Sel in the Cosmere: A Guide to Its Magic & Shards

Sel’s two Shards, Devotion and Dominion, are dead. Odium murdered them and splintered their power into a dangerous storm called the Dor.

This power is trapped in the Cognitive Realm, creating the most geographically restricted magic in the Cosmere. Every magic on Sel—AonDor, Forgery, ChayShan—draws from the Dor, but the magic only works in specific locations.

Because of this, Selish magic is strange. Worldhoppers like Galladon and the Ire need special tools to use their powers anywhere else.

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

• Sel’s physical traits and star system
• Geography of the three major empires
• How Devotion and Dominion were Splintered
• Why Selish magic depends on location
• The different magic systems on Sel
• Dangers of worldhopping to this planet

What is Sel?

A Planet of Three Empires

Sel is the second planet in the Selish system and the setting for Elantris and The Emperor’s Soul. It’s one of the most developed worlds in the Cosmere, though many readers don’t realize the full extent of its history.

The planet has three major empires that all but ignore one another. This isn’t accidental; each empire treats the others as minor footnotes instead of major world powers.

The planet’s size contributes to this isolation—traveling between empires is difficult when the distances are so vast.

People from Sel are called Selish, though they’d more likely identify by their specific nation: Arelish, Fjordell, or members of the Rose Empire.

Physical Characteristics

Sel is 1.5 times larger than the Cosmere standard planet, with a radius of about 6,000 miles. Its circumference measures roughly 37,000 miles.

Even at this larger size, its surface gravity is only 1.2 times Cosmere standard (about 12 m/s²).

The planet has diverse landscapes including:

• Vast deserts south of the continent Opelon
• Mountain ranges like the Atad Mountains
• Northern oceans
• Multiple distinct climate zones across continents

Sel orbits a yellow star named Mashe and has a single moon called Oem, which appears blue-white in the sky.

Inhabitants: Humans, Seons, and Skaze

Three types of intelligent beings live on Sel.

Humans make up the majority population across all nations and empires. They’ve built multiple civilizations with distinct cultures, religions, and political systems.

Seons are splinters of Devotion’s Investiture. They look like glowing orbs of light with a specific Aon floating inside.

They can bond with humans to serve as companions and messengers. Unlike a Nahel bond on Roshar, this grants no powers to the human.

Skaze are the dark counterparts to seons, created from Dominion’s Investiture. They take the form of dark, smoky entities.

Skaze are more secretive than seons and have influenced Fjordell politics and the Dakhor monasteries. They share a connection to power and domination that mirrors their Shard of origin.

Both seons and skaze were unintended consequences of Odium’s actions when he Splintered the two Shards.

Geography and Astronomy

The Selish System

The Selish system contains four planets and one dwarf planet, all orbiting the star Mashe.

Donne (also called Doo) is the innermost planet. It’s technically within the habitable zone but is barren, uncomfortably warm, and plagued by terrible dust storms. The planet’s name contains the Aon Doo.

Sel is the second planet and the only one with thriving civilizations. It’s orbited by the moon Oem and followed by an asteroid belt.

Ky (also known as Kii, containing the Aon for “justice”) is a gas giant with four moons located beyond the asteroid belt.

Ralen (also called Raa) is the largest planet in the system—a gas giant with five moons and a ring system. A comet belt lies beyond Ralen’s orbit.

An unnamed dwarf planet exists at the edge of the system, beyond the comet belt.

The Continents of Sel

Sel has at least two major landmasses, though the planet’s size suggests more may exist.

The southern continent is known by two names. Western nations call it Opelon, while eastern nations call it Sycla.

This continent is home to the Fjordell Empire and Arelon. A vast desert stretches across the southern portion of the continent, and the Atad Mountains run through the interior.

The northern continent remains officially unnamed. It’s home to both Teod (on a peninsula) and the Rose Empire (in the interior, beyond mountain ranges).

The northern continent has limited cultural exchange with Opelon, particularly in the case of the Rose Empire.

The continents are separated by a northern ocean that Teod’s navy controls.

Major Nations and Empires

Fjordell Empire dominates most of Opelon/Sycla. The empire is ruled by Wyrn, who also serves as head of the Shu-Dereth religion. This dual role gives Wyrn both political and religious authority across conquered territories.

The empire absorbed these nations:

• Fjorden (the core nation)
• Duladel Republic
• JinDo
• Jaador
• Hraggen
• Geant
• Hrovell
• Svorden

Arelon is the only independent nation remaining on Opelon. Its capital is Elantris, and it’s ruled by King Raoden.

Arelon controls the territory west of the Atad Mountains and south of the northern ocean. The population follows Shu-Korath, with some remnants of the old Elantrian religion and small numbers of Jeskeri Mysteries practitioners.

Teod sits on a peninsula attached to the northern continent. King Eventeo rules from the capital city of Teoras.

