The 16 Shards of the Cosmere: A Complete Guide

⚠️ MAJOR SPOILER WARNING: This guide covers the entire Cosmere, including massive plot reveals from Mistborn, The Stormlight Archive, and the explosive ending of Wind and Truth. If you’re not caught up, proceed with extreme caution!

If you’ve finished Mistborn or The Stormlight Archive and started diving into Cosmere lore, you need to know about the 16 Shards—the godlike beings behind everything.

These are fragments of Adonalsium, the original god. When Adonalsium was killed, its power split into 16 pieces, each with a different Intent: Devotion, Dominion, Ruin, Preservation, Endowment, Autonomy, Cultivation, Honor, Odium, Ambition, Invention, Mercy, Valor, Whimsy, Virtuosity, and Reason.

You’ve already met several without realizing their full significance. Each Shard is held by a Vessel and tied to specific worlds, creating the magic systems and conflicts you love.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this article:

• What Shards are and their origins
• The Shattering and subsequent conflicts
• Details on all 16 original Shards
• How Hybrid Shards like Harmony formed
• The nature of Shardic power
• Vessels, oaths, and weaknesses

What Are the Shards of Adonalsium?

From Adonalsium to the Shards

Adonalsium was the original god of the Cosmere—the power of creation itself.

On the planet Yolen, a group of at least 17 people conspired to kill this entity. They succeeded in an event now called the Shattering.

When Adonalsium died, its power split into 16 fragments. Each fragment took on a specific Intent—a fundamental characteristic or ideal.

Sixteen of those conspirators took up one Shard each, becoming the first Vessels. These people all knew Hoid personally. Some were romantically involved or related.

Each Shard got a distinct Intent. Ruin seeks to destroy. Preservation seeks to maintain. Devotion is pure connection.

The power that made up Adonalsium just redistributed itself. No Investiture was destroyed, only transformed.

All 16 Shards began with equal power after the Shattering. Over time, many have weakened through conflict or by Investing their power into worlds and people.

The Shards act as gods of the Cosmere, but they’re not omnipotent or omniscient. They’re bound by rules, limited by their Intents, and vulnerable to specific threats.

The Vessel and the Shard’s Intent

A Shard needs a Vessel—a sentient mind from the Physical Realm to control its power.

Without a Vessel, a Shard’s power becomes wild and dangerous. Over millennia it can develop a basic consciousness on its own, but it needs someone to focus it properly.

The Intent shapes everything the Shard does.

Preservation cannot initiate change or cause harm. Its very nature prevents it. Odium is hatred and passion without the moderating influence of divine love.

The Intent doesn’t just influence the Vessel’s actions. It warps their mind over time, making it harder to act against the Shard’s fundamental nature.

When someone Ascends to become a Vessel, their body vaporizes. Their consciousness expands. They gain access to the Shard’s memories and power, but the Intent begins reshaping their personality from that moment forward.

Fighting against your Shard’s Intent is possible but leaves you vulnerable. After centuries, most Vessels think more like their Shard than like their original self.

Connection to the Shard matters more than anything else when becoming a Vessel. You don’t need magical ability, but you need alignment with the Intent—or at least a strong Connection forged through other means.

Magic Systems and Planetary Influence

When a Shard Invests in a world, it creates the foundation for that planet’s magic system.

The Shard doesn’t have complete control over how the magic works. The planet’s natural properties, genetics, and Realmatic interactions all play a role. But the Shard shapes how people access the power.

The magic’s acquisition method reflects the Shard’s Intent.

Hemalurgy requires destruction, matching Ruin’s nature. Surgebinding requires bonds and oaths, reflecting Honor’s influence. Awakening means Endowing Breath to objects, matching Endowment’s Intent.

The magic’s actual effects can vary widely, but the method always connects to the Shard.

A Shard’s presence also creates a Perpendicularity—a well of concentrated Investiture that pierces all three Realms (Physical, Cognitive, and Spiritual). This lets worldhoppers travel between planets.

Examples include the Well of Ascension on Scadrial and Cultivation’s Perpendicularity in the Horneater Peaks.

Each Shard also has a Pure Tone and Rhythm associated with it. This frequency can be manipulated or dampened to create Anti-Investiture, which converts a Shard’s power directly into destructive energy.

The History of the Shards

The Shattering of Adonalsium

The Shattering happened on Yolen thousands of years before any of the main Cosmere stories.

At least 17 people—all mortal at the time—conspired to kill Adonalsium. Their exact motivations remain unclear.

