Trusk'our

I would think that this is within the realm of plausibility. Ishar was able to redirect Surgebinder's Investiture into the ground, using Connection to think it was part of their body. That might work to pull Investiture from Mistings and Ferrings (or even bond them like Spren?), if the duralumin Twinborn Connected right and had some kind of correct Intent. Stealing a Perpendicularity I think could be done as Ishar and Mishram did, but we don't know yet exactly how it was done. Harmony could most likely interfere with Perpendicularity absorption, unless they're trying to take Ruin's power specifically, which might cause similar problems that Odium had based on Sazed's imbalanced Intent. It all pulls back to the fact that we don't quite know how it all works yet, but with the limited knowledge we have, I'd be willing to give it a tentative yes, that I think it could work.

Welcome to the Shard! Which of the three Metallic Arts is your favorite? What do you want to see from each in coming stories?

As I've thought about the ways to obtain Breaths, I got to thinking, what if there was a culture of Nalthians who believed in always giving up their Breath? What if they all chose to give their Breath to those in need, either to help recover from injuries, to sow or harvest crops with Awakened tools, to build structures, to channel the Iridescent Tones, or on rare occasion to make a skilled Lifeless? Then, when done with what they needed, they'd pass it along. Over time, you'd get a surplus of Breath as each old generation passed away, leaving the new generation with extra Breath. Keep the cycle going, giving Breath freely amongst a large population, and you'd eventually get many millions of Breaths to be used when necessary. I get that this requires a large mindset change for most people (which wouldn't really happen) but I wonder if this is the kind of Intent that Edgli would like most, creating a kind of utopia built upon the ideal of Endowment itself.

I don't think it's quite that severe early on. It seems like there is some pretty bad decay at the beginning, but it slows down after a while. I'd say it'd probably be closer to 50% of its power in the first day, but that's mostly conjecture on my part. Koloss should, I think, have less and less strength each generation based off of their spikes' decay while outside of hosts. It's not stated as being obvious, but it could be comparable to Allomancers' loss of power over time, where it was slow enough to not be noticeable on the timescale of a few generations. This seems fairly reasonable. Kandra seem to incorporate their Blessings' Identities into their own over time- TLR gave the spikes to the Kandra to uplift Mistwraiths of their choosing, so they couldn't be prepared for specific individuals I believe. Add that to Kandra Blessing being non-transferrable (unless you already have a stable Identity with your own Blessing intact) and imprinting Identity to the spikes feels like the most reasonable assumption to me. I think either the "deliberate decay" or "blank and spike" methods could be used to combine Investitures, and blanking would be straight up more efficient, but I don't know if it will be as easy as previously assumed. It feels a little too easy, and that may just be me, but I'd guess that decay may be an alternative, easier, but less overall desirable way to combine stolen Spiritweb fragments. Ultimately, overcoming Identity contamination depends on mechanisms we don't fully understand yet (but that won't stop me from trying, obviously). True, that would have been neat. Hopefully we'll get some more in Era 3 in about seven years. . .

Ah, good catch. This would also fit with the idea that overly strong uses of Emotional Allomancy (or ones that go against the target's nature) can cause the body to fight back, rejecting the desired effects. It could also be compared to Marsh Soothing Marasi too strongly in AoL, leaving her feeling sick afterward.

All Investiture resists Investiture with a conflicting Identity, as well as there being limited space for the two or more types to share. However, Trellium spikes actually create a physical repulsion between themselves and other Hemalurgic spikes and Allomancy, enough that it can be felt. I don't think this would be the same as, say, Hemalurgy repelling the Mists, as there is an actual force made between the two, rather than the other Investiture seeming to pull away of its own accord. The way it was worded led me to believe it was sapience, just worded weirdly. Here's another supporting WoB I forgot.

