Oltux72

7 hours ago, RedBlue said:

Is some other person or thing influencing Yumi here? Who could it be?

Hoid to free himself and the indirect way of communication is a result of him being in a degraded state of mind.

On 17.4.2023 at 9:50 PM, DoomslugTD said:

So, I havn't found anything on this, so if there is already an answer out there please tell me. I was wondering about storing weight and the whole conservation of momentum thing.

It isn't conserved. Let me quote from Bands of Mourning as Waxillium was dancing with who has to be Khrissalla: (chapter 11, page 190)

Quote

Tell me, have you ever tried increasing your weight while in midair

[..]

"I've increased my weight while moving," he said slowly. "It doesn't do anything - all things fall at the same speed, regardless of how heavy they are"

[..]

What if you're soaring through the air on a Steelpush and you suddenly make yourself heavier. What happens?"
"I slow down -

On 17.4.2023 at 10:43 PM, alder24 said:

Conservation of momentum is applied in F-iron and A-steel/A-Iron maneuvers. What you describe is happening in the books, but not on that scale. Wax in BoM in conversation with Khriss confirmed that conservation of momentum is, well, coserved.

I am sorry, but no. Waxillium says that allomancy and feruchemy are different. And, yes, Brandon confirms that Allomancy conserves momentum. But that is allomancy specifically. Allomancy has the big advantage that pushing or pulling against something dictates the frame of reference.

With feruchemy you have a very big problem. Momentum in which frame of reference? Scadrial is spinning. You should experience considerable coriolis force each time you store or tap mass. Scadrial is moving around its star. You would experience forces due to that. And so on. Feruchemy on its own does not conserve momentum. Nor does it conserve energy. Every iron feruchemist is a perpetuum mobile. Just put him or her onto a spring.

And this is not just theoretical. We have seen Wax storing and tapping on a train. He was not flung towards the tip or tail of the train, as conservation of momentum would require.

20 hours ago, Letryx13 said:

That much power in potentially the wrong hands is a scary idea, it's what can lead to dictators and conquerers.  To answer Kelsier's comment in TLM, I suspect the reason that Preservation didn't want the entire population to have access to allomancy was to prevent Scadrial from being a threat to other worlds, or possibly their own people.  

I'm not sure about Shades, but I'd much rather Scadrians try to ally with SurgeBinders and Fused, the ones not allied with Odium, rather than face off against them. And considering advancements in technology on Scadrial, Scadrians could probably hold their own in large scale conflicts, if properly organized.

This leads me to an extremely generic reply. Arcane powers are antidemocratic. Harmony rules Scadrial. Why? There is no point in denial here: Because he can.

MIght is right in last consequence. Now you may argue that his shardic powers make him especially wise and prescient. While that is true, it is a bit beside the point. It tells us that he knows what he is doing. What he does with the knowledge is still his own affair. And that he chooses not to exercise these powers. But that is the very point. He chooses not to. He is accountable to no one. He is above the law.

Now to the humans on Scadrial that leaves them in a situation where they can face up and take a stand meaning that they'll secure as much power as possible for some of them. Or they can submit and leave the business of the Shards to the Shards and live with the outcome. What Kelsier will do is obvious. And will you really tell somebody who lived under The Lord Ruler that there is an alternative to that choice?

On 27.6.2023 at 4:40 PM, Vissy said:

As a huge Kelsier fan, I am naturally obsessed about Kelsier again. I'm mostly wondering about the ending sequence... did Kelsier know that Sazed lied to him about lerasium?

No, but it does not matter. Kelsier caught Sazed in a lie within weeks after his ascension. And Kelsier is not a trusting person in such questions. Sazed is no longer a member of the crew. A dear friend, yes, but not crew.

On 27.6.2023 at 4:40 PM, Vissy said:

And if so, aren't we pretty darn close to Kelsier potentially achieving a major breakthrough for his ambitions?

That depends on how easy it is to get Trellium and what other godmetals do.

20 hours ago, alder24 said:

This also guarantees that Kelsier will never be able to get Learsium this way, because he would always want to use it to change something, to spread Allomancy among Scadrians.

Kelsier is perfectly capable of hiring or manipulating the most academic and theoretical of researchers to do the experiments.

