Aether of Sand (sp1)

[Koloss17]

4 hours ago, Treamayne said:

I think it's likely that the Luhel Bond is also what is happening with Aviar and Purelake Fish. Where the Nahel Bond is between two Sapient individuals (Spren and person/Singer), the Luhel bond may be a bond where at least one side is Sentient, but not Sapient (or is seeking sentience/guidance). It also may be possible that the Mandra Bond for a Chasmfiend or Larkin is, technically, a Luhel Bond rather than a Nahel Bond. 

Hmmmm. Maybe. But it is worth noting that luhel bond seems to be more exchange-oriented. You have to give up something to get it. For a Nahel bond, it seems both parties benefit without all that much effort. Spren get intelligence in the physical, radiant gets powers. I would say an example of a Luhel bond that we have seen would definitely be Nighblood. Where midnight spores eat your water, Nughblood eats your investiture/soul.

[Treamayne]

8 minutes ago, Koloss17 said:

Hmmmm. Maybe. But it is worth noting that luhel bond seems to be more exchange-oriented. You have to give up something to get it. For a Nahel bond, it seems both parties benefit without all that much effort. Spren get intelligence in the physical, radiant gets powers. I would say an example of a Luhel bond that we have seen would definitely be Nightblood. Where midnight spores eat your water, Nightblood eats your investiture/soul.

Well, with both Sandmastery and Sprouting, the Luhel bond is exchanging water for control over the investiture's manifestation. That then begs the question of whether the Lehel bond is defined by the exchange, the control, and/or the types of entities in the bond.

Nightblood is a rather special case, in that wielding Nightblood is not quite the same as the bonds he forms. For example, in Warbreaker Vivenna never wielded Nightblood unsheathed; but he still had a bond with her, spoke in her mind and read her thoughts. Does he use a type of Luhel bond? Possibly. But it's such a corner case that I would expect that the bond(s) Nightblood forms are a different type of Connection.

[Ashbringer]

This is kind of connecting to another thread, but I had a thought.

I'm pretty sure in TotES it's mentioned that the spores take in water, send it to the Moon Aethers, and in exchange draw Investiture directly from the Spiritual Realm.

Sand seems to work differently, despite being Luhel - the Investiture is already "pre-loaded" in the sand by either Taldain's sun or something else. And if spores send water to the Moon Aethers so they can keep growing, where does the sand send water to?

 

(Also, dead spores are grey, not black, so I think that's more credence to bone spore's black state not being dead, regardless of whether it's white sand or not.)

[lacrossedeamon]

I think the lichen itself might be metabolizing the water itself rather than sending it somewhere else. Also I wonder if terken is some form of silver biomineralization?

[Ashbringer]

I haven’t actually read White Sand, so I’m not certain on how they work, but it doesn’t seem like the lichen needs water to survive or to stay Invested. Maybe it does on other planets, but can sustain itself on the Dayside star on Taldain. But the spores seem like they’ll keep for a long time, and obviously aren’t using water or (external) Investiture to stay alive.

[Szeth_Pancakes]

The big difference between aether spores and white sand is that spores release Investiture (which can then turn into matter or energy of a certain essence/primal element, depending on the aether) on touching water, but with sand you have to have the Luhel bond to release the Investiture. This might have something to do with primal aethers vs. ”true” aethers — Ulaam says in ch. 28 that “though the true aethers on other worlds have a symbiosis with people, the ones on your moons have become insatiable, aggressive, and fecund.”

Edit: to release large amounts of investiture

Edited January 16, 2023 by Szeth_Pancakes