Bavadin

Bavadin is the original and current Vessel of the Shard Autonomy. She is the only Shard of Taldain, where she's Invested in one of the local suns.
== Appearance and Personality ==
=== Appearance ===
Bavadin has a habit of taking on multiple forms and appearances. She has several male and female personas, and ones that are neither; she will often present herself as different people to the same culture; although she is usually referred to with feminine pronouns, gender, as well as race and other qualities, are fluid where she is concerned. Bavadin seems fond of changing her appearance, and she does so daily. Even her original species is unclear; she is not a dragon, but it's unknown whether she's human or Sho Del. In artwork, she is sometimes depicted as a feminine figure with long, vividly red hair; it is unclear, however, if this is an accurate depiction of her, let alone her "true" appearance, if she even has one.
=== Personality ===
Bavadin is a strong believer in strength through struggle; to her, only those who can overcome great adversity can be truly worthy, while those who cannot keep up do not deserve to survive in her world. She admires tenacity and individualism, and appreciates people who are bold and willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals. She does not care for those who try to fake their drive and passion, however, preferring those truly dedicated to their causes rather than those who try to appease her. While she typically acts through her avatars, she will occasionally talk directly with those who truly impress her. In person, she is haughty and self-assured, goading her opponents into acting against her and wanting them to present strong opposition; at the same time, she does not like being denied her goals. She is, however, strategic; she knows when to withdraw and regroup, and has back-up plans in case of failure.
While Bavadin appreciates the driven and the ambitious, she is also extremely controlling. Some claim that under Autonomy, people are only allowed to express their individualism in the forms she approves of; a sort of assigned uniqueness, manufactured to fit into the larger whole she is building. Bavadin herself, however, criticizes such forced uniqueness, and considers it a faulty understanding of her Intent. 
She is not opposed to meddling with the affairs of other planets, including those that already have Shards of their own, even as she herself seeks to remain isolated and separate, unwilling to let herself be "contaminated" by any other Shard. She is extremely proactive in making sure that her own autonomy is enforced, to the detriment of others.
While she is controlling, she approves of people standing up against her, rewarding ambition, as long as they are successful in their resistance. She appears to see society as a collection of niches which only one person can fulfil, and thus, when two people occupy the same niche, they both must prove themselves and only one would be allowed to survive. Following from this "survival of the fittest" mindset, she believes that it is only when pushed to the limit, and made to struggle to survive, that one's true exceptionalism is able to manifest. Furthermore, she believes that those who fail to reach their best self deserve a consequence, even one as severe as death. Related to these beliefs, she believes that it is struggle which brings about technological and cultural advancement, and inversely, that too easy of a life stunts innovation.
Her mindset on applying the competitive exclusion principle to the social structures of sapient beings engenders a significant amount of internal rivalry among her ranks, which she intentionally exacerbates. 
When acting on other worlds, she is cunning and scheming, using fake personas and setting up entire faiths with the intent to reactivate them later, when it suits her purposes. She is particularly fond of crafting avatars, sapient entities holding a portion of her power; her overall goal appears to be "crowding out" the other Shards with the many versions of herself.
She has little regard for human life, such that she is willing to commit genocide on a planetary scale, if the planet and its people in question are seen as a threat in her eyes. She considers her own plans to be of more importance than the lives of many, and thus is willing to sacrifice them for the sake of it. Though she will also accept letting such a planet continue to exist, as long as it and its people are kept under her strict control.
Some people have criticized her hypocrisy, holding a policy of strict isolationism whilst simultaneously interfering with worlds all across the cosmere.
It is unclear how much of her personality arises from herself, and how much arises from the Intent of the Shard she holds.
Even prior to her Ascension, she was described as shrewd and capable.
== Abilities and Attributes ==
=== Shard of Adonalsium ===
Bavadin is a Vessel of a Shard, making her ageless, incorporeal and incredibly powerful. Whether Autonomy grants her any unique strengths or abilities is unknown; however, Bavadin is highly skilled in using her Shardic powers. 
Bavadin's main area of expertise is the creation of avatars, sapient, semi-autonomous entities wielding a portion of her power. Through her avatars, Bavadin can take on a myriad appearances, often multiple at once; she is a keen actress, assuming dozens of made up-personas. Her primary focus on using those avatars is creating and maintaining religions. There are entire pantheons of gods where every deity is actually Bavadin in a different disguise.
