Discovering Sel's Magic

[Quiver]

More accurately, how the heck did they do it?

So, here's the thing; the magic of Sel is complex. Delicate. Fine. The entire plot of Elantris is based around what can happen when one line of an aon is drawn incorrectly.

With all that in mind, just how on earth did the Elantrians discover their magic to begin with? It appears so precise that I can't imagine someone casting an Aon by accident -unlike, say, how Vin was able to burn her "luck" as a child- and yet I can't recall anything that would say how they came to the realisation of how their magic works.

And yes, Raoden was able to come up with Aon's, figure out what they did and fix Elantris... but he was working off of tomes of research to provide him with a starting point for his studies. The first magic users of Sel, presumably, were working blind. So how did they manage to work out the precise symbols and shapes needed to cause magic to work?

[Argent]

4 minutes ago, Quiver said:

More accurately, how the heck did they do it?

Spoiler

Sorry. I am terribly sorry. I had to.

So, on topic, we have to keep in mind that magic on Sel wasn't always like this. Devotion was once whole, so initiation and knowledge dissemination could've worked differently. I doubt she was walking the earth among mortals and teaching them Aon Dor - I don't even know if there was Aon Dor at that time - but I think it's a very safe bet to assume magic worked differently. 

Then again, maybe not. Investiture is Investiture, regardless of whether it comes from a Shard directly or from its Splinters. 

I guess what I am saying is that I have no idea

Edited June 17, 2016 by Argent

[Mestiv]

Wasn't it mentioned in annotations that people that become Elantrians, found the city of Elantris empty many years ago? There might have been some clues in the abandoned city. I have no idea how the creators of Elantris knew what shape should it be in though. The city might have been created by Devotion herself.

EDIT: It was from WoB that Elantris was abandoned at one point: http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=768#2

Quote

The story tells of the first princess of Arelon. This was some years after the founding of Arelon following the migration of the Aonic people from other lands. Elantris, of course, had already existed as a city when that migration occurred, and had been discovered empty. While some people assumed it haunted, Proud King Rhashm (later renamed Raoshem) determined to conquer the fears of his people and set up a kingdom centered on Elantris.

 

Edited June 17, 2016 by Mestiv
Added citation

[Yata]

I read just some days ago the Elantris Annotation.

In these Mister Sanderson said that the first people who come in the area "discovered"  Aons in a long time and from there they began to understand the possibility of their own power... this arrive to its masterpiece in the building of Elantris with the magic knowledge developed

therefore the answer is hard try and error of many people for many years

EDIT: I will copy here the Annotation for a quick reference:
 

Quote

Aons are an interesting part of this book–perhaps my favorite of the world elements. If you think about the system I’ve set up, you’ll realize some things. First, the Aons have to be older than the Aonic language. They’re based directly off of the land. So, the lines that make up the characters aren’t arbitrary. Perhaps the sounds associated with them are, but the meanings–at least in part–are inherent. The scene with Raoden explaining how the Aon for ‘Wood’ includes circles matching the forests in the land of Arelon indicates that there is a relationship between the Aons and their meanings. In addition, each Aon produces a magical effect, which would have influenced its meaning.

 

The second interesting fact about the Aons is that only Elantrians can draw them. And Elantrians have to come from the lands near Arelon. Teoish people can be taken, but only if they’re in Arelon at the time. Genetically, then, the Teos and the Arelenes must be linked–and evidence seems to indicate that the Arelenes lived in the land first, and the Teos crossed the sea to colonize their peninsula.

Only Elantrians can draw Aons in the air, so someone taken by the Shaod must have developed the writing system. That is part of what makes writing a noble art in Arelon–drawing the Aons would have been associated with Elantrians. Most likely, the early Elantrians (who probably didn’t even have Elantris back then) would have had to learn the Aons by trial and error, finding what each one did, and associating its meaning and sound with its effect. The language didn’t develop, but was instead ‘discovered.’

There is another lines in some other page that say in few words "With the developed knowledge of the Aon, they discovered how to amplifier the power and build Elantris.

Edited June 17, 2016 by Yata

[MoS03]

All it might take is one Elantrian drawing a map, and having it glow. "Yeah, this is the coast, mounta-" "GLOWING MAP! What did you do?!" "Idk!! I was just trying to show you how to get to the beach!"

[Stormgate]

On June 22, 2016 at 8:54 AM, MoS03 said:

All it might take is one Elantrian drawing a map, and having it glow. "Yeah, this is the coast, mounta-" "GLOWING MAP! What did you do?!" "Idk!! I was just trying to show you how to get to the beach!"

"And now the map is on fire!"

"I was just showing you the volcanic hotspots..."

The poor guy who discovered Aon Tia probably had a long walk back home.

[teknopathetic]

I alwayss thought Devotion created that city bedore she died so that magic would still be able to help the people. 

[Radiant Returned]

There's a WoB where he RAFO'd a question about the early settlers of Elantris because he said that that history is very important to future books and will be explained in time. So rest assured that there IS an answer, but probably not one we have enough clues at this point to figure out. 

[ParadoxicalZen]

There's also the history of aons WoB, which mentions the city already being prebuilt when the proto-arelon settlers arrived