theory [OB] Aimians are of Cultivation

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

*DISCLAIMER* This has been pretty much disproven at this point. Here's the WoB from my signed book that makes it obvious that the Sleepless were not created by Cultivation:

Quote

Hoiditthroughthegrapevine

Are the Dysian Aimians agents of Cultivation? If not, are they in league with another group (excluding the Knights Radiant) that we have seen?

Brandon Sanderson (written)

Kind of yes to both – kind of

General Signed Books 2018 (April 17, 2018)

Still some interesting posts in this thread, but the main premise is flawed.

*END EDIT*

 

This is a speculative theory to be sure, but I think there is a very good case to be made that the Dysian and Siah Aimians are of Cultivation.
Possibly even the case that the Aimians are to Cultivation what the Honorblades are to Honor, heavily invested intentionally created splinters of Shardic Investiture created Specifically to fight Odium.

I. QUICK SUMMARY OF THEORY:

The Siah and Dysian Aimians are splinters of Cultivation that are Independent operatives of Cultivation that are used instrumentally to affect her long term plans.

1. The Dysian Aimians, being deathless, never sleeping, with a body comprised of a widely dispersed array of sensate sub-organisms, are uniquely positioned to monitor everything of Interest to Cultivation. These sub-organims, the hordelings, of a given Sleepless are not just a vast sensor array (though they are that for sure), they also are able to manipulate their environment, and I believe, one of the likely ways that they are able to manipulate their environment is by increasing a proximate sentient being's access to Positive Fortune (or Luck).
2. The Siah Aimians exist because of the strictures of the Old Magic, Fortune is both Positive and Negative, so in order to create the Dysian's Aimians Cultivation had to balance out the Sleepless' boon of bestowing Postive Fortune by creating a separate species that had a Negative Fortune (or Bad Luck) effect on proximate sentient beings. Bad luck, when controlled, can be used just as Instrumentally as good luck.

I believe that the Old Magic paradigm is a net neutral framework, the positive boon has be offset (I think in equal magnitude) by the negative boon. I think this is one of the restrictions of Cutltivation's shardic Intent, and I think this is part of the aspect of natural balance that she represents. We know that Cultivation has influenced Dalinar, Lift and Taravangian directly through their intentional trips to the Valley of the Old Magic. I posit that the Aimians are more akin to her operatives in the field, responsible for gathering specific information, tracking specific people and for making infinitesimal and constant adjustments to all of Roshar to keep her plans in line.

 

II. PRELIMINARY REMARKS:

We know that Cultivation has been active on Roshar from this WoB:

Spoiler

Gavin-son-son-Odegard [PENDING REVIEW]

How does Cultivation figure in this conflict between Odium? *inaudible*

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

So, what people assume is that Cultivation is hiding. I would disagree with that. People in-world would assume that.

We also know that Cultivations shardic intent is fairly complicated, and is more compatible with the Intent of Ruin than Odium's Intent is from this WoB:

Spoiler

Autarchk

If I can ask a question, I just read the Mistborn trilogy and, were Preservation and Ruin two different shards or a single one with their power split somehow? If they were two shards, does that mean a single person can hold more than one, since Harmony apparently holds both now?

Brandon Sanderson

They were two shards.

Yes, one entity can hold more than one. Remember that holding a shard changes you, over time. Rayse knows this, and prefers to leave behind destroyed rivals as opposed to taking their power and potentially being overwhelmed by it.

Nepene

I have a question, if you are willing. Would Ruin be more compatible with Rayse, would he pick up that shard had he visited Scadrial and shattered him? All the shards we have seen that he has shattered seem rather different in intent than him- Honor, Cultivation, Love, Dominion. But Ruin seems more in line with Odium. Rayse has ruined the days of quite a few people.

Brandon Sanderson

Technically, Ruin would be most compatible with Cultivation. Ruin's 'theme' so to speak is that all things must age and pass. An embodiment of entropy. That power, separated from the whole and being held by a person who did not have the willpower to resist its transformation of him, led to something very dangerous. But it was not evil. None of the sixteen technically are, though you may have read that Hoid has specific beef with Rayse. Whether you think of Odium as evil depends upon how much you agree with Hoid's particular view.

That said, Ruin would have been one of the 'safer' of the sixteen for Rayse to take, if he'd been about that. Odium is by its nature selfish, however, and the combination of it and Rayse makes for an entity that fears an additional power would destroy it and make it into something else.

This would seem to suggest that she is not a shard whose Intent would be viewed as solely Good or Bad, but rather as a more complicated case of an Abstraction of a natural process. But I believe, given the net neutral constraint of her shardic intent, she has cleverly figured out how to create tools that balance each other out, but when taken as a whole still maintain a net neutrality to the system.

We know from this WoB that the Old Magic has been intentionally developed to be opaque, so the best way to approach an intentionally opaque system is reasoned surmises (added bold emphasis):

Spoiler

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

One of your characters wishes for and is given capacity... That is one of my favorite concepts of all the books that I read of yours. Can you talk about the inspiration for that gift of limited and maximum capacity?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

To not give spoilers, there is a character in The Stormlight Archive who has asked the Old Magic, which is a force that kind of has references in things like The Monkey's Paw and what-not, a force that doesn't always give you things exactly the way you want them. And I built, by the way, the Old Magic into The Stormlight Archive because I felt that at a certain point, while I love to do these rule-based magic systems, I wanted there to be a contrast to it... It's kinda like this idea that, yes, modern science and things have explained a lot of stuff, but there's something primal, perhaps, in the past, I don't actually know. But that idea that there's a primal magic that doesn't really adhere to the rules, we can't anticipate it, was really, I felt, vital for me to include so that I didn't overexplain everything in the books.

So, there's a person who asked for capacity. It wanted to be, let's say, strong enough to lift (it's not actually strength, but it's more of an emotional thing) what was coming. That, I feel like, is a very real thing to wish for, right? I have frequently, like... people say "What would you wish for," and I say "The ability to fly," because I would love to be able to fly. But really, if I sit and think about it, capacity, ability, the capacity to hold all of this stuff in my head, would probably be the sort of thing that I would wish for. So this character, in some ways, is giving wish fulfillment for me, because that's what I would maybe ask for if given the opportunity, but even that kind of turns on its head because the Old Magic just doesn't get people in the way that people think they should be gotten.

