Elegy he/him Posted January 2, 2020 Posted January 2, 2020 2 hours ago, Oltux72 said: We have all indications that the Connection one has to a land is unalterable by conscious decision. So no converts. Galladon was originally from Duladel though, and became an Elantrian just as well. I believe Brandon included him as a rather exotic character in the setting (with him using all those foreign words like kolo and kayana) specifically to show that Connection can form after birth.
+Oltux72 he/him Posted January 2, 2020 Author Posted January 2, 2020 3 hours ago, Elegy said: Galladon was originally from Duladel though, and became an Elantrian just as well. I believe Brandon included him as a rather exotic character in the setting (with him using all those foreign words like kolo and kayana) specifically to show that Connection can form after birth. I am afraid not. It is explicitly stated as common knowledge, that Duladen people can be taken, but only those from the border lands.
Elegy he/him Posted January 2, 2020 Posted January 2, 2020 38 minutes ago, Oltux72 said: I am afraid not. It is explicitly stated as common knowledge, that Duladen people can be taken, but only those from the border lands. Huh, didn't know that. Thanks for pointing that out. But still, Connection isn't necessarily inherited, because if it was, accessing Selish magic would work genetically just like on Scadrial, while Elantris' Ars Arcanum explicitly states that accessing magic on Sel doesn't work as it does on Scadrial.
+Oltux72 he/him Posted January 2, 2020 Author Posted January 2, 2020 1 hour ago, Elegy said: Huh, didn't know that. Thanks for pointing that out. But still, Connection isn't necessarily inherited, because if it was, accessing Selish magic would work genetically just like on Scadrial, while Elantris' Ars Arcanum explicitly states that accessing magic on Sel doesn't work as it does on Scadrial. That is when Khrissella writes about who becomes an Elantrian. That is not the same thing as saying who is in the pool of potential Elantrians. She states that that is determined by place of birth. But I cannot reconcile that with the ability to do ChayShan in a descendant of expates living in Arelon
+robardin he/him Posted February 3, 2020 Posted February 3, 2020 I think it's a bit like how "the wand chooses the wizard, Harry!" in the Potterverse. In her Ars Arcana notes on the Selish system (in Arcanum Unbounded), Khriss observes that the bulk of the Investiture from the Splintered Shards of Dominion and Devotion are in the Cognitive Realm of Sel rather than the Spiritual Realm as is normal (gee thanks, Odium!), and that therefore: Quote Because the Cognitive Realm has distinct locations... magic on Sel is very dependent on physical position. In addition, the rules of perception and intent are greatly magnified on Sel, to the point that language - or similar functions - directly shapes the magic as it is pulled from the Cognitive Realm and put to use. This overlap between language, location, and magic on the planet has become so integral to the system that subtle changes in one can have profound effects on how the Dor is accessed. Indeed, I believe that the very landscape itself has a growing self-awareness, in a way unseen on other planets in the cosmere. ... We see from Elantris and The Emperor's Soul that in all the magic systems on Sel, using the power requires intent framed in "perception and language" - in the form of a written Aon, an inscribed seal, the physical forms of the JinDo poses in ChayShan, the "twisted patterns" in the bones of the Dakhor monks. However, just as non-Elantrians can and do write Aons or perform ChayShan moves, even with the Intent to pull Investiture through them to (try to do) something superhuman or magical, nothing supernatural happens unless the person in question has a Connection - observed to be by birth - to the right location for the right magic. The shaod only comes onto people born in Arelon or in a nearby area of Teod or Duladel (perhaps they were historically a part of ancient Arelon - we don't know, just as we don't really know who built Elantris or when or how, and the people currently in-world on Sel don't even know themselves. Maybe Hoid does?) But what IS the shaod? It's like Arelon, or some shadow of the "Spirit of Arelon as it was at the time of the Splintering and CR'ing of the Dor", is doing the selection. A spren of Arelon gradually coming to consciousness, kind of like the Stormfather but strongly linked to a location.
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