Deus Ex Biotica

Close down his bank account? Needing more gold for a given amount of Compound, and then also needing silver to complete the cycle, is even more restricting than Miles' situation (and he did think to himself about how he's only immortal as long as he can essentially eat gold). Also, depending on how strictly yo interpret the "Compounding makes you sick, like Burning a bad alloy" idea, they might have periods of vulnerability while they re-filled their Metalminds, like the Lord Ruler. Bur, yeah, Gold abuse is always impressive. -- Deus Ex Biotica

I agree that if a normal Ferring were to store a charge in a Metalmind, then alloy it, the charge would be there but unreachable. If a full Ferruchemist did the same, they'd be able to get the charge back out, but it would still be the thing they stored the first time (so, if you store Mental Speed in a Zincmind, then alloy that into the proper mix of brass, you still retrieve Mental Speed, not Warmth). The question emerges when you have a Twinborn who can Burn an alloy of the metal they Store with, like the Brass/Zinc example mentioned above. After all, if you Burn your own Metalminds, you gain back what you stored in them tenfold. Would the same apply here? Would you gain back the same amount of Mental Speed you stored, and also nine times that much Warmth? It's an interesting question. Here is my theory: you still get back what you stored, but that's all. Your spiritual DNA has the code to be given extra power when it Burns brass, but the brass in no way interacts with the stored Mental Speed - it just wound up holding it by a fluke. Since it your Ferruchemical storage, you can retrieve it, but not compound it. However, as much sense as that makes, it seems a little boring. So, here's an alternative which I freely admit I would use in an RPG or the like where this question came up: when burning an alloyed Metalmind, you can "push" the charge further into the metal, thereby gaining back a weakened Compounding effect (maybe two or three times the original charge). However, this makes the Burning resonate poorly with your spiritual DNA, so you get sick, much as if you had burned a bad alloy. However, even then, I would only allow that when the metals were a linked pair. For example, if you stored Hearing in a Tinmind, then alloyed it into pewter and burned it, this effect might occur. If you instead could Burn bronze, then no pseudo-Compounding could happen - physically, Allomantic Bronze is one-quarter Tin, but spiritually, the two are not connected. You could get your initial storage back, but that's all. -- Deus Ex Biotica P.S. Hurm. I wonder what combination I would most like to exploit this way. Pewter/Tin is one I've considered before, and it's worth noting that a Crasher like Wax would be able to multiply Weight if this works - keep an eye out on Shadows of Self to see in Brandon Sanderson weighs in on the debate - but I think the coolest option might well be Zinc/Brass itself. A Soother who can (given time, metalworking facilities, and a bit of sickness) rack up a ton a Mental Speed for rainy days is not to be underestimated as a manipulator.

On the surface, the idea makes sense. However, when Vin and Kelsier stormed Kredik Shaw, they were both burning Copper, and the Inquisitors knew anyway. So, I would assume this trick doesn't work. If I had to speculate on why, I'd guess it to be related to the reason why you cannot burn Bronze and Copper at the same time. Something about that pairing just seems to be oddly exclusive. -- Deus Ex Biotica

Maybe. But since you would (1) be crippled both physically and spiritually, and (2) it's very possible that, even if you lived, you would have lost your ability to Burn metals completely, I'm not sure how plausible this is. If nothing else, I am certain this could never work if the spike stole your Allomancy.