Teod’s powerful navy protects its borders from Fjordell expansion. Even though it’s on the northern continent, Teod falls within Opelon’s cultural sphere—the nation practices Shu-Korath, and its people are of Aonic descent, related to the Arelish and Dula peoples.

Rose Empire controls the interior of the northern continent, beyond the mountains north of Teod. The empire has many provinces including Mulla’dil, MaiPon, Dzhamar, and Ukurgi.

The Rose Empire maintains minimal contact with Opelon nations, though some diplomatic relations exist with Svorden and JinDo. Emperor Ashravan rules from the capital (where The Emperor’s Soul takes place).

The Aonic Calendar

The Aonic calendar is used in Arelon and Teod. It has at least six months, with Eostek being the sixth month mentioned in the books.

The week contains at least six days:

• MaeDal is the second day
• OpeDal is the sixth day

The calendar system reflects the Aonic cultural influence that spread from Arelon to Teod, connecting these two nations across geographic separation.

The History of Sel

Ancient History: Devotion, Dominion, and Odium

Over 7,700 years before the True Desolation on Roshar, two Shards arrived at Sel: Devotion and Dominion.

Their settlement violated the original Vessels’ rules. Odium used this violation as justification to attack both Shards.

The battle resulted in the Splintering of Devotion and Dominion—their Vessels were killed, their minds ripped away, and their souls sent to the Beyond.

Odium then forced their combined Investiture out of the Spiritual Realm and into the Cognitive Realm. This prevented anyone from claiming the power and reconstituting the Shards.

The Investiture became dangerous plasma in the Cognitive Realm, now called the Dor.

This action created several unintended consequences:

• Seons were formed from Devotion’s Investiture
• Skaze emerged from Dominion’s Investiture
• Magic systems became tied to specific geographic locations
• The Cognitive Realm around Sel became extremely dangerous

These side effects weren’t Odium’s goal. They simply happened as a result of cramming two Shards’ worth of power into the Cognitive Realm.

Elantris was built sometime after this event, likely between several centuries to over a millennium before its restoration during Elantris.

The Fall of Elantris and the Reod

Three hundred years before Elantris, the original Fjordell empire fell. Around this time, the Shu-Keseg faith split into Shu-Korath and Shu-Dereth.

Fjorden adopted Shu-Dereth as a state religion and began an aggressive expansion, absorbing most nations on Opelon. Only Duladel, Teod, and Arelon resisted.

Then the Reod happened.

An earthquake near Elantris cut the Elantrians off from their power, turning them into pain-wracked creatures called Hoed. The Arelish government collapsed in the ensuing riots.

This was no natural earthquake—it was caused on purpose, though the culprit is unknown.

After the chaos, Arelon’s government was replaced by a system where the wealthiest citizens ruled. King Iadon was crowned, and the merchant class blamed the riots on servants being “too pampered” before the Reod.

King Iadon wrote a new law to abolish this system, returning to hereditary rule after his death or fifteen years had passed. He entrusted the law to Seinalan, the high priest of Shu-Korath.

The Restoration of Arelon

Gyorn Hrathen arrived in Arelon with orders to convert the nation to Shu-Dereth within three months. He had recently converted Duladel, where he led a revolution that killed the republican class and established a Shu-Dereth monarchy in six months.

What Hrathen didn’t know: his old mentor Dilaf was already in Arelon preparing for invasion. When they met, Hrathen failed to recognize him and misunderstood his mission as conversion rather than destruction.

Meanwhile, Prince Raoden was taken by the Shaod—the event that turns people into Elantrians. Since Elantris had fallen, he became a Hoed instead.

His father announced his death to the public. Princess Sarene of Teod, who was traveling to Arelon for their marriage, learned of his “death” upon arrival. By Teo law, she was still considered married to him, making her a widow and an Arelish citizen.

King Iadon’s involvement with the Jeskeri Mysteries (a religious cult that practiced human sacrifice) was exposed. He was dethroned and killed himself shortly after.

Under the new law Iadon had written, the government reformed again. Telrii was crowned king after Hrathen made it appear that Sarene had been taken by the Shaod, preventing her from marrying Duke Roial to legitimize his claim to the throne.

Telrii refused to convert Arelon to Shu-Dereth unless he was made a gyorn. When Hrathen protested this was impossible, Dilaf revealed himself as a Gragdet (a rank above gyorn) and announced Hrathen’s true mission: destroy Arelon, not convert it.

The Fjordell invasion began.

Raoden solved the Reod. While trapped in fallen Elantris, he figured out that the Aons needed to include a modifier representing the chasm created by the earthquake.

This restored Elantrian powers. With their magic returned, the Elantrians drove out the Fjordell army.

Raoden and Sarene were crowned king and queen of Arelon.

