Hoid’s #1 Soldier

I like your ideas more! I agree that mine were too allomantic, but also, most of the Realmatic metal effects we see are reflective of Allomancy (zinc and brass increase and diminish pain, respectively, in fabrials). I will say that I think that your ideas for cadmium and bendalloy would be better for zinc/brass, respectively. Then, you could port zinc and brass's effects to cadmium and bendalloy so that the planet has a reason to pursue cadmium/bendalloy production; zinc and brass would be more inefficient comparatively, but useful until they can start producing metals that can be more precise with the Sand. Or maybe shift zinc and brass's effects to pewter and tin (so that pewter and tin only effect the physical attributes of the Blood Sand at the cost of Investiture), have pewter and tin previous effects be cadmium and bendalloy's effects (pewter and tin seem like the best). Obviously, these are all small points. You could also use the feruchemical table for zinc and brass actually; perhaps brass causes for the Blood Sand to also become super hot! And perhaps that could be mechanically useful-- Blood Sand could be used as a sort of air cooler, with the brass sapping heat from nearby to give to the Blood Sand as it passes through. And then zinc makes the Blood Sand hyperactive (a la bendalloy) to reflect Feruchemical zinc. Do you have any idea for how the sand would be used in machines without the winds? You mentioned unkeying the Investiture. I meant that, since everything has a reflection in the cognitive realm, there is some small spark of thought that happens when the Blood Sand is Invested. I called it "spren" as shorthand for its cognitive reflection.

I was drawn to reply to this based on you wanting feedback on the magic system (my favorite thing to do!). First off though, would most of these metals that adjust the sand be used as flakes of metal, and mixed into the sand? And then, once Invested, the metal flakes fly with the sand and form a light Luhel bond with it (the sand being the mind behind the bond). It also kind of sounds like the sand would possess some sort of cognitive activity that is being made manifest when it's Invested. You talked about the wind Investing the sands. If that's how the sands get turned on, how do you think rockets can use them for fuel? I imagine if the Invested wind is from a specific direction, then there must be a source for it. It'd actually be really cool if the direction is because the "wind" is for some reason orbiting the planet. Or there's an origin. I just thought of the orbital winds just now. Anyway. I think bronze could also have an aura-based power similar to copper, where it vibrates more in the direction of the nearest pile of sand. That would make it able to create a sort of compass from bronze where it will point you towards where sand is. Or, if you were to place the vibrating piece of bronze under a dish of water, it could make a radar image sort of like cymatics (where it shows a dot for sand in relation to where the bronze is). And then, if you can look closely enough or listen closely to the vibration, the sound can also tell you what else that cloud of sand is empowered by. Gold could impact the sand by creating a delayed reaction with the sand; the sand's instinctive (or scientific/natural) functions are set back by a few seconds (could also be explained by the sand's spren viewing things late), causing it to harmlessly slap against your face before it then catches up with what's happening. Electrum could be to the sand's benefit, then. It gives the sand a degree of realization if it sees that something will stop it from moving, allowing it to use some of its Investiture to redirect its path. Cadmium is excellent for the sand; it slows down time the moment it makes contact with a target. The bubble created is thin, and expands around the particles of sand in a large enough radius that a coating of sand is enough to slow someone down in place. The sand moves so fast anyway that the effects of cadmium on the particles is somewhat negligible. Bendalloy is also very good for the sand. The resulting time bubble creates a little sphere where the Invested wind is trapped with the sand, allowing it to consume the wind. And then, when the bubble ends, the sand fires out with alarming speed due to the air rushing to fill the space. Could be good to make small, but extremely powerful bullets. An alternative for duralumin.

Honestly, I did not like this book's ending. It feels weird to have this dissonance with a fandom for once, but I didn't enjoy the ending of Wind and Truth. I felt that the changes were too sudden-- it felt like I was missing additional context (I'm caught up on the Cosmere fully) for certain points and character developments. That may have been my fault for not doing a re-read of RoW beforehand, or at least browsing the chapter summaries. The birth of Retribution is odd, as I am unsure why Taravangian was able to get it. I HATED Gavinor being brought in. I was actually hoping for Gavinor to be a character in the next arc-- but not like this. I was okay with Odium having Gavinor as his champion-- but did he have to be twenty years older? Did Gavinor need 20 years to develop, to become a strong warrior, only to immediately been frozen in the air by Odium? It made the idea of Odium grooming Gavinor for years for this feel useless. It's an unnnecessary cruelty that I don't think Taravangian would have committed. So much effort to teach someone for TWENTY YEARS. I am 22, almost 23, and I can't even fathom, with the immortality of a god, spending 20 years of my consciousness grooming a child only to be like "Sike!" That was easily my biggest gripe with the ending. I will trust Brandon on the rest-- taking Kaladin into another battle, restoring the Oathpact (which I felt ran contrary to what the Wind would want of anyone, frankly), and a few of the consequences of Retribution. It felt rushed after the moment of change, but I would've liked for a "Day 11-1400" or something as the last part to show a longer resolution Overall, I give the book a 6/10. -4 points for the last two days alone-- the other days are a solid 9/10 all throughout.

Moving this to the main thread as I would like to discuss the cosmere at large too.

The following is complete conjecture and I am okay with it being provably wrong. I might have missed a WOB that ruins this, I can't say for sure. I have an idea I just came up with as I read through this theory. It's been awhile since I've looked into Rhythm of War (I read it back when it had just came out), so apologies if I am misremembering. But I am thinking about the WOB where Brandon mentions that a Cognitive Shadow such as Kelsier could bond with someone in place of a spren. Where I am going with this is that a Herald, maybe, unconfirmed, could probably also supplement a spren in the bond. I think what Gavilar had with Ishar was one such bond-- a slight bond where Ishar used his Bondsmith powers, alongside his place as a Cognitive Shadow, to form a bond with Gavilar. Similar to how spren gain intelligence the longer they are involved with their knight, I think that the same would then apply to Ishar; Ishar was able to be intelligent enough to plan and be more coherent. And, of course, after Gavilar dies, I think the Connection impacted Ishar, which brought him back to being insane again.

I slept on this book all year thinking I wasn't going to enjoy it as much as the Cosmere novels. I even kept the hardcover in its wrapping. I read it this past week and I was blown away! I think this was my second favorite novel in the Secret Projects sequence. I think my rankings would be Sunlit Man, Frugal Wizard, Yumi, and then Tress. Yumi is very close behind, and I might push it to be ahead of Frugal Wizard since I'm still fresh from reading Sunlit Man and Frugal Wizard and may be biased. Really loved the magic system. As a fan of mythology, reading the alternate tale made me giddy with joy. I loved the worldbuilding, the goofiness of the main character (Upset he stopped saying "Hot damn!" after Part 1, though) and the atmosphere of the possibilities. The Epilogue leaves me wanting more. I'd be interested in seeing what other alternate dimensions exist, and how the rest of the world is different if there are already confirmed to be gods there.

Yeah it was what got me thinking about kandra again. I do think that it was the role he had at the time— to act loyal to Vin— that led to his actual loyalty, though. Inhabiting the role of obedient servant loyal to Vin is what made TenSoon have his Identity shift into believing that so. I think definitely that for MeLaan especially, she established her personality. But yes, there is a degradation of Identity as a whole when the spikes are out; I mean, they are what give the kandra sapience. I think kandra develop personal identities the longer they are in bones belonging to no one/inhabiting things at their choice. Like kandra in Era 2 have a point of wearing bones they like, and the kandra in the Homeland had True Bodies to wear that weren’t tied to a specific person already. I think kandra definitely have their own spiritwebs, but removing the spikes cause the kandra to “bleed” their soul. Sort of like how removing a sharp object in the body unplugs the hole it creates, so you start bleeding until you put the object back in.

I’m a big fan of Hemalurgy and its potential. And after giving it a little thought, I think there are some cool ways it could become involved in the future of Scadrial, and the cosmere as a whole. But this thread is for anyone who wants to discuss Hemalurgy and it’s effects! First off, I had an issue trying to wrap my mind around kandra. How exactly, in terms of Investiture and the jazz, do they work? I’m sure people have discussed it before; I just didn’t find anything in my preliminary research that matches quite what I aim to say. As such, here’s my theory. Kandra, and koloss too but moreso Kandra, are basically lacking in Identity. To start, I think we can all agree that Hemalurgy ruins one’s spiritweb, leaving holes in it. That’s just fact. And we can also agree, I hope, that healing works by having the user heal to the Spiritual ideal of the person, and how they perceive themselves. This is why trans men and women with Investiture heal into the sex they perceive themselves as. And that’s when I thought of shapeshifting; if things change in the Physical to match a Spiritual self, then perhaps that property applies to kandra shifting. Due to their ruined Identity, they can basically convince themselves to become something different. But they also work with the bones of others to this end— by convincing bones, even subconsciously, to be used again like how Kelsier could get fire to start by appealing to the identity of firewood. But because they still retain an Identity of being changeable, they can manipulate the form they inhabit and move organs around still. This is why some kandra feel like they need a role to inhabit, and tend to not break character easy. They can genuinely convince themselves on a Spiritual level that they are someone else; and depending on how ripped apart their Identity is, the more easily they shapeshift to the next set of bones. But, I open up the floor to any Hemalurgy theories. I just want somewhere to read all of these hemalurgic ideas! Please feel free to discuss them!