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[Bands Spoilers] Blessings


Dirigible

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What Blessing do ReLuur's spikes give? Marasi looks at the spike, and thinks it's Pewter (Page 353), which isn't one of the 4 metals that give the 'standard' Blessings we've seen before (Tin/Iron/Copper/Zinc). It's possible Marasi isn't correctly identifying the metal, but earlier in the book she specifically mentions (Page 337):

 

She knew enough Metallic theory to identify the metals

and she correctly identified that the third metal was duralumin so I'm disinclined to ignore her observation about the spike outright.

 

I also found this WoB, which suggests other blessings might be possible:

 

 

INSURRECTIONISTFUNGUS
Are there more kinds of kandra blessings than just the four we've seen?
BRANDON SANDERSON
Potentially, yes.
 
However, Pewter steals Feruchemical physical powers, and from SoS, the implication was that Paalm having Feruchemical steel was a surprise to the kandra/Harmony, so that use of the spike doesn't make much sense. And if his Pewter spikes were made post-SoS (or recently re-purposed from Inquisitor spikes, or something?) then his old spikes should have been around somewhere.
So does anyone know of another instance of Marasi misidentifying a metal, or have any ideas of what could be going on with ReLuur's spike?
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  • 3 weeks later...

While you got this WoB, (which was not that much better than a RAFO, it's a rather vague answer, Sanderson uses his wiggle room well):

 

Me: "What are ReLuur's spikes made of? Marasi thought they were pewter, but that doesn't make sense."

Brandon: "It doesn't."

 

I feel like it's time to play my hand. I have thought about this topic too much, I pointed it out to Weiry a few days after I read the book in January. What's really weird about this is, Marasi should (probably) be familiar with the other metals from which the four Blessings that we know of are made. She should know Zinc and Iron by sight. Marasi shouldn't be confusing either of those metals with pewter...

 

In the book, Marasi claims:

 

She [Marasi] knew enough Metallic theory to identify the metals

 

The Bands of Mourning: (p. 301).

 

Marasi shouldn't be confused about ReLuur's odd, silvery metal spike. She should recognized pewter without any issues. The odd thing is ReLuur's story, and the spike that is made of a metal that Marasi can't name on the spot. Logically: the metal that the spike is made of is something that Marasi just isn't familiar enough with, but a silvery metal. Assuming that she knows steel, iron, pewter, zinc, aluminum, cadium, bendalloy, etc. on sight, more or less, then it has to be made of something rarely seen...like Duralumin or Atium.

Why duralumin? Considering how hard it is to afford aluminum, creating it's alloy would be expensive and a waste unless you are a Terris/Ferring with the ability to store Connection. There's a good chance that she may have not seen a huge chunk of it in one place, making it harder to identify. The metalmind that Allik uses would've only had a relatively small amount considering its size and shape, so, it wouldn't help her identify a large amount of the metal. Logically, duralumin makes sense.

Atium isn't something she'd know, of course, but where the heck did he get so much of that? I think if the spike is something OTHER than pewter, it is also something OTHER than steel or zinc, since Marasi should know those... This means that the spikes that ReLuur is using are relatively new. That could mean a couple things. ReLuur made himself a new pair of spikes for fun (seems unlikely). ReLuur is a new kandra, and some of the story that VenDell tells Wax's crew is a lie.

Which, of course, leads us to the final set of questions... Why are MeLaan and VenDell lying about ReLuur? Why would they not tell them ReLuur is a relatively young kandra? What exactly are we missing?

Edited by Kandra-in-disguise
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The official story from VenDell was that ReLuur was ancient, yes?

Also the possibility that Rashek had secretly tested atium blessings before . . . or that is "trellium" with the red bits shaved off. Think those were that color too?

Edited by natc
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The official story from VenDell was that ReLuur was ancient, yes?

Indeed. But I have been suspicious of it since we read it. The story seems too neat, so to speak.

 

Also the possibility that Rashek had secretly tested atium blessings before . . . or that is "trellium" with the red bits shaved off. Think those were that color too?

It's possible, but we were given a list of [four] Blessings that the Lord Ruler gave his kandra; by metal, these are zinc, iron, tin, and copper. That's why Dirigible thought that Marasi getting it so...wrong was an odd thing.

