DracoAdamantus

I'll need to double check, but I thought that pushed/pulled objects were always observed to move in a straight line until the push/pull ended? (Or affected by another push/pull) Equal and opposite reaction. Gravity is a force of equal and opposite attraction (or, if reversed, repulsion). Your mass pulls on the Earth with the same amount of force that the Earth pulls on you, but the difference in mass is so great that the amount the Earth is pulled towards you is infinitesimally small compared to the amount that you pull the Earth towards yourself. But if you had two objects existing in a vacuum, with no other sources of gravity, and then fixed the smaller of the two objects in place, the larger object would move towards the smaller. Relative perspective also comes into play. From an outside perspective, we see the larger object move towards the smaller. But from the point of view of the larger object, the smaller object still moved towards it. I figure it's the same premise here. When you push on a coin, it's the less massive object, so it moves away from you while you experience an infinitesimal amount of movement. Then the coin hits a building, and suddenly the object you are pushing becomes much more massive, so now you (the lighter object) are thrown back while the building experiences an infinitesimal amount of movement. However, if you observe just the allomancer and the coin, nothing actually changed. When pushing on the coin, there was a given amount of force applied that caused the distance between the two to increase. When it hit a building, that same amount of force continued to cause the distance between them to increase, at what I believe is the same rate. (Can someone validate if you're thrown back in this way, that you move at the same speed the object had been moving?) With no point of reference, the two are moving apart at a constant speed and from a constant force. (*Disclaimer: I am not a physicist, so this understanding of gravitational forces may not be 100% correct) Well, technically they can, what I was getting at was you can't push away a normal piece of ferrous metal with a stationary magnet, but manipulating magnetic fields can do something, but it gets complicated. Basically, if you had a giant stationary magnet, and pointed it at a stationary piece of ferrous metal (iron, cobalt, or nickel-based), you'd only be able to attract it. However, magnets will affect nonferrous metals, like copper and aluminum, when the magnetic field is in motion. This can be either a magnet moving past an object, or vice verse. In either case, the movement of the metal through the magnetic field induces something called eddy currents, which is basically a circular loop of electric current formed by the changing magnetic field. This spinning current creates its own electromagnetic field, in the same direction as the moving field, which pushes back (in a similar effect to trying to push the north pole of two magnets together). Here's a video explaining it in more detail: This is why dropping a strong magnet through a copper pipe causes the magnet to fall slowly, even though the copper itself isn't magnetic. However, the big thing here is that it doesn't create its own force, it only resists existing force. Eddy currents are induced when conductive material moves perpendicular to a magnetic field, and the field created produces drag in the direction of motion. It will only push against the direction the object is already moving, not accelerate it in a new direction. Now there is such a thing as magnetic levitation and magnetic repulsion, but the issue is that it is rather complicated to achieve, much more complicated than putting a piece of metal in an electromagnetic field. Plus, it generally requires the object to be levitated to be a magnet.

At the current state, I find Lift to be one of the most annoying and intolerable characters in the series. Her antics aren't charming, her whole stealing food thing was funny exactly once, she can't seem to ever take anything seriously, and everything about her behavior just feels incredibly out of place for the world of Roshar and the overall tone of the story. Every time she shows up, it pulls me out of the scene, because she is so jarringly off compared to every other character in the series. And it's the same jokes and the same thing every time. Like @Returned pointed out, she is extremely one-note. In understand that is the point, that she needs to come to terms with the fact that things change, but even though her presence doesn't necessarily make the story worse, it definitely makes reading it less enjoyable. On all of my rereads, I skip all lift-focused chapters, I'm that fed-up with having to read about her. I know she's just a kid, but that doesn't change the fact that she's an annoying, and refuses to ever be serious about anything. I've had people compare her to Luffy (from One Piece) before, and that is certainly an apt description, because he is also one of the most intolerably annoying characters I've ever had the displeasure to experience. I made it about 7 minutes into episode 1 of One Piece because I just couldn't stand hearing his voice or watching his antics for one second longer. I hope she's mentally matured a bit in the time skip to book 6, because I truly do not think I can make it through a book with current Lift as the primary POV character.

