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Magic System On Roshar - theories

marianmi

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marianmi

marianmi

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Here it is. Let's discuss it here, and not hijack other threads. 

 

I shall start with other worlds from which we hare more information. I will not use BS's terms, but try to use laymen terms. Then I will write my theory.

 

KNOWN WORLDS

------------------------

 

SCADRIAL/ALLOMANCY

  • power source: ? (scadrial's spiritual energy)
  • shard granting access to power: Preservation (now Harmony)
  • predisposition to magic: genetic (from first mistborns)
  • magic awakening: Snapping in an intense trauma (now unknown)
  • investiture (power): weight/speed/senses/strength/warmth/...
  • way of investing (key to investing): burn metal corresponding to desired investiture
  • performing an investiture (magic): pushing or pulling
  • investiture category: positive

 

SCADRIAL/FERUCHEMY

  • power source: ? (scadrial's spiritual energy)
  • shard granting access to power: none(native) ?
  • predisposition to magic: genetic (Terrismen)
  • magic awakening: none / unknown
  • investiture (power): weight/speed/senses/strength/warmth/...
  • way of investing (key to investing): use specific metal corresponding to investiture
  • performing an investiture (magic): storing or tapping
  • investiture category: neutral

 

SCADRIAL/HEMALURGY (inquisitors)

  • power source: ? (scadrial's spiritual energy)
  • shard granting access to power: Ruin (now Harmony)
  • predisposition to magic: none (anyone can do it)
  • magic awakening: metal spiking
  • investiture (power): weight/speed/senses/strength/warmth/...
  • way of investing (key to investing): burn metal corresponding to desired investiture
  • performing an investiture (magic): pushing or pulling
  • investiture category: negative

 

NALTHIS/BIOCHROMA

  • power source: ? (nalthis's spiritual energy)
  • shard granting access to power: Endowment
  • predisposition to magic: native (anyone can do it)
  • magic awakening: none (born with it)
  • investiture (power): breath
  • way of investing (key to investing): visualize + say a command
  • performing an investiture (magic): awakening
  • investiture category: neutral

 

SEL/AONDOR

  • power source: Dor (sel's spiritual energy)
  • shard granting access to power: Devotion
  • predisposition to magic: genetic (Aonic descent) or none + being devoted to something
  • magic awakening: Shaod
  • investiture (power): ? (Aon shape)
  • way of investing (key to investing): intent + draw Aon
  • performing an investiture (magic): channeling
  • investiture category: positive

 

SEL/CHAYSHAN

  • power source: Dor (sel's spiritual energy)
  • shard granting access to power: Devotion
  • predisposition to magic: genetic (Jindoese descent) or none + being devoted (warrior?)
  • magic awakening: none
  • investiture (power): ? (martial arts forms)
  • way of investing (key to investing): fast moves
  • performing an investiture (magic): ?
  • investiture category: positive

 

SEL/DAKHOR

  • power source: Dor (sel's spiritual energy)
  • shard granting access to power: Dominion
  • predisposition to magic: genetic (Fjordell descent) or none + domination/killing someone
  • magic awakening: chants?
  • investiture (power): ? (bone shapes)
  • way of investing (key to investing): killing?
  • performing an investiture (magic): ?
  • investiture category: negative (body and spirit of killed human is lost)

 

SEL/FORGERY

  • power source: Dor (sel's spiritual energy)
  • shard granting access to power: none/native ?
  • predisposition to magic: genetic (MaoPan descent) or none
  • magic awakening: none?
  • investiture (power): ? (stamp shape)
  • way of investing (key to investing): stamping with ink
  • performing an investiture (magic): Resealing/SoulForgery/Remembering
  • investiture category: neutral

 

OBSERVATIONS

----------------------

 

1) usually native predisposition goes together with neutral category and no awakening

 

2) after MAGIC AWAKENING, the combination of INVESTITURE + WAY OF INVESTING + PERFORMING AN INVESTITURE results in a specific magical effect. Examples:

 

  • SENSES + BURN tin + PUSHING = increased senses
  • WEIGHT + iron metalmind + STORING = you have less weight
  • inquisitor with an atium spike: SENSES + BURN tin + PUSHING = increased senses
  • BREATH + visualize and say a Command (to a rope) + Awakening = rope that does stuff
  • AON TIA SHAPE + intent (on destination) and drawing the aon tia + channeling (the dor) = transportation
  • stamp shape + stamping it with ink + soul forgery = new disguise

 

ROSHAR BY ANALOGY

-------------------------------

 

Magics: SURGEBINDING (positive) / FABRIALS (neutral?) / VOIDBINDING (negative?)

