Spoilers - The Dor and Cultural Self-Perception

[Curiosity]

Disclaimer: The following is primarily speculation and not particularly well researched. It was simply a thought that turned into a few paragraphs. Feel free to correct, comment, and point out similar theories. 

 

The Cognitive Realm is a realm filled with people's perceptions, is it not? And the Dor is stuck there, right? Is the Dor more connected to people's actual Spiritual connection to an ideal of a country, or is it more connected to their perception of who they are and where they are?

 

If the latter is so, then perhaps this is why each realm has "evolved" a magic system with different effects, since the Dor, while not bound to each country, perceives itself as belonging to different areas. Perhaps there is a Cognitive sentience to each country, that is, it is so strongly seen as its own place, that it has a mind of its own. Now this allows for each Dominion to see itself uniquely from each other Dominion and each one attracts parts of the Dor. 

 

I can imagine whorls of Investiture clumping around each Dominion's hub. Perhaps MaiPon has a weaker Cognitive identity, and as such, attracts less of the Dor, and has a less Investiture-intense magic system. (There are many WoBs that say that Forged objects are minimally invested.) Arelon, on the other hand, has a strong cultural and national identity (why Teod is included, I don't know), leading to more Investiture from the Dor, and the powerful, Investiture-rich AonDor.

 

A possible result of this: If a nation, such as Duladel, is destroyed both nationally and culturally, then the Dor could no longer find any "Duladen" minds to support a Duladen-specific manifestation of the Dor, which is why it is such a shame that no one knows the Jesker religion anymore and the Mysteries have (probably) become just occult practices. If the Duladen culture is replaced by Fjordell's culture, then perhaps the Dakhor monks' bone patterns would change to reflect the geographic expansion.

 

Likewise, if you are in an area that is not seen as Arelish, then the AonDor's portion of the Dor does not extend that far. As you go further and further from the "hub", the lower the concentration of Investiture available for your specific geographic key is. This model would predict less powerful Aons in Teod, but much less effective in Fjordell, even if it is close by.  This seems to be contradicted by the Dakhor monks being powerful everywhere, but I would argue that they are simply already Invested, and don't have to access the Dor nearly as often except when imbuing others of their order with power.

 

 

Summary: I hypothesize that there are hub-like points for the Dor on Sel, centering around the strongest Cognitive cultural/national self-identity, leading to the compartmentalized magic system with many manifestations across the globe that we see today. 

[Landis963]

Summary: I hypothesize that there are hub-like points for the Dor on Sel, centering around the strongest Cognitive cultural/national self-identity, leading to the compartmentalized magic system with many manifestations across the globe that we see today. 

 

Then why does MaiPon have their own magic system, but the Rose Empire does not?  (and before you say "Remembering" that's a subset of Forgery, like Resealing)

[coyotecraft]

Raoden at one point pondered how many different ways there were to access the Dor. Since he thought he saw Shuden glow while performing some ChayShan martial arts. I don't know much about martial arts but I think in Tai Chi "finding your center line" is a thing.

I'm new to the whole Shard thing about Dominion and Devotion since I haven't read anything outside the Sel books. But if Aon Dor and Forgery magic are drawing power, or whatever, from a location like ley line. Then maybe it's possible to draw from your own center as well.  Then again, it's possible ChayShan might be stronger in Jindo; we don't know. 

 

It's strange that the seon (plural?) functioned perfectly fine despite the chasm line. They were only affected when their masters were stuck or frozen in an incomplete Elantris transformation. I feel like that's a clue.  Like maybe the flow of the Dor comes through their masters, and had less to do with their own Aon being incomplete? Again, I don't know anything about shards or realms because that's all outside knowledge to me at this point. 

[Moogle]

I'm new to the whole Shard thing about Dominion and Devotion since I haven't read anything outside the Sel books. But if Aon Dor and Forgery magic are drawing power, or whatever, from a location like ley line. Then maybe it's possible to draw from your own center as well.  Then again, it's possible ChayShan might be stronger in Jindo; we don't know.

 

You're right that it's possible for people to fuel their own magics. Magic uses Investiture, and every person's soul in the Cosmere is made of Investiture.

 

That said, a person has a lot less power (Investiture) than a Shard, so typically you won't glow as a side-effect if you're fueling your own magic (glowing is a sign that says a lot of Investiture is involved).

 

Because of this, it seems to me that the ChayShan thing probably accesses the Dor rather than your own power.

 

It's strange that the seon (plural?) functioned perfectly fine despite the chasm line. They were only affected when their masters were stuck or frozen in an incomplete Elantris transformation. I feel like that's a clue.  Like maybe the flow of the Dor comes through their masters, and had less to do with their own Aon being incomplete? Again, I don't know anything about shards or realms because that's all outside knowledge to me at this point. 

 

You're right that it's kind of weird that the Seons aren't affected...

 

To speculate, it's because Seons are their own power. When an Elantrian draws an Aon, it serves to open a gateway which draws power through it. If you draw the Aon incorrectly (no chasm line), the power isn't given the right instruction that allows it to come through, so you get problems. But Seons don't need to draw power from anywhere, since they're basically composed of the Dor, so their having a messed up Aon isn't much of a problem for them. Though they get problems if they try to "actualize" their Aons:

[On the original ending to Elantris]

Brandon Sanderson

The short of it, however, is that Ien (Raoden's Seon) showed up to save Raoden and Sarene from Dilaf. I used a mechanic of the magic system that I have since pretty much cut from the novel (since it was only in the book to facilitate this scene) that allowed Ien to complete his Aon, 'healing' Dilaf. Except, since Ien's Aon was broken, it turned Dilaf into an Elantrian instead. (A non-glowing Elantrian. One like Raoden the group used to be—like Dilaf's own wife became after she was improperly healed in Elantris.)

(source)

 

The thing with the Seon being messed up when bonded to an incomplete Elantrian has a WoB, actually:

zas678

Why do Seons become broken when their person is taken by the Shaod?

Brandon Sanderson

A Seon has a Spiritual Connection with their user. When the Shaod takes the user, it messes up the spiritual nature of the user, and it really messes up the nature of the Seon.

(source)