Hey Internet, I'm Steve and this is RAFO. Before we
jump into the video today, we've got a couple announcements. First, this is
obviously a different space than I was recording in before. My son's now old
enough to have his own room, which means he stole my studio space, so I had to get
a new one. Now we have lovely white walls instead of wood paneling. Also, I
turned 30. Anyway, most people when they talk about White Sand are talking about
this, or this, or this. For we Branderson Sanderson Fandersons, we still could be
talking about this, or this, or at this point, even this. Today though, we're going
to talk about this. But first, let's talk about this. Taldain - the planet of White
Sand is a geographical oddity. "Two weeks from everywhere!" Tidally locked between
two stars, it probably sits in the L1 Lagrange point of the system - a
gravitationally stable point between two masses where the apex of the Roche lobes
of each mass touch. Basically in the middle of a tug of war between two stars.
If we represent those gravitational forces three dimensionally, Taldain
should sit right... here. In the little saddle between the two star wells. The
likelihood of the planet ending up there naturally is astronomically small, and
when you look at the actual landscape of at least Dayside, it's pretty obvious
that Taldain was artificially created and sustained. Most likely, this was done by
Bavadin, the shard of Autonomy. Bavadin, as a shard, has the ability to
create autonomous avatars; not splinters of itself per se, but representations of
her shard that themselves are considered shards in a way. In fact there are
apparently entire pantheons of gods where each one is just another aspect of
Autonomy. We've seen several of her avatars already: Patji in First of the Sun,
potential fiddling with Scadrial, a penpal on Obrodai, and most notably
the Sand Lord on Taldain - also known as the Sun. And also probably these faces in
the clouds. And this guy. And maybe this guy? Because
it's trapped between two stars - a blue-white supergiant (Autonomy) and a
white dwarf shrouded in a particulate ring (maybe also Autonomy?) - half the planet
is bathed in eternal day and the other half in neverending twilight, with each
hemisphere containing its own autonomous continent. We haven't seen any of
Darkside yet, though I hear they have cookies. The landmass on Dayside is
roughly circular, with a single big mountain in the very centerm and is
basically completely covered in - that's right -
white sand. "I don't like sand." This sand is coated in a microorganism that when
exposed to the investiture which beats down from the dayside Sun with the light
turns white. In fact, it's theoretically possible to harness the investiture
wherever the light from that star reaches. Anyway, when used by a Sand
Master or otherwise exposed to water, the investiture is released in a flash of
"shifting colors" and the sand turns black, only regaining its white color -
presumably reinvesting - after four hours of sun exposure. Sand Masters are able
to channel the release of that investiture by using their body's own
water supply to control ribbons of sand. No, not like... Oh, actually yeah, kind of
like that. These ribbons can be used to both attack and defend, manipulate
objects, even to basically fly if the Sand Master can control enough. Most Sand
Masters can control between three to two dozen. However the more ribbons of sand
you control, the faster your water supply diminishes. Naturally dehydration is huge
risk for a Sand Master, and if they use too much of their water supply - called
overmastery - they can lose their ability to control sand and even die; almost
becoming an instant mummy as all the water in their body gets sucked out. Sand
Mastery has a unique solution to its dangerous sucking. Of water. Powerful sand
Masters can learn an ability called slatrification, which can actually turn
white sand into water. This isn't the first time in the Cosmere we've seen
something turned into something else, so perhaps Sand Mastery and Soulcasting
are more fundamentally related? According to Brandon, there are other "more
ingenious" uses of Sand Mastery that we haven't even seen yet. We're not sure
exactly how someone becomes a Sand Master, though there may be a genetic
component. However, a Sand Master's strength is apparently fixed. Control and
precision can be developed through training, but the amount of sand you can
control cannot be increased. Unless... read the prose. For this
reason, a Sand Master's rank in the Diem - basically the Sand Master guild - cannot
be changed. Once you accept a rank, you're in that rank for life. Unless... read
the graphic novel. There are eight ranks in the Diem of the Sand.
Anyone with any talent in Sand Mastery can join and become an acolent, where
most students train for about four years before accepting their permanent rank.
