Returned

You'll always be a torturer of Heralds to me, @Argenti.

We don't know enough about the underlying mechanisms for how Metallic Arts are inherited to assess how successful a matchmaking and breeding scheme might be. It's not impossible that it could work. What little evidence we have suggests that it would not work very well, though. We don't have any evidence suggesting that two Allomancer or Feruchemist parents are (at this point) more likely to produce an Allomancer or Feruchemist child than one parent with a normal Scadrian, which is one of they key concepts behind such a scheme. And a Mistborn doesn't seem to be any more likely to produce another Mistborn than a Misting, while a Misting obviously can produce a Mistborn. We have excellent evidence for general heritability of Feruchemy but the WoBs regarding the dilution of that trait seem to relate to interaction with Allomancy, not necessarily mixing with non-Terris people. If that's true then the change might not be recoverable through matchmaking alone. The nobility, pre-Catacendre, did at least some matchmaking along Allomantic lines but the population still lost Allomantic strength pretty quickly over a thousand years. Skaa apparently didn't (don't?) have the ability to maintain Allomantic lines at all, absolutely requiring a noble ancestor within five generations to yield an Allomancer (The Final Empire, p. 292). The only people for whom we even know that modern Allomancy (what we see after Lerasium was given by Rashek) is consistently heritable are nobles, and we know that Rashek changed them in some way from what they were before. It's possible that the heritability is more due to those changes than the Lerasium, if not the Allomantic strength. At this point in Scadrial's history noble ancestry might be pretty well distributed through the overall population, but how much noble background does someone need, and could that background be reconstituted into a stronger trait? Maybe. But it's not a sure thing. Overall, the evidence we have suggests that Allomantic strength and heritability come from two angles: being descended from those Rashek transformed into nobles, and being descended from people that burned Lerasium to become Mistborn. The latter piece seems to dilute with each generation, and even at its strongest point (the immediate descendants of the original Lerasium-burners) we don't have any reason to believe that all of the next generation were Allomancers, while we do have good evidence that each generation was weaker (Allomantically) than those that preceded them. We don't know how noble lineage affects things other than that it seems to matter a lot, somehow. Allomantic strength seems like it has some relationship to matchmaking, but it also seems like the main effect of that is to slow the degradation, not to reverse it. The changes in expressed Feruchemy over time don't have those same considerations and so a matchmaking scheme might be more effective there, but it's notable that we don't have any evidence that the current Terris efforts have been at all effective in that regard. So, from what we know now, the idea of a matchmaking program to strengthen Metallic Arts powers across generations is a maybe, at best. But medallion technology (never mind raw Hemalurgy) is so much more reliable, effective, fast, and scalable that I think it would be hard to get enough people on board with a matchmaking program to even make the effort. Regardless, there is clearly more to this for both Allomancy and Feruchemy than simple heritability and we don't have enough reliable information to make very confident guesses. Yes, I think so. Mistborns' Allomantic strength weakens over generations just like Mistings' do, and Mistborn don't appear more likely to produce Mistborn than Mistings or vice-versa. And neither is all that likely to produce an Allomancer at all. But Allomantic potential does seem to be preserved, in at least some cases. Kelsier notes this when he is describing Vin's father, though how precise his knowledge is is unclear. But it seems like the difference is in potential strength of an Allomancer child, should one be born, and not necessarily the likelihood of such a child being born. "Seems" being an important word there-- we have very little reliable information from which we can develop guesses.

I de-upvoted one, but it seems that wasn't enough.

How about this one: any small device which requires some electricity but not a whole lot at once is built with as little metal as possible, and/or the functional components are surrounded by an aluminum case (making them Allomantically undetectable and uninfluenceable). There is then a small cartridge which can be slid into the device, and the cartridge contains a reciprocating metal element which can be pushed/pulled within a track (probably against a spring) or which is mounted on a wheel and so it can be spun. Either way, the cartridge's metal element is designed on the same principles as a wireless charging mechanism and the motion of the metal element generates electricity. The interior of the main device is designed such that the cartridge, when inserted, either transfers power to the aluminum-encased components (perhaps via magnets) or directly conducts power through aluminum channels. The Allomancer can, at need, power the device directly or potentially charge a small power storage system in it (like a big capacitor or a more complex rechargeable battery-like structure) by Pushing and/or Pulling on the metal element in the cartridge. What the devices do obviously will matter, but I could imagine a small noise-generating machine (low-frequency pulses, maybe able to distract Seekers?), lights, a radio transmitter, or lots of other small-draw equipment. It's probably easier just to carry standardized batteries in an aluminum case and power things that way, but the idea of converting Allomantic power into electricity on demand seems like something that would have some valuable applications to an infiltrator, spy, or assassin.

