User:Skaa/Shadesmar
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Shadesmar is a Rosharan[1] word for the Cognitive Realm.[2] While it is a Roshar-specific word[3], Sanderson sometimes uses the word in other contexts as well, such that even non-Rosharan characters in his stories use it.[4]
This article will be about the Rosharan region of the Cognitive Realm.
Appearance
“ ... a place with a black sky and a strange, small white sun that hung on the horizon ... Flames hovered nearby ... Like the tips of candles floating in the air and moving with the wind ... An endless dark sea, except it wasn't wet. It was made of the small beads, an entire ocean of tiny glass spheres ”
Geographically, Roshar in the Cognitive Realm appears like an inversion of the continent in the Physical Realm, with its inland seas corresponding exactly to the shape of the land of Roshar. The "seas" are made of tiny dark glass beads that represent objects that exist in the Physical Realm. When asked if this is the general rule, Sanderson said "there are places in Shadesmar that are different, and some are the same."[6]
“ She stepped up beside the bead statue, noting for the first time the strange clouds overhead. They seemed to form a narrow ribbon of highway, straight and long, pointing toward the horizon. ”
— Jasnah Kholin's first visit to Shadesmar[7]
The Shadesmar Map
The map of Shadesmar found in The Way of Kings labels several areas in the Cognitive Realm, including regions called "Expanses" that are outside of Roshar. If you walk far enough (likely for days) in the direction of one of those Expanses, you can arrive on another world.[8] The areas labeled are as follows:
- Expanse of the Vapors: This area is confirmed to be Scadrial.[8]
- Expanse of the Densities: This is a world we had seen before 2011.[9]
- Expanse of Vibrance: This expanse's name was hidden behind the map's title.[10]
- Expanse of the Broken Sky
- Nexus of Imagination
- Nexus of Truth
- Nexus of Transition
- Sea of Regret
- Sea of Souls
- Sea of Lost Lights
Uses
The ardents in Roshar are aware of Shadesmar[11], and have used fabrials that allow them to Soulcast objects in it. There are also people whose bond with certain types of spren grants them access to Shadesmar. One type of such a spren, called a Cryptic, is described by Shallan as
“ a figure with a sharp, angular symbol hovering above its collar instead of a head ”
For a member of the Order of Lightweavers to be granted entrance to Shadesmar, the person must have spoken enough truths about themselves to their bonded Cryptic. In Shallan's case, the Cryptic she calls Pattern no longer required truths for her to enter Shadesmar after she confessed her darkest secret. Inkspren, on the other hand, do not require truths from the Elsecallers that they are bonded to.
Stormlight (or an alternative source of Investiture) is needed[12] in order to control objects in Shadesmar, as well as for Soulcasting. Traveling there without sufficient Stormlight is considered to be perilous.
Notes
- ↑ Shadesmar is just a rough translation of "Cognitive Realm" in the language of whoever first found out about it
— 17th Shard forums - 05 October 2013# - ↑ Shadesmar is the Cognitive Realm
— Theoryland - Jul, 2009# - ↑ Is there a difference between Shadesmar and the Cognitive Realm?
— Theoryland - Mar 4th, 2014# - ↑ Is Shadesmar a Roshar specific term?
— Theoryland - Mar 13th, 2014# - ↑ a b The Way of Kings chapter 45#
- ↑ ground/water inversion
— Theoryland - Mar 13th, 2014# - ↑ Words of Radiance prologue#
- ↑ a b ... but you can go to Shadesmar, walk in the directions where it says "The Realm of the Vapors" and it runs into Scadrial
— 17th Shard forums - 2014-12-10# - ↑ a world you know
— Theoryland - 2011-11-08# - ↑ The name of the expanse that is covered
— Theoryland - May 17th, 2013# - ↑ The Way of Kings interlude I-8#
- ↑ The Way of Kings chapter 70#