Could there be a relatively peaceful solution to the shard problem?

[Shadotterdan]

So, the fact that the world is broken up into several shards is a problem that I feel would be better remedied. I was wondering lore wise if there might be a solution where instead of a grand calamity, a more gentle siphon is in place. Something that transfers souls over to the source until there are none left, at which point the rest of the aether comes through to rejoin the shard.

I guess it would be somewhat frightening to people on the shard. One day no new children are born, but it seems like a less evil way to fix the world.

[Cilia]

I don't see how it's a problem exactly, other than the Ascians' longing for the world that once was. (The Unsundered are gone now, so...)

If the writers want it to happen they'll write a way for it.

[Vyrerus]

If there is, we'll be the ones finding it. And boy that will be asinine. Especially if they never address the time bubble. I mean, it'll still be ridiculous, and it'll be ridiculous because if the Ascians who know how the world works and how the world was rewritten couldn't find it in 12,000 years, and we find it in one despite being a fragmented baboon version of one of them, we'll be left to wonder if they were just jackin' it for 11,900 years or something.

[Rosenstrauch]

There is possibly some way to reintegrate the shards without requiring calamities on the Source, and I imagine Hydaelyn herself would be the key to that. But whether it takes a thousand years of gradual breakdown and transference or five seconds of slurping up the planet through the Rift, doing so would still result in the destruction of the Shards along with the erasure of entire planets' worth of nations, cultures, and species.

There's just no way around that, I'm afraid. There's no way to put the world back together without revisiting the effects of the Final Days on entire worlds—and I doubt even the Ascians wanted to have to do that in the first place.

[TheMightyMollusk]

The Ascians didn't care enough to keep looking for another method once they hit upon one that worked, since the inhabitants of the Shards are, in Emet-Selch's own words, not really living beings to them. Maybe they were afraid to try finding another method after their first attempt screwed up the Thirteenth. They can't Rejoin a Void, after all, so risking another Shard might not have been worth it.

As for whether or not we'll find a way to Rejoin the Shards? I doubt it, unless there's some threat so big that it's the only way to save any of the worlds. Which would require some very careful setup to not come across as a gigantic ass pull.

[RyuDragnier]

It's doubtful we'll ever rejoin them, and we don't really need to.

[Morningstar1337]

I have to agree that there is likely no possible way to unsunder the world without destroying the shards, I'm also the the opinion that unsundering itself seems to be detrimental even if the worlds and their inhabitants were left alive and themselves at the end, due to the nature of the Final Days.

When the choice is between 5-14 stable worlds of mortals less likely to have cosmic repercussions to their universe or one world of immortals that inevitably screwed themselves over (I'm of the opinion that the Sound and its effects were borne from their own creation magicks and the star's response) I'm going with the former.

[Iscah]

The question before "could there be a peaceful solution?" is "do we actually have a problem?" - would de-sundering the world actually fix anything worthwhile or would it simply reintroduce the problems that led to the need for the sundering in the first place?

Was the ancient world really so great that we need to reclaim it at the cost of the modern worlds, even gently?

[Veloran]

I have to agree that there is likely no possible way to unsunder the world without destroying the shards, I'm also the the opinion that unsundering itself seems to be detrimental even if the worlds and their inhabitants were left alive and themselves at the end, due to the nature of the Final Days.

When the choice is between 5-14 stable worlds of mortals less likely to have cosmic repercussions to their universe or one world of immortals that inevitably screwed themselves over (I'm of the opinion that the Sound and its effects were borne from their own creation magicks and the star's response) I'm going with the former.

I don't really like the idea it was specifically a retaliation by the star in response to the Ancient's creation magicks.

First, because it was killing the star. So bad move on that one. Second, because all Ancients were inherently born with the capacity for creation magic, it was as natural as breathing to them and even newborns could do it. I can see creation magic causing it in some ways, but not that it was something inherently antithetical or unnatural to the star itself.

[Veloran]

The question before "could there be a peaceful solution?" is "do we actually have a problem?" - would de-sundering the world actually fix anything worthwhile or would it simply reintroduce the problems that led to the need for the sundering in the first place?

Was the ancient world really so great that we need to reclaim it at the cost of the modern worlds, even gently?

Doubleposting here, sorry, but yes I think so. A world without war where everyone can settle conflicts because they can (Through the Echo) commune with each other's souls, which effectivley has infinite resources, where people live vastly longer and more fufilled lives, definitely sounds worth the cost when you compare it to the average quality of existence you'd be giving up.