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Caution: There may be spoilers for Yumi, Tress and, to a lesser extent, the Emperor's Soul. Ok to start I would like to provide a summary of who the Iriali are according to Coppermind: The Iriali have metallic golden-blond skin and hair that breeds true. They mostly have yellow eyes. They have had what most would consider to be inhuman ancestry, depending on what is considered human. The Iriali worship a god they call "One". According to this belief, the One knew everything but had experienced nothing. And so the One became Many in order to experience all things. As each experience is different, it brings completeness to the One. Eventually, all will be gathered back in when the sum of land is attained and they will once again become One. Every person is a different mind of a single being experiencing different lives. The philosophy behind the One is that the Spiritual Realm and the Beyond are the same thing and that, when a person dies, their soul goes with their Investiture to the Spiritual Realm. Most cosmere philosophers disagree with this belief. Seeing this summary, I got to wondering what if, like other things in the Cosmere, they are right to a certain extent? I started looking for answers in the WoB's and I found 3 very interesting ones: Sanderson has been asked if his beliefs are inspired by the fragmentation of Adonalsium and he said slightly but that there are events involved (in the timeline) that would be more influential. [ref] They have asked him if they are related to Autonomy, and he answered no. Then he thought and said that there is a slight relationship, but that it does not imply anything. [ref] And finally, Sanderson has stated that his situation shares some similarities with what happens in Threnody. [ref] From these 3 WoB's we can conclude that the Iriali town has a relationship with a Shard (that would explain the slight but insubstantial relationship; they would be related to another Shard that is not Autonomy), Their religion is based on events after the Shattering of Adonalsium and shares similarities with what happened on Threnody. Of all the Shards, the one that has the most similar shattering to Ambition is precisely Virtuosity; the only difference is that the latter was voluntary and with an unknown purpose. So I started looking for WoB's about Virtuosity and I found this very interesting one: It should be noted that in the WoB it is Asmodeus who assumes that Virtuosity was Splintered 1700 years ago, but if I am not wrong, what happened at that time was that the Shroud was created, and before its creation, were already splinters of that Virtuosity in the system. Ok, so starting from this base, I thought, what if Virtuosity splintered itself voluntarily (or by influence of the intent of his shard) to create a group of splinters that would travel through the cosmere experiencing everything possible and thus have a better perspective of... everything, and thus have better inspiration for art? And after a prearranged journey, all the souls (or copies of the Vessel's soul) that were sent to the spiritual realm would be reunited to rebuild Virtuosity. Here also comes a round of circumstantial evidence: The men often wear only waist wraps on warmer days. They are also known to paint their skin with colors and patterns. [Coppermind]. On Lumar, and likely other planets on their Path, they developed a written script that was written vertically, from top to bottom. [ref] (This is important for later.) Most of the things associated with them seem to have to do with yellow... just the Hion line we're missing. In summary: The Iriali may descend from the splinters created from a 1/3 of Virtuosity which by voluntarily splintering, manifested a group with a physical body and arranged them so that after a certain time their souls and those of their descendants would be collected in the spiritual realm. and they would put it back together with all that accumulated experience. Other considerations I would also like to include another theory here. And the Grand would also be descendants left behind by the Iriali (Logistically they cannot take all of them), that would explain their hair color, their eye color and their size, which could well be comparable to that of a Rosharian. In conjunction with this theory, it would explain their deep-seated fear of Forgery, since it would be an aberration for them to alter the soul of the One with false experiences. In addition, they are the perfect connection between the appearance of the Iriali and the Asian aesthetics of the Utol system. (At this point we can also include the topic of writing.) Additionally, it also opens up several interesting possibilities. For example, the culture of the Grands has more importance than we think. Could it be that 80 suns are the total number of suns in the cosmere star cluster? Or that the Long Trail is explicitly passing through planets with entities highly invested and culturally influenced by them. I mean, where you can find more artistic inspiration than in cultures that are more crowded with metaphysical influence. Finally, if you ask me, the order of the Long Trail would be the following:

So, if you haven't read the new KoWT interlude that was spoiled at Dragonsteel, here it is: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/522-dragonsteel-2023/#e16257 And STORMS that chapter is spicy. So, the first part entails the journey of a few minor Worldhoppers, and apart from them being taunted by Hoid and learning that another old lady is a knight radiant, nothing much Cosmere-Related happens. But then we've got Cusicesh, who appears out of the water at random, speaks to the people of Kasitor, telling them it's time to leave the planet, and opens a giant storming portal for everyone to run into. Yeah, that's right. Remember that little tidbit in Tress about the Iriali disappearing off the face of Lumar? Yeah, that's what just happened here. In fact, I'd wager that a similar thing happened on Lumar, as well as every other planet with myths about the disappearance of the Iriali. So a few questions remain: What's going on with the Iriali? How did this happen on all the other planets? Where does everyone go? AND WHAT THE SCUD IS GOING ON WITH SCUDDLING CUSICESH? Discuss.

