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Worldbuilding & Culture Notes
Worldbuilding & Culture Notes
Like many other epic fantasy novels, the Stormlight Archive books include an incredible amount of world-building to craft a believable fantasy world that behaves according to very different natural laws. Being from this world, Kaladin is going to have certain preconceptions about how things work naturally (which means, in environments that might more strongly resemble Earth, he will be very confused). I'm putting together a (hopefully not too long) compilation of notes on the world of Roshar, both natural and cultural, for reference when writing. Of course, anyone else who is interested in why he reacts the way he does to certain things is welcome to read as well!
In general, the land of Roshar is a stark one of stone and storm. In order to understand how the world works, one first has to understand the highstorms that periodically pass over the continent. These highstorms are massive and extremely destructive, beginning in the eastern sea at the point of the Origin and traveling west, gradually becoming weaker as they do so. These storms, particularly in the east, are powerful enough that any living organism without a way to protect itself would get swept away.
In order to combat this, evolution throughout Roshar has largely favored creatures with rock-like shells and crustacean attributes to weather through the highstorms. This is also true for flora, which have also developed shells and the ability to retract from predators and storms. This is so extensive that an environment more similar to Earth, with soil and mammals and birds and inert plant life, is exclusive only to the land of Shinovar (due to its eastern-facing mountain range to shield it from the highstorms) and is considered highly strange.
As for seasons in Roshar, they are not only very short but unpredictable. Each of the four seasons can be only a few weeks in length to a few months. This length is random as they cycle through. Though highstorms and seasons can be predicted (to varying degrees of accuracy, though accuracy has become very good for highstorms), much of it is erratic. The only thing perfectly predictable is the Weeping, which is four weeks of constant rain but without any highstorms. The Weeping signifies the end of a year and is used to mark one's age.
There's also a calendar for month and day names but there's no way I'm going into that so there's that for reference.
Okay, so what the hell is Stormlight, anyway?
Stormlight forms the backbone of the magic system in the Stormlight Archive (shockingly enough). It is a bright magical energy that is left behind in the wake of a highstorm. The primary, and most efficient, method of containing Stormlight is in spheres, which are glass beads studded with gemstones of different type and size. Spheres are also used for currency in Roshar, though infusion with Stormlight is not always necessary (though only true gemstones will carry a Stormlight infusion).
The reason that gemstones have value and are used as currency in Roshar is due to how they, and the Stormlight they carry, is used by way of fabrials. Fabrials are, simply put, mechanical constructions which use Stormlight to accomplish something. Some are as simple as providing warmth to a room, while others use the power of Stormlight to transform one type of matter into another type of matter. This particular type of fabrial is very important. They are called soulcasters, and are considered sacred in the Vorin religion which is widespread throughout Eastern Roshar (where Kaladin is from). Because soulcasters require a great deal of Stormlight, and their transmutation is a sizable cornerstone of the economy, spheres which can power them most effectively are the most expensive. Soulcasters are used for many different reasons, such as soulcasting a stone barrack from thin air, or changing a sheet of rock into grain. Because of the convenience, they are invaluable in war, to easily shelter and feed armies.
Stormlight is also used for the abilities of the Knights Radiant, who can "breathe in" Stormlight and use it to do magical feats. I'll get into that in another post, though, since the Knights Radiant have been gone for a long time and these powers are beyond belief in Roshar currently.
Spren, very simply put, are magical essences that can be found throughout Roshar. They are small, sometimes fading in and out of visibility to humans, and typically can't physically interact with the physical world. There are different kinds, from spren that occur around natural phenomenon (such as the pictured lifespren, which tend to gather around blooming plants) to those which are drawn to certain emotions in people (such as fearspren, painspren, or gloryspren). For the most part, spren are just a visual representation of elements, emotion, and change in Roshar. They can sometimes allow someone to read another a little more easily (unless someone is very good at controlling their emotion). The vast majority of spren seem to be thoughtless and cannot really interact with the rest of the world.
This is untrue for spren who have begun forming oaths with people once more to form Knights Radiant. These spren have "remembered," becoming able to think and speak once more, and their bonds with people allow both parties to do certain types of magic. Again, I'll save the Knights Radiant magic for a later time, but these sentient types of spren are generally thought of as very strange or even impossible.
Here is a spren catalogue, for reference.
The political and social structure in Alethkar are integrally linked. The governing hierarchy of both is based on eye color, something which is hereditary—because eye color is passed down this way, it largely resembles a monarchistic system built on primogeniture. Because the concept of eye color castes is from the Vorin religion, it's commonly thought that "lighteyes" are born to rule and, conversely, "darkeyes" are born to work.
