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Which power would you choose?


Straff Venture

  

504 members have voted

  1. 1. What power do you wish you had the most?

    • Allomancy
      90
    • Feruchemy
      96
    • Hemalurgy
      23
    • AonDor
      40
    • Chayshan
      3
    • Dakhor Monk
      2
    • Awakening
      25
    • Returned
      3
    • Soulcasting
      13
    • Surgebinding
      125
    • Shardplate
      4
    • Twinborn
      80


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I would want to be a forger. There has got to be a way for a forger to forge themselves into a feruchemist, mistborn, surgebinder, etc. etc.

 

I think that strains the bounds of plausibility, but is a good idea. I don't like how long Forgery takes for how limited it is. Shai spent years on her soulstamps.

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She's pretty clear to state the forgeries have to be plausible. How exactly is it plausible that you'd've been born to different parents, on a different world, and then worldhopped to wherever you currently are?

 

Not to mention, I suspect that forgery doesn't let you just craft raw Investiture out of nothing, i.e. Forging a dun sphere into a sphere full of stormlight would require that much raw Investiture. So you'd forge yourself into an Elantrian without Dor, or an Awakener without Breaths.

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I thought it would work because in "a cool bit of info" in the "General Brandon Discussion" it is said that Brandon says "all magic systems are compatible".

 

But he's pretty clear to indicate that it would take jury-rigging. I could be wrong, your idea is certainly plausible, I'll just be very surprised if he really makes it that easy.

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It takes years for the (possibly) premier forger in the world to craft a soulstamp that requires nothing more than a plausible path her life could have taken after a certain point. Presumably, crafting a "what if I were an entirely different person several generations ago who is nevertheless still me" soulstamp would take decades, even for someone as good as Shai.

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She's pretty clear to state the forgeries have to be plausible. How exactly is it plausible that you'd've been born to different parents, on a different world, and then worldhopped to wherever you currently are?

 

Not to mention, I suspect that forgery doesn't let you just craft raw Investiture out of nothing, i.e. Forging a dun sphere into a sphere full of stormlight would require that much raw Investiture. So you'd forge yourself into an Elantrian without Dor, or an Awakener without Breaths.

 

in fact you'd probably never could forge yourself into an allomancer or elantrian, but there's a shortcut: forge an hemalurgical spike and plant it on you. that has a chance of working.

 

 

As for myself, if I could choose between everything, I'd pick something out of the list: being a kandra.

I would be functionally immortal, immune to most wounds and accidents, even if i broke my bones i could have some new ones remade quickly, and I could try a lot of different things; I could have a perfect body withhout ever needing to excercise, I could go freeclimbing as falling would only inconvenience me (maybe i could bring an extra set of bones to replace those that i break falling), I can do boxing without risking of being hurt for real, i could try to fit different body shapes... the possibilities are endless, and they would work pretty well in the real world too. in particular the functional immortality. i like being alive, and would rather keep doing so if possible.

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Decisions, decisions. Forging would be interesting to play with, though I doubt if .i'd have the patience to spend time learning and crafting all the necessary details for it. I would also say Returned (immortality, perfect physique and senses, Awakening? Awesome!) except that if if I was the only one with Breathes, we'll, I'd rather my reign not last only a week.

I have to say Feruchemist. It seems like the most versatile system there, and the easiest to implement into modern life beyond going insane and declaring myself a magic casting God.

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The idea of being a kandra slipped my mind as a 'power'. I like it, though there is the downside of having to kill two people to become one.

one also has to be a mistwraith to begin with... for the sake of the argument here, we are ignoring all those kind of problems. Just like we are ignoring that to have many breaths one has to make as many drabs.

If we really need to think about that, let's assume that the spikes were donated by my grandparents that, in point of death, specifically asked that as their last gift to me. or they were taken from people sentenced to execution. or from terminally ill volunteers. It's something like organ donation when considered like that.

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Well, BS says that Hemo is inherently bad. So the act of making a kandra, ripping someone's spirit web apart, is inherently bad, whether they would be killed or would die anyway.

If we're ignoring the problems with Hemo, I'd just go with being a Marsh-inquisitor. He pretty much has the same powers TLR had (but weaker)

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Well, BS says that Hemo is inherently bad. So the act of making a kandra, ripping someone's spirit web apart, is inherently bad, whether they would be killed or would die anyway.

If we're ignoring the problems with Hemo, I'd just go with being a Marsh-inquisitor. He pretty much has the same powers TLR had (but weaker)

 

And no eyes.

I wonder if an Inquisitor would be a Rosharan's version of the devil?

 

I realise Hemalurgy is, as Marsh put it, "a messy art", but I still kinda hope that someday we get a "good" hemalurgist character. It's the only magic in the cosmere which seems to be nigh-exclusively villainous.

 

(Say, random thought. Brandon's mentioned the jury rigging of magic systems before. Is it possible for Shards to hack into one anthers' magic systems? I'm picturing Odium taking control of the Kandra or Hemalurgists, Ruin-style.)

