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Kurkistan

Kurkistan he/him

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Hello my fellow Sharders. Below is a list of frequently asked questions and their answers. Spoiler-wise, there is one post for every major Cosmere series, with each post following the normal spoiler rules (spoiler tags for referencing another series, embargo period for new releases) and the Cosmere section will be essentially a free for all except for the aforementioned embargo period. This post simply serves as an index.

Index:
-Cosmere
-Mistborn
-Stormlight
-Warbreaker
-Sel (Elantris and The Emperor's Soul)

We are always looking for contributions, though I would prefer that you post on the individual submission threads (Cosmere, Misborn, Stormlight, Warbreaker, Sel) rather than here, just so that everything can stay neat.

 

For a more comprehensive and in-depth look at all things Brandon, why not head over to the Coppermind wiki?

 

Other resources include: Cosmere 101, Theoryland Database

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Kurkistan

Kurkistan he/him

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Cosmere:
 
List of Acronyms:

Source: PhilV (mostly)

 

REMINDER: Full spoilers for all Cosmere books follow in this post.
 
Q: Who is Hoid?
A: A character who first appeared in an unpublished work who plays a role in all of Brandon's Cosmere books, to some greater or lesser extent, and is capable of moving between Shardworlds. His methods and goals are inscrutable. See the source for greater detail.

Source: Hoid article on Coppermind
Canonicity: Word of Brandon, in the books

Q: What is the Cosmere?
A: The Cosmere is a dwarf galaxy set in an alternate universe not containing Earth. In this galaxy there are ten Shardworlds where the novels take place and Shards, godlike beings, have a lot of influence. There are many minor planets with less Shardic influence. There are worldhoppers like Hoid and the Seventeeth Shard who go from planet to planet making an overarching story behind the scenes. It is the universe where all of Brandon's non-Earth (of some flavor) works are set as of now.

Source:  http://coppermind.net/wiki/Cosmere
Canonicity: Word of Brandon

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/3045-realmatic-theory-and-magic-101/
 
Q: What is Adonalsium?
A: A presence spanning the void, which was shattered into a number of Shards like Preservation and Ruin which are composed of its immense planet shattering power and intents.  We do not know yet whether it was conscious or know much about it. Hoid was present at the Shattering.

Source: http://coppermind.net/wiki/Adonalsium
Canonicity: Books, word of Brandon.
 
Q: What is the Chronology of the novels?
A: Elantris, Emperor's Soul, Mistborn Trilogy, Warbreaker, Way of Kings, Alloy of Law. Books are roughly chronological with their release dates.

Source: http://coppermind.net/wiki/Chronology
Canoncity: Word of Brandon.
 
Q: What are the three realms?
A: The physical realm where the universe exists is one. The spiritual realm where souls exist and where magical power like Atium leaks from, which holds our connections to others. The cognitive realm, AKA Shadesmar (sea of shades), composed of the thoughts and views of beings (with more complex things having a strong presence).
 
We have met beings, probably spren, which exist primarily on the cognitive plane and partially on the physical plane.

Source: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/3045-realmatic-theory-and-magic-101/
Canonicity: Books, word of Brandon.

Q: What is Shadesmar?
A: The cognitive realm, where everything has an awareness. Hoid uses it to travel. Distance in Shadesmar is based on the density of awarenesses, so the vacuum of space may be relatively easy and quick to travel through. The area near where Shards have been splintered may be dangerous due to the uncontrolled power. Transformation--or Soulcasting--can be performed by communicating with the awareness of the object to be transformed in Shadesmar and providing it with stormlight.

Source: N/A
Canonicity: Books, word of Brandon.
 