The Deception in the Rose Empire

Emperor Yazad of the Rose Empire died. Under pressure from his faction, Ashravan put himself forward as the next emperor and was elected to the Rose Throne.

He initially hoped to reform the empire but became lost in bureaucracy.

The Glory Faction assassinated him. A Resealer fixed his wounds, but Emperor Ashravan was left brain damaged. His wife also died in the attack.

The Heritage Faction (Ashravan’s faction) claimed he was alive and in his customary one hundred days of mourning. They hired a Forger named Shai to recreate the emperor’s soul by creating a copy that would think and act like him.

Shai completed her task. She created a soulstamp that would restore Ashravan’s personality, memories, and capabilities. She escaped on the 98th day of her imprisonment.

Emperor Ashravan discovered what had been done to him. The soulstamp Shai created made him remember his original ideals from when he first became emperor—his desire to reform the empire and help his people.

The Invested Arts of Sel

The Dor: The Location-Based Power Source

All magic on Sel draws from the Dor—the combined, Splintered Investiture of Devotion and Dominion trapped in the Cognitive Realm.

This creates three major effects:

Magic is location-dependent. The Dor exists in the Cognitive Realm, which is organized by location and perception.

An Elantrian’s power is tied to Arelon’s location in the Cognitive Realm. Travel too far from Arelon, and AonDor stops working. The same applies to every Selish magic system.

Each region has its own magic. Different geographic areas access the Dor through different symbolic systems.

Arelon uses Aons. MaiPon uses soulstamps. Fjorden uses bone modifications. Each system evolved based on local geography, culture, and perception.

The Cognitive Realm is extremely dangerous. The Dor is two Shards’ worth of power compressed into a space not meant to hold it.

It exists as dangerous plasma that makes travel through Sel’s Cognitive Realm life-threatening. This severely limits worldhopping to and from Sel.

The Dor is end-positive, meaning it provides more energy than it takes to access. This makes Selish magic systems powerful but difficult to use away from their home regions.

AonDor

AonDor is the magic system of Arelon, practiced by Elantrians.

How it works: Practitioners draw symbols called Aons in the air or on physical surfaces. The Aons glow with silver light and create specific magical effects based on which symbol is drawn and how it’s modified.

You don’t need to be Elantrian to draw Aons—anyone can learn the symbols. But only Elantrians can make them work.

When a normal person draws an Aon, nothing happens. When an Elantrian draws one, it accesses the Dor and produces the intended effect.

Aons can be:

• Drawn directly in the air as glowing light
• Etched into metal plates
• Incorporated into building designs
• Created through other physical representations

The power of AonDor comes from its flexibility. Given enough time to study and prepare, an Elantrian could create an Aon that strips magic from an entire army at once.

The limitation is preparation time and distance from Arelon—travel too far, and the power fades.

After the Reod, AonDor stopped working because the Aons no longer matched Arelon’s geography. The earthquake created a chasm that changed the land’s shape in the Cognitive Realm.

Raoden discovered that adding a modifier representing the chasm fixed the problem.

Forgery and Bloodsealing

Forgery comes from MaiPon province in the Rose Empire.

Forgers use stamps carved with specific symbols. They apply a special ink and press the stamp onto an object or person.

The stamp rewrites the target’s spiritual DNA (its spiritweb) to reflect a different history. For example, a stamp could change a broken vase into one that was never dropped.

The symbols on the stamp’s face determine what it does. The “setting mark” on the back (which looks like the MaiPon region) indicates the stamp is complete and ready to use.

Shai used Forgery to recreate Emperor Ashravan’s soul. She studied his life, personality, choices, and relationships, then created a soulstamp that would make him remember being the person he used to be.

This required incredible detail and understanding—one small mistake, and the stamp would fail.

Bloodsealing also uses stamps but requires fresh blood as ink instead of standard Forgery ink.

Known uses of Bloodsealing:

• Marking doors to set Skeletals (skeleton creatures) to attack specific people
• Creating wards tied to bloodlines
• Controlling undead servants

Both Forgery and Bloodsealing access the Dor through the symbolic shapes carved into their stamps. Like all Selish magic, they work best near their region of origin.

Dakhor

Dakhor is practiced by monks in Dakhor Monastery within the Fjordell Empire.

How it works: Dakhor monks have their bones twisted into unnatural patterns beneath their skin. Ancient Fjordell characters are carved into these bones. These patterns and symbols create the connection to the Dor.

The process is painful and permanent. The monks’ bone structures become visible beneath their skin, creating disturbing patterns.

Dakhor grants several abilities:

• Superhuman strength
• Unbreakable bones
• Shape-changing (altering appearance)
• Instant transportation (requires human sacrifice)

Dilaf was a Dakhor monk, which explained his superhuman abilities and his fanatical devotion to Shu-Dereth. The skaze influenced the Dakhor monasteries, feeding their desire for power and control.