I think this might be more in reference to the unpredictability of the boon/bane, but it's an interesting point.

All life on Roshar, with the very possible exception of Shinovar, is Invested with Cultivations power due to the crem/highstorm cycle. All the supporting WoB's for this are spoilered below:

Spoiler

This WoB shows that Cultivation Crem is part of Cultivations Investiture:

Spoiler

Lindel (paraphrased)

Crem and the Purelake on Roshar. Do they have any connection to Cultivation?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Both existed on the planet before Cultivation arrived.

Lindel (paraphrased)

But both are influenced by her now?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes, she influences both.

Crem is like shard poop (later qualified) WoB:

Spoiler

Questioner

Is crem spren poop? Or at least… not literally, but something like it?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, it’s more like Shard poop. (Somewhat unsure sounding?)

Qualification of Shard Poop WoB:

Spoiler

Questioner

Yesterday you said that crem was actually like Shard poop.

Brandon Sanderson

No, I was saying that it was more like that than what they were saying.

Questioner

It's not really poop?

Brandon Sanderson

No, its not.

Questioner

Dang it, I like poop jokes! Can you make it poop so i can have a poop joke.

Brandon Sanderson

Ok, for the next thirty seconds it is.

And further confirmation that Crem has always beens a means for distributing Investiture on Roshar WoB:

Spoiler

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

Has stormwater tasted metallic always?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Yes.

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

Even pre-Shattering?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Even pre-Shattering it would get a metallic taste, that's the crem. So. That is an indication of Investiture and things. But it was there-- it was in place first, before.

 

Cultivation, through her being invested in the crem from which all food (except in Shinovar) grows and which is found in trace amounts of all water drunk on Roshar (except possible shiovar), has invested all sentient life to a small degree. I believe this would give her Aimian gardeners a sympathetic anchor for their proximate Fortune affects to push or pull on the individual Fortunes of the sentient beings that need to be effected. Here is the WoB that shows that Parshedi can bet boon/curses from the Nightwatcher as well:

Spoiler

Questioner (paraphrased)

Can Parshendi receive a Boon and a Curse?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes they can.

 

III. TEXTUAL AND WOB EXAMINATION OF THE AIMIANS:

We know from this WoB the Aimians are functionally immortal (important bit bolded):

Spoiler

Iceblade44

So White Sand [than Elantris] is earlier... Then how the heck old is Kriss then? Will we ever get an answer as to why every worldhopper is flipin immortal?

Brandon Sanderson

There is some time-dialation going on. I'll explain it eventually; we're almost to the point where I can start talking about that. Suffice it to say that there's a mix of both actual slowing of the aging process and relative time going on, depending on the individual. Very few are actually immortal.

Faera

Implying that some are actually immortal?

Brandon Sanderson

Depends on which definition of immortal you mean.

Doesn't age, but can be killed by conventional means. (You've seen some of these in the cosmere, but I'll leave you to discuss who.)

Heals from wounds, but still ages. (Knights Radiant with Stormlight are like this.)

Reborn when killed. (The Heralds.)

Doesn't age and can heal, but dependent upon magic to stay this way, and so have distinct weakness to be exploited. (The Lord Ruler, among others.)

Hive beings who are constantly losing individual members, but maintaining a persistent personality spread across all of them, immortal in that as long as too much of the hive isn't wiped out, the personality can persist. (The sleepless.)

Bits of sapient magic, eternal and endless, though the personality can be "destroyed" in specific ways. (Seons. Spren. Nightblood. Cognitive Shadows, like a certain character from Scadrial.)

Shards (Really just a supercharged version of the previous category.)

And then, of course, there's Hoid. I'm not going to say which category, if any, he's in.

Some of these blend together--the Heralds, for example, are technically a variety of cognitive shadow. I'm not saying each of these categories above are distinct, intended to be the end-all definitions. They're off the cuff groupings I made to explain a point: immortality is a theme of the cosmere works--which, at their core, are experiments on what happens when men are given the power of deity.

Shagomir

Heals from wounds, but still ages.

Would Bloodmaker Ferrings exist in this category as well? If not, what about someone compounding Gold?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, you are correct.

Shagomir

As a Bloodmaker ages what keeps them from healing the damage and carrying on as a very old, but very healthy person? Do they come to a point where they can't store enough health to stave off the aches, pains, diseases, and other things that come with old age?

This makes sense for traditional Feruchemy as it is end-neutral, so storing health becomes a zero sum game - eventually, you're going to get sick and you're not going to be able to overcome it with your natural healing ability no matter how much you manipulate it with a goldmind.

...Unless you've got a supply of Identity-less goldminds lying around. Would a Bloodmaker with a sufficient source of identity-less goldminds (or the ability to compound, thus bypassing the end-neutral part of Feruchemy) eventually just die from being too old?

Brandon Sanderson

Basically, yes. They can heal their body to match their spiritual ideal, but some things (like some genetic diseases, and age-related illnesses) are seen as part of the ideal. Depends on several factors.

And from this WoB:

Spoiler

Question

How many different non-human immortals are there on Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson

Wow, very specific. Most of the Aimians count. They're both small races, but there are enough of them that there are dozens of each that count as immortal, and they're non-human. The two living Shards, I would say count as non-human immortals, and most spren count as non-human immortals. So there's a ton.

 

We know from this WoB that the Dysian Aimians, or Sleepless, are the authors of the In world quotes on the backs of the books:

Spoiler

Questioner

Who writes these perspectives?

Brandon Sanderson

Those are written from a group called the Sleepless. You'll find them referenced in Edgedancer. They are Aimians.

And here are the Sleepless quotes:

From TWoK:

Spoiler

I long for the days before the Last Desolation.
The age before the Heralds abandoned us and the Knights Radiant turned against us.
A time where there was still magic in the world and honor in the hearts of men.
The world became ours, and we lost it.
Nothing, it appears, is more challenging to the souls of men than victory itself.
Or was that victory an illusion all along?
Did our enemies realize that the harder they fought, the stronger we resisted?
Perhaps they saw that the heat and the hammer made for a better grade of sword.
But ignore the steel for long enough, and it begins to rust away.
There are four whom we watch.

The first is the surgeon, forced to put aside healing, to become a soldier in the most brutal war of our time.
The second is the assassin, a murderer who weeps as he kills.
The third is the liar, a young women who wears a scholars mantle over the heart of a thief.
The last is a highprince, a warlord whose eyes have been opened to the past and whose thirst for battle wanes.

