The State of Scadrial

[Qianweilian He/him]

As we know from Starling's internal dialogue and the events of the book, the Malwish Empire exhibits at least some fascist traits.

Chapter 35

Quote

She grinned, took a deep breath, then raised the door and stepped out to meet the group of heavily armed fascists standing outside.

Curiously however, they are referred to Scadrian multiple times. So I figure there are the following possibilities about the state of Scadrial.

1. They have conquered and control the majority of Scadrial, likely subduing the North. This is probably the worst possibility for the Scadrians. Edit: @JustQuestin2004 reminded me of the control panel having North Scadrian writing; this makes #1 unlikely, but #2, #3, #4, and #5 are still plausible.

2. They entered into some sort of union with the North. This seems unlikely, as the Malwish Empire is referenced and has a prime minister.

3. They won the era 3 cold war. The North is probably irrelevant and they the Malwish dominate the region around Scadrial. Also a nasty possibility.

4. Nothing happened. The North and South still exist near the same power level. The reason the Malwish are referred to as Scadrians are either it's some joint operation or the story's narrator is flawed and the Malwish are more interventionist.

5. The Malwish are similar to where I live (United States of America). Despite not controlling all of Scadrial, they took it's namesake. Perhaps the Malwish Empire of Scadrial. This could be combined with other possibilities.

 

We also know that a shard worshipped by a Scadrian religion is the only living to do...something. This is most likely Harmony/Discord, but could also be Autonomy. Edit: as @JustQuestin2004 pointed out, it being Autonomy is very unlikely due to the shard being mentioned as Scadrian.

 

There are no Ghostbloods mentioned in the book, despite it feeling like they would surely be near the discovery of a new perpendicularity. I figure the following possibilities:

1. They have been crippled, possibly disbanded. Either way, no longer a major power. Possibly orchestrated by Hoid. Edit: @JustQuestin2004 is really helpful for this thread. Have a prize.  Era 3 is about the Ghostbloods, making this less likely but definitely still possible.

2. They've changed. Maybe they are no longer a spy organization, but some sort of echelon of government or paramilitary. Maybe they still are spies, but focus on a single planet.

3. They are in the book, the protagonists just don't notice them.

4. This was so secretive, the Ghostbloods didn't know about it. Potentially only Dajer, a supervisor, the single Radiant, and Xisis knew about it. I find this the least likely.

 

The Malwish government seems significantly different than in TLM. I believe some sort of political revolution has occurred, legal or not. Potentially a military coup, but could also be civilian controlled.

 

The Scadrians/Malwish are mentioned as using spores and Rosharans tech for their ships. This seems odd to me, considering that they should have access to Harmonium.

1. Harmony changed vessels or changed into Discord. The effect of Harmonium could be different, or just too dangerous to use.

2. Harmony doesn't exist or is not on Scadrial. This would mean Sazed is probably defeated by Trell in era 3.

3. It's a rare, high-quality material. We know that the Malwish control multiple planets and it's possible they just don't have enough. Maybe they use it for bombs.

4. Harmony shut off the production of Harmonium for unknown reasons.

5. Harmony becomes more unstable or Discord, making Harmonium too dangerous and volatile to use. Edit: This just occurred to me.

 

Now time to talk about interplanetary politics. Dajer seems to push Taldain down and Scadrial up, implying that they are rivals or at least enemies. Roshar also seems to be rivaled to Scadrial. Silverlight appears to be some sort of middleman. It could be the center of many things, but small and mostly relying on diplomacy. Sel is rarely mentioned, suggesting that it is either weak or isolationist.

 

That's all I can think of. I might add more later. I did add more later, but I might add stuff again in the future. Thanks for coming to see my State of the Union Scadrial address.

Edited July 13, 2025 by Qianweilian

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

57 minutes ago, Qianweilian said:

Curiously however, they are referred to Scadrian multiple times. So I figure there are the following possibilities about the state of Scadrial.

