Pagerunner

The universe of the cosmere is different from real-life, even without the influence of Adonalsium. On these planets, there is still the Cognitive Realm and the Spiritual Realm, and there are phenomena relating to these realms that don't come from Shards, but from ambient Investiture. On Threnody, there's a phenomenon in the Cognitive realm, which results souls not moving Beyond and staying as Shades. On First of the Sun, the birds have natural interactions with the other realms (like hiding someone in the Cognitive realm, or seeing the future using the Spiritual realm). Souls are made of Investiture, so that might be the source of this ambient Investiture. The planets also appear to have unique elements to them in how they interact with Shards and magic. In other words, if Harmony went and Invested in a different shardworld, it would manifest a new magic system, which would be distinct from what was seen on Scadrial. So, that's how different minor Shardworlds can have different manifestations. So, it's kind of like how RL earth has different ecosystems, even at the same latitudes/longitudes. Life in the Sahara desert is very different than in Central America, even without human interference and civilization to build cities and all that stuff. The South Pole got penguins, and the North Pole got polar bears. The different environments on different Shardworlds can result in different kinds of life and different ways to interact with native Investiture.

As we learn more about the three Shards on Roshar and their conflict, I think we'll definitely get a picture of a larger backstory to Roshar in the Cosmere, something that's not uncommon in fantasy stories. One big example is in Lord of the Rings, where the extended worldbuilding found in the Silmarillion reveals that Gandalf, Sauron, and the Balrog are all the same kind of creature, like a kind of angel. There's a vast history of Sauron's mentor, and of the elves of Middle Earth, that isn't directly relevant to the heroes and their journey for the trilogy itself, but serves as an important foundation for the setting. We can understand that Gandalf and Sauron come from a different age without knowing every detail about that age, but the details are there for those who want them. The end of the series, as the elves go to the Grey Havens, is a part of a larger story, but it does have an impact on the main story. To unabashedly twist part of your original post to fit with my example: So, yes, I think we'll definitely see in the Stormlight Archive that Hoid is larger than the Stormlight Archive, the same way the Shards are larger as well. But that doesn't mean we'll need to know everything about that backstory. The books are about the characters, not about the Shards; because the stories exist in a larger universe, there will be supporting setpieces that extend beyond the scope of the series, but hey, even Da Vinci left the legs off of the Mona Lisa. She had them[citation needed], but you don't need to see them to appreciate the painting.

Here are relevant WoBs: [1] [2] [3] He does specifically say that Hoid did something to spook her, and implies that it had to do with his behind-the-scene actions in WoA, getting the lerasium bead. It does look like what Brandon originally doesn't match what we saw in Secret History, but it is a very old quote (a note in Theoryland says it's the first time Brandon mentioned Hoid), so he might have 'lied' simply because the truth would have been far too off-the-walls for his fans to get at the time. But it's also possible that he changed his original plan; in the same topic, he mentions he hadn't determined what had happened to Vin and Elend after their deaths, and fans were welcome to imagine them returning at a later date, something else we see contradicted in Secret History.

We know that Threnody doesn't have a Shard on it. As for the silver/aluminum theory, it's a popular one, but I don't remember if anyone has ever asked Brandon for a confirmation or not. I've found SSFH to be a good abbreviation, to distinguish it from Shadows of Self (Mistborn 5) and The Silence Divine (a planned standalone novella).

Out-of-universe, the symbols were designed by Isaac to hold elements of all three metallic arts. Arcs represented bracers for Feruchemy, dots represented beads of metal for Allomancy, and the spikes were obviously spikes for Hemalurgy. That's where the pieces for the symbols come from. As far as breaking down meaning even further, all I've been able to figure out is that the dot changes for pushing/pulling metals; for pushing metals (alloys), the dot is in within the arc, while for pulling metals (pure metals) it is on the outside, along the arc. I don't think anyone has been able to come up with any pattern or meaning for any other details of the symbols (i.e. number of spike/arcs, or their placement and orientation, or even the bonkers curved spikes for lerasium). But good luck, and more power to you! It might be helpful to look at other forms of the alphabet, which were used as headers in other Mistborn books.

