Tempus

Okay, might as well throw a guess up here, since I went to the trouble. Is it perhaps Lady Triss? Only other person I've been able to come up with besides Khriss (who presumably isn't on the table yet). Edit: UGH! I'm so silly. I found 'Triss' and then kept reading because Brandon, can't very well stop, right? It is of course Lady Kliss, same chapter, Mistborn FE chap 30.

You are absolutely correct, Kurk. I personally tend to conflate the two, though. Atium is noted specifically to 'enhance the mind' as well as the whole time vision deal. While most forms of Investiture seem to enhance mental capacity in various ways, I presumed that God Metals do so more, or at least more notably, and thus 'Expanded Mental and Temporal' just means 'Time stuff and the brain power to use it'. Just my personal conjecture I suppose, but it makes sense.

Those are plausible powers, NutiketAiel. Biggest issue I have with them so far is that Atium alloys are claimed to have 'Various Temporal Effects'. Which doesn't really match up well here. As far as breaking conservation laws, I wouldn't worry about it - not a day goes by that Moogle doesn't rage at how Feruchemical iron and time bubbles break all known conservation laws in horrible, horrible ways.

I've read a bunch of theories on Stormplate (I've been scraping the WoR boards for my index lately), and this theory is unique, never occurred to me at all, and is actually kind of plausible. Some interesting things that might support it... Getting stabbed by a Hemalurgic spike and surviving is very similar to the noted Lifeless and lost Radiant condition as described. In this context, the Breastplate being shattered reminds me of how Inquisitors die when their lynchpin is removed. Kaladin does not hear screaming when holding the Shardplate helmet. Dead Shardblades are theorized as being stored in the Spiritual Realm when unmanifested. Their appearance and disappearance mirrors the appearance/disappearance of Shardplate. Shardplate do not bond as Shardblades do, and Spiritweb remnants would have no reason to bond. Shardplate holds a large amount of Stormlight. Investiture transcends Realms, but is theorized to often be 'held' or transferred through the spiritual realm. Things that don't necessarily make sense with this theory: Shardplate can be regrown from any piece, and when it is, the smaller pieces will dissolve. This vaguely mirrors how Healing works Cognitively, but not entirely. We don't have any indication particular spiritwebs work like this. Shardblades appear to cut spiritual aspects of people - yet Shardplate heavily resists them.

Theorymaster's Pick Lord Chaos's Words of Law The Sanderson Tablets Cosmere University Sanderson Studies

Thank you both, many pillows to all of you.

Nooooo, I accidentally downvoted Terisen.

I have developed a new theory, one accounting for the purple chart in Way of Kings that is so similar to the Radiant chart. I call it: The Knights Absorbent The Voidbinding equivalent of the Knights Radiant Premise The Way of Kings comes with two similar chart illustrations included within. One is a chart detailing the ten Surges, and the glyphs for the ten orders of Knights Radiant, who are Surgebinders. It is highly likely the purple chart corresponds to the Voidbinders. On the chart (seen below), we have ten corresponding icons to the Surges, and ten corresponding Glyphs for the Orders. Thus, there must be equivalents to the Surges and the Knights Radiant - enter the Knights Absorbent. Logic The term given to the users of Surges are called Surgebinders. Why are they called Surges? When a Surgebinder activates their abilities, they begin by concentrating Stormlight and gathering power. This high concentration of power leaks from them, and they can release it through Surgebinding. The Surge in Surgebinding is this concentration of power release - the power is Surging. We know that the opposing force is called Voidbinding. It stands to reason then, that the opposite of the ten Surges would be the ten Voids. Indeed, we can see that the glyphs for the Voids are oppositely symmetrical as compared to the Surges. If Surges are an increased concentration, it makes sense that Voids are the opposite - a lack, an area of decreased concentration. We can logically see then that Voidbinding creates a low density area where Surgebinding created a high density area. The Knights Radiant earned their name by their Radiance. Nothing is more sensible. They Radiate light and power, because of how a concentration works - it wants to diffuse into areas of lower concentration (e.g. everything else in this case) Voidbinding then, would have the opposite effect. Nearby concentrations of power would seem to be drawn into the Voidbinder, it would seem that instead of Radiating, they Absorb. The ten Glyphs of the Knights Radiant demand an equal and opposing order of Knights from the Voidbinders ten glyphs. If the Knights Radiant are termed such because they radiate, then we must call this opposing order the Knights Absorbent. But without the Heralds to model themselves after, any spren with which they bonded would have no shape on which to base their Shardblade, no form on which to base their Shardplate. No, they could not have made Shardplate or Blade at all - they must look to the weaponry which defines their order. The Knights Absorbent and then spren then, must be equipped with a deadly weapon, well known to many, which comes from an item with an absorbency like no other: The cardboard tube sword taken from a roll of paper towels. This weapon has a long history, of being used both in mighty wars and conflicts, and by some of the most renowned duelists in history. It is truly a weapon with an unimpeachable past, with a Bounty of techniques passed down from father to son through the ages. But what of Shardplate? The Knights Absorbent must have armor as well, but not hard armor to stop a blow - no, they must have armor that absorbs all impacts, armor that can take any punishment given to them, armor which has been associated with cardboard tube swords for eons. Yes, it must be pillow armor. There is no other option, and the evidence is clear. Below, we display an artist's rendition of the fearsome Knights Absorbent, which we will likely not see for several books. Beware of spoilers! And beware of nightmares, for their depiction is truly the stuff of terror. Radiants be warned, your doom is at hand! Sources: All Evidence comes directly from the purest of Logic and the Gospel of Brandon, may the Everstorm Reign forever.

