happyman

Not a bad way of looking at it. A lot of modern physicists say that there actually is, are quantum fields. Everything else we get from that (including particles and waves of all types, and there is no clean line between them) are derived from this.

Well, if you want to stick strictly to canon, I suppose you're right.

I'm pretty sure that regardless of what type of Rithmatist Joel would be, Nalizar would be able to recognize it. The best evidence against Joel being any type of Rithmatist is the fact that it takes special effort for Nalizar to recognize him, even at the end.

One is a young, inexperienced Edgedancer! The other is a one-armed Herdazian! Together, they fight crime!

My guess is that the Shard would become what we see of Preservation in M:SH. Still effectively a god, but one that's been somewhat brought down to normal. Still holds a strong spark of the divine, though, and is therefore qualitatively different than normal people. Somehow. I liked the description in Secret History, but it's all a bit---hard to explain.

I've heard different opinions on what happens to conversation of energy in an expanding universe. By different opinions, I mean different opinions from physic professors who specialize in General Relativity, so I'd qualify it as "unknown." The definition of energy gets kind of fuzzy there. It's important to know, though, that "locally," energy is always conserved, which means we aren't going to be able to use it for anything here. Unfortunately. But with magic, and two other realms to slip into or out of, I dare say that energy can be conserved, and still have all the hacks we've been describing in this thread. Besides, its fun!

That was the biggest part, but it was also partly about defending themselves against the Koloss. Suddenly discovering that they had a lot more mistings than they had realized helped save humanity and give them a better chance to survive as well.

Nah, you were right. That doesn't mean it wasn't Nazh who collected them.

That would be a beautiful planet, if they don't use too much.

The difference between this and Russel's teapot is that something is changing the color of Ven-Dell's suit. There aren't any known "real-world" ways to do that the way it is described, and Awakening is the magic system that best matches. It's not a terribly good match, as of right now, but it is the best match. Russel's teapot only applies when there is absolutely nothing that needs explaining, but people come up with an unfalsifiable explanation anyway.

Most of them died protecting the Homeland from the Koloss. I doubt that Harmony would have taken their powers, even so. That doesn't seem to be how he works. It's possible Demoux, who survived, could have scrounged up some Atium. The biggest stash of had been stored in the Homeland, right where he was when the Catacendre happened.

If their biggest fear was death, then I suspect that the actual weakness would focus on symbols or people or things strongly associated with death.

Not the spiritual realm. The spiritual realm, best we can tell, is the timeless place where the Shard's powers live. The Shards have easy access to the spiritual realm. The true afterlife is called the Beyond, and the Shards don't know any more about it than we do. Lessie went Beyond.

In case you didn't notice, the Alcatraz books don't so much have a fourth wall as they have a fourth "Did that wall just fall over for no reason? Why one Earth are they all carrying teddy bears? Did that one just explode? I need to get more sleep."

...You are an evil genius.

The book seems to imply that there are "internal breath" commands which can modify your own, single breath. Vasher offers this kind of thing to Denth as well. The mechanics of this are unclear, at best. We don't know if it involves color being drained.

I've always assumed that Nightblood's mandate (Intent) was to destroy evil. That it isn't related to Endowment's mandate is an interesting source of conflict.

By the time the two of them are finished with their target, they will think that surrender is their best and only option, and will thank them for only taking away two-thirds of their resources as a tax.

This is basically true, but I think there is a better way of saying it. Atium gives you a limited view of the Spiritual Realm. When Elend used Duralumin and Atium, it gave him a much stronger view of the Spiritual Realm. I get the feeling that burning Atium, in all its forms, has an effect on your ability to see the spiritual realm. That this relationship is primarily temporal is interesting.

Harmony almost certainly inherited those connections from the powers themselves. Because Ruin and Preservation were so deeply connected to the world, and Harmony is at least partly a single mind controlling both, it seems very likely that Harmony is just as strongly tied as both of the original powers were.

It seems to me that, given the nature of Forgery, it would be far easier to actually ruin somebody's life than it would be to forge them into thinking their life had been ruined. Forgery, like most Selish magics, is an art of intense study and scholarship.

Yep, I agree. When I saw Herr and Frue, I immediately thought of Herr and Frau, which is German for Mister and Missus. (That the the word Herr also means Lord is one of those delightful quirks of language, but in the context of a word which sounds like "Woman" or "Ma'am" or "Misses," it almost certainly means "Sir.") Languages have a hard time translating some ideas, and words can be so context sensitive.

Secret History spoilers

No, I remember that from HoA, too. Multiple soothers and rioters can, together, control Koloss. It's certainly canon, regardless of the status of the MAG.

With Brandon Sanderson writing the powers? Sky's the limit.