I just got my Mistborn RPG book today. Huzzah! That reminded me of this thread which I started, and then totally vanished from. Here's why: my next project was to make a prison capable of holding Allomancers, since what's a good heist story in any setting without a daring jailbreak? Only, I hit a few logistical problems quickly: there just aren't ever that many Allomancers who need to be imprisoned, and if there were, you can deny them all the metals you want, but the crucial part is the first couple of days, when you... erm... allow any metals they already have to leave them. That lead me to a pretty dark place. I spent a week working on it, but I still felt like it didn't really hang together the way I wanted. When I had started reading up on internment methods used by third-world militias, I shelved the project, and it left a bad enough taste in my mouth that I lost track of this in favor of other RPG things I was doing at the same time. Still, I did make it, so here's what I had so far back then... and I present it with every intention of posting something a little more fun in the next week or so. Grey Face Prison. Note: I am writing this description with a mind towards being useful in games set in either Empire or Alloy era games, so some details of history and geography will be presented in terms of generalities, rather than specifics. Overview: Grey Face Prison is (as the more astute among you have already guessed) a prison. Specifically, it is a very secure prison for Allomancers. It consists of a small series of rooms (Grey Face never needs to hold many at once) carved into a cliff face. There is absolutely no metal of any kind ever allowed in the prison, and the only access is by way of a rope bridge over a deep ravine, which leads to a small fort guarded by Allomancers - the bridge can be cut from either side. Grey Face is designed to be as nasty and inescapable as I could make it, and you are encouraged to think of ways for it to be even tougher - if PCs go here, there should be some real tension about how they will escape, and if they are trying to break someone out, it should be an undertaking absolutely on par with the most incredible heists. Geography And Logistics: Grey Face is located somewhere remote, with mountains and water (somewhere like the mountains around Micondwel in the Alloy era, or the far North and South edges of the Eastern Dominance in the Empire era). More specifically, it is carved into an overhanging (sticks further out the further up you go) cliff face, opposite a waterfall, with a deep rift between. More generally, it calls for a location ruled by a brutally arrogant but pragmatic Noble. Grey Face is, by definition, a place to keep people you know to be dangerous alive, while making them resent you. Anyone you want to kill, you would kill quickly before putting them here, and anyone you ever expect to be on good terms with again, you would send somewhere at least slightly more pleasant. Grey Face is for a class of hostage too important to get rid of, too dangerous to keep close, and certain enough to be an enemy you don't care about the consequences - the sort of category Straff Venture might put virtually every captive noble into, but someone like Cett would almost never think of. Layout And Defenses: Strictly speaking, Grey Face consists of two buildings - the prison and the gatehouse. The prison itself is the natural caves in the cliff face, which were expanded further through years of work. They now include about a half-dozen cells (simple rooms, unadorned save for a heavy stone bucket and three vaguely cot-like piles of straw and thin blankets each), two "shafts" (just what they sound like, ten-foot-deep shafts maybe three feet wide, totally unadorned), a common guard area and barracks, which is fairly large, and boasts four nicer cots, as well as a fire which is always kept burning (if it were to go out, the gatehouse would investigate immediately - they can see through a hole in the side of the guard room, which also vents the smoke), and a larder (which enough supplies for four people to survive for two months), as well as the tunnels used to move among these rooms. There is absolutely no metal of any kind in the prison proper. The cells are all located along one passageway. The have doors which are simply slabs of wood without hinges, held in place by crossbars which are, in turn, set into grooves in the stone. Each door has a slit at eye level, which is covered by a piece of cloth on the outside, and a larger (though still too small to squeeze through) hole at the bottom, covered with a wooden plug. The final room of the prison is a landing from which the rope bridge begins (it is overlooked by the "window" in the guard room). From there, the rope bridge spans some twenty paces, until it reaches its anchor on the opposite side - a pair of rocks jutting up out of the river, just above the crashing waterfall. This is a dead end, unless there is a raft braced against those rocks - and even if there is, it would probably take five or six people (or one especially strong and skilled Pewterarm) to move the raft upstream, otherwise the current would send it over the side to a long, long fall onto sharp rocks (and moving water, which would make it hard for even a Mistborn to set an anchor for Steelpushing on, if they wanted to slow their fall). When guards or prisoners are being transferred, just such a raft is sent out from the gatehouse, on a tether so that the men inside the Gatehouse can pull it back safely or cut it loose at their will. If they do cut it loose, they will also fire flaming arrows at the bridge, destroying it. The gatehouse itself is a modestly-sized watchtower. It can hold about a dozen men at a time, and might squeeze in a few more in a pinch. On its roof is a signal fire (which is always kept burning), its top floor houses the Warden's rooms and office, below that are the barracks, then the large and squat ground floor (this has a kitchen, a woodworking area, a common dining room, and the winch room for pulling back the rafts mentioned above), and below that is the cellar, which holds provisions (the gatehouse could last two or three months on stored food, and gets new provisions once per month). Personnel: In the Empire Era, Grey Face’s guards are the poorest of the poor nobles. They serve here hoping to get better assignments protecting a House Keep, or maybe even be accepted into Hazekiller training. In Alloy era, they’re just tough guys lacking better prospects, but the desire to get re-assigned to better guard duty remains. In theory, the Lieutenant (the only person on staff other than the Warden who never has to serve shifts in the Prison) should always be a Tineye, who keeps watch on the Prison during shift changes and other such events. Failing that, a Thug is preferred for added security. In practice, getting actual Allomancers to stay here for long is tough, and often the Lieutenant is just someone with a strong stomach for unpleasant work who the Warden gets along with. The Warden (his name is Jezcar Ircolo, but he is called “Warden” to his face, and “Warden Scar” behind his back) is a dour man. An undistinguished military career left him with few friends, only one arm, and and scarring