HSuperLee

Its about one-tenth the size of the smallest galaxy we know of, Segue 2.

I feel like we also can't ignore that as a coinshot, Wax would be used to tracking small and fast moving lines of metal through his steel-sight (don't know if we have a better word for that) and its probably a lot easier to correct your aim if you can see the path the bullet took, or even just know for certain where the bullet ended up without having to go recover it. Its likely that both lurchers and coinshots just have more tools at their disposal to develop marksmanship than your average person, and then Wax is talented on top of that. Edit: I feel like I should also add an example from personal experience, but when I've gone shooting at ranges, there's always a question after you fire a shot of, "Okay, where did that bullet go, and what kept it from going where I wanted it to go?" And as I said, being able to just steel sight where the bullet landed would be wicked helpful, especially if you're not firing at modern paper targets where you can always find the newest hole.

I feel like this question is the same as asking, "If you gathered up enough of a shard's investiture that the shard wasn't using, could you use it to become another version of that shard?" which in a way is just what Autonomy seems to be facilitating.

The thing with the cubes is their use as a "primer" in the airships suggests that there's a way to keep the cubes burning for hours after they're initially triggered. With this in mind, you can power a turbine by having a metal piece of the turbine, say a fan blade, pass into the area being pushed by the cube at the right angle to accelerate it, at which point it is pushed out of the area. Have it so that the rotation keeps pushing new blades into the cube's range to be accelerated, and you now have a source of motion, and therefore electricity, that only required a coinshot to turn it on.

On the topic of the medallions, I think they really are going to be the key to balancing out the Rosharan magics in Era 4. We always talk about how the Rosharan magics are so powerful because of the personal abilities they grant, which yes, are individually more powerful than most if not all individual metalborn. But the metallic arts in a way are becoming a societal art; and I say art singular because the more they develop the less of a gap there's becoming between them. Now, I hear you preparing to say, "but what about Rosharan fabrials!?" Yes, they are not to be ignored. Rosharan fabrials are also a societal magic, but its not quite the same. Even by Era 4, where I'm sure almost all Rosharan tech will have integrated fabrials, surgebinders are going to be a big deal, as there's not really a viable way to transfer a spren bond (yes, I know there are probably ways to do it, but I still think it will be almost nonexistent) and thus not just anyone could become a Radiant. But with the metallic arts, and specifically the medallions, anyone can be a twinborn. Or a double misting/ferring. Or a compounder. Yes, the natural metalborn will still be special, as they should be able to exceed the normal two power limit of the medallions (technically 3, but practically 2), but that doesn't change the fact that theoretically every member of Scadrial society could and quite possibly will have access to a full invested art. And then, through harmonium, it will also be integrated into their technology. Now, yes, on an individual basis Rosharan's might still have the largest access to investiture and the highest power invested art by space age (except maybe Elantrians, but I've still no idea what they'll look like during the space age) but then competing with medallion technology on a societal level, even considering Rosharan fabrials, should level the playing field somewhat.

Somewhat related to this, do we know for sure if feruchemical speed affects fall time? I know we have this WoB, which alludes to steelrunners being able to fall at "normal" speed relative to themselves, because if they don't fall faster to compensate for their own speed then they should basically be experiencing 0g as the rate their falling at would seem like a standstill to them. But if that's the case, a fullborn would still be able to use iron to pull themselves to trace metals in the ground, and it would get interesting. Also, to add to the conversation about using other metals at super speed, I found this while looking for the gravity thing.

Yeah, you're definitely correct about even small metalminds having an insane maximum storage capacity. Its just that we know that feruchemy becomes less and less efficient the more you tap at once, and when you're tapping literally thousands of times, I imagine the investiture leakage must be huge. This has generally been my headcannon (and I know others have proposed this as well) for why Marasi had mist around her when she tapped the bands, similarly to how Nightblood releases black smoke. I'm not trying to downplay how much a metalmind can store, I'm just trying to acknowledge that compounders tap what a normal feruchemist would consider enough to last them for months.

