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Hi Fawx! This theory appeals to me, though I'd personally wait for another bit of supporting evidence (perhaps in Words of Radiance?) before I espouse it. Speaking of espousing theories, you can link to this theory in your sig if you want. Enjoy the forums!

Alright! On to the last part. I'm sorry about the length of my previous post. I'll try to keep this one short. So I've speculated on the true nature of Shardblades, and how this true nature is tied with the history of the Voidbringers, the Desolations, the Heralds, and the creation of the Knights Radiant. I believe that the Knights' true purpose, aside from helping the Heralds fight Voidbringers during Desolations, was to keep the Shardblades away from the descendants of Voidbringers to try and prevent another Desolation. Because of this, they were seen by society as the protectors of mankind, and was therefore treated as leaders even long after society had forgotten the true nature of Shardblades. Then the Day of Recreance arrived, and almost all of the Shardblades were left in the hands of ordinary non-Surgebinders, who then became permanent Lighteyes. These new Lighteyes thought they had the right to reign over the Darkeyes because of their dazzling eye color and their powerful weapons. Of course, those reasons were dumb. But there is a good reason for them to rule, although they are unaware of it: Without the Knights Radiant, the fate of mankind now rests on the shoulders of these warring, arrogant Lighteyes, because they've inherited the responsibility, the mission, of keeping Odiumspren from the descendants of the Voidbringers. And they've failed. Because of the Alethi's foolish Vengeance Pact, Parshendi Shardbearers exist once more. The Voidbringers are about to return. Now, with Honor dead and Odium ruling, the True Desolation comes. In Dalinar's vision of that Day of Recreance, we see that the Knights themselves were permanent Lighteyes, unlike the Heralds. I believe the permanent Lighteye phenomenon has something to do with the Shardplate they wore. Why? Well, allow me to present another bout of wild, base-less speculation: ***start of wild, base-less speculation*** I think that when the Heralds formed the Knights Radiant, they knew the dangers of giving humans Odiumspren. They had to ensure that the most powerful humans in the world, the Surgebinders, would all be trained in the ways of honor, so that when they gain a Shardblade, they would be less likely to draw power from the Odiumspren (via odious thoughts and emotions). This was why the Knights Radiant recruited all the Surgebinders from all the human kingdoms in Roshar to join one of the ten Orders. Surgebinding potential was genetic, so they had to track down the offspring of the Knights Radiant, even secret ones born out of wedlock, in order to recruit them as well. How did the Heralds ensure that Knights' offspring would be easily found? Simple. Among the many enchantments they placed in the Knights' Shardplate, they included a spell that changed its wearer's DNA so that he, as well as his offspring, would permanently mimic a prominent physical effect of holding a Shardblade: Lighteyes. This permanent Lighteyes effect can be diluted when a Lighteyes reproduces with a Darkeyes, so the Knights had to quickly find Lighteyes and recruit them to ensure that the Lighteyes effect would always be strong across generations. Otherwise, there was a danger of the effect disappearing after several generations, which might lead to a Surgebinder the Knights didn't know about. This system broke down after the Day of Recreance, when non-Surgebinders took the plates. So now, you wouldn't be able to tell a potential Surgebinder from the rest of the population just by looking at their eyes, which is why we have Darkeyed Surgebinders like Kaladin and Szeth. *** end of wild base-less speculation *** I admit that I haven't really explained the difference between Truthlessblades and Radiantblades. I'm sure they are different in some way, but I guess someone else will have to theorize on that. I wouldn't be surprised if there are other kinds of Shardblade we've yet to see. I also haven't explained why the Heralds' eyes don't light up even when they're holding their Honorblades (like in the final chapter of WoK). Are there existing theories that explain this? Anyway, what do you guys think of the general ideas I presented here? Never mind the tiny details I've put for rhetorical effect (e.g. all the melodramatic stuff ). I'd like to hear your thoughts about the following: Shardblades as Odiumspren Parshendi use of Shardblades for Voidbinding Odium's sick treatment of his own followers The Heralds' sacrifice to save both Parshendi and mankind Knights Radiant keeping Shardblades from their former owners The mechanics of the Oathpact The genetic Lighteyes effect originally being used as a marker for potential Surgebinders pre-Recreance How Szeth isn't a permanent Lighteyes because he doesn't have Shardplate