across his face which only sealed the deal massive birthmarks had been working on all his life - few people find it pleasant to look him in the face. Still, he has a tidy mind, a willingness for cruelty (coupled with some skill at torturing picked up during his army days), and he’s a Seeker. A scouting force he lead found the caves which would become Greyface Prison some years ago, and when he retired from the army, he proposed the idea of an Allomancer prison to some of the strongest local Houses. One of them agreed, and Grey Face was born. He personally “interviews” every new arrival (with only one arm, he mostly has to give his current Lieutenant instructions on how to get the more guarded answers, unless he has been specifically instructed that a given prisoner is not to be touched). This is partly for information, and partly to cause enough stress that any Allomancer who still has metals will subconsciously begin burning - even at a low level, he will sense it. Protocols: * There is no metal of any kind in the Prison, ever. Not even ones like silver and aluminum. In the Gatehouse, there is very little, but the Warden has vials of bronze in his office, and the reinforced outer door has iron bands and hinges (it faces away from the Prison, and there are no internal doors - cloth curtain are used instead). * The signal fires are used to communicate between the gatehouse and the prison - they check in every hour, and whenever anything happens (such as immediately before and after feeding the prisoners each day). * There are four guards at a time in the prison, and another ten in the gatehouse (plus the Warden and his Lieutenant). They rotate every two weeks, and they hate their shifts in the prison itself - it's cramped and they have to empty out waste buckets. This frustration is frequently taken out on prisoners. * In the prison, one of the guards tends the signal fire at all times. At any unusual sound, he sends a message to the gatehouse, at which point the archers in the gatehouse prepare flaming arrows and aim at the bridge. If anyone tries to cross the bridge without the all-clear being given, they will fire, probably hitting the person and definitely setting the bridge aflame. * The cells each hold 2-3 prisoners. They are fed once a day, and may relieve themselves in the large stone buckets, which are emptied once every week. * New prisoners are usually kept in the gatehouse for a few days as any metals work through their systems (the manacles there are wooden), but if they are deemed especially dangerous, they will be kept in one of the two shafts in the prison itself. during that time, they will be fed nothing, and hardly be able to move from a standing position as filth accrues at their feet - a cold welcome to set the tone of their confinement at Grey Face. Misbehaving prisoners may be sent back to the shafts for a day or two - a threat which is plenty to keep almost anyone in line. * More mundane offences (like sticking your hand out the eye slit in one of the doors) are punished by refusing food to all the residents of the cell for two days. This tends to result in inmates using violent means if needed to keep their cellmates from showing even small degrees of defiance. * Cell arrangements are shuffled around occasionally. People are never put in the same cell as known associates of theirs. Trying to communicate with other cells is forbidden. * When it is time for prisoners to be fed, this is announced by two guard walking up outside of the door and shouting “clear!” - roughly one minute later, one will look through the eye slit. If all the cell’s residents are not pressed up against the far wall, there is no food that day. If they are, the plug at the bottom of the door is removed, and food is pushed through. * When it is time to empty the waste bucket, this is announced, and the prisoners drag it to sit next to the door, then go to the far wall. The guards then unbar the door, and kick it down, to fall into the cell (smashing into anyone who stands too close). The prisoners drag the door clear, then (accompanied by the guards, of course) drag the bucket to the bridge, and dump it out into the canyon. The prisoners are then escorted back. This is the only occasion on which prisoners are usually allowed out of their cells, and the guards are not above refusing to allow the waste buckets to be dumped (usually until the next change of guards, which will allow seven guards to be on hand, rather than three) if they suspect trouble. * Retrieving prisoners for interrogation, or to switch cellmates around follows the same door-kicking approach: it’s the only way to open them, since they have no hinges. This is always done during shift changes. Game Mechanics: * Using Steel or Iron to set a coin (or similar object) as an anchor in all that moving water (whether at the top of the cliff, the bottom, or in the waterfall itself) requires a Nudge on the roll. Any roll which fails to garner one results in anchor and Allomancer both shooting off in unfortunate directions. * Working at Grey Face pays well (and the guards know that any deserters will be sent to Grey Face as prisoners if caught), but it’s miserable work. Attempts to subvert guards by offering them better posts elsewhere get a +1 bonus for favorable circumstances, so long as the offerer can somehow provide assurances (whether counterfeit or genuine) against lost money, social standing, and the need to be a fugitive. If they cannot, however, they suffer -1 instead... working at Grey Face gives you a grim idea of what happens to those who cross its masters. * The guards hate their jobs. Discipline is strict, so neglecting the rules is rare, but it does inevitably happen sometimes. Having some minor breach of duty occur is a valid use for Nudges... once. It is unlikely that the PCs will get a second such chance! * It takes twenty steps to cross the bridge, and there’s no cover. That’s suicide, if archers are ready. Even if they aren’t, there’s always two guards with bows (though probably not holding them) up there, tending the signal fire. The round they spot trouble, one picks up his bow, while the other sounds the alarm. The next round, the first one ignites arrows, while the second one grabs his bow. On the third round, both open fire Five rounds later than that (the eighth round after trouble was spotted), three more guards with bows join them. All five are ready if the alarm was sounded before anyone tried to cross the bridge. * Somehow crossing the bottom of the bridge counts as a Tool giving +1 to rolls to stay hidden, but you have to make Physique rolls (difficulty 3) to not fall. Stats: The Guards use statistics for House Guards. Remember: even in the Gatehouse, they carry no metal. Design the Lieutenant to suit your needs: if you are totally confident in your PCs’ ability to plan around anything, go all-out and make it a Tineye. If they’re just going to storm the Gatehouse by force from the outside, make it a Thug. If Grey Face is bad enough already, Hazekiller or Bodyguard stats should work. The Warden is a Seeker with Charm 2, Wits 5, the One-Armed and Cold-Blooded Traits, and Bronze 6 (with the Stunts of Subconscious Seeking, Slow Burning, and Increased Range). Grimly, Deus Ex Biotica