1. They have conquered and control the majority of Scadrial, likely subduing the North. This is probably the worst possibility for the Scadrians.

2. They entered into some sort of union with the North. This seems unlikely, as the Malwish Empire is referenced and has a prime minister.

3. They won the era 3 cold war. The North is probably irrelevant and they dominate the region. Also a nasty possibility.

4. Nothing happened. The North and South still exist near the same power level. The reason the Malwish are referred to as Scadrians are either it's some joint operation or the story's narrator is flawed and the Malwish are more interventionist.

5. The Malwish are similar to where I live (United States of America). Despite not controlling all of Scadrial, they took it's namesake. Perhaps the Malwish Empire of Scadrial. This could be combined with other possibilities.

In Chapter 25, there is reference to a Scadrian Control Panel, with writing specifically said to be from Northen Scadrial. So, they must still be around in some capacity and have advanced technologically. But that's the only reference to Northen Scadrial specifically in the book besides Pathism.

I don't know what else we can infer from that, besides the fact that the Northen Scadrian writing language is still around and not been completely suppressed by the Malwish. 

1 hour ago, Qianweilian said:

We also know that a shard worshipped by a Scadrian religion is the only living to do...something. This is most likely Harmony/Discord, but could also be Autonomy.

It was said that Ed specifically worships a Scadrian, which would be Harmony, because no one this Cosmere aware would be dumb enough to fall for Autonomy's shenanigans.

1 hour ago, Qianweilian said:

There are no Ghostbloods mentioned in the book, despite it feeling like they would surely be near the discovery of a new perpendicularity. I figure the following possibilities:

1. They have been crippled, possibly disbanded. Either way, no longer a major power. Possibly orchestrated by Hoid

2. They've changed. Maybe they are no longer a spy organization, but some sort of echelon of government or paramilitary. Maybe they still are spies, but focus on a single planet.

3. They are in the book, the protagonists just don't notice them.

4. This was so secretive, the Ghostbloods didn't know about it. Potentially only Dajer, a supervisor, the single Radiant, and Xisis knew about it. I find this the least likely.

There's definitely something that's happened to them, they are going to be the main focus in Era 3 after all. so who knows?  Though I have doubts that Kelsier would be very happy with the Malwish Empire, what with a long and terrible history with such things after all.

1 hour ago, Qianweilian said:

The Malwish government seems significantly different than in TLM. I believe some sort of political revolution has occurred, legal or not. Potentially a military coup, but could also be civilian controlled.

Chrysalis also revealed that their Prime Minister was killed by Partisans and blamed the act on the Sleepless because they were there.

So, it's definitely not all peaceful on Scadrial. What with Scadrian leaders being assassinated by other Scadrians, just like the old days.

1 hour ago, Qianweilian said:

The Scadrians/Malwish are mentioned as using spores and Rosharans tech for their ships. This seems odd to me, considering that they should have access to Harmonium.

1. Harmony changed vessels or changed into Discord. The effect of Harmonium could be different, or just too dangerous to use.

2. Harmony doesn't exist or is not on Scadrial. This would mean Sazed is probably defeated by Trell in era 3.

3. It's a rare, high-quality material. We know that the Malwish control multiple planets and it's possible they just don't have enough. Maybe they use it for bombs.

4. Harmony shut off the production of Harmonium for unknown reasons.

I've been partial to the idea that there simply isn't enough Harmonium being produced to supply an entire interstellar empire, especially to give to someone on a mission that is seen as a waste of time, lives and resources by Dajer's superiors, and especially when they're in a war with another interstellar empire. If Harmonium is produced in the same way as Atium, and we have little reason to believe otherwise, then that makes sense. Even a massive stockpile of Atium like the Trustwarren, built up over who knows how many years, didn't last long when being used by a small army of Seers.

1 hour ago, Qianweilian said:

Now time to talk about interplanetary politics. Dajer seems to push Taldain down and Scadrial up, implying that they are rivals or at least enemies.

