There are some really cool ideas present, but at the same time I don't really vibe with the execution sometimes.
This applies to many of the aspects of that world but especially the magic system and even more specifically Aon Dor.

I like the concept of a simple shape dictated by the form of the land will form the basis of the symbols that essentially become a magical programming language if combined well. It's such a cool Idea. Especially the fact that the symbol in itself will gradually change with the landscape itself.

But on the other hand I don't really like how Aon Dor is executed. In a way it's the closest we come to feeling like a standard random fantasy magic system in all of sandersons worlds. It can basically do anything and doesn't have any real limits we know of. You can draw them in the air to get an effect. Inscribe objects to get an effect, shape objects to get an effect. But theres no real insight into how these things take effekt. It just works. Somehow. (Spoiler TotES)

Which is fine, it's a fantasy story and magic isn't real after all. But It laks the typical Sanderson feel of "wow this almost feels like a real thing". It doesn't feel like we just don't understand it, it feels like there's not much more to it than that.

This is also represented with the diffrent Aons we get. I like the simple ones. The ones that are diffrent combinations of Aon Aon. That's a cool concept. But a lot of them look way to overcrowded and convoluted to be used in the way they are described. They are supposedly also the basis of the alphabet. But the time it takes to draw e.g. Aon Reo you'd be done writing an entire letter in any other script. It's hard to imagine someone drawing a shape this accurately to get the effect in the air as well. I would like the aspect that they are really complicated, if that learning curve was the main/only entry barrier to Aon Dor. But we still have the concept of an Elantrian. Only special people can do it.

I think the Emperors soul does almost all of the aspects better. (We don't know how the stamp shapes look in canon)
The magic feels deeper and more meaningful. Like you have to be an actual sholar and craftsman to practice it. it has a more limited use and stricter rules. And the vague nature of these rules adds to the feeling of there being a deeper knowledge that we don't understand.
 

What are your thought's on the wordbuilding of Sel?

1. The magic system is very open-ended. Anything is possible with the right combination of aons/symbols which makes Sel a big sandbox.

2. Sel is a massive planet. We've only seen a handful of countries but have about half a dozen magic systems. Should the trend continue Sel could easily be hiding half a dozen more. 

I've worked on it myself for a while but would like some help making it "fit" better. Essentially, does it work like a cosmere magic system would, specifically a selish magic system? If not, how can it be improved?

Here are the ground rules for selish magics as I see them. The magics exist on a spectrum of devotion to dominion. Magic systems that lean devotion are more skill-based (aons, chayshan, and forgery) while magics that lean dominion are more sacrificial in nature (bloodsealing, darkhor, and the potions - although I don't have much proof for that last one). Additionally, every selish magic system has a focus on symbols or forms that channel the power.

Using those rules I came up with this:

The main use of the magic system is that by putting on masks (inlaid with aon-like symbols) the practitioners (called shifters) can transform into a specific animal. Of course, any cosmere magic system needs defined rules. Here's what I've got so far

- when transforming mass is maintained meaning that you can't become much bigger or smaller than you already are

- the animal the shifter is becoming has to be a mammal (my logic is that mammals share some body similarities. Transforming into birds, lizards or fish is theoretically possible but takes more power than the average shifter would have access to).

- transformations are fairly short; I don't imagine longer than 10 minutes although frequent use can increase this limit.

- In order to create a mask the practitioner must find the animal they want to transform into and perform a sacrificial ritual which forges a connection between the person and the animal. As part of this process, part of the animal's skull is incorporated into the mask.

- Because of this ritual a shifter can only use masks they've made. If someone else tries to wear their mask it won't have any effect.

That's the gist of the magic system. My goal was to take a somewhat common magic power (shapeshifting) and adapt it to the cosmere. So now I ask, does this seem realistic for a selish magic system? If not how could it be improved to better fit into the world of Sel?

(also, just as a side question I'm curious what you guys think would be useful animals to transform into. I'm struggling not to default to basics - bear, wolf, etc.-  and would appreciate some help brainstorming).

and no, I'm not adding Dilaf to the list!

However, there are a few things we can put together to create a more complete picture.

The first observation I would like to make is that the Forgery Shai makes for Ashravan does not interfere with the Resealing and vice versa. I find this most interesting since two or more Forgeries typically cannot be put on a person since they would interfere with each other. And given that this issue is never once brought up, I highly suspect that Resealing is a more permanent act than Soul Forgery- a stamp placed on a person couldn't just be undone by leaving the province or breaking the physical seal before.

Resealing is also said to be very dangerous if not done correctly, and from such I believe that this system is more flexible in some ways than Soul Forging- at least when it comes to shaping one's body. Shai mentions that you must get everything down to a tee, since getting even a single blood vessel or muscle off in your stamp can kill the patient. Since this magic apparently isn't as locked into a safeguarded preset like Soul Forgery, I suspect you can directly alter the physical aspect (in theory) however you want. It's just such a complex and risky practice that doing much more than healing would be unlikely.

One final observation I made was that Ashravan (though I think of overall less importance) would have presumably needed a Resealing very quickly, as he had a severe head injury that left him braindead. So, either you can do what Soul Forgers do and have many premade stamps (which, for the emperor is actually pretty likely) or it's a lot quicker for them to be made- perhaps instead of making an entire story of someone's alternate life history you just target an area of the body and carve a stamp that approximates what a healthy tissue in that area would look like and the magic does the rest.

I had previously thought Resealing to be a mere training difference in its function than Soul Forging (and given Shai's commentary about choosing not to pursue it, perhaps it is a close enough cousin that MaiPon people could learn both), but given these differences I now believe it to be closely related by separate system that targets and modifies the Physical Aspect rather than targeting the Spiritual Aspect and being forced to adhere to its presets (though I'm sure Soul Forgery is the only of the two capable of affecting one's skills, memories, and Connections. Just worse at healing and probably reshaping a body). In other words, I think Soul Forgery writes an alternate story for a person or object that their Spiritweb aligns with, while Flesh Forgery directly takes the blueprints of their body and reshapes it as written by the Forger.

With the advancements of Soul Forgery like universal stamps, it would be pretty cool to see Flesh Forgery gain applications for not just healing, but enhancing individuals (increasing muscle mass, bone density, reshaping organs to be safer from injury) or maybe for cosmetics.

Quote

not talking about the book, but the real thing.

The emperor got wounded, was left in semi vegetative state. then a stamp was made to fix him. I wonder what happened to his actual soul, congitively and spiritually. Did the emepror die, his soul going to beyond, and the stamp animated the body with investiture? Or maybe the emperor died and the stamp created a new soul for him, so that in the beyond there will be two emperors in the end? or perhaps the soul of the emperor was still with the body, and the stamp repaired the damage to it?

Questioner

At the very end [of the Emperor’s Soul], the Ashravan construct, the simulacrum that’s been made, is convincing. Is it a real boy?

Brandon Sanderson

So, by cosmere terms, what has happened here is that it is a new individual who has the memories that Shai has put into his head. She has actually constructed something that is using some of the matter and stuff behind (it can access some of the matter). Is it a real boy? It is a construct that has enough Investiture to be self-aware. So it is a person, I would say yes.

