Brightlord M. Alhstrom

Thanks. I am, but I won't anyways .

Am I the only person who didn't get it?

Major Spoilers for the Era1 Mistborn books. If you haven't read them, you have no business reading this stuff. Well, what I'm suggesting is that there is a difference between a Shard and a shard's power. The shard's power is pure investiture. And it has multiple forms. However, the shard itself is that entity flying around doing stuff. We also know that it is possible to take some of the shard's power and separate it from the shard. You want an example? Take a look at Ruin. Preservation was able to lock the Shard in a place where it didn't have access to it's power. And even after it escaped, it was still missing a good portion of it's power (the atium). Another look? Kelsier took up the Shard of Preservation, but he didn't have access to nearly as much power as Vin did. And I think part of that is that he didn't draw the mist into himself. That is one core difference between their two ascensions: Vin had the shard, as well as the power found within the mists, but didn't have access to the investiture that is in Alomancers (the lerasium). Kelsier however didn't draw in the mists, maybe because his lack of a physical body stopped him. Making him much weaker than Ati. Ati also had access to most of his power, except for his Atium. This is why Vin and Ati were balanced. As for an argument saying that Vin ascended because she drew in the Mists, I think that's only partially right. A human who drew in that much investiture would die from it. However, Kelsier released the shard, allowing Vin to take it up at the same time as she took up the mists. Thus when she was done, not only had she ascended (IE taken up the shard that Kelsier had released) but she also had access to much of the Shard's power. What I'm saying is that the Dor is the combined investiture of Devotion and Dominion. What was splintered was the shards themselves. So, Odium killed the vessels, locked the investiture (read: power) of the shard into the CR, then took the shard itself and splinter it. The splinters of the shards eventually rebuilt sentience and became Seons and Skaze. So, if you were to combine the Seons and Skaze, you would ascend. That is what allows you to ascend: The pieces of the shards, not the investiture. Essentially, you would be an even weaker version of ascended Kelsier. However, you would still be a shard, would be able to draw the Dor into yourself, restoring yourself to a full dual shard. Now, If my theory that there is a difference between the Shard and it's power is wrong, then my entire theory falls apart, but I don't tjink I'm wrong. I think there is a real difference between a Shard and it's investiture.

@The One Who Connects @Calderis OK, so the gist of the theory is that you can't break an object's link to the Spiritual realm. Anything that could be Forged would need to have it. From what I can see, the Seons/Skaze exist in all three realms. Physical is obvious, but they also have a cognitive element, especially considering they have a mind (this seems obvious to me) and that the draw on the Dor to some extent (something is fueling them. Plus, the Seons have AONS in them). I wouldn't be surprised if they are also connected to the Spiritual. So, what I think happened is that Odium realized he couldn't completely destroy a shard, but he could splinter it even farther, from 16th of Adonalsium to 1/1000 (for example). However, these pieces would still be powerful. So what does he do? He kills the vessels, takes the power which he makes inaccessible directly by putting it in the CR, then splinters what is left of the shard. Thus the Seons and Skaze don't have a huge amount of Investiture, and don't have enough Shardness to ascend completely. They become almost like humans in their control over the three realms. This would work well for Odium's purposes if rejoining Seons was a hard thing to do. As for what the new vessel would be, you might be right about Mastery not being accurate. Thus I go back to Benevolence. How else would you combine Love and Control? It's still largely irrelevant to the discussion though. And method 3 would yield 1 massive Seon and 1 massive Skaze (IE Devotion and Dominion) individually. If you wanted to mege them, you'd have to do it a la Sazed (IE, kill the vessels and take up the power). If they stay separate though, and don't work together, then they would both be very crippled shards, kinda like Ruin, but with more than just the atium missing. THATs why they would work together.

Raoden: How can I give hope to these people? Sarene: Will they ever love me? Hrathen: Do I have faith in my religion? Karata: How can I protect these children?

