Senor Feesh

Which implies then that the endowment of the divine breath uses the Returned's own colour as fuel for the process, similar to how creating a lifeless draws the colour from the body being used. I wonder if this means a lifeless who Returned would be unable to bestow their Divine Breath to heal someone... Am I correct also in that a Drab can't normally Return? Can't recall for sure but I seem to remember reading it somewhere. If I'm right, then it means that having some Investiture beyond the soul is required to Return, but oddly having a soul isn't a requirement, because Lifeless don't have souls (I think). I am curious now as to how this pans out... A Lifeless is as undetectable to life-sense as a Drab, so what exactly does life-sense pick up on? The only thing I can think here is that there's a minimum level of Investiture needed for life-sense to work, so both drabs and lifeless fall below this threshold. Previously I thought that life-sense worked by detecting the removable part of Breath that people had, but that doesn't follow, as a lifeless had that singular Breath. Unless they count as Invested objects... But that's just weird.

Not sure if it's obvious from my initial post, but this is also the conclusion I came to.

Thanks - this is actually from my partner's speculations on Lifeless Returned - she's not read any Cosmere, but she's pretty well informed because I don't shut up about it...

Although the possibility of HORRENDOUS indiscriminate short-range damage with a shotgun should not be overlooked...

Hi Kadrok, this is unfortunately not a new idea.

Can Lifeless perceive colours?

Guys, I feel like I'm close to something here, but I need help. Brandon answered the question Can a Lifeless Return? By saying you'd get a drab god. I'm almost positive we can tease out some meaning here on the nature of Divine Breath, but I can't quite put it together. Let's first assume that Breath and the Soul are related. I don't recall now if this is confirmed or just common theory, but we generally accept that a normal Breath is in some way either a detachable chunk of soul, or a little extra on top that only Nalthians have. A lifeless has no soul, but one Breath to power them, though this Breath is not their own. A Drab has a soul, but no Breath. Almost perfect opposites. A normal Nalthian has a soul and one Breath. A Returned has one Super-breath. Do they have a soul too? Does the super-breath replace the soul, or attach to it? Does it sit separately from the soul? If so, why do Returned die without one? If a lifeless were to return, would THEY regain their soul? If the super breath sits apart from where the soul normally resides, then Returned must have a soul, or there would be no difference between the two. But if the super breath somehow enriches the soul of a Returned, might that account for the difference when a lifeless returns? As they have 'just' a super breath and no soul. Questions! So many questions... But I'm sure there's something here. What do you all think? Edit: Had some more thoughts on this. I think I may have come at this from the wrong direction. Rather than normal Nalthians having something extra, it might be better to think of Drabs as having below the baseline level of Investiture for Nalthis (one soul + one breath, compared with one soul). By the same token then, a drab god must have below the baseline Investiture for a god (one soul plus one superbreath, compared with one superbreath). So, this would logically mean that Returned do indeed retain a soul (yay!). I also still hold that the superbreath must normally attach to, or enhance the soul, otherwise a Returned would become a Drab instead of dying when they use their divine breath. It might also imply that the soul is considerably more powerful than a normal breath, and a superbreath is similarly more powerful than a soul. I reach this conclusion by positing that a human - a breath = drab (that is, someone missing a relatively small chunk of Investiture), whilst a god without a soul = a drab god (a god missing a - relatively - small chunk of Investiture). So Superbreath > Soul > Breath. I freely admit this is very loose speculation. This does make me wonder then, if I'm right and the soul and superbreath combine in a Returned, what happens to the soul when they use their Superbreath to heal someone? Is it separated from the breath and released to the afterlife, or lost forever? Also, feel free to tell me why my reasoning is obviously wrong

There's also the possibility that it's caused by atmospheric conditions - rather than actual red stars, there's something in that part of the atmosphere filtering the light from them. Though it's unlikely that you'd see no effect then during the day... perhaps some kind of nebula in the interposing space?

I don't know if we have 100% conf on this, but I see no reason why not, as the metals act as a key, not a power source. The composition of non-God-metals should be the same world to world, and as far as we know Scadrial magic has no regional limiters.

I so want this to be yes Truth is though, we don't know. Stormlight might actually be deposited at a specific point in the storm, the above argument was that given what we know it doesn't have to be true. I would imagine that stormlight is present for at least the duration of the height of the storm though.

That's not actually the quote I was looking for... Assuming the one I think I remember even exists I'll see if I have time to find it later. Could be misremembering.

