Good Vibrations (RoW + Cosmere)

[atarynnosaurus]

TL;DR: ALL of Investiture in the cosmere seems to be, like Stormlight or Voidlight, composed of unique vibrations or pulses. And so, like Stormlight and Voidlight - can it all somehow be combined and/or inverted? 

I had something of a revelation today, while writing gay fic of all things, and I thought I would share and try to get other peoples' thoughts. Because I might have noticed a connection, but I'm definitely not smart enough to figure out what it means, lol. 

So, one of Navani's biggest breakthroughs in understanding the various forms of Light on Roshar was realising that Stormlight, Voidlight, Lifelight etc are not just light, not liquid, but sound. Vibration. This allowed her to combine the lights with Raboniel, and it also allowed her to discover its opposite. A large breakthrough for understanding Investiture on Roshar. 

Except that this is not the only kind of Investiture in the Cosmere we've seen that has vibration as a core part of its nature.

Allomancy. Allomancy gives off allomantic pulses to seekers who are burning bronze. Allomancy gives off DISTINCT allomantic pulses, as we saw in the scene where Marsh shows Vin how to use it in The Final Empire. Each metal, when burned, gives off a distinct and unique vibration. Something that can be used to determine a pulling/pushing metal, to determine which specific metal is being burned, and even if it's being flared. The power at the Well of Ascension also pulsed, and so did the 'mist spirit'. Allomancy, as Investiture, also has a unique vibration attached to each source. 

In Warbreaker, Breaths require sound to activate - they require a carefully, clearly spoken Commands in order to Awaken. They also grant a holder perfect pitch. The Iridescent Tones form a core part of the Nalthis belief system. While not as explicit as in Mistborn, Investiture here also has a clear vibrational component. 

In Elantris, seons pulse when they speak, and their aons glow. Raoden explains and understands accessing the Dor via drawing different shapes (aons) through which the power can access the physical realm from where it is trapped in the cognitive realm. However, he notes that his books on the topic describe the process via 'pulse length and frequency', which he doesn't understand, but, in the context of all Investiture having a unique vibration to it, makes sense to me.  

Do I have any idea what this means in real-terms for the cosmere going forwards, and the potential applications of this knowledge in terms of combining, inverting, or altering different forms of Investiture, but this is why I'm posting it here for you smart people to engage with and give me the answers. 

 

[LiftIRL]

I've been thinking about this myself! I was going to post asking do people think there are Tone components to other systems as well or is it just a roshar thing, butt you present a rock-solid case as far as i can see. 

I've been thinking about the importance of Waves now more than ever. cuz like, light and sound are just different kinds of wavelengths, and we have branderson confirmation that lightweavers for instance can not only work with sound and light, but with other wavelengths too- like LASERS. so this just means that we, as humans who rely a lot on our visual and vestibular senses, have been interperting magic and investiture mostly in what it can do to objects and what we can see it do, and now the more we learn about these vibrations and of the rhythms, we are seeing it is recognizable in another separate sets of wavelengths- sound and vibrations moving through the air.

On the applications side of things: Science is NOT my forte, but maybe similar to how lightweavers can interact with both light and sound, maybe other wave-related abilities we already know can be expanded into this new territory?

I'm really interested in what we learned about the way singers and listeners hear different emotional rhythms based on the main shard they're Connected to. If i was a silverlight mad scientist ofdubious morals, you'd find me shipping of singer babies all over the place.

[Halyo_Alex]

I feel like Shallan is going to become VERY important to Navani in the coming battles. Illumination can produce sounds. ...Shallan can semi-automate the Rhythms for Honor, Cultivation, and Odium, possibly even with the intent of Inverting the tones, to mass-produce anti-voidlight to kill off the Fused with.

And who knows, maybe Warlight will be of use to Radiants; we now know that Voidlight's emotional impact on a person is basically Rioting (Hmmmm) their currently active emotions, so if Warlight does that AND the "urge to action" of Stormlight, that could be great at enhancing morale.

...inb4 Kaladin develops a Warlight addiction because it works as an antidepressant to an extent.

[seriodor]

I had a thought on this topic. If you can play the tone of the hypothetical shard combination of Honor and Odium and get Warlight, then that means there's a tone for Adonalsium, that is a combination of the tones of all the shards. So if you had a source of investiture from all 16 shards, and you knew what their tones were, you could combine all that and create the Light of Adonalsium. Presumably you could do crazy stuff with God's own Investiture, if you could tack it onto your spirit web somehow you would probably have some unique and potent powers that reflect all the magic systems of the Cosmere. Which I think is maybe one of Hoid's goals. We see him travelling around the Cosmere picking up investiture as he travels, and I used to think that was a means to an end, but now I think that might be the end itself.

Edited November 23, 2020 by seriodor
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