The Cosmere Cosmology

"All things exist in three Realms, Gaotona. Physical, Cognitive, Spiritual. The Physical is what we feel, what is before us. The Cognitive is how an object is viewed and how it views itself. The Spiritual Realm contains an object’s soul—its essence—as well as the ways it is connected to the things and people around it."

- -—Shai discussing the application of Realmatic Theory to Forgery with Gaotona

The Cosmere is a universe which contains various shared underlying mechanics and a consistent cosmological structure which permeates throughout all of the magical systems and the ways of the world.

Cosmology
The Cosmology of The Cosmere is made up of Three Realms which interweave and interwork with each other to create what is perceived as reality, taking a large amount of inspiration from Plato's Theory of Forms, Spinoza, Jungian Metaphysics and Shintoism.

Physical Realm
The Physical Realm is the world as we experience it, and which, while influenced by the Cognitive and Spiritual Realms, primarily operates in accordance to the laws of physics. Amongst which being; energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed; nothing with mass can surpass or match the speed of light; in a closed system the total momentum remains constant; and so forth.

It is made up of various star systems within a small star cluster. It is unknown if anything exists beyond it.

Known Systems within it are The Selish System =

Mashe
Mashe is the parent star in the Selish system. There are four planets and one dwarf planet orbiting Mashe. It also has an asteroid belt and a comet belt.

Donne/Doo
The planet closest to Mashe. While it is within the system's habitable zone, the planet is known to be barren, uncomfortably warm, and prone to terrible dust storms. Donne is also known as Doo.

Sel/Seol
Sel, also known as Seol, is the main inhabited planet of the Selish System. It is also, in a way, the Vessel of the Splintered Shards of Devotion and Dominion. Due to this the planet is nearly alive, and its various forms of Invested Arts are highly based upon geography.

It is made up of two known continents, one known as Opelon or Sycla, which is heavily populated by various peoples and nations, with a desert stretching out in the south; and a Northern Continent of no known name.

Cultures
Most known nations are part of the Fjordell Empire, these include: Fjorden, the Duladel Republic, JinDo, Jaador, Hraggen, Geant, Hrovell, and Svoden. Outside of this empire, there is Arelon, remaining independent nation on Opelon, and the home to Elantris and the magic of AonDor.

The Northern Continent is made up of the nation of Teod; and also of the Rose Empire, also known as the Rose Barbarians: which include Mulla'dil, MaiPon, Dzhamar and Ukurgi.

Physical Characteristics
Its radius is 9567.15 km, a circumference of 60112.18 km, and surface area of 1150204415.19 km2, and its gravity is 11.7684 m/s2, and mass is 1.611*1025, Making it a very low-density planet, assuming uniform density, it has a density of around 4.39 g/cm3, around 79.82% that of Earth.

The Escape Velocity can be found to be 14.993 km/s, and the first cosmic velocity is 10.601 km/s.

It is orbited by a moon named Oem.

Despite both Shards being Splintered, and the Subastral being extremely dangerous, this planet contains two stable Perpendicularities. The former, of Devotion, is in the northern Atad Mountains, southeast of the city of Elantris. The second is presumably of Dominion, and has an unknown location.

Asteroid Belt
An asteroid belt is observed between Sel and Kii.

Ky/Kii
Ky appears to be a gas giant with four moons. It is also known is Kii, which is the Aon for "justice".

Ralen/Raa
A gas giant with five moons and a ring system. It is the largest planet in the Selish System. Also known as Raa.

Interplanetary Interactions
Sel notably has very little interaction with other worlds, due to the fact it has a very dangerous Subastral due to the nature of the Dor. However, it was the origin of one of the largest and most influential interplanetary organizations in the Cosmere, the Ire, who are known to have influence across many planets. This is seen most prominantly in their loitering around Scadrial waiting for Leras to die so they can take up his Shard.

Shardic Status

 * Devotion (Spintered)
 * Dominion (Splintered)

The Scadrian System =

Scadrial
Scadrial is a planet created by Ruin and Preservation, based upon the trune half of Yolen.

It's geology and orbit can be separated into two states, the state before Rashek's Ascension and after the Catacendre, and the state following the Ascension but before the Catacendre returned it back to its prior state.

The former I will call New Scadrial, and the latter I will call Old Scadrial, for the purposes of this description.

In both states, the planet is known to lack a moon.

Old Scadrial
Old Scadrial was very close to the sun, bringing about a very high average temperature. Along with this, it had very active volcanic activity, making the planet be covered in constant ashfall of black, ferromagnetic ash. The ecosystem was wildly changed in order to be able to survive in the new landscape with the high heat, blocked off light, and ash-filled atmosphere.

The geographic north pole and magnetic north pole were decoupled by Rashek, and the area of the new magnetic north pole had the ash be pulled towards it and create a sort of cloak over it. Places outside of this area of safety, and the south pole, were scorched by intense heat and made into an area known as the Burnlands.

New Scadrial
New Scadrial is further away from the sun, to the point where life could easily flourish, making for a more vibrant ecosystem. Although this is all mostly focused on the Elendel Basin, created as a haven for humanity following the apocalypse and the Catacendre.

The poles, most notably the South Pole, become very cold following the Catacendre, becoming frozen over and inhospitable. This is the source of the name of the Catacendre given by the Southern Scadrians, the Ice Death.

Aagal Nod
A blue gas giant with six moons. The largest planet in the Scadrian system.

Aagal Uch
A red gas giant with five moons and a ring. A comet belt lies beyond Aagal Uch.

Dwarf Planets
Two unnamed dwarf planets are seen orbiting beyond Aagal Uch.

Interplanetary Interactions
Scadrial was known to be a major centre of interplanetary trade and a far reaching mercantile system through the Pits of Hathsin, this system collapsed after the destruction of the Pits in 1021 FE.

The Ire have a fortress outside of the Scadrian Subastral, where they watched over it waiting for Preservation died so they could take up the Vessel themselves. They were considered about Shades coming to the fortress from Threnody, and had an alarm system in place for the case in which they did.

Knowledge of Spren and Shades was prevalent amongst the skaa, though these are seen as only legends.

Shardic Status

 * Ruin (Whole, conjoined with Preservation in Harmony)
 * Preversation (Whole, conjoined with Ruin in Harmony)
 * Harmony (Whole)

The Nalthian System =

The system is located in the "Awakener" constellation. Its closest known stellar neighbor is the Selish system, with Greater Roshar a bit further away. It corresponds to the Expanse of Vibrance.

Nalthis
Nalthis is the main inhabited planet in the Nalthian System. Humans on Nalthis differ from those elsewhere in the cosmere in that they are born with Breath, Endowment's Investiture.

It is known to be young enough to not have fossils. Therefore, it is most likely that it was created by a Shard, or by Adonalsium itself. Much like Roshar and Scadrial.

It has a moon named Rrendos which orbits it.

Cognitive Anomaly
The Cognitive Anomaly is shown to exist around the L5 Lagrange Point of Nalthis and the system's parent star. It is not known if this truly has a presence in the Physical Realm. It is also not known if it is stationary, or if it moves in orbit with Nalthis.

Farkeeper the Bright
A red gas giant, and the largest planet in the Nalthian system. It has at least six moons orbiting it.

Comet Belt
The Nalthian System has a comet belt surronding it at its edge.

Shardic Status

 * Endowment (Whole)

The Rosharan System =

Sun
The Rosharan System has an unnamed star in the centre, it is younger and larger than the star in our Solar System.

Ashyn
Ashyn is one of the planets in the habitable zone of the Rosharan System, and the formal home of humanity in the system. Currently the planet is mostly barren, with a few fertile patches.

In the past, Ashyn was largely Earth-like, with animals such as birds and horses, and plants like grapes.

It does not have any known natural satellites.

Roshar
"It is difficult not to feel very small, at times, on this domineering, majestic tempest of a planet."

- Khriss on Roshar

The main inhabited planet of the Rosharan System. It was artifically created by Adonalsium sometime before the Shattering. The planet is of note due to the very high amounts of natural and easy to access Investiture, making it of great interest to various organizations such as the Seventeenth Shard and the Ghostbloods; due to the constant Invested storm raging across the planet over the course of millennia; the very high presence of Spren in both the Cognitive Realm and the Physical Realm; and due to being the only known tri-shardic planet.

Despite the storms, it has thriving populations of flora and fauna; and humanity having created thriving civilizations on it, albeit at the cost of the native Singers.

Climate
The planet is constantly beset with a massive Invested storm known as the Highstorm (Alethi: Kezeras), a massive hurricane travelling from east to west in a unpredictable manner. With the exception of Shinovar and the occasional well-sheltered lait, all of Roshar is struck by these storms. The Highstorms are known to move at around 370 miles per hour, the wind speeds are unknown.

One consistent event which occurs on Roshar is The Weeping, an event which occurs every 500 days and consists of four weeks of steady crem-free rain. The middle day of those four weeks is known as the Lightday and alternates between being one clear day in the midst of the rain and being a Highstorm. There are typically fewer highstorms in the weeks leading up to the Weeping.

The rainwater in highstorms is laced with a sort of slurry called crem. Crem, when it dries, hardens into a rock-like substance. Since the highstorms always sweep from east to west, crem builds up on the eastern side of anything that stays still and isn't regularly cleaned. This both serves as a problem to those living there, but also came to be taken advantage of by various lifeforms in the area, such as Chulls and Rockbuds. Due to this, over time, the continent is very slowly shifting across the planet as the highstorms cause erosion of the eastern part and a build up on the western part.

Due to the lack of an axial tilt, Roshar does not experience seasons in the traditionally sense, and also does not experience much temperature variation over the year. Instead, seasons on Roshar are based around the storms; for example, long lighter storms in the winter, short stronger storms in the summer.

Cultures
The known nations on the planet are Shinovar, Iri, Rira, Babatharnam, Yulay, Tu Bayla, Ja Keved, Alethkar, Herdaz, Kharbarath, Thaylenah, Greater Hexi, Tu Fallia, Triax, and the Horneater Peaks; the Reshi nations of Quili, Abri, Kadrix, Arak, and Sumi; and the Azish Empire, which consists of the member nations of Tashikk, Yezier, Emul, Steen, Alm, Desh, Marat, Tukar and Azir.

This can be divided further if counting cultural groups, such as the division between Jah Keved and Bavland.

Languages
The languages of Roshar are divided into five main families.

Vorin: Alethi, Veden, Herdazian, and more distantly Thaylen. Nathan is close to dead, but shares a root, and Karbranthian is basically a dialect. Other minor languages like Bav are in here.

Makabaki: Azish is king here, and most the languages around split off this. There are around thirty of these.

Dawnate: A varied language family with distant roots in the Dawnchant. Shin, Parshendi, and Unkalaki. They share grammar, but they diverged long enough ago that the vocabulary is very different.

Iri: Iriali, Reshi, Purelake dialects, Riran, and some surrounding languages.

Aimian: These two are lumped together, but are very different. Probably what you were looking for.

Physical Characteristics
Gravitational acceleration on Roshar is notably lower than usual, at 6.86 m/s2, or 70% of the cosmere standard. This is due, in part, to the planet's small size; Roshar has a circumference of approximately 22110 miles (35583 km), giving a radius of 3519 miles (5663 km), and comes in just under 90% of the cosmere standard size. This puts the density at 4.33 g/cm3, around 78.58% that of Earth.

The surface area of the planet is 402998089.49676 km2, yet only around 9.98% of the surface of the planet is land, mostly consisting of a singular large supercontinent with a surface area of approximately 4*107 square kilometres, the other 90% is primarily water. The main continent lies primarily in the southern hemisphere, spanning from just a few degrees north of the equator to about 55° south of the equator, and extends approximately 120° longitude.

