Stark he/him Posted December 22, 2016 Report Share Posted December 22, 2016 We recently had a WoB that part of the reason Odium splintered Devotion and Dominion was to prevent them from finding new Vessels, or worse, combining into a hybrid Shard like Harmony, gaining some form of sentience and seeking out a Host. This got me to thinking, who could possibly have embodied the opposing forces generated by Devotion and Dominion well enough to absorb both Shards? Who has a strong desire to dominate those around her, while remaining devoted to them? Is a human the only option for a Vessel? This is the point where my musings become far less serious: The only answer I could come up with was my dog. She has an Alpha personality, and feels the need to dominate and subjugate others around her, thoroughly. Yet she remains completely devoted to her family and the members of her pack, willing to put herself in harms way to defend them. So my proposed candidate for a bearer of the fused Shards of Dominion and Devotion after they un-splinter, is a dog, who will proceed to gain greater intellect from absorbance of Investiture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackYeti he/him Posted December 22, 2016 Report Share Posted December 22, 2016 I think you could potentially be looking at this a bit wrong: I don't necessarily see Devotion and Dominion as being opposites. I could easily imagine someone seeking to dominate something/someone, whilst at the same time being devoted to it/them. It really comes down to how the person trying to take the powers perceives the Intents. As such, I don't think it would be particularly difficult for someone with the right mindset to combine the two (at least in comparison to the difficulty in combining any two Shards). As for the question regarding the species for Shard Vessels: they do not need to be human (in fact not all of the current Vessels are human). However, they may well need to be sapient, which means that unless it were a worldhopper only a human could have taken the Shards on Sel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stark he/him Posted December 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2016 @BlackYetiSorry, I should have been more specific. Is a human the only option for a vessel on Sel. I do believe we have a WoB indicating that Devotion and Dominion are conflicting Intents, which is part of why the Dor seems so violent. The rest is nonsensical musings on my part. Though if non-sentient, unbound intents can develop their own intellect or sentience over time, theoretically, they could also choose to bond to a life form that has the correct emotional range, or capability of intent, if not necessarily sapient. And upgrade them. Hence my musings on a dog being properly capable of Devoted Dominion being the ideal vessel for that combination of intents. And, we have a WoB that non-sentient animals can accidentally worldhop if the stumble into a perpendicularity.... So the dog option could be real... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blightsong he/him Posted December 22, 2016 Report Share Posted December 22, 2016 Yea, it was also in AU, we know that Dominion and Devotion had a polarized relationship. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yata he/him Posted December 22, 2016 Report Share Posted December 22, 2016 Also you have to notice that D&D would probably search Vessels indipendently. Only if something really strange happens, both of they will find the same candidate as best option Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king of nowhere Posted December 22, 2016 Report Share Posted December 22, 2016 serious answer: someone like dalinar would fit pretty well. anyway, with the millions of people across the planet, finding one that fits is not really a problem. No idea if an animal could take a shard, but i doubt they are sentient enough. My money is on "no, a shard an only be taken by a sapient being". No idea if something in between, like a rishadium horse, would fit. non-serious answer: the dominator in a master/slave sadomasochistic relationship 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsidqiyah he/him Posted December 22, 2016 Report Share Posted December 22, 2016 47 minutes ago, Blightsong said: Yea, it was also in AU, we know that Dominion and Devotion had a polarized relationship. Ruin and Preservation were also polarized. I suspect that taking up a shard requires a similar "crack" in the spirit web as to any initiation of investiture, but this "crack" would be fundamentally different to take up a shard. Further more it likely would require multiple different "cracks" to take up multiple shards. Secret History Spoilers that applys to this thought. Spoiler Maybe the Ire's Sphere created the illusion of a cracked Spirit web, or caused artificial cracks. That could be why it was needed for Kelsier to take up Preservation's power. As for how Sazed took up both, being a feruchemist he was already aligned with both shards. The death Tindwel and the further depression and rejection of everything he believed would have created/enhanced those "cracks". His time in the Homeland would have continued the changes in a drastic manner. Altogether he was being prepared for his role as the Vessel of both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savanorn he/him Posted December 29, 2016 Report Share Posted December 29, 2016 Honestly? I think we already know of at least two decent possibilities. Raoden and Wulfden. Raoden is obviously devoted but he's also well capable of ruling and seeking dominion, as demonstrated by his takeover of Elantris. The only real question of these is how devoted Wulfden really is, as he clearly seeks dominion. I thought Devotion and Dominion weren't polarised at all, but synchronised, thus why there's only one magic in all of Sel. Plus I thought the Dor was so volatile because of all the power being in the cognitive, not the spiritual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leviathan Posted January 6, 2017 Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 On 23/12/2016 at 6:01 AM, king of nowhere said: non-serious answer: the dominator in a master/slave sadomasochistic relationship I was going to mention the same thing. Loooot of people who could potentially fit the requirements of Dominion & Devotion in the kink community. Hell, the Lord Ruler was partway there himself. "I must subjugate you in order to protect you" isn't that uncommon a thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naurock Posted January 18, 2017 Report Share Posted January 18, 2017 On 12/22/2016 at 1:18 PM, Tsidqiyah said: Ruin and Preservation were also polarized. I suspect that taking up a shard requires a similar "crack" in the spirit web as to any initiation of investiture, but this "crack" would be fundamentally different to take up a shard. Further more it likely would require multiple different "cracks" to take up multiple shards. Secret History Spoilers that applys to this thought. Hide contents Maybe the Ire's Sphere created the illusion of a cracked Spirit web, or caused artificial cracks. That could be why it was needed for Kelsier to take up Preservation's power. The Ire party consisted of a group of Elantrians, and already had a cracked spirit web. They were chosen by Devotion already. Spoiler The liquid attuned the user to Preservation. This is why Kelsier was able to take up the shard despite himself seeing earlier he was more tied to Ruin. Is there a WoB saying your spirit web needs to be cracked to hold a shard? I guess this is something we would need info about the original shard holders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stark he/him Posted January 19, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2017 On 12/22/2016 at 2:01 PM, king of nowhere said: non-serious answer: the dominator in a master/slave sadomasochistic relationship I have this horrible image that I can't scrape out of my mind after reading this: Someone in the Dominator/dominatrix getup saying "I am your God now". And interacting with Saze, who might go along with whatever they suggest to maintain Harmony... Thanks for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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