Nalthis

Nalthis
by Isaac Stewart
Shards	Endowment
Investitures	Awakening
System	Nalthian system
Universe	Cosmere

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Nalthis is the name of the Shardworld on which the novel Warbreaker takes place. It has a number of states, including Idris and Hallandren. A person from Nalthis is called a Nalthian.

A single moon named Rrendos orbits the planet.

Nations

Historical

• Chedesh
• Hanald
• Huth
• Kuth
• Pahn Kahl

Current

• Gys
• Hallandren
• Hudres
• Idris
• Tedradel
• Xaka

Geography

The major settings of Warbreaker are T'Telir, the capital city of Hallandren, and Hallandren's bordering mountain state of Idris. The jungles are situated in a large valley surrounded by mountains and a sea.

Not much is known about the geography of Nalthis. There is an inland sea that is valuable for trade, and at least a third of the coast is owned by Hallandren. The area also suffers frequent earthquakes.

Hallandren is unique in the known world of Nalthis as being the only place that Tears of Edgli will grow, as well as being the only jungle climate. The growth of plants in the region is partly helped by investiture much like the Elendel Basin.

Idris is located to the north of Hallandren. It controls the passes through the mountains, which are very profitable for trade. It can be inferred that a few well-populated nations are located past these mountains and beyond the reach of the inland sea. Idris also contains some copper mines.

Flora and Fauna

Nalthis has diverse species of palms, savanna animals, and the Tears of Edgli. Elephants and Zebras are said to be exotic creatures from "the South." Whether this means they come from southern Hallandren or south of Hallandren is unclear.

History

Early History and Mythology

“Now, you may wonder why I must travel back so far. Should I not speak of the Manywar, of the shattering of kingdoms, of the five scholars, of Kalad the Usurper and his phanthom army? Those are the events we focus upon, the ones men know best. To speak only of them, however, ignores the history of three hundred years that led up to them.”

—Hoid on the history of Nalthis.

At an unknown date Nalthis was created, it is not old enough to have had fossils form on it. The system would be settled by Endowment who remains the sole Shard in the system. It is unknown when exactly humans arrived to the system but they brought with them myths about dragons. A Perpendicularity formed on the world and near it the Tears of Edgli began to grow. It is the only region on the planet where they can grow.

Early in its history the nation of Chedesh dominated the world and their sailors eventually reached the area that would later become known as Hallandren, the region was already inhabited by Pahn Kahl but they were dismissed as not a 'true' nation. While their they also discovered the Tears of Edgli for the first time. As the nation explored this new continent they headed Northwards and one Cheden died during the trip and became the first Returned. Remembered as their title Vo this individual declared the Five Visions and then died a week later. The men on his ship received his message and founded the kingdom of Hanald. The first monarch was decided to be the wife of Vo begining the Idrian royal family. This knew kingdom quickly grew lucrative due to the Tears of Edgli and their monopoly on the dyes allowed them to become a powerful economic force.

For most of their history the inhabitants of the planet were unaware of the art of Awakening. The death of Vo helped begin exploration into this art. Endowement would continue to create Returned as each Returned is a splinter of her, it has been noted however that her choices are not always the most consistent. She is also fine with people using their Breath to grant it to Returned.

Due to the importance of using your native language when using Awakening the development of the art in other cultures moved more slowly. Other countries treated awakening and Returned differently. In one Returned are used as slaves intended to heal the rich while another uses awakened objects for manual labour. Many religions consider Perfect Pitch a Divine manifestation.

The Manywar

Main article: The Manywar

Prelude to the Manywar

Main article: The Five Scholars

Austrism was the predominant religion of Hanald when it was founded and was followed by the Idrian royal family itself. At the same time the Cult of the Returned formed and began to worship the Returned believing that each individual had been sent from Austre in order to fulfil a mission. They were the individuals who discovered, maintained and named Warbreaker the Peaceful and Gloybringer.

