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Where I gave the wrong date for the start of Ookla week. Twice. Sorry about that.

I partially agreed with you.

Some might say that the Rainbow organization featured in one of Tom Clancy's novels is technically a SWAT team, and it is also a covert operation, so maybe Brandon is thinking of something similar. Era 3 might feature a group of elite secret agents tasked to deal with threats of a classified nature (e.g. anything related to Trellist Hemalurgy).

You're right. I don't know what I was thinking.

A worldbuilding hook is more effective if it presents something tantalizing. In this case, implying a weird ability is tantalizing, but just implying a vague difference is not, given all the exotic fauna crawling around in the book.If the Example Interpretation is correct, then inserting that worldbuilding hook in this way that leaves many of the readers with a totally wrong interpretation (bolstered by the fact that it is Hoid speaking, and that Siah Aimians like Axies can change their bodies in certain ways) is just problematic, because there's no literary value that I could think of in making those readers assume that Dysian Aimians have an ability that they do not have. It would just be a bad use of the red herring, and this is something any decent editor would catch. The difference Hoid mentioned is a specific kind of difference: not just a generic difference in appearance, but specifically a difference of arrangement, as in the case of gibberish anagrams of real words, and that morbid imagery he used about cutting a person up and sewing him back together in a different way. Given that he mentions the Dysian Aimians in this passage, this again supports the interpretation that Dysian Aimians have a body rearrangement ability.

@ccstat: Moogle already proposed the "Dysian Aimian is just an example of something different than a man" interpretation above, but I don't buy it. I think the simile interpretation makes more sense, because if Brandon wanted to use an example of something different than a man while writing that dialogue, he had plenty of other choices of creatures that the reader was already aware of at that point. Heck, he could have used non-living things as an example. Under that interpretation, using Dysian Aimians doesn't make sense from a literary point of view because the reader hasn't seen them yet and therefore cannot appreciate how unlike humans they are. On the other hand, using them as a simile for rearranging body parts *would* make sense if they could, in fact, rearrange their body parts. That would be a neat revelation for the reader. And if they prefer having unorthodox body arrangements, then that *would* fit the "barely humanoid" description. Now watch me get proven wrong when Oathbringer comes out. Edit: I accidentally downvoted Corax while trying to edit my previous post (stupid phone screen...). Please upvote him for me. Thanks!

According to this, he was just testing a (wrong) theory he had about Dalinar. He was probably checking for any sign of familiarity regarding Adonalsium and the Shards. But whatever it is he was talking about, he was still using Dysian Amians in his simile, so it seems clear to me that recombining body parts is something Dysian Aimians are known to do. Otherwise, the simile would make no sense.

That's what I thought as well.@Moogle: My understanding is that both Dysian and Siah Aimians can modify their bodies, but to a different extent. Siah like Axies can control their bodies in subtle ways, e.g. manipulate their senses, change skin pigmentation, etc. They probably have some healing powers as well, given that they're practically immortal. As for Dysian Aimians, they're probably what Kylrm is more familiar with, the type of Aimian who can tear off parts of their bodies and reattach them however they want. Another possibility: Siahs are to Dysians as Kandra are to Mistwraiths in that they are the sentient versions of the other, making them aware of their appearance and therefore more likely to sustain a more human-like form. Edit: Fixed spelling of Aimian.

So you're saying that you changed your mind about that? *badum-tss*On a more serious note, aren't Dysian Aimians the ones who could rearrange their body parts? Hoid seems to think so. I wonder how similar Dysian Aimians are to kandra. Imagine a kandra who only ever uses his own bones (like the First Generation) and who prefers unconventional body arrangements.

LOL! We could call it that until Brandon gives us a name for it, but obviously that won't be the in-universe term. My own term for it, "L boson" (which is also unlikely to be the in-universe term), is patterned after the bosons that mediate the short range weak interactions: the W and Z bosons. I was thinking of how weak decay via W boson-emission/absorption changes the flavor/species of elementary particles, and this reminded me of the transformative effect of Investiture. Now, the weak interaction is actually just one of two aspects of the electroweak force, the other aspect being the electromagnetic force mediated by photons, which we equate with light. I imagined that the quantum of Investiture would have properties of both kinds of bosons: it would have the infinite range of photons and a W boson-like (though more magical) transformative effect. Imagine a light particle that magically transforms whatever it touches. This notion of a magical light particle, as well as my notion of a god-level Lightweaving (which is central to L-Theory) is what led me to name this quantum of Investiture the "L boson". Incidentally, Lightweaving is described as the manipulation of waveforms, which brings us back to this thread's topic of cosmere waves.

