A Glossary of Important Cosmere Terms

[Confused]

Following is a glossary of terms I deem important for understanding the magic of the Cosmere. This list grows out of a post I wrote about the relationship between the Powers of Creation, Investiture and Adonalsium, and the Realmatic implications of that relationship. In that post you can find the source references for those definitions where I provide no source here. Please note these definitions reflect MY speculation about the Cosmere and how things fit together. Feel free to disagree and/or to add your own “Cosmerically-significant” terms to the list.

 

“Adonalsium” – Adonalsium is (or was) the Cosmere’s God (capital “G”). He originally consisted solely of the Powers of Creation. Those Powers originally had no mind to direct them and consequently developed sentience on their own. Adonalsium was the mind the Powers developed. He thereafter created the Cosmere. Because the Powers of Creation predate the Cosmere’s Realms, Adonalsium himself may have been the “God Beyond” – the God “beyond the Cosmere’s Realms.” The Powers of Creation comprised both Adonalsium’s mind and soul – Adonalsium is an anagram for “a mind, a soul.”

 

“Cognitive DNA” – Brandon has stated that “people have three sets of DNA.” (Source - Q 55.) Cognitive DNA is one such set. While Brandon has said nothing further about Cognitive DNA, I surmise it refers to each person’s unique psychological profile, his or her Cognitive Realm makeup.

 

“Cognitive Realm” – The Realm of the Mind, of ideas, feelings and perception. In M:SH, Preservation describes to Kelsier a metaphor of the Cosmere’s Realms in which the perceptions of the Cognitive Realm filter the Spiritual Realm’s perfection on the way to the Physical Realm’s “floor.” IMO all Cosmere magic – including magic conducted by Adonalsium himself – begins with some thought, some cognitive act. Jasnah in WoR tells Shallan that the Cognitive Realm is the place of the unconscious as well as the conscious. The Cognitive Realm on Roshar is called “Shadesmar.” Each planet with sentient life has a unique version of the Cognitive Realm, reflecting the unique ideas and feelings on that planet. Distances between Shardworlds are collapsed because of the absence of ideas between Shardworlds.

 

“Cognitive Shadow” – This term refers to the Cognitive Realm remnant of a person who chooses not to pass “beyond” and suffer a final death. Brandon likens it to a ghost. Examples are Kelsier, the Threnody Shades and the Stormfather (Honor’s Cognitive Shadow). A person must be invested to become a Cognitive Shadow, as with Kelsier. Cognitive Shadows retain their Souls, but their Connection to the Physical Realm has been severed.

 

“Connections” – These are the relationships between Souls and Essences, as well as the relationships that span the Realms (that is, that Connect an entity’s mind, body and Soul – its Cognitive DNA, Physical DNA, and Spiritual DNA). Collectively, such relationships form a Soul’s or Essence’s SpiritWeb. Magic Users are also Connected to the Powers of Creation. Connections are not an “on/off switch” but take effect on a relative scale; a person can be “more” or “less” Connected to something.

 

“Essence” – This term refers to the Spiritual Realm aspect of each inanimate object. What the Soul is to a living organism, Essence is to an object. An object’s Essence is the Spiritual Realm’s Platonic ideal form of that object. (I am not using this term to refer to the “Essences” described in the SLA Ars Arcana.)

 

“Focus” – This is a non-canonical term for which there is no commonly-held definition. The most widespread use of the term refers to something that “shapes” a Magic User’s use of the Powers of Creation to avoid having the Powers “rip troughs” through the Magic User’s body. Allomantic metals and the form of Elantrian Aons are examples of Focuses.

 

“Intent” – Intent is the non-canonical term Chaos invented to explain the compulsive characteristics of each Shard. See Mandate.

