Isomere

There is a big difference between burning Lerasium and using it to fuel other magic systems. Anyone on Scadrial can burn Lerasium to become a Mistborn, but that is accessing the power through preservations own magic system. I suspect you need investiture from preservation to use it like that, and I dont think it would work for people from Roshar. On the other hand, I don't see evidence that would restrict surgebinders from using it instead of Stormlight.

I assume he is Ishi and his statue is on display nearby .

Theory: The same pattern contained in the molecular structure of the metal must be mirrored in the Allomancer's soul before they can access the associated Power of Creation. I have been theorizing above that there are patterns contained within an Allomancer's soul that function similar to Aons, creating a link to Preservation. Once that pattern is created through snapping they gain access to the dormant Allomantic potential buried within them. The reason the metals are important is because of a pattern formed by their molecular structure which links them to a particular Wavelength of the Power of Creation. What if this dormant allomantic potential was nothing more than sDNA that triggers the creation of an identical pattern inside the Allomancer's soul? I don't have a good reason you can't access more than one metal without gaining all of the powers, but let's assume there is only one small location in the soul that allows allomantic patterns to form. Perhaps most people have fixed patterns there, but mistborn can change the pattern at will. Or perhaps there is an "adonalsium pattern" that simply includes all the other patterns combined into a perfect whole.

I previously created this post as a joke, borrowing from the improbability drive in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The theory: Perhaps Bendalloy contracts space-time, but it is just very hard to control so it sort of forms a bubble around you that doesn't have much form. If you could tweak your luck, the random bubble could be given direction and purpose allowing you to control the warp in space-time for FTL travel. While this idea is absurd, I believe there actually IS a way to control the warp in space-time, but I truly doubt Luck is the right way to do it. So we want something that combines Feruchemy, Allomancy, Bendalloy bubble compounding, and passing through an intact bendalloy bubble in a very specific and controlled manner.

The biggest evidence I see that mass increases coinshot strength is Wax leveling a building at the end of Alloy of law. If his allomantic strength remained the same and he increased his mass to the equivalent of a small mountain he wouldn't have been strong enough to crush the building. Instead he would have just fallen through the building while trying in vain to support his own weight.

One thing Brandon has repeatedly confirmed is that his in-world characters are fallible and often make incorrect assumptions. I can see lots of other possible explanations for Shallan's powers and indeed I was convinced for years that her Memory power was not a surge. She could be on the path to Voidbinderhood, KnightRadianthood, or something completely unrelated. From what I have read the main theories are: 1) Memory is a surge linked to a KR order (and by association a spren) 2) Memory is a gift from cultivation and not directly related to the KR orders 3) Shallan's powers come from the same place as Szeth's (presumed to be Odium related) 4) Memory is a Calling 5) Memory came from the Old Magic. 6) Memory is non-magical and just a very cool talent she has Knowing Brandon's track record the right answer is something we haven't yet fathomed. For now however we are left to use our limited information to see which option has the most evidence. We have gathered the following hints: - the word Cultivation is conveniently tossed into a description of her Memory power in action - Shallan is developing a bond (temporary or otherwise) with a creature associated with cognitive stuff like Truth, Secrets, Knowledge, and Sadesmar - this bond grows stronger when Shallan shares deep secrets about herself with the Cryptic - Jasnah hints that cryptics are associated with a Knight Radiant Spren-bond - there are two powers associated with each Order - Shallan has demonstrated two magical abilities: Soulcasting and Memory-Cultivation. So using a well known razor, I come up with the following conclusion: Shallan is bound to a Cultivationspren associated with an order of Knights Radiant that has access to the surges of Memory and Soulcasting. Are there holes in this theory? Sure, lots of them. But I don't see any other theories that have less holes. If Shallan suddenly develops a third magical power then we have some room to work with, but I feel it makes no sense to go looking for more complicated solutions when a simple one is dropped in your lap.