I doubt you can shave the red spots off (or if you do, it would be trellium)... I think that the red bits might be Rust...as in trellium is rusting some kind of metal and changing its properties. (Imagine if Trell is rusting atium...now that would be fun). Or trellium might be some kind of Trell-based atium alloy... Or possibly, Trellium might just be a metal with red bits, but I doubt shaving the red bits off is an option...

Edited by Kandra-in-disguise
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I really like the idea that VanDell and MeLaan were lying about ReLuur's age; that allows for a lot more possibilities than I originally thought. I've wrote some ramblings about Blessings and Hemalurgy's workings to try to figure out what metal would make sense.

 

The four kandra Blessings we've seen so far are all "human attributes", and Sazed being unaware of how Bleeder managed to use Feruchemy/Allomancy from Spikes makes me think ReLuur didn't have one of those spikes (or Sazed should have known how that worked--unless, as you mentioned Kandra-in-disguise, that MeLaan and VenDell were lying about ReLuur's age)

 

Quote from SoS from Sazed (SoS page 133):

 

Bleeder can use Hemalurgy, but in a way she should not be able to. Kandra do not have Allomantic or Feruchemical powers. She has learned to take them and to use them to maintain her kandra form.

 

So, assuming there's no way to use a metal in Hemalurgy for two different purposes (i.e. granting either a magical ability or a "human attribute"), and kandra Blessings should be a "human attribute", that means it should be Iron/Tin/Zinc/Copper (known blessings) or Cadmium/Bendalloy/Electrum/Chromium/Nicrosil (of which none we know the attribute of. One must steal Temporal Allomancy, and the other four could be anything) or as you suggested, Atium. 

 

I actually just noticed that Aluminum/Duralumin/Gold are from the MAG, so it is possible that's incorrect. They all steal magical abilities, which certainly doesn't make sense with the known first half of the Hemalurgic table (where pure metals all stole "human attributes" and alloys stole magical abilities). I tried looking up some WoBs and found a bit that seemed to confirm the MAG but it's definitely inconsistent. And now I'm wondering what four "human attributes" remain...Anyway that's not really important for this.

 

If Marasi doesn't know the most common Allomantic metals (which I think is unlikely), then it's probably Iron/Tin/Zinc/Copper.

 

Otherwise, of the five standard metals remaining, if we take ReLuur's given age at face value, it's possible he has an Electrum spike (since that's a metal the Lord Ruler knew about and had access to, which he could have used on a kandra. On the other hand, electrum seems like the most likely to steal Temporal Allomancy). With the idea that ReLuur is fairly young, there could have been experiments to make new kandra with new Blessings, and it could again be anything. Though I don't see Harmony sanctioning experiments of this nature...it's possible he didn't know about them; after all, Paalm figured out Feruchemical Blessings without him knowing.

 

I definitely agree that someone lied. Whether it's MeLaan/VenDell about ReLuur's age, Sazed about kandra and Feruchemy/Allomancy, or the Lord Ruler about Blessings in general...there's something fishy going on here (or Marasi needs to seriously brush up on her metals).

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Below is a…RATHER UGLY CHART because I’m lazy (sorry) and having insomnia.

 

This chart assumes that the Adventure Game does not correspond to one of the basics laws Hemalurgy, which is Bases steal a human attribute (that anyone has); while alloys steal an Allomantic or Feruchemist attribute. You will notice that the first eight metals follow this pattern, we should assume this is true for ALL metals.

 

Reading the chart. First Column: Metal; Second: Allomancy; Third: Feruchemy; Fifth: Hemalurgy; Sixth: Blessing

 

Physical Bases

Iron | pulls metal | store weight | steals strength | increases strength

(Steel steals Physical Allomancy)

Tin | improve senses | store/improve senses | steals metal fortitude | increases senses

(Pewter Steals Physical Feruchemy)

 

Emotional Bases

Zinc | riots emotion | stores mental speed | steals emotional fortitude | increases emotional fortitude

(Brass Steals Cognitive Feruchemy)

Copper | Hides Allomancy | stores memories | steals mental fortitude | increases mental sharpness

(Bronze Steals Mental/Cognitive Allomancy)

A note; it seems that the first two Blessings are to do the Physical Realm, while the next two are to do with the Cognitive; but still basic human abilities. Nothing especially magical. Assuming that all Based metals (like Dirigible suggests) are INDEED stealing human attributes…we need to rewrite this table a little bit. Moreover, it seems that the abilities being stolen are appropriately external/internal; almost seeming to switch between something “more” allomantic related then to something more feruchemical. The most obvious example of this is Zinc and Copper. For the lower chart, I have added both bases and alloys. Note that Alloys don’t have a Blessing. The only way to get a Allomantic/Feruchemic Blessing is to “Rust” a metal; red flakes.