The world can change.

Surgebinding and Shardweilding can return; the magic of the ancient days can become ours again.

These four people are key.
One of them may redeem us,
And one of them will destroy us."

From WoR:

Spoiler

The Knights Radiant must stand again.

The ancient oaths have at last been spoken; The spren return. Men seek what was lost; I fear the quest will destroy them.

It is the nature of the magic. A broken soul has cracks into which something else can fit. Surgebindings, the powers of creation themselves; they can brace a broken soul, but they can also widen its fissures.

The Windrunner is lost in a shattered land, balanced upon the boundary between vengeance and honr. The Lightweaver, slowly being consumed by her past, searches for teh lie that she must become. The Bondsmith, born in blood and death, now strives to rebuild what was destroyed. The Explorer, straddling the fates of two peoples, is forced to choose between slow death and a terrible betrayal of all she believes.

It is past time for them to awaken, for the Everstorm looms.

And the Assassin has arrived.

and from OB:

Spoiler

A new storm has come.

Ash and red lightning sweep the land, awakening our ancient enemies. The Unmade—shadows of the Enemy's soul—stir, while the eyes of men open. This war is not, and never was, what they thought it to be.

We may soon hold Surges again, for Radiance has returned to some, and shines toward others. The Captain, broken by loss, seeks reconcilliation. The Spy, broken by cruelty, seeks completion. The Stonewalker, broken by oaths, seeks truth. The Traitor, broken by ambition, seeks freedom.

And finally the King. Broken by war, he seeks the past. That which was abandoned. That which he must not know.

For those secrets will crush him as they did the Knights who came before.

All of these taken together show a very active and prescient degree of surveillance, the Sleepless are obviously watching the fledgling knights radiant, and further they have insight into the deep seated motivations and broken natures of the fledging Knights. There are 2 possible reasons why they are watching:

1. They are watching in regards to their own plans/self interest.
2. They are watching them in regards to another's plans/interests (I think this is by far the most likely)

The only Dysian Aimian that we have seen as a fully articulate character (and not just an unusual cremling that happens to be around when something important is happening) is Arclo from Edgedancer. Here are some quotes that @Wit Beyond Measure pulled out of Edgedancer that are quite informative:

Quote

“You needn’t fear me,” the old man said. “Your war is my war, and has been for millennia. Ancient Radiants named me friend and ally before everything went wrong. What wonderful days those were, before the Last Desolation. Days of … honor. Now gone, long gone.”

Though honor is not captilized in the quote, it does seem to be hinting that the Sleepless may  having been fighting in this war since the days when Honor the shard was still alive (but this is a surmise) and we have this: 

Quote

"My siblings are more interested in you Radiants. If you ever encounter another of the Sleepless, tell them you’ve spoken with Arclo. I’m certain it will gain you sympathy.”

This implies a certain amount of autonomy for an individual sleepless, but also suggests a broader coordination of their collective actions as well. We know from Edgedancer that Arclo's pet immortal project is to build a grand Philosophy, but I think being immortal and never requiring sleep would give the Sleepless the time to fulfill their primary function of information gathering / slight nudges of influence to help along Cultivations plans while also tending their own pet projects.
And finally this:

Quote

"Child, I can grow what I need. Is my mind becoming full? I can breed new hordelings specialized in holding memories. Do I need to sense what is going on in the city? Hordelings with extra eyes, or antennae to taste and hear, can solve that. Given time, I can make for my body nearly anything I need."

And we have this WoB that might shed some light on how this is accomplished, specifically the holding of memories portion:

Spoiler

Questioner

Could you spike a Hordling?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Spike means getting something out, Spike means get(ting?) something in? I think that both is viable. I think you can, yeah.

Questioner

If you would spike something in, would the whole Aimian get maybe an Allomantic ability?

Brandon Sanderson

Mostly, this would probably change the Hordling. And they may lose contact to it. It could fiddle with the connection to the point that they can no longer link. That's gonna be my answer right now, that spiking a Hordling would separate it from the group mind.

So, the use of Hemalurgy on a specific singular organism would cause the Sleepless to lose contact with that individual cremling, so this seems to imply that all of the composite cremlings of a particular sleepless are linked by a Spiritual Connection. And further that the spiritual connection is necessary for the Sleepless to do things like store memories into a individual cremling. This is like a living coppermind, and I posit that some form of usable Investiture is necessary for this transferrance to occur, and is likely derived from Cultivation.

This is an interesting WoB that explains a little bit more about what the Sleepless actually are (and is inline with my theory that they are a heavily Invested Identity with access to Investiture that allows them to coordinate/disperse this Identity and Connection to all of the composite beings that make up their total being:

Spoiler

Questioner 1

So the Sleepless kind of have me wondering about what sentience is in the cosmere. Like how would a Sleepless manifest on the Cognitive Realm--

Brandon Sanderson

That's a good question, you'll-- that I'll RAFO. But they are a single consciousness, but they would argue that all your cells are independent of you. So they are cells that can move around. They're really fun... they started in a non-cosmere book when I was 22. Obviously a bit inspired by Fire Upon the Deep, one of my favorite science fiction books. And I read that book and I'm like, "Group consciousnesses are cool!" what if you had a species that was made up of-- Not like one of these Ender's Game y'know, one, but each swarm was an individual and they could breed and evolve their own things to do different stuff. So each of these little bits, these hordelings is what I call them-- Imight change because we've got cremling now. But each of these little bits is bred for a specific purpose, "Feed the swarm" and stuff like that. So they've got all kinds of cool stuff going on.

Questioner 1

Are they Slivers?

Brandon Sanderson

...Oh Silvers. Not quite like Slivers but yeah. Slivers are a little more that whole Ender's Game thing, right? A little more-- And this is actually an individual that's not a hivemind. These are-- This is an individual, single consciouness, and the cells are-- they've got a step between cell and body. We kind of do too, like mitochondria are kind of "What are these? Are these things we ingested somehow and got working for us?" It's all very cool.

Questioner 2

So is it like Malazan Book of the Fallen, like the D'ivers?

Brandon Sanderson

Ehhh, there's little--

Questioner 2

Okay, a little?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah.