Goal: Gain a vague timeline of the Iriali people's travels. (Full Cosmere Spoilers) I would like to focus in on the Iriali and specifically speculate about their lands (including Lumar) 1 We know that Roshar is the 4th land. 2 The Iriali follow the "Long Trail" 3 People from Rira (Evi) have sayings that reflect the planets of Nalthis and Taldain 4 A queen in Iriali responds to Dalinar with comments about the tides 5 Rirans are different from the Iriali. 6 Autonomy's isolation principal has locked Kriss out of her homeland during the time she is writing her essays. 7 Nalthis and Roshar have a lot of interaction and linguistic similarities. New Secret Project Info 1 The Iri have been on Lumar. 2 A cup written in "their language", old Iriali, is written from up to down, not left to right. And made entirely of tin. (not Rosharan writing) 3 Disappeared 300 years prior to Secret Project 1 story. 4 Hoid does not appear to have Design at this time 300 years past their disappearance. 5 Iriali had at least one "king" on Lumar. (Probably three monarchs, though.) Assumptions 1 Evi's idioms can be traced to Taldain "Sun at night" quote and Nalthis from some color related quotes. And these quotes come from her partial Iriali heritage (golden hair, but not true golden hair) 2 Autonomy has isolated Taldain from the Cosmere for a significant amount of time. 3 There is only one group of Iriali roming the Cosmere. Speculation and Proto-Theorizing 1. With near certainty, we can say that the Iriali must have been to Lumar prior to Roshar, through abundant circumstantial evidence. a. Hoid makes no mention of Design. b. Rosharan and Scadrial references not present. c. Iriali have tide readers. "The Iriali religion may involve fortune-telling with ocean waves, as a member of the Iriali court is the court tidereader. A spanreed meeting between the Iriali queen and Dalinar was moved up because of something seen in the waves." -from a stormlight archive fandom wiki. Tide implies some sea-faring history and considering the importance of paying attention to the fluids on Lumar, it would be wise to have a tide reader. 2. Now, it gets interesting. We conclude that if Roshar is the 4th land, Lands 1-3 must be Nalthis, Taldain and Lumar My suggestion for order is 0th Before the beginning of the "Long Trail". (Perhaps destroyed in the shattering.) 1st Lumar --- Ancient Iriali writing that goes up to down must predate their visit to Taldain because on the Dayside of Taldain they write from left to write based on the current comics (papers on Heelis' desk). 2nd Taldain --- At some point travel to and from Taldain is blocked, but in early times of Kriss and Kenton, it is not blocked, so earlier is more likely for Taldain (additionally, I can only remember the one Evi expression). 3rd Nalthis --- There is a lot of interconnectedness between Roshar and Nalthis. Therefore, I think it seems logical that the last leg of the Long Trail, so far is from Nalthis to Roshar. 4th Roshar --- Confirmed. 7th Final land (Yolen?) 3. The question remains whether the golden Aether sea provided the Iriali with their golden hair, or, and I think this more likely, there is a 0th land. This stands to reason, based on how Charlie seemed to think the golden hair was something noteworthy, and we haven't seen anyone around with green hair or heard any mention of new inhabitants having golden hair. Hopefully this can be answered when we have the full book for Secret Project 1: Please add your own observations and theories. I am sure I missed some data and I have been unable to confirm the fact that I think that the Iriali on Roshar write from left to right.

