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Well, to be fair, that is Vin and Elend. Elend's a gold-tier Mistborn, and Vin burns enough pewter to near enough be a savant with it. I wouldn't imagine the average Mistborn at the time (thinking someone like Shan Elariel) would've faired nearly as well as they did. Koloss also move slower than a Radiant would, meaning the disparity between the pair of them and the Koloss that much greater. Also, Chromium burns quickly as well. We know that it acts like aluminium in the body, meaning the Mistborn likely gets one crack at it. However, Sprenblades aren't dependent on Stormlight. Once the Stormlight and Chromium empty, the Radiant can shift their blade. Plus, the Radiant's unlikely to just stand there while the Mistborn Leeches them. The scenario I keep imagining is the two combatants grappling each other, the Mistborn draining the Radiant and stabbing at them with a glass dagger. But the Radiants close too, and their weapon strike cannot be blocked, no matter how good their pewter is. Even a normal person can survive a handful of dagger shots. Nothing a Mistborn can do survives a Sprenblade hit. Pewter is insane though, I agree.

Ah, but who will ally with who? Which combination of Investiture will we see? It's all rather exciting

I think this is the best breakdown so far mate, especially with how you've laid out all of the information and discussion. An interstellar space age cosmere war would be fairly boring if one magic was inherently superior to the other! I feel that what this discussion has really brought out is that the fight would be a lot more even than defendants of either side originally thought. I certainly find myself in that camp. Honestly, it makes me really excited for when we get to see these two sides clash! The Radiants and their bombastic powers vs the Mistborn/ Mistings with their versatility. Really awesome for sure.

I'd have to agree. For me, it really came down to the time we spend with Steris. She's such a fascinating character due to the way she sees the world, and that really gets fleshed out in the later books. As cool a character as Marasi is, I do feel she isn't quite as interesting or unique as Steris.

That's a really good way of putting it. Can't go wrong with the good ol' Sword and Shield combo.

Not specifically responding to any discussions here, but wanting to pass on the following info I found on the Arcanum. We've seen 3rd Ideal Windrunners routinely travel in front of a Highstorm without a ton of difficulty. In fairness, their Stormlight is consistently been replenished, but I think this information is worth considering when discussing the differences in speed.

Really interesting point about the masks! Hadn't noticed that before. For me though, I don't think the appearance of the spren themselves are terribly unusual. The Rosharans still use fires fairly regularly. Spheres don't cook things after all, plus we see flamespren a decent number of times through the series. In addition, the amount of moisture that fills Rosharan air (especially after a highstorm) would have ample opportunity to generate mists. There's also a lot of water in general, meaning early ocean mists would be fairly common. Now, does that mean there's no connection with Scadrial, the literal mist planet? I suppose we'll have to wait and see... Interesting theorizing though!

Whoo! Congratulations, you're officially a cosmerenaught Feel free to ask away!

Yeah! The buddy cop dynamic is so good, plus Steris and Marasi are such gems. It's funny too - it's been awhile since the last cosmere book, and then next year we get three of them!

From what I understand, the 'Sword' terminology isn't significant like the term 'Avatar' is. I think you nailed it with the ruin to preserve terminology. Harmony, caught between his two intents, couldn't really act. So he decided to forge someone who could act on his behalf and be very effective at it. The usage of Sword also ties into it being a weapon, so I feel that Wax's capability to understand, find and enact violence is a heavy part of it. It's also not that different to Wayne, but Wayne's such an oddball that I feel Harmony couldn't have placed his focus on him. A lot of Wayne's story is also tied to Wax and how Wax took him in and trained him as a lawman. So even if Wayne is something akin to a Sword, Wax was one first. Hope that helps!

There's some really fantastic observations here! Personally, I've always seen the Basin itself as magically Invested to create the most livable climate all year round. We've seen that the Roughs are warmer than the Basin, despite sitting at a similar point above the equator. Regarding the non-Interactions of the people, I think there are a few points to consider. For one, both societies were almost completely destroyed during the Catacendre, which would've taken a lot of time to recover from - both physically and culturally. We also know that the relatively 'easy' life of the Basin slowed their technological progress and, likely, their explorative progress as well. Why travel over the Himalayas or across tumulted seas when all the food and wealth is in the Basin? Another point to consider is that the Malwish Continent isn't a happy one. We know there's five main cultures throughout the continent, and it's likely they would've been fairly combative over the medallions during the past three-hundred years. Maybe that would've slowed their exploratory progress northward? We don't know how long they've had airships either - that might be a (relatively) recent invention. Regretfully though, the Lost Metal was very light on additional information regarding the Southern Scadrians. I'd imagine that's to increase the amount of new lore that Era 3 will have, but it's a bit unfortunate.

Lol indeed! I did the same. Lost Metal's a great read as well, especially if you're a fan of Era 2.

Ha ha! Absolutely correct. At the end of the day, not accounting for plot armour, it really is a match of likelihood and skill. I think you've hit the nail on the head with the 4:1 ratio, and I reckon that flips when the Mistborn has atium - 4:1 their favour at least. Might be closer to 90%. Yeah, that's a valid point. I think he'd still kill a Mistborn, because a single nick with Nightblood turns regular people to smoke, eating through their innate Investiture. I re-read that Lift scene too, and Lift wasn't really full of Lifelight - she made a mention of how hungry she was prior to Nale pulling out the Larkin. With Szeth, he was brimming with Stormlight, and Nightblood ate that wickedly fast. Still though, you are correct. The only interaction with Larkin I can think of is Chiri-Chiri eating the Fused Lightweaving in Oathbringer, but we know that Illusions themselves don't take a ton of Investiture to create or maintain. It isn't reliable to know the rate that Leeching, Larkin and Nightblood drain at, only that it's comparable. One other thing to consider, even with Leeching, is that the Radiant could replenish Stormlight from their pocket spheres, similar to a Mistborn replenishing metals. And it's quicker to breathe in than it is to uncork and swallow a vial. Though that's only really relevant if the Mistborn can't follow up their Leeching with an instant-kill attack which, if they're at the point that they're utilizing Leeching, they would be more likely to do. This is such a terrifically deep discussion! Love all of the different thoughts and theories about how the power sets would interact.

Ah yes, can attest to the Sanderson Rabbit Hole! Reckoners was one of the series I started with as well; that and Mistborn. Back when evil superheros were a bit more novel.

Welcome! Relatively new myself - always cool to meet more Cosmerenaughts! Question: What got you into reading Brandon Sanderson?

Just a quick thought on this point - I believe the main reason Kaladin (or any Radiant) can't block a Shardblade strike is more to do with the fact that he's living, rather than how much Stormlight he has. Shard and Sprenblades fuzz when they cut through living matter. No one living can 'block' a Shardblade, not unless they pull a Dalinar and catch the Blade. Which, in this battle, would put the Mistborn in a very precarious situation as the Blade could elongate and skewer them. I'm digging all the points about Leeching though - it's a lot more viable than I initially thought. However, because we don't know exactly how it reacts with other forms of Investiture, it's a bit harder to pin down. It clears metals instantly, but that's likely because the metal it's clearing isn't Invested, while Stormlight is Investiture. Plus, Intent could possibly be a factor. If they are Intending to Leech a Metal specifically, they may have trouble as it's specifically Stormlight (that is conjecture though - they might be able to drain it off the bat). There is one point of comparison that's possibly worth considering when discussing Leeching though. Nightblood. Brandon has stated that Larkin, Leechers and Nightblood are all working off of the same general principles from a cosmere perspective. We've seen that Nightblood drains Investiture (Breaths and Stormlight) alarmingly quickly, but not instantly. I could be wrong, but I don't believe a Leeching would be at the same level as Nightblood, not without duralumin. That's my main reasoning for why I believe that a Mistborn Leeching a Radiant wouldn't be instantaneous.

Thanks for reminding me! Totally forget about both of these.

That'd be a neat way to start the series actually; our new Protagonist attending Wax's funeral.

Unfortunately it's currently a RAFO.

I think you've nailed it here! Raw Investiture, without Intent or Identity, is more of a general power source (eg, the Dor). For that Investiture to be useful, it needs to have an Intent and a Command, like all magic in the cosmere. For the Shards, the Intent is defined by the portion of Adonalsium that makes up the Shard and the Command by the Vessel within.

Difficult to say as we don't know how much Connection would play a factor, but I reckon it'd be more the former. A lashing changes the direction that gravity pulls you. The only way to change the rate of acceleration is by increasing the Lashings. So yeah, I feel you might be a bit slower, but likely not to a massive extent, and you could always up the speed by creating more Lashings.

As others have said, I feel this statement lacks depth. If he's not to your taste, that's understanable, but asking for the Forums to 'back you up' would likely require more of an argument or reasoning, I think. I've always liked Adolin. He's certainly entitled and gets away with more than he should due to his position, but overall he's a good person. I always enjoy reading his chapters as they offer a nice contrast to many other main characters dealing with heavier amounts of trauma. His scenes in ROW were some of my favourites. Plus, him being a 'player' hasn't been a factor in his character since he began courting Shallan. I feel he's grown past that. Also, I don't personally see him as having anger issues, at least nothing more noteworthy than other characters. He's unafraid to voice his opinions, and he can certainly be impulsive, but most of the times we've seen him properly angry are justifiable. Like his interactions with Sadeas, his older friends in the Shardblade duel and the Honorspren in Lasting Integrity during their trial. He's not perfect, but no character is. Again, if he doesn't vibe with you, totally fine. But I don't feel that's enough to say that he flat out sucks as a character.

We still don't fully understand the internal perspective of the Lifeless, but we do know that it's not an effective way of reanimating a person and that any magic they originally had innately (ie Allomancy and likely Surges) isn't carried over. See the below WOB's That being said, we do know that infusing a Lifeless with a bunch of extra Investiture, said Investiture can start taking on a personality, much like a Cognitive Shadow, related to the original individual. In the case of a Fused, this probably gets really muddled. The possession process they use involves killing the original singer, but when the Fused dies, their soul leaves the body and gets reincarnated elsewhere. Therefore, I'd reason that the Lifeless Cognitive personality would likely resemble the original singer more than the Fused, and therefore have access to those skills (with a bit of Fused overlap, perhaps). Great question!

Gotcha - wasn't sure if you were referring to the bond or the spren part of the statement. I suppose it would be accurate to say it's 'one' magic system if you phrased it more like this; All Rosharan magics are linked to the spren, with mortals being able to access this magic via a bond with certain spren. But if we're saying that, I suppose you could also say that all cosmere magic is essentially one magic system, as every one relies on utilising Investiture through Intent and Command (since the spren are basically just chunks of Investiture).

I think it comes down to the sheer amount of Investiture. Truespren that make up Shardblades are wickedly invested, so I reckon the Leecher would burn through their metal before making much of a dent in the Spren proper. Relevant WOB below: Not sure about lesser spren though...