 

IV. THE TWO AIMIANS AND NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE FORTUNE

I think that one of the fundamental properties of the Old Magic is that it is a balanced magical system. For something positive to be given, something negative has to be given as well to achieve a net neutral state. I think this is pretty obviously manifest in the nature of the boons/curses given by the Nightwatcher, but I think this might also be visible in the two different species of Aimians, with the Dysian Aimians given the boon of Positive Fortune (Good Luck) and the Siah Aimians given the curse of Negative Fortune (Bad Luck).

So, we know that the Siah Aimians are believed by Rosharans to be Bad Luck, and further that they are thought to leave curses in their wake. Here is the section from the Rysn interlude in WoR where she sees our favorite spren collector hanging from his ankles:

Quote

Rysn brought her hands up to her chest, not daring to get any closer. Aimian. Very bad luck. She wasn't particularly superstitious—she was even skeptical of the Passions sometimes—but...well, this was an Aimian.

"What fell curses did you bring on this people, beast?" Kylrm demanded.

It's interesting to note that Rysn is worried most specifically about getting close to the Siah Aimian, as if the curse could be spread by mere proximity. 

The proof for Dysian Aimians have access to Positive Fortune is more tenuous, but I think this is a place where more textual analysis might be in order to try and find, after the appearance of a suspicious Cremling, if anything fortuitous happens to one of the Protagonists under surveillance. I will say that the we know that Hoid uses Fortune to always be where he needs to be (without knowing why he needs to be there), this could be something that the Sleepless also have, and given that their physical self is made up of innumerable small sensate organisms, this could be occurring in multiple simultaneous locations (pretty useful characteristic for a spy network to have, to always know when they need to be somewhere). And as @Wit Beyond Measure pointed out in her Moon Story Thread, there is the part in the Epilogue of WoR where Hoid is waiting for Jasnah Kholin to come back from Shadesmar and Hoid is talking to an ugly lizard-crab thing that Brandon has confirmed is a Dysian Aimian:

Quote

“This is a lot more satisfying,” he said, “when I have intelligent life whom I can render awed, rapt with attention for my clever verbosity.”

The ugly lizard-crab-thing on the next rock over clicked its claw, an almost hesitant sound.

“You’re right, of course,” Wit said. “My usual audience isn’t particularly intelligent. That was also the obvious joke, however, so shame on you.”

The ugly lizard-crab-thing scuttled across its rock, moving onto the other side. Wit sighed.

Here's the WoB that confirms this:

Spoiler

Questioner

The Epilogue of Words of Radiance.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

Hoid makes particular note of a cremling.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

Dysian?

Brandon Sanderson

Hehehehe. You're starting to learn! You're starting to learn.

Questioner

That epilogue just got so much--

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, he was speaking to one of the Sleepless there. He has spotted them and they--

Questioner

So, he knows.

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, he knows!

Questioner

Because he makes a comment about having “no intelligent audience.”

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, yes, yes. *laughter* Of course he doesn’t have an intelligent audience!

 

V. FURTHER PROOF THAT THE AIMIANS ARE WORKING WITH/FOR CULTIVATION AND AGAINST ODIUM:

@Vortaan has a compelling theory that Soulcasters are similar in function and Composition to Honorblades, [OB] Soulcaster Engineering Principles. I would extend this to the reasonable surmise that Soulcasters were created by Cultivation. We know from the Kaza interlude that Roharan's used to get Soulcaster's from the Island of Akinah which is in Aimia. Further we know that at least one Dysian Aimian is guarding this Island. They could be guarding Akinah for their own reasons, or they could be guarding Akinah because they have been charged to do so. I favor the second option.

One of the primary reasons the Sleepless cook gives for having to kill Kaza after she and her group penetrated the Magical Storm defense and bypassed the Soulcast shipwrecking artificial rock formations was this (bold emphasis added):

Quote

"After many warnings not to come to this place," the cook said. "It is rare I guard it so...agressively. 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."

The bolded portion above heavily implies that the Unmade Moleach might be able to get this information from Kaza.

It is speculated in Hessi's Mythica that the Unmade Dai-Gonarthis is responsible for the Scouring of Aimia:

Quote

If I'm correct and my research true, then the question remains. Who is the ninth Unmade? Is it truly Dai-Gonarthis? If so, could their actions have actually caused the complete destruction of Aimia?

So Aimia was (most likely) attacked by Odium, the reasons for this could be either he wanted to get something that was contained in Aimia or he wanted to destory the Aimians because they were an Antangonistic force. I believe it's a combination of both. We know from Dalina'r vision of Aharietiam that Dysian Aimians fought and died (there is a pile of smouldering cremling remains), and I believe that they have violet blood (which is described in the Prelude of TWoK when the Heralds abandon their Honorblades to be mixing on the field of battle with red and orange blood).

The Sleepless themselves in the back of book quotes explicitly say that they are fighting with the New Radiants, and it is implied quite heavily, that they are fighting against the forces of Odium. But who is their general, who do they take orders from? Could be they are a group that is only protecting their own self interest, or they could be working in concert with Cultivation to try and undermine Odium's plans.

 

 

And from the Urithiru Gem Archive we have a possible hint at what the Sleepless are guarding at Akinah:

Quote

I returned to the tower to find squabbling children, instead of proud knights, That's why I hate this place. I'm going to go chart the hidden undersea caverns of Aimia; find my maps in Akinah. — 16-16 amethyst

Quote

As the duly appointed keepers of the perfect gems, we of the Elsecallers have taken the burden of protecting the ruby nicknamed Honor's Drop. Let it be recorded. — 20-10 zircon

This is an interpolation, but with the "cost being the ends of worlds" for not keeping the secrets at Akinah protected, I think it is very likely that the undersea caverns contain the Dawn Shards. Another interesting point is that Akinah was one of the Cymatic cities that Kasbal mentions to Shallan in Kharbranth as a proof of the existence of the Almighty.

 

VI. CONCLUDING REMARKS:

This is just a theory, but I think that there is quite a bit of evidence to at the very least tie the Objectives of the Sleepless to the Objectives of Cultivation. And I think it's not too much of a stretch to say that not only do these Objectives align, but they are in fact the same, and the Sleepless are active agents of Cultivation. I think it might go even further, and that they are actually Splinters of Cultivation and further down the speculative chain, I think that the Siah Aimians are the necessary concomitant, the necessary wood left over after hewing out the perfect tool. But like I said above, I think they are still a useful tool, but in a way that is like a wrench in the machine. They are the Schlemiels that inadvertently trip a whole line of marching soldiers, they are like a living plague of bad luck, and if positioned carefully, could provide nudges in an opposite direction to the nudges from the Dysian Aimians.

