Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'splinter'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Categories

  • Brandon and Book News
  • Events, Signings, & Giveaways
  • Columns and Features
  • Site News
  • Shardcast

Forums

  • 17th Shard
    • Introduce Yourself!
    • 17th Shard Discussion
    • The Coppermind Wiki
    • Arcanum Discussion
  • Brandon Sanderson
    • General Brandon Discussion
    • Events and Signings
    • Sanderson Fan Works
    • Arcanum, the Brandon Sanderson Archive
  • Spoiler Zone
    • The Sunlit Man (No Cosmere Spoilers)
    • The Sunlit Man (Cosmere Spoilers)
  • The Cosmere
    • Cosmere Q&A
    • Cosmere Discussion
    • Stormlight Archive
    • Mistborn
    • Other Cosmere
  • Non-Cosmere Works
    • Cytoverse
    • Other Non-Cosmere
    • The Wheel of Time
  • Related Works
    • Writing Excuses and Intentionally Blank
    • Reading Excuses
    • Sanderson Curiosities & Unpublished Works
    • TWG Archive
  • Community
    • General Discussion
    • Entertainment Discussion
    • Forum Games & Random Stuff
    • Creator's Corner
    • Role-Playing
    • Social Groups, Clans, and Guilds

Blogs

  • Chaos' Blog
  • Leinton's Blog
  • 17th Shard Blog
  • KChan's Blog
  • Puck's Blag
  • Brandon's Blog
  • The Name of your Blog
  • Darth Squirrely's Blog
  • Tales of a Firebug
  • borborygmus' Blog
  • Zeadman's Blog
  • zas678's Blog
  • The Basement
  • Addy's Avocations
  • Seshperankh's Blog
  • First time reading The Well Of Ascension
  • Zarepath's Blog
  • "I Have Opinions About Books"
  • Test
  • Which actors would you like to see playing the characters of Mistborn?
  • Drifted Mists
  • Jaron's Realm
  • Roshar Speculative Theories
  • ChrisHamatake's Blog
  • Paradox Flint's Blog
  • Deoradhan's Blog
  • Storm Blessed's Blog
  • Elwynn's Blog
  • firstRainbowRose's Blog
  • Rotabush ShardBlog
  • Hoid's Compendium
  • InterContinental Adventures
  • Claincy Creates
  • Theories, quotes, and details to keep it all straight.
  • WoR Thoughts and Questions
  • Blogfalcon
  • David Coppercloud's Blog
  • yurisses' notes and theories
  • Lark Adventures
  • LUNA's Poetry
  • Inspiration Board
  • Trying to be Useful for a Change
  • Cosmere Nerd Things
  • The Way of Toasters
  • An Elephant's Blog
  • Shhh Spoilers for Ronald.
  • Wyn's Adventures in Geekiness
  • Words With Ene
  • Dapper's Blog
  • Things to talk about, stuff to do
  • Zelly's Healthy-Accountability Blog
  • Dapper's Music Blog
  • GM Test Blog
  • Rhythm of War Liveblog
  • Zephy’s Art Blog
  • Axioms Idioms & Adages
  • Weather Reports
  • Unnecessarily Overcomplicated
  • 5
  • The Blog of Dubious Copyright Legality
  • Trutharchivist's Rambles
  • Xino's corner of insanity
  • The Perfect Space Opera
  • My Journey Through Roshar (A Liveblog)
  • Lost Metal Liveblog by ccstat
  • D&D campaign design.
  • My Depression Log
  • Story Ideas and Whatnot
  • deltarune AU concept.
  • How I Relate to Every Character in The Stormlight Archive
  • A thing
  • random jank and jabber.
  • FNF crem

