Ixthos

I am fairly certain that the number sixteen was significant in the Cosmere before the shattering - I think the conspiracy requires sixteen members in order to work due to the significance of sixteen, rather than sixteen being significant because it was the number of people involved (excluding Hoid).

Fair enough, I misremembered that part. Though it is implied from context - such as others referring to Ba-Ado-Mishram as a highprincess among the enemies forces, I think references to her leading Odium's armies, and seizing control of the forces during the false desolation - that she is the smartest or most powerful of the unmade, but I agree it is conjecture. (Also, I need to head to bed now, so I'll hopefully be able to respond more later. Goodnight if it is also night to you, and good morning or good afternoon or good evening if it is morning or afternoon or evening for you :-) )

Okay, I'm typing this quickly because I don't have a lot of time at the moment, and I would like to respond to some other posts tomorrow, but I just want to write this down quickly. This is a somewhat crazy theory, but I think it does have some interesting support. Sixteen is important to the entire Cosmere, and we know ten is significant on Roshar, but was ten always significant on Roshar is the question. I have a theory on the Unmade and the Stormfather - I think that originally, there were sixteen proto-unmade, and fifteen of them were transformed into the nine unmade, with the proto-Stormfather, and part of Chemoarish were turned into the Stormfather and Nightwatcher, and then the Sibling was made entirely by Honour and Cultivation. So, why do I suggest this possibility? Because: Sja-anat indicated kinship with the Sibling, but as cousins, rather than as brother or sister Raboniel and the Sibling both believes what was going to happen to the Sibling would turn it into an unmade The conflation between Chemoarish and the Nightwatcher The number of parts in each name The low intellect of the named single-part unmade, and the intellect of the only three-part named unmade The strong connection the Stormfather has to investiture, and the weaker and more abstract nature of the Sibling and the Nightwatcher in that regard Lets look at a list of the Unmade Ashertmarn (mindless) Ba-Ado-Mishram (smartest) Chemoarish (unknown, and conflated with the Nightwatcher) Dai-Gonarthis (unknown) Moelach (unknown) Nergaoul (animalistic) Re-Shephir (semi-intelligent, able to give a report to the Fused) Sja-anat (smart, but thinks of Ba-Ado-Mishram as smarter) Yelig-nar (unknown) Now, lets count the number of parts to the names: Ashertmarn Ba Ado Mishram Chemoarish Dai Gonarthis Moelach Nergaoul Re Shephir Sja anat Yelig nar Which totals 15. With the Stormfather that makes 16. We know the Stormfather is linked directly to providing Stormlight, but the Nightwatcher, representing the life on Roshar, is linked much more indirectly to this. So, this is the theory, in brief. There were sixteen being on Roshar. Honour and Cultivation arrive, but in general leave them be, OR Honour and Cultivation combine several of them together, so Ba-Ado-Mishram was a combination of three of those beings - which might have had longer names to the Singers - and inherited their intelligence. Then Odium arrives, and starts repurposing many of them - this also might be when several were combined together. The Nightwatcher is able to salvage some of Chemoarish, which she started to cultivate back into an independent spren, while the rest is unmade, and so the Nightwatcher remains "younger" than the Stormfather in understanding while still being old, being raised and protected by Cultivation, who then, together with Honour, forms the Sibling. Honour and Cultivation give of themselves to make or enhance the Stormfather, Nightwatcher, and Sibling, while Odium is content to let the unmade be at a lower level of strength so as to retain as much strength as he can, while also having agents that can do what he wants. (Also, side note, but to any objection of Honour and Cultivation not stopping Odium from unmaking any native spren, remember Cultivation didn't try to stop Raboniel from unmaking the Sibling, which sees Cultivation as its mother. It also is possible those spren were on Braize at the time, or weren't strongly connnected to either Honour or Cultivation, and only after being unmade and the Nightwatcher extracted due to some connection to Cultivation were the resulting Bondsmithspren more tightly linked to Honour and Cultivation.) This is certainly a strange theory, but I think it does have some support - and while it could be right or it could be wrong, I wouldn't be surprised if it was right or if it was wrong. What do you think?