 

SURGEBINDING

+++++++++++++

  • power source: ? (roshar's spiritual energy)
  • shard granting access to power: Honour + Cultivation (they came together, they were a couple, so maybe they set-up things to work the same)
  • predisposition to magic: actions (person acts in certain ways)
  • magic awakening: Bonding
  • investiture (power): stormlight
  • way of investing (key to investing): spren
  • performing an investiture (magic): SURGES

EXAMPLE 1:

 

After BONDING (a one-time event possible because of the way you acted), STORMLIGHT + HONORSPREN like Syl + Gravity SURGE = you change gravity and now you can walk on the ceiling.

 

EXAMPLE 2:

 

replace spren with shardblade/dawnshard/whatever it is Szeth's sword. Dalinar has Bonded his sword (with capital B in original text).

After BONDING, Stormlight + Szeth sword + Gravity SURGE = walk on ceiling.

 

 

FABRIALS

+++++++++

  • power source: ? (roshar's spiritual energy)
  • shard granting access to power: none
  • predisposition to magic: none (anyone can do it)
  • magic awakening: none (but a fabrial requires a trapped spren)
  • investiture (power): stormlight
  • way of investing (key to investing): spren
  • performing an investiture (magic): casting?

 

Fabrials work the same way :)

Just that instead of Bonding a spren, you trap it in a gem he is unfortunately attracted to. I'm curious if there is a link between the cut and type of a gem and an ideal. Maybe the gem is a physical representation of a cognitive ideal (that sprens are attracted to).

 

 

VOIDBINDING - I don't think we have seen voidbinding yet. I think it's significantly different than surgebinding. You have surges, which are "elemental" powers, looks to me that we need "voids" to be performed in voidbinding.

 

 

SHARDPLATES: is an invested object, it has stormlight. Looks to me it is missing the spren. 

 

Last thing to add, magic awakening seems to be multiple levels here, starting with Bonding and continuing with Words (Words are also capitalized by Syl, just like Bonding is by Dalinar).

 

Edit (1) - added spoiler tags

Edited by marianmi
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Satsuoni

Satsuoni

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Um... Kurkistan, if you read this, I officially bestow upon thee the honorable title of Swuhmaocwwe (Somebody who understands how many aspects of cosmere work well enough) and delegate to you the task of pointing out inaccuracies on the OP while I work ;)

P. S. I didn't down vote it.

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marianmi

marianmi

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* added spoiler tags

* please let me know what I got wrong. I read elantris, warbreaker and mistborn many years ago, (warbreaker when it was a draft before being released).

* the others I am using just for reference, the idea of this post is to discuss the magic system on roshar.

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Bean

Bean

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I noticed for the power source you put (planets) spiritual energy for every single one. While this might technically be true you could be more exact.  When I think of power source I think of what gets expended in the use. While scadrial's metals might not be inherently more magical than anyone else's metals they are what unlocks the power. Same with color on Nalthis.  And while we still aren't sure exactly what stormlight is, we can be pretty sure its the power source.

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marianmi

marianmi

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I noticed for the power source you put (planets) spiritual energy for every single one. While this might technically be true you could be more exact.  When I think of power source I think of what gets expended in the use. While scadrial's metals might not be inherently more magical than anyone else's metals they are what unlocks the power. Same with color on Nalthis.  And while we still aren't sure exactly what stormlight is, we can be pretty sure its the power source.

 

By power source I mean where the power comes from. Metal might get expended in allomancy, but it is not a source of power. It is a way of accessing the power, since the power exists in the spiritual realm.

The only manifestation of power source in the physical I am aware of was Preservation's body as mists. Using it though required "permission" from the shard. There is no need for permission to access the planet's spiritual power, but you need to be able to get to it. The shards provide a way to access it for the "special" people, which are selected based on my "predisposition to magic" category.

 

Similarly on Roshar, the power is in the spiritual realm. So while the stormlight might the power, it is not the power source.

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Satsuoni

Satsuoni

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Ok, Kurkistan have been lazy weary, so I'll try to point out some inaccuracies to the best of my ability. I'll try to limit conjecture.Warning: some of it will be nitpicking. Sorry about that. So without further ado.

