Bigmikey357

One of the technologies he specifically repressed are those related to warfare. They are fighting a war right? Using people that haven't seen a large scale rebellion for about 800 years. With an opponent that has been fighting somebody for most of their history. I disagree. There is no reason for the Radiants to maintain a force as large as reported pre-Recreance if they aren't going to be fighting somebody, and alot. No Fused, true, but Singers are still a problem. And if the Singers aren't active this century or that decade they still must contend with a fractured humanity, someone always tries to gain dominance over everyone else. You don't have an entire silver kingdom dedicated to training soldiers if there's no need for them. Couple points here. First, in the scenario do the sides come in knowing all the capabilities of the other or will they have to learn each other the old fashioned way, through experience and spy networks and all that? Because if it's the latter then I imagine the first time Scadrial learns about Lightweavers will be in catastrophic fashion. Because Scadrians need to be aware of the threat before they can prepare for it. Lightweavers in particular have a low detection threshold as evidenced by the Kholin raid so they'll probably be especially difficult for a seeker to detect, maybe even savant level. And the Steel/Iron users have to be taught to see in this fashion, they don't just pick it up. And how would they know they need to unless they know? Finally this is just one Order we're talking about, a way to do this off the top of my head. Other Orders could use other methods to disrupt the metalborn. I acknowledge that the Scadrians have surprises of their own to deliver, quite nasty ones all told. But just like it's harder to use illusions against Steelsight, it's harder to sneak up on a person with sapient weaponry. And Lightweaver/Truthwatcher surge involves more than light. Steelsight does not work against sound. So the strategy is for a bunch of coinshots to launch a hail of coins at the Shardbearers? You may be right about the coins, I am not as familiar with the physics as maybe I should be. But what's to stop an Elsecaller from instantly soulcasting a stone wall to stop it? What's to stop any Radiant from turning their unbreakable Shardblade into a shield, wading through or shrugging off the barrage and performing something nasty in kind? Duraluminum is absolutely necessary IMO. Yes. Who did an amazing amount of steel running for only having the ability for a couple weeks. The Steelrunner Kandra had a couple of distinct advantages. Access to guns, a near defenseless population and a mystery about who she was. At no point was she required to be in a prolonged battle where she had to husband her abilities against a future need. If I was a Radiant made aware of the power a Steelrunner or any Feruchemist ability for that matter I'm making efforts to have them use it up, just as a Scadrian high priority is to deprive Radiants of Stormlight. I overstated the nonmetal weapons thing for Scadrial. And a Radiant is going to have trouble with a coin through the viewslit or an Atium user. So the question is, how much Atium is each user going to get? 30 seconds worth? A couple minutes? They gotta decide before they swallow it, it's use it or lose it. And they better hope they don't run out while in range of a Shardblade cause that's a one hit kill. If TLR decides to empty the Trustwarren worth of Atium and give his users a bag of Atium a piece, it had better be the deciding battle, he'd better pick his spot well. And hope no one able to soulcast at distance to turn their supply into smoke. And they need every shot to be instant death or disability. TLR don't follow the normal rules. He could absolutely do this. He's a run on sight type of problem. Inquisitors just aren't. TLR has to make them and kill metalborn to do so. Lastly I'm with @Pathfinder in saying I need proof that Darkeyes don't feel the Thrill. That doesn't even make sense to me.