Aside from her avatars, Bavadin seems to have some measure of skill in combating other Shards. She successfully manages to infiltrate and Invest Scadrial without Harmony being able to act on it until it is too late. When acting directly, Bavadin knows how to bind another Shard, blinding them and effectively restricting their access to future-sight. She can do so without endangering herself; like all Shards, Bavadin is unwilling to use her full power and thus expose herself to retaliation, preferring to act through intermediaries instead.
=== Followers ===
Through her propensity for creating avatars and faiths focused on those avatars, Bavadin has gathered no small amount of religious influence throughout the cosmere. She has been known to leverage it for her own purposes at times -- such as manifesting her Sand Lord persona to Elorin to facilitate the destruction of the sand masters.
Outside of Taldain, Bavadin has more people to draw on. The best-known of them is the group called the Set from Scadrial. Worshippers of Bavadin's Trell persona, the Set have been activated by her at some point after the Catacendre with the purpose of taking control over Elendel Basin and through it, the whole of the planet. Vast majority of the Set appear unaware of Trell's true nature, with only their last leader, Telsin Ladrian, knowing Bavadin's full intentions for the planet; nevertheless, the group is closely tied to Autonomy, enough so for her to Invest Telsin as her avatar.
When religious or subtle methods prove insufficient, Bavadin controls a more brutal group known as the men of gold and red. Those inhuman, advanced warriors serve as Bavadin's army of destroyers, to be brought through by Cognitive Realm and lay waste to a land when other methods have failed. However, the men of gold and red are apparently difficult to control once let loose; it's unclear how well Bavadin can command them once she gives the order to attack.
== History ==
Like all original Vessels, Bavadin came from Yolen. She and a number of others killed the creator-god, Adonalsium, and split up his power into sixteen pieces. Bavadin herself picked up the piece which became Autonomy and departed Yolen, eventually winding up in Taldain, where she Invested the local sun.
== Relationships ==
=== Immortal Entities ===
Bavadin seems to have had some alliance with Rayse, the prior Vessel of Odium, although whether this alliance still stands with Taravangian is unclear. She assisted Rayse in splintering the shards of Devotion and Dominion, though the extent and nature of this assistance is uncertain. Hoid holds a deep grudge against both Bavadin and Rayse, for unknown, but related reasons. Bavadin herself doesn't seem to be overly fond of Hoid either, though they two have had a prior relationship of some nature. In the present, her avatars deeply dislike Hoid, and at least one of them -- the Obrodai avatar -- has been instilled with deep dislike of him as a precaution.
By contrast, Bavadin appears to feel threatened by Harmony, or perhaps Scadrial and what its technological development may mean to her own isolationist policies. She does not respect Harmony's hold on his world and infiltrates it, both through her followers and with her own Investiture. While she intially approaches Harmony with an offer of a peaceful resolution to their conflict, seemingly willing to let the Shard live (at least for now), when Harmony rejects it, Bavadin doesn't hesitate to blind him. It is unclear what her plans are for dealing with Harmony after she would wipe out Scadrial.
Tanavast considered her to be capable, yet shrewd.
=== Wax and Telsin Ladrian ===
Bavadin seems very interested in the Ladrian siblings, perhaps due to their uncle Edwarn's involvement with the Set. She particularly likes Wax, calling him a "masterpiece" and bemoaning the fact that he was claimed by Harmony before she could get to him. She takes the time to speak with Wax, commending him on his pursuit of her people and challenging him to prove that Scadrial deserves to be left free of her manipulation.
Once Telsin Ladrian takes over the Set, Bavadin seems to respect her drive and desire to survive. She makes her Autonomy's avatar, granting her the title of Trell, and gives her time to enact her own plan to take over the planet before she unleashes the men of gold and red on it. However, Bavadin finds Telsin somewhat more tedious and lacking in the individualism; she considers her attempts to display it fake and manufactured for Bavadin. Once Telsin's plan begins to unravel, Bavadin abandons her altogether, no longer interested in anything Telsin may want to say or do.
== Trivia ==
* Among the original Vessels, Brandon is very fond of Bavadin. Part of the reason he regretted moving on from White Sand is that he couldn't properly introduce Bavadin in-story just then. He has since introduced Bavadin in The Lost Metal.
* Bavadin appears to be genderfluid by various Word of Brandons, with Brandon even going as far as to saying her gender changes depending on the day, telling fans to not "get too hung up on gender... where Bavadin is concerned"; and Shai, when describing Autonomy, said "He, she, they, it varies". Brandon has also previously not corrected fans referring to Bavadin with he/him pronouns, and used the same terminology for them.
== Notes ==
es:Bavadin