The weapon they used to kill a god has never been revealed. It terrifies even the Shards themselves. Something capable of destroying Adonalsium could destroy any Shard.

After the Shattering, 16 of these conspirators took up the Shards and scattered across the Cosmere. They made an informal agreement not to interfere with each other, but this wasn’t a formal oath.

Many Shards broke this agreement almost immediately.

Each Vessel departed Yolen with their chosen Shard. Some settled on planets and began Investing their power, creating civilizations and magic systems. Others remained mobile.

At this point, all 16 Shards held equal power. The conflicts and losses came later.

Odium’s Crusade Against Other Shards

Rayse, the original Vessel of Odium, decided he wanted to be the sole god of the Cosmere.

He began hunting and killing other Shards, Splintering their power so no one could claim it.

His first targets were Devotion and Dominion on Sel, roughly 10,000 years before the Night of Sorrows. Odium turned them against each other, then exploited their wounded state after their clash.

He killed both Vessels and trapped their power in the Cognitive Realm. This created the chaotic magical landscape that defines Sel.

Less than 2,000 years later, Odium found and Splintered Ambition. This battle wounded the Spiritual Realm itself and destroyed multiple planets. Mercy was somehow involved in this conflict.

The destruction horrified Honor, who witnessed the aftermath.

Odium then focused on the Rosharan system around 8,000 years ago. He influenced the people of Ashyn, backing their expansion and granting them access to the Surges.

The resulting war devastated Ashyn’s surface and forced humanity to flee to Roshar. Honor and Cultivation eventually trapped Odium in the Rosharan system through oaths, preventing him from continuing his crusade.

The Sealing of Ruin on Scadrial

Leras, the Vessel of Preservation, made a bargain with Ati, the Vessel of Ruin.

Together they created the planet Scadrial and all life on it. But Preservation feared what Ruin would do once creation was complete.

Preservation sacrificed much of his power to trap Ruin, preventing the Shard from enacting its Intent to destroy everything on Scadrial. This created the Well of Ascension—a massive reservoir of Preservation’s power that had to be released periodically.

The sealing left Preservation deeply wounded. Leras himself bore the physical and mental scars of this sacrifice for a millennium.

His weakened state made him vulnerable, but it kept Ruin imprisoned and Scadrial safe.

The prison held until Vin, manipulated by Ruin, released the power at the Well. She believed she was saving the world, but instead freed Ruin to begin its work of destruction.

This set up the final confrontation between Preservation and Ruin that would reshape Scadrial.

The Formation of Harmony

In 1024 FE, Ruin broke free from its prison and began destroying Scadrial.

Leras, the Vessel of Preservation, was dying after holding the Shard for over a thousand years while wounded.

When Leras finally died in 1025 FE, Kelsier briefly held Preservation before passing it to Vin. As Preservation’s new Vessel, Vin fought Ati, who held Ruin.

Both Vessels died in the confrontation, leaving two Shards without holders.

Sazed, a Terris Keeper, took up both Shards at once. The opposing Intents of Ruin and Preservation merged within him, creating Harmony—the first hybrid Shard in Cosmere history.

The joined power gave Sazed the strength to remake Scadrial after Ruin’s destruction.

Harmony is balance between entropy and stasis, change and preservation. But the opposing Intents make action difficult.

Sazed often finds himself paralyzed between competing impulses. Over time, this internal conflict has begun pushing him toward Discord rather than Harmony.

The Birth of Retribution

On Palahanah 1175 (the Night of Sorrows), Dalinar Kholin Ascended to become Honor’s Vessel.

He immediately renounced the oaths binding Honor to the Rosharan system, then released the Shard itself.

Taravangian, who already held Odium, seized the released power of Honor. The two Shards merged within him, creating Retribution—a hybrid Shard born from hatred and oaths.

Unlike Harmony’s misaligned powers, Honor and Odium proved surprisingly compatible. Both want similar outcomes.

The birth of Retribution freed Taravangian from the Rosharan system. His newfound freedom and power drew the attention of every other Shard, forcing him into hiding.

At the same time, Cultivation fled Roshar for an unknown location.

The formation of Retribution created massive time dilation around Roshar, disrupting interplanetary trade and travel. The Night of Sorrows marked a turning point in Cosmere history.

For the first time since Harmony’s creation over 300 years earlier, the balance of Shardic power had fundamentally shifted.

