Cosmere Crash Course

[SpartanBrigade He/Him]

The entire time I've read the Cosmere I didn't think too much about the magic systems. heavy metal poisoning gives you superpowers, inhaling mystery glasses makes you fly: it's fantasy these things happen. I know there are laws that govern how the systems work and since I joined the Shard I've been wanting to learn about them. I'm definitely a beginner when it comes to this stuff and I was hoping to get a crash course in the basics of Investiture and the rules of magic systems so I can know how things like Surgebinding and the Metallic Arts work. I've read every Cosmere work but I hardly know anything about mechanics.

[Trusk'our he/him]

2 hours ago, SpartanBrigade said:

The entire time I've read the Cosmere I didn't think too much about the magic systems. heavy metal poisoning gives you superpowers, inhaling mystery glasses makes you fly: it's fantasy these things happen. I know there are laws that govern how the systems work and since I joined the Shard I've been wanting to learn about them. I'm definitely a beginner when it comes to this stuff and I was hoping to get a crash course in the basics of Investiture and the rules of magic systems so I can know how things like Surgebinding and the Metallic Arts work. I've read every Cosmere work but I hardly know anything about mechanics.

Oh boy. At this point it's kind of a long list.

The Coppermind is an excellent resource for overviewing it all, and even has a lot of in-depth stuff.

Just be careful, since leaps of logic do pop up. If there isn't a source backing up a claim, or that source doesn't actually line up with the Coppermind entry, it's wrong. But otherwise, it's great.

[Treamayne]

 

1 hour ago, Trusk'our said:

3 hours ago, SpartanBrigade said:

The entire time I've read the Cosmere I didn't think too much about the magic systems. heavy metal poisoning gives you superpowers, inhaling mystery glasses makes you fly: it's fantasy these things happen. I know there are laws that govern how the systems work and since I joined the Shard I've been wanting to learn about them. I'm definitely a beginner when it comes to this stuff and I was hoping to get a crash course in the basics of Investiture and the rules of magic systems so I can know how things like Surgebinding and the Metallic Arts work. I've read every Cosmere work but I hardly know anything about mechanics.

Oh boy. At this point it's kind of a long list.

The Coppermind is an excellent resource for overviewing it all, and even has a lot of in-depth stuff.

Just be careful, since leaps of logic do pop up. If there isn't a source backing up a claim, or that source doesn't actually line up with the Coppermind entry, it's wrong. But otherwise, it's great.

This is a great resource, though you may want to start with Jofwu's Cosmere 101.

Another option (because finding the option that best fits your preferred learning style) is to use the Forum seach engine to read up on older threads already answering questions you may have. The Sharder FAQ has tips on using the very robust search tool that this forum has; so, for example, if you searched for Nahel and Luhel Bonds you would find an entire thread of Sharders answering questions and discussing that topic, with WoBs and References. 

Searching the Arcanum can also be useful (also covered in the Sharder FAQ) - for reading what Brandon has to say on topics such as:
 Keyword Matter search in #Realmatic theory tag for info on how Investiture is the third axis of reality (IRL Matter and Energy are the same and convert into one another - in the Cosmere Investiture is a third axis in this dynamic). 

Hope that helps