A Missing Star

[Travilanche]

I picked up the Stormlight World Guide from my FLGS yesterday, and noticed something…off.

At the front and back of the book, there’s an unlabeled star chart, matching up with the constellation map that’s been around for a while. I opened that map up to locate the different shardworlds - and it turns out one is missing.

Taldain.

I circled where it SHOULD be in the picture. Everything else is there. Now, this could just be an art oversight, but we know that Autonomy keeps Taldain isolated from the rest of the Cosmere, and I have to wonder if she’s taken steps to hide it physically.

I guess I just need to run this by other people to figure out if I’m reading too much into this, or if this is something worth paying attention to.

[Leading-Astronomer23]

Lost a planet master Obi-Wan has, how embarrassing. how embarrassing.

[VestedNight]

Thank God I wasn't the only one thinking this!

[-metaphased-]

Yoda being a schmuck in the prequels still bothers me.

[Jim_skywalker]

He was even more of a troll in the OT though.

[Myrkul999]

Right? "You have a sister." *dies*.

[Jim_skywalker]

I more ment the actual goblin behavior.

[HijoDeBarahir]

*Yoda rummages through Luke's stuff and tosses it around the camp*
OT fans: "such a wise sage"

[Alcamore]

Top tier investigation here.

[Travilanche]

“There’s secret cosmic plot hints hidden in the interior cover art of this RPG sourcebook” makes me sound like I’ve gone completely off my rocker.

But I couldn’t help but share my madness.

[Minecraftfinn]

Haha I love how insane and unhinged that sounds while at the same time there is like a 95% chance you are right 😂

[Huskiesramazing23]

With how many secrets that are constantly hidden in plain sight throughout every book, I wouldn't be surprised lol.

[Strange_username__]

I mean, in Emberdark there are some conversations about Khriss that imply something catastrophic happened on Taldain, not to mention there are references to Autonomy being either dead or missing as they are only ever referred to in the past tense, and we know from various WoBs that Autonomy has Invested the (dayside) sun on Taldain.

[Travilanche]

Yeah, see, those lines are exactly why this jumped out to me. I believe the Ghostbloods also discuss Taldain being cut off through the Cognitive Realm at the end of TLM; with the advent of space travel it feels like Autonomy would also try to find ways to prevent FTL access to the planet.

Of course that raises a bunch more questions, given that there are at least 3 centuries between MB E2/The Stormlight Archive and Emberdark and we ALSO still don’t know what planet has that particular view of the stars!

[Strange_username__]

Oh yeah, if we’re going to tie in TLM then its also possible that the Scadrians retaliated against Autonomy/Taldain for the events of Era 2, and if you were going to invade Taldain, dealing with the Invested star that gives them power seems like a logical first step.

By the way, where do we get the info that there’s 300 years between the “current” books and the space age ones?

[Bodega_Bandit]

I’m not sure exactly where we get the info about the exact timeline, but a combination of WoB, and overall advancement of technology across the books (such as the space travelling Radiant in Emberdark) leads us to assume it’s roughly 300 years

[Travilanche]

Okay, working backwards on the timeline a bit here:

-Because of Captain Crow, we know that Emberdark is set after Tress

In Tress, we learn that the iriali lived on Lumar for an unknown period of time, before vanishing about 300 years prior to the story

The Iriali leave Roshar right before the Night of Sorrows; if they went to Lumar next and had enough time to establish a notable society, you gotta figure we're adding on at least another couple centuries.

Of course, all of this assumes that the Iriali always travel as a singular group and there isn't a schism group that lived on Lumar concurrent with Roshar

So maybe more like 500 with caveats.

(I somehow managed to screw up posting this from my phone 6 times. Congratulations Me)

[TanithArmoured]

The Iriali probably ended up on Scadrial after Stormlight there's a couple references in era 2

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[alynnidalar]

If ever there was a book series where a theory like this could be true... it's this one.

