Shal

That explains a lot, I wasn't sure whether a shard could leave a world it has invested in (Odium did something like that, didn't he?) but what you said makes a lot of sense.

Well that makes sense and I think that @Stark's theory doesn't outright deny that. Maybe the shards feel the need to, as you said, enact their intents but if the Shardholder really doesn't want to they can resist it? "Hold their breath" and get away? To quote the Coppermind on Survival Shard: So, a natural process for him would be to Invest and act according to the aspect of Adonalsium they represent. But Survival Shard (nickname, not canon), or rather its Shardholder, presumably got scared of what Odium was doing and decided not to Invest and avoid splintering. But that raises a question - why didn't he Invest shortly after the Shattering like the other Shards, before Odium started to take action? Going with @Jondesu's explanation - maybe his Intent didn't require him to invest, like Odium, and he didn't really feel the need to be tied to one place and so he just floated in space. Then he saw Odium's effect on Sel and Roshar and decided that he will definitely not Invest, thank you very much.

Yeah, I get what you mean. But then we know of the shard just floating around, which decided not to invest. Do you have any ideas why? If investing is so natural to them.

So, I was thinking the other day: why do shards invest? Do they get anything from it? Or is it something they feel compelled to do? I've tried to search for this but have found nothing so far.

I must admit that the black shirt could have affected my subconscious Yes, that's exactly where I got it from. Although I think Brandon himself was confused for a while as to what I meant.

thanks, good to know and sorry for confusing you with someone else!

oh my, please don't change, it's so nice in here

*seriously, how is everyone so nice wow* thank you for the welcome! also, to anyone still debating asking a question - this one popped into my head a few hours after the meeting. Maybe let's ask Brandon whether he had read any polish fantasy/sci-fi? unless someone from the press already asked that but I have no idea, the videos/interviews haven't been published yet

whoops sorry, I was just guessing from what you have written here and must have got confused as you can probably see, still new to the forum and the community @.@ everyone is so nice though!

oh great, didn't know that and as you said before, better safe than sorry Thanks for your work btw!

it's alright, I read it about a week ago in preparation for the event also, on a completely unrelated note, my friend asked a question I don't think neither @Oversleep or @Kanrei had written down as she was surprised when you asked me to repeat what Brandon had answered me (my question was the one about AonDor near the Shardpool). I get why, cause it was just for fun but still, I thought I'd share it. Q: How many bridge runs did Kaladin make? A: ...oh boy. Fewer than he thinks he did. *laughs* He'd say a few hundred but in fact it was several dozen. the quote is almost 100% accurate as Brandon repeated some stuff when answering so I just cut that out

Autism can be caused by a lot of things, the most common being genetical mutation which is not exactly an illness but can be considered one (same as haemophilia or Down syndrome). "Healing" it would require changing the whole genetic makeup of a person. That being the case, I'd say that if a person thinks of autism as an illness it *can* be healed but it would change said person's perception of the world and therefore their character etc. If a person views it as an integral part of his/her identity then it probably wouldn't be healed. After all, perception plays a really important role in Cosmere.