alder24

Yes, but as said by Duxredux, the spren can just break the bond at will. You can steal a dead Shardblade, but if you want to steal Surgebinding powers, you would have to steal both the bond from a Radiant (which is Connection) and the power from a spren, which would require you to use two spikes. We don't know. They can be quite small or irregular, but I guess they have to be small enough to precisely pierce the binding point you're aiming for. Hitting two different binding points at once would make the spike not work - heart has 4 points for example. No, the power is contained in the spike, it's not really a part of your soul, as it's not yours. It's in the spike so you would have to take that spike out and spike yourself with it to get that power. We don't know. Some theorize that it creates an ideal copy of a memory, some think it creates a vision-like state in which you can relive that memory, but we don't know in the end. By Brandon's words, not every attribute compounded does something spectacular or useful.

This, this is precisely why it matters. Atium doesn't fit. Everyone in the world always wondered about how weird Atium is compared to other metals and that was a clue that Elend and Vin needed to realize something weird is happening. Vin didn't know Leras' plan. She was surprised that Elend somehow found a whole army capable of burning Atium. She had no idea what was needed to be done. HoA ch 81: The out-of-universe reason is that Brandon wanted it that way so it happened. You can't really consider out-of-universe reason as all explanations can do is to point out in-universe reason. And that simply is that Mistborn weren't needed. Mistborn would be a distraction. Elend had never burnt Atium before, he knew Atium for its economic value, not as a powerful weapon - he was a Mistborn but wasn't thinking like a Mistborn. If Demoux was a Mistborn, the vials of metals he got to burn would work and Elend would have never questioned why Demoux was Snapped. Elend only started to think of burning Atium after he started to think why Demoux was unable to burn his vial of metals: The whole reason Elend was able to connect the dots, was because Demoux was unable to burn any other metals and all other clues regarding the number 16 appearing over and over again. If Preservation had thrown Mistborn into the mix, there would be no 16, there would be no thinking "why Demoux wasn't able to burn anything," there would be no burning entire Atium stock away. There would be just an army of Mistborn. Moreover even earlier If Demoux and his men were turned into Mistborn, they might have realized this earlier at some point (just like Vin, from traces amounts of metals) and Elend would have never sent them back to Luthadel, they would have never ended at the place where Atium was. Moreover, Preservation had set Mistsnapping to work without his intervention, as he knew he would lose his mind. It had to work as well as it could and forcing it to Snap Mistborn would just strain the system, require too much power and it could be potentially more deadly than normal Snapping as more power had to be pushed into people, giving Ruin a better opportunity to twist it. I fully believe that Snapping Mistborn would not work to fulfill Preservation's plan - it's not a sign as obvious as Mistings, no number 16, no thinking "what metal could they be able to burn" etc. Oh, so I have no explanation that would satisfy you, if that's what you mean. He did that every 1024 years, he prepared someone to take up the power to use it to maintain the status quo. This was solely because his mind was gone and he was unable to remember what his end plan was. He didn't act because of his plan, he acted because he wanted to prevent Ruin from escaping and only that mattered for him at this point. He only hoped that once Ruin escapes, his plan would be enough to stop him, not knowing what it was. Just go back and reread the first few chapters. Leras keeps repeating that Ruin can't escape, that Vin has to use the power and he is working only to prepare Vin for her role in maintaining the prison. He was totally stunned and frightened when Rashek died. Leras was dead at this point, he was unable to work on his plan that he didn't remember. Kelsier was just a happy accident that ultimately proved to be what his plan needed. The thing with Rashek wasn't pre-planned action, it was a last ditch attempt to stop Alendi from freeing Ruin after Leras had realized that Alendi won't do what he should have done. It happened with Vin as well - Sazed was Leras' failed attempt to stop Vin from freeing Ruin, but this time Ruin was ready for it and had Marsh in a position to stop Sazed - something that he missed during Alendi's times. I don't believe that Preservation's plan was specifically about Vin and Sazed, rather it was general enough to help people win against Ruin, no matter when Ruin is freed. If Vin were to use the power of the Well instead of releasing it, the plan would still exist 1024 years later and other people would be there to act on it. The plan was just a hope, a hope that people would see clues left for them and use them against Ruin. It might not have worked as well as it worked with Vin and Sazed, but there would still be people capable of doing what was necessary to do - because all people on Scadrial have both Ruin and Preservation on them, all are capable to destroy to protect just like Vin did, all are capable to understand the nature of both Shards as they all are made of their essence. That's also how the future sight works, it gives you possibilities, not certain futures. Predicting how one specific person would be able to Ascend seems too much, but predicting someone, sometime will do this, if proper actions are taken and clues are left for them feels just right to me. If Alendi were to free Ruin, who knows, it might have ended with Rashek as a dual-Vessel. Or maybe Kwaan who back then played the same role as Sazed? Either way, I believe the plan was general enough to allow for some person to Ascend to both Ruin and Preservation if the time had come, but their success would depend heavily on them and their actions. The plan was to give people hope and relied on their hearts - not specifically on Vin or Sazed. In different times there would be others like them. Yes, Leras knew Ati's escape was inevitable, but he hoped he could have delayed it this time as well, just like he delayed it 1024 years ago with Alendi and Rashek. He didn't know it would happen now. Just as it happened with Alendi, WoB above. Rashek was the prophesied Hero of the Ages - as per Terris original prophecies (WoB above). In my opinion Rashek, Vin and Sazed were all Hero of the Ages, but each had a different role to play. If Rashek took up the power again, he would have prevented Ruin from escaping, delaying the plan for another 1024 years - and that's what Leras at this time wanted. You said it yourself, Leras was at this point just a shadow of a Vessel he once was, his mind was mostly gone and he was unable to act on the plan he created himself. The plan was meant to give people hope and a fighting chance against Ruin without Leras's intervention, as he knew he would be dead by that point. It's fine to disagree. This is my interpretation of how Preservation's plan was set up, Terris prophecies and Hero of Ages title, the sources give us enough wiggle room to interpret them differently as we want. We probably will never see the full picture, so that's what we have to do. It's fun to read your interpretation. I'm glad to see you were enjoying the story and shedding new light for you on events of Era 1.

