What do you think each Shard's Invested Art would look like?

[Shard of Reason]

We already know that Honor brings Surgebinding, requiring the making of oaths, and Ruin Hemalurgy, demanding a person be destroyed, but lately, I've been wondering what all the other Shard's invested art would look like and how they would work.

[Treamayne]

Welcome to the Shard. Please consider an Intro Post to let us know what you have or have-not read (whichever list is shorter). Also, please consider checking out the Sharder FAQ for some useful forum info and tips. 

8 minutes ago, Shard of Reason said:

We already know that Honor brings Surgebinding, requiring the making of oaths, and Ruin Hemalurgy, demanding a person be destroyed, but lately, I've been wondering what all the other Shard's invested art would look like and how they would work.

Keep in mind that a given MoI isn't decided by a Shard and also is not universal - the Invested Arts arrive as a combination of the Planet's Identity, it's People and how that interacts with a Shard's Intent (e. g. Honor's MOI would not necessarily be Surgebinding accessed through Oaths anywhere but on Roshar). WoB:

Spoiler

asmodeus

You've said before that a lot of the magics we see across the cosmere come from an interaction of Shards and their Investiture with the planets they Invest in. What does this mean practically? If Scadrial explodes tomorrow, will Hemalurgy stop working across the cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

Hemalurgy wouldn't stop working, most likely, but it could. There are ways that you could make it stop working. I kind of mean that the Shards are an innate part of physics in the cosmere, and the magics that arise are an innate part of physics because of that. Like atium seeped out into the Pits of Hathsin, in the same way, these magics are just gonna leak out, and different places are going to affect them. You'll see Lightweaving happening in different places, and the way the Shard is interacting with the local... The way the Shard is is going to affect how Lightweaving is administrated in the various magics, but it's still gonna be there. Hemalurgy is kind of a similar thing to that. You will see Midnight Essence, you will see some of these recurring ideas popping up, and these are like natural parts of the physics, but they're influenced by the Shards on the local planets.

I don't know if that answer, that's gonna be a really fun one for them to transcribe into the Q&A thing, because I go around in circles on that question a ton. Put this part in when you do it.

Footnote: It was a really fun one.
YouTube Spoiler Stream 4 (June 16, 2022)

So, you can theorize about Shardic Intents and how they may influence MoIs, but without tying that to a World and Culture you would have only one part of the recipe that results in an MoI. 

Hope that helps

[Onironte he/him]

Please to meet you, @Shard of Reason!

I have always thought that the Invested Art of Whimsy would have something to do with the idea that, randomly, one of your wishes, imaginations, or thoughts would become real without any prior warning. You simply think something, and it happens. Or else, somehow, a power given to those whom Whimsy (whimsically) chooses, allowing them to evade the consequences of their actions.

Pity, perhaps, should have some kind of Invested Art that allows people to take on the pain of others

Spoiler

something similar to what Ishar does with the oath, but in a more generalized way.

 

[Brgst13]

Let's see...we know Preservation grants Allomancy, Virtuosity's Splinters respond to artistic skill and intent, Endowment grants Breaths for Awakening, Odium grants Voidlight, Cultivation grants Lifelight through a Nahel bond, the Dor is location-based and has like a hundred systems, and who knows what Autonomy does.  Whatever she wants, I guess.

We know a minimal amount about Invention from IoE, and nothing at all of Mercy, Valor (unless she is involved in Adolin's  WaT story), Whimsy, or Reason.  Ambition is a bizarre case that seems from what we have seen to lack a proper MoI.

[ruler of the mists He/His/the survivor of the pit]

So what was Trells invested art

[Jult]

3 hours ago, ruler of the mists said:

So what was Trells invested art

Technically, spoiler tags aren't needed on this board (except for new materials like IotE and Stonewalkers), but I'm going to at least throw a warning out here because it feels like a few people in this Topic are not fully caught up on Cosmere novels. I'm gonna spoil stuff for several novels (Mistborn Era 2, White Sand, Sixth of Dusk), so stop reading if you want to avoid that.

