Elantrian Magic

[lyht]

So I have about a billion questions about everything in the cosmere, and of course many of them are not really answerable, but that won't stop me from asking.

 

So here is one of my first about Elantris:

 

Why is the Elantrian magic so freakin powerful?

 

On Roshar... (WOR spoiler)

you have to convince an object to change. Or use a fabrial and pay for it with your health, plus the results are often not quite quite right.

 

Over in MaiPon (Emperors Soul) you have to write a plausible history for the object that could-have-been, and the seal must remain attached.

 

Scadrial and Nalthis don't really have magic that let you change what an object is.

 

In Elantris, you just draw up the correct Aon, and BAMB, garbage is food. Thoughts? WoB quotes?

Edited May 9, 2014 by lyht

[PorridgeBrick]

In a word, Elantris. It's a massive power booster the size of an entire city. The weak, pitiful effects prior to Raodan fixing the Aon are the normal, unboosted level of Aondor power. There's also been some theorizing that prior to the creation of Elantris, all Arelons could use Aondor just like Forging, Dakhor, etc, and that Elantris concentrated that power into a select few, those struck by the Shaod, and thus gave them an extreme powerup.

[A Joe in the Bush]

Plus, they couldn't make very good tasting food. Like soulcasting, the food was bland. And in the Annotations, Brandon talked about how the Power was over exaggerated. In order to make something complex, they had to make an Aon the size of a Room. I'll see if I can find a Link.

[Lightsworn Panda]

You can't fly with Aons, or stick things to each other.

 

...

 

Wait, can you? 

 

(Hmm... Power Aons pointed at the ground and attatched to you.)

[lyht]

In a word, Elantris. It's a massive power booster the size of an entire city. The weak, pitiful effects prior to Raodan fixing the Aon are the normal, unboosted level of Aondor power. There's also been some theorizing that prior to the creation of Elantris, all Arelons could use Aondor just like Forging, Dakhor, etc, and that Elantris concentrated that power into a select few, those struck by the Shaod, and thus gave them an extreme powerup.

 

I was thinking along those same lines. I wonder if this could be another example of compounding.

[Aether]

It should also be noted that, while AonDor is extremely flexible and very powerful, it is also intricate and slow. When it comes to combat efficiency, unless they had time to prepare, I think an Elantrian would be easy prey to an Allomancer and most Knight Radiants.

[lyht]

It should also be noted that, while AonDor is extremely flexible and very powerful, it is also intricate and slow. When it comes to combat efficiency, unless they had time to prepare, I think an Elantrian would be easy prey to an Allomancer and most Knight Radiants.

 

I agree that AonDor is not generally cut out for one-on-one combat, as was seen in the closing fight between Raoden and Dilaf.

 

Interesting to think about what an Elantrian could do to "Prepare". 

[Swimmingly]

Moon-base, giant Aon pointed at the earth? Seon calls to world leaders, finger poised diabolically over the diagram:

"One trillion dollars a year, seventy five percent of your armies, and all your nukes or I draw the Chasm! Who will it strike? Would you like to find out?

...by the way, the answer is EVERYBODY!"

[A Joe in the Bush]

Oops, I missed. Could someone Upvote swimmingly for me?

 

I'm going to go upvote a couple of his other posts.

 

EDIT: Ok seriously? You ignore Swimmingly's Downvote and upvote me instead?

Edited May 10, 2014 by The Only Joe

[Satsuoni]

I agree that AonDor is not generally cut out for one-on-one combat, as was seen in the closing fight between Raoden and Dilaf.

 

Interesting to think about what an Elantrian could do to "Prepare". 

Well, draw Aons on armor? The ones on walls work, so the ones on armor/weapons would too. Or better yet, carve Aons on his own bones, so they would always be ready. Then those would grow into bony ridges... (Tattoos would probably not work, too soft. Same as blood vessels arranged into Seals, as per WoB)

[Aether]

You can also make unfinished Aons (on some kind of surface) with really intricate and powerful effects, which you activate only when you need them in battle.

[Shardmancer]

I mean evey magic systems have thier uber powers.. when you say in stormlight achrives they not as powered up... I think of the night Jasnah took Shallan out and messed up those muggers by turning them into lightning and literally obliterating them just with little stormlight.. Seems pretty powerful to me.. Mistborn a LTR full twinborn can live forever and become almost god-like.. So if you think about it in that aspect Elantrian magic is kinda stong but just the tip of the iceburg of the Cosmere

[MistLord]

Just get combat Aon tattoos - you only need touch them to activate them (as evidenced by how the Elantrians used Aon Tia to teleport around the city)

 

(credits to Fullmetal Alchemist)

[Erai Sedai]

Draw them out of Elantirs? Their power is much weaker further from home. Make the Elantrians come to you, all the while you were preparing for that exact trap.