I found this interview yesterday while writing the theory: That's the only instance I could find of someone asking him that question. Since he was very vague about it, I figured my theory was safe (at least for now). Maybe Phantom could find a slightly more definitive quote. Anyway, allow me to speculate some more, alright? Let's talk about the Oathpact. From WoK's prelude, we can see that the Honorblades were somehow connected to the Oathpact: But what is the Oathpact? It appears that both the Heralds and "the enemy" (i.e. Odium) were bound to something, the Heralds to the Oathpact (until they abandoned it), and Odium to... something else? Or is he bound to the Oathpact as well? After a few re-reads, I wondered how Tanavast could possibly order people to endure such a sacrifice. But I realized that the Heralds must have volunteered to do this on their own. They volunteered to be tortured for centuries in between Desolations in exchange for... what? What possible good could come from such a dreadful thing, when the Desolations still arrive anyway? Here is the next part of my theory. I believe that before the time of the Heralds, the particular trait of Honorblades of staying with their owners even after death wasn't a unique one. In fact, I believe it was the default trait of all Shardblades at the time. Why? Well, let me describe what I think happened. Note that the following paragraphs will be pure speculation, so read them with the knowledge that I'm deliberately leaving known territory and exploring certain possibilities based on the theory that Shardblades are Odiumspren. ***start of wild, base-less speculation*** Before the time of the Heralds, all the Shardblades were owned by the leaders of the Voidbringers, who used it to power Voidbinding, a power accessible only to their race. Their god (Odium) gave them the power to be the perfect servants of his Shardic Intent. Aside from their Voidbinding Form, their various other Forms helped them become highly efficient when fighting wars, which was basically the only thing they ever did. Yes, what I'm saying is that Jasnah was correct and that the Parshendi were the Voidbringers of old. As I said, all their leaders were bound to Odiumspren, and their Voidbinding power could resonate across the Parshendi army using their telepathic connection to each other. Using this power, they wrecked havoc across Roshar in what became the first Desolation. Aside from Voidbinding, Odium also blessed them with a form of immortality, an evil counterpart to Endowment's Returning, so that Voidbringer leaders who die in battle would eventually resurrect. Imagine if Endowment became evil and started attacking other Shardworlds. Imagine fighting enemies who never permanently died, but Returned after a few days, just as powerful as they were before. It would be a nightmare. But Odium is not Endowment, and holding the power of Odium comes at a price, because he was incapable of loving even his own followers. Whenever a Parshendi leader died, the Odiumspren bound to him would force him to stay in a certain part of Shadesmar that was under Odium's control. There, the Parshendi would be subjected to the hatred of his god, tortured by the Odiumspren until it was decided that he was once again needed in the war effort, at which point he would be resurrected. The torture was probably brief, maybe a few days at most. It served as a sort of punishment for Voidbringers who failed their god, and as a way for Odium to show his Shardic Intent further. But Odium was at war and couldn't afford to prolong the punishment of his army's leaders, even if he wanted to. At first, the Parshendi leaders endured the torture, believing it to be the highest form of worship they could offer their god. But it was just a matter of time until some of them decided that their god wasn't worth it. One day, a group of defectors used a Parshendi Form that prevented telepathic contact, then secretly surrendered to the human Surgebinders. They divulged all the secrets of the Voidbringer army that they knew, including the best ways to counter Voidbinding. When they were asked why they defected, they told the humans about the true nature of the Voidbringer swords, the torturous afterlife awaiting them and every Parshendi leader, and how they wished someone could just defeat their wretched god for them. It was at this point that someone (King Jezrien?) started to form a plan to win the war. This plan required that he sacrifice himself to save not just humans, but even the Parshendi. The defectors had shown mankind that Voidbringers were people as well... a whole race of people in need of saving from the very god they serve. After hearing of his plan, some of his friends volunteered to accompany