So, about a week ago, I posted a theory about Raoden holding the Dual-Shard of Devotion and Dominion, which I'm fairly sure has been shut down, though I think it could possibly still happen. Here I want to discuss the process of rebuilding a splintered shard. It includes a minor theory as to how the splintering of those two shards happened. As a side note, up till now I've been referring to a Dominion/Devotion blend as Benevolence. I'm not longer sure. Maybe Mastery? I'd chosen Benevolence, because that was the Devotion/Dominion blend I saw in AonDor and Raoden, but after looking at all of the Selish magic systems, I think Mastery applies more. Devotion to developing the system so as to get greater Dominion. At the same time, it might depend on how this shard was created. Ruin and Preservation became Harmony under Sazed, but could have become something else under different circumstances. At least, I think I remember a WoB saying that Ruin+Preservation could have become Contention, or some other equivalent. To begin, here is what I believe to Dominion and Devotion (I think it is mostly head-cannon, though there is some WoB support): Odium killed the two vessels, separated the investiture from the shards and shoved it into the CR (forming the Dor, then splintered what was left of the shard into as many pieces as he could, which were then scattered. These pieces slowly gained consciousness, and became the Seons and Skaze that we see on Sel. This is based on a couple WoBs. One that says that shards without vessels will try to get a vessel, or will slowly reform a consciousness. And another one confirming that the Seons/Skaze are splinters of Devotion/Dominion respectively. So, I see a few processes that would work to recombine these shards. 1. Compressing Seons and Skaze to kill them and picking up the remaining power. If pressing Preservation and Ruin up against each other kills the two different vessels (see Vin and Ati's deaths) because they are opposite, then I think that compressing a Seon and a Skaze together would kill them both, leaving behind the shard pieces from each. Left alone, they would reform into a Seon and a Skaze. However, someone who was attuned to both Dominion and Devotion (like how Sazed was attuned to both Preservation and Ruin) was nerby, that person might be able to draw in the splinters. Do this enough times and you'd ascend. There would still be splinters, but once you ascended, it would be easier to regain the other pieces. Once you have the Shards reunited, but with the Investiture still in the CR, then I think the new dual-shard (Mastery/Benevolence) would be able to go to the CR and scoop it back up. It hasn't happened because since the Dor was made, there hasn't ever been enough shard splinters together with a consciousness for it to do so. 2. Merging Seons and Skaze pair by pair, then merging the different pairs into one. However, if compressing a Seon and a Skaze doesn't kill them, but instead merges them, then you could create a ton of splinters of Mastery/Benevolence, in the which each splinter has equal parts Dominion and Devotion. Once most of the splinters have been turned from Seons/Skaze into the new dual-splinter, then you could take the new splinters and merge them together, thus forming a Shard. Unlike the last one, it doesn't involve a human becoming a vessel, but instead relies on the consciousness that a shard makes if left alone. However, the process of reclaiming the Dor would be very similar to that of step 1. 3. Merging each shard individually. However, if you can't merge Seons and Skaze at all, then you might need to use a more roundabout method. I'd attempt to find a way to combine two Seons into one, and two Skaze into one. Over time, you'd end up with the two shard back, without the portion of their investiture that is locked in the Dor. Here it is more complex. The investiture in the Dor is equal parts Dominion and Devotion. However, that power is merged. I suspect that you'd need a temporary alliance between Devotion and Dominion where they work together to separate the Dor into their respective pieces. Then, if you wanted to merge them, you'd have the Vin suicide assault and a new vessel taking both (HoA plot all over again). Or if you want things simpler, use the suicide assault first, then reclaim the Dor as a single piece. Mastery or Benevolence. If you use method 1, then which one came out would depend on who the new vessel was. Take someone like Raoden, and I think you'd get Benevolence. Take someone like Wan ShaiLu, and you'd get something closer to Mastery. Method 2 would probably yield Mastery. And Method 3 Would yeild the seperate shards, which if killed and merged a la Sazed, would have the same result as method 1.

