Jump to content

Mechanical magic and the future of Scadrial


ShardlessVessel

Recommended Posts

I believe that as we progress into the future of the Cosmere, Scadrian usage of magic will become more and more tied to mechanical magics like medallions and ettmetal machines.

From what glimpses we've seen of the future, it appears that Scadrians will eventually merge the Metallic Arts with their electronics, and I will go so far as to suggest that in Era 4 that will be the only form in which we'll see Allomancy being used.

Being genetic, Allomancy and Feruchemy become weaker over time. This is not as pronounced in Feruchemy due to the nature of the magic system (you take as much as you give), but it's quite noticeable in Allomancy. Elend is noted by Vin to be incredibly powerful, due to his undiluted Allomancy; any Allomancer from Era 1 would be similarly strong in comparison if brought to Era 2. Unless the magic is fundamentally changed or the Shard starts providing lerasium every now and then to refresh the sDNA pool, Allomancy will wilt into parlor tricks given enough time.

Enter mechanical magic. The specifics of the allomantic machines are not yet clear, but I'd wager you can make a machine that is more powerful than a human - SoScad airships come to mind. I suspect that primer cube technology can also be extrapolated to provide a means for amplifying one's own powers, allowing the weaker Allomancers of the space age to use their powers productively. These are my predictions:

  • In Era 4, Allomancers as we know them now will be legends
  • Mistings will still exist, but they will not be able to do much without the equivalent of allomantic fabrials
  • We will see more technology that manipulates Investiture

Any thoughts or criticisms?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with most of your thoughts, but I don't think that we'll see older-style Allomancers fade quite as much as you suggest. There was a pretty strong push in Mistborn era 2 to breed for stronger ability in the metallic arts. This was especially pronounced among the Terris, hoping to produce a full Feruchemist, but the Set also may have had an Allomantic breeding program (though they were also engaged in Hemalurgy which would burn through a lot of Allomancers).

In any case, the advances made by Southern Scadrial will almost certainly provide things which will allow anyone to pick up Allomantic and/or Feruchemical powers, and since a lot of those are awesome we'll see a lot of demand for them and some people will end up at least as powerful as era 1 Allomancers. No matter how cool technology is, at least some wealthy, connected people will have jewelry that makes them Mistborn.

And since native magic will make production of such jewelry easier and more efficient to some degree, people with natural Allomantic or Feruchemical power will be wealthy and influential themselves; more than enough so that families will work to keep the abilities strong in their descendants into the future. They'll just be that powerful, rich, and influential while surrounded by advanced Mettalic Arts-fueled technology in outer space.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Era 2 is as diluted as the powers will become.

Spoiler

Yoonseo Chang

Looking at Allomancy, you've mentioned that over time the power dilutes and each ability becomes less powerful. (for example a Tineye in Era 2 will generally be less powerful than one in Era 1) Does the same effect happen in Feruchemy as well? How would Feruchemy become less pure or diluted (other than Ferrings appearing)?

Brandon Sanderson

I have not gone as far with Feruchemy in that regard. I would say that if you're going to get a weakening of Feruchemy, which you're asking about, is the amount of stored attribute you get for lost attribute. There is decay there, you don't get a 1:1. Feruchemy generally I would say is not much weaker than it was before, a little bit but not much. This was done partially for narrative reasons. I wanted Allomancy... I wanted to back off a little on Allomancy and tell stories with it a little bit weaker. Again, mostly narrative reasons at this point. At this point on Scadrial, it's weakened about as much as it's going to because by this point people are having children that are more powerful because of the certain mixing. I'm not saying it's going up, I'm saying they have hit an equilibrium on Scadrial for the most part, at least in the Basin.

YouTube Livestream 32 (June 3, 2021)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Frustration said:

Era 2 is as diluted as the powers will become.

  Hide contents

Yoonseo Chang

Looking at Allomancy, you've mentioned that over time the power dilutes and each ability becomes less powerful. (for example a Tineye in Era 2 will generally be less powerful than one in Era 1) Does the same effect happen in Feruchemy as well? How would Feruchemy become less pure or diluted (other than Ferrings appearing)?

Brandon Sanderson

I have not gone as far with Feruchemy in that regard. I would say that if you're going to get a weakening of Feruchemy, which you're asking about, is the amount of stored attribute you get for lost attribute. There is decay there, you don't get a 1:1. Feruchemy generally I would say is not much weaker than it was before, a little bit but not much. This was done partially for narrative reasons. I wanted Allomancy... I wanted to back off a little on Allomancy and tell stories with it a little bit weaker. Again, mostly narrative reasons at this point. At this point on Scadrial, it's weakened about as much as it's going to because by this point people are having children that are more powerful because of the certain mixing. I'm not saying it's going up, I'm saying they have hit an equilibrium on Scadrial for the most part, at least in the Basin.

YouTube Livestream 32 (June 3, 2021)

 

Ahh, interesting. So we won't necessarily see technology replacing innate magic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, ShardlessVessel said:

Ahh, interesting. So we won't necessarily see technology replacing innate magic.

I think we may, but with the drive being a little more social.  Bloodlines with the innate powers (or combinations of powers) vs those that don't have that genetic advantage and require Medallion tech (or spikes for the less scrupulous) to access and manipulate investiture.  

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think we'll ever see a time where being a natural metalborn isn't significant, it'll just be less about the abilities you uniquely possess and more about how much a resource that person can be to others. My assumption is that you actually need metalborn to make medallions, for example. Now, I'm not so convinced of the theories that say it requires hemalurgy, but I do assume that you need a firesoul to make a f-brass medallion, for example, even if once its made anyone could fill or compound with it. As such, metalborn would still be valued for their ability to produce medallions, or the fact that they can have more powers at once than just the medallion would grant, since their own powers wouldn't interfere with eachother (that we know of) meaning metalborn might still have a higher power potential. Nevermind the fact that, even with access to medallions people will still have different levels of skill with each metal and those naturally born to those powers will likely be more skilled with them than those who acquire them artificially.

All that to say, I do agree that the role of metalborn will be less significant, I just don't believe it will become irrelevant to Scadrian society.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/19/2022 at 0:11 PM, HSuperLee said:

I don't think we'll ever see a time where being a natural metalborn isn't significant, it'll just be less about the abilities you uniquely possess and more about how much a resource that person can be to others. My assumption is that you actually need metalborn to make medallions, for example.

I agree. Certainly Allik says that they need Metalborn and Excisors to make medallions.

And if the decline we've seen by Era 2 is already maxed out, natural Allomancy will remain a thing indefinitely.

And there can be advantages to having a natural ability even if ability-granting medallions are common. It's a lot easier to search someone for medallions and take them away than to get metal out of someone's stomach.

Also, I wonder if mechanical use and natural use are exactly the same. On Roshar, we see that

Spoiler

Fabrial Soulcasting savantism has really bad side effects that Radiants apparently aren't as affected by, and the fabrial version is apparently more dependent on gem types.

So a natural Misting who's very practiced with their ability might be more flexible or safe in some way than a medallion user? Maybe Kelsier's pushing on just parts of a metal bar (not center of mass) or Wax's steel bubble wouldn't be possible with a steel Allomancy medallion?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...