I suspect the Cryptics live in Shadesmar based on very flimsy evidence: Jasnah's comment in the above quote hints that she has previously seen Cryptics during her exploration of Shadesmar, or at least would expect to find them there. There are also some interesting tidbits that make me suspicious of a link between cryptics and the cognitive realm: It communicates directly into Shallan's mind rather than talking aloud like Syl does. It strengthens the bond with Truth, Secrets and Knowledge, all of which are purely intellectual in nature. Syl's bond in contrast is strengthened by Honorable Physical Actions. It is completely invisible at all times even to Shallan implying a more intangible nature compared with Syl who always is visible to Kaladin and sometimes visible to everyone. It is somehow able to provide access to Shadesmar. I see these differences as evidence that Cryptics are more cognitive in nature, and would assume the Surges associate with them would also be cognitively based. Memory and access to Shadesmar both have strong ties to the cognitive and seem to fit well.

Just one of many possible theories Doc, and if they did merge I'm not sure for how long. It'd be a shock if Brandon doesn't spin our ideas a bit during the next 9 books, and I'm sure cultivation will pop up sooner or later.

To me the group behavior suggests that they may be able to communicate and form interpersonal relationships without a spren-bond. I believe this difference is because cryptics are more closely tied to the cognitive realm and likely live in Shadesmar. Most of what we do on this forum is look for evidence that one speculation is more or less likely than another. I'm using a quote to provide circumstantial evidence that Jasnah and Shallan are getting their powers from spren associated with the KR. This isn't proof, and it comes from an in-world person with imperfect knowledge. Still, the way the Cryptics, Soulcasting and KR orders are linked in the quote is enough to convince me. "[Cryptics] are a type of spren, Shallan. They are related to what you do. Two orders of the Knights Radiant possessed inherent Soulcasting ability." (WOK ch. 72).

The Almighty was BOTH Honor and Cultivation according to my theory. The reason they weren't mentioned separately is because they had converged.

I like the idea of a cryptic as the "ferryman across the river styx" and the tax for passage is a truth about yourself. There is good evidence for this in regards to Shallan. However, Jasnah can also access shadesmar and she responded very oddly to seeing them in Shallan's drawings. If they were how Jasnah accessed shadesmar she would have responded "Oh, these creatures bring you to shadesmar." But instead she says "Do you see beings like this in shadesmar?" Take a look at this quote and notice how it ties the Cryptics in with a Knight Radiant Order, practically in the same breath. This quote tells me that Jasnah does not usually interact with cryptics and was surprised that Shallan did. She confirms that cryptics are spren and hints they form one of the orders of Knights Radiant that could soulcast. She also confirms that the cryptics are "related to" what shallan does (which I interpret as both Soulcasting and Memory surges). She does NOT say they are related to what we do, strongly implying Jasnah is from a different order. I'm convinced that there is a spren-bond with Shallan / Cryptic. Just too many things hint at it. The argument that soulcasting must be unrelated because the cryptic isn't directly involved kinda falls apart when you compare to the only other known form of surgebinding. Kaladin doesn't interact with Syl at all when he is lashing, but we know the source of that ability is his spren-bond. Similarly, Shallan doesn't need to directly interact with her cryptic while soulcasting, even though the ability is tied to the spren-bond.

So this is the Command for awakening a lifeless. It's the same command used for a human or squirrel lifeless. "Awaken to my Breath, serve my needs, live at my Command and my word. [insert password here].” The reason lifeless are so great is that you can give them orders after they are awakened. If you ordered a human one to run around make noise and bite people it would do it.

You bring up a lot of good points, especially about this comment of mine: "I don't see this permission as something the Shard can give or revoke, it's just the way the realmatics interact." As you showed well, shards can definitely affect the process. I'm suggesting that Attunement may not be directly under the shards control, and is more complicated that simply granting permission. It's an interaction between the Shards intent, the persons soul and the planet they are born on. Now it's pretty clear that a shard can influence a person to help them use magic, but I see at least two ways for that to happen. One way is through Identity. The mist sickness seems to be a way to force a situation where someone must fight to Preserve their own life. I believe this experience changes their Identity, creating a pattern in the Soul that forms a link to Preservation. Lerasium can even change normally permanent parts of the identity like sDNA to create a perfect Attunement. I'd suggest that a part of the Soul is created based on sDNA at an Allomantic Potential gene. There are multiple alleles of the gene that code for various strengths of Mistborn and the mistings, but burning Lerasium overwrites this with the ideal code sequence. The more you alter from the ideal code the weaker the Allomantic potential. Everyone on scadrial is born with an Allomancy gene that determines their ability (or lack thereof), but the power is dormant until a link to Preservation is formed in their Identity through snapping. Investiture is the other way a shard can help a person use magic. This basically boils down to granting a fragment of Adonalsium to the person. Everyone on Scadrial is born with Investiture from both Ruin and Preservation, but some have more than others. The amount of investiture influences how easy it is to snap, and being infused with the mists temporarily increases your total investiture and allows you to snap more easily.

