Hoiditthroughthegrapevine

From the Axies the collector Interlude, the Curse of Kind is used in a way that seems to be a descriptor of how Siah Aimians leave a train of bad luck in their wake, but if this is referred to somewhere else in the SLA that implies something different I would love to know! From this WoB we see that all post shattering investiture was assigned to different shards: So the fact that she was able to adopt the Nightwatcher implies that Cultivation's shardic Intent is inline with the Old Magic. I do see your point that the "Old" in Old magic implies that it predates H+C arrival to Roshar, which I can totally buy. But I think that if this is the case, then like the Nightwatcher Cultivation would have adopted the other elements of the Old Magic that were inline with her Intent as well. So even if the Aimians existed pre-shattering, when Cultivation arrived on Roshar their pre-shattering Investiture (which I still think is inline with balance of the Old Magic) would be under her influence.

You could be right about the Siah being a native Rosharan form of life, their increased presence in the cognitive Realm, their orange blood and their transformational magic does parallel the Singers, but the WoBs are a little vague in this respect (and Brandon seems a bit cagey about pinning down if the Aimians predate the humans on Roshar, didn't cite any of thes WoBs but they're on Arcanum). Here are some interesting WoBs about the Siah Aimians: So from these WoBs we know that the two races of Aimians are not related and that the Parshendi and Aimians are not related, but that the Natan and/or Barbathanam races are related to Siah Aimians (possible reason for the moon story in OB). These WoBs I think show what Brandon means by related, which just means sharing a common ancestor, or that they are related from divergent evolution. Obviously with the incredibly different manifestations of the Siah and Dysian Aimians they are not very likely to be related in this sense. This doesn't preclude a creation based relationship, which is the relationship that I think they posses, but like @Subvisual Haze pointed out, the Siah do share a lot of common traits with the Singers which could show that they are native lifeforms of Roshar. I think the WoB about the Aimians being akin to the Watchers is incredibly interesting though, and I think that it is further proof that one of the tasks they have been given is protecting the Dawnshards. The whole "ends of worlds" bit from the Kaza interlude just seems too ominous for them to be protecting just a collection of perfect gems capable of trapping the Unmade.

Totally agree with this. I think the real problem is that this order selects for blind obedience to Authority as a primary trait in new recruits. It seems like Nale is intentionally filling the ranks with recruits that don't think for themselves. The rest of the Skybreaker squires in the Szeth POV chapter Water Warm as Blood seem like a bunch of dun spheres, they don't even ask basic questions about what it is they are actually being asked to do. The thing that Kai is impressed with about Szeth is that he actually thinks about what he is doing. Also, the two Skybreaker squires that were hunting the Stump in Edgedancer weren't the brightest spheres in the lamp either. I mean they had been looking for a proto-radiant for a couple of weeks and they are literally outside her door when they decide to take on a Dysian Aimian. Dumb. But this is the self-limiting faculty of stupidity, some orders of mistakes ensure that no further mistakes can be made. I think it's incredibly disturbing that the Order of Knights Radiants with the dimmest minds and who are the most willing to blindly follow Authority have access to the surge of Division. Even when that Authority figure is, as @RShara so eloquently put it, "utterly bugnuts".

I could only find 2 WoBs about that painting, here is the first WoB: Painting WoB 2: But here's the scene from Chapter 102, Celibrant, from OB where Kaladin sees the painting: And here is the scene from Warbreaker Chapter 26 where Lightsong first sees the painting and Llarimar's impression of the Painting (spoilered because it contains Warbreaker spoilers): Pretty sure they are different paintings, but I think they are functioning similarly, they are somehow granting access to Fortune, a limited vague impression of a coming possible event of great significance.