Makes sense, Autonomy is a direct enemy to all life on Scadrial, and her main stomping grounds is Taldain, so any Scadrians who are aware of both would have little reason to not hate Taldain.

1 hour ago, Qianweilian said:

Roshar also seems to be rivaled to Scadrial.

Very likely Taravangian's doing, one way or another. The way that Radiant talked really reminded me of how Taravangian goes on about the greater good and all that.

1 hour ago, Qianweilian said:

Silverlight appears to be some sort of middleman. It could be the center of many things, but small and mostly relying on diplomacy.

It's pretty much been the main hub for most if not all Worldhoppers for centuries, if not millennia, with access to all sorts of technology and cultures mixing together like a melting pot for years and well before most worlds became publically Cosmere-Aware. I'd love to be their friend but hate to be their enemy. 

1 hour ago, Qianweilian said:

Sel is rarely mentioned, suggesting that it is either weak or isolationist.

It's probably still difficult to get to with the Dor in the way, though with access to FTL it's probably a decent bit easier.

Maybe Sel are nominal allies to Scadrial? Or at least the Ghostbloods? Kel did want to try to make allies there, but also with Dhartri and doesn't seem like Dhatri and Scadrial have the best relations these days.

I also highly doubt that Sel is weak, AonDor alone that has been studied for centuries and having a modern science understanding behind it? Even now they're probably almost unassailable, so long as they have protections for the entire country to prevent the geography from being forcibly altered again that is. isolationist is more likely due to how the Selish Arts are limited, even if some Selish have found ways around that, I doubt said means are available to all of Sel.

 

[Qianweilian He/him]

1 hour ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

there is reference to a Scadrian Control Panel, with writing specifically said to be from Northen Scadrial. So, they must still be around in some capacity and have advanced technologically.

Interestingly enough, the Malwish having electronics in the Northern Scadrian alphabet implies that the Basin is more technologically advanced whether or not they are unified, like how English is the language of science.

1 hour ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

It was said that Ed specifically worships a Scadrian, which would be Harmony, because no one this Cosmere aware would be dumb enough to fall for Autonomy's shenanigans.

Yeah, that's reasonable. I didn't catch that.

1 hour ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

they are going to be the main focus in Era 3 after all.

Ah, I forgot about that. They're probably not disbanded then.

1 hour ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

What with Scadrian leaders being assassinated by other Scadrians, just like the old days.

Plays Vin Diesel soundtrack

1 hour ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

I've been partial to the idea that there simply isn't enough Harmonium being produced to supply an entire interstellar empire

I think we're just going to have to wait and see about this one.

1 hour ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

Maybe Sel are nominal allies to Scadrial? Or at least the Ghostbloods? Kel did want to try to make allies there, but also with Dhartri and doesn't seem like Dhatri and Scadrial have the best relations these days.

Same as above, except the poor relations seem to be between the Malwish and Dhatri. Perhaps the North Scadrians are allies with Sel or Dhatri.

[alder24]

We know from TSM that there are several separate fractions on Scadrial, some are even neutral in future conflicts (or pretending to be neutral), IotE told us that Malwish are a dominant faction on Scadrial and they control around half of roads in Shadesmare, which is a vast power projection. Roshar probably controls most of the other half. From this and some other clues like the alphabet or partisants, we can say that the Basin probably still exists as a political faction, but they are far from being as influential as Malwish in the Cosmere. They are most definitely the weaker of the two of them on Scadrial, which would mean that Malwish won the Era 3 cold war. Obviously, this doesn't mean that the Basin is now irrelevant; contrary, that can just mean that the fascist Malwish are the main antagonists of the Era 4 conflict and the Basin is s protagonist.

Malwish are Scadrials, so that's why they are referred as Scadrials. I don't think we need to search for a specific reason why Malwish are called Scadrians in the book, when the simplest one is right in front of our faces. 