In the RPG, as in the books, the default Hazekiller is a non-Allomancer member of a minor Noble house. However, there's nothing to stop a Thug or Lurcher from grabbing a shield and dueling cane and fighting in a unit of Hazekillers - indeed, that would make it far more dangerous. Of course, Allomancers work for a lot of money, and they are less likely to take the near-suicidal risks associated with Hazekilling, in a pinch. -- Deus Ex Biotica

I feel trite, but being a Crasher, with that near-flight arguably even greater than a Mistborn's, is deeply tempting. Alternately, a Zinc Compounder.

Some combination of flamethrowers, trap doors, composite armor, and specializes weapons for immobilization and distraction.

The context of that quote lead me to assume that Atium and Lerasium have more than one alloy per metal. I don't think there will be more than 16 non-God metals, since 16 is such an important number to Brandon Sanderson's cosmology.

I'm not convinced, Thought. If a Coinshot can stop bullets, they can think fast enough to catch a fall.

There is no official answer, but since it would be trivially easy for Wayne to shoot out of the bubbles if he could just throw a bunch of bullets, let them deflect, then pick the right one to Push, I have been forced to assume that you cannot Push/Pull through a time bubble.

Unless you have an aluminum plane, I think the Lurcher will be fine. Still, I would ultimately go with Coinshot, on the basis that while you're practicing, if something goes wrong, you're less likely to get impaled. -- Deus Ex Biotica

... I kinda hate to ask, mate, but do you often find yourself having to deal death to people? Miles did, but since neither the paranoid Wax nor the also-a-Bloodmaker Mayne mentioned having implanted Metalminds, I assume there's nothing generally known which is safe for even a very hardy individual. -- Deus Ex Biotica P.S. I can see the use of Bendalloy, but literally eating enough food for a month seems like it would get really, amazingly boring.

Then try speaking truth more often.

If you could be any kind of Ferring, what would it be? For me, it's all about Steel. The modern world is full of times when we're not really using Physical Speed: trips by bus or plane (or even car, if we're not driving), watching movies, reading epic fantasy series when we should be studying, actually studyng, long phone calls, etc. And the occasional bout of super-speed would be awesome! As a runner-up, the ability to store Heat is oddly appealing. How many summer days and winter nights are spent wishing for the thermal energy levels of the other? -- Deus Ex Biotica

My first instinct is a Coinshot or Lurcher, coupled with a little BASE Jumping. Which one is the bigger question - Batman shows me that, in a city, being a Lurcher is actually far more useful and versatile than being a Coinshot due to greater control, but on the other hand, it couldn't help you, say, careen around the Grand Canyon without serious prep work, which a Coinshot could. Tricky. In either case, my runner up would be Pewter. Perfect balance + an awesome immune system + the ability to go days without sleep + the ability to jump like an Olympic champion = perfection. I see what you all mean about Rioting/Soothing, but I still feel such abilities are morally questionable at best. -- Deus Ex Biotica P.S. I didn't want it due to migraines, but I think it's sad nobody else seems to care about Tin.

Feruchemic Pewter does not increase toughness (except insofar as, like all Feruchemy, it keeps your body from destroying itself with newfound strength). Still, it has uses. Too much will immobilize you, so the possibilities aren't quite as endless as Iron/Iron, but you could still get strong enough to easily shatter stone, well beyond the reach of a normal Thug. With proper preparation, such a Twinborn is one of the few I think could easily defeat Miles, by grabbing him and tearing his head off. Though they would have to immobilize him completely, lest they get seriously injured by that dynamite he carries around. -- Deus Ex Biotica