@Messremb I do think that Moash is being set up to be an arch antagonist, whether that's Odium's new champion or something else entirely remains to be seen. @signspace13 started a really cool thread about another possible use for Moash Vyre, a corrupted Herald:

Moash did get a cool new name that rhymes with Fire, and the Leshwi also told him when he was offered the choice of taking Jezrein's honorblade "If you take it, you die. Moash will be no more." and Moash replies "Moash's world is no more, he might as well join it in the tomb." Vyre, according to Khen means He Who Quiets. Pretty interesting too that it seems like our favorite jerk now named Vyre is capable of fueling the surges granted by the Honorblade with Voidlight investiture:

Thanks @John203, but really it's just an implementation of your brilliant idea. Kelsier flying starship, wholly crap bring on MBEra4! Currently out of upvotes but I'll get you one later when they trickle back in.

They could have existed prior to Cultivation and have been heavily invested by her for sure, but the reason I think Cultivation actually created them is because of the Boon/Curse Paradigm of the old magic. I think the Aimians show a similar inverted symmetry, but I could be completely wrong about this as well. I do like the idea that the Sleepless have access to Positive Fortune like Hoid does, so that they can know when and where to send their cremling spies. I just think that would be rad, and I like the idea that they are Cultivation's boots on the ground, making lots of small correcting adjustments as her plans unfold. The Bolded section is what makes me question this theory. Why would the loss of Honor, Heralds, and KR cause the Aimians to lose their magic, if that magic is coming from Cultivation. I believe this is because the higher level spren capable of forming Nahel bonds are once again deciding to bond Radiants, there could be more to this, but this seems like the most logical explanation to me. Here's are some bits from TWoK Axies Interlude: And this very intriguing bit (specifically the bolded bit): From the only authoritative source we have on Siah Aimians, Axies himself professes the nature of his "Curse of the Kind", that he causes people around him to experience bad luck, and usually ends up in unpleasant situations because everyone on Roshar knows that the Siah Aimians are total bummers. I think this is the only mention of the Curse of the Kind, but if anyone with searchable kindle editions wants to look for quotes with "Curse of the Kind" in them that would be beyond amazing.

Awesome theory @Calderis! I think in that regard, he's not actually fixing the problem, he's just making himself incapable of feeling the pain. I just looked up the Axies the Collector Interlude, and found this: This could indicate as you said that this was a case of making himself insensible to the pain, but I think the more logical conclusion is like @Ciridae said, he is healing his hangover like Wayne does in MBEra2. I also agree with Ciridae's point that certain types of transformation (healing being a special case) take additional energy, but I think the quote from the Interlude shows what that Energy is. Axies mentally focuses, and thought (as evidenced by the Cognitive Realm) is both a type of energy and direction for the use of that energy. I think the Siah Aimian's simultaneous existence in the Physical and Cognitive realm makes them uniquely able to apply Descarte's Cogito Ergo Sum (I think therefore I am), and I think this is the element that links the Siah and Dysian Aimians together, they are self creating thinking beings, where thought is amplified to the point where it is actually a powerful and useful form of kinetic investiture (that can only apply themselves). The formulation of the OP is really good, I love this bit: Investiture creep leads to power coalescing around the focus of the Investiture, and because the focus is bonds, this coalesced Investiture begins forming bonds. As the number of bonds increase, so does the sentience of the coalesced Investiture. Seems like a recursive feedback loop, my only question is what are the limits to this? Are the cremlings hijacked by the Aimian (doesn't seem likely because we haven't seen any red eyed cremlings) or does the Sleepless have to breed his hordelings? If that's the case, given enough time, you could still have nearly every cremling on Roshar be a single cell of a vast Roshar wide Dysian Aiman. My guess is that there is a proximal limit to Connection, otherwise Dysians seem they would be too Overpowered. You could have your coppermind cremlings hiding in a subterranean cave (enough to preserve existence and consciousness) and be functionally unkillable. Like I said, awesome post will think about this some more.

