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Ok guys.. I have an out-there idea that I think Odium has been investing on all Planets that he goes to kill shards and he creates Cognitive Shadows by investing in them, imbibing them with hatred and uses them as his minions to help him in his fight against other shards.. So far, we know that Odium has visited Sel(where he killed Aona and Skai), Threnody system(which is the site of shardic altercation between odium and ambition) and right now, he is trapped on Roshar where he has already killed Tanavast and his shard has been shattered. On Roshar, Odium has created Fused that are cognitive shadows that do not pass on to the beyond when they die, instead they return and take up a new body and on and on it goes.. Some of these fused have lost their minds and most of them are so invested with Odium’s intent that they understand nothing but hatred towards human. Fused only wish to win this war and finally, be able to rest by passing onto beyond. Given that there are wobs that say that Odium has invested on all the planets he visited briefly to kill these shards like he has on the Rosharan System: I find it a great coincidence that Odium visited Threnody system and fought with Ambition here and we have Shades on Threnody which are actually people who die and can not pass onto the beyond. Their actions are also very odium-y. So, I think that it is a possibility that these shades are actually a result of an earlier version of the experiment that Odium did on Threnody which was later was greatly improved upon in Roshar. Further, on Sel also we have legends of Svarkiss which says that these are half ghost and half demons. Shu-dereth faith says that these are souls of men barred from entrance into heaven and are condemned to wander Sel, bitterly cursing their fate(very odium-y) and prey on humans. It is also believed that they have the ability to take over the body of living and control their actions, again very similar to how Fused work on Roshar. Although, I think that Odium withdrew his investiture from these Svarkiss and they no longer exist and are mere myth today in the Jaddeth Empire.. Just as he has promised The Fused that they will be allowed to pass on once they win. Millennia later, on Roshar, Fused also would be nothing more than such a myth.

Why are they keeping pigs? Food taboos can persist more or less forever, so there is no need to explain why pigs on Threnody are not eaten. But they do not keep them as pets. They don't ride them. They don't eat them. So why do they keep them? These people are living a hard life. They don't have resources to spare on useless animals. So the pigs must have or must have had until recently a use. That makes me wonder. If you can bond birds and worms inside them, why not pigs. Suinomancy, anyone?

The Simple Rules have more consequences. I do not see a way you could run a police service outside fortified cities. There is just no way you could forcibly arrest or threaten a suspect. "Stop or I shoot" is just not viable or even survivable. Which brings us to the question of penal systems. How do you run a prison? You cannot truly disarm anybody on Threnody. Everybody has a virtual suicide vest on. If I am willing to take you with me and there are Shades around, I just hit you hard enough to draw blood and here we go. I would say that Threnody knows no imprisonment as penalty. Fines, outlawry and death only. This goes further. The wards around a place are vital, presuming a place is even warded. Sabotage is far easier and deadlier. In a place without wards a thrown stone can mean mass suicide. Threnodites must have an extremely low tolerance of foolishness, petty delinquency and mental illness. I suspect that such people are driven out into the Forest essentially to die.

