Investiture and the Metallic Arts

[JamesTanm]

Investiture is the fuel of magic in the Cosmere. In the Stormlight Archive series, it exists as the titular Stormlight and is absorbed into the body and directly "burned" to cause an effect in the world. In Warbreaker it exists as "breath" granting humans the ability to sense one another and, in increased amounts gives them super human abilities. To create an effect on the outside world, it must leave the Awakener's body and be invested in an object with intent. Both of these systems deal with raw investiture, and investiture has to leave the body to perform its work. Then there’s Allomancy.

Allomancers do not consciously deal with investiture, they deal with metal. Metal is burned to allow them to perform their abilities. This raises the question: where is the investiture? Is it in the metal of Scadrial? Is it in the Allomancers themselves? All of the Mettalic Arts deal with these metals, but does that mean the metals are special?

I need help from those of you who remember more WoB than I do: What has he talked about in terms of where the investiture comes from in Allomancy? I know he said that allomantically viable metals could be made from soulcasting, which leads me to believe the metals aren’t the source. Is the source in the people of Scadrial, like breath? Is it leftover investiture from burning Preservation’s body that has been passed down somehow, generation through generation? Am I missing something so blindingly obvious I will be embarrassed when someone points it out? Let me know

Thanks for reading! I would love feedback, as I want to make sure these ideas make sense.

P.S. Am I going crazy or do I remember correctly that Ferrochemy isn’t from preservation or Ruin. It has been a long time since my last read, and I will be rereading the series shortly making notes along the way, but I seem to remember that being said. If so, this is very important

[PorridgeBrick he/him]

The metals act as a conduit in Allomancy for Preservation's Investiture to flow straight from him to you. You can of course take in the mists directly too, which functions exactly like taking in Stormlight/ Breaths. Selian magics work similarly: the symbols act as a conduit for the Dor, the combined Investiture of Dominion and Devotion.

@Feruchemy: Feruchemy is a balance magic, so it's actually of both Ruin and Preservation.

[JamesTanm]

So, if it is Preservation's own investiture flowing through you to create Allomancy, does that mean all Allomancers on all worlds draw from Preservation to use their power (not a question you can answer, I know)? I thought of investiture like electricity: Shards build their people with the correct "wiring" to accept the "current" but the power is universal

 

Thanks for the clarity on Feruchemy

[Moogle]

So, if it is Preservation's own investiture flowing through you to create Allomancy, does that mean all Allomancers on all worlds draw from Preservation to use their power (not a question you can answer, I know)? I thought of investiture like electricity: Shards build their people with the correct "wiring" to accept the "current" but the power is universal

 

Thanks for the clarity on Feruchemy

 

Here's the WoB on how Compounding works:

 

Brandon Sanderson

People ask about getting the power from metals and things, but that’s not actually how it works. The power’s not coming from metal. I talked a little about this before, but you are drawing power from some source, and the metal is actually just a gateway. It’s actually the molecular structure of the metal… what’s going on there, the pattern, the resonance of that metal works in the same way as an Aon does in Elantris. It filters the power. So it is just a sign of “this is what power this energy is going to be shaped into and give you.” When you understand that, compounding [in Alloy of Law] makes much more sense.

Compounding is where you are able to kind of draw in more power than you should with feruchemy. What’s going on there is you’re actually charging a piece of metal, and then you are burning that metal as a feruchemical charge. What is happening is that the feruchemical charge overwrites the allomantic charge, and so you actually fuel feruchemy with allomancy, is what you are doing. Then if you just get out another piece of metal and store it in, since you’re not drawing the power from yourself, you’re cheating the system, you’re short-circuiting the system a little bit. So you can actually use the power that usually fuels allomancy, to fuel feruchemy, which you can then store in a metalmind, and basically build up these huge reservoirs of it. So what’s going on there is… imagine there’s like, an imprint, a wavelength, so to speak. A beat for an allomantic thing, that when you burn a metal, it says “ok, this is what power we give.” When it’s got that charge, it changes that beat and says, “now we get this power.” And you access a set of feruchemical power. That’s why compounding is so powerful.

