Dawnshard

The Dawnshards are the four primal Commands that Adonalsium used to create all things. Each Dawnshard grants separate abilities, as well as powers accessible via any Dawnshard, and can supercharge Invested Arts, allowing for acts of magic that transcend what is normally possible. They are Commands of immense power, and at least one has been secreted away to prevent unknown groups from ending the lives of billions. The knowledge of Dawnshards is somewhat esoteric, most who know of them either seek them as weapons, or flee as far as they can from the Dawnshards.
They have been heavily involved in the history of Roshar, but the knowledge of the true nature of the Dawnshards is very esoteric, so they are considered to be unspecified mythological objects by most people by the time of the Era of Solitude on Roshar.
== Nature and Mechanics ==
At their core, Dawnshards are nothing more than Commands of enormous power, but on their own they seem to be nearly useless. As all applications of Investiture require a Command and Intent, these Dawnshards cannot be used without a person that has access to Investiture trying to carry out some task. The mechanics here are unclear, but as Commands made by someone with the understanding of a deity, Dawnshards allow a person to make use of the most powerful forms of magic. It is unclear what, if any, influence the specific Command of each Dawnshard has on what could be accomplished using that Command. In a person with no access to Investiture or an inanimate object, the Dawnshard's most dangerous powers are rendered useless and they are unable to really present a threat to the lives of anyone.
That being said, Dawnshards do confer a certain amount of Investiture and surface level gifts on the person that holds them. Each Dawnshard grants both distinct abilities and shared Heightening-like attributes, such as an increased depth in color and sound perception, as well as the ability to sense the souls of nearby living things. These Heightening-like effects can be achieved using any Dawnshard and are granted because they are great concentrations of Investiture, and not from having any specific connection to Endowment. In the same way Savants are changed by power over time, the person that is a Dawnshard is also increasingly changed by its power, although it is not certain if these changes depend on which Dawnshard is possessed. This change is progressive (but starts quickly) and is sometimes compared to a canker or scar tissue, gradually coating a person's soul and changing, conferring abilities and restrictions, and potentially pushing the person to act in accordance with the Dawnshard's Intent. With the right knowledge and equipment, this process can be reversed and potentially the Connection might be severed altogether.
Unlike other Investiture, the Investiture of Dawnshards are not sentient and have no mind or personality of their own, such as a spren would have. They may express some sort of preference to be held by a specific Bearer, this is an attraction more like a physical force than a decision being made. Dawnshards are able and willing to protect themselves and their bearers from certain dangers, such as Hemalurgy. A Dawnshard would be more dangerous to Anti-Stormlight than the other way around. It is likely, but unconfirmed, that this is the case for all Anti-Investiture.
It is uncertain whether the specific Commands of Dawnshards have any bearing over the Intents of the Shards that were created, or how they may have been changed by the Shattering. It is known though that Adonalsium once had four aspects, and these may have some relation to the four Dawnshards.
It is possible for one Dawnshard to sense another on sight. The bearer may feel the power of the Dawnshard surge in them or vibrate with energy in recognition of another bearer, although they may also be noticed at a greater distance. For unknown reasons, the Dawnshards are drawn to one another and seek for the four to be brought together again. This means that if any two Dawnshards meet, the force of their mutual attraction is strong enough to reduce a person's body to a pulp, although this can be avoided by a person with sufficient experience with a Dawnshard.
There is a Connection between the previous holders of a Dawnshard and the current holder. This Connection means that a person who previously held a Dawnshard can be killed, and a spike can be fashioned from their soul to find the person they gave the Dawnshard to, creating a chain of Connection to the Dawnshard's current bearer and allowing them to be tracked.
A Dawnshard can be attracted to an individual person, Hoid describes this phenomenon as being similar to the attraction that a subaxial electron feels towards a nucleus.