Really interesting line of thinking! I'm not sure of all of the details, but my thoughts are: Soulcasting doesn't appear to preserve the details of something's original material, aside from physical shape. As an example, when Jasnah transformed a human into smoke or crystal they weren't living smoke or living crystal (as far as we know, at least). They became what the were cast into, and that happened to be unliving. I'm sure that others can post corrections for me, but Soulcasting seems to actually convert one thing into another and forsake its original properties (again, except for shape in some cases). If that's accurate then a corpse Soulcast into some non-flesh material won't be a corpse any more, so the normal Lifeless elements seem like they wouldn't apply. Or at least wouldn't necessarily. Soulcasting an object which could easily be made to resemble a humanoid body should make it easier to Awaken afterwards, even if transformed into a harder-to-Awaken substance. It's easier to make a wax figure in a human shape and cast it to tungsten than it is to carve or mold tungsten. So in that sense it should be easier than Awakening a non-human-shaped piece of the same material, but I think that the difficulties with Awakening metal would overwhelm that. Think, but don't really know. I could easily be mistaken but I think that Soulcasting something which has been Awakened has a real chance of ending its Awakened status. We don't have any examples I can think of to compare with though. It just seems like too much of a cheat to Awaken something and then supercharge it by transforming it into a material which could never have been Awakened with so few Breaths. And that's assuming that the same visualization and Command would translate to the new material, which won't always be a given.

I, personally, think that the effects of swearing the fifth Oath as a Radiant won't provide a ton of dramatic or flexible new powers. It's a given that such a Radiant will be able to work with more Investiture and direct it more efficiently and effectively, since we see this improve with every Oath already it seems likely to continue. I don't know how much more powerful Radiants can become while still being characters that we can see participate in the plot without breaking the story just by their presence. We haven't seen much in the way of Surges changing through further Radiance, though we also haven't seen many people actually develop. Shallan may be a good counterexample, being able to Soulcast her illusions to some degree, but I don't think that that's something along the lines of "Soulcasting like an Elsecaller". Maybe their resonances become more pronounced and flexible, rather than individual powers? I don't think that manipulating essences will come up, nor making use of spren to cause changes in the physical realm. The former encroaches too much on Elsecallers and Soulcasting in general while the latter is what fabrials do already, and figures old enough to have known the Radiant Orders in the past seem ignorant of and surprised about captive spren fabrial technology. I don't think that Radiants will lose agency or be inherently constrained from making "bad" choices-- human freedom to choose to keep an oath or betray it seems like too much of a theme to be permanently taken off the table, though I do think that the depth of understanding required to reach the 5th Ideal will provide a lot of insight and guide a lot of decision making support. So more Investiture and possibly better/fuller resonance between powers seem to me to be the most likely effects swearing the 5th Ideal produces. There will be more effects but I expect them to be more personal and philosophical in nature than additional superpowers. A 5th Ideal Radiant will have a much fuller and deeply-held understanding of their Oaths and the view of the world they engender (such as Kaladin's perspectives shifting in ways that make him a fuller Windrunner but less capable as a soldier). They'll have the cracks in their spiritwebs (if not minds/souls, necessarily) filled in with... Investiture? The nature of their bonded spren? They'll have confronted the worst of their issues, though I'm not sure it's a guarantee that they'll overcome those issues, necessarily. Their spren will be more fully present in the physical realm, with expanded intelligence, personality, and understanding than they'd had previously. That also suggests expanded abilities with manifesting as different types of objects.