That might help me a lot - thanks :-)

There is a lot of discussion going on right now about the strengths of the metallic arts compared to the surges and fabrial science. This isn't exactly about that, as I think there is still too much about the strengths and weaknesses the systems share that hasn't been revealed to make fully informed discussions about the relative viability of claiming one side is stronger than the other - especially as I think there is a lot of overlap between those systems, that each taps into the core mechanics of the Cosmere in similar ways (see for example of the metals used in fabrials and the metals used in allomancy, as well as shared mechanisms across other systems for storing memories). And because I think not enough attention is given to the idea of non or semi powered Hazekiller teams with suppression/leeching equipment in these sorts of fights :-P (Also, complete side note, but I would love to see Hazekiller teams from Threnody - I think that has been implied by Brandon mentioning a group important to the Cosmere originating on Threnody that would show up in a Threnody novel, so a group of normal individuals trained to fight cognitive shadows and whatever the Evil is) But this topic isn't focused on "who would win" scenarios, though that certainly is within the scope of this, but rather about the utility and comparisons of the three main systems as used by spacefaring civilisations. The big three are the Selish systems, the metallic arts, and the surge/void/fabrial/etc. systems used by the main three planets of the Cosmere's backbone systems. I've mentioned in the past that I think each world falls into a classic RPG class structure (AonDor for mages, surgebinding for warriors, and the metallic arts for rogues), and I still think this is a core idea behind their construction. However, I also think any discussion of the future of the Cosmere needs to take into account not just Roshar and Scadrial, but also Sel. Sel, at the moment, is one of the most limited planets in terms of Cosmere significance, on account of the magic being region bound, those who can use it and leave their planet - or nation - can't use it elsewhere - an ironic twist on surgebinders, who in principle could use their abilities on other worlds if they could actually leave their own, which has been indicated to actually be possible, albeit a difficult or mostly unknown technique. But we know about the Iree fortress, and other hints that eventually Rosharan magic is going to be used on other worlds. So, despite the difficulties at the moment, it certainly seems possible that the future of the Cosmere isn't going to be dominated by just the Rosharans and the Scadrians, but HOPEFULLY also the Selish, with other worlds, if not major powers, able to stand as independent city-states in the Cosmere, not necessarily part of any given hegemony but as neutral trading posts - imagine Nalthis as a neutral city state where people trade for Breathers, and Taldain as a seed source of those trying to genetically modify its investiture-linked microbes, and Silverlight (and once again my obligatory Silverlight is built on top of Ambition's corpse) used as a cognitive realm crossroads and ultimate neutral city in the future conflicts. I also hope that each "empire" is going to be culturally diverse, and at least a few members with access to other worlds' systems as allies or citizens for those empires - I would really like to see that, if Roshar and Scadrial are in a cold or hot war, that there are surgebinders with the Scadrians, and those with access to the metallic arts on the Rosharan side, and both having allies both abroad and within their boarders who can use the Selish systems. (Also, I'm hoping that the Aether world or worlds are also involves as major or semi major actors in any hypothetical political, economic, and military competitions between worlds, as I think one part of the aether systems in particular really lends itself towards space travel and other sci-fi equipment - and if you've read Aether of Night you probably know what I'm thinking of :-P I would love to see Aether-based space travel.) Back to the topic of the magic as used as tools for space travel and combat - I am not going to get into the details of what each power can do, as there is still a lot of potential to add abilities with new Aons, applications of surges, voids, and metals and shardmetal alloys. I am rather going to look at each magic system - or core of each magic system - in general. The Dor