Windrunner

We have seen the spiritual realm already, in fact. Secret History spoilers:

I'd chalk this one up to it simply being the first book Brandon had published. The annotations don't get updated when he changes something, so I'm sure Brandon has decided that the Pool is a perpendicularly since the they were written.

I actually asked him about the pool on First of the Sun: So, not an explicit confirmation that it's a perpendicularity, but it is definitely not a normal pool of water.

Well, Sel has the only symbol-based magic system we've seen so far, so I'm not sure what else it would really work on. I'm not sure if I'm understanding your question correctly.

We actually know why Hoid stole the Moon Scepter. This is a pretty heavily paraphrased quote from the London Forbidden Planet signing during the Shadows for Self tour:

They're designing a symbol for every Shardworld, even Threnody and First of the Sun, so maybe you could use the Nalthis one they make? Or if all else fails, you could try some artistic interpretation of the artisan's script from Hallendran.

The Death Rattles are actually of Odium, not Honor or Cultivation. They are the result of the presence of one of the Unmade, Moelach. It seems to be a sort of area of affect thing. Here's a quote on it from the Chapter 82 epigraph of Words of Radiance. Taravangian makes it quite clear in his interlude that this "manifestation" is the Death Rattles.

I believe that symbol is the new symbol of the cosmere, recently unveiled at Phoenix ComicCon. I don't love the cover, it seems bland to me.

The Bands grant incredible Allomantic power, but yes the metals are still necessary. Marasi and Wax both ingest vials containing all sixteen metals though, so they can use Allomancy. See this quote from Bands Chapter 28. She gives a vial to Wax as well, when she revives him. The Bands are amazing, but still bound by the basic rules of Allomancy. Does this answer your question?:)

Well, there's probably some of that, but he also has index copperminds that allow him to find where he stored specific information.

That's possible, it's difficult to say. Whatever the explanation, the brain does have more to do with a person's Cognitive aspect than say an arm would. I'm curious how Brandon actually has the brain explained within the confines of the three Realms.

Sure, they have authority, but destroy strikes me as an odd word to be used there. Either way it doesn't necessitate that they have greater power, merely implies it in my mind. The myths of the great power of the Heralds combined with the odd changes to Jezrien's Blade makes me believe that they had powers beyond a typical Surgebinder. From a narrative standpoint, I think it makes more sense for the deity-like leaders of the Knights Radiant to have a little extra. As a reader, I'd be disappointed if all the Heralds amounted to were essentially slightly weaker Knights Radiant with less efficient Surgebinding and no oaths. It doesn't make sense to me.

The point I'm making is that in all the times that Szeth draws his Blade, there is never a mention of these glyphs or it being a work of art. It is always described as a small, silvery, double-edged Blade. (If anyone can find an instance where they are mentioned, please feel free to correct me.) The glyphs on Sunraiser, Elhokar's Blade, get mentioned regularly, as do the patterns on Adolin and Dalinar's Blades. I find it odd that there is literally never a mention that Szeth's Blade happens to be a masterwork of art. Also, another thing I think you should keep in mind is that the Radiants weren't always there. There may have been some disorganized Surgebinders (it's not really clear right now) in the fighting, but the Heralds for the most part were working with men and women who were wielding bronze spears and leather armor against creatures that could literally throw lightning at them. The Heralds need some edge here, and I believe it to be that they had extraordinary abilities. Ishar literally threatened all of the Surgebinders with destruction if they did not organize themselves into orders of Radiants. There is no way one Surgebinder could accomplish that on his own. This all points to Heralds having powers greater than other Surgebinders.

I'd love to! Let's look back at the description of Taln's Blade on the night of his arrival in Kholinar. So, there's that description. Now, lets look at the Blade that Dalinar summons when threatening Amaram, said to be the same Blade that Taln carried. These two descriptions are not the same. A cleaver doesn't look like a spike, and it does not make sense for a Blade to be narrow and wider than most simultaneously. These are two different Blades. Further evidence is seen here, when Dalinar's Blade screams. Honorblades were never spren that were betrayed, so they do not scream. When Kaladin hold's Jezrien's Honorblade, he hears nothing. Someone swapped the Blade that Taln was carrying, believed by most to be his Honorblade, for a different Shardblade of unknown origins. Brandon won't say as much, but it's been heavily implied. The only other thing we know for sure is that Hoid is not the one who swapped the Blades. Back to what we were discussing, something is definitely different about the Honorblades. Check out the description of the Honorblades (granted, Jezrien's is not there yet, but I believe it's a safe assumption that it also fits this description.) Now, let's look at Szeth's Blade in the modern day. No mention of artistry or glyphs? What has changed? Jezrien's Blade is not as it once was. I don't know why this is, perhaps it is simply that it is not carried by its true owner. But whatever the reason, I suspect this change in appearance has something to do with the fact that Jezrien's Blade doesn't seem that powerful beyond granting Surgebinding.

Very cool, I've never seen anyone try to quantify Shardplate's strength before. Can't wait to see what else you come up with!

I also think we sometimes forget how rare and valuable Shards are. Most people can't get their hands on one Blade in the first place, let alone two.

Got it! Thank you:)

If you watch carefully Hoid also uses the word bunny when talking to Kaladin and he asks young Shallan at the Middlefest fair what the "hound" portion of the word axehound means.

Huh, that is very interesting. This adds a whole new dimension to a comment from Mistborn: Secret History: This makes me wonder if this is something Autonomy has done intentionally. Perhaps he wants his system to be autonomous from the rest of the cosmere?

I have seven tabs open in one window right now, and it's already stressing me out. Your screenshot is going to give me a nervous breakdown. xD

This is a good point, I left it out intentionally because I wanted to stay quite close to things we know for sure. Cultivation may have a hand in making life possible on Roshar, but highstorms predate the Shattering of Adonalsium, so surely life existed there before Cultivation had a hand on Roshar. The whole timeline is a little shaky right now, which is why I figured I'd leave it alone.

Yeah, I've had a similar issue as well. It does seem odd that you can click those buttons by accident when your cursor isn't even over them.

I don't think we can say the brain is totally unrelated to a person's Cognitive aspect, otherwise people in the cosmere wouldn't be able to get traumatic brain injuries. Perhaps the brain is the area that allows the body to communicate with its own Cognitive aspect.

I think that blue line you're referring to divides post that you've seen from posts that you haven't. It seems to be the case to me.

Here's something that I can't tell if is an error or not. When someone posts in a topic I'm viewing, it informs me and asks me if I want to load that new post. When I click on it, it does load the post, but it doesn't automatically scroll me down to the bottom like I believe it used to. Maybe this isn't an error, but it seems odd to click a button to see a new post and then have to manually scroll down the page to see that new post.