Gospel of the Catquisitors! In this case, I'd say we were howling at Roshar's moon.

That was indeed incredible, skaa. How can I not try and rise to the challenge of such a pants-creamingly excellent display? I cannot, I have no choice but to bring it. You're going down! Let's start with a little rebuttal warm-up. First, Ruin. A notable thing about Shardic intent is that it doesn't affect the expression of Investiture. It only influences how you get it. Allomancy makes not much sense when viewed from the Preservation angle, and Hemalurgy no sense at all - it should by rights be the Preservation magic, not the balance. But that's not how it works. How you get the power is related to the intent, but after that, other factors influence what an individual can do with it. So is entropy a notion related to Investiture in the Cosmere? Yep, sure is. Does how you gain power from Hemalurgy show aspects of Ruin? Killing people, loss of net power, yep. But all systems of Investiture indicate some form of entropy beyond your examples - Feruchemy has diminishing returns, Breath is lost when a person dies, Allomantic power will burn the metals away if you activate it and it remains unused. So entropy is a thing, but to say that entropy in Stormlight is specifically caused by the Surge of Division doesn't follow. It's like saying the power of Aluminium is what makes all burned metals disappear, or that Breath dissipates when the holder dies because of how Divine Breath eats itself. But enough of that, that's old hat. I'll take your side as well, and bring it down Roshar style. I will be Ardent in my defense, and your arguments shall be Void and Unmade before my Radiant Words! Surges, you see, are not the basic things you think, they are, even on Roshar. They're just words people have chosen to describe those powers. The underlying laws of the universe can't be pigeonholed into those Radiant powers, as comprehensive as they are. And this is known, and told to us... by the Ars Arcanum. As you can see, these forces are merely thought to be fundamental, and are more accurately just ways to describe Radiant powers. The Ars Arcanum researcher is the most knowledgeable person we know in the Cosmere (if they are Khriss, as suspected by WoB), or at the least the most knowledge that we hear from. We have no better authority than them other than Brandon himself. In fact, it's not even clear that the laws of nature as we know them are fundamental. They can be modified, they can be ignored. Syl tells us (and shows us!). Syl demonstrates herself as being perfectly capable of ignoring fundamental laws as described by the Surges (notably gravity). Are your brains broken yet? There's more yet on Roshar that tells us trying to describe the greater Cosmere systems in terms of the Surges is a mistake. In the epigraph of chapter 35, WoR, we have a nice little paragraph telling us that the arrangement and nature of the Surges was decided by the originators of the Radiants, and not some natural consequence laid down by the Shards or the underlying Cosmere. As seen here, the nahel bonds were created by men, and their placement decided upon (by committee no less!). The bonds they describe are the bonds that drive Roshar, as they term it, and they gave those names, and then grouped them together by twos. They chose the placement of the bonds, they chose which Surges to grant which orders, and they chose the arrangement. The Surges themselves as termed by the words 'Division' and how the Radiants express that, are in fact just a subset of how the Realmatics on Roshar function. That in turn becomes a subset of how Realmatics in the Cosmere as a whole functions. The Surge of Division is thus not the thing that causes Stormlight to decay, nor is the Surge of Abrasion the source of the Nahel bond. Instead both the Surges and those properties you note are the expression of the greater forces of Investiture entropy, of Pressure, of Investiture connections in the Spiritual Realm, and of Physics and Realmatics in the Cosmere. These greater forces are filtered through Roshar, filtered through Honour and Cultivation, filtered through the Innate Investiture of the individual, filtered through the Spren, and then finally expressed in the forms of Surges. A Surge is a subset of a greater force expressed in a limited fashion, as arranged and described by men. Not the basis for all Investiture behaviour across the Cosmere. And not the fundamental basis on Roshar. And we know this from information provided from Way of Kings and Words of Radiance themselves. This is fun, we should do this more often.