Unsupported but not unreasonable. And if Dawnshard or Heralds they should be in play for this scenario. A couple of twinborn that aren't applicable in this scenario, a Kandra who did a lot of damage but ran out of speed with no way to get it back quickly at a pivotal moment, and a full Feruchemist who spent a year storing his combat attributes and used them all up in an afternoon. Never said they couldn't be devastating, just that reloading takes time they may not have. Allomancers swallow a vial of metal and are reloaded. Radiants inhale and are reloaded. A Feruchemist has to leave the battlefield to recharge or get their heads caved in. Whether 20 feet or 40, still that weight of armor spring jumping over the heads of soldiers, these feats of strength and agility in what is essentially a quarter ton of armor is not something to be looked at lightly. The average peuterarm ain't pulling that off, nor a Feruchemist thug. A coin is not a bullet. A small piece of metal moving at incredible speed could be effective, but a bullet is shaped to penetrate while a coin is not. All instances of coin usage came against unprotected flesh, not armor. I think you all are overestimating the power of a coin projectile. Now if it's aided by a duraluminum push then we're talking, but a run of the mill coinshot trying to push against armor will fly back. Your Mistborn troops and some of your Inquisitors will be able to use this trick, not all. And it's not like Radiants can't pull that same trick with lashings. I need to see a reference on this because I don't believe that is a true statement. It doesn't even make sense. How would Scadrians mine a godmetal native to their world and their world only? Of course they gotta take it with them. However in this scenario if their is no way to replenish Stormlight allowed then we might as well not have the scenario. How in the world do you figure that Scadrian tech out performs Rosharan tech when TLR repressed technological advances for a millennia? When the Scadrians don't use metal weapons of any kind since it's a disadvantage against steel/iron users? What's a glass knife going to do versus power armor? When Roshar has been in near constant warfare for 2000 years? Spanreeds are a relatively new invention but you think they didn't have fabrials at all before the Recreance? Really? Scadrians are still using candlelight for heaven's sake but their tech is better? Come on. Their great leader hasn't had to fight a worthy opponent for 800 years, his non allomantic troops are malnourished, underprivileged slaves without much will to fight, his metalborn can be checkmated in numerous ways. That's the most sensible strategy they could muster, but it's one Radiants can use too, if by different methods. Lightweaver sneaks into camp, infiltration and knives in the dark. And Inquisitors sleep much more than Radiants. Since they're the only ones immune to illusions and can cause the most damage outside TLR then those guys are my number 1 priority. And every Inquisitor TLR makes takes at least 1 metalborn off the table, often several.

@StanLemon The quicksand trap isn't using soulcating at all, but the surge of Cohesion. But to your further point Surgebinding caused the destruction of Ashyn, the original homeworld of Rosharan humanity, and the wreckage of Natanatan, current day Shattered Plains. Those are WoB's. You see the Radiants in their current poor state and believe that Thaylen City is the height of their capabilities, that's a strange assumption on your part considering that in the annals of history these people have caused planetary ecosystem phenomenon. Just the creation of Urithiru is a major engineering feat that could not possibly be accomplished without the manipulation of surges. And speaking of Thalen City, 7 Radiants plus Adolin and a handful of soldiers repelled an army that day. If they can do that with 7 people how much wreckage can they do with several thousand? The vision at Feverstone Keep was approximately the beginning of the Recreance and they had steel at the time. While we are talking about the OP premise we're talking about the height of the Radiancy pre Recreance. Regular Rosharans would have steel. And way better than bronze age technology. They would have had at least 2000 years in which to develop. Meanwhile TFE was intentionally repressed technologically per Rashek, especially military tech. The Thrill effected Dalinar because of his pre-established connection with Nergaoul. His bond to the SF came later, didn't cancel that bond and that wasn't what I was saying anyway. Kaladin was a soldier. Kaladin has killed before. Yet he never felt the Thrill at all. According to Brandon he was protected. His forming bond with Syl is likely the protection referenced. It's an assumption that the Nahel bond grants some spiritual resiliency, maybe even enough to counter a soothing, but it's not completely out of left field as you seem to suggest. Atium is an awesome tool in the Mistborn kit, yet if I were TLR with a stockpile, my Mistborn would get hardly any of it. It's super rare and would not be available on the neutral planet at all. What they bring is what they got. And it burns away way too fast. I would rather give it to myself and my inquisitors where it would be way more effective. Speaking of Mistborn, they can only fly as high or as far as their anchors allow. Windrunners aren't under that kind of limitation. Feruchemist soldiers are limited offensively because they cannot easily restore their attributes. Say I'm a Feruchemist and I stored strength, speed and health for a year in anticipation for this battle. I use up half my strength, most of my speed and all my health in a skirmish. I don't have a year to rebuild my metalminds before I'm fighting again. Trying to store on the run is less effective. And some attributes are easier to store than others so my combat performance would be consistent only until the first battle, then uneven. Koloss are stupid. Reread every battle they have been involved in. The intelligence comes from the ones controlling them. Large, strong, berserker like, can eat anything and survive. That's the advantages of a Koloss, not brains. I can do this all day, but I think I will just say dismissal of the Radiancy is a mistake, underestimating armor that at base can jump a 40ft chasm and punches that can explode skulls, underestimating an unbreakable weapon that severs swords and can slice stone like hot knives and butter, underestimating people who control various forces of nature and creation, people who have been at war for centuries, that's a mistake. I got Roshar in this conflict.