Q: What is a Shard?
A: The Shards of Adonalsium, or Shards for short, are pieces of the power of creation itself that formed when Adonalsium shattered.They are named after a specific action or ideal, called an intent. A mind must control a Shard. When a person holds a Shard, they are imbued with its power, but they also become the Shard. They are the most powerful entities in the Cosmere, there are probably sixteen of them, and they are for all intents and purposes gods. All known magic in the novels is generated at least partially by a Shard. Their power regenerates over time if used and they can do a great number of actions in line with their intent- moving planets, transforming things, prophesy, and fueling magic, though they are not omnipotent or omniscient and find some magics harder or impossible due to their intent.
 
Shards can voluntarily separate parts of themselves, called splinters, or they can be splintered by another Shard, also creating splinters.  It is possible for a Shard to be reformed after being splintered.

Source.http://coppermind.net/wiki/Shard
Canonicity.  Books, Word of Brandon. Sanderson implied.
 
Q: Who would win if a Kelsier fought Szeth? Or Vasher?
Answer: Kelsier would have a distinct advantage if they started further away as he could fire coins at Szeth. He could not push the Shardblade as it is strongly invested with power, but he could push any metal on Szeth's body. Mistborn are generally tougher. A report at a signing said that Nightblood was orders of magnitude stronger than a Shardblade. The fight would depend on a lot of variables though.

Source: http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=593#10, http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/383-the-ultimate-list-of-questions-for-brandon/page__view__findpost__p__8896
Canonicity: Word of Brandon.

Q: What is a Sliver? 
Answer: A Sliver is a term to describe someone who has held the great amount of a Shard's power and have since given it up.  Examples would be Rashek and Vin after the use of the Well of Ascension and Kelsier who guided Preservation after the death of Leras and before Vin took the power.
 
Source: http://coppermind.net/wiki/Sliver

 

Q: What is a Shardpool?

Answer: 'Shardpool' is a non-canon term used to describe a liquid essence of a Shard. It is characterized by a Shard's Cognitive aspect.

 
Pools mentioned include the Well of Ascension (a pool of Preservation), the Pits of Hathsin (Ruin's pool), and the Pool of Elantris, where the Elantrians go to die.
 
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Kurkistan

Kurkistan he/him

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Mistborn:

Q: In Alloy of Law why aren't there any full Mistborn and why are Feruchemists now only able to have one ability?
A: Allomancy has degraded in the population, much as the mistborn during the time of the original mistborn trilogy were weaker than Elend or the original Mistborn who were given Lerasium by the Lord Ruler. Feruchemy has become diluted as well through the combined effects of the Lord Rulers breeding programs, the slaughter of the Keepers by Ruin and also through mixing with Allomancy genes by interbreeding. This has allowed Ferrings to exist.

Canonicity: Brandon Confirmed.

Q: What's up with the rule of 16 for mistings when there are more than sixteen metals?
A: There are 16 "real" metals along with 2 god metals (Lerasium and Atium) and their alloys. Preservation was screwing with the system (snapping Atium and Malatium mistings instead of Cadmium or Bendalloy mistings) to make a point. We're still not sure exactly what method he used.

Source: Various words of Brandon; it's a common question

Q: How can Vin pierce Copperclouds/detect the Well of Ascension?
A: Vin's earring is a hemalurgic spike granting allomantic bronze. It was created by Vin's mother, who was schizophrenic (and thus vulnerable to Ruin) and was corrupted by Ruin. She used the earring to kill Vin's younger sister, a seeker. The ability to pierce Copperclouds, and presumably detect the Well of Ascension, is a matter of strength and with the hemalurgic spike Vin has more than the normal strength in Bronze.

Source: Word of Brandon, Coppermind Articles on Vin and Vin's earring
Canonicity: Brandon-Confirmed

Q: What's up with hemalurgy and feruchemy? / What's up with heat being mental feruchemy/ What's up with the feruchemical attribute quadrants?
A: Long story short, the quadrants originally lined up, but Brandon accidentally swapped a couple feruchemical metals in Mistborn. The rest of the metals in the system got revised, so it's now realmatically aligned instead of quadrant...ly. Hence, there are eight physical, four cognitive, and four spiritual feruchemical abilities - that means a pewter spike can steal one of EIGHT feruchemical abilities, which is pretty nifty.