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The minute I posted that I realised "devil" was the wrong word because of the voidbringers.

 

But I do mean Rosharan. After all, they use eye color to determine social caste. So if Lighteyes are the nobility, and darkeyes are the peasents, what does that make the Giant-iron-spike eyes?

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I realise Hemalurgy is, as Marsh put it, "a messy art", but I still kinda hope that someday we get a "good" hemalurgist character. It's the only magic in the cosmere which seems to be nigh-exclusively villainous.

 

Voidbringers? We know less about it, but it's certainly considered villanous.

 

The Kandra, tensoon specifically, and even Human the Koloss, are as "good" as most characters get.

 

Also... what's wrong with an art being villanous? "I can't wait to see one of the good guys eat a baby. So far, baby-eating has been something only bad guys do..."

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It just strikes me as a little strange that, given how understandable most of Brandon's villains are, that there's one magic system which is unrepentantly evil.

 

Now, granted, I can see reasons for it. It might be that he's deliberately inverting the old "there is no good or bad magic, it's only how you use it" trope by having it be the magic, itself, that is inherently bad. Maybe hemalurgy is the magic-system equivalent of Straff Venture, Sadeas, or Ramsay Snow- the black that shows the shades of grey in between. 

 

I'll grant there are lots of reasons why hemalurgy could be considered undully evil, so is it really that wrong to speculate on good uses for it?

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I'll grant there are lots of reasons why hemalurgy could be considered undully evil, so is it really that wrong to speculate on good uses for it?

 

Yes.

 

LaughingJokingKidding!

 

However silly and hyperbolic my joke was, I honestly meant it. There are some acts, like baby-eating, that are the purest of black in all but the most extreme and contrived of circumstances. Killing someone and ripping out their soul so you can use their power... you can feel free to speculate, but I don't think we're "losing" anything in the cosmere just because Mr. Sanderson doesn't find time/room to engage in a philosophical debate about how hemalurgy might have some redeeming qualities. As he mentions frequently in his annotations of most books, there's a lot he'd like to fit in, but just never has room for. This could be one of them.

 

To turn one of your statements on its head... yes, most villains in the cosmere are relatable, they are the heroes of their own viewpoints. So isn't it exciting that, here, just once, he breaks with that tradition? You've grown so used to moral conflicts being a matter of perspective, and then BAM, out of nowhere, here's this magic system that's unrepentantly evil. Never saw it coming. This is why I read this guy, always breaking out of his own comfort zones.

 

There's a thread somewhere about what kind of villain Ruin is, and I likened him to Ursula from the broadway version of The Little Mermaid. There's a woman who isn't ashamed of her dark side. She doesn't hide it, or deny it, or justify it away, or lament how much she's suffering under the guilt of all the torture she commits. She's a villain, not a vanillain. She's a bad guy, and she owns it. I frankly find her very refreshing, much more honest than most other antagonists who always whine and make themselves out to be some sort of victim. Here's part of her song, "I want the good times back."

 

I wanna make the merfolk cower like they did in days of yore.

Sure, it's sheer abuse of power; so? Ain't that what power's for?

I wanna taste their tears. I wanna hear their screams.

I want that special rush you get from crushing hopes and dreams.

 

She's got a confidence beyond what I've seen in most any other villain I've come across, and it's amazing. She lets her freak flag fly.

 

So bring it on, I say. Why are we lamenting because hemalurgy is breaking the mold? Why are we acting like it would somehow be more interesting or unique if it had the exact same attributes as literally every other system of magic (except maybe voidbringing). Let it be evil, let it be proud of its own attributes. It doesn't need our approval; it doesn't need to judge itself by our moral standard and justify itself by finding some excuse why it "isn't that bad". Better to reign in hell! I say we rejoice in hemalurgy, the only magic system we know a lot about so far that manages to be more than a simple tool to be used however you wish. Hemalurgy is a wild stallion that cannot be broken; can never be hitched to a plow or broken to saddle. It will ever range free, being as nature intended it to be! You go, hemalurgy! Don't listen to them tell you you have to conform yourself to their standards. Be the evil, soul-shredding art you were born to be.

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As in the past (when things got a bit heated if I recall), I vehemently disagree with you, Darnam, on this issue despite my intense respect for everything else you have to offer us.

 

Hemalurgic spikes don't kill people.  Hemalurgists do.

 

And we shall speak no more of it in a thread labeled "which power would you choose?"

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Yes.

 

LaughingJokingKidding!

 

However silly and hyperbolic my joke was, I honestly meant it. There are some acts, like baby-eating, that are the purest of black in all but the most extreme and contrived of circumstances. Killing someone and ripping out their soul so you can use their power... you can feel free to speculate, but I don't think we're "losing" anything in the cosmere just because Mr. Sanderson doesn't find time/room to engage in a philosophical debate about how hemalurgy might have some redeeming qualities. As he mentions frequently in his annotations of most books, there's a lot he'd like to fit in, but just never has room for. This could be one of them.