Hole Attributes: Physique 3, Charm 2, Wits 5 Standings: Resources 2, Influence 1, Spirit 6 Resiliences: Health 5, Reputation 3, Willpower 11 Traits: Inconspicuous; Of Questionable Sanity; Insightful When Coherent; Knows How To Kill; Unheeding Equipment: Ragged Clothing; Concealed Non-Metal Weapon; Assorted Misting Vials (each holds 3 Charges of a metal) Abilities: * 3 Bronze Spikes (Hemalurgy) ** Bronze 4 (Allomancy) ** Copper 2 (Allomancy) ** Brass 2 (Allomancy) * 1 Steel Spike (Hemalurgy) ** Pewter 3 (Allomancy) Notes: She doesn’t recall all of her past, certainly not all of it at once. She knows that she was taken in by a bunch of people who call themselves “Aces,” and her their “Ace-In-The-Hole”. She knows their names, and through the ways they react when she Soothes them, has learned more than that, though they tend to notice what she’s doing fairly quickly. Still, it’s enough to tell that Heart dislikes her, Diamond doesn’t care about her any more than dust, Spade thinks she’s funny, Joker thinks what she can do is interesting (which is great, because Joker is really cool), and Club… thinks something else about her, which ends up with him giving her extra food and singing her old songs, and she doesn’t know why. The Aces are in the dark, too. They found her, out in the Roughs and alone. It’s hard to say what they might have done when the malnourished girl came up to the bandits, asking for food, save that Joker felt the touch of Soothing, and took her in out of curiosity. When it became clear that the girl could Burn other metals, the Aces were stunned – that was supposed to be impossible. Joker has sent word back to Lord Daveth, and he certainly wants a look at her, but his curious mix of paranoia and arrogance have led him to wait, if only briefly. If the girl really is a mythical Mistborn, trying to do anything with her without first winning her trust could end in disaster. So, while he devises ways to restrain a Mistborn should the worst happen, he’s having Joker learn the extent of her abilities (which, strangely, seem to not include all, or even most, Metals), and try to win her trust. So far, it’s going well, and having a Seeker to case jobs as well as a Smoker to keep people from learning the exact abilities of the Aces is providing further rewards. Whence comes the little Ace in the Hole? She’s the daughter of a disgraced professor of the Elendel University. A powerful Seeker, he saw patterns in the resonance of metals that nobody else did. Eventually, he sought to test his theories in murder, and succeeded only well enough to turn his own son into a monster. Fleeing the city, he set out again, learning technique (if not scruples) from his mistakes. Though he only knew how to steal Allomantic Mental abilities, he still found and murdered Allomancers, managing to bestow their abilities (with substantial decay – he didn’t know that even exists as a factor) on his daughter. Eventually, he also reasoned out the use of Steel to take Physical abilities, but was mortally wounded in the process of testing this theory on a travelling Pewterarm. Proving that he was mad and evil, but no hypocrite, he placed both Steel spike in the girl, then drove another spike through himself and into her, leaving her with nearly undecayed Seeking, but all alone in the wilderness. Why has Sazed not helped the poor girl? He’s tried, but she always seems to perceive his voice as her father’s, causing her to alternately heed him and defiantly do the opposite of what he says, seemingly at random. These erratic actions have convinced Harmony not to do any more as of yet, and have made the other Aces very nervous about their unstable charge. Using the Aces Wild: The Aces were designed to be versatile physical baddies, able to be hunted down by PCs, hunt PCs down, or simply be at the same place and time – in any event, leading to a cool fight which both sides can still retreat from to meet again later. They’re also there to tie in to larger issues – ord Daveth may be swapped for any powerful Noble (or, in a pinch, non-Noble) scheming villain you desire. Likewise, if the idea of a Mad Hemalurist appeals to you, it’s not so hard to let Hole run away from her father without the blighter being dead, letting him eventually come to menace people in person (for my game, he was going to be dead, since I just wanted Hole to give the PCs a start in knowing that Hemalurgy exists – the villain who used it was a whole different can of worms). Basically, for any story in or near the Roughs, whomever is behind things, a good knock-down, drag-out fight with these guys can kick things into high gear. Alternately, maybe you’re running an Empire-era game. The Aces can still work, but as a Thieves’ Crew, either menacing noble PCs, or as a group of rivals/dark mirrors to a Crew of PCs. In this case, their backstories will need a little tweaking, and they’ll probably need new codenames, since my little conceit that real world playing card terms mean anything in Scadrial is getting a little worn when the “Scadrial” in question is that of the original trilogy (at least Alloy has references to “playing cards” of some kind!), but I’m sure you can think of something. And, naturally, you’ll have to drop the Feruchemical abilities – they should still be pretty strong without them, though if you want, you could make someone a Mistborn to compensate. In the Empire Era, you might end up dropping Hole entirely (in which case I advise giving them a new Smoker), or you could have some insane nobleman or even a rogue Inquisitor(!) have created her, which would lead to interesting drama down the road. Likewise, if you really want to, you could drop the details involving Lord Daveth, but I would advise against it – The Aces are all about layers of secrets, after all, and though we didn’t get to see much of the nobility hiring criminals to do things in the books (for some strange reason, Kelsier didn’t seem interested in working for Nobles…), it’s an interesting concept to explore, so I like the idea of taking it to its logical conclusion here. And so, finally, I have finished the first installment of my RPG resources. As far as I can tell, maybe one or two people other than me ever read this thread, so I’ll be waiting a few days – if nobody else is interested in that time, then I will declare even the re-purposed thread a failure, and stop rambling about this – I have a lot of things to ramble about, after all. -- Deus Ex Biotica

