Tempus

I believe Brandon has said that Stormlight will still be able to stand alone. That said, we've seen a lot of cosmere references, and there seems to be a lot of different players. I can't wait for the Mistborn Space Opera, where we know there will be significant contact between the cosmere planets.

Hmm... hemalurgy has so many fun possibilities. Would the effect of a spike change if you used an invested object (like a metal mind)? What about... what if you forged someone, and then spiked off the forged changes. Essence stamps seem to change your spiritual aspect after all (Emperor's Soul and all), so would you soul revert when the stamp wore off? Would it retain the tear? If not, could you use that process to create specific spikes in reasonable safety? If not, could use it to acquire interesting and unique spikes more easily? Spiking only takes a minute, after all, so you wouldn't need a full essence stamp just one that would last a couple minutes.

Those Divine Breath splinters and their relationship to the Returned has been bugging me. They don't quite act like anything else that should be similar, like many other things on Nalthis. It does seem that shards are able to deliberately splinter themselves. Preservation imbued parts of himself into people for sentience. Harmony has apparently done something with some parts of Ruin to balance things out. Endowment makes returned. Spren are confirmed to have been made of Honor, and almost certainly of Cultivation. I'm not sure if we know when Seons started getting made - they could be before the shattering of Devotion.

It could be, but honestly I don't think we know enough to speculate meaningfully on this.

We know there will be allomantic or feruchemical machines of some sort. They just need to be the right kind!

Well, the thing is Kurk, this theory could be plausible and still not be the one Brandon had devised. That said, I was presuming the unknown allomantic ability to be either... • The ability to use feruchemical abilities autonomously or semi-autonomously on objects or • The ability to push feruchemical storage into the negatives (create negative mass), possibly through some kind of sophisticated nicrosil thing

Haha, I've got reams already. The first thing I did was start gathering all the quotes I have. I have a huge greppable data file of all the sanderson stuff I could convert, rip, or copy from the threads. My first attempt at investiture got so long I couldn't store it on a single wiki page, so I abandoned that ship and split it up!

That's fair and true Kurk. I'm actually slowly picking away at what I call my Grand Unified Model, basically a nice set of theories that are all internally consistent and encompass the known realmatic aspects of the cosmere. Whenever I find something particularly cool, though, I feel like sharing, haha. Go check out this. You'll either hate it or love it but it sure is intriguing. I had you in mind. ^_-

Well, it wouldn't be a man, and the negative weight thing is an issue - we don't know if the cosmere supports exotic matter, and if it does, can feruchemy create it through some means? Also, the Alcubierre drive has minimal acceleration - it functions by compressing space time, effectively moving you through space-time displacement, not velocity. That's how it gets past the speed of light: it doesn't. It just has the same effect as if it did.

I was going through my usually bought of theorizing when I saw something that jiggered a switch regarding feruchemical Iron. A little bit of searching from memory and some pieces came together. An Alcubierre drive is a theoretical FTL drive. An Alcubierre drive works by creating a field that displaces energy-density to a negative value in front of the ship into a positive one in the back of a ship. It's not actually faster than light travel, rather it is effectively faster than light, as the negative energy-density would mean that it compresses space-time in front of it and expands it behind it. I think of it like a space-time rubber band flick, except not like that at all. Now, I'm no physicist, but we happen to have the ability to make change the energy-density of things, sort of. We have Feruchemical weight. Feruchemical weight is in the physical block, so it actually changes some physical property of mass. It also has wonky physics. So, this is not a theory that will go into great depth at this time, but the premise is: Theory: Obvious problems are obvious: Can we make feruchemical devices? Can they transfer the mass fast enough? Does exotic matter (negative mass) exist in the cosmere? Would an Alcubierre drive even work? We won't know until much later, but I think this is potentially a valid line of questioning into allomantic FTL travel. It has the advantage of being very simple, of being rooted in real world physics to an extent, it's complex enough mathematically not to be discovered until the future (for Scadrians), it is effectively simple and elegant to implement in design, if not in detail. The core difficulties it faces all seem probable to be overcome when more information is available. Come n' give this theory hell, Kurk.