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


Website URL


AIM


MSN


ICQ


Yahoo


Jabber


Skype


Member Title


Location


Interests

  1. Could all the Shards and Splinters be held by a single person to remake the being Adonulsium? Is it theoretically possible? And could you remake a Shard with all its different Splinters?
  2. So if a Shard, for whatever reason, decided to split off a whole bunch of it's Investiture and made a powerful Splinter, then sent that Splinter to a world that doesn't have much or any magic, could the Splinter Invest enough into said world that it could become a 'Major Shard World'? With Magic on the level of Allomancy or something like that? Or is truly Investing an entire planet a job for a proper Shard?
  3. I just posted this to my Youtube channel, but I figured I'd type this up fully here, maybe additionally clarify some of the points TL;DR at the bottom The central question of this theory: Where did the Thrill originally come from, was it truly of Odium in the very beginning? My theory is that Nergaoul was actually a splinter of Ambition to start with and Odium Unmade the Thrill into what it is today on Roshar. The Thrill is characterized as a red mist, so The Threnody system So we know that Odium mortally sliced and diced Ambition while in the Threnody system (and also Mercy was there doing who knows what). Chunks of Ambition rained down, and something arose from the ashes: The Evil. The Evil was described by Nazh as "a creeping darkness, a terrible force that consumed the entirety of the continent, feasting upon the souls of men." Khriss also states that she does "not know how much of this is metaphoric, and how much literal." I think this was mostly metaphorical. Being a Splinter of Ambition, I think the Evil entered the hearts of men and inflamed their ambitious desires to the utmost, similarly to what the Thrill does with battle rage or Ashtermarn with gluttony. This "devoured their souls" by inciting them to pursue their greatest ambitions to the loss of all else. Thus, the continent was consumed by madness and those strangely unaffected fled to the smaller, shade-filled continent. Then, I think Odium came back. He had just dispatched Ambition and was inspecting the scene of the crime just to double check there aren't any powerful splinters that could rise up and gather up Ambition's power again. And on Threnody, he finds a new toy. Odium corrupts the Thrill, through the process of Unmaking and this fundamentally changes the nature of the Thrill into something similar, but different. Now, the main objection that I see to this theory: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/100/#e1672 How does this fit with the theory? Well, primarily, I think this could tell us about the nature of Unmaking. This form of corruption has to fundamentally change the nature of the Splinter such that it is either A: a Splinter of both Shards, or B: A Splinter completely of Odium through a process of substitution, where Odium's investiture replaces Ambition's, but still retaining the vague shape of what the thing is. I think the first is the most likely, but I have been unable to find if this question has been asked before about the nature of Unmaking. TL;DR The Thrill was originally a splinter of Ambition called the Evil, Odium saw a new toy, Unmade it into a Splinter of Odium, and then tossed it onto Roshar for it to go buck wild.
  4. So, I just thought of this idea, but would it be possible for a Vessel to hit an "eject" lever and avoid being completely destroyed by another Shard? We know that it's possible for a Shard to Splinter themselves, Honor did this to create the Honorblades, and possibly the spren. My question is: Would it be possible for a Vessel to Splinter their own Shard, and create a Cognitive Shadow of their own consciousness? Could Tanavast have been able to do this? He knew Rayse wanted to Splinter him, he didn't suffer from any debilitating mental issues like Leras, and had a large portion of his power available to him. While this would be a rather cowardly way to go, it would prevent them from losing their consciousness and going to the Beyond, which presumably happened to Tanavast, Leras, Ati, Aona (Devotion), Skai (Dominion), and Uli Da (Ambition).
  5. I'll cut to the chase: Dalinar is Honor. Rather, Dalinar is the future vessel of Honor. Hear me out... "Unite them" This has been Dalinar's driving motto from the beginning. "Unite" who? The highprinces? The Radiants? The people of Roshar? I don't have a copy of the books in front of me, but here is my logic: We know that all spren are splinters of investiture that gained sentience. Some other spren have gained sapience as well. Radiant spren, for example. We know that all the 'original' Honorspren, except for Syl, where killed in the recreance. We know that Odium "killed" Honors vessel, Tanavast, splintering the shard. Tanavast knew he was going to die and prepared. He 'super-invested' the stormfather. He gave the stormfather the visions and the ability to manipulate them. He probably did other things too that we don't know about yet or that I am forgetting. The driving impetus was for the stormfather to find someone worthy to give the visions to and impart the drive to "unite them". Dalinar exhibits power and abilities that the stormfather doesn't know of. ** Dalinar somehow has the ability to accept the oaths of rising Radiants. ** Unless we are missing something about bondsmith abilities, this shouldn't be possible. Only the Radiant spren or their 'parent' can accept the 'Words'. Dalinar is still a Radiant, albeit of the most powerful order. Thus, in terms of the overarching hierarchy, Dalinar is still at the same level as any other radiant in terms of advancing in ideals. Yet he was still able to accept Kaladin's oath. It is said many times in all the books that "Honor live on in the hearts of men". Which explains why there are still Honorspren. Since Honor lives in the hearts of men, and humans must have been heavily invested before Tanavasts death, then the 'new' Honorspren are formed formed through the Honor of humans and their investiture. My theory, then, is that while Odium may have killed Tanavast, Tanavast splintered the shard of Honor, heavily investing the stormfather and also investing humans. As such, the "Unite them" impetus is referring to Honor's splinters. As in, unite the splinters of Honor back into the shard and take it up as the vessel. Dalinar is on the journey to become the vessel of Honor. Other predictions: Kaladin is a dawnshard. He became such through Syl, who was given the shard to pass on to a worthy individual. Syl, the Ancient Daughter and only surviving Honorspren from when Honor was still 'alive'. No other theory *really* fits with Kaladin's abilities throughout the books and meshes with other well researched theories. Adolin will 'awaken' Maya and they will bond... thus setting the precedent for waking all the deadeyes, if given the chance. That is all, for now