On 28.6.2023 at 3:00 AM, Letryx13 said:

What really interests me is what Kelsier will do if and when he figures out how to make Lerasium.  The words "MistBorn Army" come to mind.

Where is the problem with that? Do you propose that Scadrians face Shades, Surgebinders or Fused with a few Mistings and rifles?

On 24.6.2023 at 1:12 AM, cometaryorbit said:

 Brandon has said that he hasn't decided yet whether they replicate DNA and thus whether a DNA-era blood test could spot one or not.

Well, from a story telling perspective I am afraid the thing has been decided with Bands of Mourning. As soon as the spikes were ripped out of MeLaan it was clear that Kandra physically have two pieces of metal inside their bodies. That means as soon as X-rays or even mine detectors are invented, Kandra are detectable. No need to go for DNA.

On 24.6.2023 at 1:12 AM, cometaryorbit said:

If they can pass a DNA test, though, then they really should be able to reproduce with humans. If they can put just human DNA in white blood cells, they should be able to put just human DNA in gametes.

Yes. But here we are at the point where we need to ask what the effect of the spirit web on a developing embryo is. It is possible that the combination of Kandra and human is not viable on that level.

On 10.5.2023 at 9:32 PM, cometaryorbit said:

 Not necessarily. A kandra copying human DNA does not have to mean that it loses its own DNA in the process. That depends on how kandra mimicry fundamentally works.

It is possible that it works like RL horizontal gene transfer, eg bacterial transformation - DNA taken in from the environment (in this case, what the kandra eats) is added to the cell in addition to the cell's pre-existing DNA. This would allow a kandra to replicate human proteins exactly (since it has the exact genes for those proteins) without losing its own DNA in the process.

If it works that way you could make a simple blood test for Kandra DNA.

On 29.5.2023 at 6:04 PM, The Sibling said:

Why are we using 1910 prices? Couldn't we just figure out what a boxing would be worth in dollars today?

Not really, as relative prices change over time. Electroncs are getting cheaper while food does not in our time for example.

On 29.5.2023 at 6:23 PM, alder24 said:

Interestingly I've found some document from 1910 which specifies a price for 12 apples as 5$ but I'm not sure if I'm reading it correctly - https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/184058#page/3/mode/1up

That is from a nursery. Those prices are for the apple tree.

On 29.5.2023 at 6:41 AM, cometaryorbit said:

It could probably be figured out by looking at prices in the broadsheet ads and comparing to ~1910 US prices for similar things.

The Elendel basin is extremely fertile. That means that if you use only agricultural goods as opposed to industrial goods, you'll get defalted values.

Watching an episode of Shardcast I again stumbled upon "These children should not have existed" if I may paraphrase @Chaos . However, upon thinking this through I think this contains an unstated and unproven assumption: That all his children postdate his ascension.

If not, the cat was already out of the bag. Unless he were willing to turn his own children into Mistwraiths, his bloodline will be out there. It would also mean that he'd forgo many of the advantages of dynastic marriage in his early days. We do not know how old he was when he ascended, but he was a member of a primitive tribe. Such people tend to marry and procreate early. Hence it seems to me that he had to find a way of dealing with his children and their children.
Now if he is unwilling to turn them into Mistwraiths, turning them into spikes is not an option either. So what do they do? I think the most obvious solution would be exile. Sending them south would alter the control group and it would be harder than using the perpendicularity.
So I can offer three theories:

1. Somewhere out in the Cosmere descendants of Rashek are forming a group and they have feruchemists and ferrings among their ranks.
2. Lutha or Luthad was Rashek's wife
3. (Roshar)
   Spoiler

   Sixteen is a Ferring and a descendant of The Lord Ruler

    

On 26.5.2023 at 2:30 AM, Chandlerhimself said:

Another possibility is that the evil of the main land chased them off and most settled in the forests of hell. Perhaps it is similar to the situation in Elantris where the farther they get away from their area the weaker they get and the less intelligent they become. If the evil chased them off maybe the forests of hell are the closest place they can settle down.

If that were the case the forescouts would have expected to meet Shades.

