Baseless Speculation on Worldhopping

[Vortaan he/him]

Well, there's a reason world-hopping is exceedingly rare. Brandon has made several references to things different magic systems would be capable of if "you really knew exactly what you were doing." So for the purposes of this, let's just say "how would Hoid world-hop if he could only use said magic system?"

For Breath cost, for some reason I like exactly one for the Lifeless connection. Perhaps one Breath to build yourself a sort of "astral construct" equivalent. A purely cognitive You. What becomes of your body while you're away, and how you go about manifesting elsewhere, I wouldn't know how to solve.

 

Easy! You use two Breaths! One to get there, one to get back.

[Pechvarry]

I was thinking about that as I started down the path, until I realized what I was saying: building a cognitive entity with your entire mind attached, which I would hope means your spirit as well (and bringing any investiture i.e. Breaths along for the ride). While I could get behind that level of voodoo, I can't see a breath creating physical matter.

..But it could animate matter at your destination.

Heh. So an Awakener can use a Breath to construct a vessel, aka "brain boat," for their mind and another to animate a corpse at their destination. And they were named Svrakiss.

Do I win the Baseless Speculation Award yet?

Edited August 31, 2013 by Pechvarry

[Shardlet he/him]

I can think of one inherent problem in trying to achieve such a feat: forging relies on having some knowledge of what you are forging the subject to be. Forging seems an unlikely art to be used in an exploratory manner.

 

Unless the Shard was giving out manuals on the magic systems in the world, then all magics, must have (and likely are continually) gone through exploratory usage.  Some things are instinctually there (such as the knowledge of how to burn a metal reserve in allomancy).  But, consider Vin.  She lived for 16 years without understanding anything really about what she could do.  She, on her own, had only an extremely rudimentary knowledge of how to use her powers.  Either someone taught the first forgers, or forging was discovered, explored, and developed over time as an art. 

Edited September 1, 2013 by Shardlet

[Windrunner he/him]

That's a common problem with Sel's investitures though. Who taught the first Elantrians who built the city, before King Rhashm found Elantris? Those symbols are far from intuitive, especially in early era where maps were not so good. I think something must have given the Selish a hand.

[Kadrok she/her]

Is burning atium related to Scadrian worldhopping?

(laughter) That’s a good question, the answer is no.

 

There goes my theory. I was so sure, it made so much sense! Oh well, at least we've narrowed it down.

[Kadrok she/her]

Forgive me for necroing my own thread; I was just about to start a thread called "Can we discuss Scadrian Worldhopping?" when I realised that kicking the life back into this one was preferable.

 

Now, I was utterly convinced burning Atium was the key to worldhopping. I was wrong, and that's tragic, but let's not let it kill the discussion. I very much want to know what the worldhopping key is on Scadrial, and we're some of the finest minds on the interwebs... surely we can figure it out!

 

So, if it isn't burning Atium, what could it be? Despite being proven wrong, a whole lot of my points still seem right to me. I am disinclined to think that some random Atium-alloy is the answer (though that would be the easy answer). Perhaps there is something in the 16 base metals that has been overlooked? Like... Allomantic Gold?

 

I mean, it doesn't work how we're told it works for a start (it doesn't show the past, it shows the present had the past been different), and it there is something weirdly cognitive going on there: you inhabit both your mind and the mind of your shadow... and if you possess the knowledge of your double, you're essentially pulling information out of nowhere... that screams to me cognitive realm. It certainly doesn't work the same way that Electrum does, given that with Electrum you see your shadow, not see through your shadow. Relative to the shadow of your possible present, the shadow of your possible future seems kind of... empty.

 

Allomantic Gold is also appealing because no one really bothers to study it. The unpleasantness of the experience, combined with the lack of immediate usefulness makes it believable that, if it was the key to worldhopping, it hasn't become public knowledge. Even Miles mentions that he rarely thinks about the Augur side of him, despite apparently making a regular habit of burning Gold to "alloy" himself. Note that this leaves open someone figuring it out, and not telling anyone, or dying off world...

 

What if it is as simple as walking into your shadow? You know, the way Vin did, when she freaked out and stopped burning Gold. What if she had kept burning Gold, and rode the metaphorical lightning? It would be classic Brandon if Vin very nearly entered Shadesmar all the way back in the first Mistborn trilogy.

 

This also has implications for Miles, and his men of Red and Gold. Some have argued that he learns of the threat he mentions because he encountered a Gold shadow who made it to the Southern Continent. What if, instead of making it to the Southern Continent, he encountered a Gold shadow who made it off world?

 

I'm sorry if there are any errors in this, I'm actually supposed to be writing my final essay, but darn it, I really want to figure out this Scadrian worldhopping thing! My other idea was finding something in Feruchemy since we have it confirmed there is a Terriswoman worldhopper running around Warbreaker.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Kadrok