HSuperLee

Makes you wonder if the Koloss elders manage to grow (pun not intended) out of some of their standard aggressive and impulsive behaviors.

So I'm a Protestant Christian from the US who grew up in a religious family. As with others here, its hard to find areas of my life that haven't been impacted by my faith. I suppose one area where I can say something unique is that my parents never had the expectation that just because they were Christian that I would automatically be one too. They wanted it to be my choice whether I agreed or disagreed with their beliefs. The result was that rather than telling me things they believed, they encouraged me to ask questions to them and others about what they believe and why. Now, as I've already stated, I have come to agree with them on the major doctrines of Christianity, though there are many issues (I've often heard them called non-essential doctrines in the Christian community) that we do disagree on. But for me one of the most important stages of my life was from the time I was about 11 through high-school, where I decided that if I believed that absolute truth and reason exist, then the proper way to live was to know what those are. This started me on a journey of studying many religions and worldviews alongside scientific discoveries and theories and comparing them to Christianity to see if I really thought Christianity held the truth about the world. Long story short, after study for many years, I have come to the point where I'm not just a Christian because I believe in religion, but I'm a Christian because I think Christianity is true. Without getting too much on my soapbox, I believe there is a monotheistic God who created the universe, who exists in three separate but unified persons, and who became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ to pay the debt of sin that mankind owed to God. Its more complicated than that, but I genuinely believe all those things are true and would be true even if I didn't believe them. Honestly, this is probably why my religion has such an impact on me. Since I believe its true, I can only view my options as living realistically, which means following Christianity, or live opposed to reality and deny a religion that I think is true, which is madness. I've said before that there is a large part of me that wishes I could not believe Christianity. As much as Christians talk about how good and wonderful our religion is, it also kinda sucks. To be a Christian is to have to admit that your heart is wicked and deceitful, completely lacking in its own goodness, and without the intervention of God it would be impossible for anyone to be a good person. That's terrifying. If I had the option to believe that everyone had some inner goodness and that it was possible for people to escape their own sin and suffering, I would readily choose to believe that instead. This has even led me to the realization that if I didn't think Christianity is true I'd probably be a Buddhist. But since I believe Christianity is true, my only option is to try and live up to its ideals. I will readily admit that as far as the spectrum of Christianity goes, I'm probably on the more extreme end. I am a creationist who believes in six 24-hour days of divine creation and a world that's only about 6,000 years old; I do believe that people are by their nature completely evil without divine intervention; and I do believe in an eternal Hell where those who aren't Christian will suffer the consequences of their sin for all eternity. But I also believe that God loves everyone with a love so beyond imagination that if we could feel even a fraction of it for one another, all conflict in the world would end. And as such I believe that I must, while I am alive, strive to help give others the same choice I was given, to freely accept or reject the offer of forgiveness of sin that God wishes everyone would accept. Ixthos is right, its way to easy to get overly theological here. Basically, my whole life is impacted by my religion because I believe the only reason I'm still alive is because God has some mission or role He wishes me to play in the world. I genuinely believe that if He didn't have a plan for me, He'd allow me to die so that I could join Him in Heaven, and we'd no longer be separated as we are now. Thus I believe that while I am alive, I need to seek out what God wants me to do with my life and do it as best I can, waiting expectantly for the day when my work is done, and I get to enter into the true life and Resurrection that will be the real world, while this one is merely the prologue of the real life I will live in that Resurrection. Yes, I fail constantly to live up to what God has asked of me. A common criticism of Christianity is that Christians are hypocrites, and I'll tell you right now that that is 100% true. There is not, has not been, and will never be a Christian who is not a hypocrite except for Christ himself. But I also believe that God is abounding in mercy and part of the reason Jesus gave his life was so that my hypocrisy could be forgiven. So I try to live as best I can to overcome that hypocrisy, and try to each day be a better person that I was yesterday. I know I will stumble, and that I will fail, but in the words of Stormlight Archive, which I believe capture the spirit of Christianity more than most realize, "Life Before Death, Strength Before Weakness, Journey Before Destination." "I will take responsibility for what I have done. If I must fall, I will rise each time a better man." Alright, that's enough soap boxing for me. Sorry I got poetic in the end there. I hope it can serve to show how passionate I am about this. As I keep saying, to me this is more than just a belief, its truth itself.

If they can't get deep enough, being underground would basically just be like being in an oven instead of actually sheltering them. Plus the fact it seems like one of the major plot points of the book is that they're looking for the entrance to some underground Scadrian area might indicate that there are more complications with moving underground than are immediately apparent.

