Darkness

It would explain why present-day Shardplate blocks other sources of investiture. It also fits well with why the Shardplate needs gemstones to power it. It doesn't really explain how Shardplate regenerates over time when given enough Stormlight (slowly through gemstones, not in a single Highstorm. No mention of anyone leaving it outside during a Highstorm). My other issue is that the Radiants' betrayal killed their spren (arguably severing the Nahel bond and preventing Surgebinding; Kaladin lost his ability when Syl was dying), iirc the Shardplate on them faded slowly, but otherwise did not stiffen up or become unpowered (as it should have without the addition of gemstones). Interesting side note: It does seem that the Shardplate has some sort of awareness of itself as a whole: I recall the Alethi being concerned about starting the regrowth process before the enemy can regrow the entire plate out of a salvaged kernel. Regrowing the plate from any one fragments renders the other fragments useless, larger fragments are easier to regrow, etc.

Kaladin doesn't get cut when Syl lands on his shoulder, and she doesn't cut the leaf when she carries it to him... I'm thinking she can turn it on or off... or her cutting ability is tied to the intent of herself and the person she is bonded to? Edit to stop Kaladin from being an auto-corrected street rat

So... on first glance I assumed the writing was either Cusicesh/Nightwatcher or an excerpt from the Listeners' songs. However, reading them more closely (please re-read tWoK and WoR passages with this in mind), to me Rlain makes the most sense as the writer. Spoiler for lengthy explanation + line by line breakdown

Honest to goodness, my first thought was "you ride your bike 150 miles per week?!" After that, I'd be ok with either, as long as it was a sincere effort by a large team with enough resources to do it justice.

I'm excited for Szeth's character development, both as a function of flashback sequences providing backstory and his future in the SA. Actually, I would even find it agreeable (and hilarious) if was really just a red herring, and his flashbacks were put off in order to dampen the general riot that would ensue. Observe: But then, I have an admittedly strange sense of humour

To me that would imply that Shadesmar (Roshar's cognitive 'expanse') and Sel's cognitive expanse are not adjacent, and that's why it's hard to get to Shadesmar from Sel. However, reading more closely, your quote said "get to Shadesmar on Sel"... which should be nigh impossible, because Shadesmar is Roshar's cognitive expanse. Quick question, anyone have thoughts on the "Nexuses"? What do they correlate to?

For me it depends on how much investiture is available. I assume there would be equivalent amounts available to each contestant (however much equivalent is...) I'm also assuming we mean physical fighting, and not chess My thoughts: Kaladin and Wayne win if a massive amount of investiture is available. Kaladin is a better warrior than Shallan, and Vin probably doesn't auto-heal from Shardblade wounds like Kaladin would heal from obsidian dagger wounds. Wayne is a bit of a bonus for team Kaladin, and may not actually make a difference except to speed up the fight. If less magic is available, I go for Vin. I feel like she would get more hits in. If she can exhaust Kaladin's Stormlight healing (by stuffing him full of coins or something), then she wins against him, and as soon as she gets close enough to Wayne, he's done too. Wayne would be more helpful with less investiture, because he could disrupt the path of projectiles near him and Kaladin. Shallan isn't a warrior, but she could potentially blind Kaladin with Lightweaving and give Pattern to Vin With absolutely no investiture of any kind involved, I vote for Kaladin/Wayne. He's got a gun.

That would have to be a freakishly invested planet! I don't think we've seen it yet if it is even possible. That would be awesome though if a shard imbued enough of itself into a project to literally create its own planet. Odium might have to blow up the planet to shatter the shard! Maybe that's what really happened to Alderaan...

hee hee. I just wanted you to know that I laughed

Nightblood can kill people he deems 'not evil'. I don't think that he'd mean to harm them outright, but he almost killed Vasher purely by virtue of draining most of his investiture. In a normal person's hands, he would probably drain away the spark of life, and then go "why aren't you standing up? What happened? Oh no! My friend died of a heart attack! That is too bad, heart attacks are evil."

Here's another: Why do the Returned need to consume investiture to stay alive?

