Experience Shard?

[skaa]

From Ym's Interlude in Words of Radiance, we learned a few things about Iriali religion. According to Ym, the "One" who knew everything became "many" (i.e. people) in order to experience everything.  At first, it sounds like some sort of pantheism, perhaps suggesting that humans are merely a part of Adonalsium. But then when his young customer asked if the "One" was God, Ym said something that gave me pause:
 

"If you wish to say it that way," Ym said. "But it is not completely true. I accept no god. You should accept no god. We are Iriali, and part of the Long Trail, of which this is the Fourth Land."
...
"Eventually, all will be gathered back in--when the Seventh Land is attained--and we will once again become One."

 

This sounded to me like the "many" only refers to the Iriali people, or the people who are part of the Long Trail, not to everyone in general. This makes it less likely (though admittedly not impossible) that "One" is Adonalsium.
 
So now I'm wondering, what if "One" isn't Adonalsium per se, but a Shard of Adonalsium?

 

*start of detailed, wild, and probably wrong hypothetical scenario*

 

Imagine an Shard whose Intent is something like Experience, who secretly created a whole bunch of humans with Splinter souls (sort of like Endowment's Returned), made them look like mundane un-Invested humans who weren't Cosmere-aware, and planted them onto the Shardworld of an unsuspecting Shard.

 

The original "Experience Splinter-humans" had no discernible Invested ability, and they weren't even immortal, but they were capable of mating with the local population, producing offspring that had the Innate Investiture of that Shardworld's Shard and a Splinter of Experience at the same time. And when those people died, Experience was able to absorb their Cognitive aspect (their experiences) and their Spiritual aspect, including the Innate Investiture from the other Shard, effectively stealing a tiny part of that Shard's power.

 

Now, Experience's Shardholder knew that there were risks in holding too much of another Shard's power. For one, he wouldn't want the other Shard to get suspicious. Also, holding two different Shardic Intents might lead to balance problems (especially if the other Intent is opposed to Experience). Experience solved this problem by giving his people a strong sense of racial identity, starting with an easily distinguishable physical trait (golden hair), then later on with a shared mythology (the Seven Lands of the Long Trail) giving each of them a sense of Divine purpose. In this way, his people kept mostly to themselves, minimizing interracial relations.

 

At some point, one of these Splinter-humans mated with an outsider and produced an offspring who grew up to learn how to travel to Shadesmar and to Worldhop. Not missing the opportunity to initiate the Long Trail, a group of Splinter-humans joined their Shadesmar-traveling half-brother in migrating to another planet: the Second Land. Thus, the Long Trail truly began.

 

By the time they attained the Fourth Land (Roshar), they started calling themselves Iriali. Currently the other Shards are still unaware of what Experience has done, even as he now holds some of the power of at least four of them. Eventually (when his Splinters reach the Seventh Land?), he will have enough collective power to rival Odium (though perhaps not Harmony), although this power would have to be consolidated from all across the Cosmere. Theoretically, he will be able to create humans with a hybrid Innate Investiture from multiple Shards, which would make for some pretty powerful warriors.

 

We could only pray that Experience is a good guy.

 

*end of detailed, wild, and probably wrong hypothetical scenario*

Edited May 6, 2014 by skaa

[A Joe in the Bush]

Wildly Improbable, wouldn't Ym's Spren have realized something was wrong with him? But I wish this was true. Have an Upvote for Creativity.

 

EDIT: Barely Ninja'd Bloodfalcon

Edited May 6, 2014 by The Only Joe

[Bloodfalcon]

Really a fun idea skaa, Would certainly make an interesting story. I'm not sure it's entirely possible though. I think Brandon said that there have only ever been 3 Shards on Roshar. Pretty sure he listed them too. The idea makes me really wish I had a better understanding for what Shards are capable of. Right now I consider them nearly limitless beings except for when they tell us how they are limited / die. I need to do some research.

EDIT: Found it.

INTERVIEW: May, 2010

Ancient 17th Shard Question and Answer (Paraphrased)

CHAOS

How many Shards have existed on Roshar?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Three

 

 

Though that was in 2010, and there is a lot of room for change with this many books being juggled in the same universe. 

Edited May 6, 2014 by Bloodfalcon

[Haradion Drogon]

I often thought Ym's One was Adonalsium. I don't believe his "People" are unique in his beliefs. He tells the boy that he and Ym are "One", and the boy is not the Iriali

[GreyPilgrim]

Very interesting concept, skaa! I will add it to my unofficial list of ideas which probably aren't right, but are certainly interesting.

What Bloodfalcon says doesn't necessarily preclude this from being true, however. That question specifically asked how many Shards had been on Roshar. Just because only three have been there doesn't mean that others haven't influenced it in some way. I'm pretty sure we have WoB that Harmony is aware of the happenings on Roshar, and to do so he most likely has some sort of influence/presence there. Experience having Invested people would fall into the same category.

[Bloodfalcon]

Very interesting concept, skaa! I will add it to my unofficial list of ideas which probably aren't right, but are certainly interesting.

What Bloodfalcon says doesn't necessarily preclude this from being true, however. That question specifically asked how many Shards had been on Roshar. Just because only three have been there doesn't mean that others haven't influenced it in some way. I'm pretty sure we have WoB that Harmony is aware of the happenings on Roshar, and to do so he most likely has some sort of influence/presence there. Experience having Invested people would fall into the same category.

