TheWanderer

Hello and welcome. I share your love of theories and have come up with many insane ones. Look forward to brainstorming with you.

More than likely I would like to meet Wit. I got a plethora of questions to ask. Assuming I can sort the truth from the gibberish I imagine it would be quite enlightening. Should wit not be in a teaching mood, perhaps Thaidakar or Zahel can answer some of my questions.

Light Spoilers for Stormlight "You cannot have my pain" and the fourth ideal of the windrunner do that for me. The ones that really break me are Wit and Shallan's mentor and apprentice relationship. The layers of shallan's pain and self loathing with wit's empathy and advice really move me. Possibly because according to Brandon's official quiz I am a lightweaver as well.

I can appreciate and empathize with wax's desire as the youngest yet most responsible of my siblings. Do wish I wasn't so easily able to predict the motive of the era 2 first novel villains so easily though. Still I enjoyed the tonal change for the series. Instead of world altering or nations at risk it was much more grounded and character focused. Minor era 2 spoiler I still love that line asking god why they don't send help only for the reply "I sent you"

I may piggy back on that question as I rarely get to talk my favorite cosmere stories. Personally, my favorite book would probably be mistborn (the first book). I just loved the magic system and the heist storyline. Also it is endeared to me in that it was the first cosmere novel I ever read, and later the second I got in leatherbound (the the quote Brandon put in it). As for short story I will have to agree with the emperor's soul, I love the way it expanded upon the art of forgery (magic system and real world version). I shall contribute to the convo by adding an inquiry of my own. Who is your favorite cosmere character and why?

Allow me to be among the first of likely many to welcome you to the 17th shard.

I would likely go Pewter for Allomancy and I would take bronze for my insomnia. Assuming this is the real world of course.

Hello everyone, hope this post finds you all well. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience playing the mistborn tabletop game? I've been trying to convince my players to run it myself and I'm curious how smooth the game plays for new players. Setting aside for the most part I am more focused on mechanics. Of course those who've read it are welcome to comment as well. I apologize in advance if this is in the wrong forum. Somehow fan works didn't quite seem right.

Well my sincerest apologies again. I was out of town on vacation and only just returned. I will ponder it, and appreciate the offer to let me try out the system. Thanks again for your engagement with the topics (and the subsequent tangents). Also yes there is a mistborn ttrpg with books for both eras.

Welcome to the 17th shard. I sadly have no questions for you buy just wanted to extend a greeting.

Just wanted to say I particularly enjoy that end note. I cannot draw, paint, sculpt, or carve to save my life...so I write. Used to perform plays, speeches, and monologues a little but I have not in a few years. Working on a running a wildemount game now with some friends. Still miffed I could not get them into mistborn. Also apologies for my delayed response I can be a bit of an airhead on checking the 17th shard sometimes.

That is fair. Irritating, but fair. Just wanted to see what about me makes this result make sense.

I am a party filler at heart, but if given a choice in D&D I always want to play a wizard (my exandria one had a 10 page backstory with npcs+their relationships, an abridged section for story hooks, appearance, personality, and I debated doing a separate backstory for those important npcs). My preferred mmo build is solo with a mix of martial and magic (I love my gish builds). I also tend to come up with insane uses for spells and powers in games that can be somewhat game breaking.

I understand these things I do are a rarity but doubtful. I am also well regarded for really fleshing out npcs in games and giving them each backstories, hobbies, and images (I can't draw so I scavenge on pintrest or make them with artbreeder). Also I doubt it as none of my players like the cosmere (heathens...), and I tried and failed to get them to play mistborn. I had worked out the entire set up of the great houses and the political field with the plan to go through each era of mistborn.

I just do all the silly voices and accents. Along with trying really hard to weave in backstory ties that players provide me.

Given I DM games I have definitely seen this be a struggle for people. Very apt observation.

Interesting, if a tad infuriating when trying to figure out what about me this quiz seemed to think indicated I would make a good lightweaver. Regardless, thank you for your input.

A fascinating analysis. So beyond simple change and an interest in perspective how would you (or anyone else) define the quintessential lightweaver? Also I do apologize for the delay on responding.

Overall, I'm merely trying to find more of the criteria cryptic spren might have looking for someone to bond. To put it more humorously, I'm attempting to understand the greater will of brandon. Which hilariously seems to entail me doing the very introspection the order would be known for.

Interesting insights. Definitely agree on their journey of self discovery. Also read something interesting stating that the lightweavers were all about showing others what they could be (Shallan and the bandits for example).

So, I may be coming to this a bit late. However, I cannot sleep and find my mind wandering. Like so many of us here on the 17th shard i took the official radiant quiz. To my immense surprise I got lightweaver as my top result. Thus, due to a slightly narcissistic curiosity I decided to research them more. While the official descriptions brandon gave are great. I must confess still find myself wondering about the character of prospective lightweavers. Sure many are artists and the spren are drawn to those who deceive themselves. Yet, we see soldiers, prostitutes, artists, and a spy join as well. Some of whom seem to have no artistic inclinations. So I guess I'm curious if someone can help me discern the greater truth as to what makes a lightweaver. Furthermore, what else draws a cryptic to bond them beyond a propensity for self delusion? What traits truly make one a good fit for the order? afterword thank you all for reading and engaging in advance. I appreciate your thoughts and your indulgence of my inquiry.

"That's an interesting phrasing and something I never really thought about! Are you suggesting the Invested Arts would be a discrete object in the Spiritual Realm and not just a pattern that tends to arise via interaction between the Spiritwebs of the magic users, Investiture from the Shard(s) and the Shardworld(s)? Oh, and here's an older topic you might find interesting:" Well yes and no, I know shards exist in all 3 realms and that the magics of a planet are based upon that shard' interacting with it. So to me greater connection to a shard would likely increase connection to the magic as well. Essentially, I think the shard may have its greatest presence in the spiritual realm. Given that their perpendicularity is the only physical (aside from Scadrial), and we never see shards in the cognitive realm aside from cognitive shadows. Thus they have to reside somewhere more and induction leads me to believe that is the spiritual realm. Of course I may be wrong, and I like where your mind is going. I simply think that Breath given endowments particular nature forges a greater connection. Granted for more genetic magic systems this might not apply. Breath is unique in that it is one of the only magic systems involving hoarding the magic fuel, and that caveat of the more you have the better you are at it. Also I am now wondering if a similar mindset could be applied to the oaths as you progress on Roshar.

I an concede that to a point, but stormlight burns quickly and leaves the body just as fast. Whereas Breath is something that remains with you for extended periods (assuming you don't hide or use it). Either way, I by no means expect to get things completely right and appreciate your engagement with the idea.

Intro I have returned for yet another attempt to theorize and understand one of the many magics of the Cosmere. This time I am tackling breath, one of my favorite magic systems, though I do love them all. As many of you undoubtedly know, everybody's favorite wanderer has shown us a less than well known use for breath. While there was prior evidence of breath being tied to memory from two scenes in Warbreaker (the little girl, and the offer to Denth) this aspect has yet to be explored or explained much. I apologize in advance if their is a WOB that already talks about this, I keep forgetting to read them all. Some Background In very typical fashion for me, I felt compelled to try and understand this more. So I turned to the wonderful coppermind and Warbreaker itself. In it I found a most peculiar note, "If enough Breaths are collected, they can start to affect the personality of the person holding them. "Breaths do bring some things along with them,", but they are not "terribly individual" depending on their original owner. For example, Vahr's resolve was strengthened because of the similar mindsets of those he collected his Breaths from, but the effect only manifested due to the large amount of Breaths he had." The Theory one: How Breath Connects To The Bearer Now given textual evidence and assuming this is accurate I propose. Breath actually has an impact on a person in all 3 realms to a greater extent than the average magic system (which to me makes sense for Endowment). Though one could argue it is simply because one can acquire more of it more easily than most other Cosmere magic systems. The physical is easily seen, as many of the heightenings provide benefits that are at least tangentially physical (and arguably cognitive). As for the cognitive aspect, I think that like a cognitive shadow, breaths imprint slightly upon a person's spirit web and or their cognitive aspect. Hence how they can influence a person's personality if they collect a lot of it. However, due to the relatively small amount of investiture per breath this effect is greatly diminished. Likely only picking up a modicum of a person's thoughts and feelings that is only noticeable if those you get the breath from have a similar mindset. Finally, there is the spiritual aspect to consider. While there is really only one concrete example I think Susebron gives us some idea what this entails. Although he is no sliver, the sheer quantity of investiture bound to him would in my eyes on some level expand his soul in a similar if lesser manner. Given we do not know as much about the greater levels of heightening I sadly cannot back this up with much evidence. Though I do believe the way in which the more breath you have makes you better at awakening when you first begin might tie into a spiritual connection with endowment and awakening as a magic system. Yet, I could see an argument for this being a cognitive not spiritual effect. Theory two: How This Connects To Memory Now assuming I am at least on the right track. Then the question is, how does this allow you to store memories in them? I would propose given the ties to multiple aspects of a person (particularly cognitive and spiritual) there is a way to exploit this to impact memory. When Vasher tells the little girl to speak a certain command, Vivenna notices her breath flickers. To me this implies a portion of the breath and the cognitive tie to that memory have been severed from the girl. As for Hoid using it as a memory storage, once again. Given the impact memory can have on your cognitive aspect, and how are memories shape our identity. It does not feel like a great leap in logic to assume that one could use those breaths to store those memories. As the breaths in question are tied to a person in just about every way. Though whether using them to awaken or storing the breaths in something like clothes would degrade or destroy the memories I do not know. Granted I imagine it requires a great knowledge of investiture to do this, but many things are possible with the right application of knowledge. Afterword Just wanted to say thanks for reading everyone. Happy to discuss further if you feel so inclined. Sorry if my thought process is hard to follow or I seem to be making too great a leap in logic. Also hope people like the new format I am using for my theories. Feel like it helps make them more digestible and easy to follow.