The Splintercast Reads Mistborn: Secret History, Episode 4

We're still waiting for the epic freak-out video you promised.  

He wouldn't be able to see the tattoo if he got it on his forehead, and the point of it (given that it is obviously desperately needed) is that Kel can look at it regularly.  

Mmmm, partially-spoiled newbies' misconceptions.  Almost as sweet as people trusting Denth, over in Warbreaker.  

"Soul Damage" factors into a lot of Investiture-related things.  The Nahel Bond, Hemalurgy's side effects, Snapping, Shards' ability to talk to people.  I wouldn't be surprised if Nightblood couldn't talk to someone with an "undamaged" soul.  It's a pity we don't know more about it.  

"Anything not set in metal": I suspect that Kelsier just figured it out on his own (from seeing how bright metal glowed to his senses before and after his Ascension), and is using the strongest possible terms he can to emphasize this to Spook's mind.  The fact that he is echoing Kwaan here is an easter egg, but not much more, I don't think.  

RE: minor Warbreaker spoilers: Siri is all set to drop off the face of the plot for a good while now.  (I suspect that if Endowment changes hands between Nightblood and present day, it will be Vivenna who becomes the Vessel)

"He always did have the nasty habit of doing what was right instead of what was smart."  Best. One-Liner. EVAR.  

And Vin, as always, cuts straight through Kelsier's rust, leaving us with a nice palette-cleanser after an entire novella of Kelsier being so overbearingly Kelsier that nothing can penetrate.  (Which, don't get me wrong, is still a blast to read, but we needed Vin here)  

"Are these things you need to be doing with your time?"  Well, given that there's another Shard muscling on Kel's turf, I suspect that getting a foothold back in the Physical would be rather high priority.  Whether said Shard started muscling before Kel started dabbling in Hemalurgy, however...

On Hemalurgy: Factors in opposition to Kelsier's feat: 1) his body is gone.  Even if it survived intact enough to serve as a Hemalurgic donor all the way to the end of HoA (and we know it didn't, because first OreSeur and then TenSoon used his bones, and by WoB it requires contact with moving blood to work) it would not have survived the upheaval and terraforming that comprised the War of Ash and the Catacendre.  2) Once Kel came back, he was apparently a Fullborn, instead of merely a Mistborn.  Now, maybe that wasn't part of Kel's resurrection, per se, but still, Mistborn would take a metric buttload of spikes to begin with, let alone grabbing all the Feruchemical powers too.  One wonders how the soul can remain intact with so much hot-wired in.  

I don't actually see Blood Magic as inherently bad, assuming of course that you use your own resources for the purpose (and are responsible about the tools they give you, namely, no using mind control).  In Dragon Age, with those precepts, it is an amplifier, nothing more (much like lyrium, actually).  The problem comes in when people (looking at you, Tevinter) abuse others to boost their spells and use mind control to bring those others under their thumb to begin with.  Hemalurgy, on the other hand, requires spiritual dismemberment and disfiguration (often resulting in death) to work, so using it with an intent to benefit from the practice is evil.  Spook's workarounds to said evil (always get permission, target dying Mistings and Ferrings only) are a good start, but nowhere near enough for mitigation purposes (besides, there's not much further you can go before you start getting into well-intentioned-extremist territory, where there be monsters).  

"Impetus" was pronounced correctly.

Can we all take a moment to consider the implications of Kelsier still being around? He is now functionally immortal. For all we know, he will be in the final Mistborn Trilogy. (And since Hoid is supposed to be the protagonist...does that mean Kell will be the big bad?)

Yeah Critical Role!

Also, Spook spiking himself felt totally in character for him to me ('cause he's an idiot).

We also know that Kelsier's bones survived through Harmony's Ascension.

Everytime I read this line:

"“I named you, Spook,” Kelsier whispered. “You were my friend. Isn’t that enough?”"

I really feel it, there is power in this simple line, I don't understand the reason but I feel it powerful in my mind

On 7/29/2016 at 5:03 PM, Landis963 said:

He wouldn't be able to see the tattoo if he got it on his forehead, and the point of it (given that it is obviously desperately needed) is that Kel can look at it regularly. 