The Diem is led by the Lord Mastrell, who is a member of the highest rank: the
Mastrells. Under them are the Undermastrells, then lesser is the
Lesstrells. Under the Lesstrells are predictably the Underlesstrells, then
comes in order the Diemfens, Fens and Underfens. Ha, say that quick and it
sounds like... A Sand Masters rank is entirely based on their raw ability. If
you can control more sand, you'll be put into a higher rank. If you can't control
very much, you get stuck with the Underfens. The Sand Master Diem is one of eight
ruling professions in Lossand, along with cops, soldiers, sailors, merchants, farmers,
artisans, and masons, with an unofficial Lord Beggar among the other profession
heads. Lossand stretches in a wedge from the center mountain - KraeDa - down to the
southern coast; about five to seven o'clock.
They've got Sand Masters, and their neighbors to the west - the nation of
Kerzta - hates them for it. The Kerztians are currently ruled by a noble
merchant class, so they haven't killed very many people recently - bad for
business. The priest class in that nation has been rising again in power, so
tensions between them and Lossand have been increasing as well. Moving back
center, the Kerla surrounds most of KraeDa - a possibly unclaimed region of
un-desert that the Sand Masters like to hang out in.
Then there's the Rim Kingdoms: four little countries in the northeast who we've
never heard of. Most of these places Daysiders wouldn't actually consider as
desert, even though it's covered in sand, has virtually no trees, and the Sun never
wavers from its fixed point in the sky. The distinction between desert and non-
desert is the presence of an incredibly convenient plant called a Dorim vine,
which grows under the sand and carries with it a significant supply of clean
water. Pouring water onto the sand causes these vines to rise to the surface, and
the water they contain is used as a protection against sandlings and other
creatures whose carapace shells are often dissolved by water. Difficult to
eat something if your mouth falls apart every time you take a bite. These shells
are often referred to as "terken," meaning that while they go goopy in water, they
are also impervious to Sand Mastery, causing controlled sand that comes in
contact with it to lose its investiture and turn black. I mentioned sandlings in
a previous video, and when considered in relation to everything we know about
life in our universe, they don't really make sense. A living thing that is
basically allergic to water? The graphic novel makes this even more
difficult to reconcile, because they're depicted as having liquid saliva. And
this is where we get to my theory: Sandlings NEED water, because they
actually feed off investiture. First: the experiments done by Khrissalla in White
Sand 2 show that sand that has passed through the digestive system of a
sandling has been stripped of the investiture absorbing microorganism,
making it similar to Darkside sand. This implies that sandlings eating white
sand must be a common enough occurrence for post-digested sand to be possible to
retrieve. Second: while it's known that sandlings will avoid areas where Dorim
vines grow because of the large amounts of water, we also see various species
attack and consume living, carbon-based, water-filled prey. so water must not be
fatal to them, or else consuming a person whose body is made of 80% water would
kill them. It must just dissolve carapace. Third: sandlings, like greatshells, do not
obey the square-cube law; they should collapse under their own weight. But
sandlings don't have the benefit of decreased gravity or floaty spren bonds,
which means there must be something else keeping them alive. What better way
than pure Investiture? So what if they don't consume larger prey for
nourishment, but rather for a water reserve? Then they use that water - housed
within their digestive tract - to activate the white sand that they consume,
sparking the investiture into a kinetic state and absorbing it. The microflora
coating the sand is then also consumed and used to build the terken carapace.
Because it's no longer invested, it appears black or gray, but it's still sensitive
to water and starts to unbind when it comes into contact with it. Similarly,
when a terken carapace touches kinetically invested sand, those same
macromolecules either spark or leech away the investiture, making Sand Mastery
ineffective. Sandlings can then be thought of as sort of a giant earthworm - eating
dirt, absorbing necessary nutrients, then pooping out the stripped minerals. Also
kind of like any number of birds that eat rocks, which they store in their
gizzard and use to help digest food. Sandlings just have a sort of water-gizzard.
Khriss also draws a connection to the coating on the sand grains of Dayside
with a lichen that apparently grows on everything on Darkside. Her entry on
Taldain in Arcanum Unbounded implies that there is some form of investiture
access on Darkside, but we don't know if there is a connection here or not.
There seems to be at least something going on on Darkside, as Skathan - the
emperor of the dynasty over there - has been ruling for at least a hundred years
and still looks like he's in his mid-20s. Oh gosh he's the Emperor of the Darkside!
Speaking of immortal God Kings, in my next video we're finally going to
talk about my very favorite books: the Mistborn trilogy, and that will be the
end of this investiture analysis series. If you've missed any videos take a look
here! Please like and subscribe, and as always Read And Find Out!