Is there a good reason to assume that Nazh postdates the arrival of the Evil? If we do that than there is one hard question. Where are the Threnodite forces the Ire already refers to at the time of the Catacendre during the events of Stormlight archive?

It seems to me to make more sense to assume that the arrival of the Evil happened shortly after the Catacendre and ended Threnody's external ambitions. If Nazriloff postdates the Evil his remarks about Cognitive Shadows make little sense, because just becoming a Shade was common on his home world.

12 hours ago, Treamayne said:

Right, another reason why it is only "possible" not "probable" that Sixteen was Spook. TO be clear, Iwas never saying that Sixteen was Spook - just that with known information we cannot definitively say it is not Spook.

Ruling out stuff definitively is obviously impossible. The problem is that we are taking Spook only into consideration because

1. We want him to be alive
2. We know him
3. He is a Mistborm

But there were thousands of Mistborn on Scadrial during the history of the world. And being a Mistborn does still not explain why he does not eat and <best not mentioned>.

Though your premise also surmises that if Sixteen is a Seeker of some kind, they have learned how to use that ability to detect Stormlight being used actively.

Hoid could detect Surgebinding.

On 6.12.2022 at 9:20 PM, Treamayne said:

That said, since we know that Shallan usually uses new aspects of her abilities unconciously (see the whole deserter fiasco), and we know that Lightweavers can also manipulate sound (not just light) - it is possible that unconcious lightweaving was used to direct any noise she was making away from Sixteen.

Spook was a Mistborn, hence also a Seeker and she was full of Stormlight. And carrying at least some metal on her body, lest she intended to kill him with her bare hands.

On 6.4.2023 at 7:45 PM, Friendshipspren said:

So what are the odds that xisis is foil ? 

 

Xisis arrived around 300 years before Tress of the Emerald Sea. The Iriali vanished round about that time frame (we do not know whose years Hoid was counting in). They must have lived there for some time. I do not see how you can make that fit any time line where Xisis would have to be on Lumar at the time of Rhythm of War, while the Iriali are still on Roshar.

On 10.4.2023 at 2:59 PM, Argenti said:

They're high; It's possible that two separate beings live under the sea and research aethers, but more than likely they're the same being.

Xisis claims to study the ecology of the ocean floors, while Foil wants to control the aethers. It is possible that his goal shifted over the centuries, but they are not identical.

On 25.4.2023 at 3:10 PM, alder24 said:

Because of the recent Roshar vs Earth topic, I was thinking about the use of missiles against Radiants. Modern missiles can do a lot, and can be guided by lots of seeking systems, but against invested individuals, like Surgebinders or Mistborns, they’re lacking the most efficient way of guidance - detecting investiture.

I am sorry, but why would you bother? If you have means of teleportation, which AonDor, Elsecalling and Dakhor provide, why would you mount your warhead onto a missile? Teleport it.

On 2.1.2023 at 4:20 PM, Necessary Eagle said:

let me find the most relevant quotes, first of all.

So yes, that's the general impression I get.

These events need not coincide in time. When Harmony sent out Kandra into the wider Cosmere he necessarily made some of them imitate non-humans. In fact, as you can physically remove the spikes out of a Kandra, their value as imitators goes away to a large degree as soon as technology progresses to taking X-rays.

However, by that time he had obviously not released them.

That axehound has eight appendages, or if the antennas are mofified legs, ten. You are missing the small ones at the mouth.

• The Singer agents among the Parshendi
• Whoever Sixteen is a member of
• Whoever sent Azure
• possibly Ishar's secret service
• the people who smuggled in Odium's spren (like Ulim)

17 hours ago, Quantus said:

That's an interesting solution to the problem!  Not sure how much power that would actually take, and it begs theparadox question of whether AonDor can alter geography it's symbol's rely on.  

Turn the air above the chasm into rock and soil and let it drop.

On 1.5.2023 at 3:49 AM, WeakenedWorrier said:

The illustrations at the climax of TotES show both Riina and Hoid drawing Aons. But the Aons shown don’t have the new chasm line required to make Aons work at the end of Elantris.

It may just have been filled by sediment. Or the Elantrians decided that it was cheaper to fill in the chasm line than change all fixed Aons in Elantris.

