bluefoxicy Posted February 4, 2018 Report Share Posted February 4, 2018 I'm not entirely sure what's going on here. I keep hearing the magic system works by binding people to the shards through their spirit web, but that sounds strange to me. Some of the shards are splintered, and the power didn't go away. Do people form Connection to the Shard—the condensed form of power itself—or to the aspect represented by the shard, such as Honor or Dominion? (I know, that's a big question: it implies that a Shard isn't the source of its aspect, but rather that it's just Investiture bound strongly to an aspect represented in the Spirit Web. That, in turn, suggests a lot of odd things about Hoid. It also would suggest that Investiture is either limited entirely to what comes from the Shards, or otherwise readily-available—and in the latter case, that suggests you can make Shards.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezzik Posted February 4, 2018 Report Share Posted February 4, 2018 All investiture in the cosmere is linked to one of the 16 original shards. 30 minutes ago, bluefoxicy said: Do people form Connection to the Shard—the condensed form of power itself—or to the aspect represented by the shard, such as Honor or Dominion? (I know, that's a big question: it implies that a Shard isn't the source of its aspect, but rather that it's just Investiture bound strongly to an aspect represented in the Spirit Web. Both, since the two are intrinsically linked. A shard became that aspect after the shattering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weltall Posted February 4, 2018 Report Share Posted February 4, 2018 (edited) 44 minutes ago, bluefoxicy said: I'm not entirely sure what's going on here. I keep hearing the magic system works by binding people to the shards through their spirit web, but that sounds strange to me. Some of the shards are splintered, and the power didn't go away. Splintering a Shard just means that it does not have a mind actively guiding it and because it's dispersed it can't be (easily) taken up by any new Vessel and it won't develop sentience on its own, as a sufficient mass of Investiture will do if left on its own for long enough. However, splintering can be reversed. Quote Chaos Is Splintering a Shard permanent? Brandon Sanderson No. Your question about whether people connect to the Shard or the Intent is meaningless as they're one and the same. Here's the quote about how all Investiture is related to the sixteen Shards. Quote Overlord Jebus [PENDING REVIEW] Is all Investiture in the cosmere associated with a Shard? Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] Yes, well, okay. So this is a complicated one. *pauses* So, Investiture predates the Shattering of Adonalsium, all Investiture was from Adonalsium, all Investiture got assigned to one of the 16 Shards when Adonalsium was Shattered. Some of the Investiture was not on Yolen but location is irrelevant. So Investiture is related to Shards even on planets where none of the Shards are inhabiting. Edited February 4, 2018 by Weltall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluefoxicy Posted February 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2018 That's really hard to process. The Shards would then appear to not be things, but rather ideals; and investiture is just power, linked to an ideal, such that bringing it together in one place causes that ideal to manifest. Is there confirmation that the Shards were part of Adonalsium, or only that Adonalsium was the source of investiture? i.e. were Honor, Cultivation, Preservation, Ruin, and so forth split from Adonlasium, or was Adonalsium simply power which was rended by giving portions of that power connection to these spiritual ideals and thus distinct identities as Shards rather than a single identity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calderis Posted February 4, 2018 Report Share Posted February 4, 2018 @bluefoxicy yes, Adonalsium was the source and guiding mind of all investiture in the Cosmere, it was broken apart and split into 16 "pieces" and all investiture is connected to these 16 parts. Quote Overlord Jebus [PENDING REVIEW] Is all Investiture in the cosmere associated with a Shard? Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] Yes, well, okay. So this is a complicated one. *pauses* So, Investiture predates the Shattering of Adonalsium, all Investiture was from Adonalsium, all Investiture got assigned to one of the 16 Shards when Adonalsium was Shattered. Some of the Investiture was not on Yolen but location is irrelevant. So Investiture is related to Shards even on planets where none of the Shards are inhabiting. Overlord Jebus [PENDING REVIEW] Are they aware of that Investiture? Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] That's part of the whole seeing into the infinite, being beyond even the power of a Shard. So, technically you could make the argument that Harmony could feel the sense of Preservation on every world in the cosmere, right? Because the building blocks of all life and creation are these things. Overlord Jebus [PENDING REVIEW] So the Shard of Preservation embodies all preservation in the cosmere? Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] Yes but he just can't do that, right? Like, he's not infinite. The Vessels are not, even if their minds are enormously expanded by holding a Shard, they are not infinite. The Connection is all there in the Spiritual Realm source When a Shard is splintered, all of that investiture still exists, it is just no longer a cohesive whole in the Spiritual Realm. The Shards are not ideals. They are simply power with a driving force effecting the ways in which they can be used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thanatos Posted February 5, 2018 Report Share Posted February 5, 2018 This is why i think Autonomy is making avatars all across the cosmere. So he/she can access more of her investiture 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wandering Investor Posted February 6, 2018 Report Share Posted February 6, 2018 It may help to think of it this way. The Investiture of the Shards represents the fundamental power of their intents. Aka, the power of Preservation is the fundamental power of preservation throughout existence, one of the building blocks of everything. The investiture of the shards isn't neutral power connected to an ideal, its the ideal realized in reality. In the spiritual realm, all this power is connected together and forms the central Ideal, which a person can then connect with and potentially ascend, providing the Mind to the already existing spirit element and physical power. Splintering seems to work by severing the connections between the powers. So instead of one big Honor connected to all of the honor investiture, you have several pieces of Honor, each of which is only connected to a portion of the honor investiture out there. And it also seems that a person can't ascend to a broken splinter, just to the full shard. I should note that the above is my interpretation of things, not a WoB. Brandon has been tight lipped about some of this, partially because some of it may still be in the building stage, and the other because spoilers. So we don't have all the information and any theories we make now can not see the full picture. Also of note to this topic is a WoB stating that Adonalsium could have been shattered into different Shards then the ones present today. Whether this means different Ideals, or a different number, etc, we don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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