Brilliant Idea @John203! This is the perfect song for Kelsier! Here it is, spoilered because it has major Mistborn Spoilers: Highwayman sung by Kelsier:

Thanks @Calderis, seems like a description of the ambiguity of referring to a stink bug and a beetle both as a bug. I think that this definitely has no implication for where the Dysian Aimians are originally from, in fact because it is such a mundane explanation, I think it lends credence to the speculation that they are native to Roshar (and possible a creation of Cultivation). As an aside, did you see that Krull meme that I made for Mr. T's role in Oathbringer? Maybe Krull is before your time, but this is the visual image I had in my head ever since the initial OB chapter where Mr. T becomes the fist member of the coalition. *EDIT* Just read that WoB again, and I see what you're getting at there.The fact that they have been bred to look like cremlings implies that is not their natural form. Further the fact that most original non-derivative manifestation is found in the West by the mountains seems significant. Maybe the refugee WoB refers to the fact that the Sleeplesss are also displaced refuges from the flight from Ashyn (but I don't really buy this). I see your point but don't really think that this is proof of anything other than the Sleepless' adaptability.The adaptation of the cremlings might be because their original composite organisms were from the valley of Shinovar, and they needed a form that would be unobtrusive on the rest of Roshar to fulfill their primary objective of carrying out surveillance.

This has OB spoilers, it's a bluesy number sung by Dalinar BB King of Urithiru: Thanks @Personification for the heads up about the OB spoilers.

I don't think I referenced that WoB (would like to see it though). If it does mention local fauna it would give a lot of credence to @RShara's point that the Sleepless are from a different planet. (Though if it's another paraphrased WoB I would have to take it with the proverbial grain of salt.) As to the Sleepless playing a role in Mistborn Era 4, I don't think this affects the theory at all, except that I have to say, that is Awesome, because the Dysian Aimians are one of the most amazing alien races ever created. The talks that Arclo has with Lift in Edgedancer where he is trying to build his Grand Philosophy by asking Lift what part of the body she is most like is one of the best bits in all of Literature (note how this not bounded by the qualifier in all of Epic Fantasy). At a meta level, I think the Dysian Aimian's raise a lot of philosophical questions that Brandon is very interested in precisely because they deal, in a metaphorical way, with one of the biggest and most interesting questions of Philosophy, namely what is Identity.

I was referring to the colloquial term "tool" Basically a *doof*, a walking liability to all around him Though he does have a very cool mission in life, there are worse things you could do with your immortality than chase Intoxication spren.

I think @RShara summed it nicely by saying that Axies is: Slightly taken out of context, but I think the spirit of the thing is right.

Here's one for @Calderis cuz I know, Mr. T's his man. How I envision Dalinar and Mr. T's Relationship in Oathbringer.

@RShara strikes again! That is a paraphrased WoB though, and it does say More or Less refugees, which begs the question, is this because they are from a different planet or because their homeland was destroyed during the scouring of Aimia? I choose to believe the later...Mostly because I like the idea of the Sleepless being the eyes and ears of Cultivation, and being able to strategically influence things in small seemingly imperceptible ways. I think that my battleship actually is only half sunken at this point, which means, looking at the bright side, it's half floating, right? Well, he's not a tool you would want on your side of the war. But you slip him in behind enemy lines, and if he doesn't get imprisoned for public nudity, he might just offset their good luck and bring down a curse or two on the enemy troops.

