What I'm really intrigued to know is Autonomy's reason for wanting to destroy Scadrial. Getting entangled in other people / Shard's affairs doesn't seem very Autonomous. What would drive such a thing?
Evidence the first:
- Bands of Mourning, Epilogue. (Faceless Immortal--apparently of Trell--dispatching Suit)
- The Lost Metal, Chapter 19. (Harmony to Wax)
The implications as they seem:
Civilization on Scadrial is what Autonomy is afraid of, not necessarily the Shard.
Certain future advances (implied: techno-magical) are a threat to Autonomy.
Harmony could move to another world.
I see two "easy" possibilities:
Scadrians and their magic are uniquely suited to dominate the Cosmere. They are very likely to develop power quicker than other worlds and this power will always be more effective than their opponents. Autonomy fears a pan-Cosmere empire which would dilute the autonomy of the worlds.
Counterpoint: The potential of the Knight's Radiant for defending their planet against a Scadrian takeover is formidable. A full-oath Radiant is among the most powerful humans in popular fiction. And all that is without much technology: imagine them modernized like the Scadrians will be.
Scadrian magic is uniquely suited to tap into the heart of how the Cosmere works and leverage deep secrets Autonomy fears. Such as the secret of how to re-join Adonalsium, which is something Autonomy is against. The magic of Scadrial may be similar to that on Yolen that aided in taking down Adonalsium.
Bavadin may know this secret herself. She may have known more about how the Shattering happened than some of the other Vessels.
Counterpoint: Isn't destroying all life on Scadrial overkill? It shouldn't be all that hard to keep a people out of the modern tech level with careful infiltration. Build an army of kandra to stalk the planet and assassinate people developing magi-tech. Done.
What other reasons for such drastic and violent meddling on Scadrial do you folks surmise?
More questions: What would happen if Harmony left? The people of Scadrial were created from whole cloth by his shards. If those shards can be replaced, what else does this imply?
