therationalpi

This question made me realize that I barely remember the personalities of the characters in Era 2. Guess I should go back and reread that series.

On the flipside, there have been multiple antagonists with potential for ongoing conflicts that just kind of die before it comes together. Looking only at Stormlight novels I'd say Amaram, Sadeus, and Raboniel all had their stories cut short. I'm definitely hoping for more from the Blackthorn, including those epic space battles, but there's still a chance that he's eliminated early in the back half of Stormlight.

Considering how many questions about nicrosil ferrings have been "RAFO'd" by Brandon, I suspect that we'll have at least one very important Soulbearer in Era 3.

Looking at your title I'm a little worried that you'll spike me if I give the wrong answer, so I'll say Hemalurgy. Honestly, the lack of clear information we have on it makes it more interesting, especially when you consider how rare and inherently barbaric the process was in Era 1 but also how the potential for "ethical hemalurgy" was hinted at in Era 2. As for which powers I'm most interested in seeing used in Era 3, pretty much all of the Spiritual metals are interesting to me as Cosmere-awareness expands. Word of Brandon says Chromium Allomancy affects other forms of investiture, which seems really important. Anyone relying on their powers could have all their advantages stripped away in an instant by a leecher, and that's without even considering the effect on entities made of Investiture. Mark my words, someone's gonna get straight up eaten. Storing investiture with Nicrosil Feruchemy sounds absolutely busted when combined with basically any other invested art. We've already seen the magi-tech stuff with Nicrosil metalminds in Era 2, and it seems pretty clear that new possibilities for Nicrosil will keep multiplying as the eras progress. Hemalurgic Duralumin stealing Identity and Connection also sounds totally wild. Even if you set aside the interactions with other invested arts, what does it mean to "Steal" someone's Connection and Identity? You think losing your credit card number is bad, imagine someone stealing the spiritual connection to every one of your friends and family! Sales of LifeLock on Scadrial would be off the charts.

Tough one. Probably would go with Tress, since I love that whimsical storybook vibe but it's relatively rare in the "harder" fantasy that I tend to read.

Thanks for the heads up, I think I fixed it. I guess I'll need to familiarize myself with the different "Spoiler zones" of the forum.

I doubt that I'm alone on a forum like this when I say that I love to idly speculate about the fiction I read. Whether it's the mechanics of magical systems or future political schemes of fictional groups, I can muse about these topics endlessly. And when the time comes that I want to discuss those same topics with other people, it would be nice if there was some shared vocabulary to have those discussions. What I love about the Cosmere is that this shared vocabulary comes ready-made and is given in the books themselves, evolving alongside the fans expanding discussion of the events in the books. In linguistics terms you would describe this specialized vocabulary as a "Jargon," technical language whose terms have specific narrow meanings when used in a specific context. Different fields often use the same term in different ways. So, when I say that someone is "Heavily Invested" you need to use context to know if I mean that person is emotionally attached, has purchased a lot of stock, or just went for a swim in the Well of Ascension. It's pretty common for fandoms to come up with jargon around their hobbies. From power-scaling fans to romance slash-fic enjoyers, when people talk about any topic enough they gather an expanding vocabulary. Part of me fears that given enough time all fandoms are doomed to become unintelligible to people outside their community. We are seeing the birth of new languages, born not from the borders between nations but between the people that had a really deep Star Wars phase and the ones that got a Mistborn box-set for their birthday. What's great about the Cosmere is that the story already includes people having similar discussions to the fans, and thus have an in-universe reason to hone and perfect this jargon for themselves. When Hoid is reaching out to potential allies he needs a vocabulary to talk about Shards, Dawnshards, and the Splintering. When Khriss makes entries in the Ars Arcanum she needs scientific jargon to describe how investiture functions to her fellow worldhopper scholars. You can even extend this to Rosharan politics naming all of the different groups, Princedoms, and secret organizations vying for power. Essential vocabulary for discussing border disputes and deciding who should sit next to whom at Adolin and Shallan's wedding reception. Then, when we as readers read all of these terms in the books, we gain them for our own discussions. Because I've read the Ars Arcanum entries I know about the concept of Investiture, and as I write this post I can be confident that you, dear reader, are also familiar with the concept. Neither of us need to clarify that Investiture is part of the Cosmere's physics alongside matter and energy that fuels the setting's magic, because that piece of jargon is right there in the text for all of us to read. Now we are free to have the important discussion about if you could use some kind of invested tech to make a super-rad boombox that draws on Connection to makes its music extra engaging to everyone that hears it. You know, the truly essential questions that keep us all up at night. Even better, Brandon directly engaging with the fans helps keep the in-universe jargon fresh and up-to-date. I don't think that it's a coincidence that after years of fans squabbling over which invested beings are the most powerful we finally had a character refer to "Elantrian level" as a yardstick to compare them. With that matter settled we can move on to arguing if a different yardstick would have been chosen if Elantris wasn't the first published Cosmere book. A side benefit of this vocabulary tending is that Cosmere discussion is made more accessible to the average fan simply by reading the books. It might be difficult for someone that hasn't read all of the published works to make heads-or-tails of the more esoteric discussions, but a relative "outsider" who has read everything official but (somehow) avoided the fan community could slide into the discussion with ease. That, to me, is a great feature to keep the community growing and vibrant for years to come. What do you think? Do you like the way that Cosmere books define the technical language that fans can use to discuss the series, or do you feel like jargon takes you out of the story? Do you think that Brandon is deliberate in his efforts to guide fan vocabulary, or do you think it's incidental to the type of story fantasy writers tend to tell? Do you think that Hoid will ever make up a ridiculous Cosmere term just to mess with the people in Silverlight?

Are we going with the Cosmere-standard definition or the way that Rosharans call every being made of investiture a "spren?" If it's the former, I think Cryptics are a really interesting sort of spren with entertaining personalities. If it's the latter...

Everything out right now (including Wind and Truth). I've read everything officially published by Brandon except the Alcatraz series.

Gonna have to go with the "Quickwit" - Allomantic Tin to Increase Senses + Feruchemical Zinc to Store Mental Speed The stored mental speed allows the twinborn to process and act on all of that extra info that the improved senses give them. Imagine a detective examining a scene and being able to pick up on and understand all of the tiny details, piecing together clues like Sherlock Holmes. The combo could also be incredibly useful in a fight, whether at range or hand-to-hand. I can picture a Quickwit sniper spotting a target to pop off a shot at incredible range in moments, or a Jackie Chan-like street brawler who manages multiple opponents with improvisational flourish.

Hello everyone! After reading almost all of Brandon's published works and listening to the Shardcast for a while I figured it was about time for me to actually join the community and chat with other readers. Like most people here, I'm very interested in the ever expanding Cosmere setting, but I also enjoy Skyward, Reckoners, and Rithmatist. When I'm not reading fantasy/sci-fi books I work as an R&D Acoustical Engineer. As a side-effect, I can't help seeing the many connections between wave physics and Investiture, particularly on Roshaar. Maybe I'll share some of my theories on how real-life acoustic phenomena might manifest in future stories!