The Escape Velocity is 8.814 km/s, and the first cosmic velocity is 6.233 km/s.

The orbital period of the planet is precisely 1.1x that of Earth, or approximately 34713964.7399 seconds. The period of rotation is 69480 seconds, or approximately 19.3 hours.

This should mean that the semi-major axis is at least 159,425,506,264.96738 metres or 1.065 AU, although the larger size of the star suggests it would be a further distance away. This also should make the perihelion between 127540405011.9739 and 156763100310.3424 metres; the aphelion should be between 162087912219.59232 and 191310607517.96085 metres. Although without knowledge of the eccentricity of the orbit, this is very inaccurate and is an assumption.

It has an axial tilt of 0°, meaning it lacks seasons in the conventional sense.

The levels of oxygen on the planet are higher than most planets, which, when mixed with the lower gravity of the planet, gives rise to gigantism in flora and fauna.

The planet is orbited by three moons in a rather unstable orbit, these are known as Salas, Nomon, and Mishim. These moons are notable rather small, compared to Phobos in size, or around 11.26 km in radius. As the Hill Sphere radius can be calculated out at 0.0032 AU, it is assumed that all of the moons are held within a volume of a sphere of a radius of 487584560.79334 km.

The Sphere of Influence can be found to be 0.00182 AU.

It has one known stable Perpendicularity, at the Horneater Oceans or Emerald Pools in the Horneater Peaks, this being Cultivation's Perpendicularity, due to it being the only known stable Perpendicularity, it is the one most often used by worldhoppers. Honor's Perpendicularity is unstable and has a tendency to move around at random. Dalinar is also able to temporarily open up Honor's Perpendicularity wherever he wishes.

Braize
"The place is barren, devoid of life, merely a dark sky, endless windswept crags, and a broken landscape. And a lot of souls, a lot of not particularly sane souls."

- Raboniel to Navani about Braize

Braize is a barren and cold planet, devoid of life. Instead inhabited primarily by Spren and Cognitive Shadows that follow Odium.

It does not have any known natural satellites.

Asteroid Belt
At some point beyond Braize there is a large asteroid belt.

Gas Giants

 * Jes
 * Nan
 * Chach
 * Vev
 * Palah
 * Shash
 * Betab
 * Kak
 * Tanat
 * Ishi

Interplanetary Interactions
Roshar, and the Rosharan System as a whole, shows a very great level of interaction with other worlds, although primarily in the Cognitive Realm, and in various underground organizations. Most notably it being the centre of a large group of Ghostbloods, who are also in contact with Scadrial, Nalthis, Sel, and Taldain; with the organization itself originating on Scadrial, led by Kelsier. They, along with many other peoples across the Cosmere, see it as a valuable resource due to the large quantity of easy to access Investiture.

The fused also show an extensive knowledge of the wider Cosmere, showing awareness of other worlds and their natures.

The Cognitive Realm of Scadrial is filled with many different interactions between worlds, primarily seen in the trade of different resources, such as silver chains from Threnody, paintings from the Court of Gods on Nalthis. Riino can also been seen in a lighthouse in the Sea of Lost Lights.

A very large amount of worldhoppers are seen on Roshar compared to other planets, including, but not limited to: Baon, Galladon, Demoux, Hoid, Vasher, Vivenna, Axindweth, Sixteen, Nazh, etcetera.

Shardic Status

 * Honor (Splintered)
 * Cultivation (Whole)
 * Odium (Whole)

The Threnodite system =

The Threnodite System is a solar system which currently lacks a Shard. It is in The Mourner Constellation. Its closest known stellar neighbor is the Taldain system.

Elegy
This is the second planet from the sun, possessing a moon called Coronach.

Threnody
The main inhabited planet of the Threnodite System. The planet contains two large continents separated by an ocean, the larger of which is known as the Fallen World, and the smaller, which is known as the Forests of Hell.

It has strong ambient Investiture presence in the form of the shades that populate the Forests found on one of the two continents.

Purity
The largest planet in the system, and the furthest from the sun.

Shardic Status

 * Ambition (Spintered)

The Drominad System =

This system is notable for having a large number of inhabited planets, with three planets being inhabited by living beings.

First of the Sun
The most notable inhabited planet of the Drominad System, mainly made up of various islands, most notably the Pantheon and the Eelakin Islands, with a singular known continent known as the Mainland.

It is orbited by a single moon known as the First of the First.

It appears to have a circular orbit, and therefore an orbital eccentricity of 0.

It has a known perpendicularity, that being Patji's Eye, which is of Autonomy. This Perpendicularity heavily Invests parasitic worms around itself, which can infect various birds who eat the infected fruits, forming a Bond with the parasites and becoming Aviar.

This also makes various predators around it grow large and dangerous, making the land around it extremely dangerous, and thus making few Silverlight scholars sent to study the planet ever return in one piece.

Second of the Sun
Another inhabited planet, it is known to also have water as a large defining feature of its surface.

As it lacks a Perpendicularity, it cannot be studied outside of the Cognitive Realm.

Third of the Sun
Another inhabited planet, it is known to also have water as a large defining feature of its surface.

As it lacks a Perpendicularity, it cannot be studied outside of the Cognitive Realm.

Fourth of the Sun
This planet, while in the habitable zone, is not inhabited by anyone.

It can be observed to have rings around itself.

Shardic Status

 * No Shard

The Taldain System =

The Taldain System is an intentionally designed binary system, consisting of one large star and a secondary smaller star surrounding a tidally locked planet.

Supergiant
The larger of the two Stars, a blue-white supergiant. It is highly Invested by Autonomy, and therefore, so is the light that it radiates off. This is the reason for the highly Invested nature of Dayside.

Taldain
A tidally locked planet, currently planned to be located at a Lagrange Point, with the two halves having very different ecologies due to their differing temperatures and light levels.

The half pointed towards the Supergiant is known as Dayside, it is highly Invested, and is home to the Invested Art of Sand Mastery.

The white sand on the planet, and the manner in which it reacts to Investiture, is due to microflora that covers all of it.

The half pointed towards the White Dwarf is known as Darkside, which is far less Invested, and has a penchant for reflective luminescence. It is the home to an unknown tattoo based form of Invested Art. It is far more technologically advanced than Dayside. The area is described as being a middle-ground between striking and garish, and the sky is described like a perpetual twilight.

Various elements of the planet take on the shape of faces, this is an intentional choice. Further reason behind it is unknown.

Cultures
Dayside is made up of the nations of Kerza, Lossand, Denka, Seevis, Nor'Tallon, and Tallon.

Darkside is primarily dominated by a powerful government known as The Dynasty.

Nizh Da
Nizh Da is a satellite in a polar orbit around Taldain.

White Dwarf
The smaller of the two stars, a dim white dwarf, surrounded by a dense cloud of particles known as the Particulate Ring. Due to the low luminescence and the presence of a particulate ring, its light is barely visible from the surface. Although, like all white dwarfs, it gives off powerful ultraviolent radiation.

Interplanetary Interactions
Taldain is notable for the people having little to no interaction with other planets do the the isolationist policies of Autonomy.

Autonomy themselves interacts to a large degree with other peoples, sending their Avatars all across the Cosmere.

Shardic Status

 * Autonomy (Whole)

Known planets of unknown system are:


 * Yolen
 * Vax
 * Obrodai
 * Lor
 * Unknown Aether Planet
 * Unnamed Whimsy Shardworld

The Veil
There is a currently unnamed veil which separates the Physical and Cognitive Realms, this is known to be the place where various Unmade, such as Sja-Anat, are trapped within.

Cognitive Realm
"All things have three components: the soul, the body, and the mind. That place you saw, Shadesmar, is what we call the Cognitive Realm—the place of the mind."

- --Jasnah explaining Shadesmar to Shallan

The Cognitive Realm is the world of the Mind, where the perceptions of sapient beings become the primary law governing it; as even non-living things can have a Cognitive aspect in the cosmere, the Cognitive Realm is also a place where the thoughts and feelings of non-living things can be known. These Cognitive Aspects are what is interacted with in Transformation and Surgebinding.

This is where Spren exist in their truest forms, and sapient spren form entire societies.

The exact way that the Cognitive Realm manifests depends on the collective beliefs and perceptions of the people on the planet of the corresponding Subastral. For instance, the Subastral of Scadrial is coated in and constructed of a mist, while the Rosharan Subastral has oceans of small beads which represent the souls and minds of objects in the Physical Realm.

Investiture, including that within souls, glows visibly within the Cognitive Realm. For instance, the souls of living beings, most notable sapient beings, take on the form of flames in the Rosharan Subastral.

Spren
Spren, also known as Transformative Cognitive Entities are self-aware pieces of Investiture existing primarily in the Cognitive Realm.

While Spren exist on many Shardworlds across the Cosmere, they are notably very populous and have great variety on Roshar. They also have a large presence in the Physical Realm compared to other Spren.

Lesser Spren refers to a large quantity of natural, non-sapient Spren.

True Spren is a term applied to special, sapient Spren which are capable of forming Nahel Bonds, these are directly created by Honor and Cultivation. These are separated into ten, eleven, thirteen, or fourteen different categories, depending upon the categorization method, most notable in regards to how one treats the Bondsmith Spren.

Lesser Spren =

Agonyspren
"Agonyspren, like upside-down faces carved from stone, twisted and faded in and out."

Alespren
"Test successful. Have noted spren who appear only when one is severely intoxicated. Appear as small brown bubbles clinging to objects nearby. Further testing may be needed to prove they were more than a drunken hallucination"

- Axies the Collector

They look like small brown bubbles that cling to objects close to the observer. Due to the fact that they only are known to appear when one is deeply intoxicated, many people reject their existence and believe that they are just a drunken hallucination.

Also known as Sudspren, Winespren, or Intoxicationspren; depending upon the culture.

Angerspren
"Vamah was watching them stand there, and his expression was as thunderous as a highstorm, angerspren boiling up from the ground around him like small pools of bubbling blood."

Anguishspren
"Certainly there were painspren appearing in droves in the room, even a few rare anguishspren, like teeth growing from the walls"

- Navani Kholin

Anticipationspren
"A few anticipationspren—like red streamers, growing from the ground and whipping in the wind—began to sprout from the rock and wave among the soldiers"

A common type of spren that appear around people looking forward to something, or who are nervous about something. They appear as red streamers that grow out from the ground and blow in the wind. They are often seen by soldiers before battle.

In the Cognitive Realm they appear as a creature with a round bulbous body and is about the size of a human toddler. Around feelings of anticipation, they open their mouths and stick out their tongue in the air.

Awespren
{{quote | A single awespren, like a ring of blue smoke, burst out above him, spreading like the ripple from a stone dropped in a pond. Shallan had seen such a spren only a handful of times in her life. |

Deathspren
"Only the dying could see deathspren. You saw them, then died. Only the very, very lucky few survived after that. Deathspren knew when the end was close"

Exhaustionspren
"She noticed something sweeping through the air above her. She cringed, looking up to find large, birdlike creatures circling around her in Shadesmar. They were a dark grey and seemed to have no specific shape, their forms blurry."

Flamespren
"...instead watching a pair of flamespren dance along one of the logs. These seemed vaguely human, with ever-shifting figures"

In the physical realm they look like tiny humanoid figures made of congealed light. They will often dance around, constantly changing in size, shape, and luminosity like the flames themselves. Their appearance in the Cognitive Realm is unknown.