 

It's not quite what you wanted, but it goes into the physics of it a little.

 

Basically, when you Snap, you get a direct link to the power of creation (Preservation by default, but other Shards can provide the power) and you can draw it through the link. The metals provide a way for you to filter this raw power into a useful form.

 

Hemalurgy steals this link and staples it to another person's soul, so they can draw the same power through this stolen link.

 

You might want to read through this link - it has quite a few neat tidbits.

Edited March 26, 2014 by Moogle

[JamesTanm]

Thank you so much Moogle! I had read that a little while ago but couldnt for the life of me remember the details.

[Tempus]

The investiture on Nalthis is not Breath, it is colour. When you use an awakening, the Breath remains unchanged. However, the colour drains away (very similar to how severing a cognitive presence with a shardblade makes the thing go grey). The investiture (the power source) is colour. The focus is Commands, where the focus on Scadrial is metal. I... honestly have no idea what breaths are, considering Returned breaths are splinters. Maybe they're really small splinters?

 

I no longer have the terminology to discuss this.

[JamesTanm]

And yet, Brandon has implied Nightblade will be able to feed off of Stormlight saying "Investiture is Investiture." To me this seems like he is saying Nightblade feeds on Investiture, and since breath is what nightblade feeds on...

You do raise a good point, I dont really know what role color plays in awakening. Maybe, like the Allomantic metals, it is a focus. Just a theory

[PorridgeBrick he/him]

We have WoB, however, that Commands are the focus.

[JamesTanm]

So, if the Commands are the focus, and if (humor me) breath is the investture, what is color? It doesnt have to be a certain type of dye to allow Awakening, and the color itself doesnt matter to what you are doing (like a certain metal would). Interesting... Even if color is the investiture, what is breath then? I will ponder this a bit. Thanks for the ideas and feedback

Edited March 27, 2014 by JamesTanm

[Moogle]

So, if the Commands are the focus, and if (humor me) breath is the investture, what is color? It doesnt have to be a certain type of dye to allow Awakening, and the color itself doesnt matter to what you are doing (like a certain metal would). Interesting... Even if color is the investiture, what is breath then? I will ponder this a bit. Thanks for the ideas and feedback

 

Kurkistan has theorized previously about this, you may want to shoot him a PM to get specifics, but he actually came up with a theory and asked Brandon about it. Here it is:

 

Kurkistan

BioChroma:

Do Breaths inherently possess the ability to interpret and carry out commands, or does the Awakener need to impart that decision making ability on Awakened objects?

If the Awakener does need to impart the decision-making ability, then does Awakening consist of an Awakener copying a portion of his/her Cognitive aspect (as determined by his/her visualization and verbal Command) onto the Cognitive aspect of the object being Awakened, with Breath then providing the "juice" for the object to actually follow its Command: powering both physical motion and "cogitation" based upon the copied Cognitive aspect?

-If so, is that copying what drains color?

Brandon Sanderson

You're very close here.

 

Given we now know from WoR that severing a Spiritual connection loses color, we can more easily theorize on the color-draining of Awakening. It seems that it uses the Spiritual part of an object as fuel or something similar. I'm not entirely clear on the specifics, and will need to think more.

[Swimmingly he/him]

My theory would be that it works on the same principle as Divine Breath healing; namely, bring an awakened closer to the ideal of Endowment.

[Kurkistan he/him]

@OP

 

We get most of this about the metal being merely a "conduit" from the Alloy of Law Ars Arcanum, just so you know.

 

The investiture on Nalthis is not Breath, it is colour. When you use an awakening, the Breath remains unchanged. However, the colour drains away (very similar to how severing a cognitive presence with a shardblade makes the thing go grey). The investiture (the power source) is colour. The focus is Commands, where the focus on Scadrial is metal. I... honestly have no idea what breaths are, considering Returned breaths are splinters. Maybe they're really small splinters?

 

I no longer have the terminology to discuss this.

 

0) Talk of shardblades "servering cognitive presences" is entirely theoretical. Moreover, the theory in question talks of Spiritual ties, if I'm not misremembering.

