Roshar

Roshar
by Isaac Stewart
Shards	Honor, Cultivation
Perpendicularities	Honor's Perpendicularity, Cultivation's Perpendicularity
Investitures	Surgebinding, Old Magic, Voidbinding
System	Rosharan system
Universe	Cosmere

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Roshar is the native name for the planet on which The Stormlight Archive is set. It is also the name of the supercontinent on which the main events of the series take place. People from Roshar are called Rosharans.

Geography and Ecology

At one point in Roshar's past there were no large landmasses. The supercontinent was designed by Adonalsium, following the shape of a Julia set (a mathematical formula that gives a geometrical pattern when given a seed number).

Gravitational acceleration on Roshar is notably lower than usual, at 6.87 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. These yield a planetary mass of 3.387×10²⁴ kilograms. 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. It covers roughly 4×10⁷ square kilometers.

The percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere of Roshar is higher than standard cosmere.

The rainwater in highstorms is laced with a sort of slurry called crem. When crem dries, it hardens into rock. 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. 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.

Map of Roshar by Isaac Stewart

Climate

With the exception of Shinovar and the occasional well-sheltered lait, all of Roshar is frequently ravaged by powerful highstorms, massive hurricanes travelling from east to west. These storms come frequently and, though they do not appear to follow a simple pattern, stormwardens are able to accurately predict their schedule through complex mathematics. As a result, Shinovar is the only place on Roshar that has soil.

The one consistent aspect of the Rosharan climate is the Weeping. The Weeping 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 high storm. There are typically fewer highstorms in the weeks leading up to the Weeping. The seasons following the weeping typically have weaker storms, making them good for farming. Beyond this, the seasons are about as random as the highstorms. They can be roughly predicted by stormwardens, but only tend to last a few weeks and don't follow any obvious pattern. The characteristics of winter, spring, summer and autumn line up fairly well with what we expect from those seasons on Earth.

Ecology

For a list of Rosharan flora and fauna, see :Category:Rosharan lifeforms.

The shape and form of Rosharan ecology is influenced by four major factors: lower gravity, higher oxygen content, highstorms and spren. The higher oxygen content and the lower gravity permit the existence of megafauna comparable only to the largest sandlings on Taldain, while several species of animals are capable of forming spren bonds, further augmenting their capabilities. However, the most visually notable feature of Rosharan ecology is the way vast majority of them adapted to highstorms. Multiple species of both flora and fauna have developed shells to protect themselves from extreme weather, withdrawing into them whenever any danger approaches.

Several species are noted as having body parts made of stone, such as the bark of dalewillow or hooves of Ryshadiums. As stone doesn't grow naturally, three possibilities must be considered:

• The substance is actually stone, somehow either grown or gathered by the creatures,
• The substance is organic, but highly similar in appearance to stone,
• The substance is hardened crem, deliberately cultivated by those creatures.

Flora

Rosharan flora had to adapt to several conditions not found on Earth or Earth-like worlds, such as the severe weather and scarcity of soil.

In highstorm-heavy regions, laits like this are the oases of plant life.

The largest family of plants on Roshar are the rockbuds. They are characterized by having a thick outer shell from which they take their name, and tendrils, which retract into the shell upon detecting danger. The Rosharan grass, which acts in this way, is likely another subspecies of rockbud, albeit close enough in appearance to Shin grass to retain the name. Similar mechanism has been developed by vinebuds, which grow from a sturdy, yet elastic stem and, rather than spreading their tendrils along the ground, waft them in the air, akin to anemones.

Further to the east, where the highstorms are the strongest, even such measures are not enough. There, plants grow mostly in sheltered areas, such as the chasms and laits, while remaining sparse in the open air. More fragile flora, such as vines and weeds, grow and flourish in such terrain, though some, like knobweed, seem to prefer flatlands, utilizing highstorms deliberately to spread.