I feel like we might have a disagreement in that I'm pretty sure Kelsier is the kind of person who spends an above average amount of time staring at himself in reflective surfaces. The tattoo would work!

20 hours ago, WeiryWriter said:

Yeah Critical Role!

Also, Spook spiking himself felt totally in character for him to me ('cause he's an idiot).

We also know that Kelsier's bones survived through Harmony's Ascension.

"Is it Thursday yet?"

Also Spook, bless his heart, he tries. (Oh my god does he try)

Also I'm just... so incredulous that hemalurgy could recreate a body like that. Even from just the bones that is some extremely extensive regeneration. I could see hemalurgy letting you like possess someone else or maybe reanimate a corpse, but fully reconstructing one? How do you spike a skeleton anyway? Sure I guess you could Bloodmaker yourself up some new flesh with enough gold power, but what are you gonna do to get started? Just slip the spike between the ribs and hope that counts?

Also anyone have any questions or topics they'd like me to discuss in a follow up recording at all?

1 minute ago, FeatherWriter said:

"Is it Thursday yet?"

Also Spook, bless his heart, he tries. (Oh my god does he try)

Also I'm just... so incredulous that hemalurgy could recreate a body like that. Even from just the bones that is some extremely extensive regeneration. I could see hemalurgy letting you like possess someone else or maybe reanimate a corpse, but fully reconstructing one? How do you spike a skeleton anyway? Sure I guess you could Bloodmaker yourself up some new flesh with enough gold power, but what are you gonna do to get started? Just slip the spike between the ribs and hope that counts?

Also anyone have any questions or topics they'd like me to discuss in a follow up recording at all?

Oh the pain when I remember that this week's episode isn't until Saturaday...

And if he is using his original bones (which I'm not totally sure of, but I'm unwilling to decide either way yet) I would say there would definitely be some gold Feruchemy going on but I really don't know.

I have no specific questions or topics, I just can't wait for Edgedancer.

1 hour ago, FeatherWriter said:

I feel like we might have a disagreement in that I'm pretty sure Kelsier is the kind of person who spends an above average amount of time staring at himself in reflective surfaces. The tattoo would work!

Mm, I'm still not sure.  I think Kelsier prefers the company of the audience over that of the mirror.  But in lieu of an audience, it'd work.  

WRT Kelsier not being content to move on, using Hemalurgy and not caring about what evils are involved and who gets hurt, WoB is that Kelsier is a psychopath, in the medical sense--a person with no real capacity for empathy.  So this is not that surprising.

The wrap-up sounds like a fun idea!

Quote

I will see you on the other side.

So you're Preservation now?

Why isn't this podcast available on Itunes yet? 

On 8/10/2016 at 0:46 PM, Jared627 said:

Why isn't this podcast available on Itunes yet? 

Uh, it's kind of complicated and silly as to why it isn't yet, but it is in the plans with the SoundCloud integration. That's why I pay for it... But yeah it is planned to be, as well as on other distribution services like Google Play.

Admittedly this had been on back burner for a while from site upgrades but I'll put it higher on the list of stuff to do.

Thanks, Feather. I always enjoy your reactions. Are you planning to do a Splintercast Reads White Sand? 

1 hour ago, ccstat said:

Thanks, Feather. I always enjoy your reactions. Are you planning to do a Splintercast Reads White Sand? 

Unfortunately, no.

@FeatherWriter, what is the next read going to be?  

Well, I suppose I could do the Lift novella if anyone were interested in that? Otherwise, I believe Stormlight 3 is the next big project.

On 8/31/2016 at 3:22 AM, FeatherWriter said:

Well, I suppose I could do the Lift novella if anyone were interested in that? Otherwise, I believe Stormlight 3 is the next big project.

YAS! Do Edgedancer! It's probably too late, and you've already read it, but if not, then you should totally do it.

Would definitely love an Edgedancer Splintercast, if it's not already too late for that.

@Shadow Guardian and @ShadowGlass, the Edgedancer Splintercast will happen! However, my laptop is sadly broken right now so I'm waiting to get a new one before I can record. I do have Arcanum Unbounded, but I'm holding off on reading Edgedancer.

It's so hard though... I want to reaaaaaddddd...