Jim, excellent article. Food for tought, but not enought to make me forget the idea.

His main concern was with cyclic loading and bending, which would be on the top part of the shrouds where they bend around the mast. Making the shrouds two part, with regular wire on top would be one solution.
Splices would be hard, but I like Eric Precourt's terminals. Or taking op the old tradition of 'bendling' to make eyes.