Thoughts on Tin

[Random man]

When I finished the first Mistborn book one of the most interesting abilities was tin, by the end The Hero of Ages it was my favorite ability. After thinking about how tin works I have three main questions that.

 

Feruchemical tin enhances senses in a different way then allomantic tin does, since feruchemical sight simply works like a zoom button. So the first question I have is what thoughts do people have on how the other four feruchemical senses.

 

The first twinborn combo I thought of was double tin not for compounding but to have as much control over your senses as possible. So the second question I have is what are your thoughts on how tapping and burning tin at the same time works.

 

When you use Hemalurgy to spike a allomancer with an ability they already have it enhances it power. So the last question is what do people think would happen if you spike a Tineye with a spike endowed with tin.

 

Not sure if any of these have solid answers already through other sources, was just curious about other people's thoughts.

[Kurkistan]

You can store the "extra" attributes you get from burning an Allomantic metal, though I can't find the quote for the life of me. Sorry.

 

"Doubling up" seems to improve both power and discernment for Allomancy. Zane was probably more powerful due to his spike, and also had greater precision in his pushes. Vin was able to read pulses easily as well as pierce copperclouds.

 

For Tin, then, I would guess that it would both increase the degree to which a tineye could boost his senses and the ease with which he controlled that degree; so a normal tineye might have some trouble controlling their burn rate, only really able to go from not burning to burning to flaring, while a more skilled and/or powerful tineye could go stop at more places between. Say boosting your senses by 10% so you can hear what's going on in the next room without being blinded by a bright light.

[Random man]

You can store the "extra" attributes you get from burning an Allomantic metal, though I can't find the quote for the life of me. Sorry.

 

If you mean how other compounders work then yeah but I'm not really sure if it would work for burning the tin regularly as (at least for sight) burning tin and tapping tin work in extremely different ways.

 

or Tin, then, I would guess that it would both increase the degree to which a tineye could boost his senses and the ease with which he controlled that degree; so a normal tineye might have some trouble controlling their burn rate, only really able to go from not burning to burning to flaring, while a more skilled and/or powerful tineye could go stop at more places between. Say boosting your senses by 10% so you can hear what's going on in the next room without being blinded by a bright light.

 

I hadn't really thought about the increased control since looking thinking back most tineyes only have off, on, and flared as options. As for the boost in power (the only part I had really thought about) burning tin can be nearly debilitating some times as it is you made if it becomes to much stronger you risk it being nearly impossible to use, especially when you think about them still being able to flare it to an even further extent.

 

But thank you, you've given me more to think about regarding my obsession with tin.

Edited May 10, 2013 by Random man

[Kurkistan]

No, I don't mean compounding. The example I recall is that burning Allomantic Pewter means that you have more Health to store in Feruchemical Gold.

 

I have no real doubt that Tin can be modulated, at least with skill. Many of the other metals, including Tin's complement, Pewter, can be.

[Phantom Monstrosity]

I think this is the quote you're looking for?

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/1729-a-late-breaking-report/

Allomantic pewter strength can be stored in a metalmind, but it's probably easier to just Compound.

Yeah, being able to use feruchemy to damp down your super senses from tin is one of the things that makes it a really nice compounder combo. You can do it on a sense-by-sense basis too, so you could tap sight and store all the other senses to become a human Hubble.

[Kurkistan]

Thanks, I recall that one as well. I swear that I saw one about Health, though.

[TheOneKEA]

I have some thoughts on tin too. I'm curious if tin only enhances the five senses described so far, or if it can enhance other bodily senses. For example, can a Tineye sense the exact temperature of something when burning?

[Phantom Monstrosity]

I have some thoughts on tin too. I'm curious if tin only enhances the five senses described so far, or if it can enhance other bodily senses. For example, can a Tineye sense the exact temperature of something when burning?

Tineyes definitely become more sensitive to temperature - Spook gets very uncomfortable outside a very narrow range.

[Pechvarry]

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/annotation/289/Mistborn-3-Chapter-Twenty-Six

This annotation suggests higher degrees of tin would further augment your mental filter of your enhanced senses. So you feel the cold more acutely but gain a proportionally better ability to tolerate chills.

[Random man]

This annotation suggests higher degrees of tin would further augment your mental filter of your enhanced senses. So you feel the cold more acutely but gain a proportionally better ability to tolerate chills.

 

Thanks for that Pechvarry, I had always just assumed that was an aspect of Spook himself. The fact that it comes from the tin makes it far more interesting. The level of control increase when combining a tin savant with a hemalurgic tin spike may truly impressive. The only worry would be how debilitating the enhancement would be, as tin can cause problems without any boosting.

 

So does anyone have any info on how feruchemical tin enhances the senses other than sight? They don't really talk about it in the books.

[Phantom Monstrosity]

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/annotation/289/Mistborn-3-Chapter-Twenty-Six

This annotation suggests higher degrees of tin would further augment your mental filter of your enhanced senses. So you feel the cold more acutely but gain a proportionally better ability to tolerate chills.

 

I don't think the annotation is quite getting at what you're implying

 

. Notice how, when burning tin, Spook is more able to focus on solitary conversations in the room. Or how his mind can filter out the mist or the cloth he wears.

 

The cloth he wears is the the thin blindfold over his eyes.  It isn't a matter of single-sense-focusing, AFAICT.

[Pechvarry]

I don't think the annotation is quite getting at what you're implying

 

 

 

The cloth he wears is the the thin blindfold over his eyes.  It isn't a matter of single-sense-focusing, AFAICT.

Ok, this is fair.  How about if I adjust my statement as follows:

 

Given:

*Brandon confirms that Tin enhances your mind in a way that helps you process your superior senses.

*When comparing people with augmented allomancy (hemalurgic spikes, for example), their metal tends to follow a quadratic growth (at least 2 aspects of it improve, so it is not a linear power increase).

 

Hypothesis: I feel the mental enhancement of Tin would count as "another dimension in which your Tin improves."  So if you're "tin-spiked-tin," the sensory part of your brain is probably twice as good as a normal Tineye's.