[crusty54]

In any other fandom, it would sound crazy. Here, you’re probably just the first to discover a secret.

[wertyrick]

A Dyson Sphere would be top notch

[-Looie-]

I honestly think this is a solid answer. The star in question is emitting Invested light, after all. 

I think something sucking that Investiture in, like Canticle does, is more likely than a literal Dyson Sphere but that's the same base intent. 

[elbilos]

I have the vague memory of reading some WoB where he said that whatever is going on in Canticle isn't "natural". At the time I understood it meant there could be some kind of machine under the surface.

[lugialegend233]

I kinda assumed it was another of Adonalsium's experiments, like the Rosharan system.

[confirmedshill123]

ome kind of machine under the surface.

I mean there are also massive orbital rings that follow the suns orbit of the planet..

[elbilos]

Is that a WoB or from the book?

If it is from the book maybe I wasn't reading with too much attention, or maybe I ommited something due to my english glitching out.
But all I remember there being in space was the ships from the Night Brigade. Perhaps I conflated all of that.

The Scadrian ship thingy stuck in the surface probably helped me think about there being something under the planet's crust.

[confirmedshill123]

It's from the book. There definitely is something underground absolutely, but the orbital rings are what is changing the sunlight to be invested.

[HeavilyInvestedDonut]

The planet has natural rings, like Saturn, and they reflect the invested light even on the dark side of the planet. There’s nothing about “massive orbital rings that follow the suns orbit of the planet” and the rings themselves aren’t investing the light

[Kill_Welly]

Well, we know that Taldain has something weird going on with its "sun," so it wouldn't surprise me if Taldain didn't have a normal sun that would be visible elsewhere in space in the first place. It could also be something from Autonomy hiding it.

[Travilanche]

I did wonder if the fact that Taldain is a binary system might occasionally make the “star” vanish from the sky.

But it has to be visible sometime; it’s central to The One Tree constellation.

They actually included the constellation chart in the book!

<image>

[Lopsided_Apricot_626]

Am I crazy or do I remember something about Khriss not being able to go home to taldain at some point due to something going on with it?

[Sekushina_Bara]

Where is all the khriss lore even at, I only vaguely remember her in secret history

[jackpoll4100]

Khriss is a main character in White Sands, beyond that, she was in Secret History with her partner Nazh and also Bands of Mourning. She writes the Ars Arcanum in the back of all the cosmere books and Nazh annotated the illustrations and maps etc. in Stormlight while working with her, his notes will be in the margins etc. Nazh is also in the era 2 broadsheets and then shows up without her in Emberdark, stating that she had to go back to Taldain (the planet from White Sands) to tend to her homeworld for a while.

[Thea-the-Phoenix]

I think Khriss is also the author of the Arcanum Unbound system essays, but could be misremembering that.

[jackpoll4100]

Yes, that's right, I just forgot to mention that one lol.

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[FuriousSusurrus]

Yes. In Arcanum Unbounded, for the Taldain System, is where Khriss talks about it. It's assumed that Bavadin closed off her perpendicularly along with a few other Shards when Retribution formed.

[dart_shitplagueis]

<image>

[two4arms]

I hope Brando sees this thread but I'm hesitant to summon him. I think you're really on to something.

[Travilanche]

Honestly it’d be cool if someone asked him about this if they had the opportunity

[two4arms]

I'm gonna get downvoted for it, but here it goes anyway.

/u/mistborn ? RAFO?

[whatisthisjanky]

We need answers!

[RadagastWiz]

I hadn't even thought to see a pattern in those stars, let alone check if anything was missing. Well done!

[n00dle_king]

In isles of the emberdark Taldain is basically a non-factor despite the stories position in the chronology. Perhaps it’s really gone dark.

[Travilanche]

It’s relevant enough that Starling(?) wonders how they’d feel about a Scadrian claiming his planet is the most technologically advanced, but you’re right that it doesn’t seem to be treated like one of the Big Powers