A Cosmere of Shards

[ShadowLord_Lith]

So I was thinking, and I decided to put to this community two questions:

1. What would it be called when all the Shards have been gathered? I mean, it's no longer a shard! What is it?

And

2. If you were a shard, what shard would you be? To build on that, what would your world be like? What magic system or systems would you have?

the one rule for the second question is that you can't copy Brandon's work. You can be cultivation or honor, but you can't be on Roshar. 

Personally, I'd be the shard of cultivation, though my interpretation is causing growth in others. My world would be water-based with small islands in archipelagos all over the planet. The magic would involve diving into the ocean to retrieve pearls that grant you two abilities. One is either pyro-kineses or hydro-kineses, the other is always the dormant ability to enhance other people's powers. Every once in a while, a child will be born with a pearl, and the color of the pearl determines the abilities he/she has.what about you guys?

[Eki]

Wouldn't 1) just be Adonalsium?

[ShadowLord_Lith]

That would be the name of either what his power was or the person who held the power, the question is; what would it be called?  For example: cultivation is a shard and the wielder has a name other than shard or cultivation, so what would Adonalsium be considered? A shard? I don't really think so, since he is whole. I should have  clarified earlier, thanks for catching that mistake @Eki!

[Eki]

So you mean like... the Intent of Adonalsium? The name is (probably) derived from a Hebrew word for God, but I think "Sentience", "Consciousness" or similar would fit. Investiture left alone seems to gain consciousness, and even sentience, and many shards have strived to create or interact with living beings.

[ShadowLord_Lith]

That's true, and interesting. What I'm trying(and mostly failing) to ask is; since Shards are pieces of adonalsium, and adonalsium wasn't a shard, what was he? I mean, a shard of glass started out as a whole pane of glass what did a shard of adonalsium start out as? What is the 'whole' form of a shard?

[Darkness Ascendant]

The Mark of Pane.

[ShadowLord_Lith]

Do you really think so?

[Kynedath]

1) Personally I'd say some sort of jewel or crystal if we were still going with the shard analogy. But I think that you can't apply that to Adonalsium. Shards are a concept made by humans. You can have a shard of something, but a shard in and of itself doesn't have any real value. Shard isn't the name of a thing, its the name of a part of a thing.

2) I would want to be either Connection or Transferance. My world would be completely covered in forest. The only place that wasn't covered in trees is the mountains and the rivers and oceans. For a magic system, I'd use the mass of the objects around me as an energy source (the wood of a tree used as a source would shrink and eventually disappear) and the output would be mostly kinetic energy or motion (like shooting an arrow without a bow or flying).

[Zathoth]

Weirdness. My shardworld is a bizarre and colorful landscape. My magic is based on summoning strange creatures that live in the cognitive realm and bonding with them.

Lovecraft+Pokemon+Sanderson. It is a fantastic idea.

[Eki]

On 2016-10-19 at 1:19 AM, ShadowLord_Lith said:

That's true, and interesting. What I'm trying(and mostly failing) to ask is; since Shards are pieces of adonalsium, and adonalsium wasn't a shard, what was he? I mean, a shard of glass started out as a whole pane of glass what did a shard of adonalsium start out as? What is the 'whole' form of a shard?

Must have missed this thread or forgotten to reply or something.

Ok, I think I understand what you mean. The type of thing that Adonalsium is, I guess? I'm not sure if there would be a good word, really. Shards are just especially large chunks of Investiture, with an Intent. Presumably, the word "shard" is supposed to have been created by in-universe scientists, meaning there could in theory be edge cases and stuff like that. Technically Adonalsium would be a shard, just a very powerful one, but the terminology only exists because the Shattering happened in the first place. If no one knew about the Shattering, shards would have been called something else, something that didn't relate to that event. In that case, it would have been more obvious that Adonalsium would fit into the same category as well.

[Zathoth]

2 hours ago, Ernei said:

Wouldn't He simply be Brandon Sanderson? 

No Brandon is God Beyond.

[ShadowLord_Lith]

Wouldn't Brandon be the Cosmere and all things within it? Adonalsium would just be one of the strongest inner personalities of Brandon's mind. The less investiture something has, the less powerful a personality it is? Anyway, you've all answered my question beyond thoroughly, almost as completely as the laws of thermodynamics. Thank you! Especially you @Eki, you have provided an amazing perspective.

Edited December 4, 2016 by ShadowLord_Lith

[Jedal]

If I were to be a shard, I would be Affirmation.

