how dose the stormlight magic system work?

[MrMarksman108]

so I'm on the third book in the stormligt archive and i have no clue how the magic system works someone pls explain.

[MrMarksman108]

so I'm on the third book in the stormligt archive and i have no clue how the magic system works someone pls explain.

[Frustration he/him]

6 minutes ago, MrMarksman108 said:

so I'm on the third book in the stormligt archive and i have no clue how the magic system works someone pls explain.

 

So, the main thing you need to understand is the ten surges

1. Adhesion
2. Gravitation
3. Division
4. Abrasion
5. Progression
6. Illumination
7. Transformation
8. Transportation
9. Cohesion
10. Tension

Each of these has uses, Gravitation changes the strength and direction of gravity, Illumination affects light, sound and other waveforms, Transformation is soulcasting ect.

Each order of Radiants gets access to two surges: Adhesion+Gravitation, Gravitation+Division, Division+Abrasion and so on.

 

I recommend this article as it does a really nice job of explaining it, though I am more than happy to give more information

https://coppermind.net/wiki/Surgebinding

Edited March 2, 2023 by Frustration

[Stick The Savant]

a surgbinder can breathe in Stormlight from gems in order to fuel their abilities. there are ten surges including gravitation, adhesion, illumination, and transportation (the mechanics of a lot of the surges are still ambiguous.) there are two ways for a regular person to become a surgebinder. they can either bond a spren which will give them access to 2 surges depending on the type of spren (there are 10 types of spren which people can bond to become a radiant and therefore 10 orders of knights). a person who bonds a spren will need to swear ideals in order to improve their control and access to their surges. eventualy, after swearing enough ideals. a knight will earn a shard blade which is a physical manifestation of their spren. you can also gain access to surgebinding by possesing an honor blade which gives you the abilities of one of the orders of knight radiant.

Edited March 2, 2023 by Stick The Savant
spelling

[Elder]

There are two things you need to understand:

1.  The Radiant Bond

2. Investiture on Roshar 

 

1.  What kind of power you have access to is based on the Radiant Bond, or Nahel Bond.  A person develops a bond with Sentient Spren (bits of power that have developed varying levels of intelligence and personality).  The more the person is connected and aligned with their Spren, the more powerful they are.  

This process is formalized by the swearing of ideals, with 5 levels of oaths.  The first is universal: “Life Before Death, Strength Before Weakness, Journey Before Destination.”  The rest vary based on the kind of Spren you’ve bonded.  Honor Spren Ideals are based on protecting people.  Cryptics (Lie Spren) just want you to tell profound truths about yourself.  Etc.  With each ideal, a Surgebinder gains a great deal of power and efficiency, with new applications of power being opened up to them.

2.  Investiture on Roshar mostly comes in the form of Stormlight.  The massive Highstorms crash their way across the planet, and if you leave gemstones (or spheres with gemstone inside them) out in the Highstorm, you can charge them up with Stormlight.  That light can be used to light your home, power technology, or as fuel for the abilities that come from your Spren.

if you have a Spren bond, you breath in sharply and you transfer the Stormlight from the gemstone/sphere to your body, where it will heal your body and give you energy, sustaining you.  And you can apply it in what ever ways your Spren bond allows, including changing gravity, creating illusions, making things stick together, changing things into stone/air/grain/meat/whatever, erasing friction, healing others, etc.

The author, Brandon Sanderson likes to turn his magic into loosely logical science, which can be confusing some times.  What are your questions?

Edited March 2, 2023 by Elder

[Quantus he/him]

Stormlight is the magical energy of the world.  It falls out of the Highstorm, and can be caught and held in Gems.  Most of the time it then gets used in Fabrials, very mechanical devices that produce different magical effects, where it acts as a consumed fuel. 

Then there are Surgebinders, who can breath in Stormlight directly.  While they hold it they dont feel the need to breath, and they have greatly increased the physical capabilities, including superhuman strength, speed, endurance, stamina, and healing of both body and soul that lets them heal from nearly any wound. While inside the body, the Stormlight produces an intense adrenaline-like effect, urging the Surgebinder to action and motion, which may result in recklessness if the Surgebinder is not careful. It gives great energy, but when the Surgebinder runs out of Stormlight, they are left exhausted and feeling deflated.  It leaks out of them over time regardless, with a visible wisp and/or glow. In addition they get access to Two of the Ten Surges, and depending on the combination their order has they might get odd combo abilities (called Resonances).  

Normally to become a Surgebinder requires that you Bond with a Spren and swear a series of Ideals/Oaths/Truths (total of 5), to unlock all your abilities. These are called Knights Radiant, and their Order, powerset, and the theme of their Ideals are determined by the sub-race of spren they form a Bond with.  Most orders also grant the ability to empower Squires, which were people who get the ability to breath Stormlight and use Surges while within range of their sponsor Knight but who have not Bonded their own Spren.  

There also exist 10 super-special relic magic swords that will give you Surgebinder powers without Bonding a spren called Honorblades, but they take more Stormlight to use and they dont grant Squires or Plate. These were made by Honor himself and gifted to the Heralds way back at the beginning of the war.   

And everything the Singer's do (their Forms of Power and the Fused) are different in various ways we are still trying to work out, so that's a separate and very spoiler-filled conversation.

[MrMarksman108]

thank you so much

this helps a lot  

[Elder]

15 minutes ago, MrMarksman108 said:

thank you so much

this helps a lot  

I’m glad!  Enjoy your reading 

[Treamayne]

Welcome to the Forums

3 hours ago, MrMarksman108 said:

so I'm on the third book in the stormligt archive and i have no clue how the magic system works someone pls explain.

Be careful of double-posting. In case you aren't familiar with this forum style/format:

Spoiler

At the bottom left of a post you will see a "+" icon, a "Quote" link, and (your posts only) and Edit link. On the bottom right you will see an up arrow.

• The Up Arrow is how you thank people or "like" a post
• The "Quote" link is exactly that, when you click it the quote will be added to the reply at the bottom of the thread wherever the cursor is
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  • They are added in the order you click the + icon, not in the original post order, so you can set the order of quotes for your reply
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• Use the Edit link to make changes to a completed post or add information to your post if it is the most recent (to avoid double posting)
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Hope that helps.

Others have already answered your original question, with @Frustration providing a link for more reading; but please feel free to ask for more information/clarification if you need it.