Say it with me everyone: Fullborn are the Kryptonians of the Cosmere. Now that that is out of the way, yeah, a Fullborn actually fighting with full effort is dang near unbeatable. Now, that said, I think people often overestimate a Fullborn's stamina. Even with the (two) compounders we've seen, they're not compounding all the time. Rather, they take the time to compound an absurd amount of a resource, enough to completely fill multiple metalminds (which really is an insane amount) then refill as needed. They're not compounding within the heat of battle. Then we need to consider that kicking your traits up thousands of times is going to drain resources fast, and quickly empty even completely full metalminds. With this in mind, a fullborn can't go all out for a very long time. Now, with fullborn speed, that little time can go a long way, but its still going to be rather limited. I wish we had some unit of measurement by which we could figure out just how much investiture metalminds can hold so I could make a more definitive statement in regards to how long their supply would last, but I'm guessing an hour, tops. Now, obviously this can be reduced by a fullborn not fighting at full strength, but then they're not fighting at full strength. So if you were to ask me what it would take to defeat a fullborn, I'd say take all the Heralds and all the Radiants, then give them time to come up with a really good plan, and then I'd say you can probably have a decent chance. Is that overkill? Maybe, I really can't say. But either way, I believe the best way to beat a fullborn would be to force them to use their powers at a high level for as long as possible and hope to wear out their supplies, both allomantic and feruchemic.

In general with discussion of divinity, both regarding fiction and real life, an issue will emerge of definitions, and what exactly words mean. As far as I can tell, one of the issues is that the English word we render "god" is an attempt to be comprehensive of many many different religious ideas. While in hindsight its easy to start making blanket categorizations of mythology and religions, at some level we have to acknowledge the many different things the words could mean. Comparing the Judaeo-Christian God who is immaterial and eternal in nature to, say, the ancient Greek deities, which were both material and born shows two creatures that could not reasonably be classified as the same thing. And for that matter, look at the ancient Norse beliefs, where you have the Aesir and Vanir, both of which we call gods in english, but also the Jotun, which we call giants, but really could be considered the same "species" as the Aesir and Vanir, while really just being a different tribe. Not only are these gods considered material, but also mortal, albeit with magically lengthened lifespans. So when push comes to shove, the question really is what is a god? I'm not actually sure I have an answer for that. If we go by the loosest and most inclusive definition, I would consider the Returned to be gods. They possess physical and magical capabilities beyond those of (normal) mortals (though admittedly in the Cosmere that's more of a spectrum than a hard line) who are worshiped and in that sense are very like the Norse gods. But then that raises the question, are all cognitive shadows gods? I'm not sure I'd want to agree to that. So do add "immortal" to the requirements? Well, the Returned don't age, but as for the killable side of immortality, the Cosmere has thus far shown nothing that cannot be killed, up to and including Adonalsium. So if that's your requirement than there truly are no gods in the Cosmere. I could go on but I think I've made my point. Jasnah and Dalinar seem to define "god" as a supreme being, but that is not their only option. The Horneaters seem to claim that all that is needed for godhood is immortality, and thus they have millions if not billions of gods in the form of spren and world-hoppers and cognitive shadows. Generally people of the Cosmere seem to clear the title for most powerful forces around, which then of course defaults to the Shards. But in the end, the term god has so much potential to be broad or specific that its really not a good word for classifying things in the Cosmere without taking the time to specifically define it. Personally, this is why I really like having the words Shard and splinter and cognitive shadow and sliver. They're more specific benchmarks for the level of power and capability than the very undefined word "god."

Its interesting, because Hero of Ages focuses a lot on the idea of complementary opposites. We have that whole scene where Spook is reflecting on burning tin and pewter simultaneously, and how right they feel together, and Sazed himself describes the power of Ruin and Preservation as more powerful together than apart. I have to wonder if the relationship between Ruin and Preservation is more complex than we think. Perhaps if we could compare their pure tones we'd see that they each contain both the others anti-tone and their (I guess we don't have a word for it) complimentary tone. So every moment their investitures are brought together, they both want to merge into their hybrid and destroy each other as they move through their rhythms. Even if not, I have a feeling that their tones have a very interesting relationship and would be fascinating to compare.