Three hundred years after the arrival of Vo these returned would be renamed as Talaxin and Shashara respectively and joined with other Returned Arsteel, Yesteel and VaraTreledees to form the Five Scholars. The years preceeding the Manywar were ones of quick discovery about awakening leaded by the Scholars. Along their studies some of their member would become Worldhoppers, in particular VaraTreledees and Shashara both arrived on Roshar for a time and VaraTreledees spent some time on a planet that had entered the industrial revolution. Their discoveries about Awakening and their exploration of the Cosmere cemented their legacy as early scholars of the Cosmere by those at Silverlight.

Tensions between Handalan and its neighbours began to grew due to a wide variety of factors, their stranglehold on the worlds dye economy caused resentment to grow against them. Major discoveries in the art of awakening also worsened relations as it was discovered how to awaken Lifeless with a single breath instead of fifty, in addition to this Yesteel discovered ichor-alcohol. These discoveries allowed nations to double the size of their armies and made the already durable lifeless even stronger and longer lasting. The situation worsened even more when Shashara revealed both secrets to the entire world allowing every nation to benefit.

The Events of the Manywar

“I get out of hand, Vasher? Me? When's the last time I started a war? Slaughtered tens of thousands?”

—Denth to Vasher about his past.

Despite the increase in tensions however the Manywar was not properly triggered by any one of these factors. Instead a Returned had a vision about an upcoming war and told Talaxin about it who in turn spread the news to those in the nation of Handaln. Despite the vision however the Idrian monarchy refused to begin a pre-emptive war against their neighbours, frustrated Talaxin with the support of the people sparked a rebellion against them and disposed of their government. As a result of this Talaxin was renamed Kalad, the Usurper and rose to power. He began by ordering pre-emptive strikes against the kingdoms of Kuth and Huth to the North of Handaln.

In response to this a coalition known as the Pahn Unity formed to oppose Hanalan. Many nations went against it, with Kuth and Huth forming the main rivals to Kalad. The Five Scholars broke up as a result taking different sides in the war. Shashara sided with Kalak during the conflict while VaraTreledees attempted to work as a peacemaker in order to prevent the war. As the conflict only grew worse however he instead gave up with his efforts and assisted Hanalan in their war effort. By process of elimination it then seems that Arsteel and Yesteel both sided with Kuth and Huth during the conflict.

“I wanted to stop it. But by the time I realized what was happening, it had gone too far. It had taken on a life of its own.”

—Vasher on the Manywar.

The war was devastating and would be remembered in the history of Nalthis as one of its most deadly conflicts. A low estimate of the deaths measures them in the tens of thousands. This is partly because the Manywar was the first real conflict were Awakening and the Lifeless were put to actual use on the battle field. As the war waged more advancements were made in the art of creating Lifeless and other Awakened objects making the fighting worse and worse, during this time period Kalad also created his infamous Kalad's Phantoms. As the conflict raged both he and Shashara fell in love and eventually married one another.

Shortly afterwards it was decided to attempt to create a Shardblade, which they had seen on Roshar, using Awakening. After a period of research the pair created the sword known as Nightblood, the creation of the blade was done with some minor influence from Endowment, Investiture from Ruin was also involved in the process. The pair and VaraTreledees was pleased with the design of the blade the first time he saw it. Despite this Nightblood did not come out fully as intended. The first battle that Nightblood would be used in was the battle of 'Twilight Falls' where he was wielded by Shashara. The battle would serve as the final one of the Manywar and the leader of the Pahn Unity was slayed during the battle. Kalad got the chance to see what the blade could do in battle and was horrified by the results and loss of life. The pair began to argue with one another and during this debate Kalad learned that Shashara had planned to reveal to other nations how to design more weapons like Nightblood, in the same way she had done for the secrets about making better Lifeless. Unable to persuade Shashara Kalad felt like he had no choice but to kill her and did so with Nightblood.

“It's odd, what history does to a man. I guess people couldn't understand why I suddenly changed. Why I stopped fighting and why I brought the Phantoms back to seize control of my own kingdom. So they decided I must have been two people.”

—Vasher about his past.

