Conservation of Investiture

[Wyrmhero]

We've seen loads of different types on Investiture so far, and I think it's important to note the similarities and differences between them all, particularly in how they're used. In particular, something interesting caught my eye was a slight discrepency between Surgebinding and pretty much every other form of Investiture used so far: Surgebinding appears to be the only one to actually consume (or at least 'use') Investiture, other than Hemalurgy losing some in the transfer.

 

If we look at Allomancy, we see metals being burnt up. Feruchemy stores stuff in the same fuel. The AonDor allows geometric patterns to have an effect on the world. Forging changes an object. Awakening stores Breath/commands in something.

 

Thing is though, none of these 'run out' like Surgebinding does. Sure, a Mistborn can run out of fuel, and an Awakener can run out of Breath, but neither of these are due to Investiture disappearing, since the Awakener can just retrieve those Breaths. Looking at this, it seems that Surgebinding is the only thing that makes the actual Investiture disappear in a way that can't be retrieved.

 

Allomancy and Surgebinding both use up fuel, but the metals are consumed when using Allomancy. We know this, because metal poisoning can be avoided by burning the metals, which implies that the Investiture is actually the catalyst, not the metal. So the question is why Surgebinding appears to be different, as it doesn't conserve Investiture, does it?

Edited March 12, 2014 by Wyrmhero

[Moogle]

Power from a Shard, once used, returns to the Shard. It doesn't really run out. We've got this WoB:

 

 

Master_Moridin

Why does Preservation fueling Allomancy not weaken Preservation compared to Ruin?

Brandon Sanderson

Because the power, once used, returns to him--much as water, after passing over a turbine, continues on in its system.

(source)

 

Breath is special in that it is innate Investiture. It's imprinted on the person, and so it doesn't return to Endowment. So it's "renewable" in that sense. Stormlight just seems to be used and then it returns to the Stormfather.

[Wyrmhero]

So does that mean that the Investiture is actually stored in metals on Scadrial? Else people would have a set amount of Investiture they could use to fuel Allomancy before needing to regain it somehow.

[Moogle]

So does that mean that the Investiture is actually stored in metals on Scadrial? Else people would have a set amount of Investiture they could use to fuel Allomancy before needing to regain it somehow.

 

The Ars Arcanum in Alloy of Law says that burning the metals acts as a catalyst (they are not the source of the energy) and starts the Investiture flowing, presumably from Preservation to the Allomancer. It then returns when you stop burning the metal. The Investiture is not stored in the metals themselves, though they are burned up and return to Scadrial's crust (I believe though I cannot find the WoB, since theoryland hasn't been updated in forever. Can someone back me up?).

 

There is an exception in the case of atium and lerasium. Both are Investiture made solid (or rather, our WoB says they're regular metals that have different Spiritual aspects because they're pure Investiture). When you burn those, the Investiture is released from them and you have to wait for it to return to the Well (for lerasium) or the Pits (for atium). This is also why they burn more quickly, I think.

[Wyrmhero]

The Ars Arcanum in Alloy of Law says that burning the metals acts as a catalyst (they are not the source of the energy) and starts the Investiture flowing, presumably from Preservation to the Allomancer. It then returns when you stop burning the metal.

 

So does this mean that an Allomancer could run out of Investiture to burn metals with if they did it quickly enough?

[Moogle]

So does this mean that an Allomancer could run out of Investiture to burn metals with if they did it quickly enough?

 

This is sort of what Vin did.

 

The Investiture comes from Preservation, so they never really run out of Investiture. Yes, they could theoretically use the entirety of Preservation in an instant, but it would probably explode them before they reached even a small chunk of the Shard, and Preservation could probably resist (I'm not sure). And I don't believe that even if every single Allomancer alive burned metals all at once that it would significantly weaken Preservation. The Investiture returns quite quickly, too, from my understanding. 

 

Also: Szeth feels like he's going to explode with just a small amount of Stormlight, and Vin sort of did (though she was protected, in a way).

[Tempus]

The Ars Arcanum in Mistborn talks of end-positive, end-neutral, and end-negative investiture systems. Surgebinding by the stated descriptions falls squarely and cleanly into the 'end-positive' system, along with Allomancy, Fabrials, and the form based investitures on Sel. End-positive is described as when power is accessed from an external source, and then used, without net loss to the power itself.

 

Awakening and Feruchemy are end-neutral, that is to say, the investiture is neither gained nor lost. Both systems take an innate investiture that exists, and transfers it, with neither gain nor loss.

 

End-negative arts 'lose' power, that is to say they have a diminishment of the investiture. In case you're not following, if an allomancer burns 20g of metal, they would get the same amount of power, each time. If you hemalurgically spiked a chain of 20 individuals for the same ability, it would be significantly weaker by the end of the chain.

 

Old Magic, the disease system, and other systems we aren't familiar with can't be classified this way without more information.