History Literature / TheCosmere

* EarthIsYoung: Most of the worlds (or at least life on those worlds) are implied to be very young, with estimates between five thousand to ten thousand years. This is because after the original human homeworld was destroyed by the [[KillTheGod death of Adonalsium]], the god-like Shards spread throughout the Cosmere to terraform worlds of their own. Though how this worked is not examined in depth, there are some theories: [[Literature/TheStormlightArchive Roshar]] is heavily implied to have had life before Honor and Cultivation brought humans, [[spoiler: with ''Literature/{{Oathbringer}}'' explicitly confirming that the Singers welcomed humans as refugees from another world]] while [[Franchise/{{Mistborn}} Scadrial]] was almost certainly just a dead rock before Ruin and Preservation arrived (Kriss even believes that the Shards actually ''created'' the planet wholesale). WordOfGod is that Scadrial had no fossil fuels before the new god, Harmony, put them there during the Catecandre, as He knew they would be necessary for technology to advance at a reasonable rate. (Since Harmony left behind a book detailing his experiences in reshaping the world, it's most likely that the people understand exactly how old their world is, making Scadrial unique in this respect avoiding a god implicitly lying by adding fossil fuels to a young world). A conversation in ''The Stormlight Archive'' has Vasher show Kaladin a fossil from Nalthis, which he explicitly identified as a forgery, artificially added to a planet too young to have created its own.

* CrisisCrossover: ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' is shaping up to be this, with direct references to the Cosmere and various Shardholders and Shardworlds, a direct danger to the entirety of the Cosmere, and the most cameos of any other Cosmere work. As of ''Literature/RhythmOfWar'', one major antagonist is even revealed to be [[Franchise/{{Mistborn}} Kelsier]]. WordOfGod even refers to it as "the big epic".
* TheDarkWorld: Shadesmar is this to the entire Cosmere. [[DarkIsNotEvil It's not evil though]]. Just a [[MentalWorld world formed by the cognitive perceptions of all living things]]. Also, [[ComicBook/WhiteSand the Darkside of Taldain]], which is a tidally locked world.

* AnotherDimension: [[{{Hammerspace}} The Spiritual Realm]] and [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace the Cognitive Realm]], as opposed to the normally-written Physical Realm. Also, [[AfterlifeTropes the Beyond]], which even the Shards cannot influence.

** This is illustrated in microcosm in ''Mistborn,'' where Atium users can see a few seconds into the future. They see a fixed version of the future ''unless'' facing another Allomancer burning Atium, Malatium, or Electrum. When both are using Atium, the ghostly projections of the future multiply in a myriad of possibilities as each reacts to the other. Malatium simply makes the user undetectable by Atium, and they cast no ghostly future projection, while Electrum shows possible futures to a vastly more limited extent over a much longer timeframe. The implication is that, when limited to only what the user can see and for only a few seconds, the future is so certain that it's essentially fixed, but when two users can react to each other, multiple probabilities spawn.
*** Indeed, [[spoiler: Vin is able to defeat a foe using Atium despite having none herself by watching their reactions to her future movements and changing her plans.]]

* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Split up somewhat, but of the two clearly villainous Shards so far, Ruin's power manifests as wave of black, and Odium's calling card is red eyes.

* The three out of four Secret Project novels that take place in the Cosmere, released in 2023.

* Secret Project #5 (announced as part of the fundraiser for the ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance'' leatherbound editions.)
[[/index]]
[[/folder]]

* AllThereInTheManual: Many facts of the Cosmere are only available through interviews with Brandon Sanderson (and because clever fans thought to ask said questions). Thankfully, he's very open as long as they don't spoil future books too much.

