User:Nightstar The Bright

Hello everyone, I am Nightstar The Bright. I really enjoy reading Brandon Sanderson’s books, sometime after I read them all I began editing the Coppermind.

Notable pages I reworked

• Court of Gods
• Iridescent Tones
• Listener
• Duladel
• Pahn Kahl
• Jah Keved
• Fjorden
• T'Telir
• Hallandren
• Idris
• Final Empire

! The following text is a collection of the information about Alethkar!

Some Alethi live as herdsmen.

- Slavery - A slaver must provide the reason someone was sold into slavery when he sells the slave, it is illegal to lie.

Roshar does not experience true seasons, with them instead simply being defined by current temperature, climate, and storms, unrelated to irradiance. These seasons are relatively random, and are often quite short, usually lasting only a few weeks. They can be roughly predicted by stormwardens. Seasons are primarily defined by changes in the storms. Due to not being caused by axial tilt, they can vary greatly even between relatively nearby nations on the same hemisphere. Further to the east, where the highstorms are the strongest, even such measures are not enough. There, plants grow mostly in sheltered areas, such as the chasms and laits, while remaining sparse in the open air. More fragile flora, such as vines and weeds, grow and flourish in such terrain, though some, like knobweed, seem to prefer flatlands, utilizing highstorms deliberately to spread.

Contrarily, in the west where highstorms are weakened by the mountain ranges, plants are much less sensitive to stimulation and retract their leaves more slowly.

Roshar does have larger flora. Some trees, including the aforementioned dalewillow, have trunks made of stone while others, such as the jella, augment their wooden bark by accumulating crem. Like rockbuds, they withdraw their fronds into the trunks when sensing danger. There are also species such as makam and cobwood, which appear to be sturdy enough to sustain highstorms without added protection.

Rosharan grass is known to move away from disruptions or vibrations, often fully retracting to protect itself.^{[citation needed]} It is type of shallowly burrowed seed pod that has enough room to hold moisture and contain the coiled up leaf. They at most grow to around three feet tall. Seeds emerge from the leaf tip to either be consumed and redeposited as faeces, or carried and redesposited by the wind.

Human uses

Some species of native Rosharan flora are edible for humans. This includes a number of fruits as well as a rice-like plant called tallew, and lavis, a type of rockbud that produces grain. Tallew, lavis, and longroot appear to be the major ingredients of Rosharan diet, with massive farmlands devoted to them throughout the continent. In the West, the same niche appears to be filled by clema.

Additionally, there exist a number of plants with known healing properties. This includes antiseptics, such as the sap of knobweed and fourleaf, as well as lister's oil; treatments for specific diseases, such as bitterleaf for epilepsy and bloodivy for the grindings; anesthetics like winterwort and firemoss; and other, more specific medicines, such as denocax, which encourages skin healing.

By contrast, several species of plant are noted to have detrimental effect on humans. Firemoss is known to be highly addictive, and blackbane's leaves, once dried, are extremely poisonous. Eating shells of rockbuds is similarly known to be unhealthy, although the Unkalaki are capable of eating them without problems, likely thanks to their singer ancestry. While not all plants are edible, some, like breachtree and narbin, are grown to make fabrics.

by Ben McSweeney

A Chasmfiend, with gleaming mandras surrounding it. They allow the greatshell to exist despite its enormous size.

Fauna

Roshar contains a wide variety of fauna, most of which appears to be shelled. While most creatures are native to the world, some have been introduced into Roshar during human exodus from Ashyn, among them mammals and birds.

Like Rosharan flora, the animals of Roshar have also adapted to their unusual circumstances. Several species, including the largest, grow massive shells which can protect them from highstorms. Others hide in dens or, in case of small sarpenthyn, ooze between the cracks in the rock.

Spren symbiosis

Multiple native species, as well as at least one imported animal, have formed symbiotic relationships with spren. This appears to be faciliated by gemhearts, crystals that grow naturally within the bodies of those creatures.

• Larger animals on Roshar utilize bonds with mandras, or luckspren, to decrease the pull of gravity on them, allowing creatures such as chasmfiends to exist without collapsing upon themselves. In the case of skyeels, the same bond, coupled with smaller size, permits them to fly.
• The native sentient species, the Singers, bond with a variety of spren to attain a number of forms, which alter their mental state, biological functions and appearance. While bonded, the spren remain within the gemheart.
• Ryshadium bond with what appears to be musicspren, attaining higher intelligence and physical strength. It is, however, unclear so far whether or not they have gemhearts.
• The fish in the Purelake gain various medicinal benefits through spren bonds.

Non-shelled animals

Mammals dwell mostly in Shinovar, though a few species have been successfully exported east. Those include horses, which are widely used as far east as Alethkar, and hogs, which are the primary source of non-Soulcast meat. While most mammals are domesticated, hogs, as well as minks and rats, can be found in the wild. Several species of birds are known to exist, although they are all known as "chickens" among Rosharans. This includes actual chickens as well as more colorful birds, such as parrots. In contrast to mammals, they do not seem to do well in the wild, as all examples observed so far are domesticated. Amphibians, such as the lurg can also be found, as well as wide variety of fish, including both fresh- and seawater ones. Cephalopods also exist, albeit with unusual properties - zatalef, for example, is described as bat-like, implying the ability to fly. A category without a clear Earth analogue are sarpenthyn, which appear to be similar to both mollusks and cephalopods, albeit without shells and with smaller number of arms.