Rebuttal? Sorry if I came off unclear, I meant to say that I fully agree with your idea (I just didn't have time to extrapolate earlier). I think we've actually seen a few unique abilities from each Shard already. Preservation has, as far as I'm aware, the best futuresight of any entity in the Cosmere. Not only did Leras's plan to save Scadrial work, but it was formed millenia before it fully transpired, and it had to be done while another cognizant being with futuresight plotted against it. Ruin's Investiture is weird, as I think we've seen it show up in supposedly unrelated places, like Nightblood, the Shroud, and possibly some of the Unmade (like Re-Shephir). I think this is not only because of Intent alignment, but because Ruin is all about change, and converting other Investitures to its own Intent without relying on corruption seems fitting (Scadrian Hemalurgy I think does this to stolen Investiture too, as spikes seem to Connect to Ruin instead of Preservation even when stealing from Preservation). Autonomy has been shown to be capable of spawning Avatars on other worlds, even creating Perpendicularities in those places (like the First of the Sun and Scadrial). What's more, Hemalurgic spikes made from her metal repel other Investitures. I think this, combined with her plans to invade Scadrial, may indicate she could be able to force out other Shards from a planet if she fully Invests there (kind of like how Honor can bind even other Shards to oaths made). Endowment has some ability in the power of giving. Breaths be easily taken offworld, which can be difficult for many Investitures. I think the Shard's Intent suggests that this it is easier to pass around to others, or to Invest them in general. Given how pervasive Cognitive Shadows are to the Threnodite system, I would venture to guess that Ambition's Intent makes it easier to come back from the grave. The Evil of Threnody being a kind of Cognitive Shadow of Uli Da like the Stormfather was to Tanavast would make sense, even despite the Shard's Splintering. Cultivation's influence on Roshar causes more intelligent life to pop up outside of humanity, and it seems to drive Surgebinders' powers to grow over time. I think a similar effect to Ruin would be applicable, where the Shard's influence may grow into other things in the Cosmere, though organically over time rather than in a sudden burst of transformative decay. Honor, as seen in WaT, is capable of enforcing oaths to an incredible degree, even amongst other Shards. Making a pact with Honor's oversight could not only spell your doom if you botched it, I think the Shard could potentially override your own Investiture's will to prevent oathbreaking (at least for highly Invested beings like Vessels and Spren. Mortals might still break oaths, just without the aid of their Investiture). Not so sure about the other Shards for now. Odium may have some edge in killing Shards, but that might be chalked up to more experience or more concentrated Investiture after refusing to Invest any other worlds.

We don't really know how nicrosil Feruchemy works yet, but this is a function that has been theorized possible, especially given how the BoM worked. That said, nicrosil wasn't a metal used pre Catacendre. It's not impossible that TLR secretly developed and used the metal, but I think it's less likely. The current cannon for how he got his Allomancy is that it came from the WoA, a direct Shardic tweaking of his Spiritweb to make himself an incredibly powerful Allomancer. As such, he probably just chose to make his Allomancy higher than normal, even beyond what the Lerasium beads could do. I don't know if that would work. The attribute stored comes from the Feruchemist, and increasing their Investiture shouldn't change that attribute. I do think you can store heat to resist fire regularly though- you can't get into negative heat, but if you get warmer, you should be able to skim off it too.

Yes, all Shards have certain unique abilities and limitations that come with their Intent.

