[OB] Theory- Gemhearts location and reclamation

[MonsterMetroid]

Hey guys here is a post I have been thinking and working on a while so hopefully you enjoy.

I have been thinking about the following WoB.

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Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

Is this world, assuming that [Roshar] is as old as it appears to be, wouldn't it be that the creatures that have gemhearts in them, as they die their body would rot away but leaving the gemstone? So wouldn't fossil beds exist with layers of gemstones in them from the passing of the ages?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Yeah, that's why-- yes.

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

That's how they mine them?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

They do mine them. What you've got to remember is, in my opinion these things are going to collect in certain ways in certain places.

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

Densities and stuff.

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Yeah. But yeah. Because there's no tectonic activity on Roshar, so.

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

Just the buildup of crem over time slowly covers things.

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Mm-hm

Once I read this I wanted to know where those Gemhearts might be settling So I have done some research. On how Storms move materials. The first shows the process of Saltation and Creep which will be the main ways animal corpses (and thereby gemhearts) are going to be traveling during a storm. The second shows how storm surges can deposit and move debris.

 

http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/elements/dustwind.htm

 

https://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1306/pdf/c1306_ch6_g.pdf

 

We know the main way these corpses will be traveling is through saltation because Dalinar was almost hit by a boulder in Alethkar. (If someone can provide me the quote I will add it here)

 

Now the main thing that will stop Saltation and Creep would be natural barriers such as mountains and bodies of water that will prevent the winds from continuing to move them along.

So I marked two versions of the roshar map. This first assumes that the storms comes directly from the east and moves straight west. Red Highlights natural places that gemhearts would likely collect over time from the wind, Green indicates where they would likely collect due to massive amounts of water draining, and Blue indicates the direction I assume the wind is blowing. I’m sure I missed Spots especially with the green as I could only assume the direction of water drainage based on rivers.

Map two operates under the assumption that the start in the bottom left of the map indicates the south pole axis and the lines coming from it represent longitude lines. If so this is where things would collect if the storm moved perpendicular to those lines.

Now one interesting thing in both of these maps is that you can see Rira has a natural collection point on both of these maps. And what do we know that Rira has that they use to execute criminals? Greatshells! I wonder if greatshells have such large gemhearts because they have an abundance of corpses they feast on with gemhearts inside them. Just a thought.

Now moving on to the next WoB

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Overlord Jebus [PENDING REVIEW]

So you've previously described gemhearts as Investiture leaking into the Physical Realm in a similar kind of process to atium. Now atium had a way of-- the Investiture used in the creation of it-- of returning back to the kind of background pool of Investiture on Scadrial. Is there a way of the Investiture used in the creation of gemhearts to return to the Roshar Investiture pool?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Yes.

Overlord Jebus [PENDING REVIEW]

There is? Have we had any hints of it at all?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Yes.

I think that Brandon is referring to Soulcasting mainly here and we know that when gems are used soulcast they crack into smaller pieces and eventually into dust.

My question to you guys is, do you think that the storms collect this dust to return it to the pool or does the art of soulcasting send bits of it back to the pool in tiny increments?

My current Theory is this. Most of the reclamation of gemhearts i happening in the oceans or large bodies of water. This either happens through A: Greatshells which act as gemstone/heart filters and collect/eat smaller pieces to grow there own to their massive sizes. B: We don't know what is at the bottom of the ocean. Brandon said there is but one tectonic plate on the world so something down there converts them back into there spiritual component then leaks them back through the creatures 

Thanks for reading

Update:

I just found this amazing post  by @Otto Didact So I am leaning towards the second map at this point though it does bring up an interesting question of if the storm moves slower the further north and south you go or if the storm moves in a way we haven't thought of yet. Though I now notice that the placement of the star does not line up with where his axis is so yeah I need to modify my map a bit and maybe use his map if I get his permission.

Edited December 15, 2017 by MonsterMetroid
Added current theory and removed double post, added link to otto didacts post

[Windrunner]

Very interesting theory. I particularly like the theory about where gemstones tend to collect, as that should be predictable like you indicate. We really don't know much about Rosharan mining at this point, so I'm curious if they end up digging into the actual granitic bedrock or if they're just digging around in the crem for gems like you indicate. One interesting thing I noticed from the Kaza interlude is that there are a lot of gemstones around there with the greatshell corpses, yet they seem to not have moved far from the bodies. Perhaps the location of Akinah is already near one of these barriers that the gems are moved towards? Very interesting theory!

[+Extesian]

This is a wonderful post. I didn't even notice it until Windy commented (as a theory that Windy likes is a theory worth reading).

A few observations and questions to pose.

Would the reason gemhearts seem to remain where they are in Akinah not simply be because the storms virtually die out by then? 

I personally suspect that gemhearts, given time, would break back down into stormlight because investiture on roshar naturally cycles, it doesn't stick like something like breath. So i figure the way it returns to the system outs by simply breaking down. 

Could this relate to Origin and/or the reason Akinah is particularly important, that gemstones keep moving west until the accumulate towards Akinah and that the gemstones breaking down into gaseous investiture accumulates to the West of Akinah, creating a large source of investiture that a highstorm sucks up as it passes over the ocean?

Maybe meaningless thoughts but i had to try add something to a theory that is very cool. 

[insert_anagram_here]

Oh I love this theory and this is something that Sanderson is known to explain in detail for Roshar (just like the population of Chasmfiends on the Shattered Plains)

I would argue though that instead of Rira, maybe we should consider the Purelake as a more prominent location for accumulation of debris, broken down gemhearts, investiture and salt.

I think it is interesting to connect what evidence we have on Earth and apply it on the Rosharan geography, like the Dead Sea. Copied from somewhere online:

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The Dead Sea holds some of the saltiest water in the world. It is almost six times as salty as the ocean. The Dead Sea is completely landlocked. As the depth of the water increases, the water gets even more salty, creating salt piles on the seabottom.

Like the Dead Sea, Purelake is landlocked.

Also, in Ishikk's chapter (first interlude in tWoK) it says about how Purelakers love having their feet in the water and how strange foreigners are in trying to keep themselves dry. And the fish he caught from Purelake:

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Cured aching joints for a good month after you ate it, and sometimes let you see when friends were going to visit by letting you read the shapes of the clouds. 

If tha'ts not like atium, I don't know what is.

Edited December 27, 2017 by insert_anagram_here
typo

[ScavellTane]

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Now one interesting thing in both of these maps is that you can see Rira has a natural collection point on both of these maps. And what do we know that Rira has that they use to execute criminals? Greatshells! I wonder if greatshells have such large gemhearts because they have an abundance of corpses they feast on with gemhearts inside them. Just a thought.

Then perhaps the Chasmfiends aren't eating people/flesh, but the gemstones.

[.S.A.M.K.M]

A fused can't share with a listerner or a lesser spren, what happens if they attempt to posses a knight radiant?