The Aces Wild, Part 2 Club Attributes: Physique 5, Charm 3, Wits 4 Standings: Resources 3, Influence 3, Spirit 2 Resiliences: Health 8, Reputation 6, Willpower 6 Traits: Been Around The Block A Few Times; Disciplined; Many Scars; Tactical Thinking; Unexpected Angles Equipment: Heavy Armor; Assorted Metal Knives; Six-Shooter or Rifle (if appropriate) Two Misting Vials (3 Charges of Iron); Cadmiummind (30/100 Charges) Abilities: * Iron 5 (Allomancy) ** Improved Redirection (+1 die when redirecting objects) ** Long Range (Pull at up to 300 paces) ** Multiple Targets (specify up to 5 targets) * Cadmium 3 (Feruchemy) Notes: Tal Cubbin, unlike Spade, wasn't just an extremely powerful shock troop the army sent into problem areas. He was a decorated sergeant who led an elite team of Allomancers behind enemy lines. Indeed, it was he who Joker originally meant to be the field leader for the Aces Wild. Cubbin had other plans, however - he had failed to enter civilian life exactly because he was still haunted by the good people who had died under his command, and he never wants to command again. He sees his role as ensuring that this new batch of young fools don't die, themselves. So, he told Joker that it was too likely he might be recognized (and, indeed, this is a concern), and so he should serve as a lookout. Joker agreed, and here we are. Club, for all his age, scars, and military background, acts almost nothing like a certain Smoker from the Final Empire. He is generally the most genial of the Aces, frequently cracking jokes, telling others not to hurt hostages, and generally trying to make the gang a family. In particular, he tries to help the young girl they recently found, who reminds him so much of the sister he hasn't seen in decades... In combat, Club tends to find a good place to hide - when possible, he favors the bottom of a canal bed (in which case he doesn't carry a gun, obviously). He uses this position to Pull unwanted bullets off-course. To attack, he likes to throw one of his knives - they're large and curved, similar to boomerangs, and follow odd courses if they miss their targets, so the next sequence, he can Pull them back, generally making an attack against someone other than the initial target. Feel free to wait a little before havinhim do this in plain sight, though - let the PCs assume you and I are both actually unoriginal enough to have Club be the Smoker of the group. It'll be a fun surprise! Joker Attributes: Physique 5, Charm 4, Wits 5 Standings: Resources 3, Influence 4, Spirit 3 Resiliences: Health 8, Reputation 8, Willpower 8 Traits: Secrets Within Secrets; Great Beauty; Loves Lord Daveth; Bon Vivant; Acrobatic Fighter Equipment: Three Six-Shooters, assorted hidden knives and Derringers; One Misting Vial (3 Charges of Electrum); Zincmind (40/100 Charges) Abilities: * Electrum 4 (Allomancy) ** Instinctive Burning * Zinc 4 (Feruchemy) * Potent Combination (Twinborn) ** In any sequence when Ace burns Electrum while tapping at least 5 Charges of Zinc, she gains +2 dice to all actions (this does not stack with the +4 dice to defensive actions granted by the Electrum already). Tapping 10 or more Charges of Zinc also allows her to declare actions last and resolve them first, as with Atium, though actual Atium burners trump this. Notes: First things first: Joker is actually a woman. And not just any woman - she's Amelyn Reynardine, the firstborn child to Lord Halcynnos Reynardine (the second-biggest Noble around, having lost significant ground to his rivals in House Daveth in the recent war). She and her father, to put it mildly, do not get along. Specifically, she thinks she should fight, inherit the estate, and marry Xanatias Daveth, while her father would be morally outraged at the thought of even one of those things. You see the problem. Amelyn escaped Keep Reynardine almost two years ago, and has been in hiding ever since. Lord Halcynnos claims that she was kidnapped by agents of House Daveth, a story he might even believe (though his son and heir, Geoffros, certainly doesn't). With her love of adventure, danger, and excitement (things she still romanticizes after a year of banditry), Amelyn convinced Xanatias to have her personally lead his Aces Wild, at least until his schemes have matured enough that the two can marry in a way that will merge the Houses for good, making Daveth the undisputed master of the Northern Basin. Cheerful and charming, Amelyn nevertheless tends to see the other Aces as ultimately expendable - that's the whole point. Regardless, she is fond of them, and will not simply abandon them unless her hand is truly forced. She does not know that Diamond is aware of her being both a woman and a noble, but does know that a quiet Tineye is bad news - too bad that he and his sister are just too useful to get rid of. In combat, Joker tends to not fight at all, merely holding guns on hostages and otherwise encouraging the enemy to give up, unless a really interesting enemy (like a rival Twinborn) shows up. Such an opponent "he" will gleefully challenge to a classic quickdraw duel, knowing that the Atium-like combination of Electrum and Zinc makes these nearly unlosable. If the duel is refused, though, Joker's no slouch at dancing around the battlefield, evading hails of gunfire and taking deadly shots. And, once again, typing this up takes longer than I ever expected. Tune back in late tonight, for the final installment of The Aces Wild, featuring their own Ace In The Hole, and my musings on how to use them in Alloy-era games, or adapt them to Empire-era ones. -- Deus Ex Biotica