him in this sacrifice. In the end the Parshendi defectors handed the ownership of ten Shardblades to ten human Surgebinders. Tanavast himself said that all the Shards were bound to some rules, no matter how powerful the Shards were. The new human Shardbearers somehow exploited one of these rules that allowed them to bargain with Odium (perhaps with the help of Honor... I'm thinking the Dawnshards might have something to do with this). The bargain was this: Odium shall release all the Parshendi leaders from their cycle of punishment and resurrection, and forfeit the war. In return, the ten human Shardbearers shall offer themselves up for eternal punishment. For whatever reason, Odium took the bait. Perhaps he never really considered the idea that such weak creatures could outsmart him, so he decided to play their game. He gave a demand of his own: The resurrection of Parshandi shall cease, and the offer of the ten shall be accepted, but the war shall end only if all the Parshendi give up their Odiumspren. To which the ten replied with another demand: The ten of them shall be allowed to fight while the Parshendi had Odiumspren. This was the Oathpact between Odium and the servants of Honor. Notice how similar this situation is to the tenets of Stone Shamanism: warriors bound by oath, Human Shardbearers destined to eternal punishment. After agreeing to it, Odium ordered his spren to free their hosts upon dying, excepting only the ten humans of the Oathpact. Perhaps the news was announced to the rest of the Parshendi, or perhaps they just discovered that Shardblades no longer disappeared when their owners died, and that their leaders no longer resurrected. but soon they all learned of what had happened. Then one day, each and every Voidbringer leader gathered together, summoned their Shardblades, and slammed them in the ground, abandoning the Odiumspren that had been the source of their power as well as their woes. They declared defeat and retreated from the war. Thus, the first Desolation ended. Odium did not anticipate this. He fully thought that the loss of immortality would make the Parshendi even more determined to win. He never realized that the Parshendi hated him more than they hated the humans, and that given the choice, they would rather give up their power than serve him. This did not deter Odium, though. Honor's creatures might have tricked him one time, but he started forming his own plan... Meanwhile, the humans retrieved the abandoned Shardblades and decided that they can no longer allow the Parshendi to have them ever again. And so they formed the Knights Radiant, an army of honorable Surgebinders who would keep the Shardblades from falling into the hands of the now defeated Parshendi. They created Shardplate to match their Shardblades, and through their Surgebinding abilities, they became the glowing Stormlight-filled knights in armor of legend. After the Knights were formed, the ten saviors of mankind, honoring the Oathpact, traveled to Odium's lair to be tortured for all eternity... or so they thought. The Parshendi's descendants eventually forgot their Voidbringer heritage, but peace on Roshar did not last. After several hundred years, perhaps due to the Knights Radiant becoming careless or corrupt, wars broke out once more. One thing lead to another and a Shardblade got its way into Parshendi territory. Once again, an Odiumspren had bound itself to the ancient race of Voidbringers, and these Parshendi descendants will eventually rediscover the lost Art of their god. Predictably, this event triggered the Oathpact, so Odium was forced to let the ten humans of the Oathpact fight against the new Voidbringers. Released from centuries of torture, it probably took them a while to stop celebrating and think about the implications of what had happened. Looking at their Shardblades, the symbols of their greatest honorable sacrifice, their Honorblades, they realized why they were brought back: Voidbinding was about to return to the world. They had to warn mankind, save it once more. Another Desolation approaches... and they were the Heralds of its coming. *** end of wild, base-less speculation *** Once again, I'll let you guys poke holes in this. If it survives, I'll post the final part of my theory. Edit: Govika raised an interesting topic. I think the "Shards" Tanavast pertained to were the Dawnshards. I don't have a theory yet about what those are exactly, but I suspect they aren't Shardblades. After all, Dawnshards were supposed to be able to "bind any creature, voidish or mortal," which wouldn't make sense if they were swords. Perhaps they were the more Physical (i.e. tangible) form of Honorspren, just like how I think Shardblades are the Physical form of Odiumspren.

