[AU Spoilers] The Apostate Thread

[Pagerunner he/him]

All are welcome here to publicly renounce the views which they had formerly held. Arcanum Unbounded was not kind to my ideas. I hereby officially disavow myself of the following theories:

• The Forescouts were Worldhoppers. We have received official confirmation that they came from another continent, not another world.
• The Parshendi aren't the Voidbringers. I thought the spren-inhabited Parshendi were not the true Voidbringers. Nale says otherwise. I cannot argue.
• Trell is a local Scadrian phenomenon. I thought it was schizophrenic Harmony or possibly the extra piece of Ruin. If Autonomy interferes with other Shardworlds, then it seems overwhelmingly that it is her in Scadrial. (I still hold that Trellium is not a new god metal, but an atium alloy, and that Harmony doesn't recognize it because of the forces working to limit his knowledge.)
• Dominion and Devotion have combined. They have most certainly not combined, and the conflict between them powers the Dor.

I will need to reconsider one of my other ideas: that Shardic Intents are Divine Attributes. The other Intents we've known, I have been able to mesh with an attribute of God, most with several possible interpretations. I have no concept of God's Ambition, though. I think there's too much going for this theory, especially with the Intents of the Rosharan Shards, to toss it out. But I will need to consider how Ambition fits into this view, or what else it could be a euphemism for.

So, which of your theories were demolished by the new content?

[WeiryWriter he/him]

3 minutes ago, Pagerunner said:

I will need to reconsider one of my other ideas: that Shardic Intents are Divine Attributes. The other Intents we've known, I have been able to mesh with an attribute of God, most with several possible interpretations. I have no concept of God's Ambition, though. I think there's too much going for this theory, especially with the Intents of the Rosharan Shards, to toss it out. But I will need to consider how Ambition fits into this view, or what else it could be a euphemism for.

I wouldn't disavow this one, since I distinctly recall a fairly recent WoB that says Brandon came up with the Shardic Intents by examining aspects of Deity in a wide variety of cultures.

[Pagerunner he/him]

1 minute ago, WeiryWriter said:

I wouldn't disavow this one, since I distinctly recall a fairly recent WoB that says Brandon came up with the Shardic Intents by examining aspects of Deity in a wide variety of cultures.

Can you point me towards a quote? I try to keep up with WoBs, but I don't recall seeing that one, and it would basically confirm my view of Shards.

[WeiryWriter he/him]

1 minute ago, Pagerunner said:

Can you point me towards a quote? I try to keep up with WoBs, but I don't recall seeing that one, and it would basically confirm my view of Shards.

I would, if I could remember where it was, but I'm not finding it in a cursory search. Hopefully somebody else remembers this though.

[VirtuousTraveller he/him]

45 minutes ago, Pagerunner said:

Dominion and Devotion have combined. They have most certainly not combined, and the conflict between them powers the Dor.

And yet, I do not take from the Selish Essay that they never were combined, only that they no longer are (though they are trapped together in the Cognitive Realm, currently "forced" together).

As for me, I am sad to say that I no longer espouse that Hoid Caused the Shaod/Reod.  I do, however, believe much more in the Jaddeth prophecy that a godlike being will literally rise from the ground to rule the world.  That Khriss would say that "the very landscape itself has become Invested to the point that it has a growing self-awareness" tells me that the land itself seems to have intent and motive.  Perhaps this Invested Land (which I believe calls itself Jaddeth to the Fjordell) chose to quake the earth, creating the chasm line and destroying the Elantrians.  Perhaps this Invested Land wanted to remove a powerful adversary or punish their pride, who knows?

[ROSHtaFARian2.0]

Divine Ambition could be considered a way of describing the primal creation urge. Given that Adonalsium has been so often referred to as the power of creation, having a Shard called Creation I feel would probably make it too easy/likely for people to prioritize it as being 'above' other Shards, like it was the prime Shard or something. Ambition could be a workaround to avoid having an explicit Creation Shard....but while Ambition feels more like a human trait, leveraging oneself to a higher position or station, which is something that a divinity wouldn't really feel much drive too, being omnipotent or near as....technically, its well within the actual definition of the word for Ambition in Shardic terms to be more accurately described as the drive to create, to have, to make, to realize....all of which could well be considered divine attributes.

[Kingsdaughter613 she/her]

Ambition: a desire to achieve an end. HOW this works as a Shard I don't know since EVERY Shard has ambition. One could even argue that they are defined by their ambition. (To Ruin, to Preserve, to Cultivate, etc.) I wonder if that Vessel actually had the most control, as it seems that Shard of Ambition would need a goal to seek.