I am growing increasingly frustrated by the slow reveal of the Cosmere, I want it all. Now. Hello there. If you are not currently participating in my treasure hunt, ignore this. If you are, Why am I saying this? good job! You just found a clue. Here it is: K'x jkffgp enwgu gxgtayjgrg, nkmg yjgrg vjg ktkcnk ctg. It's pretty simple. I was working on a theory about the Dawnshards, the Sibling, Ashyn, and how the sleepless tied in, when something caught my eye. It was about the Iriali. They're not from Roshar. Now this really shouldn't be a surprise. Human's aren't native to Roshar. And we all know that. The thing is, the Iriali aren't from the Rosharan system either.* For you to understand the tangent I'm about to go on, I recommend reading the coppermind page on the Iriali. It's a long, long tangent. The more I looked into this, the more intriguing it seemed. I believe Sanderson has purposefully kept the Iriali's origins very vague. But I would not be stopped. You see these are the kinds of things that get me interested. We know that Iriali be important later on. But the operating word is later. I wanted to know then and there. My search for answers sent me on an hour long search through the Coppermind, and Arcanum. The information I gathered lead me to this conclusion. The Iriali have lived on three planet's. And I believe I know which ones. The first thing that I tipped me off is their religion. This is a HUGE clue. There was one. Who became many. This is really, really obvious. Adonalsium and the Shattering. (Though I believe that it has also been colored by Honor's death, or Autonomy's ability to have avatar's.) Or the In other words I believe the Iriali originate from Yolen. This matches up for four reasons: Their religion was evidently based the shattering, even if some details are wrong There was a reason for them to leave: Fainlife It has been confirmed that large amounts of humans have left Yolen And the Iriali are gonna play a large part in the space age/ final stage of the Cosmere, a stage I believe will be heavily focused on Yolen Where they went after Yolen becomes a little less clear. There were four or five candidates in my mind, most likely being Nalthis, and Taldain. After Yolen it's most likely they went to Nalthis. Once again I have less evidence, but there's still some. There seems to be a unusually high emphasison color's in Iriali society, Ex: Body painting The returned could have influenced the Iriali's religion The Rirans are near definitely from Nalthis: Given this, and the fact that the Riran's have large cultural ties with the Iriali it seems probable that the Iriali have been to Nalthis at one point. But where next? This troubled me for a while, and I thought that I had it down to two: Patji, or Threnody. It was Taldain. This matches up pretty well. The Iriali and Daysiders look pretty similar, lot's of blond hair, and tan/gold skin Autonomy has had influence on the Iriali's religion, not a large one but this ruled out threnody 3. The temperature on the Dayside is similar to the Iriali climate, possibly explaining why they picked to live up north These are my thoughts on the origins of the Iriali. Please say how stoopid I am below. I apologize for the wall of text. *Brandon hasn't explicitly said this but he's ruled out Roshar, Ashyn and Braize as possible candidates. The only habitable planets in the system.