In a sense the numbers for the sides don't matter, at least in my mind. Of all the Scadrians and their myriad of powers, only TLR has the particular power set to significantly hurt the Radiant forces. Every other group can be checkmated by a Radiant order or orders without significant losses. Koloss? Turn the ground to quicksand with cohesion and burn baby with Division. Kandra? Spren see into the CR and will easily be able to detect that the cognitive aspect of a Kandra is significantly different than that of a human and alert their Radiant to the disparity. Mistings? Not powerful enough to overcome investiture interference with someone in Shardplate. Maybe a rioter/soother could maybe manage to shift someone's mood a little bit, but I believe the Nahel bond shrugs this influence off too. See Kaladin being barred from forming a connection with Nergaoul due to his burgeoning connection with Syl. Mistborn is closer to hurting a Radiant but there's an upper limit to any power output they can manage. They can spike that upper limit with duraluminum but must immediately replace that power afterwards, giving time for a counter by a Radiant outside the affected area of influence. Fighting in teams mitigates this risk somewhat but the problem is that they amount to all offense. They cannot heal from a hit from someone in armor, they cannot take a hit from a Shard weapon, they can't outmaneuver a flier. They would be a problem for squires or unarmored Radiants but full Radiants could handle them pretty easily. Feruchemist soldiers are better defensively but more limited offensively, and fighting offensively will run reserves out much faster and unlike Mistborn they cannot refuel quickly. Inquisitors can be made to take advantage of the strengths of both Allomancy and Feruchemy, but they lack stamina and TLR doesn't stack their abilities in a way that lets them compound. Really it takes Compounding to get enough out of the metallic arts to overcome the distinct advantages conveyed by magical armor and weapons that cannot be blocked by conventional means, wielded by people who autoheal as long as long as their fuel source holds out. Really the only function anyone without the ability to compound has in a battlefield of this nature will be to get the Radiants to burn up their Stormlight on targets that cannot really damage them in a significant way. And for that, Rosharans have regular troops too. Those non magical troops can increase their survivability with aluminum by making them immune to most emotional allomancy. Really it comes down to TLR vs Radiants. And if TLR creates more Fullborn via Hemalugy then the Radiants should be able to make use of the Fused and the Singers, as well as the Heralds, all the troops who have a direct power source not dependent on Stormlight refueling.

I still think there was a better target in which to aim his vengence, one that would not have gotten him kicked out of the brotherhood that was Bridge 4. I mean Roshone is sitting fat and pretty in Hearthstone, diminished status but still a lighteyes, still gets to Lord over a bunch of people, still likely unrepentant. Being mad at Elkohar instead of Roshone is kinda like if I was ran over by someone and I got mad at the car that hit me.

Agreed on all points. And confirmed by a WoB I don't have access to right now. Question is, what happens once team O bites the dust? She doesn't strike me as erratic like Edgli/Endowment, she's got something in mind for her endgame. What's a world where she's the Shard that stands alone look like? I guess it's better than Odium's void but I am not certain it's going to be all roses and candy canes either. A bit of a tangent but of the shards we know of, which one do you think would be best for mortal inhabitants if the Shard held the world unopposed?

If I buy you a 10 course meal and you think to pay me back with a poison rotten apple I don't consider that as a debt repaid. Kal told Moash over and over again that he didn't want to go down that road, but instead of being a friend and laying off he kept pressing for his own selfish reasons.

King T is a plant. I fully subscribe to this theory as well. I certainly do abhor his actions every bit as much as some of the more blatantly evil peeps, and Culti's usage of him really calls into question her supposed benevolent nature, but the theory remains. He's the ultimate purloined letter, it's absolutely essential that he believes the way he believes or else Odium would not use him.