PorridgeBrick - I can't quite agree with you, because of these WoB: So... I think what I'm getting from this is that even if it has no sentience of it's own, it is still closer to being a splinter than a sliver. The bond isn't necessarily cognitive - in fact, we happen to know that it occurs in the spiritual realm (nahel bonds require a tear in the spirit web to bond into). Since sentience is cognitive, it doesn't necessarily follow (though it could) that the important aspect of a bond is sentience. I'd love to ask for a WoB on this -> "Are Returned bonded with their Divine Breath, like how all other known splinters bond?" Either way, I think if it did it would all fit very neatly, much neater than 'Stormlight involves breathing, and on Nalthis they have Breath (which doesn't actually involve breathing, btw), so clearly they'll just work'.

I don't buy it. Stormlight is not similar to breaths in principle. It is in fact very different from Breaths. Stormlight, as far as we know, requires a Nahel Bond to be absorbed. It cannot be absorbed by people otherwise, not even from gems. Stormlight dissipates over time. Stormlight when held grants enhanced healing and physical abilities. Stormlight can not be given to another person. Breaths, however, are born into people. Breaths cannot be taken, only transferred. Breaths are not diminished by their use, or by being held. Breaths do not grant self-healing, enhanced physical abilities. They do grant other abilities, but they seem to be mostly mental. We have absolutely no reason to believe that Vasher can absorb Stormlight just because Breaths and Stormlight both have to do with breathing. As well to say Nightblood can use allomantic powers because he is made out of metal and has investiture. As for the point about choosing this planet, well, that applies better to my argument - If Returned could just drain any old investiture whenever they felt like it, they could go drain Aons, or the Dor, or metalminds, etc. However, if they can drain stormlight because of their splinter, and other planets don't work... well, Roshar makes a lot of sense then, doesn't it? We know from Word of Brandon and from evidence in books that investiture grants sentience. We also know that beings such as shardholders and slivers exist because they attached the power onto their own cognitive aspect before a sentience could spontaneously form. I would suggest that the Returned were bonded immediately with the splinter by Endowment, and thus did not have time to develop their own sentience. This is an assumption though, and a good potential flaw in my argument. While it is true that splinters will become sentient if you leave em', and that other similar repositories of investiture were occupied by people like the shards, there's no telling if the latter counts as a Nahel Bond and acts in a similar fashion. Heightenings grant lifesense. Lifesense is actually the ability to detect investiture. It does not detect drabs. It detects people. By first heightening, you can tell roughly how many breaths (how much investiture) a person has. By Fourth, lifesense for people is maxed out. By Seventh, you can tell the investiture of objects. Kaladin's been extra invested - he probably feels different to Vasher than other humans, and the spren around him also probably feels different. Vasher shouldn't have any particular experience with the Radiant Bond itself other than normal Rosharan myth.

So, I looked through my quote database for the relevant quote. I found a couple. First part, the main quote I was thinking of, Nightblood and bonding. Pretty sure I imputed the part about it being similar to spren bonding there, but note that confirms that all known splinters except Divine Breath can and do bond. So, in conclusion Kurkistan, I was inferring quite a bit. The evidence, however is fairly compelling. • 4/5 known splinters form bonds (Divine Breath is the only one unconfirmed) • 3/4 of those known bonding splinters can act fundamentally like a nahel bond on Roshar, and the one that isn't confirmed is Nightblood and said to be like a shardblade • A suspected splinter, honorblades, can also form bonds. They also act like a Nahel Bond on Roshar, imbuing surgebinding and allowing stormlight breathing. Thus, it seems like a good theory to me that the last known splinter, Divine Breath, can and could and does act in the same way. Please note it is not necessary that all splinters bond. We've seen unbonded spren, and seons can be unbonded as well, iirc. My theory is basically "This is how Vasher is getting access to his stormlight - this is the mysterious 'jury rigging' that Brandon talks about, or at least it is in relation to specifically Vasher and other Returned". Other Supporting Quotes:

Dragons are generally not rich or flexible, they are pretty carefully pigeonholed. Giant flying lizard. loves shiny things. Can be sentient and if they are, they're usually smarter and more capable than humans, especially at magic. Breathes fire mostly, can often breathe random other things. If they can breath other things, it's defined by the colour of their scales like some kind of Bag of Dragon Skittles. Green breathes limes, red breathes cherries, etc. They live a long time.

In order for some forms of investiture to function, they require a conduit through the spirit web. Strong emotional events cause tears in the spirit web. In allomancy, this is called snapping. On Roshar, the Nahel Bond occurs in the tear on the spirit web. As for the second, I'm proposing that all Returned are bonded to a splinter which maintains their life, and that any Returned who travelled to Roshar would be able to inhale Stormlight. A regular Nalthian would not be able to, and would require a Nahel bond with a spren. So Vasher could probably use Stormlight immediately, yes. By extension, an Elantrian with a Seon should be able to absorb Stormlight and use it in place of the Dor to uses Aons on Roshar. this would not work for a non-bonded Elantrian.

