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Constraints on Investiture?


RadiantInBlack

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Lately I have been wondering about why investiture is expressed the way it is(not sure if expression is the right way to say it honestly). As I have been re-reading the Stormlight's again in anticipation for Dawnshard and RoW I can't help but notice that there are 3 shards on Roshar ,well 2 shards and a splintered shard but regardless, and they all seem to express their investiture in relatively the same way, within the bounds of the 10 surges, a very Rosharen thing. However, when we jump over the end of the Wax and Wayne 3 we find out that Odium made a hemalurgic spike, and kandra-like creatures.

Now, I know that other forms of investiture can be expressed on other planets as we have numerous examples of it from Hoid alone. But, does the planet or system guide investiture to be expressed in a certain way? Does this cause other expressions of investiture to be less efficient in that release of power? Like, is it easier for Odium to use hemalurgy and Kandra like things on Scadrial? I know my theory doesn't fit perfectly, but is there something there? Ruin and preservations expressions of investiture were constrained by the metals, and obviously feruchemy which is not tied to either shard is directly related to the metals. 

There is a similar pattern on all worlds in my opinion. Is it simply a matter of shards learning from each other and mimicking those in their near vicinity? I am doubting it, because to me it seems that it is highly related to working around the environment of the planet itself. On Roshar, spren and symbiotic relationships are part of the natural environment, therefore those wishing to partake in Honors(potentially cultivations) power must form bonds with spren. And this grants them the ability to become invested, but limited to within the bounds of the 10 surges.

On Sel, it seemed that both Dominion and Devotion were related to symbology of some sort. Did Odium work within some of that symbology in order to splinter them?

Without getting too much into the weeds, I guess my overarching question is just if there is something about the planet or system that constrains the shards to be expressed in certain ways. And if so, I assume it related to the planet because of what we know about Ashyn and the diseases that give investiture. But my theory is also muddled because we know most of Ashyn was destroyed by surgbinding. Either way, this makes me wonder if there is something more that we don't know about, inherent in the planets that Adonalsium made, that is strong enough to constrain the shards to act in certain ways? If anyone has more references to support or debunk this please share. I am relatively new here and realize that I am just a lowly squire in regards to these topics. I just couldn’t find any references when I looked it up, but I probably didn’t know where to look well enough. 

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Yeah, how the magic system works usually has more to do with the Shardworld than the Shard. The Shard's Intent shows itself in how you acquire said Investiture for eg: oaths & growth for Honor and Cultivation. Scadrian Shards have more influence on the magic, swapping out metals, because they created the planet itself.

We don't know the identity of the Shard attacking Scadrial for sure btw, most people speculate it's either Odium or Autonomy.

If Odium were on Scadrial... we don't know a lot about what would happen if a new Shard visited a Shardworld but it takes more than just their presence to create a new magic system or add their own element to the existing magic system. Odium would actually have to Invest himself to get his own godmetal on Scadrial.

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2 hours ago, RadiantInBlack said:

Lately I have been wondering about why investiture is expressed the way it is(not sure if expression is the right way to say it honestly). As I have been re-reading the Stormlight's again in anticipation for Dawnshard and RoW I can't help but notice that there are 3 shards on Roshar ,well 2 shards and a splintered shard but regardless, and they all seem to express their investiture in relatively the same way, within the bounds of the 10 surges, a very Rosharen thing. However, when we jump over the end of the Wax and Wayne 3 we find out that Odium made a hemalurgic spike, and kandra-like creatures.

Now, I know that other forms of investiture can be expressed on other planets as we have numerous examples of it from Hoid alone. But, does the planet or system guide investiture to be expressed in a certain way? Does this cause other expressions of investiture to be less efficient in that release of power? Like, is it easier for Odium to use hemalurgy and Kandra like things on Scadrial? I know my theory doesn't fit perfectly, but is there something there? Ruin and preservations expressions of investiture were constrained by the metals, and obviously feruchemy which is not tied to either shard is directly related to the metals. 

There is a similar pattern on all worlds in my opinion. Is it simply a matter of shards learning from each other and mimicking those in their near vicinity? I am doubting it, because to me it seems that it is highly related to working around the environment of the planet itself. On Roshar, spren and symbiotic relationships are part of the natural environment, therefore those wishing to partake in Honors(potentially cultivations) power must form bonds with spren. And this grants them the ability to become invested, but limited to within the bounds of the 10 surges.

On Sel, it seemed that both Dominion and Devotion were related to symbology of some sort. Did Odium work within some of that symbology in order to splinter them?

Without getting too much into the weeds, I guess my overarching question is just if there is something about the planet or system that constrains the shards to be expressed in certain ways. And if so, I assume it related to the planet because of what we know about Ashyn and the diseases that give investiture. But my theory is also muddled because we know most of Ashyn was destroyed by surgbinding. Either way, this makes me wonder if there is something more that we don't know about, inherent in the planets that Adonalsium made, that is strong enough to constrain the shards to act in certain ways? If anyone has more references to support or debunk this please share. I am relatively new here and realize that I am just a lowly squire in regards to these topics. I just couldn’t find any references when I looked it up, but I probably didn’t know where to look well enough. 

It is possible that the planets that Adonalsium made could affect the magic systems on those planets, but not the shards themselves. Shards can do just about anything they want to, they're not constrained by their magic systems.

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4 minutes ago, Nameless said:

It is possible that the planets that Adonalsium made could affect the magic systems on those planets, but not the shards themselves. Shards can do just about anything they want to, they're not constrained by their magic systems.

Keywords: just about

Shards can't turn the tap off, restrict someone from accessing their Investiture.

Quote

RandyD

Can a Shard just--like, say someone is using their magic system--can they stop the power from them being able to use it?

Brandon Sanderson

No, that's a bit like stopping the laws of physics. So, while they can circumvent laws of physics and things like that, but if you wanted to stop someone from using magic, smiting them would be the efficient way of making that happen, if you are capable of it in the system.

Skyward Seattle signing (Nov. 10, 2018)

 

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