Qianweilian

We actually have the confirmed location of both. Harmony's is somewhere in the South and controlled by the Malwish; Retribution's is under the Shattered Plains in Narak. As we ca see both historically and in BoM, stealing technology is much more complicated than stealing a schematic; even if they can build a prototype, production on the scale needed for an army is something else entirely. What exactly do you mean by this? Enforcing breeding programs is a very long term strategy and would require them to control Scadrial already. I honestly think this topic is an extremely fun exercise, but it has been argued to death every time a new book comes out. My conclusion is that neither planet can likely occupy the other. As a result, I'm probably going to be less involved in this discussion, as it isn't really being very productive.

I don't think that the BoM are normal metalminds. We still don't know why they mysteriously ran out in TLM.

What I meant is these are the characters that could directly enter the Physical realm outside the perpendicularity. I didn't think of Deepest Ones though, that could pose an issue. I was planning for the Scadrians to use explosives like dynamite and automatic weapons, which I suspect will take a lot to heal. Also, they have to go back to Roshar in any case to come back. It's mentioned at the end of TLM that they have a small stockpile. I would agree, but Scadrial will likely produce their bombs faster as they actually have an industrial base. That was mostly just me theorycrafting. If Brandon ever brings fullborn back (other than a potential TLR novella of something), they're probably going to be nerfed hard. Not going to lie, totally forgot about him. I agree, which is why I think that...

Which one is it? These are kind of contradictory. I will assume that they can use the perpendicularities as PoV characters in the books do in my response. What exactly does this mean? If Retribution can directly give Radiants stormlight or help them divide Warlight, that changes the entire calculus. I'll go through Rosharan and then Scadrian capabilities: Roshar Without Retribution's help, only the corrupted radiants will have any power that they can actually use and most of them are locked in Urithiru, which they would require Retribution's aid to leave. Without the oathgates, Narak will become a chokepoint for Shadesmar access, being both defensible, but probably also hard to send the armies of an entire planet through. However, mention of armies gets us to another point. Without Retribution's help (again), soulcasters are unavailable. This presents a serious issue as the number of Fused and corrupt Radiants able to soulcast will be limited, only allowing a fairly small force of Rosharans to get anywhere after leaving the planet. As seen in the map I attached (from Arcanum Unbounded), Roshar and Scadrial are not incredibly close, likely requiring a large amount of light and resources to get across what is essentially uncharted CR. Food especially, will spoil and most of Roshar is covered with endless rain, making food growth difficult. Defensively however, is an entirely different game. Fused, radiants, and spren can all make the journey into the Rosharan subastral extremely difficult for the Scadrians. The only access into the Physical is through Narak and the Shattered Plains, an easily fortified region. The Scadrians also lack any ability to shift realms except at perpendicularities. Scadrial Similar to Roshar, but much more extreme, I believe with confidence that Scadrial will win a defensive conflict. As before discussed, Scadrial is unlikely to see much of a force at all, but in the worst case scenario, all of Roshar's armies, they would be well prepared due to warning from kandra. Innovations like automatic weapons, steam engines, airships, and a lack of reliance on outside investiture makes the Scadrian troops an incredibly effective and mobile force on their home world. While individual Fused and Elsecallers could pose issues if they enter the Physical Realm outside of the only perpendicularity, which is controlled by the Malwish, they could be taken down fairly quickly. At the perpendicularity, explosives and firearms will destroy most who exit said perpendicularity, even radiants will likely run out of stormlight fairly quickly. Note: I have excluded the heralds from this, as they are actually on Braize, not Roshar after WaT, but their presence in an invasion puts a successful invasion within the realm of narrative plausibility, although I still think the Scadrians would win. Scadrial would do much better invading Roshar than vice versa. While I've mentioned the Rosharan defense, Scadrial has other tools. These include the kandra, Ghostbloods, machinery, and aluminum. Both the kandra and Ghostbloods have a high possibility of presenting the Scadrians with weaknesses in Rosharan defenses, exploting those weaknesses, and perhaps securing small strike forces' entry into Roshar. Machinery, like flight and motors, allows the Scadrians to cross Shadesmar much more effectively and swiftly, even if they are hampered by Rosharans on the way. Aluminum, which Scadrial is on the verge of discovering how to get through electrolysis, allows the Scadrians to store food through cans and protect against surgebinding. They don't rely on outside investiture, allowing them to be much more self-sufficient than Rosharans, both on Roshar and going towards it. Harmonium-trellium bombs present the possibility of Ghostblood/kandra spies destroying whatever fortress conceived at Narak, allowing free entry for the Scadrians. Once they figure out how to get lerasium and atium, they could create fullborn, which everyone in this community knows are op, to further their advance. However, much of these Scadrian offensive is hypothetical. While it is plausible that they could get it together, the short-term and probable mid-term is the maintenance of the status-quo, as neither planet has developed offensive power. Long-term, Roshar will probably develop their offensive and defensive capability beyond what is mentioned and Scadrial will too. Of the two planets, I think Scadrial is more likely to find allies, but not too many. Roshar's real, as of right now, capability is incredibly powerful, so I like Brandon's decision to put them in time-warp time-out so everyone else can catch up.