Finished WaT a few hours before the new year and I have a few things from it that piqued my curiosity, particularly relating to Investiture and Cosmere mechanics. 1. PG 63: Towerlight leaves as soon as a Radiant departs Urithuru. Could this be similar to Allomancy (and maybe Feruchemy)? A big source of the Investiture holding on the giving end reclaims it immediately after the "bond" is lost? It's also likely that Allomancy just automatically diverts it to a specific task, but still. 2. PG 78: Shallan took Dhrey's Lashing for Stormlight. Perhaps she can change her Identity enough through cognitive gymnastics? She is the daughter of a Herald, which complicates things, but if this is possible it unlocks some interesting things for Feruchemy, like sharing Metalminds. 3. PG 84: Stormlight attracts Shadesmar beads, but they "hate" Voidlight. Voidlight can still Command it though, even without Soulcasting, as Heavenly Ones can do so. Is this a bit like how Era 1 Mistborn had Allomancy, Hemalurgy, and the Mists interact? Not that they actually control the Mists, just that there's an interesting correlation present. 4. PG 89: Spren, or at least Honorspren, can alter their appearance in the PR with effort. Eventually they will always change back to their original shape. Might be similar to how the Royal Locks can change appearance, but are bound by one's base form. 5. PG 177: Szeth's after image reduces with time, which makes it seem like his Spiritweb is healing. Could this be like how Shardblade injuries heal with time? This would also support the idea that injures from Hemalurgy that are patched up with F-gold won't leave truly permanent marks. 6. PG 178: Taravangian holding Odium changes the Shard's Tone- meaning a Vessel changes the Tone of a Shard by adding their own Identity/perception, filtering it. I think this supports the my hypothesis that Identity is like a personalized Rhythm. 7. PG 179: Formal agreements made by Vessels bind the Shard and later Vessels too, but lesser promises don't hold sway over new Vessels. 8. PG 185:The Sibling mentions that their beats can drive Singers mad. This seems to imply that Rhythms can be used as a direct form of attack. Technically, Navani already sort of did this to Moash in RoW, but getting more confirmation is good. 9. PG 194: Radiant Spren (and Lightweavings) can infuse White Sand. Even when the sand is in a jar, somehow. Do they leak Investiture passively then? 10. PG 200: Shards themselves, not just Vessels, have an Identity. This supports the idea that "keying" Investiture has to do with Identity to a given Shard. 11. PG 226-227: it seems possible to alter and individualize Lesser Spren when thinking of them as individuals with names, and by complimenting them. Possibly even training them. 12. PG 257-258: Anti-Light is not deadly or harmful to a Radiant if not taken simultaneously with normal Light. 13. PG 269: the Sibling strongly implies that they have Lifesense, strong enough to detect bacteria. 14. PG 413: it seems that crystal spikes can be used to grant a version of Steelsight, or at least something similar. I'm gonna just guess right now that this method doesn't steal fragments of Spiritweb, but instead relies on trapping Spren in gemstones, then implanting them in another being like Scadrial's Hemalurgy. I'm also guessing this is only tangentially related to Scadrial's version of Hemalurgy, in the same way Nalthian Investiture isn't the only way to Awaken something. Pretty interesting. 15. PG 427: it seems that beings in the SR can create things either from memory (to create something unique) or from Connections and Tones (for a simulation of the past or future). 16. PG 502: anyone with Stormlight (and probably other Investiture?) can command Shadesmar beads, even if not a Radiant. 17. PG 632: Tanavast implies that numbers can have power with the Oathpact. Sixteen or ten work well, but not nine. Why? Does the symbolism matter to the Investiture? 18. PG 711: Renarin brings up that things up that things might be able to be taken from the SR. This could be similar to taking obsidian from the CR that's used to Soulcast. Wonder what could be taken from there, if a person traveled a Perpendicularity? 19. PG 711: Glys brings up that Anti-Light may not affect humans directly because there is too low a concentration of Investiture to react. 20. PG 792-793: there is an odd Fabrial here, binoculars that let you seemingly track living things, and require you to acknowledge it. A lot of modern Fabrials rely on mechanical abilities rather than direct Intent (though to be fair, Spanreeds rely on perception), which is interesting to see introduced. 21. PG 816: perception can change Connection, it seems. Finding similarities between you and someone else forges a Connection. 22. PG 828: Ash says that one's appearance is affected by your Identity, which is in turn is affected by your self perception (which also ties back to Shallan's Lashing absorption trick). We technically already knew this via WoB, but it's good to get in-world confirmation. 