@Yata, all very good points, they are addressed below: I think you are probably right to be wary of jumping to the conclusion that they are splinters of Cultivation, but they are just so different and have such strange properties that if they are not splinters, then I think that they are heavily Invested by Cultivation at least. The Siah Aimians cast a shadow towards the light (like Jasnah did in the WoR prologue), showing that they probably exist partially in the cognitive realm. They have the ability to change their physiology (getting rid of noses to avoid unpleasant smells, regrowing limbs) except for their blue eyes and blue fingernails. They also have the ability to write notes on their bodies by just thinking what they want to write (like Axies the Collector in his interlude in TWoK). All of these alterations and modifications to their physical form that they affect by just thinking about the change seems to imply that they have access to some sort of energy to effect these transformations. Also Physical matter modified by just thought, seems a lot the Transformation surge (though the object of transformation is just the Siah Aimian itself). And the Dysian Aimians, where does their consciousness reside? The analogy that their hordelings are like cells in a body doesn't explain where the controlling Nous is. My guess is that this too is the aspect of their being that is a cognitive entity that is linked to all of the constituent cremling "cells" of their body. Brandon RAFO'd the questioner in the WoB above who asked what the Sleepless would look like in the Cognitive Realm. This again is just speculation, but I think the reason this was RAFOed is because like Siah Aimians they too are an organism that maintains a simultaneous presence in the Cognitve and the Physical realms. Their true existence is a rational mind, a cognitive entity connected to a multiplicity of disparate parts. Like a vast computer controlling an army of cockroaches through electrical singles to their antennae, able to upload bytes of data to the small hard drive of their insect minds. This is not a simple form of life, I don't think, and like the Siah Aimians, I think this distributed consciousness takes some form of ineherent energy to maintain. I think that Fortune relates to both Luck and Future sight. There is the Feruchemical use of Chromium to consider (quoted from Coppermind): From the above, it is stated that Luck in the Positive and Negative can be affected by Fortune. More access to Fortune = Better Luck, less access to Fortune = Bad luck. How Hoid uses Fortune and how I believe the Dysian Aimians use Fortune (for surveillance) is by Fortuitously arriving at a place when something is going to happen without knowing precisely what is going to happen. They are using a slight mixture of pre-cognition and positive luck, and I think this ability of Hoid's shows that Fortune is a composite of those 2 elements (if Fortune was just future sight, he would know what was going to happen). I think that the idea of a given system needing to be neutral and balanced is implied by the paradigm of the Boon/Curse, and it seems to be one of the only real elements of the Old Magic that we have seen. Further, I think in the case of the boon/curse granted to an individual, the individual is the system and the Positive Boon is balanced by the Negative Curse. So it is totally a surmise to assume that this need for a balanced system is a pre-condition of Cultivation's shardic Intent, but given that the Old Magic was designed to be intentionally opaque (as shown in the WoB in OP), I think the best we can do for now is make reasoned surmises. I do see your point about Cultivation's primary intent being change (which I agree with), and that's really probably the point of syntax between Ruin and Cultivation's shardic Intents that the WoB in OP is referring to. But I still think that her Intent is constrained by a balance between positive and negative action, and that the creation of the two races of Aimians was her way around the stricture of balance in her intent. She was able to create two seperate tools (both races of Aimians), that within the overall system (the total population of Aimia), balance each other out.

Holy crap! That's an Awesome observation! Rad! I read this as Odium telling Venli that he was coming to claim his Champion, but why the mention of the old knife in the Rysn interlude? I LOVE this theory, what Odium says to Venli could be read as referring to both Dalinar (his intentionally failed feint) and his true Object the Herald Killing blade. As per usual awesome quotes too. I'll have to let this one percolate in the old brain box for awhile, but holy crap, that is an awesome catch! I upvoted another one of your posts because this is so cool!

I think that was the only perfect gemstone that they had in the Thaylen gem vault. The other question is why did he grab the King's Drop and then have such a bad plan for securing it. He tipped his hand that it was a vitally important artifact by stealing it in the first place, but then did a 3 Stooges-esqu routine of getting it somewhere safe. That's poor execution.