I think they are the same process but on different levels. Both invest and corrupt with Odium's investiture, but Unmaking seems bigger than Enlightening. Moreover Unmaking isn't just about investing, it's about ripping the mind to pieces, Transforming the soul - Sja-Anat fears she will be Unmade by Odium if he ever catches her red handed. RoW I-2: And because Unmaking Sja-Anat would cost Odium a useful tool, it seems like Unmaking is losing investiture in the process, it's a subtractive process. On the other hand Glys doesn’t remember the moment of Enlightening well, but he’s never said if he forgot everything before it. I feel like an eternal True Spren would never agree to be essentially killed if Enlightening would be like Unmaking. To me at least it seems like Enlightening isn’t that brutal as Unmaking and it just changes the spren, without killing them, stealing their memories or destroying their mind - it’s additive, their gaining a piece of Odium’s investiture, while the rest of their soul remain still of Honor and Cultivation - Unmades are of Odium, at least mostly. However we have too little information to determine how similar those processes are. But I agree, they are essentially the same, based on the same mechanism of corruption.

I think it's possible for Harmonium to change property. Harmonium is unstable because it represents two halves of Sazed that aren't fitted together well. If as a Discord he manages to mix them better than Harmony, Harmonium might become more stable, if not it should not change at all. The name will probably change to Discodrium no matter what. Either way both options are likely, it depends. But a perpendicularity would stay as it is - unless he chooses to relocate it, or create a new one. A perpendicularity is not about the nature of a Shard, it's just a result of a massive concentration of investiture in one place, that pierces realms. Edit: Properties of a god metal are linked to the Intent (and intents of both Shards Ruin and Preservation that made Harmony/Discord), location of a perpendicularity is not - it's either deliberately chosen spot, or natural manifestation because there was a lot of investiture in that area (like for example there was Ruin's perpendicularity in the Pits of Hathsin, which was destroyed when Kelsier destroyed the Pits - no investiture, no perpendicularity).