Is it a real boy? Is Syl a real girl? If you say yes to Syl being a real girl, then yes, it’s a real boy. It’s definitely a person, does that make sense? But is it actually him? No. Not by basically anyone’s definitions. If you go to the religious definitions, they’re gonna be like, “No, that soul passed on.” If you go to the arcanist definitions, they’re gonna be like, “This isn’t quite a Cognitive Shadow, but it’s something analogous to it.” You’ve taken some Investiture that’s become self-aware and can access the memories, ‘cause it’s got… It can actually access memories that she didn’t put in there, because it has access to the brain, that was still functional. But see, it gets a little sticky here. She basically made them a better version, but it also has autonomy. It is a person.

I want to see what creative uses for soulstamps everyone can come up with, because it is the most concrete yet open ended magic system we have. If your scenario requires the magic to work a certain way, note the assumptions you’re making before you give the idea. If you can come up with a different trick that would do something similar if the assumption isn’t true, even better. 
 

1. How to turn lead into gold. (No assumptions made) 
Although people appear confident that turning lead into gold is impossible, I disagree. My method requires two bars of gold, but makes three. First, you need a lead bar and two gold bars. Flip a coin to decide which bar of gold to mess with. Take your selected bar, and remove most of the gold, replacing it with lead. Keep that gold for yourself. Next, create a soulstamp, stating that you’d chosen the other bar to counterfeit. Apply it to the counterfeit bar, and cover the stamp with more gold. Sell both it and the gold you’d stolen, potentially using the money to repeat the trick. Alternatively, if you work at some sort of treasury, pocket the stolen gold and leave your fake bars. 
 

2. Compact packing (no assumptions that I can think of.) 

Roll dice to assign the order you pack things into a small, cylindrical container. Among your things, include a wooden disc the minimum size required for a soulstamp. Create soulstamps that say the wooden disc was rolled instead, and use them to turn all of your items to small wooden discs. Remove the soulstamp when you want them back. 
 

I’m excited to see what everyone else comes up with. 

The bigger question is would this act differently than a normal stamp and if yes how so? I think there are a few ways this could go.

1. The crazy idea is that this would make a soulstamp permanent While this is unlikely as souls change and grow constantly I wonder if it would be like when you tie a young tree to a large pole. It doesn't prevent the tree from growing but it does influence how the tree grows.

2. This could potentially just make the soulstamp last slightly longer but then what happens to the tattoo when the forgery wears off? Would it disappear or just remain inactive?

3. There is the possibility that this just straight-up doesn't work. I could see an argument that a stamp is like a command and it's given all at once. A tattoo instead would take hours to complete; I wonder if that would make the command incomplete. It's also likely that the medium doesn't matter as much because soul stamping is more about stamping the soul than it is about stamping the body.

4. The final possibility is that this does make a soulstamp permanent but it's not worth it. Part of what makes Shai so effective is how she can adapt to any situation by using a different essence mark. If she was locked into one essence mark it would actually be a downgrade.

I would love to hear other's thoughts.

First off, a few things:

I am bad at new to this. If my magic system sucks, which it likely will, please inform me which parts leave something to be desired.

Canonically, Sel harbors 3 main sets of empires: the ones in Elantris (Arelon, Teoran, and Fjordell and it’s vassals), the ones in Emperor’s Soul (mainly MaiPon and the Rose Empire), and a vague third. Some say this third is JinDo, but, to paraphrase Khriss, there are three large Selish empire that mostly ignore each other. JinDo, however maintains great and near-equivalent relations with both sets of countries, so that I think it’s probably out of the running. But there’s a possibility that Treamayne pops up 15 minutes after this is poster with a relevant WoB disabusing me of my false notion. The mentions we have of it give impressions of a smallish trading powerhouse, a Selish Theylenah, which is very different from the sizes of the two viewpoint areas. So this is my idea for the magic system of the mysterious third.

To start off with the theory and broad details, users of this Invested art have free-floating connections attached to their spiritweb. These connections can latch on to an object, and can act like wires, conducting energy. Connections latch on to objects in pairs, and energy can only be conducted from one object to another, with a pair of “wires” latched on to each one, creating a kind of circuit. Energy can only be drawn out of an object if there’s an object in the circuit ready to receive. TL;DR: users of this system cannot invest. Energy can be drawn out of an object and converted to investiture, but only if it is then immediately turned back into energy and placed into a different object.

But since the energy is transformed into investiture and back, you have the option for it to come out in a different form; heat into directional force, or radio waves into visible light, just to name two examples.

Now into the more granular details, like initiation rites and other specifics.

It should be obvious by now that the system is end neutral. It is something like 45% Devotion, 55% Dominion due to the yet-to-be-explained initiation rites (although I’m wavering quite a bit on that percentage), and is probably 20% Physical, 60% Cognitive, and 20% Spiritual by Chaos’s categorization system

This system has magical symbols, like every other Selish system, which look something like Celtic knotwork, and are placed on the skin of the user’s hands. I’ve been calling the symbols “Runes” in my head, the users “Runics”, and the system “Runic Magic”, but that’s kind of a placeholder name more than anything else. If anyone has a good suggestion for the name of the symbols and the system, I’d be very thankful.

The Runes are brushed onto the hands of soon-to-be-Runics, using the same kind of animal based inks Soulstamping uses, before being “set” by a single stitch per rune of a needle made of bone and a duralumin thread. The stitch is pulled half through, with four of the Selish measurement closest to inches left dangling on each end of the stitch. The duralumin wire then evaporates into Devotion/Dominion’s Light, becoming loose threads of connection attached to the hand. This tattoo is nearly permanent and unchangeble without messing with the Runic’s spiritweb, and a runic cannot change their Runes. When you chose your runes, you choose them for life, so choose carefully. With great power comes great amounts of pancakes.

Runes take up most of the space of the area they’re drawn onto; each Runic has one wrapping around each non-thumb finger and extending all the way from the base to cover the fingertip, and two semicircular ones on the front and back of each hand. 8 fingers + 4x2 on the palm and back of each hand give 16 runes in total. One hand, when getting the Runes tattooed, is set as the absorptive hand, and the other the expressive. Runics generally have to touch an object to transfer energy, and it’s easiest if they use the proper part of the hand, but more experiences Runics learn to absorb or express energy with their whole body. It is a very advanced skill, however. Each Rune is set to absorb from or send to a specific range of things on its creation, and cannot be changed. The range of things a Rune could be set to interact with is formatted as <type of energy> to/from <type of object>, and the more specific each category is, the quicker a Runic can transfer energy using that Rune, but conversely, the Rune will be less versatile.

The following are the Runes of a character I made for a DnD campaign, along with explanations as to what the Runes would do, intended as an example.

Right (absorptive) hand:

Front of hand: Heat of water vapor 2x

Back of hand: Heat of water vapor, kinetic energy from shoes

First 2 fingers: Momentum guided by Intent to do harm 2x

Third finger: Kinetic energy from shoes

Fourth finger: visible light

This character revolves around forming weapons and projectiles out of ice by freezing airborne water vapor, so three of his absorptive runes are meant for that purpose, while the remaining back of hand rune is a less powerful but more versatile “heat” Rune. Though most Runics choose their expressive hand as their dominant one, because he’s generally forming weapons out of ice by absorbing heat from water vapor, he chose his dominant right hand to make it simpler. To clarify, in my head, Heat is energy with no general direction, Momentum is energy with a general direction, and kinetic energy is any non-photon/non-electromagnetic energy. The kinetic energy from shoes would effectively make shoes colder and harder to move. It’s intended to give you a moderate, variable bit of intake energy by tapping your toe quickly up and down, or by kicking your shoe if you need a lot, then absorbing its momentum. The rest is self-explanatory; this Runic can halt the momentum (relative to him) of objects someone else intends to do harm to him or others. The Runes he chose are the Runes of someone very confident in their intuition for investiture; forming specific shapes with sharp edges from air, rather than just a blob of ice, requires years of practice. 

