Qianweilian

It could also represent how individuals can be more or less skilled with plate, beyond just the expertise. We also know a radiant shardblade can be a blunt weapon, as it turns a staff or mace into spirit damage.

Honestly, I think an easier "exploitable loophole" is economics. Just trading goods from other planets, especially aluminum, is bound to be profitable.

I think the modifier is just to balance it. I could easily see a lvl 2-3 group of warriors with long spears beat a shardbearer with good rolls. Compared to in either WoK or WoR (forgot which one) dozens of singers are whacking Dalinar for minutes before his plate begins to crack.

If I suspect correctly, this is only for game convenience so players can be Bondsmith squires and be able to leave Urithiru to go adventure for a while.

They also use spores, and I believe Rosharan Gravitation as well. It makes me wonder if the North destroyed their R&D or something.

The only story we have based in Threnody is the novella Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell.

Possible, but from IotE, we know that at least one radiant is acting as a Rosharan representative, suggesting that the Knights Radiant won't be permanently weakened or the underdogs.

I meant that it's fairly likely that they would have enough investiture to be able to superpower a steelpush, not that they would use the specific device shown in the book.

Actually TLR did it as well and I think it happened somewhere in Era 2. The Coppermind says this limitation can be overcome by a "sufficiently strong Coinshot." You could probably do it with an external investiture source or duralumin. They clearly have a gun-thing that uses extremely large amounts of investiture, so I would disagree that they're not a weakness unless invested or coated in aluminum.

My two cents are that while it is likely that the Malwish dominate Scadrial, it's not guaranteed. They are still frequently referred to as the Malwish Empire and we haven't actually seen that much of them. They don't appear to possess large amounts of Metalborn and technology is mentioned as being in North Scadrian, implying that the Basin is a somewhat independent and technologically advanced polity. I doubt the Malwish, being described as fascist, would have promoted North Scadrian to the level of being the Scadrian language of science. As I mentioned in another thread, they could be similar to the United States or "America" and take the namesake of Scadrial without actually dominating the planet. What I think Brandon is doing is making it unclear for the reader if Scadrial is unified or the Malwish are dominant in order to preserve tension in era 3.

In Isles of the Emberdark, an edited version of Sixth of the Dusk is included. However, there's differences. Is the original novella decanonized now?

Interestingly enough, the Malwish having electronics in the Northern Scadrian alphabet implies that the Basin is more technologically advanced whether or not they are unified, like how English is the language of science. Yeah, that's reasonable. I didn't catch that. Ah, I forgot about that. They're probably not disbanded then. Plays Vin Diesel soundtrack I think we're just going to have to wait and see about this one. Same as above, except the poor relations seem to be between the Malwish and Dhatri. Perhaps the North Scadrians are allies with Sel or Dhatri.

