[OB] [Secret History][All Series] The Perfect Gems

[teknopathetic]

So we know that there at one point were perfect gems, and likely there are 10 (or 9) of these gems in existence. Where do we think they are? We have a Gem Library note saying that the Elsecallers were in charge of hiding at least some of these gems, so these gems could be far flung and in any realm or world.There are ten types of Gems (in Roshar) so likely there are ten perfect gems, one of each kind. It is also possible that these gems are of Odium, so there are 9 of them, but I find that less likely. I am an audio-listener so its hard for me to research, but I would love to keep a list and update what we know (with everyone's help).

Note: Hoid is also said to be the bearer of the First Gem, so there could be invested gems out there from Yolin, but I am going to pretend we don't have any of those and instead try to find 10 different Perfect Polestones. 

 

1. Perfect Emerald Topaz - The Anti-Shade/Allerter Device. 

The Ire - The ire had a massive Gem that they were using to hold power. Kelsier was blow away by how much power it seemed to have (like the light of souls). 
                - The Ire have been seen trying to steal investiture, and they are very Cosmere aware. Could that have stolen (or been given) one of the gems to
                   protect?
               - this gem may  have just been a warning fabrial against Shades ("no shade within a day's march of here"), but I am not sure:
                              i) Warning Fabrials: had they been invented yet in the timeline? Modern Fabrials seemed new on Roshar, and     secret History is before TWoK
                              ii) The gem was described as being massive, but that might just be a Scadrial bias. 
                              iii)  The gem didn't seem to leak energy (no spren inside), which could just be Ire tech, but could also point to it being a  Perfect Gem.
                              iv) Topaz is the wrong gemstone. 

Coppermind:

Heliodors are used in the production of alerter fabrials. These fabrials can be used to detect a variety of stimuli, such as people and emotions, and give notice to its user.The larger the heliodor, and as a result the more Stormlight that can be infused in it, the wider the fabrial's range is.

 

2. Unknown

The Spren City

         - The Spren City that the Stormvengers visited is said to have a gem that doesn't lose storm light, and it is used as a perfect bank for their primary money-equivalent. This is likely a gem. I dont think we were told what kind of gem it was, but maybe i forgot. 

3.Unknown

Likely Other Spren Cities have 1 or 2, but we cant be sure. We cant even be sure if the gem can function simultaneously in both the Physical and Cognitive Realm
             - can a perfect gem hold 1 set of storm-light in the physical realm, and then hold a different set of storm light in the
                Cognitive realm? (if the bead is being used)

4.Perfect Ruby - The King's Drop

The Gem in Theylenah. It doesn't leak Stormlight and was an object of study. Rysn doesn't mention any other gems like it, but she doesn't say it is unique, either. 

 

5. Unknown

The Gem that Kholinar Keeps -

They mention a wondrous gem in Kholinar, but i cant remember much about it. No one has mentioned it doesn't leak Stormlight, but perhaps the gem has been locked in a vault for too long and hasn't seen Stormlight in centuries, or people do know it's power but our POV characters don't care enough to think about or remember that fact 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2017 by teknopathetic

[Khyrindor]

I'm pretty sure (But I didn't reread) that the gem we see the Ire use was a topaz, and was used not as an anti-Shade device, but a warning fabrial. We see many of its kind in Stormlight.

[teknopathetic]

11 minutes ago, Ookla the Effervescent said:

I'm pretty sure (But I didn't reread) that the gem we see the Ire use was a topaz, and was used not as an anti-Shade device, but a warning fabrial. We see many of its kind in Stormlight.

It could be simply a warning fabrial i suppose, but Secret History takes place a bit before storm light, and they hadn't been invented yet as far as i know. But true enough! Ill edit it. Kelsier thought it was pretty massive, but that's likely by Scadrial standards. 

[Khyrindor]

1 hour ago, teknopathetic said:

It could be simply a warning fabrial i suppose, but Secret History takes place a bit before storm light, and they hadn't been invented yet as far as i know. But true enough! Ill edit it. Kelsier thought it was pretty massive, but that's likely by Scadrial standards. 

Mistborn is only 350 years (or so) before Stormlight. In my reread I'll have to see if they mention warning fabrials being a recent invention or not.

