Shard mechanics

[ScadrianTank he/him]

Odium actively doing things on Roshar while imprisoned on Braize made an impression on me, it seems. So, here goes.

Weird things about Shards:

1. How do you steal power from a Shard?
2. How do you imprison an entity that exists in everything?
3. What does it mean for a Shard to use up their mind instead of power?
4. How do Shads move if they exist primarily in the Spiritual Realm?
5. If Shards have a limited reach, how did Adonalsium created a universe?
6. How is Odium able to reach Roshar?

An analogy that works in my mind is a Shard as an infinite lake of power, with its consciousness in a "center" and somewhat mixed with a visualizing gravity video. Shards bend that plane with its presence. The Vessel can only manipulate things in a radius around that center. When it bends that plane a little, that radius extends a little less than its length, but when it bends that plane a lot, that radius extends only so far as the "walls" of the depression in the plane. So a Shard that is less Invested, or not Invested at all, in a place can reach further, and a Shard that is more heavily Invested has a smaller reach.

1.Preservation stealing Ruin's power - Preservation created a channel, a river if you will, that constantly diverted a part of Ruin's Investiture to the Pits of Hathsin. That would be the reason why atium was constantly growing.

2,3. Preservation using its mind to trap Ruin - he hadn't really used it but diverted a large part of his consciousness to automatically push back on Ruin. In computer terms, he dedicated all cores of his processor but one to a single task. 

4.Shard movement - they shift the point where their presence is concentrated, which changes the area where they can affect things. 

5.Cosmere Big Bang - so, theoretically, if a Shard was fully present, it couldn't reach anything outside itself, and if it was not present at all, it would have infinite reach. So before Adonalsium created the cosmere, it wasn't Invested at all and could do anything. And after they made the universe, their reach diminished. 

6.Odium's long hands - the depression in a plane is caused by three Shards and three heavily Invested planets together. Basically, they share a pit.

Do Oaths, avatars, and Sel fit in all this madness? Not really, just like different things I forgot about, but I wouldn't forgive myself if I had written it all without posting it.

[Mage he/him]

In response to your Weird Thing #2, I don't think that all Shards exist in everything, at least not always. Once they invest in a planet, their Investiture is physically there. Ruin and Preservation however, permeate all of Scadrial, because it was their essence that created it in the first place.

But I like your visualization about the focus and radius.

[Honorless he/him]

Shards not being able to stop people from using their Investiture was kind of funny but narratively, I can see why making it be otherwise would've made Shards a lot more difficult to deal with in the story and thematically.

Should note though, Adonalsium probably didn't create the universe, only the Cosmere, which is a relatively small star cluster.

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Karkat Vantas

Does the Physical Realm of the cosmere have more or less the same structure as our own? It's obvious from Mistborn that solar systems function as they do in our universe, but it's less obvious if there are galaxies, clusters, superclusters, and so forth. Are there?

If the cosmere does have the same structure as our own, are the Shardworlds all in the same general area (a galaxy, for example), or are they completely spread out?

Brandon Sanderson

Good question. I designed the cosmere to have much the same structure, but imagined the action happening in a compact dwarf galaxy. Still a lot going on, but far, far fewer stars and systems than our own.

17th Shard Forum Q&A (Sept. 28, 2012)

Cool tidbit: someone once tried to leave the Cosmere

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Questioner

Has anyone, Shard or otherwise, tried to leave the Cosmere and will we see that on screen?

Brandon Sanderson

So far... yes, and I think yes, it's likely.

Footnote: Followup: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/379/#e13558
Starsight Release Party (Nov. 26, 2019)

Brandon said something about Braize and Roshar being in the Greater Rosharan System, and all the planets within the system being within reach of the resident Shards' influence

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ZuperzubS

Hi Brandon, just to double check my understanding of things, Odium is still mostly bound on Braize right? Just that he can influence things on Roshar because of proximity?

Brandon Sanderson

I treat Braize, Ashyn, and Roshar as if they were almost one entity for a lot of Identity/Connection related issues. It's more than proximity, though proximity leads to it. We on Earth, I feel, would consider the moon and even Mars to be "ours" so to speak, part of our family of planets. Odium's binding, and that of the heralds/fused encompasses Roshar and Ashyn. There are some subtle distinctions, but for the most part, being bound on Braize is the same as being bound on Roshar.

mraize7

so shadesmar is only from Roshar or from the three planets??

Brandon Sanderson

You can reach all three through shadesmar, with a much shorter trip than to other systems. But the map we provide so far is only Roshar.

Phantine

Have you come up with a name for their star? It'd be easier to refer to all three by calling it the [???]ar/[sol]ar system instead of the Rosharan/[earth]an system like we do now.

Brandon Sanderson

By people in world, it's being referred to as the Rosharan system. This is kind of confusing to us, because we focus on the suns to orient what makes a system. But in the cosmere, they travel directly to planets, and so the biggest trading planet becomes the source of naming conventions in most places. I agree it's a little confusing for us, but I believe it's the way it would naturally arise for them.

Uth-gnar

On the topic of the rosharan solar system, do we get to learn about the significance of the 10 gas giants? We’re they there before the shards ever made their home there? Is that the ‘origin’ of the significance, in the context of the cosmeres natural laws?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO, I'm afraid.

Rhythm of War Preview Q&As (Oct. 7, 2020)

 

Edited June 6, 2021 by Honorless

[ScadrianTank he/him]

2 minutes ago, Mage said:

In response to your Weird Thing #2, I don't think that all Shards exist in everything, at least not always. Once they invest in a planet, their Investiture is physically there. Ruin and Preservation however, permeate all of Scadrial, because it was their essence that created it in the first place.

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Walin

Does Nightblood contain any of Ruin's Investiture? Like, not atium, but...

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, technically; and I'm not wiggling around that, because technically, location in the Cosmere and who belongs to what gets really weird, right? Because Ruin's Investiture is everywhere--but I'm not talking that way. I'm talking the way you actually mean it. 

Legion Release Party (Sept. 19, 2018)

The way I think about it is: Adonalsium created the whole cosmere, and Shards are all pieces of Big A. If Ruin and Preservation permeate all of Scadrial, Adonalsium permeates all of everything in the cosmere.

12 minutes ago, Mage said:

But I like your visualization about the focus and radius.

Thanks!

4 minutes ago, Honorless said:

Should note though, Adonalsium probably didn't create the universe, only the Cosmere, which is a relatively small star cluster.

From the WoBs about some Shard trying to leave the cosmere, I got an impression that this dwarf galaxy is all that exists in this universe.

[Honorless he/him]

11 minutes ago, ScadrianTank said:

From the WoBs about some Shard trying to leave the cosmere, I got an impression that this dwarf galaxy is all that exists in this universe.

Probably not, we have this WoP:

 

[ScadrianTank he/him]

2 minutes ago, Honorless said:

Probably not, we have this WoP:

Okay, that changes things. Never seen this before.