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Alloy of Law Chapter 5 (Spoilers)


Squallor

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Interesting. I remember last chapter we were speculating as to whether the bandits target would be Steris or Marasi. Of course it would turn out to be both.

Now, a question. Originally Brandon said that 6 sample chapters would be released online before Alloy of Law's release, but I remember reading somewhere else (not totally sure where) that it would actually be 5. Does anyone know which is the correct number?

Because if it's 5, then that's just plain evil.

EDIT: Oh, any guessed as to why Wax recognizes the voice of the leader? The leader being Bloody Tan seems like an obvious possibility, but I honestly don't see how Tan could have survived. Even if he had some weird trick using hemalurgy or something, I imagine Wax would have made sure that he was dead after shooting him in the prologue.

Plus the leader seems way too stable for Bloody Tan.

Edited by Mad_Scientist
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Interesting. I remember last chapter we were speculating as to whether the bandits target would be Steris or Marasi. Of course it would turn out to be both.

Now, a question. Originally Brandon said that 6 sample chapters would be released online before Alloy of Law's release, but I remember reading somewhere else (not totally sure where) that it would actually be 5. Does anyone know which is the correct number?

Because if it's 5, then that's just plain evil.

I believe Peter said it was 6, as it was the logical break in the book. Any the only other place to break it was after chapter 2, but that wasn't enough to preview the book. Chapter 6 seems like it will be a good ending point with the leader dude making it off with Marasi and/or Steris, but Wax and Wayne getting a good lead to follow up on

Also, the "Bat on the Wall" thing was really cool. I wonder if that was something coinshots have been doing a long time, and we never saw it in Mistborn, or its another one of Wax's personal skills.

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The last two weeks went by really quickly!

I'm almost positive that they said 8 chapters. That might be 7 plus the prologue but I'm not sure. Peter might have to chime in on that. There are definitely more chapters to come.

Koloss blood was an interesting remark. Does that mean not only can they breed but they are doing so with humans?

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Koloss blood was an interesting remark. Does that mean not only can they breed but they are doing so with humans?

Well, we know Koloss can breed with each other (Brandon mentioned this when talking about some of what happened immediately after Hero of Ages), but I don't think Koloss-blooded is meant to be taken literally. It seems clear from the broadsheet that humans still view Koloss as violent savages (and maybe they actually are to an extent) so it makes sense for them to use related terms for insults.

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I vaguely remember someone mentioning that somewhere. I really need to read the Brandonology. I got distracted by the fact that there was no ereader chapter page and found a WYSIWYG editor to play with and add one and haven't gotten back to it yet :(

bulging forearms and a mottled, grayish complexion, almost as if his face were made of granite.

I took that as a literal Koloss description. He seemed not to be describing his behavior but his physical traits.

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I vaguely remember someone mentioning that somewhere. I really need to read the Brandonology. I got distracted by the fact that there was no ereader chapter page and found a WYSIWYG editor to play with and add one and haven't gotten back to it yet :(

I took that as a literal Koloss description. He seemed not to be describing his behavior but his physical traits.

If that is the case, it is curious that a tan-skinned human and a blue-skinned koloss would make a grayish-skinned man.

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I agree that it was a literal blood connection. You dont find too many people with grey skin, and on top of that, he had large forearms and a thick neck, so he is built like a koloss. I don't see any reason why they couldn't interbreed, afterall, the koloss at one point were all human.

Also, even if humans consider them savages, doesn't necessarily rule out the possibility. I find it much more likely that it wasn't all that consensual in first place.

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If that is the case, it is curious that a tan-skinned human and a blue-skinned koloss would make a grayish-skinned man.

They are both humanoid so I would imagine a cross bred race would be humanoid. I would also imagine tan and blue to be a gray. Oh well, I might have taken it way out of context but at least with Squallor I won't be alone in the theory!

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Anybody else notice the hat Mr. Koloss Blood was wearing?

He threw away his own hat— he was wearing a knit cap underneath, aluminum peeking through the holes—then walked off, sticking Wayne’s hat on his head over the cap.

Aluminum is expensive. These Vanishers are much better funded than their clothing suggests, and well informed on anti-Allomancy measures.

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Anybody else notice the hat Mr. Koloss Blood was wearing?

Aluminum is expensive. These Vanishers are much better funded than their clothing suggests, and well informed on anti-Allomancy measures.

I got the impression that they also had some fairly expensive guns, so the well funded part isn't entirely hidden. Also as a note, aluminum is very malleable, so a little bit of it could go a long way as far as making foil hats goes. I imagine their last couple of hauls could have gone a long way to buying enough aluminum.

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Remember, people thought that the Native Americans were savages, but there was still some breeding going on there. Then again, there's a lot of difference between a Native American and a Koloss.

I am still trying to decide if that comment is inadvertently racist...

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They are both humanoid so I would imagine a cross bred race would be humanoid. I would also imagine tan and blue to be a gray. Oh well, I might have taken it way out of context but at least with Squallor I won't be alone in the theory!

