Missing magic systems on Roshar

[Friendshipspren he/him]

So we know that on Scadrial , there are there magic systems , two pure ones ,i.e, ,allomancy and hemalurgy  ; one hybrid ,i.e, feruchemy.

Feruchemy was the result of the investiture of two shards interacting.

So by the same standards , shouldn't Roshar have 7 magic systems. 

A pure one from honor

A pure one from cultivation

A pure one  from Odium

A hybrid from Honor and Cultivation

A hybrid from Honor and Odium

A hybrid from Cultivation and Odium

And one hybrid from all 3 Shards.

Yet so far we have seen only two systems. 

Surgebinding and Voidbindings.

I'm pretty sure Surgebinding is a hybrid system of Honor and Cultivation.

And I'm willing to bet 10 firemarks that Voidbinding is a hybrid too.

I mean look at the two systems. They are more alike than not. The notable difference is that Voidbinding requires voidlight and that the singers can utilize only one surge at a time.

However , they can swap the surges like how they swap forms right ?

Look at Scadrial , allomancy and hemalurgy have nothing in common , except for metals being thier common focus. 

But both Surgebinding and Voidbinding use Spren as focal points but are also extremely similar. 

So since it shares so many similarities with  Surgebinding , I'm guessing Voidbinding is a hybrid system between Odium and another shard formed by sheer accident much like feruchemy .

Which begs the question , where are the other 5 magic systems ? 

Idk if u can count the old magic as a magic system as the only entity capable of practicing it is the Nightwatcher , who's a super Spren. 

So any thoughts ?

[Calderis he/him]

Personally, I don't think so. Brandon says that there are three magic systems on Roshar (or 30 if you want to start counting the Surges individually) 

Those 3 are Fabrials, Surgebinding, and Voidbinding.

I understand completely why it seems like there should be more, because if what we see on Scadrial, and Brandon has said that in similar situations you'd see the same kinds of developments... 

Now, this is all my opinion, but Roshar isn't a similar situation to Scadrial. Nowhere else we've seen is. 

Out of all the world's in the Cosmere, Scadrial is the only kne that we know of that was created by the Shards after the shattering. We've been told that magic systems develop on a planet by the Investiture of a shard investing interacting with the planet itself to create the system. And on Scadrial that gave us a system for each, and a mix between the two... 

On every other planet though, as far as we know Adonalsium was responsible for their creation. Even if that's not true of all of them, we know that it's true of the Rosharan system as a whole. The spren already existed save the sapient ones (and I believe there's a couple of exceptions there with the Stormfather and the like). The ecology already existed on spren bonds and stormlight. Much of the systems we've seen already existed.

And that, I think, is the difference. Adonalsium was all of the Shards and none of them. There was already Investiture of all of them present in one grand design. 

So what happens when the Shards come after the shattering and actively invest into that world? I personally think that they are bound to expand upon it. Taking the aspects of the system that are keyed to themselves and growing it into a system in its own rite. Surgebinding for Honor (first accessed through the Honorblades, and later through the spren, who bring a touch of Cultivation to the Radiants), Fabrials for Cultivation, (Expanding upon the natural bonds the fauna produce through interactions between spren in gems), and Voidbinding for Odium (expanding upon... Something we don't really know yet because we don't know how it works... But maybe the way that emotion draws in the spren?). 

The only other worlds that we know are either single Shard, directly created, or Sel... Which mucks things up even more. 

That's my belief though. 

Edit: overlooked that you mention the Fused similarity in powers as meaning Voidbinding and Surgebinding are similar... And I must state my disagreement without fact out of principle. 

 

Edited October 14, 2019 by Calderis

[Nnatel she/her]

Okay, this isn't as well thought as it should be but let's put it here. I fell like Roshar is much more similar to Scadrial in this than it looks like. Odium didn't want to invest into Rosharian system - so it makes sense he has no 'his' magic system.

 

If this is the case than we have almost the same situation - two Shards and three systems. To put it shortly:

Honor - Surgebinding

Both - Fabrials

Cultivation - Voidbinding

(actually I can't really explain why I put the other two this way, it is more like a gut feeling. It has something to do with the way Cultivation alters a person - changing a part of them, though)

 

And coming back to Odium - after such a long time in the system some of his Investiture got in - but it was not enough to create a new system (also, he didn't want to and we know how important intent is in the cosmere). He got his Investiture into already existing systems altering them as he willed. And all he had to do was to create his Spren - as they are an integral part of every system here. To make another Mistborn analogy - just as we see in the second era Trell 'getting into' the systems by creating his metal.