I like this theory. I also believe that the Thrill is a Realmatic phenomenon. I think the different kinds of Thrill we've seen so far are either Honor-based or Odium-based. Hmmm... I wonder if Shin farmers feel a Thrill when cultivating their crops...

In WoK, we encounter three types of Shardblade: Honorblades - Owned by the Heralds who are bound by the Oathpact. Doesn't turn owners into Lighteyes. Disappears when owner dies. Seems to be permanently bound to the owner. Can be summoned from thin air. "Radiantblades" - Once owned by Knights Radiant. Now owned by a number of Lighteyes. Appears when owner dies, and can be taken by another person. Can be summoned from thin air. "Truthlessblades" - Found in Shinovar. Owned by Shin warriors who become Truthless and therefore honor-bound to follow the bearer of their Oathstone. These blades light their owners' eyes, but only while being held. Can be passed to another owner when the current owner dies. Can be summoned from thin air. These blades have a few things in common. For one, they can all be summoned. I'm assuming Honorblades also require ten heartbeats before appearing, just like the other two types. Also common among these blades are their magical cutting and killing abilities. Whatever else they might be, all Shardblades are deadly weapons. Here's the story behind the theory I'm about to discuss (in spoiler tags since it's not really necessary): So let's start. All things in Roshar have spren, which I believe are Cognitive entities on Roshar that have "wavefunctions" and that might (though not always) be visible. We've already seen spren that have something to do with one of the Shards: Honorspren, spren who are attracted to honorable people. Honorspren are special because they grant powers even without being "trapped" in a fabrial. The powers that Honorspren grant all have something to do with binding things together. My theory is about a spren for another Shard on Roshar: an Odiumspren. I think Odium has a Shardic Intent that is the opposite of Honor's. Simply put, Odiumspren would grant people the power to divide things. What magical entities have we seen on Roshar that can divide things very, very well? Why, Shardblades, of course. That's why I think all Shardblades (including Honorblades) are Odiumspren. *** start of wild, base-less speculation *** The ten heartbeats requirement is a clue. From Geranid the Ardent, we know that spren have quantum dynamic properties. I think Geranid's Interlude chapter was meant to show us that spren "wavefunctions" collapse in the Physical realm when certain measurements are made. For flamespren, just measuring the size already makes them stop changing size, shape, and luminosity. Counting ten heartbeats is another act of measurement, and combined with an intent to summon, I think this collapses the wavefunction of an Odiumspren bound to a person, making it appear in the Physical realm as a magic sword. Honorspren like Syl don't really make people more honorable, but instead reward honorable actions with power. Similarly, Shardblades/Odiumspren don't really make people more hateful or selfish, yet once a Shardbearer starts feeling odious emotions, killing suddenly becomes a lot easier. This "odium-based enhancement" is what Szeth experiences whenever he becomes particularly angry with an assassination target, and it's possibly connected to the Thrill felt by the Alethi in battle. I think Odiumspren feed on odium to boost Szeth's Lashing ability, the same way Syl feeds on Kaladin's honorable acts to boost his own Lashings. And it doesn't even have to be in sword form. Looking back at the assassination of King Hanavanar, Szeth was even more deadly when he started irrationally blaming the king for his own actions, even though he let go of his Shardblade mid-fight. I think the Odiumspren bound to him was still powering his hatred even in its non-collapsed form. One apparent difference between Shardblades and Honorspren is that Honorspren are sentient and humanoid while Shardblades are not. I'm speculating that the sentient (probably humanoid) part of Odiumspren only manifests in Shadesmar, and that it is this aspect of the Odiumspren that feeds on the odious thoughts of people. I believe we'll be seeing the "true" form of Odiumspren once the characters start travelling around Shadesmar in future books. Also, you know how the Heralds were tortured in between Desolations? I think I know who the torturers were: the true forms of their own Honorblades. *** end of wild, base-less speculation *** So, that's my theory. Later I would like to theorize further on why the Honorblades were thus named, why Szeth isn't a permanent Lighteyes, and why Hoid claims that Lighteyes have a "good reason" to rule. But first I want to see if my main theory contradicts what we already know from WoK or WoB. If there's a major flaw in the theory, please point it out right away. Edit: Since my speculations and arguments regarding this theory span multiple posts, and since some people gave interesting arguments against the theory, I guess I might as well link to those: Speculation: The nature of Voidbinding, Honorblades, the Oathpact, and the founding of the Knights Radiant Speculation: The history of the genetic Lighteyes effect, and why Szeth isn't Lighteyes Counter evidence: Szeth isn't bound to a spren Counter evidence: Different spren are either from Honor, Cultivation, or both Counter evidence: Amaram's Shardblade has a gem on its pommel Counter evidence: Shardblades don't always need ten heartbeats to appear Counter evidence: Brandon likes Shardblades A summary of things explained by the Shardblades are Odiumspren theory Further similarities between spren and Shardblades Edit: I still think that Shardblades could be spren, but since some people seem absolutely convinced that they must be Physical objects, I'm going to offer a compromise by proposing instead that Shardblades are objects powered by odiumspren (which would reside in the gemstone attached to them).

