Skycolors

[Havoc]

What exactly are Skycolors? There's very little information to go on, but from what I infer:

• Skycolours are individual to people. Different people have different colors.
• Skycolours can be seen in the eyes. I'm not sure how prominent and/or permanent they are, since I can't recall any specific mention of Dayside and Darkside eyes being different from each other.
• Skycolours can light up a room.
• Skycolours can be 'used' somehow, and can serve as a fashion accessory.
• Violet skycolour = magic powers somehow?

At this point all I can guess is that Skycolors are like cones of light that shine out of Darksider eyes, lighting up their surroundings, though I can't see why they are then called Skycolors. Could they instead be like a spotlight beam that follows each person around permanently, shining from some arbitrary location in the sky?
 
I've listed all relevant quotes below.
 

“Have you ever seen Scythe himself?” she asked.
“Occasionally,” Baon said.
“What does he look like?” Khriss asked.
“An Iiarian, like myself,” Baon explained. “Tall, with very dark skin. He is a powerful man, duchess. Very powerful--and not just because of what he controls. He bears himself like a warrior, with a firm stance and commanding presence. And, of course, his Skycolor is violet--the color of nobility.”
Khriss sat back in her chair, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. She had always assumed the tales of Scythe’s power were superstitions, but she had assumed the same about the sand masters.
“Is it true what they say about him, Baon?” she asked. “About his . . . abilities?”
“His magic?” Baon asked. “Yes.”
Khriss felt herself grow cold. She had always known Elis stood against a monster and a despot, but she had taken comfort in the fact that their enemy was a man, just like every other man. A man capable of being defeated.
“Are you . . . certain?” she asked.
“Duchess,” Baon explained. “When I was a young boy, Scythe looked like a man in his mid-twenties. He looked exactly the same the day I left Iiaria. The histories say he is hundreds of years old, and I believe them. I have seen him do things impossible of any normal man.”

 

Eventually, she chose a hairstyle that looked more difficult to produce than it actually was, with half of her hair braided around the top of her head, the other half spilling out like a dark waterfall over her left shoulder.
Too bad I can’t use my Skycolor here, she thought absently, choosing a few pieces of jewelry. She didn’t normally wear much, but this was a special occasion. A matching gold necklace and bracelet set with small rubies eventually won. It was part of what she had brought to sell if necessary, but with what gemstones were worth on this side of the world, she probably wouldn’t have to.

 

In all, it was surprisingly like a court ball back in Elis. Replace the sunlight with Skycolors, the sand with marble floors, and the robes with suits and dresses, and the two would be indistinguishable.

 

Khriss couldn’t speak for a long time. She simply stood, staring into his bright daysider eyes. They were so colorful--she’d never noticed that before. They had no Skycolor, but the seemed to shine anyway. Blue, with flecks of green.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Havoc

[The Invested Beard]

Perhaps some sort of reflected aurora borealis? Like there are these colors in the sky and somehow darksiders' eyes pick up one of the colors and glow? Not sure, it's a good question though.

[Stormgate]

That's what I thought. Apparently, though, Darkside has a star, it's just small and produces a weird light.

[Master Elodin]

I thought that it was something more like Breath Prime.

[Kingsdaughter613]

What really makes me curious is that the two magic systems seem to be totally different. But there is only one Shard, Autonomy, on Taldain. So the two systems are actually variants of the same one, just as Aon Dor, Dakhor, Forgery, etc. are variants of one system. Maybe something in Sand Magic can be our hint here? We know the sand glows when invested. Maybe that's similar to how Skycolors work? Though that would make some interesting parallels with Roshar.

I wish Kenton would explain how Sand Magic actually WORKED! Knowing all the fundamental laws of his system would give us hints to Dark Side! But he clearly doesn't know a lot of how the underlying principles work...

[lookingglass]

What really makes me curious is that the two magic systems seem to be totally different. But there is only one Shard, Autonomy, on Taldain. So the two systems are actually variants of the same one, just as Aon Dor, Dakhor, Forgery, etc. are variants of one system. Maybe something in Sand Magic can be our hint here? We know the sand glows when invested. Maybe that's similar to how Skycolors work? Though that would make some interesting parallels with Roshar.

I wish Kenton would explain how Sand Magic actually WORKED! Knowing all the fundamental laws of his system would give us hints to Dark Side! But he clearly doesn't know a lot of how the underlying principles work...

 

Did the Darkside have any magic though (by that I mean magic that we have seen in action)? It's been a while since I read White Sand but I don't remember any mention of it. I do think that you're right though and the magic could be location based like that of Sel.

[Havoc]

Other than Scythe, I don't think there's any mention of magic on Darkside. I wouldn't read too much into that though, since the Sand Masters don't consider them to be 'magicians' either.

