The State Of The Union

[Aeshdan he/him]

1. The only currency unit is "notes"

2. The noble houses probably origniate from the leaders/strong Allomancers gaining prominence during the rebuilding. The noble structure was used because it was what everyone knew.

3. I think Elendel is called "The City" because it's important.

4. The labor unions are kind of like the pleb representatives in the Roman Republic.

5. I think Sliverism and Survivorism are powerful because they are descended from the only two religions of any power in the Pre-Rebirth world. The Path, obviously, comes from Sazed and probably is a mostly Terris religion.

[Deus Ex Biotica]

1. The only currency unit is "notes"

Frustratingly vague. Thanks for confirming I didn't miss anyone talking about coins or precious metals, though.

Well, about coins by name (Wax does use them like an oldschool Coinshot, once), or precious metals as currency. They talk a lot about gold and aluminum for other reasons...

2. The noble houses probably origniate from the leaders/strong Allomancers gaining prominence during the rebuilding. The noble structure was used because it was what everyone knew.

4. The labor unions are kind of like the pleb representatives in the Roman Republic.

It is a very Roman form of government, isn't it? Somehow, that hadn't occurred to me. A Rome with no enemy states, no slaves, little desire to expand and no standing army, but still. The republic part seems to check out.

3. I think Elendel is called "The City" because it's important.

VERY important. Like, London being the only center in Britain for centuries-level important. The power of that "the" cannot be overstated.

5. I think Sliverism and Survivorism are powerful because they are descended from the only two religions of any power in the Pre-Rebirth world. The Path, obviously, comes from Sazed and probably is a mostly Terris religion.

I don't know about The Path being a Terris thing. Steris is pretty judgmental about religion, but she does not mention Terris when critiquing The Path, nor do Wax and the broadsheet, when the Faceless Immortals are mentioned.

-- Deus Ex Biotica

[happyman he/him]

The term Coinshot could be essentially an anachronism in the new world, carried over from the old one without considering the change in context. It wouldn't be the first time that happened. Far from it.

It sounds like they have a central bank, though. Not too surprising, given how tightly clustered the civilized settlements are.

[Aeshdan he/him]

I don't know about The Path being a Terris thing. Steris is pretty judgmental about religion, but she does not mention Terris when critiquing The Path, nor do Wax and the broadsheet, when the Faceless Immortals are mentioned.

-- Deus Ex Biotica

I meant that Terris would be more likely to follow the Path than non-terris because 1) it was created by one of their own. 2) it is a fulfillment of the Keeper's ideals.

[Aeshdan he/him]

As for the Koloss, I admit that's a bit of an oddity. It will be interesting to see what Sazed did to them, and why. They're something I can't quite place yet.

Note from the Elendel Daily that humans can apparently still be made into Koloss. (See Allomancer Jak). So it seems they can be created both ways. Alternately, maybe Koloss-blooded have been through some sort of partial transformation?

[Deus Ex Biotica]

I assumed that the Koloss-blooded were made the same way most half-Orcs are.

And now that the Koloss are a true-breeding species, I doubt humans can be spiked in. Exactly what was going on with Jak, if anything, is more mysterious - I like to assume they were going to eat him.

[name_here]

I see no reason why Koloss becoming true-breeding would cause spikes to cease functioning. Granted, spiked Koloss might not be true-breeding themselves, but stabbing people in the appropriate places with the original Koloss spikes should still make original Koloss.

[Deus Ex Biotica]

If Sazed could make the Koloss breed true, he probably would and could alter the spikes to no longer function, so that the Koloss would stop stabbing people.

Even if he had not, it's been some 350 years. Those spikes would be awfully weak by now.

[Cuaiir he/him]

he probably would and could alter the spikes to no longer function, so that the Koloss would stop stabbing people.

Hemalurgy is a function of the interaction between Preservation and Ruin, just like Allomancy and Feruchemy. While Sazed may be able to change how Snapping works, I doubt he could alter something so fundamental as the interaction of Shards.