=== Surgebinders ===
When a Surgebinder is also a Dawnshard, potential risks emerge as the Dawnshard can use the spren's substance to fuel the Radiant's abilities. This can among other things cause the spren to lose their body in the Cognitive Realm, leaving them as a fragment of themselves. The spren can also lose their mind.
Depending on how much the Dawnshard consumes the pair may lose many of their abilities, including Surgebinding and the Radiant being able to communicate with their mind. Even after the Radiant has given up the Dawnshard, they can still use the spren as fuel for their abilities. The Radiant can use their Shardblade to absorb Investiture, assuming the blade wasn’t consumed, fueling their Dawnshard abilities. The absorbed Investiture can also be used to increase the size and durability of their Shardblade. The spren also has some influences over the newly gained abilities, being able to activate some of the Dawnshard's abilities without the knowledge of their Radiant.
== Mythology ==
During the Era of Solitude on Roshar, the Dawnshards had fallen into legend, and no one seemed to know exactly what the Dawnshards were or what they looked like. They have their root in mythology where they are reputed to be valuable but extraordinarily dangerous. Talk about them was once common among those who recorded the early mythologies of Roshar, but they have since fallen out of common discussion. One of the only references to the Dawnshards was The Poem of Ista, which referenced a Dawnshard said to be able to bind both Voidish and mortal creatures, but what exactly that entails is unknown. Although the Dawnshards are not the same thing as Honorblades, they are often conflated in modern times by people unfamiliar with mythology.
== History ==
=== The Shattering of Adonalsium ===
The Dawnshards pre-dated the Shattering, and were originally created as the Commands used by Adonalsium to create all things. Hoid himself was once a Dawnshard at some point in the distant past, holding the Dawnshard Exist. He found it unwittingly, seemingly some time prior to the death of Adonalsium.
The Dawnshards were used to Shatter Adonalsium into the sixteen Shards around ten thousand years before the True Desolation. Following the Shattering something happened that caused the Dawnshards to lose their original forms. Following the Shattering each Dawnshard was placed on a different planet from the others to keep them apart. It is unclear if Hoid used his Dawnshard himself to help kill Adonalsium, but regardless Hoid held the Dawnshard Exist for a very long time.
Over his time as a Dawnshard, Hoid's spiritweb was greatly changed by it in a similar manner to Savantism. These changes meant that long-term Hoid found himself unable to inflict harm on himself or any others, as well as unable to eat any sort of meat. His Dawnshard is in some way connected to the First Gem, his eponymous topaz. Eventually Hoid chose to give up this burden sometime centuries prior to Stormfall, walking away from the Dawnshard for reasons unknown. Eventually Hoid quietly reclaimed the Dawnshard Exist sometime prior to the contest of champions between the Bondsmith Dalinar Kholin and Odium. This time though he kept his possession of the Dawnshard a closely guarded secret. As Hoid had borne the Dawnshard Exist for quite a long time, he hid his possession of the Dawnshard by pretending any oddness around him was merely the linger changes wrought on him by being the Dawnshard for so long.
While the Stormfather once claimed the Dawnshards were involved in the destruction of Alaswha some 3,300 years following the Shattering, there is no evidence that a Dawnshard was truly involved in that calamity. Tanavast in his final days raved that unchecked Surgebinders were like the Dawnshards themselves, but made no mention of Dawnshards being used to destroy Ashyn.
=== Roshar's Shadowdays ===
At some unspecified point in the past, prior to the Recreance, the Dawnshard associated with the concept of Change was brought through Cultivation's Perpendicularity in the Horneater Peaks. Later, Honor raved to the Knights Radiant about the Dawnshards in the final days before his death. He claimed that they would one day destroy Roshar as their ancestors had destroyed Ashyn by using powers as strong as the Dawnshards. Honor also referred to them in the final vision he left for a future Bondsmith, worried how mankind would survive without Dawnshards, which suggested that he felt they were now inaccessible. Honor seemed to believe that the Dawnshards were potentially crucial in defeating Odium.
