Hemalurgy and Fabrials

[Moogle]

It strikes me that there are very clear links between Hemalurgy and the usage of spren on Roshar.

 

Most notably, when you bond with a Shardblade, you use a gemstone and that 'forces' a bond, sort of like using a Hemalurgic spike. This results in a physical change (eye color) because you've now changed your Spiritual makeup. Here's the bit with using gemstones in pommels:

 

“Just seeing if you are still you,” she said. “Our breakthrough was realizing that the gemstones in the Blades— used to bond them— might not have originally been part of the weapons.”

He frowned. “That’s important?”

“Yes. If this is true, it means the Blades aren’t powered by the stones. Credit goes to Rushu, who asked why a Shardblade can be summoned and dismissed even if its gemstone has gone dun. We had no answers, and she spent the last few weeks in contact with Kharbranth, using one of those new information stations. She came up with a scrap from several decades after the Recreance which talks about men learning to summon and dismiss Blades by adding gemstones to them, an accident of ornamentation it seems.”

 

It does seem rather like a forced bond, doesn't it? It's a lot like trapping spren in gemstones for fabrials or changing forms in a highstorm.

 

We also have another example of changed physical appearance: the Soulcasting ardents. Their skin has become like stone, and their eyes sparkle like gemstones. I speculate that they've formed a bond with their Soulcasters, which has grown stronger and stronger because they used it so much. Here's what Kabsal says:

 

“It’s true,” he said. “I’ve heard it from several ardents. There’s so much shadow and ritual surrounding Soulcasters. They’re kept mysterious, aren’t used where people can see. But the truth is, there’s not much to them. You just put one on, press your hand against something, and tap a gemstone with your finger. It works that simply.”

“That’s not how Jasnah does it,” she said, perhaps too defensively.

“Yes, that confused me, but supposedly if you use one long enough, you learn how to control them better.”

 

Here's something Adolin says:

 

Adolin threw his Shardblade. Wielding the weapons was about more than just practicing stances and growing accustomed to the too-light swordplay. A master of the Blade learned to do more with the bond.

 

There is a clear implication here that with continued use of fabrials (Shardblades may be a subset of them), you control them better. I think this is because you can bond to the fabrial, and because this changes your Spiritual makeup, it results in a Physical change. Again, I'm going by Hemalurgy here, because that's how it functions.

 

As well, I believe that the current best speculation on how the 'fabrials' of Scadrial work is this:

You take a piece of metal, and kill people (or animals, whatever - they just need a speck of Preservation) and build up an Allomantic or Feruchemical charge for the ability you want. If you want a Steelpushing fabrial, you could just kill one Coinshot, or you could kill a bunch of cows who all probably have some residual spark of Allomancy. Once you've got the spike infused, you leave it out in the mists (this step possibly requires you to do something special to let the mists infuse it). Now that it's infused, you can just tap on it and it will use the Allomantic or Feruchemical power it stole, likely without much subtlety (a Soothing fabrial would just dampen the emotions of everyone around it), but you can probably use aluminum to only let one part of a Steelpushing spike emnate a Pushing-field, and that sort of thing.

 

The links to fabrials on Roshar are clear: the gemstones act as a focus (gemstone type matters strongly as a way to determine what the power you get from a trapped spren does; a heliodor with the spren inside of it will act as a sensor that senses whatever thing the spren represents, another type of gem will produce the thing that the spren represents, that sort of thing), and the spren acts as the link to Preservation that an Allomancer has that gets stolen when a Hemalurgic spike is used.

 

This theory predicts that:

• The usage of any fabrial for an extended amount of time results in a bond to it akin to a Hemalurgic spike, and this bond will result in changes to the user. This is likely a reason why Surgebinding fabrials are rare and only Radiants used them; anyone who uses them becomes an outcast from their physical deformities. Ardents managed to form an organization that could hide and protect these fabrial users. Radiants could likely heal the damage caused by using fabrials via Stormlight healing.
  • Corollary: Ardents, since they shelter Soulcasters, may also have other fabrial-users in their ranks. Soulcasting ardents have red (Lightweaver/garnet) robes; there may be ardents wearing blue robes that use Gravity fabrials. Given the great secrecy surrounding Soulcasting ardents, it would not be surprising that the other types of fabrial-users have remained secret.
• You can force a bond to any spren by using a gemstone. Unbound Nahel spren beware!
  • Corollary: using Hemalurgy to steal a spren bond should mean the spren cannot break it off, though it's an open question as to whether or not you get Surgebinding. I think you probably would, and you'd also have to deal with an angry spren looking for revenge 24/7. It's also possible it would 'kill' the spren and just net you a Shardblade, though.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Moogle

[Tempus]

How an interesting theory like this got overlooked is a tragedy. I will look this over later and get some nice comments up.