Dumb question, how do I even set my signature? I looked through the whole account settings page and didn't see anything. EDIT: Nevermind, I just missed it. I had been checking edit profile, not full account settings apparently.

Like @Treamayne pointed out, it's almost certainly tied to fundamental forces and/or electromagnetic bonds. But I don't think it's necessarily magnetism/magnetic fields. I wouldn't quite call it magnetic, since you can seemingly affect any metal (even godmetals) except for aluminum, when magnets can only attract ferrous metals (and only attract, not repel). I wouldn't even go as far to say it involves magnetic fields in the traditional sense, because of how precise it is. The magnetic field required just to pull a nail to you from across the room would be immense, and affect any metal in the vicinity as well. But investiture that manipulates the laws of physics also generally is targeted/localized, so maybe it could work so that only your intended target feels the force. This could be explained by electromagnetic fields, bit I think there is another possible explanation. What if instead, you're manipulating gravity? Not only is it another fundamental force, but we've already seen an example of this in the Cosmere, with the surge of Gravitation. A full lashing can make an object fall in any direction, and ignore normal gravity at the same time. A reverse lashing can make a lashed object pull other objects towards itself instead of the ground. It's also specifically noted that allomantic pushes and pulls are always in a straight line relative to the center of mass of both the allomancer and the metal. It also doesn't matter where the object is relative to you, it will always move in the same fashion. This is not consistent with manipulating materials with a magnetic field. As far as I understand, electromagnetic fields cannot be evenly consistent throughout, there is always a north and south pole, and how an object is affected by one depends on (among other things) where it is positioned relative to its center. Gravity on the other hand, is a consistent force moving from all points in the shortest path possible (a straight line) towards an object's center of mass. The means of how force transfers is also consistent with gravity. Both objects are equally affected in a push/pull, but the less massive of the two moves further. I also think speed is consistent, though someone correct me if I am wrong. When you are pushing against a small object, then it hits something immobile, you are thrown back at an equal speed that the object had been going. Why that is limited to metals I can't say for sure, but Sanderson has stated and we have observed that there is something special about metals and how they interact with investiture, something that's different from regular matter. Maybe it's just an effect of the magic system, that allomantic iron/steel can only alter the gravity of metals because allomantic power is based in metals.

I think it's mostly a physical thing. I believe that stormlight is stored in the physical crystal structure of gemstones. The closer the internal structure is to perfect, the more viable space there is in the gem for the stormlight to collect. This would also help explain the stormlight leakage. The Third law of Investiture states that investiture flows from an area of higher concentration to one of lower concentration. Here's how I think it works: *Note: For this explanation, the word "crystal" is in a chemical sense, referring to the arrangement of atoms to form one crystal, which are bonded together to create a crystalline substance. "Gem" (or gemstone) refers to the whole object made of crystal. When you fill a gem with stormlight, it fills the entire gem evenly, so the concentration is constant throughout. A perfect crystal will hold an amount of stormlight indefinitely (that amount based on atomic makeup of the crystal, which will give it a defined size and shape), until drawn out by another source of investiture. A flawed crystal, caused by inclusions or cracks in the gemstone, will not hold any stormlight, and will immediately leak out once removed from the source of light. Now the gemstone 's stormlight concentration is uneven, because the flawed sections have no light, so it redisperses to be even, leaks from the flawed areas, and so on until there is no light left. It's a miniscule amount of light lost, but over a prolonged period of time

It's inherently transferrable, but I wouldn't say there are no strings attached. There are rules and limitations on how breath can be transferred, at least from what we know so far. When transferring from person to person, it has to be given (the person giving the breath speaks the command) When retrieving breath from an awakened object, it has to be taken (the person gaining the breath speaks the command) You cannot retrieve breath from an awakened object that you did not put there yourself There isn't identity contamination going straight from one person to another, but there is (what I assume to be) identity contamination when breath is put to an object, because of rule 3. What I was getting at in the rest of the post is how does this mechanically work from the aspect of the spiritual component of invested arts (connection, identity, intent, etc.), which is inherent to the whole Cosmere.

