Shardlet

. Hehe...I...uh...well...forgot about going through the questions in between the readings. Sorry, it will be done in the next couple of days.

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.

I like the reputation system because it gives me an opportunity to see which ideas and things I am posting are resonating and appreciated by the community. The ranking levels make it fun as well. It also helps me to know that I am welcome here and people value my input.

It may require a specific minimum heightening. But I...in my infinite wisdom <chuckle, chuckle>...(and my in depth study consisting of a single reading of Warbreaker) choose to believe that it has more to do with mastery of commands than the number of breaths one has. I would also expect that it would require an expenditure something like 5 or 10 breaths or something. This is baseless speculation after all, and so I choose this brilliant method.

I agree with Kurk. I think it is likely that the more shards one holds the less demanding the driving intent of each shard is. As to Adonalsium's opposing force, it really depends on the nature of that force. Was it a backwash of energy from an unwise use of the power of creation, is it a distinct entity, is it the result of a collective conciousness effort or idea? The last one is a bit of a head tilter, I know. I will give you an example (though only Whovians will likely get it). At the end of the third season (series) of Doctor Who (the Martha Jones season), Such a thing would not be properly termed to be a thing and is transient in nature, but was very powerful in its instance.

Ah, leetspeak. I admit, such things are rarely readily apparent to me. "Mmm, a hacker joke. How very Droll, sir," said Jeeves. Lol. +1

I am curious as to the assured tone of this response. Do you have insider information, a rationale which suggests this, or is it a general knee-jerk response? 1337 seems likely to me since it is a single point ranking. But other than that, I can't piece together any significance.

Yeah, it seems you'd need to be a complete turd or trying very hard to reach those levels. The ranking low point is Hoed at -14. I wonder what -100 is. Axehound excrement? Elantris slime? I wonder if 1337 or 1024 is Hoid.

So I was poking around and saw that at the top of each thread was a dropdown which reads "Showing all posts". When you click on this drop down, you get the option of hiding posts which are made by people below a selected reputation threshhold. Amazingly <to be said in an extraordinarily exagerated manner>, these thresholds correspond to the reputation rankings. I then noticed that at the bottom of the list there was -100, -25, -20, -15, -10, -5, -2. Well, -2 qualifies one for Negaspren, and -10 to -14 qualifies one for Hoed. But, I have no idea what -5, -15, -20, -25, and -100 are. I also noticed that there was 1024, 1337, and 1338. I had previously assumed that 1024 was Adonalsium (Brandon's ranking). But, this suggests otherwise. It appears that 1338 is Adonalsium. I guess we have a while before we find out what 1024 and 1338 represent since Windrunner (our highest non-Brandon reputation holder) is at about 600. Edit: I apologize Windrunner for spelling your name Wondrunner.

In this case, I am afraid that you are incorrect. The blades held by the Heralds are called Honorblades. There is as yet, no evidence to really support the dawnshards being a blade at all.

It is actually each order of the KR is based on two surges not spren. For example Kaladin has the complete set of Windrunner surgebinding capabilities (i.e., the three lashings, though not at full strength as he has only reached the second ideal) which are sourced in the gravitation and pressure surges. However, he is only bonded to a single spren. But, in the storm-vision, Nohadon seems to indicate that spren other than honorspren can participate in the formation of Nahel bonds. Whether honorspren are particularly coupled to Windrunners or not is unclear. It is also unclear as to whether the cryptics are forming a Nahel bond with Shallan. But, it seems clear that there are more Nahel bonding spren than just honorspren.

Well, I was going to look for a quote on this, but I don't have time right now. It is my understanding that Harmony controls whether atium is released into the pits. When Kelsier said in TFE that it would be about 300 years until the pits were producing again, it was said without any real understanding of the nature of atium (being the body of Ruin) or any real knowledge of Ruin and Preservation. However, Wax's uncle could very well have come across that tidbit in stories from the olden days and the exploits of Kelsier. That being the case, he could have potentially been planning for things with the assumption that atium would begin to be produced again. I suspect though, that atium would be a significant tool through which they intend to conquer. But, a full mistborn without atium is still quite potent. The combination of steel and iron along with pewter is very powerful. Add duralumin to that mix and you have an extremely dangerous alllomancer (as shown in Vin). As to the men of Red and Gold: I never really got the impression that Miles was all that invested in the plans of his employers. He struck me as riding that train as long as it was beneficial for him personally. I suspect that he would have either eventually taken control (or attempted to) and from there, turn the organization to his own ends or pilage it for its resources. Or, perhaps robbed the organization of resources and struck out on his own again. He had a very twisted view of justice at that point and he could easily have decided that things were not leading to 'justice' anymore. In short, I got the impression that he was using the organization as much as the organization was using him.

