Investiture Mechanics

[Epicdaf]

I will be asking questions about the nature of Investiture, and referencing events and concepts explored in the following books, so this is your spoiler warning:
The Lost Metal, White Sand, Rhythm of War, Wind and Truth and Sunlit man. 

So, my question is, how does one corrupt Investiture?

We've seen Anti-Investiture and we've seen the sigs of corrupted Investiture, but do we know the process of how to corrupt it?
 

[Trusk'our he/him]

35 minutes ago, Epicdaf said:

I will be asking questions about the nature of Investiture, and referencing events and concepts explored in the following books, so this is your spoiler warning:
The Lost Metal, White Sand, Rhythm of War, Wind and Truth and Sunlit man. 

So, my question is, how does one corrupt Investiture?

We've seen Anti-Investiture and we've seen the sigs of corrupted Investiture, but do we know the process of how to corrupt it?
 

Excellent question. 

Corruption seems to occur when an Investiture is actively co-opting control over another manifestation of Investiture. Soulstamps are a good example of Investiture corrupting the Spiritweb of a person.

Spoiler

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/425-youtube-livestream-10/#e13830

Roger

As I understand it, red is a sign of corruption in the cosmere. I just reread The Emperor's Soul, and it mentioned wisps of red smoke when Shai tests the Soulstamps. Does this mean she is corrupting Gaotona's soul?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, that is what that means. Corruption doesn't have to have the negative connotation, right? Basically, it means an outside influence is changing the Spiritual nature of the soul. And, yeah, that's exactly what is happening right there. Now, I would call that a pretty good thing, but... like, all of those things, where she is playing with someone's soul, and changing it, and changing their past, and things like this. This is, by cosmere definition, corrupting someone's soul. That's expressly what it is.

However, it can't just be two Investitures merging together, as Warlight doesn't manifest corruption despite being comprised of two sources, nor does Harmony express corruption despite bearing two Shards.

WaT spoilers:

Spoiler

It is also worth noting that corrupted Truespren either have a portion of their original Investiture replaced by Odium’s Investiture or have an additional injection of Odium’s Investiture on top of their Honor/Cultivation Investiture. 

Quote

"I. . ." the Cryptic said. "I am sorry. But I hate you. Mmmm. . . it is a strong hate."

"You will have to deal with that," Shallan said, inspecting the Cryptic's left side, which had been burned away- leaving a hole where the arm and shoulder should have been. She glanced to Iyatil's inkspren, who was radiant with colors to show its changed nature- and was huddling in the shadows nearby. 

"Is there a way to heal you?"

"I do not know," the Cryptic said. "You burned away the part of us that is Stormlight, not the part that is Voidlight. I. . . I feel sad. And hurt. I do not want to talk to you."

Wat pg. 1,252

 

So perhaps an invasive, forceful Intent is necessary for it to count as being corrupt.

[Epicdaf]

@Trusk'our You are so right. I completely forgot about soul stamping. 

I wonder if there are mechanical ways of corruption. Similar to how there are ways to transfer light from gem to gem, it would be interesting to see if there is another way to mechanically corrupt investiture. I guess there must be a way to Manipulate the Connection of Investiture in order to Corrupt it.

I guess, an example of Nalthian Corrupted Investiture could be observed in Tress?