Invocation

I get what you're saying now, I just misunderstood which Realm we were talking about. My bad. In the Cognitive Realm, they might be crystal or liquid or something that would result in the pattern of refraction that manifests in the Physical, but we don't know, since we don't even know what that type of spren is called yet, so we probably haven't seen them in the Cognitive either.

There have already been Mistborn characters in Stormlight books (including one we haven't found yet) but more is always fun.

Could just be that because of the Truthwatcher's whole theme being stuff that isn't completely concrete, their spren wouldn't be either. Possibly also they're like Cryptics that simply can't manifest a full body in the Physical Realm, not so much like honorspren that can be whatever or inkspren that are always humanoid (unless they're a Blade, of course).

Yeah, he does like making detailed cultures. More Dawnchant writing would be lit. I wonder if we'll see Hoid pop up somewhere in the past.

That's fair. I like Truthwatchers as well, and I think we will will get a good portion of information on them during Renarin's POV book. That might be where an ancient Truthwatcher flashback would go. Also maybe during the Herald POV books we get other flashbacks to ancient Radiants.

We know Branderson sees nothing wrong with giving flashbacks to dead people, so it might even happen. The Skybreakers would be interesting, seeing how much they've changed with Nale at the head versus with anyone else, or even with Nale before he got as bad as he is now. Or Windrunners, because Kaladin.

Absolutely, that'll be great. I hope we get to see more of the gem translations in the future books so that we can get that perspective. Or maybe even a flashback to one if we're lucky, during an interlude or something.

Right, sorry, my bad. I lost track of stuff. Yeah, that would be a fair reason for Adolin to break that last bit needed to become a Radiant, since I'm sure losing his mother and his alcoholic father messed him up a little.

If you left one with enough power alone for long enough, sure, it would generate Cognitive effects like that. We're talking a very long time, though. Thousands of years for your average, non-Compounder's metalmind. Compounding would still make it take longer than you could probably feasibly hope for, which led some people a while ago to combine that and layering speed bubbles to see the effects faster than you possibly could otherwise, which was a neat thread (I'd link it, but I can't find it). The Cognitive being would probably be related to you in some way, shape, or form due to the Identity aspect of the metalminds, as well as probably relate to what is stored therein.

Honor by the time of his death (and by extension the Stormfather) was more concerned with the letter of the oath more than the meaning behind it due to Tanavast being under assault from Odium attempted to murder him and going a little crazy from it, so according to the Honor that existed closest to Dalinar's time and who's rules are probably the standing rules, it was technically honorable. Honorable does not always mean good, especially when you're talking to a mad god.

Yeah, we just happen to really only see Navani because we've been centered in Alethkar for most of the time so far, though half-Shards were made in Kharbranth, so that's a big one from someone else. The flame-studying ardents were researching for a new kind of fabrial and new applications/refinement of the heat/light fabrials that already exist. The most likely reasons catapults aren't really around in other cities is there's not much man-made defenses, since most the large cities that would be under siege are more natural stormbreaks, such as mountains and valleys, plus having to move giant things like that wouldn't be very easy to do every time a highstorm blows up, but with Rathalas, there were lifting platforms and ramps they could have moved them with. We will also eventually see more fabrials from elsewhere as we begin to move into other areas of Roshar, following more characters, plus we've also seen a few ancient fabrials as well that definitely weren't made by Navani.

I'm still a fan of the theory that Adonalsium was a massive load of Investiture that gained life by virtue of raw power left alone for long enough to coalesce into a being (there was a WOB that that could happen a while ago, I think), subsequently being killed, and since he only had that one body, all his power breaking.

There are catapults and siege towers and the like. If you've read Oathbringer: Navani is not the only artifabrian around, she just has a lot of funds and resources to experiment. You'll notice that it is even mentioned that Navani likes to draw concepts, then passes them along to her team to work the logistics of those designs into being, much like with the floating archery tower. There are more than just the spanreeds, they just don't get much airtime. See the water-gatherer, the floating archer tower, and the flying ship design Navani is working on. It wouldn't so much be a fabrial oriented system so much as the fabrials are the system, combining spren and human design in new ways, without a direct Nahel bond, (see WOB) and the 10 different types probably relate to the spren used and effects. Voidbinding is very secretive right now. Here are the WOBs we have: https://wob.coppermind.net/adv_search/?query=voidbinding It is not much, and mostly RAFOs/inconclusive stuff, but the chart in the back of Way of Kings was confirmed to be a Voidbinding chart that we should be getting explanations on soon enough, on a Sanderson book timescale. Probably around Renarin's POV book.