The 16 Original Shards

Devotion

Vessel: Aona (deceased)
World: Sel
Books: Elantris, The Emperor’s Soul

Devotion is the Shard of connection, love, and dedication to others. Its original Vessel, Aona, was killed by Odium roughly 10,000 years before the events of The Stormlight Archive.

• Intent: Connection and devotion to others
• Magic/Influence: Shaped Sel’s cultures, religions, and even the languages and alphabets used across the planet. Created seons—sentient balls of light that bond with individuals
• Fate: Splintered by Odium and trapped in the Cognitive Realm. Its power merged with Dominion to form the Dor, which now fuels all of Sel’s magic systems

Dominion

Vessel: Skai (deceased)
World: Sel
Books: Elantris, The Emperor’s Soul

Dominion is the Shard of control, authority, and the exercise of power over others. Its Vessel, Skai, was killed by Odium at the same time as Aona.

• Intent: Control and authority over others
• Magic/Influence: Worked with Devotion to shape Sel’s development. Created skaze—dark counterparts to seons that demonstrate aspects of control and domination
• Fate: Splintered by Odium after he turned Devotion and Dominion against each other. Its power merged with Devotion to form the Dor, trapped in Sel’s Cognitive Realm

Preservation

Vessel: Sazed (formerly Leras, Kelsier, and Vin)
World: Scadrial
Books: Mistborn series

Preservation is the Shard of protection and maintenance. Its Intent prevents it from causing harm or initiating change—a fundamental limitation.

• Intent: Protect and maintain things as they are. Cannot cause harm or initiate change
• Magic/Influence: Created Allomancy, which lets people burn metals for power. The mists are a manifestation of Preservation’s power that can Snap people into awakening their Allomantic abilities
• Fate: Leras sacrificed much of his power to trap Ruin, creating the Well of Ascension. After Leras died, the power passed through Kelsier and Vin before Sazed took up both Preservation and Ruin together to form Harmony

Ruin

Vessel: Sazed (formerly Ati)
World: Scadrial
Books: Mistborn series

Ruin is the Shard of entropy, decay, and the natural end of all things. Its original Vessel, Ati, was said to be a kind man before the Shard’s Intent twisted his mind over millennia.

• Intent: Destruction and change. Not inherently evil, but focused on breaking things down
• Magic/Influence: Created Hemalurgy, a brutal magic that steals power by killing someone with a metal spike. The spikes also serve as backdoors for Ruin to control those who bear them
• Fate: Ati was killed by Vin while she held Preservation. Both Vessels died, and Sazed later took up Ruin’s power and merged it with Preservation to form Harmony

Honor

Vessel: Taravangian (formerly Tanavast and briefly Dalinar Kholin)
World: Roshar
Books: The Stormlight Archive

Honor is the Shard of oaths, agreements, and keeping your word. Its Intent makes it powerful at binding people through promises.

• Intent: Oaths and keeping your word. Promises made to Honor carry real power
• Magic/Influence: Intrinsically tied to the spren of Roshar and the bonds of the Knights Radiant. Created the visions that Dalinar experienced while it lacked a Vessel
• Fate: Tanavast broke faith with Ba-Ado-Mishram around 2,000 years before the Night of Sorrows, causing Honor to reject him. The Shard remained without a Vessel until Dalinar briefly took it up, then released it. Taravangian seized Honor’s power and merged it with Odium to form Retribution

Cultivation

Vessel: Koravellium Avast (a dragon)
World: Unknown (formerly Roshar)
Books: The Stormlight Archive

Cultivation is the Shard of growth, change, and development toward a desired form. Unlike Preservation’s static maintenance, Cultivation actively shapes and guides evolution.

• Intent: Growth and change. Prunes, nurtures, and directs development
• Magic/Influence: Shaped Roshar’s ecology and the development of its spren. The Nightwatcher grants boons and curses by rewriting spiritwebs. The Old Magic allows fundamental transformation
• Fate: After the Night of Sorrows and the creation of Retribution, Cultivation fled the Rosharan system. Her current location remains unknown, even to other Shards

Odium

Vessel: Taravangian (formerly Rayse)
World: Braize, Roshar
Books: The Stormlight Archive

Odium is the Shard of hatred and passion unbound by love or compassion. Its Intent isn’t simply rage—it’s intense feeling divorced from moderating influences.