[fyodor]

I don't know about The Path being a Terris thing. Steris is pretty judgmental about religion, but she does not mention Terris when critiquing The Path, nor do Wax and the broadsheet, when the Faceless Immortals are mentioned.

-- Deus Ex Biotica

I am a little curious how much of belief in Harmony is historical vs. religious. Is it generally accepted that Harmony saved everyone from the Ruinpocalypse, with Pathists following the specific religious tenets laid out by Sazed or do Sliverists and Surivorists have their own creation story? Do people know that Harmony was a Keeper named Sazed before he ascended*?

*It's clear that the populace doesn't know everything that was in the HoA epigraphs, since the Ars Arcanum says that Hemalurgy was suppressed, and people also don't know that "ironeyes" was an inquisitor, etc.

[fyodor]

Note from the Elendel Daily that humans can apparently still be made into Koloss. (See Allomancer Jak). So it seems they can be created both ways. Alternately, maybe Koloss-blooded have been through some sort of partial transformation?

I understood this to mean that Jak was going to be inducted into their tribe rather than physically converted to a Koloss. It kind of mimics the old-adventurer serials (like the villain from Up) where the heroic westerner would meet some primitive tribe and get initiated into their tribe after proving his valor.

This is what Sanderson said

"Marsh survived. (He'll show up in the Mistborn sequel series.) The Kandra were restored, and have taken a vow to live only in animal bodies. There will never be any more of them, but they are functionally immortal. So you'll see them again. The Koloss who were in the cavern at the time survived, and were changed to become a race that breeds true, rather than Hemalurgic monsters. More below. "

I read this to read that the surviving Koloss became "real" creatures that were not dependent on their spikes for their current forms. Now it's probably true that the spikes would still work, but I'd think that Sazed would dump or get rid of the spikes instead of leaving them with the Koloss.

[discipleofhoid he/him]

I am a little curious how much of belief in Harmony is historical vs. religious. Is it generally accepted that Harmony saved everyone from the Ruinpocalypse, with Pathists following the specific religious tenets laid out by Sazed or do Sliverists and Surivorists have their own creation story? Do people know that Harmony was a Keeper named Sazed before he ascended*?

*It's clear that the populace doesn't know everything that was in the HoA epigraphs, since the Ars Arcanum says that Hemalurgy was suppressed, and people also don't know that "ironeyes" was an inquisitor, etc.

Reading the Epilogue of the original trilogy I would assume that not everyone agreed that it was harmony that saved them.

"I was in and out of consciousness for it," Demoux was saying, "but I saw him. The Survivor. It had to be him—hanging in the sky, glowing. Waves of color moved through the air, and the ground trembled, the land spinning and moving. He came. Just like Sazed said he would."

[Deus Ex Biotica]

Hemalurgy is a function of the interaction between Preservation and Ruin, just like Allomancy and Feruchemy. While Sazed may be able to change how Snapping works, I doubt he could alter something so fundamental as the interaction of Shards.

I meant that, after transforming the Koloss, their spikes would presumably have fallen out. At that point, it's pretty easy to seal them in an underground cavern, or melt them with an Ashmount, or put them somewhere for the Kandra to find and make into earrings.

[Aeshdan he/him]

I meant that, after transforming the Koloss, their spikes would presumably have fallen out. At that point, it's pretty easy to seal them in an underground cavern, or melt them with an Ashmount, or put them somewhere for the Kandra to find and make into earrings.

Most likely the last. Considering how many Pathians there are, we're going to need about a bazillion spikes for making into earrings.

[CrazyRioter she/her]

actually the earrings are made of melted down Inquisitor spikes.

[Aeshdan he/him]

actually the earrings are made of melted down Inquisitor spikes.

I don't think that would make anywhere near enough. There were only a few dozen Inquuisitors at most, and only about 20 spikes max per Inquisitor. That only works out two a few hundred earrings. Or are you saying that one spike makes multiple earrings and they split the charge somehow?

