What if an awakened object was soulcast?

[BigBadBagsworth He/him/his]

What if an organic awakened object with maybe 50 breath to power it were soulcast into metal, thereby making it much more expensive to awaken?

There’s probably a relevant WoB but I can’t seem to find one.

[Trusk'our he/him]

11 minutes ago, Radon said:

What if an organic awakened object with maybe 50 breath to power it were soulcast into metal, thereby making it much more expensive to awaken?

There’s probably a relevant WoB but I can’t seem to find one.

It would indeed be easier to Awaken an inorganic object that was Soulcast from something once alive, as the Spiritual Connections would still be intact.

Spoiler

Shadows of Self release party - Arcanum

Questioner

So the lighteyes that get Soulcast into stone, can they be Awakened?

Brandon Sanderson

*pause* So… Yes, but their soul is gone. When they get Soulcast into stone it is only the corpse, so yes they could.

Questioner

Would it be a lifeless or a-- Would it be like Awakening something inorganic or would them once being alive help?

Brandon Sanderson

The fact that they were once alive will help. There's a Spiritual Connection that still exists on the Spiritual Realm and that is going to help. But you're not going to get the person back. The fact that it is the exact form of a person is going to be really helpful. It would be a lot easier to Awaken that than it would be to Awaken other stone.

But note that if the object is already Awakened that your Soulcasting will need to fight through the extra resistance, which is very inefficient.

Spoiler

General Reddit 2016 - Arcanum

Rogaen

What would happen if a Feruchemist fills, for example, a tin metalmind then mixes it to make a pewter metalmind? Does the stored attribute change? Is the Investiture gone when you melt the metal? What if he just makes it into a tin metalmind again?

Brandon Sanderson

If you make it impure, you'll keep the investiture, but won't be able to get it out. If you make it back into the same thing, you'll be fine, and can access it normally. If you try to fill it, after changing the composition to make another viable metal, it will act a little like a computer hard drive with corrupted sectors. Some of it will work for the new investiture, but you won't be able to fill it nearly as full. (Depending on how full it was before you melted down.)

This holds for basic uses of the metallurgic arts. Once you start playing with some of the more advanced parts of the magic, you can achieve different results, which are currently RAFO.

eSPiaLx

Similarly, if you were to soulcast a metal would it have similar effects of corrupting the investiture and making it inaccessible? Like if you turned a steel metalmind into pewter.

Brandon Sanderson

I've stayed away from soulcasting and forging in these types of discussions, as I feel my answers will dig too deeply and prompt more questions that, eventually, will lead to lots of RAFO type questions. I don't really want to go there--but I will say this. Changing invested objects with other magics is hard, and often requires such a force of investiture yourself, that it becomes very power-inefficient. Just like we can technically turn lead into gold right now--by spending way more money than the gold is worth.

BipedSnowman

So you could, for example, use electrolysis to dissolve a metalmind in water, then reverse the reaction later to get the investiture?

OR, better question, if you store investiture in one allotrope of iron, can your retrieve it off you change to a different allotrope?

Brandon Sanderson

I see no reason why these wouldn't work.

dce42

So would forging with the blood of a radiant(kaladin, dalinar,etc) work on a shard blade from a fallen radiant to say change who they had bonded, or how the bond was broken (to say death instead of giving up on the oath)?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO.

Spoiler

Arcanum Unbounded Seattle signing - Arcanum

Lhyonnaes (paraphrased)

Alright, thanks. Last question for me tonight - so, when a Hemalurgic spike steals something, then it's storing Investiture in it, yeah? So could you - could you do something with that Investiture? Like... say I'm on Nalthis, and just theoretically, I use a Hemalurgic spike to steal a lot of Breath - can I use that Investiture to Awaken something? Could I Awaken the spike?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

That... you'd need a lot of Investiture to Awaken a spike.

Lhyonnaes (paraphrased)

Because it's already charged up with something else?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yeah.

So, if it's already Awakened perhaps it will be cheaper on your Breaths expended, but the Soulcasting part will be substantially more difficult, maybe even impossible for most practical purposes. If you wait to Awaken until after Soulcasting an organic material, things should work much more smoothly.

[BigBadBagsworth He/him/his]

Thanks for the explination!

[Trusk'our he/him]

3 minutes ago, Radon said:

Thanks for the explination!

Glad I could help! (Also, if my answer was sufficient, would you mind checking my answer as correct? It's right by the upvote/downvote button)