23. PG 862: BAM (and later Ishar) was able to infuse herself with Odium's Perpendicularity to gain great power. So a Spren or other being can steal a significant portion of Investiture this way? Maybe a double duralumin Twinborn could merge with Harmony's Perpendicularity, gaining tons of Investiture to mess with. Also, I'm guessing that this is more than just grabbing a big chunk of Investiture, as that would basically just be grabbing some Dor in a jar. This seems more like a lingering, semi permanent boost (unless you're trapped in a gem, severing the Connection). 24. PG 937: Szeth's Spren says that personal separation between Skybreakers and their Spren prevents them from turning to Deadeyes. Is this related, perhaps, to how Adolin's personal Connections to Maya seem to have helped heal her? 25. PG 974: Hoid has a different Dawnshard from Rysn. I genuinely thought they had the same one, but looks like I was wrong. 26. PG 976: Honor's Investiture, with no Vessel, wanted to be used, making the visions related to it far more stable. So, Vision tricks via Perpendicularity may not be on the table. Unfortunately. 27. PG 1,028: Kaladin believes his armor is stronger than regular Shardplate, and relies on Connection to the SR instead of gemstones. It seems to not need Stormlight from the Radiant to directly feed off of. I would guess it would regenerate without Stormlight (using the SR instead) over time. 28. PG 1,031: Nale has abilities as a Herald, they seem to be incredible speed and strength, as well as the ability to draw and despose of Stormlight at a distance. Didn't know they could do that, but the Fused being terrified of them makes a lot more sense now. 29. PG 1,129-1,131: Vessels can lose their Shards if they go against the Intent too much. Tanavast lost Honor, though it seems he had enough of a tie to it to repossess it if he chose an aligning action (like attacking Rayse). 30. PG 1,170: at least some Heralds began losing their innate powers over time. We know the level of Investiture a Herald has is related to their alignment with Honor's Intent, so could this weakening be because they began to stray further from Honor's ideals? 31. PG 1,171: a Bondsmith can create a Cognitive Shadow, attaching them to a new host without access to Honor's direct power, but easier methods rely on taking over bodies. Given how Odium was limited in the amount of Investiture he could give his servants, this makes sense. 32. PG 1,188: aluminum can potentially prevent a Shardblade from being summoned. Maybe Maya was on the other side of it? 33. PG 1,191: Dalinar's facial hair shows his body thinks he was in the SR only for a few days. Could someone jumping in a Perpendicularity jump forward in time using this method? Could be a plausible explanation for an Era 1 Scadrian popping up in Era 2, for RPG purposes. 34. PG 1,171: Given that Ishar wanted to create soldiers with new Surgebinding abilities and all the Spren captured with gem spikes, could he have been planning on using Rosharan Hemalurgy? Also, given that he wanted physical Spren for warriors, I wonder if their innate Surgebinding would be accessible to them, like how a Mistborn has innate powers. 35. PG 1,252: Anti-Stormight used against corrupted Spren will not completely destroy them, just injure by burning away Honor's Investiture. Makes sense, as they're comprised of multiple Investitures. Maybe Cultivationspren would be safer from Anti-Stormlight as well, since they're entirely comprised of a different Investiture? Or, if a human had multiple Investitures (like an Allomancer with Breath) they might be more durable against a single type of Anti-Light. 36. PG 1,256: Ishar can move fast enough he creates a popping sound. This probably isn't quite BoM level speed as it doesn't create an actual sonic boom (which I assume Kaladin would have commented on), but it's probably within the realm of plausibility for Heralds should they want. If so. . . yeah, okay, I'm not sure if a Fullborn is the top dogs of non-Vessel Cosmere anymore. Heralds don't even need metal for their innate powers, they can just do it at will it seems. 37. PG 1,097: the Heralds were eventually able to "draw on the powers of Roshar" instead of just Honor's Surges. Not sure what exactly this is referring to (I'm thinking it's not just bonding Radiant Spren), but I'm at least guessing that they bypassed Tanavast's limitation of power in a way similar to how Allomancy doesn't seem to weaken Preservation when used (at least when naturally occurring and not created directly by Preservation). 38. Oh yeah, and Nightblood can just. . . give Surges now. That's probably worth mentioning. I'm guessing it could learn to mimic other powers, which could prove interesting. In some ways, it might become like a mini-Shard, able to weild Investiture however it wants, given it has access to enough. Anyway, thoughts to add?

