Sel

Sel
by Isaac Stewart
Shards	Devotion, Dominion
Perpendicularities	The Lake, Second perpendicularity
Investitures	AonDor, ChayShan, Dakhor, Forgery, Bloodsealing
System	Selish system
Universe	Cosmere

“ Sel—home to multiple empires that, uniquely, have remained somewhat ignorant of one another. It is a willful kind of ignorance, with each of the three great domains pretending that the others are mere blips on the map, barely worth notice. ”

— Khriss

Sel is a Shardworld of the cosmere and is the setting of the books Elantris and The Emperor's Soul, as well as the short story The Hope of Elantris.

Sel is inhabited by humans and artificially created beings called seons and skaze. This Shardworld is a relatively large planet, being 1.5 times the size of the cosmere standard, and contains diverse landscapes home to multiple great civilizations including at least three empires.

Another name for the planet is Seol. People from Sel are called Selish.

Astronomy

The location of the planet Sel within the larger cosmere is as-yet unknown, though it is known to orbit a yellow star named Mashe while in turn being orbited by a single moon named Oem. Its size is 1.5 cosmere standard and its gravity is 1.2 cosmere standard .

Geography and Culture

Opelon/Sycla

The story of Elantris and the short story The Hope of Elantris are both set on a continent on Sel called Opelon by those in the west and Sycla by those in the east. There is a vast desert to the south of the known nations of the continent.

Fjordell Empire

Most nations on Sycla have been subsumed into the Fjordell Empire. The empire is ruled by a leader known as Wyrn, who is also head of Shu-Dereth, which has been used as a vehicle to dominate nations. The Fjordell Empire is, on the surface, completely Derethi. However, many of the people of the empire, especially those in back-country areas like Hrovell, still secretly follow their old religions, like the Jeskeri Mysteries.

The Fjordell Empire is made up of the following nations:

• Fjorden
• Duladel Republic
• JinDo
• Jaador
• Hraggen
• Geant
• Hrovell
• Svorden

Arelon

Located to the west of the Fjordell Empire, Arelon is the only remaining independent nation on Opelon. The capital of Arelon is the city of Elantris, which is a monarchy ruled by the Elantrian King Raoden. Under the king, there is a class of nobles who control various plantations throughout Arelon. Their primary function is to distribute food to the people of Arelon. Arelon controls the area to the west of the Atad Mountains, and south of the northern ocean. Arelon is mainly made up of followers of the Shu-Korath religion, although there are still remnants of the old pagan religion that worshiped the Elantrians. There is also a small number of followers of the Jeskeri Mysteries.

The Northern Continent

There is another continent north of Opelon. No official name for this continent has been revealed.

Teod

The nation of Teod is located on a small peninsula attached to the northern continent. The capital of Teod is Teoras, and its ruler is King Eventeo. Teod's martial strength exists mainly in the form of its navy, which dominates the northern sea, protecting Teod's borders from the Fjordell Empire. Unlike the rest of the northern continent, Teod is within Opelon's cultural sphere of influence. For example, the nation's state religion is Shu-Korath, which originated in Opelon. The Teo people are also of Aonic descent and are therefore related to the Arelene and Dula people of Opelon.

Rose Empire

North of the Teod peninsula, beyond the mountains, is the Rose Empire. This empire has many provinces, including but not limited to Mulla’dil, MaiPon, Dzhamar and Ukurgi. The empire maintains a little-used mountain pass that leads to Teod. Unlike Teod, the Rose Empire has limited cultural exchange with the nations of Opelon, though it has some diplomatic relations with Svorden and JinDo. They are believed to have made contact with the Fjordell Empire, as a southern ambassador with red armor is mentioned. Certain segments of the population seem to have a concept of Realmatic Theory.

The story of The Emperor's Soul is set on the Rose Empire.

Aonic Calendar

The Aonic calendar is used by the people of Arelon and Teod. It has at least six months, with Eostek being the sixth, and at least six days in a week, with MaeDal being the second and OpeDal being the sixth.