Yep. Also, the author of AoL's Ars Arcanum (Hoid?) seems to be a world-hopping fan of Hemalurgy: (Emphasis mine.) That won't make sense at all unless Hemalurgy works in other Shardworlds. I can imagine it already: "The World-Hopping Adventures of TenSoon and MeLaan: A Cosmere Novel"

Yeah, that might work. Ah, well. I guess I was just assuming there was an issue because of what Mr Atmos said: If that's not an issue, then good! That's one less theory I have to defend.

Oh! How about this: Atium = Steals any attribute in Cosmere (Rationale: WoB) Atium alloys = Steals Cosmere-wide attributes, depending on the metal alloyed with (Rationale: Atium alloys need to be awesome ) Malatium (Atium-Gold) = Steals any Hybrid power in Cosmere (arguably including Feruchemy itself, since it's a hybrid of Ruin and Preservation; Rationale: Gold steals Hybrid Feruchemical powers.) Atium-Aluminum = Steals any End-Positive/Enhancement power in Cosmere (arguably including Allomancy itself; Rationale: Aluminum steals Enhancement Allomantic powers) Lerasium = Steals Scadrian Hemalurgic bindpoints (changes a non-Scadrian's spiritweb to gain Hemalurgic bindpoints; Rationale: Lerasium is known to change the spiritual aspect of a person) Lerasium alloys = Same as Lerasium, except the bindpoints will only accept spikes made from the metal Lerasium was alloyed with. This creates "Hemmings". (Rationale: just mirroring the Allomantic effect of Lerasium alloys) Lerasium-Atium = Same as Lerasium, except the bindpoints will only accept Atium spikes afterwards (which is okay, since this is Atium we're talking about; it can steal anything). This creates an Atium "Hemming". (Rationale: just mirroring the Allomantic effect of Lerasium-Atium)

Okay, but the Pull guy in AoL didn't seem to have any problem with that. Chapter 18, the Alloy of Law It seems like something funny is going on with that Lurcher armor. Or, I dunno, maybe the Pull guy just had a lot of determination (a Lurcher/Pinnacle Twinborn?).

That's an awesome real life info right there. Have an upvote, Kurkistan! Edit: I have a couple of questions, though. Won't the act of Ironpulling somehow accelerate the bullet further, causing it to hit the plate harder? Won't the force at least make the Lurcher flinch and stop Ironpulling for a few moments, making him vulnerable to multiple shots fired in rapid succession?

