How are aethers fueled?

[+Oltux72]

There is no equivalent to Stormlight, White Sand or metals with Aethers. So what fuels them? Are they like Aviars?

[Eternal Khol]

1 hour ago, Oltux72 said:

There is no equivalent to Stormlight, White Sand or metals with Aethers. So what fuels them? Are they like Aviars?

Based on the fact that the Aethers seem to have emotions or something that humans recognize as “emotions”, id classify them as Sentient pieces of investiture that are capable of bonding with humans

theyd most likely be classified as Splinters

Kinda similar to lesser spren.

but more powerful.

As to what fuels them, its gotta be a direct connection to a Shard we dont know yet.

If there are as many Aethers in the Canon of the Cosmere as there are in the novel then that mean that there’s thousands of Splinters on the planet(maybe more. For all we know, Aethers planet could also have 2 shards) 

or maybe the humans themselves fuel the Aethers. If the Aethers were being directly fueled by a shard like with Allomancy, then the Aethers shouldnt get “tired” like they do. 

 

 

“ D’Naa fell back, fear numbing her body, her Aether pulsing in anticipation.”

“D’Naa fell back, fear numbing her body, her Aether pulsing in anticipation.”

 

Overlord Jebus

All the physical manifestations--solid physical manifestations we've seen of Investiture has been metallic. It's been atium, lerasium, Shardblades. Is that just a coincidence?

Brandon Sanderson

No, it's intentional.

Overlord Jebus

It's intentional so we're not going to see Investiture wood or Investiture plastic?

Brandon Sanderson

Right, I mean technically, like, what do you call the Aethers? Those are not metal. But I do it as metal intentionally.

Questioner

They could be a metal with very low boiling point.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, the vine ones are--

Overlord Jebus

Well we've had liquid, we've had gas, the solids all seem to be metallic, so.

Brandon Sanderson

That is intentional, it's just one of those little laws of the cosmere, that's not meant to mean anything

Emerald City Comic Con 2018 (March 1, 2018) Edited May 22, 2020 by Eternal Khol

[Honorless]

The Aethers were conceived as being more sapient in Liar of Partinel but Aether of Night also gives sufficient examples of Aethers seeming to feel excited to their bondmates. D'naa's Verdant Aether in particular acted very alive & active, sometimes seeming to nuzzle her.

Brandon has wanted the Aethers in the Cosmere since a very long time and they were the inspiration for spren, especially Syl.

Vaeria didn't seem to have any other active sources of Investiture that fuelled the Aethers, though it is possible that we just didn't see them or they were not that apparent. They were apparently crafted from Order and Chaos, and we don't know exactly what they were supposed to be. Could've been Spiritual or interpretations of the Former's Intent.

Brandon says the Aethers are currently pre-Shattering magic but that might change. (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/316-general-signed-books-2018/#e11245)

If they were pre-Shattering, that would be interesting, they could be Adonalsium's Splinters and/or Realmatic interactions like Tzai Blows or Spiritweb fiddling like Microkinesis. Otherwise, they are likely to be Splinters of Vaeria's Shards.

Either way, they were noted as being fatigued after prolonged use. Some Aethers are stronger, some are weaker. The Aethers themselves seem to provide the necessary Investiture to fuel their various effects.

 

The name of the planet might change. Brandon intended to do a planet called Lor. Some theorize if Vax could be the Aethers' planet. 

Also while Brandon has canonized the Aethers but they might not necessarily be the ones we saw in Aether of Night. The Aethers have changed from this book to Lor to Partinel.

Edited June 12, 2020 by R J
word repetitions and redundancies

[Eternal Khol]

I have this little theory about aethers and the shattering. 
 

what if when Adon was Shattered,and all investiture got assigned to a shard, that some of the Aethers got “assigned” to one shard and the others got “assigned” to a second shard.

unitentionally creating a planet that could attract 2 shards, because their magic is already there 

Theres six more unrevealed Shards and only one more new series in theCosmere timeline in the State of The Sanderson 2019

i think theres gotta be one more shard pair

[Guest Somebody from Scadrial]

Six more shards six Aethers I'm just saying so we have a survival shard that's actual intent is close to Wisdom that sounds like Bestarin or Ferrous in fact it sounds a lot like Ferrous so it's possible maybe Bestarin is some sort of healing or Health shard Amberite might be War or Strength maybe Chaos Night and Illuminous might be scrapped or maybe they will be powered by a Shadow and a Brightness shard it's possible but I thinks it's more realistic Wisdom is Ferrous and Bestarin's source in it's some sort of giant animal Ferrous creature and maybe maybe War or just plain Slaughter is in control of Amberite and Verdite I'm actually really liking this version maybe the opposites for this one are Bestarin v Amberite and Verdite v Ferrous Bestarin and Amberite were creations of war to fight and Verdite was made by War to sustain and protect the troops and Ferrous was made for immortal creatures although it was actually made in order to make Wisdom immortal just some ideas that made a unreasonably short thread in to a unreasonably long thread

[LewsTherinTelescope]

Aethers currently a. are very similar to in Aether of Night, and b. are still likely to be pre-Shattering and non-Shardic, according to this WoB (putting only the relevant part):

Quote

beewall

Since [you said] Aether of Night could be canon with slight changes, I assume the Aethers in the book will be mostly canon as they are, at least in your current outline?

