Asteroid Belts and Shards

[KOOZ]

Been meaning to ask this for a while - from a cursory search I have not found WoBs on this and did not see any relevant topics when occaisonally perusing the forums, so the question is thus:

Based on the drawings of the various planetary systems provided in AU (see the art), is there any correlation between a Shard being Shattered within the system and presence of asteroid belts?

We have 6 systems: in both the Taldain and the Scadrian systems, the Shards are whole (as far as we know) and they lack asteroid belts; in the Selish and Roshar systems, we have Shards being Shattered in-system and we have asteroid belts. In the Threnodite systm, Ambition was mortally wounded, but killed/died elsewhere - and there are no asteroid belts. Finally, the odd-ball - the Drominad System - asteroid belt present... we also know that the perpendicularity there is extremely dangerous, and that, likely, unplesant events unfolded there - could it be that one of the Shards got Shattered there? (Or Adolnasium, unlikely as that is?)

(There were also comet belts in the Scadrian and Selish systems - could it be they indicate Shards changing Vessels? Would be neat to get a hint about the fate of Sel that way; however, I feel we have too little info and datapoints to speculate ont this particular point.)

 

[CaptainRyan]

One item to note is about Scadrial:

Spoiler

It was created out of whole cloth by Preservation and Ruin. I do not know if the star and other elements of that system were as well but that could be the reason there is no asteroid belt; it is an artificial system.

While I don't think there is a connection I do agree that it is an interesting coincidence. Perhaps you stumbled onto something grand! Or, maybe not haha. Either way, have an upvote! 

[KOOZ]

Cheers!

Mmm, I agree that the sample is very small indeed - I think that Nalthis essay that Brandon said might be coming would help a lot with that - if there are no asteroid belts, this become a bit more interesting; if there is, then, likely, it was just a cool feature.

For the bit about Scardial, that's an interesting point! We have from Arcanum Unbound:

Spoiler

"Indeed, I am not convinced from my studies that the planet itself did not exist before its Shards, Ruin and Preservation, arrived in the system. They picked a star with no relevant planets in orbit, specifically choosing this location because it was empty, so they could place there whatever they wished."

From that excerpt from the essay, it would seem that they just made the planet; yet it would also make sense to have used asteroids as a basis from which to build it in the first place. From my reading of the Mistborn series, I get a feeling that the former is more likely, but the latter could also be very much the case.

 

[Scion of the Mists]

It seems like this could be the mechanism by which Odium shatters shards.  If the shards were somehow heavily invested in a planet/moon, and that body was destroyed, forming an asteroid belt.  They could be literally shattered.  

Edited December 22, 2017 by Scion of the Mists

[Supreme King Z-arc]

On 12/22/2017 at 0:08 PM, Scion of the Mists said:

It seems like this could be the mechanism by which Odium shatters shards.  If the shards were somehow heavily invested in a planet/moon, and that body was destroyed, forming an asteroid belt.  They could be literally shattered.  

Honor was invested mostly in (on?) Roshar and we know that it is still intact after his death

[Ishar]

The only explanation I can think of where asteroid belts would be connected to a shard being shattered is if the asteroids where made out of that shards god metal, or an alloy of it, which I kinda doubt.