Whether or not the Heralds can travel to Shadesmar without dying, can't they just go back through some kind of ritual suicide? I know that most Westernized people don't see suicide as an honorable action, and also that Syl didn't want Kaladin to kill himself, but I think the Heralds would be a special case. I mean, it was their oath to return to that place of torture no matter what happens in battle. Under the Oathpact, their lives revolved around a strict honor code that involved fighting and dying, just like the Japanese samurai of old, so I could easily imagine the surviving Heralds, back when they respected their oaths, gathering at their assigned meeting place to carry out the Rosharian equivalent of Seppuku. That could be why they abandoned their Honorblades. They knew that the only people they could honorably kill using those blades in between Desolations were themselves, so they decided not to carry them any longer.

Ah, allow me to play with this zombie thread before it dies again. I have a theory about the Lurchers' metal armor in Alloy of Law. I think those metal plates are made of Allomantic-grade steel. When a Lurcher Ironpulls on a bullet, the Allomantic power flowing from his center of gravity somehow affects the steel plate, producing a Steel bubble-like effect on its surface. The instant that the bullet hits the plate, the Ironpulling effect is replaced by a Steelpushing effect that is just strong enough to divert most of the bullet's force away from the Lurcher's body. That's why we don't see Lurchers get knocked backwards (as a normal person would) when bullets hit their metal plate with a force increased by Ironpulling. I basically got this idea from how aluminum's Allomancy-negating Allomantic power can manifest externally. If there's an obvious flaw in the theory, feel free to point it out. And if there's another explanation for this phenomenon, I'm definitely all-ears.

Yeah, I'm sorry about that. Someone interrupted me while I was typing that, so it took me a while to finish and I wasn't able to read the new posts in the meantime. I'm pretty sure Brandon would still want to assign properties to all Atium alloys. Yeah, I know it'll be hard, especially since Atium alloys would have to be more powerful than normal metals, but I think Brandon can pull it off. Perhaps some Atium alloys steal non-Scadrial powers (*evil laugh*). I agree with WeiryWriter that Lerasium-Atium can't be better than pure Atium in Hemalurgy. Here's my guess on what it might do: steal another person's age. For example, if you kill a 21-year old guy with a Lerasium-Atium spike and then spike yourself with it, you'll look like your 21-year-old self (or a bit older, depending on how much the spike has degraded). Well, okay, maybe another God metal would be a better fit. But I think, in that case, pure Lerasium should be the Feruchemy master spike. You're using Preservation's body in Ruin's system, so it's a balance of Ruin and Preservation just like Feruchemy is. Using Lerasium-Atium in Hemalurgy would still be more Ruin than Preservation overall. Or... I dunno, maybe you're right and Lerasium-Atium is the Feruchemy master spike, while Lerasium is the Allomancy master spike. *sigh* We just don't have enough clues, do we?

Yeah, pure Atium is the "Master master spike" and can steal any power (depending on the bind points used). I think I read somewhere that the Inquisitors didn't fully understand the Hemalurgic properties of Atium. Maybe they thought it was just for Allomantic powers, and perhaps the MAG rules simply reflect the Hemalurgic knowledge of the Steel Inquisition during the Final Empire. Anyway, that doesn't really disprove the theory that Malatium is a Feruchemy master spike, so it's still possible. But I don't think we have enough clues to decide yet. Personally, though, I kind of like this theory because of my own theory about gold. Edit: Alright, it looks like a full-blown discussion has taken place while I was typing this (God I'm slow!). The thing about Inquisitors and Atium was already mentioned, it appears. Sorry for this totally unnecessary post.

Yeah, there will be a high probability of getting a mostly useless power. Also, to make it more interesting, I'll make dangerous powers (powers that have a high chance of killing their users) about as probable as harmless/useless powers. I still haven't decided on what determines the kind of power a person will have (aside from narrativium, of course). It's probably going to be a semi-genetic thing, where offspring of magic users will have similar but non-identical powers. As a matter of fact, I did end up reading a bit about aboriginal beliefs while building the world history for my story. You see, the story will actually begin in Australia. The idea for this magic system came from a question that popped in my head while reading Wikipedia articles about the history of Science. What do we call beliefs that were originally based on superstition but were later proven by scientific experimentation? What if a person firmly held to a wild idea that he had no rational explanation for, but just so happened to be true? Should we not call him irrational and possibly insane, regardless of the accuracy of his belief? Or should we vindicate him as a bearer of truth? This led to the idea of "true delusions", "accurate hallucinations," and a magic system that was indistinguishable from madness. Of course, the non-magical kind of madness will still exist. A "normal" lunatic won't be able to see magic, though come to think of it, it might be fun to give magic powers to someone who was already mad.