You are completely correct that if he took the fight seriously he could have ended Vin instantly. But he didn't take the fight seriously. He was so confident in his abilities and immortality that he didn't see a reason to really fight. Basically, imagine there's an ant walking across your floor and you try to crush it. You're not going to fight an ant like you fight a person, where you have to keep up your guard and anticipate what they're going to do and figure out the best way to strike back. Now imagine that ant in less than a second grew to human size and punched you in the stomach. You probably wouldn't be in a circumstance to anticipate and guard against that, even if you probably could have had you been expecting it. That's what happened with the Lord Ruler. A little nothing that was no threat to him became actually capable of hurting him for a brief moment while he was unprepared, and in the end only that moment mattered. The fact that if he had been prepared, and say been tapping speed, is ultimately pointless because he saw no need to do that just to deal with a simple mistborn.

The way I understood is is basically that they have aluminum wrapped around the ruby on the horizontal plane. basically, you have an aluminum doughnut with a ruby in the middle. This way, the aluminum prevents the ruby from being synced from the sides but will still sync force from the top and bottom.

Sorry I haven't responded for a few days, they've been rather busy/exhausting for me. But I've read all your messages and tried to genuinely consider what y'all have said. First off, I just want to thank y'all for actually taking the time to notice my thread and help try to illuminate me on Jasnah. But that said, I do have to regretfully inform y'all that while I went into this genuinely hoping to come out liking Jasnah, I think this thread has done the opposite. Seeing why you all like Jasnah has really helped me come to understand why I don't, and unfortunately that means its focused my dislike of her. But I most certainly can now define it better. While i can't address every comment that was made, I did see the whole uniqueness thing popped up a few times, and I will admit, I don't believe anything is really unique, so if you pressed me on it, I guess I'd give in to that. But I suppose a better way to say it now that I've had time to really search for the best description is just that I find Jasnah extremely cliche. And I guess what your comments really made me realize that's been bothering me about Jasnah is that she feels like a modern woman set in a time period that is anything but modern. What a lot of y'all liked about her seemed to be tied into how much she meets modern standards and possessed modern sensibilities, and I get that, but that's the exact thing that turned me off of Jasnah in the first place. I guess I could say she kills my immersion. As I said, she doesn't feel like a "real" character to me, but a fictitious one, and definitely part of that is just how poorly she matches her setting in my mind. And I guess I'm just disappointed at this moment because it seems like everything that can be so positive with Jasnah is done better in Navani, who has genuinely become one of my favorite characters. I guess in the end this thread stays open, and I'll keep trying to read every message sent in it, but I'm not sure what to do now. I genuinely was hoping that by seeing your passion I might pick up on some of it, but now I just feel deflated. I don't think I have anything left to contribute to this thread. So if y'all have specific questions for me to try and get me to see things or think in a different way about Jasnah, I'm open, but at this point I'm so afraid of starting an argument, because debate will always be a weakness of mine, and I don't want to do that on this thread where so many people have been so polite despite my atypical opinions. In the end, this was an enlightening experience, I don't regret it, and I hope the fact I'm still where I started doesn't make you regret it. If nothing else, for me its nice to know I'm not the only person who's not super hype about Jasnah. Feels nice to not be completely alone.

Actual believer of an Abrahamic religion here: Some of those descriptions feel very off to me. Especially the whole "random acts of God" thing for Whimsy. The idea (at least in protestant Christianity, which is all I can claim to represent) of God being random isn't really a thing. Some of His actions might seem random, but that's more because He has the advantage of knowing the future and thus His supposedly "random" acts are actually highly calculated to bring about specific results. And considering Adonalsium may have had dang near perfect future sight, the same likely applies as well. Generally I've leaned more towards the polytheistic reasoning behind Whimsy as a trickster god, but at looking at it more through the idea of an aspect of a near-monotheistic deity, I'd make the argument that Whimsy represents those parts of creation that seem out of place. The platypus and pineapple of creation. Things that if you asked God why He created them He would probably just respond with, "I thought it was cool idea and that people would find it cool or funny." Because yes, I do believe God has a sense of humor. Humans have one after all, so He would have had to make it.