=== Rysn and the Wandersail ===
It is unknown what path the Dawnshard Change traveled from the Peaks, but it eventually came to be imbued within a mural depicting Adonalsium's Shattering located in an undersea cavern beneath Akinah. It wasn't seen as possible for this Dawnshard to leave the mural, for reasons unknown. The Dawnshard was protected by the ancient lanceryn, who were called Guardians of Ancient Sins. They helped to defend the Dawnshard from unspecified shadowy groups who pursued the Dawnshard wishing to use it as a weapon to destroy whole worlds. The lanceryn were able to successfully guard the Dawnshard until the scouring of Aimia rendered the species nearly extinct. 
Following the scouring, the Sleepless took up this task, although it is not clear how it became their responsibility. As the Silver Kingdom had totally collapsed, the Sleepless thought it best if Akinah was thoroughly protected and cut off from the world. They allowed the city and its Oathgate to be swallowed up by crem and constructed elaborate decoys in their place to hide the Oathgate. They may have also arranged for the Soulcasting of defensive spires all around the island, and it is possible that they had something to do with the storm that surrounded the island as well. Long after the fall of Aimia, a second Dawnshard arrived on Roshar when Hoid returned to Roshar bearing the Dawnshard Exist just prior to the True Desolation. Bringing the Dawnshard to Roshar was a gamble, Hoid risked providing Odium a powerful tool should the Dawnshard fall into the Shard's hands.
All these deceptive measures failed to extinguish the interest of humans and other treasure seekers. Eventually, during the True Desolation, the Wandersail came out on an expedition, led by Rysn Ftori along with her larkin Chiri-Chiri, descendent of the ancient lanceryn. During an attack from the Sleepless, Rysn and her companion Cord were led by mandras into the mouth of the cavern containing the Dawnshard. Rysn was drawn to the mural, entranced by the beauty and the heat she could feel from the mural, as well as odd thoughts that were not her own. After accepting it, the Dawnshard entered Rysn and she became the new Dawnshard, despite the Sleepless's wishes. Rysn negotiated with the Sleepless, who wished to preserve life and felt that Rysn had been led by Chiri-Chiri to the Dawnshard. Ultimately they allowed her to keep it, as it would be safe and inconspicuous inside the mind of a random mortal. Now, the Dawnshard Rysn is constantly watched and guarded by various Sleepless as well as Chiri-Chiri. Rysn took a few people into her confidence about the Dawnshard, including her babsk Vstim, but kept it a secret from most.
=== Sigzil's Torment ===
Hoid eventually came to the attention of Odium and its new Vessel Taravangian when he acted as contractual liaison for Dalinar in negotiations prior to the contest of champions. Odium altered Hoid's memories after meeting with him, but was protected by the contract from doing more, and failed to detect his possession of the Dawnshard. Just prior to the contest of champions Hoid, in the guise of Dalinar Kholin, inadvertently came into contact with the Bearer of another Dawnshard. He met Rysn Ftori while she was visiting Urithiru to discuss patents for her inventions. The two recognized one another quickly and were nearly pulled physically into one another with great force as the Dawnshards attempted to reunite. Hoid managed to use his knowledge to prevent this from happening and save Rysn's life. The two fled from one another, vowing to never meet again and each hoping the other would keep their secret. Following this encounter, Rysn resolved to go into hiding somehow, but without abandoning her ship and crew. This plan may have had something to do with the sleepless seeking to access the Well of Control.
Following the breaking of the contract, the newly formed Retribution was free to strike out at those who had previously been protected from Odium's touch, including Hoid. The power recognized the potential threat he posed to Retribution, and Hoid realized if the Shard killed him, it would also be able to gain access to his Dawnshard. Trying to prevent this, Hoid found his apprentice, the former Windrunner Sigzil and passed the Dawnshard on to him, before sending Sigzil to Shadesmar with a device. Sigzil took this charge on himself, heading out of Roshar's subastral to another world in the company of a highspren, hoping to meet Hoid and return the Dawnshard to him.