Odi's idea of permissions is very interesting. It's pretty clear that something needs to happen to give access, but I call this "Identity Attunement" rather than spiritual permission. I don't see this permission as something the Shard can give or revoke, it's just the way the realmatics interact. It seems the combination of planet, Shard, and human interact in such a way that certain prequisites must be met in a person's Soul before the power of creation can be accessed. On Scadrial, snapping requires someone to be "Brought to the brink of Death/Ruin" and then "Fight to Preserve their own Life" before their Identity is attuned. On Roshar it deals with the concept of character transformation, where "Honorable Actions and Intent" over time cause a persons Identity to "Grow closer to the Almighty". On Nalthis the proper Identity is "Freely Given" to everyone. Each magic system has an Attunement process that links the person's Identity with the Shard's intent. How then does a focus relate with the attuned Soul? They both seem to form a conduit. We have direct quotes from Brandon talking about a human soul getting troughs ripped through it as it acts as a conduit that restricts and shapes the power. We have a very similar discussion about how a focus works as a conduit to shape and restrict the power. I would argue then that the persons Soul actually IS one of the focus components in a magic system, and it only works as a focus if it has the right pattern contained within it. The process of developing that pattern in your soul is what I term Identity Attunement.

Bottom line is, we just know so little about the sphere that it's hard to support theories. Some good ones I've heard It's a stormgem from Shadesmar It's a Dawnshard with a trapped voidish creature inside It's a piece of Odium's Body in solid form And a new one thanks to this thread: it's a normal stormgem with an ultraviolet spectrum Personally I think it has links to shadesmar. We have seen black light created by the sun in Shadesmar. What would be the shadesmar correlate of a Highstorm? Would it create "stormlight" from odium? Maby the sphere is related to the magic system associated with the Shadesmar map. Just too many questions and not enough evidence. My guess is WoR won't answer those questions either and we'll have to wait till book 5.

The OP asks the question "When did Shallan bond a spren?" While no one seems to know the answer I would really love to learn more about the early stages of the spren bond. From the book it is clear that: The early usage of surgebinding is instinctive and doesn't seem supernatural to the user at first. The bond forms well before the human becomes aware of the spren. As the bond-relationship grows the surgebinding potential increases. Looking at Kaladin: We know the spren bond was forming in the early days he was in Amaram's army because syl has memories of those times. But how long was the bond in place before it gave Syl the ability to remember? Once again just speculations, but I'd assume it happened around the time Kaladin joined the army and started Fighting To Protect Tien. He was living the Second Oath to "Protect those that cannot protect themselves" and I believe what attracted Syl was the act of "following the path" of the Windrunner order. Now to Shallan: She has always loved to draw it seems, but it's not clear when her art took that "leap" into being supernatural. It was likely a gradual process and my speculations hold that she attracted the attention of a cryptic probably in her early adolescence and has been strengthening that bond ever since. The bond is getting much stronger now that she is consciously aware of her spren and can communicate with it. What triggered the bond? There is a lot of talk about the Divine attributes and those surely play a role, but consider also that Shallan was Using Art to Record Knowledge which could tie into the Oaths of her Order.

Playing along the Humpty Dumpty Theme, which came first the chicken or the egg? At this point it's hard for me to decide whether 16 was an inherent characteristic within Adonalsium and when he was shattered the 16 facets separated naturally, or whether his shattering arbitrarily fractured him into 16 pieces and that became a relevant number as a result.