Resolution of the Manywar

After this point Kalad moved to end the war, despite not changing his name historians reached the conclusion that he was in fact two different people and named the latter Peacegiver. According to legend he ended the war with negotiation but in actuality he admits that threatening to use his Phantoms played a role. By the time the war ended the nations of Huth and Kuth were already destroyed and upon learning of the faith of his sister VaraTreledees turned against Kalad desiring revenge. As part of ending the war Peacegiver founded the nation of Hallandren and began the lineage of the God Kings by granting them all political power in the kingdom. They also handed down the gift of their breaths to the God King accompanied by instructions on how to maintain it, by this stage Peacegiver was held with such reverence that his words were taken to heart. The Cult of the Returned, now the Iridescent Tones, took full power and began to manage the Court of Gods. Peacegiver dispersed his phantoms throughout the city secretly as the D'Denir Celabrin hiding them in plain sight.

The Idrian royal family did not return to Hallandren and instead remained in exile to the mountains of the North. They formed the nation of Idris there. The split between the two nations was so bad that they each developed their own terms for the surrounding geography, as the centuries went on however this distinction was lost and inhabitants of both kingdoms used the terms interchangeably. Austrism as well turned its back on Awakening and began to consider it an abomination. They also dismissed the worship of Returned as "pagan" beliefs. The nation of Tedradel, who played an unknown role in the war, would continue to have an antagonistic relationship with Hallandren ever since.

After the Manywar

In the three hundred years following the Manywar the kingdom of Hallandren prospered under the new government although over time corruption seeped in. Due to the system the most benevolent of the Returned died out quicker than their more selfish peers meaning over time the court was filled with the most selfish out of all the Returned. The Priesthood also continued their activites by cutting out the tongue of the God King and covering up the truth about their lineage. They covered up the removal of each God King with stories about how they healed the common people with their divine breath.

“Your people are in a state of rebellion against the rest of the kingdom.”

—Treledees to Siri

Relations between the kingdom and Idris worsened over the years as the Northern Passes Idris had control over were very tempting targets for Hallandren. Relations were also poor as the region was viewed as a rebellious province by the Court of Gods and not a true nation. Despite this Idris remained powerful with many allies north of the mountains. In order to try and maintain good relations king Dedelin negotiated a treaty where his eldest daughter would be sent to the Court once she was of age in order to introduce the Royal bloodline to the God Kings. This was accepted by the court.

Over the centuries the control and subjugation of the Pahn Kahl people grew worse. Their oppression over time reached the stage in which many presumed its culture was extinct and that they also worshipped the Returned. As the years went on its people grew tired of their position in Hallandren society and the few lowly jobs they were offered. Overtime talks of a rebellion began to spread and the Pahn Kahl began giving up their positions to other Pahn Kahl citizens in order to maintain their control in the court of Gods. Of particular note Bluefingers was given his job by his predecessor who was also in on the conspiracy. Now in position as a lead scribe in the Court of Gods Bluefingers began to set in motion the plan to overthrow the Hallandren government. His hope was to incite a war between Hallandren and Idris and use the resulting chaos to allow Pahn Kahl to rise up in society.

Around this time period VaraTreledees began to go under the name of Denth. He befriended Tonk Fah and felt that he could fix him by teaching him how to handle his murderous tendencies. The pair together took up mercenary work. Kalak took on his own alias of Vasher as a personal joke, Denth however does not find the reference amusing. He added a sheet to Nightblood in order to control him better.

Arsteel entered a relationship with Jewels. The pair would later join Denth and Tonk Fah as Arsteel was hoping of acting as a peace maker between him and Vasher so that the two could make amends. Through circumstances unknown it happened that Arsteel and Vasher entered a duel with one another, Vasher however misunderstood his intentions. While Arsteel only intended to subdue Vasher and use this as a chance to finally make the pair work together again however Vasher instead interpeted Arsteel joining with Denth and the duel as an attempt to kill him. As a result the duel ended when Vasher successfully murdered Arsteel. Upon discovering Arsteel's body Denth and his team decided to make him into a lifeless due to his skill as a swordsman in life. Denth was also motivated out of curiosity on if Returned could become Lifeless and Jewels wished to reunite with Arsteel in death. They succeeded in their attempt and the end result was Clod. Jewels would continue their relationship through Clod.