Well, technically the Five Scholars thing was before the Manywar, but the Vasher-kills-Arsteel thing came much, much later. Remember that after the events of the Manywar, the Five Scholars (well, four, since Talaxin killed Shashara during the Manywar) parted ways and basically disappeared from the public eye. At some point near the start of Warbreaker, VaraTreledees decided to form his mercenary group and started calling himself Denth. Arsteel joined the group supposedly to try and redeem Denth. This is where Jewels and Arsteel met. Talaxin (Vasher) mistook Arsteel's act of joining the mercenaries as a sign that he's gone evil and, when a confrontation between them occured, decided to kill him.

According to this WoB, Forgers typically don't have access to enough Investiture to create "I have this magic ability"-type of soulstamps. It seems to be theoretically possible, but they'll have to follow what appears to be conservation of Investiture laws.

Thanks, Kipper! This one's from 2012.It might interest you to know that there is a quantum of Investiture, so something similar to a wave-particle duality (or perhaps fundamental vibrating strings ) might explain the wave-like manifestations of Investiture.

Thanks for your interest in my old theories, @Stormgate! Since I started this thread, my attitude towards Cosmere theories in general has changed from "I'm confident this is correct and I'll be surprised if I'm wrong" into something more of "I think this is cool and it'd be awesome if it's actually the case". The Shardworld Essence Theory is one of those things I personally feel is really cool, and it's great that you've thought of it as well. If you're interested, here's an old theory by @Youngy linking the 16 Shards to the Allomantic divisions. And here's @Tempus' thoughts on how each of the known Shards could be placed on the Allomantic chart. Note, however, that there is WoB suggesting that simple pairing of Shards (as in the Allomantic pushing-pulling/internal-external pairs) wouldn't work:

So, I asked Peter about this and he hasn't replied. He's probably too busy right now with BoM stuff. Maybe in a few days someone else could try.

The Harmony Splinter thing reminds me of the Kelsier theory that Weiry and Moogle proposed, in that both involve a local origin for the big bad. Moogle also proposed that Kelsier's cognitive shadow was given a portion of Ruin by Harmony for whatever mysterious reason. In that case Kelsier would be like a cognitive shadow version of the Returned, a dead person possessing a Splinter (i.e. of Harmony). I'm not sure if a Splinter of Harmony could have its own metal different from lerasium, atium, and harmonium, and therefore be a metal unknown to Harmony himself, but it is an interesting idea because it does away with the need to assume another Shard is involved in the "Trell conspiracy".

From this:

Dragonsteel contains the origin stories of those who eventually became the sixteen Shardholders (Ati, Leras, Tanavast, Bavadin, Rayse, etc.). That part is definitely pre-Shattering.Thanks for asking about microkinesis. I've never heard of the term before, and it's pretty cool to know that Yolish Investiture has that kind of ability.

I figured I might actually buy one of these. When I have attractive female visitors I could put it in puppy mode, otherwise it's in mistwraith mode. If a girl gives me crap for having a stuffed toy in my apartment, I'll invert it and see what she thinks of that. Perfect plan! Now I just need to have visitors in the first place.

"Tickle him!"

We don't. Someone should ask him. It's not RAFO-bait if he's talked about it before, is it?

I'm sure Lord Sanderson's evil henchman, Ookla the Mok, a.k.a. Peter Ahlstrom, will tell him about it. He often goes around these parts in search of stuff to amuse his master. As for Soonie Pups, I can imagine kids terrorizing their sisters by turning a cute stuffed toy into a horrible monstrosity. Or maybe that would backfire as the intended victims end up actually loving the stuffed kandra.

I'm reviving my thread to share a WoB from Brandon's recent talk at Google, just in case some of you missed Argent's thread: And here's my reaction when I heard that (I'll just copy it from Argent's thread coz I'm lazy): That is all.

@TheYoungBard: Now I'm wondering how Nicrosil Allomancy helps in being a programmer or a government agent. Brandon has so far given each Misting or Twinborn character a role that fits his power/s, and the Era 3 protagonist is known to be a Nicrosil Misting. What if (programmable?!) Allomantic machines can be boosted by Nicrobursts? Another possibility: I've speculated before that the Era 3 protagonist is a Twinborn due to her being Terris. Maybe she has Zinc Feruchemy, or some other Feruchemical ability that matches her roles. And perhaps combining that with Nicrosil Allomancy creates an effect that's also beneficial to her quest.