Roshar does have larger flora. Some trees, including the aforementioned dalewillow, have trunks made of stone while others, such as the jella, augment their wooden bark by accumulating crem. Like rockbuds, they withdraw their fronds into the trunks when sensing danger. There are also species such as makam and cobwood, which appear to be sturdy enough to sustain highstorms without added protection.

Human uses

Some species of native Rosharan flora are edible for humans. This includes a number of fruits as well as a rice-like plant called tallew, and lavis, a type of rockbud that produces grain. Tallew and lavis appear to be the major ingredients of Rosharan diet, with massive farmlands devoted to them throughout the continent. In the West, the same niche appears to be filled by clema

Additionally, there exist a number of plants with known healing properties. This includes antiseptics, such as the sap of knobweed and fourleaf, as well as lister's oil; treatments for specific diseases, such as bitterleaf for epilepsy and bloodivy for grindings; anaesthetics like winterwort and firemoss; and other, more specific medicines, such as denocax, which encourages skin healing.

By contrast, several species of plant are noted to have detrimental effect on humans. Firemoss is known to be highly addictive, and blackbane's leaves, once dried, are extremely poisonous. Eating shells of rockbuds is similarly known to be unhealthy, although the Unkalaki are capable of eating them without problems, likely thanks to their singer ancestry. While not all plants are edible, some, like breachtree and narbin, are grown to make fabrics.

A Chasmfiend, with gleaming mandras surrounding it. They allow the greatshell to exist despite its enormous size.

Fauna

Roshar contains a wide variety of fauna, most of which appears to be shelled. While most creatures are native to the world, some have been introduced into Roshar during human exodus from Ashyn, among them mammals and birds.

Like Rosharan flora, the animals of Roshar have also adapted to their unusual circumstances. Several species, including the largest, grow massive shells which can protect them from highstorms. Others hide in dens or, in case of small sarpenthyn, ooze between the cracks in the rock.

Spren symbiosis

Multiple native species, as well as at least one imported animal, have formed symbiotic relationships with spren. This appears to be faciliated by gemhearts, crystals that grow naturally within the bodies of those creatures.

• Larger animals on Roshar utilize bonds with Mandras, or luckspren, to decrease the pull of gravity on them, allowing creatures such as Chasmfiends to exist without collapsing upon themselves. In the case of Skyeels, the same bond, coupled with smaller size, permits them to fly.
• The native sentient species, the Singers, bond with a variety of spren to attain a number of forms, which alter their mental state, biological functions and appearance. While bonded, the spren remain within the gemheart.
• Ryshadiums bond with what appears to be musicspren, attaining higher intelligence and physical strength. It is, however, unclear so far whether or not they have gemhearts.
• The fish in the Purelake gain various medicinal benefits through spren bonds.

Non-shelled animals

Mammals dwell mostly in Shinovar, though a few species have been successfully exported East. Those include horses, which are widely used as far east as Alethkar, and hogs, which are the primary source of non-soulcast meat. While most mammals are domesticated, hogs, as well as minks, can be found in the wild. Several species of birds are known to exist, although they are all known as "chickens" among Rosharans. This includes actual chickens as well as more colourful birds, such as parrots. In contrast to mammals, they do not seem to do well in the wild, as all examples observed so far are domesticated. Amphibians, such as the lurg can also be found, as well as wide variety of fish, including both salt- and seawater ones. Cephalopods also exist, albeit with unusual properties - zatalef, for example, is described as bat-like, implying the ability to fly. A category without a clear Earth analogue are sarpenthyn, which appear to be similar to both mollusks and cephalopods, albeit without shells and with smaller number of arms.

Shelled animals

The largest known group of animals on Roshar are crustaceans. Those can be of various sizes, from finger-long to four-stories-high. They are all noted as having purple blood and multiple stages of life, with the initial stage being called a larva and the process of switching between stages called pupation. The creation of shells is aided by the presence of crem in the rain, which the creatures can process into minerals.

One of the largest crustacean family are cremlings, a group of tiny, multi-legged scavengers preying mostly on deceased animals, although they will also feed on uncovered plants after highstorms. Cremlings come in variety of colours, with different features, numbers of legs, and behaviours. While most are individuals, some are part of the Sleepless swarms, and as such share a sentient hivemind. The Sleepless cremlings are bred for particular purposes, such as imitating human body parts.

