Impact of the recent Q&A on scadrial

[Voidus]

Thankyou for asking 8! I considered it myself but I was sure he'd RAFO it.

[Nicrosil he/him]

I particularly found the quote on Freuchemical Identity exciting.

I don't want to touch too much on Identity yet as I am saving it for later books. Talking too much here might undermine my ability to reveal interesting and cool things in books when the time is right. I like your theory, and it has merit, but I'm not going to give you a yes or a no as it delves too much into what Identity, as an attribute, can do.

I've been playing with the idea that storing Identity could make you a blank sheet, so to speak, meaning that you could override Identity-based attributes(tapping other metalminds, using another persons Shardblade, etc.)

Also, all the RAFOs made me think that the last book is just going to be all the main characters testing every possible combination of every magic system

[Aminar]

I particularly found the quote on Freuchemical Identity exciting.

I've been playing with the idea that storing Identity could make you a blank sheet, so to speak, meaning that you could override Identity-based attributes(tapping other metalminds, using another persons Shardblade, etc.)

Also, all the RAFOs made me think that the last book is just going to be all the main characters testing every possible combination of every magic system

There is some suggestion of this in the RPG... It mentions possibly messing with identity to access other people's metalminds. I've always taken that as something subtle Brandon threw in.

[Voidus]

I doubt that they'd put that in the RPG if it had no basis, the only problem being that this is only really useful if you're a full feruchemist, otherwise you could only tap other peoples identity (Which would be weird) although it could possibly be used for compounding other metals if you're a twinborn.

[Aminar]

I doubt that they'd put that in the RPG if it had no basis, the only problem being that this is only really useful if you're a full feruchemist, otherwise you could only tap other peoples identity (Which would be weird) although it could possibly be used for compounding other metals if you're a twinborn.

I know. I'm just backing up the mans theory. Because I agree and that's an obscure branch on the evidence tree.

[Kiwi]

I saw that too, I was wondering if he was just being sneaky and referring to Lerasium and its alloys which anyone can burn. Perhaps Sazedium would be the same, not sure.

On Ati and Leras I would assume that as they're dead their spiritweb is somewhat redundant, you can't spike an ability out of a dead person (So far as we know)

Oh! I almost forgot, you are immune to the heat you produce while tapping Brass, but not immune to other sources of heat apparently, however storing heat was implied to be a good defence against a fire.

I think he might have also been referring to Atium and all of it's alloys. For whatever reason I can't quote it directly here, but a question from Sweetness was "3. Can Demoux burn malatium?", and BS reply was "Interesting theory".

It seems obvious, to me, that Lerasium alloys can be used by anyone (Not just Mistings or Mistborn) since it grants a stronger relationship to Preservation (Since part of Preservation is already in everyone). So I don't see why he would be so vague about something that is pretty obvious. (I hope I'm not assuming too much to think that)

So the only other group of metals we know next to nothing about are Atium alloys. That's why I think he was referring to Atium alloys instead of Lerasium Alloys. I don't really have much else to base this off of other than that, but I have a feeling it may have to do with the fact that Atium is of Ruin. Hemalurgy steals powers and those powers can be given to anyone. It's a weak link, but it's all I've got.

On that note, I REALLY want to know what each of these Atium alloys do. When you take Malatium for example, it mixes the abilities of Gold and Atium together in an interesting way (Taking Gold's ability to look into the past, and uses Atium's ability to project it on another person). I'd bet money that each of the other alloys will mix the two abilities in very interesting ways.

Edited September 28, 2012 by Kiwi

[Voidus]

It seems obvious, to me, that Lerasium alloys can be used by anyone (Not just Mistings or Mistborn) since it grants a stronger relationship to Preservation (Since part of Preservation is already in everyone). So I don't see why he would be so vague about something that is pretty obvious. (I hope I'm not assuming too much to think that)

Not vague, just being clever he's turned questions around before.

So the only other group of metals we know next to nothing about are Atium alloys. That's why I think he was referring to Atium alloys instead of Lerasium Alloys. I don't really have much else to base this off of other than that, but I have a feeling it may have to do with the fact that Atium is of Ruin. Hemalurgy steals powers and those powers can be given to anyone. It's a weak link, but it's all I've got.

The problem is that Atium itself isn't able to be burned by all allomancers, you're either a Seer or a Mistborn if you can burn it.

[Douglas]

When Kelsier destroys the Pits of Hathsin in Final Empire, it is mentioned that they'll take something like 300 years to start producing Atium again. Do the Pits of Hathsin still exist in any form after Sazed reshaped the world, and is that timeline for them still valid?

RAFO

In Alloy of Law, evidence is uncovered that the bad guys are attempting to breed a Mistborn. The time span of the gap between this and the original Mistborn trilogy, perhaps with the interval I vaguely remember being stated for between Alloy and the next main trilogy added, is suspiciously close to 300 years. Does the organization Wax's father is part of know the location of the Pits of Hathsin, or otherwise have access to Atium, either now (as of Alloy) or in the time period of the planned second trilogy?