They are quite notable due to the fact that, when measured, they become stuck by the measurement. This is very similar to the physical process of wave-function collapse in quantum mechanics.

Flamespren are attracted to ruby Polestones, and are the easiest to split, making them commonly used in conjoined fabrials.

They are based upon the "Ideal of Fire"

Lifespren
"A few lifespren—tiny, glowing green specks—floated around the shalebark mounds. Some danced amid the rifts in the bark, others in the air like dust motes zigzagging up, only to fall again"

Passionspren
"Passionspren, like tiny flakes of crystalline snow, floated down in the air around them."

A type of spren that appears around those experiencing passionate feelings.

In the Cognitive Realm they appear as long flying spren with mustaches and graceful bodies. They display the ability to eject tiny crystalline shards that float down and vanish.

Riverspren
"The Purelake was filled with tiny fish, colorful cremlings, and eel-like riverspren"

Rotspren
{{quote | Rest... and keep that wound clean. We don't want to attract any rotspren. Let me know if you see any. They are small and red, like tiny insects. | Kaladin

A common type of spren that appear around infected tissue and rotting corpses.

Many Rosharans believe them to not be attracted to rot, but rather see them to be the cause of rot.

Shamespren
Shamespren are attracted to feelings of shame or embarrassment. They look like red and white flower petals floating down to the ground.

What they look like in the Cognitive Realm is unknown.

Starspren
"It was the time between moons, and so he was lit mostly by the firelight; there was a spray of stars in the sky above. Several of those moved about, the tiny pinpricks of light chasing after one another, zipping around like distant, glowing insects."

Windspren
"Windspren were devious spirits who had a penchant for staying where they weren't wanted..."

Honorspren =

Honorspren are the Spren closest to Honor, Splinters of his own being.

Culture and Personality
Honorspren are generally warlike and oath-bound, with a strong military tradition. Alongside this, they have a complex and robust system of law and trial.

They have their own cities, including Lasting Integrity and Unyielding Fidelity. They rarely stray outside their own cities, due to their own judgmental nature, and the manner in which many other types of Spren hate them. While fairly isolationist, they are willing to let other spren live alongside them, though it seems a non-honorspren cannot attain a high rank in their society.

They are highly warlike, with numerous cities and fortresses, as well as their own fleet.

They underwent a period of isolationism starting in mid-1174, refusing to allow in foreigners, and also refusing to bond any other Knights Radiant. They ended this after a trial of Adolin Kholin sometime before 1174.4.10.5. Despite their hatred, they remain on the side of humanity, opposed to Odium.

Powers
They can form Nahel bonds, giving people the powers of the Order of Windrunners.

They are capable of manifesting the Surge of Adhesion themselves, sticking things together. They can also give small pinches of energy in order to move objects.

They have shown the capacity to shapeshift into myriad different shapes, and can also modify their size.

They can sense an upcoming Highstorm, even days before it arrives, and are shown to possess very strong internal clocks.

Highspren =

Appearance
In the Cognitive Realm they appear like human-shaped holes in reality into unfamiliar skies. However, despite this, they are just as solid as any other Spren. When they move, the stars don't move with them, making them look like a moving hole into another world.

In the Physical Realm they appear as a sort of slit or tear in reality which opens up to reveal a sea of stars. When they move, reality seems to bend around them.

Culture and Personality
Highspren espouse order and law, focusing on obedience and following legal codes. And are known for being very strict and inflexible, earning them the hatred of many different True Spren, with the Honorspren in particular despising them.

They are known to have not stopped bonding Radiants after the Recreance. Though they only bond those that Nale presents them.

They have turned against humanity and operate on the side of Odium alongside the other Skybreakers.

Powers
They can form Nahel bonds, giving people the powers of the Order of Skybreakers.

Ashspren = "They like to break what is around them. They want to know what is inside"

- Pattern on Cryptics

They can form Nahel bonds, giving people the powers of the Order of Dustbringers. Cultivationspren = "We're spren, but my kind—cultivationspren—are not very important. We don’t have a kingdom, or even cities, of our own."

- Wyndle

Cultivationspren are a type of sapient spren on Roshar.

They teeth, hands, and eyes are made up of perfect crystal, fitting with the close cultural connection between Vedel, and Edgedancers, with diamond and crystal.

As one can assume from their name, they are far more of Cultivation than they are of Honor, fittingly, they also worship her to a far greater degree than they do him. Often swearing by her name and calling her Mother.

They can form Nahel bonds, giving people the powers of the Order of Edgedancers. Following the reformation of the Knights Radiant, they were every open to forming Nahel Bonds. They are still loyal to humanity by 1175. Mistspren = They can form Nahel bonds, giving people the powers of the Order of Truthwatchers.

Cryptics =

Cryptics are the personification of the underlying mathematical truths that govern Roshar and the Cosmere in its entirety.

They can form Nahel bonds, giving people the powers of the Order of Lightweavers. Inkspren = "You think by facts. You change not on simple whims. You are as you are."

- Ivory on Humans

Appearance
In the Cognitive Realm they appear as pure black humans, whose body gives off an iridescent shine that moves independently from surrounding lights. Their armour is a part of their body, and often defies human concepts of anatomy.

In the Physical Realm, they simply exist as a smaller form of their Cognitive Self.

They give off an iridescent sheen like oil. Fitting with Body Focus and Soulcasting Properties associated with Elsecallers, that being Oil.

Powers
They can form Nahel bonds, giving people the powers of the Order of Elsecallers.

Lightspren = "They like to travel, to see new places. They sail all across Roshar's Shadesmar, peddling goods, trading with other spren"

- Azure on Lightspren

Lightspren, also known as Reachers, are a type of True Spren, associated with the Order of Willshapers.

Appearance
As with most True Spren, they appear very humanoid in the Cognitive Realm; though their flesh appears to be made of smooth, polished bronze, with faint groves running across their body in patterns unique to the individual. Their eyes look like holes punctured in bronze holes, yet despite this, they still show the ability to dialate and move around. The metallic appearance of their skin is fitting with the Soulcasting Properties associated with Willshapers.

In the Physical Realm, they appear as a ball of light, small enough to hide in a palm of a hand, this light is compared to fire. They trail around a glowing streak, making them look like a comet. This light is able to pulse and fluctuate in strength, which they often use in order to communicate.

Culture and Personality
Lightspren are known to be adept sailors and explorers in Shadesmar, journeying across the Sea of Souls in ships pulled by teams of mandras.

While they do have genders, they do not differentiate between them in societal roles.

Due to the lasting impact of the Recreance upon them, they are still deeply mistrusting of humans.

Powers
They are capable of forming a Nahel bond, granting people the abilities of the Order of Willshapers.

Peakspren =

Peakspren' are a type of True Spren, associated with the Order of Stonewards.

Appearance
In the Cognitive Realm they appear as humanoid figures made of rock or stone, they are covered in cracks which appear to take on the form of glyphs or symbols. These cracks do not negatively effect them in any way. The variance in the stone they are made of, in apparent composition, colour, and texture, is extremely wide. From as smooth as polished marble, to as rough as porous basalt.

In the Physical Realm they appear as very small stone figures which can disappear into surrounding stone. When they disappear, they can choose to reappear out of other nearby stones, even if it is as small as a pebble. In the Physical Realm, their variance in texture seems unaffected.

They appear made up of rock or stone, fitting with the Soulcasting Properties associated with Stonewards.

Culture
Peakspren share some culture, speech patterns, and mannerisms with the Unkalaki. Otherwise, little in known of their individual cultures.

They are separated into various tribes which often squabble. The only known tribe name is the Kasiden, which reside in the east.

Their views on who they wish to side with greatly differs, some, such as Unativi argues to retain neutrality and non-interventionalism, whilst Upa'pam argues that they should join with humanity in order to help them fight against Odium.

Powers
They are capable of forming a Nahel bond, granting people the abilities of the Order of Stonewards.

They are capable of transporting themselves between different rocks and stones.

Oathgate Spren = "We are apologetic. We have been… alone very long. We would enjoy granting passage to men again. But we cannot do that which was forbidden"

- Spren of Thaylen City Oathgate

Oathgate Spren is a term used to describe various pairs of Spren which watch over the Oathgates, and facilitate travel between different Oathgates, and between the Physical and Cognitive Realms.

There are at least forty Oathgate Spren. Two at each Oathgate, spread across the ten Dawncities, and their compliments at Urithiru.

These locations are Kurth, Vedenar, Kholinar, Narak, Thaylen City, Azimir, Akinah, Rall Elorim, Panatham; and an unknown city in Shinovar. The other ten are all present at Urithiru.

Relation to Memory
Memories are not just stored within one's physical brain, but are also stored within the Cognitive Aspect of a being. It is due to this that beings, when magically regenerating, are capable of gaining back their memories despite what one would assume would destroy the electrical signals going through their brain, so long as their Cognitive Aspect is still attached to their body.

It is largely through this that Cognitive Shadows are capable of keeping their memories despite the complete loss of their physical body. This is why, despite losing their memories, Returned are capable of gaining back their memories, albeit often in a vague and hard to understand manner. Although this vagueness can later fade away and lead to them taking on the memory in the true form.

Cognitive Shadows
"And if you let a man die with too Invested a soul—or Invest him right as he’s dying—he’ll leave behind a shadow you can nail back onto a body."

- —Zahel’s description of a Cognitive Shadow

Cognitive Shadows, also known as Type Two Invested Entities are spirits that has not yet moved into the Beyond, or more simply also persist after separation from the Physical Aspect (and the Physical Realm as a whole), usually due to being Invested right as they die, essentially having the Investiture replace that which leaves them and create a copy of the Soul. , this is compared to being like a "fossil of a soul", or a "memory of a man"

One known method of becoming a Cognitive Shadow is to be drenched in a Perpendicularity following one's death but before passing into the Beyond.

Cognitive Shadows can be, through various methods, nailed back into a physical body. This has been seen in various situations, such as the manner in which the Cognitive Shadow of a Returned is stapled back to their body by the Divine Breath of Endowment ; Fused and Heralds are also both Cognitive Shadows with Physical Bodies, the manner of the Heralds is still unknown, but the Fused are known to be able to do so by possessing the bodies of Singers; it is also seen with Kelsier, who managed to return to his Physical body. While Shades do not return to their Physical body, they are known to be capable of interacting with the Physical Realm.

The exact form that a Cognitive Shadow depends largely upon what sort of Investiture had Invested them, with the properties of the Investiture, or the Shard from which it originated, having a deep effect upon them. This is why one can see an immense amount of difference between Cognitive Shadow's such as Returned, compared to those like Shades.

A Cognitive Shadow can be permanently killed by the use of a raysium dagger touching a gem of Anti-Investiture of the type of Investiture associated with the Cognitive Shadow. They could also simply be taken in and sealed within a gemstone.

It is of debate between Arcanists and philosophers whether or not the Cognitive Shadow can be considered to truly be the same person as the original. With it being a similar question as to that posed by the Ship of Theseus thought experiment.

Returned
Returned are made into Cognitive Shadows via being heavily Invested by a Splinter of Endowment following their death. This also is used to staple them beck to their Physical body. This method causes the Returned to passively consume Investiture.

While it takes one Breath a week to keep them alive, it is not precisely required that it use BioChromatic Breath, rather, it is simply the consumption of Investiture in general overtime, and Returned have been known to be able to survive off of Stormlight. This is shown in how Vasher was capable of surviving off of Stormlight during his time on Roshar.

This causes them to lose their memories, but due to still having connection to their Cognitive Aspect, they are capable of gaining back these memories if they try.