* AnthropomorphicPersonification: [[FictionalPantheon The Shards]], as they are all facets of Adonalsium and thus represent aspects of him. The currently known Shards are: [[{{Literature/Elantris}} Devotion, Dominion]], [[Franchise/{{Mistborn}} Ruin, Preservation]], [[Literature/{{Warbreaker}} Endowment]], [[Literature/TheStormlightArchive Honor, Cultivation, Odium]], [[Literature/ShadowsForSilenceInTheForestsOfHell Ambition]], [[ComicBook/WhiteSand Auto]][[Literature/SixthOfTheDusk nomy]], [[TheGhost Invention, Whimsy, Mercy, Valor]], and [[Literature/YumiAndTheNightmarePainter Virtuosity.]]

* TheDarkWorld: Shadesmar is this to the entire Cosmere. [[DarkIsNotEvil It's not evil though]]. Just a [[MentalWorld world formed by the cognitive perceptions of all living things]]. Also, [[ComicBook/WhiteSand the Darkside of Taldain]], which is a tidally locked world.
* DeathWorld: [[Literature/SixthOfTheDusk First of the Sun]] has jungles that are extremely dangerous even to people who know of all the threats in them. Khriss mentions that no investigation crew sent there has ever returned. Which makes [[Literature/TheStormlightArchive the Ghostbloods’ access to Aviar]] rather remarkable.

* GodIsDead: Happens whenever a Shardvessel dies (Devotion, Dominion]], Preservation, Ruin, and Honor are the ones we know this happened to), and most likely happened to Ambition and earlier, even Adonalsium.

* GreaterScopeVillain: As of ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'', it looks like Odium is shaping up to be this, having caused major problems on [[Literature/{{Elantris}} Sel]] and [[Literature/ShadowsForSilenceInTheForestsOfHell Threnody]].

* HumansAdvanceSwiftly: Compared to most of the shardworlds of the Cosmere the humans of Scadrial advanced fairly quickly. This is partly because, after the Final Empire ended, Harmony's knowledge helped kickstart technologies that existed but had been suppressed by the Lord Ruler. The lack of major threats like on Roshar also helped. Kriss even believes that if the Lord Ruler hadn't kept things stagnant for centuries, they might have become just as advanced as the worldhopper hub Silverlight, if not more so.
** In fact, by the time of [[DistantSequel The Sunlit Man]], 'Scadrian' has become synonymous with SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic and powerful {{Magitek}}.

* {{Mana}}: Investiture, the energy that powers all forms of magic across the Cosmere. It comes from the Spiritual Realm and is actually finite, though most forms of magic don't use it up[[note]]Nightblood and Hemalurgy cause the available amount to decrease, changing its form, but they cannot actively remove it from the system[[/note]].

* MinMaxing; In a setting full of rules-based magic, there are corner cases where interactions between multiple magic systems can create abilities that are otherwise impossible.
** Combining Allomancy with Hemalurgy allows for an Allomancer with unusually strong abilities. The most plot-relevant of which is [[spoiler: compounding a Bronze Misting with a bronze spike from another Bronze Misting to be able to sense Allomancy through a Copper Misting's cloud]].
** Combining Allomancy and Feruchemy in the same element is called compounding and allows the user to burn the metal like an Allomancer to fuel their Feruchemical powers without spending time in the opposite state. Miles Hundredlives is an arc villain who has this as his whole hat, being able to burn gold for a HealingFactor so quick he shrugs off gunshots. [[spoiler: It's also how the Lord Ruler lived for a thousand years.]]

* OriginsEpisode: The forthcoming ''Dragonsteel'' books will detail how Adonalsium was shattered.

* {{Unobtanium}}: God Metals. They play the biggest role in the ''Franchise/{{Mistborn}}'' series due to the magic systems there using metals, but WordOfGod states that every Shard has one. [[spoiler:Razium, Odium's God Metal, turns out to have a role in ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''.]]