Similar reaction as Shaggai. I hate leaving vague responses, and I apologize for it, but it's midnight, so even if I stayed up long enough to give you a properly thought out response, I wouldn't be able to phrase it coherently. <-- Point in case. For short reference, and so I can come back to it, I'm going to pretend your bullets are numbered and point out the ones I'm uneasy about accepting, along with a brief premise for why I think that way so I can come back and elaborate later. 1. (Odium, Honor, Preservation, and probably Ruin do, but all of them? Seems likely, but maybe not) 2. I believe the cracks in the soul (sDNA) is what allows investiture to flow through a person and become realized as a magical ability. The cracks allow the power through, and they interpret it. 8. Same as with (2), allomancy is both burning the metal and interpreting the power that comes through. This is related to why allomancers can't just burn a feruchemically charged metal and get the burst of power; they can't interpret it properly, even though they can still burn it. 9. Not just mental direction, but spiritual as well. Investiture transcends and permeates the realms, so I imagine each has a role to play. 12. There's something a little off about this to me. Feruchemy is specific to the user. If the metal were the only filter, then any allomancer/feruchemist should be able to access the stored power. I think something more along the lines of each Feruchemist shapes his/her own special version of investiture (modulated by the soul), not a generic investiture that is the same for everyone. They also are able to store memories and knowledge, which is a little abstract compared to allomancy (I guess allomantic gold is comparable though). If I may suggest, I think feruchemists have the ability to reversibly imprint parts of their spirit web onto appropriately tuned metals. I'll develop this further later. 13. The allomantic waveform gets filtered through the feruchemically charged metal, recognizes the charge (spirit web that says 'trait x_Sazed'), and says, "hey! I can do that!" and changes the waveform to match trait x_Sazed. I don't know how this explains allomancers being able to burn the metal and disregard the associated feruchemical charge. 21. The troughs have to have a waveform that the soul recognizes and can interpret. I see how this could be 'any' investiture with your part about 'infinite waveforms', but I think there's a little more to it than just using it by instinct. Perhaps that's where the planet comes in. Maybe the planet's meta-physics-gravity bends or distorts (tints?) the waveforms of the resident Shards into a subset of the total possible power. So allomancy works because it's Preservation/Ruin on Scadrial, and wouldn't work for any other Shard or on any other world. 22. The Elantrians' power is to rip the boundary between the physical realm and that place that transcends the realms where the Dor is. The power has a pressure behind it and wants to get out all on its own. 23. Sure, until exposure to Preservation's power rips new paths through her soul in the shape of the power, and suddenly she can interpret those waveforms/channels too. That's my hypothesis for why people 'ascend' and are suddenly able to do a bunch of stuff. 24. You have to be able to either draw the stored power out (be a Feruchemist), or burn the metal to draw new power through it (Allomancer). In my opinion unlocking simply means the "_Sazed" part of the power signature is removed. 29. Slight modification: I think Kaladin had fissures in his soul that his bond to Syl is slowly bridging up/modifying. When he says oaths, he further renovates the fissures into more precise shapes for the Stormlight waveform to filter through properly, hence with a stronger bond/oaths comes stronger powers. 31. Too tired to understand what you mean here. I'll come back to it. 32. I like the thought, but I think the frame is important. I don't see spren as filters, in the same way Breaths aren't filters. They are splinters. Tiny pieces of raw investiture. Like seons, spren do take on an ideal and some degree of sentience over time (strengthened by a bond to a human), but I don't think they actually filter power, I'd say that more of a function of the gemstones and metal that shape the power. But I'm prepared to be happily mistaken Oh boy, that's me trying to be concise. Hopefully I won't have too much to add.

Umm... or Hoid might just have perfect pitch through natural means. Some people are more or less born with it, and arguably it can be developed. Music seems pretty important to him, so I'm sure Hoid's had enough time to learn the skill if he set himself to it. That seems overly complicated, but it's not unlikely.

Ooo! Roshar makes placebos effectual!

Perhaps he believed there should have been another way... Or that the Knights should have fought to the death instead of killing their spren and walking away? I guess the most 'honourable' thing to do if you're planning some kind of ritual suicide (which the spren would be under this assumption) would be to take as many 'bad guys' out with you as possible. Maybe the Stormfather just couldn't bring himself to believe that the best choice would be so dishonourable as to leave his children's corpses in the hands of dishonourable men (after the Knights abandoned the Shardblades to be used by humanity, there was chaos until finally anyone holding a Shard had either killed to get it or killed to keep it). The Radiants might have thought they were giving humanity the best chance they had for survival by leaving the Shards to them, but it certainly could be seen as dishonourable, even while being useful. Sorry, I actually meant to put the Stormfather into my original post. I was leading into it so well with "those that were present", and then I forgot Anyway, what he saw was a factual mass betrayal of honour. The facts are that the Knights abandoned the fight, they killed their spren, and they left the carcasses to be taken up by dishonourable men. I think maybe the Stormfather's nature is too singular to value the intent above the drastic actions.

Didn't Kaladin have a spiel about how 'blood weakness' is just a layman's term for some physical ailment they don't understand? Then he diagnosed Renarin as having epileptic seizures of some kind?

on that note, people were asking how Renarin was broken. Well, sure 'blood weakness' could explain it. But I think his epileptic seizures would do too. People in Mistborn snapped when the mists gave them something like a seizure, and Renarin's are apparently repetitive.

Probably asking Elhokar for official permission to prosecute somebody he recognizes as a Surgebinder. Maybe Jasnah. I like thinking the Elhokar said, "No." and it happened just before Jasnah ran into Nalan in the hallway and they shared that awkward look.