Stormlight Archive spoilers: 

Imagining a sword- or arrowhead-shaped piece of air as an object takes a huge amount of visualization power, and to be clear, Runics can’t practice before getting their runes, which are theirs for life. So this guy was very confident that he could eventually do it, despite having no practice, other than som visualization exercises, when choosing this path. The Visible light finger will be explained later.

Left (expressive) hand:

Back of hand: momentum to ice 2x

Palm of hand: Visible light 2x

First and third finger: Heat to flesh 2x

Second finger: momentum to ice

fourth finger: Visible light

First of all, I mixed up the finger order just to show that you can do whatever you storming want with the order. Momentum to ice is simple: make an arrowhead of ice, hold it between your elbows with its point and your arms pointed toward the target, add momentum and keep in contact with your left hand to keep it accelerating, like a railgun. Hear to flesh allows you to avoid freezing your digits off while swinging a giant icy battle axe around, and to give third-degree burns to your opponent. Visible light allows for two things: lasers, albeit weak ones, and illusions. You can’t make illusions over clothing, but you can absorb all incoming light that hits your skin (which is what the right pinky is for) and replace it with whatever visible light you want, creating illusions. Also difficult to master, but very useful. 
 

So, that’s my magic system. Please tell me your thoughts, suggestions, and naming ideas!

Tripple B out 

what could the others be? 
 

I’ve been brainstorming and so far I think it’s likely there could be a 

commerce faction - focuses on trade and commercial success 

Innovation faction - focuses on creating a new future for the rose empire.

any other ideas for what factions could exist?

Post other interesting Elantris Facts here.

Is this the only reason for them to be personally invested? 

Also, is this why Elantrians need to be so heavily invested? 

When Hrathen pretends to have been taken by the Shaod, he almost dies of thirst, thinking to himself he should have known it would be difficult to go so long without water availeble. We see in one of Raoden's chapters that there is indeed one well in the city, but it is mentioned that the original Elantrians would not have needed water to survive, so there aren't many. So I think it is established that Elantrians don't need to drink, the same way that they do not need to eat.

For the Elantrians during the most part of the book, hunger and a desire for food is mentioned, though they do not need it to survive. But thirst is never mentioned and to me it seemed that the well had not been used before Raoden entered the city, so I guess they probably do not desire water the same way as food. But if that is the case, wouldn't it have appeared as strange that Sarene needed to drink during her stay in the city? There are explanations given why her lack of hunger or pain do not give the fake transformation away, but no explanations in that regard.

I know it's a super nitpicky question and it maybe just isn't explicitly mentioned that they also experience thirst, I just wanted to know if anyone else has thought about this Or are there maybe even WOBs on the subject?

So, would it be possible then for a Forger to make a simpler stamp, then Forge another stamp to change it into a more in depth, powerful stamp?

I don't think it would be possible to make an infinite feedback loop Skyrim style since a Forgery requires plausibility, but maybe Forging a stamp itself to have better detailed carvings might be possible enough?

my answers are one: Omi and two: Ashe

So, what if I am in a carpenter's workshop with lots of table parts that aren't yet assembled, and I decide to help the carpenter out by making a few likely Forgeries of unassembled table legs and bodies to have been sanded and polished up with more care.

Awesome. Now we've got a likely Forgery in place that doesn't require more time or resources on the carpenter's part.

However, what happens if those table parts that are individually stamped are assembled? Will the Forgeries dissolve, as they are no longer individual parts but now a table with multiple incompatible Forgeries on a single object? Will the Forgeries force the Cognitive Aspects of the table parts to stay table parts, thus freezing its ability to change and thus maintaining the Forgeries? Or, do the Forgeries themselves change to fit the table's new history and Cognitive Aspect, effectively merging into a single Forgery?

In short, what happens to a stable Forgery if an object changes its nature without being outright destroyed?

     Anyways, I got inspired to write out how I  would adapt Emperor's Soul. I wrote like 3000 words going line-by-line through the first few chapters, never got around to making sure it saved properly (thanks OneDrive), and lost it all when my computer restarted. I had some fun ideas, like a scene that plays out while the credits roll on the left side of the screen. It's Frava's office, a chair in the foreground, then her desk (facing the camera), and behind it the painting that Shai stole initially. Shai opens a door on the left, cuts the painting, makes a crude mark on the now-exposed wall behind the painting, and leaves through a window on the right as you hear muffled voices through the door. Frava then walks in, arguing about Shai's escape/the new emperor being more difficult to manipulate. Hoid walks in behind her, and Frava is so focused on arguing with him that she doesn't notice the painting until after she sits down at her desk, her sitting form dominated by the destroyed painting behind her. Hoid then does something (I have a few ideas on that point) to alert Frava to the painting, where she then turns around, sees that it's destroyed, and yells in frustration. I'm sure Brandon either has a curse, or would love to create one, that the rulers of the Rose empire use.

     But as much as I love that scene, that's not the reason I'm writing this post. The biggest problem with adapting the emperor's soul is that Shai sees through the political plots immediately, and her attempts to stay one step ahead of them is what gives tension to the book. In order for the audience to understand Frava's machinations, I decided to make Hoid a character trying to help Shai escape (mainly by being someone to bounce ideas off). He would pop into her room disguised as a Grand, then leave through the window as Frava entered, prompting Shai to look at the window more closely afterwards, where the scene would end with a close-up of the broken stained-glass in the window frame. Or he would whisper to her through the floorboards by her bed (or just using a soul-stamp of his own so they can sit on the top of a shelf in that room), helping foreshadow to the watcher Shai's trap, using the weakened bed falling into the storage-room underneath. To introduce Hoid, I included the cut (but technically still canonical) scene where he meets Shai in the prison, but had her correct him on the number of rocks used in the prison cell (I think it's more realistic that she would know, and it also helps build her up as being extremely competent in her field of study). Hoid has changed over the course of the cosmere from being more... eldritch to whimsical. He still has that all-knowing, "I will do whatever it takes", edge to him, but it's better hidden by a man whom time has only made stranger. In that chapter his character traits are  conveyed in this scene by him giving Shai all the information she uses to bluff her way out of the next scene, the way he lords over her in her prison cell, and a "your lifetime is nothing to me" look. I didn't like the first two elements, since (and I think it's more the way they were written than anything else) they make Shai seem kind of helpless compared to him. So now it rests on the look to convey that this being is the next best thing to a god (ignoring Aethers), but I feel that you'd need a really good actor/director to convince the audience of that with a short look.

     So I finally get to the point of my post: I had an idea to help get the idea across. When Hoid is looking at Shai, the camera starts pointed directly at Hoid's face. It zooms in to one of his eyes, and when only his pupil is in frame, a bright dot (reflected from a flame, perhaps) resolves into a star. This star explodes into a supernova, and the camera races out until the supernova is in the background, and a planet (Yolen, with all the correct geography), orbiting the star moves in front of the camera, before being backlit by the supernova and thrown into darkness. The camera continues to back up, but when the supernova takes the entire frame (besides the planet), it then resolves into Hoid's iris, the backlit planet his pupil, the glint gone. I think this accomplishes a few things: First of all, it conveys to the watcher that Hoid is powerful by associating him with that sort of power. Second, it is an allusion to his backstory with the shattering. Third of all: It matches previous descriptions of Yolish Lightweaving, tricks of perception to turn otherwise mundane shapes into artistic pieces. Fourth: It should be pretty easy to do on a budget.

