Stark

This is fantastic! If he knew about the trade, and was trying to keep Atium hidden so Ruin would never find it, do you think he shipped any off planet through the trade? This opens possibilities that Atium still exists in its pure form somewhere in the Cosmere! Awesome WOB, thanks!

I guess that is the core of my question, where is the line drawn? We have seen Wax and Wayne discussing attaching a bubble to a moving train, and we have seen Wax shoot through a bubble without disrupting it.So it is possible for inanimate material to enter and exit a bubble without it bursting, but the bullet is a single object, and in the case of the train car, the car is likely bigger than the bubble, so air flow is less of a concern. But for large volumes of flow, I am really curious how it would work. Like if Wayne and Marasi were both to create separate bubbles on top of a train, would Wayne's be less windy than the environment and Marasi's more windy because of the airflow being disrupted as it hits the speed barrier? If both were to make a bubble that incorporated themselves and a person in a river (them on a raft, or at the bank), would the water be calmer around the person in Wayne's bubble than the rest of the river? Would the person in Marasi's be swept away more quickly? And then apply the same reasoning to the flow of electricity through a wire crossing the speed barrier into a powered device - would it falter in Wayne's bubble and suffer an outage from insufficient power? Would it short from a power surge in Marasi's? The applications of this are kind of fascinating to me. Bendalloy misting lifeguards. Cadmium misting pseudo-EMPs, for a lack of a better term. Cadmium mistings turning garden hoses into pressure jets - what could they do with a fire hose? Cadmium paramedics should totally be a thing, slowing the back of an ambulance, to give more time to get to a hospital.

Can electric devices with an external, wired power source function inside a speed bubble, of either variety, if the power source is outside the bubble? Can Honorblades leave the Rosharan system, or are they bound to the system containg Honor's shard? If bound, is this why Wit did not take Taln's blade? Or keep it if he did take it? For the first question, I was thinking of playing video games inside a Bendalloy bubble to give you more playtime in a short period, which would help reviewers, or those of us with limited play times. Then I wondered at about electricity flow. If electricity is flowing through a wire at a certain rate, then passes into a sped up bubble, would this not effectively slow down the flow to an inconsistent rate, causing the device to not function properly? Or inversely, if transitioning into a slowed down bubble, would this not increase the flow to the device and risk causing a short? Or do I just suck at understanding electricity (entirely possible)? Or is there a Cosmere work around that allows electronics to function inside bubbles without shorting or sputtering? Or for a more physical interpretation of the electricity flow accross a bubble barrier, what happens to a stream or river passing through a bubble? Does the water build up/drain? Or will the liquid passing through the barrier invalidate the bubble and prevent it from forming? Would electricity or wind do the same?

I'd honestly be surprised if Bavadin does not have an agent or agents hidden in the 17th Shard to manipulate and keep tabs on them. I mean, they blocked off access to Taldain, ostensibly to keep the 17th Shard from keeping tabs on them, as well as any other worldhopping society. I don't think Bavadin would be an overt member, but I definitely see Bavadin having covert membership to these societies. Especially if another Shard is involved in the 17th directly. I don't think it would be any of the shards we know, but it may be one of the ones whose intent we do not yet know. One that has to do with the gathering and keeping of Knowledge.

Why does this feel like a reference to the restaurant at the end of the universe? I hope it is, its a lovely reference, even though technically it was a restaurant at the start of the highstorm. At the same time, I can see Syl having fun discussing how to fly with Arthur Dent, who flies by falling and missing the ground. Kalladin flies by changing the direction of down and falling away from the ground. That would be a fun conversation. As for the more serious discussions of fabrial science, and how it could be used to make Rosharan airships to enter in the eventual Cosmere version of mario kart, well, my grasp of fabrial science is weak. I'll trust those better informed to figure it out.

Can you awaken air though? I was under the impression that you could only awaken solids - or liquids and gases if they were encased in a solid to give them form. I don't think this is a legit option. You are entirely right, if Susebron creates another nightblood on the spot, he wins. Or at worst, everyone loses. As for awakening everything around, its already been pointed out that TLR's compounded strength would make it virtually impossible to bind him with cloth.

