Savantism on the spiritweb

[Phlipz1]

So Ive been into the cosmere for a while and have been searching the forums for this but I can't find any answers. 

 

Savantism is the end result of overflaring metals too often and damaging the spiritweb as a result yes?

 

Questions are:

 

How exactly does it damage the spiritweb?

 

How does savantism itself occur in relation to preservations power and the metals as a conduit when burning?

 

How long does it take to become a savant?

 

Those are a few I thought up. New here, hope this piques someone's interest

[Chaos]

Hi there. Your questions are totally welcome, but the Coppermind forum is for discussion of wiki activities. I'm moving this to the Cosmere Q&A board.

[Bejarden]

As Chaos closed the thread with an answer on it I’ll repeat it here:

Quote

Aight, fast answers.

1. The spirit web adapts around the constant flow of power and becomes dependent on it.

2. It is the flow of Preservation's power that does the warping of the spiritweb.

3. We don't know.

Credit: @HSuperLee

[Phlipz1]

On 16/05/2021 at 10:30 PM, Chaos said:

Hi there. Your questions are totally welcome, but the Coppermind forum is for discussion of wiki activities. I'm moving this to the Cosmere Q&A board.

Apologies, didn't know where to put this 

 

 

[Phlipz1]

Thank you very much. Looking at the metals in relation to the spiritweb, I read somewhere that the metals act like a conduit for or preservations power and shapes it into the effect? Like a keyhole? My understanding is that savantism chips away at the keyhole, allowing more power to go through at the expense of control and being able to cut the flow through easily. Is this correct?

 

[Dancer]

52 minutes ago, Phlipz1 said:

Thank you very much. Looking at the metals in relation to the spiritweb, I read somewhere that the metals act like a conduit for or preservations power and shapes it into the effect? Like a keyhole? My understanding is that savantism chips away at the keyhole, allowing more power to go through at the expense of control and being able to cut the flow through easily. Is this correct?

 

It is more like the soul changes shape to better allow the power to flow through it. Savants actually have far greater control of their power then non Savants. Again this is due to the Soul changing and adapting to better utilize the constant stream of Investiture flowing through it. 

[Phlipz1]

Ah thank you for clearing that up.  I assumed from spook as an example that control wasn't incredibly precise for savants (him being the only confirmed savant we have, wax having meant to be one but not confirmed yet). And they grow to rely on this greater investure when using their abilities yes? What are the main downsides then? Overwhelming senses for tin yes, but other than that it would be better to be a savant no? Why would one not want to be one?

[Weltall]

On 5/19/2021 at 7:07 AM, Phlipz1 said:

What are the main downsides then? Overwhelming senses for tin yes, but other than that it would be better to be a savant no? Why would one not want to be one?

Brandon has said that all instances of Savantism should have consequences but we don't know what they are yet, which is why he's been backpedaling on Wax being one. If you poke around you can find some topics where people have guessed at what the side-effects might be for other allomantic powers. We also know of one other type of Savant, thanks largely to Oathbringer. Using a Soulcaster fabrial over a long enough period results in the user's body starting to transform into whatever substance that fabrial specializes in producing. We see one person whose body is transforming into smoke (from their perspective) and other people observe ardents whose bodies are starting to transform into stone/crystal or have vines growing under their skin.

So yeah, there are reasons why you might not want to become one...

Edited May 21, 2021 by Weltall

[HSuperLee]

Savantism is a lot like if doctors fused the bones in your wrists. Generally, that's going to have a lot of negative effects. But, on the bright side, you'd be better at firing handguns since your wrist wouldn't automatically bend when it recoils (I actually know a cop who's in this exact situation, which inspired the comparison).

 

To be clear, savantism is a type of damage to your spiritweb. It is bad. It just happens to have some side-effects that are useful in a few situations.

[Phlipz1]

Gotcha, thanks everyone! I remember the oathbringer scene, the smoke girl yes? I forget the name. I've seen the guessing posts for side effects, never paid them much attention mainly because Im looking for facts at the moment not guesses (not to disprove them, it's fun to read of course). Only really need tin savantism side effects at the mo, which of course is the one we have! So that's useful. Thanks again! 

Does savantism have any other effects than spiritweb damage? Or is that all

[Father Tanner]

I don't know if i am going to far in say this yet, but isn't Hoid a savant? My understanding is that this happened while holding a dawnshard for too long, making it so he physically cannot harm any living thing in the physical realm do to the warping if his spiritual web. Correct me if I'm wrong here. Also, if this is a spoiler, mediators feel free to remove this post. 

[Bejarden]

4 hours ago, Father Tanner said:

I don't know if i am going to far in say this yet, but isn't Hoid a savant? My understanding is that this happened while holding a dawnshard for too long, making it so he physically cannot harm any living thing in the physical realm do to the warping if his spiritual web. Correct me if I'm wrong here. Also, if this is a spoiler, mediators feel free to remove this post. 

From the Coppermind:

Quote

His time holding it caused changes to his Spiritweb in a similar manner to Savantism. These changes meant that long-term Hoid found himself unable to inflict harm on any others, as well as unable to eat any sort of meat. His Dawnshard is in some way connected to the First Gem,^[63] his eponymous topaz.

But it’s unsourced so take it with a grain of salt 

[Father Tanner]

Gotcha. There are a couple instances where Hoid alludes to the fact that he can't hurt others in the physical realm (his surprise when he fights Kelsier in SH being one example) and the fact he can't eat meat (when he mentions cows in RoW.... If that counts as a spoiler here, let me know and I'll take that out...). As such i want to trust that what the Coppermind says is true. 

Also, I know that Dragonsteel isn't cannon, but if it can be trusted it confirms what the Coppermind declares. (Highly recommend Dragonsteel for those who get the chance to visit BYU and can check out one of the 2 existing copies).

Edited May 31, 2021 by Father Tanner

[Zoey]

On 5/19/2021 at 9:07 AM, Phlipz1 said:

Ah thank you for clearing that up.  I assumed from spook as an example that control wasn't incredibly precise for savants (him being the only confirmed savant we have, wax having meant to be one but not confirmed yet). And they grow to rely on this greater investure when using their abilities yes? What are the main downsides then? Overwhelming senses for tin yes, but other than that it would be better to be a savant no? Why would one not want to be one?

Actually, we have more examples of Savants, mostly with Soulcasting Savants. 

But Spook wasn't necessarily bad at controlling it, it was a case that he physically changed to basically always have super strong senses. 

On 5/31/2021 at 5:46 PM, Father Tanner said:

Gotcha. There are a couple instances where Hoid alludes to the fact that he can't hurt others in the physical realm (his surprise when he fights Kelsier in SH being one example) and the fact he can't eat meat (when he mentions cows in RoW.... If that counts as a spoiler here, let me know and I'll take that out...). As such i want to trust that what the Coppermind says is true. 

Also, I know that Dragonsteel isn't cannon, but if it can be trusted it confirms what the Coppermind declares. (Highly recommend Dragonsteel for those who get the chance to visit BYU and can check out one of the 2 existing copies).

There was also the fact that he couldn't even harm himself apparently in one of the Epilogues, leading him to have to insult a man a ton until he attacked him himself. And he showed happiness at having his teeth knocked out, implying he couldn't purposely hurt even himself. Also I recall there being WoBs on this sort of thing, but would have to find them.