Snapping

[Zan Zhro]

Hey all, it's been a long time since I logged on here and have little idea about how this site really functions, so I'm just going to ask my question and hope it gets answered   (I guess spoilers?)

 

So, I write a lot of fanfiction for my various fandoms, but I typically keep it to myself. For one of my stories, I wanted to base a character on Sazed from the first trilogy. Is it possible for one to Snap into a Full Feruchemist? Or does Snapping only work for Allomancers / Mistborn?

[+Invocation]

I believe Feruchemy does not require Snapping because it's a more naturally present manifestation of Investiture on Scadrial, with the genetic component of the spiritweb being more latent than Allomancy. That, or the Snapping threshold is incredibly low and people are Snapped the first moment something bad happens to them. It's also possible it doesn't require Snapping because it's using only your own attributes (disregarding universal metalminds) and putting them back, so it doesn't need a crack for the Investiture to get into.

EDIT: Here's some WOBs I found about various things:

Quote

teknopathetic (paraphrased)

I have a Reddit PM WOB that says the Terris were given Feruchemy as a gift, and that Brandon may get into how that occurred at somepoint.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

It was more of a gift than an accident, but I do plan to someday dig into it more.

source

Maybe because it was a gift it doesn't require Snapping in the same way.

Quote

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

There is a way to get a non-powered person to access a metalmind.

source

Alternatively, this is a thing ^.

Edited November 28, 2018 by Invocation

[+hwiles]

I would argue that in the absence of clearly canonized information, feruchemy and allomancy should be assumed to obey parallel spiritual mechanics, after all, they appear to interact with hemalurgy and medallions in equivalent ways.

I posit that snapping must be a fundamental aspect of feruchemy unless explicitly countermanded by a WoB on the basis that both allomancy and hemalurgy necessarily require the cracking of one's spiritweb to facilitate participation in the corresponding magic system. Note however that the way this is achieved differs between allomancy and hemalurgy, the former requiring a calibratable level of physical or emotional trauma and the latter simply requiring a forced foreign injection of Investiture into one's spiritweb.

How does a feruchemist snap? Well, I would speculate that it parallels allomancy in both era 1 and 2. A full feruchemist is, by my reckoning, a roughly equally efficient killing machine compared to a mistborn but on a slightly more limited time-scale. Perhaps they snap slightly more easily then, but, given the abuses and castration of the Terris, it isn't difficult to imagine that they easily maintained a 100% snapping rate under the lord ruler...

[Calderis]

@hwiles while I don't have an explicit WoB, the reason I believe that Feruchemy doesn't require snapping is because it does not require an external Investiture source like allomancy.

All of the power comes from the practitioner. There's no need for cracks in the soul for a outside source to enter. 

[+hwiles]

@Calderis While I don't like to admit it, that makes a certain kind of sense and is consistent with other innate magic systems in the Cosmere like Awakening in which the user needs no special training, preparation, or severe emotional trauma...

I am biased.  I want feruchemy to require snapping for symmetry with allomancy and for what I perceive as more elegant alignment with the greater mechanics of hemalurgy and the medallions (which I think we both agree lean on hemalurgy to an extent).  I grudgingly agree that your explanation is technically satisfactory with the caveat that, stylistically, I find it less appealing than the alternative.  Touche and well played, you're probably right.

[Quantus]

As @Calderis said, the End-Neutral aspect of it is very likely the difference in that unlike Allomancy or Radiants that require cracks there is no need of any outside Link for for a power Conduit.  Similarly Awakening doesnt require Snapping because Breaths are locally stored Batteries. 

If it helps, you could think of it as a permanent Spiritweb mutation more like the Royal Locks, which are fueled by normal food metabolism rather than an external Investiture. 

There is also the fact that whatever Change was made to the Terris Spiritweb was apparently a necessary First Step to creating Kandra, so there is that facet of it's interaction with Hemalurgy.