We know that Trell is an avatar of Autonomy. While we haven't seen an Autonomy-based Invested Art on Scadrial, we have seen one called Sand Mastery on Taldain in the White Sand graphic novels. There are still some questions on exactly how Sand Mastery works, but it seems to involve a Luhel Bond with an odd microorganism that resembles lichen and grows on sand.

On 8/5/2025 at 12:02 AM, Treamayne said:

So, you can theorize about Shardic Intents and how they may influence MoIs, but without tying that to a World and Culture you would have only one part of the recipe that results in an MoI. 

This actually has me wondering about Sixth of Dusk. We know Autonomy has an avatar on First of the Sun as well. I never really made a connection between the worms granting Aviar abilities and the lichen granting Sand Mastery. But is there one? There is a somewhat similar vibe of the powers in both systems coming from some form of symbiotic connection to a 'lesser' organism. Does Autonomy's Intent push MoIs towards symbiosis? That almost feels like the opposite of what the word 'autonomy' means to me.

[Treamayne]

5 hours ago, Jult said:

Technically, spoiler tags aren't needed on this board (except for new materials like IotE and Stonewalkers),

I used spoiler tags out of respect for the OP, who has not yet had the chance to tell us what they have or have not read - so the Spoiler tag gives them the power to decide to read it or not. 

5 hours ago, Jult said:

Spoilers for White Sand:

Spoiler

We know that Trell is an avatar of Autonomy. While we haven't seen an Autonomy-based Invested Art on Scadrial, we have seen one called Sand Mastery on Taldain in the White Sand graphic novels. There are still some questions on exactly how Sand Mastery works, but it seems to involve a Luhel Bond with an odd microorganism that resembles lichen and grows on sand.

 

Well, we have this WoB (discussion also inside):

Spoiler

Quote

Questioner

There's a similarity between Sand Mastery using water out of someone's body, as well as the spores on...

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Intentional connection.

Questioner

Is it a luhel bond?

Brandon Sanderson

Let's just say that a certain Shard in the cosmere likes to mimic other magic systems.

Questioner

Have we seen said Shard before?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, you have.

Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 (Dec. 5, 2024)

It's likely that Mastering Sand is a Lugel Bond, because Autonomy mimicked Aethers when meddling with Taldain (note: Lossa and Kerzt's visions of the Sand Lord were well after developement of Dayside, implying the MoI for Taldain was purposefully adjusted, then Bavadin's Sand Lord Avatar gave conflicting "Visions" to the Siblings to pit them against each other so they could "prove their worth."

The Drominad WoB implies that the bonds with Worms were a fragment of Adonalsium Residue left over from the Shattering. At the Shattering all investiture became Shard aligned. Some time later, Bavadin realized there was Autonomy Aligned investiture happening in the Nahel Bond of this random backwater planet, and started forming the Patji Avatar (likely based on Eelakin myth - just as Trell was based on the old religeon Sazed had Memorized) so she could "capitalize" on the opportunity. After all, her stated goal (in TLM) is to "out Religion" the other Shards. . . 

Quote

ReadAndFindOut

In 2014, Brandon said First of the Sun - the planet in Sixth of the Dusk - is a minor Shardworld, in that it does not have a Shard present (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/103-salt-lake-city-comic-con-2014/#e1010). However, we've now gotten a WoB saying that Patji - the Father island - IS a Shard (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/256-oathbringer-london-signing/#e8606). Patji was a Shard, but isn't during SotD? Or did we finally get confirmation on that elusive "Survival Shard"? What do you guys think?

Brandon Sanderson

I stand by them. Though, as always, quotes and WoBs at signings aren't always as deliberately thought out as I'd like them to be. Answering questions on the fly can be challenging, and my phrasing can be bad in retrospect.

But no Shard was in residence on First of the Sun during the events of that story. The Investiture on that planet is residue, normal Investiture from Adonalsium. Everything happening there could happen with or without a Shard present. Indeed, I would say that no Shard was ever "in residence" on First of the Sun.

The being called Patji still exists, and is a Shard of Adonalsium. Shards in the past have been interested in First of the Sun, and have meddled in small ways there. (Like they have on a lot of Shardworlds.)

