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I pulled this from another topic that spiraled out of hand, and I wanted to discuss it separately with out all the other stuff getting involved. Shards and the significance of their numbers: I want to explore the importance of these numbers. Scadrial has 3 magic systems, 2 take on 16 known forms and one takes on 32 known forms. Allomancy, Feruchemy, and the seemingly most numerous Hemalurgy. But if you look closer and as is stated in the books Hemalurgy "Steals" the form of investiture from the target, and can grant a reduced, in some manner, form of that investiture to a target. So Hemalurgy really only has one form. The form of stealing a power at a loss. While Allomancy has 16 forms, one for each metal, and the same for Feruchemy. Feruchemy is the "Corrupted" form of investiture caused by the powers of two shards mixing. If you mix 16 and 1 in a multiplicative/divisive fashion you will get 16. It neatly makes sense. The point that Hemalurgy doesn't have a set count on power has been discussed with Brandon and Brandon has given examples and confirmed theories that it can steal more than just investiture, and can steal pretty much any form of investiture so long as it is at a loss. All of this reinforces the belief that Ruin's Shard number is 1. Also if the 16 numbers were written in a circle they would be neighbors, just as 12 and 1 are neighbors on a clock face. There are other shards that have significant number some have been outright stated in the books, other have only been implied. Lets start with the stated number significant to other Shards, namely Honor and Odium at 10 and 9 respectively. 10 gemstones, 10 surges, 10 Orders, etc ad nauseam. Honor's number is 10. Odium's number is 9. 9 void bindings, 9 currency gemstones, I am sure we will find more and more concrete examples of 9 being tied to Odium until Brandon finally comes out and says it. Cultivation seems to be 11, there is very little information on this currently but it is becoming clear that Cultivation is a neighbor to Honor. There is an 11th Gemstone on the planet, people swear by Damnation's 11th name. If Cultivation is 11 then that means 2 of the systems that have more than one shard the shards also have neighboring numbers. It Is implied that Autonomy's number is 8 due to the 8 professions and 8 tiers of sandmastery. Brandon has stated that there is a sort of alliance between Odium and Autonomy. They are also numerical neighbors. My theory is that Dominion and Devotion will also be neighbors, but her have no clue currently what their numbers are, If anyone has seen a numerical development on Sel (other than 3 for the 3 Major Kingdoms) please share. Endowment seems to have 5 as its Shard number 5 visions, 5 scholars. Also the trend has been established in the books that powers and roots are a theme (100 desolations on Roshar, 4 groups of 4 metals on Scadrial) and Endowment seems to have a full pantheon of 25 Gods which would be 5X5. Shards we know about but don't have a clue about their numbers are: Dominion, Devotion, Ambition.