I don't think so. Sja-anat Corrupting Oathgate spren was already edging on her limits - she was never able to Corrupt such a powerful spren before. Unmades are vastly more powerful than Oathgate spren. They would be comparably invested to her and that should make them too hard to corrupt. It's unknown if she can reverse the enlightenment of a spren. It seems like this is permanent - she invests/corrupts them with Odium's investiture. That's out of the question. She is just a tiny Splinter of Odium compared to the full power of a Shard. Shardic power is basically infinite. Sja-Anat knows Odium can destroy her, if he even catches her betraying him.

I believe so, but only if a Shard is without a Vessel at that moment. You wouldn't be able to Ascend to a Shard that has a Vessel. But as seen by the example of Kelsier, just because he had strong enough Connection to Ascend, it doesn't mean he was a good Vessel - the Shard resisted him as he didn't understand the nature of Preservation. It nearly slipped out of his hands a few times. Connection is just one thing, understanding and strong will are also needed to properly control a Shard. Yes. We don't know.

I think they would make a sunheart charged with corrupted investiture, as cinderhearts are made out of corrupted investiture.

True, you're right, my mistake.

@JustQuestin2004 answered your questions already, but I'm gonna do what I do the best - add more and throw some WoBs at you! There is a limit on how many spikes a soul can handle. The more spikes you have, the greater the mental and physical impacts of them are on you. They break you down, they crack your soul - that's why with many spikes a linchpin spike is needed as it holds your soul together. After the Catacendre the limit is 4 spikes, after which a soul would reject any new spikes, but the Set found the way to sidestep this limit by using a Trellium spike, which allowed them to have 5 spikes. But there are ways of magnifying a charge of one spike, you can potentially even steal multiple powers with a single spike, or multiple chargers, but this was not discovered yet. TLM Ars Arcanum: A molten metal can still be used in Metallic Arts, but that's not a pleasant experience. However just melting a spike down, reshaping and letting it cool down won't change the charge of the spike and it would still be usable, with some decay happening. Alloying it with another metal would mess things up. Just like in metalminds, the charge is tied to the atomic structure of a metal. If you take an iron spike that holds strength and mix it with carbon to get a steel spike, that charge is now not aligned with the atomic structure of a spike, as steel steals physical Allomantic powers. So the charge would be there, but you most likely won't be able to use it. If you then melt that steel spike down and separate iron from carbon, the iron spike would regain its usability. However, It's worth noticing that Hemalurgy might be different than how it works with Metalminds - in BoM it was said that ReLuur's Blessings are made out of pewter (steals physical Feruchemical powers), which is not a metal used for Blessings. Moreover Paalm (Lessie) had her one spike made out of Trellium, charged with either Allomancy or Feruchemy, that worked like a Blessing to her. We don't know how they made it, or what was ReLuur's Blessing charged with, but this shows us that there are other uses for metals outside of what the HoA Hemalurgic table has shown us, and it's possible that melting and alloying a charged spike might not make it unusable, as it would happen with Metalminds. Binding Points and Intent plays a crucial role in Hemalurgy, so you might be able to do fancy stuff with metals outside of their traditional use. We don't have a full picture yet. This is something that Brandon keeps for the future books. What we know is that Identity works like some kind of encryption key, that codes investiture to a person, so that only they can use it. A Feruchemist fills a metalmind that only he can use, because investiture in that metalmind is keyed to them via Identity. If you steal Identity you would be able to use all metalminds, Breaths, or some other investiture they were using, IF you also have that power yourself. So if you are a Feruchemist, you would be able to use all metalminds of a person you've stolen Identity from. But stealing anything from them will carry a part of their identity, often enough so you can also use their metalminds - so just stealing their Feruchemical powers will give you enough of their Identity that you would be able to access their metalminds of this specific power you have stolen (and powers you already have). What's more, is that the victim if they survive, now would likely have no Identity at all. That makes them susceptible to all kinds of interactions in Cosmere. But also it might be possible that for example if they retain their Feruchemical powers, they would be creating from this point on unkeyed metalminds - metalminds that all other Feruchemist with that power can access. Being without Identity also makes it easier for you to use someone else's stuff, but some other steps might be needed too. Moreover, Identity seems to be tied to healing in a big way, so by stealing someone else's Identity, you might be able to change the way you can heal yourself. This is more speculative but Brandon confirmed that healing is affected by Identity in some way. BoM ch 3:

Hmm I don't think so, but I don't really have anything. You ingest every god metal, just like every god metal can be used in Hemalurgy or Feruchemy, but that's the nature of Metallic Arts specifically which are focused on metals. Burning god metals however isn't of Allomancy, but in my mind Allomancy and burning god metals use the same mechanism to get the power into the soul. So I think you have the opposite way of thinking - because god metals are metals they can be used in Metallic Arts, as those three arts are uniquely focused on metals. I was writing my incoherent thoughts here, but they didn't really make any sense. I just stop here, after trying to rewrite it several times now - my mind clearly isn't in shape today. I just feel like what you are proposing is too much, but I can't really put a finger on the issue here. God metals are more about investiture in general, less about their specific invested art. They aren't tied to their magic system, they don't have it, they are tied to their Shard who manifests in a few different ways - physical investiture is just one manifestation of a Shard, invested art is another one. Oh yes, my bad. Buuuut being nitpicky here, Eland did strike Marsh at the end, but chose to not kill him because he knew Marsh had to kill him. So you can still fight using pure Atium's future sight and get the outcome you want. The way I see it is that Lerasium forges a Connection to something - in its pure form it Connects you to Preservation, which makes you a Mistborn. In alloyed forms this is overwritten and it Connects you to a Shard associated with the second alloy component, like to Autonomy if you mixed it with Bavadinium. And because Connection is what often grants you invested arts, you gain them when burning alloyed Lerasium. So in my opinion the side effect is that you gain invested arts, but the main effect that you can do fancy stuff with is that Learsium changes your spirit web and forges a Connection. I believe it would make you into a Feruchemist. We know Allomancy happens because of the Preservation's extra investiture in people's souls, Feruchemy however is a balanced system between two Shards. It seems to me that to have Feruchemy, you have to be extra investiture of Ruin and Preservation in equal amounts. Scadrians have one already. Lerasium-Atium alloy's effect is overwritten with Atium's power, so if Lerasium invests you with Preservation's investiture, Lerasium-Atium might invest you with Ruin's investiture, equalizing Preservation's fragment and making you into a Feruchemist. That's my thoughts at least. The wording of this WoB, specifically the "instead of Ruin" seems to slightly point in that direction.

I mean this part: "Sometimes the bond allows it to kind of bypass some of this." The bond does allow the magic to get into your soul, no matter if it's cracked or not. That's why "crazy is not required." Broken soul and cracks are the same in my mind. You don't need to have any cracks in your soul to bond an Aviar, you don't need anything to Awaken or hold Breaths etc - in general cracks in soul aren't always needed, for Radiants what matters the most is the will of a spren as the Nahel Bond allows the power to get into your soul even with no cracks in it. I think Kaladin couldn't do anything not only because of the state in which his bond was, but also because after he had fallen into chasms, the Stormfather took Syl and prevented her from going back to Kaladin. Agreed.

The Spiritual Realm is not a place, it's not somewhere you can go. In the Spiritual Realm distance and space is irrelevant, time and space are compound into one. You can't enter into the Spiritual Realm, but you can look into it through a Perpendicularity - that's the closest you can get to SR. What looking directly into SR would do? Elend did it at the end of HoA - he saw the past and the future, so that's something that might happen if you do this in a Perpendicularity. WoBs:

You mean Honorblades grant access to Honor's magic or Tanavastium do that when burnt? The latter is unconfirmed. Not on its own - you need to alloy it with Lerasium. And because of this WoB I don't think burning pure god metals will give you their Shard's invested arts. Alloying them with Lerasium will do that, but alone that won't work in most cases. But assisting in their respected invested arts? More likely. It's less direct, unlike Lerasium and allows for a broader spectrum of possibilities. God metals are condensated power of Shards, they do one specific thing, connected to their Shard. I find it ironic that Atium grants enhanced future vision when Ruin is not so good at looking at the future, but that allows a person to be a perfect killing machine, which is fully aligned with Ruin. Atium helping with Hemalurgy is more like an accidental bonus in my opinion, than a true purpose of it - any ability that allows you to see the future helps with Hemalurgy, it doesn't have to come from Ruin. I would expect god metals to be more similar to Atium in what they are doing, than to Lerasium. Lerasium seems to be more unique in its ability to forge Connections and rewrite spirit web. It wouldn't be very original if all god metal do what Lerasium does - what's the point of Lerasium-Bavadinium alloy if Bavadinium alone can do the same? Lerasium-Atium alloy can most likely rewrite your spirit web with the power of Ruin, Atium doesn't do it on its own. All god metals do something else, but aligned with their Shard's intents.

Interesting, it's possible, but judging by how Leras behaved in SH, by that he didn't remember what was the plan, was just hoping people would recognize it without his intervention, or by that he didn't wanted to preserve Kelsier from going into the Beyond until Kelsier showed an unbreakable will to save himself and convinced Leras to made him into a CS, I think at that point Leras was too far gone to do anything as a part of his plan - he didn't know what his plan was. I think it would be more like what happened at the Well at the beginning of SH - Leras was just impressed by Kelsier's actions and just felt he deserved to be preserved, not knowing he would ultimately serve a role in his plan. Leras didn't predict Rashek would die, he didn't predict Ruin would be soon freed, he didn't know he needed to do anything this time as he thought Rashek would Ascend again, thus maintaining the status quo.

Yes, Szeth is bonded with Nightblood, but that's not a Nahel Bond. It's a bit different than that, but working by the same mechanism. This bond allows Nightblood to read Szeth's mind or sense where he is for example. This would not interfere with a spren bond, a person can be even bonded to multiple spren at once and that would cause no problems.

Just to point out, having a broken soul isn't required to become a Knight Radiant - the Nahel Bond bypasses this requirement and allows the power to seep into the soul of the knight. It helps, but it isn't needed as a sapient entity is also involved who can choose - a spren. I am not 100$ sure Kaladin has fully broken his Ideals at this point. He was close, but not there yet, he didn't do what Shallan did when she fully broke her bond. Kaladin had sworn two conflicting oaths to two different people, but he still wanted to protect people. That's why he had to just swear the 3rd Ideal and his bond and Syl were back working. If he were to follow and assist in assassination of Elhokar, then his bond with Syl would have been fully broken, just like Shallan's bond with Testament - swearing the 3rd Ideal would not work anymore, Syl would be a deadeye. At least that's what I think was happening. In that case, if Kaladin were to fully break his bond with Syl, he would have to reswear all of his Ideals to bring her back to life.

The pure tone of Preservation was most likely what Vin felt with A-bronze as the pulses the Well of Ascension was sending. Allomantic pulses are also related to the pure tone of Preservation. Feruchemy would most likely send out tones related to merged tones of Preservation and Ruin (as Feruchemy is a balanced system between Ruin and Preservation), while Hemalurgy might be related to the pure tone of Ruin. What happened when Navani sang a pure tone of Honor? Not much. What happened when Raboniel sang a pure tone of Odium? Not much. Those tones allowed them to manipulate and move lights associated with them, but it didn't give them any boost of investiture. So a Mistborn would not get invested just by singing. However it's possible it would allow them to manipulate Mists to some extent, but it's unlikely they would be able to draw power from Mists directly. One needs to be strongly Connected to Preservation and Mists to do that - like Vin. Yes. 100% it would hurt them just like it hurt Raboniel when she heard the anti-tone of Odium. But it should not break them or destroy their spikes, just hurt them really badly. They can, but they might have to be more invested to hear pure tones of Scadrial. But they would still be able to hear regular Rhythms even off-Roshar. Vin was chosen by Preservation to be its next Vessel. She was prepared for this role and that gave her Connection strong enough to draw power from Mists. HoA epilogue epigraphs: Vin wasn't the only one who ingested Mists, Wax did that too, but he was chosen by Harmony to be his Sword. It's more likely that Harmony directly made it happen, giving him strength necessary to work on his behalf, than he was naturally so strongly Connected to Mists like Vin was. He didn't breathe in Mists like Vin did, he didn't fuel his Allomancy with it, but they gave him strength and calmness, they were always there in the most important moments of his life. The Mists he took in were but a tiny drop compared to what Vin took. If I were to point out a moment from Era 2 where Wax breathes in some Mists, I would pick this from AoL ch 18. There are probably more moments like this but they aren't obvious and it's not confirmed if Wax ingested Mists in those moments, or it's more like Harmony's emotional Allomancy acting on him through Mists. They can hear Rhythms: But Roshar is unique, Rhythms are uniquely strongly manifested on Roshar (4th WoB I've posted), so it should be much harder to pick them up on Scadrial.