  6. I'm currently rereading WoR and I came across a line that I felt like was quickly glossed over by the characters. I did a little bit of digging on the forums and have seen people discussing Honor's death and how it relates to Odium and the Shattered plains. However, I am curious as to how Honor's death and splintering would have affected Surgebinding. Specifically, Shallan is talking to Jasnah in Ch. 6 and Jasnah says the following: Then Shallan nods and changes the conversation to Jasnah's mental health, with no mention to how Soulcasting has changed. From the AonDor as well as Scadrial magic (when Harmony picks up the shards), we know that there can be fundamental changes to the magic system when the source of the Investiture changes dramatically (splintering or recombining/changing Intent). I'm curious to what this change is on Roshar. Without more thought on the topic my theory is that the previous limitations the Spren provided to the Nahel bond has been altered in some way allowing easier access to the Surges to Radiants with less Oaths (why it could be perceived as more dangerous, more unfettered access and less discipline = danger). I also think it may explain why we haven't seen Shardplate materialize yet as well. We know from Dalinar's flashbacks that there were many Radiants who wielded Sharplate, and so far no Radiant has on screen (despite most being around 3rd or 4th oath). My theory is thus: The splintering of Honor weakened the Nahel bond enabling easier access to the innate surges of Roshar (voidbinding and fabrials also access these surges) while making it more challenging to access the Honor specific benefits (shardblade and plate). Thoughts?
  7. What can we infer about the skaze, which are barely mentioned at all in Elantris, yet somehow are very relevant to the parts of the story we do not yet know? Brandon refers to skaze as "evil seons" in the annotations of Elantris. They are related to Skai (via WoB). They have a large amount of influence on most politics and most workings in Fjordell (via WoB). Dilaf had information from the skaze that the Elantrians were not indestructible (Elantris chapter 62). They can speak, they are "a hovering dark sphere, the size of a melon," they suck in light, have undefined edges that warp the light around them, they are ringed with a pattern of misty symbols, "running like a hoop from its top down the side to its bottom," have a wide range of emotions, and are a synthetic race (Elantris postscript) I've seen it mentioned that we assume they are splinters of Dominion, but I'm not so certain. We don't read that anywhere and if there is a relevant WoB on the subject, I haven't seen it either. I understand that they seem similar to seons, which contain splinters of Devotion (aons), but how can something "synthetic" like a skaze be a splinter anyway (unless seons are artificially created too)? Are the misty symbols aons? It would be odd to not refer to them as so, unless they weren't. We know from Elantris that the Fjordell Empire has changed significantly over the centuries. "Wyrn the King" was edited significantly to add in modern understandings of Shu-Dereth, and Jaddeth was originally a minior god in their culture that cared for rocks under the earth, not this super god they claim him to be now. The skaze seem to be creating a "Dominion" like influence on Fjordell, but for what purpose? What do you think about the skaze? (also, please don't be that one person who only posts a correction to something I say, but don't actually answer the question :-P)
  8. A couple of recent theories have prompted me to wonder this. While the Arcanum has informed me that animals and inanimate objects have spiritwebs, I came up empty when searching for spliters.
  9. So finally got my copy of Calamity through the post, Brandalised of course. Now, the Weapon and the Shattering is a particular topic of interest of mine - My copy of Firefight confirmed that there was a failed plot to kill Adonalsium, and my copy of BoM confirmed that Adonalsium shattered because he was killed, thereby confirming that Adonalsium was a being that identifed as male. My reuest for Brandon this time around was "for information on the current status of the weapon that was used to kill Adonalsium, including the current possessor" - as far as I am aware, nobody knows where the current location or the owner of the Weapon is. That is because the Weapon no longer truly exists. The response I received was as follows: "The weapon was expended, and no longer exists in its original form" Discuss, my fellow Sharders!
  10. You know how Shards' intents influence the personalities of their Vessels? Can large enough Splinters have a similar effect on their hosts?
  11. Devotion and Dominion are actually a "Spintered Shard" This post is a theory about the current situation of the Sel’s Shards. Maybe the title is a bit confusing but follow my thoughs. Let’s begin to some Cosmere’s “facts” wide accepted by everyone: Sel had two Shards: Devotion held by Aona and Dominion held by Skai Odium came to Sel, killed the Holders and Splintered the Shards. A little part of the Spinters gained sentience and became Seon and Skaze. The remain (massive) splinters of the two Shards merged together and became the Dor. The Dor is the core part of the Jesker religion, who see the Dor like an “overspirit” Another religion Shu-keseg workship the “unity of mind” From Shu-keseg came two branches: Shu-Dereth and Shu-Korath Shu-Dereth involves about “unity through control” Shu-Korag involves about “unity through love” the religion derivated from Shu-keseg have as mantra quite the intent of the two Sel’s shards. Now after this (maybe too long) introduction, I will explain my theory: Now on Sel there aren't two different shards but only one. Devotion or Dominiom are gone, now we have only a new Shard, I like to call it “Unity” but we could call with the neutral name of DorShard. The problem is that DorShard is actually Splintered. This is my explanation: When Odium came to Sel, he killed both of Shardholders and then spintered twe two Shards. A little of the Shards’s Splinters gained sentience and now they are know as Seon and Skaze. The unsentient part of the Spinters from both Shards then began to merge together. Why Did they merge ? Becouse the Devotion and Dominion's intents (or mandates if you prefer) are quite similar, they both were focused about bring Unity but using different methods. If you find this interpretation already heard, it is because it’s quite the same story of Shu-Keseg (but from the ending to the beginning) and I think that Keshu was inspired by this truth and his disciples’s shism was about the previous Shards’ situation. Now the DorShard is actually an unique Shard (like Harmony) but without host and probably Splintered (if the merging doesn’t put the Shard together). If now somebody “pick up the Dor” (and I don't know how it could be made), he will ascend to became a “Double Class” Shard like Harmony. EDIT: For the lazy sharder the main point in few words is: The Dor is a corpse of a new shard, not the patchwork of two corpse of shards
