Endowment's Shardpool

[Moogle]

 

Her soldiers pulled in tight around the carriage, as if wishing they could

climb inside and hide from the overwhelming sight. T’Telir was built up

against the shore of the Bright Sea, a large but landlocked body of water. She

could see it in the distance, reflecting the sunlight, strikingly true to its name.

 

I was doing a reread of Warbreaker, and came across this. I couldn't find mention of Endowment's Shardpool on the Coppermind, and I was curious if anyone knew if this was it.

 

It's landlocked, which makes me very suspicious.

 

Slight TWOK spoilers:

Seems like the Purelake, actually, which wouldn't surprise me if it ended up being Cultivation's Shardpool.

 

Also: 50 Breaths (the First Heightening) apparently costs 'enough to feed a peasant family for 50 years'. Assuming 1 year = 1 Breath, I am thinking that Breath costs somewhere around $4000 per Breath - rather cheap, for modern times. I suspect the price would be even higher, somewhere around $20,000 per Breath, in modern times. This means immortality, which takes 2000 Breaths, is upwards of $8,000,000 dollars. Very sad.

 

Also, it seems to me that it is a horrible disaster that the people of Nalthis don't know they can extract Breath from the ground. So many people have died over the years that it seems to me that you could extract all their Breath and give immortality to a pretty decent chunk of the population. I hope someone realizes they can do this at some point.

Edited January 26, 2014 by Moogle

[Robot Aztec]

it is under the plants

[Oudeis he/him]

Seeing as the shardpools we've seen so far have all been something measured in "feet" across, I'd be surprised if there were Shardpools that stretched for miles, but it's possible, I suppose.

[Windrunner he/him]

Also, it seems to me that it is a horrible disaster that the people of Nalthis don't know they can extract Breath from the ground. So many people have died over the years that it seems to me that you could extract all their Breath and give immortality to a pretty decent chunk of the population. I hope someone realizes they can do this at some point.

What? Did I miss where this was confirmed?

[Moogle]

Seeing as the shardpools we've seen so far have all been something measured in "feet" across, I'd be surprised if there were Shardpools that stretched for miles, but it's possible, I suppose.

 

They've all also had a sort of different quality to their liquids. The Well was metallic, and Devotion's (?) Shardpool was crystalline. The lake here being bright might be a signifier of something special. The fact that the Tears of Edgli only grow in Halendren might also be related to the fact that they will only grow because of the waters of the lake being special.

 

But yes, this is a somewhat unlikely theory. The other Shardpools have been in the mountains, too... say, don't those seeking the Old Magic typically head into a mountainous region? Perhaps the Purelake really isn't anything special.

 

What? Did I miss where this was confirmed?

 

This WoB:

 

Stroniax

Is there a way to harvest BioChromatic Breath from a planet, if it holds any? (If a person dies, and their body turns to dusty he dust of the earth, then doesn't the earth--or sharever planet they have--therefore hold thousands, if not millions, of BioChromatic Breaths?)

Brandon Sanderson

Possible. It would be the same thing as harvesting the nature of Preservation or Ruin, which--on Scadrial--took the form of nuggets of metal.

(source)

 

I'm not sure exactly how this would work. Reading the WoB in hindsight doesn't make it seem quite as obvious as I thought it was. The fact that it's 'possible', though, makes me sad. So many deaths that could easily be avoided.

 

Maybe you can extract Breath from the Tears of Edgli? If they're like atium/lerasium, that is.

Edited January 26, 2014 by Moogle

[Windrunner he/him]

It seems kind of odd to me. Also, I've spoken to Brandon about Endowment's Shardpool. It is leaking, which allows the Tears of Edgli to grow in Hallendran and Hallendran alone, so I doubt that it's the Bright Sea.

[Moogle]

It seems kind of odd to me. Also, I've spoken to Brandon about Endowment's Shardpool. It is leaking, which allows the Tears of Edgli to grow in Hallendran and Hallendran alone, so I doubt that it's the Bright Sea.

Perhaps it's leaking into the Bright Sea as well, resulting in the remarkable brightness? Actually, the Bright Sea being a small lake would mean that winds and waves and evaporation would cause it to leak, so I think it could be the Shardpool, though it is very unlikely.

Edited January 26, 2014 by Moogle

[Morsk he/him]

Also, it seems to me that it is a horrible disaster that the people of Nalthis don't know they can extract Breath from the ground. So many people have died over the years that it seems to me that you could extract all their Breath and give immortality to a pretty decent chunk of the population. I hope someone realizes they can do this at some point.

I thought of mass-immortality schemes on Nalthis once, like a lottery for it or something. Eventually there'd be a lot of immortal people. Or if not that, families would pass down Breath to children.