First, let me say I am convinced that part of what Devotion and Dominion were trying to do on Sel - I am convinced that each shard has a reason for settling on the worlds they did, and the reason Odium could claim his actions were legal within the agreement of the shards, as Endowment seems to think about them. The Dor seems to be the most versatile of the systems, as any power that can be described programmatically can potentially be employed, with branch conditions, loops, and chaining together effects, possibly even creating macros. The Dor seems to be the most readily shard-like of the powers, without the restrictions of the shards. Hmmm ... could that have been their goal? Also, how small can the symbols be made, and can one make a machine to print Dor-accessing symbols onto microchips that can imbue them with the same properties as an Elantrian? Could Sel make use of investiture based computers? Seons and Skaze as AI Surges and Voids Odium noted that other shards would be very interested in the power of the surges - is this because of Roshar, or the combination of Honour and Cultivation? And Odium's presence also adds certain elements Surges are both grounded in real world physics - gravity, molecular interactions, the processes of growth, conjoined fabrials - and more abstract metaphorical properties - connection, spiritual cohesion, future sight - all of which allow for a broad, complex set of interactions that can be both realistic, such as the idea of flying with the use of gravitation, and forcefields with the use of transformation, as well as any hypothetical abstractions of almost magical effects, such as surge of transportation beaming, and possible forcefield busting division beams And we still don't know about the esoteric powers of voidbinding, or the third, unknown system which is theoretically even more esoteric - could we get even more complex abilities related to real world physics or more abstract supernatural effects and properties? Anti investiture, and the idea of the uses for this system to release energy, as well as anti-invested individual applications Spren as AI Metals After learning about how fabrials make use of metals in a similar way to the effect of metals allomantically, and the further reveals about the existence of properties of other shard metals and their relations to investiture and other Cosmere mechanics (Ruin - seeing the spiritual realm links / Fortune, Preservation - forming new connections and possibly alloys with shard metals allowing forming connections to other shards, Honour and Cultivation - cutting the spiritual realm connections, Odium - channelling investiture; all of them seeming to affect the spiritual realm) This suggests that Ruin and Preservation put a great deal of emphasis on magic a world whose system could directly access the core mechanics of the Cosmere, people able to use metals to produce effects that those metals have on manifestations of investiture Ettmetal - could it be linked to anti-investiture in some way, and likewise the hints Brandon gave about them finding something interesting in the residue of its use, implying a possible breakthrough in understanding the nature of investiture Similarly to the surges, the metallic arts tie strongly to real world physics, but while the surges combine real world physics with abstract ideas, the metallic arts go even further into real world physics, with storing weight, affecting time, and likewise into the idea of affecting other sources of investiture, as with aluminium and duralumin, and chromium and nicrosil This strong link to real world mechanics, and the fact that the metals tie directly into the mechanics of fabrials, and the use of hemalurgy, gives a lot of potential uses for both semi-hard real world extrapolations of future technologies, as well as hijacking the more abstract properties of other magic systems? So it seems that Sel focuses on providing the breadth of hypothetical abilities a shard possesses, scaled down and turned into a programming language and thus predictable and repeatable, Roshar mixes real world physics and the idea of abstract applications of metaphysical ideas and interacting with base investiture, and Scadrial goes even further into real world physics and the possible interactions with the nature of investiture itself as used by other systems. So, what do you think? What possible applications and commonalities do you think exists for space age stories? (Final note: who else wants to see investiture-based mega structures?)