I never liked Moash. Since he started getting speaking parts in the narrative he's come across at best as swarmy. He's the type of person that always appeals to a personal relationship to get what they want from a person but the debt only goes one way. He betrayed the one person that ever accepted him despite the fact that he's a self confessed cremhole, not once or twice either, multiple times. It's even worse in OB because you can just see him almost turning a corner only to turn his back on a change for the better. But you know what irks me about him almost as much as the constant betrayal? Moash's stupidity. He knows the name of the guy who Was ultimately responsible for getting his grandparents killed. He guarded Elkohar enough to know that he was pretty and stupid, a bad king, but he wasn't malicious. Yes he put Moash's grands in jail and forgot about them, but anyone who spent 5min in his company knew how easily one could manipulate him. So knowing this, why is he focusing on the dupe instead of the mwstermind? Killing Roshone gets his revenge along with, if not help then at least tacit approval from his commander. Nobody would bat an eyebrow at anything he did to that petty lordling and after he got his shardset, he outranked Roshone too. He just couldn't be smart about his vengence.

A normal Parshendi warform beats Koloss because they are smarter, more manuverable, and are armored. Put singers in warform next to a thunderclast with Fused lashing boulders down at the flanks and the rear or quicksanding the ground, of all the forces from Scadrial the Koloss are the least worrying. They're big dumb animals with huge blunt swords, strong but slow. Radiants can heal any damage and are more numerous than metalborn. Shardplate makes wearer at least twice as strong as any Thug. The shock troop Koloss can be neutralized in an afternoon by either Knight or Fused. We've gone over this. TLR is the only being with the combination of powers to even inconvenience an army of KR. If he catches them napping he can wipe out their entire force, but he is only one dude and Knights aren't dumb. TLR isn't making Inquisitor Fullborn so he's really conducting the battle on his own, cause only a Fullborn can kill more than a handful of Knights at any one time.

I'm not sure I have any reference on this, merely speculation based on half remembered WOB's. But the speculation isn't completely unfounded IMO. The 3 events I mentioned could likely only been done with Surges. Honor's last days had him raving about how Surges were going to destroy the world again. The disconnect comes from what we have seen so far. As powerful as the surges are we have seen no evidence in their usage that would lead anyone to believe that they could cause the level of destruction represented by say, the Shattered Plains. There is a missing puzzle piece. So either the Radiants can pool their power either through a Bondsmith intermediary or the Spren hold hands or whatever mechanism Brandon decided to use, or it a Dawnshard. We don't know much about them and I really want that to be remedied.

Koloss would get obliterated by normal warform Parshendi, much less Fused. I mean, what would a metal sword do against a 30 ft tall Rock monster? A regular Steelrunner is no match against someone wearing Shardplate and has Stormlight healing besides. Inquisitors have no weapon to penetrate that defense either. An obsidian ax? Against Shardplate? Not bloody likely. Lastly, are Dawnshards in play for this scenario? They have planetary effects from what little we know of them. They were involved with the Scouring of Amia, the making of the Shattered Plains, the destruction of Ashyn. I don't know how they'd come into play but that's enough power to even give TLR pause. If they aren't, well, I can think of a half dozen ways to get rid of metal or just plain make it unusable, even poison. I mean metalborn can't just pick up a ball bearing, swallow it and instantly gain power. It has to be a precise chemical composition to be usable for Allomancy or Feruchemy. I can imagine an Elsecaller popping in from the CR into a storage cache, altering the metal stores to throw off their percentages and leaving. Because if the scenario requires that Stormlight cannot be refueled on this battleground then it's only fair that the Scadrians can only use the metal they bring with them. Destroy the metal, win the war. If both sides run out of fuel, meaning the Radiants burned through all their Stormlight, selling out to ruin all the Scadrians metal, they still have Shardblades that don't require Stormlight to function while a metalborn without metal is just a normal guy.