 

To turn one of your statements on its head... yes, most villains in the cosmere are relatable, they are the heroes of their own viewpoints. So isn't it exciting that, here, just once, he breaks with that tradition? You've grown so used to moral conflicts being a matter of perspective, and then BAM, out of nowhere, here's this magic system that's unrepentantly evil. Never saw it coming. This is why I read this guy, always breaking out of his own comfort zones.

 

There's a thread somewhere about what kind of villain Ruin is, and I likened him to Ursula from the broadway version of The Little Mermaid. There's a woman who isn't ashamed of her dark side. She doesn't hide it, or deny it, or justify it away, or lament how much she's suffering under the guilt of all the torture she commits. She's a villain, not a vanillain. She's a bad guy, and she owns it. I frankly find her very refreshing, much more honest than most other antagonists who always whine and make themselves out to be some sort of victim. Here's part of her song, "I want the good times back."

 

I wanna make the merfolk cower like they did in days of yore.

Sure, it's sheer abuse of power; so? Ain't that what power's for?

I wanna taste their tears. I wanna hear their screams.

I want that special rush you get from crushing hopes and dreams.

 

She's got a confidence beyond what I've seen in most any other villain I've come across, and it's amazing. She lets her freak flag fly.

 

So bring it on, I say. Why are we lamenting because hemalurgy is breaking the mold? Why are we acting like it would somehow be more interesting or unique if it had the exact same attributes as literally every other system of magic (except maybe voidbringing). Let it be evil, let it be proud of its own attributes. It doesn't need our approval; it doesn't need to judge itself by our moral standard and justify itself by finding some excuse why it "isn't that bad". Better to reign in hell! I say we rejoice in hemalurgy, the only magic system we know a lot about so far that manages to be more than a simple tool to be used however you wish. Hemalurgy is a wild stallion that cannot be broken; can never be hitched to a plow or broken to saddle. It will ever range free, being as nature intended it to be! You go, hemalurgy! Don't listen to them tell you you have to conform yourself to their standards. Be the evil, soul-shredding art you were born to be.

 

I don't agree with you, but I don't necessarily disagree either. Does the fact we have no good hemalurgists detract from the cosmere? Not really, in my opinion. You're right on there being good reasons not to have it exist. I think it would be interesting to see someone- an anti-hero, if not a straight up good man- justify their use of that particular metallic art.

 

But, like Pechvarry said, this is getting a little off topic, and while I might not agree with what you said, I can respect it. To put an end to this discussion, have an upvote, and I'll let the topic get back on the rails.

 

(Thanks for the brief discussion though; I found it interesting)

Edited by Quiver
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Hemalurgic spikes don't kill people.  Hemalurgists do.

...

 

Let me preface this by saying that I find this legitimately hilarious, and I'm simply pointing out a touch of irony; I myself have not been offended and I'm not trying to pick a fight, and if I offend anyone please let me know, I'll apologize and retract my statement.

 

Are you legitimately trying to defuse a potentially heated debate by paraphrasing one of the most contentious slogans in one of the most contentious arguments America has ever seen? ^^;;;

 

Does the fact we have no good hemalurgists detract from the cosmere?

 

I'm simply going to restate something I mentioned earlier that you seem to have missed: TenSoon. Good guy hemalurgist. He even got a redemption arc.

 

And that's it, that's all I have to say on the matter. I will stop now, as we all seem to be in agreement that there's no more to be said.

 

Upvotes for everyone!

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...

 

Let me preface this by saying that I find this legitimately hilarious, and I'm simply pointing out a touch of irony; I myself have not been offended and I'm not trying to pick a fight, and if I offend anyone please let me know, I'll apologize and retract my statement.

 

Are you legitimately trying to defuse a potentially heated debate by paraphrasing one of the most contentious slogans in one of the most contentious arguments America has ever seen? ^^;;;

 

That was probably in poor taste on my part.  I kinda meant it tongue in cheek.  Kind of a "cue rhetoric here" line.

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tensoon (or marsh) is not an hemalurgist. tensoon is a hemalurgic construct. he's the product of hemalurgy, but he's not an accomplice. we can make a comparison with rape, and say that rape is always bad, but calling tensoon an hemalurgist would be like calling a rapist a person born from a rape. the hemalurgist is the person committing the act of spiking someone, i.e. the rapist in the example. the subject has no choice in the matter, and in the case of tensoon he wasn't even sentient at the moment. he certainly cannot be held guilty of anything, no more than a child could be held guilty if her mother got pregnant following a rape.

 

So, while a kandra is the result of a definitely bad action, he is innocent of any wrongdoing. he get all the benefits without getting any blame. which is a pretty cool thing. it's like getting tons of money because your parents were robbers, but you are innocent of everything and can just keep the money. Ok, this is not a good example because you could give the stolen money back. you can't give back an hemalurgic spike. But I hope you got the principle: being a kandra is awesome and don't have any moral drawback foor the kandra himself.

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