TSM ch 44:

Quote

These were TimeTellers, one faction among the many Scadrian political movements. Theoretically they were neutral in the current conflicts. A group of scientists, seeking to “understand the various mysteries of the cosmere.” And they were absolutely not, of course, an arm of the military working in secret to develop tech that would let Scadrial stay ahead in the increasingly dangerous arms race that currently consumed most of the developed planets.

IotE ch 35:

Quote

Starling didn’t reply. The Malwish were a dominant force on the planet of Scadrial. A powerful force in the galaxy, and an aggressive one. Everyone tried to leave them to their war, but . . . well, Scadrians had this habit of claiming land, sending patrols, and coming up with their own rules and regulations. They patrolled half the lanes between planets in Shadesmar.

 

As for Ghostbloods, once again I think the simplest explanation is the best - they are a secret organisation. It took them 4 books, more than 6-8 years, to show themselves in the W&W series and you expect them to just appear in this book about some people that just got involved in interplanetary politics against their will? We can't say anything about Ghostbloods from the lack of mention of them in IotE. I will just note that Kelsier ended TLM asking Sazed to lead them to stars with a new method of travelling, we see now that Scadrial does this and controls a vast area of Cosmere. Wouldn't that suggest that Kelsier not only achieved his goal, but also this made Ghostbloods even more influential? They are still in the shadows, IotE just wasn't big enough for Ghostbloods to appear. After all, Drominad is not the first colony Scadrial wanted to create on another planet. Ghostbloods' goals might have also shifted from protecting Scadrial from threats to something new as now Scadrial seems capable of defending themselves. And who is to say that Ghostbloods took a side in the Era 3 cold war?

Lastly, Harmonium. One simple question to all of you - where did the electricity for all of this Malwish base come from? They are in the middle of nowhere, they've built their base using their own ships in two weeks or so and have a power supply strong enough to use a pretty powerful weapon, capable of neutralizing the Evil (in theory) and breaking draconics artefacts. The power comes from the main ship, but it's a space ship - no smoke stack, no coal plant, no gas plant, no dam to generate power, no wind or sun in Shadesmar. So where is the power coming from? Fusion or fission reactor is on a table, but my bet is Harmonium is somehow powering all of this. Even more, they shared this technology with Drominad. The blackout mentioned at the beginning of the book was caused by Scadrians delaying the delivery of power supply to the planet, a power supply that deactivates when opened. Fusion or fission reactors are way too complicated for a newly industrialized civilization to construct, not to mention that the statement about deactivation would make no sense with those kinds of power plants. Some form of Harmonium batteries would make sense, but if that's not Harmonium, it's probably a new god metal. 

The book also stated that their fighters are capable of steelpushing in the proper environment and this can only be achieved with Harmonium being present in their ships (as far as we know), just like its used in Era 2 airships. And the ship visiting Drominad required a steel launchpad to be constructed - a clear indication that the ship is using Allomancy and therefore has Harmonium inside of it (I think metal launchpads were also mention in the description of the base in Shadesmar, but I can't find it now). So I bet Harmonium is still used in their fleet, but they are just using spores and fabrials as it's cheaper than setting up a proper steelfield just so they can use their Allomancy in the middle of nowhere. 

IotE ch 7:

Quote

It soon took off, streaking through the air without a sound. Its ability to fly baffled explanation; the only thing Dusk’s people knew about the process was that the Ones Above had requested the courtyard launchpad be made entirely of steel.
[...]
“The blackout last month,” Dusk said.
The Ones Above were quick to share their more common technologies. Lights that burned cold and true, fans that circulated air in the muggy homeisle summers, ships that moved at several times the speed of steam-powered ones. But all of these ran on power sources supplied from above—which deactivated if opened.

A steelpushing device was also described in TSM, indicating the use of Harmonium - a primer cube. TSM ch 45:

Quote

Nomad lunged for the Investiture Cell, but she snatched it off the table and backed away, raising a hand and tapping the metal device on her glove. Instead he snatched the sunheart she’d been working on, the one they’d overcharged.
Fortunately he didn’t have any metal on him, so—
He was thrown violently backward, Pushed by something at his waist. His metal belt buckle. Right.