 

1) You are almost certainly wrong in your basic assertion of color as the fuel. When asked if Awakening was end-neutral, Brandon said that it was because "You don't lose Breath in the process of Awakening." That rather strongly suggests that Breaths are also the power source, wouldn't you say?

 

Side note: I never have been able to find that WoB on the focus of Awakening being Commands. Would you mind please dropping the link for my collection?

 

@Moogle

 

Ah yes, thank you for remembering.

 

I still basically hold to that, although the aforementioned theory on the "severing" of Spiritual links providing the fuel meshes nicely with it. If I was to update it given present information, I'd probably focus a bit less on "copying" Cognitive aspects since we've since found that you're allowed to be a bit more forceful with the projection of your intentions.

 

@Swimmingly

 

I agree that the Heightenings are the result of getting "closer" to some Endowmenty ideal (as Brandon said), but I'm unsure where you're going with this in regard to normal Awakening.

[Tempus]

Kurkistan - I'm honestly not following. The problem I have with end neutral arts is that the word 'investiture' isn't very specific. Sometimes it refers to an external, non-physical power (like the power that is accessed through metals). Sometimes it is a thing (like breath). Sometimes it refers to a physical power (like Stormlight). Sometimes it seems to refer to the ability to use power (like the Shaod), and then again to refer to the power (the Dor). It's... not specific enough for me.

 

Likewise, I really am not convinced about awakening being end neutral. Because colour gets leeched. I don't really like the WoB there, it doesn't mesh for me. Can I say that I think Brandon is wrong about his own system and not get lynched? Awakening requires an external thing - colour. With no colour, Awakening doesn't work. When Awakening is used, colour is used, and the colour does not return when the awakening is cancelled.

 

That's not end neutral. The breath itself is conserved, but the colour (and whatever the colour represents) is consumed, not conserved, and it is required for awakening. If a feruchemist sat in one spot he could store and tap into any given metal indefinitely, in any amount he'd like up to his maximum capacity. Nothing is used, everything is conserved. This just doesn't happen with awakening. Whatever causes the colour to go, it's limited and not conserved within the local system.

 

The other thing I don't like is that IF breaths are the investiture/power source in an end neutral system, then that means attributes in feruchemy is the power source, and the investiture. But then, it would be silly to say that feruchemy can store investiture, because it would always be storing investiture. Because investiture would be what it stores, in the form of attributes. So again, we have either a crisis of terminology or an issue with breath as the power source in an end neutral system.

 

Kurk, you're pretty much the smartest guy on the board here when it comes to these things, can you address these issues I see at all? In my original post, the lack of proper terminology for these things was killing me, and I think that we can't meaningfully discuss these things without a better set of terms regarding the meaning of investiture.

 

As for the cognitive thing, I meant spiritual, I don't know what I was typing! And yes, just a theory, but very coincidental given the similarities. Though, there was a priest in Warbreaker who got his hand decoloured by nightblood - it was not made clear if that hand was immobile or still functioning, which leads me to believe it was still functioning...

[Moogle]

Kurkistan - I'm honestly not following. The problem I have with end neutral arts is that the word 'investiture' isn't very specific. Sometimes it refers to an external, non-physical power (like the power that is accessed through metals). Sometimes it is a thing (like breath). Sometimes it refers to a physical power (like Stormlight). Sometimes it seems to refer to the ability to use power (like the Shaod), and then again to refer to the power (the Dor). It's... not specific enough for me.

 

The end-neutral terminology refers to Investiture. It doesn't refer to power. If you want to determine whether a system is end-neutral, positive, or negative, you just look at the movement of Investiture. With Awakening, you have the same amount of Breath (Investiture) at the start and end. With Allomancy, you suck in external power, so you start with little and end with lots (it goes away, yeah, but you had more for a time). Thus, end-positive system. Any system externally powered will almost certainly be end-positive.