@StanLemon Stormlight is harder to get, that's true. That would make it especially urgent for the Soulcasters to eliminate all sources of metal as soon as possible. KR aren't dumb, if I were them that's the first thing I attack. When speaking of destruction of supply lines I thought that was inherently obvious. They may be only recently undying but the other points I made are still valid. And there were and are no shortage of Singer bodies to inhabit. And when they do remanifest they come with all the experience a military leader needs while humans start nearly from scratch every time. And each Desolation came about faster and faster. At one point there was only one year between the ending of 1 Desolation and the beginning of another. Finally, unless a Steelrunner can go fast enough to jump from the PR to the CR I don't see how Elsecaller/Willshaper are at a mobility disadvantage. They blink out at the speed of thought. Oh, bonus. He might have known about the temporal metals but he had no way to produce them. Era 1 didn't have the technology or infrastructure to produce them, by his own design. Atium is temporal metal enough in this case.

In addition to this, metalborn need metals. The knights do not. Knights got Soulcasters right? Turn any metal deposit, any metal storage into smoke. TLR can push on trace metals and Shardblades or whatever but no one he brings with him can say the same thing. And as far as the Fused being a weak opponent, I gotta give a hard disagree on that. They are more numerous, undying, have similar surges as our heroes and have a direct connection to their power supply. There is no way Scadrians don't get wiped out by the Fused even with TLR if they were to replace the Knights on Roshar.

Yep I'm thinking Dustbringer too. They have Abrasion for a surge and he's always slipping out of handcuffs...

@Calderis Even though we disagree on pretty much everything it's fun debating Cosmere with you. For my part, it just makes sense for a SF Bondsmith to have something unique to them apart from the standard powers and Resonance common to all Bondsmiths. The same for NW or Sib. Resonance is caused by the interaction of two powers right? Well the Honorblade and the corresponding Spren blade convey those powers so of course the resonance will be the same. But a Spren bond is about a mortal merging souls with a piece of investiture. If my soul is getting mixed in with the NW, why would I not get a piece of her side job in the blending? Now NW and SF are distinctly different Spren, different abilities and all that. They seemed jammed into a system that they're too big for. So there's gonna be a lot of spillover. Now I don't know what form that spillover will take, whether it is a just a quirk or a full on ability that can react to the Bond as a resonance, but I am certain that the Bondsmiths get something extra depending on which Godspren they're bonded to. As far as the interference question, I think three powers is a safe bet as being under the threshold. Medallions have up to 3 powers, Soulcaster fabrials do too.

A Cryptic is a Cryptic regardless. An Honorspren is an Honorspren regardless and ect...The only common thread with the big 3 is that they hold more Investiture than a normal Nahel Spren. They have their own side jobs when not being burdened by a bond. SF creates the planetary ecosystem, Sib runs a magic city, NW gives out strange boons and curses. We know from Brandon that interaction of powers create Resonances. Now we don't know what the common Resonance is for Bondsmiths besides the fact that they get one. But I think they get a separate Resonance unique to the interaction between Bondsmith and Godspren depending on which Bondsmith they're bonded to. Three powers aren't enough for interference to cancel Resonances. So I fully expect for whoever emerges as NW's Bondsmith to have some power unique to him or her. I don't think it's going to be boons and curses but it could be something related.

I’m not even going to touch the rest of your post, but this - why the heck does everyone keep saying that like it makes everything worse? “He killed Elhokar and that sucked, BUT THEN HE SALUTED KALADIN AHHHHHHHHHHH” I don’t get it. Because that salute represents the ultimate F-U to Kaladin, a dude who by his actions bettered his life by about 100 fold before he screws it up. Moash constantly goes to the precipice of good guy and , knowing the right thing to do, goes the opposite way every stinkin time. I can agree that attacking someone verbally for not hating Moash is a terrible attitude, I personally hate his guys. Don't get me wrong, I hate Amaram and Sadeas too. It's the betrayal aspect that always gets me.

I'm fully aware of the fact that the systems aren't meant to be balanced. I just don't like it. But I do acknowledge it which is why I agree that TLR can tank multiple Radiants with his power set. I just don't think it's quite as out of balance as some of you guys contend. Then it's probably just a feeling without basis in reality yet. We honestly don't know what a Full 5 Radiant looks like in battle or what each Order's Resonance is. What we can do is extrapolate their abilities based on the quality of their enemies. And the Fused, what little we've seen of them, are no flipping joke. TLR's foes? Nowhere near as formidable. Then he's got Ruin whispering in his ear, constantly trying to sabotage all his efforts. But anyway, we are talking in circles a bit. All I can say is that we shouldn't discount the ability of Radiants in the face of TLR's brilliance.