In fairness, Rosharans are fond of sweeping generalizations. All insects are cremlings. All birds are chickens. All Azish are rule abiding. No middle-aged or older person with a tight-butt is to be trusted. A person's innate worth is determined by the colour of their eyes and the status of their parents.

Nice! That looks awesome! The endpapers look freaking amazing. Too bad he lied in his inscription to you - that's clearly ink and paper, not steel. I am very jealous - My inlaws got into town this week and made no mention of having a book for me. So I likely won't see mine until March or April sadly. Enjoy reading it, it looks stunning. I'm really curious what other bonus material is included.

I would also point out that in the description of the Red Rip on Scadrial that the coppermind postulates a few reasons why it is not mentioned in Era one. Between Ashfalls and the mists, few people ever see the stars. I remember a specific scene where Vin gets above the mists for the first time and sees the stars, with Kelsier I think. He talks about them, but there is mention that in myth, more was visible before the skies filled with Ash. I am heavily paraphrasing based on memory. Era one Mistborn has both the mists and the ashmounts filling the sky that made astronomy very difficult. If you could brave the mists enough to get above them, you could see the brightest stars on a 'clear' night, IE: one without ashfall, but by no means see all the stars in the sky. I think that may factor into the lack of mention in Era one. The lack of record in Saze's religions is far more interesting. It either points to the rip not existing pre LTR, or the rip not being part of the canon when Brandon wrote the series, or to it being there but not being relevant to Saze saving the world.

I always read them as a mix between a pleased or curious sound. Pleased is closer to a humming sound - which fits the vibration mentioned to accompany him sometimes. When it's more curious, it's a 'hmmm?' sound. But mostly I view it as a pleased, almost purring hum.

Definitely yes, she is dead. But also maybe not. She may be somewhere in between, only mostly dead. Her state is harder to pin down than Schrödinger's Cat when you aren't looking at it. Spren are weird. How do you kill an concept? You get everyone to stop thinking about it and forget it. But she is the blade of the most famous Alethi swordsman, no one will ever forget her. So she is definitely dead. But she is also maybe, probably not dead. Not entirely. Just enough to give hope. Death doesn't quite work the same way for spren. Syl was killed by Kaladin, and he is still apologizing to her for that. Oathbringer is dead, but it screams slightly less when Dalinar holds it. Dead things scream. Maya is dead, but she walks, follows and protects, yet sees nothing. She is angry, and she is dead. Her oath holder is dead, so there is no renewal of Oath's loophole that un-killed Syl, and all spren would consider her to be irevoccably dead. Even if she is walking around and screeching while being kinda creepy and gross. If you are getting a headache, you're in the right mindset. She is definitely dead. She also might be alive. Spren are weird. To better answer your question, maybe you should define what you consider to be alive, and what is dead, or non-living. Biologists have been struggling with a single, unified method to define something as living, or not. And they don't have to deal with spren. So when asking if a Deadeye is alive or dead, I can only really give an answer of yes.

Emphasis mine. The Cryptics are all weird, not just Pattern. They seem fascinated by the mathematics that underlay reality, and are curious about why humans do the things they do. They accept that this experiment will most likely end in their deaths, and accept that this cost is worth what they will learn. So much so that: Pattern is not inherently dangerous, he is just extremely curios, like all Cryptics. The danger is the pursuit of that curiosity. When Shallan was pursuing Re-Shepnir, Pattern's concern was not for safety, but that she'd go do something stupid without him there to watch, because stupidity is extremely interesting. It seems like the cryptics, both in Shallan's drawings and Elhokar's mirrors were coming through to the Physical Realm in greater numbers than any of the other true spren at the beginning. I think Cryptics are not trusted because they are curious, and always experimenting, let the curiosity drive them rather than anything else. And that can be deeply unsettling to any around them that operate based on rules. Pattern is not a sociopath - he cares for Shallan enough to offer to die to help her heal. But each spren has a lure that draws them and binds them. Emotion spren follow emotion, honorspren follow honor and oaths, cultivation spren (Wyndle) seek growth, inkspren seek logic. Cryptics seek mathematical constructs. And what better theoretical construct than lies? Each lie you tell must be maintained - the greater the lie, the more supporting lies must be told to keep the plates spinning in the air. The more people who hear and believe the lie, the more work that must be done to sustain it. The mathematical equations for how to sustain lies must be ludicrously complex. Requiring the revelation of truths, that thereafter can never be lied about (Shallan could no longer suppress the memories of her truths and had to confront them) makes a lot of sense for a race of spren that want to learn. You've confronted this, now you must deal with the outcome and can't hide it anymore. That must be fascinating. Understanding that everything humanity uses is actually the corpse of something else, and that is just how we are was a mind blowing revelation to Pattern. And it allowed him to overcome his disgust at Adolin using a corpseblade. That is extremely rational, pragmatic and mathematical in its approach. And Pattern loves his math. Not dangerous, just an alien worldview.

