Ripheus23

His next target was Vax. No srsly, he at least possibly could've targeted Vax, as he mentions the place once. (He also knew about Yolen, of course.)

Assuming that Edgli is a dragon...

How can I be alone with my Ruin vote Isn't anyone else morbid or cynical enough to join me?!?!?!

So far I've explored these notions in relation to Judeo-Christian themes. For example, I've had it that demons go straight to Infernal(E), but fallen angels are counted as non-demons and are the only beings that go to Heaven(F)--Infernal(E). Mortal sinners of various stripes either get annihilated immediately or eventually, and by comparison/contrast maybe virtuous atheists get Heaven(F)--Annihilation, ironically? The worst mortal sinners get Neutral(F)--Infernal(E). Of course, there might be uniquely evil mortal sinners who also uniquely end up in Infernal(E) or Heaven(F)--Infernal(E), like an Antisavior figure or what. The story, if there was one to all this, might be set after the end of the world, with someone in one or another realm awaiting the eternal deposit of a soul in an F-state. That would be the premise, at least, I suppose. EDIT: So, the main antagonist popped into my head later last night, like so: he is someone who corresponds to the first fallen angel, and he dies during the apocalypse, so much of the story has to do with his presence in Paradise after the end of the world, as he makes mischief in trying to bring the demons and fallen angels out of Hell before he himself ends up in Hell. The story would be set, say, 10,000 years after the apocalypse, on the edge of the Antisavior being sent to his eternal denouement. (I'm picking 10,000 for the moment on the ground of the line in "Amazing Grace" that goes "When we've been there 10,000 years...")

https://www.quantamagazine.org/quantum-entanglement-drives-the-arrow-of-time-scientists-say-20140416/ According to this article, as particles become more and more entangled, they appear to increase in entropy. Entropy is a derivative of the progress of entanglement. Now in the Cosmere, the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics is true, in that (epistemic) consciousness "collapses the wave function" of e.g. spren. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_star ... and according to this article, in 10^1500 years, quantum shenanigans could spontaneously form stars made of iron. There are also hypothetical objects known mostly as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brains which are spontaneous reorganizations of diffuse subatomic particles, into distinct macroscopic objects. So, my theory is that entropy in the Cosmere is affected by (epistemic) consciousness in such a way that it is never "final," i.e. there is no "eschatological" danger from entropy. Or: when Adonalsium existed, there was such a threat; or, now that God is dead, there is such a threat. Something like that?

Exactly where I was going with this *cackles wildly*

It is unlikely that you would wish to know, if you knew.

The quantum timeline for instant noodles... resembles a packet of instant noodles

Theorize, cremlings! *Cackles maniacally and dissolves into a flood of hordelings*

My favorite image now, is of Hufflepuffing Kaladin, if you know what I mean

I tried looking for a Catholic "formula" to go with, didn't find one... I'm sure they exist (scholastic theologians being who they were!) but I've decided to go with a two-part function. One, if you die before the world ends and go to an F-state, you stay in the F-state until the world ends. If you die while the world is ending and go to an F-state, you mystically correspond to exactly one other person in the past who went to an F-state, and you stay in the F-state for as long as that previous person did.

Well we seem to live in a world where Ruin is in charge, so... I'll play "Ruin's Advocate"

Fairly slim, evidence-wise, but here goes: classical dragons breath fire as well as air; dragons in the Cosmere are like classical dragons; therefore Cosmere dragons have two kinds of breath. If Edgli were a dragon, she could (metaphorically) impart divine Breath by breathing fire in the Spiritual Realm, so to speak. Therefore, if Edgli were a dragon, we would have part of the explanation for the intrinsic difference between Breath and Divine Breath (besides the non-Splinter/Splinter aspect).