No, no misunderstanding on my end. I was merely trying to say that a lot of our disagreements stem from how we approach magic systems. In many of your posts, SUCH AS Shardworld Essences, etc, etc, you take the approach that many distinctions brought to light are in fact essential underpinnings of the Cosmere. I use Essences because it's the clearest example. In it, you suggest each Shardworld is more strongly associated with one of the ten Essences noted on Roshar. In this theory, you suggest many underlying aspects of Investiture (and specifically Rosharan Investiture) are related to the categories of Surges that make up the underlying Rosharan magic system. In both scenarios (and others, at times), you treat the Rosharan information as a way to derive info about the greater Cosmeric systems. I tend to go the opposite route - I derive info about Roshar by framing them within my understanding of the larger Cosmere. So to me, the Surge of Transformation is just a specific manifestation of a subset of the Cosmere principle of Identity. However to you, the Surge of Transformation is the Surge we can use to explain a specific aspect of the Cosmere principle of Identity. I hope you're following me. In reaalll short, we are approaching these theories from different starting points, so you're saying "There was a right turn, and then a left a little later", and I'm saying "No, it was a left first, and then a right". And that's why our perspectives are shifted. You're saying 'Look at what the Amazon can teach us about ecosystems!', and I'm saying 'Look at what ecosystems can tell us about the Amazon!'. I'm gonna stop with the clunky analogies, I hope you get what I mean!

Haha, this is exactly every theory I've ever made ever. I think our main disagreements stem from how we approach things. I see Roshar as being symptomatic of the forces at work in the Cosmere. The Surges are limited expressions of the natural processes at work. You see Roshar as being the font of Cosmere systems. You feel the Surges and Essences are not a specific limited instance of a magical formation, but descriptive instead of all magic throughout the Cosmere (as seen with your Essence Focus theory, and indeed the Surges here). Because of this, I see the in-world Surges as limited magics based on wider principles, and you see them as fundamentals which are expressed in other magics. Maybe a bigger response later, if I've got more.

Going Postal and Making Money are fantastic. Raising Steam not nearly as good.