      I think that the Emperor's Soul is the best-written book released under the name Brandon Sanderson, and I didn't like his idea of expanding it to include more locations/characters. As is, I think the Emperor's Soul has a lot of potential to become a very unique movie, with characters that are already written to be sympathetic/disdainful where the story needs them to be. I think expanding the story any more than necessary to translate thoughtful reactions to the big screen to be like starting off a Wheel of Time adaptation with anything but the camera following the path of the wind as it blew over the land. Also if you read all that, thank you. I didn't mean for it to be so long but there's so much to say.

then what is the original source of the energy that provides dor to Elantris ?

is it somewhere in the core of the planet ? 

what happens if someone draws Aon of the planet or the cosmere system ? will it do something ? 

First attempt results in explosion and burning of biology section. 

Next tests create aon but not to their expected power.

Why ? was Rioden's dip in lake water necessary condition for them to work to their fullest power ? 

wouldn' it make sense to keep it during fighting ? 

Does this mean you could make the main body of the Forgery (not the Linchpin stamp itself) a book instead of a carved medallion like Shai did?

What about adding lines to it? If it was just a book with the Stamp used to apply its code, I see no reason why you couldn't update it with a few lines to alter your recent past, such as saying you studied a given topic during your Saturday instead of hanging out with your friends, or rewriting your past to say you got to bed on time rather than staying up till 5 AM.

This would be different from Shai's Stamps that completely rewrite your past to get an extensive skill set and knowledge, but it would be useful for a number of more mundane everyday tasks.

This was demonstrated when Wyrn anticipated Hrathen's betrayal and sent an assassin at the precise place and time to kill him.

But if Wyrn could see something so specific, why didn't he anticpate anything else of far greater importance like, I don't know, Raoden fixing Elantris?

So these facts plus the nature of all Selish Arts has led me to a hypothesis: Wyrn's futuresight only works on people from Fjorden.

The only time we've seen it, is on Fjorden people, Hrathen and the priest guy who killed him.

Perhaps this is due to Wyrn's future-sight working via Connection, he can see the future's of everyone so long as they are part of Fjorden, with the constantly expanding and conquering that Fjorden has done, perhaps this is done in part to expand the reach of Fjorden's Magics. Both Dahkor's and Wyrn's.

It's all speculation with very little evidence but I don't see how anyone with future-sight would have fixated on something as small as a preist gong traitor over the restoration of the only beings on Sel that can truly win against Fjorden.

whatis your opinion?

1) Elantris as the first book of the Cosmere

2) Elantris after Mistborn or other books

...

(English is not my first language. Apologies for possible spelling mistakes)

Sailor

Medic - this could help with regular medic things but Shai mentions how resealing, or healing people via stamps is hard because the user has to know all the different muscles and how the body works so this could be a potential shortcut

Actor/diplomat - it sounds like soulforgers are generally pretty good at reading people and presenting themselves in certain ways but getting better at accents or imitations or a more flamboyant personality could be useful in certain situations,

Chef

Blacksmith or some kind of crafter

Most of these are just different career choices so they aren't anything crazy but I bet there are some other ones out there. The one I find the most interesting is the beggar essence mark because it encompasses a couple skills (disguise, lock picking, contortion skills, being able to move through a crowd) so if anyone can think of more essence marks like that I would love to hear them. 

Another example : I've just finished a puzzle, and have now broken it up to put it away. However, I have realized I wanted it out for longer. We'll say that it has been long enough that the puzzle considers it a single piece in the CR. Would it be possible to stamp a single piece to re-combine the entire puzzle?

Soulstamps have a resistance to physical force, so if Invested more they'd resist those forces better. Plus, while you can normally only have one Forgery active on a person at a time- thus limiting the amount of the person's body that would be shielded by the stamp- a stamp made out of a mold that fit around a person's entire body would allow the whole thing to shield the entire body.

Another possibility I suppose would simply to stamp each separate portion of armor that a person could carry, treating them as separate pieces.

Do I think any of this is an efficient use of Investiture? No. 

But if limited to only this system I think it could have some use.

AonDor can potentially have its power amplified by having larger Aons being drawn;

In fact, I think this is a big part of why Elantris is able to increase the Elantrians' power so much; it's so big that it can do that.

So what if you carved your Stamp into a massive stone pillar (or multiple pillars. Boom, Sel's Stonehenge is born) and Connected it to the Linchpin stamp actually used to stamp someone? Could you amplify the power you could draw from the Dor to make more unlikely things be possible via Forgery?

It still has a pretty big limitation as you'd need to stay close to the stone(s) to maintain the Forgery, but there could potentially be some circumstances where it would be useful.

Almost like Aons.

Then, my brain started coming up with ways that all the Selish magic systems work with this. I never actually finished Elantris, but on the Coppermind I learned about Dakhor, where bones twist into “ancient Fjordell characters” that decide the effect of the magic. Perhaps this is how Hrovell potions are Invested. Bloodsealing we know very little about, but I think could work with this.

Thoughts? Is this very obvious and I just somehow never realized it? Am I completely off? How does ChaySan fit into all this?

I’m finally becoming Cosmere aware. I now know that Ruin and Preservation are beings known as the Shards of Adonalsium, who was mentioned in one of Sazed’s epigraphs. I’ve finally learned that the Dor is the Splintered Investiture of two Shards of Adonalsium - Devotion and Dominion. I don’t get what Splintered means, but it sounds like the people who took up the Shards were killed by another Shard, separated from them in a different way than Vin w/ Ruin, and were sent into the Beyond. Guess the Beyond is the Cosmere’s afterlife.

It says the Shards were “contained” - trapped on the Cognitive Realm. So that’s why Raoden always described the Dor as gas or pressure trying to escape! It probably wanted to make its way into the Physical Realm! The Selish system essay said most forms of Investiture reside in the Spiritual Realm, and I guess Shards are the same way. The only way I can see the Dor happening is with another Shard. I guess this means a Shard killed Devotion and Dominion, and transferred their essence from the Spiritual Realm to the Cognitive Realm.

The author says the Shards’ forced location in the Cognitive has caused Selish magic to rely on physical position, perception and intent. Language shapes the magic. Apparently because the Cognitive Realm has distinct locations. We saw language, perception and intent with AonDor, and potentially Dakhor. I think I saw Shai use MaiPon symbols for her soulstamps, and the Bloodsealer in a way. ChayShan uses JinDo dances. But I don’t get how location works for systems outside of AonDor.

I wonder if this means Fjorden and Rose Empire’s conquests have directly influenced the amount of systems on Sel. Shai said that a person’s perception of objects influences the object’s view of itself, courtesy of the Cognitive Realm. So… what if these countries eventually viewing themselves as territories of the empires erased or altered the existence of older magic. 

This is all very interesting and complex, but I have suspicions the Dor and Cognitive nature of Selish magic won’t always exist. At least not in the same way.

Now… I know that the Dor being pressure probably refers to wanting to go from the Cognitive to its natural places in the Spiritual and Physical Realms. But some stuff in Elantris is still very weird.

During the Sanderlanche, Raoden had a mysterious vision of the Chasm line’s importance. He heard a voice in the Lake, which is likely either Devotion or Dominion. The Reod is a whole mystery. Raoden had unique talent with AonDor, and Adien’s talent with numbers came at the right time for Aon Tia. Fjon’s thoughts implied that Wyrn has precognitive powers, something that required pure pieces of a Shard (atium and the Well) in Mistborn.