[PorridgeBrick he/him]

Kurkistan - I'm honestly not following. The problem I have with end neutral arts is that the word 'investiture' isn't very specific. Sometimes it refers to an external, non-physical power (like the power that is accessed through metals). Sometimes it is a thing (like breath). Sometimes it refers to a physical power (like Stormlight). Sometimes it seems to refer to the ability to use power (like the Shaod), and then again to refer to the power (the Dor). It's... not specific enough for me.

Really, all of those are the same except for the Shaod. Stormlight, Breath, the Dor, and Preservation's power are all just Spiritual energy to fuel the system. The difference is that Stormlight, the Mists, and Breath all have aspects in the physical realm, while the Dor and Preservation's power are offscreen in the Cognitive Realm. It is annoying though that the ability to use Investiture is also called Investiture, but the two can usually be differentiated by context.

Likewise, I really am not convinced about awakening being end neutral. Because colour gets leeched. I don't really like the WoB there, it doesn't mesh for me. Can I say that I think Brandon is wrong about his own system and not get lynched? Awakening requires an external thing - colour. With no colour, Awakening doesn't work. When Awakening is used, colour is used, and the colour does not return when the awakening is cancelled.

Well, any discrepancies are probably because we simply don't have the info Brandon has, not because he's wrong. I can certainly see where you're coming from here– but I don't think color counts as Investiture, so it doesn't factor in to whether the system is end-positive, neutral, or negative.

That's not end neutral. The breath itself is conserved, but the colour (and whatever the colour represents) is consumed, not conserved, and it is required for awakening. If a feruchemist sat in one spot he could store and tap into any given metal indefinitely, in any amount he'd like up to his maximum capacity. Nothing is used, everything is conserved. This just doesn't happen with awakening. Whatever causes the colour to go, it's limited and not conserved within the local system.

The other thing I don't like is that IF breaths are the investiture/power source in an end neutral system, then that means attributes in feruchemy is the power source, and the investiture. But then, it would be silly to say that feruchemy can store investiture, because it would always be storing investiture. Because investiture would be what it stores, in the form of attributes. So again, we have either a crisis of terminology or an issue with breath as the power source in an end neutral system.

Well, it's like the difference between Mist and what you get from burning metals. One is typed Investiture, while one is untyped and can be made into typed Investiture. It's like normal light versus one filtered through colored glass. The normal light can be split into any wavelength of light, while the colored only has one wavelength now, and can't produce anything but that wavelength.

Kurk, you're pretty much the smartest guy on the board here when it comes to these things, can you address these issues I see at all? In my original post, the lack of proper terminology for these things was killing me, and I think that we can't meaningfully discuss these things without a better set of terms regarding the meaning of investiture.

As for the cognitive thing, I meant spiritual, I don't know what I was typing! And yes, just a theory, but very coincidental given the similarities. Though, there was a priest in Warbreaker who got his hand decoloured by nightblood - it was not made clear if that hand was immobile or still functioning, which leads me to believe it was still functioning...

Responses in bold.

@Kurk

I can't seem to find it, but you could try asking Chaos. I think he was the one who asked Brandon the question.

Edited March 27, 2014 by PorridgeBrick

[Tempus]

Alright this is good stuff to know. I know investiture's power has been referred to as a wavelength twice before. Notably by the scientifically advanced Elantrians.

 

So then Investiture is a duality and can be defined as

 

The shard emitted power as a wavelength, which is stored or filtered through a focus to produce an effect dependent on the nature of the focus.

 

 OR

 

The ability to access the shard emitted wavelength through a focus, as granted by the shard's intent and the unique aspects of the holder of this ability.

 

 

Is that correct?

Edited March 27, 2014 by Tempus

[Kurkistan he/him]

Kurkistan - I'm honestly not following. The problem I have with end neutral arts is that the word 'investiture' isn't very specific. Sometimes it refers to an external, non-physical power (like the power that is accessed through metals). Sometimes it is a thing (like breath). Sometimes it refers to a physical power (like Stormlight). Sometimes it seems to refer to the ability to use power (like the Shaod), and then again to refer to the power (the Dor). It's... not specific enough for me.