Shades
Shades are notable for being capable of influencing the Physical Realm, although they are usually unable to notice it unless a being in their proximity breaks one of the Simple Rules. If one does, they enter an enraged state and become more physical. When not enranged, they are capable of phasing through physical objects. Shades and their exact relation to the Physical Realm in general are not yet fully understood.

The methods in which Shades are created is not fully understood, but it is known to be partially due to Threnody being a highly invested planet. Shades also lack much of their self-awareness, due to a mix of the nature of the Investiture in Threnody, and the system's lack of a Shard.

This difference in the Investiture, and the lack of control over it, is also what led to them becoming so violent and destructive.

Distortion
Space and distance are distorted based upon the perspective of peoples and the cognitive signature of areas, this causes the vast space between planets to be greatly compressed, making separate planets lay right next to each other, with oceans acting as their borders. This distortion makes it possible to go into the Cognitive Realm in order to quickly go between planets in a reasonable timeframe.

Due to the spatial distortions and the flat nature of the Cognitive Realm, it does not map one to one with the Physical Realm. It notably has horizontal and vertical distortions alike when compared to the Physical Realm. Another source of distortion is due to the fact that it is projecting a spherical surface, that is a 2-D Surface embeded into and bending through 3-D Space, into a flat plane. This is always a source of distortion, and it is the reason why maps can never accurately depict the surface of a planet. The exact projection that the Cognitive Realm uses is currently unknown.

The large amount of distortion due to a lesser Cognitive Signature is the exact reason why travel between planets in the Cognitive Realm becomes far more feasible, as the distance between planets is far lesser in the Cognitive Realm.

Cognitive Anomaly
The Cognitive Anomaly is an unknown anomaly existing in the Nalthian System, represented by a planet sized cloud existing at the L5 Lagrangian Point relative to Nalthis. The exact nature of it is currently unknown.

Apparently silver chains, originating from Threnody, exist which one can use to anchor themselves through the Cognitive Anomaly.

Subastrals
Subastrals are the Cognitive Reflections of planets, often having a very unique geology and features depending on the collective perception and subconscious of the inhabitants of a given planet.

Rosharan Subastral = Non-living things on Roshar's Physical Realm appear as dark glass beads in Shadesmar, while living things appear as flames. Bodies of water in Roshar's Physical Realm appear as dark obsidian land in Shadesmar, while Physical land appears as a dynamic sea of glass beads. The obsidian land is cold to the touch. The exact reason that the ground is obsidian, or that the cognitive aspects of non-sentient objects takes on the form of small beads, is not yet known.

The beads are known to be very small, no wider than one's index finger, and they are able to flow together forming waves and surging tides.

Long, straight, flat clouds run directly towards the sun and give the impression that the object is at the end of a long tunnel.

The corners of the map are marked as "Expanses", these are directions in which one can travel to go to another subastral.


 * Expanse of the Vapors: Scadrial
 * Expanse of the Densities: Sel
 * Expanse of Vibrance: Likely Nalthis
 * Expanse of the Broken Sky: Likely Taldain

Spren
"Spren are . . . power . . . shattered power. Power given thought by the perceptions of men. Honor, Cultivation, and . . . and another. Fragments broken off."

- —Syl on spren

Spren permeate all of the Rosharan Subastral, making up an entirely ecosystem and various civilizations.

Scadrian Subastral =

On this region, Physical things appear shrouded in mist. Living things, as well as metallic objects, appear to glow.

Physical land appears misty and fluid, while bodies of water on the Physical Realm appear as solid, dark, smoky stone where mist-emitting plants grow. It is easy to sink through the ground in this when one isn't a Cognitive Shadow, Shard, or soul of the dead; leading many having to resort to using a boat of sorts in order to get across it without sinking.

It is possible to take the Cognitive aspect of something on Scadrial's Cognitive Realm and carry it around as a ball of mist, and then later on command it to manifest fully.

Selish Subastral = The Selish Subastral is notably dangerous, due to the fact that Odium, upon killing the Vessels and Splintering the Shards of Devotion and Dominion, forced them into the Cognitive Realm, creating an area of extremely dense and dangerous Investiture that makes it nearly impossible to move through it, anyone who moves through it without the proper methods will be ripped apart by it. This mass of spiritual energy is known as the Dor. . This Investiture manifests as a large storm-like, highly pressurized form made of a substance similar to plasma.

This nature of being in the Cognitive Realm, where time and space exist, instead of the Spiritual Realm, which lacks such dimensionality, is what brought about the geographically linked Invested Arts present on Sel. This also led to Intent and perception having a far larger role in magics derived from the Dor than from any other known system, to the extent that language itself directly shapes it as it is pulled through the Cognitive Realm and put to work. Silverlight = A city in the Cognitive Realm, in an unknown location. It is the base of operations of the Seventeenth Shard. It is a meeting point for worldhoppers and Realmatically aware experts.

It is known to have various prominent universities.

Spiritual Realm
"He thrust his right hand to the other side, touching something vast, something that wasn’t a place—it was all places in one."

- Dalinar grabbing the Spiritual Realm to create Honor's Perpendicularity

The Spiritual Realm is a place beyond time and space, where all dimensions are compressed into a singular point, with time and location alike becoming irrelevant. Commonly referred to as not being able to even be considered a place.. This is where the essence of all beings and objects exists. This is where Connection and Identity are made apparent.

Looking into the Spiritual Realm can allow one to see into the future. Though the further into the future one looks the less apparent the true future becomes.

Shards exist primarily in this Realm, with most of their power and self concentrated within it.

Spiritweb
The Spiritweb is the network of Connections and Investiture which make up the soul of a creature, place, or object. Due to being in the Spiritual Realm these lack a definite size or shape, instead having their borders and divisions defined by Identity.

Spiritual DNA
Spiritual DNA is an aspect of ones Spiritweb which is passed down from parent to child like normal DNA. Various methods of utilizing Investiture is written into ones Spiritual DNA, making it so that some Invested Arts can only be used due to a genetic relation. Such Arts include Allomancy and Feruchemy.

Connection
Connection is a Spiritual attribute that represents spiritual connections and relationships between different entities - living being, locations, items and so forth. This is not any sort of substance, and is not comprised of anything, but is simply a force or concept.

Various Invested Arts have the ability to manipulate Connection. Notably Feruchemical Duralumin, Spiritual Adhesion, The Powers of Envoyform Regals.

Connection also has relevance in various Invested Arts, such as how it is needed to have strong Connection to a language, usually needing to be the native tongue of the practitioner, in order for given Commands to work. This also allows one to Connect with the land and come to speak the language engraved into the location.

Connection also encodes ones age, and thus the Spiritual Aspect would push against the body if they don't align due to something such as Atium Feruchemy. This dichotomy cannot remain for long. And the greater the disparity, the more pressure the spirit will exert. Ten or twenty years won't matter much. A thousand will matter a lot. So the only way to use Compounding to change your age is to store up all this extra youth in a metalmind, then be constantly tapping it to counteract the soul's attempt to restore you to how you should be.

Connection, alongside Identity, is an extremely significant factor in various Bonds, such as Nahel Bonds, Bonds with Seons or Skaze, and with Aviar. Due to how relevant such factors are to the Bond would have an effect upon it. Connection is also required in order to be able to pick up and become the Vessel of a specific Shard.

Manipulating Connection can have myriad different effects. For instance it can give one the ability to speak and understand a language fluently without having to learn it, this being done through either Connecting to an individual and gaining the ability to understand their native language, or by connecting to the languages engraved into a portion of a Subastral via the collective unconscious of those in the area.

Burning Lerasium is known to create a powerful and permeant Connection to Preservation.

The Ire have developed an orb filled with a glowing liquid, which is able to form a powerful Connection with Preservation, to the extent that he was capable of pulling in the Shard and Ascending to become the Vessel of Preservation. This used a known magic system, however which one it uses, and how it uses it, is unknown.

Connection is not as simple as simply a binary on/off state, but is rather a force measured by magnitude.

Past Vision
The manipulation of Connection has been shown to be able to see into the past of beings via looking into their Connection. This seems to be in large part born by the manner in which Connection is in the Spiritual Realm, outside of time and space, therefore allowing it to still remain Connected to past events.

This ability to see into the past of other beings, places, or objects through looking into their Connections is most notably seen in Stoneshaping. Where the Stoneshaper can reach into events from long in the past and make the stone take the shape of those events that it is still Connected to.

Dalinar, through his manipulation of Connection, was able to see the past of Nale.

While not explicitly stated, it is very probable that Allomantic Gold and Malatium also take advantage of Connection.

Relation to Relationships
Duralumin Ferrings are capable of manipulating their Connection with other peoples, able to quickly form close and trusting relationships with others when tapping into it.

This use has yet to be seen in further detail.

As it Related to Planetary Systems
Multiple planets can be in essence made the same in regards to the Spiritual Realm if they are considered by enough people to be, in a way, part of the same "family" of planets. Thus Odium being bound to Braize is the same as being bound to Roshar and Ashyn, albiet with some subtle distinctions.

Bonds
"The Nahel bond is far more intimate a relationship. The linking of spirits. This is not a thing that should be done lightly, unsupervised."

- Notum on the Nahel Bond

Bonds are Connections between entities in the Cosmere, taking advantage of Connection and Identity, creating a very close Spiritual Bond, typically with mutualistic benefits to both parties involved.

Due to close Connection with each other, they would be instinctively capable of telling other apart from others of their kind, even if they are basically identical in appearance, as is the case of Cryptics.

Bonds are harder to make with a being that is highly Invested, due to the underlying mechanic of Investiture resisting Investiture.

It is possible to Hemalurgically transfer a Bond, however it is very dangerous. Further effects and ramifications are unknown.

It is also possible to safely retire the Bond by unknown methods. This severing can happen by either side.

Nahel Bond = Nahel Bonds, more accurately known as simply Nahel (lit. the bond to divinity), is the term given to a Bond between a sentient Spren and a Human or Singer. This allows the Spren to form in the Physical Realm without the loss of self-awareness, memory or intelligence. The benefit granted to the beings they bond to are the ability to breath in and use Stormlight, and to use Surges, along with all the benefits that come tangentially from those two effects.

These types of Bonds are quite notable for the rules and Oaths which bind them, and manner in which they grow and develop, becoming stronger. If one breaks the Oaths they swear, this can deeply effect the Spren, and if the Bond has progressed enough, this can even kill the Spren. Seon Bond = "You look at things as a human, young master. You see rank and distinction; you try to order the world so that everything has a place either above you or beneath you. To a seon, there is no above or beneath. There are only those we love. And we serve those we love."

- —Ien to Raoden

Little is known about Bonds with Seons compared to Spren, in terms of the deeper nature of it. However it is known that the Seon acts to serve those that they Bond to as eternal servants, this is due to the fact that they love their masters and act as loyal companions and advisors.

This is known to operate by the same method as Nahel Bonds.

Aviar Bond = Misc. Bonds =

Identity
Identity is the trait which defines a being as being themselves and not anything else. It defines the borders of their Spiritweb. In essence it is akin to the haecceity or hypokeimenon of a being or substance.

Identity is what locks various forms of magic to an individual, such as how a Metalmind can typically only be used by the one who created it, due to it being locked by their Identity. This also ties into how the Breaths Invested into an Awakened Object can only be retrieved by the one who Invested it in the first place, due to the BioChromatic Breath used being Keyed to their Identity.

