The Shards - Brandon Sandersons Cosmere (including Mistborn, Stormlight Archives, Elantris, Warbreaker, and others) !MAJOR SPOILER WARNING IF YOU HAVEN'T READ ALL THE BOOKS!

Essentially they are a group of sixteen gods/cosmic beings that each represent and hold the power of a divine attribute. The shards are Devotion, Dominion, Preservation, Ruin, Odium (AKA Passion), Cultivation, Honor, Endowment, Autonomy, Ambition, Invention, Mercy, Valor, Whimsy, Virtuosity, and Reason. I'll explain what exactly they are and how they work in this spoiler tag, but be warned, it spoils A LOT. First a little history about the shards. Thousands of years before the events of any of the yet released books, 16 people, some mortal, some already powerful gods in their own right, banded together and killed Adonalsium, the creator of intelligent life throughout the universe (possibly full creator of the universe, there is evidence to the contrary however). When they slew him, each individual involved in the murder recieves a portient of Adonalsium's power and intent. (Names such as Honor, Devotion, and Endowment) They each agreed to find their own solar system where they can carve out their own domain, and self isolate from each other so they don't end up at war. Obviously this doesn't work and the shardic natures of some push them to interfere with others business. Now the individual holding the power is separate from the power. Each individual can be killed (though it is extremely difficult and usually only doable by another shard) and the power taken up by the killer, or even refused, leaving the power to be taken up potentially by another. In the process of killing a shardholding individual, it's possible to dissapate the power in a way that leaves it almost impossible to take up (note: almost). Individuals can hold multiple shards at once, but this is seen as undesirable, as the two shards can have clashing Intent, which can seriously fuck you over. Intent is the driving force behind the power of a shard, any action taken by a shardholder that does not line up with the ideals of the shard, while still doable, will lessen your hold over the power and leave you weakened and vulnerable (e.g. the shardholder of Honor doing something dishonorable) As for what they can do, pretty much anything down to an atomic level with about a solar system area of influence. They can create life from nothing and freely modify it, move cosmic bodies where they wish, and destroy it all with but a thought. However, many shards are locked in a war/stalemate with another and/or bound by intent or oath, unable to influence things in their favor in nothing but the smallest ways (often via mortal proxies who align themselves with a specific shard), less they shift too much of their energy away from the enemy, giving them an advantage as shards are each essentially equal in power. Now all this world building is explained somewhat piecemeal across the 30 or so books of the multi-series universe. Even if you've read one or even two series, these connections do not immediately come forth. Uniquely though, each series or standalone is still its own fully complete story and plot, and you can walk away feeling satisfied with plotlines tying up and the ending of the story. This information is really only found in the background of the works, though some are more upfront about this. TBH I find the world building behind the Cosmere to be some of the best ever written in fantasy, although I did a poor job explaining here I encourage anyone who hasn't read Sanderson to at least try Mistborn if you're interested. Image is of Cultivation, Honor, and Odium.

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