Do you mind showing me the canon source for that? I don't have access to any of the SA works right now, so I wasn't able to check. Regardless, the gist of my theory was about how splintering works based on Elantris. I was just trying to fit in Honor's splintering to that mold, but I don't really know enough about Honor to know what happened really. Maybe Odium had to use a different process to splinter Honor. I don't really know.

I don't think he is going towards Sel. Sel's CR is extremely dangerous, and I'm fairly sure that the IRE's fortress includes pipes to bring the Dor to the fortress, which wouldn't make sense if the fortress was at Sel's CR. However, I agree that Sel isn't the Sun in Secret History, and as for each sub-astral having it's own sun, I'm not sure. It might just mean that places between planets wouldn't see the sun, but once you get back onto a planet, you could see the Sun again. At the same time, that is quite unlikely.

Side note: It's "splinter" not "shatter". I'm also guilty of using Shatter, but we really should be making an effort to use the correct term. OK. So I actually have a theory on this. I think that the process of splintering has two parts: Separate as much of the Shard's investiture from itself as you can, and then splintering what is left of the shard into as many pieces as you can. I suspect that the Shard's vessel would need to die before you can do the second part (Or maybe the splintering process itself kills the vessel), but it would be possible to separate the Investiture from the shard while the Vessel is still alive. How it would apply to Dominion and Devotion's splintering: I think Odium started by killing the two vessels, then he separated the bulk of the investiture from the shards, which he then combined and placed in the CR (forming the Dor), and then took what was left (Essentially the Physical/Cognitive/Spiritual aspect of the shard, but with no mind) and splintered them, spreading the pieces everywhere on Sel. The splintered pieces would have eventually developed sentience associated with their intent, and thus were the Seons and Skaze born. As for Honor, I'm not sure. I think that the Rosharan equivalent of the Dor is the Storm itself, seeing as how the storm is the main source of Investiture on Roshar. So, I think that Odium killed Honor, and was rushed in the process of splintering (probably for the same reason he couldn't leave the system) so instead of creating another Dor, he threw the investiture back on the planet. Doing so left a lot of "rogue" investiture on the planet, which is what formed the storms. At this point the storm just keeps going around and around the planet. As for Honor's equivalent of Seons/Skaze, I don't know. Odium might have been weakened enough by the fight that he could not finish the process, and thus the shard itself survived whole (or maybe in 2-3 pieces), but without a vessel/mind (or maybe a dying one), and separated from the bulk of it's investiture. I have a couple ideas of what this might be. One would be the Stormfather. It could be that the Shard is still in the process of recreating a mind for itself, which is why the Stormfather isn't drawing in all of the investiture to return to being a Shard. It could be that he is only a portion of Honor, thus not capable of drawing in the full investiture under his control. So, maybe he has it all under partial control, which is why you have storms that follow a pattern? Another theory for Honor might be that Odium splintered him into 2-3 pieces, but wasn't able to separate him from his investiture. Thus you have one Splinter as the Stormfather, with his Investiture manifesting as a storm. Honor himself survived in a much weakened state, with continued access to part of his investiture. This would mean that when he died in WoR, his power would have splintered again? Or it would have been taken up by someone else, a la leras? I'm picturing something very similar to Preservation's death scene, except that instead of trying to tell Elend something, Honor just shouts out "Unite them!!!!". And then you get Preservation. He was able to separate Ruin from his investiture and keep him locked up, but it cost him heavily, in part seperating himself from his own investiture. When Ruin escaped, he regained part of his Investiture, but some of it was still hidden (the atium). This explains why Preservation's intent allowed him to do that: What he did wasn't a destruction of Ruin (the splintering of the shard) it was him nerfing Ruin as much as he could, a process that is very close to the actual splintering of a shard, seeing as how one typically does with the other. Then Ruin used the fact that preservation had weakened himself to kill him, which would have allowed him to splinter Preservation if Kelsier hadn't stepped in. However, Kelsier was holding the shard, without most of the Investiture, seeing as it was still in the Mist. When Vin drew in the mist and Kelsier gave her the shard, Preservation was almost completely united again. The only missing piece being the godmetal part of him (the lerasium) which was locked in the people's ability to use Alomancy. The only reason Ruin wasn't more powerful than Vin was because Ruin's godmetal investiture (the atium) ad also been locked away, then burned. Thus you see that both Preservation and Ruin had their investiture separated at some point, but neither got splintered, despite being vulnerable, because Preservation wasn't able to splinter Ruin, and Ruin was blocked by Kelsier then Vin. Dominion/Devotion part is the most solid portion, and the rest is mostly head cannon, but it makes sense to me. Especially since it explains why Seons/Skaze can be a portion of their respective shards, while the Dor still exists.