I'm not underestimating the power of a Fullborn in general, much less TLR. I agree that dude is ridiculously OP. We've seen how devistating Dalinar is on a battlefield. It's really saying something for me to admit that multiplying that monster by 200 would still get wiped out by TLR by himself. But no matter his enhancements he is still human. YMMV but I just can't see TLR killing the entirety of the KR without some help. Weight of numbers, Invested opponents with magical swords and nearly indestructible armor, commanding the forces of creation, this isn't a couple hundred skaa he's fighting. Nor are his opponents limited to ground combat or even Physical Realm combat. And his power source, while vast, is finite just as Stormlight is finite. Thing is, TLR could fight 999 Radiants but as soon as he burns through whatever he has all it takes is one to kill him. I know there are a lot of you guys that feel differently from me but I tend to look at it like a balance. See, Rashek got his power from a Shard. All Shards are suppose to be equal. So the power disparity between the top Preservation agent and the top Honor/Cultivation agents are very difficult for me to reconcile. Or if it's a skill set issue then why is the mindless Shard giving up so much more than anyone else? There has to be some trade-off or the system is broken.

First, I said normal Roshan beats Normal Scadrian because they are generally healthier and have more baseline investiture than all the skaa and most nobles. But the gravity thing is of course a factor. I'm willing to consider that point. Call it a toss up. Second, I'm not worried about TLR'S clothes, it's whatever weapon he would use. All I am saying is that whatever he's holding for a weapon would shatter at first impact. About the only weapon he could use that wouldn't shatter the first time he used it would be a Shardblade, and how in hell would he get one to work for him? He's going to be using his bare hands, quite formidable but no weapon. Third, while normally speaking not all Orders are combat oriented, I would think that in an interplanetary war with an opponent as powerful as TLR I think the approach is all hands on deck. And if you're going to give TLR a year prep time to stock up his bracers I think it's only fair to give the Radiants time to train up the combat deficient Orders to do battle. Forth, running down the stairs, running at all on the ground, requires friction on the running surface. There is no friction in the air. Now he can do a pretty big push or pull and achieve a fast straight line speed but he probably isn't breaking the sound barrier. Even if he is he cannot manuver at that speed. And speaking of friction, a group of Edgedancers oil slicking the battlefield would also negate some or Rashek's speed advantages. Scadrial needs more Fullborn to beat Roshar. With a year prep it's certainly doable via Hemalugy. But if Heralds get involved, or, crazy scenario, if the Fused and Singers sign up to defend their planet then all bets are off.