From Da Rules: No mention of any social areas, either for or against. It also raises the question of what the heck is even legal in General Discussion, if spoilers from every book aren't allowed. For the larger topic, I agree that there hasn't been adequate enforcement outside of new-release periods, but I think it actually works out well. It is a hassle to remember to use spoiler tags for 'mundane' info, and we're getting so much material that the cosmere realmatics are becoming more and more relevant across series. Major plot points (I think XYZ main character will have a surprising death, just like ABC main character from his other series), yeah, that would be common courtesy to throw in spoilers, but I'd do that for any series by another author, even. I guess it gets down to the philosophy of the thing; why do we have spoilers in the first place? For most other places I've seen, it's so info doesn't leak out accidentally to people who are still trying to acquire a new book. The only other place I've seen it done like it's done here, for old stuff that someone might get around to reading someday, is TVTropes, and I run that with spoilers-shown since I think going overboard like that makes it harder to actually use the site. Even our own Coppermind, you can't use it for just a specific series; there will be untagged spoilers all over the place if you dive in before reading everything. The stated purpose of the individual series forums is to allow discussion independent of other cosmere series; but from anecdotal experience I wonder whether or not that's where the demand is. When the rubber meets the road, I think a lot of us use them to break out Stormlight-focused cosmere discussion from Mistborn-focused cosmere discussion, etc, leaving Cosmere Theories for topics which truly are overarching. (Thus the spoiler abusers.) @Elenion, if you don't mind my asking, which books haven't you read, and why haven't you gotten around to reading them? I haven't read any of the non-cosmere stuff, and I have no intention of it, so it doesn't bother me if I see Alcatraz or Reckoner comparisons being brought up in a cosmere topic, 'cause I don't care about spoilers for those books. So, I personally think people are ignoring the spoiler policy because it doesn't fit well with the site. As more books get published, maybe there will be more demand for a Stormlight-exclusive forum again, and more fans come in who have only read Stormlight and don't plan on reading 13+3+2+3 other books, and short stories and graphic novels. I don't think that's what most people want right now.

Are we sure on aluminum? I thought the theory was that the Shardblade practice guards were made of it.

Definitely a good thought, but Wikipedia presents some hurdles. Francium has a half-life of only 22 minutes, and the heat of decay would vaporize any accumulated amount of the material. In RL, no one has also accumulated any significant amount of it. Things get funky when you reach the bottom of the table; one of my professors once called them 'fake elements' since they only exist for brief moments in a lab. So, don't think Francium would be a good candidate, even though its theoretical reaction with water should be more violent.

Source. I don't think he was calling you out specifically, but it's a statement that's been prevalent on the forums (and even twice in this thread) that Brandon later went back and clarified. If we're looking for Intents, I don't think we have any good leads except the crazy ones (I like Justice dying in Homeland from Shadows for Silence, but it takes a lot of hermeneutic acrobatics to get there). The info we know about Shards (hide-and-survive, not-on-a-planet, and uh-oh-Odium-got-him) doesn't give us any insight into Intent, which seems like what the original question was asking.

It's hard to search for info on the subject, since everyone spells Ashravan differently. (Even Brandon himself just spelled it 'Ashrovan' on Reddit.)

Nice job on the Reddit WoB, @Argel. So, obviously there are similarities between Ashravan and Returned, even if my theory is taking it a step far. But I think it's a good sign that, when asked about Ashravan, Brandon pointed unprovoked towards Warbreaker. And it's nice to know that we've got an implicit star of approval to take things too far, since he wants it to be 'subject to discussion for a while yet.'

The physical manifestations of Investiture, the 'bodies of Shards' so to speak, may take similar forms on all worlds. We've seen three different forms of physical Investiture: gaseous (stormlight, mists), liquid (shardpools), and solid (atium, lerasium, shardblades). It looks to me like the physical form of a Shard is always metallic. Scadrial, with metal being the key to the magic systems, can utilize the god metals directly into those systems, regardless of the other properties of those metals. It might be similar to aluminum - in the rest of the cosmere, it's Investiture-resistant, but on Scadrial it can be used by Allomancers, Feruchemists, and Hemalurgists in addition to being allomantically inert. But the god metals don't exist because of the importance of metal on Scadrial; every Shard might be able to produce a god metal on their world, but only on Scadrial do they tie in so naturally to the magic of that world.

Why not? He held Preservation for a time; that's surely going to give him some knowledge to work with. He's also a resourceful guy, as evidenced by how he played the Ire to wind up holding Preservation in the first place. Khriss and Nazh might even keep helping him out. There'd have to be a reason for the transition, but I don't think we have a WoB saying that no other Shards have changed hands, so the possibilities are open. Just like SH or the Southerner medallion tech, we wouldn't know anything about it until we get there. I agree it's an unlikely theory, but that's because I think it's a misinterpretation of the what little we know of the Shard in question. Not because I don't think Kelsier could find a way to take a Shard that matched well with his personality.

