Is Innate Investiture an Attribute, or a Power?

[Trusk'our he/him]

In Hemalurgy, Innate Investiture can be stolen and granted to someone else. Would it act more like an Invested power, like with Awakening, or more like an attribute?

Because if it's more like a power, then you might be able to graft in onto someone as you might a Steel Inquisitor, rather than like you would a Koloss.

[That1Cellist he/him]

The amount that you could take would be minimal, and would leave someone like a drab but more, I believe. I think it would act more like an attribute, unless you got the innate investiture of a whole bunch of people. Then you might be able to do something with it.

 

[Quantus he/him]

It's probably the weirdest one, but within the bounds of the Metallic Arts:  Attribute.  Attributes are the things Ferrings store, Powers are the ability to do the storing (or the ability to burn a metal).   

[IlstrawberrySeed]

Since power is the ability to do something, can atium steal someone's ability to do hemalurgy? And would that make hemalurgy more effecient?

[offer]

43 minutes ago, IlstrawberrySeed said:

Since power is the ability to do something, can atium steal someone's ability to do hemalurgy? And would that make hemalurgy more effecient?

No. Power is "magic power". Abilities are things like speed, strength and such things.

Stealing inate investiture is by nicrosil since it is stealing investiture.

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Pagerunner

The Hemalurgy table, you wrote down "atium steals any power, lerasium is all abilities, nicrosil is Investiture"; what's the difference between those three?

Hemalurgic atium, lerasium, and nicrosil. What's powers, abilities, and Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

People are Invested in ways that do not give them active powers. So for instance, everyone on Nalthis is Invested. Everyone in the cosmere is, really. You want to steal their Investiture, but they don't have a power. You're still ripping off a piece of their soul. So there is a distinction between the actual Investiture that's in a human being and a specific power that they have.

So that distinction is pretty easy. You can also, with Hemalurgy, steal specific things. You can steal just general Investiture. You can steal, if you want--this is where the kandra Blessings come from. You can instead steal specific things that are not like stealing Allomancy. Stealing, for instance, someone's mental acuity.

Pagerunner

So abilities is like the half that's all the strength, speed, all that kind of stuff? Those are abilities, versus the Metallic Arts are all powers?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Pagerunner

Then Investiture, is that offworld magics?

Brandon Sanderson

No, no, it's the raw power.

Pagerunner

Nicrosil is their soul?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. A piece of their soul, essentially.

Pagerunner

So how would you go about stealing an offworld power?

Brandon Sanderson

It's going to depend. A Breath, you would steal with nicrosil. It's general Investiture, is what you would probably going call that. You could forcibly remove someone's Breath from them. The ability to be a Sand Master you would steal with the power ability.

JordanCon 2021 (July 16, 2021)

 

[Quantus he/him]

1 hour ago, IlstrawberrySeed said:

Since power is the ability to do something, can atium steal someone's ability to do hemalurgy? And would that make hemalurgy more effecient?

I dont think it would augment anything if you implanted it, but I think the only way to "Steal" the ability to do Hemalurgy would be to use Copper to steal the memories of how to use it. But they Die in the process so it might be moot.  

Edited January 23, 2023 by Quantus

[IlstrawberrySeed]

18 minutes ago, Quantus said:

But they Die in the process so it might be moot. 

WoB says that it is possible to survive hemalurgy, even if it is only through tapping gold at the right moment.

[Quantus he/him]

1 minute ago, IlstrawberrySeed said:

WoB says that it is possible to survive hemalurgy, even if it is only through tapping gold at the right moment.

It is but the regrown soul is not the same per WOB, and in the case of memories the Investiture hard drive sector could be regrown but the pattern would be lost (similar to that Breath Memory encoding/forgetting trick from Warbreaker).  

[alder24]

1 hour ago, IlstrawberrySeed said:

Since power is the ability to do something, can atium steal someone's ability to do hemalurgy? And would that make hemalurgy more effecient?

There is nothing to steal to be able to do hemalurgy. It only requires knowledge and intent. How much you can get from it depends solely on a victim you choose - you can't take more than he has.