sandro

I'm amazed you were even able to find this thread Asterion. It was buried so deep.

Yay!

Brandon said that bad things would have happened if Kelsier hadn't been around to temporarily take control of Preservation's power after Leras died and hold it until Vin took it. I don't know if this topic has come up before, but I'm wondering what would have happened. Perhaps the following: Shard's power has no mind to shape/control/unify it The the various facets of the shard's intent gain a measure of sentience in order to compensate for the lack of a mind These facets disagree with each other and pull the power of the shard apart into a multitude of splinters. If that's the case, then splintering a shard is as simple as killing the shard's holder and then preventing it from finding a new one for a period of time.

Further to what Mirianmi said, I got the impression that gemhearts are more than just basic gems. Is there such a thing as a gemheart ruby and a gemheart emerald? I don't think I've ever seen them referred to as such. I think a gemheart is a distinct kind of gem. Edit: I stand corrected. Guess it's time for another read-through.

So, in another thread we are comparing the highstorms(body of honor) to the mists(body of preservation). I wonder if we could draw a similar parallel between atium(body of ruin) and gemhearts(body of cultivation). We know that atium is caused by the physical body of the shard leaking into the physical realm and manifesting in solid form. Also, they fuel allomancy. We've been told that the chasmfiends have a symbiotic relationship with some spren that allows them to grow to their enormous size. Perhaps that spren is feeding leaked cultivation essense into the gemheart and causing it to manifest and grow. We know that soulcasting consumes the stormlight, but perhaps there is a special power available that would consume the gem inself. Much like atium is only consumed if a specific power is used.