Just to point out, a Spren leaving Roshar is a very hard thing to accomplish. They are bound to Roshar, just like Heralds are. I'm not sure if they lose immortality without Dor. Sure they got weaker and fragile, Ire in SH had to drink Dor to sustain themselves, but I don't think this is confirmed that they will become mortal or age without Dor. They will stay Elantrians even far away from Elantris, but some visual characteristics of their Elantrianess will fade. Is immortality part of their "staying Elantrians," or "visual characteristics" - I don't know. But they do need Dor daily in some way to function. Technically speaking investiture in the Spiritual Realm is infinite, anyone who can tap into SR taps into an infinite source of investiture - like Allomancers who also never run out of investiture as long as they have metals to burn, or Heralds who were powered directly by Honor through SR. They didn't need Stormlight before they broke the Oathpact. This is also just a part of Selish magic. Their investiture comes directly from SR. Elantrians are more invested than Returned, they likely have a direct Connection to Dor that sustains them. They are more similar to Cognitive Shadows than to normal Invested users like Surgebinders or Alloamncers. Because they have this Connection to Dor, their strength fades the further away they are from Elantris. Elantrians existed before Splintering Aona and Skai and that's before Dor existed in CR. So the fact that they never run out of investiture isn't unique to them, this also happens in other magic systems, so this isn't because Dor is in CR. This doesn't matter. Being in CR doesn't make you any closer to Investiture. You are on Harmony's planet, his investiture is everywhere around you. The only place where you can be closer to Harmony's investiture is in a perpendicularity, where you can peer directly into the Spiritual Realm which is where investiture is. But to actually tap into Harmony's investiture, you need either a strong Connection to him. Yes, once they figure out the correct Aons/the way to hack the system, they will be able to draw investiture for AonDor and be at full strength - as seen in TLM. Shay-I drew an Aon based on the Elendel Basin and she feared she will stay as Elantrian indefinitely - this means she isn't just feeding on the jar of Dor she consumed when transforming (this jar most likely fueled her transformation only), she is constantly Connected to a source of investiture that will power her almost forever. I think that's just Dor. She hacked the system to feed on Dor from that far away and we know there is another way to do it - by tapping Connection to Elantris an Elantrian would be able to use AonDor outside of Sel. So your Elantrian won't use Harmony's investiture, you don't need another source of investiture, they can tap directly into Dor like Shay-I did. This isn't unkeyed investiture, but it might be possible for that Elantrian to use that Dor to power their Surges as it's keyed to their identity, or something else might be needed to that Dor for it to fuel Surges (like fully unkeying it). We don't know. Mixing magic systems is generally hard in Cosmere and we don't know what needs to be done for this to work. If it's just the identity of the user, meaning as long as Dor is keyed to you, you can fuel other Invested Arts you have access to, then your Elantrian won't have much problems in fueling their Surgebinding with Dor. But if it's something else, maybe if it needs to be keyed to a specific Shard, fully unconnected, or some other things, then they need to do this before they would be able to use Surgebinding. We don't know.

RoW ch 30:

Agreed, those sound like good compromises. While the random selection defines the purpose of "Brandon answering questions he wants to answer," when you have 100,000 questions you have to bring your expectations down a lot.

