Did you know that many of Brandon Sanderson’s works take place in a single interconnected universe?

Brandon Sanderson’s Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection arrives on November 22nd and while it functions as a perfect jumping-on point for epic fantasy readers, it also holds deeper secrets for readers who have dutifully pored through line after line of Brandon Sanderson’s epic catalogue of work. The authors’ book series, from the epic Stormlight Archive to the wry metalpunk of Mistborn exist in a singular “Cosmere,” one which even includes smaller stories like “Sixth of the Dusk”.

Take a peek below at what other entities have observed about Drominad, the Cosmere star system that “Sixth of the Dusk” takes place within….

There are many planets in the cosmere that are inhabited, but upon which no Shards currently reside. Though the lives, passions, and beliefs of the people are, of course, important regardless of which planet they reside on, only a few of these planets have relevance to the greater cosmere at large.

This is mostly due to the fact that travel on and off the planets (at least in the Physical Realm) is dependent upon perpendicularities—places where a person can transition from Shadesmar onto the planet itself. If a world doesn’t have a perpendicularity, then it can be studied from the Cognitive Realm, but cannot truly be visited.

In general, perpendicularities are created by the presence of a Shard on the planet. The concentration of so much Investiture on the Cognitive and Physical Realms creates points of… friction, where a kind of tunneling exists. At these points, Physical matter, Cognitive thought, and Spiritual essence become one—and a being can slide between Realms.

The existence of a perpendicularity (which often take the form of pools of concentrated power on the Physical Realm) on a planet is a hallmark of a Shard’s presence. This is what makes First of the Sun so interesting.

The system, nicknamed Drominad, has a remarkable three planets inhabited by fully developed human societies. (There is also a fourth planet in the habitable zone.) This is unique in the cosmere; only the Rosharan system can rival it, and there one of the planets is inhabited solely by Splinters.

All four of these planets have water as a dominant feature. And one of them, the first planet, has a perpendicularity.

I have not been able to discover why, or how, this perpendicularity exists. There is certainly no Shard residing in the system. I cannot say what is happening, only that this feature must hint at things that occurred in the past of the planet. There is likely Investiture here somewhere as well, though I have not yet had a chance to investigate First of the Sun myself. The area around the perpendicularity is extremely dangerous, and the few expeditions sent there from Silverlight have not returned.

Find more coverage and excerpts from Arcanum Unbounded here.

Arcanum Unbounded copyright 2016 Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC