Windrunner

No my theory is that they are both responsible for a separate half of the power of Feruchemy. Preservation's involvement is just in the first part, the actual storage of metalminds. No power gain is involved. Ruin is responsible for the other half, the "Ruining" of the the power through use. The more you take out at one part the more is Ruined. If my theory was that both Ruin and Preservation were responsible for the tapping part, then I would agree with your logic on them canceling out.

I didn't say that Ruin "wants" Feruchemy to lose power when an attribute is overdrawn. I said I think it's similar to Hemalurgic decay, because any magic system Ruin is involved in is subject to some sort of power loss.

I can see your theory being true potentially. I just think that involving both Ruin and Preservation in it somehow makes more sense, because Feruchemy is a balence magic.

That is true, the only potential solution I can think of is that it's being used in a magic system that involves Preservation, so maybe that takes dominance over the fact that Atium is of Ruin? Burning atium is after all, the best Allomantic power to Preserve yourself in a fight.

I just have to scream for a second. There is now a progress bar for Stormlight 2 on Brandon's blog!!! It's still at zero but I read somewhere that he has a lot plotted out already, so hopefully it's going to be filling up fast after AMoL revisions are done.

Actually atium does have a side affect, we just don't know what it is yet. I wonder what it does, maybe increasing your connection to Ruin somehow? I've also wondered if burning atium could recharge your Hemalurgic spikes. This might explain why even though Vin removes her earring for long periods of time, it is still strong enough to allow her to pierce copperclouds.

The fact that a when Feruchemist surges (I'll use the term for now but I hope there is going to be a canon one eventually) an attribute he loses power has always confused me. Feruchemy is end-neutral, so losing power doesn't make any sense. But today while I was trying to figure out how interactions between Ruin and Preservation made Feruchemy, I think I may have stumbled upon a potential reason. I attempted to fit Feruchemy into Ruin and Preservation and realized that could they power it half and half quite nicely. Preservation is what allows the power to be stored. Ruin on the other hand lets it be used, however not without a cost. Rather like Hemalurgic decay when an attribute is overdrawn it ends up with less power overall because it is, after all, Ruin that is allowing the attribute to be "Ruined" or used up. Am I making any sense or what? Feedback is always welcome.

I think Odium probably has a magic on Roshar. Just because he didn't originally start out there doesn't mean he hasn't been their long enough for his presence to start affecting the inhabitants of Roshar. I think Endowment has done a similar thing by recently coming to Nalthis, and yet s/he has a magic system (not trying to toot my own horn, but if you want to check out more of what I think about this look at my 'Endowment Recently Arrived on Nalthis' theory, I think it's pretty good)

Well I think he didn't have to burn gold often because he had compounded so much that his Feruchemical health reserves were extremely full, so he could just constantly tap them, and occasionally burn a metalmind to refill them.

Well there must have been one form or another of humanity, because I'm pretty sure that Hoid and the first two books of Dragonsteel are Pre-Shattering. I think Hoid had something to do with the Shattering as well, he knows the Original Shardholders by name and apparently had some sort of rivalry thing going with Bavadin and Rayse. My personal Shattering belief is that Andonalsium was God of all the cosmere, ruler of an infinite number of worlds who could all use Lightweaving until for some Hoid related reason, Andonalsium shattered. The Shards, as lesser gods, picked worlds to rule over, except Rayse as Odium, who set up his base on whatever world is considered Damnation by the people of Roshar, and then began in his quest, Splintering Shards and taking names, with the goal of being the only Shard in the cosmere, and seeing it all filled with hatred.

I think your opinion of what Andonalsium is differs from the majority of opinions. You seem to think it's a type of paradise world or something? I've always been under the impression that Andonalsium was a sort of super shard, made up of all 16 others. The best evidence for this comes from Mistborn the Hero of Ages. It speaks of a shattered presesence spanning the void, which sounds kind of like a God (capital G) to me.

I don't know that the quote that you posted holds true anymore. It's from 2009 I believe and there is a slightly newer one, that might indicate that Brandon has changed his mind a bit on what burning a Hemalurgic spike does. This might make you a permanent Allomancer or Feruchemist, but I don't know what it would do if you burned one of the Human attributes. It might also change your personality to like that of the person the spike was made from. I wonder if the mental weakness that comes with Hemalurgy would be increased if you burned a spike.

Chapter 19 is up now too. I really love seeing the roots of Mustborn, Warbreaker, and even a little Stormlight Archive. Only three chapters left. Are Alcatraz annotations next or Alloy of Law? I'd prefer to see Alloy of Law next, but I can understand that Alcatraz fans have probably been waiting a long time for their turn. What I'd really love to see are Way of Kings annotations, but I guess those aren't even written yet. Oh well, maybe Brandon will write them while working on Stormlight 2.

I kind of personally doubt this. I mean if you look at what Calmseer Returned to do, healing her daughter, while touching, isn't exactly the most important thing in the world. She helped people but I don't think it was really crucial. I can except that infant Returned are a kind of special case maybe, possibly someone who wasn't supposed to die, like you said.

Well by this point Vin suspected that there were more Allomantic metals, she just didn't know what they were. If I were tearing apart the Lord Ruler's palace looking for Atium, and I came across some mysterious powdered metal I'd probably try it out, especially since I knew that there were secret metals.

Thanks for the compliment, Tulir. I'm glad you like my theory, it just popped into my head this morning. I'm not sure that twins is the answer. I think it would probably would have mentioned that every infant Returned had a twin that is not Returned. But I'm not saying this never happened, so I think it's a very real possibility, just not every time. As for your other idea about infants being given Breath, I think it has something to do with how a Returned can have children. Did you read the last paragraph of my theory? It says exactly the same thing that you said, albeit in slightly different words. In an unrelated note, I think all of those actions are pretty heroic. It just depends on how narrow your definition of "hero" is. I disagree here. You don't need a reason to come back in order to have the ability to Return. If you get to the other side of that Iridescent Wave and you gave your life for someone, Endowment will show you the future. If you see a reason to Return you can but if you dont see something you care about enough to Return, you don't have to. Having something they want to change is not a requirement to be able to Return, it's the reason they want to. It's not because Lightsong wanted to change the future that he could Return, it's because he wanted to change the future so he chose to Return. He could have just as easily gone on. And people who Return aren't guaranteed to accomplish their goals.

So are there still Atium mistings now? I'm not sure if it would still happen. I wish we had a more detailed explanation of how Preservation changed Allomancy. I still don't understand how precisely 16% of the people of Scadrial had Allomancy. Either the mists made more or left some people unsnapped, both of which seem equally unlikely.

The process of Returning has always left me wondering, who can do it, and why? We know that the Priests of Hallandran have beliefs that are partially correct Warbreaker Annotations chapter 44 So we know that it is related slightly to bravery. My next thought was to look at the conditions of their Returning to see if there is a clue there. We all know what Lightsong did, sacrificing his life to save his niece's life. The next one we know of is Calmseer Warbreaker Annotations Chapter 47 Again another sacrifice, Calmseer gives her life caring for a sick family. The last Returned who's circumstances of Returning we know is Blushweaver. Warbreaker Annotations Chapter 58 This one is a bit different from the other two, Blushweaver gives up her life to denounce criminals. So now I started to try to draw parallels, that also fit in with the intent Endowmwnt, Nalthis's Shard. And my conclusion? It's not just dying in a heroic way that allows you to Return, although it could. If you give up (endow!) your life for someone else, or something you believe in, you are given the ability to Return. Lightsong gave up his life for his niece, Calmseer gave up her's to help people, something she found important, and Blushweaver gave up her's for the truth, something it seems likely she believed in, since she was willing to risk her life to reveal it. And infant Returned? The best idea I have is perhaps their mother's weren't going to be able to survive giving birth to the infants, so they subconsciously give their lives to let their mother's live, allowing them to Return. That last one feels a bit contrived. Any ideas, comments, or questions? Feel free to post them and let me know what you think.

I think you're right on with this Chaos. So the people of Scadrial knew about Hemalurgy before the Ascension. I imagine that the Lord Ruler suppressed this knowledge in the Northern Hemisphere so that no one would understand how Inquisitors were made. But in the Southern, this knowledge would never have been lost. If anyone would have symbols like this it would be them. (or maybe the Kandra like someone said above)

One more shot to get this without paying! If this doesn't work out I'm just going to have to get a digital copy

from Brandonothology, Ancient Q&A Darn, this screws the theory that I was working on. I'm thinking that Odium must have come from wherever Damnation is, that planet must have been his Shardworld, one of the remaining three of the Core ten worlds. New idea, Roshar was Cultivation's world, Odium invaded and Honor came to defend her and defeat Odium, but somehow got himself killed by Odium. Or maybe it was Honor and Cultivation there originally and Odium attacked with his horde of Voidbringers. Spoilers Cosmere/ Elantris

There is an actual in-cosmere reason, I got this from the Brandonothology.

Personally I really like the idea that the Thinker is Demoux. I liked him the second that he appeared in M:TFA. Unfortunately I see a couple problems. First I don't really remember Demoux being the kind of person who would be thoughtful. He was actually a bit rash, especially when he leaped to fight Bilg(?) in that duel. But I will concede that he could have changed over the centuries from Mistborn to Alloy of Law. Another problem is immortality. I forgot that he was a Seer, which puts him one step closer to immortality, but he would need the ability to store age. However Marsh has mysteriously obtained that ability too so I won't discount the possibility that Demoux did too. And the last is that he would have to leave behind his Terriswoman wife. That would make me sad, but I guess he could have joined up after she died. Hmm, I seem to have discounted all of my own qualms as I was typing them. Haha I guess I support Demoux for the Thinker then.

Hmm I never noticed that. Windrunners actually breath in the Stormlight but Soulcasters apparently don't, they stay it stays in the gems. I wonder if that has something to do with the body focuses? Windrunners body focus is inhalation and they breath in Stormlight. The Order that Shallan is most commonly believed to be in is Shash, and the focus of that is the blood. When Shallan does her Soulcasting does it mention anything about her blood?(Aside from the fact that her first Soulcasting was to blood which might be a coincidence)

If I had to speculate on the current state of medicine I would say at the level of New York 1910 at least, or possibly above. With such a small population all living in a relatively close area the risks of a deadly disease wiping out the population would be greatly increased. This would create pressure to make medicine that is better at protecting themselves. Of course I'm no expert. I love how technology progresses at different levels on Scadrial, it makes so much sense and yet is always a little unexpected.