• Intent: Hatred and passion without moderation or divine love
• Magic/Influence: Corrupted spren, created the Fused and Regals, and orchestrated the cycle of Desolations on Roshar. Granted the Surges to his followers
• Fate: Rayse systematically hunted and killed other Shards (Devotion, Dominion, Ambition) before Honor and Cultivation trapped him in the Rosharan system. Taravangian later killed Rayse and took up Odium, then absorbed Honor to create Retribution

Endowment

Vessel: Edgli
World: Nalthis
Books: Warbreaker

Endowment is the Shard of giving, bestowing gifts, and granting power to others. Its Intent is to freely gift power.

• Intent: Giving and bestowing power to others
• Magic/Influence: Shaped Nalthis’s magic system around Endowing Breath to inanimate objects. Created the Returned—people who die and come back with a divine Breath and limited precognitive abilities
• Fate: Still active on Nalthis with its original Vessel. Plays a less interventionist role compared to Shards like Odium or Autonomy

Autonomy

Vessel: Bavadin
World: Taldain
Books: White Sand, Sixth of the Dusk, Mistborn Era 2

Autonomy is the Shard of independence, self-determination, and freedom from outside influence. Its Intent contains an inherent contradiction—it both encourages individuality and enforces isolation.

• Intent: Independence and self-determination. Encourages freedom but also enforces isolation
• Magic/Influence: Uses avatars extensively to act across the Cosmere. Created Patji on First of the Sun, the Sand Lord on Taldain, and Trelagism on Scadrial as preparation for a planned invasion
• Fate: Attempted to conquer Scadrial around 348 PC, even managing to blind Harmony temporarily before retreating. Maintains strict isolation around Taldain, preventing worldhoppers from entering or leaving

Ambition

Vessel: Uli Da (deceased)
World: Threnody
Books: Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell

Ambition is the Shard of drive, aspiration, and the pursuit of goals. Little is known about this Shard beyond its death and the devastation that followed.

• Intent: Drive and the pursuit of goals
• Magic/Influence: Unknown. The Shard’s death devastated Threnody’s system before it could fully establish itself
• Fate: Splintered by Odium less than 2,000 years after Devotion and Dominion were killed. The battle wounded the Spiritual Realm and destroyed multiple planets. Mercy was somehow involved in the conflict

Virtuosity

Vessel: Unknown (deceased)
World: Komashi
Books: Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

Virtuosity is the Shard of artistic skill, craft, and the pursuit of mastery. It spent thousands of years exploring artistic expressions across the Cosmere.

• Intent: Artistic skill and the pursuit of mastery
• Magic/Influence: Created a shroud of darkness and living nightmares on Komashi after its death. The planet’s magic involves both artistic creation and destroying nightmares
• Fate: Deliberately Splintered itself on Komashi before the Night of Sorrows. This wasn’t an attack—it was Virtuosity’s own choice. Without a Vessel, its power has become wild and dangerous

Invention

Vessel: Chan Ko Sar
World: Unknown
Books: None yet

Invention is the Shard of creativity, innovation, and the creation of new things. It’s been mentioned only in letters between other Shards.

• Intent: Creativity and innovation
• Magic/Influence: Unknown. We don’t know which planet Invention has Invested or what magic systems it might have created
• Fate: Still active with its original Vessel. Location and activities remain unknown

Mercy

Vessel: Unknown
World: Unknown
Books: None yet

Mercy is the Shard of compassion, forgiveness, and showing kindness even to enemies. Almost nothing is known about this Shard beyond its Intent.

• Intent: Compassion and forgiveness
• Magic/Influence: Unknown
• Fate: Was somehow involved in the conflict between Odium and Ambition. Current status and location unknown

Valor

Vessel: Medelantorius
World: Unknown
Books: None yet

Valor is the Shard of courage, bravery, and standing firm in the face of danger. At the end of Wind and Truth, Hoid resolved to seek out Valor.

• Intent: Courage and bravery
• Magic/Influence: Unknown. Likely encourages standing up against threats and facing challenges directly
• Fate: Still active. Will likely play a significant role in future Cosmere stories based on Hoid’s decision to approach this Shard

Whimsy

Vessel: Unknown
World: Unknown
Books: None yet

Whimsy is the Shard of caprice, spontaneity, and acting on impulse or fancy. It’s been mentioned only in passing during Rhythm of War.

• Intent: Spontaneity and acting on impulse
• Magic/Influence: Unknown. The Intent suggests unpredictability
• Fate: One of the most mysterious Shards. Current status and location unknown

Reason

Vessel: Euridrius
World: Unknown
Books: None yet (mentioned in Wind and Truth)

Reason is the Shard of logic, rational thought, and systematic understanding. It has disappeared, and its location remains unknown even to other Shards.

