Vortaan

Good point. Regardless I think the Nightwatcher as a shardpool doesn't work

Easy! You use two Breaths! One to get there, one to get back.

Hrm. That's interesting, but doesn't invalidate the theory. The Well was a specific creation, after all.

So knowing what we do about Roshar, how likely is it that the Dawnshards cause a Cognitive change, thereby causing a physical change? And what is a pretty language-barrier free way of getting ideas across? That said, yay someone referenced the Dawnsingers are the Parshendi theory. I still think it's the truth, although tying into this I wonder if they maybe aren't some kind of amplifier for the waveform given off by the Dawnshard.

Is it possible that Feruchemy was always available to the people of Scadrial, and at some point in the past Allomantic lines started being created, wiping out the pure Feruchemy lines similar to what has happened in AoL? To put the timeline more clearly, Ruin and Preservation create people on Scadrial. These people are all potential Feruchemists, but that is all. At some point prior to Rashek's time, Allomancy is introduced into the populace, perhaps through an alloy of Lerasium and an Allomantic metal (since WoB is no Mistborn prior to Ascension). The Allomantic lines dilute Feruchemical potential until only a specific ethnic group that shunned outside marriage maintains it. These people come to be known as the Terris people. Meanwhile, the minor Allomantic lines wipe out the potential Feruchemical lines, and the Feruchemical potential weakens the Allomantic lines enough that the mists are needed to Snap people.

Well let's break down some Intents that we know of and see if they fall under something Preservation could do. Honor? Yep, I can see that. Cultivation? Maybe, depending upon the Shardholder's views. Probably not forever, though. Ruin? No, sir. Odium? Hrm... maybe? Holding grudges would be Preserving hate, so yeah, maybe. Endowment? Probably not so much, Endowment indicates a loss of something to someone else. Devotion? I think the two fall pretty easily in line. Dominion? Well... there was that whole Final Empire thing that was a static, preserved dominion. So looking at what Shards we know, then there is some overlap. It's not a Preservation can't Honor, it's a Preservation probably can't do things that don't involve Preserving. At the end of the day, you need to end up with what you started out with. This is, by the way, why the whole bargain betrayal works. At the end of it, the world is Preserved and you end up with exactly what you had before. Directly contradicted by the books. Contradicted by WoB. The longer someone holds a Shard the more their mind aligns with the Intent. While Shards might be ABLE to use their perception of their Intent to finagle some wiggle room with their powers, the longer they hold the Shard the less their perception is likely to give them the wiggle room required. I sort of see it like wearing glasses that very slowly turn red. In the beginning, things don't look much different, but given enough time some colors are going to be chopped out of your visual range. The longer this goes on the less you'll see until you really only see a narrow band of what was previously available to you. As for the Oathpact comments, not really on topic. My current theory on it is that it's not between Odium and Honor, but between Cultivation and Honor, forcing Odium to tie himself to Roshar, thus limiting his overall power and forcing him into Investing, something he doesn't generally want to do.

I'm not convinced that Shards that aren't suffering Cognitively have Shardpools. We aren't sure which one is in Elantris (although it's probably Devotion), the Well was a specific construct by Preservation, and the Pits don't seem to fit the mold. I'm also not entirely sure what you mean by each Shard having a grand plan. Endowment doesn't seem to be doing a whole heck of a lot, Cosmere-wise. The other examples you give are all worlds with more than one Shard, and Shards that seem to be, by their Intent, naturally opposed. We know for a fact that Odium is rolling around the Cosmere with a master plan, but I think it's too early to assume the other Shards aren't just trying to take care of people and remain isolated.

Doesn't it make more sense that the way to get to Shadesmar using Awakening is along the lines of Vasher's Commands that manipulate your own Breath? I imagine you'd need to be of a very high Heightening, but that seems more likely to me than Commanding a doorway to let you in.

I actually think this is probably the case, since Ruin mentions how he was surprised that Preservation wanted to commit that action. If they had been stalemated for awhile, it's less surprising that Preservation wanted to change the game. However, if it wasn't too far in and their mortal identities were still very prevalent, wanting to create life could be kind of surprising, considering the end cost of it. I think there is a difference between the mind behind the Shard choosing an action and using Shardic power to enact it. Preservation's deal and betrayal were really the equivalent of lying, and I agree with you that if you read Intents that narrowly than the Shards are very very limited. However, I disagree with your interpretation of the deal between Ruin and Preservation. Short term, there was no acting against either Intent. Ruin was playing a short game where he saw the potential to finally end the stalemate, and Preservation was playing the long game knowing he needed a tool that was less limited than himself in order to Preserve. A similar idea may power the Oathpact. Odium doesn't necessarily need to hold to his end of it, since he hates all things. However, Honor can't renege on a deal, he has to honor it. It almost makes me wonder if what Honor honors is Cultivation, and she was actually the one who made the Oathpact.