As we know from Starling's internal dialogue and the events of the book, the Malwish Empire exhibits at least some fascist traits. Chapter 35 Curiously however, they are referred to Scadrian multiple times. So I figure there are the following possibilities about the state of Scadrial. 1. They have conquered and control the majority of Scadrial, likely subduing the North. This is probably the worst possibility for the Scadrians. Edit: @JustQuestin2004 reminded me of the control panel having North Scadrian writing; this makes #1 unlikely, but #2, #3, #4, and #5 are still plausible. 2. They entered into some sort of union with the North. This seems unlikely, as the Malwish Empire is referenced and has a prime minister. 3. They won the era 3 cold war. The North is probably irrelevant and they the Malwish dominate the region around Scadrial. Also a nasty possibility. 4. Nothing happened. The North and South still exist near the same power level. The reason the Malwish are referred to as Scadrians are either it's some joint operation or the story's narrator is flawed and the Malwish are more interventionist. 5. The Malwish are similar to where I live (United States of America). Despite not controlling all of Scadrial, they took it's namesake. Perhaps the Malwish Empire of Scadrial. This could be combined with other possibilities. We also know that a shard worshipped by a Scadrian religion is the only living to do...something. This is most likely Harmony/Discord, but could also be Autonomy. Edit: as @JustQuestin2004 pointed out, it being Autonomy is very unlikely due to the shard being mentioned as Scadrian. There are no Ghostbloods mentioned in the book, despite it feeling like they would surely be near the discovery of a new perpendicularity. I figure the following possibilities: 1. They have been crippled, possibly disbanded. Either way, no longer a major power. Possibly orchestrated by Hoid. Edit: @JustQuestin2004 is really helpful for this thread. Have a prize. Era 3 is about the Ghostbloods, making this less likely but definitely still possible. 2. They've changed. Maybe they are no longer a spy organization, but some sort of echelon of government or paramilitary. Maybe they still are spies, but focus on a single planet. 3. They are in the book, the protagonists just don't notice them. 4. This was so secretive, the Ghostbloods didn't know about it. Potentially only Dajer, a supervisor, the single Radiant, and Xisis knew about it. I find this the least likely. The Malwish government seems significantly different than in TLM. I believe some sort of political revolution has occurred, legal or not. Potentially a military coup, but could also be civilian controlled. The Scadrians/Malwish are mentioned as using spores and Rosharans tech for their ships. This seems odd to me, considering that they should have access to Harmonium. 1. Harmony changed vessels or changed into Discord. The effect of Harmonium could be different, or just too dangerous to use. 2. Harmony doesn't exist or is not on Scadrial. This would mean Sazed is probably defeated by Trell in era 3. 3. It's a rare, high-quality material. We know that the Malwish control multiple planets and it's possible they just don't have enough. Maybe they use it for bombs. 4. Harmony shut off the production of Harmonium for unknown reasons. 5. Harmony becomes more unstable or Discord, making Harmonium too dangerous and volatile to use. Edit: This just occurred to me. Now time to talk about interplanetary politics. Dajer seems to push Taldain down and Scadrial up, implying that they are rivals or at least enemies. Roshar also seems to be rivaled to Scadrial. Silverlight appears to be some sort of middleman. It could be the center of many things, but small and mostly relying on diplomacy. Sel is rarely mentioned, suggesting that it is either weak or isolationist. That's all I can think of. I might add more later. I did add more later, but I might add stuff again in the future. Thanks for coming to see my State of the Union Scadrial address.

I'm not sure about this. At the very least we have 2 more mistborn series, 5 more stormlight books, a sequel to Elantris, Nightblood, and I doubt he's going to leave Darkside alone. Edit: I don't think it will be as clear cut as you think.

I'm not sure about this. When the Malwish reveal their faces, they do have some metal appendages. I figure these could be either metalminds or spikes.

Shardblade armor

Marsh did it multiple times. Also, that's why you would carry two spikes. One to use like a weapon, as we know misplaced spikes cause excruciating pain. Once you defeat your opponent, you can use the other. Spike guns would also be helpful for the former use.

I suspect it would be possible, because according to Coppermind, aluminum spikes destroy investiture, implying you don't need to implant them in yourself. It might be easier to steal identity, especially for the awakened object. Just speculating, you might not be able to bond the blade, it could potentially be bonded to the spike or the piece of identity/connection in it.

Actually, this isn't true. I don't have access to the books rn, but he showed up as Wax's carriage driver in either AoL or SoS

I interpreted this as the scientists' native language was Malwish, not that they took over Scadrial.

Wait, how is it implied that the Malwish rule over Scadrial? I assumed there would be some sort of alliance or confederation.

2273. Have the plague

Well, he regularly switches hats, so maybe it's only lucky when he wears it.

I would agree, except that moving is hard. Right now I am on a road trip to the house I plan to live in for years into the future, but I can't imagine moving internationally, intercontinentally, or even interplanetary. Even today, in Ukraine, Palestine, Somalia, even just poor places, there are not nearly as many refugees. Most of the population of the absolute monarchies of Europe stayed. A lot of incredibly oppressed people couldn't or didn't want to leave. You argue it would take far longer than a lifetime, but the entire population of Roshar can't move to Scadrial. Most of the Rosharans is not even realmatically aware, let alone know where either Scadrial or Retribution's perpendicularity is.

Please tell me you don't mean this "Enlightenment." Also, I'm not sure how this has to do with a couple of maybe Rosharan migrants with street food taking over Scadrial