How do Aons work on other planets.

[voidlight]

The majority of the magic systems on the planet Sel rely on the Dor to function and can not be used on other planets in the cosmere, but Aons are seen being used on many other worlds. Is another source of power needed for them to function, or is there some other way that they function?

[Werewolff Studios he/him]

9 minutes ago, voidlight said:

The majority of the magic systems on the planet Sel rely on the Dor to function and can not be used on other planets in the cosmere, but Aons are seen being used on many other worlds. Is another source of power needed for them to function, or is there some other way that they function?

I don't believe we've ever seen Aons used anywhere except on Sel, for the reasons that you've said. All Selish magics are heavily Connection based, and require the user to be near their magics country or culture of origin. 

Now, there are ways to unkey the Dor to use it elsewhere theoretically, but we haven't seen it thus far to my knowledge, and certainly not on many worlds. 

 

[Dunkum he/him]

12 minutes ago, Werewolff Studios said:

I don't believe we've ever seen Aons used anywhere except on Sel, for the reasons that you've said. All Selish magics are heavily Connection based, and require the user to be near their magics country or culture of origin. 

Now, there are ways to unkey the Dor to use it elsewhere theoretically, but we haven't seen it thus far to my knowledge, and certainly not on many worlds. 

 

I believe we've seen Aons used on Roshar (unless that was a Skaze, but same restriction should apply either way) by the ghostbloods. presumably they use the same purified Dor stuff that we see in Secret History, but i couldn't say for sure.  it's also possible that they can survive/operate on any external source, like the Returned can.

[Werewolff Studios he/him]

5 minutes ago, Dunkum said:

I believe we've seen Aons used on Roshar (unless that was a Skaze, but same restriction should apply either way) by the ghostbloods. presumably they use the same purified Dor stuff that we see in Secret History, but i couldn't say for sure.  it's also possible that they can survive/operate on any external source, like the Returned can.

Aren't those Seons? If so, you're correct. We've seen Seons on multiple worlds (though we still don't know the exact methods of how the Ghostbloods transported them there). However, they are Invested entities like the Spren - they don't need a source of Investiture to survive; they are Investiture. The spren don't Stormlight to operate, as an example. 

Aons are the basis of the Arelon magic system, and we haven't seen those specifically used anywhere else, because they rely on the Selish Connection to the Dor.

Spoiler

TLM spoilers

Shai is the first instance we've seen of the Aons working outside of Sel. All we know is that she used a 'hack' in the magic system to establish a Connection with the Basin. She also used up a lot of unkeyed Dor to make the Soulforgery happen in the first place. That Dor itself may also have been a key for the Aons to work. It's only one instance. We really don't know all the mechanics just yet.

 

[Tglassy]

Spoiler

 

My assumption was that she Connected herself to the land she was in, and, essentially, created a new set of Aeons.  Aeons are dependant on the geography of the land.  She was shown a map and basically retraced it.  So now all the Aeons would have to be reminiscent of the land she's in in order to work. 

In fact, that could be how Elantrians do Aeonic Magics elsewhere.  They create new Aeons to do their magics.  Now, what powers it?  I don't know.  The Dor, I would assume.  Maybe they're pulling it through the Spiritual Realm, being Connected enough to the Dor to make it work.  Then they just need the right geography to give shape to the shapes needed to form the magic.  

Because that's really what Aeons are, I believe.  They're maps of the area.  They were just adopted as letters because their effects were so uniform.  At least, that's my interpretation.  

 

 

[Werewolff Studios he/him]

19 minutes ago, Tglassy said:

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My assumption was that she Connected herself to the land she was in, and, essentially, created a new set of Aeons.  Aeons are dependant on the geography of the land.  She was shown a map and basically retraced it.  So now all the Aeons would have to be reminiscent of the land she's in in order to work. 

In fact, that could be how Elantrians do Aeonic Magics elsewhere.  They create new Aeons to do their magics.  Now, what powers it?  I don't know.  The Dor, I would assume.  Maybe they're pulling it through the Spiritual Realm, being Connected enough to the Dor to make it work.  Then they just need the right geography to give shape to the shapes needed to form the magic.  

Because that's really what Aeons are, I believe.  They're maps of the area.  They were just adopted as letters because their effects were so uniform.  At least, that's my interpretation.  

 

 

Spoiler

I think that's a fair assumption of how the magic's working, though there's probably more going on behind the scenes. This WOB from the spoiler stream seems relevant. 

Spoiler

Jofwu

Why did Shay-I have to draw a map of the Elendel basin, if the jar of Dor was her source of investiture? Did the map connect her to another source of investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

No, the map didn't, but her magic is still wonky. Selish magic has some wonkiness to it and it needs to be tricked.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 5 (Dec. 2, 2022)

So maybe it only works if you have unkeyed Dor with you, and we don't know how to get unkeyed Dor just yet. 

 

 

[Dunkum he/him]

3 hours ago, Werewolff Studios said:

Aren't those Seons?

you're right.  my bad, got them mixed up there

[Werewolff Studios he/him]

3 minutes ago, Dunkum said:

you're right.  my bad, got them mixed up there

All good