Wait a second. Do you have sources for either of those things (more importantly the where it actually discusses a feruchemist's connection to metalminds)? That would be a significant piece of canon information for what I'm writing up, I've been mostly speculating on metalmind connection for this theory. I would say it depends if Nightblood doesn't drink all the investiture in the time it takes to sever the connection. However I would say that if it works, it would be somewhere between slightly and vastly different, simply because Nightblood is a big question mark when it comes to a lot of investiture interactions, given how it has been evolving.

Well, I stand corrected!

For anyone interested, I finally finished part 1 of my previously mentioned unsealed metalminds theory, and posted it in the Mistborn forum:

This originally began as part of a much, much longer theory, but the further I slowly descended into madness dug into what things we know for certain about the functions and manipulations of the spiritual aspects of investiture, the less satisfied I saw with what I came up with (it took far too many assumptions to make it all click together). So instead, I have parsed it down to where the original theory began, exploring how the Malwish feruchemical medallions actually function. This will likely be the first theory of several as I untangle the mad web I have woven. I have a feeling a lot of the actual mechanics will be explained in future Scadrial eras, and prove significant portions of this theory wrong. But I wanted to see what I could come up with based upon our current understanding of the mechanics of metallic arts and spiritual manipulation. The big questions I set out to find an answer for here are: Mechanically, how do unsealed metalminds function? How can the nicrosilminds be tapped for an ability without being a nicrosil ferring? What We Already Know First, let’s go over some information we already know, or can infer from WoBs or from multiple clues placed together. The nicrosil portions of the medallions don’t run out over time, they work like copperminds (the investiture is tapped, then stored again). It is possible for a full twinborn or even one mistborn and one seeker to make a medallion on their own, but it is easier with hemalurgy It is possible to make a medallion with 32 separate mistings and ferrings Unsealed metalminds have an identity and sort of life-force of their own, which is what lets them be used while sleeping Unsealed metalminds use a "connection hack" to trick the investiture into thinking you are able to use it Creating an unsealed metalmind requires feruchemical duralumin With that all out of the way, now to get to the theory itself. Mechanics of Unsealed Metalminds The short and simple explanation is I believe that the actual powers granted by the medallions (that is, the ability to use a certain feruchemical power) are granted not like tapping a metalmind, but more like a spren granting surges. Even though Sanderson said it operates more like a coppermind, I believe this was in the sense that it is a distinct thing being used and put back, rather than a span of time that the attribute was stored for. But I do NOT think that the user of the metalmind is actually tapping the nicrosilmind and withdrawing the investiture, and thus would not need to be a nicrosil ferring to do so. As for how that happens? I have a few ideas, though it gets a pretty complicated at best and downright convoluted at worst. Metalmind Identity The most common assumption is that the nicrosilmind stores identity-blanked investiture, so anyone that can tap it (a nicrosil ferring) could utilize it. WoB also confirms that unsealed metalminds have an identity of their own. I believe that the process of creating an identity-blanked nicrosil metalmind, with the proper intent of creating an unsealed metalmind, does something similar to awakening. Operating off of the premise that investiture has a sort of baseline sentience, putting a large amount of investiture (brought on by compounding nicrosil) into a metalmind could cause it to gain a sort of consciousness. Not full sentience like Nightblood, or even a more animalistic intelligence like emotion spren, but just a basic awareness. More like a simple computer program than a thinking mind. Not much, but enough to have an identity of its own. The intent you use when you store that investiture leaves an imprint on it so to speak, and the result is stored investiture with two main intents to its identity: “I am a metalmind” and “I want to be utilized”. This awareness is what allows them to be tapped/filled while sleeping. Even when you aren't conscious, the metalmind is, and continues functioning based on the last intention you had with it before falling asleep (tapping, filling, or none). This "intention echo" (as I have come to call it) is vital to accessing the investiture. Accessing the Investiture When it comes to accessing that investiture, I do not think that anyone is actually tapping the nicrosilminds to withdraw the investiture within. My two main arguments for this are: Accessing the power in a medallion is automatic. Upon having the correct intent, you automatically gain the powers within. Additionally, releasing a medallion automatically stops access to those powers. If someone were tapping the investiture, they’d need to put it back into the medallion themselves, or they would likely be able to just withdraw the investiture and permanently have it. When people use the medallions, they describe feeling the pool of the stored attribute, but never the pool of the stored