Identity is able to be stored and tapped inside Feruchemical Aluminium, which can lead to various unique circumstances and interactions with other systems. Most notably, through the temporary Blanking of ones Identity, being able to create Unkeyed Investiture, which can be used by anyone, regardless of their Identity. This has been seen most often being used for the purposes of creating Unkeyed Metalminds, capable of being used by any Feruchemist with the relevant Feruchemical ability; but it is also stated to be able to do the same in regards to making BioChromatic Entities whose Breath can be taken away by anyone, regardless of their Identity.

Fortune
Fortune is a Spiritual Attribute which is closely linked to visions of the future, and of luck. It is overall one of the less understood aspects of the Cosmere as of current.

Chromium Ferrings are capable of Storing and Tapping Fortune, this is said to be able to manipulate the luck of the Ferring, with them becoming unlucky the more the store, and lucky the more they tap. While the Terris who discovered this are still studying into it and don't fully understand it, it can be assumed to be on the right track as the Ire, a very Cosmere-aware organization, refer to it in regards to coincidences.

The Beyond
The Beyond is a mysterious Realm which souls are pulled into after death, it is not fully understood about what lies within it. Even Shards having difficulty truly understanding it, much less touching it.

It it described as a dark point that defies geometry, between nothingness and eternity, pointing away from oneself no matter where on looks.

Shards
"The Shards are not God, but they are pieces of God. Ruin, Preservation, Autonomy, Cultivation, Devotion...There are sixteen of them."

- Khriss

The Shards are sixteen pieces of the power of creation, each splintered from a greater and more fundamental being known as Adonalsium. They are each named after a specific characteristic or ideal that represents the Shard's primary purpose or motivation, and each also has a sapient being known as a Vessel which takes up and wields the power.

They are complex and incomprehensible beings that do not function in the same way that mankind often thinks of reality and psychology. And they are so vast in comparison to any other being that they are seen as infinite and incomprehensible to them.

Known Shards

 * Devotion
 * Dominion
 * Preservation
 * Ruin
 * Odium
 * Cultivation
 * Honor
 * Endowment
 * Autonomy
 * Ambition
 * Invention
 * Mercy
 * Valour
 * Whimsy
 * Survival Shard
 * Unknown Sixteenth Shard


 * Harmony

Vessels
To function properly, a Shard requires a Vessel -- a mind to control it, belonging to a sapient creature from the Physical Realm, lest the power run unchecked.

If a Vessel is killed, it is possible for another being, with proper Connection to the Shard in question, to be able to rise up, take in the Shard, and become the next Vessel, so long as the Shard is in tact.

It is known to be possible for a singular Vessel to hold multiple shards simultaneously.

Influence on the Mind of the Vessel
Much like Investiture tends to have an effect on the mind and emotions of Invested beings, the Intent of a Shard has an immense effect on the mind of the Vessel holding it.

This also works the other way around, with the personality and perception of the Vessel able to influence the way in which the Intent of the Shard manifests.

Known Vessels

 * Devotion: Aona
 * Dominion: Skai
 * Preservation: Leras, Kelsier, Vin, Sazed (Current)
 * Ruin: Ati, Sazed (Current)
 * Ambition: Uli Da
 * Odium: Rayse, Taravangian (Current)
 * Cultivation: Koravellium Avast (Current)
 * Honor: Tanavast
 * Endowment: Edgli (Current)
 * Autonomy: Bavadin (Current)
 * Invention: Unknown
 * Valor: Unknown
 * Whimsy: Unknown
 * Mercy: Unknown

Perpendicularities
"In general, Perpendicularities are created by the presence of a Shard on a planet. The concentration of so much Investiture on the Cognitive and Physical Realms creates points of... friction, where a kind of tunneling exists. At these points, Physical matter, Cognitive thought, and Spiritual essence become one--and a being can slide between Realms."

- From Khriss's essay on the Drominad system

A Perpendicularity, also known as a Shardpool, is a stable junction between the Physical, Cognitive, and Spiritual Realms, formed by the extreme concentration of Investiture brought about by a Shard spending an extended amount of time in one place. These typically take form as a pool of pure, liquid Investiture.

A Shard can control where and how their Perpendicularity manifests.

These can be used to travel between the Physical and Cognitive Realms, thus are commonly used by Worldhoppers in order to assist in their travels.

It is known that quickly taking in a large amount of Investiture from a Perpendicularity is known to be able to collapse it, as shown with Nightblood. It is not known if this can be done by Larkins or Leechers.

It is known that the Surge of Transportation works through the formation of a small, temporary Perpendicularity. This is also in a far more limited and transient than that of a Perpendicularity formed via the presence of a Shard. They appear to instantly close up when one passes through it, and therefore do not form the pool of liquid Investiture often seen with Shard-formed Perpendicularities.

Known Perpendicularities

 * Horneater Oceans (Cultivation)
 * Well of Ascension (Preservation)
 * Pits of Hathsin (Ruin)
 * "The Lake" (Devotion)
 * Unnamed Selish Perpendicularity (Most likely Dominion)
 * Unnamed Perpendicularity in the Hallandren Rainforest (Endowment)
 * Unstable, unpredictable ones across Threnody (Unknown, likely Ambition)
 * Patji's Eye (Unknown, likely Autonomy)

Intent
"The power of ancient Adonalsium permeates him. And controls him. Odium is a force like pressure, gravitation, or the movement of time. These things cannot break their own rules. Nor can he."

- Stormfather

All Shards possess a driving aspect and motivation known as an Intent. This drives the actions and thoughts of a Shard and its Vessel, and the Vessel will have extreme difficulty going against their Intent, making it nearly impossible, and causing great harm to them when they do act against it, perhaps even killing them as it did when Vin, holding Preservation, attacked Ruin.

As mentioned before, the personality and perception of the Vessel able to influence the way in which the Intent of the Shard manifests. This is not capable of completely overwriting it, but it is capable of influencing it to a degree. For instance, the approach to Ruin as simply inevitable decay is largely due to Ati's original kind nature, as he deliberately channeled Ruin towards a more peaceable state. If held by another, it could very well have become a far more dangerous and destructive force.

Preservation
"If he had his way you'd all be frozen in time, unable to act lest you harm one another."

- Ruin on Preservation

Preservation seeks to provide stability and preserve the world and its inhabitants in their current state. Highly valuing the status quo, regardless of whether or not the people living underneath it are happy.

Ruin
"Death is necessary. Every clock must wind down, every day must end. Without me there is no life, and never could have been. Life is change, and I represent that change."

- Ruin

Ruin is the embodiment of entropy and decay; it seeks change, so that all may age and pass. It is not inherently evil, as without change there can be no life, but its destructive actions are often contrary to life existing peacefully.

Odium
"It was hatred. A deep, pulsing hatred with a pressure to turn all things molten. It was the heat of a thousand suns, it was the bliss of every kiss, it was the lives of all men wrapped up in one, defined by everything they felt."

- Dalinar on Odium

Odium is complex and various peoples disagree upon the exact meaning of it. Many claim he is as simple as just hatred, though others argue, even Dalinar himself upon seeing the Shard, that it is the combination of the passions of all mankind.

Cultivation
"I control all things that can be grown, nurtured.

That includes the thorns."

Cultivation wishes to grow things and people, and prune them if need be, to shape them in a desired form, even if she accepts that there will always be a degree of uncertainty. It is a Shard of Growth and Change.

Honor
Honor seeks to uphold oaths and agreements, and to bind things together. The Fused consider him to be the god of the natural laws of the universe.

Endowment
Endowment has an Intent centred around the idea of giving to others.

"Survival Shard"
While the name is not known, it is known that this Shard "Just Wants to hide and Survive"

Investiture
Shards have an extremely immense amount of Investiture stored within them, all of the Investiture in the universe is associated with one of the Sixteen Shards. The amount in question is so great that it is said to be infinite, however, this is not truly infinite.

It is, however, inexhaustible. As all Investiture, when used, is either turned into physical energy, or is returned back into the Spiritual Realm and back to the Shards. Therefore, all Investiture they use, or that is used by others, will eventually return back to them.

Splinters
"I am a god. [...] A little piece of one. Very, very little."

- —Syl to Kaladin

A Splinter is the term for a specific type of fragment of Investiture that is ultimately derived from Adonalsium. These Splinters can be composed of a single Shard's power or the Investiture of multiple Shards. Notable Splinters include Divine Breaths, Spren, Unmade, The Stormfather, The Nightwatcher, and many more.

While many Splinters are Self-Aware to some extent, not all possess self-awareness, as displayed by how Divine Breaths lack self-awareness but are still referred to as Splinters. This is furthered by Khriss specifically describing Seons, Skaze, and Spren as "self-aware Splinters", showing even further that Splinters need not be self-aware.

Splintering
Splintering is the process of completely breaking apart a Shard into Splinters, completely decentralizing it, and ultimately leading to the idea of it as a singular thing fading away. In a sense, this is a lesser version of the Shattering which broke apart Adonalsium, but applies to the smaller Shards, rather then of Adonalsium.

The event of a Splintering is known by those who saw it to be a "singular, fantastic event"

Shards known to have been Splintered include Devotion, Dominion, Honor, and Ambition.

Known Splinters

 * Spren (Honor, Cultivation, Odium)
 * The Stormfather (Honor)
 * The Nightwatcher (Cultivation)
 * The Sibling (Honor, Cultivation)
 * The Unmade (Odium)
 * Seons (Devotion)
 * Skaze (Dominion)
 * Divine Breaths (Endowment)

Slivers
A Sliver is a human intelligence who has held all of or a very large portion of the power of a Shard and has since released it, this is usually used to apply to former Vessels of a Shard, though it does not necessarily require it.

The known requirements of being a Sliver are:


 * 1) Slivers must be sapient beings.
 * 2) A human must hold a large portion of a Shard, this also includes those who simply take in a large amount of Investiture, are Investiture in essence is Shard; a single bead of lerasium is not enough, nor does any known normal Invested Individual count. While using the Well of Ascension seems to make one a Sliver, touching the Well of Ascension but not holding and using its power might not.
 * 3) Slivers must have used up that power or released it. Those currently holding the power are not known as Slivers.

Slivers are more resistant to influence by Shards.

It brings about an expansion of the mind and soul, however the full ramifications of this expansion are not fully understood.

A Sliver is also not required to be pulled into the Beyond. However, if they wish to, they can choose to let themselves enter into the Beyond.

Future Sight
All Vessels have some degree of ability to see into the future, as a result of their close connection to the Spiritual Realm. Although the degree to which they can see the future differs greatly between different Shards, as a result of both the Intent of the Shard, and the Vessel itself appears to have influence upon it as well, seen in how despite holding the same Shard, that of Odium, Taravangian is capable of seeing the future far better than Rayse.

Investiture
Investiture is a form of magical energy which permeates the Cosmere, and it is the energy source used for the various forms of magic across the Cosmere. It transcends and interpenetrates all Three Realms. It can exist in many forms, and be converted into various other forms of physical energy. Ultimately working as one of the fundamental forces of the Reality, interworking with physical fundamental forces.

Large concentrations of Investiture curve space and time, and draws the Three Realms together, this can lead to the formation of Perpendicularities if the concentration becomes great enough.

It cannot be created or destroyed, and the use of Investiture simply redistributes the energy elsewhere, and/or a different form.

Types of Investiture
Investiture has two different ways in which they could be classified. Either by the manner in which operates and how it is used, which I will refer to as the Forms of Investiture; by the physical form in which they take, which I will refer to as States of Investiture; and by the exact type of Investiture it is, defined by specific idiosyncrasies and the Shard in which it is associated with, which I will refer to as a Type or Manifestation of Investiture.

Forms of Investiture =

Innate Investiture is Investiture which inherently exists within beings in an unused form. This is that which exists within an individual without them having to take it in from an external source.