@Argel, @hwiles, I found some old stuff on the TWG archive (1, 2), from a 2008 Q&A. Brandon said he didn't want to go into detail about what happened to characters like Vin, Elend, or even Goradel as they went into the afterlife. But, he also said then that he might never lock down what happened to Vin/Elend after they died, and that the door could be open for their return if readers liked to envision it that way. This seems wholly incompatible with Secret History; but not if the original question has to do with how readers view the trilogy, not the implications of that trilogy on the larger, hidden cosmology. However, he does say that something happens to souls after they move Beyond the Three Realms; but not even Sazed knows what it is. So, I think something that fit well with the context at the time (imagine the future of the characters and their experience in the afterlife as you see fit, dear reader) loses its punch as Brandon fills in the mystery with further books.

Part of the reason I don't think the original soul returns to the body is because there isn't room for two souls. The definition that Brandon gave of Splinters ascribes sentience to them. Aside from the Divine Breath, the other Splinters we've seen (seons, skaze, spren) don't inhabit physical bodies, but they do have their own minds and thoughts. If the original mind is returned to the body, then where is the mind of the Divine Breath? (To parallel, Ashravan's new soul is like Nightblood; not created directly as a Splinter, but assembled using the existing magic system.) I also want to clarify the way I'm using the terms 'mind' and 'soul,' since I don't think we have a consensus on their usage. I'm using them interchangeably, to describe the Cognitive aspect of an individual. When they die, this Cognitive aspect is 'torn' away from the body and taken Beyond, unless it has been fundamentally altered to the point where it can stay behind. It encompasses the thoughts and intelligence of an individual. I have intentionally not used the word 'spirit' so far, since we haven't seen the Spiritual aspect of an individual. We don't know what effect death has on a person's Spiritual aspect, if it's pulled Beyond with the Cognitive aspect or not, or if it remains in the Spiritual Realm (which seems to be outside of time). The Spiritual Realm has to do with pure ideals, so it might have to do with the essence of a person, their true identity. (Or capital-I Identity, if you prefer.) Splinters (like the Divine Breath) have strong Spiritual and Cognitive aspects, but weak Physical aspects. I think that by matching Spiritual aspects, you can combine the Cognitive aspect of a Splinter with the Physical aspect of a deceased individual. To address your points: Endowment asking the departing Soul could be the Initiation. If they don't want their Physical and Spiritual aspects to be used, then Endowment would honor that request. Sazed wasn't able to put Elend back in his body (Vin, he could have since she was a Sliver, and she chose not to). The constant Investiture requirement of a Splinter goes to maintaining the Spiritual aspect so that it will match with the Physical aspect. A Lifeless body is a worse soul - it doesn't have a Cognitive aspect, and it is not matching the Spiritual aspect. It's a different phenomenon - a highly refined Awakened object. I'm saying that, even though Returned might appear to be a part of Awakening, they're actually part of a larger phenomenon (which we see in The Emperor's Soul). True, a Returned can suppress the Divine Breath so that it cannot be sensed with life Sense and it won't change nearby colors. But exactly how does that happen? It's a secret that we'll learn in the sequel. It might not be the same way that Vivenna hid her breaths in the shawl. I'll have to re-read up on those BoM scenes, since my terminology might not be accurate. (I laid out above how I'm using the terms, with mind/soul referring to the Cognitive aspect, and spirit referring to the Spiritual aspect.) But the concepts we're getting down to are the same thing - Cognitive had moved beyond, needed to be replaced. Kelsier is basically a spren right now; he has his mind, he has his spirit, but he doesn't have a body. There's been speculation he'll use Hemalurgy to return (or maybe even Return, since that's the theme of the thread), and it could still be through matching up the Spiritual aspects. Except, he'll be working it the other way around - spiking a Physical body to alter its Spiritual aspect.