The Pahn Kahl Rebellion

Vahr's Rebellion

Prematurely another Pahn Kahl, Vahr, began their own rebellion. He had spent a decade getting the contacts needed for it and had persuaded his fellow workers to grant him their breaths so that he could grow in power. They did so and the influx of breaths from fellow like minded people made him even more dedicated to the cause. Vahr quickly rose up as a hero of the people and he got to work on creating an army to attack Hallandren. Along the way he received help from other nations worried about Hallandren, including Idris, and various crime lords in T'Telir.

Fearing it would draw too much attention to his own efforts Bluefingers leaked Vahr's location to the Hallandren authorities and had him arrested. As a result Vahr was apprehended and the rebellion fell apart. The allies Vahr had recruited didn't truly care for his cause and so with his arrest the movement stopped. The Kingdom of Idris was displeased with this as they had hoped that the rebellion would have taken attention away from them for a time, instead they found even more focus was put on them than ever before as Hallandren grew paranoid about its potential enemies. In order to stave off a potential war king Dedelin moved to fulfill his contract with Susebron but hesitated to send Vivenna. It was worried that if they sent her the court of Gods could use her as a hostage and Dedelin was too attached to Vivenna in order to sacrifice her. Instead it was decided that it would be better to send Siri to fulfill the contract.

by CarloswkArt

Vasher stealing Vahr's Breath before killing him

Hearing of Vahr's arrest Vasher saw he had a chance to get another large influx of breath and so set out to contact him. Vasher picked a fight at a bar and punched a priest, landing him in the God King's jail awaiting execution, he then took this chance to break out of his cell and persuaded Vahr to grant him his breaths so that Hallandren would not gain them, in return he promised to kill Vahr so that he could not be tortured for additional information.

Blue Fingers's Manipulation

Angry and feeling betrayed that her mission in life was taken from her Vivenna left Idris with Parlin and quickly left home in order to head to T'Telir. She used her sister as her motivation to do this but this was only an excuse. Siri herself grew annoyed and angry at her fathers choice and soon arrived at the Court of God's and was sent to meet the God King, Susebron, immediately. During the preparations she met Blue Fingers who immediately began manipulating her into not talking to the God King or anyone else lest she be executed. It was his plan to turn her to his own end and use her to inspire rebellion among those living in the Idrian slums. As part of this Siri is also told by Bluefingers that she has no duties to fill her day leaving her with nothing to do each day other than stew with her thoughts.

by Dan dos Santos

Kneeling in front of Susebron

By this time Denth had begun working for Bluefingers and as per his orders worked to cause the war. As part of this effort he made contact with Lemex and had him assist his own schemes. Over time Lemex grew increasingly reluctant to help and Denth decided it was time to kill him off with poison. After poisoning him they intercepted a message from Vivenna to Lemex about her mission to save Siri and seizing their chance Denth and Tonk Fah went to meet her. During this initial meeting he gained her trust and had her meet Lemex in his final moments where he was in a delirious state. Not wanting to reveal his true nature Denth lied to her and claimed Lemex was dying due to disease. Denth considered it important to take Lemex's breath for his own and attempted to subtly manipulate her into giving them to him. Unexpectedly however Lemex in a moment of sanity granted them to Vivenna, Vivenna due to her beliefs was horrified with this and wanted to remove the additional breaths but Denth lied and claimed there was no way to do so.

Siri meanwhile continued to be manipulated by Bluefingers who convinced her that there were those conspiring against her in the court. She believes him and begins to grow more concerned about her situation as increasingly annoyed with the God King. At the same time those in the court did grow worried due to believing that the decision to send Siri was a pre-planned move on the part of Idris instead of a last second decision. Concerned, and herself being manipulated by Bluefingers, Blushweaver went to try and persuade Lightsong as well as the other gods about the threat Siri could pose to the court of Gods and the need for them to prepare in the face of war.

“You should watch yourself, child. Not all here in the palace is as it seems. ”

—Bluefingers to Siri.