OK, so I came up with a new theory about the Evil. My idea is that Uli Da was not the only Sho Del who went to the Threnodite system, but that two others accompanied her. One died long ago and its Shade form is Purity; the other "recently" died and became the Evil. My guess is that they absorbed enough of Ambition's Investiture to become highstorm-level mobile (and in this case morbid) perpendicularity-beings. Purity's perpendicularity is Purity's Eye, which is moving with the planet it's on. Since a Sho Del would look like a monster (https://www.reddit.com/r/Cosmere/comments/7l5ziv/sho_del_unpublished/) ... their Shades, in themselves, look like horrible monsters, so that humans don't necessarily know that they are Sho Del Shades. (At least, they see the Evil and think, "Woah that's really freakin' Evil!") Maybe there are even more, and still-living, Sho Del, the Deepest Ones? Next, referring somewhat to this thread: ... Based on this question (about silver), I am going to speculate that the real distinction is that aluminum directly interferes with Physical nodes in an Investiture circuit, while silver interferes with Cognitive nodes. Since the issue is circuitry, aluminum and silver can affect Investiture in other Realms but you catch my drift (if there's a real drift to it ).

"X wasn't a Splinter when Y saw him, it was after Z's ascension so he was a Sliver." "No, he was a Shard." *another poster pops in* "Actually, he was a Sliver of a Sharded Splinter." "Don't you mean, a Shard of a Slivered Splinter?" "I think he means that X was a Flake of a Fragment, maybe." "No, I'm pretty sure he was a Fragmented Sliver of a Splintered Flake." *new poster unlurks* "I say, X is a Flaked Sliver of a Fragmented Splinter." "No! He was a SHARD." "A Sharded Fragment-Sliver of a Flaked Splinter?" "No! Just a SHARD!!!" *yet another poster* "According to this WoB *posts a WoB* he was actually a Droplet of a Sharded Flake-Splinter, who became a Slivered Fragment of a Smidgen, after fusing with the Iota of a Scintilla."

Here's a WoB to back it up:

PAFO

Aon-wielders might, but I don't recall reading that Elantrian-level Aon-wielders did...

Well, Sel in itself (as a planet) is partly alive, and other places in the Cosmere might "come alive" likewise. However, so far, those would just be separate living systems. No single mind overarching them. But eventually, it might be that the "cells" would come together as a unit organism, which would then have its own mind... Metaphorically (or not), that "moment" or period of "coming to have its own mind" would be the awakening of the Cosmere.

Yes it's canon, but it's also something that can be overlooked. I think Khriss overlooked this fact when analyzing the issue of why some people become Elantrians, although how exactly Elantris being a compass determines why that happens, IDK. (I assume Khriss would have been in a position to figure out why/how, otherwise speaking.)

"Isolated" is a relative term. Let's put it this way (which is still philosophically contentious, though): even if there is no uranium in a given galaxy, it's still a law of physics in that galaxy that if there was uranium, then... whatever the facts of uranium are. Indeed, even if all uranium in the universe ceased to exist, the laws of uranium physics would still exist, let us suppose. Likewise, though there are no absolutely closed systems in the universe (not even the universe itself, given the multiverse), there are relatively closed ones. But anyway it's not entirely relevant since the Cosmere is certainly not an absolutely closed system and, as per the influx of photons from other parts of the universe, it's not even relatively closed. EDIT: I think the 1st Law applies to the Cosmere not because the Cosmere is a closed system, but because it contains some closed systems and is part of a (relatively) closed one.

My two cents: the Cosmere as a whole is becoming an individual living being, the Shards can't be fully all fused but once there are only three left, the Cosmere will "awaken" and take hold of the last three.

As part of my multiplanar-shenanigans notion---and IRL theological speculation---I have contemplated the following model of the afterlife: Four types of death-state, two terms: {Heavenly, Neutral, Annihilated, Infernal} & {Finite/Eternal} Combined like so: Heaven(E) Neutral(F) then Heaven(E) Infernal(F) then Heaven(E) Heaven(F) then Neutral(E) Neutral(E) Infernal(F) then Neutral(E) Heaven(F) then Annihilated Neutral(F) then Annihilated Infernal(F) then Annihilated Annihilated (immediately) Neutral(F) then Infernal(E) Infernal(E) Heaven(F) then Infernal(E) I'm guessing that it would technically be worse to get a glimpse of Heaven and then go to Hell, rather than just go straight to Hell. Neutral(E) is Limbo. For narrow-minded but not bloody-minded versions of Christian-like religions, I could see (Heaven(F) then Neutral(E)) as a decent "that's for the virtuous pagans" option? EDIT: Infernal(F) then Heaven(E) = Purgatory

Adonalsium being made of aluminum sounds like matter being made of antimatter?