First, terminology: there are some relatively well accepted terms, using which in a different way may cause confusion. In particular, Investiture is a relatively ambiguous term, but the general consensus (and some WoB) is that Investiture is the power of Shard inside a person or object, etc.

Chaos

Is there a Cosmere-specific term you use to describe, say, a Shard's power inside someone? For example, people on Scadrial had little bits of Preservation in them that made them sentient (and, with enough Preservation, Allomancy). This obviously doesn't make these people Slivers or Splinters, so I was just wondering if you had a word for it.

Brandon Sanderson

In my own terms, I refer to all of this as types of investiture. The degree, and effects, can be very different - but those people are invested. I term this Innate Investiture, and it is similar to what happens with people on Nalthis. That is also innate.

"weight/speed/senses/strength/warmth/" are not usually considered as such. The better term would probably be Attributes.

Next, let's see... Power source of the Magic system is usually Shard(s) or remnants thereof. While the planet does have a soul, it is not usually tapped for power. In particular, here is a quote about Preservation:

Master_Moridin
Why does Preservation fueling Allomancy not weaken Preservation compared to Ruin?
Brandon Sanderson
Because the power, once used, returns to him--much as water, after passing over a turbine, continues on in its system.

Now some corrections on the per-system basis:

Allomancy:

  • predisposition to magic: genetic (from first mistborns)

Genetic, but not all of it came from first Mistborn, there have been Allomancers before, though rare.

 

  • investiture (power): weight/speed/senses/strength/warmth/...

See above. Also, I am unaware of any Allomantic power working with Warmth, or Weight (unless you consider Allomantic iron to be weights somehow)


 

performing an investiture (magic): pushing or pulling

What? Burning metal already starts the Investiture (Ars Arcanum) and decides whether it is Pushing or Pulling. The most you can do after is directing the power at target and controlling strength to some extent.

 

 

Hemalurgy:

  • investiture (power): weight/speed/senses/strength/warmth/...

Um... Hemalurgy can steal anything encoded in Soul...

The_Vikachu ()

Another hemalurgy question: Is it possible to steal more than just spiritual DNA with hemalurgy? If you, say, infused someone with a hundred hemalurgic spikes charged from people who liked chicken, would the spike person enjoy chicken as well?

Brandon Sanderson

You can steal quite a lot with Hemalurgy. Anything encoded on a person's soul, really. Not sure if chicken liking counts, though...

But even then I am not sure about Warmth or Weight - who would try to steal core temperature or fat deposits?

  • way of investing (key to investing): burn metal corresponding to desired investiture
  • performing an investiture (magic): pushing or pulling

 I'll just assume you forgot to edit those from Allomancy part.

 

Nalthis.. Now I am not sure what you mean by "performing an investiture (magic)" - is that just a name for a process described in "way of investing"?

 

Sel

All Sel magics are the manifestations of the same system:

 

Windrunner17 ()

Why does Scadrial, which has two Shards, only have three manifestations of investiture, (Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Hemalurgy) but Sel, also with two Shards, has five manifestations of investiture (AonDor, Dakhor, ChayShan, Forgery, and Bloodsealing)?

Brandon Sanderson

Sel's magics are much more regionalized than Scadrial's. Each area has its own manifestation, but they're all actually the same magic. So really there is one magic on Sel—much as Windrunning and Lightweaving on Roshar are kind of different magics, but also kind of the same.

 

All are powered by Dor, by writing/creating (in bone/stamp) certain symbols:

It works on the same mechanics of AonDor and its kin, using written characters to access the Dor and channel its power.

All are influenced by both shards, though to different degree. Also both shards are dead and splintered.

 
Is all magic on Sel influenced by both Dominion and Devotion?
Brandon Sanderson
Technically, yes. But they definitely have their themes and focuses. Influence is a tricky word, I'll warn you.

Therefore, attributing a single shard to magic system is not quite correct. And that means that they are all positive, Dakhor sacrifices being more of a side effect. Dakhor does provide a permanent benefit to the user, and not all its abilities use sacrifice.

1) usually native predisposition goes together with neutral category and no awakening

I am not sure what you mean here.

 

SENSES + BURN tin + PUSHING = increased senses

As mentioned above, simply burning tin is sufficient and provides "PUSHING".

inquisitor with an atium spike: SENSES + BURN tin + PUSHING = increased senses

...