<edited for length and relevance>

Autonomy never "Invested" on First of the Sun. But even answering (as someone else asked) if they created an avatar without visiting is a difficult thing to explain--because even explaining how a Shard travels (when motion is irrelevant) is difficult to manage. It's a subject that I intend to be up for debate, discussion, and argument by in-world philosophers and arcanists.

<edited for length and relevance>

Brandon Sanderson

When I said Patji was a Shard, I was meaning Automony--but it is not quite that simple.

Take this post to mean "no, you should not be looking toward another Shard for Patji's origins. Autonomy is the one relevant." But Autonomy's relationships with entities like this (not sure entity is the right word, even) is complex. I'm not trying to confuse the issue, though.

General Reddit 2018 (March 18, 2018)

 

Hope that helps

Edited August 7, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG

[Jult]

10 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Some time later, Bavadin realized there was Autonomy Aligned investiture happening in the Nahel Bond of this random backwater planet, and started forming the Patji Avatar (likely based on Eelakin myth - just as Trell was based on the old religeon Sazed had Memorized) so she could "capitalize" on the opportunity. After all, her stated goal (in TLM) is to "out Religion" the other Shards. . .

Interesting. There's a pretty limited sample size for exploring this concept. Most Shards seem to have picked one planet and stuck with it. But I wonder if there's any potential to theorize on Shardic impact to the MoIs on planets that they've visited?

Sel, for example, has at least six known Invested Arts. I wonder if any of these are influenced by Autonomy's meddling on Sel..

We haven't seen anything of the sort on Scadrial (yet), but it seems like Autonomy was absent for a pretty long period between starting Trellism and Trellism's revival.

[Treamayne]

44 minutes ago, Jult said:

Elantris and Mistborn Spoilers:

Spoiler

1. Sel, for example, has at least six known Invested Arts. I wonder if any of these are influenced by Autonomy's meddling on Sel..
2. We haven't seen anything of the sort on Scadrial (yet), but it seems like Autonomy was absent for a pretty long period between starting Trellism and Trellism's revival.

 

(SA / Mistborn / Elantris Spoilers)

1. Are there six? Or are they different versions of one? WoBs Below.
   • Such as: Are Adhesion and Illumination different magics or two aspects of the same magic? How about Pewter and Brass? Forgery and AonDor both access the dor through written instructions in the native language of the region the magic originates - Selish systems are weird for the localities involved, but there are definite valid arguements in both directions: 1 Magic with many version, or different magic for each region
2. The original Religion was Trelagism not Trellism (which was Autonomy's co-opted revival).

Spoiler

Quote

Questioner

So in Scadrial we know that Allomancy is end-positive, and Hemalurgy end-negative, and Feruchemy is neutral, right? Is there such a concept on Sel, with the magics?

Brandon Sanderson

All of the magics on Sel, every one of them, is end-positive.

Questioner

Okay. And what fuel-- well, it's not a fuel. What focuses it? It's-- no, not that too.

Brandon Sanderson

They all draw power from the Dor. None of it's coming from the people. That's what this refers to, right?

Calamity release party (Feb. 16, 2016)

Quote

Brandon Sanderson

The magic systems for Elantris- the pitch to myself designing the world and magic systems was this kind of procedural-based, almost programing-based magic. Where in Elantris, you use these characters to program out a sequence of events that tells the power that's flowing through what to do.

What Shai is doing in this book is she carves a little seal. And the seal is very much like a little program, and she stamps it on something and uses that stamp to rewrite the history of the object. As long as the seal is there, the object thinks it has this other history. The example you see in the book is you know... an old dirty table that's not been cared for, she can write a seal for its history, she has to figure out what its history was first. And she can write out a seal that basically reprograms that past, so when she stamps it, it thinks it's been cared for all along and suddenly it gains this lacquer, it's beautiful, it's been well-cared for, because in that fake Forgery of the history, that's what happened to it. And that's what her magic does, which is why she's been hired to Forge a copy of the emperor's soul.

