LordOfStorms

I would also expect the function of the dawnshard to be a recurring theme in the cosmere. Change is invoked verbatim for the surge of Transformation. Likewise many magic systems specifically offer a path to immortality or a healing factor, which seems to relate to Exist. I think the commands in warbreaker point towards another dawnshard, most likely Act (basic commands awaken an object to make it move). The mental dawnshard (Think/Reflect/Decide) probably plays on the theme that everything in the cosmere, on every world, has a soul and thinks.

Wild, I haven't been on the forum for a while! Interesting to see how similar the logic is between our groupings and yet how different the actual groupings end up being. I agree and couldn't quite come up with a better word than Think. Part of it is stylistic- all else equal BS would prefer a Dawnshard with a cool name. Though Change and Exist are short words so I don't know if he'd go with Understand. Some possible synonyms: Believe, Dream, Ponder

Not sure if this categorization has been theorized before, feel free to let me know! I ascribe to the idea that Adonalsium was split into quarters by each of the dawnshards, then each quarter was split again into sixteenths by the same dawnshards. Perhaps because they thought quarters would be too powerful, or maybe they just had more than 4 people who wanted a slice of divinity. When I picture BS sitting down to design the Dawnshards, I think he asked himself, on a philosophical level, what options are available to an object in the universe? Similar to Aristotle splitting matter up into 4 elements, BS wanted a decision tree to capture all possible outcomes for an object/person starting with 4 options. 1. Exist (Confirmed): An object can continue to exist. In an RPG, this would be equivalent to passing your turn. Cosmere magic branching from Exist regenerates objects (regrowth, gold feruchemy) or brings into play other possible options for existance (gold allomancy, soulstamping, Connection) 2. Change (Confirmed): An object can change state, composition, etc. In an RPG this would be equivalent to swiitching a weapon or altering stats. Cosmere magic branching from Change alters the properties of an object (most feruchemy, soulcasting, hemalurgy, Aethers) 3. Act (theorized): An object can perform an action, move location, or otherwise do something. In an RPG this would be equivalent to taking an action. Cosmere magic branching from Act affects the world around you (steel/iron allomancy, most surges). Notably, Stormlight is described as "driving people to action" which was noted as different from Towerlight. 4. Think (theorized): An object/person can think, consider options, and make plans. In an RPG this mostly happens out-of-character. Cosmere magic branching from Think aids mental abilities and provides foresight (Fortune, atium, Truthwatching). The dawnshardss were used to split Adonalsium into 4 pieces, then again to 16. The first split defined a type of Event and the second defined a type of Goal for that Event. Together, the pair of Event and Goal produced the Intent we see today. Event/Goal Change/Change: Whimsy. The event of changing just for the sake of changing is Whimsy. Change/Existance: Ambition. Changing in order to promote your existence is Ambition. Change/Think: Dominion. Ownership is essentially changing what people think about something (who owns it). This one's iffy. Change/Action: Endowment. Changing something in order to support its actions is Endowment. Think/Think: Reason. Thinking in order to improve your thinking is using Reason. Think/Change: Invention. Thinking with the goal of promoting change is Invention. Think/Action: Honor. Thinking in order to guide your actions is Honor. Think/Exist: Mercy. Thinking with the goal of maintaining existence of others is Mercy. Exist/Exist: Preservation. Existing for the goal of promoting existence is Perservation. Exist/Change: Cultivation. Existence with with the goal of promoting change is Cultivation. Like how a gardener works to keep their garden existing yet with the goal of it changing (growing). Exist/Think: Virtuosity. Existence to promote thinking is Virtuosity Exist/Action: Devotion. Existing to support the actions of others is Devotion. Action/Action: Autonomy. Action with no goal other than promoting your own actions is Autonomy. Action/Exist: Valor. Actions to maintain the existance of people is Valor. Action/Think: Odium. Actions for the sake of serving your own thoughts (emotions, passions) is Odium. Action/Change: Ruin. Actions to promote change is Ruin If this categorization were accurate, it would explain some things about the cosmere. Honor and Odium work together well because they were formed by the same Dawnshards, just opposite order (Think/Action). Ruin and Preservation work together poorly because they were made from entirely different Dawnshards. It also might explain why some shards tend to be more passive (ones without Action) and some tend to be more proactive. It also may explain why Reason was the last Shard to be named, because the Shards with the same Dawnshard for Event/Goal are somewhat easier to understand/predict- maybe he was hoping someone would figure out the dawnshards and then be able to predict Think/Think = Reason (or Contemplation). I also notice the 3 shards Odium killed eliminate the majority of possible synergistic pairings of Shards, with the exception of Ruin/Endowment and Honor/Odium. Also, I think the "Dawnshard that is differnet from the others" is Think, which is concious and self-aware. What do you think?