According to the Selish system essay, Devotion and Dominion aren’t strangers to divine intervention. They directly influenced the development of human societies, traditions, religions, languages and alphabets. All during Sel’s prehistory. The author believes society slowly discovered the powers, implying that magic might’ve existed in some form before Devotion and Dominion were killed. MaiPon ancestors believed that soulstone is the souls of broken gods. Elantrians somehow knew about the Dor and used the Lake as a place of worship. Oh, and it turns out seon and skaze are pieces of them, known as Splinters.

We saw that Preservation and Ruin influenced these aspects of Scadrian history to their own ends. Ruin to subvert people, free himself and spread Hemalurgy. Preservation to implant multiple schemes and pawns throughout Scadrial’s history, I think. Then there’s the Terris who were probably granted Feruchemy by both of the creator-Shards. I think Devotion and Dominion are in a similar boat, though one that’s less clear because we lack content about Sel.

Devotion means dedication, love and loyalty. Dominion means power and control. If there are any Shards who can create plans for their deaths, I think it would be them.

I’m not saying Raoden specifically will get into the same boat as Sazed, being the person who takes up both Devotion and Dominion. Or that he will take up one Shard like Vin. But I think someone will in the Elantris sequels, giving an important conclusion and allowing Selish magic systems to have more freedom than before. I think Fjorden’s conquest and Elantris’ mysterious history is leading up to this event.

Also, I’m worried about the Shard that Splintered Devotion and Dominion. 

Okay, so first, the mass of such a planet would have to be 2.696246M to get the proper gravity at that radius, and the density would be 4.4044746136 g/cm3 (0.799 Earth's).

This falls within the range of believably terrestrial and Earth-esque planets, with a rocky composition and liquid surface, at 0.5 < Planet Radius ≤ 1.6 Earth radii or 0.1 < Planet Minimum Mass ≤ 3, according to several sources. 1.5R and 2.69M puts it in the right range. It would also have an Earth Similarity Index (ESI) of 0.858578643763 (assuming equivalent stellar flux). So, it being as Earth-like as it is is reasonable with the known parametres. 

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The mass of a potentially habitable exoplanet is between 0.1 and 5.0 Earth masses. However it is possible for a habitable world to have a mass as low as 0.0268 Earth Masses. The radius of a potentially habitable exoplanet would range between 0.5 and 1.5 Earth radii.

-Wikipedia

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The Habitable Exoplanets Catalog is a database of potentially habitable worlds discovered by ground and space telescopes in the last decade. The exoplanet data comes from the NASA Exoplanet Archive and includes planets up to 2.5 Earth radii or 10 Earth masses orbiting within the optimistic stellar habitable zone to be as inclusive as possible. The conservative sample includes those that are more likely to be rocky up to 1.6 Earth radii or 3 Earth masses.

...

This is a list of the exoplanets that are more likely to have a rocky composition and support surface liquid water (i.e., 0.5 < Planet Radius ≤ 1.6 Earth radii or 0.1 < Planet Minimum Mass ≤ 3 Earth masses). They are represented artistically in the top image.

-Habitable Exoplanets Catalogue 

We can assume the atmosphere is fine, the higher gravity would still keep in the atmosphere, and as we can see, it does have the proper composition for life, so not much issue there. 

Gravity is also, in fact, okay. From what I can find, the maximum assumed gravity one can survive is 4G. 2G is also known to be survivable, but could have some issues if you don't properly adapt to it. But 1.2 is a lot less than that, and also, we know evolution happens very fast in the cosmere due to Investiture, and Sel is very Invested, so I can believe that they would, over the generations, adapt to be able to withstand the gravity of the planet. So that one is actually pretty fine. Not much issue with it.

It would be rather uncomfortable, it would be around double to 3.6x the force you feel when a downward moving elevator starts slowing down, if I did the math correctly. But it would be survivable. 

Basically, I feel that the planet would be habitable from what we know about it.

And I am excited to see what Brandon changes in Elantris 2 to better reflect the higher gravity, as he now has said gravity planned out when he probably didn't before. So I feel he would do things like clarify that the mountains aren't that tall, and the like. Would be neat.  

Here is a link to his website and the review there, followed by a link to the YouTube video directly.

https://sfdebris.com/videos/special/elantris.php

YouTube:

Anyhow, hope you guys are well, and God willing in about a month I should be posting here again slightly more often. Take care, and God bless!

But after seeing that Domi was part of Dominion, I think that maybe the Elantrians were made by Dominion, as they are powerful enough to rule over an entire world, and were able to gain dominion over Arelon and were going to try to invade other countries, until Fjordell stopped them, but was destroyed in the process. 

I’ve read all the cosmere books but elantris was one of the first so it’s been a while haha

So, we've seen how Elantrians can create metal plates with an Aon inscribed on them to create the effect without having to draw it out themselves. They use that for lighting and transportation around the city. We also know that you can create AonDor "equations" which use different Aons as modifiers to create a more specific effect. What's stopping someone from combining those things and then putting it on a sword?

My idea here is to forge a normal steel sword, probably a little oversized in terms of width to make space for the Aons, and then inscribe an Aon equation onto the flat of the blade. Then, when wielded by an Elantrian, they could push AonDor into the sword, and activate the Aons. The specific ones I would have inscribed on the blade are probably Deo, Dio, maybe Eda and Ela, Iir, Rao, and probably others purely as modifiers. The point of it all would be to enhance the sword with power, increasing it's cutting capacity and durability. The result would be similar to a Shardblade, if not as powerful. A mini-Shardblade if you will.

Tell me what you guys think about this idea, if you think it would work or not, and maybe an easier way to make an AonDor Shardblade if you can think of one!

What exactly determines who gets which magic system? We know that being born in a given territory gives you a Connection to the symbols of that territory, but what classifies as a territory? Is it geographical or geopolitical? Is an Elantrian an inhabitant of the kingdom of Arelon or an inhabitant of the surroundings of Elantris? If the borders between nations were to change - that is, if an empire were to annex a kingdom, or a kingdom were to be split into multiple nations, would the magic be affected in some way?

If the Fjordell Empire annexed Arelon, would AonDor still work? And if it did, would it work in the same way? My gut instinct is yes to both of those questions, because we know that both the Fjordell and Rose empires seem to have multiple magic systems within them, but I'm not certain. The Dor exists in the Cognitive Realm, so it would make sense for it to reflect perceived distinctions between locations rather than spatial organization.

Elantrians can use their hands to draw the symbols of AonDor, but they can also use tools such as wands (sticks), dust, metal wires, or stone carvings.

What if an Elantrian could make use of a computer to quickly type up AonDor symbols in a form modified for the computer's programming (modifying AonDor symbols is possible. WoB)?

They could perhaps type up AonDor code into their computer and save it for later use, making a library of more complex effects possible on demand.

Perhaps they could run a simulation on their computer that determined what the Aon did before it was activated, allowing them to fix any errors before they went off and tried to polymorph their friend.

Any other ideas for what AonDor computers might allow for Elantrians?

additionally how was he still standing at that point.

Also why did dilaf not know about his arm when he was in charge of the monestary.

did hrathen have a special arm from somewhere other than the monestary? At the very least his arm is definitely different from the others in how it is described and he was able to despite being vastly weakened overpower a full dakhor monk with only the arm, seems kinda weird without something else with the arm or other intervention.

