Are horses and Ryshadium originally not from Roshar?

[Soulcaster05]

I can't help thinking that mostly everything originating in Roshar itself has hard skin/carapace etc, likely a result of generations of adapting to the highstorms. So it seems to me that horses/Ryshadium should be from another planet. Ashyn perhaps? Or somewhere else, like Hoid's home planet?

[alder24]

16 minutes ago, Soulcaster05 said:

I can't help thinking that mostly everything originating in Roshar itself has hard skin/carapace etc, likely a result of generations of adapting to the highstorms. So it seems to me that horses/Ryshadium should be from another planet. Ashyn perhaps? Or somewhere else, like Hoid's home planet?

Yes, horses are from Ashyn, just like every soft-skinned animal. You're right, everything with shells and carapace is native to Roshar (created by Adonalsium with Roshar itself). Ryshadium are an oddity as they are horses which over time have adapted, evolved and formed a bond with spren. WoBs:

Spoiler

Questioner

I'm really curious about Ryshadium. Is there something bigger about them?

Brandon Sanderson

It's not super-huge. They are non-native species who have started to form spren bonds like native species do. So, a symbiotic bond with a spren has started happening. Ryshadium are horses that have done that, basically. You could say that humans have done the same thing. Non-native species that have started to form spren bonds. The Ryshadium are the only other non-native species that that has started happening. Like the chasmfiends have a symbiotic relationship with the spren that they have, the Ryshadium have a spren.

It's not as visible, but it is there.

Idaho Falls signing (July 21, 2018)

 

Spoiler

Questioner #1 (in Mistborn cosplay) (paraphrased)

Do Ryshadium exist because of a spren bond, like greatshells?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yea, they evolved symbiotically with spren, unlike other horses. They can still mate with other horses, but they are genetically distinct.

OdysseyCon 2016 (April 8, 2016)

 

Hoid's home planet is Yolen - it is a source of possibly all Earth-like life in Cosmere, including humans. But that was pre-Shattering.

[Soulcaster05]

Nice! Okay follow-up question: Do we know what other species from Ashyn came over with the humans to Roshar? Like dogs perhaps? Why haven't any other soft skinned species of animal/birds popularised around Roshar like the horses?

[alder24]

9 minutes ago, Soulcaster05 said:

Nice! Okay follow-up question: Do we know what other species from Ashyn came over with the humans to Roshar? Like dogs perhaps?

Lots of different species of chickens birds, various livestock (mostly hogs, sheeps and horses), minks, moles, rats and even cats.

Spoiler

Cosmere.es

It's a random question, because we have chickens on Roshar, the other thing is are there cats in Shinovar?

Brandon Sanderson

So there were at least at one point cats in Shinovar. Whether cats are still there or not, you'll have to wait for book 5 to discover. But cats did make the jump. If they exist, they didn't make it past the mountains very far, but you'll have to see.

Cosmere.es Interview (April 22, 2021)

Dogs likely not, because Kaladin in RoW ch 80 didn't recognise that word, or they simply didn't make it out of Shinovar too.

9 minutes ago, Soulcaster05 said:

Why haven't any other soft skinned species of animal/birds popularised around Roshar like the horses?

Very harsh environment. Most of those animals stayed in Shinovar, as Shinovar was made to resemble Ashyn/Earth, with soil there and mild Highstorms. But outside of Shinovar there is no soil, just naked rock and Highstorms, with hurricane-like winds, coming every few days. Most Earth animals just can't survive without any protection from Highstorms and they can't dig into rocks. I have no idea how wild Ryshadium survived, but that's most likely because of their Nahel Bond.

But some did expand out of Shinovar. Most notably moles are present in snowy mountains around Urithiru, mink's skeleton was seen by Kaladin in OB ch 10, and alive in some other places, rats were also seen or were mentioned here and there. And of course livestock but those are cared for by humans, not living out in the wild. Generally some small animals that can find and hide in cracks in rocks or near human settlements.

RoW ch 13:

Quote

He held up his arm as the chicken returned, fluttering its wings as it landed, its talons clutching his coat. The chicken was one of the strangest varieties Veil had ever seen, with that large hooked beak and those bright green feathers. It carried something in its mouth, a small furry creature. It could have been a rat, but the look was wrong.
“What is that?” Veil asked. “What did it catch?”
“A mole,” Mraize said.
“A what?”
“Like a rat, but different. You know the word, ‘mole’? An informant? Comes from these creatures, which live in Shinovar and dig into places they’re not wanted. They’ve made their way across Azir over the centuries, then into the mountains.”

 

Spoiler

EHyde

On Roshar, do they have an equivalent for cats, like how they have axehounds instead of dogs?

Brandon Sanderson

No, they do not. Though there are various domesticated animals fulfilling a similar role across the planet. (Domesticated minks and pigs come to mind.)

Goodreads: Ask the Author Q&A (Aug. 13, 2014)

 

[+Oltux72]

18 hours ago, alder24 said:

Very harsh environment. Most of those animals stayed in Shinovar, as Shinovar was made to resemble Ashyn/Earth, with soil there and mild Highstorms. But outside of Shinovar there is no soil, just naked rock and Highstorms, with hurricane-like winds, coming every few days. Most Earth animals just can't survive without any protection from Highstorms and they can't dig into rocks. I have no idea how wild Ryshadium survived, but that's most likely because of their Nahel Bond.
 

And Spren. Being an ambush hunter while you are drawing anticipation-spren is not a good combination.