Which is more invested?

[CoderDrag0n8 He/They]

In The Lost Metal, the below quotes are found:

Spoiler

Quote

“Melting point is extremely high,” he said. “Over twenty-five hundred degrees.”

<snip>

”So called God Metals were the source of the mists back in anteverdant days.”

”So why weren’t everyone’s lungs burned?” Wax said.

<snip>

“Perhaps,” Steris said. “These metals—unlike common ones—don’t change states based on temperature, but on other factors.”

 

Because of multiple WoBs, we know that investiture is the 3rd (whatchamabucket) along with energy and matter.

What is temperature? Heat energy. This stands to reason that that the changing of states for this metal is more dependent on investiture than other metals.

Because of the following scene where the hemalurgic spike (more invested, as they note) has a higher melting point (although it might be because it’s trellium, not harmonium) I would assume that investiture is opposite to energy, solidifying as it gets more invested. However, I am not sure, so I pose the question:

Which is more invested? Lerasium or the Mists?

[Treamayne]

18 hours ago, CoderDrag0n8 said:

Which is more invested? Lerasium or the Mists?

What is more alive, a person or their child? 

Lerasium is the Mists (in Era 1) is the Well. They are the same power (both pure Preservation Investiture), in different Physical Realm States (and note there is also a difference between, for example, Investiture in a Gaseous State and Investiture in the Physical Realm appearing to be Gaseous - for example, Mist is not affected by Wind or Fog - so it is investiture appearing as a Gas whereas Lerasium is Investiture as a solid, affected by Physical Stimuli by which other Metallic Solids can be affected).

Now, if you were to say "1 cubic centimeter" of Lerasium or Mist (or Well "liquid") - then we don't know, but my best guess is that the Liquid state would have the highest amount of investiture by volume - as the PR Godmetal crystaline structure is limiting (there is likely a reason most perpendicularities are "liquid" Shardpools).

Hope that helps

Edited September 15, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG

[CoderDrag0n8 He/They]

1 hour ago, Treamayne said:

What is more alive, a person or their child? 

Lerasium is the Mists (in Era 1) is the Well. They are the same power (both pure Preservation Investiture), in different Physical Realm States (and note there is also a difference between, for example, Investiture in a Gaseous State and Investiture in the Physical Realm appearing to be Gaseous (for example, Mist is not affected by Wind or Fog - so it is investiture appearing as a Gas whereas Lerasium is Investiture as a solid, affected by Physical Stimuli by which other Metallic Solids can be affected).

Now, if you were to say "1 cubic centimeter" of Lerasium or Mist (or Well "liquid") - then we don't know, but my best guess is that the Liquid state would have the highest amount of investiture by volume - as the PR Godmetal crystaline structure is limiting (there is likely a reason most perpendicularities are "liquid" Shardpools).

Hope that helps

We know that God Metals can be more or less invested (Hemalurgy).

We know from the above quotes that God Metals do not mainly change states due to energy, and since the only other fundemental part of the cosmere besides matter is investiture, then the changing of states for god metals must be dependent on Investiture. Since the hemalurgic spike in the situation was more invested & harder to melt (which is what the characters themselves said in that exact scene) I believed that more investiture=less gassous meaning that lerasium (because it is in a solid state) is more invested than the mists (because it is in a gasous state). I fully understood that they were the same substance, I was theorizing on how they changed states.

[Treamayne]

1 hour ago, CoderDrag0n8 said:

We know that God Metals can be more or less invested (Hemalurgy).

Maybe. We know that the characters and the tech level of Era 1 and 2 believe this to be true. We also know that the Atium Spikes of Era 1 were not Pure Atium. it is implied that that is part of the reason they could hold a Hermalurgic Charge (it's not pure investiture in solid form, so there is "room" for a charge). However, we also know that Godmetals play weirdly with the Metallic Arts (though we do not know Why yet) - otherwise, pushing on a Atium vial would be nearly-as-hard as Pushing on a (SA Spoilers) Shardblade. 

What we do not know is:

• Is a Trellium spike actually pure Bavadinium - or an alloy of some kind (like E1Atium)
• Was the invested nature actually why it was harder to melt (Wax assumes it was, but that does not mean Wax is correct). 

It cannot be that "more investititure = denser PR state" because Investiture can also exist in the PR as energy (or plasma). The Physical Realm state of Investiture is, based on current known information, reliant upon Identity and/or Intent - not quantity of Investiture (Elantris spoilers with Mistborn Comparison):

Spoiler

Compare Aon Daa and a Steel Push - both convert Investiture into a Physical Realm Kinetic Force of energy. Neither has any bearing on the amount of investiture - a Duralumin Steelpush doesn't suddenly become plasma-like similar to Aon Daa because more investiture is concentrated into the Steelpush. 

So, Investiture's Matter-like expression in the Physical Realm is likely tied to the Intent and Identity of the investiture, not the quantity of investiture. There are axes of factors that affect Physical Investiture that have nothing to do with quantity. . . 

Hope that helps.

Edited September 15, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG

[CoderDrag0n8 He/They]

39 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Maybe. We know that the characters and the tech level of Era 1 and 2 believe this to be true. We also know that the Atium Spikes of Era 1 were not Pure Atium. it is implied that that is part of the reason they could hold a Hermalurgic Charge (it's not pure investiture in solid form, so there is "room" for a charge). However, we also know that Godmetals play weirdly with the Metallic Arts (though we do not know Why yet) - otherwise, pushing on a Atium vial would be nearly-as-hard as Pushing on a (SA Spoilers) Shardblade. 

What we do not know is:

• Is a Trellium spike actually pure Bavadinium - or an alloy of some kind (like E1Atium)
• Was the invested nature actually why it was harder to melt (Wax assumes it was, but that does not mean Wax is correct). 

It cannot be that "more investititure = denser PR state" because Investiture can also exist in the PR as energy (or plasma). The Physical Realm state of Investiture is, based on current known information, reliant upon Identity and/or Intent - not quantity of Investiture (Elantris spoilers with Mistborn Comparison):

  Reveal hidden contents

Compare Aon Daa and a Steel Push - both convert Investiture into a Physical Realm Kinetic Force of energy. Neither has any bearing on the amount of investiture - a Duralumin Steelpush doesn't suddenly become plasma-like simlar to Aon Daa because more investiture is concentrated into the Steelpush. 

So, Investiture's Matter-like expression in the Physcial Realm is likely tied to the Intent and Identity of the investiture, not the quantity of investiture. There are axes of factors that affect Physical Investiture that have nothing to do with quantity. . . 

Hope that helps.

Huh. That actually explains a lot, thanks!