Another thing to keep in mind that there are at least 2 other illusionist magic systems (Lightweaving, twice) and that if those three are from 17th shard (I can't remember if that was confirmed) then there are probably at least a couple 17th sharders who could use one of those to mask Galladon's identity. Of course, I know next to nothing about those two magic systems, so I have no idea what is or isn't possible. Other than one uses stormlight that is.

1. Would reassembling the Shards of Deotion and Dominion require destroying/merging the Seons and Skaze? 2. What is Honor's equivalent to Seons/Skaze, since he was also splintered. 3. Does a forged object continue to draw on investiture once it's spiritual identity has been written? Essentially, if an object's spiritual identity has been permanently changed by a seal, would it still be location dependent on Sel? Or would it no longer need the location's link to the Dor to stay the way it is? 4. Did Hoid swallow the Lerasium bead? You've implied it, but never confirmed it. 5. You can use a Keystone soulstamp to connect and activate several other stamps without needing to stamp them all. Would it be possible to do something similar with Aons? A single Aon used to activate several other connected Aons? 6. Is there any work to turn any of your books into movies or tv shows? Would you be open to such development? (Answered here: http://faq.brandonsanderson.com/node/217. Thanks john203 for giving me the link.) 7. Is the Redeeming/Destroying from the Aimian prophesies relating to the Aimians or the entire world? 8. Would using a syringe excite Shades? Or is the fact that the blood in an airtight container enough? What if a single drop leaked out of the puncture wound when you took the syringe out? 9. Is Taldian's sun Autonomy? (if no) Is Autonomy invested in Taldain's Sun? 10. Is Dahkor location dependent in both the creation and use of the Dahkor bone formations? Or just in their creations? In other words, if a Dahkor user left Sel without a connection to the Dor, would his bones still keep their abilities? 11. Is running the only simple rule connected to the time of day? 12. As technology progresses in the Forests of Hell, will the simple rules expand to incorporate other "bad things"? or will it stick to blood, fire and running? I'll probably add more later.