I'm kind of thinking the Unmade (splinters of Odium) became active just before the Recreance, and one of them has the ability to corrupt lesser spren. The greater spren (like the Stormfather) had enough investiture of Honor or Cultivation to remain themselves, but lesser radiantspren were vulnerable. “Now as the Windrunners were thus engaged, arose the event which was hitherto been referenced: namely, that discovery of some wicked thing of eminence, though whether it be some rogueries among the Radiants’ adherents or of some external origin, Avena would not suggest.” WoR, 38, 6 “That they responded immediately and with great consternation is undeniable, as these were primary among those who would forswear and abandon their oaths. The term Recreance was not then applied, but has since become a popular title by which this event is named.” WoR, 38, 6 I think the discovery of some wicked thing of eminence was either a black sphere (which may contain an unmade, or amplify unmade abilities), or the unmade itself. It caused the 'rogueries' among the Radiants' adherents (the first few radiants with corrupted spren went rogue). This caused the Knights to discover the secret that broke them (that their spren could be corrupted). Tragically, the best defence they could ultimately decide on was to break their bonds rather than allow them to become corrupted. The honorspren specifically would agree to this, preferring to die rather than fact inevitable corruption; doing the honourable thing rather than become Odium's tool. I might suggest that the stoneware's would also be inclined to accept this course, being stubborn and valiant to the end. All the talk of villainy and betrayal in current days is hearsay from people that didn't understand why the Knights abandoned them, and would only see the remaining Knights' evil (the only Knights to not ultimately undertake the Recreance would be the ones with corrupted spren, and the one order that did not disband - I suggest the Skybreakers, ). As for those that were present at the Recreance, in Dalinar's vision, the soldiers had no idea what the Radiants were doing, and actually seemed scared the Radiants might attack for a moment (this is in keeping with groups of Radiants going rogue). The Stormfather has said it is inevitable that Syl will be killed by Kaladin. This also fits the scenario of inevitable corruption over time. Brandon has said it is a slow burn to shatter a Shard. I suggest it is the same with shatter splinters (like radiantspren), and the process takes time. Finally, as a bonus, I suggest that the Honorblades are a type of Splinter, or at the very least heavily invested (like Nightblood is heavily invested), and are also susceptible to corruption over time. However, because they contain more investiture than radiantspren, the process takes longer. The behaviour of the Heralds at present is due to Odium slowly corrupting the bond that the Heralds maintain with their Honorblades. Ps. I just hashed this out ad nauseum, so please feel free to field me some questions and I'll try to fit more pieces in. While I'm not completely confident I'm right, I kind of like this angle, so I'm running with it for now.

Oh good! My mind started to unravel a bit there. Thanks for being confident when I was weak I believe you're right, but I still want to know how solid Lerasium does what it does. I think I get conceptually how burning a charged hemalurgic spike would imprint the donor spirit web onto your own.

I don't think there's all that much of an influence. More because of tradition or religion than actual shardic influence, I'd say. Oh wait! You said 'cultural influence'! Never mind me and my WoB. EMERALIS00Does the intent/personality of the Shard affect the personalities of the humans they create? BRANDON SANDERSONIt has some very small effect.

And Reidsb... Happy first post! Here's a question for Brandon: Does Hoid have any bits of metal piercing his spirit DNA or physical body? (Referencing a WoB that says Hemalurgy is one way to short-circuit magic systems and use investiture on various worlds)

MARU NUI ()What happens when you burn a Hemalurgic spike? BRANDON SANDERSON ()Burning a Hemalurgic spike would have the effect of splicing your spiritual DNA to that of the person's that is in the spike, which would have some very strange consequences.
 So... Solid Lerasium is kind of like a spike, maybe? Splicing some of Leras' DNA into your own, making you able to recognize his investiture and be able to use allomancy? I mean, obviously the little round beads aren't actually spikes, but they could be sharing a similar property.

A. Feruchemy is from both Preservation and Ruin. It's a mixture of the two. A. In order for a Compounder (or anyone else) to use another Feruchemist's stores, there has to be a fairly major amount of 'fiddling' with the identity of one or both parties. There is a relevant thread that I'll link you to in an edit (See page 2. It has further links to more threads). So far all we have are theories about the mechanism, but there are a few WoBs floating about in relation to it. Generally the known route is for a Feruchemist to rely solely on their own stores. A. Good question. Investiture can generally be tampered with to work between magic systems, but it's very difficult, and may not always be very efficient. Theoretically possible, but likely not very plausible. #48 is best. #27 also applies. A. As far as I understand, hemalurgy literally grafts a portion of the donor's spirit web onto the receiver (I'm not sure if it's as a replacement/overwrite, or as a supplement). Spirit webs are tricky; even a 'pure' allomancer (descended from the first people to burn Lerasium) has no guarantee of having an offspring with the requisite patterns and cracks to become an allomancer. To be concise, I don't know, but I do believe that the graft would be hereditary, in the same way a grafted peach branch onto an apple tree will still produce peaches. Edit: Found a relevant thread with WoB. A. Investiture in general protects somewhat from infection (i.e. Rosharans are generally healthy because of the abundance of investiture lying about). I believe you are asking specifically about the sites of infection around the spikes, to which I would say... "I don't know, but I'm sure tapping gold couldn't hurt ;)" I'm trying to be as broad with my answers as I can. I have some fairly set opinions about a few of these topics, but they are just opinions, so I tried to hide my bias... sorry if I did a bad job