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Cosmere 101


Zas678

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60% done Emperor's Soul.  Essence Marks seems very much like metal minds.

 

 

...........And done.  In his post script Sanderson mentions the magic system is very similar to that of Elantris.  Which part specifically?  I still feel Essence Marks and metal minds are essentially the same thing.  From a timeline standpoint, where does Emperor's Soul relate with Elantris, the book?

Essence marks, like all soulstamps, are patterns that are drawn on the receptive surface to enact the magic, and like all Sel magic system, is reion-bound to Mai Pon. AonDor: you draw patterns based on geography in the air, Dakhor: you make patterns (symbols) out of bones, ChenShal (forgot the name) - also based on movement patterns, etc.

Essence marks are drastically differend from metalminds. For one thing, they can be reapplied repeatedly and never run out (the stamps themselves, the applied seals wear out in a day). They are much more flexible and much harder to make. They don't work far from Mai Pon. They can be applied to inanimate objects. And so on...

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Yes, it is here:

http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=949#7

 

Viper

Aons look like Arelon; soulstamps look like MaiPon. Aons get weaker when you get further from Arelon, right? That's not just cause Elantris acts like a focus?

Brandon Sanderson

That's right, it's based on distance. That's why there are no stamped objects in Elantris.

Viper

So do soulstamps get weaker further from MaiPon? If you left Sel via Shadesmar and went to another planet, would the soulstamp stop working?

Brandon Sanderson

That's correct.

Edited by Satsuoni
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  • 6 months later...

So! You have been hearing about this mysterious "cosmere"? You came to 17thshard.com to learn about it. Well here is a fairly simple guide to get you started.

(Quick warning- there are major spoilers for Mistborn 3: Hero of Ages, and minor spoilers for Way of Kings)

The cosmere is a term we use to describe Brandon Sanderson's books that are in the same universe. They have a few similar characters, and have the same basic underlying Theory of Magic, or Realmatic theory. We learned about it mainly from Brandon's Hero of Ages (HoA) Q&A. There's not very much of it in the books, and so if you missed it the first time, don't worry. We all did too. Plus, Brandon has said that this WILL NOT be important to know. It's sort of an easter egg hunt for the intrepid fans who are wanting to dig deep into his books. He says someday he'll write about this underlying story, but it probably won't be for years and years.

Do you remember Preservation and Ruin in Hero of Ages? They are what we call Shards of Adonalsium. You see, a long time ago, there was a person/object/thing named Adonalsium. He/it shattered into sixteen pieces, and certain people "took" these shards to give them a guiding force (like how Vin took Preservation, or how Sazed took Preservation and Ruin). However, over time, the Shard shapes the bearer's personality. Thus, there are two names for each Shard. One is for the person holding the Shard, and the other is for the Shard itself. This is a list of known (or assumed) original Shards and their holders.

Shard - Holder -Book

Preservation - Leras (Dead) - MB

Ruin - Ati (Dead) - MB

Harmony* - Sazed - MB

Endowment - ? - WB

Devotion (Splintered) - Aona (Dead) - Elantris

Dominion (Splintered) - Skai (Dead) - Elantris

Odium (Hate) - Rayse - WoK

Cultivation - ? - WoK

Honor - Tanavast (Dead)- WoK

? - Bavadin - White Sand

*Harmony isn't really a Shard. It doesn't hold any of a Shard's Intent, it's just more of a nickname for Sazed since he holds both Preservation and Ruin.

For more information on Shards, check out the wiki here.

Now, there are also what are called Splinters and Slivers. Slivers are people who used to hold a majority of a shard. The Lord Ruler (TLR) and Vin (via the Well of Ascention) and Kelsier all are slivers (Kelsier held the power for a little bit in HoA). They have a little bit of a residual power left in them (which explains why TLR kept things the same for forever).

Splinters are objects of power from Shards. There are Splinters in Warbreaker, Elantris, and Way of Kings. The only definite splinter we know of is the Divine Breath that 'powers' the Returned.

The Theory of Magic is basically this: There are three Realms. The Physical Realm, where people exist, you can touch things, etc. The Cognitive Realm, aslo called Shadesmar, which you can use to change the Physical Realm. Shallan goes there twice (it's the place with all the spheres.) There is also the Spiritual Realm.

Now. There is a known planet jumper. Hoid, who often takes the role of a storyteller, beggar, or informant. He also leads some refugees in WoA. He is an old man with an arrowed face, and usually a beard. He probably comes from the Dragonsteel world (which is unpublished). He is "adept at manipulating Shadesmar", which we have taken to mean that he uses it to travel from world to world. He is also a Lightweaver (see the ship when Wit/Hoid talks to Kaladin), and has not experienced all the time since the beginning of his birth. In other words, he has a way of distorting time that may or may not be connected to Faster than Light (FTL) technology. He also has some way of knowing where he's going to need to be.