Rashek moves at the speed of sound with F-STEEL. What weapon could he possibly wield that could stand up to the force he himself exerts? In Era 1? Nothing. Even if there were a weapon that could withstand his own force that weapon gets soulcasted away as soon as an Elsecaller becomes aware. At that point he's only able to use his own body as a weapon. Quite formidable, I don't disagree. But I'm still not convinced that Rashek can one hit shatter Plate and Radiant together without leaving enough for Stormlight to heal. I'm not sure how much of an upgrade Live Plate is over Dead Plate, but the jump from a Dead Blade to a living blade is significant enough that I expect a similar upgrade in ability. I don't believe someone in Shardplate can be effected by emotional allomancy, or anyone with the protection of a Spren bond. Could be wrong. As far as the numbers the Knights can bring to bear, I'm taking the OP premise into account, along with the Feverstone Keep vision. These are pre-Recreance Knights with full complement. At Feverstone about 200 Knights dropped Plate and Blade. 200 Knights of at least the 4th Oath. 2 Orders. Now some Orders will have more than others Obviously. Bondsmiths have a max number of 3 for example. But judging from the numbers at the Recreance when it seemed like membership in the KR was waiting, 1000 people for a worldwide organization seems like I may be lowballing the figure. And we have barely scratched the surface on what a Radiant is capable of. Half trained guys just figuring out the powers they hold are doing amazing things by any standard. At their height they're crushing most anything. I don't think I'm exaggerating Truthwatchers. They see. Things that no one realizes, things that are not obvious. The coming of the everstorm. The discovery of the gem archive. Neither of those instances apply to their surges necessarily but they do it anyway. It's likely their resonance. And again many of Rashek's speed advantages are negated in the air, especially if a soulcaster removes all easy access metal from the field of battle. He just is not moving as fast or as well as a Windrunner manipulating gravity. That also goes for whatever he's pushing/pulling on. If Rashek increased his weight 100fold, did a duralumin fueled steel push, nothing he pushed using that method will be faster than he could move with F-STEEL. And he could not so in the air with no anchor. Look, the feats we've seen Rashek perform are impressive in the extreme. There is no Cosmere character that can stand up to him one on one that isn't a God. Not the Heralds, not Susebron, not even Hoid. But we have seen him display his power mostly against mundanes. Slaughtering an army of powerless people is a breeze. A Mistborn would pose hardly any more of a problem. Yet there is a reason he tried very hard to make it impossible for another Fullborn to occur naturally. He was taking precautions against a threat to his power. He was trying to prevent someone rising that could kill him. He's never had to face anything comparable to the power he holds. So 1000 normal humans charging Rashek is massive suicide. 1000 people with Spren bonds will be harder to kill, just by investiture interference alone. 1000 Shardbearers? Harder still. 1000 Radiants with both variable armor and weapons? Some of whom can fly? Weight of numbers is gonna effect him. I don't see him winning alone. Stormlight limitations are the only way I see Roshar losing. And if the Bondsmiths on hand can pull off the trick Dalinar pulls in Thaylen City then what you get is the equivalent of 1000 Heralds. Not too large an assumption considering that Dalinar is only on Oath 3 and the Bondsmiths on this trip should include at least one Full 5 outta the 3. Good luck Scadrians. Better get to making some Fullborn. BTW, my personal simplified power scale: Normal Roshan beats Normal Scadrian Misting beats NR Squire beats Misting Squire beats Koloss Mistborn/Feruchemist beats Squire Mistborn beats Radiant up to 3rd Oath Mistborn equals Radiant with Blade no Plate Mistborn w/Atium beats Radiant w/o Plate Radiant w/Plate beats Mistborn w/Atium Fullborn beats Radiant w/ Plate TLR beats multiple Radiant w/ Plate .1000 Full Radiants beat TLR alone TLR + 20 Fullborn beat 1000 Full Radiants

Atium misting puts a knife through the viewslit of Radiant armor. Radiant heals damage in eyeblink. Fight continues. If Rashek shows up in their midst then sure, nothing they can do. But as invested as TLR is as well as his OPness, I cannot imagine a scenario where they don't see him coming for miles away. Even if they aren't looking through the CR and seeing the disturbance in the force, they have superior scouts in the Windrunners. F-steel is negated in air battles, any Windrunners worth her salt will be able to outfly him, and if they're flying high enough He may not even notice he's being observed. As for Kandra being outed, I don't see the Knights bringing anyone to this battle who isn't Invested, either as a Knight or a squire. A sprenless Kandra would stand out like a sore thumb. But even if they brought servants, wouldn't a Truthwatcher see through the guise almost immediately? Dalinar supercharged a couple Radiants and was exhausted...as a 3 Oath Bondsmith. Kaladin/Syl would have issues with an Atium misting...as a 3 Oath Windrunner with no one to guide him in what is possible for him and his surges. The problem is one of projection. We know what Rashek is capable of already. We don't know what a Full 5 Radiant will be able to do, we can only project based on what we've seen so far. We both agree that the ceiling for any Radiant is significantly lower than Rashek, so much so that a couple hundred Radiants should pose only minimal problems for him. But what will we see when there are over 1000 of them, 20% of those being Full 5 and all but a few are armored? Every one of those suited characters are likely twice as strong as any Thug and far faster than something that big should move. The non awakened version of this armor jumps 40 ft chasms and can take a hit from a multi-ton chasmfiend without cracking. Invested Variable weaponry even for those with no armor? Inquisitors only have a slight advantage against Squires. A Knight with Armor? Let him try that weak sauce against Division, they'll burn him until only his spikes are left. I still contend that Rashek is gonna need more Fullborn if he hopes to win vs. Roshar. By himself he can kill a lot of people but he's the only one who can. Scadrians don't have a weapon that can harm a Knight for long. Coins bounce off armor like a particularly annoying hailstorm, obsidian shatters, and unless an Inquisitor can punch as hard as a chasmfiend or thunderclast then they'll only get a broken hand for their trouble. If Shallan can heal a crossbow bolt through the skull a knife through the viewslit should pose only mild inconvenience. To kill even one Knight Rashek has to hit hard enough to both shatter plate and completely obliterate the skull it protects. Any weapon he could use shatters in his hands either from the force he uses to weild it or the force he applies to the target. He'd have to do it by hand or by coinshot tricks, but every push, every hit has to be of duralumin fueled strength to break armor and only he could manage it. Unarmored foes can be murdered by the thousands, hell dead Shardblades and unpowered armor was good for at least a couple hundred per battle. Armor foes will be harder. Personally I think it takes Rashek 2 punches per Knight, one to puff off the helm and another to ruin the skull. Even with F-steel it will take time. Atium obviously helps but it ain't Cadmium Bendalloy.

