Individualism, Heroes, and Aetherical Magnitude

Ok, so aetherical magnitude is just a fancy way of saying power level, more or less, but... I just had this idea that came to me while I was completing the Fishing storylines.

We often see people compare Shards vs. Source power levels and come to the conclusion that those people separated into the Shards must not be that much weaker than Source counterparts until Source counterparts are beyond our current Rejoined stature.

I come to you with this half-baked thread to say that perhaps there is another axis to that graph based around the individual (Something the Convocation would rather not countenance).

All throughout Shadowbringers and even before now, the game has highlighted exceptional individuals as being sort of the status quo for each great guild whether it be for crafting, gathering, or fighting. There's always a mentor to surpass, always a hero of eld or fisher of eld who once fished a mighty leviathan from the unlikeliest of fishing holes.

It got me thinking that much of power must come from what a creature innately is, and I got this idea when I was looking at Yellow Pipira from The First, having fished the Pipira and the Pipira Pira on the Source. It's all the same family of fish, and they are all of similar predatory status. They're all known for their bite. There's something quintessential about the bite to all of these fish, however different each bite may or may not be.

My mind made the leap that this must be true for people. Each soul, however disseminated, must still possess its quintessential qualities. If one of these qualities was a prodigious power, skill with a line, or aptitude for magicks, then each shard would still have the same quality, even if said quality was reduced in some form.

Since the ability to grow in all aspects still exists on every shard, then each shard still has the potential the original whole still possessed. The limit is time... which is convoluted in Lordran

What do you think, am I onto something? Would you rather not discuss it at all? Should this have been in general, rather than in Lore? Please, speak at length!

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Originally Posted by Vyrerus

Ok, so aetherical magnitude is just a fancy way of saying power level, more or less, but... I just had this idea that came to me while I was completing the Fishing storylines.

We often see people compare Shards vs. Source power levels and come to the conclusion that those people separated into the Shards must not be that much weaker than Source counterparts until Source counterparts are beyond our current Rejoined stature.

I come to you with this half-baked thread to say that perhaps there is another axis to that graph based around the individual (Something the Convocation would rather not countenance).

All throughout Shadowbringers and even before now, the game has highlighted exceptional individuals as being sort of the status quo for each great guild whether it be for crafting, gathering, or fighting. There's always a mentor to surpass, always a hero of eld or fisher of eld who once fished a mighty leviathan from the unlikeliest of fishing holes.

It got me thinking that much of power must come from what a creature innately is, and I got this idea when I was looking at Yellow Pipira from The First, having fished the Pipira and the Pipira Pira on the Source. It's all the same family of fish, and they are all of similar predatory status. They're all known for their bite. There's something quintessential about the bite to all of these fish, however different each bite may or may not be.

My mind made the leap that this must be true for people. Each soul, however disseminated, must still possess its quintessential qualities. If one of these qualities was a prodigious power, skill with a line, or aptitude for magicks, then each shard would still have the same quality, even if said quality was reduced in some form.

Since the ability to grow in all aspects still exists on every shard, then each shard still has the potential the original whole still possessed. The limit is time... which is convoluted in Lordran

What do you think, am I onto something? Would you rather not discuss it at all? Should this have been in general, rather than in Lore? Please, speak at length!

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Certainly, we have some evidence that fragments of the same soul tend to gravitate toward toward similar trends. The most blatant example is the Warrior of Light. Azem was an adventuring do-gooder with a tendency to gather allies around herself wherever she goes. Ardbert was the same. WoL was, as well. It is heavily implied that they all share these traits because they share the same soul.

But, and correct me if I'm wrong, what you're suggesting here is that with enough practice, the WoL could enhance these traits until she was the equivalent of Azem? I think there's more than just time as a limiting factor (though time certainly IS a limiting factor, given that mortals lead short lives). Just because something has the ability to grow doesn't mean there's no limit on how much it CAN grow.

That said, it's a fantasy world, and the writers can decide whatever they want is the truth. For now, though, the implication seems to be that the Sundering divided everything into smaller parts, including individuals' potential. If the goal was to seal Creation magic forever, then it wouldn't do for individuals to eventually be able to grow into the ability to use it again - you'd potentially have fourteen times as many people using Creation magic as before!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LineageRazor

Certainly, we have some evidence that fragments of the same soul tend to gravitate toward toward similar trends. The most blatant example is the Warrior of Light. Azem was an adventuring do-gooder with a tendency to gather allies around herself wherever she goes. Ardbert was the same. WoL was, as well. It is heavily implied that they all share these traits because they share the same soul.

But, and correct me if I'm wrong, what you're suggesting here is that with enough practice, the WoL could enhance these traits until she was the equivalent of Azem? I think there's more than just time as a limiting factor (though time certainly IS a limiting factor, given that mortals lead short lives). Just because something has the ability to grow doesn't mean there's no limit on how much it CAN grow.

That said, it's a fantasy world, and the writers can decide whatever they want is the truth. For now, though, the implication seems to be that the Sundering divided everything into smaller parts, including individuals' potential. If the goal was to seal Creation magic forever, then it wouldn't do for individuals to eventually be able to grow into the ability to use it again - you'd potentially have fourteen times as many people using Creation magic as before!

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Well hey, there's some starfish that can completely regenerate into completely new starfish after being hacked up into little bits and pieces! Why not Zoidberg the Star? :P