Also, if their power truly is weaker the further they are, then you'd never fear an assault or siege. So you'd mostly just ignore them and let them be.
They're no threat.

(sorry if I'm wrong, i only finished reading it yesterday)

[PorridgeBrick]

Draw them out of Elantirs? Their power is much weaker further from home. Make the Elantrians come to you, all the while you were preparing for that exact trap.

Also, if their power truly is weaker the further they are, then you'd never fear an assault or siege. So you'd mostly just ignore them and let them be.

They're no threat.

(sorry if I'm wrong, i only finished reading it yesterday)

True, there's no fear of invasion. However, if you're competing with them in trade or something, or they're making a preemptive attack before you attack them, then they can do very frightening things from afar. After all, they could teleport explosives, plagues, poisons, etc into your country with absolutely no way to defend against it. So you definitely don't want to antagonize them.

[killersquirrel59]

Just get combat Aon tattoos - you only need touch them to activate them (as evidenced by how the Elantrians used Aon Tia to teleport around the city)

 

(credits to Fullmetal Alchemist)

 

That probably wouldn't work too well as each tattoo would have to have the specific direction and distance noted. Drawing unfinished ones on some discardable surface would work better. The uses of Aon Tia to transport around the city worked fine because each could have a destination set, or even several on a plaque, each one taking you to another Aon Tia station like an instantaneous Underground system.

[Voidus]

That probably wouldn't work too well as each tattoo would have to have the specific direction and distance noted. Drawing unfinished ones on some discardable surface would work better. The uses of Aon Tia to transport around the city worked fine because each could have a destination set, or even several on a plaque, each one taking you to another Aon Tia station like an instantaneous Underground system.

I think he was just using Tia as another example where Aons were pre drawn, not that you'd tattoo Aon Tia and use it to transport yourself, I think he meant more like the fire cyclone Aon and things like that.

[killersquirrel59]

It would work for most Aons where you only want a single repeatable effect. Tia is just particularly tricky and wrong for this technique.

[Voidus]

It would work for most Aons where you only want a single repeatable effect. Tia is just particularly tricky and wrong for this technique.

For travel purposes yeah probably, but for quickly moving around a small area, you'd just set 4 Tia's each of which move you 10 steps in each direction, it could work.

[killersquirrel59]

For travel purposes yeah probably, but for quickly moving around a small area, you'd just set 4 Tia's each of which move you 10 steps in each direction, it could work.

That could work for essentially combat teleportation. Dangerous as hell though. Way too easy to end up inside something (or someone).

[Voidus]

That could work for essentially combat teleportation. Dangerous as hell though. Way too easy to end up inside something (or someone).

Yeah, you'd need a lot of training so you could intuit exactly where you'd wind up, I imagine it as like their elite strike warriors would use it, teleporting around the battlefield where they're needed.

[killersquirrel59]

Yeah, you'd need a lot of training so you could intuit exactly where you'd wind up, I imagine it as like their elite strike warriors would use it, teleporting around the battlefield where they're needed.

Even better if you have 5-10 different ones for different distances. A really tough fighting style to master but once mastered you'd be pretty amazing.

 

You could also have other ones set to activate on contact so you could teleport your enemies away...say 5000 feet straight up.

Edited September 24, 2014 by killersquirrel59

[SmurfAquamarineBodies]

Even better if you have 5-10 different ones for different distances. A really tough fighting style to master but once mastered you'd be pretty amazing.

You could also have other ones set to activate on contact so you could teleport your enemies away...say 5000 feet straight up.

That would be quite op. Get one on your hand and boop people into the ground ten feet. Can't imagine many being able to survive that.

[killersquirrel59]

That would be quite op. Get one on your hand and boop people into the ground ten feet. Can't imagine many being able to survive that.

Even better. I'm used to most teleportation systems having built in protections to stop that from happening, but Aon Tia notably doesn't.

[happyman]

That would be quite op. Get one on your hand and boop people into the ground ten feet. Can't imagine many being able to survive that.

 

I think you can safely say that that is powerful, not overpowered.  They magic system has the ability to turn people into ash if you know what you are doing.  I don't see how teleporting them underground is any worse.  As usual with Aon-Dor, it's the preparation that counts.