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Spook already removed the spike at that point (the other "Kelsier" he was talking to before that was actually Ati).

Here's an old post where Senor Feesh kindly compiled a couple of WoBs from the HoA Annotations that deal with that question. It basically boils down to Shards being able to communicate more easily with people that have a very strong connection to them. Theoryland's Interview Database is a very useful (though incomplete) resource for things like these. Here's a page showing a bunch of Zahel-related WoBs, plenty of which imply that Zahel is Vasher. That Galladon and Demoux are in the 17th Shard is strongly hinted at by the combination of the following facts: In WoK, Hoid says he's being chased by the 17th Shard. There is a scene in WoK where certain foreigners were looking for Hoid somewhere in Purelake. We have WoBs that Galladon and Demoux are in the Purelake scene. The only one I could find in Theoryland isn't very good, but there are more conclusive WoBs here (search for Galladon) and here (a very hard-to-find WoB from a 2011 West Jordan signing Twitter report). I'm still trying to look for a WoB explicitly stating that Galladon and Demoux are 17th Shard members, but at this point I think it's silly to not have that conclusion given the facts listed above. I don't quite get your second question. Would you mind rephrasing it?

Why in Harmony's name should I not be? (Couldn't resist. )

I'm reading A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab right now. It's been a pleasant ride so far. I might actually get the sequel that'll be out in February.

Come and see the Hemalurgy inherent in the system! Help! Help! I'm being spiked!

So, here's the part where Shallan deciphers the stormwarden script: @High Prince: While your idea is very amusing, I think it's more likely that Brandon's inspiration for Stormwarden script is how the Koreans and the Japanese in ancient times used Chinese characters to represent the sounds (phonemes) of their own languages (which are very different from the Chinese language). This is exactly what the Stormwardens are doing: taking symbols that represent words and using them to represent sounds. And like the Stormwarden script, this must've been confusing for a lot of Koreans and Japanese in the past because you had to differentiate symbols that are meant to be read as words and symbols that are meant to be read as sounds (Stormwardens apparently do it by underlining the phonetic glyphs). The Koreans called their system of using Chinese characters to write in their language Idu, and they abandoned it after the invention of the Korean alphabet. The Japanese, who called Chinese-derived sound-symbols manyougana, had a similar development, but it differs from the Koreans' in a way that's relevant to this thread. Instead of inventing an alphabet, some of the Japanese decided to just sort of write manyougana in a very sloppy manner (like how Stormwardens write glyphs), some even lopping off parts of the Chinese characters to simplify them. Over time, these became the Japanese syllabaries hiragana and katakana. What's interesting is that unlike the Alethi, it was Japanese women who had limited access to education and so had to resort to the less "elite" way of writing, i.e. hiragana. The Korean alphabet was also meant to be for the non-elite, but you guys probably know that already from Brandon's talks about it.

I wonder if they'll include planets in this star chart. It would be great to know the names and locations of all the Shardworlds that don't have published books yet (e.g. Vax).

It being a city is no impediment. Kharbranth is just a city, and yet it's a kingdom by itself. If you're quibbling about my use of the word "nation", I'd say that's not really important. What's important is that there is a Vorin kingdom that descended from the Silver Kingdom Natanatan and is bearing its name.

I know. It was just a scary thought I had upon reading the OP.

Speaking of dark, I suddenly thought of an Arelish prison complex built in the shape of Aon Kii. *shudder*

Just a point of clarification. Rishir, Valhav, etc. are actually Silver Kingdoms, and there were a total of ten of those. The four Vorin Kingdoms that Shallan knows, Jah Keved, Alethkar, Kharbranth, and Natanatan, are present-day nationskingdoms that are obviously descended from Silver Kingdoms (Natanatan even retained the ancient name) but are not identical to them. In fact, the lands that were once part of Thalath now contain two kingdoms that are predominantly Vorin: the city-state of Kharbranth (which we already know is a part of the Five Vorin Kingdoms) and the island kingdom of Thaylenah. If fifth Vorin Kingdom was descended from Rishir, then that means the fifth Vorin Kingdom is Herdaz.

That's the theory, yes. I think a Nicrosil Feruchemist can store any Investiture he has access to. Being a Full Feruchemist greatly expands that list. Being Feruchemically Identical to another Feruchemist also expands it, depending on the type of Feruchemist that other person is.@Stormgate: Probably.

And for those who haven't seen reputation level 1337, it was "So 1337 Hoid Can't Compete". Thanks guys. I can type normally now.

50m30n3 ch4n63 my r3p p01n75! 1 c4n'7 533m 70 570p 7yp1n6 l1k3 7h15!!!!111!

Thanks! I think I can of imagine what it looks like. It sort of fits the three overlapping diamonds description from WoK, but now I'm wondering how it fits this description from WoR: I just don't see how the symbol could look like a triangle. Is there perhaps a second Ghostblood symbol?