 

[StanLemon]

One thing to keep in consideration, the Scadrian Perpendicularity is implied to be in Malwish territory. If this is the case, it would explain why the Malwish are more widespread and influential than the Basin to the Cosmere at large as they have easier access to travel.

[bmcclure7]

On 7/13/2025 at 5:34 PM, alder24 said:

We know from TSM that there are several separate fractions on Scadrial, some are even neutral in future conflicts (or pretending to be neutral), IotE told us that Malwish are a dominant faction on Scadrial and they control around half of roads in Shadesmare, which is a vast power projection. Roshar probably controls most of the other half. From this and some other clues like the alphabet or partisants, we can say that the Basin probably still exists as a political faction, but they are far from being as influential as Malwish in the Cosmere. They are most definitely the weaker of the two of them on Scadrial, which would mean that Malwish won the Era 3 cold war. Obviously, this doesn't mean that the Basin is now irrelevant; contrary, that can just mean that the fascist Malwish are the main antagonists of the Era 4 conflict and the Basin is s protagonist.

Malwish are Scadrials, so that's why they are referred as Scadrials. I don't think we need to search for a specific reason why Malwish are called Scadrians in the book, when the simplest one is right in front of our faces. 

TSM ch 44:

IotE ch 35:

 

As for Ghostbloods, once again I think the simplest explanation is the best - they are a secret organisation. It took them 4 books, more than 6-8 years, to show themselves in the W&W series and you expect them to just appear in this book about some people that just got involved in interplanetary politics against their will? We can't say anything about Ghostbloods from the lack of mention of them in IotE. I will just note that Kelsier ended TLM asking Sazed to lead them to stars with a new method of travelling, we see now that Scadrial does this and controls a vast area of Cosmere. Wouldn't that suggest that Kelsier not only achieved his goal, but also this made Ghostbloods even more influential? They are still in the shadows, IotE just wasn't big enough for Ghostbloods to appear. After all, Drominad is not the first colony Scadrial wanted to create on another planet. Ghostbloods' goals might have also shifted from protecting Scadrial from threats to something new as now Scadrial seems capable of defending themselves. And who is to say that Ghostbloods took a side in the Era 3 cold war?

Lastly, Harmonium. One simple question to all of you - where did the electricity for all of this Malwish base come from? They are in the middle of nowhere, they've built their base using their own ships in two weeks or so and have a power supply strong enough to use a pretty powerful weapon, capable of neutralizing the Evil (in theory) and breaking draconics artefacts. The power comes from the main ship, but it's a space ship - no smoke stack, no coal plant, no gas plant, no dam to generate power, no wind or sun in Shadesmar. So where is the power coming from? Fusion or fission reactor is on a table, but my bet is Harmonium is somehow powering all of this. Even more, they shared this technology with Drominad. The blackout mentioned at the beginning of the book was caused by Scadrians delaying the delivery of power supply to the planet, a power supply that deactivates when opened. Fusion or fission reactors are way too complicated for a newly industrialized civilization to construct, not to mention that the statement about deactivation would make no sense with those kinds of power plants. Some form of Harmonium batteries would make sense, but if that's not Harmonium, it's probably a new god metal. 

The book also stated that their fighters are capable of steelpushing in the proper environment and this can only be achieved with Harmonium being present in their ships (as far as we know), just like its used in Era 2 airships. And the ship visiting Drominad required a steel launchpad to be constructed - a clear indication that the ship is using Allomancy and therefore has Harmonium inside of it (I think metal launchpads were also mention in the description of the base in Shadesmar, but I can't find it now). So I bet Harmonium is still used in their fleet, but they are just using spores and fabrials as it's cheaper than setting up a proper steelfield just so they can use their Allomancy in the middle of nowhere. 

IotE ch 7:

A steelpushing device was also described in TSM, indicating the use of Harmonium - a primer cube. TSM ch 45:

 

Not to mention the “cloud” is probably a combination of copper-A duralumin-A combined in Harmonium and I suspect that the power source is Harmonium also 

[Fyodor32768]

Regarding sel don't we see some references to aonic force fields or something?

