Minor shardworld i made up

[Entr0pic He/him]

so, i was just brainstorming, and I thought i would put it down here for feedback

name: Sarea (no meaning, just thought it sounded cool)

investiture: Sarea has no invested art, although it does have investiture. On Sarea, patches of gaseous investiture - called the “stains” - by the locals, pop up (note the stains can pop up anywhere, including cities). The stains appear to have a greenish hue (think smog). I’m not sure if this next part is realmaticly possible, but yet again, i thought it would be cool. So, I’m thinking the stains would slightly alter the spirtweb, filling in the cracks in it slowly. This will alter the person, and turn them into what’s known as a stained (very original i know). Stained can be altered in various ways, and I would guess you could steal these effects with a nicrosil Hemalurgic spike. Below are some possible good/bad ways you could get fro the stains 

good: increase in 1 or more sense, increased metal speed, increase muscle mass, increased dexterity, increased connection (to the place where you got this perk), increased investiture, gaining of some passive spiritual healing, 

bad: opposite of above good abilities, aswell as deformation of limbs, reduced mental speed, decrease in identity, etc. 

culture and tech: Sarea has a level of tech similar to the Industrial Revolution. More complex firearms, basic cars. They have some Realmatic knowledge, but not much. They only really know about spirtwebs via observing the mechanisms of the stained on people. As for the culture, think 1920’s America, with nuclear families being the norm, and a similar work ethic. There is one main country, know as the republic of new Detia. In world curses include “stains” (a la “storms on roshar”) and “Kavear” (a la “almighty” on roshar). For naming conventions, you’ve probably noticed I’m just throwing in A’s where i can. Some popular names are “Relan”, “Tenka”, “Hunla”, and “Wenkan”. Most names in the Detian language work for both genders.

Geography: Sarea is a small planet, ~0.7 cosmere standard. There are 3 continents, which are Detia, Kesia, and Relia. Only Detia is inhabited. On Detia, there aren’t many mountains, with lots of hills and flatlands. There is also an abundance of swamps and bogs (think Florida Everglades). These bogs and swamps are important to the main religion on Detia. 

anyways, I’m thinking of writing a fanfic on here, i just need to work out the kinks 

 

Edited March 6, 2025 by Timiny
added geography section

[Quantus he/him]

Ooooh, fun!

 

Ok, so patches of natural Investiture that bubble up and that warp the Spiritweb over extended and/or repeated exposure.  That's definitely doable, in several different ways. 

You could call it a Snapping equivalent that just takes exposure, or you could have some initial effect that's only accessed while in the Stains and repeated exposure/use of those would cause a sort of aggressive Savantism effects.  That initial effect could be something in their control like a normal Power, or something a bit more wild like Prophetic Visions (realmically like Gold or other spiritual effects)  or uncontrolled Time-slipping (Rip-Van-Winkle style).  At one extreme, make it extremely powerful but completely random, where one time and person might get Spiritual Healing with no down-sides while the next person gets a Tail and the next looses their sense of hearing, with no apparent pattern or repetition.  Or make it more Balanced with a Boon/Curse sort of pairing.

 

That sort of framework lets you do just about anything within the general power levels of an internally sourced magic like Feruchemy.  For more overt blasty effects you might need to have something provide a nominally external source of Investiture.  The Stains themselves could be it, a sort of bog-like diffused shardpool so their actual fog is the Investiture, allowing for things like scientific concentration into mana-potions. Or it could be purely internally fueled so the Boon's improvement gets balanced by the Curse side's impairment.  Or take the Luhel Bond route where there's some specific material (it doesnt have to be water or metal) that you consume and convert to provide Investiture for the Stained Powers.  

[Entr0pic He/him]

19 hours ago, Quantus said:

Ooooh, fun!

 

Ok, so patches of natural Investiture that bubble up and that warp the Spiritweb over extended and/or repeated exposure.  That's definitely doable, in several different ways. 

You could call it a Snapping equivalent that just takes exposure, or you could have some initial effect that's only accessed while in the Stains and repeated exposure/use of those would cause a sort of aggressive Savantism effects.  That initial effect could be something in their control like a normal Power, or something a bit more wild like Prophetic Visions (realmically like Gold or other spiritual effects)  or uncontrolled Time-slipping (Rip-Van-Winkle style).  At one extreme, make it extremely powerful but completely random, where one time and person might get Spiritual Healing with no down-sides while the next person gets a Tail and the next looses their sense of hearing, with no apparent pattern or repetition.  Or make it more Balanced with a Boon/Curse sort of pairing..  

This is exactly what i was thinking, honestly. Like a coin flip on whether or not you would get something good or bad. I’d imagine the best thing you could get (from repeated exposure), would probably a natural spiritual healing, like you mentioned, although imagine that it would be worse than a radiants healing. Maybe close to a bloodmaker? The worst i imagine would be limb alteration/reduced mental capability. From singular, short exposure, I wouldn’t imagine any significant effects, unless your spirtweb is very cracked, like inquisitor level.

19 hours ago, Quantus said:

 

That sort of framework lets you do just about anything within the general power levels of an internally sourced magic like Feruchemy.  For more overt blasty effects you might need to have something provide a nominally external source of Investiture.  The Stains themselves could be it, a sort of bog-like diffused shardpool so their actual fog is the Investiture, allowing for things like scientific concentration into mana-potions. Or it could be purely internally fueled so the Boon's improvement gets balanced by the Curse side's impairment.  Or take the Luhel Bond route where there's some specific material (it doesnt have to be water or metal) that you consume and convert to provide Investiture for the Stained Powers.  

I Iike the idea of a bog of stains where you could get/fuel more drastic powers. I don’t think there would be enough natural investiture on Serea to form a natural perpendicularly, but a general pooling of investiture would be cool

thanks for the feedback!

Edited March 4, 2025 by Entr0pic

[Atlas333]

I'm curious about how the native people feel about the Stains. Are they avoided because of their chaotic nature? Or are people drawn to them in the hopes of getting a good power?

If it's the first, what makes it worth spending a significant time around a stain?

 

Also, are Stains stationary or do they move?

[Entr0pic He/him]

3 hours ago, Atlas333 said:

I'm curious about how the native people feel about the Stains. Are they avoided because of their chaotic nature? Or are people drawn to them in the hopes of getting a good power?

If it's the first, what makes it worth spending a significant time around a stain?

 

Also, are Stains stationary or do they move?

Good questions! 

The opinion around stains depends on the specific region you’re from. Some people revere it, some people despise it

If you’re not a stained yet, it’s a 50/50 chance to get something “good”. if you already have a power that’s good, staying near/in the stains would increase that power. There’s a cap, of course.

the stains generally stay in the same area they appear in. I’d imagine the stains themselves swirl around people, but they’re mostly stationary.

Edited March 5, 2025 by Timiny

[Grubfriend He/Him]

Could you use the Stains in some machinery, like a fabrial?

[Entr0pic He/him]

1 hour ago, Xiahida said:

Could you use the Stains in some machinery, like a fabrial?

Sorry I’m a bit late on this.

i’m not entirely sure, honestly. I’m thinking of making them highly reactive to fire, meaning they could be used as a kind of gas fuel? But I’m not sure if gaseous investiture can interact with matter like that. If you have any suggestions though, please share them.