 

AON TIA SHAPE + intent (on destination) and drawing the aon tia + channeling (the dor) = transportation

Destination is not provided by intent - it is provided by Aon shape, as are all Aon effects:

It'll have to be enough, Raoden thought. He reached up and wrote a modifier beside his Aon, telling it to transport him one million, three hundred twenty-six thousand, eight hundred and five lengths of the line.

Once the Aon is drawn, it starts working - it not longer really listens. Intent is necessary to start drawing, though.

FABRIALS (neutral?)

Fabrials can provide a variety of effects in exchange for Investiture(stormlight) - they are hardly neutral (conjecture) [more conjecture] Negative/positive/neutral refers to Investiture income, rather than something else - in hemalurgy, parts of soul (Native Investiture) are lost from the system [/more conjecture]

 

Roshar: Err... Well... Same arguments as above, actually. Nothing specific is wrong, as far as I can tell.

 

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marianmi

marianmi

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Bold in spoilers my replies.

I will correct some of the stuff. Thanks.

 

"weight/speed/senses/strength/warmth/" are not usually considered as such. The better term would probably be Attributes.

 

Well, certainly it's shorter to write. And it refers to the same thing I tried to.

 

Next, let's see... Power source of the Magic system is usually Shard(s) or remnants thereof. While the planet does have a soul, it is not usually tapped for power.

 

Elantris is the basis of this. Dor is not specific to any shard, it's Sel's "spiritual" energy, which can be accessed through Devotion or Dominion. Thea idea is that you have only one power source, and the shards make it possible for you to access it. Similarly, in Mistborn, you have only one power source for all magics - allomancy is not drawing power from Preservation (Vin drawin from mists excepted), and hemalurgy is not drawing from Ruin (or, worse, Preservation :D). 

So then the conclusion that, while you can get power from a shard (Vin + mists), usually the power tapped comes from a source specific to that planet, that was there already when the shards came.

 

 

Allomancy:

Genetic, but not all of it came from first Mistborn, there have been Allomancers before, though rare.

I was under the impression that there were no allomancers before the LR, he was the one that created them. Same with koloss and kandra. Can you provide a source that allomancy existed before the LR ?

 

See above. Also, I am unaware of any Allomantic power working with Warmth, or Weight (unless you consider Allomantic iron to be weights somehow)

Maybe "Attributes" is better... Warmth and Weight are used in Feruchemy, there are many attributes so that's why I used "..."
 

What? Burning metal already starts the Investiture (Ars Arcanum) and decides whether it is Pushing or Pulling. The most you can do after is directing the power at target and controlling strength to some extent.

Yes, that's why "key to investing" is maybe a better wording. I was looking for 3-4 words to describe the process and are general enough to be applied to all planets. "start an investiture" might be a better wording then. Agree?

 

 

Hemalurgy:

Um... Hemalurgy can steal anything encoded in Soul...

But even then I am not sure about Warmth or Weight - who would try to steal core temperature or fat deposits?

 I'll just assume you forgot to edit those from Allomancy part.

Consider "Attributes". And in the hemalurgy part I was just referring to the steel inquisitors, which steal the allomantic attributes.

 

Nalthis.. Now I am not sure what you mean by "performing an investiture (magic)" - is that just a name for a process described in "way of investing"?

Basically, yes.

 

Sel

All Sel magics are the manifestations of the same system:

 

 

All are powered by Dor, by writing/creating (in bone/stamp) certain symbols:

All are influenced by both shards, though to different degree. Also both shards are dead and splintered.

Therefore, attributing a single shard to magic system is not quite correct. And that means that they are all positive, Dakhor sacrifices being more of a side effect. Dakhor does provide a permanent benefit to the user, and not all its abilities use sacrifice.

True.

 

Now, for Roshar...

 

Fabrials can provide a variety of effects in exchange for Investiture(stormlight) - they are hardly neutral (conjecture) [more conjecture] Negative/positive/neutral refers to Investiture income, rather than something else - in hemalurgy, parts of soul (Native Investiture) are lost from the system [/more conjecture]

 

I am considering here "spren" somehow a part of the investiture process. So in this case, you have a spren powering the fabrial, trapped, doing only the thing the fabrial was designed for. Then maybe you can get the spren out, use it for another fabrial. So neutral from this point of view. Negative would be where the spren is killed (and his investiture lost). And positive where the spren would do more things.

Unfortunately, we have nothing but speculation.

