User:Thegatorgirl00/Investiture

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“Investiture. The essence of the gods. ”

—VenDell to Wax

Investiture, along with matter and energy, is one of the three essences that make up the cosmere. Investiture can be considered a kind of spiritual energy. While everything in the cosmere has an Invested component in the Spiritual Realm, known as a spiritweb, that Investiture is usually inaccessible. Magic systems provide the most common access to Investiture, which allows people to commit incredible feats using the power.

Nature

Laws of Investiture

This page or section deals with theories or speculation.

Please read carefully and note that this is not necessarily canonical.

In the cosmere, matter, energy, and Investiture are interchangable and together compose the universe. As a result, Investiture is governed by a variation of the Three Laws of Thermodynamics, plus a fourth law that is unique to the cosmere.

“Energy can become Investiture. This is the soul of Feruchemy. Investiture can become matter. That is where harmonium comes from. And matter can become energy.”

—VenDell's explanation of the relationship between matter, energy, and Investiture

The First Law of Investiture

The First Law is that Investiture cannot be created or destroyed, only changed in form.

The Second Law of Investiture

The Second Law stands as is to the second Law of Thermodynamics. This refers to the fact that, in simple terms, energy flows from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration.

This law can be observed through how Investiture tends to leak out of bodies containing it (be it gem or sophont), and how it tends to flow into vessels that aren't Invested. For example, when Stormlight is quickly removed from a gem, it would pull in Investiture and Spren from the surrounding area. Further evidence is in how the more Stormlight a Surgebinder takes in, therefore, the more concentrated the Investiture within them, the faster it leaks out of their body. This could be a further display of the flow of Investiture from higher a system of higher concentration (the body of the Surgebinder) to one of lower concentration (the world surrounding said Surgebinder).

The Third Law of Investiture

The Third Law is unknown, though it is likely a variation of the Third Law of Thermodynamics.

The Fourth Law of Investiture

The Fourth Law is unknown, and somehow relates to Adonalsium.

Realmic Interactions

Investiture transcends the three realms: Physical, Cognitive, and Spiritual that compose most of the cosmere. However, it is more Spiritual than anything. In the Physical Realm, Investiture is known to exist in solid, (i.e. atium and lerasium), liquid (many perpendicularities), and gaseous material forms (Preservation's Mists, Light, BioChromatic Breath). For some reason, all solid Investiture is metallic, the result of one of the laws governing the cosmere. Some solid Investiture, like atium, breaks the general rules regarding how Invested objects interact with Investiture.

Large amounts of Investiture concentrated in a specific location tend to pierce a hole in the three realms (Spiritual, Cognitive, and Physical) and create a Perpendicularity. This effect is similar to the gravity generated by large amounts of matter. Like matter, Investiture causes time dilation in any amount, with the degree of time dilation being proportional to the amount of Investiture in a given area, but this is relatively mild even by perpendicularities. But the amount of Investiture condensed into Shards is able to cause a degree of time dilation that would be virtually impossible in the real world.

Intent

“ If Light is Investiture, and all Investiture is deity, and deity has Intent, then Light must have Intent. ”

— From Rhythm of War, final page

All of the Investiture in the cosmere is associated with one of the sixteen Shards of Adonalsium. This association is not an active choice made by the Shard, but is rather some fundamental property of Investiture itself. The Shardic associations predate the Shattering of Adonalsium, despite the shards not being distinct entitie held by multiple individuals at that time. Once the Shattering occurred, each of the new Shards gained a level of influence over the Investiture that shared their Intent. Once a Shard becomes awareof a pocket of Investiture with their Intent, they are able to tweak and influence in various ways. Creating an Avatar is a particularly notable application of this process.

Perception

Investiture, particularly raw Investiture, responds to the perception and thoughts of sapient beings. Raw Investiture can be reshaped to fit the thoughts and perceptions of people. This can happen actively, as with the Nightmares on Komashi, or it can happen more passively as in the creation of spren. If a being has some level of self-awareness about who and what they are, that prevents the most drastic changes from occurring only on perception. A Cognitive Shadow that was once living and has it's own sense of self may experience slight changes over the course of hundreds of years, similar to the way a Vessel can be warped by their Shard's Intent. Oversight from a Shard can also prevent beings made entirely of Investiture from being heavily changed by people's perceptions. Highly Invested beings have a greater degree of influence over raw Investiture than less Invested beings.