[CrazyRioter she/her]

one spike makes multiple earrings, yes, you can split the charge, you lose a bit in the process, but for the purposes of the earrings, only a tiny charge is needed or wanted anyway.

[Deus Ex Biotica]

My main point was that I'd expect Sazed to dispose of the Spikes somehow, since he doesn't seem to like Hemalurgy much.

[happyman he/him]

My main point was that I'd expect Sazed to dispose of the Spikes somehow, since he doesn't seem to like Hemalurgy much.

In some sense, using the spikes makes the best of a bad situation. The spikes exist and the people who were killed to charge them are long dead. However, with them he can maintain more direct contact with his followers, thus turning their ancient sacrifice to the long-term good of humanity. It could actually be considered a very pragmatic approach to disposing of the spikes, actually. Each earring's Hemalurgic charge is so small, so they can't really be used for anything else.

[Deus Ex Biotica]

I seem to be explaining this badly - I shall try again:

We know that the earrings are recycled spikes, and that's what happened to the spikes of the Inquisitors (except Marsh, obviously). We know that the Koloss were changed into a true species, but at that time, each had four spikes in them. We know Sazed cannot directly de-power or otherwise alter those spikes, which are made of metal.

So, maybe Sazed left them hidden, maybe he sent them to be earring'd too, and maybe he let them fall in lava. We do not know that. The thing I am absolutely sure of is that he would not leave them in the form of spikes large enough to kill people and make (original) Koloss, nor leave them in the hands of (new) Koloss, who know to use the spikes for exactly that.

Hope that makes sense.

-- Deus Ex Biotica

[Aeshdan he/him]

I am a little curious how much of belief in Harmony is historical vs. religious. Is it generally accepted that Harmony saved everyone from the Ruinpocalypse, with Pathists following the specific religious tenets laid out by Sazed or do Sliverists and Surivorists have their own creation story? Do people know that Harmony was a Keeper named Sazed before he ascended*?

*It's clear that the populace doesn't know everything that was in the HoA epigraphs, since the Ars Arcanum says that Hemalurgy was suppressed, and people also don't know that "ironeyes" was an inquisitor, etc.

On page 129 of AoL, Marasi thinks "Plants here in the Elendel Basin grew bountifully with little need for care or cultivation. A final gift of the Survivor, his munificent touch on the land." (Emphasis mine)

So we see that Survivorists attribute most of what Saze actually did to Kelsier.

[Aeshdan he/him]

1. The only currency unit is "notes"

Correction: I recently came across a reference to "bars", which may be either a currency or a unit of bendalloy.

[fyodor]

On a side note, I always thought that it was odd that Sazed didn't return the Koloss to their previous incarnations- "you've been turned into a Hemlurgical monster against your will, so I'll show mercy and turn you into a somewhat less violent and naturally breeding version of these monsters. Also, some of you will be turned into female monsters."

I seem to be explaining this badly - I shall try again:

So, maybe Sazed left them hidden, maybe he sent them to be earring'd too, and maybe he let them fall in lava. We do not know that. The thing I am absolutely sure of is that he would not leave them in the form of spikes large enough to kill people and make (original) Koloss, nor leave them in the hands of (new) Koloss, who know to use the spikes for exactly that.

Hope that makes sense.

-- Deus Ex Biotica

[Aeshdan he/him]

I think some of the koloss were female. Or rather, they were made from female humans. Before Sazed changed them, i think the koloss were neuter.

[Deus Ex Biotica]

On a side note, I always thought that it was odd that Sazed didn't return the Koloss to their previous incarnations- "you've been turned into a Hemlurgical monster against your will, so I'll show mercy and turn you into a somewhat less violent and naturally breeding version of these monsters. Also, some of you will be turned into female monsters."

Yeah, I really don't know why Sazed saw the Koloss "race" as worth preserving. Might be the Shards messing with him.