Just did a reread. What about "I will keep hope alive, no matter the cost"? The moments in Oathbringer when Kaladin attracted windspren/approached 4th ideal was when he was looking forward. This would both address his battle with depression as well as his general failure to focus on the big picture. In the scene, it is assumed the "single hope" was Kaladin reaching the 4th ideal. What if instead he was searching for the capacity to maintain hope?

Considering the spirit web is outside of time, is it possible that someone can have cracks that will appear later, that allow for power now? Using shallan as an example; she bonded when likely too young to be broken, but will experience significant trauma later in her life.

If someone is still interested in making them from glass, glass "gems" might work as the insert. You would think they would melt and lose their shape but I've put moldavite (glass from meteorite impacts) in glass and it's held up. Try taking a glass faux gem and sticking it in barely-molten glass (squishy, not fully liquid).

Resin is a solid way to go! Maybe take a picture with the finished spheres in some CO2 fog...XD

The fundamental problem is one of cooling/contraction. Liquid glass touching a ruby, for example, will heat the ruby to the same temperature instantly, and as they cool together the glass will crack. If you built half the sphere (or the whole sphere, drilled a hole, and inserted the gem) and then put liquid glass on the gem you'd face cracking on any portion of glass that is fused to the gem. (If dripping liquid glass on room temp glass it may also not fuse together). I've tried remelting cracked spheres, encasing the spheres in insulation to lengthen the cooling time, cooling them faster, and using larger glass-to-gem ratios. The only solution I've found to work is picking a type of glass with a coefficient of thermal expansion that matches the gemstone you're working with. For rubies/sapphires window/picture frame glass seems to work, at least for small gems. Another option is to make it mostly out of glass, then drill inside, place the gem, and fill with something lower-heat like epoxy or borosilicate glass. The method I used in that report leads to drip-shaped "spheres," but it's easy to polish them into a sphere shape with a dremil and a diamond wheel. It was so exciting when I first got these to work, I considered trying to sell them. But med school started, I got busy, so I just gave a pile of them to Sanderson^_^

Hi Proud Darkeyes! I worked for quite some time on creating these spheres. My priority was to use glass and the real polestone gems, with subsequent shape of the sphere/gem less important. The main problem was the glass kept cracking as it cooled, as the gem and glass contracted at different rates. I was eventually able to solve this with small gems using windowpane glass, whose expansion coefficient matched closer to that of ruby and diamond. (Report attached). Note that some gemstones shatter under the high heat. I've seen this done with glass and synthetic opals, which "play nice" and don't shatter the glass. If you want the correct "sphere with rounded bottom shape" using glass you may want to create a sphere and then polish the base down using a diamond dremil wheel. A cheaper and easier option would be to suspend faux gems in epoxy. (fill 1/2 full with epoxy, let dry. Place stone down at center and fill the rest of the way), can use a dremil/sandpaper to smooth to desired shape. Good luck on your project (it's a fun one), and feel free to PM me with questions. I myself started it because I told Sanderson at a signing that the gems were cracking the glass spheres. He was surprised and said if I could find a solution he might slip it in a stormlight book. I gave him my report, so fingers crossed Sphere Creation.docx