[Yata]

Well there is an old idea of mine and others in the forum that what is actually "magic" on Taldain is the light and the plant-life form that perfoms photosyntesis.

 

If this is true, it's possible that Darkside and Bright Side develops two (or more) magic system because the Lightsource is very different.

[skaa]

Perhaps some sort of reflected aurora borealis? Like there are these colors in the sky and somehow darksiders' eyes pick up one of the colors and glow? Not sure, it's a good question though.

 

Yeah, the possibility of Darkside aurorae have been mentioned before in the PM thread (look in page 5). I still like the idea.

 

That's what I thought. Apparently, though, Darkside has a star, it's just small and produces a weird light.

 

May I ask where you got that info? You seem to imply that there's only a single star that can be seen on Darkside, which doesn't make sense considering that they're part of a star cluster. In a scene where Khriss described Dayside sky, she implied that multiple stars can be seen on Darkside:

 

Khriss followed his gaze, but couldn't find anything at its end. Nothing but the strange blue sky, void of stars.

 

Wait, so I did a quick search and found this. I read the preview, and

while that doesn't at all mean that Darksiders only see a single star (they'd still see other stars, I think), you do have a point, Stormgate. It is now more likely that this other star in the binary star system of Taldain is somehow the source of the Skycolors.

 

I wonder if it's okay to discuss the contents of that preview here, given that that the graphic novel isn't out yet.

[WeiryWriter]

We actually do have a WoB on this.  Sky Colors are not a distinct magic system:
 

[Reddit - Jul 29, 2015]
 
Rah179
 
How significant will the White Sand be to the cosmere? Any hints on the Shard that resides there?
 
Brandon Sanderson
 
Moderately. (Its magic has some cool ramifications for off world use, and several characters factor prominently into the cosmere.)
 
Phantine
 
Is there more than one magic system in White Sand?
 
Brandon Sanderson
 
Only one in the current outline.
 
WeiryWriter
 
Does the one magic have more than one variation? Because I got the impression that there was something going on on the Darkside? Though I guess the Sky Colors don't have to be related to magic. Or you could have written them out if they were...
 
Brandon Sanderson
 
I intended the colors on Darkside to be more a matter of the ecology than the magic--though, on that planet, magic and ecology are very closely tied together. (Well, I guess most of the magics are.)

[Stormgate]

So...they have very interesting bioluminescence? Maybe the people have some sort of fungus that produces light?

[speedreader9000]

I'm guessing Skycolors work as some sort of bioluminescence manipulation because we know that when water was poured onto white Dayside sand, the sand released a burst of light similar to when Sand Masters use sand.

 

Maybe this bioluminescence is used more in a raw form in Darkside instead of in Dayside where it is used in conjunction with sand. I am guessing that since the algae covers everywhere in Darkside(according to one of Khriss' companions whose name I forget) and perhaps more moisture in the air(no harsh blazing sun) there maybe more of this bioluminescence naturally given off to be used. This might be balanced by the fact that since there isn't much light for the algae to absorb and thus emit, there isn't too much of this bioluminescence for people to manipulate.

[The Invested Beard]

If it's bio luminescent fungus though, we're talking about eye fungus here people. Eye fungus. That strikes me as odd.

[Stormgate]

From what I can tell, Skycolors don't come from the eyes. If anything, they might make an aurora borealis type effect around themselves.

[The Invested Beard]

Khriss couldn’t speak for a long time. She simply stood, staring into his bright daysider eyes. They were so colorful--she’d never noticed that before. They had no Skycolor, but the seemed to shine anyway. Blue, with flecks of green.

 

Eye fungus.

[ZenBossanova]

There has been some speculation that Bavadin resides in their sun. 

 

Both sunlight and aurora both come from the sun, so that gives a consistent source - investiture by sunlight/solar wind. Energy-wise, violet is higher energy than red. So the villain mentioned would have a more potent magic. 

 

But interestingly, Sazed (and Wax) saw that their planet was surrounded by a red haze, perhaps weakened by distance? The key advantage of a shard being in a star, is that he has some really long-distance reach for his magic. And he is really viewable (as a star) on just about any planet in the Cosmere. 

Just some suggestions. 

[Yata]

There has been some speculation that Bavadin resides in their sun. 

 

Both sunlight and aurora both come from the sun, so that gives a consistent source - investiture by sunlight/solar wind. Energy-wise, violet is higher energy than red. So the villain mentioned would have a more potent magic. 

 

But interestingly, Sazed (and Wax) saw that their planet was surrounded by a red haze, perhaps weakened by distance? The key advantage of a shard being in a star, is that he has some really long-distance reach for his magic. And he is really viewable (as a star) on just about any planet in the Cosmere. 

Just some suggestions. 

The same thing will happen if Bavadin was invested on Taldain itself and the Taldain's focus is something like "Light" (also if I have another theory on Taldain's Magic)