Over a long enough time frame, a large enough quantity of raw Investiture will become self-aware. Additionally, Investiture without some form of bond is drawn to living creatures. The relationship between this property of Investiture and the limitations on perception described above are unclear, though it does indicate that raw Investiture becomes harder to shape with perception the longer it's been left alone.

Anti-Investiture

Physical matter is known to have a counterpart called antimatter - matter composed of antiparticles that share many properties with the particles of ordinary matter, but manifest some of them in an opposite way (e.g. a proton and an antiproton have the same mass, but opposite electric charges and magnetic moments). The Fused scholar Raboniel describes this in terms of axi with opposite polarities. A similar relationship exists between Investiture and anti-Investiture in the cosmere. When Investiture combines with its corresponding anti-Investiture, they are both annihilated, resulting in the release of a large amount of energy. The reaction seems to be more violent when the two are brought together under pressure.

The only known forms of anti-Investiture are anti-Stormlight and anti-Voidlight. It is unknown whether hybrid Lights and Shards outside of the Rosharan system have anti-Investitures of their own. Khriss notes that the existence of anti-Investiture has been theorized for some time, but that the anti-Lights developed by Navani Kholin and Raboniel are her first evidence that it actually exists.

Forms

The Spiritual Realm

Spiritwebs

“ Souls, as you’d call them, are parts of our beings that are pure Investiture. ”

— Design to Yumi and Painter

Everything in the cosmere has a Spiritual component made entirely out of Investiture and Connections, known as spiritweb. That Spiritual component is the ideal version of the object or being. Humans can also have an element of innate Investiture inside them, which is part of their spiritweb. Innate Investiture is the extra Investiture beyond what is typical for a spiritweb that allows them to access the Spiritual Realm and perform Invested Arts. However, humans can be born with different levels of innate Investiture. For example, all Scadrians are born with innate Investiture because of the influence of Preservation. Yet those capable of performing Allomancy have a greater degree of innate Investiture in them than non-powered Scadrians. Most humans in the cosmere have some level of innate Investiture, with Drabs, who have deliberately given away their Breaths, being a notable exception.

Shards

Shards are beings of vast Investiture controlled by a Vessel's mind that exist primarily in the Spiritual Realm. As the Spiritual Realm is a place of Investiture beyond time and space, the effects from large quantities of Investiture existing in one location do not occur for Shards in the Spiritual Realm. A Shard's power engulfs all of the Investiture with that Intent in the cosmere. However, the limitations of a Vessel's mind means much of that power is not under the direct control of a Shard at any given time. Despite existing primarily in the Spiritual Realm, a Shard can Invest in a planet, making travel to other locations difficult, but not inhibiting their presence in the Spiritual Realm where all places exist as one. This can be either an passive process when the Shard resides on a planet and their Invetiure begins to leak into the Physical Realm or an active choice the Shard makes.

The Cognitive Realm

Similarly to the Spritual Realm, the Cognitive Realm is composed of Investiture. Inhabitants of the Cognitive Realm, such as the native spren, are also made up of Investiture, but have developed sapience. PHysical beings fully entering and leaving the Cognitive Realm, the physical body transfers into and comes out of the Investiture. One component of how the Cognitive Realm manifests on a planets is the form Investiture takes on it. For example, Scadrial appearing as mist and Roshar appearing as a sea of beads. Like all things related to the Cognitive Realm, however, perception plays the biggest roll in the Cognitive Realm's appearance.

The Physical Realm

Terminology

While Ivestiture is the scientific term which encompass all variations, people in the cosmere generally do not use the term in day-to-day speech unless they come from a worldhopping background. Most planets in the cosmere have unique terminology to refer to both that planet's variation of Investiture and the process of using it. For example, Feruchemists refer to the process of Investing a Metalmind as 'filling' or ‘storing’ and Windrunners refer to the process by which they create Lashings as 'infusing'. Investiture on different planets is also characterized by slightly different behaviors and properties that can make the distinction in terminology useful. Breaths, Mist, and Lights are all forms of gaseous Investiture on different planets that are associated with different Shards, and all have slightly different propertyies that make them useful in different applications.