There is extremely little movement in the social caste system of Alethkar society. Lighteyes fall into tiered castes called "dahns", where people of the first dahn are highprinces and their family while people of the tenth dahn are nearly on par with the darkeyed peasantry. Darkeyes are sorted into similar ranks called "nahn," where first- or second-nahn families might be wealthy merchants or educated surgeons with full citizenship and right of travel but eight-nahn darkeyes will be fieldhands or miners (and are practically indentured servants). Families can move up and down the nahns, but this usually takes multiple generations of marrying into different tiers. It's very rare, but darkeyes of the first nahn can sometimes marry to lighteyed families of low dahn, and their children have the chance to be light-eyed. (There are also stories of darkeyes becoming lighteyes but... that's a story for another time.)
"—has it ever struck you that most masculine arts deal with destroying, while feminine arts deal with creation?" (Ch28 "Decision," The Way of Kings)
Gender roles in Vorin cultures are extremely defined and rigid.
Though there are many Callings considered proper for men, the masculine ideal is that of a warrior, and fighting is considered solely a masculine art. Commerce (and therefore, the handling of money) is typically considered a masculine art as well. Women seen fighting is considered unseemly, and, if there is a choice in who might handle money (such as a husband and wife), the duty would typically fall to the man.
Feminine arts include mathematics, engineering, history, music, visual arts, reading, and writing. As men are idealized as warriors, women are idealized as scholars. In Vorin society, it is scandalous nearly to the level of blasphemy for a man to be able to read and write. Usually a wife, sister, or hired scribe is necessary in a household for these matters. Men do learn glyphs, but as these are usually singular words or ideas, they have very limited use in written communication. While smithing of weapons and other such items is a masculine art, engineering of technology (especially fabriology) is a feminine field.
Vorin society has a very particular view of propriety for women as well. Throughout much of Roshar, women of all social ranks are expected to cover their left hand, called their "safehand." Higher-class lighteyed women will typically do this with a buttoned sleeve on their dress, but others will cover it with a glove. The right hand, called the "freehand," is kept unclothed. A woman with an exposed safehand is seen as wanton and scandalous.
One important exemption to gender roles are ardents, or individuals who have sworn their lives to service to the devotaries of the Vorin religion. Ardents are socially seen as without a gender (though personally they will still used gendered language for themselves). So it is not seen as strange for a male ardent to be able to read in this sole regard. An individual swearing themselves over to the ardentia is typically seen as a life-long ordeal, though it is not forbidden for them to leave the order—although it is highly looked down upon.
Worldbuilding
Lay of the Land, Weather, and Seasons
In general, the land of Roshar is a stark one of stone and storm. In order to understand how the world works, one first has to understand the highstorms that periodically pass over the continent. These highstorms are massive and extremely destructive, beginning in the eastern sea at the point of the Origin and traveling west, gradually becoming weaker as they do so. These storms, particularly in the east, are powerful enough that any living organism without a way to protect itself would get swept away.
In order to combat this, evolution throughout Roshar has largely favored creatures with rock-like shells and crustacean attributes to weather through the highstorms. This is also true for flora, which have also developed shells and the ability to retract from predators and storms. This is so extensive that an environment more similar to Earth, with soil and mammals and birds and inert plant life, is exclusive only to the land of Shinovar (due to its eastern-facing mountain range to shield it from the highstorms) and is considered highly strange.
As for seasons in Roshar, they are not only very short but unpredictable. Each of the four seasons can be only a few weeks in length to a few months. This length is random as they cycle through. Though highstorms and seasons can be predicted (to varying degrees of accuracy, though accuracy has become very good for highstorms), much of it is erratic. The only thing perfectly predictable is the Weeping, which is four weeks of constant rain but without any highstorms. The Weeping signifies the end of a year and is used to mark one's age.
There's also a calendar for month and day names but there's no way I'm going into that so there's that for reference.
Stormlight
Okay, so what the hell is Stormlight, anyway?Stormlight forms the backbone of the magic system in the Stormlight Archive (shockingly enough). It is a bright magical energy that is left behind in the wake of a highstorm. The primary, and most efficient, method of containing Stormlight is in spheres, which are glass beads studded with gemstones of different type and size. Spheres are also used for currency in Roshar, though infusion with Stormlight is not always necessary (though only true gemstones will carry a Stormlight infusion).