Denth and his team persuade Vivenna into trusting them further by claiming they have a contract that they intend to honor. The pair learned of Vivenna's goal and state that while they can't help her with that task they can get her in contact with people who could. They leave her to visit the Court of Gods with Parlin while they search Lemex's house. She is tailed by Jewels and attends at the same time Siri is to be presented to the court. Vivenna feels distrubed at the sight of Siri, believing her choice of dress to be something forced upon her rather than her own choice, and goes to leave but stays when she realizes the court is debating whether they should go to war against Idris or not. Two clear sides form in the debate with Blushweavers priest moving to argue that a war is needed. Lightsong grows uneasy at this due to recent visions he has been having about T'Telir burning.

by Howard Lyon

Upon returning to Lemex's house Denth and his team showed Vivenna a series of letters between Lemex and her father showing his long time work against Hallandren in order to further gain her trust. Vivenna agrees with her fathers conclusion that war is inevitable and decides to use the mercenaries to undermine Hallandren. Despite seemingly entertaining her own plans to prevent the war Denth in actuality undermined or cancelled her plans when she wasn't paying attention and manipulated her into worsening the situation and supporting his pre-existing plans. He also learns from Jewels that Vasher is in T'Telir. Around this time King Dedelin had soldiers sent to Hallendran in order to try and retrieve Vivenna but Denth and Tonk Fah killed them all and hid the bodies in the basement of their safehouse where Vivenna was not allowed to enter.

As part of his plan Bluefingers told Vasher about the secret tunnels under the Royal Court in the hope that it would help further worsen tensions if Vasher killed guards during the process. Denth had told Bluefingers about Vasher and his past and as a result Bluefingers presumed Vasher wanted to cause another war between Hallandren and Idris. He is mistaken and Vasher instead uses the information to conclude that a coup is being planned against the court, as well this it is Denth who kills a guard trying to reach Vasher. Siri meanwhile learned that Susebron lacked a tongue and was unable to speak. She learns that his knowledge of the world all stems from a childrens book that his mother read to him as a child, as a result he doesn't understand much about the world. Siri concluded that he is nothing more than a figure head for the priests and works to try and protect him as well as herself.

Lightsong began to realise the other Gods of the court all saw Idris as a threat and were seriously considering the prospect of a war. Seeing this he decides it is important to prevent the war and agrees to help Blushweaver, together they both have a meeting with Mercystar where Lightsong learns about the dead guard. Curious he decides to begin investigating. Along the way he begins to piece together what happened and also gains the Lifeless codes of Allmother. Through his efforts he and Blushweaver gain the commands of all the Lifeless armies.

“Do you know what I hate most about being a mercenary, princess?”

—Denth to Vivenna.

Vivenna meanwhile made contact with the criminal gangs of the city that Vahr used to be working with and tries to persuade them to help her own effort. She leaves the meeting disappointed in their lack of dedication to Idris or Austerism. Seeing the success she is having Bluefingers changes his plans and realises he no longer needs Siri to inspire the Idrian's to rebel, instead he decides it would be better to have Siri die in order to show how depraved Hallandren is. Vivenna also finds bodies left behind by Vasher after he murders some of Denth's men, Denth shows her these as prove of how dangerous Vasher truly is. She ends up in an argument with Parlin when she discovers he has fallen in love with Jewels. Angry Vivenna parted from the others and was kidnapped by Vasher. When Parlin announced their love to Jewels he was rejected and went to return to Idris. Before he could leave however Denth discovered that Vivenna was missing and concluded that Parlin had something to do with it, as a result they tied him up and tortured him for information. Denth left Tonk Fah alone with Parlin and Tonk Fah ended up killing him while tormenting him. This annoyed Denth greatly but he was more concerned with where Vivenna had disappeared to and focused his efforts on finding her. Before they could return Vivenna returned to the safehouse and explored the basement trying to find the others, Tonk Fah hid from her view, along the way she discovered the corpses of her fathers soldiers and Tonk Fah's pets. By the time Denth and Jewels returned it was too late and Vivenna discovered their true nature. She escaped from them all and wandered off to hide in the city as a Drab.

The Rebellion

“When this is through, Princess, Idris will fight until either it or Hallandren is destroyed.”

—Bluefingers to Siri.