Known Forms

Investiture	World	Shard	Books
Mist	Scadrial	Preservation	Mistborn
Atium	Scadrial	Ruin	Mistborn
Lerasium	Scadrial	Preservation	Mistborn
Harmonium	Scadrial	Harmony	Mistborn
BioChromatic Breath	Nalthis	Endowment	Warbreaker
Dor	Sel	Devotion, Dominion	Elantris
Stormlight	Roshar	Honor	The Stormlight Archive
Voidlight	Roshar	Odium	The Stormlight Archive
Lifelight	Roshar	Cultivation	The Stormlight Archive

Access

Invested Arts

• Brief overview and link to full article

Natural Manifestations

• How plants and animals have evolved to access Invesiture. Aviar, Larkin Rosharan flora and fauna.

It is possible for a natural force to become Invested. On Roshar, Zahel states that the highstorms are Invested. The Stormfather also states that during a highstorm, Honor’s power is concentrated in the storm as it moves across the land, temporarily joining all three Realms.

Bonds

Common way of accessing Investiture - Nahel and Luhel bond.

Uses

Kinetic and Static Investiture

Kinetic Investiture

Kinetic Investiture is a term used for Investiture that is being used or expressed. This is the form of Investiture that is able to be detected by Seekers or absorbed by white sand. Investiture that is in active use is seemingly more difficult for humans to consume, which is not the case for all organisms that consume Investiture.

Static Investiture

Static Investiture, also refered to as potential Investiture, is a term used for Investiture that is held within a vessel such as a gemstone, therefore not being in use. An object containing, or being made up of, static Investiture is referred to as being Invested. Invested objects, such as Metalminds or Shardplate, resist being affected by Invested Arts. Static Investiture is often used as a battery as the stored Investiture can later be converted into energy to power devices, though some technologies are more efficient in doing so than others. The gemstone component of a fabrial may be an early example of such use.

Invested Objects

Objects are not Invested in their original state. They can become Invested by a Shard or by a human having met the above-mentioned requirements. An Invested object gains magical properties. The more Invested an object is, the more power it has. Examples for Invested objects include:

• filled metalminds of a Feruchemist
• a charged Hemalurgic spike (Vin's earring, Wax's earring)
• any Awakened object
• Nightblood, as a Type IV BioChromatic Entity
• Shardplate and Shardblades, as well as the Honorblades

Invested objects are harder to affect with any magic system, the more Investiture the more difficult to affect. Once an object has been Invested it is very hard to Invest it with a different kind of Investiture as well. Sometimes when an object in one of the Realms has a large amount of Investiture it can gain sentience (see, for example, spren and Nightblood).

Detection and Measuring

Measurement

The Breath Equivalent Unit (BEU) is a unit of measurement for Investiture. The unit is based on the quantity of Investiture in one typical BioChromatic Breath. The innate Investiture of one person is approximately equivalent to one BEU. Highly Invested individuals typically have no more than three BEUs of Investiture.

Detection

“ The sand slowly turned white when exposed to Stormlight or Voidlight. However, if a fabrial was using the Light, the sand changed faster. ”

— Navani's observations on Sand

Many of the Invested Arts naturally have the ability to detect Kinetic Investiture built into them. The methods currently known to do this are sand covered in microbes from Taldain and Allomantic bronze. Faded sand from Dayside turns white when Kinetic Investiture is near, allowing the person holding it to see who is using Investiture. Bronze Allomancy can theoretically detect all types of Kinetic Investiture, but some are much harder to detect than others. In the case of Feruchemy, the power is much more difficult to detect because the Feruchemist is only using internal Investiture while Allomancy draws from an external source. Lightweaving is quieter and harder to detect than Lashings or fabrials. It is not known if the reason why is similar to Feruchemy. Different powers on and within different planets have different pulses or wavelengths. An experienced Seeker can distinguish between those powers. As a fabrial could potentially be created to detect emotional Allomancy, fabrials may be one of the ways to detect Kinetic Investiture.