The Aces Wild The Aces Wild are a mysterious bunch - a small, tight-knit outlaw gang with exceptional abilities who pull off daring heists on targets which often seem hardly worth the trouble (though they rob their share of banks and valuable cargoes from trains and canal boats, too). Exactly what abilities they have and who their members are is difficult to say for certain, given their lightning-fast raids, tendency to hit outlying regions (even by Roughs standards), and the presence of a Smoker among them (though it is sometimes unclear who) but this is generally accepted to be their roster: * SPADE - A strongly Koloss-blooded man, grown over seven and a half feet tall (with greying hair to match), and the group's apparent leader. He has a propensity for leaping headlong into gunfire and emerging unscathed. * HEART - A woman in her early twenties, bloodthirsty and obviously a Thug. Tales of her savagery encourage people to surrender quickly, lest the other gang members let Heart deal with them. * DIAMOND - A man in his twenties, more reserved than the others. He is, however, a crack shot and deadly quick-draw. Additionally, there are sometimes reports of other gang members accompanying these three: * CLUB - An older man, sighted working with the others on occasion, at least once appearing seemingly out of nowhere behind a gunman who was drawing a bead on Spade. Many suspect that he is their Smoker. * JOKER - A handsome man and accomplished gunfighter, many think this is just a different name Diamond is sometimes called by, though there are witnesses who report seeing both at once. The most notable of these is the decorated lawman Fulbert Hedge, who reports Joker having managed to dodge eight bullets. Despite being both a veteran lawman and a Seeker, Fulbert could not determine how this was done - a Coppercloud was up, and he swore he'd never seen a comprable trick with the Metallic Arts. * AN UNKNOWN GIRL - Some witnesses claim to have seen a small, probably mid-teenaged, girl leaving crime scenes with the gang. I recommend making all of that information (except perhaps the rumored girl, which would take some investigation to discover) available well before the Aces Wild show up in person - let the PCs make their own guesses. Then, at some point, either the PCs can become a posse to hunt the infamous gang down, or they can have something the Aces want, and be attacked for it. Either way, it builds some tension if the PCs are constantly trying to guess what to expect. Here's the truth of the matter: The Aces High don't know it, but they're an elite team of mercenaries kept on constant retainer by Lord Xanatias Daveth. A couple of years ago, he and Joker had the idea of a force of "bandits" who would only prey on Daveth's rivals, to help keep competition weak while remaining untraceable. The two quickly began looking up the records of exceptionally powerful soldiers from the war a few years earlier who were now out of work. This lead them to Tal Cubbin and Fager Stone (the men who would become Club and Spade, respectively). While Joker approached and easily recruited the two men, Xanatias tapped into his House's extensive intelligence network, and eventually found a pair of promising twins. Once Maatek and Kweela (who took at once to the codenames Diamond and Heart) had joined, Xanatias thought the Aces Wild were ready, and told the eager Joker to begin. Joker is, of course, the only one of the Aces who knows who their secret employer is, or that they even have one - as far the others know, there's only Joker, who has a variety of contacts and is great at planning heists. Due to Spades' bossy nature, Joker put him in charge of things in the field, both to placate him and to keep the authorities from paying too much attention to the only one in the gang who could really cause trouble if caught. Spade Attributes: Physique 5, Charm 2, Wits 3 Standings: Resources 4, Influence 3, Spirit 3 Resiliences: Health 9, Reputation 5, Willpower 6 Traits: Thinks He's The Boss; Aggressive; Not As Dumb As He Looks; Ex-Soldier; Tougher Than Leather Equipment: Brass Knuckles; Revolver; Metal Knife; Obsidian Knife; Two Misting Vials (contain 3 charges of Steel) Abilities: * Half-Koloss (Genetic): adds 3 dice on all rolls involving raw strength. * Steel 5 (Allomancy) ** Increased Velocity (push small objects up to 250 MpH; +1 Damage) ** Steelrunning (move self up to 40 MpH) ** Train Punch (A combination of the above: Spade goes flying at an enemy, then punches them, Pushing on his brass knuckles. This horrifying attack hits for 12 Damage, though it also inflicts 2 unavoidable Damage on him - if not for his tough half-Koloss sinews, it would probably tear his arm off.) Notes: Spade is a big, brutal guy who never took well to civilian life, and he had become an outlaw before being recruited to Aces Wild - he just gets to pull more profitable jobs now. The facade of him "leading" the Aces is pretty thin to all of them, even him (though he is the one to divvy up the gang's take after jobs), and he sometimes takes this insecurity out on people who try to negotiate with the other members of the group, rather than himself. Nevertheless, he would never jeopardize one of Joker's plans - he knows which side his bread is buttered on. He might not be too quick to come to Diamond's aid, though: he has his eye on Heart, but somehow, her brother always seems to make things complicated. In combat, Spade has a scary, scary attack, and not a lot of people other than Thugs and Bloodmakers can take it. On the plus side, it relies on him having metals on his body, so an enemy Coinshot or Lurcher can mess him up somewhat. He knows this, though, and is quite ready to drop his knuckle dusters and switch to the tried-and-true Coinshot strategy of slinging a lot of metal at the enemy, or even drop metal entirely (by taking off his belt) and just close with someone, then grab them by the neck, launch into the air, and try to strangle them to death out of reach of help. PCs will need to think fast to keep him from quickly taking one of their less-durable members down for