Shadesmar map

[Farnsworth]

I was looking at the Shadesmar map, and I realized that we don't know much about it. Here are a few questions:

1: Who mapped the place originally?

2: Are the names just for naming sake or do they have a meaning?

3: It's the shape of Roshar, so I'm guessing this is just on Roshar. But, where do the expanses lead?

4: What is a nexus or an expanse?

[The One Who Connects]

1. We don't know for sure.
2. They do have meanings.
3. The expanses lead to the other Shardworlds. Vapors - Scadrial, etc..
4. Expanses see 3. As for the nexus: You should check out this theory

 

[nervousnerd]

Well Roshar is sort of the area of the cognitive realm that would be mapped best, no? A whole lot of travellers there at least but also some spren who are sentient there. If the spren didn't name it then it was possibly the Elsecallers, Lightweavers or their Heralds.

[Yezrien]

I suspect the map was made by spren. The clues are in the names and locations of the three seas.

The Sea of Lost Lights corresponds to Alethkar/Jah Keved/Alethela, which was Radiant-central, back in the Heraldic Epochs. And since that's where most of the world's shardblades are concentrated, it's probably where the Recreance went down. It's not a big stretch to interpret "Lost Lights" as "lost radiances," or "Fallen Radiants."

The Sea of Souls  seems to cover the Valley, where the Nightwatcher is found -- the Nightwatcher, who seems to be altering people on the spiritual level. She's a major spren, and the only known spren who deals with souls. But only other spren would know about that.

The Sea of Regret covers several modern kingdoms, but I think the most noteworthy is Shinovar, the land without spren. It's also the site of some regrettable events (Aharietiam, the abandonment of the Oathpact and the Honorblades) which only spren seem to remember.

Bottom line: all these names suggest a spren-perspective to me.

[Krandacth]

That's a good hypothesis with generally excellent reasoning. I would like to point out one small inconsistency, though it in no way contradicts your overall point:

11 hours ago, Belzedar said:

[Shinova]'s also the site of some regrettable events (Aharietiam, the abandonment of the Oathpact and the Honorblades) which only spren seem to remember.

The Shattered Plains (at the other end of the continent) were shattered during Aharietiam, by common understanding, so if it was in Shinova it was also likely everywhere in between. As it was the last battle in a Desolation, where Odiumspren could pretty much turn up anywhere at any time, this is entirely feasible. However, I haven't seen any geographical reference to Aharietiam other than the Shattered Plains... How do you know it happened in Shinova at all? (Other than the abandoned Honorblades ending up there.)

[The One Who Connects]

8 hours ago, Krandacth said:

However, I haven't seen any geographical reference to Aharietiam other than the Shattered Plains... How do you know it happened in Shinovar at all? (Other than the abandoned Honorblades ending up there.)

Regarding the Shin, "historically, they kept all of them."(Honorblades) Which has been used to to imply that the Circle of Blades after Aharietiam was at the location of modern day Shinovar. 

8 hours ago, Krandacth said:

The Shattered Plains (at the other end of the continent) were shattered during Aharietiam, by common understanding, so if it was in Shinovar it was also likely everywhere in between.

Aharietiam is the Vorin name for the Last Desolation, not any specific part of it, making geography largely irrelevant. So the Shattered Plains and the Oathpact breaking could very easily be on opposite sides of the continent.

[Yezrien]

8 hours ago, Krandacth said:

However, I haven't seen any geographical reference to Aharietiam other than the Shattered Plains... How do you know it happened in Shinova at all? (Other than the abandoned Honorblades ending up there.)

You're right. Aharietiam wasn't specifically in Shinovar. I was mainly referring to the Honorblades being there, and the possibility that they were originally abandoned there. That, in combination with the apparent lack of spren, points to... something suspicious. 

[nervousnerd]

Quote

The plain was a place of misshapen rock and stone, natural pillars rising around him, bodies littering the ground. Few plants lived here.

The stone ridges and mounds bore numerous scars. Some were shattered, blasted-out sections where Surgebinders had fought. Less frequently, he passed cracked, oddly shaped hollows where thunderclasts had ripped themselves free of the stone to join the fray.

Even some sections of rock smoldered. The Dustbringers had done their work well.

The place of meeting was in the shadow of a large rock formation, a spire rising into the sky.

“Yes. He died holding that passage by the northern waterway.”

These are all the references I could find for what the land looked like at the breaking of the Oathpact. I don't necessarily see anything that stands out specifically as Shinovar but we do not know much about it yet. Shinovar does look like a good place for a final stand with the mountains on two sides and a small northern passage that might be more defendable (where Taln died?). I am assuming that whenever we see Szeth go home, we will also learn more about how it looks and also about the honorblades.

The Sea of Regret seems to reach past Shinovar and possibly to Azir though (hard to tell without borders). Is it only Shinovar that has an absence of spren?

[+hwiles]

21 hours ago, nervousnerd said:

These are all the references I could find for what the land looked like at the breaking of the Oathpact. I don't necessarily see anything that stands out specifically as Shinovar but we do not know much about it yet. Shinovar does look like a good place for a final stand with the mountains on two sides and a small northern passage that might be more defendable (where Taln died?). I am assuming that whenever we see Szeth go home, we will also learn more about how it looks and also about the honorblades.

The Sea of Regret seems to reach past Shinovar and possibly to Azir though (hard to tell without borders). Is it only Shinovar that has an absence of spren?

I've always sort of taken issue with the idea that the final battle occurred within Shinovar.  Obviously we can't say for sure at the moment, but what little we've seen of Shinovar on screen in the modern era is green grasslands and springy soil which just doesn't fit the description of the battlefield described at the beginning of the WoK.  It would be weird if part of Shinovar was verdant fields and another part was craggy deserts considering the country lies between two mountain ranges and looks more or less flat.