Our overall idea is pretty wacky, but it’s an interesting take on the Cosmere: Base assumptions: Sentient minds naturally produce/gather enormous amounts of Investiture, and that energy may be siphoned off. With those two assumptions, it makes sense that long, long ago one creature may have started stealing investiture from the minds around it. Using power to steal more power, it quickly ballooned to an enormous size and scope. Perhaps many such creatures formed, each staking out territories the size of a small galaxy and siphoning off energy from the lives within. One was Adonalsium. Eventually some people on Dragonsteel figured out that Adonalsium was a parasite, using the creatures around it as batteries, and to return the power to the people they figured out how to destroy/shatter it. That wasn’t enough. Even shattered, each Shard instinctively drew upon the life around it. Perhaps the plan involved destroying each Shard further but the Intent of the Shards prevented that (plus who wants to give up godhood?) Motives: Rayse (Odium). Imagine Rayse as a chessmaster on Dragonsteel. He suspects that after the Shattering the Intents of each shard will keep the 16 from completing whatever their plan was. So, he choses the Shard of Odium. With this Intent he will be able to keep alive his hatred of the Shards and their parasitic nature, and eventually complete his task. His plan is to shatter each Shard in turn then commit suicide, possibly after scattering the splinters even further. In doing so he divides the power Adonalsium was siphoning back to the “people.” He may have even planned for the Shardholders to spread life throughout the local galaxy post-shattering, before culling them off. 2. Hoid. Hoid may have originally agreed with Rayse’s plan. But, eventually he realized that Adonalsium was not alone. The universe is filled with such creatures each with a staked-out territory and each hoping to expand. If the Shards are splintered too much, one of the neighbor siphon creatures might be able to move in, an outcome that Hoid sees as worse than if the power were to be returned to the people. Thus he opposes Rayse. Support: This all tenuous but.. 1. WOB says that “Adonalsium was opposing some force.” Possibly it was holding others of its kind at bay. 2. Shards tend to be Invested on a planet. We assume that that process gives power to that planet, but it could also be the reverse. 3. If Adonalsium was similar to God, why would aspects of its personality include Dominion, Odium, and Preservation? (God shouldn’t need to Preserve itself- it just IS) Those only sound useful if Adonalsium is defending a territory from others of its kind. 4. Braize, Odium’s invested planet, is populated mostly by slivers. Perhaps because Odium hates using lives as a power source? 5. Odium clashed with Ambition early on, to prevent Ambition from regathering all the shards. Clearly Odium, at the very least, does not want Adonalsium restored. The next two are mostly thematic- 6. Sanderson is a very optimistic writer, believing in the potential in people. It would seem to fit his style that, unfettered, every being would have great power. 7. Sanderson likes to give Big Bads reasonable motives. Even if this theory is wrong, which it almost certainly is, we should examine why exactly Odium wants to destroy everything. Destroying things was Ruin’s job- “Odium” implies that his actions are caused by a specific hate. A possible conclusion to the Cosmere: Odium’s plan on a grand scale. Adonalsium is reforged, but a way is found to add a little more power to it, perhaps by every mind in the local area willingly giving up power to it. This extra investiture allows the new Adonalsium to overpower the other local beings of its kind. This snowballs until there is truly one of those creatures in the universe, which promptly alters the magic system to prevent such creatures from reforming and then commits suicide. The Cosmere ends on a positive note, with each sentient creature regaining their naturally enormous level of Investiture and power.

Support: Dragonsteel, where the original Shardholders came from, contained 3 sentient species. One of them was dragons. It's a fair assumption that at least one of the Shardholders came from each species. The first Letter, written by Hoid, was addressed indirectly to a reptile. "Ponder on that for a time, you old reptile, and tell me if your insistence on nonintervention holds firm." It's far from certain that the letter was addressed to Cultivation, but that should certainly be considered a possibility. The double eye of the Almighty looks reptilian, with scales at the edges of the eye. Because the double eye is Rosharan, it could refer to either Honor or Cultivation. However, we get a clue to its origins in the drawing of Szeth by Ben McSweeney- in that drawing, Szeth's belt carries a double-eye. This implies the double eye is of the Shin culture, which we know worships Cultivation. What do you guys think?