No, I agree with you that the man likely has literal koloss blood as Wax said. I just wondered why Sanderson decided to make him gray?

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Neat, I was right about either Steris or Marasi or both being kidnapping targets.

The masked leader was silent, studying everyone at Wax’s table for a moment. He hesitated briefly, then moved on.

Did he hesitate because he saw that Marasi was someone off his list, or did he actually recognize Wax as well? Maybe the familiar voice indicates that he is a former lawman that Wax knew? The bandit leader sounds bitter.

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Last I heard, it was going to be 6 chapters. Peter will be able to say for certain though.

Six makes sense anyhow. The next chapter is a better cap than this one. It's about to get loud. :D

Aluminum is surprisingly common in modern firearm frames. It's not a particularly good metal for the barrel or the bullets (overheats easily) but making an entire weapon and the ammo out of it (or at least jacketing/plating with aluminum) isn't much of a leap.

Edited by Inkthinker
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Anybody else notice the hat Mr. Koloss Blood was wearing?

Aluminum is expensive. These Vanishers are much better funded than their clothing suggests, and well informed on anti-Allomancy measures.

It may be necessarry just for him as well. He is Koloss blooded, perhaps that mnakes him more vulnerable than normal humans to emotional allomancy.

As for inkthinker, it is my understanding that before we discovered electrolosis aluminum was VERY rare and hard to come by. I seriously doubt such a rare material would be wasted for anything not specifically intended to be immune to allomancy. But as they have electricity someone may have discovered how to get aluminum easily.

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It may be necessarry just for him as well. He is Koloss blooded, perhaps that mnakes him more vulnerable than normal humans to emotional allomancy.

As for inkthinker, it is my understanding that before we discovered electrolosis aluminum was VERY rare and hard to come by. I seriously doubt such a rare material would be wasted for anything not specifically intended to be immune to allomancy. But as they have electricity someone may have discovered how to get aluminum easily.

Remember that the first thing the Vanishers stole was a shipment of aluminium disguised as a shipment of wool to avoid taxes? Wax figured it out two chapters ago.

“Aluminum,” Waxillium said. “Tekiel was probably shipping aluminum, but avoiding taxes by claiming it as something else. In here, his stated aluminum shipments for the last two years are much smaller than they were for previous years. His smelters are still producing, however. I’d bet my best gun that Augustin Tekiel—with the help of some railway workers—has been running a nice, profitable little smuggling operation. That’s why he didn’t make a big commotion about the theft at first; he didn’t want to draw attention.”

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Remember that the first thing the Vanishers stole was a shipment of aluminium disguised as a shipment of wool to avoid taxes? Wax figured it out two chapters ago.

Yes, but that doesn't speak to how rare it is. In fact if the taxes on it are so high that he turns to illegal smuggling to keep more profit, does that not suggest that aluminum in particular is expensive?

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Yes, but that doesn't speak to how rare it is. In fact if the taxes on it are so high that he turns to illegal smuggling to keep more profit, does that not suggest that aluminum in particular is expensive?

It does suggest aluminum is expensive, but it also answers the question of where they got their aluminum. Which I felt was part of the question being asked in relation to its appearance in the chapter. I actually like your idea of Koloss-blooded individuals being more susceptible to emotional allomancy.

Anybody else notice the hat Mr. Koloss Blood was wearing?

Aluminum is expensive. These Vanishers are much better funded than their clothing suggests, and well informed on anti-Allomancy measures.

Perhaps you already understood that, but it's not clear from a post like this one if everyone else remembered.

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Interesting. I remember last chapter we were speculating as to whether the bandits target would be Steris or Marasi. Of course it would turn out to be both.

Now, a question. Originally Brandon said that 6 sample chapters would be released online before Alloy of Law's release, but I remember reading somewhere else (not totally sure where) that it would actually be 5. Does anyone know which is the correct number?

Because if it's 5, then that's just plain evil.

EDIT: Oh, any guessed as to why Wax recognizes the voice of the leader? The leader being Bloody Tan seems like an obvious possibility, but I honestly don't see how Tan could have survived. Even if he had some weird trick using hemalurgy or something, I imagine Wax would have made sure that he was dead after shooting him in the prologue.

Plus the leader seems way too stable for Bloody Tan.

8 chapters makes sense. One every 2 weeks until its release at the beginning of November. Unless they plan to take a break in september, then its 6.

I wouldn't count out Bloody Tan, sort of. I was thinking about it, could a copper feruchemist pour personality into their metalminds along with memory? For someone as twisted as Tan, he could push his personality along with some choice memories into his metalminds at the time of his death (possibly leaving him an invalid at that moment) and then a devout follower or relative could pull those and thus pull Tan back from the dead to have him partially "posess" them. Same inflections and thought process, memories, mixed with the hosts. Wax would key in on those inflections but wouldn't be able to put a finger on exactly from where since Tan is dead and this is for the most part a different person.

Psychologically the line between memory and personality and what forms which or vice versa can be pretty blurred.

Edited by SAN66
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