 

“Investiture” – Investiture is the result of the creation process. Adonalsium (and then the Shards) used the Powers of Creation to invest the Cosmere. Investiture is the “building blocks of the Cosmere.” Invested people and objects may be able to “touch” and “use” the Powers of Creation through their Connections to them. There are limits to how much Investiture an object or person can hold. Each Realm has its own form of Investiture. Spiritual Realm Investiture, for example, comprises Souls, Essences and Connections. Investiture is convertible into matter and energy, which can also convert back into Investiture or other matter or energy. Investiture (and matter and energy) obey the conservation laws of thermodynamics.

 

“Magic System” – A Magic System is the unique way a Shardworld’s inhabitants access the Powers of Creation and the unique magical effects they then create. It results from the interactions of the Shard’s Mandate with the planet’s Essence. These interactions in turn affect each inhabitant’s Spiritual DNA, limiting a Magic User’s ability to use the magic of a different Shardworld without Spiritual “reengineering”: “Their Spiritual DNA is what encodes the Magic System into them, their Investiture. So if you can find a way to rewrite your Spiritual DNA, you can do all kinds of funky things.” (Source - Q 55.) Shardworlds with more than one resident Shard have multiple Magic Systems.

 

“Magic User” – This non-canonical term refers to an invested person who is able to touch and use the Powers of Creation to create magical effects. (“Magician” is another non-canonical term for such a person.) Mistborn/Mistings, Feruchemists/Ferrings, Hemalurgists, Elantrians, Dakhor Monks, Soulforgers, Awakeners and Surgebinders are all examples of Magic Users. Unlike Adonalsium and the Shards, who are comprised of the Powers of Creation, Magic Users require Investiture to access the Powers.

 

“Mandate” – This term refers to the unique compulsion that attaches to a Shard’s use of the Powers of Creation. The term derives from Sazed’s observation that, without a mind to direct them, the Powers of Creation have “only a vague will of their own, tied in to the mandate of their abilities.” (HoA, Chapter 79 Epigraph.) IMO the Mandates reflect the dominant psychological belief or trait comprising each Vessel’s Cognitive DNA at the time they ascended: each Vessel was more Connected to that aspect of Adonalsium than to any other aspect. Shard Mandates can be combined or “meshed,” as Honor and Cultivation did on Roshar.

 

“Major Shardworld” – This is a planet a Shard has invested in and is present on. Native Magic Users can touch the Powers of Creation and perform magic on a Major Shardworld. Examples include Sel, Scadrial, Roshar and Nalthis.

 

“Minor Shardworld” – This is a planet that Adonalsium and/or a Shard has invested in and left “ambient magic” on. No Shard is present on a Minor Shardworld. Magic is part of the natural environment, but there are no native Magic Users on Minor Shardworlds. There are many Minor Shardworlds. Examples include First of the Sun and Threnody.

 

“Perpendicularity” – This term, which Brandon has yet to fully flesh out, seems to refer to the place in a Shard’s Realmatic structure that connects the Physical Realm and Cognitive Realm. Perpendicularities enable Worldhopping. In M:SH, Hoid demonstrates that the Well of Ascension (Preservation’s Shardpool) is a Perpendicularity. Hoid also states there that the Pits of Hathsin were a Perpendicularity that Kelsier’s destruction of atium has temporarily closed. Brandon first publicly used the term in an early draft of an Oathbringer chapter: Ivory and Jasnah discuss leaving Shadesmar through “Honor’s Perpendicularity.”

 

“Physical DNA” – This is the genetic makeup of the Physical Realm structure of living things. It corresponds to Earth’s DNA. The term may also refer to the chemical structure of all things, whether organic or inanimate, but Brandon has not clarified his meaning.

 

“Physical Realm” – This term refers to the physical structure of the Cosmere, the “floor” in Preservation’s M:SH metaphor of the Realms described in the Cognitive Realm definition. It corresponds to our own universe.