*DISCLAIMER* This has been pretty much disproven at this point. Here's the WoB from my signed book that makes it obvious that the Sleepless were not created by Cultivation: Still some interesting posts in this thread, but the main premise is flawed. *END EDIT* This is a speculative theory to be sure, but I think there is a very good case to be made that the Dysian and Siah Aimians are of Cultivation. Possibly even the case that the Aimians are to Cultivation what the Honorblades are to Honor, heavily invested intentionally created splinters of Shardic Investiture created Specifically to fight Odium. I. QUICK SUMMARY OF THEORY: The Siah and Dysian Aimians are splinters of Cultivation that are Independent operatives of Cultivation that are used instrumentally to affect her long term plans. The Dysian Aimians, being deathless, never sleeping, with a body comprised of a widely dispersed array of sensate sub-organisms, are uniquely positioned to monitor everything of Interest to Cultivation. These sub-organims, the hordelings, of a given Sleepless are not just a vast sensor array (though they are that for sure), they also are able to manipulate their environment, and I believe, one of the likely ways that they are able to manipulate their environment is by increasing a proximate sentient being's access to Positive Fortune (or Luck). The Siah Aimians exist because of the strictures of the Old Magic, Fortune is both Positive and Negative, so in order to create the Dysian's Aimians Cultivation had to balance out the Sleepless' boon of bestowing Postive Fortune by creating a separate species that had a Negative Fortune (or Bad Luck) effect on proximate sentient beings. Bad luck, when controlled, can be used just as Instrumentally as good luck. I believe that the Old Magic paradigm is a net neutral framework, the positive boon has be offset (I think in equal magnitude) by the negative boon. I think this is one of the restrictions of Cutltivation's shardic Intent, and I think this is part of the aspect of natural balance that she represents. We know that Cultivation has influenced Dalinar, Lift and Taravangian directly through their intentional trips to the Valley of the Old Magic. I posit that the Aimians are more akin to her operatives in the field, responsible for gathering specific information, tracking specific people and for making infinitesimal and constant adjustments to all of Roshar to keep her plans in line. II. PRELIMINARY REMARKS: We know that Cultivation has been active on Roshar from this WoB: We also know that Cultivations shardic intent is fairly complicated, and is more compatible with the Intent of Ruin than Odium's Intent is from this WoB: This would seem to suggest that she is not a shard whose Intent would be viewed as solely Good or Bad, but rather as a more complicated case of an Abstraction of a natural process. But I believe, given the net neutral constraint of her shardic intent, she has cleverly figured out how to create tools that balance each other out, but when taken as a whole still maintain a net neutrality to the system. We know from this WoB that the Old Magic has been intentionally developed to be opaque, so the best way to approach an intentionally opaque system is reasoned surmises (added bold emphasis): I think this might be more in reference to the unpredictability of the boon/bane, but it's an interesting point. All life on Roshar, with the very possible exception of Shinovar, is Invested with Cultivations power due to the crem/highstorm cycle. All the supporting WoB's for this are spoilered below: Cultivation, through her being invested in the crem from which all food (except in Shinovar) grows and which is found in trace amounts of all water drunk on Roshar (except possible shiovar), has invested all sentient life to a small degree. I believe this would give her Aimian gardeners a sympathetic anchor for their proximate Fortune affects to push or pull on the individual Fortunes of the sentient beings that need to be effected. Here is the WoB that shows that Parshedi can bet boon/curses from the Nightwatcher as well: III. TEXTUAL AND WOB EXAMINATION OF THE AIMIANS: We know from this WoB the Aimians are functionally immortal (important bit bolded): And from this WoB: We know from this WoB that the Dysian Aimians, or Sleepless, are the authors of the In world quotes on the backs of the books: And here are the Sleepless quotes: From TWoK: From WoR: and from OB: All of these taken together show a very active and prescient degree of surveillance, the Sleepless are obviously watching the fledgling knights radiant, and further they have insight into the deep seated motivations and broken natures of the fledging Knights. There are 2 possible reasons why they are watching: They are watching in regards to their own plans/self interest. They are watching them in regards to another's plans/interests (I think this is by far the most likely) The only Dysian Aimian that we have seen as a fully articulate character (and not just an unusual cremling that happens to be around when something important is happening) is Arclo from Edgedancer. Here are some quotes that @Wit Beyond Measure pulled out of Edgedancer that are quite informative: Though honor is not captilized in the quote, it does seem to be hinting that the Sleepless may having been fighting in this war since the days when Honor the shard was still alive (but this is a surmise) and we have this: This implies a certain amount of autonomy for an individual sleepless, but also suggests a broader coordination of their collective actions as well. We know from Edgedancer that Arclo's pet immortal project is to build a grand Philosophy, but I think being immortal and never requiring sleep would give the Sleepless the time to fulfill their primary function of information gathering / slight nudges of influence to help along Cultivations plans while also tending their own pet projects. And finally this: And we have this WoB that might shed some light on how this is accomplished, specifically the holding of memories portion: So, the use of Hemalurgy on a specific singular organism would cause the Sleepless to lose contact with that individual cremling, so this seems to imply that all of the composite cremlings of a particular sleepless are linked by a Spiritual Connection. And further that the spiritual connection is necessary for the Sleepless to do