I'm pretty sure inhabitants of Sel DON'T have Innate Investiture actually... I'd have to find the quote, but I believe it stated something along the lines of how people in Mistborn had innate Investiture, whilst on Sel Investiture was accessed by symbols. So on Sel Investiture is something you access, rather than something you have.

Don't forget that Kaladin can absorb and use Stormlight whilst unconscious. He could (and probably is) grabbing all the available Stormlight right through that experience, so whenever the Stormlight comes, it's gonna get sucked straight out of the gem (if it even ever gets into it). Even if it did make it into the gem, by the time the rest of Bridge Four come out and find him chained to the rock he'll have drained it.

There are mountains in Shadesmar too... which may tie in with someone else's theory that Urithiru us in the Purelake (the area in Shadesmar is mountainous).

Black magic has a point though. If Rithmatists sent wave after wave of Über-chalklings at the tower, they could tie up the wild chalklings for a long time, during which you can be drawing more awesome chalklings of your own. It's a viable tactic.

http://theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=977#5 Sorry for poor formatting, on mobile phone. So humans on Scadrial contain a small amount of Ruin and a little more Preservation. Enough extra Preservation gives you the ability to use metals as access keys for drawing external power from elsewhere (probably the Spiritual realm, but I'm unsure if that's canon or just common theory). That extra Preservation is considered Innate Investiture. As far as Nepene's statement about metals causing you to be more Invested, I'd say Phantom's quote from the Ars Arcanum supports it, but it should be noted that the extra Investiture lasts only as long as you keep the metal burning. Becoming a Savant is a side effect of heavy use and damage to your Spiritweb; I don't think it makes you any more Invested though.

Point of order: apart from Lerasium and Atium, and presumably their alloys metals aren't Invested. Humans on Scadrial have innate Investiture, metals are a 'key'. This doesn't affect your theory, just being pedantic, and making sure we don't confuse other Sharders.

Overall theory... Probably not. But I do like Inspiration as an Intent for a Shard

I would say that this theory could still hold water if you swapped Sel and its Shards to be Spiritual. Connections to each other in Devotion and Dominion, represented magically through connection to your land and cultural identity (as speculated by KChan).

Ooh... Aons based on Sel instead of Arelon maybe? Or rather, Sel's location relative to the other Shardworlds? Still keeps the limiting factor to a degree, but allows for AonDor to function at much greater distances from Elantris. Or maybe they just build an even bigger amplifier

Yes, to a degree I suppose it could. That said though, if we're to have another Herald viewpoint, my money is on Jezrien. Seems like the most logical. Also, given the two 5-book arcs that Brandon is planning to write these as, I actually like the symmetry of each arc having a Herald. EDIT: Scratch that, don't know why I thought Taln was in the first 5.

Hi Starspren, where is Europe are you from? Don't worry too much about the language barrier, you're not the first non-native English speaker here, and no-one will complain much if you're spelling or syntax is a little off people are usually happy to clarify statements if there's at confusion too Glad to see more new faces (hey Admins, is there any kind of analytics of membership/activity over time? I'd love to see that somewhere. Yes, I'm a nerd I know ) I'm sure the spike and cookie will arrive shortly for you. Incidentally, I may have just accidentally stumbled on the best spike-delivery method to date

I like the general idea here, in principle. I hope you don't think of this as being negatively critical, but I'll probably spend some time looking for quotes to try and knock this down - only to see if it stands up to scrutiny. For the record I'd like it to but that's currently the only way we have to test a theory's validity. EDIT: Ah, stupid fat fingers, that was meant to be an upvote sorry Rosh

As for the activation method, I don't know, I feel we need more info for that. Those are some very cool uses for Allomantic tech though. (Allomantech?)

I think I can understand why the request for clarity. When Vin gave Oreseur/Tensoon Atium to carry, he was at least using the body of a wolfhound, and closely mimicking an actual creature. Kandra in True Bodies aren't, and it's not really clear exactly what Kandra flesh is made from. I would still say because it's living organic material that it would prevent the metals being pushed or pulled. I suspect it's to do with the body's Spiritual aspect interfering with the lines of force, or perhaps the Cognitive - if the metal is Cognitively inside the body, then you would have to affect the body itself (or something similar). In truth I think it's likely a mix of the two; a body's innate Spiritual aspect interferes but only if the object considers itself (or is considered to be) inside said body.