Gloom

There are two kinds of Aimians: Dysian Aimians (the ones, Wit mentions in Ch. 54) and Siah Aimians, such as Axies (I-5). source PS: Thanks for encouraging me to look that up, I came across a very funny thread in the process that made my day. don't click me

I think his targeting Dalinar has more to do with the fact that Dalinar wants to end the war and return the Alethi war machine to Alethkar than it does with Dalinars desire to take a larger role in their leadership. This was the largest point of contention between Dalinar and Sadeas. It was one of the main reasons that the other High Princes thought he was losing his courage. But it's a frightening thought to Alethkars neighbors. Should the Alethi war machine return 100,000 veteran, battle hardened, soldiers to Alethkar, how long would it be before they took advantage of the political instability of their neighbors? How long before 30,000 soldiers are at Kharbranths doorstep? Before Jah Keved is just a province of Alethkar, or a fraction of it's previous size? None of this would require the kings agreement, Elhokars hold isn't strong enough to stop his princes from fighting with their neighbors. His hold is strong enough to have kept the Alethi war machine in one place concentrated against a single enemy for over five years though. I don't see Elhokar as a figurehead of a king. Naive, indecisive, yes, he is those, but he has political acumen. He is well liked by his subject princes. He has fairly good judgement, and an understanding of those best suited to advise him. Yes, I believe that Sadeas is a good choice for an adviser. He is popular with a faction of the princes, and he makes a good counterpoint to Dalinar. Once he becomes confident in his own abilities, and steps out from beneath his fathers shadow, he could become a great king, provided he lives long enough.

Yes, Szeth killed everyone on the list he was given of leaders that needed to die, but Elhokar obviously managed to qualify as a leader that didn't need to be assassinated. I believe this is because Taravangian believes that he can be persuaded by Sadeas to play nice with Taravangians plans, and that Elhokars death would likely result in chaos. He has no heirs, and re-consolidating the kingdom of Alethkar would be a monumental feat for which he simply doesn't have the time. Most kingdoms are fairly stable and have been ruled in a similar manner for generations (This is, of course, an assumption based on the fact that most kingdoms need stability and have generally been in existence for some time) allowing the current leadership to be replaced according to tradition. Alethkar is by most standards a new kingdom. Prior to Galivar uniting the Alethi they were ten smaller kingdoms tied together loosely through a national/racial/cultural identity. To remove the current king while without an heir in only the second generation of rulership would almost certainly result in a dissolution of his empire similar to the dissolution of the empire of the Huns after Atillas death.

Sort of a generic cognitive blueprint? A blueprint that requires a significant amount of cognitive and spiritual pressure to be transferred spiritually between realms? Using Shardplate as an example. Shardplate was for millennium the hallmark of the KR, a mystical group of warriors that were held in a sort of pseudo religious awe. They were revered as the warriors of their gods. Because the Knights Radiant were associated with full plate armor, over time, that association would form a rough template of plate armor in the cognitive realm due to the sheer number of people who shared this concept. The strength of the belief being spiritual in nature may reinforce this belief and create a global cosmere concept that could be intuitively grasped by other cognitive beings regardless of where they were...or perhaps it just spilled over into adjacent realms? This closer to what you were shooting for?

heh, I don't think that would be a huge problem for Syl, as she either looks like Windspren, or a cute little fairy. If it did happen, Lift would be tripping left and right for the next few weeks. Syl is more than a bit mischievous. I think some of the more self important spren, however, would be horrified. I could easily see Lift asking why she got a stupid plant instead of a pretty fairy though, and giving Wyndle a hard time about not being as awesome as Syl.

Would these forms be cognitive? What I mean is, are we talking about cognitive overlap between worlds? I create a crossbow on one world, and because the concept already exists in the cognitive realm, it makes it easier for the concept to be duplicated in another realm? If so, I believe that the smaller the concept, the less likely it would overlap. A religion is shared by many. Millions of cognitive entities could share a belief, and that may make it more likely to overlap into another Realm in the Cognitive. A trade secret, a unique design for a weapon, or how a specific alloy is created may be held closely and be known by a very small number of people. In this case, these things would be less likely to overlap into other Realms because they don't have a strong enough presence in the Cognitive.

