Theory: Even the non-magical abilities are investiture related

[Skantre]

Forgive me if the following theory has been proposed/proved already.

Introduction:
During my daily conjecturing routine about the cosmere, a wild speculation came across my mind about Waxillium Ladrian, and is related to his marksmenship skills.

Hypothesis:
The seemingly "innate abilities" of characters that are magically-unrelated are caused by investiture, i.e. magical properties.

Main argument:
Wax is good with firearms, which I believe either in-world or out-world characters would concur. Firearms, in other words, are trajectory weaponry, utilizes projectiles , which, which involves our hand-eye coordination and sense of distance(more or less). Further more, I do reasonably believe that Wax is a nature in using guns, from the way he was described in AoL, and from a certain quote from Miles Dagouter (Don't remember, somebody help me).

On the other hand, Wax is also a Coinshot, an allomantic steelpusher, able to push metals away from the Coinshot's body/location. In the cases where Coinshots pushes metallic objects with smaller mass than themselves, such objects will fly away from Coinshots, which in some sense are also projectiles.

You might just think that "Yeah, it's convenient and definitely entertaining for Wax to have such setting", so what? What is the point bringing these two up, and why did I emphasis on the word projectile?

Let me bring up something else first. In a certain WoB, Brandson mentioned that by gaining more investiture it grants different magical users a more powerful effect in their respective magic, but more importantly it expand the user's mental capacity(Citation help required). The first example was when Vin or Sazed take up the shard(s), which themselves are de facto immense amount of investiture, their cognitive abilities expand; the other being the residents of Nalthis, whereas with more Breath(investiture) grants further Heightenings, especially the Sixth Heightening and the Tenth Heightening, which grants "Instinctive Awakening" and "Mental Command", which are self-explanatory expanded mental abilities.

Back to Wax.

 

Everyone in the Cosmere is basically invested. Some with more investiture, some with less. And the people who are more invested are naturally regarded as a powerful [certain magic system, e.g. Allomancy, Awakening](Requesting more concrete evidence other than what I remember at the back of my mind). Wax is a powerful Coinshot, so it's logical to deduce that he is slightly more invested. And with the more investiture, the larger the mental capacity. Here is the twist. I speculate that as he is a Coinshot, his mind is expanded in a way so that he is more adapt with Coinshot abilities, so that he has a higher sense of balance in the air and with flying projectiles. And as his mind is somehow tweaked and enhanced after a certain fashion, he is better at shooting than others, as shooting are simply flying projectiles.

 

Conclusion:
I guess we could say that as people has a certain magical ability, they are invested and their mind are expanded in a certain and precise way, which its side effect will grant some noticeable and seemingly non-magical abilities. And the more powerful magical users, whom are more invested than others, are often found having a certain "secondary" ability that goes really well with their already-possessed magical abilities.

Implications:
I guess Shallan Davar's mnemonic abilities is still(?) one of the most speculated mysteries in the books, and I guess this theory applies to her as well. But first, I need to get something clear first.

People might ask what makes Shallan posses more investiture? KR gain abilities through Nahel Bonds, rather than sDNA, which in inherited through family. Well, for one fact that we know is that Shallan bonded at a VERY young age, the second is that N Bond changes one's sDNA. Does being bonded makes someone more invested? I don't know. A tear in sDNA, that will be cause by the N bond allows more investiture to flow through you(As I recall, NOT SURE), and does it makes you more invested? Maybe. Regardless, it is not a bad bet that Shallan is more invested than most others(Come'on). As she is a Lightweaver of the Ten Surg-ical (Haha) abilities, she is required to have a better sense in light and its angles, ergo her painting talents; she also has a practical use in stored visual images, as she can utilize them as future illusions, and thus her mnemonic abilities.(Kind of a far stretch, I know, just sit back and savor the theory while you still can).

 

Others, like Shai or Breeze, who are good at understanding someone and manipulate them(their soul/ cognitive), are also possible examples of such effect. However, I will not rule out the factors that we know of, such as traumas or growing environment or simply, training. What I am doing here is merely providing a possible effect of magic on individuals in the Cosmere.

 

Speculations Related to this:

• Nahel Bond grants extra investiture
• The more tear in your soul/sDNA the more investiture flowing through you.