Just to add to that, I actually think that all of the Selish magic systems have equal parts Dominion and Devotion. In fact, I almost have an easier time connecting Devotion to Dakhor than AonDor to be honest. AonDor: Devotion: To some extent the ease of the Aon's and their connection to a specific location is what made the Elantrians into these benevolent Gods. They were stuck there, as long as they wanted to use the Aons, and it was much easier for them to be generous to the people around them than to have to worry about revolt. So, they build a glorious city, and many of them devote themselves to some form of work, whether healing, study, masonry, etc. Dominion: Dominion is associated with Control, Sovereignty, and Power. AonDor gives you all of that. Sovereignty over the people of Arelon through the giving of free stuff. Control and Power stem directly from the Aons themselves. The ability to live an extremely long life, to travel wherever you wish with a wave of the hand (though you wouldn't want to go too far), to change your appearance, change rocks into food, etc. It's all in the nature of Controlling something. And part of why people devote themselves to study is because greater study of the Aons gives greater control and power. So what I see happening with AonDor is that Devotion feeds Dominion and vice versa. They aren't really opposite. The nature of AonDor is basedin study and practice (Devotion), but it's uses are in control (Dominion) Dakhor: Devotion: Gaining access to Dakhor is an extremely painful process, which goes really well with the concept of being devoted to a cause. Without really firm dedication, you aren't going to stick around long enough to become a full Dakhor user (Hrathen being a perfect example). And there is the previously mentioned example where a Monk is devoted enough to his leader to be willing to sacrifice himself for convenience. Obedience and dedication are ingrained. Dominion: And yet again, a lot of this has to do with having power. Being stronger, faster, smarter. More prowess, power and control. The ability to excercise dominion over others through fear and force. And the order also lends itself to gaining sovereignty over your fellow monks. So, where I think the magic system of Dakhor itself is balanced between the two, I think that the more Dominion-based Derethi teaching associated with Dakhor in our minds make it more likely for us to see Dahkor as a Dominion centered system. However, again, the boundaries between Dominion and Devotion is unclear, if existent at all. Are the Monks doing what they are doing because they seem Dominion? Because those over them have Dominion on them? Or are they dedicated to their cause? I think it's a mix. I mean, IRL monks are the image of Devotion, and the Dahkor do certainly include that aspect of monkhood. Forging: Devotion: Forging requires the forger to have a deep grasp of the history of the entity being altered, thus requiring a strong devotion to the work. The amount of research and trial required in good Forgery shows a dedication to the work. Especially for those who consider Forgery a piece of art. Dominion: But the nature of Forgery is to have control over another object, bending it to you perception of what it should be. This is especially true when applied to Soulforging. Soulforging gives you a lot of control over your own self, but creating the seals takes an intense amount of dedication and time. Again, devotion to the work gives you greater dominion over the world around you. I'm not going to lay out Bloodsealing, ChaiShan and Potion Making, as we don't know much about them. However, I suspect that you'd get the same pattern, where both Devotion tot he work, and Dominion being the result of said work implies that they are based on a balanced combination of the two shard's intents. At this point, I almost see the "intent" of the Dor (which is shown in pretty much all of the magic systems of the Dor) is that it rewards Devotion with Dominion over the things of the world. The more dedicated you are to some cause or work, the more power and control you get. So really, none of them are more to one side or the other in my mind. The people who use them may be more to one side or the other due to the culture they are from, but the magic itself doesn't encourage one more than the other. It's also a great way to see that the new intent is good or evil, as both good and evil applications derive. (Yes, I am considering Dahkor inherently evil, and AonDor more on the Good side. Not sure about ChaiShan or Forgery, but I think Bloodsealing is quite dark.)

Actually, we have it strongly hinted and almost confirmed that Hoid used the Lerasium bead, but it was never completely confirmed.

Honestly, we already have an example of Object oriented programming on Sel: Forging. Remember how there were two parts to the Emperor's soulstamp? 1. The stamp itself that he has to put into himself, 2. The code of his new mind (ie the pendant) that he has to wear at all times. From what I can tell, the pendant is the source code, and the soulstamp refers to it so you don't have to restamp the whole thing. I suspect that there would be a way to do the same thing with AonDor, where you place a permanently carved Aon with all of the modifiers etc, that does the actual work, and then an other Aon (maybe also carved?) can be activated by an Elantrian to activate the core one.