I'm not certain we can say these things with confidence. That is a big assumption to be extrapolating from the fact he still has some loved ones alive. Besides, did you ever realistically expect that every single member of the main cast would die? Okay, so one theory among many, that being the destruction of Roshar at the end of SA5 is crushed. Is that really a spoiler, per say? If it is, then is the famous WoB about Venli being dead and not reincarnated into Timbre a spoiler since it crushed Jebus's theory? Again, are you implying that wasn't already a reasonable conclusion and that you someone consider the alternative to be a realistic expectation? Not necessarily. When Nomad met him he went by Wit, so the name might be persisting even when the position is not. You are making a huge leap towards one theory that has not come anywhere close to being confirmed and assumed it is fact. What? Where are you even getting this from? And why did you think they were? Edit: For the sake of those looking back on this thread in the future, I would like it to be known that the previous three responses were all posted within a minute of each other, meaning none of us saw the messages the others were making until we posted out own. Take that as you will, future reader.

An oath was made, Propagandist. Have you the honor to see it fulfilled? Or shall you run from your oath?

What I find most interesting is that in the ending conversation with Hoid, Nomad specifically mentions that "my oaths ended, and I realized that destinations really are important". Now, what's most interesting about that to me is not that he says his oaths broke, but ended. The term suggests that somehow he "reached the end of their lifespan" so to speak. He also says that he expected the oaths to override the Torments ability to deny him weapons. Add to that the fact Aux is becoming multiple pieces of metal with seemingly no effect, I think Nomad has become something more than a Radiant, not less. I don't think he broke his oaths. At least not at first. Rather, he somehow grew beyond their power to help him. What's interesting though is that he was still able to manifest a proper shardblade when he was completely and totally focused on protecting someone who could not protect themselves, which indicates that at a spiritual level, remnants of the oath still exist with enough power to override some aspects of the Torment.

The word of the Propagandist has been taken on this. The conditions have been set, and the consequences shall be observed.

I feel like this is a real "what is the most important step a man can take" question.

I'm going to say yes. That's probably part of why they need so much mental training, since otherwise they might accidentally reinforce and thus accelerate the nightmare's stabilization.

Yumi's Planet How does the water cycle work? Presumably on a smaller scale. There are likely massive underground aquifers on large sections of the planet that feed the geysers that we saw in the reading. These geysers eventually erupt, sending tons of water into the air, where it eventually rises high enough to form clouds. Once the temperature massively drops in the evening, these clouds likely condense into rain or snow, or the water merely becomes dew on the ground. From there, the water either finds paths in the ground back to the aquifers, or it evaporates again and helps form the next day's clouds. Are the plants and animals themselves using Invested arts? Based on how big their plants are and the fact that to fly by "riding the thermals" alone would require that the plants be incredibly lightweight and have an immense surface area, I'm going to say they're likely invested. Probably some interaction with the spirits that helps reduce their effective weight to significantly below what it should be (another thing they'd have in-common with Roshar.) Painter's Planet What precisely are they eating? How does agriculture work in a lightless world? It was mentioned that plants grow towards the hion lines, which means they produce enough light for the local plants to thrive. Its possible each city thus allocates a large area to specialized farm space using the hion lines to maintain a food supply. How is oxygen made without photosynthesis? Said plants growing off of hion lines likely generate the oxygen for the planet. It has yet to be seen if the darkness is permeable, but I assume it is. What is the point of having many cities? There's probably a couple reasons related to logistics and infrastructure that would make a megacity more difficult to sustain, but probably the most significant reason is that having that many people together would mean that there'd be a constant flow of many nightmares, and that the city would be so complicated that patrolling and defending it from them would be exceptionally difficult if not impossible. Why isn't the planet covered in ice? How does thermoregulation work? ILuvHats provided an excellent explanation for this. Especially since this planet seems to share a system with Yomi's world, and thus the sun seems to be very hot, which might offset the coolness caused by the darkness. Further, the darkness might have an insulating effect, again going back to its permeability, which would possibly then cause the opposite issues with heating, but I'm not sure how that would work out over such a massive scale.

I'm fascinated by the idea of this Shard. I know we can't really ascribe any one Shard to be the embodiment of a spiritual trait, but we've seen that Honor seems to be, or at least tends to manifest, close to Connection. It seems like Virtuosity might then be just as closely entangled with Intention. After all, the only difference between a pattern created by the wind or water eroding stone and the artist cutting it away is the intent behind the act of creation. The implications are fascinating, and this book may end up teaching us quite a lot about the mechanics behind Intent, just as from Stormlight we're learning more and more about the mechanics of Connection.