So are we granting the Scadrians a Trust Warren amount of Atium? Otherwise I don't see quite as much advantage in Atium usage, it runs out too fast and some of the things an Atium misting can do are negated by someone in Shardplate. I can't hit the misting but nothing he has can hurt me, especially if I'm chalked full of Stormlight too. Now TLR + Atium is a completely different kettle of fish. Between that and F-steel it makes it nearly impossible to checkmate him. If I'm team Roshar I am changing the landscape as often and as randomly as possible to limit TLR's advantages in speed and manuverability. Walls, mazes, domes, sky fighting, soulcasting away all immediate metal sources, dismissed Shardblades, realm jumping. I'm making him use up his F-zinc and taking A-Atium out of play until I can bring to bear a significant numerical advantage after he's burned off at least some of his reserves. Roshar has time and a Bondsmith on their side. They can wear down TLR, the only person on the battlefield with any hope of hurting a Radiant. And the Bondsmith can supercharge everyone with Stormlight. Rashek cannot survive a protracted battle with so many Invested opposing him. He must end them quickly or else. He has the tools to do so. If I'm Rashek and I know this battle is coming, I'm creating a bunch of Fullborn so I'm not limited in my attack posture. More people capable of hurting a Knight means more people Roshar has to account for. I can pick my spots and guarantee victory. But I won't be able to use my normal means of information gathering, the Kandra get outed by spren. Can a Kandra draw a Spren?

Can the Scadrians transition into the CR though? The Radiants have Two Orders that work outta Shadesmar and a third that touches it for some of its most dramatic effects. Can TLR Pierce illusions? Two Orders manipulate light. How much intelligence does TLR have on the Rosharans? Truthwatchers are likely to know what he is and his capabilities on site as well as the likely strategy he'll implement. And he ain't gonna be able to use emotional allomancy on those with plate. The more Honor leaning orders are likely screwed but Culti's Orders can turn the tide. Lightweaver Truthwatcher Elsecaller Willshaper, those are the key to defeating TLR. And truthfully without him Scadrians in the era we speak of have zero chance of breaking Roshar with all the ranks of KR filled out. One question I have that we haven't seen, can Radiants pool their powers and if so how would it work? Maybe it needs the presence of a Bondsmith, like with Shallan's map. Will it work like WOT style linking? A Full 5 Radiant regardless of Order beats anyone on Scadrial not named Rashek, Ati or Leras. Rashek can destroy an uninvested world single handed and likely several armies regardless of the level of Investiture. But Rashek taking on the entire Knight Radiant alone, that's tough even for him. And he's going to be alone, no matter the numbers he brings only an Inquisitor lasts more than 2 minutes against an army of Knights. One Full 5 Stoneward can eliminate an army of mundanes just by turning the ground into quicksand just as an example. I'm picking Roshar personally but it's a close run thing. Fullborn are ridiculously OP. Unfortunately for Scadrial, they only have one of those. Now if TLR decided via Hemalugy to create an army of lesser Fullborn then the contest probably goes to the Scadrians instead.