I believe this would be possible, and even amusing.

Actually, I was referring to her abilities in regards to how she metabolizes investiture (I hesitate to call it Stormlight). He seemed a bit perplexed about that as well as her ability to touch him. I'm waiting for Lift to run into a particularly snarky spren that gives her lip so we can have the fun factor of watching her slap it upside the head.

ahh, if only Skype emoticons worked here, I could have easily given you a clue

Every piece of information we have says that humans are not native to Roshar. It would stand to reason that the ecology of Shinovar is also foreign. Aimians are not human. I believe they are native to Roshar. The Parsh are a mystery. If the Parsh were the dawnsingers, then the evidence we have says they were on Roshar when humanity arrived. Granted, this is Kabsals word, so it is just Vorin mythology, which hasn't proven to be terribly reliable.

I don't know if Lift can absorb Stormlight from gems or not. I do think that after 'capturing' Wyndle it became apparent to her that when she was 'awesome', she got hungry. I believe that her ability to convert food into investiture replaced her ability to absorb Stormlight from gems. That the Nightwatcher rewrote the internal pathways to how power was accessed. The truth of the matter is that we really don't have any idea. Lift would have almost immediately begun associating food with awesomeness, so she wouldn't have necessarily ever even tried to access Stormlight. In fact we have pretty good evidence in the interlude that she had no idea it was even possible. She doesn't listen to Wyndle most of the time, so she more than likely would have shut him down if he tried to explain, and he was definitely confused at her abilities.

I find it somewhat interesting that Taravangian sends Szeth to kill Dalinar, but Elhokar has never managed to make his list. This leads me to believe that Taravangian and Sadeas are working together. It also leads me to believe that Taravangian sent Szeth against Dalinar as much because of Sadeas failed attempt on Dalinars life as Dalinars own actions. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall to witness that span-reed conversation.

I stole technomancy, and used it to adapt technolurgy. I agree that Ferumechanics sounds better. An early appearance of the term can be found in Steve Martindale's 1990 short story "Technomancy" in the magazine Aboriginal Science Fiction

I would recommend either Mistborn the Final Empire, or Elantris. Elantris was the first book in the Cosmere, The Final Emipre is the first book in his Mistborn series. http://brandonsanderson.com/

Yes, I can see the justification for that line of reasoning. There is nothing wrong with it, it's the safest and most likely, given the information on hand, possibility. One of the reasons I like my theory is that it would result in a large chunk of unaligned investiture sitting on Roshar. A chunk of power that Odium now needs seeing that Sazed picked up two Shards. I realize that there is a lot wrong with this theory. Even though the books are chronological, desolation's have been occurring for a very long time. Millennium upon millennium has passed on Roshar for so many desolation's to have occurred. I'm going to guess at least 10,000 years. Whatever the time line, we know that Odium splintered Dominion and Devotion prior to this, and possibly a few other Shards as well. Hoid must be very very old. The point is that I think that Odium can safely pick up investiture left behind by Adonalsium without having to worry about it tainting his world view. That would give him a shot at taking out Sazed, and make taking out any other Shard a piece of cake.