Since Soulstamps re-write a person's past Connections or "soul," would it be possible for a Forger to create a stamp that turns them into an Elantrian?

I know there are a few implications of this, but could it be possible? If the Forger was making it for a Teo, for example, would the stamp writing be easier than, say, for a Dula? Or would it not matter, as the Soulstamp completely re-writes a person's past? And would the Shaod take the person, and become permanent? Or would they revert back to their normal human state?

Dunno just thought this was an interesting idea  

• The Coppermind entry on Elantris (here) notes that the city of Elantris was empty when the Aonic people's showed up, and, after a few decades of living there, some of them started going through the Shaod.
• However, it also notes that Elantris was clearly built by Elantrians, as only they could have made the Aons that made the city work.
• But, we find out in Elantris that, without the actual city of Elantris itself to channel AonDor.... people don't become Elantrians. They become Reod.
• So, we appear to run into a bit of a chicken/egg problem:
  • the city is needed to create the people
  • who had to pre-exist the city
  • in order to build the city. (?)

My first thought was "well, Elantris could have been built pre-Splintering of Dominion/Devotion, when the rules were different. Okay, except, AonDor is part of a magic system that is tied to the specific local geography, and that geographic specificity is supposedly a result of the Splintering.

From the cited WOB:
 

Assuming the Coppermind is reading that correctly (and, on its face, that seems like the most direct reading), then, are we not left with a chicken-egg problem in the city of Elantris?

Breath, becoming an Elantrian somehow, stacking more Forgery-ness with Hemalurgy?

 Elantrians understood how aondor worked, and could understand that the rift was the cause of the non-functional AonDor

1) Is there a collection of changes made between each edition, like this post for Words of Radiance? I'm mostly curious how much was changed at the end when Raoden draws the line in the dirt to correct the Aon for the city.

2) Is anyone collecting a list of typos or errata for Elantris? I just found this error on page 314 of the second leatherbound edition:

"Don't look so sour, Galladon," Raoden said with a laugh. "Aren't you Dulas supposed to be fond of garish clothing?" "That's the aristocracy-the citizens and republicans."

I believe there should be a paragraph break between Raoden's dialoge and Galladon's.

I'm trying to find two copies of The Emperor's Soul, in Spanish, preferably paperback. So far, I've found pretty much every Sanderson title in Spanish *except* this one (even White Sand!).

I'm not sure why my Google Fu has been so weak on this matter, but I'm running out of ideas. I'm located in the U.S., which might be part of the problem?

Any help would be hugely appreciated. Thanks, all!

Edit: the title translates as "El Alma del Emperador", if that helps. 

Like if you could figure out which Aon is a trigger or an off/on switch for other Aons, you might be able to tattoo an Aon Daa plus a few Aon Rao together on yours or someone else's hands, and so long as the tattooing was done by an Elantrian and you were in range of Elantris, you could shoot lasers out of your hand whenever you want! And it wouldn't just have to be lasers it could be anything! Like healing, Soulcasting, Lightweaving, anything you can imagine! AonDor powers without being an Elantrian!

What do you think? 

Can't exactly change something which is no longer there. We also know Forgery doesn't use much Investiture, so surely it wasn't enough to create sapience à la Nightblood. But from what I understand, maybe it was this, as it mentioned it making a new soul. So did it just draw on far more Dor than a normal Forgery, enough to create a temporary Soul?

Was this answered anywhere in WoBs? 

Now my headcannon is that this is how the svordish get their sharks to fight

I don't think think we put enough focus on Elantrian investiture.

Intriguing facts

Sel is a system with many magic systems, which instead of getting power from the spiritual realm, they siphon the power directly from the Dor (the two splintered shard's power)

Elantrian magic seems is the only investiture (we know of) where the magic's power is linked directly to the practitioner's proximity to Elantris (which is curiously located next to a perpendicularity)

Sel magic seems unusually versatile even among Sel magics, allowing teleportation, illusions, transmutation, healing, energy summoning, strength/speed increase, emotion manipulation (likely via connection), among presumably many others

Brandon said that Elantris was an “oddball among the cosmere magic systems”

Keshu taught that “God would come to earth once all mankind was unified” unified, being a vague term

Wryn's letter to Hrathen stated that “the time for [Jaddeth’s] ascension is near” likely referring Jaddeth coming up from underground

The Fjordells seemed suspiciously interested in Destroying Elantris even when the inhabitant were, comparatively defenseless

theories

1. All the Elantrians are technically all ascended at once calling upon the directly Dor’s power using Aons as “codes” so theoretically anything a shard can do, an elantrian can do as well provided the know the correct Aons.

  That would mean an Elantrian the is the Shard so any Seons connected the an Elantrian are not longer to the person’s identity but instead to the shard itself. So when the Reod happened all the seons could only pull their connection to the physical realm from the blocked off Dor.

1. Wryn was not talking about “ascension”  in the literal sense but in the Shard sense. He needed all the elantrians killed so the power wouldn’t be connected to anyone alive anymore, that way the shard’s intent would let someone else bear the power totally. Maybe there are many other perpendicularities on Sel and if someone were to control, or “unify” all of them they would be able to put the shards back together and “Fully” ascend.

There is one Elantrian for each Aon, like happens with Seons. There is a limited number of Aons, and so with one Elantrian representing each Aon, the number of Elantrians is also limited.

I have no idea how Elantrians are chosen, but we know from WOB that it's not completely random. I initially thought that it might even be the Aon in their name, but a quick search through the Coppermind yields four different Elantrians named after Aon Rii. Speaking of which, it's been asked, and apparently it has more to do with Connection.

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It is a wilful kind of ignorance, with each of the three great domains pretending that the others are mere blips on the map, barely worth notice.

My question is, what are the three empires?

One is Fjordell and another is the Rose Empire, but what is the third?

The only other options are either Elantris/Aonic kingdoms (Arelon, Teod, Duladel), which doesn't seem to fit with the comparitive size/relationship of the other two, or JinDo which is technically a part of the Fjordell Empire.

So, I have just finished a reread of Elantris and something caught my eye. When the city was in its full glory enchanted items based on Aons made by Elantrians were used for a plethora of things that made the city more comfortable, light, plumbing, etc. As I thought on this a theory came to my mind, now I could be completely off base so please bear with me. One aspect of these items that caught my attention were aons put in people's homes such as the one for light (Ashe). Given that many non elantrians also lived in the city I assume they were also capable of using the ashe aon to alter the lighting in their rooms. Otherwise they would have to call an elantrian in to do it for them, which sound very inconvenient. So I began to wonder if they could utilize these enchanted items could this be expanded upon further? I should specify I don't mean that those non elantrians made the aon, but rather were able to utilize what was already present as made by the Elantrians.

The Theory

Essentially I began to wonder what would happen if Sel advanced far enough to enter the computer age? Could computers that were crafted specifically by Elantrians then be used to form Aons? Potentially even Aons useable by anyone as the initial creation would have been done by an Elantrian. If this proves impossible, as the idea of normal people using the enchanted items is speculation on my part. There is still a possibility of Elantrians being able to rapidly expedite their casting via a form of automation.

Weak Points to The Theory

I am aware that while Elantrians could use tools such as quills, sticks, etc to make aons and they still functioned. Ultimately they needed to use their intent as part of the process. I also concede that I may be completely off base in assuming that the Aons will function without being directly made by an Elantrian. Either way I thought the idea was interesting and I hope you do as well.

