spacemonkey

I recall Brandon saying something about how souls can stick around in the Spiritual Realm for a while after they die, which was the case with Kelsier. Also, the Returned clearly prove that it is possible to revive the dead, at least for Endowment. That happens shortly after death though, so presumably they're still in the Spiritual Realm at that point and haven't yet moved on to the afterlife.

The way I've always seen it is that Elantris is a power amplifier, and when outside its range AonDor goes back to working at its normal strength. In fact, Raoden notes that in Teod, AonDor was about the same strength as it was when Elantris wasn't working. I think that AonDor itself will work anywhere on Sel, but it's only strong in proximity to Elantris. I'm pretty sure Brandon has said somewhere that the Shaod must have existed before Elantris was constructed. You have be living near Arelon for that to happen, but I don't think the selection is caused by Elantris. It is however, probably the reason they constructed Elantris in Arelon. I also don't think AonDor itself would get any weaker than it was in Teod, as long you were still on Sel. Notably, the other magic systems don't seem to vary in strength due to location- the Dakhor aren't noted as being any weaker in Teod than they were in Arelon, despite being much further from Fjordel, and Shai doesn't seem to have any problems using Forgery outside her homeland. So I'm inclined to think that AonDor is only different because of the Elantris-amplifier-Aon. The way I saw it is that it's your place of birth that affects what your spiritual DNA is, which determines what magic system you'll be able to use to access the Dor.

From the annotations to HoA:

If it cuts off their access to Preservation, they wouldn't be able to use Allomancy for the duration of the effect, although we don't know enough about aluminum in Mistborn to guess how long that might be.

Probably brass or zinc, as those are the external metals.

I strongly suspect that at least one Atium alloy with one of the mental metals could be used to send an Allomancer to Shadesmar.

Given that the Seons lost all ability to communicate or reason if their owners became Elantrians during the Reod era, this is probably at least partly correct.

This brings to mind Brandon's comments about Returned, namely that drabs can't Return the same way someone with Breath could. That seems to support your theory, as Breath most likely acts as an anchor to the Realms.

I kind of doubt that there were already people on the Shardworlds other than Yolen before Adonalsium shattered. At least, there certainly weren't any on Scadrial, as we know Ruin and Preservation created the humans there. I suppose it's possible that some worlds could have been colonized by worldhoppers, but I'm inclined to think that most of the worlds that have Shards would have been populated by people the Shards created.

It's occurred to me that the Knights Radiant must have been able to make Shardplate and Shardblades somehow, and given that they didn't seem to use fabrials, there's probably a Surge related to it. Dalinar might have this ability, which would fit with his character thematically.

Actually, Alloy takes place before WoK chronologically. It's the second Mistborn trilogy, which has yet to be written, that occurs at about the same time as the WoK.

I really doubt Shallan will be looking for a romantic relationship anytime soon, not after what happened with Kabsal.

This is a very good point. The chapter headings aren't something I'd considered before, but they do seem to strongly indicate that Shallan is in Order 6, and Jasnah Order 5. As for Soulcasting organics, there's no reason that being in that particular Order would have any effect on her ability to Soulcast organics. Yes, number 5 on the Soulcasting chart is aligned with plants, wood, and moss, but that doesn't necessarily mean that being in Order 5 grants any special abilities with Soulcasting that Essence. Soulcasting is a Surge all on its own; it probably functions the same way regardless of which Order someone is in. The different Orders must gain access to it from a different kind of spren-bond, but the actual act of Soulcasting is probably the same for both Orders that can do it. In chapter 72, Jasnah comments that it's harder to Soulcast something that isn't the pure form of an Essence. Presumably, you need a better comprehension of what it is you want to transform when you're working with something that isn't an Essence, and Jasnah simply doesn't know a lot about biology. Granted, this is conjecture, but it seems logical to me.

Everything can be used for sex. Everything.