investiture. When Wax realizes the coin is a metalmind at the end of BoM, what he feels is described in detail, and he does not feel the presence of a pool of investiture, tap it, then upon gaining the ability feel the pool of stored memories. He only feels the memories, and taps them. But then how does a person get access to that investiture without tapping it? I believe that the connection manipulation at play can allow a person to access investiture that is still contained within the metalminds There’s many different kinds of connection, and how exactly it functions remains incredibly ambiguous, but I think there are two specific connections at play here. The connection between a feruchemist and their metalminds. This is what allows a feruchemist to store and tap attributes just from physical contact with their metalminds. The connection between a Scadrian and their innate investiture (a sliver of Preservation), or even their connection to Preservation itself. This is what causes the spiritual DNA to read as Scadrian. I believe that, if stored while identity blanked, then anyone who accesses that connection would effectively read as having the spiritual DNA of a Scadrian. I believe that even in medallions that do not specifically store connection for a given purpose (the translator medallions), there is still connection within them, in the same way that there would be connection between a regular metalmind and its creator. That is, not connection that can be tapped, but connection that takes place in all feruchemy. This is one place I think the excisors come into play. I believe that one of the functions of the excisors (I’ll go into more thoughts on them in a future post) is that during the filling of the nicrosilmind with identity-blanked investiture, they are used to sever that connection between the feruchemist and the metalmind, and between the Scadrian and the innate investiture itself. This leaves the feruchemist end of the connections “open”, with both the investiture and its connections still identity-blanked. It could be possible that anyone holding onto the medallion would effectively “slot-in” to the open ends of the connections, connecting them to the investiture within. Because the investiture is identity blanked, it identifies anyone touching the metalmind as “their feruchemist”. So now, in this closed system, we have: A person A metalmind storing innate Scadrian investiture (the feruchemical power) The connection between a feruchemist and their metalminds The connection between a person and that Scadrian investiture I believe that when these four factors are all together, the quasi-conscious investiture, having its own identity and intent, doesn't know whether it is stored in a metalmind or a person's spiritweb. All it knows is that it is connected to a person that (it believes) has the capability to use Scadrian investiture, and therefore allows the person to utilize them through the connection to the metalmind. If it were a fully thinking entity, I assume the thought process would work something like this: "I am a metalmind, and I'm connected to this person, so they must be my feruchemist" "I am Scadrian investiture, and there's a connection to Scadrial in this person, so they must be capable of using me" "I am connected to this person, and this person is connected to Scadrial, so I must be an ability that they possess" This establishes how the "connection hack" tricks the investiture into believing that it is a part of the spiritweb of the user. But how can someone utilize the stored abilities if the innate investiture is not actually within them? Well, what's something we've seen investiture that has come alive have a tendency to do? Give abilities through a bond. I believe that a combination of the connection hack and the investiture's own identity allows that connection between a feruchemist and their metalminds to act as a bond of sorts, similar to a Nahel or Luhel bond, but its own distinct third type of bond. Earlier I described a sort of "intention echo", in which the investiture acts upon the user's last intent to allow the minds to be filled/tapped while unconscious. I believe the core of what makes that work is the investiture remaining stored within the metalmind. You are not actually directly tapping/storing an attribute, your intent to tap/store is felt by the investiture which then carries that action out, using the bond between the metalmind and its feruchemist to give/take attributes from the user. Functionally, this is no different than if you possessed the ability itself, the only difference is that the investiture has its own identity and intent separate from your own, and will continually carry out its most recently received intent until either a new one is given or no longer finds itself connected to a feruchemist (ie. when you break contact with the metalmind). This is what allows it to operate while sleeping, by being physically stored outside of your spiritweb, you are not actually the one doing the feruchemy, the investiture itself is, directed by your intent. Closing Thoughts So yeah, like I said, pretty complicated and possibly convoluted. There's a lot of assumptions made, but I tried to stick as best as I could to our broad understanding of the various spiritual aspects at play. If the broad idea of this is correct, then we have an explanation for one of the big questions of the medallions. Let me know what you think! My next theory on this topic will likely be a next step on the medallions, regarding how they are created, and a few theories on both the properties of creation of the excisors.