Silver. It's role in the Cosmere is uncertain, being a metal (pushable and pullable), allomantically inert and effective at warding off shades on Threnody. Well we got a tasty new WoB today, on another thing people have speculated about, what the silver chain being sold in Shadesmar during Oathbringer was. So that's rad. A reminder of the chain... We didn't know what the significance of the chain was, why it was so expensive, what that chain was made of (options like a silver alloy, aluminum, or even dragonsteel have been thrown around). We still don't know a lot for sure, but it being from Threnody is awesome as it largely confirms the chain is silver, given the importance of it there. And it says they use them in freaking Silverlight! A Cognitive Realm city. So the chain is obviously useful in the Cognitive Realm, and in a place where you get attacked by Cognitive Shadows. In other words, silver is significant to the Cognitive Realm, blocking and damaging corrupted Cognitive Shadows and being expensive and valuable in the Cognitive Realm. This fits with some WoBs we have, about its general significance. So given the chain is so expensive, what could it be made out of? Is it just silver, and silver is so important in the Cognitive Realm and so hard to get there that it's expensive? Is silver not enough, and it needs to be alloyed with a godmetal? Maybe, but then you'd think they'd be exceedingly rare. Is it a magical device, like a fabrial, that does something with silver? I doubt it, it's a simple chain, unless it's some woven form-based magic. I personally think it's most likely to create a barrier in the cognitive realm that purely cognitive entities can't pass without a physical body, essentially the Cognitive equivalent of what aluminum does in the Spiritual Realm (and credit to First_Midnight for putting in that way). It basically stops investiture in the Cognitive Realm from affecting things in the physical realm. That's why shades can't pass it without attacking and weakening the silver - they are actually destroying the silver's cognitive aspect, and then the silver in the Physical Realm is useless in stopping the shade from injecting its investiture into you and it transforming your physical aspect. That's why silver will stop the withering - under this theory, the shade attacks you with its corrupted investiture in the Cognitive Realm, and putting silver on it prevents that investiture from affecting you in the Physical Realm. The investiture that's been attacking you is returned to the CR and blocked from affecting you again. That could be why people in Silverlight would use them, they're safe as they have a physical aspect, but Cognitive-only beings couldn't penetrate the barrier and any investiture being used on you not work. And maybe that's why the necklace is so expensive, because that could make it hard to get silver into the Cognitive Realm through a perpendicularity. But so how useful can it be if shades just burn through it? Well, the answer is, I think, that the chain is not the cognitive aspect of silver in the Physical Realm, but is actually silver brought into the Cognitive Realm, And would actually be impassable by investiture, unlike silver in the Physical Realm, which just puts up a temporary cognitive barrier. Which is why it's rare and expensive, answering the chain question. I'm still not entirely sure I have the mechanics right, in terms of how a necklace may protect you entirely, or in terms of silver's effect in the Cognitive Realm. Love your views. Especially as I got tired of writing this and burned through the last but important parts And I'll leave you with some ridiculousness. The name Silverlight? What if it's actually silver, to keep Cognitive incursions out. The city's walls are made of silver that is fully in the Cognitive Realm.

Upon a reread that stuck me in my eye, virtually speaking. How and whence? I would have assumed people on Threnody being mostly vegetarian, just for reasons of safety. Eating animals may happen in larger settlements. Silence serving meat is odd enough. But venison? Would they really keep deer? That seems like an unthinkable luxury under the circumstances. So do they hunt? That, frankly, looks like outright suicide. I suppose in theory you could use a gun or crossbow and a lot of silver, but that would make venison a luxury good, not something you serve in a simple waystop. How is this possible?

People have been asking how magic system would impact technology and social life. We have looked at that question from a positive angle. But there is obviously a world with a very negative angle: Threnody No fast movement: How do you run a railroad at night? Road traffic at night is also neigh impossible No kindling fire: percussion caps are impossible - you could do these ancient guns that actually use a burning match a flame thrower should, however, be tolerated - you have a pilot fire. You could build a gun based on that internal combustion engines are right out - no cars, no diesel railway engines / steam engines and jets should be possible, though if sparks count as kindling fire, even electricity is impossible you need controls for stuff that could make sparks - 'my home is my castle' is not possible on Threnody No shedding blood of another forget modern surgery forget modern dentistry even a syringe is playing with death road traffic is impossible. You would not survive many accidents. It looks to me like you'd have a stark contrast between country and city with a highly regimented society.

At the Seattle Skyward Signing we got the following WOB: I've been giving this some thought and I've come up with a few things Brandon might be referring to: 1.) The Ghastly Gondola story from the broadsheet in Bands of Mourning; We see Nazh using a "gun" that appears to fire a Threnody Shade. This to me indicates that similar to a Spren a Shade can be captured and used to power a Fabrial. 2.) In Secret History Nazh says to Kelsier that becoming a Cognitive Shadow is a deeply personal choice and that there are procedures that need to be followed. In Shadows For Silence in the Forests of Hell we see that being withered by a shade to death will turn you into a Shade but I would guess that following the precepts that Nazh alludes to would allow you to become a shade and possibly retain your mind, this would explain the IRE's worry about them as they are clearly very dangerous and if you applied sapience it would likely only make them more dangerous. Alternately the shades could be more like the Unmade where many are mindless but some (The Deepest Ones perhaps?) can think. 3.) The last thing I came up with is the obvious question about Homeland and the Evil. This actually seems the least likely though as it definitely does not fall into the category of "No one has asked me about the thing".

