Ashbringer

Sealed. Blockade stepped away from his last guard field, a slight skip to his step. The last major gap in his defenses was filled. His bubble of territory wasn't completely sealed off - he still wanted to be able to access the rest of Edmonton - but there were only two or three such exit points in the entire zone. A blockade indeed, he thought. It would keep the other Epics out for a long time. And it'll keep the air out, too. Chloro better have gotten that tree started soon. Blockade started scanning the horizon, fists clenched until he saw an overly blue canopy coming from the wetlands. Blockade's forcefields didn't let any air through them, which could be a blessing when fighting toxin Epics, but was a rather large hindrance when it came to sectioning off areas for long periods of time. Fortunately, Chloro's plants excelled at producing oxygen... among other things. Unfortunately, Chloro never missed an opportunity to remind him of his un-expendability. Which was... ironically infuriating. Blockade left his armor on as he started walking towards the center of his new territory, trying to narrow his mind on the path in front of him and not the maples suddenly busying themselves with whatever was nearby. His weakness did... odd things to him. Almost split him into two mindsets, neither of which wanted much to do with the other. Which meant that it was hard to blow off steam, especially when Chloro was acting like a self-absorbed - A crack resounded through the block, and almost everyone dropped what they were doing and hid behind the nearest object. Blockade stared at his fists - he hadn't realized how hard he'd been gripping. He'd broken part of the extra fields. He paused, then restored them with a thought and continued on his way. A man washing a window suddenly became incredibly absorbed in maximizing the suds on the glass, perhaps trying to block out the reflection of the Epic walking behind him. A little girl was quickly ushered inside an apartment building while two weathered parents seemed to struggle whether to avert their eyes in fear or keep their gaze on him. Blockade did his best to ignore it. Then his mobile buzzed. Gyroto's report. He flicked it to his ear. "Meet me at the Northeastern exit. I'll explain on the way." That wasn't like Gyroto. Blockade cursed, turning around and falling into a sprint - then started running up, creating fields under his feet like steps, each breaking on contact and lending him more momentum toward his motion. "This had better be important, Gyre. What's the problem?"

So, this piece of info is more a comic moment than anything, but we've learned a lot about Horneater culture in this book, particularly that Rock "drew the Bow of Hours". I don't think this was referring to his slaying of Amaram, because it seems to be a piece of Horneater... lore, almost. But there's another piece that's interesting: Rock evidently drew the Bow of Hours "at the dawn of the new millennium". That would be Rosharian year 1000. ... as of Dawnshard, it's about Rosharian year 1175. And I think a Rosharian year is longer than an Earth year. So... has Rock been alive for over 175 years? What's going on here?

I think that the pools at the top of the Horneater peaks are hot springs. Whether natural ones or from Cultivation's Perpendicularity, I'm not sure. (Actually, I wonder if the Perpendicularity is split between the Peaks... or is there only one "Perpendicularity" lake?)

@Matrim's Dice

I was just proud of myself for figuring out that a Sleepless was on the ship three sentences before Nikli's Sleepless PoV...

Technically the same reason works for that too They can also get... really, really big.

It sounds like there’s probably more Sleepless elsewhere in the cosmere, although they don’t impersonate humans. So Philico could just be ahead of the curve on that

Secret History: Also, I see your Eleventh Metal meme and raise you this!

Yes... but I assume the Sleepless don't have the same misgivings with future sight as the Vorin church does. Not all forms of predicting the future are of Odium, although most of Roshar's forms are.

If the Unity Dawnshard theory is correct, by the end of Dalinar's Honor path he could be a full Dawnshard in addition to a full Bondsmith. And judging by how terrified the Sleepless are of Rysn getting a spren bond, I think Dawnshard Dalinar could be quite a threat - one that could take on Odium, but one that could also destroy Roshar.

I mean my guess was the Dawnshard spoiler forum, but now that I think about it even that’s not that active.

... how ‘bout sixteen?

I wonder where they all went...

Yeah, Zahel in particular isn't going anywhere near Chiri-Chiri. I don't know if the larkin wants to prevent Rysn from getting any Investiture, or just protect her at this point. I would imagine he'd prevent her from breaking the world, but I don't know how invested (heh) he is in keeping the Dawnshard inactive compared to the Sleepless. I do believe that if Rysn got Breaths, she'd be able to use them to fuel the Dawnshard. Which raises the question... did Nikli specify a Nahel Bond for a reason, or just because that's the only Investiture that Rysn knows of? Also, my guess is that Hoid's incapable of burning the world on his own due to his Dawnshard-affected pacifism. But he'd definitely let it happen.

Also:

Wisdom and Ingenuity have not been confirmed, per say, but it’s been confirmed there are shards with similar Intents. Of course, they could be the same shard, or wrapped up with our other hints to unknown shards. And going back to my above post, I’m a little hesitant to group all the “bad” shards together. It seems like that’s not how the Shattering would work.

I feel like that difference has to be more than a different Command. My guess is one Dawnshard is non-functional at the moment, or possibly too functional (ie in active use).

Yeah, if I had to guess, Dawnshard's can't be really detected unless they're used. Odium and/or the Stormfather would have pushed much harder for Aimia if they knew there was a Dawnshard there, and the whole Rsyn plan relies on nobody learning that she has/is the Dawnshard now. That would explain how Honor "lost" the Dawnshards - like literally lost track of them, in addition to losing control of them - and why Honor couldn't know that Dalinar was attuning to a UNITE.exe Dawnshard. Then again, these "visions" are pre-recorded, so I don't know if Honor would be able to react to a Dawnshard Dalinar anyway. The Stormfather probably could, though.

So... is there any way for a non-Elim, non-Lord Ruler to survive a lynch or a kill? Besides having the kill roleblocked?

Ooh. If only there were 4 MTG colors instead of 5 and I would be all over this. As it stands, Red and Black would probably be easiest to combine (Dominion, Ruin, Odium, Ambition). It feels a little on-the-nose for Brandon, but those shards feel interconnected (future sight and Passion, mostly. Ambition’s an asterisk but I feel like she fits decently well.). But that leaves out Autonomy... maybe they and Dominion switch.

On 4): I feel like it would be very unlikely for all 4 Dawnshards to make their way to the Rosharian system. I think there might one more on Roshar - a “Unite” command - but the others are probably scattered in other locations. Scadrial probably has one, maybe Nathalis as well. My guess is it was only one Dawnshard that devastated Ashyn. “Change” certainly seems capable of such things. And on 5): wouldn’t we like to know... there’s a few threads brainstorming it right now.

They are devices* of near-limitless capabilities. Ones that, used properly, could stop Odium - or destroy the entirety of Roshar. It just depends whether the user can handle the power correctly and/or responsibly. That’s how I see it. Although judging by the fact there’s only four Dawnshards in existence, I doubt using them is a “natural” part of Surgebinder’s progression. Perhaps it is for Bondsmiths?