I've been pondering this topic myself lately, and I think that Harmonium's ability goes beyond just a Feruchemical one, one in line with the idea that godmetals aren't confined to their own magic systems. The other two Scadrian godmetals, Lerasium and Atium, can be burned by anybody according to Brandon, and we've seen that Raysium has a special property too in SLA (it can conduct investiture). I think that what Harmonium does is replicate investiture. When a source of investiture is used on Harmonium, it will absorb that investiture, then replicates it continually (until stopped by an outside force), using itself as fuel to create the effect ("burning" itself, from an allomantic standpoint). Preservation exists in the replication of the investiture, and Ruin exists in the burning of the metal to do so. If this is correct, I think that the primer cubes release the allomantic effect in a short burst (instead of running continuously until all the metal is used up) is an effect of other mechanisms within manipulating the metal, likely utilizing aluminum (blocks investiture) and silver (disrupts investiture) to force the process to stop. I do have some ideas on how that works, but that's a much longer theory that will need its own post.

There are WoBs that confirm Hemalurgy is not required to make the medallions. From which we can infer that medallions are not made out of spikes in any way. A few months ago, I would have said that this wouldn't work because you can't be forced to use a metalmind, you need to have the correct intent. However, in Emberdark we see something very interesting: The jury is out on people being forced fill metalminds in this way, but I can definitely see there being an economy for it in the future, especially as a way to prey on those desperate for money. You go in, spend a few hours filling an unsealed mind, and you get some boxings for your time. This is the big question for the metalminds themselves, en masse or not, and unfortunately it's something we can't answer until we know exactly what the excisors are and what they do. I believe they are needed not just for creating the medallions, but for filling them with attributes, as Edwarn says in The Bands of Mourning that the medallions are useful, “But their reserves of heat are not eternal and we don't know how to refill them". Which implies that either the Set have not figured out identity blanking for unkeyed metalminds (unlikely), or that it requires more than just blanking identity to store attributes in an unsealed metalmind.

One point about the highstorms is that they aren't a constant storm of pure investiture, it's a highly invested storm with wind and rain and such. According to Coppermind, "The Investiture comes at a certain moment, normally a few minutes after the storm wall, but it changes, this is how surge binders with gravitation can ride storm wall. The strength of the storm is not tied directly to the amount of Stormlight Invested into gemstones." So not only is there a finite portion of the storm that contains investiture, but gems absorb investiture at the same rate regardless of storm strength. This WoB also infers that the investiture within that section is finite, as the storms strength decreases in part due to the investiture infusing into spheres and other gems. So, while a highstorm as a whole would contain more investiture than an unmade, there is only a limited amount of time during a storm that investiture is around to infuse, and a limited rate at which gems will absorb that investiture.