Well, I think part of the answer came when they were storming the palace in Kholinar: So we saw that under the right circumstances, a spren can be pierced with invested metal in the physical realm. So you could probably corrupt a spren, or spike something into it in the physical realm. Spiking out is probably limited to the Cognitive realm however.

I'm going to disagree with you in this context. We use asexual to refer to a person who has no sexual attraction/desire, or action that has no sexual motivation. From a genetic perspective, Asexual reproduction results in a child that is the clone of the single parent. So a single cell dividing in two - no exchange of gametes or change to the chromosomes. As the parsh clearly have a male/female parent set when they reproduce involving two of the genders, male and female, and a child that is the result of chromosomal exchange - a blend of both parents. They also have the neutral genders, malen and femalen, described as asexual. In this context, even though it is a choice to take a form that is considered asexual, and given the WOB does not explicitly state that all forms can reproduce, I do not think the asexual forms can reproduce. Mateform is better at reproduction, but not guaranteed to succeed, and there are other forms that can reproduce, albeit much less efficiently, and there are the neutral, asexual forms that cannot reproduce. I would assume that warform falls under the later category. Your interpretation that asexuality in this case applies as it does in our own inter-human interactions, rather than a more genetic connotation may well be right, but I do not think so. In the absence of a concrete WOB, both options could be valid interpretations. But I'm biased towards mine.

Oooh, Can we also add the modifier of "Can I use the colour from an illusion to fuel my Awakening?"

I completely agree, and even pointed out the Adolin-Rand comparison was off for some rather superficial reasons. There are many reasons why the Rand Adolin axis does not work, and even the women break down under some scrutiny, but seem to have some links. And I like comparing Shallan's personas to the three ladies in WoT better than going basic psych and trying to declare Veil=Id, Shallan=Ego, and Radiant=Superego. That kind of works too, but I have more fun looking at links to other fiction. But other than having a magic sword and three wives, Rand and Adolin don't have much in common.

Understanding or not, you have answered my question. My question mostly came from the line: I'm curious which forms, including mate-, slave, and dullform were not asexual, as opposed to the forms that are asexual and incapable of childbirth. This confirms that not all forms can have children, which solves my question. Now I just want to know what forms, that we've seen, can or cannot reproduce. I'm curious if there is a pattern to what forms are reproductive-ly viable, at any level, versus completely asexual and non-viable for reproduction. Maybe there is a parrellel to the Shin culture, the one who adds versus the one who takes away, or the Horneater culture that seems to place a higher value on non-soldiers. Forms that add/build/create are viable versus forms that destroy/break down/remove are non viable for reproduction. I'd be curious to see if there is a pattern along those lines.

Do we have confirmation on which forms are capable of breeding? I assume slaveform, dullform and mateform are on the list. Potentially workform as well. But if all forms are capable of mating, it makes me question the asexual nature of malen and femalen genders in non-mateforms. If all forms can reproduce at differing capacity levels, then why have a non-reproductive gender designation? I assume that warform, and likely many of the Regal or fused forms are incapable of mating, but it would be nice to get a bit more information on these distinctions.