 

I find that Investiture can usually be broken down into two kinds: innate and (for lack of a better term) not-innate. I think that Stormlight, the Allomantic powers in action, and use of the Dor are all of the second kind. Breath, the raw ability to use magic, and the soul/"spark of sentience" appear to be of the first.

 

One important thing to recall is that Investiture, if it is anything, is Spiritual. If it's not Spiritual than its somehow "transcendent". It will never be physical or the like.

 

Generally when I go about referring to it I think of it as Spiritual, but the more important thing is that I think of it as power. It's the stuff that gets things done in the cosmere, at least so far as magic is concerned. And, quite crucially, it's non-entropic at its core.

 

Likewise, I really am not convinced about awakening being end neutral. Because colour gets leeched. I don't really like the WoB there, it doesn't mesh for me. Can I say that I think Brandon is wrong about his own system and not get lynched? Awakening requires an external thing - colour. With no colour, Awakening doesn't work. When Awakening is used, colour is used, and the colour does not return when the awakening is cancelled.

 

That's not end neutral. The breath itself is conserved, but the colour (and whatever the colour represents) is consumed, not conserved, and it is required for awakening. If a feruchemist sat in one spot he could store and tap into any given metal indefinitely, in any amount he'd like up to his maximum capacity. Nothing is used, everything is conserved. This just doesn't happen with awakening. Whatever causes the colour to go, it's limited and not conserved within the local system.

 

The color being lost is an issue, I will admit. I think it a negligible one though. Consider that Kalad's Phantom's stayed intact and functional for ~300 years. All from one infusion of Breath and one infusion of color. It seems, then, that the power from the color is truly tiny, a blip on the scale for how much energy Awakening consumes. Perhaps it's a tad of entropy in the system, but the system as a whole is one that is neutral.

 

An alternate interpretation is that we can squirrel away the energy that's "lost" from Awakening so that it's conserved: If the color truly is used up in the transfer of the Command, the "energy" of that Command could be of the same magnitude as that of the lost color. So the energy is transformed, not lost.

 

Another important point to remember is exactly how these terms are defined:

 

AoL Ars Arcanum:

[Allomancy] is end-positive, according to my terminology, meaning that the practitioner draws in power from an external source.

[...]

Feruchemy is an end-neutral art, meaning that power is neither gained nor lost.

 

If Awakening is not to be end-neutral, it must be end-positive or end-negative. I think we can agree that it's a stretch to call the lost splotch of color enough to slot it into end-negative, and it's certainly not end-positive because there is no external source of power for the vast majority of what Awakening accomplishes.

 

The other thing I don't like is that IF breaths are the investiture/power source in an end neutral system, then that means attributes in feruchemy is the power source, and the investiture. But then, it would be silly to say that feruchemy can store investiture, because it would always be storing investiture. Because investiture would be what it stores, in the form of attributes. So again, we have either a crisis of terminology or an issue with breath as the power source in an end neutral system.

 

A bit of a crisis of terminology is all, I think. We do know that Feruchemists can "convert" any stored attribute into raw investiture in Nicrosilminds. This means it's all of the same basic type.

 

All that needs be done, then, is say that the use of Investiture for other Feruchemical metals is "typed" in some way: It's "labeled" as "Health" or "Strength" depending on how it was stored, but of the same basic type when you strip off the top few layers. This can either work through these attributes being fundamentally typed or, like with Allomancy, only being differentiated when the Feruchemists actually draws the attribute out of their metalminds. In the second case, the metal used would serve to filter the Investiture just like it does for Allomancy, I would think.

 

The key to look to here is where all of that power comes from from Feruchemy. Sazed sitting in an easy chair storing Strength somehow produces magical power without him needing to eat extra food or anything. That power can even be converted into raw Investiture. It follows (at least to my mind), then, that the human soul, innate Investiture, can to some extent "generate" it's own power, which power is siphoned off by Feruchemy. That's how we get to be end-neutral, by not relying on an external power source. And so too with Awakening.

