Ceradis

Thanks for the reply’s! White sand definitely makes more sense with that description. Why does he need it to find Shallan I assumed he would just use seeking? Maybe the screaming spren would be able to sense it?

I’ve been re reading OB for the first time since lost metal and I noticed this (ch 67 hoid telling the story of Mishim to refuges)

Quote

He hopped up and began gathering his things. Shallan slipped forward and glanced inside his pack, catching sight of a small jar, sealed at the top. It was mostly black, but the side pointed toward her was instead white. Wit snapped the pack closed.

Was hoid using purified dor to power whatever invested arts he was using to tell his story? Sure looks that way to me but can’t find anything else on this.

Part of it probably has to do with Intent; in the case of dead Blades I would assume that it's mostly due to the Intent the old Radiants had when summoning and abandoning them. For Radiant Spren there Knight's Intent determines which parts cut and which don't.

Edit: didn't see your comment til after I posted this but i agree trav, seems to make the most sense as Intent plays a huge role in how Radiant spren take physical form as metal objects.

So at first I was thinking these would be aluminum/duralumin for the ones that block shardblades and conduct Light. However, while the Rosharans seemed somewhat ignorant of aluminum up until OB, in the early chapters of RoW Navani talks about using aluminum in the fabrials of her flying ship so they’re clearly aware of it by now. This makes me think that they would have recognized aluminum weapons if that’s what the fused were using. Any thoughts on what they might be?

Edit: for clarity, I’m referring to the metals in the epigraphs of ch 17 and 18

Just something to add about Kaladin’s specific affinity to the wind. This strange ability seems to be growing stronger as he progresses. In Oathbringer, Kal is actually able to (somewhat) control the wind; he creates a pocket of calm wind in the highstorm when trying to help people get to safety before flying back to Urithiru. He also senses that he can do something similar when flying the team that’s meant to unlock the oathgate to Kholinar.

Not sure if this is something specific to him individually or to the windrunners in general though.

I agree that they were originally just a normal race of people; in all likelihood they existed on Roshar before Odium came to the system. Maybe the quote from Jasnah's notes is discussing the first desolation that occurred where they suddenly became aggressive and violent.

In that case it is still possible that they didn't inhabit Roshar during the time between desolations.

I will admit this is probably a little bit of a stretch, but it does seem consistent with what we know.

1 hour ago, Calderis said:

The two together especially make me think the Parshmen transition from placid to threatening is not a new occurrence. 

Point to you, I'll definitely have to think about that more; however, on the flip side I-4 of WoR says:

"The listeners had made a decision centuries ago, a decision that set them back to primitive levels."

I think we can accurately say that this decision was to take on dullform or slaveform to free themselves of their gods and that it occurred at the end of the Aharietiam. That makes it sound like the transition only occurred once.

This is a theory I've been thinking about in regards to the desolation that we're about to see in the upcoming SA books and how it differs from the previous desolations that have occurred on Roshar in the past.

At the end of WoR, Hoid and Jasnah have a conversation about the desolation and the everstorm. Hoid mentions that the everstorm is going to transform the parshmen into voidbringers, to which Jasnah replied that it didn't happen that way in the past. So I'm trying to speculate as to why that is.

We, sort of, know that desolations occurred when the Heralds broke under the torture they were forced to endure in damnation and returned to Roshar. Here are the WoB where this is discussed:

AhoyMatey Is a Desolation caused when a Herald breaks under torture?

Brandon Sanderson This person is asking the right kinds of questions.

and:

Question

What caused a Desolation to end? Was it just the defeat of Odium's forces? Because the Desolations start when the Heralds break under torture.

Brandon Sanderson

Because the Heralds can no longer be in existence. There is a certain period of time that they can be there, and after that, if they're there, they will start a new one. So the Heralds do need to leave for a Desolation to end.

So something about the Heralds leaving "damnation" also allowed the voidbringers to come to Roshar (I won't open the can of worms of why or how but this seems pretty reasonable). So now that Taln has been broken and returned to Roshar, the Final Desolation has arrived. However, getting back to my point, it's different this time.

My theory is that it's different this time because the parshmen are already inhabitants of Roshar. I think that in the past the voidbringers arrived on Roshar during the desolation, then were driven out  by the Heralds and Knights Radiant.