So, out of curiosity, does anyone feel that the Adolin-Shallan relationship is a subtle mimicry/dig at the Wheel of time? Rand had three wives, so does Adolin, technically. One was Min, an unpowered spy/manipulator, like Veil was designed to be (low-born, not supposed to be Radiant). One was Elaine, the noble Lady with powers, like Shallan herself. And finally, we have Aviendha, the wise warrior with powers, like Radiant. Am I stretching too far to see this link? I know that the Adolin-Rand comparison is a bit off, Adolin was not a farmer, is not super-powered, still has both his hands, and as far as we know is not fated to be eternally reborn as the champion to duel Odium. But on the female spectrum, in both cases we have the Spy, the Lady and the Warrior. IS that a possible thing?

If someone gets the chance, I'd be extremely appreciative if they would ask a question or two about this quote: Given that the singers were trapped in slave- and dullforms for thousands of years, and that malen and femalen are completely asexual - how did the species survive? Is it that mateform makes it easier to successfully procreate, and the other forms it is possible, but not easy? Because if mateform is the only form with male and female traits and the ability to procreate, how did the species not die out? We know from Sah talking to Kaladin that slaveform could have children, so if mateform is the only procreation form, did Cultivation intercede on their behalf as a boon/curse situation to help them escape their gods? Remove their forms, and by extension their gods, but allow them to procreate in any form until mateform is rediscovered?Because if memory serves, the original council of five were all dullform, because that is all they had for generations?

It is. But at the same time, the Alethi were breeding the slaveforms. Which would be male neuter and female neuter. Similarly the listeners were procreating over the generations before they rediscovered mateform, while in dullform. So while neuter is a rather non-negotiable term, and should be a hard stop, if that were the case, they would have all died out within 100 years of the last desolation. The other options are that there a a select few forms that can mate, but it is easiest in mateform, or all forms can mate, but it is easiest in mateform... It is the only way for the species to have been able to survive the dullform/slaveform years. We do have some tangential proof of this, when Sah tells Kaladin of how his daughter's mother was sold, because she was a good breeder, while they were in slaveform. So mateform cannot be a hard stop for procreation. If malen and femalen are asexual, then there have to be a selection of forms that are male and female - mateform, dullform, slaveform and likely a few others.

So if you eat the cake fast enough, without thinking about it as anything other than a bunch of wheat and flour, you could eat before the disparate parts of the soul fuse together and become the soul of the cake? He says it does not take long, but that it takes time at all means you could change its form and identity again before it has had the time to reclassify itself internally as something else... It likely would not be pleasant. Eating cake straight out of the oven before it has time to cool or view itself as cake sounds painful and traumatic. For the cake. And the eater. I wonder how that mid transition transition would appear in the cognitive realm?

The Oathbringer preview chapters. Man, we talked those things to death. And in really, really short timespans, so much so that it quickly became unrealistic to read all the responses. But Storms was it fun to do at the time!

Yeah, he said he would be shipping all the simple personalizations to try to have them in homes for Christmas, but anything with more complex requests - questions or extensive quotes or limericks, those would be shipped mid January. I expect mine in February, as I had it shipped to my inlaws in New York, and I live in Montreal - So I can only live vicariously through your beautiful pictures for now.

Women, most likely. It is the Alethi Women's script, so I would assume Navani, Jasnah, Shallan and the others can read it fluently. Dalinar is getting there, and his Connection ability is likely helping him learn faster. Yes, I know, you meant IRL. But you offered me a delightful opportunity to be deliberately obtuse, and I could not pass it up. Realistically, I don't think so. You need to read a lot of a given script to achieve that level of fluency, especially a script using a different alphabet. I would assume there are some out there in the shard and on team Dragonsteel who do practice with it and delight themselves in composing 'secret' messages for each other in this script - but at that point it is still more of a code that needs step by step translation than a fluent reading. I assume some people are dedicated enough to be approaching literacy, but I don't think we have enough extensive texts to get there, yet. Unless someone is creating documents in this text themselves. (Cue mental image of a dedicated sharder translating the Stormlight Archive, line by line, into the Alethi script.... I would totally buy that translation if ever it got published)