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Satsuoni

Satsuoni

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Dor is... Well, the current consensus is that Dor is the raw power left over when two shards were ripped apart (Splintered). I'll search for the quotes. The Shards are quite dead, and, IIRC, the magic system was different before that. And see the quote above - it says "Because the power, once used, returns to him", "him" being Preservation.

 

Here is source:

Comatose (18 October 2008)
So here's my last question. If there ARE people on the other side of the world, did Vin kill them all by placing the sun on their side, or do they have they're own Ruin/Preservation battle going on over there as well? Do they also have allomancy feruchemy and hemalurgy?
Brandon Sanderson (20 October 2008)
No, they're not dead. Yes, Rashek was aware of them. In fact, he placed them there as a reserve. I knew he wanted a 'control' group of people in case his changes to genetics ended with the race being in serious trouble. All I'll say is that he found a way other than changing them genetically to help them survive in the world he created. And since they were created by Ruin and Preservation, they have the seeds of the Three Metallic Arts in them—though without anyone among them having burned Lerasium, Allomancers would have been very rare in their population and full Mistborn unheard of.

     Yes, that's why "key to investing" is maybe a better wording. I was looking for 3-4 words to describe the process and are general enough to be applied to all planets. "start an investiture" might be a better wording then. Agree?

Hm.. I am not sure.. That is what it was called in Ars Arcanum, so I guess...

I am considering here "spren" somehow a part of the investiture process. So in this case, you have a spren powering the fabrial, trapped, doing only the thing the fabrial was designed for. Then maybe you can get the spren out, use it for another fabrial. So neutral from this point of view. Negative would be where the spren is killed (and his investiture lost). And positive where the spren would do more things.

Some fabrials (machines) have a settings wheel (example:spanreed) switching functions to an extent. And frankly, what else do you expect a painspren to do but cause pain :)

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Argent

Argent

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Pain fabrials - painrials, as Navani calls them - do eliminate pain. All this only means that there is an exploitable relationship between spren and their... counterparts. A flamespren could likely be used as a power source to both a "start-a-fire" fabrial and an "extinguish-a-fire" one.

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Argent

Argent

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I am not sure I understand your question completely... We know there are spren in the (modern) fabrials. Navani told us so. Since we also know that the type of spren captured determines what the fabrial will do (in general terms), you could say that fabrials "use or grow" the spren's power. How direct this is, we don't know.

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Bloodfalcon

Bloodfalcon

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Right, but it is something to consider. I'm also not sure how it works, but what is the possibility that you by extinguishing a fire, you increase the power of a firespren. That huge water spren could be explained that way. It's just interesting. I know, I know, there is no direct supporting evidence, but it's an idea that, with some detail, could explain an anomaly. 

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WeiryWriter

WeiryWriter

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Right, but it is something to consider. I'm also not sure how it works, but what is the possibility that you by extinguishing a fire, you increase the power of a firespren. That huge water spren could be explained that way. It's just interesting. I know, I know, there is no direct supporting evidence, but it's an idea that, with some detail, could explain an anomaly. 

 

Personally I don't think so.  Fabrials don't use the spren as a "fuel source" exactly, they are powered by stormlight.  The spren just define what kind of power the fabrial has.  How that "power" manifests depends on the design of the machine.  I would hazard to guess painrials and the Pain Knife both  use gems with captured painspren but one is a diminishing fabrial while the other is an augmenting fabrial.

 

Also, are you talking about Cucisesh? I don't really see how what you are saying explains his existence, he isn't part of a fabrial.

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Natans

Natans

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I really like this convesation so let me in with my vague ideas and re-re-used post  =)

 

"I THINK" (ME, MYSELF  :P ) that Roshar's magic sytems basically work in this way: 

 

Surgebinding

 

The sprens, in a rough way, are atracked by certain virtues and when they find someone that REALLY live they lives by this virtues they make a bond (nahel bond) with this person, that ultimately give that person a specific set of surgebind powers (that I like to call "cognitive ideas of forces" like gravity and transformation).

 

In a cosmere aproach I would think that when the spren bond with a person they turn in a kind of escape valve/hack of the cognitive realm.

 

The spren make possible to a person have acess to certain forces(surges - cognitive ideas of forces) in a similar way that a Elantrian have acess to the "cognitive ideas" in their world when they draw Aon to create a certain effect. I think that the sprens rewrite the SDNA of the user to make him able to have acess to the congnitve realm in some predefined way.