At the end of the supposed last desolation, the parshmen were subjugated rather then driven out of Roshar. So rather than the oathpact physically holding back the voidbringers, it had been preventing voidspren, as splinters of Odium, from crossing from the Cognitive realm into physical Roshar. When Taln broke and returned to Roshar, this block was removed, which I think is why the Stormfather tells Eshonai that he can't stop her transformation. So the Everstorm brings with it the voidspren and will transform parshmen where as previously the desolations occurred when the voidbringers themselves returned to Roshar.

Sidenote: some question I would like to ask Brandon is whether parshmen or listeners inhabited Roshar between desolations and if Eshonai would have been able to bond to the stormspren before Taln arrived on Roshar.

12 hours ago, Drake Marshall said:

That is a very interesting revelation.

So basically the world is actually flat in the cognitive realm.

I think this was also confirmed in a WoB, but I'm having trouble finding it right now

7 hours ago, Oversleep said:

Yes, Hemalurgy can steal anything. Not only stuff that's genetic. It can steal anything that's in the Spiritweb - for example you could steal a Shardblade that way: spike him for his end of the bond end.

There's also an interesting WoB about spiking spren but I have a feeling somebody will come along and quote it. Maybe @Calderis, maybe @Extesian, they love that WoB. Wouldn't want to Ruin their fun.

So you could possibly spike a Spren to gain surgebinding abilities but if you spiked the person with the Nahel bond the spren could just break the bond afterwards? That seems to kinda make sense

The essay in Arcanum Unbounded about Scadrial mentions that in all likelihood Hemalurgy is the form of Investiture on the planet that can likely have the most impact on the greater cosmere. This is obviously because Hemalurgy can be performed by anyone, but it made me start wondering whether it could steal abilities from non-Scadrian magic system. It seems to me that it should for abilities that are genetic in nature (despite that many major magic systems aren't).

On 8/30/2016 at 6:48 AM, Voidus said:

I suspect that it's likely because Roshars magics are more loosely grouped than on Scadrial, Brandon has said that depending on how you count it there's either 10 or 30 magic systems on Roshar which implies that each Surge is closer to a Magic System than Surgebinding is as a whole. But then again in the same interview he said you could technically count each Misting as a separate one so still hard to say.

I apologize as I know this is slightly unrelated but do you happen to have a link to this WoB. Would be interested in reading it if you can find it.

I read a WoB about how Vasher can stay alive much more easily on Roshar, presumably because he uses stormlight as a substitute for Breath, and I started wondering if Breath is something that only people on Nalthis are born. That seems to make sense considering that there aren't awakeners all over the different shardworlds; however, aside from the AonDor the forms of investiture we've seen aren't location dependent. Does this mean that awakening is location dependent in that you can only, for the most part, acquire Breath from people who are natives of Nalthis?

7 hours ago, Calderis said:

Until Adolin defines his own personal code, we can't really quantify things. He has tried to adhere to his father's code and had lapses due to things that he could not abide. Once he's found his own code, I think he'll be pretty high up on the list. 

As far as "Honorable" is, by the definition shown so far, the most Honorable character is easily Szeth. He will stand by his chosen code of conduct to the detriment of all else. Himself included. 

I don't necessarily agree that Szeth is the most honorable. I think that is commendable, after a fashion, that he has chosen to follow rules and laws placed upon him by others, but I don't think that makes him honorable. He followed those codes despite the fact that they were dishonorable; so Szeth appreciates justice above all else. However, I think that is distinct from honor.

Syl says to Kaladin in WoR that what matters to someone that is honorable is doing whats right.

5 hours ago, FiveLate said:

Well actually we can separate isotopes now.  Have been since the 1940s.  Mostly it is used to isolate deuterium and tritium from protium in Hydrogen and U-234 from U-235 and U-238 to make nuclear reactors that run on U-234 for its greater macroscopic cross section for absorption of a thermal neutron and faster response times allowing for use in systems that need fast power output changes.  Primarily Naval Nuclear Reactors on Submarines and Aircraft Carriers where up to 80% of the power goes to propulsion, which needs a high rate of change.

I agree it shouldn't matter, I was just curious if the question had ever been asked, because theoretically anything on Nalthis could probably be traced back to a single source since everything living recycles atoms and molecules and rock basically does the same thin geologically.

Oh yeah we totally can! You can separate isotopes what I meant is that there isn't an isotope that is considered more "pure" than another.