But, yes, the magic systems have the same root. And it's not just the Dor. I like the magics on a given planet to all have a consistent theme. And for Elantris they are these almost programming-like, very based on symbols and what-not. In Mistborn, it's based on the metals and the interactions of the metals.

Salt Lake City signing 2012 (Nov. 6, 2012)

Quote

Questioner

So the Emperor's Soul takes place on Sel. Is it's magic derived from the Dor?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Salt Lake City signing 2012 (Nov. 6, 2012)

Josh

Are the Dahkor magics powered by the Dor?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

West Jordan signing (Aug. 4, 2011)

Quote

ParadoxicalZen

How exactly is the Moon Scepter linked to the Dor?

Brandon Sanderson

The Moon Scepter is-- I suppose I can canonize this, now. Okay you're getting one out of me. So the big thing about the Moon Scepter that it was-- It is a Rosetta stone for the [Selish] magics. Meaning it translates them from one to another, and what the different symbols mean, does that make sense.

Shadows of Self London UK signing (Oct. 19, 2015)

 

Hope that helps

[Jult]

11 hours ago, Treamayne said:

(SA / Mistborn / Elantris Spoilers)

1. Are there six? Or are they different versions of one? WoBs Below.
   • Such as: Are Adhesion and Illumination different magics or two aspects of the same magic? How about Pewter and Brass? Forgery and AonDor both access the dor through written instructions in the native language of the region the magic originates - Selish systems are weird for the localities involved, but there are definite valid arguements in both directions: 1 Magic with many version, or different magic for each region

I view them more like Allomancy vs Feruchemy vs Hemalurgy rather than Pewter Allomancy vs Brass Allomancy. 

What I'm suggesting is something similar to the way all three Metallic Arts map to a different Shard or combination of Shards (Allomancy = Preservation, Feruchemy = Preservation+Ruin, Hemalurgy = Ruin).

I wonder if a similar mapping could be true for Sel. Something like:

AonDor = Devotion
Dakhor = Dominion
Hrovell Potion Making = Autonomy
ChayShan = Devotion + Dominion
Forgery = Autonomy + Devotion
Bloodsealing = Autonomy + Dominion

All part of the same Selish symbol-based magic; yet flavored differently based on Shardic impact. But that's just random speculation on my part.

11 hours ago, Treamayne said:

2. The original Religion was Trelagism not Trellism (which was Autonomy's co-opted revival).

D'oh! I definitely knew that at some point. My bad.

[Treamayne]

8 minutes ago, Jult said:

I view them more like Allomancy vs Feruchemy vs Hemalurgy (Spoilers)

Spoiler

rather than Pewter Allomancy vs Brass Allomancy. 

What I'm suggesting is something similar to the way all three Metallic Arts map to a different Shard or combination of Shards (Allomancy = Preservation, Feruchemy = Preservation+Ruin, Hemalurgy = Ruin).

I wonder if a similar mapping could be true for Sel. Something like:

AonDor = Devotion
Dakhor = Dominion
Hrovell Potion Making = Autonomy
ChayShan = Devotion + Dominion
Forgery = Autonomy + Devotion
Bloodsealing = Autonomy + Dominion

 

Three things:

Spoiler

1. I doubt Autonomy could be behind an MoI that accesses the Dor (raw investiture of two other Shards with whom Autonomy does not share Connection beyond the Shattering - which is not enough for any other Shard to access another's power without corrupting it)
2. I can see your reasoning possible (at least the non-Autonomy parts) - my reasoning is:
   • All of them are different combinations of Devotion and Dominion where:
     • Dominion is expressed in the national ties and geographic boundaries
     • How Devotion is expressed is what really differentiates each "discipline" (After all, Shai implies she could have learned Resealing (not MaiPon) had she Devoted time to studying the Flesh the way she studied Art for Forgery). Dakhor express Devotion to their Faith and Their Monastery. It's even possible (and implied) the Shaod chooses Elantrians based on traits of Devotion:
     • Raoden - Devoted to the people of Arelon
     • Galladon - Devoted to his farm so much he built his house by hand
     • Taan - Devoted to Sculpting
     • Shaor - Does Narcissism count as Devotion to herself?
     • Karata - Devoted to her family and the Children
     • Saolin - Devoted to Eondel and the Army
     • Mareshe - Devoted to Artistry and Craftsmanship
     • etc.
3. Remember, it's miplied each "nationality" has it's own MoIs (some just have not been discovered or shown on-screeen yet) and there is another entire continent with a Third Empire worth of ways to access the Dor that we know nothing about yet (other that that it exists).
   • Just because Scadrial mapped as A, B, A+B does not mean other Shardworlds will do the same - in fact, Scadrial may be the only Shardworld to map MoIs to Shards so clearly (if only because those Shards created both the Planet and the People)