Kinetic Investiture is used in terms of Investiture which is currently expressed and used, this takes on certain effects when used, shaped by Intent, and the laws of the system through which the Investiture is being used.

Static Investiture is Investiture which is stored and is not expressed, such as Stormlight contained within a sphere. This is known to not be able to Invest surrounding objects, just as Taldain Sand, without being made into a different form, particularly Kenetic Investiture.

States of Investiture =

Investiture can come in four different physical states, as far as we are currently aware, these being Solid, Liquid, Gas, and Plasma.

What state Investiture takes upon, is known to not be based upon temperature. Though due to God Metals having a melting point, it is known that they can have their form changes by temperature, even if the initial state is not determined by temperature. The exact difference between liquid Investiture made by melting God Metal, and that which is initially liquid, is not fully understood.

Solid Investiture
Solid Investiture always takes on the form of metal, known as a God Metal, this is due to fundamental laws of the Cosmere. As these are physical forms of pure Investiture, they do not directly overlap with any specific chemical metal, although, given quotes, they do seem to have a proper atomic structure, and share various traits with other metals and metal groups.

God Metals can also form into alloys with other metals, which can alter their effects. Known Alloys are a Atium-Gold Alloy known as Malatium, and a Atium-Electrum Alloy used during the time of the Final Empire, known as simply Atium.

This does have a melting point, though it is not known what would happen when a God Metal is melted down. It can be combined into Alloys and returned to a solid form, with differing properties. It is not known if the melted God Metal has the same properties as Investiture which has liquid as its initial form.

The name for these metals usually uses the name of the Shard Holder of the Shard that the Investiture is tied to as a root, with -ium added as a suffix.

Atium
Atium is the God Metal of Ruin.

Burning atium allows the user to see a few seconds into the future, by producing atium shadows of everything in sight, these shadows preform future actions. Burning atium also expands the user's mind so that they would be able to accept and process all of the overwhelming amount of information coming in.

Atium, when used by a Feruchemist, stores youthfulness. When storing youthfulness, the Feruchemist spends time older. When tapping youthfulness, the Feruchemist then spends time younger.

Alloys
It is known to have two used alloys, these being an Atium-Electrum Alloy used commonly during the time of the Final Empire; and also an Atium-Gold Alloy known as Malatium.

Atium-Electrum is a very common alloy of Atium during the time of the Final Empire.

Malatium is a Atium-Gold Alloy, it has opposite properties to Atium, and allows an Allomancer to see into another person's past as "Malatium Shadows

Lerasium
Lerasium is the God Metal of Preservation.

Burning Lerasium forms of powerful and permanent Connection with Preservation, rewriting their Spiritual DNA and turning them into a very powerful Mistborn. The Hemalurgic Properties alloy it to steal all abilities from the spiked individual. However, the Feruchemical properties are unknown.

Alloys
While no known alloys of Lerasium have been seen, it is known that it can make alloys with any Allomantically viable metals, and each one is able to make the user into a Misting of the metal that it is alloyed with.

Harmonium
Harmonium, also known as Ettmetal or Sazedium, is the God Metal of Harmony. It is notable for how it is very unstable and reactive with water, much like real world alkali metals. It has unknown Allomantic, Feruchemical, or Hemalurgic properties. However, it is known it is capable of reproducing Allomantic or Feruchemical powers within its vicinity.

The reason for its instability and high reactivity, is due to the fact it is made up of Ruin and Preservation, thus its Spiritual aspect is in opposition with itself, leading to effects on the metal's Physical aspect. This reactivity is also why the uses of it in the Metallic Arts are unknown, as when it meets the liquid in the body, it can explode be dangerous to the practitioner. When it reacts and explodes, it leaves a residual material that has very notable properties that are currently known.

Its highly reactive properties has led to the use of Harmonium in powerful explosives.

Trellium
Trellium is the God Metal of Trell, however it is not known exactly what Shard Trell is related to.

Only its Hemalurgic properties are known, it is capable of taking and transferring the abilities of others. It also keeps the user hidden from Harmony.

Tanavastium
Tanavastium is the God Metal which is used to construct the Honorblades.

This has properties of not cutting living flesh, but rather hitting the soul itself. They also are able to give a direct siphon to Honor's Investiture, and can gain access to particular pairs of Surges.

The ability given when burning it is unknown, but it would have very interesting effects.

Raysium
Raysium is the God Metal of Odium. Raysium is known to naturally conduct Investiture, drawing it in from any source. This also works for Spren, as they are made of Investiture, allowing someone to transfer spren between gemstones, including spren halves produced during the creation of pairing fabrial. This only works in one direction, and this direction can be changed by changing the orientation of the metal.

This can be used to drain Investiture from Invested Beings; and is also capable of forcibly inserting Investiture into them, this method is most notable used with forcing Anti-Investiture into a being in order to kill them.

It is described as a bright golden metal, so light it is almost white.

Dor Metal
It is known that the Dor has a God Metal form of itself, however the name of it is not known.

Liquid Investiture
Liquid Investiture is primarily found at Perpendicularities, it is often described as being crystaline. However it cannot be fully stated that it is a Liquid crystal. It is an incredibly dense and potent form of Investiture.

This has so far only been seen in regards to Perpendicularities, formed by the intense Spiritual Pressure and high levels of Investiture of a Shard.

Gaseous Investiture
Gaseous Investiture is a common form of Investiture which is notable easy to take in and use for various Invested Arts.

Gaseous Investiture follows the same concept with gases in physics, where a gas will move from an area where its partial pressure is higher to an area where its partial pressure is lower, moving across a pressure differential.

This sort of Investiture can be seen with:

Preservation's Mists
Preservation's Mists are a gaseous manifestation of Preservation's Investiture. It manifests as a night-time mist, which operates differently than normal mists and always give off the impression of being almost alive. These can be programmed to do whatever Preservation desires them to do.

These Mists are completely white.

They are most notably used in order to Initiate or "Snap" individuals as Allomancers. This causes a trauma which can kill the individual, of an intensity that can vary from being rather minor, to leaving people bedridden for weeks, and often just kills the individual. After the release of Ruin and before the Catacendre, this was specifically programmed to specifically Snap exactly 1/16th of the people that enter into the Mists. Furthermore, he made 1/16th of those struck be left bedridden for 16 days. These individuals were Atium Mistings.

They can, by some, be used as a fuel for Allomancy. This allows the one pulling upon it to multiply their powers immensely. This is only able to be used by Vin, and nobody else.

These Mists swirl around any of those that use Allomancy, however, any beings that are Hemalurgically Spiked. Along with this, the mists will not enter any building and even a simple tent is enough to keep them out.

Following the Catacendre, they were made to be far less dangerous, as they stopped Snapping individuals; and they also became a far more localized phenomenon, no longer covering the entire planet.

BioChromatic Breath
BioChromatic Breath is the Investiture of Endowment. All beings on Nalthis are given a single "Breath", or unit of BioChromatic Breath, upon birth as their Innate Investiture.

When leaked out it creates an area around the user in which the deepness of the colours are shifted. This area in which you can see the leaking of their Investiture is known as the "BioChroma" of the individual.

Breath can be transferred, as long as it is with the content of the person imparting the Breaths, and that the doner must be in physical contact with the recipient. The one receiving the Breath does not need Intent or consent in order to receive the Breath imparted upon them.

It is notable amongst other forms of Investiture, in that it is separate into discrete and measurable subsections, instead of a continuous form of energy.

Stormlight
Stormlight, known as Zeradoreh in Alethi, is the Investiture of Honor, and the most prevalent form of Investiture on Roshar. It is used in the Invested Art of Surgebinding.

It is described as being a very light blue, nearly white.

The method of Investment is simply breathing it in from the surrounding area.

When drawn in and held by a Surgebinder, it encourages motion and action.

It is complex compared to other forms of Investiture, in which it shares traits of light, a gas, and a liquid simultaneously, but is not strictly any of these.

While it functions very similarly to both a light, to the extent of forming a rainbow when shone through a prism, it does not follow Snell's Law, at least not entirely. As one can see in how the rainbow it forms has a thicker blue line than the other colours.

Lifelight
Lifelight, known as Koradaros in Alethi, is the Investiture of Cultivation. It is only currently known to be used, in its pure form, by Lift.

It is described as being a very light green, nearly white.

It is complex compared to other forms of Investiture, in which it shares traits of light, a gas, and a liquid simultaneously, but is not strictly any of these.

While it functions very similarly to both a light and a gas, to the extent of forming a rainbow when shone through a prism, it does not follow Snell's Law, at least not entirely. As one can see in how the rainbow it forms has a thicker green line than the other colours.

Voidlight
"She stared at that terrible light, and—from the songs—knew it for what it was. The forms of power had been associated with a dark light, a light from the king of gods"

- Eshonai

Voidlight, known as Rasodonar in Alethi, is the Investiture of Odium. It takes on a stygian violet colour, which cannot normally be seen by humans.

When drawn in and held, Odium's Light enflames emotions

It is complex compared to other forms of Investiture, in which it shares traits of light, a gas, and a liquid simultaneously, but is not strictly any of these.

When used, it produces far weaker surges, although they last for far longer than those produced by Stormlight. It also apparently does not leak out of the users body when not being used. However, it does leak from Gemstones, although at a slower rate.

While it functions very similarly to both a light and a gas, to the extent of forming a rainbow when shone through a prism, it does not follow Snell's Law, at least not entirely. As one can see in how the rainbow it forms has a thicker violet line than the other colours.

Towerlight
Towerlight is the hybrid Investiture of Honor and Cultivation, it is used by The Sibling.

While it functions very similarly to both a light and a gas, to the extent of forming a rainbow when shone through a prism, it does not follow Snell's Law, at least not entirely. As one can see in how it splits into two rainbows. One of which having a thicker green line, like Lifelight, and the other having a thicker blue line, like Stormlight; displaying the two Lights which made it up.

Warlight
Warlight is the hybrid Investiture of Honor and Odium, it was a new creation during the Rosharan year 1175 by Navani Kholin and Raboniel.

When contained in a gemstone the Light can be seen oscillating between swirling like a raging storm and then falling into a peaceful calm. Displaying the properties of both of the constituent Lights.

While it functions very similarly to both a light and a gas, to the extent of forming a rainbow when shone through a prism, it does not follow Snell's Law, at least not entirely. As one can see in how it splits into two rainbows. One of which having a thicker blue line, like Stormlight, and the other having a thicker violet line, like Voidlight; displaying the two Lights which made it up.

Plasma Investiture
Plasma Investiture is a very violent and dangerous form of Investiture.

This is only known to apply to one type of Investiture, that being the Dor. Created when Devotion and Dominion were forced out of the Spiritual Realm and into the Cognitive Realm by Odium. They take the form of a dangerous, large source of mindless, uncontrolled power.

Types of Investiture =


 * Dor
 * Preservation's Mists
 * BioChromatic Breath
 * Stormlight
 * Lifelight
 * Voidlight
 * Towerlight
 * Warlight
 * Aether

Conversion of Investiture
It is possible to shift Investiture into different forms, although the methods can be complicated and are unknown to most.

Colour of Investiture
All Investiture has been shown to have its own colour. These do not seem to necessarily work in a normal sense, as even impossible colours not normally able to be seen by humans can be seen in Investiture, such as Voidlight and Warlight being stygian colours.


 * Devotion's Investiture appears to be blue.
 * Preservation Mists are white.
 * Stormlight is a very light blue
 * Lifelight is green.
 * Voidlight is a stygian violet.
 * Towerlight is a soft blue-green.
 * Warlight is a stygian blue.