 

Kurk, you're pretty much the smartest guy on the board here when it comes to these things, can you address these issues I see at all? In my original post, the lack of proper terminology for these things was killing me, and I think that we can't meaningfully discuss these things without a better set of terms regarding the meaning of investiture.

 

I hope I've addressed them to your satisfaction, though I'm happy to clarify if I've only managed to be even more confusing with more words.

 

And while I am ever one to like praise, I would like to note that my expertise is primarily a function of having too much time on my hands and/or hanging around on the boards too much. I also give the impression of being all-knowing because I have a fair knowledge-base in several topics, while saner Sharders focus on just one or two to be expert in.

 

As for the cognitive thing, I meant spiritual, I don't know what I was typing! And yes, just a theory, but very coincidental given the similarities. Though, there was a priest in Warbreaker who got his hand decoloured by nightblood - it was not made clear if that hand was immobile or still functioning, which leads me to believe it was still functioning...

 

Ah, that's fine then. I agree that the theory is persuasive, but it's always best to present these theories as theories rather than as fact, just so we don't confuse people.

 

----

 

I drew most of this argumentation on Awakening from my discussion on a (tragically hijacked) thread awhile back. That thread has more developed/long versions of my points as well as opposing arguments, if anyone would like to peruse.

 

EDIT: Lots of ninjas these days... 

 

EDIT 2: My full initial theory on BioChroma, if anyone's interested. More than a bit out of date, given the books and WoB we've since gotten, but still fairly accurate, I'd say.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Kurkistan

[Tempus]

Dare I ask how the breaths consumed by Nightblood or returned fit in? is it a special property of splinters?

[EddyRed]

A query, the metal in allomancy gets removed, much like the colour in awakening. Is there a mechanism in place to restore the metal to scadrial, if so could a similar mechanism be in place to restore colour to nalthis?

[JamesTanm]

 EDIT 2: My full initial theory on BioChroma, if anyone's interested. More than a bit out of date, given the books and WoB we've since gotten, but still fairly accurate, I'd say.

 

I have been given so much to learn on my first day within the forums. It's like having another Cosmere book! Question about this theory: Why do you assume the realms have a linear connection. I understand the idea of copying the Cognitive portion of a command over, but I dont necessarily think that the cognitive portion would require a Spiritual source, rather, I think the cognitive portion is coupled with an independent intent which comes from the spiritual realm.

 

I think all awakening needs a spiritual component to understand the purpose of a command, as I believe that they follow the Awakener's intent as well as their idea. The command "Protect me" garnered too effective a response for me to believe it was all imagined in the mind of a person terrified for their lives. I think an awakener copies a cognitive command and a spiritual Ideal into the command, which allows it's intent to be followed. That portion, however, is much more difficult, and I think that is the reason some commands are inherently more difficult than others. 

 

If this were true, it would allow for far more complicated commands including sentience. I don't think you could give an object sentience with just the cogitive realm alone (though that is based on gut feeling, rather than had fact). Something that is alive needs more than a task, and the idea that something like Nightblood was formed purely through a copying of a mental idea doesnt seem to fit.

It is now late, and I am sure I am not making any sense. I will take some time to mull over all the information I have gathered and try to make it all fit together.

[JamesTanm]

A query, the metal in allomancy gets removed, much like the colour in awakening. Is there a mechanism in place to restore the metal to scadrial, if so could a similar mechanism be in place to restore colour to nalthis?

The flowers of Elgi(may have speled that wrong) may be that exact thing

[Lightsworn Panda he/him]

Nightblood was formed when it was Vasher and his pals decided to make a weapon, but with only the command "Destroy Evil". The sword attempted to follow the command as best as it could, but could not understand what was evil and what was good, thus its destructive side effects. Sentence commands take a lot of breaths, so short simple ones are the most effective. Also, some words won't work in commands.

 

This is my first post, btw

[Kurkistan he/him]

Dare I ask how the breaths consumed by Nightblood or returned fit in? is it a special property of splinters?

 

Yeah, Nightblood is... weird. Best guess so far is that those two "consume the capital" as it were, getting a lot more energy from eating the Breath outright rather than living off the energy it produces. So the difference between living off of the 3% interest and emptying your bank account for a night on the town.

