Oltux72

Scadrial being the HQ has the highest demand for communication, so Sel makes sense. People from other worlds are likely to be at other places. They would likely want Baon, as the main danger at present is from Autonomy. And a Darksider, who happens to be a sandmaster, is just prime material, if Darksiders see themselves as getting the short straw from Autonomy. As he is with the 17th Shard, they need to fall back on somebody else and if they want somebody known to us and having a strongly protective personality, well, Ais would seem to be the best choice. Provided she is alive, obviously. Somehow I get the impression that Kelsier would side with the Singers in this war. Frankly, given his needs, a Regal with forecasting abilities or even a renegade Fused make most sense, if you think Roshar.

Going by Elantris she went insane.

Definitely. There are good reasons to assume that it is past SA#10

Then why would it be a danger to ordinary spren? Not that I have a full counterproposal, but there seems to be a basic weakness in this theory.

The Cosmere, due to the Shards, Invested Arts and biology, contains individuals with extreme personal powers. They also convey immortality in many cases. Under those circumstances personal, as opposed to political or financial power, as far as they do not match, will matter to a far larger degree than in a universe that does not feature them. Elantrians are demigods basically. They are so personally powerful and versatile in that power that they negate the existance of an economy even. If you are a relative of the lord of the demigods, you will go places, if I may put it that crudely. In a universe of immortal demigods they will supply a vastly disproportionate share of the most important actors. That is not to say that your observation is false. It is spot on. However, it is to say that it is kind of unavoidable. And, in my opinion, done far better in the Cosmere thn in Star Wars. On a tangent, this makes the Cosmere's politics more primitive politically speaking. Politics is much more dominated by the personal agendas of the actors at a far more advanced stage than we would otherwise assume. If I am to put it in a mean manner, which I absolutely will, because I dislike the character it is aimed at, you can see a lot of the Cosmere's history as one man's self-directed therapy and penance for the ultimate sin against his god.

Why? Scadrial is supposed to be the center of an interstellar empire. We are centuries in the future. The future will have had a history. For all we know Lumar is an old Scadrian colony given up for dead when the aethers arrived. Who do you think will be depicted on the flags of Scadrian space marines? Or pirates. The won't go for skull and bones.

I was stupid. This point is baseless. There are possibly centuries between the Ars Arcanum of Rhythm of War and this book. He could simply have finished his former research. And frankly he did control crimson spores.

(First of the Sun)

Yes. And silver is highly relevant Allomancy seems to be a special case, whose metals can be derived from the basic reactions the metals cause with aethers and fabrials.

Transparent?

Generally cognitive shadows are made out of the Investiture of the deceased person. (Secret Project #4) Nightblood's sheath is described as silver. I always understood that as a color. Now, in hindsight ... No human culture on Earth has made it to steel without discovering silver, but that is thin evidence. However, as you brought it up, the Fused can touch silver without ill effect. By that logic Japanese iron is different from, for example, Afghan iron because cars are made from Japanese steel, but not Afghan steel. It is possible that the Threnodites make those chains from silver for a functional reason, but that they make them just points to them having technology more advanced in some fields than other worlds. Spores are physical.

That is in principle possible, but the number of unmade is too large for that to be the case for many of them. Of course in theory they could all have been core aethers. But then where is the evidence? This opens a big can of worms. If it is a copy it is still something that Odium made, albeit with a close inspiration.

If Odium hasn't made Voidbinding, who has made it? True. Because he's had allies in the past. Now, what makes Shards ally with him? We do not really know much. But there are rational reason one might propose somebody needed to eliminate Ambition. Odium was the lesser evil. He is a fool compared to those he eliminated and the rest. He will fail, but until then he is useful. They think they can come to an agreement with him. But that does not mean that they would tolerate direct aggression.

Calling Threnodite Shades slivers is pushing it, I am afraid. Free Invested entities may be closer to the truth. We would probably know if it did anything against the Returned, so it cannot be extremely simple. Which worlds but Sel and Roshar do have splinters around in large numbers? I am afraid what we have seen of the Cosmere is highly skewed. And while we are picking nits, if you count the number of times the Well of Ascension has overflowed, Scadrial likely has the largest number of Splinters in the Cosmere.

A marked improvement. That is the first to say. Well, no, not as a generic statement. Yes, you can advance between them. And then? If your enemy can cross the rivers, but you cannot, your enemy will be in your back. Usually this would be a disaster. They can cut your supply lines and the psychological effect is horrible on human troops. As we cannot know what of that applies to an army of, for example, Lifeless, a blanket statement that they would help in every case to the same extent is difficult. But at the same time, you just cannot say that they do not matter. At a likely minimum that means that you have to attack the bridges. However, that means you'll have to attack known and fortified (unless your enemy is stupid or extremely surprised) positions. That is not good. Secondly this method of advancement precludes a good siege against cities and fortresses at major crossings or confluences. Let alone, of course, port cities. Not necessarily a pure advantage. They are unlikely to have large food stocks against famines which can also be used to feed an army are during a siege Technically you lack a section on intelligence, counterintelligence and vulnerability to it. What do I mean? Most worldhoppers could freely walk around on Scadrial, purchase maps, measure the railway gauges, prepare safe houses for sabotage and so on. Trying that on Taldaine is unlikely to work.

I didn't until a page or so before it was revealed. It simply made no sense for a rat encountered on an unpredictable ship due to an unpredictable encounter with pirates. So I subconciously ruled it out. I keep forgetting Fortune.

Is it really a good idea to anger all the Shards and the Aethers and other entities? There is a difference between suicide and passion. So the number 9 of them and the number of Fused types is by chance? Voidspren Thunderclasts Voidbinders whatever was used to destroy Ashyn the Everstorm

There is the thing. The areas of research do not match. The ecology of the bottom of the spore oceans and control of the aethers are hard to see as the same thing.

Except that it doesn't. Touch it to an Invested gemstone and nothing happens.

What makes a Midnight Essence different from a Shade, the Mists or a manifested Spren or frankly any of the Lights for that matter? Its color?

The problem is that by that logic Nergaoul was an unmade emotional allomancer.

It is inimical to certain Invested entities. Because it likely isn't inert. The kind of entity vulnerable to silver presumably just does not exist on Scadrial. Although we have no idea what were to happen if one were to go at Kelsier with a silver knife. Nor are the metals inert on Lumar and Roshar. Aluminium does not eradicate Investiture. It shields you from foreign Investiture. Allomancer Jak found spikes in an aluminium box and they were preserved.

There are a few points. We do not know when Hoid arrived on Lumar. That may indeed have been decades ago. In fact, if this was not a long time, why go through the effort of writing a letter to get help? He could have just asked for company right away. And how did Huck get on the right ship? Do we have to invoke Fortune?

Some spores are reported to have a golden color. It would fit.

What allows the conclusion that they are not? The islands and the lack of continents look suspiciously like the spores having already flooded the continental lowlands and you are just seeing the highlands sticking out.