Source: Word of Brandon
http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=839
http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=689

Q: How is Marsh still around during Alloy of Law?
A: When the Second Generation seized control of the kandra during Hero of Ages their leader, KanPaar sent a kandra to sell a bag of atium. He thought the kandra should use the Lord Ruler's atium cache to become rich, he however revealed the location of the cache to Ruin. Marsh has the bag that was sent away to be sold and is using the same compounding trick to achieve immortality that the Lord Ruler did.

Source: Word of Brandon

Q: Does Iron Feruchemy store mass or weight?
A: Mass (kind of). Some shenanigans goes on with energy transfer so that you can't punch someone with 1000 pounds of force, but it's mainly mass. Sazed was mistaken in WoA.

Source: Interview
Canonicity: Books, Word of Brandon

Q: Can Kandra gain Feruchemy or Allomancy through Hemalurgy?
A: Yes (at least Allomancy, but almost certainly Feruchemy as well, barring some oddness), though it is a tricky process and only Harmony has the necessary knowledge as of the Alloy of Law era.

Note: This is expanded on in Shadows of Self

Source: 17th Shard Q&A with Brandon
Canonicity: Word of Brandon

 

Q: YARGH! Weird notation?! What's with all this "Feruchemical gold" and "Allomantic steel" and stuff? What does it mean?

A: Sorry about that. ;) It's shorthand for "feruchemical gold" and "allomantic steel", to differentiate between the two sets of powers. So if I say "Feruchemical gold can heal all wounds", I'm saying "the power of feruchemical gold, namely 'health', can heal all wounds." The pattern follows for all of the metals.

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Kurkistan

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Stormlight:

 

Q: What's the point of these fabrial sketches with Alethi handwriting?

A: Navani is a fabrial inventor, and these pages are from her notebook. The Alethi writing translates phonetically to English, giving real information about fabrials, including the ones shown in the illustrations. For example, fabrials are made by trapping spren inside gems.

Source: "Navani's Notebook" is the name given to these illustrations in the table of contents.

Source: The Coppermind has English-translated images of the pages. This is the easiest way to read them.

Source: The original thread where a fan translated the pages includes descriptions of the entire process, and replies from Peter confirming its accuracy.

Canonicity: In the book. Even if it does take heroic efforts to translate!

 

WoR Spoilers:

Q: Who's on the cover of Way of Kings?

A: It's Dalinar and Eshonai. Eshonai is the female Parshendi Shardbearer who fights Dalinar and Kaladin in Chapter 68. She also appears in an earlier chapter, where Dalinar sees her across a chasm. That scene is the one on the cover.

Source: Second Esonai Reading. The reading is from Stormlight-2, so it's a spoiler for that book. Brandon explains the cover in the introduction, before he starts reading.

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Warbreaker:
 
Q: Can normal Returned have children?
A: WoB says yes, the God Kings can have children, and there's nothing special about them compared to other Returned.  It seems to involve supplying Breaths to the child while it is still in the womb, perhaps even as early as conception?  Yeah, I just included a question in my answer, but I'm not just not entirely sure.

Q: How do Returned like Vasher and Denth use Awakening?
A: They make sure to keep a tight grip on their Divine Breath, and just carry accumulated Breaths like any other Awakener.  It is possible to use a Divine Breath for Awakening, but that would almost certainly kill them.

Q: Who is Clod?
A: Arsteel, Denth wanted to try out make a former Returned into a Lifeless, and Arsteel was a great swordsman, so it was a win/win for him.  You know, if he hadn't already had a loss of an ally and great fighter.  So more of a loss, into a partial win/win.

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Kurkistan

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Sel:

Q: What is the Dor?

A: Unknown, a lot of people, myself included, believe it to be the combination of Devotion and Dominion's power.

 

Q: How does the Shaod pick?

