Why does the CR appear different on Roshar then on Scadrial? (spoilers)

[the_bros11_2]

Why does the CR appear different on Roshar then on Scadrial? Kelsier was able to walk around which was a big difference form Roshar where you had to sail. What made them so different? 

[Karger he/him]

Welcome to the shard.

That is a great question.  Brandon has been kind of vague on the answer.  However in general we can say it is based on perception.

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Questioner

Are spren able to visit other planets than Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson

So, spren are, because of the nature of their Investiture, connected too strongly to the planet to normally get off. That doesn't mean it couldn't happen, but I will just say, normally no.

Questioner

So the Cognitive Realm, or whatever that sort of like-- is that different on other planets?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. It looks different on each planet, partially based on perception.

Skyward San Francisco signing (Nov. 8, 2018)

 

[Honorless he/him]

We don't know why the Cognitive Realm appears different on each Shardworld

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Herald (paraphrased)

Is it possible to reliably deduce what a Shardworld's Cognitive realm will look like if we knew a lot about its Physical realm? For example, mists in Scadrial, spheres in Roshar etc.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes, but it works in odd ways. So it may not work in the logical way that you think.

Herald (paraphrased)

Why spheres on Roshar? Something related to the highstorms makes more sense, right?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes there is a reason for them being spheres. RAFO

Arcanum Unbounded San Francisco signing (Nov. 30, 2016)

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Tyetnic

As another note, I think it's cool that the Cognitive Realm on different planets have similarities, but different styles, like the beads on Roshar vs the Mist on Scadrial. I assume all worlds have something related to this. (?)

I'm reading (listening to) Warbreaker currently, and I'm curious as to what the Cognitive Realm on Nalthis looks like. I imagine a neutral gray wasteland to represent nonliving matter (metal/rocks) and glowing clouds of color to represent people--glowing more powerfully if they have more breaths, no color if they are a drab--and less colorful more solid structures for once-living-matter. Similar situation with the whole "water is land, land is whatever the storm the planet wants".

Brandon Sanderson

You'll eventually figure out what Shadesmar looks like on Nalthis.

elendeldailyplanet

Are there any big plans for the world of Warbreaker beyond the sequel? Or would that be a RAFO (equally exciting)?

Brandon Sanderson

That's a RAFO.

General Reddit 2016 (Aug. 15, 2016)

 

Some things seem to be common across all the subastrals like the small, cold sun & solid-liquid inversion. There is a pattern in how the Cognitive manifests itself, it seems to correspond to the planet's Investiture distribution in some manner, spheres which contain gems that can store Stormlight and the Mists. Nalthis' subastral is called the Expanse of Vibrance which leads me to believe it's very colourful, which would fit with the previously established pattern.

 

Kelsier could walk around because he was a ghost, a Cognitive Shadow, Hoid on the other hand,  had to use a "boat" (another ghost) while Khriss & Nazh took advantage of the solid-liquid inversion, their camp was on a lake.

Edited June 26, 2020 by R J
added answer for the second question

[Eternal Khol he/him]

Kaimipono

Allomancy is fueled by Preservation's body? How exactly does that work? And how does that interact with Atium—it's fueled by both gods' bodies?

Brandon Sanderson

The powers of Ruin and Preservation are Shards of Adonalsium, pieces of the power of creation itself. Allomancy, Hemalurgy, Feruchemy are manifestations of this power in mortal form, the ability to touch the powers of creation and use them. These metallic powers are how people's physical forms interpret the use of the Shard, though it's not the only possible way they could be interpreted or used. It's what the genetics and Realmatic interactions of Scadrial allow for, and has to do with the Spiritual, the Cognitive, and the Physical Realms.

Condensed 'essence' of these godly powers can act as super-fuel for Allomancy, Feruchemy, or really any of the powers. The form of that super fuel is important. In liquid form it's most potent, in gas form it's able to fuel Allomancy as if working as a metal. In physical form it is rigid and does one specific thing. In the case of atium, it allows sight into the future. In the case of concentrated Preservation, it gives one a permanent connection to the mists and the powers of creation. (I.e., it makes them an Allomancer.)

So when a person is burning metals, they aren't using Preservation's body as a fuel so to speak—though they are tapping into the powers of creation just slightly. When Vin burns the mists, however, she'd doing just that—using the essence of Preservation, the Shard of Adonalsium itself—to fuel Allomancy. Doing this, however, rips 'troughs' through her body. It's like forcing far too much pressure through a very small, fragile hose. That much power eventually vaporizes the corporeal host, which is acting as the block and forcing the power into a single type of conduit (Allomancy) and frees it to be more expansive.

Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide (Oct. 15, 2008)

 

 

 

This WoB indicates that the Metallic Arts are what they are because its what the Realmatic interactions of Scadrial allowed for. It also suggests that different planets have different Realmatic interactions that should change how the Spiritual Realm interacts with the other realms. 

this should also be part of the reason why the CR looks different on other planets 

Its like different planets Realmatics interactions are running on different hardware that predetermines what interactions can take place. Which would affect the CR

Edited June 26, 2020 by Eternal Khol

[+Oltux72 he/him]

3 hours ago, the_bros11_2 said:

Why does the CR appear different on Roshar then on Scadrial? Kelsier was able to walk around which was a big difference form Roshar where you had to sail.

Kelsier was a ghost. Hoid had to use a 'boat'. The differences cannot be fully explained with the different planets.

[Weltall]

16 hours ago, R J said:

Some things seem to be common across all the subastrals like the small, cold sun & solid-liquid inversion.

Apparently this is only mostly true as other places in the Cognitive Realm don't follow that inversion. But that was in the context of a RAFO Plus, so we don't know much more than that.