I'm not that attached to a certain order to pick one as definitely mine. The idea of Radiant orders is that you can choose the one that you like the most, even if it's not the one you're the most fitted to based on your personality - a person can be fitted to many orders at once, they change and aspire to be worthy of being a Radiant of that particular order. I would advise you to go with what you love, not necessarily with what the quiz assigned you to. The last time I've done the quiz it was a year ago, I'm 80% Truthwatcher and 58% Skybreaker on the second place by the quiz results, and I agree with them (4 other orders follow just 1-4% below Skybreakers so that's not really a solid second position). They both fit me well. I would add Lightweavers as the third order, I think I would benefit a lot from their Ideals, even though they are in the middle of the quiz list. While the core ideology Truthwatchers is a good choice for me, my problem is that we've actually never seen Truthwatchers in action, it's hard to say how they progress and improve, what their Ideals are, or what they can do with their powers. We don't have a full picture of all orders for now and that's why I'm not attached to one specific order. I'm waiting for more data to make an educated decision - a very Truthwatcher thing to do.

You do realize if you want Brandon to answer questions he specifically wants to answer, then he himself must read most of them to choose those questions himself? His team doesn't know what Brandon knows, sure they know a lot, but not everything, they don't have to know what's fascinating for Brandon to answer, Peter knows the most but he still isn't Brandon. And he and his team also don't know what question he answered in the past in WoBs, which Brandon often tells when somebody asks him about what he said in the past. They might remember a question that is often asked, or a very significant question about some interesting theory, but generally speaking they have no idea what he answered - there are hundreds of WoB answers each year, 15,000 WoBs in total on Arcanum and not to mention Reddit. Nobody can remember them all and searching for them is out of the question, as that's even more time consuming. Assuming that each question is 10 words long (which is a very generous assumption), all questions asked would be 1 million words in total - more than twice the word count of RoW. That's just too long for Brandon and his team to just read through all of them. It would take days or weeks to do that and this time could have been better spent on writing books - and his team has their own work to do, they also don't have time for this at all. Sure, I agree, it would be fun to hear a question Brandon has chosen to answer, but on the scale of crowdfunding campaigns, this is simply not feasible when you have 100,000 backers. Brandon now is doing what you are proposing but on a much smaller scale - he can now see questions people ask him in the chat during live streams and answer those he finds interesting. This is manageable, but 100,000 questions, 1 million words or more, that's simply not gonna happen even with his team engaged.

I was simplifying things a little bit. You need to have Aonic descent and live within the borders of Arleon or close by. You need to have a strong Connection to Arelon, which generally speaking means you have to be born there. Quote, TLM ch 53:

Fun idea indeed, but there were 102,000 backers. It would be too time consuming to just look through all those questions. It might be more manageable if each backer were given to opportunity to submit a question AND have 5 votes to choose 50 question that Brandon would be answering, delegating this task of looking through questions to fans - which is often happening with live-streams, as fans are posting questions and voting on reddit.

That was the myth Rashek spreaded to hide the fact that his friends were Feruchemist and he was as well. The epigraph from my post earlier is clear on that - Rashek held the power, created the race of nobles and when he started to conquer Scadrial, he offered a few monarchs Lerasium and they joined him. The simplest explanation is that those monarchs were already nobles, that Rashek changed pre-Ascension nobility, or those with a high social status into the race of nobles. The whole thing about supporters and opponents turned into nobles and Skaa respectively is most likely a fabrication. The class of nobility had to be made during his Ascension and the only nobles that survived his conquest were those who supported him, the rest were most likely killed until their children supported him, or entire bloodlines were ended. I don't really see any contradictions. We know Rashek held the power and that's when he created nobility and Skaa. Because he couldn't have known who would support him and who would oppose him, he had to do this by some arbitrary or random rule and when his conquest began, the entire population had to be already divided into Skaa/nobles. We know the origins of the race of nobles - the Well - the modern nobles are just those who survived Rashek's conquest and supported him. Nobles who opposed him most likely perished, or were forced into being Skaa while also being genetically superior, which might have been the catalyst for diffusing the differences between those two groups. And I'm bringing Rashek's friends because we know that this part was a false flag, so the stories of the first nobles might have been also partially untrue. What is credible is Sazed's words and based on that we can figure out what had to happen.