GemHears and Polestones

[Yata he/him]

I am in the middle of a WoTK second reading and I just notice a big ignorance of mine about Roshar's Ecology.

On Roshar only the 10 Polestones may naturally store Stormlight. We know also that many GreatShells (possible all) have a gemheart, a gem of possibly great size (depending by the Greatshell's size).

Now began my great doubt: How is the gemheart type decided ?

I explain myself better. when you kill a Greatshell and retrive his Gemheart. There are rules about what kind of Polestone this Gemheart would be ?

For example: all the greatshell for a specific species give the same Polestone as Gemheart or it's a complete random factor.

In the books is often stated that the Alethi and the Listeners hunt Charsmfields to retrive their gemheart to soulcast food, this mean that from the Chasmfields they may retrive Emerald but I think it's never stated that all the Chasmfiends's Gemheart are Emeralds.

[Yata he/him]

I actually manage to get a real answer with a real WoB here:

Quote

YataVS 1 punto 3 ore fa 

Thanks for the update! In Oathbringer will we discover how the type of a Gemheart is decided ?(what Polestone you will find once the Gemheart is gathered) I have this doubt for months and probably is a relly not relevant think but I have the constant feel of "I am missing something

 

 

[–]mistborn[F,S] 2 punti un'ora fa 

You're asking why certain species have emerald gemhearts, while others have a different type of gemstone?

 

[–]YataVS 1 punto 35 minuti fa 

In the end yes. Actually, I was even unsure if a specific species had a Specific Polestone as Gemheart. In the books is never esplicity stated but (in-world) nobody ever asked what kind of Polestone is retrived after the death of a Chasmfield (as if it was obvious fact) but I had not actually confirmations until now

 

[–]mistborn[F,S] 2 punti 17 minuti fa 

Note that there are some species that vary. But many do not, which is what made Chasmfiends so valuable.

 

[–]YataVS 1 punto un minuto fa 

Thank you very much for the answer :-)

This mean that many Greatshell species have a setted Polestone as Gemheart but there are some species with a variable Gemheart

Edited September 30, 2016 by Yata

[Alfa he/him]

We have only seen emeralds for Chasmfiend Hearts (the one on the hunt, the one Kaladin encounters and one Sadeas gets out of turn), but there isn't stated anywhere that there are only emeralds.

[A Windspren he/him]

I also think that anything that is cognitively considered a gemstone can store Stormlight, not just the Polestones.

[Yata he/him]

2 hours ago, Kevino36 said:

I also think that anything that is cognitively considered a gemstone can store Stormlight, not just the Polestones.

No, the whole Roshar's economy is based on the fact that only the ten polestones may hold Stormlight. It's the reason of mistrust to the dull spheres, you can't be sure if those red gem is a ruby or just red quartz (for example, I don't even know if red quartz exists at all). While if you see Stormlight in the sphere, you know the gem insiede is what it seems (and the light reveal to you what kind of gem is).

As other example, you may Soulcast gems...but It is believed to be impossible to create polestones via Soulcasting

EDIT: I notice that my doubt wasn't only mine and I just twitted this to Brandon, I hope he will answer

Edited July 31, 2016 by Yata

[Yata he/him]

ok guys I failed, I tried to ask Brandon and later Peter about this question end the second answer me with a "maybe" about the idea of "specific GreatShell's specie has a settled Polestone"

 

[Stormgate he/him]

Well done, you got RAFOED.