Wow, okay, this a blew up a little while I was asleep. I can't respond to everyone directly (well, I could, but that would be highly impractical) so I guess I'll make some general statements. First off, thank-you everyone for being so polite. I've wanted to make this thread for over a year now and have always been too afraid to do it because of how beloved a character Jasnah seems to be. It was only with my opinion of her worsening after RoW that I've finally had the conviction to actually instigate a discussion. My bigger issue now is that it seems I need to further clarify my stance. I understand Jasnah. The issue has never been me not seeing past her whole disguise of being stern and emotionless and missing how truly compassionate and emotional she can be. I understand all that. One specific address, @Pathfinder, I read that thread back when it started, reread it now, and I agree with most of the conclusions you came to about Jasnah's character. Heck, I agree with most of the facts presented here about Jasnah's character. If I had to express my problems with Jasnah as clearly as possible, its that she is a perfect character, not that she is a character who is perfect. Let me explain: When I read Jasnah, I do not feel like I'm reading about a character that could actually exist. I feel like I'm reading about a book character that was invented for a story. She doesn't feel like a Sanderson quality character, but like something you'd find in lower quality, but still good, fiction. She's too, I guess the best word I have is "clean," of a character with her depth feeling telegraphed. Of course the stern emotionally-distant character is actually very kind and compassionate. Of course the rational atheist isn't actually trying to spread her religion and is actually more moral than dang near everybody else. Of course one of the flaws of the experienced scholar is that she doesn't have a lot of combat experience (though I'd argue she's still portrayed as far far more competent in combat than she should be.) Of course the first female monarch is progressive enough to want to move towards a democratic system. Each of these feels like the obvious twist and subversion. Which isn't always bad. We all expected Kaladin's fourth oath to be what it was, and it being obvious didn't lessen it. But in Jasnah's case, she feels like she's all obvious twists. I struggle to find what makes her really unique as a character. Each time I read about her I feel like I've seen this exact character many times before. Each time a new development happens with her I'm just like, "Yeah, of course that's how it happened." I've never been shocked or taken off guard by Jasnah or what she's done (except by the fact Hoid fell for her, which bothers me for a whole slew of reasons, but that's a different discussion.) So, I guess, to continue this discussion, I'd like to know what really makes her unique. Y'all have presented the depth of Jasnah's character, now I guess I'd like to see why that depth matters. I'll admit she's deep, but prevents her from being hollow? What makes her realistic? If I can lean into metaphor for a moment, what makes Jasnah jagged. What parts of her character don't fit together like a puzzle? Because real people are complicated and not straightforward. We don't make sense. What about Jasnah doesn't fit with the rest of her character. What is the mess that makes her actually feel human and not constructed? I really cannot thank y'all enough for how this thread is going so far. To be honest I'm still terrified of this conversation and how quickly things could turn so sour. So I appreciate how open y'all have been. I'm trying very hard to hold myself back from just railing against the character, and I am thankful for those of y'all that have probably been having to hold yourselves back from railing in her defense. I hope we can continue to be civil with each other's opinions.

You can check the art's individual coppermind pages where they have translations. I don't know if everything is translated, but it appears most of it is. You can find them gathered here and then go to the page for each picture. https://coppermind.net/wiki/Rhythm_of_War/Interior_art

Alright, I figure this is probably the post that will make me hated on this forum and shunned for life, but this has been an issue for me for a while so I'd like to see if it can be resolved. I don't get why a vast majority of the commentary and opinions I see on Jasnah are so positive. I honestly can't remember a time I've seen someone not like Jasnah. But to be honest, that's how I feel about her, especially after her few chapters in Rhythm of War. This last book pushed me from generally disliking her to being actively annoyed during her chapters. So, I guess I'd like to know why everyone seems to be such big fans of her. I don't want to dislike her, especially since she'll apparently be the focus of one of the books in the back half of the series, and I'd prefer not to be super annoyed with a lot of that book. I considered using this thread to explain in detail why I don't like her, but I'm worried that has too much of a possibility of me turning this thread into a rant, which I'd like to avoid. In general, I just find her unrealistically perfect and pretty much a Mary Sue as well as generally lacking in uniqueness and any really interesting qualities. So what is it y'all find interesting about her? What is it I am missing that really pulls her character into to the heights everyone else sees? I genuinely want to know.