Edited July 15, 2025 by Fyodor32768

[teknopathetic he/him]

Maybe we have some symmetry between Scadrial and Roshar. The Basin VS The Malwish Empire and Uritheru vs Retribution's Empire

Maybe the Basin and Uritheru will end up working together to try and take down their respective antagonist nations. It would be interesting to see Shallan and Kelsier working together on something instead of opposing each other. 

Edited July 15, 2025 by teknopathetic

[+Bzhydack he/him]

My theory is that Scadrial is relativly loose Federation of countries, or something simmilar to European Union, so have few independent countries, but they present one front in interplanetary politics.

Malwish have Scadrian Perpendicularity. Of course they would be the strongest on Scadrial, even if they werent before Space Era.

On 7/14/2025 at 12:34 AM, alder24 said:

Quote

These were TimeTellers, one faction among the many Scadrian political movements. Theoretically they were neutral in the current conflicts. A group of scientists, seeking to “understand the various mysteries of the cosmere.” And they were absolutely not, of course, an arm of the military working in secret to develop tech that would let Scadrial stay ahead in the increasingly dangerous arms race that currently consumed most of the developed planets.

Who thinks Time Tellers were responsible for inventing Intensifier?

[lacrossedeamon]

My favorite end of the year post: The State of the Scadrial

[bmcclure7]

On 7/15/2025 at 3:58 PM, teknopathetic said:

Maybe we have some symmetry between Scadrial and Roshar. The Basin VS The Malwish Empire and Uritheru vs Retribution's Empire

Maybe the Basin and Uritheru will end up working together to try and take down their respective antagonist nations. It would be interesting to see Shallan and Kelsier working together on something instead of opposing each other. 

This is also what I think

[BinarySecond]

On 7/15/2025 at 9:41 PM, Fyodor32768 said:

Regarding sel don't we see some references to aonic force fields or something?

Yes! Dajer was talking about all the different defenses that failed to protect them from the Dakwara?

A planet, presumably, ruled by nerd sorcerers wouldn't be something I'd like to mess with. I think any military power attempting to fight Elantrians on Sel is in for the worst time.

[+Bzhydack he/him]

5 hours ago, BinarySecond said:

Yes! Dajer was talking about all the different defenses that failed to protect them from the Dakwara?

A planet, presumably, ruled by nerd sorcerers wouldn't be something I'd like to mess with. I think any military power attempting to fight Elantrians on Sel is in for the worst time.

Also, Malwish have Aonic trap for Nazh. Seems to me that Malwish like to use Selish tech, and maybe Sel is in sort of aliance with Scadrial? Or at least they have a treaty?

[Qianweilian He/him]

17 minutes ago, Bzhydack said:

Seems to me that Malwish like to use Selish tech

They also use spores, and I believe Rosharan Gravitation as well. It makes me wonder if the North destroyed their R&D or something.

[BinarySecond]

32 minutes ago, Bzhydack said:

Also, Malwish have Aonic trap for Nazh. Seems to me that Malwish like to use Selish tech, and maybe Sel is in sort of aliance with Scadrial? Or at least they have a treaty?

I got the vibe that the Malwish at the very least have a superiority complex, which extends to their technology, but they don't let that get in the way of trying to win "the war"

[Mage of Lirigon he/him]

15 minutes ago, Qianweilian said:

They also use spores, and I believe Rosharan Gravitation as well. It makes me wonder if the North destroyed their R&D or something.

Seems more like they just borrow and integrate tech from other planets a lot.

[QuantumAce]

1 hour ago, Mage of Lirigon said:

Seems more like they just borrow and integrate tech from other planets a lot.

 

If you are going to have a military patrolling half the lanes in shadesmar, might as well use them to pick up any useful bits of outside technology. 

[teknopathetic he/him]

It is not like America never used Chinese, Indian, or Russian tech.