If you were to revise Aether to be canon, would you be replacing Ruin and Preservation with two other Shards, or would you be more likely to just remove Ruin convincing the Twins to imprison Preservation?

Brandon Sanderson

Future Aether books are very likely. And the aethers themselves are going to be very like the ones in the book.

If I did try to make it cannon, I'd probably remove the whole Shard plot from the book and instead either use another Shard, or not add a new one, since the Aethers (as I have them now in the notes) function without a Shard's involvement, and even predate the shattering. (Note, that's not yet canon.)

General Reddit 2020 (Oct. 8, 2020)

Based on the novel, the Aethers probably draw directly from the Spiritual, I would guess? They seem to tire themselves out doing so, however. (I expect Brandon might add a more direct cost, based on how he does magic now, but I don't know what he would choose, so we only have the unpublished novel for now, I guess).

The fact they work as a non-Shardic magic surprises me, tbh. They seem pretty powerful.

Edited October 15, 2020 by beewall
mostly tiny fixes to stuff

[Weltall]

@Somebody from Sel Paragraphs!

Okay, that aside, we know at least one Shard isn't on a planet and we know that the one that just wants to hide and survive is extremely unlikely to be hanging out on a planet since those are kind of easy to find, especially when they have Shards on them. Also, we know there are only so many planets with multiple Shards and Roshar is remarkable for being a system that's a host to three, so the idea that there could be six Shards associated with one system is... absurd.

Also remember that the intent of a Shard has almost nothing to do with what one can be done with a magic powered by that Shard; instead the intent affects how you get access to the magic in the first place. You act to Preserve yourself when you snap as an allomancer, you intend to Ruin someone when you use hemalurgy, you act Honorably in swearing the ideals of a surgebinder and so on. So using the nature of the various aethers to try and figure out the intent of the Shard(s) powering them is kind of fruitless. To really drive the point home, bear in mind that the Former and Decay essentially became Preservation and Ruin.

Edited October 15, 2020 by Weltall

[Guest Somebody from Scadrial]

41 minutes ago, Weltall said:

@Somebody from Sel Paragraphs!

Okay, that aside, we know at least one Shard isn't on a planet and we know that the one that just wants to hide and survive is extremely unlikely to be hanging out on a planet since those are kind of easy to find, especially when they have Shards on them. Also, we know there are only so many planets with multiple Shards and Roshar is remarkable for being a system that's a host to three, so the idea that there could be six Shards associated with one system is... absurd.

Also remember that the intent of a Shard has almost nothing to do with what one can be done with a magic powered by that Shard; instead the intent affects how you get access to the magic in the first place. You act to Preserve yourself when you snap as an allomancer, you intend to Ruin someone when you use hemalurgy, you act Honorably in swearing the ideals of a surgebinder and so on. So using the nature of the various aethers to try and figure out the intent of the Shard(s) powering them is kind of fruitless. To really drive the point home, bear in mind that the Former and Decay essentially became Preservation and Ruin.

Ok so you make points and I only really the idea of six shards as a joke the rest talks about a Wisdom shard and a War shard and who says that said shard has always been survival focused and Ferrous really feels like a spaceship possibility and the whole immortality thing it feels like something Wisdom might have experimented with before they really focused on survival 

And the whole Wisdom v War thing just makes sense they seem like opposite concepts that intertwine which is kinda what most of the shard combinations are

The grand war that is mentioned in aether makes sense to me Amberite v Bestarin Verdite v Ferrous as said in my last reply 

Just because the shard is tied to a world doesn't mean it can't go into space a couple light years away so all in all I think it's a real possiblity that I think should be looked into

[LewsTherinTelescope]

18 minutes ago, Somebody from Sel said:

Just because the shard is tied to a world doesn't mean it can't go into space a couple light years away so all in all I think it's a real possiblity that I think should be looked into

I mean, they probably can't. They're generally limited to the solar system they're in.

[Guest Somebody from Scadrial]

11 hours ago, beewall said:

I mean, they probably can't. They're generally limited to the solar system they're in.

Is there space in-between planets in a solar system I'd always thought the were stacked right next to each other and their gravity cancelled each other out

[LewsTherinTelescope]

7 hours ago, Somebody from Sel said:

Is there space in-between planets in a solar system I'd always thought the were stacked right next to each other and their gravity cancelled each other out

?

[Guest Somebody from Scadrial]

2 hours ago, beewall said:

?

There is plenty of space in-between planets it wouldn't be that hard to go far away from planets and still be in the solar system

[LewsTherinTelescope]

4 minutes ago, Somebody from Sel said:

There is plenty of space in-between planets it wouldn't be that hard to go far away from planets and still be in the solar system

Sure, but light years? I mean, a Shard could be light years away from a planet, but probably not if it was Invested there.