It's an idea that pops up every now and again, and with good reason. All we know about this Shard is that it wants to hide and survive, and Kelsier is, of course, the Survivor. But I think it's a common case of overthinking, seeing connections where there aren't any. The intent of the Shard is not directly related to surviving. So, it's not quite as you say, where the Intent is about surviving but not necessarily hiding. The Shard isn't about either hiding or surviving, but its holder is smart enough to see what's going on in the Cosmere and trying to stay out of it. (Which doesn't really sound like Kelsier to me. Since he straight-up punched a Shard.) One theory that I saw in another thread that I liked a lot better is that Frost holds the Survival Shard. He wants to stay out of things (and asks Hoid to do the same), but as a Shard he's strong enough that Hoid will ask him for help against Odium. Furthermore, he's from before the Shattering (which means he can be one of the original Shardholders).

I think we switched from talking about Slivers to talking about Vessels at some point. Also, @Tsidqiyah, do you see what you have unleashed? You thought it was a simple question, "Can someone give me a brief overview?" See how that's turning out...

Can you please define what you mean by 'spiritual changes'? But, yes, it sounds like you understand what I'm saying - we've seen the effects of becoming a Sliver on the Cognitive aspect of an individual, but have not seen any Physical or Spiritual effects. Since we have seen that Rashek and Vin were left physically unchanged by becoming Slivers, I'd assert pretty strongly that there are no Physical effects. We haven't seen what happened to either of them Spiritually; so, it would be an assertion to say that becoming a Sliver has Spiritual effects on an individual. Not necessarily wrong, but it's where the burden of proof lies. I think it rests on you to show that there are effects on Spiritual properties like Connection or Fortune. (And, since we have seen so little of the Spiritual Realm, that would be a tall order indeed.) Not that it's impossible, but that it's an extrapolation that needs to be supported. Yeah, sounds like you're referring to my memory right now. I thought someone had a conversation with Brandon, that if a Feruchemist pulled a memory out and put it right back in, it would still degrade, with the implication that there was some unknown factor at play. I gotta try and find that quote, if it exists. Seems like I'm experiencing some degradation right now, though. (No, that's not an invitation to insult.)

I noticed a parallel between Ashravan, the titular Emperor in The Emperor's Soul, and the Returned on Nalthis. (Props to @dragonshadowbob for sparking the thought with this thread.) It looks like Ashravan's soul went Beyond, and Shai's Forgery made a new soul for him, redrawing the Connections that Ashravan had in his life using her soulstamps to make a soul that would replace his mind. I've suspected something like this happens with the Returned in Warbreaker. They don't have the memories of their past life at first because the soul for that person has gone Beyond, and it's a Divine Breath that takes its place. It will reanimate the body, but it needs to rebuild the Connections that the soul has before it can access the memories. Just like Shai's work was discovering who Ashravan was close to and why he did what he did, Lightsong discovered his past while he explored his Connection with his past, with his family. The Connections need to be fully rebuilt to repair the memories and have the new, artifical soul replace the old one. However, these artificial souls don't stick very well to the bodies. They require a constant source of Investiture to be maintained - Ashravan needed to be stamped every day, and the Returned need to consume a breath every week. Without that, the Investiture that makes up the artificial soul will separate from the body, and the person will die again. So, I think that the original Lightsong, the original Vasher, etc. all went Beyond after their conversations with Endowment. The Returned themselves don't actually return... the Divine Breaths are artificial souls implanted in their bodies to replace them as they go Beyond. Oh, and that's the same thing that happens to a lesser extent with Lifeless. The new soul isn't trying to replace the old soul, and there's no intelligence, so there's nothing to reject. But it can slowly rebuild Connections naturally, if the Lifeless builds Connections of its own that are natural reflections of the host body. (Like if Arsteel's Lifeless body stuck with his old comrades...)

But, still, that's the only time he used the word focus to describe magic systems, and it's back in 2006 - he was just generally speaking of how metals tie together the Metallic Arts. He hasn't used it as an official part of the magic fundamentals - it's a popular fan theory, but not an official term. Hmm, I may be misremembering. I'll conditionally recant that proposal, with the possibility of recanting my recantation if I can find the quote. Thanks for keeping me honest. We haven't seen physical changes to Slivers (TLR used the power to give himself Allomancy the same way Sazed made Spook a Mistborn) or spiritual changes (don't even know what that would look like). All Investiture expands the mind to allow for use of it (atium lets you process it quickly, Sand Masters can control all their ribbons), but there's a threshold where your mind won't revert to its old state after holding too much Investiture. It is possible to achieve physical changes to your body (Savants, Soulcasters), but those aren't Slivers. So, I won't imply it heavily, I'll explicitly propose it.

