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Unknown Shards


Tulir

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So we know 8 of the 16 Shards in the Cosmere. I was wondering if anyone had good guesses of what the remaining Shards might be. I was thinking that some of the remaing Shards might be somewhere along the lines of Knowlegde, Order, Chaos/Disorder(which would be Chaos's Shard :)), and something similar to Discard/Remove/Erase/Destroy(Maybe Endowments complete opposite?). My friend came up with some good ideas which are wrong, like that Cultivation's opposite would be Desolation, and it was on Roshar.

What are some other Shards that you think might exist in the Cosmere? Hopefully, if we think about this enough, we might guess some before they are published. :)

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The Alcatraz books aren't part of the cosmere, so Identity and Possibility from those books aren't Shards....and I don't see there eventually being Shards named or related closely to Identity or Possibility, because that would be a retread of familiar ground for Brandon, which doesn't seem like him.

Additionally, I don't think we'll see a Shard called Chaos, because Ruin is basically entropy, which is close enough that there might be too much overlap having a Chaos shard. As for The Silence Divine Shard, based on what we've heard about that world and its magic, I could see Balance working. Or maybe something like Sacrifice?

I'm particularly interested in finding out what Bavadin's shard is. The letter in WoK singles him out as being almost as bad as Rayse/Odium....which would seem to indicate that the writer sees him as worse than Ruin and Skai/Dominion. So what would be worse than Ruin and Dominion but not as bad as Odium? Hmm.

My personal theory is that the sixteen shards fall into groupings not unlike the Allomantic table. For instance, we have the Temporal Metals, the Physical Enhancement Metals, etc....so I always wondered if maybe the Shards are split along similar lines. If the shards are sixteen splintered aspects of Adonalsium, or possibly creation, that covers a pretty wide scope that includes both physical and spiritual domains, etc. What I mean is, take Ruin and Preservation....they both have spiritual and cognitive applications, but they're fundamentally more forces of the physical universe, ie entropy. Whereas Honor has almost entirely spiritual applications...sure, there's talk of him 'binding things', ie molecular bonds, but those are more of a stretch, and with Devotion even more so.

So what I wonder is if there's maybe like four primarily Physical shards, like Ruin and Preservation and two others, and four primarily Spiritual shards like Honor and Devotion, and maybe eight that are in the middle and share aspects of both, like Cultivation, Endowment, etc?

Edited by ROSHtafARian
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I think a good name for endowment's opposite would be "Larceny". Maybe "Ecstasy" and "Agony" as pairs. "Corruption" might be Honor's pair. Perhaps "Identity" and "Unity" as pairs as well. "Discord" and "Order", I guess? Those seem a bit too close to "Ruin" and "Preservation" too me. After all, Ruin is just moving things into a less ordered state, which is the same as Chaos.

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I just wanted to add this in here because it's relevant to your discussion. Luckily this quote supports my personal theory on Shard pairs.

Are Shards all paired? Does Endowment have a counterpart?

ANSWER: RAFO. Also, yes and no. Not all Shards have perfect counterparts like Ruin and Preservation.

Ancient 17th Shard Q&A

Hope this helps! :D

Edited by Windrunner
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My personal favorite I saw somebody suggest was Ecstasy. Now, those are the sorts of magics I would like to see! However, I'm not sure whether Brandon Sanderson supports recreational drug use in his 'scientifically founded' books...

However, Commander Spoonface's suggestion of Agony as a pair to it made it seem more realistic... a system that acts like a painkiller/guilty pleasure, and a system that tortures, and a balance that heals? Almost like a Feruchemical store for Feelings! Spend a time in Agony so that you can engage in pure Bliss later. But the balance seems... vague.

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However, Commander Spoonface's suggestion of Agony as a pair to it made it seem more realistic... a system that acts like a painkiller/guilty pleasure, and a system that tortures, and a balance that heals? Almost like a Feruchemical store for Feelings! Spend a time in Agony so that you can engage in pure Bliss later. But the balance seems... vague.

The names could suggest something more poetic than what the shard's powers actually entail. Perhaps, on a hypothetical shardworld where there are both, they have a duel system of worship, where they believe in two sibling gods. One rewards those who serve them with a permanent happy "buzz", and the other punishes those who fight them with mild to unbearable pain.

I doubt the magic systems would have anything to do with ingesting anything, though. The intent of Ecstasy would probably be to spread positive emotion, and the intent of Agony to spread negative feelings, so maybe the system would have to do with manipulating the emotions of others. I think that the "blend" magic system would be more popular- the ability to inflict agony and ecstasy on people to varying degrees might allow someone to perfectly replicate the whole range of emotions.

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In a RPG campaign I'm preparing to GM for my group, using the Mistborn RPG, I created the shard called Horror.

It's basically a big cthulhian thing. Its magic system have something to do with utter maddening fear, shadows and materializing creatures from horror stories.

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It's basically a big cthulhian thing. Its magic system have something to do with utter maddening fear, shadows and materializing creatures from horror stories.

Sounds kinda like Odium to me. :D

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^

Guard: Did you hear that?

Guard 2: Hear what?

Guard (Confused suddenly): I... don't know?

Guard 2 (Makes gesture with ear): What was that, I didn't catch it, you were speaking nonsense?

(Assassin walks calmly across room while the guards are facing the wall)

Guard: Oh well, it must've been my imagination.

Guard 2: Yeah, me t--

(Both knifed in back)

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^

Guard: Did you hear that?

Guard 2: Hear what?

Guard (Confused suddenly): I... don't know?

Guard 2 (Makes gesture with ear): What was that, I didn't catch it, you were speaking nonsense?

(Assassin walks calmly across room while the guards are facing the wall)

Guard: Oh well, it must've been my imagination.

Guard 2: Yeah, me t--

(Both knifed in back)

That would be very funny if it happened. I wonder how ordinary people would counter the magic. :)

Edited by Tulir
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By having the shred of common sense that indicates that one is being manipulated. Similarly to Emotional Allomancy. You can't stop it, and the confusion element may be difficult to overcome (because force of will isn't the answer to everything, especially if the magic makes you out of your wits), but recognizing it allows you to assume that a Confuser is nearby, and tell others to prepare, or be on guard, etc.

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Sounds kinda like Odium to me. :D

Nah... I don't know. Odium, in my interpretation, is a lot more physical. Brute. Violent. Horror is insidious. It works disrupting a society by feeding its own fears, its own inner darkness, desperation and corruption. The agents of Horror are doomsday cultists, serial killers and stuff like that.

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