Oudeis

Interestingly, that crazy old man asked Axies, "Are you a Herald?". The Divine Breath of Returned are Splinters... I agree that the Returned themselves are technically not Splinters but it's the next best thing.

The Well is Preservation's power and has his Intent; Harmony states this in the Hero of Ages epigraphs when he explains what Rashek did. Every time Rashek made a mistake, he did something else to compensate rather than undo what he'd first done, because it isn't in the nature of Preservation to undo anything, even a mistake. I will try to find which chapter it was that had this particular epigraph.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Chapter 16 epigraph, Harmony expressly states that it's the influx of power, not the holding of power, that makes an allomantic savant. Presumably like blasting with a power washer, rather than just holding like a pool of water. Still, it's a rather off-hand comment. It's still possible that Harmony was being inexact.

Sidenote: Presumably you meant Seers, not Seekers. Except that it's strongly implied, once the good guys figure out that the mists are Snapping people, that only one group of people couldn't burn any tested metal, and that whole group was shown to be able to burn atium. So everyone the mist was responsible for Snapping seems to be accounted for, without people we know Snapped but can't burn any of the metals accounted for.

::headdesk:: Cadmium.

Except, that isn't quite how alloys work, as Wax states in Alloy of Law. You get brass by adding copper to zinc. That doesn't mean that "Oh, just add copper to any metal and that makes it pulling instead of pushing." A base metal pulls and an alloy pushes. It doesn't matter what metals it's alloyed with, or with steel even if you alloy it with a metal, it's simply "this is a base metal" and "this is an alloy derived somehow from the same base metal." It's less arithmetic and more chemical reactions. Good thoughts, though.

My theory is that there was no technology to mine bendalloy cadmium. I think he knew about it, and in fact used it. I think he was able to get a sample and set up a machine at the southern pole that burned Bendalloy cadmium in a massive bubble to keep his genetic reserve safe from the ravages of time, and that this machine is what they found that taught them how to mechanically access the allomantic properties of metal. The original machine, crafted by a literal god, worked at such efficiency and with such a supply that it could handle such a large bubble for so long at even greater time dilation than normal bendalloy cadmium is capable of, but the knock-offs that the humans made based on their observations of the god-machine are much more reasonable in power.

I suspect their knowledge of the perfect alloy is based on "best guess". There's a relatively easily-established range within which "this won't make me sick" and then they try to narrow it down further to "this is the exact right mix to maximize power" and get as close as they can. If you're off by a tiny fraction (I don't personally know enough metallurgy to know what they'd consider a tiny fraction to be) it still works and is just about as effective as the ephemeral "ideal" which is as difficult to get as a pure element. Just one man's opinion.

People keep saying that; I disagree. We know Shards Invest in a planet itself. I think that Ruin and Preservation specifically Invested in the metal of Scadrial, which is why it's the focus of their Investiture. I'm sure I saw a WoB once (I need to figure out how to use Theoryland) that Ruin and Preservation would not have the "shardblindness" they get from Scadrian metal on other shardworlds, meaning there in fact is something inherent about the Invested metals of Scadrial; thus a machine built to tap this Investiture could work even without an allomancer to power it. Allomancers are simply people who can directly access the innate Investiture of each metal without a "crutch", as it were. I disagree. Kwaan, a terrisman, had traveled far. Compared to how much space must've been available on the planet at the time of the First Ascension, presumably only a tiny fraction of the land was still viable, so either he let a LOT of people simply burn, or he moved people around, presumably easier than moving planets. Even then, whichever people WERE saved at the Southern Pole, with Terrismen traveling so widely it's not terribly unlikely that some of them would have been swept up in whichever handful of population Rashek saved. Not to mention, his stated purpose in saving those people was to preserve genetic legacy; if he did ever want to hit Ctrl + Z on the planet, wouldn't he want a full sample to fall back on, not just not-his-own-nationality?

