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Ballpark Theory


SprenWrangler

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I'm not sure if this is the right place in the forums for this, but I'm trying to wrap my brain around the Cosmere a little better. Thought it was time for me to see if people think I'm in the right ballpark.

There are 3 planes of existence in the Cosmere: Physical, Cognitive, and Spiritual. And everything in the Cosmere has a "tridentity", or an identity on each plane — a physical DNA/identity, a mental DNA/identity, and a spiritual DNA/identity. And there are connections and pathways between the 3 parts of the tridentity.

Investiture, energy, and mass are all interchangeable within the Cosmere, like E=mc^2, but with an investiture component.

Investiture was controlled by a  single source — Adonalsium — until it was split into 16 pieces.  Those 16 pieces exist in different forms on each of the three planes. They each have an intent — kind of like a spiritual aspect/directive — and that intent is translated by a vessel. So far, these vessels seem to have originally had a strong physical identity and the investiture has caused rapid (and imperfect) cognitive and spiritual awareness and identity.  Investiture can pool outside the vessel.

Pathways created in something’s tridentity allows investiture, energy, and mass to be converted.  Pathways or conduits can be created in a number of ways — temporarily and permanently. These pathways take different forms. “Breaking” or other trauma can create a situation where pathways can be created more easily. 

Some examples:

  • Honorblades create a temporary pathway to allow the holder to access surges (manipulating energy and mass). Those holding an honorblade don’t use stormlight as efficiently as a Radiant because the temporary pathway is more “leaky” than the one created by bonding a spren.
  • Spren-Radiant bonds create more permanent pathways to allow the holder to access surges. Saying the right ideals create more pathways. The process of learning the ideals creates stronger bonds between the radiant and spren, altering their collective tridentity. 
  • Shardblades and shardplate are physical remnants created by the breaking of the collective spren-radient tridentity. Some investiture can still be converted though broken spren-radiant pathways that remain with the damaged spren. Shardplate is powered by invested gems. Shardblades still have a connection to a damaged spren’s cognitive aspect/identity and can somehow draw on investiture to manifest in the physicial world. 
  • Allomancy is using metals to temporarily complete pathways to convert investiture for immediate use. 
  • Feruchemy is the use of physical metals to create temporary pathways to convert mass or energy into investiture stored for later use/conversion.
  • Hemalurgy is the use of physical metals to (violently) transfer usable investiture conversion pathways from one entity to another.
  • So far, aluminum can temporarily block or shield some kinds of tridentiy pathways. Can also store tridentity pathways. 
  • A breath is a store of investiture that can be transferred to people or objects. The more breath an entity has, the more pathways that can be created. Pathways can be created internally — leading to the stored breath powering things like heightened senses. Pathways can also be created externally to give objects endowed with breaths an intent or a quasi-temporary sliver of tridentity.  A divine breath can be thought of as a set of pathways which overwrites some existing parts of the tridentitiy.
  • Stamps/forging create temporary pathways that can shape the tridentiy.
  • Aons create pathways to convert investiture.
  • Dakhor monks bone forms create permanent physical pathways to convert investiture. 
  • Kandra blessings create pathways to solidify cognitive identity and ways to convert investiture into mass or energy. 
  • Dalinar can create a temporary conduit through all three planes of existence to collect and distribute investiture 
  • Fabrials capture investiture (spren) in a gem and use color and metals to create pathways to convert the investiture into energy or mass.
  • So far, it seems like different kinds of pathways are usually investiture-specific, but we have hints that they can be translated/filtered somehow to allow a different kind of investiture to use a non-standard pathway.
  • Lyft is able to convert food into an investiture usable by her Edgedancer pathways. So instead of stormlight, she is converting/metabolizing mass into investiture.
  • Singers are transformed by Fused — by rewriting pathways to change the original singer’s tridentity. Those pathways also allow the conversion of voidlight into surges. In this case, the transformation seems to overwrite significant portions of the tridentity. 

I think in a couple of these, I'm probably using pathways and DNA/identity interchangeably when I shouldn't be, but I'm tired and rambling.

Does most of this seem right?

Edited by SprenWrangler
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1 hour ago, Quantus said:

What you describe as "Pathways" sound a whole lot like Spiritual Connection as we know it.  

I think the pathways or connections can be formed along the different aspects (spiritual, physical, and mental). So if there is a "spirit web" or "spiritual DNA" as I've seen referenced, I'm suggesting there is a "physical web/DNA" and a "mental web/DNA" that are all interconnected and have to change in order to transform investiture, mass, and energy. So the things in the cosmere that involve the transformation of mass, energy, and investiture can have an effect on those three webs.

I don't think it is all spiritual connection. You bond a shardblade and your eyes change color. You are using investiture in some way to summon the shard blade. That bond changes pathways between the different parts of your tridentity, including your physical DNA having to do with eye color.

Royal locks change physical color, but can do so when you are changing your emotions -- pathways have been created between your cognitive/mental DNA and your physical DNA that are activated as investiture is tranformed into energy. 

Edited by SprenWrangler
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I like this theory. I was wondering how does sand mastery fit into it? Is the sand completing the pathway like burning metal, or is it storing investiture which sand masters can then access and use connecting to the sand instead of the source there by acting more like someone drawing an atribute from a metal mind

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2 hours ago, Anticipationspren said:

I was wondering how does sand mastery fit into it? Is the sand completing the pathway like burning metal, or is it storing investiture which sand masters can then access and use connecting to the sand instead of the source there by acting more like someone drawing an atribute from a metal mind

Sand Mastery has been described by Khriss in Arcarnum Unbounded as the user forging a brief Cognitive bond with the sand, so in this theory it would fit along the lines of using innate Investiture in the user to create a link between the cognitive aspects of the sand and the user in order to access the stored Investiture in the sand to act upon the Physical Realm

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