PS Please would you all be so kind and help me adding the citations I'm bad at doing this kind of stuff but I want to make it more sound even with the possibility that it might be refuted. Mercilessly. 

Edited December 8, 2014 by jclt

[the winter system]

You mean that Investurite(?) grants the capacity to deal with the amount of power that has been granted to them?

[king of nowhere]

I thnk sahllan's memory was already established as an effect of the nahel bond. as for the rest, it is fully possible that having magical abilities also make you good at something else.

[Blaze1616]

I like the idea, but I'm not sure if it has much weight. Wax's gun-slinging abilities, as well as his sense of balance in the air, could just be from experience. Wax is no spring chicken, and he's been living with these powers for quite some time. It is reasonable to assume that, as he uses his abilities, he becomes more adept. Think of a talent in the real world; I will pick playing guitar. As one continues to play guitar, they get better and better, developing skill as they go. Some guy who has never played the guitar will not sound like Hendrix the first time he plays. As such, Wax's experience at being a Twinborn with his specific powers can easily explain his proficiency.

 

I suppose the point I am trying to make is that though the idea is compelling, there just isn't evidence to say that it isn't experience, but instead some Realmatic influence. Looking further into it, the only two instances that i could find where the investiture enhances a person's abilities is Breath and Atium. The former I feel is a special case because Nalthians have a portion of their innate investiture placed on the Breath, and the latter is, in my opinion, different than what you are suggesting. Atium raises the user's mental capacities to be able to make sense of the future(s) they are seeing. I do not think that simple experience could raise one's awareness to such levels, whereas practicing shooting could indeed put one at Wax's level (same with air-balance).

Edited December 8, 2014 by Blaze1616

[Oudeis]

I dunno. I sorta feel like it cheapens talent, training and experience to try to find ways that every ability, even mundane ones, are magically powered. I don't know that the idea is actually wrong, but I hope it is. It would make for a far more boring story if no one's ever allowed to just be skilled or have talent, everything has to be a magic power.

[Skantre]

I think it is a natural response that those abilities such as playing guitar or gun-slinging would be considered as an effect of training as an out-worlder.

I myself believe in pratice and training more than anything else. But I think that mordern day sport science have discovered that motorneurons has very much to do with how good an athlete could do. Not everyone can have good motorneurons, as they are born with. Would they call them cheating? Well, it is definitely an advantage people would die for, but I think that it is something we just have to deal with in reality.

And when it comes to Cosmere, a magic-filled world, it is just someone that are born with. How they use the gift is entirely up to them. Furthermore, our favourite characters in books were never the ones that are most powerful, but the ones that are earnest and gutsy.

 

One thing that spark this idea is how Wax is described. I just got a vibe that he is some gun-slingin' genius of some kind, and with some logical leaps I came up with this.

 

And pleasepleaseplease show me where they establish the exact and detailed theory behind Shallan's mnemonic abilities.

[Kurkistan]

Wax's abilities have been discussed fairly recently. Perhaps there is something to the idea of him being able to directly cross-apply the "spatial awareness" Iron/Steel grant to gunslinging, but it seems to me that this is a very limited case that we shouldn't necessarily extrapolate from.

 

Here's that quote you asked for:

 

Source:

Allomancy’s Mental Effects

 

An interesting side note is to watch how Allomancy—all of its forms—enhances the mind in some way. Though the original concept for the magic system focused on different powers—some physical, some mental—the final product always had a mental component. Notice how, when burning tin, Spook is more able to focus on solitary conversations in the room. Or how his mind can filter out the mist or the cloth he wears. Burning pewter or tin will also make the mind more alert and awake. Burning atium not only lets one see a little bit into the future, but also lets one process that information in a useful way.

 

The mind is such a big part of what makes us who we are. I wanted Allomancy to impact the characters—to have an effect you could see on the minds of those using it. As I’ve stated, one of the places where books can outshine television or movies is in the ability to see exactly what is happening inside a character’s thoughts and emotions. By adding a mental component to each of the Allomantic powers, my hope was to play off of this strength of the written form.

 

 

Regarding Shallan's memories, the mnemonic abilities of Lightweavers is called out in an epigraph of WoR, and Brandon talks about it here:

Edited December 9, 2014 by Kurkistan