  12. I received my copy of Firefight this morning, signed and Brandonised as per usual My request was "to tell me something about the Cosmere that has not been previously mentioned" and this is what I received: Signing reads "To Adam, Long ago there was a plot to destroy Adonalsium. It failed." So, what does this mean for the Cosmere as a whole? Was Adonalsium split due to another plot to destroy it, or, did it possibly split under his/her/its/their own free will? What position does this put the original Shardholders such as Bavadin, Rayse etc - were their conspirators in a plot? Or was their taking on of shards a way to preserve the power of Adonalsium, albeit in a lesser form? If this is the case, how did they become the Shardholders of their specific shards? Was it all by choice, as we know Rayse's was, or by random fate? What is Hoid's ultimate role in the Plot? Opinions, as always, are greatly appreciated! Happy reading all! Adam
  13. So, we know that some of Preservation's power is missing, because he used it to create humans. That would indicate that there is an inbalance in Harmony between Preservation and Ruin's power. Not good. So, my theory is that Harmony gave the extra Ruin power to Kelsier to balance it out. Evidence if favor: Kelsier has a Hemalurgic spike in one eye, which could indicate Ruinic influence, and we find out in Secret History that Kelsier is more strongly connected to Ruin by natural inclination. Also, what if Kelsier is now a worldhopper? He could be traversing the cosmere, finding things out for Harmony. But with the whole Trell fiasco, he is currently unable to reach Harmony, which is why Sazed is so worried (it was mentioned that outside forces are preventing him from finding things out about the rest of the Cosmere). Comments?
  14. I was browsing through forum discussions on here and I found this quote in a topic about the Nightwatcher: What stood out to me more about this quote though was the bit about Adonalsium at the end. Maybe I've just missed this or something, but I personally believed Adonalsium to be the original Power of Creation that was held by a person similar to how people hold the Shards. I believe Brandon referred to Adonalsium as a "he" at one point, which may not necessarily have been a reveal of any sort. However, there was also this quote from Khriss in Secret History: So it's seems Khriss also believed Adonalsium to be a being holding the power. However, the bit at the end of the WOB seems to be Brandon slipping out that Adonalsium was the original, whole Power of Creation that had become sentient, similar to a Splinter, which is a known property of Investiture when not held by a being for a time. This idea seems very cool to me, as when Brandon writes the Dragonsteel books and we learn more about Adonalsium, it would be very interesting to see what kind of mind a pure force/energy like that would have, especially when not influenced by the intents of the sixteen Shards. I would expect it to really be a God figure in temperament, because Brandon has said that the intents of the Shards were loosely inspired by attributes of deity. The fact that Adonalsium would be a sentient being of pure energy from the Cosmere rather than a human or other mortal being given that power could also lend Adonalsium credibility as a true God figure in the eyes of some. And from what we've seen of The Liar of Partinel potentially implying that Adonalsium was destroying Yolen through the fain life, it would be interesting to see what potentially went wrong in its mind, since it could be some effect of the Investiture. This could also be the reason the sixteen Shattered Adonalsium, because its Investure mind went wrong somehow and they believed that humans/other species needed to hold the power to prevent this. I think it could ultimately go either way (Adonalsium being a being or sentient Investiture) but if Adonalsium really was pure sentient Investiture, I'd be very excited to read more about that. Let me know if this was already commonly accepted information though.
  15. We know that a shard can give up his power, per todays FAQ Friday. But what if he/she wanted to only give up part of his power. Could you create a shard council where all the members shared an equal amount of the power and the personality adjustment? It would be less lonely, and you would have the benefit of multiple points of view. Of course, it would be harder to get things done, but it could be useful.
  16. We know that a divine breath is a splinter of Endowment, which is given to every Returned. We know that every Nalthian has a breath, which is the power of life - " a certain BioChromatic Investiture" according to the Coppermind. Nightblood required 1,000 breaths to create. We know that splinters can, over time, develop sentience on their own. Can investiture (not necessarily a splinter) develop sentience on its own? In other words, could Nightblood be considered a splinter of Endowment, since it was created with a significant amount of Endowment's investiture?
  17. You know, I think we kind of take it for granted how much we know about the cosmere. I remember not so long ago that Sel and Elantris was a complete mystery. We all argued over what Aona's Shard was, mostly to no avail. We had no idea about how the Shaod happened, and virtually no clue to how the Dor worked. These two mysteries have made theorizing about Sel pretty hard, to say the least. With the knowledge of Aona's Shard being Devotion, the theory that people who are particularly devoted to something get taken by the Shaod makes perfect sense, and matches with the Principle of Intent. Though a new mystery arose with Forgery and Bloodsealing: why are Selish magics so region locked, and what's so important about the land? Well, Kerry has pretty much answered this here: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/3363-devotion-dominion-and-magic-on-sel/ So really, the prime theoretical difficulty with Sel is the Dor. That's what this theory will hope to explain. Sel is very unique in its magic. Scadrial makes sense having three distinct