Afterword

Thank you for bearing with me there. I would love any and all thoughts on the theory, and look forward to the discussion. 

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[...]

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, it would work the same way.

The only magic that is location-dependent--  The ones who aren't interested in this, just hum to yourself, okay? *laughter* You don't need to know any of this stuff to enjoy the books, okay? I write them so that you could just-- each series can be read independently, and enjoyed. There is behind the scenes stuff, and if you want to dig, it goes pretty deep.

So on Sel, we have AonDor. AonDor is based on the fact that the Dor, which is an amalgamation of Dominion and Devotion, has been pressed together and stuffed into the Cognitive Realm by Odium who didn't want it to gain sentience, as Investiture will do if it is left alone. It will either seek someone to be its Vessel or it will gain sentience. He pressed it in there; he pressed it together, which creates the violent reaction, because those two intents are opposed. And that is the foundation of the magic. Because it's stuck in the Cognitive Realm rather than the Spiritual Realm (the Spiritual Realm is location-independent; Cognitive Realm is location-dependent), it makes the magic on Sel only work in close proximity to what is keyed through there to the location they're keyed to. This has to do with Identity and Connection. Mostly Connection. So that means you can't do AonDor on another planet, but you can do other magics works anywhere, because they're drawing the magics specifically through either the place, or they're end-neutral, like Breath is, and you don't need any extra power.

Arcanum Unbounded Chicago signing (Dec. 6, 2016)

So, Selish arts being geographically locked is a result of Devotion and Dominion's combined investiture - collectively the Dor - having been shoved into the Cognitive realm by Odium after he splintered those Shards. Most end-poitive arts pull Investiture from the Spiritual Realm, Selish arts can't do that because it being in a location-dependent Realm keys parts of it to certain locations through Identity and Connection.

Seons, meanwhile, are splinters of Devotion accidentally created as a side-effect of the splintering of Devotion. Which means that, while they do seem to be mostly-cognitive beings like spren, they weren't part of the central shardic mass of Devotion at the time it was trapped in the Cognitive.

Now, Brandon has been cagey when asked about whether Seon communication is truly instantaneous, because if it's Spiritual in nature then it would be instantaneous since distance isn't a factor, but if it's Cognitive then there'd technically be a slight delay.

The simplest means of achieving instant or near-instant communication, both over great distances and (Rhythm of War spoilers) between the Physical and Cognitive Realms using Cosmere mechanics that we've seen on-screen would be by manipulating Connection in a certain way. In the case of Seon-to-Seon communication, this would be the Connection between the two Seons, or possibly the two people speaking through them using Seons as a medium.

So, quick recap: Shards can normally transmit Investiture at a distance because the live in the Spiritual Realm, and the reason this doesn't work on Sel is the Shards are in the wrong Realm. Seons were broken off of Devotion before it got moved to the wrong Realm. There is a good chance that Seons pull of their long-distance and inter-realm communication by manipulating Connection, just from what we know of Cosmere mechanics.

Now, here's the kicker:

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DoritoJH

So, AonDor is super versatile and powerful.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, but region-locked!

DoritoJH

Yes, it is region locked, exactly. If a full Feruchemist using nicrosil were to create an unlocked medallion that allowed an Elantrian to store Connection to Elantris' location, would it let them use AonDor at full power as long as they were tapping that Connection?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. That should work just fine.

...

Just understand that the medallion's going to have to be usable by everyone in order to work. You're going to have to jump through some hoops, but I think what you want there would work. And for those of you listening, that would be the harder way to unlock AonDor. There are easier methods.

DragonCon 2019 (Aug. 31, 2019)

So, you can use f-Duralumin - manipulating Connection - to hack AonDor and let an Elantrian use it at full power regardless of location.

So, what if instead of having your Seon contact another Seon, you have it dial the Dor's metaphorical phone number?  Could doing so allow you to use AonDor regardless of your location in the Physical Realm?

Has Brandon answered this?

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/u/Evilsmiley

Was Elantris built before the Shards were [Splintered] on Sel or not?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, in my outline right now Elantris existed before Odium did his dirty work on Elantris.

It's unlikely to change, but I do have to point out this isn't strictly canon yet, and likely won't be until I write the Elantris sequels.

General Reddit 2021 (Feb. 22, 2021)

Sorry, what? How? Did the regional magics exist prior to the Shards being in the Cognitive???? Because AonDor is pretty specifically based on Arelon.

(Could mean a normal, non-magic city, but "when was Elantris built" feels like it's pretty clearly not saying "when were three buildings built that would become a city down the line", it's about the magical power enhancer that makes Elantris Elantris.)

Do we know of any other series with Elantrians in them? Or, I guess a better question would be, do we know any other Worldhoppers from Sel?

Far more fascinating to me would be a sequel about Gaotona. Here we have a man who was introduced to the concept of the 3 realms, and rejected it. He was introduced to this awesome magic, and fought it. He is now going to have to deal with this man he loved like a son but is just a reconstruction, and he and his faction have to pass off as real, and he's far more down to sel and realistic that his counterparts. 

I think reading about Gaotonas journey dealing with all this would be a far more fascinating read than anything about Shai. I'd be glad to have her as part of the story, but I really, really want the story of Gaotona going forward. 

 Would anyone like to label the locations in Elantris and Kae from the book maps? Also looking for the division of Elantris on the map between the 3 "warlords" before Raoden's arrival.

- Sincerely, Douglas

He did state that large piles of Investiture that make it into the physical or cognitive realm are going to cause time dilation(which we already knew)

he also ended the WoB by saying "That's gonna make some exclamation points raise above the heads of some people"

This made me start thinking about places in the Cosmere with massive ammounts of free flowing investiture around. I Immidietely thought of Sel. A good portion of D+D is stuffed into the cognitive realm. So much so that the CR there is a massive "plasma" storm of Investiture.

 This should be causing time dilation around all of Sel. And if so, shouldnt all of Sel be moving through time faster than the rest of the cosmere?(or whatever the proper phrasing is)

what are the implications of this?

I think that this was covered in the book, but I can't find why both exist

I did this cover for The Hope of Elantris, using Sam Green's cover art for Elantris in the UK.

What do you think? Any questions or comments are welcome. Thanks!

1. if forging is used by changing history (using  stamps) and become, lets say, a soldier or something, cant an apprentice whos just finished to learn using Soulstamps, create a stamp which will make him an incredibly talented forger? so basically every forger can become as good as Shai? it will take a lot of time but it is possible, right?

2.is the red armored priest that Shai push in the end of the book the same priest form the religion in Elantris? 

AonDor existed before Elantris was built. We know this because how else would the builders have known the shape of the Aon in which it was supposed to be built?

The Dor itself needs to have existed for AonDor, yet I have a theory that AonDor existed before the Splintering of Devotion & Dominion. And even weirder, I also have a theory that the city of Elantris might've been built while she was still alive

Don't worry though, I also have a far more sane theory attempting to answer this question right below the crazy one that I've marked under a line of tildes (~)

The biggest reason why I think that Devotion might've been there when Elantris was created is the Pool.

It had apparent religious significance to the Elantrians. The Pool was depicted in the wall relief in the secret meeting room. It was situated quite close to the city itself, which was visible from the peaks where the pool was located. When entering it, people feel an extreme sense of comfort and calm. The Hoed regained a bit of consciousness in it. The Pool speaks to people when they enter it, offering peace and contentment, wishing to take away their sorrows and pains. Those who do not accept the relief do not dissolve. And it makes sense that way, the Elantrians getting old enough to want release going there to die but finding a new world. Devotion's Perpendicularity just gave the feel from both where it was physically located, to how it was described, it seemed as though it was placed there specifically for this purpose.