 

“Powers of Creation” - These Powers ARE the magic of the Cosmere, the "magic of Adonalsium." They pre-exist the Cosmere and were used to create the Cosmere. Adonalsium was the Powers of Creation before the Shattering. The Shards are “pieces” of the Powers of Creation after the Shattering. Splinters are even smaller pieces of the Powers of Creation. Magic Users “touch” and “use” the Powers of Creation to perform their magic. At some point, the Powers of Creation became Spiritual Realm Investiture - either after the Cosmere's creation or after the Shattering. Currently, the Powers of Creation are part of the Shards' Spiritual DNA.

 

“Realms” – The three aspects of Cosmere reality: the Spiritual Realm, Cognitive Realm and Physical Realm.

 

“Shard” – The “Shards of Adonalsium [are] pieces of the Power of Creation itself” that passed in equal parts to the sixteen Vessels that Shattered Adonalsium. The sixteen Shards thus formed originally were of equal power, but four of the Shards have since been Splintered and two Shards are now held by the same Vessel (Sazed). A Shard’s power is also reduced by its investment in the Cosmere. A Shard’s expression of the Powers of Creation is filtered by its Mandate. Shards are “mostly Spiritual” but exist in all three Realms, just as they did when they were mortals. Sazed says that the Powers of Creation originally lacked “thoughts and personalities” (presumably when comprising Adonalsium); but “thoughts and personalities” are now “attached” to the pieces of the Powers of Creation comprising the Shards. (HoA Chapter 55 Epigraph.)

 

“Shardpool” – This non-canonical term is commonly used to describe the pure liquid manifestation of a Shard on a Shardworld. The term is still not clearly understood. Shardpools may simply be one form of a Perpendicularity, since Worldhoppers can use a Shardpool to emerge from the Cognitive Realm onto a Shardworld. Confirmed examples include the Well of Ascension and Devotion’s Shardpool just outside Elantris.

 

“Shardworld” –  This term refers to the Cosmere’s planets: “There is inherent Investiture in every world created” in the Cosmere. Most planets are Minor Shardworlds, but a few are Major Shardworlds.

 

“Shattering” – This is the event by which the mortals who became Shards broke Adonalsium into sixteen equal pieces of the Powers of Creation. These persons used some “weapon” to accomplish the Shattering, though I suspect Adonalsium foresaw the Shattering, planned for it, and committed Divine Suicide to help achieve it. I partly base my supposition on the fact that Adonalsium Shattered in equal parts, unlike what happens when a Shard is Splintered.

 

“Soul” – This term refers to the Spiritual Realm aspect of each living organism. IMO an organism’s Spiritual DNA determines its Soul’s unique characteristics. The Soul of each type of organism is an ideal Spiritual Realm form for that organism. Thus, human Souls are “aware” of a human’s natural life span and will age a person to their “normal” age in the absence of magic; that’s what killed the Lord Ruler when Vin removed the Bands of Mourning.

 

“Spiritual DNA” – A person’s “Spiritual DNA is what encodes the Magic System into them…” (Source - Q 55.) As with Cognitive DNA and Physical DNA, Spiritual DNA comprises the unique Spiritual Realm characteristics of living organisms (their Souls) and inanimate objects (their Essences).

 

“Spiritual Realm” – The Realm of Platonic ideals and perfect forms. Souls and Essences are each the “perfect form” of the organisms and objects they represent. Brandon calls Investiture in the Spiritual Realm “true” or “raw” Investiture – it is the material comprising Souls, Essences and Connections. Investiture in the Spiritual Realm is “consistent” throughout the Cosmere; I understand this statement to mean that Spiritual Realm Investiture is compositionally identical throughout the Cosmere. This contrasts with Investiture in the other Realms, since IMO both Cognitive Realm Investiture and Physical Realm Investiture are unique to each Shardworld: such Investiture reflects the Mandate of the resident Shard, the Shardworld’s own planetary influences, and the unique culture of the local populations. Location is not “important” in the Spiritual Realm – an Allomancer can access Preservation throughout the Cosmere because of his or her Connection to Preservation.