We know after OB that Iri decided to side with Odium despite the fact that it used to be one of the Silver Kingdoms and a staunch part of the anti-Odium alliance in the past. However, in Odium's negotiations with Taravangian it became obvious that he is very reluctant to promise safety to human countries in return for their cooperation. My guess is that this is because of the pre-existing deal between Odium and the Fused, which promised them Roshar (but not specified the condition it is going to be in). So, what could he have promised to the Iriali leaders? IMHO, help with moving to their next "Land" and escaping the Final Desolation. After all, that's what we learned about the Iriali from Ym's Interlude back in WoR: The Iriali have been stuck on Roshar for thousands of years and it would make sense that they made the same calculation as Taravangian - that this latest conflict with Odium couldn't be won, and decided that it was finally time for their people to head for the Fifth Land. Why Scadrial? Scadrial is convenient because it has a perpendicularity, yet is mostly empty just 3 or so centuries after the Catacendre - and even before that, most of it was uninhibitable. Now it is largely suited to human habitation, but it would take the Scadrians a long time to build up numbers and spred to fill it. It is also clearly to Odium's advantage to help the Iriali move there. This gambit already worked for him on Roshar, after all. What is more and what makes Scadrians such a threat to whoever is behind the red-eyed "faceless immortals" and to Odium, unless they are one and the same, is that the planet and the people are special because they were created by only the 2 Shards now being combined in Harmony. Other Shards have no purchase there, no beachhead, and Scadrians are extensions of Harmony to the degree not shared by the people and planets created by Adonalsium and later taken over by the Shards, which still have the investiture of all of the 16 in them. By introducing Iriali people to Scadrial, Odium would disrupt this situation and get a foot in the door, so to speak. This snippet from the State of Sanderson may or may not be connected: "I consider Wax and Wayne’s final book to be imperative to finish before I start Stormlight Five." given that it would make sense for the Iriali to leave during a Willshaper book and for W&W folks to possibly run into them either a few years after or in the process of their arrival on-world (in case of time dilation during interstellar travel through the Cognitive), in "The Last Metal".

Theory: Cusicesh is a spren of the Iriali god, the One I was inspired while reading this thread from a little while ago: (I also used some of the quotes/WoBs found in here, so credit goes to you guys) CONTEXT FOR THE LONG TRAIL: (you can skip if you already know abt the Long Trail, or just read for a refresher) The Iriali generally follow the religion of the One (their god... a shard? maybe... who knows?). This religion teaches that the Iri are on an interplanetary journey called The Long Trail, going over 7 different planets. Ages ago, the One decided to split itself up into different lives so that it could experience life. These people, the Iriali, are currently on the 4th planet of the journey, Roshar. When they get to the 7th planet, they will all "gather together" and become One again, new and improved with all the experiences/lives the Iriali have lead, completing the Long Trail. Every Irian is part of the One... SO ONTO THE THEORY: Descrition from Axies' interlude in WoK ~Cusicesh the Protector is described as being made up of many different faces flashing through in quick succession and Axies said that it was worshiped in by some in Kasitor... As we know, spren are living ideas, eg. a firespren is people's idea of fire that has gained form in the Cognitive Realm (and shows partially in the Physical). So what idea/s formed Cusicesh? Or in other words, what is Cusicesh the spren of? Let's look at the people who would have shaped it. (Spren's genders have been influenced by human vs singer perception, so we know that the people thinking around the spren, and their social concepts have effect on spren) Cusicesh appears in the city, Kasitor, which is Iri's second largest city. Cusicesh is considered "a part of the city" so it must have been there for a long time, under influence from many Iriali's perceptions over a long time. As a spren in Kasitor, Cusicesh has to have been influenced by the Iriali. So how does Cusicesh fit into Iriali culture??? As the One!* (*Possibly as the One! ...it makes sense to me, here's why...) So the first thing that connects Cusicesh to the One is the display of faces. The One is all the Iriali people, as Ym said to the urchin, "you and I are One". The One is genderless. Cusicesh's display includes many different people, some appear male and some appear female. All of the faces are human. So all different humans, all genders, are being combined into one form. Which is exactly the same as how all of the Iriali are meant to become One on the 7th planet, combining into One form. One of the major aspects of Cusicesh' demonstration is people feeling drained by it. Axies said it felt like "something had been leeched from him". Maybe Cusicesh is draining away the observers' experiences/investiture, to replicate how One is meant to take all of the Iriali experiences onto itself. (Yes this isn't the 7th planet yet, but Cusicesh isn't literally the One, just people's perceptions of the One. And the final "gathering" is literally the purpose of the Long Trail/their lives so it makes sense this important aspect would be a part of the One's spren) Cusicesh is also worshipped by some Iri. This could tentatively be an indication that Cusicesh was connected 'the One' religion at some point in the past. Or that it at least resonated/s with