We all know that Silver is allomantically and feruchemically inert. It will not produce any effect, it won't burn and you cannot store attributes within it. But we know of a world where silver does have a magical effect. Threnody. It's a Shardworld inhabited by a broken Ambition. So say someone reformed Ambition and wanted to get into the Shardhunter game like Odium and Autonomy. If Ambition went to Scadrial and Invested there do we think that silver would become an allomantically active metal? We know that its Godmetel would be viable.

Threnody's forests are empty of animal life because the Shades enforce the Simple Rules towards animals, too. That explains why the forests are so empty. But it opens up another question: Where are the Shades of all those animals? All Shades we see are human or so old that you cannot tell. But why do they assume that they were all human? The people in the forests ride horses and keep animals. There must be animals falling victims to Shades even today. We have one clue. Old Shades dissipate. If they totally dissolve due to old age, we can assume that animal Shades last a lot less long or even don't form in the first places. Why? The obvious explanation would be that they start out with less investiture. That means that the creation and upkeep of Shades is powered by the users and that investiture is continously lost. I think we have found an end-negative system. Does that proof that the killing and repelling of Shades with silver is also powered by the victims, that is the Shades? Strictly speaking, no. But if you assume otherwise the same result would have to be achieved in two different ways.

For an allomancer the metal the metal he burns determines what he can do with investiture and it provides a channel to gain investiture. The functions are separable. Compounding does exactly that. So could there be metals that only give an ability, but no fuel? You would need to find another source of investiture to do something with them. Now usually this would only be idle speculation. But there is silver on Threnody. Apart from aluminium, that is the only time a regular metal is used in another system. Could what happens on Threnody be actually something akin to allomancy with silver acting as a focus and the substance of the shadow as a power source forcing the shade into selfdestruction?

So I discovered this song while checking out a new artist, TheFatRat, called Threnody. Another google search later, it turns out that threnody is actually a word that means 'a lament,' so I doubt the artist had the cosmere in mind while writing this song. But it's still pretty neat to hear!

I had posted this idea in another topic, but it had apparently necro’d so no one saw it, link below. It had gone into the nature of shades as cognitive entities. Could what makes the shades different from other cognitive entities be that they are partial avatars? I know we don’t know a lot about avatars yet, but it is assumed they have access to the shard’s shardpool, correct? When a shade kills someone therefore, it suffuses them not just with investiture, but the shardpool of Ambition, connecting with the dormant parts of Ambition already in the spiritweb of natives from Threnody. Death separates the physical body, but the cognitive entity is forced back into the physical realm with the same pressure of the dor from Sel, because the investiture is trying to find purchase in the physical realm. Cognitive entity loses its mind during the transition from cognitive to physical like spren from Roshar. If this is true, could shades be avatars missing their bodies?

In Scadrial books Shadesmar is one of Mists and in Roshar it is full of Spren and countless connections to the physical world rolled up in little spheres. Are these difference defined by the collectivve minds of the people or is it more defined by the Investiture/Shard in charge (Roshar was originally Adonalsium's world so the spheres and most of the spren are probably his and not specifically Honor, Cultivation, or Odium's). Is the only constant to Shadesmar the beyond. Is the inverse landscape a constant? How much can a Shard change the landscape. Brandon has said that Sel is a dangerous place in the Cognitive realm because of the Shattered shards power residing mainly in the cognitive realm so how far can the cognitive realm be twisted by Investiture. Perhaps there is a splinter of Ambition causing the cognitive realm to be twisted on threnody.

So bear with me on this one. but it seems to me that with the little we do know about The Evil from Shadows for Silence would suggest that it (if indeed it is an it) is a splinter of the power that was thrown off during Ambition's fight with Odium. Now this comes from my thinking that if the evil is indeed a personification of some of the attributes of Odium and Ambition it is possible that it is an accidental creation of the conflict. What little we do know does tell us that lots of the fight took place in the Cognitive Realm (or maybe Spiritual Realm?) and so the ripples from the conflict seem to have "bled" through to the world of Threnody. This might be a wild card theory, but I think Ambition might have (in an ambitious way) tried to create a piece of herself to survive her fight with Odium. Perhaps that or a failed attempt to escape?