 

“SpiritWeb” – This term refers to the combination of a Soul or Essence and its unique network of Connections.

 

“Splinter” - “A Splinter is a term used by certain people in the Cosmere for the power of Adonalsium which has no person caring for it, no...no person holding it, which has attained self-awareness." Source (Q 15). IOW Splinters are sentient pieces of the Powers of Creation carved voluntarily or involuntarily from Adonalsium or the Shards. Splinters can independently perform magic. Other Investiture Connects a Magic User to a Shard, which is the source of the magic. Adonalsium’s Splinters are Mandate-free and resemble lifespren rather than Radiantspren. Source (Q 53). Shard Splinters IMO do carry their Shard’s Mandate. Confirmed examples of Shard Splinters include Radiantspren (Honor and Cultivation), the Unmade (Odium), Divine Breath (Endowment), and Aons (Devotion).

 

“Vessel” – This term refers to a mortal who becomes a Shard. Their “thoughts and personalities” remain, and they continue their existence in all three Realms, but their physical bodies have been vaporized because they hold so much of the Powers of Creation.

 

“Worldhopping” – This term refers to a person’s movement between Shardworlds. Brandon has RAFO’d whether a person needs some magical ability to Worldhop. A person can Worldhop by travelling through the Cognitive Realm between Shardworlds and emerging through a Perpendicularity located on the destination Shardworld. We don’t know whether other means of Worldhopping are available.

 

EDITED to reflect the changes I made in my post The Making of the Cosmere: Relationship among the Powers of Creation, Adonalsium and Investiture.

Edited May 3, 2016 by Confused

[Argel he/him]

This should be pinned!! BTW, hasn't Brandon started to use "Intent" in place of "mandate"? Also, along those lines, isn't "vessel" the newer term for "shardbearer"? Edit: That should be "shrdholder" as Emerald101 mentions.

Edited April 17, 2016 by Argel

[Emerald101 he/him]

This should be pinned!! BTW, hasn't Brandon started to use "Intent" in place of "mandate"? Also, along those lines, isn't "vessel" the newer term for "shardbearer"?

 

Usually "Shardbearer" refers to the inhabitants of Roshar who own a shardblade, shardplate, or both. "Shardholder" is the traditional (read: old) term for what Confused calls "Vessels".

[CaptainRyan he/him]

Lots of great info! Nice job!

One bit that might need some further clarification: I believe a Splinter is not only a self-aware, independent piece of a Shard but can also refer to those who have held a significant amount of a certain Shard's power (Investiture?). E.g. The Lord Ruler is referred to as a Splinter of Preservation because he held a significant portion of Preservation's power when he used the Well of Ascension.

[Landis963 he/him]

Lots of great info! Nice job!

One bit that might need some further clarification: I believe a Splinter is not only a self-aware, independent piece of a Shard but can also refer to those who have held a significant amount of a certain Shard's power (Investiture?). E.g. The Lord Ruler is referred to as a Splinter of Preservation because he held a significant portion of Preservation's power when he used the Well of Ascension.

 

The Lord Ruler is referred to as a "Sliver" of Preservation, because he held the power and then gave it up.  In that same definition, though, the Seons are the Splinters of Devotion, not the Aons.  

[Master_Moridin he/him]

The Lord Ruler is referred to as a "Sliver" of Preservation, because he held the power and then gave it up.  In that same definition, though, the Seons are the Splinters of Devotion, not the Aons.

Actually, WoB is that the Aons at the center of Seons are the Splinter, not the Seons themselves

 

Viper

Ok real quick then I'll get back in line again. There's a bunch of people who follow this stuff online ... I just found out about it ... I don't want to call them a cult, but ... So anyway, at one point someone asked you if Seons were shards of—

Brandon Sanderson

Aona.