Fair points. The metals would most likely go to various cells for physical use instead of spiritual bindpoints, unless some unknown forces come into play. Still, it could be a fun way to explain seemingly random attribute augmentation or random changes to NPCs in the upcoming Mistborn RPG, as long as you're okay with bending the rules a little. I think the Intent mostly matters for Investing the spikes, but you bring up a good point that the body probably won't know what to do with the metal anyway and would just misplace it. Wonder if a Kandra could do it? It'd probably be largely pointless, but they do have an awareness on a cellular level, so it's more plausible. That would be interesting to know, because in that case you could shrink bulky spikes used to steal Investiture into something easier to bear. Metalminds seem to automatically split their Investiture amongst their broken parts. I don't think they usually have the level of Identity that spikes do, as they're not functional pieces of Spiritweb, just batteries. So it might go either way, I think.

Trace metals are an interesting part of Allomancy. With them, an Allomancer can instinctively (and often unknowingly) use their Allomancy. It's been discussed before whether Feruchemy can use trace metals, but now I wonder, could Hemalurgically Invested trace metals have similar results? Basically, lets say someone drinks water that's been sloshed around with a bunch of Koloss spikes. Would the person's body, in incorporating the residual iron into itself, be draw on the metals' traces of Investiture? I'm sure the effects would be a lot subtler than standard Hemalurgy, but it would probably have some noticeable effect. I feel the need to mention, yes, I know Hemalurgy requires a substantial level of precision to work correctly. Investiture has a tendency to wriggle its way to functional states, so I felt it was worth considering at least. Maybe the body would subconsciously align the trace metals to a useful place, as it’s actually capable of manipulating it. Other side thought on a similar (ish) note: if a person got Hemalurgically Invested bits of steel stuck in their eyes, would they gain Metalsight, maybe while overlapping their existing vision? Like, the metal is small enough your eye can heal around it, leaving both the eye and the metal largely intact.

TLR didn't expect the Koloss to continue existing after his fall, as they'd slaughter one another and had no new spikes provided for them. We know they eventually learned to recycle their old spikes, but what happened to the spikes before that practice? Did Koloss-handling Obligators secretly harvest them and disguise the spikes as fresh ones (maybe some Koloss figured it out by watching)? Or, assuming they weren't obliterated by the Catacendre, are there potentially a bunch of iron chunks buried in Scadrial's crust with with a faint Hemalurgic charge? Some Obligators or Koloss recycling spikes earlier on would help explain how Human had more intelligence before the fall of TLR (though he was more intelligent than average as a human to begin with). As a side note, I suppose the massive number of dead Koloss at the end of HoA would be more likely to shore up a bunch of Hemalurgic iron. So even if spikes were recycled earlier on, there is still precedence for leftover Hemalurgic Investiture somewhere on Scadrial.

Welcome to the Shard! Which of the Metallic Arts is your favorite?

Good point. I'd much prefer them to be a Soulbearer, actually. Nicrobursting is probably just Allomantic duralumin with extra steps, which we've seen plenty of already. A Soulbearer could give us some real insight into Feruchemical Nicrosil and its true limitations and abilities, and it would make more sense how such an individual would fit into the power schemes of the story.

I believe they're actually planned to be a Nicroburst. The questioner in the WoB could have easily made a slip of the tongue, as we have several other WoBs contradicting this.

Nice to meet you! Which of the three Metallic Arts is your favorite and why? What do you hope to see from them in Era 3?