magic systems, but Sel is way different, despite having just two powers. Even discounting the fact that there are way more than three magics on Sel, they are odd: they all channel the Dor, not Devotion or Dominion independently. They all focus the same power. And that's very bizarre, considering Scadrial's magics. Why does the Dor appear to act some homogenous thing? Any way you slice and dice it, it's odd. Is the Dor Devotion's power? No, because the Dakhor magic isn't really accessed in a way in line with Devotion--it really feels a lot more Dominion-like. Dakhor channels the Dor just as AonDor and Forgery do. So, clearly the Dor is some bizarre combination of Devotion and Dominion, for some reason. And no one has (to my knowledge) really given a complete treatise on why that might be. Any reasoning on the Dor's nature would need to explain how it is related to both Devotion and Dominion, and why it is this homogenous entity. It's certainly homogenous enough that Brandon has no qualms saying that virtually every Selish magic channels the Dor. First of all, I'm kind of assuming you've already read the Letter, which says Devotion and Dominion have Splintered. Additionally, much of the power left there is not under anything's control: Why does Brandon say "much" of the power on Sel? Well, the Seons and Skaze are related to Splinters, so those are the things controlling part of the power. But the rest? Presumably the Dor. So what is the Dor? The answer, I believe, comes straight from this quote: This blew me away. But, considering how important I find a Shard's intent, it's not exactly surprising that a way of altering the Shards is really fascinating to me. There's a discussion on this particular quote over here, and Windrunner and Senor Feesh suggested that this may have happened to Devotion and Dominion--that they are intermingled as well. If you'll allow me, I'd like to name this "intermingling" effect as convergence, as something this important--Shards beginning to merge--certainly would warrant an in-world term, I think. It also has a nice parallel with "conflux," which is what Brandon named a book that has to do with multiple worlds in a very direct fashion (instead of in the background, as things are now in the books). So, Ruin and Preservation are currently converging. This is because a common mind is holding them. I propose that Devotion and Dominion are also converging as well. But, the obvious question next is, why the heck would they be converging? Presumably, Sazed holding both Ruin and Preservation--one mind holding two powers--imposes some Cognitive change on the Shards. In the Realmatic terms like Shai, they are like two bricks in a wall, and they begin to think of themselves as a wall, not two separate bricks. This is, I think, the most intuitive way to explain Ruin and Preservation converging: the powers themselves are beginning to think of themselves as part of a greater whole, thus intermingling them to be considered Harmony. I would only assume that the longer Sazed holds these two power, the more Ruin and Preservation will see themselves as Harmony instead, perhaps eventually literally becoming one Shard permanently. As of now, they can still be split, so that indicates to me that this process definitely hasn't finished yet. Though, I suppose you could say that even a Shard isn't permanent, as Odium certainly Splintered Devotion and Dominion. The exact specifics on Ruin and Preservation's convergence to Harmony is certainly worth discussing, but let's switch back to Devotion and Dominion. Obviously whatever happened with Sazed didn't at all happen with Devotion and Dominion; no common mind holds them both. In fact, they are both more broken than ever. But that may be exactly the key. Whereas Ruin and Preservation in the order that Sazed's control of them imposes, Devotion and Dominion and both similar in that they are both without holders and pretty broken. I propose that this also makes Devotion and Dominion converge, and this combined power is exactly what the Dor is. Think of two vases, one white, and one black--Devotion and Dominion. Now throw them on the ground, so hard that they break into tiny pieces. Collect that pile, mix them up, and zoom out. If the pieces are small enough, the pile no longer looks like black or white; it looks grey instead. When two things are broken, they can combine in new ways, like two liquids forming a completely new mixture. Now I imagine this is a little different in Devotion and Dominion's case, as their pieces would be still tied to their respective intent, but I think eventually, this dramatic change from Odium Splintering them would mean that the leftover fragments would see themselves as a part of a new whole. After all, they both aren't being held, and are both broken. I think this makes a lot of sense as for why the Dor is the way that it is. (Now, you may wonder why I didn't use the word "Splinter" to describe these pieces of Devotion and Dominion, considering Odium Splintered them. Well, we know the Aons at the heart of the Seons are Splinters, and to no one's surprise Brandon hinted that Skaze are similar: The Seons and Skaze--presumably Devotion and Dominion's Splinters--are not enough of a release valve. So this means that there is a lot of power that isn't under anything's control. Duh, since there was no indication the Dor acted any other way. In lieu of a cosmere term to call the pieces of Devotion and Dominion's power, that's why I stayed with vague words like "fragments." We just can't really say they are Splinters, or anything about them.) I totally understand if the analogy I made isn't particularly compelling, but it certainly matches with our conception with the Dor being a unified, mindless whole. It fits with those quotes above. But, maybe you want a little more persuading, so let's talk about some consequences of Devotion and Dominion's convergence, especially on magic. Before Devotion and Dominion's Splintering, magic worked differently on Sel (though I can't find that quote right now). It isn't a big leap to say that perhaps the regionalizing of Selish magic happened due to the Splintering of the Shard. Maybe before the Splintering, there were three magics on Sel, like Scadrial. Kerry's theory about Identity, people have an Identity tied their nationality, culture, and heritage. Her theory basically explains in how magic can be tied to the land, and how it lines up with Devotion and Dominion's intents. But why might have Devotion and Dominion's Splintering even had this effect of tying the magic to the land? Well, Allomancy requires a connection to Preservation, and on a less magical level, people that are freaking ruinous would use Hemalurgy. Perhaps, due to Devotion and