In-depth Information about Autonomy [Request]

[Willshaper Wallar]

So I've heard all about Autonomy from Shardcasts and the Coppermind. I haven't read White Sand or Sixth of the Dusk (I think Autonomy is involved there?). 

I've read everything else in the Cosmere and was wondering if there was a source of information explaining everything about Autonomy. Her Intent, why she wants to spread to other systems and how that relates to her intent, her morality, is she evil/good, does she want total control, does she think Odium is a threat, etc. 

[RShara she/her]

Autonomy is the Shard involved in White Sand and Sixth of the Dusk, but she doesn't actually make any appearances in them. We don't really know much about her. She likes to form avatars of herself and meddle on various planets. That's about all we know, aside from the Coppermind references.

[Wandering Investor]

Ha! You and everybody else. As Rshara put it, we know very little. Nothing about her intent or motivations. We know she makes Avatars, although we don't know what an avatar is, is related to Patji (which may be an avatar), meddles on several planets but (recently?)blockaded traffic to her own planet, and we know that she has entire religious pantheons where every member is actually her. The only inbook mentions of Autonomy are the Second letter from Oathbringer which was written by her, and Khriss' mentioning of her in the Arcanum Unbounded. You can also go to wob.coppermind.net and do a search for Autonomy, find all the relevant WoB's. 

[Calderis he/him]

20 minutes ago, Wandering Investor said:

meddles on several planets but (recently?)blockaded traffic to her own planet,

The time at which the blockade went up is... Sometime after Khriss left Taldain. 

And funny enough, recently, (assuming in context that pertains to current Roshar timeline) that blockade has ended. 

Not the very last line of this WoB. 

Quote

Questioner

Nightblood. He just showed up at the end of The Stormlight Archive--

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

--the last one. So, is there a place that's a connection between all of the universes?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, there is.

Questioner

And it's been reached in The Stormlight Archive?

Brandon Sanderson

Okay, so I'm guessing you don't know about all of this but there are characters from Elantris that are in Mistborn--

Questioner

Yes. Like Hoid.

Brandon Sanderson

--and all of this stuff. I would say one of the things is that Roshar is a little bit easier to get to than some of the others, but it's not that it has been breached there so much as it's a little bit easier to get to.

Questioner

Yes, I'm assuming it has something to do with the Cognitive Realm but then objects going through the Cognitive Realm is kind of tripping me.

Brandon Sanderson

Hehe… *long pause* There are places in the Cognitive Realm that are somewhat nexus-like, like you're talking about. Yes there are places like that. ...So Roshar might actually be the easiest place to get to in the cosmere, like from planet to planet. Sel is probably the hardest, right now. For a long time Taldain was very hard, but not anymore.

source

 

[Weltall]

On 9/3/2018 at 7:37 PM, Calderis said:

And funny enough, recently, (assuming in context that pertains to current Roshar timeline) that blockade has ended.

This one's kind of weird because it conflicts to a greater or lesser degree with later material where Brandon discusses the interdiction. For reference, the WoB indicating that it's no longer interdicted is from October of 2015.

March of 2016, Taldain is 'inaccessible currently' in the context of where Vasher could get Investiture, meaning he's mentally connecting it to Roshar.

Arcanum Unbounded (November of 2016) in the essay on the Taldain System it's explicitly stated that the world is currently interdicted. The essay was written some time after MB Era 1 (it describes the reversion of Scadrial's orbit and ecosystem) and before the end of Words of Radiance (else Khriss would surely have mentioned the Everstorm) which doesn't confirm that it's interdicted at the latter point but it definitely was interdicted close to it.

January of 2017, 'Taldain is extremely isolationist because of its Shard'. It isn't clear if that means you can't go there currently or if it's now possible but the locals won't want anything to do with you if you try.

March of 2017, he discusses the isolation but is vague as to whether it's ongoing or not.

[Wreith he/him]

This is just an opinion, but I feel like Brandon talks about Taldain from wherever his head's at at the time instead of taking the time from the novel being referenced in the question or, more generally, the most recent novel released.

From the culmination of all the WoBs listed, I think we can safely assume that sometime early post-SA5, Taldain is no longer blockaded.
It might happen sometime during the events of the first five, but I take the comment from the SoS release party to suggest that it has happened by then at the very least.

[Wandering Investor]

On 9/3/2018 at 9:37 PM, Calderis said:

On 9/3/2018 at 9:15 PM, Wandering Investor said:

meddles on several planets but (recently?)blockaded traffic to her own planet,

The time at which the blockade went up is... Sometime after Khriss left Taldain. 

And funny enough, recently, (assuming in context that pertains to current Roshar timeline) that blockade has ended. 

I've seen that, hence the question mark, but wasn't sure how to interpret that. Since he mentioned it in relation to nexus points, I thought he might be refering to just the cognitive side of Taldain being easy to travel through, with the physical locked off. But it could just as easily the physical. Wonder why Autonomy would stop the blockade though.... not like she would just leave and go bother Har.....ohh. #theorytime.