I don't think that is sufficient. Breath can only be transferred via the focus of Commands, after all. It's more than just a ball of investiture stuffed into someone. Stormlight also requires that spirit web modification and the Nahel bond. I wonder if a snapped allomancer could take in Stormlight by virtue of their tear?

Well, Kalad's Breath was so bad it woke the dead, after all.

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/7267-words-of-brandon-compiled-x-2/ The quote is in this thread, search for Silence Divine. The transcription added the book name in... BUT Brandon mistakes Shadows for Silence and Silence Divine in other quotes. The former does not have a shard, and is confirmed as such. It is possible that either Brandon or the transcriber made an error there. In other quotes regarding Ashyn, Brandon calls it a shard world (and not a minor shard world as he calls Threnody), calls it an important planet, refers to it as having a magic system, and had planned a full scale novel for it. He doesn't confirm it has a shard. It also meets the criteria he sets out for shard made magic systems (magic you have to use, as opposed to just ambient cosmere magic). Thus, it is possible Ashyn either has a shard or had one at some point, despite the quote.

Spoiler - Zahel is Vasher from Warbreaker. We have Word of Brandon that splinters, such as spren, aeon, skaze, and nightblood can form bonds that act similar to Nahel bonds on Roshar, and are fundamentally the same. It struck me that there is one other splinter unaddressed - the Returned. The splinter is not the Returned, however. The divine breath is. I propose that returned have all formed a bond when dying with the splinter of Divine Breath provided by Endowment. That is why the returned perish when their Divine Breath is consumed, but not when it as merely stored (as demonstrated by Vasher in Warbreaker). Thus, the reason Vasher can survive via Stormlight on Roshar, is because his Divine Breath acts as a Nahel Bond. The Nahel Bond is the requirement for being able to absorb Stormlight - thus solving how Vasher can absorb Stormlight in the first place. He can then consume the investiture of Stormlight to survive instead of Breath. Will provide quotes and details upon request later tonight when I'm at my desktop.

*throws a smoke bomb and flees the thread*

Q: If an Elantrian bonded to a Seon and traveled to Roshar, would that act as a Nahel bond? A: It would act very very similarly, yes. But it would be like… it wouldn't necesarily do the exact same things. It would be treated the exact same way, but wouldn't grant the same powers. Q: Could a Seon, or a Skaze, could they turn into a, some sort of Shardblade on their own planet? A: That is theoretically possible. It's—I mean they work under the same fundamentals, but they would need to have something to pull them more into the physical realm. From : http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/7267-words-of-brandon-compiled-x-2/ There was a further one about night blood that clarified the ''any splinter' aspect a bit, but I'm on mobile, and can't seem to find it at the moment. Covers nearly all the splinters we know of regardless.

You can bestow partial amounts of breath by awakening some object, then giving away your breath, the taking the breath back from the awakened object.

We have Word of Brandon that... • Any object with sufficient investiture becomes a splinter • Investiture breeds spontaneous sentience, dependent on the amount of investiture • Any splinter can form a Nahel bond on Roshar (and probably a general bond even when not on Roshar) • Manifested Shardblades are some kind of metal Spren, Seons, Skaze, Nightblood, and Divine Breath are all splinters. So, in conclusion, Nightblood is not a spren, but is essentially the same as a supercharged spren permanently in a shardblade. He is a metal sword, imbued with far more investiture than a spren is (enough to be a splinter), given sentience by the investiture, and given an intent by the Command. He was not originally a spren in the Rosharan sense, but he is essentially the same type of being currently, except far more powerful than most spren. It is even possible the Nahel bond would allow him to manifest/demanifest, that may be a property of the bond rather than of the spren itself.

I recently read some of the unpublished works - have you read any of those, skaa? If so, pop onto the chat sometime and message me, we can talk about them (in regards to this theory).

It is known that having high investiture lets you identify others who are invested better. Hoid likely has a lot of investiture, and Knights Radiant had been missing on Roshar for a long, long time. Perhaps he simply identified her as highly invested, possibly even identified it as a type similar to his own Lightweaving, and was simply not expecting it.