Shelled animals

The largest known group of animals on Roshar are crustaceans. Those can be of various sizes, from finger-long to four-stories-high. They are all noted as having violet blood and multiple stages of life, with the initial stage being called a larva and the process of switching between stages called pupation. The creation of shells is aided by the presence of crem in the rain, which the creatures can process into minerals.

One of the largest crustacean family are cremlings, a group of tiny, multi-legged scavengers preying mostly on deceased animals, although they will also feed on uncovered plants after highstorms. Cremlings come in variety of colors, with different features, numbers of legs, and behaviours. While most are individuals, some are part of the Sleepless swarms, and as such share a sentient hivemind. The Sleepless cremlings are bred for particular purposes, such as imitating human body parts.

by Ashley Coad

A Santhid. Roshar's greatest creatures are far larger than humans.

Other than the cremlings, Roshar also features a number of larger crustaceans that are nonetheless smaller than humans. This group includes predatory species, such as the axehound, herbivores like axehind, and near-cremling sized creatures like leggers and larkin, as well as species that can be found on Earth, like crabs. The larkin in particular are unusual for their flight, as well as the ability to pull Stormlight out of other creatures and absorb it.

The largest family of animals on Roshar are known as greatshells, which exist both on land and in the seas. All greatshells possess gemhearts and utilize them to attract mandras to decrease their own weight. The land greatshells include domesticated herbivores known as chulls and two large predatory species, the chasmfiend and the extinct lanceryn. The marine greatshells include the yu-nerig, which comes on land to pupate and is known to feed on humans, and the Tai-na, the largest animals known to inhabit the cosmere. Their legs are said to be sixty feet long, while the body itself stretches hundreds of feet tall. The back of Tai-na, which sticks out above water, is an ecosystem of its own, inhabited by multiple species of plants and animals, as well as humans.

The santhid, a massive marine species with large shell and a number of tendrils, might be considered a greatshell, and houses its own ecosystem, much like the Tai-na; however, as they were considered half-mythical until very recently, it's impossible to state so with any certainty.

Domestication

Large number of domesticated creatures on Roshar are the imports from Ashyn. All forms of birds are domesticated; some for food, while others as pets. Hogs are kept for meat, minks, like birds, are pets, while horses are common riding mounts. Of the local wildlife, axehounds are often kept and bred, similar to dogs, while chulls are the primary mount for hauling cargo or for riders who cannot afford to keep a horse. Another greatshell species called a gumfrem is kept for its gemhearts, which can be used to Soulcast meat.

Geography

by Isaac Stewart

Map of Alethkar. Alethi territories (barring the Shattered Plains) are marked in purple.

Borders and Territories

Alethkar lies in eastern Roshar, stretching across the entire continent, from the Steamwater Ocean in the North to the Tarat Sea in the South-West. To the East, it leans on the Unclaimed Hills, while to the South, it reaches the nationless Frostlands and the Shattered Plains, the latter of which it has recently claimed for itself. To the West, Alethkar has a long and long-disputed border with Jah Keved, which currently follows two rivers and the bend of the Sunmaker Mountains. To the North-West, Alethkar borders Herdaz across a stretch of land decided through many years of border conflicts.

It has an area around 7,134,000 km².

Besides the mainland, the Alethi have a number of territories off the coast. On the Steamwater Ocean, Alethkar has Akak and a number of surrounding islands, giving it complete control over the Bay of Elibath. On the Tarat Sea - more specifically, a region of it called Mevan Bay - it controls a number of small islands in the delta of Deathbend River, near the city of Karanak.

Interior

At the tail end of the Era of Solitude, Alethkar is the largest state on Roshar, covering around seven million square kilometers of land. Despite the fact that it is far more exposed to the highstorms than any country further West, large swathes of it are lush with animals and vegetation. It has numerous rivers crossing it, the two major ones being Windrunner and Deathbend. The Windrunner River runs East to West, from Unclaimed Hills to the Bay of Elibath, and has numerous tributaries across the northern half of the country. The Deathbend River likewise starts in the Unclaimed Hills, though it turns South, ultimately ending in the Mevan Bay, with one of its major tributaries being an enormous lake called the Sea of Spears. The North and South of Alethkar are divided by a long, cross-shaped masiff called the Sunmaker Mountains.

Climate

Due to how far east it is, Alethkar is buffeted by particularly heavy highstorms. This forces settlements to primarily be built on the leeward sides of laits.^{[citation needed]} These leeward sides are also far more lush with plant life, due to the protection the liats provide from powerful highstorm winds.

Notable cities

For a more complete list, see here.

• Kholinar - the seat of House Kholin and the national capital following Alethkar's unification. The Alethela Oathgate is located there.
• Rathalas - ruined city once known for being constructed in a massive canyon for safety. It was burned down by Dalinar Kholin following the rebellion of the local highprince, Tanalan.
• Revolar - one of the largest cities in the Vamah princedom. During the True Desolation, it's taken over by the Voidbringers and used as a major assembly point for their armies.
• Hearthstone - a large town in the Sadeas princedom, and home of Kaladin Stormblessed.
• Dumadari - a major city on the border of Alethkar and Jah Keved.