I've seen lowercase-f in Mistborn annotations, and Body Focuses in the Stormlight Ars Arcanum, but I haven't seen Brandon officially refer to capital-F focus before; can you provide a link? Agreed, I've never seen 'fuel' used like that before, which is why I provided an alternate answer in case this wasn't what was being referred to, but I'm trying to get to the same concept you describe. Using your terminology, I'd definitely say that metal is the catalyst for Allomancy. For Feruchemy, I was basing it on how repeated uses of a coppermind will degrade the information over time; it seems to me that the act of drawing and storing consumes a little bit of what's stored in the metalmind. And, similarly, it could also be the 'how' behind Hemalurgic decay. I don't see any conflict between what you said and what I said. We haven't seen collected solid or gaseous investiture allow worldhopping; it seems like a unique property of the liquid variety. EDIT: Oh, never mind, I see what you're saying. Are you saying that the location itself is a 'weak point' between realms, and the liquid Investiture being there is just a side effect? I'm not sure I agree with that - remove the liquid (like at the Pits or the Well) and you remove the Perpendicularity. Drive a septic truck up and drain the shardpool, you've got a moving Perpendicularity (and probably the smelliest one, too). I think it's the liquid that bridges realms, not the location itself. Hold up - you start off by saying it's not about the mind, then say that their minds retain the changes? The pattern that we've seen with Slivers (Leras, Rashek, Vin, Tanavast) is that their Cognitive Shadow can persist after death - their minds will persist. (Again, I don't think we're disagreeing, and the deflated balloon is a good clarification to what I had said.) Good point - Spiritual Realm is time-independent, so I guess death doesn't mean all that much there. I had second thoughts while posting that, but went with it anyways.