things like store memories into a individual cremling. This is like a living coppermind, and I posit that some form of usable Investiture is necessary for this transferrance to occur, and is likely derived from Cultivation. This is an interesting WoB that explains a little bit more about what the Sleepless actually are (and is inline with my theory that they are a heavily Invested Identity with access to Investiture that allows them to coordinate/disperse this Identity and Connection to all of the composite beings that make up their total being: IV. THE TWO AIMIANS AND NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE FORTUNE I think that one of the fundamental properties of the Old Magic is that it is a balanced magical system. For something positive to be given, something negative has to be given as well to achieve a net neutral state. I think this is pretty obviously manifest in the nature of the boons/curses given by the Nightwatcher, but I think this might also be visible in the two different species of Aimians, with the Dysian Aimians given the boon of Positive Fortune (Good Luck) and the Siah Aimians given the curse of Negative Fortune (Bad Luck). So, we know that the Siah Aimians are believed by Rosharans to be Bad Luck, and further that they are thought to leave curses in their wake. Here is the section from the Rysn interlude in WoR where she sees our favorite spren collector hanging from his ankles: It's interesting to note that Rysn is worried most specifically about getting close to the Siah Aimian, as if the curse could be spread by mere proximity. The proof for Dysian Aimians have access to Positive Fortune is more tenuous, but I think this is a place where more textual analysis might be in order to try and find, after the appearance of a suspicious Cremling, if anything fortuitous happens to one of the Protagonists under surveillance. I will say that the we know that Hoid uses Fortune to always be where he needs to be (without knowing why he needs to be there), this could be something that the Sleepless also have, and given that their physical self is made up of innumerable small sensate organisms, this could be occurring in multiple simultaneous locations (pretty useful characteristic for a spy network to have, to always know when they need to be somewhere). And as @Wit Beyond Measure pointed out in her Moon Story Thread, there is the part in the Epilogue of WoR where Hoid is waiting for Jasnah Kholin to come back from Shadesmar and Hoid is talking to an ugly lizard-crab thing that Brandon has confirmed is a Dysian Aimian: Here's the WoB that confirms this: V. FURTHER PROOF THAT THE AIMIANS ARE WORKING WITH/FOR CULTIVATION AND AGAINST ODIUM: @Vortaan has a compelling theory that Soulcasters are similar in function and Composition to Honorblades, [OB] Soulcaster Engineering Principles. I would extend this to the reasonable surmise that Soulcasters were created by Cultivation. We know from the Kaza interlude that Roharan's used to get Soulcaster's from the Island of Akinah which is in Aimia. Further we know that at least one Dysian Aimian is guarding this Island. They could be guarding Akinah for their own reasons, or they could be guarding Akinah because they have been charged to do so. I favor the second option. One of the primary reasons the Sleepless cook gives for having to kill Kaza after she and her group penetrated the Magical Storm defense and bypassed the Soulcast shipwrecking artificial rock formations was this (bold emphasis added): The bolded portion above heavily implies that the Unmade Moleach might be able to get this information from Kaza. It is speculated in Hessi's Mythica that the Unmade Dai-Gonarthis is responsible for the Scouring of Aimia: So Aimia was (most likely) attacked by Odium, the reasons for this could be either he wanted to get something that was contained in Aimia or he wanted to destory the Aimians because they were an Antangonistic force. I believe it's a combination of both. We know from Dalina'r vision of Aharietiam that Dysian Aimians fought and died (there is a pile of smouldering cremling remains), and I believe that they have violet blood (which is described in the Prelude of TWoK when the Heralds abandon their Honorblades to be mixing on the field of battle with red and orange blood). The Sleepless themselves in the back of book quotes explicitly say that they are fighting with the New Radiants, and it is implied quite heavily, that they are fighting against the forces of Odium. But who is their general, who do they take orders from? Could be they are a group that is only protecting their own self interest, or they could be working in concert with Cultivation to try and undermine Odium's plans. And from the Urithiru Gem Archive we have a possible hint at what the Sleepless are guarding at Akinah: This is an interpolation, but with the "cost being the ends of worlds" for not keeping the secrets at Akinah protected, I think it is very likely that the undersea caverns contain the Dawn Shards. Another interesting point is that Akinah was one of the Cymatic cities that Kasbal mentions to Shallan in Kharbranth as a proof of the existence of the Almighty. VI. CONCLUDING REMARKS: This is just a theory, but I think that there is quite a bit of evidence to at the very least tie the Objectives of the Sleepless to the Objectives of Cultivation. And I think it's not too much of a stretch to say that not only do these Objectives align, but they are in fact the same, and the Sleepless are active agents of Cultivation. I think it might go even further, and that they are actually Splinters of Cultivation and further down the speculative chain, I think that the Siah Aimians are the necessary concomitant, the necessary wood left over after hewing out the perfect tool. But like I said above, I think they are still a useful tool, but in a way that is like a wrench in the machine. They are the Schlemiels that inadvertently trip a whole line of marching soldiers, they are like a living plague of bad luck, and if positioned carefully, could provide nudges in an opposite direction to the nudges from the Dysian Aimians. If this theory is true, then the Dysian Aimians are the many eyed, many limbed, fortune bestowing tools on the ground that Cultivation uses to prune and monitor her organic plans. And further they are working to actively undermine Odium's plan at the same time.

