What exactly does Nicrosil hemalurgy do ?

[Friendshipspren]

For a long time I thought it stole other magic systems. But now thanks to @Honorless I realise I might be mistaken.   Like suppose I spiked a mistborn, a misting , a Ferring , a feruchemist , an Elantrian and a knight radiant. 

What exactly would I steal and how do I use it ?

Also in case of an nalthian I guess I steal breaths right ? 

Even it only steals investiture than Idk if it's of much use beyond stealing breaths ?

Hey can u spike Nightblood ? 

 

[Quantus]

The short version is that we dont know details, and he hasn't actually worked them all out (as of a 2015 WOB).  The only time we've seen Nicrosil in play is with the Medallions, which are their own kind of weird.  Beyond that, apparently a Nicrosil Ferring is going to be a main character in Era3, so Branderson's been RAFOing all questions regarding Nicrosil.  Closest we know is that in the case of medallions/metalminds, Nicrosil takes/stores something discrete (like memories in a coppermind) not a bulk quantity like most others.  Medallions also store the Ability to USE a type of Investiture, not the Investiture energy itself.  

In the case of Spikes as distinct from Metalminds, we know that by the nature of Hemalurgy they only effect Investiture that is in the Spiritweb in the Spiritual Realm.  There's a good chance that it will be able to steal Kinetic Investiture, which opens up more options (potentially stealing Stormlight's augmentation/healing abilities, maybe squirehood, etc).  

There are also some things that we vaguely know Hemalurgy is capable of by WOB, but dont know which specific Metal is involved.  For example, we know that you can steal "the Investiture" of a Soulstamp, which sounds like Nicrosil personally.  But we also know that there is overlap between metals, with instances where several different metals could be used to get the same end effect.  I suspect Nicrosil would also be the Metal of Choice to steal a Boon/Curse as well, though it might depend on the individual Curse effects.  

 

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Questioner

If you Stamp yourself, to have another, overwritten spiritweb, and you get Spiked-- *laughter* What would happen?

Brandon Sanderson

We actually worked this out. *laughter*

Questioner

Well, you'd die, or very close to it, but would it revert when the Stamp reverts?

Brandon Sanderson

So what’s probably going to happen here is that you’re going to rip off the Investiture you’ve put on your soul, and your own soul will have less damage. Now, the spike is only gonna get the-- the spike, you're like "What will it do?" It will do what you've been overwritten with, but again remember, becoming an Allomancer takes so much energy, and things like-- But it is theoretically possible in the cosmere to rewrite yourself "You're an allomancer", someone spikes you to get this. The Investiture doesn't care that it was fake on you, you have managed to get that Investiture to work. Uhh, this is really tough. And really, like, you need Connection, and you need, like, the right kind of Investiture, but then it rips off and yes you have made a spike that makes you an Allomancer, even though the person was a Forger. So yes, okay? But this is the kind of stuff that is like the thought experiments for physicists in the cosmere as opposed to, y'know--

Arcanum Unbounded Chicago signing (Dec. 6, 2016)

 

 

2 hours ago, PrinceGenocide said:

Also in case of an nalthian I guess I steal breaths right ? 

Turns out No, though a Divine Breath might be more of an option:

 

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Questioner

With spikes, would you be able to actually transfer Breaths, when they get to the other planets?

Brandon Sanderson

So spikes rip off pieces of the soul and so Breaths are not going to be part of the soul. You could maybe get a divine Breath but I haven't really decided on regular Breaths, they're kind of stuck there in the Physical Realm which is not a thing that spikes are dealing with. Divine Breath, potentially, because that's something that's actually melding onto your soul. But, you know, when you're using the Breaths they reach through to the Spiritual Realm so, maybe if you got it while the Breaths were kinetic, right, while you're using them, then you might be able to rip them off. I'm not a hundred percent certain on that one.

Bystander

There's still things to decide upon.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah there's still things, like I have to kind of see. My instinct says no right now. But, you know, how they interact is not something that I have-- Yeah.

Shadows of Self London UK signing (Oct. 19, 2015)

 

 

Per WOB, you cant Spike Nightblood, nor can you use him as a spike, simply because he is already waaaay too Invested to be Charged with/by something else.

 

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Questioner

Could Nightblood theoretically be turned into a Hemalurgic spike?

Brandon Sanderson

The problem with that is that Nightblood is already invested, so it depends on your version of ' Hemalurgic spikes'. Piercing someone's body with Invested metal can have weird effects all through the Cosmere, but ripping off a piece of a person's soul using an un-Invested spike to Invest it and create one is different... we're talking about two different things, right. So there's the.... so what is a Hemalurgic spike? For instance if you've got a spike that's Invested and you stick it into a Kandra on Scadrial it will still work as an Invested Hemalurgic spike. Making a new Invested spike by ripping off a person's soul, that's a different process and a little more difficult to accomplish and requires some specialized knowledge.

Barnes & Noble B-Fest 2016 (June 11, 2016)

 

 

[Friendshipspren]

@Quantus woah thanks for the comprehensive answer   

 Thought experiments for physicists in the Cosmere . Wow ok