Viper

Devotion ... yeah Aona, and you said that was close. My question is: are the Aons at the HEART of the Seons shards of Devotion?

Brandon Sanderson

No, but close.

Viper

But ... I was sure ... the floating Aon at the heart, that's not a shard ...

Brandon Sanderson

(taking pity on me) You're close but a word is wrong. You're using the wrong terminology.

Viper

SPLINTER. Are the Aons at the heart of Seons SPLINTERS of Aona?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Viper

Can I post that online?

Brandon Sanderson

. . . Ok. That's fine. It's been long enough, they've earned it.

(source)

[Asperity he/him]

Is Aona pronounced "Ay-on-uh"?

[Jondesu he/him]

Is Aona pronounced "Ay-on-uh"?

I always say it more like "Ay-oh-nuh", but yours actually makes more sense with the way I say Aon: "Ay-ahn".  (Disclaimer: I don't really know how to do phonetics, but that's my best attempts for each of those.)

 

jW

[Asperity he/him]

I always say it more like "Ay-oh-nuh", but yours actually makes more sense with the way I say Aon: "Ay-ahn".  (Disclaimer: I don't really know how to do phonetics, but that's my best attempts for each of those.)

 

jW

No worries. That's the way I pronounce 'Aon' as well so I tacked the "uh" at the end.

[Stormgate he/him]

In a thread I cannot link right now (Called Connection in the Spiritual Realm), I attempt to identify different forms of Connection (to people, locations, Shards, and to time). Would you consider altering the Connection definition accordingly? My theory hasn't been confirmed (although it does take evidence from a WoB and Mistborn: Secret History), and I'm not sure what benefits are recieved from having Connection to a Shard, but I believe the theory is sound.

[Confused]

Stormgate, I did read your post when you published it. I think my description of Connections for the most part encompasses your ideas. Let’s work through your specified Connections:

 

Person to Person

I stated that Connections include “the relationships between Souls and Essences.” The Person to Person Connections you describe are between Souls. Note again that Connections are not an “on/off switch,” to quote Brandon. We meet someone and Connect with them. As we fall in love, our Connection with them strengthens. We break up, our Connection weakens. This suggests that Connections – made from Investiture – can be as thin as a filament or as thick as cable, and the same Connection can shrink or grow over time.

 

Person to Location

IMO this is a function of Connection AND Spiritual DNA. Person to Location is a Connection between each person’s Soul and their planet’s Essence. A planet’s Essence – consisting of its own Spiritual DNA – includes the different places located on that planet. A person’s Soul Connects to the person’s place of birth, making that place part of the Soul’s Spiritual DNA. In your example, when Allik in BoM uses his medallion, he’s simply Connecting his Soul to a different “Spiritual gene” of Scadrial’s Essence, a different location on Scadrial. He nonetheless speaks with an accent because his Soul knows he is of Malwish descent, his own “Spiritual gene.”

 

I believe the Souls of different Selish Magic Users have different “Spiritual genes” based on their birth location: “Spiritual DNA is what encodes the Magic System into [Magic Users].” (Source - Q 55.) This is why Sel has multiple Magic Systems (although Brandon says they’re really one System). When Dominion and Devotion Splintered, their Investiture encoded different Spiritual DNA into persons located in different places on Sel.

 

Person to Shard

All people have “innate Investiture,” a “spark of life.” This Investiture comes from either Adonalsium (on a Minor Shardworld IMO) or a Shard (on a Major Shardworld). In that sense, everyone on a Major Shardworld is Connected to a Shard. To become a Magic User, however, requires a person to become additionally invested by a Shard (post-Shattering). That Investiture Connects the Magic User to the Powers of Creation (that is, to the Shard itself) and enables the Magic User to perform magic.

