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Why on Earth are the IRE worried about shades?


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The shades are able to spread and, arguably, reproduce. If a shade kills someone, that person becomes a shade. 

Plus, they are attracted to ambitious behavior- spilling blood, setting fires, running. Those can arguably all be seen as ambitious behaviours. It's unclear if other behaviors would fall under this.  Maybe the shades are attracted to sources of investiture, like say a pipeline of the Dor. Pure speculation there.

There's also a question of what the shades are like in the Cognitive Realm. They could somehow be more dangerous there, if they're not stretched as thinly across all 3 realms.

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7 minutes ago, Booknerd said:

There are multiple star systems between Thyndel and Scandrial but the IRE in SH are scared of them why?

The Ire are also hanging out in the Cognitive Realm, where the distance between Threnody and their base of operations near Scadrial isn't radically different from anywhere else. Once you get into interstellar space the difference in travel times becomes pretty minimal. A better question isn't one of distance but simply why they're worried about the threat in general. Cognitive Shadows are normally bound to the Physical/Cognitive region where they were created, which means that Shades are normally going to be tied down to the Threnodite System (or just the planet itself) and so they shouldn't be a threat outside that region... unless someone or something is helping them leave; the Shades seem like they'd have trouble figuring out the trick of getting away from the region they're bound to on their own.

As for what they're worried about, the combination of Shades being used as potential spies (which the Ire seem to be worried about) and the whole withering thing explain pretty well why anyone would want to keep the things at a distance, especially the latter.

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12 minutes ago, Booknerd said:

There are multiple star systems between Thyndel and Scandrial but the IRE in SH are scared of them why?

*Threnody

'Scared' might be too strong of a word, wary would be closer. They were also keeping an eye out for "the powers of Threnody", whoever they might be, and wondered if they were trying to "join the stage".

Regardless, these people are not Elantrians in their home turf, it's quite understandable that they are wary.

They were in the space between Scadrial and Threnody in the Cognitive Realm, since Kelsier could reach their fortress, the Shades probably could too. They're Cognitive Shadows too.

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18 minutes ago, Weltall said:

The Ire are also hanging out in the Cognitive Realm, where the distance between Threnody and their base of operations near Scadrial isn't radically different from anywhere else. Once you get into interstellar space the difference in travel times becomes pretty minimal. A better question isn't one of distance but simply why they're worried about the threat in general. Cognitive Shadows are normally bound to the Physical/Cognitive region where they were created, which means that Shades are normally going to be tied down to the Threnodite System (or just the planet itself) and so they shouldn't be a threat outside that region... unless someone or something is helping them leave; the Shades seem like they'd have trouble figuring out the trick of getting away from the region they're bound to on their own.

As for what they're worried about, the combination of Shades being used as potential spies (which the Ire seem to be worried about) and the whole withering thing explain pretty well why anyone would want to keep the things at a distance, especially the latter.

If you look at the constelation map on the inside cove of Arcanum Unbounded there are tveral Star systems in between, and not far off the lie is Roshar so if even one of those stars hosts life (plus Roshar potentially depending on how the CR maps 3D objects in 2D) then the shade have two planets to cross that's ludicrous to be even concerned about. 

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41 minutes ago, Booknerd said:

If you look at the constelation map on the inside cove of Arcanum Unbounded there are tveral Star systems in between, and not far off the lie is Roshar so if even one of those stars hosts life (plus Roshar potentially depending on how the CR maps 3D objects in 2D) then the shade have two planets to cross that's ludicrous to be even concerned about. 

Distance in the Cognitive Realm depends on minds. There's nothing but empty space for light-years in the Physical, but that gets reduced to mere footsteps in the Cognitive.

That's how Worldhoppers like Hoid and Khriss travel

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45 minutes ago, Booknerd said:

 

If you look at the constelation map on the inside cove of Arcanum Unbounded there are tveral Star systems in between, and not far off the lie is Roshar so if even one of those stars hosts life (plus Roshar potentially depending on how the CR maps 3D objects in 2D) then the shade have two planets to cross that's ludicrous to be even concerned about. 

The star systems would only be relevant if they were inhabited by sapient life. Also, they don't say Shades, they say, "Forces of Threnody." We have no idea what these forces are comprised of. They could easily be the Evil that drove Silence's ancestors away from the Homeland, instead of the Shades.

Edited by RShara
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53 minutes ago, Booknerd said:

If you look at the constelation map on the inside cove of Arcanum Unbounded there are tveral Star systems in between, and not far off the lie is Roshar so if even one of those stars hosts life (plus Roshar potentially depending on how the CR maps 3D objects in 2D) then the shade have two planets to cross that's ludicrous to be even concerned about. 

 

In addition to what @RShara said, there is no guarantee that linear direction in the Physical realm is going to correlate to the terrain of the Cognitive Realm, even assuming that the 2-D starchart is representative of the 3-D reality.  They could appear to be "in the way" from the planet/POV of whomever draw that star-chart and still be lightyears off their real axis.  And past that, the terrain of the Cognitive doesnt mirror the topology of the Physical Realm in any reliable way (planar vs spherical planets, inversion effects, etc), so those directions could be easily entirely meaningless when plotting Cognitive Realm travels.  

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The shades might be weaponized as well, and perhaps someone sends them out from time to time. Just imagine what unleashing 10,000 shades into Elendel might do, or what might happen to the spren if Shades started invading along side Odium. 

Edited by teknopathetic
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From a wild guess at the timeline (we know SfS happens after Warbreaker but before SA) and how Silence's grandmother was one of the first to scout out the Forests, I highly suspect that the Evil that took over the Homeland and the "Forces of Threnody" mentioned in SH are the same. The timeline could match up. I don't know if that early on, there would be enough Shades to be a "force" yet.

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