You are on the right track

Sounds to me like Atium and maybe some of its alloys are going to show up in the modern Mistborn trilogy, right along with a character who can use them all. Given that they'll likely have a monopoly on the metal and only the one guy who can use it, I'd guess he'll also be a lot more profligate in its use than anyone in the original trilogy. Plus, they could have much more reason to experiment with alloys of Atium because they'd have enough that losing quantities of the base metal to the experiments wouldn't be a big deal.

Edited September 29, 2012 by Douglas

[Voidus]

A few more.

2. Why does Preservation fueling Allomancy not weaken Preservation compared to Ruin?

Because the power, once used, returns to him--much as water, after passing over a turbine, continues on in its system.

1. What is the relationship between blood and the Spiritual Realm? (Since Hemalurgy needs blood to graft the sDNA in a spike into someone else's sDNA)

The blood being in motion is part of it.

For the modern day Mistborn trilogy, have you decided on whether the Nicrosil Misting main character will be male or female yet? I haven't seen you mention it anywhere.

I have him as a guy right now, but that could change. (It has before.)

Realmatic theory was part of the ancient Terris religion.

Burn the One Ring, eh? I think it's such a powerfully invested object that it would be very, very dangerous to try.

This one is quite interesting.

2) What about a Lerasium savant? Or would that require so much Lerasium that the person attempting it would ascend to become a new Shardholder?

Basically, this is what ascension is.

Ha, that IS a little silly of a method. However, on the extreme end of aluminum, I have in the notes the possibility of cleansing the spirit of unwanted effects of other investitures. You'd get really good at this, and maybe even be able to cleanse the body of other impurities.

Also interesting.

Apparently burning Duralumin does expend the Duralumin as well as other metals.

Hemalurgy can give allomantic powers to a kandra. The process to do so is not known to anyone but Harmony.

How intelligent is a mistwraith? Could you raise and train mistwraiths like dogs or horses, controlling what forms they take by the bones you give them? Would you be able to train yourself a horsewraith steed by giving it only the bones of a horse?

This is feasible. One thing to keep in mind is that mistwraiths are people who have a blockage between the physical and the cognitive realm, messing with their ability to think. Think of them as mentally-stunted people. There's enough there to train, but then you have to dig into the ethics of it...

[Aradel he/him]

7. Sazed seems to be doing something with Ruins power to keep it in balance with Preservations (Weaker due to Scadralians having more Preservation than Ruin) Please let this be more Atium...

It's been confirmed that earings like Wax's are made from former hemalurgic spikes, but the question about whether Sazed was fueling Wax with pewter through that earring got RAFO'ed. I think getting hints that Sazed is doing something with ruin's power is a strong indication that he could be using it to fuel hemalurgy through the Pathians' earrings and other spikes.

[Voidus]

Keep in mind that he could expend Ruins power to fuel regular Allomancy as well. But yes this does seem like one of the most likely options.

[NinjaMeTimbers]

Hemalurgy can give allomantic powers to a kandra. The process to do so is not known to anyone but Harmony.

How intelligent is a mistwraith? Could you raise and train mistwraiths like dogs or horses, controlling what forms they take by the bones you give them? Would you be able to train yourself a horsewraith steed by giving it only the bones of a horse?

This is feasible. One thing to keep in mind is that mistwraiths are people who have a blockage between the physical and the cognitive realm, messing with their ability to think. Think of them as mentally-stunted people. There's enough there to train, but then you have to dig into the ethics of it...

Perhaps the knowledge only known to Harmony has to do with the bindpoints of a kandra.

[Voidus]

Perhaps the knowledge only known to Harmony has to do with the bindpoints of a kandra.

Makes sense, bindpoints on humans are difficult enough, on an organism without a fixed muscle-structure it would be very, very difficult to study. A 1-up for you.

[NinjaMeTimbers]

Makes sense, bindpoints on humans are difficult enough, on an organism without a fixed muscle-structure it would be very, very difficult to study. A 1-up for you.

But the part that doesn't seem to fit is why placement doesn't seem to matter for a kandra's blessings? Or maybe it does and the Lord Ruler/other kandra knew where to put the blessings.

[Voidus]

It could be, more likely the placement for regular human attributes is quite large in area (Easy to get right) while allomancy is specific. Or even more likely they shift their muscles around until the spike is in the right place.

[Odium's_Shard]

On Ati and Leras I would assume that as they're dead their spiritweb is somewhat redundant, you can't spike an ability out of a dead person (So far as we know)

Backtracking quite far, but I was sure that there was a BS quote that said that it was to do with not just contact with blood but contact with flowing blood, so no, you couldn't spike a dead person.