By Ashley Coad A Santhid. Roshar's greatest creatures are far larger than humans.

Other than the cremlings, Roshar also features a number of larger crustaceans that are nonetheless smaller than humans. This group includes predatory species, such as the Axehound, herbivores like Axehind, and near-cremling sized creatures like leggers and larkins. The larkins in particular are unusual for their flight, as well as the ability to pull stormlight out of other creatures and absorb it.

The largest family of animals on Roshar are known as Greatshells, which exist both on land and in the seas. All greatshells possess gemhearts and utilize them to attract Mandras to decrease their own weight. The land greatshells include domesticated herbivores known as chulls and two large predatory species, the chasmfiend and the extinct lanceryn. The marine greatshells include the Yu-nerig, which comes on land to pupate and is known to feed on humans, and the Tai-na, the largest animals known to inhabit the Cosmere. Their legs are said to be sixty feet long, while the body itself stretches hundreds of feet tall. The back of Tai-na, which sticks out above water, is an ecosystem of its own, inhabited by multiple species of plants and animals, as well as humans.

The Santhid, a massive marine species with large shell and a number of tendrils, might be considered a greatshell, and houses its own ecosystem, much like the Tai-na; however, as they were considered half-mythical until very recently, it's impossible to state so with any certainty.

Domestication

Large number of domesticated creatures on Roshar are the imports from Ashyn. All forms of birds are domesticated; some for food, while others as pets. Hogs are kept for meat, minks, like birds, are pets, while horses are common riding mounts. Of the local wildlife, axehounds are often kept and bred, similar to dogs, while chulls are the primary mount for hauling cargo or for riders who cannot afford to keep a horse. Another greatshell species called a gumfrem is kept for its gemhearts, which can be used to Soulcast meat.

Sapience

Due to the presence of the Shard Cultivation, the creatures on Roshar have higher chance of developing sapience. So far, behaviour indicating sapience has been observed with three species, Ryshadium horses, Tai-na and Santhids, all of which appear to have above average understanding of humans.

Separately from this, Roshar is known to have developed three independent sentient species: Sleepless (known also as Dysian Aimians), Siah Aimians and Singers. While the Sleepless are hive minds of cremlings, both Siah Aimians and Singers are humanoid, and capable of breeding with humans.

History

For a list of Rosharan events and eras, see :Category:Rosharan events .

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 were 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. They were equally Invested in the planet originally, though the balance shifted after Honor's death.

The Expulsion and Early Interactions

Main article: Expulsion

“ 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. 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 Desolations

Main article: Desolations

The Desolations were conflicts between mankind and Voidbringers. The first Desolation occurred when humans invaded Roshar from the land they were given. Some of the singers were infused with Odium's Investiture and became the Fused. The Fused did not pass into the Beyond and were instead reborn into the bodies of singers. To combat this, the Heralds made a deal with Honor called the Oathpact. This deal sealed away the Fused on Braize. However, there was a loophole. The Heralds could choose to allow the Fused to return to Roshar, so they were caught on Braize and tortured. The return of Heralds and Fused and the conflict that occurred became known as the Desolations. The spren started to mimic the herald's Honorblades and the Knights Radiant were formed. They helped to fight and rebuild society after a Desolation.

The Last Legion

See also: Listeners

At some point during the Desolations, a group of singers known as the Last Legion were sent to fight in the farthest plains, most likely the ruins of Natanatan on the Shattered Plains. They followed the commands of the Fused and took whatever forms were forced upon them. Seeking freedom, they fled during a highstorm and took on dullform to escape the Fused's control. In order to avoid forgetting their knowledge, they composed songs, including Song of Listing, Song of Secrets and Song of Histories. They didn't, however, know how to transform into any forms except dullform and mateform by themselves. They planned to remain living as tribes and refugees, unnoticed and forgotten, as they studied and rediscovered the forms. Although it is not known exactly when this happened, it must have been prior to the Last Desolation as the Fused remained trapped on Braize from then until the True Desolation.

