Is a Drab the same as someone not from Nalthis?

[shawnhargreaves he/him]

We know that Endowment starts everyone on Nalthis out with one Breath.  If they give this to someone else they become a Drab, which means reduced vitality, weaker life sense, impaired immune system, and generally doesn't sound much fun at all.

 

What I'm not sure about is whether the default state of someone on Nalthis (possessing their single Breath) is equivalent to people on other worlds, in which case becoming a Drab leaves them worse off that what we would consider normal.  Or does the Breath endow them with better-than-normal vitality to start off with, in which case becoming Drab simply returns them to the same condition as people on other worlds?

 

To put this another way, by giving out these Breaths has Endowment actually improved the average for people on Nalthis, or merely given them the ability to move around and build up concentrations of something all sentient beings would already have?

[PorridgeBrick he/him]

Drabs are less than normal people. All people have some Innate Investiture– Scadrians, for example, have a bit of Preservation in them, Nalthians have a bit of Endowment. Nalthians have the ability to detach this bit, leaving them entirely without Innate Investiture. There's quotes for this, but I'm feeling lazy.

[Kurkistan he/him]

Quotes.

 

Source:

“If a native of Sel or another Shardworld travelled to Nalthis, would they be a drab?”

 

Brandon almost answered quickly, but then got a thoughtful look and paused to consider with a “hmm.”  After a moment, he replied “No, they would not be a drab.  But, no one would be able to take their breath.”

 

Source:

My question at the signing was:

 

Q: On the planets in the Cosmere, we've seen so far, do all of the humans have Innate Investiture?

 

A: He said that we hadn't yet seen the planet, where the humans don't have it, so yes, the humans we've seen have Innate Investiture. He was explicit about Scadrial and confirmed that drabs on Nalthis don't have Innate Investiture. Rosharians have it.

 

Q: As to the Innate Investiture on Roshar, which Shard is it from

 

A: RAFO

 

Interesting parts (at leats in my opinion): There is a planet in the Cosmere where humans don't have Innate Investiture. And: humans on Sel have Innate Investiture.

Edited May 31, 2014 by Kurkistan

[shawnhargreaves he/him]

Thanks!

 

This makes me feel more sympathy for the anti-awakening Idrian point of view.

[Shardmancer he/him]

So i saw that you cannot collect off-worlders breaths but if.. An off worlder was to learn awakening could he use his own breath to do it?

[Kurkistan he/him]

No, and he would even have some difficulty using Nalthian Breath.

 

Source:

Q: I asked him to clarify a past WoB we went 'round and around on in the past. Basically, what happens when non-Nalthians come to Nalthis.

A: they cannot use their own soul to Awaken but could do so with obtained Breath.

Q: So anyone could start Awakening once they received Breaths (this is what it sounded like he was saying so I put it to him simply)

A: You would probably have to jump through some hoops to Awaken (talks about systems needing rigged up to work on different planets), but anyone can benefit from a Breath.  Essentially said "it's not that easy!"

Edited June 1, 2014 by Kurkistan

[Shardmancer he/him]

@ Kurkistan..

 

thanks for the timely and informative responses

[Kurkistan he/him]

No problem, you're welcome. I need to justify my extensive cosmere knowledge to myself somehow, and helping out newer Sharders seems a good way.

[bridgerald he/him]

Interesting... I thought that Stormlight was the form Investiture took on Roshar. I wonder what that means about Stormlight itself. Is it a separate form of Investiture that is compatible with Rosharians' Innate Investiture, or do all Rosharians have some level of Stormlight inside themselves?

Perhaps it's a parallel to Scadrial, where Scadrians(?) have a bit of one Shard's power inside of them, and Stormlight is similar to the Mists.

[Kurkistan he/him]

Investiture can take different forms, as turns out.

 

Source:

Q. I know that there’s three sorts of forms that magic presents itself in, the liquid and the solid and air. What would Breath be?

A. Breath is definitely like Mist, it is in the form of the air.

Q. And is Stormlight the same?

A. Stormlight is the same. Good questions!

Edited June 16, 2014 by Kurkistan

[Sylphrena-Stormborn she/her]

If the innate investiture was a small amount of stormlight which cannot be used like breath-but exists-and breathing in more stormlight was sort of like extra breaths, that would explain how Vasher/Zahel is able to live in Roshar