The requirement of human sacrifice for certain Dakhor abilities reflects Dominion’s influence—the idea that one person can sacrifice another to gain power.

ChayShan

ChayShan is practiced by the people of JinDo.

It appears to be a meditative martial art, similar to Tai Chi. Practitioners move through specific forms that grant access to the Dor.

Like Aons, anyone can practice the physical movements, but only those with the proper connection (likely JinDo natives or those with JinDo ancestry) can access the magical effects.

The specific abilities granted by ChayShan haven’t been explored in detail yet. We know it exists and uses physical forms as its symbolic system to access the Dor, but the full extent of its powers remains unknown.

This follows the pattern of Selish magic—each region has symbols tied to its geography and culture. For JinDo, those symbols are body positions and movement patterns.

Seon and Skaze Bonds

Seons and skaze can bond with humans, though the bonds function differently than the Nahel bond on Roshar.

Seon bonds create a connection between the seon and a person. The seon serves as a companion and messenger.

Seons can:

• Communicate across distances instantly
• Pass through walls
• Provide light
• Offer counsel and companionship

Bonding a seon doesn’t grant the human supernatural powers. The seon uses its own abilities while bonded, but the human remains unchanged.

Skaze bonds are more secretive. We know skaze can bond with humans and that they’ve influenced Fjordell politics, but the exact mechanics and benefits remain unclear.

Given that skaze come from Dominion’s Investiture, the bond likely involves power, control, or domination in some form.

Both seons and skaze were created accidentally when Odium Splintered Devotion and Dominion. Some of the Investiture coalesced into these intelligent entities rather than simply becoming part of the Dor.

Hoid briefly worked with skaze. He promised them he could become an Elantrian. When his attempt failed, the skaze mocked him for it.

Sel’s Role in the Cosmere

The Splintering of the Shards

Sel is the only planet where Odium killed and Splintered multiple Shards.

Devotion and Dominion settled on Sel together, violating the original Vessels’ rules about Shard distribution. Odium used this violation as justification for his attack, though the real reason was likely his broader campaign against other Shards.

The Splintering happened over 7,700 years ago (measured from the True Desolation on Roshar). Both Vessels were killed. Their consciousness was destroyed. Their souls moved to the Beyond.

But their power remained in the Physical and Cognitive Realms.

Odium forced this power into the Cognitive Realm to prevent anyone from claiming it and reforming the Shards. This was a choice—he wanted to ensure these Shards stayed dead.

The consequences shaped Sel’s entire magical ecosystem:

• Magic became location-dependent
• Multiple distinct systems emerged
• Worldhopping became extremely difficult
• The Cognitive Realm became dangerous

Sel represents Odium’s most complete victory in the Cosmere. He destroyed two Shards, prevented their reformation, and left the planet fundamentally changed.

A Dangerous Cognitive Realm

The Cognitive Realm around Sel is a storm of plasma—the power of two Shards compressed into a space not meant for it. This makes Sel’s Cognitive Realm the most dangerous in the Cosmere.

A perpendicularity exists near Elantris, but entering it means facing the full power of the Dor. Unprepared travelers are destroyed by the energy storm.

For comparison: the Cognitive Realm on Roshar is relatively safe. Worldhoppers can travel through it with standard preparations. On Sel, the same journey requires extreme measures and specialized knowledge.

This danger is why Sel remained isolated from broader Cosmere events for so long. Even worldhoppers who know about Sel avoid it when possible.

Worldhopping To and From Sel

There is only one reliable way to worldhop from Sel. That method is known to some Selish people but remains a closely guarded secret.

The difficulty comes from the Dor. Any attempt to travel through the Cognitive Realm means passing through that compressed Investiture. Without proper preparation and knowledge, travelers die.

Groups like the Ire (Elantrians working off-world during the events of Mistborn: Secret History) have figured out how to manage this. They can use their powers away from Sel, suggesting they’ve developed methods to either carry the connection with them or access the Dor remotely.

Traveling to Sel is possible but dangerous. Hoid has visited both Arelon and the Rose Empire capital, proving it can be done. But he’s Hoid—he has knowledge and resources far beyond normal worldhoppers.

For most Cosmere travelers, Sel is a locked box. The planet’s magic is powerful, but accessing it off-world is nearly impossible.

Those who do manage it (like the Ire) become formidable forces in the broader Cosmere.

This isolation means Sel’s influence on Cosmere events has been limited compared to planets like Scadrial or Roshar. But as more people learn the secrets of Selish worldhopping, that may change.

Even with these barriers, Sel is the most Realmatically knowledgeable planet in the Cosmere for most of its history.

The planet’s visible magic systems, seons, and skaze forced Selish scholars to become experts in Realmatic Theory. They understand the mechanics of Investiture better than almost anyone.

This knowledge makes groups like the Ire a major force in the wider Cosmere.