Dominion's Splintering and this convergence, people can't use magic with a connection to Devotion or Dominion directly, because they don't exist in the same way. Instead, the "largest" thing that people have a connection or Identity to--instead these all-powerful Shards--is their culture and nationality. People with a strong Devotion or Dominion with that, as Kerry's theory suggests, would now be able to use magic. It's all because Devotion and Dominion are Splintered, and their power doesn't have as strong of identity, so it is shaped by the identity of manmade, regional borders. If anything, the Reod and the Chasm teaches us that these magics are actually very fluid. Aons that worked a thousand years ago may need to be refined. Perhaps as regions and countries change, or as ethnicities converge (see what I did there?) entirely different magics can form. Now, I'll admit, I'm not entirely sure if each regional magic is of Devotion or Dominion explicitly. After all, that's been the standing assumption with AonDor: it's of Devotion, not Dominion, and likewise Dakhor is of Dominion, not Devotion. But, it's a lot harder with ChayShan, Forgery, and Bloodsealing to decide. I am leaning to the idea that each magic can be in line with any sort of combination of Devotion and Dominion. Kerry connects all regional magics with both Devotion and Dominion, so I don't find this hard to believe. So, maybe presently on Sel, a magic is a certain percentage Devotion and Dominion. Unlike Scadrial where magics are 100% Preservation, 100% Ruin, or a 50/50 split, on Sel you could have 73%/27%. Who knows. It's entirely possible that we think of AonDor and Dakhor as Devotion and Dominion-heavy magics because the Seons and Skaze, which are related to Splinters of Devotion and Dominion, exist in these two regions, and so tilt the region's balance toward one Shard or the other. In fact, though I totally riffed that just now, it seems to make sense with the Identity idea. A region's Identity would be related to a ton of different factors, and maybe the nature of a given culture tilts the way a region's magic accesses Devotion and Dominion. Here's an interesting quote on that note: So it's the exact nature of the Dor which makes it regionalized. I don't think the Dor has an intent, like Harmony does. The Dor is a product of chaos and brokenness. When something changes in the Physical and Cognitive, this can have a reflection in the Dor, so these distinct cultural Identities have an effect on the Dor. What do you think? Admittedly, while this works really well for Sel, I'm not sure what is different on Roshar, which despite having Honor Splintered, has a non-regionalized magic in Surgebinding. It could just be that the nature of Honor and Cultivation don't result in regionalization. But, it would explain how some spren are of Honor and Cultivation. It's hard to say at this point, and while there can be more to this than I'm catching here, it seems very theoretically solid for Sel.
  18. This might be the most important of Cosmere topics. Now we understand that the different magics and peoples of the Cosmere are fascinating and amazing. But even more so are the entities that were never alive, yet have a personality and drive of their own. These Splinters are pockets of Shardic Power that develop a type of intelligence. It is apparent that these beings are critical to the overall narrative of the Cosmere, while some are likely the perpetrators of some of the greatest evils seen so far. What are these Splinters and how do you recognize one? Transcripts: I wish my father could have come to Roshar. Things that seemed mundane to others fascinated him to no end. The rocky hills and the crustaceous life that seems to make up this entire world are so different from the home I once knew. He would have written enough dissertations and filled enough sketchbooks to drown a man in the first week alone. He was odd, but he had a love of discovery, and visiting other worlds would have been a dream come true for him. And my brother…. He would have loved seeing all the different shapes spren come in. The spren are small spirit looking entities that appear around the planet. Forces and states of mind that normally too subtle to observe clearly are manifested visually making their study far easier to perform empirically. I believe that a spren is a physical representation of a cognitive entity. They are not physical in the sense that you can touch them, or that they have any sort of measurable mass. But they remind me of the simple minds that exist, attached to the objects in the Cognitive realm. However, these are not attached to any one object, rather they are bound to a purpose or intent. For instance, if one is provoked into anger, anger spren seem to be drawn out, and serve as a secondary indicator of the being’s intent. There are also Spren tied to more ecological forces, such as flame spren and river spren. I’ve even observed spren that seem to account for things unseen, such as wind spren and life spren. This aspect of spren and their natures yields promising potential in the fields of science and sociology. It must be far easier to consult or comfort someone when fear spren manifest their anxiety. In my personal journals I have been writing up my observations of the spren and their forms. My notes are far from professional and I doubt anyone but myself would be interested in these notations. I feel there must be some connection between the existence of spren and the High Storms which bring great rushing surges of Investiture. These cataclysmic storms occur most weeks if not multiple times a week. Such a rush of raging power must have metaphysical effects along with the violent weather phenomena that is the storm wall. Now while I would love to chat about spren all day, this letter is a particular note because I have a theory about what these spren actually are. You see they take up a form that is far too intelligent to be just a stray consciousness. Some of the larger spren are able to interact and mimic people, such as wind spren. They have an almost playful attitude towards life and have been known to play pranks on humans they encounter. No, there is something far greater at work here. As you know from my previous letter, I am now aware of the former existence of Adonalsium and of the shattering. These fractured Shards left and later developed a drive or fundamental nature to themselves. Shards are immense in scope and power. This power yields abilities that seem only limited to the imagination. In fact, we know from the “Words of Founding” that Shards have created life from their power. Now getting back to the topic at hand, these spren do not act like any animal I have ever come across. They seem