User:Rasarr/Endowment and Edgli

To Endowment and Edgli

Endowment

{{shard info
|image=Endowment by Heatherly.png
|shard=Endowment
|vessel=[[Edgli]]{{wob ref|2106}}
|status=Whole
|splinters=Divine [[Breath]]
|magic=[[Awakening]]
|residence=[[Nalthis]]
|books=[[Warbreaker]]
}}

Endowment is one of the sixteen Shards of Adonalsium. The Shard's Vessel is Edgli. She is located on Nalthis, and is the only Shard present there.

Intent

Endowment's intent is not entirely clear; it's likely related to giving or bestowing gifts or talents upon others. The intent does not seem to influence Edgli in all manners, as she is still capable of refusing giving aid to Hoid. The prime example of the intent's influence is in the magic system of Awakening, as Breath can only be given, and cannot be forcefully taken.

Associated Magic

by Ari Ibarra

An Awakener using her Breath

Breath and Awakening

For more information, see Awakening.

Nalthis' only known magic system is Awakening -- the use of Breath, Endowment's Investiture in gaseous form, to enact a variety of effects, typically tied to animating inanimate objects. Every Nalthian is born with a single Breath, and can bestow it onto other people or objects. Giving away one's Breath makes one into a drab, which makes one prone to depression and sickness. By contrast, holding more Breath bestows a variety of benefits, the number of which increases with the number of Breaths held; the tiers where one acquires new abilities are called Heightenings.

Breaths are bestowed upon others with Commands. The primary command is "My life to yours. My Breath become yours." However, hundreds of other Commands can be used to bestow Breath onto inanimate objects or dead bodies. Through this, they can be animated to perform a specific task. Commands can range from simple, such as "Hold when thrown" to complex, such as "Fetch keys". The more complex the Command, the more Breath it requires. Additionally, animating objects with Breath requires color; a nearby source of vivid color is required, and will be bleached, in order for the Command to take effect.

Breaths can also be used to manipulate and store memories, although specifics of how are unclear.

Divine Breath and the Returned

For more information, see Returned.

Endowment can create splinters of herself called Divine Breaths, and bestow them upon the recently deceased. This brings them back to life; such people are known as the Returned. The Returned have little to no memory of their previous life, but they do retain any skills they've had while alive. Their appearance also changes, in accordance to how they perceive themselves and the influence of local culture on their image of a "god". With some skill, the Returned can change their appearance to some extent, though it is no true shapeshifting.

The Divine Breath immediately grants the Returned the effects of the Fifth Heightening. However, the Returned must consume at least one Breath a week; otherwise, after their Divine Breath is consumed and, with nothing to support their existence, they die. They can also choose to bestow their Divine Breath upon others, which typically results in a massive feat of power, often tied to healing. This will, likewise, kill them. This act is often tied to the reason they were Returned in the first place -- a potential Returned is shown a vision of the future by Endowment, and chooses to come back based on that, although the memory of it fades away until it is needed.

The Tears of Edgli

For more information, see Tears of Edgli.

The Tears of Edgli are a special flower that grows only in Hallandren, near Endowment's perpendicularity. They come in a variety of colors and make for extremely good dye; they are also more efficient when used as a source of color for Awakening. This is because, having grown near the perpendicularity, the Tears contain some of Endowment's investiture seeping out of the ground.

Other

Endowment has some capacity to perceive the future and bestow those visions upon others; she communes with people as a disembodied voice to do so. She also has the capacity to smite people on her planet. Perhaps related to this, she appears to have keen awareness of who enters and leaves her planet; she is capable of detecting Hoid's presence where other Shards have trouble spotting him on their own planets.

History

by Heatherly

Endowment ignoring Hoid

Creation

“No good can come of two Shards settling in one location. It was agreed that we would not interfere with one another, and it disappoints me that so few of the Shards have kept to this original agreement. ”

—Endowment

The Shard of Endowment was created, like all others, at the Shattering of Adonalsium, and picked up by Edgli. Eventually, she settled in Nalthian system.

Letters to Hoid

Endowment wrote the first Oathbringer letter to Hoid. She believes that Rayse is not a threat and is unsympathetic to the deaths of Aona and Skai, as they had broken their pact.

Later she was contacted by Harmony. She responded favourably to his overtures.

Trivia

• She is fine with her Breath being used to feed the Returned.
• The Shard of Endowment is the one Hoid would have taken if he wanted a Shard. It might also be the one Brandon Sanderson would take.
• In the Well of Ascension's original ending, Endowment was one of many Shards which saved Sazed from Marsh.

== Notes ==
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Edgli

{{character
|image=Endowment by zoethatcher.jpg
|abilities={{tag+|shard|Endowment}}
|titles=[[Endowment]]
|world=Nalthis
|universe=[[Cosmere]]
|books=[[Warbreaker]]
}}

Edgli is a woman who is the Vessel of the Shard Endowment. The Tears of Edgli are named after her.

She purposefully Splinters herself in a controlled manner to create Returned, though how she chooses who returns is not yet known at this time.

There are customs to go through in Nalthis in the Cognitive Realm, though it is not known if Edgli had a hand in creating this.

Notes

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