therunner

I will put in my five cents as well Stormfather is also unable to sense death of Herald, in fact he did not even react to permanent death, even though Heralds did. So whatever connection is there is stronger in between Heralds themselves then between a Herald and Stormfather. The reaction of entity then goes against what we know of Stormfather, hence supports it could be something else. It is entirely possible that in prologue they did not know if Kalak died simply because the sensation of death of another Herald could be lost in the battle, if it is not particularly overpowering, but this is admittedly a conjecture. Ishar was also able to Bondsmith/manipulate connection prior to becoming a Herald, see events on Ashyn and Syls comments in RoW. Also, even if due to Honor and his restrictions he could Bondsmith only through Honorblade, these restrictions are falling away (see Dalinar's experience, Ishars experiments, Melishi and lines), so he might be regaining his previous abilities, even if Honorblade makes him stronger. The effects in prologue are relatively weak (voices, slight physical manifestation, detecting Seon), and one of those (seeing an object in the building) is explicitly something unbonded Stormfather cannot do. The biggest feat would be sending a vision, however we don't know how where the visions made, where are they stored, so we cannot make any judgements on if someone closely connected to Honor (like Bondsmith Herald) would not be able to hijack them. Again a conjecture, but nothing that would go against previously established information. Not necessarily, we have at least one example (maybe two) of someone being in a vision or changing part of vision without Stormfather (or even a shard) noticing. The fully confirmed is of course Lift, who is able to infiltrate visions and unless she reveals herself the entities are unaware. Second (more tentative) would be Nohadon vision, it starts with 'regular' vision but then becomes something else, and Stormfather was not aware of that (if I remember correctly). So in fact Stormfather would not necessarily notice. Ending the visions is the better counterargument, that would require the entity to be able to tap into the same source as Stormfather, which might not be impossible considering what we have seen of connection manipulation. Of course, as I stated before, we have no idea of how the visions are implemented and where are they stored, so little speculation can be done. True, but someone in touch with Connection could most likely do that. If Dalinar can connect Kaladin with aspect of Tien, connecting yourself or someone else with part of their future aspect could be possible, as spiritual realm is timeless. Alternatively, there are Death-rattles, and someone with Connection powers could get more out of that. Finally, there are also enlightened spren, who can provide visions of future. So there are multiple ways Ishar (or someone else) could obtain information on possible future. Do you know Ishar that well? Why inconsistent behavior of Stormfather is simply 'revelation' of new facet, but Ishar would have to act consistently with what we think we know? Additionally, while Ishar is the most popular option, he is not the only one for the Stormfaker theory. How did Dalinar form connection between Kaladin and Tien? He used his connection to Stormfather to 'touch' Kaladin through Highstorm, and then used Kaladins connection to Tien to connect him with his aspect in Spiritual. Similarly, Ishar could for example piggyback on connection to Stormfather through remains of Oathpact, and then use connection of Stormfather and Gavilar to 'touch' Gavilar. And on the theory part You create a theory to explain something your current model does not. People did not start reading the prologue thinking 'I am sure Gavilar is not talking to Stormfather, let me gather evidence', instead people read the prologue and some of them thought 'Huh, that is weird. There is stuff happening and being done that seems to go against what we know, how can we explain that?' and the explanation multiple independent people came up with was that some of the time the entity in prologue is not Stormfather, and they mostly point to the same evidence. So no, I don't think anyone here started with the conclusion and then went looking for evidence, in fact it was quite clearly the other way around, so yes this is a theory. You may not consider the evidence to be sufficient, and that is your right of course, but that alone does not really mean much.

Considering what we see in Dalinar's flashbacks, what Sadeas and others are doing is how they would treat human country. War crimes seem relatively 'normal' to Alethi, which is partially cultural and partially driven by Thrill (what came first is a good question). And I don't really see evidence for them attempting genocide? The stated goal was to punish the responsible (find center of Parshendi, and go after leaders), topology of Shattered plains led to it turning into a Siege. This did not work, since gemhearts could be used to farm, which prolongs the siege. Then the reasonable thing is to deny enemy this resource, which starts the greatshell hunts, and as we know this then morphed into a more economically minded conflict. In fact by the time of TWoK direct conflict mainly happens in skirmishes around gemhearts. Nowhere do I see evidence for them attempting genocide, but of course maybe I am forgetting some key detail. So yeah, they did want to quickly go in, go after leaders and go home, but topology of Shattered plains and existence of greatshells meant that it is not that simple.