I don't disagree Chaos. It's a matter of "Where do you draw the line? What qualifies as a theory?". After looking over many instances, I reviewed my overall goals and noted some important aspects. My overall goals with the Index are: To make a sortable catalog of theories, which makes reading and locating existing theories significantly easier to do. To promote Theory crafting in general (through convenience and exposure, in this case). To inspire new theories that build off the old ones. Looking at the posts out there, some are long, and good, and well written. Others are really bad. Some point out very interesting facts, or unique things. Others rehash general knowledge. Given my three goals, I decided I couldn't eliminate things ENTIRELY based off length or formulation, because there are some really short one paragraphers that are very insightful, and some really long ones that are bunk. So, I invented the tagging system to help sort for objective quality, and positioned myself for the Index to be as fair and complete a representation as possible. The criterion for a theory ended up as follows: A theory must have at least one assertion that is not available directly from the texts, or from Word of Brandon. A theory must have an assertion to question ratio of 2:1 (ie, the person is making a point, not asking questions). A theory must be unable to be proven at the time of posting. That's the bottom line for what makes it in, and what doesn't. That said, I do try eliminate some of the extremely stupid ones ("Vin is not dead and is a Herald. Discuss"). I can't really be picky about what makes it in and what doesn't - it compromises the objectivity of the Index a bit, and I make mistakes as it is. If there are specific threads you really feel should not be theories, I can take a look and consider removing them. Certainly I've already removed a couple I included originally due to this. Instead, though, I want to tie this into my next project on theories - a Theory Hub. Unlike the Index, the Hub is not concerned about objectivity as much as it is about approachability and plausibility. I intend for it to be an easy summary read of major topics and the leading theories on them, as well as plausible or otherwise notable alternatives. Not a big giant list, but a series of short paragraphs and lists. The two systems should then balance each other - The Index will yield ALL theories, good or bad, for a comprehensive in-depth look and catalog. The Hub will yield the IMPORTANT theories, in a shortened form, to help introduce people to the theories, to lead them back to extremely relevant information, and to give a solid overview of the state of theory crafting. This'll probably tie right in with your Featured Theories section you are planning. tl:dr; The Theory Index intends to be objective and comprehensive, so I cannot simply eliminate theories based on how I feel about them. I do intend to make another thing later, that intends to be digestible and focused, the Theory Hub, to highlight, display, present and summarize theories that matter.

Sorry about the lack of updates! I finally finished and formatted the entirety of the Stormlight Archive boards. 1000+ posts read (I'd read almost none of these before, so I had to read nearly all of them!), and 383 theories extracted and sorted. Phew. One thing... It's HERALDS, not HAROLDS. Yeesh. And not every character is one, and no, they are not Returned from Warbreaker, or Vin, or Elend. And Shash is just a word. Okay, back to cool things! I saw Kurkistan's first post! On comparing WoK and the Fall of Troy. Was wondering where his first post was, and now I know! I also saw a lot of major theorists show up - Argent, Moogle, Telcontar, Shardlet, Isomere, Nepene, Kurkistan and Lightflame all saw huge boosts in the Stormlight boards. It's also notable who didn't have boosts - Chaos, myself, Phantom Monstrosity, Satsuoni, Outis, KChan, and others are nearly entirely absent from those boards. Hall of Fame has been updated and tabulated as well. Overall, many more people were added - 62 people on the overall list at this point. Kurk saw a huge boost, to take the front lead on the Overall rankings. Skaa, Windrunner and Chaos take the other top slots. Lightflame has moved up as well, through sheer volume, to kick me out of fifth place. Moogle, Telcontar, and Shardlet made huge hops to reach the top ten as well. On the Prolific board, we can see similar results - Kurk takes first. Windrunner pushes past Skaa, and Lightflame, Shardlet, Isomere jump up. Swimmingly and ReaderAt2046 gain big jumps as well, they're known short theorists (they only write a short, usually unquoted paragraph). The Quality boards see some big changes. Telcontar jumps straight to the top with his limited number of generally well written theories. Kurk also moves up - his Stormlight theories being a little more developed than his average theories, apparently. Nepene moves up the list a little as well, as does Moogle. The Count comes in as a new low quantity / high quality theorist, to sit near Mad_Scientist, Odium's Shard, Nepene and Telcontar. We also see new additions with FeatherWriter finally making it up there, Bloodfalcon, Shardlet, and Natans. Chaos and Satsuoni both take small dips. This lets me begin to fill out the Roshar specialists board as well. It now features Skaa, Telcontar, Kurk, Shardlet, Aether, Odium's Shard, Isomere, and Moogle. There are another 14 people just on the cusp of making that list as well: Meg, Aspren, CheeseNinja, Elwynn, Nepene, Lightflame, cem, zas768, Shardbearer, Bloodfalcon, Argent, Leuthie, Windrunner, and Natans. Because the specialists are a function of relative quality and activity and based on size of discussions, I expect there to be about 12-18 people on this list by the end of the WoR boards. Those who were active for only a short time will probably drop off or not make it on, while others who have been more active should see the light of day there. Next up is Words of Radiance boards. That should be... exciting? Stormlight was a little dull, the theory density is same level as Mistborn (35% ish, compared to Cosmere's 60%), and the theory quality was slightly lower than norm as well. Incidentally, stats pages were updated. Lots of Gold theories, it saw a 5 point increase. Silvers, Bronzes saw a decrease, Normal gained one point, and Crude saw a two point increase. So a bit of a polarizing board. Roshar theories now take up 40% of all theories - and we still have 1300 WoR threads to go through. People like Stormlight! Stormlight boards also saw a ten point drop in Realmatic based theories, a 4 point increase in Character theories, a 4 point increase in World theories, and a 2 point increase in Plot theories. I find this strange, as Roshar has some of the most loaded and mysterious Realmatics yet. I guess it's simply because of such a large cast and such a slow developing plot, as opposed to other series that tend to wrap things up nicelyish each book (probably due to unstable publishing deals). Topic variety has also increased - very few topics saw multiple discussions. Part of this is the fault of my script, which spreads out topics much more. This will probably change as I refine the topic system with a tree-like structure and multiple weightings that the script has generated. Long post, but that's all for today!