Magic in my world would be based upon strength of belief, being similar to Soulcasting. If you believe something, Investiture would affirm said thing, making it true. Also, another form of Investiture would be able to work upon the mind, Affirming certain beliefs inside of someone, similar to Soothing and Rioting. I could Affirm certain beliefs to make them stronger, while Dismissing others.

In terms of a world, I would have several high mountains, which sat above a shadowed world covered by clouds. Below, your abilities would be far more powerful, due to the planet being undefined, while above, humans lived normally.

Edited December 6, 2016 by Orderbound

[Kynedath]

1 minute ago, Orderbound said:

If I were to be a shard, I would be Affirmation.

Magic in my world would be based upon strength of belief, being similar to Soulcasting. If you believe something, Investiture would affirm said thing, making it true. Also, another form of Investiture would be able to work upon the mind, Affirming certain beliefs inside of someone, similar to Soothing and Rioting. I could Affirm certain beliefs to make them stronger, while Dismissing others.

That sounds really interesting. So if you affirm something in someone's mind, would they then be able to make it true by the first type of magic? And if you don't believe in the magic, then would you not be able to use it? Or if you believe that the magic acts a certain way, would you be able to change the magic system to work how you want it to?

[Jedal]

7 minutes ago, Kynedath said:

That sounds really interesting. So if you affirm something in someone's mind, would they then be able to make it true by the first type of magic? And if you don't believe in the magic, then would you not be able to use it? Or if you believe that the magic acts a certain way, would you be able to change the magic system to work how you want it to?

Two types of magic, the mental Affirmations and Dismissals, and the physical Affirmations and Dismissals. As I added above, you can only truly change reality within the lower areas of the planet, the ones below the Godpeaks. So, this would prevent the destruction of humanity before it could develop a set of rules. The further one goes from the ground of the planet, the weaker their physical abilities would become. Conversely, those who possessed mental abilities would grow stronger the further you ascended. After all, creation is impulsive, while belief is built on already created ideas. Creation must come from something unformed, while honing something, that comes from what has been built. The Godpeaks were built by me personally, and as such, can not be affected by physical Affirmation. 

Someone could only destroy my Affirmation with intense amounts of Investiture, as to destroy an idea, you need a more powerful one.

Edited December 6, 2016 by Orderbound

[Kynedath]

1 minute ago, Orderbound said:

Two types of magic, the mental Affirmations and Dismissals, and the physical Affirmations and Dismissals. As I added above, you can only truly change reality within the lower areas of the planet, the ones below the Godpeaks. So, this would prevent the destruction of humanity before it could develop a set of rules. The further one goes from the ground of the planet, the weaker their physical abilities would become. Conversely, those who possessed mental abilities would grow stronger the further you ascended. After all, creation is impulsive, while belief is built on already created ideas.

Neat! So then you wouldn't be able to compound like in mistborn. Smart. I like the concept of geographical magic. 

[Jedal]

Just now, Kynedath said:

Neat! So then you wouldn't be able to compound like in mistborn. Smart. I like the concept of geographical magic. 

Thanks! I guess I kinda copied Elantris a bit. I don't even know how I could create something like this.

[agigabyte]

Analysis. My system of investiture would be based around, and called, Logic. It would be extremely complicated and have many limitations. However, the more someone understands one of the four parts of Logic (a system anyone can use), the more innate skill and raw power someone has with the four varieties (Transmutation, Divination, Conjuration, Illusion). Reaching the pinnacle of ability with a variety would put you on the same playing field as a Splinter, but that would require massive amounts of time, which I doubt even Hoid can afford to spend.

Transmutation would cover shapeshifting and healing. At its pinnacle, a user could change forms in an instant and heal shardblade wounds.

Divination would cover scrying and future-sight. At its pinnacle, one could see decades into the future, see anyone in the star system (or a place connected in the cognitive realm), and see the future well enough to predict what an Atium user is going to do. 

Conjuration would cover both traditional fireball-type things and summoning of creatures of investiture. At its pinnacle, someone could create a beam of pure heat or create a Spren. 

Illusion would cover illusions (obviously) and transportation (convincing the Cognitive realm itself that you're in another place). At its pinnacle, one could trick a Shard with an illusion or transport oneself across the entire galaxy in an instant. 

The magic system itself grows more powerful when used by someone with greater knowledge, and creates a bubble within the Cognitive realm that's easily noticeable unless someone is using Illusion Logic, so it's practically mandatory to become at least mildly proficient in Illuaion Logic.