Iriali culture during their time on Roshar. (Like why would the worldhopping Iriali, some of whom were cosmically aware, worship a spren?) Also in terms of their worship, the pedestals are gold, connecting it further to the golden Iriali people. (Also also, Four pedestals/arms that Cusicesh is leaning on, maybe represent four lands so far that the One can draw experiences from...) To recap, Crusicesh must have been influenced by people because it is a spren. It's location means it has been influenced by the Iriali's perceptions. And from our limited knowledge of Crusicesh, its behaviours seem to fit with the Iriali God, the One. This theory also provides a reason for Brandon to show us Cusicesh, beyond it being the Sibling (which I don't believe), or just being cool. The Iri's perceptions of their god have created Crusicesh or at least influenced it. Honestly, I have no idea if all of this has already been said, or if there are massive holes I just don't have the knowledge to see. But I thought that this seemed plausible enough, or that this might provide something useful... tear it apart! (Or alternatively, help build and correct this theory!) PS: In order for this theory to be really solid, it would be great to find another spren of a god, for example, a spren that emobidied the Passions. (not a god-spren, like because even though he's a sliver of Honor, the Stormfather isn't believed to represent the Almighty, so I don't think he counts as a precedent.) (PPS: some baseless propositions/thoughts (if this theory proves true) Maybe all the faces are people with Iriali blood who have passed on and are going back into the One??? Maybe "eastward", the direction Cusicesh is facing, is where the Iriali homeland is, or where they last came from, or where they're going next???? idk. Cusicesh's "sapience" could come from drawing energy/investiture/cognitive presence from onlookers. The Iri are also probably giving it heaps of cognitive presence/aspect, cos Cusicesh is taking on all their ideas/reverence for their God. Cusicesh's sapience would also allow it to continue spren-ifying the One, if people have stopped heavily associating Crusicesh with the One, because now its view of itself contributes to its identity)

This is an interesting tidbit from Brandon's Chicago signing. We know that the Listeners/Parshendi are native to Roshar, but aren't sure about the other beings on the planet and whether or not they've always been on Roshar. This bit about the Irali appears to be new. So what do we know about them? The Iriali Have Been on Roshar for a Long Time Iri was one of the Silver Kingdoms on Roshar, so it's roots go deep into the history of the planet. They would have witnessed the Heralds themselves and experienced the desolations as a culture. The Iriali Have a Religion that Includes The Long Trail Ym gives us some interesting information about the Iriali people: So, we should not be surprised that the Iriali have not always been on Roshar. It seems that their people have been on three other worlds prior to arriving here, and that they expect to move on to two additional worlds before finally arriving back at oneness in the Seventh Land. I know others on the shard have discussed this story as a possible reference to the shattering of Adonalsium. Something Weird is Going On in Their Biggest City: Rall Elorim Rall Elorim is known as the City of Shadows and is a strange place. Folks here on the shard have speculated that the reference to shadows may mean that this place is where Cognitive Shadows of dead Knights Radiant or spren live. Since this is the largest city in this nation, I'd doubt it's entirely inhabited by Cognitive Shadows. Though, if we assume that the Iri migrated through the Cognitive Realm from Nalthis to Roshar (see bellow), it could be that the city is located in the Cognitive Realm. Kasitor: Home of Cusicesh the Protector An extremely large spren named Cusicesh who, at exactly 7:46am every day, rises out of the water of the bay and creates an illusion of waves around it. A translucent blue color, it measures over 100 feet tall - Axies refers to it as one of the largest spren he's ever seen. With four long arms and a strange face that rapidly shifts through male and female faces, it looks eastward toward the Origin. Those who gather to watch it appear frequently report feeling "drained" after seeing it. Some of the Iriali worship it, placing golden pedestals out to honor it. Questions Raised What other worlds were the Iriali on before? They have metallic, golden hair and paint themselves with colors and patterns. They also have strong chastity laws and discourage public nudity. Some of this sounds reminicent of Nalthis, where bright colors, the muted conservatism of Austre, and "the Royal Locks" are a part of cultures there. Since it seems that Vasher and Denth (if not others) of the Five Scholars travelled to Roshar in the past (and that Vasher is currently on the planet, as is Nightblood), there do seem to be connections here. Since the Expanse of the Densities has been speculated to refer to Nalthis, that Iri is right there on the Physical and Cognitive maps of Roshar, it makes sense that the Iri could have migrated from there. What similarities are there to the migration on Threnody? Are they the cultural ancestors (or decedents) of the Iriali? What is happening with the draining sensation that the people feel in the presence of Cusicesh? Is it a similar happening to a Larkin sucking out stormlight from a surgebinder? Do people on Roshar have innate Investiture that could be drained in this manner? Not anyone can be a vessel of stormlight, so what is it that Cusicesh is doing to them? Also, what is the symbolism of the faces that appear? Why does it appear on such a regular schedule? So other than the Listeners/Parshendi, what other peoples were native to Roshar?