Hey skaa, cool beans. I'm gonna abridge this reply, and make it all point formy for the sake of my own sanity. • First a small nitpick. I seriously doubt the Stormfather as a sentient entity actively gathers and disperses Stormlight into gemstones like some kind of global housekeeper. • Just because things 'transform' doesn't make em' related to the Transformation Surge. All changes are transformations, and all applications of Investiture (or any action at all) changes things. Don't collapse these two separate terms into each other simply because the language is lacking, you need to keep a distinction here. The Surge names are in-world names describing their effects, not complete 100% descriptions of all things affected by a Surge. • I don't buy that Stormlight has imbalances within the Surges that cause its unique characteristics. I doubt the reason it dissipates is due to the Division Surge - instead it's more likely due to the gaseous nature of the Investiture (as per WoB), the pressure it has (as per Eshonai at the end of WoR), and some other elements (Shardic Intent, high concentrations, the porous/permeable nature of containers, etc). I also doubt the glowing is due to the Illumination Surge being dominant. We see glowing uses of Investiture with Aons, with how Shards perceive the world focus (see Mistborn), potentially with high Heightenings, and maybe with some other granular silicas. Even Iron/Steel seem to have a kind of dull glow-line mechanic for the user's vision, but only for the Metal Focus. • I don't buy that the Nahel bond is Adhesion Surge related. All Splinters seem to be able to bond with humans. • Back to 'Transformation/transformation', the whole idea of a focus is to take a wide-spectrum/frequency band and convert it into a tight frequency/spectrum band. Nothing to do with the Surge, if Spren are focusing Stormlight, this is how they 'transform' (lowercase t) it into a specific Surge. • I also don't buy some of your chart of Surge category things. Notably Division. Conclusion: (styled for flair!) Let me summarize the main ideas of this theory: Stormlight is a Surge containing the aspects of all ten Surges. It is a Unified Surge. The aspects within Stormlight is symmetrical with two exceptions. First, it has more Division than Cohesion, which is why Stormlight eventually dissipates. Secondly, it has more Illumination than Gravitation, which is why Stormlight glows. The influence of Division on Stormlight can be resisted by bonding Stormlight to a soul via Adhesion. This is what the Nahel bond does. The stronger a Radiant's Nahel bond is, the better he is at holding Stormlight and keeping it from dissipating, until he reaches the point where holding Stormlight becomes hardcoded as part of his Innate Investiture. The Surges are forms of magical energy, the transfer (or "investiture") and transformation of which is mediated by the spren, which are transformative cognitive entities. (They're basically just focuses, no? Nothing in particular to do with 'Transformation' labelled Surge. The transformation from the general, unified Surge into particular Surges by the spren is why fabrials work. This is also how Surgebinders can access the Surges. That's how I see it!

This from the guy who got over 250 rep in the last three weeks.