Fusion of Investitures
Much like it is possible to fuse two different Shards together into a new Shard, is possible to combine different types of Invetsiture into each other to create a new form of Investiture. To create such a thing one must combine the two Investitures inside a condensed container, such as a gemstone, and have it vibrate to the Tone and Rhythm borne from the harmony of two different Pure Tones, corresponding to the Shards related to the Investiture in which they wish to combine.

Such Hybrid Investitures has traits similar to both, but ultimately acts like an entirely different substance.

This has been seen with Towerlight (Honor + Cultivation) and Warlight (Honor + Odium).

Waves and Frequencies
Investiture and its use in Invested Arts are often described in terms of frequency, waves, and pulse length.

Relation to Snell's Law
In the form of Stormlight, the waves do not follow (at least not entirely) Snell's Law, that is to say, "The formula used to describe the relationship between the angles of incidence and refraction, when referring to light or other waves passing through a boundary between two different isotropic media, such as water, glass, or air." This can be seen in how the rainbows formed when reflected through a prism have the band associated with the colour of the Light be thicker than the others.

The other colours appear to follow the expected angles of incidence and refraction.

This is a purposeful choice, made to differentiate it from the physics of normal light.

Relation to the Laws of Thermodynamics
Investiture, despite being a seemingly miraculous source of energy defying what we know about the world, still follows the Laws of Thermodynamics. This follows from the idea that Investiture is just an extra scientific force or object, alongside matter and energy, or "a third circle to the Laws of Thermodynamics"

First Law of Investiture Thermodynamics
Investiture cannot be created or destroyed, but can only have its form changes. Be this shifting it into matter or physical energy. Even in cases which give the appearance of destruction, such as when an Investiture and its Anti-Investiture meet, it is not actually being destroyed, just having its form changed.

This is the same as the Law of Conservation of Energy.

Second Law of Investiture Thermodynamics
Investiture displays the ability to, and tendency to, pass from a high-density system to a lower density system. This can be seen both in how highly Invested beings or objects tend to leak out Investiture into their less dense surroundings, it is also seen in how Spren can be pulled into a gemstone via quickly removing the Investiture from that gemstone, causing in to pull in the surrounding Investiture.

As stated before, many Invested Beings, such as Surgebinders, Awakeners, and Nightblood, radiate their Investiture into their surroundings.

As Voidlight leaks out of gemstones far slower than Stormlight it can be assumed that the rate of heat transfer differs with different forms of Investiture. Whether this has to do with the density of Investiture, which can be thought of as a part of the ΔT (difference in temperature) of the Heat Flow Rate equation; or due to fundamental properties of the Investiture in question.

With the radiation rate from Gemstones, it is also known that the level of perfection of the gemstone is inversely proportional with the leaking rate.

It is confirmed that the Second Law of Investiture Thermodynamics is essentially the same as the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

Third Law of Investiture Thermodynamics
It is said to be able to follow the Third Law of Thermodynamics, but this does not appear to have been ever shown in the books.

"The entropy of a system approaches a constant value as its temperature approaches absolute zero." and "It is impossible by any procedure, no matter how idealized, to reduce the temperature of any closed system to zero temperature in a finite number of finite operations."

This could manifest in the idea that it would be impossible to completely remove all Investiture from a system. Although this is just conjecture, and not confirmed.

Fourth Law of Investiture
Investiture has a sort of fourth law that governs it which is related to Adonalsium. This is not understood or known yet.

Investment
Investiture can be used in order to fill up an object for various reasons, this prosses is known by various names in different systems, but the generalized term if known as Investment, and the object is referred to as Invested.

Only a certain amount of Investiture can be held within a certain material or volume, and filling it with too much makes it take on a form like a supersaturated solution. Those in this form tend to resist having more Investiture put into them, and also have a tendency to leak the Investiture contained within them as a result of being overly saturated. . On top of this, there is a limit to which one can take in Investiture, and at some point they would reach this.

When one becomes Invested by an extremely large amount of Investiture, it can fundamentally change their nature, in essence making them no longer human. This is the same concept that brings about the concept of Slivers.

Interactions with Aluminium
Aluminium, also known as Ralkalest or the unForgable Metal, and many of its alloys are Investiture-Inert, and it cannot be effected by Investiture.

Aluminum has been confirmed to have strange effects to all magic systems, and is magically inert, and will act as an Investiture sink.

It is known that a aluminium container can help to prevent Investiture from leaking.

As stated before, this does not just apply to pure aluminium, but also to various alloys of it. For instance, the alloy used by the Vanishers is a aluminium-scandium alloy (99% Aluminium, < 1% Scandium), displays the same Investiture-Inert properties.

Relation to Identity
Investiture is related to Identity in various ways, most notably in how ones Innate Investiture is keyed to their own Identity.

The effects of this can be observed in various different systems; such as the manner in which one cannot draw out the stored attributes in a Metalmind not Keyed to their own Identity, due to how it is keyed to the Identity of the person who stored the attribute within it. This is also reflected in the manner in which one cannot draw Breaths from a BioChromatic Entity that they themselves did not Awaken, due to the Breaths Invested into an Awakened Object being Keyed to the Identity of the Awakener who gave said Breaths.

Relation to Sentience
Investiture has the capacity of developing sentience, or even sapience. This can be seen in various examples, such as in Nightblood, a BioChromatic Construct granted sentience by the BioChromatic Breaths (That is to say, Investiture) infused into them ; this can also be seen reflected in the manifestation of Spren, Seons, and Skaze.

Aviar can also be seen being granted sentience by eating fruit infested with Invested parasites near Patji's Eye, which not only grants them powers, but greatly expands their self-awareness and intelligence. Various beings on Roshar also gain sentience via Spren Bonds, such as Rhyshadium, Tai-na, and so forth; albeit the sentience granted to these appears to be to a lesser degree than seen with Aviar, yet are still smarter than any animal could be on Earth.

The reason for its ability to grant sentience is connected to various aspects of the metaphysics, and the nature of Investiture itself. It is also partially tied to the fact that pre-Shattering Adonalsium had a Intent of bringing sentience to its universe, and, as stated before, all Investiture contains an engrained Intent in it. This makes any level of Investiture in a being tend to give them sentience, it is even able to give inanimate objects with very little Investiture a limited degree of sentience and self-perception.

The beings appearing in the Visions shown by the Stormfather are not sentient constructs, but are rather a sort of AI with basic ability to adapt. But they are not truly autonomous.

Relation to Memory
Investiture is in multiple ways able to enhance memory, this is seen in various ways, such as the manner in which memories are encoded and placed into Copperminds, the way in which Hoid did the same with Breaths, the Memories able to be taken by Lightweavers, and the way in which Hoid says that Investiture is able to help people retain their memories and not forget as much.

The ability to use Investiture to store memory is seen in various different systems, most notable in Feruchemy with Copperminds, and in Awakening with how Breaths can be used to store memories.

Corruption of Investiture
Investiture can be corrupted or Co-opted by another Shard, or by a form of Invested Art, the presence of corruption if usually observable through an Investiture being tainted red. Corruption in this case is defined as an outside influence is changing the Spiritual nature of the soul.

This can be seen in how when one places a Essence Mark upon a being, it would leak a red smoke-like substance, as it is corrupting the subject's innate Investiture, and fighting against the corruption. It can also be seen with how various Spren, when corrupted by Sja-Anat, become red in some way.


 * Angerspren resemble bubbling pools of tar. Upon popping, the bubbles burn red, like embers.
 * Exhuastionspren look like small red whirlwinds
 * Oathgate Spren have their shape and size distorted, and colours change, one is pitch-black and the other is red.
 * Windspren are described as "...trailing red light."
 * Truthspren appear as a crystalline structure dripping a red glow upwards, the crystal itself is also red

Regals, who are corrupted by Odium, have red eyes that they can be recognized by; along with this, Stormform Regals generate and weaponize red lightning. Various Voidspren, like Ulim, are also described as being red. When Nex-Im leave their body, as a ribbon of red light similar to a spren.

The red colouring of Trell also appears to be due to corruption of some form.

Anti-Investiture
Much like how Matter has Anti-Matter which stands as its opposite and explodes upon making contact with its positive form, with the effect becoming more destructive and explosive when combined under pressure. Such Anti-Investiture is not naturally occurring and must be created with other methods, it was merely a theory by various Arcanists throughout the history of the Cosmere, until they were experimentally proven to exist by Navani Kholin in Rosharan Year 1175.

Navani Kholin discovered how to make an Anti-Investiture for Voidlight, the Investiture of Odium, by placing it in a vacuum chamber and introducing it to the opposite frequency tone, that is where the maxima of the two waves are 180 degrees out of phase, of its natural Pure Tone, it would become keyed to it and change in nature. Becoming something directly opposite of it in various matters, but also nearly identical in others. This does not solely need this process, as with all things, but also requires the proper Intent to create the Anti-Investiture. Due to the nature of how a Tone and its Anti-Tone are related, they are essentially the same in terms of physics, but have more Identity and Intent infused into them in order to bring forth the desired effect, it is deeper than merely being the result of the physical waves.

This does not truly destroy the Investiture, falling in line with how it cannot be created or destroyed but only change form, the combination of Investiture and Anti-Investiture only changes all of the Investiture into physical energy. This transformation, when done under pressure, as is the case when stored in a gemstone, leads to a more intense explosion of energy.

This is able to effect the soul in such a way as to destroy it past the point of repair or reincarnation, as it has been shown to be able to permanently kill Fused, making them not go to Braize, but rather instantly be shoved into the Beyond.

Invested Arts
Invested Art is a term used to refer to any form of Magic which uses Investiture for the enacting of specific phenomena. Most Invested Arts manifest under the manipulation and influence of a Shard, though this is not necessarily required.

All Invested Works operate under a shared Unified System.

Initiation
Initiation is the process by which a person is chosen to gain the ability to access a manifestation of Investiture (and/or the process of actually gaining such access) The exact method of Initiation varies between different manifestations of Investiture.

Snapping is the name given to the form of Initiation experienced by Allomancers. While the potential to become an Allomancer is set at birth according to their Physical, Cognitive, and Spiritual aspects, they still require a push to be able to gain access to their abilities. This is caused by sufficient physical or emotional trauma, to provide the necessary damage to the soul to release this latent potential, in rare cases this can happen even during birth. The exact method of how Allomancers underwent Initiation was changed after the Catacendre.

Initiation for Surgebinding is brought about by the formation of a Nahel Bond with a True Spren.

Initiation for Awakening is given automatically to all Nathian-born individuals, for all it requires is to have Endowment's Investiture, this is also able to be Initiated into by simply taking in a BioChromatic Breath, even if one was not inherently granted one at birth.

Initiation for AonDor is the Shaod, which turns one into an Elantrian and thus grants them the ability to use AonDor.

Initiation for the Invested Art on Vax is known to be very different from any other known Invested Art.

Relation to Intent
As mentioned earlier, Intent has a significant role in the use of Invested Arts, as it does with all Investiture.

Invested Arts all operate on the idea of having an Intent to either activate it, or shape the manner in which it manifests itself. For instance, drawing an Aon requires Intent for it to bring about the desired effect, one cannot accidently use AonDor. Compounding also requires the use of intention in order to actually work.

To further explain this, it is important to note that the role of and magnitude of Intent in a given Invested Art changes depending upon the specific Art. Some systems have little Intent involved, such is the case with Allomancy. Although others have Intent deeply engrained into them, to the point that it cannot operate without it on any meaningful level, such as Awakening and Forgery.