The mechanics of when breath can and can't be transferred is one of the things eating away at me in my theories on the spiritual aspects of invested arts. Its super easy to transfer between individuals, with a simple command (statement of intent). It doesn't seem to have identity contamination the way metalminds and hemalurgic spikes do, since you can use any breath you have, no matter who gave it to you or how many people it came from. However, breath stored in an object can only be retrieved be the one who put it there. My guess is that the command to transfer breath allows the breath to be "rewritten" to a new identity during transfer. If the recipient is a living thing, it is rewritten to match the new identity. If the recipient is nonliving, it keeps the original identity, and thus can only be retrieved by the person who put it there. The issue is that SLA and The Emperor's Soul show us that even inanimate objects have a soul and identity of their own, so there has to be more specific nuance than that...

I don't see this working in either scenario. For a Mistwraith, I'm assuming that they have a gemheart as a result of digesting a Singer or other Rosharan fauna. In which case, the parts of digested bodies that Mistwraiths hold on to are temporary, new parts integrated and old ones shed all the time. I think of it more like the waste from digested food. For a Kandra, from what we've seen I don't think a crystal truebody would be perceived as a part of a Kandra's body by most members of the species. It's more of a fashion accessory to them, like jewelry or piercings, and they can be swapped out with ease. In either case, the gemstone isn't an integrated part of the creature's anatomy or spiritual identity like in Rosharan creatures, it would just be something temporary.

I can see something like this working, but I think identity manipulation is more important than connection manipulation here. You would effectively need to trick the investiture into using the spiritual identity of someone else for the "blueprint" it is doing the healing off of.

Hmm, well this may be cliche, cause they're the grandmother and grandfather of modern sci-fi and fantasy, but it would have to be either Lord of the Rings or Dune. If going for more recent books though, I haven't read them in years (they're definitely young adult books), but the Airborn trilogy by Kenneth Oppel was a favorite of mine for a long time. Impossible to pick just one, but the top 5 in no particular order would be: Peach crisp, red velvet cake (or cake balls), dirt pudding, coconut cream pie, and almost anything almond-based

Okay, I have two scenarios in mind. Scenario 1: A small dinner party that I'm hosting for these characters, those I think I'd actually get along with and have some good conversation with. Navani Khriss Sazed (though I'd politely request religious talk be kept to a minimum) Shai Starling Hoid (kind of a wild card I know, but I desperately want to pick his brain) Scenario 2: Characters I'd want to PARTY with Blushweaver (cause horny) MeLann (also cause horny) Wayne (he honestly seems like a great guy to hang out with, aside from his "trading" habits) Szeth (to babysit Wayne) Lopen (I gotta see a conversation between him and Wayne) Hoid

Awesome, thanks for the info!

Oh Dr. Pepper, 100%. It's my go-to soft drink

Hello from Indiana! I'm normally not one to get super involved in online communities, but as I've been getting more and more into the Cosmere I've wanted to actually engage with other fans (aside from my 3 friends that read Cosmere, who are much more casual readers than me). I originally started pouring through the forum looking for information or discussions that could help connect information together that wasn't on the Coppermind, and while I haven't found much in that regard I've been having a pretty good time looking through the stuff that is here. I've been reading (and re-reading) Sanderson works for about 12 years (started with Steelheart in high school), and have been into the Cosmere for about 2 1/2 years. I am completely caught up on all official published Cosmere works, and am currently on my third re-read of Mistborn as I slowly descend into madness await whatever the next thing may be. I am an engineer by trade and am also an avid a hobbyist prop maker and medievalist. As a result of those things together I've been spending a lot of my free time lately working on prop replicas of various types of investiture for my display shelf. As of now I have something for Stormlight, Lifelight, Voidlight, White Sand, Aons, Forging, Aviar, some (but not all) of the metals for Allomancy and Hemalurgy, some of the confirmed Aethers, and Unkeyed Investiture. I also like to workshop theories on applications of invested arts, like applying engineering principles to allomancy and fabrials for potential applications as the Cosmere industrial revolution progresses. Right now I've got a sizable, partially completed thesis on the construction of Malwish medallions, but there's so much we don't know on the interplay between Connection, Investiture, and Identity, that I can't really progress it without making some massive assumptions at best, and just making stuff up at worst. Anyway, this is already probably a much longer blurb than necessary. Hope I can get to know some folks!

