User:Thegatorgirl00/History of Roshar

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History

Pre-Desolation Roshar

Creation and Early Inhabitants

The planet of Roshar predates the Shattering. The continent was specifically grown by Adonalsium. Much of the ecology of the planet existed from this time, including the highstorms and the spren. The singers werre the primary inhabitants of Roshar at this time and are likely the Dawnsingers spoken of in modern times. At some point after the Shattering, Honor and Cultivation settled on Roshar.

The Expulsion and Early Interactions

“ They came from another world, using powers that we have been forbidden to touch. Dangerous powers, of spren and Surges. They destroyed their lands and have come to us begging ”

— From the Eila Stele

Humans fled to Roshar from Ashyn, another planet in the Rosharan System. They had destroyed the planet using what Honor implied to be the dawnshards. Honor and Cultivation commanded the singers to take the humans in despite the forbidden powers they had relating to spren and Surges, and they were given Shinovar to live in since Shinovar could support the plants and animals they brought.{[book ref|sa3|113}} With the humans came Odium. The humans, possibly with Odium's influence, grew dissatisfied with what they were given. The conflict between the invading humans and the singers living on Roshar became the First Desolation.

A Vorin perspective on the history of mankind by Greg Call

The Heraldic Epochs

The Last Desolation

“A…a decision has been made. It is time for the Oathpact to end.”

—Jezrien's words to Kalak

At the end of the Last Desolation, nine of the ten Heralds had survived the fighting. Like usual, they were supposed to return to Braize to hold back the Fused. Knowing they could not face more torture, however, they came up with a plan. Taln, the only Herald to have never broken during the millennia of Desolations and the only Herald who died, would remain on Braize himself. They had been warned that lingering on Roshar could lead to the start off anoter Desolation, but Ishar claimed that Taln by himself would be enough to hold back the Desolations and maintain the Oathpact. Rather than tell humanity the truth, the Heralds told everyone that they had finally won the fight. This deception lasted for four-thousand five-hundred years, when Taln finally broke under the torture.

The Era of Solitude

The False Desolation

“ Something must be done about the remnants of Odium’s forces. The parsh, as they are now called, continue their war with zeal, even without their masters from Damnation. ”

— Drawer 30-20, first emerald

The False Desolation began when Ba-Ado-Mishram learned how to Connect with the majority of the singers, giving them forms of power and access to Voidlight. The Radiants, unaware of how she did this, sought a way to end the fighting for good, as the Heralds had promised them. The fighting became particularly intense at this time, as the singers made a push towards Feverstone Keep, possibly as part of a plan to capture Rall Elorim.

Working together, the scholars among the Radiants theorized that an Unmade could be imprisoned like a regular spren. That devised a plan to trap Ba-Ado-Mishram and prevent her from Connected with the singers and providing them with Voidlight. This plan would require Melishi, the only Bondsmith of his generation, and a special prison, likely a perfect gemstone. Although Melishi was confident the plan would succeed in destroying the Voidbringers, Naze-daughter-Kuzodo warned of unintended side effects. Although the plan seems to have succeeded, as Ba-Ado-Mishram has not been seen in modern times unlike other Unmade, Naze-daughter-Kuzodo's warning was correct. Because she had been Connected to all the singers, their Connection and Identity was torn out of them, creating slaveform or parshmen. The Radiants' horror for what happened likely contributed to the Recreance.

The Recreance

The Day of Recreance was when the Knights Radiant abandoned their oaths and killed their spren. They discovered that the singers were the original inhabitants of Roshar and humans took their land after destroying their homeworld with surges. Honor, who had ensured previous generations of the justness of their actions, was dying and raved that they would destroy Roshar. The Radiants broke their oaths to prevent this.

The Shardblades and Shardplate left behind caused men to fight one another over them. Unlike the other orders, the Skybreakers did not break their oaths and remained in hiding over the years.

The Hierocracy and the War of Loss

The Hierocracy began when the Vorin Church decided to conquer the world and run the government rather than just provide spiritual guidance. They claimed their conquering was for the good of the people. Some of the most powerful ardents claimed to have visions from the Almighty, which they used to solidify their rule and obfuscate their religion. One of their main goals was to destroy knowledge of the failures of Vorinism, including Shadesmar, the Knights Radiant, and the Recreance. They were primarily successful, as even the major libraries on Roshar are missing this information.

Before the Hierocracy could spread to the west, the Sunmaker united the princedoms of Alethkar to drive out the HIerocracy. They fought in many epic battles the likes of which have not been seen since in what came to be known as the War of Loss. The Sunmaker successfully cast down the Hierocracy and stated the visions were a fraud. The central leadership of the church was destroyed and split into mostly independent devotaries.

The Scouring of Aimia

What exactly occurred during the Scouring of Aimia is unknown but it appears that the vast majority of Aimia's ecosystem collapsed, leading to the extinction of the lanceryn and the near extinction of the larkin. Most creatures there are quite rare since the scouring. The island of Akinah, however, was not destroyed and is still protected from outsiders by the Sleepless. Hessi indicates in Mythica that Dai-Gonarthis may have been responsible for the scouring.