I think I'm closer to being on the same page as you. All of your evidence is compelling... I have two concerns remaining, and they are gut-feeling ones, rather than factual ones. Basically, I'm saying that you're likely right, but if you are I'm dissatisfied with the system, as a reader. Concern the first, is there no way, then, to become a feruchemical savant without using allomancy? A very few "traits" can draw power from outside the body; it seems unlikely that someone could become a feruchemical gold savant on their own, for example. A brass savant would... possibly be very, very interesting and I'm sure I wouldn't want to see a bendalloy savant. Though I suppose, something like copper savanthood is allomantically not terribly interesting, if it's even more than a technicality. Concern the second, it feels too much like it's just another flavor of allomantic creation. Hemalurgic and Allomantic creations are so drastically different; it feels like a "second verse, same as the first" cop-out to say, "Yeah, you know feruchemy? It's basically just allomancy again." Again, neither of those are factual reasons why this should not be the case. They are simply my reaction that, if they are the case, it is a terrible case.

I, too, would very much like to see the support for the answer given to the "Why the chasm" question.

Just so we're clear... I think you're saying that you and I both agree that Miles is a savant, technically of a system that includes both allomancy and feruchemy, but that since the method he used to savant is allomantic, if he's any creation he's an allomantic one, not a feruchemical creation. Am I right, or am I off?

For that matter, do we have actual canon that it's called Lightweaving on Roshar? I've seen it on that chart, but the chart came with a heavy "this is subject to change until expressed in-book" disclaimer.

Maybe the Bondsmith is Taravangian? The Bondsmith "striving to rebuild what was destroyed". Mr. T: "Sometimes you must tear down a structure to build a new one with stronger walls"

::comes running back from the distance:: Aha! I'm not as dumb as I look! Or sound! Or the specialist's tests indicated!

I have trouble imagining the theftpoints four cells might present with, let alone the hemalurgic spike that could penetrate it.

Oh, whoops. Teehee! Look, be distracted by this upvote while I run away! ::line of smoke disappearing in the distance::

...Conception?

Cool, thanks. Not total proof but strong evidence that I'm wrong in my guess that Axies is a Herald.

A sometimes overlooked aspect of hemalurgy are hemalurgic creations, like the koloss or Inquisitors. Presumably, the extra bits of spiritweb tacked on to your own changes you fundamentally enough in the spiritual realm that changes become evident physically. I only just started suspecting that there are, in fact, allomantic creations. I think that's what savanthood is. You flare one metal constantly, forcing all that power through your own spiritweb, until it achieves the same (presumably less specatular) effect as hemalurgy; your spiritweb changes in a way that lets your powers work differently, while also affecting your physical body (in less obvious ways than growing 13 feet tall with ripped blue skin). Is there such a thing as a feruchemical creation? It feels bland to say it would work exactly like an allomantic one; that someone can simply store a ton and then tap it all at once and change their own spiritweb. Any ideas on other ways it might work? My first thought went to Miles Hundredlives, but I suspect his compounding made him more an allomantic savant of his feruchemical gold, rather than an independent feruchemical creation. If Wayne ever changed physiologically by being a bloodmaker, I'd be far more interested in that. I personally have no ideas. Maybe as a system of balance, a system where there simply isn't enough external power to sandblast your spiritweb, might not have the ability to create new beings. I don't know.

I'm not so sure I buy this interpretation of the quote. The quote you use to support "All the lerasium = ascension" is asking about lerasium savanthood, which is not the same thing as "burning more lerasium". Flaring tin constantly for months is what turns you into a tin savant, but being a tin savant is a different state of being than simply burning a lot of tin. Spoilers for the ending of Mistborn EDIT: Grammar.

I keep seeing people say this, but I haven't seen the source yet. Where did you read that the old Radiants were all human?

There is no standard way, failing mutation, for genetic heredity as it works on Earth to result in calico hair. Whether it's a big change or small, we know there is a change to how hereditary genetics works on Roshar. I put to you that, with the implications we've got from the book, eye color isn't simply dominant/recessive like it is on Earth, and that the balance of evidence suggests that, until we have some real reason to suggest otherwise, two light-eyes cannot have a dark-eyed child.

What happens when a feruchemist tries to store/tap an impure metalmind? Since the effects of feruchemy have the potential to be less spectacular, you can perhaps store an attribute, tap a very very small amount of it, and suffer a less drastic illness for your trouble, as a way to test the purity of the metal, or new metals entirely for that matter.

Is House of Ashes an MAG adventure?