This Dawnshard had a similar effect to Sigzil as it had on Hoid, preventing him from aging and granting him the ability to Skip. It also gave him the restrictions he would come to call his Torment, a progressively more restrictive inability to intentionally cause injury to another. Sigzil only held it briefly, but sometime during this period, Sigzil was threatened, and the Dawnshard fed upon the Investiture that made up the highspren he had come to bond, Auxiliary, injuring the spren and leaving only its personality behind.
Sigzil ultimately gave up the Dawnshard Exist after a time to Hoid or an unknown person, although it ultimately seems to have returned to Hoid's possession. After giving up the Dawnshard Sigzil believed he would be of no interest to those hunting the Dawnshard. When he was approached by the Night Brigade who hunted the Dawnshard Exist, he believed he would be let go if he explained the situation to them. They instead intended to kill him and use his soul to hunt the Dawnshard themselves. Sigzil instead fled, using his ability to Skip to keep ahead of the Night Brigade and keep them off the trail of the Dawnshard for as long as he can stay ahead of them.
== Known Dawnshards ==
=== Change ===
As with all Dawnshards, the Dawnshard that became Rysn defies description with mortal words. The Command represents the will and knowledge of a deity demanding that something change, adapt, or become something new. This Dawnshard was long housed in a special mural of some sort, before moving to Rysn. It seems to not merely be change but some sort of positive change, and when it is absorbed by someone they are in some way Remade. It is uncertain who has borne this Dawnshard over the course of its history, but it is impotent while being carried by Rysn. At some point in the past, the Dawnshard was also guarded by someone making use of a specific suit of Shardplate. Cord has taken up these Shards, and may one day serve as another guardian for Rysn.
=== Exist ===
There is also a Dawnshard that was long in the possession of Hoid with the Intent to Exist. One of the side effects of having held this Dawnshard is the ability to feed on Investiture to heal oneself. Holding this Dawnshard can also cause that person to stop aging, remaining the same age as the moment they first picked it up. Enough time holding this Dawnshard can make a person that possibly may never die or be killed, like Hoid. It also grants enhancements of durability and ability to go without breathing and survive in a vacuum unprotected, although this may be partially due to Sigzil's past as a Windrunner. Holding this Dawnshard also grants a person the ability to live without eating or drinking, and it also eliminates the need to sleep, although not the sense of exhuastion. It is unclear if these traits are limited to just the Dawnshard Exist because of its Command, or are common to all Dawnshards.
Another effect of bearing this Dawnshard is what Sigzil terms the Torment, an inability to intentionally do harm or violence to another. This manifests in both Hoid and Sigzil to differing degrees. Sigzil for instance is able to do harm when it is in line with his oaths or when he has managed to lessen the Torment using a sunheart. Sigzil also experiences this as a freezing up in combat. Hoid is unable to cause harm, consider hurting anyone at all, or even consume meat without extreme incapacitating nausea. He is however capable of causing pain to a Cognitive Shadow, as he is not truly hurting them. He can also only harm himself if he believes it is helping him instead of hurting him.
=== Other Dawnshards ===
There are two other Dawnshards in existence that are essentially unknown, but at least one of the four Dawnshards is different from all of the rest. It is unclear what this difference is though, and whether it refers to one of the known or unknown Dawnshards.
== Trivia ==
* In June 2022, Brandon said that at least one person, other than Rysn, who "is currently" a Dawnshard has appeared; it is unclear which Dawnshard this person has. Though this statement was made after the sample chapters for The Sunlit Man had been released, given the surprise nature of the secret projects, it likely does not refer to Sigzil. In Wind and Truth, it was confirmed that Hoid held the Exist Dawnshard during the events of books 1-5 of The Stormlight Archive.
== Notes ==
Category: Objects and Materials
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