Endowment endows people with Divine Breath, so we at least have proof of one of those. I'll concede that without knowing what Dominion and Devotion's original magic systems were, I can't prove that Dominion dominated and Devotion devoted.

This is kind of what I'm talking about. All of your perception here is honor, noun. Honor the verb has much wider usage, much like a preserve and preserving something are linked but worlds apart. While I might be a bit too literal here, isn't it logical that Shards have to act within the limit of their Intent? Preservation couldn't Ruin, and more than likely can't do other Intents that fall outside the portfolio of Preservation. So therefore, shouldn't Honor's actions be limited to honoring things? This could tie into binding things, but it's so much broader than that that I think sticking to honor as a noun limits the potential of the Shard so much.

Is it bad that I kind of want aluminum to be the world-hopping metal? After all, that burned off power has to go SOMEWHERE, Otherwise, pretty neat.

There is something referred to as "The God Beyond" that might fit the category of extra Investiture left over. On a similar note, Lightweaving was a pre-Shattering magic so whatever powers it now is likely the raw Investiture, sans any Shardic influence. Or perhaps it's powered by whatever Shard is closest... hrm. Not sure about that.

This doesn't seem to change the fact that a Shard's Intent and it's actions tend to coincide. Ruin... ya know, Ruined things. Endowment Endows people. Preservation Preserved people. Harmony... makes really awesome acapella music. What does/did Honor Honor, and how does that affect how honorspren work?

Again the question remains though: why does Honor focus more on the noun honor than the verb? Kaladin doesn't honor something, he acts in accordance with his own code of honor. I suppose you could say he is honoring life, or his men, but it doesn't seem to fit. Preservation Preserves, Ruin Ruins, Cultivation Cultivates... what does Honor honor? If Honor is honoring honor... that just makes my head hurt.

So Honor cares about the noun honor, not the verb? Renarim, for example, honoring Dalinar as much as he does doesn't matter much to the Intent of the Shard? What about Sadeas honoring his promise by stabbing Dalinar in the back?

I've noticed around these parts we tend to refer to Honor, and the intent behind it, as something similar to a code of honor, or acting honorable. However, many other Shards don't work that way. When the discussion turns to Preservation or Ruin, for example, the verbs preserve and ruin tend to be used, because that is what those Shards are actively trying to do. Very similar phrasing comes with Cultivation, Odium, Endowment, Dominion, and Devotion... but not Honor. We don't talk about Honor honoring or causing people to honor things more. We talk about a very narrow band of the definition. Any thoughts as to why?

There's a lot of evidence that Returned are influenced by the cultural perception of the ideal for gods. So despite the fact that Lightsong doesn't feel as though he deserves his body, he is influenced by the culture he lives in to look like the ideal they perceive he should be. There is actually a lot of Realmatics involved in how I think this works, but that's the short answer.

When we think about Hoid's and Feruchemy, I think people tend to forget there is a whole other continent that uses the Metallic Arts in ways we haven't seen yet. It may be possible that Hoid's Feruchemy is used in the more mechanical nature of the Southern Continent and not the Keeper style Feruchemy we are used to

I'd assume Odium has a better sense of realmatics than we do. Given that, how much do you want to wager that the manner in which Devotion and Dominion were splintered prevents them from being taken up again without outside Shardic interference? So as long as no one else is Cosmere hopping, Odium might consider it a write off. At the very least it's telling that there are still people alive on Sel. If they were any kind of possible threat, do you think Odium would have left them alive?

But the cognitive aspect you are describing is the intention to use a power. Compare that to Awakening where you can decide to use it but fail due to improper visualization or Commands

The decision to use a power is always going to be cognitive. By that logic everything except unconscious uses like Vin's pewter or Kaladin's Surgebinding would be cognitive.

I disagree with your analysis of the different magic systems. Awakening is primarily Cognitive. Without proper intent, nothing at all happens. There was WoB that burning any metal creates a slightly altered mental state. I'd argue that the physical aspect of the metals is secondary to the actual effect upon the user for purposes of your theory. By the same token AonDor and in fact most magics on Sel seem to take place primarily on a Physical or Spiritual level. This is the strongest point for your theory, but I dislike the idea that drawing an Aon is a Cognitive act. It seems more physical/spiritual to me, particularly with the emphasis placed on the shape of Arelon. Which brings us to Surgebinding. I'd argue that so far, Windrunning appears to be primarily spiritual, while Soulcasting appears to be primarily cognitive. If the power behind a magic system controlled the focus, shouldn't two systems derived from the same Shard share the same focus?

Why would Odium have any interest in Sel post Shattering? As far as he is concerned, job well done, moving on to that troublesome Tanavast guy...

What appear to be the actions of a rogue Mistborn could very easily be the actions of a Misting with knowledge of Hemalurgy. Think Sylar from Heroes