 

A query, the metal in allomancy gets removed, much like the colour in awakening. Is there a mechanism in place to restore the metal to scadrial, if so could a similar mechanism be in place to restore colour to nalthis?

 

There is apparently a mechanism to restore Scadrian metal.

 

I have been given so much to learn on my first day within the forums. It's like having another Cosmere book!

Yeah, sorry about that. I am not the most succinct of men.

 

Question about this theory: Why do you assume the realms have a linear connection? I understand the idea of copying the Cognitive portion of a command over, but I don't necessarily think that the cognitive portion would require a Spiritual source, rather, I think the cognitive portion is coupled with an independent intent which comes from the spiritual realm.

 

I think all awakening needs a spiritual component to understand the purpose of a command, as I believe that they follow the Awakener's intent as well as their idea. The command "Protect me" garnered too effective a response for me to believe it was all imagined in the mind of a person terrified for their lives. I think an awakener copies a cognitive command and a spiritual Ideal into the command, which allows it's intent to be followed. That portion, however, is much more difficult, and I think that is the reason some commands are inherently more difficult than others.

 

And now you're getting into instinctive Awakening, which is one of the thornier issues. Historically I've said it's a matter of intuition being boosted by holding Breath, then I started theorizing that perhaps it is these ideals in the Spiritual Realm: that the reason Commands are "discovered" is because they're actually all defined in their entirety out there, and Awakener's need to access them. From the WoR Ars Arcanum, though, it seems that for something to be Spiritual means that it incorporates some "desire", which I don't necessarily think we always see in Awakening.

 

We do have new information that apparently holding Breath makes you more "Endowmenty", so perhaps becoming more like Endowment attunes you more with his/her system?

 

If this were true, it would allow for far more complicated commands including sentience. I don't think you could give an object sentience with just the cogitive realm alone (though that is based on gut feeling, rather than had fact). Something that is alive needs more than a task, and the idea that something like Nightblood was formed purely through a copying of a mental idea doesnt seem to fit.

It is now late, and I am sure I am not making any sense. I will take some time to mull over all the information I have gathered and try to make it all fit together.

 

There are also various theories that draw some link between increased Spiritual presence and increased Cognitive presence: so in that case Nightblood's sentience would be a function of the number of Breaths he has "fleshing out" his rather small Command.

[Swimmingly he/him]

@OP

We get most of this about the metal being merely a "conduit" from the Alloy of Law Ars Arcanum, just so you know.

0) Talk of shardblades "servering cognitive presences" is entirely theoretical. Moreover, the theory in question talks of Spiritual ties, if I'm not misremembering.

1) You are almost certainly wrong in your basic assertion of color as the fuel. When asked if Awakening was end-neutral, Brandon said that it was because "You don't lose Breath in the process of Awakening." That rather strongly suggests that Breaths are also the power source, wouldn't you say?

Side note: I never have been able to find that WoB on the focus of Awakening being Commands. Would you mind please dropping the link for my collection?

@Moogle

Ah yes, thank you for remembering.

I still basically hold to that, although the aforementioned theory on the "severing" of Spiritual links providing the fuel meshes nicely with it. If I was to update it given present information, I'd probably focus a bit less on "copying" Cognitive aspects since we've since found that you're allowed to be a bit more forceful with the projection of your intentions.

@Swimmingly

I agree that the Heightenings are the result of getting "closer" to some Endowmenty ideal (as Brandon said), but I'm unsure where you're going with this in regard to normal Awakening.

Divine Breath healing brings the healed one closer to Endowment's ideal by healing their wounds.

Perhaps normal Awakening bring inanimate objects closer to Endowment's ideal. They anthromorphize (as in actually shape shift to become more human) when awakened.

[Kurkistan he/him]

I can totally buy that as the reason why Awakened objects anthropomorphize, and quite possibly even why more "human-like" objects are easier to Awaken, but it seems that the lion's share of the useful work done by Awakening still falls on the user's shoulders.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Kurkistan