The Last Desolation

Main article: 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. As usual, they were supposed to return to Braize to hold back the Fused. However, knowing they could not face more torture, they came up with an alternative plan. Taln, the only Herald never to have broken during the millennia of Desolations and the only Herald who died, would remain on Braize by himself. They had been warned that lingering on Roshar could lead to the start off another Desolation, but Ishar claimed that Taln by himself would be enough to hold back the Desolations and maintain the Oathpact. Rather than tell mankind the truth, the Heralds proclaimed that they had finally won the war against the Voidbringers. This deception lasted for four thousand five hundred years, until Taln finally broke under the torture.

The Era of Solitude

“The Voidbringers were cast back into the Tranquiline Halls. The Heralds followed to force them out of heaven as well, and Roshar’s Heraldic Epochs ended. Mankind entered the Era of Solitude. The modern era. ”

—Kabsal to Shallan

The False Desolation

Main article: 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

Main article: Day of Recreance

During the lead up to the Day of Recreance, many events occurred which demoralized the Knights Radiant. The Sibling, for some unknown reason, withdrew from Urithiru and forced the Knights to abandon their ancestral home. Many Radiants blamed this on a perceived unworthiness, including increased conflicts between the Windrunners and Skybreakers, but scholars of the time disagreed. This concern extended to potential infiltration by Unmade. While this was occurring, the False Desolation was coming to a close. The presumed success in imprisoning Ba-Ado-Mishram leading to the singers having their Connection and Identity ripped out of them likely influenced the Radiants. In the midst of this turmoil, the Radiants discovered the truth about the origins of humans on Roshar. The singers had been the original inhabitants of Roshar. The humans came as refugees from their homeworld, which they had destroyed with surges. After being taken in by the singers and given Shinovar, they invaded Roshar and started the Desolations. While Honor had comforted previous generations who learned this, this time he was dying. He raved about the dawnshards and promised the Radiants they would destroy Roshar like they had their homeworld.

As a result of these revelations, the nine of the ten orders decided to abandon their oaths and kill their spren. They believed that this would prevent the destruction of Roshar Honor warned them about. At the locations they left their plate and blades, men quickly began fighting over the weapons, leading to much death and destruction. The Radiants, other than the Skybreakers, were quickly turned on and killed because of the sense of betrayal felt. Society for both spren and humans drastically changed in the aftermath. Those with shardblades quickly consolidated their power, including using Arts and Majesty to justify women not wielding them. It is likely that this is when lighteyes truly came to power. The genocide decimated the populations of spren societies. Most of the survivors were children forced to spend centuries without nurture or guidance. Some societies took two thousand years to fully recover.

The Hierocracy and the War of Loss

Main articles: Hierocracy and 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, Sadees, 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.

Sadees's win in the War of Loss affected much of eastern Roshar. Sadees declared himself king of Alethkar and began a conquest of Roshar. Although the extent of his empire is not exactly known, Herdaz and Azir were both included. He committed genocide in Azir and killed ten percent of the population. His empire quickly collapsed after his death, however, as he did not choose an heir, and his ten sons divided the kingdom into princedoms and became highprinces. The effects of the Hierocracy on Vorinism can still be felt in the modern time. The central leadership of the church was destroyed and split into mostly independent Devotaries. The ardents became slaves who could not own land or property. Their revisions to historical texts also perpetuate, and it is difficult to find information about pre-Hierocracy history or the Knights Radiant.

The Scouring of Aimia

Main article: 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.

Culture and Society

For a list of Rosharan cultural topics, see :Category:Rosharan culture.