Hey, so it turns out I had nearly the EXACT SAME theory sitting in my 'theories in progress docket'. I had a good laugh about it with Moogle in the chat, so I may as well post it here (with no refinements). Snapping is necessary when a person is Invested with multiple Shards Quote: My idea on this is that Allomantic potential is a little like a supersaturated solution. You can suspend a great deal of something like sugar in a liquid when it is hot, then cool it down and the sugar remains suspended. Drop one bit of sugar in there as a catalyst, however, and the rest will fall out as a precipitate. Allomancy is the same. It’s in there, but it takes a reaction—in this case, physical anguish—to trigger it and bring it out. That’s because the Allomantic power comes from the extra bit of Preservation inside of humans, that same extra bit that gives us free will. This bit is trapped between the opposing forces of Preservation and Ruin, and to come out and allow it the power to access metals and draw forth energy, it needs to fight its way through the piece of Ruin that is also there inside. As has been established, Ruin’s control over creatures—and, indeed, an Allomancer’s control over them—grows weaker when that creature is going through some extreme emotions. (Like the koloss blood frenzy.) This has to do with the relationship between the Cognitive Realm, the Physical Realm, and the Spiritual Realm—of which I don’t have time to speak right now. Nature of Snapping Quote: Suffice it to say that there are people who have Snapped because of intense joy or other emotions. It just doesn’t happen as frequently and is more difficult to control. • All people are Invested, a little of Adondude, and a bunch from whatever Shards are in Invested in their home • People with magic • Snapping occurs due to intense emotions • Snapping breaks/creaks/damages the spiritweb, that damage is actually 'Snapping' (find the quotes for this) • Cracking the spirit web doesn't actually allow Investiture through the spirit web, as much as it allows Investiture of one Intent through the part of the spirit web aligned with another Intent • Corollary: Like how Investiture resists Investiture, the Identity provided by the Shardic Intent causes competing (different Identity) Innate Investitures to resist each other. Each System • Allomancy requires snapping for Preservation to trump Ruin • Feruchemy is balanced, no snapping • Hemalurgy requires snapping to trump Preservation (but being killed by a spike pretty much takes care of it) • Breath is single Shard, no snapping • Surgebinding is of Honor/Cultivation Balance, and needs to trump Odium's Investiture (find quotes) • Fabrials... no need for Innate Investiture within a person, nothing to overcome • Voidbinding... might be Cult/Odium, needs to trump Honor? If Parshendi Stormformthings are voidbinding, it's notable they were accessed through betrayal/etc • AonDor seems to need limited Snapping, in the form of Shaod. Devotion trump Dominion? • Dahkor seems to need Snapping, Dominion trump Devotion? • Forgery is in Balance • ChayShan seems in Balance • Bloodsealing... ??? • Mythwalker, no Snapping, maybe indication of one Shard? Exceptions and Notes: • Original Adonalsium does not block subIntents (Shards), because they share a sort of parent/child Identity (programming, not genetic) • Scadrial humans have no Adonalsium Investment, as they were created post-Shattering, thus snapping is more violent for them since there is more balance to overcome. (eg. 60% Pres, 40% Ruin, versus something like 30% Honor, 30% Cult, 10% Odium, 30% Adonalsium) • Sazed made Snapping easier by bringing the two power sources closer together, in Harmony. Thus, the power has Identity that is less opposing and less separate than previously. • Snapping to trump/crack (maybe change this term) an Innate Investiture seems to be easier with an emotion that parallels the Intent you want to triumph. We're also currently talking about whether or not you can do multiple snappings (confirmed by WoB) for more than one Investiture, it's leaning towards yes for now. And how Snapping would be affected if you had multiple Shardworld parents (and thus more Investitures). Also a loaded discussion about Allomantic strength and snapping relations. Edit: accidentally left in unpublished stuff, now removed, apologies.

This is a very interesting point.

The Unmade part of this is very solid, and I think very likely to come about. I'll be keeping my eye open for it.

Update to the underlying science: http://io9.com/heres-nasas-new-design-for-a-warp-drive-ship-1588948192 And he made a 3D graphic which he talks about as being generally a bad design, but pretty.

I have unleashed my Cat's Paw Stamp. The stamp uses some unique properties of Forgery which I have developed in order to transform any entity into a feline version of itself. They are not true cats, however, thus it will not hold long - it is but a demonstration of my power!

CAT STAMP *stamps twice and skitters away*

Can't agree more.

I've been avoiding time bubbles, and Feruchemical iron. I honestly just... can't follow em', and I can't dig the strict physics arguments either. I have been convinced now that my foray above into that world was an ill-made decision - I withdraw sir, withdraw with haste.