I think the quote is pretty clear. Only three Shards have ever existed on Roshar. The theory is still possible, I think, if Brandon is going against something he said back in 2010. That or the entire Iriali population is a group of worldhoppers from Experience's location. Also possible. This is why I wish I knew more about Shards. Technically Nightblood is an invested object from a different planet, and he is on Roshar, so that figure must not include things sent from other planets. But no Shard named Experience ever visited Roshar. And I doubt any of the Shards can just will themselves to create beings on other planets they aren't around. So either they are Worldhoppers, or this can't really be possible. 

[GreyPilgrim]

I think the quote is pretty clear. Only three Shards have ever existed on Roshar. The theory is still possible, I think, if Brandon is going against something he said back in 2010. That or the entire Iriali population is a group of worldhoppers from Experience's location. Also possible. This is why I wish I knew more about Shards. Technically Nightblood is an invested object from a different planet, and he is on Roshar, so that figure must not include things sent from other planets. But no Shard named Experience ever visited Roshar. And I doubt any of the Shards can just will themselves to create beings on other planets they aren't around. So either they are Worldhoppers, or this can't really be possible.

The whole thing doesn't really matter all that much. No offense to skaa, but I think that this bit of speculation, while fun and cool, is a little too far-fetched to ever be true anyways. I would be kind of disappointed if we were able to figure all of this out from the few little hints Ym gives us. It's always fun to be surprised!

[bartbug]

I'm with GreyPilgrim on this one, Bloodfalcon. We know that little sprinklings of Adonalsium are all over Roshar; they take the shape of some of the weird spren. Also, if you want to be technical, even Demoux or Galladon represent the presence of at least three (maybe four) other Shards.

[Bloodfalcon]

I'm with GreyPilgrim on this one, Bloodfalcon. We know that little sprinklings of Adonalsium are all over Roshar; they take the shape of some of the weird spren. Also, if you want to be technical, even Demoux or Galladon represent the presence of at least three (maybe four) other Shards.

 

That's exactly what I said. No other Shard has visited the planet, but there may be objects/creations of other Shards on the planet. But A) I don't think there is a Shard out there making huge groups of Worldhoppers to go colonize the planets of other Shards, and I think that much involvement on the planet would be overkill unless the Shard were present or had visited.

[Tempus]

I think we have word from Peter that the Iriali's 'many' in many lands is 'not meta', in reference to it being about worldhopping. I can't seem to find it, though?

 

If I'm mistaken about that, I'd just like to mention that there is a 'wandering shard' currently not on a planet.

[Swimmingly]

The 'not meta' thing referred to it not being about Roshar being the "Fourth Land" we've been introduced to, as readers.

[skaa]

I often thought Ym's One was Adonalsium. I don't believe his "People" are unique in his beliefs. He tells the boy that he and Ym are "One", and the boy is not the Iriali

The boy was Iriali.

The urchin stepped timidly up to the stool, walking with a limp he tried to hide. He was Iriali, though the grime darkened his skin and hair, both of which were golden. The skin less so--you needed the light to see it right--but the hair certainly. It was the mark of their people.

I also thought the "One" was Adonalsium at first. It's still possible. I'm just offering an alternative idea.

No offense to skaa, but I think that this bit of speculation, while fun and cool, is a little too far-fetched to ever be true anyways.

None taken. It is admittedly a pretty wild idea.

I would be kind of disappointed if we were able to figure all of this out from the few little hints Ym gives us. It's always fun to be surprised!

When we learned that Shardblades actually were spren and that Parshendi really could hear Rhythms that allowed them to synchronize their chants, I wasn't disappointed at all that I had those ideas in advance. In fact I was giddy with delight! Of course, the original theory posts that contained those ideas were mostly wrong, anyway (especially the Shardblade one, where I said that Shardblades were Odiumspren; boy was that post full of wrong speculations!), but I was happy to get at least a few things right.

Here, I took a pretty simple idea (that Ym's "One" is a Shard) and went wild with it, proposing a hypothetical outline of what this Shard has done and what it might be able to do in the future. Most of those things will probably be wrong. But hey, perhaps I'll get another (small) thing right again this time.

Edit: Almost forgot to address The Only Joe's concern:

Wildly Improbable, wouldn't Ym's Spren have realized something was wrong with him? But I wish this was true. Have an Upvote for Creativity.

Thanks! It's possible that nahelspren could detect other-worlders and Splinters, yes, but Ym's spren probably still had lots of gaps in her memory. Also, it wouldn't be impossible for my hypothetical Experience Shard to suppress the Splinter-soul of his people. The Returned can do it, after all.

Besides, Ym might have had non-Iriali blood. That would have given him enough of Honor's Innate Investiture to allow for a Nahel bond.

Edited May 7, 2014 by skaa

[Bloodfalcon]

I think we have word from Peter that the Iriali's 'many' in many lands is 'not meta', in reference to it being about worldhopping. I can't seem to find it, though?

 

If I'm mistaken about that, I'd just like to mention that there is a 'wandering shard' currently not on a planet.

Unfortunately the Wandering Shard has never been to Roshar, but that doesn't mean he's not a good candidate for the general idea, ya know?

[DSC01]

If there is an Experience Shard, I want there to be an Innocence Shard, too.