From Ym's Interlude in Words of Radiance, we learned a few things about Iriali religion. According to Ym, the "One" who knew everything became "many" (i.e. people) in order to experience everything. At first, it sounds like some sort of pantheism, perhaps suggesting that humans are merely a part of Adonalsium. But then when his young customer asked if the "One" was God, Ym said something that gave me pause: This sounded to me like the "many" only refers to the Iriali people, or the people who are part of the Long Trail, not to everyone in general. This makes it less likely (though admittedly not impossible) that "One" is Adonalsium. So now I'm wondering, what if "One" isn't Adonalsium per se, but a Shard of Adonalsium? *start of detailed, wild, and probably wrong hypothetical scenario* Imagine an Shard whose Intent is something like Experience, who secretly created a whole bunch of humans with Splinter souls (sort of like Endowment's Returned), made them look like mundane un-Invested humans who weren't Cosmere-aware, and planted them onto the Shardworld of an unsuspecting Shard. The original "Experience Splinter-humans" had no discernible Invested ability, and they weren't even immortal, but they were capable of mating with the local population, producing offspring that had the Innate Investiture of that Shardworld's Shard and a Splinter of Experience at the same time. And when those people died, Experience was able to absorb their Cognitive aspect (their experiences) and their Spiritual aspect, including the Innate Investiture from the other Shard, effectively stealing a tiny part of that Shard's power. Now, Experience's Shardholder knew that there were risks in holding too much of another Shard's power. For one, he wouldn't want the other Shard to get suspicious. Also, holding two different Shardic Intents might lead to balance problems (especially if the other Intent is opposed to Experience). Experience solved this problem by giving his people a strong sense of racial identity, starting with an easily distinguishable physical trait (golden hair), then later on with a shared mythology (the Seven Lands of the Long Trail) giving each of them a sense of Divine purpose. In this way, his people kept mostly to themselves, minimizing interracial relations. At some point, one of these Splinter-humans mated with an outsider and produced an offspring who grew up to learn how to travel to Shadesmar and to Worldhop. Not missing the opportunity to initiate the Long Trail, a group of Splinter-humans joined their Shadesmar-traveling half-brother in migrating to another planet: the Second Land. Thus, the Long Trail truly began. By the time they attained the Fourth Land (Roshar), they started calling themselves Iriali. Currently the other Shards are still unaware of what Experience has done, even as he now holds some of the power of at least four of them. Eventually (when his Splinters reach the Seventh Land?), he will have enough collective power to rival Odium (though perhaps not Harmony), although this power would have to be consolidated from all across the Cosmere. Theoretically, he will be able to create humans with a hybrid Innate Investiture from multiple Shards, which would make for some pretty powerful warriors. We could only pray that Experience is a good guy. *end of detailed, wild, and probably wrong hypothetical scenario*