to thrive on ideas and concepts of the human mind. By observing and often mimicking what they interact with, spren reveal that they have a core nature. They are drawn to some kid of theme or purpose. This tendency, to have and hold true to an idea or states of environment that reflects what they themselves are. In this way they remind me of matured Shards. As you recall, the Shards seem to have a compulsion to see out a particular ideal, usually summarized by the name they adopt. The spren seem to mimic this type of behavior and single-mindedness. I postulate, based on these observations that spren are little pockets of Shardic power. Unlike raw Investiture, which is simply harness-able energy, spren are power with a measured intelligence and will. They are like Splinters of a soul. It is easier to understand this position when you visit the Cognitive Realm. There the Spren seem far more complex, and even dangerous. There are whispers of larger spren that have intelligence and memories who live there. I hope to do more direct observing as soon as I have established myself with the peoples here. I have seen enough to recognizes that there is something nearly supernatural about these beings. It seems reasonable to assume that these spren are pieces of a greater whole. Splinters are entities of power that were never alive as a humanoid, but attain a level of… consciousness. This is where things are still a bit fuzzy. It cannot be denied that the spren are intelligent, at least in a broad sense. By contrast the Returned on Nalthis also carry with them a Splinter in the form of a divine breath. In fact, all breath might be considered a splinter since they are portions of a Shards power, but a Divine Breath is unique. Yet it must be asked, are the Returned a person brought back from death by infusing their soul with a splinter, or does the Splinter itself inherit the body of a dead person? The answer to this might simply be both, and for this particular argument the distinction is not important. What matters is that there is an intent behind both a spren and Divine Breath. I would then also guess from my studies that Seons could be considered Splinters. They are far more than just a symbol of Aon-dor, and they exemplify obedient intelligence with a profound memory and distinct personality. In this way they might be the most advance form of documented Splinter to date. However, there is a potential in the spren, and if the Nightwatch and Stormfather can be confirmed as massive spren, they might be the most powerful Splinters known to man. I am particularly intrigued by this Nightwatycher. There are rumors that she can grant requests that come with an associated boon. If this is more than a myth, the implications are… staggering. Regardless I plan to make the journey to see this being. I also hope to find a good location to watch a High Storm, hopefully I will be able to observe this Storm Father for myself. As I’ve pondered these findings, my thoughts turned to Scadreal. At first I couldn’t think of any beings or entities there that would count as Splinters. In fact, I still feel that Scadreal has never seen a Splinter according to the historical records that we have. Yet I pause at the thought of the Kandra. The shapeshifters are intelligent beings that once were mindless creatures. They gained their intelligence via the powers of two hemalergic spikes. This was when I made the connection between spikes and Splinters. This may be an unrelated correlation, but the similarities are strong, and only separated by scope. Most hemalergic spikes are simply a form of spiritual surgery, ripping one soul apart and splicing pieces of that soul into another person. But with the kandra, they grant actual consciousness as if they were a Splinter themselves. Perhaps they are. However, I abhor the thought of anyone performing an investigation. Any testing with Hemallergy will be destructive beyond the point of rationality. What troubles me are the whispers of these Voidbringers. On Roshar there are tales of monsters built of stone and darkness that once sought the destruction of all sentient life on this world. The rumors are whispers at best, but I have made several well informed connections. If my discoveries here are accurate and these void spren are actually real, then we are dealing with splinters that are openly hostile. My guess is that these spren move with an intent and were created purposefully by a destructive Shard. I see now why I was sent here, for history seems ripe to repeat itself. I wish to be absolutely wrong about this, but my gut feeling is that there is a great destruction coming. To you, I suggest the following caution. Should I prove right, and find that there are evil spren sent to do the work of a destructive shard, be sure to look for the patterns. These splinters seem to be mimics or replicas of what already exists here. This goes against all that I have observed on other worlds where the Shards manifest uniquely when exerting their respective Investiture powers. If this Dark one seeks to mimic his fellows, then his touch may be subtle. Look for the signs of madness or corruption of what already exists. Red eyes… perhaps this is another sign to watch for. There are reports that the people who wage war here have recently been seen with glowing red eyes. This might be the only reliable way to recognize the servants of this being. Then again, it is possible that there are multiple Shards attempting to cause upheaval and destruction. That thought alone sends a shiver up my spine. I will continue to look into these Void bringers, and there are more reports coming in all the time. Something inside me feels as if there is a great bell just beginning to toll the final hours of this place. The air almost hums with tension and I fear that someday this world will break. I hope your messengers can find me amidst what is to come. Perhaps I am wrong, but this seems all too familiar. I wish I had more time, but I am afraid… afraid that I will once again watch innocent lives be snuffed out. I don’t want to watch another world die. Elsric
  19. Adonalsium split into 16 shards which were taken up by 16 sapients. This indicates that Adonalsium was self aware. The definition of splinter is a self aware pice of a shard. But no shard has to our knowledge attained self awareness. This indicates 2 possibilities 1 there was always someone who took up the shard. Not leaving it enough time to attain self awareness 2 shards can't attain selfawareness because they are both too powerful and/or to powerless. If it is 1 can splinters be taken up before attainig self awareness (divine breath? )? Could it be that Adonalsium was taken up by a sapient. Has any shard attaind selfawareness?
  20. So, we have magic systems, we have Shards and we Investiture [citation needed]. How do pure Investiture come into play into magic systems? Sel Nohow. Seons don't do anything in AonDor. AonDor and other systems are powered by Shards' Investiture, like Allomancy. Elantrians become Invested by Shaod, which probably messes with Innate Investiture. Nalthis Endowment's Splinters are Divine Breaths, superpowered Breaths equal to 2 000 normal Breaths. Innate Investiture (which is Breath) is the fuel for the magic System, but Endowment doesn't fuel Awakening like Allomancy is fueled by Preservation. Scadrial We don't have any Splinters there, but there are condensed nuggets of pure Investiture: lerasium and atium. Both are metals which can be used in any of the Three Metallic Arts. Allomancers have a bit more of Innate Preservation in them so they are able to burn metals; godmetals are metals 'outside' of the system and are special. Roshar We don't know about Innate Investiture. Surgebinding is fueled by outside Investiture in the form of Stormlight. What's interesting is that to become a Surgebinder/Voidbringer you have to bond a Splinter; in all of the examples above, Splinters are either something not related to the magic, or something superpowered and outside of the normal system (Divine Breaths/godmetals), but on Roshar they're required to use the magic. That's strange.
  21. Recently, I reread Elantris 10th anniversary addition, and notice the extra epilogue on Hoid discussing whether he would succeed in being initiated as an Elantrian with a Skaze, there is a quote that caught my attention: "Yes, they [skaze] did have a wider range of emotions than Hoid had assumed. He needed to be careful not to let interactions with one member of a race - even a synthetic race - color his view of them all." What does Hoid mean by "synthetic"? It could imply that Skaze are artificial, and not something of natural occurrence. Due to the similarity between Seons and Skaze, we can sensibly infer one's characteristics to another. We have known that the Aons in Seons are in face Splinters, but not Seons themselves, which supports further that Seons, similar to Skaze, are artificial. We can infer that if there isn't any interference, these Splinters of Devotion and Dominion will NOT form Seons and Skaze. So who created them? The first possible candidates are Selish, especially those who can access the Dor in a large, significant manner, i.e. Elantrians, and later, Dakhor Monks. However, they do not appear to be viable candidates. First, there is no mention of the creation of Seons in the libraries of Elantris, though it is possible that Raoden has yet to discover related records, but very unlikely, as Elantris had been an advanced society for quite some time, and the lack of mention of the creation of Seons is rather suspicious. Second, even if Elantrians are indeed the ones who creates Seons, it does not explain the creations of Skaze, due to the fact that they are completely oblivious of their existence. Third, it would appear that Skaze has existed as long as Seons, but Dakhor Monks are reasonably a very recent creation of the Fjordell Empire, so they could not possibly be the creators of Skaze. It would seem that, Odium appears to be a pretty viable candidate for the creation of Seons and Skaze. It is known that Odium splintered Devotion and Dominion. It is also known that Seons and Skaze contains or consist tof Splinters. This is pure conjecture, but could it be Odium who creates Seons and Skaze? Could it be That in order to kill a shard, to Splinter a shard, it would take a Shard's investiture, and create something new, so that no one can pick up the shard and become its vessel? I originally want to involve Sprens, but as I do my research I discover many inconsistencies and sophistication involving the nature of them, so I will just leave it as it is for now. The main question I asked today, is that did Odium created Seons and Skaze, as the product or result of Splintering Dominion and Devotion?
  22. Brandon said that bad things would have happened if Kelsier hadn't been around to temporarily take control of Preservation's power after Leras died and hold it until Vin took it. I don't know if this topic has come up before, but I'm wondering what would have happened. Perhaps the following: Shard's power has no mind to shape/control/unify it The the various facets of the shard's intent gain a measure of sentience in order to compensate for the lack of a mind These facets disagree with each other and pull the power of the shard apart into a multitude of splinters. If that's the case, then splintering a shard is as simple as killing the shard's holder and then preventing it from finding a new one for a period of time.
  23. If Odium was able to splinter a shard, just how powerful was he? Wouldn't saved be able to easily destroy Odium, since he is Preserving people and yet he is Ruining Odium, and thus the intents are in Harmony? Seriously, I have no idea and all y'all are smarter then me so I'm interested in what you have to say.
  24. This is rather a lot of speculation. But I still think it is a fascinating idea. So I have mentioned earlier, I am pretty sure the way to splinter a shard is to have more investiture on hand than they do. So if one shard are more invested than another (for example, preservation being slightly more invested on scadrial than ruin), the more invested shard will eventually be able to splinter the less invested one. This is precisely how Ati killed Leras. This also explains why shards tend to fight indirectly (for example, the desolations and the heralds forming a kind of proxy war for odium and honor). How would this work on adolnasium? Not exactly sure, unless adolnasium invested so much in everything that people were able to overpower it. So anyway. We know that Rayse killed Tanavast. By the above reasoning, this means that honor would have to be more invested than odium. I predict that this piece of investiture honor did not have access to when being splintered by odium was the stormfather. I will pull the quote up later, but in WoR it says the stormfather fled when honor and odium fought. Perhaps this extra bit of power deserting Tanavast is what caused his death.
  25. Totally random and crazy theory for me, but here goes... What if we have been looking at this the wrong way, and the Death of Adonalsium wasn't the big bad event we all think it is? What if Rayse is, for all intent and purpose, the 'good guy', trying to do his best to avoid Adonalsium being reformed, and this is why he is so terrified of Sazed? As the Vessel of two Shards, he is the closest being to Adonalsium since the Shattering... Break it apart!
×
×
  • Create New...