WoB:

Quote

Nimrod Rappaport

In Arcanum Unbounded you mentioned that Sel is one of the biggest planets. You also mentioned that there are three empires on that planet. In Elantris 2 two will we get... You also mentioned that they are largely ignorant of each other, will we get a book in which those empires interact? Maybe in Elantris 2? 

Also, can you please specify on their nature and maybe some inspirations you got when writing and thinking about them?

Brandon Sanderson

So, sure. Sel wears its inspirations quite blatantly on its sleeve, right? It's not that obvious for instance in Stormlight that the Alethi are based off of Mongolians, because there's so much more in the mix there, that it's not quite as obvious. But in Sel, it's a little more obvious. You know, basically the idea came to me that what if the vikings had united behind a very hierarchical religion like Catholicism, and we had Catholic vikings, conquering the world. What would the world look like and that is where the entire religion came from.

Actually the truth is it's like, there was this priest, right, and one group became Buddhist and the other became Catholic vikings and, you know, Buddhist Renaissance... Italians is kind of where we got there and of course, the Rose Empire the inspirations are a little bit more Eastern and Middle Eastern. For instance, the Grands are based on Babylonian influences and I'm kind of looking at a lot of Babylonian, a little bit of Syrian. But of course Shai is very very clearly based on East Asian cultures and specifically China.

So, the empires and things like that... for there you might have noticed that we've got a Europe centered one, and an Asia/Eastern centered one, so you might be able to theorize where the third empire's inspirations might be or at least a list of possible candidates.

ICon 2019 (Oct. 17, 2019)

 

Hope that helps

[CoderDrag0n8 He/They]

3 hours ago, Jult said:

I view them more like Allomancy vs Feruchemy vs Hemalurgy rather than Pewter Allomancy vs Brass Allomancy. 

What I'm suggesting is something similar to the way all three Metallic Arts map to a different Shard or combination of Shards (Allomancy = Preservation, Feruchemy = Preservation+Ruin, Hemalurgy = Ruin).

I wonder if a similar mapping could be true for Sel. Something like:

AonDor = Devotion
Dakhor = Dominion
Hrovell Potion Making = Autonomy
ChayShan = Devotion + Dominion
Forgery = Autonomy + Devotion
Bloodsealing = Autonomy + Dominion

All part of the same Selish symbol-based magic; yet flavored differently based on Shardic impact. But that's just random speculation on my part.

D'oh! I definitely knew that at some point. My bad.

When reading, I was under the impression that Bloodsealing was just a less recognized version of Forgery.

[Jult]

On 8/8/2025 at 11:55 AM, CoderDrag0n8 said:

When reading, I was under the impression that Bloodsealing was just a less recognized version of Forgery.

It could be. Some of the Selish magics feel more 'groupable' than others. And, as Treamayne pointed out, there are definitely more Selish magics than the ones we know about. I don't expect the list above to be perfect. It was mainly just to get my idea across. I actually found a WoB that seems to be on a similar train of thought:

Spoiler

Chaos (paraphrased)

Let's say hypothetically we get Ruin, Preservation, and Endowment to create a planet. Would there be *more* magic systems due to Endowment's involvement (think permutations), or would this specifically not work at all?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

It could work. There is the potential for more magic systems.

Ancient 17S Q&A (May 1, 2010)

[Nitpicking]

Don't forget, there's a separate Darkside magic system on Taldain, the Starmarks.

As far as I can tell, we know essentially nothing at all about it.