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Showing results for tags 'polestones'.
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If you took a polestone from Roshar and set it out in Scadrial's Mists, would it charge with the Investiture there?
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In Oathbringer, we see the King’s Drop Ruby shining brightly in the Thaylen vaults. However, we also know that it is a perfect gemstone and that it never leaks stormlight. If this is the case, why do y’all think it is shining? If no stormlight can escape than it seems like it should appear dun. Also note it is shining and not reflecting as the Thaylen Vaults are really dark and even with a cloth covering the gemstone it still shines through it. In a way it seems like energy is coming from no where. I mention this because Wyndle refers to a cosmere equivalent of conservation of energy when explaining to Lift that she cant grow food with stormlight and eat it and have a net positive gain in calories or stormlight. However many Cosmere examples seem to contradict this so my best conclusion is the Wyndle is an unreliable source.
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A small theory that I think got some solid support with RoW. So we saw in Rhythm of War that the Allomantic/Feruchemical/Hemalurgic metals have functions outside of the Metallic Arts and are one of three key components in fabrials alongside spren & gemstones. It makes sense, metal acts as a key for Allomancers to access Preservation's Investiture. Without Allomancy in your Spiritweb, you can't access that Investiture but you should still be able to use the metal to filter other Investiture that you do have access to. That is kind of similar to how the Polestones themselves function, why they can hold Lights Their small differences in chemical structure & colour is all that is needed for Investiture to distinguish them. An element's atomic structure absorbs and reflects different wavelengths of light (or Light), the light can be used to identify those atoms & molecules. A metal's structure is used as a filter for Investiture, the same probably goes for a gemstone. Colour is more important magically for gemstones but this is what the colour of an object means in physics & chemistry, their molecular structure would be a bit different. A metal acts as a filter and lets Investiture through and a gem both filters it (what gem you use does matter for Soulcasters and Artifabrians) and holds it. So, gemstones should, like metals, work across the Cosmere, and be able to hold other types of Investiture than just the Rosharan Lights. Idea came from here: Edit: we have confirmation that the Mists can be trapped in gemstones Edit: in the Brandon spoiler livestream at 33:20, Brandon confirms that Autonomy's Investiture can be stored in the Polestones but he isn't sure if that is something that could happen naturally (but it could definitely capture the Dor) and even if it does, it would be very ineffective, maybe it would store very little bit of charge that would only be perceptible to someone with the right instruments and it would soon dissipate. I've noted previously in discussions that White Sand requires surprisingly little Investiture to recharge. I think the oldest instance of this theory is here: While it takes four hours for black sand to recharge back to white sand on Taldain's Dayside, just proximity to Shallan's Lightweaving was enough to charge Hoid's white sand in OB, this happened when Kal, Shallan, Adolin and Elhokar went to Kholinar. In the very same section and following section that took place in Shadesmar, it is noted that Shallan's Lightweaving used far less Stormlight than Kaladin's Lashings. Keep this in mind. I do have an idea on why White Sand could apparently recharge from Taldain's sunlight or apparently even from very far from its starlight as per a prev WoB, but would be difficult to store in a gemstone. In RoW, we see Navani use a prism to separate the light emitted by Towerlight back into the bands of Stormlight and Lifelight, she notes that she didn't separate the Lights or the Investiture, just the "Investiture radiation". I think that's what Taldain's sun outputs: not gaseous Investiture but Investiture radiation. And that's why it outputs so little Investiture that it takes black sand exposure to direct sunlight for four hours in order to recharge and turn white again but Stormlight, even sheer proximity to a Lightweaving, which in itself is noted to use much less Stormlight compared to Surge of Gravitation.
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- investiture
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I can't remember if Focus is actually a canonical term or not, so just in case, by Focus I mean "the thing that determines the effect of the Investiture". Scadrial (Allomancy, Feruchemy, Hemalurgy) - Metal Sel (AonDor, Forgery, Bloodsealing, presumably ChayShan and Dakhor) - Symbols Nalthis (Awakening) - Commands Roshar's Focus is a much debated question. IMO, none of the answers quite fit. Spren is probably the best option, since all Rosharan magic we've seen so far involves them, but spren are Investiture so I'm not sure if they can really qualify as a Focus. Bonds is another common suggestion, but each Nahel bond (or bond to an Honorblade) grants two distinct Surges, so the bond by itself doesn't fully determine the effect of the Investiture, at least in Surgebinding (it may well do so in fabrial science and 'natural' spren bonds). In fabrial science and Soulcasting, the ten Polestones act very much like a Focus. And there's a WOB that suggests they are: The comparison with metals as a 'key' would seem conclusive. But the other nine types of Surgebinding aren't dependent on gem type. This would seem to kill any 'gems as Focus' theory. Except... Stormlight is the gaseous form of Investiture on Roshar. The mist is the gaseous form of Preservation's Investiture on Scadrial. When Vin was burning the mists, and when Vin-as-Preservation was feeding pure Investiture to Elend, they performed Allomancy without any actual metals. I think all Surgebinding except Soulcasting (which is probably distinct since it's so complex, and thus needs the extra "guidance") is the equivalent of "mist burning" - using raw Investiture directly and thus bypassing the need for a Focus.
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- surgebinding
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