The opening of the Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell, though describing the White Fox, who we know didn't have such powers, do sound like someone we know. The Fallen World is definitely the Cognitive Realm, and there are people who can kindle fire at will there: Kelsier and Nazh. However, things may be deeper than that. We know, from the Secret History, that Hoid has white hair. And it would not surprise at all if he had shaken hands with the Evil, no matter who he is, given his power beyond mere mortals. And he had ways to shock away Cognitive Shadows touching him, as experienced by Kelsier. I think that the White Fox is a mythical creature based on Hoid, and Silence Mondane just used his name. And I do wonder who the Evil is, who killed so many people in Silence's Homeland when Silence's grandfather was old enough to be a forestscout. We know that Silence's story happened after HoAA but before AoL, within the 300 years in between. My theory is that the Evil came after Kelsier's visit to the Ire's base, which is, I presume, on Threnody. I think the Evil came to destroy Ire's base, and destroyed Silence's Homeland, occupying the same location in the Physical Realm as a side effect. The Threnodite shades must have been so heavily invested to be able to linger in Cosmere after death, that they cannot leave the planet just like the shards or splinters. They're basically human minds riding investiture now, just like Ruin but on a much smaller scale, and that;s why they act so shade-like. Ire's warding off the shades means they're on the planet, which, I presume, is in the same system as Scadrial, since it was so easy for Kelsier to reach. Now, the Evil can the piece of Ruin shed by Harmony to balance his powers within. It makes sense given Ruin's grudge with Ire. But I don't buy it. Rather, the destruction of Ire looks so much like the outpost to the invasion of Scadrial. Ire set up their base there when they had plans for Scadrial, making it a very strategic location. The Scadrian shards have minimal power there, but it's still close enough to strike regularly. The Threnodites are allowed to survive in the Forests of Hell because they were never the targets of the Evil, and the Evil doesn't like wasting his powers on minor things.

I was rereading Secret History and this line caught my attention, "You always jump at stories, Alonoe. Not every coincidence is a sign of someone drawing upon Fortune."(the f in Fortune was capitalised). This is on page 79 where the people in the fortress are discussing whether their sighting of Kelsier might be a Cognitive Shadow from Threnody. Does anyone else think this indicates that there is a shard called Fortune, and it is somehow related to Threnody.

We read in Mistborn: Secret History that the Ire are worried about someone or something crossing over the border from Threnody. Alonoe, the Ire who wants to take up Preservations power, says that, " "Perhaps there was someone, but the guard was wrong about it being a Cognitive Shadow. Have the guards be on alert, and leave the device on just in case. This timing strikes me as too opportune to be coincidental" " (pg. 301). I have some vague ideas/questions about this. Why are they worried about a Cognitive Shadow crossing from Threnody to Scadrial? Obviously, Shades aren't fun to deal with, but are they worried about more than just Shades crossing over? One of the guards, a bit before, asks, "How would a Threnodite have made it all the way here?", which probably means that traveling on and off of Threnody is very difficult. I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, but it sticks out. The phrase, "This timing strikes me as too opportune to be coincidental", signals that something has occurred on Threnody, though it might be just the goings-on of Scadrial. Basically, why are the Ire so worried about Threnody? Are they fearful of Shades? If they are most likely Elantrians, then they have no need to fear Shades, as they can probably destroy them. Are they worried that the Evil has managed to travel between worlds? Any thoughts?

I recently found out that Threnody means a lament, Elegy (another planet in the system) is a sad poem, usually written to praise and express sorrow for someone who is dead and Monody is a poem lament also. These are three of the four systems in Threnodite the fourth being Purity. 1) Why is that planet called Purity? 2) Why are those three all sad and death words? I thought that maybe it is because the fight between Odium and Ambition took place on those 3 planets but not the 4th. Or for whatever reason Silence considers her world cursed is also on the other 2. Any thoughts on the system?

Crazy theory but... So according to Arcanum Unbounded there was some fight on Threnody between Odium and Autonomy and we know that shades are cognitive shadows. And in Mistborn: Secret History Nazh mentioned that to became a shadow there are some requirements and traditions and what if Nazh is from pre-Evil Threnody and they are creating shades on purpose, to become sort of ascended or immortal but fight between Shards twisted them into shades. On Roshar influence of Odium is connected to red eyes and on Thenody if shades are enraged their eyes turn red so what if it means they are influenced by Odium in that moment and they attack. And in Bands of mourning Epilogue there is Faceless Immortal with red eyes that could also mean it is not kandra but cognitive shadow from Threnody under influence of Odium that Ire in Mistborn: Secret History were afraid of?

So I have wondered for a while what "The Evil" on Threnody is that ravages the Homeland and first banished the people of that world to the so-called "Forests of Hell". Even in Arcanum Unbounded, Khriss (who seems to know a LOT about the Cosmere and the Shards) states that very little is known of it by anyone. But then, after reading the other things mentioned in Arcanum Unbounded related to Threnody, a theory formed in my head that seems completely logical to me but is very likely a RAFO kind of thing to ask. So here's the backstory: According to the essay written by Khriss/Sanderson in Arcanum Unbounded, Ambition inhabited the Threnodite System shortly after the Shattering, but was eventually found there by Odium, who was on his vendetta to become the most powerful being in the Cosmere. The two Shards clashed violently throughout the three Realms, and their epic battle resulted in the Splintering of Ambition and the death of its vessel. The entire system was affected by it, particularly on the planet Threnody, which has two main continents. The smaller one consists of the Forests of Hell, the normal people, and ghostly creatures called the "shades" while the larger one (the Homeland) is dominated by the Evil. The theory: As seen in the form of the shades, Cognitive Shadows of people exist on Threnody due to the way their world works. What I wonder is if people come back as shades after death, why not a Shard of Adonalsium itself as well? My theory, to put it plain and simple, is that the Evil is the Cognitive Shadow, or shade, of Ambition itself. A Cognitive Shadow made from an entire Shard is not unprecedented, mind you. Take the Stormfather on Roshar, for example. After Odium Splintered the Shard Honor and killed its vessel as he had done to Ambition (and others), an enormously powerful Cognitive Shadow formed out of Honor in the form of its spren, the Stormfather. I believe that the Evil on Threnody is the same thing in regard to Ambition as the Stormfather is to Honor: a really big, really dangerous Cognitive Shadow. After all, what do the shades do on Threnody? They attack those who break the Simple Rules, devouring their souls and dissolving their bodies. Who's to say that the Evil, as a Cognitive Shadow of Ambition, isn't just a shade like all the others? It was a person who died, and on Threnody, those come back as the shades. But seeing as this one was so powerful (a storming Shard of Adonalsium), then wouldn't that make it an immensely powerful and really huge shade that can consume an entire continent and feast upon the souls of men in multitudes (as as it is described doing in Arcanum Unbounded)? So there's my theory. The Evil is Ambition's shade. What do all of you think?

Looking at old theories, I found this from last year. I was wondering if there is a quote from a book, WoB, or other source for this. I couldn't find anything else about the Evil falling from the sky, and I wasn't sure if it a real thing or not, so figured I'd ask you guys. Thanks!

This is an interesting tidbit from Brandon's Chicago signing. We know that the Listeners/Parshendi are native to Roshar, but aren't sure about the other beings on the planet and whether or not they've always been on Roshar. This bit about the Irali appears to be new. So what do we know about them? The Iriali Have Been on Roshar for a Long Time Iri was one of the Silver Kingdoms on Roshar, so it's roots go deep into the history of the planet. They would have witnessed the Heralds themselves and experienced the desolations as a culture. The Iriali Have a Religion that Includes The Long Trail Ym gives us some interesting information about the Iriali people: So, we should not be surprised that the Iriali have not always been on Roshar. It seems that their people have been on three other worlds prior to arriving here, and that they expect to move on to two additional worlds before finally arriving back at oneness in the Seventh Land. I know others on the shard have discussed this story as a possible reference to the shattering of Adonalsium. Something Weird is Going On in Their Biggest City: Rall Elorim Rall Elorim is known as the City of Shadows and is a strange place. Folks here on the shard have speculated that the reference to shadows may mean that this place is where Cognitive Shadows of dead Knights Radiant or spren live. Since this is the largest city in this nation, I'd doubt it's entirely inhabited by Cognitive Shadows. Though, if we assume that the Iri migrated through the Cognitive Realm from Nalthis to Roshar (see bellow), it could be that the city is located in the Cognitive Realm. Kasitor: Home of Cusicesh the Protector An extremely large spren named Cusicesh who, at exactly 7:46am every day, rises out of the water of the bay and creates an illusion of waves around it. A translucent blue color, it measures over 100 feet tall - Axies refers to it as one of the largest spren he's ever seen. With four long arms and a strange face that rapidly shifts through male and female faces, it looks eastward toward the Origin. Those who gather to watch it appear frequently report feeling "drained" after seeing it. Some of the Iriali worship it, placing golden pedestals out to honor it. Questions Raised What other worlds were the Iriali on before? They have metallic, golden hair and paint themselves with colors and patterns. They also have strong chastity laws and discourage public nudity. Some of this sounds reminicent of Nalthis, where bright colors, the muted conservatism of Austre, and "the Royal Locks" are a part of cultures there. Since it seems that Vasher and Denth (if not others) of the Five Scholars travelled to Roshar in the past (and that Vasher is currently on the planet, as is Nightblood), there do seem to be connections here. Since the Expanse of the Densities has been speculated to refer to Nalthis, that Iri is right there on the Physical and Cognitive maps of Roshar, it makes sense that the Iri could have migrated from there. What similarities are there to the migration on Threnody? Are they the cultural ancestors (or decedents) of the Iriali? What is happening with the draining sensation that the people feel in the presence of Cusicesh? Is it a similar happening to a Larkin sucking out stormlight from a surgebinder? Do people on Roshar have innate Investiture that could be drained in this manner? Not anyone can be a vessel of stormlight, so what is it that Cusicesh is doing to them? Also, what is the symbolism of the faces that appear? Why does it appear on such a regular schedule? So other than the Listeners/Parshendi, what other peoples were native to Roshar?