 

Think in this way, a spren is like a len("focus") that when a person cast a light("investidude"-stormlight) create a specific spectrum of light (effect-surge-(cognitive ideas of forces). The "intent" is the desire of the user to use his power.

 

I think that In Elantris something similar occur, but the difference is that there the raw investidure(energy) is all trapped inside of the cognitive world creating pressure, what make easy to full the "cognitive ideas" with energy "investidure".

 

An aon works like a valve, how when you open,  release "the cognitive idea of a force" defined by the kind o valve used(Aon), in broad way, this is very similar to a surge the difference is that a spren give you acess to a only a few fixed "cognitive ideas of forces" and which person can only "bond" with only a spren so there is a limit what a person can do.

 

A Elantrian can use every aon so in this aspect they have acess do much more "cognitive ideas of forces" to create different effects. 

 

Two very similar magic sytems but with different aspects=)

 

The fabrials

 

The spren ("focus") is trapped in a gem, and when you give stormlight ("investidure") to it you create a effect defined by the kind of spren you trapped. The "intent" here is the the metal frame in the Fabrial that create a pattern in the light cast by the gem.

 

WoR Spoilers

 

Spoiler 
The Parshendi forms

Here a spreen bond with a parshendi. I think that the parshendis could have some kind of gemheart(physical or cognitive I don't know), and by bonding with a spreen ("focus") in a highstorm ("investidure") they can change forms by trapping the sprens (cognitive idea) inside them.

PS: Another thing to me is that the highstorm are in reality a BIG HOLE in the physical world thar leaks the investidure present in the cognitive world directly in form of energy in Roshar. Together with this hole come the sprens "cognitive being" that are kind of sucked in the physical world.

What made this hole, Honor death. Before him die only a small part of investidure that are used by him and cultivation existed(fewer spren existed), after him the physical and cognitive wolrds lost the equilibrium what created more sprens(splinters) and the highstorms( Investidure without intent of a person do control)
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Bloodfalcon

Bloodfalcon

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Personally I don't think so.  Fabrials don't use the spren as a "fuel source" exactly, they are powered by stormlight.  The spren just define what kind of power the fabrial has.  How that "power" manifests depends on the design of the machine.  I would hazard to guess painrials and the Pain Knife both  use gems with captured painspren but one is a diminishing fabrial while the other is an augmenting fabrial.

 

Also, are you talking about Cucisesh? I don't really see how what you are saying explains his existence, he isn't part of a fabrial.

Yeah, that wasn't my guess as to what I think. I'm saying that If spren and gems were linked and stormlight were to be the connection between them, or the means by which their individual power was transferred, it could be that enough was collected or used in a certain way that a single spren gained enough power to be as huge as that massive, unexplainable waterspren. 

It doesn't have to be right. It just has to be possible. Read my signature. 

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Gloom

Gloom

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The sprens, in a rough way, are attracted by certain virtues and when they find someone that REALLY live their lives by these virtues they make a bond (nahel bond) with this person, that ultimately give that person a specific set of surgebind powers (that I like to call "cognitive ideas of forces" like gravity and transformation).

 

In a cosmere approach I would think that when the spren bond with a person they turn in a kind of escape valve/hack of the cognitive realm.

 

The spren make possible to a person have access to certain forces(surges - cognitive ideas of forces) in a similar way that a Elantrian have access to the "cognitive ideas" in their world when they draw Aon to create a certain effect. I think that the sprens rewrite the SDNA of the user to make him able to have access to the cognitive realm in some predefined way.

 

The fabrials

 

The spren ("focus") is trapped in a gem, and when you give stormlight ("investidure") to it you create a effect defined by the kind of spren you trapped. The "intent" here is the the metal frame in the Fabrial that create a pattern in the light cast by the gem.

 

Okay...

Spren are not a release valve, they are splinters. They do fill the function of maintaining an equilibrium between the realms in Roshar, but spren existed before Honor was splintered, so their primary purpose isn't to act as a release valve.

 

I don't believe spren give Surgebinders their powers, I believe they act as a Gateway that allows Surgebinders to access the powers.

 

I think it's unlikely that spren rewrite Sdna. If you reject the bond, you revert to normal. Instead, I think they act as a bridge providing access to the surges.

 

Fabrials — I believe modern fabrials use spren as a way to harness the representation of that spren in order to aspect the stormlight. The design of the fabrial gives the aspected stormlight direction. The spren itself most likely is unaffected and remains unchanged by the process.

Edited by Gloom
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