 

Temporal Metals

Cadmium | Slows time | stores breath | steals human attribute (steals temporal related attributes? steals energy/breath?)

Bendalloy | Hastens time | Stores Energy | steals Temporal Allomancy

Gold | Shows Past | Stores health | steals human attribute (either past/future; or health, this seems more likely) | blessing health/healing

Electrum | Shows future | stores determination | steals breath/energy/health/determination Feruchemy (I REALLY WANT TO CALL THIS TEMPORAL FERUCHEMY, le sigh)

 

Spiritual Bases

Chromium | Removes another’s metals | stores fortune | steals something odd (Investiture? But that’s what Atium does, so, let’s say it steals Fortune; if we assume fortune is "the chance of getting the best possible out come" for the person) | blessing is something to do with fortune (seems most likely)

Nicrosil | Flares another’s metals | Stores Investiture | Steals Spiritual Feruchemy

Aluminum | removes one’s metals | stores identity | steals identity/connection | Blessing identity/connection

Duralumin | Flares one’s metals | stores connection | Steals “Enhancement”/”Spiritual” (You are PLAYING with Investiture directly and what it does, I like Patterns…) Allomancy

So, I suggest that our friend ReLuur either has an Aluminum spike or a Chromium Spike. An Atium Blessing probably would grant him any Blessing the Lord Ruler wants of the eight regular Blessings, so, not that useful, I think. So, arguably, and rather oddly, Alumninum does something useful, too? It might be a "warped" Blessing, but who knows.

 

Edited by Kandra-in-disguise
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An Aluminum Blessing granting a stronger sense of Identity to the kandra (this would make them more individualistic, harder to use Forgery/Soulcasting on, etc.) aligns with the other "human attribute" blessings  and the Lord Ruler had access to Aluminum so it definitely makes sense that ReLuur could have a Blessing of Identity.

 

I think a Gold Blessing improving a kandra's health makes a ton of sense with the other Blessings we've seen, as well. Chromium and Cadmium are weird though. I'm not sure what temporal attribute could be stolen for Cadmium (age? But that's Feruchemically tied to Atium...); it might be energy (but as I understand it, Bendalloy's Feruchemical 'energy' is really food/calories, which doesn't really make sense as a Hemalurgic attribute).

 

For Chromium though, I have a few ideas:

 

1) Fortune. As far as I know, we know absolutely nothing about Fortune in the Cosmere or even Feruchemically. But it's definitely a possibility, especially if Fortune is really some integral part of someone's Spiritual aspect.

 

2) Investiture-resistance. It would just make you harder to invest--harder to Surgebind, use Aons on, etc. Like how the mid-Shaod Elantrians couldn't use Aons on themselves, but to a lesser degree. I don't like this that much because resistance to emotional allomancy is already in the Zinc Blessing, and this would make more sense with Aluminum anyway (but Identity is perfect for Aluminum, I think).

 

3) Improved life-sense or Investiture sense--the life-sense granted by Breath always seemed to me like one of the things that should be able to replicated by many other magic systems in the Cosmere. The problem with this is that it doesn't really fit the other Blessings, which just improve upon something everyone has; this is more of an ability.

 

From what little we know of ReLuur (explorer, spent 200 years looking for the Bands of Mourning) it seems not unreasonable that he could have had a Blessing granting him a stronger Identity.

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Hey guys, I'm sorry if this question isn't completely related to the topic but this is the closest thread I've found. I don't know if somebody in the forums had already asked Brandon about this (and I'm far too exhausted to begin going through the transcripts again), but if they have, they might as well just answer.

 

Anyway, this is my question:

 

A pewter hemalurgic spike is supposedly able to steal physical feruchemy. Let's say you use it to steal the power of a Brute (pewter ferring). So does that mean when you finally have the spike embedded in your body, the very fact that the spike is made of pewter allows you to make use of it like a metal mind?

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It should, I believe. Inquisitors apparently used their spikes to store.

You could also try to burn it, since it's technically inside you, but . . . yeah, don't do that.

Yes you may burn your Spike, but "it hurts like hell"

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