• Intent: Logic and rational thought
• Magic/Influence: Unknown
• Fate: Vanished at some point. Other Shards cannot locate it. Reason deliberately hid itself to avoid threats like Odium’s crusade. Hoid’s statement about “wisdom and I have always been at cross-purposes” refers to this Shard

Known Hybrid and Splintered Shards

Hybrid Shards: Harmony and Retribution

Harmony formed when Sazed took up both Ruin and Preservation after their Vessels died.

The opposing Intents—destruction and preservation—create constant tension within the Shard. Sazed must balance the drive to maintain things as they are against the impulse to break them down.

This internal conflict makes action difficult. Harmony often finds itself paralyzed between competing desires.

Over 300 years, this tension has pushed Sazed closer to Discord—a state where the conflicting Intents actively war against each other. Shadow-selves have begun manifesting near Harmony, suggesting the Shard’s instability.

Despite the challenges, Harmony was the first successful merger of two Shards. The joined power gives Sazed greater strength than a single Shard, though the misaligned Intents prevent him from using that power effectively.

Retribution formed when Taravangian held both Odium and Honor after Dalinar renounced the latter.

Unlike Harmony’s opposing forces, Odium and Honor proved surprisingly compatible. Both want similar outcomes, making Retribution more stable than Harmony despite being newer.

The joined Intent is righteous anger—hatred focused through oaths and justice.

Retribution can act more decisively than Harmony because its component Intents align rather than oppose. This makes it potentially more dangerous, as Taravangian can use the merged power without internal conflict.

The formation of Retribution freed it from the Rosharan system, unlike Odium alone. This makes Retribution the most mobile of the powerful Shards, able to travel and act across the Cosmere.

Splintered Shards and the Dor

When a Shard is Splintered, its power breaks into dozens or hundreds of pieces, preventing anyone from claiming it as a whole.

Four Shards have been Splintered: Devotion, Dominion, Ambition, and Honor (before Dalinar briefly took it up).

Devotion and Dominion were both Splintered by Odium on Sel. Their merged power became trapped in the Cognitive Realm, forming the Dor—a chaotic storm of Investiture.

The Dor powers all of Sel’s magic systems, but its unstable nature makes the planet dangerous.

The Dor is two Shards forced together without a Vessel. Their opposed Intents—connection versus control—create constant tension. This polarized relationship makes the Dor particularly volatile compared to deliberately merged Shards like Harmony.

Splintering isn’t permanent. A Splintered Shard can be reconstructed, though this requires tremendous effort and specific knowledge.

Using a Dawnshard might make reconstruction possible, potentially even reforming the Shard with a different Intent.

Splinters are fragments of Shardic power with their own consciousness. Examples include spren on Roshar, seons and skaze on Sel, and the divine Breaths of the Returned on Nalthis.

Most Splinters formed when their parent Shard was killed, but Shards can also create Splinters deliberately.

Key Characteristics of a Shard

The Nature of Shardic Power

Each Shard contains a functionally infinite amount of Investiture.

This power exists across all three Realms—Physical, Cognitive, and Spiritual—but concentrates primarily in the Spiritual Realm. This makes Shards unbounded by normal space and time.

Shardic power is omnipresent throughout the Cosmere.

A Vessel feels their Shard’s presence on every world, though they can’t access all the power or awareness at once. The power exists everywhere, but the Vessel can only focus their attention in limited places.

This omnipresence lets magic users draw on Shardic power from anywhere in the Cosmere. An Allomancer on Roshar can still burn metals because Preservation’s power exists everywhere, not just on Scadrial.

The connection to a Shard doesn’t depend on physical proximity.

Each Shard has a unique Pure Tone and Rhythm. The Tone is the sound itself. The Rhythm is the beat.

When two Shards merge, they create a new tone and rhythm through resonance. Changing Vessels slightly alters a Shard’s Rhythm.

These frequencies can be weaponized. Creating Anti-Investiture means dampening a Shard’s natural frequency, then forcing it to resonate with its Anti-Rhythm. This produces destructive interference, converting the Investiture directly into energy.

Shards aren’t omnipotent or omniscient. They can be distracted, deceived, or surprised.

Their awareness and power are vast but not unlimited.

The Vessel: A Mortal Mind for a God

Becoming a Vessel requires strong Connection to the Shard’s Intent.

You don’t need to perfectly align with the Intent, but you need either natural inclination toward it or artificially forged Connection. The rule was less strict immediately after the Shattering, allowing more flexibility.