For spoiler tags, use this handy dandy bit (without the apostrophe in the first tag) : ['spoiler]Have a Fantasmagorical day! Which when used looks like this: Also, for quote boxes, there is a button on the toolbar in the text entry box which looks like a comic strip voice bubble. Click this button and enter the text you wish into the box. For hyperlinks, the tag I use is (again, without the apostrophe): ['url=http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/3988-theory-classical-scadrial-and-worldhopping/#entry63291]link to post[/url] Which looks like this : link to post

Breath is an investiture though. That would be akin to forging someone to be an allomancer. I don't see why there would be any reason why it could not forge the effects of a system, particularly one from Sel. After all, they would both rely upon the Dor, neh? Edit: Nevermind, disregard this post. it was made in a moment of stark ignorance of the context for your comment Kurk.

I agree. The oathpact must be more than a contract. There must be an actual power binding Odium to the pact as long as certain conditions are met. This power would likely bind all Shard participants in the Oathpact to certain actions and limitations. I think the basis of the Othapact is some expectation of behavior and choices on the part of the residents of Roshar, particularly the Heralds. But some actually constraining binding must be in place. A contract without a means for enforcement is worthless. It only functions so long as the participants adhere to the contract. The Shards likely don't have a higher power they could appeal to enforce such a contract. Therefore, a sword-of-Damocles type enforcement must necessarily be built into the Oathpact. Consequences that automatically take effect and cannot he halted (except perhaps by agreement of the involved parties).

And that is an excellent piece of evidence Abevan. +1

Thanks Cartith.

I don't know. On its face, it seems unlikely. But, Shadesmar is some funky business when it gets down to it. I don't discount the possibility of a built-in hack in the system. It could even be something along the lines of the wall and the window wanting to be beautiful, more than what they were. Could not a door aspire or desire to be something significant like that? Beats the heck out of leading to the tool shed or the outhouse.

That is assuming that a Shard's title refers to a verb intent. Consider, the words endowment, dominion, and devotion are all nouns. The verbs would be endow, devote, and dominate.

It would not result in both moving forward (or both moving backwards). Abstract it to applied forces. The movement of each would depend on the strength of the forces applied combined with their relative weights (inertia). The result of this would be one of several scenarios: The lurcher moves forward and the coinshot is static, the lurcher moves forward and the coinshot moves backwards, they are both static, the lurcher is staticand the coinshot moves forward, or the lurcher moves backwards and the coinshot moves forward.

The individual character of each Kandra speaks against their soul being a blank slate. I think a comparison to an animal would be more apt than to a tree. While Oreseur took the contract, it was made clear that KanPaar and the other 2nds were involved. TenSoon evolved from near open disdain for Vin to steadfast loyalty due to getting to know her and made his subsequent choices based upon those experiences. While some of his arguments before the 2nds were rationalizations after the fact, others were his genuine beliefs. cough*third generation*cough . As to being fleshy robots, before and after spiking, the mistwraiths/kandra act according to their will or by instinct (finding food, etc.). Also, being biological entities somewhat divorces them from the idea of the OP. Though the Kandra follow the contract and the first contract, it is clear that that they have the ability to choose not to. The very existence of the prison cells and the established trial and punishment procedures indicates that they act according to contract by choice as influenced by social convention. The betrayal by the seconds was an act of rebellion against the firsts in an effort to retain power and authority. These are all acts of choice rather than acts of instructions or programming.

I am inclined to disagree with you about mistwraiths being essentially humans. Though the original mistwraiths were once human (Terrisman, of course), they were completely changed to a new species by TLR. They breed true as mistwraiths and have limited sentience until spiked. (It appears that, given the nature of their bodies, their entire body is a giant bindpoint or they have an instinctual knowledge of where to put the spikes in their bodies). They are no longer human in any way. The fact that they tend to emulate humans in appearance is more likely due to their view of TLR as their father and their key purpose involving direct interaction with humans. Soulless, I think, is a mischaracterization. Their sentience is limited, largely acting on instinct. But that does not make them soulless. Their individuality is enhanced by the spikes, not sourced from the spikes. TenSoon would still be TenSoon and MeLaan would still be MeLaan even if they were to switch spikes. TenSoon did not become more like Oreseur or gain any direct insight into Oreseur because he took up Oreseur's spikes.

I think what Ffnord meant was that one should be able to access Shadesmar using solely allomancy (i.e., no involvement of Ruin) rather than getting a direct jumpstart from a Shard. For hemalurgy (i.e., no involvement of preservation), perhaps the right spike in the right place or perhaps any charged spike in the right place will get you to Shadesmar or enact some other form of worldhopping.

Forging could also be as simple as stamping a doorway to become a portal. Likewise, with awakening, it seems perhaps conceivable that a doorway could be awakened and commanded to become a portal using X amount of breath.

The conspicuousness of Dalinar's visions coupled with the also conspicuous absence of a bonding spren in Dalinar's life causes me to wonder. Perhaps Dalinar is not destined to be a KR. I am beginning to wonder if Tanavast has other plans for him. There are nine Honorblades out there somewhere. There are also, presumably, nine heralds kicking around living their lives in the wind. Will all nine come around and eventually reclaim their blade and oath? Or, will one, or more, need replacing? If so, could not Dalinar be being groomed as a proto-herald. It would mesh with the task that Tanavast has given him to unite the people. That is a responsibility for a leader not a knight.