History

300 years before the Reod

The Fjordell First Empire collapses

The Fjordell nation adopts the Shu-Dereth religion

100 years before the Reod

Baron Shuden's family move to Arelon

60 years before the Reod

Dilaf is born in Fjordell

50 years before the Reod

Dilaf joins the Monastery at Dakhor

40 years before the Reod

Teod expels all Derethi priests from its territory

20 years before the Reod

Hrathen joins the Derethi priesthood and spends a short time at Dakhor Monastery

Dilaf leaves Dakhor for Arelon

15 years before the Reod

Princess Sarene is born in Teod

10 years before the Reod

Dilaf's wife, Seala, accidentally made Hoed by a failed Elantrian healing

5 years before the Reod

Seinalan made Patriarch of Shu-Korath in response to Wulfden the Fourth becoming Wyrn of Shu-Dereth

Dreok Crushthroat attempts to take the throne of Teod but is defeated

2 years before the Reod

Prince Raoden's mother dies

0

The Reod occurs, fall of Elantris, rise of the merchant class

Eshen is married to King Iadon

5 years since the Reod

Adien taken by the Shaod

8 years since the Reod

Soine, daughter of Telrii, taken by the Shaod

9 years since the Reod

Prince Raoden is first contacted by princess Sarene

Five months later she proposes

Hrathen is assigned to Duladel Republic

Six months later the Duladel Republic collapses

10 years since the Reod

Raoden is struck by the Shaod and sent to Elantris

Sarene arrive in Arelon

Hrathen arrives in Arelon

1 month after Raoden is struck by the Shaod

Iadon hangs himself

Telrii is crowned king

2 months after Raoden is struck by the Shaod

Raoden discovers the need for the Chasm line in Aons

Raoden and Sarene are crowned King and Queen

The invasion of Arelon

Unknown number of years later

Shai spends 100 days forging Ashravan's soul.

Invested Arts

Each Invested Art on Sel use symbols, shapes, or forms as "code" to direct magical effects. They are all powered by the Dor, making them end-positive. Because their power is coming from the Cognitive Realm, the Selish Invested Arts are highly location dependent. The strength of each Invested Art decreases the farther one travels from its associated region, symbols in an Invested Art often come from the geography or culture of their region, and Initiation is often restricted to people from the associated region.

• AonDor uses symbols called Aons, which can be drawn directly in the air as glowing light, or in a large variety of physical representations, such as etched into metal plates, or incorporated into the design of buildings. Anyone can learn to draw Aons, but they only have power when created by an Elantrian. AonDor is tied to the land of Arelon and is only practiced within its borders.
• ChayShan seems to be a type of meditative martial art practiced by the JinDo, with the forms one moves through granting access to the Dor. It appears that, like Aons, these forms can be practiced by anyone without supernatural effect, with additional factors such as intent or bloodline establishing the connection to the Dor.
• The monks of Dakhor Monastery monastery use an Invested Art often referred as Dakhor. Dakhor monks have unnatural and twisted bone structures that form patterns under the skin. These bones are inlaid with ancient Fjordell characters, which are likely the symbols used to access the Dor. Some Dakhor magics, such as instant transportation, require human sacrifice.
• Forton's potions are Invested, likely derived from the Invested Art associated with Hrovell. This suggests that, despite Hrovell being under Derethi rule, it maintains an Invested Art of its own. It is not yet known what forms are used to create these potions.
• Forgery involves shaping a specific form, by the carving of a sort of stamp, and then the application of ink to the stamp, and then applying a mark onto the desired object or person. Supposedly the forgery helps the object (or soul) remember a different past, or a likely destiny in order to change the actual essence of the object. The symbols on the front side indicate what a soulstamp does; the "setting mark" on the back side indicates that the stamp is complete and looks like MaiPon.
• Bloodsealing, like Forgery, uses stamps, but they must be inked with fresh blood. Bloodsealers can mark a door, which will set their Skeletals to attack the person from whom the blood came if they pass through the door.

People on Sel can also form bonds, similar to the Nahel bond on Roshar, with seons and skaze. Unlike the participants in the Nahel bond, people bonded to seons are not shown to gain direct supernatural powers themselves, instead requesting that their companions use their abilities. What advantage a skaze bond grants is not clear at this time.

Cosmere

Sel is the most realmatically knowledgeable of the known Shardworlds. The planet is home to two Shards, Devotion and Dominion, and their powers have influenced many Selish traditions, religions, and languages.

At some point in Sel's distant past, Odium killed the Vessels of both Devotion and Dominion and Splintered the two Shards. The collective power of the Splintered Shards became somehow trapped in the Cognitive Realm, and is now what Selish people call the Dor.

Because of this, while travel to Sel is possible via the Cognitive Realm (for example, one can use a Perpendicularity that exists in the form of a pool of sapphire-colored liquid near Elantris), the raging uncontrolled power of the Dor makes travel through the Selish Cognitive Realm incredibly dangerous.

Hoid has visited both Arelon and the capital of the Rose Empire.

Trivia

• Initially, Brandon had the shadows of Elantris falling on the city of Kae at dawn. As Kae is to the east of Elantris, this indicated that the sun rises in the west on Sel. However, in the Anniversary Edition, this has been identified as an error and corrected.

Notes

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