Connection to Shards

[GoufCustom]

So in Secret History, Keslier is unable to assume the powers of Preservation, even for a short time, because he is insufficiently Connected to Preservation. However, he is a full Mistborn with no hemalurgic spikes, and allomancy is of Preservation. Does this mean that an important way to forge Connection with a shard is by embodying its intent? That's the only thing I can think of that matches these facts. And if this is the case, can you forge Connection with a shard not present on your planet in this way?

[goody153]

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Does this mean that an important way to forge Connection with a shard is by embodying its intent? 

Isn't this the right way to pick up a shard? With Sazed needed to accept death/change as a natural thing so that he could've picked up Ruin(which he had that mentality at the end of HoA). Vin was a bit weird since she was setup by Leras himself but she was apparently a natural as well. 

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And if this is the case, can you forge Connection with a shard not present on your planet in this way?

shrugs. I'd like to know about this one too but apparently shards have access to spiritual realm who has zero care about time/distance so maybe ?

[Calderis he/him]

The Shards are localized to their worlds only in the Physical and Cognitive Realms. Investiture of all of the 16 spans the Cosmere as a whole. 

I have no doubt that Connection to a Shard not present is not only possible but inevitable to some degree.

[Wandering Investor]

As Calderis said, I don't think it is possible to not be connected to all the shards, unless maybe that shard is dead and shattered. All investiture, and matter and energy are just other forms of invesiture, was assigned to one of the shards. So all 16 shards are woven through reality and are on each planet, even if their finite minds are incapable of controlling the part of themselves on other planets. So I would suspect every person is connected to each shard. The degree of connection can vary though, and that's probably affect by how well your Intent matches, and how close you are to the shard, if its on your planet etc. Kelsier is far more destructive then preserving. 

Edited July 5, 2018 by Wandering Investor

[Weltall]

An additional factor to remember with Kelsier and Connection is that at the time he became Preservation's Vessel, he was a Cognitive Shadow; That caused extra trouble for him since he wasn't anchored to all three Realms.

19 hours ago, GoufCustom said:

And if this is the case, can you forge Connection with a shard not present on your planet in this way?

We know for a fact that Preservation or Harmony could be said to embody the idea of Preservation everywhere in the Cosmere even if the Vessel doesn't have the mental capacity to actually process all of that at once. Consequently, one should be able to forge some degree of Connection to any Shard whose Intent you act sufficiently in accordance with regardless of relative Physical location. For example, anyone on the path to becoming a Windrunner probably has a slight connection to Preservation.

However, slight Connection by itself wouldn't necessarily be enough to actually make use of the Investiture of these other Shards. We know for example that allomancers can't naturally burn the godmetals of other Shards, but there might be ways to bridge that gap without the Shard itself needing to intervene. We definitely know that you can force the Connection since that's what the Ire device was meant to do and it would in theory have worked on an Elantrian (ie, someone not nearly as Connected to Preservation and who was already massively Invested) so other methods presumably exist.