Splintering Shards into smaller Shards

[DracostarA]

We know Splintering a Shard is similar to the Shattering. We also know that Harmony has  made a new Shard as the sum of two other shards. Not sure if there is a WoB on this but is it possible to Splinter a Shard in such a way that it forms 2 or more smaller 'Shards' that two new vessels can then pick up?

[Weltall]

Returned can give away their Divine Breath, yes, but this has a very specific effect that's baked into the system as opposed to actually transferring all of that power to the recipient. The person who receives the Divine Breath gets super-healing, they don't become a Returned themselves. And the Returned are described as Cognitive Shadows whose souls have been 'stapled' back to their bodies via that Divine Breath, which is an unstable bond that requires a regular supply of Investiture or it consumes itself. The Heralds are also Cognitive Shadows (or if you want to get picky, we're told that they'd be considered as such by the Cosmere-aware) but they don't seem to need a constant 'topping up' like the Returned do.

In any event, these entities are fundamentally different from the Vessels who become saturated with so much Investiture that their physical bodies can't handle it anymore and they sublimate. It's quite likely that a Shard could be split into several pieces that individually would hit the threshold for ascension (see: Ascension, the Well of) but I doubt that the result of this would be two distinct Shards with their own Intents, at least not originally. We do know that Splinters frequently have their own Intents aside from that of the Shard that created them but the ones that we know of were all either deliberately created by a Shard or with the case of Rosharan spren they're part of a system that predated the arrival of the Shards and the latter arrivals built on that existing foundation.

While we don't know exactly why Adonalsium shattered the way it did and why the Intents came out just so, we assume from Frost's description of Odium in WoR that they're in some way the fragments of Adonalsium's original personality. Since each of the sixteen already is a distinct fragment with an extremely strong 'personality' so to speak and we know that the process of Intent imprinting upon the Vessel does not work the other way around, the only way you'd likely split an individual Shard into smaller ones with their own Intents would be to do the splintering and then wait for a long enough time that the Investiture independently develop sentience, then try and pick it up.

TLDR: I think it could be done, I just think it would take time and it's not exactly the same thing as the Returned or Heralds.

[Julio]

Yes, I believe there most likely is. You said it yourself. 

6 minutes ago, DracostarA said:

Splinter a Shard

Yes. A spren is a Splinter of a Shard, as is a Seon, and a Returned Breath. The Stormfather is a very large Splinter of a Shard, as is the Nightwatcher. 

You may say, "but that's a Splinter, not a Shard!" True, but Shards are called Shards, not Adonalsiums. 

As to the second part: "That two new vessels can pick up." The Returned are just that. Rather, they are given the Splinters, which can then be given to other people. They are the Vessels of the Splinters. 

The Heralds, as well, are probably similar: we can't be completely sure, though. But the Returned are certainly like that. 

[DracostarA]

While yes, I do agree on that fact wrt Splinters, I was wondering on a larger scale. I.e. as a basic example, if one were to be able to split say Odium into Rage and Disgust or something of the sort. The Splinters you referred to are FAR below a Shard in power level, though I am talking about something to a level where, while weaker, still comparable to the level of power a Shard possesses.