Moash may die, but discussions around him never will. He's a reasonably well-drawn character (Moash, not Vyre!), who gets more depth and clear, consequential decision making opportunities that we readers observe than most characters do aside from the series' core protagonists. That extra complexity gives a lot more weight to individual choices he makes (since we see him making them) plus a lot of context for why he might be making the choices he does. But he's also decidedly a villain, and readers are unlikely to forgive killing Teft even if they'd be open to giving him a pass on killing Elhokar. That makes him polarizing. With a window into his mind and decision making process we see him doing things that are very difficult to justify and then we get people breaking into groups: some sympathize with him and want to forgive or excuse his behaviors (to at least some degree) because they find his choices understandable though not good. Others see his decision making process and assess that it is not good enough to drive the choices he makes and so despise him even more than other villains in the series whose minds and choices to become villainous we don't see (cremlings like Torol Sadeas and Amaram, for example). I really do think it's primarily an emotional response thing which people often try to fit into a broader (often sketchily defined) moral outlook, and people have their motivated view of him whether that view is to excuse or condemn. That he personally betrays and harries one of readers' favorite characters in the series just casts the stakes of judgement into sharper contrast.

It's definitely a cool idea, and I think you could muffle the chamber with the spring to keep the noise down. My idea with the springs was to allow the kinetic energy of one being released and moving a metal plate to give more force to Push or Pull against, allowing things like on-demand Allomantic mobility even when anchors are unavailable, without needing to haul something heavier than your own body. The spring gun is definitely a less awkward and more generally usable idea though!

I've been trying to think of cool ideas, but my best ones have come out half-baked so far! Hopefully I'll come up with better ones than these two, but here are mine for the moment: 1. A reversible cloak with a metallic element on both sides, sort of like an emergency blanket. On the one side, a thin metallic lining (or bits of metallic thread, like embroidery or stitching) and on the other side aluminum thin enough to still be flexible. The edges of the cloak are weighted and stitched into the non-aluminum side in key places, and the whole cloak can be folded up with either side facing outwards. But as long as the non-aluminum side is facing the Mistborn they can push and pull on those edges to move the cloak in interesting ways, snapping it, spinning it, etc. But the idea is that the Mistborn can unfurl it quickly, push it forward like a net to trap others, flip it around and cover themselves. Tactics would develop quickly to counter, but a net that blocks Allomancy as it approaches could be a handy tool. And a large-ish piece of fabric that could alternately be Allomantically manipulated or provide a barrier against same could be a pretty versatile item. 2. A metal box with multiple heavy springs inside, compressed by metal plates and held by metal latches. The box itself is reasonably heavy, but the springs can contain a solid amount of energy when compressed. The Mistborn uses Allomancy to release the appropriate latches and then the spring extends, pushing its metal plate forcefully outwards. The Mistborn can Push or Pull against that motion while the spring is extending and gets the effect of working against greater weight than the box or plates actually offer, even if the box itself is in midair. A bit bulky, and troublesome to reset, so not an ideal tool and maybe a bit disposable (of necessity). But I like the idea of carefully engineering of the springs and weighted plates to allow for emergency maneuvering or extra force at any time.

I like the chulls. They seem relatable, in their role in life on Roshar (natural and otherwise) if not personally.

That's a good point, though I think it's worth mentioning that Ruin's influence on Kelsier was enough to make him a poor Vessel for Preservation regardless of his well above average Connection to the latter. There may be some fuzziness there though, as aspects of character may be relevant beyond actually directly interacting with Shardic powers.