While reading itself one morning, a book written by God tried to come up with a theory about how it would end. "And the Light proved its victory over the Darkness forever." That would be a good conclusion. Poetic, hopeful... I wonder... I wish... A grunting, grimy man picked the book up, hauling it from the altar on which it was set and carrying it into a larger chamber. Ah, no! He's going to start quoting me again! The holy book tried to yelp, but it couldn't grant that wish either. The disheveled monk began to speak. "And behold," he thundered---the book recalled always suffering this indignity in front of crowds---"it came to pass that the Lord Elithan did smite the Elohim-shadow that was held inside His glory." This challenge the monk issued to another, one holding another---and different---copy of the sacred text. Sister! the book thought at its sister. Ho! How many an age...? Whatever she might have replied with, the second monk interrupted with thunder of his own. "But lo," the man said, holding his scripture above his head like an exceedingly dramatic talisman, "one day, that shadow will return, and the Traitors will die by Its hands..." The one book wondered what the monks were arguing about. It could read other books' minds betimes, but not those of human beings---or dragons, or the Sho Del. Its sister managed to whisper, Adonalsium; at first, the first book judged this to be exhaled frustration instead of an answer. But its sister continued, The end of Adonalsium. Its death. Have you not heard tell of the work of the Traitors? I have been building up quite the nice collection of dust, the curious scripture said. I even have the piece of a flea's skeleton somewhere on one of my pages. A flea! I lost the dander of the cat from which the flea's body fell, though... The sister-text sighed. No matter, that. Our God---our author---is... in danger. "The prophecy of the Sixteenfold Treason is a false prophecy!" the first monk shouted. "Proof, in fact, that your copy of the Recital is a lie. It was not written by the hand of Our Lord. It..." As the fanatic proceeded to decry the many heresies of those who believed in the slightly-different version of the Recital, the original copy objected, But you are my sister, oh sister! Do those fools know not that you are a work of magic? That much has been Invested in you? They do not understand why God wrote so many different stories about Himself, the sister-scripture said. They think one, and only one, to be the type of any. And... Suddenly, a third monk joined the fray. "I will quote to all of you the true words of God." He raised a dry, sleepy scroll, whom the two books heard as if it were smacking its lips in drowsy awakening, and said: "When the Bearer of the First Gem holds the pommel of the Sword of God, then..." More and more shouting followed, so that the books and the scroll found themselves jolted fully out of whatever half-sleep they had been falling into or out of already. ... to be continued ...? EDIT: Glossary The Lord Fire. A Lifeless dragon given two Spikes and the Command, "Become evil." He contained all the darkness of Endowment besides that which was imparted to Nightblood, in the form of a massive Dark Breath by which he was raised. On his quest to fulfill his Command, he first went to the Threnodite system and passed through the perpendicularity of the Evil; others who attempted this either died or suffered a withering sickness after emerging, but the Lord Fire became a Sliver of Ambition and inherited all of this Shard's shadow. Thus empowered, he went to Sel and absorbed the shadow of AonDor, his bones reforming and his body surrounded by a cloud of Seons and Skaze. At this point, he was strong enough to fight Paradise (the tri-Shard taken by Larsta after the deaths of Tanavast and Rayse), who he defeated by forming his Seons and Skaze into Blades that executed Paradise in her Spiritual estate; now sevenfold in might, the Lord Fire went to deal with Autonomy, who had taken up all the remaining independent Shards save those of Preservation and Ruin (divided anew after Harmony's death). Note: the Lord Fire did not actually take up any of the Shards in his wake, but became more akin to a Sliver of all those it fought.