Is there a newcomer's Index or Guide?

[Brightlord M. Alhstrom]

Hello. So despite having read almost all of Brandon Sanderson's works (several times for some of them them), I'm actually brand new to the 17th Shard, and it's a lot. Is there a guide or index to various posts and theories a newcomer should read to get going? For example, I know very little about this concept of shards, or how the different books in the Cosmere connect to each other, but most of the theories seem to assume you already know all that stuff. If this already exists, would it be possible to pin it for newcomers to find it easily? If there isn't one, can someone make it?

[The One Who Connects]

14 minutes ago, Just another guyn said:

Cannon

It's Canon actually, but it's close enough

15 minutes ago, Just another guyn said:

(AoL), a book that I can't currently remember the title of. I will edit it in later. the Bands of Mourning (BoM) and one unpublished book that will be released within the next ten years.

It's Shadows of Self(SoS) [...] The Lost Metal is gonna be a lot sooner than ten years, You had me worried for a second there

---

To @Lord Maelstrom: I have a few suggestions you can use to catch up on information.

1. Ask Questions: All of us remember info that others don't know off-hand or forget things from time to time, so questions are always welcome.
2. The Coppermind: Wiki of all things Sanderson, and although some articles are a bit out of date because of the wealth of recent signings, most everything is sufficient enough to give the basics
3. The Events and Signings Subforum: Counter-intuitive as it may sound, it's a good place to learn new things. Every answer is straight from Brandon, accurate and verbatim. And since most of the discussions there try to find new meanings, you have explanations and interpretations already written down for you.
4. All else fails, read a few theories: You aren't the only one who is new/confused about things, so someone may have probably asked the thing you were wondering about and got an answer. if they haven't, then do the asking yourself.

If you can deal with the wounded pride about being wrong, post a theory about something related to your limited knowledge. You'll get flooded with corrections, most of which will give you new information that you didn't have before.

[Argent]

Would be nice if we had one, wouldn't it?

Unfortunately, we haven't been able to come up with anything as good as Brandon's fanbase deserves (though I hope we solve that problem some day...). Of use might be the Cosmere 101 thread and the (far less organized but much more information-rich) Theoryland interview database.

[Just another guyn]

I got started by looking up any unfamiliar terms in the coppermind, threre are a lot of good people on thee making it simple. I personally think we should add basic summary for terms at least. For now, here is a list of so,what disorganized, but basic terms to know:

@Chaos I know you spiked this post already, so feel free to change anything I mess up.

basic fandom terms: 

Canon: (n) this term can be confusing outsiders, as we seem to give great importance to making all of our theories basically out of an instrument of war. But essentially anything that is officially truth and part of the author's universe is cannon. Examples: allomancy is cannnon. Nightblood being created from a spren is not cannon (although it's an interesting theory.) 

Rafo: (v) read and find out

Cards are actually given out by Brandon. I don't have one personally, but I have seen them. This was Robert Jordan's, which Brandon inherited/stole/borrowed/sold his soul for depending on who you ask and how many spikes they have been given*. Other authors have different terms for this.

WoB: word of Brandon. Basically always needs a link to an interview database, or some other confirmed Brandon source.  this is the final end all be all. That being said Brandon loves to wiggle out of questions and misdirect with answers that are only technically correct. 

Cosmere terms:

cosmere: includes most of Brandon's works, or refers the dwarf galaxy in which the books are set in. Books in the cosmere include

warbreaker (WB), set on Nalthus I think... 

mistborn (MB), era 1 of  mistborn includes: the final empire (FE), the well of ascensions (WoA), and The Hero of Ages (HoA). Era 2 includes the books The alloy of law (AoL), shadows of self (SoS). the Bands of Mourning (BaM) and one unpublished book that will be released within the next ten years. There is a planned third era as well, with no published books. Set on scadrial

The storm light archive. Planned to be ten books long, this is the epic series. Currently includes the way of kings (Wok), and words of radiance (WoR). Another book is coming soon, I believe it's called oathbringer (OB?) set on roshar

Elantris. Brandon's earliest work, set on sel. Book 2 is planned, but not yet written.

there are also a bunch of short stories. You can look those up sometime. Most are found in arcanum unbounded (AU). The stories are set all over the cosmere

Investiture: basically the energy that powers the magic in the cosmere. Kinetic investiture and I assume potential investiture. Follows the law of conservation of energy... as far as we know.

Shards: basically there was once a force/person/God/or something called adonalsium which was split during the shattering into 16 Pieces, which were taken up by 16 people. Each shard has a name (aka a mandate) that reflects what the are trying to do. Examples are preservation, ruin, honor, odium, cultivation, ambition etc. 

Shardcast: some of Brandon's biggest fans occasionally discuss things on a podcast. And occasionally get distracted. The people who make and run this site are included here.

Shattering: when adonalsium was split into 16 pieces. Lots of theories about how this happend.

Theories: any interesting (or not interesting, we aren't discriminating here until we pick it apart and shatter your hopes and dreams with corrections) ideas or questions you have about Brandon's works. Feel free to try to get your theory discussion on track, I wish you luck. By the way have you heard about spiking posts. It's a really interesting practice. Here have a cookie.

Splintering: shattering a shard (not quite correct, but close enough.

World hoopers: people who go between worlds and books (e.g. Hoid)

Reputation/upvotes: when you think someone has made a thoughtful/valuable/ important comment to a subject, or if someone said something funny enough. Lots of us like getting these. Hint hint nudge nudge wink wink spike spike. 

Downvotes: if someone disobeys rules, then maybe give these, no one likes these.

 

 

 

 

 

 

*(you know someone is spiked when the pretend the moderators and Brandon have souls and are not in fact trying to take over the world. For saying this in public I will probably be burned at the stake or killed by gratuitous paper cuts and salt whilst on an altar made of outdated encyclopedias.)

 

 

Edited July 11, 2017 by Just another guyn
Adding more terms and fixing spelling

[Pagerunner]

The mods actually just created a new chatroom for the 17th Shard over on Discord. If you're coming up with a lot of specific questions, that's a place where you can get a quick response (depending on time of day, of course; everyone needs to sleep sometime).

[kenod]

5 hours ago, Pagerunner said:

The mods actually just created a new chatroom for the 17th Shard over on Discord. If you're coming up with a lot of specific questions, that's a place where you can get a quick response (depending on time of day, of course; everyone needs to sleep sometime).

How many Discord chat servers does this make? IIRC there also a couple of older servers.

[Just another guyn]

My network blocks chat rooms, and I'm sure someone else is in the same boat.

 

[S4S]

On 5/11/2017 at 10:37 AM, Just another guyn said:

World hoopers: people who go between worlds and books (e.g. Hood)

* Hoid

I got you fam!

Your humble servant...

Shadows4Silence

[Just another guyn]

On 6/26/2017 at 8:08 PM, Shadows4Silence said:

* Hoid

I got you fam!

Your humble servant...

Shadows4Silence

Sorry about that. My autocorrect is an aluminum gnat