The thing is that the way on object views itself is a direct function of its impact on others - at least that is my impression. A book that is to be admired rather than read is a book that was admired, and it still manifests as a book because that was the shape that was admired. A fire gave warmth and so is seen as a source of warmth, which it can provide. The only exception to this rule is the surge of transformation, which not only changes the cognitive aspects of something, but its physical ones also - otherwise an object can only do what it has shown itself able to do. I could be wrong about this, I admit, however the examples in the stories seem to show this to be the case - an object can do in the cogntive realm what it can do in the physical realm, but sees itself in the capacity it does those things through the lens of how others see it.

This has been bugging me a lot. We know Hoid - Wit - goes where Fortune tells him to, and often without knowing the reason. We know he is terrified of Odium - of Rayse - and while he sought him out, he also avoided him. We know that he has been very careful to keep himself hidden. And we also know he had been planning for his meeting with Odium, who he clearly thought was Rayse - though perhaps he deliberately dumped his memories of knowing it had changed to Taravangian before going to the meeting (pure speculation and possibly wrong, but let's not rule it out). So, with all of that, any meeting he intended to go to with Odium - and it seemed Odium hadn't been expecting him, at least the first time round - would be one which was of significant importance. And from our perspective it was, showing that Wit naturally is invisible to the shards - assuming Endowment is just blustering in her letter in Oathbringer, or due to Wit's connection to Endowment due to that shard tempting him she can see him? But that is besides the point - and that Odium is now something to truly be frightened of if it can pull one over on Hoid. But what has Wit's goal? He didn't give any information other than a few quick taunts to Odium. That's it. So what was his goal? What, in setting, was the reason Wit risked making himself visible to Odium, other than to thumb his nose at him, now that he is safe? And those hardly were outstanding insults. Or was that the point, to give poor insults because he could? What do you think the reason Hoid did this? What did he hope to achieve?

Ahhh, not exactly. If you've read Secret History, you already know, but if not, here it is in spoiler tages: I'm not entirely sure I understand your question here? The collective view of how the closest - connection wise - people to an object saw it, and the cummulitive effect of this, changes how an item sees itself - it is, in essence, what it will tell you it is.

Unless you have synesthesia :-P

I believe the main impact belief has on objects in the cognitive realm is on how they see themselves - a book that was never read would see itself as something to sit on a shelf and be admired, a sword used to protect would see itself as a guardian, a sword used to kill would see itself as a weapon. In Secret History we also see a fire that was treated as a source of warmth, almost alive, to generations of skaa - and so it to saw itself as something almost alive, and with the purpose of giving warmth. I don't think there are any recorded cases of the belief actually affecting the abilities of the item, only its self perception, and how it is to be persuaded to change if soulcast. A big thing to remember is that objects that haven't been observed - assuming shards observing them doesn't count - still have a presence in the cognitive realm, just a small one, as the gas giants in the Rosharan system have a presence in the cognitive realm, but a very small one.

Well, "they would call him Discord, and they would love him for it," was one of the prophesies, or something along those lines :-P (though I have noted a distinct lack of chocolate rain ....) That would be another good negative, though in many ways that is more a neutral stance - in effect, the only difference between Harmony being present and inactive and Harmony not being there at all is that if Harmony is absent there isn't any allomancy or feruchemy.

Yup :-) for all their flaws there are a lot of very clever and subtle elements to the Prequels, and the hypocrisy of the Jedi order is one of them. Yup - see above :-P Harmony? Hmmm ... well, I think there are at least two ways Harmony could be dangerous and two ways positive: Positive one: Let us achieve balance, an equal measure of all things, that what must pass can pass and what has value can stay Positive two: I will ruin those who seek to ruin, and preserve those who seek to preverse Negative one: Hmmm ... yes, that institution should fall and that institution should remain. What? No, I didn't stutter, that orphanage has to go and that loan shark can stay Negative two: I will preserve you! I mean, ruin! No, wait! Preserve! Ruin! Preserve! .... Oh, you're gone now? Well ... Hey, you! I will Pres-! The shards are both forces of nature and concepts that seek minds to direct them. The problem is they can't remain one for long without seeking to become the other, and to change the mind that directs them over time. That is the tragedy of the shards. Agreed on Whimsy! :-) Maybe Whimsy is the shard that doesn't want to settle down? Or, perhaps - probably - it is the kite-based system shard,.