I have to wonder if it will be something like, "I will let others protect themselves." So kind of overcoming the whole desire to wrap the world in bubble-wrap that it seems like Windrunners might succumb to. The only issue is that we haven't really seen that as something Kaladin has struggled with. He hasn't really had the whole, "I'm going to keep my friends from going into battle because I can't stand to see them hurt." So I'm not sure. The whole accepting he can't protect everyone was such a big deal for the four books, so what else has Kaladin really been struggling with? I can't say I really know for sure.

Okay, I'm sorry for bringing this topic up again. But I do have to wonder if T might be better at sculpting Odium more towards the whole "Passion" thing. I know, I know, that's a tired debate and frankly i don't fully want to get into it. But I think there are two major dangers to Todium. 1. If the Odium shard can be shaped more towards passion, T would be the one to do it as he ascended on his dumbest day, and thus his emotions had the most amount of sway over him. Obviously that's how Cultivation got T in a position to actually take up the Shard, but more than that I think it means he might be more successful in warping Odium towards Passion, as Rayse seemed to struggle with that. 2. T got used to seeing intelligence and emotion more as tools than as permanent fixtures. I can't remember where I heard this and whether it was shardcast or the discord, but it was mentioned that Todium is in a place where he is completely willing to abandon morals and reason to follow what he seems as "the greater good" and that's frankly terrifying. But digressing, I think T is about as in-line with Odium's intent as is possible, since he basically had minimal reason amd inhibition on the day he ascended to the Shard. In the moment he killed Rayse, he was filled with anger and passion, so no matter which you the Shard's intent more as, T came about as close to possible as a mortal can to embodying that.

Yeah, as Darth said, it really is a theological question if you want to talk about it from a monotheistic or Abrahamic perspective, which may or may not apply to Adonalsium. But I think the more general idea connects to the "trickster god" archetype. So Loki, Coyote, Hermes, etc. That idea of a god that just kind of does whatever they want and is sometimes a hero and sometimes a villain because of it. They're something to be respected, but also avoided if possible.

In a similar vein, we've seen that Sazed tended to narrate notes he specifically wants to remember and store them in his copperminds. I wonder if part of that is "splitting" the memory so that he remembers what he saw normally, but stores the memory of hearing himself speak away. This specifically makes sense to me because its easier to remember words than a picture in your head, and thus storing words in a coppermind would risk less degradation whenever you tap them and thus be better for a Keeper. Especially since you can't really share a visual memory, but you can always narrate to pass on words you remember when helping to fill another Keeper's coppermind. All that to say, Hoid might have some kind of trick where he stores his stories differently than his main memories, and thus while his main memories got deleted he still might be able to remember what he was saying while going to meet Odium and thus realize he told the same story twice or has hidden some hint within his narration. But that's just one idea. Whatever Hoid does to store his memory is likely way more advanced and deliberate than anything else we've seen and as a result he might have some subtle safeguards against it being tampered with. He'd just need a reason to check those safeguards.