 

Examples: Lerasium changes an Allomancer’s Spiritual DNA (invests them) to allow the Allomancer to burn metal and Connect with Preservation. Nalthis inhabitants invested with Breaths (Endowment’s Investiture) can Connect with Endowment to Awaken. Surgebinders on Roshar invest themselves with Stormlight to Connect with Honor and Cultivation (that is, Connect with their Splinters, the Radiantspren). Again, Shards and Splinters ARE pieces of the Powers of Creation.

 

You propose that a Person to Shard Connection is “formed by adhering more to a Shard's Intent, which often leads to access to that Shard's magic system.” This may be true in some cases, like with Surgebinders – at least to the extent that the “right” Cognitive DNA (psychological profile) attracts a corresponding Radiantspren. But it’s not universally true. Mistborn inherit their Connection to Preservation. Their “adherence” to Preservation’s “Intent” (Preservation’s Mandate to “preserve”) has nothing to do with their ability to Connect with Preservation. Kelsier and some of Elend’s Noble friends were hardly the “preserving” type in their actions or thoughts.

 

“Time Lines”

I’m unsure what you’re saying here. Are you suggesting that Time itself is a Connection or are you simply commenting on the Cosmere’s foreseeability restrictions? I’ll address the latter of these issues first.

 

Future Sight

            Foreseeability restrictions IMO are NOT a function of Connection. Brandon says he views Time in the Cosmere as subject to the probability framework of quantum mechanics. He explicitly rejects the deterministic approach (the past ineluctably determines the future) of Spinoza, one of his acknowledged influences. Both Shards and Magic Users see the future through a probabilistic lens, one of possibility not certainty. Kelsier’s observation of the future in M:SH makes that clear.

 

Specific Shards and the Magic Users who rely on those Shards for their magic have additional impediments. Recall Preservation’s metaphor of the Realms: the Cognitive Realm filters the perfect light of the Spiritual Realm before that light illuminates the Physical Realm. That is what Mandates do – IMO they ARE a Shard’s Cognitive Realm filter (or at least part of it). Thus, different Shards, with different Mandates, have different abilities to look into the future. Honor’s not so good at it. Cultivation is. Preservation is better than Ruin. I suspect Odium’s pretty good at future sight as well.

 

IMO Mandates are part of the Cognitive DNA of each Shard. Mandates themselves form Connections with each Shard’s Soul, since I believe an entity’s mind, body and Soul are Connected to one another. These are different Connections than Time.

 

             Is Time a Connection?

             Based on  M:SH, I think Time is a Connection, but one with branching forks the further into the future one goes. Cosmere inhabitants live in their own Time – they are Connected to that Time, just as we are “Connected” to Earth’s 21^st Century.

 

Time in the sense of “age,” however, is part of a Soul’s Spiritual DNA and not a Connection. I quote Brandon in the OP that “human Souls are ‘aware’ of a human’s natural life span and will age a person to their ‘normal’ age in the absence of magic.” But that makes “age” part of the Soul, not a separate Connection. There is a Connection between the Soul and the body, so the body ages as the Soul tells it to, but that’s not Time per se.

 

*  *  *  *  *

 

I hope that answers your questions, Stormgate. Except as I express above, I think your post fits within the framework I describe. Regards!

Edited April 30, 2016 by Confused

[Stormgate he/him]

I'm fine with that, except for time. In a WoB, Sanderson says that connection has to do with people, places, and time. I don't know where this WoB is, but it does say that time is a form of Connection.

I admit, it is certainly more wibbly-wobbly than other types. However, exploiting this form of Connection is likely how Allomantic gold functions. You can see what could have happened.

[Shardbearer he/him]

I like this, however some of what you seem to propose as fact is really just speculation. This mostly comes out where you differentiate Investiture from the Powers of Creation, which I believe are different ways of referring to the same thing. Also, even if The Powers of Creation are different, we don't know that these Powers predate the 3 Realms, which you your entry for Adonalsium implies is a known fact. The same entry also states that Adonalsium is the mind the Powers developed, which is also not a known fact at this time.