That also works, though possibly closer to Devotion - though there is a lot of overlap between Shards. To my mind, Endowment is a very close to Cultivation, though Cultivation is about taking what is already there and building on it, and Endowment is about giving something that isn't originally present. In a sense, Endowment can give gifts, but those gifts might not be what someone wants - case in point, how Vasher won the duel. Indeed! I agree, that might well be the whole point of the series, that each part by itself is dangerous, and only together is their balance, though the balance also depends on the person. Some are certainly more obviously dangerous than others, and impact the vessel more quickly, but in the end all of them could cause someone to lose sight of the reason for the Shard's intent. "Only a Sith deals in absolutes!" :-P I don't watch South Park, but it just goes to show pop culture osmosis works in that I get that reference :-P Thanks :-) That's a great way of viewing it too, that the Shard can forget that a gift to one person could be harmful to another. Indeed! As Strongbad put it: "too much of a good thing, can be awesome! But too much of an awesome thing can be bad."

I think it would be useful to consider, in the limited sense we have, the Shards as both positive attributes and motivations, and nightmares. The Shards as they could be portrayed as heroes, and the Shards as they could be portrayed as villains. Remember, each is but a part of a person, a single facet amplified and set as the defining trait. Like the Paperclip Maximiser, a useful tool that, left to its own devices, would sacrifice the entire universe - or any other it could access - to make more paperclips, never understanding that paperclips exist for a reason, rather than for their own sakes. Indeed, as noted by Ruin, Preservation could just as easily have been the villain of a series with Ruin as the hero - or perhaps a slightly changed version of Ruin. So, let us see each of the known Shards as a hero, and each as a villain. Assuming all to be unsplintered, and assuming a general understanding of the shard based on the name, so these could be inaccurate in the larger scale. Devotion Positive: Let's care for others, submit to others, help others - see to the needs of those who cannot care for themselves, the orphans and beggars and the sick. Negative: Discard your own needs and wants, become a mere tool for others, all individuality lost, your needs unmet as you slave for others. Dominion Positive: You agree, discipline, structure, and hierarchy, a society where everyone is confident in who they are and what is expected of them, would be ideal, with no conflict between anyone. Negative: MAKE everyone fall into line, FORCE others to be below you in the chain of command, CONFLICT UNTIL THEY KNOW THEIR PLACE! Preservation Positive: Let us be at peace and be calm, let's make beauty that never fades, let's ensure fragile things are allowed to last forever, let's make sure nothing of value ever lost. Negative: Unchanging stasis, no life no movement on energy, a world frozen in a single moment, forever. Ruin Positive: Let's breaking unjust systems, things new and wonderful made as the old gives way to the new, to the better. Negative: Nothing ever lasts, nothing old can have value, and everything slowly gets smaller and smaller as potential is unleashed and then rendered useless and broken. Change is inevitable, and the only right course is to speed up that change. Odium Positive: Struggle against unjust restrictions, strive towards freedom, and care, feel, live! Negative: **** everyone else, I'm angry and you are in my way. Cultivation Positive: The seeds of your potential can be shaped, cared for, made better - take what you have, and build upon it. Negative: Yes, I'm going to prune you. No, I don't care if you don't like it. The world needs more predators, and more thorns to survive them. Honour Positive: Keep your promises, chain the dangerous forces around you and gain understanding, and put them to use. Negative: I don't care how you are feeling right now, a promise is a promise. What do you mean you didn't see this coming, what does that have to do with anything? Endowment Positive: You have nothing, but I will give you something. You are powerless, but I will give you to tools to make something of yourself. Negative: You have nothing, but I will give you something. What, did you think if would be something you actually wanted? Autonomy Positive: You can be free! There is nothing to hold you back, nothing to keep you from being who you want to be! Negative: **** you! I'M free, and I'm going to do what I want. What do you mean those are YOUR toys? They're mind now! Ambition Positive: Hey, let's DO something! Negative: ... You are in my way. But ... you might also be useful with the right ... changes ... Invention Positive: Hey! You know, I think [X] and [Y], when used together, could make [Z]. And [Z], when it's pair with [W], can lead to [V]! And [V] is useful! [V] will make your life better! Negative: ... Okay, so [V] turned out to be a nuke, but I've got this great idea for [Q], you see, its this type of self-replicating semi-organic structure called a virus ... Mercy Positive: I don't want you to suffer, and I want to help you. Take my hand. Negative: I don't want you to suffer. And boy, life sure is suffering. Valour Positive: Fight the good fight! Nothing of value ever comes easily. Negative: Hmmm ... that sure is a large number of enemy troops ... but I'm sure you can take 'em! Whimsy Positive: There should be joy in life! Don't you like the unexpected, every now and then? Don't you like discovering their is more to see, to learn, to know, to be? Negative: Let's replace all the air on this world with laughing gas! Oh, we'll make it normal air again later ... but then I want to see what it's like when the floor really is on fire! Oh, lava? That's even better!