Alright, I am extremely excited about this one. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did, but now I'm going to be on pins and needles until it is released. I love the world building, and the feel of both of the planets, and I'm fascinated by the implications for the broader Cosmere. Also, I'm worried about Hoid. I understand that people seem to think Hoid froze himself in time, but there's no small part of me that is worried it was inflicted on him. Especially since this might be one of the only ways to incapacitate Hoid since he can't be killed and can probably escape most forms of entrapment.

Apparently I am that fan that was making it not a circle.

I think it comes down to the fact that F-Gold heals the damage a disease or sickness can do to you, but it doesn't actually enhance your immune system. The result is that whatever is infecting you might die out faster, since it isn't able to alter your body enough to use as a breeding ground, but it isn't actively being wiped out by anything but a standard immune system. F-Gold can keep you from getting sick, and can allow you to act healthy when you're not, but as soon as you stop tapping, the remaining illness survives and progresses as normal. In the case of parasites, you'd probably only gain a benefit if you tapped long enough to starve them out, and even that might not work depending on the progression of the parasite (its a rather complex and diverse category of creatures). Other medicines would almost certainly be better at dealing with them than F-Gold. Heck, depending on how exactly Identity works with microbial organisms, F-Brass might be better, since you could potentially heat up your body to the point they burn alive inside of you.

Man, now you're making me think about what could happen if you start storing Identity while wielding Nightblood. I wonder if a feruchemist could feed Nightblood enough that you blank your identity, and thus allow Nightblood to temporarily "possess" them while being wielded. Hm. That's a terrifying possibility.

I believe its specifically mentioned that after his death an autopsy couldn't find any hidden goldminds on his body. I'd need someone with access to the book to check, but I believe that we're supposed to find it really odd and disturbing that he could keep healing for a while even without his goldminds. Checking the WoBs, the best answer I could find is that he'd become some kind of feruchemical savant, and that's why he was somehow able to heal without metalminds. Which is weird to me, since in allomancy we see people get weaker when separated from their power source, which I'd think would apply to feruchemists as well, but apparently that might not be the case. WoB in question:

You'd need some way to "tune" the stormlight for a specific metal effect. Theoretically this could be done with Intent, like when burning the Mists, but I suspect it is more likely that you'd have to find some way to trick the stormlight into being more like a metal. Perhaps giving it Harmony's Tone could work, but I have no idea if that would hold once its removed from a laboratory setting.

Its implied that kandra can control their DNA, so they'd just undo any damage done to it. Yes, this bothers me greatly, but it is what it is.

I didn't necessarily think he was going to die, but I could see a situation where the Honorspren condemned him to some kind of life imprisonment. Which I figured would lead to Shallan created a breakout attempt, and then Adolin refusing to go with her, hoping that by accepting the condemnation, he might be able to honorspren's minds, as well as not wanting to further alienate them by going against their laws. I wasn't sure exactly how that would end, though.

So, its kinda hard to answer all your questions without spoiling stuff, so just keep going. One thing that's safe to answer is the rapid aging thing. And the truth is, we don't know, and last he was asked, Sanderson doesn't know. Mistborn Final Empire Spoilers: Note though that this was 4 years ago, so things might have been settled by now.

The fact they're electrically resistant to me seems to be the largest indicator that they likely can adapt to resist radiation, though it might not be possible for dead plate.

I'm actually okay with Aon Dor. That takes years of study and practice to master, and often requires dedicated time to set up specific or especially powerful effects, plus its balanced by being location-locked. And even without the location lock, I'm not sure I would dislike it as much as the win button that is soulcasting.

And here we got Trusk, giving me even more reasons to dislike how powerful soulcasting is written.

People often lean towards Devotion being the opposite of Odium, which makes a lot of sense to me. We also do know that not all Shards have opposites. Now, I do hope that more Shards have actual opposites, because I find the idea really interesting. Especially since all Shards used to be one being, meaning that all the opposites are inherently complimentary, even if they don't always seem like it.

I believe, though I cannot check, that they also remark on how humans are basically in all forms all the time. Which means that perhaps a human growing a gemheart would actually cause a reduction, or better said a specialization, of human traits. So a human who grew a gemheart via hemalurgy might find that their secondary sexual characteristics decrease when not in mateform and return to their original manifestations when they enter it. Now, there might be some heightening effect, as the energy that humans normally put into "being all forms at once" can suddenly be focused into a more narrow field, but I doubt that it would be as bombastic as what happens when singers go from dullform to any other.