Alright, take a look at my profile picture. Take a good look. Now you've probably figured out where I fall on this issue, but to put it to words: I would trust a good skybreaker more than a good windrunner. Being a skybreaker is about admitting that you're flawed, admitting that you don't always know what's right. For me personally, I don't trust my own desires. There are times when I get angry and feel like I should hit someone because of it. Now we all know that's bad, and I wouldn't do it, but that's not the point. The point is that when I feel angry enough violence feels like the right thing to do even when its not. To be a skybreaker is to admit that we're not good, and to admit that the human conscience sometimes needs to be trained to actually recognize what is moral. Now, I will not uphold that "the law" is perfect and always moral, its clearly not. But that's the point of the 5th oath, to "become the law." Its to say, "Sometimes I can't trust myself. Sometimes I need external guidance to know what's right. But this isn't one of those times. This time the law is wrong." I get it, corrupt and even evil laws exist. But that shouldn't completely destroy the idea of laws. I get that people dislike skybreakers because they see too much chance for corruption. But its no different with other orders. What if an elsecaller decided the most logical situation is the evil one? The truth is that no order is complete until it has all its oaths, and its that way for a reason. A windrunner needs their oath to protect those they hate when its right, or they're not really protecting. A skybreaker needs their oath to become the law when its right or they've missed the whole point of the law. Yes, the skybreakers we've seen have fallen into the trap of the letter or nothing, but don't take that as the inevitable conclusion of the skybreakers. Make no mistake, the ones we've seen have fallen. Ultimately, being a skybreaker is a commitment to becoming a more moral person. It's saying, "I am bad at doing what's right, and even knowing what's right. So I'm committing to find the right thing, then follow it until I become a better person." Now, you can argue about a skybreakers individual choice of what they follow, and I will join you in calling many out for making a stupid choice. But please, don't condemn the entire order just because the current ones have been corrupted by a madman. The skybreakers are awesome, and have the potential to be an incredibly moral order, and I just wish more people saw that.

This post got me to listen to the reading and man I'm excited for Era 4. Its going to be so interesting seeing all these technological additions to the magics coming about. I think we're all agreed on the skybreaker part, and if I were a betting man my money would be on a singer or hybrid, what with the "distorted" voice. What's interesting is that while the Scardrian East Cosmere Company idea seems likely, we could probably also apply that logic to the Rosharan. Now, I've not read RoW, but it seems to me that we can't assume Roshar will be an entirely united planet in Era 4. I know in sci-fi planets seem to become a single government once they reach space age, but I feel like Sanderson will subvert that and be somewhat more nuanced. With that in mind, I don't know that we can say the radiant represents Roshar or even just the skybreakers. I'm also wondering, why a skybreaker? They don't exactly seem like they'd make good diplomats. The reasons I can think of is that they have access to gravitation, and thus can travel through space more subtly than a ship could. Especially if the color of the stormlight is off because the radiant has some function in the plate that makes it's investiture more difficult to detect (basically, purple = stealthmode.) So why a skybreaker over a windrunner? Maybe just because of their experience with law being useful for detailing a contract or something. But that still feels off. Wouldn't an elsecaller be the more logical choice? At least if they can actually teleport off a planet. Or why not send someone with the skybreaker, some order that would be better fit for negotiations. But the whole situation just makes me suspicious that maybe a skybreaker was sent because its the only one the group they were working with had to send.

This is where I question the limits of perception impacting healing. Yeah, it clearly does. But healing is not a cognitive power. Ultimately when you heal, you are healing from a spiritual ideal of yourself. Your perception seems to allow you to muddy that ideal with things like scars or some disabilities, but if healing were absolutely based on perception, only doctors could heal themselves as they're the only ones who have any idea what things like their internal structure should really look like. I don't know that we should assume that the spiritual "fills in the gaps" of your self-perception, rather it seems that it is the perception that interferes with what otherwise would be a perfect healing. But I feel like that perception has to be pretty dang big to have any kind of impact at all. It essentially has to be part of your Identity. I know a couple colorblind people, and none of them would describe that as part of who they are, just something they experience. Or for my own Renarin-esque example, I wear contacts, but that's not an important fact to me, its just something I do. If I woke up one morning and could suddenly see perfectly, I'd be grateful, but it wouldn't change who I am. Because it wouldn't change how I think of myself, I imagine my eyesight would be healed by stormlight.

Force doesn't have a speed. The different strengths of gravity are caused by mass, which does affect force, but it doesn't make the force not constant. Without air resistance, gravity's effect on an object is F = G * (M1*M2)/(r^2) where F is force, G is the universal gravitational constant, M is mass, and r is distance (technically radius but eh, same thing.) There's nothing in the equation that would cause this to have a limit to how fast an object could go. It does cause a limit to acceleration, because A=F/M, but that acceleration would be constant, and thus velocity would keep increasing with time. Edit: I'm not sure I actually addressed much of what you said. But you seem to think gravity isn't a constant force. It most certainly is. You'd know if it wasn't because things would suddenly become weightless.