If this theory is true, then the Dysian Aimians are the many eyed, many limbed, fortune bestowing tools on the ground that Cultivation uses to prune and monitor her organic plans. And further they are working to actively undermine Odium's plan at the same time.

Edited January 17, 2019 by hoiditthroughthegrapevine
Theory has been disproven, added disclaimer

[Yata he/him]

I could only take a fast Reading of the whole theory (I am going to work) but I noticed some troublesome parts, some are really little while others are Indeed far deeply.

First of all, also if It's possible the Sleepless are made by Cultivation, they happear not as Splinters...but rather as a lowly Life like the Humans or Singers are.

In more troublesome side, Fortune seems to be not connected with our concept of fortune/luck. The evidences we have at the moment, imply It is a undefined future sense. So not actual luck involved and no "negative Fortune".

By the way, the Old Magic as far as we saw doesn't allow to separate boon and curse to two different people. But this is not a real problem as a Shard's actions doesn't need to follow that paradigm.

I also believe you misview Cultivation's mandate, It's not about balance or nature (specifically)... It's about change only.

I Will return in this theory as Soon as I could find the time to re-read It wholly.

If I misread something, feel free to correct me 

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

@Yata, all very good points, they are addressed below:

38 minutes ago, Yata said:

First of all, also if It's possible the Sleepless are made by Cultivation, they happear not as Splinters...but rather as a lowly Life like the Humans or Singers are.

I think you are probably right to be wary of jumping to the conclusion that they are splinters of Cultivation, but they are just so different and have such strange properties that if they are not splinters, then I think that they are heavily Invested by Cultivation at least.

The Siah Aimians cast a shadow towards the light (like Jasnah did in the WoR prologue), showing that they probably exist partially in the cognitive realm. They have the ability to change their physiology (getting rid of noses to avoid unpleasant smells, regrowing limbs) except for their blue eyes and blue fingernails. They also have the ability to write notes on their bodies by just thinking what they want to write (like Axies the Collector in his interlude in TWoK). All of these alterations and modifications to their physical form that they affect by just thinking about the change seems to imply that they have access to some sort of energy to effect these transformations. Also Physical matter modified by just thought, seems a lot the Transformation surge (though the object of transformation is just the Siah Aimian itself).

And the Dysian Aimians, where does their consciousness reside? The analogy that their hordelings are like cells in a body doesn't explain where the controlling Nous is. My guess is that this too is the aspect of their being that is a cognitive entity that is linked to all of the constituent cremling "cells" of their body. Brandon RAFO'd the questioner in the WoB above who asked what the Sleepless would look like in the Cognitive Realm. This again is just speculation, but I think the reason this was RAFOed is because like Siah Aimians they too are an organism that maintains a simultaneous presence in the Cognitve and the Physical realms. Their true existence is a rational mind, a cognitive entity connected to a multiplicity of disparate parts. Like a vast computer controlling an army of cockroaches through electrical singles to their antennae, able to upload bytes of data to the small hard drive of their insect minds. This is not a simple form of life, I don't think, and like the Siah Aimians, I think this distributed consciousness takes some form of ineherent energy to maintain.

 

1 hour ago, Yata said:

In more troublesome side, Fortune seems to be not connected with our concept of fortune/luck. The evidences we have at the moment, imply It is a undefined future sense. So not actual luck involved and no "negative Fortune".

I think that Fortune relates to both Luck and Future sight. There is the Feruchemical use of Chromium to consider (quoted from Coppermind):

Quote

A chromium Ferring is known as a Spinner. Chromium is used to store fortune. A Feruchemist filling a chromiummind will be unlucky, and can tap it to increase his luck.

From the above, it is stated that Luck in the Positive and Negative can be affected by Fortune. More access to Fortune = Better Luck, less access to Fortune = Bad luck. How Hoid uses Fortune and how I believe the Dysian Aimians use Fortune (for surveillance) is by Fortuitously arriving at a place when something is going to happen without knowing precisely what is going to happen. They are using a slight mixture of pre-cognition and positive luck, and I think this ability of Hoid's shows that Fortune is a composite of those 2 elements (if Fortune was just future sight, he would know what was going to happen).

1 hour ago, Yata said:

By the way, the Old Magic as far as we saw doesn't allow to separate boon and curse to two different people. But this is not a real problem as a Shard's actions doesn't need to follow that paradigm.

I also believe you misview Cultivation's mandate, It's not about balance or nature (specifically)... It's about change only.

I think that the idea of a given system needing to be neutral and balanced is implied by the paradigm of the Boon/Curse, and it seems to be one of the only real elements of the Old Magic that we have seen. Further, I think in the case of the boon/curse granted to an individual, the individual is the system and the Positive Boon is balanced by the Negative Curse.

So it is totally a surmise to assume that this need for a balanced system is a pre-condition of Cultivation's shardic Intent, but given that the Old Magic was designed to be intentionally opaque (as shown in the WoB in OP), I think the best we can do for now is make reasoned surmises.

I do see your point about Cultivation's primary intent being change (which I agree with), and that's really probably the point of syntax between Ruin and Cultivation's shardic Intents that the WoB in OP is referring to. But I still think that her Intent is constrained by a balance between positive and negative action, and that the creation of the two races of Aimians was her way around the stricture of balance in her intent. She was able to create two seperate tools (both races of Aimians), that within the overall system (the total population of Aimia), balance each other out.

 

[RShara she/her]

Sorry I'm late to the party! I'm totally slacking off here

Anyway

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/160-words-of-radiance-dayton-signing/#e2881

Quote

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Basic stuff about the 2 types of Aimians, both of which have extended control of their own biology, both of which more or less refugees. He also said that they have cosmere significance.

Sadly, the above quote is paraphrased.  But refugees definitely stand out.  If they're refugees, then they are not likely created by Cultivation.

Additionally, we see the PoV (and passing glimpses) of Axies the Collector, who is a Siah Aimian. He doesn't really seem very tool-like to me

Edited January 5, 2018 by RShara

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

@RShara strikes again!