* PlanetaryRomance: Between the ScienceFantasy and the heavy magic on low-technology worlds it tends to land solidly in this zone. A good example of the kind of thing we're dealing with is the world of White Sand. On the ground, we know it as a planet with one side a desert in eternal daylight and the other a glowing, exotic jungle in eternal night. Sandmasters shape the sand, transform it to water, and everyone fears the exotic sandworm-like creatures from the depths. From a larger perspective? It is a tidally locked planet at the lagrange point between a Blue Supergiant and a Black Hole, with the Black Hole surrounded by a nebula that transmutes its radiation to ultraviolet light. And the the sheer improbability of all this, not to mention the perfectly circular continents, are all due to the direct influence of a god.

* Secret Project #5 (announced as part of the fundraiser for the ''Book/WordsOfRadiance'' leatherbound editions.)

* Secret Project #5 (announced as part of the fundraiser for the ''Way of Kings'' leatherbound editions.)

* The three out of four Secret Project novels that take place in the Cosmere, released in 2023

** The gods Honor and Preservation bound Odium to the Rosharan system, primarily the [[{{Mordor}} desolate planet]] Braize. This has caused 7000 years of grief for Rosharans, but other gods are reluctant to interfere, since [[TheNeedsOfTheMany it protects the rest of the Cosmere]] (and [[KillTheGod the gods themselves]]) from his depredations.

** Secret Project #4: ''The Sunlit Man''

* The three out of four Secret Project novels that take place in the Cosmere, releasing in 2023

** Combining Allomancy with Hemalurgy allows for an Allomancer with unusually strong abilities. The most plot-relevant of which is [[spoiler: compounding a Brass Misting with a brass spike from another Brass Misting to be able to sense Allomancy through a Copper Misting's cloud]].

* AnthropomorphicPersonification: [[FictionalPantheon The Shards]], as they are all facets of Adonalsium and thus represent aspects of him. The currently known Shards are: [[{{Literature/Elantris}} Devotion, Dominion]], [[Franchise/{{Mistborn}} Ruin, Preservation]], [[Literature/{{Warbreaker}} Endowment]], [[Literature/TheStormlightArchive Honor, Cultivation, Odium]], [[Literature/ShadowsForSilenceInTheForestsOfHell Ambition]], [[ComicBook/WhiteSand Auto]][[Literature/SixthOfTheDusk nomy]], [[TheGhost Invention, Whimsy, Mercy, and Valor]].

* MagicAIsMagicA: Due to Creator/BrandonSanderson and his love for this trope, most worlds have their own rule-based magic systems in accordance with an overall theory known as "[[http://coppermind.net/wiki/Investiture Investiture]]", along with a secondary theory known as "[[http://coppermind.net/wiki/Realmatic_Theory Realmatic Theory]]" to explain the Cosmere itself. Basically: everything that exists is powered by Investiture. On major Shardworlds - that is, world with Shards on them - Investiture can manifest in people via a Focus, which is the primary "carrier" of Investiture - for example, metal for [[Franchise/{{Mistborn}} Scadrial]]. To be able to use it, you have to be Initiated - on Scadrial it's via snapping, on [[Literature/TheStormlightArchive Roshar]] it's via oaths, and on [[Literature/{{Warbreaker}} Nalthis]], it's enough to be born. The detail vary depending on world. On minor Shardworlds - that is, Shardless ones - it's natural life (for example, worms on [[Literature/SixthOfTheDusk First of the Sun]]) that carry Investiture and have Investiture-related effects.

** Secret Project #3: [[spoiler:''Literature/YumiAndTheNightmarePainter'']]
** Secret Project #4: [[spoiler:''The Sunlit Man'']]

** Secret Project #3: [[spoiler:''Yumi and the Nightmare Painter'']]

** In fact, the time of [[DistantSequel The Sunlit Man]], 'Scadrian' has become synonymous with SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic and powerful {{Magitek}}.

*** Raysium, the power of Odium, is described as a very pale golden metal, extremely light, with the unique ability to easily conduct Investiture. The Fused use raysium inlays to craft the spears that drain power from Radiants, along with their soul-stealing daggers.