Shards' energy in the Spiritual Realm

[Sallin Zeras]

In Coppermind, I found out that the bulk of a Shard's energy is stored in the Spiritual Realm. Can someone explain a little bit more extensively? And, if it is stored there, is there the place in which Odium is able to shatter the other Shards?

[DrakeMarshall]

Hm... This is I think a somewhat broad question. I will answer it to the best of my understanding.

Bear with me, because it might take a little while for me to tie all this back to shards.

 

In the cosmere, the bit of a human being that resides in the spiritual realm is not what many would typically think of as the soul. Consciousness, and what many people are used to thinking of as the soul, are actually purely associated with the cognitive realm. The spiritual realm is the realm of investiture.

A human has several attributes that exist in the spiritual realm. These include:

      -Innate investiture. The spark of life, the ability to use allomancy, and many things beside are all investiture that is associated with a sentient being and which exists within the spiritual realm.

      -Spiritual connection. We really don't know very much about this but we know it exists.

      -Identity. We don't know too much about identity either, but we do know that identity is what controls who can access a metalmind.

      -Other bits of information including a persons age and a range of other attributes.

      -If the classification of feruchemical powers is to be trusted, we can also assume that fortune is an attribute of a person's spirit.

 

Now. In terms of investiture, I believe there are two major kinds of investiture. Innate, and kinetic.

As you may have noticed, innate investiture is listed above. It is a kind of investiture that exists in the spiritual realm and is part of a sentient being. The spark of life, the ability to use allomancy, and the nahel bond are all examples of innate investiture.

Kinetic investiture I suspect does not exist within the spiritual realm. It is inside the cognitive or physical realm, and isn't innate to an individual. Stormlight is a great example of kinetic investiture.

(As for biochromatic breath... Whether it is innate or kinetic is subject to some question, but that is a discussion for another time and probably another thread)

 

Now... So far I have only been talking about the spiritual realm with respect to humans.

But, as I understand it, shards also have things like innate investiture, connection, and identity. In fact, all sentient beings do.

Most of a shard's investiture is innate investiture, and therefore in the spiritual realm.

This is because at any given time, odds are, most of a shard's power isn't actively being used.

Like all types of energy, investiture cannot be created or destroyed. So when an allomancer burns pewter and draws on some investiture from the shard of preservation to strengthen their body, the investiture returns to preservation after being used by the allomancer. The fraction of a shard's investiture that a shard is using at a given time is almost always a very small fraction of the total power they wield.

 

Now... As splintering other shards... We don't know too much about the specifics of splintering. However, I think it is reasonable to assume that splintering is indeed something that happens in the spiritual realm. As I understand it, splintering involves taking chunks of a shard's innate investiture and scattering them, so that the shard is effectively no longer one diety, but a bunch of tiny pieces. In this shattered state, it is impossible for a single sentient being to control the entire shard, which makes a splintered shard directionless and not a threat.

 

Hopefully this explains your question. Let me know if it needs clarification.

[Jondesu]

I don't know that we have a lot of an answer yet, beyond just that it is stored there.  Investiture seems to be used by being drawn from the Spiritual, through the Cognitive (where it's filtered by the Intents of the relevant Shard, the user, and potentially other factors), and then it can affect the Physical Realm (some magic uses affects the Spiritual or Cognitive Realms, many, in fact, but what the user sees is the Physical result, in almost all cases, so I consider that the end result).

As for Shattering/Splintering the Shards, I suspect that what Odium is able to do is somehow cut the Shard off from the source of it's power.  In the case of Devotion and Dominion, we know he somehow drew it into the Cognitive Realm instead of the Spiritual, and that it's now broken up into several very large Splinters as well as the Dor that is kinda like a storm in the Cognitive apparently.  With Honor, it appears that he may have attempted to do much the same thing, but the Spren acted as a release valve for that Investiture and kept the same thing from happening in the Cognitive Realm.

[Sallin Zeras]

6 hours ago, Drake Marshall said:

Hm... This is I think a somewhat broad question. I will answer it to the best of my understanding.

Bear with me, because it might take a little while for me to tie all this back to shards.

 

In the cosmere, the bit of a human being that resides in the spiritual realm is not what many would typically think of as the soul. Consciousness, and what many people are used to thinking of as the soul, are actually purely associated with the cognitive realm. The spiritual realm is the realm of investiture.

A human has several attributes that exist in the spiritual realm. These include:

      -Innate investiture. The spark of life, the ability to use allomancy, and many things beside are all investiture that is associated with a sentient being and which exists within the spiritual realm.

      -Spiritual connection. We really don't know very much about this but we know it exists.

      -Identity. We don't know too much about identity either, but we do know that identity is what controls who can access a metalmind.

      -Other bits of information including a persons age and a range of other attributes.

      -If the classification of feruchemical powers is to be trusted, we can also assume that fortune is an attribute of a person's spirit.

 

Now. In terms of investiture, I believe there are two major kinds of investiture. Innate, and kinetic.

As you may have noticed, innate investiture is listed above. It is a kind of investiture that exists in the spiritual realm and is part of a sentient being. The spark of life, the ability to use allomancy, and the nahel bond are all examples of innate investiture.

Kinetic investiture I suspect does not exist within the spiritual realm. It is inside the cognitive or physical realm, and isn't innate to an individual. Stormlight is a great example of kinetic investiture.

(As for biochromatic breath... Whether it is innate or kinetic is subject to some question, but that is a discussion for another time and probably another thread)

 

Now... So far I have only been talking about the spiritual realm with respect to humans.

But, as I understand it, shards also have things like innate investiture, connection, and identity. In fact, all sentient beings do.

Most of a shard's investiture is innate investiture, and therefore in the spiritual realm.

This is because at any given time, odds are, most of a shard's power isn't actively being used.

Like all types of energy, investiture cannot be created or destroyed. So when an allomancer burns pewter and draws on some investiture from the shard of preservation to strengthen their body, the investiture returns to preservation after being used by the allomancer. The fraction of a shard's investiture that a shard is using at a given time is almost always a very small fraction of the total power they wield.

 

Now... As splintering other shards... We don't know too much about the specifics of splintering. However, I think it is reasonable to assume that splintering is indeed something that happens in the spiritual realm. As I understand it, splintering involves taking chunks of a shard's innate investiture and scattering them, so that the shard is effectively no longer one diety, but a bunch of tiny pieces. In this shattered state, it is impossible for a single sentient being to control the entire shard, which makes a splintered shard directionless and not a threat.

 

Hopefully this explains your question. Let me know if it needs clarification.

@Drake Marshall Thanks a ton! That was a very good explanation, no need to clarify, even though I had to read it 3 times. Helped me out a lot.