@LewsTherinTelescope Fair enough :-P good points.

The only problem with that is that logic doesn't work on Scadrial, as most inhabitants in Era 1 don't know the significance of 16, unless the original Terris people did and it persisted. Also Nalthis and five seem to all be independent examples of five showing up. It certainly can explain Roshar, though it doesn't seem as effective for other planets.

I like this theory, but I wouldn't call it Lifebinding, as Surgebinding is a combination of Honour and Cultivation - the Surges are nature and so Culitvation, the Binding is Honour. Voidbinding I believe is the combination of Odium and Honour, the void Odium and binding Honour. So the third system, whether entirely of Cultivation or of Cultivation and Odium, shouldn't involve binding unless Honour is involved.

Todah :-) I live in South Africa, so we're in the same time zone, except when you have daylight savings :-P

Shalom verev tov! Ma shlomcha (oh ma shomech)? Hello and welcome! I'm afraid that is the best greeting I can give at the moment, I'm still learning Hebrew and I don't have a Hebrew keyboard on my laptop, so please excuse my poor phonetic transcriptions, but I hope you enjoy yourself here, and I hope your wait for Rhythm of War isn't a long one! Hope you have a good one! Lahetraot!

5 scholars, multiples of 5 for each Heightening, 5 visions, Pahn Khal believe in a unity of 5 gods, etc. [Edit] Also, the divine Breath of a Returned is automatically at the fifth Heightening.[/Edit] Actually ... that's making me wonder. There are four Dawnshards, and the Dawnshards originated on Yolen, or were present there if the shattering happened there ... could Yolen be the planet with the number 4?

Thanks :-) I have to contest part of that though, as Nalthis's number is 5. I can't think of any which use 4 I'm afraid. I'd forgotten that, thanks :-)

It does raise interesting questions though: Do the numbers come from the Shards, or groups of Shards, or from the solar systems or individual planets? For groups of Shards, if Honour and Cultivation together make the system 10, then Braize's uniqueness in the system being a different number would be because Odium makes it 9 If it is because of the Shards, why does each have the number it does, and how universal are they? Or is it because multiple Shards together produce a number, i.e. 16 isn't Preservation's number, but rather Ruin and Preservation together produce the significance of 16. Key point is that both 10 and 16 are important to the Cosmere, 16 for the number of Shards, 10 for the number of major worlds If it is because of the planets or solar systems, and the Cosmere consists of around 50 to 100 stars, is it an index number for them, or could some have the same number, or does it only apply to planets with Shards? Do the significant numbers start at 1 and go up to 16?