Relation to Perception
Following from the idea of Intent influencing Invested Arts, perception also plays a majour role.

This can most notably be seen in how, in Healing through Investiture, the manner in which one is healed is based upon ones perception of oneself. This simultaneously means it can change the body from its normal state to match their spiritual ideal and self-perception, such as changing the body of a transgender person to match with their identity. But it can also leave one unable to heal something that they feel they deserve, or that which is a part of their identity or self-perception.

It can also be seen in how, while living Shardblades do not require 10 Heartbeats to summon, they can still need it if the user perceives it as requiring it.

Relation to Metals
Metals are shown to have a presence across various forms of Invested Arts, seen primarily in not only the Metallic Arts (Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Hemalurgy), but also seen in the function of Fabrials. , with very similar effects to those that it displays in the Metallic Arts.

Zinc and Brass are capable of magnifying or reducing the expression strength of cognitive aspects, this manifests in the Metallic Arts by being able to effect the minds of individuals in various ways, and in Fabrials it is capable of magnifying and reducing the expression strength of various effects that the Spren in question has in Fabrials. This is ultimately the same, for Spren are Cognitive Entities born and shaped by the emotions and perceptions of mankind.

Bronze in Allomancy is capable of detecting the use of Investiture in a nearby radius, and when used in Fabrials it is able to make a Warning Fabrial, alerting one to objects or entities nearby. These both appear to detect the presence of Investiture, be it in a kinetic or innate form, in a similar way to which Life Sense detects Innate Investiture.

Iron in Allomancy is capable of pulling nearby metals to the user, while using it in a Fabrial creates an Attractor Fabrial—a fabrial that draws specific elements to itself, unlike with Allomancy, the type of substance these can attract depends on the type of Fabrial the cage is affixed to. Along with this, much like how Steel in Allomancy does the opposite and pushes objects away, Steel in Fabrials are capable of reversing the polarity of a Fabrial.

Pewter in Allomancy and Feruchemy alike allows for a great increase in the strength of the user, and when used in Fabrials it causes the spren of your fabrial to express its attribute in force.

Tin in Allomancy and Feruchemy allows for the enhancing of senses, with Feruchemy also allowing for one to decrease the strength of ones senses via storing it, a tin cage will cause the fabrial to diminish nearby attributes. A painrial, for example, can numb pain. If one reverses the polarity using Steel, it is capable of increasing senses.

Resonances
"The effects here are more subtle than they are when mixing Surges on Roshar, but I am convinced that each unique combination also creates something distinctive. Not just two powers, you could say, but two powers … and an effect. This demands further study"

- Khriss

Resonances are additional powers or effects gained by people with access to more than one Invested Art or Surge, this works like a sort of constructive interference between two forms of Invested Art.

This is most notably seen in the situation of Twinborns in the Metallic Arts, and all Orders of the Knights Radiant in Surgebinding. These, much like the manner in which Investitures can fuse together and become something different, arise from the nature of how Shards combine.

The combination of powers can also cause slight variances in how the base powers are manifested, which is why Knights Radiant of different orders may manifest their shared Surges slightly differently.

Having too many different abilities tends to weaken the strength in which the Resonances manifest, to the point of nullification, this is why beings such as Mistborn, or Mistborn-Feruchemists such as Rashek do not experience a large amount of Resonances.

Resonances do not refer to ways in which one can exploit how abilities work together, for instance the ability of a Crasher to change their velocity through changing their mass, in accordance to the Law of Conservation of Momentum, does not count as a Resonance. Resonances only refer to the extra, seperate ability born more passively from their interaction.

There are 256 different types of Twinborn, and therefore 256 different Resonances.

Surgebinding allows for 10 Resonances, one for each Order, borne from the interaction of their two Surges. However, through various methods, such as the use of Honorblades or bonding with multiple True Spren, one can gain access to various Surge Combinations not seen in the normal paradigm. This expands the possible number of Resonances up to 90, assuming identical Surges from different Spren do not form a Resonance.

Known Resonances

 * Windrunners' (Adhesion + Gravitation) Resonance is an increased number of squires, more than any other order. With it Kaladin was able to make all of Bridge Four into his Squires.


 * Skybreakers' (Gravitation + Division) Resonance is heavily implied to be a greatly increased aptitude in separating the innocent from the guilty.


 * Lightweavers' (Illumination + Transformation) Resonance is greatly increased mnemonic ability. This manifests as the ability to take "memories" of scenes, wherein they are able to perfectly memorize it to a level of detail beyond what any human can memorize, and allows them to easily replicate it in art, somewhat similar to how a Copper Feruchemist can store memories into copperminds, except the medium it is stored in is changed. They can only take a limited amount of these "Memories" at a time, although a hard limit has yet to be defined.


 * Crashers' (A-Steel + F-Iron) Resonance is the ability to create a "Steel Bubble" around them which pushes metals away in their proximity.

Savantism
Savantism is a concept present in the Cosmere wherein one has used an Investiture-related ability so much that it has changed their physiology ; this has been seen in Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Surgebinding, however there is no reason to assume it isn't present in other forms of Invested Arts.

These changes to the physiology of the user are often very harmful to both the body and the mind, even if it does often lead to a great increase in the power or effectiveness they have in an Invested Art. This makes it ultimately a very undesirable situation, although the magnitude of these negative effects vary greatly, for instance Seekers often become savants without being aware of it; while Tineye Savants experience severe disability due to their Savantism.

Psychologically, Savants tend to develop an addiction or dependency upon the Art that made them Savants.

Such Savants look differently in the Spiritual Realm compared to normal users of the same Invested Art, and are said to be closer to the Spiritual Realm than other individuals. They also possess a far greater Connection to the Shard related to the Invested Art they are a Savant in than other people are.

Allomantic Savants
An Allomancer who has flared their metal for a long time can become a savant.ref name = "hoa16e">Hero of Ages, Chapter 16 Epigraph It is known that Allomantic Savants develop an addiction or dependency upon the metal that made them a Savant, requiring them to find all they can in order to constantly flare it.

Out of all metals, Tin is the one most known about, and the one that has the most severe effect upon the user. Enhancing their senses to such an extent that they are practically disabled.ref name = "hoa16e">Hero of Ages, Chapter 16 Epigraph The exact extent to which this is enhanced can be seen by how Spook suffered during his time as a Tin Savant in Urteau in 1025 FE.

Feruchemical Savants
Due to the nature of Feruchemical as an End-Neutral Invested Art, it is very rare and difficult for a Feruchemist to become a Savant. Those seen having become one had to do so through Compounding.

Surgebinding Savants
All Surges are able to turn the user into a Savant, however the Nahel Bond provides a great deal of protection against this process. Due to this, true Surgebinding Savants have not been seen; but what has been seen is people who are made Savants through the heavy use of Surge Fabrials, which allows them to replicate a Surge without a Nahel Bond, and therefore without proper protection against Savantism.

Soulcasting Savants, through using Soulcasting an extreme amount of times, begin to take on the physical characteristics of the substances that they produce with Soulcasting. For instance, Kaza, a Soulcaster who commonly turned things into smoke, began to slowly turn into smoke herself, and Ithi and her sister have vines growing under their skin in part from constantly producing grain during the Siege of Kholinar.

Soulcasting Savants tend to be able to see more and more into the Cognitive Realm due to their condition. Alongside this, they also feel drawn to become the material they are becoming with the objects she transforms, and begin to lose normal human emotional responses. These latter effects appear to only manifest in the later, more severe stages of Savantism.

Resistance from Investiture
Investiture resists other Investiture, and therefore Invested Arts, therefore, it is hard for Invested Arts to effect Invested Objects. Therefore, for instance, Metalminds would be far harder to Push or Pull with Allomancy than ordinary metals; this is also how Shardplate and other Shardblades resist the Physical and Spiritual cutting power of Shardblades. Highly Invested objects do not just resist that which directly tries to touch them, but rather it forms a type of Interference envelope.

This can further be seen in the manner in which Invested objects are far harder to Awaken, and highly Invested Awakened objects, such as Nightblood, are very hard to Break the Commands of, in more straightforward terms, the required strength, or wealth of Breaths/Investiture, in order to break a Command is proportional to the level of Investiture in an Awakened Object.

Categories of Invested Arts
Invested Arts are divided up into categories depending on their precise nature, these being End-Positive, End-Neutral, and End-Negative, based upon the source of the Investiture, and how it is used.

End-Positive
End-Positive is the most common category an Invested Art falls into, where the user draws in energy from an external source.

This includes Allomancy, AonDor and all Selish Arts, and Surgebinding. In all such cases, the practitioner take in Investiture from an external source and use it to fuel their Art.

End-Neutral
End-Neutral Arts are where power is neither gained nor lost, but only transferred. A practitioner manipulates power that already exists or power that comes from themselves.

This includes Feruchemy, and Awakening. Surgebinding is argued by some scholars to be an End-Neutral system.

End-Negative
The rarest form of Invested Art, in this case, some power is lost. This is not to say that it is simply used up, for all most systems in some way use up the Investiture they take in; End-Negative is explicitly defined by those in which it is used up without having an effect.

Hemalurgy is the only known form of End-Negative Invested Arts, although there are other systems that are End-Negative This is seen in how, as the Spike is outside of a body, it undergoes the Law of Hemalurgic Decay, losing Investiture.

Known Systems
Invested Arts are seperated by scholars into multiple different systems, although there is vagueness in where on system begins, and another begins, and one could argue for multiple different divisions.

For instance, Surgebinding could fairly be considered as ten separate systems, but could also be argued, and most often is, as a singular system with smaller subdivisions. Even the entire system is often to just be considered part of a larger system known as the Metallic Arts. The various systems on Elantris can also be argued to be a singular system, all coming from the same power source and using incredibly similar methods.


 * Selish Systems
 * AonDor
 * Bloodsealing
 * ChayShan
 * Dakhor
 * Forgery


 * Scadrian Systems
 * Allomancy
 * Feruchemy
 * Hemalurgy


 * Nalthian Systems
 * Awakening


 * Rosharan Systems
 * Surgebinding
 * Voidbinding
 * Fabrials
 * Old Magic


 * Taldain System
 * Sand Mastery
 * Unnamed Tattoo-Based System


 * Vax System
 * Unknown


 * Arts of Unknown Planets
 * Aether


 * Yolish Systems
 * Yolish Lightweaving
 * Microkinesis

Dawnshards
"The Dawnshards are Commands, Rysn. The will of a god."

- —Nikliasorm to Rysn

The Dawnshards are the four primal Commands that Adonalsium used to create all things, which can supercharge the powers of anyone using an Invested Art, allowing for acts of magic that transcend what is normally possible, such as destroying an entire planet. These were a large part of what caused the Shattering of Adonalsium in the first place.

These Commands appear to not be able to work with the lack of the understanding required to be able to use them.

Holding onto a Dawnshard causes fundamental changes to the holder, in a way similar to Savantism, or the manner in which ones body and soul is changed by holding a Shard. This can be seen by the manner in which Hoid was immensely changed by the time in which he held onto a Dawnshard.

Honor believed them to be crucial to the defeat of Odium.

Dawnshard of Change
"The will of a god to remake things, to demand they be better. The power to change."

- Rysn

The Command represents the will and knowledge of a deity demanding that something change, adapt, or become something new.

For millennia it was held in Akinah, contained inside a mural, and watched over by the Sleepless. Until in late 1174, it was taken in by Rysn. Due to the history it has with Roshar, it is seen mentioned various times in old religious texts. Although they were not deeply understood, and often conflated with Honorblades.