Interesting to speculate about. I think it depends on how convetible the various forms of Investiture are. We know that Vasher needs a semi-constant infusion of Investiture to not consume his divine breath, which implies a possible route of conversion from Stormlight to Breath, but we don't have any evidence if stormlight is convertible to breath. For two different monetary systems to be compatible, they need to be convertible, otherwise one will just become a different class of asset. That's what I envisioning happening, I think the greatest market potential for Nalthian breaths in the Rosharan CR is in producing durable goods. We know that value is associated with permenance, if goods had inherent investiture, they would be more permanent. Also, we know from Shadesmar scenes that Spren like to dress up, but they are usually dressed in a strange assemblage of garments from a bunch of different cultures (probably because it's hard to comb the sea of beads for matching shirts and trousers that have compatible permanence). This leads me to believe that the single greatest market potential in Shadesmar is for Nalthian awakened clothing (trousers, shirts, dresses, and even toupees). I actually asked Brandon at the Oathbringer release Portland signing about awakened toupees and got this WoB: I did a sketch of Nightwig that I gave to Brandon, it's an awakened toupee that was awakened with the Command "Live beautifully and fix ugly" and posted it to the Shard here: So I think there is a serious market for awakened articles of clothing. Really, you could awaken a pair of jeans with the command "Custom Fit" and they would adapt to the wearer. Ingenious. @.S.A.M.K.M as far as voidlight being convertible (i.e. could Vasher feed off this form of Investiture or not) I don't think we have enough information to say right now. But I would like to see him in his Hulked out Returned Form grab a Flying Fused and drain the Fused of their voidlight like a larkin would, seems like it would be possible, but I also think we don't have information right now. Voidlight is still very mysterious stuff.

Love it @Personification!!! I am currently out of upvotes but will get you one when they trickle back in (I feel like Wimpy from Popeye, I will glad upvote you later for an awesome post today) That's one of my favorite songs, the melancholy tune of the song perfectly fits the theme and the lyrics are spot on, once again brilliantly done.

One of my favorite action sequences of all times from WoK: I agree with everyone else about LightSong's moment in Warbreaker, chokes me up just thinking about it. My favorite book of All times, OathBringer, also had two of my favorite scenes of All times: