Hemalurgic Decay vs Gemstone Dimming

[Walter The Moral]

While outside of a body (or something that is like a body), a hemalurgic spike loses it's charge logarithmically. As in, as it loses more charge, it loses its charge more slowly.

Quote

The longer a spike is outside a body, the weaker it becomes, and a spike will lose most of the power it can lose on the first day outside of a body.^[33][34] The spikes lose power at a logarithmic rate

Meanwhile, gemstones which store light lose the light exponentially. The more light the gemstones lose, the faster they lose their charge.

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The rate at which a Light leaks from gemstones is not constant either - it appears slow at first, but accelerates rapidly near the end, making gems that begin to dim, dim fast.^[8]

 

This is strange, as both act as storage mediums for Investiture, but the way they lose investiture is inherently different. Do you have any theories for why that may be? What about hemallurgic spikes made of crystal? Which properties do they inherit?

The funniest option for crystal spikes is that the lograthmic and exponential losses cancel out, and it just loses charge linearly...

[Trusk'our he/him]

12 minutes ago, Walter The Moral said:

While outside of a body (or something that is like a body), a hemalurgic spike loses it's charge logarithmically. As in, as it loses more charge, it loses its charge more slowly.

Meanwhile, gemstones which store light lose the light exponentially. The more light the gemstones lose, the faster they lose their charge.

 

This is strange, as both act as storage mediums for Investiture, but the way they lose investiture is inherently different. Do you have any theories for why that may be?

Good question.

I imagine that they're using separate mechanics, with Hemalurgic spikes (presumably) losing Investiture as their captured pieces of Spiritweb are drawn into the Beyond (and/or the SR) along with the rest of the Spiritweb, gemstones losing Stormlight quickly because it's tied to the Rosharan ecosystem and Honor's Intent.

Spoiler

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/517-tampa-bay-comic-convention-2023/#e16198

Dairetron

If a Hemalurgic spike loses its charge, does that mean the remaining part of the person's soul trapped will move on to the Beyond?

Brandon Sanderson

Yep.

Spoiler

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/3-firefight-chicago-signing/#e63

Argent

Awakening and Surgebinding, Stormlight and Breath seem really similar in some aspects--

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Argent

--except Breaths seem to stick to things better--

Brandon Sanderson

They do.

Argent

--than Stormlight. So when you are holding the Breath it doesn't expire when you put it in something it doesn't go away. Can you tell me something about why that's happening?

Brandon Sanderson

Part of this is kind of inherent to the Shard and the power it's coming from. I mean the power of Endowment is just going to stick, that's part of the nature of its magic. Does that make sense? But it also kind of has to do with how the ecosystems are working. For instance the Stormlight is essential to the ecosystem of Roshar, it needs to be expended, it needs to get out and-- It's like evaporation, does that make sense?

Argent

Recycling? Not the recycling but the cycle of--

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, yeah like the cycle of water. And so just part of the way the nature of it works, it has to get out, it has to leak out, it has to run out. I mean it leaks even from spheres, right?

Argent

And when you lash things it's temporary--

Brandon Sanderson

Yep. And even though Szeth says that he thought Voidbringers could hold it they can't. Like it is just not the way that it works.

Argent

Can they just hold it better?

Brandon Sanderson

They can hold it better. It's not permanent. Now there are things that can do it permanently but--

Argent

Like the black sphere for example?

Brandon Sanderson

Well we are not going to... The black sphere is something different. You guys have guessed what the black sphere is, right?

Argent

Well we have some ideas. I support that it holds an Unmade. Am I wrong?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm not going to answer that.

Argent

But you said--

Brandon Sanderson

I'm just curious what the theories are. Book 3 the black sphere is-- Everyone who reads the books will know what the black sphere is by the end of Book 3.

 

12 minutes ago, Walter The Moral said:

What about hemallurgic spikes made of crystal? Which properties do they inherit?

My current assumption is that gemstone spikes function by trapping and stapling Spren to a person's Spiritweb. 

If such is the case there shouldn't be any decay at all.

Edited 3 hours ago by Trusk'our