That is a paraphrased WoB though, and it does say More or Less refugees, which begs the question, is this because they are from a different planet or because their homeland was destroyed during the scouring of Aimia? I choose to believe the later...Mostly because I like the idea of the Sleepless being the eyes and ears of Cultivation, and being able to strategically influence things in small seemingly imperceptible ways. I think that my battleship actually is only half sunken at this point, which means, looking at the bright side, it's half floating, right?

24 minutes ago, RShara said:

Additionally, we see the PoV (and passing glimpses) of Axies the Collector, who is a Siah Aimian. He doesn't really seem very tool-like to me

Well, he's not a tool you would want on your side of the war. But you slip him in behind enemy lines, and if he doesn't get imprisoned for public nudity, he might just offset their good luck and bring down a curse or two on the enemy troops.

Edited January 5, 2018 by hoiditthroughthegrapevine
typo, like usual

[RShara she/her]

Haha sorry.  I have no other definitive proof, so you might be right. But I don’t agree 

[Calderis he/him]

@hoiditthroughthegrapevine while I don't really, I have my own ideas, at lease about the Dysians, that makes me believe they are native to Roshar.

The refugee bit has always seemed to me to be a reference to their status after the scouring. 

As far as the Siah... I got nothing man. The Siah are just weird. 

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

Just now, Calderis said:

As far as the Siah... I got nothing man. The Siah are just weird. 

I think @RShara summed it nicely by saying that Axies is:

1 hour ago, RShara said:

very tool-like

Slightly taken out of context, but I think the spirit of the thing is right.

[RShara she/her]

Hey. I said NOT very tool-like!

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

I was referring to the colloquial term "tool"

Quote

One who lacks the mental capacity to know he is being used. A fool. A cretin. Characterized by low intelligence and/or self-steem.

Basically a *doof*, a walking liability to all around him

Though he does have a very cool mission in life, there are worse things you could do with your immortality than chase Intoxication spren.

Edited January 5, 2018 by hoiditthroughthegrapevine
OOPS, trying to make this post not be reported for *attempting to skirt the rules*

[Yata he/him]

I still can't read it fully (weird day at work) but I checked the reply.
I remember a WoB (maybe you provided already) about the Sleepless's Hordeling be a lot cremling-like for an explicit Sleepless's design. They grow them in that way to fit the local fauna. Of course this is not a proof, but point (to me) at a foreign origin. We also know the Sleepless will have a great role in Mistborn Era 4... But this is not a real proof of anything

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

21 minutes ago, Yata said:

I remember a WoB (maybe you provided already) about the Sleepless's Hordeling be a lot cremling-like for an explicit Sleepless's design. They grow them in that way to fit the local fauna. Of course this is not a proof, but point (to me) at a foreign origin. We also know the Sleepless will have a great role in Mistborn Era 4... But this is not a real proof of anything

I don't think I referenced that WoB (would like to see it though). If it does mention local fauna it would give a lot of credence to @RShara's point that the Sleepless are from a different planet. (Though if it's another paraphrased WoB I would have to take it with the proverbial grain of salt.)

As to the Sleepless playing a role in Mistborn Era 4, I don't think this affects the theory at all, except that I have to say, that is Awesome, because the Dysian Aimians are one of the most amazing alien races ever created. The talks that Arclo has with Lift in Edgedancer where he is trying to build his Grand Philosophy by asking Lift what part of the body she is most like is one of the best bits in all of Literature (note how this not bounded by the qualifier in all of Epic Fantasy). At a meta level, I think the Dysian Aimian's raise a lot of philosophical questions that Brandon is very interested in precisely because they deal, in a metaphorical way, with one of the biggest and most interesting questions of Philosophy, namely what is Identity.

[Calderis he/him]

Here it is. 

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/122/#e3346

Quote

Questioner

Are all Hordelings Cremlings and vise versa?

Brandon Sanderson

Cremling is a synonym in Roshar for both, insect and small crustation, right? And so you would see one and you would see that's a little crayfish. Cremling is not an exact term if that makes sense. It's like bug. The word "bug" people can use to mean a lot of different things.[...] So, yes, they look like Cremlings, because they've been bred to look like Cremlings, so they will not be noticed on Roshar, but there are Hordelings that do not look like Cremlings. But they would still be called a Cremling by the people on Roshar. The occasional people (?) used the word insect, 'cause that word does exist on Roshar. Usually make refers to like little flying bugs that you only find in the very far west of Roshar near the mountains, but yeah.

 

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

30 minutes ago, Calderis said:

Here it is. 

Thanks @Calderis, seems like a description of the ambiguity of referring to a stink bug and a beetle both as a bug. I think that this definitely has no implication for where the Dysian Aimians are originally from, in fact because it is such a mundane explanation, I think it lends credence to the speculation that they are native to Roshar (and possible a creation of Cultivation).

As an aside, did you see that Krull meme that I made for Mr. T's role in Oathbringer? Maybe Krull is before your time, but this is the visual image I had in my head ever since the initial OB chapter where Mr. T becomes the fist member of the coalition.

*EDIT* Just read that WoB again, and I see what you're getting at there.The fact that they have been bred to look like cremlings implies that is not their natural form. Further the fact that most original non-derivative manifestation is found in the West by the mountains seems significant. Maybe the refugee WoB refers to the fact that the Sleeplesss are also displaced refuges from the flight from Ashyn (but I don't really buy this).

I see your point but don't really think that this is proof of anything other than the Sleepless' adaptability.The adaptation of the cremlings might be because their original composite organisms were from the valley of Shinovar, and they needed a form that would be unobtrusive on the rest of Roshar to fulfill their primary objective of carrying out surveillance.

Edited January 5, 2018 by hoiditthroughthegrapevine

[Blazenella he/him]

Fortune I feel works a lot like the luck potion from Harry Potter 6.

Harry just has this weird sense of where to go and where he should be when.

[Calderis he/him]

@hoiditthroughthegrapevine I did see the meme, and it's funny. I barely remember that movie, but it feels about right. 

And yeah, that WoB raises some doubts, but doesn't completely kill the idea that they're native. 

If you're interested, in searching for another of my older threads, I stumbled upon the one that I speculated about the origins of the Sleepless. 