There are some official terms, and there are some unofficial terms adopted by the fanbase. Official terms for magic fundamentals include Investiture (the power of a Shard, used to power a magic system) and Initiation (the way that an individual gains access to a magic system). So, the Investiture is drawn from the magic user through an Initiated user to perform magic. The Investiture needs a path to get into the user; cracks in the user's soul (sometimes referred to as Spiritweb or sDNA [which stands for spiritual DNA]) are often one such path. Most of the terms you're asking about, however, are terms that theorists have come up with to explain similarities between magic systems; I don't think Brandon has referred to them formally as such, and I've left them uncapitalized when I introduce them. A focus is kind of like a key that determines, for a magic system, how the Investiture is channeled and used. It appears to be planet-specific. On Scadrial, it's metal; as we see in Secret History and Bands of Mourning, metal is a gateway to Investiture on Scadrial, having a brilliance in the cognitive realm independent of any of the three metallic arts. It appears to be form or shape, possibly even language, on Sel, where different words will give different results. There's been speculation that it's sound on Roshar, based on the shape of the Dawncities and the fact that Surgebinders must speak their oaths. We've seen bonds form between individuals and pieces of Investiture called Splinters. These bonds alter the spiritweb. On Roshar, a bond with a spren is the only way to Surgebind. In Elantris, people can bond Seons, but it looks to be independent of becoming an Elantrian. It's possible that these bonds the focus for Surgebinding, fabrial science, and Voidbinding; that would mean that Roshar, specifically, is where a bond grants a user magical abilities. We've also seen fuel, which may or may not be the same thing as Focus. In many magic systems, something else is consumed when someone uses magic. In Allomancy, it's metal. Feruchemy and Hemalurgy both have forms of decay for the Investiture that's stored or stolen. On Nalthis, it's color. On Taldain, it's water. On Roshar, frost appears when a lot of surgebinding is done, so it's been speculated that heat might be the fuel. I can't think of anything that fits on Sel, unless it's earth and the Elantrians themselves caused the Reod by drawing too many Aons. Unless you were referring to fuel as the way that Stormlight and the mists fuel magic systems. They are a physical form of Investiture, and they have been referred to as 'Gaseous Investiture.' It looks (to me at least) like individuals with some kind of bond (all we've seen so far are Vin, who was bonded to Preservation, and new Surgebinders) can take this Investiture into their bodies and power their magic without the usual connection to the Shard. It appears to be a universal form of Investiture on all planets, kind of like Shardpools are liquid Investiture, but we've only seen it on two worlds. (Fair warning, this is kind of a pet theory of mine, that Stormlight is not the usual power behind Surgebinding. We know for a fact that Stormlight is Honor's analogue to Preservation's Mists, and that Highstorms are a natural phenomenon that predate 'stuff going down'; I think that the KR we saw in a flashback were drawing Investiture directly from Honor, which is why they glowed, and that modern-day Surgebinders need Stormlight because Honor has been Shattered.) There's also Solid Investiture, which is a Shard's metal, which so far have allowed Initiation in magic systems. (Atium can steal anything, Lerasium makes someone a Mistborn, and Honorblades let someone become a Surgebinder.) I suspect they all allow direct access to the Spiritual Realm manipulate a being's spiritweb. Liquid Investiture forms Shardpools, which allow direct access to the Cognitive Realm. A person whose mind has been expanded by too much Investiture (i.e. holding a significant portion of a Shard) is called a Sliver. (A Savant has their physical body altered by too much Investiture.) Bonds might be tied into the Three Realms of the Cosmere, We've only begun to look into the other Realms, but one other concept for the underlying mechanics of many magic systems is Connection. In the Spiritual Realm, all objects are Connected to other objects, in an outside-of-time kind of way. Seeing the future involves seeing Connections between objects, and Shai's Forging alters Connections to transmute objects. Identity is another concept in the Spiritual Realm, and magic systems can make use of a user's Identity (like Feruchemists aren't able to user one another's metalminds, and Awakeners can't take back Breath from someone else's construct). The Realms are a larger world that exists regardless of specific magic systems; on First of the Sun, the individuals have Identity and Connection, even if they don't have any way to access or manipulate them. Some magic systems will use these (especially more complex ones, like the Metallic Arts or Surgebinding), but some won't (Sand Mastery, especially, seems quite simple). A Cognitive Shadow is a person's ghost, a remnant of their mind that can stay in the Cognitive Realm after their death in the Physical and Spiritual Realms under the proper circumstances. So, I don't know if there is a simple overall explanation out in public yet. I'm sure Brandon has it in his head somewhere, but the understanding on the forums has been pieced together by comparing similarities; building it top-down, rather than up from a foundation. Empirically determined, not fundamentally derived. (I know you said you didn't need specifics, but that's why I provided them, because all we have right now are similarities between a couple sets of specifics.) And since we're still seeing new magic systems, we're still learning all the ins and outs, and learning how the Cosmere works outside of the specific magic systems, some of this terminology may become obsolete. But, to me, it looks like there are three fundamental areas: The Three Realms of the Cosmere and how they function. (Identity, Connection, Cognitive Shadows) The power of Adonalsium and universal properties of Investiture. (Investiture, Splinters, Slivers, Bonds, Vessels) Specific interactions between Shards and Worlds that produce magic systems. (Initiation, Focus, Fuel) Hope that's not too in-depth. Any other specific terms you're wondering about?

I hate to speculate when we know so little... (That's a dirty rotten lie.) I don't think it'd be an eleventh gemstone. Based on Navani's notes, fabrials can capture specific spren based on the cut and type of the gemstone. Spren replicate the Honorblades' bond with a Surgebinder; Cultivationblades would probably take the place of spren in fabrial science, having their power filtered through various cuts of gemstones to produce different powers. It could power any fabrial associated with a gemstone type, regardless of cut. I need to add the disclaimer, though, that this is crazy speculation. A ton of fun with the right crew, but we haven't seen anything that would indicate Cultivation and Odium have created additional splinters of themselves the way Honor has with the Honorblades.

It's understandable - easy to make mistakes with these made-up, similar-looking symbols. When I was double-checking your work, I mixed up copper and zinc's Feruchemical symbols, and that totally blew apart all the patterns. Since there's no pushing/pulling, I wonder if it even makes a difference about the arrangement they're in? It's just four powers, so the pattern might be carried over, but not necessarily be significant. The foremost question in my mind (after, of course, wondering what on earth possessed you to do all the work to double-check Isaac's work in the first place) is whether or not the symbol:name relationship is in error, or symbol:placement relationship. (i.e., do the left two triangles need to be switched, or do the symbols next to the names need to be switched?) MAG agrees with the symbol:name, but it was probably drawing from the feruchemical table, so I don't necessarily think that means anything. Either way, if it is is an important mistake, I'd hope they'd release a revised version at some point in the future. It would be a bit of a bummer for those who got the fine art version, though...

Good catch, but are you sure it's not chromium/nicrosil that are switched? 'cause the tip of chromium should touch cadmium, and the same for nicrosil and steel?