[DocHoliday]

13 minutes ago, Ookla the Effervescent said:

Mistborn is only 350 years (or so) before Stormlight. In my reread I'll have to see if they mention warning fabrials being a recent invention or not.

I believe it's mentioned in the back of WoK that warning fabrial are of a newer design. Pretty sure Rysn's babsk mentions that he had to pay a fortune for his, but none of this tells us if that means a decade or less or more

[Calderis]

17 minutes ago, Ookla the Effervescent said:

Mistborn is only 350 years (or so) before Stormlight. In my reread I'll have to see if they mention warning fabrials being a recent invention or not.

2 minutes ago, DocHoliday said:

I believe it's mentioned in the back of WoK that warning fabrial are of a newer design. Pretty sure Rysn's babsk mentions that he had to pay a fortune for his, but none of this tells us if that means a decade or less or more

Fabrial-Tech as a whole appears to be relatively recent. Spanreeds are only a few decades old. Heating fabrials are brand new. Vstim paid a large amount because, at least by implication, they are new as well. 

Ancient fabrials seem to have been made through a different process even if they are using the same mechanism. Until we learn more about the older fabrials, it's difficult to assess if we've seen any of them off world (or how a fabrial would even function without Stormlight) 

[Khyrindor]

@DocHoliday@Ookla, the Incalculable, thanks, good points. May run off the Dor in any case, or be a similar mechanic, or maybe perfect gems made into fabrials (if indeed it is a perfect gem) don't run out of Stormlight even with use (unlikely).

Either way I doubt it's a Perfect Gem, even if it is an early Warning Fabrial; I doubt they'd keep something so valuable and use if for something arbitrary if they have another way to detect people.

[teknopathetic]

The Ire have been around for a VERY long time. It makes sense that they would have collected many other artifacts. It makes sense for them to utilize items that can store investiture forever, seeing as how they literally feed off of it. 

Edited November 30, 2017 by teknopathetic

[Ciridae]

My understanding was that there were more than ten perfect gems, that some were smaller like Gavilar's void spheres and others larger, like the King's Drop. I thought that the spren in Celebrant  transferred Stormlight from the imperfect gems into small perfect gems, about the size of regular spheres.

[Naurock]

@teknopathetic Why not guess Akinah? Amians clearly are hiding something, and supposedly held all Soul Caster fabrials.

[teknopathetic]

6 hours ago, Naurock said:

@teknopathetic Why not guess Akinah? Amians clearly are hiding something, and supposedly held all Soul Caster fabrials.

I felt like the Amians had the gems that could explode worlds, but to me they were different than the Perfect Gems (for some reason). Plus, the Elsecallers took the gems, not the Amians (most likely)

Edited November 30, 2017 by teknopathetic

[ScavellTane]

Akinah is probably a Fabrial manufaturing lab and research center. Some experiment went wrong and they had to quarantine it.

[+Extesian]

Quote

“After many warnings not to come to this place,” the cook said. “It is rare I must guard it so . . . aggressively. Men must not again discover this place.” “The gemstones?” Kaza asked, growing more drowsy. “Or . . . is it something else . . . something . . . more . . .” “I cannot speak,” the cook said, “even to sate a dying demand. There are those who could pull secrets from your soul, and the cost would be the ends of worlds. Sleep now, Soulcaster. This is the most merciful end I could give.”

 

 

[Stark]

6 hours ago, ScavellTane said:

Akinah is probably a Fabrial manufaturing lab and research center. Some experiment went wrong and they had to quarantine it.

That or it is where they hid the Gem containing the unmade that allowed the fused to happen sans Everstorm.  It could be the prison where that gem is kept.  And then the scouring' would have been an invasion to get to to this perfect gem, that contains one of the most dangerous spren, and is capable of holding Stormlight for an infinite time period.  That, or it has something to do with the third sibling, that the Stormfather does not want to speak of.

 

And then, because why note:  Roshar, in theory, has between 1 and 10 (yes more than 10 perfect gems is statistically possible, but lets face it.  Its the Cosmere.  Stats don't come into play when shards are involved, no matter how much it disrupts the patterns) perfect gems capable of containing the unmade and holding Stormlight for infinite time periods with 100% efficiency.  Infinite duration gems.  Infinity Gems.  Take that Marvel, Roshar has 10 Infinity Stones that can contain the world's monsters.