No one seems to. My best guess is everyone is pretty confident there's an afterlife because of Returned coming back, or even that Endowment sees the future and manipulates popular religious sentiment towards this end. Whatever faction was going to setup my 5000-Breath lottery scheme had a few Returned sent a few years before they got it started, and none of it ever happened. Several times, possibly.

edit: Oh, another idea. All investiture brings some bias towards the Shard's intent. At 5000 Breaths of Endowment, people may be biased to give it away. (Sort of like vampires who could live forever, but are somehow biased to be full of angst, and walk into the Sun...) Living forever means continually deciding not to do that, and eventually they don't.

Edited January 26, 2014 by Morsk

[Moogle]

edit: Oh, another idea. All investiture brings some bias towards the Shard's intent. At 5000 Breaths of Endowment, people may be biased to give it away. (Sort of like vampires who could live forever, but are somehow biased to be full of angst, and walk into the Sun...) Living forever means continually deciding not to do that, and eventually they don't.

 

But that's fine - eventually, at some point, enough people will have died and given up their Breaths (or had it mined from the planet) that there will be enough for everyone to be immortal. You can give away all the Breaths you want, nobody is going to need more! They'll give them back.

 

Unless people keep having kids. But even then, there should be enough to go around after thousands and thousands of years. The trick is manipulating society toward that end - something which is quite possible if you are immortal yourself and have enough patience. I believe this idea was brought up in Dune.

Edited January 26, 2014 by Moogle

[Oudeis he/him]

Perhaps the Purelake really isn't anything special.

 

 

There's quite a difference between "not Cultivation's Shardpool" and "really isn't anything special." In a land obsessed with palindromes, the continent of Roshar is, itself, point-symmetrical. And the origin is roughly the location of the purelake which, in the Silver Kingdoms, is at the border where the five Western kingdoms meet the five Eastern kingdoms. Perhaps Honor and Cultivation's Shardpools are both nearby, and some influence between them has created the phenomenon of the Purelake? Or it could be something entirely unrelated to Shardpools.

 

To be frank, despite knowing that it's obviously something important, we know remarkably little about the Purelake. Anything we guess will be Purespeculation.

[Swimmingly he/him]

Perhaps it's leaking into the Bright Sea as well, resulting in the remarkable brightness? Actually, the Bright Sea being a small lake would mean that winds and waves and evaporation would cause it to leak, so I think it could be the Shardpool, though it is very unlikely.

The shardpool could be below the sea, allowing liquid power to mix with the water and soak into the landscape.

[TheShogun he/him]

Also, it seems to me that it is a horrible disaster that the people of Nalthis don't know they can extract Breath from the ground. So many people have died over the years that it seems to me that you could extract all their Breath and give immortality to a pretty decent chunk of the population. I hope someone realizes they can do this at some point.

Well the problem with this is that if the market became suddenly saturated with Breath, the price would crash--which would be terrible for anyone who was in a bad economic state, and wanted to sell it to get back on their feet etc.

 

Furthermore, the immortal population won't die and return their Breaths to the earth, so you'll be stuck with a static immortal population (who will probably just acquire all of the Breath, seeing as its value has crashed and they can), and a bunch of other people dying sooner than they otherwise would.

[brasband13]

Endowment's shardpool may be located in the mountains, but The Tears are most likely the answer.  The source of the Tears will be Endowment's shardpool, and the Tears each may contain one of the Divine Breaths.  This would have a power similar to Lerasium- bestowing a high BioChromatic heightening with a simgle Divine Breath.

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

What happens if you Drink some of the Shardpool? Would you gain Breaths? And the Tears of Edgli Enhance Breaths I think. I'm Pretty Sure that I made that up, but it makes sense to me. In Hallandren, where the Tears Grow Awakeners Flourish, the tears act as amplifiers.

[Argent he/him]

How would they enhance Breaths? Each Breath is virtually indistinguishable from every other Breath - it doesn't matter if you have 200 Hallandren Breaths, or 200 Idrian ones, you are still of the Second Heightening. 

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

I said I'm pretty Sure I made that up, But it just makes sense to me. The one place where the Tears Grow, is where the First returned, Happened? Returned? It's where Awakening was discovered, it's where the 5 scholars studied, It just makes sense in my Delusional mind. Though I do get your point Argent

[Robot Aztec]

 

How would they enhance Breaths? Each Breath is virtually indistinguishable from every other Breath - it doesn't matter if you have 200 Hallandren Breaths, or 200 Idrian ones, you are still of the Second Heightening. 

odl guys have weak breath and yougn guy have stronger so they are different insize and power and returned happene everwyher but only after finding tears so it meks sesne that returned follow tears like bigger endwoment connection = easy to return if you wear things grown in endowment hsardpool you have better connection right?