I've always been under the impression that throughout the Cosmere there are planets naturally invested through creation by Adonalsium that have local manifestations of magic, and then places that have been directly invested by a Shard of Adonalsium with far greater levels of investiture, perpendicularities and resulting magic systems that people can directly access (see 2014 Salt Lake City Comic-con and 2015 AMA below). So the two worlds we know that match this are First of the Sun and Threnody (perhaps Ashyn but I'm trying to confine this to canon). As Brandon says, it's interacting with nature. But both these worlds have something unusual going on. Threnody has no Shard and no stable perpendicularity (though does have unstable, unpredictable ones of 'morbid origin') but did have its existing magic distorted by the mortal wounding of Ambition. First of the Sun has no Shard but does have a stable perpendicularity. Note that this AU essay pre-dates re events of Sixth of the Dusk and we know there is investiture on FotS, in the form of invested fruit eaten by worms, which are then eaten by Aviar (birds) that develop a magical 'Talent' and bond with a human to share that talent. I believe (maybe it's confirmed) that this is simply the 'pool' of concentrated investiture nourishing the trees, and that it is birds rather than people that have the ability to convert that investiture into usable magic. We also know there's a lot going on in the Cognitive Realm there as predators hunt by sensing thought. So we know that these two minor Shardworlds show extraordinary characteristics, both due to events deep in the past. The distorted and macabre form of natural magic on Threnody makes sense but we still need to explain the large amount of concentrated investiture on FotS. I propose that the link is the (former) Shard Ambition. We know from above that soon after the Shattering Odium mortally wounded Ambition in the Threnodite system and that Ambition was later Splintered in a different location. We also know from a separate WoB that Odium could not find Ambition at first. And finally we don't know where Ambition was finally Splintered, or how, or whether it was by Odium, as Khriss in AU states he did the mortal wounding but excludes Ambition from the list of Shards he definitely Splintered. My theory is this - Ambition has been to the Drominad system; this was where either: A) Ambition was hiding, stuffing him/herself into the Cognitive Realm, prior to Odium briefly giving up and going after Dominion/Devotion, but was desperately avoiding investing in the system to avoid detection. But the Shard's presence was enough to increase localized investiture enough to create the perpendicularity and to shift the existing natural magic more into the Cognitive Realm (hence predation by thought). OR B ) After his/her mortal wounding in the Threnodite system, Ambition escaped to Drominad and, knowing the end was nigh, deliberately self-Splintered into the Cognitive Realm of FotS (though without deliberately interfering with the existing magical system there or creating a new one). The Splinters are the Aviar. The nature of the people, flora and fauna suggests an Ambition theme. I'd love any thoughts, comments, corrections on this long and rambling theory. I'm not exactly committed to either option I just find the magic systems of minor Shardworlds interesting, and the story of Ambition intriguing, and wondered if they could be combined.