Or maybe you could, if their blood was 'flowing' out of that great big hole you just cut in them with your sword.

[Voidus]

Backtracking quite far, but I was sure that there was a BS quote that said that it was to do with not just contact with blood but contact with flowing blood, so no, you couldn't spike a dead person.

Wasn't that in the Q&A? Yeah I definitely remember that too. Maybe if Szeth continually lashed their blood?

[Cheese Ninja he/him]

I think it's less that Ati and Leras could have been used for some purpose, and more that simply studying them would have furthered Szeth's or anyone else's understanding of the Cosmere races and physical DNA and Spiritwebs/sDNA a great deal. After all, they were probably Yolen natives and they had held their Shards for thousands of years. Everyone else native to Scadrial was influenced by their actions in the far past, which includes Sazed. EDIT: Accidentally wrote Szeth there, 5 letter S names with z in them.

Edited October 3, 2012 by Cheese Ninja

[Senor Feesh]

Everyone else native to Scadrial was influenced by their actions in the far past, which includes Szeth.

Szeth is native to Scadrial now? When did this happen?

[Voidus]

I'm guessing that was supposed to be Sazed?

[Cheese Ninja he/him]

I'm guessing that was supposed to be Sazed?

Fixed.

Other things:

Also, it was probably discussed here, but somehow I never saw the theory that TLR was compounding Identity to do his mass Soothings/Riotings. Until I saw the question in the Q&A. It makes a lot of sense.

I wonder if it's possible for a Shard to change their own body that his been "blended in". Could Sazed make himself non-Eunuch.

Between all of Peter's and Brandon's past hints and earlier revisions, I'm not at all surprised about Hoid picking something up from the WoA. My question about souvenirs was based on it. And my personal assumption that Hoid has probably collected things from other worlds as well. Glad to know about Hoid's base now.

Hemalurgy spikes often have negative mental effects on the people receiving them as well. So I don't think propagating knowledge through spikes with Copper feruchemical attributes would be very wise. Plus, it would require stealing the same bit of Spirit web multiple times, which we haven't seen any evidence for. And you couldn't use the same 2 spikes for everyone, because people wouldn't be able to use the Feruchemy/Allomancy without having the spikes. Which is where you suggest that they wouldn't need to, because if they could Compound the memories once, they'd keep them forever without the need of copperminds. Still, I think that even with Compounding, the memories will still fade at a normal, or even advanced rate due to the Compounding itself. So no one would be able to get perfect recall of all known information simply by being Spiked, Compounding, and then passing those Spikes on. Reusing the Spikes also might make the very act of Copper Feruchemy less effective, due to Hemalurgic Decay.

[Voidus]

It's only the human quality spikes that are particularly negative for your mental health, Vin was fine.

Which is where you suggest that they wouldn't need to, because if they could Compound the memories once, they'd keep them forever without the need of copperminds. Still, I think that even with Compounding, the memories will still fade at a normal, or even advanced rate due to the Compounding itself.

But you'll keep the memories for hundreds of times longer than you would have without compounding, and you can always just keep compounding them.

Reusing the Spikes also might make the very act of Copper Feruchemy less effective, due to Hemalurgic Decay.

True, but we're not entirely sure exactly how hemalurgic decay effects feruchemy.

[Cheese Ninja he/him]

Compounding healing is extremely effective, but it messes with your own natural healing process. I wouldn't be surprised Compounding memories is detrimental to normal memory making. Let's use this analogy a bit more. If someone was given two spikes, one to allow them to burn Gold, another to allow them to store Health in Gold. They could, while they had those spikes, do some health Compounding and massive healing. Once they lost those spikes, they'd no longer have any benefit from them, regardless of how much Health they may have had Compounded, even if they stored it in Goldminds, because they wouldn't be able to use those Goldminds anymore. Someone would only be able to Compound as long as they were Spiked, so there's no way they'd be able to retain their gains from Compounding forever, only as long as they can store the attribute and tap it again later.

And are you sure it's just human quality attributes that cause mental damage? I couldn't find any such limitation on the wiki, and it's been a while since I read Mistborn, so I'm not sure what was in the book. I do know that Koloss and Inquistors took the mental damage and were most prone to Ruin's control because of the sheer number of spikes.

[Voidus]

But memories are retained, health isn't. If you compounded a memory til it was 1000x stronger you aren't likely to forget it while you're alive.

It's not only human attributes but they're the worst. Any spike will grant you the weakness to manipulation though.

[Satsuoni he/him]

By belief is shattered

Quote from WoA:

She struggled in vain. She had duralumin still—burning it only made other metals vanish, not the duralumin itself—but last time that had nearly gotten her killed.

And yet:

So, I've said before that I want to hold off on talking about different forms of compounding and types of twinborn until I can address them in the series. So I'll have to RAFO the first two. However, in answer to the third one, yes you DO expend Duralumin in the process.

What?