The day before the rebellion Siri was put under more pressure from Treledees in order to produce an heir making her grow more suspicious of his intentions. Lightsong also manages to obtain Allmothers lifeless commands meaning that between him and Blushweaver they have complete control over the armies of Hallandren. Vivenna meanwhile is rescued by Vasher who discovers how she has been tricked by Denth and explains how he is trying to cause the war to Vivenna, together they move to the Idrian slums and work to try and encourage people to not partake in the war. Susebron and Siri decide among themselves that the best option for them is to have the God King assert his authority with the priests and move to do so. Vasher and Vivenna also realise that Denth kidnapped one of the priests, Nanrovah, daughter and have been holding her hostage in order to make them argue to incite the war. They go rescue the child and convince Nanrovah to argue against the war movement now but find it is too late.

Nanrovah keeps to their word and argues against the war but their opinion is not a popular one at this time and their switch in rhetoric too sudden. During the debate it is noted that Siri was not at the Court of Gods, this is because Siri was escorted away from those dressed as priests and not allowed out in public. Siri believes this is because the priests have finally turned against her but in actuality they have grown concerned about a potential riot and are moving to try and protect her from the expected violence. The vote on whether there is to be a war or not falls onto Lightsong but he abstains from the vote. Both these events panics Bluefingers and he decides now is the time to strike, her orders Blushweaver to be taken and for the rebellion to begin.

by Connor Chamberlain

Vasher using Awakening

Later that day Vasher decides to break into the God Kings palace in the hope of preventing the war, along the way however he is apprehended by Denth's mercenaries and begins to be tortured by him. While this is taking place his mercenaries have also moved, killed and replaced the priests outside Siri's door. The Priests realised something was happening and went to rally their own forces, they are still convinced however that this is because of the vote about the potential war and not Pahl Kahl rebels. As this is happening Lightsong decides to go down into the tunnels beneath T'Telir in order to investigate what is happening. Along the way he discovered that Blushweaver had been captured and went to save her but was captured himself. Denth's forces already got the lifeless commands from Blushweaver and then attempted to pressure Lightsong to hand over his lifeless controls but he refuses until they go and execute Blushweaver. The rebels also managed to take Suesbron and goes to execute him, before they can do so however Lightsong gives up his Divine Breath in order to return Suesbron's tongue to him.

During the chaos Tredeles goes to save Siri and moves to evacuate her from the palace, before she is taken away to 'safety' by Bluefingers she realises the truth but it is too late, in the battle Tredeles dies. The Lifeless are sent out of T'Telir in order to attack Idris and Siri is sent away by Bluefingers in order to be executed. Meanwhile Vasher is released by Vivenna and goes to duel Denth, while dueling Denth Vasher used the same method that killed Arsteel on him and won. With his newly returned tongue Suesbron also manages to save Siri and apprehends Blue Fingers. In the aftermath Vasher reveals himself as Peacegiver to the public and grants Suesbron control of the D'Denir celabrin so that they can go destroy the lifeless armies.

After the Rebellion

“There were five of us. Me, Denth, Shashara, Arsteel, and Yesteel. It looks like Yesteel has resurfaced, finally.”

—Vasher to Vivenna

Following the death of Denth Tonk Fah and Jewels went to make contact with Yesteel who resides in one of the kingdoms north of the mountains. Without Denth to guide him Tonk Fah grew more violent while Jewel's hoped that Yesteel knew of a way to restore Artsteel's memories and personality. Yesteel himself became intent on reforging the kingdoms of Huth and Kuth using the secret to create Nightblood like weapons.

Cosmere

The Shard Endowment has been confirmed to be present on Nalthis. This has had the effect that every human born on Nalthis is born with one Breath, the source of energy for Awakening and Returning. Endowment is related to the flowers which grow around T'Telir, the capital city of Hallandren. Endowment has been known to revive recently deceased people, awarding them a single Divine Breath under the requirement that they consume a normal Breath once a week to stay alive. It is believed, and confirmed for at least three characters, that all Returned come back to fulfill some divine goal. It is unknown what Endowment's purpose is, or how long she has been doing this. Warbreaker accounts for only a brief history, which mentions Vo as being the "first Returned", according to the Idris religion.

Trivia

• Nalthians know what dragons are.
• Nazh finds Nalthis too colourful.

Notes

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