Oh yes. Yesss! This is everything I've been waiting for. I've been descending into madness theorizing about the construction of Malwish medallions for the past few weeks when a certain itch caught me, and I keep having to step away cause there's just too much we don't know about the interplay between Identity, Connection, and Investiture to put together anything I'm happy with.

Have we heard anything regarding the full poster since the 2019 AMA? I desperately want to finish out the charts of all three.

No idea what this thread is, but it came up in my search results looking for theorizing on the Aons. Just a Worldhopper passing through gents, nothing to see here.

I've been putting something similar together. I also initially thought that the aethers would have the same colors as their corresponding polestones, but quickly realized that there are severe conflicts between color and effect for the aethers we know. In your table, you have the colors of Roseite aether as white, Sunlight as red, and Crimson as yellow. In Tress, all the spores we see are the same color as the effects they create (except for Zephyr, since it's just air). We know that Roseite is pink, Crimson is red, and (going off of the aethers art from Coppermind), Sunlight is likely yellow or gold: https://coppermind.net/wiki/Coppermind:Artists/cosmiciaria#/media/File:Aethers_by_cosmiciaria.png. I went off the assumption that the colors of polestones & aethers are not 1-to-1, and it's much more likely the aethers would correspond to the essence and/or soulcasting material first, and the associated gemstone secondarily (if possible). I also remember in Tress, two of the crew members disagreed on if bone spores were a thing or just a myth. For the purpose of this at least let's assume they are real. They also say there's debate on "whether they are black or white". This sounds a lot like the White Sand from Taldain. I won't repeat all the information as has been posted before, but this thread (and those linked within) goes into more detail: So that's 6 of 12 aethers. Then there's those from AoN, from which we get two more. I also agree with the earlier comments in this thread that there would need to be two "special" aethers that do not correspond to essences. The fact that it operates so differently from the other spore types makes that easy to assume, but I have three specific thoughts (mainly from Tress) that influence an idea on how the other aethers operate/correspond. Midnight spores are said to be the spores/aether of night (obvious I know, but bear with me) The two "special" aethers are likely opposites of each other (so night and day) Midnight spores are the only one we see that don't just produce some sort of matter/energy. It creates a full-blown midnight essence creatures, one that you can put your senses into, but isn't just a mindless drone. You have to feed it your water or it will no longer listen to you. There's a temporary Luhel bond formed, which for the other aether types is only a thing for aetherbound. With the first two points, you'd think that sunlight spores are the opposite to midnight spores, but I disagree. Yes their names are opposite, but what they call different spores on Lumar may not necessarily be the actual aether's name, and the effect of Sunlight spores is pretty mundane to be one of the "special outliers". It's basically just Zephyr spores, but fire/heat instead of air. Some people have said it may be whatever aether the bone spores occupy, with white being the opposite of black, and (if an aether is behind sandcasting as we believe) its power being some sort of telekinesis. However, sand casting is just limited to, well, sand (ie stone). Looking at the ten essences, Talus both has the bones as its associated body part, and its soulcasting material is rock and stone. Both of which fall in line nicely with the bone spores. But there's another named aether that could be an opposite to night/midnight, and which has an appropriately "outlier" effect (Small AoN spoiler) That all being said, this is what I've come up with. Items in italics have been written about at one point but has neither been confirmed or denied if they will remain canon. Items with an *asterisk are things that are speculative on my part, based on tangential information we already have or continuing a pattern in theming I noticed. Items with a ??? I have yet to come up with something appropriate to fill it (what are your theories?)