a mutually assured destruction doctrine - you send Radiants into my turf, I send them into your.

You mean electric charge heating the metal up to 3000 degree Celsius INSIDE THE PISTOL BULLET? Do I need to say that I'm skeptical? You're basically creating an incandescent light bulb, where the filament can be heated up by even 3000 degree Celsius. Harmonium can act as filament, that's no problem. Creating a miniaturized mechanism to insert Trellium into Harmonium might be a problem. But the biggest problem is fitting the energy source INSIDE THE HANDGUN BULLET. And in Era 2 it's impossible. And a heat resistant shell. But how will you time the mechanism of Trellium? You can't make it impact based, as it can explode in your barrel. Timer is complicated, as that's lots of mechanisms which can be damaged. Well, maybe it can be impact based, a Trellium pin at the top which is pushed by an impact. I think you went too small. But a granate would work. Just do a grenade launcher. With some modern batteries inside. But you would need like a 100 Watts or more (I'm not familiar that well with electricity, correct me if I'm wrong at any point). Google says that a 100W incandescent light bulb makes the filament reach ~2500 degree Celsius. But 100W is a big battery. It won't fit in a granate either. You would need like a artillery shell for that to work ("oh yes, good thing I've brought my 200mm handgun with me ") So no, you can't make a H-T bullet for you handgun.

Just read the whole book, you will find your answer there. There are few reasons for that, and the message in the last cave will clear things up. Others explained this already. Ruin could slightly influence things from the Well - which you saw in WoA, when Ruin was changing texts, whispering to some people etc. There was a serious possibility that in those 1000 years Ruin would find a way to kill Rashek and he was aware of that. Because he still cared for his people and wanted them to survive despite his death, even if they overthrown him. He knew that Ruin would stand behind his death. And you know, those caves were built hundreds years ago, how would he prevent rebels from using them after his death? There is also another very important reason for that, but please just keep reading, you're risking getting heavy spoilers. In the future I recommend you to ask questions about confusing parts and give us a chapter that you've currently reading, so we won't accidentally spoil anything for you.

I think it would let you ignore diminishing returns - you're losing attribute to compression when tapping more than stored, that's diminishing returns. But duralumin does that for you, it compresses everything into a single moment, your attributes don't need to do that, therefore you won't have any diminishing returns with dualumin or nicrosil.

Which Aether? There is an Aether producing a flashy and hot explosion (Sunspores) - it won't react that much to a fire. Crystals won't react that much, their crystals, rocks. Vines would burn like plants. Zephyr is air, air isn't flammable, but together they would be able to create a fiery tornado - a very bad combination - for your enemies. Midnight Essence who knows. But spores alone should be burnable. Nightblood will do the trick. But a Shardblade is tricky - it depends if the Aether is invested. If it is, it can resist a Shardblade to some extent. But a Shardblade would be able to cut off Midnight Essence Luhel Bond, which is a nice advantage.

They fit thematically with the surge of Division. They could be.

I just want to point out that you can give a steelrunner a bike, and just by tapping 2x speed, he would be the fastest delivery man in the city, boosting the image of a company and attracting more customers. Good strategy, not requiring lots of attributes.

I don't think so, you nicrobursting people with kinetic investiture. But if you have a primar cube, you can nicroburst yourself - which won't be good with tin, as Vin in WoA proven, she burn duralumin with bronze, but also with tin, and tin just overwhelmed her for long seconds allowing Zane to escape unnoticed. It's really hard to believe F-tin overlord... Prove it Guard? How about an artillery spotter? And by artillery I mean coinshot, working in pair together - one is looking out for enemies with F-tin, the other one gets nicrobursted to shoot coins at incredible distance to deter attackers. That's a nice pairing in my opinion.

Bronze detect kinetic investiture, Life sense detect innate investiture. That's not the same thing and I doubt it will be with savantism. Bronze savant would be able to pierce copperclouds (per WoB in one of my posts above) and very likely would be better at detecting different types of kinetic investiture, even the most subtle ones. I think a bendalloy savant's internal clock would be shifted to the time which it passes inside the bubble, even if not in the bubble. It wouldn't make him slower, but it would make him disoriented and not able to tell the time and the passage of time outside the bubble. But it's really hard to say what disadvantages of savants would be, Spook senses without tin were almost not "working" for him, and that's the only example we have.

I don't know, there is nothing on that. It was before the civil war in Jah Keved. I think Ghostbloods showed up, because Mraize told Shallan at the end of WoR in Urithiru that he had her brothers, and at that point he had just learnt that Veil is Shallan Davar, so he must had had them for some time already. That's my guess.

Shardplate would protect a Surgebinder from emotional Allomancy: The more somebody is invested, the harder it is to affect their emotions: And welcome to the Shard

Before Odium got there - maybe it was a balanced world. But so is Nalthis and Taldain. And there are other which we don't know about - Mercy, Invention, Valor, Whimsy - they might have also a balanced worlds we just don't know about. We don't know how breaking oaths expose Shards - it makes them vulnerable. And they would not only expose themself to Odium but also to each other - everyone would be now vulnerable to attacks and that might be even more disastrous in consequences. Plus we don't know what relations Vessels had before the Shattering. They might be friends, or enemies united by a single cause, not trusting each other. Right after the Shattering they might simply not know what Odium will do, what his deal is and what he wanted to achieve. You're saying that from the perspective of time, they didn't have such luxury, and might simply believe that everyone would just go separately without messing with each other - including Odium. Something made both Mercy and Endowment support the idea of killing Uli Da - maybe Odium was among the “good guys” at the beginning, while Ambition did something that she shouldn’t have done so? While in the letter it wasn't specifically said that Mercy was on the side of Odium, I don't think Odium would let Mercy escape alive if she was fighting against him. We also know Odium's future plans - backstab Autonomy - if Mercy was against Odium, she would be the priority to "finish the job". Mercy was found without any problems by Harmony, Odium should have no problems with that as well, to target her. Endowment was very positive about what fate Ambition has met, other Shards might be supportive as well. And there is a WoB saying it's dangerous to attack a Shard one on one (while Odium did attack D&D with "some" help from Autonomy, and H&C likely alone, so it's not outside the realm of possibility that he would attack A&M alone). Based on that I think it's more reasonable that Odium and Mercy were on the same side, but the opposite can be true as well. I personally believe more or less that Mercy joined because she wanted Ambition to die without much suffering, and that she might be the one that did the final merciful blow to her after escaping Threnody. I also think that Mercy took a less active role in the fight because she wasn't mentioned in Arcanum Unbounded. But that's just my unsupported speculation. It's very highly likely that Endowment Vessel is not a human and because there is only 1 dragon Vessel, she likely is Sho Del as well. That's what I mean by "Shards supported Odium". Not that they actively helped him, but rather it was in their interest to see those particular Shards be Splintered and they were more or less happy to use Odium to achieve that.

We don't know. There've been some discussions about the Highstorm cycle, how wide they are, do they reach poles etc, but there was no conclusion on that - and that was here on the forum, based more or less on speculations. From Brandon it's a RAFO for now. We just don't know how Highstorms behave outside of the continent - but from another WOB, they are more like a Jupiter red spot than a ring around the planet.

Examples in general.