The biggest clue that Hoid's Cryptic is still with him on Scadrial is as follows:

@The Unknown Order You are welcome :-) To clarify on the idea of two people introduced by being named and then fighting, it's mainly about how it feels to me reading. I'm not sure if I can adequately described why it is a problem, but I will try - please note this is my take, and others might disagree. This observation - the two characters named and then shown fighting - is related to the issue of the scene not being described. Usually, when introduced to a scene or to a character, the narration for most stories - at least it seems to me - starts by focusing on one character, who they are and what they are doing. Other characters may be described, but usually aren't named aside from perhaps their role or title, things people intuitively understand and allows them to quickly classify who the non-focus characters are, but the narration will usually name a character, describe them in brief, and only then move on to another character if the focus isn't on a single character but on the activities of the group. When the narration instead names two characters and says what they are doing or how they are interacting, it hasn't formed a connection to those characters yet. We know their names, but not what they look like, where they are, what they are feeling, or even how they are related to one another. Some example first lines of published books, or first introductions to certain characters (so remember, these are final drafts, don't compare your writing to them as these also went through several drafts beforehand, and are only examples of first lines or character introductions), each involving multiple people at the start: Mistborn: The Final Empire The Well of Ascension The Hero of Ages Warbreaker Dune Also from Dune, when the Harkonnens are introduced: The Diamond Throne Those brief lines of description or dialogue quickly establish some connection and context, helping ground us in the scene, it makes us care. Seeing two people who we somehow know the names of but don't know the motivations of however doesn't help establish connections. Even if the characters are one-shots or remain unnamed, a quick establishment of who they are - not a name but a motivation or relation or their emotional state or states - helps. Some are named named immediately, others remain nameless, some are main characters and some don't appear in the story again, yet in each of those scenes we have an immediate grasp of what is happening, or a general sense along with a mystery. [Edit] Just to clarify, I'm not saying you shouldn't start with those two characters fighting, but rather to establish more about at least one of them, preferably both, during the fight, and possibly even before naming them; so name one and say he dodged an attack, then regarded his opponent, then describe the opponent or name him, and possibly relate a feature of one or both of them - such as height or musculature- to the fight, as an example. You are free to use or not use that suggestion, or to come up with your own approach. [/Edit] I hope you keep writing, and I look forwards to reading any other drafts and chapters you post :-) stay encouraged, keep going! And I wish you well :-)

I left this fallow a lot longer than I had intended. I've been working on classifications for a few things, such as time travel, undead, etc., but there is something I would like help on if anyone can think of something to add to this: I'm trying to classify what grants someone access to magic, the method they access it or what is distinct about them which gives them abilities but which others who don't have magic doesn't have. I have come up with six things: Internal symbiosis (something lives within or on someone) External symbiosis (a symbiotic link to a separate being that isn't necessarily in direct physical contact with the individual) Link to things, drawing on them (abilities are based on drawing on some source of power, either internal or external) Link to things, affecting them (ability is based on manipulating a source, so not drawing it in but rather affecting it) Internal change (something within someone has changed, such as they now have a new organ or internal layout) Knowledge (anyone who knows the rules can perform magic, and if they have the right resources) These aren't mutually exclusive, and the possible combinations can be very versatile and interesting, such as an internal change (number 5) allowing someone to access an external power source (version of number 3), or drawing on internal batteries (version of number 3) to change something within ones own body (5), both using 3 and 5 but in different ways. Some examples: Superman (internal change - though his normal physiology is standard for a Kryptonian, it is different from a human and the reason he has superpowers) Green Lantern (external symbiosis, link to things to draw on, and a little knowledge) Elantrians (internal change, link to things to drawing on them, knowledge) Mistborn and Feruchemists (internal change, link to things to draw on) Hemalurgy (knowledge) Knights Radiant (external symbiosis and link to things being their link to spren and drawing in stormlight, small amount of internal change due to spren changing spiritweb) Breath (internal symbiosis, internal change) Dragonriders of Pern (a bit of a stretch but mostly link to things to affect them, as most humans on Pern have some minor psionic abilities) Most forms of psionics (link to things to draw on, being internal reserves) Anyone with colonies of insects living in their bodies (internal symbiosis and external symbiosis) So, my main question is this: can you think of something which can fit into this list that isn't primarily a variation of one of the entries on this list? It is okay if it can be related to one of them or more than one, but can you think of something unique that isn't on the list?