Random controversial theory about Spirit Webs

[Grubfriend He/Him]

Note: This whole thing is a wild theory that may be inaccurate but you people will understand my curiosity. 

Spirit Webs. The contain your sDNA and are in the SR, when I picture one I see little orbs connected by lines and those patterns determine things like what invested art you can use and how powerful you are. Controversial but just to make sense of weird stuff. Connection could be in there too.

If a person could see a Spirit Web (ex: a Coinshot) If they had enough Investiture could they alter their soul to be a Coinshot because they had a model to mimic.

Sunlight man:

Spoiler

Nomad used Investiture to rewrite his soul so he could speak the local language.

Lerasium makes a person Mistborn. Enough Investiture can rewrite your soul.

Any WoBs that are in any way supportive or shoot down my theory. I appreciate help on this question.

Edited January 18, 2024 by Xiahida

[Quantus he/him]

Both examples there are seeing/manipulating specific types of external Connections, which is akin to Spiritwebs but manipulating them is pretty common and relatively low-power to accomplish.  The Ghostbloods reference "Connection Tricks" as the typical way Worldhoppers (including Hoid) use to speak local languages, and the appear to be pretty common and accessible from lots of different worlds/magics.  

Direct Spiritweb Manipulation is generally on the upper extreme of Power requirements for the Cosmere, from what we've seen (likely because of the External/Internal divide so prevalent in the Metallic Arts). Aside from Soulforging which is a whole Magic system dedicated to it (and is temporary), Lerasium can do it, Bondsmiths can probably learn to do it, Hemalurgy can do it messily, and the Pre-shattering magic system called Microkinesis (which was Too OP for the Shards to allow to remain) could do it.  Awakening is an oddball because it specializes in creating "counterfeit Spiritwebs" for objects.  

For the specific case of becoming an Allomancer, WOB says it takes both the Spiritweb change and a Connection to Preservation to provide the power, and specifically that Soulforging can do the first part but not the second.  Lerasium does Both but it's stupid Powerful as a Godmetal and already innately Connected to the Shard.  It's hard to say if any other powers we know of now have the juice to do both.  And at the end of the day having the capability to Manipulate Connections and/or Spiritwebs and being able to Create new ones whole are two different things.  

[Grubfriend He/Him]

If my thinking is accurate could it be possible to fake a Connection to Preservation by 'Shaping your Spirit Web' Forging the Connection as your soul sees itself as Connected to Preservation. You basically write into it that you are Mistborn and have the proper Connection.

Almost permanent, more powerful Forgery. 

[alder24]

20 minutes ago, Xiahida said:

If my thinking is accurate could it be possible to fake a Connection to Preservation by 'Shaping your Spirit Web' Forging the Connection as your soul sees itself as Connected to Preservation. You basically write into it that you are Mistborn and have the proper Connection.

Almost permanent, more powerful Forgery. 

No. You can become a Mistborn with a Soulstamp, but you can't draw power from Preservation. You need to have some external source of investiture, like a jar of Dor, to power your Forged Allomancy.

As far as we know, you can't change your Spirit Web with just raw investiture. You need to have some ability that will allow you to use it to make changes in your Spirit Web, like Bondsmithing, Forgery, Elantrian powers or Hemalurgy.

Spoiler

Aneesh

If there's a Forger like Shai who plausibly had an opportunity to ingest lerasium and become Mistborn, but she passed it up, could she create a stamp that makes her temporarily a Mistborn?

Brandon Sanderson

She would have to have access to enough Investiture to make that happen. The stamp saying, "Hey, I'm a Mistborn!" doesn't actually give her the Investiture to do that. She could rewrite her past so that she took that bead. She would not actually be able to use the power, until she got an infusion of Investiture, which could be done with a stamp in the right manner, but most of the time you're gonna have to have some external source. Basically you're gonna have to take a hit of Investiture, a large amount of it, and then use the stamp, and then it will feed on that to change you into basically any of the other magics.

Aneesh

Stormlight?

Brandon Sanderson

If you could get a hit of Stormlight, that'd work. The problem is, Stormlight's not easy to get off of Roshar, and it still is technically keyed. You could get it a lot more easily-- Stormlight would work fairly well, but what you really want is some pure, unkeyed Dor. That stuff, you could do all kinds of things with. But, you know, it's kinda dangerous. But that's the stuff you're gonna want, or something like unto it.

Dragonsteel Mini-Con 2021 (Nov. 22, 2021)

 

Spoiler

Krios (paraphrased)

If you have a form of manipulating your Identity and a form of healing, are you able to shapeshift or even evolve your body like growing wings?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

You'd have to do some real work on your Spiritweb to make that work. It'd take more work than you're implying, but the [singers] for instance are doing this. It'll take a little more work, it's not just blanking your Identity. Hemalurgy would make it very easy, but also very evil. But what you want to achieve is possible.

Stuttgart signing (May 17, 2019)

[Leuthie]

I picture a Spirit Web like a brain, only more complex and ever changing. There are soma and axon and synapse, electrical connections, chemical indicators, etc. It starts with a node/vertex and edge/links map. The nodes are conceptualized ideals that can be Connected, and the edges are the Connections. Each Connection has both directionality and value. All of this is "floating" in a "soup"*. The Connections can change the characteristics of the local "soup" resulting in changes to attached nodes and Connections, both temporary and permanent. Everything that did exist, does exist or can exist has a node. Everything those things have, can or will interact with have direct Connections. Secondary and further interactions reverberate through the soup. These reverberations are determined by the Intent behind the interaction. Each collection of Nodes and Edges is itself a Node within another Node and Edge map. This in turn is a Node in another map. The largest map is the universe itself. The next level down would be the Shards, once just a single Node Connected to all. 

It is possible with enough knowledge, Investiture and Intent to change any Connection and any Node to anything you want. You are Connected to Everything in some way, so you can affect everything. Just like a software programmer, the easiest way to start is to copy-paste from somewhere where it's already been successfully done.

*By "floating in soup" I'm really saying that everything is immersed in Investiture. Since everything is made up of Investiture, there's little difference between the nodes, Connections or soup. All nodes and Connections return to the soup when not "in use" by the universe, and spontaneously return just as they were before when returned to use. For those who have read Yumi, a lot like the Shroud and the nightmares and Yumi herself. 

Edited January 23, 2024 by Leuthie

[Grubfriend He/Him]

On 1/23/2024 at 1:55 PM, Leuthie said:

It is possible with enough knowledge, Investiture and Intent to change any Connection and any Node to anything you want. You are Connected to Everything in some way, so you can affect everything. Just like a software programmer, the easiest way to start is to copy-paste from somewhere where it's already been successfully done.

 

I was thinking you could do this. If you could for instance view TLR Spirit Web, you are a Fullbor of incredible power. I mentioned Soulstamps, but that was used as a comparison to help people understand what I'm thinking.