Here's my attempt at a definition. "A focus is a construct used when accessing the powers of creation that helps limit and shape the end effect. This is done by creating a form or pattern that provides a conduit for only a select "pulse length and frequency" of the power of creation. The focus can be bypassed under the right conditions, such as by directly consuming the Body of a Shard." Some supporting evidence: Source Quote -I don't have the quote handy, but in the mistborn trilogy bronze can detect "pulse length and frequency" differences given off when burning the allomantic metals. -Pulse length and frequency as a way to describe the power of creation has only been confirmed on Sel and Scadrial, but I believe it is common to all worlds. Gems seem to function as a focus for fabrials and soulcasting (though not for windrunning) and they directly filter out a specific wavelength of stormlight. -On Nalthis things get a bit more abstract since most people believe it is a mental construct that provides the focus. However, color is an essential part of the magic system and is fundamentally connected to filtering out a specific pulse length and frequency of light. I believe there is more than one focus at work in awakening, and the interaction of biochroma (physical focus) and command (cognitive focus) determines the effect of an endowment.

Beware of falling into the "we know all there is to know" trap. The "final table" changed with a non-trilogy related short story. So far the table of Allomantic Metals has changed with every book written and I expect it to continue to be modified as the people of Scadrial expand their knowledge of the metallic arts.

Thanks for pointing that out Kurkistan. So the normal allomantic pool is still there, but there is a separate pool as well. The partition theory plot thickens.

It's a poorly worded quote, quite the pity that Brandon didn't send it past his editor before it showed up on Theoryland. Some neat things about it though. Breath = life force Non-nalthians have life force too, but it's different than breath You can give breath to non-nalthians, but they can't awaken anything with it. (doesn't say if they get perfect pitch, color perception, immortality etc) Theory: non-nalthians can use hemalurgy (or Lerasium burned with the proper intent) to grant the required Identity to Awaken with Breaths.

Neuroplasticity is a real phenomenon and works both for brain injury and for body injury. Body Injury: If you cut off a monkey's finger, the neurons that previously controlled that finger get reassigned and start to control the two fingers on either side. If someone is born blind, the neurons that most people use for sight get assigned to interpret tactile instead of visual input. They can literally "see" with their fingers. Brain Injury: After a stroke people often lose the ability to speak. Over time they slowly re-learn to speak by training other parts of their brain to perform the tasks that previously were handled by now dead tissue. One little known fact, adult brains do continue to create new neurons, but the problem is getting them to migrate to the right place and then connect their axons and dendrites correctly to perform a task. In a developing brain, the SEQUENCE of growth, chemokines and myelination is strictly regulated and any disturbance in the sequence creates brain damage. Once your fully mature, the new neurons don't have the same signals to direct their growth. Another problem is glial cell proliferation. Any time the brain is injured there are these pesky cells called Astrocytes that form a huge scar. This creates a physical barrier that prevents axons from growing back through the area of damage and reconnecting to their target. A third barrier to brain regrowth is Myelin. This stuff insulates the axon and helps prevent the electricity from leaking out into the rest of the brain. Unfortunately, different cells create different types of myelin. Brain myelin comes from oligodendrocytes and myelin in your arms and legs comes from Schwann cells. Schwann cell myelin actually helps the severed nerve axons regrow in the correct direction so they reconnect with the right target. In the brain though, the myelin actively inhibits axon growth and makes it virtually impossible to regrown severed connections.

This one Leuthie?

I commented on this here, basically saying that shardic sex created Honorspren. EDIT: some quotes about honorspren being a merging of Honor and Cultivation's investiture are a few posts down from the above link.

Very cool thread. My take is that any metal that has feruchemy or Hemalurgy affecting it should be considered a completely separate pool from the base metal. And we know that only the pools that are currently being burned will be affected by Duralumin. The real question is whether you can burn a metal that is not inside your stomach for pure Allomancy. If you can, I can definitely see Duralumin being used to only burn a SubQ nugget of metal and leave you with the remaining pool still available. Im guessing that the effect of burning a spike allomantically will be solely based on what is hemalurgically stored. If you store physical speed in one spike and sensory perception in another spike they would both be made of the same metal but would be considered different pools for burning. To explain my reasons for this opinion let's look at feruchemy. If you burn a metalmind it does not produce the usual allomantic effect of that metal. Rather it releases an amplified burst of the feruchemucal power stored inside. Likewise if you burn a spike I believe it will release an amplified burst of the power stored inside that. Wait, does that mean the metal type has no effect at all? Quite the contrary. The metal limits which aspects of a person's soul can be stored inside a spike, and which powers can be stored inside a metal mind. But once the spike or metal mind is created, using it allomantically will be limited to whatever was stored inside.