Not really. We know that epics lived in Newcago. We know that SH needed other epics, or at least found their services to be of value. We can even assume that he paid them, or at least the important ones. He didn't control minds, and he couldn't be everywhere. I seriously doubt he could leave his city for very long without losing control over it. Yes, his motto is 'Serve me or Die'. You believe that this motto extends to everyone in Newcago, I agree. I don't agree that he can enforce it outside of his center of control and still maintain that control. Does he personally leave his city to track down every citizen of Newcago that leaves? Does he only track down the Epics? Does he do it all himself? Does he have a special team he trusts to kill any epic that leaves his service? Does he trust them? Who are they? Why weren't they mentioned? How does he know where to look? Does he cross the Pacific to track those who relocate to Asia? When does he actually have time to run his city? It's far easier to assume that SH could care less about anyone who leaves his center of control, then it is to believe that he actively pursues a vendetta against those who leave. Those who try to take a piece of what is his, I can absolutely see him crushing beneath his heel. Those who leave? Why should he care? I will take my argument a step further. Do you think that SH is the most powerful Epic in the world? Do you think that he is free to show up in NY city and start tearing down buildings to get to someone who left Newcago? Do you think he would be unopposed? Do you think that it might be possible that if SH did do these sort of things that the Epics in those foreign cities might take umbrage against such an intrusion? I get it. 'Serve me or Die' is the cannon motto, but outside of Newcago it is impractical to enforce.

And yet, this same man sends Szeth after Dalinar because he's trying to unify the Alethi. I think Taravangian is making a power play. He wants to be in control, and he's willing to do whatever it takes, even gamble the world to attain that power. He may believe that what he is doing is necessary, and he may even be able to delude himself into thinking it's for the greater good, but I don't think that it really comes down to anything larger than self interest. Taravangian is a puppet master, and he wants all the world as his puppet. I think he believes that he, and his associates are the only ones capable of seeing the world through the crisis to come.

I was left with the same impression as you Bookspren. PS: If Jah-naah corrupted a bookspren would it become a spamspren?

I don not believe that Taravangians goal is to stabilize and strengthen, rather I think his goal is to destabilize and weaken. For some reason, it seems that Taravangian believes that if humanity tries to prepare for the Everstorm, it will come more swiftly. Just as it appears that Darkness seems to believe that Surgebinders will accomplish the same result.

Ahh, I see you were so impressed by my logic you felt that it was worthy of quoting without comment. You may use it as your signature if it pleases you.

Yeah, Rysn interlude, but I like Amian wasp thing, it's more descriptive. How do you get on the list anyways?

Hoid could become essentially immortal by claiming a splinter, it's even possible that he could do so by collecting enough breath. He doesn't need a Shard. I'm pretty sure we have WoB somewhere that states that Hoid isn't a Shard. I understand what your saying, and I agree with it. All I was trying to do was point out that Hoids goals are not really known outside of his opposition to Odium. I don't have a problem theorizing his motives, but when those motives are spoken of casually as if they were cannon, I feel it is important to ensure that what is cannon is known. I hope that when I make this mistake, that others will do the same.

All I was trying to establish is that the tech could have been based on hemalurgy. I'm not saying it was, in fact I have serious doubts that the LR would want a society to be that knowledgeable about hemalurgy. At various points it was pointed out that no society could exist for an extended period of time under, what they would consider, such an oppressive, evil regime. My goal with the post above was to establish that such a society could indeed exist and even thrive, provided that the conditions were harsh enough, or most of the people were aware of how tenuous their existence was. I find technomancy to be far more likely than technolurgy. I believe that Ferocanics could also be a possibility, but figuring out how that one would work makes my brain hurt.

I would venture to say that the face in the sky could indeed be Jezriens consciousness. That Jezrien is trapped in that state, and his body lies comatose (drooling). I know that this would contradict a lot of other theories about where exactly Jezrien is so I'll leave it at that and let people pick it apart for a while.

And that was my point. Fabrials existed in the past, some of which are beyond current science, like Soulcaster fabrials. This doesn't mean that they had span reeds. My point was that having lived when fabrial science had hit its previous height, and having 4000 plus years to find something to do with themselves, it is very possible that the Heralds are familiar with fabrial science at least as it was, and the process that created them, than current fabrial scientists are in the modern era. They could do things then that fabrial scientists in the modern era cannot. It may well be, and is even likely, that modern fabrial scientists are much more aware of the process and the method than had been true in previous times. There may have been much more mysticism surrounding the art in the past, but the techniques that were employed were effective. What they lacked was a firm basis in theory.