Nations

Roshar's population categorizes their history into a number of epochs. Most notable is the Silver Kingdoms Epoch, or the Heraldic Epoch, when the Knights Radiant kept the peace. They protected Roshar from their home, the great city of Urithiru. The ten Silver Kingdoms are:

• Iri
• Shin Kak Nish
• Sela Tales
• Aimia
• Makabakam
• Valhav
• Rishir
• Alethela
• Natanatan
• Thalath

In the the modern era, the Era of Solitude, the current division of twenty-six countries and regions in Roshar are:

• Thaylenah
• Frostlands
• Alethkar
• Herdaz
• Jah Keved
• Tu Bayla
• Triax
• Tu Fallia
• Greater Hexi
• Marat
• Tukar
• Emul
• Azir
• Yulay
• Marabethia
• Babatharnam
• Desh
• Yezier
• Alm
• Tashikk
• Liafor
• Steen
• Aimia
• Shinovar
• Iri
• Rira

Calendar

The Rosharan calendar is divided up into ten months, with ten weeks each. Both the months and the weeks are named after the numbers on the Ars Arcanum, and are sometimes combined into abbreviations. Such abbreviations have the full name of the month and two suffixes, for week and day. Each week is five days, so the year in Roshar is 500 days, ultimately defined by the time between two Weepings. Although the Rosharan year is 500 days long, these days are shorter than on Earth - coming in at 20 standard hours - and a Rosharan year is equivalent to 1.1 Earth years. As an example Chachel means it's the third day of the week. Interestingly, Kaladin, who gets paid once a week, refers to payday as "third pass". Presumably, this means that another way to talk about days of the week is by saying first, second, third, fourth or fifth pass.

Abbreviation Examples

Abbreviation	Month	Week	Day
Chachanan	Chach	Nan	Nan
Jesachev	Jes	Chach	Vev
Kaktach	Kak	Tanat	Chach

Currency

Main Article: Spheres

The primary form of currency found on Roshar are spheres, pieces of gemstone encased in a sphere of glass with one side flattened to prevent rolling. The gemstones can be any of the ten Polestones and there are three denominations: chip, mark, and broam. The ten gemstones are organized into five value levels with some gem types having equivalent values. These value levels are determined by Soulcasting properties, so diamonds, which can create quartz, crystal, and glass, have the lowest value, and emeralds, which can create grain, have the highest. Spheres, like all gems on Roshar, have the ability to hold and leak stormlight. Spheres with light are referred to as infused and those without are referred to as dun. Although dun spheres can be used as currency, people are suspicious of them because light is the easiest way to determine a sphere is real.

Because of their ability to hold stormlight, spheres are commonly used on Roshar as a source of light. The light from spheres is considered to be steadier and more consistent than traditional light sources such as candles. It can be expensive, however, as spheres are also used for currency, so the use of spheres as a source of light is often a sign of wealth. Diamonds are considered the best light source because it is both the cheapest and the closest to natural light.

The denomination of spheres in eastern Roshar is weaker than in the west, with some people drilling holes in spheres to carry them on strings or using chunks of gemstone instead.

Planetary System

Roshar and its surrounding celestial bodies

For more information, see Rosharan system.

Roshar is the second planet from its sun. It has several notable heavenly bodies, including three moons. The first and smallest moon is violet Salas. The middle moon is Nomon, which is a bright, pale blue. The final moon is Mishim, which is smaller than Nomon and green. The Shin refer to the moons as the Three Sisters, and call each moon by its order, with Salas being the First Sister, Nomon the Second Sister and Mishim the Third Sister, while in Natanatan, Nomon is considered to be male. All three moons rise and fall in the same order every night and have highly unstable orbits, suggesting they were placed artificially.

Other notable features of Rosharan sky are Taln's Scar and Reya's Tear. The Scar is a great swath of red stars that stand out against the white ones. It is important in Rosharan astrology, particularly its position on one's seventh birthday. The Tear is a particularly bright star, named after a single tear shed by a woman named Reya from Rosharan mythology.

There are two other telluric planets in the Rosharan system: Braize and Ashyn. Both of them are currently inhabited. The remaining celestial bodies in the system are ten gas giants, named after Vorin numerals, which are separeted from the telluric planets by an asteroid belt.

Notes

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