When you Ascend, your physical body vaporizes and your consciousness expands.

You gain access to the Shard’s memories—all the knowledge of previous Vessels and how they used the power. But memory doesn’t equal experience. New Vessels still need to learn how to actually wield their power effectively.

The Vessel and the Shard become intertwined.

The power flows through the Vessel as a focus point, but the Shard’s Intent begins warping the Vessel’s personality from day one. Fighting against the Intent grows harder over time.

After centuries, most Vessels think more like their Shard than their original self.

This makes the line between Vessel and Shard blurry. The Vessel is made of the Shard’s power—it becomes their body. Some argue they’re essentially one entity. Others maintain they should be treated as separate.

Even the power itself can’t tell the difference between itself and its Vessel.

Vessels are immortal and ageless. They can’t die from disease or old age because they’re essentially sentient bundles of Investiture.

But they can be killed by other Vessels, by Nightblood, or through breaking oaths that leave them vulnerable.

If a Vessel fights their Shard’s Intent too long or too hard, the Shard can reject them entirely and abandon them as Vessel. This happened to Tanavast when he betrayed Ba-Ado-Mishram, causing Honor itself to leave him.

Oaths, Deals, and Weaknesses

When a Vessel makes an oath, it engraves into the Shard itself—not just the Vessel’s mind.

These oaths persist between Vessels. A new Vessel remains bound by promises made by previous holders, though they aren’t bound by the spirit of those oaths. This allows for exploiting loopholes.

Breaking an oath wounds the Shard.

It creates holes that another Shard can exploit to attack or kill them. Honor’s oaths bind more strongly than other Shards’, making promises to Honor particularly dangerous to break.

Those Connected to a Shard—like Fused, Heralds, or spren—can also be bound by their Shard’s oaths.

Shards can lie about things that aren’t formal promises. But they cannot break actual oaths without serious consequences.

This makes deals between Shards extremely binding and difficult to escape.

If someone breaks an oath made to a Shard, that Shard can fully retaliate without risking retribution from other Shards. This creates an interesting dynamic where Shards might try to goad others into breaking promises to gain freedom to act.

Each Shard has inherent weaknesses tied to its Intent.

Preservation cannot cause harm or initiate change—its nature prevents these actions entirely. Ruin and Preservation both cannot see metal, a fundamental blind spot in their awareness.

These limitations shape how Shards can interact with the world.

Shards are bound by higher rules they cannot break. They must follow the laws governing them, and fighting against these rules makes them vulnerable.

The exact nature of these cosmic laws remains largely unknown.

Forms of Shardic Power

Shardic Investiture can take solid, liquid, or gaseous forms. Each form serves different purposes.

God Metals (Solid)

When Investiture takes a solid form, it becomes a God Metal.

These are substances with metallic properties that often work within the Metallic Arts regardless of which Shard they come from. Examples include atium (Ruin), lerasium (Preservation), and raysium (Odium).

God Metals have unique properties and can fuel magic systems in unexpected ways.

Perpendicularities (Liquid)

Liquid Investiture typically pools into a Perpendicularity—a stable gateway between the Physical, Cognitive, and Spiritual Realms.

This is how worldhoppers travel between planets.

The Well of Ascension, Cultivation’s Perpendicularity, and the Pits of Hathsin all show liquid concentrations of Investiture. These wells of power pierce all three Realms.

Mists and Stormlight (Gas)

In its gaseous form, Investiture fuels many magic systems.

Stormlight powers Surgebinding on Roshar. Breath enables Awakening on Nalthis. Preservation’s mists can Snap people into awakening their Allomantic abilities.

Even systems that primarily use other forms can often use gaseous Investiture as fuel.

Splinters and Avatars

Splinters are fragments of a Shard with their own consciousness.

Spren, seons, and the divine Breaths of Returned all qualify as Splinters. They can form either through the Shard being killed or through deliberate creation.

Most Splinters lack a Physical component, existing primarily in the Cognitive Realm.

Avatars are personas that can act independently from the main Shard.

Autonomy uses avatars extensively. Patji, the Sand Lord, and others all show different aspects of Bavadin’s Intent operating semi-autonomously.

Avatars can be self-aware or not, but the parent Shard always knows what they’re doing.

Some avatars are bundles of Invested power. Others are people heavily Invested to serve as emissaries.

The distinction between avatar and Splinter isn’t always clear, but avatars generally maintain closer ties to their parent Shard’s consciousness.