good. Heart Attributes: Physique 6, Charm 1, Wits 4 Standings: Resources 3, Influence 3, Spirit 3 Resiliences: Health 9, Reputation 4, Willpower 7 Traits: Likes Violence; Likes Laughter; Hates Nobles; Hates Weakness; Kinda Ambivalent About Everything Else Equipment: Obsidian Axe; Shotgun; Six-Shooter; Fan, Comb, or similar ornate posession snatched from a terrified noblewoman; Two Misting Vials (3 Charges of Pewter); Goldmind (60/100 Charges) Abilities: * Pewter 4 (Allomancy) ** Extreme Speed (Move up to 40 MpH, take two Steps/sequence) ** Unconscious Burning ** Savant (2 free Nudges with Pewter rolls, -1 Physique when not burning Pewter) * Gold 4 (Feruchemy) Notes: Kweela, along with her brother, Maatek, were born to a Lord in the far West of Baisin and his Terriswoman mistress. For the first few years of their lives, the two were raised in their father's Keep, in relative luxury. All of that changed when the Lord's wife bore him a child. She became worried that her husband might inherit his bastard over his legitimate issue, and forced the matter, with the end result of two half-Terris children being tossed out literally in the middle of the night. For a young Kweela, the strain was too much to bear, turning her to a life of crime, short-sighted hedonism, and ever-increasing violence. Maatek's advice to temper her urges, her Burning, or her recklessness before one of them destroys her do not quite fall on deaf ears, but do not find attentive ones, either. She works with the Aces for the thrills, though she personally despises Joker (who reminds her too much of nobility), and wishes that Spade would take over and run the gang like he clearly wants to. In combat, she sometimes opens up on people with her shotgun, but usually just finds someone amusing to shred with her obsidian axe. She has enough grasp of tactics to prioritize a Coinshot or Lurcher, who could interfere with Spade (and is quick to discard her own metals if she sees one - if she knows they'll be there, she won't even bring any metals outside her vials on the job), but can be distracted by the prospect of a duel with another Pewterarm. Diamond Attributes: Physique 4, Charm 2, Wits 6 Standings: Resources 3, Influence 2, Spirit 3 Resiliences: Health 7, Reputation 4, Willpower 9 Traits: Would Burn The World For His Sister; Poker Face; Flawless Marksman; Done Lots Of Crimes To Survive; Lazy Equipment: Assorted Weaponry (generally two pistols, a rifle, three Obsidian knives, and a sling); set of aluminum lockpicks; Two Misting Vials (3 Charges of Tin); Goldmind (40/100 Charges) Abilities: * Tin 4 (Allomancy) ** Focused Sense: Sight (+1 Die with Sight rolls) ** Piercing Sight (can see through mist, curtains, smoke, etc.) ** Ultimate Aim (If aiming at a target he can see while burning Tin, Diamond can delay his shot until the end of the Sequence. If his target has not moved more than a step in that time, he gains +2 dice to the attack.) * Gold 4 (Feruchemy) Notes: Maatek reacted to being thrown out on the streets differently than his sister. While she became furious towards the world for the injustice, he became determined to make good, no matter what. Sadly, "making good" proved complicated when he was constantly looking out for a sister who seemed determined to destroy herself. If he seems cold, aloof, arrogant, and uncaring, that's because he is. But, to be fair, even if he weren't, he would behave this way - he won't let anyone see weakness in him, since if they do, that would be a crack they could use to make her vulnerable. Other than that, he mostly seems to follow Kweela's lead, becoming first a thief, then a bandit, and now one of the Aces Wild to always stay close to her, and keep her just a little further from self-destruction. In fact, it was he who convinced her to join the Aces, knowing there was more behind Joker's offer than it seemed, and reasoning that a well-funded group with an agenda would be safer than working alone, or with normal outlaws. He sometimes wonders if he was right. In combat, Diamond hangs back, watching for threats to the job in general, and to his sister in particular. Once he sees them, he removes them. If antone comes after him personally, he creates some distraction or obstacle, then flees and circles back - Diamond never fights on the enemy's terms, and is meticulous about bringing to each job the tools he thinks will be most useful. That said, he only cares a little about the money, and not at all about pride. As such, he would rather be forced to retreat a job gone wrong than fight it out. Wow, one AM already? I'll have to be back tomorrow to detail the three more mysterious members of Aces Wild. -- Deus Ex Biotica

Doesn't do it for me. I love seeing all the different things Wax manages to do with only Pushing.

There will be more Mistborn at some point, certainly. It's unclear whether any are alive during Alloy of Law, but he has revealed that the first book of the second Mistborn trilogy will be in an essentially "modern" setting, with a Misting SWAT team hutning down a Mistborn serial killer. Aethling, I would advise you not to judge the future of the Mistborn series from Alloy of Law. It is, by Brandon Sanderson's admission, a much simpler, sillier, and less deep book, written to keep Scadrial in the minds of both himself and the public while he's dedicating most of his attention to Wheel of Time and the first half of the Stormlight Archive. If that's not for you, that's fine - it's a pretty radical tonal shift from the original trilogy, in many ways. However, in several years, he'll begin work on a true sequel trilogy to the first three Mistborn books, which he says will be just as serious and thoughtful as they were, and is confirmed to have at least one full Mistborn in it, maybe more. If Alloy just isn't for you, you may be best served to ignore it and its (possible) sequels, and wait for that. -- Deus Ex Biotica P.S. I, for the record, think a Mistborn book without any Mistborn is my favorite thing he's done with one of his magic systems yet, as the interactions of the MANY Twinborn combinations are utterly fascinating.