Investiture Drought

[scudalarm]

Is there any information regarding overdrawing the investiture in a given area?

An analogy I can make is from the game Final Fantasy 7, there is an area that draws massive amount of their world's equivalent for investiture and uses it for everyday/mundane purpose. The effect then is that area appears to be blighted. 

The Reod was closest thing I can think of, but as mention in the book, the investiture is still there, Elantrians just can't properly utilize it.

I think the short version of my question would be:

What happens to a place when there are no S/shard/s in residence to regulate the I/investiture cycle, and the local inhabitants are using up the I/investiture faster than the natural cycle can replenish it?

[Treamayne]

I know you said in your intro post, that you have read "most" of the Cosmere (please consider editing that post to specifically list what you have not yet read). Also, please consider checking out the Sharder FAQ if  you are not familiar with editing posts or for some useful forum info and tips.  I will spoiler tag some of this answer in case it is one that you have not yet read.

3 hours ago, scudalarm said:

Is there any information regarding overdrawing the investiture in a given area?

<snip>

What happens to a place when there are no S/shard/s in residence to regulate the I/investiture cycle, and the local inhabitants are using up the I/investiture faster than the natural cycle can replenish it?

This would not necessarily apply to most of the Cosmere, because Investiture resides in the spiritual realm, and the investiture cycle returns it to the Spiritual Realm when it is used. Because the Spiritual Realm has no location or time - accessing the investiture does not matter where or when you are located. On Sel, where the Dor has been placed into the Cognitive Realm (which is why Selish magic is Connected to location) they may lose access to the investiture by being in the wrong location or leaving Sel - but, as you mentioned, that's a block or a limitation, not an overused resource.

When Investiture is "stored" in the physical realm (like Stormlight, you might use up the available resource until it is replenished - but highstorms come fairly often.)  Kaladin experiences something like your drought idea early in Oathbringer. The other example that may fit your question is White Sand (Spoilers):

Spoiler

Because AisDa invests the lichen on the sand, water can cause Sand to go stale just as easily as Mastering the Sand does - and, of course, the native Fauna feed on the invested lichen, so there are three mechanisms that can deplete the available investiture in an area. However, AisDa's light is even more present on  Dayside than the Highstorms are on Roshar - and sand exposed to light will recharge in hours. However, sand removed from the sunlight will self-deplete in about a day (which is the problem Khriss experiences when taking sand back to Darkside - until they learn to recharge the sand in other ways-seen in RoW not White Sand)

Even investiture Consuming mechanisms, like Nightblood, are not removing the Investiture from the cycle, though they could, in theory, use up a local resource until it is replenished.

WoB:

Spoiler

emailanimal

From a very recent signing, we have this new Word of Brandon...

chasmfriend's son: Is there a finite amount of Investiture?

Brandon: Yes.

chasmfriend's son: So is Nightblood consuming it?

Brandon: Yes. Very, very slowly.

This worries me somewhat because of the following observation.

Nightblood consumes Breath (and other Investiture, but let's limit ourselves to Breath for a second).

Every person on Nalthis is born with one Breath.

Populations tend to grow. Which means that under normal rules of demographics, population of Nalthis should keep increasing.

This in turn means that under normal circumstances the number of people with Breath on Nalthis should be growing.

I can see the following possible explanations to this:

1. Endowment can give Breath to many more people than are currently living on Nalthis. So, the exponential population growth has not yet reached the level at which Endowment's ability to award a Breath to each Nalthis-born human is seriously challenged. When it happens though, things will not go well.

2. There is some built-in mechanism controlling population growth on Nalthis, making certain that the population stays within the limits. Nightblood's consumption of Breath makes these limits smaller, and overall may lead to Endowment's inability to grant Breath to Nalthis-born, but not for a while (essentially, Endowment controls population trends at she sees fit).

Thoughts?

Brandon Sanderson

Just as a point you should understand, the amount of MATTER in the cosmere is finite too. As is the amount of energy.

Worrying that Endowment will run out of Breaths to give is a little like worrying that the amount of carbon on Earth will run out because people keep being born.

uchoo786

So just for clarification, once Nightblood consumes investiture, that investiture gets recycled? That's what I've always assumed. That it enters the cognitive/spiritual realm?

Brandon Sanderson

The investiture he consumes is not gone forever--it's not leaving the system, so to speak.

General Reddit 2015 (Dec. 14, 2015)

Hope that helps

[scudalarm]

Thanks for replying.

Regarding the Cosmere books I have not read (or DNF), The Way of Kings Prime, Aether of Night, White Sand (waiting for prose version).

Also another person reminded me about the Father Machine from Yumi and the Nightmare Painter. Although it still did not overdraw the investiture.  It dumped a sort of pollution, the original ecology of the planet was no longer present, but the planet it self is still there.

 

 

[Argenti he/him]

8 hours ago, scudalarm said:

Is there any information regarding overdrawing the investiture in a given area?

An analogy I can make is from the game Final Fantasy 7, there is an area that draws massive amount of their world's equivalent for investiture and uses it for everyday/mundane purpose. The effect then is that area appears to be blighted. 

The Reod was closest thing I can think of, but as mention in the book, the investiture is still there, Elantrians just can't properly utilize it.

I think the short version of my question would be:

What happens to a place when there are no S/shard/s in residence to regulate the I/investiture cycle, and the local inhabitants are using up the I/investiture faster than the natural cycle can replenish it?

I suppose Komashi from the Nightmare Painter is almost that? The ground is naturally hot, and  the investuture is all consumed by the father machine, so I guess it's that.
 

4 minutes ago, scudalarm said:

Thanks for replying.

Regarding the Cosmere books I have not read (or DNF), The Way of Kings Prime, Aether of Night, White Sand (waiting for prose version).

Also another person reminded me about the Father Machine from Yumi and the Nightmare Painter. Although it still did not overdraw the investiture.  It dumped a sort of pollution, the original ecology of the planet was no longer present, but the planet it self is still there.

 

 

. Darn.

As like Traemayne said, it's not really a thing that could happen. I do suspect, with the help of a dawnshard or something of that magnitude, you could create a "drab" planet; loosing loose investsture and "blighting" the planet.

[AFdooda]

There is a reoccurring theme across the Cosmere of black smoking Investiture. While not absence this seems to be a kind of Investiture 'pollution' that cannot be directly used without doing something.