There's another thing though, in Mistborn: Secret History, we meet...

It is very possible that some form of AonDor existed before the Splintering, since the Selish magics seem to be focused on forms & coding. The proto Aons might not have been in the shape they are now (i.e. the shape of Arelon). The Selish magics' focus probably were symbols even before D&D's death, it's just the region-specificity (in form & function) that might have been introduced to them afterwards. The Surges were very much a part of the Rosharan system before the Shards' arrival, weren't they? The magic should change with an event as drastic as its Shards getting killed and shoved into the Cognitive Realm but why would it need to change the part where the magic is utilized via symbols? The change caused by shoving Devotion & Dominion into the Cognitive Realm is that the magics got region-locked due to the Cognitive Realm distinguishing between such. Even so, Selish magics being unavailable outside of Sel seems much more a direct result of that than region-focused magic, which was probably based on the Cognitive Realm itself being affected by people's perception of being different from other groups than anything purely fundamental about having a Shard hanging around in the Cognitive. I'm hypothesizing the possibility that the problem got exacerbated with their Splintering rather than being created due to it.

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Landis963 (paraphrased)

Is the programming-esque nature of the Dor a product of the power being in the Cognitive Realm or is it for some other reason?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

A mixture of the Vessels' personalities, the fact that the power's in the Cognitive Realm, and the nature of Sel's focus.

GenCon 2017 (Aug. 17, 2017)

There's also the fact that 'Aon' is derived from Aona, Devotion.

And that Seons were born when Aona was Splintered. The Seons have Aons at their centre which are Splinters of Aona. Which means Aons existed during that time.

The religions of Shu-Korath (Domi, united through love) and Shu-Dereth (Jaddeth, united through obedience by the rule of a theocratic government) seem divided between Devotion and Dominion and the magics seem to reflect these divisions too, observing AonDor vs Dakhor, though it might be correlation rather than causation, after all, they are splinter religions arising from an older religion, Shu-Keseg.

We know that Sel's Shards, Devotion & Dominion were killed by Odium and that their power was stuffed into the Cognitive Realm to form the Dor. We also know that this is the reason why the Selish magics are locked.

We see evidence of the conflict between Shards on all of these other Shardworlds except on Sel

⚠ Stormlight Archive minor spoilers (info on the cover blurbs) ⚠ 

Spoiler



⚠ Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell spoilers ⚠



Sel also houses dead Shards but the only effect seems rather... mild, is it related to how Odium locked them in the Cognitive? Or is the region-locked magic its version all that remains as evidence of conflict between three Shards? Why is Sel still doing so well despite having two Splinterings? Neither Threnody nor Roshar are doing so well

⚠ Mistborn: Secret History spoilers ⚠



The lack of any direct effect from the Splintering I can accept, maybe Odium finished the deed in the Cognitive or immediately locked the remnants in the Cognitive after killing Aona (Devotion) and Skai (Dominion) but why isn't there any evidence of a planet scale war? There must have been some evidence of the conflict for Khriss to deduce what happened.

Who would the conflict be staged between on Sel? On Roshar

This is assuming Odium even needs to subvert people to create hatred between groups to somehow damage how another Shard is perceived, or that he tried to pit Devotion and Dominion against one another, these are just theories and are in no way confirmed.

But if such a conflict did occur, was it waged between the continents on Sel? On each continent? Opelon doesn't have indications of such a conflict. Except maybe the city of Elantris and the land of Arelon, which was found uninhabited by its would-be settlers, the Aonic people, led by King Rhashm who would go on to rename himself King Raoshem. 

Did Devotion and Dominion just die to Odium? Ambition fought, Honor fought, Devotion and Dominion must've fought as well, Elantris and the land of Arelon could have been a staging ground for the conflict between the Shards, which might've been why it was empty when it was found, having been on the side that lost

I should note that so far as we know, both the Splinterings occurred within a few thousand years of the Shattering. And Odium could've very well ignored the inhabitants of Sel and only concerned himself with the Shards he was there to kill.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The less crazy theory is

~Mistborn: Secret History spoilers~

I know, I know, the first one was a crazy idea, right? There have been counter-arguments to a lot of the points I've raised, including the possibility of a Cognitive Shadow of Aona being the voice that one hears when submerged in the Pool or that the feelings invoked are a direct effect of the Shard's Intent, both very much possible with what we've of other Shards like Ruin, Preservation, Cultivation, Odium... It could be that the location of the city was based on proximity to the pool instead of the other way around, it could also be sheer coincidence or something made the liquid Investiture of Devotion coalesce there

~Mistborn & Stormlight spoilers~

So how crazy did you find the first theory?

And What did you think of the second theory? Do you have any other theories on the origin of Elantris?

Check out my long as in depth review of Elantris 

That's Hoid, right?

Your cute family pet "Fluffy", who fits snugly into the larger box climbs into it. You destroy the soulstamp. What happens now? Does it involve pet juice, remorse, traumatized children and a divorce?

I will share a timestamped video below and also some screenshots to compare.  The timestamped video also shows the real  life inspirations for the locations in the game:

This is the lore description of a Hollow, an undead who has finally lost it's mind pretty much:

All Undead will one day lose their mind and go Hollow.

The symptoms of being Hollow is primarily characterized by a lack of free will. Those that are Hollow may still have attractions to things they valued as living and Undead. This might explain why so many have maintained stations at various posts as well as their aggression towards non-Hollows.

Hollows are also referenced as mad or lost, also characterized by abhorrent stench. Hollows' minds are filled with fears.During the process of hollowing each death erases some parts of memory and at the end only madness persists.

Beyond this, drastic changes in physical appearance can be observed. Skin appears slightly decomposed and the body thoroughly dehydrated, prominent veins can be seen surrounding the heart although physical signs may only be indicative of progression into a Hollowed state and not of being entirely Hollowed.

I will include some more pictures of the area as well.  I can't unsee any of this whenever I read Elantris.

First of all, will there be crime? Yes, we'd kidding ourselves if we assumed otherwise. They may be demigods, but they are not saints. Nor do they grow up without scarcity. Sure, no sane person would break into a house to steal food or money, but there is still conflict. And not everybody in Elantris can be an Elantrian. At a minimum there must be children. (Or parents - a fascinating topic of its own)

• unique objects, like original paintings can still be stolen
• personal dislikes
• sex crimes

But will there be a police force? This is not obvious. Ancient Rome had none. They had a force of watchmen against fire and stuff, but no police force. Actually I doubt that there is a genuine police force, as there is a core issue for law enforcement among Elantrians. How do you arrest an Elantrian? Short of personal supervision 24/7 this looks pretty much impossible to me.

A court system, however, looks totally doable by aonic means. They even have one that makes the guilty feel pain.

But then comes the core issue. What do you do after that? How do you jail an Elantrian? What else would you do? Fine them - that works, but is probably inadequate for more serious stuff. And what if they have no money? You can go to systems like public shunning. But at some point, what if they just don't give a rust? The Shaod can take anybody, hence you will get some pretty hardened criminals eventually.
You could execute them. But that is a bit excessive. Now that leads me to an ugly conclusion: corporal punishment. There is a whipping post somewhere in Elantris. Yes, I know, but what is the alternative?