Sorry, I must be using the phrase "I like it, but I'm biased" incorrectly. I wasn't saying our theories are incompatible. I was saying I'm biased in favor of metal being special, so my being drawn to your theory wasn't a result of critical thinking but rather a result of my bias. It was a bit of (badly-executed) self-deprecating humor. Oh, and thanks again for the WoB!

Thanks for the new WoB! May I ask where you got it? As for your interesting theory, I like it! But I'm biased.

I think you're referring to the WoR Chapter 82 Epigraph: Of course, Stormlight should be able to heal that (as Stormlight was able to revive Szeth in WoR), so maybe Oversleep is right. Or it could just be Kaladin's overactive imagination fueled by his guilt from what happened in the battle.

I agree with Yata. If a bunch of new Full Feruchemists start showing up then the Terris people (probably just the Elders) could come up with a shorter name that would fit whatever new role these Full Feruchemists would have in their post-Catacendre society. Calling new Full Feruchemists Keepers might make Archivist Ferrings jealous, since they are perfectly capable of the Keeper task of collecting and preserving knowledge. But I still like that term for Full Feruchemists because of its possible etymology. I believe the Terris word for "keeper" (i.e. not the English word, but whatever it is in the Terris language) has the root "terr" in it, which is also the root word of "Terris". The Terris word "terr", if you guys remember, means "to preserve", which is a synonym of "to keep". It was the name that the Terris used for their god, Terr, a.k.a. Preservation. Assuming it was Leras who directly created the first Feruchemists, calling Full Feruchemists by his alias seems quite fitting.

Relevant WoB from the Orem Signing: What do you guys think of that? I just remembered that Leras did the same thing a number of times before. In order to imprison Ati's mind, Leras separated his own mind from that big chunk of Preservation that became the practically mindless mists. He also removed part of his and Ati's powers to create the god metals (though he took way more from Ati for that, as part of his plan to weaken his enemy further). I'm guessing the dark mists seen at the Well was also a part of Ruin that Leras separated from the whole. Now here's the thing: Leras did these things without creating a Splinter. So what if Sazed pulled of a chunk of Ruin from himself also without creating a Splinter, and gave that chunk to Kelsier? Thus, the Kelsier is Trell theory can still be viable even if there are no Splinters of Ruin and Preservation. But then, I think this other new WoB favors those who believe that Trell is non-Scadrian: I don't think Kelsier is of much interest to non-Scadrians. Autonomy or Odium definitely would be. So... I don't know. It could still go either way, I guess. I'm starting to wonder if maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle. What if Autonomy got in touch with a Ruin-infused Kelsier and was able to convince him somehow to try and destabilize Harmony? I could imagine Harmony assigning Kelsier to watch over his Worldhopping agents during missions. This would give opportunities for other Shards to detect, communicate with, and possibly corrupt our favorite rebel.

I look forward to reading that Feruchemy theory. I personally don't see how being "in the form of Investiture" would not be Investiture, so I'm excited to see how you'll explain that. My understanding is that Feruchemical storage is just a matter of turning an attribute (Health, Luck, etc.) into magical energy (a.k.a. Investiture) with a specific "flavor", and Investing that energy into metal. This is possible because as Sazed implied in HoA, Realmatic objects and energy are equivalent (just like mass and energy are equivalent IRL). To bring my L-Theory into this, Duralumin Feruchemical storage (for example) is like taking Connection strings from one's Spiritual aspect, looping them into L bosons that are attuned to their original form, and then emitting those L bosons towards a metal target. A nicrosilmind should be able to store those L bosons even though they are attuned to Connection simply because they are still quanta of Investiture.

Sorry, I got confused when you said that Nicrosil Feruchemy can't store other Feruchemical attributes because it "just stores Investiture". I thought you didn't know that Feruchemical charges were Investiture. But since you know of that fact, I'm confused as to why you don't think stuff like Feruchemical Health can be stored by Nicrosil Feruchemy. It's still Investiture, so why not?I also apologize for bringing up the Terris people's use of Nicrosil Feruchemy, since I don't really think they can experiment with storing Feruchemical attributes in nicrosilminds if there aren't any Full Feruchemists left. I don't actually believe Feruchemically Identical people exist in the current timeline, so they can't perform that research either. Metalmind sharing is just an theoretical possibility that people on this thread have been talking about. I think you're right about current Soulbearers storing part of their souls. I wonder what a person with a divided soul looks like. (And please, don't say Voldemort! )

Feruchemical attributes stored in metalminds (as well as Hemalurgic charges in spikes) are Investiture. You may also want to read this discussion on the steelpushing objects that have Investiture, where Brandon specifically states that metalminds have Investiture. Note that the Ars Arcanum of AoL and SoS explicitly say that the people of Terris do use Nicrosil Feruchemy (though they don't fully understand it), so it's wrong to say that there's nothing on Scadrial to store in nicrosilminds. And, of course, there's the MAG's rules for Nicrosil Feruchemy that supposedly had some input from Brandon (though not fully canon unless they appear in future Mistborn novels), which indicate that any Feruchemical attribute can be stored in a nicrosilmind.