Well, yeah, having the person's actual knowledge is better than just seeing visions of his life, but I was under the impression that you could still store visual memories in a Coppermind. Depends. Tapping from an Aluminummind changes your personality as well, right? If the alternate Identity's personality sucks and you only want his knowledge anyway, Aluminum might not be the best choice.

Or, if you were a Augur/Archivist Twinborn, just store the memory of that experience in a Coppermind.

Miles seemed to have the same experience when burning gold: Chapter 15, the Alloy of Law

Thanks, Haradion! Let me see if I can answer your questions. A few magic users would have political ambitions and would eventually become the government in some countries. I want to place the first story somewhere in the 19th century to allow for some pretty big changes to modern history (hint: there's gonna be more empires in that alternate universe). The existence of magic will become publicly known eventually, but I don't plan to make that happen until around the 21st century in-universe. Interesting idea! I haven't decided yet, but I don't see why this can't work. That depends on the powers that would manifest. It could range from mild confusion (if everyone developed non-flashy, relatively harmless powers) to the possible death of millions. I haven't decided on the lethal dose of the chemical, but that would also be a factor. The character with X-ray vision that I have in mind can see through any physical object. Brain scans would show that he's just hallucinating, except the hallucination accurately reflects what really is inside/behind the target object. I suppose it's also possible to gain the power to see through magical/enchanted artifacts, though I'd consider that to be a separate power. Enchanted objects are made from some sort of "spirit-material" that are only visible and tangible to magic users. Some people would have the power to extract this material from some source (I haven't decided yet; moon rocks? meteorites? any normal matter?). Spell-casters (a rare and powerful breed of magic users) could then enchant the raw material to form artifacts. The animal's pineal gland would need to have the right physiology to properly react to the chemical. It's an evolved trait, but yeah, there are a few non-human species that can actually benefit from the plant (Hint: wear armor before giving the plant to certain birds ). Of course, you'll have to be a magic user to see the effects. I'm still developing an in-universe history for the magic plant, but I imagine that it evolved naturally, and that it helped certain animals gain an evolutionary advantage over their competitors. At some point, the first human civilization decided that magic was far too dangerous to society, and so it hunted down all known magic users and destroyed their crops. A few seeds were saved and kept hidden by rebels, who eventually migrated to another land. Eventually, even those people decided to stop using the plant, teaching their children that it was sacred, and that eating it was taboo. And so it would take a few thousand years before the effects of the plant would be rediscovered by a certain European colonizer... Well, there are two limiting factors I can think of. The first is the timing. There is only a small window of opportunity during the development of the fetus wherein the chemical could properly trigger the magical synthesis gene. Secondly, a fetus that gains a dangerous power would very likely kill himself by accident while still in the womb. The only ones who'd survive are those with relatively benign powers, or those who are very, very lucky. You guessed it right: I'm going to use this feature to produce a particularly nasty supervillain.