11 minutes ago, Calderis said:

Here you go 

http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1069#24

 

Thanks! gotta boomark it this time

Just now, Calderis said:

F-gold could heal hemalurgic damage, and therefore heal the soul, so yes, it could heal a Shardblade wound. 

http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1084#69

 

Yeah that makes sense. Doesn't it kind of just become a matter of who cuts off the other persons head first then?

On 7/11/2017 at 6:30 AM, FiveLate said:

Based off of the discussions here

I would lean towards no, bc it seems to be related to the electromagnetic charges themselves and neutrons are umm neutral in that respect.  Tin with its 10 stable isotopes would be a nightmare.  Since pure metals are required, you would probably need to have pure isotopes for Allomancy to work, and that is far beyond the tech of TFE.  The majority of the differences between them have to do with things like the macroscopic cross sections for absorption of sub atomic particles as different energy states.

Now to go completely against what I just said.  What if tin minds stored different essences in different isotopes of Tin?

So I agree that they wouldn't be different; however, there's no such thing as a pure isotope. So i just think that any isotope would behave the same.

On 7/9/2017 at 9:56 AM, Calderis said:

Yeah, a Fullborn is, for all intents and purposes, The Lord Ruler. I find it difficult to picture a fight that TLR falls to any single Herald.

Although I feel like a Herald would also just be constantly healing any wounds with stormlight so part of the question is whether a fullborn can heal from an honorblade wound. If they can i think thats a serious advantage for the Herald.

4 hours ago, Calderis said:

You're not alone in that. I personally can't accept an implied ending to a 10 book epic that is either completely lacking closure, or an outright defeat. 

Would you possibly be able to link the exact WoB where he's asked about this. I'm having trouble finding it again

On 7/14/2017 at 5:58 PM, OneNastyChull said:

I've been unable to find anything outside of that post by pagerunner which someone also linked to another Q&A I asked. Planning on asking him myself if he comes to Austin. Could be a combination of Alkali Metals and maybe alkali earth metals but that would be one unstable atom, can't even imagine the bonds that would exist. Would say Alkali Metals and halogens but they aren't all in pairs, just the three sets of shards that we know of while all the others seem to repeal each other or at least have no natural draw. Man it would be really interesting if Odium is a reflection of the most reactive Alkali earth metal and that's why he is seeking out so many others! Probably looking to deeply at this and it was simply inspiration only and doesn't mean more.

Odium is actually seeking out and killing shards but not taking up any of their power. Doesn't seem very reactive to me as there are no bonds happening

Well so a wound from a shardblade, say in the shoulder like what happened to Szeth, still severs the soul of the wounded flesh even if it doesn't go through the arm and render the entire thing useless. So my theory is that if a shardblade was used to slice through a kandra's arm, the flesh would die and turn grey but the bone itself would actually be sliced since its not really living. Then however if the dead flesh was sliced away the kandra could just eat more to create more muscle.

35 minutes ago, Calderis said:

True. But if Dalinar makes the argument that Urithiru should be separated as it was in the past, he better have made that argument before Adolin's actions come out. 

If not, a city held by the Alethi, and a murder committed between two high ranking Alethi nobles, will make it seem like a inept ploy on Dalinar's part and have a very poor outcome politically. 

There's also the fact that a murder was committed, and regardless of jurisdiction, they either in force some form of law, or embrace Chaos. 

Completely agree, it was more so a point as to how the entire thing would actually play out when/if the murder comes out and Adolin is discovered. It could be that the Radiants rule the city; though unlikely, this kinda makes sense to me because they are the only way into and out of Urithiru. In a sense, the city belongs to them since they control access to it. They could feasibly argue their right to rule, and people wouldn't be able to deny it to them.

Again I do think that this would be unlikely as it might dredge up memories of the Lost Radiants and their corruption, but I do think it would change the consequences that Adolin would face.

On 7/11/2017 at 9:23 AM, Calderis said:

Yes we've been told the ending is "hidden" in what we've already read. I doubt it is something that has been so blatantly shown to us as one of Dalinar's visions. 

"Ten people, with Shardblades alight, standing before a wall of black and white and red." -TWOK ch9 epigraph

 This is my personal take on the hidden last scene of SA

Since a lot of this has spiraled into topics concerning the consequences of his actions, I would like to bring up the fact that since Urithiru isn't in Alethkar it could be agrued that the highprinces have no right to judge or rule there.