 

[Messremb]

This is a fun idea! I don't buy into it personally, but you obviously put a lot of work into it and most your arguments are well reasoned and supported.

I think  the argument of whether the Amians are from Roshar, or not, is a moot point to the majority of your theory. the only thing it affects is if Cultivation created them or not. Correct me if I am wrong, but they wouldn't need to be created by Cultivation, for her to invest them to the level of slivers would they?

 

18 hours ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

I long for the days before the Last Desolation.
The age before the Heralds abandoned us and the Knights Radiant turned against us.
A time where there was still magic in the world and honor in the hearts of men.
The world became ours, and we lost it.
Nothing, it appears, is more challenging to the souls of men than victory itself.
Or was that victory an illusion all along?
Did our enemies realize that the harder they fought, the stronger we resisted?
Perhaps they saw that the heat and the hammer made for a better grade of sword.
But ignore the steel for long enough, and it begins to rust away.
There are four whom we watch.

The first is the surgeon, forced to put aside healing, to become a soldier in the most brutal war of our time.
The second is the assassin, a murderer who weeps as he kills.
The third is the liar, a young women who wears a scholars mantle over the heart of a thief.
The last is a highprince, a warlord whose eyes have been opened to the past and whose thirst for battle wanes.

The world can change.

Surgebinding and Shardweilding can return; the magic of the ancient days can become ours again.

These four people are key.
One of them may redeem us,
And one of them will destroy us."

The Bolded section is what makes me question this theory. Why would the loss of Honor, Heralds, and KR cause the Aimians to lose their magic, if that magic is coming from Cultivation.

On a side note, when reading that I wondered if this implies that the Amians had access to the Surges and shards without the Nahel Bond?

I could be reading too much into this one line, but it does seem important to me.

Also, I think your weakest argument is the good\bad luck argument, you really only have one supporting statement that Siah Aimians are bad luck. The source on that one seems very unreliable, and I think it may just be superstition because people are scared of them. But, you could be right, hard to say with so little evidence.

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

16 minutes ago, Messremb said:

I think  the argument of whether the Amians are from Roshar, or not, is a moot point to the majority of your theory. the only thing it affects is if Cultivation created them or not. Correct me if I am wrong, but they wouldn't need to be created by Cultivation, for her to invest them to the level of slivers would they?

They could have existed prior to Cultivation and have been heavily invested by her for sure, but the reason I think Cultivation actually created them is because of the Boon/Curse Paradigm of the old magic. I think the Aimians show a similar inverted symmetry, but I could be completely wrong about this as well. I do like the idea that the Sleepless have access to Positive Fortune like Hoid does, so that they can know when and where to send their cremling spies. I just think that would be rad, and I like the idea that they are Cultivation's boots on the ground, making lots of small correcting adjustments as her plans unfold.

14 minutes ago, Messremb said:

18 hours ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

Surgebinding and Shardweilding can return; the magic of the ancient days can become ours again.

These four people are key.
One of them may redeem us,
And one of them will destroy us."

The Bolded section is what makes me question this theory. Why would the loss of Honor, Heralds, and KR cause the Aimians to lose their magic, if that magic is coming from Cultivation.

I believe this is because the higher level spren capable of forming Nahel bonds are once again deciding to bond Radiants, there could be more to this, but this seems like the most logical explanation to me.

8 minutes ago, Messremb said:

Also, I think your weakest argument is the good\bad luck argument, you really only have one supporting statement that Siah Aimians are bad luck. The source on that one seems very unreliable, and I think it may just be superstition because people are scared of them. But, you could be right, hard to say with so little evidence.

Here's are some bits from TWoK Axies Interlude:

Quote

Poor fool, Axies thought. It was really time to be moving on. Wouldn't want to bring any bad luck down upon the poor addled fellow.

And this very intriguing bit (specifically the bolded bit):

Quote

Perhaps someone inportant would take exception to him and have him brought before a magistrate. Wouldn't be the first time. He'd learned long ago not to worry. When the Curse of Kind followed you, you learned to take what happened as it happened.

From the only authoritative source we have on Siah Aimians, Axies himself professes the nature of his "Curse of the Kind", that he causes people around him to experience bad luck, and usually ends up in unpleasant situations because everyone on Roshar knows that the Siah Aimians are total bummers.

I think this is the only mention of the Curse of the Kind, but if anyone with searchable kindle editions wants to look for quotes with "Curse of the Kind" in them that would be beyond amazing.

[Subvisual Haze]

Personally I wonder if the Aimians pre-date Cultivation's arrival on the planet.  Native life on Roshar tends to be weird, adaptable to environmental demands, bug/carapace based, and have higher levels of interaction with spren and affinity for the cognitive realm.  I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Siah Aimians at the very least weren't a smaller native humanoid species that co-existed on Roshar alongside the Singers before Honor/Cultivation and later humans migrated to the planet.

The Dysian Aimians are so freaky though one imagines they have to be an artificially created magic entity (like Scadrial's kandra/inquisitors/koloss).  I could definitely buy into the theory that Cultivation created them as her intended spymasters.

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

56 minutes ago, Subvisual Haze said:

Personally I wonder if the Aimians pre-date Cultivation's arrival on the planet.  Native life on Roshar tends to be weird, adaptable to environmental demands, bug/carapace based, and have higher levels of interaction with spren and affinity for the cognitive realm.  I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Siah Aimians at the very least weren't a smaller native humanoid species that co-existed on Roshar alongside the Singers before Honor/Cultivation and later humans migrated to the planet.

You could be right about the Siah being a native Rosharan form of life, their increased presence in the cognitive Realm, their orange blood and their transformational magic does parallel the Singers, but the WoBs are a little vague in this respect (and Brandon seems a bit cagey about pinning down if the Aimians predate the humans on Roshar, didn't cite any of thes WoBs but they're on Arcanum).

Here are some interesting WoBs about the Siah Aimians:

Spoiler

The 2 Races of Aimians are not related WoB:

Spoiler

Ecuadorable

I asked for a clue about Rysn or Axies, and I got this!

Brandon Sanderson

Axies is one of two races from Aimia, but they are not related.

The Aimians are not related to the Parshenid WoB:

Spoiler

Ayende87 (paraphrased)

I asked if the Aimians as a race were, as I suspected, closer to the Cognitive Realm, and whether they are somehow related to the Parshendi.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Brandon started by saying there are 2 sub races of Aimians for a start, and Axies the Collector is of 1 set, we have yet to meet the other but we will!