We don't know enough about them to say much in the general case, and in some practical senses they may well work as you suggest here. If they can't be tapped, for example, then application of the ironminds on Malwish ships becomes very different and are a depletable resource on voyages. But that doesn't mean that the Malwish can't have dedicated Metalborn who deal with the excess weight in some sort of centralized facility. That the Bands could do it all but guarantees that medallions could also do it (theoretically, assuming that the medallions and Bands work according to the same principles), though there are obviously substantial technical hurdles separating the two already. However, we do have a WoB indicating that medallions grant the ability to store attributes in a metalmind other than the relevant portion of the medallion itself. This seems to suggest that a medallion allowing storage of an attribute would allow storage of that attribute in an appropriate metalmind of another medallion: We also do see people tapping an attribute and also storing it, so in at least some cases the Feruchemical ability must be bidirectional (storable and tappable, both): I really wish we knew, specifically, why the heat medallions at the end of BoM couldn't be refilled. It's a puzzle, especially when compared with some of the Set's similar technology. My current suspicion revolves around Identity of the medallion itself, but suspicion is all it's going to be for a while I did not forget about Straff but I'm not sure this is the argument you are thinking. By "breeding program" I presumed you meant increasing the proportion of Metalborn among the Malwish by selectively combining lines of descent, and that's the part that we haven't seen work despite at least some efforts to do so. I'm not sure what you mean to indicate with a "decent clip" of Allomancer production, given that we don't have much information on how many existed across generations; if the number of Allomancers per X population increased or stayed the same that would be one thing, but if it dipped it would be exactly the opposite. We have zero evidence (that I recall, at least) that two Metalborn are more likely to produce Metalborn children than one Metalborn and one normal parent. We know (anecdotally and without citation, but at least from a character in-text) that Allomancy fades pretty quickly outside of strictly noble lineages. From what we've seen it appears that Allomancy and Feruchemy become less pronounced in populations over time absent specific events to offset that (the Lerasium beads for Rashek's friends, Sazed making Spook Mistborn, etc.). We don't know anything about the natural Mistings, maybe that's a baseline rate among Scadrians that hasn't been (can't be?) breached. But in any case it's not as easy as "get a Metalborn parent in the mix" when skaa Allomancers' powers dwindle so quickly across generations. Maybe the Malwish are just stuck with the baseline rate of natural Allomancers and can't alter it via matchmaking-- we don't even know if natural Allomancy is heritable. The unifying trait of consistently heritable Allomancy on Scadrial is Rashek's altering of people into nobles and skaa, with only the nobles getting "extra" access to Allomancy. Given their dependence on medallions to live it's possible, perhaps likely, that the Malwish probably have about as large a population at any given time as they can support. And if their population is limited by the medallions available then arbitrarily expanding the population generation after generation is a pretty difficult strategy to pursue, especially given that even among the much more Metalborn-rich Northerners Allomancy is pretty rare. If an approach that is "more children lead to more of the useful medallions" doesn't pay off pretty quickly you'd have some problems. Though of course it's possible that the limiting factors on Southern populations are not related to the number of medallions available, in which case that pressure would be far less intense. And all of that leaves aside other issues (practical, cultural, or social) which a breeding plan could introduce.

Interesting angle, as Kelsier was involved in the development of Spook's book, was the Sovereign to the Malwish, and was already dependent on Hemalurgy when he visited the South. I wonder how much the Malwish need Metalborn powers outside of what the medallions grant at this point in the story. It seems like once you have a handful of the key unsealed metalminds you'd be able to keep producing them without necessarily having fresh Ferrings or Mistings born every few years or needing more Hemalurgic spikes than they already have, even if having Metalborn or Hemalurgists makes the process easier or better in some way. We know so little about how those metalminds are produced I wouldn't feel like betting too much on it, but the fact is that there seems to be a pretty sizeable population in the South that depends on those medallions and so it seems unlikely that they are teetering at the edge of disaster in terms of access to them. Maybe they've been limiting their population growth to what their medallion supply can support? As to the breeding programs and caste restrictions, Sanderson already did that and it was not really effective so I'm not sure I'd sign on to such things making inescapable sense. The time period of the first three Mistborn books had caste restrictions (routinely violated) and at least ad hoc breeding programs related to keeping Allomancy in family lines. It worked to slow the dissipation of Allomancy somewhat but that appears to be as good as it got. The breeding program for the Terris (as the Keepers approached it) may have worked in the manner you're describing though, so maybe there is some hope for it (if their initial stock of Metalborn is adequate). Otherwise the goal of "more and stronger Allomancers/Feruchemists" via selective breeding has been a consistent failure over centuries of in-book time, and coming/already present technological advances seem more promising in that regard while also being much easier and faster to undertake.

Yes, it is possible (especially if you're expansive with your definitions of "child" and "have"). It's not impossible that such a child would have Shard-esque powers, though it's not clear how that would work as it has never happened. Here are a couple of relevant WoBs that I'm aware of:

I agree, though I think that regular people will not have much access to bazaars in the Cognitive Realm (save for the black market, which will definitely exist). I wonder how effectively this could be accomplished... a trade in Breaths is probably not stoppable, but the ability to manufacture unkeyed metalminds seems ripe for centralized control. And Hemalurgy will upset everything anyways. The future of the Cosmere is conflict, between worlds, groups, and Shards, and I think that as a part of the conflicts those with the ability to do so will lock down access to Investiture manifestations as thoroughly as they can. Raw Investiture, like jars of Dor, will probably have a thriving trade everywhere. Within-system commerce might be common (like Scadrians having access to a wide variety of unkeyed metalminds). But I feel like Worldhoppers will deal with systems that discourage accumulating a variety of powers.