I just read the state of Sanderson for this year. . .

You're welcome! A weird thing from this is that it strongly hints that, yes, you can not only store but also retrieve your Identity as a Trueself Ferring. Which I had assumed for a long time impossible due to aluminum's inability to conduct Investiture. This might just have been Brandon talking in a hypothetical, non cannon sense, so it isn't really confirmed, but I would now no longer toss the idea of a Trueself Ferring tapping Identity out the window.

Ditto on that. We know almost nothing about SoScadrial's culture, and even less about the Maskless. I'd also love that one story about Niki Savage and the Book of Nails. Sounds like a cool Era 2 adventure with a new take on Hemalurgy. And of course a SH volume 2 would be great.

Ah, that's right. Wasn't it an alloy of electrum at that point though? I suppose the Eleventh Metal was another Atium alloy, so there is precedence for purifying it to take any power though (which I'm assuming the pure form does rather than the alloy, as alloyed Godmetals have a more narrow field of affect). I mean, he's already nearly one with his 22 confirmed spikes. Plus, being Fullborn would give him more potential to do good for Scadrial. Not that it means that he has done this of course, just that it's a plausible explanation were he to do so. I do wonder, was Ruin planning on retaining his Inquisitors (or at least some of them) in preparation for attacking another world after he destroyed Scadrial? Feruchemical Atium isn't terribly useful to an Inquisitor except for longevity (a child with massive steel spikes for eyes isn't a good disguise, and elderly Inquisitors wouldn't need temporary youth for performance since pewter already reinforces the body), which in turn isn't terribly useful if you're planning on blowing up your servants shortly after granting them the power. I guess there could be other secret uses for F-Atium, but I can't think of any. Then again, if the spike was taken by an Inquisitor between the time TLR died and Ruin's release, they could have been planning on being immortal on their own volition.

That is an excellent question. We have a WoB on this matter, actually. So it sounds like an Aluminummind is still keyed to your Identity, interestingly enough.

To some small degree, I believe they can influence a Vessel. For example, the belief of the Almighty having doubled pupils could change how he appeared to a Rosharan (he should be able to change that if he wanted though). For the Shard itself, perhaps, though I think it will ultimately be slight. The perception of the Vessel matters more. There is precedence for a mortal having belief in a Shard being a god allowing a greater level of interaction between the two via Connection.

It's been pretty widely accepted on the Shard (as far as I'm aware) that Marsh has access to duralumin Feruchemy. This would explain how he was able to stay unnoticed by the public while walking around in TLM epilogue. But, Bendalloy must be used to steal Spiritual Feruchemy. That hadn't been discovered pre Catacendre. So, either Marsh has a specially designed Unsealed Duraluminmind, or he's been beefing up on more spikes. So, maybe this WoB has more relevance now. Maybe Marsh has taken steps to become a Fullborn?

I was thinking along the lines of the Malwish pulling the stunt, as their actions were commented as being odd. Perhaps since Unsealed Metalminds use a bond mechanism the aluminum field could suppress it, making it undetectable? I guess if they really were drained that Kelsier's crew got ahold of them they could fix it with comparatively few issue, assuming they can't make a new one (which may be the case. Depends on whether Spook's Mistborn powers or a Full Feruchemist was necessary). Kelsier was instrumental in their construction, so he knows their past. Use that information plus some Unkeyed Dor with a Forger like Shai and you could simply rewrite them to not have been drained. While the weight medallions would have been useful in a number of situations, I think it's likely they were either returned to the airship's crew or given to another group for experimentation- after all, the non-Trellium spikes Marasi recovered went somewhere (a college, I think?) for study. Could the Malwish have invented a more subtle device in which to create an Investiture nullification field? Perhaps lined with aluminum itself to escape detection from Metalsight, maybe integrated with some kind of jewelry or clothing, maybe hidden in Daal's mask?