He did say there is 'Something' going on with the Aimians and their interaction with the Cognitive Realm but wouldn't elaborate on that point.

He then went on to say that Aimians are not in fact related to Parshendi at all, but the Horneaters and Herdazians are!

The Natan and/or Barbathanam are related to the Siah Aimians WoB:

Spoiler

Chris Hansen

Are either the blue-skinned Natans or blue-veined Babatharnams human-Aimian hybrids?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

The Aimians could be referred to as the Watchers WoB:

Spoiler

Mason Wheeler [PENDING REVIEW]

If the Parshendi are listeners, would it be proper to call the Aimians watchers?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

There are those who would call them that, but because that is used in the Marvel world so extensively, I would not use it, probably.

Hmm, what are they watching or guarding rather...

So from these WoBs we know that the two races of Aimians are not related and that the Parshendi and Aimians are not related, but that the Natan and/or Barbathanam races are related to Siah Aimians (possible reason for the moon story in OB). These WoBs I think show what Brandon means by related, which just means sharing a common ancestor, or that they are related from divergent evolution. Obviously with the incredibly different manifestations of the Siah and Dysian Aimians they are not very likely to be related in this sense. This doesn't preclude a creation based relationship, which is the relationship that I think they posses, but like @Subvisual Haze pointed out, the Siah do share a lot of common traits with the Singers which could show that they are native lifeforms of Roshar.

I think the WoB about the Aimians being akin to the Watchers is incredibly interesting though, and I think that it is further proof that one of the tasks they have been given is protecting the Dawnshards. The whole "ends of worlds" bit from the Kaza interlude just seems too ominous for them to be protecting just a collection of perfect gems capable of trapping the Unmade.

[Yata he/him]

The "curse of the kind" is believed by many to be' a cultural stuff. They are different and people made them bad things for that.

By the way, as your point is mainly Old-Magic centered. We don't even know if the Old Magic originated with Cultivation or if She Simply "adopted" the NW when H&C arrived on Roshar.

 

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

18 minutes ago, Yata said:

The "curse of the kind" is believed by many to be' a cultural stuff. They are different and people made them bad things for that.

By the way, as your point is mainly Old-Magic centered. We don't even know if the Old Magic originated with Cultivation or if She Simply "adopted" the NW when H&C arrived on Roshar.

From the Axies the collector Interlude, the Curse of Kind is used in a way that seems to be a descriptor of how Siah Aimians leave a train of bad luck in their wake, but if this is referred to somewhere else in the SLA that implies something different I would love to know!

From this WoB we see that all post shattering investiture was assigned to different shards:

Spoiler

Overlord Jebus [PENDING REVIEW]

Is all Investiture in the Cosmere associated with a Shard?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Yes, well, okay. So this is a complicated one. So, Investiture predates the Shattering of Adonalsium, all Investiture was from Adonalsium, all Investiture got assigned to one of the 16 Shards when Adonalsium was Shattered. Some of the Investiture was not on Yolen but location is irrelevant. So Investiture is related to Shards even on planets where none of the Shards are inhabiting. 

Overlord Jebus [PENDING REVIEW]

Are they aware of that Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

That's part of the whole seeing into the infinite, being beyond even the power of a Shard. So, technically you could make the argument that Harmony could feel the sense of Preservation of every world in the Cosmere, right? Because the building blocks of all life and creation are these things.

Overlord Jebus [PENDING REVIEW]

So the Shard of Preservation embodies all preservation in the Cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Yes but he just can't do that, right? Like, he's not infinite. The Vessels are not, even if their minds are enormously expanded by holding a Shard, they are not infinite. The Connection is all there in the Spiritual Realm

So the fact that she was able to adopt the Nightwatcher implies that Cultivation's shardic Intent is inline with the Old Magic. I do see your point that the "Old" in Old magic implies that it predates H+C arrival to Roshar, which I can totally buy. But I think that if this is the case, then like the Nightwatcher Cultivation would have adopted the other elements of the Old Magic that were inline with her Intent as well. So even if the Aimians existed pre-shattering, when Cultivation arrived on Roshar their pre-shattering Investiture (which I still think is inline with balance of the Old Magic) would be under her influence.

Edited January 6, 2018 by hoiditthroughthegrapevine

[Subvisual Haze]

43 minutes ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

You could be right about the Siah being a native Rosharan form of life, their increased presence in the cognitive Realm, their orange blood and their transformational magic does parallel the Singers, but the WoBs are a little vague in this respect (and Brandon seems a bit cagey about pinning down if the Aimians predate the humans on Roshar, didn't cite any of thes WoBs but they're on Arcanum).

Oh do we have a thing on Siah blood being orange?  I had been guessing purple/violet blood for either or both types of Aimians.  Way back in the very first prologue POV from Kelek he comments on the battlefield being covered with red, orange, and violet blood.  Red would obviously be human, orange is singer, and I was guessing purple must be Aimian by process of elimination.  Purple blood might also explain the Siah's blue-ish skin tone.

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

@Subvisual Haze there's this WoB that states that the Aimians have different colors of blood:

Spoiler

Havoc (paraphrased)

What color is Aimian blood?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Good question! The question is, which type of Aimian? That would be my first response. The two different varieties have two different colors of blood.

So I was assuming that the Dysian Aimian's cremlings had violet blood because chasmfiends and great shells have violet blood (like this is the standard color of blood of the crustacean-like life on Roshar), but the blue skin color and the blue veined Barbartham would make more sense if these races had violet blood.

@Calderis on his The Sleepless. A natural creation of Roshar's magic says this about the Siah Aimians:

On 9/1/2017 at 3:48 PM, Calderis said:

I don't know have a theory for their creation/evolution. I do think that they are native to Roshar. Their orange blood means they are most likely related to the Parshendi. 

Based on my limited time on the Shard, I tend to read things Calderis says as canon.

 

 

[Calderis he/him]

36 minutes ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

Based on my limited time on the Shard, I tend to read things Calderis says as canon.

Don't. 

My reasoning was pretty much the same as yours. Cremlings with purple blood like the other crustaceans we've seen, and orange blood is only seen in Parshendi to my knowledge, who also have a (much more limited) ability to change physical shape like the Siah. 

I make plenty of mistakes and assumptions.