1 hour ago, Underwater_Worldhopper said:

Arguably, in the time Sazed was remaking the world, he wouldn't have known about Hoid or the Ire, so by extension the words of founding shouldn't have either. It's possible he only knew of Vin and Kelsier holding Preservation because the power itself has a history of what its done

As far as Sazed wrote them, yes.

But we know that they have works by the other Originators (as well as apocryphal works). So did Kelsier spill the beans to Spook, who did then record it?

On 4.3.2022 at 8:05 PM, king of nowhere said:

Hoid describes Tess as going to the docks "like a soldier facing cannon fire"; this is a methapor to explain stuff to the listener, so the listener knows what cannons are.

this suggests scadrial as the most likely location, as the only place in the cosmere with cannons so far. I don't know, maybe taldain darkside is also possible? but they have different plants

This is centuries in the future going by the technology we see. I am afraid cannons tell us exactly nothing. If anything they point at a primitive and low magic world, as the more advanced worlds are unlikely to have human soldiers walking into battle against actual cannons. I mean we are seeing what for practical purposes are combat robots in the very book. But they of course may have historical novels and history, so they know about cannons even on the advanced worlds.

They do know that Vin held Preservation. But do Scadrians also know about the Ire and Hoid?

On 14.4.2023 at 8:09 PM, Argenti said:

So about that... You do know Hoid turned into Elantrian while far away from Arelon

Hoid did it centuries later. After looking at the examples. After millenia of failed attempts. With the knowledge and resources of looking at arcane arts for millenia. With convoluted plans and access to another Elantrian.

On 14.4.2023 at 8:09 PM, Argenti said:

The Shaod can happen whenever?

Yes, but a stamp operates on likelihood. Most people who turn Elantrian do it where they originate from or close by. Simply because most candidates are there.

People are not all that mobile, even less in a preindustrial economy.

On 14.4.2023 at 8:09 PM, Argenti said:

I think Shai is just very pompous.

Let's say that she does not suffer from a deficit of confidence. Nevertheless she does know her invested art and usually does things sanely.

The most plausible way to explain her apparant age is that that is the age she became an Elantrian.

On 11.4.2023 at 8:00 PM, Ironeyes said:

I think the book is lying. The implications for the economy if people could go to other dimensions, strip mine for rare materials, and then bring them back are catastrophic. The government probably started a massive propaganda push when dimensional travel became available to the public. They want dimensions to be seen as tourist destinations only, never as potential real estate. As evidence, Logna and her siblings were able to travel "upstream" until they reached a branch point where the next reality up doesn't contain their form of magic/probability/plot_device.exe and had to stop there.

How would you make that work? For sure people would try to bring back memorabila.

• So dimensional travel does make crime pay again. They have people who started a zombie apocalypse for fun.
• The moral depravity aspect of interdimensional tourism exists. They conquer countries for fun. Better not discuss?
• It does boost the market for personal combat and language instruction, albeit to a minor degree. Cartels existed anyway.

We got important information about the economics. The actual transfer once you have established a connection is basically free.

The big difference is that dimensions exist in a hierarchy and you cannot transfer stuff "up". What does that mean?
In addition dimensions very like our Earth are rare and expensive, thus not available to the general public. That surely impacts tourism.

Nevertheless I think we can find economic uses for interdimensional travel under the revealed constraints:

• tourism
• exportable services - you want to film "Riding on Smilodontes". No need for CGI. (Though you may need a good medical team, even if you have nanites.)
• exportable labor - you cannot bring back stuff. But you can bring back information. Outsourcing R & D to another dimension is possible.
• dumping - you have this incredibly dangerous waste? No problem, we have an Earth devoid of most higher life forms after a major impact. Dig a hole and dump it in.
• marooning - exile as a form of criminal punishment has just become viable again
• local services - why retire to Florida, if you can retire to another planet's Tahiti where the sl... , servants, I meant servants, are cheap?
• exportable resources - you cannot take stuff back, but again information is possible. You can isolate new antibiotics from plants and fungi in unspoiled jungles and even megafauna
  Or - more sinister - you need a new bioweapon? We have this dimension nobody else wants ...
• true colonialism - you have useless hungry masses in need of land to farm? Problem solved.