The Seventeenth Shard (who we are named after) is a group that includes a Galladon from Elantris, and Demoux from Mistborn. They are after Hoid, for some reason.

There are also the names of the planets.

Elantris: Sel

Warbreaker: Nalthis

Mistborn: Scadrial

Way of Kings: Roshar

White Sand: Taldain

Dragonsteel: Yolen

So that is the basics. Any questions? Disputations? Further info?

If you want more detail, you should check out my Brandonothology. It includes several Q&A he's done online. I suggest you start with Hero of Ages.

Also, some commonly used abbreviations-

MB- Mistborn (usually the series)

FE- Mistborn, Final Empire

WoA- Mistborn, Well of Ascension

HoA- Mistborn, Hero of Ages

WoK- Way of Kings

SA- Stormlight Archive

WB- Warbreaker

Also, for a translation of those mystery pages in WoK, look here, and for the full Feruchemical table and Realmatic explanation of the Three Metallic arts (Hemalurgy, Allomancy and Feruchemy), look here.

EDIT- I added some detail about how Brandon says it's a behind the scene story.

Kelsier wasn't a Sliver. That was Ruin pretending to be Kelsier in order to manipulate Spook.

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  • 4 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

'Tis sad but true. The Reckoners has so much potential, it just occurs on the wrong planet. *Sigh*

So, how does Harmony come into play? I mean, is there theoretically a limit to how many shards somebody has, and if they have all of them, will that person become Adonalsium?

Also, where can I get information about the Seventeenth Shard? (The one with Demoux)

I've read all 4 Mistborn and both Stormlight Books.

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We know virtually nothing about the Seventeenth Shard. I doubt we'll find anything out for another decade.

 

As for the number of Shards... I suspect that there is either no limit, or it depends on the Shards involved. Investiture interferes with other Investiture, so it's possible that some Shards are completely incompatible. 

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As for the number of Shards... I suspect that there is either no limit, or it depends on the Shards involved. Investiture interferes with other Investiture, so it's possible that some Shards are completely incompatible. 

 

I'm recalled to that answer Brandon gave in Chicago about how the stars had to be aligned just right for Sazed to actually be able to take up two shards like that.

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As I recall it, it wasn't so much about the right external conditions being present as it was about the vast amounts of energy present. It was a tricky answer, we'll need the verbatim transcript. 

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I want to do a Cosmere 102 with the new information that we have now after 4 years of books and theories. Because looking back, that post was made closer to the publication of HoA than it is to the present day. 

 

So I'll work on it, but it'll take a little bit of time. But it'll hopefully be here quicker than "soon". ;)

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

Before I read your post, I was thinking the same thing.And I was also thinking how handy Shadesmar would be for something like that. In the Chronicles of Amber, Amberites can use the Pattern to walk from one dimension to another, but once they arrive in their destination, they can't use it to fast-travel. So, they could easily Shadowwalk from Middle Earth to Scadrial - probably hitting some other worlds in the process - but if the Prince(ss) ended up in Urteau instead of Luthadel, s/he would have to use mundane means to get to Luthadel. In fact, if the Royal ended up hitting some desolate spot on Roshar instead of Scadrial, s/he'd have to use mundane means to get to Scadrial (or try a Patternwalk and risk losing the Shadow).All in all, Shadesmar seems to be an incredibly handy method of intra-Shadow travel.

Now I am confused is Chronicles of Amber part of the cosmere? Am I missing something? I'm kinda new to this cosmere thing I have only read SA and all the mistborn books and am currently reading warbreaker.
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Now I am confused is Chronicles of Amber part of the cosmere? Am I missing something? I'm kinda new to this cosmere thing I have only read SA and all the mistborn books and am currently reading warbreaker.

 

No it is not, The Chronicles of Amber was written by Robert Zelazney, darniil is only using a concept from it as a metaphor.

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So, I've recently read a lot more on the Cosmere (Elantris, the Emperor's Soul, Warbreaker, and the rest of the cosmere books that are out), and I just want to say how fulfilling it is to read all of the cosmere novels and then go back and re-read them. There are literally hundreds of Easter Eggs in any given book. Brandon is practically the Easter Bunny. I imagine it'll be even better when he publishes more. #BrandonTheEasterBunny #JustGetsBetter

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True, but for now they're easter eggs. At least until more stuff comes out, and then this whole thread actually becomes relevant to the average reader. Until then, this is just a bunch of cool stuff that is confusing to some people and intriguing to others. Brandon says that it'll be more relevant after all of the Stormlights, around the time that Dragonsteel comes out. Can't wait for that to happen! It's cool right now to try to piece together a storyline out of all of this, but it'll be even cooler to see what actually happens twelve years or so down the road!

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