cometaryorbit Posted December 14, 2021 Report Share Posted December 14, 2021 It seems that there are a lot of supernatural injuries/transformations due to messed up Connections. Most overtly, on Roshar, the imprisonment of Ba-Ado-Mishram while she was Connected to the singers turned them into parshmen, removing their spren-bonding/form-changing ability and part of their mentality/will/whatever. This imprisonment also caused Radiant spren whose knights break their Oaths to turn into deadeyes/Shardblades. Details are still very unclear, but given that it has to do with breaking bonds, it's likely a Connection thing in some form. Given the close parallel between Radiant spren and seons, it's likely the messed-up Seons of Reod Elantrians are in the same situation. More speculatively... The Reod Elantrians themselves were so messed up because their Shaod altered Spiritwebs rely on a Connection to the Dor that was no longer there? Mistwraiths have per WoB a "blockage" between the Physical and Cognitive Realms, which the spikes that form a Kandra Blessing fix or bypass. Is this a Connection issue also? (I'm assuming that the three Realmatic aspects of one being require Connection to work together properly, because both Ruin taunting Kelsier in M:SH and Kalak in the RoW Epigraphs refer to Cognitive Shadows lacking Connection to the Physical Realm.) Koloss' lack of intelligence might be like mistwraiths in reverse, as their Cognitive aspects appear as normal-intelligence humans after death in M:SH. And to get extremely speculative indeed... Some Lifeless (like Clod) are more aware/humanlike than others, and holding more Breath at the moment of death helps with that. Perhaps this is due to Connection between the Physical Lifeless corpse and the persisting Spiritual Aspect of the former person, enhanced by the Spiritual nature of Breaths, though the Cognitive aspect of the person is gone (Beyond)? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quantus he/him Posted December 14, 2021 Report Share Posted December 14, 2021 Connections are the structure that make up the Spiritweb, and by extension the Spiritual Realm as a whole. They are the Wires that combine to make up a Computer, and the INternet as a whole. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cometaryorbit Posted December 15, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2021 Is the Spiritual Realm entirely made of Connection, though? Investiture at least seems to be its own thing. And from the evidence of Feruchemy, Spiritual Aspects may also include Identity and possibly Fortune. (The Spiritual quadrant of metals is apparently an in-world designation, so not sure about Fortune. But there seems to be enough evidence elsewhere in the cosmere that Spiritual Identity is genuinely a thing.) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frustration he/him Posted December 15, 2021 Report Share Posted December 15, 2021 5 minutes ago, cometaryorbit said: Is the Spiritual Realm entirely made of Connection, though? Investiture at least seems to be its own thing. And from the evidence of Feruchemy, Spiritual Aspects may also include Identity and possibly Fortune. (The Spiritual quadrant of metals is apparently an in-world designation, so not sure about Fortune. But there seems to be enough evidence elsewhere in the cosmere that Spiritual Identity is genuinely a thing.) Connection is made of investiture. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LewsTherinTelescope Posted December 16, 2021 Report Share Posted December 16, 2021 22 hours ago, Ookla the Frustrated said: Connection is made of investiture. Eh, from what Brandon says that's not quite how that works. Quote Aurimus As the two Realms, the Cognitive and the Spiritual, are, well, fictional... Are they all comprised of Investiture, completely? Brandon Sanderson Yes. No, completely? Well, here's the thing. Investiture, matter, and energy are all the same thing in the cosmere. So, just like energy and matter are the same thing here. So, yes, everything's made of Investiture, in the same way that everything's made of energy in our world. Does that make sense? Aurimus So, what about what spren are made of in the Cognitive Realm? Is that just Investiture? Brandon Sanderson So, yeah, I'll dig more into that. I'm gonna go with Investiture for now, but I could change that as I move along. What I'm kind of debating is, is there a separate Cognitive state, and I don't think so. So I'm gonna go with Investiture for now. Aurimus How about Connection? Brandon Sanderson Connection is, like, the equivalent of a quantum connection in our world, so it's more like a force than something comprised of something. The question is like, "What is gravity comprised of?" And then you start asking weird questions. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurimus As the two Realms, the Cognitive and the Spiritual, are, well, fictional... Are they all comprised of Investiture, completely? Brandon Sanderson Yes. No, completely? Well, here's the thing. Investiture, matter, and energy are all the same thing in the cosmere. So, just like energy and matter are the same thing here. So, yes, everything's made of Investiture, in the same way that everything's made of energy in our world. Does that make sense? Aurimus So, what about what spren are made of in the Cognitive Realm? Is that just Investiture? Brandon Sanderson So, yeah, I'll dig more into that. I'm gonna go with Investiture for now, but I could change that as I move along. What I'm kind of debating is, is there a separate Cognitive state, and I don't think so. So I'm gonna go with Investiture for now. Aurimus How about Connection? Brandon Sanderson Connection is, like, the equivalent of a quantum connection in our world, so it's more like a force than something comprised of something. The question is like, "What is gravity comprised of?" And then you start asking weird questions.
Honorless he/him Posted December 17, 2021 Report Share Posted December 17, 2021 (edited) 20 hours ago, LewsTherinTelescope said: [snippitty-snippitty-snip-snip] So, Nightblood was cutting apparent force, that's a bit strange to swallow. "Gravity not being composed of anything" may not necessarily be true, who knows, maybe in the future scientists will detect its force carrier but never mind that. Oh hey maybe there's "Virtual Investiture", so to speak. Oh, never mind, missed the quantum part. Hmm, well done, Nightblood, I guess. That sword just gets weirder and weirder. Edited December 17, 2021 by Honorless 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trusk'our he/him Posted January 15, 2022 Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 On 12/17/2021 at 0:03 PM, Honorless said: So, Nightblood was cutting apparent force, that's a bit strange to swallow. "Gravity not being composed of anything" may not necessarily be true, who knows, maybe in the future scientists will detect its force carrier but never mind that. Oh hey maybe there's "Virtual Investiture", so to speak. Oh, never mind, missed the quantum part. Hmm, well done, Nightblood, I guess. That sword just gets weirder and weirder. I mean, normal shardblades can cut or at least inturupt steelpushing lines, which manifest as spiritual Connections, so Nightblood destroying Connections isn't that absurd. Quote Oneyespike (paraphrased) Can a Shardblade interrupt iron or steel lines? Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased) *after mulling it over a bit, he was very interested in this question* "It would be theoretically possible, because steel lines manifest themselves on the Spiritual Realm. Also, there are other things that can cut/interfere with steel lines." That just made me think though; if someone tried to steelpush on a person wielding Nightblood (not the sword itself, some other metal on their body), could the person wielding Nightblood just sever the Connection used to push on them? Could the Coinshot immediately reform the Connection, then continue to push on them? Or would there be some kind of more permanent damage done? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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