Just a note about Forgery. It says that soulstamps get weaker the farther they get from MaiPon. Was it confirmed that a stamped item would revert after a distance? The reason why I ask is because I could see something like stamping an object when farther makes it less likely to stick, or make it last less time, but in cases were an object was given a stamp that took perfectly (doesn't need to be reapplied), then it might make sense for it to stay the way it is afterwards. To recap; I think that there are two ways soulstamping might decrease in power over distance: 1. The father from MaiPon you are, the less "sticky" a stamp is, but once a stamp has "stuck", distance is no longer an issue, since the Investiture is already invested and the spiritual aspect already rewritten. 2. The farther from MaiPon an object is, the less duration a seal will have, till it eventually fades completely. I'm assuming that this would mean that keeping an object's spiritual aspect rewritten requires a stream of investiture, not just a single burst of it. BTW, I'm probably using thr wrong terms to describe what a Soulstamp does Realmatically to an object. I'm fairly sure the change is spiritual, though it could also be cognitive in nature.

Honestly, to me the biggest points for turning books to movies are: 1. Contact with the Author to make sure the stuff you change isn't inconsistent with the sequels. This was small details that don't seem important but are important in the sequels stay the same. Example: The Eragon movie changed too many plot points around Roran and a couple other minor characters for a sequel to work. You just can't twist it back enough for Roran Stronghammer to make sense. 2. Don't do a half botched job. I feel like there are books were they tried to capitalize on the book's fame and cut corners in the production. Examples: Eragon (again), and Ender's Game. Ender's game needed two movies (or at least a really long one) to do it justice. It needed one movie for Battle School, and one for the war against the Buggers. As it is, the movies feel rushed. Minor note: The opposite would be just as bad (IE the Hobbit movies are way too long). 3. That the people who make the movie love the books. It can really be felt when the director or main actors don't actually care about the story. We need an actual 17th sharder directing this stuff. Note: I really like the Stormlight series idea, though I do feel like Elantris could make a good movie on it's own.

My previous blurb was about who the Redeemer and Destroyer are. Who the 4 are (Kaladin, Shallan, Dalianr and Szeth) I completely agree with. My post was about saying that guessing who is who is going to become a situation that could get very loopy, as Brandon has been consistently taking the least expected choice, which means that he has become predictable, and he might change that. Or he might not. So, much like the Sicilian in Princess Bride, we can't really figure out which cup is poisoned. I seriously hope Brandon finds a way to have both cups be poisoned though. (IE, any guess on our part is wrong). As for Dalinar dying, I doubt it. Because of the guesswork around the Destroyer/Redeemer, I don't see Brandon killing any of the 4 until that prophesy is fulfilled. Unless he kills Dalinar off, only to later show that things Dalinar had set in motion in the past made him the Redeemer or Destroyer. That could be cool. Point is, we won't be able to rule out one of the 4 via death.

I'm not sure about those guesses. A. I don't know if we are talking of Redeeming/Destroying everyone, or just the Amians. And B. Brandon tends to try and be unpredictable. Which means that I'd expect him to set someone up as the "Savior" only to have their "saving" act be one of destruction, or vice versa. At the same time, he already did that with WoA, so if he was trying to really be unpredictable, he might make it the obvious, and thus discarded one of the 4. So, I think that there is a solid chance that Szeth be the destroyer and Dalinar or Kaladin be the savior. At the same time, I could see Shallan being one of the two, seeing as she is the one I'd least expect. So, to me this becomes a game very similar to the Sicilian in Princess Bride: He might do the classic move, the unexpected, or the classic to be unexpected, or some other weird thing. Hopefully that makes sense. All that to say that it could be any of them.

I suspect that when Brandon says that traveling through the Sel CR is dangerous, it really is dangerous, and I don't think it is undermined. a. Hoid. If I can reference Sixth of the Dusk, going on that island is really dangerous, but someone who is familiar with the dangers of the island can maneuver through it over and over again without dying. Eventually, he'll probably die, but he can still last several dozen trips. Hoid might have enough knowledge of Shards, Investiture, etc. to navigate the Selish CR with relatively low risk (say, 5% chance of death), which is how he got through. Meanwhile, others might have much higher odds of dying. b. IRE. Notice how their base isn't on Sel? I mean, there might be one on Sel, but I doubt it. It seems to me that they have enough experience in the Selish CR that they can get some recruits off the planet. However, we only know of the IRE personnel who got off the planet alive. For all we know, two thirds of the people who entered the CR in sell died without reaching their destination. All we know is that some got through. Now, this does break apart the argument supporting the fact that Benevolence is making the CR safer, as A. Worldhoppers like Khriss would have noticed, and B. The fact that people got off makes sense either way.

Wow. Hard question. So, I've read Mistborn a ton more than Stormlight, but thats because I had to borrow the Stormlight archive books, and I own all of the mistborn ones. So, because of that I understand Mistborn much better, and spend more time theorizing about it. However, I really like reading Stormlight and can't wait for more to come out. I think that individual books, I'd enjoy reading a SA book more than a MB one, but I also think that I'll be much more attracted to MB once the Era 4 books come out. The sci-fi nerd just can't wait.

I think that an opaque syringe, where you can't see how much blood is in it would work, as long as you made sure that no blood came out of the puncture wound when you take the syringe out. What I'm wondering is whether a typical transparent syringe would work. Does it need to be in contact with the air? Or do you need to be able to see it? At the same time, that is assuming that the Shades would be bothered by syringes at all, since this is a destructive process. I think it would, since it is too close to other bleeding wounds to be it's own section in a Shade's judgement.

On the contrary, this is great. I'm fairly sure Keteks are supposed to be 5 part pieces, but I am by no means a poetry expert, and this is awesome regardless.

Well, since it's revived already, might as well add some more. A. Has the Master DNA theory been confirmed or destroyed over the last 4 years? Or is it still just a theory? Any WoB or other Canon sources to attack or strengthen it? B. I'm fairly sure at this point WoBs say that Hoid does not have Feruchemy, so that throws a major wrench in the theory. C. However, I think that the master DNA theory might be right anyways. I'm thinking of the passage in MBSH where the IRE need a spherical artifact to temporarily connect them to Preservation so they can take up it's power. It sounds like a non-Scadrial human wouldn't have that connection. However, the master DNA theory might mean that Hoid can take up any shard, regardless of where it is invested, because he predates the shattering. So, if more light is shed on recent developments of the master DNA theory, you might have another disciple, @Shardlet

(emphasis mine) This makes me think of something. The Jewish Sabbath rules are about not causing productive change (work) on the Sabbath day. We also know that the Simple Rules are based on the Jewish Sabbath rules, with major changes. So, change it from not causing productive change, to not causing destructive/chaotic change, and make it everyday instead of just sabbath and you get something really close to the simple rules: - Fire is by and large a strongly destructive and chaotic element. It has uses in changing things (IE forging) but as a general rule, it destroys. The reason why an already lit flame is fine is because this implies a "controlled" environment. - Gunpowder is like fire, but 10 times worse. Where fine is occasionally useful, gunpowder is almost completely destructive and chaotic in nature. - Running during the day is largely fine, as there are many productive and positive reasons to run during the day. However, once night rolls around, running is almost always associated with chaos and panic. You don't run in the dark unless you have to or you are scared. This would explain why nighttime only applies to running. - And blood is another case. Blood implies that a body has been destroyed or harmed. Blood implies chaos. Now, there are many ways to kill without having blood, but most of those things could also be harmless. (IE, strangling could also be seen a hugging, hammering a bag as hammering a nail.) However, blood is always around a wound. The only exception might be when a doctor uses a syringe or has a container of blood. I'm not sure how the simple rules would apply to that. So, actions that 90% of the time result in chaos and destruction break the simple rules, while other actions that cause chaos and destruction are fine because there are lumped together with non-destructive actions.

That's a really good connection. I especially like the idea of lightweaving to manipulate from a distance. Now what I'm wondering is if that means that Autonomy is less invested into the Taldain system than others shards would be? Or is she more invested? That would probably depend on whether there actually is a star at Bavadin's location and she just merged with it, or if she is simulating a star, or if she turned herself into a star.