A:  Not confirmed, but there's a great theory out there that it picks people who are particularly devoted to something. Raoden to his people, Karata to her daughter, Galladon to his farm, Taan to his sculpture, Saolin to Eondel's legion, and so on...

 

Q: What is the blue pool?

A: It's commonly believed to be Devotion's Shardpool, and Brandon has not contradicted this when asked questions about it.

 

Q: Why do Seons go insane through the Shaod?

A: The failure of the Shaod post-Reod messes with them through their spiritual connection to the person they serve.

 

Q: What are Seons?
A: They contain Splinters in the form of the Aons at their core. It seems likely that the Seons are Splinters of Devotion, while their counterparts, the skaze, are Splinters of Dominion.

 

Q: What magical effect do the Jesker Mysteries have?
A: None, so far as we know.

 

Q: What caused the Chasm?
A: Spiritual pressure caused by the unbound power of Devotion and Dominion.

Q: What did the Moon Scepter do?
A: Unknown, Hoid wanted it for something though.

 

[Thanks to Swimmingly and Windy for all of these Q's and A's :D]

 

Q: What's up with "regional" magic? Why can't an Elantrian make a Forgery?

A: "Birth in a certain location on Sel gives a certain affinity for the local symbols, and their usage. To use the magic of another region, one would need to have a rewritten connection to that area instead."

 

Source: Word of Brandon

Canonicity: Word of Brandon

 

Q: What do we know about the geographic and chronological relationship of The Emperor's Soul to Elantris?

A: TES takes place after Elantris (though we don't know when) and it does takes place on the same continent as Teod, but it is fairly distant from it (or at least the capital is).

 

Q: What/Who are Devotion and Dominion?

A: Devotion and Dominion are the two Shards on Sel. The Shard Devotion was previously held by a person named Aona, while Dominion was held by one named Skai. Aona and Skai are now deceased, their Shards Splintered.

 

Source/Canonicity: WoP, WoB

 

Q: Elantris is the Ela/middle of Aon Rao - is Kae the circle in the east or is it the blue pool on the hill above Kae?

A: Kae is the circle east of Elantris. It is a walled city with a circular wall.

 

Source/Canonicity: Logical deduction/careful reading of Elantris

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  • 11 months later...
Awesomeness Summoned

Awesomeness Summoned he/him

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If you look to the bottom right of each post there is an up arrow, down arrow, and a number. Everyone uses their own criteria but in general posts are up voted if they are clever, particularly helpful, humorous, or really well written.

The only way to improve your reputation is to post often and have other people like your posts enough to upvote you. Having a high reputation doesn't really do anything for you, it's just kind of a fun way to display your overall contribution to the forum.

Downvotes are pretty rare. I've only given those a couple times when the person was really aggressive or unnecessarily argumentative.

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Kurkistan

Kurkistan he/him

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"Hello my fellow Sharders. Below is a list of frequently asked questions and their answers. Spoiler-wise, there is one post for every major Cosmere series, with each post following the normal spoiler rules (spoiler tags for referencing another series, embargo period for new releases) and the Cosmere section will be essentially a free for all except for the aforementioned embargo period. This post simply serves as an index."

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Ashiok

Ashiok

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It's just a bit awkward because the cosmere tab could easily be spoiler free and make just as much sense. Just a personal opinion, but wouldn't that make the cosmere more accessible even if people haven't read HoA?

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Kurkistan

Kurkistan he/him

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I feel that that would be constraining on our ability to give full answers if we had to dance around such spoilers. Vague generalities can only get us so far.

 

I think I'm on fair ground following the site-wide spoilers policy.

 

For my own part—and perhaps this is cosmere-elitist of me—"the cosmere" as a topic all its own isn't really meant to be accessible to anyone who hasn't read all the books: realistically it isn't accessible to anyone who hasn't read a lot of WoB and quite a few fan theories/explanations. The cosmere is only really hinted and teased at in the background of Brandon's books, so we need to look carefully at all of the books if we're to get a clear picture of it.

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