The reason that gemstones have value and are used as currency in Roshar is due to how they, and the Stormlight they carry, is used by way of fabrials. Fabrials are, simply put, mechanical constructions which use Stormlight to accomplish something. Some are as simple as providing warmth to a room, while others use the power of Stormlight to transform one type of matter into another type of matter. This particular type of fabrial is very important. They are called soulcasters, and are considered sacred in the Vorin religion which is widespread throughout Eastern Roshar (where Kaladin is from). Because soulcasters require a great deal of Stormlight, and their transmutation is a sizable cornerstone of the economy, spheres which can power them most effectively are the most expensive. Soulcasters are used for many different reasons, such as soulcasting a stone barrack from thin air, or changing a sheet of rock into grain. Because of the convenience, they are invaluable in war, to easily shelter and feed armies.
Stormlight is also used for the abilities of the Knights Radiant, who can "breathe in" Stormlight and use it to do magical feats. I'll get into that in another post, though, since the Knights Radiant have been gone for a long time and these powers are beyond belief in Roshar currently.
Spren
Spren, very simply put, are magical essences that can be found throughout Roshar. They are small, sometimes fading in and out of visibility to humans, and typically can't physically interact with the physical world. There are different kinds, from spren that occur around natural phenomenon (such as the pictured lifespren, which tend to gather around blooming plants) to those which are drawn to certain emotions in people (such as fearspren, painspren, or gloryspren). For the most part, spren are just a visual representation of elements, emotion, and change in Roshar. They can sometimes allow someone to read another a little more easily (unless someone is very good at controlling their emotion). The vast majority of spren seem to be thoughtless and cannot really interact with the rest of the world.This is untrue for spren who have begun forming oaths with people once more to form Knights Radiant. These spren have "remembered," becoming able to think and speak once more, and their bonds with people allow both parties to do certain types of magic. Again, I'll save the Knights Radiant magic for a later time, but these sentient types of spren are generally thought of as very strange or even impossible.
Here is a spren catalogue, for reference.
Culture
Political & Social Structure
A key feature to political and social structure in Alethkar (the main influencing country in eastern Roshar) is the Vorin religion that is practiced there. I won't go into all the ins and outs, since it has to do with the Heralds and a bunch of other stuff, but in general most everything mentioned in the culture section will be directly influenced by the Vorin relgion and its teachings.The political and social structure in Alethkar are integrally linked. The governing hierarchy of both is based on eye color, something which is hereditary—because eye color is passed down this way, it largely resembles a monarchistic system built on primogeniture. Because the concept of eye color castes is from the Vorin religion, it's commonly thought that "lighteyes" are born to rule and, conversely, "darkeyes" are born to work.
There is extremely little movement in the social caste system of Alethkar society. Lighteyes fall into tiered castes called "dahns", where people of the first dahn are highprinces and their family while people of the tenth dahn are nearly on par with the darkeyed peasantry. Darkeyes are sorted into similar ranks called "nahn," where first- or second-nahn families might be wealthy merchants or educated surgeons with full citizenship and right of travel but eight-nahn darkeyes will be fieldhands or miners (and are practically indentured servants). Families can move up and down the nahns, but this usually takes multiple generations of marrying into different tiers. It's very rare, but darkeyes of the first nahn can sometimes marry to lighteyed families of low dahn, and their children have the chance to be light-eyed. (There are also stories of darkeyes becoming lighteyes but... that's a story for another time.)
Gender Roles
Gender roles in Vorin cultures are extremely defined and rigid.
Though there are many Callings considered proper for men, the masculine ideal is that of a warrior, and fighting is considered solely a masculine art. Commerce (and therefore, the handling of money) is typically considered a masculine art as well. Women seen fighting is considered unseemly, and, if there is a choice in who might handle money (such as a husband and wife), the duty would typically fall to the man.
Feminine arts include mathematics, engineering, history, music, visual arts, reading, and writing. As men are idealized as warriors, women are idealized as scholars. In Vorin society, it is scandalous nearly to the level of blasphemy for a man to be able to read and write. Usually a wife, sister, or hired scribe is necessary in a household for these matters. Men do learn glyphs, but as these are usually singular words or ideas, they have very limited use in written communication. While smithing of weapons and other such items is a masculine art, engineering of technology (especially fabriology) is a feminine field.
Vorin society has a very particular view of propriety for women as well. Throughout much of Roshar, women of all social ranks are expected to cover their left hand, called their "safehand." Higher-class lighteyed women will typically do this with a buttoned sleeve on their dress, but others will cover it with a glove. The right hand, called the "freehand," is kept unclothed. A woman with an exposed safehand is seen as wanton and scandalous.
One important exemption to gender roles are ardents, or individuals who have sworn their lives to service to the devotaries of the Vorin religion. Ardents are socially seen as without a gender (though personally they will still used gendered language for themselves). So it is not seen as strange for a male ardent to be able to read in this sole regard. An individual swearing themselves over to the ardentia is typically seen as a life-long ordeal, though it is not forbidden for them to leave the order—although it is highly looked down upon.