I came up with a rather crazy magic system last year. Now, I'm not a writer by profession, but I do have some plot ideas for a few stories that incorporate this magic system. It will probably take a while before I find the time to write them, though. I reckon I might as well describe the magic system here so I can get feedback on what needs improving. Anyway, here's my idea: Imagine a chemical substance that induces magical ability in a person. A person might, for example, drink a pill containing this substance and then suddenly be able to blast energy beams from his eyes, Cyclops-style, for as long as the substance is in his bloodstream. But here's the catch: the only people affected by this magic are those that have ingested that substance as well. In other words, our Cyclops-wannabe can only hurt other magic users. In fact, only magic users could see his energy blasts. For the rest of humanity, he's just a crazy person who thinks he can shoot invisible death rays with his eyes. The idea is basically a kind of magic that is almost indistinguishable from hallucinations. This obviously limits the kind of powers one can have. For example, telekinetic powers wouldn't work on real world objects (though they would work on magical artifacts... which would be invisible to normal people). And transforming into a Hulk-like giant will not help someone lift real world boulders, or even stop real world bullets. So, why would someone want this kind of magic? Well, it depends on what you get, really. There are certain passive psychic powers that would be useful in the real world. These include mind-reading, clairvoyance, X-ray vision, super intelligence, etc. If you received a more aggressive kind of power (e.g. energy blasts), you could use that to fight those pesky psychics who would be vulnerable to your magic attacks. Which leads us to the topic of magical injury. In this system, a magic attack can be painful even if it doesn't lead to a physical wound. If the attack is powerful enough (or if it hits a critical area), it would produce an effect similar to drug overdose. This will usually kill the victim, depending on how much of the magic drug is still in his bloodstream. As you can see, I still don't have a name for this magic substance. I'd like to hear your suggestions. I came up with "lunaric acid", but I don't think that sounds cool enough. Thoughts? Edit: Here's some more stuff from my notes regarding this magic system: The magic substance is plant based. I don't have a name for the plant, either. I imagine it as an actual real world plant that went extinct in our universe but was somehow saved from extinction in the parallel alternate universe where the stories would be set. The magical "hallucinations" are caused by the substance's interaction with the pineal gland, which is referred to as "the third eye" by mystics IRL. If a woman ingests the magic substance at a certain point during pregnancy, her offspring's body will be able to synthesize the magic substance on its own, meaning the child will always be in a magical state. This permanent magic can only be inherited from a female magic user. A person can only have one magic power... unless his original power allows him to steal other people's powers. The majority of human beings would have powers that are not obvious or are not easy to learn. This fact helps in hiding the existence of magic from the rest of the world. Some powers would allow the user to leave his body. He would still be tangible to other magic users, but he'd be like an invisible ghost to everyone else. Freed from the constraints of the physical world, his magical strength would increase, but his physical body would fall into a coma until he returns.

I like this. Lerasium acting as a temporal metal in Hemalurgy would mirror Atium's temporal nature in Allomancy. Edit: I suppose I should contribute a question. What is up with Steris' weird behavior? Is it just a case of Asperger's syndrome, or did someone mess with her Spiritual Connection somehow?

Funnily enough, I was chatting with a friend earlier today and I was able to divert our conversation towards Brandon Sanderson via the Stormlight Archive. We were talking about conlangs and cool alphabets, so I described the Alethi script to him, which lead to Brandon Sanderson's books (it's not that big of a segue... we were talking about another fantasy series a few minutes before that). I told him about how the stories were all set in the same universe but on different planets, and about the Shards, and a little bit about Hoid... so now he knows about the Cosmere background even before reading any of the books. I figured that was okay since I didn't really give any big spoilers about the stories themselves. Anyway, I'll lend him my copy of The Final Empire later (you're probably right about the Way of Kings, Feather). Hopefully I'll have my first convert soon.

Alright, so they're probably not Splinters. All we know is that Shardblades have special Realmatic properties in all three realms. If we find out that there are only three types of Shardblade (we've only seen three so far), I'd probably go with Isomere's idea that Shardblades on Roshar are like God Metals on Scadrial. I'm not sure how that would fit with the Waveform theory (which I currently espouse), but we'll see.

You're forgetting that those swords could cut through almost anything else without a problem. The truly special thing isn't that Shardblades can damage Shardplate (a number of normal objects can damage Shardplate), but that Shardplate doesn't get sliced outright by a single Shardblade swipe. I think Shardplate is just normal Rosharian metal that's been Invested. They're probably just ancient man-made artifacts (fabrials?) created by the first Knights Radiant to match their Shardblade. But I would be surprised if Shardblades were man-made. Is there any WoB that directly refutes the Sharblades are Splinters theory?