Karger

What? The test is clearly not of martial capability. I don't think the skybreakers care too much about that. None of them could carry shards anyway. Assuming they had them they would be left somewhere else. Also since everyone coming already has a blade except Szeth there would be no point.

He clearly had a bit of training. A good years worth at least by Shallan's wildly inaccurate memories. Why would you bother? If the city is falling then the bank is not on your list of priorities. To get to the vault you would need a large wall breach and no shardbear is going to waste time getting to a bank when political centers can be attacked instead. I am pretty sure the vault is made to stop a rouge shardbearer from seeking in and robbing them by cutting through walls. He had plate too and if your target is not high profile no one is going to notice for days and by then bodies look the same. He was seconds away from completing his mission. If Kaladin was any less Kaladin he would have finished Amaram off. That hardly qualifies as bumbling. But what do the skybrearkers do with failed drafts? They seem to value their secrecy. Or they thought it might be beneficial for him to have them for some other reason. Perhaps he was just a courier or a guard for example. We know basically nothing about him personally. Kaladin is an anomaly and Kaladin and got super lucky. Adolin might be the best on the planet. That is not a good comparison. Without Kaladin the mission is an easy success with minimal use of force necessary let alone used. Considering the number of assassinations that happen on Roshar and the amount of warfare specifically in eastern roshar and the poor communication for a lot of rosharan history I actually don't see that it would be hard to keep secret. Here is a scenario. Nale and Skybreaker in charge of Heleran(SCH) SCH "He is doing fine and near completing his training but I am worried about his zeal. It could be a problem" Nale "Give him the old shards test I will sign the necessary papers" SCH "Could be risky" Nale "We don't do it often but in his case I believe it could prove illuminating. The risk is worth it." SCH "It will be done" Nale "Paperwork!" Does this seem less then reasonable? Also do the math. I am going to highball and say their are 200 skybreakers at a time(not counting squires). Assuming each serves for 50 years(another highball) they would need replacing at a rate of a about 5 per year. If one in 70 takes the test you only get this every 14 years. Assuming that 75% of tests pass without noticeable incidents(I think a well designed test should have this success rate at minimum) 42 years can pass without anything like this happening on average. I find it much more likely that Skybreakers get discovered by flying or using shards and surgbindings to prevent petty theft.

I am not sure that Rosharans actually know anything about geology in the conventional sense(because of how weirdly their continent formed). Their equivilent might actually be more similar to archaeology. I better example is probably their understanding of mathematics and things like pressure, humidity, and wind speed which they use to predict highstorms.

Distant yet demanding sounds exactly like a baby brother. Sorry if I did not make that clear.

A concentration of professional soldiers who prize discipline and honor would likely be quite hard to turn into the modern Alethi without the thrill. I actually suspect Odium's low level interference in trying to break them down.

We do not know if that is possible either. That is what oathgates are. You are correct. Roshar is supposed to be renaissance-gunpowder. Yes but it is on Paji.

Welcome!

There also may be a slight evolutionary component as the ones who felt the thrill more were more able to survive in combat making each successive generation more susceptible to the thrill on average.

Tell me one. We see no indication that Nale wants his people to have political power. I don't really understand the kind of metric he grades on but I am fairly sure that is not it. Well we know almost nothing about him. It is not policy. The very word implies a standardized curriculum. That is not always possible in an individual quest for excellence. Rouge shardbearers are common enough that the Theylen vault is designed with them in mind and the king's guard is trained with them as a possibility. You are also assuming that a large number of Skybreakers were as spectacular a failure as Heleran appears to have been. Many probably just used them against thugs in back ally streets or to exact personal vengeance in a quite manner or showed restraint and did not use them at all.

I do not know if Oathgates can be moved at all.

That was just an example to make a point but thanks anyway.

That was just an example to make a point but thanks anyway.

Checking against we technically do not know for sure as I have seen no WoBs on the subject but "A voice of tapped crystal" seems to be more of a poetic description.

She is referencing the feeling of Kaladin's brother. Spren don't exactly experience time linearly. Glys is the best example of this but Syl does it too sometimes.

That was Mraize no(not that it matters)? I also don't see why they would care who kills him. They seem way too pragmatic for that. Radiance is not like arithmetic. Even within one order each person has different understandings that need to be developed and flaws that need to be overcome. Granting the blade is an excellent subjective test for someone that is feared to be overzealous or uncontrolled. Souls can alter over time as new experiences are gained. Nale's goal is to make it so that exactly one type of spren finds that soul attractive. To do this he needs life changing lessons. I think he was supervised at least from a distance. However they were patient enough let events play out. Think about how old Nale is. It does not stretch belief that he would wait a few decades to get the blade back. To him that would be like waiting a few hours.

I agree with pathfinder on Roshar having a more accessible CR although I am not sure the Honor perpendicularity will every be practical in either form. However there are enough options on Roshar that this is a moot point anyway. I am personally hoping for a Braize invasion at some point. I think it would be awesome.

At least in compact form. It is not as if cryptic processioning power is unlimited either.

No you can't. The only way between continents that we know is the flying ships of the southerns which need ettmetal. Because they won't let him through so he just smashes his way through.

Exactly. Looking at sheet music does not really explain the emotional impact of a symphony.

You might be able to agree on what love looks like physically but can you actually describe the subjective sensation in a meaningful way?

We say it comes from a secure location that we have cordoned off to prevent theft. Some way the US keeps secrets with classified information. I think by era three they will have a military. We know the southerners have one so the northerners will have one by now. Harmony won't intervene and you make scholars swear to secrecy and go through screening. Maybe they are blindfolded on their way there to add a level of security.

They get Ettmental somehow. Also we saw one getting into the northern perpendicularity prior to international travel. He might fight his way through. Maybe he is some kind of fullborn elantrian sleepless(or something to that effect).

Cryptics are made of universal truth yes but many universal truths are best explained by lies. I challenge you to write an objective description of "love" however a good artist can convey that emotion through a good lie.

Perpendicularities are not mobile so you need some form of global trade. They also have limited uses and I think scadrial which is going to go 1980s soon might keep a perpendicularity secret. Remember perpendicularities are where you get harmamonium and we don't want everyone having as much as they want.

They might have some government approved traffic but relations with southern scadrial might be tense and by stopping casual perpendicularity access you stop a security nightmare.