Nicrosil and Duralumin in Allomancy and Feruchemy (particularly with Compounding) have some major issues in terms of breaking the systems. We likely won't know much more about how either of them work until Era 3, since we'll have a Nicrosil Misting for a main character. But yes, that could be done if you had enough steel once you hit the theoretical maximum efficiency, which really is only there because Preservation is currently being held. Technically, because of how the magics on Scadrial manifest with relation to their Shards, Steelpushes that move planets was really what The Lord Ruler and Sazed did to fix their issues, which is partially why TLR had so many issues with control when there wasn't a reference point he could see.

I'm subscribed to the theory that the Oathpact will be reinstated in some capacity, with a good portion of the current Radiants we know and love taking place of the fallen Heralds (except maybe Ash and Taln will reprise their roles as sacrifices), locking Odium away for at least the majority of the time between 5 and 6. Jasnah will probably be the one to choose who goes and who stays, and as depressing as it is to say, she probably has to stay on Roshar unless Gavinor is old enough to take the reigns of Alethkar, which I don't see happening since he's only 3 (I think) as of now, and that's a pretty large time-jump in an awkward area, with an active Desolation and everything. Also possible is that's the point in which Venli/Rlain and Jasnah/Dalinar come to an agreement and the non-Fused parsh side with the humans, breaking the morale of the Fused who see that their descendants have sided with the true Voidbringers and extinction is not necessary for a symbiosis has been achieved, ridding Odium of his main forces (at least the useful ones) and maybe even the thunderclasts, too, if they can still think despite the mangling they've undergone.

Spook didn't have much of a role for most of The Final Empire. I liked him in the rest of the books, but this thread was only TFE.

Based on Ba Ado Mishram providing the Singers with forms in place of Odium for a while and the way Yelig-nar works, I'd say you could probably bond one of the "higher" Unmade, the ones that can think - Sja-anat, Yelig-nar, Ba Ado Mishram, or Dai-gonarthis (probably that last one, we don't know for sure, but it is likely able to thing), though it probably wouldn't be as simple as a straight bond with a spren. You'd end up Odium's Bondsmith coming out the other side almost for sure if you managed it. Blessed peace's Voidsmith moniker is pretty accurate and sounds better than mine.

Towards the end of Hero of Ages, on the final plate under Yomen's city, there's a symbol described as one circle with a dot in the middle. What symbol is this in the Steel Alphabet? Coppermind doesn't have just a circle with a dot. Is it Harmony's symbol, or a symbol TLR took as his own, or did Vin just not trace the other parts that would make it one of the symbols we know?

Vasher probably taught her the basics, but the rest we won't know until the book Nightblood releases.

Theoretically, I suppose. I get the feeling you'd have some major issues somewhere along the line, though, especially from the Amians that are presumably guarding on both Physical and Cognitive planes, not to mention any other potential guards set up.

Defending Elysium is essentially the reason Skyward happens. Jason Write revealing what all the other races do to their rowdy cytonic-sensing people is what sparked the war between humans and all aliens that eventually landed the fleet on Detrius under permanent watch. Another blink-and-you'll-miss-it thing that connects the two is when the scientists are discussing the defect that is Spensa's cytonic abilities they refer to that section of the mind as the Writiean/Writian section, named after Jason Write. Likely the blindness of Gran-Gran is a connector to help bring it all together like those other small things.

Scadrian Allomancers can use metals from other worlds, provided the percentages are correct, so Hemalurgy needing only Scadrian metals would be wonky, plus The Sovereign's WOBs.

You're not the first to think about taking it to an extreme with alloying and getting something new, but that silver idea is an angle I hadn't heard yet.

Waffles?

That is quite possibly accurate towards the limitation, and the merging is why I had the thing about the balance + perception after my list of hypothetical tri-Shards