Thank you. I am sure you notice that phrasing comes from the questioner not Brandon, so considering we have WoB (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/105/#e1143 , and others linked above by Frustration) where Brandon directly states Investiture is stored in metal, this is coincidental at best? No one disputes that the structure of metal plays in Metallic arts a role similar to Aons in AonDor, providing the 'shape'/Command, that however has little bearing on where the Investiture powering it comes from. EDIT: Sorry, posted before finishing a thought. We also have a WoB (albeit paraphrased) saying the metal is charged with the power, and it is that charge that then leads to Compounding. Elsewhere he also talks about Feruchemical charge in the metalmind.

I would content myself with WoB stating that Investiture is not in the metal, as I am unable to find those.

Would you mind quoting those WoBs saying Investiture is not in the metal? I have not been able to find them. Presumably it would stay there but be inaccessible (similar to when you alloy metalmind into a different alloy, https://wob.coppermind.net/events/131/#e3969 ), however for changing the atoms directly we don't actually know. If the Investiture were in the metal, the Investiture would be in metal in the water. It'd either be in the water, or it would escape like from a broken gemstone. It's not in the water or the allotrope or the metal. It's in the key. And I would say that the Investiture actually is in the metal in the water, the WoB does not contradict that. If the Investiture is bound directly to atoms it would not escape. After all, electrolysis only breaks the bonds and separates the atoms, and we know that cutting metalmind in half simply means that each half contains only half the original store (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/398/#e13238). If you continue cutting them in half you could eventually get atom sized metalminds. So you are saying he is using the word 'Invested' to mean two different things? an object that contains a lot of investiture (Shardblade, Honorblade, godmetals, Nightblood) an object that is a key to Investiture, but is not directly Invested themselves And these two behave the same way for purpose of resisting Invested arts and other Invested objects? If so, why is ordinary metal not Invested per your definition, since it also serves as a key, yet does not resist Invested arts?

I disagree, if you completly disregard direct WoB stating investiture is literally in the metal (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/105/#e1143), you better have bulletproof arguments. And your theory also conflicts with other known properties that make Cosmere work. Specifically, why would metalminds resist Shardblades and pushes/pulls in your scheme, since they are not Invested and merely serve as a key/gateway?

Or the investiture is simply bound to the atom, and that can persists as long as the atom does not change to different element. This explains both the electrolysis dissolution and the allotropic change. Metal does store investiture in both Feruchemy and Hemalurgy. Both metalminds and spikes become invested (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/6/#e247), like a Shardblade (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/231/#e5692) or Nightblood, and those objects specifically do have Investiture in physical realm (Nightblood is invested via breaths which are in physical, https://wob.coppermind.net/events/80/#e5282). For Feruchemy we even know that the charge diffuses through the metal, and halving would halve the charge. Not to mention it is repeatedly stated that the charge is in the metal, e.g. Hemalurgic spikes are also invested Also both spikes and metalminds leak/decay In all Metallic arts the metal is a key, in the sense that the structure of the element or alloy determines the properties of the magic. In allomancy it is almost a literal key, in that the investiture comes from Spiritual and is shaped via the metal, however in both Hemalurgy and Feruchemy the Investiture is in the metal directly, and the changed effect in compounding comes from interference of this stored Investiture and the Investiture coming from Spiritual

As aluminum is an element you cannot have a different type of it, unless some weird spiritual shenanigans are involved. Additionally, Ghostbloods are aware of what aluminum does and employ it on Roshar. There is no hint that aluminum on Roshar acts differently than what would they expect (since they are mainly Scadrial adjacent organization).

Not pretending to speak for @Frustration , but I think what he means that we need to distinguish properties of 'Aluminum as metal on its own' vs 'Aluminum's function within metallic arts'. The contrast between A-Duralumin and A-Aluminum is the same as between A-Nicrosil and A-Chromium, one boosts the other diminishes (and also broadly similar to other pairings, like Zinc and Brass), so not out of ordinary for Allomancy. So from that perspective Aluminum's role within Allomancy is not necessarily 'surprising'. What is interesting is that Aluminum seemingly resists any and every expression of Investiture in Cosmere on itself and interferes with others. It resists Shardblades, Nightblood (to some extent), it cannot be Forged or Soulcasted, it blocks leaking of Investiture (can be used to take liquid from Perpendicularity) and can interfere with Connection (application in Fabrials). For that it is important to note that some (but not all, see duralumin) alloys of Aluminum have similar properties (the 'aluminum' bullets in Era 2 are not pure aluminum). However at the same time it is viable within Feruchemy and Hemalurgy, which goes against these principles. Then there are two questions (from my perspective) Why does Aluminum have this property of resisting Investiture acting on itself and why it interferes with Connection (if that is what it is), which is independent of any magic system. How (despite number 1) can be Aluminum used in Feruchemy when the metalminds become invested when storing? (potentially also how can it be used in Hemalurgy, but it is possible there it only removes the powers and does not become invested)

Quantum entanglement is 'just' a correlation, a result of the fact that what we would naively expect to be separable system is in fact not (i.e. separated entangled particles cannot be described via a simple tensor product of their states). QFT incorporates both quantum mechanics (and hence entanglement) and special relativity and it is still a local theory (see vanishing of space-like commutators), so unless something is very wrong with it, macroscopic entangled objects would still not lead to any FTL signaling. While Stormfather was not a party to Oathpact like the Heralds were, Tanavast was and at this time his cognitive aspect is already merged with Stormafather (based on what we know).

Assuming that the entity is not Stormfather and the Words that are close, yet far are ' Give it to me. Now. I need it. ' then I would guess the Words would be ' Give it to me. Now. I want it. ' or ' Give it to me. Now. I deserve it. ' . The reasoning being that the Words that are close sound quite voidish, so I would assume it is Voidish entity trying to create Void equivalent of Nahel bond. The part where Gavilar failed was implying need, putting himself in subservient position/extrinsic motivation, whereas he should demonstrate instrinsic motivation of wanting or feeling deserving of it. Of course, if it is Stormfather or something not of Odium, I have no clue.

So I finally had the time to read the prologue, and holy expletive! This was an interesting one. As many have stated Gavilar knew so little, I almost felt bad for the poor dude. However, every time I almost did, he chose to act like crem, so I guess he had it coming. That was one thing that surprised how he chose to act cold and cruel and manipulative, even as he sometimes doubted it. In the end he always doubled down on it. A couple of other things of note (before weighing in on the "Stormfather vs Stormfaker" debate): "Ba-Ado-Mishram. Granter of Forms. Their other god. The one who could rival Him. The one…we betrayed" . Yes it was said by Kalak, and we should never trust a Herald as they are insane. Yet, claiming a spren could rival a Shard? That is a big claim. Note that he does not say that Mishram thought she could rival Odium, he syas that she could. Maybe the original Godspren Adonalsium left on Roshar were bigger deal than we thought. The second interesting part is that Kalak claims they betrayed Ba-Ado-Mishram, how would they do that? Maybe I am missing something or forgot something, but from the reports we have on the False Desolations it was Humans+Radiants vs Parshmen, so how could they betray Mishram? Maybe Heralds pushed her/made deal with her that allowed her to Connect to Parshmen (Ishar could probably do it)? And when it went very wrong they backed out, and helped Radiants seal her. But why would they do that? It seems we have confirmation that aluminum boxes can be used to transport Investiture in Shadesmar even when ordinarily the Connection would make it impossible. Relevant quotes All of this pretty much confirms that aluminum boxes alleviate to some extent the usual issues that appear when trying to transport strongly Connected Investiture like Stormlight or Voidlight. However, the technique they use does not yet allow transport on solar distances, only within the same solar system. And now onto SF vs SF: I am not fully sure, but I do think that at least some of the time there is another entity masquerading as Stormfather. At first I thought that when it is invisible it was fake and when it was present with shimmer it was Stormfather. However it was the shimmering presence that reacted to "Give it to me,” Gavilar said. “Now. I need it." by saying it was almost the Words, so that would go against it. Despite that, the behavior is far too different through most of the chapter for me to think it is Stormfather. My evidence Different font - not very strong piece, considering the entity switches at the end of chapter Wildly different behavior in interaction with Gavilar vs Dalinar - could be explained by SF changing his mind, as he states at the end of chapter he regrets how he approached Gavilar, however this would not explain other seeming discrepancies Claims to seek replacement Herald not Bondsmith - this seems to me as one of the stronger ones. At the start the entity seems to be implying it needs a replacement Herald as they are discussing Aharietiam. Through the chapter it is also trying to make sure Gavilar understands what would await him (torture), which is fate of a Herald not of a Radiant. Closer to end it hesitates in saying he will become Herald implying a lie, however it then describes fate of Herald I would venture a guess that this entity wants Gavilar to become 'Herald' in the sense of someone bound to Oathpact and tortured on Braize. Howeve, Gavilar would not get Honorblade (as Honor is dead), nor any other powers outside of immortality. In other words, he would mainly get the negatives and very little of perks. This would explain the hesitation in my mind, as it would not be 'true' Herald-dom as Gavilar would expect it. The entity claims only most Heralds are insane - As far as I know, the only ones denying insanity of all Heralds were also Heralds; denying either their own (Ishar), or of others (Nale, Shalash). Claims "It is not the destination that matters, but how one arrives there." is not even close to Words - could be explained as the Intent behind the Words was not close Claims "Give it to me. Now. I need it" is almost the Words - This does not sound like any Radiant Ideal at all, much less any Oath. It does sound very void-y thought. (Give me your pain and all that) Is not emotional about Recreance - The Stormfather is very angry about Recreance and its consequences (his behavior towards Kal, protectiveness of Sibling, etc.). In contrast the entity describes it as unfortunate and necessary, but does not sound very emotional to me. Calls Gavilar its tool The behavior of "Stormfather" is inconsistent - Gavilar himself notes that the Stormfather sometimes behaves one way, and other times another way Provides different answer to the same question - Gavilar twice asks if the Stormfather regerts choosing him, both times phrasing it the same "Do you regret choosing me?". Once the entity gives a non-answer ("You are the one I have chosen.") and the second time does reply he regrets how he treated him "I regret, the Stormfather said, the way I have treated you. " The entity can feel Herald being killed - as far as I remember only other Heralds were shown to be affected? If Bondsmiths are meant to be guiding, Gavilar is manipulative (and not for the good of anyone but himself) Each piece is not necessarily definitive proof, but there is so many of them, it feels like something is going on. Now of course, if something is going on what is it? I think there are only three candidates, Ishar, some Voidspren (fragment of Mishram?), or some part of Tanavast. My evidence for each: Ishar: Faker claims to seek replacement Herald, Ishar in his moment of greater lucidity wants to remake the oathpact Ishar already had Bondsmith-like powers prior to becoming a Herald (hence should not need his blade at least for some feats), and Bondsmith powers predate both Heralds and Radiants The entity can feel Herald being killed Claims only most Heralds are insane (would not consider himself insane) Piece of Mishram the entity disapproves of Radiant-like words, but approve of more emotional and voidish ones the entity seeks only one 'Herald' (at least Gavilar has that impression) and Mishram would only seek one 'Voidsmith' Gavilar behaves as a sort of twisted mirror of Bondsmith (manipulative instead of guiding, pragmatic/profane instead of pious) however Mishram as far as we know has nothing to do with Oathpact -> so why would it react to Herald being killed? Piece of Tanavast entity has access to visions entity has interest in Oathpact and redoing it can feel Herald being killed (Honor was part of Oathpact, so it would make sense to have remaining connection) I will add that the other option, that it is Stormfather, he does lie and he has some agenda is a very intriguing possibility in its own right, as it would create quite a bit of tension throughout the book.

Feruchemy is 'end-neutral' (outside of small amount of external investiture needed to facilitate transfer, https://wob.coppermind.net/events/2/#e171), so what you put in is what you get out. You cannot really squeeze out more out of it, as it is already operating with effectively 100% efficiency. I don't think Hemalurgy could really help at all with this, you don't magically become heavier because you have Hamalurgical spike with F-Iron, and Feruchemy stores what attribute you possess, so there is no 'more Investiture' to squeeze out of metalminds. Now, we know there is a loss when tapping faster than when attribute was stored (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/243/#e6126) so maybe Feruchemical strength could help there? Where the loss incured due to compressing the attribute would be smaller?

This sounds awesome not gonna lie It flows really well to me, and it would tie the potential individual storylines together. One thing that feels off to me is that Gavilar would posses Gavinor, as the kid is ~3-4 years old only. That would make a lot of scene very weird, especially those with Navani. I would lean more in direction of him possessing either some Singer (as through gemhearts they are well suited for 'possession') or that T-Odium would grant Gavilar a body, as a dark mirror of Herald. Afterall T-Odium will not necessarily have the same hangups about investing too much of himself as R-Odium did.

We have a general answer here (but quite an old one, however I assume the basic principle 'more compression -> greater loss' still holds) Couple years later he answered a question based on this, so we could hope it still holds. So based on the WoB it is not additive, i.e. divide the time by 50, but multiplicative which will be bad. If you store x seconds at 50% capacity, then you could have x seconds at 150%, but only x/2-something at 200% and x/4-something at 250%. So ignoring the loss for the moment, it seems that tapping and compressing the attribute is exponentially inefficient going 1/(2^n) with n being the difference in percentage divided by storing factor (e.g. (250-150)/50) . if you would want to get to 50x the normal amount of attribute, you need to tap for 5000%, so the n here would be n = (5000-150)/50 = 97. So to get 1 second at 50 times the normal level, you would need 2^97 seconds of storing at 50%. That is roughly 31*10^21 years. Sadly that is a bit too long for any practical purposes, and we have still ignored the inefficiency factor. Of course it is possible that the math is not as bad, and as you go up it stops being so punishing. However as far as I know, this is the only numbers we have. And generally it seems that feats like tapping at such high compressions factors are accessible only to compounders, who would not be limited by time (up to a point of course). EDIT: Heh, realized that I have actually not answered the question exactly, so this is only covers how the attribute*time compressions seems to work (or have worked). The loss itself (the something factor) is not something we have raw numbers for, however based on his comments, it is something that also grows with more compression, so it will be increasingly relevant at higher compression factors.

If I might chime in, a possible 'physical' explanation could be that what Iron Feruchemy stores is specifically gravitational mass, not an inertial one, and these two are in some way distinct in Cosmere. Gravitational mass (m_g) is what 'causes' gravity (sort of like electric charge), and so storing and tapping this would give the desired effect of lowered/increased weight. Inertial mass (m_i) is a property that describes how much an object 'resists' acceleration. In our world m_g = m_i (at least we think so, currently they seem to match to 10^(-15) precision), but if this does not hold in Cosmere, then by storing only gravitational mass you would be decreasing your weight, while not changing your speed (as that should be covered by inertial mass, I think) or increasing/decreasing your density with respect to external forces like bullets, etc. (as those interact with inertial mass of atoms, not with gravitational mass). So this would mostly explain what is going on, although there would still be a need for some magical shenanigans to explain why do I-Feruchemist not crush themselves.

WoB RAFO'ed it, but if it was possible it would be incredibly difficult Since he then likens Leechers to Larkin and Nightblood, and Nightblood is far beyond any Leecher or Larkin, I don't think Leecher can really destroy a Shardblade even with Duralumin. (Nigthblood is so far the only thing capable of outright killing spren, that is not anti-investiture, Larkin never did such a thing based on what we know). EDIT (accidentaly posted early): So I don't think it is a question of being protected, but more that spren and shardblades are so much more invested that Leecher does not really stand a chance (barring special circumstances, like if you trapped a spren and leecher had time to recharge).

No. nonononono. Why did you bring me into this? Why did you drag me back? I have been free for 10 years, since that accursed summer of 2011. The meme was dormant, if not destroyed, buried deep in my psyche, where conscious though cannot reach. The best ethanols and tetrahydrocannabinols money (well, not a lot of money, but still) made sure of that. And now all the effort is for naught, as you turned it attention upon me. I curse your name for dragging me back. Anyhoo If I am to fall, I will not be alone....so.... @ScadrianTank

It is not a single WoB but a combination of two. First there is this (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/69/#e6261) From which we know that metal from SoS is associated to one of nine shards we knew at the time. Technically this could still mean that Trell only stole a metal of some shard and used it for its own purpose. However we also have this WoB (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/174/#e8554) From which we know that metal from SoS confirms that the Shard associated with the metal is the same as (or is closely associated with) the entity Trell.

I don't think that is necessarily true. While the bond system is designed to encourage progress, it does not force it. As @Frustration mentioned, plateauing was not unheard of, so if Radiant is comfortable at some level of Oaths, and feels they cannot/should/will not progress, they are free to do so. In Navani's example she willingly accapted first ideal (although you could argue it was under duress) and now can either progress if she will want, or stay (or safely break the bond). I don't agree, because I don't think there is any evidence that there is something supernatural making Radiants keep the Oaths. While yes, the Radiants are restricted in some of their freedoms, it is a restriction they chose and if they for some reason decide that the trade-off is not worth it they can break the bond (as Kaladin almost did, and as Shallan did). In the past it was probably more common, simply because breaking the bond would not dead-eye the spren involved. For the Dalinar example, that is a good example, but I think the issue is not the Oaths themselves and restrictions resulting, but the fact that Radiants treats Oaths as a moral system (which it is not necessarily). I think that some future Bondsmith could hold the same oaths as Dalinar, but also to think that sometimes breaking a promise is a moral thing. Radiants were not created to fight Desolations, Heralds were. Surgebinders (and their organizing into orders) was a side-effect that came from spren and other humans mimicking what was happening between Heralds and Honor. Due to social pressure they most likely were mostly fighting Desolations at first, but for vast majority of time of existence of orders no Desolation was going on, and so Radiants were effectively more strict monastic/martial order. EDIT: To be fully clear I personally believe that greater power should come with some enforceable restrictions, so to me Oath system is particularly nice in this regards. I.e. I believe that if you wish power greater than other humans, you should accept some restriction on how you can act in a trade-off.

Ah, I think I misunderstood you then, you meant using F-nicrosil to store ability from a spike the feruchemist would have in themselves? On that we have only RAFO (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/398/#e13200). I would personally think they still could not, as the while the spike 'staples on' different soul, it is still different soul and without the spike it would not hold. In medallions the F-nicrosil works discretely (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/316/#e11247), which would be an argument against it storing the strength from pewter (or more specifically the kinetic investiture gained from pewter burning), but medallions are in some sense limited (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/361/#e11519) so a true Soulbearer might be able to do that.

I would not think so, as the Investiture in spikes is not keyed to them (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/404/#e13536) and is most likely not in form they could use. You could burn them allomantically though for some weird effects (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/210/#e4616)

Leechers would have trouble destroying Shardblades and they would die before they could do anything to Nightblood (as they/it is much more invested than even Shardblades). Generally the speed at which leecher leeches is dependent on burn rate, and they are simply much slower at this than Nightblood. Also chromium burns relatively fast On the nicrosil, that is a good question. I think Nicroburst would not really do anything to Nightblood, as Nicroburst affect only kinetic investiture, whereas Nightblood's effect seems to be inherent to it, i.e. it is a passive one.

No, you said that lashing in opposite direction acts like reverse thrust, which it does not, because gravitational acceleration does not cause g-forces, because it is uniform through the entire body. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-force for reference) Except with regular hammer it takes around a dozen warform parshendi (so at least 2 as strong as Rosharan) multiple minutes. Shardblade does it in 3 hits. If you are seriously suggesting that a regular blade can break Shardplate as easily as Shardblade, you are not even wrong. Do you think no one would have noticed in the last 2000 years if that was the case? There is nothing hard to understand, only that in order for the bullet to push the armor away, the armor needs to dent first. Observe bullet hitting various materials at ultra slow mo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfDoQwIAaXg), see how the material deforms? That is exactly what Shardplate does not do, per every single source we have. Yes, but the force is what is important, the swing gives you much more. You will not be able to stab through armor with a dagger, period, because you physically cannot put that much force into it. EDIT: Even regular armor can stop modern small arms fire from a short distance (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80ZSM6qpJw8 ), and Shardplate is better than a regular plate (and 4-8 times as thick). If he is delivering the force through tip of the boot, than it could act close enough to piercing, only thing that matters is pressure (and potentially how much room there is between fibers potentially). Dozen of Singers Beating on it for minutes. It clearly has very different material properties from non-magical materials, but you are seriously underplaying how durable it is. No, for very simple reason, Shardblades are at least as thin as edges of regular blade potentially thinner (depending on how to interpret the comment that cutting stone with them is not useful as you cannot really pull it away), so they are still quite good at resisting shard edges. Spears are very poor against armor. And if those spears are in any way useful, why did no one use them to break Kaladin's plate, or at least easily crack a section?

I don't want to get too into this again, but Moash joined Alethi military and was put into bridge crews. See the quote on previous page, nowhere is it stated that it was punishment, it was simply what he (and others) were assigned to do. So clearly at least volunteers can be put into bridge crews. (which has no bearing on their treatment) For reference