Sorry, being a bit nitpicky here, but Nightblood doesn't identify as female or any other gender, unlike spren. We've already seen that Nightblood can control itself far better, so I agree that Nightblood is changing. I'd also like to mention that we have never even seen or heard of Nightblood in anything set past WaT. I actually am not sure about this. I suspect that the cause of Kelsier lacking powers is the fact that he is a cognitive shadow stapled to a mistwraith through hemalurgy and subsequently being unable to burn the metal inside this mistwraith. But it is possible that Nightblood might be able to allow Kelsier to use his abilities. Although Nightblood might just eat Kelsier, due to him being composed of investiture. A thought that occurred to me as I was answering this is the possibility that a bond of some sort might be required. We've been seeing new and different types of bonds throughout WaT, so many Nightblood needs to connect to the user. Perhaps that's what grants it the increased sapience in the first place, like how spren lose themselves in the Physical Realm without a bond.

I agree with @Treamayne that Retribution didn't make Autonomy go after Sazed, but I do think it's possible the formation of Retribution caused Autonomy to move up her plans. In BoM, we learn that the timeline is moved up. Although this was at Edwarn Ladrian's request, it may already have been planned. After all, if a potential new rival appears, it would make sense for Bavadin to target Sazed earlier instead of building up the Set more.

I mean, don't we already know that zephyr spores are commonly used for engines in space cosmere? It could have a larger effect than just "bullets"

Me as well, and I did enjoy his character, but I feel like his arc is done now. He's achieved pretty much all of his goals and resolved the conflict, he restored the city, he's the king, married Sarene, etc. I would prefer if he took a backburner role as a side character/patron like Roial is in the first book. Brandon will likely introduce a new conflict, but I think Raoden would still feel completed. I have similar feelings about Wax and Marasi in Era 3.

These are all interesting arguments (sort of why "who would win" and "power levels" are kind of pointless), but if I remember correctly, these characters could only be in a hunger games once (ignoring weird quarter quell stuff) and they would need to either get selected randomly or volunteer, making it so that most (but not all) games would have somewhat skilled, invested individuals, but not these death combos. Edit: If it is a big free-for-all with everyone alive in the cosmere, with immortals/shadows ineligible, then I bet Wax wins, due to having mistborn powers + iron feruchemy + guns, considering all the radiants are helpless and most other big candidates (heralds, hoid, returned, fused, etc.) being ineligible. If it's everyone at any time, with immortals/shadows ineligible (but old Kelsier/Kaladin before death eligible), then I think Rashek wins due to being a fullborn, or potentially one of the Heralds before the oathpact. If it's everyone ever in the cosmere except Hoid, Shards, and Aethers, I think Taln wins, with Rashek and Ishar fighting for second.

Or is it just everyone in the cosmere?

Actually, as far as I can tell, the number of cracks is 2 (starting from the prologue)

Wow, AI's getting much better. The only weird stuff I could see is what is in the bearded guy's left hand(right from our perspective), the bent upside-down screwdriver on the bottom shelf, and the flooring. Very cool concept though, I always thought full feruchemy was an interesting power set that hasn't really been dived into.

Really? That's interesting. So Rashek's genocide was completely unnecessary

I agree. Something similar to what the Set was doing, except actually humane and "the good guy"

This probably means no fullborn. I wonder if they're going to block these for kanda/koloss-blooded. But what if I want to be the ethical hemalurgist? I don't think this is a great approach from a player agency perspective. I don't think @Trusk'our has the same reasons for wanting hemalurgy that I do...maybe he does, considering my profile picture. (It was painful to get a skin cap on and paint it every time I wanted to wear my inquisitor costume)

Whatever it is, we know it tastes good.

Ruin implies change as well. This would be the shard of volcanic eruption leaving fertile soils, chopping down the forest to create a settlement, bringing down systems and creating new ones. They would be very compatible.

I suspect feruchemical steel, storing physical speed, might let these sort of processes to store/tap faster, but I have no idea how to avoid losing energy.

The question however, is if/when it cuts through the manacles, what happens to Starling (who is wearing said manacles)?

I mean, the only time we've seen a shardblade even chipped was when it got hit with Nightblood. If they have a similar durability, it makes sense why Starling couldn't remove them.

It's possible. I also think Cultivation would also be excellent at this, save for the fact that Odium showed up. I am skeptical about the Invention planets' "advancement" as I suspect there's something more going on. Perhaps they focus on science at all costs and lack industry, empathy, investiture, or something along those lines.

I just don't understand how Rosharan migrants would get the power and population to do this. It becomes even harder when you realize they probably won't unite and the maximum support would likely be a small group. Also, because of how hard it is to transport between the two planets (and we still don't know how they would even know to get to Scadrial), the sheer time involved would likely have many migrants assimilate. Isles of the Emberdark spoilers (If I'm not allowed to hide behind a spoiler marker and just shouldn't put it here, please tell me)

I'm not sure if there is any shrink period. The Industrial Revolution is not known for mental health advances.

I saw that as Shards were forming alliances and teaming up. Could be either though.

Also, it doesn't make sense thematically. WaT was all about moving away from blind honor and nothing else. I could see him as Valor or something, but I don't think Nohadon is Honor. You also don't need to spoiler tag WaT because this forum includes general cosmere spoilers.